Alfonso, also calledAnfuso orAnfusus (c. 1120 – 10 October 1144), was thePrince of Capua from 1135 andDuke of Naples from 1139. He was anItalian-born Norman of the nobleHauteville family. After 1130, when his fatherRoger becameKing of Sicily, he was the third in line to the throne; second in line after the death of an older brother in 1138. He was the first Hauteville prince of Capua after his father conquered the principality from the rival NormanDrengot family. He was also the first Norman duke of Naples after the duchy fell vacant on the death of the last Greek duke. He also expanded his family's power northwards, claiminglands also claimed by the Papacy, although he was technically avassal of the Pope for his principality of Capua.
Alfonso was the third son of CountRoger II of Sicily, who became king in 1130, and his first wife,Elvira of Castile.[1] He was probably named after his maternal grandfather, KingAlfonso VI of Castile,[1] but contemporary sources invariably use the spellings Anfusus, Anphusus or Amphusus.[2] According toAlexander of Telese, in August 1135 Alfonso was a mere "boy" (puer) too young to be knighted alongside his brothersRoger (died 1148) andTancred (died 1138). While the Latin termpuer might refer to a man up to the age of 28, Alfonso was less than sixteen years old, the age at which a boy was knighted in medieval Sicily. He was also older than two other brothers,William and Henry, described asinfantes (infants), that is, under fourteen. Alfonso's birth therefore took place around 1120.[1]
After the refusal of PrinceRobert II of Capua to submit to King Roger in June 1135, Roger declared him deposed and in October appointed Alfonso to the principality, "with the support of all the best knights".[a] To underline the royal authority, Roger and his sons made a solemn entry into Capua and had the principality's vassals swear fealty to their new prince and to their king and his heir.[3][4] In this way, the traditional principalities of southern Italy nominally retained their autonomy, but as integral parts of the kingdom, royalappanages.[5][6][7] Roger's chancellorGuarin, who had administered Capua on behalf of Roger since royal troops had occupied it in 1134, continued to administer on behalf of the young Alfonso.[2][4] After Guarin,Robert of Selby was appointed to administer Capua until Alfonso came of age. He was still governing there during the imperial invasion of 1137,[8] when the army of theGerman emperorLothair II briefly occupied Capua and reinstated Prince Robert.[2]
On 25 July 1139, in ameeting at Mignano, PopeInnocent II finally recognised Roger as King of Sicily, in exchange Roger accepted Innocent as his feudal lord. The pope also recognised Alfonso as Prince of Capua and invested him with abanner. Although the granting of a banner implied that Capua was a direct fief of the papacy, in fact it was anarrière-fief. Alfonso was a vassal of his father, who was a vassal of the pope.[9] Nonetheless, after receiving his papal investiture Alfonso took personal charge of his principality.[2]
In 1137, DukeSergius VII of Naples died and his duchy fell vacant. In 1139, the Neapolitans made their submission to King Roger atBenevento on papal territory. The contemporary historianFalco of Benevento records how "in those days the citizens of Naples came to Benevento, and bringing the city of Naples to the fealty of the Lord King they took his son [to be their] duke, and submitted their necks to his [Alfonso's] fealty."[10][b] This took place in July 1139.[11] The acquisition of Naples and the papal banner occurred around the same time, and Alfonso thus became the ruler of two small principalities at about the age of nineteen.[12]
Alfonso did not initially control the revenues of his principality, which were overseen by a royal chamberlain, Jocelin. It is also unclear what judicial authority he exercised. His principality corresponded to a single circuit of royal justiciars, the laterTerra di Lavoro.[13] The original justiciars, Archbishop-electWilliam of Capua and Lord Hamo of Arienzo,[c] were appointed in 1135.[14] Later evidence from the reign of KingTancred, suggests that the prince of Capua had supreme judicial authority in his province. Alfonso was only intermittently resident in Capua, and he often visited Sicily. On the whole, his office appears to have been primarily a military one, and he acted more as a representative of the royal power than as the prince of an old and well-defined country.[13] He initially bore the Latin titleprinceps Capue, but after acquiring Naples he used the longer titleprinceps Capuanorum et dux Neapolitanorum, "Prince of the Capuans and Duke of the Neapolitans".[15] At Capua he minted copperfollari in the style of the old princes but much smaller in size. Six types are known, some bearing the inscriptionAN (forAnfusus) orA P (forAnfusus princeps) and some even withPseudo-Kufic inscriptions.[16] He had his own court and his own officials, who dated charters by the years of his reign.[2] Perhaps because of the independent-mindedness of the Capuan barons, Alfonso's government in Capua was more formally organised than that of his brother Roger in Apulia.[17] Sometime after 1135, probably towards 1140, DukeRichard III of Gaeta was compelled to swear homage to King Roger, Duke Roger and Prince Alfonso.[18]
In March 1140, acting on his father's orders, Alfonso commenced the conquest of theAbruzzo, which belonged to theDuchy of Spoleto, part of thekingdom of Italy. Shortly after he was joined by his brother Roger.[19] They took the strategic fortresses ofArce andSora, and extended the kingdom over all the territory from the riverPescara to theTronto.[20] The chroniclerFalco of Benevento records that they took many castles and settlements, burned others and left with great spoils.[19] The king then joined his sons and, on 28 April 1140, Alfonso witnessed the king's charter by which he founded theCappella Palatina in Palermo.[17] By July 1140 the frontier of the kingdom had been pushed north as far asCeprano in the papal state. According to theChronica Ferrariensis, when Pope Innocent wrote to Alfonso demanding that he cease invading his lands, he wrote back that "he would not seek another's lands, but wanted only to reintegrate lands belonging to his Capuan principality, and so subjugate all the lands of the principality of Capua and the duchy of Apulia to himself."[21][d]
In July 1142, the king and Alfonso held a great court at Silva Marca nearAriano, attended by all the counts of the mainland.[22][23] Alfonso then invaded the papal territory ofMarsia, which Alfonso claimed belonged to the princes of Capua, although they had no exercised power there since the reign of PrinceRichard I in the 1070s. Alfonso also intervened in a dispute within the family of the counts ofTeramo. He removed Count Matthew and replaced him with his brothers, William and Robert. In November 1143 the conquest of Marsia was completed and its feudal lords accepted the authority of the King of Sicily. All the conquered territories in the Abruzzo and Latium were then divided by the between Apulia and Capua, Alfonso taking the lands to the west of theGran Sasso d'Italia.[19]
At Ceprano in early June 1144, King Roger and Alfonso opened negotiations with PopeLucius II, who demanded the restoration of the Principality of Capua as a full papal fief. After fifteen days, the negotiations were broken off.[24] The king left to prepare a naval expedition,[21] while Alfonso invaded the papal state, taking the towns ofRieti andAmiterno.[24] Lucius quickly agreed to a seven-year truce with Alfonso, but Roger refused to ratify it.[21] The prince of Capua died on 10 October 1144, probably in the course of this campaign.[5] Roger signed a treaty with Lucius shortly after, relinquishing Alfonso's most recent conquests.[24] Alfonso was succeeded at Capua and Naples by his younger brother William,[25] and the government of Capua was again entrusted to Robert of Selby.[8]
Anelegy for an unnamed "son of Roger the Frank, lord of Sicily" by the Sicilian poetAbū l-Ḍawʾ was about either Alfonso or his older brother Tancred.[26]
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Sergius VII | Duke of Naples 1139–1144 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas undisputed prince | — DISPUTED — Prince of Capua 1135–1144 Disputed byRobert II | |
