Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

The Quarrel-Drengot and Hauteville families

The Quarrel-Drengot Family

1016  - Osmond Drengot, from a prominent family from Les Carreaux near Avesnes-en-Bray, is banished for the murder of a relative of the Duke of Normandy,  Guillaume Werlenc, Count of Mortain. He left the Norman duchy with four of his brothers, including Rainulf, for southern Italy at the head of an armed band of about 250 Normans, to serve the local dukes and princes as mercenaries.
1029 - Rainulf Drengot, in the service of the Duke of Naples, receives the "County of Aversa", the first Norman principality in the region, as a reward for services rendered. The Rainulf camp was reinforced by Normans and bandits from the region. The Norman language and customs welded this heterogeneous group together in a semblance of a nation.
1037 - Conrad II the Salic, Holy Roman Emperor deposes Pandolf IV  of Capua and recognizes Rainulf as "Count of Aversa" deriving his power directly from the emperor.

The Hauteville Family

Tancrède de Hauteville came from a family of Norman nobility, eight of whose twelve children went to the Mediterranean. They arrived in southern Italy in:-1035 - William, a colossus nicknamed Arm of Iron, with  his brother Drogon,-1044 - Onfroi,-1047 - In May, after the death of his brother William, Robert,  a giant nicknamed Guiscard the Cunning,-1057 - Roger the Younger
,  nicknamed Bosso.-1038 /1040  - A troop of Normans is sent to Sicily with a Lombard contingent to fight the Saracens under the orders of the Byzantines. They were defeated, but the first members of the Hauteville  family, notably Guillaume, Bras de Fer, gained their fame by fighting for Georges Maniakès, a Byzantine general.
1040 - After the assassination of the Capetan Nicephorus Doukeinos at Ascoli, the Normans wanted to elect a leader from their ranks, but bribed they preferred to elect Pandolf III, Prince of Benevento (Lombardy).
1041 - The Norman army inflicts  a crushing defeat on the Byzantines at the Battle of Montemaggiore near Cannae.
September 3 - The Normans finally elect a leader from their ranks, Guillaume Hauteville, Bras de Fer, with the title of "Count". They immediately asked Guaimar IV of Salerno to recognize their conquests.
1042  - William  and  Drogon of Hauteville gradually lay the foundations of the future Normanno-Sicilian kingdom, taking advantage of internecine wars and divisions that weaken the holders of local power.

1043 - Guaimar IV divides the region into 12 counties inMelfi, including Ascoli to William, who is to marry Guida, daughter of Guy,  Duke of Sorrento and niece of Guaimar,-Acerenza to Asclettin,-Montepoloso to Tristan,
-Monopoli  to  Hugues Tuboeuf,-Trani to Pierre,-Venosa to Drogon de Hauteville,-Monte Gargano to  Rainulf Drengot. The first Norman state of Italy had just been created. The Normans reproduced the feudal model dominant in northern France and unknown in southern Italy, but they did not accept superior authority.
1044 - William and Guaimar IV begin the conquest of Calabria.
1045 - William is defeated in Apulia at Tarentum  by Argyrus, a Byzantine general, despite the conquest of Bovino by his brother Drogon.

1046 - William dies, his  brother Drogon succeeds him with the title of "  Count of the Normans of all Apulia and all Calabria", so his authority is not limited only to the conquered territories but also to those he wishes to conquer.
1048 - Accession of Leo IX, appointed by Emperor Henry III. A reforming pope, he did not accept that the papacy and its traditional allies were threatened by the Normans.
1051 – Drogon is murdered.
1052 – Guaimar V is assassinated.
1053 – On June 17, the pope, who had assembled a large army composed of Italians supported by Greeks sent by Constantine IX, and German knights recruited thanks to the support of Emperor Henry III, decides to direct the operations himself. The battle took place at Civitate, in northern Apulia, the Normans emerged victorious and Leo IX was taken prisoner. The pope admitted the legitimacy of the power of the Normans who, in exchange, recognized themselves as his followers.

The period of Norman mercenaries came to an end and two great Norman principalities emerged, the County of Aversa, later the Principality  of Capua, and the County of Apulia, which would become the Duchy of Apulia. Both owe allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

1057 - Onfroi de Hauteville dies and his younger brother Robert succeeds him without difficulty.
1058 - Richard of Aversa, son  of Rainulf, seizes the principality of Capua.
1059 - Robert de Hauteville enters into an alliance with the Papacy, he quickly understands the importance and influence of the Church. In exchange for his papal vassalage, he was recognized as duke  of Apulia and Calabria, as well as of Sicily to be conquered. Richard of Aversa becomes Prince of Capua. Although Robert did not succeed in unifying all the Norman possessions, he acquired the ducal title conferred by the pope, elevating this petty lord of the Cotentin to the same rank as his contemporary William the Bastard.
Two duchies now existed at the two extremities of the West, and their leaders distinguished themselves in extraordinary conquests: England for one, Southern Italy and Sicily for the other.