This article is about the specific polity Principality of Benevento and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was a Lombard duchy, and later a principality, in southern Italy centered on Beveneto. It was was annexed by the Normans.
Establishment
January 775: After the fall of the Kingdom of the Lombards, the Lombard territories in Benevento remained as a rump state and maintained their de facto independence. The duke did not miss the opportunity to raise his dignity and assumed the title of Prince, elevating his domain to a Principality.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Were a series of wars between the Frankish and Lombard Kingdoms. Charlemagne finally incorporated the Kingdom of the Lombards in the Frankish Kingdom.
1.1.Frankish Invasion of Italy (775)
Was the second military campaign of Frankish king Charles the Great against the Kingdom of the Lombards, which was annexed to the Frankish possessions.
January 788: In 787 the siege of Salerno by Charlemagne forced him to submit to the lordship of the Franks.
January 789: Grimoald III, who had also succeeded in overturning the balance of power with the Franks, obtaining from them a partial submission.
Were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th century. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century.
January 841: Arabs from recently conquered Sicily established a Muslim settlement in Taranto in 840.
Was the Sack of Capua by Saracen mercenaries incitated by the Duke of Bevenento, Radelchis I.
January 842: Radelchis was the prince of Benevento, a Lombard principality in southern Italy. The Saracen mercenaries were North African Muslim soldiers hired to fight in Italy. The sack of Capua in 841 was part of the ongoing power struggles between Lombard princes in the region.
February 842: Radelchis was the prince of Benevento, a Lombard principality in southern Italy. The Saracen mercenaries were North African Muslim soldiers hired to fight for Radelchis. The sack of Capua in 841 was a result of this alliance, causing destruction and chaos in the region.
Was the Arab invasion and conquest of Bari, at the time part of the Duchy of Benevento.
January 848: In 860 the Duke of Benevento was defeated in Bari by Muslim forces and forced into an armistice with the emir and the payment of tributes. The Muslims established the Emirate of Bari in the conwiered territories.
Was a treaty that detached the Principality of Salerno from the Duchy of Benevento.
January 852: Division of the principality of Benevento sanctioned by the emperor Ludwig II with the capitulary of 851. The Principality of Salerno was born from the division.
In May 859, a massive joint expedition of Salerno, Naples, Amalfi, and Suessola marched on the Principality of Capua.
June 859: In May 859, a massive joint expedition of Salerno, Naples, Amalfi, and Suessola marched on Benevento.
July 859: In May 859, a massive joint expedition of Salerno, Naples, Amalfi, and Suessola marched on Lando. Lando was in a paralysis at that time and his son Lando II took up arms to defend the city of Capua. He defeated the forces sent against them at the bridge of Teodemondo over the Volturno.
A military campaign of the Emirate of Bari against the Duchy of Benevento.
January 867: It was not before the spring of 867 that Louis began his action against the Emirate. He immediately laid siege to Matera and Oria, recently conquered, and set the former on fire. Oria had been a prosperous center before the Muslim conquest. The scholar Barbara Kreutz hypothesizes that Matera resisted Ludovico while Oria would have opened its doors to him and it is perhaps for this reason that Matera was razed to the ground.
7.1.Frankish conquest of Matera and Oria
The Principality of Benevento reconquered Matera and Oria from the Emirate of Bari with the support of Frankish troops.
January 868: It was not before the spring of 867 that Louis began his action against the Emirate. He immediately laid siege to Matera and Oria, recently conquered, and set the former on fire. Oria had been a prosperous center before the Muslim conquest. The scholar Barbara Kreutz hypothesizes that Matera resisted Ludovico while Oria would have opened its doors to him and it is perhaps for this reason that Matera was razed to the ground.
With the help of Frankish troops, the Duke of Benevento conquered the Emirate of Bari.
January 872: Frankish conquest of Bari.
Was a military campaign of Byzantine general Nikephoros Foka against both the Arab and the Lombards in southern Italy.
January 886: His successor, Niceforo Foca, conquered not only the last cities of Calabria remained in Arab hands but also managed to subdue the Lombard territories that separated Byzantine Calabria and Puglia. He was very clement to the conquered Lombards, exempting them from paying taxes and not using violence against them, and the local population remembered him for his good governance (885-886) by building a church in his honor. Leo VI in his tactics manual praises him as an example of how a general should behave in case he has to reorganize a recently conquered territory.
9.1.Byzantine conquest of Calabria and Apulia
Byzantine conquest of Calabria and Apulia.
January 887: Byzantine conquest of Calabria and Puglia.
The Lombard Dukes occupied Bari.
January 887: Theophylact conquered some Lombard cities in Campania, to which the prince of Benevento Aione, indignant, reacted by taking Bari. The following year the strategist Constantine arrived in Italy and managed to expel the Lombards from Bari.
The Byzantines conquered Bari from the Lombards.
January 888: Theophylact conquered some Lombard cities in Campania, to which the prince of Benevento Aione, indignant, reacted by taking Bari. The following year the strategist Constantine arrived in Italy and managed to expel the Lombards from Bari.
After the death of Landulf of Capua, the Duke of Benevento became co-regent with Landulf´s son who was still a child.
January 1008: In 1007, when his brother Landulf of Capua died, Pandulf assumed the government of the principality for the young heir, his nephew Pandulf III of Capua, son of Landulf,
The Principality of Capua became completely independent from the influence of Benevento.
January 1015: After the death of Pandolf II, Pandolf III returns to reign alone in Capua.
Were a series of wars between the Byzantines and the Normans in southern italy and the Balkan Peninsula.
14.1.Norman conquest of southern Italy
Were a series of military campaigns by Norman forces that slowly conquered southern Italy from the Bizyntine Empire and from local Lombard rulers.
January 1023: Within the first decades of the 11th century, the Normans, led by Gilberto Buatère, took up permanent residence in Ariano. In particular, the Norman county of Ariano was formally recognized in 1022 by Henry II of Franconia king of Italy and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
14.1.1.Norman-Lombard Revolt
Was a revolt by the Lombards and the Normans against Byzantine rule in southern Italy that led to the initial territorial acquisitions of the Normans in the region.
March 1041: The victory in the battle of Olivento constitutes the first stage for the Norman conquest of southern Italy. William of Hauteville settles in Ascoli Satriano, also takes Venosa and occupies Gravina.
March 1041: An alliance of Lombards and Normans besiege Melfi. On March 28, Lombard nobleman Arduin offers the citizens to open the doors and let the Normans enter as friends to free the city from the Byzantines. The Normans settle in Melfi.
May 1041: The Norman army, led by William of Hauteville and Arduin, defeated the Byzantines in the battle of Montemaggiore and obtained possession of Apulia and the entire region between the Ofanto, Biferno and Matera valleys. The Normans also took possession of the lands of Acerenza, of the villages of Lavello, near the Ofanto river, of Matera and Genzano, on the via Herculea, where they built a castle.
September 1041: On 3 September 1041 at the Battle of Montepeloso, the Normans defeated Byzantine catepan Exaugustus Boioannes and brought him to Benevento. The rebel victory forced the Byzantine army to retreat to the coastal cities of Bari, Monopoli and Giovinazzo, leaving the entire interior of southern Italy to the Norman and Lombard rebels.
14.1.2.Conquest of the Theme of Langobardia
Were a series of military campaigns by the Normans to conquer the Byzantine Theme of Langobardia.
January 1049: In 1048, Drogo of Hauteville, a Norman nobleman and military leader, led an expedition into Calabria through the valley of Crati, near Cosenza
January 1053: The Norman conquest of the Molise is poorly documented. Boiano (the principal town) may have been conquered the year before the Battle of Civitate by Robert Guiscard.
Was the end of a period of Bavarian domain over Benevento and Capua.
January 1027: Pandulf IV of Capua was released by Emperor Conrad II in 1024 at the request of Prince Guaimar III of Salerno, who was hoping for a new ally. Aided by Guaimar and the Norman knight Rainulf Drengot, Pandulf immediately besieged Capua, his old domain that had been given to a new prince by the emperor. Pandulf was able to succesfully reconquer Capua.
January 839: The Principality of Benevento conquered Amalfi under Duke Sicardo.
September 839: On September 1, 839, Amalfi obtained administrative autonomy (although there was formal protection of Byzantium through the Duchy of Naples); it was a de facto freedom.
January 840: The Duchy of Gaeta was established in the early years of the 9th century.
January 876: In 875, the city of Bari returned to the Byzantine Empire.
January 892: In the meantime, the Byzantine Empire returned to its position, reconquering a large part of Puglia and occupying Benevento itself.
January 895: Occupation of Benevento by the Byzantine Empire.
January 900: In 899, Atenulph I of Capua conquered Benevento and unified the two duchies.
January 983: Landulf IV was forced to divide his principality with his cousin Pandulf II, who became prince of Benevento.
January 1023: Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, in 1022, conquered Capua and Benevento.
Disestablishment
January 1054: Robert Guiscard conquered Benevento in 1053 and declared its formal subjection to the papacy.
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Principality of Benevento
