Drogo of Hauteville

Drogo of Hauteville
Statue of Drogo outside Coutances Cathedral
Count of Apulia and Calabria
Reign	1046 - 1051
Predecessor	William Iron Arm
Successor	Humphrey
Noble family	Hauteville
Spouse(s)	Altrude Gaitelgrima
Issue	Richard Rocca Eremburga
Father	Tancred
Mother	Muriella

Drogo of Hauteville (died August 1051) was the second Norman Count of Apulia. He led the Normans of Southern Italy after the death of his brother, William Iron Arm.

Life

Drogo was a son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife Muriella. Goffredo Malaterra records him as being the second son, after William Iron Arm, while Romuald Guarna records him as being the third, coming after Serlo and Geoffrey. Regardless, it is unlikely anyway that Drogo was older than Serlo, as Serlo stayed in Normandy to inherit their father’s possessions, while Drogo journeyed to Southern Italy.

Since Tancred had many sons, and his possessions weren’t enough to satisfy all of them, Drogo and many of his brothers were soon forced to seek fortune elsewhere.

First years in Southern Italy

See also: William Iron Arm

Around 1035/7, Drogo journeyed to Southern Italy with his brothers William Iron Arm and Humphrey, to strengthen the ranks of Rainulf Drengot, Count of Aversa, the first Norman mercenary lord who had been granted a fief. Together with Rainulf, the Hauteville brothers took part in a military operation led by Guaimar IV of Salerno against Pandulf IV, Prince of Capua.

With time, Drogo and his brothers put themselves under the direct service of Guaimar IV. Under Guaimar’s authority, Norman and Lombard forces served the Byzantine army in an attempt to conquer Sicily from the Saracens. After two years, however, they left the expedition because of a loot dispute. In 1040 they joined a Lombard rebellion in Apulia, this time against the Byzantines.

During said rebellion, Drogo’s brother William Iron Arm had managed to keep the Normans under his control, and was the key to many victories. Thus, in September 1042, William was nominated Count of all the Normans in Apulia, with the Norman capital in Melfi. His title and territories were recognized by Guaimar IV; In turn, William declared himself Guimar’s vassal, as Guaimar assumed the title of Duke of Apulia and Calabria. In this occasion, Drogo was given Venosa. He took advantage of his new possession, and also occupied Bovino in 1045.

Count of Apulia and Calabria

When William Iron Arm died childless in 1046, Drogo succeeded him as Count of Apulia after fighting for the title with Peter I of Trani. Guaimar IV of Salerno acknowledged Drogo’s succession, and gave him his daughter’s hand in marriage. His legitimacy grew significantly when Emperor Henry III came to Italy in 1047. Drogo paid homage to the Emperor on February 3, and Henry III confirmed the possession of his territories and invested him as “Dux et magister totius italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae”, which translates to “Commander and master of all of Italy, and Count of all the Normans in Apulia and Calabria”.

At one point during his reign, Drogo imprisoned Richard Drengot, one of the contenders for the succession to the County of Aversa. It is unclear what then let Drogo to free him: according to Amatus of Montecassino, Guaimar IV of Salerno pressured him to. Another possibility is that Drogo had kept Richard prisoner in order for William Bellabocca, a man who was acting as regent of Aversa and was possibly a relative of Drogo, to stay in power: if this is the case, then, when the Aversans expelled William, Drogo released Richard as keeping him prisoner served him no purpose anymore.

Towards the end of his reign, Drogo also met Pope Leo IX, when he came to southern Italy to restore the Libertas Ecclesiae under Henry III’s directives. However, as he was returning from the meeting with the Pope, he was assassinated along with several of his followers on Saint Lawrence’s Day (10 August) of 1051, while he was entering the chapel of his castle at Monte Ilario, near Bovino, to attend mass. He was possibly the victim of an anti-Norman conspiracy led by Argyrus, the Byzantine catepan of Italy, who was trying to reclaim the region for the Byzantine Empire. Drogo was buried at the Abbey of Santissima Trinità of Venosa.

Issue

Main article: House of Hauteville § Genealogy

Drogo’s first wife was named Altrude. With her, he had three children:

• Richard of Hauteville
• Rocca
• Eremburga

Drogo’s second wife was Gaitelgrima, daughter of Guaimar IV of Salerno (not the same as this Gaitelgrima, who was princess of Capua). No children result from this marriage.

Sources

• H. M. Gwatkin and J. P. Whitney, edd. The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926.
• John Julius Norwich. The Normans in the South, 1016–1130. London: Longmans, 1967.
• Ferdinand Chalandon. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicilie. Paris: 1907.
• Christopher Gravett and David Nicolle. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006.
• George Beech. A Norman-Italian Adventurer in the East: Richard of Salerno. 1993.
• Theotokis, Georgios (15 March 2021). Bohemond of Taranto: Crusader and Conqueror. Pen and Sword Military. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-5267-4429-6. Retrieved 10 September 2024.

External links

• History of the Norman World.