Landulf V of Benevento

Who was Landulf V of Benevento?

Landulf V was the prince of Benevento from May 987, when he was first associated with his father Pandulf II, to his death. He was chief prince from his father's death in 1014.

In 999, Otto III visited the shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel at Monte Gargano. On his return through Benevento, he signed a diploma in favour of the monastery of S. Sofia on 11 March. S. Sofia was the familial foundation of Landulf's line and probably acted as a sort of dynastic mausoleum. For reasons unknown, Otto and the Beneventan princes had a falling-out in 1000, possibly over the relics of Saint Bartholomew, patron saint of Benevento, to whom Otto had constructed a new church on the Isola Tiberina—San Bartolomeo all'Isola—just recently. According to the Annales Beneventani, Otto rex cum magno exercitu obsedit Benevento: "King Otto with a large army besieged Benevento." Nothing, however, came of it, except perhaps the yielding of certain relics.

In 1003, a rebellion led by Adelfer, Count of Avellino, ousted Landulf and his father from Benevento. The princes did not remain exiled for long, however. In 1005, we find them ruling from their capital again. The revolt was a bad sign, though. Civil unrest was rising in the principality.