Pandulf Ironhead

Noble person

– 0981

22

Who was Pandulf Ironhead?

Pandulf I Ironhead was the Prince of Benevento and Capua from 943 until his death. He was made Duke of Spoleto and Camerino in 967 and succeeded as Prince of Salerno in 977 or 978. He was an important nobleman in the fight with the Byzantines and Saracens for control of the Mezzogiorno in the centuries after the collapse of Lombard and Carolingian authority on the Italian Peninsula. He established himself over almost the whole of the southern half of Italia before his death in March 981.

His mother was Yvantia. He co-reigned with his father, Landulf II, from 943, when his grandfather Landulf I died, and with his brother Landulf III from 959. Sometime about 955, Pope John XII led an army of Romans, Tuscans, and Spoletans against Landulf II and Pandulf, but Gisulf I of Salerno came to their rescue and no battle was given. The pope and Gisulf made a treaty at Terracina. Gisulf and Pandulf had a strong alliance after that.

In 961, Landulf II died and Pandulf and his brother became sole princes, though the elder Pandulf was by far the more domineering. The Chronicum Salernitanum affirms the co-regency, however, and the principle of the indivisibility of the united Capua-Benevento as declared by Atenulf I in 900, when it says Beneventanorum principatum eius filii Pandolfum et Landulfum bifarie regebant . . . communi indivisoque iure, that is "the Beneventan principality was reigned in jointly by Pandulf and Landulf under indivisible common jurisdiction." However, this system eventually collapsed and Pandulf ruled in Capua while Landulf ruled in Benevento. The Chronicum says Pandulf tenuit principatum una cum suo germanus annos octo, that is, "held the principality solely with his brother for eight years."

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Pandulf Ironhead." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/pandulf_ironhead>.

Discuss this Pandulf Ironhead biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net