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Aversa - History

Aversa - History: Encyclopedia II - Aversa - History

Aversa was the first of the Norman territories in the Mediterranean. In 1027, it was ceded to the Normans, to be ruled at first by Rainulf Drengot, a cadet of the seigneurs of Quarrel near Alençon; he was invested as count by Sergio IV, duca di Napoli and confirmed by Emperor Henry II e poi dell'Imperatore Enrico II. By offering a generous principle of asylum for the persecuted Rainulfo enlarged the power and importance of his little borgowhich became the base from which the Normans became a force in Sicily and Italy. The most important of t ...

Aversa: Encyclopedia II - Aversa - History

Aversa - History

Aversa was the first of the Norman territories in the Mediterranean. In 1027, it was ceded to the Normans, to be ruled at first by Rainulf Drengot, a cadet of the seigneurs of Quarrel near Alençon; he was invested as count by Sergio IV, duca di Napoli and confirmed by Emperor Henry II e poi dell'Imperatore Enrico II. By offering a generous principle of asylum for the persecuted Rainulfo enlarged the power and importance of his little borgowhich became the base from which the Normans became a force in Sicily and Italy. The most important of the counts of Aversa was Richard I.

The count of Aversa were thre leaders in the struggle against the Papal forces that camne to a head at the battle of Civitella del Fortore in Beneventan territory, even capturing Pope Leo IX. the astute Richard did not treat the pope as a prisoner, however, but escorted him back to Rome with full honours, a gesture that led to the conciliation of the Normans with the Church, the lifting of the ban of excommunication that had been laid upon Aversa and the investiture of a bishop at Aversa. (But "Robert Guiscard built the fortification and had the bishopric of Atella transferred here.")

After the Norman dynasty Aversa declined in importance: the Angevin kings of Naples came to Aversa mostly to hunt and hold court in the citadel of which a few traces remain in via Roma at Aversa's centre. In particular Queen Joanna I of Naples|Joanna I chose Aversa for her preferred seat. There a group of nobles led by the pretender to the throne of Naples, Charles of Durazzo threw the prince consort Andrea I of Hungary from a window with a rope around his neck. His brother the king Louis I of Hungary, head of the house of Anjou descended into Italy and at Aversa took his vengeance at a banquet of reconciliation, as Joanna escaped to Avignon.

The presence of the court also benefitted Aversa by the institution of the Real Casa dell'Annunziata (ca 1315) an orphanage and hospice that occupied a central place in Aversan public life.

Norman rulers of the county of Aversa: