Landulf V.

Landulf V. († September 1033 ) was Prince of Benevento since his co-reign with his father Pandulf II. 987 .

In 999 Otto III visited the shrine of St. Michael the Archangel on Monte Gargano. His way back took him through Benevento, where he signed a certificate of authenticity of the S. Sofia Monastery on March 11th. S. Sofia was the origin of Landulf's bloodline and probably also served the family as a kind of mausoleum. For unknown reasons, Otto III. and the Beneventan princes had a rift around 1000, possibly over the relics of St. Bartholomew, the patron saint of Benevento, Otto III. had just built a new church on the Tiber island of San Bartolomeo all'Isola. According to the Annales Beneventani : Otto rex cum magno exercitu obsedit Beneventum is said to have "besieged King Otto with a large army of Beneventi".

In 1003 Landulf and his father were expelled from Benevento by a rebellion by Adelfer, Count of Avellino. However, they did not stay in exile for long and ruled the principality again from their seat in 1005. However, the revolt was a bad sign and the principality was increasingly shaken by unrest. During this time Landulf V. commissioned his son Pandulf III. to rule the principality. Pandulf II died two years later and left Landulf V as the sole prince of Benevento. Immediately after the death of Pandulf II, the citizens of Benevento led another revolt against Landulf and Pandulf III. Unlike Adelfer's previous rebellion, Landulf V's disempowerment failed. However, the citizens forced concessions on themselves and changed the balance of power in favor of the aristocracy. In the Annales it says: "facta est communitas prima". Landulf also had to make concessions to the Byzantine Empire because it built the fortified city of Troy in its neighboring Italian province of Katepanat .

In 1022, Emperor Heinrich II and his army joined forces with two other armies under Poppo of Aquileia and Pilgrim of Cologne in Benevento, who won the victory over Benevento after a brief siege. From there they marched to Troy, but failed in trying to take it. After Benevent's submission to the western emperor, nothing more is known of Landulf V in historiography until his death. He was born by his son Pandulf III. inherited.

Landulf saw the decline of the principality even more than his father did. Forced by the concessions to Byzantium and then to Henry II, Benevento could hardly assert itself or even remain independent. Over the long period (47 years) of his rule, Landulf V saw the beginnings of a Byzantine revival in Apulia. The Principality of Benevento did its best to be on the winning side. His attempts to influence the course of history by secretly supporting anti-Greek rebels failed him. After Landulf V's death, the once large principality shrank to little more than the city and the surrounding landscape.

literature

• V. Beolchini:  LANDOLFO. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 63:  Labroca-Laterza. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2004.

Web links

• Landolf V in Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

predecessor	Office	successor
Pandulf II	Prince of Benevento 987-1033	Pandulf III.