Richard of Chieti

Richard von Chieti (Italian: Riccardo ; * between 1222 and 1225; † May 1249 ) was an illegitimate son of the Roman emperor and king of Sicily, Friedrich II. Von Hohenstaufen . His mother was a niece of Archbishop Berardus of Messina.

Richard was entrusted with the county of Chieti by his father in 1245 . In the autumn of 1247, in the midst of the battle against the Pope, he was appointed Vicar General of the Mark Ancona and the Duchy of Spoleto . In December of the same year he defeated a papal army under the leadership of Hugo Novellus near Terni . He struck this again in April 1248 at Civitanova Marche , killing him and the traitors Pandolf da Fasanella and Jacob da Morra. The news of this victory reached his father on April 20, 1248 in Borgo San Donnino (today Fidenza ), which he was very happy about, although this victory could not compensate for the heavy defeat of the emperor at Parma a few months earlier.

The news of Richard's death can be heard from the Chronica majora of Matthew Paris , which was noted immediately after the capture of his brother Enzio by the Bolognese after the battle of Fossalta (May 26, 1249). Richard may have died in the same battle.

literature

• Wolfgang Stürner : Friedrich II. 1194-1250. Special edition, 3rd edition, bibliographically completely updated and expanded to include a foreword and documentation with additional information in one volume. Primus, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-89678-664-7 .