In 1030, the first Norman foothold in the

Mezzogiorno Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

was created when

Sergius IV of Naples Sergius IV (died after 1036) was Duke of Naples from 1002 to 1036. He was one of the prime catalysts in the growth of Norman power in the Mezzogiorno in the first half of the eleventh century. He was nominally a Byzantine vassal, like his fath ...

gave the town and vicinity of

Aversa Aversa () is a city and '' comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical ...

as a county to Ranulf. The following are the counts of Aversa: *

Rainulf I Rainulf Drengot (also Ranulph, Ranulf, or Rannulf; died June 1045) was a Norman adventurer and mercenary in southern Italy. In 1030 he became the first count of Aversa. He was a member of the Drengot family. Early life and arrival in Italy When R ...

1030–1045 * Asclettin 1045 (nephew of prec.) *Rodulf Cappello 1045–1046 (appointee of the Prince of Salerno)

Kenneth Baxter Wolf Kenneth Baxter Wolf (born June 1, 1957) is an American historian and scholar of medieval studies. Biography Wolf is the John Sutton Miner Professor of History and Professor of Classics at Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he ha ...

, ''Making History: the Normans and Their Historians in Eleventh-century Italy'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), p. 14. *

Rainulf II Trincanocte Rainulf II, called Trincanocte, was the fourth Count of Aversa (1045–1048), the cousin of his immediate predecessor Asclettin and nephew of Rainulf Drengot, the founder of their family's fortunes in the Mezzogiorno. There was a succession crisi ...

1045–1048 (cousin of Asclettin) * Herman 1048–1049 (son) *

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

1049–1078 (cousin) In 1058, Richard conquered the

Principality of Capua The Principality of Capua ( la, italic=yes, Principatus Capuae or ''Capue'', it, italic=yes, Principato di Capua) was a Lombard state centred on Capua in Southern Italy, usually ''de facto'' independent, but under the varying suzerainty of ...

and thereafter the counts of Aversa were, more importantly,

princes of Capua This is a list of the rulers of the Principality of Capua. Lombard rulers of Capua Gastalds and counts The gastalds (or counts) of Capua were vassals of the princes of Benevento until the early 840s, when Gastald Landulf began to clamour for the ...

References

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