Richard II of Aquila was an

Italo-Norman The Italo-Normans (), or Siculo-Normans (''Siculo-Normanni'') when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to Southern Italy in the first half of the eleventh century. ...

nobleman and count of

Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...

. He was descended from a prominent

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

family from

L'Aigle L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy in northwestern France. Before 1961, the commune was known as ''Laigle''. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle (''aigle'' in French) was discovered during the construction ...

(Italianised as ''Aquila'', both meaning "eagle"). He was one of the premier rebels against

William I of Sicily William I (1120 or 1121 7 May 1166), called the Bad or the Wicked (), was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own in 1166. He was the fourth son of Roger II and Elvira of Castile. William's title "the Bad" ...

during the first years of his reign. In May 1156, Richard betrayed the rebels of

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

and opened that city to the ravages of a vengeful William.

Sources

Hugo Falcandus Hugo Falcandus was a historian who chronicled the reigns of William I of Sicily and the minority of his son William II in a highly critical work entitled ''The History of the Tyrants of Sicily'' (or ''Liber de Regno Sicilie''). The Latin of the wo ...

''History of the Tyrants of Sicily''
at

The Latin Library The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for rese ...

. * Norwich, John Julius. ''The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194''. London: Longman, 1970.

External links

1154–1166: Guglielmo il Malo — Maione — Matteo Bonello
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richard 02 Of Aquila Italo-Normans Norman warriors Counts of Aquila 12th-century Italian nobility