Counts · Markward of Annweiler's party · as at first light, 1 January 1200

County of Molise

The Molise is the old Norman county of the de Moulins counts round Boiano, between the Matese mountains and the upper Volturno and Biferno, with Isernia, Trivento and the castles of the high valleys.

Henry VI's men fought its last Norman count, Roger, through the 1190s (the German captain Berthold of Kunsberg besieged Monteroduni in 1193); the emperor gave it to Conrad of Lutzelhard in 1195 and, after Conrad's death, to Markward of Annweiler, already margrave of Ancona and count of the Abruzzi. When Constance drove the Germans out in 1198, Markward garrisoned the castles of his county before withdrawing to the March under the safe-conduct of the cardinals and Peter of Celano (Mayr). He came back through the Molise, where he kept his title deeds, and was before San Germano on 7 January 1199; Isernia, which resisted, was sacked by him that year.

In October 1199 he crossed to Sicily. On 1 January 1200 the county's count is in western Sicily fighting the regency, the regency has named no successor, and the castles are presumably still held by the garrisons he left; the Norman heiress Judith is a child or a young bride in the Celano household. Diepold's influence reaches the Molise after June 1200, and Peter of Celano subdues it only in the summer of 1201.

Who he is

Name
Markward of Annweiler, by Henry VI's grant; absent in Sicily since October 1199
Title
Count of Molise (comes Molisii)
Since
1196 (Enciclopedia Federiciana) or 1197 (Mayr, 1876), after the death of Conrad of Lutzelhard, whom Henry VI had made count of Molise in 1195 (de.wikipedia; a document of 1195 is signed 'Corradus Marchisium de Molisio', it.wikipedia).
Born
Markward: not pinned
Family
Markward is a German ministerial of the Staufen. The heiress of the Norman counts is Judith (Giuditta), daughter of Count Roger, the last Norman count, who held his ground against the German invaders until 1196 (DBI, Tommaso di Celano); she marries Thomas of Celano (1194 by one account, about 1201 by another).
Confidence
medium

Kolzer (Federiciana) for the grants of 1195-96; J. Mayr, Markwald von Anweiler (Innsbruck 1876), for Markward garrisoning the castles of his county in 1198, keeping his documents there and standing before San Germano on 7 January 1199; Kamp (DBI) for the conquest of 1201 and the phrase that the county's last holder had been Markward; the DBI life of Diepold for his reach into the Molise after June 1200; it.wikipedia (Isernia) for Markward's sack of Isernia in 1199.

Overlord

The crown of Sicily, which the regency says Markward has forfeited; Markward himself claims to govern the kingdom as regent under Henry VI's will.

What it holds

  • Boiano and its castle on the hill of Civita Superiore, the old seat of the counts
  • Isernia (sacked by Markward in 1199)
  • Roccamandolfi on the Matese, the refuge of the counts
  • Trivento, Agnone and Pietrabbondante in the upper Trigno and Sangro country, taken from the Borrello lords in 1105
  • Campobasso and the castles of the middle Biferno
  • The county's rights over Venafro, which had been joined to it in the eleventh century (Venafro's position in 1200 is in its own record)

How it was acquired

Henry VI granted the Molise to Markward in 1196 after the long war against Count Roger (Federiciana; DBI, Tommaso di Celano).

Allies and rivals

Markward's party and, from 1200, Diepold of Acerra on one side; Peter of Celano, whose son Thomas is betrothed or married to the Norman heiress, and the regency on the other. Neighbours: the Terra di Lavoro (Alife, which Diepold held for a time, and the counts round Capua) to the south-west, the Capitanata across the Fortore to the east. Inside and beside the county lie great Church lordships (Church map records): the abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno at the sources of the Volturno and Montecassino's Molise lands, which Markward ravaged when Abbot Roffredo refused him in 1198-99 (Mayr).

How things stand that morning

Markward's ground by grant and, as far as the evidence goes, by garrison: he manned its castles in 1198 and used it as his base for the attack on San Germano, and the regency has not recovered it (Peter of Celano subdues it only in 1201). Isernia, sacked by him in 1199, is hostile and drawn as contested. The commanders of the garrisons are not named in any source checked, and no German captain is documented by name in the Molise or the Abruzzi in the winter of 1199-1200.

Conrad of Lutzelhard, count in 1195, was dead by 1196-97.

Wealth

Sheep and the droving roads (tratturi) between the Abruzzi mountains and the plain of Apulia, grain in the Biferno valley, the road from the Volturno to the Adriatic, the bishops' towns of Boiano, Isernia, Trivento and Venafro.

Military

Mountain castles: Boiano's Civita, Roccamandolfi, Monteroduni, Carpinone, Frosolone; no muster is known for 1200.

Threats

  • Diepold of Acerra coming up the Volturno from Rocca d'Arce and Alife
  • Peter of Celano, who wants the county for his son
  • The regency's need to reward its barons from forfeited German lands

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. June 1200Diepold defeats Peter of Celano before Venafro and carries his influence into the Molise (DBI, Diepoldo).Depends on: Diepold's campaign from Rocca d'Arce and Peter giving battle Stopped by: A regency or papal force holding Venafro

Later, on the likely course

  1. Summer 1201 (after this year)Peter of Celano and Walter of Brienne take Venafro (23 June 1201) and Peter subdues the county of Molise; his son Thomas's marriage to Judith gives the conquest a feudal title (Kamp).Depends on: Brienne's victory near Capua on 10 June 1201 Stopped by: Diepold holding the Volturno line

Places of note

  • Civita Superiore of Boiano: Castle of the counts of Molise above Boiano
  • Roccamandolfi: Mountain castle of the counts on the Matese
  • Isernia: Bishop's town sacked by Markward in 1199

Where the sources disagree

  • The brief and the campaign notes do not name the count of Molise. The sources agree that Conrad of Lutzelhard was made count in 1195 and Markward after him, but date Markward's grant to 1196 (Enciclopedia Federiciana) or 1197 (Mayr). For 1 January 1200 Markward is the count and the county's last holder before Peter of Celano's conquest (Kamp).

Evidence: The grants and Markward's garrisons of 1198 are fair evidence; who commanded the castles in the winter of 1199-1200 is not recorded in what could be checked. Richard of San Germano and the Gesta Innocentii would be the sources to read.

On the map: The garrisons' hold in the winter of 1199-1200 is inferred from 1198 and 1201; the frontier with the Terra di Lavoro (Venafro, the Matese) follows the modern regional line.

Primary sources for Markward

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Sources and studies

  1. Th. Kolzer, 'Marcovaldo di Annweiler', Enciclopedia Federiciana (treccani.it)
  2. J. Mayr, Markwald von Anweiler, Reichstruchsess und kaiserlicher Lehensherr in Italien (Innsbruck 1876), archive.org
  3. N. Kamp, 'Celano, Pietro di', Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 23 (1979), treccani.it
  4. 'Celano, Tommaso di', Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (treccani.it)
  5. 'Dipoldo di Schweinspeunt', Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (treccani.it)
  6. Contea di Molise (it.wikipedia)
  7. Storia del Molise (it.wikipedia)
  8. Isernia (it.wikipedia)
  9. Konrad von Lutzelhardt (de.wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.