Northern Calabria, from the Pollino down the valley of the Crati to the Savuto and across the Sila to the Ionian coast, is governed for the boy king by a royal justiciar who sits at Cosenza and judges the crown pleas over barons' lands and royal cities alike.
The crown holds Cosenza, Bisignano, Castrovillari, Cassano, Rossano and Amantea directly; counts and barons hold the rest (Crotone, Policastro, Aiello, San Marco, Montalto, Tarsia and smaller lordships). The upper Val di Crati held out for Tancred's line against Henry VI in 1194 under Roger of Trebisacce, Geoffrey of Carbonara and Tancred of Tarsia. On 1 January 1200 the province is regency ground; the justiciar's name is not pinned.
Who he is
- Title
- Royal justiciar (iustitiarius) of the Val di Crati and the Terra Giordana
- Since
- Not pinned
- Family
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
The Federiciana (Calabria) gives the division of Calabria along the Squillace-Tiriolo-Nicastro line into two justiciarates, the Val di Crati with the Terra Giordana in the north and Calabria in the south; it lists the crown's own cities in Calabria (Reggio, Cosenza, Castrovillari, Amantea, Rossano, Bisignano, Cassano), the feudal counties (Catanzaro, Policastro, Squillace, Crotone, Aiello, Tropea, San Marco, Montalto, Sinopoli, Tarsia, Bova) and lesser lordships (Luzzi, Fiumefreddo, Amendolara, Brahalla, Saracena). The Federiciana (Cosenza) makes Cosenza the capital of this justiciarate in the Swabian period. No justiciar is named for the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources checked.
Overlord
The king's court at Palermo, that is the regency council of familiares under the chancellor Walter of Palear, with the pope as guardian
What it holds
- Royal cities (demanio): Cosenza, Bisignano, Castrovillari, Cassano, Rossano, Amantea (Federiciana)
- Crown pleas (the high justice) over the counties and baronies of the province
- Counties the Federiciana lists for Swabian Calabria (1194-1266, undated, so not all need exist in 1200) in this province: Policastro, Crotone, Aiello, San Marco, Montalto, Tarsia; lesser lordships: Luzzi, Fiumefreddo, Amendolara, Brahalla (Altomonte), Saracena
- The roads from the Basilicata to Cosenza and the Ionian coast road past Rossano
How it was acquired
A Norman royal office; the justiciarates of Calabria go back to the twelfth-century kingdom. Its bounds as drawn here follow the Federiciana's Swabian-period description and may not match 1200 exactly.
Allies and rivals
The royal cities and the archbishop of Cosenza; the counts and barons of the province; Joachim of Fiore's new abbey in the Sila, favoured by Henry VI and Constance; the German Frederick, if he still holds anything here.
How things stand that morning
Regency ground (realm sicily). No German garrison and no fighting are recorded in the province in the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources checked.
Wealth
The crown's revenues from the royal cities, the tolls of the Crati road and the Ionian ports, the pitch, timber and pasture of the Sila, silk and grain.
Military
The castles of the royal cities (Cosenza, Castrovillari, Rossano, Amantea and others) and the barons' service. No figures.
Threats
- Any German captain still holding castles in the province
- Barons who held for Tancred in 1194 and resent the Swabian crown
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.
- 1200No dated event for this lordship was found for 1200.Depends on: Nothing in play. Stopped by: Nothing in play.
Places of note
- Cosenza: Seat of the justiciar and royal city
- Tarsia: County; Tancred of Tarsia held out against Henry VI in 1194
- Trebisacce: Roger of Trebisacce held out against Henry VI in 1194
- Altomonte (Brahalla): Lesser lordship of Brahalla
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The structure is fair (Federiciana); the office holder that winter is not pinned.
On the map: Drawn as the area of the justiciar's jurisdiction, not as his lordship; the counties inside it are drawn as their own records. The line to the southern justiciarate follows the Federiciana's Squillace-Tiriolo-Nicastro division and is approximate; the northern edge follows the modern Calabrian border.
Primary sources for Sicily
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.
- Annals of Montecassino; Annals of Ceccano (Fossanova) (12th and early 13th centuries; Ceccano to 1217). Two sets of annals from either side of the papal and Sicilian frontier. Read online
- Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, Richard of San Germano (first version about 1216, enlarged to 1243). The fullest southern narrative of the Hohenstaufen kingdom, written by a notary on the border of the Terra di Lavoro. Read online
- Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- Chronicle of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Sicard of Cremona (about 1210 to 1213). A universal chronicle whose last part is a well-placed eyewitness account by a Lombard bishop who served emperors and popes. Read online
- The Deeds of Innocent III, Anonymous (a curial official, perhaps Peter of Benevento) (about 1208 to 1209). The curia's own account of the pontificate's first decade, with letters copied in. Read online
7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.