Counts · Kingdom of Sicily under the regency · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Peter of Celano

Peter of Celano is the greatest baron of the kingdom's northern provinces and the strongest man on the mainland now that Markward has gone to Sicily.

From his castle at Celano above Lake Fucino he holds the two Marsican counties of Celano and Albe with Avezzano, a lordship the old royal register of feudal service (Catalogus baronum) rated at 258 knights (Kamp), and he has added Vairano on the road from the Abruzzi to Capua, ceded by Markward in 1198 to buy a safe withdrawal to the March. He backed Henry VI against Tancred, saw the child king Frederick brought safely from Foligno to Palermo with his cousin Count Berard of Loreto, and stood with Constance against Markward. He is brother-in-law to the chancellor Walter of Palear, whose policy rules the household council at Palermo, and late in 1199 that council granted him the county of Civitate in Capitanata, which had fallen vacant.

That grant collides with the pope, who had given Civitate to Count Roger of Chieti in October 1199, holds that only he as guardian may dispose of counties, and will not revoke his grant; and Peter has just forced his son Rainaldo into the see of Capua over local resistance. Innocent paid him in January 1199 to stop Markward at San Germano: he sent supplies and held the Marsica against the pope's enemies but would not march to relieve Montecassino. On 1 January 1200 he is a loyalist of the boy king's council who serves his own house first.

Who he is

Name
Peter of Celano (Pietro da Celano, Pietro Berardi)
Title
Count of Celano and count of Albe (comes Celani, comes Albae); lord of Avezzano, Venere and Vairano; holds a grant of the county of Civitate in Capitanata that the pope does not recognise
Since
Albe about 1170 (date not pinned); Celano recovered under William II; Albe, Celano and Avezzano held together by 1189 (Kamp)
Born
about 1150
Family
The Berardi, counts of the Marsi. Son of Count Berardo of Albe, who lost Albe about 1160 for joining revolts against the crown. Married to a sister (name not known) of Walter of Palear, the chancellor of the kingdom, and of Gentile and Manerio of Palear. Sons: Berardo (the eldest; his marriage to Margaret of Montbeliard, of Walter of Brienne's party, is in the summer of 1201, later), Rainaldo (elected archbishop of Capua in the autumn of 1199), Thomas (born about 1180), Richard and Peter the younger; daughters: Rogasiata (married John of Ceccano, of the Campagna counts, in 1189), Stefania, and a daughter married to Rainaldo of Anversa, lord in the Sagittario valley (date not pinned). Thomas's marriage to Judith (Giuditta), heiress of the last Norman count of Molise, is dated 1194 by one account and about 1201 by another.
Confidence
high

Norbert Kamp's DBI entry is the fullest modern account and is followed here; the it.wikipedia article draws on it and on Clementi's Enciclopedia Federiciana entry. Medieval Lands (fmg.ac) gives the same parentage and children from Richard of San Germano and the Annales Ceccanenses, but dates the battle of Canne a year late.

Overlord

The boy king Frederick, through the household council (familiares) at Palermo; the pope as guardian of the king and overlord of the kingdom.

What it holds

  • The county of Celano: Celano and its castles round the north shore of Lake Fucino, with the high plain of Ovindoli and Rocca di Mezzo and the Subequana valley (members as later listed for the county: Aielli, Cerchio, Collarmele, Pescina, Ortucchio, Gagliano, Castel di Ieri, Goriano Sicoli, Cocullo; the exact list for 1200 is not pinned)
  • The county of Albe: Alba Fucens and the west side of the Fucino basin, with vassals in the Valle Roveto and the Vallelonga
  • Avezzano
  • Venere, by Pescina, his early lordship
  • Vairano in the Terra di Lavoro, ceded by Markward in 1198
  • A grant of the county of Civitate in Capitanata from the council at Palermo (late 1199), probably not enforced
  • Through his son Rainaldo, influence over the archbishopric of Capua (elected autumn 1199)

How it was acquired

Inherited claims of the Berardi, counts of the Marsi. Albe restored to him about 1170, Celano recovered under William II; Vairano from Markward in 1198 in return for a safe withdrawal; Civitate granted from Palermo late in 1199 (Kamp).

Allies and rivals

Allies: his brothers-in-law Walter of Palear, the chancellor, and Gentile of Palear, count of Manoppello; his cousin Count Berard of Loreto; his son-in-law John of Ceccano in the Campagna; his son Rainaldo at Capua. Rivals: Count Roger of Chieti, whom the pope invested with Civitate in October 1199; the pope himself over Civitate and the Capua election; Diepold of Acerra and the German captains of Rocca d'Arce and Sora; Abbot Roffredo of Montecassino, whom he would not relieve in 1199.

How things stand that morning

Master of the Marsica and the strongest baron north of Capua, though he holds no royal office (his first, master justiciar, comes from the pope in 1201). Markward's departure for Sicily in October 1199 has left him a free hand in the northern provinces. He stands with the boy king's council at Palermo, which is in his own family's hands, and against Markward and Diepold, but he is at odds with Innocent III over Civitate and Capua and is not under the pope's command.

No war is being fought on his own ground that morning; Diepold's attacks on Montecassino's lands and on Venafro come in the spring and summer.

Wealth

The Fucino basin's grain and fish, sheep runs on the high plains and the droving roads (tratturi), the Valeria road from Rome to the Adriatic through Carsoli, Tagliacozzo, Celano and the Forca Caruso pass, and the road south past Sora to Capua.

Military

The strongest castle network in the Abruzzi: Celano, Albe, Avezzano, Ovindoli and the castles of the Fucino; a large following of vassal knights (the Catalogus baronum rating of 258 knights is a twelfth-century register figure, not a muster in 1200). He has never yet fought Diepold in the field.

Threats

  • Diepold of Acerra and the Germans of Rocca d'Arce and Sora on his southern flank
  • The pope's anger over Civitate and the Capua election
  • Roger of Chieti's rival grant of Civitate
  • Markward's return to the mainland if he wins in Sicily

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. March 1200Peter refuses to help Abbot Roffredo of Montecassino against Diepold of Acerra (Kamp).Depends on: Diepold attacking Montecassino's lands in the spring, and Peter's quarrel with the pope continuing Stopped by: A settlement with Innocent over Civitate and Capua, or a call from Palermo
  2. June 1200Diepold moves on Venafro; Peter comes out against him and suffers a heavy defeat before Venafro. His eldest son Berardo is taken and held at Rocca d'Arce until 1202 (Kamp; it.wikipedia puts the first clashes in March).Depends on: Diepold's campaign up the Volturno and Peter choosing battle without papal or royal troops Stopped by: Peter declining battle, or a papal army or Walter of Brienne in the field earlier

Later, on the likely course

  1. 1201 (after this year)With Walter of Brienne, Peter takes Venafro (23 June 1201) and subdues the county of Molise, Markward's former county; the pope names him master justiciar of Apulia and the Terra di Lavoro with Roger of Chieti.Depends on: Walter of Brienne's arrival and victory near Capua (10 June 1201) Stopped by: Brienne not coming, or Diepold holding Venafro

Places of note

  • Celano: Seat of the counts, above the north shore of Lake Fucino (the old town was destroyed by Frederick II in 1223 and rebuilt lower down)
  • Alba Fucens (Albe): Seat of the county of Albe on its hill west of the lake
  • Avezzano: Castle and village on the west shore of the lake
  • Venere: Peter's first lordship, by Pescina
  • Vairano: Castle in the Terra di Lavoro ceded by Markward in 1198

Where the sources disagree

  • Medieval Lands (fmg.ac) dates the battle of Canne, where Peter was captured by Walter of Brienne, to 25 October 1202; Kamp (DBI) gives 22 October 1201. Both are after 1 January 1200.
  • it.wikipedia says the clashes before Venafro began in March 1200; Kamp puts Peter's refusal to help Montecassino in March and his defeat before Venafro in June 1200.

Evidence: Richard of San Germano, the Gesta Innocentii and the papal registers, digested by Kamp in the DBI; the extent of the counties in 1200 castle by castle is not pinned.

On the map: The Marsican block follows the later members of the counties of Celano and Albe; which villages answered to Peter rather than to the bishop of the Marsi, Montecassino or lesser lords in 1200 is not pinned.

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.

7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.

Sources and studies

  1. N. Kamp, 'Celano, Pietro di', Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 23 (1979), treccani.it
  2. Pietro da Celano (it.wikipedia)
  3. Contea di Celano (it.wikipedia)
  4. Contea di Albe (it.wikipedia)
  5. Medieval Lands: Central Italy (counties in Abruzzo), fmg.ac

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