Markward of Annweiler's party

Who rules

Name

Markward of Annweiler

Title

Imperial seneschal (dapifer, Reichstruchsess); formerly duke of Ravenna and the Romagna, margrave of Ancona and count of the Abruzzi and Molise; claimant to the regency of Sicily (named imperial regent, procurator regni Siciliae, by Philip of Swabia's princes in late May 1199)

Since

Claims the regency since Constance's death (27 November 1198); in Sicily since October 1199

Born

About 1150 (it.wikipedia); a ministerial of the Palatinate, his family perhaps ministerials of the bishops of Speyer

Family

Annweiler (below the Trifels); kin of the free lords of Hausen; relatives later include the Hausen, Kirrweiler, Dahn, Wersau and Wunnenberg families (de.wikipedia). Wife and children not pinned.

Confidence

high

Career from the Enciclopedia Federiciana and de.wikipedia; landing at Trapani in October 1199 from en.wikipedia and the Dizionario Biografico (William Grasso); the crusade from en.wikipedia (from November 1199).

Overlord

Claims to act for the empire and for the boy king under Henry VI's will; recognised as imperial regent by Philip of Swabia's party. He acknowledges no papal overlordship over his office and is excommunicated.

What the realm holds

• Trapani, its port and castle, where he landed in October 1199 (held, confidence medium: the landing is sure, a continued hold that winter is inferred)
• Monte San Giuliano (Erice) above Trapani and the Trapani country with its salt pans and tuna grounds (not pinned castle by castle)
• The alliance of the Muslims of the western mountains (the Monreale estate's hill country round Iato, Calatrasi and Entella: see Sicilian Muslims)
• The ships of William Grasso and through him the claim to Malta and Gozo (see Count of Malta)
• On the mainland: what his own men and allies still hold (San Germano fell to him in 1199; who holds it and the other castles that winter is in the cam and abr records)

How it was acquired

By landing in force in October 1199 and by alliance with the Muslims and Grasso; his title is the claim under Henry VI's will and Philip of Swabia's appointment.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Philip of Swabia and his party; William Grasso; the Muslims of the west; the German captains on the mainland when it suits them. Enemies: Innocent III and his marshal James; the chancellor Walter of Palear and the familiares; Palermo. Rivals: Diepold acts for himself as much as for Markward.

The realm that morning

Where Markward is that morning is not pinned. He landed at Trapani in October 1199; the Federiciana (Messina) says he attacked Messina, where the boy king and the council had taken refuge, without success (before the king thanked the city in December 1199, on the most natural reading); the Federiciana (Markward) says he won large parts of the island through continuous fighting; the next dated news (Dizionario Biografico) is his siege of Palermo in the spring of 1200. He holds Trapani and the far west in alliance with the Muslims of the mountains, and is fighting for the country between Trapani and Palermo.

His own lands in the north (Ravenna, Ancona) are lost to the pope; his Abruzzi and Molise counties are disputed (see the abr records).

Wealth

What he takes: the ports, customs and salt of the west, plunder, and money promised by his allies. He offered the pope a large sum for recognition in 1199 (the amount is not given here). No settled revenue.

Military

A core of German knights and men-at-arms who followed him from the mainland, Grasso's Genoese galleys, and the Muslim fighters of the mountains. Seasoned in Henry VI's wars and the crusade; numbers not given in the sources read.

Threats

• The papal army that the pope is raising under his marshal James
• The crusade indulgence offered against him from November 1199
• The loyalty of Palermo and of the Lombard towns to the regency
• The fickleness of Grasso and his Genoese, who can change sides
• His health (he will die of dysentery, or after an operation for the stone, in September 1202)

Captains and allies

William Grasso, count of Malta and admiral, the Genoese corsair whose fleet carried him to Trapani (Dizionario Biografico); the Muslims of the western mountains; on the mainland Diepold of Schweinspeunt, count of Acerra, who acted as his ally at Rocca d'Arce in 1198-1199 (de.wikipedia) and holds his own ground (see the diepold realm). William Capparone, a German who came south with Henry VI: when Markward left Sicily on Constance's orders in 1197, Capparone stayed on the island, probably on Markward's instructions (Gesta Innocentii, via the Federiciana), and when Markward came back in October 1199 he played no particularly important part; what he holds that winter is not pinned. After Markward's death he seizes Palermo and the king (1202).

Other captains in Sicily are not named in the sources read. Pisan backing is documented for Capparone in 1202, not for Markward in 1199-1200. Pisa: the Federiciana (Sicilia) says that Pisa, backed by Markward, settled at Syracuse and used it against the Genoese; the Pisan occupation of Syracuse is documented only by 1204, so it is not a fact of 1 January 1200.

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. Winter 1199-1200 (not pinned)If his failed attack on Messina is not yet over, it fails: Messina stays loyal and the king confirms its privileges (December 1199).Depends on: The timing of the attack, which the sources read do not fix. Stopped by: Treachery inside Messina.
2. Spring 1200Markward besieges Palermo, defended by the chancellor's brother Gentile.Depends on: His Muslim allies and his hold on the west. Stopped by: A papal army landing first, or a defeat in the field.
3. 21 July 1200Defeated near Monreale by the pope's marshal James and the regency's men; he flees, and Henry VI's testament is found in his baggage.Depends on: The papal army arriving and the familiares holding together. Stopped by: Palermo's earlier fall or a deal with the chancellor.
4. 1200, after MonrealeGrasso deserts him for the regency; he is beaten again by papal troops at Randazzo.Depends on: The Monreale defeat. Stopped by: A Markward victory at Monreale.
5. November 1200The chancellor, quarrelling with the pope, takes him into the college of familiares and gives him the government of Sicily except Palermo.Depends on: The pope's refusal of Palermo to Walter and his favour to Walter of Brienne. Stopped by: A papal compromise with the chancellor.

Later, on the likely course

1. November 1201He takes Palermo and the king, and imprisons Grasso, who dies in prison.Depends on: The alliance with the chancellor. Stopped by: A papal army or a loyal garrison.
2. Mid-September 1202Dies at Patti at the height of his power (dysentery according to the Federiciana and de.wikipedia; after an operation for kidney stones according to en and it.wikipedia). William Capparone takes over in Palermo.Depends on: His natural death. Stopped by: Play changing his circumstances.

Places of note

• Landing place, October 1199: Port where Grasso's fleet put him ashore
• Monte San Giuliano: The mountain fortress over Trapani

Where the sources disagree

• The cause of death differs: dysentery (Federiciana, de.wikipedia) or a failed operation for kidney stones (en and it.wikipedia). Place (Patti) and year (1202) agree.
• The Federiciana entry places the princes' recognition of Markward as procurator regni in late May 1199, after it mentions the October 1199 landing; the order of events here follows the dates.
• campaign notes Part 8.3 have Markward holding western Sicily, which agrees; the Federiciana (Messina) adds a failed attack on Messina before December 1199, which the campaign notes do not mention.

Evidence: His career and the 1200 chronology are well documented; his position in the winter of 1199-1200 is known only in outline (landing at Trapani in October, continuous fighting, siege of Palermo in spring). No source read names the castles he held that January beyond Trapani.

On the map: Only Trapani is documented; the extent of Markward's ground in January 1200 is a reasonable reading of 'continuous fighting' between an October landing at Trapani and a spring siege of Palermo, not a mapped fact.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• 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 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
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Book in honour of the Emperor, or On Sicilian affairs, Peter of Eboli (1195 to 1197). An illustrated verse account of Henry VI's conquest of Sicily, preserved in a single manuscript made at the imperial court. Read online