Conrad of Antioch
Conrad of Antioch (Italian: Corrado d'Antiochia; born 1240/41, died after 1312) was a scion of an illegitimate branch of the imperial Staufer dynasty and a nobleman of the Kingdom of Sicily.
[1] His father died in 1256 and he inherited the counties of Alba, Celano and Loreto, as well as numerous feudal possessions the Ruffi Mountains, around the Aniene river and in the Marsica.
His assault on Spoleto itself failed, but with the help of the town of Matelica he was successful in taking the hilltop fortress of Castel Santa Maria from the city of Camerino.
He proceeded to win over to Manfred's allegiance most of the towns of the March of Ancona through a combination of threats, donations and granting of privileges.
[2] In 1265, with an invasion of Sicily by Count Charles of Anjou imminent, Conrad conferred with Manfred at Lucera.
The fugitives then crossed into Papal territory and appealed to Clement IV, offering complete submission if the pope would intercede on their behalf with Charles.
Charles threatened to kill Conrad's daughter Beatrice, whom he had taken as a hostage while her father was still negotiating his submission, but was dissuaded by the imminent arrival of an army under Conradin, the Staufer claimant to the kingdom of Sicily.
In return, Conradin issued a charter confirming to Conrad all the fiefs he had held under Manfred and granting him the new title Prince of Abruzzo (princeps Aprutii).
In response to this, on 25 April 1268, Clement IV issued the bull Die coena Domini, excommunicating Conradin and his followers, including Conrad of Antioch.
[1][2] Conrad followed Conradin to Rome, where his entry on 24 July 1268 was greeted with festivities put on by the Ghibellines.
When Conradin's army entered Sicilian territory a few days later, Conrad was leading a contingent of Tuscan militia.
This bequest made sense from a dynastic perspective, since Conrad was, after the premature death of Conradin, the only person capable of rebuilding the family's power in Italy and Molise lay beside his lands in Abruzzo.
For his part, Conrad partially made good on Enzo's testament by occupying the town of Macchia in Molise.
He landed on the island in August, and in October wrote to Conrad from Messina urging him to invade Abruzzo from his base at Anticoli.
[1] Following the Aragonese victory at the Battle of the Gulf of Naples (5 June 1284), where the Prince of Salerno was captured, Conrad led another invasion of Abruzzo, this time aiming to recapture his county and castle of Alba.
In this first effort he was stopped near the castle of Celle by Stefano Colonna, lord of Genazzano in the Papal State, who was acting as the pope's man.
[1] The death of Charles in January 1285 provided a second opportunity, and Conrad successfully occupied several castles of Abruzzo and even the county of Alba by 1286.
[1] According to the Historia Augusta of Albertino Mussato, a contemporary, on 7 May 1312 an aged Conrad went to Rome at the head of fifty knights to welcome the arrival of Henry VII of Germany for his imperial coronation.
