CAPUTO FAMILY HISTORY 

Heraldic Lion. Crest of Corrado Caputo of Antioch. Florence. Italy.

(While the president of Caputo Family Association is descended from an ancient lineage, he makes no claim to royal, princely or ducal against what might appear on some websites and makes no pretension or claim to be such.This family belongs to a family whose origins and ancestors are well documented. To insert in a biography reporting that the person has a noble title it does not mean to be recognized as such, nor will be recognized as monarchy). 

As for the story in particular, I would not like to fall into that vice or rigor of exaggerating the importance of that study to what I have expected each more especially. Therefore, I will not adhere to that saying, that history is not the great teacher of public life to men and nations; the greatest teacher of both is the practice without a doubt. But where good practice is lacking, history is also the best aid, the best foundation one can have for a national policy.

I put a lot of carefulness in verifying for chronological documents and places of writers with temporary dates. In all my work, I had recourse to the most trustworthy authors; I inserted the articles obtained from the most recent improvements to homeland history and have purported to illustrate some part of the history of our princes with any conjecture or critical observation of mine.

As for historical or political opinions, I know well, whether I want to or not, I will be criticized, more or less moderate, more or less courteous, more or less exact, according to the nature, education and studies of each; and that the last of these will certainly be useful to the scholars of our history. But it does not appear to be arrogance if I add that these criticisms, in other words, these exposures of the opinions of others, can hardly change mine.

 Salvatore Caputo

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Conradin Hohenstaufen, the last of the Swabians and his tragic end has moved writers and artists of all periods, and his personality has always been surrounded by a romantic aura. The nineteenth century poet, Aleardo Aleardi, wrote a famous poem about him, with the title Corradino di Svevia, which described him as a slim, blond adolescent, handsome and romantic, who wrote poetry and dreamed of his kingdom of Sicily, so different from cold, rainy Bavaria. He dreamed of the beloved land of sun, filled with almond blossom and the scent of orange blossom, where his father, uncle and grandfather were born. But he never succeeded in reaching Sicily and was beheaded at only sixteen years old on 29 October 1268 in Naples.

But the progeny of Frederick II found more branches in illegitimate children who also occupy a significant place in their history, as our emperor, with the personality that made him so great a personage, he always treated in the same way also the children born out of marriage, although they cannot formally include them in the role of dynastic heirs; one of them Corrado Caputo of Antioch, grandson of the emperor as the son of Frederick of Antioch, his natural son. The furrow left by the character in the then March of Ancona, as appointed Imperial Vicar in 1261 in support of Manfred. (Manfred was defeated by Charles d`Anj� and died on February 1266 at the Battle of Benevento).

When in 1256 his father died, Corrado found himself as the Count of Albe, Celano and Loreto Aprutino and Lord of feudal estates in the north of Ruffi Mountains slope, Aniene and Marsicana as Anticoli, Saracinesco, the underlying Mola, Sambuci, the Fortress of Sorci, the Fortress of Murri and other places like the Castle of Piglio.

Pasquale Ridola (1886) states that in October 1267 Corrado was definitely in Verona where he met for the first time his cousin Conradin from whom he obtained the confirmation of assets already owned with the addition the title of Prince of Abruzzo.

The Pope fearing that Corrado would embrace politics against the church like his father's, did not invest him the lands of Sicily, preferring Charles I D`Anjou; the family found themselves without possessions; Filadelfo Mungnos Teatro genealogico delle famiglie del regno di Sicilia Volume I pagina 69 (Genealogy families of the kingdom of Sicily Volume I page 69).

In March 1272, died in Bologna Enzo, the last surviving son of Frederick II. Enzo left by will the county of Molise to his cousin Corrado of which he was proprietor. It was a clear indication pointing to the last person still be able to reconstruct the grandeur of the Swabians.

Up to 1282 Corrado was one of the protagonists of the political maneuvers that were to lead to the occupation of Sicily by the Aragonese. Corrado along with Giovanni da Procida, repeatedly urged Peter of Aragon in the conquest of the island. Peter himself wrote in October of 1282 to Corrado in Messina just to get him to invade the territories of Abruzzo: Invitation that he accepted with enthusiasm.

The Pope Martin IV recalls Corrado several times to the obedience, but to no avail, and in the end, November 23, 1282, he threw the third excommunication. Corrado, along with other exiles, he tried to regain possession of castles and border towns, as Petrella, Antrodoco, Mareri and Frontino, and this made Charles of Anjou very angry. Excommunicated by the pope and sought after by the Angevines, Corrado became at that time a kind of pirate, almost always hidden but ready to organize ambushes. Its hideout was the Rocca dei Sorci, outside the town of Anticoli.

Corrado I Prince of Antioch, the grandson of Emperor Frederick II, has always been present on the Italian scene of the second half of the thirteen century. While the shadow of ?big? as Manfred and Conradin, he is the protagonist of his time. Survived the holocaust of the partisan of Hohenstaufen, at the end of his live he even becomes a symbol: a living memory of the Swabian Age, and point of reference, at least the ideal of all the Italian Ghibellines. His existence is marked by adventure and feudatory knight, pirate, prince and gentleman, for four times escapes from prison and three times he was excommunicated. However, he is capable of founding a dynasty in Val d? Aniene to Anticoli Corrado that took his name, he is still remembered and died of old age, reconciled with the Church to which he offered two sons Archbishops.

In that period of great uncertainty so it is likely that Corrado had decided to stand and let down the trend of political events and had retired. Also not to be forgotten or underestimated the expression of Pope Honorious IV who in 1286 called "Corrado beloved son of the Church". But according to a posterior document it would seem that Corrado was forced to come to terms with the pope, after most of his fiefs had been recaptured by the forces of the church. To confirm the peace took place with the Holy See is the marriage of one his daughters, Beatrice, with Ottaviano Brunforte, appointed Papal Vicar  in 1297 (Annals of Todi, by Petti) by Pope Boniface VIII.

Corrado knows defeats and victories. Always loyal and avid supporter of the Imperial House of Hohenstaufen. Corrado of Antioch is a rare example of a consistently explained even in the light of a childhood and an adolescence spent in direct contact with that Ghibelline world in which, for blood ties, already occupied an important place. Ties of those tumultuous events of his time seem to strengthening the making of the threads of his existence.

He lived out his days in Anticoli Corrado (named after his name) , where he was still living in 1320. After his death the offspring of Corrado split into two branches: one remained in Lazio (Anticoli, Piglio) and the other moved to Sicily in the county of Capizzi, had it in concession from Peter of Aragon, line died out in the fourteenth century, while that of Anticoli survived a century longer

THE FAMILY OF CORRADO CAPUTO OF ANTIOCH comes from two Dynasties; one from the Norman Sicily of Altavilla (Hautville and the other from the House of Hohenstaufen. Holy Roman Emperor was an elective office, however, dynastic politics made it effectively hereditary, first with the Hohenstaufen.

The family of the Hauteville  (French: Maison de Hauteville, Italia: Casa d'Altavilla, Sicilian: Casa d'Autavilla) was a petty baronial Norman  family from the Cotentin which rose to prominence in Europe, Asia, and Africa through its conquests in the Mediterranean, especially Southern Italy and Sicily.  They also participate in the Norman Conquest of England.

The familial origins had roots from the Norwegian Vikings (Norsemen) who had settled in Normandy in the 10th century. From just which village of Hauteville, which may simply mean "high town", the family drew its name is hard to identify with certainty, though modern scholarship favors Hauteville-la-Guichard.

 The Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned the late eleventh and much of the twelfth centuries, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own. Only later were these united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included not only the island of  Sicily, but also the entire southern third of the Italian peninsula as well as the archipelago of Malta and parts of North Africa. 

 The family of Hohenstaufen - German princely family, whose name is derived from the castle of Staufen, built in 1077 by a Swabian count, Frederick. In 1079, Frederick married Agnes, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and was created duke of Swabia. The line of German kings and Holy Roman emperors began in 1138 with Frederick's son Conrad III, who was succeeded by Frederick I, Henry VI, and Philip of Swabia. Their chief rivals were the Guelphs, whose scion, Otto IV, was Holy Roman emperor from 1209 to 1215; but the Hohenstaufen heir, Frederick II, was elected king by a rival party in 1212. The most spectacular representative of the house, Frederick, shifted the center of the family interests to Sicily and Southern Italy.

Corrado Caputo of Antioch

Prince of Antioch of the House of Hohenstaufen. Vicar General for the island of Sicily, grandson of Frederick II. Prince of Abruzzo (1267), Duke of Spoleto, Count of Alba, Celano (1258), Laureto and Abruzzo (1267), Count of Loreto (1285). Baron of Anticoli, Saracinesco, Rocca dei Surici, Rocca di Muzzi and Sambuci.

The Principality of Antioch included part of Turkey and Syria and was one of the states created during the First Crusader. The Principality was much smaller that Edessa and Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering on the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date. It probably had about 20,000 inhabitants in the 12^th century, most of whom were Armenians and Greek Orthodox Christians, with a few Muslim outside the city itself. Most of the crusaders who settle there were of Norman origin and/or from southern Italy, as were the first rulers of the principality who surrounded themselves with their own loyal subjects. There were few Roman Catholics apart from the Crusaders who set up the Principality, even though the city was turned into a Latin Patriarchate in 1100.

 

Corrado Caputo of Antioch, born between 1240 and 1241. We do not know the precise date of birth and we formulate the hypotheses addressing the life of his father Federico (Frederick) of Antioch and his family matters. A document in which Frederick of Antioch is married on February 10, 1240 is a letter wrote by the Emperor Frederick II, his father, to Giovanni Raimo, the administrator of the castles of Abruzzo, to ensure to provide the sustain of his son Federico of Antioch and his wife Margherita Lancia, daughter of Galvano Lancia, Prince of Salerno who was elected the Grand Marshal of the Reign.

Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor

Armorial of the Holy Roman Empire

Coat of arms

When Frederick I became Duke of Swabia in 1079, his coat of arms showed a yellow lion on a black shield. Whilst members of the family reigned as German Kings and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, the Hohenstaufen coat of arms was used as a breast shield on the empire?s coat of arms. Philip of Swabia, elected German king in 1198, changed the coat of arms ? the lion was replaced by three leopards

Frederick II (December 26, 1194 ? December 13, 1250), was the son of the emperor Henry VI. and Constance, daughter of Roger I., king of Sicily, and therefore grandson of the emperor Frederick I.Hohenstaufen Dynasty. Frederick II was a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215.  As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy. He was also King of Sicily from his mother's inheritance. He was Holy Roman Emperor (Emperor of the Romans) from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death. His original title was King of Sicily, which he held as Frederick I from 1198 to his death. His other royal titles, accrued for a brief period of his life, were King of Cyprus and Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. 

The popes wanted Frederick to lead a holy crusade against the Muslims in the Near East, to liberate Jerusalem and re-establish Christian rule on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. For a time, Frederick adroitly avoided this papal imposition (he had difficulties enough with some of the Muslims in his own kingdom), but by 1227 he could no longer postpone this mission, arriving in Palestine in 1229. He obtained rule of the Holy Land not through military prowess and bloodshed but by skillful persuasion and delicate diplomacy. By a treaty made in February 1229 he secured possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and the surrounding neighbourhood. Entering Jerusalem, he crowned himself king of that city on the 18th of March 1229.  

Unlike most Holy Roman emperors, Frederick spent little of his life in Germany. After his coronation in 1220, he remained either in the Kingdom of Sicily or on Crusade until 1236, when he made his last journey to Germany. (At this time, the Kingdom of Sicily, with its capital at Palermo,Kingdom of Sicily or on Crusade until 1236, when he made his last journey to Germany. (At this time, the Kingdom of Sicily, with its capital at Palermo, extended onto the Italian mainland to include most of southern Italy.) He returned to Italy in 1237 and stayed there for the remaining thirteen years of his life, represented in Germany by his son Conrad. extended onto the Italian mainland to include most his coronation in 1220.

Frederick died peacefully, wearing the habit of a Cistercian monk, on December 13, 1250 in Castel Fiorentino near Lucera, in Puglia, after an attack of dysentery. His sarcophagus (made of red porphyry) lies in the Cathedral of Palermo beside those of his parents (Henry VI and Constance) as well as his grandfather, the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. A bust of Frederick sits in the Walhalla temple built by Ludwig I of Bavaria.

PRINCE OF ANTIOCH

CAPUTO BRANCH

GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE MARQUIS OF PETRELLA. CAPUTO FAMILY (STORIA GENEALOGICA DEI MARCHESI DELLA PETRELLA. FAMIGLIE CAPUTO E MORICCA CAPUTO). By Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent 

Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent (29 April 1915-21 December 2005) was a Cronista Rey de Armas ("Chronicler King of Arms") of the Kingdom of Spain, wrote about Caputo prince of Antioch:

Ancient and historical Neapolitan Family which renowned Heraldists (among modern Giovanni Battista di Crollanza and Bernardo  di Candida Gonzaga) they  attributed as the founder Prince of Antioch Corrado of Hohenstaufen called Caputo grandson of the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia.

?Antichissima e storica Famiglia napoletana cu� araldisti di chiara fama (fra i moderni: Giovan Battista di Crollalanza e Bernardo di Candida Gonzaga) credono di poter attribuire come capostipite il Principe d' Antiochia Corrado di Hohenstaufen detto il Caputo nepote del inmperatore Federico II di Svevia".

Conrad (Corrado Caputo)  took for his last name of ?Antiochia? (Summonte in the Story of Naples p.2 f. 237) because he obtained from the King, his father, Federico of Antioch d'Hauteville von Shwaben Hohenstaufen, the PRINCIPALITY OF ANTIOCH. Federico was King of Antioch (1247), King of Tuscany (1245), given to him by his father Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem received with the marriage to Isabella di Brienne. 

Caputo last name derives from a nickname that was attributed to the original bearer. In this case, the Caputo last name derives from the Latin ?Capo? from the Italian word ?capo?, that means ?head?. The people of the community gave this nickname to him, which the head of the family adopted for his last name. The use of the last names started during the Middle Ages for means of distinction between persons who carried the same personal name.

CORRADO CAPUTO CHILDREN 

Corrado of Antioch had eight children: Federico, Bartolomeo (Archbishop of Palermo), Francesco (Archbishop of Palermo), Constanza (married Bartolomeo Della Scala), Imperatrice (married Federico Della Scala), Corrado, Galvanus, Giovanna (husband Congrante Della Scala).

The first Federico started the branch with Lorenzo and Gualtieri Caputo that leads today the surname Caputo. In 1294 were granted concession by King Charles II; the Land of Caporosso in Abruzzo, with this concession began the Family Coat of Arms. (Discourses of the noble families of the Kingdom of Naples by Carlo De Lellis, second part of the stamp of Gio: Francesco Paci, 1663, page 251?.da questi Lorenzo e Gualtieri Caputo, gi� armati Cavalieri, principiarono l�albero di questa famiglia?.).

Corrado of Antioch, grandson of Frederick II, was called Caputo. From certain documents is by Gualtieri and Lorenzo, both armed Knights at Pentecost in 1275, which begin with absolute historicity of the first two branches of the House Caputo: but while the offspring of Gualtieri, noble in the Seat of Portanuova, Family of King Charles I of Anjou (1291), Baron of Castel di Tito (1292) and  the feudal Starza Caputo in Massa Lubrense (1292), Judge advocate of Students and University of Naples from 1294 to 1299, expires after two generations, that of Lorenzo continues uninterrupted to the present days. By these two illustrious Caputo generates the whole Caputo noble family of Naples.

 Below:  Lorenzo and Gualtieri Caputo Coat of Arms:

Of red with a silver lion's head placed in majesty and crowned gold: Royal crown. Crest: an arm covered armor that holds by the hair the head of a Moor.

 Caputo Neapolitan Noble Family

Neapolitan Noble Families and title holders, ascribed to the seats of Naples, Neapolitan Golden Book, belonging to the Piazze (Square) of the city declared locked to the Neapolitan Regional List and have had a role in the vicissitudes of southern Italy.

http://www.nobili-napoletani.it/Caputo.htm

Lorenzo Caputo Family:

The Family owned properties and Palaces in Naples "by the sea district, that later was called the portal of Caputo." Family enjoyed nobility in the city of Naples (1275), Massalumbrese (1292), Cosenza (1305), Venice (1599), Foligno (1626), Imola (1628), Narni (1627), Catanzaro (1639) and Tropea (1400).

Caputo in different branches possessed noble Lordship and noble Feudals in Cuma (1291), Massalumbrese (1292), Tito (1292), Calopezzati (1300), Castel di Pietra (1322), Bagnoli (1583), Carovigno (1597), Petrella (1599), Foccia,  Sacco and Santo Mango (1620), Belvedere (1630), Cerveto (1724) and many others.

(The Italian surname of CAPUTO has the associated coat of arms recorded in Rietstaps Armorial General. Recorded in Naples, Italy) " "Caputo D'argent � une t�te de l�opard de sable couronn�e d'or Casque couronn� Cimier un bras arm� de sable tenant une t�te de Turc par les cheveux Lambrequin � dextre d'or et d'argent � senestre d'or et de gueules".

a) Di rosso alla testa di leopardo d'argento coronata d'oro b) Nel campo una cima di torre merlata con tre teste coronate ai lati e sotto http://www.casadalena.it/Molise.htm http://www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/bibliotecacentrale/mango/capra.htm http://www.casadalena.it/Molise.htm http://www.ilportaledelsud.org/cognomi_c1.htm http://www.molfetta.net/araldica/blasonario_molfetta.php?id=C http://www.tropeamagazine.it/blasonariopiazzechiuse/tropea.htm     http://www.ilportaledelsud.org/cognomi_c1.htm  http://www.cognomiitaliani.org/cognomi/cognomi0003cap.htm

The Caputo family branches were dispersed out in other parts of Italy, and were received several times for justice in the Order of the Knights of Malta and owned several estates, including the Marquess of Cerveto and Petrella from 1583, Emperor Charles VI, with diploma 1724, Caputo was invested with the title of Duke.

The Caputo had the Lordship of 15 feudal, (Bagnoli, Belvedere, Calopezzati, Carovigno, Castle of Peter, Cuma, Foccia, Gifuni, Mattafellone, Roccaromana, Sacco, Sanfelice, Sansosti, Santomango and Tito) Count of Montefortino and Capizzi, Marquis of Cerveto and Petrella, the Duchy of Turano and the Principality of Calopezzati.

Therefore Corrado (Conrad) was of German origin and has far for his last name, before been Caputo, it was Hohenstaufen, and he was prince of Antioch. From the same Corrado the family took also origin of the family Antiochia (Antioch). One, therefore, called himself from the coat of arms, other from the nobiliary title.  Many are the branches of families derived from the sons of Corrado Caputo of Antioch.

          CATHEDRAL OF PALERMO, SICILY - ITALY

Proof of Corrado of Antioch legitimate descendant of the

Hohenstaufen Dynasty and first bearer of the family name Caputo.

 The Principality of Antioch enters on the emblem of the Emperor Frederick II as coat of arms at the time of his marriage to Isabella of Jerusalem (1225-1228). Frederick was crowned King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the only Holy Roman Emperor to be so honored. At that time; Frederick of Antioch (father of Corrado Caputo) was already born.

The arms of Antioch remains the emblem of Frederick II and, as the title of succession can be passed to his illegitimate son. Subsequently, the title de Antioch has been granted by his father to son. Particularly in July 1245, Frederick of Antioch had from his father received investiture of a knight, at the age of 16 years, becoming his official representative in the difficult context Tuscany and he was called to defend the interests of his family against the irreconcilable enemies to the Swabians.

In the city of Cremona in 1245, Emperor Frederick II created his son Frederick Prince of Antioch and with his own hand invested him with his sword (Origin and foundation of the Seat of Naples, p. 153, Camillo Tutini, Publicized in 1754 from R . Gessari). On the 16th of June, 1247, gave his son Frederick of Antioch the title of King of Antioch (History of Italian Republic)

In that  year 1245, the Emperor Frederick II, in the Council of Lyons, on July 17 in the third excommunication of Frederick, was deposed and excommunicated by Pope Innocence IV. At that moment so critical to the Ghibelin party, the Emperor had entrusted to his illegitimate children the most important roles. In the North of Italy sent as vicar Enzo King of Sardinia and fought as an imperial leader in Lombardy. Richard of Teato (Chieti) took the appointment as vicar general of the Marca and Spolet.

At the end of the crusade of 1247, Frederick II made a testament to give some autonomy to his legitimate and illegitimate children. ?Erantque ei (sc. Imperatori) plures filii ligiptimi et naturales, videlicet Zarlotus, Ricardus, Corradus, Hencius, Manfredus et Fredericus, et ex quondam Anrico figlio suo Fredericus tercius?.... ? 

Frederick of Antioch was awarded with the Captaincy General of Tuscany, also appointed Podesta of Florence, position that he maintained for five years, until the death of his father. It was revealed some irregularities with the administrative and corruption of various officials, so that Frederick II was forced to lay off the Apulia, Pandolfo Fasanelle for years captain general of Tuscany, and replaced by his son Frederick of Antioch, who soon took the title of King of Tuscany. ... and his son Fredeick Prince of Antioch constituted captain of Tuscany and Maremma unto the Duchy and the Marche and Romagna exclusively...(The compilation of Annals Piacentini and HB p. 214, MG-SS., XVIII, p. 496).

Manfred, his brother, was elected Duke of Taranto, according to the will of testamentary of Frederick II, regent, at eighteen, the Kingdom of Sicily, whose crown passed to him after death of the legitimate heir Conrad IV. The dead Emperor Frederick II (1250) and its successor Conrad IV (1254), who left his son Corradino (Conradin) that was just two years old, Manfred took power of the Reign assuming  the protection of the legitimate heir to the throne Conradin.

In 1256 and always in Foggia, occupied by Cardinal Ottaviano of Ubaldini, Frederick of Antioch, which had not been able to resist in Tuscany, died falling in an ambush while Frederick of Antioch went to meet Manfred, that together had to rely on the rights of their kingdom, Manfred instead on his way found soldiers of the Pope and did not arrived on time to help his brother: so disappeared from history "one of the most seductive figures of Swabian (R. Davidsohn). Before Frederick was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Lucia di Mola, (here Peter III of Aragon of Sicily (brother in law), after the solemn funeral in the cathedral, temporarily buried the body of Federico waiting to be then transported to the cathedral in Palermo). Frederick of Antioch was the only son of the Emperor that rests next to his father in the Cathedral of Palermo, Italy. For the will of Conrad IV, the rulers of the Kingdom of Sicily were already princes of Antioch.

Frederick of Antioch died leaving as heir his first born son Corrado (known as Caputo) of Antioch, that was born between 1240 and 1241 and could have then fifteen or sixteen years old, the major feudal heritage, including domains in Abruzzo of Alba, and Celano Loreto Aprutino those located in the north of Monti Ruffi, on Aniente and the way Valeria. Also in its broad domain of, Anticoli, Saracinesco, the "Rocca di Surici", "Fortress of Muzzi" and Sambuci.

With the death of his father Frederick of Antioch, Corrado seems to have inherited the political tendencies in favor of his uncle Manfred, so soon to become one of the most avid supporters of the cause Swabia, then filling the vacuum that Frederick of Antioch had left in Ghibelline Italian movement. The image of Corrado offers us in the historical sources, is that of a man already powerful by birth, surrounded by many influential personages of which is linked by close bonds of kinship, belonging to the narrow circle of advisers who enjoy the confidence unconditional Manfred.

Galvano Lancia (future father in law of Corrado) had the principality of Salerno and was largely elected marshal of the Kingdom, Manfred Maletta had the great office of Camerlengo and the lordship of Monte Sant'Angelo, Corrado of Antioch instead, Manfred confirmed to him the county of Alba, Celano and Loreto Aprutino, adding the county of Abruzzo and the domination of certain lands in Calabria. Between 1258 and 1261, Corrado married Beatrice Lancia daughter of Galvano, while his sister Filippa became wife of Manfredi Maletta.

Corrado of Antioch had eight children: Federico, Bartholomew (archbishop of Palermo), Francesco (archbishop of Palermo), Costanza (married Bartolomeo della Scala), Imperatrice (married Federico della Scala), Corrado, Galvanus, Giovanna (married Congrante della Scala). The first Frederick had a son named Conrrado of Antioch Count of Capizzi.  This branch brings today the surname of Caputo.

After the dead of the Emperor Frederick II, grandfather of Conrad Caputo of Antioch, December 13, 1250, Pope Innocence IV  left marks to destroy the ?Svevi? (Swabian): ?Never leave  this man and his poisonous family  the scepter with which dominated the people of Christ!? and, other terrible sentence: ?Extirpate name, body, seed of the heirs of the Babylonian?. Innocence died in 1254. Under his successor Urban IV and Clemente IV, more rigid and obstinate, brought the destruction to them.

Frederick of Antioch (father of Conrad Caputo of Antioch) King of Tuscany and Antioch, supported the brother King Manfred and his nehew Corrado (Conrad IV) Puglia in the defense of the Reign. But after the dead of the Emperor, his father, incapable to stand as General Captain in Tuscany, he died in 1256, not even thirty years old, fighting in Foggia( Italy) that was occupied by the papal troops. 

BATTLE OF TAGLIACOZZO

Conradin and Corrado (Caputo) of Antioch's cousin, Constanza, had married Pietro (Pedro) III of Aragon, whose claims were supported by the Sicilians after their revolt against the French (the Sicilian Vespers of 1282). Pedro succeeded in invading Sicily, and this marked the first and longest split between the kingdom of Naples and the kingdom of SicilyAragon, created the arms of Sicily. On the other side of the Faro, Charles of Anjou was ceded the rights to Jerusalem by Marie of Antioch in 1277, and his arms (France ancient a label gules) impaling Jerusalemkingdom of Naples. (1282-1443). Heraldically speaking, Pietro, by quartering the eagle displayed sable on argent of the Hohenstaufen with the four pallets gules on or of became the arms of the Aragon.

The fall of Conradin of Swabia (grandson of Frederick II and cousins of Corrado of Antioch), in the battle of Tagliacozzo the 23 of August of 1268, marked the end of male legitimate succession: but it does not mean that all the offspring had been exterminated. From the sons of Fredrick of Antioch the offspring? branches have arrived until our days and: from our Grandfather Conrad of Antioch (Born in 1241) develops the ?Caputo Branch?. Conrad Caputo of Antioch escaped from the massacres ordered by Charles of Anjou because his mother, Margarita Poli and his wife Beatrice Lancia, had in their castle of Saracinesco, in hostage since 1267, some Nobles of Guelph part, the Lords Napoleone and Matteo Orsini, and had saved the life for interchanging with the powerful Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini (brother of the prisoners), future Pope Nicol� III 26 December 1277), then made them to swear fidelity to the Church. Conradin of Swabia was host in the Conrad Caputo?s Castle of Saracinesco (near Rome) the eve of the battle.

The Dynasty of the Hohenstaufen House continued its existence in the House of Frederick of Antioch, son of Frederick II, and Mary Matilda House of the princes of Antioch Bohemond of Altavilla (Hautville) and Constance, daughter of Philip I, King of France; Corrado Caputo of Antioch!

All Hohenstaufen claims ---  with the tragic death of Conrad IV's sixteen year old son (direct cousin to Corrado Caputo of Antioch) , both the House of Hohenstaufen and the Duchy of Swabia ceased forever to exist"  But it must understood that there are many descendants of this family, real and genuine ones, legitimate and not legitimate....but they are all descendants.

About Fredrick of Antioch (son to the Emperor and father to the first Caputo, Prince of Antioch of the House of Hohenstaufen. Vicar General for the island of Sicily, nephew of Frederick II.), his mother Matilde was lawfully married to Fredrick Hohenstaufen.  Federico of Antioch d'Hauteville von Shwaben Hohenstaufen, the PRINCIPALITY OF ANTIOCH. Federico was King of Antioch, King of Tuscany, given to him by his father Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem received with the marriage to Isabella di Brienne.  (A History of theItalian Republic).

Marriage of Matilde with the Emperor Fredrick II, Bartolomeo da Neocastro (History, cit., P. 21) and Pirro (See A. Pirro, Sicilia, cit., Pp. 25-35) says that the mother of Frederick is legitimate wife of the Emperor. According to these testimonies Frederick of Antioch should be considered legitimate child of the Emperor and fourth wife. In the testament of Frederick II, Frederick of Antioch, vicar general of Tuscany. It is listed as "Count of Alba" (BF, 3635, BFW, 13624b, Ernst Kantorowicz, Frederick II emperor p. 746).

Frederick of Antioch is not named as a bastard. The princess of Antioch would have lived in Italy with the Emperor, in the years 1222-1225, together with a public and stable enough to be called "uxor" by some sources. Bartolomeo da Neocastro lists five "uxores" Frederick II. Among the first wife Constance of Aragon (1209-1222) and the second or Jolanda Isabella of Jerusalem (1225-1228) there is a gap (1222-1225): in this period was born Frederick of Antioch, at the same so there is a gap between the second and third wife Isabella of England (1235-1241): born in that emptiness Manfredi  (1232), King of Italy and step brother to Frederick of Antioch, whose mother Bianca Lancia is called "fifth uxor." The hypothesis is: the first three wives "regular", then married women "in extremis", when were about to die (GP Carosi, op. Cit., Pp. 24-25).

The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I of Naples, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.

The rising had its origin in the struggle between the Hohenstaufen-ruled Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy for control over Italy. When Hohenstaufen Manfred of Sicily was defeated in 1266, the Kingdom of Sicily was entrusted to his rival, Charles of Anjou, by Pope Urban IV.

Charles regarded his Sicilian territories as a springboard for his Mediterranean ambitions, which included the overthrow of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. His French officials (who governed Sicily badly) mistreated native Sicilians with rape, theft and murder.

On Easter Monday (30 March), 1282 at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo, at evening prayer (vespers), a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian woman. Accounts differ as to what the harassment entailed, who the woman was, and who the Frenchman was.

This single event led to the massacre of four thousand Frenchmen over the course of the next six weeks. The king of Sicily at the time, Charles I, was an Angevin, and his French followers had a legacy of mistreating the native people of Sicily, especially while Charles was away on one of his many absences. Only a few officials notable for their good conduct were spared; and the city of Messina held out for Charles. But through the diplomatic errors of the vicar, Herbert of Orléans, Messina revolted on April 28. Herbert retreated to the castle of Mategriffon and the Crusader fleet stationed in the harbour was burned.

The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter of Aragon, the heir of ManfredAragon after Charles success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus. Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno. John of Procida then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and an ally of Charles. in right of his wife. 

Peter nevertheless pressed his advantage and by February 1283 had taken most of the Calabrian coastline. Charles, perhaps feeling desperate, sent letters to Peter demanding they resolve the conflict by personal combat. The invader accepted and Charles returned to France to arrange the duel. Both kings chose six knights to settle matters of places and dates. A duel was scheduled for 1 June at Bordeaux. A hundred knights would accompany each side and Edward I of England would adjudge the contest; the English king, heeding the pope, however, refused to take part. Peter left John of Procida in charge of Sicily and returned via his own kingdom to Bordeaux, which, evading a suspected French ambush, he entered in disguise. Needless to say, no combat ever took place and Peter returned to a very troubled Spain.

While Peter was back in France and Spain, his admiral, Roger of Lauria, was wreaking havoc in Italy. He routed Charles' fleets on the high seas several times and conquered Malta for Aragon.

Peter was the direct descendant and the heir-general of the Mafalda, daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, the Norman conqueror, and his official wife Sigelgaita, daughter of a Lombard prince, Guaimar IV of Salerno. Thus, he stood at the end of the Hauteville succession to Sicily. After the ducal family of Apulia became extinct with William II in 1127, Mafalda's heirs (then counts of Barcelona) apparently became de jure heirs of Guiscard and Sigelgaita: thus Peter was dormantly a claimant to the Norman succession of southern Italy. More directly, he was the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. The Two Sicilies were to be a tenaciously-pursued inheritance for the Aragonese Royal House and its heirs for the next five centuries.

Please note:

Some opinions about the descendants of Federico Prince of Antioch (father of Corrado Caputo), son of Frederick II, to boast of the Imperial title of Swabia, but this House can only claim titles of a descendant of the prince of Antioch, of those titles granted by his father to the son.

The only downdrafts traditionally welcomed the Prince of Antioch, son of Fredrick II, was that its heirs that are in the Family Caputo, Princes of Calopezzati and from many other noble families Caputo also widespread in southern Italy. These princes, however, by serious people who have always never thought of using Imperial titles, the rest is not relevant to them. And also the heir of the Swabian rights were claimed to King of Aragon, the Caputo were related family to the King.

Federico of Antioch took the surname by the investiture of the father of the principality of Antioch (“Summonte” in the History of Naples, p. 2 F. 237). He married Margarita Poli, nephew of Pope Innocent III, and from them was born a primogenitor Corrado (Called Caputo), count of Alba, Celano, Loreto and Abruzzo. Filadelfo Mugnos writes that this dynastic line is  agreed by all historians. The Pope fearing that Corrado would embrace a policy against the Church as his father did not invest him in the land of Sicily, preferring Charles I of Anjou.

While the Swabian dynasty in the legitimate line became extinct with the death of Corradin in 1268, the illegitimate offspring of which Federico Prince of Antioch who was the Head of the House, continued for many generations.

 

 

 

THE FAMILY OF CORRADO CAPUTO OF ANTIOCH comes from two Dynasties; one from the Norman Sicily of Altavilla (Hautville and the other from the House of Hohenstaufen. Holy Roman Emperor was an elective office, however, dynastic politics made it effectively hereditary, first with the Hohenstaufen.

The House of Corrado Caputo Prince of Antioch of the House of Hohenstaufen, Vicar General of Sicily, grandson of Frederick II. Prince of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire (1241), Prince of Abruzzo (1267), Prince of Calopezzati, Prince of Toscana, Duke of Spoleto and of Turano, Marquis of Cerveto and Petrella, Count of Alba, Celano (1258), Laureto and Abruzzo (1267), Count of Loreto (1285), Baron of Anticoli, Saracinesco, Rocca del Surici, Rocca di Muzzi and Sambuci.

(The Italian surname of CAPUTO has the associated coat of arms recorded in Rietstaps Armorial General  Recorded in Naples, Italy).

"Caputo D'argent, à une tête de léopard de sable, couronnée d'or. Casque couronné".

Note From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johannes Baptista Rietstap (12 May 1828–24 December 1891) was a Dutch heraldist genealogist. He is most well-known for his publication of the Armorial Général. This monumental work contains the blazons of the coats of arms of more than 130,000 European and families. It is still one of the most complete works of its kind.

Rietstap's first publications mainly stemmed from his multilingual abilities. He translated works of non-fiction, historical and romantic novels, and travel journals in French, German, and English. He continued to work as a translator into the early 1870s. His greatest contributions in the world of publishing related to his hobby of heraldry, though. He focused mostly on personal heraldry of families, and much less on civic heraldry. During this period he published the Handboek der Wapenkunde (Manual of Heraldry) which was an important addition to the body of work on Dutch heraldry. It has been expanded and updated and remains a standard work on the subject.

In 1861, Rietstap first published his Armorial général, contenant la description des armoiries des familles nobles et patriciennes de l'Europe, précédé d'un dictionnaire des termes du blason. This work contained the blazons of almost 50,000 noble families in Europe. They were all organized alphabetically by surname. He made extensive use of heraldic sources in a variety of languages to compile the Armorial. As word spread of the publication, he made more heraldic contacts around Europe and was able to expand the work to two volumes in 1884 and 1887

In 1871, European interest in heraldry was growing, thanks in part to Rietstap's work. Capitalizing on this, he was able to begin publication of an heraldic magazine. Specifically, he hoped that the Heraldieke Bibliotheek (Heraldic Library) would expose Dutch readers to the wider heraldic world. In 1872, the he went to press with the subtitle "Magazine for Heraldry, Genealogy, Seals and Medals." The magazine would be published until 1882, and was mostly filled with articles written by Rietstap himself.