Duchy of Gaeta - Rise of The Docibilans

Rise of The Docibilans

The first consul of Gaeta, Constantine, who associated his son Marinus with him, was a Byzantine agent and a vassal of Andrew II of Naples. Constantine defended the city from the ravages of Muslim pirates and fortified it, building outlying castles as well. He was removed, probably violently, by the Docibilis I, who established a dynasty and made Gaeta de facto independent.

The Docibilian dynasts regularly worked to advance Gaetan interests through alliance with whatever power was most capable of such at the time. They joined forces with the Saracens against their Christian neighbours and with the Pope against the Muslim pirates at the Battle of Ostia. They constructed a massive palace and greatly increased the city's prestige and wealth. The Gaetans remained nominally Byzantine in allegiance until the mid tenth century, fighting under their banner at the Battle of the Garigliano. The chief success of the Docibilians lay, however, in extracting Gaeta from the Ducatus Neapolitanus.

It was Docibilis II (died 954) who first took the title of dux or duke (933). Docibilis saw Gaeta at its zenith but began the process whereby it was chiefly weakened. He gave Fondi to his second son Marinus with the equivalent title of duke and set a precedent for the partitioning of the Gaetan duchy and its encastellation, which corroded ducal authority over time.