Principality of Salerno - Zenith and Decline

Zenith and Decline

John established his own dynasty, which was to usher in Salerno's final period of greatness as an independent Lombard entity. He tried to increase control of the church in his region, but failed. He followed the principle of co-regency of sons, to stabilise the succession. His son, Guaimar III, had to deal with Saracen attacks, but was aided by the Norman mercenaries he had helped to recruit to the south. He moved away from Byzantium throughout his reign and supported the Lombard rebels of Melus of Bari. He also supported his neighbour, Pandulf IV of Capua, despite the latter's unpopularity. Under Guaimar III, the Schola Medica Salernitana first began to flourish, and he was capable of striking Opulenta Salernitanum on his coins as a sign of the trading wealth of his city. Guaimar IV brought Salerno to its greatest heights, but it did not survive him.

He, too, used the Normans for mutual gain. He can be considered chiefly responsible for the rise of the Hautevilles in the Mezzogiorno. He opposed Pandulf of Capua, unlike his father, and he united his principality with that one for the first time since Pandulf Ironhead. In 1038, he sought the arbitration of both emperors over matters concerning Pandulf, but only the Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad II, responded, and Salerno became fully Western in allegiance. Conrad made Guaimar a powerful prince, and he extended his authority militarily over the coastal city-states of Gaeta, Naples, and Amalfi. He opened up the Campania, Apulia, and Calabria to conquest, but his successes were reversed by Conrad's son, Henry III, who in 1047 removed Guaimar from Capua and restructured the nature of his suzerain-vassal relationships to limit his power. In 1052, Guaimar was assassinated, and his son and successor, Gisulf II, showed none of his political acumen.

Under Gisulf, Salerno declined. He made useless war on Amalfi and on his Norman neighbours, finally on Robert Guiscard, the duke of Apulia, himself. Though Salerno remained wealthy and opulent to the end of his reign, he misused this wealth during the siege of 1077 and lost his city and his principality to the Guiscard. With Gisulf's defeat, Salerno ceased to be the capital of a large principality, and its once vast domain was completely merged into the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, the peninsular possession of the Hauteville family. Salerno did continue as the most important city of southern Italy until the end of Hauteville rule in 1194.

The Schola Medica Salernitana of Guaimar III survived until Napoleonic times, and it is considered the world's first university of medicine.