Pandulf IV (also spelled
Randulf,
Bandulf,
Pandulph,
Pandolf,
Paldolf, or
Pandolfo) was the
prince of Capua on three separate occasions.
From February
1016 to
1022 he ruled in association with his cousin
Pandulf II. In
1018, the
Byzantine catapan Boiannes destroyed the Lombard army of
Melus of Bari and his
Norman allies at
Cannae. This victory brought the Byzantines recognition by all the princes of the
Mezzogiorno, which had previously owed allegiance to the
Holy Roman Emperor. Among these Pandulf was most ardent in his support of the Greeks. He assisted Boiannes in capturing Melus' brother-in-law
Dattus' tower on the
Garigliano in
1020, but this brought a large army down from Germany. A detachment under
Pilgrim, Archbishop of Cologne, marched down the
Tyrrhenian coast and besieged Capua. In 1022 the prince was taken and a new prince,
Pandulf, count of
Teano, installed. Pandulf IV was brought in chains to the
Emperor Henry II, who almost executed him before Pilgrim intervened on his behalf. He was then imprisoned in
Germany for two years.
He was released by
Emperor Conrad II in
1024 at the request of Prince
Guaimar III of Salerno, who was hoping for a new ally. Assisted by Guaimar and the Norman adventurer
Rainulf Drengott, Pandulf immediately besieged Capua. In
1025, Boiannes, who had been busy on a Sicilian expedition, joined them with a huge force. In
1026, after a siege of 18 months, the city fell. The count of Teano was given safe passage to
Naples by the Greek commander. Pandulf resumed his rule and remained in power until
1038.
In
1027, he defeated and deposed
Sergius IV of Naples, but Sergius was reinstalled in
1029 by a Norman army under Rainulf, Pandulf's one-time ally, who in return received the
county of Aversa, the first Norman toehold in the Mezzogiorno. Next, Sergius moved against the abbot of
Montecassino. The previous abbot, Atenulf, who had supported Pandulf, had fled from the invading imperial army in 1024. The new abbot, Theobald, had been the candidate of the Emperor and the
Pope. After inviting him to Capua, Pandulf threw him in prison, where he joined the deposed
archbishop of Capua. In
1032, Pandulf turned his attention to Sergius' old ally,
John V of Gaeta. He conquered Gaeta and took over the
consular and ducal title of its ruler. For all this, he was called by the chronicler
Aimé of Monte Cassino a
fortissime lupe, the
Wolf of the Abruzzi, a man of "wily and wicked deeds".
Subsequently,
Guaimar IV of Salerno, the son of Guaimar III (who died in 1027), asked the two emperors—Eastern and Western—to come and resolve the many disputes rupturing Southern Italy. Only Conrad accepted. Arriving at
Troia in 1038, He ordered Pandulf to restore stolen property to
Monte Cassino. Pandulf sent his wife and son to ask for peace, giving 300 lbs of gold (in two installments) and a son and daughter as hostages. The emperor accepted Pandulf's offer, but the filial hostage escaped and Pandulf took refuge in his outlying
castle of
Sant'Agata dei Goti. Conrad took Capua and gave it to Guaimar with the title of Prince. He also recognised Aversa as a county of Salerno. Pandulf, meanwhile, fled to
Constantinople, seeking the protection of his old Greek allies. The political dynamic having changed, however, Pandulf was imprisoned.
Subsequently, Guaimar became an enemy of Emperor
Michael IV and, before the latter's death, Pandulf was released from captivity. He returned to Italy in
1042. For the next five years, he and his few followers threatened Guaimar. In
1047, a watershed year in the history of the Mezzogiorno and the Lombards,
Emperor Henry III, Conrad's son, came down and made the
Drengot and
Hauteville possessions his direct vassals. At Capua, he restored Pandulf to power for the last time. Pandulf died in his own princedom on
19 February 1049 or
1050. 
