Genealogy Italian Style
Dedicated to the Provinces of
 Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Napoli & Salerno, Campania, Italy

By Professor & Author Anthony M. Gisolfi

The first Gisulf was made chieftain or duke of Forum Julii district or Friuli, the eastern segment of Venetia.  He is presumed to have reigned for 43 years before dying a warrior's death in defense of his capital Cividale from attacking Mongolian Avars.

In the 600's Grimoald, son of the first Gisulf and his wife Romilda, assumed the kingship in Pavia, but returned south to defeat the last attempt of the Eastern Empire to retake Italy.  He rousted the Byzantine Emperor, Constant II, who had laid siege to Beneventum.

Gisulf I, Duke of Beneventum, lived and ruled until shortly after 700 A.D.

Gisulf II, also Duke of Beneventum, illustrates how even after 2 centuries Longobardia still extended down the length of Italy and the Longobard King still exercised his power over the southern duchy.  In 732 A.D. when Gisulf II's  succession was contested, King Liutprand had him brought to Pavia and installed his nephew as duke, who ruled until his death in 742.  King Liutprand then restored Gisulf II in the Duchy of Beneventum where he ruled until his death in 751.

Gisulf II's lasting fame, however, is associated with the Abbey of Montecassino.  For his donation of land his statue along with 17 others stands in the "Cloister of the Benefactors".

In the history of the Abbey we now find listed Abbot Gisolfo, who ruled the Abbey from 797 to 817, a good half century after the donation by Gisulf II.

In 774 the Longobard Kingdom in northern Italy ended when Pavia fell to Charlemagne.  However, in the south the local chieftains became in name and in fact independent princes and would continue to rule for almost 3 more centuries.  The once vast duchy is gradually fractured into three principalities; Beneventum in 774, Salernum in 839, and Capua in 850.

The Gisulf name reappears in the person of Gisulf I, prince of Salernum,  who ruled from 930 to 977.  He was a typical petty ruler of his age, often losing and regaining his throne in conflict with his neighbors.

A full century later we find a second Salernitan Gisulf, a new enterprising type who has to match his sword and wits with the impetuous Normans.  In 1052 Gisulf II makes an alliance with the Norman adventurer, Robert of Hauteville, the Guiscard (the cunning), and keeps his throne.  The alliance is strengthen by the marriage of Gisulf's sister, Segilgaita to Robert.  This alliance lasts twenty years and so by 1076 we find the Guiscard laying siege to Salernum and his brother-in-law and Gisulf succumbs to the struggle in 1077.

He enters into papal service for a number of years and reappears as Duke of Amalfi in 1088.  As for the Guiscard, while in an attempt to conquer the Eastern Empire he dies from a fever on the shores of Epirus at age 70.

The Longobards ruled for some 5 hundred years and with the adding in of -aldi and -olfi  we find the name Gisulf in the 3 surnames of "Gisolfi", "Ghisolfi" and "Grimaldi" (for the son of the First Gisulf).

We how have to jump to 1637 and Onofrio Antonio Gisolfi.  All we know of him is he worked in Naples from 1637 to 1647 and built the Church of San Nicola alla Carità on the famous Via Toledo in Naples.

He is a link in the persistence of the Longobard name down the centuries, which of course had become a surname.

At this time I can trace the unbroken Gisolfi line to 1860.  With a little luck and a lot of perseverance I hope to bridge the gap between the 1600 Gisolfi and my cousin Guiseppe Gisolfi (1800's).