Lando III was the count of Capua for two years and ten months from 882 to his death. He was a son of Landenulf, gastald

Gastald

A gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...

 of Teano

Teano

Teano is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, 30 km north-west of that town on the main line to Rome from Naples. It stands at the south-east foot of an extinct volcano, Rocca Monfina.- Ancient times and Middle Ages:...

, and grandson of Landulf I of Capua

Landulf I of Capua

Landulf I , called the Old, was the first gastald of Capua of his illustrious family, which would rule Capua until 1058. According to the Cronaca della dinastia di Capua, he ruled in Old Capua for twenty five years and four months and in New Capua for another year and eight months...

.

In 879, when Landulf II

Landulf II of Capua

Landulf II was Bishop and Count of Capua. He was the youngest of four sons of Landulf I, gastald of Capua. As a young man, he entered the church. When his father died, his eldest brother, Lando, succeeded him....

 died, Lando seized Calino and Caiazzo and made his son, Landulf, only an adolescent, bishop of Capua. Pandenulf

Pandenulf of Capua

Pandenulf was the Count of Capua, claiming that title from 862 and holding it successfully during the tumultuous civil war of 879 – 882. He was the son and successor of Pando, but was removed on his father's death by his uncle the bishop, Landulf II....

, however, seized Capua and appointed his brother Landenulf as bishop. Pandenulf recognised Lando in Caiazzo, but a schism began in the Capuan church over the rightful bishop. Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Leo IX two centuries later....

 decided in favour of Landenulf, but made Landulf bishop of "Old" Capua, Santa Maria Capuavetere.

Lando began building a coalition against Pandenulf. He brought on his cousins the deposed Lando II

Lando II of Capua

Lando II, called Cyruttu, was the count of Capua briefly for six months in 861. He was the eldest son and successor of Lando I.In May 859, a massive joint expedition of Salerno, Naples, Amalfi, and Suessola marched on Capua. Lando I was in a paralysis at that time and his son Lando II took up arms...

 and Landulf of Suessola and the prince of Salerno, Guaifer

Guaifer of Salerno

Guaifer was the Prince of Salerno from 861. The son of Daufer the Mute and grandson of Daufer the Prophet, he was the first of the Dauferidi to sit on the Salernitan throne which his family dominated unobstructed until 977.Guaifer's sister, Adelchisa, married Sicard of Benevento and when Sicard...

. Pandenulf recruited to his side Gaideris, Prince of Benevento, and the Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 strategos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

Gregory. Athanasius of Naples

Athanasius of Naples

Athanasius was the Bishop and Duke of Naples from 878 to his death. He was the son of Gregory III and brother of Sergius II, whom he blinded and deposed in order to seize the throne while he was already bishop....

 allied with Pandenulf, but after seizing desired land in Liburia, he abandoned the count. Lando and his allies sued for peace, but treacherously seized Capua and exiled Pandenulf and Landenulf, replacing them respectively with Lando and his son.

Lando warred successfully with Lando II, who had hoped to revive his own rule, and Athansius, who was desirous of more gains in the Capua province. Lando also allied with Guy III of Spoleto

Guy III of Spoleto

Guy of Spoleto , sometimes known by the Italian version of his name, Guido, or by the German version, Wido, was the Margrave of Camerino from 880 and then Duke of Spoleto and Camerino from 883. He was crowned King of Italy in 889 and Holy Roman Emperor in 891...

 against Atenulf, his own brother, the gastald of the Marsi

Marsi

Marsi is the Latin exonym for a people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus, drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century. The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. During the Roman Republic the people of the region spoke a...

. Erchempert

Erchempert

Erchempert was a monk of Monte Cassino in the final quarter of the ninth century. He chronicled a history of Lombard Benevento, giving especially vivid account of the violence surrounding his monastic retreat in his own day. The work, Historia Langobardorum Beneventanorum, stops in the winter of...

 here gives an indication of Lando's character, describing him as too indolent to even take action against his brother, who was then befriending his worst enemy.

Lando died in 885 of natural causes. He had married a daughter of Radelgar of Benevento

Radelgar of Benevento

Radelgar was the eldest son of Radelchis I of Benevento and he succeeded him as Prince of Benevento on his death in 851. Radelgar's mother was Caretrude and his brother was Adelchis....

. He was succeeded by his brother Landenulf

Landenulf I of Capua

Landenulf I was briefly Count of Capua after the death of his brother Lando III in 885. He was a son of Landenulf, gastald of Teano, and grandson of Landulf I of Capua....

.

Sources

• Erchempert
  Erchempert
  Erchempert was a monk of Monte Cassino in the final quarter of the ninth century. He chronicled a history of Lombard Benevento, giving especially vivid account of the violence surrounding his monastic retreat in his own day. The work, Historia Langobardorum Beneventanorum, stops in the winter of...
  
  . Historia Langabardorvm Beneventarnorvm at The Latin Library
  The Latin Library
  The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain. Others have been downloaded from various sites on the Internet . Most of the recent texts have been...
  
  .
• Caravale, Mario (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: LXIII Labroca – Laterza. Rome
  Rome
  Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
  
  , 2004.