Alfanus of Camerota was the Archbishop of Capua from 1158 until his death around 1180. He was a very close friend to Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

.

In 1163, the Pope wrote Alfanus to inform him of a plot against King William I of Sicily

William I of Sicily

William I , called the Bad or the Wicked, was the second king of Sicily, ruling from his father's death in 1154 to his own...

. Alfanus passed the information on to his nephew, Florius of Camerota

Florius of Camerota

Florius of Camerota was a royal justiciar of the Kingdom of Sicily who worked an itinerant circuit throughout the Principality of Salerno, across different local jurisdictions, between 1150 and 1189. He hailed from Camerota in the Principality, and was a nephew of Alfanus, Archbishop of Capua...

, the justiciar

Justiciar

In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...

 of the principality of Salerno

Principality of Salerno

The Lombard Principality of Salerno was a South Italian state, centered on the port city of Salerno, formed in 851 out of the Principality of Benevento after a decade-long civil war....

, who in turn warned the king.

On 1 March 1174, the pope confirmed the metropolitan status of the see of Capua and confirmed its suffragans as Aquino, Caiazzo

Diocese of Caiazzo

The Diocese of Caiazzo is a former Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the province of Caserta, southern Italy, abolished in 1986, when it was united into the Diocese of Alife-Caiazzo. It was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Capua.-History:...

, Calvi, Carinola, Caserta, Isernia, Sessa, Teano, and Venafro: all the churches of the Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

.

In the autumn of 1176, Alfanus accompanied Richard Palmer

Richard Palmer, Archbishop of Messina

Richard Palmer, an Englishman, was the bishop of Syracuse from 1169 and archbishop of Messina from 1182. Palmer first rose to prominence in 1160 as one of the triumvirate of grandees who replaced the assassinated Emir Maio of Bari...

 and Robert of Caserta with twenty-five galleys to Saint-Gilles

Saint-Gilles, Gard

Saint-Gilles or Saint-Gilles-du-Gard is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It is the second most populous commune in the Nîmes metropolitan area.-Geography:...

 to take custody of Joan

Joan of England, Queen of Sicily

Joan of England was the seventh child of Henry II of England and his queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine.Joan was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France...

, daughter of Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

, who was betrothed to William II

William II of Sicily

William II , called the Good, was king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189. William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy...

. He was present at the wedding in Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

 on 18 February 1177.

It is not known when Alfanus died, but his successor, Matthew, is attested on 13 March 1183.