Jump to content

Robert Guiscard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Guiscard
Coin of Robert Guiscard
Count of Apulia and Calabria
ReignAugust(?) 1057 – 23 August 1059
PredecessorHumphrey of Hauteville
Duke of Apulia and Calabria
Reign23 August 1059 – 17 July 1085
SuccessorRoger Borsa
Lord of Sicily
Reign23 August 1059 – 1071
SuccessorRoger I
Prince of Benevento
Reign1078 - 1081
PredecessorLandulf VI
Bornc. 1015
Hauteville-la-Guichard or somewhere else in Cotentin, Normandy
Died17 July 1085(1085-07-17) (aged 69–70)
Cephalonia
Burial
Abbey of the Santissima Trinità, Venosa
SpousesAlberada of Buonalbergo,
Sikelgaita
IssueBy Alberada (ill.):
Bohemund I
Emma
By Sikelgaita:
Elena (Olimpyas)
Héria or Gersent (wife of Hugh V)
Matilda
Roger Borsa
Guy
Sybilla (wife of Ebles II)
Mabile
Robert Scalio
Noble familyHauteville
FatherTancred of Hauteville
MotherFressenda
ReligionCatholic

Robert Guiscard (/ɡiːˈskɑːr/ ghee-SKAR,[1] Modern French: [ɡiskaʁ]; c. 1015 – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.[2]

Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, the sixth son of Tancred de Hauteville and his wife Fressenda. He inherited the County of Apulia and Calabria from his brother in 1057, and in 1059 he was made Duke of Apulia and Calabria and Lord of Sicily by Pope Nicholas II. He was also briefly Prince of Benevento (1078–1081), before returning the title to the papacy.[2]

Name

[edit]

Robert's sobriquet, in contemporary Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, is often rendered as "the Resourceful", "the Cunning", "the Wily", "the Fox", or "the Weasel". In Italian sources he is rendered as Roberto il Guiscardo or Roberto d'Altavilla (meaning Robert Guiscard and Robert de Hauteville), while medieval Arabic sources call him simply Abārt al-dūqa (Duke Robert).[3]

Historical background

[edit]

From 999 to 1042, different Normans began migrating to Italy, where they mainly worked as mercenaries, serving at various times the Byzantines and a number of Lombard nobles.[4] The first of the independent Norman lords was Rainulf Drengot, who established himself in the fortress of Aversa, becoming Count of Aversa and Duke of Gaeta.[5]

In 1038, William Iron Arm and Drogo, the eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville (Seigneur of Hauteville-La-Guichard, a town in Cotentin, Normandy),[6] and elder brothers of Robert Guiscard, arrived in Italy. The two joined a revolt against the Byzantine rule of Apulia, started by the Lombards. By 1040 the Byzantines had lost most of the province. In 1042 a group of Normans settled in Apulia and chose Melfi as their capital; in September of the same year they elected William Iron Arm as their count, who was succeeded in turn by his brothers Drogo, comes Normannorum totius Apuliæ e Calabriæ ("the count of all Normans in Apulia and Calabria"), and after him Humphrey, who arrived around 1044.[2]

Arrival in Italy

[edit]

Robert Guiscard was born around 1015, a son of Tancred of Hauteville and his second wife Fressenda,[7] and the sixth of Tancred's twelve sons. According to the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene, he left Normandy to follow his brothers' footsteps with only five mounted riders and thirty followers on foot.[8] Upon arriving in southern Italy in 1047, he became the chief of a roving band of robbers. Anna Komnene gives us a physical description of Guiscard:[a]

This Robert was Norman by birth,[9] of obscure origins, with an overbearing character and a thoroughly villainous mind;[10] he was a brave fighter, very cunning in his assaults on the wealth and power of great men;[11] in achieving his aims absolutely inexorable, diverting criticism by incontrovertible argument. He was a man of immense stature, surpassing even the biggest men; he had a ruddy complexion, fair hair, broad shoulders, eyes that all but shot out sparks of fire. In a well-built man one looks for breadth here and slimness there; in him all was admirably well-proportioned and elegant... Homer remarked of Achilles that when he shouted his hearers had the impression of a multitude in uproar, but Robert's bellow, so they say, put tens of thousands to flight.[8]

When Robert arrived in Apulia, lands were scarce, and thus he couldn't expect any land grant from his brother Drogo, then count (especially since Drogo had already given Humphrey the county of Lavello). In 1048, Guiscard joined Pandulf IV of Capua in a war against Guaimar IV of Salerno. The next year, however, he left the war. Chronicler Amatus of Montecassino says this was due to Pandulf denying a previous promise that he had made to Robert, which included the gift of a castle and his daughter's hand in marriage. Robert therefore returned to Drogo's court, and he asked his brother to grant him a fief. Drogo, who had just finished a military campaign in Calabria, granted him command of the fortress of Scribla, but Guiscard, dissatisfied, transferred to the castle of San Marco Argentano. During his time in Calabria, Robert married Alberada of Buonalbergo, under the promise of her nephew Girard of Buonalbergo that he would join Robert with his 200 knights if the marriage took place.[2]

As the Normans gained more and more power in southern Italy, the Lombards, of whom they had been allies for a long time, turned against him. Pope Leo IX formed an anti-Norman coalition in an effort to expel them from the peninsula, but in 1053 he was defetead in the Battle of Civitate by the norman forces, led by Humphrey, now count. Robert fought personally in the battle, and according to William of Apulia he was dismounted from his horse on three occasions, but he remounted every time.

Rule

[edit]

Accession to the throne and treaty of Melfi

[edit]
Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita welcoming Constantine the African to court

When Humphrey died in 1057, Guiscard succeded him as Count of Apulia and Calabria, skipping over his elder half-brother Geoffrey in the line of succession. Soon after, probably in 1058, Guiscard's marriage to Alberada was annulled due to consanguinity. It was the first time that a marriage was annulled for this cause. After that, Robert married Sikelgaita, sister of Gisulf II of Salerno, securing a new alliance between Lombards and Normans. In return for his sister's hand in marriage, Gisulf demanded that Guiscard destroyed two castles which belonged to his brother William, because they stood on Gisulf's territory.

The Papacy, in a conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor due to the Investiture Controversy, now opted to secure the normans as allies. Therefore, in the Treaty of Melfi of 1059, Guiscard swore fealty to Pope Nicholas II. In return, Nicholas invested Guiscard of the titles of Duke of Apulia and Calabria and Lord of Sicily. (by the Grace of God and St Peter duke of Apulia and Calabria and, if either aid me, future lord of Sicily), legitimizing his intervention against the sicilian emirates, of muslim faith.[12]

Campaigns in Calabria

[edit]

After the treaty of Melfi, Robert engaged in a large series of conquests in southern Italy, mainly in Calabria and Sicily, with the help of his younger brother Roger I. At the time of treaty, Guiscard was already leading an army in Calabria, in an attempt to fully subjugate the province, still partially held by the Byzantines. After being invested of his titles, Guiscard returned to Calabria, where his army was besieging Cariati. Upon his arrival Cariati submitted, and, before winter, Rossano and Gerace followed. He briefly returned to Apulia to remove the Byzantine garrisons from Taranto and Brindisi, before returning once again in Calabria, where after a long and arduous siege, he conquered Reggio. Finally, he took Scilla, an island to which the Reggian garrison had fled. The complete control over Calabria opened the way to his planned conquest of Sicily.

Conquest of Sicily

[edit]
Multicoloured map of Italian peninsula, showing smaller states
Norman progress in Sicily during Robert's expeditions to the Balkans: Capua, Apulia and Calabria, and the County of Sicily are Norman. The Emirate of Sicily, the Duchy of Naples and lands in the Abruzzo (in the southern Duchy of Spoleto) are not yet conquered.
Main article: Norman conquest of Sicily

Robert's brother, Roger, had initially led a tiny force to attack Messina, but he was easily repulsed by the Saracen garrison. After that, Guiscard was once again forced to return to Apulia, under the threat of byzantine emperor Constantine X's army, which in January 1061 had begun besieging Melfi itself. The full weight of Guiscard's army forced the byzantines to retreat, and by May Apulia was free again.

Robert and Roger returned to Sicily, where in 1061 they took Messina by surprise with comparable ease. After fortyfing the city, Guiscard allied himself with the emir of Syracuse, ibn al-Timnah, against the emir of Castrogiovanni, Ibn al-Hawas. The forces of Robert, Roger and their muslim ally marched into central Sicily through Rometta, conquering Paternò. They then tried to besiege Castrogiovanni, failing to conquer the fort. In 1063 Robert left for Apulia to spend Christmas with Sikelgaita, leaving behind the fort of San Marco d'Alunzio (which he had named after San Marco Argentano, his castle in Calabria). In 1064 he returned to Sicily, bypassing Castrogiovanni and going straight for Palermo. His campsite was however infested with tarantulas, and the expedition was abandoned.[13]

In 1071 the norman County of Sicily was created, and given to Roger. A year later Palermo finally fell, and the rest of Sicily was gradually conquered. A last resistance was held by Benavert, emir of Syracuse, but he was ultimately defetated in 1086. The last muslim holding in Sicily, Noto, fell in 1091. As a result of his Sicilian campaigns, Robert Guiscard is also referred to as "Black Shirt Robert" because throughout the campaign he wore elegant black clothing.[14]

The surrender of Palermo by the Muslims, Giuseppe Patania, Palazzo dei Normanni

Conquests of Bari, Salerno and Benevento

[edit]
Statue of Robert Guiscard, 1700–1749, Lorenzo Ottoni.

Before conquering Palermo, Robert had to fight against the Byzantine forces wandering in Apulia, the heart of his domains. They had occupied Bari on request of Abelard of Hauteville, Guiscard's nephew, who claimed his uncle's throne. Robert besieged the city by land and by water for four years before the people decided to surrender. He, though, did repay the damages done by the siege. With the fall of Bari in 1071, the Greeks were finally ousted from southern Italy, and Robert focused himself on the various independent Lombard principalities that still held a significant part of the territory.

The first target was the Principality of Salerno. Salerno was besieged and fell in December 1076, but Gisulf II (Guiscard's brother in law) abandoned his castle with his court only in May 1077.

The only territories that weren't under Guiscard's control at this point were the Principality of Capua, held by the Drengot family, the Duchy of Naples and the Principality of Benevento. Robert decided to attack and take Benevento in 1078, and Pope Gregory VII was alarmed, because it was considered a feud of the Holy See. However, the pope didn't want to enter in conflict with the Normans, as he already was busy with Emperor Henry IV due to the investiture controversy question. An alliance between Guiscard and the pope was negotiated by Simon de Crépy,[15] and in June 1080 the pope confirmed Guiscard's claim on the southern Abruzzi, on the March of Fermo, on Salerno and on Amalfi[clarification needed]. Guiscard also obtained the confirmation of his possession of Benevento, though it was returned to the papacy in 1081.

Against the Byzantines

[edit]

In his last enterprise, Guiscard mounted an attack on the Byzantine Empire, taking up the cause of Raiktor, a monk pretending to be Michael VII,[16] who had been deposed in 1078. Robert believed he had the right to rule in the empire, because Constantine, Michael VII's son, had been proposed to his daughter Olympias. It was then clear that Raiktor was not in fact Michael, but this still was an opportunity Guiscard could not resist.

He sailed with an army of Norman and Lombard conscripts from all parts of his territories (1,300 knights according to Geoffrey Malaterra; up to 10,000 troops according to Orderic Vitalis) against the empire in May 1081.[17] He defeated Emperor Alexius I Comnenus at the Battle of Dyrrhachium in October 1081, and by February 1082 he had occupied Corfu and Durazzo. Guiscard was ally to kingdom of Duklja and Constantine Bodin, to whom he married his vassal's daughter Jaquinta of Bari in 1081. In 1083, Guiscard destroyed the town of Cannae, leaving only the cathedral and bishop's residence.[18] He was recalled to the aid of Gregory VII, however, who was besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo by Henry IV, in June 1083. This time it was the abbot of Saint Benignus of Dijon, Jarenton, who mediated between Guiscard and the pope.[15]

Hauteville family mausoleum, where Robert Guiscard was buried. Trinity Abbey in Venosa, Italy.

In May 1084, Guiscard marched north with 36,000 men, entered Rome, and forced Henry to retreat. A rebellion, or seditious tumult (émeute), of the citizens led to a three-day sack of the city, after which Guiscard escorted the pope to Rome. Guiscard's son Bohemund, for a time master of Thessaly, had now lost the Byzantine conquests. Guiscard returned with 150 ships to restore them, and he occupied Corfu and Kefalonia with the help of Ragusa and the Dalmatian cities (which were under the rule of Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia).[19] On 17 July 1085, Guiscard died of fever in Kefalonia, at Atheras, north of Lixouri, along with 500 knights.[20][21] He was buried in the Hauteville family mausoleum of the Abbey of the Santissima Trinità at Venosa. The town of Fiscardo on Kefalonia is named after him. On his tomb, there are four Latin verses, with the last one reading "Hic terror mundi Guiscardus," which translates to "Here lies Guiscard, the terror of the world."[22][23][24][25]

At his death Guiscard was duke of Apulia and Calabria and Lord of Sicily. His successes had been due not only to his great qualities but to the "entente" with the Papal See. He created and enforced a strong ducal power, which was nevertheless met by many baronial revolts, including one in 1078, when he demanded from the Apulian vassals an "aid" on the betrothal of his daughter. In conquering such wide territories he had little time to organize them internally. In the history of the Norman kingdom of Italy, Guiscard remains essentially the hero and founder, though his career ended in "something of a dead end,"[26] while his nephew Roger II was the statesman and organizer.

Succession

[edit]

As Duke of Apulia and Calabria, Robert Guiscard was succeeded by Roger Borsa, his son by Sichelgaita, because Bohemund, his son by Alberada of Buonalbergo, became ineligible for succession after Robert and Alberada's marriage was annulled.

Bohemond was supposed to inherit Robert's territories in the balkans, but this didn't happen as they were soon re-conquered by the Byzantines. He got some land around the city of Taranto instead.

The title of Lord of Sicily was dissolved, but Robert's brother Roger I continued to reign in Sicily as a Grand Count. His successors will later be the Kings of Sicily.

Two younger sons of Guiscard, Guy and Robert Scalio, never tried to claim any title.

Religion

[edit]

Due to his conquest of Calabria and Sicily, Guiscard was instrumental in bringing Latin Christianity to an area that had historically followed the Byzantine rite. Guiscard laid the foundation of the Salerno Cathedral and of a Norman monastery at Sant'Eufemia Lamezia in Calabria. This latter monastery, famous for its choir, began as a community of eleven monks from Saint-Evroul in Normandy under the abbot Robert de Grantmesnil.

Although his relationship with the pope was rocky, Guiscard preferred to be on good terms with the papacy, and he made a gesture of abandoning his first wife in response to church law. While the popes were often fearful of his growing power, they preferred the strong and independent hand of a Catholic Norman to the rule of a Byzantine Greek. Guiscard received his investment with Sicily at the hands of Pope Nicholas II, who feared the opposition of the Holy Roman Emperor to the Papal reforms more. Guiscard supported the reforms, coming to the rescue of a besieged Pope Gregory VII, who had once excommunicated him for encroaching on the territory of the Papal States. After the Great Schism of 1054, the polarized religious atmosphere served to strengthen Guiscard's alliance with papal forces, resulting in a formidable papal-Norman opposition to the Eastern Empire.[27]

Marriage and issue

[edit]

Married in 1051 to Alberada of Buonalbergo (1032 – aft. July 1122)[7] and had:

Married in 1058 or 1059 to Sichelgaita[7] and had:

Depictions

[edit]

In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees Guiscard's spirit in the Heaven of Mars, along with other "warriors of the faith" who exemplify the cardinal virtue of fortitude. In the Inferno, Dante describes Guiscard's enemies as a field of mutilated shades stretching out to the horizon.[31]

Guiscard was the protagonist of Kleist's verse drama Robert Guiskard, incomplete at the author's death (1811).[32]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ However, one should not trust this description, as the Byzantine princess was born in 1083 and Robert died in 1085. It is possible that Anna was inspired by a Norman mercenary or by Bohemond, son of Robert)
  2. ^ Lock indicates Emma as a daughter of Sigelgaita.[7]
  3. ^ Barton states that a "daughter" of Robert Guiscard married Hugh V of Maine.[30]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Robert Guiscard". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085)". www.thelatinlibrary.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  3. ^ Johns 2015, p. 124.
  4. ^ The Normans in Europe, Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 223
  5. ^ Jim Bradbury, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 153
  6. ^ Oscar Browning, A General History of the World (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1913), p. 316
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Lock 2006, p. 486.
  8. ^ a b The Alexiad of Anna Comnena, Trans. (from the Greek) E.R.A. Sewter (London & New York: Penguin Books, 1969), p. 54 ISBN 0-14-044215-4
  9. ^ "Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085)". www.thelatinlibrary.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085)". www.thelatinlibrary.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085)". www.thelatinlibrary.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  12. ^ The Normans in Europe, Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), pp. 236–237
  13. ^ Rogers 2010, p. 66.
  14. ^ D'Alessandro, Vincenzo (2008). "Les chevaliers de Dieu" [The Knights of God]. Annales de Normandie (in French). 58 (1): 59–66. doi:10.3406/annor.2008.6194. INIST 20623842.
  15. ^ a b Forbes 1879, p. 413.
  16. ^ The Alexiad, Book 1, Chapter 12
  17. ^ Loud, pp. 214-217.
  18. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
  19. ^ Ferdo Šišić, Povijest Hrvata u vrijeme narodnih vladara, 1925, Zagreb ISBN 86-401-0080-2
  20. ^ James van Wyck Osborne, The Greatest Norman Conquest (1937), p. 396.
  21. ^ Loud, p. 223.
  22. ^ Jeanne, G.-R. (1986). "L'évocation romantique d'un héros normand". Études Normandes. 35 (4): 19–30. doi:10.3406/etnor.1986.2694.
  23. ^ Aubé, Pierre (2016). Roger II de Sicile: un Normand en Méditerranée. Collection Tempus. Paris: Perrin. ISBN 978-2-262-06396-2.
  24. ^ Stroock, William (2011). "How to fight and win like a Norman: Strategy and tactics of the Norman". Medieval Warfare. 1 (4): 13–15. ISSN 2211-5129. JSTOR 48577881.
  25. ^ Taviani-Carozzi, Huguette (1996). La terreur du monde: Robert Guiscard et la conquête normande en Italie; mythe et histoire. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-59598-6.
  26. ^ Loud, p. 294.
  27. ^ Alexēs Geōrgiu K Sabbidēs, Byzantino-Normannica: The Norman Capture of Italy (to A.D. 1081) and the First Two Invasions in Byzantium (A.D. 1081–1085 and 1107–1108) (Leuven, Belgium; Dudley, Massachusetts: Peeters, 2007) ISBN 978-90-429-1911-2
  28. ^ Heygate 2016, p. 178.
  29. ^ a b c d e Loud 2000, p. 300.
  30. ^ Barton 2004, p. xiii.
  31. ^ Edward Moore, Studies in Dante: Scripture and classical authors in Dante (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1899), p. 274
  32. ^ Olive Classe, Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, Volume 1 (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), p. 767

Sources

[edit]
  • von Kleist, Heinrich Robert Guiskard, Herzog der Normänner, student edition (Stuttgart, 2011).
  • Chalandon, F. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile. (Paris, 1907).
  • von Heinemann, L. Geschichte der Normannen in Unteritalien (Leipzig, 1894).
  • Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016–1130. Longmans: London, 1967.
  • Chaplin, Danny. "Strenuitas: The Life and Times of Robert Guiscard and Bohemond of Taranto. Norman Power from the Mezzogiorno to Antioch, 1016–1111 AD" (Singapore, 2015).
  • Forbes, Charles (1879). The Monks of the West from St. Benedict to St. Bernard: Vol. 6. London: William Blackwood and Sons.
  • Rogers, Clifford J. (2010). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195334036.
  • Lock, Peter (2006). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge.
  • Loud, Graham A. (2000). The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest. Routledge.
  • Heygate, Catherine (2016). "Marriage strategies among the Normans of Southern Italy in the Eleventh Century". In Stringer, Keith J.; Jotischky, Andrew (eds.). Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts. Routledge. pp. 165–186.
  • Barton, Richard Ewing (2004). Lordship in the County of Maine, C. 890–1160. The Boydell Press.
  • Johns, Jeremy (2015). "Arabic Inscriptions in the Capella Palatina: Performativity, Audience, Legibility and Illegibility". In Eastmond, Antony (ed.). Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World. Cambridge University Press.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Guiscard.
Robert Guiscard
Born: c. 1015 Died: 17 July 1085
Preceded by Duke of Apulia and Calabria
1057–1085 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Guiscard&oldid=1250796372"