| Robert Guiscard | |
|---|---|
 Robert Guiscard being crowned as Duke of Apulia and Calabria byPope Nicholas II | |
| Duke of Apulia and Calabria | |
| Reign | 23 August 1059 – 17 July 1085 |
| Predecessor | Title created |
| Successor | Roger Borsa |
| Count of Apulia and Calabria | |
| Reign | August 1057 – 23 August 1059 |
| Predecessor | Humphrey of Hauteville |
| Lord of Sicily | |
| Reign | Invested on 23 August 1059 |
| Successor | Roger I (as Count) |
| Prince of Benevento | |
| Reign | 1078 - 1081 |
| Predecessor | Landulf VI |
| Successor | Title extinct |
| Born | c. 1015 Hauteville-la-Guichard or somewhere else inCotentin,Duchy of Normandy |
| Died | 17 July 1085(1085-07-17) (aged 69–70) Cephalonia,Byzantine Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouses | Alberada of Buonalbergo Sikelgaita |
| Issue | Seebelow |
| Noble family | Hauteville |
| Father | Tancred of Hauteville |
| Mother | Fressenda |
| Religion | Catholic |
Robert Guiscard (/ɡiːˈskɑːr/ghee-SKAR,[1]Modern French:[ʁɔbɛʁɡiskaʁ];c. 1015 – 17 July 1085), also referred to asRobert de Hauteville, was aNorman adventurer remembered for hisconquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.[2]
Robert was born into theHauteville family inNormandy, the sixth son ofTancred de Hauteville and his wifeFressenda. He inherited theCounty of Apulia and Calabria from his brother in 1057, and in 1059 he was madeDuke of Apulia and Calabria andLord of Sicily by PopeNicholas II. He was also brieflyPrince of Benevento (1078–1081), before returning the title to the papacy.[2]
Robert's sobriquet, "Guiscard" (in contemporaryLatinViscardus andOld FrenchViscart, closely related to the English word "wiseacre", which archaically meant 'wise man'), is often rendered as "the Resourceful", "the Cunning", "the Wily", "the Fox", or "the Weasel". In Italian sources he is known asRoberto il Guiscardo orRoberto d'Altavilla (meaning Robert Guiscard and Robert de Hauteville), while medievalArabic sources call him simplyAbārt al-dūqa (Duke Robert).[2][3]
From 999 to 1042, differentNormans began migrating to Italy, where they mainly worked as mercenaries, serving at various times theByzantines and a number ofLombard nobles.[4] The first of the independent Norman lords wasRainulf Drengot, who established himself in the fortress ofAversa, becomingCount of Aversa andDuke of Gaeta.[5]
In 1038,William Iron Arm andDrogo, the eldest sons ofTancred of Hauteville (Seigneur of Hauteville-La-Guichard, a town inCotentin,Normandy),[6] and elder brothers of Robert Guiscard, arrived in Italy. The two joined a revolt against the Byzantine rule ofApulia, started by the Lombards. By 1040 the Byzantines had lost most of the province. In 1042 a group of Normans settled in Apulia and choseMelfi 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 himHumphrey, who arrived around 1044.[2]
Robert Guiscard was born around 1015, a son ofTancred of Hauteville and his second wifeFressenda,[7] and the sixth of Tancred's twelve sons. According to theByzantine historianAnna Komnene, he left Normandy to follow his brothers' footsteps with only five mounted riders and thirty followers on foot. Upon arriving in southern Italy in 1047, he became the chief of a roving band of robbers.[8][2] 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 brotherDrogo, then count (especially since Drogo had already givenHumphrey the county ofLavello). In 1048, Guiscard joinedPandulf IV of Capua in a war againstGuaimar IV of Salerno. The next year, however, he left the war. ChroniclerAmatus 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 inCalabria, granted him command of the fortress ofScribla, but Guiscard, dissatisfied, transferred to the castle ofSan Marco Argentano. During his time in Calabria, Robert marriedAlberada of Buonalbergo, under the promise of her nephewGirard 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 defeated in theBattle of Civitate by the Norman forces, led by Humphrey, now count. Robert fought personally in the battle, and according toWilliam of Apulia he was dismounted from his horse on three occasions, but he remounted every time.[2]
When Humphrey died in 1057, Guiscard succeeded him asCount of Apulia and Calabria, skipping over his elder half-brotherGeoffrey in the line of succession. Soon after, probably in 1058, Guiscard's marriage to Alberada was annulled due toconsanguinity. It was the first time that a marriage was annulled for this cause. After that, Robert marriedSikelgaita, sister ofGisulf 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 brotherWilliam, because they stood on Gisulf's territory.
The Papacy, in a conflict with theHoly Roman Emperor due to theInvestiture Controversy, now opted to secure the Normans as allies. Therefore, in theTreaty of Melfi of 1059, Guiscard swore fealty toPope Nicholas II. In return, Nicholas invested Guiscard of the titles ofDuke of Apulia and Calabria andLord 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 theSicilian emirates, ofMuslim faith.[2][12]
After the treaty of Melfi, Robert engaged in a largeseries of conquests in southern Italy, mainly inCalabria andSicily, with the help of his younger brotherRoger 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 theByzantines. After being invested of his titles, Guiscard returned to Calabria, where his army was besiegingCariati. Upon his arrival Cariati submitted, and, before winter,Rossano andGerace followed. He briefly returned to Apulia to remove the Byzantine garrisons fromTaranto andBrindisi, before returning once again in Calabria, where after a long and arduous siege, he conqueredReggio. Finally, he tookScilla, an island to which the Reggian garrison had fled. The complete control over Calabria opened the way to his planned conquest of Sicily.
Robert's brother, Roger, had initially led a tiny force to attackMessina, but he was easily repulsed by theSaracen garrison. After that, Guiscard was once again forced to return to Apulia, under the threat of Byzantine emperorConstantine 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 tookMessina by surprise with comparable ease. After fortifying the city, Guiscard allied himself with the emir ofSyracuse,Ibn al-Timnah, against the emir ofCastrogiovanni,Ibn al-Hawwas. The forces of Robert, Roger and their Muslim ally marched into central Sicily throughRometta, conqueringPaternò. 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 ofSan 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 forPalermo. His campsite was however infested withtarantulas, and the expedition was abandoned.[13]
In 1071 the NormanCounty of Sicily was created, and given toRoger. A year later Palermo finally fell, and the rest of Sicily was gradually conquered. A last resistance was held byBenavert, emir of Syracuse, but he was ultimately defeated 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]
While the Conquest of Sicily was still in progress, Robert had to fight once again with the Byzantines. The Byzantine forces had occupiedBari, on request of Robert's nephewAbelard of Hauteville, who wanted to claim the throne for himself. Guiscard besieged the city by land and water for four years, until in 1071 the people decided to surrender; he would later repair the damages done by the siege. The Byzantines were finally chased off the Italian peninsula, and Robert now focused his attention on the various Lombard independent realms in southern Italy.
Robert firstly attacked thePrincipality of Salerno, held by his brother in law Gisulf II.Salerno was besieged and fell in December 1076, and Gisulf abandoned his castle with his court in May 1077. Robert then took theprincipality of Benevento in 1078. PopeGregory VII was alarmed, as Benevento was considered possession of thepapal state. Nevertheless, he decided not to enter a conflict with the Normans, as he was already busy withEmperor Henry IV due to theinvestiture controversy.Simon de Crépy negotiated an alliance with Guiscard on behalf of Gregory VII, and in June 1080 the Pope gave Guiscard claims onAbruzzi,Salerno,Amalfi, and on theMarch of Fermo. Robert would later return Benevento to the papacy in 1081.[15]
In his last campaign, Guiscard attacked theByzantine Empire itself, supporting the cause ofRaiktor, a monk who claimed to be deposed emperorMichael VII. Even after it was clear that Raiktor was lying, Robert didn't stop, believing that he himself had the right to rule the Byzantine Empire sinceConstantine Doukas, son of the real Michael VII, had once been proposed to his daughterOlympias.[16]
In May 1081 Robert sailed with an army of Norman and Lombard troop (1,300 knights according toGeoffrey Malaterra, up to 10,000 troops according toOrderic Vitalis). In October 1081 defeatedAlexios I Komnenos in theBattle of Dyrrachium, and by 1082 he had occupiedCorfu andDurazzo. In 1083, however, he was forced to return to Italy to help Pope Gregory VII, who was being besieged inCastel Sant'Angelo by Henry IV. In May 1084 Guiscard entered Rome, and forced Henry to retreat. A revolt of the citizens led toa three-day sack of the city, after which Robert escorted the Pope out of the city. Guiscard's sonBohemond, who had remained in the Balkans, had by this time lost his father's conquests. Robert returned to the Balkans and reoccupied Corfu andCephalonia, with the help ofRagusa and other dalmatian cities under the rule of kingDemetrius Zvonimir.[17][15][18]
On 17 July 1085, Guiscard died of a fever in Cephalonia, at Atheras, north ofLixouri. His remains were brought back to Italy, and he was buried in theHauteville family mausoleum, theAbbey of Santissima Trinità inVenosa. The town ofFiskardo in Cephalonia is named after him. On his epigraph there are four Latin verses; the last one reads "Hic terror mundi Guiscardus", which translates to "Here (lies) Guiscard, terror of the world".[19][20][21][22][23][24]
Robert's oldest son,Bohemond, was declared illegitimate when Robert andAlberada's marriage was annulled due toconsanguinity. Thus, he was succeeded as Duke of Apulia and Calabria by his eldest son bySikelgaita,Roger Borsa. Bohemond was initially supposed to inherit Robert's conquests in the Balkans, but this didn't happen as they were soon re-conquered by the Byzantines. He instead got some land around the city ofTaranto. Bohemond would later become one of the leaders of thefirst crusade and the firstprince of Antioch. Guiscard's other sons,Guy andRobert Scalio, never claimed any title for themselves.
The descendants of Robert's brother,Roger I, Count of Sicily, would later create theKingdom of Sicily.
Due to his conquest of Calabria and Sicily, Guiscard was instrumental in bringingLatin Christianity to an area that had historically followed theByzantine rite. Guiscard laid the foundation of theSalerno Cathedral and of a Norman monastery atSant'Eufemia Lamezia in Calabria. This latter monastery, famous for its choir, began as a community of eleven monks fromSaint-Evroul in Normandy under the abbotRobert 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 theHoly Roman Emperor to thePapal 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 thePapal States. After theGreat 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.[25]
Guiscard's first wife wasAlberada of Buonalbergo, whom he married in 1051.[7] They had two children:
Guiscard and Alberada's marriage was later annulled, and in 1058 or 1059 he remarried toSichelgaita.[7] They had ten children:
In theDivine 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 theInferno, Dante describes Guiscard's enemies as a field of mutilated shades stretching out to the horizon.[29]
Guiscard was the protagonist ofKleist's verse dramaRobert Guiskard, incomplete at the author's death (1811).[30]
InCrusader Kings III, Robert Guiscard is represented as one of the recommended starting characters, being portrayed the Duke of Apulia. He starts with his own epithet, Robert "the Fox".[31]
Robert Guiscard Born:c. 1015 Died: 17 July 1085 | ||
| Preceded by | Duke of Apulia and Calabria 1057–1085 | Succeeded by |
