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ROBERT GUISCARD [i.e. " the resourcef...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 401 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBERT GUISCARD [i.e. " the resourceful "] (c. 1015-1085) , the most remarkable of the See also:Norman adventurers who conquered See also:southern See also:Italy. From See also:rota to 1030 the See also:Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Greeks or See also:Lombards, and then See also:Sergius of See also:Naples, by installing the See also:leader Rainulf in the fortress of See also:Aversa in 1030, gave them their first pied-aterre and they began an organized See also:conquest of the See also:land. In 1030 there arrived See also:William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of See also:Tancred of Hauteville, a See also:petty See also:noble of See also:Coutances in See also:Normandy. The two joined in the organized See also:attempt to wrest See also:Apulia from the Greeks, who by 1040 See also:bad lost most of that See also:province. In 1042 See also:Melfi was chosen as the Norman See also:capital, and in See also:September of that See also:year the Normans elected as their See also:count William "See also:Iron See also:Arm," who was succeeded in turn by his See also:brothers Drogo, " comes Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae," and Humfrey, who arrived about 1044. In 1o46 arrived Robert, the See also:sixth son of Tancred of Hauteville. His tall stature, blonde colouring and powerful See also:voice are strikingly described by See also:Anna Comnena. Guiscard soon See also:rose to distinction. The Lombards turned against their See also:allies and See also:Leo IX. determined to expel the Norman freebooters. The See also:army which he led towards Apulia in 1053 was, however, overthrown at Civitate on the Fortore by the Normans See also:united under Humfrey, Guiscard and See also:Richard of Aversa.

In 1057 Robert succeeded Humfrey as count of Apulia and, in See also:

company with See also:Roger his youngest See also:brother, carried on the conquest of Apulia and See also:Calabria, while Richard conquered the principality of See also:Capua. The Papacy, foreseeing the See also:breach with the See also:emperor over investitures, now resolved to recognize the Normans and secure them as allies. There-fore at Melfi, on the 23rd of See also:August 1059, See also:Nicholas II. invested Robert with Apulia, Calabria, and See also:Sicily, and Richard with Capua. Guiscard " by See also:Grace of See also:God and St See also:Peter See also:duke of Apulia and Calabria and future See also:lord of Sicily " agreed to hold by See also:annual See also:rent of the See also:Holy See and to maintain its cause. In the next twenty years he made an amazing See also:series of See also:con-quests. Invading Sicily with Roger, the brothers captured See also:Messina (ro61) and See also:Palermo (1072). See also:Bari was reduced (See also:April 1071) and the Greeks finally ousted from southern Italy. The territory of See also:Salerno was already Robert's; in See also:December 1076 he took the See also:city, expelling its Lombard See also:prince Gisulf, whose See also:sister Sikelgaita he had married. The Norman attacks on See also:Benevento, a papal See also:fief, alarmed and angered See also:Gregory VII., but pressed hard by the emperor, See also:Henry IV., he turned again to the Normans, and at Ceprano (See also:June ro8o) reinvested Robert, securing him also in the southern Abruzzi, but reserving Salerno. Guiscard's last enterprise was his attack on the See also:Greek See also:Empire, a rallying ground for his See also:rebel vassals. Hu contemplated seizing the See also:throne of the Basileus and took up the cause of See also:Michael VII., who had been deposed in 1078 and to whose son his daughter had been betrothed. He sailed with 16,000 men against the empire in May ro8r, and by See also:February ro82 had occupied See also:Corfu and Durazzo, defeating the emperor See also:Alexis before the latter (See also:October ro8r).

He was, how-ever, recalled to the aid of Gregory VII., besieged in See also:

San Angelo by Henry IV. (June 1'083). Marching See also:north with 36,000 men he entered See also:Rome and forced Henry to retire, but an emeute of the citizens led to a three days' See also:sack of the city (May 1084), after which Guiscard escorted the See also:pope to Rome. His . son See also:Bohemund, for a See also:time See also:master of See also:Thessaly, had now lost the Greek conquests. Robert, returning to restore them, occupied Corfu and Kephalonia, but died of See also:fever in the latter on the 15th of See also:July ro85, in his loth year. He was buried in S. Trinity at See also:Venosa. Guiscard was succeeded by Roger " Borsa, his son by Sikelgaita; Bohemund, his son by an earlier Norman wife Alberada, being set aside. At his See also:death Robert was duke of Apulia and Calabria, prince of Salerno and suzerain of Sicily. His successes had been due not only to his See also:great qualities but to the " entente " with the Papal See. He created and enforced a strong ducal See also:power which, however, was met by many baronial revolts, one being in 1078, when he demanded from the Apulian vassals an " aid " on the See also:betrothal of his daughter. In conquering such wide territories he had little time to organize them internally.

In the See also:

history of the Norman See also:kingdom of Italy Guiscard remains essentially the See also:hero and founder, as his See also:nephew Roger II. is the statesman and organizer. The best See also:modern authorities are F. Chalandon, Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile (See also:Paris, 1907), and L. von Heinemann, Geschichte der Normannen in Unteritalien (See also:Leipzig, 1894). Contemporary authors: Amatus, Ystoire de li Norntant, ed. Delarc (See also:Rouen, 1892) ; See also:Geoffrey Malaterra and William of Apulia, both in See also:Muratori Rer. Ital. SS., vol. v., and Anna Comnena in Corpus script. hist. Byz. (See also:Bonn, 1839). (E.

End of Article: ROBERT GUISCARD [i.e. " the resourceful "] (c. 1015-1085)

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