J.H. Garner Genealogy Database

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  • ID: I26063
  • Name: Robert "le Guiscard" DUKE OF APULIA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
  • Name: Robert le Guiscard DUKE OF CALABRIA 9 10 11
  • Name: Robert LE GUISCARD
  • Note: Guiscard, from the Latin "Viscardus" and Old French "Viscart", often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox 12
  • Name: Robert "le Guiscard" COUNT OF APULIA
  • Note: Honoured for his actions at the Battle of Civitate in 1053, Robert succeeded his elder brother Humphrey as Count of Apulia in 1057, over his elder half-brother Geoffrey. In company with Roger, his youngest brother, Robert carried on the conquest of Apulia and Calabria, while Richard Drengot conquered the principality of Capua. 11
  • Name: Robert DE HAUTEVILLE
  • Sex: M
  • Change Date: 18 APR 2012
  • Birth: ABT 1015 in Coutances, Normandie, France 13
  • Death: 17 JUL 1085 in Cephalonia, Keffalinía department, Ionian Islands, Byzantine Empire (present day Greece) 14 11 15
  • Event: Note 1040
  • Note: By 1040 the Byzantines had lost most of Apulia to the Lombards & Normans. 11
  • Event: Milit_Serv 1053 Battle of Civitate sul Fortore
  • Note: Robert soon rose to distinction. The Lombards turned against their erstwhile allies and Pope Leo IX determined to expel the Norman freebooters. His army was defeated, however, at the Battle of Civitate sul Fortore in 1053 by the Normans, united under Humphrey de Hauteville. Humphrey commanded the centre against the pope's Swabian troops. Early in the battle Richard I Drengot, count of Aversa, commanding the right van, put the Lombards to flight and chased them down, then returned to help rout the Swabians. Robert had come all the way from Calabria to command the left. His troops were held in reserve until, seeing Humphrey's forces ineffectually charging the pope's centre, he called up his father-in-law's reinforcements and joined the fray, distinguishing himself personally, even being dismounted and remounting again three separate times according to Guillermo of Apulia. 11
  • Event: Accedence 23 AUG 1059
  • Note: The papacy, foreseeing the breach with the Holy Roman Emperor (the Investiture Controversy), then resolved to recognise the Normans and secure them as allies. Therefore at the Council of Melfi, on August 23, 1059, Pope Nicholas II invested Robert as duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, and Richard Drengot, count of Aversa (who was the nephew of Rainulf Drengot, the first Norman mercenary in Italy), as prince of Capua. Robert, now 'by the Grace of God and St. Peter duke of Apulia and Calabria and if either aid me, future lord of Sicily', agreed to hold his titles and lands by an annual rent to the Holy See and to maintain its cause. In the next twenty years he undertook a series of conquests, winning his Sicilian dukedom. 11 16 17
  • Event: Epitaph
  • Note:
    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, however, was met by many baronial revolts. In conquering such wide territories he had little time to organise them internally. In the history of the Norman kingdom of Italy, Robert remains essentially the hero and founder, while his nephew Roger II, son of his brother Roger, was the statesman and organiser.

    Robert, through his conquest of Calabria and Sicily, was instrumental in bringing Latin Christianity to an area which historically followed the Byzantine rite. Robert laid the foundation of a new cathedral in Salerno and of a Norman monastery at Sant'Eufemia 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. Though his relationship with the pope was rocky, Robert preferred to be on good terms with the papacy and he made the gesture of abandoning his first wife in response to Church law. Though 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. Robert 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. Robert 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 polarised religious atmosphere served to strengthen Robert's alliance with papal forces, resulting in a formidable papal-Norman opposition to the Byzantine empire.

    Such was Robert's martial and political success that Dante Alighieri recorded it in his "Divine Comedy", placing his spirit in Heaven's sphere of Mars with history's greatest Christian warriors. In "Infermo", Dante describes Robert's enemies as a field of mutilated shades stretching out to the horizon.
    11
  • Event: Note 1075
  • Note: Fuerst of Salerno 18
  • Event: Note 1035
  • Note:
    From 999 to 1042 the Normans in Italy were mainly mercenaries, serving the Byzantines and a number of Lombard nobles at various times. Then Sergius IV of Naples, by installing the leader Rainulf Drengot in the fortress of Aversa in 1029, gave them their first base, allowing them to begin an organised conquest of the land.

    In 1035 there arrived Guillaume 'Iron-Arm' and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred de Hauteville, a petty nobleman of the Cotentin in Normandy. The two joined in the revolt of the Lombards against the Byzantine control of Apulia.
    11
  • Event: Note 1047
  • Note:
    According to the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene Dukaina, the daughter of Alexios I Komnenos, emperor of Byzantium, he left Normandy with only five mounted riders and thirty followers on foot. Upon arriving in Langobardia in Italy in 1047, he became the chief of a roving robber-band.

    Lands were scarce in Apulia at the time and the roving Robert could not expect any grant from his elder brother Drogo, then reigning Count, for his elder brother Humphrey had just received his own county of Lavello.
    11 19
  • Event: Note SEP 1042
  • Note: In September 1042 the Normans elected as their count in Apulia his elder brother Guillaume 'Iron-Arm' 11
  • Event: Note 1046
  • Note: In 1046, upon his brother Guillaume "Iron Arm's" death, his brother Drogo suceeded him as "Comes Normannorum totius Apuliae e Calabriae" ('the Count of all Normans in Apulia and Calabria') 11
  • Event: Note BET 1048 AND 1049
  • Note: In 1048 Robert joined Pandolfo IV of Capua in his ceaseless wars with Gaimar IV, prince of Salerno. The next year, however, Robert left Pandolfo, according to Amatus of Monte Cassino, because Pandolfo reneged on a promise of a castle and his daughter's hand. 11
  • Event: Note BET 1049 AND 1050
  • Note: Robert returned to his brother Drogo (around 1049) and asked to be granted a fief. Drogo, who had just finished campaigning in Calabria, gave Robert command of the fortress of Scribla. Dissatisfied with this position, Robert moved to the castle of San Marco Argentano (after which he later named the first Norman castle in Sicily, at the site of ancient Aluntium). During his time in Calabria, Robert married his first wife Alberade di Buonalberga, the daughter of Girard, lord of Buonalberga. They had two children, Boemund and Emma, of whom Boemund would have progeny. 11
  • Event: Note 1059
  • Note: At the time of the opening of the Council of Melfi in June 1058, Robert had been leading an army in Calabria, the first strong attempt to subjugate that very Byzantine province since his elder brother Guillaume Iron-Arm's campaigns with Gaimar IV, prince of Salerno. After attending the synod for his investiture, he returned to Calabria, where his army was besieging Cariati. After Robert's arrival Cariati submitted, and before winter was out, Rossano and Gerace also. Only Reggio was left in Byzantine hands when Robert returned to Apulia. In Apulia he worked to remove the Byzantine garrisons from Taranto and Brindisi before, largely in preparation for his planned Sicilian expedition, he returned again to Calabria, where his brother Roger was waiting with siege engines. 11
  • Event: Note BET MAR 1060 AND MAY 1061
  • Note: The fall of Reggio, after a long and arduous siege, and the subsequent capitulation of Scilla, an island citadel to which the Reggian garrison had fled, opened up the way to Sicily. Roger first led a tiny force to attack Messina but was repulsed easily by the Saracen garrison. The large invading force which could have been expected did not materialise, for Robert was recalled because a new Byzantine army, sent by Constantine X, was ravaging Apulia. In January 1061 Melfi itself was under siege and Roger too was recalled. But the full weight of Robert's forces forced the Byzantines to retreat and by May Apulia was calm. 11
  • Event: Note 1061
  • Note: Invading Sicily with Roger, the brothers captured Messina in 1061 with comparative ease; Roger's men landed unsighted during the night and surprised the Saracen army in the morning. Robert's troops landed unopposed and found Messina abandoned. Robert immediately fortified Messina and allied himself with Ibn al-Timnah, one of the rival emirs of Sicily, against Ibn al-Hawas, another emir. The armies of Robert, his brother, and his Moslem friend marched into central Sicily by way of Rometta, which had remained loyal to al-Timnah. They passed through Frazzanò and the pianura di Maniace, where George Maniakes and the first Hauteville brothers had distinguished themselves twenty-one years earlier. Robert assaulted the town of Centuripe, but resistance was strong, and he moved on. Paternò fell and he brought his army to Enna (then Castrogiovanni), a formidable fortress. The Saracens sallied forth and were defeated, but Enna itself did not fall. Robert turned back, leaving a fortress at San Marco d'Alunzio, named after his first stronghold in Calabria. He returned to Apulia with Sigelgaita for Christmas. 11
  • Event: Note 1064
  • Note: He returned to Sicily in 1064 but bypassed Enna, making straight for Palermo. However his campsite was infested with tarantulas and had to be abandoned. 11
  • Event: Note 1072
  • Note: Palermo fell in 1072 and for the rest of Sicily it was then only a matter of time. 11
  • Event: Note APR 1071
  • Note: Bari was reduced in April 1071, and the Byzantine forces were finally ousted from southern Italy. 11
  • Event: Note DEC 1076
  • Note: The territory of Salerno was already Robert's; in December 1076 he took the city, expelling its Lombard prince Gisulf, whose sister Sigelgaita he had married. 11
  • Event: Note JUN 1080
  • Note: The Norman attacks on Benevento, a papal fief, alarmed and angered Gregory VII, but pressed hard by Emperor Heinrich IV, Gregory turned again to the Normans, and at Ceprano in June 1080 he reinvested Robert, securing him also in the southern Abruzzi, but reserving Salerno. 11
  • Event: Note MAY 1081
  • Note: Robert's last enterprise was his attack on the Byzantine empire, a rallying ground for his rebel vassals such as Enrico, count of Monte Sant'Angelo. In this enterprise Robert crossed swords with his most redoubtable opponent, the only one worthy of himself, in a clash of swords that would become legendary in the years after. In this struggle he met his nemesis in the person of the greatest man of the age, Alexios I Komnenos, emperor of Byzantium. He contemplated seizing the throne of the Basileus and took up the cause of Michael VII, who had been deposed in 1078 and to whose son his daughter had been betrothed. He sailed with 16,000 men of whom 1300 were Norman knights, against the empire in May 1081. 11
  • Event: Note BET MAY 1081 AND 1085
  • Note: At the very outset of his reign, Alexios I Komnènos had to meet the formidable attack of the Normans (led by Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund), who took Dyrrhachium and Corfu, and laid siege to Larissa in Thessaly. The Norman danger ended for the time with Robert Guiscard's death in 1085, and the conquests were reversed. The Normans were initially highly successful in their war against the Byzantine Empire and held Constantinople under siege. 11
  • Event: Note BET OCT 1081 AND FEB 1082
  • Note: By February 1082 he had occupied Corfu and Durazzo, defeating Emperor Alexios in front of the latter (in the Battle of Dyrrhachium in October 1081). 11
  • Event: Note JUN 1083
  • Note: He was recalled back to Italy to the aid of Gregory VII, besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo by Emperor Heinrich IV in June 1083. 11
  • Event: Note MAY 1084
  • Note: Marching north with 36,000 men he entered Rome and forced Heinrich to retire, but a short-lived rebellion of the citizens led to a three days' sack of the city in May 1084, after which Robert escorted the pope to Rome. 11
  • Event: Note BET JUN 1083 AND 17 JUL 1085
  • Note: His son Boemund, for a time master of Thessaly, had now lost the Byzantine conquests. Robert, returning with 150 ships to restore them, occupied Corfu and Cephalonia. However he died, along with 500 Norman knights, of fever in Cephalonia on July 17, 1085, in his 70th year. 11



    Father: Tancred DE HAUTEVILLE b: EST 0970 in of Normandie, France
    Mother: Fredesende DE NORMANDIE b: ABT 0995

    Marriage 1 Alberada OF BURGUNDY b: ABT 1030
    • Married: ABT 1050 20 6 5 11
    • Divorced: 1058
    • Note:
      Soon after his succession as Count of Apulia, probably in 1058, Robert separated from his wife Alberade because they were related within the prohibited degrees.

      The divorce from Alberada and the marriage of Sikelgaita were probably part of a strategy of alliance with the remaining Lombard princes, of whom Guaimar was chief. Alberada, for her part, appears to have had no qualms about dissolving her marriage.
      11
    Children
    1. Has Children Emma DE HAUTEVILLE b: ABT 1055
    2. Has Children Bohemond I Guiscard PRINCE OF ANTIOCH b: ABT 1056

    Marriage 2 Sikilgaita OF SALERNO b: EST 1040 in of Capua
    • Married: 1058
    • Note: He married Sigelgaita de Salerno, the sister of Gisulf II, prince of Salerno, Gaimar IV's son and successor. In return for giving him his sister's hand, Gisulf demanded of Robert that he destroy two castles of his younger brother Guillem de Hauteville, count of the Principate, which had encroached on Gisulf's territory. Robert and Sigelgaita had eight children of whom Roger Bursa, Sybille and Maud/Mafalda/Maaltis would have progeny. 21 5 11 6
    Children
    1. Has Children Matilda GUISCARD de Hauteville de Apulien b: BET 1059 AND 1060 in Hauteville, Normandy
    2. Has Children Roger Borsa DUKE OF APULIA b: ABT 1060
    3. Has Children Sibylle DE HAUTEVILLE b: ABT 1061
    4. Has No Children Gui DE APULIA b: ABT 1062
    5. Has No Children Heria DE HAUTEVILLE b: ABT 1063
    6. Has No Children Robert DE APULIA b: ABT 1064
    7. Has No Children Helene DE APULIA b: ABT 1065
    8. Has No Children Mabile DE APULIA b: ABT 1070

    Sources:
    1. Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America bef 1760, 7th ed.
      Abbrev: Ancestral Roots
      Author: Frederick Lewis Weis
      Publication: Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore, MD, 1992
      Note:
      Same ref source as earlier ed, "Ancestral Roots of 60 Colonists who Came to New England 1623-1650" ed 1-6
      Repository:
        Name: J.H. Garner
    2. Title: Pedigrees from Mike Talbot of Metairie, LA, Recipient: Marlyn Lewis, Address: Metairie, LA, Author E-mail: MTaHT@aol.com
      Abbrev: Mike Talbot Pedigrees
      Author: Mike Talbot
    3. Title: Royalty for Commoners: The Complete Known Lineage of John of Gaunt, 3rd ed., Pages: 395
      Abbrev: Royalty for Commoners
      Author: Roderick W. Stuart
      Publication: Genealogical Publishing Comp, Baltimore, MD, 1993
      Note:
      subtitled The Complete Known Lineage of John of Gaunt, son of Edward III King of England & Queen Philippa. Reviewed in TAG, April 1994 by Dr. David H. Kelly
    4. Title: The Plantagenet Ancestry, Pages: 274
      Abbrev: Plantagenet Ancestry (Turton)
      Author: William Harry Turton
      Publication: Phillimore & Co., London, 1928 (repro 1993)
      Note:
      Being Tables Showing Over 7,000 of the Ancestors of Elizabeth (Daughter of Edward IV and Wife of Henry VII) The Heiress of the Plantagenets, with Preface, Lists, Notes and a Complete Index.
      Repository:
        Name: J.H. Garner
    5. Title: Europäische Stammtafeln (Schwennicke edition): Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der europaischen Staaten
      Abbrev: Europäische Stammtafeln (Schwennicke edition)
      Author: Dettlev Schwennicke, ed, based on the work of Wilhelm Karl Prinz zu Isenburg
      Publication: Verlag von J.A. Stargardt, Berlin, Germany, 1978, 1995
      Page: Europäische Stammtafeln, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg, Schwennicke, Detlev (Ed.), Reference: II 205
    6. Title: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten
      Abbrev: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Author: Prince Wilhelm Karl von Isenburg
      Publication: Verlag von J.A. Stargardt, Marburg, Germany, 1953, 1975
      Repository:
        Name: selected charts in possession of J.H. Garner

      Page: Europäische Stammtafeln, Band II, Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhoven, 1975, Isenburg, W. K. Prinz von, Reference: Page 117
    7. Title: Leo van de Pas: Leo's Genealogics Website, Address: Canberra, Australia, Url: http://www.genealogics.org/index.php
      Abbrev: Leo van de Pas
      Author: leovdpas@netspeed.com.au, Compiler: Leo van de Pas
      Note:
      A contributor to soc.genealogy.medieval
      Page: Robert Guiscard Duke of Apulia
    8. Title: University of Hull Royal Database (England), Url: http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/royal/
      Abbrev: University of Hull Royal DB
      Author: bct@tardis.ed.ac.uk, Compiler: Brian Tompsett, Dept of Computer Science
      Publication: University of Hull, Hull, UK HU6 7RX, 1994, 1995, 1996
      Note:
      Usually reliable but sometimes includes hypothetical lines, mythological figures, etc.
      Page: Guiscard, Robert, of Apulia, Duke of Apulia
    9. Title: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Abbrev: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Author: Hermann Grote
      Publication: Leipzig, 1877
      Note:
      *Europaeische Stammtafeln*, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg.
      Page: Stammtafeln by Hermann Grote, originally printed 1877 in Leipzig: Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1058
    10. Title: La Terreur du Monde, Robert Guiscard et la Conquete Normande de l' Italie
      Abbrev: La Terreur du Monde
      Author: Huguette Taviani-Carozzi
      Publication: Fayard, Paris, France, 1996
      Page: gives date of 1059
    11. Title: Leo van de Pas: Leo's Genealogics Website, Address: Canberra, Australia, Url: http://www.genealogics.org/index.php
      Abbrev: Leo van de Pas
      Author: leovdpas@netspeed.com.au, Compiler: Leo van de Pas
      Note:
      A contributor to soc.genealogy.medieval
    12. Title: Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, Url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
      Abbrev: Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia
    13. Title: Leo van de Pas: Leo's Genealogics Website, Address: Canberra, Australia, Url: http://www.genealogics.org/index.php
      Abbrev: Leo van de Pas
      Author: leovdpas@netspeed.com.au, Compiler: Leo van de Pas
      Note:
      A contributor to soc.genealogy.medieval
      Page: b c 1015 no place
    14. Title: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Abbrev: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Author: Hermann Grote
      Publication: Leipzig, 1877
      Note:
      *Europaeische Stammtafeln*, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg.
      Page: Stammtafeln by Hermann Grote, originally printed 1877 in Leipzig: D. 1085.
    15. Title: University of Hull Royal Database (England), Url: http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/royal/
      Abbrev: University of Hull Royal DB
      Author: bct@tardis.ed.ac.uk, Compiler: Brian Tompsett, Dept of Computer Science
      Publication: University of Hull, Hull, UK HU6 7RX, 1994, 1995, 1996
      Note:
      Usually reliable but sometimes includes hypothetical lines, mythological figures, etc.
      Page: Died: 1085, no place
    16. Title: La Terreur du Monde, Robert Guiscard et la Conquete Normande de l' Italie
      Abbrev: La Terreur du Monde
      Author: Huguette Taviani-Carozzi
      Publication: Fayard, Paris, France, 1996
      Page: acceded 1059, no memo
    17. Title: University of Hull Royal Database (England), Url: http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/royal/
      Abbrev: University of Hull Royal DB
      Author: bct@tardis.ed.ac.uk, Compiler: Brian Tompsett, Dept of Computer Science
      Publication: University of Hull, Hull, UK HU6 7RX, 1994, 1995, 1996
      Note:
      Usually reliable but sometimes includes hypothetical lines, mythological figures, etc.
      Page: Acceded: 1059. No memo
    18. Title: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Abbrev: Europäische Stammtafeln
      Author: Hermann Grote
      Publication: Leipzig, 1877
      Note:
      *Europaeische Stammtafeln*, J.A. Stargardt Verlag, Marburg.
      Page: Stammtafeln by Hermann Grote, originally printed 1877 in Leipzig: Fuerst of Salerno in 1075
    19. Title: The Alexiad of Anna Comnena
      Abbrev: Alexiad of Anna Comnena
      Author: Anna Comnena
      Publication: orig. written ca. 1148, English trans. by E.R.A. Sewter, 1969, Penguin Books, New York, NY
      Repository:
        Name: J.H. Garner LIbrary
    20. Title: La Terreur du Monde, Robert Guiscard et la Conquete Normande de l' Italie
      Abbrev: La Terreur du Monde
      Author: Huguette Taviani-Carozzi
      Publication: Fayard, Paris, France, 1996
      Page: no date/place
    21. Title: La Terreur du Monde, Robert Guiscard et la Conquete Normande de l' Italie
      Abbrev: La Terreur du Monde
      Author: Huguette Taviani-Carozzi
      Publication: Fayard, Paris, France, 1996
    • Index | Descendancy | Register | Pedigree | Ahnentafel | Download GEDCOM | Public Profile | Add Post-em
    "The providence of God, which keeps up the generations of men, and so preserves that degenerate race, though guilty and obnoxious, in being upon earth. As one generation, even of sinful men, passes away, another comes (Eccl 1:4; Num 32:14), and will do so while the earth remains. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it." --Matthew Henry
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