Editing Robert Guiscard (section)

==Rule==
===Accession to the throne and treaty of Melfi===
[[File:Roberto il Guiscardo Costantino.jpg|thumbnail|left|Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita welcoming [[Constantine the African]] to court]]                                                                                                               When Humphrey died in 1057, Guiscard succeeded him as [[County of Apulia and Calabria|Count of Apulia and Calabria]], skipping over his elder half-brother [[Geoffrey of Hauteville|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 of the Principate|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 [[County of Sicily|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 [[Muslim Sicily|Sicilian emirates]], of [[Islam|Muslim]] faith.<ref name=":0" /><ref>''The Normans in Europe'', Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), pp. 236–237</ref>

===Campaigns in Calabria===
After the treaty of Melfi, Robert engaged in a large [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|series of conquests in southern Italy]], mainly in [[Calabria]] and [[Sicily]], with the help of his younger brother [[Roger I of Sicily|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 [[Byzantine Greeks|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 Calabria|Reggio]]. Finally, he took [[Scilla, Calabria|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===
[[File:Italy and Illyria 1084 AD.svg|thumb|alt=Multicoloured map of Italian peninsula, showing smaller states|Norman progress in Sicily during Robert's expeditions to the Balkans: [[Principality of Capua|Capua]], [[County of Apulia and Calabria|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|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 Doukas|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 fortifying the city, Guiscard allied himself with the emir of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], [[Ibn al-Thimnah|Ibn al-Timnah]], against the emir of [[Enna|Castrogiovanni]], [[Ibn al-Ḥawwās|Ibn al-Hawwas]]. 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 [[tarantula]]s, and the expedition was abandoned.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|page=66}}

In 1071 the Norman [[County of Sicily]] was created, and given to [[Roger I of Sicily|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 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=D'Alessandro |first1=Vincenzo |date=2008 |title=Les chevaliers de Dieu |trans-title=The Knights of God |journal=Annales de Normandie |language=fr |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=59–66 |doi=10.3406/annor.2008.6194 |id={{INIST|20623842}}}}</ref>

[[File:RogerReceivingTheKeysOfPalermo.JPG|thumbnail|The surrender of Palermo by the Muslims, [[Giuseppe Patania]], [[Palazzo dei Normanni]]]]

===Conquests of Bari, Salerno and Benevento===
[[File:Statua di Roberto il Guiscardo.jpg|thumbnail|Statue of Robert Guiscard, 1700–1749, [[Lorenzo Ottoni]].]]
While the Conquest of Sicily was still in progress, Robert had to fight once again with the Byzantines. The Byzantine forces had occupied [[Bari]], on request of Robert's nephew [[Abelard 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 the [[Principality 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 the [[Duchy of Benevento|principality of Benevento]] in 1078. Pope [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] was alarmed, as Benevento was considered possession of the [[Papal States|papal state]]. Nevertheless, he decided not to enter a conflict with the Normans, as he was already busy with [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Henry IV]] due to the [[Investiture Controversy|investiture controversy]]. [[Simon de Crépy]] negotiated an alliance with Guiscard on behalf of Gregory VII, and in June 1080 the Pope gave Guiscard claims on [[Abruzzo|Abruzzi]], [[Salerno]], [[Amalfi]], and on the [[March of Fermo]]. Robert would later return Benevento to the papacy in 1081.{{sfn|Forbes|1879|page=413}}

===Against the Byzantines===
In his last campaign, Guiscard attacked the [[Byzantine Empire]] itself, supporting the cause of [[Raiktor]], a monk who claimed to be deposed emperor [[Michael VII Doukas|Michael 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 since [[Constantine Doukas (co-emperor)|Constantine Doukas]], son of the real Michael VII, had once been proposed to his daughter [[Olympias (daughter of Robert Guiscard)|Olympias]].<ref>The Alexiad, Book 1, Chapter 12</ref>

In May 1081 Robert sailed with an army of Norman and Lombard troop (1,300 knights according to [[Geoffrey Malaterra]], up to 10,000 troops according to [[Orderic Vitalis]]). In October 1081 defeated [[Alexios I Komnenos]] in the [[Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)|Battle of Dyrrachium]], and by 1082 he had occupied [[Corfu]] and [[Durrës|Durazzo]]. In 1083, however, he was forced to return to Italy to help Pope Gregory VII, who was being besieged in [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] by Henry IV. In May 1084 Guiscard entered Rome, and forced Henry to retreat. A revolt of the citizens led to [[Sack of Rome (1084)|a three-day sack of the city]], after which Robert escorted the Pope out of the city. Guiscard's son [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], who had remained in the Balkans, had by this time lost his father's conquests. Robert returned to the Balkans and reoccupied Corfu and [[Cephalonia]], with the help of [[Dubrovnik|Ragusa]] and other dalmatian cities under the rule of king [[Demetrius Zvonimir]].<ref>Loud, pp. 214-217.</ref>{{sfn|Forbes|1879|page=413}}<ref>Ferdo Šišić, Povijest Hrvata u vrijeme narodnih vladara, 1925, Zagreb {{ISBN|86-401-0080-2}}</ref>

=== Death ===
On 17 July 1085, Guiscard died of a fever in Cephalonia, at Atheras, north of [[Lixouri]]. His remains were brought back to Italy, and he was buried in the [[Hauteville family|Hauteville]] family mausoleum, the [[Abbey of Santissima Trinità, Venosa|Abbey of Santissima Trinità]] in [[Venosa]]. The town of [[Fiskardo]] 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''".<ref>James van Wyck Osborne, ''The Greatest Norman Conquest'' (1937), p. 396.</ref><ref>Loud, p. 223.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jeanne |first=G.-R. |date=1986 |title=L'évocation romantique d'un héros normand |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/etnor_0014-2158_1986_num_35_4_2694 |journal=Études Normandes |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=19–30 |doi=10.3406/etnor.1986.2694}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aubé |first=Pierre |title=Roger II de Sicile: un Normand en Méditerranée |date=2016 |publisher=Perrin |isbn=978-2-262-06396-2 |series=Collection Tempus |location=Paris}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stroock |first=William |date=2011 |title=How to fight and win like a Norman: Strategy and tactics of the Norman |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48577881 |journal=Medieval Warfare |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=13–15 |jstor=48577881 |issn=2211-5129}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taviani-Carozzi |first=Huguette |title=La terreur du monde: Robert Guiscard et la conquête normande en Italie; mythe et histoire |date=1996 |publisher=Fayard |isbn=978-2-213-59598-6 |location=Paris}}</ref>[[File:Tomba degli Altavilla.jpg|right|thumb|[[Hauteville family]] mausoleum, where Robert Guiscard was buried. [[Abbey of the Santissima Trinità (Venosa)|Trinity Abbey]] in [[Venosa]], Italy.]]