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Sichelgaita
Sikelgaita (also ''Sichelgaita'' or ''Sigelgaita'') (1040 – 16 April 1090) was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno and second wife of Duke Robert Guiscard of Apulia. She commanded troops in her own right. Life She married Robert in 1058, after Robert divorced his first wife Alberada, due to supposed consanguinity. Her sister Gaitelgrima had earlier married Robert's half-brother Drogo. The divorce from Alberada and the marriage to 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. Sikelgaita tried to mediate between her brother Gisulf II of Salerno and husband when their relations went sour, but her pleas went unheeded and she accepted her brother's lot in the war with Guiscard (1078). Sikelgaita frequently accompanied Robert on his conquests. She conducted the siege of Trani (1080) while Robert ...
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Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabria (1057–1059), Duke of Sicily (1059–1085), and briefly prince of Benevento (1078–1081) before returning the title to the papacy. His sobriquet, in contemporary Latin and Old French , is often rendered "the Resourceful", "the Cunning", "the Wily", "the Fox", or "the Weasel". In Italian sources he is often Roberto II Guiscardo or Roberto d'Altavilla (from Robert de Hauteville), while medieval Arabic sources call him simply ''Abārt al-dūqa'' (Duke Robert). Background From 999 to 1042 the Normans in Italy, coming first as pilgrims, were mainly mercenaries serving at various times the Byzantines and a number of Lombard nobles. The first of the independent Norman lords was Rainulf Drengot who established himself in the fortress of ...
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Guaimar IV Of Salerno
Guaimar IV (c. 1013 – 2, 3 or 4 June 1052) was Prince of Salerno (1027–1052), Duke of Amalfi (1039–1052), Duke of Gaeta (1040–1041), and Prince of Capua (1038–1047) in Southern Italy over the period from 1027 to 1052. He was an important figure in the final phase of Byzantine authority in the Mezzogiorno and the commencement of Norman power. He was, according to Amatus of Montecassino, "more courageous than his father, more generous and more courteous; indeed he possessed all the qualities a layman should have—except that he took an excessive delight in women." Early conquests He was born around the year 1013, the eldest son of Guaimar III of Salerno by Gaitelgrima, daughter of Duke Pandulf II of Benevento. His elder half-brother, the son of Porpora of Tabellaria, John (III) reigned as co-prince from 1015. When he died in 1018, Guaimar was made co-prince. In 1022, the Emperor Henry II campaigned in southern Italy against the Greeks and sent Pilgri ...
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Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and 796) that the Lombards descended from a small tribe called the Winnili,: "From Proto-Germanic '' winna-'', meaning "to fight, win" who dwelt in southern Scandinavia (''Scadanan'') before migrating to seek new lands. By the time of the Roman-era - historians wrote of the Lombards in the 1st century AD, as being one of the Suebian peoples, in what is now northern Germany, near the Elbe river. They continued to migrate south. By the end of the fifth century, the Lombards had moved into the area roughly coinciding with modern Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube, where they subdued the Heruls and later fought frequent wars with the Gepids. The Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, and his successor Alboin ...
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Gisulf II Of Salerno
Gisulf II (also spelled ''Gisulph'', Latin ''Gisulphus'' or ''Gisulfus'', and Italian ''Gisulfo'' or ''Gisolfo'') was the last Lombard prince of Salerno (1052–1077). Gisulf was the eldest son and successor of Guaimar IV and Gemma, daughter of the Capuan count Laidulf. He appears as a villain and a pirate in the chronicle of Amatus of Montecassino, ''Ystoire de li Normant''. Historian John Julius Norwich (''The Normans in the South'' pg. 201''n'') speaks "of one unfortunate victim n Amalfitanwhom Gisulf kept in an icy dungeon, removing first his right eye and then every day one more of his fingers and toes. He matusadds that the Empress Agnes—who was spending much of her time in South Italy—personally offered a hundred pounds of gold and one of her own fingers in ransom, but her prayers went unheard." He was made co-prince with his father in 1042 while very young and, only a decade later, his father was assassinated in the harbour of his capital by four brothers, sons o ...
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Battle Of Dyrrhachium (1081)
The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium (present-day Durrës in Albania), the major Byzantine stronghold in the western Balkans, and ended in a Norman victory. Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine emperor, Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), betrothed his son to Robert Guiscard's daughter. When Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians. On October 18, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos outside Dyrrhachium. The battle began with the Byzantine right wing routing the Norman left wing, which broke and fled. Varangian mercenaries joined in t ...
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Gaitelgrima, Daughter Of Guaimar IV
Gaitelgrima of Salerno ( fl. 1091), was princess consort of Capua by marriage to Jordan I of Capua. She was regent of Capua in 1091 during the minority of her sons, Richard, Robert, and Jordan. Life She was the daughter of Guaimar IV of Salerno and Gemma. She was the direct sister of Gisulf II of Salerno and Sichelgaita. She was first married to Richard Aversa and after his death was forced to marry his son Jordan I of Capua, who according to pope Gregor VII dragged the unwilling woman to be married.Alessandra Daga: ''GAITELGRIMA''. In: ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.'' Band 51. Benevent 1998, available online vitrecanni.it After being widowed by Jordan 1091, she took up the regency of her sons, Richard, Robert, and Jordan. Later the same year, however, she was expelled from Capua by the citizens, who elected one Count Lando as their prince, and she took her sons with her to Aversa. In Sarno, she sheltered her brother Gisulf in his final days and there he is buried. S ...
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Alberada Of Buonalbergo
Alberada of Buonalbergo was a duchess of Apulia as the first wife of Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia (1059–1085). She married Guiscard in 1051 or 1052, when he was still just a robber baron in Calabria. As her dowry, she brought Robert Guiscard 200 knights under command of her nephew Girard of Buonalbergo. She had two children with Guiscard: a daughter, Emma, mother of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, and a son, Prince Bohemond I of Antioch. In 1058, after Pope Nicholas II strengthened existing canon law against consanguinity and on that basis, Guiscard repudiated Alberada in favour of a then-more advantageous marriage to Sichelgaita, the sister of Prince Gisulf II of Salerno. Nevertheless, the split was amicable and Alberada showed no later ill will. She was alive at the death of Bohemond in March 1111 and died very old, probably in July 1122 or thereabouts. She was buried near the Hauteville family mausoleum in the Abbey of Holy Trinity at Venosa Venosa ( Lucano: ) is a t ...
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Schola Medica Salernitana
The Schola Medica Salernitana ( it, Scuola Medica Salernitana) was a Medieval medical school, the first and most important of its kind. Situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the south Italian city of Salerno, it was founded in the 9th century and rose to prominence in the 10th century, becoming the most important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe at the time. Arabic medical treatises, both those that were translations of Greek texts and those that were originally written in Arabic, had accumulated in the library of Montecassino, where they were translated into Latin; thus the received lore of Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides was supplemented and invigorated by Arabic medical practice, known from contacts with Sicily and North Africa. As a result, the medical practitioners of Salerno, both men and women, were unrivaled in the medieval Western Mediterranean for practical concerns. Overview Founded in the 9th century, the school was originally based in the dispensary of a ...
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Maud Of Apulia
Maud of Apulia (c. 1060 – c. 1112) was a member of the Norman D’Hauteville family and a daughter of Robert Guiscard and his second wife Sikelgaita, a Lombard princess, the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno. She was also known as Mahalda, Mahault, Mafalda and Matilda. She was the wife of Ramón Berenguer II, and thus Countess of Barcelona (1078–1082). After her husband’s death, she remarried Aimery I, the Viscount of Narbonne (1086–1108). Lineage Maud was the first daughter of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, (ca.1020 - 1085) with his second wife Sikelgaita. Her brother was Roger Borsa, the effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. Her first cousins were Simon of Sicily and Roger II (sons of Roger) who led the effort to consolidate southern Italy and Sicily under Norman (D’Hauteville) rule, which was accomplished in 1130. She was also a half sister of Bohemund of Taranto, who was one of the leaders of the First Crusade and bec ...
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Bari
Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples. It is a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas. The city itself has a population of 315,284 inhabitants, over , while the urban area has 750,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area has 1.3 million inhabitants. Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the north is the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035–1171) and the Hohenstaufen Castle built for Frederick II, which is now also a major nightlife district. To the south is the Murat quarter (erected by Joachim Murat), the modern heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan with a promenade on the sea and the majo ...
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Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor—the second monarch of the Salian dynasty—and Agnes of Poitou. After his father's death on 5 October 1056, Henry was placed under his mother's guardianship. She made grants to German aristocrats to secure their support. Unlike her late husband, she could not control the election of the popes, thus the idea of the "liberty of the Church" strengthened during her rule. Taking advantage of her weakness, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne kidnapped Henry in April 1062. He administered Germany until Henry came of age in 1065. Henry endeavoured to recover the royal estates that had been lost during his minority. He employed low-ranking officials to carry out his new policies, causing discontent in Saxony and Thuri ...
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Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history" and Hebrews of historical History of ancient Israel and Judah, Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, "Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, ...
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