Robert (died July 1080) was the first

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

count of

Montescaglioso Montescaglioso ( Montese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Matera, Basilicata, southern Italy. The economy is mostly based on agriculture, including production of renowned oil and wine, as well as traditional food. Historically, i ...

. Robert had a brother, Geoffrey of Conversano. Their mother was a sister of Duke Robert Guiscard. Along with his brother Geoffrey and his cousins,

Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a Middle Ages, medieval French Scholasticism, scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This ...

and

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, Robert was constantly in rebellion against his uncle the duke. In April 1064, Robert joined Abelard, Geoffrey, and Joscelin, Lord of Molfetta, in rebellion against Robert, who had just left for

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. They received the aid, financial and military, of Perenos, the Byzantine duke of Durazzo. Between 1 September 1065 and 31 August 1066, Byzantine troops landed at Bari. The rebels held out for several years, neither making headway against Robert nor he against them. On 1 January 1068,

Romanus Diogenes Romanos IV Diogenes (Greek: Ρωμανός Διογένης), Latinized as Romanus IV Diogenes, was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa, was crowned Byzantine Em ...

was acclaimed emperor in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

and the Greeks transferred their military attention to the Seljuk threat to their east. The rebellion fell apart and by February Robert had surrendered. In 1071, with Abelard, and in 1078, with his cousin Prince

Jordan I of Capua Jordan I ( it, Giordano) (after 1046 – 1091), count of Aversa and prince of Capua from 1078 to his death, was the eldest son and successor of Prince Richard I of Capua and Fressenda, a daughter of Tancred of Hauteville and his second wife, ...

, Robert was in rebellion again. Robert and his brother and cousins continued in rebellion after the 1079 peace between Jordan and the Guiscard. Robert was one of the first to cease revolting: he died in July 1080. He left a son, Rudolf, who succeeded him.

Sources

''Lexikon de Mittelalters''.
* Norwich, John Julius. ''The Normans in the South 1016-1130''. Longmans:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1967. Italo-Normans Norman warriors 1080 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Italy-noble-stub