Sikelgaita (also ''Sichelgaita'' or ''Sigelgaita'') (1040 – 16 April 1090) was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Prince

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. ...

and second wife of Duke

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 Calabri ...

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 Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...

. Her sister

Gaitelgrima {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Gaitelgrima is a Lombard feminine name. There are several notable Gaitelgrimas in history. The identities of these six women (as well as some others of the same name) are often confused because they were all cl ...

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 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 o ...

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 moved against Taranto. Although at first she tried to persuade him not to attack the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, she nevertheless brought troops and accompanied him on his campaign against them. At the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1081 she was on the field in full armour, rallying her and Robert's troops when they were initially repulsed by the Byzantine army and were in danger of losing cohesion. According to the Byzantine historian

Anna Comnena Anna Komnene ( gr, Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Ánna Komnēnḗ; 1 December 1083 – 1153), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine princess and author of the ''Alexiad'', an account of the reign of her father, the Byzantine emperor, ...

, she was "like another

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, if not a second

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

," and, in the ''

Alexiad The ''Alexiad'' ( el, Ἀλεξιάς, Alexias) is a medieval historical and biographical text written around the year 1148, by the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. It was written in a form of artificial ...

'', Anna attributes to her a quote from the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

''.

John Julius Norwich John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, (15 September 1929 – 1 June 2018), known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, travel writer, and television personality. Background Norwich was born at the Alfred House Nursing ...

wrote:

"in her we come face to face with the closest approximation in history to a
Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997:36) ...
. A woman of immense build and herculean physical strength, she hardly ever left her husband's side – least of all in battle, one of her favourite occupations. At such moments, charging magnificently into the fray, her long blond hair streaming out from beneath her helmet, deafening friend and foe alike with huge shouts of encouragement or imprecation, she must have looked – even if she did not altogether sound – worthy to take her place among the daughters of
Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...
."

In 1083, Sikelgaita returned to Italy with Robert to defend

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...

against the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Henry IV. She accompanied him on a second campaign against the Byzantines, during which Robert died on

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

in 1085 with Sikelgaita at his side. Early in 1086, Sikelgaita was in

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

making a donation of the town of

Cetraro Cetraro ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Waste dumping The 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, has been accused by pentito Francesco Fonti, a former member of ' ...

in his honour to

Montecassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...

, which the couple had endowed well throughout their married life.Bloch, 214. Sikelgaita donated a large amount of silver for her health while she was ill on another occasion. Supposedly, she tried to poison Robert's son Bohemond by his first wife, although the two eventually came to an agreement by which her son

Roger Borsa Roger Borsa (1060/1061 – 22 February 1111) was the Norman Duke of Apulia and Calabria and effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. Life Roger was the son of Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita, a Lombard noblewoman. His ambiti ...

was allowed to succeed Robert in the duchy. With her son she put the

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 ...

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 a ...

under that city's archbishop. In his ''Historia Ecclesiastica,'' Orderic Vitalis states that she had studied and had learned about the use of poisons among the doctors of the

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 ...

. On her death, she was, at her own request, buried in Montecassino.

Children

With Robert, Sikelgaita had eight children: *

Mafalda ''Mafalda'' () is an Argentine comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Quino. The strip features a six-year-old girl named Mafalda, who reflects the Argentinian middle class and progressive youth, is concerned about humanity and world pea ...

(1059/1060 – 1108), married Raymond Berengar II of Barcelona and then Aimeric I,

Viscount of Narbonne The viscount of Narbonne was the secular ruler of Narbonne in the Middle Ages. Narbonne had been the capital of the Visigoth province of Septimania, until the 8th century, after which it became the Carolingian Viscounty of Narbonne. Narbonne was n ...

(1060/1061 – 1111) * Guy (d. 1107) * Robert Scalio (d. 1110) *Sibilla (Sybil), married Ebles II, Count of Roucy *Mabillia (Mabel) of Apulia, married William de Grandmesnil *Heria, married

Hugh V, Count of Maine Hugh V (c. 1055/1062 – 1131) was the count of Maine from 1069 until c. 1093. Life He was the son of Margrave Albert Azzo II of Milan and Gersendis, a sister of Count Hugh IV of Maine. In 1070, the citizens of Le Mans and some of the Mancea ...

* Olympias, betrothed to

Konstantios Doukas Konstantios Doukas ( el, Κωνστάντιος Δούκας, 1060s – 18 October 1081), Latinized as Constantius Ducas, was a junior Byzantine emperor from 1060 to 1078. Konstantios was the son of Emperor Constantine X Doukas and Empress Eud ...

, son of

Michael VII Ducas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas ( gr, Μιχαήλ Δούκας), nicknamed Parapinakes ( gr, Παραπινάκης, lit. "minus a quarter", with reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine e ...

and

Maria Bagrationi Maria of Alania (born Martha; ka, მართა; 1053–1118) was Byzantine empress by marriages to List of Byzantine emperors, emperors Michael VII Doukas and Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Her status as empress was considered a significant succ ...

, in 1074

Sikelgaita in media

* Sikelgaita is featured as a non-playable character in '' Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition'' through the ''Dawn of the Dukes'' expansion. She appears in the "Bohemond and the Emperor" scenario as a villain, being Bohemond's

wicked stepmother A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren. Culture Step ...

who refuses to help him fight the Normans, with the closing cutscene showing Robert Guiscard's death from illness, with speculation that she poisoned him.

Notes

Sources

*Valerie Eads, "Sichelgaita of Salerno: Amazon or Trophy Wife?" ''Journal of Medieval Military History'' 3 (2005), pp. 72–87. * Norwich, John Julius. ''The Normans in the South 1016-1130''. Longmans: London, 1967. *Loud, Graham A. ''The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest''. 2000. *Loud, Graham A.
Coinage, Wealth and Plunder in the Age of Robert Guiscard.
''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 114, No. 458. (Sep., 1999), pp 815–843. *Bloch, Herbert.
Monte Cassino, Byzantium, and the West in the Earlier Middle Ages.
''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', Vol. 3. (1946), pp 163–224. *Skinner, Patricia. "'Halt! Be Men!': Sikelgaita of Salerno, Gender, and the Norman Conquest of Italy". ''Gender and History'', 12:3 (2000). * Comnena, Anna.
The Alexiad
'. trans. Elizabeth A. Dawes. London, 1928. *Peterson-Gouma, Thalia. ''Anna Komnene and Her Times''. 2000. *Garland, Lynda. ''Byzantine Empresses''. 1999. {{Authority control 1040 births 1090 deaths 11th-century Italian women People from Salerno Hauteville family Lombard princesses Women in medieval European warfare Women in 11th-century warfare 11th-century Lombard people Women in war in Italy Medieval women scientists Duchesses of Apulia