Romuald Guarna (between 1110 and 1120 – 1 April 1181/2) was the

Archbishop of Salerno The Archdiocese of Salerno-Campagna-Acerno ( la, Archidioecesis Salernitana-Campaniensis-Acernensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Campania, southern Italy, created in 1986. The historic Archdiocese of Salerno was in existence f ...

(as Romuald II) from 1153 to his death. He is remembered primarily for his ''Chronicon sive Annales'', an important historical record of his time.

Life

Romuald was a native of Salerno, born into the old Lombard nobility. He studied as a youth in 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 ...

, where he studied not only medicine (in which he taught

Gilles de Corbeil Gilles de Corbeil (Latin: ''Egidius de Corbolio'' or ''Egidius Corboliensis''; also ''Aegidius'') was a French royal physician, teacher, and poet. He was born in approximately 1140 in Corbeil and died in the first quarter of the 13th century. He ...

), but history, law, and theology. Romuald was raised to the Salernitan archbishopric after the death of

William of Ravenna William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

. Romuald was a diplomat for the kings

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

and William II. He negotiated the

Treaty of Benevento The Treaty of Benevento or Concordat of Benevento (18 June 1156) was an important treaty between the papacy of Adrian IV and the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. After years of turbulent relations, the popes finally settled down to a peace with the Haut ...

of 1156 and signed the

Treaty of Venice The Treaty or Peace of Venice, 1177, was a peace treaty between the papacy and its allies, the north Italian city-states of the Lombard League, and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily also took part in negotiations and ...

in 1177. Though he took part in the conspiracy against the Admiral

Maio of Bari Maio of Bari ( it, Maione da Bari) (died 10 November 1160) was the third of the great admirals of Sicily and the most important man in the Norman kingdom of Sicily during the reign of William I (1154–66). Lord Norwich calls him "one of the mos ...

, he never fell out of favour and even performed the coronation of William II. Despite this, he exaggerates his own importance in his chronicle, which characteristically begins at creation and extends till 1178. In 1160-1161, Romuald defended the city from the enraged William I, who was avenging the assassination of Maio. With the help of Salernitans at court and their connections to the king's intimates, the city was spared. In 1167, as the highest-ranking prelate in the realm, he crowned William II as king in the

Cathedral of Palermo Palermo Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo, located in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. As an architectural complex, it is characterized by the pre ...

. In 1179, Romuald intervened in a council condemning the Albigensians. He was succeeded by

Nicholas of Ajello Nicholas of AjelloHe was not a native of Ajello ( Calabria), but Salerno. His elder brother, Richard, received the county of Ajello from King Tancred and the name has been applied to the entire family. ( it, Nicolò d'Aiello; died 10 February 122 ...

Chronicon sive Annales

Romuald's work at a chronicle known as ''Chronicon'' was obviously connected with his studies at the Schola Salernitanae where his family had been involved over generations. It was part of a universal history and editions of the 19th century usually started with one paragraph before the last part called "Historia Normannorum, pars Sicula" (about the Norman kingdom of Sicily). According to Massino Oldoni the preceding compilation already existed, when Romuald was a child, the earlier Norman history also does not use the third person like the portion ascribed to him.Oldoni ( 2003).

Editions

* * * *

Notes

References

*Alio, Jacqueline. ''Margaret, Queen of Sicily''. New York: Trinacria, 2017, pp. 387-398 (translation of excerpts from Romuald's chronicle). *Matthew, D. J. A. "The Chronicle of Romuald of Salerno". ''The Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays presented to

Richard William Southern Sir Richard William Southern (8 February 1912 – 6 February 2001), who published under the name R. W. Southern, was a noted English medieval historian based at the University of Oxford. Biography Southern was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne ...

''.

R. H. C. Davis Ralph Henry Carless Davis (7 October 1918 – 12 March 1991) was a British historian and educator specialising in the European Middle Ages. Davis was born and died in Oxford. He was a leading exponent of strict documentary analysis and interpre ...

and J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, edd. Oxford: 1981. * Norwich, John Julius. ''The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194''. London: Longman, 1970.

External links

Romuald Guarna (biographical notes)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Romuald II, Archbishop of Salerno 12th-century births 1180s deaths People from Salerno 12th-century Italian historians Italian chroniclers 12th-century Lombard people 12th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops Archbishops of Salerno Schola Medica Salernitana 12th-century Italian writers 12th-century Italian physicians 12th-century Latin writers