Toynbee "Guiscardo, Ruberto"
Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia and Calabria, sixth of the twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville; he was born at Hauteville near Coutances in Normandy c. 1015. While still a youth he left his father's castle and went to Apulia, where his three elder brothers, William Bras-de-Fer, Drogo, and Humphrey had already established a footing as military adventurers. Here he gradually won his way with his sword. In 1053 he took a prominent part in the Battle of Civitella, which resulted in the defeat and captivity of Pope Leo IX. On the death of his brother Humphrey in 1057, Robert, who had earned the nickname of Guiscard (i.e. 'Sagacious' or 'Cunning'), succeeded to the chief command of the Norman troops. In 1059 he was confirmed by Pope Nicholas II in the title of duke of Apulia and Calabria, which had already been bestowed upon him by his soldiery, and was at the same time appointed gonfalonier of the Church. For the next 21 years he was continually engaged, together with his youngest brother Roger, in warlike operations against the Greeks and Saracens in the S. of Italy and in Sicily. In 1081 he undertook an expedition against Alexius Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, ostensibly on behalf of the deposed Emperor Michael VII, to whose son his daughter Helen was betrothed. Having defeated Alexius at Durazzo (1085), he was on his way to Constantinople, when he was summoned back by Pope Gregory VII, his suzerain, who was besieged in Rome by the Emperor Henry IV. After capturing and sacking the city (May 1084), Robert placed the pope in safety at Salerno, and returned to the East to continue his operations against Alexius. While still engaged in active warfare he died of pestilence in the island of Cephalonia, July 17, 1085, when c. 70 years old. He was succeeded in the dukedom of Apulia by his younger son Roger Bursa, whose son William died without issue in 1127, while Robert's younger brother Roger retained the sovereignty of Sicily with the title of count. Subsequently, the two titles of Apulia and Sicily were united in the person of Count Roger's son, Roger I, the first of the Norman kings of the Two Sicilies. [Cicilia: Table IV.]

D. mentions Robert Guiscard in connexion with 'the schismatic Greeks and unbelieving Saracens' and their adherents in Apulia whom he conquered, [Inf. xxviii. 14] [Puglia]; he is placed, together with Godfrey of Bouillon, among the Christian warriors who have fought for the faith (Spititi militanti), in the Heaven of Mars, [Par. xviii. 48] [Marte, Cielo di].

Villani, who gives a long and somewhat confused account of the Normans in Sicily, and of Robert Guiscard and his descendants ({Villani. iv. 18-20}), dwells particularly upon Robert's services to the Church:

In questi tempi, gli anni di Cristo 1070, passò in Italia Ruberto Guiscardo duca de' Normandi, il quale per sua prodezza e senno fece grandi cose e operò in servigio di santa Chiesa contro ad Arrigo terzo [sic] imperadore che la perseguitava, e contro Alessio imperadore, e contro a' Viniziani . . . per la qual cosa egli fu fatto signore di Cicilia e di Puglia colla confermagione di santa Chiesa, e gli suoi discendenti appresso infino al tempo d'Arrigo di Soavia, padre di Federigo secondo, ne furono re e signori. ({Villani. iv. 18.})

Gibbon (ch. lvi) gives the following account of Robert Guiscard:

The pedigree of Robert Guiscard is variously deduced from the peasants and the dukes of Normandy. . . .His genuine descent may be ascribed to the second or middle order of private nobility. He sprang from a race of valvassors or bannerets, of the diocese of Coutances, in the Lower Normandy; the castle of Hauteville was their honourable seat, his father Tancred was conspicuous in the court and army of the duke, and his military service was furnished by ten soldiers or knights. Two marriages, of a rank not unworthy of his own made him the father of twelve sons, who were educated at home by the impartial tenderness of his second wife. But a narrow patrimony was insufficient for this numerous and daring progeny; they saw around the neighbourhood the mischiefs of poverty and discord, and resolved to seek in foreign wars a more glorious inheritance. Two only remained to perpetuate the race and cherish their father's age, their ten brothers, as they successively attained the vigour of manhood, departed from the castle, passed the Alps, and joined the Apulian camp of the Normans. The elder were prompted by native spirit: their success encouraged their younger brethren. . . . Robert was the eldest of the seven sons of the second marriage, and even the reluctant praise of his foes has endowed him with the heroic qualities of a soldier and a statesman. His lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his army, his limbs were cast in the true proportion of strength and gracefulness; and to the decline of life he maintained the patient vigour of health and the commanding dignity of his form. His complexion was ruddy, his shoulders were broad, his hair and beard were long and of a flaxen colour, his eyes sparkled with fire, and his voice, like that of Achilles, could impress obedience and terror amidst the tumult of battle. . . .His boundless ambition was founded on the consciousness of superior worth; in the pursuit of greatness, he was never arrested by the scruples of justice, and seldom moved by the feelings of humanity; though not insensible of fame, the choice of open or clandestine means was determined only by his present advantage. The surname of Guiscard was applied to this master of political wisdom, which is too often confounded with the practice of dissimulation and deceit.

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press