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{{Short description|Duke of Apulia and Calabria (1015–1085)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image = {{CSS image crop|Image = Robert Guiscard claimed as a Duke.jpg|bSize = 850|cWidth = 235|cHeight = 247|oTop = 170|oLeft = 110|Location = center}}
| caption = Robert Guiscard being crowned as Duke of Apulia and Calabria by [[Pope Nicholas II]]
| succession = [[Duke of Apulia and Calabria]]
| reign = {{nowrap|23 August 1059 – 17 July 1085}}
| predecessor = ''Title created''
| successor = [[Roger Borsa]]
| succession1 = [[Count of Apulia and Calabria]]
| reign1 = {{nowrap|August 1057 – 23 August 1059}}
| predecessor1 = [[Humphrey of Hauteville]]
| successor1 =
| succession2 = [[County of Sicily|Lord of Sicily]]
| reign2 = {{nowrap|Invested on 23 August 1059}}
| successor2 = [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]] (as Count)
| succession3 = [[Prince of Benevento]]
| reign3 = {{nowrap|1078 - 1081}}
| predecessor3 = [[Landulf VI of Benevento|Landulf VI]]
| successor3 = ''Title extinct''
| spouses = [[Alberada of Buonalbergo]]<br>[[Sikelgaita]]
| issue = See [[#Marriage and issue|below]]
| house = [[Hauteville family|Hauteville]]
| house-type = Noble family
| father = [[Tancred of Hauteville]]
| mother = [[Fressenda]]
| birth_date = {{circa|1015}}
| birth_place = [[Hauteville-la-Guichard]] or somewhere else in [[Cotentin]], [[Duchy of Normandy]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1085|7|17|1015|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Cephalonia]], [[Byzantine Empire]]
| burial_place = [[Abbey of the Santissima Trinità (Venosa)|Abbey of the Santissima Trinità]], [[Venosa]]
| religion = [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]
}}
'''Robert Guiscard''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|iː|ˈ|s|k|ɑːr}} {{respell|ghee|SKAR}},<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Robert Guiscard|access-date=14 January 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|ʁɔbɛʁ ɡiskaʁ|label=Modern French:}}; {{circa|1015}} – 17 July 1085), also referred to as '''Robert de Hauteville''', was a [[Normans|Norman]] adventurer remembered for his [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|conquest of southern Italy and Sicily]] in the 11th century.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085) |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/guiscard.html |website=www.thelatinlibrary.com |access-date=28 January 2021}}</ref>

Robert was born into the [[Hauteville family]] in [[Normandy]], the sixth son of [[Tancred of Hauteville|Tancred de Hauteville]] and his wife [[Fressenda]]. He inherited the [[County of Apulia and Calabria]] from his brother in 1057, and in 1059 he was made [[Duke of Apulia and Calabria]] and [[County of Sicily|Lord of Sicily]] by Pope [[Pope Nicholas II|Nicholas II]]. He was also briefly [[Prince of Benevento]] (1078–1081), before returning the title to the papacy.<ref name=":0" />

==Name==
Robert's sobriquet, "Guiscard" (in contemporary [[Latin]] {{lang|la|Viscardus}} and [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|Viscart}}, closely related to the English word "[[mwod:wiseacre|wiseacre]]", which archaically meant 'wise man'), is often rendered as "the Resourceful", "the Cunning", "the Wily", "the Fox", or "the Weasel". In Italian sources he is known as ''Roberto il Guiscardo'' or ''Roberto d'Altavilla'' (meaning Robert Guiscard and Robert de Hauteville), while medieval [[Arabic language|Arabic]] sources call him simply ''Abārt al-dūqa'' (Duke Robert).<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Johns|2015|p=124}}

==Historical background==
From 999 to 1042, different [[Normans]] began migrating to Italy, where they mainly worked as mercenaries, serving at various times the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] and a number of [[Lombards|Lombard]] nobles.<ref>''The Normans in Europe'', Ed. & Trans. [[Elisabeth van Houts]] (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 223</ref> The first of the independent Norman lords was [[Rainulf Drengot]], who established himself in the fortress of [[Aversa]], becoming [[Count of Aversa]] and [[Duke of Gaeta]].<ref>Jim Bradbury, ''The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare'' (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 153</ref>

In 1038, [[William Iron Arm]] and [[Drogo of Hauteville|Drogo]], the eldest sons of [[Tancred of Hauteville]] (Seigneur of Hauteville-La-Guichard, a town in [[Cotentin]], [[Normandy]]),<ref>Oscar Browning, ''A General History of the World'' (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1913), p. 316</ref> and elder brothers of Robert Guiscard, arrived in Italy. The two joined a revolt against the Byzantine rule of [[Apulia]], started by the Lombards. By 1040 the Byzantines had lost most of the province. In 1042 a group of Normans settled in Apulia and chose [[Melfi]] as their capital; in September of the same year they elected William Iron Arm as their count, who was succeeded in turn by his brothers Drogo, ''comes Normannorum totius Apuliæ e Calabriæ'' ("the count of all Normans in Apulia and Calabria"), and after him [[Humphrey of Hauteville|Humphrey]], who arrived around 1044.<ref name=":0" />

==Arrival in Italy==
Robert Guiscard was born around 1015, a son of [[Tancred of Hauteville]] and his second wife [[Fressenda]],{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}} and the sixth of Tancred's twelve sons. According to the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] historian [[Anna Komnene]], he left Normandy to follow his brothers' footsteps with only five mounted riders and thirty followers on foot. Upon arriving in southern Italy in 1047, he became the chief of a roving band of robbers.<ref name="AAC54">''The Alexiad of Anna Comnena'', Trans. (from the Greek) E.R.A. Sewter (London & New York: Penguin Books, 1969), p. 54 {{ISBN|0-14-044215-4}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Anna Komnene gives us a physical description of Guiscard:{{efn|However, one should not trust this description, as the Byzantine princess was born in 1083 and Robert died in 1085. It is possible that Anna was inspired by a Norman mercenary or by [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], son of Robert)
}}
{{blockquote|This Robert was Norman by birth,<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085) |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/guiscard.html |website=www.thelatinlibrary.com |access-date=28 January 2021}}</ref> of obscure origins, with an overbearing character and a thoroughly villainous mind;<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085) |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/guiscard.html |website=www.thelatinlibrary.com |access-date=28 January 2021}}</ref> he was a brave fighter, very cunning in his assaults on the wealth and power of great men;<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Guiscard (c. 1015–1085) |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/guiscard.html |website=www.thelatinlibrary.com |access-date=28 January 2021}}</ref> in achieving his aims absolutely inexorable, diverting criticism by incontrovertible argument. He was a man of immense stature, surpassing even the biggest men; he had a ruddy complexion, fair hair, broad shoulders, eyes that all but shot out sparks of fire. In a well-built man one looks for breadth here and slimness there; in him all was admirably well-proportioned and elegant... Homer remarked of Achilles that when he shouted his hearers had the impression of a multitude in uproar, but Robert's bellow, so they say, put tens of thousands to flight.<ref name="AAC54"/>}}

When Robert arrived in Apulia, lands were scarce, and thus he couldn't expect any land grant from his brother [[Drogo of Hauteville|Drogo]], then count (especially since Drogo had already given [[Humphrey of Hauteville|Humphrey]] the county of [[Lavello]]). In 1048, Guiscard joined [[Pandulf IV of Capua]] in a war against [[Guaimar IV of Salerno]]. The next year, however, he left the war. Chronicler [[Amatus of Montecassino]] says this was due to Pandulf denying a previous promise that he had made to Robert, which included the gift of a castle and his daughter's hand in marriage. Robert therefore returned to Drogo's court, and he asked his brother to grant him a fief. Drogo, who had just finished a military campaign in [[Calabria]], granted him command of the fortress of [[Spezzano Albanese|Scribla]], but Guiscard, dissatisfied, transferred to the castle of [[San Marco Argentano]]. During his time in Calabria, Robert married [[Alberada of Buonalbergo]], under the promise of her nephew [[Girard of Buonalbergo]] that he would join Robert with his 200 knights if the marriage took place.<ref name=":0" />

As the Normans gained more and more power in southern Italy, the Lombards, of whom they had been allies for a long time, turned against him. [[Pope Leo IX]] formed an anti-Norman coalition in an effort to expel them from the peninsula, but in 1053 he was defeated in the [[Battle of Civitate]] by the Norman forces, led by Humphrey, now count. Robert fought personally in the battle, and according to [[William of Apulia]] he was dismounted from his horse on three occasions, but he remounted every time.<ref name=":0" />

==Rule==
===Accession to the throne and treaty of Melfi===
[[File:Roberto il Guiscardo Costantino.jpg|thumbnail|left|Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita welcoming [[Constantine the African]] to court]]                                                                                                               When Humphrey died in 1057, Guiscard succeeded him as [[County of Apulia and Calabria|Count of Apulia and Calabria]], skipping over his elder half-brother [[Geoffrey of Hauteville|Geoffrey]] in the line of succession. Soon after, probably in 1058, Guiscard's marriage to Alberada was annulled due to [[consanguinity]]. It was the first time that a marriage was annulled for this cause. After that, Robert married [[Sikelgaita]], sister of [[Gisulf II of Salerno]], securing a new alliance between Lombards and Normans. In return for his sister's hand in marriage, Gisulf demanded that Guiscard destroyed two castles which belonged to his brother [[William of the Principate|William]], because they stood on Gisulf's territory.

The Papacy, in a conflict with the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] due to the [[Investiture Controversy]], now opted to secure the Normans as allies. Therefore, in the [[Treaty of Melfi]] of 1059, Guiscard swore fealty to [[Pope Nicholas II]]. In return, Nicholas invested Guiscard of the titles of [[Duke of Apulia and Calabria]] and [[County of Sicily|Lord of Sicily]] (''by the Grace of God and St Peter duke of Apulia and Calabria and, if either aid me, future lord of Sicily''), legitimizing his intervention against the [[Muslim Sicily|Sicilian emirates]], of [[Islam|Muslim]] faith.<ref name=":0" /><ref>''The Normans in Europe'', Ed. & Trans. Elisabeth van Houts (Manchester & New York: Manchester University Press, 2000), pp. 236–237</ref>

===Campaigns in Calabria===
After the treaty of Melfi, Robert engaged in a large [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|series of conquests in southern Italy]], mainly in [[Calabria]] and [[Sicily]], with the help of his younger brother [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]]. At the time of treaty, Guiscard was already leading an army in Calabria, in an attempt to fully subjugate the province, still partially held by the [[Byzantine Greeks|Byzantines]]. After being invested of his titles, Guiscard returned to Calabria, where his army was besieging [[Cariati]]. Upon his arrival Cariati submitted, and, before winter, [[Rossano]] and [[Gerace]] followed. He briefly returned to Apulia to remove the Byzantine garrisons from [[Taranto]] and [[Brindisi]], before returning once again in Calabria, where after a long and arduous siege, he conquered [[Reggio Calabria|Reggio]]. Finally, he took [[Scilla, Calabria|Scilla]], an island to which the Reggian garrison had fled. The complete control over Calabria opened the way to his planned conquest of Sicily.

===Conquest of Sicily===
{{Main|Norman conquest of Sicily}}
[[File:Italy and Illyria 1084 AD.svg|thumb|alt=Multicoloured map of Italian peninsula, showing smaller states|Norman progress in Sicily during Robert's expeditions to the Balkans: [[Principality of Capua|Capua]], [[County of Apulia and Calabria|Apulia and Calabria]], and the [[County of Sicily]] are Norman. The [[Emirate of Sicily]], the [[Duchy of Naples]] and lands in the [[Abruzzo]] (in the southern [[Duchy of Spoleto]]) are not yet conquered.]]

Robert's brother, Roger, had initially led a tiny force to attack [[Messina]], but he was easily repulsed by the [[Saracen]] garrison. After that, Guiscard was once again forced to return to Apulia, under the threat of Byzantine emperor [[Constantine X Doukas|Constantine X]]'s army, which in January 1061 had begun besieging Melfi itself. The full weight of Guiscard's army forced the Byzantines to retreat, and by May Apulia was free again.

Robert and Roger returned to Sicily, where in 1061 they took [[Messina]] by surprise with comparable ease. After fortifying the city, Guiscard allied himself with the emir of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]], [[Ibn al-Thimnah|Ibn al-Timnah]], against the emir of [[Enna|Castrogiovanni]], [[Ibn al-Ḥawwās|Ibn al-Hawwas]]. The forces of Robert, Roger and their Muslim ally marched into central Sicily through [[Rometta]], conquering [[Paternò]]. They then tried to besiege Castrogiovanni, failing to conquer the fort. In 1063 Robert left for Apulia to spend Christmas with Sikelgaita, leaving behind the fort of [[San Marco d'Alunzio]] (which he had named after San Marco Argentano, his castle in Calabria). In 1064 he returned to Sicily, bypassing Castrogiovanni and going straight for [[Palermo]]. His campsite was however infested with [[tarantula]]s, and the expedition was abandoned.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|page=66}}

In 1071 the Norman [[County of Sicily]] was created, and given to [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger]]. A year later Palermo finally fell, and the rest of Sicily was gradually conquered. A last resistance was held by [[Benavert]], emir of Syracuse, but he was ultimately defeated in 1086. The last Muslim holding in Sicily, Noto, fell in 1091. As a result of his Sicilian campaigns, Robert Guiscard is also referred to as "Black Shirt Robert" because throughout the campaign he wore elegant black clothing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=D'Alessandro |first1=Vincenzo |date=2008 |title=Les chevaliers de Dieu |trans-title=The Knights of God |journal=Annales de Normandie |language=fr |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=59–66 |doi=10.3406/annor.2008.6194 |id={{INIST|20623842}}}}</ref>

===Conquests of Bari, Salerno and Benevento===
[[File:RogerReceivingTheKeysOfPalermo.JPG|thumbnail|The surrender of Palermo by the Muslims, [[Giuseppe Patania]], [[Palazzo dei Normanni]]]]
[[File:Statua di Roberto il Guiscardo.jpg|thumbnail|Statue of Robert Guiscard, 1700–1749, [[Lorenzo Ottoni]].]]
While the Conquest of Sicily was still in progress, Robert had to fight once again with the Byzantines. The Byzantine forces had occupied [[Bari]], on request of Robert's nephew [[Abelard of Hauteville]], who wanted to claim the throne for himself. Guiscard besieged the city by land and water for four years, until in 1071 the people decided to surrender; he would later repair the damages done by the siege. The Byzantines were finally chased off the Italian peninsula, and Robert now focused his attention on the various Lombard independent realms in southern Italy.

Robert firstly attacked the [[Principality of Salerno]], held by his brother in law Gisulf II. [[Salerno]] was besieged and fell in December 1076, and Gisulf abandoned his castle with his court in May 1077. Robert then took the [[Duchy of Benevento|principality of Benevento]] in 1078. Pope [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] was alarmed, as Benevento was considered possession of the [[Papal States|papal state]]. Nevertheless, he decided not to enter a conflict with the Normans, as he was already busy with [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Henry IV]] due to the [[Investiture Controversy|investiture controversy]]. [[Simon de Crépy]] negotiated an alliance with Guiscard on behalf of Gregory VII, and in June 1080 the Pope gave Guiscard claims on [[Abruzzo|Abruzzi]], [[Salerno]], [[Amalfi]], and on the [[March of Fermo]]. Robert would later return Benevento to the papacy in 1081.{{sfn|Forbes|1879|page=413}}

===Against the Byzantines===
In his last campaign, Guiscard attacked the [[Byzantine Empire]] itself, supporting the cause of [[Raiktor]], a monk who claimed to be deposed emperor [[Michael VII Doukas|Michael VII]]. Even after it was clear that Raiktor was lying, Robert didn't stop, believing that he himself had the right to rule the Byzantine Empire since [[Constantine Doukas (co-emperor)|Constantine Doukas]], son of the real Michael VII, had once been proposed to his daughter [[Olympias (daughter of Robert Guiscard)|Olympias]].<ref>The Alexiad, Book 1, Chapter 12</ref>

In May 1081 Robert sailed with an army of Norman and Lombard troops (1,300 knights according to [[Geoffrey Malaterra]], up to 10,000 troops according to [[Orderic Vitalis]]). In October 1081 defeated [[Alexios I Komnenos]] in the [[Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)|Battle of Dyrrachium]], and by 1082 he had occupied [[Corfu]] and [[Durrës|Durazzo]]. In 1083, however, he was forced to return to Italy to help Pope Gregory VII, who was being besieged in [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] by Henry IV. In May 1084 Guiscard entered Rome, and forced Henry to retreat. A revolt of the citizens led to [[Sack of Rome (1084)|a three-day sack of the city]], after which Robert escorted the Pope out of the city. Guiscard's son [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], who had remained in the Balkans, had by this time lost his father's conquests. Robert returned to the Balkans and reoccupied Corfu and [[Cephalonia]], with the help of [[Dubrovnik|Ragusa]] and other dalmatian cities under the rule of king [[Demetrius Zvonimir]].<ref>Loud, pp. 214-217.</ref>{{sfn|Forbes|1879|page=413}}<ref>Ferdo Šišić, Povijest Hrvata u vrijeme narodnih vladara, 1925, Zagreb {{ISBN|86-401-0080-2}}</ref>

=== Death ===
On 17 July 1085, Guiscard died of a fever in Cephalonia, at Atheras, north of [[Lixouri]]. His remains were brought back to Italy, and he was buried in the [[Hauteville family|Hauteville]] family mausoleum, the [[Abbey of Santissima Trinità, Venosa|Abbey of Santissima Trinità]] in [[Venosa]]. The town of [[Fiskardo]] in Cephalonia is named after him. On his epigraph there are four Latin verses; the last one reads "''Hic terror mundi Guiscardus''", which translates to "''Here (lies) Guiscard, terror of the world''".<ref>James van Wyck Osborne, ''The Greatest Norman Conquest'' (1937), p. 396.</ref><ref>Loud, p. 223.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jeanne |first=G.-R. |date=1986 |title=L'évocation romantique d'un héros normand |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/etnor_0014-2158_1986_num_35_4_2694 |journal=Études Normandes |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=19–30 |doi=10.3406/etnor.1986.2694}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aubé |first=Pierre |title=Roger II de Sicile: un Normand en Méditerranée |date=2016 |publisher=Perrin |isbn=978-2-262-06396-2 |series=Collection Tempus |location=Paris}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stroock |first=William |date=2011 |title=How to fight and win like a Norman: Strategy and tactics of the Norman |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48577881 |journal=Medieval Warfare |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=13–15 |jstor=48577881 |issn=2211-5129}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taviani-Carozzi |first=Huguette |title=La terreur du monde: Robert Guiscard et la conquête normande en Italie; mythe et histoire |date=1996 |publisher=Fayard |isbn=978-2-213-59598-6 |location=Paris}}</ref>

==Succession==
[[File:Tomba degli Altavilla.jpg|right|thumb|[[Hauteville family]] mausoleum, where Robert Guiscard was buried. [[Abbey of the Santissima Trinità (Venosa)|Trinity Abbey]] in [[Venosa]], Italy.]]
Robert's oldest son, [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], was declared illegitimate when Robert and [[Alberada of Buonalbergo|Alberada]]'s marriage was annulled due to [[consanguinity]]. Thus, he was succeeded as Duke of Apulia and Calabria by his eldest son by [[Sikelgaita]], [[Roger Borsa]]. Bohemond was initially supposed to inherit Robert's conquests in the Balkans, but this didn't happen as they were soon re-conquered by the Byzantines. He instead got some land around the city of [[Taranto]]. Bohemond would later become one of the leaders of the [[First Crusade|first crusade]] and the first [[prince of Antioch]]. Guiscard's other sons, [[Guy of Hauteville|Guy]] and [[Robert Scalio]], never claimed any title for themselves.

The descendants of Robert's brother, [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]], Count of Sicily, would later create the [[Kingdom of Sicily]].

==Religion==
Due to his conquest of Calabria and Sicily, Guiscard was instrumental in bringing [[Latin liturgical rites|Latin Christianity]] to an area that had historically followed the [[Byzantine rite]]. Guiscard laid the foundation of the [[Salerno Cathedral]] and of a Norman monastery at [[Lamezia Terme#Sant'Eufemia Lamezia|Sant'Eufemia Lamezia]] in Calabria. This latter monastery, famous for its choir, began as a community of eleven monks from [[Saint-Evroul]] in Normandy under the abbot [[Robert de Grantmesnil (archbishop)|Robert de Grantmesnil]].

Although his relationship with the pope was rocky, Guiscard preferred to be on good terms with the papacy, and he made a gesture of abandoning his first wife in response to church law. While the popes were often fearful of his growing power, they preferred the strong and independent hand of a Catholic Norman to the rule of a Byzantine Greek. Guiscard received his investment with Sicily at the hands of Pope Nicholas II, who feared the opposition of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] to the [[Gregorian reform|Papal reforms]] more. Guiscard supported the reforms, coming to the rescue of a besieged Pope Gregory VII, who had once excommunicated him for encroaching on the territory of the [[Papal States]]. After the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]] of 1054, the polarized religious atmosphere served to strengthen Guiscard's alliance with papal forces, resulting in a formidable papal-Norman opposition to the Eastern Empire.<ref>Alexēs Geōrgiu K Sabbidēs, ''Byzantino-Normannica: The Norman Capture of Italy (to A.D. 1081) and the First Two Invasions in Byzantium (A.D. 1081–1085 and 1107–1108)'' (Leuven, Belgium; Dudley, Massachusetts: Peeters, 2007) {{ISBN|978-90-429-1911-2}}</ref>

==Marriage and issue==
{{Main|House of Hauteville#Genealogy}}
Guiscard's first wife was [[Alberada of Buonalbergo]], whom he married in 1051.{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}} They had two children:
* [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond I, prince of Antioch]].{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}}
* [[Emma of Hauteville|Emma]], married [[Odo the Good Marquis]]{{efn|Lock indicates Emma as a daughter of Sigelgaita.{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}}}}{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}}

Guiscard and Alberada's marriage was later annulled, and in 1058 or 1059 he remarried to [[Sichelgaita]].{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}} They had ten children:
* [[Maud of Apulia|Matilda]], married to Count [[Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Berenguer II of Barcelona]].{{sfn|Heygate|2016|p=178}}
* [[Roger Borsa]], Duke of Apulia and Calabria.{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=300}}
* Mabel, married to [[William de Grandmesnil]].{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=300}}
* A daughter (maybe named Héria), married to Count [[Hugh V of Maine]].{{efn|Barton states that a "daughter" of Robert Guiscard married Hugh V of Maine.{{sfn|Barton|2004|p=xiii}}}}
* [[Robert Scalio]]{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=300}}
* [[Guy of Hauteville|Guy]]{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=300}}
* Sibylla, married to Count [[Ebles II of Roucy]].{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=486}}
* [[Olympias (daughter of Robert Guiscard)|Olympias (renamed Helena)]], betrothed to [[Constantine Doukas (co-emperor)|Constantine Doukas]].{{sfn|Loud|2000|p=300}}
* Cecile{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}
* Gaitelgrima, married to Humphrey, Count of Sarno.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

==Depictions==
In the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] sees Guiscard's spirit in the Heaven of Mars, along with other "warriors of the faith" who exemplify the cardinal virtue of fortitude. In the ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Dante describes Guiscard's enemies as a field of mutilated shades stretching out to the horizon.<ref>Edward Moore, ''Studies in Dante: Scripture and classical authors in Dante'' (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1899), p. 274</ref>

Guiscard was the protagonist of [[Heinrich von Kleist|Kleist's]] verse drama ''Robert Guiskard'', incomplete at the author's death (1811).<ref>Olive Classe, ''Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English'', Volume 1 (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), p. 767</ref>

In [[Crusader Kings III]], Robert Guiscard is represented as one of the recommended starting characters, being portrayed the Duke of Apulia. He starts with his own epithet, Robert "the Fox".<ref>[https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/crusader-kings-iii/legends-of-crusader-kings-iii/duke-robert Crusader Kings III - Legends of Crusader Kings III: Duke Robert]</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* Von Kleist, Heinrich ''Robert Guiskard, Herzog der Normänner'', student edition ([[Stuttgart]], 2011).
* Chalandon, F. ''Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile''. ([[Paris]], 1907).
* Von Heinemann, L. ''Geschichte der Normannen in Unteritalien'' ([[Leipzig]], 1894).
* [[John Julius Norwich|Norwich, John Julius]]. ''The Normans in the South 1016–1130''. Longmans: [[London]], 1967.
* Chaplin, Danny. "Strenuitas: The Life and Times of Robert Guiscard and Bohemond of Taranto. Norman Power from the Mezzogiorno to Antioch, 1016–1111 AD"  ([[Singapore]], 2015).
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlPZAAAAMAAJ|title=The Monks of the West from St. Benedict to St. Bernard: Vol. 6|date=1879|publisher=William Blackwood and Sons|location=London|last1=Forbes|first1=Charles|author-link=Charles Forbes René de Montalembert}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&q=The+Oxford+Encyclopedia+of+Medieval+Warfare+and+Military+Technology:+Vol.+1|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: Vol. 1|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195334036|location=Oxford|last1=Rogers|first1=Clifford J.|author-link=Clifford J. Rogers}}
*{{cite book |title=The Routledge Companion to the Crusades |first=Peter |last=Lock |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 }}
*{{cite book |title=The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest |first=Graham A. |last=Loud |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 }}
*{{cite book  |chapter=Marriage strategies among the Normans of Southern Italy in the Eleventh Century |pages=165–186 |first=Catherine |last=Heygate |title=Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts |editor-first1=Keith J. |editor-last1=Stringer |editor-first2=Andrew |editor-last2=Jotischky |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 }}
*{{cite book |title=Lordship in the County of Maine, C. 890–1160 |first=Richard Ewing |last=Barton |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2004}}
*{{cite book |first=Jeremy |last=Johns |chapter=Arabic Inscriptions in the Capella Palatina: Performativity, Audience, Legibility and Illegibility |title=Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World |editor-first=Antony |editor-last=Eastmond |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/history/weblearning/MedievalHistoryTextCentre/medievalTexts.htm Medieval History Texts in Translation] at [[Leeds University]]
* [http://classes.bnf.fr/idrisi/grand/1_12.htm Coin with Guiscard's effigy].

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Hauteville family]]||{{circa|1015}}|17 July|1085}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Humphrey of Hauteville|Humphrey]] }}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Duke of Apulia and Calabria]] |years=1057–1085 }}
{{s-aft |after=[[Roger Borsa]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert Guiscard}}
[[Category:Robert Guiscard| ]]
[[Category:1010s births]]
[[Category:1085 deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century Italian nobility]]
[[Category:11th-century Normans]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Italo-Normans]]
[[Category:Norman mercenaries]]
[[Category:Norman warriors]]
[[Category:Dukes of Apulia]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Counts of Apulia and Calabria]]
[[Category:Hauteville family]]
[[Category:Burials at the Abbey of Santissima Trinità, Venosa]]
[[Category:People of the Byzantine–Norman wars]]
[[Category:Nobilissimi]]