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Roger I of Sicily at the Battle of Cerami (1063), in which he was victorious. A disagreement between Roger and Robert led the former to leave Sicily, but he quickly returned along with Countess Judith to defend the inhabitants of Troina, then threatened by the Muslims. He was well received by the Greek peasants.
Into this, the Normans under Robert Guiscard and his younger brother Roger Bosso came intending to conquer; the pope had conferred on Robert the title of "Duke of Sicily". [41] Robert and Roger first invaded Sicily in May 1061, crossing from Reggio di Calabria and besieging Messina for control of the strategically vital Strait of Messina. Roger ...
Robert Guiscard (/ ɡ iː ˈ s k ɑːr / ghee-SKAR, [1] Modern French: [ʁɔbɛʁ ɡiskaʁ]; c. 1015 – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.
The population the Val Demone region of Sicily, of which Messina forms the northeast corner, was largely made up of Greek-speaking Christians despite two centuries of Islamic rule and they welcomed the Normans as liberators. With Messina fortified and garrisoned, Robert and Roger were free to march inland.
Robert's wife, Yolanda of Aragon, was the younger sister of Frederick and so became an important envoy between the Angevin prince and Sicilian king. [7] Under the terms of the accord, Robert and Roger agreed to withdraw all allied forces on the island to Catania. The war, however, continued as no official peace treaty had been signed. [7]
In 1149, Manuel recovered Corfu and prepared to take the offensive against the Normans, while Roger II sent George of Antioch with a fleet of 40 ships to pillage Constantinople's suburbs. [15] Manuel had already agreed with Conrad on a joint invasion and partition of southern Italy and Sicily.
Roger II received royal investiture from Antipope Anacletus II in 1130 and recognition from Pope Innocent II in 1139. The Kingdom of Sicily, which by then comprised not only the island, but also the southern third of the Italian peninsula, rapidly expanded itself to include Malta and the Mahdia, the latter if only briefly.
Roger remained in Sicily, leaving its mainland garrisons helpless under the chancellor Robert of Selby, while even the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus sent subsidies to Lothair. Salerno surrendered, and the large army of Germans and Normans marched to the very south of Apulia.