Guiscard and the siege of Salerno

Guiscard besieged Salerno, conquered it from his brother-in-law Gisulph and launched it into its most splendid period.
Salerno had been ruled by Lombard princes for four centuries, by now the most barbaric of barbarians-as they were called-had refined themselves and were the heirs of Roman culture.
Guaimarius had extended his rule over much of the south and laid the foundations of the Opulenta Salernum. His son, Gisulph II had succeeded him after a coup in which the prince had been assassinated. But Gisulph was no match for his father, and by now newcomers, the terrible and valiant Normans, were gaining a foothold in the Mezzogiorno. Prominent among them was Robert, known as Guiscard, that is, the cunning, formidable warrior and skilled politician.
With Gisulph’s reluctance, his sister Sichelgaita had gone to marry Robert, who already had a Norman wife, who was repudiated. Thus the new power joined the Lombard nobles, but conflicts instead of subsiding increased. Guiscard’s ambitions, and military prowess, were limitless: he clashed, always victorious, with the Byzantines in Apulia, sent his brother to Sicily to drive out the Arabs, even went so far as to invade the Byzantine empire by laying siege to Byzantium itself. Salerno could not stay out of his sights, pushed in this also by his wife. Thus it was that the city was besieged, with Gisulf locking himself within the walls, despite his sister’s attempts to demand that he yield. The long siege was interrupted by an internal betrayal, which caused the besieging army to enter the city, and Gisulph retreated to the impregnable castle until he was persuaded to surrender and, in exchange for his life, was made to expatriate and flee to Rome.
Salerno thus became the capital of Norman rule, and Robert built the new palace, known as Castel Terracena, and had the splendid cathedral dedicated to St. Matthew, whose priceless relics had been kept in the city for over a century. Under Abbot Alfano the Medical School was revived and reached its peak, the city became a very important seat of trade, and even hosted Pope Gregory VII, who died and was buried here. It seemed the beginning of a new era in which Salerno, the capital of the entire Mezzogiorno. But Robert died, and the Normans conquered Sicily and established a kingdom that would last eight hundred years. The capital would become Palermo, and a steady decline would begin for Salerno.