Robert Guiscard, the astute, conquered Salerno and made it his capital, to go on to conquer the whole of the Mezzogiorno and begin the expulsion of the Arabs from Sicily, a work completed by his nephew Roger, the first King of the two Sicilies.
1085
Duca normanno, conquistatore
Robert Guiscard was not from Salerno, but he came to Salerno from afar, and was so well liked there that he made it his capital.
He was a Norman and the son of another Guiscard, that is, cunning, shrewd, and that says a lot about him. Strange people, these Normans, who conquered half of Europe with their unbeatable heavy cavalry. They were originally Vikings, “Northmen” who had conquered a piece of France, Normandy, a century earlier. From there, fierce and restless, remaining wanderers like the pirates they were, they set out to conquer other lands.
And Guiscard instead came to Salerno, called by the Lombard prince Guaimarius, who gave him his daughter Sichelgaita in marriage. But Guiscard could not be vassal to anyone, quarreled with his father-in-law, then with his brother-in-law Gisulph II, who succeeded him, and left Salerno, starting to fight, and defeat, armies from all over the world. He defeated the pope, and took him prisoner, but then made an alliance with him; later he attacked the Byzantines and the armies of Salerno, conquering Apulia and Calabria. He attacked the Arabs at this point, initiating the conquest of Sicily.
He then decided to get rid of his brother-in-law, and conquered Salerno, ending the glorious history of the Lombards. He left for Greece, going to disturb the Byzantines at their home, and also conquered Cyprus, and was at the gates of Salonika, heading for Byzantium when he learned that Pope Gregory VII was besieged by the Germans in Rome. He left Greece, landed in Apulia, with a mad ride arrived in Rome, taught Henry IV, the one of Canossa, a lesson, and brought Gregory back with him, who ended his days in Salerno. He did not catch his breath, for he left again for the lands of Greece, and there he died during the siege of Cephalonia. This was 1085, the history of Salerno was living its best moment, the cathedral of St. Matthew had been built and the Medical School had its best representatives. But it was also the beginning of decline for the beautiful city, capital of Guiscard, who built Castel Terracena as his own palace.
