William of Apulia was a chronicler of the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, writing in the 1090s. His Latin epic,
Gesta Roberti Wiscardi ("The Deeds of Robert Guiscard"), written in
hexameterHexameter is a literary and poetic form, a line consisting of six metrical feet, as in the Iliad. It was the standard epic metre in Greek and became standard for Latin too. It was also used in other types of composition -- in Horace's satires, for instance, and Ovid's Metamorphoses...
s, is one of the principal contemporary sources for the
Norman conquest of southern ItalyThe Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned most of the eleventh century, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own...
, especially the career of
Robert GuiscardRobert Guiscard, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox, was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
, Duke of Apulia (1059–1085). It was composed between 1096 and 1099. It can be dated by the reference in the prologue to
Pope Urban IIPope Blessed Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death...
; this gives a
terminus ante quem, for the pope died in July 1099.
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William of Apulia was a chronicler of the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, writing in the 1090s. His Latin epic,
Gesta Roberti Wiscardi ("The Deeds of Robert Guiscard"), written in
hexameterHexameter is a literary and poetic form, a line consisting of six metrical feet, as in the Iliad. It was the standard epic metre in Greek and became standard for Latin too. It was also used in other types of composition -- in Horace's satires, for instance, and Ovid's Metamorphoses...
s, is one of the principal contemporary sources for the
Norman conquest of southern ItalyThe Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned most of the eleventh century, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own...
, especially the career of
Robert GuiscardRobert Guiscard, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox, was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
, Duke of Apulia (1059–1085). It was composed between 1096 and 1099. It can be dated by the reference in the prologue to
Pope Urban IIPope Blessed Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death...
; this gives a
terminus ante quem, for the pope died in July 1099. A reference in Book III to "the Gallic race [who] wanted to open the roads to the Holy Sepulchre" shows that William must have been writing after the
Council of ClermontThe Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, which was held from November 18 to November 28, 1095 at Clermont, France...
, called by Urban in November 1095. A reference to
Pope Urban IIPope Blessed Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death...
as still living places it before his death in July 1099. The poem was dedicated to Duke
Roger BorsaRoger Borsa was the son and successor of Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of Southern Italy and Sicily. His mother was Sikelgaita, an imposing warrior Lombard noblewoman. Roger was not as adept as Robert Guiscard, and most of his reign was spent in feudal anarchy...
son of duke
Robert GuiscardRobert Guiscard, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox, was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
.
Editions
- William of Apulia, trans. Graham A. Loud, The Deeds of Robert Guiscard, Books One, Two, Three, Four, and Five (Word Documents)