Sikelgaita
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Sikelgaita (also Sichelgaita or Sigelgaita) (1040–16 April 1090) was a Lombard princess, the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno, and second wife of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia.
She married Robert in 1058, after Robert divorced his first wife Alberada, due to supposed consanguinity. Her sister Gaitelgrima had earlier married Robert's half-brother Drogo.
Sikelgaita frequently accompanied Robert on his conquests. Although at first she tried to persuade him not to attack the Byzantine Empire, she accompanied him on his campaign against them as well. At the Battle of Dyrrhachium she fought in full armour, rallying Robert's troops when they were initially repulsed by the Byzantine army. According to the Byzantine chronicler Anna Comnena, she was "like another Pallas, if not a second Athena," and Anna attributes to her a quote from the Iliad.
In 1083 Sikelgaita returned to Italy with Robert to defend Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman emperor Henry IV. She accompanied him on a second campaign against the Byzantines, during which Robert died on Corfu in 1085 with Sikelgaita at his side. Supposedly, she tried to poison Robert's son (Bohemund of Taranto) by his first wife, although the two eventually came to an agreement by which Roger Borsa was allowed to succeed Robert.
With Robert, Sikelgaita had eight children:
- Mafalda (1059/1060-1108), married (1) Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona, (2) Aimeric I, Viscount of Narbonne
- Roger Borsa (1060/1061-1111)
- Guy, Duke of Amalfi (died 1107)
- Robert Scalio (died 1110)
- Sibilla, married Ebles II, Count of Roucy
- Mabillia, married William de Grandmesnil
- Heria, married Hugh V, Count of Maine
- Olympias, betrothed to Constantine Doukas, son of Michael VII Ducas and Maria Bagrationi, in 1074
[edit] Sources
- Anna Comnena. The Alexiad.
- Skinner, Patricia. "'Halt! Be Men!': Sikelgaita of Salerno, Gender, and the Norman Conquest of Italy". Gender and History, 12:3 (2000).
- Peterson-Gouma, Thalia. Anna Komnene and Her Times. 2000.
- Garland, Lynda. Byzantine Empresses. 1999.
- Loud, Graham. The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest. 2000.
- Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.fi:Sikelgaita
