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Birth:          1040 of Salerno, Italy
Death:          16 Apr 1090 

Notes
heiress of Salerno
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikelgaita
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 commanded troops in her own right.[1]


 


 Robert and his family; Sikelgaita is seated on the right
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. The divorce from Alberada and the marriage to Sikelgaita were 
probably part of a strategy of alliance with the remaining Lombard princes, of whom 
Guaimar was chief. Alberada, for her part, appears to have had no qualms about 
dissolving her marriage.

Sikelgaita tried to mediate between her brother Gisulf II of Salerno and husband when 
their relations went sour, but her pleas went unheeded and she accepted her brother's 
lot in the war with Guiscard (1078).

Sikelgaita frequently accompanied Robert on his conquests. She conducted the siege 
of Trani (1080) while Robert moved against Taranto. Although at first she tried to 
persuade him not to attack the Byzantine Empire, she nevertheless brought troops and 
accompanied him on his campaign against them. At the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1081 
she was on the field in full armour, rallying her and Robert's troops when they were 
initially repulsed by the Byzantine army and were in danger of losing cohesion. As a 
middle-aged woman with a large family, it is unlikely that she was a combatant 
although obviously close to the action, probably in a sort of command post.[2] 
According to the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, she was "like another Pallas, if 
not a second Athena," and, in the Alexiad,[3] Anna attributes to her a quote from the 
Iliad.

In 1083, Sikelgaita returned to Italy with Robert to defend Pope Gregory VII against 
the Emperor Henry IV. She accompanied him on a second campaign against the 
Byzantines, during which Robert died on Kefalonia in 1085 with Sikelgaita at his side. 
Early in 1086, Sikelgaita was in Salerno making a donation of the town of Centraro in 
his honour to Montecassino, which the couple had endowed well throughout their 
married life.[4] Sikelgaita donated a large amount of silver for her health while she was 
ill on another occasion.[5]

Supposedly, she tried to poison Robert's son Bohemond by his first wife, although the 
two eventually came to an agreement by which her son Roger Borsa was allowed to 
succeed Robert in the duchy. With her son she put the Jews of Bari under that city's 
archbishop.[6]

On her death, she was, at her own request, buried in Montecassino.[4]

Children[edit]

With Robert, Sikelgaita had eight children:
Mafalda (1059/1060 – 1108), married Raymond Berengar II of Barcelona and then 
Aimeric I, Viscount of Narbonne
Roger Borsa (1060/1061 – 1111)
Guy (died 1107)
Robert Scalio (died 1110)
Sibilla (Sybil), married Ebles II, Count of Roucy
Mabillia (Mabel) of Apulia, 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

Parents
____ Guaimar (Waimar) IV (ABT 1013 - 3 Jun 1052)
____ Gemma (ABT 1015 - )

Siblings
DE SALERNO Sikelgaita (1040 - 16 Apr 1090)

Marriage To DE HAUTEVILLE Robert I "Guiscard" (1015 - 17 Jul 1085)
    m. ABT 1058 

Notes

Parents
DE HAUTEVILLE Tancred ( 970 - )
OF NORMANDY Fredesende (Fredestina) (ABT  995 - 1057)

Children by DE HAUTEVILLE Robert I "Guiscard" 1015 - 17 Jul 1085
D'APULIA Mathilda (Maud) (ABT 1058 - ABT 1112)

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