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Birth:          ABT 1031 Normandy
Death:          22 Jun 1101 

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_I_of_Sicily
Roger I (c.?1031 – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Roger Bosso and The Great Count, was 
a Norman nobleman who became the first Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was a 
member of the House of Hauteville, and his descendants in the male line continued to 
rule Sicily down to 1194.

Roger was born in Normandy, and came to southern Italy as a young man in 1057. He 
participated in several military expeditions against the Emirate of Sicily beginning in 
1061. He was invested with part of Sicily and the title of count by his brother, Robert 
Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, in 1071. By 1090, he had conquered the entire island. In 
1091, he conquered Malta. The state he created was merged with the Duchy of Apulia 
in 1127 and became the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130.
Conquest of Calabria and Sicily[edit]

Main article: Norman conquest of southern Italy

Roger was the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his second wife Fredisenda.
[1] Roger arrived in Southern Italy in the summer of 1057.[2] The Benedictine monk, 
Geoffrey Malaterra, who compares Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger to "Joseph 
and Benjamin of old," said of Roger:


"He was a youth of the greatest beauty, of lofty stature, of graceful shape, most 
eloquent in speech and cool in counsel. He was far-seeing in arranging all his actions, 
pleasant and merry all with men; strong and brave, and furious in battle."[3]

In 1057 he shared the conquest of nearly all of Calabria excepting Reggio with his 
brother Robert.[2] For a time Roger lived like a bandit in his castle of Scalea, near 
Cosenza.[2] In a treaty of 1062, the brothers divided the conquest so that each was to 
have half of every castle and town in Calabria.[4]

Roger had first thought of conquering Sicily when he and his brother conquered 
Calabria.[5] At the time, it was ruled by Muslims and the population was mostly Greek 
Byzantine Christians. The Arab princes had become all but independent of the sultan 
of Tunis. In May 1061 the brothers crossed from Reggio and captured Messina.[5] 
After they took Palermo in January 1072, Robert Guiscard, as suzerain, invested 
Roger as Count of Sicily.[6] Robert retained Palermo, half of Messina, and the north-
east portion (the Val Demone).[6] Not till 1085 was Roger able to undertake a 
systematic conquest.

In March 1086 Syracuse surrendered, and when in February 1091 Noto yielded, the 
conquest of Sicily was complete.[7] Much of Robert's success had been due to 
Roger's support. Similarly, when the leadership of the Hautevilles passed to Roger, he 
supported his nephew Duke Roger against Bohemund I of Antioch, Lando IV of 
Capua, and other rebels. In return for his uncle's aid against Bohemund and the 
rebels, the duke Roger surrendered his share in the castles of Calabria to his uncle in 
1085, and in 1091 his inheritance in Palermo.

Roger's rule in Sicily became more absolute than that of Robert Guiscard's in Italy. In 
addition, due to immigration by Lombards and Normans, Latin Christianity gradually 
replaced that of the Greek Byzantine tradition. At the enfeoffments of 1072 and 1092, 
no great undivided fiefs were created. The mixed Norman, French and Italian vassals 
all owed their benefices to the count. No feudal revolt of importance arose against 
Roger.

Conquest of Malta[edit]

In 1091 Roger, in order to avoid an attack from North Africa, set sail with a fleet to 
conquer Malta. His ship reached the island before the rest. On landing, the few 
defenders the Normans encountered retreated and the following day Roger marched to 
the capital Mdina. Terms were discussed with the local qadi. It was agreed that the 
islands would become tributaries of the count himself and that the qadi should 
continue to administer the islands. With the treaty many Greek and other Christian 
prisoners were released, who chanted to Roger the Kyrie eleison. He left the islands 
with many who wished to join him and so many were on his ship that it nearly sank, 
according to Geoffrey Malaterra. Maltese legend has it that the Count gave the 
Maltese their red and white flag by cutting a part of his banner. Mass is said once a 
year in remembrance of the Count at the Cathedral of Mdina, as a recognition for the 
Count's role in liberating Maltese Christians from Muslim dominance and rule.

Rule of Sicily[edit]

Politically supreme, the count also became master of the insular church. The Papacy, 
favouring a prince who had recovered Sicily from Greeks and Muslims, in 1098 
granted Roger and his heirs the Apostolic Legateship of the island. Roger created new 
Latin bishoprics at Syracuse, Girgenti and elsewhere, nominating the bishops 
personally, while he turned the archbishopric of Palermo into a Catholic see. He 
practiced general toleration towards Arabs and Greeks, even sponsoring the 
construction of over twelve Greek monasteries in the Val Demone region.[8] In the 
cities, the Muslims, who had generally secured such rights in their terms of surrender, 
retained their mosques, their kadis, and freedom of trade; in the country, however, 
they became serfs. Roger drew the mass of his infantry from the Muslims; Saint 
Anselm, visiting him at the siege of Capua, 1098, found "the brown tents of the Arabs 
innumerable". Nevertheless, the Latin element began to prevail, as Lombards and 
other Italians flocked to the island in the wake of the conquest, and the conquest of 
Sicily proved decisive in the steady decline of Muslim power in the western 
Mediterranean from this time.[citation needed]

Roger died at Mileto.

Family[edit]

Roger's eldest son, Jordan, predeceased him. Roger's second son, Geoffrey, possibly 
illegitimate, was a leper with no chance of inheriting.

Roger's first marriage took place in 1062, to Judith d'Évreux.[9] She died in 1076, 
leaving daughters:
A daughter, married Hugh of Jarzé (died 1075/6), the first count of Paternò
Matilda (1062 – before 1094), wife of Robert, Count of Eu and Raymond IV of 
Toulouse[10]
Adelisa (died 1096), married in 1083 to Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo
Emma (died 1120), briefly engaged to Philip I of France; married firstly William VI of 
Auvergne and secondly Rudolf of Montescaglioso.

In 1077, Roger married a second time, to Eremburga of Mortain, and their children 
were:
Mauger, Count of Troina
Matilda, wife of Ranulf II, Count of Alife
Muriel (died 1119), married Josbert de Lucy
Constance
Felicia, wife of Coloman, King of Hungary
Violante, married Robert, son of Robert I of Burgundy
Flandina, married Henry del Vasto
Judith (died 1136), married Robert I of Bassunvilla

Roger's last wife was Adelaide del Vasto, a sister of aforementioned Henry. They 
married in 1087. Roger and Adelaide's children were:
Simon of Sicily
Roger II of Sicily
Maximilla (Matilda), wife of Conrad II of Italy[11]

Roger's other daughter called Matilda married Guigues III, Count of Albon.

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

Siblings
DE HAUTEVILLE Robert I "Guiscard" (1015 - 17 Jul 1085)
OF SICILY Roger I (ABT 1031 - 22 Jun 1101)

Marriage To OF MORTAIN Eremburga (ABT 1048 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
D'EU Robert (ABT 1019 - AFT 1052)
DE FALAISE Beatrice (ABT 1015 - 10 Apr 1085)

Children by OF MORTAIN Eremburga ABT 1048 - 
____ Mathilda (ABT 1070 - ABT 1143)

Marriage To DEL VASTO Adelaide (ABT 1075 - 16 Apr 1118)
    m. 1087 

Notes

Parents
DEL VASTO Manfredo (ABT 1055 - )
----- ----- ()

Children by DEL VASTO Adelaide ABT 1075 - 16 Apr 1118
____ Roger II (Ruggero II) (22 Dec 1095 - 26 Feb 1154)

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