William of Apulia ( la, Guillelmus Apuliensis) was a chronicler of the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

, writing in the 1090s. His

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

epic, ''Gesta Roberti Wiscardi'' ("The Deeds of Robert Guiscard"), written in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s, is one of the principal contemporary sources for the

Norman conquest of southern Italy The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1139, involving many battles and independent conquerors. In 1130, the territories in southern Italy united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included the island of Sicily, the southern ...

, especially the career of Robert Guiscard,

Duke of Apulia The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy whe ...

(1059–1085).

Background

Little is known about William's life before he wrote his history of the Normans. Unlike the other two principal chroniclers of the Normans in Italy (

Amatus of Montecassino Amatus of Montecassino ( la, Amatus Casinensis), (11th century) was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Montecassino who is best known for his historical chronicles of his era. His ''History of the Normans'' (which has survived only in its medieval ...

and Geoffrey Malaterra), William was probably a layman, based on the relative lack of religious references in his work. It is also quite possible that William was a Lombard, rather than a Norman, as his treatment of Lombard characters in his history is very sympathetic when compared to his contemporary Norman counterparts. Salerno Follaro 75001317

The ''Gesta Roberti Wiscardi''

William's poem ''Gesta Roberti Wiscardi'' was probably composed sometime between 1097 and 1099, as he notes the fighting of the crusaders in Anatolia during 1097, but not the fall of Jerusalem in 1099. The poem was dedicated to Duke

Roger Borsa Roger Borsa (1060/1061 – 22 February 1111) was the Norman Duke of Apulia and Calabria and effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. Life Roger was the son of Robert Guiscard and Sikelgaita, a Lombard noblewoman. His ambiti ...

son of duke Robert Guiscard, implying that he was a member of the former's court. More than the works of his two fellow chroniclers of the Normans,

and Geoffrey Malaterra, William's work is a tribute to Robert Guiscard, which may indicate that Roger commissioned it to strengthen his claim to his father's titles.

Editions

*William of Apulia, trans. Graham A. Loud, �
The Deeds of Robert Guiscard
��, (PDF)

References

{{Authority control Italian male poets Italo-Normans People from Apulia 11th-century Italian historians 12th-century Latin writers Italian male non-fiction writers 11th-century Latin writers 11th-century Italian poets