Peter Aliphas was an 11th-century

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

knight who served first under

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard ( , ; – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Normans, Norman adventurer remembered for his Norman conquest of southern Italy, conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. Robert was born ...

and later under the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

Biography

Peter Aliphas is typically identified with the Provençal knight Peter of Aulps although some consider him to be related to Robert of Caiazzo who was also lord of Alife in

Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...

. Peter took part in Robert Guiscard's invasion of the Balkan against the Byzantine Empire in 1081. He was the second-in-command to the Count of Brienne who had been assigned to hold the town of

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

. The

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

besieged the town in October 1083 and after storming the gates the Count of Brienne surrendered and Peter among many others entered Byzantine services. Alexios' daughter

Anna Komnene Anna Komnene (; 1 December 1083 – 1153), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine Greek historian. She is the author of the '' Alexiad'', an account of the reign of her father, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Her work constit ...

later described him as "a glorious warrior in battle and faithful to the emperor". Peter accompanied the army of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

during its campaign in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

in the Byzantine contingent of general

Tatikios Tatikios or Taticius (, c. 1048 – died after 1110) was an Eastern Roman general of Turkish origin during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. His name is also rendered as Tetigus, Tatizius, Tatitius, Tatic, or Tetig. Origins and early life The fa ...

and became governor of Placentia. He left his post in 1098 and met Emperor Alexios together with

Stephen of Blois Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 un ...

in Philomelium, warning him that a huge army of Turks was approaching, thus making Alexios turn away from relieving the Franks at the

siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria (region), Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Sel ...

. Peter appeared again in the Balkans in 1107 when he assisted emperor Alexios fighting the invasion of Bohemond of Antioch and was a witness for Alexios to the

Treaty of Devol The Treaty of Deabolis () was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemond I of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, in the wake of the First Crusade. It is named after the Byzantine fortress of Deabolis (modern Devol, Albania). Alth ...

. Peter settled finally in Didymoteichon in Thrace.

Legacy

The descendants of Peter Aliphas became the Petraliphas family, a prominent family in later Byzantine history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aliphas, Peter Year of birth unknown Byzantine mercenaries Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Seljuk wars 11th-century Byzantine military personnel Christians of the First Crusade