Robert Crispin (, died 1072), called Frankopoulos, was a Norman

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

who fought in the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

and 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 ...

Early life

Robert was the son of Gilbert Crispin. He had two older brothers, Gilbert, lord of Tilliers,. and William, who became lord in Neaufles ( Neaufles-Saint-Martin or Neaufles-Auvergny), as well as two sisters, Emma and Esilia. As the youngest son without an inheritance he left

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

and seems to have gone to Southern Italy which was being

conquered Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or legal prohibitions against conquest ...

by fellow Normans under the

Hauteville family The Hauteville family (, ) was a Normans, Norman family, originally of petty lords, from the Cotentin, Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. In 1130, Roger ...

. In 1064, he participated in a military expedition to Barbastro, which has been called sometimes a proto-crusade, where he played a major role and might have been the leader of the Norman contingent.

Service in the Byzantine Empire

Robert then returned to Southern Italy and entered the services of the

some three or four years after the expedition. The next information about his life is that he became the leader of a corps of his countrymen stationed at

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

under the command of the general Isaac Komnenos. Robert became leader of the Frankish mercenaries and was arrested by the Emperor Romanos Diogenes in 1069 after a brief rebellion, feeling he had not been rewarded appropriately for his services. He fought against the invading

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

and later under

Michael VII Doukas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...

against Romanos after the latter had been disposed in 1071 after the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...

. Having defeated Romanos, he returned to Constantinople where he was supposedly poisoned around 1072. His successor as leader of the Frankish mercenaries was Roussel de Bailleul.

References

Sources

* * * * * 1071 deaths Byzantine mercenaries Norman mercenaries Norman warriors Byzantine rebels Year of birth unknown {{Byzantine-bio-stub