Richard from the principate

Richard von Salerno or Richard von Prinzipat (* around 1060; † November 29, 1114 ) was a Norman nobleman from the House of Hauteville . After the First Crusade he was governor of Edessa for a short time .

Life

He was the son of the Norman Count Wilhelm von Hauteville (also referred to in other sources as William of the Principate) and Maria, daughter of the Lombard Count Guy of Sorrento. He was one of the numerous nephews of Robert Guiskard and Roger I of Sicily and participated in their conquest of Sicily in his early years.

First crusade

In 1097 he was one of the participants in the First Crusade , on which his cousin Bohemond of Taranto led the contingent of Normans from southern Italy. Richard was one of the few crusaders who could speak Arabic at the time , a skill that he probably acquired during the campaigns against the Saracens in Sicily. Anna Komnena reports that while Richard was crossing the Adriatic by ship , he was captured and captured by the Byzantine fleet because they mistakenly believed him to be a pirate. He was soon released and rejoined the main Crusader army. For most of the crusade he traveled with the partial contingent of Bohemond's nephew Tankred of Taranto . He took part in the Battle of Dorylaum , Tankred's expedition through Cilicia and the siege of Antioch . After the conquest of Antioch, Bohemond established the principality of Antioch there .

Career in the Holy Land

Richard, like Bohemond, was captured by the Danishmends at the Battle of Melitene in 1100 . From there he was sent to the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I , who imprisoned him in Constantinople before releasing him in 1103. In 1104 Bohemond went to Europe to recruit new troops and appointed Tankred to be its regent. At this time Tankred was already regent of the county of Edessa , whose Count Baldwin of Bourcq had been taken prisoner by the Muslims. Since Tankred now had to deal with the government of Antioch, he appointed Richard governor of Edessa. Richard's government in the city is described as harsh and hated among the city's Armenian residents for his ruthlessness and greed. To the relief of the residents, he was called back by Tankred from Edessa when Baldwin von Bourcq had returned from Muslim captivity in 1107 and forced Tankred to return the county of Edessa.

Diplomatic Services and Retirement

Richard also worked as a diplomat, traveled to France and Italy and arranged the wedding of Bohemond with the French king's daughter Konstanze of France. He took part in Bohemond's unsuccessful campaign in Greece and was a witness in 1108 at the Treaty of Devol , an agreement between Emperor Alexios I and Bohemond of Taranto. Possibly he colluded with the Byzantine side.

After Bohemond's death in 1111, he settled in Marasch in Cilicia, which at that time belonged to the Principality of Antioch. There he died during the great earthquake on November 29, 1114.

Marriage and offspring

Richard was married to Altrude von Conversano, a daughter of Count Gottfried von Conversano , Brindisi etc. With Altrude he had a son, Roger from the Principal († 1119), who became regent of Antioch in 1112, and a daughter, Maria, who was Joscelin from Courtenay , Count of Edessa, married.

literature

• George T. Beech: A Norman-Italian Adventurer in the East. Richard of Salerno. 1097-1112. Anglo-Norman Studies XV. 1993. ( PDF, 577 kB )