Robert Crispin

Robert Crispin (also known under the French form of the name Crépin ; † 1073 ) was a Norman equestrian leader in the service of the Byzantine Empire . It is described as Northmannia egressus .

He had fought against the Muslims in Spain and was in southern Italy in 1066 . He was assigned his own property in the Armeniakon , perhaps an imperial stud. He took part in the Syrian campaign of Romanus IV Diogenes in 1068 , but was apparently not enthusiastic about the emperor's rather defensive tactics. While the emperor was returning to Constantinople, he sent Crispin with his Norman mercenaries to the upper Euphrates to hold the border there against the Seljuks under Alp Arslan .

When he was not sufficiently rewarded by Emperor Romanos, Crispin rebelled in 1069 and began to plunder the imperial tax collectors. From his base, the well-fortified Maurokastron castle on a steep rocky spur in the Armeniakon, which had probably been assigned to him as a base, he was able to withstand attacks by local troops with ease. When Romanus marched against him with a well-armed army, however, he surrendered immediately, and the emperor pardoned him for "his personal nobility and his exploits and actions (diataxeis) in previous campaigns". But since Crispin was completely in imperial power, far from his comrades, the latter considered the danger of an attack on himself and removed Crispin entirely from his army. He was exiled to Abydos .

When Michael VII Dukas rose up against his former co-emperor in open rebellion, he secured the services of Crispin and raised him back to his previous post. Crispin seems to have served the emperor faithfully afterwards. His death in Constantinople (perhaps even in the Grand Palace itself) was even recorded by the aristocratic chronicler Michael Psellos . However, there was also a rumor that he had been poisoned by the "envious Greeks".

Roussel Phrangopolos , a Franconian who gained notoriety for his betrayal , also served in his troops for a while .

swell

• Michael Attaleiates 122-125; 170-171
• Nikephoros Bryennios 115; 147-149
• Michael Psellos , Chronographia 7b, 33 and 39
• Skylitzes Continuatus 134; 153
• Johannes Zonaras 18, 15

literature

• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , p. 273.
• Jonathan Shepard: The Uses of the Franks in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. In: Marjorie Chibnall (Ed.): Anglo-Norman Studies XV. Proceedings of the XV Battle Conference and of the XI Colloquio Medievale of the Officina di Studi Medievali. Boydell, Woodbridge 1993, ISBN 0-85115-336-4 , pp. 275-305.

Web links

• Robert Crépin in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World