See also
| Husband: | Roger + of HAUTEVILLE (1031-1101) | |
| Wife: | unknown ( - ) | |
| Children: | Jordan (c. 1051- ) | |
| Name: | Roger + of HAUTEVILLE | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Nickname: | Bosso or The Great Count | |
| Father: | Tancred + (980-1041) | |
| Mother: | Fredistina + of HAUTEVILLE (992-1057) | |
| Birth | 1031 | Hauteville, Normandy, France |
| Occupation | Count of Sicily | |
| Title | frm 1071 to 1101 (age 39-70) | Count of Siciliy |
| Death | 22 Jun 1101 (age 69-70) | Mileto, Calabria, Italy |
| Name: | unknown | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Name: | Jordan | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1051 (est) | |
Roger I (1031[1] – June 22, 1101), called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.
Roger was the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his second wife Fredisenda. He arrived in Southern Italy soon after 1055. Geoffrey Malaterra, who compares Robert Guiscard and his brother to "Joseph and Benjamin of old," says of Roger: "He was a youth of the greatest beauty, of lofty stature, of graceful shape, most eloquent in speech and cool in counsel. He was far-seeing in arranging all his actions, pleasant and merry all with men; strong and brave, and furious in battle." For a time Roger lived like a bandit in his castle of Scalea, on the Gulf of Policastro. He shared the conquest of Calabria with Robert, and in a treaty of 1062 the brothers in dividing the conquest apparently made a kind of "condominium" by which either was to have half of every castle and town in Calabria.
Robert now resolved to employ Roger's genius in reducing Sicily, which contained, besides the Muslims, numerous Greek Christians subject to Arab princes who had become all but independent of the sultan of Tunis. In May 1061 the brothers crossed from Reggio and captured Messina. After Palermo had been taken in January 1072, Robert Guiscard, as suzerain, invested Roger as Count of Sicily, but he retained Palermo, half of Messina, and the north-east portion (the Val Demone). Not till 1085, however, was Roger able to undertake a systematic conquest.
In March 1086 Syracuse surrendered, and when in February 1091 Noto yielded, the conquest was complete. Much of Robert's success had been due to Roger's support. Similarly, when the leadership of the Hautevilles passed to Roger, he supported his nephew Duke Roger against Bohemund I of Antioch, Lando IV of Capua, and other rebels. In return for his aid against Bohemund and the rebels, the duke surrendered his share in the castles of Calabria to his uncle in 1085, and in 1091 his inheritance in Palermo. Roger's rule in Sicily was more absolute than Robert Guiscard's in Italy. At the enfeoffments of 1072 and 1092 no great undivided fiefs were created, so the mixed Norman, French and Italian vassals all owed their benefices to the count. No feudal revolt of importance therefore troubled Roger.
Roger, in order to avoid an attack from North Africa, set sail with a fleet to conquer Malta. His ship reached the island before the rest. On landing, the few defenders the Normans encountered retreated and the following day Roger marched to the capital Mdina. Terms were discussed with the local qadi. It was agreed that the islands would become tributaries of the count himself and that the qadi should continue to administer the islands. With the treaty many Greek and other Christian prisoners were released, who chanted to Roger the Kyrie eleison (Mulej Hniena). He left the islands with many who wished to join him and so many were on his ship that it nearly sunk, according to Geoffrey Malaterra.
Although Roger repatriated Malta to Europe, the Arabs continued to administer the day to day affairs in the islands with the Islamic religion remaining widespread in the islands. Christian influence was again asserted in Malta by Roger's son, Roger II of Sicily who ordered the final departure of the Arabs from his dominions including Malta. A popular Maltese legend holds that the Maltese flag, having two equal vertical stripes, white in the hoist and red in the fly, was given to the Maltese by Count Roger himself from his coat of arms which included the chequered white and red pattern. To this very day a Mass is said in the Cathedral of Mdina specifically for the repose of Count Roger's soul. A number of localities and places in Malta also have names related to Count Roger's stay in the island.
Politically supreme, the count also became master of the insular church. The Papacy, favouring a prince who had recovered Sicily from Greeks and Muslims, in 1098 granted Roger and his heirs the Apostolic Legateship of the island. Roger created new Latin bishoprics at Syracuse, Girgenti and elsewhere, nominating the bishops personally, while he turned the archbishopric of Palermo into a Catholic see. Roger practiced general toleration towards Arabs and Greeks. In the cities, the Muslims, who had generally secured such rights in their terms of surrender, retained their mosques, their kadis, and freedom of trade; in the country, however, they became serfs. Roger drew the mass of his infantry from the Muslims. Saint Anselm, visiting him at the siege of Capua, 1098, found "the brown tents of the Arabs innumerable". Nevertheless, the Latin element began to prevail, as Lombards and other Italians flocked to the island in the wake of the conquest, and the conquest of Sicily proved decisive in the steady decline of Muslim power in the western Mediterranean from this time.
Roger died on June 22, 1101, in his seventieth year and was buried in S. Trinità of Mileto.
Roger's eldest son was a bastard named Jordan, who predeceased him. His second son, Geoffrey, may have been a bastard, but may also have been a son of his first or second wife. Whatever the case, he was a leper with no chance of inheriting.
Roger's first marriage took place in 1061, to Judith, daughter of William, Count of Évreux and Hawisa of Échauffour. She died in 1076, leaving all daughters:
A daughter, married Hugh of Gircea (died 1075/6), the first count of Paternò
Matilda (1062 – before 1094) married firstly (repudiated before 1080) as his second wife, Robert, Count of Eu married secondly (1080, divorced 1088) as his second wife, Raymond IV of Toulouse
Adelisa (died 1096), married in 1083 to Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo
Emma (died 1120), briefly engaged to Philip I of France; married firstly William VI of Auvergne and secondly Rudolf, Count of Montescaglioso.
In 1077, Roger married a second time, to Eremburga of Mortain, daughter of "William, Count of Mortain" (probably William Warlenc). Their children were:
Mauger, Count of Troina
Matilda, married Guigues III, Count of Albon
Muriel (died 1119), married Josbert de Lucy
Constancia, married Conrad of Italy
Felicia, married King Coloman of Hungary
Violante, married Robert of Burgundy, son of Robert I of Burgundy
Flandina, married Henry del Vasto
Judith (died 1136), married Robert I of Bassunvilla
Roger's third and last wife was Adelaide del Vasto, niece of Boniface, Lord of Savona. They married in 1087. Their children were:
Simon, Count of Sicily
Matilda, married Ranulf II, Count of Alife
Roger II, Count, later King, of Sicily
Maximilla, married Hildebrand VI (of the Aldobrandeschi family)