THE SCENE: Robert Guiscard was an undistinguished Norman knight when he arrived in Italy with 5 riders and 30 foot soldiers. Over time, his power grew so strong that he, along with his son Bohemond, was able to achieve victory in two separate simultaneous battles against both the Holy Roman and Byzantine empires.
THE TEXT: Bohemond and his father, Robert Guiscard, had besieged the fortress of Durazzo on the other side of the sea. But suddenly, legates of the lord pope Alexander crossed the sea after them, stood in their presence, and summoned them to return to Italy and rescue the Roman church and the lord pope who had been confined in the tower of Crescentius by the emperor.
The princes hesitated over what to do. Should they abandon a great and costly expedition without hope of recovering their losses? Or should they allow the lord pope, the City and the church be cast into slavery, or rather destroyed? They had anxious moments of discussion but made an excellent choice, deciding to do the one without abandoning the other. Leaving Bohemond behind at the siege, the father crossed the sea and returned to Apulia. He gathered together warriors and weapons from wherever he could, from Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania. With great speed and great daring he hurried to Rome; and the way things turned out seemed to be an amazing portent of the divide will. The emperor of Constantinople had heard that Robert had departed for Rome; so he united his army of Greeks and brought them up on land and sea to assault Bohemond at Durazzo. Then, on one and the same day, Guiscard the father joined in battle with the emperor at Rome, and Bohemond fought valiantly against the emperor of the Greeks. Marvelous to say, each prince triumphed while each emperor suffered defeat.
– The Deeds of Louis the Fat, Suger, 12th Century AD
