Like his father, he began his military conquests in the Abruzzi, encroaching on lands held by the Roman pontiff. He advanced as far as Ortona in 1070, a year before his father's death. Unsurprisingly, he was excommunicated (February 1075). Pope Gregory VII speaks of his "Godless insolence." Where Duke Robert Guiscard and Prince Richard of Capua had failed to expand northwards, Robert of Loritello and Richard's son Jordan had success. By 1075, Robert was making his seat at Chieti. While Jordan advanced in the district around Lake Fucino, Robert advanced up the Adriatic coast. He made his brother Drogo count of Chieti (or Teate). In 1076, Ortona finally fell with the assistance of troops from Robert Guiscard. The local Lombard nobility, as far as the Pescara, did homage to him. He had five hundred knights under his command. In return for his uncle's help, he sent a contingent of his own men to assist in the defeat of his cousin Abelard in Sant'Agata di Puglia.
In June 1080, Gregory VII recognised the Norman conquests of Robert and Jordan up to Fermo. In June 1083, besieged in the Castel Sant'Angelo by the Emperor Henry IV, the pope begged the assistance of the duke. The two Roberts, uncle and nephew, came to his rescue. Robert took part in the second Byzantine expedition of his uncle's in 1084–1085. He was at the Guiscard's deathbed and remained loyal to his uncle's chosen heir, Roger Borsa, whose guardian he had been.
He continued his conquests and before his death had made it beyond the Fortore and as far as the Tronto. He ruled from Bovino (conquered 1100) to Ascoli Piceno. He may have even ruled Dragonara. By the end of his life, he had taken the titles comes Dei gratia (count by the grace of God) and comes comitorum (count of counts). He was succeeded by his son, Robert II of Loritello.
Year 1076 (MLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
Robert "Guiscard" de Hauteville, sometimes Robert "the Guiscard", was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.
Roger I, nicknamed “Roger Bosso” and “Grand Count Roger”, was a Norman nobleman who became the first Grand Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101.
Tancred of Hauteville was an 11th-century Norman petty lord about whom little is known. He was a minor noble near Coutances in the Cotentin. Tancred is primarily known by the achievements of his twelve sons.
Humphrey of Hauteville, surnamed Abagelard, was the count of Apulia and Calabria from 1051 to his death.
Richard Drengot was the count of Aversa (1049–1078), prince of Capua and duke of Gaeta (1064–1078).
Jordan I, count of Aversa and prince of Capua from 1078 to his death, was the eldest son and successor of Prince Richard I of Capua and Fressenda, a daughter of Tancred of Hauteville and his second wife, also named Fressenda, and the nephew of Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily. He, according to William of Apulia, "equalled in his virtues both the duke and his father."
Gisulf II was the last Lombard prince of Salerno (1052–1077).
Geoffrey of Hauteville was a Norman military leader, the second youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his first wife Muriella. He joined his brothers in the Mezzogiorno around 1053, arriving with his half-brothers Mauger and William. He was certainly present at the Battle of Civitate in that year.
Herman of Hauteville was the younger son of Humphrey, count of Apulia and Calabria (1051–1057), and his Lombard wife, Gaitelgrima of Salerno, also known as Altrude. His older brother Abelard was supposed to inherit their father's lands, but Robert Guiscard, their uncle, who was elected count on Humphrey's death, confiscated them.
The Hauteville was a Norman family originally of seigneurial rank from the Cotentin. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. By 1130, one of their members, Roger II, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line descendants ruled Sicily until 1194. Some Italian Hautevilles took part in the First Crusade and the founding of the Principality of Antioch (1098).
The Drengots were a Norman family of mercenaries, one of the first to head to Southern Italy to fight in the service of the Lombards. They became the most prominent family after the Hautevilles.
Loritello was an Italo-Norman county along the Adriatic north of the Gargano, now called Rotello, in the Molise region. It was carved out of the eastern seaboard of the Principality of Benevento following the Battle of Civitate in 1053 by members of the Hauteville family. The last Count of Loritello died in 1184 and the title was never revived.
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1139, involving many battles and independent conquerors.
The County of Apulia and Calabria, later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy when Robert Guiscard was raised to the rank of duke by Pope Nicholas II in 1059.
Ranulf I was the count of Caiazzo in the Principality of Capua from about 1078. He also brought the formerly Lombard counties of Alife, Telese and Sant'Agata dei Goti and the castles of Airola and Tocco Caudio under his control, dominating the region between Capua and Benevento. He passed this territorial lordship on intact to his heirs, and it remained in their possession until the death of his grandson and namesake, Ranulf II, in 1139.
Maud of Apulia was a member of the Norman D’Hauteville family and a daughter of Robert Guiscard and his second wife Sikelgaita, a Lombard princess, the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno. She was also known as Mahalda, Mahault, Mafalda and Matilda. She was the wife of Ramón Berenguer II, and thus Countess of Barcelona (1077–1082). After her husband’s death, she remarried Aimery I, the Viscount of Narbonne (1086–1108).
Amicus of Giovinazzo, also Amicus II, was a Norman nobleman and military leader during the Norman conquest of southern Italy. He was the count of Molfetta from 1068 until his death and of Giovinazzo from 1068 until 1073. He came from a prominent family often opposed to the rule of the Hautevilles. In 1067–68, 1072–73 and 1079–80 he took part in rebellions against the Hauteville Duke of Apulia. In 1067 and 1079 he received aid from Byzantium against the duke.
The March of Fermo was a frontier territory (march) of the Holy Roman Empire in the Kingdom of Italy between the late 10th and early 12th centuries. It faced the Principality of Benevento and later the Duchy of Apulia to the south. It covered part of the modern regions of Marche and Abruzzo.
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