The conquest of Antioch by Bohemond of Taranto. The back shows the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child. Clearly recognizable is the saddle raised at the back, which provided the fighter with more security during the attack. From Künker auction 137 (2008), 3789.īy the way, Roger’s bronze coins were based on Byzantine models, even if the designs were Norman: Roger is depicted as a Norman knight on horseback with a nasal helmet and a pavis. While Robert Guiscard had still directly controlled Palermo, it now came – like all other Sicilian and many Apulian and Calabrian territories – under the direct rule of Roger. He loyally supported his militarily weak feudal lord, above all because the Borsa rewarded him for his help with new fiefs. The surreptitious winner of this dispute between Robert’s sons was Uncle Roger, the Roger who had meanwhile won over half of Sicily to himself. In the end, Roger Borsa was forced to merge a considerable part of his duchy into the Principality of Taranto in order to give it to Bohemond as a fief. They turned peaceful Puglia into a theatre of war. Although his father had excluded him from succession, he found the support of numerous nobles. Bohemond of Tarantoīohemond, Robert’s son from his first marriage, was quite a different fellow. A Borsa could not be a master as the vassals loved him. A highly unchivalrous habit and a recipe for the failure of every medieval feudal lord! The knightly ideal envisioned the lavish prince who appreciated money only when he had spent it on his splendour.
The ruler had been given his nickname “moneybags” because he was accused of having counted all the coins in his moneybag since his early childhood.
Robert’s successor was his eldest son from his second marriage, Roger Borsa. We left Sicily in 1085 when Robert Guiscard died during his second invasion of the Byzantine Empire.
MONEYBAG AGE SERIES
All previous episodes of the series “Medieval Sicily” can be found here.
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