Roger I.

Roger I., count of Sicily, the youngest of the twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville of Normandy, was born in that duchy in 1031. When twenty- seven years of age he joined his famous brother Robert Guiscard (q.v.) in South Italy; but at first he seems to have fought against Robert more than he helped him. At length they became reconciled, and Roger helped Robert to complete the conquest of Calabria. In 1060 Roger was invited to Sicily to fight against the Saracens: he took Messina, and settled a garrison there. Everywhere the Normans were welcomed by the Christians of Sicily as their deliverers from the Moslem yoke, and they won town after town, until in 1071 the Saracen capital, Palermo, was captured. Robert then invested Roger with the countship of Sicily. Count Roger spent the rest of his life, apart from his numerous expeditions undertaken for the support of his brother, in completing the conquest of Sicily, which was finally effected in 1090. Already as early as 1060 Duke Robert had given his brother the half of Calabria, with the title of count. After Robert's death (1085) Roger succeeded to his Italian possessions, and became the head of the Norman power in southern Europe. Pope Urban II. granted him special ecclesiastical privileges, such as the power to appoint the bishops, and made him papal legate of Sicily (1098). Roger died at Mileto, in Calabria, in June 1101. See SICILY.