ROBERT

died 1228, Morea byname Robert Of Courtenay Latin emperor of Constantinople from 1221 to 1228. He was so ineffective that the Latin Empire (consolidated by his uncle, Henry of Flanders) was largely dissolved at the end of his reign. Robert was a younger son of Peter of Courtenay (died early 1219?) and Yolande of Flanders and Hainaut, who was empress regent for her sons until her death in September 1219. Their eldest son, Philip of Namur, refused to leave France and renounced the succession in favour of Robert, an irresponsible youth, who was crowned in Constantinople on March 25, 1221. Robert was betrothed to Eudocia, daughter of the Greek emperor at Nicaea, Theodore I Lascaris. In 1225 Theodore's successor, John III Vatatzes, forced Robert to cede most of the eastern lands of his Latin Empire in Asia Minor, and by 1228 Theodore Angelus, ruler of Epirus, a city-state in Asia Minor, seized Thessalonica and was crowned emperor there. In the meantime Robert had repudiated Eudocia and taken a French mistress, who was mutilated in the ensuing revolt by Robert's own barons. He died while fleeing to take refuge with Pope Gregory IX. born 1278 died Jan. 19, 1343, Naples byname Robert of Anjou, or Robert the Wise, Italian Roberto d'Angi, or Roberto il Saggio Angevin prince and Guelf (papal party) leader who ruled Naples as king for 34 years (130943). Robert's early years were clouded by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (128288), in which his father, Charles II of Anjou, was taken prisoner by the Aragonese. By the terms of the treaty Charles was freed, and Robert took his place as hostage at the Aragonese court. Taking the title of duke of Calabria (1296), he led an expedition attempting to recover Sicily from the Aragonese prince who ruled it as Frederick III. Robert's military success produced the Peace of Caltabellotta (1302), by which the Aragonese agreed to return Sicily to the House of Anjou when Frederick died. On the death of his father in 1309, Robert inherited Naples and extensive territories in northern Italy and southern France. For several years Robert skirmished politically and militarily on the side of the Guelf party in northern Italy against the Ghibelline (pro-imperial) faction led by the Visconti of Milan, whom he defeated at Sesto, west of Genoa, in 1319. His desire to enlist the interest of Pope John XXII in a final defeat of the Ghibellines of northern Italy caused Robert to take up residence at Avignon, the papal seat, but in 1324 the victory of the Visconti over Guelf forces at Vaprio, east of Milan, brought him back to Italy to defend his lands. Robert remained neutral when the German king Louis the Bavarian marched into Italy, was crowned emperor in Rome as Louis IV (1328), and set up an antipope, Nicholas V. Relations between Robert and John XXII terminated when the Pope allied himself with King John of Bohemia, who invaded northern Italy in 1330. In return for King John's support, the Pope offered him Robert's territories in southern France. The Pope's diplomacy shattered the traditional GuelfGhibelline alignments in Italy, and the league that Robert joined, consisting of members of both parties, drove King John out of Italy in 1336. The final years of Robert's reign were marked by defections of his northern Italian towns, and his failure to regain Sicily after Frederick III's death in 1337 brought a steady decline of Angevin power and influence. born c. 1015, , Normandy died July 17, 1085, near Cephalonia, Greece, Byzantine Empire byname Robert Guiscard, or Robert De Hauteville, Italian Roberto Guiscardo, or Roberto D'altavilla Norman adventurer who settled in Apulia, in southern Italy, about 1047 and became duke of Apulia (1059). He eventually extended Norman rule over Naples, Calabria, and Sicily and laid the foundations of the Kingdom of Sicily. Additional reading Additional information on Robert Guiscard may be found in the following sources (all with extensive bibliographies): Guillaume de Pouille, La Geste de Robert Guiscard, ed. by M. Mathieu (1961); F. Chalandon's classic work, Histoire de la Domination Normande en Italie et en Sicile, 2 vol. (1907); and E. Pontieri, Tra i Normanni nell'Italia meridionale, 2nd ed. (1964).