Everything about William Iron Arm totally explained
William Iron Arm (born before
1010 – died
1046) was a
Norman adventurer, founder of the fortunes of the
Hauteville family. One of twelve sons of
Tancred of Hauteville, he journeyed to the
Mezzogiorno with his younger brother
Drogo in the first half of the eleventh century (c.
1035), in response to requests for help made by fellow Normans under
Rainulf Drengot,
count of Aversa.
Between
1038 and
1040, he and other Normans fought in
Sicily along with the Lombards as mercenaries for the Byzantine Empire against the Saracens. It was there that he won his nickname
Iron Arm, by single-handedly killing the
emir of
Syracuse during a sally at the siege of Syracuse. When the
Greek general
Giorgio Maniace publicly humiliated the Salernitan leader,
Arduin, the Lombards withdrew from the campaign, along with the Normans and the
Varangian Guard contingent. After Maniace was recalled to Constantinople, the new
catapan of Italy,
Michael Doukeianos, appointed Arduin the ruler of
Melfi. Melfi, however, soon joined other Apulian Lombards in a revolt against Byzantine rule, in which they were supported by William and the Normans. The Byzantines, however, managed to buy off the nominal leaders of the revolt - first
Atenulf, Prince of Benevento, and then
Argyrus. In September
1042, the Normans elected their own leader, ignoring Arduin. The revolt, originally Lombard, had become Norman in character and leadership.
William was elected by Normans as their "count" after the defection of Argyrus. He and the other leaders, chief among them Drogo and
Peter, petitioned
Guaimar IV,
Prince of Salerno, for recognition of their conquests. They received the lands around Melfi as a
fief and proclaimed Guaimar "
Duke of Apulia and Calabria". At Melfi in 1043, Guaimar divided the region (except for Melfi itself) into twelve
baronies for the benefit of the Norman leaders:
Asclettin received
Acerenza,
Tristan received
Montepeloso,
Hugh Tubœuf received
Monopoli, Peter received
Trani, and Drogo received
Venosa. William himself, predominant among the Norman leaders, received the lordship of
Ascoli. He was married to Guida, daughter of
Guy, duke of
Sorrento, and niece of Guaimar.
During his reign, William and Guaimar began the conquest of
Calabria in
1044 and built the great castle of Stridula, probably near
Squillace. In
1045, he was defeated near
Taranto by Argyrus. He died in early 1046 and was succeeded by his brother Drogo.
His titles were never confirmed by the
Holy Roman Emperor. Drogo would be legally called "Count of the Normans in all Apulia and Calabria" (
Comes Normannorum totius Apuliae e Calabriae), and so William is usually titled likewise.
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