Goffredo Malaterra
Encyclopedia
Gaufredo Malaterra was an eleventh century Benedictine monk and historian
, possibly of Norman
origin. He travelled to the southern Italian peninsula, passing some time in Apulia
before entering the monastery of Sant'Agata at Catania
, on the isle of Sicily
. Malaterra indicates that, prior to his arrival in Catania, he had spent an undefined period away from monastic life, in the worldly service of "Martha".
Malaterra wrote an historical text in Latin, the De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius detailing the eleventh century exploits of the "De Hauteville" family in the southern Italian peninsula, Sicily and the Balkans, with particular attention to the figures of Roger I of Sicily
and Robert Guiscard
, his brother. It is one of three surviving major Latin historical works that specifically describe the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Sicily, the others being Amatus of Montecassino
's Ystoire de li Normant and William of Apulia
's Gesta Roberti Wiscardi. Malaterra's work ends at a later date and has a different angle to these two other works. It primarily describes the exploits of Roger I of Sicily, whom he personally knew. Unlike other medieval historians, such as Dudo of Saint-Quentin
, Malaterra does not directly identify his sources, and alludes briefly to a number of informants, or relatoribus. These may have included Roger I of Sicily, himself.
The work ends in 1099 and provides many valuable details, especially of the conquest of Sicily, which are unattested elsewhere. It is unclear precisely when Malaterra started and finished work on the text. All of the events therein are recorded in the past tense and the author does not indicate any knowledge of the death of Roger I of Sicily in 1101. At present, the consensus is that it was started after the majority of the events related in the text had come to pass, and finished before Roger I of Sicily's death. A passing reference to the work in Orderic Vitalis
's Historia Ecclesiastica confirms that the work had been completed and was in circulation, albeit across a small geographical area, by the 1130s.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, possibly of Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
origin. He travelled to the southern Italian peninsula, passing some time in Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
before entering the monastery of Sant'Agata at Catania
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
, on the isle of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. Malaterra indicates that, prior to his arrival in Catania, he had spent an undefined period away from monastic life, in the worldly service of "Martha".
Malaterra wrote an historical text in Latin, the De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius detailing the eleventh century exploits of the "De Hauteville" family in the southern Italian peninsula, Sicily and the Balkans, with particular attention to the figures of Roger I of Sicily
Roger I of Sicily
Roger I , called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.-Conquest of Calabria and Sicily:...
and Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
, his brother. It is one of three surviving major Latin historical works that specifically describe the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Sicily, the others being Amatus of Montecassino
Amatus of Montecassino
Amatus of Montecassino , a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Montecassino is one of three Italo-Norman chroniclers, the others being William of Apulia and Goffredo Malaterra...
's Ystoire de li Normant and William of Apulia
William of Apulia
William of Apulia was a chronicler of the Normans, writing in the 1090s. His Latin epic, Gesta Roberti Wiscardi , written in hexameters, is one of the principal contemporary sources for the Norman conquest of southern Italy, especially the career of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia . It was composed...
's Gesta Roberti Wiscardi. Malaterra's work ends at a later date and has a different angle to these two other works. It primarily describes the exploits of Roger I of Sicily, whom he personally knew. Unlike other medieval historians, such as Dudo of Saint-Quentin
Dudo of Saint-Quentin
Dudo, or Dudon was a Norman historian, and dean of Saint-Quentin, where he was born about 965. Sent in 986 by Albert I, Count of Vermandois, on an errand to Richard I, Duke of Normandy, he succeeded in his mission, and, having made a very favorable impression at the Norman court, spent some years...
, Malaterra does not directly identify his sources, and alludes briefly to a number of informants, or relatoribus. These may have included Roger I of Sicily, himself.
The work ends in 1099 and provides many valuable details, especially of the conquest of Sicily, which are unattested elsewhere. It is unclear precisely when Malaterra started and finished work on the text. All of the events therein are recorded in the past tense and the author does not indicate any knowledge of the death of Roger I of Sicily in 1101. At present, the consensus is that it was started after the majority of the events related in the text had come to pass, and finished before Roger I of Sicily's death. A passing reference to the work in Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
's Historia Ecclesiastica confirms that the work had been completed and was in circulation, albeit across a small geographical area, by the 1130s.
Sources
- Geoffrey Malaterra. The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of Duke Robert Guiscard, his brother, trans. Graham Loud (unpub). Books One, Two, Three, and Four.
- Gaufredo Malaterra, De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius, ed. Ernesto Pontieri, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores V pt.1 (Bologna, 1927-8).
- Storia de’ Normanni di Amato di Montecassino, ed. V de Bartholomeis, Fonti per la storia d’Italia 76 (Rome, 1935).
- Guillermus Apuliensis, Gesta Roberti Wiscardi, ed. M Mathieu (Palermo, 1961).
- Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History, ed. and trans. by Marjorie Chibnall, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1969).
- E. Johnson, 'Normandy and Norman Identity in Southern Italian Chronicles', Anglo Norman Studies, 27 (2005), pp. 85–100.
- Kenneth Baxter Wolf, Making History: the Normans and their historians in eleventh-century Italy (Philadelphia, 1995).
- Graham Loud, 'The Gens Normannorum: Myth or Reality?', Proceedings of the Fourth Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies 1981, ed. R Allen Brown (Woodbridge, 1982), pp. 104–119, 205-209, (repr. in Graham Loud, Conquerors and Churchmen in Norman Italy (Great Yarmouth, 1999) pp. 104–116, 205-209).