Richard Salernsky

Richard was born around 1060. His parents were Guillaume d'Otville , a representative of the younger branch of a noble Norman family, and Maria, the daughter of Guido, the ruler of Sorrento. He was the nephew of Robert Guiscard and in his youth took part in his military campaigns.

After the announcement of the First Crusade, Richard joined his cousin Bohemond 's army ^[1] . Since de Princhipato knew Arabic and could conduct diplomatic negotiations with Muslims, his participation in the campaign seemed useful. It is possible that Richard was the same crusader, whose ship was captured by the Byzantines, who took the Norman fleet for the pirate, which was mentioned by Anna Comnenus ; one way or another, he arrived in Constantinople with the rest of Bohemond's warriors. It is known that he refused to take the vassal oath to the Byzantine emperor and together with Tancred crossed into Asia Minor secretly, under cover of night.

Richard took part in the battle of Doriley and in the siege of Antioch . Probably, after the creation of the principality of Antioch, he remained under Bohemunde, becoming one of his military leaders; in any case, no doubt that he participated in the unsuccessful march on Melitena. The Crusaders were ambushed by Gazi ibn Danishmend and were defeated, while Bohemond and Richard were captured ^[2] . Chained Normans were brought to Neokesariya . Alexey Komnin intervened in the discussion of their ransom, hoping to gain control over his sworn enemies; at his request, Danishmend sent Richard to Constantinople, where he was held as a hostage until 1103 .

After his release from captivity, de Principato returned to Antioch. In 1104, Tancred, who ruled the principality in the absence of Bohemond, made him regent of Edessa ^[3] . Having gained power, Richard immediately began to mend outrage, increasing taxes and arranging brutal repressions against rich citizens ^[4] . This naturally turned the people of the county against him, and in 1108 he was forced to cede Edessa Baldwin II to Jerusalem .

Richard traveled to Europe to negotiate with the king of France regarding the marriage between his daughter Constance and Boemond; This diplomatic mission ended successfully. Then he joined the army, which the prince of Antioch led the campaign against Byzantium, and took part in the siege of Dirrahios. The campaign soon became unsuccessful for the Normans, and Richard probably turned to Alexey Komnin’s side along with several other European noblemen (the reports of chroniclers about the true course of events are rather ambiguous, but there is no doubt that the peace treaty between the emperor and Boehund Richard signed Byzantines) ^[5] .

Subsequently, de Princhipato returned to the East and for some time managed the Marash fortress on behalf of the regent of Antioch, who at that time was his son Roger. Richard died in an earthquake on November 29, 1114 .

He was married to Altrude, the daughter of Emma d'Otvil and Odo the Good, from whom he had two children:

• Roger of Salerno (? - 1119 ), the son and heir of Richard, subsequently ruled Antioch as regent;
• daughter Maria in 1122 became the second wife of Joslene of Edessa .

• Bezobrazov P.V. Boemond Tarentsky // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. - SPb. : Printing house V. S. Balasheva, 1883. - Vol. CCXXVI . - pp . 37-1119 .
• Viymar P. Crusades / Trans. with fr. D. A. Zhuravleva. - SPb. : ACT; Eurasia, 2006. - 384 p. - (Historical library). - 5000 copies - ISBN 5-8071-0192-8 .