Roussel de Bailleul
vestiarios
, the Frank"Roussel de Bailleul (died 1077), also known as Phrangopoulos (
Anna Comnena
called him Ourselios (Οὐρσέλιος), also rendered Urselius.
Roussel ventured with the Apulian Normans to Italy, settled in
Saracens. Aside from this brief account by Malaterra, the Alexiad
of Anna Comnena is the main source for Roussel.
He was at the campaign of Manzikert in 1071, but did not participate in the battle, as he was previously dispatched by the Emperor Romanos to
Sangarios river. [3]
Strengthened by this victory, Roussel proceeded with his army to the
Michael VII reacted in panic and tried on one hand to appease Roussel by promising him titles and releasing his wife and children who had been hostages in Constantinople while on the other hand making a deal with Artuq, a general of Seljuk warlord Tutush I to remove Roussel.[3]
During the following skirmishes both Roussel and Doukas were captured but instead of delivering the prisoners to the Byzantines, Roussel's wife paid a ransom for her husband and Roussel returned to his lands.
He continued to expand his control over lands in the former
Alexios Komnenos, had to use a ploy to take him in 1075.[5]
In 1077, Roussel was ransomed from his Constantinopolitan imprisonment to lead a battalion against Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder. Roussel garrisoned in Perinthus and he was joined there by Nikephoritzes after the fall of Michael VII. Roussel died suddenly and Nikephoritzes was accused of having poisoned him.[6]
References
- ISBN 9780190253240.
- ^ Beihammer 2017, pp. 209.
- ^ a b c Beihammer 2017, pp. 210.
- ^ Beihammer 2017, pp. 211.
- ^ Beihammer 2017, pp. 211–213.
- ^ Roussel De Bailleul. In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 3 Dec. 2022
Sources
- Beihammer, Alexander Daniel (2017). Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, Ca. 1040-1130. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1351983865.
- Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South, 1016–1130. London: Longmans, 1967.
- Gravett, Christopher, and Nicolle, David. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2006.
- Schlumberger, Gustave (1881). "Deux chefs normands des armées byzantines au XIe siècle: Sceaux de Herve et de Raoul de Bailleul" (PDF). Revue Historique. 16: 289–303.