[The following takes place in the early 11th century. For context, the Lombard princess Sikelgaita was married to Robert “the Weasel” Guiscard, a Norman conqueror.]
According to Anna Komnena, a twelfth-century Byzantine princess and historian, Sikelgaita disapproved of the Normans’ campaign against the Byzantines in 1081. Robert had already taken much of southern Italy, including Salerno, and Sikelgaita tried to persuade him not to press his luck with the neighboring superpower. But after Robert made up his mind to ignore her advice, Sikelgaita decided to do more than her wifely duty called for. Donning armor (“she was indeed a formidable size”), she marched with her husband to Brindisi, on the coast of Italy, and crossed the Adriatic with him to face the Byzantines on their own turf.
Robert and his Normans were no match for the Byzantines. Terrified for their lives, Robert’s men began to retreat, which pissed off Sikelgaita mightily. Glaring “fiercely” at them, she shouted, “How far will ye run? Halt! Be men!”
[…]
The story continues: “As they continued to run, she grasped a long spear and charged at full gallop against them. It brought them back to their senses and they went back to fight.”
And they won, at least in the short term. Within two years, Robert was forced to return to Italy and defend his ally the pope against the grabby Holy Roman Emperor. But two years after that, Sikelgaita returned to Byzantium with her husband, ready to rally the troops. This time, her pep talks weren’t enough, and to make matters worse, her husband died of a fever in the middle of staging their comeback. The Normans never really regained the lands they had lost to the Byzantines.
When Robert was on his deathbed in 1085, Sikelgaita was involved in some more bold behavior, this time of a more questionable nature. Supposedly, she tried to poison Robert’s son by his first wife, paving the way for her own son to rule. Her scheme was found out by her dying husband, and she was forced to provide an antidote. (Also supposedly, she then poisoned Robert, just to hasten his death.)
Sikelgaita worked out her differences with Robert’s first son, and her own child was allowed to become a duke. She lived out her years as a powerful duchess until her death, in 1090.
Source:
McRobbie, Linda Rodriguez. “Seven Warrior Queens of Antiquity.” Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories From History-- Without the Fairy-Tale Endings. MJF Books, 2013. 29, 30. Print.
Further Reading:
Anna Komnene (Greek: Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Ánna Komnēnḗ)
Sikelgaita (also Sichelgaita or Sigelgaita)
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