BOEMONDO of TARANTO. – Norman prince, son of Robert the Guiscard and of Alberada, who lived in the 11th–12th centuries. He took part, with his father, in the Norman conquest of southern Italy, and in the Balkan expedition against the Byzantine Empire. When the Guiscard was recalled by Gregory VII, B. assumed command of the Norman troops, inflicting defeats on Alexios Komnenos (1083). After his father’s death, he contested the succession of his brother Roger to the duchy of Apulia (1085) and seized the province of Taranto, which was granted to him “pro bono pacis.” In renewed conflict with his brother, he won over the son of Hugh Falluca, lord of Catanzaro, and the rebellious city of Cosenza (1087). Later (1093), on false news of his brother’s death, he occupied several lands in Calabria, which he restored in exchange for peace. In 1096 he took part in the siege of Amalfi, which he abandoned to join the First Crusade. On his return, he organized a second expedition against the Byzantine Empire. He died in 1111, a few days after his brother.
BOEMONDO DI TARANTO
BIBL.: F. Chalandon, Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile, II, Paris 1907, pp. 278–89 and passim; G. Matera, De rebus gestis Rogerii, in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, V, 2nd ed., Bologna 1928, passim (v. index); Amato da Montecassino, Storia dei Normanni, ed. V. de Bartholomeis, in Fonti per la Storia d’Italia dell’Ist. Stor. Ital., Rome 1935, pp. 124–198.