Robert Guiscard — "the Cunning" — had wrested Apulia and Calabria from Byzantine control through decades of Norman aggression before receiving papal investiture from Nicholas II in 1059. This follaro was struck during the last decade of his rule, after he had sacked Rome itself in 1084 while relieving his besieged ally Gregory VII from Henry IV. The coin circulated in a duchy that was genuinely multicultural: Norman lords, Byzantine administrators, Lombard populations, and Arab craftsmen all occupied the same ports.
The cityscape type is thought to depict Salerno, Guiscard's capital from 1077 onward.
Robert Guiscard — "the Cunning" — had wrested Apulia and Calabria from Byzantine control through decades of Norman aggression before receiving papal investiture from Nicholas II in 1059. This follaro was struck during the last decade of his rule, after he had sacked Rome itself in 1084 while relieving his besieged ally Gregory VII from Henry IV. The coin circulated in a duchy that was genuinely multicultural: Norman lords, Byzantine administrators, Lombard populations, and Arab craftsmen all occupied the same ports.
The cityscape type is thought to depict Salerno, Guiscard's capital from 1077 onward.