Roussel de Bailleul

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Roussel's seal, with the Virgin Mary; the reverse translates as "Mother of God, give comfort to your servant Urselius, the vestiarios, the Frank"

Roussel de Bailleul (died 1077), also known as Phrangopoulos (Greek: Φραγγόπουλος, lit. 'son-of-a-Frank'), or in the anglicized form Russell Balliol was a Norman adventurer (or exile) who travelled to Byzantium and was a soldier under the Emperor Romanus IV (ruled 1068–71). He is also known as Ursellus de Ballione in Latin or Roscelin or Roskelin de Baieul, and Anna Comnena called him Ourselios (Οὐρσέλιος), also rendered Urselius.

Roussel ventured with the Apulian Normans to Italy, settled in Terra d'Otranto and served under Roger de Hauteville in Sicily. According to Geoffrey Malaterra, Roussel distinguished himself with his bravery at the Battle of Cerami, where he urged Count Roger to pursue the fleeing 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 Khliat to forage and plunder.[1] Afterwards he remained in imperial service, and was sent into Asia Minor again with a force of 3,000 Franco-Norman heavy cavalry, where he conquered some territory in Galatia and declared it an independent state in 1073, with himself as prince, following the example set by his fellow Normans in the Mezzogiorno. His capital was Ancyra, now the capital of Turkey. He defeated the Caesar John Ducas and sacked Chrysopolis, near Constantinople. He then set up John Ducas as an usurper candidate to the imperial throne. By formally ceding lands that the Seljuk Turks had actually conquered, the emperor Michael VII persuaded the Seljuk warlord Tutush I to remove Roussel and both Ducas and Roussel were defeated and captured by Turkish forces. Roussel's wife paid the ransom demanded by the Turks and Roussel returned to Amasea, where he was given up by the people through a ploy of Alexius Comnenus (1074), then a general, later an emperor.

In 1077, he was ransomed from his Constantinopolitan imprisonment to lead a battalion against the rebel Nicephorus Botaniates. He defeated him, but then joined him. The emperor called up the Seljuks again and they defeated and captured him at Nicomedia. He was given over to Byzantium and executed.

References[]

  1. ^ Kaldellis, Anthony (2017). Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood (1 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 246. ISBN 9780190253240.

Sources[]

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