Roger I, nicknamed “Roger Bosso” and “Grand Count Roger”, was a Norman nobleman who became the first Grand Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101.
Roger I as he appears on a trifollaro minted at Mileto
Roger I of Sicily at the Battle of Cerami (1063), in which he was victorious against 35,000 Muslims
Roger I and Robert Guiscard receiving the keys of the city of Palermo from the Arabs
The Normans were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia following the siege of Chartres in 911. The intermingling in Normandy produced an ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries. The Normans adopted the culture and language of the French, while they continued the martial tradition of their Viking ancestors as mercenaries and adventurers. In the 11th century, Normans from the duchy conquered England and Sicily.
Siege of a motte-and-bailey castle from the Bayeux Tapestry
10th–11th century History of the Normans, by Dudo of Saint-Quentin
The early Norman castle at Adrano
Depiction of the marriage of the Norman lord Strongbow to the Irish princess Aoife in Waterford in 1170