Roger of Salerno

Roger of Salerno was regent of the Principality of Antioch from 1112 to 1119.
He was the son of Richard of the Principate and the nephew of Tancred, Prince of Galilee, both participants on the First Crusade. He became regent of Antioch when Tancred died in 1112; the actual prince, Bohemond II, was still a child. Like Tancred, Roger was almost constantly at war with the nearby Muslim states such as Aleppo. In 1114 there was an earthquake that destroyed many of the fortifications of the principality, and Roger took great care to rebuild them, especially those near the frontier.
Roger defeated Bursuq ibn Bursuq in 1115 at the Battle of Tell Danith. With Joscelin I of Edessa, Roger put enough military pressure on Aleppo that the city allied with Ortoqid emir Ilghazi in 1118. Ilghazi invaded the Principality in 1119, and despite the urging of the Patriarch of Antioch|Patriarch], Roger did not wait for reinforcements from Jerusalem or Tripoli. At the ensuing Battle of Ager Sanguinis he had 700 knights and 3000 foot soldiers, including 500 Armenian cavalry, but nearly all were killed, including Roger himself. Ilghazi's forces scattered to plunder the surrounding land and did not attack Antioch itself. Baldwin II of Jerusalem came north to take over the regency of the principality.
He married Cecilia of Le Bourcq, daughter of Hugh I, [Count of Rethel] and sister of Baldwin II. No children of this union are recorded. Roger's reign was chronicled by his chancellor Walter.
Roger is also known in numismatic history for the unique series of coins, minted during his reign. Despite ruling for less than seven years, he had two different types of coin, minted in his name at Antioch. The first type bore the image of the Mother of God Orans, standing full-height. The second type bore the image of the Miracle of Saint George and the Dragon. It is quite possible that it was minted after Roger's great victory at the Battle of Tell Danith. Prince Roger was in fact the first ruler in the Christian world to depict the Miracle of Saint George and the Dragon on his coinage.

Character

Dr. Nicholas Morton in his book titled "The Field of Blood" describes Roger's personality in terms of a vigorous and martial leader, someone who eagerly followed in Tancred’s "of good memory" footsteps and was “every bit as pugilistic” as his predecessor. Morton stresses Roger’s energetic commitment to defending Antioch, which during his time was one of Christendom’s easternmost polities, and willingness to engage the Artuqid Turks, though Morton highlights that Roger was perhaps too eager in his belligerence, as on the eve of the Battle of [the Field of Blood|Battle of Ager Sanguinis], it ultimately resulted in his demise and a reassessment by the Antiochene lords of territorial pretensions on Aleppo and the rest of Syria.