Goffredo Malaterra

Gaufredo Malaterra (Latin: Gaufridus Malaterra) was an eleventh-century Benedictine monk and historian, possibly of Norman origin. He travelled to the southern Italian peninsula, passing some time in Apulia before entering the monastery of Sant'Agata at Catania, on the isle of Sicily. Malaterra indicates that, prior to his arrival in Catania, he had spent an undefined period away from monastic life, in the worldly service of "Martha". Quotes Normannus Hugo, cognomento Tudebufen (Tuebœuf, Kill-ox) ... nudo pugno equum in cervice percutiens uno ictu, quasi mortuum dejecit. In Italy, one of them kills the horse of the Greek envoy with a blow of his fist. Bk. 1, ch. 9, in Muratori, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, vol. 5, p. 552. Paraphrased in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith, vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton and Co, 1882), p. 197. Compare: "Another takes by the tail a lion which had got hold of a goat, and flings both over a wall."—Chronicon Regum Francorum, in Scriptores Rerum Francicarum, vol. 11, p. 393 Whirling his sword, like a scythe mowing down the green grass, corpses lay heaped round him, like the trees of a dense forest uptorn by the wind. Bk. 2, ch. 30, in Script. Rer. Italicarum, vol. 5, p. 567. Paraphrased in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith, vol. 1 (1882), p. 197. "In Sicily, Roger, fighting fifty thousand Saracens at the head of only a hundred and thirty knights, is cast under his horse, but disengages himself, unassisted, and bears off his saddle." [Ipse equo amisso ... sellam asportans.] External links Category:Chroniclers Category:Historians from Italy Category:Monks