Robert Crispin (French: Crépin, died 1072), called Frankopoulos, was a Norman mercenary who fought in the Reconquista and the Byzantine Empire.
[1] As the youngest son without an inheritance he left Normandy and seems to have gone to Southern Italy which was being conquered by fellow Normans under the Hauteville family.
[1] In 1064, he participated in a military expedition to Barbastro, which has been called sometimes a proto-crusade, where he played a major role and might have been the leader of the Norman contingent.
Robert became leader of the Frankish mercenaries and was arrested by the Emperor Romanos Diogenes in 1069 after a brief rebellion, feeling he had not been rewarded appropriately for his services.
[5] He fought against the invading Seljuk Turks and later under Michael VII Doukas against Romanos after the latter had been disposed in 1071 after the Battle of Manzikert.