William of Apulia

William of Apulia (Latin: Guillelmus Apuliensis) was a poet and chronicler of the Normans, writing in the 1090s.

His Latin epic, Gesta Roberti Wiscardi ("The Deeds of Robert Guiscard"), written in hexameters, is one of the principal contemporary sources for the Norman conquest of southern Italy, especially the career of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia (1059–1085).

Unlike the other two principal chroniclers of the Normans in Italy, Amatus of Montecassino and Geoffrey Malaterra, William was probably a layman, based on the relative lack of religious references in his work.

[3] The Greek connection is notable as he was very knowledgeable about and familiar with the Byzantine Court system, language, and history.

[4] William's poem Gesta Roberti Wiscardi was probably composed sometime between 1097 and 1099,[a] as he notes the fighting of the crusaders in Anatolia during 1097, but not the fall of Jerusalem in 1099.

The coinage of Roger Borsa, to whom William dedicated his work and of whose court William was probably a member.