After the death in 1057 of his older brother Humphrey, count of Apulia, Guiscard became leader of the Normans in Italy. The pope, seeking independence from the Holy Roman Empire, decided to enlist the Normans as allies. In 1059 the French Pope Nicholas II created Robert "by the Grace of God and Saint Peter, duke of Apulia and Calabria and, with their help, hereafter of Sicily" ("Robertus Guiscardus, Normannus Dux Apuliae, Calabriae et Siciliae"). In return, Robert acknowledged the pope as his feudal overlord. Sicily was in Muslim hands at the time and so Robert and his brother Roger Bosso embarked on a series of campaigns, capturing Messina in 1061 and Palermo in 1072. 