Like many other impoverished Norman knights (Rainulf Drengot, William Ironarm, and more), Robert de Hauteville went to Italy, arriving there about 1046. After serving in the forces of the prince lombard of Capua, Pandulf, he organized an army to secure possessions for himself in Calabria. In 1053, when the Pope Leo IX attempted to expel the Normans from the South Italy, Robert Guiscard played an important role in defeating the papal forces at Civitate, near the modern city of San Severo (Province of Foggia). 