Norman Conquest of Southern Italy

Italy before the Norman conquests

In 999, the Norman pilgrims, returning from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, landed in Salerno , where they were hospitably received by Prince Guémar III . At this time, the Saracens attacked the city from Africa, demanding tribute. Although Gwemar began to raise funds to pay tribute, the Normans began to blame the Lombards for cowardice and immediately attacked the besiegers. The Saracens fled, and the grateful Gwemar pleaded with the Normans to remain. They refused, but promised to bring his rich gifts to his compatriots in Normandy and tell them about the reward offered by the prince to every Norman who would go to military service in Salerno ^[1] .

Another early mention of the arrival of Normans in Italy dates back to 1016. Norman pilgrims met up with Melus in Monte Gargano, who convinced them to join him during the attack on Apulia, which belonged to Byzantium.

In 1017, a Langobard uprising broke out in Bari against the Byzantines, headed by Melus , who used the newly arrived group of Normans. The Byzantine emperor sent a detachment of the elite Varangian Guard to help. In 1018, opponents clashed at the River Ofanto, near the site of the Battle of Cannes , in which Hannibal defeated the Romans in 216 BC. er The Byzantines won.

It is worth noting that in 1019 the Byzantine garrison in Troy consisted of Norman mercenaries.

In 1030, the Duke of Neapolitan Sergius IV granted the hand of his sister and the county of Aversa (1030) to the leader of the Normans, Rheinulf. Aversa was the first Norman state in southern Italy.

Soon the Normans , led by William, the Iron Hand conquered Melfi from the Byzantines and made Apulia the capital of the duchy.

See also: History of Islam in Southern Italy , Sicilian Emirate

In June 1059, Pope Nicholas II granted the Norman knight Robert Guiscar the title of Duke of Sicily , and Robert took the vassal oath for the island to the Pope. From that moment on, Guiscard considered himself the rightful master of Sicily and was only looking for a reason to begin her conquest.

The Sicilian Emirate opposed to the Normans at that moment actually split into three states. The north-western part of the island (with Palermo , Trapani and Mazara ) was ruled by Abdullah Ibn Hawqal ; southeast (with Catania and Syracuse ) - controlled Ibn al-Timnakh , the center of the island with its capital in Enna was ruled by Ibn al-Havas . All three emirs were in a state of permanent conflict with each other and refused to recognize the power of the Kairuan Zyrid . In addition, the Orthodox Greeks constituted the majority in the eastern and influential minority in the western regions of Sicily, which allowed the Normans to hope for support on the island itself ^[2] .

In February 1061, the Arab emir of Catania and Syracuse Ibn al-Timnakh , having suffered a crushing defeat from his neighbor, the ruler of Enna , arrived in Mileto asking for help. For this, the emir agreed to recognize Guiscard as the supreme ruler of Sicily ^[3] .

The reason for the war was obtained, but due to the permanent employment of Robert on the continent, the conquest of Sicily was carried out mainly by his younger brother Roger .

The Normans invaded Sicily in May 1061 and attacked Messina, taking her without a fight. Then Robert, Roger and Ibn at-Timnakh who came to their aid moved to the central part of the island, where they took a number of cities. Soon in Apulia, problems arose and Robert hastily returned to the mainland. Before leaving, he built the fortress of San Marco d'Alunzio - the first Norman castle in Sicily.

Soon after, the Normans defeated the Arabs in the battles of Enne (1061), Cerami (1064) and Misilmeri (1068), and in 1072 Roger took Palermo .

After the fall of Palermo, the Normans conquered the island for eighteen more years, and in 1090 Noto , the last free city of Sicily, voluntarily passed under the authority of Roger.

In 1091, the Normans, led by Roger I, conquered Malta from the Muslims ^[4] .

After 1058, Salerno remained the only independent principality of Lombard in southern Italy . The territory of the principality significantly decreased in the course of constant conflicts with the Normans, but Robert Guiscard chose at that moment to conclude an alliance with Salerno. Presumably in 1058-1059 he, declaring his previous marriage invalid because of close kinship, married Sishelgayit , sister of the Salernoe Prince Gizulf II . For the sake of an alliance with Salerno, Robert even forced his brother Wilhelm of Principe to return to the principality the cities he had captured in Calabria ^[5] .

The political alliance with Salerno proved fragile and short-lived. Gisulf II secretly supported Robert the rebellious barons of Apulia from Robert, concluded an alliance against Normans with Gregory VII , and also tried to subdue Amalfi , whose inhabitants agreed to surrender under the auspices of Guiscard.

In the summer of 1076, Robert Guiscard laid siege to the city of Salerno . Prince Gizulf II, having foreseen the attack, forced the citizens to stock provisions for two years, but soon after the beginning of the siege, requisitioned the reserves of his subjects, and then sold the products at fabulous prices ^[6] . Exhausted by the hunger and tyranny of the prince, the inhabitants of Salerno themselves opened the gates of the city of Guiscard on December 13, 1076. Gisulf II with his brothers and a few supporters took refuge in the city citadel, but in May 1077 was forced to surrender.

Robert Guiscard joined Salerno to his possessions, although he allowed Gisulf II and his brothers to leave the city. The capitulation of Gizulf was accompanied by anecdotal history in the spirit of Guiscard. Robert demanded that the surrendered prince give the Salernoe relic - the tooth of the evangelist Matthew , the patron saint of the city. Gisulf tried to deceive the winner, having sent an ordinary, absolutely not sacred tooth to him. The priest who was at Robert exposed the deception and the Duke of Puglia in his letter put Gizulf before a choice: to lose all his teeth or to give a relic. Gizulf humbled, gave the relic, and only after that he was allowed to leave Salerno ^[7] .

Salerno became the capital of the Duchy of Puglia and on the orders of Robert, the construction of a grand cathedral in honor of the Evangelist Matthew began here. Salerno continued to play the role of the second, continental capital, and in the Sicilian kingdom .

By 1057, a significant part of Calabria and a number of cities along the coast of Apulia remained under Byzantium rule. The expulsion of the Byzantines from Italy took another thirteen years and ended on April 16, 1071 with the capture of the last stronghold of Byzantium in Italy, the city of Bari .

The Conquest of Calabria

Normans fought in Calabria since 1044 . The population of Calabria was predominantly Greek by language and religion, and hostile to the conquerors. During the life of the elder brothers Drogo and Humphrey, Robert was governor of Calabria, in the process engaged in looting the local population.

By the time of Robert's accession, the cities of Cariati , Rossano , Gerace and Reggio remained in the hands of the Byzantines. Cariati was taken in 1057 , Rossano and Gerace in 1059 . Since Robert’s attention was constantly distracted by the riots in Puglia, his younger brother Roger played a crucial role in the conquest of Calabria. As a result, Guiscard was forced to divide the conquered lands of Calabria between himself and his brother, although the artificially created cross section interfered with the formation of Roger as a whole domain.

The last stronghold of Byzantium in Calabria remained the city of Reggio. During his siege in the winter of 1059-1060 , Roger was the first of the Normans to use siege engines. Robert, who fought with the Byzantines in Apulia at that time, arrived at Reggio only in the spring of 1060. As a result of a long siege, the Reggio garrison capitulated and the triumphant Robert allowed the Greek soldiers to sail freely to Constantinople . In the summer of 1060, Calabria completely passed into the hands of the Normans ^{[8] [6]} .

The Conquest of Puglia

The war with Byzantium in Puglia continued with mixed success. Back in 1055, Humphrey and Robert conquered the Salentin peninsula . In 1057, Argyr , who led an uncompromising fight against the Normans since the transition to the Byzantine side in 1042, left the post of a katapana . After the resignation of Argir, the Byzantines kept only a few cities on the coast. In 1060, the new emperor Constantine X , while Robert was completing the conquest of Calabria, sent an army to Italy, which managed to regain most of Apulia under control of Byzantium and even to besiege the Norman capital Melfi . In the first six months of 1061, Robert Guiscard and hastily called up from Calabria, Roger were able to lift the siege from Melfi and again take Brindisi and Oriya . In 1064-1068 , disgruntled vassals led by his nephews, the sons of Humphrey Otville, came out against Robert. Combined with the rebels, the Byzantines reoccupied Brindisi, Oriya and Taranto .

The situation in Puglia changed dramatically in 1068: the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor forced the emperor Roman IV to leave Italy to fend for themselves. During the first months of 1068, Robert easily occupied all those remaining in the hands of the Byzantines and insurgents of the city. In June 1068, Robert Guiscard took the last rebel fort, Montepeloso ^[6] . The Byzantine army locked itself in Bari ^[9] .

Taking Bari

The siege by Robert Guiscard of Bari lasted for almost three years - from August 5, 1068 to April 16, 1071 . For the blockade of the city from the sea, the Normans used the fleet for the first time in their wars in southern Italy : Norman ships connected by an iron chain completely blocked the port of Bari. At the beginning of the siege, the city commander managed to escape from Bari to ask for help in Constantinople .

At the beginning of 1069, the Byzantine fleet under the command of the catapan Stephen Pateran tried to break through the Norman blockade, but the Normans sank most of the enemy ships and only part of the Greek ships broke through to Bari, delivering food and weapons. Stephan Pateran successfully defended Bari during 1069-1070. At the beginning of 1071, Patan was able to get out of the besieged city and again go to Constantinople for help. At the request of Paterana, Emperor Roman IV sent a fleet to Bari. Robert Guiscard, in turn, summoned his brother Roger from Sicily , who arrived at the head of a large flotilla. The Normans managed to smash the Byzantines in a naval battle in the sight of the city and not a single Greek ship this time managed to break into the city. Having lost hope for help from Byzantium, the inhabitants of Bari opened the gates to the Normans. On April 16, 1071, Robert Guiscard and his brother Richer of Sicily solemnly entered Bari. This day was the last day of the Byzantine presence in southern Italy ^{[6] [10]} .

As a result of skillful maneuvering, the Neapolitan dukes retained their independence from the Normans longer than all their neighbors. Only in 1137, Sergius VII recognized as his overlord Roger II, and as his vassal took part in the battle of Rignano against Raynulf Alifansky , in which he died on October 30, 1137 . After the death of the duke in Naples, republican rule was established, but already in 1139 the Neapolitans recognized the authority of Roger II. The title of Duke of Naples, Roger II, was granted to his son Alfonso , but the latter ruled Naples only as a royal vassal. After the death of Alfonso in 1144, Naples finally came under the direct control of the crown .

In 1127 , the duke of Puglia of Norman origin William II died , and Apulia and Sicily united under the rule of his cousin, the Count of Sicily, Roger II . Roger supported the antipope Anaclete II and was last crowned king of Sicily at Christmas 1130 .

• Normans
• Robert Guiscard
• Roger I (Earl of Sicily)
• Sicilian kingdom
• Norman Conquest of England

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