Test Your Knowledge of the Norman Conquests in Southern Italy and Byzantium

The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and the Creation of the Kingdom of Sicily

In the 11th century, Italy was a divided land with Northern Italy controlled by the Holy Roman Emperors of Germany, while Southern Italy was a patchwork of petty states.
The Normans, descendants of Vikings, arrived in Italy seeking land, riches, and the glory of battle; they quickly became the premier mercenaries of Southern Italy.
Norman mercenaries fought on both sides of any given conflict, using their leverage as irreplaceable allies to secure the safe release of their brethren on the losing side.
The Normans defeated two Byzantine armies in Apulia and Calabria, leading to the conquest and organization of the Norman County of Melfi.
Norman rule in their Italian territories was harsh; they provoked rebellions in both Melfi and Cosenza, with the common people taking the brunt of their habitual pillaging.
The Pope, Leo IX, personally travelled south from Rome with 700 German Swabian soldiers to combat the Norman presence in Italy.
The Byzantines assembled an army in their remaining Apulian territory and marched for Melfi, aiming to strike from the south while the Papal forces assaulted the Norman holdings from the north.
The Normans rode north to intercept the Papal force and prevent the Pope from linking up with the Byzantine army.
On the 17th of June, 1053, the Norman host encountered their foe camped outside the town of Civitate.
Despite outnumbering the Normans two to one, the Pope still wished to wait for the arrival of his Eastern Roman allies.
The Norman heavy cavalry, led by Richard Drengot, was the first to strike, barreling down upon the Papal left to thundering effect.
The Normans won the Battle of Civitate, securing their hold on Southern Italy and paving the way for the creation of the Kingdom of Sicily.The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily
The Normans, led by Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger de Hauteville, conquered Southern Italy in less than 40 years.
After defeating the Swabians at Civitate, the Normans took Pope Leo IX hostage and forced him to recognize their territory in Italy in the Treaty of Melfi.
The Normans turned their attention to Sicily, which had been under Muslim rule for over 150 years, and invaded the island in 1061 with 150 knights and auxiliaries.
After a misstep in their first foray, the Normans levied another army of 2,000 infantry and 450 mounted knights led by both Hauteville brothers.
The Normans captured Messina with little resistance and were hailed as liberators by the Greek Christian citizens.
The Normans marched deeper into the island with the help of their Muslim ally, but he was later ambushed and slain, leaving the Normans without local support.
The Normans faced resistance from the Greek Christians, who realized they were harsh overlords, and suffered a four-month siege in Troina during a brutally icy winter.
The Normans managed to retake Troina through sheer luck when the drunken Saracen soldiers guarding the perimeter were easily subdued.
The Muslim rulers of Sicily realized the Normans were a threat and set aside their differences to put up a unified front against them.
Roger de Hauteville led a small force against a massive Muslim army at Cerami and won a highly unlikely victory with heavy armor and knightly discipline.
The Normans secured their control over northeastern Sicily but faced slowed conquest in the years that followed, despite laying siege to Palermo in 1064.
The Norman conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily established their permanent presence in the region and led to the Treaty of Melfi, recognizing their territory and Robert Guiscard as Duke of Sicily.The Norman Conquest of Byzantium and the Battle of Dyrrhachium
The Norman conquest of Sicily was delayed by wars fought on other fronts and rebellion in Apulia.
In 1068, Roger won a decisive victory against the Muslims in Misilmeri, forcing them to turn on themselves.
Palermo fell to the Normans in 1072, and the Islamic rump-state in Sicily was given a reprieve.
Guiscard turned his attention to the Byzantine Empire, which was rapidly disintegrating in the late 11th century.
In 1081, Guiscard launched an invasion of the Byzantine Balkans with a force of 700 elite heavy knights and 15,000 light cavalry, conscript infantry, and crossbowmen.
The Normans sailed across the Adriatic in Byzantine-style Khelandia ships and established their footholds on the Balkan coast.
The Normans attempted to take the fortress of Dyrrhachium, the main bastion of Eastern Roman power in the western Balkans.
The Venetians joined the Byzantines in a naval battle against the Normans, routing the Norman fleet and cutting off their supply lines from Italy.
Alexios Komnenos, the new Emperor of Byzantium, set off from Constantinople to destroy the Normans.
On October 18th, 1081, the Battle of Dyrrhachium took place, with Guiscard's Norman forces facing off against Alexios' Byzantine army.
The Byzantine army was an unlikely coalition of the Byzantines past enemies-turned-allies, including Armenians, Turks, Frankish mercenaries, the Tagmatas of Thrace and Macedon, and a Serbian contingent led by their King, Constantine Bodin.
The Norman army was organized into three contingents, with the elite Norman Knights concentrated in the center. The Byzantine army deployed their Varangians as a vanguard, hoping to absorb a Norman cavalry charge. The battle ended in a Norman victory, but Guiscard was wounded and forced to withdraw.The Battles between the Byzantine Empire and the Norman Invaders
The Byzantine Empire faced invasion by the Normans, led by Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond, in the late 11th century.
The first major battle between the two sides occurred at Dyrrhachium, where the Normans defeated the Byzantine forces and destroyed the Varangian Guard.
The defeat at Dyrrhachium caused a crisis of morale in the Byzantine Empire, and Emperor Alexios I Komnenos struggled to raise a new army.
Bohemond continued to march his forces through Byzantine territory, capturing cities such as Ioannina and Arta.
Despite suffering heavy losses in previous battles, Alexios adapted his strategies and planned an ambush at the Battle of Larissa.
The Byzantine army lured the Norman knights into an ambush using local terrain and mounted archers, causing the Normans to panic and flee.
Alexios had sowed seeds of division among the Norman ranks before the battle, offering lavish gifts and high court titles to any Norman nobles who would desert Bohemond and join him.
Bohemond was unable to match Alexios' offers and was forced to retreat back across the Adriatic, abandoning the lands he had taken in Macedonia and Thessaly.
The Byzantine Empire suffered heavy losses in the battles with the Normans, with 5,000 men dead at Dyrrhachium alone.
Alexios depleted the Imperial coffers and confiscated treasures from the Orthodox Church to pay for mercenaries.
The Normans were infamous for their ruthless pillaging of cities they captured, causing morale in the cities to plummet during the sieges.
The battles between the Byzantine Empire and the Norman invaders marked a significant moment in the history of the Balkans and the Mediterranean, with the Byzantine Empire struggling to defend its territory against the powerful Norman army.