The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1194, involving many battles and independent conquerors. In 1130, the territories in southern Italy united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included the island of Sicily, the southern third of the Italian Peninsula (including Benevento, which was briefly held twice), the archipelago of Malta, and parts of North Africa.
Itinerant Norman forces arrived in southern Italy as mercenaries in the service of Lombard and Byzantine factions, communicating swiftly back home news about opportunities in the Mediterranean. These groups gathered in several places, establishing fiefdoms and states of their own, uniting and elevating their status to de facto independence within 50 years of their arrival.
Unlike the Norman Conquest of England (1066), which took a few years after one decisive battle, the conquest of southern Italy was the product of decades and a number of battles, few decisive. Many territories were conquered independently, and only later were unified into a single state. Compared to the conquest of England, it was unplanned and disorganised, but equally complete. On the mainland, however, later unification did not erase the political importance of counties, lordships, and negotiated aristocratic relationships, which remained central to military and territorial administration in the twelfth-century kingdom.
Pre-Norman Viking activity in Italy There is little evidence of Viking activity in Italy as a precursor to the arrival of the Normans in 999, but some raiding is recorded. Ermentarius of Noirmoutier, the Annales Bertiniani, and several additional Moorish sources provide accounts of Vikings based in Frankia (France), raiding in Iberia, then proceeding to raid in other parts of the Mediterranean around 860. In 860, according to an account by the Norman monk Dudo of Saint-Quentin, a Viking fleet co-commanded by Alstignus, believed to be Hastein, and Björn Ironside, landed in Italy seeking to sack the city of Rome. The Viking force arrived at the town of Luna, whose walls were too heavily defended for an outright assault. The force devised a plan to trick the town's bishop into converting Hastein to Christianity. Once converted, Hastein faked his death with the final wish to be buried in the town's church. Entering with a small force with concealed weapons in the funeral procession, the force surprised the town guards and opened the city gates for the remaining Viking force. Upon learning that the town was not Rome, the Viking force raided the surrounding countryside before ultimately sailing back to Frankia.
Many Norsemen fought as mercenaries in Southern Italy, including the Varangian Guard led by Harald Hardrada, who later became king of Norway, who conquered Sicily between 1038 and 1040, with the help of Norman mercenaries, under William de Hauteville, who won his nickname Iron Arm by defeating the emir of Syracuse in single combat, and a Lombard contingent, led by Arduin. The Varangians were first used as mercenaries in Italy against the Arabs in 936. Runestones were raised in Sweden in memory of warriors who died in Langbarðaland (Land of the Lombards), the Old Norse name for southern Italy.2. Runriket – Täby Kyrka , an online article at Stockholm County Museum, retrieved July 1, 2007.
Later, several Anglo-Danish and Norwegian nobles participated in the Norman conquest of southern Italy, like Edgar the Ætheling, who left England in 1086,Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 217; Florence of Worcester, p. 145 and Jarl Erling Skakke, who won his nickname (Skakke, meaning 'bent head') after a battle against Arabs in Sicily.Orkneyinga Saga, Anderson, Joseph, (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1873), FHL microfilm 253063., p. 134, 139, 144–145, 149–151, 163, 193. On the other hand, many Anglo-Danish rebels fleeing William the Conqueror joined the Byzantines in their struggle against Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia, in Southern Italy.Translation based on Chibnall (ed.), Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, pp. 203, 205
Arrival of the Normans in Italy
The earliest reported date of the arrival of Norman knights in southern Italy is 999, although it may be assumed that they had visited before then. In that year, according to some traditional sources of uncertain origin, Norman pilgrims returning from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem via Apulia stayed with Prince Guaimar III in Salerno. The city and its environs were attacked by Saracens from Africa demanding payment of an overdue annual tribute. While Guaimar began to collect the tribute, the Normans ridiculed him and his Lombard subjects for cowardice, and they assaulted their besiegers. The Saracens fled. Booty was confiscated and a grateful Guaimar asked the Normans to stay. They refused, but promised to bring his rich gifts to their compatriots in Normandy and tell them about possibly lucrative military service in Salerno. Some sources have Guaimar sending emissaries to Normandy to bring back knights, and this account of the arrival of the Normans is sometimes known as the "Salerno (or Salernitan) tradition".Joranson, 355 and n 19.
The Salerno tradition was first recorded by Amatus of Montecassino in his Ystoire de li Normant between 1071 and 1086. Much of this information was borrowed from Amatus by Peter the Deacon for his continuation of the Chronicon Monasterii Casinensis of Leo of Ostia, written during the early 12th century. Beginning with the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius in the 17th century, the Salernitan story became the accepted history.Joranson, 356. Although its factual accuracy was questioned periodically during the following centuries, it has been accepted (with some modifications) by most scholars since.Both Chalandon and Norwich provide a combined story based on the Salerno and Gargano traditions. Houben, p. 8, presents the Salerno tradition as fact.
Another historical account of the arrival of the first Normans in Italy, the "Gargano tradition", appears in primary chronicles without reference to any previous Norman presence. According to this account Norman pilgrims at the shrine to Michael the Archangel at Monte Gargano in 1016 met the Lombard Melus of Bari, who persuaded them to join him in an attack on the Byzantine government of Apulia.
As with the Salerno tradition, there are two primary sources for the Gargano story: the Gesta Roberti Wiscardi of William of Apulia (dated 1088–1110) and the Chronica monasterii S. Bartholomaei de Carpineto of a monk named Alexander, written about a century later and based on William's work.Joranson, 358. Some scholars have combined the Salerno and Gargano tales, and John Julius Norwich suggested that the meeting between Melus and the Normans had been arranged by Guaimar.Chalandon makes a similar connection between the traditions. Joranson, 367, finds such hypotheses "unworkable." Melus had been in Salerno just before his visit to Monte Gargano.
Another story involves the exile of a group of brothers from the Drengot family. One of the brothers, Osmund (according to Orderic Vitalis) or Gilbert (according to Amatus and Peter the Deacon), murdered William Repostel (Repostellus) in the presence of Robert I, Duke of Normandy after Repostel allegedly boasted about dishonouring his murderer's daughter. Threatened with death, the Drengot brother fled with his siblings to Rome and one of the brothers had an audience with the pope before joining Melus (Melo) of Bari. Amatus dates the story to after 1027, and does not mention the pope. According to him, Gilbert's brothers were Osmund, Ranulf, Asclettin and Ludolf (Rudolf, according to Peter). Between 1016 and 1024, in a fragmented political context, the Lombard was usurped by a group of Norman knights headed by Gilbert and hired by Melus. The county, which replaced the pre-existing chamberlainship, is considered to be the first political body established by the Normans in the South. Although the conquest itself was not directed from a single centre, later scholarship has drawn greater attention to the long afterlife of such mainland county formations within the political and aristocratic organisation of the kingdom.
Repostel's murder is dated by all the chronicles to the reign of Robert the Magnificent and after 1027, although some scholars believe "Robert" was a scribal error for "Richard" (Richard II of Normandy, who was duke in 1017).Joranson, 369. The earlier date is necessary if the emigration of the first Normans was connected to the Drengots and the murder of William Repostel. In the Histories of Ralph Glaber, "Rodulfus" leaves Normandy after displeasing Count Richard (Richard II).Joranson, 371. The sources disagree about which brother was the leader on the southern trip. Orderic and William of Jumièges, in the latter's Gesta Normannorum Ducum, name Osmund; Glaber names Rudolph, and Leo, Amatus and Adhemar of Chabannes name Gilbert. According to most southern-Italian sources, the leader of the Norman contingent at the Battle of Cannae in 1018 was Gilbert.Chalandon, 52. Norwich. If Rudolf is identified with the Rudolf of Amatus' history as a Drengot brother, he may have been the leader at Cannae.Joranson, 371, disputes the identification of the two Rudolfs.
A modern hypothesis concerning the Norman arrival in the Mezzogiorno concerns the chronicles of Glaber, Adhemar and Leo (not Peter's continuation). All three chronicles indicate that Normans (either a group of 40 or a much-larger force of around 250) under "Rodulfus" (Rudolf), fleeing Richard II, came to Pope Benedict VIII of Rome. The pope sent them to Salerno (or Capua) to seek mercenary employment against the Byzantines because of the latter's invasion of papal Beneventan territory.Joranson, 371–373.
Lombard revolt, 1009–1022
On 9 May 1009, an insurrection erupted in Bari against the Catapanate of Italy, the regional Byzantine authority based there. Led by Melus, a local Lombard, the revolt quickly spread to other cities. Late that year (or early in 1010) the katepano, John Curcuas, was killed in battle. In March 1010 his successor, Basil Mesardonites, disembarked with reinforcements and besieged the rebels in the city. The Byzantine citizens negotiated with Basil and forced the Lombard leaders, Melus and his brother-in-law Dattus, to flee. Basil entered the city on 11 June 1011, reestablishing Byzantine authority. He did not follow his victory with severe sanctions, only sending Melus' family (including his son, Argyrus) to Constantinople. Basil died in 1016, after years of peace in southern Italy.
Leo Tornikios Kontoleon arrived as Basil's successor in May of that year. After Basil's death, Melus revolted again; this time, he used a newly arrived band of Normans, sent by Pope Benedict, who met him (with or without Guaimar's aid) at Monte Gargano. Tornikios sent an army, led by Leo Passianos, against the Lombard-Norman coalition. Passianos and Melus met on the Fortore at Arenula; the battle was either indecisive (William of Apulia) or a victory for Melus (Leo of Ostia and Amatus). Tornikios then took command, leading his forces into a second encounter near Civita. This second battle was a victory for Melus, although Lupus Protospatharius and the anonymous chronicler of Bari recorded a defeat. A third battle (a decisive victory for Melus) took place at Vaccaricia, modern in Rieti; the region from the Fortore to Trani was in his hands, and in September Tornikios was replaced by Basil Boioannes (who arrived in December). According to Amatus, there were five consecutive Lombard and Norman victories by October 1018.