MERCENARIES TO CONQUERORS: Norman Warfare

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was a predictable event, but the Norman conquest of Sicily is in another category altogether, relating to a kingdom at a great distance and happening over two centuries rather than in a single battle. This well-researched account gives the detail of how Norman mercenary soldiers employed in southern Italy by the Hauteville family gradually took over as rulers. The region was part of the Byzantine empire, but the Italian Lombards wanted control, while the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor both took issue with the dominance of the Orthodox Church under Byzantine rule. Over a century of fast-moving power politics and pitched battles the Norman mercenaries gradually defeated the forces ranged against them, culminating in the control of Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I in Sicily, a largely Muslim region. Defining the precise nature of the military administration in the region ruled by Lombards and Byzantines is not an easy task, and the author examines in detail the elite cavalries of Salerno and an infantry of archers and slingers, some of whom were mercenaries. In the early 11th century the Normans were a cavalry-based force, vassals recruited through a promise of land. They conquered other portions of the Byzantine empire and Syria, much of which was under Arab rule under the Seljuk dynasty, and like southern Italy was peopled by various ethnicities and faiths. The author looks at methods of siege warfare and battle line-ups, including details such as overhand versus underhand striking on the Bayeux Tapestry. The social and political career of Guiscard included the ducal title received from Pope Nicholas in 1059, following a marriage which improved the position of the Hauteville family and was also beneficial to the Prince Gisulf II of Salerno. By 1074 Guiscard was excommunicated and at war, but in 1081 he made peace for the battle of Dyrrachion in Albania against the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos. The book concludes with the defence of the kingdom by Roger II and William II. 251pp, colour photos.