Normans: Political History and Notable Figures

1015 - 1085 - Robert Guiscard (All Facts)

• Norman Explorer and Adventurer who invaded and conquered southern Italy and Sicily

  • He was the son of a minor Norman landowner

  • He was the scourge of Calabria

  • He and his Norman defeated Pope Leo IX and his Papal forces in the Battle of Civitate, capturing Pope Leo IX in the process

• He signed the Treaty of Melfi with Pope Leo IX

  • He chose the statesmanlike route of a peaceful alliance with the papacy, instead of forcing them into submission

  • The treaty meant that he could drive the Muslims from Sicily without the fear that the Papal armies would attack his rear

  • It also effectively made him ruler of Sicily

• He oversaw the Norman Conquest of Southern Italy

  • He and his Norman forces defeated the Byzantines in the Siege of Bari, ending Byzantine control of southern Italy, which it had controlled for 500 years

    • He had driven the Byzantines out of much of southern Italy

    • From this point, he emerged as the most powerful Norman in Europe

  • He and his Norman forces, with the help of his brother Roger of Hauteville, defeated the Arab-Muslims in the Siege of Palermo, ending Arab-Muslim / Emirate control of Sicily, which it had controlled since the early 900s

    • After this, he installed his brother Roger of Hauteville as the first count of Sicily

  • He and his Norman forces took Amalfi from Gisulf II of Salerno, securing Norman control of the maritime trade routes, but alienating Pope Gregory VII

• He and his Norman forces famously sacked Rome

  • When Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV besieged and captured a part of Rome, Henry IV installed antipope Clement III to take Pope Gregory VII’s place

  • Pope Gregory VII thus fled to the Castel Sant’Angelo, where he called on the namesake to rescue him and the Romans from the invasion of the Holy Roman Empire by Henry IV

  • When he and his Norman forces came, they outnumbered the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and his forces, forcing them to flee; and he rescued Pope Gregory VII from the Castel Sant’Angelo and the invasion of the Holy Roman Empire as well

  • However, after thwarting the Holy Roman Empire and rescuing Pope Gregory VII, he and his forces proceeded to burn and destroy and sack Rome

  • He thus oversaw pall of smoke cover the Rome as thousands of bodies lie putrefied in the streets

• Under his reign of southern Italy,

  • The Salerno Cathedral was constructed

1035 - 1087 - William the Conqueror (All Facts)

• Duke of Normandy

  • He and his Norman-French forces defeated Harold II and his Anglo-Saxon forces in the Battle of Hastings, completing the Norman conquest of England and thus allowing him to rule as King of England

• During his reign, he organized Normandy on full feudal and military lines

• During his reign, he had Bayeux Cathedral (in Normandy in France) consecrated

  • This cathedral is famous for its Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Battle of Hastings and Norman Conquest of England in multiple scenes, by the namesake ruler

1087 - 1106 - Robert Curthose (All Facts)

• Duke of Normandy

• He and his forces were defeated by King Henry of England in the Battle of Tinchebrai, in which England took control of and became reunified with Normandy

Roger of Sicily (All Facts)

• Norman Founder and First Grand Count of Sicily

  • He was the brother of Robert Guiscard