The Normans in Italy

The Normans had begun settling in southern Italy around the beginning of the eleventh century. They rapidly assimilated the Christianity and customs of the native population, and their prowess as mercenary warriors enabled them to accumulate territory, such as Aversa which was granted to them by the Duke of Naples in 1030. This permitted more immigrants to settle in the south. One of these was Tancred de Hauteville who with his twelve sons founded the Norman state in the south. One of his sons, Robert Guiscard, was primarily responsible for the capture of Calabria using an early form of guerrilla warfare. His youngest son Roger initiated the conquest of Sicily, which was then completed by his own son who was crowned King Roger II in the cathedral at Palermo in 1130.

The Normans initially faced opposition from the papacy, but overcame this by defeating Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) at the Battle of Civitate in 1053, after which their control of the south was accepted and legitimised by Pope Nicholas II in 1059. They proved themselves to be remarkably able and eclectic rulers of the south. Comparatively few in number, they nevertheless retained firm but reasonably harmonious control of their territory, and ran the kingdom of Sicily, as it was now called, efficiently. Their secret, so to speak, consisted of involving in the process of government the various races who made up the population of the south, Saracens, Italians, Greeks and Frenchmen, whilst at the same time allowing each to retain much of their individual characteristics and identity. Thus, for example, the Norman fleet was run by Greeks, and the fiscal system was based on the Arab model. Superimposed on all this was an absolutist central state based on a type of feudalism imported from Normandy, with princes of various sorts holding land and position on a grant from the king. The whole resulted in a state strong enough to prevent the type of disintegration which took place in much of the rest of Italy, and also strong enough to withstand for the best part of a century challenge from both within and without, from the papacy and the empires of the East and the West. Indeed Roger II managed during his 24-year reign to conquer Malta and parts of Libya.

Eclecticism is also evident in Norman architecture: the cathedral at Monreale, for example, overlooking Palermo in Sicily, is a unique blend of Greek, Arabic, French and Roman influences. Decline eventually came as the result of a succession crisis, King William II leaving no legitimate male heir on his death in 1189. This enabled the German emperor Henry VI to impose imperial rule on the kingdom of Sicily.

This article is based on material taken from A Traveller's History of Italy (© Valerio Lintner), published by The Windrush Press, and is by kind permission of its author Valerio Lintner.