Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Naples, which was the capital of the Duchy of Naples since the 7th century, surrendered to Roger II of Sicily in 1137, and was annexed to the Kingdom of Sicily. [6] The Normans were the first to bring political unity to southern Italy in the centuries after the failure of the Byzantine effort to reconquer Italy.
Robert Guiscard (/ ɡ iː ˈ s k ɑːr / ghee-SKAR, [1] Modern French: [ʁɔbɛʁ ɡiskaʁ]; c. 1015 – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.
In this period Naples had a population of 30,000 and was sustained by its holdings in the interior; commerce was mainly delegated to foreigners, mainly from Pisa and Genoa. Apart from the church of San Giovanni a Mare, Norman buildings in Naples were mainly lay ones, notably castles (Castel Capuano and Castel dell'Ovo), walls and fortified gates.
After the Norman conquest, many Muslims decided to leave Sicily and to go into exile like the famous poets like Abu Al Hasan Al Balnubi and Ibn Hamdis who also wrote poetry regarding their exile. Nevertheless, some Muslims remained in the island, but they lived confined in an inner territory of western Sicily, in the area ranging from Palermo ...
The Normans' initial military involvement in southern Italy was on the side of the Lombards against the Byzantines. Eventually, some Normans, including the powerful de Hauteville brothers, served in the army of George Maniakes during the attempted Byzantine reconquest of Sicily, only to turn against their employers when the emirs proved difficult to conquer.
The county was founded by the Normans after their conquest of Apulia in the 1050s. Several Norman monarchs held their court at Lecce, and Tancred of Hauteville, who was Count of Lecce from 1149 to 1194, was born here.
The Hauteville family (Italian: Altavilla, Sicilian: Autaviḍḍa) was a Norman family, originally of petty lords, from the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. [7] The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. In 1130, Roger II of Hauteville, was made the first King of Sicily. His male-line ...