The Normans by Lars Brownworth

Author:Lars Brownworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Normans, Normandy, Vikings, Hastings, Hauteville, Siciliy, Roger II
Publisher: Crux Publishing Ltd
Published: 2014-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Dextera Domini

When Guiscard died, the Norman conquest of Sicily had been left unfinished. His lands in southern Italy convulsed in the usual power struggle between his sons, and it seemed for a moment as if the remarkable Norman advance had at last ended. No obvious leader of Robert's caliber rose to take his title, and the Sicilian campaign – the most important of the southern Norman fronts – devolved onto the shoulders of Guiscard's youngest brother.

Roger de Hauteville was an unlikely conqueror. The twelfth son of old Tancred, he was sixteen years younger than his famous sibling. He had always been a bit different from his brothers, less physically imposing but more thoughtful, displaying a rare talent among the Hautevilles for keeping his temper in check.

Not much is known about his early life other than the fact that he spent it on the family estate in Normandy. He probably had the same education as his siblings, spending his formative years apprenticed to a wealthier knight. By the time he was twenty-four, all but one of his brothers had left to seek their fortunes in the south. Roger might have been content to stay in the now empty family home had it not been for a chance meeting with the beautiful Judith d’Evreux. Despite a huge gulf in social status – she was related to William the Conqueror – they fell in love, and before long Roger announced his intention to marry her. Unfortunately he had neither land nor wealth, and Judith’s father wasn’t amused by the thought of some lowly knight stealing his daughter away. If Roger wanted her hand he would have to find a suitable dowry, so he left for Italy to find fame and fortune.

It so happened that Roger’s brother Guiscard was busy trying to subdue Calabria and was glad to make use of his skills. The two made daring raids along the coast and within five years had subdued the region. The experience seems to have given Roger a taste for more and he suggested a richer target. Just across the narrow straits of Messina, less than two miles from the Italian seacoast was the Arab-controlled island of Sicily, now fortuitously in complete disarray.

The Arabs had first arrived in Sicily in the mid-ninth century from North Africa and spent the next hundred years wresting the island away from the Byzantines. They had finally conquered the last imperial outpost in 965 and settled down to enjoy the fruits of their labour. For a century Sicily was a relatively peaceful part of the North African Muslim Empire controlled by the city of Mahdia on the present-day Tunisian coast. But Mahdia was involved in the power struggles of the Islamic world; war with Cairo abroad and civil wars at home weakened its control over the island. As communications broke down, ethnic tensions in Sicily rose. The first Arab arrivals were resentful of the Berbers who crossed over from Mahdia in increasing numbers, and both groups distrusted the native Greeks.

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