Everything about Catepanate Of Italy totally explained
The
Catepanate (or
Catapanate)
of Italy (
Greek: κατεπανίκιον Ἰταλίας) was a province of the
Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from
Monte Gargano to the
Gulf of Salerno.
Amalfi and
Naples, although north of that line, maintained allegiance to
Constantinople through the catepan.
History
In
876, the
Byzantines retook
Bari from the
Saracens. They established the
theme of
Langobardia Minor by means of officers entitled first
strategoi: one in
Calabria and one in
Apulia. The latter had its capital at Bari. In
999, the
stratēgos of Bari was raised to the title of
Catapan, or
Patrician, of Italy. The title of
katepanō meant "the uppermost" in the
Greek language.
Some
Norman adventurers, on pilgrimage to
Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, lent their swords in
1017 to the
Lombard cities of
Apulia against the Byzantines. From
1016 to
1030 the Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Byzantines or Lombards, and then
Sergius IV of Naples, by installing the leader
Ranulf Drengot in the fortress of Aversa in 1030, gave them their first pied-à-terre and they began an organized conquest of the land. In 1030 there arrived William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of
Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of
Coutances in
Normandy. The two joined in the organized attempt to wrest Apulia from the Byzantines, who by
1040 had lost most of that province. Bari was reduced (April 1071) and the Byzantines finally ousted from southern Italy. They returned briefly to besiege Bari in
1156.
The title
Catapan of Apulia and Campania was revived briefly in
1166 for
Gilbert, Count of Gravina, the cousin of the queen regent
Margaret of Navarre. In
1167, with his authority as catapan, Gilbert forced German troops out of the
Campania and compelled
Frederick Barbarossa to raise the siege of
Ancona.
Catepans
Sources
Gay, Jules. L'Italie méridionale et l'empire Byzantin. Burt Franklin: New York, 1904.
Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.Further Information
Get more info on 'Catepanate Of Italy'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://catepanate_of_italy.totallyexplained.com">Catepanate of Italy Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
