Battle of Civitate, 18 June 1053, in which the Norman
conquerors of southern Italy, under the Count of Apulia, defeated an army twice
their strength fighting on behalf of Pope Leo IX. The Papal army consisted of
Swabian-German, Italian, and Lombard south Italian troops, led by Duke Gerard
of Lorraine and Prince Rudolf of Benevento.
Initial dispositions: (A) Camp of Papal forces; (B)
Pope Leo IX in town of Civitate; (C) Swabians in extended position on Papal
right flank; (D) Italians and Lombard cavalry and infantry under Prince Rudolf,
on Papal left flank; (E) Forces under Richard of Aversa on Norman right flank;
(F) Forces under Count of Apulia in Norman centre; (G) Forces under Robert
Guiscard, supported by ‘Slavic’ infantry, on Norman left.
Movements: (1) Normans under Richard of Aversa attack
Italians and Lombards; (2) Normans under Count of Apulia clash with Swabians on
top of small hill, and are forced back; (3) Italians and Lombards flee; (4)
Normans under Robert Guiscard come to assist Humphrey of Hauteville; (5)
Normans under Richard of Aversa strike Swabians in flank and rear, resulting in
their defeat.
The Normans began arriving in southern Italy in 1017 to
serve as mercenaries, both to protect coastal towns against Arab pirates, and
also to help local Lombard princes in their continuing attempts to over- throw
their Byzantine overlords.
Norman chroniclers put a positive spin on their arrival,
claiming they had turned up as pilgrims the previous year at the shrine at
Monte Gargano. As the story goes, during their stay the pilgrims learned of the
Lombard princes’ need for experienced soldiers.
A far more likely course of events is that Pope Benedict
VIII invited the Normans to the region to help him counter Byzantine
power.
The disparate accounts converge on one key point: the first
mercenaries to arrive met with Melo of Bari, a Lombard rebel who had led a
failed rebellion in 1009 in Apulia. Living in exile in Salerno, Melo still
hoped the Lombards would supplant the Greeks as rulers of Apulia and Calabria –
the Byzantine province known as the `Catepanate of Italy’.
Sandwiched between the vast Holy Roman Empire to the north
and the far-flung Byzantine Empire to the east was a jumble of small
Italo-Lombard states. The principalities of Salerno, Capua, and Benevento were
all ruled by relatively weak Lombard princes.
A further complication was that the seaport republics of
Amalfi, Gaeta, and Naples, once principalities that recognised the Byzantine
Emperor as suzerain, had, by the early 11th century, achieved independence
(though they retained strong commercial ties with the Byzantine Empire).
POWER VACUUM
The Normans entered a power vacuum. The Byzantine grip on
southern Italy was loosening as a result of more urgent military matters else-
where. Few Byzantine military units remained in the Catepanate at the turn of
the 11th century.
Thus, it fell to the Lombard population of southern Italy to
raise militias for their own protection. The creation of these militias fuelled
the fire in the belly of Lombard rebels seeking to throw off the Byzantine yoke
and establish self-rule. Melo was the most prominent of these firebrands.
Realising what was at stake, the Greeks mustered sufficient
military resources to crush a Norman-Lombard rebel army at Cannae in October
1018.
During the next three decades, Norman mercenaries poured
into southern Italy, where they found employment, ironically, with both the
Lombard princes and the Catapan (governor) of the Catepanate of Italy. Lombard
princes and Apulian rebels hired Norman bands to sup- port their insurrections
in Apulia; at the same time, the Catapan hired Normans to garrison Byzantine
strongholds on the Apulian border.
The Normans were Europe’s premier feudal conquerors. King of
Western Francia Charles III had signed a treaty in the early 10th century
allowing Vikings to settle in Neustria if they furnished protection against
further waves of Norsemen. The region along the English Channel north-west of
Paris eventually became known as `Normandy’, a derivation from the Old French
word for `northmen’.
Like their Norse ancestors, the Normans had good and bad
traits. On the one hand, they were confident, ambitious, and quick-witted. On
the other, they were selfish, cunning, and greedy.
They embraced the feudal system characteristic of
north-western Europe by which a vassal paid homage to his lord. They excelled
at mounted warfare, and they built castles in conquered territory to secure
their conquests.
A NEW POPE AND THREE NORMAN LORDS
A new Pope assumed control of the Holy See in 1049. His
intervention in the politics of southern Italy had a profound influence on the
course of events in the region.
Appointed Pope by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, Bishop Bruno
of Toul came from an aristocratic German family. He had military experience,
having led an army during one of Conrad II’s military campaigns in Italy. He
came to the Papacy at a time when the lower classes of the Lombard
principalities were weary of the Normans’ unrestrained plundering of the
countryside.
By the close of the 1040s, the Normans had established a secure
foothold in southern Italy. They were striving – by means of the territories
bestowed on them in return for service, and marriage into the Lombard
aristocracy – to become legitimate feudal lords in the region.
Norman power was centred in three areas, each controlled by
a gifted mercenary captain.
One was Richard Drengot. He had arrived in the region in
1046 with 40 mounted men. Richard was a nephew of Count Rainulf of Aversa, who
had emerged as the first great captain of the Norman immigration. Prince
Sergius of Naples had bestowed the Aversa fief on Rainulf in 1030 for services
rendered. Appointed regent for Rainult’s infant son on the count’s death in
1048, Richard took over the fief on the infant’s mysterious death the following
year.
Another leading Norman was Drogo de Hauteville, the second
son of minor Norman baron Tancred de Hauteville. Three of Tancred’s sons by his
first wife – William, Drogo, and Humphrey – had arrived in southern Italy in
1035 seeking their fortunes.
After his eldest brother William died in 1046, Drogo
succeeded him as commander of a Norman band based at the Apennine stronghold of
Melfi on the Apulian border. Emperor Henry III bestowed on Drogo the title of
`Duke and Master of all Italy and Count of all the Normans of Apulia and
Calabria’ in 1047. These areas were still controlled by the Greeks, so Drogo or
his heirs would have to conquer them first.
The third Norman commander was Robert de Hauteville. He was
the eldest of Tancred de Hauteville’s seven sons by his second wife. Robert
arrived in the region in 1035. He eventually became known as Robert `Guiscard’,
his surname being a derivation of the Old French word viscart, meaning
`cunning’ or `resourceful’.
In 1049, Drogo appointed Robert to command a Norman band
based in Calabria, a much poorer region than Apulia. Robert subsequently
established his base at San Marco Argentano.
A PAPAL OFFENSIVE
Following his selection by a great council held at Worms in
1048, Pope Leo IX was consecrated in Rome in January 1049. Later that year, he undertook
a tour of southern Italy to assess the political situation first-hand.
The red-haired Alsatian, who looked as much soldier as
future saint, heard nothing but bad things about the Normans from the local
peoples of southern Italy. The new Pope was deeply disturbed by the Normans’
fondness for using strong-arm tactics against innocent people.
As routine practice, the Normans stole food and plough
teams. They also destroyed vines and olive trees as a way of punishing those
who resisted them. Leo travelled to Germany in the winter of 1050 to discuss
with Emperor Henry III the possibility of war to exorcise the pest.
On his return, in early 1051, Leo visited the Principality
of Benevento, which had tradition- ally been a papal fief, to meet Drogo. The
Norman leader promised the Pope he would exercise greater control over his
troops.
Drogo had little time to act on his promise, however,
because he was assassinated by a Lombard on 10 August 1051. The Melfi-based
Normans would eventually appoint Humphrey de Hauteville to lead them.
Leo, meantime, decided that he had no choice but to take up
arms against the Normans in an effort to protect the people of Benevento. The
Pope appealed to Henry III, but the Emperor declined to send troops. Leo then appealed
to the princes and barons of southern Italy. He also received an offer of
support from Argyrus, the Lombard Catapan of the Catepanate.
In the winter of 1052, Leo returned once more to Germany to
request troops from Henry III. This time, Henry obliged, and an army began
marching south. But one of the Emperor’s key advisers – a rival of the Pope’s,
the Bavarian Bishop Gebhard of Eichstatt – persuaded him to recall the army
before it had crossed the Alps.
Leo then appealed to his chancellor, Frederick of Lorraine,
to ask his brother, Duke Gerard of Lorraine, to furnish troops. Frederick
succeeded, and Gerard ordered 700 Swabian infantry to march to Rome. The Pope also received troops from Apulia,
Gaeta, Campania, and half a dozen other pro-papal regions in Italy.
Although some sources place the total strength of the papal
army as high as 6,000 men, it may have been only 4,000. Nonetheless, it
represented a wide anti-Norman alliance of various southern Italian states. The
coming battle would pit the Normans against the rest.
THE CIVITATE CAMPAIGN
The papal army assembled at Benevento the first week of June
1053. From there, it marched into northern Apulia via the Biferno Valley.
Argyrus had proposed that it rendezvous with the smaller Byzantine army at
Siponto near Monte Gargano.
To the Normans, it seemed that all of southern Italy was
against them. In the face of such a massive threat, they temporarily put aside
their internal differences and united to meet
the common threat. Humphrey de Hauteville saw the need to move quickly
to prevent a union of papal and Greek armies. He sent word to Richard of Aversa
and Robert Guiscard to join him at the Norman stronghold of Troia.
Approximately 3,000 Normans and 500 Lombard militia gathered at the town, and
Humphrey led them north in search of Leo
IX’s army.
The Normans took up a blocking position south of the Fortore
River to await the arrival of the enemy host. The papal army crossed the river
on 17 June and bivouacked on the south bank under the walls of Civitate. The
Normans had misgivings about fighting soldiers in the service of the Pope, and
they therefore sent envoys to ask Leo to enter into peace negotiations with
them. Not only was the proposal rejected, but the Swabians surrounded the
envoys and shouted insults at them.
Word soon spread through the Norman ranks that the Germans
had mocked them. This enraged them, and
they vowed revenge. Because his army had no supplies and was in hostile
country, Humphrey decided to attack the following day.
DEPLOYING FOR BATTLE
On the morning of 18 June, Duke Humphrey and his subordinates
reconnoitred the papal deployment from a 50m-high hill that was the only high
ground on the plain where the battle would be fought. While the reconnaissance
was in progress, the Norman horsemen readied their mounts and took up their
weapons.
Each of the army’s three divisions or `battles’ was nearly
equal in size at approximately 1,000 cavalry. All of the Normans were superb
warriors, as they were constantly in the saddle conducting small-scale
operations against brig- ands or carrying out mercenary assignments for their
Lombard or Greek employers.
Humphrey intended to fight in the centre. He instructed
Count Richard to deploy his men on the right, and he told his half-brother,
Robert, to deploy his men on the left, a short distance behind the main line.
Humphrey told Robert that his division was to serve as the reserve. The 500-foot
soldiers with the army were ordered to guard the Norman camp.
Leo IX watched the deployment of his army from the safety of
the walls of Civitate. The papal army was divided into two wings. Rudolf, the
captain of the Swabians, led the right wing, which included his troops, as well
as other papal troops. Commanding the left wing, which was composed entirely of
papal troops, were several Abruzzian counts: Trasmund III and Atto of Chieti,
and Oderisius II of Sangro. Their experience was limited, and this was
demonstrated by their inability to deploy their companies into a cohesive line
of battle.
THE NORMAN ATTACK
Richard’s mounted knights were the first to advance. `The
Italians stood all crowded together on the other side because they neglected to
draw up a battle line in the proper manner,’ wrote Norman chronicler William of
Apulia.
The Norman cavalry easily penetrated the enemy’s left wing.
The majority of the Italic-Lombard troops fled immediately. The Norman cavalry
swirled around the few pockets that stood their ground. Those brave men were
slaughtered.
Richard’s horsemen then chased the fleeing remnants of the
papal left wing off the battlefield. This took Richard’s division out of the
fight. Whether it would return quickly, or at all, before the battle was over
was uncertain.
Next, Humphrey’s cavalry charged the Swabians, but these
veteran soldiers stood their ground. The Swabians fought with round shields and
long swords. Some of them cast aside their shields to wield their swords with
both hands.
The Swabians repulsed several charges by Humphrey’s
division. Each time the Normans regrouped and charged again; some threw javelins,
while others charged with couched lance.
Once they had lost their lance, the Normans resorted to
their swords. The fighting took on a gruesome character as the casualties
mounted. `You could see human bodies split down the middle and horse and man lying
dead together,’ wrote William of Apulia.
After the third or fourth charge, Robert Guiscard led his
troops into battle to reinforce his half-brother Humphrey. Robert’s men easily
shattered the less-experienced papal troops of the right wing, leaving the
Swabians to fight alone against the combined weight of two Norman divisions.
Robert’s cavalry then wheeled and attacked the Swabians’
exposed right flank. In response, the Swabians formed a tightly packed square.
They continued to beat back the Normans’ desperate mounted attacks.
VICTORY
Fortunately for the Hauteville brothers, Richard returned to
the main battle with the bulk of his horsemen. His cavalry attacked the
Swabians from behind. The two other divisions renewed their assaults in concert
with Richard’s fresh attack.
Assailed from all sides, the Swabians could not withstand
the numbers arrayed against them. When gaps opened in their ranks, the Normans
rode among the Swabians, hacking and stabbing. With no place to retreat and no
desire to surrender, the Swabians fought to the death.
Pope Leo IX watched the disaster unfold beneath his eyes
from his perch inside Civitate. The Normans lost 500 cavalry and the papal army
1,500 men. After the battle, the townspeople turned the Pope over to the
victorious Normans.
The Normans transferred the captive pontiff to Benevento,
where he was kept under close guard for the next nine months. After he agreed
to recognise their hereditary claims and accepted them as papal vassals, Leo
was freed on 12 March 1054. Although he had been treated well in captivity, he
died on 19 April.
The Norman lords continued slowly reducing the Catepanate of
Italy well into the 1060s. When Humphrey died in 1057, Robert succeeded him as
Duke of Apulia and Calabria. Pope Nicholas II confirmed Robert’s hereditary
title and claim to these territories at the Council of Melfi two years later.
Robert, together with his younger brother Roger, spent the
last part of his career in the subjugation of both Sicily and the Catepanate of
Italy. Roger II, Roger I’s son, consolidated their territorial gains in the
former into the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130.
The Normans had come to southern Italy seeking pay, booty, and land. Many were younger sons without an inheritance for whom the profession of arms was the only way to secure wealth and rank. Such was their prowess, and such eventually their numbers, that they became more powerful than their former employers. And when the minor states of southern Italy combined to overthrow them, it was the Normans who triumphed at Civitate, establishing their supremacy in the region, and creating a launch pad for the conquest of Sicily.
Medieval Warfare I.4
Theme: Mercenaries and mighty warlords – The Normans in the Mediterranean
- Historical introduction – Sidney Dean, ‘The d’Hauteville brothers in Italy’.
- The Source – Martijn Cissen, ‘Bohemond I of Antioch in the Alexiad’.
- Theme – Will Stroock, ‘How to fight and win like a Norman’.
- Theme – Nils Visser, ‘The use of Saracen mercenaries in Norman South Italy’.
- Theme – Matthew Bennett, ‘Norman naval activities in the Mediterranean’.
- Theme – Filippo Donvito, ‘The Battle of Civitate, 1053’.
- Theme/The Siege – Vassilis Pergalias, ‘The Siege of Bari, 1068 – 1071’.
Features:
- The Weapon – Peter Vemming, ‘Incendiary arrows in Bengedan’s Warbook’.
- Special – Brian Burfield, ‘Treatment of wounds in the Middle Ages’.
- The Battle – Jean-Claude Brunner, ‘Charles the Bold’s English Archers at the battle of Morat, 1476’.
- Weapon Handling – Murray Dahm, ‘Hans Talhoffer’s instruction manual on weapon handling’.
