In 1081, while the Byzantine Empire was mired in a succession crisis, Robert Guiscard, Norman Duke of Apulia-Calabria, sought to take advantage and launched his conquest. To maintain appearances, he did not undertake it in his own name but in that of Michael VII Doukas, the deposed emperor—only that the latter had retired to a […]
Normans
Posted inMiddle Ages
Bohemond of Taranto, the Sinister Norman Who Conquered Antioch and Hated the Byzantine Empire
There are quite a few literary and cinematic works about the First Crusade, and in most of them, beginning with the anonymous Gesta Francorum or Torquato Tasso’s famous epic poem The liberated Jerusalem (La Gerusalemme liberata), we find a curious figure who was one of its main leaders, the Norman Bohemond of Taranto. He was […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, the Medieval Welsh Princess who Led an Army against Norman Invaders
While there is no shortage of examples – some very famous – generally, women have not been prominent in military history because, traditionally, the profession of arms has been exercised by men. This is why cases in which women have led battles or led armies often attract attention. One of the most significant, yet less […]
