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The conquest of southern Italy and Sicily

1060 - Robert and Roger de Hauteville drive the Byzantines out of Calabria by seizing Reggio.
1061 – Roger, the youngest of the Hautevilles, becomes Roger I of Sicily, and embarks on a long conquest of Sicily in the name of the pope. The Norman troops captured Messina and penetrated into the interior of the island as far as Agrigento, guided by the emirs Ibn ath-Thumma and Ibn al-Hawwas. Roger set up his headquarters in Troina.
1062/1063 - Considered a traitor, Ibn ath-Thumma is assassinated by Muslims, then the Greeks of Troina revolt. The Muslims gathered their forces at Cerami, near Troina (Sicily) and despite an unfavourable balance of forces, Roger was victorious.
1063 - Richard of Aversa seizes the Duchy of Gaeta, he becomes the official protector of the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.
1064 – This period marks the return of Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, to the Sicilian theatre. The two brothers besieged Palermo, the island's Arab capital, and it failed.
1068 - Roger, left alone, wins another battle against the Muslim coalition at Misilmeri (near Palermo).
1071 - Roger leaves Sicily to take part in the final phase of the siege of Bari on the mainland.
On 16 April, Bari fell, the two brothers immediately returned to Sicily and besieged Palermo.
1072 – On January 10, after a ten-month siege, the Palermitans surrendered. Immediately, the city's Great Mosque was transformed into a church and became a cathedral.
1076 - Robert continues his conquests on the mainland with Richard of Capua they seize the principality of Salerno.
1077 – They capture Naples and Benevento, continue their advance north into Abruzzo, and move closer to Rome, already encroaching on papal territory. Pope Gregory VII, elected in 1073, considered the use of force but renounced it as he needed the Normans to defend himself against Emperor Henry IV. The "investiture" quarrel reached its climax with the famous episode of Canossa.
1078 - The Normans conquered all of southern Italy and Sicily.

Nineteenth-century illustration of Roger and his brother Guiscard

Robert now looks to the Byzantine Empire, his old adversary. He learned a great deal from himself, especially from warfare at sea, enabling him to succeed in remarkable combined land-sea operations. He dreamed of leading an expedition to Constantinople. Taking advantage of the recurrent weaknesses of the empire, due to the advance of the Turks in Anatolia, palace quarrels and succession crises, he assembled a fleet composed largely of Calabrian sailors, knowing that the emperor's land armies could not resist the Norman cavalry.
1081 – In May, Robert and his troops landed in Illyricum.

1082 - Robert takes Durazzo (Durrës in Albania) and breaks off his operations in Byzantine territory.

The "Investiture Controversy" led to a clash between spiritual power, embodied by the pope, and temporal power, embodied by Emperor Henry IV. The cornered pope had no choice but to appeal to the Normans.After putting down a revolt by his barons, Robert headed for Rome. The fighting took place in the city itself, which was partly burned. Using brutal methods, the Normans managed to defeat the German garrison and expel them from the city, then freed Pope Gregory VII.
1084 - Robert returns to the war against the Byzantine Empire, seconded by his son Bohemond, who in his absence has twice defeated Emperor Alexios in Macedonia and Greece.
1085 - The Venetian fleet, Alexios' ally, is defeated and destroyed off Corfu. Robert can't capitalize on this success.
On 17 July, he was killed on the island of Kefalonia. His heir, Bohémond, did not have the stature to take over his adventurous projects.

Engraving of Bohemond of Taranto

1091 - The capture of Val di Noto by Roger completes the conquest of Sicily, which had been under Muslim rule for almost two centuries, and re-established a Christian dynasty.
1101 – On 24 June, Roger dies in Moleto, succeeded by his son Simon of Sicily, a minor, the regency is assumed by his mother Adelaide.
Norman Sicily was then populated by a large majority of Muslims and a Greek minority who did not recognize the authority of the Pope of Rome, it was loyal to the Byzantine emperor and did not consider the Normans as liberators. The Normans respected, however, the different religions of the island, the Muslims were not persecuted, Robert and Roger were content with symbolic gestures from time to time.
1105 – Simon of Sicily dies, Roger II succeeds him.
1111 – Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia dies, succeeded by his son William II.
1118 – The Normans of Sicily launch an expedition against Gabes (Tunisia).
1123 – New expedition of the Normans of Sicily against Mahdiyya (Tunisia).
1127 - Death of William of Apulia. The Norman principality experienced relative political disorganization in the absence of a direct heir.
1128 - Roger de Hauteville, second son of Roger I, takes the principality by force, but for the sake of legitimacy, he convenes an assembly of secular and ecclesiastical princes who recognize his power.

1130 – On December 25, Roger II is crowned in Palermo by Antipope Anacletus II, whom he supports, and is crowned Prince of Salerno and then Grand Duke of Apulia.
This support for the antipope made Roger II one of the enemies of Pope Innocent II, who appealed to Emperor Lothair III. This conflict with the papacy marked much of his reign. A few days after his coronation, a general revolt of the Norman barons who supported Pope Innocent II broke out on the continent. He was defeated by Robert II of Capua and Rainolf of Alife.
1135 - Roger II and Anacletus II are excommunicated. The following year, Bari surrendered to Lothair III and Salerno was taken.
1139 - Things have changed, Innocent II is captured on the banks of the Garigliano.
On 27 July, by a "bull", he definitively recognized Roger II.
1154 – Roger II dies in his capital Palermo.
By the end of the eleventh century, the Hauteville brothers and their descendants were well established in southern Italy and Sicily, occupying key positions, despite numerous protests and revolts by other Norman barons. The power of the Hautevilles declined after the twelfth century. The last legitimate, King William II of Sicily, died in 1189 without a male heir.

Roger crowned king by Christ (church of Martorana in Palermo)

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