Approximate territorial extent of the Catapanate of Italy during the early 11th century. Modern city names (in Italian, except from Napoli) are provided alongside the medieval Greek names.
Following the fall of theExarchate of Ravennain 751, Byzantium had been absent from the affairs of southern Italy for almost a century, but the accession ofBasil I(reigned 867–886) to the throne ofConstantinoplechanged this: from 868 on, theimperial fleetand Byzantine diplomats were employed in an effort to secure theAdriatic SeafromSaracenraids, re-establish Byzantine dominance overDalmatia,and extend Byzantine control once more over parts of Italy.[1]As a result of these efforts,Otrantowas taken from the Saracens in 873, andBari, captured from Arabsby the Holy Roman EmperorLouis IIin 871, passed under Byzantine control in 876.[2]The expeditions of the capable generalNikephoros Phokas the Elderin the mid-880s further extended Byzantine control over most ofApuliaandCalabria.[3]These victories were followed up by his successors and laid the foundation of a resurgence of Byzantine power in southern Italy, culminating in the establishment of thethemeofLongobardiain c. 892. The regions of Apulia, Calabria andBasilicatawould remain firmly under Byzantine control until the 11th century.[4]In c. 965, a new theme ofLucaniawas established, and thestratēgos(military governor) of Bari was raised to the title ofkatepanōof Italy, usually with the rank ofpatrikios.The title ofkatepanōmeant "the uppermost" inGreek.This elevation was deemed militarily necessary after the final loss of nearbySicily,a previously Byzantine possession, to the Arabs.
SomeNormanadventurers, on pilgrimage toMonte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano,lent their swords in 1017 to theLombardcities ofApuliaagainst the Byzantines. From 1016 to 1030 the Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Byzantine or Lombard, and then DukeSergius IV of Naples,by installing their leaderRanulf Drengotin the fortress ofAversain 1030. This gave the Normans their first foothold in southern Italy from which they began an organized conquest of the land. In 1030, William and Drogo, the two eldest sons ofTancred of Hauteville,a noble ofCoutancesinNormandyarrived in southern Italy. The two joined in the organized attempt to wrest Apulia from the Byzantines, who had lost most of that province by 1040. Bariwas capturedby theNormansin April 1071, and Byzantine authority wasfinally terminated in Italy,five centuries after theconquestsofJustinian I.In 1154-1156, through a plan hatched by EmperorManuel I Komnenos,the Byzantines returned briefly to besiege Bari and were moderately successful in inciting a mass revolt which nearly toppled Norman control (potentially handing much of the former Katepanate back to the Byzantine Empire), but the gains were "reversed by misfortune".[5][6]
Loud, G.A. (2006). "Southern Italy in the tenth century". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.).The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III c. 900–c. 1204.Cambridge University Press. pp. 624–645.ISBN978-0-521-36447-8.
