A Bloody Fight On Land And Sea Between An Emperor And
An Adventurer
The Norman Invasion
Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Constantinople(r.
1081-1118 CE from his seat of power in modern-day Istanbul) had the misfortune
of his country being invaded by one of the Medieval Age’s greatest
opportunists—Robert Guiscard. Norman warriors and mercenaries, like Guiscard,
had found that there were plentiful lucrative opportunities among the warring
counts and dukes of Italy. Guiscard became the Duke of Apulia (the heel of
Itay) in 1059, and from there he expanded his influence into Calabria, Naples
and Sicily. While he increased his own power, Guiscard was also undermining the
authority of the emperors of Constantinople in southern Italy.
(Medieval illustration of Emperor Alexios Komnenos (r. 1081-1118),
[Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
(Portrait of Robert Guiscard by Merry-Joseph Blondel (1781–1853),
[Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
Landfall
In May of 1081, Guiscard used a formidable navy
to ferry a large army to the modern coastland of Albania, which was a part of
Alexios’ empire. By June, the Normans had laid siege to the major port fortress
of Dyrrakhion (modern Dürreš), which can also be spelled Dyrrachium or
Dyyrachion. The fortress was built on superb terrain—it was located on a
peninsula, with the Adriatic Sea to the west and south, a marsh to the north,
and a lagoon to the east. While the impressive fortifications and garrison of
Dyrrakhion, led by George Palaiologos, withstood the Norman siege, Emperor Alexios
set to work on gathering an army and sending requests for aid to his allies and
friends, including the Republic of Venice and the Holy Roman Empire of Germany.
(Location of Dyrrakhion (modern-day Dürreš), courtesy of Google Maps)
Robert Guiscard was about to
attack Dyrrakhion simultaneously from land and sea when the powerful Venetian
navy arrived. When they saw the size of Robert’s military, the Venetian ships
took up a defensive position and waited to see if the Norman navy would attack.
Indeed, Robert sent his navy and his son, Bohemond, to drive off the Venetians.
(Image of a Venetian galley, from Konrad von Grünenberg (1442-1494), [Public
Domain] via Creative Commons)
The Norman ships that survived the disastrous charge against the Venetian fleet fled back toward the camp of Robert’s army. The Venetian sailors cut the lines holding their ships together and pursued Bohemond and the other fleeing Normans. In the fortress of Dyrrakhion, the garrison was encouraged by the Venetian victory. They charged out of the fortress and struck at Robert’s camp. Anna Komnene claimed that some Venetians also rowed to shore and struck at Robert’s army alongside the garrison. The Normans eventually reorganized and started fighting back, but the ships of the Norman fleet were either sunk or had to be hauled from the water and beached. Robert’s camped troops had also taken a heavy beating. Even worse, enemy ships now blockaded the Norman camp, cutting them off from any supplies shipped from Italy.
Robert Guiscard’s army quickly
ate through its rations, and the scarce food that could be foraged from the
land could not keep the Norman troops strong and healthy. Anna Komnene would
also have us believe that the locals who lived around Dyrrakhion happily
harassed and sabotaged the Normans whenever Robert’s warriors went out to
scavenge for food. There was nothing that Guiscard could do to keep his troops
from growing hungry and weak from malnutrition. In their weakened state,
disease also set in and ravaged the Norman camp. Furthermore, while the Normans
were facing starvation and disease, Emperor Alexios was steadily gathering an
army of imperial and mercenary troops. To put it plainly, Robert Guiscard was
in a dire situation.
Siege
Despite the loss of his navy, the absence of
food and the persistence of pestilence in his ranks, Robert Guiscard did not
lose faith. He began building siege engines, the most intimidating of which was
a siege tower—a mobile armored staircase or ladder that allowed infantry to
pour onto enemy walls via a bridge or door at the top of the tower.
(Siege tower used in a siege of Lisbon, painted by Alfredo Roque
Gameiro (1864–1935), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
When George Palaiologos,
commanding the defense of Dyrrakhion, saw the siege engines being built and
arrayed near the walls of his fortress, he decided to chance a preemptive
strike against the sick and hungry Normans. Palaiologos gathered up his
garrison and charged out of the gates. His attack, however, was just as futile
as Bohemond’s charge against the Venetians.
Though diseased and starving,
the Norman soldiers proved their worth and held their ground against the sudden
attack. A Norman archer even shot George Palaiologos in the side his head—Palaiologos,
however, was a hardy, herculean man and miraculously survived. In her Alexiad, Anna Komnene wrote that after
being shot in the head, George Palaiologos could not remove the arrow from his
skull, so he simply broke off the shaft and jumped back into the fight after
some quick bandaging. Nevertheless, the attack did little to halt Robert
Guiscard’s siege.
George Palaiologos’ next plan
was to let the Normans attack the fortress. Though it may seem a horrible idea,
the defenders of Dyrrakhion let the Norman siege tower approach the defensive
walls. As soon as the tower was in place, however, Palaiologos enacted a
brilliant, simple plan—he jammed the tower’s drawbridge or door with a sturdy
wooden beam. When it was time for the Normans to charge from their siege tower
to the walls of Dyrrakhion, they found they could not exit the tower, no matter
how hard they pushed. The siege engine was rendered useless. With the Norman
attack foiled, the defenders were able to burn down the siege tower.
Despite the shortage of food,
the outbreak of disease, the blockade and the loss of his siege tower, Robert
Guiscard continued to cling to faith in his siege of Dyrrakhion. He immediately
ordered his troops to begin construction of another siege tower. The tower,
however, was not completed, for Emperor Alexios arrived with an army to relieve
the besieged fortress.
The Balance of Battle
Emperor Alexios parked his
army on strong footing. Up ahead and to the left of Alexios’ army was the
Adriatic Sea, the marshlands and the peninsula on which the fortress of
Dyrrakhion was built. In the other direction, Mountainous terrain guarded
Alexios’ right side. To top it off, the army of Constantinople was camped on a
slope, and Emperor Alexios had the high ground. Historian, John Haldon, estimated
that Alexios probably had gathered around 18,000-20,000 troops for the battle.
No satisfyingly-accurate estimate of Robert Guiscard’s force has been found,
but he is believed to have had the larger army. Anna Komnene estimated that
Guiscard had 30,000 men.
Information is scant as to
where exactly the Normans positioned their original camp. They had access to
the sea and they were adjacent to the swamp, so Robert likely set up camp on
the peninsula beside the fortress of Dyrrakhion, where the marshlands turned
into a lagoon. With Emperor Alexios’ arrival, the Normans were caught between
Dyrrakhion and the fresh imperial army, with only the lagoon as a divide.
Despite the Norman siege,
Alexios managed to contact Dyrrakhion. He requested that George Palaiologos
come to his camp to discuss strategy. Palaiologos, still recovering from being
shot with an arrow to the head, succeeded (by ship or by sneaking past the
Normans) in reaching Alexios’ military camp. Once the war council was convened,
the military leaders of Constantinople found their ranks split over whether to plan
offensively or defensively. Commanders such as George Palaiologos argued that
they should remain defensive, letting hunger and disease continue to weaken and
thin the ranks of the Norman army. The other half, however, argued that now was
the time to inflict a decisive strike to shatter Robert Guiscard’s force once
and for all. Emperor Alexios was swayed by the leaders who wanted to attack and
began to plan his next move.
Emperor Alexios envisioned a
three-pronged, simultaneous attack on the Norman camp. One prong was to be the
garrison of Dyrrakhion, which would pour out of the fortress to attack the
enemy camp, when signaled. For the second prong, Alexios split off a section of
his allied and mercenary troops and sent them into the marshes to attack the
Norman camp from a different angle. The last prong was Alexios’ main force,
which would advance forward against Robert Guiscard when it was time for
battle. If the three prongs were positioned correctly, and they attacked on
time, the Norman camp would be surrounded, pinned in by troops from the
garrison, the marsh and from Alexios’ position on the high ground. As night was
closing in, messengers were rushing to Dyrrakhion to inform the fortress of the
battle plan, and imperial allies and mercenaries were sneaking their way into
the marshes for the next day’s attack.
When morning came, the
garrison of Dyrrakhion, and the troops hidden in the marsh, both charged at the
Norman camp. They easily broke their way into the compound and secured the area.
Yet it was a hollow victory—there were no Normans among the tents and bedrolls.
No, as it happened, Robert
Guiscard did not like his army being caught between the fortress of Dyrrakhion
and the army of Alexios, with only a lagoon separating his camp from the newly
arrived force. Therefore, he moved his men right across the lagoon during the
night—Anna Komnene claimed he did it by bridge—and positioned himself to the
side of Alexios’s army. In his new position, Robert’s forces had their back to
the Adriatic Sea, with Alexios’ camp in front of his line, and the garrison of
Dyrrakhion behind him, hampered by the lagoon his army had crossed during the
night.
(The invitation of the Varangians, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926),
[Public Domain] via Creative Commons, edited)
Robert Guiscard started the
battle by sending a force of cavalry to parade in front of the emperor’s men in
an attempt to lure troops (especially the Varangians) out of position and
disorganize Alexios’ lines. The move failed, and the Norman horsemen were
driven away by the emperor’s archers.
Next, the Norman right
wing—probably without Robert’s orders—charged where Alexios’ center and left
wing met. The powerful Varangian Guard took the brunt of the charge, but held
their ground. As the Normans were occupied with the Varangians, the emperor’s
left wing struck the Normans from the side, causing Robert Guiscard’s right
wing to panic and flee. The emperor’s left wing pursued the broken Normans all
the way to the sea, where many of Robert Guiscard’s men drowned in the salty
water. Driven by bloodlust, the Varangian Guard could not help themselves but
to aid in chasing down the fleeing Normans, slaying any enemy who was not fleet
of foot. All was looking hopeful for Emperor Alexios, for his army was intact
while his opponent was down a wing.
(Norman cavalry attacking infantry in the Bayeux Tapestry (commissioned
in 1070s), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
(Norman Heavy Cavalry in the Bayeux Tapestry (commissioned in 1070s),
[Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
The state of Emperor Alexios’
army deteriorated from dishevelment, to disarray, and finally to hopeless
chaos. By now, soldiers on both sides of the war knew the Normans had won the
battle. As a result, the forces of Constantinople scattered, fleeing for their
lives. Emperor Alexios, himself, barely escaped the chaos. If there was truth
to the account that Alexios gave to his daughter, Anna Komnene, which she later
recorded in her Alexiad, the emperor
only escaped the battle of Dyrrakhion after an elaborate horse chase. The
emperor’s daughter claimed Alexios fought off several Norman horseman with his
sword, in a scene reminiscent of a car-chase from an action film.
The battle near Dyrrakhion
was massive, and consequently had an equally-scaled casualty count. The
Princeton University historian of the Byzantine Empire, John Haldon, estimates
that around 25% (approximately 5,000 men) of Alexios’s army did not escape the
Norman encirclement. There are very few statistics on Norman casualties from
the battle of Dyrrakhion, but they were likely substantial, at least from the
right wing that was pushed back into the sea.
After the battle, Dyrrakhion
surrendered to the Normans. Alexios retreated to Akhris, where he immediately
began gathering funds (from his family’s treasures), regathering his scattered
forces, and reaching out to his allies for aid. The Germans of the Holy Roman
Empire answered Alexios’ prayers and invaded Italy, causing Robert Guiscard to head
home to defend his Italian holdings. The Norman conquest of the Byzantine
Empire then fell to Robert’s son, Bohemond. He, however, proved much less
capable than his father in fighting Emperor Alexios, and the Normans quickly
lost their momentum after Robert Guiscard returned to Italy.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
- The Alexiad by Anna Komnene, translated by E. R. A. Sewter and edited by Peter Frankopan. New York: Penguin Books, 2009.
- The Byzantine Wars by John Haldon. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2008.
Are there any sources and books about the personality of the leader Robert Guiscard ?
ReplyDeleteI need every book and every piece of information about Robert Guiscard, please
"The Alexiad," by Anna Komnene, details Robert's exploits in the Byzantine Empire and gives physical descriptions of the man, as well as his temperament. You can also try "The Deeds of Robert Guiscard" by the Norman chronicler,William of Apulia. These are the two main primary sources that I can think of at the moment.
DeleteWarfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
ReplyDeleteYour article is very well done, a good read.