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two Sicilies



Sinclair,
You wrote:
Niven often speaks of Sinclair guarding the
approaches to great cities and productive areas. In the Norman Kingdom of
the two Scillys the King is quoted by a Muslim historian say of Sinclair
"These are my immortals, they are feared at the very gates of Hell"

Dictionary says: "Two Sicilies  a former kingdom including Naples (with
lower Italy) and Sicily; united with the kingdom of Italy in 1861"
Oh, just came across another interesting definition in "Medieval Warfare by
Maurice Keen:
This word was in the last message:
MAGNATES= "is a catch-all term; it includes great secular officials like
counts, great ecclesiastics like bishops and the abbots of royal abbeys
(although prelates were not supposed to fight in person, they were expected
to lead contingents of troops).  It aslo includes wealthy nobles who did not
hold secular or ecclesiastical office.  Sucyh men undoubtedly acted as
leaders, as Nithard's account of Fontenoy shows, and where narrative
accounts mention casualties it is men of this type that they name.  Their
importance for the cohesion of armies cannot be overestimated; the numerical
contribution they and their own followings made to armies is, as more
difficult to assess."

Now about the Normans in Apulia  according to the Medieval Warfare book:
20th century authors sometimes agree that the powerful mounted Norman
knights swept all before them but this view has been challenged.  "Their
normal technique was to seize a castle and use it as a base from which to
terrorize the surrounding district into submission, as Robert of Hauteville,
known as Guiscard, 'the Weasel', did from San Marco Argentano in Calbria.
According to Amatus of Montecassino, another Norman, Richard of Aversa,
'carried off everything he could and gave it away (to his men) keeping
little....in this way the land about was plundered and the number of his
knights multiplied'.
    Decades of this kind of brigandage made the Normans thoroughly unpopular
and Pope Leo IX organized a coalition of Byzantines and Lombards against
them.  This forced the various Norman bands to unite their forces and they
managed to bring the Pope's army, which included a contingent of Swabian
tgroops to battle at Civitate on 17 June 1053 (so our WIlliam Warlenc did
not loose his Norman title until 1054-55.  But he could have been in Italy
where he received his nickname and then returned to Normandy with a grand
reputation to challenge Duke William).
    At Civitate, it has been said, 'the old world of Germanic infantry
tactics went down before the new chivalry of heavy cavalry.'  But according
to William of Apulia's "Deeds of Robert of Guiscard", once the pope's
Lombards had ridden away in flight, the 700 Swabian foot soldiers who
remained put up a prolonged and stout resistance against several thousand
Normans.  If anything Civitate demonstrates the stgrength in battle of
infantry even when hugely outnumbered.  Leo IX was taken prisoner and forced
to recognize the Norman acquitiions.  But the few lordships they had
obtained by this date were hardly impressive.  As yet, apart perhaps from
Humphrey of Hauteville's Melfi, they controlled none of the major centers.
    Only after 1059 did the Normans make spectacular gains, and for this
there were two principal reasons.  The first was the growing pressure of the
Seljuk Turks on Anatolia.  As late as 1038 Constantinople had shown real
interest in the West, sending an expedition to recover Sicily, Messina and
Syracuse.  But with the push of the Turks in Anatolia, the Byzantine
priority was to the East."   And the second reason was the continuity and
cooperation of the brothers Robert Guiscard in Italy and Roger in Sicily.

    So these early Normans in Apulia used the same plundering tactics of
their Viking ancestors and as our Rollo did.  Just determinly wearing down
and exhausting the defenders, year after year.   Anna Comena, sister of
Constantinople's emperor said of Robert Guisard, "That Norman braggart
Robert, notorious for his power-lust, of obscure origin, over-bearing,
thoroughly villainous, a brave fighter and very cunning, wonderfully built
and utterly determined."   This was actually  praise coming from the
Byzantines who were among the world's great connivers for that is how they
were able to hold out so many centuries against the hoards from the East.
And when Robert was almost at the gates of Constantinople one day with his
armies, it was the revolt that the emperor was able to foment back in Apulia
that drew Robert back there and saved Constantinople once again.

So, Sinclair, the Muslim historian, actually names the SInclairs as great
enemies and warriors in the two Sicilies. Sounds like there were more than
one of them there.  But who were they.  William Warlenc and sons or nephew
William the Seemly???   I wish we had more access to the history of this
region.  I am guessing that William Warlenc would have been born about 1008.
What would you guess?

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