Melus of Bari
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Melus | |
|---|---|
Duke of Apulia | |
| Reign | 1015-1020 |
| Predecessor | title created |
| Successor | title vacant Next Duke of Apulia: Guaimar IV of Salerno |
| Died | 1020 |
| Spouse(s) | Maralda |
| Issue | Argyrus |
Melus (also Milus or Meles, Melo in
catapanate of Italy in the early eleventh century inadvertently sparked the Norman presence in Southern Italy. He was the first Duke of Apulia
.
Biography
Melus and his brother-in-law
Montecassino, where the anti-Greek monks, at the insistence of Pope Benedict VIII, gave him a fortified tower on the Garigliano. Melus' family, however, were captured and carted off to Constantinople
.
In 1016, according to the Norman chronicler
Trani
by September and were ravaging Apulia; in October, however, they experienced a stunning reverse.
The new catapan, Basil Boioannes, had garnered a massive force of reserves and a contingent of the famed Varangian Guard from Emperor Basil II. He met the Norman and Lombard hosts on the Ofanto at the site of the famous defeat dealt the Romans by Hannibal in 216 BC: Battle of Cannae. This second battle of Cannae was a disaster both for the Normans, who lost their leader Gilbert, and for the Lombards, whose leaders fled: Melus to the "Samnite lands" (Amatus) of the Papal States and Dattus to Montecassino and the tower again.
Melus continued wandering through south and central Italy and finally northwards to
Argyrus
would carry on the struggle for Lombard independence in Apulia after his return from imprisonment in Constantinople.
Sources
- Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016–1130. Longmans: London, 1967.
- ISBN 1843830787
External links
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