The Normans who originally came to Italy and Sicily in the 11th and 12th centuries were looking for adventure or a livelihood, but only saw and took chances to gain fame and fortune. The story of the Norman conquest in Italy and Sicily is indeed one of knights and adventurers, great battles and lowly pillage, opportunism and statesmanship, and crusade and coexistence. This rich and often dramatic study focuses on the eight sons of Tancred of Hauteville, especially Robert Guiscard, who has been called
the most dazzling military ruler between Julius Caesar and Napoleon,
and his youngest brother Roger, who conquered Sicily, and discusses how they expanded their lands throughout southern Italy and then took Sicily from its Muslim rulers. The brothers, often in conflict with each other, challenged both the Papacy and the Byzantine Empire, became the main supporters of the reformed Papacy, and founded a rich, sophisticated kingdom that lasted until the nineteenth century.