Durres During The First Norman Attack 1081-1085

Abstract

Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, Robert Guiscard took the initiative to conquer the Byzantine Empire in 1081. Robert Guiscard set out from Italy for the island of Corfu, which he soon conquered. After landing, he received military reinforcements from Italy, and attacks began on the city of Durres, the main port on the Adriatic. The city was well protected on a long, narrow peninsula running parallel to the coast but separated by swamps. Guiscard brought his army to the peninsula and set up camp outside the city walls, but the Norman fleet sailing towards Durres was struck by a storm and lost several ships, despite the losses after the Norman siege, he invaded Durres. Durres turned into the main theater of the Norman-Byzantine war, and the conquest of Durres by the Normans brought fear, not only to the Ottoman Empire, but also to Europe's largest trading power, Venice. By controlling the Strait of Otranto, the Normans would control almost the entire Eastern Mediterranean. The geographical position of Durres and its connection with the old road Egnatia, which leads to Constantinople, make Durres the key to the conquest of the Byzantine Empire.