Georgios Theotokis, The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans, 1081-1108 (Sposato)

Georgios Theotokis

The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans, 1081-1108

(Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2014) 262pp.  $99.00

Norman Campaigns in the BalkansGeorgios Theotokis’s The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans is an ambitious study of the clash between two distinct military cultures and their concomitant institutions, the Normans of Southern Italy and Sicily and the Byzantine Empire, in the “frontier” that divided them, the Balkans. This work is intended to partially fill an important gap in the historiography of Norman Italy, which to this point lacks a book-length military history of the region which examines in depth warfare and military institutions and culture. This is, of course, a massive undertaking, requiring the author to wade through considerable primary source evidence and secondary scholarship for both regions. Unfortunately the title of the work is misleading, as only a third of the study actually deals with the Norman campaigns in the Balkans. Indeed, two thirds of the book is spent setting the stage through a lengthy and sometimes tedious examination of the military background for these campaigns, which takes the reader as far afield as England and Normandy. While the need for context is readily acknowledged, the author would have been better served spending more time on the military history of Norman Italy and the Balkans campaigns themselves.

The introduction and the first chapter (“Primary Sources and the Problems of Military History”) set the stage for the larger study, introducing the reader to the major problems facing scholars of military history, as well as surveying the wide range of primary sources (both Byzantine and “Italian”) to be mined for evidence in later chapters. Non-experts in particular will find the discussion of the primary sources to be particularly helpful, as Theotokis discusses their authors, and sources and identifies their respective strengths and weaknesses as sources for military history. Chapters two through four serve as a lengthy primer on Norman and Byzantine military institutions, with the bulk of the attention given to the Byzantines. Unfortunately, chapter two (“Norman Military Institutions in Southern Italy in the Eleventh Century”) is perhaps the weakest of the bunch, as the author spends too much time examining Norman military institutions in England and Normandy and not enough time considering them in the unique context of Southern Italy and Sicily. This is problematic because although the Normans of Southern Italy and Sicily were undoubtedly influenced by their counterparts in England and France, the military culture and institutions of Norman Italy were unique and not simply byproducts or imported wholesale. Chapters three (“The Byzantine Army of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries”) and four (“The Byzantine Naval Forces of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries”) are stronger, providing a useful survey of Byzantine military culture and institutions. Despite drawing heavily upon the existing scholarship on the Byzantine military, Theotokis crafts a well-organized and informative discussion that succeeds in setting the stage for the analysis of the Balkans campaigns. Particularly interesting for this reviewer is the author’s insightful analysis of Byzantine military manuals (pp.). Also intriguing, although less successful, is his comparison of the ideals of Western European chivalry and a Byzantine military ethos privileging the ends over the means (pp.71-74). Unfortunately Theotokis’s discussion of chivalry lacks the insight provided by important recent studies by Richard Kaeuper and Craig Taylor, among others.

The final five chapters (5-9) analyze the conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Normans of Southern Italy and Sicily in the Italian peninsula, the Balkans, and in the context of the First Crusade. These chapters proceed in chronological order, beginning in chapter five (“The Establishment of the Normans in Southern Italy and Sicily”) with arrival of the Normans on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, followed by two chapters (six: “Robert Guiscard’s Invasion of Illyria”; seven: “The Norman Advances in the Balkans and the End of the Dream”) examining the Norman campaigns against the Byzantine Empire in the decades before the First Crusade. Finally, chapters eight (“Bohemond of Taranto and the First Crusade”) and nine (“The Count’s Campaign of 1107 and the Treaty of Devol”) examine the Norman-Byzantine conflict within the context of crusading. These chapters are the core of Theotokis’s study and represent an orignal and important contribution to medieval military history. Indeed, the author should be commended for successfully weaving together a narrative of the historical events with critical analysis of the wide-ranging primary sources.

Experts on Norman Italy and the Byzantine Empire will no doubt find factual and conceptual issues with Theotokis’s The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans. Even non-experts will find the length introductory chapters to be at times tedious. Despite these minor criticisms, however, The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans is a worthwhile addition to the library of historians of medieval warfare and interested amateurs alike, although the need remains for a military history of Norman Italy. In fact, this study may be ideally suited for an audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students who seek an introduction to the military history of Norman Italy and the Byzantine Empire.

Peter W. Sposato, PhD
Indiana University Kokomo

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