Norman Occupation |
The
Normans (of German origin) lived in the Scandinavian peninsula. In 1057 Robert Guiscard
became their sovereign. When Nicephorus Botaniatus deposed the Emperor Michael VII and
locked up his wife Eleni, Guiscard's daughter, in a monastery, the Normans had all the
pretext they needed. They assembled an army and fleet in 1081, and attacked the Ionian
islands. The Byzantine fleet was defeated and Corcyra taken by an artifice. To Robert's
son fell the difficult task of conquering Kefalonia (Pale). But when Robert heard that his
son's efforts had proved unsuccessful, he set sail for Kefalonia. The strain was too much
for his heart, however, and on July 17, 1085 he died near Cape Panormos in Kefalonia.
The resistance of the islanders rendered the grandiose plans of ambitious Robert
fruitless and marked the end of Norman attacks. Robert's
other son, Bohemund, sought aid from powerful seafaring cities in Italy. Thus, late in
1103 the Ionian islands were attacked by the Pisans. When the Emperor loannes ratified
certain naval privileges he had granted to the Venetians, Corcyra and Kefalonia were
attacked, in 1122 and 1124 respectively. His successor, Manuel I, who believed the fleet
to be less important than the army, was unable to offer the islands any help. Left without
help and suffering from a lack of food, the islands were forced to surrender a year later.
Manuel's successor, I. Kaloioannes, immediately took Kefalonia again, return ing
to the Venetians everything that had been taken from them. When
Manuel Andronicus I took the throne by slaughtering the lawful heir along with many
Italian citizens, the king of Lower Italy and Sicily, William II, entered into an alliance
with the Normans against Byzantium. The suspicious emperor had incompetent generals and
garrison commanders, who could only offer minimal help at the moment of crisis. In
July 1185, the admiral of the Norman fleet and former corsair, Margaritonis, took
Corcyra and Kefalonia without a fight and dissolved the Theme of Cephallenia. Hundreds
of people were massacred, hostages were taken and property seized. Margaritonis was made
a count for his services. The new capital of the islands was again in Kefalonia, but this
time it was in the fortress of Agios Georgios, and not the fortress of Pale. The
heirs to the kingdoms of Sicily and Normandy did not keep up the friendly relations of
their predecessors. In the battle between them, Margaritonis took the side of the Normans,
and after their defeat he went off to become a pirate again. Pursued by the German Emperor
Heinrich VI, he was captured and blinded, and died in Germany in 1194. His successor,
Matteo Orsini, a pirate himself, abolished the Orthodox diocese and chose a Latin bishop
in order to be on better terms with the Pope. |