Episode 10 - The Byzantine Wars

10/15/10 • 17 min

Norman Centuries | A Norman History Podcast by Lars Brownworth

By 1071 Robert Guiscard had risen to the height of power in Italy. The grumbling Lombards had been forced to grovel before him, the proud Norman barons recognized him as their unquestioned lord, and one of the greatest medieval popes depended on him for protection. But Robert was still restless and his eyes turned across the seas to the greatest prize of all- Byzantium: Queen of Cities and the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at Guiscard's final campaign to seize the imperial throne.

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Episode 9 - The Rise of Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard arrived in Italy as a simple knight, hoping to benefit from his brother's wealth and power. Instead he found his path blocked at every turn by petty jealousy and was sent off to rot in the most inhospitable place his sibling could think of. From these difficult beginnings, against the odds, Robert would build a base of power so formidable that not even the combined strength of a Pope and two Emperors could prevail against it. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the early career of the most brilliant general the Normans ever produced.

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Episode 11 - The Great Count

Roger de Hauteville was a strange conqueror. The youngest of twelve sons he was the last to come to Italy and treated as the least capable of the siblings by a jealous Guiscard. His first raid in Sicily was a disaster that seemed to confirm the worst suspicions about him. But Roger persevered and over three decades he managed to carve out a kingdom that rivaled that of William the Conqueror's. Along the way he won one of the most spectacular battles in medieval history and managed to die with all of his vast conquests at peace. Join Lars Brownworth as he looks at the surprising life of the last Hauteville brother.