A band of brothers who set out to conquer the countryside and ended up ruling half a country for a century.

Story in the evening ...

Tancred de Hauteville was a Norman noble who lived in Normandy in early 1000s. But this thread isn't about him, but his sons who went to Italy. Italy at the time was a divided peninsula, with Frankish, Lombard, Byzantine and Muslim rulers. 1/10

In 1017, invited by a rebellious Lombard noble in Byzantine Italy, the first set of Normans would clash with Basil Boioannes, Catepan of Byzantine Italy. Though the Byzantines woud win the Battle of Cannae, it would be the start of a period of Norman adventurism in Italy. 2/10

In 1030, as a reward for helping retake Naples, Duke Sergius would give Norman Rainulf Drengot the County of Aversa. It was for Rainulf's court that the sons of Tancred, Guillaume and Drogo, would depart in 1035. In 1038, they would join the Byzantine invasion of Sicily. 3/10

Guillaume would emerge as the leader of the Norman mercenaries during the Siege of Syracuse. In 1041, he would defeat the Byzantine contingent which included the Varangian Guards led by Harald Hardrada, future King of Norway, and become the Count of Apulia. 4/10