Apulia / Middle Ages

Dominion of the Normans
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD), the dominations of Byzantines, Goths, Lombards and Saracens alternated in Puglia. In 1070 the Normans of Roberto il Guiscardo took over, who conquered Bari (1071) and definitively defeated the Byzantines.
In 1059, during the Council of Melfi, he had obtained from the Pope the title of Duke of Puglia and Calabria and Lord of Sicily.
In this period Puglia assumes a unitary political identity, first as a County (1053) and then as a Duchy (1059). In the climate of political stability that follows, a season of cultural rebirth begins, particularly in architecture, sculpture and the art of mosaics.
In this period (1087) the remains of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, were stolen in Bari.

Frederick II Hohenstaufen
Many Apulian cities experienced a period of cultural and civil splendor with the dominion of Frederick II of Swabia (Hohenstaufen) (1198-1250), King of Sicily, Duke of Swabia, King of Germany and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick II rebuilt and fortified many Apulian cities, had palaces and castles built, among which the most famous is Castel del Monte, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

In the 14th and 15th centuries Apulia underwent the domination first of the Angevins, then of the Aragonese and, briefly, also of the French.

Potos (from the top to bottom)
– Portrait of Roberto il Guiscardo (Merry-Joseph Blondel – Palace of Versailles)
– Castel del Monte (Andria, BAT)