It's a great insight to the little known history (to me) of southern Italy. But, as any medieval history it is dense. All in all Norwich makes the ride easy and sometimes funny!

I read this a while ago and really enjoyed it. I can't remember how I came across it but it introduced me to an area of history I knew absolutely nothing about - I didn't know the Normans ever went to Italy. I found it fascinating.

In the early years of the 11th century a number of landless Norman knights made their way south into Italy working as mercenaries, at least that's what they told the nobility who hired them. In fact, the Normans were always working for their own benefit and over the years managed to supplant all the rulers of southern Italy and Sicily - a lengthy list including Lombards, Byzantine Greeks, the German emperor, and the Saracen rulers of Sicily. These dynamic and colorful adventurers had an incredible run of success for many years and their fascinating stories are told in this book. My favorite characters were Robert Guiscard, his brother Roger, and Roger's son, also called Roger. No one would believe what they accomplished if you tried to make it up in a novel.

This lengthy 800 page book was a pleasure to read. The author's perceptive descriptions of the people and places he is writing about make them come to life in a way that only the best historians can do. I've had to add Sicily to my lift of places to visit because of it. I cannot recommend this highly enough for those with an interest in this period. The author has a new book, a history of Sicily, coming out in the US in July. This book will be a good lead in for it.

Not his best but it was one of his early books. dDeals with a bit of history that is not well know in Brittan, what else the Norman's were doing about 1066 besides conquering southern Italy and Scicily. Read the book and wonder if there was ever any doubt. The Norman's were the big boys. Delivered in a dead pan mater of fact way make it hard sometimes to scale the importance of events, interesting all the same.

Norwich is an excellent historian and a natural born story-teller. This book is 3 inches thick, but Norwich kept my interest all the way through.

If you like history and as a bonus are planning to visit Sicilly, this is a mustread. A wonderful narrative style that draws you in to one of the key periods that shapes the island even today. Your visits to Monreale and other Norman castles and citadels will be enriched by this details filled but easily digestible masterpiece.

While far from being an unbiased narrative, it is wildly entertaining and a fun read, serving as an excellent source if one is interested in learning about the Normans.

Norwich writes of three chapters in the epic of the Norman domination of South Italy: (1) the 1043 assembly of pioneer Norman barons at Melfi when the early arrivees "divided their conquered territories into the twelve counties of Apulia" (p. 321); (2) when Robert Guiscard had received his three duchies from Pope Nicholas II; and (3) when Robert's younger step-brother, Roger, gathered his vassals ("all the bishops, abbots and counts of Apulia and Calabria to a solemn Court at Melfi" (p. 320) to have them swear a great oath both to him but also to his sons and to a general peace to uphold order and justice (in short, establishing a penal code). Thus was his son, Roger II, able to crown himself King of Sicily on Christmas Day, 1130. If the above is meaningless to you, it will not be after reading this fascinating, rewarding volume that fills in a gap of European history usually neglected in today's university curricula.

The story of the Normans in Sicily is one of those periods in history that was unusually rich in events and personalities (not that the two are easily distinguishable), but in the hands of author John Julius Norwich, the tale is a page-turner overflowing with tales of deceit, treachery, cunning, diplomacy and the machinations of 11-12C European history. This work is a true historical epic--so colourful, so rich, and so laden with Norwich's wit and wry phrasing that it has rightfully long been regarded as one of the great tomes on Sicily, which is far too narrow a category for this work. Clearly it is 'must' reading for anyone interested in European or Mediterranean history, or for that matter, the Normans (successors of the Vikings of the north who settled in France ['Normandy'] and then made world history in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings), the Crusades, the Papacy, Venice .... Maps and a family tree are necessities and this volume includes both, plus the added treasure of a list of Norman ruins that can still be seen in Sicily today.

The book is hard to find; none of the libraries I searched in had a copy (which I eventually found in the library of a well-travelled friend) but worth the search. Now to find a copy of his History of Venice.

The de Hauteville family has to be one of the most interesting of this period. I knew basically nothing of them or Sicily for that matter.

History of the Normans in Southern Italy starting with their immigration as landless mercenaries to the Norman Kingdom of Sicily’s foundation and its demise in the incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire.


n  11th Century Norman Knights (period piece)n

My dead tree, format, book was a door stopping 816-pages which included footnotes, appendices, maps, illustrations, Bibliography and an index. It had a UK 2004 copyright.

John Julius Norwich was a British historian and writer of popular nonfiction. He was the author of more than forty books. He passed in 2018. This is the omnibus edition of his The Normans in Sicily series. It combines both n  The Normans in the South, 1016-1130n (The Normans in Sicily #1) and n  The Kingdom in the Sun, 1130 - 1194n (The Normans in Sicily #2) into a single volume.

I read the omnibus, book. The two (2), books of the series that make-up that edition were published separately, years apart. The omnibus edition was published decades after the books of the series. I felt the two books should be separately reviewed. Note that the omnibus, n  The Normans in Sicily: The Normans in the South 1016-1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194n is better known and easier to find in print. However, its thickness may be daunting to most folks.

My separate reviews:

The Normans in the South, 1016-1130 (published 1967)
History of the lead-up to the foundation of the Norman, Kingdom of Sicily.

The Kingdom in the Sun, 1130 – 1194 (published 1976)
History of the Norman, Kingdom of Sicily’s foundation to its demise in the incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire.

Note the separate reviews are somewhat longer and go into greater detail on each of the halves of the omnibus edition.

Firstly, this was an intermediate-level text on the High Middle Ages in the central Mediterranean. It would be very helpful for a reader to already have a good background on early-Middle Ages in the Mediterranean, including the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire to fully appreciate this book.

This was a well-written, history in the Old Skool. That is, it was the history of personalities, mostly men but sometimes women, events, diplomacy, and brief descriptions of the wars (the failure of diplomacy) over a period of almost 200-years. During that time an immigrant population of Norman mercenaries insinuated themselves into a region in constant warfare. After about a generation, a member family founds the polyglot Kingdom of the Normans in southern Italy and the island of Sicily. The Norman Sicilian Kingdom rose to great influence in the Mediterranean and then disappeared into the larger Holy Roman Empire after about 80-years.

Norwich was a good writer. The narrative was very clear and factual. It’s very much in the bygone, British public school-style. Descriptions were well enough done. The author showed a marked preference for: architecture, art and geography. That the author also was a travel writer, was quite apparent. There was an unexpected amount of southern Italian and Sicilian sightseeing tips included. Norwich only includes the minimum amount of historical context. The reader was expected to gain historical context along the way. Without having a background in the period and the region, a reader would be at a severe disadvantage. This book also contained a different amount of political analysis between its halves. In addition, the description of the armed conflicts was very much abbreviated in the second half. In general the tenor of the book swung widely been the poles of being a popular and an academic history during its full length.

Use of maps was OK. However, maps of period Rome and a detailed map of period North Africa would have been useful. Use of tables and charts, was restricted to only genealogies. The photographs provided were good. Although, the majority were either architectural of churches and cathedrals or of period art.

Note the book was footnoted. Quotations were in four languages. I wish my Greek were better? I felt that Norwich unsuccessfully straddled the popular and academic history with his annotations, comments on historical sources, and bibliography.

The book was 50-years old. It was written in the old-style of history that emphasizes personalities. The lives and actions of men and sometimes women drove the narrative. As it is, it was mostly the story of Medieval Italian Celebrities. Modern, general histories tend to expand beyond just personalities. Personalities are still important. Although, absent critical circumstances, men and women don’t change history by their lonesome. Its men and women, technologies, organizations and external events that effect history. By concentrating on the “Who” aspect of history, Norwich made this book suitable only as an adjunct work for a proper history of the Norman's in Italy and Sicily. In addition, there is a certain amount of cultural dissonance to be found in the narrative for a modern reader.

This was an interesting story. I personally thought the first half (The Normans in the South) was a better rags to riches read. It was a story of a family that started out strong with nothing, founded an unusual kingdom in the middle ages for its time, but eventually lost everything by not being able to cope with the internal and geopolitics over three generations.

Loved the book and would have given it a five but the font is tiny. Took me forever to read and had multiple headaches.

John Julius Norwich's two-volume series on the Norman conquest and kingdom in southern Italy is a captivating narrative through a lesser-known yet incredibly significant chapter of history.

Norwich's books are not only informative but also immensely enjoyable to read. His engaging prose and attention to detail make the complex historical events accessible to a wide audience. Whether one is a history enthusiast or a traveler planning to explore Sicily, these volumes are indispensable companions, providing valuable insights into the Norman legacy in southern Italy.

In "The Normans in the South," Norwich expertly traces the rise of Norman power in the region, highlighting their evolution from humble pilgrims to formidable conquerors. By contextualizing their exploits, Norwich sheds light on the Norman role in shaping the political landscape of southern Italy.

In "The Kingdom in the Sun," Norwich delves deeper into the complexities of Norman rule, exploring their interactions with the diverse communities of southern Italy, including Muslims, Greeks, and Italians. This volume expertly navigates the intricate webs of diplomacy, warfare, and cultural exchange that characterized Norman governance in the region. Moreover, Norwich skillfully elucidates the Norman engagement in Mediterranean geopolitics, from conflicts with the Byzantine Empire to participation in the Crusades and expansion into Northern Africa. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, he brings to life a period of history marked by both triumphs and challenges, offering readers a comprehensive and engrossing narrative.