'The Norman Invasion of Sicily, 1061-1072: Numbers and Military Tactics'

[rodge]

Has anyone read/got this paper by Theotokis (War in History November 2010 17: 381-402) and if so are there any details of the make up, troop types and size of the Zirid/Kalbite army at Cerami 1063 and Misilmari 1068?

[Patrick Waterson]

No, but one could perhaps ask the author to upload it here.

Or one could ask the author if he would be willing to send a copy.  His email address is given on this page.

[rodge]

Thanks Patrick
I emailed him earlier today via academia eu

[Jim Webster]

let us know if you get a copy 

Jim

[rodge]

I got a look at a copy
It is taken from his thesis I think with a reformat

Stick this in your computer
http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1884/
And the majority of the info is in the chapter about Italy and Sicily

It does not define Muslim troop types

[Patrick Waterson]

It does seem very Norman vs Byzantine, presumably reflecting the author's interests.

I wonder if it would be worth asking him - after thanking him for such an interesting paper, of course - whether he knows anyone who does detail the Muslim armies.

[rodge]

Malaterra is the sole source on Misilmari (I think).
His 'De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius' is available, in part, online in translation.
It does not detail the Muslim troops either, bar telling us there were a lot more of them than the Normans and that their vanguard was comprised of cavalry (that could fight dismounted; at least they had done at Cerami in order to engage in seige work).
I have also been looking for any detail on the 1067 battle between the two Muslim factions (under Ayoub and Ibn Hawwas respectively) but have found nothing; this would no doubt shed a little light.
We do know the Muslim armies contained Sicilian urban and presumably rural militias and Zirid Berber troops (who had been knocking lumps out of each other only a year before); it's not improbable that the Sicilian Muslims and their supporters provided some heavy mounted units to accompany the militia foot troops and, looking at Zirid armies, the same heavy mounted and foot combination applied but with the addition of more light cavalry and light infantry, but this is just a guess.
There is this paper
https://www.academia.edu/2604710/_Geoffrey_Malaterra_as_a_military_historian_for_the_Norman_expansion_in_Italy_and_Sicily_strengths_and_weaknesses_in_his_narrative_Mediterranean_Chronicle_2_2012_pp._105-115
by Theotokis which i'm currently reading.

[Imperial Dave]

I dont think it  has a lot of detail (from memory) about specific troop/army composition and sorry for a slight digression on the thread but a damn fine read in and around the subject matter is The Kingdom in The Sun by John Julius Norwich. Very well written and absorbing (as his Byzantium 'series') - for me history at its best

[rodge]

Yes Holly, Malaterra is sparse, in fact Theotokis questions his expertise on military matters in the paper I linked to and suggests he should be considered a secondary source for battles on the mainland and in Sicily.

[Imperial Dave]

Thanks Rodge, I will have a shufties at the links in this thread as this has fired up my enthusiasm for the period somewhat 

[Patrick Waterson]

This suggests we may have to arrive at the content of Sicilian Muslim armies by logical extrapolation.  Assuming they fielded the local militia, which probably contributed more to the eventual casualty figures than to the fighting, we might gain some idea of the available troops by looking at the Muslim contingents Sicilian Hohenstaufen armies fielded, horse and foot archers coming to mind.  A core of lance-armed mounted Muslim enthusiasts seems mandated, and there are of course the Berbers.

One might also look at Muslim armies in Spain for possible parallels and a basic organisational template.

In any event I think Rodge's 'guesses' are along the right lines.

Numbers are another matter: Diodorus XI.21.1 credits Gelo of Syracuse with 5,000 cavalry in 480 BC and Thucydides VI.67 has the Syracusans, relying on their own resources (1,200) and those of Gela (200), field 1,400 cavalry plus 20 from Camarina.  If we assume that Gelo's muster was from the whole island under Greek rule, we get a possible benchmark for the number of Sicilian cavalry likely to be supported on an enduring basis and hence present at a  major battle.  Syracuse's later 1,200 horse (with Gela's 200 as a contribution from a smaller town/city - Camarina's was a token force as they preferred Athens) is perhaps a benchmark for a smaller, regional army.

One would add to this total such Berbers and other overseas interlopers and mercenaries as might be considered suitable, and add helpings of foot archers and local militia to taste.

[rodge]

Thanks Patrick, an ingenious bit of logic.

Just looked at the Osprey 'Norman Stone Castles (2): Europe 950-1204' on Googlebooks. Interestingly it says (post the conquest of Sicily by the Normans) that:

'In Sicily the existing Muslim iqta was a form of fief that probably provided the model for smaller Sicilian feudal fees. In western Sicily the jund system of recruiting regional militias were continued under the Norman conquerors.....In Sicily a landed Muslim aristocracy survived until the 13th century, holding on to a number of smaller castles and provided both horse and foot throughout the period'.

No footnote but a bit of support for the idea of Sicilian Kalbid local cavalry, possibly of noble flavour.

[Jim Webster]

The 5000 cavalry figure could be very much a maximum if Gelon hired Mercenary cavalry as well as Mercenary infantry. His horsemen need not necessarily all have been from the Island

Jim

[Patrick Waterson]

The 5000 cavalry figure could be very much a maximum if Gelon hired Mercenary cavalry as well as Mercenary infantry. His horsemen need not necessarily all have been from the Island

I think they were all Greeks from Sicily (not necessarily Syracuse), because any other mercenaries available would have been snapped up by the Carthaginians and any other Greeks available would have been tied down defending their homes against Xerxes.  In theory, non-involved states such as Argos could have provided troops, but this was a century before the great Greek mercenary era and as of 480 BC citizens tended to stay with their home city and do what it did.

So 5,000 is probably a good ceiling for home-grown Sicilian cavalry.  One can of course water it down to taste if one assumes the fertility of the land or its availability for use had changed significantly during the interim.

Just looked at the Osprey 'Norman Stone Castles (2): Europe 950-1204' on Googlebooks. Interestingly it says (post the conquest of Sicily by the Normans) that:

'In Sicily the existing Muslim iqta was a form of fief that probably provided the model for smaller Sicilian feudal fees. In western Sicily the jund system of recruiting regional militias were continued under the Norman conquerors.....In Sicily a landed Muslim aristocracy survived until the 13th century, holding on to a number of smaller castles and provided both horse and foot throughout the period'.

No footnote but a bit of support for the idea of Sicilian Kalbid local cavalry, possibly of noble flavour.

A good bit of support, indeed.  The words 'landed' and 'aristocracy' together with 'holding ... castles' and 'provided ... horse' do rather suggest this.  Backtracking from this point indicates these gentry, or rather their forefathers, would have been around during the period in question as they are hardly likely to have immigrated following the Norman conquest.

It looks like a good start.

[Duncan Head]

Had a quick look last night at Aziz Ahmad, A History of Islamic Sicily (Edinburgh UP 1986), which I think is all I have on the area, and it contains nothing helpful.

For troop types, there are some depictions of earlier Sicilian Muslim troops in the Madrid Skylitzes - see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Sicily#/media/File:MadridSkylitzesFol100vDetail.jpg
http://www.warfare.altervista.org/12/Scylitzes-f214.htm

The MS is possibly made in Byzantine  Italy, so the Muslim figures may have some basis in local knowledge. Overwhelmingly unarmoured infantry with shortish spears.

There is a mailed spearman in a hunting scene from Sicily at http://www.warfare.altervista.org/11/Fatimid_Pergamon_Ivory_casket-large.htm and other figures who might be Sicilian Muslim troops in art of the Norman period: see Ian Heath's version at http://www.warfare.altervista.org/WRG/Feudal-97-101-Sicilian_Saracens.htm. The article at http://deremilitari.org/2013/07/saracen-archers-in-southern-italy/ suggests that Guiscard was using Sicilian archers as early as 1076, so they were presumably readily available even though the art concentrates on spearmen.

But all this will help with tactics only as a rough guide to what troops might be available, and not at all with numbers.