Siege of Bari

Part of the Byzantine-Norman wars

Date	5 August 1068 – 15 April 1071
Location	Bari, Apulia
Result	Decisive Norman victory, the Byzantines retreat from Southern Italy

Belligerents

Byzantine Empire

Normans

Commanders and leaders

Michael Maurex
Avartuteles
Stephen Pateran

Robert Guiscard

Strength

Bari garrison, other Byzantine reinforcements and 20 ships

Norman army and fleet, unknown size

Casualties and losses

Heavy, including civilians

Heavy

The siege of Bari took place 1068–71, during the Middle Ages, when Norman forces, under the command of Robert Guiscard, laid siege to the city of Bari, a major stronghold of the Byzantines in Italy and the capital of the Catepanate of Italy, starting from August 5, 1068. Bari was captured on April 16, 1071 when Robert Guiscard entered the city, ending over five centuries of Byzantine presence in Southern Italy.

By 1060, only a few coastal cities in Apulia were still in Byzantine hands: during the previous few decades, the Normans had increased their possessions in southern Italy and now aimed to the complete expulsion of the Byzantines from the peninsula before concentrating on the conquest of Sicily, then mostly under Islamic domination.

Large military units were thus called from Sicily and, under Count Geoffrey of Conversano, laid siege to Otranto.

The next move was the arrival of Robert Guiscard, with a large corps, who laid siege to the Byzantine city of Bari on 5 August 1068. Within the city there were two parties: one wanting to preserve allegiance to the Byzantine empire, and another that was pro-Norman. When the Norman troops neared, the former had prevailed and the local barons shut the city's gates and sent an embassy led by Bisantius Guirdeliku to emperor Romanos IV Diogenes in order to seek military help. The negotiations offered by Robert were refused.

Otranto fell in October, but at Bari the Norman attacks against the walls were repeatedly pushed back by the Byzantines. Robert decided to blockade the city's port with a fortified bridge in order to thwart any relief effort. The Byzantines, however, destroyed the bridge, and managed to maintain a link with their homeland.

Romanos IV named a new catepan, Avartuteles, and provided him with a fleet with men and supplies for Bari. The Byzantine fleet arrived at the city in early 1069, but in the meantime a Byzantine field army was defeated by the Normans, who occupied Gravina and Obbiano. Robert did not return immediately to Bari, and in the January 1070 he moved to Brindisi to help the Norman forces then besieging that coastal fortress. Brindisi capitulated in the autumn of 1070.

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Wikipedia