In the Footsteps of the Vikings
History and Travel Portal

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS TO MALTA!

The way to Malta over Sicily

(The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of Duke Robert Guiscard his brother. By Geoffrey Malaterra)

As we have learned the Vikings were great story tellers. This was one way of ‘documenting peoples lives’. The monk Geoffrey Mallaterra, who was asked to document the lives of the Norman family Hauteville that moved to southern Italy describes the purpose of documentation as follows: “Handed down from the ancient philosophers to the generations who have followed them, the custom has grown up that the deeds of brave men should be recorded in writing and transmitted to posterity. This prevents actions which ought to be remembered, and those who have performed them, being consigned to oblivion; and, even more, it enables those deeds which have been entrusted to writing and are read about and known by future generations, to make those who did them seem to live on through the memory of their lives.” (M1, p. 2)

Had the monk Geoffrey Malaterra not recorded the deeds of the Normans in southern Italy, this forgotten history might largely have been left to oblivion or to archaeological stuff only.

Concerning the style of the text, Malaterra notes that “the prince himself urged me to write in words which were clear and easy to understand, that the meaning of what was written should be apparent to everyone.” (M1, p. 2).

“Roger, that most celebrated of princes, was taught by many authors who used to read out to him the histories of the ancients. On the advice of his followers he determined to record for later generations his victories, won in the face of great difficulties and dangers, namely his conquest through force of arms first of Calabria and then of Sicily, and he instructed me to prepare myself for the task of writing this down. In view of the benefits which he has already conferred upon me, I am not in a position to refuse to do anything which he has instructed me to perform. But I commence my task timidly, for my style lacks learning and my powers of expression are poor. It is as though I was in the middle of a very deep lake and knew not how to swim.” (M1 p. 3)

Book I, Rollo’s story pp. 4-

After having given an account of how the Viking Rollo became the Duke of Normany and the role the Vikings /Normans came to play, Malaterra considers it “proper to say something about the character of this people. (3) They are a most astute people, eager to avenge injuries, looking rather to enrich themselves from others than from their native fields. They are eager and [indeed] greedy for profit and power, hypocritical and deceitful about almost everything, but between generosity and avarice they take a middle course. Their leaders are however very generous since they wish to achieve a great reputation. They know how to flatter, and are much addicted to the cultivation of eloquence, to such an extent that one listens even to their young boys as though they were trained speakers. And unless they are held in thrall by the yoke of justice, they are a most unbridled people. When circumstances require they are prepared to put up with hard work, hunger and cold; they are much addicted to hunting and hawking, and they delight in fancy clothes and elaborate trappings for their horses and decorations on their other weapons. They derive the name of their land from their own name: north in the English language means 'the northern wind' [aquilonis plaga], and since they come from the north they are called Normans and their land Normandy.” (M1, p. 6)

La Cuba, a Siculo-Norman palace in Palermo

From these bases, the Normans eventually captured Sicily and Malta from the Saracens, under the famous Robert Guiscard, a Hauteville, and his young brother Roger the Great Count. Roger's son, Roger II, was crowned king in 1130 (exactly one century after Rainulf was "crowned" count) by Pope Anacletus II. The kingdom of Sicily lasted until 1194, when it fell to the Hohenstaufens through marriage.



In the western direction we have William the Conqueror as the portal figure. His way to England went via Normandy, whereas others took a shorter route. egil's saga.



The story of the 11 Tancred sons from Hauteville

Here starts the story of how the 11 sons of the family Tancred from Hauteville, became central players on the political scene in Southern Italy, presented by Malaterra.

“There was a certain knight of quite distinguished family who possessed this village by hereditary right from his ancestors. He was called Tancred, and he married a wife called Moriella, who was notable both for her birth and her good character, and as the years went by he received from her in lawful manner five sons, who were in the future to become counts: namely William, known as 'the Iron Arm', Drogo, Humphrey, Geoffrey and Serlo. Their mother died while their father was still a young man and unsuited for celibacy, but this good man detested extra-marital unions and therefore married again, preferring to be contented with one legitimate union rather than soiling himself with the filthy embrace of concubines, mindful of the word of the apostle: 'to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife' [I Corinthians vii.2], and of what follows: 'whoremongers and adulters God will judge' [Hebrews xiii.4]. So he married Fresenda, a lady who in birth and morals was by no means inferior to his first wife. In due time he had from this union seven sons, who were of no less worth or dignity than their brothers mentioned above. We shall list their names here. First there was Robert, called from his birth 'the cunning' [Guiscardus], afterwards prince of all Apulia and Duke of Calabria, a man of great wisdom, ingenuity, generosity and boldness. The second was called Mauger, the third William. the fourth Aubrey, the fifth Hubert, the sixth Tancred, the seventh and youngest Roger, later the conqueror and count of Sicily. (M1, p. 7).

Here we have an example of why people had to move to new places. “They saw that their own neighbourhood would not be big enough for them, and that when their patrimony was divided not only would their heirs argue among themselves about the share-out, but the individual shares would simply not be big enough. So, to prevent the same thing happening in future as had happened to them, they discussed the matter among themselves. They decided that since the elders were at that time stronger than those younger to them, they should be the first to leave their homeland and go to other places seeking their fortune through arms, and finally God led them to the Italian province of Apulia.” (M1, p. 8).

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Among power struggles on many fronts, there was also the struggle of the Pope of Rome for indefendence from the emperor and ... “First, Robert Guiscard and Roger needed the blessing of the papacy to make them kings. Otherwise they had power but not authority. … Only the Bishop of Rome could legitimate their power and their conquests and thus make them permanent – just as only they could legitimate his political independence from the emperor and thus make it permanent. By recognizing each other’s legitimacy, the pope and the Norman ruler of Sicily established the first two modern states in Europe, the one an ecclesiastical state, the other a secular state.” Berman, p. 412.

“The Normans of southern Italy enthusiastically embraced the(se) goals of the papal party. They were delighted to lead armies in crusades against the Saracens (and Greeks), and eventually to establish peace and trade among the polyglot peoples of their own and neighbouring kingdoms. Also they were, like their fellow Normans in Normandy and in England, great administrators and lawyers; they came to share the papacy’s faith in the reforming and redeeming power of legal institutions.” (Berman p. 413)

“Their ties with Rome helped the Normans to create in southern Italy not only a legitimate state power but also a brilliant civilisation – indeed, the wealthiest and most powerful state and the greatest center of art, science, and technologyt in the West in the mid-twelvth century.

The times when the 11 Tranced brothers made their way toward the south of Italy were very troubled ones, with a lot of fighting going on, of which more later.

"In 1053 a group of Norman mercenaries led a Christian assault on Malta and Sicily, and recaptured both islands from the Saracens. (Heritage Malta | Museum of Archaeology)

The Middle Ages

The Arabs in Sicily were divided, and taking advantage of the situation, Count Roger the Norman, after a series of campaigns, subdued that island to Norman Rule. Count Roger had invaded Malta to make sure his southern flank was secure from a possible Arab attack, having reduced the Arabs to a state of vassalage and releasing the foreign Christian slaves, he returned to Sicily without even bothering to garrison his prize.

In Sicily itself the Normans followed the same enlightened policy and although the Christian Faith was regarded as the official religion there, nobody was persecuted because of his race or for his religious beliefs.

In 1127, Roger II the son of Count Roger led a second invasion of Malta; having overrun the Island he placed it under a more secure Norman domination under the charge of a Norman governor. He also garrisoned with Norman soldiers the three castles then on the islands. From about this period the Maltese moved back gradually into the European orbit to which they had belonged for a thousand years prior to the Arab interlude.

Because the last Norman king died without a male heir, the new masters of the Maltese islands came, in turn, from the ruling houses of Germany, France and Spain: the Swabians (1194); the Angevins (1268); the Aragonese (1283) and finally, the Castilians (1410).

(When the Norman Period came to an end, the Fief of Malta was granted to loyal servants of the Sicilian Crown: these Counts, or Marquises of Malta, as these nobles were styled, looked on the fief simply as an investment a source for the collection of taxes and something that was bartered or sold when no longer viable.

The last feudal lord of Malta. Don Gonsalvo Monroy, had been expelled from the Island following a revolt and at the Court of Sicily the count demanded that the strongest measures be taken against the insurgents. At the same Court the representatives of the Maltese offered to repay the 30,000 florins originally paid by Monroy for the Fief of Malta; they also asked for the Island to be incorporated in the Royal Domains once they had redeemed their homeland. The king, Alphonse V. impressed by their loyalty, called Malta the most notable gem in his crown, thus the capital of Malta came to be called Notabile although, then, as now, the Maltese continued to call the town Mdina.)



Text by Vivan Storlund (to the beginning)