Norman Naval Operations in the Mediterranean

by Charles D. Stanton

The formidable force of the Normans at sea has been frequently overlooked. This volume shows their dominance over the Mediterranean, and its far-reaching effects.

The rise of Norman naval power in the central Mediterranean in the eleventh and twelfth centuries prompted a seminal shift in the balance of power on the sea. Drawing from Latin, Greek, Jewish and Arabic sources, this book detailshow the House of Hauteville, particularly under Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger, used sea power to accomplish what the Papacy, the German Empire and the Eastern Empire could the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily from Islam. The subsequent establishment of an aggressive naval presence on Sicily, first by Roger de Hauteville and then by his son Roger II, effectively wrested control of the central Mediterranean from Byzantine and Muslim maritime hegemony, opening the sea to east-west shipping. The author goes on to describe how this development, in turn, emboldened the West Italian maritime republics, principally Genoa and Pisa, to expand eastward in conjunction withthe Crusades. It was, quite literally, a sea change, ushering in a new period of western maritime ascendancy which has persisted into the modern era.

Charles D. Stanton gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Genres: Medieval

338 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2011

Reviews

[Anatolikon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong account of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in the twelfth century through the lens of naval power. Stanton argues that the securing of Sicily by the Normans opened the eastern Mediterranean to the western Italian naval powers and that perhaps the crusades would not have been possible without the option for Pisa and Genoa to traverse the Messina strait. He posits that Roger II's naval strategy was to dominate the central Mediterranean so that any vessels going traversing the Mediterranean longitudinally would have to stop in Norman ports. Stanton suggests that this worked for about a decade until what he terms as adventurism overtook Roger's successors, who went on major expeditions against the Balearics, Egypt, and Byzantium while neglecting the delicate diplomatic balance to the north and ignoring the growing power of the Almohads to the south, the latter of whom eventually took the Norman ports in North Africa. The great expedition against Byzantium in 1185 broke the Kingdom of Sicily's fleet, and events on the Third Crusade prevented its recovery. Stanton tells a story that binds the fortunes of the Kingdom of Sicily up with its fleet, and this is mostly convincing. Navies were extremely expensive political instruments, and their success or failure had an oversized impact on politics.

The book is nicely produced with a good selection of plates and maps. Stanton pays a great deal of attention to the physical environment and constraints of sailing in the medieval Mediterranean, and he does a great job with it. Even if one does not care about the Kingdom of Sicily's navy, the notes from this book are alone worth examining: rather than follow a narrative source and look at the navy that way, Stanton has gone back to the original material and created his own, and the book is stronger for it. While primary source material is sine qua non for good history, the range of texts that Stanton uses is worth noting: not only is he reading the chronicles, histories, charters, and letters from the Norman kingdom, he's aware of references to the events in question in a much broader context, and he uses (in translation) Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew sources as well. This makes the book a goldmine for which source refers to which event. That said, there isn't a whole lot of secondary literature in here, and a lot of it is quite old, but that does not really detract from the central argument.

[Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanton's "Normal Naval Operations in the Mediterranean" is a worthwhile read for those interested in the topic. It should not be confused with a purely sea-focused text: Stanton does a good job of explaining why land and sea operations in the period were inextricably linked (otherwise it might seem odd that so much of a book ostensibly about naval operations is, in fact, about Norman conquests in southern Italy and elsewhere).

Most of the text is organized chronologically, but Stanton does a good job of laying out the actors of the period and touching on the technology and strategy where relevant. The concluding section(s) of the book is the text's primary problem: it feels like it could've used a bit stronger of an editorial hand. That is, the wrap-up feels a bit messy.

(Stanton also has a tendency to use words like "fortunately" and "unfortunately" when things go well- or poorly- for the Normans, which makes it feel a bit like he's "on their side." He sometimes does this with other groups, so on the balance I don't think he's making value judgments about the outcomes of battles or campaigns, but it does sound a little odd sometimes.)

On the whole, this seems like a worthwhile entry on the subject. Stanton does a good job with presentation and refers to a wide variety of sources, including the works of other scholars, and his prose style lays out the subject and the period in a manner that is easy to understand and follow.