Approximate territorial extent of the Catapanate of Italy during the early 11th century. Modern city names (in English) are provided alongside the medieval Greek names.
In 873, the Byzantines retook Bari from the Saracens. Along with the already-existing theme of Calabria, the region of Apulia, around Bari, formed a new theme, that of Longobardia. In ca. 965, a new theme, that of Lucania, was established, and the stratēgos (military governor) of Bari was raised to the title of katepanō of Italy, usually with the rank of patrikios. The title of katepanō meant "the uppermost" in the Greek language.
Some Norman adventurers, on pilgrimage to Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano, lent their swords in 1017 to the Lombard cities of Apulia against the Byzantines. From 1016 to 1030 the Normans were pure mercenaries, serving either Byzantines or Lombards, and then Sergius IV of Naples, by installing the leader Ranulf Drengot in the fortress of Aversa in 1030, gave them their first pied-à-terre and they began an organized conquest of the land. In 1030 there arrived William and Drogo, the two eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville, a petty noble of Coutances in Normandy. The two joined in the organized attempt to wrest Apulia from the Byzantines, who by 1040 had lost most of that province. Bari was captured by the Normans in April 1071, and the Byzantines finally ousted from southern Italy. They returned briefly to besiege Bari in 1156.
Charanis, Peter. "On the Question of the Hellenization of Sicily and Southern Italy During the Middle Ages." The American Historical Review. Vol. 52, No. 1 (Oct., 1946), pp. 74-86.
Gay, Jules. L'Italie méridionale et l'empire Byzantin. Burt Franklin: New York, 1904.
Loud, G.A. (2006). "Southern Italy in the tenth century". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III c. 900–c. 1204. Cambridge University Press. pp. 624–645. ISBN0-521-46447-7. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
