William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum Anglorum
Other works
Absalom, R.: Italy since 1800, London 1995
Abulafia D.: Frederick II. A medieval emperor London and NY, 1988;
Acton, Sir H.: The Bourbons of Naples, London 1956
—— The Last Bourbons of Naples, London 1961
Belli D’Elia, P. et al.: La Puglia fra Bisanzio e l’occidente, Milan 1980
—— La Puglia tra barocco e rococo, Milan 1983
—— Les Pouilles Romaines, Paris 1988
Béraut, J.: La colonisation greque de l’Italie méridionale et de la Sicile dans l’antiquité, Paris 1957
Bertaux, E.: L’Art dans I’Italie Méridionale, Paris 1904
Blunt, A.: Baroque and Rococo, London 1978
Blunt, J.J.: Vestiges of Ancient Manners and Customs Discoverable in Modern Italy and Sicily, London 1823
Boardman, J.: The Greeks Overseas, London 1964
Bologna, F.: Pittori alla Corte Angioina, Rome 1969
Brandi, C.: Martina Franca, Milan 1968
Briggs, M.: In the Heel of Italy, London 1910
Bronzini, G.B.: Homo Laborans, Manduria 1985
Calò Mariani, M.S.: L’Arte del Duecento in Puglia, Turin 1984
Carano Donvito G.: Storia di Gioia del Colle dagli origini ai primi del secolo XX, Putignano 1966
Cassiano, A.: Il Barocco a Lecce e nel Salento, Rome 1995
Cazzata, M.: Guida ai castelli pugliesi: i. La provincia di Lecce, Galatina 1997
Chalandon, F.: Histoire de la Domination Normande en Italie et en Sicile, Paris 1907
Coco, P.: Francavilla Fontana nella luce della storia, Taranto 1941
Colletta, P.: Storia del reame di Napoli del 1734 sino al 1825, Florence 1848
Cornell, T.J. The Beginnings of Rome, London 1995
Croce, B.: Storia del Regno di Napoli, Bari 1931
Cucciolla, A. and Morelli, D.: The Urban Development of Bari, Berlin 1984
Cutolo, A.: Gli Angioini, Florence 1934
De Cesare, R.: La Fine di un Regno, Citta di Castello 1909
Dell’Aquila, Franco & Massina, Aldo: Le Chiese Rupestri di Puglia e Basilicata, Bari 1998
De Sivo, G.: Storia delle Due Sicilie del 1847 al 1861, Trieste 1868
De Vita, R.: Castelli torri ed opere fortificate di Puglia, Bari 1974
—— Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Rome 1960
Di Benedetto, D., Greco, A., and Del Vecchio, F.: Guida bibliografica di cripte, ipogei e insidiamenti rupestri dell’ Puglia, Bari 1990
Dunrobin, J.: The Western Greeks, Oxford 1948
Fagiolo, M. and Cazzolo, V.: Lecce, Bari 1984
Farase-Sperken, C.: La pittura dell’ Ottocento in Puglia: i protagonisti, le spere, i luoghi, Bari 1996
Flaubert G.: Voyages, Paris 1948
Forsyth, J.: Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters during an excursion in Italy in the years 1802 and 1803, London 1816
Frazer, J.G.: The Golden Bough, London 1907–13
Fronda Michael P.: Between Rome and Carthage; Southern Italy during the Second Punic War, C.U.P 2010
Galanti, G.M.: Relazione sull’Italia Meridionale, Milan 1791
Galiano,A.: Il Guercio delle Puglia, Mian 1967
Gattini, M.: I priorati, i baliagi e le commende del Sovrano Militare Ordine di San Giovanni nelle provincie meridionali d’Italia, Rome 1928
Gay, J.: L’Italie méridionale et l’Empire byzantin, Paris 1904
Gelao, Clara & Tragni, Bianca: Il Presepe Pugliese, Bari 2000
Gianfreda, G.: Basilica Cattedrale di Otranto, Galatina 1987
—— Il Monachesimo Italo-Greco in Otranto, Galatina 1977
Ginsborg, P.: A History of Contemporary Italy, London 1990
Gorze, H.: Castel del Monte, geometric manual of the Middle Ages, Munich 1998
Guillou, A: Studies in Byzantine Italy, London 1970
Kantorowicz, E.: Frederick II 1194–1250, New York 1957
Lacaita, C.: An Italian Englishman: Sir James Lacaita, London 1933
Leonard, E.G.: Les Angevins de Naples, Paris 1954
Levi, C.: Christ stopped at Eboli, London 1987
Lucarelli, A.: Il brigantaggio politico del Mezzogiorno d’Italia doppo la seconda restaurazione borbonica, 1815–1818: Gaetano Vardarelli e Ciro Annichiarico, Bari 1942
—— Il Brigantaggio politico delle Puglie doppo 1860: Il Sergente Romano, Bari 1946
Lucarelli, A.: La Puglia nella rivoluzione napolitana del 1799, Manduria 1998
—— La Puglia nel Risorgimento, Bari 1931–53
Lumley, R. and Morris, J.: The New History of the Italian South, Exeter 1997
Maffei, A.: Brigand Life in Italy: a history of Bourbonist reaction, London 1865
Merlino, F.S.: L’Italie telle qu’elle est, Paris 1890
Mola, M. de, and Palasciano, G.: Le chiese rurali del territorio di Fasano, Fasano 1987
Mommsen, T., The History of Rome, London 1894
Mongiello, L.: Le masserie di Puglia: organismi, architettonici ed ambiente territoriale, Bari 1996
Monnier, M.: Histoire du Brigandage dans l’Italie méridionale, Paris 1862
Norwich, J.J.: The Normans in the South, London 1967
—— The Kingdom in the Sun, London 1970
Palasciano, I.: Alberobello nel sette e ottocento, Fasano 1987
Paone, N.: La Transumanza, Isernia 1987
Pasculli Ferrara, M.: Arte napoletana in Puglia del XVI al XVIII secolo, Fasano 1983
Patrunio, L.: Puglia e Basilicata: mura, castelli e dimorre, Milan 1995
Patrunio, L.: Puglia e Basilicata: l’uomo e le sue tradizioni, Milan 1997
Penkovsky, V.: Private Army, London, 1950
Perkins, C.: Italian Sculptors, London 1868
Petrignani, M. and Porsia, F.: Bari, Bari 1982
Pizzigallo, M.: La collegiata di Martina Franca, Fasano 1976
—— Uomini e vicende di Martina, Fasano 1986
Potter, T.W.: Roman Italy, London 1987
Prandi, A.: In terra di Tàranto, Milan 1970
Reumont, A von.: Die Carafa von Maddaloni, Berlin 1851
Ripabottoni, A.: Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, San Giovanni Rotondo 1987
Ruotolo, G.: La Quarta mafia: storie di mafia in Puglia, Naples 1994
Ruppi, C.F.: Alla scoperta di un angolo di Puglia, Conversano 1971
Simone, L. De: Lecce e I suoi monumenti, Lecce 1964
Smith, Sir W.: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, London 1904
—— A Smaller Classical Dictionary, London 1910
Snowdon, F.M.: Violence and Great Estates in Southern Italy: Apulia 1900–1922, C.U.P. 1986
Tancredi, G.: Il Gargano nel Risorgimento, Foggia 1948
Touring Club Italiano: Puglia, Milan 1978
Villari, R.: Il Sud nella storia d’Italia, Bari 1966
—— La rivolta antispagnola a Napoli, Rome 1967
Wuillermier, P.: Tarente des origine a la conquete romaine, Paris 1939
Short Chronology
708 BC Spartans arrive at Tàranto
c.400 BC Archytas governor of Tàranto
281 BC Pyrrhus’s first victory
272 BC Tàranto falls to Romans
244 BC Brìndisi becomes Roman colony
216 BC Victory of Hannibal at Cannae
49 BC Seige of Brìndisi by Julius Caesar
552 AD Goths defeated by Byzantium near Tàranto
c.590 Lombards from Benevento occupy Daunia
847–71 Saracen Emirate of Bari
975 Bari becomes seat of Catapan
1016 Norman pilgrims meet Melo at Monte Sant’Angelo
1056 Pope Nicholas 11 recognises Robert Guiscard Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily
1071 Bari, Byzantine capital, falls to Normans
1087 Bones of St Nicholas brought from Myra to Bari
1130 Roger II founds Kingdom of Sicily
1194 E
mperor Henry VI of Hohenstaufen makes himself king of Sicily
1199 Frederick II of Hohenstaufen becomes king of Sicily
1231 Constitutions of Melfi
1250 Death of Frederick II
1266 Defeat and death of Manfred at Benevento
1343–82 Reign of Giovanna I – almost every city on the coast becomes a feudal fief
1480 Capture of Òtranto by Turks
1503 French defeated by Spaniards at Cerignola Disfida di Barletta
1528 Apulia invaded by French army under Lautrec
1656 Plague
1714 Austrian rule over Apulia recognised at Peace of Rastadt
1734 Austrians defeated by Spaniards under Charles of Bourbon at Bitonto
1799 Foundation of Parthenopean (Neapolitan) Republic and campaign of Sanfedisti
1801 French garrisons admitted to Apulian ports
1806–15 French occupation
1815 Restoration of Borboni
1860 Garibaldi overthrows Borbone regime, Unification of Italy
1861–5 Brigands’ War
1865 Tavoliere opened up to cultivation; new era of latifondismo
1906 Work begins on construction of Apulian Aqueduct
1920 Workers rising in Bari
1939 Completion of Aqueduct
1940–5 Second World War
1943 In September King Victor Emanuel III establishes seat of government at Brìndisi
Rulers of Apulia from Norman Times
The Hautevilles
1042–46 William, Count of Apulia
1046–51 Drogo, Count of Apulia
1051–57 Humphrey, Count of Apulia
1057–85 Robert Guiscard, Count and Duke of Apulia
1085–1111 Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia
1111–27 William, Duke of Apulia
1127–30 Roger, the Great Count of Sicily
1130–54 Roger II, King of Sicily
1154–66 William I – ‘The Bad’ – King of Sicily
1166–89 William II – ‘The Good’ – King of Sicily
1189–94 Tancred, King of Sicily
1194 William III
Tancred had been illegitimate and the Emperor Henry VI claimed the throne as husband of the rightful heir Constance, daughter of Roger II, deposing and murdering Tancred’s son, the infant William III.
1042–46 William, Count of Apulia
1194–97 Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
1197–1250 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
1250–54 Conrad IV, Holy Roman Emperor
1254–66 Manfred, King of Sicily
The Pope offered the Kingdom of Sicily to Charles of Anjou (bro-ther of Louis IX of France) who defeated and killed Manfred, taking his throne. In 1282 the Sicilians rose against him in the Sicilian Vespers, choosing as their king Pedro III of Aragon who had married Manfred’s daughter. There were two kingdoms of Sicily – that on the mainland (including Apulia) ruled from Naples and that on the island ruled from Palermo.
The Angevin Kings
1266–85 Charles I – ‘Charles of Anjou’
1285–1309 Charles II – ‘The Lame’
1309–43 Robert – ‘The Wise’
1343–81 Giovanna
11381–66 Charles III – of Durazzo
1386–1414 Ladislao
1414–35 Giovanna II
1435–42 Réné of Anjou
In 1442 Alfonso King of Aragon and Sicily conquered Naples from Réné of Anjou (father-in-law of Henry VI of England) and styled himself ‘King of the Two Sicilies’. He left Naples to his bastard son Ferrante, his descendants ruling it until the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century.
The Aragonese Kings
1442–58 Alfonso I – ‘The Magnaminous’
1458–94 Ferdinand I – ‘Ferrante’
1494–95 Alfonso II
1495–96 Ferdinand II – ‘Ferrantino’
1496–1501 Federigo
In 1501 Federigo was deposed by his cousin King Ferdinand of Spain and for over 200 years the kingdom was governed by Spanish viceroys. In 1713 it passed to the Emperor Charles VI, being governed by Austrian viceroys. In 1738 Charles of Bourbon (technically Charles VII but generally called Charles III) drove out the Austrians, re-established the Two Sicilies as an independent monarchy and founded the ‘Borbone’ dynasty. On becoming King of Spain he abdicated in favour of his third son, Ferdinand IV, who in 1816 become known as Ferdinand I to mark the administrative reunion of the Two Sicilies.
The Borbone Kings
1734–59 Charles III
1759–99 Ferdinand IV
1799 The Parthenopean Republic
1799–1806 Ferdinand IV
1806–8 Joseph Napoleon (Bonaparte)
1808–15 Joachim Napoleon (Murat)
1815–25 Ferdinand IV and I (from 1816)
1825–30 Francis I
1830–59 Ferdinand II – ‘Bomba’
1859–60 Francis II – ‘Franceschiello’
Since 1860 the kingdom of the Two Sicilies has been part of united Italy (although the Holy See recognised its exiled kings until 1902).
Historical Gazetteer
Alberobello
One of the most visited towns in Apulia, it is unique in that the old centre is comprised entirely of trulli. The trullo church of Sant’Antonio was built in the twentieth century.
Altamura
In 1999 over 3000 footprints of five types of dinosaur were discovered in the area, the largest collection in Europe. The area was widely inhabited since Neolithic times but the discovery in 1993 of Altamura Man, the only complete fossilised skeleton from the Middle Lower Paleolithic era (200,000 BC), suggests its occupation by man started much earlier. (There is a conducted tour to this and the Pulo di Altamura – an impressive karst sink-hole north of the city). The city was one of the most important Peucetian settlements from at least the fifth century BC, surrounded by 6 metre high walls which ran for 4 kms. With the advent of the Via Traiana and the decline of the Via Appia it lost its importance. Destroyed by the Saracens who came from Metaponto up the Bradano valley it remained uninhabited until 1230 when Frederick II founded the modern town on the site of the old acropolis. The previous inhabitants had fled to the gravine – as they were to do again – and there are several rupestrian churches with traces of frescoes. The cathedral, one of the four palatine basilicas of Puglia, was founded by Frederick II in 1232 but considerably altered after the earthquake of 1316; the late fourteenth century portal with its bas relief of the Annunciation is particularly fine, as is the rose window from the thirteeth century.
Andria
Frederick II’s most loved city although now, with a population of 100,000, one of the largest in Apulia is still an attractive town and a good base from which to explore the cathedral cities of Trani, Barletta, Giovinazzo and Bisceglie. It is also the nearest town to the unmissable Castel del Monte.
The first inhabitants of the area lived in the grottoes but in the Iron Age they built round houses very similar to the trulli, many of which have been discovered between Andria and Castel del Monte Apulo from 1000 BC. it became a Peucetian settlement from the seventh century and then the Greek Netium. The inhabitants of Cannae fled here after the battle and destruction of their village in 216 BC. Under the Romans the town became a station on the Via Traiana. In 44 AD, on their way to Rome, St Peter and St Andrew evangelised the city which became a See in about 492. Basilian monks, fleeing from the iconoclast Byzantine emperors, settled in the surrounding grottoes and created their churches – Santa Croce still has frescoes. From 1064, under the Normans, the town was walled and fortified. The Emperor Frederick II regarded it as one of his most loyal cities and two of his wives had mausolea, destroyed by Charles of Anjou, in the cathedral crypt, the former seventh century Church of San Pietro. The cathedral also contains relics of San Riccardo and a thorn from Christ’s crown of thorns. Under the Angevines it became a duchy and was given in fee to Charles II’s daughter Beatrice on
her marriage to Bertrando Del Balzo. Given to Gonsalvo de Cordoba in 1507 by the Spanish King Ferdinand the Catholic, in 1552 it was sold by his nephew to the Carafa family to whom it belonged until 1806. Fabrizio Carafa built the basilica of Santa Maria dei Miracoli just outside the city. Andria was the birthplace of the famous eighteenth century castrato Farinelli, but he does not seem to have performed publicly in his native city after he was castrated on the suggestion of his brother and sent to Naples to study singing.
Bari
Bari is now a thriving town and a very interesting place to visit for a couple of days. In the new town the Petruzzelli Theatre has been restored and is staging world class operas and nearby Via Sparano and the streets off it are full of internationally renowned shops. But the real reason to go to the city is to visit Old Bari, a tangle of very narrow streets opening out into squares containing the wonderful Romanesque Cathedral of San Sabino, the Basilica di San Nicola and the castle built by Fredrick II.
Barletta
Inhabited from at least the fourth century BC it was the port for Canosa in Roman times. The Lombard invasion in the sixth century AD caused the inhabitants of Canosa to seek refuge in Barletta, as did the Norman Robert Guiscard’s sack of Cannae. The Normans built the church of San Sepolcro in front of which stands the statue of Eraclio/Are. The church has been heavily restored after falling out of use in the nineteenth century. Following the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land, the Archbishop of Nazareth took refuge in Barletta and the diocesan offices moved permanently there in 1327. Under the Anjou dynasty the city enjoyed its most prosperous period; the Romanesque cathedral was extended to the east in Gothic style by Pierre d’Angicourt, who also built the cathedral at Lucera and restored the castle at Canosa. But in 1456 an earthquake caused extensive damage. The Aragonese rebuilt the Norman castle to withstand Turkish bombardment but it was badly damaged by the Austrians in the First World War; it has been re-stored and is one of the most impressive in Puglia. From the baroque period very few palazzi of note have survived, one of which – the Palazzo della Marra – now houses the Pinecoteca De Nittis. An interesting modern monument is the Ossario Commemorativo dei Caduti Slavi – memorial and ossuary for the Yugoslavian partisans who, wounded in the Balkans during the war and brought across the Adriatic to hospitals in Puglia, died of their wounds.