The Norman Invasion of the Balkans (1081–5) in the Alexiad

Abstract Alexios’ war against the Normans in the Balkans looms large in the Alexiad. Extensive use is made of the Gesta Roberti Wiscardi, written in verse by William of Apulia in southern Italy. Careful comparison of the two accounts about the background and first phase of the Norman campaign in 1081 shows that the Alexiad’s Greek text was based on the Gesta’s Latin. The same conclusion, of direct dependence, can be drawn from parallel passages about Robert’s second attack in autumn 1084, deaths from disease the following winter, and the refloating of the Norman fleet in spring. In general, this western material is well integrated into independent Byzantine material. But Gesta-based notes about the 1084–5 campaign have been inserted into the Alexiad’s account of the initial invasion in 1081–2. This misplacing is attributed to Anna Komnene, working from loose notes of her late husband, Nikephoros Bryennios.