Battle of Dyrrhachium
Outside Dyrrhachium (present-day Durrës), Albania
What happened
Norman forces under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, fought the Byzantine army of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. After conquering southern Italy, the Normans crossed the Adriatic and besieged the Byzantine port of Dyrrhachium. Alexios marched to relieve it, and his Varangian Guard drove back the Norman left wing but chased too far and was cut off. Norman knights then charged the Byzantine centre, which broke, and the Byzantine army fled.
Why it matters
Why it matters: A historian called the defeat 'every bit as severe as that at Manzikert'. It opened the way for a Norman invasion of the Byzantine Balkans.
What came next
Dyrrhachium fell in February 1082. Alexios defeated the Normans at Larissa in 1083, and they withdrew to Italy.
Did you know?
According to the Byzantine princess and historian Anna Komnene, Robert's wife Sikelgaita rallied fleeing Norman soldiers on the beach.
Timeline
- 627 BCEGreek colonists found Epidamnos (later Dyrrhachium).
- 18 October 1081The Normans win at Dyrrhachium.
- February 1082Dyrrhachium falls to the Normans.
- 1083Alexios defeats the Normans at Larissa.