Battle of Cerami

The Battle of Cerami was fought in June 1063 and was one of the most significant battles in the Norman conquest of Sicily, 1060–1091. The battle was fought between a Norman expeditionary force and a Muslim alliance of Sicilian and Zirid troops. The Normans fought under the command of Roger de Hauteville, the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville and brother of Robert Guiscard. The Muslim alliance consisted of the native Sicilian Muslims under the Kalbid ruling class of Palermo, led by Ibn al-Hawas, and Zirid reinforcements from North Africa led by the two princes, Ayyub and 'Ali. The battle was a resounding Norman victory that utterly routed the opposing force, causing divisions amongst the Muslim aristocracy which ultimately paved the way for the eventual capture of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, by the Normans and subsequently the rest of the island.

The initial battle took place at the hilltop town of Cerami, around five miles to the west of the Norman stronghold at Troina. However, the main battle was joined in the valley just to the south. By all accounts the Normans, numbering 136 knights with probably only slightly more infantry, were heavily outnumbered by their Muslim opponents who some sources claim were as many as 50,000 strong. The best-surviving source of information for the battle is found in Geoffrey of Malaterra's De rebus gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius.

Roger de Hauteville had arrived in Italy sometime after the Battle of Civitate in 1053, which had seen his brother Robert Guiscard catapulted into the spotlight. In the ensuing years, Robert inherited his brother Humphrey de Hauteville's lands and titles in southern Italy. As a result of increasing pressure exerted on the papacy by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, during the Investiture Contest, Pope Nicholas II was looking for allies. Despite the Norman victory against, and subsequent incarceration of, his predecessor Pope Leo IX in 1053 at Civitate, Nicholas concluded the Synod of Melfi in 1059 by formally acknowledging the Norman possessions in southern Italy and granting Robert the title of Duke of Apulia and Calabria, and in the future, of Sicily. Robert did not have to wait long for an opportunity to invade Sicily.

By this time, Roger had taken control of Calabria from Robert in recognition of Roger's help against the rebellious Norman lords there and held it as his fief, but owing homage to Robert as his duke. In 1060, the Sicilian Emir of Syracuse, Ibn al-Timnah, landed at Reggio in Calabria to secure the aid of the Normans against his rival emir, Ibn al-Hawas. He promised that, in return for the Normans' military assistance, al-Timnah would acknowledge their claim over the entire island. Roger immediately began preparing to make a foray across the straits of Messina. After one reconnaissance raid in 1060 and one abortive attempt in early 1061, Roger captured Messina ahead of a Norman army under the command of Robert Guiscard.

The population of the Val Demone region of Sicily, of which Messina forms the northeast corner, was largely made up of Greek-speaking Christians despite two centuries of Islamic rule and they welcomed the Normans as liberators. With Messina fortified and garrisoned, Robert and Roger were free to march inland. Conquering as they went, the Norman army quickly secured Rometta, Frazzano, Centuripe and Paternò. They defeated a sizeable force belonging to Ibn al-Hawas as his fortress at Enna (or Castrogiovanni) but were ill-prepared to maintain a siege of its citadel for long. With the campaigning season drawing to a close, Robert abandoned the siege and returned to Italy with Roger. Roger however, did not remain there long and, returning with a small force, captured Troina, where he spent Christmas 1061. The following year, while his brother was tied down with Apulian rebellions and Byzantine resurgences, Roger plundered to Agrigento and solidified Norman holdings in the Val Demone. However, as 1062 drew to a close, Ibn al-Hawas launched a counterattack which besieged Roger's wife and a handful of retainers in Troina's citadel. Roger returned from plundering and his relief force broke through the siege lines and managed to occupy the citadel, but the Normans found themselves besieged by the Muslims as well as the Greek townsfolk, who were tired of the harsh Norman rule. Roger's second Christmas in Troina was markedly less comfortable.

Early in 1063, Roger broke the siege of Troina and resumed his harrying of the Sicilian interior. Unbeknown to him, however, Ibn al-Hawas had signed an alliance with the Zirid emir of Ifriqiya, Tamim ibn al-Mu'izz, and had received substantial reinforcements of Zirid soldiers led by his sons, princes Ayyub and 'Ali. Ibn al-Hawas struck eastwards at the head of this large army towards Roger's position at Troina with a single-minded ambition, to destroy the Norman presence on the island.

Roger's force consisted of 136 mounted Norman knights who were highly disciplined and well versed in the Frankish tactic of the heavy cavalry charge. The Norman force would also have contained an infantry element but, owing to Roger's chronic shortage of manpower, this almost certainly did not exceed approximately 150 troops and would have consisted of Norman as well as Calabrian Lombard sergeants and dismounted knights and squires.

Norman notables at the battle included Roger I of Sicily, Serlo II of Hauteville, Roussel de Bailleul and Arisgot du Pucheuil. Roger, although the supreme commander of the army, would also have led a personal retinue of several dozen knights and their entourages. His nephew Serlo also commanded a cadre of around 30 knights, as would have other lords, and to a lesser extent other knights, such as Roussel de Bailleul and Arisgot du Pucheuil.