The Battle of Dyrrhachium (near present-day Durrës in Albania) took place on 18 October 1081, between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of Southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria.

PropertyValue
dbpedia-owl:causalties
  • 5,000 men dead
dbpedia-owl:combatant
  • 23px Duchy of
    Apulia and Calabria
  • 30px Byzantine Empire
dbpedia-owl:commander
dbpedia-owl:date
  • 1081-10-18 (xsd:date)
dbpedia-owl:partof
dbpedia-owl:place
dbpedia-owl:result
  • Norman victory
dbpedia-owl:strength
  • 150 ships
  • 20,000 men
  • 30,000 men
dbpprop:abstract
  • The Battle of Dyrrhachium (near present-day Durrës in Albania) took place on 18 October 1081, between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of Southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium, the Byzantine capital of Illyria, and ended in a Norman victory. Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine Emperor, Michael VII, betrothed his son to Robert Guiscard's daughter. When Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians. On 18 October, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexius I Comnenus outside Dyrrhachium. The battle began with the Byzantine right wing routing the Norman left wing, which broke and fled. Varangian mercenaries joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Normans, but became separated from the main force and were massacred. Norman knights in the centre attacked the Byzantine centre and routed it, causing the Byzantines to run away. After this victory, the Normans took Dyrrhachium in February 1082 and advanced inland, capturing most of Macedonia and Thessaly. Robert was then forced to leave Greece to deal with an attack on his ally, the Pope by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV. Robert left his son Bohemond in charge of the army in Greece. Bohemond was initially successful, defeating Alexius in several battles, but was defeated by Alexius outside Larissa. Forced to retreat to Italy, Bohemond lost all the territory gained by the Normans in the campaign. The Byzantine recovery began the Komnenian restoration. (en)
  • La battaglia di Durazzo ebbe luogo il 18 ottobre 1081 e vide contrapposti da una parte l'Impero bizantino, guidato da Alessio I, dall'altra i Normanni di Roberto il Guiscardo. (it)
dbpprop:align
  • right (en)
dbpprop:border
  • 1px (en)
dbpprop:caption
  • Italy and the Balkans in AD 1084. (en)
dbpprop:casualties
  • 5,000 men dead 7,000 men deserted (en)
  • SubstantialHaldon, The Byzantine Wars, 137 (en)
dbpprop:combatant
dbpprop:commander
dbpprop:conflict
  • Battle of Dyrrhachium (en)
dbpprop:date
  • 1081-10-18 (xsd:date)
dbpprop:display
  • title (en)
dbpprop:halign
  • left (en)
dbpprop:hasPhotoCollection
dbpprop:margin
  • 2px (en)
dbpprop:partof
dbpprop:place
dbpprop:quote
  • "Alexius was undoubtedly a good tactician, but he was badly let down by the indisciplined rush to pursue the beaten enemy wings, a cardinal sin in the Byzantine tactical manuals. He failed to take adequate account of the effectiveness of the Norman heavy cavalry charge, which punched through his lines with little resistance." (en)
  • "Not being satisfied with the men who had served in his army from the beginning and had experience in battle, he formed a new army, made up of recruits without any consideration of age. From all quarters of Lombardy and Apulia he gathered them, over age and under age, pitiable objects who had never seen armour in their dreams, but then clad in breastplates and carrying shields, awkwardly drawing bows to which they were completely unused and following flat on the ground when they were allowed to march." (en)
dbpprop:result
dbpprop:source
  • Anna Comnena describing Robert Guiscard's conscription.quoted from Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, 1.13 (en)
  • John Haldon's assessment of the battle. (en)
dbpprop:strength
  • 20,000 menHaldon, The Byzantine Wars, 134 (en)
  • 30,000 men 150 ships (en)
dbpprop:width
  • 30em (en)
dbpprop:wikiPageUsesTemplate
dbpprop:wordnet_type
georss:point
  • 41.3 19.5
rdf:type
rdfs:comment
  • The Battle of Dyrrhachium (near present-day Durrës in Albania) took place on 18 October 1081, between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of Southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. (en)
  • La battaglia di Durazzo ebbe luogo il 18 ottobre 1081 e vide contrapposti da una parte l'Impero bizantino, guidato da Alessio I, dall'altra i Normanni di Roberto il Guiscardo. (it)
rdfs:label
  • Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081) (en)
  • Battaglia di Durazzo (1081) (it)
owl:sameAs
geo:lat
  • 41.299999 (xsd:float)
geo:long
  • 19.500000 (xsd:float)
skos:subject
foaf:depiction
foaf:img
foaf:page
is dbpprop:battles of
is dbpprop:redirect of