Treaty of Melfi
August 23, 1059
Pope Nicholas II invested Robert Guiscard with the duchies of Apulia, Calabria, and the not-yet-conquered Sicily, accepting a Norman vassal in exchange for military support. The formal blessing transformed Norman adventurers into legitimate princes and set up four decades of conquest across the Mezzogiorno and Sicily. The alliance gave the papacy a military counterweight to the German emperor, reshaping the balance of power in Italy.
In context
Also in 1059 (3 other events on record)
- Papal election decree at Lateran · Europe · Religion
- Fatimid Egypt Begins Its Slide Toward Crisis · Middle East · Politics
- Song Court Debates Water Conservancy and Hydraulic Engineering · East Asia · Science
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Politics
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources