Normans sack Rome

May 28, 1084

Robert Guiscard marched north from Apulia with a mixed Norman and Saracen army to rescue his papal ally Gregory VII. His troops drove out Henry IV but then pillaged and burned large parts of Rome, including the Lateran quarter. Roman hatred of the rescuers ensured Gregory's permanent exile thereafter. The destruction was so extensive that entire neighborhoods remained abandoned ruins for decades.