After fielding "Sicilo-Normans" in a number of WRG tournaments, I got to thinking that the lists available, both the WRG BK. III as well as the NASAMW one could use some exploration and expansion upon. In researching an upcoming work, I have been immersed in the military history of Norman Italy during the mid-late 11th century, and as a result of this study, the following proposal is being presented for consideration in NASAMW's next updated army list revisions.

First of all, it is important to start 'clean' with any army list, no matter what period we are working on. By this, I mean we cannot simply rely on the data given in previous lists and add to it. Hopefully, your own research will substantiate the majority of an existing lists information... if not there are serious problems somewhere along the lines! As you will see from this article, certain areas of study will expand upon established researched listings, not completely change them.

During the 11th century, the Normans became the dominant, overwhelmingly successful military machine in Western Europe. No one could withstand them in battle, not the hardy Anglo-Saxon huscarles, not the overly confident and vain Germans, not even the drilled and well-trained Byzantine armies. Most enemies of the Normans faced them with confidence once. After the inevitable defeat, the morale of the beaten faction helped to contribute to even more decisive Norman victories. What was it that made the Normans virtually invincible, and how does this translate into an army list... or can it be?

Descendants of the Norsemen, the Normans carried a fierce love of battle and warfare in their hearts as well as their literature, chansons de geste and artwork (i.e. the Bayeaux Tapestry). The code of honor and bravery in war, above all else, drove the Normans to excel on the field of battle. Cowardice and fear, though felt, and even expressed at times before a conflict, were left behind when the knight mounted his charger and grasped his lance, preparing to destroy his opponent. But headstrong bravery is not enough... history is filled with examples of brave warriors fighting a losing battle. Combined with this love of fighting were the methods by which they conducted their warfare.

The Normans fought mounted, on strong warhorses which gave them mobility as well as charge impetus. This charge impetus is useless unless it can be directed and collected at a given point, i.e. pushed home with strength in numbers on a small impact zone. From their Norse ancestors, the Normans inherited the concept of the 'boar's-head', or wedge attack. Forming in wedge allowed the most power to be concentrated on the least amount of frontage, the result being a breaking through of the enemy line. Not only does this permit the attacker to disrupt the enemy formation, it also puts him in the rear of the enemy front lines, causing all sorts of consternation to the second and third lines (as evidenced in the many battles in Sicily where the Normans would put the Muslim cavalry to flight simply by riding through their first rank). Again and again, the Norman wedges beat the enemy. 

Though the wedge was extremely important, the cavalryman himself also had to exact enough pressure on the enemy counterpart to put him out of action... without that, the wedge would simply flatten against a determined foe, as at Hastings. To this end, the Normans used two tactical innovations: the high-ridged saddle and long stirrups which permitted the Norman horseman to stand rigid as he delivered his under-arm lance thrust. As he hit his opponent, the Norman Milites could deliver an extraordinarily powerful force. The Norman knights rode with their legs rigid and straight, focusing the lance thrust and driving the point home against their usually less stable opponent. Again and again, the chroniclers of the time note the "irresistible" initial charge of the Normans.

So much for the Norman knight or Milites. Normally, each knight rode with a squire and a retainer, sometimes several. Though not as well trained as their lord, these men were armed and armored much the same. They made up the rear ranks of the Norman wedges and, when in hand-to-hand combat, they fought alongside the knights, protecting their flanks and rear from enemy attacks. These retainers also fought in wedge, though with the Milites forming the leading edges.

Though many Norman armies of this time fought as pure cavalry forces, the majority of the battles featured some foot forces as well as an occasional light cavalry squadron. In the years before the Sicilian campaigns, the infantry consisted of Italian spear-armed levies; notably Lombards, Calabrians and Apulians, though surprisingly, Greeks were sometimes found fighting alongside the Normans as well as Slav, Breton, Fleming and Poitevan mercenaries. Though of dubious value, the Norman nobles could also call upon the servientes defensati, or serf levy en masse in an emergency.

After the invasion of Sicily, the Normans added units of Sicilian Greeks as well as Muslim fighters to their polyglot armies. Certain Muslim volunteers fought not for pay, as the other mercenary troops in the Norman army did, but for loot. These 'Rizico' fought to enrich themselves off the bodies of their fallen enemies... and to that effect were brutal in their fighting. The Muslims usually would not fight other Muslims, however, so the Normans used them in their other theaters of war, Italy and Greece. The Muslims provided large numbers of archers for the Norman armies which soon were utilized in a missile support role to the charging knights.

With this information, we can begin to formulate our army list.

List # 102 b. ITALO-NORMANS 1041-1099 (WARM).

CiC Norman mounted as heaviest Milites @100 1
PA Standard to accompany CiC @ 15 1
Norman Sub-General mounted as heaviest Milites @50 0-2 (1)
Lombard, Norman or Muslim Ally-General as bodyguard @75 *1 (2)
P Standards for Sub or Ally-Generals @5 All
Norman Milites Irr B HC L/Sh @9 5-48 (3)
Extra to upgrade to Irr A @1 (E) 1/2-All (S,L,C) -1/2 (4)
Extra to upgrade Staff Elements to HR @2 (L,C) Any (5)
Norman Sergeants/Retainers Irr C MC L/Sh @6 6-48
Extra to upgrade to HC @2 (E) -12 (S,L) -36 (6)
Lombard Caballarii Irr C HC L/Sh @8 (E,S) *5-18 (7)
Extra to upgrade Lombards to bodyguard Irr B @1 -5
Breton Mercenaries Irr C LC JLS/Sh @6 (E,S) -8 (8)
Apulian/Calabrian Foot Irr D LM1/MI JLS @1 (E,S,L) **24-144 (9)
Extra to substitute Bow for JLS as Lombard Archers @0 -36
Extra for Shield for Foot @1 Any
Extra to upgrade any shielded foot to Irr C @1 Any
Extra for MI to substitute LTS for JLS @0 Al1/0
Extra to upgrade Irr C to Reg D as town militia @0 (L) All/0
Byzantine prisoners Reg D MI 2/3 LTS/Sh @3, 1/3 B @2 (S) -12 (10)
Flemish mercenaries Irr C MI LTS/Sh @3 (S) -16 (11)
Extra to upgrade Byzantiness or Flemings to HI @2 Any
Sicilian Greeks Irr C LMI/LI JLS/Sh @3 (S,L) 12-36 (12)
Muslim Archers Irr C LI/LMI Bows (S,L) 24-96 (13)
Extra to give Sh to Muslims @1 -1/2
Extra to upgrade Muslim LMI to LHI @2 -1/4 (14)
Muslim Rizico Irr A LMI JLS/Sh @5 (S,L) -12 (15)
Muslim Nobles Irr B HC L/Sh @9 (S,L) *-8
Servientes Defensati Irr D LMI IPW @1 ***36-144 (16)
Extra to arm with JLS or instead of IPW @0 -1/4
Extra to arm with Bow instead of IPW @0 -1/4 
Change LMI w/JLS or Bow to LI as skirmishers @0 -1/2
Extra to add 'Sh to JLS-armed (L,C) -1/2
Extra to upgrade to Irr A Religious' Pilgrims @3 (C) -1/3
Up to 25 Irregular commands 025 Pts.
Up to 3 Irregular commands @10 Pts. to provide LI Saracen detachments for Milites (L).

This list covers the Normans in Italy from the Battle of Olivento in 1041 until their conquest of Sicily and participation in the First Crusade. It is broken down into an early (E) period until 1061, the conqest of Sicily period (S) until 1081, and the later (L) period covering Robert Guiscard's attack on mainland Greece, the fighting in Italy for supremecy and the First Crusade (C).

Lombards may not be used together with Muslims. Troops marked * are required only if Lombard cavalry are used. Minimums marked ** are only compulsary in (L) period. Servientes marked *** are required only in the First Crusade (C), but can be used in any Norman army.

NOTES:

(1). In virtually every battle the Normans fought, they had two and usually three 'battles' or divisions, each commanded by a relative or trusted friend. Though the Norman de Hauteville brothers fought each other for control of Southern Italy, they always fought together when confronted with a common foe. As such, they must be considered Sub, not Ally Generals. Rarely did the Normans allow a command in battle to be under a foreign ally general.

(2). In the few instances where this did occur, i.e. the Muslim rebel Ibn al-Timnah at Faro (1061), the Normans kept a tight rein on the Ally-General and made sure he was surrounded by loyal Norman troops.

(3). The fewest Norman knights recorded as fighting in a set-piece battle were those accompanying Roger's initial expeditions to Sicily (160 Milites). The largest number were involved in Guiscard's invasion of Greece in 1081 (1300+).

(4). Normans could usually defeat their opponents by their fierce initial charge (note Anna Comnena's and Alp Arslan's commentaries). When first invading Italy, all of the exuberant and glory-seeking Milites were uncontrollable in their desire to destroy their opponents, thus all could be upgraded to Irr A status. After Guiscard's overall control became established, many of the knights settled into a more settled lifestyle, setting up feudal domains and, while still fighting as fiercely as ever at times, they also began to show more deliberate methods of war - feigned flight, refusal to immediatly charge an enemy and making use of tactical terrain advantages.

(5). As evidenced in the Bayeux Tapestry, the Norman leaders had fuller armor than their troops and as the Normans acclimated to Italy they began to style their protective armor after the more fully protected Byzantines and Lombards, thus rating HK status for command elements.

(6). As a result of winning every battle they fought, the Norman retainers were constantly upgrading their own armor with that taken from the bodies of their better accoutramented foes.

(7). Lombards fought in many of the early battles in Italy alongside the Normans in myriad internicine quarrels before Norman conquest turned the lombard nobility against them. After 1053, the only noted Lombard presence iR Norman armies occurred during the Palermo expedition of 1071 and Robert's 1084 'all Italy' campaign against the invading Germans of Henry IV.

(8). Bretons reportedly accompanied the Palermo expedition of 1071 and small numbers of them fought for pay alongside their Norman neighbors in the earlier expeditions in Italy. After Palermo, there is no record of LC use by the Norman in Italy until 1150, when Saracen mercenaries began to be used.

(9). The Norman armies which fought in Italy and later in Greece, had large contingents of levy foot. They were usually kept in reserve or guarding the camps until Guiscard's 1081-2 Greek campaign. The Italian militia were conscripted and drilled for months before boarding ship to Durazzo. They were taught to close ranks and fight with spear and shield, but Robert could never make them the enthusiastic support troops he needed.

(10). After the capture of the Byzantine held cities on the Italian mainland, numbers of Byzantine garrison troops took Guiscard's offer of pay to fight in Sicily. They are reported in the army which took part in the Palermo expedition of 1071. (11). The same expedition attracted numbers of Flemish/Poitevan and Anjevin mercenary foot. Call them all Flemish for this list.

(12). Sicilian Greeks fought in various battles, always good support troops for the Normans. They made up 1/3 of the army which was involved in the Salerno campaign of 1076.

(13). The main reason the Normans took Sicily was that the leading ruling Emirs were in the midst of a bloody power struggle when they landed. It did not take long for the Muslim fighters to opt to join the unbeatable Normans, taking part in campaigns in Italy as well as Sicily.

(14). The option to upgrade to LHI is based upon the jazerant, a cloth covered mail tunic worn by some Muslim archers. (see Angus McBride's painting in Nicolle's The Normans).

(15). The Muslim Rizico are an unusual type of fighter. Instead of fighting for pay, as most mercenaries, they wanted to simply loot the bodies of their enemies! To this end, the Rizico were inclined to rush into battle, trying to destroy the enmy as quickly as possible so as to get their loot!

(16). Though rarely encouraged, the peasant levy could be called up at any time by the Norman rulers. They could not, however, discourage thousands of pilgrims from accompanying Bohemond's Norman knights on their expediton to the Holy Land.

The Italo-Normans 1041-1088 A.D.

WRG List # 102(b)
Battle of the Period