A few Italo-Norman TL ideas?

Zioneer

Banned
So I've always liked reading about the early years of the Normans in South Italy, and want to write a TL about them. The thing is, I've come up with a lot of PoDs, but I don't have enough expertise to figure out their plausibility or the amount of research I'd have to do to be able to really understand how they would work, so I want to narrow it down so I can find out the absolute minimum research required for a TL. You guys will help me decide.

Norman TL ideas:


1) Robert Guiscard's first conquest of Sicily is a success, and he solidifies his control of Sicily, culminating in the crowning of Roger Borsa as King of Sicily. With this PoD, Roger Borsa has a stronger personality, and keeps control of what he sees as his by right.

2) Alexius Komenos fails at a critical juncture in his wars against the Latins, and is killed by the Normans in battle. Guiscard and his son Bohemond defeat the Byzantine defenses and put a puppet Emperor on the throne in Constantinople, marrying the puppet's daughter to Bohemond himself. Thus the Normans rule Byzantium, with a half-Norman Emperor being a future possibility. However, few of the Byzantine princes are happy with this...

3) Robert Gusicard never marries Sikelgaita, and thus Bohemond remains his heir. The powerful Bohemond brings the Norman and Lombard lords to heel, and looks towards the Mediterranean islands for new conquests. Alternatively, Guiscard still marries Sikelgaita, but manages to keep Bohemond as his heir. The landless Roger Borsa is raised in an entirely different set of circumstances, and the man known as "Coinpurse" looks towards the Levant for glory...


4) Bohemond keeps a level enough head and swears loyalty to Emperor Alexius. Instead of his betrayal of the Greeks, the rest of the Crusaders do so, and the scheming Norman becomes the Byzantine's enforcer in the Levant.

5) The Normans are wiped out in Italy by some foe of theirs (whether an old enemy like the Lombards, or a new threat), and the survivors flee to the court of their old rivals the Byzantines, becoming part of the Varangian Guard. These Normans are the ultimate survivors, becoming a force in Byzantine politics for generations.

6) A failed Norman rebellion against William the Conqueror drives hundreds of Norman nobles south to Italy, giving the Italo-Normans new soldiers, but compounding their troubles with the notoriously independent Norman nobility.

So which TL idea sounds most plausible and most fun to you guys?
 
I think number 6 could make for an interesting one. I'd like to see something along the lines of a definite italo-norman split. The normans ruling naples, apulia sicily etc and a large north Italian state ( I'd say without Venice and Rome, possibly without some of the more german-influenced cities) that constantly come into conflict, along the lines of Israel and it's surrounding nations in today's world.

It could also have severe ramifications for the first crusade, seeming as Bohemond's attentions may be elsewhere.
 

Zioneer

Banned
I think number 6 could make for an interesting one. I'd like to see something along the lines of a definite italo-norman split. The normans ruling naples, apulia sicily etc and a large north Italian state ( I'd say without Venice and Rome, possibly without some of the more german-influenced cities) that constantly come into conflict, along the lines of Israel and it's surrounding nations in today's world.

It could also have severe ramifications for the first crusade, seeming as Bohemond's attentions may be elsewhere.


Hmm.. The Normans might be able to take Ancona or Ravenna, if they're lucky. That could work. Guiscard could promise Ravenna to Bohemond, perhaps?

Any thoughts on the other TL ideas?
 
Won't it pit them against the Varangian guards, their not-so-distant kin?

They weren't kin at all. By the eleventh century, a lot of Anglo-Saxons nobles and warriors have entered the Varangian Guard. If anything the Normans would try to eliminate the Guard and replace it with a corps of Normans from the Italian peninsula to "guard" the Emperor.
 

Zioneer

Banned
Norman Byzantium!

Yeah, I'd like to do Norman Byzantium the most, but it's also the one that will run on less plausiblity and more Rule of Cool, so I wasn't sure if I should do it. I don't really know how Byzantium would plausibly react to barbarian generals coming back.

They weren't kin at all. By the eleventh century, a lot of Anglo-Saxons nobles and warriors have entered the Varangian Guard. If anything the Normans would try to eliminate the Guard and replace it with a corps of Normans from the Italian peninsula to "guard" the Emperor.

Exactly; that's how I would write it. Palace intrigues involving Normans plotting against Saxons, cutting down emperors who oppose them.

Actually, a Plantagenet Sicily is also an interesting idea.

That might be fun, but I'd really just like to mess around with Norman PoDs.
 
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