Another one of my "maps"
View attachment 35062
POD: Tancred de Hauteville gets a bit more frisky, and spawns two more boys; Mattiew (b. 1014); and and a second boy named Geoffrey (b. 1016). These two travel to Southern Italy like so many of their compatriots, looking for fame, fortune and a fief of their own.
Both served admirably in the doomed Byzantine invasion of Sicily in 1038. Mattiew earned the title 'the Crimson one' after hacking through the Saracen lines to save Geoffrey. After taking part in Gaimar of Salerno's campaign against the Greeks of Apulia, both were denied their own fiefs by their brother William the Iron Armed. Dejected, they traveled to Calabria. Geoffrey taking control of the north, Mattiew the south, they began the systematic plundering of Calabria. Mattiew was elected Count of Crotone, leader of the Normans of Calabria.
Geoffrey left his brother to travel back north to the Apulian Norman court at Melfi. A master of court intrigue and espionage, he quickly gained control of the loyalties of several key Norman and Lombard. In 1049 he moved against his brother Drogo and seized control of Melfi.
The Saracens of Sicily were an appeasing target for Mattiew. In 1059 he launched an invasion of the Island. Landing at Messina, he quickly carved out a beachhead where additional troops and supplies could be ferried across the straights. The conquest was long and bloody. in 1067 Palermo was finally captured. It wasn't until nearly a decade later that all of Sicily was under control. Mattiew realized that a navy was key to being powerful in the Mediterranean. In order to have free reign, and not be held down by the perpetual insurrections of the mainland. Mattiew gave his title 'Duke of Calabria' to Geoffrey, who was already Prince of Bari. This allowed him to start raiding North Africa, taking the coast, as well as the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica.
Nearing death in 1086, the two brothers looked back on their achievements. What new conquests would their sons bring to their domains?
