Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081) 1081
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1081 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Albania | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Byzantine–Norman Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Duchy of Apulia and Calabria | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 41.3000, 19.5000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium (present-day Durrës in Albania), the major Byzantine stronghold in the western Balkans, and ended in a Norman victory.
Following the Norman conquest of Byzantine Italy and Saracen Sicily, the Byzantine emperor, Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), betrothed his son to Robert Guiscard's daughter. When Michael was deposed, Robert took this as an excuse to invade the Byzantine Empire in 1081. His army laid siege to Dyrrhachium, but his fleet was defeated by the Venetians. On October 18, the Normans engaged a Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos outside Dyrrhachium. The battle began with the Byzantine right wing routing the Norman left wing, which broke and fled. Varangian troops joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Normans, but became separated from the main force and were massacred. Norman knights attacked the Byzantine centre and routed it, causing the bulk of the Byzantine army to rout.
After this victory, the Normans took Dyrrhachium in February 1082 and advanced inland, capturing most of Macedonia and Thessaly.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081) (revision 1380918330), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Byzantine–Norman Wars
- Siege of Bari 1068
- Battle of the Zompos Bridge 1074
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- Battle of Demetritzes 1185
- Sack of Thessalonica (1185) 1185
All 7 battles of the Byzantine–Norman Wars →
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