The Life and Death of Emperor Bohemond I
Emperor Bohemond I ruled for total 31 years and during his time, Sicily or Hauteville Empire, as it was now called, became the power in the Mediterranean and in the rest of the world. Once again, it is easy to forget that Bohemond did not start from nothing but instead, he inherited powerful, rich and quite peaceful realm. To be honest, Bohemond did not even have to push himself hard, but could have settled with the realm his ancestors left to him. Still, that was not how Bohemond ruled. Instead, he expanded rapidly in all directions, gaining land in north, east, south and west.
On personal note, he left behind 12 children, 6 of them boys and 6 girls, with 2 wives and 1 mistress. The safety of the throne was more then secured
The Heavenly Kingdom
Overall, Bohemond fought two wars in the Holy Land, securing the Kingdom and bringing every province of the Kingdom safely to Christian hands. The first war ever fought by Bohemond was a Holy War for Ascalon. Fought in 1164-1165, the war was easy, for Caliphate was yet again in the middle of civil wars and distress. The war ended with Duchy of Ascalon becoming Norman and Bohemond having finally enough provinces to declare himself as the King of Jerusalem, gaining heavy prestige in progress- and nabbing himself a nickname “the Holy”
Second war was the Crusade Pope Urban himself called to liberate the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Muslim hands, not minding the fact that most of Jerusalem was already Norman and Bohemond had been crowned by the Pope himself. This Crusade lasted from 1169-1172 and in the end, Bohemond came out as the greatest contributor to the fight, though the losses of Sicily had never been so high. The Duchy of Oultejordain, last of the four duchies of Jerusalem, was safely under Norman control.
Fights with Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire was still deeply entrenched within Italy, and Normans wanted that rich land for themselves. So, with civil war in Empire in 1166, Bohemond tried to take his chance of the Empire- to gain the land of rebellious Duke of Verona. The Normans took the Verona well enough, but the little rebellion ended and the war was unsuccessful due to lands being proper Empire again.
That did not stop Bohemond, and he tried to take Verona again, but this time from the Emperor himself. War lasted 1168-1169, and Norman troops proved to be successful in fighting the Emperor. German troops sent across the Alps were promptly defeated and Normans showed the rest of Europe that they have really learned how to take castles. Verona, the first Italian Duchy to be taken directly from the Emperor, was Bohemond’s. But that was not all, for Bohemond fought several wars with the Emperor.
Next war with Emperor was from 1175-1176, fought over last province of Verona, Treviso. Once again, Sicilians took the initiative, took the province, beat the Germans and finally, won the war.
Next fight with the Holy Roman Empire was not proper war- Count of Istria, former Duke of Carinthia had broken free of the Empire was King Bohemond just happened to have a courtier with claim of that County, so in 1185, after 1,5 month of warfare, Istria was under Sicilian control.
Proper was with Emperor was in 1186, just 10 years after the peace treaty. Bohemond had fabricated a claim on Ancona and did declare war on Emperor to make these claims come true. As usual, Normans took the province so fast that some people didn’t even realize that the war had begun and then the troops were set loose on Italy. Cities, castles and bishoprics fell and before Emperor could even bring his troops down to South, the war was over.
When the Emperor died in 1187, Sicily was ready for another war, this time over the Dukedom of Pisa. The war started in 1188 and ended just after half a year of fighting. The Emperor seemed to understand that there is no point in bringing in troops across the Alps, so he just gave up and gave the rich Duchy to Bohemond.
Overall, Bohemond gained two full Duchies and two separate provinces from the Holy Roman Empire, making the dream of owning Italy much easier to his successors.
Westwards advances
Emirate of Kabylia was split into minor counties with Sheiks ruling them and feuding amongst each other. That also meant that the enemy was unable to offer much resistance and three counties of Duchy of Algiers were taken from heathens and put under Norman rule. The war lasted from 1165-1166
Then, Bohemond took counties left from Emirate of Kabylia in a war lasting 1177-1178. Counties of Ouled Nail and Biskra were all that was left from a powerful Emirate. They were not able to offer much of resistance and the provinces were incorporated to Kingdom of Sicily without much resistance.
Sultanate of Mauretania was the westernmost of Muslim nations and in a war in 1179-1181, Bohemond took the first Duchy from them- Tlemcen. The war was not that tough, but the reason being more because Sicily was able to steamroll pretty much anything now.
Next target was Duchy of Tangiers, war lasting from 1191-1192. Norman troops landed in the distant province, won the sieges, beat the Sultanate armies and for the first time, Sicilian reach extended beyond the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic. With that war, Sultanate of Mauretania was dismissed and Bohemond crowned himself as the King of Mauretania.
In 1193, Bohemond went for another war against the Muslims, this time with hopes of gaining Duchy of Seville. This war proved to be his final.
Byzantine adventures
When the Byzantine Empire crumbled in civil war, Bohemond was quick to use the opportunity. His first wife Petronella had a solid claim on County of Hellas and Bohemond used it on a newly independent Duchy of Athens. War lasted in 1183-1184 and Bohemond’s second son, Oswulf, was made a Count of Hellas. It was the first time Normans took something from Byzantine lands, but it would not be the last.
Also, Isaakios de Hauteville, now independent ruler of Duchy of Samos, asked Bohemond’s help in making his Duchy bigger, and Bohemond agreed. War for Attileia took place in 1185-1186 and it was first time for Normans to fight in Anatolia. In the end, Norman support was just what Doux needed and Bohemond has a valuable ally in Byzantine lands.
The Shia Caliphate
Ever since Caliphate decided to attack Asclettin and the great King had Caliph and his three heirs killed, the Caliphate had been in sorry state. Constant infighting, several chunks becoming independent and whole Caliphate becoming poor, with burned villages and looted cities. Trade had stopped, farming was a minimal and whole Caliphate was suffering. It did not help when the Caliph inherited the Seljuk Turks, for soon, the Seljuk Lords were soon also fighting amongst themselves and against the poor Caliph, who had now ruined two realms.
Bohemond used that disarray to first take the Duchy of Ascalon, but that part is covered in Heavenly Kingdom. In 1189, Bohemond decided to take further advantage of the situation and conquered Duchy of Alexandria
The Papacy
It was in 1192, soon after Bohemond crowned himself an Emperor when the disagreements with the Pope were too much for Bohemond. So, he made his relative Sayer de Hauteville an antipope called Simplicitus II, went to war with Papacy and in less then a year, Pope Urban II was fleeing while Simplicitus II de Hauteville ruled as a Pope and a Puppet over the whole Christian lands.
The Economy
Bohemond finished construction of castles in Palermo, making the province able to field over 10 000 highly trained units. Plus, he constantly improved castles all over Siciliy and Calabria, thus making his personal demesne able to field over 20 000 soldiers.
He was also founder of several holdings- 2 castles that were added to his personal demesne and one city that was given to local Mayor. He also built a city in Venice, giving it to Doge and making total number of cities in Vence 3.
Bohemond kept also promoting Doges- 1 in Algiers, 1 in Tlemcen and 1 in Tangiers. Though the provinces were still freshly conquered, they already started adding to Bohemond’s coffers, making the ruler of Hauteville Empire the richest in the world.
Overall
Bohemond conquered total 34 provinces, fought in 17 wars (or 19, if you count smacking sheikdoms of Kabylia into separate wars), created or usurped total 8 Ducal titles, 2 King titles and created 1 Emperor title.
And with these badly drawn lines, i give you the total conquests of Bohemond