Quote:
Originally Posted by pman
what are you some sort of nazi? this sounds like the hate that was spread againt the Italians "they're not really white because they aren't northern european".
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If people want to make those type of comments on ethnicities, then they should know actual facts and history. Of course they don't, which makes them sound very ignornant.. Southern Italy, especially Sicily (with its capital Palermo, that's considered to be the most conquered city in the world) was conquered by the Normans. The following is from Wiki...
The
Normans were the people who gave their names to
Normandy, a region in northern
France. They descended from
Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly
Frankish and
Gallo-Roman stock. Their identity emerged initially in the first half of the tenth century, and gradually evolved over succeeding centuries until they disappeared as an ethnic group in the early thirteenth century. The name "Normans" derives from "
Northmen" or "
Norsemen", after the Vikings from
Scandinavia who founded Normandy (
Northmannia in its original
Latin).
They played a major political, military, and cultural role in medieval Europe and even the Near East. They were famed for their martial spirit and
Christian piety. They quickly adopted the
Romance language of the land they settled in, their dialect becoming known as
Norman, an important literary language. The
Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the French crown, was one of the great large
fiefs of medieval France. The Normans are famed both for their culture, such as their unique
Romanesque architecture, and their musical traditions, as well as for the military accomplishments and innovations. Norman adventurers established a kingdom in
Sicily and southern Italy by conquest, and a Norman expedition on behalf of their duke led to the
Norman Conquest of England. Norman influence spread from these new centres to the
Crusader States in the Near East, to
Scotland and
Wales in
Great Britain, and to
Ireland.
In Russian historiography, the term "Norman" is often used for the
Varangians, as for example in the term "
Normanist theory". In French historiography too, the term is often applied to the various Viking groups that raided France in the ninth century before settling down to found Normandy.
Conquests in Italy:
Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold far to the south of Normandy. Probably the result of returning pilgrims' stories, the Normans entered the
Mezzogiorno as warriors in 1017, at the latest. In 999, according to
Amatus of Montecassino, pilgrims returning from
Jerusalem called in at the port of
Salerno, when a
Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that
Prince Guaimar IV begged them to stay, but they refused and instead offered to tell others back home of the prince's request.
William of Apulia tells that, in 1016, pilgrims to the shrine of the
Archangel Michael at
Monte Gargano were met by
Melus of Bari, a
Lombard freedom-fighter, who persuaded them to return with more warriors to help throw off the
Byzantine rule, which they did.
The two most prominent families to arrive in the Mediterranean were descendants of
Tancred of Hauteville and the
Drengots, of whom
Rainulf Drengot received the county of
Aversa, the first Norman toehold in the south, from Duke
Sergius IV of Naples in 1030. The
Hautevilles achieved princely rank by proclaiming Prince
Guaimar IV of Salerno "Duke of Apulia and Calabria". He promptly awarded their elected leader,
William Iron Arm, with the title of count with his capital of
Melfi. Soon the Drengots had attained unto the
principality of Capua, and the
Emperor Henry III had legally ennobled the Hauteville leader,
Drogo, as
dux et magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae in 1047
From these bases, the Normans eventually captured
Sicily and
Malta from the Saracens, under the famous
Robert Guiscard, a Hauteville, and his young brother
Roger the Great Count. Roger's son,
Roger II, was crowned king in 1130 (exactly one century after Rainulf was "crowned" count) by Pope
Anacletus II. The
kingdom of Sicily lasted until 1194, when it fell to the
Hohenstaufens through marriage.
The Normans left their mark however in the many castles, such as the Iron Arm's fortress at
Squillace, and cathedrals, such as Roger II's at
Cefalù, which dot the landscape and give a wholly distinct architectural flavour to accompany its unique history. Institutionally, the Normans combined the administrative machinery of the Byzantines, Arabs, and Lombards with their own conceptions of feudal law and order to forge a unique government. Under this state, there was great religious freedom, and alongside the Norman nobles existed a meritocratic bureaucracy of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox.
This is only a percentage of what Southern Italians are made up of.
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