The investiture controversy heats up with an anti-king elected in Germany and an anti-pope elected by Henry IV who then take the fight against Gregory and Matilde down into Italy with the Normans of Robert Guiscard waiting in the wings.
We take a look at the arrival of the Normans in Southern Italy at the start of the XI century and follow their participation in the anti-Byzantine rebellion of the 1040’s.
In this recap episode we look back over the period from the fall of the Lombard kingdom at the hands of Charlemagne in 774 to the year 1000.
Otto I of Germany continues to consolidate his hold over Italy, attempting to go all the way south and dislodge the remaining Byzantine presence, meanwhile setting up his son with a Byzantine princess, Theophanu.
We finish off the last of th Carolingians in Italy and take a look at the feudal system they brought with them into the county.
