Loss of Identity

By the beginning of the 11th Century, the Normans had virtually completed the process by which they transformed themselves frm a coalition of illiterate heathen barbarians into a civilised Christian State. In southern Italy the Normans found a great market for their mercenary abilities and by 1022 they had perfected the art of being on the winning side. By 1056 Robert Guiscard had become a dominant power in Southern Italy and ther reign of his nephew Roger II found a successful and thriving kingdom. The Kingdom in the Sun represented the bridge between north and south, east and west, and the Teuton, Christian and Muslim worlds, and boasted a flourishing culture that combined Byzantine, Arabic and Western elements to become that most prosperous and strongly centralised state in the mediterranean world.