Melus of Bari (died 1020) was a Lombard nobleman from Bari, Apulia whose 1017 rebellion against the Byzantine Greek rulers of southern Italy ultimately led to the Norman conquest of Sicily.
Biography[]
Melus of Bari was born in Bari, Apulia to a noble Lombard family, and he rebelled against his Greek overlords in 1009 and took Bari itself. In 1010, he took Ascoli and Troia as well, but, in 1011, the Byzantine general Basil Mesardonites recaptured Bari. Melus fled to the court of Prince Guaimar III of Salerno, while his family was captured and carted off to Constantinople. In 1016, he travelled to the shrine of St. Michael at Gargano to appeal for aid from the warlike Norman pilgrims who were visiting the shrine of their patron saint. In 1017, the Norman adventurers joined Melus at Capua, motivated by a thirst for battle and plunder. The Byzantines crushed the Lombard-Norman army in the Battle of Cannae in 1018, forcing Melus to flee to the Papal States and then to the court of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II at Bamberg. The Emperor made him the titular Duke of Apulia, but Melus died a broken man in 1020. His son Argyrus later became the Byzantine Catepan of Italy.