Siege of Syracuse (1086)
1086 siege
In 1086, following a naval battle, the Islamo-Sicilian city of Syracuse was blockaded by sea and besieged by land from May to October by the forces of the Norman county of Sicily. Following the death and flight of its leaders, the city surrendered.
The main source for the siege, the Norman historian Geoffrey Malaterra, dates it to 1085, but modern historians believes this to be a mistake for 1086.
The campaign had a religious character, being conceived in response to outrages perpetrated against churches and nuns and pitting Christians against Muslims.
Background
In 1081, Benavert, the emir of Syracuse, acquired control of the city of Catania, displacing its emir. The city was soon conquered, however, by Jordan, the son of Count Roger I of Sicily. In the summer of 1084, Benavert launched a raid on Calabria. At Nicotera, his soldiers took the inhabitants into slavery; at Reggio, they razed two churches; and at a place called Rocca d'Asino, they raped some nuns and took them into captivity. In response, Roger planned an attack on Syracuse. He was delayed by the death of his brother, Robert Guiscard, in July 1085 and the succession dispute between Robert's sons, Roger Borsa and Bohemond.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q133270602. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1086, 1085, 1081 and 1084.
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