41°44′N 15°16′E / 41.733°N 15.267°E
| Battle of Civitate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Battle plan of the Battle of Civitate. Red: Normans. Blue: Papal coalition. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Normans |
Papal coalition | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Humphrey of Hauteville Robert Guiscard Richard Drengot |
Rudolf of Benevento Gerard, Duke of Lorraine | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
3,000 horsemen c. 500 infantry | c. 6,000, infantry and horsemen | ||||||
The Battle of Civitate was fought on 18 June 1053 in southern Italy, between the Normans, led by the Count of Apulia Humphrey of Hauteville, and a Swabian-Italian-Lombard army, organised by Pope Leo IX and led on the battlefield by Gerard, Duke of Lorraine, and Rudolf, Prince of Benevento. The Norman victory over the allied papal army marked the climax of a conflict between the Norman mercenaries who came to southern Italy in the eleventh century, the de Hauteville family, and the local Lombard princes. By 1059 the Normans would create an alliance with the papacy, which included a formal recognition by Pope Nicholas II of the Norman conquest in south Italy, investing Robert Guiscard as Duke of Apulia and Calabria, and Count of Sicily.