His army amounted to just 136 knights and 500 infantrymen. This was all that Count Roger could muster for the invasion of Sicily. Yet, within a decade, the Normans had ended 200 years of Arab rule and made themselves masters of the island. It was one the most spectacular blitzkrieg operations of the 11th century.
The Normans had first come to Sicily in 1061 at the invitation of Ibn al-Thumna, the qayid of Syracuse. Sicily was an island in disarray: weak and ripe for conquest. The nominal overlords of the island, the North African Zirid dynasty, were beset by civil unrest and foreign invasion, while the last emir of the native Kalbite dynasty had died in 1053. As a result, Sicily was divided between four qayids or commanders, who vied with each other for power.
Hoping to overcome his rivals with foreign assistance, Ibn al-Thumna invited the Norman Duke Robert Guiscard and his brother Count Roger to send an invasion force.
The value of culture