Product Description: The rise of Norman naval power in the central Mediterranean in the eleventh and twelfth centuries prompted a seminal shift in the balance of power on the sea. Drawing from Latin, Greek, Jewish and Arabic sources, this book details how the House of Hauteville, particularly under Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger, used sea power to accomplish what the Papacy, the German Empire and the Eastern Empire could not: the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily from Islam...read more

Product Description: This volume examines the development and evolution of the war galley known as the "Dromon," and its relative, the "Chelandion," from first appearance in the sixth century until its supercession in the twelfth century by the "Galea" developed in the Latin West...read more

Product Description: The period covered in this book, is well known for its epic battles and grand campaigns of territorial conquest, but Hellenistic monarchies, Carthaginians and the rapacious Roman Republic were scarcely less active at sea. Huge resources were poured into maintaining fleets not only as symbols of prestige but as means of projecting real military power across the Mediterranean arena...read more

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