Loire, Seine, Rhine, rowing their ships silently, then riding their horses they fell upon the sleepy towns and villages and raided them, before the inhabitants could react.
The speed of their attacks allowed them to sack Sevilla, Bordeaux, Pisa, Hamburg or Valencia.Their expansion followed three directions: to the East in the Slav area;
to the North-West towards the Atlantic and to the West towards western Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.
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The Normans arrived in Sicily in 1061 to drive out the unfaithful. They exploited the local rivalries and gained the protection of the Pope.
In 1072, Roger and Robert Guiscard conquered Palermo. In about thirty years, Sicily became entirely Norman. The Reign of Sicily was founded in 1130.The Normans, like
the Arabs, applied both religious and civil tolerance, so that the social-economic life of the island flourished. Feudalism was introduced. When Roger, Count of Sicily died in 1101, Palermo was a splendid and prosperous city with a solid government.
Control passed into the hands of his son, Roger II, who was crowned King of Sicily, on Christmas day in 1130, in the Chapel of the Coronation. After his death, William I (1153-1166) followed, then William II (1166-1189), and then the illegitimate son of Roger II’s son, Tancredi (1190-1194). During the Norman domination, Palermo achieved such greatness and splendour that it was defined by the Arab geographer, El-Idrisi: "the largest and greatest metropolis in the world".
Near the harbour, a new area created by the deposits of the rivers, became the quarter of the Amalfitan, Genovese and Venetian merchants.
