Exaugustus Boioannes

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Exaugustus Boiοannes (Italian: Exaugusto Bugiano), son of the famous Basil Boioannes, was also a catapan of Italy, from 1041^[1] to 1042^[2]. He replaced Michael Doukeianos after the latter's disgrace in defeat at Montemaggiore on 4 May.

Boioannes did not have the levies and reinforcements that Doukeianos had had at his command. He arrived only with a Varangian contingent. Boioannes decided on trying to isolate the Lombard rebels in Melfi by camping near Montepeloso. The Normans, however, sortied from Melfi and camped on the Monte Siricolo. They captured a convoy of livestock meant for the Greek camp and forced a battle. Boioannes was defeated and captured (3 September 1041). The Normans, as mere mercenaries, turned the captive catapan over to the Lombard leader Atenulf in Benevento. The latter accepted a large payment in return for the catapan's liberation and promptly kept the entire ransom for himself. Boioannes was free, but not in command any longer.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Chalandon, p 99. Amatus of Montecassino, John Skylitzes, and the Annales Barenses place his arrival in 1041, but Lupus Protospatharius places it in 1042. Lupus begins his year in September, so Boioannes should have arrived in Italy after that month. Yet we know that he was defeated and captured in September 1041.
2. ^ He was released in February 1042 from captivity, at which time he was replaced by Synodianos.

[edit] Source

• Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicilie. Paris, 1907.
• Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.