John Curcuas (catepan)

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For the Emperor John Tzimiskes, whose family name also was Curcuas (Κουρκούας), see John I Tzimiskes.

John Curcua or Curcuas (Greek: Ιωάννης Κουρκούας, Italian: Giovanni Antipati da Cusira, from his title anthypatus) was the Byzantine catepan of Italy from 1008 to his death. He saw the first revolt of the Lombards in Greek Apulia.

Formerly the strategos of Samos, Curcuas arrived at Bari in May 1008 as a replacement for Alexius Xiphias, who had been killed in battle the previous year. Soon after, on May 9, 1009, a rebellion started in Bari led by Melus of Bari, and quickly spread to other cities. Curcuas did not live long enough to see the final culmination of these minor insurrections: the Norman domination of the entire Mezzogiorno. Curcuas was killed in battle with the rebels in either late 1009 or early 1010. In March of the latter year, his successor, Basil Mesardonites, arrived.

[edit] Sources

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