Battle of Cannae (1018)

The second battle of Cannae took place in October 1018 at the Ofanto between the Byzantines led by Basil Katepans Boioannes and southern Italian rebels under the leadership of Meles instead of Bari, which wanted to expel the Byzantines from southern Italy.

The insurgency was supported by the Lombard princes of southern Italy as well as by Pope Benedict VIII, who had also recruited a large number of Norman knights Sold under Rainulf Drengot that formed an essential part of the anti- Byzantine army. First, the insurgents were successful since 1017. Until the autumn of 1018, the numerically superior Byzantine forces in a bloody battle have won a complete victory and stabilize the Byzantine rule again for two decades. IV also Salerno under Prince Waimar had to temporarily recognize the Byzantine suzerainty. The recruited by the insurgents Normans, however, remained in spite of the losses suffered in the country, brought more immigrants to and founded a separate rule that would displace over the next few decades makes all political competitors ( Byzantine, Lombard princes, Arabs) in southern Italy.