Byzantine Battles: Battle of Forino

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15 th century

Battle of Forino	year: 663
Defeat of the Byzantines by the Lombards and failure to recapture southern Italy	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Lombards	location: Near the town Forino in the province of Avellino, Campania, east of Naples	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Pitched Battle	war: Lombard conquest of Italy	modern country: Italy

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Constans II Pogonatos)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Saburro	Duke Romuald
Forces:	20,000	Unknown
Losses:	Heavy

Background story:

In 662 the Byzantine emperor Constans II Pogonatos campaigned in Italy in order to retake the lands occupied by the Lombards in previous years. In general, Constans wanted to leave Constantinople and was seriously considering moving the capital to Sicily, specifically to Syracuse. The reason was the Arab conquests, which had created huge problems to the empire. But perhaps the most important reason for Constans was that he could not stay there any more as the people of Constantinople hated him for killing his brother Theodosius, and called him “Cain”.

Italy in the mid 7th century

The Lombards or Longobards had invaded Italy almost 100 years ago, in 568, and gradually prevailed over much of the peninsula. Their territory was divided into 35 duchies. The dukes of these duchies were semi-independent local rulers who sometimes recognized a king based in Pavia.
The Duchy of Benevento in south Italy was one of the largest and most powerful duchies of the Lombards those days.

Constans II landed in Taranto and almost immediately began to invade the bordering areas to the north which were part of Benevento region. Soon, many small towns fell to the Byzantines and finally Constans besieged the city of Benevento, which he could not capture despite his persistent attacks and the use of siege engines.
At that time the Duke of Benevento was the young Romuald, the eldest son of the king of the Lombards Grimoaldo (or Grimoald). Romuald had already sought help from his father, who gathered an army and marched from north Italy.
Constans was informed of the impending arrival of Grimoald's army and preferred to end the siege and leave west for Naples (which was always under Byzantine control).
There, according to the Lombard historian Paulus Diaconus, one of Constans' officers, the optimattus Saburro (who may have been a Lombard in the service of the Byzantines), persuaded the emperor to give him an army of 20,000 men to subdue the Lombards.

The Battle:

Lombard warrior

Saburo took his army of 20,000 men and encamped in Forino, 40 km east of Naples. The king of the Lombards, Grimoaldo, who had meanwhile arrived in Benevento, when he learned of this, prepared to move against the Byzantines. But his son and Duke of Benevento, Romuald, wanted to take on this task himself, asking his father to give him a part of his army.
The Lombards arrived in Forino and the two armies lined up for battle. The rivals must have been roughly equivalent in numbers (although Paul Diaconus claims that the Lombards were far fewer).
Romuald ordered the trumpets to sound from all four sides and then ordered a general attack. The battle was ambiguous. At one point, a giant Lombard warrior named Amalongo, Grimoald's flag bearer, pierced a Greek horseman with his spear and lifted him from his saddle holding him high above his head. Seeing this, the Byzantines lost their courage and began to retreat. The retreat quickly turned into a flight and the Byzantines suffered heavy losses.
Saburro returned humiliated to Naples with the remains of his army. Romuald returned triumphant to Benevento.

Aftermath:

Emperor Constans abandoned his plans to fight the Lombards. He went to Rome, staying there for 12 days and causing unrest for ordering the removal of the copper tiles from the ancient buildings (Pantheon etc) and their transportation to Constantinople.
Then, he went to Syracuse where he imposed very harsh taxes on his subjects. The taxes were so unbearable that started a wave of immigration. Finally in 668, Constans was killed in Syracuse by one of his servants.

Byzantine Battles

Battle of Forino

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