Historical echoes in Italo-Greek hagiographies of the Norman age

The hagiographical works are an important document of the vitality and persistence of the byzantine element in Norman Calabria: these saints live in the Greek sphere, but they interact with the new powerful lords in Southern Italy. Bartholomew of Simeri, in fact, is protected by the Normans, but he went to Constantinople, welcomed by Alexius I Comnenus and his court. Luke, Bishop of Isola Capo Rizzuto, argues with the Latins about the use of unleavened bread and the administration of baptism, a sign that the coexistence of the two components, the Greek and the Latin one, was not always peaceful and without conflict. Cyprian of Calamizzi had medical competences and enjoyed the protection of Latin hierarchies of Reggio Calabria.