Editing Basilicata (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Robert Guiscard claimed as a Duke.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Nicholas II]] investing [[Robert Guiscard]] as duke in [[Melfi]]]]
After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in 476, Basilicata fell to Germanic rule, which ended in the mid-6th century when the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] [[Gothic War (535–554)|reconquered it]] from the [[Ostrogoths]] between 536 and 552 during the apocalyptic Byzantine-Gothic war under the leadership of Byzantine generals Belisarius and Narses. The region, deeply Christianized since as early as the 5th century, became part of the [[Lombards|Lombard]] [[Duchy of Benevento]] founded by the invading Lombards between 571 and 590.

In the following centuries, [[Saracen]] raids led part of the population to move from the plain and coastal settlements to more protected centers located on hills. The towns of [[Tricarico]] and [[Tursi]] were under Muslim rule for a short period: later the "Saracen" population would be expelled.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Società napoletana di storia patria|title=Archivio storico per le province napoletane|url=https://archive.org/details/archiviostoricop25rdepuoft|year=1876}}</ref> The region was conquered once more for Byzantium from the Saracens and the Lombards in the late 9th century, with the campaigns of [[Nikephoros Phokas the Elder]] and his successors, and became part of the theme of [[Longobardia]]. In 968 the ''[[theme (Byzantine district)|theme]]'' of [[Lucania]] was established, with the capital at Tursikon (Tursi).

In the 11th century, Basilicata, together with the rest of much of [[southern Italy]], was conquered by the [[Normans]]. [[Melfi]] became the first capital of the County of Apulia (later [[County of Apulia and Calabria]]) in 1043, where [[Robert Guiscard]] was named "Duke" by [[Pope Nicholas II]]. Inherited by the [[Hohenstaufen]], [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] reorganized the administrative structure of his predecessors and the [[Justiciarate|Justiciarate of Basilicata]], whose borders coincided almost entirely with the actual region, was created. In Melfi, the Emperor promulgated the ''Liber Augustalis'' (commonly known as ''[[Constitutions of Melfi]]''), code of laws for the [[Kingdom of Sicily]]. The [[Swabians]] were ousted in the 13th century by the [[Capetian House of Anjou]]. Since then, Basilicata began to lose importance and was marked by an irreversible socio-political decline.