Basil III Theodorokanos or Theodorocanus ( el, Βασίλειος Θεοδωροκάνος, it, Teodoro Cano) was the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Catepan of Italy The Catepanate (or Catapanate) of Italy ( el, ''Katepaníkion Italías'') was a province of the Byzantine Empire from 965 until 1071. At its greatest extent, it comprised mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of S ...

from February to the Spring of 1043. He was a

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

and a former companion in arms of

George Maniakes George Maniakes (, transliterated as Georgios Maniaces, Maniakis, or Maniaches, , ; died 1043) was a prominent general of the Byzantine Empire of Byzantine Greek origin during the 1 ...

when he was appointed to go to

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

and

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and put down the revolts of Maniakes and of Argyrus in 1042. In February 1043, he landed at

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. Argyrus and his

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

tried to surround

Otranto Otranto (, , ; scn, label= Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label=Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertil ...

, but the catepan's fleet blocked them. Maniakes, however, debarked for Dyrrhachium with his army. Argyrus eventually made peace with the Greeks and Theodorokanos was replaced by

Eustathios Palatinos Eustathios Palatinos ( la, Eustachius Palatinus, it, Eustachio Palatino) was the catepan of Italy from the autumn of 1045 to September 1046. The primary source for his term of office is the chronicle of Lupus, a fellow protospatharius. He was se ...

. Subsequently, he commanded the Byzantine fleet against the Rus' raid in July 1043.

Sources

*Gay, Jules. ''L'Italie méridionale et l'empire Byzantin: Livre II''. Burt Franklin: New York, 1904. *Chalandon, Ferdinand. ''Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile''.

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 1907. {{end 11th-century deaths 11th-century catepans of Italy Byzantine admirals Year of birth unknown