THE TEXT OF König Rother opens with a requisite element of Schmid-Cadalbert's bridal-quest narrative structure, a description of the personal characteristics and the political sphere of influence of the royal wooer, as well as the naming of his residence (S.-C. §A.1). Rother is introduced as a mighty and respected king who resides in the city of Bari on the Adriatic Sea. The locating of Rother's residence in the port city of Bari, in Apulia, supports the view that in the historical development of the plot material there is an important connection to the Langobard kings Authari and Rothari and to Roger II of Sicily (see chapter 2). Bari was seized from the Byzantines by the Langobards in 670 and remained under their control, with brief interruptions — including its incorporation as an Islamic emirate, 847–71 — until 875, when it rejoined the Byzantine Empire. In 1071 the Normans, led by Robert Guiscard, defeated the Byzantines at Bari and drove them out of southern Italy for good. Robert's grandson, William II, abdicated from the dukedom of Apulia in 1122 in favor of his cousin, Roger II, a nephew of Robert Guiscard, and the city finally submitted to him in 1131. Bari also served as the main harbor of departure for Crusaders making their way east to the Holy Land, a further connection to the events in the text that take place in Constantinople, where Rother engages in battle against the infidel king, Ymelot.