[7] In 1041, a revolt of the Lombards against the Byzantines was restarted by Ardoin, who recruited several hundred Norman knights and footsoldiers from Salerno under the leadership of William "Ironarm" Hauteville.
A definitive clash took place in a day-long pitched battle at Montepeloso in September 1041, after the Normans had stolen all their cattle and cut their supply line to the coast.
The Lombard and Norman victory resulted in the expulsion of the Byzantines from Montepeloso and from the hill country, and the capture of their newly appointed katapan Bojoannes, who had to be ransomed.
[13] In 1133, King Roger II of Sicily completely destroyed the town of Montepeloso, which was a center of resistance to his rule.
The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos sent aid, and his agents Michael Paleologus and John Doukas raised a rebellion in Apulia.
Bari, Trani, Giovinazzo, Ruvo, Andria, Montepeloso, Gravina, and numerous other towns and villages submitted to the Greeks.
[18] In 1479, the clergy and people of the diocese of Montepeloso, repeatedly given short shrift by the Duke and Bishop of Andria, sent a petition to Pope Sixtus IV carried by their Archdeacon, Antonio Maffei.
The right of the king to nominate the candidate for a vacant bishopric was recognized, as in the Concordat of 1741, subject to papal confirmation (preconisation).
[25] The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), in order to ensure that all Catholics received proper spiritual attention, decreed the reorganization of the diocesan structure of Italy and the consolidation of small and struggling dioceses.
According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, as was the case with Montepeloso and Gravina, was to be abolished.