Sibylla Acherra

Sibylla Acherra was the daughter of Earl Buonalbergo and Acherra Roger ^[2] and sister of Richard Acherra . Her paternal grandfather, the French knight from Anjou , Robert Mayenne, arrived in southern Italy during the reign of Roger II . In 1150, the king made Robert the Earl of Boonalberg . ^[3]

Sibylla married Tancred , Count of Lecce , the illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia, heir to the Kingdom of Sicily .

In 1189, after the death of cousin William II the Good , Tancred claimed his right to the throne of Sicily . He was supported by Vice Chancellor Matteo d'Agello , who had obtained the nominee overlord of the kingdom, Pope Clement III , endorsing the candidacy of Tancred. As a result, Tancred was crowned in the Cathedral of Palermo on January 18 ^[4] 1190 ^[5] . Sibylla became Queen of Sicily . Their eldest son Roger in 1193 was proclaimed co-ruler of his father and solemnly crowned, but in December of that year he died suddenly. This was a real blow for Tancred , he fell seriously ill and died two months later, on February 20, 1194 .

In total, six children of Sibylla and Tancred are known:

• Roger ( 1175 - 1193 ) - Duke of Puglia , co-regent of his father in 1193 . Married to Irina of the Byzantine , had no children.
• Wilhelm ( 1185 — approx. 1198 ) - king of Sicily in 1194 . Overthrown by the Hohenstaufen. He was not married, had no children.
• Maria (Maria Elvira ^[2] , Elvira ^[6] , Albinia) (after 1185 - after 1216 ) - Countess of Lecce . She was married to Gauthier III , Count of Brienne , Prince of Taranto , Duke of Puglia , then to Giacomo Sanseverino, Count of Tricarico , after - to Tigrino Guidi, Count of Modigliano.
• Constance (d. After 1232 ) - married to Pietro Dziani , Doge of Venice
• Medania (d. 1256/1257)
• Valdrada - married to Jacopo Tiepolo , Doge of Venice ^[2] .

After the death of her husband, Sibylla became regent with his underage son William , who at that time was about 10 years old. Henry VI of Hohenstaufen again claimed the throne of Sicily , being the husband of Wilhelm’s aunt, Constance of Sicily . Constance was the legitimate daughter of Roger II, and in 1185 the vassals had already taken her oath as a possible heir to the throne. Henry VI began a military campaign and by the end of October 1194 the continental part of the kingdom was conquered, due to the fact that Sybil was unable to organize proper resistance. Soon, Henry landed in Messina , previously captured by the Genoese and Pisans.

The invasion of Henry VI caused a panic, Catania and Syracuse surrendered to the emperor. Queen Sibylla intended to defend Palermo with Admiral Margarita of Brindisi . Previously, she sent William III and daughters to a distant Caltabellotta near Sciacca on the southwest coast. The inhabitants of Palermo refused to defend the city, after them laid down their arms and garrison of the city citadel. Sibylla, together with the Archbishop of Palermo and his brother, fled to the children, and Margarita was forced to negotiate the surrender of the capital. On November 20, 1194, Henry VI triumphantly entered Palermo.

After that, he suggested that Sybil surrender, subject to leaving William the county of Lecce , which belonged to Tancred before accession to the throne, and to grant the Principality of Taranto . The conditions were accepted, and Sybil with his family returned to the capital.

On December 25, 1194, she and her children attended the coronation of Henry VI in the Cathedral of Palermo . But four days later, Henry accused her and the children, as well as many noble Sicilians who came to the coronation, of plotting against him and took him into custody. After that, they were sent to Germany.

Sibylla and her daughters were imprisoned in the Alsatian monastery of Hohenburg , where she lived for four years, despite the intercession of Pope Innocent III . And only around 1200, she and her daughters managed to escape to France . According to another version, she was just released from captivity.

Sibylla died around 1205 .

• In 1195, at the monastery of Hohenburg , when Sibylla and her daughters arrived there, the nun Gerrad Landsberg , a writer and artist, still lived.

• Elena Angelina Dukaina
• Irina Byzantine
• William II the Good
• Constance of Sicily

• Peter Csendes: Heinrich VI. , Primus Verlag Darmstadt 1993. ISBN 3-89678-023-9
• Norwich, John Julius . The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194. Longman: London, 1970.
• Matthew, Donald. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Cambridge University Press: 1992.

• John Norwich The heyday and sunset of the Sicilian kingdom. Normans in Sicily. 1130-1194 . - Moscow: Centerpolygraph, 2005 .-- 399 p. - ISBN 5-9524-1752-3 .

• Kings of Naples and Sicily (inaccessible link) (English)
• Roger Medansky
• Gotvili (English)