Kingdom of Sicily

The Normans invaded Sicily in 1061 and defeated the Arabs at the battles of Enne (1061), Cherami (1064) and Misilmeri (1068). Then the Normans conquered the island for about twenty years and by 1090 completely controlled its territory.

In 1127, the Duke of Apulia of Norman descent, William II , died, and Apulia and Sicily united under the rule of his cousin, Count of Sicily Roger II . Roger supported Antipope Anaclet II and was crowned the last as King of Sicily on Christmas Day 1130. For the next ten years, Roger was busy repelling attacks from outside and suppressing the rebellions of the counts of Bari , Capua , Alife and Naples .

In 1139, under the Treaty of Minyana, Pope Innocent II recognized Roger as king. Admiral Roger, George of Antioch , conquered Mahdia in Ifricia (North Africa), as a result of which Roger received the unofficial title of “King of Africa”. Roger's fleet also inflicted several significant defeats on Byzantium , making Sicily a leading naval power in the Mediterranean for almost a hundred years.

Roger’s son and heir, William I the Evil , named for the suppression of the rebellions of the barons, which the authors of the chronicles may have sympathized with, died in 1166, leaving the infant son on the throne. Regency was established, the country was embraced by feuds, which nearly destroyed the dynasty, and lasted until the beginning of the independent reign of the young King William II the Good , whose further reign was marked by peace and prosperity. When he died in 1189, there were no heirs, and the kingdom again plunged into chaos.

In 1190, Tancred from Lecce seized the throne, then the relative of the latter, Roger di Andria , rebelled, and then the German emperor Henry VI Hohenstaufen intervened, married to Constance , the daughter of Roger II Otville . Henry VI and Constance defeated, and the kingdom in 1194 passed to the German emperors from the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

In 1197, the three-year-old son of Henry VI , Frederick , became king. His uncle and guardian, Philip of Swabsky, was appointed regent of Marquard von Anweiler , Margrave of Ancona , in 1198. The rights of Frederick were confirmed by Pope Innocent III , but this was not enough.

Walter III de Brienne married the daughter of Tancred de Liche , and in 1201 presented his claim to the Sicilian throne. In 1202, the army of Staufen, led by Chancellor Walter Palearic and Dipold von Vohburg, was defeated by the army of Walter de Brienne. Regent Marquard was killed, and the five-year-old King Frederick fell to de Brienne's ally, William of Capparons. However, Dipold continued the war in mainland Italy until the death of Walter de Brienne in 1205, after which he freed Friedrich and transferred him under the protection of Chancellor Walter of Paleria in 1206.

In 1207, there was a quarrel between Dipold and Walter of the Palaearios, as a result of which Dipold first captured the royal palace, and then was knocked out of there by Walter. On this ten-year war for the throne ended.

Frederick II continued the reform of laws initiated by his grandfather, King Roger II . The reforms in 1231 resulted in the Melfi constitution, known under the Latin name Liber Augustalis, a code of laws for his possessions, which was not only a significant step forward for its time, but also served for many years as a model of the code of laws in Europe. The Kingdom of Sicily became the first European state with a strong centralized royal power, free from feudal strife. The primacy of written law was proclaimed over feudal custom . With minor modifications, Liber Augustalis formed the basis of Sicilian law until 1819.

Frederick II also built Castell del Monte and in 1224 founded the University of Naples, one of the first in Europe, for many centuries remaining the only university in Southern Italy.

Throughout his long, half-century reign, Frederick II felt more like the king of Sicily than the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . He was succeeded in 1250 by Emperor Conrad IV , who was much more occupied with the wars in Germany than his Sicilian kingdom. However, he appeared in Naples in 1253, took the city, and shortly thereafter died on the way to Germany. The heir in 1254 was his two-year-old son Konradin . In reality, all this time, the illegitimate son of Frederick II Manfred of Sicily ruled Sicily , who, after spreading false rumors about the death of Conradin in 1258, declared himself king of Sicily.

Pope Clement IV did not recognize Manfred’s rights to the kingdom and “transferred” him to the brother of King Louis IX of France Charles Anjou , who ascended the throne after the death of Manfred in 1266. Attempting to return the kingdom and collecting the hired army for this, Konradin, after initial successes, was defeated at Tagliakozzo, was captured and executed in Naples in 1268. He was the last male representative of the Hohenstaufen.

In 1266, Sicily was ruled by Charles I, Count of Anjou . Karl considered the conquest of Sicily as the first step towards the conquest of the entire Mediterranean and prepared for war with the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Paleolog . The taxes collected in Sicily went to the French. Dissatisfaction with the power of the French, who did not care about the country, led in 1282 to an uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers and the subsequent War of the Sicilian Vespers. One of the assumptions is that the Sicilian Vespers was organized with the participation of Michael VIII and his ally, King Pedro III of Aragon , son-in-law of Manfred, but it is not generally accepted.

The uprising began on the evening before Easter, March 29, 1282 , in the Church of the Holy Spirit near Palermo . The course of events is not known exactly, but in any case, the Sicilians destroyed a detachment of Frenchmen near the church. According to one version, one of the French officers tried to pull a woman out of the crowd and was killed by her husband, according to another, the whole detachment intended to have fun with women. Over the next six weeks, Sicilians slaughtered up to 4,000 French on the island. The rebels, realizing that they alone could not withstand Karl of Anjou, sent messengers to Pedro III of Aragon, offering him the Sicilian crown. Pedro accepted the offer and on August 30, 1282, he led a huge army landed in Trapani , on the way to Palermo, where the Sicilians greeted him, and on September 4, 1282 he was crowned in Palermo as king of Sicily. Charles I of Anjou retained control only of the south of mainland Italy with Naples.

In the war between Carl and Pedro, the initial success was on the side of Pedro. In September - October 1282, Pedro took control of all of Sicily. Karl was forced to lift the siege from Messina and went to the continent. At the same time, Pope Martin IV on November 18, 1282 declared King Pedro excommunicated. In the following months, the Sicilian fleet under the command of Ruggiero di Lauria defeated the Neapolitans several times, and by February 1283, Pedro III occupied a significant part of the coast of Calabria .

Charles I of Anjou was forced to leave Naples and go to Provence to gather new fleet and army there. Karl’s viceroy in Naples remained his eldest son and heir, Carl Salerno . Pedro was also forced to leave Sicily and return to Aragon , where he encountered unprecedented resistance from the nobility, leaving command of the army of his second son Jaime .

In May 1284, Pope Martin IV announced the deposition of Pedro III and granted the Aragonese crown to Carl Valois , the second son of Philip III of France . Since Pedro III was not going to obey the verdict of the pope and did not refuse from the Aragonese and Sicilian crowns, Martin IV announced a crusade against the king.

In June 1284, the Sicilians, led by Ruggiero de Lauria, feigned retreat lured the Neapolitan fleet from Salerno and completely defeated it. Karl Salernsky was captured and was saved from execution only by the intervention of Constance , the wife of Pedro. And on January 7, 1285, Charles I. died as king in Naples, his son Karl of Salerno, who was in captivity in Aragon, was proclaimed. In November of that year, Pedro III died. The king of Aragon was the oldest son of Pedro, Alfonso III , the king of Sicily was proclaimed his second son, Jaime, who was crowned in February 1286 in Palermo.

Alfonso III was ready to release Charles II from captivity in exchange for recognition of Jaime's rights to Sicily and Calabria. As a result, Karl signed a treaty in Catalonia , according to which he agreed to cede Jaime to Sicily and marry one of his daughters. However, the new pope, Honorius IV , who replaced the deceased Martin IV, refused to approve the treaty and the war resumed. Only after the death of the pope in 1287, through the mediation of the King of England, Edward I, was it possible to reach an agreement in Oloron ( Bearn ), according to which Charles II was returned to freedom in exchange for a huge ransom, hostages and renunciation of claims to Sicily. However, the agreement was again disrupted by the fault of King Philip IV of France; he was supported by the new pope, Nicholas IV . Soon, the pope was forced to initiate peace negotiations. As a result, in October 1288, again through the mediation of Edward I, an agreement was concluded at Canfranc, according to which Karl received freedom on the same terms as under the Oloronsky Treaty. Alfonso of Aragon released Charles, but the pope violated the terms of the agreement and in May 1289 crowned Charles as king of Sicily, which led to the resumption of the war.

Charles II decided to make peace with the king of Aragon. As a result, on May 19, 1290 in Senlis, he concluded a pact with Karl Valois, according to which he refused claims to Aragon in exchange for the hand of Margarita, daughter of Charles II, having received dowry from Anjou and Maine , and on February 19, 1291 he was concluded in Brindisi peace between Alfonso III of Aragon on the one hand, Philip IV of France and Charles II of Naples on the other. Under this agreement, Alfonso renounced his rights to Sicily, leaving his brother Jaime alone. But on June 18, Alfonso unexpectedly died, and Jaime, who became king of Aragon, refused to recognize the treaty in Brindisi. He appointed brother Federigo as his viceroy in Sicily.

The war resumed again, but Jaime, who was in a difficult position, offered to cede Sicily for a fee. The death of Pope Nicholas prevented this plan. Only on June 12, 1295 in Jaime did Jaime make peace with Charles, according to which he renounced his rights to Sicily in exchange for the hand of Blanca, daughter of Charles II, for whom he received a large dowry. However, Jaime’s brother, Federigo, refused to comply and was crowned December 12 as King of Sicily under the name Federigo II.

The war resumed and continued for several more years, but Charles II was not able to conquer Sicily. As a result, on August 31, 1302, the Caltabellot treaty was concluded, according to which Charles recognized Federigo II as king of Sicily, but only until his death. At the same time, Pope Boniface VIII insisted that the title of Federigo should sound like “King of Trinacria ^[1] ”.

However, the paragraph on the return of Sicily to the Anjou house was never implemented. In 1314, Federigo appointed his son Pedro as heir to Sicily, and in 1328 made him his co-ruler.

After Federigo's death, royal power in Sicily weakened, a number of areas of the island were controlled by barons almost independent of the central government, which the kings of Naples tried to take advantage of. They have repeatedly made attempts to regain Sicily, but they have not achieved success. Finally, in 1372, a peace treaty was concluded in Aversa , according to which Sicily unconditionally assigned to the descendants of Federigo, however, the suzerainty of the kings of Naples over the kings of Trinacria was established, but due to the subsequent unrest in the Kingdom of Naples, submission remained formal.

After the extinction of the Sicilian branch of the Aragonese dynasty, the kingdom was annexed to Aragon (1409). And in 1435, the Kingdom of Naples was annexed to Aragon.

After the unification of Castile and Aragon into Spain, the title of “King of Sicily” was worn by the King of Spain (first from the Spanish Habsburg line, since 1700 from the Spanish Bourbon line). Since 1713, following the results of the Utrecht peace , Sicily crossed Savoy .

In 1720, the House of Savoy exchanged Sicily with representatives of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty for Sardinia. In 1735, the Spaniards conquered Sicily and Naples, and thus she returned to the Bourbons again.

In 1759, the King of Spain, Charles III, transferred the Kingdom of Naples (which included Sicily) to his son Ferdinand .

In 1799, the Kingdom of Naples was conquered by Napoleon , proclaiming the Parthenopean Republic . Ferdinand fled to Sicily under the protection of the English fleet. Under British pressure, the kingdom was returned to Ferdinand, but after being transformed into a constitutional monarchy. A bicameral parliament was formed, sitting in Palermo and Naples.

In 1805, Ferdinand joined the Third Coalition . After the defeat of the Russian-Austrian army at Austerlitz and Austria's withdrawal from the war, Ferdinand, without waiting for the French troops, again fled to Sicily under the protection of the English fleet. In 1806, Napoleon, by decree, deposed the Bourbon dynasty in the Kingdom of Naples and made him the king of Murat , but the power of the latter extended only to the mainland of the kingdom - Ferdinand continued to rule in Sicily.

After the Congress of Vienna and the defeat of Napoleon near Waterloo, in May 1815, Ferdinand again became king of the Kingdom of Naples. In order to permanently destroy the memory of both the constitution granted to him in Sicily and the years of the constitutional monarchy of Murat in Naples, Ferdinand announced on December 8, 1816 the unification of the two kingdoms into a single state - the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies .

• List of rulers of the Sicilian kingdom
• List of rulers of the kingdom of Naples
• List of consort wives of the monarchs of Sicily
• Kingdom of neapolitan
• Sicilian Vespers
• Kingdom of both Sicilies
• Kingdom of aragon

In English. lang

• European Commission presentation of The Normans Norman Heritage, 10th-12th century.
• Houben, Hubert. Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler between East and West . Trans. GA Loud and Diane Milbourne. Cambridge University Press: 2002.
• Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194 . Longman: London, 1970.
• Matthew, Donald. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily . Cambridge University Press: 1992.
• Chaytoe, HJ A History of Aragon and Catalonia . See chapter 7 .

In Russian lang

• Norwich, John. Normans in Sicily. Second Norman Conquest. 1016–1130 M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2005 .-- 368 s ( ISBN 5-9524-1751-5 )
• Norwich, John. The heyday and sunset of the Sicilian kingdom. Normans in Sicily. 1130–1194 M .: Tsentrpoligraf, 2005 .-- 400 s ( ISBN 5-9524-1752-3 ).
• Ransimen C. Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean in the 13th Century / Per. from English Neysmark S.V. - SPb. : Eurasia , 2007 .-- 384 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8071-0175-8 .