Norman kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century?

Question

What do you know about the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century? Distinct characteristics and challenges they faced?

Answer 1

The accession of Frederick, a child, in 1197 greatly affected the immediate future of Sicily. For a land so used to centralised royal authority, the king's young age caused a serious power vacuum. His uncle Philip of Swabia moved to secure Frederick's inheritance by appointing Markward von Anweiler, margrave of Ancona, regent in 1198. Meanwhile, Pope Innocent III had reasserted papal authority in Sicily, but recognised Frederick's rights. The pope was to see papal power decrease steadily over the next decade and was unsure about which side to back at many junctures.

The Hohenstaufen grip on power, however, was not secure. Walter III of Brienne had married the daughter of Tancred and come to the south in 1201 to claim the kingdom. In 1202, an army led by the chancellor Walter of Palearia and Dipold of Vohburg was defeated by Walter. Markward was killed and Frederick fell under the control of William of Capparone, an ally of the Pisans. Dipold continued the war against Walter on the mainland until the claimant's death in 1205. Dipold finally wrested Frederick from Capparone in 1206 and gave him over to the guardianship of the chancellor, Walter of Palearia. Walter and Dipold then had a falling out and the latter captured the royal palace, where he was besieged and captured by Walter in 1207. After a decade, the wars over the regency and the throne itself had ceased.

Frederick built on the reform of the laws begun at the Assizes of Ariano in 1140 by his grandfather Roger II. His initiative in this direction was visible as early as the Assizes of Capua (1220) but came to fruition in his promulgation of the Constitutions of Melfi (1231, also known as Liber Augustalis), a collection of laws for his realm that was remarkable for its time and was a source of inspiration for a long time after. It made the Kingdom of Sicily an absolutist monarchy, the first centralized state in Europe to emerge from feudalism; it also set a precedent for the primacy of written law. With relatively small modifications, the Liber Augustalis remained the basis of Sicilian law until 1819.

During this period, he also built the Castel del Monte and in 1224 created the University of Naples: now called Università Federico II, it remained the sole athenaeum of Southern Italy for centuries.

Frederick II's heir in Sicily was his illegitimate son Manfred, who ruled the kingdom for fifteen years while other Hohenstaufen heirs were busy in Germany. The Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily ended after the 1266 Angevin invasion and the death of Conradin, the last male Hohenstaufen, in 1268.


Angevin and Aragonese kingdoms
Conflict between the Hohenstaufen house and the Papacy led in 1266 to Sicily's conquest by Charles I, Duke of Anjou. Opposition to French officialdom and taxation led in 1282 to the Sicilian Vespers insurrection and successful invasion by king Peter III of Aragón. The resulting War of the Sicilian Vespers lasted until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302.

The Peace divided the old Kingdom of Sicily into two. The island of Sicily, called the "Kingdom of Sicily beyond the Lighthouse" or the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick II, who had been ruling it, and the peninsular territories (the Mezzogiorno), called the Kingdom of Sicily contemporaneously, but called the Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II, who had been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo.

Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives of the kings of Aragon until 1409 and thence as part of the Crown of Aragon. The Kingdom of Naples was ruled by Angevins until the two thrones were forcibly reunited by Alfonso V of Aragon, whose siege of Naples ended in triumph February 26, 1443. However, Alfonso once again divided them, passing Naples to his son Ferdinand I of Naples, who ruled from 1458 to 1494, separately from Aragon and Sicily, which were inherited by Alfonso's brother John II of Aragon. From 1494 to 1503 kings of France Charles VIII and Louis XII, who were heirs of Angevins, tried the conquest of Naples (see Italian Wars) but failed so the Kingdom was definitely reunited to Aragon.

The titles were held by the Aragonese kings until 1516, followed by the Kings of Spain until 1707. The Holy Roman Emperors held the titles from 1707 until 1735, when Naples was attacked by Charles, who became Charles VII of Naples and Sicily.

Answer 2

As a entity the kijgdom of Sicily was a bit like Ianus (two faced). In one had it enbodied a remarcable and enticing example of multicultarism in action, with its vibrant syntesis of Europaen- Christian, Grec- Byzantine and Arab- Islamic cultures. In the other hand its incessant raids may have a destabilising effect on maritime trade, hence its usualy bad relations with Venice, the trading power par exelence in the Mediterranean Sea, and more importantly may have provided a fatal disraction for Byzantium, at a time when it should have concencrated all its military assets against the Seldjuk Turks with disastrous long-term consequnces for Europe

Answer 3

In 1127 the Duchy of Apulia and the County of Sicily were united under the rule of Roger II of Sicily
He faced rebellious vassals eg Grimoald of Bari, Robert of Capua, Ranulf of Alife, Sergius of Naples
He got recognition by the Pope (1139)
went onto conquer part of Africa (Mahdia)
He also attacked the Byzantines (who were one of his biggest threats)
These were to be traits of the rest of the kingdom inter family riviaries, exploitation of lineage crises, fending off and sometimes merging with rival families and seeking to expand and sometimes being forced to restrict the kingdom. Strong kings and weak kings - such were the times of the medevial kings!