Normanlar
CKM 2018-20 / Aziz Yardımlı

 

SİTELER

Normanlar


SİTE İÇİ ARAMA       
 
  Normans
  • Vikingler (kuzey Germenleri) Tarihe katılmak için 5.000 yıl kadar geciktiler.
  • Barbar için barbarlık değerdir.
  • Barbarlık ‘özgürlük,’ ama istençsiz ve duyunçsuz olarak doğal özgürlüktür.
  • Barbar bilinç uygarlık kavramlarından yoksundur ve dünyayı ancak kendi ilkel kültürünün kavramları ile tanıyabilir ve tanımlayabilir.
  • Barbarlık moral ve etik gelişimin yokluğudur ve bu nedenle dizginsiz bir şiddet yaşamıdır.
  • Barbarlık homo sapiensin uygarlıktan yatılıma ve uygarlık ile karşıtlık durumudur.
  • Normanlar için uygarlık bir yok etme ve öykünme olanağı idi.


Extent of Norse language in 900 AD: Western Norse in red and Eastern Norse in orange.
 
The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century:
  Old West Norse dialect
  Old East Norse dialect
  Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility
 

Viking expansion in Europe between the eighth and 11th centuries: The yellow colour corresponds to the expansion of the Normans, only partly descending from the Vikings.

Normans (W)

Normans (W)

 
   

The Normans (Norman: Normaunds; French: Normands; Latin: Nortmanni / Normanni; Old Norse: Norðmaðr) are an ethnic group that arose from contact between Norse Viking settlers of a region in France, named Normandy after them, and indigenous Franks and Gallo-Romans.

The settlements in France followed a series of raids on the French coast from mainly Denmark, but also Norway, and Iceland, and they gained political legitimacy when the Viking leader Rollo agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, and it continued to evolve over the succeeding centuries.

The Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and the Near East. The Normans were famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Catholic piety, becoming exponents of the Catholic orthodoxy of the Romance community into which they assimilated. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their dialect becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French, an important literary language which is still spoken today in parts of Normandy and the nearby Channel Islands. The Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the French crown, was a great fief of medieval France, and under Richard I of Normandy was forged into a cohesive and formidable principality in feudal tenure. By the end of the reign of Richard I of Normandy in 996 (aka Richard the Fearless / Richard sans Peur), all descendants of Vikings became, according to Cambridge Medieval History (Volume 5, Chapter XV), 'not only christians but in all essentials Frenchmen.'


Weapon wielding viking warrior female alone in front of viking hoard and mountain range.
 
   

The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and innovations. Norman adventurers played a role in founding the Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II after briefly conquering southern Italy and Malta from the Saracens and Byzantines, {!} during an expedition on behalf of their duke, William the Conqueror, which also led to the Norman conquest of England at the historic Battle of Hastings in 1066. Norman and Anglo-Norman forces contributed to the Iberian Reconquista from the early eleventh to the mid-thirteenth centuries.

Norman cultural and military influence spread from these new European centres to the Crusader states of the Near East, where their prince Bohemond I founded the Principality of Antioch in the Levant, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, to Ireland, and to the coasts of north Africa and the Canary Islands. The legacy of the Normans persists today through the regional languages and dialects of France, England, Spain, and Sicily, as well as the various cultural, judicial, and political arrangements they introduced in their conquered territories.


Etymology



Victorian interpretation of the Normans' national dress, 1000-1100.
 
   

The English name "Normans" comes from the French words Normans/Normanz, plural of Normant, modern French normand, which is itself borrowed from Old Low Franconian Nortmann "Northman" or directly from Old Norse Norðmaðr, Latinized variously as Nortmannus, Normannus, or Nordmannus (recorded in Medieval Latin, 9th century) to mean "Norseman, Viking.”

The 11th century Benedictine monk and historian, Goffredo Malaterra, characterised the Normans thus:

"Specially marked by cunning, despising their own inheritance in the hope of winning a greater, eager after both gain and dominion, given to imitation of all kinds, holding a certain mean between lavishness and greediness, that is, perhaps uniting, as they certainly did, these two seemingly opposite qualities. Their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the very boys were orators, a race altogether unbridled unless held firmly down by the yoke of justice. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war."

 


Settling of Normandy



Duchy of Normandy between 911 and 1050. In blue the areas of intense Norse settlement.
 
   

Normans or vikings under command of Duke Reginher or Raginerus in march 845 with fleet of 120 ships on river Seine attacking Paris (drawing A. de Neuville Source Illustrierte Geschichte 1881)
 
   

In the course of the 10th century, the initially destructive incursions of Norse war bands going upstream into the rivers of France penetrated further into interior Europe, and evolved into more permanent encampments that included local French women and personal property. From 885 to 886, Odo of Paris (Eudes de Paris) succeeded in defending Paris against Viking raiders (one of the leader was Sigfred) with his fighting skills, fortification of Paris and tactical shrewdness. In 911, Robert I of France, brother of Odo, again defeated another band of Viking warriors in Chartres with his well-trained horsemen. This victory paved the way for Rollo's baptism and settlement in Normandy.

The Duchy of Normandy, which began in 911 as a fiefdom,was established by the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III (Charles the Simple) (879-929, ruled 893-929) of West Francia and the famed Viking ruler Rollo also known as Gaange Rolf (c. 846-c. 929), from Scandinavia, and was situated in the former Frankish kingdom of Neustria. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French coastal lands along the English Channel between the river Epte and the Atlantic Ocean coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. As well as promising to protect the area of Rouen from Viking invasion, Rollo swore not to invade further Frankish lands himself, accepted baptism and conversion to Christianity and swore fealty to King Charles III. Robert I of France stood as godfather during Rollo's baptism. He became the first Duke of Normandy and Count of Rouen. The area corresponded to the northern part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine, but the Duchy would eventually extend west beyond the Seine. The territory was roughly equivalent to the old province of Rouen, and reproduced the old Roman Empire's administrative structure of Gallia Lugdunensis II (part of the former Gallia Lugdunensis in Gaul).


Engraving from 1856 showing Paris besieged by the Normans in AD 885.

The Siege of Paris of 885 to 886 was a Viking siege of Paris, then capital of the kingdom of the West Franks. It was, in hindsight, the most important event of the reign of the Emperor Charles the Fat and a turning point in the fortunes of the Carolingian dynasty and the history of France."

 
   

10th–11th century History of the Normans, by Dudo of Saint-Quentin.
 

Before Rollo's arrival, Normandy's populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, which were considered "Frankish". Earlier Viking settlers had begun arriving in the 880s, but were divided between colonies in the east (Roumois and Pays de Caux) around the low Seine valley and in the west in the Cotentin Peninsula, and were separated by traditional pagii, where the population remained about the same with almost no foreign settlers. Rollo's contingents from Scandinavia who raided and ultimately settled Normandy and parts of the European Atlantic coast included Danes, Norwegians, Norse–Gaels, Orkney Vikings, possibly Swedes, and Anglo-Danes from the English Danelaw territory which earlier came under Norse control in the early 11th century.


The early Norman castle at Adrano.
 
   

The descendants of Vikings replaced the Norse religion and Old Norse language with Catholicism (Christianity) and the Langue d’oil of the local people, descending from the Latin of the Romans. The Norman language (Norman French ) was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue d'oïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the French regional languages that survive today.

The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, and worked them into a functional hierarchical system in both Normandy and in Norman dominated England. The new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to the Franks of the Carolingian dynasty from the days of Charlemagne in the 9th century. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by the time of the expedition and invasion of England in 1066, Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation. Many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders soldiers under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I of Antioch and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart, one of the more famous and illustrious Kings of England.


Conquests and military offensives

Italy


Italy in 1000 AD, prior to Rainulf's arrival in southern Italy.


Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in southern Italy. Probably as the result of returning pilgrims' stories, the Normans entered southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, but they refused and instead offered to tell others back home of the Prince's request. William of Apulia tells that, in 1016, Norman pilgrims to the shrine of the Archangel Michael at Monte Gargano were met by Melus of Bari, a Lombard nobleman and rebel, who persuaded them to return with more warriors to help throw off the Byzantine rule, which they did.



The Battle of Civitate.
The Battle of Civitate was fought on 18 June 1053 in southern Italy, between the Normans, led by the Count of Apulia Humphrey of Hauteville, and a Swabian-Italian-Lombard army, organised by Pope Leo IX and led on the battlefield by Gerard, Duke of Lorraine, and Rudolf, Prince of Benevento. (W)
 
   

The two most prominent Norman families to arrive in the Mediterranean were descendants of Tancred of Hauteville and the Drengot family. A group of Normans with at least five brothers from the Drengot family fought the Byzantines in Apulia under the command of Melo di Bari. Between 1016 and 1024, in a fragmented political context, the County of Ariano was founded by another group of Norman knights headed by Gilbert Buatère and hired by Melo di Bari. Defeated at Canne, Melo di Bari escaped to Bamberg, Germany, where he died in 1022. The County, which replaced the pre-existing chamberlainship, is considered to be the first political body established by the Normans in the South of Italy. Then Rainulf Drengot, from the same family, received the county of Aversa from Duke Sergius IV of Naples in 1030.

The Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno "Duke of Apulia and Calabria". He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi. The Drengot family thereafter attained the principality of Capua, and Emperor Henry III legally ennobled the Hauteville leader, Drogo, as "dux et magister Italiae comesque Normannorum totius Apuliae et Calabriae" ("Duke and Master of Italy and Count of the Normans of all Apulia and Calabria") in 1047.

From these bases, the Normans eventually captured Sicily and Malta from the Saracens, under the leadership of the famous Robert Guiscard, a Hauteville, and his younger brother Roger the Great Count. Roger's son, Roger II of Sicily, was crowned king in 1130 (exactly one century after Rainulf was "crowned" count) by Antipope Anacletus II. The Kingdom of Sicily lasted until 1194, when it was transferred to the House of Hohenstaufen through marriage. The Normans left their legacy in many castles, such as William Iron Arm's citadel at Squillace, and cathedrals, such as Roger II's Cappella Palatina at Palermo, which dot the landscape and give a distinct architectural flavor to accompany its unique history.


Normans in Italy, 10th century.
 
   

 

 

Roger I, "Bosso" of Hauteville, the great count of Sicily.
 
   

Institutionally, the Normans combined the administrative machinery of the Byzantines, Arabs, and Lombards with their own conceptions of feudal lawand order to forge a unique government. Under this state, there was great religious freedom, and alongside the Norman nobles existed a meritocratic bureaucracy of Jews, Muslims and Christians, both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The Kingdom of Sicily thus became characterized by Norman, Byzantine, Greek, Arab, Lombard and “native” Sicilian populations living in harmony, and its Norman rulers fostered plans of establishing an empire that would have encompassed Fatimid Egypt as well as the crusader states in the Levant. One of the great geographical treatises of the Middle Ages, the “Tabula Rogeriana,” was written by the Andalusian al-Idrisifor King Roger II of Sicily, and entitled “Kitab Rudjdjar”(“The Book of Roger”).

 

North Africa


Between 1135 and 1160, the Norman kingdom of Sicily conquered and kept as vassals several cities on the Ifriqiya coast, corresponding to Tunisia and parts of Algeria and Libya today. They were lost to the Almohads.

 

Byzantium {!}


Soon after the Normans began to enter Italy, they entered the Byzantine Empire and then Armenia, fighting against the Pechenegs, the Bulgars, and especially the Seljuk Turks. Norman mercenaries were first encouraged to come to the south by the Lombards to act against the Byzantines, but they soon fought in Byzantine service in Sicily. They were prominent alongside Varangian and Lombard contingents in the Sicilian campaign of George Maniaces in 1038-40. There is debate whether the Normans in Greek service actually were from Norman Italy, and it now seems likely only a few came from there. It is also unknown how many of the "Franks", as the Byzantines called them, were Normans and not other Frenchmen.



Norman expansion by 1130.


One of the first Norman mercenaries to serve as a Byzantine general was Hervé in the 1050s. By then, however, there were already Norman mercenaries serving as far away as Trebizond and Georgia. They were based at Malatya and Edessa, under the Byzantine duke of Antioch, Isaac Komnenos. In the 1060s, Robert Crispin led the Normans of Edessa against the Turks. Roussel de Bailleul even tried to carve out an independent state in Asia Minor with support from the local population, but he was stopped by the Byzantine general Alexius Komnenos.

Some Normans joined Turkish forces to aid in the destruction of the Armenian vassal-states of Sassoun and Taron in far eastern Anatolia. Later, many took up service with the Armenian state further south in Cilicia and the Taurus Mountains. A Norman named Oursel led a force of "Franks" into the upper Euphrates valley in northern Syria. From 1073 to 1074, 8,000 of the 20,000 troops of the Armenian general Philaretus Brachamius were Normans — formerly of Oursel — led by Raimbaud. They even lent their ethnicity to the name of their castle: Afranji, meaning "Franks." The known trade between Amalfi and Antioch and between Bari and Tarsus may be related to the presence of Italo-Normans in those cities while Amalfi and Bari were under Norman rule in Italy.

Several families of Byzantine Greece were of Norman mercenary origin during the period of the Comnenian Restoration, when Byzantine emperors were seeking out western European warriors. The Raoulii were descended from an Italo-Norman named Raoul, the Petraliphae were descended from a Pierre d'Aulps, and that group of Albanian clans known as the Maniakates were descended from Normans who served under George Maniaces in the Sicilian expedition of 1038.

Robert Guiscard, another Norman adventurer previously elevated to the dignity of count of Apulia as the result of his military successes, ultimately drove the Byzantines out of southern Italy. Having obtained the consent of Pope Gregory VII and acting as his vassal, Robert continued his campaign conquering the Balkan peninsula as a foothold for western feudal lords and the Catholic Church. After allying himself with Croatia and the Catholic cities of Dalmatia, in 1081 he led an army of 30,000 men in 300 ships landing on the southern shores of Albania, capturing Valona, Kanina, Jericho (Orikumi), and reaching Butrint after numerous pillages. They joined the fleet that had previously conquered Corfu and attacked Dyrrachium from land and sea, devastating everything along the way. Under these harsh circumstances, the locals accepted the call of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to join forces with the Byzantines against the Normans. The Albanian forces could not take part in the ensuing battle because it had started before their arrival. Immediately before the battle, the Venetian fleet had secured a victory in the coast surrounding the city. Forced to retreat, Alexius ceded the city of Dyrrachium to the Count of the Tent (or Byzantine provincial administrators) mobilizing from Arbanon (i.e., ἐξ Ἀρβάνων ὁρμωμένω Κομισκόρτη; the term Κομισκόρτη is short for κόμης της κόρτης meaning "Count of the Tent"). The city's garrison resisted until February 1082, when Dyrrachium was betrayed to the Normans by the Venetian and Amalfitan merchants who had settled there. The Normans were now free to penetrate into the hinterland; they took Ioannina and some minor cities in southwestern Macedonia and Thessaly before appearing at the gates of Thessalonica. Dissension among the high ranks coerced the Normans to retreat to Italy. They lost Dyrrachium, Valona, and Butrint in 1085, after the death of Robert.

 

A few years after the First Crusade, in 1107, the Normans under the command of Bohemond, Robert's son, landed in Valona and besieged Dyrrachium using the most sophisticated military equipment of the time, but to no avail. Meanwhile, they occupied Petrela, the citadel of Mili at the banks of the river Deabolis, Gllavenica (Ballsh), Kanina and Jericho. This time, the Albanians sided with the Normans, dissatisfied by the heavy taxes the Byzantines had imposed upon them. With their help, the Normans secured the Arbanon passes and opened their way to Dibra. The lack of supplies, disease and Byzantine resistance forced Bohemond to retreat from his campaign and sign a peace treaty with the Byzantines in the city of Deabolis.

The further decline of Byzantine state-of-affairs paved the road to a third attack in 1185, when a large Norman army invaded Dyrrachium, owing to the betrayal of high Byzantine officials. Some time later, Dyrrachium—one of the most important naval bases of the Adriatic—fell again to Byzantine hands.

 


Edmund King of East Anglia killed by the Danes.

Edmund the Martyr (died 20 November 869 or 870) was a king of East Anglia who was venerated as a martyr saint soon after his death at the hands of Danish Vikings.

 
   

England


The Normans were in contact with England from an early date. Not only were their original Viking brethren still ravaging the English coasts, they occupied most of the important ports opposite England across the English Channel. This relationship eventually produced closer ties of blood through the marriage of Emma, sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy, and King Ethelred II of England. Because of this, Ethelred fled to Normandy in 1013, when he was forced from his kingdom by Sweyn Forkbeard. His stay in Normandy (until 1016) influenced him and his sons by Emma, who stayed in Normandy after Cnut the Great's conquest of the isle.

When Edward the Confessor finally returned from his father's refuge in 1041, at the invitation of his half-brother Harthacnut, he brought with him a Norman-educated mind. He also brought many Norman counsellors and fighters, some of whom established an English cavalry force. This concept never really took root, but it is a typical example of Edward's attitude. He appointed Robert of Jumièges archbishop of Canterbury and made Ralph the Timid earl of Hereford. He invited his brother-in-law Eustace II, Count of Boulogne to his court in 1051, an event that resulted in the greatest of early conflicts between Saxon and Norman and ultimately resulted in the exile of Earl Godwin of Wessex.

 

The Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest.
 
   

On 14 October 1066, William the Conqueror gained a decisive victory at the Battle of Hastings, which led to the conquest of England three years later; this can be seen on the Bayeux tapestry (a linen, embroidered cloth). The invading Normans and their descendants replaced the Anglo-Saxons as the ruling class of England. The nobility of England were part of a single Norman culture and many had lands on both sides of the channel. Early Norman kings of England, as Dukes of Normandy, owed homage to the King of France for their land on the continent. They considered England to be their most important holding (it brought with it the title of King — an important status symbol).

Eventually, the Normans merged with the natives, combining languages and traditions, so much so that Marjorie Chibnall says "writers still referred to Normans and English; but the terms no longer meant the same as in the immediate aftermath of 1066." In the course of the Hundred Years’ War, the Norman aristocracy often identified themselves as English. The Anglo-Norman language became distinct from the Latin language, something that was the subject of some humour by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Anglo-Norman language was eventually absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon language of their subjects (see Old English) and influenced it, helping (along with the Norse language of the earlier Anglo-Norse settlers and the Latin used by the church) in the development of Middle English. It in turn evolved into Modern English.


Siege of a motte-and-bailey castle from the Bayeux Tapestry.
 

Ireland



Norman keep in Trim, County Meath.
 
   

The Normans had a profound effect on Irish culture and history after their invasion at Bannow Bay in 1169. Initially, the Normans maintained a distinct culture and ethnicity. Yet, with time, they came to be subsumed into Irish culture to the point that it has been said that they became "more Irish than the Irish themselves". The Normans settled mostly in an area in the east of Ireland, later known as the Pale, and also built many fine castles and settlements, including Trim Castle and Dublin Castle. Both cultures intermixed, borrowing from each other's language, culture and outlook. Norman descendants today can be recognised by their surnames. Names such as French, (De) Roche, Devereux, D'Arcy, Treacy and Lacy are particularly common in the southeast of Ireland, especially in the southern part of County Wexford, where the first Norman settlements were established. Other Norman names, such as Furlong, predominate there. Another common Norman-Irish name was Morell (Murrell), derived from the French Norman name Morel. Names beginning with Fitz (from the Norman for son) usually indicate Norman ancestry. Except for the native surname Fitzpatrick, a gallicisation of Mac Giolla Phádraig/Ó Maol Phádraig. Hiberno-Norman surnames with the prefix - 'fitz' include Fitzgerald, FitzGibbons (Gibbons) dynasty, Fitzmaurice. Families bearing such surnames as Barry (de Barra) and De Búrca (Burke) are also of Norman extraction.

 

Scotland


One of the claimants of the English throne opposing William the Conqueror, Edgar Atheling, eventually fled to Scotland. King Malcolm III of Scotland married Edgar's sister Margaret, and came into opposition to William who had already disputed Scotland's southern borders. William invaded Scotland in 1072, riding as far as Abernethy where he met up with his fleet of ships. Malcolm submitted, paid homage to William and surrendered his son Duncan as a hostage, beginning a series of arguments as to whether the Scottish Crown owed allegiance to the King of England.

Normans went into Scotland, building castles and founding noble families that would provide some future kings, such as Robert the Bruce, as well as founding a considerable number of the Scottish clans. King David I of Scotland, whose elder brother Alexander I had married Sybilla of Normandy, was instrumental in introducing Normans and Norman culture to Scotland, part of the process some scholars call the "Davidian Revolution". Having spent time at the court of Henry I of England (married to David's sister Maud of Scotland), and needing them to wrestle the kingdom from his half-brother Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, David had to reward many with lands. The process was continued under David's successors, most intensely of all under William the Lion. The Norman-derived feudal system was applied in varying degrees to most of Scotland. Scottish families of the names Bruce, Gray, Ramsay, Fraser, Rose, Ogilvie, Montgomery, Sinclair, Pollock, Burnard, Douglas and Gordon to name but a few, and including the later royal House of Stewart, can all be traced back to Norman ancestry.

 

Wales



Chepstow Castle in Wales, built by William fitzOsbern in 1067.
 
   

Even before the Norman Conquest of England, the Normans had come into contact with Wales. Edward the Confessor had set up the aforementioned Ralph as earl of Hereford and charged him with defending the Marches and warring with the Welsh. In these original ventures, the Normans failed to make any headway into Wales.

Subsequent to the Conquest, however, the Marches came completely under the dominance of William's most trusted Norman barons, including Bernard de Neufmarché, Roger of Montgomery in Shropshire and Hugh Lupus in Cheshire. These Normans began a long period of slow conquest during which almost all of Wales was at some point subject to Norman interference. Norman words, such as baron (barwn), first entered Welsh at that time.

 

On crusade

The legendary religious zeal of the Normans was exercised in religious wars long before the First Crusade carved out a Norman principality in Antioch. They were major foreign participants in the Reconquista in Iberia. In 1018, Roger de Tosny travelled to the Iberian Peninsula to carve out a state for himself from Moorish lands, but failed. In 1064, during the War of Barbastro, William of Montreuil led the papal army and took a huge booty.

In 1096, Crusaders passing by the siege of Amalfi were joined by Bohemond of Taranto and his nephew Tancred with an army of Italo-Normans. Bohemond was the de facto leader of the Crusade during its passage through Asia Minor. After the successful Siege of Antioch in 1097, Bohemond began carving out an independent principality around that city. Tancred was instrumental in the conquest of Jerusalem and he worked for the expansion of the Crusader kingdom in Transjordan and the region of Galilee.

 

Anglo-Norman conquest of Cyprus


The conquest of Cyprus by the Anglo-Norman forces of the Third Crusade opened a new chapter in the history of the island, which would be under Western European domination for the following 380 years. Although not part of a planned operation, the conquest had much more permanent results than initially expected.

In April 1191, Richard the Lion-hearted left Messina with a large fleet in order to reach Acre. But a storm dispersed the fleet. After some searching, it was discovered that the boat carrying his sister and his fiancée Berengaria was anchored on the south coast of Cyprus, together with the wrecks of several other ships, including the treasure ship. Survivors of the wrecks had been taken prisoner by the island's despot Isaac Komnenos. On 1 May 1191, Richard's fleet arrived in the port of Limassol on Cyprus. He ordered Isaac to release the prisoners and the treasure. Isaac refused, so Richard landed his troops and took Limassol.

Various princes of the Holy Land arrived in Limassol at the same time, in particular Guy de Lusignan. All declared their support for Richard provided that he support Guy against his rival Conrad of Montferrat. The local barons abandoned Isaac, who considered making peace with Richard, joining him on the crusade, and offering his daughter in marriage to the person named by Richard. But Isaac changed his mind and tried to escape. Richard then proceeded to conquer the whole island, his troops being led by Guy de Lusignan. Isaac surrendered and was confined with silver chains, because Richard had promised that he would not place him in irons. By 1 June, Richard had conquered the whole island. His exploit was well publicized and contributed to his reputation; he also derived significant financial gains from the conquest of the island. Richard left for Acre on 5 June, with his allies. Before his departure, he named two of his Norman generals, Richard de Camville and Robert de Thornham, as governors of Cyprus.

While in Limassol, Richard the Lion-Heart married Berengaria of Navarre, first-born daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre. The wedding was held on 12 May 1191 at the Chapel of St. George and it was attended by Richard's sister Joan, whom he had brought from Sicily. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendor. Among other grand ceremonies was a double coronation: Richard caused himself to be crowned King of Cyprus, and Berengaria Queen of England and Queen of Cyprus as well.

The rapid Anglo-Norman conquest proved more important than it seemed. The island occupied a key strategic position on the maritime lanes to the Holy Land, whose occupation by the Christians could not continue without support from the sea. Shortly after the conquest, Cyprus was sold to the Knights Templar and it was subsequently acquired, in 1192, by Guy de Lusignan and became a stable feudal kingdom. It was only in 1489 that the Venetians acquired full control of the island, which remained a Christian stronghold until the fall of Famagusta in 1571.

 

Canary Islands


Between 1402 and 1405, the expedition led by the Norman noble Jean de Bethencourt and the Poitevine Gadifer de la Salle conquered the Canarian islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and El Hierro off the Atlantic coast of Africa. Their troops were gathered in Normandy, Gascony and were later reinforced by Castilian colonists.

Bethencourt took the title of King of the Canary Islands, as vassal to Henry III of Castile. In 1418, Jean's nephew Maciot de Bethencourt sold the rights to the islands to Enrique Pérez de Guzmán, 2nd Count de Niebla.


Culture

Norman law

The customary law of Normandy was developed between the 10th and 13th centuries and survives today through the legal systems of Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Norman customary law was transcribed in two customaries in Latin by two judges for use by them and their colleagues: These are the Très ancien coutumier (Very ancient customary), authored between 1200 and 1245; and the Grand coutumier de Normandie (Great customary of Normandy, originally Summa de legibus Normanniae in curia laïcali), authored between 1235 and 1245.

 

Architecture

Norman architecture typically stands out as a new stage in the architectural history of the regions they subdued. They spread a unique Romanesque idiom to England, Italy and Ireland, and the encastellation of these regions with keeps in their north French style fundamentally altered the military landscape. Their style was characterised by rounded arches, particularly over windows and doorways, and massive proportions.

In England, the period of Norman architecture immediately succeeds that of the Anglo-Saxon and precedes the Early Gothic. In southern Italy, the Normans incorporated elements of Islamic, Lombard, and Byzantine building techniques into their own, initiating a unique style known as Norman-Arab architecture within the Kingdom of Sicily.

 

Visual arts

In the visual arts, the Normans did not have the rich and distinctive traditions of the cultures they conquered. However, in the early 11th century the dukes began a programme of church reform, encouraging the Cluniac reform of monasteries and patronising intellectual pursuits, especially the proliferation of scriptoria and the reconstitution of a compilation of lost illuminated manuscripts. The church was utilised by the dukes as a unifying force for their disparate duchy. The chief monasteries taking part in this "renaissance" of Norman art and scholarship were Mont-Saint-Michel, Fécamp, Jumièges, Bec, Saint-Ouen, Saint-Evroul, and Saint-Wandrille. These centres were in contact with the so-called "Winchester school", which channeled a pure Carolingian artistic tradition to Normandy. In the final decade of the 11th and first of the 12th century, Normandy experienced a golden age of illustrated manuscripts, but it was brief and the major scriptoria of Normandy ceased to function after the midpoint of the century.

The French Wars of Religion in the 16th century and the French Revolution in the 18th successively destroyed much of what existed in the way of the architectural and artistic remnant of this Norman creativity. The former, with their violence, caused the wanton destruction of many Norman edifices; the latter, with its assault on religion, caused the purposeful destruction of religious objects of any type, and its destabilisation of society resulted in rampant pillaging.

By far the most famous work of Norman art is the Bayeux Tapestry, which is not a tapestry but a work of embroidery. It was commissioned by Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux and first Earl of Kent, employing natives from Kent who were learned in the Nordic traditions imported in the previous half century by the Danish Vikings.

In Britain, Norman art primarily survives as stonework or metalwork, such as capitals and baptismal fonts. In southern Italy, however, Norman artwork survives plentifully in forms strongly influenced by its Greek, Lombard, and Arab forebears. Of the royal regalia preserved in Palermo, the crown is Byzantine in style and the coronation cloak is of Arab craftsmanship with Arabic inscriptions. Many churches preserve sculptured fonts, capitals, and more importantly mosaics, which were common in Norman Italy and drew heavily on the Greek heritage. Lombard Salerno was a centre of ivorywork in the 11th century and this continued under Norman domination. The intercourse between French Crusaders traveling to the Holy Land who brought with them French artefacts with which to gift the churches at which they stopped in southern Italy amongst their Norman cousins. For this reason many south Italian churches preserve works from France alongside their native pieces.

 

Music

Normandy was the site of several important developments in the history of classical music in the 11th century. Fécamp Abbey and Saint-Evroul Abbey were centres of musical production and education. At Fécamp, under two Italian abbots, William of Volpiano and John of Ravenna, the system of denoting notes by letters was developed and taught. It is still the most common form of pitch representation in English- and German-speaking countries today. Also at Fécamp, the staff, around which neumes were oriented, was first developed and taught in the 11th century. Under the German abbot Isembard, La Trinité-du-Mont became a centre of musical composition.

At Saint Evroul, a tradition of singing had developed and the choir achieved fame in Normandy. Under the Norman abbot Robert de Grantmesnil, several monks of Saint-Evroul fled to southern Italy, where they were patronised by Robert Guiscard and established a Latin monastery at Sant'Eufemia Lamezia. There they continued the tradition of singing.

 



Norman (PEOPLE) (B)

Norman (PEOPLE) (B)

 
   

Norman, member of those Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern France (or the Frankish kingdom), together with their descendants. The Normans founded the duchy of Normandy and sent out expeditions of conquest and colonization to southern Italy and Sicily and to England, WalesScotland, and Ireland.

The Normans (from Nortmanni: “Northmen”) were originally pagan barbarian  pirates from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland who began to make destructive plundering raids on European coastal settlements in the 8th century. During the later 9th century their raids on the northern and western coastlands of France grew in scale and frequency, and the Vikings had secured a permanent foothold on Frankish soil in the valley of the lower Seine River by about 900. A Viking named  Rollo, who had already won a reputation as a great leader of Viking raiders in Scotland and Ireland, soon emerged as the outstanding personality among the new settlers. In 911 the Frankish king Charles III the Simple made the  Treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte with Rollo, ceding him the land around the mouth of the Seine and what is now the city of Rouen. Within a generation the Vikings, or Normans, as they came to be known, had extended their rule westward to the districts of Lower Normandy. From then on until the mid-11th century, the history of the Normans in Normandy was marked by a line of ruthless and forceful rulers calling themselves counts, or dukes, of Normandy and struggling to establish political hegemony over the indigenous Frankish population of the region.

 
   

Despite their eventual conversion to Christianity, their adoption of the French language, and their abandonment of sea roving for Frankish  cavalry warfare in the decades following their settlement in Normandy, the Normans retained many of the traits of their piratical Viking ancestors. They displayed an extreme restlessness and recklessness, a love of fighting accompanied by almost foolhardy courage, and a craftiness and cunning that went hand in hand with outrageous treachery. In their expansion into other parts of Europe, the Normans compiled a record of astonishingly daring exploits in which often a mere handful of men would vanquish an enemy many times as numerous. An unequaled capacity for rapid movement across land and sea, the use of brutal violence, a precocious sense of the use and value of money — these are among the traits traditionally assigned to the  Normans.

From their settlements in Normandy the adventurous Normans embarked on several major expansionary campaigns in Europe. The most important of these was the invasion of  England in 1066 by  William, duke of Normandy, who became king of England upon the success of what is now known as the Norman Conquest. Early in the 11th century Norman adventurers also began a somewhat more prolonged and haphazard migration to southern Italy and Sicily, where they served the local nobility as  mercenaries fighting the Arabs and the Byzantines. {!} As more Normans arrived, they carved out small principalities for themselves from their former employers. Among the most remarkable of these Norman adventurers were the sons of Tancred de Hauteville, who established their rule over the southern Italian regions of Calabria and Puglia (Apulia) in the 1050s and over  Sicily in the following decades. Their possessions were amalgamated by Roger II, a grandson of Tancred, in the early 12th century as the kingdom of Sicily, whose rulers retained a basically Norman character until the last decades of that century.

 
   

Among the Norman traits regarded by their contemporaries as specially characteristic were their utterly unbridled character and their capacity for quick and fruitful imitation and adaptation. The former characteristic contributed to the production, by a process akin to natural selection, of lines of outstandingly able and ruthless rulers wherever a Norman state came into being. Many of the early Norman rulers of Normandy, England, and Sicily were among the most powerful and successful secular potentates of their age in western Europe in their ability to create political institutions that were both stable and enduring.

The Normans’ capacity for imitation and adaptation was even more significant for the history of Europe. The Normans began as pagan destroyers bent upon plundering and slaughter. Forced to come to terms with the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties and to adopt French as their language and Christianity as their religion, they quickly became missionaries and proselytizers of the civilization that they had attacked and that had ultimately absorbed them. They quickly grasped the principles of Carolingian  feudalism, and Normandy became in the 11th century one of the most highly feudalized states in western Europe.

The art of building  castles was not a Norman invention, but the Normans became masters in the use of the simple yet enormously effective  motte-and-bailey castle — a mound (motte) topped by a timber palisade and tower, surrounded by a ditched and palisaded enclosure (bailey). These little fortifications, which were complementary to the warfare conducted in open country by small units of cavalry, became the hallmark of Norman penetration and conquest. Again, although the Normans were at first novices and imitators in the practice of fighting on horseback, they soon became masters of cavalry warfare as it was then practiced in continental Europe. Mounted on much the same breed of war horse as his Frankish, Angevin, or Breton opponent, wearing the heavy mail hauberk that was standard among the warriors of northwestern Europe, protected by a conical helmet and a kite-shaped shield, and armed with a long, broad-bladed sword and a slender lance, the Norman cavalryman proved on countless occasions that he could outfight and overwhelm the most powerful forces brought against him. To some extent, no doubt, this was due to the importance which the Norman  knightly class attached to the training of young warriors. They eagerly adopted the carefully fostered cult of knighthood which had grown up in the old Carolingian empire in the 10th and 11th centuries. But Norman knights were also fierce and brutal soldiers who had received an arduous training that left little room for the feelings of humanity and mercy with which Christian teaching was later to endow the concept of chivalry.

 
   

Just as the Normans became the typical exponents of Carolingian feudalism and of cavalry and castle warfare, so they also became in part the exponents and champions of religious orthodoxy. Under the patronage of the ducal house of Normandy, religious life in the province flourished, and a number of Norman monasteries became renowned centres of Benedictine life and learning. This was chiefly due to the encouragement given to non-Norman scholars and reformers to make their home in Normandy. The great religious and ecclesiastical revival that marks 11th-century Normandy found another expression in the popularity among the Normans of pilgrimages to Rome and to the Holy Land. This yearning for pilgrimages was one of the factors responsible for the Norman conquest of southern Italy. Many Norman nobles journeyed to the Mediterranean inspired by a naive mixture of religious devotion, a love of adventure, and a desire for fresh conquests. Surprisingly, though, the part played by the Normans in the early Crusades was relatively slight, consisting chiefly of the erection of the short-lived principality of Antioch by Norman nobles in the 12th century.

The Normans were quick to imitate whatever they saw, and this faculty of imitation is evident in all the different countries where the Normans settled. But Norman imitation was never slavish, and is certainly not the whole story of Norman achievement. A truer explanation of Norman success would be that they combined a boundless self-confidence with a marked capacity for adapting to their own purposes the institutions they found in newly won territories. Thus, in Puglia and Sicily their control was based on faith in their own military superiority, their strategic use of castles and harbours, and their importation of feudalism to govern the relations of the count or king with his more important subjects. In government, however, they adopted the highly advanced and largely literate techniques already developed by the Byzantine Greeks and the Muslims.

 
   

In England the Normans similarly brought their own brand of feudalism and their own ideas of strong personal government and fiscal institutions. But there too they adopted many of the existing institutions and customs. Even at the end of Henry I’s reign (1135) in England the whole structure of royal government remained fundamentally Anglo-Saxon — monarchy, king’s council, royal seal and writing office, the shire system and the sheriffs, the twofold revenue system consisting of the produce of royal estates compounded into annual cash payments and a direct tax levied on the landowning class, all originated before the Norman Conquest. But under Norman direction, and with a number of Norman innovations such as the exchequer, the itinerant justices, and the sworn inquest, this system worked much more efficiently after 1066 than before, and, a fact of equal importance, England was made safe from foreign invasion. Norman influence on the church in England also worked powerfully in the direction of better organization and discipline. The role of the Normans in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries may be summarized in saying that by their fierce energy and enterprise, they extended the practice of centralized authoritarian rule, feudalism, cavalry warfare, and religious reform.

 



📹 How the Normans changed the history of Europe? (VİDEO)

📹 How the Normans changed the history of Europe? (LINK)

In the year 1066, 7,000 Norman infantry and knights sailed in warships across the English Channel. Their target: England, home to more than a million people. Around the same period of time, other groups of Normans were setting forth all across Europe. Who were these warriors, and how did they leave their mark so far and wide?

 



📹 How did the Vikings Become French? — The Origin and History of the Normans (VİDEO)

📹 How did the Vikings Become French? — The Origin and History of the Normans (LINK)

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is undoubtedly the most famous date in British History, and the fact they conquered England in this year is one of the few things most know about the Normans. In 911 AD Charles the Simple, King of West Francia, granted the County of Rouen to a Viking warleader called Rollo (Hrólfr in Old Norse), starting a process that would lead to the formation of the Duchy of Normandy. While Rollo's followers were originally Old Norse-speaking, sea-faring, pagan, Viking Age Scandinavians bent on plunder, within several generations they were unrecognisable, having become French-speaking, Christian feudal overlords.

 







 
  North Germanic languages

📘 North Germanic languages

 







 
  Sack of Rome 1084
  • Roma ilk kez Avrupalı Brennus önderliğindeki Keltler tarafından yağmalandı — İÖ 387.

 

Sonraki tüm yağmalar Avrupalı Germenler tarafından yerine getirildi:
  • Yaklaşık 800 yıl sonra Alaric önderliğindeki Vizigotlar tarafından — İS 410.
  • Sonra yalnızca bir başka vandal grup olan Vandallar tarafından — 455.
  • Sonra Totila önderliğindeki bir başka Germanik grup olan Ostrogotlar tarafından — 546.
  • Sonra Robert Guiscard önderliğindeki bir başka Germanik grup olan Normanlar tarafından — 1084.
  • Sonra V. Karl önderliğindeki bir başka Germanik grup olan “Kutsal Roma İmparatorluğu” tarafından — 1527.

Sack of Rome (1084)

Sack of Rome 1084 (W)

The Sack of Rome of May 1084 was Norman sack, the result of the pope’s call for aid from the duke of Apulia,  Robert Guiscard.

Pope Gregory VII was besieged in the Castel Sant'Angelo by the Emperor Henry IV in June 1083. He held out and called for aid from Guiscard, who was then fighting the Byzantine {!} Emperor Alexius I Comnenus in the Balkans. He returned, however, to the Italian Peninsula and marched north with 36,000 men. He entered Rome and forced Henry to retire, but a riot of the citizens led to a three days sack, after which Guiscard escorted the pope to the Lateran. The Normans had mainly pillaged the old city, which was then one of the richest cities in Italy. After days of unending violence, the Romans rose up causing the Normans to set fire to the city. Many of the buildings of Rome were gutted on the Capitol and Palatine hills along with the area between the Colosseum and the Lateran. In the end the ravaged Roman populace succumbed to the Normans.

 
W-Sacco di Roma (1084)

Tutta Roma fu depredata, ma in particolare fu colpita la zona tra il Colosseo, l'Aventino, il Laterano e l'Esquilino e furono saccheggiate e distrutte le basiliche di San Clemente, dei Santi Quattro Coronati e dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Tutta quella zona di Roma, a seguito del sacco, rimase disabitata, perché la popolazione preferì concentrarsi nell'ansa del Tevere, più vicina alla fortezza della Mole Adriana e alla cittadella del Vaticano; questo evento pose le basi per il progressivo isolamento del Laterano dal nucleo urbano di Roma e per lo spostamento della sede papale al Vaticano, che sarà definitivo dopo la fine della cattività avignonese.

Gregorio VII non trasse alcun beneficio dall'intervento dei normanni, se non la sua salvezza personale; al contrario fu costretto alla fuga dalla popolazione inferocita e si ritirò in esilio a Salerno, dove morì nel 1085.

 



6 Infamous Sacks of Rome (HC)

6 Infamous Sacks of Rome (history.com)

5. The Normans 1084

Only a few years after his countryman William the Conqueror launched his 1066 invasion of England, the Norman warlord Robert Guiscard carried out a grisly sack of Rome. Guiscard — a name meaning “cunning” or “wily” — marched on the city in 1084 after receiving a plea for aid from his ally Pope Gregory VII, who was under siege by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. Guiscard easily captured the city and rescued the Pope, but his soldiers were greeted as enemies by the Roman citizenry, many of whom had thrown their support behind Henry. When the people rose up against him, Guiscard crushed their revolt and allowed his men to indulge their lust for rape and plunder. Fires broke out across the city, and many of its inhabitants were butchered or sold into slavery. Sources differ on just how destructive the three-day rampage really was, but some historians would later blame Guiscard and his Normans for demolishing many of Rome’s most priceless ancient monuments.

📥 history.com

 




 







 
  Roman-Norman Wars 1040-1189

Roman-Norman wars

Roman-Norman wars 1040-1189 (W)



Map of Italy and the Illyrian coast in the year 1084. Part of a series of maps on the history of Italy: 1000 AD 1494 AD 1796 AD 1810 AD.
 
   
A number of wars between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire were fought from c. 1040 until 1185, when the last Norman invasion of the Byzantine Empire was defeated. At the end of the conflict, neither the Normans nor the Byzantines could boast much power; by the mid-13th century exhaustive fighting with other powers had weakened both, leading to the Byzantines losing Asia Minor to the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century, and the Normans losing Sicily to the Hohenstaufen, who in turn were succeeded by the Angevins.

Norman conquest of southern Italy

Norman conquest of southern Italy 999 to 1139 (W)


The Kingdom of Sicily (in green) in 1154, representing the extent of the Norman conquest in southern Italy over several decades of activity by independent adventurers.
 
   

The Normans' initial military involvement in southern Italy was on the side of the Lombards against the Byzantines. Eventually, some Normans, including the powerful de Hauteville brothers, served in the army of George Maniakes during the attempted Byzantine reconquest of Sicily, only to turn against their employers when the emirs proved difficult to conquer. By 1030, Rainulf became count of Aversa, marking the start of permanent Norman settlement in Italy. In 1042, William de Hauteville was made a count, taking Lombard prince Guaimar IV of Salerno as his liege. To further strengthen ties and legitimacy, Robert Guiscard also married Lombard Princess Sikelgaita in 1058. Following the death of Guaimar, the Normans were increasingly independent actors on the south Italian scene, which brought them into direct conflict with Byzantium.

During the time that the Normans had conquered southern Italy, the Byzantine Empire was in a state of internal decay; the administration of the Empire had been wrecked, the efficient government institutions that provided Basil II with a quarter of a million troops and adequate resources by taxation had collapsed within a period of three decades. Attempts by Isaac I Komnenos and Romanos IV Diogenes to reverse the situation proved unfruitful. The premature death of the former and the overthrow of the latter led to further collapse as the Normans consolidated their conquest of Sicily and Italy.

Reggio Calabria, the capital of the tagma of Calabria, was captured by Robert Guiscard in 1060. At the time, the Byzantines held a few coastal towns in Apulia, including Bari, the capital of the catepanate of Italy. In 1067-68, they gave financial support to a rebellion against Guiscard. In 1068, the Normans besieged Otranto; in the same year, they began the siege of Bari itself. After defeating the Byzantines in a series of battles in Apulia, and after two major attempts to relieve the city had failed, the city Bari surrendered in April 1071, ending the Byzantine presence in southern Italy.

In 1079-80, the Byzantines again gave their support to a rebellion against Guiscard.

Over a thirty year period (1061-1091), Norman factions also completed the initial Byzantine attempt to retake Sicily. However, it would not be until 1130 that both Sicily and southern Italy were united into one kingdom, formalized by Roger II of Sicily.

 



First Norman invasion of the Balkans (1081–1085)

First Norman invasion of the Balkans (1081-1085) (W)


Robert Guiscard (c. 1015-1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily.
 
   

Following their successful conquest of southern Italy, the Normans saw no reason to stop; Byzantium was decaying further still and looked ripe for conquest. When Alexios I Comnenus ascended to the throne of Byzantium, his early emergency reforms, such as requisitioning Church money - a previously unthinkable move - proved too little to stop the Normans.

Led by the formidable Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund of Taranto (later, Bohemund I of Antioch), they took Dyrrhachium and Corfu, and laid siege to Larissa in Thessaly (see Battle of Dyrrhachium).  Alexios suffered several defeats before being able to strike back with success. He enhanced this by bribing the German king Henry IV with 360,000 gold pieces to attack the Normans in Italy, which forced the Normans to concentrate on their defenses at home in 1083-1084.

He also secured the alliance of Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo, who controlled the Gargano Peninsula and dated his charters by Alexios' reign. The Norman danger ended for the time being with the death of Robert Guiscard in 1085, combined with a Byzantine victory and crucial Venetian aid that allowed the Byzantines to retake the Balkans.

📹 Alexius vs. Bohemond — the Battle of Dyrrhachium 1081 (VİDEO)

📹 Alexius vs. Bohemond — the Battle of Dyrrhachium 1081 (LINK)

 



 



Rebellion of Antioch (1104–1140)

Rebellion of Antioch (1104–1140) (W)


Pope Innocent II.
 
   
During the First Crusade, a large number of Normans naturally joined in what appeared to be a great expedition into the unknown where land and loot was plentiful. During this time, the Byzantines were able to utilize, to some extent, the aggressive Normans to defeat the Seljuk Turks in numerous battles and many cities fell. It is speculated that, in exchange for an oath of loyalty, Alexios promised land around the city of Antioch to Bohemond in order to create a buffer vassal state and simultaneously keep Bohemond away from Italy.  However, when Antioch fell the Normans refused to hand it over, although in time Byzantine domination was established. Out of fear that this signaled Byzantine intentions to reconquer southern Italy and remove his suzerainty over the Normans, Pope Innocent II declared the emperor an excommunicate, and threatened any Latin Christian who served in his army with the same consequence. With the death of John Comnenus the Norman Principality of Antioch rebelled once again, attacking Cyprus and invading Cilicia, which also rebelled. The quick and energetic response of Manuel Comnenus allowed the Byzantines to extract an even more favorable modus vivendi with Antioch (in 1145 being forced to provide Byzantium with a contingent of troops and allow a Byzantine garrison in the city). However, the city was given guarantees of protection against Turkic attack and Nur ad-Din Zangi abstained from attacking the northern parts of the Crusader states as a result.

 



Second Norman invasion of the Balkans (1147–1149)

Second Norman invasion of the Balkans (1147–1149) (W)


Southern Italy in 1112, at the time of Roger II's coming of age, showing the major states and cities. The border of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1154, at the time of Roger's death, is shown by a thicker black line encircling most of southern Italy.
 
   

In 1147 the Byzantine empire under Manuel I Comnenus was faced with war by Roger II of Sicily, whose fleet had captured the Byzantine island of Corfu and plundered Thebes and Corinth. However, despite being distracted by a Cuman attack in the Balkans, in 1148 Manuel enlisted the alliance of Conrad III of Germany, and the help of the Venetians, who quickly defeated Roger with their powerful fleet.

In ca.1148, the political situation in the Balkans was divided by two sides, one being the alliance of the Byzantines and Venice, the other the Normans and Hungarians. The Normans were sure of the danger that the battlefield would move from the Balkans to their area in Italy. The Serbs, Hungarians and Normans exchanged envoys, being in the interest of the Normans to stop Manuel's plans to recover Italy. In 1149, Manuel recovered Corfu and prepared to take the offensive against the Normans, while Roger II sent George of Antioch with a fleet of 40 ships to pillage Constantinople's suburbs. Manuel had already agreed with Conrad on a joint invasion and partition of southern Italy and Sicily. The renewal of the German alliance remained the principal orientation of Manuel's foreign policy for the rest of his reign, despite the gradual divergence of interests between the two empires after Conrad's death. However, while Manuel was in Valona planning the offensive across the Adriatic, the Serbs revolted, posing a danger to the Byzantine Adriatic bases.

The death of Roger in February 1154, who was succeeded by William I, combined with the widespread rebellions against the rule of the new King in Sicily and Apulia, the presence of Apulian refugees at the Byzantian court, and Frederick Barbarossa's (Conrad's successor) failure to deal with the Normans encouraged Manuel to take advantage of the multiple instabilities that existed in the Italian peninsula. He sent Michael Palaiologos and John Doukas, both of whom held the high imperial rank of sebastos, with Byzantine troops, 10 Byzantine ships, and large quantities of gold to invade Apulia (1155). The two generals were instructed to enlist the support of Frederick Barbarossa, since he was hostile to the Normans of Sicily and was south of the Alps at the time, but he declined because his demoralised army longed to get back north of the Alps as soon as possible. Nevertheless, with the help of disaffected local barons including Count Robert of Loritello, Manuel's expedition achieved astonishingly rapid progress as the whole of southern Italy rose up in rebellion against the Sicilian Crown, and the untried William I. There followed a string of spectacular successes as numerous strongholds yielded either to force or the lure of gold.

William and his army landed on the peninsula and destroyed the Greek fleet (4 ships) and army at Brindisi on May 28, 1156 and recovered Bari. Adrian came to terms at Benevento on June 18, 1156 where he and William signed the Treaty of Benevento, abandoning the rebels and confirming William as king. During the summer of 1157, he sent a fleet of 164 ships carrying 10,000 men to sack Euboea and Almira. In 1158 William made peace with the Greeks.

 



Third Norman invasion of the Balkans (1185-1186)

Third Norman invasion of the Balkans (1185-1186) (W)

Although the last invasions and last large scale conflict between the two powers lasted less than two years, the third Norman invasions came closer still to taking Constantinople. The incompetent rule of Andronicus Comnenus allowed the Normans to go unchecked towards the Byzantine capital giving Thessalonica a savage sack (a grim portent of what Constantinople would face in 20 years time). The resulting panic, however, allowed Isaac Angelus to take the throne. In the aftermath of the fall of Andronikos I, a reinforced Byzantine field army under Alexios Branas decisively defeated the overconfident Normans at Battle of Demetritzes. Following this battle Thessalonica was speedily recovered and the invaders were pushed back to Italy. The only exception being the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, the latter remained in the hands of the Norman admiral Margaritus of Brindisi and his successors until 1479.

 



Aftermath

Aftermath (W)

With the Normans unable to take the Balkans, they turned their attention to European affairs. The Byzantines meanwhile had not possessed the will or the resources for any Italian invasion since the days of Manuel Comnenus. After the third invasion, the survival of the Empire became more important to the Byzantines than a mere province on the other side of the Adriatic Sea. The death of William II, who was without an heir, threw the kingdom into instability and upheaval, and by 1194 the Hohenstaufen had taken power, themselves being replaced in 1266 by the Angevins. The successive Sicilian rulers would eventually continue the Norman policy of domination over post-Byzantine states in the Ionian Sea and Greece, attempting to assert suzerainty over Corfu, finally conquered in 1260, the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, the Despotate of Epirus and other territories.

 



 



📹 Normans Conquest of Byzantine Italy (VİDEO)

📹 Normans Conquest of Roman Italy (LINK)

Normans conquest of Byzantine/Eastern Roman Italy (1018-1071) mark the end of Eastern Roman presence in Italian peninsula, begins with Justinian re-conquest under general Belisarius in 535 CE. Lombards pushed Eastern Romans to the southern peninsula in in 750 CE. Saracens from Sicily, Andalusia (Iberia) and Crete became mercenary in the feuds between Lombard and Eastern Romans in 9-10th century. in 11th century the feud attracting Norman mercenary, descendant of Vikings who excel in horsemanship and seafaring. Challenging both Romans and Lombards alike. Norman conquest begins with arrival of Drengot brothers headed by Ranulf in 1017 CE and ended with De Hauteville family headed by Robert in 1071 CE, ousting Eastern Romans in their last Italian stronghold in Bari.

 



📹 Normans Conquest of Kalbid Sicily (VİDEO)

📹 Normans Conquest of Kalbid Sicily (LINK)

After the death of Kalbid emir Hasan as-Samsan in 1053, Unified Emirate of Sicily fractured into multiple Taifas (principalities) each led under their own al-Qāʾid (commander) who sought to unite Sicily under their control.

Qāʾid of Syracuse ibn at-Tumnah seek military aid from emerging Norman under Duke Robert 'Guiscard' de Hauteville in southern Italy who successfully defeated Eastern Roman Empire and Lombard Principalities.

In 1061 Norman 'mercenary' landed on Sicily and captured Messina and quickly rendezvous with Syracusan forces under Qāʾid ibn at-Tumnah. Combined forces of Syracusan Ibn at-Tumnah & Robert's Norman forces failed to capture Enna under Qāʾid Ibn Hawwas. Robert then abandoned Sicilian campaign and focused battling Eastern Romans in Italy. Leaving sicilian campaign in the hand of his brother, Roger 'Bosso' de Hauteville. Qāʾid of Enna, ibn Hawwas sought military assistance from Zirid Emirate of Ifriqiyya (North Africa) under Emir al-Mu'izz ibn at-Tamim, successfully defeated Syracusan ibn at-Tumnah in 1062 but failed to dislodge Normans under Roger in Cerami 1063. Zirid forces under Ayyub ibn at-Tamim turn against Qāʾid ibn Hawwas and unified whole Sicilian taifas remnant of Kalbid Sicily under their control except Taifa of Syracuse. Norman forces defeated Zirid army under Ayyub outside Palermo, capital of Sicily in 1068 (battle of Menzil el-Emir). After copmpleting the conquest of Southern Italy and ousting last Eastern Roman stronghold in Bari in 1071 , Normans took the Capital of Sicily, Palermo in 1072. Half the island already under Norman control & alliance. Normans then turn its offensive against Eastern Roman in Balkans. Zirid took this opportunity by attacking southern italy in 1074, but civil war between Zirid and Helalian in North Africa made Zirid abandon their support to Taifas of Sicily in exchange of Norman support against Helalian. In 1075, Syracuse under Qāʾid Ibn Abbad (Benavert) broke off from the alliance with the Normans and defeated Norman forces under Jordan, Roger's son. In 1079, Taormina, the strongest fortress in all of Sicily fell to the normans after a lenghty siege. in 1081 as the Norman busy battling Eastern Roman and defeated their main Roman army under Emperor Alexius in Battle of Dyrrachium. Syracuse raided southern Italy and re-capture Catania from the Normans. In 1086 Norman forces under Roger de Hauteville besiege Syracuse, Qāʾid ibn Abbad try to broke off the siege on sea but died in the battle. Syracuse fell soon after. In 1091 Noto, the last remnant of Kalbid stronghold in Sicily fell to the Normans. through campaigning in 30 years Normans finally took over entire island and receive Malta submission.

 



📹 William Iron Arm & The Norman Conquest of Italy (VİDEO)

📹 William Iron Arm & The Norman Conquest of Italy (LINK)

A brief introduction to the Norman invasion of Southern Italy in the Eleventh Century.

 



📹 King Tancred and the end of Norman rule in Sicily (VİDEO)

📹 King Tancred and the end of Norman rule in Sicily (LINK)

Tancred was made king not because he was the most able, nor because he had a particulairly good claim on the throne, but rather as to make sure that someone else didn't inherit the kingdom. The rightfull heir was Constance, future Holy Roman Empress, and the Sicilians knew that rule by her ment rule by the Germans, and an end to independence. These circumstances would make sure that Tancred could never sit safely on the throne, and would make his reign a tumultuous one ...

 







 
  Principality of Antioch

Principality of Antioch

Principality of Antioch (W)


The Principality of Antioch in the context of the other states of the Near East in 1135 AD.
 
   

The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.

It had roughly 20,000 inhabitants in the 12th century, most of whom were Armenians and Greek Orthodox Christians, with a few Muslims outside the city itself. Most of the crusaders who settled there were of Norman origin, notably from the Norman Kingdom of southern Italy, as were the first rulers of the principality, who surrounded themselves with their own loyal subjects. Few of the inhabitants apart from the Crusaders were Roman Catholic even though the city was set under the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarchate of Antioch, established in 1100. This patriarchate would endure as a titular one after the Crusades, until it was dropped in 1964.


History (W)

Foundation

While Baldwin of Boulogne and Tancred headed east from Asia Minor to set up the County of Edessa, the main army of the First Crusade continued south to besiege Antioch. Bohemond of Taranto commanded the siege which commenced in October 1097. With over four hundred towers, the city's defenses were formidable. The siege lasted throughout the winter causing much attrition among the Crusader force, who were often forced to eat their own horses, or, as legend has it, the bodies of their fellow Christians who had not survived.



The Siege of Antioch, from a medieval miniature painting.

 

Bohemond convinced a guard in one of the towers, an Armenian and former Christian named Firouz, to let the Crusaders enter the city. Only four days later, a Muslim army from Mosul, led by Kerbogha, arrived to besiege the Crusaders themselves. Alexios I Komnenos, the Byzantine emperor, was on his way to assist the Crusaders; but upon hearing rumors that the city had fallen to the Muslims, Alexios turned back.

The Crusaders withstood the siege, with help from a mystic named Peter Bartholomew. Peter claimed he had been visited by St. Andrew, who told him that the Holy Lance, which pierced Christ's side as he was on the cross, was located in Antioch. The cathedral of St. Peter was excavated, and the Lance was discovered by Peter himself. Although Peter most likely planted it there himself (even the papal legate Adhemar of Le Puy believed this to be the case), it helped raise the spirits of the Crusaders. With the newly discovered relic at the head of the army, Bohemond marched out to meet the besieging Muslim force, which was miraculously defeated — as according to the Crusaders, an army of saints had appeared to help them on the battlefield.

There was a lengthy dispute over who should control the city. Bohemond and the Italian Normans eventually won, and Bohemond named himself prince. Bohemond was already Prince (allodial lord) of Taranto in Italy, and he desired to continue such independence in his new lordship; thus he did not attempt to receive the title of Duke from the Byzantine Emperor (in whose name he had taken an oath to fight), nor any other title with deep feudal obligations. Meanwhile, an unknown epidemic spread throughout the Crusader camp; Adhemar of Le Puy was one of the victims.

 

Early history

Following Bohemond's capture in battle with the Danishmends in 1100, his nephew Tancred became regent. Tancred expanded the borders of the Principality, seizing the cities of Tarsus and Latakia from the Byzantine {!} Empire. However those newly captured cities along with other territory were lost after the Battle of Harran when Baldwin II of Edessa was captured. Bohemond was released in 1103 and went to Italy to raise more troops in 1104, during which time Tancred remained regent of Antioch. Bohemond used the troops he raised to attack the Byzantines in 1107. Bohemond was defeated at Dyrrhachium in 1108 and was forced by Alexius I to sign the Treaty of Devol, making Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire upon Bohemond's death. Bohemond had promised to return any land that was seized from the Muslims when the Crusaders passed through Constantinople in 1097. Bohemond also fought at Aleppo with Baldwin and Joscelin of the County of Edessa; when Baldwin and Joscelin were captured, Tancred became regent in Edessa as well. Bohemond left Tancred as regent once more and returned to Italy, where he died in 1111.

Alexius wanted Tancred to return the Principality in its entirety to Byzantium, but Tancred was supported by the County of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Tancred, in fact, had been the only Crusade leader who did not swear to return conquered land to Alexius (though none of the other leaders, save for Raymond IV of Toulouse, kept their oaths anyway). Tancred died in 1112 and was succeeded by Bohemond II, under the regency of Tancred's nephew Roger of Salerno, who defeated a Seljuk attack in 1113.

On June 27, 1119, Roger was killed at the Ager Sanguinis (the Field of Blood), and Antioch became a vassal state of Jerusalem with King Baldwin II as regent until 1126 (although Baldwin spent much of this time in captivity in Aleppo). Bohemond II, who married Baldwin's daughter Alice, ruled for only four years, and the Principality was inherited by his young daughter Constance; Baldwin II acted as regent again until his death in 1131, when Fulk of Jerusalem took power. In 1136 Constance, still only 10 years old, married Raymond of Poitiers, who was 36.

Raymond, like his predecessors, attacked the Byzantine province of Cilicia. This time, however, Emperor John II Komnenos fought back. He arrived in Antioch in 1138 and forced Raymond to swear fealty to him. There then followed a joint campaign as John led the armies of Byzantium, Antioch and Edessa against Muslim Syria. Aleppo proved too strong to attack, but the fortresses of Balat, Biza'a, Athereb, Maarat al-Numan and Kafartab were taken by assault. Although John fought hard for the Christian cause in the campaign in Syria, his allies, Prince Raymond of Antioch and Count Joscelin II of Edessa sat around playing dice instead of helping John to press the Siege of Shaizar. The city was taken, but the citadel defied assault. The Emir of Shaizar offered to pay a large indemnity, become John's vassal and pay yearly tribute; the offer was reluctantly accepted by the emperor. On the return of the army to Antioch a riot instigated by Joscelin II of Edessa forced the emperor to leave without the citadel being surrendered to him. John had plans to reconquer Antioch and become an effective overlord of the remaining Crusader states, but he died in 1143.

 

Antioch and the Byzantine {!} Empire

After the fall of Edessa in 1144, Antioch was attacked by Nur ad-Din during the Second Crusade. Much of the eastern part of the Principality was lost, and Raymond was killed at the battle of Inab in 1149. Baldwin III of Jerusalem was technically regent for Raymond's widow Constance until 1153 when she married Raynald of Châtillon. Raynald, too, immediately found himself in conflict with the Byzantines, this time in Cyprus; he made peace with Manuel I Comnenus in 1158, and the next year Manuel arrived to take personal control of the Principality. From thence the Principality of Antioch was to be a vassal of Byzantium until Manuel's death in 1180. Although this arrangement meant that the Principality had to provide a contingent for the Byzantine Army (troops from Antioch participated in an attack on the Seljuk Turks in 1176), it also safeguarded the City against Nur ad-Din at a time when it was in serious danger of being overrun.


Antioch under Roman protection.
 
   

Raynald was taken prisoner by the Muslims in 1160, and the regency fell to the Patriarch of Antioch (Raynald was not released until 1176, and never returned to Antioch). Meanwhile, Manuel married Constance's daughter Maria, but as Constance was only nominally in charge of Antioch, she was deposed in 1163 and replaced by her son Bohemond III. Bohemond was taken captive by Nur ad-Din the following year at the Battle of Harim, and the Orontes River became the permanent boundary between Antioch and Aleppo. Bohemond returned to Antioch in 1165, and married one of Manuel's nieces; he was also convinced to install a Greek Orthodox patriarch in the city.

The Byzantine alliance came to an end with the death of the Emperor Manuel in 1180. Antioch was deprived of the Empire's protection, which had been enough to frighten Nur ad-Din away from intervening in the area for the preceding twenty years. Nevertheless, with help from the fleets of the Italian city-states, Antioch survived Saladin’s assault on the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1187. Neither Antioch nor Tripoli participated in the Third Crusade, although the remnants of Frederick Barbarossa's army briefly stopped in Antioch in 1190 to bury their king. Bohemond III's son, also named Bohemond, had become count of Tripoli after the Battle of Hattin, and Bohemond III's eldest son Raymond married an Armenian princess in 1194. Bohemond III died in 1201.

Bohemond's death resulted in a struggle for control between Antioch, represented by Bohemond of Tripoli, and Armenia, represented by Bohemond III's grandson Raymond-Roupen. Bohemond of Tripoli, as Bohemond IV, took control by 1207, but Raymond briefly ruled as a rival from 1216 to 1219. Bohemond died in 1233, and Antioch, ruled by his son Bohemond V, played no important role in the Fifth Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II's struggles to take back Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade, or Louis IX of France's Seventh Crusade.

 

Relations with Other Latin Settlements in the East

The Principality's relationship with other Latin settlements were based on two factors. The first factor was that the Princes of Antioch wanted to extend their power throughout the Latin east which led to conflict between the County of Edessa and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Secondly, alliances between Latin rulers was secured through their shared situation in the East. This alliance was strengthened by feudal ties and marriage alliances between eastern Latin rulers.

Baldwin of Boulogne, Count of Edessa and Bohemond I were all said to have had a relationship based on equality and brotherhood. For example, they travelled to Jerusalem in 1099 to consolidate their pilgrimage vows together. they also consecrated the Latin clerics as bishops in Antioch, which include the County of Edessa. Bohemon I and Baldwin of Le Bourcq also had a close relationship - Baldwin was made commander of Antioch's militia by Bohemond in 1100.

There were however uneasy relations between the Principality and the region of Tripoli under Raymond (Count of Toulouse). Raymond allied with Emperor Alexius I Commnenus instead of Bohemond. In 1105, Bohemond left the east and he placed his nephew, Tancred, in charge of Antioch. In 1108, Bohemond also put Richard of Salerno in charge of Edessa – but Tancred was reluctant to hand it over because a struggle for possession of Edessa between Tancred and Baldwin was happening. In 1109 a conflict occurred between Muslim-based Edessa and Christian based Antioch as Tancred refused to give up Edessa. At the same time, there was conflict between Antioch and the County of Tripoli which was under William-Jordan. William-Jordan promised Tancred that he would give him his land of Tripoli so William-Jordan could keep Toulouse. Tancred agreed, and they entered into an alliance together. Bertrand of Toulouse then entered an alliance with Baldwin I of Jerusalem. A whole network of confraternities was existing at this time. In 1110 a council convened after William-Jordan was killed. After this, there seems to have been reconciliation between Antioch and Edessa.

In 1111 when the Muslim army of Maudud of Mosul threatened the Principality, its Latin allies responded by bringing military aid. In 1112, Bertrand of Toulouse died and Roger Salerno took over Edessa. During this period, there was a better relationship between Antioch and Edessa as well as with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. For example, in 1115 in the lead up to the battle of Tell Danith, the Edessene faction of the army was integral to Antioch's overall army. In 1118 the forces of Jerusalem, Antioch and Tripoli combined to meet an army from Egypt and Damascus that was threatening the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

But in 1119 Roger of Salerno was killed and no adult heir was available. This shifted the power in northern Syria. King Baldwin II was appointed as Regent of Antioch which meant that Antioch didn't have a permanent ruler and Baldwin could exert his influence over the Principality. In 1119 also, Edessa was under the leadership of Joscelin of Courtenay and it was deemed stable. This led to a dramatic waning of Antioch's dominance in Northern Syria. In 1126, Bohemond II arrived in the east and because Baldwin wanted Antioch and Jerusalem to maintain a close relationship, he arranged the marriage between the Prince of Antioch and his daughter, Alice. In 1127, a dispute between Bohemond and Joscelin of Courtenay led to Joscelin leading a force into the Principality to carry out a series of raids. In 1130, there was a succession crisis after Bohemond II's death. This signified the shattering of Antioch's dominance of northern Syria.

 

Fall of the Principality

In 1254 Bohemond VI married Sibylla, an Armenian princess, ending the power struggle between the two states, although by this point Armenia was the more powerful of the two and Antioch was essentially a vassal state. Both were swept up by the conflict between the Mameluks and the Mongols. In 1260, under the influence of his father-in-law, the Armenian king Hetoum I, Bohemond VI submitted to the Mongols under Hulagu, making Antioch a tributary state of the Mongol Empire. Bohemond and Hetoum fought on the side of the Mongols during the conquests of Muslim Syria, taking together the city of Aleppo, and later Damascus.

When the Mongols were defeated at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, Baibars, the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, began to threaten Antioch, which (as a vassal of the Armenians) had supported the Mongols. Baibars finally took the city in 1268, and all of northern Syria was quickly lost; twenty-three years later, Acre was taken, and the Crusader states ceased to exist.

In the colophons of the Malatia Gospel of 1268 (MS No. 10675), Armenian manuscript illuminator Toros Roslin described the brutal sacking of Antioch by Baibars: "...at this time great Antioch was captured by the wicked king of Egypt, and many were killed and became his prisoners, and a cause of anguish to the holy and famous temples, houses of God, which are in it; the wonderful elegance of the beauty of those that were destroyed by fire is beyond the power of words." The empty title of "Prince of Antioch" passed, with the extinction of the Counts of Tripoli, to the Kings of Cyprus, and was sometimes granted as a dignity to junior members of the royal house.


Vassals of Antioch (W)

Lords of Saône

The Lordship of Saône was centered on the castle of Saône, but included the towns of Sarmada (lost in 1134) and Balatanos. Saône was captured by Saladin from the last lord, Matthew, in 1188.

 

 







 
  Emirate of Sicily 831-1091
County of Sicily 1071-1130
Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1816

Wikipedia

  • 535’te Roma İmparatorluğunu Roma İmparatorluğu olarak kabul eder.
  • 652’de Roma İmparatorluğu “what is now known as the Byzantine Empire” olur.
  • Wikipedia terminolojisine göre, ‘Bizans’ İmparatoru Justinian 535’te İtalya’yı ‘Latin’lerden geri alır.
"In 535, Emperor Justinian I returned Sicily to the Roman Empire, then ruled from Constantinople exclusively. As the power of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire waned in the West, Sicily was invaded by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Caliph Uthman in the year 652."
 
  • Sicilya Emirliği’nin başkenti olan Palermo 1050’de 350.000 nüfusu ile Konstantinopolis ve Granada’an sonra Avrupa’nın üçüncü büyük kenti idi.
  • Norman yönetimi altında 1330’da Palermo’nın nüfusu 51.000’e düştü.
  • Emirlik yönetimi sırasında Hıristiyan ve Yahudilere hoşgörü gösterildi.
  • Norman fethi sırasında nüfusun yarısı Müslüman idi.
  • 1160’larda Müslümanlara karşı ‘Lombard’ pogromları ve dinsel temizlik başladı.
  • 1240’ta Sicilya’nın Germanik (Hohenstaufen) feodal prensler ve Katolik Kilise tarafından Latinleştirilmesi tamamlandı.
 

Wikipedia’nın tarihe bakış açısı nesnel değil, sık sık etnik ve dinseldir.

Wikipedia'nın yazış tarzında Müslümanlar ile karşıtlık içinde gösterilen ve Sicilya'yı Müslümanlardan temizleyen yan Katolik Hıristiyanlar değil, Latinlerdir — ki Latin sözcüğü altında duranlar sözcüğün gerçek anlamında Germenlerdir. Müslümanlara karşı “pogromlar”dan söz edilmesine karşın, Sicilya’nın Müslümanlarının yok edilmesi “toplumun tam olarak Latinleştirilmesi” olarak sunulur. Wikipedia böyle söz oyunlarına başvuru yoluyla bilinçsizce dayandığı Hıristiyan bakış açısını örtmeyi ister.

 

"By the time of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282 there were no Muslims in Sicily and the society was completely Latinized."


Emirate of Sicily

Emirate of Sicily 831-1091 (W)

📂 DATA

DATA

Status Province of the Aghlabid Emirate of Ifriqiya (831-909) and of the Fatimid Caliphate (909-948), after 948 autonomous emirate under the Kalbids. After 1044: various emirates in war.
Capital Bal'harm (Palermo)
Common languages Sicilian Arabic, Byzantine Greek, Vulgar Latin
Religion
Islam (state)
Chalcedonian Christianity (Eastern Orthodox)
Government Monarchy
History
• Established
831
• Disestablished
1091
Preceded by Succeeded by
Theme of Sicily
County of Sicily
Today part of Italy
Malta
 

 




The Emirate of Sicily (Arabic: إِمَارَة صِقِلِّيَة‎, romanized: ʾImārat Ṣiqilliya) was an emirate on the island of Sicily which existed from 831 to 1091. Its capital was Palermo.

Muslim Moors, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the entire island from the Byzantine {!} Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902, although Rometta in the far northeast of the island held out until 965. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily, who founded the County of Sicily in 1071. The last Muslim city in the island, Noto, was conquered in 1091.



Roger I of Sicily receiving the keys of Palermo.

 

Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily, until those who had not already converted to Christianity were expelled in the 1240s. Until the late 12th century, and probably as late as the 1220s, Muslims formed a majority of the island’s population, except in the northeast region of Val Demone which remained predominantly Byzantine Greek {?} and Christian even during Islamic rule. The Islamic and Arabic influence remains in the Maltese language and to a lesser extent in the Sicilian language, as well as in architecture and place names in the region.

 


Italy in 1000. The Emirate of Sicily is coloured in light green.

 


First Muslim attempts to conquer Sicily

First Muslim attempts to conquer Sicily (W)

In 535, Emperor Justinian I returned Sicily to the Roman Empire, then ruled from Constantinople exclusively. As the power of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire {!] waned in the West, Sicily was invaded by the Rashidun Caliphate during the reign of Caliph Uthman in the year 652. However, this first invasion was short-lived, and the Muslims left soon after. By the end of the 7th century, with the Umayyad conquest of North Africa, the Muslims had captured the nearby port city of Carthage, allowing them to build shipyards and a permanent base from which to launch more sustained attacks.

Around 700, the island of Pantelleria was captured by Muslims, and it was only discord among the Muslims that prevented an attempted invasion of Sicily at that time. Instead, trading agreements were arranged with the Byzantines, {!} and Muslim merchants were allowed to trade goods at the Sicilian ports.

The first true conquest expedition was launched in 740; in that year the Muslim prince Habib, who had participated in the 728 attack, successfully captured Syracuse. Ready to conquer the whole island, they were however forced to return to Tunisia by a Berber revolt. A second attack in 752 aimed only to sack the same city.

 



Revolt of Euphemius and gradual Muslim conquest of the island

Revolt of Euphemius and gradual Muslim conquest of the island (W)

In 826, Euphemius, the commander of the Byzantine fleet of Sicily, forced a nun to marry him. Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered that General Constantine end the marriage and cut off Euphemius' nose. Euphemius rose up, killed Constantine and then occupied Syracuse; he in turn was defeated and driven out to North Africa. He offered rule of Sicily over to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a place as a general and safety; a Muslim army was sent.

The latter agreed to conquer Sicily, promising to give it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute, and entrusted its conquest to the 70-year-old qadi Asad ibn al-Furat. The Muslim force counted 10,000 infantry, 700 cavalry and 100 ships, reinforced by Euphemius' ships and, after the landing at Mazara del Vallo. A first battle against the loyal Byzantine troops occurred on July 15, 827, near Mazara, resulting in an Aghlabid victory.

Asad subsequently conquered the southern shore of the island and laid siege to Syracuse. After a year of siege, and an attempted mutiny, his troops were however able to defeat a large army sent from Palermo, also backed by a Venetian fleet led by Doge Giustiniano Participazio. But when a plague killed many of the Muslim troops, as well as Asad himself, the Muslims retreated to the castle of Mineo. Later they returned to the offensive, but failed to conquer Castrogiovanni (the modern Enna, where Euphemius died) and retreated back to Mazara.

In 830 they received a strong reinforcement of 30,000 Ifriqiyan and Andalusian troops. The Iberian Muslims defeated the Byzantine commander Teodotus in July–August of that year, but again a plague forced them to return to Mazara and then to Ifriqiya. The Ifriqiyan units sent to besiege Palermo managed to capture it after a year long siege in September 831. Palermo became the Muslim capital of Sicily, renamed al-Madinah (“The City”).

The conquest was a see-saw affair; with considerable resistance and many internal struggles, it took over a century for Byzantine Sicily to be conquered. Syracuse held out for a long time but fell in 878, Taormina fell in 902, and the last Byzantine outpost was taken in 965.

 



Period as an emirate

Period as an emirate (W)

In succession, Sicily was ruled by the Sunni Aghlabid dynasty in Tunisia and the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt. However, throughout this period, Sunni Muslims formed the majority of the Muslim community in Sicily, with most (if not all) of the people of Palermo being Sunni, leading to their hostility to the Shia Kalbids. The Sunni population of the island was replenished following sectarian rebellions across north Africa from 943-7 against the Fatimids' harsh religious policies, leading to several waves of refugees fleeing to Sicily in an attempt to escape Fatimid retaliation. The Byzantines took advantage of temporary discord to occupy the eastern end of the island for several years.

After suppressing a revolt the Fatimid caliph Ismail al-Mansur appointed al-Hasan al-Kalbi (948-964) as Emir of Sicily. He successfully managed to control the continuously revolting Byzantines and founded the Kalbid dynasty. Raids into Southern Italy continued under the Kalbids into the 11th century, and in 982 a German army under Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor was defeated near Crotone in Calabria. With Emir Yusuf al-Kalbi (986-998) a period of steady decline began. Under al-Akhal (1017-1037) the dynastic conflict intensified, with factions within the ruling family allying themselves variously with the Byzantine Empire and the Zirids. After this period, Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis attempted to annex the island for the Zirids, while intervening in the affairs of the feuding Muslims; however, the attempt ultimately failed.

 



Sicily under Arab rule

Sicily under Arab rule (W)


Arab-Norman art and architecture combined Occidental features (such as the Classical pillars and friezes) with typical Arabic decorations and calligraphy.


The new Arab rulers initiated land reforms, which in turn increased productivity and encouraged the growth of smallholdings,
a dent to the dominance of the landed estates. The Arabs further improved irrigation systems through Qanats. Introducing oranges, lemons, pistachio and sugarcane to Sicily. A description of Palermo was given by Ibn Hawqal, a Baghdad merchant who visited Sicily in 950. A walled suburb called the Kasr (the palace) is the center of Palermo until today, with the great Friday mosque on the site of the later Roman cathedral. The suburb of Al-Khalisa (Kalsa) contained the Sultan's palace, baths, a mosque, government offices, and a private prison. Ibn Hawqual reckoned 7,000 individual butchers trading in 150 shops. By 1050, Palermo had a population of 350,000, making it one of the largest cities in Europe, but behind Islamic Spain's capital Córdoba and the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, which had populations over 450-500,000. Palermo's population dropped to 150,000 under Norman rule, while there was a greater decline in Córdoba's population as Muslims there weakened; by 1330 Palermo's population had declined to 51,000.

Arab traveler, geographer, and poet Ibn Jubair visited the area in the end of the 12th century and described Al-Kasr and Al-Khalisa (Kalsa):

"The capital is endowed with two gifts, splendor and wealth. It contains all the real and imagined beauty that anyone could wish. Splendor and grace adorn the piazzas and the countryside; the streets and highways are wide, and the eye is dazzled by the beauty of its situation. It is a city full of marvels, with buildings similar to those of Córdoba [sic], built of limestone. A permanent stream of water from four springs runs through the city. There are so many mosques that they are impossible to count. Most of them also serve as schools. The eye is dazzled by all this splendor."

Throughout this reign, continued revolts by Byzantine Sicilians occurred, especially in the east, and part of the lands were even re-occupied before being quashed.

The local population conquered by the Muslims were Romanized Catholic Sicilians in Western Sicily and Greek speaking Byzantine Catholics mainly in the eastern half of the island, but there were also a significant number of Jews. The two populations were members of one Church until the events of 1054 began to separate them, the sack of 1204 being the last straw as far as the Byzantine "Orthodox" were concerned.

Christians and Jews were tolerated under Muslim rule as dhimmis, but were subject to some restrictions. The dhimmis were also required to pay the jizya, or poll tax, and the kharaj or land tax, but were exempt from the tax that Muslims had to pay (Zakaat). Under Arab rule there were different categories of Jizya payers, but their common denominator was the payment of the Jizya as a mark of subjection to Muslim rule in exchange for protection against foreign and internal aggression. The conquered population could avoid this subservient status by converting to Islam. Whether by honest religious conviction or compulsion large numbers of native Sicilians converted to Islam. About half the population was Muslim at the time of the Norman Conquest. The Fatimids in the mid-10th century adopted a policy of active conversion and increased oppression of Christians. However, even after 100 years of Islamic rule, numerous Greek speaking Christian communities prospered, especially in north-eastern Sicily, as dhimmis. This was largely a result of the Jizya system which allowed co-existence. The co-existence with the conquered population fell apart after the reconquest of Sicily starting in the 1160s and particularly following the death of King William II of Sicily in 1189. The policy of oppression visited upon Christians was applied to Muslims.

 



Decline and “Taifa” period

Decline and “Taifa” period (W)

The Emirate of Sicily began to fragment as intra-dynastic quarrels took place within the Muslim regime. In 1044, under emir Hasan al-Samsam, who established al-Samsam Emirate of Sicily, the island fragmented into four qadits, or small fiefdoms: the qadit of Trapani, Marsala, Mazara and Sciacca, a certain Abdallah ibn Mankut; that of Girgenti, Castrogiovanni and Castronuovo (Ibn al-Hawwàs); that of Palermo and Catania; and that of Syracuse (Ibn Thumna). By 1065, all of them had been unified by Ayyub ibn Tamim, the son of the Zirid emir of Ifriqiyya. In 1068 he left Sicily, and what remained under Muslim control fell under two qadits: one, led by Ibn Abbad (known as Benavert in western chronicles) in Syracuse, and the other under Hammud in Qas'r Ianni (modern Enna).

By the 11th century mainland southern Italian powers were hiring Norman mercenaries, who were Christian descendants of the Vikings; it was the Normans under Roger de Hauteville, who became Roger I of Sicily, that captured Sicily from the Muslims. In 1038, a Byzantine army under George Maniaces crossed the strait of Messina, and included a corps of Normans. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to Syracuse. Despite his conquest of the latter, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines. The Norman Robert Guiscard, son of Tancred, then conquered Sicily in 1060 after taking Apulia and Calabria, while his brother Roger de Hauteville occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights. The Zirids of North Africa sent a support force, led by Ali and Ayyub ibn Tamin. However, Sicilians and Africans were defeated in 1063, in the Battle of Cerami. The sizeable Christian population rose up against the ruling Muslims. In 1068, Roger and his men defeated again the Muslims forces commanded by Ayu ibn Tamim in Misilmeri. The Africans left Sicily in disarray after the defeat and Catania fell to the Normans in 1071, followed, after one year of siege, by Palermo in 1072. Trapani capitulated the same year.

The loss of the main port cities dealt a severe blow to Muslim power on the island. The last pocket of active resistance was Syracuse governed by Ibn Abbad (known by the Normans as Benavert). He defeated Jordan, son of Roger of Sicily in 1075, and occupied Catania again in 1081 and raided Calabria shortly after. However, Roger besieged Syracuse in 1086, and Ibn Abbad tried to break the siege with naval battle, in which he died accidentally. Syracuse surrendered after this defeat. His wife and son fled to Noto and Butera. Meanwhile the city of Qas'r Ianni (Enna) was still ruled by its emir, Ibn Al-Hawas, who held out for years. His successor, Hamud, surrendered, and converted to Christianity, only in 1087. After his conversion, Ibn Hamud subsequently became part of the Christian nobility and retired with his family to an estate in Calabria provided by Roger I. In 1091, Butera and Noto in the southern tip of Sicily and the island of Malta, the last Arab strongholds, fell to the Christians with ease. After the conquest of Sicily, the Normans removed the local emir, Yusuf Ibn Abdallah from power, but did so by respecting Arab customs.

 



Aftermath

Aftermath (W)


A 12th-century Arab-Norman painting depicting Roger II.
 
   

The Norman Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II has been characterized as multi-ethnic in nature and religiously tolerant. Normans, Jews, Muslim Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards and native Sicilians lived in relative harmony. Arabic remained a language of government and administration for at least a century into Norman rule, and traces remain in the language of Sicily and evidently more in the language of Malta today. The Muslims also maintained their domination of industry, retailing and production, while Muslim artisans and expert knowledge in government and administration were highly sought after.

However, the island's Muslims were faced with the choice of voluntary departure or subjection to Christian rule. Many Muslims chose to leave, provided they had the means to do so. "The transformation of Sicily into a Christian island,” remarks Abulafia, "was also, paradoxically, the work of those whose culture was under threat". Also Muslims gradually converted to Christianity, the Normans replaced Orthodox clergy with Latin {?} clerics. Despite the presence of an Arab-speaking Christian population Greek churchmen attracted Muslim peasants to receive baptism and even adopt Greek Christian names; in several instances, Christian serfs with Greek names listed in the Monreale registers had living Muslim parents. The Norman rulers followed a policy of steady Latinization by bringing in thousands of Italian settlers from the northwest and south of Italy, and some others from southeast France. To this day there are communities in central Sicily which speak the Gallo-Italic dialect. Some Muslims chose to feign conversion, but such a remedy could only provide individual protection and could not sustain a community.

“Lombard” pogroms against Muslims started in the 1160s. Muslim and Christian communities in Sicily became increasingly geographically separated. The island's Muslim communities were mainly isolated beyond an internal frontier which divided the south and western half of the island from the Christian north and eastern half. Sicilian Muslims, a subject population, were dependent on the mercy of their Christian masters and, ultimately, on royal protection. After King William the Good died in 1189 royal protection was lifted, and the door was opened for widespread attacks against the island's Muslims. This destroyed any lingering hope of coexistence, however unequal the respective populations might have been. The death of Henry VI and his wife Constance a year later plunged Sicily into political turmoil. With the loss of royal protection and with Frederick II still an infant in papal custody Sicily became a battleground for rival German and papal forces. The island's Muslim rebels sided with German warlords like Markward von Anweiler. In response, Innocent III declared a crusade against Markward, alleging that he had made an unholy alliance with the Saracens of Sicily. Nevertheless, in 1206 that same pope attempted to convince the Muslim leaders to remain loyal. By this time the Muslim rebellion was in full swing. They were in control of Jato, Entella, Platani, Celso, Calatrasi, Corleone (taken in 1208), Guastanella and Cinisi. Muslim revolt extended throughout a whole stretch of western Sicily. The rebels were led by Muhammad Ibn Abbād. He called himself the "prince of believers", struck his own coins, and attempted to find Muslim support from other parts of the Muslim world.

However, Frederick II, no longer a child, responded by launching a series of campaigns against the Muslim rebels in 1221. The Hohenstaufen forces rooted out the defenders of Jato, Entella, and the other fortresses. Rather than exterminate the Muslims who numbered about 60,000. In 1223, Frederick II and the Christians began the first deportations of Muslims to Lucera in Apulia. A year later, expeditions were sent against Malta and Djerba, to establish royal control and prevent their Muslim populations from helping the rebels. Paradoxically, Saracen archers were a common component of these "Christian" armies from this era.

The House of Hohenstaufen and their successors (Capetian House of Anjou and Aragonese House of Barcelona) gradually “Latinized” {?} Sicily over the course of two centuries, and this social process laid the groundwork for the introduction of Latin (as opposed to Byzantine) Catholicism. The process of Latinization was fostered largely by the Roman Church and its liturgy. The annihilation of Islam in Sicily was completed by the late 1240s, when the final deportations to Lucera took place. By the time of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282 there were no Muslims in Sicily and the society was completely Latinized {!}.

 



 



County of Sicily

County of Sicily 1071-1030 (W)

📂 DATA

DATA

Capital Palermo
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Government Monarchy
Count
• 1071–1101
Roger I
• 1101–1105
Simon
• 1105–1130
Roger II
History
• Established
1071
• Disestablished
1130
Preceded by Succeeded by
Emirate of Sicily
Zirid dynasty
Kingdom of Sicily
Today part of Italy
Malta
Tunisia

 



The County of Sicily, also known as County of Sicily and Calabria, was a Norman state {!} comprising the islands of Sicily and Malta and part of Calabria from 1071 until 1130. The county began to form during the Christian reconquest {!} of Sicily (1061-91) from the Muslim Emirate, established by conquest in 965. The county is thus a transitional period in the history of Sicily. After the Muslims had been defeated and either forced out or incorporated into the Norman military, a further period of transition took place for the county and the Sicilians {?}.

History

History (W)


The county in 1112, before merger with mainland Duchy of Apulia and Calabria.

 

The County of Sicily was created by Robert Guiscard in 1071 for his younger brother Roger Bosso. Guiscard himself had received the title Duke of Sicily (dux Siciliae) in 1059 from Pope Nicholas II as encouragement to conquer it from the Muslims. In 1061 the first permanent Norman conquest (Messina) was made and in 1071, after the fall of Palermo, the capital of the emirate and future capital of the county, Guiscard invested Roger with the title of count and gave him full jurisdiction in the island save for half the city of Palermo, Messina, and the Val Demone, which he retained for himself. Roger was to hold the county which comprised conquests yet to be made under Guiscard. In February 1091 the conquest of Sicily was completed when Noto fell. The conquest of Malta was begun later that year; it was completed in 1127 when the Arab administration of the island was expelled.

Robert Guiscard left Roger in an ambiguous relationship with his successors of the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria. After the death of Robert in 1085, Roger I obtained from the new duke, Roger Borsa, the whole rights over the castles in Calabria, the lordship of which he had previously shared with Robert Guiscard. In fact, the seat of Roger I's government was the Calabrian town of Mileto. According to the historians Agostino Inveges and Matteo Camera Roger I started to use the title "Great Count of Sicily and Calabria" since 1096. After the death of Roger I the major change was the transfer of the capital: Palermo became the capital in 1112, when Roger II was invested with the County, after the regency of the mother Adelaide del Vasto. With this change, Sicily come to be governed by the central government, while the Calabrian territories became a provincial administrative unit. During the reigns of Roger II of Sicily and William II of Apulia conflict broke out between the two Norman principalities, first cousins through Roger and Robert respectively. Through the mediation of Pope Calistus II and in return for aid against a rebellion led by Jordan of Ariano in 1121, the childless William ceded all his Sicilian territories to Roger and named him his heir.

When William died in 1127, Roger inherited the mainland duchy; three years later, in 1130 in Palermo, he merged his holdings to form the Kingdom of Sicily with the approval of Pope Anacletus II.

 



List of counts

List of counts (W)

Count Portrait Birth Marriages Death
Roger I
1071–1101
1031
son of Tancred of Hauteville and Fredisenda
Judith of Évreux
1061
4 children

Eremburga of Mortain
1077
8 children

Adelaide del Vasto
1087
4 children
1101
Mileto
aged 70
Simon
1101–1105
1093
son of Roger I of Sicily and Adelaide del Vasto
never married 1105
Mileto
aged 12
Roger II
1105–1130
Roger II 22 December 1095
Mileto
son of Roger I of Sicily and Adelaide del Vasto
Elvira of Castile
1117
6 children

Sibyl of Burgundy
1149
2 children

Beatrix of Rethel
1151
1 child
26 February 1154
Palermo
aged 59

 



 



Kingdom of Sicily

Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1816 (W)

📂 DATA

DATA

Capital Palermo
Government
• Type Feudal monarchy
Motto Animus Tuus Dominus "ANTUDO"
King
• 1130–1154
Roger II
• 1266–1282
Charles I of Anjou
• 1759–1816
Ferdinand III
History
1130
1282
1816
Preceded by Succeeded by
County of Sicily
County of Apulia and Calabria
Duchy of Amalfi
Zirid dynasty
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

 




The Kingdom of Sicily (Latin: Regnum Siciliae, Italian: Regno di Sicilia, Sicilian: Regnu di Sicilia, Catalan: Regne de Sicília, Spanish: Reino de Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of the southern peninsula. The island was divided into three regions: Val di Mazara, Val Demone and Val di Noto; val being the apocopic form of the word vallo, derived from the Arabic word wilāya (meaning ‘district’).

In 1282, a revolt against Angevin rule, known as the Sicilian Vespers, threw off Charles of Anjou's rule of the island of Sicily. The Angevins managed to maintain control in the mainland part of the kingdom, which became a separate entity also styled Kingdom of Sicily, although it is commonly referred to as the Kingdom of Naples, after its capital. The island became a separate kingdom under the Crown of Aragon.

After 1302 the island kingdom was sometimes called the Kingdom of Trinacria. Often the kingship was vested in another monarch such as the King of Aragon, the King of Spain, or the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1816 the island Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1861 the Two Sicilies were amalgamated with Sardinia and several northern city-states and duchies to form the Kingdom of Italy.


History

History (W)

Norman conquest

By the 11th century mainland southern Lombard and Byzantine powers were hiring Norman mercenaries, who were descendants of French and Vikings; it was the Normans under Roger I who conquered Sicily, taking it away from the Arab Muslims. After taking Apulia and Calabria, Roger occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights. In 1068, Roger I of Sicily and his men defeated the Muslims at Misilmeri but the most crucial battle was the siege of Palermo, which led to Sicily being completely under Norman control by 1091.

Norman kingdom

The Norman Kingdom was created on Christmas Day, 1130, by Roger II of Sicily, with the agreement of Pope Innocent II. Roger II united the lands he had inherited from his father count Roger I of Sicily. These areas included the Maltese Archipelago, which was conquered from the Arabs of the Emirates of Sicily; the Duchy of Apulia and the County of Sicily, which had belonged to his cousin William II, Duke of Apulia, until William's death in 1127; and the other Norman vassals. Roger declared his support for the Antipope Anacletus II, who enthroned him as King of Sicily on Christmas Day 1130.

In 1136, the rival of Anacletus, Pope Innocent II, convinced Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor to attack the Kingdom of Sicily with help from the Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus. Two main armies, one led by Lothair, the other by Duke of Bavaria Henry the Proud, invaded Sicily. On the river Tronto, William of Loritello surrendered to Lothair and opened the gates of Termoli to him. This was followed by Count Hugh II of Molise. The two armies were united at Bari, from where in 1137 they continued their campaign. Roger offered to give Apulia as a fief to the Empire, which Lothair refused after being pressured by Innocent. At the same period the army of Lothair revolted.

Then Lothair, who had hoped for the complete conquest of Sicily, gave Capua and Apulia from the Kingdom of Sicily to Roger's enemies. Innocent protested, claiming that Apulia fell under papal claims. Lothair turned north, but died while crossing the Alps on 4 December 1137. At the Second Council of the Lateran in April 1139, Innocent excommunicated Roger for maintaining a schismatic attitude. On 22 March 1139, at Galluccio, Roger's son Roger III, Duke of Apulia, ambushed the papal troops with a thousand knights and captured the pope. On 25 March 1139 Innocent was forced to acknowledge the kingship and possessions of Roger with the Treaty of Mignano.

Roger spent most of the decade, beginning with his coronation and ending with the Assizes of Ariano, enacting a series of laws with which Roger intended to centralise the government. He also fended off several invasions and quelled rebellions by his premier vassals: Grimoald of Bari, Robert II of Capua, Ranulf of Alife, Sergius VII of Naples and others.

It was through his admiral George of Antioch that Roger then conquered the littoral of Ifriqiya from the Zirids, taking the unofficial title "King of Africa" and marking the foundation of the Norman Kingdom of Africa. At the same time Roger's fleet also attacked the Byzantine Empire, making Sicily a leading maritime power in the Mediterranean Sea for almost a century.

Roger's son and successor was William I of Sicily, known as "William the Bad", though his nickname derived primarily from his lack of popularity with the chroniclers, who supported the baronial revolts which William suppressed. In the mid-1150s, William lost the majority of his African possessions to a series of revolts by local North African lords. Then, in 1160, the final Norman African stronghold of Mahdia was taken by Almohads. His reign ended in peace (1166). His elder son Roger had been killed in previous revolts, and his son, William II, was a minor. Until the end of the boy's regency in 1172, turmoil in the kingdom almost brought the ruling family down. The reign of William II is remembered as two decades of almost continual peace and prosperity. For this more than anything, he is nicknamed "the Good". However he had no issue, which event marked a succession crisis: his aunt Constance, the sole heir to the throne as the daughter of Roger II, was long confined in a monastery as a nun with her marriage beyond consideration due to a prediction that "her marriage would destroy Sicily" until 1184 when she was betrothed to Henry eldest son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor and the future Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. William named Constance and Henry the heirs to the throne and had the noblemen swear oath, but the noblemen did not want to be ruled by a German, so the death of William in 1189 led the kingdom to decline.

With support of the noblemen Tancred of Lecce seized the throne. He had to contend with the revolt of his distant cousin Roger of Andria, a former contender who supported Henry and Constance but was tricked to execution in 1190, and the invasion of King Henry of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor since 1191 on behalf of his wife in the same year. Henry had to retreat after his attack failed, with Empress Constance captured and only released under the pressure of the Pope. Tancred died in 1194, and Constance and Henry prevailed and the kingdom fell in 1194 to the House of Hohenstaufen. William III of Sicily, the young son of Tancred, was deposed, and Henry and Constance were crowned as king and queen. Through Constance, the Hauteville blood was passed to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.

 

Hohenstaufen kingdom

The accession of Frederick in 1197, a child who would then become also the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1220, 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's grip on power, however, was not secure. Walter III of Brienne had married the daughter of Tancred of Sicily. She was sister and heiress of the deposed King William III of Sicily. In 1201 William decided to claim the kingdom. In 1202, an army led by the chancellor Walter of Palearia and Dipold of Vohburg was defeated by Walter III of Brienne. 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.

The reform of the laws began with the Assizes of Ariano in 1140 by Roger II. Frederick continued the reformation with the Assizes of Capua (1220) and the 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. The Constitutions of Melfi were created in order to establish a centralized state. For example, citizens were not allowed to carry weapons or wear armour in public unless they were under royal command. As a result, rebellions were reduced. The Constitutions made the Kingdom of Sicily an absolute 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, he founded the University of Naples, now called Università Federico II. It remained the sole athenaeum of southern Italy for centuries.

After the death of Frederick, the Kingdom was ruled by Henry VII of Germany and Conrad IV of Germany. The next legitimate heir was Conrad II, who was too young at the period to rule. Manfred of Sicily, the illegitimate son of Frederick, took the power and ruled the kingdom for fifteen years while other Hohenstaufen heirs were ruling various areas in Germany. After long wars against the Papal States, the Kingdom managed to defend its possessions, but the Papacy declared the Kingdom escheated because of disloyalty of the Hohenstaufen. Under this pretext he came to an agreement with Louis IX, King of France. Louis's brother, Charles of Anjou, would become king of Sicily. In exchange, Charles recognized the overlordship of the Pope in the Kingdom, paid a portion of the papal debt, and agreed to pay annual tribute to the Papal States. The Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily ended after the 1266 Angevin invasion and the death of Conradin, the last male heir of Hohenstaufen, in 1268.

 

Angevin Sicily

In 1266, conflict between the Hohenstaufen house and the Papacy led to Sicily's conquest by Charles I, Duke of Anjou. With the usurpation of the Sicilian throne from Conradin by Manfred of Sicily in 1258, the relationship between the Papacy and the Hohenstaufen had changed again. Instead of the boy Conradin, safely sequestered across the Alps, the Papacy now faced an able military leader who had greatly supported the Ghibelline cause at the battle of Montaperti in 1260. Accordingly, when negotiations broke down with Manfred in 1262, Pope Urban IV again took up the scheme of disseising the Hohenstaufen from the kingdom, and offered the crown to Charles of Anjou again. With Papal and Guelph support Charles descended into Italy and defeated Manfred at the battle of Benevento in 1266 and in 1268 Conradin at the battle of Taglicozzo.

Opposition to French officialdom and taxation combined with incitement of rebellion by agents from the Crown of Aragon and the Byzantine Empire led to the successful insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers followed by the invitation and intervention by king Peter III of Aragon in 1282. The resulting War of the Sicilian Vespers lasted until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, dividing the old Kingdom of Sicily in two. The island of Sicily, called the "Kingdom of Sicily beyond the Lighthouse" or the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick III of the house of Aragon, who had been ruling it. The peninsular territories (the Mezzogiorno), contemporaneously called Kingdom of Sicily but called Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II of the house of Anjou, who had likewise been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo. The division in the kingdom became permanent in 1372, with the Treaty of Villeneuve. Though the king of Spain was able to seize both crowns in the 16th century, the administrations of the two halves of the Kingdom of Sicily remained separated until 1816, when they were reunited in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

 

The insular kingdom of Sicily under the Crown of Aragon and Spain

Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives or cadet branch of the house of Aragon until 1409 and thence as part of the Crown of Aragon. The Kingdom of Naples was ruled by the Angevin ruler René of Anjou until the two thrones were reunited by Alfonso V of Aragon, after the successful siege of Naples and the defeat of René on 6 June 1443. Eventually, Alfonso of Aragon divided the two kingdoms during his rule. He gave the rule of Naples to his illegitimate son Ferdinand I of Naples, who ruled from 1458 to 1494, and the rest of the Crown of Aragon and Sicily to Alfonso's brother John II of Aragon. From 1494 to 1503 successive kings of France Charles VIII and Louis XII, who were heirs of Angevins, tried to conquer Naples (see Italian Wars) but failed. Eventually the Kingdom of Naples was reunited with the Crown of Aragon. The titles were held by the Aragonese kings of the Crown of Aragon and Kingdom of Spain until the end of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg in 1700.

 

Malta under the Knights

In 1530, in an effort to protect Rome from Ottoman invasion from the south, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, as Charles I of Spain, gave the Islands of Malta and Gozo to the Knights Hospitaller in perpetual fiefdom, in exchange for an annual fee of two Maltese falcons, which they were to send on All Souls' Day to the Viceroy of Sicily. The Maltese Islands had formed part of the County, and later the Kingdom of Sicily, since 1091. The feudal relationship between Malta and the Kingdom of Sicily was continued throughout the rule of the Knights, until the French occupation of Malta in 1798.

The occupation was not recognized, and Malta was de jure part of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1798 to 1814. After the Maltese rebellion against the French, Malta was under British protection until it became a British crown colony in 1813. This was officially recognized by the Treaty of Paris of 1814, which marked the end of Malta's 700-year relationship with Sicily.

After the War of the Spanish Succession (Savoy and Habsburg rule)

From 1713 until 1720 the Kingdom of Sicily was ruled briefly by the House of Savoy, which had received it by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, which brought an end to the War of the Spanish Succession. The kingdom was a reward to the Savoyards, who were thus elevated to royal rank. The new king, Victor Amadeus II, travelled to Sicily in 1713 and remained a year before returning to his mainland capital, Turin, where his son the Prince of Piedmont had been acting as regent. In Spain the results of the war had not been truly accepted, and the War of the Quadruple Alliance was the result. Sicily was occupied by Spain in 1718. When it became evident that Savoy had not the strength to defend as remote a country as Sicily, Austria stepped in and exchanged its Kingdom of Sardinia for Sicily. Victor Amadeus protested this exchange, Sicily being a rich country of over one million inhabitants and Sardinia a poor country of a few hundred thousand, but he was unable to resist his "allies". Spain was finally defeated in 1720, and the Treaty of the Hague ratified the changeover. Sicily belonged to the Austrian Habsburgs, who already ruled Naples. Victor Amadeus, for his part, continued to protest for three years, and only in 1723 decided to recognize the exchange and desist from using the Sicilian royal title and its subsidiary titles (such as King of Cyprus and Jerusalem).

The two kingdoms under the house of Bourbon of Spain

In 1734, Naples was reconquered by King Philip V of Spain, a Bourbon, who installed his younger son, Duke Charles of Parma, as King Charles VII of Naples, starting a cadet branch of the house of Bourbon. Adding to his Neapolitan possessions, he became also King of Sicily with the name of Charles V of Sicily the next year after Austria gave up Sicily and her pretensions to Naples in exchange for the Duchy of Parma and the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany. This change of hands opened up a period of economic flourishing and social and political reformations, with many public projects and cultural initiatives directly started or inspired by the king. He remained King of Sicily until his accession to the Spanish throne in 1759, the treaties with Austria forbidding a union of the Italian domains with the crown of Spain.

Charles abdicated in favour of Ferdinand, his third son, who acceded to the thrones with the names of Ferdinand IV of Naples and III of Sicily. Still a minor, Ferdinand grew up amongst pleasures and leisure while the real power was safely held by Bernardo Tanucci, the president of the regency council. During this period most of the reformation process initiated by Charles came to a halt, with the king mostly absent or uninterested in the matters of state and the political helm steered by Queen Maria Carolina and prime ministers Tanucci (until 1777) and John Acton. The latter managed to disentangle Naples and Sicily from the influence of Spain and Austria and to place them nearer to Great Britain, then represented by ambassador William Hamilton. This is the period of the Grand Tour, and Sicily with its many natural and historical attractions is visited by a score of intellectuals from all over Europe that on one side bring to the island the winds of the Enlightenment, and on the other side will spread the fame of its beauty in the continent.

In 1799 Napoleon conquered Naples, forcing king Ferdinand and the court to flee to Sicily under the protection of the British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson. While Naples was formed into the Parthenopaean Republic with French support and later again a kingdom under French protection and influence, Sicily became the British base of operation in the Mediterranean in the long struggle against Napoleon. Under British guidance, especially from Lord William Bentinck who was commander of British troops in Sicily, Sicily tried to modernise its constitutional apparatus, forcing the King to ratify a Constitution moulded over the British system. The island was under British occupation from 1806-14. The main feature of the new system was that a two-chamber parliament was formed (instead of the three of the existing one). The formation of the parliament brought the end of feudalism in the Kingdom.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 Ferdinand repealed all reforms and even cancelled the Kingdom of Sicily from the map (after a history of 800 years) with the creation of the brand-new Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with capital Naples in 1816. The people of Sicily rebelled to this violation of its centuries-old statutes (which every king, including Ferdinand, had sworn to respect) but were defeated by the Neapolitan and Austrian forces in 1820. In 1848-49 another Sicilian revolution of independence occurred, which was put down by the new king Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who was nicknamed Re Bomba after his 5-day bombardment of Messina. The increased hostility of the peoples and the elites of Sicily towards Naples and the Bourbon dynasty created a very unstable equilibrium, kept under control only by an increasingly oppressive police-state, political executions and exiles.

 

Unification with the Kingdom of Italy

On 4 April 1860 the latest revolt against the Bourbon regime broke out. Giuseppe Garibaldi, funded and directed by the Piedmontese prime minister Cavour, assisted the revolt with his forces, launching the so-called Expedition of the Thousand. He arrived at Marsala on 11 May 1860 with ca. 1,000 Redshirts. Garibaldi announced that he was assuming dictatorship over Sicily in the name of King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia. On 15 May the Redshirts fought the Battle of Calatafimi and within weeks Palermo was freed from the troops of general Lanza, who even being superior in number, inexplicably retreated. Francis II of the Two Sicilies tried to regain control of the Kingdom. On 25 June 1860 he restored the constitution of the Kingdom, adopted the Italian tricolour as the national flag, and promised special institutions for the Kingdom.

On 21 October 1860 a plebiscite regarding the unification with Italy was conducted. The outcome of the referendum was 432,053 (99%) in favour and only 667 in opposition to the unification. With three separate armies still fighting within the Kingdom, this outcome was far from an accurate depiction of public opinion. Substantial inconsistencies as well as the absence of secret ballot further complicate the interpretation of the referendum, which Dennis Mack Smith describes as being "obviously rigged". Most Sicilians viewed the unification as acceptance of the House of Savoy, in which belonged Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.

 



Society

Society (W)

During the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, the local communities maintained their privileges. The rulers of the Hohenstaufen Kingdom replaced the local nobility with lords from northern Italy, leading to clashes and rebellions against the new nobility in many cities and rural communities. These revolts resulted in the destruction of many agrarian areas and the rise of middle class nationalism, which eventually led to urban dwellers becoming allies of the Aragonese. This situation was continued during the short rule of the Angevin until their overthrowing during the Sicilian Vespers. The Angevin began feudalising the country, increasing the power of the nobility by granting them jurisdiction over high justice. During the 15th century due to the isolation of the Kingdom, the Renaissance had no impact on it.

At the same period the feudalisation of the Kingdom of Sicily was intensified, through the enforcement of feudal bonds and relations among its subjects. The 1669 Etna eruption destroyed Catania. In 1693, 5% of the Kingdom's population was killed because of earthquakes. In that period there were also plague outbreaks. The 17th and 18th century were an era of decline of the Kingdom. Corruption was prevalent among the upper and middle classes of the society. Widespread corruption and maltreatment of the lower classes by the feudal lords led to the creation of groups of brigands, attacking the nobility and destroying their fiefs. These groups which were self-named "Mafia", were the foundation of the modern Sicilian Mafia. The escalation of revolts against the monarchy eventually led to the unification with Italy.

 



Demographics

Demographics (W)

During the reign of Frederick II (1198-1250 ) the kingdom had a population of about 2.5 million. During the Hohenstaufen era, the Kingdom had 3 towns with a population of over 20,000 each. After the loss of the northern provinces in 1282 during the Sicilian Vespers and several natural disasters like the 1669 Etna eruption, the population of the Kingdom of Sicily was reduced. In 1803 the population of the Kingdom was 1,656,000. The main cities of the Kingdom at that period were Palermo, Catania, Messina, Modica, Syracuse.

 



Economy

Economy (W)

The high fertility of the land led the Norman kings to bring settlers from neighbouring regions or to resettle farmers to areas where cultivation of land was needed. This led to an increase in agricultural production. The main sources of wealth for the Kingdom of Sicily in that period were its maritime cities, most important of which were the ancient port cities of Naples and its nearby counterpart Amalfi, from which local products were exported. The main export was durum wheat, with other exports including nuts, timber, oil, bacon, cheese, furs, hides, hemp and cloth. Grain and other dry products were measured in salme, which was equivalent to 275.08 litres in the western part of the Kingdom, and 3.3 litres in the eastern part. The salma was divided in 16 tumoli. One tumolo was equivalent to 17,193 litres. Weight was measured in cantari. One cantaro was equivalent to 79.35 kilograms (174.9 lb) and was divided in one hundred rottoli. Cloth was measured in canne. One canna was 2.06 meters long. By the end of the 12th century Messina had become one of the leading commercial cities of the kingdom.

Under the Kingdom, Sicily's products went to many different lands. Among these were Genoa, Pisa, the Byzantine Empire, and Egypt. Over the course of the 12th century, Sicily became an important source of raw materials for north Italian cities such as Genoa. As the centuries went on, however, this economic relationship became less advantageous to Sicily, and some modern scholars see the relationship as definitely exploitative. Furthermore, many scholars believe that Sicily went into decline in the Late Middle Ages, though they do not agree about when this decline occurred. Clifford Backman argues that it is a mistake to see the economic history of Sicily in terms of victimization, and contends that the decline really began in the second part of the reign of Frederick III, in contrast to earlier scholars who believed that Sicilian decline had set in earlier. Where earlier scholars saw late medieval Sicily in continuous decline, Stephen Epstein argued that Sicilian society experienced something of a revival in the 15th century.

Various treaties with Genoa secured and strengthened the commercial power of Sicily.

The feudalisation of society during the Angevin rule reduced royal wealth and treasury. The dependence of the Angevin on north Italian commerce and financing by Florentine bankers were the main factors which led to the decline of the Kingdom's economy. The continuation of the economic decline combined with the increased population and urbanization led to decrease of agrarian production.

In 1800 one-third of the available crops was cultivated with obsolete methods, exacerbating the problem. In the later period of Spanish rule, the trading system was also inefficient compared with previous periods because of high taxes on exports and monopolising corporations which had total control of prices.

 

Coinage

The Norman kings in the 12th century used the tari, which had been used in Sicily from 913 as the basic coin. One tari weighed about one gram and was ​16 1⁄3 carats of gold. The Arab dinar was worth four tari, and the Byzantine solidus six tari. In the kingdom one onza was equivalent to thirty tari or five florins. One tari was worth twenty grani. One grana was equivalent to six denari. After 1140 the circulation of the copper coin romesina stopped and it was replaced by the follaris. Twenty four follari were equivalent to one Byzantine miliaresion.

After defeating the Tunisians in 1231 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor minted the augustalis. It was minted in ​21 1⁄2 carats and weighed 5.28 grams. In 1490 the triumphi were minted in Sicily. They were equivalent to the Venetian ducat. One triumpho was worth ​11 1⁄2 aquilae. One aquila was worth twenty grani. In transactions tari and pichuli were mainly used.

 



Religion_

Religion (W)

During the Norman reign, several different religious communities coexisted in the Kingdom of Sicily. They were: Latin Christians (Roman Catholics), Greek-speaking Christians (Greek Catholic), Muslims and Jews. Although local religious practices were not interrupted, the fact that Latin Christians were in power tended to favor Latin Christianity (Roman Catholicism). Bishops of the Greek rite were obliged to recognize the claims of the Latin Church in Sicily, while Muslim communities were no longer ruled by local emirs. Greek-speaking Christians, Latin Christians, and Muslims interacted on a regular basis, and were involved in each other's lives, economically, linguistically, and culturally. Some intermarried. Christians living in an Arabic-speaking area might adopt Arabic or even Muslim names. In many cities, each religious community had its own administrative and judicial order. In Palermo, Muslims were allowed to publicly call for prayer in mosques, and their legal issues were settled by qadis, judges who ruled in accordance with Islamic law.

After the establishment of Hohenstaufen authority Latin- and Greek-speaking Christians maintained their privileges, but the Muslim population was increasingly oppressed. The settlements of Italians brought from northern Italy (who wanted Muslim property for their own) led many Muslim communities to revolt or resettle in mountainous areas of Sicily. These revolts resulted in some acts of violence, and the eventual deportation of Muslims, which began under Frederick II. Eventually, the government removed the entire Muslim population to Lucera in Apulia and Girifalco in Calabria, where they paid taxes and served as agricultural laborers, craftsmen, and crossbowmen for the benefit of the king. The colony at Lucera was finally disbanded in 1300 under Charles II of Naples, and many of its inhabitants sold into slavery. The Jewish community was expelled after the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition from 1493 to 1513 in Sicily. The remaining Jews were gradually assimilated, and most of them converted to Roman Catholicism.

 



 







 
 
 
 
 



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