THE PHOENICIANS (1,300 ~ 800 BC)

             One of the early foreign incursions to Sicilia, before 1300 BC, was by the Phoenicians, from a Semitic civilization on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. There, it had established the cities of Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre, in the area of present-day Lebanon.  The Phoenicians were master seafarers, and over the next few centuries, they established trading posts, and influence, around the shores of the Mediterranean.  They introduced a written alphabet, precursor to the Greek version.  They had contact with the native Elami, who used the Phoenician alphabet, but to write in their native Elamian language, so that remnants of their written records have yet to be translated.

          There were Phoenician settlements on the coasts of Sicilia by about 1000 BC (the time of King David of the Israelites, who referred to the Phoenicians as 'Canaanites').  These were often in the areas previously occupied by the Elymians, and  included Sis (or Ziz, Greek 'Panormos', Roman 'Panormus', now Palermo); Drepanum (Trapani); Lilybaeum (Marsala); Eryx (Erice); as well as Soloeis near the site of present-day Bagheria, and Motya (later Mozia) on an island north of modern Trapani. 
          A question to ponder is whether Sis was so named because it was on the island of Sicilia, or whether Sicilia simply meant 'the island where Sis is'.  By 814 BC, the Phoenician 'city-state' of Carthage was founded at the site of the present city of Tunis in Africa.  Though founded by Phoenicians, Carthage became an independent power in the development of northern Africa and Sicilia, and controlled much of western Sicilia by 800 BC.  There are indications that as early as the Phoenician occupation, sulfur (zolfo, Sicilian zulfuru) was being exported from Sicilia to northern Africa.

THE GREEKS (800 ~ 241 BC)

       Concurrent with the Punic development of Sicilia's northwest in 800 BC, the ancient Greeks established a presence on the island, heavily colonizing the eastern shores and the interior previously occupied by the Siculi, as well as the southern reaches of the Italian peninsula.  This was before Greece existed as a unique nation, and here 'Greece' (their name for it was Hellas) refers to a region rather than a country.  It was the area between Italy and Asia minor, where many independent, powerful city-states such as Athens and Sparta vied for power. 
        To the west of Hellas, the Greek-colonized area of southern Italy and Sicilia came to be known as Megara Hellas, or 'Greater Greece', called Magna Graecia by the Romans.  While the Greek culture on the Italic peninsula began to decline by about 500 BC, Sicilia remained Greek for another 240 years.   However the region from Neapolis (Napoli, Naples) south, comprised of Italy's 'foot' and the island of Sicilia, were to be linked throughout history.  Even today, they are referred to as 'due Sicilie' (the two Sicilies).

         By about 300 BC, the Greeks began representing Trinakrias, or Sicilia, on coins as a triskelion, a three-legged figure, with the face of Medusa at the junction of the legs.  The triskelion almost certainly represents the physical shape of Sicilia: a natural triangle with a cape accessing the North and Europe via the Italic peninsula, from Messina (Capo Peloro); one extending towards the East and Greece at Siracusa (Capo Passero); and to the West, a cape at Lilibaeum (Marsala) or Capo Lilibeo, which meant, literally, 'opposite Libya' or Africa.  
        Some express dismay over the use of the 'horrible' face of the Gorgon to represent a nation, however, there seem to be valid reasons.  One is that Medusa was, in some legends, a goddess of Libya, whence may have come the first Sicilians, the Sicani.  Another is that in the classic Greek myth, Athena turned the golden hair of the beautiful Medusa into serpents.  Perseus later slew Medusa at Athena's command and presented the head to her.  The goddess attached the head to her Aegis or shield, where it then became a symbol to ward off enemies, who were turned to stone if they looked upon the head.  The symbol was then used to show that its bearer was under the protection of Athena.  Since Athena was the patron goddess of Trinakrias, the Medusa on the symbol of the island would ward off its enemies.
        I propose a third explanation: that the head is not that of Medusa, but of Demeter (Roman Ceres), goddess of wheat, and the mother of Persephone (Roman Proserpina) of Enna.   Persephone, as the wife of Hades, was the patroness of birth, death, and rebirth; goddess of the changes of the seasons.  Since the triskelion has also been interpreted as representing these cycles, could the symbol of Sicilia be the representation of the mother Demeter protecting her daughter Persephone, while showering her with the abundance of the earth?       Corns of wheat, rather than serpents, are shown  in some early representations, as well as in the most recent flag of Sicilia.

Sirakous (Siracusa) Coin ~ 336 BC

Panormos (Palermo) Coin ~ 241 BC

Autonomous Region of Sicily ~ 2000 AD
Variations of the Triskelion

        Nowadays, we think of Sicilia as an Italian island, but in in these years, it was in great part Greek, and many of the traditions, myths and great thinkers we associate with ancient Greece were in fact Sicilian.  Eventually, there were more Greeks in Sicilia than there were in 'Greece' itself!  Sicilia had cities such as Syracuse (now Siracusa), its name derived from the Greek 'Sirakous', ('sirako', 'swamp').  It was founded by settlers from the Greek city of Corinth.  The later Roman philosopher Cicero called Syracuse "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all".  Greek-Sicilian settlements were known as 'Siceliot' cities, and often warred among themselves just as their forebears did in Athens and Sparta.  These wars often resulted in complete destruction and leveling of the losing city-state, and massacre, enslavement, or diaspora of its residents.  Some city sites lay abandoned for generations before being re-settled and rising again, sometimes with the previous name, sometimes with an altogether different identification.
        The map below, from 'LIVIUS ~ Articles on Ancient History', shows the indigenous, Phoenician/Punic, and Siceliot cities during the period.  Some still exist with similar names, some have been lost.  Click on the map for a more readable image.

        Many native Sicani, Siculi and Elami either assimilated with the Greek settlers and adopted their culture, or moved to the interior of the island to avoid them.  This influx to the hills was to be a recurring theme as each new group of "Sicilians", invaded or conquered by some new master, fled to the central expanses to avoid subjugation.  As a portent of future supression, often the natives were used as laborers and field workers for the more educated and prosperous immigrant Greeks.  But the Greeks were resisted by the Phoenicians and later Carthaginians who controlled the northwest portions of Sicilia.   From 800 to 400 BC, conflicts were frequent between the Greeks in the east and the Carthaginians in the west.  By 500, Syracuse had become the island's major Greek city-state, with control over Akragas (now Agrigento), Gela, Catane (Catania), Himera (Termini Imerese), and Messana (Messina). 
            West of Catane, the town of Mene, now Mineo, was reportedly founded by one of the few native leaders of Sicilia known from this period, Ducetius.   He was a native Siculan born near Catane and educated in the Greek culture. He united his fellow Siculi in a revolt against the Greek-Sicilian cities in about 460 BC, and by 452 had occupied Morgantina, Etna, and Motyon, and founded the city of Palice, a site of temples to the native 'Palici' gods (sons of Adranus), and a place of refuge for many runaway Siculan slaves.  In 450, he was defeated by the Siracusans and exiled to Greece proper.  He returned to organize Sicilia's northern Siculi and founded Cale Acte east of Messina, but when he died in 440 BC in a battle against the Siracusans, his 'native Siclian Empire' came to an end.  The Siculi kept no recorded history, so what little is known of them was preserved in the writings of their conguerors, the Greeks; in this case by Diodorus Siculus, or 'Diodorus the Sicilian', ironically, a Greek who was born, raised and died in Sicilia.
          Carthage continued its overtures on Sicilia with attacks on Himera and later on Syracuse, each led by different rulers named Hamilcar.  In 406 BC, the first Hamilcar's admiral, Nicia, conquered a high rampart in central Sicilia, and built a fort there, named after him: Castro Nicia (Fort of Nicia, later to become Caltanissetta).  However, the Siceliot cities generally prevailed, and until 264 BC, most of Sicilia was controlled by Greeks, except for the far eastern reaches still held by Carthage.  The ports and larger towns were mainly Greek colonists, their descendants, and native Sicilians who had been assimilated.  The interior held those natives who could eke a living without incursions by outsiders.  The main language spoken throughout the island was Greek.  Sicilia, essentially, was Greek. Then came the Romans!

         The influence of Greece on the culture of Sicilia seems immeasurable.  Nor did Greek history and culture develop without significant impacts from this robust island. 
         In Greek mythology, there are numerous references to Sicilia: the goddess Athena dropped the island of Trinakrias (Sicilia) on Enkelados, one of the Giants who had warred with the Gods, and buried him under Mount Aetna;  Persephone, wife of Hades and goddess of life, death and rebirth, was born in Henna; Daedalus, after his son Icarus' waxen wings were melted by the sun, flew to Sicilia and joined the court of Kokalos, king of the Sicani; Arethusa, the beautiful nymph, was transformed by the goddess Artemis into a river that flowed underground from Greece and emerged at Ortygia, an island in the city of Syracuse;  Hephaistos, the god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, armorers and fire, had his mythical forge in Aetna, according to Sicilian Greeks; the myth of Medusa, one of the Gorgons, originated in Libya, whence came the Sicani, and images of her head have adorned insignia of Sicilia for thousands of years. 
         Sicilia played a role in ancient literature, as well.   The blind poet Homer wrote that during Odysseus' long journey home after the Trojan war, he and his men were held captive by the giant  Polyphemus of the shepherd Cyclopes tribe of Sicilia.  Homer also tells of the dreaded monsters Scylla and Charybdis, the ramparts of the Straits of Messina between Italy and Sicilia, which destroyed Odysseus' ship.  And the Aeolian Islands, from which the Sirens and their songs enticed Odysseus' crew, are Sicilia's Isole Eolie.   Thucydides claims that the human Sicani tribes were preceded on the island by the giant, somewhat mythical Laestrygonians and Cyclopes.
          Aside from the mythical and legendary, in Sicilia, Greek philosophy and science were nurtured by Archimedes, the father of invention.  Among his other contributions to science, this native Sicilian from Syracuse was the first to develop the concept of P  or pi, the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, and the basis of virtually all rational mathematics that followed.  Aeschylus, the great Greek dramatist and author of 'Prometheus Bound', was not born in Sicilia, but he lived there when he developed methods of production, acting, set design and other theatrical concepts that revolutionized the art.  Greek-Sicilian artists Kimon and Euainetos produced coins that remain among the most coveted in the world

           The Greeks left a profound heritage on the island, including the introduction of the cultivation of olives and grapes (how would we make 'Italian' dressing without them?), and the construction of classic Greek structures such as the Amphitheatre at Syracuse and, in the Valley of Temples in Agrigento, the Temple of Castor and Pollux.  In that Sicilian valley also stand the remains of the largest Greek temple in history, the Temple of Zeus.  Greek became the common language, and even after the Roman conquest, when Latin was the 'official' language, Greek was spoken by a multitude of Sicilians, well into the Middle Ages.  And though Greek power was on the decline while Roman fortunes were rising, the impacts of the Greek-Sicilians on Roman culture and civilization grew in the south and moved northward, starting from the shores of Sicilia and spreading throughout the Italian peninsula.   Sicilia, which would one day be subjugated by Rome, was, during its early Greek occupation, more civilized than the Rome of the same time.

THE ROMANS (264 BC ~ 476 AD)

          Greek legend has it that Aeneas, an ally of Troy, fled to Italy after the Trojan War and founded Rome in about 1100 BC, while the Roman version says that Romulus founded it in 753 BC, and murdered his brother Remus in the process.  Regardless, Rome's major influence on Sicilia began in 264 BC, when it began hostilities against the Carthaginians there, waging the First Punic War.  Twenty-three years later, by 241 BC, Rome had won the war, and Sicilia was destined to become the first external province of the Roman Empire.
        While 'Rome' is considered by many to be synonymous with 'Italy', and since Sicilia today is an autonomous region of Italy, some may believe that Sicilia remained under Roman or 'Italian' rule for most of its history.  The facts speak otherwise.  After the seven-hundred or so years of Roman dominance, Sicilia saw a wave of rulers from various other cities, states, or nations for nearly one and a half millennia before becoming a part of the "reunified" nation of Italy.  That is not to say that the Roman stay did not have ineradicable effects on the people, the culture, and the very fabric of Sicilia.
         With the Romans came their language, Latin.   Official, or 'High' Latin was spoken by the ruling classes, the nobility and privileged 'civi', or 'citizens'.  The common people, subjects or slaves of Rome during this period, generally spoke either a version of Greek or the local native tongue, which picked up nuances of ordinary, 'vulgar' Latin.   Vernacular language was tinged by the previous languages spoken by the masses, and by their unique local customs and culture.  These variations eventually became identified, each with a particular region, as a 'dialect' or language of that region.  So the beginnings of the first 'Romance language' appeared in the mixture of Latin and Greek spoken in Sicilia, with roots in the now forgotten Sicanian, Siculan, and Elymian tongues, as well as sprinklings of Phoenican.  The most persistent of these effects may be in names of places: Erice was the Eryx of the Elami; Enna the Henna of the Sicani; Mozia  and Lilibeo were the Phoenicians' Motya and Lilibaeum; and Trapani was Drepanon, Greek for 'sickle', the shape of its harbor.   Dozens of other examples exist. 
         Details of the language will be addressed later, but it is likely that the ordinary people of the time spoke an early version of the modern Sicilian language.  That language, sadly, is not the 'official' language of Sicilia, since the Italian government now requires that 'Italian' be taught in Sicilian schools.  Young Sicilians now speak 'Italian', and 'la lingua Siciliana' (the Sicilian language) is an anachronism, spoken by the elderly, and by tourists from America and other lands; descendants whose forebears brought the Sicilian tongue with them when they emigrated.  Because of the closeness of the lower Italian peninsula to Sicilia, and the numerous social and political connections between the island of Sicilia and the region of the "two Sicilies" (not the least of which was the original influx of Siculi from the mainland), the language that developed throughout the region, including the southern mainland, was very similar to Sicilian.  Today, Calabrian, or Calabresi, is virtually a co-dialect of Sicilian.
         The stage had been set for Rome's first expansion outside the Italian peninsula in 288 BC, when the Mamertines, Italian former mercenaries of the Greek king of Syracuse, captured the strategic Siceliot town of Messana (now Messina), killing most of its citizens and making it a raiding base. After twenty years, when the Greeks tried to suppress the Mamertine activity, the raiders appealed to both Rome and Carthage for help.  When Carthage sent troops, Rome reacted by invading Sicilia, and the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage began in 264 BC.  The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca (father of Hannibal) was successful in his battles on land in in Sicilia, but the Carthaginians lost at sea, and by 241 BC, Rome had not only won the war, but weakened the control of the Greeks.  Rome's position was solidified after the Second Punic War (311 BC), when, because Sicilia had sided with Carthage, Rome conquered and subjugated the island, which thus became Rome's first external province.  During the Third Punic War, fought outside of Sicilia, Rome further weakened Carthage and eventually eradicated it.
          The Roman Empire was in the midst of major expansion, and needed wheat, both to feed and quiet the populace at home, and to support its far-flung armies.  During this period, Sicilia became known as the granary of Rome, for its heavy production of grain.  Grain grew easily, with little oversight by landowners and little ingenuity required by the field hands.  Sicilia's wheat was, and still is,  grown during the winter to avoid the blazing sun of summer.  This winter wheat, or durum, is dense and hard and can be stored for long periods or shipped on equally long voyages, creating a great demand for it in the ancient world. 
          The Romans wreaked ecological havoc, felling thousands of the island's trees to build ships for their navy, to gain farmland, and even to export lumber for construction of buildings in Rome itself.  Sicilia became a 'sub-colony', and the common inhabitants became slaves or servants, living in poverty.  Slave revolts broke out periodically, but were brutally suppressed.  In 63 BC, Roman general Pompey sacked Jerusalem and transported 30,000 Jews to Sicilia as slaves.  The role of slave and free Jews, and even of early Christians is not well recorded during the period of the Roman occupation of Sicilia; however it is known that Saint Paul preached in Siracusa on his way from Judaea to Rome.  Sicilia was evidently particularly receptive to Christianity, perhaps because of the large slave population, and among the earliest Christian martyrs (circa 250-300 AD) were Santa Agata of Catania and Santa Lucia of Siracusa.

          During this period, wealthy Roman citizens had 'latifundia', large estates or villas, in Sicilia,  in the Roman design with large buildings, baths and halls with Roman mosaic floors and walls, such as the Villa Romana del Casale near the present town of Piazza Armerina.   Often the Roman nobility and upper classes enslaved the Greek-Sicilian natives as servants in the villas and workers in the fields; cruel class distinctions that would last for millennia.  The latifundia would eventually become the huge holdings or fiefs of the medieval barons of ages to come.  The heritage left by the Romans seems to have been summed up by land, language, deforestation, and subjugation.  

'Bikini room' at Villa Casale, 325 AD

              It is said that the period of Roman dominance in Sicilia represents the longest period of 'peace' (if slave revolts are not counted) in the history of the island, as foreign incursions were few after the Second Punic War.  Yet for many, it was the peace of subservience and obedience. Slaves were generally treated harshly and fed poorly, and sometimes their recourse was to become 'brigands' in small groups that hid in the hills and sustained themselves by poaching, stealing, and robbing whatever or whoever they could.  This 'brigandage' was to haunt the hills of Sicilia into modern times.  Often the citizenry was fearful to report or punish the brigands, who were owned by powerful landlords, in fear of reprisal by their owners.  This practice of authority, in essence, condoning the brigandage also persisted, with variations, for generations.   Eventually, there grew to be two types of brigandage.  One was simple banditry, into which which some men felt forced, in order to survive in the face of brutal, unjust authority.  These bandits were outlaws without involvement or interaction with the "rightful" authorities.   The other form of brigandage was that which eventually developed into the Mafia, which used threats and force to serve its own purposes, and infiltrated and often was even directed by every element of Sicilian authority: the nobility, Church hierarchy, or the police.  
            And the great estates, the latifundia, would characterize the countryside for almost two millennia, from their ownership by Roman nobles until the twentieth century, when descendants of medieval nobility continued to own vast tracts, often poorly managed or even lying fallow.  Individual or family ownership and management of small tracts of land, or 'smallholding' was virtually non-existent.

THE ARABS (827 AD ~ 1072 AD)

              Moors, Saracens, Arabs - the rulers of Sicilia during this period, at the end of the 'Dark Ages', were called by various names, applied generally to the peoples united under the practice of Islam, and those who spoke Arabic.   Because they included both dark-skinned caucasians and sometimes negroes, 'Moor' often is taken as synonymous with 'black', but this term evidently was used to describe appearance, not racial background.  The two and a half centuries of Arab occupation of Sicilia were to bring profound influences on agriculture, science, engineering, cuisine, and social interactions. 

          In 827 AD, over ten thousand Arab and Berber troops landed at Cape Granitola near Mazara in the western part of the island.  The siege was a result of the Byzantine admiral Euphemius' offering the governorship of the island to Ziyadat Allah, the Aghlabid Emir of Al Qayrawan (in Tunisia) in exchange for his support against the Byzantine emperor. 
          The practical result of the 'Arab assistance' was that the Arabs eliminated all the Byzantines (including Euphemius), and by 965 AD the Moors had completely taken over the island of Sicilia, which became known as the Emirate of Sicily.  Panormos (Palermo) became Bal'harm; Enna became Kasr' Yanni; Marsala is from the Arabic Mars' Allah, Port of Allah.   Castro Nicia, where they reconstructed the castle of Pietrarossa (Red Rock), was renamed Qalat al Nisena (Fort of Women) by the Moors, at what is today Caltanissetta, .

Ruins of Pietrarossa

          The Arabs introduced irrigation qanats or canals, cotton agriculture, and the silk industry.  They introduced yasmin, or jasmine (gelsomino) for its sweet-scented flowers and use in tea. They also brought asparagus, oranges, lemons, limes, figs, dates, spinach and eggplant, rice, and sugar cane, all of which in turn affected Sicilian cuisine.  The Sicilian word for a fried dessert, sfinci, is from the Arabic sfang, fried dough;  the Sicilian aranciu (orange) and the English word for the fruit are from the Arabic naranj.  The Sicilian word for artichoke, carciofu, is of Arabic origin (al’qarshuf), as is the plant itself, as well as its relative, the thistle artichoke, or cardoon.  A sweet confection with sesame seeds and almonds (torrone, in Italy) is cubbaita, from the Arabic concoction qubbayt.  The Arabs made sharbat (sherbet, sorbetto) from the snows of Mount Etna, flavored with the essences of flowers and citrus ('Italian ice'!).  The name of those beloved giuggiulena (sesame seed) cookies is from the Arabic giulgiulan, and babbaluci, or snails, are babus in Arabic. The Sicilian custom of breaking bread, rather than slicing it with a knife as in Italy, is an Arabic heritage.   The Arabs also started organized tuna fishing or 'hunts' which became an important industry, in the Mediterranean Sea, near the island.  These tradition-steeped hunts still take place at a few sites near Sicilia's west coast.  The tuna hunt is la mattanza, from the Spanish for 'the killing'. Its leaders are still called rais (Arabic for 'chief'), and the fishing parties use chants so ancient that the fishermen themselves do not know the meaning of some of the words, probably archaic Arabic.
          Perhaps one of the most enduring contributions of the Arabs was the introduction of thoroughbred horses, and promulgation of breeding methods for the animals, for which Sicilia is world-renowned to the present day.  The prototypical Sicilian horse is the San Fratello, a strong, powerful breed, usually black or bay, known for their endurance.
          Like Caltanissetta, place names beginning with 'Calta' are from the Arabic word for 'fort', or qalat, as in Caltabellotta, Caltagirone, Caltavuturo, and several others.  The word zero, in Sicilian and English, is from the Arabic sifr; ragazzu and ragazza, meaning 'boy' and 'girl', are from the Arabic raqqas, meaning 'messenger'.   The Sicilian word tazza, meaning 'cup' and zuccheru, as well as its English translation sugar, are derived from Arabic.  The Arabic kameesh (shirt) became camisa in Sicilian, and meskin (poor person) became mischinu.  And the Arabic word mahias, meaning 'bold man', is believed by some to be the origin of the Sicilian word mafia.
          In part due to the practice of male polygamy, the population of Sicilia doubled under Arab rule, and by 1066, about half its citizens were Muslim.  Arabic was widely spoken and it was a major influence on the developing Sicilian language.  Muslim practices dating from the medieval Arab domination of the island continued to be reflected in Sicilian nuptial customs, particularly as they existed before the twentieth century. The church may have eventually supplanted the mosque, but the idea of a young bride being betrothed, without her consent, to an older man she barely knew, was remarkably similar to the marital traditions that still exist in Saudi Arabia and several other Muslim countries.        

THE NORMANS (1061 AD ~ 1194 AD) Inroads by the Church and the British

              The name Normans literally means Norsemen, or Men from the North.  It was applied to the Scandinavians, including, in some cases Vikings, who raided, conquered and settled much of Europe during and after the Dark Ages.  One stronghold of these fair-haired, fair-skinned transplanted northerners was Normandy, in what is now France, where through intermarriage they acquired Frankish, Roman, and Celtic blood.  Though descended from Scandinavians, they spoke French.  From Normandy, they made excursions to other parts of Europe, west to the British Isles, and south to southern Italy, where Roger de Hauteville became Ruggeró d'Altavilla Conte di Calabria (Roger de Hauteville, Count of Calabria), on the "toe" of the peninsula.
           The de Hauteville family were important leaders of the Normans, and in 1061, landed a small armed force on Sicilia.  By 1066, while his cousin William the Conqueror was winning the Battle of Hastings to conquer Britain, Ruggeró (Roger) and his brother Roberto Guiscardo (Robert the Cunning) were well on their way to controlling Sicilia.  This took place with the blessings of the Papacy (the Latin, Catholic faction of the Christian church), which encouraged the suppression of Islam and Orthodox Christianity.  Thus, although Sicilia was not actively involved in the Crusades, Ruggieró's exploits were a prelude. 
           A history of the rulers of Sicilia starting with this period might also properly include 'THE POPES'.  Medieval Europe had a 'tripartite' organization consisting of the Roman Catholic Church, the nobility, and 'citizens'. ('Citizens' were only a privileged few: peasants, serfs and slaves had no franchise).  In many instances the rulers of nations or states were vassals of the popes, doing their bidding for heavenly rewards, and, more practically, for earthly gains.  It was important to the papacy that Sicilia, then considered essentially a part of Africa, be brought into the European (papal) sphere of influence.  Further, the Church owned vast lands and continually stove to add to its holdings, causing frequent disagreements between popes, kings and barons about to whom the land actually belonged (that is, who could use it, tax it, rent or sell it).

         Thus, while northern and central Europe were under the shadow of the 'Dark Ages', Sicilia was, literally, an island of culture, diversity, tolerance and civilization, as the era witnessed a proliferation of cultural activity.   The 'poetic school', which was patronized by Ruggeru II, was frequented by many famous poets. The most prominent of the poets in the Sicilian poetic school was Cielo D'Alcamo (Michele or 'Michael' of Alcamo), who reportedly wrote the most beautiful Medieval love poem, 'Il Contrasto' ('the Quarrel'). 

           With Ruggeru II's death in 1154, the Kingdom passed to his heirs, some abler than others.  His son Guglielmu I (William I) was known as "William the Bad", and his grandson Guglielmu II (William II) was called "William the Good", more to differentiate the two than because of any merits of the second.  Under the influence of his advisor, the English churchman Walter of the Mill (Gualtieri Ofamilio), William II married Joan Plantagenet, sister of the future King Richard Lion-Heart, and daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, further involving English influence in Sicilia's affairs.
            The realm was essentially ruled by Walter of the Mill, as 'Emir and Archbishop of Palermo', but Guglielmu II was responsible for the construction of Sicilian marvels including the mosaic-encrusted Basilica of Monreale, a world-famous cathedral near Palermo.  He died without an heir, and the barons of Sicily installed Tancredo II, an illegitimate grandson of Ruggeru II as their king, and imprisoned Guglielmu II's wife, Joan of England.  This led to invasion of Sicilia by Philip Augustus of France, and shortly afterward by his Crusader ally Richard Lion-Heart, who demanded the release of his sister Joan. After capturing and sacking Messina, Lion-Heart negotiated with Tancredi for Joan's release.  The terms included the promised betrothal  of Tancredi's daughter to Lion-Heart's nephew, as well as a gift from Lion-Heart to Tancredi, of a sword reputed to be King Arthur's Excalibur.  

Monreale Basilica



Lion-Heart's Arms

            Tancredi and Lion-Heart's agreements were moot, because in 1194, Ruggeru II's daughter Constance (Costanza), claimed the Sicilian throne by right of descent, and married Holy Roman Emperor Henry (Enrico) IV. The reign of Sicilia passed to his Swabian family, the Hohenstaufens.  But to this day, the Normans and their predecessors the Moors are memorialized in the common talk of the Sicilian people: if a girl or woman is swarthy, with dark eyes and black hair, she is called 'morra' (Moor); if she is pale, with blue eyes and light hair, she is called 'normana' (Norman).
               Though his Sicily was to be ceded to and dominated by numerous rulers, some from the island itself, but most from foreign capitals, Roger established the boundaries of Il Regnu as they would be recognized over the next seven hundred years, passing first to the Hohenstaufens, whose flag is shown at the right.

GERMANY (THE SWABIANS) (1194 AD ~ 1266 AD)

             The region today known as Germany was in 1194 comprised of several duchies, one of which was Swabia.  The Holy Roman Empire included these German-speaking states, and its ruling family was the Hohenstaufens of Swabia.
           The Dukes of Swabia became Kings of Germany during the rule of the distinguished Frederick I "Barbarossa" ("Redbeard") in 1152.  From 1138 until 1254, the Hohenstaufens (from their ancestral home, the Castle of Stauf) ruled as emperors of a loose feudal confederation known as the Holy Roman Empire. The sovereign state of Swabia, in the 1190s, was the focal point of a vaguely defined German unity which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, but it was Europe's most powerful monarchy, having been founded by Charlemagne in 800. 
           Enrico (Henry) IV was the second son of Barbarossa, and through his marriage to Ruggieró II's daughter Constance, claimed the throne of Sicilia.  Constance gave birth to Federicu Secondo who, like his grandfather Ruggeru II, was one of Europe's most enlightened rulers.  Though he was in fact Federicu II, he was the first King Frederick of Sicilia.  Later Federicu's further confused this naming process.  Enrico IV died in 1197. His widow raised their young son in Sicily, but many of his vassals reneged on their feudal obligations. Reaching the age of majority, Federicu II sought to remedy this in a realm which included regions from Saxony to Palestine.  He ruled from Palermo, though he traveled almost continually. To appease the papacy, which feared loss of power (and land) to a 'Holy Roman Empire' that might have included Sicilia and parts of Africa and Asia Minor, Federicu II ruled his kingdoms of Sicilia (which included Naples and the southern Italian peninsula) and Jerusalem separately. They were not strictly a part of the Holy Roman Empire; they were distinct realms which happened to be ruled by the same monarch, Federicu II.  In the early 1200s Federicu II passed important legislation, the Constitutions of Melfi, defining the world's first absolute monarchy, only a few years after the English had constrained the concept of their monarchy, with the Magna Carta.
          Some Norman influence continued under the Swabians.  What was to become the Italian language developed at the Palazzo dei Normanni (the Norman Palace) built by Ruggieró II, with the poets of the Sicilian poetic school who frequented its sumptuous halls under the reign of his grandson Federicu II. Because of his multilingual ability and his patronage of art and culture, Federicu II was called Stupor Mundi, Wonder of the World.  The influence of the Sicilian poetic school was felt as far away as Tuscany, where at the end of the 13th century Dante Alighieri incorporated its principles in his work. The new vernacular Italian, strongly influenced by the Sicilian language, as opposed to official Latin, was adopted and further refined by Dante into the Tuscan dialect, which was eventually selected as the one 'language' of the diverse states that later became 'unified Italy'. 
         But Sicilia changed profoundly under the Swabians.  Federicu II quarreled with the Papacy, leading to frequent excommunications, which affected him little.  But in spite of his seeming contempt for things religious, during his long reign, the Church in Sicilia became almost completely Latinized (Roman Catholic). He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1220, and ruled Germany and Burgundy in addition to Sicilia, though he deferred to the papacy's fears of hegemony by reigning Sicilia as a separate nation, not part of the Empire.  He gained Jerusalem in a bloodless Crusade, and when the papal representative refused to crown him, he placed the crown on his own head, becoming King of Jerusalem.
         In Sicilia, there were no Byzantine parishes by the year 1250, and only a few Orthodox monasteries remained. Thousands of Sicilian Muslim Arabs who had revolted were 'exiled' to the 'heel' of the Italic peninsula (at that time part of the Kingdom of Sicily).   They were sent to Lucera, in Apulia (Puglia), along with many Jews.  Thousands more Muslims and Jews remained on the island portion of Sicilia, but converted to Catholicism.  Mosques were a rare sight in Sicilia by 1250.  When Enrico IV had begun his reign, Sicilia was a multicultural kingdom; a mere half-century later, by the end of the Swabian era, it was  essentially 'European'.  Its customs, language (Sicilian) and law now were almost 'Italian', even though all bore the mark of Greek, Arab and Byzantine influences. 
          Federicu II's Kingdom of Sicily, with its capital at Palermo, extended onto the Italian mainland to include most of southern Italy.  He returned to the Italic peninsula in 1237 and stayed there for the remaining thirteen years of his life, represented in Germany by his son by Yolande of Jerusalem, Conrad.  And, in a dark portent of the future (Hitler's yellow star), in a land that had known the greatest religious tolerance in all of Europe, Federicu II required Jews and other non-Christians  to wear identifying clothing.
          There was evident dislike of Federicu II by the Sicilian people because of his rapacious taxes.  Because he claimed all land as property of the crown with barons holding temporary rights which must be renewed after every generation, the nobility was often in philosophical if not physical rebellion.  Nevertheless, because of Federicu's force of personality and his power as Holy Roman Emperor, a stronger national identity was being forged among Sicilians, continuing what had begun in Norman times.  But Fredericu II died in 1250, and had weak successors: his son Conrad, his grandson Conradin, and his illegitimate son Manfredo (Manfred).  They were suppressed by the French pope Clement IV, who eventually installed a papal vassal, Charles I of Anjou, son of Louis VIII of France, as the king of Sicilia (Carlu Primu d'Angiu, Ré di Sicilia).  Carlu acceded to the pope's claim on the crown's lands, which further alienated the Sicilian barons.  This was the reign of the Angevins (Angioini) (kings from Anjou), who ruled from mainland Napoli (Naples), with a Viceré (Viceroy) in place in Sicilia.  Thereafter, the island rarely had a resident king.

SPAIN (THE ARAGONESE) (1282 AD ~ 1492 AD)