Page 567 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Muslim rebellion in Sicily’s interior. The twin aims of his rule in Sicily were to

restore the broad framework of the Norman state, and to impose a more imperial
stamp on society, indicated by his fondness for classical Roman allusions in his
promulgations and coinage. He allowed himself rights and privileges in Sicily that
were impossible in his other possessions, emphasizing his own authority at the
expense of the independence of the clergy and the autonomy of the cities. As

elsewhere in southern Italy, strong castles were built, such as those at Milazzo,
Catania, Siracusa and Augusta, to keep the municipalities in check.

A unified legal system was drawn up, embodied in his Liber Augustales, while his
attempts to homogenize Sicilian society involved the harsh treatment of what had now
become minority communities, such as the Muslims. He encouraged the arts, too,
championing Sicilian vernacular poetry, whose pre-eminence was admitted by

Petrarch and Dante. Frederick acquired the name “Stupor Mundi” (“Wonder of the
World”), reflecting his promotion of science, law and medicine, and the peace that
Sicily enjoyed during the half-century of his rule.

However, the balance of power Frederick achieved within Sicily laid the
foundations for many of the island’s future woes – for example, the weakening of the
municipalities at a time when most European towns were increasing their autonomy.

His centralized government worked so long as there was a powerful hand to guide it,
but when Frederick died in 1255, decline set in, despite the efforts of his son
Manfred, who strove to defend his crown from the encroachments of the barons and
the acquisitiveness of foreign monarchs. New claimants to the throne were egged on
by Sicily’s nominal suzerain, the pope, anxious to deprive the Hohenstaufen of their
southern possession, and he eventually auctioned it, selling it to the king of England,
who accepted it on behalf of his 8-year-old son, Edmund of Lancaster. For ten years

Edmund was styled “King of Sicily” despite the fact that the bill was never paid.

Charles of Anjou

French pope Urban IV deposed Edmund, who had never set foot in Sicily, and gave

the title instead to Charles of Anjou, brother of the French king, on condition that he
took over England’s debt and paid the papacy a huge annual tribute. Backed by the
papacy, Charles of Anjou embarked on a punitive campaign against the majority of the
Sicilian population, who had supported the Hohenstaufen. He plundered land to give
to his followers, and imposed a high level of taxation, though in the end it was a
grassroots revolt that sparked off the Sicilian Vespers, an uprising against the French
that began on Easter Monday 1282; it is traditionally held to have started after the bell

for evening services, or Vespers, had rung at Palermo’s church of Santo Spirito. The
incident that sparked it all off was an insult to a woman by a French soldier, which led
to a general slaughter in Palermo, soon growing into an island-wide rebellion against