AR denier, 17mm, 1.1gr. Obv: +LVDOVVICVS INP, central cross over lines. Rev: +ANGILBERGA NP, central cross with eight rays. Mint is Benevento (It). R2013; MG 1178; Dep 10-F1, 141M (8 examples); MEC 1116; not in Prou. Note the cross potent, similar to Constans II above.

Louis II is descended from Louis the Pious via his son first Lothar. Lother I's inheritance from his father was the central Carolingian territory, running from the Low Countries through Burgundy down into Italy. When he died, his first son, Lothar, inherited the northern part of his father's lands, to be called Lotharingia, while his other son inherited Italy and ruled as Louis II.

At the time this coin was minted mainland Italy was subject to Arab raids and invasion. Disunity among the Italian princes made effective resistance difficult and the trade relationships coastal cities had with the Arabs made them less than enthusiastic to fight their Arab trading partners. Coastal communities were glad to see the Lombard hold on southern Italy weakened. Even the intervention of Louis II was unable to generate a sustained effort against the Arabs. It was only in the early 10th C that the Arabs were finally driven out of the mainland, although they continued to hold Sicily. In addition to the Arab threat, the Byzantium resurgence in this century caused attention to focus as well on the east coast of Italy, Byzantium's stronghold. Benevento fell to Byzantine forces in 891, who succeeded in holding it only for four years.

Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples

**

Maps from Loud, The Age of Robert Guiscard 

At the start of the 11th century southern Italy was a cultural melange. Lombards controlled territory on the mainland, as did Byzantium. At the same time, Sicily was under Islamic control. Islamic forces were once against pressuring the mainland and raiding extensively, penetratring as far as Benevento in 1102. (Loud 29) In  addition to the native Sicilians and Italians in the region, there was a significant Jewish population in southern Italy and Sicily.  Most broadly, as Takayama (5) describes it, 'Thus, in the 11th century the Mediterranean world consisted of three major cultural zones: Latin-Christian Western Europe, Greek-Christian Byzantine East and Arab-Islamic north Africa and Spain. Southern Italy and Sicily formed their borders." However, Smith (32) notes "... in the passage of time, it became clear that these cultural traditions had mixed but never completely fused." This would set the stage for strife in the 12th C.

The Normans arrived in the south, on the mainland, in the second decade of the 11th C. They were drawn by pilgrimage and opportunity. Their military skills were utilized by both Greeks and Lombards and as time went on, their numbers increased and they began to carve out their own territory. They were both allies and enemies of the 11th C papacy. Out of this fluid political environment Robert Guiscard emerged as the dominant figure who was recognized as count of Apulia. As the Normans strengthened their hold on the southern mainland, their attention turned to Sicily. It is at this point that Roger I enters the picture.

Roger I: count of Sicily (d 1101)

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AU Tari d'oro, 13x14mm, .97gr. Obv: SE NON/MAOMETTO EL'INVIATO DI DIO/NON VE DIVINITA. Central Arabic script. Rev: grand T with globes. Mint is Messina. B1211.

Roger was Robert Guiscard's brother and is responsible for the Norman conquest of Sicily. By the middle of the 11th C Arab rule weakened due to infighting throughout the Arab world and particularly among the competing Islamic rulers in Sicily. The Normans saw an opportunity to take advantage of this weakness and expand their southern Italian lands. In 1061 Roger led a small force into Sicily, to reconnoiter, to plunder and to test the level of resistance. The Norman invasion, with some complicity on the part of conflicting Islamic rulers, commenced in 1060. Shortly thereafter Roger captured Messina, just across the straits from Italy, and continued to expand his control in the NE of the island.  In 1071 Palermo fell to Robert Guiscard and by 1091 Sicily was largely captured.

While the Saracens were in control of the island, they were largely tolerant of other religions (Greek Orthodox, Jews, Latin Christians) and Roger continued this tradition, including toleration of Islam. The Normans represented a conquest by a relatively small number of invaders and not a population migration. They therefore needed the current population to farm the land and provide the craftsmanship necessary to support Sicilian commerce. Roger relied on Orthodox Greeks to staff his government administrative offices and was tolerant of the Muslim population. His reliance on the Greeks gave his government a decidedly Byzantine flavor, very unusual for a Latin ruler.

While Sicily was not a source of gold, Roger was able to mint gold coins, many of which have survived, due to the gold Sicily earned in exchange for grain sold in north ASfrican markets.

Given the complex population he conquered and the relatively good relations he had with the Arabs, in Sicily and in Africa, he was not a supporter of the First Crusade. He came to be recognized as count of Sicily and died in 1101 and was buried in Calabria, the mainland province that fell under his rule.

Roger II: king of Sicily (1130 - 1154)

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AE Follaro, 12mm, .63gr. Obv from MEC: 'Arabic legend on three lines: 'bi-'l-amr al-maliki duriba,' or 'struck by royal command.'' Rev: circular arabic legend, central cross. MEC 14: 220, not in Biaggi.

Roger succeeded his father as ruler of Sicily. During his minority Roger I's wife, Adelaide, acted as regent. Adelaide married king Baldwin of Jerusalem in 1113 and left for the Middle East. By this time Roger II had assumed control of his government. Roger ultimately inherited Apulia and came to control all of southern Italy. In 1130 he proclaimed himself  king of the Kingdom of Sicily, with the consent of his major vassals. Following an old tradition, he was crowned in Palermo on Christmas day, choosing the same date Charlemagne was crowned in 800.

Roger shared his father's lack of enthusiasm for the crusades but profitably provisioned travelers going the the Middle East. He took advantage of the passage of the Second Crusade and seized Corfu for his kingdom in 1147. He also extended his reach into north Africa and his forces seized Tripoli in 1146 and other coast areas into 1148. This map shows the extent of his kingdom, based in Sicily and southern Italy but extending into the Adriatic and across the Mediterranean by 1150.

Map is from Takayama

Roger had a mixed relationship with the Roman church. He was ocassionally excommunicated and fought with popes but was crowned by a pope, without recognizing the pope's temporal authority. He was generous in his support of the church, both Roman and Byzantine, but favored Romans for the better ecclesiastical positions. He claimed the right to appoint bishops, something the popes had generally been successful in keeping to themselves in other parts of Europe.

William I: king of Sicily (1154 - 66)

William I is son of Roger II. His reign was more troubled than that of his father. His nobles were becoming more assertive and he faced a number of rebellions. The Arabs in north Africa were recapturing the lands Roger II had taken and by 1160 they had returned to Islamic hands. The relative cultural and religious tolerance of the previous reign gave rise to Christian-Islam tensions. William was seized by rebels at one point and his son was proclaimed king. This conflict weakened commerce and impaired prosperity and encouraged Islamic out migration. When William regained his independence, his retribution on the rebels was harsh.

William II: king of Sicily (1166 - 89)

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AE Mezzofollaro, 16mm, 1.46gr. Obv: =OPERATO IN VRBE MESSANE, central ./REXW/SCoS. Rev: CONIATO PER ORDINE RE MAGNIFICO BRAMOSO DI ESSERE ESALTATO DA DIO. Mint is Messina. B 1233; Spahr 109.  

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AE Follaro, 14mm, 2.14gr. Obv: lion's head. Rev: IL RE GUGLIELMO IL SECONDO, central Arabic text. Mint is Messina. B1232; MEC 432. 

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Follaro, 12mm, 1.6gr. Obv: lion's head. Rev: IL RE GUGLIELMO IL SECONDO, central Arabic text. Mint is Messina. B1232; MEC 432-6.

William II is son of William I, grandson of Roger II. His mother was Margaret of Navarre and she was his regent during his minority. His reign was characterized by conflict between competing Christian factions and William's power was limited. William sponsored the Benedictine abbey at Monreale, with the hope it would become a religious counterweight to power concentrated by the bishop of Palermo. William's mother encouraged the in-migration of Spanish and Norman knights and the kingdom became increasingly Latinized. William himself was comfortable with Greek and Arab culture, although Sicily as a whole was moving towards the generalized Latin intolerance of Islam, a product of the crusades. The fact that Jerusalem fell to Saladin in 1187 acerbated Christian-Islam tensions in his lands.

William had aspirations of becoming emperor of the East and to pursue this goal he sought out a German alliance. This led to his aunt marrying Henry of the house of Hofenstuafen, who subsequently became HRE. This marraige set the seeds for the Norman loss of control of Sicily. This became much more likely since William had no direct heir.

Tancred of Sicily (1189 - 94)

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Follara, 6mm, 2.44gr. Obv in Arabic: KING TANCRED. Rev: +ROVERIVS, central REX. Mint is Messina. Spahr 139v (description by Berman).

Tancred is a first cousin of William II, nephew (illegitimate) of William I. He is an illegitimate son of Roger (died 1149) who in turn is a son of Roger II. Tancred had two sons who briefly claimed kingship of Sicily (Roger III, 1192 - 93 and William III, 1194) but neither appear to have had coinage. Tancred came to the throne during a conflict over succession, since William II died without an heir. Tancred was supported by a number of barons who recognized that any conflict over the throne would weaken the monarchy and thereby effectively shift power to them. Tancred had allies beyond Sicily in pursuing his claim. The alternate claimant was Henry of Swabia, husband of his aunt Constance. The pope was not enthusiastic about having a German presence both north and south of Rome, given his conflicts with the HRE, and therefore favored Tancred. It is possible the Byzantium also favored Tancred, who was culturally sympathetic to Greek ideas. Tancred died when he was only 39 and the throne passed via his aunt to German control.

Tancred had a hard reign. He found himself the unfortunate host of Richard the Lion Hearted and Philip August who stopped (and looted) in Sicily on their way to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade. This visit was complicated by the fact that Richard's sister, Joanna, was the widow of William II, and Richard claimed that her dowry should be returned since William died. This six month visit contributed to the erosion of Tancred's authority, as did the constant opportunistic pirate raids on the Sicilian coast during his reign. He also lost authority to the Church, which was able to assert ecclesiastical control it has not been able to exercise under earlier rulers.

Denero 13mm, .46gr. Obv: E.NPERATOR, central cross. Rev: C.INPERATRIX, central eagle. Mint is Brindisi. Biaggi 433.

Constance was a daughter of Roger II and sister of William I and aunt of William II. She became queen of Sicily in 1195, after the death of Tancred and his sons. She married Henry of Swabia, which took the line out of direct Norman control and passed it to the Germans. Henry was son of Barbarosa, who died on the Third Crusade. Whereas as the Normans had Sicily as their central focus, Henry saw it as an incidental part of of his German territories. He essentially looted Sicily and carried its treasures back to Germany. Henry and Constance died within a year of each other aqfter a short reign and left a very young Frederick II as their heir. He had to rely on the papacy protection, which turned out to be fairly ineffective, given the limited resources of the papacy and the rapaciousness of the German nobles who had settled in Sicily. Henry's greatest legacy was the intorduction of Germanic influence and Germanic nobility into Sicily. Neithyer seemed to serve Sicily well.

Denero, 15mm, .61gr. Obv: + E INPERATOR, central facing head. Rev: +FREDERIC'REX, central eagle. Biaggi 436.

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Denero 13mm, .52gr. Obv: +CONRADVS, central cross. Rev: JERRL'ET .SICL'., central large R. Mint is Brindisi. Biaggi 475.

Conrad was son of Frederick II, HRE. In Sicily he was Conrad I, but via other German titles he was known as Conrad IV. His reign was short and ineffective and he never really established control over Sicily. This was a time of turmoil for the island, as it came into political play more dramatically than during Frederick's life. Frederick had been excommunicated and the pope was looking for someone other than a direct Hohenstaufen to take the throne. It was offered to Alponse of Spain (who declined) and Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who also declined. He responded along the lines, says Benjamin (206) "it was like being offered the moon, provided he could take it from the sky." Charles of Anjou also initially declined and final it was accepted by Edmund, a son of English king Henry. However the English never paid the pope nor tried to exercise the claim and the offer was subsequently rescinded. While Conrad's reign was short, he had quite a varied coinage. Here are several more examples.

Denero 13mm, .53gr. +IERVSLEM, central COR. Rev: +ET SICIL 'REX., central cross. Mint is Brindisi. Biaggi 476.

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Billon denero, 15mm, .5gr. Obv: +CONRADVS, central cross. Rev: +IERL'ET.SICIL, central REX or RE omega. Mint is Messina. B 1269.

Conrad (Conradin) II (1254-68)  

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Denero 13mm, .67gr. Obv: +MANFRIDVS, central eagle. Rev: +.REX.SICILIE, central cross. Mint is Messina. Biaggi 1275.

Manfred is an illegitimate son of Frederick II, HRE and brother of Conrad I (died 1254). He was crowned in Palermo in 1258 and was the de facto ruler of Sicily, regardless of the claim of his nephew Conradin. He functioned both as a regent and king. I'm not aware of how succession was planned. Manfred had support in Sicily and hostility from the pope. The Sicilians saw him as a proponent of Sicilian nationalism and someone familiar with their culture and traditions. He was successful in exerting control over Sicily and extending it to the southern Italian peninsula. By this time the papacy was help by Urban IV, a Frenchman. After the previous failed efforts to get an Englishman on the Sicilian throne, Urban turned again to Charles of Anjou, brother of the king of France. This time around, Charles was more interested in the prospect of his own kingdom and accepted the Urban's offer of the crown. Charles entered Italy with papal support and a large army to pursue his claim. He and Manfred met near Benevento in 1266 and defeated him in combat. Manfred was killed in this battle.

While king, in about 1259, Manfred married his daughter (Constance) to Peter of Aragon, heir to that throne. This marriage opened the door to Sicily for the Aragonese after the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers.

Charles of Anjou/ Charles I of Sicily (1266 - 85)  

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Denier, 19mm. Obv: K COMES PROVINCIE, central monogram. Rev: +FIL_REGIS FRANCIE, cross with two besants, one lis and one ?. R4124, not clearly in Boudeau but obv same as 814, not in Bel.

Charles had territorial interests in both Italy and Provence. He received a papal offer of the crown of Sicily from Urban IV. 

Popes propose but others contest. In Italy Charles ran into problems. He manipulated the execution of Conradin, successor to Barbarossa and Frederick II and heir of king Manfred. His death angered the Italians, who held no love for the French. The French imposed strict controls over Italian territories, rankling the local populace. In response to an instance of French abuse, particularly the supposed abuse of a Frenchman (soldier?) of a Sicilian woman on March 30, 1282, the citizens of Palermo rose against the French, slaughtering thousands. This episode is referred to as the night of the Sicilian Vespers. This revolt in Palermo quickly spread throughout Sicily and ultimately led to a complete French withdrawal from the island. Charles had to defend his nearby territories on the mainland. Charles made his headquarters in Naples and the island and mainland began to have significantly different experiences. Sicily soon fell under Aragon's control and turned to Spain while the peninsula remained focused on the papacy and north. Sicily lost access to the university in Naples, which weakened the educational base of the island. 

This conflict in Sicily was further complicated by the fact that the next pope (Nicholas III) sought greater control over Italy than his predecessor had exerted. Nicholas wanted to rule Italy himself. In a negotiation with the Hapsburgs (who were papal allies at the time) and Charles, Charles was to relinquish Sicily in return for the kingdom of Arles and Vienne. (The crown would actually go to his heir - Charles the Lame.)  After the episode if the Sicilian vespers Charles no longer had Sicily to relinquish. However, he was prepared to fight to regain it. 

After Charles' death Sicily goes to Aragon.

 

Charles, being of royal blood, was entombed in St. Denis outside of Paris, burial place for the French kings. This is the effigy from his tomb.
   

Charles II of Anjou (1285-1309)

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Denero Gherardino, 14mm, .42gr. Obv: +KAROL'.SCD'.REX, central four lis. Rev: +IERL'.ET.SICIL', central cross. Mint is Naples. Biaggi 1633.

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Denero gherardino, 13mm, .52gr. Obv: +ROBERTV.DEI.GRA, central four lis-like elements. Rev: +IERL.ET.SICIL'.REX, central cross. Mint is Naples. Biaggi 1637.

AR denero, 15mm, .47gr. Obv: +DE ANCONA. central cross. Rev: +.PP.S.QVI.R.I.A, central CVS. Biaggi 33v. See also B 42-44. This reverse punctuation does not match any of the Biaggi citations.

Federico il Semplico (1355-77)

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Billon denero, 15mm, 72g. Obv: +ALFONS:D:GR, central eagle. Rev: REX SICILI, cross on shield of arms. Mint is Messina. Biaggi 1349. 

Sources:

Astarita, T., Between Salt Water and Holy Water, Norton, N.Y., 2005

Benjamin, S., Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History, Steerforth Press, N.H., 2006

Finley, M.I., Smith, D.M. and Dugan, C., A History of Sicily, Viking, N.Y., 1987

Loud, G.A., The Age of Robert Guiscard, Longman, London, 2000.

Smith, D.M., A History of Sicily: Medieval Sicily (800 - 1713), The Viking Press, N.Y., 1968  

Takayama, H., The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, EJ Brill, N.Y., 1993