Classics Quiz 3 - Norman and Hohenstaufen Sicily

Under Roger I rule

• Two parallel systems: feudal Christian system and then the older Muslim system 

  • Balancing the power of feudal lords 

  • No tyranny by any particular ethnic group

• Hierarchical system, giving pieces of land to Barons (establishing power and wealth), and then peasants/serfs who work the fields by pledging loyalty to Roger

• Retained Muslim administrators 

• Was a religious patron

  • Gave the Church (western Latin) land

  • Treated all religions well

  • Rebuilt Greek (eastern) churches destroyed in conquest 

  • Donated to Greek and Latin monasteries

• Main accomplishments 

  • Created (or restored) a stable, religiously tolerant and prosperous Sicily 

  • Created something like an early nation-state

Roger II

• Culture 

  • Poetry, often in Arabic  

  • Scholars, knowledge of ancient works largely due to Byzantine Greeks

  • Mathematicians, philosophers (according to Idrisi)

  • Geography

  • Architecture and art 

• Expanded power

  • goes to southern italy (calabria and apulia) to set things straight, stopping their local rulers from fighting each other, and establish his rule throughout 

  • conquers a chunk of Tunisia and Corfu in mainland Greece

  • few problems = holy roman emperor (german) thought southern sicily was his 

  • hope honorious II didn’t want Roger to rule so much territory 

  • he needed the pope or at least a pope, to invest him as King of Sicily and Southern Italy

  • two popes after the death of honorius, one pro roger and one pro german holy roman empire

  • 1130, Pope Anacletus named Roger King of sicily, calabria and apulia

king william I, the bad

king william II, the good

• ascends crown, but withdraws

• favorable to muslims but sicily becomes increasingly christian

• builds his own arab norman church in Monreale, south of palermo (commissioned in 1172)

• built Benedictine monastery, adjacent to cathedral = developing his own religious group

• Monreale cathedral probably commissioned to challenge Walter Offamiglio; who had already commissioned the Cathedral in Palermo

the end of the Normans

• william II 1186 marries off his aunt constance, sister of roger ii, to henry, son of the holy roman emperor

• 1189 death of william II, without a son leads to fighting over succession

• 1194 — henry conquers sicily, making it part of the holy roman empire

• constance gives birth to frederick 

• henry dies soon after, constance puts fred under the protection of the pope, gives up his claim to the holy roman empire to keep him from being murdered during the quarrels 

Frederick II Hohenstaufen, “stupor mundi” = marvel of the world

• King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor 

• Pope Innocent III became his tutor, took him under protection – became King at 14 years old

• Court as major cultural hub

• Conquered Jerusalem with skillful diplomacy, first excommunication absolved

• Spent little time in Sicily, but taxed Sicilians heavily, which went to his excursions and military adventures

• Moved a lot of people out of Sicily and began traveling to those lands more often, especially in Southern Italy – lots of traces of Frederick, especially in architecture

  • Octagonal hunting castle in Puglia, Castel del Monte as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

  • Example of harmonious Muslim and European architecture

• Palermo cathedral (1185) = mix of a half dozen of architectural styles

  • Frederick’s burial site, tomb made of porphyry, extremely rare marble found in Egypt 

The Sicilian school

• Influences and characteristics

  • Born in the 13th century

  • First time literature written in a language that is considered to be Italian (Medieval Sicilian)

  • Southern French troubadour poetry (Languedoc), sung with instruments

  • Established in the city of Messina, arrived in Palermo

  • Invention of the sonnet

    • Italian sonnet with 14 lines, each with the same length of 11 syllables

    • Strict structure, divided into two quatrains and two tercets 

  • Not professional entertainers, but imperial people or noblemen from the court of Frederick II

  • Topic/theme: romantic love, “servitu d’amore” = servant to his lover, and the idealized woman (beautiful, blonde hair, blue eyes, etc)

  • Leading figures: Jacopo da Lentini, Rinaldo d’Aquino 

• Manuscript Ms. Vaticano Latino (Vatican Library), contains 995 poems from the Sicilian School

Zisa

built by William I only wants to take pleasure, rest, doesn’t want to deal with the responsibilities of kingship = driven by the ambition of being better than his dad 

Building palaces to demonstrate power after civil war/periods of conflict

Mirroring luxury of Islamic court and culture