Roger II of Sicily
Roger II or Roger the Great was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and King of Africa in 1148.
Background
By 999, Norman adventurers had arrived in southern Italy. By 1016, they were involved in the complex local politics, where Lombards were fighting against the Byzantine Empire. As mercenaries they fought the enemies of the Italian city-states, sometimes fighting for the Byzantines and sometimes against them, but in the following century they gradually became the rulers of the major polities south of Rome.Roger I ruled the County of Sicily at the time of the birth of his youngest son, Roger, at Mileto, Calabria, in 1095. Roger I's nephew, Roger Borsa, was the duke of Apulia and Calabria, and his great nephew, Richard II of Capua, was the prince of Capua. Alongside these three major rulers were a large number of minor counts, who effectively exercised sovereign power in their own localities. These counts at least nominally owed allegiance to one of these three Norman rulers, but such allegiance was usually weak and often ignored.
When Roger I died in 1101, his young son Simon became count, with his mother Adelaide del Vasto as regent. Simon died four years later in 1105 at the age of 12. Adelaide continued as regent to her younger son Roger, who was nine.
Reign
Rise to power in Sicily
Upon the death in 1105 of his elder brother, Simon of Hauteville, Roger inherited the County of Sicily under the regency of his mother, Adelaide del Vasto, and his brother-in-law, Robert of Burgundy, son of Robert the Old. His mother was assisted by such notables as Christodulus, the Greek emir of Palermo. In 1109, Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos bestowed upon him the title of protonobilissimos in recognition of his knowledge of the Byzantine court. In the summer of 1110, Roger was visited by the Norwegian king Sigurd the Crusader, who was on his way to Jerusalem. The story in Icelandic sources suggests that Sigurd called Roger the king of Sicily twenty years before the latter actually obtained this title.In 1112, at the age of sixteen, Roger began his personal rule, being named "now knight, now count of Sicily and Calabria" in a charter document dated 12 June 1112. In 1117, his mother, who had married Baldwin I of Jerusalem, returned to Sicily, since the patriarch of Jerusalem had declared the marriage invalid. Roger seems to have felt the slight, and this might explain his later reluctance to go crusading. Roger married his first wife, Elvira, daughter of King Alfonso VI of Castile and, later, his fourth wife, Isabella, who may be identical to his former concubine, the converted Moor, Zaida, who was baptized with the name of Isabella.
In 1122, Duke William II of Apulia, who was fighting with Count Jordan of Ariano, offered to renounce his remaining claims to Sicily as well as part of Calabria. Roger, in exchange, provided William with 600 knights and access to money for his campaign.
Rise to power in southern Italy
When William II of Apulia died childless in July 1127, Roger claimed all Hauteville family possessions in the peninsula as well as the overlordship of the Principality of Capua, which had been nominally given to Apulia almost thirty years earlier. However, the union of Sicily and Apulia was resisted by Pope Honorius II and by the subjects of the duchy itself.Royal investiture
The popes had long been suspicious of the growth of Norman power in southern Italy, and at Capua in December, the pope preached a crusade against Roger, setting Robert II of Capua and Ranulf II of Alife against him. After this coalition failed, in August 1128 Honorius invested Roger at Benevento as Duke of Apulia. The baronial resistance, backed by Naples, Bari, Salerno, and other cities whose aim was civic freedom, gave way. In September 1129 Roger was generally recognized as duke of Apulia by Sergius VII of Naples, Robert of Capua, and the rest. He began at once to enforce order in the duchy, where ducal power had long been fading.On the death of Pope Honorius in February 1130 there were two claimants to the papal throne. Roger supported Antipope Anacletus II against Innocent II. The reward was a crown, and, on 27 September 1130, Anacletus' papal bull made Roger king of Sicily. He was crowned in Palermo on Christmas Day 1130.
The Royal Mantle of Roger II
Roger II's elaborate royal mantle bears the year 528 of the Islamic calendar ; therefore it could not have been used for his coronation. This lavish item, made for special events to show power and regality, was most likely worn as a symbol of the Norman's victory and new dynasty in Sicily. It was later used as a coronation cloak by the Holy Roman Emperors and is now in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna.The mantle is an example of the Normans' multicultural court and a mark of trade in Palermo. It is a luxury object made from red silk imported from the Byzantine Empire, its outer panels embellished with gold embroidery, pearls, enamel and jewels. The lining panels are separated into five sections made from three separate silks, each woven with gold. The pearls are from the Persian Gulf, with thousands outlining each section of the embroidery. Pearls were a common decoration on pan-Mediterranean textiles, but were also used and admired on clothing of the Byzantine Empire. The enameled surfaces are also attributed to the Byzantine Empire, as they had many craftsmen specializing in this type of work. The gold embroidery was most likely created by Muslim craftsmen, given the tiraz bands, the Arabic text in calligraphy, and Kufic script. The piece was made in a private royal workshop, dedicated to creating tiraz fabric and other royal garments. It is one of few surviving mementos of Fatimid-style royal garb preserved in its entirety.
The inscription written in the tiraz band along the bottom of the piece states, "Here is what was created in the princely treasury, filled with luck, eminence, majesty, perfection, long-suffering, superiority, welcome, prosperity, liberality, brilliance, pride, beauty, the fulfillment of desires and hopes, the pleasure of days and nights, without cease or change, of glory, devotion, preservation of protection, luck, salvation, victory and capability, in the capital of Sicily, in the year 528 H. " This mantle was made to promote status, bring the wearer good fortune, and to emphasize Roger II's regal power.
In addition to its lavish decoration and color, the mantle uses striking imagery to convey Roger II's power and victory over the previous dynasty. In a scene evoking domination through primal violence, two lions, a heraldic symbol of a powerful, male ruler, each attack a camel, addorsed on either side of a central palm tree. The lions are stylized rather than realistically portrayed. There are also evocations of the cosmos and constellations in the star shapes on the lions' heads. The mantle's pan-Mediterranean influence is brought out in the materials used to create it, the way it was made, and its design.
Peninsular rebellions
Roger's backing of Anacletus plunged him into a ten-year war. Bernard of Clairvaux, Innocent's champion, organized a coalition against Anacletus and his "half-heathen king". He was joined by Louis VI of France, Henry I of England, and Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor. Meanwhile, southern Italy revolted.In 1130, the Duchy of Amalfi revolted and in 1131, Roger sent John of Palermo across the Strait of Messina to join up with a royal troop from Apulia and Calabria and march on Amalfi by land while George of Antioch blockaded the town by sea and set up a base on Capri. Amalfi soon capitulated.
In 1132, Roger sent Robert II of Capua and Ranulf II of Alife to Rome in a show of force in support of Anacletus. While they were away, Roger's half-sister Matilda, Ranulf's wife, fled to Roger claiming abuse. Simultaneously, Roger annexed Ranulf's brother's County of Avellino. Ranulf demanded the restitution of both wife and countship. Both were denied, and Ranulf left Rome against orders, with Robert following.
File:Roger II Sicily.jpg|thumb|left|Roger II riding to war, from the Liber ad honorem Augusti of Petrus de Ebulo, 1196.
First Roger dealt with a rebellion in Apulia, where he defeated and deposed Grimoald, Prince of Bari, replacing him with his second son Tancred. Meanwhile, Robert and Ranulf took papal Benevento. Roger went to meet them but was defeated at the Battle of Nocera on 25 July 1132. He retreated to Salerno.
The next year, Lothair III came down to Rome for his imperial coronation. The rebel leaders met him there, but they were refused help because Lothair's force was too small. With the emperor's departure, divisions in his opponents' ranks allowed Roger to reverse his fortunes. By July 1134, his troops had forced Ranulf, Sergius, and the other ringleaders to submit. Robert was expelled from Capua and Roger installed his third son, Alfonso of Hauteville, as Prince of Capua. Roger II's eldest son Roger was given the title of Duke of Apulia.
Meanwhile, Lothair's contemplated attack upon Roger had gained the backing of the Republic of Pisa, the Republic of Genoa, and the Byzantine emperor John II, each of whom feared the growth of a powerful Norman kingdom. A Pisan fleet led by the exiled prince of Capua dropped anchor off Naples in 1135. Ranulf joined Robert and Sergius there, encouraged by news coming from Sicily that Roger was fatally ill or even already dead. The important fortress of Aversa, among others, passed to the rebels and only Capua resisted, under the royal chancellor, Guarin. On 5 June, however, Roger disembarked in Salerno, much to the surprise of all the mainland provinces. The royal army, split into several forces, easily conquered Aversa and even Alife, the base of the natural rebel leader, Ranulf. Most of the rebels took refuge in Naples, which was besieged in July, but despite poor health conditions within the city, Roger was unable to take it, and returned to Messina late in the year.