The story goes that it was after a visit from a fellow Norman, who recounted his adventures on a pilgrimage to southern Italy, that the Normans decided to set out on their conquest. In 1016, this pilgrim and 40 men are said to have rid the city of Salerno of Saracens. The locals showered them with gifts to show their gratitude. Situated at the heart of the Mediterranean, Sicily and southern Italy have been coveted and colonized since ancient times. Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs followed one another. The arrival of the Normans in the 11th century was extraordinarily rapid. It took them barely sixty years to build up a vast empire stretching from southern Italy to Tunisia, from Dalmatia to the Ionian Islands. Good military leaders, the Normans knew how to take advantage of the divisions between the Byzantines, the Pope and the Sicilian emirs. Faced with a population that was predominantly Muslim, but also included many Jews and Orthodox Christians, the Normans acted as referees of sorts, setting up an original political system combining a variety of contributions. Initially mercenaries, the Normans fought against the Byzantines, the Muslims and then for the Pope. In so doing, they gradually imposed their domination on southern Italy. Among them: William, Drogon, who arrived in southern Italy around 1035 with his brother William, then Onfroi, who arrived in southern Italy around 1044. Next came Robert, a giant soon to be known as “Guiscard”, a Norman nickname given to him during his life of plundering in Calabria. As for Roger, nicknamed “Bosso”, the youngest of Tancredi’s sons, he arrived in southern Italy around 1057. Robert “Guiscard” de Hauteville seized the Duchy of Naples in 1049, while his brother Roger took Sicily from the Arabs between 1061 and 1091. Made Count of Sicily, the latter administered a vast maritime empire from Palermo. He was succeeded in 1101 by his son Roger II, who a few years later took control of the Norman counties and principalities in medieval Italy (Apulia, Apulia, Apulia).In 1130, he received from the Pope the title of King of Sicily, Apulia, Lombardy and Africa. This term covered the southern half of Italy and the Sicilian islands. Roger II became the first king of Sicily. Under his reign, the island enjoyed a period of great economic and cultural prosperity. The Norman dynasty lasted for almost a century and a half. William II of Sicily, known as “William the Good”, was the last of the Norman kings of Sicily. He reigned first under the regency of his mother Marguerite de Navarre from 1166 to 1171, then alone until 1189. He owed his title to his policy of tolerance and justice towards the Norman towns and barons of southern Italy, which differed from that of his father William I, known as “the Bad” (c. 1120-1166). However, he continued his father’s policy of friendly relations with the Pope and the Byzantine Emperor, at least until 1172, when relations deteriorated. In June 1185, William set out on a campaign against the Byzantines. His troops crossed Macedonia and took Thessalonica, but were stopped and defeated not far from Constantinople. William II, the last Norman king of Sicily, died in 1189 during preparations for the Third Crusade. With William II dying without legitimate children, the pretenders to the throne were Tancredi of Lecce, bastard son of Duke Roger III of Apulia (one of King Roger II’s sons), Roger of Andria, a Norman nobleman claiming descent from the Hautevilles, and Emperor Henry VI Hohenstaufen through his marriage. It was the latter who triumphed in 1194 and ascended the Sicilian throne, putting an end to the kingdom’s Norman period.
