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The Staufen conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1194 can be understood as the violent destruction of a sophisticated and cosmopolitan Norman kingdom and its replacement by a new dynasty with starkly different cultural and political models. Indeed, many contemporary authors decried the brutality associated with Henry VI's conquest. This article considers the other side of the coin by examining the evidence for attempts to integrate Henry VI into the local models associated with the previous monarchy. Despite the limited survival of evidence, there is reason to think that Staufen administrators deliberately continued and cultivated the ceremonies and traditions associated with the Norman Hauteville crown. Moreover, Sicilian elites had meaningful incentives to help translate between Norman and Staufen cultures. Finally, this article examines how a language of Staufen imperial authority could be blended with traditions of Norman rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Recent studies of Sicilian architecture falling into the period of the Norman County (1061-1130) have recognized that it was formed in particular cultural circumstances; the result of both the importation of architectural knowledge to serve the needs of patrons and sites, and its adaptation to a local skill base. To clarify the theme, the following paper focuses on crypts in Sicilian cathedrals where construction was ordered by Roger I of Altavilla in the late 11th century and early 12th century. We will first examine all surviving examples, to identify the role played by the choice of the site. Most were chosen for their strategic position in respect of their natural and inhabited surroundings; e will also enquire as to the relationship between the crypt and the cathedral; finally, we will try to identify the dynamics of the interaction between Norman architectural culture and that of the population already present on the Island at the time of the conquest [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how landscape and environmental factors shaped the eleventh-century Norman conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. The conquest was documented in several narrative histories, including those of Amatus of Montecassino, William of Apulia, and Geoffrey Malaterra. These texts have been extensively analyzed for their rhetorical qualities as literary texts, but such an approach has tended to cast the landscape in a passive role, as an object awaiting rhetorical shaping. In light of recent developments in ecocritical studies, these texts ought to be revisited. The dynamic is not one of conquerors triumphing over conquered land. Instead, these texts offer a much more ambivalent picture. Norman mercenaries struggled to adapt to the ecological and environmental challenges of the region, its heat, volcanic activity, hostile fauna, and scarcity of water. A careful reading of these Latin historical accounts can be used to supplement absences in the archival record, and to provide a picture of medieval co-adaptation to the challenges of a particular Mediterranean landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the twelfth century, a number of Arabic-speaking Muslims produced poetry in the court of the Normans of Sicily. This article examines literary figures active under Roger II in the context of their interlocutors, professional colleagues, and other contemporaries around the western Mediterranean and North Africa. It argues that, in this context, most of the Sicilian Arab literary figures were only secondarily poets, their primary role being within a chancery or other administrative milieu, and that they continued to assert an undiminished Islamic identity, although living under Christian rule. This identity is mirrored in the intertextual play on topoi (maʿānī) found in Sicilian Arabic poetry, which was heavily engaged with cultural activity around the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the twelfth century, a number of Arabic-speaking Muslims produced poetry in the court of the Normans of Sicily. This article examines literary figures active under Roger II in the context of their interlocutors, professional colleagues, and other contemporaries around the western Mediterranean and North Africa. It argues that, in this context, most of the Sicilian Arab literary figures were only secondarily poets, their primary role being within a chancery or other administrative milieu, and that they continued to assert an undiminished Islamic identity, although living under Christian rule. This identity is mirrored in the intertextual play on topoi (maānī) found in Sicilian Arabic poetry, which was heavily engaged with cultural activity around the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Catalogus Baronum has long been overlooked in the corpus of texts relating to the Norman period of south Italy due to its chaotic nature and the difficulties of obtaining information from it. Seeking to rectify this situation, this article re-evaluates the current conclusions drawn from the Catalogus by academics such as Jamison using data derived from a statistical analysis of the document. By abandoning a rigidly 'feudal' interpretation of the document new areas of research are opened up. Additionally, it offers new theories on the use and nature of the Catalogus, informed by this research and approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines fragments of stucco reliefs from three churches located in Sicily and southern Italy, Santi Pietro e Paolo at Itàla, San Giuliano at Caltagirone, and Santa Maria de Terreti near Reggio Calabria. The churches and stuccoes date from the late eleventh century and reveal unexpected connections and conflicts among cultures, artists and patrons during the first years of Norman rule. Stucco, a material that is rarely included in discussions of European art of the Middle Ages, merits serious consideration; in this article, it helps illuminate such major art historical questions as the status of 'Islamic' Sicily and the genesis of the polyvalent art forms associated with the later Norman kings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring theme throughout much of David Abulafia's work on the Western Mediterranean has been the creation of semi-autonomous enclaves in lands conquered from Muslims by Christian conquerors. He describes the process most notably in The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 1200-1500 and A Mediterranean Emporium, The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca. It is the establishment of these autonomous enclaves which explains how Roger de Hauteville, the so-called 'Great Count', was able to subdue and rule the overwhelmingly Muslim island of Sicily in the latter half of the eleventh century with a complement of Norman knights which never numbered more than a few hundred. This article will describe the means by which this younger sibling of Robert Guiscard so skilfully sought accommodation with the subjugated Muslims of Sicily and, in reality, set himself up as a virtual emir in their eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 1060 the Normans of Melfi had greatly expanded their dominions in Apulia and Calabria. The next step in their ambitious plans in the Italian peninsula, the invasion of Sicily, took place in 1061: it was not completed before 1091, mostly owing to a combination of political setbacks in the mainland, along with several inefficiencies in Norman military organization. No comprehensive study of the military aspects of the Norman conquest of Sicily has been written, and this paper intends to cover this specific gap. It deals with the first two stages of the Sicilian conquest, the period between the first invasion of 1061 and the first unsuccessful siege of Palermo in 1064, and the second period, which is marked by the five-month siege and capture of the Muslim capital in 1072. It examines the composition of the Norman and Muslim armies, in terms not only of numbers but also of the ration of cavalry, infantry and auxiliary units. It also considers how far the Normans had been willing to adapt to the Mediterranean reality of warfare, more specifically the construction of siege engines and of a navy capable of imposing a blockade and transporting troops and horses from the Italian mainland to Sicily; the Norman fighting tactics used in the field of battle against the Muslims; and whether those tactics changed during the several stages of the Sicilian conquest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]