SICILIAN VESPERSSICILIES, THE TWO. 



243 



SICILIAN VESPERS. Charles of Anjou had 

 cstahlished himself, through the favour of the pope, 

 in possession of Naples and Sicily. The unfortunate 

 Conradin had perished on the scaffold, October 29, 

 1268. But the haughty Charles ruled with an iron 

 sceptre, and the oppressed people applied in vain 

 for relief to the pope. Giovanni di Procida, a 

 nobleman of Salerno, distinguished for his talents 



ber 2, Peter entered Messina, and was received with 

 acclamations ; whilst the pope excommunicated him 

 and the Sicilians. In the following year, Constantia 

 appeared in Sicily with her sons, and was received 

 as the rightful possessor of the island. The succes- 

 sion was settled on her second son, James. See 

 Delavigne. 



SICILIES, THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO, 



and accomplishments, determined to deliver Sicily j consisting of Naples (Dominj al di qua del Faro} 



from her sufferings. He had stood high in favour 

 with the emperor Frederic II., and king Manfred; 

 and had been stripped of his estates by Charles, on 

 account of his attachment to the Suabian house. 

 Meditating revenge, he went to Arragon, and in- 

 vited king Peter, whose wife Constantia was a 

 daughter of Manfred, to undertake the conquest of 

 the kingdom of Sicily. Peter was disposed to em- 

 brace his proposals; but he was destitute of money 

 and men. Procida promised to make all necessary 



and Sicily (Dominj al di la del Faro). In the most 

 ancient times of Rome (see Italy}, Lower Italy was 

 inhabited by the savage Ausonians, amongst whom 

 were the mountaineers of Lucania and Bruttii 

 (Abruzzo), including the Samnites. The country 

 on the eastern coast was called Apulia (Puglia) ; 

 and the small peninsula at the extremity of the 

 country, Calabria. In Lower Italy, the Greeks 

 settled chiefly on the coasts ; hence its name, 

 Magna Greecia. The dominion of Rome over 



provision. He accordingly went to Sicily in dis- j Lower Italy commenced with the conquest of 

 guise, and found the public feeling favourable to j Tarentum, 272 B. C. (See Fabricius, and Pyrrhus 



his wishes. He then hastened to Constantinople, 

 represented to the emperor Palaeologus the danger 

 which threatened him from Charles, and prevailed 

 upon him to promise pecuniary aid to Peter. Pro- 



//.) After the fall of the Western Roman empire 

 (A. D. 476), Lower Italy became subject to the 

 Ostrogoths. About the middle of the sixth century, 

 Naples and Sicily fell under the power of the Greek 



cida next had a private audience of the pope, and \ emperors. Both countries were subject to one 

 found him inclined to assist in effecting the huinilia- j governor, the exarch of Ravenna, who conducted 



tion of Charles. He returned to Arragon with 

 this account of his success, and a large supply of 

 money ; and Peter immediately began to make ex- 

 tensive preparations for the expedition, under pre- 

 tence of an attack upon the Moors in Africa. 



the administration by means of dukes. During the 

 contest between the exarchs and Lombards, there 

 sprung up, in the ninth century, several independent 

 duchies, such as Salerno, Capua and Tarento. The 

 most powerful was the Lombard duchy of Bene- 



Charles, though suspecting the truth, neglected to j vento. Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta maintained them- 

 prepare any measures of resistance. Meanwhile selves as republics. About the same time, the 

 pope Nicholas III., upon whom Peter chiefly relied, 

 died, and caution became doubly necessary. He 



Saracens invaded Calabria, from Sicily. They 

 conquered Bari, and contended with the Greeks for 



therefore embarked, with his forces, and sailed for ; the possession of Lower Italy, until the emperor 

 Africa, to keep up appearances of hostilities against Otho I. (967) subjected Benevento to the German 

 the Moors, while he expected some demonstrations empire. Germans, Greeks and Arabs now struggled 

 of a rising among the Sicilians. March 30, 1282, for the possession of this beautiful country. This 

 at the hour of vespers on Easter Monday, the 411- j induced some warlike adventurers, Normans from 

 habitants of Palermo flew to arms, and fell upon the j France, in the eleventh century, to lend their aid 

 French, who were all massacred. Women and ! to the princes in Lower Italy. They assisted the 

 children were not spared, and even Sicilian women i Greek duke Sergius against prince Pandorf, of 

 with child by Frenchmen were murdered. This j Capua, and were rewarded with the tract of land 



massacre is called the- Sicilian Vespers. The other 

 towns of Sicily, at first, remained quiet. Before 

 the end of April, Messina followed the example of 

 Palermo, and the French were either murdered or 

 driven from the city. As soon as Charles, who 

 was at Orvieto with the pope, received information 

 of what had occurred, he hastened to Naples, and 

 set his forces in motion. In July, he appeared be- 

 fore Messina, which was disposed to surrender. 

 But when Charles required unconditional submis- 

 sion, the Messinese determined to resist to the last 

 drop of blood, and conducted the defence with the 

 most desperate valour. The women and children 

 exposed themselves fearlessly to death ; and by 



on which they founded the town of Aversa. More 

 Normans soon followed. In 1047, the twelve sons 

 of Tancred de Hauteville, a count in Lower Nor- 

 mandy, came in with their followers. Among these 

 brothers, Robert Guiscard was the boldest and most 

 artful. He contrived to gain over the peasants, 

 and formed out of them his best soldiers. His policy 

 led him to hold Apulia, which he had conquered, 

 as a papal fief (1053); and he promised, likewise, 

 to hold, as papal fiefs, such tracts as should after- 

 wards be subdued by the Normans, in Calabria and 

 Sicily. He then (1060) took the title of duke of 

 Apulia and Calabria. His youngest brother, count 

 Roger, conquered Sicily in 1072. After the death 



this universal co-operation of all classes, the efforts of count Robert and his sons, he united in his own 

 of superior numbers were baffled. Thus stood person the whole power of the house of Hauteville, 

 matters when Peter of Arragon landed at Trapani, I and received, in 1098, by an extraordinary bull of 



August 30, with 10,000 foot-soldiers and 800 men 

 at arms, and entered Palermo, where he was hailed 

 as king by the people. Charles still besieged Mes- 

 sina; but fearing the interruption of his connexion 

 with Calabria, he raised the siege, and fled* in haste 

 across the straits, leaving behind him a great 



pope Urban II., for himself and his successors, the 

 supreme spiritual power in his dominions on the 

 island. His son and successor, Roger II., com- 

 pleted, after 1101, the conquest of all Lower Italy 

 by subduing Capua, Amalfi and Naples, at that 

 time celebrated commercial republics. He then 



quantity of military stores. On the passage, he [ received, in 1130, from pope Anacletus II. by 

 was met by Peter's brave admiral Ruggieri di Loria, whom he was solemnly infeoffed, the title of king 

 who took twenty-nine of his ships, and committed of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily. The same year, he 

 great devastation on the Neapolitan shores. Octo- united all the countries on both sides of the straits 



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