Editing Sicily (section)

===Norman Sicily (1038–1198)===
{{See also|Norman conquest of southern Italy}}
[[File:Calabria, trifollaro di ruggieri I d'altavilla, 1072-1101.JPG|thumb|[[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]], conqueror and first count of Sicily, depicted on a [[Trifollaris]]]]

In 1038, seventy years after losing their last cities in Sicily, the Byzantines under the Greek general [[George Maniakes]] invaded the island together with their [[Varangian guard|Varangian]] and [[Normans|Norman]] mercenaries. Maniakes was killed in a Byzantine civil war in 1043 before completing a reconquest and the Byzantines withdrew. Later the Normans invaded in 1061 and after taking [[Apulia]] and [[Calabria]], [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger I]] occupied [[Messina]] with an army of 700 knights.<ref name="stan" /><ref name="Boise State University Sicily under the ormans">[https://web.archive.org/web/20091001173814/http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/crusades/Europe/italy/02.shtml "Italy during the Crusades – Sicily under the Normans"] – History of the Crusades – Boise State University – Retrieved 15 July 2011.</ref> In 1068, Roger I was victorious at [[Battle of Misilmeri|Misilmeri]]. Most crucial was the siege of Palermo, whose fall in 1071 eventually resulted in all Sicily coming under Norman control.<ref name="initalymag" /> The conquest was completed in 1091 when they captured [[Noto]] the last Arab stronghold. Palermo continued to be the capital under the [[Normans]]. The Normans formed a small but violent ruling class. They destroyed many of the Arab towns in Sicily, and very few physical remains survive from the Arab era.<ref name="stan" />

The Norman [[Hauteville family]] appreciated and admired the rich and layered culture in which they now found themselves. They also introduced into Sicily their own culture, customs, and politics from [[Normandy]]. Many Normans in Sicily adopted the habits and comportment of Muslim rulers and their Byzantine subjects in dress, language, literature, even to the extent of having palace [[eunuch]]s and, according to some accounts, a harem.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johns|first=Jeremy|year=2002|title=Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily: The Royal Diwan|series=Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization|location=Cambridge, England|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pXXYfJ9woRwC&pg=PA249 249–250]|isbn=978-0-521-81692-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Takayama|first=Hiroshi|year=1993|title=The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily|location=Leiden, the Netherlands|publisher=E.J. Brill|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aXZe71Z4nEkC&pg=PA123 123]|isbn=978-90-04-09920-3}}</ref>

While Roger I died in 1101, his wife [[Adelaide del Vasto|Adelaide]] ruled until 1112 when their son [[Roger II of Sicily]] came of age.<ref name="Boise State University Sicily under the ormans" /> Having succeeded his brother [[Simon of Sicily|Simon]] as Count of Sicily, Roger II was ultimately able to raise the status of the island to a kingdom in 1130, along with his other holdings, which included the [[Maltese Islands]] and the Duchies of [[Duchy of Apulia|Apulia]] and [[Duchy of Calabria|Calabria]].<ref name="initalymag">{{cite news|url=http://www.initaly.com/regions/sicily/chronol.htm|publisher=In Italy Magazine|title=Chronological – Historical Table of Sicily|date=7 October 2007|access-date=12 December 2007|archive-date=27 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160727225426/http://www.initaly.com/regions/sicily/chronol.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.aboutmalta.com/history/time-Line.htm|publisher=AboutMalta.com|title=Classical and Medieval Malta (60–1530)|date=7 October 2007}}</ref>

Roger II appointed the powerful Greek [[George of Antioch]] to be his "emir of emirs" and continued the syncretism of his father. During this period, the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and politically powerful, becoming one of the wealthiest states in all of Europe—even wealthier than the [[Kingdom of England]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|author-link=John Julius Norwich|title=The Normans in Sicily: The Normans in the South 1016–1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130–1194|publisher=Penguin Global|isbn=978-0-14-015212-8|year=1992}}</ref>

The court of Roger II became the most luminous centre of culture in the Mediterranean, both from Europe and the Middle East, like the multi-ethnic [[Caliphate of Córdoba]], then only just eclipsed. This attracted scholars, scientists, poets, artists, and artisans of all kinds. Laws were issued in the language of the community to whom they were addressed in Norman Sicily, at the time when the culture was still heavily Arab and Greek.<ref name="Advanced Studies in Cultural History" /><ref name="Loud, G. A. 2007 494">{{cite book|author=Loud, G. A.|title=The Latin Church in Norman Italy|url=https://archive.org/details/latinchurchnorma00loud|url-access=limited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/latinchurchnorma00loud/page/n512 494]|isbn=978-0-521-25551-6|quote={{ISBN|0-521-25551-1}}" "At the end of the twelfth-century &nbsp;... While in Apulia Greeks were in a majority – and indeed present in any numbers at all – only in the Salento peninsula in the extreme south, at the time of the conquest they had an overwhelming preponderance in Lucaina and central and southern Calabria, as well as comprising anything up to a third of the population of Sicily, concentrated especially in the north-east of the island, the Val Demone.}}</ref> Governance was by rule of law which promoted justice. Muslims, Jews, [[Byzantine Greeks]], Lombards, and Normans worked together fairly amicably. During this time many extraordinary buildings were constructed.<ref name="Advanced Studies in Cultural History">[http://www.interamericaninstitute.org/norman_sicily.htm "Norman Sicily of the 12th Century"] – Inter-American Institute for Advanced Studies in Cultural History – Retrieved 15 July 2011.</ref>

However this situation changed as the Normans imported immigrants from [[Normandy]], [[England]], Lombardy, Piedmont, Provence and [[Campania]] to secure the island. Linguistically, the island shifted from being one-third Greek- and two-thirds Arabic-speaking at the time of the Norman conquest to becoming fully [[Linguistic Latinisation|Latinised]].<ref name="Loud, G. A. 2007 494" /> In terms of religion the island became completely Roman Catholic (bearing in mind that until 1054 the Churches owing allegiance to the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople belonged to one Church); Sicily before the Norman conquest was under the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art171.htm |publisher=BestofSicily.com |title=Sicilian Peoples: The Normans|date=7 October 2007}}</ref> After Pope Innocent III made him Papal Legate in 1098, Roger I created several Catholic bishoprics while still allowing the construction of 12 Greek-speaking monasteries (the Greek language, monasteries, and 1500 parishes continued to exist until the adherents of the Greek Rite were forced in 1585 to convert to Catholicism or leave; a small pocket of Greek-speakers still live in Messina).

<gallery class="center" heights=200px widths=200px>
File:Cefalucathedralnight.jpg|The cathedral of [[Cefalù]] at night
File:Monreale Cathedral exterior BW 2012-10-09 10-23-10.jpg|The [[Cathedral of Monreale]]
File:Aci Castello Sicily Italy - Creative Commons by gnuckx (5085398127).jpg|Norman castle at [[Aci Castello]]
</gallery>