women
in Sicilian Monarchy
For three centuries the Crown of Sicily from 1130, the transmission of the kingdom comes from female line three times respectively with the "Great Constance", daughter of Roger II and wife of Henry VI of Swabia, with Constance of Swabia , daughter of Manfredi of Swabia and wife of Peter III of Aragon and the last heir of the kingdom of Sicily, Mary, the only heir to the crown of Aragon. Each of the three queens is a symbol of a turning point in the history of the island kingdom. The number of women deeply marks the royalty Sicilian also for the many regencies. The crowding of these female presences around the throne is an accurate indication of the condition of extreme weakness of the Sicilian monarchy, painstakingly survived for three centuries by delivering dynastic breakable and precarious. Queens and princesses coming from far, trying to shore up the Altavilla linking to their sites of origin, with varying degrees of success. Among all the queens that come from the Iberian peninsula have particularly significant roles, because they contribute to the ultimate bond between Sicily, southern Italy and Spain, which has a large part in the history of the Mediterranean area.
(1st wedding) Roberto il Guiscardo
Alberada di Buonalbergo
Emma Boemondo
(2nd wedding)
Roberto il
Sichelgaita
Guiscardo
Matilde D’altavilla
Matilde D’altavilla
Ruggero
Guido
Sibilla
Mabilia
Borsa
(Conte di Barcellona) Ramon Berenguer II
Ramon Berenguer III
Scalio
Even before it was completed and consolidated the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Sicily, the powers of the Mediterranean seek to establish ties of kinship with the Altavilla, especially with Robert Guiscard. A daughter of Robert Guiscard, Elena, married the heir to the imperial throne of Constantinople, who had stolen the Altavilla Apulia and Calabria. The other daughter of Guiscard, the older or Matilde, Sicilian Mafalda marries, however, the Count of Barcelona Ramon Berenguer II. According to the will of his father, Ramon Berenguer divided the dominion over the county of Barcelona with his twin brother. This situation creates tragedies. In fact, on December 5, 1082, a few days after the birth of his first child, while going to Gerona, someone killed Ramon Berenguer. Suspicion fell on the brother who thus became the ruler of Catalonia, because a clause of the will of the father's heir deceased brother could not govern as long as he was alive. Matilde was faced with a very difficult situation, with the delicate issue of the protection of the child. Matilde did everything to get revenge but then, to ensure a better future for her son walked away and she remarried again. Matilda's son, Ramon Berenguer III, later, gave a strong impetus to the Catalan politics returning to the county a European dimension that would last for centuries. The marriage of Matilda creates an early and enduring ties between the kingdom of Sicily and the Iberian peninsula. The story of Matilde D'Altavilla introduces us in the adventurous Spain of Cid and the reconquest; and from the Spain of Cid comes the first queen of Sicily: Albira of Castile.
Ruggero II
Albira di
D’Altavilla
Castiglia
Ruggero
Tancredi
Guglielmo
Guglielmo I
Alfonso Adelasia Enrico
Margherita di Navarra
Ruggero Guglielmo II
Roberto
Guglielmo II
Enrico
Giovanna di Inghilterra
Albira di Castiglia On an unspecified date, Albira, daughter of Alfonso VI of Castile and his fourth wife, married Roger II of Altavilla, who had been crowned with a magnificent purple robe and gold, which made an impact on a silver platter the beauty of his reign and who ruled from a hall with walls covered with gold mosaics, decorated with trees and fantastic animals. When Albira brides Ruggero D'Altavilla, she was between 15 and 20 years. From their marriage six children born: Roger, heir to the throne; Alfonso, Prince of Capua, the name of his maternal grandfather, the king of Castile; Tancredi, Prince of Taranto; William, who will be the heir to the throne; Henry, dead child; and single female probably Adelaide. The construction of the Sicilian kingdom has Albira one of its pillars. We know nothing of her personality, appearance, character and the type of existence of the queen, either directly or indirectly, nor have indications of what might have been her influence on the life of the kingdom, or what relationship she had with Castile, but the fertility of the queen with her four sons were for Roger the best guarantee of the future of his kingdom. Roger had founded a kingdom, he may think even a dynasty to which entrust. The dynastic castle built by Roger and Albira had to collapse in a few years because Albira died on February 6, 1135, and about the same time his daughter Adelaide. Then in quick succession, Roger loses three children: Tancredi (1138), Alfonso (1143) and Henry (1145) and later on May 2, 1148 the heir to the throne Ruggero dies , the wise and virtuous man loved by his father and by his people. The first king of Sicily now has only William, ambitious, unpopular, and with health problems. The death of Albira and their children is a genealogical catastrophe, which undermines the hope of Roger to give the kingdom a strong dynasty. Roger is desperate, he doesn’t estimate the only child and he is afraid to lose him, too. He tries to have other heirs and he gets married twice: first with the Sibyl of Burgundy who dies shortly after their wedding; the second with Beatrice of Rethel, who after her husband's death, will give birth to her only daughter, Constance. On the death of King Roger in 1154 the family problems are now evident and the story of the Altavilla family history is coming to an end.
Margaret of Navarre and the crisis of the monarchy
The descendant of Roger II, William D'Altavilla inherited the kingdom of Sicily and in 1151 married Margaret of Navarre, daughter of Garcia Ramirez VI. From this marriage they have several children: Roger, Robert, William (the future William II the Good) and Henry. Only two, William and Henry survive the father and the latter died when he was a young: the fertility of Margaret of Navarre, like Albira of Castile, didn’t save the Altavilla. The role of Margaret is not limited to give children to the kingdom. William was a weak man, a hypochondriac and violent. In 1154 he had a serious illness that had affected him physically and in character; he was suspected of having caused the death of his eldest son. In this situation, energetic and ambitious Margherita adverses with all her strength the great Norman aristocracy. William I dies at the age of 46 years, when his heir to the throne was only 13 years old and, therefore, the dying king entrusted the regency of the kingdom to Margherita, with the help of the Bishop of Syracuse, English Richard Palmer, Chancellor Matthew D'Aiello and Peter a Muslim. We cannot speak about the regency of Margaret of Navarre without remembering two characters: Gilberto, a relative of the queen mother's side, which William I had given the county of Gravina di Puglia; the second is a half-brother of Margaret, he arrived in Palermo after the death of William I, Rodrigo or more commonly called in Sicily, Enrico. The two relatives are in conflict. Now Marguerite wrote to one of his cousins and calls for the presence of a relative in Sicily. The constant reference to Margaret to relatives of her mother's reveals a female genealogy embracing the 'Western Europe from' England and Sicily.A female genealogy that fits well to the King of Navarre. Stephen, the young son of the Count of Perche, arrives in Palermo in summer in 1166, received with great honor: courtiers, knights and even the bishop they face outside the city and accompany him to the palace in the center. A royal entry and the Queen justifies declaring immediately that so much honor to his cousin because his father Stephen, the count of Perche had assured the kingdom to Queen Margherita’s father giving vast territories he had taken to the Saracens. Just a few months after his arrival, the young Stephen was appointed by Queen Chancellor of the kingdom, and after a year archbishop of the capital. Stephen tries to strengthen the monarchy threatened by 'unstable balance between the disparate parts of the kingdom, but his initiatives provoke a violent movement of hostility that culminates with the uprising of Palermo. Mobbed in the bell tower of the cathedral, the clerk ends up accepting the proposal to leave the kingdom, with a small group of his supporters. The marriage of William II with Joan of England, grandson of Richard the Lionheart was the last attempt to maintain and strengthen the link between Altavilla and the most important European dynasties. The couple, however, had no children and all the hopes of keeping Sicily in the sphere of Europe Norman were dashed. Margaret of Navarre died in 1183 and was buried in the Cathedral in Monreale, maximum monument of Norman Sicily, founded by the son of Margaret, William II.
Ruggero II d’Altavilla
Beatrice di Rethel
Costanza d’Altavilla
Costanza d’Altavilla
Enrico VI di Svevia
Federico II di Svevia
Federico II di Svevia
Costanza d ‘ Aragona
THE three costanze
Costanza D’altavilla Costanza D’aragona e Costanza Di siCilia At the end of the twelfth century Constance D'Altavilla brings the kingdom to the empire; just before the end of the next century the Sicilian Vespers delivery to the husband of Constance of Swabia, Peter III of Aragon the Great. Between these two Constanze, less known but not less important, another Constance: Constance of Aragon, the first wife of Frederick II of Swabia.
Costanza D’Aragona
Refined and cultured Woman, educated in the elegant courtyard of Provence, brings a dowry to Frederick II 500 riders and gives him a son, Henry. She was the daughter of King Alfonso of Aragon the Chaste and Sancha of Castile. After his father's death, his brother King Pedro II of Aragon agreed his marriage with King Emeric of Hungary. Constance married Emeric when she was 14 and they had a son, Ladislaus. In 1204, Emeric, was dieing so he gave the crown to his son and entrusted his brother Andrea. The little Ladislao died soon after so Andrea proclaimed himself king d 'Hungary. Constance returned to Aragon in the monastery of Sigena with his mother Here she spends five years of his life until his brother agrees her marriage to Frederick II of Swabia. The marriage of Frederick with a princess of Aragon was designed by Pope Innocent III in the early years of his pupil, he was orphaned of both parents at a very young age, with the intent to provide a viable alliance on the international stage and help for the control of the kingdom. The wedding was celebrated by proxy in Zaragoza, in the summer of 1208, but Constance arrived in Sicily just a year later. Frederick was not yet 15 years old, the bride a dozen more.
It is not hard to see how from a young woman who lost her husband in a short time and the only child and a teenager was orphaned, as a child is full of huge responsibility to be born a deep attachment. The political experience of Constance and knowledge of European courts were one of the points of support for the great political adventure Frederick. The queen assumed the regency of the kingdom of Sicily and the protection of the child, the rebellious Henry, when her husband was fighting his battle for the empire. During her husband's absence, he always ruled with wisdom and showed a relative decision-making autonomy. From historical sources she appears as a skilled woman and able to move very well in the intricate political affairs of court and extraterritorial. In this sense, Constance appears the most direct and her husband's counselor. On 22nf November 1226, in Rome, Frederick and Constance received the imperial crown. Then the imperial couple returned to the kingdom and here, while Frederick was involved in the suppression of uprisings Saracen, Constance died in Catania in 1232. the queen Covered with a red dress embroidered with gold and pearls the face surrounded by a splendid crown cap, adorned with rings and other valuable was buried in the Cathedral of Palermo, in an ancient white marble sarcophagus in which Frederick carved an inscription from the tone sweet and painful:” I Was Queen of Sicily, Constance queen and wife; Now here I will live Federico your.” Compare these two short verses epigraph of Margaret of Navarre, full of praise for the noble and royal blood of the deceased, or to that of any other queen, it means realizing that Constance of Aragon had the privilege, rare for a queen; the man loved her. The marriage between Constance of Aragon and Frederick II was designed to strengthen the alliance between the two kingdoms and protect the existence of the Sicilian crown, but, in fact, Sicily now entered the field of Catalan ambition.
La Cassata “Costanza d’Aragona”
COSTANZA DI SVEVIA Her presence in Sicily was the first significant involvement of the Aragonese dynasty with the Kingdom of Sicily, and something that would be remembered during the Vespers uprising in 1282 --following which the Aragonese-Spanish dynasty subsequently ruled Sicily for several centuries. Constance was a daughter of King Alfonso II of Aragon and Sanchia of Castile and Leon. In 1209, as the result of machinations by Pope Innocent III, the widow was betrothed to Frederick II von Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily and aspiring Holy Roman Emperor. As Frederick was barely fifteen years old, Constance could almost have been his mother, and shared the Christian name of that Norman princess. She eventually bore Frederick a son, Henry. Frederick's marriage to the royal widow was an opportune one. When the young sovereign reached his early majority, loyal knights were in short supply, and he recruited competent Saracen troops for precisely this reason. Conveniently, Constance brought with her hundreds of much-needed knights from Aragon, so the union was a good one from Frederick's point of view, even if most of this chivalric retinue eventually returned to Spain. During Frederick's long absence from 1212 until 1220, Constance acted as his regent (viceroy) in Sicily. This practice was not unknown, but in fact most queens of this era were "queen consorts" who rarely ruled in their own right. In Sicily, Constance confronted the revolts of the Saracens (Moors), a phenomenon which could not have been entirely unknown to a woman of Visigoth origins from the land of El Cid. She and Henry visited Frederick in Germany in 1216. Constance died at Catania in June 1222 and now rests in Palermo Cathedral beside Frederick in a sarcophagus of porphyry, the imperial stone that preserves the deceased so well. Constance of Aragon was interred wearing the crown (and several stunning jewelled rings) today displayed in the Treasury, the museum of Palermo Cathedral. The crown was created in Byzantine-Arab style in Palermo by the Royal Jewelers from gold, pearls and large precious gems (sapphires, etc.), with enamelled details. Modified fleurs-de-lis are visible along the rim. (Often identified with French dynasties, the fleur-de-lis was in fact used as a royal motif by all of Sicily's Norman rulers from their first arrival in Palermo.) Were it not for her splendid imperial crown, the only one publicly displayed in Sicily, Constance might not be remembered at all. She was, however, a remarkable woman, even without the crown
Maria di Sicilia With the death of Frederick III in 1377, young Mary was effectively "kidnapped" by the socalled "Four Vicars," powerful feudal lords who sought to govern Sicily without royal authority by controlling the princess. Frederick III had named Artale of Alagona his daughter's regent and guardian. Alagona was coerced into forming a government with three other "vicars," namely Francis Ventimiglia, Manfred Chiaramonte and William Peralta. Apart from greed, the vicars had their own political allegiances - either to Aragon or to the PapalNeapolitan influences who still entertained designs on Sicily a century after the Vespers. Their jealous disputes across Sicily often led to destructive raids if not pitched battles. Mary became an important factor in these designs. In 1379, with the approval of King Peter IV of Aragon, she was kidnapped by William Moncada to prevent her planned marriage to the Duke of Milan. She then resided at Licata until 1382, when she was rescued by an Aragonese fleet. Following a sojourn in Sardinia, she was taken to Aragon, where she wed, in 1390, Martin "the Younger," grandson of Peter IV. Martin ruled, in effect, by right of his wife, who was also Duchess of Athens. Sensing a royal reaction to their traitorous actions, the barons met at Castronovo in 1391, but in typically Sicilian fashion they betrayed each other, with Alagona, Peralta and Ventimiglia negotiating secretly with the king to the exclusion of the Chiaramonte clan. With Martin and his father, also Martin, Mary returned to Sicily in 1392 with a fleet led by Bernard Cabrera. It was time to rein in the disloyal Sicilian barons who had violated their oaths of homage and fealty to the crown, generally eroding the island's economic prosperity in their private civil war. Seeking to accommodate the nobility, Martin held a parliament at Catania in 1397 and another in Syracuse in 1398. Mary's only son, Peter, died in 1400 at the age of two years. Mary herself died at Lentini, near Syracuse, the following year. She is sometimes referred to as "Mary of Aragon" or "Maria di Catalonia." When Mary's husband, known as Martin I, died in 1409, he was succeeded by his father (who by then was King of Aragon), who became Martin II of Sicily. This signal year marked the true loss of Sicily's political independence forever. Henceforth the island would be administered - for the most part - by viceroys sent from Spain and then Naples; there was rarely anything like "home rule" although the island remained a kingdom. We may speculate that, had young Peter survived to marry and perpetuate his dynasty in Sicily, he would have ruled from Palermo and history would have taken a different course.
Manfredi di Sicilia
Beatrice di Savoia
Costanza di Svevia
Girolamo II D’ Aragona
Pietro III D’ Aragona
Federico III di Sicilia
Violante D’ Aragona e Sicilia
Federico III Pietro II Di Sicilia
Giovanni D’ Aragona
Pedro D’ Aragona
Eleonora D’ Angiò Manfredi Di Trinacria
Alfonso Federico Di Sicilia
Pietro II Di Sicilia
Alfonso III D’ Aragona
Guglielmo D’ Aragona
Isabella D’ Aragona
Elisabetta Di Carinzia