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List of Sicilian monarchs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sicily (14th century).

The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816.

The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occurred between the 11th and 12th century. Sicily, which was ruled as an Islamic emirate for at least two centuries, was invaded in 1071 by Norman House of Hauteville, who conquered Palermo and established a feudal county named the County of Sicily. The House of Hauteville completed their conquest of Sicily in 1091.

In 1130, the County of Sicily and the County of Apulia, ruled by different branches of the House of Hauteville, merged as the Kingdom of Sicily, and Count Roger II was crowned king by Antipope Anacletus II. In 1282, after the Sicilian Vespers, the kingdom split into separate states: the properly named "Ultra Sicily" (Siciliae ultra Pharum, Latin for "Sicily over the Strait") and "Hither Sicily" (Siciliae citra, commonly called "the Kingdom of Naples").[1] Definitive unification occurred in 1816, when Ferdinand IV and III made the two entities into a single state, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.[2][3]

Kings of Sicily

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Roger II received royal investiture from Antipope Anacletus II in 1130 and recognition from Pope Innocent II in 1139. The Kingdom of Sicily, which by then comprised not only the island, but also the southern third of the Italian peninsula, rapidly expanded itself to include Malta and the Mahdia, the latter if only briefly.

Constance was married to the Emperor Henry VI and he pressed his claim to the kingdom from William II's death, but only succeeded in displacing his wife's family in 1194.

There is evidence that, during the baronial revolt of 1197, there was an attempt to make Count Jordan Lupin of Bovino king in opposition to Henry VI. He may even have been crowned and seems to have had the support of Constance, who had turned against her husband. In the end he was captured and executed. He is accepted as a pretender to the throne by modern historians Evelyn Jamison and Thomas Curtis Van Cleve.

Manfred was regent of Sicily for his nephew, the child Conrad II ("Conradin"), but took the crown in 1258, and continued to fight to keep the kingdom under the Hohenstaufen. In 1254 the pope, having declared the kingdom a Papal possession, offered the crown to the King of England's son, Edmund Crouchback, but the English never succeeded in taking the kingdom. In 1262 the pope reversed his previous decision and granted the kingdom to the King of France's brother, Charles of Anjou, who succeeded in dispossessing Manfred in 1266. Conradin continued his claim to the throne until his death by decapitation perpetrated by Charles of Anjou in 1268.

Edmund Crouchback, son of King Henry III of England, claimed the Crown of Sicily between 1254 and 1263. Both he and his father took the claim very seriously, but it was completely ineffectual.

Peter III of Aragon, Manfred's son in law, of the House of Barcelona, conquered the island of Sicily from Charles I in 1282 and had himself crowned King of Sicily. Thereafter the old Kingdom of Sicily was centred on the mainland, with capital at Naples, and although informally called Kingdom of Naples it was still known formally as "Kingdom of Sicily". Thus, there were two "Sicilies" — the island kingdom, however, was often called "Sicily beyond the Lighthouse" or "Trinacria", by terms of a treaty between the two states.

House of Barcelona, 1282–1410

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Martin II of Sicily died without an heir in 1410 and the kingdom was inherited by his nephew.

Joanna was confined under alleged insanity during her whole reign.

At the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, by the Treaty of Utrecht, Sicily was ceded to the Duke of Savoy.

House of Savoy, 1713–1720

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The Spanish invaded the kingdom in 1718 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. The Duke of Savoy ceded it to Austria in 1720 by the Treaty of The Hague.

House of Habsburg, 1720–1735

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Charles I, Duke of Parma conquered the kingdom during the War of the Polish Succession. At the end of the war, Sicily was ceded to him as Charles III of Sicily.

House of Bourbon 1735–1816

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In 1816 the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were merged as the new Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 1816–1861

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Heads of the Royal House of Two Sicilies

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Portrait Coat of arms Name Reign Relationship with predecessor(s) Title
Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 27 December 1894 26 May 1934  • Brother of King Francis II Count of Caserta
Prince Ferdinand Pius of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 26 May 1934 7 January 1960  • 1st Son of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta Duke of Calabria
Portrait Coat of arms Name Reign Relationship with predecessor(s) Title
Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 7 January 1960 3 February 1964  • Son of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, 2nd son of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta Infante of Spain
Duke of Calabria
Count of Caserta
Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 3 February 1964 5 October 2015  • Son of Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria Infante of Spain
Duke of Calabria
Count of Caserta
Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 5 October 2015  • Son of Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria Grandee of Spain
Duke of Calabria
Count of Caserta
Portrait Coat of arms Name Reign Relationship with predecessor(s) Title
Prince Ranieri of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 7 January 1960 13 January 1973  • 3rd Son of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta Duke of Castro
Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 13 January 1973 20 March 2008  • Son of Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro Duke of Castro
Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 20 March 2008  • Son of Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Castro Duke of Castro

Family tree

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Vespri siciliani nell'Enciclopedia Treccani". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Ferdinand I | king of the Two Sicilies". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Due Sicilie, regno delle in "Dizionario di Storia"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 20 July 2021.