Honorius and Conflicts, Part 2

July 1127, William II, Duke of Apulia, died with an heir, and Roger II of Sicily (pictured) raced to the peninsula to take control of Apulia and Calabria.

Roger claimed that William had left him the lands in exchange for a favor Roger had done him. Pope Honorius II, however, claimed that William had deeded his territories to the papacy. Honorius did not want Roger getting a foothold in Italy, and rushed to prevent it.

Roger was already occupying Apulia, and sending gifts to Honorius, asking to be recognized as the rightful ruler of Apulia. Roger knew that the pope desired land as much as anyone, and offered to hand over a couple of locations, one in Campania and one in Apulia itself.

This would have created a unified Norman presence in southern Italy, and Honorius did not want any more northerners around. After all, the events that led to his election as pope involved a fight between Italians and northerners. Some of the smaller Norman rulers in southern Italy were also wary of Roger's power, and did not necessarily want him to Bec one so powerful that he controlled them. They allied themselves with the pope.

Honorius threatened to excommunicate Roger, and then went through with it in November 1127. Roger returned to Sicily, but only to gather reinforcements. Honorius took the time to make an alliance with Robert II, the new prince of Capua, and preached a Crusade against Roger.

Roger returned in May 1128, harassing some papal strongholds but avoiding the papal forces directly until July. Even then, with the armies facing each other across a river, he did not engage, but waited to see if the alliances the pope had would last the staring contest. Turns out some of the others blinked first, deciding to throw their lot in with Roger after all.

Honorius understood that he was losing strength, and sent two advisors to negotiate with Roger. The result was that Honorius would recognize Roger as Duke of Apulia, and Roger would take an oath of faith and homage to the pope. Honorius himself traveled to meet Roger on a bridge in Benevento, establishing peace between the Kingdom of Sicily and the Papal States.

Honorius now had time to turn to some of the other areas that he felt needed correction. He had only the previous year clashed with the abbot of Monte Cassino, one of the most famous Benedictine monasteries. He was about to cash with an abbey that also fell into the category of one of the most famous: Cluny. We'll look into that next time.