Selling Sicily

Pope Urban IV's first move to try to curtail Manfred of Sicily's imperial ambitions was to excommunicate him. This was Manfred's third excommunication, and clearly he was not bothered by them.

Manfred had made himself King of Sicily after the rumored death of his nephew, Conradin, and refused to relinquish the claim when it turned out Conradin was alive (and demanding the title back). Urban tried to "sell" the title King of Sicily to someone he could trust. He offered it to Richard of Cornwall first.

Richard of Cornwall was the second son of King John of England. Matthew Paris writes that Richard refused the title, since Sicily would have to be taken by force. According to Paris, Richard expressed this unlikelihood to the pope by saying "You might as well say, 'I will sell or give you the moon, rise up and take it'."

Richard's brother, King Henry III of England, tried to get Sicily for his son Edmund Crouchback. Pope Innocent IV had already offered it for Edmund in 1254, but England was not keen on paying taxes for a battle to conquer and hold Sicily for a ten-year-old. There were many twists and turns in what historians call the "Sicilian Business," and ultimately no one from England took over Sicily, despite papal attempts and royal wishes.

The title was offered to Charles of Anjou, brother of King Louis IX of France, who (like Manfred) was interested in expanding his properties anywhere he could in the known world. Charles took up the challenge willingly, and the result has been told in the last several posts on this blog. Manfred was killed in the Battle of Benevento, then Conradin was captured and beheaded, and Sicily went into the hands of Charles.

I mentioned a few posts back, however, how driving out the last Hohenstaufen did not mean that no Hohenstaufen would become Sicilian royalty.

Manfred's only daughter, Constance, had been married to the man who became King Peter III of Aragon. Upon her father's death, Constance (in some minds) inherited the title Queen of Sicily, and that is attached to her name by history. By marriage to her, Peter claimed the throne of Sicily and fought over it. (The illustration shows Peter and Constance arriving in Sicily.) The result was the division of Sicily into the Kingdom of Trinacria, ruled by Peter and Constance and their heirs, and the kingdom of Naples, ruled by the heirs of Charles of Anjou.

So Manfred's daughter became Queen of Sicily, and even lived and ruled on the island until her death in 1302. After that, however, there were no heirs of Manfred or Conradin involved in Sicily.

I want to talk about Richard of Cornwall, the man who was offered papal support to take over Sicily but wisely stayed out of that messy conflict. Turns out he had his own prospects, and we'll see what he was up to next time.

Constance of Sicily

Manfred of Sicily (1232 - 1266), the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, had one child with Beatrice of Savoy, their daughter Constance (c.1249 - 1302). (He had several children by a second wife.)

Constance's governess was Bella d'Amici, an Italian noblewoman. When Constance was 13, she was married to the son of King James I of Aragon, Peter. Bella d'Amici went with her and was her chief lady-in-waiting. When Manfred was killed by Charles of Anjou in the Battle of Benevento, Constance inherited the title Queen of Sicily.

King James died on 27 July 1276, with Peter succeeding him. The coronation of Peter and Constance took place on 17 November of that year, in Saragossa.

Peter and Constance had several children. From 1282-1302 their children fought the War of the Sicilian Vespers, trying to reclaim the throne of Sicily as the heirs of Constance. At that point, the "Kingdom of Sicily" extended far beyond the island, encompassing the southern part of Italy below the Papal States.

Such a large area with its resources and alliances meant that not only Aragon, but Naples, France, and the papacy were involved, all having a stake of some kind. The final result was a division of the Kingdom of Sicily into the Kingdom of Trinacria: the island of Sicily itself, governed by the Aragonese heirs of Queen Constance, and the Kingdom of Naples: the southern half of Italy.

Constance died on 9 April 1302, not quite living to see her heirs rule Sicily, the war having concluded on 31 August of that year. She lived on, however, in the great Italian epic, the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Her father, Manfred, had been excommunicated multiple times because of opposition to the papacy. Canto III of the Purgatorio shows us those who died excommunicate, including Manfred. Manfred tells Dante that he confessed all his horrible sins before he died; this repentance saved him from Hell, but he was still denied Heaven for a time. He tells Dante that there is a chance to achieve Heaven sooner if those on Earth pray for him, and he asks Dante to tell his daughter that her prayers can help.

...which is as good a segue as any to introduce our next topic, Dante Alighieri, who did not write a work called the Divine Comedy. See you tomorrow.