Sicily; key historical events
Page last modified 4 July 2023
See
also Italy
for Italian Unification (Garibaldi)
and other history
See also Roman Empire
See Earthquakes for major Italian earthquakes
October 2013, Governor of Sicily declared a State of Emergency
after hundreds of migrants had died at sea attempting tocross to Italy from
Africa.
1893, 40,000 troops had to be
sent to Sicily to quell unrest there caused by poverty.
1850, Sicilian agriculture was being transformed after James
Lind, surgeon for the British Navy, calculated in the mid 18th
century that scurvy
had done more damage to the British Navy than the French and Spanish fleets
combined. Lemon juice was found to prevent scurvy, and Sicily was one of the
few places in Euripe where they could be reliably cultivated. Sicialian exports of lemon
juice rose 740 barrels in 1837 to 20,707 in 1850.
3 September 1848, Carlo
Filangieri landed at Messina, Sicily, to suppress a movement on the
island to secede from Naples. The independence forces were crushed by 5/1849,
with much loss of life.
13 April� 1848.Sicily declared itself
independent from Naples.
12 January 1848, In Palermo, an uprising began against the
misrule of Ferdinand
II of Naples.
July 1831, A temporary volcanic
island, called Grahame�s Island,
appeared 50 km off Sciacca, Sicily. It attained a height of 50 metres and a
circumference of 2 km before volcanic action ceased in August. Thereafter,
erosion totally obliterated the new island.
17 November 1617, A naval battle between Sicily and Venice
ended inconclusively.
15 January 1296, Sicily elected its the governor as King Frederick
II of Aragon, after he had refused to submit Sicily to Papal rule.
He ruled for 41 years, withstanding a 6-year war against him by Carlos II
of Naples.
25 December 1194, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was crowned King of
Sicily and Naples.
20 November 1194, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, who had already
conquered� southern Italy, now took
Palermo and gained control of Sicily.
29 May 1289, Pope Nicholas IV crowned Charles II, son of Charles I,
as King of Sicily.
23 June 1287, James King of Sicily repelled an attempted
Angevin invasion. Hois brother Alfonso III of Aragon allied, 15 July 1287,
with King
Edward I of England.
7 January 1285, Charles I of Anjou, King of Sicily, died.
31 March 1282, The French were massacred in Sicily (Sicilian Vespers).� The Sicilians resented Angevin rule, and
especially the heavy taxes levied by the French King Charles of Anjou to pay for a war against
Constantinople.
26 February 1266, Manfred, King of Sicily, killed in the Battle
of Benevento. This was during the long-running power struggle in Italy between
the Guelfs, who supported the Papacy,
and the Ghibelines, who supported
the Holy Roman Empire (Execution of
Conradin, 1268 - see Germany) (see also Italy). The death of Manfred, son of
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, was a severe blow to the Germans.
28 June 1265, Charles of Anjou was invested as King of
Sicily by Pope
Clement IV, and asked to lead a crusade against his imperialist
rival, Manfred.
1255, England�s King Henry III
accepted Sicily for his 10-year-old son, Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, who had
been given the title King of Sicily by the new Pope, Alexander IV.
11 October 1254, Pope Innocent IV became King of Sicily., but
he died on 7 December 1254 in Naples.
10 October 1253, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad IV suppressed the
Sicilian rebellion and recaptured Naples.
17 May 1198, Frederick, infant son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI,
was crowned King of Sicily.
Norman rule
of Sicily 1059-1154
1194,
Norman
rule in Sicily ended with the death of King Tancred of Lecce, son of Roger III,
who had seized the throne of Sicily in 1189 when William II died. Tancred
was succeeded by his youngest son, William III. However 8 months
later Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, husband
of Roger III�s daughter Constance, invaded Sicily and was
crowned in Palermon Cathedral on 25 December 1194. On 26 December 1194
Constance
gave birth to the future Frederick II.
7 May 1166, Norman King William I
of Sicily died after a 12-year reign. He was succeeded by his 13-year-old son
whpo reigned as William
II until his death in 1189. William II supported the Papacy and entered a
secret agreement wit the Lombardy cities to resist Frederick II Barbarossa (Holy Roman
Emperor).
28 May 1156, William of Sicily destroyed the Byzantine
fleet at Brindisi, and recovered Bari from Greek barons who had been encouraged
by Pope Adrian IV to revolt.
26 February 1154. King Roger II of Sicily died and was succeeded by his son William the
Bald. William ruled for 12 years.
25 December 1130, The Norman King Roger II
was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral by the anti-Pope Anacletus, who thereby
gained a powerful supporter for his claim on the Papacy against the Pope Innocent
II.
20 July 1127, William I, Norman Duke of
Apulia, died and was succeeded by his cousin Roger II of Sicily.
1101, Roger I of Sicily died. aged 70. He was succeeded by his 8
year old son, who rules as Roger II from 1112. Roger I had
finally subdued the whole of Sicily, taking the town of Enna from the Muslims in 1087 and expelling the Muslims from
SE Sicily in 1091. Roger I was succeeded by his eldest son, Simon;
however Simon
died in 1105 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Roger II.
18 November
1189, William II, King of Sicily, died. His cousin, Tancred,
Count of Lecce, seized the throne.
15 July 1085, Norman Duke Robert Guiscard died, aged 60, of fever after regaining Corfu and
Cephalonia, which his son Bohemund had lost� Duke Guiscard was succeeded by his 54-year old
brother, Roger
Guiscard, who had conquered Sicily, and ruled until 1101.
13 February 1177, Joan, youngest of the three daughters of King Henry II
of England, married King William of Sicily in Palermo.
10 January 1072, The Normans under Robert Guiscard
conquered Palermo, Sicily.
16 April�
1071.
The Norman,
Robert
Guiscard, took Bari after a three year siege. On 10 January 1072 Robert Guiscard
and his brother Roger
took Palermo in Sicily.
16 April�
1161,
King William
of Sicily crushed a rebellion, then marched into Apulia and
Calabria, Italy.
1059, Pope Nicholas II invested the
Norman leader, Robery
Guiscard, with the Dukedoms of Apulia, Catalonia and Sicily. The
Papacy had initially been opposed to the growth of Norman power in southern
Italy, but a Norman victory at Civitato in 1053 forced the Popes to reconsider.
1016, The Normans were �invited� to help liberate southern Italy from Arab Muslim
rule.
Arab rule
of Sicily
1 August 902. The Arabs
captured Taormina, which completed their conquest of Sicily from Byzantium.
878, Taormina, Sicily, fell to the
Saracens.
831, Palermo, Sicily, fell to the
Saracens.
827, First Islamic incursion into
Sicily.
740, The Saracen invasions of Sicily
began.