Rise to power in Sicily at the time of Roger's death in 1154 is indicated by a thicker black line encircling most of southern Italy. Upon the death in 1105 of his elder brother, Simon of Hauteville, Roger inherited the County of Sicily under the regency of his mother, Adelaide del Vasto, and his brother-in-law, Robert of Burgundy (d. 1112), son of
Robert the Old. His mother was assisted by such notables as
Christodulus, the Greek
emir of
Palermo. In 1109, Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos bestowed upon him the title of
protonobilissimos in recognition of his knowledge of the Byzantine court. In the summer of 1110, Roger was visited by the Norwegian king
Sigurd the Crusader, who was on his way to
Jerusalem. The story in Icelandic sources suggests that Sigurd called Roger the king of Sicily twenty years before the latter actually obtained this title. In 1112, at the age of sixteen, Roger began his personal rule, being named "now knight, now count of Sicily and Calabria" in a charter document dated 12 June 1112. In 1117, his mother, who had married
Baldwin I of Jerusalem, returned to Sicily, since the patriarch of Jerusalem had declared the marriage invalid. Roger seems to have felt the slight, and this might explain his later reluctance to go crusading. Roger married his first wife,
Elvira, daughter of King
Alfonso VI of Castile and his fourth wife Isabella, who may be identical to his former concubine, a Muslim princess of the
Abbadid dynasty named
Zaida, who was baptized with the name of Isabella. In 1122, Duke
William II of Apulia, who was fighting with Count
Jordan of Ariano, offered to renounce his remaining claims to Sicily as well as part of
Calabria. Roger, in exchange, provided William with 600 knights and access to money for his campaign.
Rise to power in southern Italy When William II of Apulia died childless in July 1127, Roger claimed all
Hauteville family possessions in the peninsula as well as the overlordship of the
Principality of Capua, which had been nominally given to Apulia almost thirty years earlier. However, the union of Sicily and Apulia was resisted by
Pope Honorius II and by the subjects of the duchy itself.
Royal investiture date of 528 (1133-34).
Imperial Treasury, Vienna, in the
Hofburg Palace. The popes had long been suspicious of the growth of Norman power in southern Italy, and at Capua in December, the pope preached a
crusade against Roger, setting
Robert II of Capua and
Ranulf II of Alife (his own brother-in-law) against him. After this coalition failed, in August 1128 Honorius invested Roger at
Benevento as Duke of Apulia. The baronial resistance, backed by
Naples,
Bari,
Salerno, and other cities whose aim was civic freedom, gave way. In September 1129 Roger was generally recognized as duke of Apulia by
Sergius VII of Naples, Robert of Capua, and the rest. He began at once to enforce order in the duchy, where ducal power had long been fading. On the death of Pope Honorius in February 1130 there were two claimants to the papal throne. Roger supported
Antipope Anacletus II against
Innocent II. The reward was a crown, and, on 27 September 1130, Anacletus'
papal bull made Roger king of Sicily. He was crowned in
Palermo on
Christmas Day 1130.
The Royal Mantle of Roger II Roger II's elaborate royal
mantle bears the year 528 of the
Islamic calendar (1133-34); therefore it could not have been used for his coronation. This lavish item, made for special events to show power and regality, was most likely worn as a symbol of the Norman's victory and new dynasty in Sicily. It was later used as a coronation cloak by the
Holy Roman Emperors and is now in the
Imperial Treasury (Schatzkammer) in
Vienna. The mantle is an example of the Normans' multicultural court and a mark of trade in Palermo. It is a luxury object made from red silk imported from the Byzantine Empire, its outer panels embellished with gold embroidery, pearls, enamel and jewels. The pearls are from the
Persian Gulf, with thousands outlining each section of the embroidery. Pearls were a common decoration on pan-Mediterranean textiles, but were also used and admired on clothing of the Byzantine Empire. The enameled surfaces are also attributed to the Byzantine Empire, as they had many craftsmen specializing in this type of work. The gold embroidery was most likely created by Muslim craftsmen, given the
tiraz bands, the Arabic text in calligraphy, and
Kufic script. It is one of few surviving mementos of
Fatimid-style royal garb preserved in its entirety. The inscription written in the tiraz band along the bottom of the piece states, "Here is what was created in the princely treasury, filled with luck, eminence, majesty, perfection, long-suffering, superiority, welcome, prosperity, liberality, brilliance, pride, beauty, the fulfillment of desires and hopes, the pleasure of days and nights, without cease or change, of glory, devotion, preservation of protection, luck, salvation, victory and capability, in the capital of Sicily, in the year 528 H. [1133-1134]" This mantle was made to promote status, bring the wearer good fortune, and to emphasize Roger II's regal power. In addition to its lavish decoration and color, the mantle uses striking imagery to convey Roger II's power and victory over the previous dynasty. In a scene evoking domination through primal violence, two lions, a
heraldic symbol of a powerful, male ruler, each attack a camel,
addorsed on either side of a central palm tree. To administer his domain he hired many
Greeks and
Arabs, who were trained in long-established traditions of centralized government. He was served by men of several nationalities, such as the Englishman
Thomas Brun, a
kaid of the
Curia, and in the fleet by two Greeks, first Christodulus and then
George of Antioch, whom he made in 1132
ammiratus ammiratorum or "Emir of Emirs", in effect prime
vizier. (This title later became the English word
admiral). On the mainland, royal government also relied on local military commanders, including royal constables (
comestabuli), who helped coordinate provincial forces and lesser barons during the kingdom's formative decades. Roger made Sicily the leading maritime power in the Mediterranean. A powerful fleet was built up under several admirals, or "emirs", of whom the greatest was George, formerly in the service of the Muslim prince of
Mahdia. Mainly thanks to him, a
series of conquests were made on the African coast (1146-1153). From 1135 Roger II started to conquer the coast of Tunisia and enlarge his dominions:
Tripoli was captured in 1146 and
Cape Bona in 1148. These conquests were lost in the reign of Roger's successor William, however, and never formed an integral part of the kingdom in southern Italy. The
Second Crusade (1147-1148) offered Roger an opportunity to
revive attacks on the
Byzantine Empire, the traditional Norman enemy to the East. It also afforded him an opportunity, through the agency of
Theodwin, a cardinal ever-vigilant for Crusade supporters, to strike up a correspondence with
Conrad III of Germany in an effort to break his alliance with
Manuel I Comnenus. Roger himself never went on an expedition against Byzantium, instead handing command to the skillful George. In 1147, George set sail from
Otranto with seventy galleys to attack
Corfu. According to
Nicetas Choniates, the island capitulated thanks to George's bribes (and the tax burden of the imperial government), welcoming the Normans as their liberators. Leaving a garrison of 1,000 men, George sailed on to the
Peloponnesus. He sacked
Athens and quickly moved on to the
Aegean Islands. He ravaged the coast all along
Euboea and the
Gulf of Corinth and penetrated as far as
Thebes, where he pillaged the silk factories and carried off the damask, brocade, and silk weavers, taking them back to Palermo where they formed the basis for the Sicilian silk industry. George capped the expedition with a sack of
Corinth, in which the relics of
Saint Theodore were stolen, and then returned to Sicily. In 1149, however, Corfu was retaken. George went on a
punitive expedition against Constantinople, but could not land and instead defied the Byzantine emperor by firing arrows against the palace windows. Despite this act, his expedition left no enduring effects. Roger died at
Palermo on 26 February 1154 and was buried in the
Cathedral of Palermo. He was succeeded by his fourth son,
William. ==Modern legacy==