Roger II of Sicily

So he wants to keep on going.

And so he, with his brother, Roger, start to look at Calabria, first of all, and then at Sicily.

So the first Norman expeditions across into Sicily in the early 1060s.

By 1072, Palermo has fallen.

And in a way, I think that the kind of the Viking world, the world of heroin dealers, of people trafficking, It's quite a useful model to think about the Normans because it's a familiar way in which small groups are able to build big networks and able to terrify the living daylights out of people into knowing what their place is.

And like The Godfather, you know, you sort of have the heavy lifting done by the first generation.

And I just say how much I love that Roger and Robert, the terrible twins who go and sort of wreak havoc everywhere.

They're like the boys in the local pub.

Uh, and, uh, Peter, um, is gonna be telling us about stuff that I think, again, is, is much less well-known than Hastings and, uh, the story of William the Conqueror, which is the story of the Normans first in South Italy, uh, Robert Guiscard, uh, conquering Puglia.

Then the extraordinary story of the Normans conquering the, uh, the Arab Sicilian kingdom, the Fatimid kingdom in Sicily, and, and, uh, the, the story of Roger II, the baptized sultan, and his extraordinary Cappella Palatina with its very Muslim-looking roof and its Byzantine mosaics.

And finally, the furthest shore of all, we're following Bohemond, um, who, uh, has always been rather a hero of mine, but I know Peter Frankopan doesn't like at all, this, uh, uh, this rather swaggery, uh, uh, Norman, um, uh, conqueror and, uh, I think Frankopan would probably call him a pirate.

Bohemond of Taranto, who ends up, uh, on the furthest shore of all, forming a Norman kingdom in Syria, the Kingdom of Antioch.

Section 14 Of the Normans in European History by Charles Homer Haskins This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Recording by Pamela Nagami Chapter 7 The Normans and the South, Part 2 With the passing of Robert Guiscard, the half-century of Norman conquest is practically at an end, to be followed by another half-century of rivalry and consolidation until Roger II united all the Norman conquests under a single ruler and took the title of king in 1130, just a hundred years after the foundation of the first Norman principality of Aversa.

Guiscard's lands and title of duke passed to his son Roger, generally called Roger Borsa, to distinguish him from his uncle and cousin of the same name.

The Norman possessions in Calabria and the recent acquisitions in Sicily remained in the hands of Guiscard's brother, Count Roger, nominally a vassal of the Duke of Apulia, while the northern principality of Capua kept its independence to be subsequently exchanged for feudal vassalage.

This extraordinary privilege, the foundation of the so-called Sicilian monarchy in ecclesiastical matters, was the occasion of ever-recurring disputes in later times, but the success of Roger's crusade against the infidel seemed at the moment to justify so unusual a concession.

At his death in 1101, Roger I left behind him two sons, Simon and Roger, under the regency of their mother Adelaide.

Four years later Simon died, leaving as the undisputed heir of the Sicilian and Calabrian dominions the ten-year-old Roger II, who at the age of sixteen took personal control of the government.

During the regency the capital had crossed the Straits of Messina from the old Norman headquarters in the Calabrian hills of Mileto, where Roger I lay buried.

His first major test came in the form of a renewed Norman threat.

The Normans of Sicily, under their ambitious king, Roger II, were a constant menace to Byzantine interests in Italy and Greece.

In 1147, Roger's fleet sacked the Byzantine city of Corinth and kidnapped its famous silk weavers, a devastating blow to the empire's economy.

Manuel responded with a full-scale military and diplomatic effort.

This extraordinary privilege, the foundation of the so-called Sicilian monarchy in ecclesiastical matters, was the occasion of ever-recurring disputes in later times, but the success of Roger's crusade against the infidel seemed at the moment to justify so unusual a concession.

At his death in 1101, Roger I left behind him two sons, Simon and Roger, under the regency of their mother Adelaide.

Four years later Simon died, leaving as the undisputed heir of the Sicilian and Calabrian dominions the ten-year-old Roger II, who at the age of sixteen took personal control of the government.

During the regency the capital had crossed the Straits of Messina from the old Norman headquarters in the Calabrian hills of Mileto, where Roger I lay buried.

Henceforth it was fixed at Palermo, fit centre for a Mediterranean state.

When his cousin William died, Roger II was quick to seize the Apulian inheritance, which he had to vindicate in the field not only against the revolted barons but against the Pope, anxious to prevent at all costs the consolidation of the Norman possessions in the hands of a single ruler.

Securing his investiture with Apulia from Pope Honorius II in 1128, Roger two years later took advantage of the disputed election to the papacy to obtain from Anacletus II the dignity of king, and on Christmas Day 1130 he was crowned and anointed at Palermo, taking henceforth the title By the grace of God, King of Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria, Help and Shield of the Christians, Heir and Son of the Great Count Roger.

What this kingdom was to mean in the history and culture of Europe we shall consider in the next lecture.

Um, and alongside that we see an increasing level of professionalization.

So King Roger, or probably Ruggero, um, in Italian, um, of Sicily, Roger II, um, in the 12th century, he institutes what are recognized as probably the first ever requirements in Europe for doctors to be licensed and regulated.

And he says that doctors basically have to pass an examination, um, in order to be certified and allowed to practice.

And so this is a task that he delegates, um, simply to, quote, "the masters of Salerno, men renowned for their medical skill," implying that there is already a base of trusted and presumably s- um, experienced doctors in the area, and these people are going to be responsible for certifying future doctors.