Roger II of Sicily, King of Sicily 1130 – 1154

Roger II (Mileto 22 December 1095– 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria (1127), then King of Sicily (1130). Roger had succeeded in uniting all the Norman conquests in Italy into one kingdom with a strong centralized government.

Rise to power in Sicily

On the death of his elder brother, Simon of Hauteville, in 1105, Roger inherited the County of Sicily under the regency of his mother, Adelaide del Vasto. During this time the mother was assisted by such notables as Christodulus, the emir of Palermo.

In the summer of 1110, he was visited by the Norwegian king Sigurd Jorsalfare on his way to Jerusalem. The story suggests that Sigurd gave him the name King of Sicily, 20 years before he actually obtained this title.

In 1112, at the age of 16, Roger began his personal rule, being named “now knight, now Count of Sicily and Calabria” in a charter document dated June 12, 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 Alfonso VI of Castile and his fourth queen, Isabella, who may be identical to his former concubine, the converted Moor, Zaida, baptised Isabella.

In 1122, William II, the Duke of Apulia and Roger’s first cousin once removed, offered to renounce his remaining claims to Sicily as well as part of Calabria. Roger, in exchange, crossed the Straits of Messina to subjugate the duke’s vassal, Count Jordan of Ariano. In doing so, he penetrated the Basilicata and took Montescaglioso.

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.

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