FREDERICK III OF ARAGON, King of Sicily. - Third son of Peter II of Aragon, b. in 1272, d. between Paternò and Catania on 25 June 1337. Second of that name on the throne of the island, he styled himself III in order to emphasize his descent from the Swabian house (he was the son of Constance, daughter of Manfred). He came to Sicily as a child in 1283 in the aftermath of the "Vespers"; when his brother James left the kingdom of the island for that of Aragon (1291) he was appointed lieutenant general. In '93 he went to Rome with Giovanni da Procida to negotiate peace with Boniface VIII, but in vain, because the latter could not sanction so grave an infringement of the rights of the sovereigns of Naples, who had been invested by the popes. The maritime republics were also enemies, out of commercial rivalry.
Finding themselves opposed by all Italy, the Sicilians on 25 March 1293 elected Frederick as their king. After alternating fortunes of defeats and victories, having against him his own brother James, F. was able to obtain the peace of Caltabellotta (1302), by which Sicily was assigned to him, for the duration of his natural life, with the title of king of Trinacria, at the will of the Pope, while the title of king of Sicily remained with the Angevins.
When Henry VII came down into Italy, and King Robert of Anjou was placed under the ban of the Empire, F. assumed the title of king of Sicily and attacked the Angevin lands. Reciprocal incursions, which lasted until 1333, did nothing but impoverish Calabria, the Neapolitan coasts and Sicily, which at his death he left impoverished economically and spiritually. He was buried in the cathedral of Catania.
Bibliography
Carmelo Trasselli