Sicilian Vespers

SICILIAN VESPERS. - This is the name given to the insurrectionary movement that broke out in Sicily in 1282 for complex causes and with results different from those anticipated.

The Angevin dominion, accepted with relative ease in southern Italy, had reacted with great vigor to the resurgence of Swabian traditions; but the harshness of the repression had opened a rift between rulers and ruled, especially in Sicily, where the situation was aggravated by the severity of fiscal pressures, by the introduction of Angevin feudal lords and officials, and by the definitive transfer of the capital from Palermo to Naples with all the economic consequences that followed from it. The exiles from the island and from the continental part of the Kingdom - and in particular Giovanni da Procida of Salerno - intrigued with the enemies of the Angevins and above all with Peter III of Aragon, husband of Constance, daughter of Manfred, who was strongly interested in all the Mediterranean events of Catalan maritime expansion. The preparations for a Venetian-Angevin military expedition against the Byzantine Empire induced Peter III to come to an understanding with the latter and to prepare a landing in Sicily, transferring his fleet to the African coasts. On 31 March 1282 the popular insurrection broke out unexpectedly in Palermo; having massacred or expelled the French, the Sicilian cities attempted to establish popular forms of government and to constitute a federal government, under the protection of the Pope, who instead disavowed the movement. Political unpreparedness and military difficulties pushed them, without too much hesitation, to offer the crown to Peter III, who on 7 September 1282 landed at Palermo and assumed, with the title of king of Sicily, the direction of the war. Having freed Messina from the siege of the Angevins, Peter III went on the offensive to drive the Angevins out of the peninsula as well, and obtained military successes on the mainland and at sea. The Papacy and France intervened in support of Charles of Anjou, bringing about a dangerous Franco-Aragonese conflict, on account of which James II judged it opportune to renounce Sicily, obtaining Sardinia and Corsica in exchange. The Sicilians did not accept the cession and elected as their king Frederick of Aragon, the younger brother of James (Jan. 1296), who continued the war against the Angevins, with alternating fortunes, until he obtained through the Treaty of Caltabellotta (1302) recognition of the de facto situation and the title of king of Trinacria, on the condition that at his death the island should return to the Angevins. This did not happen, and thus a continuous state of war, open or latent, was brought about between the two parts of the old Kingdom, which exhausted its energies and resources, preparing the subjection of the island to the Aragonese and opening the way for their subsequent intervention in the peninsula.

Gina Fasoli