William I of Sicily: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
Aldebaran69 (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
←Replaced page with 'i like big penis's and was walking alround the town to find them in the olden days' |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
i like big penis's and was walking alround the town to find them in the olden days |
|||
[[Image:Kingdom of Sicily 1154.svg|right|300px|thumb|The Kingdom of Italy as it existed at the ascension of William I of Sicily in 1154. The borders would remain virtually unchanged for 700 years.]]'''William I''' (b. [[1131]] - d. [[May 7]] [[1166]]), called '''the Bad''' or '''the Wicked''', was the second [[king of Sicily]], ruling from his father's death in [[1154]] to his own. He was the fourth son of [[Roger II of Sicily|Roger II]] and [[Elvira of Castile (Sicilian queen)|Elvira of Castile]]. His maternal grandparents were [[Alfonso VI of Castile]] and a concubine (perhaps wife) baptised Isabella, but born Zaida. |
|||
William's title "the Bad" seems little merited and expresses the bias of the historian [[Hugo Falcandus]] and the baronial class against the king and the official class by whom he was guided. It is obvious, however, that William was far inferior in character and energy to his father, and was attached to the semi-Muslim life of his gorgeous palaces of [[Palermo]]. |
|||
==Early life== |
|||
He grew up with little expectation of ruling. The deaths of his three older brothers [[Roger III, Duke of Apulia|Roger]], [[Tancred, Prince of Bari|Tancred]], and [[Alfonso of Hauteville|Alfonso]] between [[1138]] and [[1148]] changed matters, though when his father died William was still not well-prepared to take his place. |
|||
==Kingship== |
|||
On assuming power, William kept the administration which had guided his father's rule for his final years. Only the Englishman [[Thomas Brun]] was removed, and the [[chancellor]] [[Maio of Bari]] was promoted. The real power in the kingdom was at first exercised by this Maio, a man of low birth, whose title ''[[Admiral|ammiratus ammiratorum]]'' was the highest in the realm. Maio continued Roger's policy of excluding the nobles from the administration, and sought also to curtail the liberties of the towns. The barons, always chafing against the royal power, were encouraged to revolt by [[Pope Adrian IV]], whose recognition William had not yet sought, by the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Manuel I Comnenus]], and by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I]]. |
|||
At the end of [[1155]], Greek troops recovered [[Bari]] and began to besiege [[Brindisi]]. Landing on the peninsula, William's army destroyed the Greek fleet and army at Brindisi ([[May 28]], [[1156]]) and recovered Bari. Adrian came to terms at [[Benevento]] in a [[Treaty of Benevento|treaty of the same name]] ([[June 18]]), abandoning the rebels and confirming William as king. In [[1158]] William made peace with the Greeks. |
|||
These diplomatic successes were probably due to Maio; on the other hand, the African dominions were lost to the [[Almohad]]s, and it is possible that he advised their abandonment in face of the dangers threatening the kingdom down from the north. In [[1156]], a revolt began in [[Sfax]] and quickly spread. Nothing was done to put it down. In [[1159]], the admiral [[Ahmed es-Sikeli|Peter]] led a raiding expedition against the Saracen-held [[Balearic Islands]] with 160 ships. He tried to relieve besieged [[Mahdia]] with the same fleet, but turned around just after engaging in battle. Peter did not fall out of favour, but no further assistance was sent to the Christians holding out in Mahdia and the city surrendered on [[11 January]] [[1160]], ending the "African Empire." |
|||
The policy of Maio led to a general conspiracy, and in November [[1160]] Maio was murdered in Palermo by [[Matthew Bonello]], leader of the Sicilian nobles. The barons, however, had long been plotting to overthrow the king. Desiring a weak power on the throne, they had been eyeing the king's eldest son, [[Roger IV, Duke of Apulia|Roger, Duke of Apulia]], as a possible replacement for his father. |
|||
After the assassination of Maio, the royal palace was stormed by two of the king's own relatives: [[Simon, Prince of Taranto|Simon]], his illegitimate half-brother, whom he had dispossessed of [[Taranto]] early in his reign, and [[Tancred of Sicily|Tancred]], his bastard nephew, the count of [[Lecce]]. The king was captured along with his whole family, his life being barely spared by one [[Richard, Count of Molise|Richard of Mandra]]. Roger was then paraded through the streets and it was announced that he would be crowned in the cathedral three days thence. |
|||
[[Image:Sarcophagus of William I of Sicily.jpg|thumb|William's [[sarcophagus]].]] |
|||
For a while the king remained in the hands of the conspirators, who purposed murdering or just deposing him, but the people and the army rallied round him; he recovered power, crushed the Sicilian rebels, had Bonello blinded, and in a short campaign reduced the rest of the ''Regno'', avenging the rebel burning of [[Butera]]. Sadly, during the initial assault on the palace, to release the captive king, the king's son Roger was killed by a wayward arrow (though Falcandus, seemingly ever-ready to impugn the royal character, has the king kicking his "faithless" son dead). |
|||
==Later years== |
|||
Thus freed from feudal revolts, William confided the government to men trained in Maio's school, creating a triumvirate: the [[Protonotary|grand protonotary]], [[Matthew of Ajello]]; Count [[Sylvester of Marsico]], who had inherited Maio's property; and the [[Bishop Palmer]] of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], elect, but not consecrated. His latter years were peaceful; he was now the champion of the true pope against the emperor, and [[Pope Alexander III|Alexander III]] was installed in the [[Lateran Palace]] in November [[1165]] by a guard of [[Normans]]. |
|||
William died on [[May 7]], [[1166]] and was interred in [[Monreale Cathedral]]. By his wife, [[Margaret of Navarre]], daughter of [[García VI of Navarre]], he had four sons: |
|||
#[[Roger IV, Duke of Apulia]] (b. [[1152]] - d. [[1161]]). |
|||
#[[Robert, Prince of Capua]] (b. [[1153]] - d. [[1158]]). |
|||
#[[William II of Sicily]] (b. [[1155]] - d. [[1189]]). |
|||
#[[Henry, Prince of Capua]] (b. [[1158]] - d. [[1172]]). |
|||
{{s-start}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Tancred, Prince of Bari|Tancred]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[History of Taranto#Feudal Principality of Taranto (1088-1465)|Prince of Taranto]]|years=[[1138]]–[[1144]]}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[Simon, Prince of Taranto|Simon]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Roger III, Duke of Apulia|Roger III]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[Duke of Apulia and Calabria]]|years=[[1154]]–[[1166]]}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[Roger IV, Duke of Apulia|Roger IV]]}} |
|||
{{s-bef|before=[[Roger II of Sicily|Roger II]]}} |
|||
{{s-ttl|title=[[King of Sicily]]|years=[[1154]]–[[1166]]}} |
|||
{{s-aft|after=[[William II of Sicily|William II]]}} |
|||
{{end}} |
|||
==References== |
|||
*[[John Julius Norwich|Norwich, John Julius]]. ''The Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194''. Longman: [[London]], [[1970]]. |
|||
*[http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/falcandus.html ''History of the Tyrants of Sicily''] at [[Patrologia Latina]]. |
|||
*{{1911}} |
|||
*{{Catholic}} |
|||
[[Category:1166 deaths|William I of Sicily]] |
|||
[[Category:Kings of Sicily]] |
|||
[[category:Dukes of Apulia]] |
|||
[[category:Dukes of Calabria]] |
|||
[[category:Princes of Taranto]] |
|||
[[de:Wilhelm I. (Sizilien)]] |
|||
[[es:Guillermo I de Sicilia]] |
|||
[[fr:Guillaume Ier de Sicile]] |
|||
[[it:Guglielmo I di Sicilia]] |
|||
[[nl:Willem I van Sicilië]] |
|||
[[ja:グリエルモ1世]] |
|||
[[ru:Вильгельм I Злой]] |
|||
[[scn:Gugghiermu I di Sicilia]] |
|||
Revision as of 19:41, 5 December 2007
i like big penis's and was walking alround the town to find them in the olden days