THE \\'ESTERN MEDITERR/\.NEAT\: KINGDOMS 1200-l"iOOBoth questions are surprisingly difficult to answer, be-
cause it is not clear that the manner in which the Angevins
lost control of Sicily was the manner all the rebels had in
mind. At the height of the rebellion the representatives of
the Sicilian towns and nobility appealed to the pope for pro-
tection: they wished to place Sicily under his authority, as a
free community or communities; some towns certainly hoped
to acquire similar status to that of the cities of northern Italy,
as free communes under a rather remote sovereign author-
ity. Although they cannot have had any illusions about papal
sympathy for Charles, the cities were surely aware of recent
precedent, when Innocent IV had encouraged them to break
with the Hohenstaufen and claim their independence under
papal suzerainty. Yet Pope Martin IV rebuffed this approach
decisively. Certainly the rebels wished to drive out the French
and Proven~al administrators who had levied taxes with such
efficiency. But their system of government was essentially that
of the Hohenstaufen, and the grievances of^1282 echo uncan-
nily the grievances against Frederick II in the last years of
his reign. Some rebels, too, suffered at Angevin hands when
the revolt of 1267-68 was suppressed: lands were confiscated,
leaders of the revolt were exiled. One of the exiles, Giovanni
da Procida, became very active in the courts of the Mediter-
ranean, and it is sometimes, but not very convincingly, argued
that he was the 'arch-conspirator' in a secret alliance keep-
ing the Greek Emperor Michael Palaiologos in touch with
events in the western and central Mediterranean.~~
The accusation that Charles's government was repress-
ive enough to engender a popular revolt has not always
found favour with French historians. Leon Cadier was right
to stress the Norman-Hohenstaufen heritage of Angevin gov-
ernment, but the fact of this heritage does not mean that
government was prosecuted with tact.~·~ The cry 'Death to
the French' is itself revealing: Charles did rely heavily on
administrators from outside Sicily and southern Italy. The
French and Proven~aux perhaps held first place, especially
among the justiciars appointed after the rebellion in favour
of Conradin; but there were increasing numbers of Tuscans
- Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, pp. 313-18; H. Wieruszowski, Politirs and
Culture in medieval Spain and Italy (Rome, 1971), pp. 223-78, 309-14. - Cadier, A.mministmz.ione della Sir'ilia rmgioina (Palermo, 1974).