THE '"'ESTER!\ MEDITERR.\NEAN KJ;>.;GDOMS 1200-EiOOIndeed, some of Charles's actions, such as the harbour build-
ing programme, have roots in Hohenstaufen ordinances, for
here as in so many other areas the Angevins simply reiterated
the policies of their predecessors. On the other hand, Brese
has assumed a degree of political consciousness, and an abil-
ity to organise themselves politically, which seems unlikely
among the free farmers and other groups whom he places
at the centre of the 'nation sicilienne'. For the roots of the
rebellion lay not among the Lombards of the countryside
and of the smaller towns, but among the Sicilian elites: the
local nobles, led by such figures as Alaimo da Lentini, the
wealthier merchants and lawyers of Palermo. A closer defini-
tion of the m<l;jor participants in the rebellion is essential.
The fact certainly remains that it began with an outrage com-
mitted by a French soldier against a young married Sicilian
woman, and continued with what was apparently a leaderless
popular uprising. Whether or not a major feature was Sicilian
'nationalism', precocious in the history of Europe, the hatred
for the French garrisons is abundantly clear. And yet Brese
insists that the focus of the revolt was not and could not really
be the French masters of the island, for they were physic-
ally remote, and there were rather few French feudatories
holding land in Sicily itself. Indeed, one of the French land-
holders, Ugo Talac, who was established near Mazara, himself
joined the rebellion against Charles 1.^1 ~
Brese has pointed to a particular dimension of Angevin
government in Sicily which docs deserve attention: the pres-
ence of a significant number of administrators drawn from
the mainland, whom he characterises as the 'Amalfitans',
since several came from the Costa Amalfitana, the Bav of
Naples and adjoining areas.''' For Brese, the Vespers ~ere
as much or more 'les Vepres anti-amalfitaines' as they were
a revolt against the French. And one has only to look at
the close collaboration between such figures as the turncoat
Joscelin de Marra, a high official under Manfred and then
under Charles I, to see how well trained administrators, prod-
ucts of the schools at Capua and of the nascent University of
- Brese, '1282', p. 246.
- On this group, see N. Kamp, 'Von Kammerer zum Sekreten:
Wirtschaftsreformen und Finanzverwaltung im staufischen Konigreich
Sizilien', in .J. Fleckenstein, ed., Probleme um Friedrich II. (Sigmaringen,
1974); Brese, '1282', pp. 250-2.