Calabria and Sicily, is recorded in a surviving copy of
the original charter. Some judicial rights also appear
to have been granted to the abbot in 1093, and Roget
confi rmed further privileges in a surviving but undated
charter. Indeed, Mileto remained his chief residence
throughout his life. In 1093, he also clarifi ed a grant
and presided over a court case in the Calabrian town of
Stilo, and he is recorded as the patron of Greek monks
there in 1094 and 1097.
Roger had a mostly cordial relationship with Pope
Urban II, and the two cooperated, though sometimes
uneasily, regarding the reorganization of the church in
Sicily, with the see of Troina transferred to Messina,
and Syracuse and Catania given bishops. In an unusual
concession, Roger was given responsibility for many of
the duties that a papal legate would have undertaken on
the island, after he had objected to Urban’s appointment
of the bishop of Messina to that dignity.
Roger married three times. His fi rst wife, in 1061,
was Judith (d. 1080), daughter of William d’Evreux,
who is said to have commanded the defense of Troina.
His second wife was Eremburga, daughter of William de
Mortain. His third wife was Adelasia (d. 1118), daughter
of the marquis Manfred of Savona; his and Adelasia’s
sons were Simon (d. 1105) and Roger II. In addition,
Roger I had two illegitimate sons: Jordan, who prede-
ceased his father in 1089; and Geoffrey, who suffered
from leprosy. Roger died in 1101, and after a period of
minority during which Adelasia governed, Simon and
Roger II succeeded him as counts of Sicily.
See also Robert Giscard; Roger II
Further Reading
Gaufredus Malaterra. De Rebus Gestis Rogerii Calabriae et
Siciliae Comitis et Roberti Guiscardi ducis fratris eius, ed. E.
Pontieri. Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, 1. Bologna, 1928.
Loud, G. A. “Byzantine Italy and the Normans.” In Byzantium
and the West, c. 850–c. 1200 : Proceedings of the XVIII Spring
Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, 30 March–lst April
1984 , ed. J. D. Howard-Johnston. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hak-
kert, 1988. (Reprinted, with other important essays, in G. A.
Loud. Conquerors and Churchmen in Norman Italy. Aldershot
and Brookfi eld, Vt.: Variorum, 1999.)
Matthew, Donald. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Ménager, L.-R. Hommes et institutions de l’ltalie normande.
London; Variorum, 1981.
Takayama, Hiroshi. The Administration of the Norman Kingdom
of Sicily. Leiden: Brill, 1993.
Patricia Skinner
ROGER II (1095–1154)
Roger II created the twelfth-century kingdom of south-
ern Italy and Sicily, known as the Regno. He was the son
of Count Roger I of Sicily and his third wife, Adelaide
(Adelasia) of Savona, later queen of Jerusalem. Roger I
died in 1101, and Roger II succeeded his elder brother,
Simon, in 1105. Once he reached his majority, Roger
II pursued a clear objective—to accumulate mainland
territories in southern Italy. He conquered Calabria in
1122; he succeeded his childless cousin William to the
duchy of Apulia in 1127 and was formally recognized
as duke of Apulia on 23 August 1128; he acquired the
principality of Capua in 1129. Finally, in Palermo, on
Christmas day 1130, Roger was crowned king of Sicily,
Calabria, and Apulia. The title was conferred, however,
by the antipope Anacletus II, following a papal schism.
On 25 July 1139, Pope Innocent II made Roger’s title
offi cial, crowning him king of Sicily, duke of Apulia,
and prince of Capua.
According to one chronicler, the celebrations and
ceremony for Roger’s coronation in Palermo in 1130
were so spectacular that “it was as if the whole city
were being crowned.” Many scholars have considered
Roger’s reign equally extraordinary. He ruled over all
of Italy south of the Garigliano River, down through
Sicily. Although he did not inherit a unifi ed kingdom,
accustomed to monarchical rule, he created something
resembling one. Roger’s rule is impossible to describe
easily, for it did not conform to contemporary models
of medieval kingship. He bound together the disparate
ethnic groups who populated the region. Their coexis-
tence was a practical necessity. He constructed a central
government in Palermo that borrowed from the eco-
nomic, administrative, and legal traditions of his Arab,
Norman, Greek, and Italian-Lombard subjects. Roger
was the leading feudal lord among feudal lords. He
laid the groundwork for Catalogus baronum, the list of
fi nancial and military obligations owed to the crown by
many of his barons. Arab-inspired offi ces were created
to manage fi nances. A French-inspired chancery, over-
seen by a chamberlain, issued offi cial court documents
in Greek, Arabic, and Latin. A permanent Greek-style
bureaucracy or civil service, based in Palermo, helped to
manage the vast kingdom. Finally, the king himself, no
doubt drawing inspiration from the Byzantium of Jus-
tinian, presented himself as a divinely appointed ruler.
(Like Justinian, Roger may also have been a lawgiver.
A law code, erroneously called the Assises of Ariano,
has been attributed to him, but more recent scholarship
disputes this.)
However one chooses to characterize the kingship
of Roger II, he was undeniably successful. Periodic op-
position to his rule—in particular, vassal rebellions led
by his brother-in-law Rainulf—never lasted long. His
foreign policy revealed ambitions, perhaps to expand
his kingdom but more likely to safeguard it against
external attack. He added much of North Africa to his
kingdom while holding off threats from the Greeks, the
northern Italians, and the German empire. He main-ROGER I