The Medieval MediterraneanIslamic and Norman Sicily (800–1200) |
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28. Sicily and the Mediterranean (1118–28)Was the practical need to clear the shipping lanes of 'piracy' a greater concern than imperial ambitions to forge a maritime kingdom in the central Mediterranean? Who was involved in the overseas carriage of goods from Sicily in this period? What evidence is there that Roger II's relations with the Zirid amir, 'Ali b. Yahya, had deteriorated since the days of Roger I and Tamim? Is this sufficient to explain why the Normans became increasingly involved with North Africa politics during this period? What was the aim of the expedition to Mahdiyya led by Christodoulos and George of Antioch in 1123? Why did Malta have to be conquered in 1127 if it had already been captured by the Normans in 1090? Why was Norman expansion into the Mediterranean halted after the conquest of Malta?
Introductory readingMichael Brett, 'Ifriqiya as a Market for Saharan Trade from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century A.D. ', Journal of African History 10/3 (1969), 347–64. [Access via JSTOR]. David Abulafia, ' The Crown and the Economy under Roger II and His Successors ', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 37 (1983), 1–14. [Access via JSTOR].
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List of topic areas1. Early history of the central Mediterranean 2. Sources for medieval Mediterranean history 3. Introduction to Mediterranean historiography 4. Geography of Sicily and the central Mediterranean 5. Arab-Muslim North Africa (647–827) 6. Late Byzantine Sicily and the Muslim conquest 7. Christians under Muslim rule 8. The Amirate of Bari 9. Law and learning in Muslim Sicily 10. Rebellions in the Fatimid period 11. Taxation, land tenure, the army and administration 12. Ibn Hawqal In Sicily 13. The Muslim Civil War (c.1030–60) 14. South Italy before the Normans 15. Al-Mujāhid's attack on Sardinia 16. The rise of the Normans in south Italy 17. The Hilalian ‘invasion' of Zirid Ifrīqiya 18. The Norman conquest of Sicily (1061–72) 19. The Norman conquest of Sicily and Malta (1072–91) 20. Muslim responses to the Norman conquest 21. Ecclesiastical lordships 22. The rise of new administrators 23. The early Norman administration of lands and men in Sicily 24. Rebellious lords and the incastellamento question 25. The regency of Adelaide 26. Christodoulos and George of Antioch 27. Roger II as Count of Sicily 28. Sicily and the Mediterranean (1118–28) 29. Formation of the new kingdom 30. Consolidation and development of the kingdom 31. Law, authority and kingship 32. Art and architecture of the royal palaces 33. The royal fiscal administration of lands and men 34. The trial of Philip of Mahdiyya 35. The Norman conquest of Africa 36. William I and Maio of Bari 37. The History of Hugo Falcandus 38. The Muslims and the ‘Lombards' 39. Stephen of Perche and the French contingents 40. Science, translation and patronage 41. The familiares regis 42. External relations and overseas diplomacy 43. The foundation of Monreale 44. Ibn Jubayr in Sicily 45. Abū l-Qāsim and the Muslims 46. The reign of Tancred 47. Markward and the 'amirate in the mountains' 48. The Norman legacy 49. Frederick II and the Staufen dynasty 50. The Sicilian Vespers |
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