Home > William II of Sicily

Until the king came of age in 1171 the government was controlled first by the chancellor Stephen of Perche , cousin of Marguerite ( 1166- 1168), and then by Walter Ophamil , archbishop of Palermo, and Matthew d'Ajello, the vice-chancellor.

William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy. Champion of the papacy and in secret league with the Lombard cities he was able to defy the common enemy, Frederick I, Barbarossa. In 1174 and 1175 he made treaties with Genoa and VeniceVenice ( Italian Venezia German Venedig , the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, population 271,073 (2001). The city stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater l and his marriage in February 1177Events November 25 Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. Manuel I Comnenus recaptures some of the former Byzantine territory lost at the Battle of Myriokephalon the previous year. Benedictus Abbas bec with JoanJoan Plantagenet ( October, 1165 4 September, 1199) was the eighth child of King Henry II of England and his consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine. On 13 February, 1177, she married William II of Sicily and was crowned Queen of Sicily at Palermo Cathedral. They h, daughter of Henry II of EnglandHenry II ( March 25, 1133 July 6, 1189), ruled as Duke of Anjou and as King of England ( 1154 1189) and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. His sobriquets include "Curt Mantle" (because of the pract, marks his high position in European politics.

To secure peace with the emperor he sanctioned the marriage of his aunt Constance, daughter of Roger IIRoger II ( 1093- 1154), son and successor of Roger I, began his rule in 1112. It is Roger II's distinction to have united all the Norman conquests into one kingdom and to have granted them a scientific, personal and centralized government. Rise to power i, with Frederick's son Henry, afterwards the emperor Henry VIHenry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (November 1165 September 28, 1197) was king of Germany 1190-1197, and Holy Roman Emperor 1191-1197. Emperor Henry VI was crowned king of Sicily in Palermo in 1194, entered Rome in 1196, and was crowned by Pope Celestine III., causing a general oath to be taken to her as his successor in case of his death without heirs. This step, fatal to the Norman kingdom, was possibly taken that William might devote himself to foreign conquests.

Unable to revive the AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for arn dominion, William directed his attack on Egypt, from which Saladin threatened the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. In July 1174, 50,000 men were landed before Alexandria, but Saladin's arrival forced the Sicilians to re-embark in disorder. A better prospect opened in the confusion in Byzantine affairs which followed the death of Manuel Comnenus ( 1180), and William took up the old design and feud against Constantinople. Durazzo was captured ( June 11, 1185) and in August Thessalonica surrendered to the joint attack of the Sicilian fleet and army.

The troops then marched upon the capital, but the troop of the emperor Isaac Angelus overthrew the invaders on the banks of the Strymon ( September 7, 1185). Thessalonica was at once abandoned and in 1189 William made peace with Isaac, abandoning all the conquests. He was now planning to induce the crusading armies of the West to pass through his territories, and seemed about to play a leading part in the Third Crusade. His admiral Margarito, a naval genius equal to George of Antioch , with 600 vessels kept the eastern Mediterranean open for the Franks, and forced the all-victorious Saladin to retire from before Tripoli in the spring of 1188.

In November 1189 William died, leaving no children. His title of "the Good" is due perhaps less to his character than to the cessation of internal troubles in his reign. The "Voyage" of Ibn-Giobair , a traveller in Sicily in 1183-1185, shows William surrounded by Muslim women and eunuchs, speaking and reading Arabic and living like "a Moslem king."

In the Divine Comedy Dante places William II in Paradise:

(Paradiso, Canto XX, lines 61-66, Mandlebaum translation)

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica