Sicily's queens 1061-1266 : the countesses and queens of the Norman-Swabian era

Eighteen women. Eighteen stories. Each one unique. Some never told before. They are the semi-forgotten women of European medieval history. This is the first compendium of detailed scholarly biographies of the countesses and queens of the Kingdom of Sicily during the Hauteville and Hohenstaufen reigns, based on original research in medieval charters, chronicles and letters, augmented by extensive on-site research at castles, cathedrals and towns across Europe. The multicultural Kingdom of Sicily described here encompassed the island and nearly half of the Italian peninsula. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms of Europe and the Mediterranean. Its queens came from Italy, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Greece and elsewhere, constituting a cosmopolitan sisterhood. The book includes eighteen biographies of varying length and such details as original translations from medieval records (in Latin and Sicilian). It contains twenty pages of maps, two dozen genealogical tables, photos of royal charters and other manuscripts, pictures of places the author visited while researching this work, a detailed timeline, over seven hundred endnotes and a lengthy index. Reflecting research in several countries, this is a peer-reviewed monograph in the Sicilian Medieval Studies series. The volume is printed on off-white, acid-free paper. It is a useful, informative reference for scholars yet highly readable for armchair historians. Any chapter of this volume would be suitable as an academic paper were it published as an article in a scholarly journal. Particularly lengthy and interesting are the chapters on Judith of Evreux, Joanna of England and Constance of Sicily. The longest, most detailed chapter is the one dedicated to Margaret of Navarre, drawn largely from the authors biography of that queen published in 2016. An insightful introduction considers Sicilys queens in the context of Italian history and the larger field of womens studies. This book is pure, traditional biography, always fascinating in itself. A consideration of queenship, though present, is kept to a minimum, and the feminism speaks for itself. This is not a tiresome tome but the erudite treatment of a subject that is entrancing in its own right, without the need for endless, often circular, commentary and analysis. The lives of these women were anything but boring. As regent, and the most powerful woman in Europe, Margaret jailed her suspected enemies without so much as a second thought. Joanna went on crusade, oversaw a siege, and ordered the torture of the archer who killed her brother, Richard the Lionhearted. Living in Palermo, the former kingdoms royal capital, affords the author a closer, more personal view of the experience of these women than one gets from a historian writing thousands of miles away. While most scholars writing in English about Sicilian history undertake brief research trips to the island, Jackie Alios intimate familiarity with the place and its culture benefits the work and the reader at every step. It is rare indeed to read a book about Sicily written in English by somebody fluent not only in English, Italian, French and Spanish but also Sicilian. Among the wealth of material included is an original translation of the poem of Ciullo of Alcamo, the longest surviving example of the romantic court poetry of the Sicilian School, accompanied by the Medieval Sicilian text. Included with the 'extra' features is information on the crown of Queen Constance (shown on the cover) and the reliquary pendant worn by Queen Margaret. This is a landmark work. Until now, most of what has been published about most of these women, even in Italian, has been superficial. It cannot be overemphasized that this book is an epic in its field. Until now, anybody seeking to read about these women had to consult numerous books and hard-to-find articles to get this information. Has anybody in living memory met a Queen of Sicily outside the pages of a book? An unusual feature of this volume is a previously-unpublished interview of a royal princess who knew Queen Maria Sophia of the Two Sicilies, Sicily's last queen consort, who died in 1925, a detail that reminds the reader that the kingdom described in these pages survived in some form into the nineteenth century. This book is a unique, long-awaited contribution to the field of royal medieval biography. It fills a gaping void in the subfield of reginal studies and the study of southern Italy, and indeed medieval Europe generally. No other work ever published has presented such accurate, informative biographies of all of the queens of Sicily during Norman and Swabian rule. Many studies are informative. This one is an enlightening journey with some very special women. Eighteen women. Eighteen stories. Each one unique. Some never told before.They are the semi-forgotten women of European medieval history. This is the first compendium of scholarly biographies of the countesses and queens of the Kingdom of Sicily during the Hauteville and Hohenstaufen reigns, based on original research in medieval charters, chronicles and letters, augmented by extensive on-site research at castles, cathedrals and towns across Europe.This abridged edition of the author's Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 brings to the reader the entire narrative text of that 740-page print book published in 2019, with a bibliography, timeline, 26 genealogical tables, 15 maps, several photographs of things like pages from medieval manuscripts and places mentioned in the text, and 5 appendices. It does not include the 700 endnotes. The bibliography lists original (medieval) sources to support the facts presented in the text but not the hundreds of secondary works (such as articles) listed in the print edition.The result of years of research in several countries, Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 was the first collection of biographies of these women ever published in any language in a single publication. Until it arrived in 2019, anybody seeking information about all of these women had to consult various sources.The biographies follow a lengthy introduction and a brief survey of Sicilian history. Each chapter is dedicated to a countess or queen: Judith of Evreux, Eremburga of Mortain, Adelaide del Vasto, Elvira of Castile, Sibylla of Burgundy, Beatrice of Rethel, Margaret of Navarre, Joanna of England, Sibylla of Acerra, Irene of Constantinople, Constance of Sicily, Constance of Aragon, Yolanda of Jerusalem, Isabella of England, Bianca Lancia, Elisabeth of Bavaria, Beatrice of Savoy, Helena of Epirus.This book is about the lives of medieval women, but to place the Kingdom of Sicily, which survived for seven centuries, into a wider historical context an appendix profiles the last queen, Maria Sophia of Bavaria, who lived until 1925, with a previously-unpublished interview of a niece who knew her. Maria Sophia was born into the same dynasty as Elisabeth of Bavaria, who became Queen of Sicily in 1250.Another appendix includes the author's translation (from the original Medieval Sicilian) of the Contrasto of Cielo of Alcamo, the longest poem of the Sicilian School that flourished under Frederick II. It is possible that one or two of these queens heard this poem recited or sung at court. Other appendices focus on the only crown of a Sicilian queen to survive from this era (worn by Constance of Aragon and shown on the book's cover), a gold pendant worn by Queen Margaret given to her by Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the ceremonial rite of coronation known to some of these queens.This book is very complete and its publication was long overdue. Some of these women's stories are exciting, even inspiring. They show these countesses and queens as wives, mothers, leaders, soldiers, crusaders and administrators. These women were anything but weak or docile. Judith withstood a winter siege in a makeshift fort and then led a company of knights to occupy a town in the rugged Sicilian mountains. As regent for her young son, Margaret was the most powerful woman in Europe and the Mediterranean, governing a kingdom of some two million subjects while facing the incessant insurrections instigated by unruly barons and conniving clergy. She sometimes jailed enemies without so much as a second thought. Joanna went on crusade with her brother, Richard Lionheart, whose death in France she later avenged by having his killer tortured to death. Constance of Sicily commanded troops in a campaign to take...