When did the Kingdom of Sicily exist?

The Kingdom of Sicily existed 1130–1816. On this map it is drawn 1139–1284, 1305–1384.

How large was the Kingdom of Sicily?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Sicily covered about 92,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Europe · High and late Middle Ages

Kingdom of Sicily

1130–1816

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Existed: 1130–1816
Shown on the map: 1139–1284, 1305–1384 (2 periods)
Peak area: 92k km²
Region: Europe

Foundation

Roger II united his inherited lands and was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo on 25 December 1130, with the sanction of Antipope Anacletus II (a bull of 27 September 1130). Some sources give the coronation as 27 June or the 27 September bull date; the Christmas Day 1130 coronation is standard. Pope Innocent II recognized the title in 1139 after military defeat at Galluccio. The Sicilian Parliament's assent to the first king established a lasting constitutional custom.

Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture

Roger II created a cosmopolitan administration drawing on Norman, Greek, Arab, Lombard and Jewish talent — Arab-run finance, a Greek-manned navy, a trilingual chancery. Palermo became one of the wealthiest capitals in Europe (its revenue reportedly exceeding all of Norman England). The Cappella Palatina, the Martorana (with its mosaic of Roger crowned by Christ), Monreale and Cefalù cathedrals, and Roger's coronation mantle (1133–34, now in Vienna) epitomize the Norman-Arab-Byzantine synthesis. Roger issued the Assizes of Ariano (1140), a comprehensive law code. His court hosted the geographer al-Idrisi (the Tabula Rogeriana).

Hohenstaufen

Through the marriage of Roger's daughter Constance to the emperor Henry VI, the kingdom passed to the Hohenstaufen. Their greatest figure, Frederick II ("stupor mundi," r. as king of Sicily 1198–1250, emperor from 1220), ruled a centralized state, issued the Constitutions of Melfi (1231), founded the University of Naples (1224), and presided over the Sicilian School of vernacular poetry.

Angevins and the Vespers

After the Hohenstaufen fell (see entry 11), Charles of Anjou conquered the kingdom (1266). The Sicilian Vespers of 1282 split the realm. Insular Sicily became the Aragonese Kingdom of Trinacria (Peter III of Aragon crowned at Palermo 4 September 1282; Frederick III thereafter), while the mainland became Angevin Naples.

Later history

Sicily was ruled by the Crown of Aragon and then Spain (as a viceroyalty), briefly by Savoy (1713–1720) and Austria (1720–1734), then by the Spanish Bourbons from 1734. In 1816 Ferdinand merged Sicily and Naples into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Sicilian royal line thus persisted, through many dynasties, from 1130 until the unification of Italy in 1861.

Common questions

What was the Kingdom of Sicily?: Roger II united his inherited lands and was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo on 25 December 1130, with the sanction of Antipope Anacletus II (a bull of 27 September 1130). Some sources give the coronation as 27 June or the 27 September bull date; the Christmas Day 1130 coronation is standard.
When did the Kingdom of Sicily exist?: The Kingdom of Sicily existed 1130–1816. On this map it is drawn 1139–1284, 1305–1384.
How large was the Kingdom of Sicily?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Sicily covered about 92,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and the scholarship of Donald Queller, Thomas Madden and Jonathan Harris on the Fourth Crusade, whose post-conspiracy reading of 1204 this document follows. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Kingdom of Sicily en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sicily

This entry was last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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