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1101–1130 AD – Roger II and the Kingdom of Sicily

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The final act of this timeline runs from 1101 to 1130, and it belongs to one man: Roger II of Sicily. His father Roger I died in 1101 with the Norman conquests still divided among cousins — a duchy of Apulia, a principality of Capua, a county of Sicily, rebellious cities like Bari under their own Lombard princes. Over three decades Roger II gathered every piece: Duke of Apulia in 1127, confirmed by the pope in 1128, master of rebellious Bari by 1129. Meanwhile the wider world churned — emperor deposed emperor in Germany, popes fled Rome and died in exile, the Guelf-Ghibelline conflict was born, and earthquakes, famines, and papal schisms swept the peninsula. It ends on Christmas Day 1130 in Palermo, where Roger II is crowned King of Sicily — the beginning of the Regno, the southern kingdom that would endure in one form or another until Italian unification in 1861.

Full Chronological Summary (1101–1130 AD)

New Dioceses (Early 12th Century)

  • Patti

Note: The diocese of Messina is raised in status to a Metropolitan Archdiocese, and the Territorial Abbacy of Montevergine is established during this period.

1101 AD

  • (June 22) Roger I dies at Mileto, Calabria. He is succeeded as Great Count of Sicily by his eldest son Simon.
  • (c) The earliest European dietary book is produced at the medical school at Salerno.

1102 AD

  • Famine causes many deaths in and around Benevento.

1103 AD

  • William II Blosseville becomes duke of Gaeta.

1104 AD

  • (Dec) Henry V deposes his father Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Henry IV is imprisoned but escapes and raises an army against his son.

1105 AD

  • William II Blosseville is exiled and replaced by Richard II (aka Richard I of Aquila) as duke of Gaeta.
  • (Jan–Feb) Heavy snowfall in southern Italy.
  • (Dec) Ottone becomes abbot of Monte Cassino.

1106 AD

  • (Mar 2) Henry IV defeats his son Henry V — but soon becomes ill and dies on August 7.
  • Robert I becomes prince of Capua and Aversa.

1107 AD

  • (Nov) Bruno becomes abbot of Monte Cassino.

1108 AD

  • Vine crops fail in Italy.

1109 AD

  • A papal council is held at Melfi.

1110 AD

  • Henry V invades Italy.

1111 AD

  • (Feb 11) Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Paschal II. The ceremony ends in disarray as pope and emperor exchange demands. When Paschal and 16 cardinals are arrested by imperial soldiers, a battle ensues in which Henry V is wounded.
    • Robert I, Prince of Capua, sends 300 Normans to attempt a rescue of Pope Paschal II. The force is intercepted by the emperor’s supporter Ptolemy I, count of Tusculum, at Ferentino, and forced to retreat.
  • (Feb 22) Roger Borsa, duke of Apulia, dies. He is succeeded by his eldest son William II.
  • (Mar 3) Bohemund I, prince of Taranto and Antioch, dies. He is succeeded by his son Bohemund II.
  • (Oct) Gerardo becomes abbot of Monte Cassino.
  • Richard II, duke of Gaeta, dies. Andrew becomes duke of Gaeta.

1113 AD

  • Jonathan becomes duke of Gaeta.
  • Gualterius becomes the first archbishop to be successfully seated at Palermo.
  • Pope Paschal II officially recognizes the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

1114 AD

  • The cathedral of S. Maria Assunta at Benevento is rebuilt.

1115 AD

  • Pope Paschal II holds a council at Troia in Apulia.

1117 AD

  • (Jan 3) Earthquake in northern Italy kills 30,000.
  • Archbishop Riso (Risone) of Bari is assassinated — beginning a period of increasing unrest that will result in open civil war between the Lombards and Normans in Bari.
  • St. Nicola (Niccolò) Politi is born at Adrano [CT].
  • Roger II of Sicily marries Elvira, daughter of King Alfonso VI of Castile.
    • Elvira’s mother, Queen Isabel, is believed to have originally been a Muslim woman named Zaida. Zaida — who took the name Isabel upon her conversion to Christianity — had originally been Alfonso’s mistress, and was the daughter of Muhammad Ibn Abbad Al Mutamid, the last Muslim ruler of Seville. Thus many of Roger II’s children and their descendants had close connections with the Saracen dynasties of Iberia.

1118 AD

  • (Jan 21) Pope Paschal II dies. He is succeeded, on January 24, by Gelasius II — originally named Giovanni Coniulo, a native of Gaeta.
    • Emperor Henry V refuses to recognize Gelasius and appoints his own pope, Gregory VIII. From this clash will ultimately arise the conflict between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, which will dominate much of Italy’s religious and secular politics through the Renaissance.
    • (Mar 9) Gelasius II, having fled from Rome to Gaeta, is ordained a priest; the next day he is raised to bishop. He convenes a council at Capua which issues decrees of excommunication against Emperor Henry V and the antipope Gregory VIII.
    • (July) Gelasius II returns to Rome with a troop of Norman guards — but is soon attacked by imperial supporters and forced to flee again, this time to France.
  • (Aug 15) Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus dies. He is succeeded by his son John II Comnenus.
  • Construction begins on the Church of La Martorana at Palermo. Built in the shape of a Greek cross by Roger’s admiral George of Antioch, it is half-Gothic and half-Saracenic in style (completed 1119).

1119 AD

  • (Jan 24) Pope Gelasius II dies in exile at Cluny. He is succeeded, on February 2, by Calixtus II, crowned in France on February 9.
  • Constance of France, princess of Taranto, is imprisoned at Giovanazzo by Grimoald and Alexander, Count of Conversano.
  • A Benedictine sanctuary is founded on Monte Vergine, on the site of an ancient temple of the goddess Cybele.
  • A Romanesque cathedral is built at Troia.

1120 AD

  • Roger II grants a diploma to a family of paper-makers on the island of Sicily.
    • According to some sources, the invention and manufacture of cotton linen paper occurred in Sicily, where the plant was common. Other sources deny that this grant took place or that cotton linen paper was even used at this time. Some evidence suggests the ancient Greeks brought paper-making to Sicily, where it thrived through the Byzantine and Saracen eras; other scholars contend the Saracens brought the art during their rule of the island.
  • Richard III becomes prince of Capua and Aversa, but is soon replaced by Giordano (Jordan) II.
  • Sergius VII becomes duke of Naples. Richard III becomes duke of Gaeta.
  • Constance of France, princess of Taranto, is freed from prison through the intervention of Pope Calixtus II.
  • Pope Calixtus II holds a council at Troia in Apulia.
  • (May) Intensely hot temperatures in Naples. (May 25) Earthquake at Rocca d’Evandro (CE) in Campania. Earthquake at Larino (CB) in Molise.

1121 AD

  • The Lombard Grimoald Alferanites is elected as rebel leader in Bari in opposition to the Norman William II, duke of Apulia. Grimoald assumes the title of dominus or dominator of Bari (barensium dominator).
  • Jonathan, duke of Gaeta, dies. He is succeeded by his brother Richard III.
  • The diocese of Catanzaro is established.

1122 AD

  • (May) Grimoald Alferanites, the Lombard rebel leader of Bari, concludes an alliance with the Republic of Venice.
  • Pope Calixtus II issues a papal bull establishing the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem as a lay religious community designated to guard the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher and Jerusalem from Saracen attack.
  • Uprising of Saracens on Malta.

1123 AD

  • (Jan) Oderisio II becomes abbot of Monte Cassino.
  • (June) First documentary evidence naming Grimoald Alferanites as prince of Bari.
  • Roger II captures the island of Pantelleria from the Saracens — but fails to capture al-Mahdiyya in Tunisia.

1124 AD

  • (Dec 13) Pope Calixtus II dies. He is succeeded on December 21 by Honorius II.
  • The list of bishops begins for the diocese of Avellino.

1125 AD

  • (May 23) Holy Roman Emperor Henry V dies. He is succeeded as King of Germany by Lothair III.
  • (June 7) Earthquake at Syracuse, Sicily. (Oct 11) Earthquake strikes the Abruzzi.

1126 AD

  • (May) Nicola I becomes abbot of Monte Cassino.

1127 AD

  • Conrad III is elected anti-king of Germany in opposition to Lothair III.
  • Roger II of Sicily becomes Duke of Apulia — uniting the Hauteville inheritance for the first time. A coalition of Norman nobles forms against him.
  • Roger II reconquers Malta from the Saracens and annexes it to Sicily. Unlike his father, he establishes full Norman control over the island.
  • (Oct) Grimoald Alferanites, the Lombard prince of Bari, declares his support for Roger II as Duke of Apulia and Calabria.
  • (July 12) Senioretto becomes abbot of Monte Cassino. (Dec 30) Robert II becomes prince of Capua and Aversa.

1128 AD

  • (Aug 22) Pope Honorius II crowns Roger II as Duke of Apulia.

1129 AD

  • Apulian nobles — including Prince Grimoald Alferanites of Bari — rise in revolt after Roger II is confirmed as Duke of Apulia and Calabria.
    • George of Antioch, admiral of Roger II, blockades Bari with a fleet of 60 ships. Bari is besieged from spring until August. When Grimoald surrenders, he is pardoned by Roger and confirmed in his claim as prince of Bari.
    • The rebel barons swear fealty to Roger II and his sons, Roger III and Tancred, at Melfi.
  • Construction begins on the Palatine Chapel in the Palazzo Reale of Palermo (completed 1132).

1130 AD

  • (Feb 13) Pope Honorius II dies. He is succeeded on February 14 by Innocent II. (Feb 23) Anacletus II is crowned as antipope in opposition. Roger II supports Anacletus, while Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III supports Innocent II.
  • (Sept 27) Anacletus II issues a papal bull declaring Roger II as King of Sicily.
  • Roger II annexes Ischia to Sicily.
  • (Dec 25) Roger II is crowned King of Sicily at Palermo. The crown is placed on his head by his chief vassal, Robert II, Prince of Capua.
    • One of Roger II’s motivations for desiring the royal title was to raise his status above the other nobles of southern Italy — the Prince of Bari, the Prince of Capua, and the rest.
    • The beginning of the Regno — the Kingdom of Sicily.

Key Themes of 1101–1130

  1. The Gathering of the Inheritance
    • The deaths of Roger I (1101), Roger Borsa (1111), and Bohemund I (1111) left the Norman conquests scattered among heirs. Roger II collected them: Duke of Apulia (1127), papal confirmation (1128), the submission of the rebel barons at Melfi (1129), and the crown itself (1130).
  2. Bari’s Last Stand
    • The assassination of Archbishop Riso (1117) opened a Lombard-Norman civil war in Bari; Grimoald Alferanites rose from rebel leader to prince — allied with Venice — before George of Antioch’s 60-ship blockade brought the city to heel (1129).
  3. Popes in Exile, Emperors at War
    • Henry V deposed his own father, arrested a pope and his cardinals at his own coronation (1111), and installed an antipope against Gelasius II — the clash from which the Guelf-Ghibelline conflict would grow. Two popes in this period died in exile in France.
  4. A Mediterranean Kingdom in the Making
    • Roger II’s reach extended beyond Italy: Pantelleria taken (1123), Malta fully annexed (1127), a raid on Tunisia attempted, and a marriage tying his house to Castile — and through Queen Zaida, to the Muslim rulers of Seville. His court at Palermo, building La Martorana and the Palatine Chapel, already blended Latin, Greek, and Arab worlds.
  5. The Regno
    • The Christmas coronation of 1130 created a kingdom that united Sicily and the southern mainland under one crown for the first time — a state that, through Hohenstaufen, Angevin, Aragonese, and Bourbon hands, would survive until 1861.

And here this timeline ends, where a new Italy begins. From dinosaur fossils and Neolithic settlements, through the rise and fall of Rome, the Byzantine and Lombard centuries, the Saracen emirates, and the Norman conquest, the story arrives at Christmas Day 1130: a king crowned in Palermo, and the south of Italy — Greek, Latin, Lombard, Norman, and Arab all at once — united in a single kingdom. The Regno had begun.