The Sicilian Vespers (; ) was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out at Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I of Anjou. Since taking control of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1266, the Angevin government had made itself unpopular with its exploitative policies and exclusion of native Sicilians from power.
Sparked by an incident in Palermo, the revolt quickly spread to the majority of Sicily. Within six weeks, approximately 13,000 French men and women were slain or expelled by the rebels, and the government of Charles lost control of the island. Seeking support for the rebellion, the Sicilians offered the throne to Peter III of Aragon, who claimed the crown on behalf of his wife, Constance of Sicily. The Aragonese intervention in the rebellion led to an expansion of the conflict into the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
Background
The papacy versus the House of Hohenstaufen The rising had its origin in the struggle of investiture between the pope and the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperors for control of Italy, especially the Church's private demesne known as the Papal States. These lay between Hohenstaufen lands in northern Italy and the Hohenstaufen Kingdom of Sicily in the south; the Hohenstaufens also, at the time, ruled Germany.
In 1245 Pope Innocent IV excommunicated Frederick II and declared him deposed, and roused opposition against him in Germany and Italy. When Frederick died in 1250, his dominion was inherited by his son, Conrad IV of Germany. A period of turmoil followed Conrad's death in 1254, and the Kingdom of Sicily was seized by Manfred, King of Sicily, Frederick's illegitimate son, who reigned from 1258 to 1266.
Manfred had no involvement in German politics, where the interregnum lasted longer and there was no emperor until 1274. He first styled himself as vicar of his nephew Conradin, Conrad's son.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, pp. 16ff. However, following a false rumor that Conradin was dead, Manfred had himself crowned king. He wished for a reconciliation with the papacy, which may have explained his support for the landless Baldwin II, Latin Emperor. However, Pope Urban IV and later Pope Clement IV were not prepared to recognize Manfred as lawful ruler of Sicily and first excommunicated him, then sought to depose him by force of arms.
After abortive attempts to enlist England as the champion of the Papacy against Manfred,Pope Alexander IV literally shopped around for a buyer for the crown of Sicily. In 1256 King Henry III of England agreed to buy the crown for his son Edmund for 135,541 German marks. He raised secular and church taxes in England and paid the Pope 60,000 marks, but could raise no more. The people and clergy of England refused to be taxed any further to enable an English prince to sit on the Sicilian throne. On December 18, 1258, Pope Alexander issued a bull releasing Henry from his obligation to buy the throne, but he kept the 60,000 marks already paid (cf. Runciman, Chapter 4) Urban IV settled on the later Charles I of Naples as his candidate for the Sicilian throne. Charles would invade Italy, and in 1266 defeated and killed Manfred at the Battle of Benevento, becoming King of Sicily. In 1268 Conradin, who had meanwhile come of age, invaded Italy to press his claim to the throne, but he was defeated at the Battle of Tagliacozzo and executed afterwards. Charles was now undisputed master of the Kingdom of Sicily.
Charles of Anjou and Sicilian unrest Charles regarded his Sicilian territories as a springboard for his Mediterranean ambitions, which included the overthrow of Michael VIII Palaiologos of the Byzantine Empire and the capture of Constantinople. Constantinople was captured during the Fourth Crusade and had been brought into the fold of the Roman Catholic religion for 57 years under the rule of the Latin Empire. With the Byzantine recapture of the city in 1261, Michael VIII Palaiologos continued to rebuild what was left of the economically strategic city as an important trade route to Europe.
Unrest simmered in Sicily because of its very subordinate role in Charles' empire—its nobles had no share in the government of their own island and were not compensated by lucrative posts abroad, as were Charles' French, Provençal and Neapolitan subjects; also, Charles spent the heavy taxes he imposed on wars outside Sicily, making Sicily somewhat of a donor economy to Charles' nascent empire. As Steven Runciman put it, "[The Sicilians] saw themselves now being ruled to enable an alien tyrant make conquests from which they would have no benefit".Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 212.
The unrest was also fomented by Byzantine agents to thwart Charles' projected invasion and by King Peter III of Aragon, Manfred's son-in-law, who saw his wife Constance as rightful heir to the Sicilian throne.
The uprising
The event takes its name from an insurrection which began at the start of Vespers, the sunset prayer marking the beginning of the night vigil on Easter Monday, 30 March 1282, at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo.Because the city's borders have expanded over the centuries, the church is now within the city limits. Beginning on that night, thousands of Sicily's French inhabitants were massacred within six weeks. The events that started the uprising are not known for certain, but the various retellings have common elements.
According to English historian Steven Runciman (1958), the Sicilians at the church were engaged in holiday festivities and a group of French officials came by to join in and began to drink. A sergeant named Drouet dragged a young married woman from the crowd, pestering her with his advances. Her husband then attacked Drouet with a knife, killing him. When the other Frenchmen tried to avenge their comrade, the Sicilian crowd fell upon them, killing them all. At that moment all the church bells in Palermo began to ring for Vespers. Runciman describes the mood of the night:
According to Leonardo Bruni (1416), the Palermitans were holding a festival outside the city when the French came up to check for weapons, and on that pretext began to fondle the breasts of their women. This then began a riot. The French were attacked, first with rocks, then weapons, and all were killed. The news spread to other cities leading to revolt throughout Sicily. "By the time the furious anger at their insolence had drunk its fill of blood, the French had given up to the Sicilians not only their ill-gotten riches but their lives as well."
There is also a third version of the events that is quite close to Runciman's, varying only in the minor details. This story is part of the oral tradition on the island up to the present time. This oral tradition cannot be verified, but is of interest to sociologists.Tournatore, Matteo G. C., Arba Sicula (Sicilian Dawn), Journal of Sicilian Folklore and Literature, Vol XXV, Numira 1 & 2, pp. 47ff. According to the legend, John of Procida was the mastermind behind the conspiracy, though modern sources consider Procida's role in instigating the revolt to be either an exaggerationSchneidman, J. L. (1969). Ending the War of the Sicilian Vespers. Journal of Peace Research, 6(4), 335-347. https://doi.org/10.1177/002234336900600404 or outright historical inaccuracy.Migliazzo, F. (2023). City-republics of Northern Italy and the Sicilian Vespers: The Perception of the Revolt in the Urban Chronicles. Al-Masāq, 35(2), 164–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2022.2135849 It seems that he was in contact with both Michael VIII Palaiologos and Peter III of Aragon. All three were later excommunicated by Pope Martin IV in 1282.
Immediate aftermath After leaders were elected in Palermo, messengers spread word across the island for the rebels to strike before the French had time to organise resistance. In a fortnight the rebels gained control over most of the island, and within six weeks it was all under rebel control, except for Messina which was well fortified, and whose leading family, the Riso, remained faithful to Charles. But on 28 April it too broke into open revolt under the command of Captain of the People and, most significantly, the islanders' first act was to set fire to Charles's fleet in the harbor.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 218. It is reported that upon hearing of the fleet's destruction, King Charles exclaimed "Lord God, since it has pleased You to ruin my fortune, let me only go down in small steps."Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 220.
Charles' Vicar Herbert and his family were safely within castle Mategriffon, but after negotiations the rebels granted Herbert and his family safe conduct to leave the island upon a promise that they never return. After the restoration of order in the city, the townsmen announced themselves a free commune answerable only to the pope. They elected leaders, one of whom was Bartholomaeus of Neocastro who was prominent in the unfolding events and would later chronicle much of the revolt in Historia Sicula, an important if sometimes contradictory source of information for historians. Again significantly, the leaders' next act was to send word, via a Genoese merchant named Alafranco Cassano, to the Emperor Michael advising him that his nemesis Charles had been crippled.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 219. Only thereafter were ambassadors sent to Pope Martin IV pleading for each city on the island to be recognised as a free commune under the sole suzerainty of the Holy Church. The islanders were hoping for status similar to that enjoyed by Venice, Genoa, Pisa and other cities, which were free to form their own government but morally answerable only to the Pope, who would hold a vague and unstable suzerainty.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers p. 216, citing Nicholas Specialis, Historia Sicula, pp. 924ff. However, the French pope was firmly in Charles' camp and he directed the Sicilians to recognize Charles as their rightful king.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 214. But Martin underestimated the Sicilians' hatred of the French, and especially of Charles, who ruled from Naples rather than Palermo, where he could have seen the suffering caused by his officials. Charles' island officials were far removed from his oversight; he did not see the avarice, the rape, theft and murder, nor did he see the high taxes levied against the meager possessions of the peasants, which kept them impoverished, but made no improvement in their lives.
Aragonese intervention
The pope refused the rebels' pleas to allow the status of free communes; therefore, the Sicilians sent their pleas to Peter III of Aragon married to Constance, daughter of Manfred, King of Sicily and granddaughter of the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II. Of all that emperor's heirs, she was the only one not captive and was able to assert her rights. Peter III championed his wife's claim to the entirety of the Kingdom of Sicily.Runciman, Sicilian Vespers, p. 201.