Of the numerous remains, of antiquity existing in Sicily the most important are noticed under Simms and AORIOENTUM. Taormina has an ancient theatre in tolerable preservation. Other remains of antiquity are seen at Catania, Lentini. Alicata, Messina, Modica, Paterno, and Segeste, or Egest.a, near Trapani. The antiquities of Sicily have been described by Swinburoe.
The Normans first entered Sicily as auxiliaries of Maniaces, Katapan of Apulia, whom they aided in recovering the island for the eastern emperors from the Saracens In 1037. But the weakness and min. management of the Byzantine rulers threw the island once more into the hands of the Saracens. About 1060 Pope Nicholas IL granted the investiture of Sicily to Robert Ouinard. duke of Apulia and Calabria, who commenced the conquest of the Wand In the following year by taking biennia. In 1070, aided by his brother Roger, he took Palermo, which he made his capital. At his death Robert left Sicily, with the exception of Palermo, to his brother Count Roger, who drove the last Saracen garrison in Sicily out of Noto, and assumed the title of Great Count of Sicily. Roger introduced the feudal sys tem in the towns and districts which he had taken by force from the Saracens ; the rest of tho country was considered crown domains, the proprietors of which remained undisturbed under the name of allodisliste,' or'burgenattici.' Ile instituted the Sicilian parliament, or assembly of the great feudatories, both occlesiaatical and lay, who met when convoked by the prince. In 1091 he sailed to Malta, and obliged the Gait, or Saracen governor, to pay tribute to the count of Sicily.
Count Roger of Sicily died in 1101, and was succeeded by his son linger, who, in reward for aiding his cousin Doke William of Apulia against his refractory vassals, obtained the city of Palermo, and thus became monarch of all Sicily. On the death of Duke William in 1127 without Genie, Count Roger of Sicily succeeded after much opposition in establishing his authority over all Apulia, Calabria, and Salerno.
In the year 1130 Count Roger assembled a parliament at Salerno, which decided that he should assume the title of King of Sicily. This resolution was unanimously confirmed by the Sicilian parliament which he soon after convoked at Palermo ; and on Christmas-Day of that year Roger was solemnly crowned in the cathedral of Palermo by the four archbishops of Palermo, Salerno, Capua, and Benevento. He assumed the title of 'RexDucatus Principatus Capum.' Pope Innocent IL, who refused to acknowledge Roger's new
dignity, marched with troops into Campania, but was surprised and taken prisoner in 1139 by Roger, who treated him with great respect, and on the 25th of July a treaty was concluded between them, by which the Pope granted to Roger the investiture of the kingdom of Sicily, the king swearing allegiance to the eee of Rome, and promising the payment of an annual tribute. About the same time, on the death of the duke Sergius, the Neapolitans chose Roger's eldest sou for their duke, retaining their municipal laws and liberties. In 1140 King Roger seized that part of Abruzzo which lies between the Pescara and the Trento, and thus the Sicilian kingdom attained its compact form and the boundaries which it has retained to this day. In this reign the silver coin called a ducat was first coined, and the manufacture of silk was introduced into Sicily.
Roger died in 1154, at the age of 59. He was the third great man of his family. Robert Guiscard and Count Roger laid the foundations of the monarchy by their conquests, and King Roger consolidated the whole into a regular form, made a body of laws, and established an orderly system of administration.
The Norman dynasty ruled over Sicily till 1194, when it came with the rest of the kingdom under the Suabian dynasty, in the person. of Frederick II., son of the emperor Henry VI. and Constance the posthumous daughter of King Roger. Frederick was the founder of the third estate, or Commons, in the island of Sicily, having called to sit in the Sicilian parliament two prudlorames, or wise men, for every demesne town. He also established a municipal body in every commune, and introduced many other wise reforms into his etates. Frederick II. died in 1250. Conrad succeeded him, but died in 1254, leaving his only son Conradin two years of age. Manfred a natural eon of Frederick, assumed the regency of the kingdom of Sicily. Manfred was crowned king at Palermo in 1258, with the assent of the Parliament on the rumour of the death of Conradin. At the battle of Benevento, fought in 1266, Manfred was defeated and killed by Charles of Anjou, who was acknowledged king of Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, &c. The young Conradin led an expedition in 1267 to recover his paternal kingdom ; but he was defeated by Charles of Anjou at Tagliacozzo, and publicly beheaded at Naples in 1269.