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A Model State in the Middle Ages: The Norman and Swabian Kingdom of Sicily

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Antonio Marongiu
Affiliation:
University of Pisa

Extract

The Norman and Swabian monarchy has a rich and valuable bibliography. Scholarly interest has been refreshed at intervals by conferences on it, by comparative notes and latterly by polemics. But these occasional papers do not explain by themselves the continuing interest of the subject, which arises from the extraordinary political precocity of this monarchy, and from the personalities of two kings who stand among the great statesmen of all time, Roger II and Frederick of Swabia.

Type
States
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1964

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References

1 See my articles “Le curie generali del regno di Sicilia sotto gli Svevi, 1194–1266”, Arch. stor. Cal. Luc. (1949–50); “Concezione della sovranità e assolutismo di Giustiniano e di Federico II”, Studi federiciani (Palermo, 1952);Google Scholar“Lo spirito della monarchia normanna nell'allocuzione di Ruggero II ai suoi Grandi”, Atti Congr. Intern. Dir.rom. Storia d. Dir.-Verona, 1948, IV (Milano, 1951)Google Scholar and in Arch. stor. sicil. (1950–52); federiciane. Manifestazioni e aspetti poco noti della politica di Federico II”, studi medievali (1952–54); “II regno normanno di Sicilia e le sue istituzioni”, Arch. stor.pugl. (1959); “Concezione della sovranitàdi Ruggero II”, Riv. St. Dir. It. (1953–54); “La parte dell'eredità normanna nello Stato di Federico II”, Annali Scuola spec.Archiv. Bibliot. (Roma, 1961).Google Scholar See also De Vergottini, G., “La rinascita politica medievale”, in Storia Universale diretta da E. Pontieri (Milano, 1961)Google Scholar and Il diritto pubblico italiano nei secoli XII–XV (Milano, 1959):Google Scholar both of these contain extensive bibliography.

2 See those on the Norman and the Swabian Age of the Società di Storia patria per la Puglia, especially Foggia e Capitanata” in Arch. stor. pugl., XII (1960);Google Scholar the “Frederician” of Sicily (1950), Atti del convegno internazionale di studi federiciani (Palermo, 1952);Google Scholar and the “Rogerian”, Atti del convegno intern, di studi ruggeriani, II (Palermo, 1955).Google Scholar

3 In an article published in 1959, Prof. L.-R. Ménager of Aix-en-Provence, “L'institution monarchique dans les États normands d'ltalie. Contribution à l'étude du pouvoir royal dans les principautés occidentales aux XIe-XIIe siècle”, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale (Poitiers), has presented a more modest and “Western” role for the Norman monarch of Sicily. In so doing he goes against established opinion and that present writer. I have replied to him, at least in respect to the hieratical aspects monarchy, in my study “La forma religiosa del matrimonio nel diritto bizantino, normanno e svevo”, Arch. stor. Cal. Luc. (1961) and, with several additions and particulars, in Ephemer. jur. can. (1962).

4 At least, in the opinion I have expressed in my study “Un momenta tìpico de la monarquia medieval: el rey juez”, An. Hist. Der. esp. (1953) and, in Italian, in Jus (1954).

5 According to the felicitous image of Lot, F. and Ganshof, F.L., Histoire du Moyen Age. Les destinées de l'empire carolingien (768–888), Paris, 1941.Google Scholar

6 I have touched on the subject in various articles. See also Ullmann, W., Principles of Government and Politics in the Middle Ages (London, 1961),Google Scholar pp. 138 ff.

7 M. David has examined and illustrated them in his two volumes, Le serment du sacré du IXe au XVe siècle. Contribution à l'étude des limites juridiques de la souveraineté (Strasbourg 1951),Google Scholar and La souveraineté et les limites juridiques du pouvoir monarchique du IXe au XVe siècle (Paris, 1954).Google Scholar

8 Die Stellung des Königs von Sizilien nach den Assisen von Ariano (1140) (Münster i.W., 1915), p. 38.

9 Neither the empire, nor, in spite of the high feudal lordship of the Holy See, the Pope. As a matter of fact, the Pope had renounced, with the concession of the apostolic Legation, the exercise of an important part of his prerogatives as head of the Church.

10 No pact, then, of the type which so many Carolingian monarchs had made with the great lay and ecclesiastic lords of their kingdoms.

11 To the strictly juridical and political motives for Roger's choice, one can perhaps add the ancient friendship of his ancestors with the Pierleoni (to which family Anacletus belonged) recently analyzed by Pontieri, E., “La madre di Re Ruggero: Adelaide del Vasto contessa di Sicilia, Regina di Gerusalemme”, Atti Conv. intern. Studi rugger., II, p. 391Google Scholar n.; see also Kehr, P., “Diploma purpureo di Re Ruggero II per la casa Pierleoni”, Arch. Soc. rom. St. patr., XXIV (1898),Google Scholar pp. 258 ff.

12 Prof. Ganshof, P.L., Il Medio Evo, 476–1492, Ital, . transl. (Firenze, 1961), p. 183,Google Scholar speaks, in considering analogous and different cases, of the technique of international relations.

13 The Cinnamus, Byzantine J. refers to it in his The Seven Books of the Histories, III,Google Scholar in Migne's Patr. gr., vol. 133, n. 92, col. 420.

14 For example, in the famous statement which serves as preface to the corpus of his Assizes.

15 Such is the is of the persons to whom Roger addresses his Monitio generalis, in the copy contained in the famous and most beautiful mss. Vat. lat. 8782, ass. III.

16 I refer, especially, to his clear and important recapitulative note, “Lo Stato postcarolingio e i suoi simboli del potere”, in I problemi communi dell'Europa postcarolingia (Spoleto, 1955),Google Scholar published by the “Centro it. di Studi sull'alto Medioevo”: see chiefly pp. 148 ff.

17 His lecture, given in the “Convegno internazionale di Studi ruggeriani” in Sicily, 1954, on the topic “Incoronazione di Ruggero II”, is still, as far as I know, unpublished.

18 L'Empereur dans I'art byzantin. Recherches sur I'art officielle de I'Empire d'Orient (Paris, 1936), p. 120.Google Scholar For Ménager (op. cit., p. 306), “ces représentations idéales du monarque” have no other value than as works of art, as they could have been conceived and formed by mosaicists inspired by the usual forms and sources of the Byzantine world. Here, he strangely ignores that in the Byzantine world, in the period under consideration, iconography was not a freely individual artistic activity, but an official function, precise and limited. Grabar rightly views it in this manner. As Oriental emperors, the Norman Kings of Sicily wanted everyone to know and see that they derived their authority not from the Pope, but from God.

19 His article, II miracolo siciliano”, in Atti Conv. intern. Studi rugger., II, p. 65.Google Scholar

20 Cf. Pirro, R., Sicilia sacra, ed. Mongitore, A., t. II (Panormi, 1733),Google Scholar col. 87. Such an attribute, exactly paralleled in Arab diplomas in which the king is called “Exalted of God” (see Amari, M., Storio dei Musulmani di Sicilia, III, Firenze, 1872, p. 450),Google Scholar most probably comes from Byzantine curial language. Even in Western countries, it was the exclusive attribute of the emperor: cf. De Francisci, F., Arcana imperii, vol.III, t. II (Milano, 1948), p. 131.Google Scholar

21 The repetition of this rite in the course of great festivities has attracted attention. See Kantorowicz, E., Laudes Regiae: A Study in Liturgical Acclamations and Medieval Ruler Worship (Berkeley, 1946), passim and pp. 145–46.Google Scholar

22 In a greater measure than any other western monarch: cf. Steimberg, S.H., “I ritratti dei re normanni”, Bibliografia, XXXIX (1937),Google Scholar pp. 22 ff. Was it perhaps their quality as papal legates that contributed to this? Cf. Chalandon, E., Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile, t. II (Paris, 1907), p. 612.Google Scholar

23 Proemium Glossatoris in Constitutions Regni Siciliae in the Appendix to Calasso, F., I Glossatori e la teoria della sovranità (Milano, 1957), p. 187.Google Scholar See also pp. 184 ff.

24 Op. cit., pp. 173, 174.

25 Cod. Just., IX, 29, 2 (3)Google Scholar.

26 Assize XVII, Mss. Vat. lat. 8782.

27 Ménager himself recognizes it (op. cit., p. 462) and from this infers further confirmations (n. 360).

28 As Ménager (p. 464), holds of the English monarchy in speaking about the “devoirs que la loi constitutionnelle anglaise a été la première à inscrire dans le serment du sacre”.

29 Ass. XXVII, Mss. Vat.

30 I have stressed this in my “Concezione della sovranità di Ruggero II” (see n. 1, above), especially in regard to the words of Vacarius “conditor et interpres legum solus est imperator”, in the mss, of the Dean and the Chapter of Worcester, printed in appendix (V) of Vinogradoff's, P.Diritto romano nell'Europa medievale, ed. De Zulueta, F., Ital, . trans. (Milano, 1950), p. 111.Google Scholar

31 Ménager, op. cit., p. 463, with reference to Schramm, P., A History of the English Coronation (Oxford, 1937),Google Scholar pp. 196 ff.

32 Cf. David, Le serment du sacréop cit., p. 224.

33 “La forma religiosa del matrimonio”, op cit.

34 St. Bernard, Epistolae, 140, in Migne's Patr. lat., t. 182, col. 295.

35 Cf. Herval, H., “Le droit publique dans le Royaume normand d'ltalie”,.Rev. histor. dr. fr. étr. (1951), pp. 136,Google Scholar 137.

36 Both the Monitio generalis already cited (supra, n. 15) and Assizes IV and V mention it.

37 This differs then from W. Ullmann's view of the theory of feudal kingship in England (op. cit., pp. 150–192), which is completely inapplicable here.

38 This is clearly seen in the valuable book of Miss Jamison, E.M., Admiral Eugenius of Sicily (London, 1957).Google Scholar

39 This has been, as it is known, the object of a polemic between the present writer and the lamented and eminent Leicht, P.S., who, after having denied it, changed his views in his Storia del diritto pubblico (Milano, 1950), p. 323.Google Scholar

40 A pertinent observation of G. De Vergottini in La rinascita politico medievale, p. 218.

41 V. De Vergottini, op. cit., p. 221.

42 Text in Fichtenau's, H.Arenga (Vienna, 1957), n. 30, p. 36.Google Scholar

43 It is, as that of Justinian (Dig. I, 4, and I, 2, 5; C. 1, 7, I, 7, Deo auctore), in the lex quae regia nuncupabatur; cf. his Const. Regni Siciliae, I, 31.

44 Following are the two texts:

Const. R. Sic. Proem.

‘Ipsa rerum necessitate cogente, nee minus divine provisionis instincta principes gentium sunt creati per quos posset licentia scelerum coerceri: qui vite necisque arbitri gentibus qualem quisque fortunam, sortem, statumque haberent velut executores quodammodo divine providentie stabilirent.’

De clem, Proem. I, 2

‘Egone ex omnibus mortalibus placui … qui in terris deorum vice fungerer?

Ego vitae necisque gentibus arbiter: qualem quisque sortem statumque habeat, in mea manu positum est: quid cuique mortalium fortuna datum velit meo ore pronuntiat.’

45 It is the same (I, 31) in which one speaks of the “royal law”.

46 Cod. Just. I, 14, 4: “Digna vox est maiestate regnantis, legibus alligatum se principem profiteri…”.

47 Dig. I, 3, 2, from Marc, I, Inst.

48 Cf. Rava’, A.Il diritto come norma tecnica (Cagliari, 1911).Google Scholar

49 Der Staat als Kunstwerk.

50 Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien, ein Versuch (Basel, 1860), p. 4.Google Scholar

51 He attributes this quality to himself in a letter addressed to the College of Cardinals, 10 March, 1239. See Bréholles, J. L. A. Huillard, Historia diplomatica Friderici Secundi (Paris, 1854ff.), vol. IV, pt. I, p. 282.Google Scholar

52 The document (parliamentary convocation of 1240) is in Huillard Bréholles, op. cit., vol. V, pt. 2, p. 797.

53 I have dealt with this subject in numerous essays. The first was “Protezionismi scolastici di altri tempi e problemi universitari di ieri e di oggi”, Arch, giur., 1943. The last has been my very recent “Protezionismi scolastici e stipendi professorali”, Studi in onore di A. Fanfani, V (Milano, 1962).Google Scholar

54 Op. cit., p. 16.

55 Ullmann himself points it out: op. cit., p. 65, n. 1.

56 Cf. S. Mochi Onory, “La crisi federiciana del Sacro Romano Impero: II ‘Corpus saecularium Principum’ e il ‘Imperium Spirituale’ del Pontefice”, in Atti Conv. intern. Studi jeder., pp. 26, 27. As is known, Frederick did not like to be on the defensive too long and took the offensive against the Holy See. On this aspect of the question see Ullmann, W., “Some Reflections on the Opposition of Frederick II to the Papacy”, Arch. stor. pugl., XIII (1960),Google Scholar pp. 16 ff.

57 See Ullmann, Principles of Government, op. cit., p. 85.

58 He reacts, in the same year 1239, to the excommunication of Gregory IX (text in “Mon. Germ. Hist.” Acta et Const., II, p. 290 ff.).

59 “La crisi federiciana”, op. cit.

60 Cf. Catalano, G., Le ultime vicende delta Legazia apostolica di Sicilia (Catania, 1950).Google Scholar

61 See De Stefano, A., L'idea imperiale di Federico II, new edition (Bologna, 1952),Google Scholar p. 230 ff.

62 See Kantorowicz, E., “Invocatio nominis Imperatoris (on vv. 21–25 of Cielo d'Alcamo's Contrasto)”, Boll. Centro Studi Filol, VII (1955).Google Scholar

63 As far as we know! But as N. Tamassia points out in his Nuovi studi sulla ‘Defensa’” (Atti R. 1st. Ven., 19001901, t. LX, p. 361),Google Scholar in the Constitution De officio justiciariatus, Frederick said that the authority of the giustiziario to judge the violation of the defensa was already in a preceding law (in assisiis predecessorum nostrorum). This has been confirmed by Niese, H., Die Gesetzgebung der normannischen Dynastie im Regnum Siciliae (Halle, 1910), p. 34, n. 6.Google Scholar

64 Andrea da Isernia in his Glossa called Peregrina to the Frederician Constitutiones Regni Siciliae (ad I, 16).

65 Constitutiones Regni Siciliae (= Liber Augustalis), I, 16.

66 “Anyone can see that if Frederick II did not introduce the royal tuitio or mundeburdium, he deserves the credit for having reaffirmed strongly that subjects cannot expect protection except in the name and through the name of the prince”, Tamassia, op. cit., p. 354.

67 I have dealt at length with the subject in Storia del diritto pubblico. Princìpi e instituti di governo in Italia dalla metà del IX alia metà del XIX secolo (Milano, 1957).Google Scholar

68 Burckhardt's opinion (loc. cit.), that the Frederician State was a “berechnete bewusste Schöpfung” finds its equivalent in the affirmation of the great Swabian himself (Const., I, 95) that the kingdom of Sicily should constitute in fact the mirror and the model of every state organization: “ut … sit admirantibus omnibus similitudinis speculum invidia principum et norma regnorum”.