Sicilian Vespers

Vespers, Sicilian: see Sicilian Vespers.

Sicilian Vespers, in Italian history, name given the rebellion staged by the Sicilians against the Angevin French domination of Sicily; the rebellion broke out at Palermo at the start of Vespers on Easter Monday, Mar. 30, 1282. The revolt quickly spread over the island; nearly all the French in Sicily were massacred. Although basically a move for Sicilian independence, the insurrection was instigated as part of a widespread conspiracy against the Angevin ruler of Naples and Sicily, King Charles I, who dreamed of establishing an Angevin empire in the East. Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII financed the plot, hoping to preoccupy Charles and thus avert the Angevin's imminent invasion of the Byzantine Empire. John of Procida, a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufen, and King Peter III of Aragón, who claimed rule of the island as the husband of Constance, heiress of the Hohenstaufen claim there, also joined the intrigue. Peter accepted the throne offered by the Sicilians, and a 20-year war for possession of Sicily followed between the Angevin kings of Naples and the Aragonese kings of Sicily. The rising secured Sicilian independence for more than a century, with the house of Aragón keeping Sicily and the Angevin dynasty holding the S Italian mainland kingdom of Naples. The two territories were finally reunited (1442) under Alfonso V of Aragón.

(1282) Massacre of the French that began a Sicilian revolt against the Angevin king Charles I. Backed by Peter III of Aragon, the rising broke out when Sicilians killed some insulting French soldiers at vespers in the church of Santo Spirito in Palermo. The people of the city followed suit and massacred 2,000 of its French inhabitants. All of Sicily soon revolted and sought help from the Aragonese, and the war became a French-Aragonese struggle for possession of Sicily. The conflict was finally resolved when the Sicilians chose Frederick III, brother of the king of Aragon, as their ruler in 1302.

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The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I of Naples, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.

Background

The rising had its origin in the struggle between the Hohenstaufen-ruled Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy for control over Italy. When Hohenstaufen Manfred of Sicily was defeated in 1266, the Kingdom of Sicily was entrusted to his rival, Charles of Anjou, by Pope Urban IV.

Charles regarded his Sicilian territories as a springboard for his Mediterranean ambitions, which included the overthrow of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus. His French officials (who governed Sicily badly) mistreated native Sicilians with rape, theft and murder.

There are two interpretations, not necessarily exclusive, of events. One stresses the weltpolitik of Michael Palaeologus and the Aragonese king Peter III, Manfred's son-in-law, in fomenting the revolt; the other concentrates on the unpopularity of Charles's rule among native Sicilians. The latter view gained popularity during the Risorgimento when it was propounded by the patriot Michele Amari. Regarding the former, Michael VIII in his autobiography wrote: "Should I dare to claim that I was God's instrument to bring freedom to the Sicilians, then I should only be stating the truth."

The uprising

The event is named because the insurrection began at the start of vespers on Easter Monday (March 30, 1282) at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo. Thousands of Sicily's French inhabitants were massacred over the next six weeks. The events that started the uprising are not known for certain, but the various retellings have common elements.

According to Steven Runciman, 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.

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, killing them all. 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".

Aftermath

Taking advantage of the revolt, King Peter III of Aragon launched a successful invasion, becoming also Peter I of Sicily.

Charles remained in control of the mainland Kingdom of Naples until his death in 1285 and his heirs continued to reign there until Peter's successors reunited the territories in 1442.

References in culture

• Giuseppe Verdi's opera Les vêpres siciliennes is based on this conflict.
• Francesco Hayez painted a series on the Sicilian Vespers, beginning in 1821.

Other uses of the term

• In 1494 when the French King Louis XII was invading Italy he told the Spanish ambassador that his armies would move so fast that he would "breakfast in Milan and dine in Rome." Whereupon the ambassador replied that doubtless he would be in Sicily in time for Vespers.
• Having previously arranged the murder of mafia boss Joseph Masseria on April 15, 1931 in order to consolidate organized crime in New York City under Salvatore Maranzano, mafia boss Lucky Luciano then ordered the murders of Maranzano and those capos of Maranzano and Masseria whom Luciano saw as threats. These murders occurred on September 10, 1931 which marked the end of the Castellammarese War in New York City and in mafia parlance is known as the Night of the Sicilian Vespers.
• Sicily-born brothers David and Francis Rifugiato named their short-lived band "The Sicilian Vespers" after this event. They released one album on Profile Records in 1988.

Notes

References

• Steven Runciman (1958),The Sicilian Vespers, ISBN 0-521-43774-1. Considered a classic of history.
• Leonardo Bruni (1416), History of the Florentine People, Harvard, 2001, ISBN 0-674-00506-6. Regarded as the first history book to be called "modern", and the first modern historian, it also happens to cover the events of this period.
• Michael VIII Palaeologus, De Vita sua Opusculum, (ed. J. Troitsky in Christianskoe Chtenie, vol. II). St Petersburg, 1885.
• "Sicilian Vespers" In Encyclopedia Britannica Online.