Sicilian Vespers

Sicilian Vespers
Part of War of the Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian Vespers (1846), by Francesco Hayez.
Date 30 March 1282 Location Sicily Result
Belligerents
Sicilian rebels Byzantine empire Kingdom of Aragon	Charles of Anjou
Commanders
Alaimo of Lentini	Charles of Anjou

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."^[1]

The church of the Holy Spirit in Palermo.

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.

Primary sources

The earliest narrative source for the Vespers is the Sicilian Rebellamentu di Sichilia, written perhaps as early as 1287. It credits John of Procida with organising the overthrow of the French and portrays him in a positive light. Two later Guelph Tuscan histories, the Liber Jani de Procida et Palialoco and the Leggenda di Messer Gianni di Procida, possibly relying on the Rebellamentu or the Rebellamentu's lost source, follow it in stressing John's involvement, but they portray him in a more critical light. The Liber, as its title suggests, emphasises John's negotiations with Michael VIII ("Palioloco").

Besides these there are two Florentine chronicles of importance. The Leggenda was once thought to be a source for the Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani, itself a source for the Vespers. Brunetto Latini, in his Tesoro, similarly adopts the Sicilian version of events, which includes the earliest version of the rape. The Tuscan Liber turns the rape story around, suggesting the Sicilian woman had pulled a knife on her French suitor when his friends came to aid him.

Sicilian Vespers (1846), by Francesco Hayez.

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 Charles VIII 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 15 April 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.^[2][3]

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.

Notes