County of Sicily

County of Sicily
1071–1130
The county in 1112, before its merger with the mainland Duchy of Apulia and Calabria
The county in 1112, before its merger with the mainland Duchy of Apulia and Calabria
CapitalPalermo
38°7′N 13°21′E / 38.117°N 13.350°E / 38.117; 13.350
Official languagesLatin
Byzantine Greek
Other languagesItalo-Romance languages
Norman
Hebrew
Siculo-Arabic
Religion
Roman Catholicism (official), Greek Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism
GovernmentMonarchy
Count 
• 1071–1101
Roger I
• 1101–1105
Simon
• 1105–1130
Roger II
History 
• Established
1071
• Disestablished
1130
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Muslim Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
Today part ofItaly
Malta

The County of Sicily[1][2] was a Norman state comprising the islands of Sicily and Malta and part of Calabria from 1071 until 1130.[3] The county began to form during the Norman conquest of Sicily (1061–91) from the Muslim Emirate, established by conquest in 965. The county is thus a transitional period in the history of Sicily. After the Muslims had been defeated and either forced out or incorporated into the Norman military, a further period of transition took place for the county and the Sicilians.

  1. ^ Fiore, Giovanni. Della Calabria illustrata, Vol. 3. Rubbettino, 1999. p. 551.
  2. ^ Roger I, Encyclopædia Britannica: "Roger went to Italy in 1057 to aid his brother Robert Guiscard in his conquest of Calabria from the Byzantines (1060). They began the conquest of Sicily from various Muslim rulers in 1061 with the capture of Messina, and they completed it in 1091. The turning point of the struggle was the capture of Palermo in 1072, when Robert invested Roger as his vassal with the county of Sicily and Calabria with a limited right to govern and to tax."
  3. ^ Takayama, Hiroshi. The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Brill Publishers: Leiden, 1993. p. 47.

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