Jacqueline Alio - Sicilys Queens 1061-1266: The Countesses and Queens of the Norman-Swabian Era

The table of contents follows the preface, as in the print edition.

Also by Jacqueline Alio

Queens of Sicily 1061-1266

(Sicilian Medieval Studies)

Unabridged print edition of this ebook

Sicilian Queenship

(Sicilian Medieval Studies)

The Ferraris Chronicle

(Sicilian Medieval Studies)

Margaret, Queen of Sicily

(Sicilian Medieval Studies)

Sicilian Studies

A Guide and Syllabus for Educators

Women of Sicily

Saints, Queens and Rebels

The Peoples of Sicily

A Multicultural Legacy

Norman-Arab-Byzantine

Palermo, Monreale and Cefal

(Time Travelers Guides)

Sicilian Food and Wine

The Cognoscentes Guide

queensofsicily.com

jacquelinealio.com

On the Cover: The crown of Constance of Aragon, Queen of Sicily as the consort of Frederick II.

Copyright 2020 Calogera Jacqueline Alio. All rights reserved.

Published by Trinacria Editions, New York.

This ebook may not be reproduced by any means whatsoever, in whole or in part, including illustrations, photographs and maps, in any form beyond the fair-use copying permitted by the United States Copyright Law and the Berne Convention, except by reviewers for the public press (magazines, newspapers and their websites), without written permission from the copyright holder.

Except where otherwise indicated, all translations contained herein are by Calogera Jacqueline Alio. The complete text of the original (print) edition of this monograph was peer-reviewed.

ORCID identifier, Calogera Jacqueline Alio: 0000-0003-1134-1217

The right of Calogera Jacqueline Alio to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988 (UK).

This ebook is an abridged edition of Queens of Sicily 1061-1266: The Queens Consort, Regent and Regnant of the Norman-Swabian Era of the Kingdom of Sicily 2018 Calogera Jacqueline Alio and registered with the United States Copyright Office under number TX0008747816 (ISBN 9781943639144), deposited with the Library of Congress (LCCN 2017956440) and the British Library (BLL 01018637404). Some material contained herein was previously published in the monograph Margaret, Queen of Sicily 2016 Calogera Jacqueline Alio.

ISBN 9781943639304.

This abridged electronic edition of Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 differs from the original print edition in several ways, but not in any that will detract from your reading experience. Indeed, my objective is to improve your enjoyment in reading about Sicilys first medieval queens.

While the text of the preface, introduction, afterword (epilogue), timeline (chronology) and chapters has been preserved in its entirety, there are no endnotes/footnotes, which in the print edition numbered over seven hundred, with some running to a page in length. Many of those notes were simple reference citations but some were explanatory while others provided the original Latin text of passages translated into English for the main narrative. In this electronic edition, a few of those notes, such as the one citing (in its entirety) Thomas Beckets letter to Queen Margaret, have been incorporated into the main text.

The bibliography has been reduced to a concise format mentioning most of the medieval sources consulted, without listing all of the numerous modern (secondary) works, such as monographs and articles. Some of the photographs of the print edition are not present in this one. An example is the picture of the last remaining wall of the castle of San Marco dAlunzio.

This ebook is intended for general readers and students, not for hardcore researchers formulating doctoral dissertations to be defended or for professors writing arcane academic papers to be delivered at conferences or published in specialized journals. One of the appendices in the first (print) edition consisted of both codices of the Assizes of Ariano in the original Latin, something of little use to the greater number of readers.

Realistically, the majority of readers may not be very interested in an overwhelming amount of supporting information, much of it in Latin or even Sicilian. Because Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 was the very first compendium of biographies of these women not only in English but in any language it was necessarily quite lengthy at 740 pages and it had to present certain information of interest to scholars. Readers seeking extensive background details beyond those included in this ebook may wish to read the print edition and its informative supplement, Sicilian Queenship, which also offers some observations regarding the historiography and research methodology involved in writing Queens of Sicily 1061-1266 and Margaret, Queen of Sicily.

Yet the essential maps remain, along with the genealogical tables and those important features one expects to find in the biography of a medieval queen.

The genealogical table for each queen follows the chapter dedicated to her, along with a few photographs, but there is also a separate section of general charts pertaining to Sicilys first dynasties and a few allied families.

Most of this work reflects original scholarship, such as the first English translation of the Sicilian rite of coronation ever published. It is the result of research conducted over a few years in several countries. Most of was excerpted from Margaret, Queen of Sicily, of which an abridged electronic edition was published as Queen Margaret of Sicily.

In Sicilian Queenship, I explain how it was many years ago, in 1994, that I first attended an academic conference here in Sicily about our Norman-Swabian sovereigns, at which most of the queens were overlooked. For two decades thereafter, I considered writing the biography of Margaret of Navarre, which nobody else had written. Margaret was Sicilys most important medieval queen, or at least the one about whom the most is known far more than Constance, the mother of Frederick II, one of our greatest medieval kings. Yet she was ignored even in the lengthy encyclopedic references of important medieval women published by major academic presses in the twenty-first century. Finally, I wrote Margarets biography and the other stories in this book, not that every other Sicilian countess or queen had been ignored altogether. In fact, there were fine biographies of a few of the others, and Sicilian Queenship has a chapter recognizing that scholarship.

This is the compendium that should have been written at least fifty years ago about the queens and countesses of Sicily.

A great advantage of this electronic edition is its ready availability to libraries which might not normally acquire the printed book. I hope you enjoy this one.

C. Jacqueline Alio

One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it.

Joan of Arc

They are the semi-forgotten women of history. Some of them are little more than names mentioned in passing in medieval chronicles or charters. Only a few stand out, and only because they were called upon to step into roles more important, more visible, than what was otherwise envisaged for them. In an age when the typical woman could aspire to nothing more grandiose than a convent or a kitchen, queens were very special indeed, destined to confront challenges beyond field and forge. Queens consort, regnant and regent were a breed apart.