Download PDF | Hubert Houben, Roger II Of Sicily: A Ruler Between East And West, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
263 Pages
This is a series of specially commissioned textbooks for teachers and students, designed to complement the monograph series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought by providing introductions to a range of topics in medieval history. This series combines both chronological and thematic approaches, and will deal with British and European topics. All volumes in the series will be published in hard covers and in paperback. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book.
FOREWORD TO THE GERMAN EDITION
King Roger II of Sicily is undoubtedly one of the most important, but also most controversial, rulers of the twelfth century. For many years we have relied upon thé monograph of the then twenty-five-year-old Erich Caspar (1879-1935), an excellent work comprising some 651 pages, including a calendar of documents, on which the high reputation of this famous German medievalist was founded.
This work, which originally appeared in 1904, was republished as a photomechanical reprint in 1963 by the Darmstadt Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, as part of its highly commendable programme of reprints, because of its closeness to the sources, which to this day has never been surpassed, even though the book had been out of print for a long time. Despite the high quality of this work a new account of this ruler and his sphere was called for, which had to evaluate the results of the extensive international research which had taken place since 1904 — work not just by Italians, but by French, English, American and now once again German scholars as well.
Caspar published his book while he was a collaborator (between 1903 and 1908) on the Italia Pontificia of Paul Kehr, the director of the Prussian (after 1937: German) Historical Institute in Rome. It was from members of this Institute that the most important German contributions to the history of southern Italy in the high Middle Ages came. After the Second World War, above all Walther Holtzmann was outstanding as director of this research.
In 1982 Raoul Manselli could of course talk of ‘the rearguard action of a great army retreating’ with regard to the German contingent. There is no question that since then this rearguard has grown into a more powerful German contingent within the international troops again. It is to this contingent that the author of the present volume belongs, having researched his doctorate and Habilitationsschrift in Germany.
He has been employed as professor of Medieval History at the universities of Bologna and Lecce for many years and through his numerous contributions to the history of southern Italy in the high Middle Ages has himself become part of an intensive Italian research effort. He is therefore more suited than anyone else to be the first to write about Roger II in the series of continuing synthesis in the German language. The limitation to about a third of the length of Caspar’s work, necessary for economic reasons, prevents the epic breadth of that account; but it is also in its conciseness and precision that this book, firmly based upon modern research, including the author's own investigations, will definitely stimulate further work in this field. To the non-specialists, both students and educated general readers, it offers a scholarly account of an important aspect of European history in the twelfth century.
Peter Herde Wirzburg, February 1997
PREFACE TO THE GERMAN EDITION
It was at an international conference at Potenza in April 1989 that Peter Herde, the editor of the series ‘Figures of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance’ which was then in the planning stage, prompted me to write this book. This conference was organized by the Universities of Lecce.and Potenza, and run by myself together with my colleagues Cosimo Damiano
-. Fonseca (Potenza) and Benedetto Vetere (Lecce) on the subject of ‘Political
Unity and Regional Differences in the Kingdom of Sicily’ (“Unita politica e differenze regionali nel Regno di Sicilia’). The reason, or the pretext, was the 800th anniversary of the death of King William II of Sicily, the grandson of Roger II. The papers delivered at this conference showed what progress had been made in research on the foundation of the Norman state in Sicily since the publication of the pioneering works of Erich Caspar (1904) and Ferdinand Chalandon (1907). When. it was suggested that I write a new biography of Roger II, based on modern scholarship, to replace Caspar’s now outdated youthful work, I was absolutely delighted.
I am indebted to many friends and colleagues. First to the series editor, who checked through the manuscript carefully. Individual sections were read by Martin Bertram (Rome), Reinhard Elze (Munich), Vera von Falkenhausen (Rome), Thomas Frank (Berlin/Rome), Jorg Jarnut (Paderborn), Theo Kélzer (Bonn), Michael Marsch (Berlin/Rome), Bernd Schneidmiiller (Bamberg), Wolfgang Stiirner (Stuttgart) and Loris Sturlese (Lecce). Adalgisa De Simone (Palermo) assisted me with Arabic questions. A research visit to Oxford in 1992 was necessary for my work; in the incomparable collegiate atmosphere of St John’s I had the good fortune to meet the Emeritus Laudian Professor of Arabic A. FE L. (‘Freddie’) Beeston (1911-95).
Jeremy Johns (Oxford) and Graham Loud (Leeds) gave me advice on a number of matters, as did Guglielmo Cavallo (Rome), Jean-Marie Martin (Paris/Rome), Norbert Kamp (Gdttingen) and Lucinia Speciale (Rome/Lecce). The often difficult task of finding relevant literature was made considerably easier by my annual, repeated, albeit brief visits to the German Historical Institute in Rome, where the director Arnold Esch, the library director Hermann Goldbrunner and their colleagues did their utmost to accommodate me in every way. It only remains for me to express my gratitude to the Vatican Library, the Bibliotheca Hertziana and the Library of the Ecole Frangaise.
My wife and my daughter tolerated my frequent absences with the greatest patience and understanding. I am indebted to Gianfranco Madonna (Lecce) for drawing the tables and maps and to Marit Borchering (Darmstadt) for taking care of the printing.
Hubert Houben Lecce, January 1997
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
The English translation of my book on Roger II gives me the opportunity to undertake a few corrections and supplements to the text, particularly in the section concerning the regency of Adelaide and in those about culture and administration.
After I had completed the manuscript in January 1997 some important publications appeared which I have taken into account in the present English edition. These include Richard Biinemann’s biography of Robert Guiscard, essays by Vera von Falkenhausen on Adelaide’s regency and the Greek charters of the Norman kings of Sicily, William Tronzo’s monograph on the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, and Errico Cuozzo and Jean Marie Martin’s anthology in memory of Léon-Robert Ménager. I have also taken into account a recent contribution from Adalgisa De Simone. This refers to an Arabic biographical sketch of George of Antioch (al-Magqrizi, Kitab al-Mugaffa) which has hitherto been ignored, but which contains important new information.
For the benefit of the English readers and students I have made particular reference to the English translation of the history of so-called ‘Hugo Falcandus’ by Graham A. Loud and Thomas Wiedemann, which also contains a selection of other primary sources in English translation which are important for the history of the kingdom of Sicily in the twelfth century. Some reference has also been made in the footnotes to Graham A. Loud’s The Age of Robert Guiscard (2000), but this was published too recently for its findings to be incorporated fully into the text. Other footnotes have been shortened with respect to the original text.
I am indebted to Vera von Falkenhausen and Francesco Panarelli for invaluable advice, to Graham Loud and Diane Milburn for making this translation, and to Dr Loud for allowing me to quote his unpublished English translations of the Latin sources. I take fall responsibility for any errors which remain. I dedicate this English version to my daughter Sofia for her eighteenth birthday. :
H.H. Lecce, November 2000
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