The Kingdom in the Sun (74 page)

*messlna
The church of the Annunziata dei Catalani is beautiful, though now so restored as to be virtually rebuilt. Parts of the apse are original.

*messina
The Cathedral is aptly described by Christopher Kinin-month as 'a post-war reconstruction of the post-earthquake reconstruction of the Norman original'. Little, if" any, of the original work remains; but it merits inclusion in this list since it is a purely Norman church and a very beautiful one, and tells the visitor as much about Norman-Sicilian architecture as anything on the island. The sculptured slab from Richard Palmer's tomb has, unaccountably, survived almost intact.
Pmessina
La Badiazza.

*mili
s.
pietro
The little church of S. Maria was founded for Basilian monks by Roger I in 1082. Here, too, Roger's bastard son Jordan was buried in 1091. (See
The Normans in the South,
p. 281 n.)

***monreale
Cathedral and Cloister. (See pp. 316-22.)

*monreale
The twelfth-century
Castellaccio
stands on the summit of Monte Caputo and commands a sensational view of the Conca d'Oro.

*monreale
Remains of William IPs palace can be seen in the courtyard of the seminary at No. 1, Via Arcivescovado.
***palermo
In the Royal Palace (the exterior of which, gloomy as it is, merits two stars on its own account) are to be found two of the most stunningly beautiful things in Sicily; the Palatine Chapel and the so-called
Sala di Wuggero.
(See pp. 72-7 and 241-2 respectively.)

***palermo
S. Maria dell' Ammiraglio, popularly known as the Martorana. (See pp. 93-5).)
**palermo
S. Giovanni degli Eremiti. (See pp. 88-90.)

**palermo
S. Spirito, the church of the Vespers. (See p. 363.)
**palermo
The Royal tombs of Roger II, Henry VI, Constance and Frederick II in the cathedral. (See pp. 389-90.)
*palermo
S. Giovanni dei Lebbrosi, one of the earliest Norman churches on the island. (See
The Normans in the South,
p. 178 n.)

*palermo
S. Cataldo. (See p. 2i6n.)
*palmero
The Cathedral. (See pp. 3
⁶²
~3-)
*palermo
SS. Trinita(La Magione). (See p. 254x1.)
*palermo
The Zisa. (See pp. 239-41.)

*palermo
The Cuba, Cubula and Cuba Soprana. (See p. 354n-)

*palermo
The Ponte del Ammiraglio. (See pp. x
5 5—6.)

*palermo
S. Cristina, another foundation of Walter of the Mill.

*palermo
La Maddalena, a twelfth-century church in the courtyard of the Carabinieri barracks next to the Porta Nuova.
*P
alermo
S. Maria della Speranza.

*palermo
The Castello della Favara, otherwise known as Mare-dolce. (See pp. 156-7.)

P
alermo
The Cappella dell' Incoronata behind the Cathedral.

P
alermo
In the suburb of Altarello, the Palazzo dell' Uscibene was formerly the royal hunting-lodge of Mimnermo. (See p. 169.)

P
alermo
For the sake of completeness, a brief mention should be made of the remains of some Norman work in the tower of the Palazzo Conte Federico. Pedants might also include a house known as the Casa Martorana and one in the Via Protonotaro; but both of these were badly damaged during the last war and hardly anything remains of the mediaeval structure.

*paterno
The Castello was built by Roger I in 1073. It has been much restored but is still worth a visit. Ask at the Municipio for the keys.

patti
The cathedral is of Norman origin, though there is little enough to show for it now—except the tomb of Roger II’s mother Queen Adelaide. (See
The Normans in the South,
p. 289 n.)

*piazza
armerina
The priory of S. Andrea, a few kilometres outside the town, was founded in 1096 by Simon, Count of Butera, cousin of Roger II. The frescoes are of the fifteenth century. (See p. 234m)

*s.
fratello
S. AlflO.

*s.
marco
d'alunzio
The church in the Badia Grande di SS. Salvatore was founded in 1176 by Queen Margaret, wife of William I.

*sciacca
S. Nicolo.

sciacca
Of the Cathedral, the three apses of the east end are Norman.

sciacca
S. Maria della Giummare, though today no more than an agreeable hotch-potch, still retains traces of its Norman origins.

S
yracuse
The extraordinary cathedral contains a little Norman work, just as it contains a little of everything else.
troina
The bell-tower of the Chiesa Matrice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL SOURCES

Falco of Betievento

Member of one of the leading families of Benevento, a palace notary and scribe, Falco wrote a retrospective history of his own city and South Italy as a whole between
1102
and n
39.
It is of interest not only for its own qualities—it is reliable, methodical, vivid, and contains much of which its author was an eyewitness—but also because it reflects the opinions of a Lombard patriot, for whom the Normans were little better than a bunch of uncivilised brigands. An Italian translation exists and is listed in the bibliography.

Alexander of Telese

Alexander, Abbot of the monastery of S. Salvatore near Telese, wrote his chronicle at the request of Matilda of Alife, half-sister of Roger II. Though ostensibly a biography of Roger, the first part is sketchy in the extreme; we are told nothing about Adelaide's regency and the account becomes interesting only from n
27,
with the events leading up to the establishment of the Sicilian Kingdom. From that point until
1136,
when Alexander abruptly breaks off, he becomes a valuable source—though allowance must be made for his extreme tendentiousness. For him Roger was divinely appointed to bring peace and order to the South, after meting out just punishment for earlier iniquities. Despite his cloth, the Abbot has little respect for the Pope, and even chides Honorius II for his 'insolence'. There is an Italian translation listed below.

Womuald of Salerno

Romuald Guarna, a member of the old Salernitan nobility, was archbishop of his native city from
1153
until his death in
1181.
Throughout this time he played a leading role in the political life of the Kingdom, both in Sicily and on the mainland, in domestic and foreign affairs. He was one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Benevento; later he was implicated in the plot against Maio of Bari and was largely responsible for the rescue of William I during the
1161
uprising. Under William II—whose coronation he performed—he represented Sicily at the signing of the Treaty of Venice. His
Chronicon sive Annates,
which begins with the Creation and continues till
1178,
is one of the most important sources in existence for the period covered by this book. It would have been more valuable still if Romuald had only been more impartial and less discreet. As it is, he consistently exaggerates his own part in the events he records and minimises that of others. Matters in which he is not directly involved—or those in which he or his friends do not show to particular advantage—he tends to leave out altogether. The work has never been translated into English or French; an Italian translation is listed below.

Hugo Falcandus

Everything, as Chalandon points out, that relates to Falcandus is a mystery; even his name is in doubt. The most distinguished living English scholar of the period, Miss Evelyn Jamison, has cogendy argued—in a book listed below—that he is to be identified with Eugenius, a politician and scholar who was appointed Admiral of the Kingdom in 1190. The
Liber de Regno Sicilie
covers only the period from 11
54
to 1169. It has little to say of Sicilian foreign policy; but as a picture of the social life and the political intrigues of Palermo during a particularly troubled time, it is a masterpiece. The author needs no more than a couple of lines to transform a name into a character; his eye for the significant detail is unerring. In the art of making his story live, none of the other sources with whom we have had to deal can hold a candle to him—except, perhaps, Amatus of Monte Cassino; but whereas Amatus is a
naif,
Falcandus is a polished and sophisticated man of letters. His great defect is his tendentiousness, and his bitter, almost universal contempt for those around him. For him, every man is a villain; for every action, the worst motives are unfailingly ascribed. Just how accurate he is we have no means of telling; checks are seldom possible, since no other chronicle covers the period in anything like such detail. But he certainly makes splendid reading. It seems almost incredible that a writer who has been compared to Tacitus and Thucydides should never have been translated into English or French; the only version I have been able to find is del Re's Italian one, written in so convoluted a style that Falcandus's elegant Latin is often easier to read.