This student-friendly volume brings together English translations of the main narrative sources, and a small number of other relevant documents, for the reign of Roger II, the founder of the kingdom of Sicily.
The kingdom created by King Roger was the most centralised and administratively advanced of the time, but its genesis was fraught with difficulty as the king sought to extend his power from the island of Sicily and Calabria into other parts of the south Italian mainland. This struggle, that lasted from 1127 until 1140, is graphically revealed by the two main texts in this book. A number of other texts illuminate key aspects of the reign: the relationship with the papacy, the German invasion of 1137 that came close to toppling the king’s rule, the expansion of Sicilian power into the Abruzzi in 1140, and the law and administration of the kingdom, often seen as a model for the growth of effective government in the twelfth century. Despite the great intrinsic interest of the reign of King Roger, these texts have never appeared in English translation before.
This will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of medieval Europe.
Table of Content
Preface
List of abbreviations
Genealogical charts
Maps
Introduction
Abbot Alexander of Telese, *The History of the Most Serene Roger, first King of Sicily*
The *Chronicle* of Falco of Benevento
Romuald of Salerno, *Chronicon Sive Annales, 1125–54*
German sources for the reign of King Roger
The Montecassino Chronicle of Peter the Deacon
The *Chronicle* of St. Clement of Casauria
Roger II and the papacy: Selected documents
The Assizes (or Constitutions) of King Roger
The Catalogue of the Barons
*The Book of Roger* by Abû ‘Abdallâh al-Idrîsî
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Simon Mac Lean is Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews
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