European Kingdoms

Naples & Sicily

The island of Sicily was fought over for a long time between the North African city state of Carthage and the Greek colony of Syracuse which existed on the island. Later it was conquered by Rome, and was temporarily a stronghold of the Vandals in the fifth and sixth centuries. A resurgent Eastern Roman empire conquered Sicily, and much of the Mediterranean coastline in the sixth century, but much of this was reversed by the sudden rise of the Islamic empire, although it took until 827 for the empire to reach this far north.

827 - 878

Byzantine Sicily is occupied by the Aghlabids as part of the Islamic empire.

878 - 1035

Sicily falls out of Aghlabid control, but remains part of the Islamic empire.

1035

The Hauteville brothers arrive in Italy from Normandy and found the county of Apulia.

Counts (Dukes) of Apulia
AD 1042 - 1154

Based in the southern section of the Italian peninsula and gaining ground to the north to reach Naples.

1042 - 1046

William Iron Arm

1046 - 1051

Drogo

1051 - 1057

Humphrey de Hauteville

1057 - 1059

Robert Guiscard

1053

The Pope is defeated and captured and Benevento is taken.

1059 - 1085

Robert Guiscard

Duke of Apulia & Calabria.

1061 - 1072

Robert invades Sicily in 1061. He captures Bari, the last Byzantine city in Italy in 1071, and takes Palermo in 1072.

1085 - 1111

Roger Borsa

1111 - 1127

William II

1127 - 1154

Roger II

Count of Sicily. Duke of Apulia & Calabria.

1154

In the same year that Roger's commission of a world atlas by the Arabic geographer al-Idrisi is published, the county of Apulia merges with the county of Sicily to form a single Norman kingdom of Naples & Sicily.

Counts of Sicily
AD 1072 - 1154

Based in Sicily in a period of conquest that lasted for nineteen years.

1072 - 1101

Roger I Guiscard

Duke of Apulia.

1091

The conquest of Sicily is completed.

1101 - 1105

Simon

1105 - 1154

Roger II

Duke of Apulia & Calabria (1127-1154).

1154

The county of Sicily merges with the county of Apulia to form a single Norman kingdom of Naples & Sicily.

Norman Kingdom of Naples & Sicily
AD 1154 - 1268

The accession of Roger II to the title of Duke of Apulia in 1127 brought both that and the County of Sicily under his control, and his successor, William the Bad, formally united them as a Norman kingdom.

1154 - 1166

William I the Bad

First king.

1166 - 1189

William II the Good

1190 - 1194

Tancred

1194

William III

1194 - 1197

Henry (VI)

Holy Roman Emperor (1190-1197). Son-in-law of Roger II.

1197 - 1250

Frederick (II)

Holy Roman Emperor (1212-1250). King of Jerusalem (1225-28).

1250 - 1254

Conrad (IV)

Holy Roman Emperor (1250-1254).

1254 - 1266

Manfred

Killed by Charles I of Anjou

1267 - 1268

Conradin

Killed by Charles I of Anjou.

1268

The kingdom of Naples & Sicily passes to the Anjevins.

Angevin Kingdom of Naples
AD 1268 - 1435

1266 - 1285

Charles I of Anjou

Also King of Hungary (1308-1342).

1282

At the Sicilian Vespers of 30 March, Sicily revolts against and massacres its French occupiers. Pedro III of Aragon is invited in, and the Aragonese line begins in Sicily, with the Angevins continuing to rule Naples.

1285 - 1309

Charles II

King of Naples.

1309 - 1343

Robert

1343 - 1382

Joanna I

Murdered by Charles III.

1382 - 1384

Joanna wills her lands to Louis I, duke of Anjou in France, who secures Provence, but her cousin Charles III conquers Naples. Louis dies in 1384.

1382 - 1386

Charles III

Also Charles II of Hungary (1385-1386).

1386 - 1414

Ladislas

Rival candidate for the crown of Croatia.

1414 - 1435

Joanna II

1435 - 1442

The Anjevian line ends. The claim to Naples passes to René I the Good of Anjou, duke of Lorraine, but by 1442 Alfonso V of Aragon & Sicily conquers the kingdom.

Aragon Kingdom of Sicily
AD 1282 - 1442

The French rulers of Sicily were massacred by the populace at Vespers on 30 March 1282, and Pedro III of Aragon was invited to take the throne while the Anjevins continued to rule in Naples.

1282 - 1285

Peter I of Aragon

Pedro III of Aragon.

1285 - 1296

James II of Aragon

1296 - 1337

Frederick I (II)

1337 - 1342

Peter II

1342 - 1355

Louis

1355 - 1377

Frederick II (III) the Simple

1377 - 1401

Mary

1390 - 1409

Martin the Younger

1409 - 1410

Martin the Older

Martin I the Humane of Aragon & Sicily (1395-1410).

1412 - 1416

Ferdinand I

King of Aragon & Sicily.

1416 - 1442

Alfonso I

Alfonso V of Aragon & Sicily.

1442

The kingdom of Naples & Sicily is re-united under Alfonso V of Aragon.

Aragon Kingdom of Naples & Sicily
AD 1442 - 1501

The joint kingdom occasionally passed between and was temporarily divided for family members.

1442 - 1458

Alfonso I

Alfonso V of Aragon, King of Naples & Sicily.

1458 - 1494

Ferdinand (Ferrante) I

King of Naples.

1458 - 1479

John II

King of Aragon & Sicily.

1479 - 1516

Ferdinand II

King of Aragon & Sicily.

1494 - 1495

Alfonso II

King of Naples.

1479 - 1516

Ferdinand (Ferrantino) II

King of Naples.

1495 - 1496

An alliance is formed between Naples, the Pope, Milan, Venice, and the Emperor in order to defend Italy from Charles VIII of France. The conflict sees Naples occupied by the French.

1496 - 1501

Frederick IV (III)

King of Naples. Deposed by Ferdinand II of Aragon. d.1504.

1501

After uniting Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon deposes his cousin in Naples and unites Sicily and Naples to the Spanish joint kingdom of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre. Local viceroys are given control of Sicily.

1713

The War of the Spanish Succession sees Spain giving up Naples to Austria (along with Sardinia) and Sicily to the duchy of Savoy.

1713 - 1720

Victor Amadeus II

Duke of Savoy (1675-1730), King of Sardinia (1720-1730).

1717 - 1718

The Bourbon king of Spain, Philip V, is unhappy with the arrangement and occupies Sardinia and Sicily. Britain and Austria defeat Spain.

1720

Savoy trades Sicily for Sardinia, which is closer to its own territory.

1733 - 1735

The War of the Polish Succession gains Naples and Sicily for the Bourbons of Spain. The Spanish Philip V reunites his possessions as the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and gives them to a younger son under an agreement that the kingdom will not be reunited with Spain.

Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
AD 1735 - 1860

The Sicilian Bourbons descended from Ferdinand, second son of Charles III of Spain, king of the Two Sicilies. With interruptions aside, they managed to keep the title until they were dispossessed in 1860.

1734 - 1759

Charles

King of Spain (1759-1788). Abdicated the Sicilies to his son.

1759 - 1805

Ferdinand IV (I)

Son.

1794 - 1795

The kingdom joins the First Coalition against republican France.

1799

The Parthenopean Republic is declared in Naples in January, but the Bourbons are restored in June of the same year.

1805

The Bourbons are deposed by Napoleon Bonaparte's French First Empire, and the emperor forms his own kingdom of Naples. Protected by the British Royal Navy, the Bourbons continue to rule from Sicily but without any power over Naples.

Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples
AD 1806 - 1815

The Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern Italy was conquered by the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Napoleonic kingdom of Naples was created in its place, incorporating much of the former principality of Benevento.

1806 - 1808

Joseph Bonaparte

Brother of Napoleon I of France.

1808 - 1815

Joachim Murat

Brother-in-law of Napoleon I.

Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
AD 1805 - 1860

Naples was restored to the kingdom in 1815.

1805 - 1825

Ferdinand IV (I)

Ruled from Sicily 1806-1814. Restored to Naples (1815).

1825 - 1830

Francis I

1830 - 1859

Ferdinand V (II)

1859 - 1860

Francis II

1860

Garibaldi defeats the Bourbons in his unification of Italy. The following year, Sicily & Naples are joined to Sardinia and Italy.