Roger II the Great of Naples & Sicily ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

First king of Sicily (1130-1154), who created a state in which Arabs, Greeks, Italians, and Jews lived together in peace and in which the arts and letters flourished. The second son of Roger I, the Norman conqueror of Sicily, Roger succeeded his brother Simon as count of Sicily in 1103. Roger acquired the duchy of Calabria in 1122, and when his cousin Duke William of Apulia died in 1127, Roger laid claim to that duchy; by 1129 he had compelled the Norman barons on the Italian mainland to acknowledge him as their ruler. In 1130, with the approval of Antipope Anacletus II, Roger adopted the title of king of Sicily, with sovereignty also over the southern Italian regions of Apulia, Calabria, Capua, and Naples, establishing a monarchy that survived for more than seven centuries. He was recognized as king by Pope Innocent II in 1139. Roger made his court at Palermo one of Europe's foremost cultural centers, and he erected throughout Sicily numerous buildings that were a striking blend of Norman, Arabic, and Byzantine architectural styles.

  Noted events in his life were:

• He was a Duke of Apulia.

• Acceded: King of Naples & Sicily, 1130.

Roger married Elvira Alfonso of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VI Ferdinandez and Zaida. (Elvira Alfonso of Castile died on 8 Feb 1135.)

Roger next married Sibylle de Bourgogne, daughter of Hugh II of Burgundy and Mathilde de Mayenne, in 1149. (Sibylle de Bourgogne was born in 1126 and died on 19 Sep 1150.)

Roger next married Beatrice of Rethel in 1154.