|
Caïd Richard
Richard the Qaid () was a senior official ('' qāʾid'', commander) of the royal council ('' curia regis'' or '' diwan'') in the court of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily at Palermo during the latter years of the reign of William I of Sicily and during the regency of his wife, Margaret of Navarre, for their son William II. He was already the Great Chamberlain, or ''magister camerarius'', when William I died in 1166. Origin Richard was a Muslim convert to Christianity, and likely a eunuch. He possibly appears in the records of the royal council in January 1161, but he rose to prominence in the political affairs of the day only in 1166. Career during the regency for William II Appointment as master chamberlain and ''familiaris regis'' In that year, King William I died on 17 May, leaving his underage son William II on the throne, under the regency of the Queen-mother, and advised by a council of three ''familiares regis'' under the leadership of Peter the Qaid. Although in effective cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qāʾid
Qaid ( ar , قائد ', "commander"; pl. '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to those who were Muslims or converts to Islam. The word entered the Latin language as lat, gaitus or lat, gaytus. Later the word was used in North Africa for the governor of a fortress or the warden of a prison, also in Spain and Portugal in the form with the definite article "alcayde" (Spanish) "alcaide" (Portuguese). It is also used as a male Arabic given name. Notable qaids * Al Qaid Johar (active 950–992), A Slavic general who conquered Maghreb for the Fatimid Imam-Caliph, Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah; and later served as the Viceroy of the Fatimid State. * Thomas Brun (active 1137–1154), Englishman who served Roger II of Sicily *Ahmed es-Sikeli, known as Caid Peter (active 1160s), eunuch in the court of Sicily, confidant of Margaret of Nav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archbishop Of Palermo
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo ( la, Archidioecesis Panormitana) was founded as the Diocese of Palermo in the first century and raised to the status of archdiocese in the 11th century."Archdiocese of Palermo" ''''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Metropolitan Archdiocese of Palermo" ''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016 The archbishop is |
Ibn Qalaqis
Abu ʾl-Fatḥ Naṣr Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh (; 1137–1172), known as Ibn Qalāqis (or Ḳalāḳis) and also al-Qāḍī al-aʿazz ("he most honorable judge"), was an Egyptian Arab poet and author. He spent his last few years travelling widely through Sicily and Yemen. The collections of poems and letters he left behind contain much valuable information for historians. Life Ibn Qalaqis was born in 532 AH (1137 AD) in Alexandria, then part of the Fatimid Caliphate. He moved to Cairo for his education, and studied under Abu Tahir al-Silafi. In 1165/6, he wrote to the Sicilian ''qāʾid'' Abu'l-Qasim ibn Hammud ibn al-Hajar, requesting financial assistance for his ''ḥajj'' (pilgrimage) to Mecca. He met with difficulties in Egypt and never went, instead accepting Abu'l-Qasim's invitation to come to the island of Sicily, then part of the Norman Kingdom, but retaining a vibrant Arab culture. He arrived in Messina on 11 May 1168 and stayed on the island at least until April ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Ophamil
Walter Ophamil or Offamil ( fl. 1160–1191), italianised as Gualtiero Offamiglio or Offamilio from Latin ''Ophamilius'', was the archdeacon of Cefalù, dean of Agrigento, and archbishop of Palermo (1168–1191), called "''il primo ministro''", the first minister of the crown. He came to Sicily with Peter of Blois and Stephen du Perche at the direction of Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, cousin of Queen Margaret of Navarre, originally as a tutor to the royal children of William I of Sicily and Margaret. His mother was Bona, a patron of the Abbey of Cluny and a ''devota et fidelis nostra'' of the king in 1172. His father is unknown. From his name he was long thought to be an Englishman ("Walter of the Mill") but this interpretation is now rejected in favour of ''ophamilius'' referring to Walter as William II's ''protofamiliaris'', the senior confidant of the king in his royal household, the '' familiaris regis''. Biography Walter's first appearance in the historical record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Of Salerno
Matthew of Ajello ( it, Matteo d'Aiello) was a high-ranking member of the Norman court of the Kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century. His brother John was a bishop. Career He first appears as the notary of the Admiral Maio of Bari who drew up the Treaty of Benevento of 1156. He rose to prominence in the next reign, that of William II of Sicily, becoming first grand protonotary and then chancellor. Maio groomed Matthew to be his successor and, it was alleged, even used him to get permission from Pope Alexander III in Rome for Maio to succeed William I in 1159. On 10 November 1160, Matthew warned Maio of an impending assassination attempt, but to no avail. While Matthew escaped, Maio was killed by Matthew Bonnellus. In 1162, Matthew interceded to prevent the William I from sacking Salerno. On William's death, he became foremost among the advisors of the queen regent, Margaret of Navarre. After the rebellions of the later years of William's reign, Matthew compiled from memory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bell Tower
A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell towers, often part of a municipal building, an educational establishment, or a tower built specifically to house a carillon. Church bell towers often incorporate clocks, and secular towers usually do, as a public service. The term campanile (, also , ), deriving from the Italian ''campanile'', which in turn derives from ''campana'', meaning "bell", is synonymous with ''bell tower''; though in English usage campanile tends to be used to refer to a free standing bell tower. A bell tower may also in some traditions be called a belfry, though this term may also refer specifically to the substructure that houses the bells and the ringers rather than the complete tower. The tallest free-standing bell tower in the world, high, is the Mortegliano B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy Week. For adherents of mainstream Christianity, it is the last week of the Christian solemn season of Lent that precedes the arrival of Eastertide. In most liturgical churches, Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches (or the branches of other native trees), representing the palm branches which the crowd scattered in front of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem; these palms are sometimes woven into crosses. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday. In Syriac Christianity it is often c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Falcandus
Hugo Falcandus was a historian who chronicled the reign of William I of Sicily and the minority of his son William II in a highly critical work entitled ''The History of the Tyrants of Sicily'' (or ''Liber de Regno Sicilie''). The Latin of the work is polished. There is some doubt as to whether "Hugo Falcandus" is a real name or a pseudonym. Evelyn Jamison argued that he was Eugenius, '' amiratus'' from 1190. The Frenchman Hugues Foucaud (''Hugo Fulcaudus''), abbot of Saint-Denis, has been proposed as an author.Christopher Kleinhenz"Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia, Volume 1" Routledge, 2004, p. 517. His name, ''Falcandus'', is apparently a cacography for ''Falcaudus'', Latin for " Foucaud", a French surname. The ''History'' covers the period from the death of Roger II in 1154 to the majority of William II, in 1169. Hugo concentrates on the internal politics of the Palermitan Norman court. Intrigues and scandals are never ignored. He has a low opinion of most of his contemporaries ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Of Molise
Richard of Mandra (died ca. 1170) was a Norman nobleman in the Kingdom of Sicily appointed count of Molise and chancellor by the queen regent Margaret of Navarre. Richard was son of Hugues II, Count of Molise and Clemenza, an illegitimate daughter of Roger II of Sicily. In 1157, as the constable of Robert II of Bassunvilla, he was captured by King William I. He joined the conspiracy of Matthew Bonnellus in 1161, but when Simon of Taranto and Tancred of Lecce assaulted the palace and William was arrested, Richard put his body between certain especially violent knights and saved the king's life. For this, he was rewarded when the rebellion collapsed. On William's death in 1166, the queen, Margaret, took up the regency for the young William II. She gave him the old and important county of Molise and the chancellery because she trusted his loyalty to the royal family. In 1167, he was accused of having an affair with the queen, who was clearly infatuated with him. However, these clai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry, Count Of Montescaglioso
Henry (before 1144–1173×77), born Rodrigo according to Hugo Falcandus, was an alleged son of the Navarrese king García Ramírez and his wife, Margaret of L'Aigle, and brother of the Sicilian queen dowager Margaret, who made him Count of Montescaglioso (1166) and then Count of the Principate (1168). Arrival in Sicily (1166) The main primary source for Henry's life is the Sicilian court chronicler known as Hugo Falcandus. He is an extremely unfriendly source to Henry. He reports the rumour that Henry was never acknowledged as a son by the Navarrese king and was considered a bastard, the product of one of the queen's affairs.Hubert Houben, "Enrico di Navarra", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani', Vol. 42 (1993). This is contradicted by the actions of his sister, who always treated him as a full brother of royal blood.John Julius Norwich, ''The Kingdom in the Sun, 1130–1194'' (London: Longmans, 1970). Henry's birth name, also, is evidence of legitimacy, for he was probably ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in the city proper and about 650,000 in the Metropolitan City. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina and it is an important access terminal to Calabria region, Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria on the mainland. According to Eurostat the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014, 277,584 inhabitants. The city's main resources are its seaports (commercial and military shipyards), cruise tourism, commerce, and agriculture (wine production and cultivating lemons, oranges, mandarin oranges, and olives). The city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the University of Messina, founded in 1548 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr (1 September 1145 – 29 November 1217; ar, ابن جبير), also written Ibn Jubair, Ibn Jobair, and Ibn Djubayr, was an Arab geographer, traveller and poet from al-Andalus. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade. His chronicle describes Saladin's domains in Egypt and the Levant which he passed through on his way to Mecca. Further, on his return journey, he passed through Christian Sicily, which had been recaptured from the Muslims only a century before, and he made several observations on the hybrid polyglot culture that flourished there. Early life Ibn Jubayr was born in 1145 AD in Valencia, Spain, to an Arab family of the Kinanah tribe. He was a descendant of 'Abdal-Salam ibn Jabayr, who, in 740 AD, had accompanied an army sent by the caliph of Damascus to put down a Berber uprising in his Spanish provinces. Ibn Jubayr studied in the town of Xàtiva, where his father worked as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_(14595532860).jpg "Click for more on -> Qāʾid")
.JPG "Click for more on -> Bell Tower")
