Ahmed es-Sikeli ( ar, أحمد الصقلي),

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

a Christian under the name Peter, was a

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

and

kaid 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 w ...

of the Diwan of the

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

during the reign of

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

. His story was recorded by his Christian contemporaries

Romuald Guarna Romuald Guarna (between 1110 and 1120 – 1 April 1181/2) was the Archbishop of Salerno (as Romuald II) from 1153 to his death. He is remembered primarily for his ''Chronicon sive Annales'', an important historical record of his time. Lif ...

and Hugo Falcandus from Sicily and the Muslim historian

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...

. Peter was born a Muslim in

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 ...

to a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

family of the Sadwikish tribe. After his conversion he entered the service of the Sicilian crown and rose to the rank of admiral in the navy. During the reconquest of

Roger I Roger I may refer to: :''In chronological order'' * Roger I of Carcassonne (died 1012), Count of Carcassonne * Roger I of Tosny (), Norman noble * Roger I "de Berkeley" (died 1093), Norman noble, possibly the son of Roger I of Tosny - see Baron ...

's " Kingdom of Africa" by the Muslims (1159), Peter led 160 ships in a raiding expedition to the Muslim-held

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

. He later tried to relieve besieged

Mahdia Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir and southeast of Sousse. Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing industry, as well as w ...

in North Africa with the same fleet, but soon after engaging in battle he turned around and retreated towards Sicily. While Arabic sources credit a gale with dispersing the fleet, Hugo Falcandus asserts that Peter was "only in name and dress a Christian, and a

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

at heart". Falcandus' assertion can probably be discredited, at least with respect to this point in Peter's life, for the admiral did not fall out of favour at court. In fact, he was promoted to the office of

Great Chamberlain Holders of the office of Lord Chamberlain of Scotland are known from about 1124. It was ranked by King Malcolm as the third great Officer of State, called ''Camerarius Domini Regis'', and had a salary of £200 per annum allotted to him. He ancie ...

. In 1162, Peter replaced the deceased Count

Sylvester of Marsico Sylvester (c. 1100 – 1162), count of Marsico ( it), was a Norman nobleman of the Kingdom of Sicily. Second son of Godfrey of Ragusa, second eldest son of Roger I of Sicily, he was not a young man when he first rose to importance in the realm. ...

in the triumvirate of officials—including

Matthew of Ajello 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 t ...

and Richard Palmer—in whom the king had confided the administration of the realm since the assassination of his prime minister, Maio of Bari, in 1160. On her husband's death in 1166, the queen dowager

Margaret of Navarre Margaret of Navarre (french: Marguerite, es, Margarita, it, Margherita) (c. 1135 – 12 August 1183) was Queen of Sicily as the wife of William I (1154–1166) and the regent during the minority of her son, William II. Queen consort Margaret ...

assumed the regency for her young son William II. She trusted neither the nobility nor the church and so turned to the palatine officials and the triumvirs, of which she did not trust Matthew of Ajello. She promoted the chief eunuch, Peter, to the highest post in the kingdom, the one formerly held by Maio of Bari, but did not grant him the latter's title "emir of emirs" (''ammiratus ammiratorum''). Peter was despised by the nobility and soon the Queen's cousin,

Gilbert, Count of Gravina Gilbert was a Norman Count of Gravina from 1159 until 1167. His father Bertrand was the illegitimate son of Rotrou III, Count of Perche. He was a cousin of Margaret of Navarre, the queen of Sicily. He arrived in Sicily sometime around 1159 and, thr ...

, was plotting against his life. Unable either to keep control of Sicily or to control Gilbert, Peter initially strengthened his bodyguard and eventually absconded, taking with him a quantity of treasure and severely embarrassing the Queen-regent. Re-assuming his birth name of Ahmed and practising Islam, he crossed to Africa and became a captain of the fleet of the Almohad caliph

Yusuf I Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Ismail ( ar, أبو الحجاج يوسف بن إسماعيل; 29 June 131819 October 1354), known by the regnal name al-Muayyad billah (, "He who is aided by God"), was the seventh Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Grana ...

. According to Ibn Khaldun, who calls him Ahmed ''es-Sikeli'' ("Ahmed the Sicilian"), he fought with valour against Christian foes.

External links

"Il Gaito Pietro"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed Es-Sikeli Medieval admirals 12th-century Berber people Kingdom of Sicily people Eunuchs Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam Converts to Islam from Roman Catholicism People from Djerba Berber Christians Crypto-Islam 12th-century people of Ifriqiya