Orlando (or Roland; 1296–1361) was the second-eldest

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

son of Frederick II of Sicily by his concubine Sibilla di Sormella. During his father's reign, he lived in the shadows, but he rose to influence in the courts of his half-brother Peter II and his nephews,

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

and Frederick IV, especially as the leader of the Catalan party after the death of his brother

Giovanni of Randazzo John, Duke of Randazzo (1317–1348) was duke of Randazzo, Athens, and Neopatria, Count of Malta and regent of Sicily (1342–1348). The fourth son of Frederick III of Sicily and Eleanor of Anjou, he was the most powerful nobleman in Sicily d ...

. In 1339, he was present fighting the Angevins then trying to conquer

Lipari Lipari (; ) is a ''comune'' including six of seven islands of the Aeolian Islands (Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi and Alicudi) and it is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, Southern Italy; it is ...

. Taken captive, he was freed in November 1340 through the interference of a

Sienese Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

widow,

Camiola Camiola Turinga was a Kingdom of Sicily, Sicilian woman who was the wife of Roland of Sicily. Life Camiola was born 1310 as the daughter Lorenzo of Thuringia and his wife a noblewoman of Messina. Having become a widow in 1339 she somehow came t ...

Turinga, a woman he promised to marry. He never did and was considered highly ungrateful by contemporaries, including

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

. From 1343 to 1345, he was the governor of

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

and in 1345, ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' of

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, 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 216,918 inhabitants ...

. He supported the duke of Randazzo as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

during the reign of Louis and then supported his sister-in-law Elisabeth of Carinthia after the duke's death. He was sent as an ambassador to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

on behalf of

Peter IV of Aragon Peter IV (Catalan: ''Pere IV d'Aragó;'' Aragonese; ''Pero IV d'Aragón;'' 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''El Cerimoniós''; Aragonese: ''el Ceremonioso''), was from 1336 until his death the king of ...

in 1353. He continued to help Elisabeth into the reign of his other nephew

Frederick the Simple Frederick IV (or III) (in Italian, ''Federico''; 1 September 1341 – Messina 27 July 1377Setton, Kenneth M. (1975) " Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", Edited by Harry W. Hazzard, page 214.), called the Simple, was King of Si ...

. He was a soldier and a general during the last wars between the houses of Barcelona and Anjou for possession of Trinacria. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Aci and in defending Messina from the Angevins. In 1358, he reconquered the area from

Vizzini Vizzini is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Catania, on the island of Sicily, southern Italy. It is located from Catania in the Hyblaean Mountains, on the most northwesterly slopes of Monte Lauro. The commune territory is bou ...

Avola Avola (; /, becoming / if preceded by vowel; ) is a city and in the province of Syracuse, Sicily (southern Italy). History The foundation of the city in an area previously inhabited by the Sicani and invaded by the Sicels in the 13th-12th ...

. He died in a spring skirmish at

Caltanissetta Caltanissetta (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Cartanissètta)'' is an Italian comune with a population of 58,012 inhabitants, serving as the capital of the Province of Caltanissetta, free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta in Sicily. The earl ...

, during the war between Federico Chiaramonte and Francesco Ventimiglia. Orlando married Maria de Stromoncourt, and had four children: Alfonso, Federigo, Juan, and Sybilla. All boys were Barons of Avola, Sicily only Juan had issue and their descendants, while Sybilla married into Maltese nobility Michele de Bava, Baron de Djar-il-Bniet in Dingli, Rabat, on the island of Malta and had issue.

Sources

*Giunta, Francesco
"Aragona, Orlando d'."
In Alberto M. Ghisalberti, ed. ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''. Rome, 1961. {{Authority control 1296 births 1361 deaths 14th-century Italian nobility House of Barcelona (Sicily) Military personnel killed in action