Medieval Sicily: A Multicultural Society of Arabs, Normans and Byzantines

Part I: Early Middle Ages

Sicily during the Middle Ages was a multicultural society in which Christians (of Greek and Latin rite) and Muslims coexisted, creating a unique art and architecture still visible today in Palermo and other cities. It was the strategically most important island in the Mediterranean, a meeting point of different cultures, religions, and conquerors who shaped its identity.

The first decades of the 9th century were marked by migrations of peoples whose protagonists were primarily interested in plunder, only then in settlement. It became unsafe to travel precisely because of these hit-and-run raiders. In the 10th century, the barbarian attacks ended, and feudalism firmly took shape in France and Italy.

The new protagonists of the migrations of peoples were the Saracens (Arabs) who came from the South, Vikings/Normans from the North, and Hungarians from the East. They reached almost every corner of the European continent in small boats or light cavalry, plundering whatever fell into their hands – from gold and silver and precious metals to clothing and footwear; they even sold children into slavery. In their campaigns, they burned and razed everything they sped through on swift horseback, killing hundreds of people who could not effectively defend themselves from their fierce attacks. And that was what Sicily experienced.

Note: Byzantine rule (6th to 7th century) is not included because it falls under the period of late antiquity, not the early Middle Ages.

(Phoenicians: Trade across the Mediterranean)

Islamic Sicily

The Saracens, or rather Arabs, arrived first – to the inhabitants of European kingdoms they were known by the name Saracens. Under that name, Christians referred to all Islamized Mediterranean peoples as well. Thus, the Saracens conquered Sicily in 831, and Palermo became the seat of the emir. Having conquered Sicily, they held control over a large part of the Mediterranean. Their presence made maritime trade in that space unsafe until the 11th century, but that does not mean that trading activity died out as previously believed in historiography. Trade probably limited itself to certain areas; based on found amphorae, it is presumed that the Saracens traded exclusively with Arab caliphates.

The Saracens adopted the skills of seamanship and piracy by the mid-7th century. First they pirated, i.e., plundered and attacked; then from the 9th century they began conquering territories together with Berbers who joined them. They first seized western Mediterranean islands that served as their refuges, i.e., bases for attacks on the continent. Thus in 827 they began the campaign to conquer Sicily, which they fully seized by mid-century. At the same time as they ravaged Sicily, the privileged islands of Sardinia and Corsica were favored. They penetrated deeper into the Italian mainland, even to Rome where they terrorized and plundered the population of cities and villages. They held some Italian cities under their rule for over 70 years; for example, they ruled Bari for 30 years, which enabled attacks on the Adriatic coast.

To drive the Saracens out of Bari on the south of the Apennine Peninsula, recently warring alliances had to unite to defend against Muslim attacks. Thus, fear united the Italian emperor Louis, the Byzantines, the pope, Croats, Serbs, Zahumljans, Travunians, Konavlians, and Dubrovnik citizens along with Dalmatian cities. With joint forces, they pushed the Saracens out of the south of the Apennine Peninsula by the end of the 9th century, and the Normans drove them out of Sicily almost a century later.

Although the Saracens terrorized the south of today's Italy, their rule brought prosperity to agriculture, trade, and culture, and Sicily became an important center of Arab-Islamic civilization in the West.

(The History Behind Medieval Warfare)

Norman Sicily

Vikings or Normans are peoples who came from the Scandinavian Peninsula. Both terms denote one people, but the origin of the names is not the same. The lands that the Normans attacked called them that because they knew the attackers came from the north. That name (“nortmann”) was first recorded in the French language around the year 1000. While the other name Viking comes from Old Norse “vikingr” and denotes a pirate. However, historiography defines the attackers as Vikings in the period when they plundered, while calling them Normans when those attackers permanently settled in some area. (The meaning of the terms could still be debated.)

The reasons for their attacks, or rather migrations southward, are not entirely clear. But it is presumed that defeated nobility left Sweden – from where most Vikings came, as was the case in Denmark. Namely, the increase in population and improvement of living conditions resulted in the maturation of the political situation, leading to more frequent political conflicts among Germanic nobility. Tribes often entered alliances but also conflicts; thus, defeated tribes, instead of submitting, preferred to leave the Scandinavian Peninsula and migrate south, and in that process of migration, they often resorted to burning and plundering the territories they arrived at. These migrations posed no problem for them because they were already familiar with Western and Central Europe thanks to trade.

In 1016, a few Norman knights set out on pilgrimage. On their way, they landed near Salerno. The local population welcomed them seeing they were good warriors, so the local ruler tried to hire them as soldiers. They rejected that offer but promised to inform their friends and relatives, which they did. Thus, Norman nobles and knights arrived from Normandy, among them Count Roger.

Count Roger conquered Sicily step by step, from fortress to fortress, until he finally drove the Saracens off the island in 1091. In many ways, this conquest represented a greater feat than the popular conquest of England. Here in Sicily, the Saracens outnumbered the Normans and put up greater and stronger resistance than the Anglo-Saxons in England.

After Count Roger's death, he was succeeded by Roger II. He exploited the conflicts on the Apennine Peninsula to his advantage. He expanded his rule to southern Italy (Apulia), which was also held by Normans, and forced the pope to grant him the title of king, which he did in 1139. With that title, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was created. Thus, a strong Norman monarchy was formed, resting on three cultures. The system of governance was adapted, old ways of ruling were retained, so at the court of Roger II one could find Byzantine logothetes and artists, Arab emirs and scientists, and Norman barons. Under Norman rule, Sicily experienced a cultural peak, blending Byzantine, Arab, and Western European elements.

Conclusion

The European continent has always been the scene of conflicts, even those it did not seek. The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea was also a place of mixing peoples, and accordingly cultures and languages, but also social processes. This is evident from this brief and sparse depiction of early medieval Sicily.

As the border between West and East, Sicily represented a strategic jewel that controlled the passage from the eastern to the western Mediterranean. The processes that affected the European continent at the beginning of the early Middle Ages also gripped Sicily itself. Arab migrations turned Sicily into a cultural and educational center with the first university in Palermo, which would open in the 14th century – a topic for the next part. At the same time, Arab heritage is visible in gastronomy, as many Sicilian cuisine specialties were brought by Arabs. Their legacy is seen on Palermo's streets, but not only theirs – also the Norman one, which during its time of rule used Byzantine, Arab, and Norman elements in art and architecture. The remnants of those processes – migrations and conquests – as already said, are visible today in culture, art, and architecture.

Do you think that Sicily is a good example of, more or less, successful coexistence between different peoples? And is coexistence in multicultural societies possible without conflicts? Write in the comments and subscribe to our newsletter.

Sources:

Goldstein, I.; Grgin, B., Europa i Sredozemlje u  srednjem vijeku, Zagreb: Novi Liber, 2006

Graham-Campbell, J.; Valor, M., (ed.), The Archaeology of Medieval Europe. Vol. 1, Eighth to Twelfth Centuries AD, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2013

Sicilija. Hrvatska enciklopedija, mrežno izdanje. Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2013. – 2026. https://enciklopedija.hr/clanak/sicilija   (Croatian Encyclopedia, Online Edition)

Palermo. Hrvatska enciklopedija, mrežno izdanje. Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2013. – 2026. https://enciklopedija.hr/clanak/palermo (Croatian Encyclopedia, Online Edition)

For more information on the terms “Viking” and “Norsemen,” see:

Captivating History, History of Scandinavia. A Captivating Guide to the History of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland, 2023