Coinage of the Normans in Sicily

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 is one of the most famous events in history. But few have ever heard of the Norman conquest of Sicily. Descendants of Vikings who settled in the French province of Normandy, the warlike Normans were eventually Christianized. They served as mercenaries across Europe. A band of Normans arrived in Sicily in 1059. Duke Robert de Hauteville (c. 1015 - 1085) led the conquest of Sicily. He was nicknamed Guiscard (meaning “wily” or “clever”). The only portrait coin of Robert was struck at Salerno on the Italian mainland. It depicts him in the regalia of a Byzantine emperor, a position he tried for years to attain, either by marriage or conquest.

Roger I (c. 1031 – 1101) completed the conquest of Sicily begun by his brother Guiscard. The last Arab stronghold, Noto, fell in 1091. The obverse of Roger’s anonymous gold tari bears the Arabic inscription, “there is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the prophet of Allah”--an unusual choice for the coinage of a Christian knight.

Roger II (1095 – 1154) was the second son of Roger I. He succeeded his short-lived elder brother, Simon, as Count of Sicily in 1105. After uniting all the Norman territories in Italy he was crowned as King of Sicily in 1130; his gold tari are relatively common

After Roger II died in 1154, the throne passed to his fourth son, known to history as William the Bad. When he died in 1166, his son, only 11 years old, took the throne as William II. Known as “William the Good”, his reign of 23 years was remembered as a golden age of peace and prosperity. William II died in 1189 without an heir, and Tancred of Lecce, an illegitimate grandson of Roger II, seized the throne. He was nicknamed “the Monkey King” because of his short stature and unattractive appearance. On his rare gold tari, the Arabic inscription is “King Tancred the Victorious through Allah”