Constance of Sicily ( Events King Stephen of England dies at Dover, and is succeeded by his adopted son Henry Plantagenet who becomes King Henry II of England, aged 21. Swedens King Eric introduces Christianity to Finland (see History of Finland). December 14 - Nicholas Breakspear, the only English pope, is elected as Pope... 1154 - November 27 is the 331st day (332nd on leap years) of the year. There are 34 days remaining. Events 1300-1899 399 - St. Anastius I becomes Pope. 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. 1703 - The first Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed in storm. 1839 - In... November 27, Events End of the reign of Emperor Go-Toba of Japan Emperor Tsuchimikado ascends to the throne of Japan January 8 - Pope Innocent III ascends Papal Throne Births August 24 - Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249) Deaths January 8 - Pope Celestine III April 16 - Duke Frederick I of Austria William... 1198) was in her own right The following is a list of monarchs of Naples and Sicily: See also: List of Counts of Apulia and Calabria Hauteville Counts of Sicily, 1071-1130 Roger I 1071-1101 Simon 1101-1105 Roger II 1105-1130 Hauteville Kings of Sicily, 1130-1198 Roger II 1130-1154 William I 1154... Queen of Sicily, became German Empress as the wife of the The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. The terminology of the title is somewhat confusing. The title of emperor was considered to have passed from... Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (November 1165 - September 28, 1197) was king of Germany 1190-1197, and Holy Roman Emperor 1191-1197. Constance of Sicily was betrothed to Henry in 1184, and they were married two years later, on January 27, 1186. Henry and Constance were crowned Emperor and Empress... Henry VI, and was the mother of the Emperor and King of Sicily Frederick II (left) meets al-Kamil (right) Frederick II (December 26, 1194 - (December 13, 1250), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212, unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until his death... Frederick II.

She was the posthumous daughter of Roger II (1093-1154), son and successor of Roger I, began his rule in 1112. It is Roger IIs distinction to have united all the Norman conquests into one kingdom and to have granted them a scientific, personal and centralized government. Rise to power in southern Italy When William... Roger II of Sicily by his third wife Beatrice of Rethel.

Constance was not betrothed until she was 30, which is unusual for a princess whose marriage was an important bargaining chip. This later gave rise to stories that she had become a nun and required papal dispensation to forsake her vows and marry, or that she was impossibly ugly. Neither of these is consistent with the evidence.

The death of her nephew Henry of Capua in Events Duke Richard of Aquitaine becomes Duke of Poitiers. He later becomes King Richard I of England. Pope Gregory VIII hosts the Council of Avranches where Henry II of England is absolved of the sin of murder in the matter of the assasination of Thomas Becket The Synod of Cashel... 1172 made Constance An heir presumptive is one who is first in line to inherit a title or property, such as a monarchy, because there is not yet an heir apparent. Depending on the rules of the monarchy in question, the heir presumptive might be the daughter of a monarch (if males take... heiress presumptive to the Sicilian crown. Her elder nephew King William II (1153 - 1189), king of Sicily, was only thirteen years old at the death of his father William I when he was placed under the regency of his mother, Marguerite of Navarre. Until the king came of age in 1171 the government was controlled first by the chancellor Stephen... William II was himself unmarried. He did not marry until 1177, and that marriage remained childless.

But it is unclear why he delayed so in finding a husband for his aunt. Nor it is clear precisely why in the end he chose Henry, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick in a 13th century Chronicle Frederick I Hohenstaufen (1122 – June 10, 1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa (Frederick Redbeard) was elected king of Germany on March 4, 1152 and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on June 18, 1155. He was also Duke of Swabia (1147-1152, as Frederick... Frederick I.

The Sicilian kings and the German Emperors had long been enemies, and the Pope John Paul II has reigned since 22 Oct 1978. The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches (note that the name within the communion is simply the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church). In addition to... papacy, also an enemy of the emperors, would not want to see the great kingdom to the south of Rome in German hands. Nor would the kingdom's nobles welcome such a possibility.

Nevertheless, in 1184 Constance was betrothed to Henry (the future Emperor Henry VI), and they were married two years later, on January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 338 days remaining (339 in leap years). Events 98 Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva. 1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, married Constance of... January 27, Events John the Chanter becomes Bishop of Exeter. January 27 - Constance of Sicily marries Henry (the future Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor). The Byzantine Empire recognises the indepence of Bulgaria. Births Deaths William of Tyre (archbishop) August 19 - Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany, stamped by a horse in a tournement... 1186.

William made his nobles and the important men of his court promise to recognize Constance's succession if he died without direct heirs. But after his unexpected death in 1189, his cousin (and Constance's grand-nephew) Tancred (d. 1194), was King of Sicily from 1190 to 1194. He was an illegitimate son of Roger, the eldest son of King Roger II, and Emma, daughter of Achard, count of Lecce. He interited the title of Count of Lecce from his grandfather, and is consequently often referred to... Tancred seized the throne. Tancred was illegitimate, but he had the support of most of the great men of the kingdom.

Constance's father-in-law died in 1190, and the following year Henry and Constance were crowned Emperor and Empress. Henry was already preparing to invade Sicily when Tancred died in 1194. Later that year he moved south, deposed Tancred's young son William III of Sicily (1190 - 1232) was briefly king of Sicily for 10 months in 1194. He was the second son of King Tancred of Sicily and Sibylla of Accera. At the age of four, shortly after the death of first his older brother, and then a few weeks later... William III, and had himself crowned instead.

While Henry moved quickly south with his army, Constance followed at a slower pace, for she was pregnant. On December 26, the day after Henry's crowning at Palermo ( and Sicilys annexation (1860) to the kingdom of Italy gave Palermo a second chance. It was once again the administrative centre of Sicily, and there was a certain economic and industrial development led by the Florio family. In the early 20th century Palermo expanded outside the old city... Palermo, she gave birth to a son, Frederick (the future Emperor and king of Sicily Frederick II) in the small town of Jesi, near Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche, a region of northeastern Italy, population 100,507 (2001). Ancona is situated on the Adriatic Sea and is the center of an eponymous province. The city is located 132 miles northeast of Rome and 127 miles southeast of Bologna. The... Ancona.

Constance was 40, and she knew that many would question whether the child was really hers. Thus she had the baby in a pavilion tent in the market square of the town, and invited the town matrons to witness the birth. A few days later she returned to the town square and publicly A breastfeeding infant Breastfeeding is the practice of a woman feeding an infant (or sometimes a toddler or a young child) with milk produced from her mammary glands, usually directly from the nipples. Babies have a sucking instinct allowing them to extract the milk. While many mothers choose to breastfeed... breast-fed the infant.

Henry died in 1197, and Constance returned to Sicily. She had the 3-year-old Frederick crowned King of Sicily, and in his name dissolved the ties her late husband had created between the government of Sicily and of the Empire. She also renounced his claims to the German kingship and empire, and placed him under the protection of Innocent III, né 1161–June 16, 1216), was Pope from January 8, 1198 until his death. He was the son of Count Trasimund of Segni and nephew of Pope Clement III, born at Anagni, Italy. His father was a member of the famous house of Conti, from which nine... pope Innocent III. She expected him to be raised as a Sicilian, and to be nothing more than King of Sicily. That he became much more than that could not be predicted when she died a year later, in 1198.

Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. 1450 ( Uffizi Gallery) Dante Alighieri (May/June 1265 – September 13/14, 1321) was a Florentine poet. His greatest work, a cultural group from Sicily, was becoming known in Tuscany. His interests brought him to discover Proven... Dante places Constance in Paradise (though he subscribed to the story that Constance had been a nun):

"This other radiance that shows itself

to you at my right hand, a brightness kindled

by all the light that fills our heaven-- she

has understood what I have said: she was

a sister, and from her head, too, by force,

the shadow of the sacred veil was taken.

But though she had been turned back to the world

against her will, against all honest practice,

the veil upon her heart was never loosed.

This is the splendor of the great Costanza,

who from the Swabians' second gust engendered

the one who was their third and final power."

—Paradiso, Canto III, lines 109-120, Mandelbaum translation

References

• Walter Frölich, "The Marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily: Prelude and Consequences", Anglo-Norman Studies XV, 1992
• Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily, ISBN 0-521-26911-3
• John Julius Norwich, The Kingdom in the Sun, reprinted as part of his The Normans in Sicily, ISBN 0-14-015212-1