Walter of the Mill, Italianised as Gualtiero Offamiglio or Offamilio and Latinised as Ophamilius (subsequently Anglicised as Ophamil), was the archdeacon of Cefalù, dean of Agrigento, and archbishop of Palermo (1168–1191), called il primo ministro. He was an Englishman who came to Sicily with Peter of Blois and Stephen du Perche at the direction of Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, cousin of Queen Margaret of Navarre, originally as a tutor to the royal children of William I of Sicily and Margaret. An archdeacon is a senior position in some Christian churches, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. ... The Cathedral of Cefalù by night Lungomare Boardwalk beach in Cefalù Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cefalù Cefalù is an ancient city in the province of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. ... In religious terminology, a dean is a title accorded to persons holding cartain positions of authority within a religious heirarchy. ... Agrigento (formerly Girgenti) is the name of a town on the southern coast of Italy, capital of the province of Agrigento. ... // Events December 22 - Afraid that Old Cairo would be captured by the Crusaders, its Caliph orders the city set afire. ... // Events May 12 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian, Sicilian and Spanish, Σικελία in Greek) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 km² and 5 million inhabitants. ... Peter of Blois (1135 (?) - 1203 (?)) was a French poet and diplomat who wrote in Latin. ... Stephen du Perche was the chancellor of Sicily (1166–1168) and archbishop of Palermo (1167–1168) during the early regency of his cousin, Queen Margaret of Navarre (1166–1171). ... Marguerite of Navarre (April 11, 1492 - December 21, 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angouleme and Margaret of Navarre, was the queen consort of King Henry II of Navarre. ... William I (d. ...

He rose through the ranks until he was a canon of the Cappella Palatina and a candidate for the vacant archepiscopal throne of 1168, after the deposition of Stephen du Perche. According to Hugo Falcandus, Walter succeeded "less by election than by violent intrusion." Nevertheless, without the support of the queen regent or of the influential Thomas Becket, his faction bribed Pope Alexander III into confirming his election and he was consecrated in the Cathedral of Palermo on 28 September. He received distincly double-edged congratulations from Peter of Blois. Saracene arches and Byzantine mosaics complement each other within the Palatine Chapel. ... // Events December 22 - Afraid that Old Cairo would be captured by the Crusaders, its Caliph orders the city set afire. ... Stephen du Perche was the chancellor of Sicily (1166–1168) and archbishop of Palermo (1167–1168) during the early regency of his cousin, Queen Margaret of Navarre (1166–1171). ... Hugo Falcandus chronicled the reign of William I of Sicily and the minority of his son William II of Sicily, in a highly critical work entitled The History of the Tyrants of Sicily. ... A regency is a period when a regent holds power in the name of the current monarch. ... St. ... Alexander III, né Orlando Bandinelli (c. ... The dome and part of the apse of the Cathedral of Palermo. ... September 28 is the 271st day of the year (272nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Walter was a constant companion of the court of William II, whose tutor he had been. He accompanied William to Taranto to await his Byzantine bride and, failing that, he crowned Joanna, daughter of Henry II of England, as queen consort on 13 February 1177. William II crowned by Christ, mosaic in Monreale Cathedral. ... Founded 706 BC as Taras () Region Apulia Mayor Rossana Di Bello Area  - City Proper  217 km² Population  - City (2001)  - Density (city proper) 201,349 973/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 40°28 N 17°14 E www. ... Joan of England (October, 1165 – 4 September 1199) was the seventh child of King Henry II of England and his Queen consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine. ... Henry II of England (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, and as King of England (1154–1189) and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland[], eastern Ireland, and western France. ... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events November 25 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. ...

In 1174, the firstfruits of a plan of the king and the vice-chancellor, Matthew of Ajello, began to flower. The pope issued the first of a short series of bulls favouring the cause of creating a new archdiocese in Sicily, centred on the Benedictine Cluniac abbey of Monreale, a recent foundation of William's. The abbot of said abbey would automatically be consecrated archbishop by any prelate of the realm approved of the king. The tradition of the Hagia Kyriaka, the chapel of the old Greek Orthodox metropolitans of Sicily, on the grounds of Monreale greatly strengthened the king's cause in an era when tradition was so valued. The archbishop of Palermo was greatly diminished in power by the consecration of the first archbishop of Monreale in the spring of 1176. Walter began the construction of a new cathedral in Palermo at this time, to counter the effects of the beautiful Monreale, the new mausoleum of the Hauteville dynasty. On William's death in 1189, Walter fought vainly against the archbishop of Monreale over the body of the king. Events Vietnam is given the official name of Annam by China. ... Matthew of Ajello[1] (Italian: ) first appears as the notary of the Admiral Maio of Bari who drew up the Treaty of Benevento of 1156. ... Papal bull of Pope Urban VIII, 1637, sealed with a leaden bulla. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ... The apse of the cathedral of Monreale Monreale is a small city in the province of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. ... Greek Orthodox Church can refer to any of several hierarchical churches within the larger group of mutually recognizing Eastern Orthodox churches: the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, headed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is also the first among equals of the Eastern Orthodox Communion. ... Events May 22 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin on Saladin near Aleppo Raynald of Chatillon released from prison in Aleppo May 29 - Frederick Barbarossa is defeated in the Battle of Legnano by the Lombard League leading to the pactum Anagninum (the Agreement of Anagni) September 17 - Seljuk Turks defeat Manuel... Events January 21 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade September 3- Richard I of England is crowned as king of England. ...

In 1184, Walter gave his support to the marriage of Constance, daughter of Roger II, with Henry, son of Frederick Barbarossa. He was one of the only ones. He had to crown Tancred of Lecce king in his cathedral in early January 1190. He died of natural causes early in 1191. Richard of S. Germano called him and Matthew "the two firmest columns of the Kingdom." Modern historiography has been less kind. John Julius Norwich calls him "the most baleful influence on the kingdom," because "there is no evidence of his having taken a single constructive step to improve the Sicilian position or to advance Sicilian fortunes." He has been reckoned a leader of the feudatories against which all Sicilian kings fought for their royal prerogatives and, by Ferdinand Chalandon, as an imperialist who supported Henry in order to stand opposed to the inevitable civil war. // Events Abbeville receives its commercial charter. ... Constance of Sicily ( 1154 - November 27, 1198) was in her own right Queen of Sicily, became German Empress as the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, and was the mother of the Emperor and King of Sicily Frederick II. She was the posthumous daughter of Roger II of... Roger II (1093-1154), son and successor of Roger I, began his rule in 1112. ... Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (November 1165, Nijmegen – September 28, 1197, Messina) was king of Germany 1190-1197, and Holy Roman Emperor 1191-1197. ... Frederick in a 13th century Chronicle Frederick I (German: Friedrich I. von Hohenstaufen)(1122 – June 10, 1190), also known as Friedrich Barbarossa (Frederick Redbeard) was elected king of Germany on March 4, 1152 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor on June 18, 1155. ... Tancred of Sicily - from Liber ad honorem Augusti, 1196 Tancred (died February 20, 1194), was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. ... Events March 16 - Massacre and mass-suicide of the Jews of York, England prompted by Crusaders and Richard Malebys kill 150-500 Jews in Cliffords Tower June 10 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowned in the Saleph River while leading an army to Jerusalem. ... John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich (born 15 September 1929), known as John Julius Norwich, is a British historian, travel writer and television personality and the son of the Conservative politician and diplomat Duff Cooper, who in 1952 was created Viscount Norwich, and of Lady Diana Cooper, a celebrated beauty...

Asides the cathedral, reworked so many times over the centuries, Walter left as architectural nods to his existence the chapels of S. Cristina and Santo Spirito. The latter is the "church of the Vespers," the church in front of which the first insult and the first murder of the Sicilian Vespers took place in 1282. Sicilian Vespers (1846), by Francesco Hayez The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. ... For broader historical context, see 1280s and 13th century. ...

Sources

• Ryccardi di Sancto Germano Notarii Chronicon. trans. G. A. Loud.
• Norwich, John Julius. The Kingdom in the Sun 1130–1194. Longman: London, 1970.