Roger II
Roger II,
son of Roger I, count (from 1105), then king of Sicily (1130–54); born 22 Dec. 1095, died Palermo 26 Feb. 1154.
Taking advantage of the preoccupation of Manuel I with the Second Crusade (1147), Roger dispatched a fleet that captured Kerkyra and plundered Thebes and Corinth as well as Euboea. His captives included numerous silk weavers (see Serikarios), who established the industry in Sicily. The recapture of Kerkyra required lengthy sieges (1148–49) by Manuel and the Venetians. To distract the Byz., Roger sent a fleet (ca.1149) that reached Constantinople. The Normans burned wharves at Skoutarion and in a defiant gesture shot arrows at the palace. Roger's successor, William I, inherited the conflict.
Among Sicilian monuments sponsored by Roger, the mosaics of Cefalù and the Cappella Palatina in Palermo draw heavily on Byz. sources and perhaps Byz. craftsmen. In the church of the Martorana at Palermo, Roger is depicted as a basileus crowned by Christ.
E. Caspar, Roger II. (1101–1154) und die Gründung der normannisch-sicilischen Monarchie (Innsbruck 1904).Find this resource:
Chalandon, Domination normande 1:355–404, 2:1–166.Find this resource:
P. Rassow, Zum byzantinisch-normannischen Krieg, 1147–1149, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 62 (1954) 213–18.Find this resource:
Lamma, Comneni 1:85–147.Find this resource:
