Background
Sicily had been part of a Kingdom of Sicily, which also encompassed the southern Italian peninsula, since the early 12th century, when Roger II of Sicily defeated the Italian mainland barons and was elected King by the pope. His reign had been inherited by Frederick II of Sicily, whose son Manfred was however ousted by the French invasion of Charles I of Anjou in 1266. The French rule soon assumed a repressive and ferocious character.
On Easter Monday (30 March) 1282, at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo, at evening prayer (vespers), a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian woman. Accounts differ as to what the harassment entailed, who the woman was, and who the Frenchman was.
This single event led to the massacre of four thousand Frenchmen over the course of the next six weeks. The king of Sicily at the time, Charles I, was an Angevin, and his French followers had a legacy of mistreating the native people of Sicily, especially while Charles was away on one of his many absences. Only a few officials notable for their good conduct were spared; and the city of Messina held out for Charles. But through the diplomatic errors of the vicar, Herbert of Orléans, Messina revolted on April 28. Herbert retreated to the castle of Mategriffon and the Crusader fleet stationed in the harbour was burned.
The Italian physician John of Procida acted on behalf of Peter of Aragon, the heir of Manfred in right of his wife. John had been a loyal servant of Manfred's and had fled to Aragon after Charles' success at Tagliacozzo. John travelled to Sicily to stir up the discontents in favour of Peter and thence to Constantinople to procure the support of Michael VIII Palaeologus. Michael refused to aid the Aragonese king without papal approval and so John voyaged to Rome and there gained the consent of Pope Nicholas III, who feared the ascent of Charles in the Mezzogiorno. John of Procida then returned to Barcelona and the pope promptly died, to be replaced by Simon de Brie, a Frenchman and an ally of Charles.
Read more about this topic: War Of The Sicilian Vespers
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