Jean Dunbabin. The French in the Kingdom of Sicily, 1266–1305.

Abstract

Toward the beginning of this learned and stimulating book, Jean Dunbabin attempts to disarm the reader with a modest disclaimer, apologizing that her “subject is so diffuse, a gathering together of bits and pieces from a variety of fields” (p. 9). In fact, this is a thoughtful and sophisticated comparative study of the links between the kingdoms of Sicily and France in the forty years after Charles of Anjou conquered the regno in 1266. For a generation or more after the Battle of Benevento, Dunbabin argues, these contacts remained significant—French nobles and knights rallied to defend the Angevin monarchy, not least after the revolt on Sicily in 1282; the French monarchy assisted their relatives in the south, both politically and financially; and members of important noble families from France continued to make their careers in the south, even if many of them later returned home. A key figure in these relations was King Charles II's nephew Count Robert II of Artois, the de facto ruler of the kingdom from 1285 until 1291, while Charles was first a prisoner and then an absentee. After his return to northern France, the count employed south Italian officials, notably Rinaldo Cognetti of Barletta, who overhauled the administration of Artois. He also built himself a country residence and park at Hesdin, which is usually considered to have been influenced by the royal residences of Palermo.