Abstract

William II of Hauteville King of Sicily (1171–1189). William II of Hauteville was the third king of the Norman dynasty on the throne of Sicily. He ruled independently from 1171 (from 1166 to 1171 he was under the regency of his mother) to 1189. From an iconographic point of view, he is particularly interesting because he was the first king of Sicily who made use of monumental images of himself. In particular, we have five official (namely, commissioned directly by him or his entourage) representations of him: the royal bull, the royal seal, and three images from the Cathedral of Monreale (near Palermo): two mosaic panels and one carved capital.

Highlights

  • It was from December 1171 that he ruled independently, and his reign lasted until 18 November 1189

  • He was the third Norman king of Sicily but, from an iconographic point of view, he was the first who did not limit his representation to seals and coins but made use of monumental images of himself

  • In order to summarise the general line of the William II of Hauteville’s iconography, we can conclude that this king did not make abundant use of his images but, in the panorama of the Norman kings of Sicily, he introduced important innovations about the media utilised

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Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. It was from December 1171 that he ruled independently, and his reign lasted until 18 November 1189 (the day of his death) (in general, about William II of Hauteville king of Sicily see: [1,2]) He was the third Norman king of Sicily but, from an iconographic point of view, he was the first who did not limit his representation to seals and coins but made use of monumental images of himself We have five official (namely, commissioned directly by him or his entourage) representations: the royal bull and the royal seal and two mosaic panels and one carved capital at the Cathedral of Monreale (near Palermo) (about the identification of the William II’s official image see: [3] (p. 57))

The Royal Bull
The Royal Seal
The Capital of the Cathedral of Monreale
Conclusions
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