List of monarchs of Sicily


The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816.
The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occurred between the 11th and 12th century. Sicily, which was ruled as an Islamic emirate for at least two centuries, was invaded in 1071 by Norman House of Hauteville, who conquered Palermo and established a feudal county. The House of Hauteville completed their conquest of Sicily in 1091.
In 1130 the County of Sicily and the County of Apulia, both led by two distinct branches of the House of Hauteville, merged in the Kingdom of Sicily, and Count Roger II was crowned king by Antipope Anacletus II.
Over the centuries Sicily passed through the hands of several foreign authorities: from 1194 to 1254 it was in personal union with the Holy Roman Empire; from 1282 to 1714 it came into a personal union with the Crown of Aragon; from 1713 to 1720 it was in a personal union with the Duchy of Savoy and finally, from 1720 to 1735, was one of the crowns of the Habsburg Monarchy.
In 1282, after the Sicilian Vespers, the kingdom split in two separated states: the properly named Ultra Sicily and the Hither Sicily or commonly named Kingdom of Naples. The two states stylized themselves always as "Kingdom of Sicily", until the partial unification in 1516 when Charles I of Spain inherited both lands as "King of Naples and Sicily". The definitive unification occurred in 1816 when Ferdinand IV and III unified the two entities into a single state, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Emirs of Sicily

See Emirate of Sicily

Counts of Sicily

Sicily was granted, pending its Christian reconquest, to Robert Guiscard as "duke" in 1059 by Pope Nicholas II. Then Guiscard granted it as a county to his brother Roger.

House of Hauteville">Hauteville family">House of Hauteville, 1071-1130

Kings of Sicily

Roger II received royal investiture from Antipope Anacletus II in 1130 and recognition from Pope Innocent II in 1139. The Kingdom of Sicily, which by then comprised not only the island, but also the southern third of the Italian peninsula, rapidly expanded itself to include Malta and the Mahdia, the latter if only briefly.

House of Hauteville">Hauteville family">House of Hauteville, 1130–1198

House of Hohenstaufen">Hohenstaufen Dynasty">House of Hohenstaufen, 1194–1266

Plantagenet Dynasty">House of Plantagenet">Plantagenet Dynasty

Edmund Crouchback, son of King Henry III of England, claimed the Crown of Sicily between 1254 and 1263; the claim was taken very seriously by both him and his father, but was completely ineffectual.

[Capetian House of Anjou], 1266–1282

[House of Barcelona], 1282–1410

[House of Trastámara], 1412–1516

[House of Habsburg], 1516-1700

[House of Bourbon], 1700-1713, during [War of the Spanish Succession]

House of Savoy, 1713–1720

House of Habsburg, 1720–1735

House of Bourbon 1735–1816

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 1816–1861

Family tree