Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Setting Sun
Roger's son and successor, William I (1108-66), inherited the kingdom upon his father's
death in 1154. Nicknamed 'William the Bad', he was a vain and corrupt ruler.
The appointment of Walter of the Mill (Gualtiero Offamiglia) as archbishop of Palermo
at the connivance of the pope was to create a dangerous power struggle between church
and throne for the next 20 years - a challenge that was taken up by William II (1152-89)
when he ordered the creation of a second archbishopric at Monreale.
William II's premature death at the age of 36 led to a power tussle, and an assembly of
barons elected Roger II's illegitimate grandson Tancred (c 1130-94) to the throne. His ac-
cession was immediately contested by the German (or Swabian) king Henry VI (1165-97),
head of the House of Hohenstaufen, who laid claim to the throne by virtue of his marriage
to Roger II's daughter, Constance.
Tancred died in 1194, and no sooner had his young son, William III, been installed as
king than the Hohenstaufen fleet docked in Messina. On Christmas Day of that year Henry
VI declared himself king and young William was imprisoned in the castle at Caltabellotta
in southern Sicily, where he eventually died (in 1198).
