Un Reino Al Sol

There were two Norman Conquests. John Julius Norwich is writing about the 'other' one, the conquest of Sicily… When on Christmas Day 1130, Roger de Hauteville had himself crowned first King of Sicily, the island entered a golden age. Norman and Italian, Greek and Arab, Lombard, Englishman and Jew, all contributed to a culture that was as brilliant as it was cosmopolitan; to an intellectual climate that attracted the artists and scholars of three continents; and to an atmosphere of racial and religious toleration unparalleled in Europe. Sixty-four years later to the day, the sun set on the Sicilian Kingdom; but its glory lives on in such dazzling monuments as the Palatine Chapel in Palermo or the cathedrals of Monreale and Cefalu.