Zioneer
Banned
Hey all, I'm revamping my Norman Sicily TL with a new PoD, but I wasn't quite clear on a couple of issues that are relevant to the PoD:
1) How old were Simon of Taranto and Tancred of Lecce? Even my best English language source, John Julius Norwich's The Kingdom in the Sun, doesn't say how old either Simon or Tancred are, and I need to have them be a certain age for my purposes. I don't speak Italian or Latin, so I can't read any non-English sources without the help of Google Translate.
From my understanding, Simon was obviously old enough to be granted Taranto by his father Roger II, after Roger, Duke of Apulia's death in 1144, and he doesn't appear to have needed a regent, or at least one wasn't mentioned. Similarly, he was old enough to be a viable choice for king, when the revolt in Palermo happened in 1161. My guess is that he's anywhere from Roger, Duke of Apulia's age (b. 1118), to William I's age (b. 1131), probably older than William I. So roughly a possible birth in the 1120s?
Tancred of Lecce's age on the other hand seems to be a little easier to identify. He's the illegitimate son of Roger, Duke of Apulia, and Roger also has another illegitimate son named William, born after 1137, at least according to Wikipedia. I have seen a couple of sources like this that claim that he was over 50 when he ascended to the throne in 1189, which would put his birth sometime before 1139. This particular source claims 1137 as Tancred's birth, without any explanation. Since Roger of Apulia was born in 1118, my guess is that he didn't have a child until he was at least 14, which would be 1132, and more likely around 16-20, which would make the 1137 date reasonable.
2) If Roger II's last legitimate son William had died before he did, was there any clear successor, or would it be a "free-for-all", so to speak? How would the succession be determined? Who was the closest relative to the Rogerian branch of the Hautville family? Related: Would bastard sons be considered? Roger's Sicily seemed to treat bastards slightly better than the rest of Europe at this time.
3) Similarly, how old was Maio of Bari? Wikipedia says he first signed a royal document as a scribe in 1144, which would probably mean he was in his late teens, early to mid twenties in 1144, right? And obviously he was old enough to have a grown daughter to marry to Matthew Bonnellus before 1160, when he was murdered.
4) Lastly, how realistic to have some dispossessed nobility from another kingdom/duchy/etc settle in Sicily? Who would be the most likely to settle there?
1) How old were Simon of Taranto and Tancred of Lecce? Even my best English language source, John Julius Norwich's The Kingdom in the Sun, doesn't say how old either Simon or Tancred are, and I need to have them be a certain age for my purposes. I don't speak Italian or Latin, so I can't read any non-English sources without the help of Google Translate.
From my understanding, Simon was obviously old enough to be granted Taranto by his father Roger II, after Roger, Duke of Apulia's death in 1144, and he doesn't appear to have needed a regent, or at least one wasn't mentioned. Similarly, he was old enough to be a viable choice for king, when the revolt in Palermo happened in 1161. My guess is that he's anywhere from Roger, Duke of Apulia's age (b. 1118), to William I's age (b. 1131), probably older than William I. So roughly a possible birth in the 1120s?
Tancred of Lecce's age on the other hand seems to be a little easier to identify. He's the illegitimate son of Roger, Duke of Apulia, and Roger also has another illegitimate son named William, born after 1137, at least according to Wikipedia. I have seen a couple of sources like this that claim that he was over 50 when he ascended to the throne in 1189, which would put his birth sometime before 1139. This particular source claims 1137 as Tancred's birth, without any explanation. Since Roger of Apulia was born in 1118, my guess is that he didn't have a child until he was at least 14, which would be 1132, and more likely around 16-20, which would make the 1137 date reasonable.
2) If Roger II's last legitimate son William had died before he did, was there any clear successor, or would it be a "free-for-all", so to speak? How would the succession be determined? Who was the closest relative to the Rogerian branch of the Hautville family? Related: Would bastard sons be considered? Roger's Sicily seemed to treat bastards slightly better than the rest of Europe at this time.
3) Similarly, how old was Maio of Bari? Wikipedia says he first signed a royal document as a scribe in 1144, which would probably mean he was in his late teens, early to mid twenties in 1144, right? And obviously he was old enough to have a grown daughter to marry to Matthew Bonnellus before 1160, when he was murdered.
4) Lastly, how realistic to have some dispossessed nobility from another kingdom/duchy/etc settle in Sicily? Who would be the most likely to settle there?