WI: King William II of Sicily marries Maria Porphyrogenita?

IOTL, King William II of Sicily and his representative, Archbishop Bertrand of Trani, tried to negotiate for the hand of a Byzantine princess, namely Maria Porphyrogenita, the only daughter of Emperor Manuel. IOTL, the negotiations fell through. William married Joan of England in 1177, while Maria married Ranier or Montferrat in 1179. Both were about the same age and older than their OTL spouses.

What if the negotiations hadn't fallen through, or had been renegotiated successfully before Manuel's death? Personally, I think such a marriage could be both better and worse for Constantinople after Manuel's death. Better because the Norman Kingdom of Sicily was a large thorn in the empire's side, and having them as allies would be beneficial. Worse, in some ways, because, if Alexios II is still overthrown, William would have a better casus belli to wage war on Andronikos, and a larger prize waiting for him and his wife.

Any thoughts?
 
I am terribly interested in this butterfly (especially since it is likely to impact whether Constance even marries Henry V and from there who William's heir is going to be) but have nothing to offer to this TL.
 
since it is likely to impact whether Constance even marries Henry VI and from there who William's heir is going to be

If Barbarossa survives the Battle of Legnano as in OTL, then I reckon that marriage would still go through, as a way of making peace with both empires. But if Frederick dies at Legnano, as suggested in another thread on the subject, Constance could be married to someone else, like Conrad of Montferrat.
 
William to try to claim the Purple, but he also has to defend Sicily from opportunists too.

What opportunists? This isn't like when the Pope called in Charles of Anjou, or the later War of the Sicilian Vespers. The Kingdom of Sicily at the time, as far as I know, had no claimants other than the Hautevilles.
 
What opportunists? This isn't like when the Pope called in Charles of Anjou, or the later War of the Sicilian Vespers. The Kingdom of Sicily at the time, as far as I know, had no claimants other than the Hautevilles.
The Hohenstaufens aren't hovering yet? The Arabs aren't in a position to try to retake the island?
 
The Hohenstaufens aren't hovering yet? The Arabs aren't in a position to try to retake the island?

Tunisia is under the dominion of the Almohads, and they're based mainly in Morocco and Andalusia.

The Hohenstaufens, if they still claim dominion over all Italy/have married Henry to Constance, may try to take Sicily, but I doubt they would do so without the necessary manpower and/or Papal approval.
 
Tunisia is under the dominion of the Almohads, and they're based mainly in Morocco and Andalusia.

The Hohenstaufens, if they still claim dominion over all Italy/have married Henry to Constance, may try to take Sicily, but I doubt they would do so without the necessary manpower and/or Papal approval.
Why wouldn't the Almohads try for Sicily?
 
Why wouldn't the Almohads try for Sicily?

1. The attention of the Almohads was generally directed at Andalusia, where its Christian neighbors were more threatening and ambitious than the Normans (who never seriously attempted to recover their briefly-held African dominions). Tunisia was peripheral to their state and their interests.
2. The Sicilians and Almohads came to share a common foe in the form of the Ayyubid Sultanate (and, to a much lesser extent, the Almoravid remnant state of the Banu Ghaniya in the Balears), which made a mutual peace sensible. The Almohads hardly objected to Sicilian raids on Egypt, which at the very least meant that Saladin and his successors would remain too busy with the Crusaders to think of western expansion at Almohad expense.
3. The states had strong economic ties. Tunisia was reliant on Sicilian grain, for which the Sicilians received valued goods, including Saharan gold. The Almohad Caliphs soon came to realize the importance of this trade for their own dominions, and despite their generally uncompromising beliefs were prepared to tolerate Christian merchants. To attack Sicily would disrupt this trade, and grain is a fairly important commodity.

The result of these considerations was that in 1180 the Almohads and Sicilians buried the hatchet and signed a treaty which established peace and gave the Sicilians commercial facilities in certain ports in Tunisia. Unless the above considerations massively change, there's very little reason for the Almohads to breach the peace with Sicily and prioritize it as a target over, say, the Christian kingdoms of Spain.
 
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As for Sicilian consequences, I doubt something changes with the extinction of the legitimate masculine Hauteville line, because iotl Joan of England had children from her second marriage and none with William despites years of marriage. So we can probably assume William's sterility, unless there was some sort of personal or genetic incompatibility between him and Joan.

So will there still be an imperial marriage? Much depends on the situation in Costantinople, as I think that the marriage with Henry VI had a lot to do with securing the Northern flank while the bulk of the navy and army was in Greece. Maybe without her and Ranier intriguing Alexios II would not get deposed? On the other hand she might try pressuring her husband into onvading Greece, but honestly Sicily alone cannot conquer Byzantium. Even if the expedition of 1185 had not been surprised by thr Greek comeback under Branas, I doubt they could have taken the City in the end.
 
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As for Sicilian consequences, I doubt something changes with the extinction of the legitimate masculine Hauteville line, because iotl Joan of England had children from her second marriage and none with William despites years of marriage. So we can probably assume William's sterility, unless there was some sort of peronal or genetic incompatibility between him and Joan.

Well, there was supposedly a short-lived son of William and Joan - Bohemond, Duke of Apulia - as recorded by Robert of Torigni (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_of_Torigni).
 
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