The Normans

In the first half of the XI century Sicily was still entirely Arabic, but Islam wasn't diffuse in every part of the isle, because the Arabs created an only equilibrium and tolerance in favor of the local populations.
Sicily didn't have an unitary government during the XI century anymore, but it was fragmented, because of inside discords, in many Arabic emirates eachone rivals among them. A famous and fierce discord was among the emir of Catania Ibn ath Thumnah and his brother in law, the kaid of Enna, Ibn al Hawwas. The mutual hate was such that one of them, the powerful emir of Catania, was received in Mileto ( Calabria, 1061), at the Count Ruggero's court to ask help against the kaid. The Norman didn't believe that their dream of "visiting" Sicily could be finally real. The Norman complied to help the emir and so, a small Norman army headed by the Count Ruggero of Altavilla and from his brother Roberto il Guiscardo with the help of Ibn ath Thumnah and of Sicilian Christian squads, disembarked in Messina occupying it in 1061.
The Norman conquest was long, 20 years about. From Messina the blond northern warriors advanced to Enna ( but unable to conquer it ) facing hard battles near the river Dittàino and in Cerami. In that circumstance Roger's troops passed through our territories, Naone mountain (Anaor) and Montagna di Marzo (Naurcium) in the sour of Piazza ( 1062 ). In the same year Ibn ath Thumnah was killed and so one of the initial motives of the Norman invasion vanished.
In the terms of the capitulation of Sicily the two Norman brothers stipulated the division of the island: Roberto became the sovereign of whole Sicily with half territory in Messina and Val Demone; the rest was Ruggero's property. After that, Ruggero tried little by little to free himself from his brother Roberto's supreme power, that happened after the Duke's death in 1085. In this period Ruggero of Altavilla was the most powerful gentleman of the Mediterranean and mediator among the European politics and the oriental frontier. The Major Count wants to found a State, but it was necessary to characterize its ethnic element. That of Norman is insufficient, for this reason Ruggero favored the Lombard immigration whose linguistic log was rooster-italic.
The Count Ruggero pretended to be a Pope's vassal, but he freed soon from this "protection". He sent a delegation and a homage of four camels drawn by the loot of war to the Pope Alessandro II at the end of the conquest of Sicily. The Pope thanked and sent, in turn, as homage a vexillum with the Madonna's effigy to be delivered as protection to the fighters on the battlegrounds. The vexillum of Maria SS delle Vittorie was given by the Count to the town hall of Piazza Armerina and, after various events, hidden and discover and today exposed in the altar of the cathedral for the devotion of the citizens. The legendary donation of the vexillum to Piazza Armerina is remembered every year (12 August) with a suggestive ceremony that is officiated with wide share of people in the Cathedral place where the Gran Judge delivers the keys of the city to the Gran Count Ruggero, while the day after (13 August) the S. Ippolito Plan is the scene of famous "Palio dei Normanni" , always in honor of the Count Ruggero, a magnificent competition in pompous medieval customs played with great honor by riders of the four historical quarters of Piazza Armerina.
After the Roger's death in 1101, the widow Adelasia set all the lombard people present in the isle under her brother's Enrico Aleramico government that received the title of Count of all the lombard people of Sicily by his wisdom.
Roger's heid had to be his child Simone, but He died in 1105 and also his brother Ruggero was a child in that period, so that Adelasia decided wisely to assure the government and made the Sicilian State independent transferring the Ruggero's I Calabrian capital, Mileto, to Palermo. Despite the foreign origin of the rulers, Sicily became an autonomous State after the Roman domination.
The greatest Norman king was Ruggero II. He was only seventeen years old when He had the responsibility of the kingdom (1112). After his reign the kings Guglielmo I il Malo (1154-1166) and Guglielmo II il Buono (1166-1189) had to fight against the rebellious nobility of Sicily.
Our city has not a good memory of Guglielmo il Malo, because He reached Piazza Armerina with the army and destroyed all of its hamlets and the Rambaldo's village that is considered the native nucleus of Piazza (oppidum nobilissimum Lombardorum, in I plane situm), to punish the rebellion of his cousins Tancredi of Altavilla and Ruggero Scalvo, as well as of the rebellion of the Arab 'Blâtsah (Piazza Armerina) and of the killing of the resident Saracens (people protected by the king),
In that deadly circumstance people of Piazza Armerina, keeper of the pontifical Vexillum of Maria SS. delle Vittorie, closed the icon in a wood box and buried it in a sure place, under the altar of the little church of S. Maria of Piazza Vecchia where it was found again later in the 1348, year of the great plague that decimated the populations of Europe. The miraculous recovery of the sacred icon of the Virgo was possible, according to the tradition, by a revealing dream that a priest did, such Giovanni Candilia. The icon was brought from the hermitage of country to the Church of S. Maria Maggiore in the city by the citizens escaped from pestilence. In memory of the event every year the last Sunday of April the people of Piazza Armerina bring a copy of the Vexillum from the hermitage of Piazza Vecchia to the city, while the 3th of May takes place the inverse pilgrimage. When the journey is concluded citizens stay the whole day in the land called Indirizzo and enjoy in a true popular party.

(By Sebi Arena)