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ALL CHANGES IN BOLD
Roger I

Conquest of Calabria and Sicily[edit]
Roger was the youngest son of Tancred of Hauteville by his second wife Fredisenda. Roger arrived in Southern Italy in the summer of 1057. The Benedictine monk, Goffredo Malaterra, who compares Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger to "Joseph and Benjamin of old," said of Roger:

In 1057 he shared the conquest of nearly all of Calabria excepting Reggio with his brother Robert. For a time Roger lived like a bandit in his castle of Scalea, near Cosenza. In a treaty of 1062, the brothers divided the conquest so that each was to have half of every castle and town in Calabria. It was about this same time that Roger married Judith d'Évreux.

Roger had first thought of conquering Sicily when he and his brother conquered Calabria. At the time, it was ruled by Muslims and the population was mostly Greek Byzantine Christians. The Arab princes had become all but independent of the sultan of Tunis. In May 1061 the brothers crossed from Reggio and captured Messina. In June 1063, Roger defeated a Muslim army at the Battle of Cerami. After they took Palermo in January 1072, Robert Guiscard, as suzerain, invested Roger as Count of Sicily. After 1072 Roger used Palermo as a base to launch attacks and raids against Muslim holdouts and revolting cities. Robert retained Palermo, half of Messina, and the north-east portion (the Val Demone). Not till 1085 was Roger able to undertake a systematic conquest.

In March 1086 Syracuse surrendered, and when in February 1091 Noto yielded, the conquest of Sicily was complete. Much of Robert's success had been due to Roger's support. Similarly, when the leadership of the Hautevilles passed to Roger, he supported his nephew Duke Roger against Bohemund I of Antioch, Lando IV of Capua, and other rebels. In return for his uncle's aid against Bohemund and the rebels, the duke Roger surrendered his share in the castles of Calabria to his uncle in 1085, and in 1091 his inheritance in Palermo.

'''During the conquest of Sicily Roger was a cautious military leader. During his 30 year campaign in Sicily his main tactic was to wait and see. He also provided towns and city-states that surrendered with generous treaties. Roger employed these cautious tactics because he was severely outnumbered by Saracens forces in Sicily, and he needed to return to the Italian mainland frequently to help Robert Guiscard with rebellious Norman Lords. These tactics helped Roger conquer Sicily with a force much smaller than the force he was up against.'''

Roger's rule in Sicily became more absolute than that of Robert Guiscard's in Italy. In addition, due to immigration by Lombards and Normans, Latin Christianity gradually replaced that of the Greek Byzantine tradition. At the enfeoffments of 1072 and 1092, no great undivided fiefs were created. The mixed Norman, French and Italian vassals all owed their benefices to the count. No feudal revolt of importance arose against Roger.

Conquest of Malta[edit]
Main article: Norman invasion of Malta

In 1091 Roger, in order to avoid an attack from North Africa, set sail with a fleet to conquer Malta. His ship reached the island before the rest. On landing, the few defenders the Normans encountered retreated and the following day Roger marched to the capital Mdina. Terms were discussed with the local qadi. It was agreed that the islands would become tributaries of the count himself and that the qadi should continue to administer the islands. With the treaty many Greek and other Christian prisoners were released, who chanted to Roger the Kyrie eleison. He left the islands with many who wished to join him and so many were on his ship that it nearly sank, according to Geoffrey Malaterra. The invasion was romanticized in later centuries, and legends arose that the Count gave the Maltese their red and white flag by cutting a part of his banner. Mass is said once a year in remembrance of the Count at the Cathedral of Mdina, as a recognition for the Count's role in liberating Maltese Christians from Muslim dominance and rule.[citation needed] Roger is a revered figure in Maltese history.

Rule of Sicily[edit]
Politically supreme, the count also became master of the insular church. The Papacy is something, favouring a prince who had recovered Sicily from Greeks and Muslims, in 1098 granted Roger and his heirs the Apostolic Legateship of the island. Roger created new Latin bishoprics at Syracuse, Girgenti and elsewhere, nominating the bishops personally, while he turned the archbishopric of Palermo into a Catholic see. Of these bishops and other important clergy positions, a minority were French, and of those even fewer were Norman. Of the five new sees he founded, one bishop was Norman and three others were from other parts of France. He practiced general toleration towards Arabs and Greeks, even sponsoring the construction of over twelve Greek monasteries in the Val Demone region. In the cities, the Muslims, who had generally secured such rights in their terms of surrender, retained their mosques, their qadis, and freedom of trade; in the country, however, they became serfs. Roger drew the mass of his infantry from the Muslims; Saint Anselm, visiting him at the siege of Capua, 1098, found "the brown tents of the Arabs innumerable". Nevertheless, the Latin element began to prevail, as Lombards and other Italians flocked to the island in the wake of the conquest, and the conquest of Sicily proved decisive in the steady decline of Muslim power in the western Mediterranean from this time.[citation needed] When the Normans conquered Sicily they did not bring settlers with them, they instead stood as a ruling class over the existing citizens of the island.

Roger 1 and the First Crusade[edit]
'''Shortly after Roger conquered Sicily and Malta the First Crusade began. In 1097 King Baldwin sent a messenger to ask for Rogers aid in the crusades. Roger was Cautious to enter the Crusades for several reasons. The first reason is that the Crusades would not be cost effective for him because he would be providing ships and grain for the Frankish armies to launch an attack on North Africa so the Baldwin's army could attack the Muslim forces from the south. If Baldwin succeeded at conquering territory in Africa then he would have to supply them with provisions from his own harvest and if the armies fail in securing and holding on to territory in North Africa then they would return to Sicily and be an embarrassment to Roger in Sicily. The other main reason he did not aid Baldwin is because he had several treaties with North African Muslim kingdoms and if he aided Baldwin in attacking them he would be breaking his treaties with them and he would be accused of having no honor by Tamim.'''

Roger II
Added small items and citations to Roger II article

Roger had now become one of the greatest kings in Europe. At Palermo, he gathered round him distinguished men of various races, such as the famous Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi (Footnote added) and the Byzantine Greek historianNilus Doxopatrius. The king welcomed the learned and practised toleration towards the several creeds, races and languages of his realm. To administer his domain he hired many Greeks and Arabs, who were trained in long-established traditions of centralized government. He was served by men of diverse nationality, such as the Englishman Thomas Brun, a kaid of the Curia and, in the fleet by two Greeks, first Christodulus and then George of Antioch, whom he made in 1132 ammiratus ammiratorum or "Emir of Emirs", in effect prime vizier. (This title later became the English word admiral). Roger made Sicily the leading maritime power in the Mediterranean. '''Roger II had a kingdom where a Muslim scholar such as al-Idrisi could draw from a variety of intellectual traditions, because Sicily is positioned in the center of the Mediterranean and was a major stopping point for people traveling across the Mediterranean. Sicily had been run by several different groups in its history and Sicily under Roger II was tolerant of other religions.'''