The Decline and Fall of Medieval Sicily: Politics, Religion, and Economy in the Reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337.

By Clifford R. Backman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 352 pp. $59.95.

This book reinterprets Sicilian history without denying the validity of earlier theses. Clifford R. Backman, after reexamining the sources, views the decline of Sicily as a complex issue, not solely the result of the War of the Vespers, 1282-1302. He describes a revival in Sicily from 1302-1317. Yet he sees the reign of Frederick III as the turning point in the island's history as political economic, and climatological disasters marked the beginning of the fall of medieval Sicily.

Dynastic ambition and foreign political pressure involved the island in difficulties. Frederick III, brother to James II of Aragon, ruled Sicily, but also assisted his brother's conquest of Sardinia and fought the Angevin attempts to reconquer Sicily. Because the Angevins supported the Guelf powers, Frederick III supported the Ghibellines. After the Vespers, Frederick encouraged his Catalan mercenaries to leave Sicily for Greece. These Catalans then conquered Athens, making Frederick Duke of Athens and embroiling Sicily in Aegean affairs.

Frederick III maintained his authority over the cities and over Sicilis parliament only by distributing exemptions and alienating his demesne. The port cities, important export centers for Sicilian wheat, were dominated by foreign merchants and afflicted by overcrowding and inept municipal leadership. Messina, Catania, and Syracuse became centers of court-sponsored privateering. The cities recovered briefly during the decade of prosperity. Later, piles of garbage, human refuse, and dilapidated housing were common. Multitudes of rural residents fled to the cities, but domestic industries languished. As the economy declined, so did centralization.

The drought of 1311-14 and the mountainous terrain impeded recovery in the rural interior. Private wars ruined many landowning families. Owners of small holdings often could not market their crops. Famine and pestilence raged. The dispossessed fled. Demand for soldiers for Sicily's defense and her foreign ventures removed many men from the countryside. Although women predominated numerically, their activities were restricted by conservative social mores.

The papacy placed Sicily under an interdict during the Vespers and clerical influence waned. Afterwards, the king and his people erupted into evangelical enthusiasm led by the reformers--Arnau de Vilanova, Raymond Lull, and the Spiritual Franciscans. A royal pronouncement, the Ordinationes generales, attempted to legislate Sicilian morality by incorporating Arnau's precepts. Consequently, religious upheaval disturbed Sicily.

Backman presents his material in a pleasing manner; his organization is good. Readers may be confused by his naming Frederick the third Sicilian king of that name. Other authors know him as Frederick II, because his great-grandfather, Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen, reigned in Sicily as King Frederick I, 1197-1250. Backman used sources frequently, often inserting a translation in the text (except in the section on piracy where the quotations remain in Latin). The author's familiarity with the topography of Sicily greatly assists the reader. The book includes a most useful map, three tables of justices and one of feudal dues, an extensive bibliography, and a brief index.