SICILY & NAPLES The Emirate of Sicily existed from 831 to 1091. Its capital was Palermo. Muslim Moors, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the entire island from Constantinople in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902, although Rometta in the far northeast of the island held out until 965. An Arab-Christian culture developed producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered in 1071 by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I. The last Muslim city in the island, Noto, was conquered in 1091. In 1139 the Normans took Naples. Naples had been ruled by local dukes (somewhat independent of the papacy) from 840-1137, while from 603-840 the dukes had been appointed by Constantinople. Naples and Sicily were now ruled by the Normans as a single kingdom from 1139 until 1194, when they both passed to Henry VI (Hohenstaufen), Holy Roman Emperor. In 1266 at the invitation of the Pope, Charles I (Anjou), the son of King Louis VIII of France, defeated Manfred, son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, taking this Kingdom of Sicily that now included Naples. In 1282 at the invitation of Sicily, Peter III of Aragon (Spain) then forced Charles I (Anjou-France) out of Sicily, to be just ruler over the Kingdom of Naples. In 1442 Alfonso V of Aragon (Spain) conquered Naples, reunifying the Kingdom of Sicily. Spain ruled mostly from then on until 1860 (with occasional defeats by France). France finally abandoned its claim to the Kingdom of Sicily in 1559. In 1700, Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV (Bourbon) of France, became King of Spain. In 1713 Naples was ceded briefly to the Holy Roman Emperor (in Austria). Sicily was ceded briefly to Victor Amadeus of Savoy also in 1713 before coming under the Holy Roman Emperor in 1720. In 1734 Philip's son Charles (Bourbon) became King of Naples (and Sicily). His descendants ruled until 1860 when Garibaldi unified all of Italy (except for a brief interruption by Napoleon 1799-1815 when Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph ruler of Naples in 1806). ** End of notes