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Roger III of Sicily

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A near-contemporary depiction of Roger (center) with his father (right) and brother (left)

Roger III (Italian: Ruggero III, Sicilian: Ruggeru III; 1175 – 24 December 1193), of the House of Hauteville, was the eldest son and heir of King Tancred of Sicily and Queen Sibylla. He was made Duke of Apulia (as Roger V),[1] probably in 1189, shortly after his father's accession. In the summer of 1192 he was crowned co-king with his father.[2] Follari were minted at Messina bearing both Tancred's and Roger's names as kings.[3]

In 1193, Tancred arranged for Roger to marry Irene Angelina, daughter of the Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos.[4] Roger died on 24 December 1193, however, upsetting his father's plans. Tancred quickly had Roger's younger brother, William III, crowned as co-king, but Tancred himself died on 20 February 1194.[4] On 20 November 1194, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI entered Palermo and William was deposed on 25 December. In 1197 Roger's widow, Irene, married Henry VI's brother, Duke Philip of Swabia.

Notes

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  1. ^ The numeral V is found in Jean Rousset de Missy, Mémoires sur le rang et la préséance entre les souverains et entre leurs ministres réprésentans suivant leurs différens caractères (Amsterdam, 1746), p. 84.
  2. ^ Francesco Panarelli, "Guglielmo III d'Altavilla, re di Sicilia" Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 60 (Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana: 2003).
  3. ^ Philip Grierson, Mark A. S. Blackburn and Lucia Travaini (eds.), Medieval European Coinage, vol. 14: Italy (III) (South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia) ( Cambridge University Press, 1998), 79.
  4. ^ a b Hubert Houben, Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 174.