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who failed the test was slain… By the next morning some two thousand French
men and women lay dead; and the rebels were in complete control of the city”
After leaders were elected in Palermo, messengers were sent to spread word across
the island for the rebels to strike now before the oppressor had time to organize
resistance. It took a fortnight for the rebels to gain control over most of the island,
and within six weeks it was all under rebel control, with the notable exception of
Messina as it was well fortified, and its leading family, the Riso, remained faithful
to Charles. But on 28 April it too had broken into open revolt and, most
significantly, the islanders' first act was to set fire to Charles' fleet lying in the
harbor. It is reported that upon hearing of the fleet's destruction, King Charles
realized how serious was his plight and exclaimed "Lord God, since it has pleased
You to ruin my fortune, let me only go down in small steps."
Charles' Vicar Herbert and his family were safely within the castle Mategriffon, but
after some time for negotiations the rebels granted Herbert and his family safe
conduct to leave the island upon a promise that they never return. After the
restoration of order in the city, the townsmen announced themselves a free
commune answerable only to the pope. They elected leaders, one of whom was
Bartholomeo of Neocastro who was prominent in the unfolding events and would
later chronicle much of the revolt in Historia Sicula, an important if sometimes
contradictory source of information to historians. Again significantly, the leaders'
next act was to send word, via a Genoese merchant named Alafranco Cassano, to
the Emperor Michael advising him that his nemesis Charles had been crippled.
Only thereafter were ambassadors sent to Pope Martin IV pleading for each city on
the island to be recognized as a free commune under the sole suzerainty of the Holy
Church. The islanders were hoping for status such as enjoyed by Venice, Genoa,
Pisa and other cities, free to form their own government, but morally answerable
only to the pope who would hold a vague and unstable suzerainty. However the
French pope was firmly in Charles' camp and he directed the Sicilians to recognize
Charles as their rightful king. However Martin underestimated the Sicilians' hatred
of the French, especially Charles because he ruled their kingdom from Naples
rather than the traditional Palermo where he could have seen the suffering caused
by his officials. Charles' island officials were far removed from his oversight; he did
not see the avarice, the abusive behavior manifesting itself as rape, theft and
murder, nor did he see the high taxes levied against the meager possessions of the
peasants, which kept them impoverished, but made no improvement in their lives.
The Aragonese invasion
After the pope refused the rebels' pleas for the status of free communes, the
islanders sent for Pedro III of Aragon whose wife Constance was Manfred's
daughter, Henry VI's great-granddaughter; and the sole surviving heir of Frederick
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 156 of 200