Knighthood and Feudalism in Medieval Sicily

This is the first book published in English to consider Sicily's complex feudal environment from its inception under the Normans around 1060 until the contested island's rule from Spain four centuries later.

This is a very pragmatic history that puts to rest a number of myths while explaining what it was that made Sicily unique. Feudalism survived in Sicily as a system of land administration until 1812. It is impossible to understand modern Sicilian history without knowing something about this institution founded in the Middle Ages.

Here one of Sicily's leading medievalists walks us through the complexities of life in the sunny kingdom during a bygone era. The publication of this book, like others he has written, was long overdue. It fills a vast void in the study of medieval Sicilian history. This is a precious resource.

Louis Mendola

Louis Mendola is one of Sicily’s foremost medievalists, and one of the very few whose work is known beyond Italian borders. His first scholarly paper (on the Battle of Benevento of 1266) was published in 1985; others consider such topics as the history of the medieval Normans in Sicily. He wrote the first book covering the entire seven-century history of the Kingdom of Sicily, and the first English translations of two chronicles of the thirteenth century. Having researched in Italy, Britain, Spain, Germany, France and the Vatican, he has been consulted by The History Channel, the BBC and The New York Times. Read by millions internationally, his online articles have made him one of the most popular Sicilian historians of the present century.