The Peoples of Sicily

This book is about more than Sicily. The focus of this 368 page general history to 1500 is the diversity of civilizations during the island's multicultural medieval period from 1060 to 1260.

The volume includes 29 chapters plus appendices.

Introductory background chapters begin in the Neolithic, continuing to the history of the contested island under Punics and Greeks. Every civilization that populated the island is covered, including Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Germans, Angevins, Aragonese and Jews, with profiles of important historical figures.

Religions, law, geography and cuisine are also covered.

There is a detailed chronology, reading list, suggested places to visit and sources.

Medieval Sicily is viewed as an example of a tolerant, multicultural society and an inspiration for our times.

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.

Jacqueline Alio