Manfred, King of Sicily

Manfred (1232 – 26 February 1266) was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was an illegitimate son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia (or Lanzia), is reported by Matthew Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.

Early life

Manfred was born in Venosa. Frederick II appears to have regarded him as legitimate, and by his will named him as Prince of Taranto and appointed him as the representative in Italy of his half-brother, the German king, Conrad IV. Manfred, who initially bore his mother's surname, studied in Paris and Bologna and shared with his father a love of poetry and science.

At Frederick's death, Manfred, although only about 18 years old, acted loyally and with vigour in the execution of his trust. The Kingdom was in turmoil, mainly due to riots spurred by Pope Innocent IV. Manfred was able to subdue numerous rebel cities, with the exception of Naples. When his legitimate brother Conrad IV appeared in southern Italy in 1252, disembarking at Siponto, his authority was quickly and generally acknowledged. Naples fell in October 1253 into the hands of Conrad. The latter, in the meantime, had grown distrustful of Manfred, stripping him of all his fiefs and reducing his authority to the principality of Taranto.

Sicily

Sicily (/ˈsɪsᵻli/ SISS-i-lee; Italian: Sicilia [siˈtʃiːlja]; Sicilian: Sicilia) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea; along with surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy officially referred to as Regione Siciliana.

Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean. It extends from the tip of the Apennine peninsula, from which it is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, towards the North African coast. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, which, at 3,350 m (10,990 ft), is the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate.

The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. At around 750 BC, Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies, and for the next 600 years, it was the site of the Greek–Punic and Roman–Punic wars, which ended with the Roman destruction of Carthage. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily frequently changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages, it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans who created the Kingdom of Sicily subsequently ruled by Hohenstaufen dinasty, for a short period by Angevins, later by Iberians dinasties, by the Austrians for a brief time, and then finally unified under the Bourbons with Naples, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Following the Expedition of the Thousand, a Giuseppe Garibaldi-led revolt during the Italian Unification process and a plebiscite, it became part of Italy in 1860. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.

Sicily (actress)

Sicily Sewell (born October 1, 1985) is an American actress. She is sometimes credited in film or television as simply with a mononym Sicily.

She made her television appearance on an Emmy Award-winning episode of Sesame Street when she was eight years old.

She played "Young Aisha" in a two-part episode of Season 2 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers called ""Rangers Back In Time"" prior to the season 2 finale, as well as in the 10 part mini series Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. She also appeared in archive footage (also as Young Aisha) in the season following MMAR, Power Rangers Zeo.

She starred as young Diana in the hit miniseries, Mama Flora's Family in 1998, and as Angela Bassett's niece in the film How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

For 4 seasons, Sewell portrayed Spirit Jones, the best friend of Breanna Barnes (played by Kyla Pratt) in the sitcom One on One. Citing a decision by UPN to move in a different direction for the fifth season, Sicily was let go from One on One on June 20, 2005. This change came at a time when she was only nine episodes away from syndication.

Sicilia (Roman province)

Sicilia was the first province acquired by the Roman Republic, organized in 241 BC as a proconsular governed territory, in the aftermath of the First Punic War with Carthage. It included Sicily and Malta, but not the city of Syracuse, on the east coast. (Syracuse remained an independent ally of Rome until after the Second Punic War).

History

During the Second Punic War, Syracuse was allied with Hannibal, but was taken by the Roman commander Marcellus in 212, and was absorbed into the already existing province. It was divided into two quaestorships, Syracuse and Lilybaeum. The Latinizing of the island continued, though the Greek element never entirely disappeared.

It was very important during the republican period for its role in supplying grain to the city of Rome, however it started to lose importance with the conquest of Africa and especially with the annexation of the Ptolemaic kingdom. Nevertheless, the province was to regain its importance centuries later, when Rome lost control over these areas and was forced to turn back to Sicily for her needs.