The hill city above the ruins of the Greek temples, the chief town of the south coast and the outlet of the grain country of the interior.
Its hinterland was heavily Muslim. Its bishop Urso had a stormy reign: stripped of church property and exiled three times, and once kidnapped by Saracens and held fourteen months until ransomed, with Saracen raids destroying his cathedral and palace (it.wikipedia; the dates are not given, and the kidnapping may belong to the revolts of the 1220s). Its stance in the winter of 1199-1200 is not documented.
Who holds it
- Name
- The king; Bishop Urso (2 April 1192 to September 1239) holds the church's lands
- Title
- Royal city and bishop's see
- Since
- 1087 (Norman conquest); bishop since 1192
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The king, with the bishop's lordship over the church's lands (a Church map record). Bishop Urso (from 2 April 1192); his predecessor Bartholomew (bishop 1171-1191) became archbishop of Palermo and died late in 1199.
How things stand that morning
Inside the ground the regency is not known to have lost; side not pinned.
Council
No commune: the town is governed by the king's officers (a bailiff, baiulus, for markets, weights, measures and the grain supply, and royal judges), under the justiciar and the royal fiscal bureau at Palermo.
Communities
Latins, Greeks, Muslims of the town and countryside, Jews.
Walls and castle
Walled hill town with its castle and the cathedral founded by Bishop Gerland in the 1090s.
Trade and crafts
Grain shipped from the river mouth below the city; sulphur and salt of the hinterland (by later evidence).
Places of note
- Cathedral of San Gerlando: Bishop's church on the hill
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Bishop's dates and troubles from the it.wikipedia list (undated); nothing specific for 1199-1200.
On the map: Near land about 6 km round the city and its landing.
Primary sources for Sicily
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Montecassino; Annals of Ceccano (Fossanova) (12th and early 13th centuries; Ceccano to 1217). Two sets of annals from either side of the papal and Sicilian frontier. Read online
- Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, Richard of San Germano (first version about 1216, enlarged to 1243). The fullest southern narrative of the Hohenstaufen kingdom, written by a notary on the border of the Terra di Lavoro. Read online
- Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
- Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
- Chronicle of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Sicard of Cremona (about 1210 to 1213). A universal chronicle whose last part is a well-placed eyewitness account by a Lombard bishop who served emperors and popes. Read online
- The Deeds of Innocent III, Anonymous (a curial official, perhaps Peter of Benevento) (about 1208 to 1209). The curia's own account of the pontificate's first decade, with letters copied in. Read online
7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.