City · Kingdom of Sicily under the regency · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Rossano

Rossano, on its hill above the Ionian plain of Sibari, is the great Greek city of Calabria: a royal city whose archbishop, Paschal (in office before February 1198 to 1218), is a Greek, whose cathedral keeps the Greek rite (it will do so until 1461), and whose hills hold the Greek monastery of Santa Maria del Patir, founded at the end of the eleventh century and a centre of Greek learning and liturgy.

Constance and the boy king granted Archbishop Paschal a privilege at Messina in February 1198. The Normans tried and failed to latinise it. On 1 January 1200 it is regency ground.

Who holds it

Name
The crown (royal city); the Greek archbishop Paschal is the great resident lord
Title
Royal city
Since
Not pinned
Confidence
medium

it.wikipedia (Rossano-Cariati): archbishops Cosma (before June 1187 to after May 1196) and Pasquale (before February 1198 to 1218); Greek rite to 1461; the Patir. Huillard-Breholles: Paschal, archbishop of Rossano, receives a royal privilege at Messina in February 1198. Federiciana: Rossano a royal city; the Florensians took over Greek monasteries in the Sila dioceses, Rossano among them (undated).

Lord in 1200

The crown (royal city); the Greek archbishop Paschal is the great resident lord

Overlord

The king, the boy Frederick, under the pope's wardship and the regency council at Palermo

How things stand that morning

Regency ground (realm sicily): no German captain, siege or raid is recorded here in the winter of 1199-1200 in the sources checked.

Wealth

Oil, silk and grain; the archbishop's and the Greek monasteries' estates.

Military

No figures.

Threats

  • Latin and Florensian pressure on the Greek monasteries
  • Coastal raids on the Ionian shore

Charter

No town charter is known; the town lives by the king's law and the customs confirmed by the Norman kings.

Council

No commune; the archbishop, the Greek clergy and the leading families deal with the royal officers.

Communities

Greek clergy and townsmen (the dominant rite), Latin settlers and officers; Greek monks of the Patir and other houses.

Militia

Townsmen owe guard and service to the lord and the crown; no figures.

Walls and castle

Hill-town walls and castle (not detailed in the sources checked).

Trade and crafts

Olive oil, silk, grain of the Sibari plain, timber of the Sila; a small Ionian landing.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1200No dated event for this lordship was found for 1200.Depends on: Nothing in play. Stopped by: Nothing in play.

Places of note

  • Santa Maria del Patir: Greek monastery founded at the end of the eleventh century (Church map record); position approximate

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The archbishop and the Greek rite are fair; the city's lay officers in 1200 are not pinned.

On the map: Near land only.

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.

7 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.

Sources and studies

  1. Arcidiocesi di Rossano-Cariati (it.wikipedia, cronotassi)
  2. Huillard-Breholles, Historia diplomatica Friderici secundi, I.1 (1852), archive.org
  3. Calabria, Enciclopedia Federiciana (treccani.it)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.