Maria, Queen of Sicily

Maria (2 July 1363 – 25 May 1401) was Queen of Sicily and Duchess of Athens and Neopatria from 1377 until her death.

Accession

Born in Catania, she was the daughter and heir of Frederick the Simple by his first wife Constance of Aragon. As she was very young at the time of her father's death in 1377, her government was effectively taken over by four baronial families who styled themselves "vicars".

Unrest

The regent named by Maria's father, Artale Alagona, was initially forced to form a government with other three Vicars, including Francesco II count of Ventimiglia, Manfredi III Chiaramonte, count of Modica, and Guglielmo Peralta, count of Caltabellotta, with a parity of exponents of the "Italian" and "Aragonese" parties. However, the four men ruled in their separate baronial lands alone. In 1379 she was kidnapped by count William Raymond of Montcada, Sicilian nobleman and member of the Aragonese House of Montcada, to prevent her marriage with Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, and imprisoned for two years at Licata. Montcada's move had been approved by King Peter IV of Aragon. In 1382 Maria was rescued by an Aragonese fleet; she was taken first to Sardinia, then, in 1384, to Aragon, where she was married to Martin the Younger, the grandson of Peter IV (1389).

List of Sicilian consorts

This is a list of consorts of the Kingdom of Sicily. Many Kings of Sicily had more than one wife; they may have divorced their wife or she might have died.

Countesses of Sicily

House of Hauteville, 1130–1198

Queens consort of Sicily

House of Hauteville, 1130–1198

House of Hohenstaufen, 1194–1266

Capetian House of Anjou, 1266–1282

House of Barcelona, 1282–1410

House of Trastamara, 1412–1516

Consorts of Claimants against John II, 1462–1472

During the War against John II, there were three who claimed his throne, though this never included the Kingdom of Valencia. One of the three was Peter V of Aragon who remained a bachelor. The others Henry IV of Castile and René of Anjou had wives during their reign as pretenders. The wive of Henry IV was Joan of Portugal, a Portuguese infanta daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. The first wive of Rene died prior to 1462; his second wife was Jeanne de Laval, a French noblewoman and daughter Guy XIV de Laval, Count of Laval and Isabella of Brittany.

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.