What Happened with the Muslim Majority of Sicily?

It's the 10th century. Sicily, the island that is nowadays part of Italy, is under Islamic rule. The island of Sicily has been the battlefield and prize of empires for thousands of years. For many centuries, it came under the sway of Muslim rulers who brought their faith with them and shifted the island's religious landscape. However, this shift didn't last and Christian rule would return to the island shortly after. But how? In this video, we'll see how Sicily went from a Muslim stronghold back to a Christian-ruled island. The island of Sicily has a long and storied history. At various points, it was ruled by Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines, to name a few. Its central position in the The island became Christian under the Roman Empire and remained so under centuries of Byzantine rule. In 827, the Muslim Aghlabids of Tunisia, vassals of the Abbasid Caliphate, invaded the island to topple the Byzantine government. The resulting campaigns stretched on for decades as the One by one though, the cities fell. Palermo was taken in 831, Messina in 843, and Syracuse in 878. By the end of the 9th century, Muslims had effective control of almost the entire island. Muslim rule in Sicily brought many changes. The conquest had been brutal and caused significant depopulation in some Christian communities. In their place, Muslim colonists settled and shifted the religious landscape of the island towards Islam. However, most of the island's population was Christian for most of the Muslim period. They were subject to the Jizya tax, paid by all non-Muslims in Muslim lands, but they were generally left alone to practice their faith. Churches were allowed to keep operating and the Muslim rulers did not make a serious effort to convert the masses to Islam. Still, through a combination of immigration and conversion, around half of Sicily's population became Muslim by the middle of the 11th century. Sicily developed a rich and prosperous society under Muslim rule. The island saw the introduction of new farming techniques and new crops, like dates and sugarcane, that were valuable trading goods. Thanks to its geographic position, Muslim rulers, and Christian population, Sicily was perfectly positioned to become one of the biggest trading hubs in the Mediterranean, and enjoyed commerce with every power in the sea. This turned Sicily into one of the wealthiest and most vibrant societies in Europe. This prosperity was a double-edged sword. The Byzantines never stopped trying to reclaim the island, and the Italian states grew increasingly interested as well. The ruling Muslims also developed a strong sense of identity and independence that led them away from the rest of the Muslim world. It also encouraged infighting among the island's wealthy and ambitious nobles, resulting in the overthrow of the ruling Aghlabids by the rival Fatimids in 909. The Fatimids would move their power base to Egypt, leaving another dynasty, the Kalbids, to rule Sicily in their place. But Fatimid power would not last. By the 11th century, Sicily was plagued by constant outside threats, eager to seize the island for themselves. The Kalbids faced conspiracies or open conflict with the Muslim Zirids of North Africa, the Byzantines, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Italian states. They also faced serious divisions on the island. In 1035, a devastating civil war erupted between the Kalbid brothers Emir al-Aqal and Abu Hafs. Abu Hafs called in the support of the North African Zirids while al-Aqal appealed to the Byzantines. Both brothers promised their foreign ally friendship and cooperation from their portion of Sicily. Abu Hafs and the Zirids successfully defeated and killed al-Aqal before the Emir's Byzantine allies could arrive. But the civil war left Sicily weak and vulnerable. The Byzantines realized that now was the chance to reclaim Sicily for Christianity, but it would not go quite as they planned. A Byzantine army set out in 1038 to conquer the island. The army, under General George Maniakes, stopped first in Italy to recruit mercenary support for their conquest. Among those mercenaries were the Normans. The Normans were descendants of the Vikings who had settled in northern France. They'd already earned themselves a reputation as incredible warriors and were highly sought after as mercenaries across Europe. Three hundred Normans joined the Byzantine army that landed in Sicily. In the summer of 1038, the Byzantine army swiftly captured Messina and enjoyed a string of easy successes against the disorganized Muslims over the following two years, resulting in the capture of Syracuse in 1040. One Norman family in particular, the Hautvilles, distinguished themselves through the campaign. William of Hautville personally killed the Emir of Syracuse in battle by riding him off of his horse, earning him the nickname of William the Iron Arm. The Byzantine successes did not last. General Maniakes was replaced by a eunuch named Basil after Maniakes had a spectacular falling out with the Emperor's young brother-in-law, who was also the admiral of Maniakes' fleet. Without Maniakes' leadership, the Byzantine campaign collapsed and the Muslims were able to halt their advance. The Normans grew frustrated with the Byzantines for not giving them a fair share of the spoils for Norman contributions to the campaign and returned to Italy. The Muslims reclaimed most of the island from the Byzantines in the following years, but the Normans back in Italy were making incredible progress as well. Following a war with the Pope, where the Normans won and secured their place in Italy, the Pope recognized the Normans as the Apulia and Calabria, as well as of Sicily. The Papacy had never controlled Sicily, nor had the Normans, but the intention was clear. The Normans wanted it for themselves and the Pope was giving his stamp of approval for them to take it. In 1061, the Hautville brothers Robert and Roger launched a campaign to capture Sicily from the Muslims once and for all. Messina fell within a day. The rivalries that had consumed Muslim Sicily were so intense that the Muslim emir of Syracuse welcomed the Normans and allied with them against the other Muslims on the island. In 1063, Robert, Roger, and the emir defeated their Muslim opponents at the Battle of Cherami, securing Norman presence on Sicily, but not delivering a decisive blow to claim the island entirely. In fact, the Norman conquest of Sicily would take another 30 years. Frequent issues back in mainland Italy regularly drew Robert back there, which resulted in repeated pauses of the Sicilian campaign. Progress was slow, but the Normans steadily whittled down their enemy. In 1068, they defeated the Zirids and Kalbids at the Battle of Misilmeri, which caused the Zirids to abandon their intervention in Sicily. Then, in 1072, the Normans captured Palermo, securing control of most of the island. Robert died in 1085, without seeing the entire island conquered. Roger continued the campaigns with a daring attack on Syracuse in 1086. According to Norman historians, Roger led the attack on Syracuse in person and boarded the emir's ship in the middle of the battle. The emir was terrified and tried to escape, only to fall in the water and drown under the weight of his armor. The surviving defenders withdrew behind the city walls and only surrendered five months later. The Normans spent the next few years mopping up the remaining Muslim towns and fortresses across the island, but by 1091 Sicily was fully under Norman control. Christian control had returned to Sicily, but the Muslims weren't going anywhere anytime soon. The Normans would go on to develop a reputation as fierce crusaders and defenders of the Catholic faith. It is surprising then that Norman treatment of Muslims in Sicily was notably tolerant for the period. Over half of Sicily's population was Muslim in 1091, and the Normans wisely chose not to antagonize most of their new subjects. There was no significant persecution of Muslims during or after the conquest, and they were instead embraced as equal subjects. Mosques and other Islamic institutions were allowed to continue uninterrupted, and Muslims could be found in every aspect of Norman Sicilian society. Muslim soldiers served as Norman armies, Muslim engineers built their siege equipment, Muslim bureaucrats collected their taxes, and Muslim poets composed art that was enjoyed and patronized by the Norman ruling class. Sicily was a symbol of cultural diversity and cooperation. With a mix of Muslim, Catholic, and Eastern Christian influences that produced one of the most stable, peaceful, and prosperous societies of the medieval period. Arabic remained one of the official languages of the island, and several of the Norman kings learned it. The island was one of the centers of Islamic and Christian scholarship, with a constant exchange of ideas like philosophy, theology, geography, and literature that showed remarkable cooperation between the faiths at a time when Christian-Muslim relations elsewhere were strained thanks to the Crusades. But while Muslims remained an important part of Sicily, they were undeniably a shrinking one. The fact was that the Normans were still devout Christians and active Crusaders. The elite classes were dominated by Christianity, and Muslims were encouraged to convert to achieve social advancement. Like the Muslims had done after their conquest, the Normans had also began importing Christian settlers to populate the island, mostly Italian and French. Over the 200 years of Norman rule, the number of Muslims slowly declined, both proportionally and in raw numbers, as new Christian society took hold. A similar decline befell the Orthodox Christians of the island, who found themselves displaced by Catholics. It was not a violent decline, but it was a steady one. However, the Normans would not rule Sicily forever, and the end of Norman rule would signal the true end of Muslim Sicily. In 1184, William II of Sicily was still without any heirs, when the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa approached him with a marriage proposal. William's aunt, who was actually younger than William, to marry Prince Henry, the future Holy Roman Emperor. Even at the time, it was a risky move. If William died without heirs, then Sicily would rightfully pass to Prince Henry. However, he was confident that he would have plenty of time to secure an heir, and agreed to the marriage anyway. Five years later, William died childless. Desperate to avoid foreign rule, William's illegitimate cousin, Tancred, declared himself King of Sicily. The timing was both excellent and terrible. On the one hand, Barbarossa was occupied with the Third Crusade, during which he unceremoniously drowned, meaning that the Holy Roman Empire was in no position to press their claim in Sicily. On the other hand, under medieval law, his son Henry was now the legal heir to Sicily. It was only a matter of time before the new Emperor came for Sicily. Fortunately, Tancred didn't have to worry for long, since he died suddenly in 1194, leaving the throne wide open for Henry. Henry's coronation as King of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral on Christmas Day 1194 marked the end of Norman Sicily, and the beginning of the end for Muslim Sicily too. Henry was a dreadful ruler for the island. He cared nothing for Sicily, and brutally extracted resources and wealth from it to fuel his ambitions elsewhere. His reign was so oppressive that much of the island broke out in open rebellion. Norman nobles, Greek Christian subjects, and Muslim peasants alike rejected Henry's reign as tyranny. Henry responded with immense brutality, executing rebel leaders and massacring hundreds of people. Sicily's Muslims suffered heavily. Henry's sudden death in 1197 didn't make things better. His son Frederick was still an infant, and Sicily would remain in chaos for the next twenty years. A succession of German barons ruled while Prince Frederick was raised under papal protection, and they were just as hated as Henry. Resistance continued across the island, particularly by Muslim groups in Western Sicily. It took until 1220 for Frederick II to return to the island and restore order. By now, pockets of Western Sicily were effectively in the hands of Muslim rebels under their leader Ibn Abad. In 1222, Frederick's armies marched west and crushed these rebels. Ibn Abad was executed, but Frederick feared that someone would soon rise and take his place. He decided it was better to address the recurring uprisings once and for all. Between 1222 and 1226, Frederick ordered the total expulsion of most Muslims from the island. By now, there were only between 15 and 20,000 of them left. Frederick had them deported to the Italian town of Lucera, in Apulia instead. Once at Lucera, the Muslims were treated well, and given freedom to worship and live as they pleased. The few remaining Muslims of Sicily had joined them by the 1240s. Muslims had all but vanished from Sicily. Sicily's Muslim age was over, but it left its mark in Sicily's unique culture, which still bears the hallmarks of its complicated history to this day. 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