Normans of Sicily. Messina mint. AE follaro (13 mm, 2.00 g). Tancred (1189-1194) with his son and co-king Roger III (1192-1193). Obverse: Inscription in Arabic "al-malik Tancred" (King Tancred). Reverse: Inscription in Latin ROGERIVS REX (King Roger). This coin: Stephen Album Internet-only Auction 33, lot 1401 (July 14-15, 2025). Tancred of Sicily was born in 1138, an illegitimate grandson of Roger II of Sicily. (Do not confuse Tancred of Sicily with the Tancred who was regent of the Principality of Antioch; though both were Normans, Tancred of Antioch died in 1112.) In 1161 he participated in a failed rebellion against William I ("The Bad") of Sicily and was exiled to Constantinople. When William I died in 1166, Tancred was allowed to return to Sicily, where he would prove faithful to his cousin, the new king William II ("The Good"). In 1174 Tancred led the Sicilian fleet against Egypt and briefly besieged Alexandria, but the Sicilian forces withdrew rather than face direct battle with Saladin's army. In 1185 Tancred again led Sicilian ships against Byzantine holdings in Thessalonica, Ithaca, Corfu, and Dyrrhachium, but although the Sicilians were initially victorious the Byzantine army eventually defeated the Sicilian troops, who could not hold the newly-conquered territory. A year later, Tancred led the fleet to support Isaac Comnenus on Cyprus in his rebellion against the Byzantine emperor Isaac II. In 1189, William II died with no surviving children. Although he had designated his aunt Constance as his heir, she was unpopular with the nobles, and Tancred quickly seized the throne. His reign would prove neither long nor prosperous. In 1190, both Richard I ("The Lionheart") of England and Philip II of France landed in Sicily with their armies. Richard I demanded the return of his sister Joan (widow of William II) along with her dowry and dower plus other payments William had promised towards the Crusades. Richard's army proceeded to loot the city of Messina. Both Richard and Philip left in early 1191, after forcing a peace treaty that gave them all their demands. Meanwhile, Constance had married Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, and Henry began conquering Norman holdings in the Italian mainland. Tancred managed to capture Constance alive, and although Tancred's wife suggested he simply kill Constance, Tancred treated her with courtesy; Pope Celestine III offered to hold her safely at Rome as neutral territory, but Imperial soldiers intercepted her at the border of the Papal States and returned her to Henry. Tancred died of natural causes in early 1194. Tancred had named his son Roger III as co-ruler in 1192, but Roger died in December 1193. Another young son of Tancred, William III, was proclaimed his successor, but in late 1194 Henry entered the Sicilian capitol of Palermo unopposed, ending Norman rule in Sicily. William III died in captivity a few years later. This is my second coin of the Normans of Sicily; I acquired a follaro of William II back in 2020. This coin is interesting, not only for the great medieval history behind it, but also for the use of both Arabic and Latin on the same coin. Sicily at the time still had a significant Arabic-speaking Muslim population, and many coins of the Normans of Sicily include Arabic legends (sometimes as the only legend!) in order to appeal to this segment of the population. It is also significant to me in a more personal way, as my ancestry stems from Sicily, and I can't help wondering if one of my ancestors used this very coin over 800 years ago. While that's impossible to prove, this is still a very interesting and historical coin. Please post whatever related coins you have.
