[1] Martin was born the son of Fredrick the Simple in 1363. His father's reign was plagued with war and the actual plague. That was why when Martin came to the throne at fourteen, he was determined to ensure that Sicily become powerful. He first had himself declared able to rule without a regent, noting that they would only get in his way. He did so by establishing trade with Venice, making alliances with several Italian dukes. He also arranged the marriage between himself and Joanna of Naples who was eight years younger.
The marriage (which took place in 1387, just after his brother-in-law took the crown of Naples. Martin and Joanna would have a fruitful marriage having seven children. It prove a success in another way. For during a visit, King Ladislaus fell deathly ill (some suspect he might have been poisoned) in 1394, He died, leaving Joanna as his heir. Martin wasted no time getting the pope's approval for his wife's claim.
Through gold, Martin secured the Catholic Church's backing and through diplomacy, he had managed to gain the support of the Italian dukes. In 1401, King Martin and Queen Joanna would declare themselves the co-monarchs of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Then in 1410, King Martin of Aragon would die childless. The new king of the Two Sicilies decided to take advantage of the chaos that followed to conqueror Sardina and Corsica. In 1414, he would make a treaty with the new King Ferdinand of Aragon with Martin signing away his claim for Aragon in exchange for Ferdinand agreeing that he had no claim over the Italian kingdoms nor Sardina or Corsica.
Martin would die in 1435, having achieved his goal of making Sicily more powerful. His grandson would succeed him.
[2] Born in 1388, Martin the Younger, as he was called upon his birth, was the firstborn son and child of the future joint monarchs of the two sicilies. He was given the best education possible and he was thaught by his parents to pay equally as much attention to all his future domains, even the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, for a King that did not care nor would protect it’s people was no King at all.
Upon his 20th Birthday Martin was married to the daughter of one of his parents biggest supporters, One Beatrice from one of naples most dignified Dukedoms, their marriage was a happy one and would go on to produce 4 sons and 3 daughters.
Upon taking the throne Martin would be a patron of the arts and donate well to the poor, earning himself the epithet “the Beloved” while also maintaining cordial relations with the trastamaras of aragon and castile for he was wary of French invasion of his beloved kingdoms.
Martin would pass away of old age at 72, leaving behind a stable legacy and kingdom for his grandson to guide further up.
[3] Born Manfred, the only son of Martin the Younger's son and heir, Frederick of Taranto, and to his wife, a prominent member of the Kastrioti Albanian family, Manfred was from a young age a prominent linguist and translator, a consequence of the rich cultural background but also a fervent student and physically active, often being called the perfect prince. Unlikely for other princes of his age, Manfred of Taranto was a navy man first and for all - although he would come on to lead battles on land and expand the "Sicilian Empire", Manfred's greatest legacy as a mariner is perhaps the building of one of the first professional fleets of the age, which came to dominate the Meditteranean sea, ensuring Sicilian Thassalacracy.
Manfred, born in 1432, would marry Helena Palaiogina, granddaughter and niece of Byzantine Emperors to increase Sicilian influence in Greece and the Aegean. To Palermo, Manfred's preferred seat and home, would come first a wave of courtiers following his wife, and, with him as the heir of such an influential Kingdom, Palermo, Naples, Cagliari, Syracuse, Taranto, Bari, Reggio, Salerno and Catania and Messina all became the first-stop of Byzantine and Balkan refugees to Europe, kickstarting the Sicilian renaissance and greatly strengthening the Kingdom in the days to come.
With Helena at his side, Manfred became King in 1460, eager to continue his father's prosperous reign. Manfred continued to repress the power of the Sicilian and Sardinian barons, expanding royal land and remove threats to royal power that had been allowed to linger during the reign of Martin the II. At the internal level, Manfred followed a progressive, if long policy, but one that one would change the realms for the better. Manfred promulgated charters, increasing the autonomy and loyalty of the cities, expanding their ports and investing in their artisans, hoping to turn the Two Sicilies into a realm of artisans and industry, while also expanding agriculture in the country-side, founding many interior towns and greatly improving land connections and standards of live in the interior of what was a mainly coastal realm.
While Manfred is well-remembered as a patron of the arts and a talented administrator and innovator, it is his military exploits which bring him the most fame. The growth of Sicilian ship industry and a growing culture of corsairs - ship captains given letters of marque by Manfred who were legally permitted to engage in piracy against muslim merchants and raid muslim coasts in the mediterranean, provided Manfred with the tool to acomplish his greatest goal - the recovery of Norman Africa. A succession crisis amongst the Hafsids in 1470 provided Manfred with the perfect opportunity, allowing him to conquer the Hafsid Sultanate and other lands such as Kabylia and Tripoli. As had been done before, toleration was enforced, although muslims had to pay a kind of jyzia, while Christians in the land did not. With Romance and Christian africans decimated during the two centuries since Norman Sicily, Manfred became their protector, greatly boosting the small community into recovery and linguistic independence. Nonetheless, for the most part, Sicilian Africa post-Manfred became a hotbed of immigration - especially Sicilians, Sardinians and Corsicans, whose population outgrew it's development. Other than other Italian immigrants, especially from the maritime republics, it would be the Albanians Stratioti who would help secure the hold in Africa.
The movement of Albanian people to the Kingdom of Africa came after the fall of the Principality and the death of Skanderberg, upon which Manfred, his adopted heir, managed to secure Albania's independence, fighting two wars with Mehmed the II to secure the small outpost in the Balkans and dominion over the Adriatic. Nonetheless, Albania had been badly affected by the conflicts, leaving many people homeless and especially, soldiers and mercenaries without a war to fight. Thus, Albanian, Epirote and even slavic stratioti and other soldiers, and their families, found a new life in the Kingdom of Africa, serving in garrisons in the muslim-majority land, with the Stratioti especially coming to settle the interior. Such as he did in the rest of his realm, Manfred also was decided to reform and improve his Kingdom of Africa. From his African capital of Carthage, (Tunis and Old Carthage were joined together into a single administration by Manfred, coming to simply be known as Carthage, a name more favourable to Italians and Christians), the fight was brought to the berber tribes that dominated the interior and measures to end over-grazing and re-start's ancient Africa's agriculture were started - forestation and agricultural projects were the staple of Manfred's Africa.
At the end of his reign, Manfred had managed to not only keep but expand on the legacy of his grandfather and great-grandfather, but also expand it enormously and improve it. The Two Sicilies and Africa would come to be referred as the "Sicilian Empire", at least informally, during his time. Manfred would die of old age in 1487, leaving behind his elderly wife and their children and further descendants.
[4] Fredrick was born in 1449. It is often suggested that if he were not his father's first born son, he would have joined the church. One of his great dreams was to reclaim the holy land. As he grew older, he traveled several times to his father's holdings to Africa, in hopes of spreading the glory of God. He would fund a grand church to be built in Carthage. He was sometimes jokingly referred to as the Prince of Africa for the amount of time he spent there.
There were rumors that he didn't just stay there for religion. There was a great lot of suspicion that he was involved with a native African woman by the name of Lulit. It is not known the extent of their relationship, but Fredrick spent so much time with her, even allowing her to be by his side when he spoke to his visitors. The fact that he took her children as his wards did nothing to lesson the gossip.
This did not help his relationship with his wife, Ippolita Maria Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan. Despite sharing her husband's fevor for religion, Ippolita did not understand why he insisted on staying in a land filled with heathen savages. Fredrick argued it was their Christian duty to "save those wretched souls" and that no one should be denied God's love.
Ippolita would give birth to three children in between the years of 1469-1472. Afterwards, she demanded that they return to Sicily so her children could be raised properly. Fredrick refused and it took three years before he agreed allowed his wife and their offspring to return to Sicily. Unfortunately during the boat ride, Ippolita and their youngest, Peter fell ill during the journey. They would not survive.
Despite not loving his wife, Fredrick returned to court (along with Lulit and his wards) for the funeral. He agreed to stay in Sicily, commissioning several churches, schoolrooms, and poorhouses to be built. He would not marry again, preferring to dedicate himself to God's work (which many joked was his pet name for Lulit).
In 1482, Fredrick would support the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile in their fight against the Muslims still leaving in the Iberia peninsula. He would spend several years there, even arranging a match between their children and his before returning to Sicily upon learning of his father's death. He insisted on being crowned in Rome in a grand ceremony.
For the next twenty-eight years, Fredrick would spend most his time fighting against the Turks, defending his mother's homeland along with his countries in Africa. Eventually his age caught up with him and he died in 1515. He would be declared a saint a century later.
[5] James was born, in 1469, the eldest child of Frederick and Ippolita Maria Sforza, in the royal residence in Carthage.
It was here that his mother raised him for six years, in a loving and playful upbringing before the planned move back to Sicily.
On that ill fated journey, James, would watch in horror as his mother and brother, Peter, slowly died of a terrible illness, and once dead, many feared keeping their bodies on board, but James would not have them thrown overboard, instead he would stand guard outside their room until their
Following these death, many of the courtiers whom had grown up with the young Prince noted how solemn and joyless he had become and many historians pin point the passing of his mother and brother to be the moment where James lost his faith.
James would train fiercely, gaining martial skills along with learning tactical knowledge. In 1482, 13 year old, James would travel with his father and the Sicilian army to the Iberian Peninsula, to see first hand, the wars that were being fought across Europe.
As was arranged by his father, James would marry in 1493, Infanta Joanna (1479–1555), the third surviving child and second daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Their first child was born in 1496, and would be followed by nine siblings.
Although a marriage arrange for political reasons, the pair shared genuine affections and would live happily together for the rest of James’s life.
Joanna was not expected to succeeded to be in line to the throne, however following the deaths of her brother, John, Prince of Asturias, in 1497, her elder sister Isabella in 1498, and her nephew Miguel in 1500, Joanna became the heir presumptive to the crowns of Castile and Aragon.
When Joanna’s mother, Queen Isabella I of Castile, died in 1504, she became Queen of Castile, while James was proclaimed king, upon their joint coronation in 1505.
1515 and 1516, respectively saw the death of both their fathers, seeing two more major kingdoms added to their titles. The death of his father came as a relief to James following years of resentment being bottled away due to James’s view on how his father treated his mother and blaming his father for the events that led up to the deaths of mother and Peter.
The strain of ruling this large empire and continuing the expansions by wars across their African borders would lead James into an early death aged 56 in 1525.
His nickname came about due to a plethora of reasons:
- His strong sense of duty and justice was as unbending as iron.
- His heart being viewed as cold and hard.
- For ruling with an iron fist.
- His protective nature to his family, his honour, his duty and to his country.
- For is iron-willed decision.
After his death, his remains were buried under an iron statue, outside the High Court Justice building in Palermo
