Sicilian Medieval Studies The Ferraris Chronicle: Popes, Emperors, and Deeds in Apulia 1096-1228, (Paperback)

This is the first English translation of a chronicle completed in 1228 about the Normans and Swabians in Italy. Drawn partly from earlier works, it complements our knowledge of a complex era of Italian history. Its anonymous author was a monk at an abbey near Naples. His informative account breathes life into the figures who forged the Kingdom of Sicily, especially Frederick II, who the chronicler probably knew. This is the last chronicle contemporaneous to Frederick's reign to be translated into English. It takes us to the period immediately prior to his departure to claim the crown of Jerusalem. Discovered during the nineteenth century and conserved as a single known manuscript, it was first published, in the original Latin, in 1888. This volume includes a lengthy introduction, maps, genealogical tables, photographs, over 400 endnotes, a timeline, and features such as a list of personages with capsule biographies, concordance, and a bibliography. Jacqueline Alio, who authored this volume, is one of Sicily's leading medievalists, one of just a few Sicily-based history scholars whose books have been published in English.