Roger III (, ; 1175 – 24 December 1193), of the

House of Hauteville The Hauteville family (, ) was a Norman family, originally of petty lords, from the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. In 1130, Roger II of Hauteville, ...

, was the eldest son and heir of King

Tancred of Sicily Tancred or Tankred is a masculine given name of Germanic origin that comes from ''thank-'' (thought) and ''-rath'' (counsel), meaning "well-thought advice". It was used in the High Middle Ages mainly by the Normans (see French Tancrède) and espe ...

and Queen Sibylla. He was made

Duke of Apulia The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1043, composed of the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It becam ...

(as Roger V), probably in 1189, shortly after his father's accession. In the summer of 1192 he was crowned co-king with his father. '' Follari'' were minted at

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

bearing both Tancred's and Roger's names as kings.

Philip Grierson Philip Grierson, (15 November 1910 – 15 January 2006) was a British historian and numismatist. He was Professor of Numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years. During his long and e ...

, Mark A. S. Blackburn and Lucia Travaini (eds.), ''Medieval European Coinage'', vol. 14: Italy (III) (South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia) ( Cambridge University Press, 1998), 79. In 1193, Tancred arranged for Roger to marry

Irene Angelina Irene Angelina (; – 27 August 1208) was a Byzantine princess and member of the Angelos dynasty and by her two marriages Queen of Sicily in 1193 and Queen of Germany from 1198 to 1208. Life Irene was born in Constantinople (modern-day Ista ...

, daughter of the

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (; September 1156 – 28 January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and co-Emperor with his son Alexios IV Angelos from 1203 to 1204. In a 1185 revolt against the Emperor Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac ...

.Hubert Houben, ''Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 174. Roger died on 24 December 1193, however, upsetting his father's plans. Tancred quickly had Roger's younger brother, William III, crowned as co-king, but Tancred himself died on 20 February 1194. On 20 November 1194, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI entered

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

and William was deposed on 25 December. In 1197 Roger's widow, Irene, married Henry VI's brother, Duke

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208), styled Philip II in his charters, was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of Philip's older brother Henry VI, Holy Roman E ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roger 03 Of Sicily 1175 births 1193 deaths 12th-century kings of Sicily Italo-Normans Hauteville family Sons of kings