King Manfred was the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, reigning from 1258 until his death. ITALY, SICILY, PIETRO & COSTANZA (1282-5), PIERREALE D’ORO – RARE, SUPERB The state he created was merged with the Duchy of Apulia (which his brother ruled) in 1127 AD and subsequently became the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130. The conquest was reaching completion when Syracuse surrendered in 1086 in 1091 when Noto yielded, it was complete. Ruggero undertook many battles from 1061 onwards against Muslim forces, the most notable being Battle of Cerami (1063) and the taking of Palermo in 1072. At the time, Sicily was ruled by a Muslim Emir and the population was predominantly Byzantine-Greek. Ruggero participated in several military expeditions against the Emirate of Sicily and was subsequently invested with a part of the island and the title by his brother Robert Guiscard, the Duke of Apulia. He was born in Normandy and came to South Italy in 1057. This coin dates from the reign of Ruggero I, nicknamed Ruggero The Great, who was a Norman nobleman who became the first Count of Sicily in 1062. Much of the territory was conquered independently by overlords and only later unified into a single entity. Unlike the Norman conquest of England (1066) which was sealed by one decisive battle, the Norman conquest of Italy was a slow-burn, gaining momentum over decades and with numerous battles. After approximately half a century, the Norman forces united and became one independent state. They saw the conquest opportunities in the Mediterranean and started their conquest with establishment of various fiefdoms. Normans first arrived to South Italy as mercenaries in the service of Lombard and Byzantine forces.
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The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1139. Italy, Normans of Sicily, Ruggero I (1071–1101 AD), gold Tarì.