The French in the Kingdom of Sicily, 1266–1305 (review)

In the mid-1260s, Charles d’Anjou, youngest brother of the French king Louis IX, defeated the descendants of the Emperor Frederick II and laid claim to their southern Italian kingdom. In this detailed and considered study, Jean Dunbabin sets out to explore the impact the presence of Angevin rule in the Regno had upon northern France. The book draws to a close in 1305, after which: ‘southern influences on France … dwindled to the almost unnoticeable’ (p. 2). By exploring the cultural, social, administrative, intellectual, and military impact of four decades of French involvement in southern Italian affairs, Dunbabin consciously seeks to question a view she identifies with historians such as Robert Bartlett: the idea that French influences were dominant in this period, with Capetian France setting a pattern that was imitated across Europe. Dunbabin is largely successful in demonstrating that, prior to the French defeat at Courtrai, southern Italy played a role in the development of Capetian government, as well as in northern France’s intellectual and cultural life.

The book is divided into four parts preceded by an Introduction. In Part I, ‘Means of communication’, Dunbabin surveys the nature of the links that bound northern France to southern Italy. The three chapters that comprise this section of the book consider the practicalities of travel and moving money, as well as the diplomatic links between the royal courts. The second part, ‘Indirect channels of communication’, consists of one chapter. It begins by exploring the role Angevin lands north of the Alps played in the diffusion of southern Italian culture and ideas. In Dunbabin’s view the role was, based on the available evidence, minimal. The chapter moves on to explore the part played in the transmission of ideas by those who passed through the Regno, such as Philippe III, and those who were temporary visitors, such as the counts of Vaudémont.

In Part III, ‘Settlers in the Regno’, Dunbabin offers a detailed study of those individuals and families who established themselves in southern Italy for a prolonged period. This part begins with Robert II d’Artois and the Dampierre family, and moves on to consider less important aristocrats. Rich in detail, these five chapters end by assessing why the French were committed to involvement in the south, and exploring the nature of their lives in the Regno.

In its final part, ‘Cultural and political impacts’, the book offers eight varied chapters that explore the impact of French experience in the Regno on everything from royal ideology and administration, to literature and medicine. The book ends with a clear conclusion, preceded by a short epilogue. The latter focuses on physical structures in northern France, such as the gardens at Hesdin and the hospital at Tonnerre, which would have perpetuated the memory of involvement in the Angevin kingdom.

Amongst the many excellent features worth highlighting is the book’s discussion of the role of Robert II d’Artois. This reflects a profound knowledge of the sources, both printed and archival. By demonstrating that many of the innovations in Capetian administration – ranging from enregistering documents to new forms of taxation and the development of popular assemblies – had clear links to the Regno via Robert, Dunbabin convincingly challenges traditional assumptions about the evolution of government during Philippe IV’s reign.

At the same time, certain aspects of the book might have benefitted from further development. The discussion in Chapter 14 of the importance of Robert’s sumptuary laws in the development of French practices would be more convincing if discussion of Philippe III’s own legislation in this area was not relegated to an appendix. In discussing ties between the royal courts, Dunbabin all too quickly passes over a potentially significant aspect of Capetian–Angevin diplomatic relations: Philippe III’s candidature for the position of western emperor in 1273 (not 1272, cf. p. 191). Nor is her argument that the origins...