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Description
This is the first English translation of this work written in Sicilian around 1290 as a memoir by John of Procida, sometime chancellor of Frederick II, the distinguished monarch who died in 1250. It is the earliest known narrative written in the medieval Sicilian vernacular and a significant literary landmark. Included are the original text and explanatory notes, a glossary, maps, genealogical tables, a list describing people mentioned in the account, photographs, a detailed bibliography, and a description of events leading to the Sicilian Vespers revolt of 1282. The major chronicles of these events are the work of personages such as Bartholomew of Nicastro, who lived in Messina, while this work is essentially "narrative nonfiction," or even a slightly fictionalized version of the events that transpired, with John as a protagonist. It therefore reflects the point of view of an actual participant rather than an observer. The memoir complements contemporary chronicles and other sources by describing the personalities of the participants as John knew them. Significantly, it reflects the spirit of Sicilian culture during the last decades of the tumultuous thirteenth century.
About the Author
Louis Mendola is one of Sicily's foremost medievalists, and one of the very few whose work is known beyond Italian borders. His first scholarly paper (on the Battle of Benevento of 1266) was published in 1985; others consider such topics as the history of the medieval Normans in Sicily. He wrote the first book covering the entire seven-century history of the Kingdom of Sicily, and the first English translations of two chronicles of the thirteenth century. Having researched in Italy, Britain, Spain, Germany, France and the Vatican, he has been consulted by The History Channel, the BBC and The New York Times. Read by millions internationally, his online articles have made him one of the most popular Sicilian historians of the present century.
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