| The Normans in the Mediterranean |
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7 |
King of Sicily, duke of Apulia and Calabria |
The elevation of the possessions in southern Italy to the status of kingdom in 1130 was far from being a concrete political reality. Roger II had to face ten more years of war against the papal powers, the barons of southern Italy and the German Emperor before finally installing his authority.
In 1140, with the Assizes of Ariano, he laid the juridical foundations for the organization of his kingdom, in which the feudal structures were counterbalanced by the presence of a solid bureaucracy nominated by the king.
Roger II’s foreign policy was based on a dream of a Norman Mediterranean region and a strong diplomatic and warlike policy towards North Africa and Byzantine East.
The king against the pope, the emperor and the barons
