The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was a dirty liar who only had one Sicily. To find out why this grave injustice was accepted watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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The Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies Famous for having only 1 Sicily This is obviously 1 of the most bare-faced lies in human history Alongside I promise I don't want any more of Czechoslovakia and I'll be home soon, sweetie And given that to everybody alive ever, even Dave, the name was obviously incorrect why did it have this name?

Why did the kingdom of the 2 Sicilies only have 1 Sicily?

Well, in order to find out, we need to go back to the medieval period.

By the mid-12th century, the southern Italian peninsula and Sicily had been united under the Normans.

Soon after, 1 of the Holy Roman Emperors inherited the kingdom and promptly fell out with the Pope, who then agreed to a French prince taking the kingdom, which he soon did, as Charles I.

And 20 years later, the people on Sicily came to a realisation.

This king kind of sucks, and so, rebellion.

The rebels asked for protection from King Peter of Aragon, who was happy to accept free land and peasants to work it.

This obviously led to war between the 2 kings, and Charles challenged Peter to a duel, which Peter accepted on the condition that it be held in English-held France and King Edward I of England referee it.

Now obviously this would have been amazing, which is why it could never happen.

Edward wanted nothing to do with this because he was too busy invading his neighbours.

Long story short, there was a lot of war and in the end it was agreed that Peter's second born son could have Sicily, but not him.

Peter then died, his heir then died shortly afterwards and everything went to his second son anyway, so everybody died for nothing.

And this is where the Kingdom of Sicily was broken up.

The Aragonese kept the Kingdom of Sicily which now only contained Sicily, and the French kept the rest of southern Italy which did not contain any Sicily.

This wasn't going to stop its rulers from keeping the name though, and with that, there were 2 kingdoms of Sicily.

These 2 kingdoms remained separate until the early 16th century, which was when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castile and Leon conquered the south, and all of these soon became a part of the Kingdom of Spain, but they were still separate entities from each other in terms of governance.

These 2 kingdoms would trade hands a couple more times before it was time for the French Revolution.

At this point, the Sicilies were ruled by King Ferdinand IV, who was a firm opponent of these new ideas.

Whilst Napoleon was busy doing his thing, Ferdinand pushed north to remove the French from the peninsula.

This went incredibly well, for the French, who soon pushed him out of the peninsula and promptly deposed him from 1 of his Sicilies.

As you'll all know, Napoleon eventually got sick of success and tried his hand at losing, which led to the victorious European powers trying to reset the continent at the Congress of Vienna.

Unsurprisingly, Ferdinand wanted his kingdom back and so sent delegates to petition for his restoration.

Cleverly, Ferdinand didn't want to be restored as the King of Sicily and the King of Sicily, but as the King of the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies.

This was because he wanted to reform and centralise his kingdom, but as 2 separate kingdoms there were powers he had in 1 realm that he lacked in the other.

With his restoration to a brand new kingdom, he could rewrite the constitution and centralise power and this would be backed by the great powers.

And so, after this, the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies would remain a part of the European family until its eventual conquest into Italy 45 years later, thereby ending perhaps the worst named kingdom ever.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching, with a special thanks to my patrons...

James Bizonette, Kelly Moneymaker, Korsho Wolf, Jordan Longley, Adam Stalter, Jerry Lambdin, Mark Osarsner, Wyan Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Words About Books Podcast, Gustav Swan, Captain Psydog, Rod D.

Martin, Camoon Yoon, Boogalee Woogalee, Mrs.

Z, Marvin Casow, Aaron the White, Matthew Shipley, Alex Schwin, Maggie Paskowski, Anthony Beckett, Max and Flaudio, The McWhopper, Corey Turner, Spinning 3 Plates, Copper Tone, Winston Cawood, Charles I and Scottish Trekkie.


Speaker 0: The Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies Famous for having only 1 Sicily This is obviously 1 of the most bare-faced lies in human history Alongside I promise I don't want any more of Czechoslovakia and I'll be home soon, sweetie And given that to everybody alive ever, even Dave, the name was obviously incorrect why did it have this name? Why did the kingdom of the 2 Sicilies only have 1 Sicily? Well, in order to find out, we need to go back to the medieval period. By the mid-12th century, the southern Italian peninsula and Sicily had been united under the Normans. Soon after, 1 of the Holy Roman Emperors inherited the kingdom and promptly fell out with the Pope, who then agreed to a French prince taking the kingdom, which he soon did, as Charles I.

And 20 years later, the people on Sicily came to a realisation. This king kind of sucks, and so, rebellion. The rebels asked for protection from King Peter of Aragon, who was happy to accept free land and peasants to work it. This obviously led to war between the 2 kings, and Charles challenged Peter to a duel, which Peter accepted on the condition that it be held in English-held France and King Edward I of England referee it. Now obviously this would have been amazing, which is why it could never happen.

Edward wanted nothing to do with this because he was too busy invading his neighbours. Long story short, there was a lot of war and in the end it was agreed that Peter's second born son could have Sicily, but not him. Peter then died, his heir then died shortly afterwards and everything went to his second son anyway, so everybody died for nothing. And this is where the Kingdom of Sicily was broken up. The Aragonese kept the Kingdom of Sicily which now only contained Sicily, and the French kept the rest of southern Italy which did not contain any Sicily.

This wasn't going to stop its rulers from keeping the name though, and with that, there were 2 kingdoms of Sicily. These 2 kingdoms remained separate until the early 16th century, which was when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Castile and Leon conquered the south, and all of these soon became a part of the Kingdom of Spain, but they were still separate entities from each other in terms of governance. These 2 kingdoms would trade hands a couple more times before it was time for the French Revolution. At this point, the Sicilies were ruled by King Ferdinand IV, who was a firm opponent of these new ideas. Whilst Napoleon was busy doing his thing, Ferdinand pushed north to remove the French from the peninsula.

This went incredibly well, for the French, who soon pushed him out of the peninsula and promptly deposed him from 1 of his Sicilies. As you'll all know, Napoleon eventually got sick of success and tried his hand at losing, which led to the victorious European powers trying to reset the continent at the Congress of Vienna. Unsurprisingly, Ferdinand wanted his kingdom back and so sent delegates to petition for his restoration. Cleverly, Ferdinand didn't want to be restored as the King of Sicily and the King of Sicily, but as the King of the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies. This was because he wanted to reform and centralise his kingdom, but as 2 separate kingdoms there were powers he had in 1 realm that he lacked in the other.

With his restoration to a brand new kingdom, he could rewrite the constitution and centralise power and this would be backed by the great powers. And so, after this, the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies would remain a part of the European family until its eventual conquest into Italy 45 years later, thereby ending perhaps the worst named kingdom ever. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching, with a special thanks to my patrons... James Bizonette, Kelly Moneymaker, Korsho Wolf, Jordan Longley, Adam Stalter, Jerry Lambdin, Mark Osarsner, Wyan Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Words About Books Podcast, Gustav Swan, Captain Psydog, Rod D. Martin, Camoon Yoon, Boogalee Woogalee, Mrs.

Z, Marvin Casow, Aaron the White, Matthew Shipley, Alex Schwin, Maggie Paskowski, Anthony Beckett, Max and Flaudio, The McWhopper, Corey Turner, Spinning 3 Plates, Copper Tone, Winston Cawood, Charles I and Scottish Trekkie.

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Why did the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies only have one Sicily? (Short Animated Documentary)