1189-1197 Emperor Henry VI claims the Sicilian throne in the right of his wife; he is opposed by Tancred of Lecce (d. 1194)
1198-1250 Frederick of Hohenstaufen (b.1194; later Emperor Frederick II)
1198 Queen Constance before her death places Frederick under the guardianship of Pope Innocent III; rivalry among German-Sicilian administrators
1208 Emperor Otto of Brunswick makes a claim to Sicily, opposed by the pope; Frederick of Hohenstaufen takes over government (but leaves for Germany, 1212)
1220 Frederick returns to Sicily having become Emperor Frederick II (he pretends to leave for Jerusalem, 1227, and actually leaves, 1228)
1229 Pope Gregory IX claims Sicily in Frederick’s absence, but he returns and re-establishes his authority
1231 Frederick II proclaims the Constitutions of Melfi (the Liber Augustalis), organizing the government of the Kingdom of Sicily under an apparatus of royal control (he leaves again for Germany, 1235)
1236 Frederick II begins a series of campaigns in northern Italy that drain the resources of Sicily (he returns to Apulia, 1249, and dies there)
1250-1254 Emperor Conrad IV; he names his illegitimate half-brother Manfred as vicar in Sicily and Italy
1254-1266 Manfred assumes power in his own right after Conrad IV’s death; (he is crowned at Palermo, 1258, and extends his influence to northern Italy)
1262 Charles of Anjou accepts Pope Urban IV’s offer of Sicilian kingship
1266 Battle of Benevento; Manfred defeated and killed by Charles
1268 Conradin (son of Conrad IV) leads an expedition to reclaim Sicily; at the battle of Tagliacozzo he is defeated by Charles and executed at Naples