Hi everyone, I'm doing a paper on the night of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, but I just can't seem to settle with a research question I need to answer in my paper...
I'm more interested in what happened before then I thought maybe someone here could help me try and formulate a question, or give an interesting insight about the subject so I can specify on what I'd like to research within the theme.
I've already written a preface but I just don't know what I'm going to focus on.
I'm only supposed to use literature about the subject and not do actual field-research or anything spectacular.
Me: I'm a first years history bachelor student living in the Netherlands, for my paper I've read Steven Runcimans book called 'The Sicilian Vespers: a history of the mediterranean world in the later thirteenth century'.
A question which has occurred to me regarding the Sicilian Vespers, is, Was Pedro III of Aragon preparing to intervene in Sicily prior to that Easter Monday? Did he have any foreknowledge or involvement with anti-French elements on the island?
Pedro's wife, Constance, had a claim to the throne of Sicily. Pedro had built and equipped a war fleet. That fleet was conveniently positioned on the coast of Africa, near Tunis, at the time of the Vespers. Pedro sailed his fleet to Sicily, and ended up the winner, crowned as King Peter I of Sicily.
I don't know whether Pedro was preparing in advance for the possibility of intervening in Sicily, or whether he just seized the moment, but it might be an interesting question.