George of Antioch

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named George of Antioch, see George of Antioch (disambiguation).
Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio in Palermo
, founded by George of Antioch.
Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio
.

George of Antioch

Tamim ibn Muizz, rising to the position of governor of the city of Sousse.[4] George fell out with Tamim's son and successor, Yahya, and secretly left for Christian Sicily by stealing away in disguise aboard a Palermitan ship harbored in Mahdia. Upon arrival in the Sicilian capital, George went immediately to the palace and found service with the Norman count, Roger II
.

Rise and early career: subjugation of Apulia

The Admiral's Bridge in Palermo.

George of Antioch's prior knowledge of the Zirid administration, his connections with an Armenian official in Fatimid Egypt, and knowledge of Greek and Arabic led to his rise in the Norman administration. He rose to the title of familiaris of the court and by 1123 had risen to second in command in Christodulus' navy. In these years, he also served as a frequent envoy to the Fatimid court in Cairo. In a Norman attack on Mahdia that year, George captured the fortress of ad-Dimas, located on the coast of Tunisia, but the campaign resulted in a decisive Norman defeat at the hands of the Zirid emir, al-Hasan ibn Ali. In the following five years, George overshadowed Chrisotodulus and by 1127 had replaced him in the position of emir of Palermo. In that year, both emirs were present at Montescaglioso with Count Roger, but Christodulus seems to have died soon thereafter and George succeeded him.

George was instrumental in fully subduing independent-minded

Emir of Emirs
to his contemporaries. He was also given the Greek title "Archon of Archons".

In 1143, George founded the

S. Maria dell'Ammiraglio
, also known as the Martorana, in Palermo. In the church there is a contemporary mosaic depicting George, as well as a mosaic showing Roger II being crowned by Christ.

Height of career: conquests in Greece and Africa

Seal of George of Antioch, bearing the titles of his offices (archōn archontōn and amēras) in Greek.

In 1146, George captured

Abul-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali
since the failed attack of 1123, did not capitulate yet.

In 1147, Roger

Saint Theodore
were stolen, and then returned to Sicily.

In 1148, George finally conquered Mahdia. Antecedently, the governor of

Mezzogiorno
, but also Corfu and Tunisia.

In 1149, Corfu was retaken and George took a fleet of forty ships up the

Bosphorus to the walls of Constantinople, where he tried to land. Failing this, he ravaged a few villae on the Asian coast and fired arrows at the imperial palace. He died soon after, in year 546 AH according to Ibn al-Athir, corresponding to 1151 or 1152. He was succeeded in his offices by Philip of Mahdia
.

George was a polyglot and very cultured man. He founded the church of San Michele in

Risorgimento
.

Notes

  1. ISBN 9783319470429
    .
  2. ^ Cultural Relations between East and West in the Twelfth Century, Anthony Bryer, Relations between East and West in the Middle ages, ed. Derek Baker, (Transaction Publishers, 2010), 85.
  3. ^ The Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Crusades, Helene Wieruszowski, The Later Crusades, 1189-1311, Vol. II, ed.Kenneth M. Setton, Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard, (The University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), 19.
  4. ISBN 978-1-5017-6348-9
    .

Sources
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