The Muslims of Lucera

When Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was King of Sicily, he also ruled over a large area that included most of Italy south of Rome. This combined territory was called the Regno. Besides Italians, the population included Greeks, Jews, and Muslims. The Muslims were a diverse mix of Arabs, Berbers, Persians in Palermo, and several converted Muslims in Sicily.Sicily had once been under Muslim rule, and pockets of resistance wanted to restore it to Muslims. Frederick, of course, wanted to change this. The ultimate solution was to get as many Muslims as possible together and put them in one out-of-the-way place. In 1220 Frederick began the process of getting all Muslims out of Sicily.He relocated some 20,000 Muslims to Lucera in 1224. (The illustration is Fredrick's castle in Lucera.) There were also settlements in Girifalco and Acerenza all in southern Italy. These settlements also contained Jews, but had few to no Christians. They created Muslim schools, a mosque, and even had their qadi,…