Key Facts
- Duration
- 1282–1442 (160 years)
- Founded by
- Peter III of Aragon after Sicilian Vespers
- Formal name
- Kingdom of Sicily on the other side of the Lighthouse
- Absorbed into
- Crown of Aragon via Compromise of Caspe, 1412
- Reunification
- Alfonso V unified with Kingdom of Naples in 1442
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
The kingdom originated in the Sicilian Vespers uprising of 1282, when Sicilians revolted against Angevin rule and invited Peter III of Aragon to take the throne, claiming it through his wife Constance of Sicily. The subsequent War of the Sicilian Vespers concluded with the Peace of Caltabellota in 1302, which formally partitioned the old Kingdom of Sicily, assigning the island to Aragonese rulers as the Kingdom of Trinacria.
Phase II: Zenith
Under Aragonese governance, the island kingdom maintained its own administration and courts while benefiting from trade connections within the Crown of Aragon's Mediterranean network. Palermo served as the royal capital, and the kingdom functioned as an autonomous entity distinct from the Angevin-controlled continental south, preserving Norman-era institutions and Sicilian cultural traditions developed under earlier dynasties.
Phase III: Decline
The Compromise of Caspe in 1412 brought the kingdom permanently under direct Crown of Aragon authority, ending its quasi-independent status. It remained separated from the continental Kingdom of Naples, ruled by Angevins, until Alfonso V of Aragon conquered Naples in 1442 and unified both kingdoms, effectively ending the Kingdom of Trinacria's separate existence after 160 years.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory