The Sicilian School was a group of Sicilian and Italian poets frequenting Frederick ii's
court. The Sicilian School poets generated over 300 poems between 1230 and 1266.
The topics usually revolved around concepts of nobility and chivalry. This began as
knights accomplishing feats to win favor of a lady but evolved into the game of courtly love
where a character would pursue the lady. Courtly love became a popular concept under
Gaston Paris and this concept would be later adopted by Chaucer, Petrarch and Dante.
The leading Sicilian poet was Giacomo da Lentini. The legacy of Frederick's
Sicilian School was continued by Frederick's son, Manfred. The Sicilian School poets were inspired
by the Occitan troubadour poetry written in a form of French and focused on a code of honour between
an obedient man and a woman in a superior role. This notable reversal of the patriarchal society
that was prevalent at the time well this was a new idea in medieval society.
The corruption of the feudal society caused the middle classes to gain influence.
This wider reading audience was less interested in the epic typically military content and more
interested in topics involving love. During the middle ages, the reading audience increased
and the poetry had to adapt for this wider expanded audience and the content they preferred
The French Occitan poetry delivered by troubadours was prevalent and influential in Italy. The
Sicilian School poets presented a kinder and a gentler woman in the style of Dante’s Beatrice
and Petrarch's Laura. Sicilian poetry was not intended to be realistic
but this new style generated a coherent Italian language which was in common use
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The commonly used language introduced by Sicilian School poetry
was imitated by the Siculo-Tuscan school such as Bonagiunta Orbicciani and Guinizzelli
The later style of Dolce Stil Novo where Bologna and Florence were inspired by the Sicilian School
was used by Dante causing the creation of an Italian poetry which adhered to a common standard
and an increased vocabulary beyond the standard Sicilian language.
The magna curia, the group of poets at Frederick's court
moved between southern Italian cities mainly for political convenience but the consequence of this
was magna curia did not adopt local dialects because the location was constantly moving
Palazzo dei Normanni was one of the locations hosting Frederick's
magna curia. Frederick's legacy was to create the first modern European state
with a working bureaucracy. The Sicilian School poets were neither aristocracy nor clergy
as these two classes were bastions of power whose main interest was to retain that power.
Consequently these privileged classes were also typically those who conspired against the Emperor
also the clergy were loyal to the Pope, the emperor's mortal enemy. Frederick smashed the
Norman feudal system he inherited. The magna curia was populated by people from the common classes
not the nobility. Frederick promoted free trade which benefited southern Italy and Sicily.
The city of Bari in particular flourished in this period
as a consequence the barons had lost their power to generate wealth by collecting taxes.
Frederick used the moving magna curia as a means to keep the regional barons in check
while troubadours in northern Italy were using standard Occitan language. Occitan words were
adapted to suit the southern ear creating a new form of language and a precursor to modern Italian
Giacomo da Lentini is believed to have invented the sonnet a form of poetry used by Dante,
Petrarch and Shakespeare. Poetry from northern Italian city-states
included the concept of satire while Sicilian School poetry did not. Dante's Divine Comedy was
popular because he commented on real people of that time and this included powerful people too
and it also referred to contemporary topics including religion and politics
A sirventese is political and directly refers to military and political foes
the author often held the role of a knight such as Guittone d'Arezzo's
Rotta di Montaperti (Defeat of Montaperti) which was a battle
between supporters of the Emperor and the Pope at the time known as Guelphs and Ghibellines.
This tension between the Pope and the Emperor would subsequently cause Dante to be exiled
so aristocracy and the clergy were fair game in his work. Sicilian poetry flourished within the
confines of Frederick's court. Courtly love was a permitted topic whereas politics was not. French
troubadours typically sung Occitan where Sicilian School poetry was typically recited
without music. "contrasto" a work believed to have been written by Cielo d'Alcamo
was written in Sicilian language typically in the style found in the area of Messina.
The subject the common fight between two young lovers was typical a typical topic
in the middle ages. The young suitor enters the garden of a rich Sicilian family, he seeks
finds and declares his love to the young lady before trying to seduce her with his wit.
She initially rebuffs his advances and defends her honor but in the end this proves to be a
game of love and the game the lady eventually gives in to her suitor. Contrasto's language
uses courtly language of lyric poetry and in the end takes a stroll through the cliches of
Sicilian School and Occitan. Contrasto was a popular and independent form of poetry and language
in common use at the time of emperor Frederick ii. Contrasto by Cielo d'Alcamo is believed to have
been a reworking of an older song in a language preceding that used at Frederick ii's court
in style it has a comedy it is direct and bawdy in stark contrast to the Sicilian
School poets. There are suspicions that Ciullo d'Alcamo was a stage name of someone very familiar
with the emperor's court. Sicilian School poetry combined the linguistic aspects of Sicilian
Latin French as well as a range of accents from around southern Italy and Sicily. This combination
of terms and vocabulary formed a new form of Italian language. Dante studied the Sicilian
School and was greatly influenced by it. Upon the death of Manfred, son of emperor Frederick
Guittone d'Arezzo revived the Sicilian School in Tuscany in northern Italy.
This caused Sicilian School poetry to be in wide circulation in Florence
in northern Italy. Of course this new form of Italian was modified for Tuscan ears.
Occasionally breaking rhymes which worked in a slightly different dialect a different
vocabulary and a different accent. Dante and his contemporaries would further develop Italian
with the influence of Florence to a point which approaches today's standard Italian