Peter III of Aragon lands in Sicily

1282

Summoned by Sicilian rebels and backed by his wife Constance, Manfred's daughter, Peter III sailed into Trapani and claimed the island. The ensuing War of the Sicilian Vespers would drag on for two decades and splinter Angevin Italy from Aragonese Sicily. The war drew in every major Mediterranean power and demonstrated that popular revolt could shatter even a papally sanctioned kingdom overnight.