Roger of Lauria

Roger of Lauria (c. 1245 – 17 January 1305) was a Calabrian admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and talented naval tactician of the Middle Ages. He is known as Ruggero or Ruggiero di Lauria in Italian and Roger de Llúria in Catalan. Biography Roger of Lauria was born at Lauria or Scalea in what is now southern Italy, the son of Richard of Lauria, Great Justiciar of the Kingdom of Sicily, and Donna Bella, a nurse of Constance of Sicily. His father had served under King Manfred of Sicily, a Hohenstaufen; when the last member of that family, Conradin of Swabia, was beheaded at Naples in 1268, he and his mother took refuge with other Ghibelline exiles at Barcelona, part of the Crown of Aragon. Naval Career Later King Peter III of Aragon, who had married Constance of Hohenstaufen, made him knight together with Corrado Lancia, who was to be a comrade of Roger in many of his enterprises as well as brother-in-law. King Peter arranged a marriage between Roger and Corrado's sister Margherita in 1273. The marriage, Rogers first of two, produced offspring. In 1282, Roger was named commander of the Aragonese fleet, keeping this post under Peter's successors James II and Frederick III. Roger of Lauria commanded the Aragonese fleet during the campaign to capture Sicily from the Angevins after the Sicilian Vespers revolt in 1282, which made the Aragonese rulers of Sicily. He fought and won six naval galley battles in total. On 8 July 1283, he defeated the Angevins in the Grand Harbour at the Battle of Malta. On 5 June 1284, he defeated the Neapolitan fleet at the Battle of Castellammare and even captured the enemy commander, Charles of Salerno (the future Charles II of Naples).