Women at the Court of the Norman Kings of Sicily (12th Century)

This paper is an attempt to address the question of the women who, not being queens, have a secondary function around the Norman king and are playing second fiddle. They are nevertheless sometimes documented through rare sources which consent to a glimpse inside the court and reveal some affective relationships more often than not ignored by the historians. Some of them bear witness to the continued presence of the Byzantines at the Hauteville's court in a more discreet and everyday way than the great personages usually taken into consideration.