William II of Sicily – Gold Tari
Kingdom of Sicily, 1166–1189 AD | Messina Mint
A fascinating piece of medieval Mediterranean history, this gold Tari was struck during the reign of William II of Sicily, remembered by later generations as William the Good. Ruling from 1166 until 1189, William presided over one of the most prosperous periods of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
Ruler: William II of Sicily
Reign: 1166–1189 AD
Denomination: Tari
Mint: Messina, Sicily
Metal: Gold (AV)
Weight: Approx. 0.69 g
Diameter: Approx. 10 mm
References: Spahr 101; MIR 61/1
A Coin from Norman Sicily
Although William II descended from the Norman rulers who had conquered Sicily during the 11th century, the kingdom he inherited was remarkably multicultural. Medieval Sicily stood at the crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean, bringing together Latin Christian, Byzantine Greek and Islamic traditions.
This extraordinary cultural mixture can be seen directly in the coinage of the period. Rather than completely replacing the monetary traditions that existed before the Norman conquest, Sicily’s new rulers incorporated elements of them into their own coinage.
The gold Tari is one of the most distinctive examples of this continuity. Small and remarkably light, these coins followed a monetary tradition with strong roots in the earlier Islamic history of Sicily.
Design
The coin displays the compact and highly distinctive designs characteristic of Sicilian Tari of the Norman period.
One side features five pellets, while the opposite side presents a cross potent on a shaft, surrounded by abbreviated inscriptions and symbols arranged within the small flan.
The combination of the Christian cross with a coin type descended from the Islamic monetary tradition of Sicily makes these pieces particularly evocative objects. They represent, in miniature, the complex cultural identity of the Norman kingdom.
William II “the Good”
William II became king while still young and ruled Sicily for more than two decades. His reign is remembered as a period of relative stability and prosperity, during which the Kingdom of Sicily remained one of the Mediterranean’s most sophisticated political and cultural centres.
The magnificent Monreale Cathedral and its celebrated mosaics belong to his reign and remain among the greatest surviving monuments of Norman Sicily.
This tiny gold coin therefore comes from a remarkable historical world: a kingdom governed by Norman kings, connected to both Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, and shaped by centuries of Greek, Arab and Latin influence.
At only around 10 millimetres in diameter, the coin is exceptionally small — yet it carries with it more than eight centuries of Sicilian history.