The cultures of his kingdom

by William Tronzo

This analytical study takes seriously the proposition that the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily, the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, preserves virtually intact - and uniquely so - an ensemble of architecture and arts from the twelfth century. It systematically investigates every major component of the decoration and furnishing of the chapel, and in so doing propounds a new chronology for the edifice, in phases, which fixes a new frame of reference for understanding how the chapel functioned under the Norman kings.