Frederick III of Sicily
King of Sicily from 1295 to 1337
Frederick III (also Frederick II, Latin: Federicus, Italian: Federico, Sicilian: Fidiricu); 13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso ΙΙΙ and James ΙΙ. He was confirmed as king by the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302. His reign saw important constitutional reforms: the Constitutiones regales, Capitula alia, and Ordinationes generales.
Name
Although the second Frederick of Sicily, he chose to call himself "Frederick III" (being one of the rare medieval monarchs who actually used a regnal number) – presumably because only some fifty years before, his well-known and remembered great-grandfather had ruled Sicily and also used an official ordinal: Fridericus secundus, imperator etc.. Thus, Fridericus tertius was better in line with the precedent of his ancestor's ordinal. However, an anecdote attributes Frederick's choice of numeral to him being the third son of Peter. The next man called Frederick to occupy the Sicilian throne was dubbed by later generations of historians as Frederick III: Frederick the Simple, though he himself did not use an ordinal.
Biography
Early years
Frederick was born in Barcelona.
When his father died in 1285, he left the Kingdom of Aragon to his eldest son, Alfonso, and that of Sicily to his second son, James. When Alfonso died in 1291, James became king of Aragon and left Frederick as regent in Sicily.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Frederick III of Sicily” is king of Sicily from 1295 to 1337. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Frederick, Sicily and King, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “king of Sicily from 1295 to 1337” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q367226. VIAF identifies the subject as 810455. The Library of Congress control number is n2003048468. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1272, 1337, 1291 and 1295.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Frederick III of Sicily”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Frederick III of Sicily primary sources, Frederick III of Sicily archive and Frederick research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Frederick III of Sicily” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.