Duke Roger of Sicily

Duke Roger of Sicily is the great southern ruler who receives Sigurd the Crusader on his outward voyage — and whom, the saga proudly claims, the Norwegian king made a king. A very great lord who had won Apulia and many islands of the Greek sea, Roger welcomes Sigurd kindly when the crusading fleet puts in at Sicily on its way to Jerusalem. The saga records, with northern relish, that Sigurd gave Roger the title of king — as though the far-travelled Norwegian, passing through, conferred royalty on the lord of Sicily. Whether or not it happened so, the detail shows how the saga wants Sigurd seen: not as a supplicant at southern courts but as a king among kings, dispensing honour as he goes. Duke Roger is the saga's image of the great Mediterranean host — the splendid ruler of Sicily who receives the northern crusader as an equal, and on whom, in the saga's telling, a passing Norwegian king bestows a crown.