The Norman Sicily Project: A Digital Portal to Sicily’s Norman Past

The cultural heritage of medieval Sicily faces enormous challenges. Rich and diverse as it is, it is beset by numerous problems that have rendered it fragile and often inaccessible. The situation is such that many sites are unsigned. Others are very difficult to get to. And even others – ones that are more easily located – have erratic hours, essentially locking out the average visitor to Sicily unless s/he is willing to invest the time and have the language skills necessary to persuade residents in the surrounding area to get the access keys. Given these challenges, we are developing The Norman Sicily Project to document the cultural heritage of medieval Sicily during its Norman period (in other words, c. 1061–1194) so that a wide audience can learn about what was once there and what still remains. The site attempts to reconstruct what we know about the society by bringing together images, basic identifying information, geolocation data and, in some cases, videos, using modern web development techniques. It also offers genealogical information and visualization tools that can help visitors understand the data in new ways as well as sustainability data related to the monuments’ physical states. The intention is that the project will offer scholars, students and the general public who are interested in Norman Sicily the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with each other while suggesting a web-based model for other medieval communities.


Introduction and rationale
An interactive website that features monuments constructed on the island in the later eleventh and twelfth centuries, The Norman Sicily Project is an effort to offset the many challenges that face the cultural heritage of medieval Sicily while, over time, offering new resources and means to interpret the surviving data for students and specialists. Rich and diverse as it is, Sicily's patrimony is beset by numerous problems that have rendered it fragile and often inaccessible, despite that ago is the first to feature the island's medieval monuments. As identified cultural treasures, these sites are now guided by a management plan that helps to protect them from the negative consequences of human action and to minimize the effects of natural disasters. But so many of Sicily's medieval sites -indeed, the vast majority -are not so fortunate. The reasons for the challenges are varied but certainly include regional poverty and mismanagement of external funding. For example, Pinotti's research (2015) suggests that the presence of mafia in an economy alone lowers GDP per capita by some 16%. This project calls attention to these cultural treasures and makes them accessible to a wider public. In so doing, it hopes to make it possible for medievalists to more easily incorporate these monuments, and the historical period during which they were constructed, into their teaching and research. §2 One of the numerous challenges against Sicily's Norman past is that the surviving monuments are often difficult to access and some are poorly signed. For example, the magnificent Benedictine abbey of Santa Maria della Scala or della Valle (colloquially referred to as "La Badiazza"), that appears in Roger I and his wife, Adelasia, to which we traveled in August 2015, was frustratingly elusive -a casualty of both difficult access and poor maintenance by the authorities.
The one small rusted sign pointing visitors toward an unpaved road, which we passed three times, hangs upside down, wedged among a number of others. 2 Visits can also be complicated by topography and geographical remoteness. A journey to the Norman remains at Geraci Siculo featured in Figure 2, which stands approximately 3,600 feet above sea level, during that same month required a 45-minute drive along a windy road followed by an uphill climb without the benefit of handrails. In addition, the demands of modern life can jeopardize the future of already fragile structures. Such was the case of the chapel of the palace complex known as Uscibene (or Lo Scibene), which appears in Figure 3; the building was so dilapidated that Sicily's authorities seized possession of it in early 2014. The structure was then slated for demolition 2 We are certainly not the first to worry about the condition of many of these monuments.
White (1938,157) commented on the "lamentable state" of this monastery, calling upon the Soprintendenza dei Monumenti, "which has restored so admirably many of the ancient treasures of the island," to give it the attention of which it was in need. Clearly, restoration work has been done since that time. However, the building-with its broken widows revealing signs of new wear-was not open. No visiting hours were posted and there was no one in the vicinity with whom we could begin a conversation for the keys. in favor of Palermo's tram project (Comune di Palermo 2014). 3 More recently, the Regione Siciliana has made available 100,000 Euros to restore the chapel; however, we are unsure of the extent to which it has been repaired and to which it is now accessible (Fiorenza 2016). 3 The building cannot be dated with certainty, but the style suggests a Norman foundation. In July 2014, after managing to make our way into the gated residential area in which Uscibene now sits, we met an elderly man who was cited for having failed to maintain a work of historical and artistic importance (Comune di Palermo 2014). He told us that he simply did not have the money necessary for the structure's upkeep and that he was shocked to learn that the city was holding him accountable.  3). The church is now in a barracks of the carabinieri and serves as its chapel; its location in a semi-militarized zone means it is inaccessible to most except on very Hayes and Hayes: The Norman Sicily Project Art. 3, page 6 of 31 rare occasions. Similarly, the Church of the Holy Spirit (also known as the Church of the Vespers) is located inside the Cemetery of St. Ursula, one of Palermo's functioning graveyards. Masses are said there for the dead before they are interred. That the Holy Spirit remains a living church makes access more difficult for scholars and other interested visitors. That the public is asked, quite understandably, not to take photos when inside the cemetery out of respect for the deceased and their families adds to the challenge. Yet other surviving sites betray the effects of natural disasters, such as Caltabellotta's stunning cathedral that appears in Figure 5, built by Roger I in the 11 th century and damaged by an earthquake in 1968. With all this said, it should be noted that although The Norman Sicily Project has been developed to address the real and pressing issues of accessibility, a great deal of credit must be given to the Sicilian people -both lay people as well as cultural authorities -who have been enormously supportive and have gone to great lengths to open doors for us, quite literally. We are enormously grateful to the many Sicilians who have assisted us and we hope that this project will serve as a small reward for their kindness. §4 We should also make explicit that The Norman Sicily Project is not a conservation effort but rather one that, at least for now, focuses on digitally documenting the monuments from Sicily's Norman past while, when possible, making and Sebastian Heath, ISAW, New York University). We are eager to enhance the scientific profile of the project -particularly its archaeological aspects -with closer attention paid to questions regarding issues such as constructive phases and physical manifestations of monastic houses as they relate to gender and order. For example, 4 As of August 2019, we have been able to conduct sustainability-related field surveys of nine monuments.
Six were performed in July 2017 on the following: the monasteries of St. George (Gratteri) and Sts.
Peter and Paul d'Agrò (Casalvecchio Siculo), the castles in Monreale (the Castellaccio) and Sperlinga, as well as the chiesa madrice of Caltabellotta (formerly dedicated to St. George) and the church of the Cuba of Santa Domenica (Castiglione). To these we added in July 2019 sections of San Filippo d'Agira (Agira) and the cloister of San Bartolomeo (Lipari) as well as the suspected former locations of Santa Venera di Vanella (Castroreale) and Santa Maria di Roccadia (located in Carlentini, though it is unclear whether any sections from these latter two sites date from the medieval period). During this same month, we also performed an assessment of the pre-Norman rupestrian Chiesa Bizantina di San Pietro, Buscemi, which is carved into the side of a mountain and very difficult to reach. 5 The CSSI is a field-based scoring assessment derived from the successful Rock Art Stability Index we hope to obtain funding to work with an archaeologist in the future, to whom we will make available our photographs, field notes and observation scores, resistance instrument data and facade sketches from past field visits. In the meantime, we look forward to the results of Sicily in Transition: Exploring the Archaeology of Regime Change (Carver et al. 2019), a project supported by a team of scholars at the Universities of York, Rome Tor Vergata and Salento, which will speak broadly to demographic, agricultural and commercial change on the island before, during and after the Norman period. §6 The fragility of Sicily's Norman past is unfortunate, especially since the decades between 1060 and 1200 were defining ones in the island's history, a time when Sicily was pulled into the western European orbit in which it remains today. Indeed, although the Normans, too, were invaders, their position in Sicily's historiography is complicated as numerous writers in later centuries considered them -perhaps somewhat paradoxically -to be liberators. In addition, this is an exciting period in the island's history, one when it did not suffer from the poverty and economic stagnation with which it has become associated. As UNESCO notes on the Arab-Norman itinerary's website, these years witnessed the "…socio-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic, and Byzantine cultures [that] gave rise to an architectural and artistic expression based on novel concepts of space, structure, and decoration that spread widely throughout the Mediterranean region" (UNESCO 2015). Indeed, in a polyglot society, art can be an extraordinarily important form of communication (Tronzo 1997, 108-109). It can overcome language barriers and convey powerful messages about authority and identity that would otherwise be impossible. The Norman rulers of Sicily's diverse population were clearly aware of this. §7 There is a relative dearth of Anglophone studies of Sicily's medieval history.
Although this may not be consequential for researchers, it can be problematic when attempting to teach students with English-language texts. Writing in 1992, English historian Donald Matthew noted in his Norman Kingdom of Sicily that many of his fellow academics were unhappy with the limited number of sources they could recommend to students who could not read foreign languages (Matthew 1992, 1). Ten years later, it was still challenging to assemble a current English-language

Hayes and Hayes: The Norman Sicily Project
Art. 3, page 9 of 31 bibliography for undergraduates. Thankfully, however, the situation has improved (Davis-Secord 2010). With that said, The Norman Sicily Project has the potential to make an important contribution to undergraduate research conducted in history departments in English-speaking countries. It also can benefit popular audiences, such as tourists and the island's local communities. It is for this reason that the project team is eager to secure funding to develop an Italian-language version of the site. §8 As for scholarly Internet resources about Norman Sicily, they are few.
Occasionally, it is possible to locate a website that has information about sites of historical interest, but these electronic resources (such as Etnanatura 2019) are often created with today's nature enthusiasts in mind. There is also the genealogical Norman Sicily Project has a commitment to linked open data and offers access to all of its information in machine-friendly formats. Its metadata conform to an accessible and publicly referenceable vocabulary. In addition, its attempt at providing sustainability data for some of the monuments as well as its recording of information shared with its team members by local residents during field visits also set these projects apart.

The site's features, contents, and future directions §9
It is for these reasons that we are developing The Norman Sicily Project, whose splash page appears as Figure 6, which documents the cultural heritage of Sicily between the years c. 1061 and 1194 by bringing together into a single website basic identifying information, geolocation data, images, videos, and, in some cases, relevant knowledge shared by local stakeholders using modern web development techniques. A navigation bar at the top of each page offers links to "People," "Places," "Chattels," "Essays," "Analytics," "Resources," and information about the site. "People" directs visitors to a force-directed graph that renders a genealogy we have developed   The over 900 individual records we have compiled thus far (whose appearance will likely be modified for visual clarity as we turn our attention to development and redesign of the site beginning in the fall of 2019) provide a visual sense of the intricate relationships between the Normans in southern Italy and the people (and, by extension, the families) with whom they established marriage alliances.
We have created an interactive view into the family tree, which enables visitors to determine precise relationships within the extended family. How best to associate the genealogical information with the other data in the site -beyond linking place names to corresponding site records -is currently under consideration. This is an especially important question as its answer will help determine the degree to which the human and physical data interact with and help explicate each other. §10 "Places" leads to a portal of structures associated with the Normans in Sicily. It now focuses on monasteries but, as the project develops, it will include other types of sites such as fortifications, churches, palaces, bridges, gates, and baths. Lynn Over time, as the site continues to develop, the "Chattels" link will take visitors to information and images about the period's moveable objects and "Analytics" will include charts and graphs that will demonstrate statistically significant relationships and a map that displays the monuments' location against the seismic threat level reported by the Italian government's Dipartimento della Protezione Civile.
"Resources" now includes downloadable datasets in multiple machine-readable formats so that users can conduct their own analyses as well as the vocabularies of metadata. It will also soon include a form through which visitors can submit feedback as well as additional information about existing sites that the project's team will either corroborate in advance of inclusion or place in the separate section of each record that is set aside for unverified information. §11 Taking  past has begun to benefit from a pilot sustainability study of six buildings -two monasteries, two castles and two churches -distributed across the island, examining stones that have endured centuries of weathering as well as of natural disasters. We plan for this collaboration to continue, enabling us to assess many other Norman monuments in Sicily in order to get a better sense of the threats to their physical integrity. The findings of this collaboration between history and earth science -as well as of additional research conducted in July 2019 -have significant potential as they offer modern appraisals of medieval sites. The data, too, are beginning to be included in The Norman Sicily Project. §12 As Figure 8 indicates, each site has its own unique record, which can be accessed a number of ways, though the main approach to the information is offered via the site's map-based interface. Figure 9 reveals the tool tip that appears when hovering over a name. Individual records for monastic sites, an example of which can be seen in Figure 10, offer available information on gender, status, subject of dedication, monastic order, founder(s), and whether there are any visible traces. Each classification of a site is contained within its own layer on the map and, as the project develops, it will be possible to superimpose multiple layers on the map at the same   The strength of these relationships will also be explicated through tests that will probe statistical significance. The intention is that the visualizations will help users to better comprehend the complex cultural landscape of Norman Sicily. They may be applied to many different types of sites, including fortifications and churches. A choropleth map using location quotients calculated for monasteries according to monastic order is already available (Joseph Hayes 2017). We are fully aware that this data can be problematic; we are not so interested in the numbers themselves but in the general patterns and trends they suggest. To this end, the data have been made available in multiple machine-readable formats so that users can conduct their own analyses. §14 There are a number of features and resources that are in the planning phase.
An Italian-language version of the site is one. Another is an extended bibliography that is searchable by title and keywords, a collection of sources that may be enhanced we will work to identify and build upon existing vocabularies for medieval places.
We have linked each site to matches in GeoNames. As for the selection of services to facilitate the development of the site, preference will be given to open-source ones.
If open-source services are not available, priority will be given to providers that make respect for intellectual property rights explicit.   (1) (2007) has noted, by the humiliation of Roger's mother in 1118 as well as by his reluctance to raise the ire of the Muslims both in his kingdom and in North Africa (492). There does appear to have been a number of Augustinian communities, perhaps as many as 22 over the course of the Norman period, but compared to their presence in other areas of Europe as well as in the Crusader states, their influence was relatively minor (496). As for the Premonstratensian canons, more will be said about them below. §21 Distribution by gender is also instructive. Of the 139 houses whose genders are known with a relative degree of certainty, just 13 (9%) seem to have been populated by nuns. The remaining 126 houses (91%) were inhabited by monks.
Even if we take into account that the gender of the inhabitants of perhaps some 37 houses is unrecorded, it is clear that from a monastic perspective, Sicily appears to have been very much a man's world.
Clearly, the monastic makeup of Sicily was quite different from much of western data from her study, recording the spiritual patrons in the kingdom who had been honored by five or more dedications, a process that created a subset of 514 houses established between 1086-1216(Orme 1996. If Binns' parameters are applied to the Sicilian data -male, non-Cistercian monasteries -some 119 houses remain. This results in the removal of six Cisterican houses and one monastery whose subject of dedication is unknown. And when we extract from them the names of patrons who had five or more dedications, that number becomes 67, as shown in Figure 12. §22 There were 101 subjects of dedication among the English houses during these years, with 24 of them honored by five or more foundations, revealing a relatively high concentration of dedications to approximately one quarter of the spiritual patrons identified (Orme 1996, 27). A similar trend is not found in the Sicilian data.
Yet, England did not experience a dramatic rupture in its religious culture nor did it contend with such widely disparate cultural forces. As a result, the Sicilian sample offers a different picture, one that suggests a more diverse spiritual landscape. Just four of the island's spiritual patrons (9% of the total) had five or more monasteries dedicated to them. In other words, the vast majority of Sicily's monasteries shared a spiritual patron with four or fewer houses. Whereas its profile of religious orders was relatively small when compared to other areas of Europe at the time, the number and their dedications reveals that although the Normans maintained control over the monastic orders -the "hard power" that could have strong political ramifications on the island -they were less focused on streamlining the softer power that was represented by the cults of the saints. Whereas it was in their interest to direct the former -presumably an attractive opportunity to exert real control over one of the kingdom's many intricate dynamics -the power of sanctity was left diffuse, a religious and cultural force largely allowed to express the varied concerns and interests of the subjects of an up-and-coming state located in a crossroads of civilization. On the whole, cultivating spiritual patrons was not a concern to the Norman rulers of Sicily. 9 But managing external political influences that could be exerted through monastic channels was. 6. Concluding thoughts §26 The rationale provided above is justification enough for a project of this kind.

Case
The cultural heritage of medieval Sicily does, indeed, face enormous challenges. The wealth of riches, combined with regional poverty and significant external economic pressures at the national level and within the wider European Union, renders a project like this both timely and necessary. And although it is in no way a substitute for actual site management and preservation, the project is a way to document the past for current and future students of the Middle Ages. It makes people aware of the sites that once existed and of which ones survive in some form while providing opportunities for local residents to contribute to the reconstruction of their past. It also offers an assessment of some monuments' future sustainability. Finally, it facilitates travel to the sites, especially the more remote ones, by offering GPS coordinates. §27 In addition to the access it provides to an elusive heritage, the site has the potential to enable people to better understand the information we have. The family tree as well as the visualizations facilitate comprehension of the data, including their spatial implications, in ways often not possible by simply reading records. It is our hope that by exploring the cultural landscape of the island, The Norman Sicily Project will inspire new research as well as provide a backdrop against which past, present, and future research -both digital and conventional -may be considered.

Additonal File
The Additional File for this article can be found as follows: • Appendix. Field Survey Form. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/dm.68.s1 More recently, in 2019, we had the great fortune to work with Sebastiano Primofiore, who patiently guided the team to the Chiesa Bizantina di San Pietro, Buscemi, Basilio Segreto, who kindly accompanied us around Sant'Angelo di Brolo and shared his impressions of the fate of the area's well-known monastery, and Antonino Quattrocchi, who graciously offered his thoughts about the remains of Santa Venera di Vanella, which appears to have suffered catastrophic flooding during the late nineteenth century. Antonino was also kind enough to make arrangements with Antonio Triolo, the current owner of the property on which Santa Venera may have been located in the Middle Ages, so that we could view the debris field ourselves; we are incredibly grateful to all of them. There have also been many other Sicilians who have provided us with assistance but whose names are now lost. We would also like to acknowledge the important assistance we received from Max Wilson, who recently received his BA in architecture from Yale University and served as an enormously helpful research assistant; his participation was supported by a generous grant from his alma mater. Anastasia Hayes provided excellent translation support for the team and also performed the indispensable task of helping to record data during site visits. Last, but not least, Madeleine Hayes offered her superb navigational skills as we drove across Sicily's challenging terrain into areas that even most Sicilians never see. This is no easy task, to put it mildly, and she did it not only incredibly well but also with great patience.
Finally, we are delighted to share that the project has recently received a generous