County of Sicily was created by Robert Guiscard in 1071 for his younger brother Roger Bosso. Guiscard himself had received the title Duke of Sicily ("dux Siciliae") in 1059 from Pope Nicholas II as encouragement to conquer it from the Muslims. In 1061 the first permanent Norman conquest (Messina) was made and in 1071, after the fall of Palermo, the capital of the emirate and future capital of the county, Guiscard invested Roger with the title of count and gave him full jurisdiction in the island save for half the city of Palermo, Messina, and the Val Demone, which he retained for himself.
Valdrada of Sicily Valdrada of Sicily Valdrada of Sicily (died c. 1252) was a Sicilian princess and the Dogaressa of Venice by her marriage to Doge Jacopo Tiepolo (r. 1229–1249). Born at the very latest in 1194, Valdrada was the youngest child of King Tancred of Sicily and Sibylla of Acerra. She married the Doge in 1242, two years after the death of his former dogaressa Maria Storlato. Valdrada has been described as dominant and forceful, and is said to have had a great deal of control over her husband and the affairs of Venice. Following Jacopo's resignation in early 1249, she lived