Unrest simmered in Sicily because of its very subordinate role in Charles' empire--its nobles had no share in the government of their own island and were not compensated by lucrative posts abroad, as were Charles' French, Provençal and Neapolitan subjects; also, Charles spent the heavy taxes he imposed on wars outside Sicily, making Sicily somewhat of a donor economy to Charles' nascent empire. As Steven Runciman put it, "Sicilians saw themselves now being ruled to enable an alien tyrant make conquests from which they would have no benefit"