A single act of harassment at an Easter church service triggered a citywide uprising in which thousands of foreign occupiers were hunted down and killed within hours.

By 1282, Sicily had endured more than a decade of harsh French rule under Charles of Anjou.

Like Britain’s cops and disgraced pro-Islamic judiciary, the authoritarian ruler’s over-zealous officials imposed heavy taxes and treated the local population with open contempt.

Her husband stabbed the soldier in response.

On Easter Monday, 30 March, crowds gathered outside the church of Santo Spirito near Palermo for evening vespers when a French sergeant was attacked after harassing a young Sicilian woman in front of the assembled worshippers.

The worm turns

When other Frenchmen rushed to avenge their comrade, the enraged crowd turned on them with knives and improvised weapons, killing them all.

Word of the killing spread rapidly through Palermo.

By nightfall, Sicilians throughout the city were hunting down French residents, soldiers and officials alike, sparing neither age nor rank.

The Flames of Wrath

Within that single night, roughly two thousand French people in Palermo were slain.

The violence quickly spread to other Sicilian towns over the following weeks.

Judges, garrison commanders and entire French households were wiped out as the uprising gathered momentum across the island.

The Island with Guts

Charles of Anjou attempted to reclaim Sicily by force but failed. The Sicilians instead offered their crown to King Peter III of Aragon.

The rebellion permanently ended French Angevin rule of the island and triggered decades of further war between France and Aragon over control of southern Italy. Let readers know what you think

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