When a child, I saw that “kingdom of both Siciles” many times and seriously thought the southern part of Italy had been called Sicily too. Then, I simply forgot about it. Now, after 20+ years of my ignorance, you have my thanks.
Well, the peninsular part was in various times and context called Sicily, too. Insular part, called occasionally Trinacria, was Sicily beyond the lighthouse and Neapolitan mainland was Sicily on this side of the lighthouse.
@@nonameuserua it was the name for the peninsular part, the whole kingdom was originally just kingdom of Sicily, one Sicily, and various lordships and duchies of the peninsular part was grouped under the name Sicily on the side of Faro and later kingdom of Naples or Neapolitania and the island was thus Sicily on the other side of Faro and officially kingdom of Trinacria, and due later partition of formerly one kingdom of Sicily into two under different rulers when it was reunified again it become known as Two or Both Sicilies.
During the War in Iraq, one of Saddam Hussein's vice presidents proposed that Hussein and George Bush should solve the issue by literally having a duel with one another, refereed by the UN Secretary General at the time.
As an Italian teacher of Humanities who took a specific university course in Early Modern Italian History, I wnat both to give major thumbs-up to this (as usual) excellent summary, as it sent me ROTFLling hard, and add a couple nuances: - The nonsense of the Continental half of the kingdom retaining the "Sicily" moniker was so ridicolous its use was confined to the most formal formalities, while everybody kings included would informally refer to it as the Kingdom of Naples, as if it had originated as a city-state and eventually overbloated (which was kinda true, for Naples ended up becoming a mini-Paris or mini-London leeching riches and humanpower off minor towns). - Once the two kingdoms re-merged during the Restoration Age, king Ferdinand theoretically arranged them into a federation roughly similar to the UK after the Act of Union, and just to wrap things up he decided that Sicily proper was to be referred to as "Sicily beyond the Lightouse", while the Continet being "Sicily behind the Lighthouse" - for yes, there were twin light-houses on the Strait of Messina, and king Ferdinand would rather use them as a reference point than the Strait itself or, you know, talk about the "United KIngdom of Sicily and Naples".
@@cv4809 Before 1815 they were two different and separate kingdoms ruled by the same person. The kingdom that controlled the island of Sicily was the "Kingdom of Sicily (on the other side of the strait/lighthouse)" while the kingdom on the peninsula was the "Kingdom of Sicily (on this side of the strait/lighthouse)" colloquially know as "The Kingdom of Naples"
Can't imagine where they got the idea of trying to claim part of Italy by using it in the name of their country when the reality is they controlled a completely separate and non-overlapping entity! cough cough "Eastern Roman Empire!" cough cough "Holy Roman Empire"
"He didn't want to be the king of Sicily and the king of Sicily, he wanted to be the king of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies." That's a tongue twister if I've ever heard one.
@The Philosoraptor literally carrying history. History matters is why I am interested in history, along with other channels like oversimplified and knowledgia
The connection here is that Aragorn was both King of Gondor and a large part of Spain, but the Spanish have always had trouble pronouncing his name correctly.
@@I_AM_HYDRAA When History Matters asks "Why did the Kingdom of the two Sicilies only have one Sicily?" (@ 0:18), he self-replies "WELL" and quickly flashes to a picture of a well (@ 0:22), before finishing the rest of his self-reply: "in order to find out, we need to go back to the medieval period."
@@Antarius1999 Actually, some borders changed and regimes were overthrown in WWI so, technically, it wasn't 'for nothing' like a white peace would have been.
And that's why people eventually decided that dying for the sake of an absolute monarch who doesn't care about his subjects at all is unacceptable. Thus we deposed all absolute monarchs or took away their power, and now we get to die for politicians who don't care about their subjects instead. Much better :)
What's hilarious is that he left out partially WHY Garibaldi was able to take southern Italy: The Royal Navy helped transport his army to the coast of Naples and make their landing. Essentially, Britain backstabbed their old Napoleonic Wars ally to adjust the European power balance.
Reminds me of what the Oracle of Delphi supposedly said to the Lydian King Croesus when he asked if it would be a good idea to attack Cyrus of Persia: "you will cause the destruction of a great empire."
The fact that the french didn't rename the southern itallian kingdom when it lost Sicily sounds like one of those quirks of Crusader Kings where after conquring the namesake of a county the AI isn't programmed to be able to change its name to reflect this.
Well, the capital of the state had been Naples for a century, so insofar as a central state existed in the vassal-oriented politics of the time, it was still intact and still busy waging war to reclaim its wayward province for decades. After that it was just a point of pride and not wanting to give up on the point of precedence.
For real. I'm playing the game of thrones mod and I'm the king of the trident, and I've conquered the whole crowlands including kings landing, but the kingdom of westeros is still called "the iron throne" even though theoretically i own the iron throne.
"Now obviously this would have been amazing which is of course why it could never happen".. You're not wrong, but I really hoped for a moment that you were going to tell us that this duel had actually taken place.
I think what sells the "deadpan" humor in these videos so well to me is that unlike most people I've heard try to deliver similar jokes to the jokes made in these videos in a similar way to how there delivered here, is that you don't hear him trying to hold back a laugh or notability flinch in his delivery to make sure he doesn't giggle to himself. He just delivers the jokes in his script like he does every other line and serves to make the jokes in these videos more humorous instead of less in my opinion. Eddit: Yes, I know I just described what deadpan humor is, my comment is/was supposed to put forward that I think he does deadpan well not just "Oh look, he's using deadpan humor." And I also split it into too sentences though I'm struggling to cut down the first in size, so sorry for my previous lack of proper sentence structure.
So it was called that because it had previously been united, but then split apart, with both of them adapting the same name, despite one of the two halves not being in the land it's named after, and when reunited, the term was used to describe both halves, so there were two of them, despite the fact that there is only one of the land where the name comes from? Nice.
0:34 that French prince, Charles of Anjou, is one of the most interesting people in medieval history. At the height of his power he was probably the single most influential person in Europe, but suffered a devastating blow with the "Sicilian vespers".
Sono figlio di messinesi in Australia. Avrebbe dovuto menzionare che l'ingiustizia delle potenze straniere in Sicilia creo' il terreno fertile per la Mafia. Vespri ricordati anche nell'inno nazionale..
@@Boretheory meh, non è che stiamo così male. Sono stato in Sardegna e non ho notato una sostanziale differenza nello stile di vita, anche se invidio il traffico agevole di Cagliari rispetto al caos palermitano (ma c'è da dire che Cagliari è più piccola). Certo si potrebbe fare di meglio...
@@esti-od1mz nah fidati si vive bene qua e le strade non crollano di continuo è molto piacevole. Diciamo che vedi la differenza standoci tanto. La mia permanenza in Sicilia e Campania non è stata “ delle migliori “. Soprattutto quando abbiamo aspettato 3 ore per mangiare mentre c’era il ristorante che serviva una “festa “ con tanta gente anziana e signore giovani e stranamente molto belle e non italiane 👀
@@Boretheory be', hai semplicemente avuto una brutta esperienza in un ristorante... sono stato sia in Sicilia che in Sardegna, francamente non ho notato grandi differenze: con la Svizzera (per fare un esempio) la Sicilia non reggerebbe il paragone per infrastrutture! Confesso comunque che vedere i cartelli sparati nellla Barbagia mi ha fatto un po' d'impressione...
I love how you go over the most esoteric historical stuff ever. Please never stop. We need channels like you to fill in the nooks and crannies of history.
Did I ever think about this? No. Did I even know a Kingdom of Two Sicilies ever existed? No. But did I immediately click on the video because it was made by one of the most consistently good youtubers on the platform. Absolutely!
Sicily proper held the most ancient parliament to date, it was the home of many thinkers that during the middle ages inspired centuries later the Renaissance, it was a multicultural heaven where both Greeks, Arabs and Latins lived together in harmony. After the whole French-Aragon debacle happened the island was essentially treated as a colony by the Spaniards and after the Kingdom of the two sicilies was established sicily was plundered in favor of Naples in the inland part of the kingdom. No wonder sicilians, who by that point had become a ignorant peasant ruble, rebelled in mass when Garibaldi arrived joining Sardinia Piedmont effort in uniting the Italian peninsula.
@@glif1360 apparently somehow ancient Greek and Italian councils don't count as parliaments. Even tho they were more democratic than any mediaeval parliament.
This is a question that has always bothered me but never enough for me to actually Google it. When I was playing Crusader Kings I created a custom Kingdom of the Two Sicilies since it didn't exist, I briefly pondered why it was called that and moved on
Before 1815 it was basically the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Siciliy. The formal name for Kingdom of Naples was kept as the Kingdom of Siciliy, but never really used
These are honestly still so good. You manage to pack nuance and crucial context in a way that much longer documentaries completely often fail. I don't remember ever disagreeing with your take or nuance on something. And that is unheard of. I am pedant and political analyst and you unfailingly do a great job. And you make them really fun. Really well done and thank you for this channel.
I love how this video almost feels like pure personal hate from HM to The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies manifested it. Also it has a bolder font on the thumbnail which i find funny
What's the point of living in a timeline where we didn't have the king of France dueling against the king of Aragon with the king of England as the referee?
Btw. I'd just like to add that in order for contemporary historians to distinguish between the real Sicily and other Sicily, the other Sicily is usually referred to as the 'Kingdom of Naples' after the other Sicily's largest city... Naples.
yeah that's largely why I completely forgot about the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies existing. I always remember them as Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples
The Sicilian Sicily is also referred to sometimes as the Kingdom of Trinacria (another name for Sicily) to distinguish it from Naples or the earlier or later united kingdoms
1:03 Pere (Peter) actually travelled to bordeus, disguised as a servant, and when he arrived, he identify ed himself to the authorities, although Charles would never dare to fight the duel
Para nada sirvió, por Nápoles y Sicilia España y Francia lucharon 6 guerras, llamadas las guerras itálicas, al final de la última guerra España no solo se imponía para siempre ante Francia en Nápoles y Sicilia sino que también en Milán y el vaticano al intentar asesinar al emperador Carlos 1 de España, bueno como que no acabo muy bien el papa
I’ve been into this channel for a while and this is definitely my favorite so far, there were so many points in this video where I had to rewind or straight up pause to let myself burst out laughing for several minutes. This channel’s hilarious but they must have really been onto something when they made this one because it’s just one super hilarious joke after another
It's little things like the split second image of an actual well, overlayed with someone saying the word "well" at 0:22, that really just add to the cherry on top that is the humor of this channel.
"What was Europe's reaction to the Mongol invasion?" Please, i think it would be a good question. And "Why were the Christians less tolerant towards Jews than the Muslims?"
@@imperialisticvonhabsburg3149 plus probably its because in medieval era there was no jewish state or jewish power base while most of the middle east and Northern africa was filled with powerful muslim kingdoms
Sigma move. Declare working with money sinful. Disallow religious minority from other specialized work. Religious minority gives loans. Religious minority owns our Debt?!? KILL Religious minority. Sigma move.
@@imperialisticvonhabsburg3149 Nope. Jews in Spain lived pretty peacefully (compared to other European countries) under Muslim rule until Reconquesta, and after it Alhambra Decree happened. After Alhambra Decree, Ottomans (another Muslim country) didn't just welcome Jewish refugees, but sent ships specifically to bring Jewish refugees. Every Turkish town in Western Anatolia and Balkans also had Jewish neighborhoods (especially Istanbul, Thesseloniki and Izmir) and some Ottoman Jews held important positions, such as Sinan Reis, aka Great Jew.
@@ivansych8956 Amelia Earheart, she was the first female pilots in the world if I'm not wrong, and was the first to travel the whole Atlanctic by plane without stop, she died misteriously in one of her trips, which was the circumnavigation one if I'm not wrong, anyway, you can always look her up, at least it's what I understood
Very interesting Amelia Earhart joke on today, the 90th anniversary of her landing in Gallagher's field in Ballyarnett, close to my home in Culmore, near Derry City, Northern Ireland after her first solo transatlantic flight :)
Yes finally. Being a Sicilian myself I am so happy we finally got our own video. We really did deserve this and you did us justice history matters thank you very much
Thank you! I am very honoured that you made a video about the Two Sicilies because I'm from Southern Italy. Please make another video talking about his richness and his power.
The king of two Sicilies (1815-1861) had the title of "Sicilian Majesty" although the capital where he lived was not in the island but in Naples, in the continent. The same with "Sardinian Majesty", the king lived in Torino (Turin) and not in the island of Sardinia.
What's the collective name for the territories in blue at 1:10? Fairly sure they were all held by the House of Anjou (the Capetian one, not the Plantagenets), but wondering if they had some collective name?
History Matters talking about Hitler: "A man with a silly mustache." History Matters talking about Two Sicilies: "THE BIGGEST FUCKING BULLSHIT I'VE EVER SEEN HOLY FUCK!"
I know I’m late to comment, but one often overlooked factor is that the naming of the newly formed Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was also a propaganda move made to appease the “Sicilian” part of the kingdom who wasn’t ever that happy of being jointly governed from Naples. Despite the two kingdoms being often governed together throughout history, the island of Sicily always maintained a certain desire of independence. When merging the two kingdoms king Ferdinand went even to the extra mile of starting over the regnal numeration: he was Ferdinand the IV of Sicily (island) and III of Naples (the informal name for the “continental” Kingdom of Sicily), but became Ferdinand I of the two Sicilies. While this might seem like a small thing, many times when this supposedly equal unions between kingdoms happened the monarchs kept the numeration of the stronger member in the union: When in 1701 England and Scotland were fused into the United Kingdom, the newly formed nation kept the numeration of the English monarchy (this being interpreted as a subtle sign that it was an English expansion over Scotland). Alfonso XII and his son Alfonso XIII of Spain choosing to deliberately follow the Casillian numeration over the Aragonese one signified the preference for the Castilian language over the many local ones in Spain (Aragonese, Catalan etc). When of Italy was unified in 1861 the first Italian king Victor Emmanuel II decided to keep his number instead of starting over. This was done presumably so that he wouldn’t be confused with his grandfather, but it was also interpreted as a sign that the recent unification of Italy was really a territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
"Edward wanted nothing to do with this because he was too busy invading his neighbours" My brain heard that past part as "Too busy invading non-England" and I feel that would have worked better.
There's two little inaccuracies: 1: The first to declare himself king of the Two Sicilies was actually Murat, the Napoleonic king who controlled the continental South, as he laid claim to Sicily as well. The Bourbons just recicled the idea. 2: Toponyms for the continental South are very funky, but it was common to call it "Sicily this side of the lighthouse", so the kingdom of the Two Sicilies was composed of twl kingdoms of Sicily, sure, but it was also a Kingdom made up of two Sicilies. I don't think it was ever understood to be a wacky name at the time, but I'm not sure on that. Other than that, pretty accurate for a 3 minute video on 700 years of history!
Me before the video: Why did the kingdom of the Two Sicilies only have one Sicily? Me after the video: Why did the kingdom of the Two Sicilies only have one Sicily?
0:36 - Charles I was the founder of the Dynasty of Anjou. I'm fascinated in this dynasty, becasue they ruled in 3 kingdoms and were feudalism and middle ages in essence - there is everything in their history: wars, conquers, plots, affairs, murders etc. They fought each other, killed each other, had love affairs etc. They treated Southern Italy as their dynastic property. And all this in the time when Europe was very slowly emerging out of feudalism and modernizing itself. Instead the House Anjou and Southern Italy still stuck in middle ages and feudalism :) I dare say the consequences of the rules of the House Anjou are still present in Southern Italy - organized crime, underdevelopment etc. these are distant consequences of their rules. House Anjou ruled also in my country, happily it got the best members of the house, whereas Southern Italy - the worst ones :)
The history of Scilly could be a great video just by itself. I also read recently that the Spartan king Leonidas elder brother died their trying to establish a Spartan province.
I love that you use Dave. My daughter is 3 and as a huge history nerd like me (im solo dad she likes history and Mario what can I say) and she literally dies laughing every time u do it.
1:38 The fusión of Castille and Aragón with the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabell I of Castille give us Spain, this is why they still with separate laws a lot of time But maybe i missunderstant
When a child, I saw that “kingdom of both Siciles” many times and seriously thought the southern part of Italy had been called Sicily too. Then, I simply forgot about it. Now, after 20+ years of my ignorance, you have my thanks.
Well, the peninsular part was in various times and context called Sicily, too. Insular part, called occasionally Trinacria, was Sicily beyond the lighthouse and Neapolitan mainland was Sicily on this side of the lighthouse.
@@rehurekj I might guess that context is somehow linked to the kingdom’s name, not the part of the peninsula
@@nonameuserua it was the name for the peninsular part, the whole kingdom was originally just kingdom of Sicily, one Sicily, and various lordships and duchies of the peninsular part was grouped under the name Sicily on the side of Faro and later kingdom of Naples or Neapolitania and the island was thus Sicily on the other side of Faro and officially kingdom of Trinacria, and due later partition of formerly one kingdom of Sicily into two under different rulers when it was reunified again it become known as Two or Both Sicilies.
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@rehurekj you just restored the myth I thought to be destroyed half an hour ago
"Obviously, this would have been amazing, which is why it could never happen."
Your humour, man. It gets me.
During the War in Iraq, one of Saddam Hussein's vice presidents proposed that Hussein and George Bush should solve the issue by literally having a duel with one another, refereed by the UN Secretary General at the time.
@@BazukinBelyugovich I would pay my entire fortune to watch that sh*t
@@BazukinBelyugovich “obviously this would have been amazing, which is why it could never happen.”
@@BazukinBelyugovich Fuck, real life truly is the biggest disappointment that would've been awesome.
@@BazukinBelyugovich no surprise that bush was too much of a pussy for a duel
1:59 “this went incredibly well… for the French”
The abruptness of this gets me every time 💀
It also gets me!
Best joke of the video lmao
For real😭HM left no room for us to even process & wheeze
As an Italian teacher of Humanities who took a specific university course in Early Modern Italian History, I wnat both to give major thumbs-up to this (as usual) excellent summary, as it sent me ROTFLling hard, and add a couple nuances:
- The nonsense of the Continental half of the kingdom retaining the "Sicily" moniker was so ridicolous its use was confined to the most formal formalities, while everybody kings included would informally refer to it as the Kingdom of Naples, as if it had originated as a city-state and eventually overbloated (which was kinda true, for Naples ended up becoming a mini-Paris or mini-London leeching riches and humanpower off minor towns).
- Once the two kingdoms re-merged during the Restoration Age, king Ferdinand theoretically arranged them into a federation roughly similar to the UK after the Act of Union, and just to wrap things up he decided that Sicily proper was to be referred to as "Sicily beyond the Lightouse", while the Continet being "Sicily behind the Lighthouse" - for yes, there were twin light-houses on the Strait of Messina, and king Ferdinand would rather use them as a reference point than the Strait itself or, you know, talk about the "United KIngdom of Sicily and Naples".
What was the kingdom officially called before 1815 when it was united under Bourbons?
@@cv4809 Before 1815 they were two different and separate kingdoms ruled by the same person. The kingdom that controlled the island of Sicily was the "Kingdom of Sicily (on the other side of the strait/lighthouse)" while the kingdom on the peninsula was the "Kingdom of Sicily (on this side of the strait/lighthouse)" colloquially know as "The Kingdom of Naples"
Was curious... could formalities be informal?
In the Spanish official titles, the kingdom was (and is still referred to as) the Kingdom of Naples, curiously enough
Can't imagine where they got the idea of trying to claim part of Italy by using it in the name of their country when the reality is they controlled a completely separate and non-overlapping entity! cough cough "Eastern Roman Empire!" cough cough "Holy Roman Empire"
The details in this one are so good, I love googly-eyed George III
oh wow jack
"He didn't want to be the king of Sicily and the king of Sicily, he wanted to be the king of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies." That's a tongue twister if I've ever heard one.
Where’s the second Sicily, Lebowski?
So if it was Two Sicilies that united Italy instead would it have been called the Kingdom of the Three (Four) Sicilies?
@@nathanandsugar5252the Kingdom of Many Sicilies
The name is a lot simpler than the flag, though.
This channel never fails to be the best history channel on TH-cam
@The Philosoraptor literally carrying history. History matters is why I am interested in history, along with other channels like oversimplified and knowledgia
The return of dave
Oversimplified?
A joint first 4 me
Tied with oversimplified
I caught the alligator who ate the deluca boy
Yeah, and the ''I'll be home soon sweety'' killed me
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@glocksmith226 Abducted by aliens and taken to the Delta Quadrant.
@@guillaumebuffet3384 I don't get that reference, could someone enlighten me about it?
@@actin9294 Let's just say it took longer to go back home
I think this is probably the funniest episode so far. Both from a conceptual and a joke per minute perspective. Well done
Agreed.
So many funny bits and jokes , and the context itself is hilarious (minus the war and killing stuff of course).
Its conceptually the funniest, i didn’t smile or laugh but he crammed more jokes in
Yup it was hilarious and even with all the jokes I still laighed
King Ferdinand: “What about Sicily?”
Congress of Vienna: “You already have one”
King Ferdinand: “I’ve got one Sicily, yes. What about second Sicily?”
Ah, so one of Aragorn's code names was Congress of Vienna, and King Ferdinand was a hobbit. It makes sense.
The connection here is that Aragorn was both King of Gondor and a large part of Spain, but the Spanish have always had trouble pronouncing his name correctly.
the one frame of the well whenever you say "well" is another reason why i love this channel
really
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
That flew by me at first, but yeah, fantastic. Thanks for mentioning it.
i can’t see it
@@I_AM_HYDRAA
When History Matters asks "Why did the Kingdom of the two Sicilies only have one Sicily?" (@ 0:18), he self-replies "WELL" and quickly flashes to a picture of a well (@ 0:22), before finishing the rest of his self-reply: "in order to find out, we need to go back to the medieval period."
"So everyone died for nothing." Sadly this can describe A lot of human history.
WWI in a nutshell.
@@Antarius1999 literally
Ukraine “special operation”.
@@Antarius1999 Actually, some borders changed and regimes were overthrown in WWI so, technically, it wasn't 'for nothing' like a white peace would have been.
And that's why people eventually decided that dying for the sake of an absolute monarch who doesn't care about his subjects at all is unacceptable. Thus we deposed all absolute monarchs or took away their power, and now we get to die for politicians who don't care about their subjects instead. Much better :)
The montage of Napoléon being bored of winning and then finally happy when losing earned an instant like
suffering from success
2:05 this is legit the funniest scene in any HM video
Bro, you don’t have to say, “I hope you enjoyed this video”. We all truly enjoy every video you make.
History Matters always answers the burning questions I never even knew I had.
This is the only time he has answered a question I knew I had. hahahahaha!
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
Me: *living my life*
History Matters: *uploads video*
Me: "Wait, wait wait... why WAS the Kingdom Of The Two Sicilies called that...???"
True 'dat
What's hilarious is that he left out partially WHY Garibaldi was able to take southern Italy: The Royal Navy helped transport his army to the coast of Naples and make their landing. Essentially, Britain backstabbed their old Napoleonic Wars ally to adjust the European power balance.
«This went incredibly well…for the French» 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I laughed out loud at that 😆
It very usual joke flrmy for History matters. And better to stay that way.
This channel is pure gold
That was a good line
Reminds me of what the Oracle of Delphi supposedly said to the Lydian King Croesus when he asked if it would be a good idea to attack Cyrus of Persia: "you will cause the destruction of a great empire."
The Sicilian Vespers is probably one of the coolest event of the Medieval Period. The international conspiracy to remove Charles is worthy of a movie.
Probably not the coolest event for all the slaughtered French inhabitants of the island though.
And it has one of the coolest names too. It sounds like a conspiracy of sexy Italian snakes.
I read Steven Runciman's history of the event. I like his work, as he usually gives both sides telling of events, then draws conclusions.
This war gave birth to arguably medieval Europe's greatest admiral; Roger de Lauria and put the feared Almogavars on the map.
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
The fact that the french didn't rename the southern itallian kingdom when it lost Sicily sounds like one of those quirks of Crusader Kings where after conquring the namesake of a county the AI isn't programmed to be able to change its name to reflect this.
Well, the capital of the state had been Naples for a century, so insofar as a central state existed in the vassal-oriented politics of the time, it was still intact and still busy waging war to reclaim its wayward province for decades. After that it was just a point of pride and not wanting to give up on the point of precedence.
For real. I'm playing the game of thrones mod and I'm the king of the trident, and I've conquered the whole crowlands including kings landing, but the kingdom of westeros is still called "the iron throne" even though theoretically i own the iron throne.
"Now obviously this would have been amazing which is of course why it could never happen"..
You're not wrong, but I really hoped for a moment that you were going to tell us that this duel had actually taken place.
I think what sells the "deadpan" humor in these videos so well to me is that unlike most people I've heard try to deliver similar jokes to the jokes made in these videos in a similar way to how there delivered here, is that you don't hear him trying to hold back a laugh or notability flinch in his delivery to make sure he doesn't giggle to himself. He just delivers the jokes in his script like he does every other line and serves to make the jokes in these videos more humorous instead of less in my opinion.
Eddit: Yes, I know I just described what deadpan humor is, my comment is/was supposed to put forward that I think he does deadpan well not just "Oh look, he's using deadpan humor." And I also split it into too sentences though I'm struggling to cut down the first in size, so sorry for my previous lack of proper sentence structure.
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@cyrusthegreat7030 my*
And yes, for sure!
That may look easy, but fun fact no
@@cyrusthegreat7030 which raises the question, why? Why would you want to rebuild the great Persian empire?
You just gave the definition of "deadpan humor." It's "deadpan" for a reason. ;)
So it was called that because it had previously been united, but then split apart, with both of them adapting the same name, despite one of the two halves not being in the land it's named after, and when reunited, the term was used to describe both halves, so there were two of them, despite the fact that there is only one of the land where the name comes from? Nice.
Thanks. I couldn't have put it any less clearly myself.
Rather reminds me of the 5 different entities that claimed to be Rome at one point or another despite only 1 of them actually containing it.
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@cyrusthegreat7030 oh crap not again
@@lil_jackgamez8992 you already know who it is
"Everyone alive, even Dave"
Yes.
I still won't forgive Dave, mark my words.
@@jonbaxter2254 *while holding a sign saying "soon"*
0:34 that French prince, Charles of Anjou, is one of the most interesting people in medieval history. At the height of his power he was probably the single most influential person in Europe, but suffered a devastating blow with the "Sicilian vespers".
"As you all know, Napoleon eventually got sick of sucess and tried his hand at losing."
This channel never fails, i love it.
0:14 WOW EVEN DAVE?!?!
Yes even DAVEYYY!!
DAVEEEEEEY! How you doin'?
Michael, Did you just jump out of a blimp?!
The more Sicilies the better.
Why not Seven?
84 Sicilians, dammit
Because then you would have seven Mafias. Maybe even more.
Admittedly, that could end up in one hell of a shoot-out.
@@ecurewitz I raise with Kingdom of 203.5 Sicilies and county of Australian Greenland ruled by admiral Manlypower.
Seven silly Sicilies
Proposal to rename Sardinia, Corsica, and at least 3 regions on the Italian mainland to "Sicily".
As a Sicilian, you can’t imagine How happy I am you made this video
Amici Siciliani, facciamoci sentire carusi/picciotti !!!
Sono figlio di messinesi in Australia.
Avrebbe dovuto menzionare che l'ingiustizia delle potenze straniere in Sicilia creo' il terreno fertile per la Mafia.
Vespri ricordati anche nell'inno nazionale..
Come sardo adoro e al contempo detesto vedere come siete ridotti. Vorrei solo un’italia dove anche il sud è sviluppato e i suoi cittadini stanno bene
@@Boretheory meh, non è che stiamo così male. Sono stato in Sardegna e non ho notato una sostanziale differenza nello stile di vita, anche se invidio il traffico agevole di Cagliari rispetto al caos palermitano (ma c'è da dire che Cagliari è più piccola). Certo si potrebbe fare di meglio...
@@esti-od1mz nah fidati si vive bene qua e le strade non crollano di continuo è molto piacevole. Diciamo che vedi la differenza standoci tanto. La mia permanenza in Sicilia e Campania non è stata “ delle migliori “. Soprattutto quando abbiamo aspettato 3 ore per mangiare mentre c’era il ristorante che serviva una “festa “ con tanta gente anziana e signore giovani e stranamente molto belle e non italiane 👀
@@Boretheory be', hai semplicemente avuto una brutta esperienza in un ristorante... sono stato sia in Sicilia che in Sardegna, francamente non ho notato grandi differenze: con la Svizzera (per fare un esempio) la Sicilia non reggerebbe il paragone per infrastrutture! Confesso comunque che vedere i cartelli sparati nellla Barbagia mi ha fatto un po' d'impressione...
2:44 oh come on that name is good!!!
I love how you go over the most esoteric historical stuff ever. Please never stop. We need channels like you to fill in the nooks and crannies of history.
Did I ever think about this? No. Did I even know a Kingdom of Two Sicilies ever existed? No. But did I immediately click on the video because it was made by one of the most consistently good youtubers on the platform. Absolutely!
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
clearly not a victoria player
This is why subscriptions exist!
That's one of the countries i discovered thanks to paradox games
Like tannu tuva
Imagine Never Playing Victoria 2
Dave is becoming a recurring character in the Matters of History channel.
Who is Dave?
@@espenemilthygesen9151 Dave!
@@espenemilthygesen9151 The man who could be a communist and even he knows the Two Siciles are just one Sicily.
Who again?
@@espenemilthygesen9151 Hello there!
Sicily proper held the most ancient parliament to date, it was the home of many thinkers that during the middle ages inspired centuries later the Renaissance, it was a multicultural heaven where both Greeks, Arabs and Latins lived together in harmony.
After the whole French-Aragon debacle happened the island was essentially treated as a colony by the Spaniards and after the Kingdom of the two sicilies was established sicily was plundered in favor of Naples in the inland part of the kingdom.
No wonder sicilians, who by that point had become a ignorant peasant ruble, rebelled in mass when Garibaldi arrived joining Sardinia Piedmont effort in uniting the Italian peninsula.
Wait wasn't the most ancient one in San Marino?
@@glif1360 I think that was the longest continuous one, since it still exists today.
@@glif1360 apparently somehow ancient Greek and Italian councils don't count as parliaments. Even tho they were more democratic than any mediaeval parliament.
@@glif1360 San Marino is the oldest Republic to date but the most ancient parliament is in Palermo Sicily.
@@panzerofthelake506 still, the one in Palermo is the most ancient one.
"There are dozens of us" Garibaldi holding this sign is why i love this channel
I love that Peter the First was portrayed with the sword of night and flame.
I don't know why Dave was personally attacked as a liar like that, but it was funny. 😂
Dave knows what he did...
Who's Dave?
@@hongxiuquan69 dave mama
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@foldedchicken4634 Gottem
2:33 lmao at George III chillin in the back
What’s he’s doing is a little more than chillin 💀💀💀
Wasn’t he mentally unstable at that point? He apparently talked to a tree when he was supposed to be talking to the King of Prussia
This is a question that has always bothered me but never enough for me to actually Google it.
When I was playing Crusader Kings I created a custom Kingdom of the Two Sicilies since it didn't exist, I briefly pondered why it was called that and moved on
Before 1815 it was basically the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Siciliy. The formal name for Kingdom of Naples was kept as the Kingdom of Siciliy, but never really used
These are honestly still so good. You manage to pack nuance and crucial context in a way that much longer documentaries completely often fail. I don't remember ever disagreeing with your take or nuance on something. And that is unheard of. I am pedant and political analyst and you unfailingly do a great job. And you make them really fun. Really well done and thank you for this channel.
I love how this video almost feels like pure personal hate from HM to The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies manifested it. Also it has a bolder font on the thumbnail which i find funny
What's the point of living in a timeline where we didn't have the king of France dueling against the king of Aragon with the king of England as the referee?
Charles of Anjou wasn't the King of France. He was the uncle of the King of France.
Probably the least biased referee they could find. I wonder why that didn't happen.
This is one of the most important questions in life. There'd actually probably be a billion videos about it on youtube today
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
@@cyrusthegreat7030 better proposal what about we reform the Roman Empire plus everything European today
"Thus ending the worst named kingdom ever"
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes: *Am I a joke to you?*
That's what the Bosniaks said.
Well at least that is an accurate name. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies has only one Sicily
Aragonese Sicily has one of the most badass heraldry. The vertical Senyera impaled by the Hohenstaufen Eagles is just * *chef's kiss* *.
can you give a link, cant find it online.
Btw. I'd just like to add that in order for contemporary historians to distinguish between the real Sicily and other Sicily, the other Sicily is usually referred to as the 'Kingdom of Naples' after the other Sicily's largest city... Naples.
yeah that's largely why I completely forgot about the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies existing. I always remember them as Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples
The Sicilian Sicily is also referred to sometimes as the Kingdom of Trinacria (another name for Sicily) to distinguish it from Naples or the earlier or later united kingdoms
1:03
Pere (Peter) actually travelled to bordeus, disguised as a servant, and when he arrived, he identify ed himself to the authorities, although Charles would never dare to fight the duel
Quite a romantic episode for Peter.
I just love how History Matters delivers their jokes, you never see them coming and somehow they are never forced.
The humor on this channel is really ramping up and I love it
0:55
Imagine helping the French and the Spanish sort out their issues.
Wouldn’t be me, lmao. 😎
Thankyou King Edward "Longshanks" the 1st
Para nada sirvió, por Nápoles y Sicilia España y Francia lucharon 6 guerras, llamadas las guerras itálicas, al final de la última guerra España no solo se imponía para siempre ante Francia en Nápoles y Sicilia sino que también en Milán y el vaticano al intentar asesinar al emperador Carlos 1 de España, bueno como que no acabo muy bien el papa
I’ve been into this channel for a while and this is definitely my favorite so far, there were so many points in this video where I had to rewind or straight up pause to let myself burst out laughing for several minutes. This channel’s hilarious but they must have really been onto something when they made this one because it’s just one super hilarious joke after another
It's little things like the split second image of an actual well, overlayed with someone saying the word "well" at 0:22, that really just add to the cherry on top that is the humor of this channel.
0:21 Well
Thanks
I love how you never run out of new ways to humourise Napoleon's defeat, even though you basically mention it in every video. XD
How are your videos so consistently funny and informative
You were in rare form on this one. I could barely stop laughing on one quip when the next zinger came rolling! Well done, this one!
I swear this channel is entirely comprised of questions you didn't know you had its great
"What was Europe's reaction to the Mongol invasion?" Please, i think it would be a good question.
And
"Why were the Christians less tolerant towards Jews than the Muslims?"
Because the jews were closer and literally in every village?
@@imperialisticvonhabsburg3149 plus probably its because in medieval era there was no jewish state or jewish power base while most of the middle east and Northern africa was filled with powerful muslim kingdoms
So if you keep killing and persecuting muslim people in your Kingdom this can cause tensions among the muslim rulers
Sigma move.
Declare working with money sinful.
Disallow religious minority from other specialized work.
Religious minority gives loans.
Religious minority owns our Debt?!?
KILL Religious minority.
Sigma move.
@@imperialisticvonhabsburg3149 Nope. Jews in Spain lived pretty peacefully (compared to other European countries) under Muslim rule until Reconquesta, and after it Alhambra Decree happened.
After Alhambra Decree, Ottomans (another Muslim country) didn't just welcome Jewish refugees, but sent ships specifically to bring Jewish refugees. Every Turkish town in Western Anatolia and Balkans also had Jewish neighborhoods (especially Istanbul, Thesseloniki and Izmir) and some Ottoman Jews held important positions, such as Sinan Reis, aka Great Jew.
Dave needs to become a main character in your videos.
Dave needs to get back to work...
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
"I'll be home soon Sweetie"
The sheer amount of Dark humour lmfao
What does this joke mean?
@@ivansych8956 Pearl Harbor
@@JakeandElwoodBlues Thank you.
@@ivansych8956 Amelia Earheart, she was the first female pilots in the world if I'm not wrong, and was the first to travel the whole Atlanctic by plane without stop, she died misteriously in one of her trips, which was the circumnavigation one if I'm not wrong, anyway, you can always look her up, at least it's what I understood
I'm so glad these videos exist. Thank you History Matters man.
Your sense of humor is my favorite part of these videos.
As always, pausing to read the "papers" never disappoints
Very interesting Amelia Earhart joke on today, the 90th anniversary of her landing in Gallagher's field in Ballyarnett, close to my home in Culmore, near Derry City, Northern Ireland after her first solo transatlantic flight :)
Yes finally. Being a Sicilian myself I am so happy we finally got our own video. We really did deserve this and you did us justice history matters thank you very much
Thank you! I am very honoured that you made a video about the Two Sicilies because I'm from Southern Italy. Please make another video talking about his richness and his power.
The comedy in your videos is getting better every video. "even Dave"
I can imagine a guy named Dave at work and he didn't know about it and is just freaking out.
Dave is now a reoccurring character and I love it
The king of two Sicilies (1815-1861) had the title of "Sicilian Majesty" although the capital where he lived was not in the island but in Naples, in the continent.
The same with "Sardinian Majesty", the king lived in Torino (Turin) and not in the island of Sardinia.
I love this channel! It not only asks the historical questions, I have too, but answers them in a fun and entertaining way!
The humor in these videos is always spot on, but this video seemed to have extra funnies contained within. Great video!
What's the collective name for the territories in blue at 1:10?
Fairly sure they were all held by the House of Anjou (the Capetian one, not the Plantagenets), but wondering if they had some collective name?
History Matters talking about Hitler: "A man with a silly mustache."
History Matters talking about Two Sicilies: "THE BIGGEST FUCKING BULLSHIT I'VE EVER SEEN HOLY FUCK!"
0:59 is that the sword of Night and flame of Elden Ring?!
One of the funniest episodes yet.
0:53 Two kings dueling has got to be the peak moment of the romantic chivalry fad popular in that era. Edward I was a huge fan of that stuff.
I know I’m late to comment, but one often overlooked factor is that the naming of the newly formed Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was also a propaganda move made to appease the “Sicilian” part of the kingdom who wasn’t ever that happy of being jointly governed from Naples. Despite the two kingdoms being often governed together throughout history, the island of Sicily always maintained a certain desire of independence.
When merging the two kingdoms king Ferdinand went even to the extra mile of starting over the regnal numeration: he was Ferdinand the IV of Sicily (island) and III of Naples (the informal name for the “continental” Kingdom of Sicily), but became Ferdinand I of the two Sicilies.
While this might seem like a small thing, many times when this supposedly equal unions between kingdoms happened the monarchs kept the numeration of the stronger member in the union:
When in 1701 England and Scotland were fused into the United Kingdom, the newly formed nation kept the numeration of the English monarchy (this being interpreted as a subtle sign that it was an English expansion over Scotland).
Alfonso XII and his son Alfonso XIII of Spain choosing to deliberately follow the Casillian numeration over the Aragonese one signified the preference for the Castilian language over the many local ones in Spain (Aragonese, Catalan etc).
When of Italy was unified in 1861 the first Italian king Victor Emmanuel II decided to keep his number instead of starting over. This was done presumably so that he wouldn’t be confused with his grandfather, but it was also interpreted as a sign that the recent unification of Italy was really a territorial expansion of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
As always a really interesting video topic, keep up the good work 👍
"Edward wanted nothing to do with this because he was too busy invading his neighbours"
My brain heard that past part as "Too busy invading non-England" and I feel that would have worked better.
Thank you for answering the questions that keep us awake at night.
i love how personally offended he soundes in the beginning
There's two little inaccuracies:
1: The first to declare himself king of the Two Sicilies was actually Murat, the Napoleonic king who controlled the continental South, as he laid claim to Sicily as well. The Bourbons just recicled the idea.
2: Toponyms for the continental South are very funky, but it was common to call it "Sicily this side of the lighthouse", so the kingdom of the Two Sicilies was composed of twl kingdoms of Sicily, sure, but it was also a Kingdom made up of two Sicilies. I don't think it was ever understood to be a wacky name at the time, but I'm not sure on that.
Other than that, pretty accurate for a 3 minute video on 700 years of history!
I remeber something about a Cisterior Sicily and an Ulterior Sicily. Don't know which was which, though.
@@tremendousbaguette9680 There was "Hither and Ultra Sicily" in the titles of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
I really liked Dave, Dave is now my favorite person, please don’t take away Dave
“This went incredibly well. For the French.”
My favorite part 🤣
Danke!
I just adore your sense of humor, History Matters.
“One of the most bareface lies in history apart from I promise I don’t want anymore of czechoslovakia.”
Damn
Blood and Soil
We will not invade.
Wanna help rebuild the Persian empire? Read by name
Genuinely mad we missed out on a badass duel between two kings.
Well, they cleverly covered it up by conjuring a second Sicily out of thin air.
Me before the video: Why did the kingdom of the Two Sicilies only have one Sicily?
Me after the video: Why did the kingdom of the Two Sicilies only have one Sicily?
It's complicated.
0:36 - Charles I was the founder of the Dynasty of Anjou. I'm fascinated in this dynasty, becasue they ruled in 3 kingdoms and were feudalism and middle ages in essence - there is everything in their history: wars, conquers, plots, affairs, murders etc. They fought each other, killed each other, had love affairs etc. They treated Southern Italy as their dynastic property. And all this in the time when Europe was very slowly emerging out of feudalism and modernizing itself. Instead the House Anjou and Southern Italy still stuck in middle ages and feudalism :) I dare say the consequences of the rules of the House Anjou are still present in Southern Italy - organized crime, underdevelopment etc. these are distant consequences of their rules.
House Anjou ruled also in my country, happily it got the best members of the house, whereas Southern Italy - the worst ones :)
This might be the best video the channel has ever put out. Jokes literally in every single frame.
Finally, my biggest question when I’ve studied history!
You should make a "Why does Uruguay exist?" Video. It's a pretty interesting story.
The history of Scilly could be a great video just by itself. I also read recently that the Spartan king Leonidas elder brother died their trying to establish a Spartan province.
Garibaldi holding up the sign "There are dozens of us" is a great joke!
I love that you use Dave. My daughter is 3 and as a huge history nerd like me (im solo dad she likes history and Mario what can I say) and she literally dies laughing every time u do it.
1:38 The fusión of Castille and Aragón with the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabell I of Castille give us Spain, this is why they still with separate laws a lot of time
But maybe i missunderstant
The two Sicilies eventually split after they couldn’t agree on whether pizza should be round or square.
Sicilians are not passionate about American fast food. If Sicily ever split, it will be over caponata recipes.
This was a hilarious comedy history show. I had to rewind to hear the napoleon winning and losing joke
This channel has a amazing way to tell history
I read some history as a kid and never really understood that name. Now I do. You’ve drastically improved my childhood memory. Thank you.