Imaginaire impérial, empire et œcuménisme religieux : quelques réflexions depuis la Sicile des Hauteville
Sicily in the 11th and 12th centuries was not only multiconfessional but was also inhabited by Christians who followed liturgical services given in Latin, Greek and Arabic. The policy of the Hautevilles was also quite original in this regard. Nurturing their imperial pretentions, they were able to integrate non-Christian groups into the construction of their territories by granting them unequal fiscal status, were influenced in their mode of government by both Byzantine and Islamic models, and invited Muslims to join their court without demanding their conversion. Moreover, in what extends beyond a policy that can be characterised as imperial, they seem to have favoured a true religious convergence around a form of Christianity that was very broadly defined. This ideology was supported by both a section of the magnates and by servants of the State.