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Individual and ideal Risorgimento sentiments of love of country provide Hayez, the principal champion of Italian historical romanticism, with his favourite themes.
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Capetian king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. The massacre of the French precipitated a French-Aragonese struggle for possession of that kingdom. Its name derives from a riot that took place in a church outside Palermo at the hour of vespers on Easter Monday, March 30, 1282. Peter III of Aragon, Charles's rival for the Neapolitan throne, conspired to raise a rebellion against him in Sicily. The rising broke out prematurely when Sicilians, incensed by Charles's oppressive regime, killed some insulting French soldiers at vespers in the church of Santo Spirito. The people of Palermo followed suit and massacred 2,000 French inhabitants of the city the night of March 30–31. All of Sicily soon revolted and sought help from the Aragonese, who landed at Trapani on August 30.
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