Ruggero de Amicis (also d'Amico or d'Amici) was a Sicilian high administrator and diplomat under the Emperor Frederick II. He served as justiciar of western Sicily between 1239 and 1240, then as captain and master justiciar of all Sicily and Calabria from 1240 until 1241. He was Frederick's ambassador to Ayyubid Egypt from 1241 until 1242. He was also active as a vernacular lyric poet, one of the earliest members of the Sicilian school. In 1246, he joined a conspiracy against the emperor and was arrested. He died in prison.
Family
Ruggero was probably a native of Messina. He held the fiefs of Cerchiara, Castiglione and Francavilla, three fiefs at Cosenza and one fief at Oriolo, all in Calabria. He was married to Venia de Dragone and they had several children, including a son named Corrado and a daughter named Margherita.
Ruggero's precise relationship to other persons named de Amicis is unknown, although they were evidently relatives. The ladies Mabilia de Amicis and Bella de Amicis were his contemporaries. They married, respectively, Ruggero of Bisaccia and Guglielmo of Montemarano. It is unclear if this Bella is the same person as the Bella de Amicis who was the mother of the famous admiral, Ruggero di Lauria. The latter's maternal uncle, Guglielmo, is described as "count of Amico" and lord of Ficarra. His father's name was Amico. According to Bartolomeo da Neocastro, he was exiled from Messina for his participation in the conspiracy of 1246. He married Macalda, who after his death married Alaimo da Lentini. In addition, there was an Orlando de Amicis recorded as a moneyer at Messina in 1262–1265.
Royal service
Justiciar, 1239–1240
In 1239, at the start of the war with the papacy, Ruggero was appointed justiciar of the island of Sicily "across the river Salso", that is, its western half. He probably took office on 10 September, the start of the indictional year. He is recorded for the first time as justiciar on 10 October 1239, when the emperor informed him that all the Sicilian members of the court had been ordered to return to Sicily. Ruggero was to confiscate the properties of any courtiers who disobeyed and to inform the court.
On 10 November 1239, the emperor ordered Ruggero to provide the names of all the men serving in positions of responsibility under him. That same day, he ordered him to assist Amaury de Montfort on his way through Sicily on the Barons' Crusade. On 18 November, he ordered him to arrest two priests and a monk accused of murdering the prior of Saint Peter's at . Although this violated their right to be tried by an ecclesiastical court, such rights were suspended during the war with the papacy. Ruggero took other actions against the church. On 16 November, he was ordered to collect the collecta generalis (general tax) in his province, even from the church. In December, Ruggero ordered the Franciscans out of Palermo and exiled other supporters of the papacy and their families from his jurisdiction. He granted an exemption, however, to a certain Thomas Ferentini of Palermo, a son-in-law of Bishop Aldoin of Cefalù, whose other relatives were exiled.
In February 1240, Frederick ordered Ruggero to ensure that the diplomatic mission to the Emirate of Tunis, which was sailing from Palermo, had the required number of men and that any ill member was replaced. On 1 February, he ordered him to arrest all the citizens of the rebellious city of Spoleto in his justiciarate. On 8 February, he ordered him to assure that both horses and mules were being bred for the campaign against the papacy. Ruggero also had the responsibility of enforcing a ban on the export of horses.
As justiciar, Ruggero helped complete the liquidation of the communities of Centorbi and Capizzi, which had rebelled in 1232. The cities had been razed and the inhabitants removed to Palermo. Ruggero captured all those inhabitants still at large in his jurisdiction, provided their names to the emperor and resettled them in Palermo. He also began the relocation of the Muslims of Sicily to Lucera, which was completed in the next decade.