Frederick, King of Sicily

Frederick, King of Sicily, is the young ruler whose desire for Restituta turns into a near-fatal public sentence against her and Gianni di Procida. His decisive change comes when Ruggieri dell'Oria makes him recognize that the lovers are not merely trespassers: their families have helped secure his authority. Frederick then revokes the execution, compensates them for the harm he caused, and arranges their marriage, turning an abuse of power into an act of royal restitution.

Identity and First Encounter

Frederick is introduced as a young king who delights in beautiful women. After Sicilian sailors seize Restituta on Ischia and carry her to Palermo, they present her to him. He is pleased by her beauty, but is temporarily infirm; rather than take her to himself immediately, he orders that she be lodged and tended in a fine pavilion in the garden he calls La Cuba until he has recovered his strength. The arrangement gives the king control over her and makes the garden both a place of royal privilege and the setting for the lovers’ clandestine reunion.

The story does not give Frederick an extended history or private life beyond this episode. His position is instead established through the reach of his command: Restituta is held under guard at his garden, and, when he discovers her with Gianni, he can order their arrest and determine their fate. His youth and desire are set against that authority, which makes the consequences of his anger more than a private quarrel.

Discovery and Sentence

After recovering, Frederick remembers Restituta and goes secretly to La Cuba before daybreak with attendants. Entering her chamber by torchlight, he finds her and Gianni asleep, naked and in each other’s arms. The sight provokes such fury that he nearly kills them immediately with the dagger at his side. He restrains himself, however, judging it base for anyone—and especially a king—to kill two sleeping, naked people. That pause does not amount to mercy: he chooses a more public and deliberate punishment instead.

Frederick orders the lovers bound and taken to Palermo, where they are to be tied back to back at a stake in the public place, displayed until the appointed hour, and burned. The town gathers as the sentence is carried out and the fire is prepared. The men admire Restituta’s beauty, while the women praise Gianni’s appearance; the lovers themselves stand with bowed heads, ashamed and expecting death. Frederick’s intended spectacle thus exposes the gap between the crowd’s appraisal of their beauty and the king’s use of them as objects of punishment. His refusal to kill them in their sleep has only changed the manner of violence, not its intended outcome.

Ruggieri’s Intervention

Ruggieri dell'Oria, the king’s admiral, arrives after hearing what has happened. He recognizes Gianni and asks him how he came to be at the stake. Gianni identifies love and the king’s anger as the causes of his peril, then explains the events. Before Ruggieri leaves, Gianni asks for one last favor: because the lovers have been bound back to back, he wants them turned to face each other so he can look upon Restituta as he dies. Ruggieri responds with laughter and a promise that Gianni will have ample time to see her. The request makes the threatened execution intimate: for Gianni, even the last comfort he can imagine is the sight of the woman he loves.

Instead of merely granting that favor, Ruggieri halts the preparations and confronts Frederick. He acknowledges that the young people have committed an offense, but argues that the king is not the person from whom punishment is due. He then identifies what Frederick did not know: Gianni is the son of Landolfo di Procida, who is the brother of Giovanni da Procida, whose support helped make Frederick king. Restituta, meanwhile, is the daughter of Marino Bolgaro, whose influence has kept the king’s officers from being driven out of Ischia. The admiral makes the lovers’ family connections—and the services on which the king’s rule depends—impossible to ignore.

Reversal and Royal Restitution

Frederick accepts that Ruggieri is telling the truth and stops the execution. He orders the lovers released from the stake and brought before him, then hears their case fully. His response is more than a reprieve: he recognizes that he has injured them and decides to repay that injury with gifts and honor. He has them dressed again in sumptuous clothing, confirms that they are of one accord, and arranges for Gianni to marry Restituta. Magnificent presents accompany their return to their own country, where they are received with joy.

The reversal changes the meaning of Frederick’s authority without erasing its danger. His initial judgment is driven by jealousy and anger; Ruggieri’s appeal redirects his attention to kinship, political obligation, and the possibility of clemency. The king who had planned to expose and burn the lovers instead publicly restores their dignity and joins them in marriage. In the tale, royal power is at its most threatening when exercised without knowledge, and at its most constructive when it recognizes the claims of those whose loyalty and influence sustain it.