Court factions turn cultural purity into a political weapon

George's death removed a minister capable of defending the multicultural system he had helped build. Court factions did not want another Christodoulos or George to monopolize authority beside the king, so accusations about religious and cultural purity became a convenient way to destroy rivals. His successor Philip of Mahdia was condemned as too lenient toward North African Berbers despite imposing harsher terms than George had used. The episode shows how internal competition could dismantle the administrative tolerance that supported Sicily's maritime empire even before Arabic influence finally faded from court.