Norman Sicily plays Byzantium and the papacy against each other

In 1109 Alexios I Komnenos granted Roger a Byzantine court title recognizing his knowledge of imperial practice. The honor could imply Byzantine superiority, yet the papacy also claimed authority while the Normans increasingly behaved as an independent power. Sicily's rulers exploited those competing claims instead of settling the constitutional question for their rivals. The ambiguity gave a still-vulnerable state diplomatic room to protect its independence.