Explanation: The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (far-flung adventurers, those Normans - Norse plunderers who had settled on the coast of France for several generations, and who had also conquered England) was in an unusual position for a medieval Christian kingdom - namely, that they had a significant Muslim minority in their lands. Rather than opt for expulsion or murder, as most other Christian polities of the period preferred, the Normans ended up implementing a system of limited coexistence based, funny enough, on the practice of Muslim tolerance of other faiths. Just like the Muslim jizya, those of other faiths would be permitted to worship freely, so long as they paid a tax to the central polity.

This is intolerant to our eyes, but to the eyes of their fellow Catholic Christians, it was borderline heathen in its pluralism!

Not only that, but a large number of Muslim professionals would be employed by the culturally-and-economically-vibrant Sicilian Kingdom, and, going beyond even what Muslim polities of that period usually allowed, recruited soldiers of other faiths into its armies as well!

Sadly, after a few generations, the Kingdom of Sicily’s independent power and influence would decline, and under the pressure of the Papal States, this limited tolerance would be eroded piece-by-piece, until nothing remained, and the shrinking Muslim population was expelled from Sicily entirely.