66 (return) [ This brazen statue, which had been brought from

Antioch, and was melted down by the Latins, was supposed to

represent either Joshua or Bellerophon, an odd dilemma. See

Nicetas Choniates, (p. 413, 414,) Codinus, (de Originibus C. P.

p. 24,) and the anonymous writer de Antiquitat. C. P. (Banduri,

Imp. Orient. tom. i. p. 17, 18,) who lived about the year 1100.

They witness the belief of the prophecy the rest is immaterial.]

By land the Russians were less formidable than by sea; and as

they fought for the most part on foot, their irregular legions

must often have been broken and overthrown by the cavalry of the

Scythian hordes. Yet their growing towns, however slight and

imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject, and a barrier to

the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, till a fatal partition, assumed

the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga to the

Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus, 67 the

son of Igor, the son of Oleg, the son of Ruric. The vigor of his

mind and body was fortified by the hardships of a military and

savage life. Wrapped in a bear-skin, Swatoslaus usually slept on

the ground, his head reclining on a saddle; his diet was coarse

and frugal, and, like the heroes of Homer, 68 his meat (it was

often horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted on the coals. The

exercise of war gave stability and discipline to his army; and it

may be presumed, that no soldier was permitted to transcend the

luxury of his chief. By an embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek

emperor, he was moved to undertake the conquest of Bulgaria; and

a gift of fifteen hundred pounds of gold was laid at his feet to

defray the expense, or reward the toils, of the expedition. An

army of sixty thousand men was assembled and embarked; they

sailed from the Borysthenes to the Danube; their landing was

effected on the Maesian shore; and, after a sharp encounter, the

swords of the Russians prevailed against the arrows of the

Bulgarian horse. The vanquished king sunk into the grave; his

children were made captive; and his dominions, as far as Mount

Haemus, were subdued or ravaged by the northern invaders. But

instead of relinquishing his prey, and performing his

engagements, the Varangian prince was more disposed to advance

than to retire; and, had his ambition been crowned with success,

the seat of empire in that early period might have been

transferred to a more temperate and fruitful climate. Swatoslaus

enjoyed and acknowledged the advantages of his new position, in

which he could unite, by exchange or rapine, the various

productions of the earth. By an easy navigation he might draw

from Russia the native commodities of furs, wax, and hydromed:

Hungary supplied him with a breed of horses and the spoils of the

West; and Greece abounded with gold, silver, and the foreign

luxuries, which his poverty had affected to disdain. The bands of

Patzinacites, Chozars, and Turks, repaired to the standard of

victory; and the ambassador of Nicephorus betrayed his trust,

assumed the purple, and promised to share with his new allies the

treasures of the Eastern world. From the banks of the Danube the

Russian prince pursued his march as far as Adrianople; a formal

summons to evacuate the Roman province was dismissed with

contempt; and Swatoslaus fiercely replied, that Constantinople

might soon expect the presence of an enemy and a master.

67 (return) [ The life of Swatoslaus, or Sviatoslaf, or

Sphendosthlabus, is extracted from the Russian Chronicles by M.

Levesque, (Hist. de Russie, tom. i. p. 94-107.)]

68 (return) [ This resemblance may be clearly seen in the ninth

book of the Iliad, (205-221,) in the minute detail of the cookery

of Achilles. By such a picture, a modern epic poet would disgrace

his work, and disgust his reader; but the Greek verses are

harmonious—a dead language can seldom appear low or familiar; and

at the distance of two thousand seven hundred years, we are

amused with the primitive manners of antiquity.]

Nicephorus could no longer expel the mischief which he had

introduced; but his throne and wife were inherited by John

Zimisces, 69 who, in a diminutive body, possessed the spirit and

abilities of a hero. The first victory of his lieutenants

deprived the Russians of their foreign allies, twenty thousand of

whom were either destroyed by the sword, or provoked to revolt,

or tempted to desert. Thrace was delivered, but seventy thousand

Barbarians were still in arms; and the legions that had been

recalled from the new conquests of Syria, prepared, with the

return of the spring, to march under the banners of a warlike

prince, who declared himself the friend and avenger of the

injured Bulgaria. The passes of Mount Haemus had been left

unguarded; they were instantly occupied; the Roman vanguard was

formed of the immortals, (a proud imitation of the Persian

style;) the emperor led the main body of ten thousand five

hundred foot; and the rest of his forces followed in slow and

cautious array, with the baggage and military engines. The first

exploit of Zimisces was the reduction of Marcianopolis, or

Peristhlaba, 70 in two days; the trumpets sounded; the walls were

scaled; eight thousand five hundred Russians were put to the

sword; and the sons of the Bulgarian king were rescued from an

ignominious prison, and invested with a nominal diadem. After

these repeated losses, Swatoslaus retired to the strong post of

Drista, on the banks of the Danube, and was pursued by an enemy

who alternately employed the arms of celerity and delay. The

Byzantine galleys ascended the river, the legions completed a

line of circumvallation; and the Russian prince was encompassed,

assaulted, and famished, in the fortifications of the camp and

city. Many deeds of valor were performed; several desperate

sallies were attempted; nor was it till after a siege of

sixty-five days that Swatoslaus yielded to his adverse fortune.

The liberal terms which he obtained announce the prudence of the

victor, who respected the valor, and apprehended the despair, of

an unconquered mind. The great duke of Russia bound himself, by

solemn imprecations, to relinquish all hostile designs; a safe

passage was opened for his return; the liberty of trade and

navigation was restored; a measure of corn was distributed to

each of his soldiers; and the allowance of twenty-two thousand

measures attests the loss and the remnant of the Barbarians.

After a painful voyage, they again reached the mouth of the

Borysthenes; but their provisions were exhausted; the season was

unfavorable; they passed the winter on the ice; and, before they

could prosecute their march, Swatoslaus was surprised and

oppressed by the neighboring tribes with whom the Greeks

entertained a perpetual and useful correspondence. 71 Far

different was the return of Zimisces, who was received in his

capital like Camillus or Marius, the saviors of ancient Rome. But

the merit of the victory was attributed by the pious emperor to

the mother of God; and the image of the Virgin Mary, with the

divine infant in her arms, was placed on a triumphal car, adorned

with the spoils of war, and the ensigns of Bulgarian royalty.

Zimisces made his public entry on horseback; the diadem on his

head, a crown of laurel in his hand; and Constantinople was

astonished to applaud the martial virtues of her sovereign. 72

69 (return) [ This singular epithet is derived from the Armenian

language. As I profess myself equally ignorant of these words, I

may be indulged in the question in the play, “Pray, which of you

is the interpreter?” From the context, they seem to signify

Adolescentulus, (Leo Diacon l. iv. Ms. apud Ducange, Glossar.

Graec. p. 1570.) * Note: Cerbied. the learned Armenian, gives

another derivation. There is a city called Tschemisch-gaizag,

which means a bright or purple sandal, such as women wear in the

East. He was called Tschemisch-ghigh, (for so his name is written

in Armenian, from this city, his native place.) Hase. Note to Leo

Diac. p. 454, in Niebuhr’s Byzant. Hist.—M.]

70 (return) [ In the Sclavonic tongue, the name of Peristhlaba

implied the great or illustrious city, says Anna Comnena,

(Alexiad, l. vii. p. 194.) From its position between Mount Haemus

and the Lower Danube, it appears to fill the ground, or at least

the station, of Marcianopolis. The situation of Durostolus, or

Dristra, is well known and conspicuous, (Comment. Academ.

Petropol. tom. ix. p. 415, 416. D’Anville, Geographie Ancienne,

tom. i. p. 307, 311.)]

71 (return) [ The political management of the Greeks, more

especially with the Patzinacites, is explained in the seven first

chapters, de Administratione Imperii.]

72 (return) [ In the narrative of this war, Leo the Deacon (apud

Pagi, Critica, tom. iv. A.D. 968-973) is more authentic and

circumstantial than Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 660-683) and Zonaras,

(tom. ii. p. 205-214.) These declaimers have multiplied to

308,000 and 330,000 men, those Russian forces, of which the

contemporary had given a moderate and consistent account.]

Photius of Constantinople, a patriarch, whose ambition was equal

to his curiosity, congratulates himself and the Greek church on

the conversion of the Russians. 73 Those fierce and bloody

Barbarians had been persuaded, by the voice of reason and

religion, to acknowledge Jesus for their God, the Christian

missionaries for their teachers, and the Romans for their friends

and brethren. His triumph was transient and premature. In the

various fortune of their piratical adventures, some Russian

chiefs might allow themselves to be sprinkled with the waters of

baptism; and a Greek bishop, with the name of metropolitan, might

administer the sacraments in the church of Kiow, to a

congregation of slaves and natives. But the seed of the gospel

was sown on a barren soil: many were the apostates, the converts

were few; and the baptism of Olga may be fixed as the aera of

Russian Christianity. 74 A female, perhaps of the basest origin,

who could revenge the death, and assume the sceptre, of her

husband Igor, must have been endowed with those active virtues

which command the fear and obedience of Barbarians. In a moment

of foreign and domestic peace, she sailed from Kiow to

Constantinople; and the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus has

described, with minute diligence, the ceremonial of her reception

in his capital and palace. The steps, the titles, the

salutations, the banquet, the presents, were exquisitely adjusted

to gratify the vanity of the stranger, with due reverence to the

superior majesty of the purple. 75 In the sacrament of baptism,

she received the venerable name of the empress Helena; and her

conversion might be preceded or followed by her uncle, two

interpreters, sixteen damsels of a higher, and eighteen of a

lower rank, twenty-two domestics or ministers, and forty-four

Russian merchants, who composed the retinue of the great princess

Olga. After her return to Kiow and Novogorod, she firmly

persisted in her new religion; but her labors in the propagation

of the gospel were not crowned with success; and both her family

and nation adhered with obstinacy or indifference to the gods of

their fathers. Her son Swatoslaus was apprehensive of the scorn

and ridicule of his companions; and her grandson Wolodomir

devoted his youthful zeal to multiply and decorate the monuments

of ancient worship. The savage deities of the North were still

propitiated with human sacrifices: in the choice of the victim, a

citizen was preferred to a stranger, a Christian to an idolater;

and the father, who defended his son from the sacerdotal knife,

was involved in the same doom by the rage of a fanatic tumult.

Yet the lessons and example of the pious Olga had made a deep,

though secret, impression in the minds of the prince and people:

the Greek missionaries continued to preach, to dispute, and to

baptize: and the ambassadors or merchants of Russia compared the

idolatry of the woods with the elegant superstition of

Constantinople. They had gazed with admiration on the dome of St.

Sophia: the lively pictures of saints and martyrs, the riches of

the altar, the number and vestments of the priests, the pomp and

order of the ceremonies; they were edified by the alternate

succession of devout silence and harmonious song; nor was it

difficult to persuade them, that a choir of angels descended each

day from heaven to join in the devotion of the Christians. 76 But

the conversion of Wolodomir was determined, or hastened, by his

desire of a Roman bride. At the same time, and in the city of

Cherson, the rites of baptism and marriage were celebrated by the

Christian pontiff: the city he restored to the emperor Basil, the

brother of his spouse; but the brazen gates were transported, as

it is said, to Novogorod, and erected before the first church as

a trophy of his victory and faith. 77 At his despotic command,

Peround, the god of thunder, whom he had so long adored, was

dragged through the streets of Kiow; and twelve sturdy Barbarians

battered with clubs the misshapen image, which was indignantly

cast into the waters of the Borysthenes. The edict of Wolodomir

had proclaimed, that all who should refuse the rites of baptism

would be treated as the enemies of God and their prince; and the

rivers were instantly filled with many thousands of obedient

Russians, who acquiesced in the truth and excellence of a

doctrine which had been embraced by the great duke and his

boyars. In the next generation, the relics of Paganism were

finally extirpated; but as the two brothers of Wolodomir had died

without baptism, their bones were taken from the grave, and

sanctified by an irregular and posthumous sacrament.

73 (return) [ Phot. Epistol. ii. No. 35, p. 58, edit. Montacut.

It was unworthy of the learning of the editor to mistake the

Russian nation, for a war-cry of the Bulgarians, nor did it

become the enlightened patriarch to accuse the Sclavonian

idolaters. They were neither Greeks nor Atheists.]

74 (return) [ M. Levesque has extracted, from old chronicles and

modern researches, the most satisfactory account of the religion

of the Slavi, and the conversion of Russia, (Hist. de Russie,

tom. i. p. 35-54, 59, 92, 92, 113-121, 124-129, 148, 149, &c.)]

75 (return) [ See the Ceremoniale Aulae Byzant. tom. ii. c. 15,

p. 343-345: the style of Olga, or Elga. For the chief of

Barbarians the Greeks whimsically borrowed the title of an

Athenian magistrate, with a female termination, which would have

astonished the ear of Demosthenes.]

76 (return) [ See an anonymous fragment published by Banduri,

(Imperium Orientale, tom. ii. p. 112, 113, de Conversione

Russorum.)]

77 (return) [ Cherson, or Corsun, is mentioned by Herberstein

(apud Pagi tom. iv. p. 56) as the place of Wolodomir’s baptism

and marriage; and both the tradition and the gates are still

preserved at Novogorod. Yet an observing traveller transports the

brazen gates from Magdeburgh in Germany, (Coxe’s Travels into

Russia, &c., vol. i. p. 452;) and quotes an inscription, which

seems to justify his opinion. The modern reader must not confound

this old Cherson of the Tauric or Crimaean peninsula, with a new

city of the same name, which has arisen near the mouth of the

Borysthenes, and was lately honored by the memorable interview of

the empress of Russia with the emperor of the West.]

In the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries of the Christian

aera, the reign of the gospel and of the church was extended over

Bulgaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony, Denmark, Norway, Sweden,

Poland, and Russia. 78 The triumphs of apostolic zeal were

repeated in the iron age of Christianity; and the northern and

eastern regions of Europe submitted to a religion, more different

in theory than in practice, from the worship of their native

idols. A laudable ambition excited the monks both of Germany and

Greece, to visit the tents and huts of the Barbarians: poverty,

hardships, and dangers, were the lot of the first missionaries;

their courage was active and patient; their motive pure and

meritorious; their present reward consisted in the testimony of

their conscience and the respect of a grateful people; but the

fruitful harvest of their toils was inherited and enjoyed by the

proud and wealthy prelates of succeeding times. The first

conversions were free and spontaneous: a holy life and an

eloquent tongue were the only arms of the missionaries; but the

domestic fables of the Pagans were silenced by the miracles and

visions of the strangers; and the favorable temper of the chiefs

was accelerated by the dictates of vanity and interest. The

leaders of nations, who were saluted with the titles of kings and

saints, 79 held it lawful and pious to impose the Catholic faith

on their subjects and neighbors; the coast of the Baltic, from

Holstein to the Gulf of Finland, was invaded under the standard

of the cross; and the reign of idolatry was closed by the

conversion of Lithuania in the fourteenth century. Yet truth and

candor must acknowledge, that the conversion of the North

imparted many temporal benefits both to the old and the new

Christians. The rage of war, inherent to the human species, could

not be healed by the evangelic precepts of charity and peace; and

the ambition of Catholic princes has renewed in every age the

calamities of hostile contention. But the admission of the

Barbarians into the pale of civil and ecclesiastical society

delivered Europe from the depredations, by sea and land, of the

Normans, the Hungarians, and the Russians, who learned to spare

their brethren and cultivate their possessions. 80 The

establishment of law and order was promoted by the influence of

the clergy; and the rudiments of art and science were introduced

into the savage countries of the globe. The liberal piety of the

Russian princes engaged in their service the most skilful of the

Greeks, to decorate the cities and instruct the inhabitants: the

dome and the paintings of St. Sophia were rudely copied in the

churches of Kiow and Novogorod: the writings of the fathers were

translated into the Sclavonic idiom; and three hundred noble

youths were invited or compelled to attend the lessons of the

college of Jaroslaus. It should appear that Russia might have

derived an early and rapid improvement from her peculiar

connection with the church and state of Constantinople, which at

that age so justly despised the ignorance of the Latins. But the

Byzantine nation was servile, solitary, and verging to a hasty

decline: after the fall of Kiow, the navigation of the

Borysthenes was forgotten; the great princes of Wolodomir and

Moscow were separated from the sea and Christendom; and the

divided monarchy was oppressed by the ignominy and blindness of

Tartar servitude. 81 The Sclavonic and Scandinavian kingdoms,

which had been converted by the Latin missionaries, were exposed,

it is true, to the spiritual jurisdiction and temporal claims of

the popes; 82 but they were united in language and religious

worship, with each other, and with Rome; they imbibed the free

and generous spirit of the European republic, and gradually

shared the light of knowledge which arose on the western world.

78 (return) [ Consult the Latin text, or English version, of

Mosheim’s excellent History of the Church, under the first head

or section of each of these centuries.]

79 (return) [ In the year 1000, the ambassadors of St. Stephen

received from Pope Silvester the title of King of Hungary, with a

diadem of Greek workmanship. It had been designed for the duke of

Poland: but the Poles, by their own confession, were yet too

barbarous to deserve an angelical and apostolical crown. (Katona,

Hist. Critic Regum Stirpis Arpadianae, tom. i. p. 1-20.)]

80 (return) [ Listen to the exultations of Adam of Bremen, (A.D.

1080,) of which the substance is agreeable to truth: Ecce illa

ferocissima Danorum, &c., natio..... jamdudum novit in Dei

laudibus Alleluia resonare..... Ecce populus ille piraticus .....

suis nunc finibus contentus est. Ecce patria horribilis semper

inaccessa propter cultum idolorum... praedicatores veritatis

ubique certatim admittit, &c., &c., (de Situ Daniae, &c., p. 40,

41, edit. Elzevir; a curious and original prospect of the north

of Europe, and the introduction of Christianity.)]

81 (return) [ The great princes removed in 1156 from Kiow, which

was ruined by the Tartars in 1240. Moscow became the seat of

empire in the xivth century. See the 1st and 2d volumes of

Levesque’s History, and Mr. Coxe’s Travels into the North, tom.

i. p. 241, &c.]

82 (return) [ The ambassadors of St. Stephen had used the

reverential expressions of regnum oblatum, debitam obedientiam,

&c., which were most rigorously interpreted by Gregory VII.; and

the Hungarian Catholics are distressed between the sanctity of

the pope and the independence of the crown, (Katona, Hist.

Critica, tom. i. p. 20-25, tom. ii. p. 304, 346, 360, &c.)]

Chapter LVI: The Saracens, The Franks And The Normans.—Part I.

The Saracens, Franks, And Greeks, In Italy.—First Adventures And

Settlement Of The Normans.—Character And Conquest Of Robert

Guiscard, Duke Of Apulia—Deliverance Of Sicily By His Brother

Roger.—Victories Of Robert Over The Emperors Of The East And

West.—Roger, King Of Sicily, Invades Africa And Greece.—The

Emperor Manuel Comnenus.— Wars Of The Greeks And

Normans.—Extinction Of The Normans.

The three great nations of the world, the Greeks, the Saracens,

and the Franks, encountered each other on the theatre of Italy. 1

The southern provinces, which now compose the kingdom of Naples,

were subject, for the most part, to the Lombard dukes and princes

of Beneventum; 2 so powerful in war, that they checked for a

moment the genius of Charlemagne; so liberal in peace, that they

maintained in their capital an academy of thirty-two philosophers

and grammarians. The division of this flourishing state produced

the rival principalities of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua; and

the thoughtless ambition or revenge of the competitors invited

the Saracens to the ruin of their common inheritance. During a

calamitous period of two hundred years, Italy was exposed to a

repetition of wounds, which the invaders were not capable of

healing by the union and tranquility of a perfect conquest. Their

frequent and almost annual squadrons issued from the port of

Palermo, and were entertained with too much indulgence by the

Christians of Naples: the more formidable fleets were prepared on

the African coast; and even the Arabs of Andalusia were sometimes

tempted to assist or oppose the Moslems of an adverse sect. In

the revolution of human events, a new ambuscade was concealed in

the Caudine Forks, the fields of Cannae were bedewed a second

time with the blood of the Africans, and the sovereign of Rome

again attacked or defended the walls of Capua and Tarentum. A

colony of Saracens had been planted at Bari, which commands the

entrance of the Adriatic Gulf; and their impartial depredations

provoked the resentment, and conciliated the union of the two

emperors. An offensive alliance was concluded between Basil the

Macedonian, the first of his race, and Lewis the great-grandson

of Charlemagne; 3 and each party supplied the deficiencies of his

associate. It would have been imprudent in the Byzantine monarch

to transport his stationary troops of Asia to an Italian

campaign; and the Latin arms would have been insufficient if his

superior navy had not occupied the mouth of the Gulf. The

fortress of Bari was invested by the infantry of the Franks, and

by the cavalry and galleys of the Greeks; and, after a defence of

four years, the Arabian emir submitted to the clemency of Lewis,

who commanded in person the operations of the siege. This

important conquest had been achieved by the concord of the East

and West; but their recent amity was soon imbittered by the

mutual complaints of jealousy and pride. The Greeks assumed as

their own the merit of the conquest and the pomp of the triumph;

extolled the greatness of their powers, and affected to deride

the intemperance and sloth of the handful of Barbarians who

appeared under the banners of the Carlovingian prince. His reply

is expressed with the eloquence of indignation and truth: “We

confess the magnitude of your preparation,” says the

great-grandson of Charlemagne. “Your armies were indeed as

numerous as a cloud of summer locusts, who darken the day, flap

their wings, and, after a short flight, tumble weary and

breathless to the ground. Like them, ye sunk after a feeble

effort; ye were vanquished by your own cowardice; and withdrew

from the scene of action to injure and despoil our Christian

subjects of the Sclavonian coast. We were few in number, and why

were we few? Because, after a tedious expectation of your

arrival, I had dismissed my host, and retained only a chosen band

of warriors to continue the blockade of the city. If they

indulged their hospitable feasts in the face of danger and death,

did these feasts abate the vigor of their enterprise? Is it by

your fasting that the walls of Bari have been overturned? Did not

these valiant Franks, diminished as they were by languor and

fatigue, intercept and vanish the three most powerful emirs of

the Saracens? and did not their defeat precipitate the fall of

the city? Bari is now fallen; Tarentum trembles; Calabria will be

delivered; and, if we command the sea, the Island of Sicily may

be rescued from the hands of the infidels. My brother,”

accelerate (a name most offensive to the vanity of the Greek,)

“accelerate your naval succors, respect your allies, and distrust

your flatterers.” 4

1 (return) [ For the general history of Italy in the ixth and xth

centuries, I may properly refer to the vth, vith, and viith books

of Sigonius de Regno Italiae, (in the second volume of his works,

Milan, 1732;) the Annals of Baronius, with the criticism of Pagi;

the viith and viiith books of the Istoria Civile del Regno di

Napoli of Giannone; the viith and viiith volumes (the octavo

edition) of the Annali d’ Italia of Muratori, and the 2d volume

of the Abrege Chronologique of M. de St. Marc, a work which,

under a superficial title, contains much genuine learning and

industry. But my long-accustomed reader will give me credit for

saying, that I myself have ascended to the fountain head, as

often as such ascent could be either profitable or possible; and

that I have diligently turned over the originals in the first

volumes of Muratori’s great collection of the Scriptores Rerum

Italicarum.]

2 (return) [ Camillo Pellegrino, a learned Capuan of the last

century, has illustrated the history of the duchy of Beneventum,

in his two books Historia Principum Longobardorum, in the

Scriptores of Muratori tom. ii. pars i. p. 221-345, and tom. v. p

159-245.]

3 (return) [ See Constantin. Porphyrogen. de Thematibus, l. ii. c

xi. in Vit Basil. c. 55, p. 181.]

4 (return) [ The oriental epistle of the emperor Lewis II. to the

emperor Basil, a curious record of the age, was first published

by Baronius, (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 871, No. 51-71,) from the

Vatican Ms. of Erchempert, or rather of the anonymous historian

of Salerno.] These lofty hopes were soon extinguished by the

death of Lewis, and the decay of the Carlovingian house; and

whoever might deserve the honor, the Greek emperors, Basil, and

his son Leo, secured the advantage, of the reduction of Bari. The

Italians of Apulia and Calabria were persuaded or compelled to

acknowledge their supremacy, and an ideal line from Mount

Garganus to the Bay of Salerno, leaves the far greater part of

the kingdom of Naples under the dominion of the Eastern empire.

Beyond that line, the dukes or republics of Amalfi 5 and Naples,

who had never forfeited their voluntary allegiance, rejoiced in

the neighborhood of their lawful sovereign; and Amalfi was

enriched by supplying Europe with the produce and manufactures of

Asia. But the Lombard princes of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua, 6

were reluctantly torn from the communion of the Latin world, and

too often violated their oaths of servitude and tribute. The city

of Bari rose to dignity and wealth, as the metropolis of the new

theme or province of Lombardy: the title of patrician, and

afterwards the singular name of Catapan, 7 was assigned to the

supreme governor; and the policy both of the church and state was

modelled in exact subordination to the throne of Constantinople.

As long as the sceptre was disputed by the princes of Italy,

their efforts were feeble and adverse; and the Greeks resisted or

eluded the forces of Germany, which descended from the Alps under

the Imperial standard of the Othos. The first and greatest of

those Saxon princes was compelled to relinquish the siege of

Bari: the second, after the loss of his stoutest bishops and

barons, escaped with honor from the bloody field of Crotona. On

that day the scale of war was turned against the Franks by the

valor of the Saracens. 8 These corsairs had indeed been driven by

the Byzantine fleets from the fortresses and coasts of Italy; but

a sense of interest was more prevalent than superstition or

resentment, and the caliph of Egypt had transported forty

thousand Moslems to the aid of his Christian ally. The successors

of Basil amused themselves with the belief, that the conquest of

Lombardy had been achieved, and was still preserved by the

justice of their laws, the virtues of their ministers, and the

gratitude of a people whom they had rescued from anarchy and

oppression. A series of rebellions might dart a ray of truth into

the palace of Constantinople; and the illusions of flattery were

dispelled by the easy and rapid success of the Norman

adventurers.

5 (return) [ See an excellent Dissertation de Republica

Amalphitana, in the Appendix (p. 1-42) of Henry Brencman’s

Historia Pandectarum, (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to.)]

6 (return) [ Your master, says Nicephorus, has given aid and

protection prinminibus Capuano et Beneventano, servis meis, quos

oppugnare dispono.... Nova (potius nota) res est quod eorum

patres et avi nostro Imperio tributa dederunt, (Liutprand, in

Legat. p. 484.) Salerno is not mentioned, yet the prince changed

his party about the same time, and Camillo Pellegrino (Script.

Rer. Ital. tom. ii. pars i. p. 285) has nicely discerned this

change in the style of the anonymous Chronicle. On the rational

ground of history and language, Liutprand (p. 480) had asserted

the Latin claim to Apulia and Calabria.]

7 (return) [ See the Greek and Latin Glossaries of Ducange

(catapanus,) and his notes on the Alexias, (p. 275.) Against the

contemporary notion, which derives it from juxta omne, he treats

it as a corruption of the Latin capitaneus. Yet M. de St. Marc

has accurately observed (Abrege Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 924)

that in this age the capitanei were not captains, but only nobles

of the first rank, the great valvassors of Italy.]

8 (return) [ (the Lombards), (Leon. Tactic. c. xv. p. 741.) The

little Chronicle of Beneventum (tom. ii. pars i. p. 280) gives a

far different character of the Greeks during the five years (A.D.

891-896) that Leo was master of the city.]

The revolution of human affairs had produced in Apulia and

Calabria a melancholy contrast between the age of Pythagoras and

the tenth century of the Christian aera. At the former period,

the coast of Great Greece (as it was then styled) was planted

with free and opulent cities: these cities were peopled with

soldiers, artists, and philosophers; and the military strength of

Tarentum; Sybaris, or Crotona, was not inferior to that of a

powerful kingdom. At the second aera, these once flourishing

provinces were clouded with ignorance impoverished by tyranny,

and depopulated by Barbarian war; nor can we severely accuse the

exaggeration of a contemporary, that a fair and ample district

was reduced to the same desolation which had covered the earth

after the general deluge. 9 Among the hostilities of the Arabs,

the Franks, and the Greeks, in the southern Italy, I shall select

two or three anecdotes expressive of their national manners. 1.

It was the amusement of the Saracens to profane, as well as to

pillage, the monasteries and churches. At the siege of Salerno, a

Mussulman chief spread his couch on the communion-table, and on

that altar sacrificed each night the virginity of a Christian

nun. As he wrestled with a reluctant maid, a beam in the roof was

accidentally or dexterously thrown down on his head; and the

death of the lustful emir was imputed to the wrath of Christ,

which was at length awakened to the defence of his faithful

spouse. 10 2. The Saracens besieged the cities of Beneventum and

Capua: after a vain appeal to the successors of Charlemagne, the

Lombards implored the clemency and aid of the Greek emperor. 11 A

fearless citizen dropped from the walls, passed the

intrenchments, accomplished his commission, and fell into the

hands of the Barbarians as he was returning with the welcome

news. They commanded him to assist their enterprise, and deceive

his countrymen, with the assurance that wealth and honors should

be the reward of his falsehood, and that his sincerity would be

punished with immediate death. He affected to yield, but as soon

as he was conducted within hearing of the Christians on the

rampart, “Friends and brethren,” he cried with a loud voice, “be

bold and patient, maintain the city; your sovereign is informed

of your distress, and your deliverers are at hand. I know my

doom, and commit my wife and children to your gratitude.” The

rage of the Arabs confirmed his evidence; and the self-devoted

patriot was transpierced with a hundred spears. He deserves to

live in the memory of the virtuous, but the repetition of the

same story in ancient and modern times, may sprinkle some doubts

on the reality of this generous deed. 12 3. The recital of a

third incident may provoke a smile amidst the horrors of war.

Theobald, marquis of Camerino and Spoleto, 13 supported the

rebels of Beneventum; and his wanton cruelty was not incompatible

in that age with the character of a hero. His captives of the

Greek nation or party were castrated without mercy, and the

outrage was aggravated by a cruel jest, that he wished to present

the emperor with a supply of eunuchs, the most precious ornaments

of the Byzantine court. The garrison of a castle had been

defeated in a sally, and the prisoners were sentenced to the

customary operation. But the sacrifice was disturbed by the

intrusion of a frantic female, who, with bleeding cheeks

dishevelled hair, and importunate clamors, compelled the marquis

to listen to her complaint. “Is it thus,” she cried, “ye

magnanimous heroes, that ye wage war against women, against women

who have never injured ye, and whose only arms are the distaff

and the loom?” Theobald denied the charge, and protested that,

since the Amazons, he had never heard of a female war. “And how,”

she furiously exclaimed, “can you attack us more directly, how

can you wound us in a more vital part, than by robbing our

husbands of what we most dearly cherish, the source of our joys,

and the hope of our posterity? The plunder of our flocks and

herds I have endured without a murmur, but this fatal injury,

this irreparable loss, subdues my patience, and calls aloud on

the justice of heaven and earth.” A general laugh applauded her

eloquence; the savage Franks, inaccessible to pity, were moved by

her ridiculous, yet rational despair; and with the deliverance of

the captives, she obtained the restitution of her effects. As she

returned in triumph to the castle, she was overtaken by a

messenger, to inquire, in the name of Theobald, what punishment

should be inflicted on her husband, were he again taken in arms.

“Should such,” she answered without hesitation, “be his guilt and

misfortune, he has eyes, and a nose, and hands, and feet. These

are his own, and these he may deserve to forfeit by his personal

offences. But let my lord be pleased to spare what his little

handmaid presumes to claim as her peculiar and lawful property.”

14

9 (return) [ Calabriam adeunt, eamque inter se divisam

reperientes funditus depopulati sunt, (or depopularunt,) ita ut

deserta sit velut in diluvio. Such is the text of Herempert, or

Erchempert, according to the two editions of Carraccioli (Rer.

Italic. Script. tom. v. p. 23) and of Camillo Pellegrino, (tom.

ii. pars i. p. 246.) Both were extremely scarce, when they were

reprinted by Muratori.]

10 (return) [ Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 874, No. 2) has drawn

this story from a Ms. of Erchempert, who died at Capua only

fifteen years after the event. But the cardinal was deceived by a

false title, and we can only quote the anonymous Chronicle of

Salerno, (Paralipomena, c. 110,) composed towards the end of the

xth century, and published in the second volume of Muratori’s

Collection. See the Dissertations of Camillo Pellegrino, tom. ii.

pars i. p. 231-281, &c.]

11 (return) [ Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil. c. 58,

p. 183) is the original author of this story. He places it under

the reigns of Basil and Lewis II.; yet the reduction of

Beneventum by the Greeks is dated A.D. 891, after the decease of

both of those princes.]

12 (return) [ In the year 663, the same tragedy is described by

Paul the Deacon, (de Gestis Langobard. l. v. c. 7, 8, p. 870,

871, edit. Grot.,) under the walls of the same city of

Beneventum. But the actors are different, and the guilt is

imputed to the Greeks themselves, which in the Byzantine edition

is applied to the Saracens. In the late war in Germany, M.

D’Assas, a French officer of the regiment of Auvergne, is said to

have devoted himself in a similar manner. His behavior is the

more heroic, as mere silence was required by the enemy who had

made him prisoner, (Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XV. c. 33, tom. ix.

p. 172.)]

13 (return) [ Theobald, who is styled Heros by Liutprand, was

properly duke of Spoleto and marquis of Camerino, from the year

926 to 935. The title and office of marquis (commander of the

march or frontier) was introduced into Italy by the French

emperors, (Abrege Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 545-732 &c.)]

14 (return) [ Liutprand, Hist. l. iv. c. iv. in the Rerum Italic.

Script. tom. i. pars i. p. 453, 454. Should the licentiousness of

the tale be questioned, I may exclaim, with poor Sterne, that it

is hard if I may not transcribe with caution what a bishop could

write without scruple What if I had translated, ut viris certetis

testiculos amputare, in quibus nostri corporis refocillatio,

&c.?]

The establishment of the Normans in the kingdoms of Naples and

Sicily 15 is an event most romantic in its origin, and in its

consequences most important both to Italy and the Eastern empire.

The broken provinces of the Greeks, Lombards, and Saracens, were

exposed to every invader, and every sea and land were invaded by

the adventurous spirit of the Scandinavian pirates. After a long

indulgence of rapine and slaughter, a fair and ample territory

was accepted, occupied, and named, by the Normans of France: they

renounced their gods for the God of the Christians; 16 and the

dukes of Normandy acknowledged themselves the vassals of the

successors of Charlemagne and Capet. The savage fierceness which

they had brought from the snowy mountains of Norway was refined,

without being corrupted, in a warmer climate; the companions of

Rollo insensibly mingled with the natives; they imbibed the

manners, language, 17 and gallantry, of the French nation; and in

a martial age, the Normans might claim the palm of valor and

glorious achievements. Of the fashionable superstitions, they

embraced with ardor the pilgrimages of Rome, Italy, and the Holy

Land. 171 In this active devotion, the minds and bodies were

invigorated by exercise: danger was the incentive, novelty the

recompense; and the prospect of the world was decorated by

wonder, credulity, and ambitious hope. They confederated for

their mutual defence; and the robbers of the Alps, who had been

allured by the garb of a pilgrim, were often chastised by the arm

of a warrior. In one of these pious visits to the cavern of Mount

Garganus in Apulia, which had been sanctified by the apparition

of the archangel Michael, 18 they were accosted by a stranger in

the Greek habit, but who soon revealed himself as a rebel, a

fugitive, and a mortal foe of the Greek empire. His name was

Melo; a noble citizen of Bari, who, after an unsuccessful revolt,

was compelled to seek new allies and avengers of his country. The

bold appearance of the Normans revived his hopes and solicited

his confidence: they listened to the complaints, and still more

to the promises, of the patriot. The assurance of wealth

demonstrated the justice of his cause; and they viewed, as the

inheritance of the brave, the fruitful land which was oppressed

by effeminate tyrants. On their return to Normandy, they kindled

a spark of enterprise, and a small but intrepid band was freely

associated for the deliverance of Apulia. They passed the Alps by

separate roads, and in the disguise of pilgrims; but in the

neighborhood of Rome they were saluted by the chief of Bari, who

supplied the more indigent with arms and horses, and instantly

led them to the field of action. In the first conflict, their

valor prevailed; but in the second engagement they were

overwhelmed by the numbers and military engines of the Greeks,

and indignantly retreated with their faces to the enemy. 1811 The

unfortunate Melo ended his life a suppliant at the court of

Germany: his Norman followers, excluded from their native and

their promised land, wandered among the hills and valleys of

Italy, and earned their daily subsistence by the sword. To that

formidable sword the princes of Capua, Beneventum, Salerno, and

Naples, alternately appealed in their domestic quarrels; the

superior spirit and discipline of the Normans gave victory to the

side which they espoused; and their cautious policy observed the

balance of power, lest the preponderance of any rival state

should render their aid less important, and their service less

profitable. Their first asylum was a strong camp in the depth of

the marshes of Campania: but they were soon endowed by the

liberality of the duke of Naples with a more plentiful and

permanent seat. Eight miles from his residence, as a bulwark

against Capua, the town of Aversa was built and fortified for

their use; and they enjoyed as their own the corn and fruits, the

meadows and groves, of that fertile district. The report of their

success attracted every year new swarms of pilgrims and soldiers:

the poor were urged by necessity; the rich were excited by hope;

and the brave and active spirits of Normandy were impatient of

ease and ambitious of renown. The independent standard of Aversa

afforded shelter and encouragement to the outlaws of the

province, to every fugitive who had escaped from the injustice or

justice of his superiors; and these foreign associates were

quickly assimilated in manners and language to the Gallic colony.

The first leader of the Normans was Count Rainulf; and, in the

origin of society, preeminence of rank is the reward and the

proof of superior merit. 19 1911

15 (return) [ The original monuments of the Normans in Italy are

collected in the vth volume of Muratori; and among these we may

distinguish the poems of William Appulus (p. 245-278) and the

history of Galfridus (Jeffrey) Malaterra, (p. 537-607.) Both were

natives of France, but they wrote on the spot, in the age of the

first conquerors (before A.D. 1100,) and with the spirit of

freemen. It is needless to recapitulate the compilers and critics

of Italian history, Sigonius, Baronius, Pagi, Giannone, Muratori,

St. Marc, &c., whom I have always consulted, and never copied. *

Note: M. Goutier d’Arc has discovered a translation of the

Chronicle of Aime, monk of Mont Cassino, a contemporary of the

first Norman invaders of Italy. He has made use of it in his

Histoire des Conquetes des Normands, and added a summary of its

contents. This work was quoted by later writers, but was supposed

to have been entirely lost.—M.]

16 (return) [ Some of the first converts were baptized ten or

twelve times, for the sake of the white garment usually given at

this ceremony. At the funeral of Rollo, the gifts to monasteries

for the repose of his soul were accompanied by a sacrifice of one

hundred captives. But in a generation or two, the national change

was pure and general.]

17 (return) [ The Danish language was still spoken by the Normans

of Bayeux on the sea-coast, at a time (A.D. 940) when it was

already forgotten at Rouen, in the court and capital. Quem

(Richard I.) confestim pater Baiocas mittens Botoni militiae suae

principi nutriendum tradidit, ut, ibi lingua eruditus Danica,

suis exterisque hominibus sciret aperte dare responsa, (Wilhelm.

Gemeticensis de Ducibus Normannis, l. iii. c. 8, p. 623, edit.

Camden.) Of the vernacular and favorite idiom of William the

Conqueror, (A.D. 1035,) Selden (Opera, tom. ii. p. 1640-1656) has

given a specimen, obsolete and obscure even to antiquarians and

lawyers.]

171 (return) [ A band of Normans returning from the Holy Land had

rescued the city of Salerno from the attack of a numerous fleet

of Saracens. Gainar, the Lombard prince of Salerno wished to

retain them in his service and take them into his pay. They

answered, “We fight for our religion, and not for money.” Gaimar

entreated them to send some Norman knights to his court. This

seems to have been the origin of the connection of the Normans

with Italy. See Histoire des Conquetes des Normands par Goutier

d’Arc, l. i. c. i., Paris, 1830.—M.]

18 (return) [ See Leandro Alberti (Descrizione d’Italia, p. 250)

and Baronius, (A.D. 493, No. 43.) If the archangel inherited the

temple and oracle, perhaps the cavern, of old Calchas the

soothsayer, (Strab. Geograph l. vi. p. 435, 436,) the Catholics

(on this occasion) have surpassed the Greeks in the elegance of

their superstition.]

1811 (return) [ Nine out of ten perished in the field. Chronique

d’Aime, tom. i. p. 21 quoted by M Goutier d’Arc, p. 42.—M.]

19 (return) [ See the first book of William Appulus. His words

are applicable to every swarm of Barbarians and freebooters:—

Si vicinorum quis pernitiosus ad illos

Confugiebat eum gratanter suscipiebant:

Moribus et lingua quoscumque venire videbant

Informant propria; gens efficiatur ut una.

And elsewhere, of the native adventurers of Normandy:—

Pars parat, exiguae vel opes aderant quia nullae:

Pars, quia de magnis majora subire volebant.]

1911 (return) [ This account is not accurate. After the retreat

of the emperor Henry II. the Normans, united under the command of

Rainulf, had taken possession of Aversa, then a small castle in

the duchy of Naples. They had been masters of it a few years when

Pandulf IV., prince of Capua, found means to take Naples by

surprise. Sergius, master of the soldiers, and head of the

republic, with the principal citizens, abandoned a city in which

he could not behold, without horror, the establishment of a

foreign dominion he retired to Aversa; and when, with the

assistance of the Greeks and that of the citizens faithful to

their country, he had collected money enough to satisfy the

rapacity of the Norman adventurers, he advanced at their head to

attack the garrison of the prince of Capua, defeated it, and

reentered Naples. It was then that he confirmed the Normans in

the possession of Aversa and its territory, which he raised into

a count’s fief, and granted the investiture to Rainulf. Hist. des

Rep. Ital. tom. i. p. 267]

Since the conquest of Sicily by the Arabs, the Grecian emperors

had been anxious to regain that valuable possession; but their

efforts, however strenuous, had been opposed by the distance and

the sea. Their costly armaments, after a gleam of success, added

new pages of calamity and disgrace to the Byzantine annals:

twenty thousand of their best troops were lost in a single

expedition; and the victorious Moslems derided the policy of a

nation which intrusted eunuchs not only with the custody of their

women, but with the command of their men 20 After a reign of two

hundred years, the Saracens were ruined by their divisions. 21

The emir disclaimed the authority of the king of Tunis; the

people rose against the emir; the cities were usurped by the

chiefs; each meaner rebel was independent in his village or

castle; and the weaker of two rival brothers implored the

friendship of the Christians. In every service of danger the

Normans were prompt and useful; and five hundred knights, or

warriors on horseback, were enrolled by Arduin, the agent and

interpreter of the Greeks, under the standard of Maniaces,

governor of Lombardy. Before their landing, the brothers were

reconciled; the union of Sicily and Africa was restored; and the

island was guarded to the water’s edge. The Normans led the van

and the Arabs of Messina felt the valor of an untried foe. In a

second action the emir of Syracuse was unhorsed and transpierced

by the iron arm of William of Hauteville. In a third engagement,

his intrepid companions discomfited the host of sixty thousand

Saracens, and left the Greeks no more than the labor of the

pursuit: a splendid victory; but of which the pen of the

historian may divide the merit with the lance of the Normans. It

is, however, true, that they essentially promoted the success of

Maniaces, who reduced thirteen cities, and the greater part of

Sicily, under the obedience of the emperor. But his military fame

was sullied by ingratitude and tyranny. In the division of the

spoils, the deserts of his brave auxiliaries were forgotten; and

neither their avarice nor their pride could brook this injurious

treatment. They complained by the mouth of their interpreter:

their complaint was disregarded; their interpreter was scourged;

the sufferings were his; the insult and resentment belonged to

those whose sentiments he had delivered. Yet they dissembled till

they had obtained, or stolen, a safe passage to the Italian

continent: their brethren of Aversa sympathized in their

indignation, and the province of Apulia was invaded as the

forfeit of the debt. 22 Above twenty years after the first

emigration, the Normans took the field with no more than seven

hundred horse and five hundred foot; and after the recall of the

Byzantine legions 23 from the Sicilian war, their numbers are

magnified to the amount of threescore thousand men. Their herald

proposed the option of battle or retreat; “of battle,” was the

unanimous cry of the Normans; and one of their stoutest warriors,

with a stroke of his fist, felled to the ground the horse of the

Greek messenger. He was dismissed with a fresh horse; the insult

was concealed from the Imperial troops; but in two successive

battles they were more fatally instructed of the prowess of their

adversaries. In the plains of Cannae, the Asiatics fled before

the adventurers of France; the duke of Lombardy was made

prisoner; the Apulians acquiesced in a new dominion; and the four

places of Bari, Otranto, Brundusium, and Tarentum, were alone

saved in the shipwreck of the Grecian fortunes. From this aera we

may date the establishment of the Norman power, which soon

eclipsed the infant colony of Aversa. Twelve counts 24 were

chosen by the popular suffrage; and age, birth, and merit, were

the motives of their choice. The tributes of their peculiar

districts were appropriated to their use; and each count erected

a fortress in the midst of his lands, and at the head of his

vassals. In the centre of the province, the common habitation of

Melphi was reserved as the metropolis and citadel of the

republic; a house and separate quarter was allotted to each of

the twelve counts: and the national concerns were regulated by

this military senate. The first of his peers, their president and

general, was entitled count of Apulia; and this dignity was

conferred on William of the iron arm, who, in the language of the

age, is styled a lion in battle, a lamb in society, and an angel

in council. 25 The manners of his countrymen are fairly

delineated by a contemporary and national historian. 26 “The

Normans,” says Malaterra, “are a cunning and revengeful people;

eloquence and dissimulation appear to be their hereditary

qualities: they can stoop to flatter; but unless they are curbed

by the restraint of law, they indulge the licentiousness of

nature and passion. Their princes affect the praises of popular

munificence; the people observe the medium, or rather blond the

extremes, of avarice and prodigality; and in their eager thirst

of wealth and dominion, they despise whatever they possess, and

hope whatever they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress,

the exercises of hunting and hawking 27 are the delight of the

Normans; but, on pressing occasions, they can endure with

incredible patience the inclemency of every climate, and the toil

and absence of a military life.” 28

20 (return) [ Liutprand, in Legatione, p. 485. Pagi has

illustrated this event from the Ms. history of the deacon Leo,

(tom. iv. A.D. 965, No. 17-19.)]

21 (return) [ See the Arabian Chronicle of Sicily, apud Muratori,

Script. Rerum Ital. tom. i. p. 253.]

22 (return) [ Jeffrey Malaterra, who relates the Sicilian war,

and the conquest of Apulia, (l. i. c. 7, 8, 9, 19.) The same

events are described by Cedrenus (tom. ii. p. 741-743, 755, 756)

and Zonaras, (tom. ii. p. 237, 238;) and the Greeks are so

hardened to disgrace, that their narratives are impartial

enough.]

23 (return) [ Lydia: consult Constantine de Thematibus, i. 3, 4,

with Delisle’s map.]

24 (return) [ Omnes conveniunt; et bis sex nobiliores,

Quos genus et gravitas morum decorabat et aetas,

Elegere duces. Provectis ad comitatum

His alii parent. Comitatus nomen honoris

Quo donantur erat. Hi totas undique terras

Divisere sibi, ni sors inimica repugnet;

Singula proponunt loca quae contingere sorte

Cuique duci debent, et quaeque tributa locorum.

And after speaking of Melphi, William Appulus adds,

Pro numero comitum bis sex statuere plateas,

Atque domus comitum totidem fabricantur in urbe.

Leo Ostiensis (l. ii. c. 67) enumerates the divisions of the

Apulian cities, which it is needless to repeat.]

25 (return) [ Gulielm. Appulus, l. ii. c 12, according to the

reference of Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. p.

31,) which I cannot verify in the original. The Apulian praises

indeed his validas vires, probitas animi, and vivida virtus; and

declares that, had he lived, no poet could have equalled his

merits, (l. i. p. 258, l. ii. p. 259.) He was bewailed by the

Normans, quippe qui tanti consilii virum, (says Malaterra, l. i.

c. 12, p. 552,) tam armis strenuum, tam sibi munificum,

affabilem, morigeratum, ulterius se habere diffidebant.]

26 (return) [ The gens astutissima, injuriarum ultrix.... adulari

sciens.... eloquentiis inserviens, of Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, p.

550,) are expressive of the popular and proverbial character of

the Normans.]

27 (return) [ The hunting and hawking more properly belong to the

descendants of the Norwegian sailors; though they might import

from Norway and Iceland the finest casts of falcons.]

28 (return) [ We may compare this portrait with that of William

of Malmsbury, (de Gestis Anglorum, l. iii. p. 101, 102,) who

appreciates, like a philosophic historian, the vices and virtues

of the Saxons and Normans. England was assuredly a gainer by the

conquest.]

Chapter LVI: The Saracens, The Franks And The Normans.—Part II.

The Normans of Apulia were seated on the verge of the two

empires; and, according to the policy of the hour, they accepted

the investiture of their lands, from the sovereigns of Germany or

Constantinople. But the firmest title of these adventurers was

the right of conquest: they neither loved nor trusted; they were

neither trusted nor beloved: the contempt of the princes was

mixed with fear, and the fear of the natives was mingled with

hatred and resentment. Every object of desire, a horse, a woman,

a garden, tempted and gratified the rapaciousness of the

strangers; 29 and the avarice of their chiefs was only colored by

the more specious names of ambition and glory. The twelve counts

were sometimes joined in the league of injustice: in their

domestic quarrels they disputed the spoils of the people: the

virtues of William were buried in his grave; and Drogo, his

brother and successor, was better qualified to lead the valor,

than to restrain the violence, of his peers. Under the reign of

Constantine Monomachus, the policy, rather than benevolence, of

the Byzantine court, attempted to relieve Italy from this

adherent mischief, more grievous than a flight of Barbarians; 30

and Argyrus, the son of Melo, was invested for this purpose with

the most lofty titles 31 and the most ample commission. The

memory of his father might recommend him to the Normans; and he

had already engaged their voluntary service to quell the revolt

of Maniaces, and to avenge their own and the public injury. It

was the design of Constantine to transplant the warlike colony

from the Italian provinces to the Persian war; and the son of

Melo distributed among the chiefs the gold and manufactures of

Greece, as the first-fruits of the Imperial bounty. But his arts

were baffled by the sense and spirit of the conquerors of Apulia:

his gifts, or at least his proposals, were rejected; and they

unanimously refused to relinquish their possessions and their

hopes for the distant prospect of Asiatic fortune. After the

means of persuasion had failed, Argyrus resolved to compel or to

destroy: the Latin powers were solicited against the common

enemy; and an offensive alliance was formed of the pope and the

two emperors of the East and West. The throne of St. Peter was

occupied by Leo the Ninth, a simple saint, 32 of a temper most

apt to deceive himself and the world, and whose venerable

character would consecrate with the name of piety the measures

least compatible with the practice of religion. His humanity was

affected by the complaints, perhaps the calumnies, of an injured

people: the impious Normans had interrupted the payment of

tithes; and the temporal sword might be lawfully unsheathed

against the sacrilegious robbers, who were deaf to the censures

of the church. As a German of noble birth and royal kindred, Leo

had free access to the court and confidence of the emperor Henry

the Third; and in search of arms and allies, his ardent zeal

transported him from Apulia to Saxony, from the Elbe to the

Tyber. During these hostile preparations, Argyrus indulged

himself in the use of secret and guilty weapons: a crowd of

Normans became the victims of public or private revenge; and the

valiant Drogo was murdered in a church. But his spirit survived

in his brother Humphrey, the third count of Apulia. The assassins

were chastised; and the son of Melo, overthrown and wounded, was

driven from the field, to hide his shame behind the walls of

Bari, and to await the tardy succor of his allies.

29 (return) [ The biographer of St. Leo IX. pours his holy venom

on the Normans. Videns indisciplinatam et alienam gentem

Normannorum, crudeli et inaudita rabie, et plusquam Pagana

impietate, adversus ecclesias Dei insurgere, passim Christianos

trucidare, &c., (Wibert, c. 6.) The honest Apulian (l. ii. p.

259) says calmly of their accuser, Veris commiscens fallacia.]

30 (return) [ The policy of the Greeks, revolt of Maniaces, &c.,

must be collected from Cedrenus, (tom. ii. p. 757, 758,) William

Appulus, (l. i. p 257, 258, l. ii. p. 259,) and the two

Chronicles of Bari, by Lupus Protospata, (Muratori, Script. Ital.

tom. v. p. 42, 43, 44,) and an anonymous writer, (Antiquitat,

Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. i. p 31-35.) This last is a fragment of

some value.]

31 (return) [ Argyrus received, says the anonymous Chronicle of

Bari, Imperial letters, Foederatus et Patriciatus, et Catapani et

Vestatus. In his Annals, Muratori (tom. viii. p. 426) very

properly reads, or interprets, Sevestatus, the title of Sebastos

or Augustus. But in his Antiquities, he was taught by Ducange to

make it a palatine office, master of the wardrobe.]

32 (return) [ A Life of St. Leo IX., deeply tinged with the

passions and prejudices of the age, has been composed by Wibert,

printed at Paris, 1615, in octavo, and since inserted in the

Collections of the Bollandists, of Mabillon, and of Muratori. The

public and private history of that pope is diligently treated by

M. de St. Marc. (Abrege, tom. ii. p. 140-210, and p. 25-95,

second column.)]

But the power of Constantine was distracted by a Turkish war; the

mind of Henry was feeble and irresolute; and the pope, instead of

repassing the Alps with a German army, was accompanied only by a

guard of seven hundred Swabians and some volunteers of Lorraine.

In his long progress from Mantua to Beneventum, a vile and

promiscuous multitude of Italians was enlisted under the holy

standard: 33 the priest and the robber slept in the same tent;

the pikes and crosses were intermingled in the front; and the

martial saint repeated the lessons of his youth in the order of

march, of encampment, and of combat. The Normans of Apulia could

muster in the field no more than three thousand horse, with a

handful of infantry: the defection of the natives intercepted

their provisions and retreat; and their spirit, incapable of

fear, was chilled for a moment by superstitious awe. On the

hostile approach of Leo, they knelt without disgrace or

reluctance before their spiritual father. But the pope was

inexorable; his lofty Germans affected to deride the diminutive

stature of their adversaries; and the Normans were informed that

death or exile was their only alternative. Flight they disdained,

and, as many of them had been three days without tasting food,

they embraced the assurance of a more easy and honorable death.

They climbed the hill of Civitella, descended into the plain, and

charged in three divisions the army of the pope. On the left, and

in the centre, Richard count of Aversa, and Robert the famous

Guiscard, attacked, broke, routed, and pursued the Italian

multitudes, who fought without discipline, and fled without

shame. A harder trial was reserved for the valor of Count

Humphrey, who led the cavalry of the right wing. The Germans 34

have been described as unskillful in the management of the horse

and the lance, but on foot they formed a strong and impenetrable

phalanx; and neither man, nor steed, nor armor, could resist the

weight of their long and two-handed swords. After a severe

conflict, they were encompassed by the squadrons returning from

the pursuit; and died in the ranks with the esteem of their foes,

and the satisfaction of revenge. The gates of Civitella were shut

against the flying pope, and he was overtaken by the pious

conquerors, who kissed his feet, to implore his blessing and the

absolution of their sinful victory. The soldiers beheld in their

enemy and captive the vicar of Christ; and, though we may suppose

the policy of the chiefs, it is probable that they were infected

by the popular superstition. In the calm of retirement, the

well-meaning pope deplored the effusion of Christian blood, which

must be imputed to his account: he felt, that he had been the

author of sin and scandal; and as his undertaking had failed, the

indecency of his military character was universally condemned. 35

With these dispositions, he listened to the offers of a

beneficial treaty; deserted an alliance which he had preached as

the cause of God; and ratified the past and future conquests of

the Normans. By whatever hands they had been usurped, the

provinces of Apulia and Calabria were a part of the donation of

Constantine and the patrimony of St. Peter: the grant and the

acceptance confirmed the mutual claims of the pontiff and the

adventurers. They promised to support each other with spiritual

and temporal arms; a tribute or quitrent of twelve pence was

afterwards stipulated for every ploughland; and since this

memorable transaction, the kingdom of Naples has remained above

seven hundred years a fief of the Holy See. 36

33 (return) [ See the expedition of Leo XI. against the Normans.

See William Appulus (l. ii. p. 259-261) and Jeffrey Malaterra (l.

i. c. 13, 14, 15, p. 253.) They are impartial, as the national is

counterbalanced by the clerical prejudice]

34 (return) [ Teutonici, quia caesaries et forma decoros

Fecerat egregie proceri corporis illos

Corpora derident Normannica quae breviora

Esse videbantur.

The verses of the Apulian are commonly in this strain, though he

heats himself a little in the battle. Two of his similes from

hawking and sorcery are descriptive of manners.]

35 (return) [ Several respectable censures or complaints are

produced by M. de St. Marc, (tom. ii. p. 200-204.) As Peter

Damianus, the oracle of the times, has denied the popes the right

of making war, the hermit (lugens eremi incola) is arraigned by

the cardinal, and Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1053, No. 10-17)

most strenuously asserts the two swords of St. Peter.]

36 (return) [ The origin and nature of the papal investitures are

ably discussed by Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii.

p. 37-49, 57-66,) as a lawyer and antiquarian. Yet he vainly

strives to reconcile the duties of patriot and Catholic, adopts

an empty distinction of “Ecclesia Romana non dedit, sed accepit,”

and shrinks from an honest but dangerous confession of the

truth.]

The pedigree of Robert of Guiscard 37 is variously deduced from

the peasants and the dukes of Normandy: from the peasants, by the

pride and ignorance of a Grecian princess; 38 from the dukes, by

the ignorance and flattery of the Italian subjects. 39 His

genuine descent may be ascribed to the second or middle order of

private nobility. 40 He sprang from a race of valvassors or

bannerets, of the diocese of Coutances, in the Lower Normandy:

the castle of Hauteville was their honorable seat: his father

Tancred was conspicuous in the court and army of the duke; and

his military service was furnished by ten soldiers or knights.

Two marriages, of a rank not unworthy of his own, made him the

father of twelve sons, who were educated at home by the impartial

tenderness of his second wife. But a narrow patrimony was

insufficient for this numerous and daring progeny; they saw

around the neighborhood the mischiefs of poverty and discord, and

resolved to seek in foreign wars a more glorious inheritance. Two

only remained to perpetuate the race, and cherish their father’s

age: their ten brothers, as they successfully attained the vigor

of manhood, departed from the castle, passed the Alps, and joined

the Apulian camp of the Normans. The elder were prompted by

native spirit; their success encouraged their younger brethren,

and the three first in seniority, William, Drogo, and Humphrey,

deserved to be the chiefs of their nation and the founders of the

new republic. Robert was the eldest of the seven sons of the

second marriage; and even the reluctant praise of his foes has

endowed him with the heroic qualities of a soldier and a

statesman. His lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his army:

his limbs were cast in the true proportion of strength and

gracefulness; and to the decline of life, he maintained the

patient vigor of health and the commanding dignity of his form.

His complexion was ruddy, his shoulders were broad, his hair and

beard were long and of a flaxen color, his eyes sparkled with

fire, and his voice, like that of Achilles, could impress

obedience and terror amidst the tumult of battle. In the ruder

ages of chivalry, such qualifications are not below the notice of

the poet or historians: they may observe that Robert, at once,

and with equal dexterity, could wield in the right hand his

sword, his lance in the left; that in the battle of Civitella he

was thrice unhorsed; and that in the close of that memorable day

he was adjudged to have borne away the prize of valor from the

warriors of the two armies. 41 His boundless ambition was founded

on the consciousness of superior worth: in the pursuit of

greatness, he was never arrested by the scruples of justice, and

seldom moved by the feelings of humanity: though not insensible

of fame, the choice of open or clandestine means was determined

only by his present advantage. The surname of Guiscard 42 was

applied to this master of political wisdom, which is too often

confounded with the practice of dissimulation and deceit; and

Robert is praised by the Apulian poet for excelling the cunning

of Ulysses and the eloquence of Cicero. Yet these arts were

disguised by an appearance of military frankness: in his highest

fortune, he was accessible and courteous to his fellow-soldiers;

and while he indulged the prejudices of his new subjects, he

affected in his dress and manners to maintain the ancient fashion

of his country. He grasped with a rapacious, that he might

distribute with a liberal, hand: his primitive indigence had

taught the habits of frugality; the gain of a merchant was not

below his attention; and his prisoners were tortured with slow

and unfeeling cruelty, to force a discovery of their secret

treasure. According to the Greeks, he departed from Normandy with

only five followers on horseback and thirty on foot; yet even

this allowance appears too bountiful: the sixth son of Tancred of

Hauteville passed the Alps as a pilgrim; and his first military

band was levied among the adventurers of Italy. His brothers and

countrymen had divided the fertile lands of Apulia; but they

guarded their shares with the jealousy of avarice; the aspiring

youth was driven forwards to the mountains of Calabria, and in

his first exploits against the Greeks and the natives, it is not

easy to discriminate the hero from the robber. To surprise a

castle or a convent, to ensnare a wealthy citizen, to plunder the

adjacent villages for necessary food, were the obscure labors

which formed and exercised the powers of his mind and body. The

volunteers of Normandy adhered to his standard; and, under his

command, the peasants of Calabria assumed the name and character

of Normans.

37 (return) [ The birth, character, and first actions of Robert

Guiscard, may be found in Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. i. c. 3, 4, 11,

16, 17, 18, 38, 39, 40,) William Appulus, (l. ii. p. 260-262,)

William Gemeticensis, or of Jumieges, (l. xi. c. 30, p. 663, 664,

edit. Camden,) and Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, l. i. p. 23-27, l. vi.

p. 165, 166,) with the annotations of Ducange, (Not. in Alexiad,

p. 230-232, 320,) who has swept all the French and Latin

Chronicles for supplemental intelligence.]

38 (return) [ (a Greek corruption), and elsewhere, (l. iv. p.

84,). Anna Comnena was born in the purple; yet her father was no

more than a private though illustrious subject, who raised

himself to the empire.]

39 (return) [ Giannone, (tom. ii. p. 2) forgets all his original

authors, and rests this princely descent on the credit of

Inveges, an Augustine monk of Palermo in the last century. They

continue the succession of dukes from Rollo to William II. the

Bastard or Conqueror, whom they hold (communemente si tiene) to

be the father of Tancred of Hauteville; a most strange and

stupendous blunder! The sons of Tancred fought in Apulia, before

William II. was three years old, (A.D. 1037.)]

40 (return) [ The judgment of Ducange is just and moderate: Certe

humilis fuit ac tenuis Roberti familia, si ducalem et regium

spectemus apicem, ad quem postea pervenit; quae honesta tamen et

praeter nobilium vulgarium statum et conditionem illustris habita

est, “quae nec humi reperet nec altum quid tumeret.” (Wilhem.

Malmsbur. de Gestis Anglorum, l. iii. p. 107. Not. ad Alexiad. p.

230.)]

41 (return) [ I shall quote with pleasure some of the best lines

of the Apulian, (l. ii. p. 270.)

Pugnat utraque manu, nec lancea cassa, nec ensis

Cassus erat, quocunque manu deducere vellet.

Ter dejectus equo, ter viribus ipse resumptis

Major in arma redit: stimulos furor ipse ministrat.

Ut Leo cum frendens, &c.

- — — — — — -

Nullus in hoc bello sicuti post bella probatum est

Victor vel victus, tam magnos edidit ictus.]

42 (return) [ The Norman writers and editors most conversant with

their own idiom interpret Guiscard or Wiscard, by Callidus, a

cunning man. The root (wise) is familiar to our ear; and in the

old word Wiseacre, I can discern something of a similar sense and

termination. It is no bad translation of the surname and

character of Robert.]

As the genius of Robert expanded with his fortune, he awakened

the jealousy of his elder brother, by whom, in a transient

quarrel, his life was threatened and his liberty restrained.

After the death of Humphrey, the tender age of his sons excluded

them from the command; they were reduced to a private estate, by

the ambition of their guardian and uncle; and Guiscard was

exalted on a buckler, and saluted count of Apulia and general of

the republic. With an increase of authority and of force, he

resumed the conquest of Calabria, and soon aspired to a rank that

should raise him forever above the heads of his equals.

By some acts of rapine or sacrilege, he had incurred a papal

excommunication; but Nicholas the Second was easily persuaded

that the divisions of friends could terminate only in their

mutual prejudice; that the Normans were the faithful champions of

the Holy See; and it was safer to trust the alliance of a prince

than the caprice of an aristocracy. A synod of one hundred

bishops was convened at Melphi; and the count interrupted an

important enterprise to guard the person and execute the decrees

of the Roman pontiff. His gratitude and policy conferred on

Robert and his posterity the ducal title, 43 with the investiture

of Apulia, Calabria, and all the lands, both in Italy and Sicily,

which his sword could rescue from the schismatic Greeks and the

unbelieving Saracens. 44 This apostolic sanction might justify

his arms; but the obedience of a free and victorious people could

not be transferred without their consent; and Guiscard dissembled

his elevation till the ensuing campaign had been illustrated by

the conquest of Consenza and Reggio. In the hour of triumph, he

assembled his troops, and solicited the Normans to confirm by

their suffrage the judgment of the vicar of Christ: the soldiers

hailed with joyful acclamations their valiant duke; and the

counts, his former equals, pronounced the oath of fidelity with

hollow smiles and secret indignation. After this inauguration,

Robert styled himself, “By the grace of God and St. Peter, duke

of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicily;” and it was the

labor of twenty years to deserve and realize these lofty

appellations. Such sardy progress, in a narrow space, may seem

unworthy of the abilities of the chief and the spirit of the

nation; but the Normans were few in number; their resources were

scanty; their service was voluntary and precarious. The bravest

designs of the duke were sometimes opposed by the free voice of

his parliament of barons: the twelve counts of popular election

conspired against his authority; and against their perfidious

uncle, the sons of Humphrey demanded justice and revenge. By his

policy and vigor, Guiscard discovered their plots, suppressed

their rebellions, and punished the guilty with death or exile:

but in these domestic feuds, his years, and the national

strength, were unprofitably consumed. After the defeat of his

foreign enemies, the Greeks, Lombards, and Saracens, their broken

forces retreated to the strong and populous cities of the

sea-coast. They excelled in the arts of fortification and

defence; the Normans were accustomed to serve on horseback in the

field, and their rude attempts could only succeed by the efforts

of persevering courage. The resistance of Salerno was maintained

above eight months; the siege or blockade of Bari lasted near

four years. In these actions the Norman duke was the foremost in

every danger; in every fatigue the last and most patient. As he

pressed the citadel of Salerno, a huge stone from the rampart

shattered one of his military engines; and by a splinter he was

wounded in the breast. Before the gates of Bari, he lodged in a

miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and thatched

with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the

inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy. 45

43 (return) [ The acquisition of the ducal title by Robert

Guiscard is a nice and obscure business. With the good advice of

Giannone, Muratori, and St. Marc, I have endeavored to form a

consistent and probable narrative.]

44 (return) [ Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1059, No. 69) has

published the original act. He professes to have copied it from

the Liber Censuum, a Vatican Ms. Yet a Liber Censuum of the xiith

century has been printed by Muratori, (Antiquit. Medii Aevi, tom.

v. p. 851-908;) and the names of Vatican and Cardinal awaken the

suspicions of a Protestant, and even of a philosopher.]

45 (return) [ Read the life of Guiscard in the second and third

books of the Apulian, the first and second books of Malaterra.]

The Italian conquests of Robert correspond with the limits of the

present kingdom of Naples; and the countries united by his arms

have not been dissevered by the revolutions of seven hundred

years. 46 The monarchy has been composed of the Greek provinces

of Calabria and Apulia, of the Lombard principality of Salerno,

the republic of Amalphi, and the inland dependencies of the large

and ancient duchy of Beneventum. Three districts only were

exempted from the common law of subjection; the first forever,

the two last till the middle of the succeeding century. The city

and immediate territory of Benevento had been transferred, by

gift or exchange, from the German emperor to the Roman pontiff;

and although this holy land was sometimes invaded, the name of

St. Peter was finally more potent than the sword of the Normans.

Their first colony of Aversa subdued and held the state of Capua;

and her princes were reduced to beg their bread before the palace

of their fathers. The dukes of Naples, the present metropolis,

maintained the popular freedom, under the shadow of the Byzantine

empire. Among the new acquisitions of Guiscard, the science of

Salerno, 47 and the trade of Amalphi, 48 may detain for a moment

the curiosity of the reader. I. Of the learned faculties,

jurisprudence implies the previous establishment of laws and

property; and theology may perhaps be superseded by the full

light of religion and reason. But the savage and the sage must

alike implore the assistance of physic; and, if our diseases are

inflamed by luxury, the mischiefs of blows and wounds would be

more frequent in the ruder ages of society. The treasures of

Grecian medicine had been communicated to the Arabian colonies of

Africa, Spain, and Sicily; and in the intercourse of peace and

war, a spark of knowledge had been kindled and cherished at

Salerno, an illustrious city, in which the men were honest and

the women beautiful. 49 A school, the first that arose in the

darkness of Europe, was consecrated to the healing art: the

conscience of monks and bishops was reconciled to that salutary

and lucrative profession; and a crowd of patients, of the most

eminent rank, and most distant climates, invited or visited the

physicians of Salerno. They were protected by the Norman

conquerors; and Guiscard, though bred in arms, could discern the

merit and value of a philosopher. After a pilgrimage of

thirty-nine years, Constantine, an African Christian, returned

from Bagdad, a master of the language and learning of the

Arabians; and Salerno was enriched by the practice, the lessons,

and the writings of the pupil of Avicenna. The school of medicine

has long slept in the name of a university; but her precepts are

abridged in a string of aphorisms, bound together in the Leonine

verses, or Latin rhymes, of the twelfth century. 50 II. Seven

miles to the west of Salerno, and thirty to the south of Naples,

the obscure town of Amalphi displayed the power and rewards of

industry. The land, however fertile, was of narrow extent; but

the sea was accessible and open: the inhabitants first assumed

the office of supplying the western world with the manufactures

and productions of the East; and this useful traffic was the

source of their opulence and freedom. The government was popular,

under the administration of a duke and the supremacy of the Greek

emperor. Fifty thousand citizens were numbered in the walls of

Amalphi; nor was any city more abundantly provided with gold,

silver, and the objects of precious luxury. The mariners who

swarmed in her port, excelled in the theory and practice of

navigation and astronomy: and the discovery of the compass, which

has opened the globe, is owing to their ingenuity or good

fortune. Their trade was extended to the coasts, or at least to

the commodities, of Africa, Arabia, and India: and their

settlements in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and

Alexandria, acquired the privileges of independent colonies. 51

After three hundred years of prosperity, Amalphi was oppressed by

the arms of the Normans, and sacked by the jealousy of Pisa; but

the poverty of one thousand 5111 fisherman is yet dignified by

the remains of an arsenal, a cathedral, and the palaces of royal

merchants.

46 (return) [ The conquests of Robert Guiscard and Roger I., the

exemption of Benevento and the xii provinces of the kingdom, are

fairly exposed by Giannone in the second volume of his Istoria

Civile, l. ix. x. xi and l. xvii. p. 460-470. This modern

division was not established before the time of Frederic II.]

47 (return) [ Giannone, (tom. ii. p. 119-127,) Muratori,

(Antiquitat. Medii Aevi, tom. iii. dissert. xliv. p. 935, 936,)

and Tiraboschi, (Istoria della Letteratura Italiana,) have given

an historical account of these physicians; their medical

knowledge and practice must be left to our physicians.]

48 (return) [ At the end of the Historia Pandectarum of Henry

Brenckmann, (Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, in 4to.,) the

indefatigable author has inserted two dissertations, de Republica

Amalphitana, and de Amalphi a Pisanis direpta, which are built on

the testimonies of one hundred and forty writers. Yet he has

forgotten two most important passages of the embassy of

Liutprand, (A.D. 939,) which compare the trade and navigation of

Amalphi with that of Venice.]

49 (return) [ Urbs Latii non est hac delitiosior urbe,

Frugibus, arboribus, vinoque redundat; et unde

Non tibi poma, nuces, non pulchra palatia desunt,

Non species muliebris abest probitasque virorum.

—Gulielmus Appulus, l. iii. p. 367]

50 (return) [ Muratori carries their antiquity above the year

(1066) of the death of Edward the Confessor, the rex Anglorum to

whom they are addressed. Nor is this date affected by the

opinion, or rather mistake, of Pasquier (Recherches de la France,

l. vii. c. 2) and Ducange, (Glossar. Latin.) The practice of

rhyming, as early as the viith century, was borrowed from the

languages of the North and East, (Muratori, Antiquitat. tom. iii.

dissert. xl. p. 686-708.)]

51 (return) [ The description of Amalphi, by William the Apulian,

(l. iii. p. 267,) contains much truth and some poetry, and the

third line may be applied to the sailor’s compass:—

Nulla magis locuples argento, vestibus, auro

Partibus innumeris: hac plurimus urbe moratur

Nauta maris Caelique vias aperire peritus.

Huc et Alexandri diversa feruntur ab urbe

Regis, et Antiochi. Gens haec freta plurima transit.

His Arabes, Indi, Siculi nascuntur et Afri.

Haec gens est totum proore nobilitata per orbem,

Et mercando forens, et amans mercata referre.]

5111 (return) [ Amalfi had only one thousand inhabitants at the

commencement of the 18th century, when it was visited by

Brenckmann, (Brenckmann de Rep. Amalph. Diss. i. c. 23.) At

present it has six or eight thousand Hist. des Rep. tom. i. p.

304.—G.]

Chapter LVI: The Saracens, The Franks And The Normans.—Part III.

Roger, the twelfth and last of the sons of Tancred, had been long

detained in Normandy by his own and his father’s age. He accepted

the welcome summons; hastened to the Apulian camp; and deserved

at first the esteem, and afterwards the envy, of his elder

brother. Their valor and ambition were equal; but the youth, the

beauty, the elegant manners, of Roger engaged the disinterested

love of the soldiers and people. So scanty was his allowance for

himself and forty followers, that he descended from conquest to

robbery, and from robbery to domestic theft; and so loose were

the notions of property, that, by his own historian, at his

special command, he is accused of stealing horses from a stable

at Melphi. 52 His spirit emerged from poverty and disgrace: from

these base practices he rose to the merit and glory of a holy

war; and the invasion of Sicily was seconded by the zeal and

policy of his brother Guiscard. After the retreat of the Greeks,

the idolaters, a most audacious reproach of the Catholics, had

retrieved their losses and possessions; but the deliverance of

the island, so vainly undertaken by the forces of the Eastern

empire, was achieved by a small and private band of adventurers.

53 In the first attempt, Roger braved, in an open boat, the real

and fabulous dangers of Scylla and Charybdis; landed with only

sixty soldiers on a hostile shore; drove the Saracens to the

gates of Messina and safely returned with the spoils of the

adjacent country. In the fortress of Trani, his active and

patient courage were equally conspicuous. In his old age he

related with pleasure, that, by the distress of the siege,

himself, and the countess his wife, had been reduced to a single

cloak or mantle, which they wore alternately; that in a sally his

horse had been slain, and he was dragged away by the Saracens;

but that he owed his rescue to his good sword, and had retreated

with his saddle on his back, lest the meanest trophy might be

left in the hands of the miscreants. In the siege of Trani, three

hundred Normans withstood and repulsed the forces of the island.

In the field of Ceramio, fifty thousand horse and foot were

overthrown by one hundred and thirty-six Christian soldiers,

without reckoning St. George, who fought on horseback in the

foremost ranks. The captive banners, with four camels, were

reserved for the successor of St. Peter; and had these barbaric

spoils been exposed, not in the Vatican, but in the Capitol, they

might have revived the memory of the Punic triumphs. These

insufficient numbers of the Normans most probably denote their

knights, the soldiers of honorable and equestrian rank, each of

whom was attended by five or six followers in the field; 54 yet,

with the aid of this interpretation, and after every fair

allowance on the side of valor, arms, and reputation, the

discomfiture of so many myriads will reduce the prudent reader to

the alternative of a miracle or a fable. The Arabs of Sicily

derived a frequent and powerful succor from their countrymen of

Africa: in the siege of Palermo, the Norman cavalry was assisted

by the galleys of Pisa; and, in the hour of action, the envy of

the two brothers was sublimed to a generous and invincible

emulation. After a war of thirty years, 55 Roger, with the title

of great count, obtained the sovereignty of the largest and most

fruitful island of the Mediterranean; and his administration

displays a liberal and enlightened mind, above the limits of his

age and education. The Moslems were maintained in the free

enjoyment of their religion and property: 56 a philosopher and

physician of Mazara, of the race of Mahomet, harangued the

conqueror, and was invited to court; his geography of the seven

climates was translated into Latin; and Roger, after a diligent

perusal, preferred the work of the Arabian to the writings of the

Grecian Ptolemy. 57 A remnant of Christian natives had promoted

the success of the Normans: they were rewarded by the triumph of

the cross. The island was restored to the jurisdiction of the

Roman pontiff; new bishops were planted in the principal cities;

and the clergy was satisfied by a liberal endowment of churches

and monasteries. Yet the Catholic hero asserted the rights of the

civil magistrate. Instead of resigning the investiture of

benefices, he dexterously applied to his own profit the papal

claims: the supremacy of the crown was secured and enlarged, by

the singular bull, which declares the princes of Sicily

hereditary and perpetual legates of the Holy See. 58

52 (return) [ Latrocinio armigerorum suorum in multis

sustentabatur, quod quidem ad ejus ignominiam non dicimus; sed

ipso ita praecipiente adhuc viliora et reprehensibiliora dicturi

sumus ut pluribus patescat, quam laboriose et cum quanta angustia

a profunda paupertate ad summum culmen divitiarum vel honoris

attigerit. Such is the preface of Malaterra (l. i. c. 25) to the

horse-stealing. From the moment (l. i. c. 19) that he has

mentioned his patron Roger, the elder brother sinks into the

second character. Something similar in Velleius Paterculus may be

observed of Augustus and Tiberius.]

53 (return) [ Duo sibi proficua deputans animae scilicet et

corporis si terran: Idolis deditam ad cultum divinum revocaret,

(Galfrid Malaterra, l. ii. c. 1.) The conquest of Sicily is

related in the three last books, and he himself has given an

accurate summary of the chapters, (p. 544-546.)]

54 (return) [ See the word Milites in the Latin Glossary of

Ducange.]

55 (return) [ Of odd particulars, I learn from Malaterra, that

the Arabs had introduced into Sicily the use of camels (l. i. c.

33) and of carrier-pigeons, (c. 42;) and that the bite of the

tarantula provokes a windy disposition, quae per anum inhoneste

crepitando emergit; a symptom most ridiculously felt by the whole

Norman army in their camp near Palermo, (c. 36.) I shall add an

etymology not unworthy of the xith century: Messana is divided

from Messis, the place from whence the harvests of the isle were

sent in tribute to Rome, (l. ii. c. 1.)]

56 (return) [ See the capitulation of Palermo in Malaterra, l.

ii. c. 45, and Giannone, who remarks the general toleration of

the Saracens, (tom ii. p. 72.)]

57 (return) [ John Leo Afer, de Medicis et Philosophus Arabibus,

c. 14, apud Fabric. Bibliot. Graec. tom. xiii. p. 278, 279. This

philosopher is named Esseriph Essachalli, and he died in Africa,

A. H. 516, A.D. 1122. Yet this story bears a strange resemblance

to the Sherif al Edrissi, who presented his book (Geographia

Nubiensis, see preface p. 88, 90, 170) to Roger, king of Sicily,

A. H. 541, A.D. 1153, (D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p.

786. Prideaux’s Life of Mahomet, p. 188. Petit de la Croix, Hist.

de Gengiscan, p. 535, 536. Casiri, Bibliot. Arab. Hispan. tom.

ii. p. 9-13;) and I am afraid of some mistake.]

58 (return) [ Malaterra remarks the foundation of the bishoprics,

(l. iv. c. 7,) and produces the original of the bull, (l. iv. c.

29.) Giannone gives a rational idea of this privilege, and the

tribunal of the monarchy of Sicily, (tom. ii. p. 95-102;) and St.

Marc (Abrege, tom. iii. p. 217-301, 1st column) labors the case

with the diligence of a Sicilian lawyer.]

To Robert Guiscard, the conquest of Sicily was more glorious than

beneficial: the possession of Apulia and Calabria was inadequate

to his ambition; and he resolved to embrace or create the first

occasion of invading, perhaps of subduing, the Roman empire of

the East. 59 From his first wife, the partner of his humble

fortune, he had been divorced under the pretence of

consanguinity; and her son Bohemond was destined to imitate,

rather than to succeed, his illustrious father. The second wife

of Guiscard was the daughter of the princes of Salerno; the

Lombards acquiesced in the lineal succession of their son Roger;

their five daughters were given in honorable nuptials, 60 and one

of them was betrothed, in a tender age, to Constantine, a

beautiful youth, the son and heir of the emperor Michael. 61 But

the throne of Constantinople was shaken by a revolution: the

Imperial family of Ducas was confined to the palace or the

cloister; and Robert deplored, and resented, the disgrace of his

daughter and the expulsion of his ally. A Greek, who styled

himself the father of Constantine, soon appeared at Salerno, and

related the adventures of his fall and flight. That unfortunate

friend was acknowledged by the duke, and adorned with the pomp

and titles of Imperial dignity: in his triumphal progress through

Apulia and Calabria, Michael 62 was saluted with the tears and

acclamations of the people; and Pope Gregory the Seventh exhorted

the bishops to preach, and the Catholics to fight, in the pious

work of his restoration. His conversations with Robert were

frequent and familiar; and their mutual promises were justified

by the valor of the Normans and the treasures of the East. Yet

this Michael, by the confession of the Greeks and Latins, was a

pageant and an impostor; a monk who had fled from his convent, or

a domestic who had served in the palace. The fraud had been

contrived by the subtle Guiscard; and he trusted, that after this

pretender had given a decent color to his arms, he would sink, at

the nod of the conqueror, into his primitive obscurity. But

victory was the only argument that could determine the belief of

the Greeks; and the ardor of the Latins was much inferior to

their credulity: the Norman veterans wished to enjoy the harvest

of their toils, and the unwarlike Italians trembled at the known

and unknown dangers of a transmarine expedition. In his new

levies, Robert exerted the influence of gifts and promises, the

terrors of civil and ecclesiastical authority; and some acts of

violence might justify the reproach, that age and infancy were

pressed without distinction into the service of their unrelenting

prince. After two years’ incessant preparations the land and

naval forces were assembled at Otranto, at the heel, or extreme

promontory, of Italy; and Robert was accompanied by his wife, who

fought by his side, his son Bohemond, and the representative of

the emperor Michael. Thirteen hundred knights 63 of Norman race

or discipline, formed the sinews of the army, which might be

swelled to thirty thousand 64 followers of every denomination.

The men, the horses, the arms, the engines, the wooden towers,

covered with raw hides, were embarked on board one hundred and

fifty vessels: the transports had been built in the ports of

Italy, and the galleys were supplied by the alliance of the

republic of Ragusa.

59 (return) [ In the first expedition of Robert against the

Greeks, I follow Anna Comnena, (the ist, iiid, ivth, and vth

books of the Alexiad,) William Appulus, (l. ivth and vth, p.

270-275,) and Jeffrey Malaterra, (l. iii. c. 13, 14, 24-29, 39.)

Their information is contemporary and authentic, but none of them

were eye-witnesses of the war.]

60 (return) [ One of them was married to Hugh, the son of Azzo,

or Axo, a marquis of Lombardy, rich, powerful, and noble,

(Gulielm. Appul. l. iii. p. 267,) in the xith century, and whose

ancestors in the xth and ixth are explored by the critical

industry of Leibnitz and Muratori. From the two elder sons of the

marquis Azzo are derived the illustrious lines of Brunswick and

Este. See Muratori, Antichita Estense.]

61 (return) [ Anna Comnena, somewhat too wantonly, praises and

bewails that handsome boy, who, after the rupture of his barbaric

nuptials, (l. i. p. 23,) was betrothed as her husband. (p. 27.)

Elsewhere she describes the red and white of his skin, his hawk’s

eyes, &c., l. iii. p. 71.]

62 (return) [ Anna Comnena, l. i. p. 28, 29. Gulielm. Appul. l.

iv p. 271. Galfrid Malaterra, l. iii. c. 13, p. 579, 580.

Malaterra is more cautious in his style; but the Apulian is bold

and positive.—Mentitus se Michaelem Venerata Danais quidam

seductor ad illum. As Gregory VII had believed, Baronius almost

alone, recognizes the emperor Michael. (A.D. No. 44.)]

63 (return) [ Ipse armatae militiae non plusquam MCCC milites

secum habuisse, ab eis qui eidem negotio interfuerunt attestatur,

(Malaterra, l. iii. c. 24, p. 583.) These are the same whom the

Apulian (l. iv. p. 273) styles the equestris gens ducis, equites

de gente ducis.]

64 (return) [ Anna Comnena (Alexias, l. i. p. 37;) and her

account tallies with the number and lading of the ships. Ivit in

Dyrrachium cum xv. millibus hominum, says the Chronicon Breve

Normannicum, (Muratori, Scriptores, tom. v. p. 278.) I have

endeavored to reconcile these reckonings.]

At the mouth of the Adriatic Gulf, the shores of Italy and Epirus

incline towards each other. The space between Brundusium and

Durazzo, the Roman passage, is no more than one hundred miles; 65

at the last station of Otranto, it is contracted to fifty; 66 and

this narrow distance had suggested to Pyrrhus and Pompey the

sublime or extravagant idea of a bridge. Before the general

embarkation, the Norman duke despatched Bohemond with fifteen

galleys to seize or threaten the Isle of Corfu, to survey the

opposite coast, and to secure a harbor in the neighborhood of

Vallona for the landing of the troops. They passed and landed

without perceiving an enemy; and this successful experiment

displayed the neglect and decay of the naval power of the Greeks.

The islands of Epirus and the maritime towns were subdued by the

arms or the name of Robert, who led his fleet and army from Corfu

(I use the modern appellation) to the siege of Durazzo. That

city, the western key of the empire, was guarded by ancient

renown, and recent fortifications, by George Palaeologus, a

patrician, victorious in the Oriental wars, and a numerous

garrison of Albanians and Macedonians, who, in every age, have

maintained the character of soldiers. In the prosecution of his

enterprise, the courage of Guiscard was assailed by every form of

danger and mischance. In the most propitious season of the year,

as his fleet passed along the coast, a storm of wind and snow

unexpectedly arose: the Adriatic was swelled by the raging blast

of the south, and a new shipwreck confirmed the old infamy of the

Acroceraunian rocks. 67 The sails, the masts, and the oars, were

shattered or torn away; the sea and shore were covered with the

fragments of vessels, with arms and dead bodies; and the greatest

part of the provisions were either drowned or damaged. The ducal

galley was laboriously rescued from the waves, and Robert halted

seven days on the adjacent cape, to collect the relics of his

loss, and revive the drooping spirits of his soldiers. The

Normans were no longer the bold and experienced mariners who had

explored the ocean from Greenland to Mount Atlas, and who smiled

at the petty dangers of the Mediterranean. They had wept during

the tempest; they were alarmed by the hostile approach of the

Venetians, who had been solicited by the prayers and promises of

the Byzantine court. The first day’s action was not

disadvantageous to Bohemond, a beardless youth, 68 who led the

naval powers of his father. All night the galleys of the republic

lay on their anchors in the form of a crescent; and the victory

of the second day was decided by the dexterity of their

evolutions, the station of their archers, the weight of their

javelins, and the borrowed aid of the Greek fire. The Apulian and

Ragusian vessels fled to the shore, several were cut from their

cables, and dragged away by the conqueror; and a sally from the

town carried slaughter and dismay to the tents of the Norman

duke. A seasonable relief was poured into Durazzo, and as soon as

the besiegers had lost the command of the sea, the islands and

maritime towns withdrew from the camp the supply of tribute and

provision. That camp was soon afflicted with a pestilential

disease; five hundred knights perished by an inglorious death;

and the list of burials (if all could obtain a decent burial)

amounted to ten thousand persons. Under these calamities, the

mind of Guiscard alone was firm and invincible; and while he

collected new forces from Apulia and Sicily, he battered, or

scaled, or sapped, the walls of Durazzo. But his industry and

valor were encountered by equal valor and more perfect industry.

A movable turret, of a size and capacity to contain five hundred

soldiers, had been rolled forwards to the foot of the rampart:

but the descent of the door or drawbridge was checked by an

enormous beam, and the wooden structure was constantly consumed

by artificial flames.

65 (return) [ The Itinerary of Jerusalem (p. 609, edit.

Wesseling) gives a true and reasonable space of a thousand stadia

or one hundred miles which is strangely doubled by Strabo (l. vi.

p. 433) and Pliny, (Hist. Natur. iii. 16.)]

66 (return) [ Pliny (Hist. Nat. iii. 6, 16) allows quinquaginta

millia for this brevissimus cursus, and agrees with the real

distance from Otranto to La Vallona, or Aulon, (D’Anville,

Analyse de sa Carte des Cotes de la Grece, &c., p. 3-6.)

Hermolaus Barbarus, who substitutes centum. (Harduin, Not. lxvi.

in Plin. l. iii.,) might have been corrected by every Venetian

pilot who had sailed out of the gulf.]

67 (return) [ Infames scopulos Acroceraunia, Horat. carm. i. 3.

The praecipitem Africum decertantem Aquilonibus, et rabiem Noti

and the monstra natantia of the Adriatic, are somewhat enlarged;

but Horace trembling for the life of Virgil, is an interesting

moment in the history of poetry and friendship.]

68 (return) [ (Alexias, l. iv. p. 106.) Yet the Normans shaved,

and the Venetians wore, their beards: they must have derided the

no beard of Bohemond; a harsh interpretation. (Duncanga ad

Alexiad. p. 283.)]

While the Roman empire was attacked by the Turks in the East,

east, and the Normans in the West, the aged successor of Michael

surrendered the sceptre to the hands of Alexius, an illustrious

captain, and the founder of the Comnenian dynasty. The princess

Anne, his daughter and historian, observes, in her affected

style, that even Hercules was unequal to a double combat; and, on

this principle, she approves a hasty peace with the Turks, which

allowed her father to undertake in person the relief of Durazzo.

On his accession, Alexius found the camp without soldiers, and

the treasury without money; yet such were the vigor and activity

of his measures, that in six months he assembled an army of

seventy thousand men, 69 and performed a march of five hundred

miles. His troops were levied in Europe and Asia, from

Peloponnesus to the Black Sea; his majesty was displayed in the

silver arms and rich trappings of the companies of Horse-guards;

and the emperor was attended by a train of nobles and princes,

some of whom, in rapid succession, had been clothed with the

purple, and were indulged by the lenity of the times in a life of

affluence and dignity. Their youthful ardor might animate the

multitude; but their love of pleasure and contempt of

subordination were pregnant with disorder and mischief; and their

importunate clamors for speedy and decisive action disconcerted

the prudence of Alexius, who might have surrounded and starved

the besieging army. The enumeration of provinces recalls a sad

comparison of the past and present limits of the Roman world: the

raw levies were drawn together in haste and terror; and the

garrisons of Anatolia, or Asia Minor, had been purchased by the

evacuation of the cities which were immediately occupied by the

Turks. The strength of the Greek army consisted in the

Varangians, the Scandinavian guards, whose numbers were recently

augmented by a colony of exiles and volunteers from the British

Island of Thule. Under the yoke of the Norman conqueror, the

Danes and English were oppressed and united; a band of

adventurous youths resolved to desert a land of slavery; the sea

was open to their escape; and, in their long pilgrimage, they

visited every coast that afforded any hope of liberty and

revenge. They were entertained in the service of the Greek

emperor; and their first station was in a new city on the Asiatic

shore: but Alexius soon recalled them to the defence of his

person and palace; and bequeathed to his successors the

inheritance of their faith and valor. 70 The name of a Norman

invader revived the memory of their wrongs: they marched with

alacrity against the national foe, and panted to regain in Epirus

the glory which they had lost in the battle of Hastings. The

Varangians were supported by some companies of Franks or Latins;

and the rebels, who had fled to Constantinople from the tyranny

of Guiscard, were eager to signalize their zeal and gratify their

revenge. In this emergency, the emperor had not disdained the

impure aid of the Paulicians or Manichaeans of Thrace and

Bulgaria; and these heretics united with the patience of

martyrdom the spirit and discipline of active valor. 71 The

treaty with the sultan had procured a supply of some thousand

Turks; and the arrows of the Scythian horse were opposed to the

lances of the Norman cavalry. On the report and distant prospect

of these formidable numbers, Robert assembled a council of his

principal officers. “You behold,” said he, “your danger: it is

urgent and inevitable. The hills are covered with arms and

standards; and the emperor of the Greeks is accustomed to wars

and triumphs. Obedience and union are our only safety; and I am

ready to yield the command to a more worthy leader.” The vote and

acclamation even of his secret enemies, assured him, in that

perilous moment, of their esteem and confidence; and the duke

thus continued: “Let us trust in the rewards of victory, and

deprive cowardice of the means of escape. Let us burn our vessels

and our baggage, and give battle on this spot, as if it were the

place of our nativity and our burial.” The resolution was

unanimously approved; and, without confining himself to his

lines, Guiscard awaited in battle-array the nearer approach of

the enemy. His rear was covered by a small river; his right wing

extended to the sea; his left to the hills: nor was he conscious,

perhaps, that on the same ground Caesar and Pompey had formerly

disputed the empire of the world. 72

69 (return) [ Muratori (Annali d’ Italia, tom. ix. p. 136, 137)

observes, that some authors (Petrus Diacon. Chron. Casinen. l.

iii. c. 49) compose the Greek army of 170,000 men, but that the

hundred may be struck off, and that Malaterra reckons only

70,000; a slight inattention. The passage to which he alludes is

in the Chronicle of Lupus Protospata, (Script. Ital. tom. v. p.

45.) Malaterra (l. iv. c. 27) speaks in high, but indefinite

terms of the emperor, cum copiisinnumerabilbus: like the Apulian

poet, (l. iv. p. 272:) —More locustarum montes et pianna

teguntur.]

70 (return) [ See William of Malmsbury, de Gestis Anglorum, l.

ii. p. 92. Alexius fidem Anglorum suspiciens praecipuis

familiaritatibus suis eos applicabat, amorem eorum filio

transcribens. Odericus Vitalis (Hist. Eccles. l. iv. p. 508, l.

vii. p. 641) relates their emigration from England, and their

service in Greece.]

71 (return) [ See the Apulian, (l. i. p. 256.) The character and

the story of these Manichaeans has been the subject of the livth

chapter.]

72 (return) [ See the simple and masterly narrative of Caesar

himself, (Comment. de Bell. Civil. iii. 41-75.) It is a pity that

Quintus Icilius (M. Guichard) did not live to analyze these

operations, as he has done the campaigns of Africa and Spain.]

Against the advice of his wisest captains, Alexius resolved to

risk the event of a general action, and exhorted the garrison of

Durazzo to assist their own deliverance by a well-timed sally

from the town. He marched in two columns to surprise the Normans

before daybreak on two different sides: his light cavalry was

scattered over the plain; the archers formed the second line; and

the Varangians claimed the honors of the vanguard. In the first

onset, the battle-axes of the strangers made a deep and bloody

impression on the army of Guiscard, which was now reduced to

fifteen thousand men. The Lombards and Calabrians ignominiously

turned their backs; they fled towards the river and the sea; but

the bridge had been broken down to check the sally of the

garrison, and the coast was lined with the Venetian galleys, who

played their engines among the disorderly throng. On the verge of

ruin, they were saved by the spirit and conduct of their chiefs.

Gaita, the wife of Robert, is painted by the Greeks as a warlike

Amazon, a second Pallas; less skilful in arts, but not less

terrible in arms, than the Athenian goddess: 73 though wounded by

an arrow, she stood her ground, and strove, by her exhortation

and example, to rally the flying troops. 74 Her female voice was

seconded by the more powerful voice and arm of the Norman duke,

as calm in action as he was magnanimous in council: “Whither,” he

cried aloud, “whither do ye fly? Your enemy is implacable; and

death is less grievous than servitude.” The moment was decisive:

as the Varangians advanced before the line, they discovered the

nakedness of their flanks: the main battle of the duke, of eight

hundred knights, stood firm and entire; they couched their

lances, and the Greeks bore the furious and irresistible shock of

the French cavalry. 75 Alexius was not deficient in the duties of

a soldier or a general; but he no sooner beheld the slaughter of

the Varangians, and the flight of the Turks, than he despised his

subjects, and despaired of his fortune. The princess Anne, who

drops a tear on this melancholy event, is reduced to praise the

strength and swiftness of her father’s horse, and his vigorous

struggle when he was almost overthrown by the stroke of a lance,

which had shivered the Imperial helmet. His desperate valor broke

through a squadron of Franks who opposed his flight; and after

wandering two days and as many nights in the mountains, he found

some repose, of body, though not of mind, in the walls of

Lychnidus. The victorious Robert reproached the tardy and feeble

pursuit which had suffered the escape of so illustrious a prize:

but he consoled his disappointment by the trophies and standards

of the field, the wealth and luxury of the Byzantine camp, and

the glory of defeating an army five times more numerous than his

own. A multitude of Italians had been the victims of their own

fears; but only thirty of his knights were slain in this

memorable day. In the Roman host, the loss of Greeks, Turks, and

English, amounted to five or six thousand: 76 the plain of

Durazzo was stained with noble and royal blood; and the end of

the impostor Michael was more honorable than his life.

73 (return) [ It is very properly translated by the President

Cousin, (Hist. de Constantinople, tom. iv. p. 131, in 12mo.,) qui

combattoit comme une Pallas, quoiqu’elle ne fut pas aussi savante

que celle d’Athenes. The Grecian goddess was composed of two

discordant characters, of Neith, the workwoman of Sais in Egypt,

and of a virgin Amazon of the Tritonian lake in Libya, (Banier,

Mythologie, tom. iv. p. 1-31, in 12mo.)]

74 (return) [ Anna Comnena (l. iv. p. 116) admires, with some

degree of terror, her masculine virtues. They were more familiar

to the Latins and though the Apulian (l. iv. p. 273) mentions her

presence and her wound, he represents her as far less intrepid.

Uxor in hoc bello Roberti forte sagitta

Quadam laesa fuit: quo vulnere territa nullam.

Dum sperabat opem, se poene subegerat hosti.

The last is an unlucky word for a female prisoner.]

75 (return) [ (Anna, l. v. p. 133;) and elsewhere, (p. 140.) The

pedantry of the princess in the choice of classic appellations

encouraged Ducange to apply to his countrymen the characters of

the ancient Gauls.]

76 (return) [ Lupus Protospata (tom. iii. p. 45) says 6000:

William the Apulian more than 5000, (l. iv. p. 273.) Their

modesty is singular and laudable: they might with so little

trouble have slain two or three myriads of schismatics and

infidels!]