Defeat of Otho III., A.D. 983. linquish the siege of Bari: the second, after the loss of his stoutest bishops and barons, escaped with honour from the bloody field of Crotona. On that day the scale of war was turned against the Franks by the valour of the Saracens. 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. Anecdotes. 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 æra. 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 æra 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. 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 Musulman 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 A.D. 873. 8 Οὐ μόνον διὰ πολέμων ἀκριβῶς τεταγμένων τὸ τοιοῦτον ὑπήγαγε τὸ ἔθνος (the Lombards) ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ χρησάμενος, καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ χρηστότητι ἐπιεικῶς τε τοῖς προσερχομένοις προσφερόμενος, καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν αὐτοῖς ἁπάσης τε δουλείας, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φορολογιών Xapóμsvos (Leon. Tactic. c. xv. [§ 38] 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. 9 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. A.D. 874. 10 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. 19 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. 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 honours 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 66 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 an 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. 3. The recital of the 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 an hero. His captives of the Greek nation or A.D. 930. 12 10 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. "Constantine Porphyrogenitus (in Vit. Basil. c. 58, p. 183 [p. 296, ed. Bonn]) 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 In the year 663 the same tragedy is described by Paul the Deacon (de Gestis Langobard. 1. 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 behaviour is the more heroic, as mere silence was required by the enemy who had made him prisoner (Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV. c. 33, tom. ix. p. 172). 13 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 (Abrégé Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 645-732, &c.). 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 clamours, compelled the marquis to listen to her complaint. "Is it thus," she cried, "ye mag"nanimous 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," 66 66 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 irrepar"able 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 The establishment of the Normans in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily 15 is an event most romantic in its origin, and in its conse 14 Liutprand, Hist. 1. iv. c. 4, in the Rerum Italic. Script. tom. ii. 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.? 15 The original monuments of the Normans in Italy are collected in the vth volume of Muratori; and among these we may distinguish the poem 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." a M. Gauttier d'Arc has discovered a translation of the Chronicle of Aimé, monk of Monte Cassino, a contemporary of the first Norman invaders of Italy. He Origin of in Italy, A.D. 1016. quences 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, and gallantry of the French nation; and, in a martial age, the Normans might claim the palm of valour and glorious achievements. Of the fashionable superstitions, they embraced with ardour the pilgrimages of Rome, Italy, and the Holy Land." In this active devotion their minds and bodies were invigorated by exercise: danger was the incentive, novelty the recompence; 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 17 16 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 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 militiæ suæ principi uutriendum tradidit, ut, ibi linguâ eruditus Danicâ, suis exterisque hominibus sciret aperte dare responsa (Wilhelm. Gemeticensis de Ducibus Normannis, l. iii. c. 8, p. 623, edit. Camden). Of the vernacular and favourite 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. 18 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. 1. vi. p. 435, 436 [p. 284, ed. Casaub.]), has made use of it in his Histoire des Conquêtes 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. A band of Normans returning from the Holy Land had rescued the city of Salerno from the attack of a numerous fleet of Saracens. Gaimar, the Lombard prince of Salerno, wished to retain them in his service, and take them into his pay. They answered, "We fight for our reli 66 gion, 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 Conquêtes des Normands, par Gauttier d'Arc, 1. i. c. i. Paris, 1830.-M. 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 neighbourhood 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 valour 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.a 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 Foundation A.D. 1029. residence, as a bulwark against Capua, the town of Aversa of Aversa, the Catholics (on this occasion) have surpassed the Greeks in the elegance of their superstition. "Nine out of ten perished in the field. Chronique d'Aimé, tom. i. p. 21, quoted by M. Gauttier d'Arc, p. 42.-M. 1029 |