precarious duration: the German armies soon vanished in disease and desertion 102 the Apulian duke, with all his adherents, was exterminated by a conqueror who seldom forgave either the dead or the living; like his predecessor Leo the Ninth, the feeble though haughty pontiff became the captive and friend of the Normans; and their reconciliation was celebrated by the eloquence of Bernard, who now revered the title and virtues of the king of Sicily. in Africa, A.D. 1122-1152. As a penance for his impious war against the successor of St. His conquests Peter, that monarch might have promised to display the banner of the cross, and he accomplished with ardour a vow so propitious to his interest and revenge. The recent injuries of Sicily might provoke a just retaliation on the heads of the Saracens : the Normans, whose blood had been mingled with so many subject streams, were encouraged to remember and emulate the naval trophies of their fathers, and in the maturity of their strength they contended with the decline of an African power. When the Fatimite caliph departed for the conquest of Egypt, he rewarded the real merit and apparent fidelity of his servant Joseph with a gift of his royal mantle, and forty Arabian horses, his palace, with its sumptuous furniture, and the government of the kingdoms of Tunis and Algiers. The Zeirides, 103 the descendants of Joseph, forgot their allegiance and gratitude to a distant benefactor, grasped and abused the fruits of prosperity; and after running the little course of an Oriental dynasty, were now fainting in their own weakness. On the side of the land they were oppressed by the Almohades, the fanatic princes of Morocco, while the sea-coast was open to the enterprises of the Greeks and Franks, who, before the close of the eleventh century, had extorted a ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold. By the first arms of Roger, the island or rock of Malta, which has been since ennobled by a military and religious colony, was inseparably annexed to the crown of Sicily. Tripoli, 104 a strong and maritime city, was the next object of his attack; and the slaughter of the males, the captivity of the females, might be justified by the frequent practice 102 Roger corrupted the second person of Lothaire's army, who sounded, or rather cried, a retreat; for the Germans (says Cinnamus, 1. iii. c. i. p. 52 [ed. Par.; p. 90, ed. Bonn]) are ignorant of the use of trumpets. Most ignorant himself!" 103 See De Guignes, Hist. Générale des Huns, tom. i. p. 369-373, and Cardonne, Hist. de l'Afrique, &c., sous la Domination des Arabes, tom. ii. p. 70-144. Their common original appears to be Novairi. 104 Tripoli (says the Nubian geographer, or, more properly, the Sherif al Edrisi) urbs fortis, saxeo muro vallata, sita prope litus maris. Hanc expugnavit Rogerius, qui mulieribus captivis ductis, viros peremit. * Cinnamus says nothing of their ignoThe signal for retreat was οὐ σάλ rance. πιγγος ἠχὴ, ἤ τι άλλο τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ βάρβαρες τις καὶ ἀξύνετος τρόπος.-Μ. of the Moslems themselves. The capital of the Zeirides was named Africa from the country, and Mahadia 105 from the Arabian founder: it is strongly built on a neck of land, but the imperfection of the harbour is not compensated by the fertility of the adjacent plain. Mahadia was besieged by George the Sicilian admiral, with a fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys, amply provided with men and the instruments of mischief: the sovereign had fled, the Moorish governor refused to capitulate, declined the last and irresistible assault, and, secretly escaping with the Moslem inhabitants, abandoned the place and its treasures to the rapacious Franks. In successive expeditions the king of Sicily or his lieutenants reduced the cities of Tunis, Safax, Capsia, Bona, and a long tract of the sea-coast; 106 the fortresses were garrisoned, the country was tributary, and a boast that it held Africa in subjection might be inscribed with some flattery on the sword of Roger. 107 After his death that sword was broken; and these transmarine possessions were neglected, evacuated, or lost, under the troubled reign of his successor.108 The triumphs of Scipio and Belisarius have proved that the African continent is neither inaccessible nor invincible; yet the great princes and powers of Christendom have repeatedly failed in their armaments against the Moors, who may still glory in the easy conquest and long servitude of Spain. Since the decease of Robert Guiscard the Normans had relin A.D. 1146. quished, above sixty years, their hostile designs against the His invasion empire of the East. The policy of Roger solicited a public of Greece, and private union with the Greek princes, whose alliance would dignify his regal character: he demanded in marriage a daughter of the Comnenian family, and the first steps of the treaty seemed to promise a favourable event. But the contemptuous treatment of his ambassadors exasperated the vanity of the new monarch; and the insolence of the Byzantine court was expiated, according to the laws of nations, by the sufferings of a guiltless people.109 With a 105 See the geography of Leo Africanus (in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 74 verso, fol. 75 recto) and Shaw's Travels (p. 110), the viith book of Thuanus, and the xith of the Abbé de Vertot. The possession and defence of the place was offered by Charles V. and wisely declined by the knights of Malta. 106 Pagi has accurately marked the African conquests of Roger; and his criticism was supplied by his friend the Abbé de Longuerue, with some Arabic memorials (A.D. 1147, No. 26, 27; A.D. 1148, No. 16; A.D. 1153, No. 16). 107 Appulus et Calaber, Siculus mihi servit et Afer. A proud inscription, which denotes that the Norman conquerors were still discriminated from their Christian and Moslem subjects. 108 Hugo Falcandus (Hist. Sicula, in Muratori Script. tom. vii. p. 270, 271) ascribes these losses to the neglect or treachery of the admiral Majo. 109 The silence of the Sicilian historians, who end too soon or begin too late, must be supplied by Otho of Frisingen, a German (de Gestis Frederici I. I. i. c. 33, in Muratori Script. tom. vi. p. 668), the Venetian Andrew Dandulus (Id. tom. xii. p. 282, fleet of seventy galleys George the admiral of Sicily appeared before Corfu ; and both the island and city were delivered into his hands by the disaffected inhabitants, who had yet to learn that a siege is still more calamitous than a tribute. In this invasion, of some moment in the annals of commerce, the Normans spread themselves by sea, ani over the provinces of Greece; and the venerable age of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, was violated by rapine and cruelty. Of the wrongs of Athens no memorial remains. The ancient walls which encompassed, without guarding, the opulence of Thebes, were scaled by the Latin Christians; but their sole use of the Gospel was to sanctify an oath that the lawful owners had not secreted any relic of their inheritance or industry. On the approach of the Normans the lower town of Corinth was evacuated: the Greeks retired to the citadel, which was seated on a lofty eminence, abundantly watered by the classic fountain of Pirene; an impregnable fortress, if the want of courage could be balanced by any advantages of art or nature. As soon as the besiegers had surmounted the labour (their sole labour) of climbing the hill, their general, from the commanding eminence, admired his own victory, and testified his gratitude to Heaven by tearing from the altar the precious image of Theodore the tutelary saint. The silk-weavers of both sexes, whom George transported to Sicily, composed the most valuable part of the spoil; and in comparing the skilful industry of the mechanic with the sloth and cowardice of the soldier, he was heard to exclaim that the distaff and loom were the only weapons which the Greeks were capable of using. The His admiral progress of this naval armament was marked by two conLouis VII. of spicuous events, the rescue of the king of France and the France: insult of the Byzantine capital. In his return by sea from an unfortunate crusade, Louis the Seventh was intercepted by the Greeks, who basely violated the laws of honour and religion. The fortunate encounter of the Norman fleet delivered the royal captive; and after a free and honourable entertainment in the court of Sicily, insults Con- Louis continued his journey to Rome and Paris. 110 In the stantinople. absence of the emperor, Constantinople and the Hellespont were left without defence and without the suspicion of danger. The clergy and people, for the soldiers had followed the standard of delivers 283), and the Greek writers Cinnamus (1. iii. c. 2-5) and Nicetas (in Manuel. 1. iii. c. 1-6 [p. 131, sqq., ed. Bonn]). 110 To this imperfect capture and speedy rescue I apply the πας' ὀλίγον ἦλθε τοῦ Ave of Cinnamus, 1. ii. c. 19, p. 49 [p. 87, ed. Bonn]. Muratori, on tolerable evidence (Annali d'Italia, tom. ix. p. 420, 421), laughs at the delicacy of the French, who maintain, marisque nullo impediente periculo ad regnum proprium reversum esse; yet I observe that their advocate, Ducange, is less positive as the commentator on Cinnamus than as the editor of Joinville. repulses the A.D. Manuel, were astonished and dismayed at the hostile appearance of a line of galleys, which boldly cast anchor in the front of the Imperial city. The forces of the Sicilian admiral were inadequate to the siege or assault of an immense and populous metropolis; but George enjoyed the glory of humbling the Greek arrogance, and of marking the path of conquest to the navies of the West. He landed some soldiers to rifle the fruits of the royal gardens, and pointed with silver, or more probably with fire, the arrows which he discharged against the palace of the Cæsars. This playful outrage of the pirates of The emperor Sicily, who had surprised an unguarded moment, Manuel Manuel affected to despise, while his martial spirit and the forces of Normans, the empire were awakened to revenge. The Archipelago 1148, 1149. and Ionian Sea were covered with his squadrons and those of Venice; but I know not by what favourable allowance of transports, victuallers, and pinnaces, our reason, or even our fancy, can be reconciled to the stupendous account of fifteen hundred vessels, which is proposed by a Byzantine historian. These operations were directed with prudence and energy in his homeward voyage George lost nineteen of his galleys, which were separated and taken: after an obstinate defence Corfu implored the clemency of her lawful sovereign; nor could a ship, a soldier, of the Norman prince, be found, unless as a captive, within the limits of the Eastern empire. The prosperity and the health of Roger were already in a declining state: while he listened in his palace of Palermo to the messengers of victory or defeat, the invincible Manuel, the foremost in every assault, was celebrated by the Greeks and Latins as the Alexander or Hercules of the age. Calabria, A prince of such a temper could not be satisfied with having repelled the insolence of a barbarian. It was the right and He reduces duty, it might be the interest and glory, of Manuel to restore Apulia and the ancient majesty of the empire, to recover the provinces A.D. 1155. of Italy and Sicily, and to chastise this pretended king, the grandson of a Norman vassal.112 The natives of Calabria were still attached to the Greek language and worship, which had been inexorably proscribed by the Latin clergy: after the loss of her dukes Apulia was chained as a servile appendage to the crown of Sicily: the founder of the monarchy had ruled by the sword; and his death had abated the fear, without healing the discontent, of his subjects: the feudal govern In palatium regium sagittas igneas injecit, says Dandulus; but Nicetas, 1. ii. c. 8, p. 66 [p. 130, ed. Bonn], transforms them into Bian agyugious ixorrα árgákTov;, and adds that Manuel styled this insult παίγνιον and γέλωτα... ληστεύοντα. These arrows, by the compiler, Vincent de Beauvais, are again transmuted into gold. 112 For the invasion of Italy, which is almost overlooked by Nicetas, see the more polite history of Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 1-15, p. 78-101 [p. 134-175, ed. Bonn]), who introduces a diffuse narrative by a lofty profession, περὶ τε Σικελίας, καὶ τῆς ̓Ιταλῶν ἐσκέπτετο γῆς, ὡς καὶ ταύτας Ῥωμαίοις ἀνασώσαιτο, iii. 5 [p. 101, ed. Bonn]. His design ment was always pregnant with the seeds of rebellion; and a nephew of Roger himself invited the enemies of his family and nation. The majesty of the purple, and a series of Hungarian and Turkish wars, prevented Manuel from embarking his person in the Italian expedition. To the brave and noble Palæologus, his lieutenant, the Greek monarch intrusted a fleet and army: the siege of Bari was his first exploit ; and, in every operation, gold as well as steel was the instrument of victory. Salerno, and some places along the western coast, maintained their fidelity to the Norman king; but he lost in two campaigns the greater part of his continental possessions; and the modest emperor, disdaining all flattery and falsehood, was content with the reduction of three hundred cities or villages of Apulia and Calabria, whose names and titles were inscribed on all the walls of the palace. The prejudices of the Latins were gratified by a genuine or fictitious donation under the seal of the German Cæsars; 113 but the successor of Constantine soon renounced this ignominious pretence, Italy and the claimed the indefeasible dominion of Italy, and professed his design of chasing the barbarians beyond the Alps. By the artful speeches, liberal gifts, and unbounded promises of their Eastern ally, the free cities were encouraged to persevere in their generous struggle against the despotism of Frederic Barbarossa: the walls of Milan were rebuilt by the contributions of Manuel; and he poured, says the historian, a river of gold into the bosom of Ancona, whose attachment to the Greeks was fortified by the jealous enmity of the Venetians.114 The situation and trade of Ancona rendered it an important garrison in the heart of Italy: it was twice besieged by the arms of Frederic; the Imperial forces were twice repulsed by the spirit of freedom; that spirit was animated by the ambassador of Constantinople; and the most intrepid patriots, the most faithful servants, were rewarded by the wealth and honours of the Byzantine court.115 The pride of Manuel disdained and rejected a barbarian colleague; his ambition was excited by the hope of stripping the purple from the German usurpers, and of establishing in the Western empire, A.D. 1155-1174, &c. 113 The Latin, Otho (de Gestis Frederici I. 1. ii. c. 30, p. 734), attests the forgery; the Greek, Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 1, p. 78 [p. 135, ed. Bonn]), claims a promise of restitution from Conrad and Frederic. An act of fraud is always credible when it is told of the Greeks. .. Veneti speciali 114 Quod Anconitani Græcum imperium nimis diligerent odio Anconam oderunt. The cause of love, perhaps of envy, were the beneficia, flumen aureum of the emperor; and the Latin narrative is confirmed by Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 14, p. 98 [p. 170, ed. Bonn]). 115 Muratori mentions the two sieges of Ancona; the first, in 1167, against Frederic I. in person (Annali, tom. x. p. 39, &c.); the second, in 1173, against his lieutenant Christian, Archbishop of Mentz, a man unworthy of his name and office (p. 76, &c.). It is of the second siege that we possess an original narrative, which he has published in his great collection (tom. vi. p. 921-946). |