the most lofty titles" 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," 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 in jured 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 preparatious, Argyrus indulged himself in the use of secret and guilty "Argyrus received, says the anonymous Chronicle of Bari, Imperial Letters, Foederatûs et Patriciatûs, et Catapani et Vestatus. In his Annals, Muratori (tom. viii. p. 426) very properly reads, or interprets, Serestatus, 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. 82 A Life of St. Leo IX., deeply tinged with the passions and pre judices 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. (Abrégé, tom. ii. p. 146 -210, and p. 25—95, second column.) 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. 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 with out 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" have been described "See the expedition of Leo XI. against the Normans. See William Appulus (1. i. p. 259-261) and Jeffrey Malaterra (l. i. c. 13, 14, 15, p 153) They are impartial, as the national is counterbalanced by th erica prejudice Teutonici, quia cæsaries et forma decoros as unskilful 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.” 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 he 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 With 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 sortery are descriptive of manners. 35 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. "The origin and nature of the papal investitures are ably discussed by Giannone, (Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. ii. Į 37-49. 57-66,) a The pedigree of Robert of Guiscard" is variously deduced from the peasants and the dukes of Normandy: from the peasants, by the pride and ignorance of a Grecian princess; " from the dukes, by the ignorance and flattery of the Italiar subjects. His genuine descent may be ascribed to the seeond or middle order of private nobility." He sprang froin 39 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 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. 37 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, (1. ii. p. 260-262,) William Gemeticensis, or of Jumieges, (1. xi. c. 30, p. 663, 664, edit. Camden.) and Anna Comnena, (Alexiad, 1. i. p. 23-27, 1. 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. Anna 38 “Ο δὲ ‘Ρομπέρτος (a Greek corruption) οὗτος Νορμάνος τὸ γένος, τὴν τύχην ἄσημος Again, ἐξ ἀφανοῦς πανὺ τύχης περιφάνης. And elsewhere, (l. iv. p. 84,) ἀπὸ ἐσχάτης πενίας καὶ τύχης ἀφανοῦς. 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 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 'n Apulia, before William II. was three years old, (A. D. 1037.) The judgment of Ducange is just and moderate: Certè humilis fuit ac tenuis Roberti familia, si ducalem et regium spectemus apicem, a quem postea pervenit; quæ honesta tamen et præter nobilium vulgarium statum et conditionem illustris habita est, que nec humi reperet ner sltum quid tumeret." (Wilhelm. Malmsbur de Gestig Anglorum, 1. iii. p. 107. Not. ad Alexiad. p. 230.) 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.*1 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 2 was applied to this master of political "I shall quote with pleasure some of the best lines of the Apulian, (L ii. p. 270.) Pugnat utrâque manû, nec lancea cassa, nec ensis Nullus in oc bello sicuti post bella probatum est 4 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 Wiscacre, I can discern something of a similar sense and termination. Την ψύχ Ravovoyóratos, is no bad translation of the surname and character of Robert. |