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 the Hercules of the age. 112 A prince of such a temper could not be satisfied with hav ing repelled the insolence of a Barbarian. It was the right inc duty, it might be the interest and glory, of Manuel to estore the ancient majesty of the empire, to recover the prov nces of Italy and Sicily, and to chastise this pretended king, the grandson of a Norman vassal. 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 deato had abated the fear, without healing the discontent, of his subjects: the feudal government 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 cortinental 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; but the successor of Constantine soon renounced this ignominious 11 For the invasion of Italy, which is almost overlooked by Nicetas see the more polite history of Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 1-15, p. 78-101,) who introduces a diffuse narrative by a lofty profession, Tεpì T Σικελίας καὶ τῆς Ἰταλῶν ἐσκέπεττο γῆς, ὡς καὶ ταύτας Ρωμαίοις ἀνασώσαιτο .ii. 3 1, p. 78,) claims a An act of fraud is The Latin, Otho, (de Gestis Frederici I. 1. ii. c. 30, p. 734,) atests the forgery; the Greek, Cinnamus, ( iv. c. promise of restitution from Conrad and Frederic lways credible when it is told of the Greeks pretenue, claimed the indefeasible dominion of Italy, and professed his design of chasing the Barbarians beyond the Aips. 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. 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 honors of the Byzantine court.' 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 West, as in the East, his lawful title of sole emperor of the Romans. With this view, he solicited the alliance of the people and the bishop of Rome. Several of the nobles embraced the cause of the Greek monarch; the splendid nuptials of his niece with Odo Frangipani secured the support of that powerful family, and his royal standard or image was entertained with due reverence in the ancient metropolis." During the quarrel between Frederic and Alexander the Third, the pope twice received in the Vatican the ambassadors of Constantinople. They flattered his piety by the long-promised union of the two 116 115 114 Quod Ancontiani Græcum imperium nimis diligerent. . . Veneti speciali odio Anconam oderunt. The cause of love, perhaps of envy, were the beneficia, flumen aureum of the emperor; and the Latin aarrative is confirmed by Cinnamus, (l. iv. c. 14, p. 98.) 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.) 116 We derive this anecdote from an anonymous chronicle of Fossa Nova published by Muratori, (Script. Ital. tom. vii. p. 874.) 117 The Basiεov onpetov of Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 14, p. 99) is sus reptible of this double sense A standard is more Latin, an image more Greek. churches, tempted the avarice of his venal court, and exhorted the Roman pontiff to seize the just provocation, the favorabl moment, to humble the savage insolence of the Alemanni and to acknowledge the true representative of Constantine and Augustus.' 118 But these Italian conquests, this universal reign, soon es caped from the hand of the Greek emperor. His first demands were eluded by the prudence of Alexander the Third, who paused on this deep and momentous revolu tion; 119 nor could the pope be seduced by a personal dispute to renounce the perpetual inheritance of the Latin name. After the reunion with Frederic, he spoke a more peremptory language, confirmed the acts of his predecessors, excommunicated the adherents of Manuel, and pronounced the final separation of the churches, or at least the empires, of Con stantinople and Rome.120 The free cities of Lombardy no longer remembered their foreign benefactor, and without preserving the friendship of Ancona, he soon incurred the enmity of Venice. By his own avarice, or the complaints of his subjects, the Greek emperor was provoked to arrest the persons, and confiscate the effects, of the Venetian merchants. This violation of the public faith exasperated a free and commercial people one hundred galleys were launched and armed in as many days; they swept the coasts of Dalmatia and Greece but after some mutual wounds, the war was terminated by an agreement, inglorious to the empire, insufficient for the republic; and a complete vengeance of these and of fresh injuries was reserved for the succeeding generation. The lieutenant of Manuel had informed his sovereign that he was strong enough to quell any domestic revolt of 121 118 Nihilominus quoque petebat, ut quia occasio justa et tempu pportunum et acceptabile se obtulerant, Romani corona imperii a sancto apostolo sibi redderetur; quoniam non ad Frederici Alemanı:i. sed ad suum jus asseruit pertinere, (Vit. Alexandri III. a Cardinal. Arragoniæ, in Script. Rerum Ital. tom. iii. par. i. p. 458.) His second mbassy was accompanied cum immensa multitudine pecuniarum. 119 Nimis alta et perplexa sunt, (Vit. Alexandri III. p. 460, 461,) says the cautious pope. 120 Μηδὲν μετὸν εἶναι λέγων Ρώμῃ τῇ νεωτέρᾳ πρὸς τὴν πρεσβυτέραν, πάλαι droppayεov, (Cinnamus, 1. iv. c. 14. p. 99.) 121 In his vith book, Cinnamus describes the Venetian war, which Nicetas has not thought worthy of his attention. The Italian accounts which do not satisfy our curiosity, are reported by the annalist Mura tori, under the years 1171, &c. Apulia and Calabria; but that his forces were inadequate to sist the impending attack of the king of Sicily. His prophe cy was soon verified: the death of Palæologus devolved the command on several chiefs, alike eminent in rank, alike defec tive in military talents; the Greeks were oppressed by land and sea; and a captive remnant that escaped the swords of the Normans and Saracens, abjured all future hostility against the person or dominions of their conqueror.122 Yet the king 123 Sicily esteemed the courage and constancy of Manuel, who had landed a second army on the Italian shore; he respect fully addressed the new Justinian; solicited a peace or truce of thirty years, accepted as a gift the regal title; and ac knowledged himself the military vassa. of the Roman em pire." The Byzantine Cæsars acquiesced in this shadow of dominion, without expecting, perhaps without desiring, the service of a Norman army; and the truce of thirty years was not disturbed by any hostilities between Sicily and Constantinople. About the end of that period, the throne of Manuel was usurped by an inhuman tyrant, who had deserved the abhorrence of his country and mankind: the sword of William the Second, the grandson of Roger, was drawn by a fugitive of the Comnenian race; and the subjects of Andronicus might salute the strangers as friends, since they detested their sovereign as the worst of enemies. The Latin historians 124 expatiate on the rapid progress of the four counts who invaded Romania with a fleet and army, and reduced many castles and cities to the obedience of the king of Sicily. The Greeks 125 accuse and magnify the wanton and sacrile 122 This victory is mentioned by Romuald of Salerno, (in Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. vii. p. 198.) It is whimsical enough, that in the praise of the king of Sicily, Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 13, p. 97, 98) is much warmer and copious than Falcandus, (p. 268, 270.) But the Greek is fond of description, and the Latin historian is not fond of William the Bad. 123 For the epistle of William I. see Cinnamus (1. iv. c. 15, p. 101, 102) and Nicetas, (1. ii. c. 8.) It is difficult to affirm, whether these Greeks deceived themselves, or the public, in these flattering portraite of the grandeur of the empire. 124 I can only quote, of original evidence, the poor chronicles of Sicard of Cremona, (p. 603,) and of Fossa Nova, (p. 875,) as they are published in the viith tome of Murator's historians. The king of Sicily sent his troops contra nequiciar. A odronici.. ad acqui en dum imperium C. P. They were cart art orfi... decept: capt que, by Isaac. 196 By the failure of Cinnamus way cd to Niceton gious cruelties that were perpetrated in the sack of Thessa lonica, the second city of the empire. The former deplore the fate of those invincible but unsuspecting warriors who were destroyed by the arts of a vanquished foe. The latter applaud, in songs of triumph, the repeated victories of their countrymen on the Sea of Marmora or Propontis, on the banks of the Strymon, and under the walls of Durazzo. A revolution which punished the crimes of Andronicus, had united against the Franks the zeal and courage of the successful insurgents ten thousand were slain in battle, and Isaac Angelus, the new emperor, might indulge his vanity or vengeance in the treatment of four thousand captives. Such was the event of the last contest between the Greeks and Normans: before the expiration of twenty years, the rival nations were lost or degraded in foreign servitude; and the successors of Constantine did not long survive to insult the fall of the Sicilian monarchy. The sceptre of Roger successively devolved to his son and grandson they might be confounded under the name of William: they are strongly discriminated by the epithets of the bad and the good; but these epithets, which appear to describe the perfection of vice and virtue, cannot strictly be applied to either of the Norman princes. When he was roused to arms by danger and shame, the first William did not degenerate from the valor of his race; but his temper was slothful; his manners were dissolute; his passions headstrong and mischievous; and the monarch is responsible, not only for his personal vices, but for those of Majo, the great admiral, who abused the confidence, and conspired against the life, of his benefactor. From the Arabian conquest, Sicily had imbibed a deep tincture of Oriental manners; the despotism, the pomp, and even the harem, of a sultan; and a Christian people was oppressed and insulted by the ascendant of the eunuchs, who openly professed, or secretly cher shed, the religion of Mahomet. An eloquent historian of the (in Andronico, 1. . c. 7, 8, 9, 1. ii. c. 1, in Isaac Angelo, 1. i. c. 1—4,) who now becomes a respectable contemporary. As he survived the mperor and the empire, he is above flattery; but the fall of Constan icople exasperated his prejudices against the Latins. For the honor of learning I shall observe that Homer's great commentator, Eusta thias, archbishop of Thessalonica refused to desert tis flock. |