A.D. 1016.] ORIGIN OF THE NORMANS IN ITALY. 301 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.' The establishment of the Normans in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily,† 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; and the dukes of Normandy acknowledged themselves the vassals of the successors of Charlemagne and Capet. The introduced into Italy by the French emperors. (Abrégé Chronologique, tom. ii. p. 645-732, &c.) *Luitprand, Hist. 1. 4, c. 4, in the Rerum. Italic. Scrip. tom. i. pars 1, 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 original monuments of the Normans in Italy are collected in the fifth volume of Muratori, and among these we may distinguish the poem of William Appulus (p. 245-278,) and the history of Galfridus (Jeffery) 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. 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. 302 ORIGIN OF THE [CH. LVI. 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 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,† 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 * 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 sua principi nutriendum tradidit, ut, ibi lingua eruditus Danica, suis exterisque hominibus sciret aperte dare responsa. (Wilhelm. Gemeticensis de Ducibus Normannis, 1. 3, 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— 1,656,) has given a specimen, obsolete and obscure even to antiquarians and lawyers. + 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. 6, p. 435, 436,) the Catholics, on this occasion, have surpassed the Greeks in the elegance of their superstition. [M. Guizot here quotes Sismondi who (Repub. i. 263) relates very differently the first advent of these strangers in Italy. His story is, that fifty Norman pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land, arrived at Salerno, just when it was attacked by a body of Saracens, and by their valour contributed greatly to the defeat of the invaders. Guimar III., then prince of the place, wished to retain such valuable friends in his service; but they declined his A.D. 1016.] NORMANS IN ITALY. 303 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.* The un offers and would only promise to send some of their brave countrymen to fight against the infidels. The same account is repeated by Dean Milman from the "Histoire des Conquêtes des Normans, by M. Goutier d'Are," who cites a translation which he had discovered of "the Chronicle of Aimé, monk of Monte Casino, a contemporary of the first Norman invaders of Italy." The name of this historian is Gauttier d'Arc. The "Chronique inédite d'Aimé" has furnished him only a few collateral incidents. His main facts are taken from the real authority for them, which is the "Chronicon Casinense Leonis Marsicensis," first inserted in the "De Gestis Francorum" of Aimoin, and afterwards republished by Muratori (Script. Ital. tom. iv.). The writer of this Chronicle, who is better known as Leo Ostiensis, was a monk of Monte Casino, and bishop of Ostia in 1101; he died in 1115. His Chronicle is cited by Camillo Pellegrino in his Series Abbatum Casinensium" (Script. Ital. v. 215), and again by Muratori (A.D. 1016, Annal. d'Ital. tom. xiii. p. 417), who in the next year (p. 419) gives the adventure on Mount Garganus from the poem of William of Apulia, whom Gibbon followed. The two statements are not irreconcilable; since, if the defenders of Salerno did not themselves in the succeeding year visit Mount Garganus, they may, on their return home, have sent other Norman knights, who performed that pilgrimage. M. Gauttier d'Arc names (p. 28-35) Osmond Drengot, and Ralph and Anquetil de Quarrel, as the leaders of this second band, and makes them the heroes of the poet's tale. Leo's narrative is corroborated by the Chronicon of Lupus Protospata (Script. Ital. v. 148), who states that in the year 1016 the Saracens attacked Salerno and were repulsed. William of Apulia wrote after the Norman princes had become illustrious and powerful; he has often used a poet's licence to embellish their origin.-ED.] * [Leo Ostiensis (Script. Ital. iv, 364) claims three victories for Melo 304 FOUNDATION OF AVERSA. [CH. LVI. fortunate 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 and the Normans; the two first in 1017 at Arenola and at a place which he names Marsicum. Lupus Protospata calls the second a defeat; but William of Apulia asserts the success of his heroes. For the next year there are no records; in 1019 the Normans, after having conquered a third time at Vaccaritia, were finally defeated, near the fatal field of Cannæ, with such slaughter, that out of 250 only ten survived, "decem tantummodo remansisse." M. Gauttier d'Arc's version p. 43) is, that "nine out of ten perished in the field."-ED.] * [Gibbon here probably means the tower on the Garigliano, the ancient Liris. But this was no permanent station of the Normans. According to the Chronicle of Glaber (1. 3, c. 1. Annali d'Italia, xiii. 435) a fresh band of them, under the command of Rudolf, reached Rome in 1020 and were employed by pope Benedict VIII. to garrison this fort. Having granted a refuge there to Melo's relation and successor Batto, they were besieged in 1021 by the Greek catapan Bugiano and compelled to surrender. The Apulian rebel was put to death; but the Norman captives were released, at the intercession of Atanulphus, abbot of Monte Casino. Leo Ost. Lupus Protosp. ut supra. -ED.] [M. Guizot denies the accuracy of this statement, and adduces a passage from Sismondi (Repub. i. 267) to prove that the Normans possessed Aversa at an earlier period; that Sergius, when driven from Naples, took refuge with them there; and having, with their assistance, regained the city he had lost, formally gave up Aversa to them, with the title of count to their leader Rainulf. The expulsion of Sergius occurred in 1027, in which year the emperor Conrad II. gave the Normans a licence to defend the frontiers of his Italian States against the Greeks (Ann. d'Ital. xiv. 26). The words of D. 1038.] THE NORMANS SERVE IN SICILY. 305 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, pre-eminence of rank is the reward and the proof of superior merit.* 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.t After a reign of two hundred years, the Saracens were ruined by their divisions.‡ The emir disclaimed the authority of the king of Tunis; Muratori, "che si trovavano in quelle parti," do not imply that the Normans were then located at any one particular point, nor was the situa tion of Aversa adapted to the duty which they had to perform. All the writers of that age agree that they had not possession of this place till after the restoration of Sergius in 1029. Leo Ostiensis (1. 2, c. 58, Script. Ital. iv. p. 379) says, tumque primum Aversa cæpta est habitari," and William of Apulia (Scr. It. v. 255) places the event "post annos aliquot." Aversa was founded on a lofty hill, so near to the once noted, but then ruined, Atella, that it was known at first by the name of Novatella (the New Atella).-ED.] 66 * See the árst 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 : And elsewhere of the native adventurers of Normandy: Pars parat, exiguæ vel opes aderant quia nullæ : + Luitprand 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.) See the Arabian Chronicle of Sicily, apud Muratori Script. Rerum VOL. VI. |