UC-NRLF MMMH EARLY CHRONICLERS OF ITALY, Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/balzaniitalyOObalzrich EARLY CHRONICLERS OF EUROPE. ITALY. UGO BALZANI PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE ; NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET; 26, ST. GEORGe's PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER! AND 135, NORTH STREET, BRIGHTON. NEW YORK : E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO. 1883. u^ • * •> • »•• o " , TRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SON?;, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. PREFACE. In attempting to give a popular account of the Italian chroniclers of the Middle Ages, I have tried to avoid all unnecessary display of erudition, and to present the book in as simple a form and as free from quotations and notes as possible. If I have not been able to keep myself rigorously to this rule, it has been because I desired as far as I could to make the book not wholly without value to more special students, since, if I am not mis- taken, this is the first work which professes expressly to narrate the history of medieval Italian chronography. Hence I have made a dili- gent study in the best editions of the text of all the authors mentioned in this book, and before passing judgment upon them have tried to see all that others had thought and written on the same point?. 261031 vi i^icfacc. As for the general structure of the book, if I have been sometimes rather diffuse in treating of the various historic periods which it traverses, I trust that I may be forgiven for this, considering that it is not easy, nor would it be a good plan, to speak of historical writers, without taking into account the times in which they lived and of which they wrote. Thus I have often been led to enlarge on the lives of the writers whose works I was examining, and this I have done because it seemed to me that in no other way could I give so clear an idea of the times described by them, and of the reasons why they wrote. In Italy more than elsewhere the history of the Middle Ages was related by men who took an active part in the events which they recorded, from the earliest to the latest times, from Casslodorus and Gregory the Great to Albertlnus Mussatus, DIno Compagni and Giovanni VUlani. Also, In order to make the reader better acquainted with the disposition, nature, and style of the various chronicles, I have introduced long and numerous extracts from them, translated from the Latin, Greek, or Italian origi- nals. These passages have been translated by my wife, who has also given its English garb to the preface, vii rest of the book, sharing with me the labour and the interest of compilation. In rendering these fragments the translator has striven to be true to the letter of the originals, but where some, from their obscure and confused Latin, made a literal translation impossible, she has done her best to adhere closely to the intention of the authors. The number of books which I had to consult is too great for me to mention them all, but I have tried to acknowledge those which have rendered me more special service, both from grati- tude, and in order that any reader wishing to push his inquiries further may know where to turn for information. The first chapters were printed (through involuntary delay on my part) many months before the last. For this I am sorry, as it has prevented me from making use of two recent publications — the edition of the Acts of the Neapo- litan Bishops, made by Signor Capasso of Naples, and the edition of Jordanes, by Theodor Momm- sen ; yet neither would have changed substantially what I had already written. What those first chapters, however, do recall is a memory bringing with it a sense of regret. Before they w^ere sent to be printed, they had been read by the late viii preface. Canon Robertson, of Canterbury, and honoured with his suggestions and approval. I hoped to have been able to express to him in this place my gratitude, whereas I can only place it on record, as a poor tribute to one for whom I feel deep reverence. Assuredly he is missed by many in England, as he is by me, for the generous and gentle qualities of his heart, while he is regretted by all, whether in England or Italy, who have studied his works and admired that calm and keen serenity of judgment which is one of the highest attributes of a faithful historian. UGO BALZANI. Rome, December^ 1882. CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. Decline of History with the Decline of Rome- Its Revival in the Time of the Goths— Cassio- DORUS — His Honours and the Political Tendency CF HIS Works — His Lost History of the Goths AND THE *'LIBRI EpISTOLARUM VARIARUM " — COM- PENDIUM by the Goth Jordanes of the History of Cassiodorus— The Divisions between Romans and Goths fomented at Constantinople— Gothic War narrated by PrOCOPIUS of CyESAREA — MERITS AND Importance of this Author — Minor Writers CHAPTER XL Sad Condition of Italy in the Early Period of the Lombard Invasion— Gregory the Great— Collec- tion OF HIS Letters — Their Great Importance for THE History of Italy — The Book of Dialogues— The Edict of Rothari — The " Origo Langobar- dorum " — And Minor Writings up to Paulus Dia- coNUs — His Life — His Works and Especially his History OF the Lombards .. ... ... 40 ®otttcnt^» CHAPTER III. PAGB Decay of Italian Chronography— The "Liber Pon- TiFicALis " — The Acts of the Neapolitan Bishops — Agnellus of Ravenna — Polemical Writings of AUXILIUS AND VULGARIUS — ThE MONASTERIES AND THE Saracen Invasions— Farfa : the "Construc- Tio " — Lives of the Saints of St. Vincent on the Volturno — The *' Destructio " — Montecassino : Chronicle of St. Benedict— Catalogues— Trans- lations of Relics — " Historia " of Erchempert — Chronicle of Salerno — Andrew of Bergamo — Panegyric of Berengarius— State of Lay Educa- tion in Italy— Political Conditions— Liutprand — Imperialist Writings — Benedict of Soracte — Venetian Chronicle of Johannes Diaconus ... 91 CHAPTER IV. Intellectual Movement in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries — Reforms in the Church and the Contests Regarding the Investitures — Revival of Ecclesiastical Culture and of His- torical Research in the Monasteries— Monastic Registers and Chronicles — The Monastery of Farfa and the Works of Gregory of Catino — The " Chronicon Vulturnense " — Renaissance of Arts AND Letters at Montecassino promoted by the Abbot Desiderius — The Monk Amatus and his History of the Normans — Leo Ostiensis and Petrus Diaconus, Historians of Montecassino— Historical Writings of Southern Italy— Legen- dary Chronicle of the Monastery of the Nova- lesa ... ... ... ... .. ... 146 ©onUnt0, XI CHAPTER V. PAGE The Later Contributions to the '' Pontifical Book " —Bruno of Segni— Wibert of Toul— Paul of Bernried—'* Ann ALES Romani "— Petrus Pisanus — Pandulph — Boso — Polemical Writings — St. Peter Damiani — Bonizo's " Liber ad Amicum " — The Life of Anselm of Lucca— Domnizo's Life of the Countess Matilda— The Letters of Gregory VII i86 CHAPTER VI. [New Phases of Italian Thought from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Centuries — Southern Writers of the Norman and Suabian Times — Saba Malaspina — Historians of the Sicilian ^ Vespers — Lives of the Popes — Life of Cola di RiENZo— Lombard Municipal Writers of the First*- Period— Otho of Freising^-General Histories- Municipal Writers of the Second Period — Fra,^^ Salimbene of Parma — Chroniclers of Various Cities of Central and Northern Italy— Chroni- ^ clers of Lombardy and of the Marca Trivigiana — Albertinus MussATus '^ ... ... ...""226 CHAPTER VII. The Chroniclers of the Maritime Republics : Vene- tian Chronicles —Martin da Canale — Andrea Dandolo— The Genoese Annalists from Caffaro to James D'Oria— Pisa : Petrus Pisanus— Bernard Marango— The Chroniclers of the Rest of Tus- cany and Principally the Florentines — Dino Compagni— The ViLLANi ... ... ... 292 Index 33^ EARLY CHRONICLERS OF EUROPE. ITA LY CHAPTER I. DECLINE OF HISTORY WITH THE DECLINE OF ROME — ITS REVIVAL IN THE TIME OF THE GOTHS — CASSIODORUS — HIS HONOURS AND THE POLITICAL TENDENCY OF HIS WORKS — HIS LOST HISTORY OF THE GOTHS AND THE "LIBRI EPISTOLARUM VARIARUM " — COMPEN- DIUM BY THE GOTH JORDANIS OF THE HISTORY OF CASSIODORUS — THE DIVISIONS BETWEEN ROMANS AND GOTHS FOMENTED AT CONSTANTINOPLE — GOTHIC WAR NARRATED BY PROCOPIUS OF C^ESAREA — MERITS AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS AUTHOR — MINOR WRITERS. In the decline of Rome, and the slow dissolution of Latin unity, not only was all national feeling and life destroyed, but also the art — almost the will — IT. B lEarlg Q^f)xonitltx^ of Italg. of writing history was lost. The old world was dying in the West, and with it were fading away the last gleams of the old civilization. The grand in- spiration of Livy, and the powerful utterances of Tacitus, had ceased ages before, and gradually every spring was drying up, so that in the fifth century the story of that dark and uncertain period must be laboriously sought for among the few writers with whom we still meet, and who, with the exception of Ammianus Marcellinus, were not generally historians even in name. Prudentius, Claudianus, Rutilius Numatianus, St. Jerome and the principal fathers of the Church — such are the insufficient sources to which the historical student of this age must turn ; and the reason for this is not far to seek. Where public life languished, it was natural that the records of the life itself should languish also. And while history was dying out among the natives of Italy, it could not spring all at once into life among the first invaders. To them the art was wanting, nor could the wish to turn the living traditions of their songs into history come to them naturally, unless they first learnt this art in Italy, or at least found some one among the vanquished disposed to write the narrative of their deeds. But for this end, it was necessary first that vanquished and victors should commingle and learn to feel in common, so that while one brought new blood and energy to the enervated country, the other infused into these new elements what re- Mebitjal of ^i^iotyi. maiiied of former learning. Such a commingling was not to be expected in the case of the first invaders who swept down from the Alps rather for rapine than for conquest, but appeared for a moment to be possible with the Goths ; and it is indeed in their time that the devotion to past memories temporarily revives, and that, so to speak, the narratives and historical documents of the Middle Ages begin. Certainly of all the German nationalities the Goths were the most open to civilizing influences, and most capable of assimilating Latin culture and of identifying themselves with the old races among whom they had come down, while bringing into them new and salutary elements of vitality. Even to-day the German language has to refer for its origin to the Gothic translation of the Bible left by Ulphilas, and to the fragments of a harmony of the Gospels. A strong people of distinct originality, they could not, after their long contact with the Latin and Greek nations, neglect such rich intel- lectual traditions, nor treat with contempt the ex- quisite creations of classic art and the legislative wisdom which in the Justinian code presented a synthesis of the work of many ages. And if the Goths were capable of appreciating the traditions of antiquity, these traditions, on the other hand, had still life enough in them to command the respect and admiration of their vigorous foes. If a strong nation could ever have been formed out of the two 1Earl2 (^f}vomtim of 3Italg, elements, the Roman and the barbarian, it could only- have happened with the Goths, and at that time. The majesty of the Empire still survived, and still the Latin element was so strong as to offer the barbarians more hope of union than of conquest. Later, after many struggles, after long and disastrous wars, impoverished, exhausted, and depopulated, while her Grecian rulers thought less of defending her than of satisfying their greed, Italy had grown powerless, and the new invaders regarded with contempt what remained of the old authority and the old civilization of Rome. But it was different during the Gothic period, and the reign of Theodoric (a.d. 493-526) shows a continual desire to unite the German and Roman elements, and to join the two people in a common brotherhood of feeling and of thought. Cassiodorus, who held the highest offices of the State during a very long part of the Gothic dominion — from the reign of Theodoric to that of Vitiges — directed all his efforts towards this object, and did all that lay in his power to root firmly in the soil this new kingdom. " What we aim at, with God's help, is that our subjects should lament the not having come sooner under our rule." These words which Cassiodorus puts into the mouth of Theodoric, seem to express a fixed purpose, and to explain whither his actions tended. And while he was at the head of public affairs, his literary labours were conceived in the same spirit, and assisted him in this object. He may ©a^Siotiovu5» 5 well be said to have represented his age in letters as well as in politics. The court of Theodoric had become a centre round which the survivors of the ancient civilization clustered, and there many works originated which carried on the memory of this culture into the Middle Ages. And in truth the school of the grammarians — Donatus, Macrobius, Marcianus Capella — finds its descendants about this time in Priscianus and Cassiodorus, whose confused style and obscure and inflated Latin was to win the admiration of a later age. The Aristotelian philosophy owed much of its influence on mediaeval thought to the greatest scholar then living, Severinus Boetius, a man of noble character, made famous by his misfortunes and by the book which he wrote under their inspiration. The old pagan learning was never destroyed, notwithstanding the com- plete victory of Christianity; and these men, by christianizing it to a certain extent, made it more acceptable to later generations. Nor were the Goths altogether strangers to this intellectual movement, for some of them in the court of Ravenna allied themselves to the learned Romans, and followed their studious example. The existence of the Gothic philosophers, Athanarid, Hildebald, and Marcomir, has not been established with certainty, although they are mentioned in an ancient docu- ment ; but there is no doubt that Theodatus, a relation of Theodoric and later himself king of the Goths, was much given to philosophical studies, lEarlg ^f^tomlm of Italg. and styled himself a follower of Plato. The high- minded and unfortunate Queen Amalasuntha had an amount of culture rare for her time and in her sex, and we shall presently have occasion to speak of the Goth Jordanes, who fortunately made a com- pendium of the history of the Goths by Cassiodorus, the history itself being lost. Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, born in Samnium, of a noble family, and early initiated into public life, sided with those of the Roman patricians who thought it advisable that their country should cast in its lot with the barbarians, and thence form a kingdom, to which the twofold element might insure unity and strength. During the reign of Odoacer (A.D. 476-493) he held various public offices, and Theodoric not only confirmed him in them, but raised him to the highest dignities and entrusted to his care the most important State questions. We have already said how the writings of Cassiodorus, which have a direct or indirect historical aim, are in accord with his public life, and are all calcu- lated to draw closer the bonds of brotherhood between Romans and Goths. Indeed, he wrote a short chronicle with the special object of glorifying Theodoric ; but this work, full of inflated praises, is a very poor thing, and consists only of a chronological sketch badly put together and full of errors, which have been pointed out and severely commented upon by Theodor Mommsen. On the other hand his history of the Gothic people, ©a^giotiotu^. divided into twelve books, appears to have been a work of much greater value, and to have been more in harmony with the learned and scholastic tendencies of that day. But this work was soon lost, and we can only judge of it, and that but imperfectly, from the compendium of Jordanes. The spirit of this history is sufficiently indicated by the words with which the King Athalaric announced to the Roman Senate the appoint- ment of Cassiodorus as Prefect of the Prsetorium. "Not only," he says, "has Cassiodorus magnified his present lords, but going backwards he has extended his inquiries into the ancient cradle of our race, discovering from his researches in docu- ments what was hardly any longer remembered, even by the hoary traditions of our old men. He brought forth the kings of the Goths from the oblivion wherein they lay in the remote hiding- places of antiquity. He established the illustrious lineage of the Amali, proving clearly that our race has been royal for seventeen generations. He made the origin of the Goths part of Roman history, collecting as it were into one garland the hardy plants which he found dispersed throughout the fields of literature. Consider how much affec- tion he showed you in praising us, by teaching that your prince's family had been distinguished from remote ages, and that as you were always held to be noble, so you should be ruled over only by an ancient race of kings." Here we see clearly the lEatlg atljxomhx^ of Jtalg. political aim of the book. To the Roman whose pride in his country's history increased as its power diminished, it was desirable to show that these barbarians who had come down from the North to divide the land with him were also of noble extraction and could boast of a glorious history. For this end, says Wattenbach, did Cassiodorus employ all his learning. "It had long been easy to believe that the Goths and Gsetae were all one people, but no one had yet tried to demonstrate the relationship. This was done by Cassiodorus. He wove together the special historical recollections of the Goths, and the contents of their ballads, with what he found about the Gseti in Greek and Roman records ; and because the Greeks constantly called both Goths and Gseti Scythians, he brought in the whole of the primitive history of the Scythians and did not hesitate to call the Amazons also Goths. In the same way the Amali " (this was the name of Theodoric's family), "whose greatness was celebrated in the Gothic Sagas, were represented as being the immediate descendants of Zamolxis and Sitalkes, and the Romans were left to find some consolation in this for the bitterness of a foreign yoke."^ We have quoted above some words addressed to Cassiodorus by the Kings Theodoric and Athalaric. These words written by Cassiodorus himself are contained in a collection of letters which, during ^ Wattenbach, Detitschland' s Ceschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, i. 59. Berlin. 1877-78. CPaggiotioru^» his public life, he was called upon to write in the names of the sovereigns whom he served. This collection is divided into twelve books, and the letters being addressed principally to important personages or to great institutions of the State, may be said to contain in order all the acts of government by which the Gothic kings and their ministers regulated public affairs in Italy until the beginning of the reign of Vitiges. Their import- ance for Italian history is incalculable. The lost history of the Goths could not itself have given such clear evidence as to the moral and political conditions of the Italians, or as to the relations existing between them and their invaders, nor could it have given so much information with regard to the life of that day and the state of men and things. Such documents speak to posterity with an eloquence which mere contemporary history can never reach. Thus when Theodoric announces to the Roman Senate the elevation of Cassiodorus to the dignity of Patrician, and praises his merits and those of his ancestors, we may from his words infer the respect still felt for the name of Rome, and the Roman point of view from which the Gothic king regarded the invasions of Attila : " But what we most especially desire is that the light of dignity should shine upon your assembly. . . . For the father of this candidate [Cassiodorus] was associated with the Patrician ^tius for the assistance of the Commonwealth. . . . He was sent, ^arlg ©j^roniclm of Italg. and not in vain, to Attila as ambassador. He regarded him without alarm whom the Empire feared, and heeded not, being shielded by the truth, those terrible and threatening faces, nor hesitated to reply to the arguments of him who, seized by I know not what fury, seemed to seek the dominion of the world. He found the king severe, he left him pacified. . . . He sustained by his courage those who were timid, nor were those imagined to be unwarlike who were represented by such ambas- sadors. He brought back a peace which had been despaired of." And these other words very clearly establish what were the judicial conditions of the two nations united under Theodoric's sceptre, as well as giving a true though sad picture of the degenerated manners of the Roman nobility. In one of those tumults which a bad habit introduced from Constantinople rendered frequent in the party strifes of the amphi- theatre, a patrician of the name of Theodoric and the consul Importunus had acted unjustly to some of the populace who belonged to the party opposed to them in the games, and caused one of them to be killed. Cassiodorus, speaking in the person of the king, wrote about it to the magistrate in the following severe and resolute manner : — '* If we moderate the manners of foreign nations who are under our law, if all that is associated with Italy must submit to Roman law, how much more should the capital of the State show greater rever- ©ag^iotiotu^. 1 1 cnce for the laws, since the grace of dignity should shine as an example of moderation? For where can a modest spirit be found, if violent acts disgrace the nobles ? . . . But lest the gossip of the populace should offend distinguished men, some account must be kept of this presumption. If any one impudently use injurious language against a most reverend senator when he is passing, let it be held a crime to have preferred speaking evil to speaking well. But who can insist on serious manners at a spectacle .? Those who go to the circus are not Catos. Whatever is said there by the people in their gaiety should not be regarded as abusive language. It is the place which excuses a certain excess. And if their garrulity is patiently borne, it will be found to be an honour to the princes." Temperate and generous words which are in harmony with these others, addressed to the Senator Sunivadus, sent by King Theodoric into Samnium to settle some disputes between the Romans and Goths : "Enter therefore the province of Samnium. If any dispute has arisen between any Roman and the Goths, or between any Goth and the Romans, thou shalt decide upon it with due consideration of the laws, nor can we permit that those shall live under an unequal law whom we wish to protect with a single judge. Thou shalt therefore decide on both sides what is just, for he who merely thinks of equity must not respect persons." 12 lEarlg (^f)X(i\xic\m of Italg* It was, therefore, with good reason that Theodoric praised Cassiodorus for having made his reign famous by introducing integrity of conscience into the court, and profound tranquility among the people.^ Here, at the entrance of the Middle Ages, we feel still in the letters of this last of Roman statesmen, that the ancient order of things is not yet extinct, and that there is still some life and vigour left in Roman civilization. And in truth no civilizing element is neglected in them. As in the maintenance of the Roman laws, so also we see a constant watchfulness for the preservation of the monuments and works of art scattered throughout Italy. In these letters we find him at one time intent on recovering for the public enjoyment a bronze statue stolen at Como ; at another, on re- storing the baths of Spoleto, or on rebuilding dilapidated aqueducts, or on sending to Ravenna the columns and marbles lying unused in Rome which might serve to adorn new monuments there, since the degenerate condition of art was un- favourable to new ornamental work. In one letter ^ "Nostra fecisti eximia tempora praedicari. Ornasti de con scientise integritate palatia, dedisti populis altam quietem " ( Vari- arum, iii. 28). A fine example of antique tolerance may also be found in the following words of a letter to the Roman Senate, written in consequence of the burning of a synagogue during a tumult against the Jews: "Quia nolumus aliquid detestabile fieri unde romana gra vitas debeat accusari. . . . Hocenim nobis vehementerdisplicuisse cognoscite ut intentiones vanissimse populorum usque ad eversiones pervenerint fabricarum, ubi totum pulchre volumus esse compositum" ( Variarum, iv. 43). ©ag^iotforu^. 13 to Boetius there is honourable mention made of music, while in another addressed to the same there is interesting evidence of the condition of me- chanical studies at that time, and from this latter are made the following extracts : — " So the lord of the Burgundians has earnestly begged of us to send him a clock worked by water flowing under the wheel, and which is also marked by the whole light of the great sun, as well as the workmen for putting it up. So that what we are daily accustomed to, may, if they can obtain this thing of delight which they ask for, seem to them a miracle. . . . The mechanician is, if we may say so, almost an associate of nature, disclosing what is hidden, altering what is manifest, playing with miracles, imitating so well that the imitation is not suspected but is supposed to be genuine. Thou wilt prepare for us, therefore, this aforesaid clock as soon as possible, because we know that thou art specially expert in these matters, in order that thou mayest become known in that part of the world whither otherwise thou couldst not reach. So may foreign nations recognize through thee that we have such distinguished men of science as are read of. How often they will not be able to believe what they see ! how often they will think that the truth is but a deceptive dream ! And when they have re- covered from their astonishment, they will not dare to think themselves our equals, when they know that we have wise men who invent such wonders." 14 ^arlg (^f)toMm of Xtalg, It is painful, however, to find Theodoric staining the glory of his reign in his last years by cruelly putting to death this very Boetius so glorified in this letter, as well as his illustrious father-in-law, Symmachus. Perhaps this unjust sentence is a sign that the Roman patriciate was beginning to separate itself from the Goths, and that the agree- ment between the two nationalities was less easy than had been hoped at first. Unfortunately the official letters of Cassiodorus can throw no light upon this, and the absence of positive historical data obliges us to content ourselves with hypo- theses. At any rate, whatever turn events may have taken, and whatever may have been the spirit of the Roman nobles, Cassiodorus was faithful to his ideas of reconciliation, and at the death of Theo- doric he remained in his post near Amalasuntha, who reigned for some years in the name of her son Athalaric, then a child. During this regency the divisions between the Goths and Romans grow more evident, especially touching the education of the young king, which the principal Goths wished should be free from any literary tendency, and en- tirely devoted to bodily exercise and warlike arts. In the mean while the imperial Government at Con- stantinople added to the flame, and by encouraging these discords between the two races, as also those of the Goths among themselves, hoped to be able to take advantage of them in order to recover the Italian provinces. After the death of the young ^a00iotiotu0» 15 Athalaric, his mother, Amalasuntha, reigned for some time by herself ; but neither her great intelH- gence, nor the fact of her being Theodoric's daughter, could save her from the suspicions of the Goths, so that at one moment finding herself in danger she entered into treaty with the Emperor Justinian with the object of escaping from Italy and seeking an asylum at Constantinople. Afterwards, however, flattering herself that she might thus retain her hold upon the throne, she gave her hand in mar- riage to Theodatus, a cousin of her own and a descendant of the Amali, who had formerly been her enemy, but whom she hoped to conciliate by associating him in the kingdom. Theodatus, a mean and cowardly man, as soon as he had as- cended the throne, confined Amalasuntha in an island of the lake of Bolsena ( Vulshimm\ and there afterwards had her murdered. He reigned alone for some time, but finding his position a precarious one, and desirous above all of leading a quiet life, he offered to give up the kingdom to Justinian, asking in exchange riches and peaceful honours on the Bosphorus. But when the Goths perceived that their cowardly king had betrayed them, they deposed him, and overtaking him as he was escap- ing to Ravenna, stabbed him to death. Then lifting Vitiges, one of their valiant warriors, on their shields, they proclaimed him king ; and Cassiodorus, who during all these events had remained in office, wrote in the name of the new king the following letter, i^ ^arlg CD^roniclerg of Ktals. which we quote at length because it seems to us like a trumpet-call, ushering in the fateful and adventurous war which was at hand. "Vitiges the king to all the Goths. Although every good fortune is to be considered as a gift from the Deity, nor is there any good thing but we know that it comes direct from Him, yet more especially we should refer the source of royal dignity to superior judgments, which have ordained whom He would that His people should obey. Hence, render- ing gratefully most humble thanks to Christ, the Author of all things, we announce that the Goths' own kinsmen, amidst drawn swords, and according to the manner of our ancestors raising us on their shields, have conferred on us with God's approval the kingly dignity, that arms might bestow that honour to which war had already given a claim. For behold I was elected not in secret chambers, but in the midst of the open camp ; I was sought not with delicate discourse of flatterers, but with clashing trumpets, that the Gothic people, roused by such sounds to the desire of native valour, might find a martial king to reign over them. And indeed how long could men of valour, brought up amidst ragingwars, endure a prince whose fame was insecure, however much he might presume on his prowess } It follows necessarily that the reputation which a nation enjoys depends on the leader whom it has deserved to have. For, as you may have heard, I came, called forth by the danger of my kinsmen. ©agsiiotioru^ 17 to share with them all a common fortune ; but they would not allow me to be merely their general, seeing as they did that an experienced king was wanted. So that you are responding to the inten- tions first of Divine grace, and then of the Goths, inasmuch as you have made me king by your unanimous votes. Lay aside, therefore, all fear of injury, all suspicion of loss ; fear no harshness from us. We who are experienced in war have learnt to love valiant men. Add to this, that I have been a witness to the exploits of each of you. For it is not necessary that I should be told of your deeds by any one, since I, the companion of your labours, know them all. The arms of the Goths are not to be broken by any change in my promises. All that we do shall be for the national good : we shall have no private predilections, and we promise to pursue all that may do honour to the royal name. Finally, we promise that in everything our govern- ment shall be such as it should be for the Goths after the illustrious Theodoric, a man so singularly and successfully adapted for the cares of a kingdom that each prince may justly be considered illus- trious according as he is seen to follow his counsels. Hence he should be credited as a relation of his who is able to imitate his deeds. And therefore, while you continue diligent for the advantage of our kingdom, be reassured as to its internal ad- ministration, by the help of God.'^ This letter, and one addressed by Vitiges to IT. C ?Eai*lg &f)tom\m of Ktalg. Justinian announcing his election, and exhorting him to peace while showing no fear of war, are the two last important letters to be found in this collection by Cassiodorus ; and it appears to us an instructive sign of the times to find none addressed to the Roman Senate. It is not quite certain at what time Cassiodorus gave up public life, but it is commonly supposed to have been on the fall of the kingdom of Vitiges, and after the first great defeat of the Goths. Taking, however, into account both the abrupt cessation of his letters and the finding no mention of him in the histories of Procopius, as well as the new political tendency, we think it probable that he retired even earlier, disheartened, and having lost all confidence in a good understanding between the Goths and Ro- mans, which would nevertheless have been necessary at that time for the preservation of the Gothic kingdom. At any rate, he had about the year 540 given up the world, and withdrawing to the Abruzzi, near Squillaci, he founded there a monas- tery {JMo7iasteri7tm Vivariense)^ where he passed the rest of his life in peaceful solitude and literary occupations. There, in addition to the works he had already composed, he had a history of the Church compiled and translated;"^ and in the ninety- * This, which is known by the name oi Historia Tripartita^ as having been compiled from the Greek writers Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, became for ages the popular authority on the subject in the Western Church. 31ottianc0. 19 third year of his age, he himself wrote a treatise on orthography for the use of his monks, on whom he had laid the obligation of copying books. We have no record of the year in which he died, but he may have lingered on to see the new invasion of Italy by the Lombards, and his life may have closed amid calamities from which he had vainly tried to preserve his country, by encouraging the foundation of a Gothic-Roman kingdom. If such was the aim of Cassiodorus, the same may be said of the Goth Jordanes, who seems also to have held that the safety of the Goths lay in their union with the Romans under the rule of the Amali — Theodoric's descendants. Jordanes^ belonged to a noble Gothic family, connected by relationship with the Amali. His grandfather had been notary and chancellor to the king of the Alani, Candac in Mesia, and he also was a notary before embracing an ecclesiastical career. Like Cassiodorus, and perhaps in imitation of him, he is often as a writer elaborate and sententious, but like him also, he was under the influence of the same ideal, and Stahlberg has clearly shown that he saw no other hope but that for the future of his nation. On that account he not only took no part in the struggle which followed between the * It is a vexed question whether the name of this writer is Jordanes or Jornandes. We adopt, however, with Wattenbach and Mommsen, the form Jordanes, which is that found in the best manu- scripts of the Gothic historian's works. 20 lEarlg ©j^rontclcr^ of Italg. Goths and the Empire, but seems rather to have sympathized with the Greeks than with his own countrymen. His very relationship with the Amali and the traditions left by Theodoric, who, while maintaining his independence, showed himself respectful towards the Empire and a friend of the Romans, naturally led Jordanes to side with a party which looked with little favour on the ideas prevailing in his day among the Goths. For it is certain that about that time there was a party among the Goths, which regarded as a misfortune the fall of the Amali dynasty, and the separation from the Romans. To this party Jordanes be- longed. In various parts of his compendium, he mentions the child Germanus, who, according to him, should have ruled the destinies of the two nationalities united in one. And this explains why in his work he hardly mentions Totila, whom he of course regarded as a usurper. It also appears certain that he wrote his book, not in Italy but at Constantinople, where he was one of those who accompanied Pope Vigilius in his exile from the year 547 until 554. This also explains why he was not able to have the history of Cassiodorus before him while he was making his compendium of it, and was obliged to trust entirely to his memory. He tells this himself in the preface, and it appears that he compiled it for the convenience of the Pope and his followers, and on this account he narrates at more length the ancient history of the SortJane^. 21 Goths ; and his value as a source of Italian history is diminished by his alluding but briefly to con- temporary events. Jordanes is also the author of a book entitled De regnorum successioney or De breviatione chrojiicorum, which is worth little and compiled principally from Florus. Wattenbach has already observed that what gives most value to Jordanes is his historical point of view, according to which the Roman Empire, linked through successive ages with the generations of the Old Testament, is destined to endure throughout all time till the end of the world. Besides this con- ception of the universality of Rome, we find in him a special importance as the representative of that Gothic party which desired to throw in their lot with the Romans, and endeavoured to create a mixed nationality.^ * To give an idea of the style of Jordanes we add here, in a note, a fragment which may prove interesting to the reader ; it is a portrait of Attila. *'A man bom into the world for the devastation of nations, and for the terror of all countries, feared everywhere from the formidable reputation in which, I know not by what chance, he was generally held. For he was haughty in his gait, casting his eyes round him in all directions, so that his power might be apparent even from the boastful motions of his person j a lover indeed of war but moderate in action, strong in counsel, gracious to suppliants and benevolent to those once taken into his confidence ; short of stature, broad shouldered, with a large head, small eyes and thin beard ; his hair was sprinkled with white, his nose was flat, his complexion dark, — all indications of his origin. And although it was his character to be confident in great undertakings, still his assurance was in- creased by the discovery of the sword of Mars, always held sacred by the Scythian kings, and the finding of which on the following 2 2 lEarlg Qtijxomltx^ of BEtalg. But this party had fallen for ever with the dynasty of the Amali, and henceforth every tie between the two races was severed. The Emperor Justinian, seeing that all his negotiations were in vain for regaining Italy peacefully, prepared to reconquer it with the sword. Belisarius, already famous for his victories over the Vandals in Africa, was sent into Italy, and while Theodatus was still reigning (535, 536) became master of Sicily and Naples. When Vitiges was raised to the throne, he retired to Ravenna, not feeling him- self perhaps strong enough to withstand the first shock of the Greek army, and Belisarius took advantage of this to seize immediately upon Rome. Here begins in truth the heroic period of this war, one of the most memorable ever fought. Vitiges collected all the Gothic forces, and with an arniy of about a hundred and fifty thousand men, marched from Ravenna to Rome, which he besieged. But through his perseverance and military talents, Belisarius was able to make a successful resistance, and, after an obstinate struggle and indescribable sufferings from famine and pestilence, Rome was occasion is thus related by the historian Priscus : Once a certain shepherd, he says, saw one of his herd limping, and not understanding the cause of its injury, he followed carefully the traces of blood, and came upon a sword wliich the heifer had accidentally stepped upon while grazing, and digging it up he immediately carried it to Attila, who was greatly rejoiced by this present, for in his ambition he considered that it conferred on him the kingdom of the world, and that success in war was assured to him by the sword of Mars. " ^j^e GaiW Mat. 23 relieved from this the first siege of the war, and the strength of the Gothic army was greatly ex- hausted. But the war continued throughout Italy. Everywhere there were battles and sieges, cities taken and retaken. From Milan to the neighbour- hood of Rome the country was devastated, the harvests destroyed, and hence over a large track of Italy a distressing famine decimated the people (a.d. 537, 538). The war was continuing with all its evils, when a Frank army of about a hundred thousand men came down unexpectedly from the Alps like a cloud of locusts, and scattering round them devastation, fire, and rapine, overran a great part of Italy, and returned by Liguria laden with spoils. Shortly afterwards Ravenna, besieged by the Greeks, was obliged to surrender, and Belisarius, taking Vitiges with him as a prisoner, returned to Constantinople, after having refused the offer of the Italian kingdom from the Goths (a.d. 540). These then chose for their king, first Ildibald, then Eraric, who were both assassinated after reigning but a few months. Their successor was a hero, Totila, who, having collected and disciplined what forces remained, succeeded quickly in regaining almost the whole of Italy, except Ravenna and Rome, by taking advantage of the discords among the Greek captains left behind by Belisarius. This great general, being then sent back to Italy, began the struggle afresh, but, being short of soldiers and besieged at Ravenna, he could not as he wished 24 iEarlg Qt^jxonitim of BItalg, go immediately to the assistance of Rome, which was closely surrounded by the Goths, and when he later made great efforts to do so they were fruitless. Rome in the mean time resisted for long, in spite of famine and every kind of suffering, but at length fell into the hands of Totila. When the Gothic king had made himself master of the city, and had probably recognized that he could not defend himself successfully within its vast circumference, he dismantled the walls, and having driven out all the citizens, he left it completely deserted and marched southwards. Belisarius lost no time in reoccupying the city, and notwith- standing its ruined condition was able to defend it against repeated assaults, while a desultory war continued throughout Italy (547). In consequence of palace intrigues, Belisarius was recalled to Con- stantinople, and again Grecian influence waned in Italy. Totila again took possession of Rome, and advancing on Sicily succeeded in occupying it also ; while the Franks, taking advantage of the weakness of both Greeks and Goths, made another descent to spread havoc through Venetia and Liguria (548-552). Narses, then chosen general- in-chief for the war in Italy, improved the pros- pects of the Greeks, who, after a successful naval battle with the Goths in the Adriatic, were able to raise the siege of Ancona. Then reinstating them- selves in Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, they con- tinued to wander fighting over the whole of Italy, procopiu^. 25 until, the two armies arraying all their forces against each other at Tagina in Umbria, the Goths were totally routed after a hard fight, and Totila was killed (552). The Goths replaced their fallen hero by another, and elected King Teias at Pavia, while the Greeks accomplished other undertakings in the south, took Rome, and laid siege to Cuma, where the Goths kept their treasure under the guard of Aligern, the brother of Totila. The new king, Teias, then gathering together what still survived of the Gothic army, and marching from Pavia through almost the whole of Italy, arrived at Nocera, at the foot of Vesuvius ; and there was fought the last decisive battle, in which the Goths were completely and finally subdued, and Teias found a death which deserved to be held in re- membrance. We should have no contemporary account of this heroic war unless Procopius, who took part in all the wars conducted by Belisarius, had fortu- nately left us a narrative of it. On that account we have recalled this war to our readers' minds, and given this brief statement of the events treated by the Greek historian before entering on a more special mention of him and his work. From Caesarea in Palestine, where he was born, Procopius came to Byzantium in the time of the Emperor Anastasius, and soon attracted the atten- tion of the Government by his remarkable talent and learning. Justin the Elder, in a moment of 26 lEarlj) (i^l)toMm of Ktalg* great difficulty for the Empire, when the Persians were carrying on the war against the Greeks with success, appointed Procopius as counsellor to Beli- sarius. Later Justinian wished him to remain in that capacity during the wars in Africa and Italy, in which he rendered excellent service to the State in various missions, and was of much use to the great captain of the Empire. When Belisarius was recalled after the subjugation of Africa, Procopius remained behind with Solomon, who had succeeded Belisarius in the command of the army, and was commissioned to establish firmly the authority of the Empire there, which, owing to the rapidity of the conquest, was not thoroughly secured. He has himself given us an account of his doings in Persia, Africa, and various parts of Italy ; nor can he be accused of boastfulness in speaking of himself His useful services, though of secondary import- ance, were well rewarded ; and after being inscribed among the senators, he rose, in the thirty-fifth year of Justinian's reign, to the high dignity of Frce/ecfus Urbis. About that time he had already written his histories, and published all except the last book, which he called Anecdota, but which is better known by the name of Historia Arcana, In this book, which was not published till after the death of Justinian, many palace intrigues are revealed which place the imperial court in an unfavourable light ; and Justinian the emperor and his wife Theodora, who before ascending the throne was, as is well ^rocoptii0. 27 known, an actress in the circus, more especially suffer in this Historia Arcana^ which, disclosing vices unmentioned in the previous books, has caused doubts to be entertained of the truthfulness of Procopius. Justinian's reign, however, was no less remarkable for its vices than for its virtues, and so offered a wide field for descriptions which, while differing, might nevertheless be truthful ; moreover this is not the place for examining these accusations, nor the defence made for Procopius. Putting aside the Historia Arcana, which has no direct reference to Italy, as well as the accounts of the wars carried on by Belisarius in Africa and Persia, we need only examine that part of his history which refers specially to the Gothic war. What he says on this subject is doubly valuable, both because, at the side of the great commander, he took a personal part in it all, and also on ac- count of the great impartiality he shows in treating of the Goths, for whom he often expresses a sincere admiration which does him credit. As an eye- witness he describes with telling effect, not only that disastrous war which lasted eighteen years, but also the train of evils which it involved, and he indicates clearly the condition of utter exhaustion and weakness in which Italy was left at the end of that struggle. A Greek writer in a period of decadence, it is very apparent that his book was written at Constantinople and not at Athens ; and his style as well as his language suffered from the 28 lEarlg ©j^ronicIeviS of Italg^ poverty of the age, and is very far from the simple purity of the ancients. Nevertheless it is wanting neither in vigour nor in colouring, and his book, very superior to contemporary Latin literature, is a model of good taste when compared to the writings of Cassiodorus. When he describes the famine which desolated the whole of Italy, and the maladies which ensued and destroyed so many more of its inhabitants, he finds colours in which to depict it that are dark and terrible in their distinctness, and such as were needed to tell the story of the famished wretches who wandered about in search of corpses wherewith to satisfy their hunger. The very brevity with which he narrates the death by famine of fifty thousand peasants in Picenum alone (the Marche), and of many more who died in the parts beyond the Ionic Gulf, is very forcible, and gives a clear idea of the low ebb to which the resources of Italy must have fallen during that war, and of how exhausted the country was at the end of it. If space had permitted, we should willingly have given this passage, but we must content ourselves with the following short description of another famine which devastated Rome during one of the many sieges which occurred at that period : " In the meantime the famine enduring and in- creasing grew into a great evil, and suggested strange sorts of food repugnant to nature. First of all Bessas and Conon, who were the chiefs of the ^rocopiu^. 29 garrison in Rome (and who happened to have a large quantity of corn stored up within the walls of the city), having kept back what was wanted for the soldiers, sold the rest for large sums to the wealthy Romans ; for the price of a medimnus (a measure of about twelve gallons) was seven gold pieces. But those whose means did not allow of their spending so much on food, paid a quarter of this price for a medimnus of bran and ate it, while necessity made it taste to them most sweet and dainty. And an ox which the soldiers of Bessas took in a sally, was sold to the Romans for fifty gold pieces. But any Roman who had a dead horse or anything else of the kind, was accounted very fortunate, inasmuch as he could luxuriate upon the flesh of the dead animal. But all the rest of the people lived only on the nettles which grew in great quantities everywhere on the walls and ruins of the city. And that the pungency of the plant might not sting their lips and throat, they boiled them well first before eating them. While therefore the Romans had gold coins they bargained with them, as has been said, for wheat and bran ; but when these came to an end, they carried their household goods to the market, and exchanged them for each day's food. But at last, when neither the emperor's soldiers had any more corn to sell to the Romans, there remaining only a little for Bessas himself, nor the Romans had anything left to offer in exchange, they all had 30 lEailg Q^ijxomlm of $talg» recourse to the nettles. But as this food did not suffice for them, and they had not even of it as much as they could eat, their bodies gradually wasted away. And their colour having soon be- come livid made them look exactly like spectres. And many while walking and still chewing the nettles between their teeth, suddenly fell to the ground dead. And many others, impelled by starvation, destroyed themselves, when they could no longer find either dogs or rats or other living things to feed upon. And there was one Roman, the father of five children, who surrounded him, dragging at his garments and imploring him for food. But he, neither lamenting aloud nor letting his confusion be seen, but hiding away his misery with great strength of mind, desired his children to follow him as if he would give them food. And when he reached the bridge over the Tiber, having put his cloak to his face and covered his eyes with it, flung himself into the river in the sight of his children and of all the Romans who were present. Afterwards the imperial governors, having extorted more money, gave as many Romans as wished for it permission to escape whither they would. So only a few remaining behind, all the rest rushed off in haste wherever they could. And most of them died on their journey either by sea or land, their strength being already quite ex- hausted by famine. And many were taken by the enemy and killed. For to this condition i.3tocopm^. 31 had fortune brought the Senate and people of Rome." The avarice of the Greek captains, Bessas and Conon, who meanly took advantage of the scarcity of provisions in order to enrich themselves, is not passed over in silence here by the Greek writer, and further on he reproaches them with it in severe terms. On the other hand, in sharp contrast with this baseness of the Greeks, we find the conduct of Pope Pelagius, who interceded in dignified language with the conqueror Totila for the lives of the Romans, against whom the Goths on entering the city began to act with great cruelty. To this Totila agreed, taking possession, however, for him- self and his Goths, of the ill-gotten treasures of Bessas ; and at the same time all the patrician houses were pillaged : " And thus it happened to the other Romans and Senators, and more especially to Rusticiana, the wife of Boetius and daughter of Symmachus, who had always given all her substance to the needy, that they had now to beg bread and the other necessaries of life from their enemies, clothed in the garb of slaves or peasants. For they went round knocking at the doors of the houses, asking for food, nor was it regarded by them as a disgrace. And the Goths insisted that Rusticiana should be put to death, accusing her of having bribed the Roman officers to destroy the statues of Theodoric, in order to avenge the murders of her father 32 ?Earlg ©j^rontcletg of Balg, Symmachus and of her husband Boetius. But Totila would not allow any injury to be done her, and saved from outrage both her and all the other women, for which moderation he received great praise." We see from this touching incident, in which Procopius does honour both to Totila and to the last remains of the Roman nobility, what serenity of judgment he possessed, as well as the quality, so precious in an historian, of being able to seize on facts in their true proportions, and to place them before the reader in such a manner that they give a fair general idea of the conditions of the period described. We think, however, that his good and bad qualities as a writer are all represented in the following account of the decisive battles fought at the foot of Vesuvius, with which Procopius con- cluded his history of the Gothic war : " At the foot of Mount Vesuvius there are springs of good water, and a river called Draco flows from them, which passes very near to the town of Nocera ; and the two armies were encamped on the opposite sides of this river. But the Draco, though it con- tains but a small quantity of water, is not fordable either by horsemen or foot soldiers, for it contracts its bed into a narrow space, and breaks away the ground on either side to a considerable depth, so that its banks are very steep. Whether this results from the nature of the ground or of the water I do not know. And the Goths, having seized on ^Srocoptu^, 33 the bridge and encamped close to it, placed wooden towers on it, and various machines, including what they called ballistra (j^aXXicTTpa), in order that they might from the top of them wound and harass the enemy. For, as I have said, it was impossible to come to hand-to-hand combat on account of the river which was between, so that both for the most part attacked each other with missiles, approaching as near as they could on their respective banks. A few single combats did take place, when some Goth occasionally crossed the bridge to challenge fight. And so the two armies spent the space of two months. But thence the Goths were masters of the sea, near which they were encamped, and could hold out as long as their ships brought them the necessary provisions. Afterwards the Romans took the enemies' ships by the treason of the Goth who was in command of the whole fleet, and also innumerable ships from Sicily and the rest of the Empire came to their assistance. At the same time Narses, placing wooden towers on the bank of the river, succeeded in entirely subduing the spirit of his antagonists. But the Goths, having lost heart and being pressed for want of food, escaped to a mountain near, called by the Romans in Latin the Mo7is Lactis. Thither the Romans could not pursue them on account of the badness of the ground. But soon the barbarians began to repent having gone up there, for provisions were still scarcer, so that they could by no means feed IT. D 34 lEadg CJJjromcto of Balg. either themselves or their horses. Therefore they, thinking it more desirable to die in battle array than by slow starvation, came down when the enemy were least expecting it, and made a sudden attack upon them. The Romans withstood them as they were, not ordering themselves according to their captains, or companies, or places, nor arranged in any sort of order among themselves, but defending themselves against the enemy with all their might, each man where he happened to be. Then the Goths, having left their horses, formed into a deep phalanx with their faces all turned to the enemy, and the Romans seeing this also left their horses, and all drew up together in the same array. " And here I shall describe a battle very re- markable, both in itself, and in the courage dis- played so clearly by Teias, who proved himself second to none of those whom we call heroes. And the desperate condition in which they found them- selves, urged on the Goths to valour ; while the Romans, although they saw that they were des- perate, opposed them with all their might, being ashamed to give way to those whom they had already beaten : so that both attacked with great impetuosity those nearest to them, these seeking death, the others glory. And the battle beginning early in the morning, Teias, defended by his shield and brandishing his spear, stood with a few others in a conspicuous position before the phalanx. When the Romans saw him, they thought that if he fell ^9iocojpiu0, 35 the whole line of battle would be more easily broken up, so that all who claimed to be courageous, and they were many, banded together against him, some thrusting their spears at him, some hurling them against him. But he, hidden behind his shield, received all the spears on it, and then suddenly falling upon them destroyed many. And when he saw that the shield was full of the spears sticking in it, he handed it to one of his shield-bearers, and took another. Thus he continued to fight for a third part of the day, and then his shield being transfixed with twelve spears, he was powerless either to move it at will, or to beat off his attackers. But he merely called in haste to one of his shield- bearers, without quitting his post or stepping back as much as an inch, or allowing the enemy to advance, and without turning round or covering his back with his shield, or standing sideways ; but he stood with his shield as if fastened to the ground, dealing death blows with his right hand, with his left keep- ing all at a distance, and calling by name on his shield-bearer. And when the latter brought him a shield, he immediately changed for it the one he held which was heavy with spears. In the mean time it happened that his breast was uncovered for a short moment, and a javelin chanced to hit him then, and killed him instantly. And some of the Romans fastened his head to a pike and carried it about, showing it to both armies — to the Romans that they might be encouraged, to the Goths that, 36 lEatlg ©l^totttdetjs of Xtalg. losing all hope, they might cease from the war. Yet not on this account did the Goths give up fighting, although they knew for certain that their king was dead. But when it grew dark, both separating passed the night in their armour, and rising early the next morning drew out again in the same order, and fought until nightfall, neither giving way to the other, nor turning nor losing hold for a moment, although many were killed on both sides, but they stuck to their work, being infuriated against each other. For the Goths well knew that they were fighting their last battle, while the Romans thought it beneath them to be beaten. At last the barbarians, sending some of their chief men to Narses, told him that they were persuaded that they were contending against God, for that they felt His power set against them ; so that, com- paring this truth with what had happened, they wished now to change their minds, and desist from the struggle, not, however, so as to obey the emperor, but to live independently together with some of the other barbarians. And they asked that the Romans should let them retreat in peace, and not grudge them reasonable treatment, but should give them, as maintenance for their journey, all the money which they each had stored in their castles in Italy. And when Narses was deliberat- ing on this, John, the son of Vitalianus, advised that this request should be granted ; and that they should not continue to fight with men prepared to die, nor put further to the proof a valour which re- sulted from despair of life, and which was equally- disastrous to those who showed it and to those who encountered it. ' For it should suffice,' he said, ' to wise men to be victorious ; wanting too much is likely to turn out prejudicial to both parties.' This counsel pleased Narses, and they agreed that those who were left of the barbarians, after collecting their own possessions, should immediately clear out of the whole of Italy, and should on no account fight any more against the Romans. In the mean time about a thousand of the Goths, leaving the camp, proceeded to the city of Pavia and the countries beyond the Po ; and Indulph, whom we have already mentioned, was among those who led them. But all the rest confirmed by oath what had been agreed upon. Thus the Romans took Cumae, and all the other places, and this was the end of the eighteenth year of the war with the Goths, which was written by Procopius." The whole history of this age is contained in Cassiodorus and Procopius, but there are some other writers who also deserve to be mentioned. Agathias continued, also in Greek, the history of Procopius, with a narrative of the later exploits of Narses, and may be consulted with advantage touching the last events of the Gothic war after the death of Teias. Marcellinus Comes has left us a dry Latin chronicle, which, beginning in the time of Theodosius, extends to that of Justinian (a.d. 38 ?Earlg Cl^f)rotttcUr^ of Xtaljj, 379-558) ; but, notwithstanding its dryness, it has a value especially for the chronology of certain facts, with regard to which something also may be extracted from the chronicle of Marius Aventi- censis. Far superior to these, both for interest and importance, is Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop of Pavia. Of a noble and doubtlessly Gallo-Roman stock, he seems to have been born at Milan, and certainly lived there as a child. He was bound by ties of blood or friendship to all the first men of his time — to all those most distinguished either by learning or birth. He was married and had one child, but later he and his wife left the world for the religious life. After becoming deacon, Ennodius remained in that rank for a long time, till he was raised to the dignity of bishop of Pavia, where he died about the year 521. He had a great reputa- tion in his day as a rhetorician, and wrote, both in his own name and in that of others, an immense number of orations, letters, and epitaphs for which he was very famous. But his principal fame origin- ated from a panegyric in honour of Theodoric, and a book in defence of Pope Symmachus. The panegyric, written as far as we can judge about 507 or 508, was probably recited either at Ravenna or Milan. It is a writing in the worst possible taste, containing all the defects of the style of Cassio- dorus, without his redeeming qualities. Its his- torical value is owing to the absence of other documentary evidence rather than to any intrinsic importance of its own, and is inferior to his letters or to his life of St. Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia. The letters written chiefly to the great men of his time contain much valuable information for the students of that epoch. The life of St. Epiphanius is the portrait of a wonderful character — of a man entirely dedicated to works of charity, and especially to the ransom of those whom the bar* barians, in their incursions, carried off with them as slaves far away from their country. Besides this interesting portrait, it gives us a vivid picture of the troubled and disastrous age immediately pre- ceding the Gothic times, to which, bad as they were, still worse were to succeed. CHAPTER II. SAD CONDITION OF ITALY IN THE EARLY PERIOD OF THE LOMBARD INVASION — GREGORY THE GREAT — COLLECTION OF HIS LETTERS—THEIR GREAT IMPORTANCE FOR THE HISTORY OF ITALY — THE BOOK OF DIALOGUES — THE EDICT OF ROTHARI — THE "ORIGO LANGOBARDORUM " AND MINOR WRITINGS UP TO PAULUS DIA- CONUS — HIS LIFE— HIS WORKS AND ESPE- CIALLY HIS HISTORY OF THE LOMBARDS. Italy was not freed by the fall of the Gothic kingdom. Belisarius and Narses had been able to break the power of the Goths, but could not create a sufficient barrier against fresh attacks. The Empire of the West was indeed falling to pieces, and the tie which bound it to the Eastern Empire only served to increase its difficulties. The Byzantine court, enfeebled by corruption, could not stand alone, and wasted the strength of Italy by a dominion v/hich was neither national nor ^i)e 3lombarti Inba^ion. 41 altogether foreign. Hence the ruin of Italy. As we have already said, had it been possible to carry out the idea of Cassiodorus, and fuse the Goths in the Latin race, perhaps a real Italian kingdom might have resulted, capable of struggling, on the one hand against the new barbaric invasions, and on the other against the sordid pretensions of the Byzantines. With something like an Italian nationality secured, as far as the age would allow, perhaps Roman civilization would not have died out for so long a series of centuries, and the times of the renaissance might have been matured earlier and with less effort. But human vicissitudes are subject to historical laws, as deep and inscrutable as all other decrees of Providence ; and perhaps, on the contrary, humanity along this painful path has made quicker progress than it could otherwise have done. Yet who can help feeling some regret when he looks back now over the long array of evils which, after so many misfortunes, were still reserved for the Alma mater of modern nations } The first invasion and establishment of the Lombards in Italy marks the most ill-starred period of Italian history. Arriving from Pannonia under the leadership of a fierce and valiant king, Albuin, the Lombards descended into Italy but few years after the last defeat of the Goths. They met with little resistance. The Exarch Longinus, an in- significant man, had succeeded Narses, and the cities, left to themselves, made what defence they 42 lEarlg (iCl)romclm of Itab. could. In a few years the dominion of the Lom- bards, begun in Friuli, extended over a great part of Italy. They lived rudely, and treated with ferocity the vanquished, from whom they differed in religion, being in part Arians, in part still idolaters. Rapine and slaughter spread misery and desolation around, and justified the lamen- tations of Pope Pelagius II. when writing to the Bishop Aunacarius of Auxerre : " And how shall we not mourn when we see so much innocent blood shed before our eyes, the altars desecrated, and the Catholic Faith insulted by these idolaters?" The juridical condition of the Italians under their new conquerors was a grievous one during the whole time of their dominion, which lasted two centuries until it v/as struck down by the power of Charlemagne. The ancient civilization already tottering received a last blow, and it was with difficulty that it still retained some lingering spark of life, and the tradition of the great Roman name. And it was indeed in Rome that the seed of a future revival was sown. In those hours of trial Rome was undergoing a great transformation, and the ancient empress of the world, fallen from her early grandeur and with the barbarians at her gates, was preparing for a new and not less vast domination, to which we only refer here on account of its immediate importance to Italian history, and without touching on the great ecclesiastical prob- ©regorg tj^c ©wat. 43 lems which grew out of it, or on the good and the evil which resulted from it. While Italy was being wasted by Byzantine bad government at Ravenna and by Lombard devastations, a man of genius, Gregory the Great, rose from the chair of Peter to defend Italy, and, as it would seem unconsciously inspired by Roman traditions, sowed the seeds of the universal supremacy of the Church. Certainly no one could have been more adapted than he was to carry out this great transformation, which was destined to be so lasting and so fruitful in its consequences. " In the case of few other men," writes an historian recently, " have both nature and fortune shown more gracious concord ; but few also have shown themselves more anxious to spend aright their gifts, to turn them to best account, and to regard them only as the patrimony of others. Descendant of an illustrious patrician stock (be- lieved to have been the Anician family : his father was the Senator Gordianus, and among his an- cestors he counted a pope, Felix IV.), he had in- herited, together with the considerable rent-roll of his forefathers, their robust nature and their good judgment. The dignity of the Roman and the ardour of the Christian were combined in Gregory, as in no other pontiff either before or after him." ^ Such a man could not but find himself of necessity in the midst of all the events of his time, * B. Malfatti, Imperatori e Fapi, Milano, Hoepli, 1876. 44 IHarlg d^^xomlm of Italg, and reflect in all his writings the age in which he lived ; hence his works, written with quite a different aim, have in later times acquired the greatest importance for history, in consequence of the almost complete absence of contemporary- historical records. Born about the year 540, while Belisarius was contesting the dominion of Italy with the Goths, he studied at Rome grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and law. Entering upon public life, he was raised while still very young to the dignity of praetor or prefect of the city, but notwithstanding these political cares he, a man of thought as well as action, could not be prevailed upon to alter his habits of piety and contemplation. With that untiring activity which never failed him, and under the inspiration of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, whom he calls clear and deep well- springs of learning, he devoted himself to the study of theology, while he made use of his great riches to found six monasteries in Sicily, and a seventh in Rome on the Celian, ad Clivum Scauri^ where there is still a church called by his name. He retired into this monastery somewhat later, in order to live in austere seclusion far away from public affairs, but for a short time only, as he was not allowed for long to escape from them. His illustrious lineage, the power of his intellect, the celebrity he had already acquired, were such as to make it impossible for him to pass unnoticed. Pope Benedict I. ordained him deacon in order to iffircgors tt)e (Great. 45 entrust to him one of the seven regiones of Rome ; and his successor, Pelagius IL, sent him as Apo- crisarius to treat about the affairs of the Church at Constantinople. There, during the time of his embassy, he gained the favour of the emperor ; and so greatly did his reputation increase that, after his return to Rome, on the death of Pelagius in the year 590, the Romans unanimously declared him pope. His resistance, and even flight from Rome, could not save him from the burthen of that great dignity. The wish of the people and clergy of Rome was ratified at Constantinople by the emperor, and he had to resign himself to accept an office which inspired him with the greater awe, inasmuch as his heart and intellect alike led him to take a more comprehensive view of the great responsibilities it imposed. Those calamitous times required fresh efforts daily from his lofty ministry, and suggested fresh thoughts ; but his mind, with its yearnings towards heaven, returned constantly to the recollection of his lost peace, and regretted with infinite tenderness the solitude of his monas- tery : " The grief which I constantly suffer is old indeed now from habit, and yet it is ever fresh. My chafed soul remembers what she once was in the monastery, how she used to rise above fleeting things, and only thinking of heavenly matters, passed out of the boundary of the flesh, by virtue of contemplation, and death became dear to her as the beginning of life and the reward of her 46 lEarlg ©jbroniclet^ of Xtarg. works." With such lamentations he one day con- fided his griefs to a friend who had surprised him sitting in a soHtary place and meditating on his sorrow in silence. But neither his ascetic ten- dencies, nor the infirmities from which he suffered, sufficed to deter him from the duties of his office. A Roman heart beat in his breast, and he dedi- cated himself to his sacred calling with a firmness worthy of the olden times. His mind, not less than his zeal, extended afar the beneficent action which made him a centre to different nations, and a guide to the new civilization which, as yet un- suspected, owed its new-born life to his impulse. From all these continuous cares, animated by a charity both intense and comprehensive, there originated among other works a volume of most remarkable letters, which form the highest testi- mony to his noble life, and at the same time the most important historical monument of his age. These letters, divided into fourteen books according to the fourteen years of his pontificate, and written to every class of persons, describe admirably the conditions of the times, and give a faithful picture of what life was then like, while confirming or maintaining the record of facts either little or not at all known. In its simplicity and freedom from all ornament each one indicates the circum- stances which called it forth ; and regarding them as a whole, we gather from them what were the habitual reflections and aspirations of the pontiff. The style of the prophets, of which we distinctly feel the influence in his other works, has not such hold upon him when he sets forth his thoughts and wishes fervently and spontaneously, without literary aims, and almost always hurried by the urgency of the matter. Hence his letters, free from mystical bombast, flow along easily and remind us sometimes of the simple and dignified Latin of an earlier period. The subjects of them are exceedingly varied, and treat of every matter from the highest ecclesiastical and political ques- tions to the minute administration of the Church's possessions, and from the anxious care of individual souls to the pathetic narrative of his own long and almost continual sufferings, moral and physical. But the production here of some of these letters may serve better than anything else to give an idea both of their importance and of the miserable condition in which Italy then was. Thus the following letter addressed to the Empress Con- stantina, in order to obtain from the emperor some alleviation of the hardships undergone, by the is- lands of Corsica and Sardinia, shows what the Greek government was like, and how Italy was torn in pieces by the double tyranny of her new and of her old oppressors : " Since I know how much our most gracious lady considers the heavenly kingdom and the life of her own soul, I think that I should be committing a great fault if I were silent with regard to those 48 lEatlg dl^ijtomclm of Italg, things which are suggested to me by the fear of Almighty God. Having heard that there are many Gentiles in the island of Sardinia, and that, accord- ing to their depraved custom, they still sacrifice to idols, and that the priests of the island have become lax in preaching our Redeemer, I sent one of the Italian bishops there, who with the help of God converted many of these Gentiles to the faith. But he has informed me of a sacrilegious matter, namely that those who sacrifice to idols pay a tax to the judge that it may be permitted to them ; of whom some now, being baptized, have given up sacrificing to idols, yet still this tax which they had been accustomed to pay for that purpose is exacted from them by the same judge, even after baptism. And when he was found fault with by the bishop for this, he answered that he had promised to pay so much for his post, which he could not do unless by these means. But the island of Corsica is oppressed by such extortions on the part of the tax-gatherers, and by such burthen of taxation, that the inhabitants can hardly satisfy these demands even by selling their own children. Whence it happens that these islanders are obliged to desert their holy Republic, and to escape to the most accursed nation of the Lom- bards. And indeed what could they suffer from the barbarians more oppressive or cruel, than that they should be driven to sell their children ? And in the island of Sicily a certain cartJmlarms on the C®org i\)t ©teat. 49 sea-coast is said to cause so much injury and op- pression by invading the possessions of individuals, and without any lawsuit affixing orders of eviction on houses and farms, that if I tried to relate all the things told me of him, I should take up more than a large volume. All which things, therefore, may our most gracious lady attend to, and comfort the groans of the oppressed. For I am quite sure that they have never reached your pious ears, for if they had they would not have lasted until now. Make them known, on fitting occasion, to your devout lord, that he may remove such a heavy load of sin from his own soul, from the Empire, and from his children. And I know well that he will perhaps say that he sends to us, for the ex- penses of Italy, all that is collected from the above- mentioned islands ; but I answer — let him give less for the expenses of Italy, and let him remove from his Empire the tears of the oppressed. And per- haps on that account so much outlay expended on this country avails so little, because it is pro- vided for partly by sin. Let therefore your most gracious lordships command that nothing hence- forth be collected sinfully, for I am persuaded that even if less is contributed to the necessities of the commonwealth, it will still be more advantaged. And should it even happen that it receives less advantage from these smaller contributions, it is nevertheless better that our temporal life should suffer than that any hindrance should be placed in IT. li 50 lEarlg ®f)ioniclcv0 of Italg. the way of your eternal life. Consider with what thoughts, with what feelings must these parents tear themselves away from their children, in order not to be further racked. And whoever has children of their own should know well how to feel for the children of others. Let it therefore be enough for me to have suggested these things, in order that your piety might not be ignorant of what is happening in those parts, and I might not be arraigned by the severe Judge for my silence." Witnessing the continual devastation of Italian territory, and being conscious that the Imperial Government hindered more than it helped, Gregory tried as often as he could to conclude temporary truces with the Lombards, in order that Rome at least, and the provinces still belonging to the Empire, might find some rest from the horrors of continuous warfare. But Romanus, the exarch of Ravenna, actuated by a narrow and jealous policy, threw obstacles in his way, and among other things broke up an agreement upon which he was enter- ing with Ariulph, the Lombard duke of Spoleto. There resulted from this an incursion of Lombards round Rome, with slaughters and ravages up to the very walls. The pontiff, overcome by grief, fell ill, and only recovered in order to meet with fresh vexations. Agilulph, the king of the Lombards, wishing to regain possession of some cities taken from him through treason by the Greeks, moved rapidly from Pavia towards Tuscany, regained Sregorg t|)e (Great. 51 Perugia, and did not stop till he reached the walls of Rome, whence he spread havoc on all sides. The pontiff, who at that time was expounding Ezekiel to the Romans in a course of homilies, was so overwhelmed by these calamities that he could not continue his exposition. " Everyv/here," he exclaimed, " we see mourning, everywhere we hear groans ; cities are destroyed, castles are sacked, the fields are devastated, the whole land has be- come a desert. Some we have seen carried into captivity, some mutilated, others put to death." And further on, excusing himself to his flock for not continuing, he adds : " Let no man blame me if I shall cease after this discourse, for as you all see, our tribulations have increased. Everywhere we are surrounded by the sword, everywhere we are in instant peril of death. Some have returned to us with their hands cut off, others are announced to us as captives or dead. I am now obliged to refrain from further exposition." But while he was doing all that he could to alleviate the misfortunes of his country, and grieved over them both as a Christian and a citizen, the imperial dignitaries were trying to undermine his authority at the court of Constanti- nople, and accused him of having allowed himself to be deceived by the Duke of Spoleto, and hence to have deceived the emperor. Gregory indignantly defended himself, and wrote to the emperor with great frankness and resolution : 52 iEarlg ®]^romcler& of Balg. " If the slavery of my land were not increasing daily, I would say nothing of the contempt and derision in which I am held. But what pains me is this, that while I am not believed, Italy is dragged more and more under the yoke of the Lombards. I say to my devout lord : let him think every evil of me ; but with regard to the weal of the commonwealth, and the liberation of Italy, let him give heed to no one, but believe facts more than words. And let not our lord in his earthly power be so readily indignant with the priests, but in consideration of Him, whose servants they are, lay his commands upon them in such way as to show them proper reverence. I will now briefly relate what I have had to suffer. First of all, the peace which, without loss to the common- wealth, I had made with the Lombards of Tuscany, was disturbed ; and when it had been disturbed, the soldiers were taken away from Rome, some killed by the enemy, the rest placed at Narni or Perugia, and, in order to hold Perugia, Rome was abandoned. And when Agilulph came, things were worse ; then I had with my own eyes to see Romans, like dogs, with a rope round their necks going to be sold in France. We indeed, thanks be to God, escaped from their hands, being shut up in the city ; but then an effort was made to inculpate us because there was not corn enough in the city, where, however, as I explained another time, it cannot be kept for long. Nor do I grieve for myself ; for having a quiet conscience, I confess that as long as my soul is in safety I hold myself prepared for everything. But I do grieve for those heroic men, the Prefect Gregory, and Castorius magister militum, who did everything that could be done, underwent during the siege immense fatigues of day and night watches, and nevertheless incurred afterwards the severe displeasure of the sovereigns. Whence I plainly see that it was not their actions but my person that injured them, and that after having gone through these fatigues with me, with me now they are suffering tribulations. And as to what is hinted to me of the terrible judgment of Almighty God, I pray by the same Almighty God that the piety of my sovereigns may repeat this no more. Since we cannot know what this judgment will be, and Paul the estimable preacher says, 'Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.' This I say briefly, because I, unworthy sinner, trust more in the mercy of Jesus than in the justice of your piety. And may God guide here with his hand my devout lord, and in that terrible judgment find him free from every crime ; and may He make me pleasing, if it is needful, to men, but in such a way that I may not transgress His eternal grace." These calumnies, however, and obstacles did not prevent him from negotiating fresh truces with the 54 lEarlg d^ljxoniclm of Jtalg. Lombards, and thus trying to save Italy, especially the country districts, from those wars which in- volved so much misery. There was then reigning over the Lombards, Agilulph, formerly duke of Turin, a prince of great valour, but of a tolerably conciliatory character, who had been called to the throne by Queen Theodolinda when she was left a widow on the death of King Authari, and was invited by the nobles to decide the destinies of the kingdom by selecting a second husband among the Lombard dukes as successor to the king who had died. This princess, a lady of noble qualities. Bavarian by birth, and in faith a Catholic, exercised a great and salu- tary influence in the affairs of the kingdom, and in the counsels of her husband, and was often a peace- maker. From the letters of Gregory we can also discern in what high esteem he held her, and how he hoped by her means to draw to the Catholic faith the Lombards who, as we have already said, were followers partly of the Arian heresy, and partly still of rude and superstitious idolatry. And indeed he lived to see his desire at least partially fulfilled; and it is supposed that Theodolinda's per- suasions induced Agilulph to abandon Arianism, as in England those of Bertha secured the conver- sion of Ethelbert. Certainly after Agilulph the Lombards began gradually to hold the same faith as the Italian people, and this fact was of great political significance, since it helped to lessen the division between the two nations, and, as far as was Sregoi'2 tDc (&xtut 55 possible, to bring about that fusion between them to which, however, the existence of the Eastern Empire always offered a serious obstacle. About that time the Cathedral of Monza was founded by Theodolinda, and to it she presented the so-called iron crown which was used at the coronation of all the kings of Italy from that time ; and after having crowned Charlemagne and Napoleon is still preserved there, and lately bore its part on a solemn occasion behind the bier of Victor Emmanuel, the reviver of the Italian kingdom. Agilulph having had a son (A.D. 603), he had him baptized according to the Catholic ritual, and Gregory, delighted at this event of which he well saw the full importance, sent his praises and congratulations to Theodolinda in a letter which we give here : " The writing which you lately sent us from the Genoese countries made us sharers in your joy, both on account of the son given to you by the grace of Almighty God, and because we know, what is very praiseworthy in your excellency, that he is made a member of the Catholic faith. Nor could we have believed otherwise of your Christianity than that you should endeavour to protect, by the assistance of the Catholic righteousness, him whom you re- ceived by Divine favour, both that your Redeemer might recognize you as His devoted handmaiden, and that the new king of the Lombard nation might be nourished in His fear. Whence we pray Almighty God that He should both keep you in the 56 icarlg (!^f)xomUx^ of Ktalj). way of His commandments, and should make this your most excellent son Adolowald proficient in His love. So that as here he is already great among men, he may also become glorious by good deeds before the eyes of our God. But that which your excellency wrote that we should answer our most beloved son Secundinus, the abbot, with respect to those things which he wrote to us with great acumen, who would delay attending to his petition or your wishes which are for the profit of many, unless hindered by illness ? But we are held by such an infirmity of gout, that not only we cannot dictate, but cannot even bear the fatigue of speak- ing, as also your ambassadors the bearers of this letter have known, for they both found us ill on their arrival, and they are leaving us now at their departure in extreme danger, and in a struggle for life. But if Almighty God wills it so, I shall re- cover, and shall answer all those things which he hath written with so much acumen. And I have sent you also by the bearers of this the acts of that synod called together by Justinian of pious memory, that this aforesaid son of mine may study them, and know that all that he has heard against the Apostolic Chair, and the Catholic Church, is false. For God forbid that we should accept the meaning of any heretic, or should deviate from the ways of our predecessor Leo of holy memory. But we receive whatever is laid down in the four holy synods, and we condemn whatever is disapproved. And we also have directed that these relics should be given to our most excellent son Adolowald, the king ; that is, a cross with the wood of the holy cross of our Lord, and the volume of the holy Gospel enclosed in a Persian case ; also to my daughter, his sister, I have sent three rings — two with purple and one with a milk-white stone ; which things I beg may be given to them by you, in order that our love for them may be graced by your excellency. We also pray with paternal affec- tion, while mindful of all courteous greeting, that you should thank our most excellent son the king your consort, in our name, for the peace made ; and should incite him in all ways for the future to peace, as you are accustomed to do, so that you may find, in the presence of God, among your many good works, the mercy shown to an innocent people who might otherwise have perished in a great ruin." The letters which we have chosen, not without hesitation among so many, may serve to give an idea of the sort of light they throw on the history of Italy at that time. But the vastness of Gregory's intellect, as well as the inspirations he drew from his high office, and the width of his Christian charity, did not allow of his restricting the sphere of his action to Italy alone, and hence his volume of letters become a source of universal history. And indeed we are much assisted in judging of the state of Europe during his lifetime by the letters to France, especially those directed to the famous 58 1Eai-l2 ^\)xomcim of J^talg. Queen Brunichild/ and those sent to Spain where his principal correspondent was that Leander, bishop of Seville, who induced King Recaredus and his Visigoths to abandon the Arian heresy. In the same way the letters directed to Constanti- nople, Alexandria, and to other places in the East and in Africa, describe the state of the most distant countries and their intercourse with Rome. Gregory's relations with England, and the part he took in the conversion of this country, are famous. The venerable Bede in his collection of English traditions has left a well-known narrative of them, which was repeated through all the Middle Ages, and quoted again lately in another volume of this series.^ In this narrative it is related how Gregory, ^ This correspondence of Gregory's with the profligate queen of the Franks has been blamed by some historians. According to them Gregory should not have been on such courteous terms with a woman whose name has come down to us covered with infamy. We cannot think the reproach is altogether justified. At that time the Church in France suffered great injury from the simony which pre- vailed in the elections of the bishops. Gregoiy was fighting with all his might against this scandal, and he constantly appealed to Brunichild to put a stop to it. His position with regard to this singular woman was, therefore, a far from easy one ; and it seems to us that this should be taken into account in judging the conduct of a man whose virtues and the purity of whose intentions are so generally admitted. More serious would appear to us the other reproach made against him for the letter in which he recognized the authority of the tyrant Phocas, the bloody usurper of the throne of Constantinople. But here, also, we must take into account the re- sponsibility which Gregory felt with regard to the destinies of so many nationalities who looked to him as to their only protector. * Early Chroniclers of Europe : England^ by James Gairdner, p. 10 et seq. not yet pope, having seen in Rome some English slaves, being struck by their beauty, and hearing that they were idolaters, conceived the idea of con- verting, or rather reconverting, England to the faith ; and having obtained permission, set out as a missionary to this land. But hardly had he begun his journey before the Roman people rose to de- mand his immediate return, and obliged the pope to recall him. This story, which is not confirmed by anything in Gregory's writings, shows neverthe- less both the veneration which was felt for him in England some centuries after his death, and his affectionate solicitude for that mission to which his letters continually bear witness. We hope that we shall not be exceeding the limits of this work, specially dedicated to the history of Italy, if we quote a few passages from Gregory's letters, in which he speaks of this undertaking which origin- ated with him, rejoices over its success, and directs it with his instructions. He writes thus to Eulogius bishop of Alexandria : — " But since I know that you rejoice in all the good done both by yourself and others, I give you in return the same pleasure, and announce not dis- similar things. For whereas the English nation, in a distant corner of the world, had hitherto remained superstitiously worshipping stocks and stones, I was induced by your prayers on my behalf to send, with the grace of God, a monk of our monastery to preach to it ; who, being made a bishop by the 6o lEarlg ©j^rouickr^ of Balfi. German bishops with my permission, and en- couraged by them, journeyed to this aforesaid people at the end of the world, and already has written to us of his welfare and of his work. For he and those who were sent with him shine with so many miracles among this people, that it is clear that they imitate the remarkable apostolic virtues which they teach. And on the occasion of the Christmas festival of this first indiction, we hear of more than ten thousand English having been baptized by this our brother and fellow-bishop. And I tell you of all this, that you may know what you can do in Alexandria by your speech, and in the ends of the world by your prayers. For your prayers prevail where you are not present, while your holy labours are made evident in the place where you are." Later in this letter — remarkable for its tone of natural satisfaction as well as for its humble faith — he alludes to a great contention which he had in the East with John the Faster, patriarch of Con- stantinople, with regard to the title of universal bishop, which Gregory declined for himself and would not recognize in others. But this question, which gave rise to many of Gregory's letters, and to some of the most important for the history of the Church, is outside the limits of our inquiry, and we must not enter into it. We shall rather con- clude these quotations with some passages of a letter written to Augustine himself with regard to his apostolate in England : Swgorg if)e ©teat 6i " Glory to God in the highest ; peace on earth, goodwill towards men. As the dead grain of corn, falling into the ground, bore much fruit that it might not reign alone in heaven, so by His death we live, by His infirmity we are strengthened, by His suffering we are saved, by His love we inquire for our brethren in Britain whom we know not, by His grace we found those for whom we ignorantly inquired. But who could adequately here describe how much joy had sprung up in the hearts of all the faithful, that the English nation, by the operat- ing grace of Almighty God, and by the labours of thy fraternity, has been suffused with the light of the holy faith, after the darkness of error was ex- pelled ; that it now with virtuous resolution tramples upon the idols to which it submitted before in abject terror ; that it worships Almighty God with a pure heart ; that it is protected by the rules of holy teaching from lapsing into unrighteous deal- ing ; that it submits to the Divine precepts, and is intellectually raised ; that it humiliates itself to earth in prayer lest it should be abased to earth in spirit } Whose work is this but His who said, ' My Father works until now, and I work'? . . . Thou shouldst rejoice that the souls of the English are drawn by outward miracles to inward grace, but thou shouldst tremble lest, amid these wonders which occur, the weak spirit should be elated by presumption, and while raised to honour without, should fall within by vain glory. . . . For the dis- 62 lEarlg ©j^tomcler^ of Xtalg. ciples of truth should rejoice in nothing but in that good which they have in common with all, and thence there will be no end to their rejoicing. It remains, therefore, dearest brother, that while thou art doing these things outwardly through God's co-operation, thou shouldst always inwardly judge thyself with discrimination, and with discrimination understand both what thou art in thyself, and what grace there is in that people for whose conversion it is that thou didst receive the gift of performing these miracles. And if thou remember to have ever offended against our Creator either in word or deed, recall this always to thy mind, that the memory of thy guilt may keep down the rising pride of thy heart ; and whatever power thou mayst receive, or hast already received, to do miracles, consider that this is a gift not to thee, but to them for whose salvation it is conferred upon thee. . . . But I say these things because I desire to humble the soul of him who hears me ; yet let also thy humility have perfect trust. For I, a sinner, hold a sure hope that thy sins are already forgiven by the grace of our Almighty Creator, and of our Redeemer, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ ; and that on that account thou art chosen that the sins of others may be forgiven through thee. Nor wilt thou hereafter be grieved by any guilt, who strivest to cause joy in heaven over the conversion of many. For thus our Founder and Redeemer says, when speaking of the repentance of man, ' Verily I say Sregotg tj^e ©teat. 63 unto you, there shall be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninty and nine just persons which need no repentance.' And if there is so great joy in heaven over one that re- penteth, what must the joy be over a whole nation converted from their errors, who, embracing the faith, condemn with penitence the evils which they before committed? In this joy therefore of heaven and the angels, we repeat the very words of the angels with which we began. Let us say therefore, let all of us say, ' Glory to God in the highest ; and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.' " In the year 604, on the 14th of March, Gregory the Great ended a life which had been so virtuously and usefully spent. With the cessation of his corre- spondence the history of Italy loses its surest guide in that age. Some others also of Gregory's works have a certain historical importance on account of their allusions to contemporary or recent events, and especially valuable among them are the Dia- logues. This strange book is one of those which most fascinated the imagination of the Middle Ages, and in it Gregory related the life and miracles of St. Benedict, and of various other Italians, who had a reputation for holiness in his day, and most of whom were either known to him or to persons with whom he was acquainted. It is a collection of quaint, fantastic legends, and it is certainly characteristic of the age to find so much childish credulity in a man of such remarkable intellect. 64 lEavlg ©j^touickr^ of Xtalj). Still these legends are of great value, both be- cause they are mixed up with real events, and on account of their allusions to places and monuments then existing, and to the usages and principal personages of the day. After the death of Gregory, almost all direct and contemporary testimony to historical facts in Italy ceases during the Lombard period. The most im- portant document is the Edict of King Rothari (A.D. 643), which, with the additions made by suc- ceeding kings, constitutes the Lombard code of laws. Rothari prefixed to the Edict a prologue, which in the absence of other documents is of importance, as it gives a carefully compiled list of the Lombard kings with the names of their families, and an exact genealogy for ten genera- tions of the family of the Arodi, to which Rothari himself belonged. Until Rothari collected them, the Lombard laws had never been written, but were handed down orally from generation to generation. And the same thing happened with regard to their enter- prises generally. Like every other primitive Ger- manic race, they committed to song the ancient legends which narrated both the deeds of their ancestors, and, what they prized greatly, the gene- alogies of their families. About the year 670 a Lombard tried to gather rudely from these songs some hints regarding the descent of his people, and this work of his, called Origo Langobardorum, was C^rigo Sangobatljoritm* 65 also added to the prologue of the Edict of Rothari. Before these efforts there existed a history of the Lombards compiled by Secundus, bishop of Trent (d. 612) : of this history, which seems to have been valuable but is now entirely lost, there only re- mains mention in the writings of Paulus Diaconus, which we are now about to examine. The follower of Prosper of Acquitaine who carried his continua- tion as far as the year 671, and a M agister Stefantis who about 698 composed a very rude poem in praise of King Cunipert, are the only contempo- rary sources which we have besides the Origo and the Edict, and they are all the work of writers of Latin origin. The Lombards, more than any other German people, were slow in acquiring Latin culture, and began to acquire it only when their rule was near its setting. However, as Wattenbach observes/ the grammarians who, notwithstanding the un- favourable nature of the times, had always con- tinued their labours, began gradually to find disciples among the Lombards, and when the rule of these approached its end, they had educated for this foreign nation the historian who, like Jordanes, should after their fall at least preserve the memory of their mastery. This historian was Paulus Dia- conus, and we now proceed to treat of him at some length, as being the most distinguished writer of this early part of the Middle Ages in Italy. ^ Wattenbach, DetitschlancV s Ceschichtsquellen im Mittclalter, vol, I. ch. ii. § 6. IT. F 66 ?£adg ©l)iomclcv^ of lEtalg. Paulus Diaconus has left us some records of himself here and there in his writings, and hence we can follow the traces of his life, which was certainly a remarkable one. His lineage was ancient, and according to the favourite custom of the Lombards, he does not omit to give us its history, into which is woven a great deal that is legendary. Leupchis, whom he mentions as the founder of the family, had descended into Friuli with Albuin on the occasion of the first Lombard invasion of Italy, and died there, leaving five sons of tender age, who soon afterwards were taken prisoners in an incursion of the Avari and carried far away from their country. After a long captivity one of them, Lopichis, having reached man's estate, succeeded in escaping by flight. His journey was an adventurous one, full of hardships and dangers amidst the Alps. He first met with a wolf which guided him on his unknown road, and then, when the wolf mysteriously disappeared, the path was shown to him in a dream, and following it he finally reached Friuli. There he found the deserted house where he was born, and was able by the help of his relations, who recognized him, to restore it and to found his family. From Lopichis de- scended Arechis, from Arechis Warnefrit, who married a certain Theodolinda, and had about the year 720 a son, who was Paulus Warnefridus, or as he is more generally called, Paulus Diaconus. The grammarian Flavianus — nephew of another ^aulug i3iaconug» 67 grammarian, Felix — was Paul's master in literature. While still a child he studied the Greek language, profitably as we believe, notwithstanding his modest assertion to the contrary in after days. It is not certain where he studied under Flavianus, whose name, as well as his uncle's, indicates his Italian origin, but it seems probable that it was at Pavia in the very court of the king, according to the ancient German custom. Certainly Paul was at court in the time of King Ratchis (a.D. 744-749), for he relates having himself seen that king, after a banquet, show the famous goblet which Albuin had made of the skull of Cunimund, king of the Gepidi. As is known, Albuin, having killed King Cunimund in battle and afterwards married his daughter Rosamund, used on solemn occasions to drink out of his skull, from which a cup had been formed. One day he commanded that the goblet should be handed to the queen, calling upon her to drink gaily with her father. This horrible out- rage, which later was cruelly avenged by Rosamund, appeared so great to Paul that he exclaims, while relating it to us, " Lest this should seem incredible to any, behold I speak the truth in Christ ; for indeed I saw on a certain feast-day King Ratchis holding this cup in his hand and showing it to his guests." This anecdote, which we have introduced here as an instance of the rude ferocity of the first Lombards, helps us to follow the private history 68 lEarlg ©j^roniclct;^ of Ktalg. of Paul's life, nor is this the only episode in which we find him in intimate relations with the princes of his time. The earliest writing of Paul's which remains (a.d. 'jG'^ is a poem on the six ages of the world, the verses of which form an acrostic on the name of Adelperga Pia, the daughter of the Lom- bard King Desiderius and wife of Arechis, dukeand later prince of Benevento. This princess, who had been a pupil of Paul's, always remained his friend, and invited him later to enlarge and continue the Roman history of Eutropius. It also appears that he composed the epitaph in verse for Queen Ansa, the mother of Adelperga, whose body was brought back to her native country from France, whither she had followed her husband Desiderius when the Lombard kingdom was overthrown by the power of Charlemagne. The lines of the inscription, the style of which seems certainly that of Paul, breathe a profound melancholy, and bear witness to the affection of the author for his Lombard lineage. It is not known with certainty when he received holy orders, nor whether he had received them before entering the cloister, but it does not seem improbable that he went as monk to Montecassino at the time that Ratchis, hurled from his throne, found a refuge there. And there the solemn peace of the cloister gained such empire over Paul, that perhaps he would never have been persuaded to leave it unless the force of circumstances had called him forth. After the fall of the Lombard kingdom ^aulu^ 3iiaconu0. 69 there broke out in 776 a revolt against the Franks, especially in the Duchy of Friuli ; and even if Paul was a stranger to this revolt, certainly his brother Arechis took part in it, and was for this reason taken prisoner to France, while all his posses- sions were confiscated. This circumstance must have been the origin of a legend regarding Paul, which arose about the tenth century and was widely diffused for a long time afterwards. According to this story, Charlemagne sent Paul into exile, sus- pecting his complicity in a conspiracy, and con- fined him in the small island of Tremiti on the Adriatic coast, whence he succeeded after some time in escaping by miracle, and taking refuge first at Benevento, afterwards at Montecassino. In all this there is not a shadow of truth ; on the contrary, six years after the exile of his brother Arechis, when Charlemagne had already come to Rome and shown much moderation and clemency in State affairs, and also a desire to encourage letters, we find Paul addressing the victorious monarch in verse, imploring that his brother may be restored to his family, whose miserable condition he describes in vivid colours and with great pathos. To insure the success of his appeal Paul left his monastery and crossed the Alps, in order to betake himself to the court of Charles. The king received him with great honour, and retained him longer than he would willingly have stayed. From the banks of the Moselle the longing thoughts of the 70 lEatlj) <^f)X(imlm of Italg. monk turn to the peace and sweetness he had tasted amidst the majestic solitudes of Monte- cassino, and he writes to his abbot Theodemar in these words : — "Although my body is separated from your company by a vast extent of territory, I am never- theless joined to you by a tenacious affection which nothing will ever loosen ; nor can I hope to express in a letter and within the brief limit of these pages, how constantly and profoundly I am moved by the thought of your affection and that of my elders and my brethren. For when I consider the leisure filled with sacred occupations, the delectable dwelling of my refuge, your pious and religious dispositions, — when I consider the holy band of so many soldiers of Christ zealous in all Divine offices, and the resplendent examples of individual brethren in special virtues, and the sweet converse respecting the perfections of our celestial home, — I tremble, I gaze, I languish, nor can I restrain my tears, while my breast is rent with deep sighs. I am living among Catholics and followers of Christian worship ; I am well received ; all show me abundant kindness for love of our father Benedict, and for the sake of your merits : but compared to your convent this palace is a prison ; in contrast with the great calm which there is with you, life here seems to me a continual storm. I am only held in this country by my weak body, but with the whole of my soul I am with you. Now I seem to be in the midst of your sweet ^aulu^ IDiaconug, 71 singing, now to be sitting with you in the refectory where the reading even more than the food satisfies, now to consider the works of each one in his special duty, now to inquire into the condition of those oppressed by age or sickness, now to wear away the tombstones of the saints dear to me as heaven itself." He goes on in his letter to ask for their prayers on his behalf, that he may soon be restored to them ; but his return was not to be as soon as he hoped. At that very time Charlemagne, by assembling at his court from every country all those in whom still survived some ray of a culture which had now almost entirely died out, was trying to infuse fresh life into Roman civilization, just as he aimed in the domain of politics at resuscitating the name of Rome and the authority of the Empire. Paulus Diaconus could not remain a stranger to this work, and was easily induced to take his share in it, as appears evident from the verses which Petrus Pisanus addressed to him in the name of Charles, in which his talents and his knowledge are exalted, and he is compared to the greatest writers of antiquity. " My daughter," Charles is made to say in these verses, " is to be married in Greece, and it is my desire that Paul may instruct in the Grecian tongue those who are to accompany her to Constantinople." Paul, answering likewise in verse, accepts the office, but modestly declines the royal praises, and at the same time denies that he 72 lEatlg ®|^toniclet0 of Utalg. attempted the conversion of Sigfried, king of Denmark, which Charles in another poem by Petrus Pisanus attributed to him. About this time Paul composed the epitaphs of Ildegard wife of Charlemagne (d. 'J^z)^ of his sisters and daughters. Besides, also at Charles's request, he finished a valuable collection of homilies, already begun at Montecassino, and which doubtless was of great assistance to the clergy, who at that time were almost without exception exceedingly ignorant. Nor were these the only literary labours of this monk, who had now become a celebrity among the men of letters of his day. He made an extract of the famous Essay of Festus Pompeius, De Verboritm Significatione, preserving thus for posterity a docu- ment which is still of great value to students of Roman Law. At the request of Angilramnus, bishop of Metz, Paul wrote the history of the bishops of Metz, and so began the series of epis- copal histories on this side of the Alps which have done such good service in every country in com- pleting the general history of the Christian Church and of its gradual development. In this work he gave a diffuse account of the life of St. Arnulph, a member of the Carolingian family, and did not omit this opportunity of celebrating the glory and the virtues of Charlemagne. It must have been at the court of Charles that Paul formed ties of warm and intimate friendship with Adalard, abbot of the famous monastery of Corvey, a relation of Charle- paulu?} l^iacontt^. 73 magne's, and one of the most important personages of that age. This friendship also bore literary fruit, as, at the wish of his friend, Paul undertook to look through and revise the letters of Gregory the Great, whose life he also wrote, but, being taken ill, was not able to complete more than a short part of the whole work, which he sent to Adalard together with a letter full of affection. It appears that Paul, during the many years that he remained there, visited the greater part of France and its principal monasteries ; but the attractions of that country were not enough to make him forget his own beloved land, nor were the many friendships that he formed able to retain him permanently at the court of Charles. Perhaps, as Wattenbach observes, the growing enmity be- tween Charles and Arechis, the Lombard prince of Benevento, which finally broke out into open warfare, may have ended in making that residence a painful one for him, although these events did not in any way disturb his personal relations with the king. At any rate, in 'jZ'j we again find Paul at Montecassino, where he composed a fine epitaph for Prince Arechis, who died that very year ; and thus gave a last pledge of his faithful friendship for the husband of his pupil Adelperga. The yearning aspiration of the monk was at length satisfied. After his long wanderings amidst the turmoil of the world and the pomps of courts, he finally returned to enjoy that undisturbed peace of 74 ^arls ^f)xom\m of Italg, which certain spirits feel more imperiously the need, the longer and more repeatedly it has been denied to them. From the summit of that mountain where so many centuries of holy memories are accumulated, and where St. Benedict: sowed a seed which bore such civilizing fruit, this solitary monk, free at last from all worldly cares, was able to lift his thoughts from the observation of secular events, to the calm contemplation of the Divine Source of all. Thus in that tranquil retreat he employed the remainder of his days in composing the last two labours of his pen, a commentary on the Monastic Rule, and that history of the Lombards which secured him a lasting place among the best writers of the Middle Ages. Paul seemed destined for an historian by his birth and the circumstances of his life. Born in Italy of Lombard parentage, when the Lombard rule was drawing near its fall, attached to the people from whom he sprang, and the friend of their princes, and on the other hand educated by Italian masters in the traditions, doubly Latin, both of classical and ecclesiastical studies, Paulus Diaconus was both Italian and Lombard. Hence that kind of patriotism which in him combined the two races, and seemed to symbolize a fusion between them which could not ever be complete, and was only partially reached when the Lombard oppressor, con- quered by the Franks, found himself in this common misfortune on a nearer level with the oppressed ^aulu^ iSiaconu0. 75 race. Paul had already, when working at Eutropius, narrated the history of Rome, and now he seemed only to have changed the title of his work, and in the history of the Lombards to be writing the con- tinuation of the former. The primitive Germanic races, without letters or culture, entrusted the pre- servation of their genealogies and of their daring deeds to tradition, which handed them down in songs and legends. The office of the historian was to extract from these the life of the people whom they celebrated, when the accumulation of events and the dawn of civilization created an almost unconscious wish for a more trustworthy and lasting narrative. Hence this continual interweaving of real and legendary facts, which gives a special character to the history of the Lombards, who, indeed, rough but chivalrous by nature, often acted in a romantic manner, and influenced more by a wish to show off their prowess than by reasons of state or prudence. A great Italian historian, Cesare Balbo, has very justly remarked that from the times of King Authari and Queen Theodolinda (that Theodolinda who was the friend of Gregory the Great), " in Italy the days if not the name of chivalry may be said to date, — days more agreeable to the imagination than in reality, more admirable in romance than in history, — days not without their virtues, but virtues lavishly thrown away." And indeed no tale of chivalry of a later age tells us of a more romantic or poetical adventure than 76 lEatlg &'i)tom\m of Italg. the following one which we translate from Paul's words : — "And afterwards King Authari sent ambas- sadors to Bavaria, to ask for the daughter of the King Garibald in marriage. He received them graciously, and promised to give his daughter Theodolinda to Authari. So when the ambas- sadors returned with this answer, Authari wished to see for himself what his bride was like, and taking with him a few chosen Lombards, and one especially in whom he had great confidence to act as elder of the party, proceeded to Bavaria without delay. And when they had been conducted, after the manner of ambassadors, into the presence of King Garibald, and when that one who had come as elder had, after the first greetings, made the customary harangue, Authari then came forward, knowing that he could not be recognized by any of that country, and approaching the king, said, * My lord King Authari, has specially sent me hither that I may see and be able to describe to my lord your daughter, his bride and our future lady.' Then the king, hearing this, sent for his daughter ; and Authari, seeing that she was of most graceful appearance, long contemplated her in silence, and being charmed with her in every respect, turned to the king, saying, ' Since we see your daughter to be such as appears to us to deserve that she should become our queen, we would ask, if it please your mightiness, that she may hand to us now the wine- ^aulu0 J^iaconug, 77 cup, as she will do hereafter/ And when the king had agreed that this should be done, she, taking the wine-cup, handed it first to him who seemed to be the elder. Then she ofifered it to Authari, whom she did not know to be her be- trothed ; and he, after he had drunk and returned the cup, touched her hand, without being perceived by the others, with his finger, and then drew his hand over his face from the forehead downwards. This she related to her nurse with shamefaced blushes ; to which her nurse replied, * Unless this man were himself the king and your betrothed, he would certainly not venture to touch you ; how- ever, in the mean time let us say nothing about it, nor even mention it to your father. For in truth he is most worthy both to govern a kingdom and to be joined to you in matrimony.' For at that time Authari was in the prime of his manhood, of noble stature, with a profusion of fair hair and of a very dignified appearance. Afterwards, having re- ceived an escort from the king, they set off on the return journey to their country, and hurriedly passed the frontiers of Noricum. For the pro- vince of Noricum, which is inhabited by bar- barians, has Pannonia to the east of it, Suabia to the west, on the south Italy, and on the north the river Danube. And when Authari was already near the confines of Italy, and had still with him the Bavarian escort, he rose as high as he could in his saddle, for he was on horseback, and struck 78 lEarlg d^^^tomlm of Italg, with all his might a small axe which he carried in his hand into a tree near him, leaving it hanging in the tree, and adding these words : * Such are the wounds made by Authari.' And when they heard this, the Bavarians who were escorting him under- stood that he was himself King Authari." Nor is it only in such facts that the story of the Lombards has so legendary a character. This chivalrous tendency spoken of by Balbo shows itself in many of the most important political events of the time, and leaves its impress on many real actions of the Lombard people. This tend- ency also is reflected as in a mirror in the simple and imaginative mind of Paulus Diaconus, and it is fortunate for posterity that it is so. He finds in it the inspiration of his narrative, which treats of historical facts with the vivid colouring borrowed from tradition, and does not spoil their effect by exhibitions of empty erudition or by attempts at criticism, which could not in his time have been other than imperfect. Thus he makes us inti- mately acquainted with that Lombard age, and his characters are painted with a vigour and richness of colouring which wonderfully help us to under- stand them, and to reconstruct those times, of which he alone has left us so general and lasting a record. Lombards, Greeks, Romans, from the reign of Albuin to that of Liutprand, all pass vividly before us. All these kings, their principal adherents, and their most determined foes, the heaven-inspired ^aulu^ Biaconu^. 79 saints, the women of heroic virtues or of wicked wiles, all live again and pass before us in the pages of Paul. Open battles or conspiracies, the splen- dour of courts or the caves of hermits, sacrilege and miracles, the most devoted faithfulness and the darkest treachery follow each other and are woven together in lively contrast. We should gladly give many extracts in confirmation of what we say, but the limits of our space forbid our doing so, and we must content ourselves with one long and remark- able episode, giving it mainly as Paul himself re- lates it. After the glorious reign of Rothari, the great Lombard legislator, and the very short one of his son Rodoald, Aripert, son of a brother of Queen Theodolinda, was called to the throne and reigned for nine years, of which the history tells us next to nothing. After his death his two sons, Godepert and Perctarit, divided the kingdom between them, the former fixing his residence at Pavia, the second at Milan. This division, quite a novelty for the Lombards, shows how unsettled general feeling was about the election, and how difficult any agree- ment was. Indeed, after a short time the brothers came to open discord, and Godepert, at the insti- gation of evil advisers, sent the duke of Turin to the south of Italy to Grimuald, duke of Bene- vento, then one of the most powerful princes, and held in high esteem for his personal qualities. The ambassador was commissioned to offer Grimuald a 8o lEatlg ©l^tomckr^ of Ital^. sister of Godepert's in marriage, and to ask his assistance against Perctarit ; but he betrayed his master, and offered instead the crown to Grimuald, exhorting him to take advantage of the dissensions between the two brothers, in order to make himself king of Italy. When Grimuald betook himself to Lombardy, the duke of Turin, always intent on his project, succeeded so well in exciting suspicions in the minds of both, that their first meeting ended tragically in the murder of Godepert by the hand of Grimuald. As soon as King Perctarit heard of this, he found himself obliged to leave Milan so hastily, that his queen and his son Cunipert were left behind, and were both sent into exile to Benc- vento. Grimuald then married the sister of the murdered Godepert — a fact, though strange, not without its parallel in Lombard history, — and was confirmed king at Pavia, in the year 662. The vicis- situdes of the dethroned King Perctarit during his exile until he regained his throne are thus narrated by Paulus Diaconus : " When therefore the king- dom on the Ticino had been assured to Grimuald, he not long afterwards married the daughter of King Aripert, who had been already betrothed to him, and whose brother Godepert he had killed. He also sent home, after having rewarded it largely, the army from Benevento, through the assistance of which he had made himself master of the kingdom, retaining, however, at his court some members of it, whom he enriched with large possessions. ^aulus Utaconu^. " Later, when he heard that Perctarit had fled to Scythia, and was living there with a khan, he sent an embassy to this khan, who was king of the Avari, to let him know that if he allowed Perctarit to remain in his kingdom, he could no longer hope to be at peace, as he had been hitherto, with the Lombards and with himself. When the king of the Avari heard this he summoned Perctarit, and told him to depart in whatever direction he wished, in order not to create enmity between the Avari and the Lombards. On hearing this, Perctarit returned to Italy in order to appeal to Grimuald, of whose great clemency he had heard much. As soon as he reached Lodi, he sent forward a very faithful follower of his, to announce his coming to Grimuald. When Unulph came to the king he informed him that Perctarit was coming, trusting in his good faith ; and the king hearing this, promised solemnly that no evil should happen to him since he put his trust in him. In the mean time Perctarit arrived, entered, and made an effort to throw himself at Grimuald's feet ; the king, however, would not permit it, and graciously rais- ing him, kissed him. And then Perctarit : ' I am thy servant,' saith he ; ' and it is because I know thee to be so truly Christian and pious that I, who could live among the heathen, have come to thy feet, supported by the belief in thy clemency.' To him the king replied, sealing the promise with his usual oath, ' By him who begat me, since thou IT. • G 82 iEarlg (i^f)m\xtUt^ ai Ittalg, hast come trusting to my good faith, thou shalt surely suffer no evil, and I shall so provide for thee that thou maycst live honourably.' Then having appointed for him an apartment in a spacious palace, he desired him to rest after the fatigues of his journey, commanding that his food and all other requirements should be liberally supplied at the public cost. But Perctarit, when he had with- drawn to the dwelling provided for him by the king, was presently visited by large numbers of the citizens of Pavia, either from curiosity or because they were old acquaintances. But who is safe from slanderous tongues } For later, certain ill- natured flatterers, coming to the king, warned him that unless Perctarit were quickly made away with, he would himself soon lose both life and kingdom ; for this they declared was the cause of his being visited by the whole of the city. Grimuald, too credulous in accepting these accusations, and for- getful of his promises, is inflamed with a sudden desire for the death of the innocent Perctarit, and holds counsel as to the way in which, it being already late, he should have him killed on the morrow. At length he sends him a variety of dishes for his supper, with choice wines and dif- ferent kinds of drinks, in the hope of making him drunk, so that, spending the whole night in feast- ing, and oppressed by wine, he might not think of taking any measures for his safety. A certain one, however, who had been among the followers of his paulu^ Staconus. 83 father, and being the same who brought now this royal banquet to Ptrctarit, bowed his head even below the table in act of homage, and informed him secretly of the king's intention to kill him. Perctarit then immediately desired his cupbearer to bring him nothing but a little water in a silver goblet. When, therefore, those who brought all these different kinds of drink from the king begged him in the king's name to drink the whole goblet, he, declaring he would drain it in honour of the king, in reality only sipped a little water from this silver cup. And when the messengers reported to the king how greedily he was drinking, the king replied, quite delighted, ' Let the drunken fellow drink ; for to-morrow he will shed all this wine mixed with his own blood.' But Perctarit, having quickly called Unulph to him, told him of the king's designs against his life. Whereupon Unulph sent his servant immediately to his house to bring his bed-things, and to make him up a bed close to that of Perctarit. Nor was it long before Grimuald directed his satellites to guard the house in which Perctarit was sleeping, and not to let him by any means escape. When the supper was ended and every one had left, and only Perctarit and Unulph remained with the keeper of the ward- robe, of whose fidelity they were both sufficiently assured, they discovered to him the matter and implored of him, while Perctarit was escaping, to feign for as long as possible to be asleep in Perc- 84 IBarlg ©j^tomckt^ of Italg, tarit's bed-chamber. He having promised to do so, Unuiph loaded Perctarit's head and shoulders with the bed-things, the mattress and the bear- skin, and began to drive him out of the doors on purpose like a rustic servant, scolding him angrily, and not ceasing to whip and urge him on, so that often he fell to the ground from the violence of the blows. And when the royal satel- lites who were keeping watch asked Unuiph what all this meant, he answered, * This good-for-nothing servant of mine put my bed in the bed-chamber of that drunkard Perctarit, who is so full of wine that he lies there half dead. But now 'tis enough : I have endured his madness till now ; henceforth, while our lord the king likes, I shall remain in my own house.' When they heard this they were well pleased, for they believed it to be true, and allowed him to pass together with Perctarit, whom they supposed to be a servant, and whose head was purposely covered that he might not be recognized. When they had left, that most faithful keeper of the wardrobe, having carefully fastened the door, remained within alone. In the mean time Unuiph let down Perctarit by a rope from the corner of the wall which is near the river Ticino, and col- lected round him as many friends as he could. They, having seized upon the horses which they found in the meadows, hurried on that same night to the town of Asti, in which some remained who were friends to Perctarit, and who were still in ^aulu^ l3iaconu^. 85 rebellion against Grimuald. Thence Perctarit, going on to the city of Turin with all speed, and crossing then the frontiers of Italy, reached the country of the Franks. And thus God Almighty, by the providence of his mercy, both saved an innocent man from death, and a king who in his heart desired to act aright, from a great offence. " But in the meantime. King Grimuald, while he thought that Perctarit was asleep in his house, caused a body of men to be distributed between that house and the palace, in such a manner that Perctarit, being led through the midst of them, might not by any means escape. When those sent by the king to call forth Perctarit had come and had knocked at the door where they supposed him to be sleeping, that keeper of the wardrobe who was within prayed them, saying, ' Have pity upon him, and let him sleep a little, for he is still oppressed with a heavy sleep after the fatigues of his journey.' Which, when they had agreed to, they reported to the king, namely, that Perctarit was still overcome with a heavy sleep. To which he rejoined, * He drank so much wine last night that he cannot yet wake.' However, he com- manded them to arouse him now, and conduct him to the palace. So when they came to the door where they imagined that Perctarit was sleeping, they began to knock louder. Then the keeper of the wardrobe again began to beg of them to let Perctarit sleep a little longer. But they, calli'ng S6 lEarlg ©j^toutcler^ of Balg. out angrily that this drunkard had slept enough, break open the door with kicks, and having got in, look for Perctarit in his bed. Not finding him, they ask the keeper of the wardrobe what has become of him. To which he replies that he has escaped. Then immediately seizing him by the hair and striking him furiously, they drag him off to the palace. And having led him into the king's presence, they declare that he has abetted in the flight of Perctarit, and is therefore worthy of death. But the king desired them to loosen him, and inquired of him, in order, the manner of Perctarit's flight ; and he recounted to the king everything just as it happened. Then the king asked those who stood around him, saying, * What do you think of this man who has done such things ? ' Then they all replied with one accord that he deserved to die after many tortures. But the king exclaimed, ' By him who begat me, that man is deserving of good treatment who feared not to suffer death for the sake of his lord.' And then he commanded that he should be made one of his keepers of the wardrobe, admonishing him to be as faithful to him as he had been to Perctarit, and promising him many advantages. And when the king asked what had become of Unulph, he was told that he had taken refuge in the Basilica of the Archangel Michael. Then he sent to him, pro- mising of his own accord that no evil should befall him, if only he would trust himself to him. And paulu0 Sliacottu^, S; Unulph, when he heard these promises of the king's, came to the palace, and throwing himself at the king's feet, was asked by him in what way and manner Perctarit had been able to escape. And when he had narrated everything to him in order, the king praised his fidelity and prudence, and graciously assured to him all his present posses- sions as well as any he might acquire in the future. "And when, some time after, the king asked Unulph whether he still wished to be with Perc- tarit, he answered with a solemn oath that he would rather die with Perctarit than live anywhere else in the midst of the greatest delights. Then the king asked also that same keeper of the ward- robe whether he liked better to stay with him in his palace, or to follow Perctarit in his wanderings ; and when he had answered just the same things as Unulph, the king, after listening graciously to what they had to say, and praising them for their fidelity, desired Unulph to take whatever he liked from his house — that is to say, servants and horses, and all sorts of household chattels, and to make all haste to Perctarit, and that no one should harm him. In the same way he dismissed the keeper of the ward- robe. So that having been able to take away through the king's kindness all that belonged to them, they departed with his assistance for the country of the Franks, in order to reach their beloved Perctarit." The drama, however, was not yet finished. P'ive 88 lEarlg (^i)toMm of Xtalg, years later Grimuald died from a wound which his doctors were suspected of having poisoned, and his chronicler thus sums up his character and appear- ance : " Powerful in body, foremost in daring, bald, with a prominent beard, gifted no less in mind than in bodily strength." At the very time of his death, Perctarit was preparing to sail for Britain, and had, indeed, already embarked when a supernatural voice called to him from the shore, bidding him return to his own country, for that Grimuald had died three days before. Obeying the Divine command he started without delay, and on reaching the Italian frontier found waiting for him the court officials and great dignitaries of the kingdom, and great multitudes of people. So he returned in triumph to Pavia and within three months of Grimuald's death was raised again to the throne by the unanimous wish of the Lombards. A son of Grimuald's, by a former marriage, reigned at Benevento as duke, but of the little Garibald, off- spring of his later marriage with Perctarit's sister, we have little or no trace beyond the fact of his uncle having superseded him. Perctarit reigned for seventeen years, during the last ten of which he associated his son in the government, and of him also we have the following succinct description : " He was of goodly stature, corpulent in body, in all things 'gentle and gracious," which explains to some extent the devotion of his followers. From the examples we have given, it will not be ^ftuUt^ Btaconu^« 89 difficult for the reader to comprehend the principal merits of Paul as a writer, as well as his defects. Born at a time when Latin literature had lapsed into complete barbarism, he wrote well as compared with his contemporaries, but certainly we must not expect from him that unerring purity of style which belongs to the Latin authors of another age. A sweet and often elegant poet, he handles the Latin language with the easy if not irreproachable grace of one who had spoken it from his boyhood. His style is very unequal, and the inequality arises often from the sources whence he draws his narra- tive. Generally he is clear, but sometimes we meet with passages in his book so intricate and obscure, that they still cause the desperation of the learned who have to interpret them. He loves truth with the fervour of a thoroughly honest man, but his credulity leads him to repeat in perfect good faith just as he finds them all the miraculous stories scattered in chronicles or preserved in traditions. Yet we should not be ungrateful to him for this, since his vast and at that time unusual erudition might easily have tempted him to spoil the sim- plicity of his narrative, which would have diminished both its charm and its historical value. As it is, his history is of immense importance, especially as we have the certainty that he made use of the materials, now irrecoverably lost, of an older his- torian of the Lombards, Secundus, bishop of Trent. Accustomed to interest himself in many places and 90 ISarlg (^hxonUim o! Xtalg. countries, his canvas is a very wide one, and he has drawn largely upon other writers in order to give accounts of events which happened at a distance both of time and space from himself Hence he often has recourse not only to the Ori^-o and Bishop Secundus, but to Gregory of Tours, the Venerable Bede, the lives of the popes, the works of Gregory the Great, and other similar writers. The love of truth which animated him, the many things seen during his travels, his familiar intercourse with the Lombard and Prankish courts, gave him great facilities for collecting the traditions of the past ; while his own ingenuous character added that "touch of nature" which gives life to his Avhole narrative. Whenever the Historm Laiigobardoriim deals with real events, it is always worthy of the utmost consideration, and its testimony is important; when, on the other hand, it introduces legendary matter, we feel at least that it depicts the manners of the Lombards, just as the magic pen of Walter Scott has reproduced, better than any historian, the early history of Scotland. CHAPTER III. DECAY OF ITALIAN CHRONOGRAPHY — THE "LIBER PONTIFICALIS " — THE ACTS OF THE NEAPO- LITAN BISHOPS — AGNELLUS OF RAVENNA — POLEMICAL WRITINGS OF AUXILIUS AND VULGARIUS — THE MONASTERIES AND THE SARACEN INVASIONS — FARFA : THE " CON- STRUCTIO" — LIVES OF THE SAINTS OF ST. VINCENT ON THE VOLTURNO — THE " DE- STRUCTIO"— MONTECASSINO: CHRONICLE OF ST. BENEDICT — CATALOGUES — TRANSLATIONS OF RELICS — "HISTORIA" OF ERCHEMPERT — CHRONICLE OF SALERNO — ANDREW OF BER- GAMO—PANEGYRIC OF BERENGARIUS— STATE OF LAY EDUCATION IN ITALY — POLITICAL CONDITIONS — LIUTPRAND — IMPERIALIST WRITINGS — BENEDICT OF SORACTE — VENE- TIAN CHRONICLE OF JOHANNES DIACONUS. The Historia of Paulus Diaconus received several unimportant additions/ of which only passing men- ^ Pauli Continuationes in the Sa-iptores Rerum Langobardicarum et Italtcarum, scec. vL-ix, of the Monumenia Ger7nanics Historica. 92 i£arlg ©fitonickr^ of Jtalg, tion need be made in a work like the present, which does not regard the labours of the chroniclers exclusively as sources of history, but also as indica- tions of the literary condition of the Middle Ages. We have come now to the time of greatest poverty in the Italian chronicles. After the last traces of classicism in the Gothic period, and the effort towards a revival made by Charlemagne, and which ceased with him, there followed a profound decline, and Paul's remarkable work is succeeded by scanty chronicles and historical mem.oirs of very secondary importance. ''It is much to be regretted," writes Muratori in his Annals, when speaking of this age, "that Italian history should leave us for so long uninformed of the facts and events of the time, and only some faint light remains for us in the old ultramontane writers." And in fact, from the time of the Carolingians to that of the Othos, except when we are aided by indirect documents, such as inscriptions, diplomas, and similar remains, we are often obliged to have recourse to German and French sources, to gain some information respect- ing this obscure period of Italian history. Although the laity, as w^e shall see, had not lost all trace of literary attainments, the clergy on the other hand were too much mixed up in political agitations, and too much engrossed by them, to give their attention to historical writings. Generally ecclesi- astical education seemed to be all directed to the management of state affairs, so that the documents Eii&ct ^otttificaliiS. 93 most valuable, both for the vigour of their style and their historical importance, which we have at that time, are the collections of pontifical letters of Nicholas I. (d. ^y) and of John VIII. (d. 882). Still this silence during the ninth century in Italy concerning contemporary events was not absolute. The events themselves sometimes necessarily pro- duced documents, which, directly or indirectly, belong to history. Among these the Liber Ponti- ficalis occupies a prominent place, as during the first half of the ninth century it is of great assist- ance towards tracing the history of the Church generally, and more especially of Rome. For a long time this work went by the name of a single author, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, a man of much learning, who translated several books from the Greek, and most probably compiled the life of the Pope Nicholas I. But to attribute the whole Liber Pontificalis to one author is to contradict the very nature of the work, which consists in a series of biographical notices of the popes, compiled more or less at length at various times and by various writers. The history of this book and of its com- pilations, the inquiries with regard to the authors of it, the criticism of its different manuscripts have occupied for long the learned, and have given rise quite lately to dissertations full of erudition and merit. But we must pass them over, and limit ourselves to hoping that a definite edition may soon be the result of these scientific discussions, 94 lEarlg ©j^tomclm of Xtalg, while we briefly describe the first part of this book, which may be likened to the rising and course of a river, with its constant changes of form and scene. The need, continually felt for ecclesiastical pur- poses, of a familiar knowledge of the pontifical chronology first originated the book. So it was that about the fourth century, the Liber Pontificalis began to be compiled from the old catalogues of the names of the popes, from their sepulchral in- scriptions, from mentions of them found either in letters or books. At first the biographies gave a bare mention of the name, the family, the country of the pontiff, the duration of his pontificate, the decrees made in his time, and the place of his burial. Between one pontiff and another was men- tioned the length of time during which the chair was vacant. By degrees, however, this concise information gave way to fuller notices, which gradually took the form of complete biographies, rich in valuable details. Unfortunately in the last quarter of the ninth century, when we should hava had greatest need of such assistance, it fails us almost entirely. The traditional custom of keep- ing these records being interrupted by political disturbances, the book falls back into its primitive bareness, and again becomes a mere catalogue. Later, in the pontificate of Leo IX., on the revival of historical culture, we shall again find it fuller in facts and more florid in style — in this also similar to a river which, after burying itself for a time, ©cista lEpi^coporum KfapoUtanonim. 95 reappears elsewhere unexpectedly with a stronger and a fuller stream. When Paulus Diaconus wrote the Gesta of the bishops of Metz, he inaugurated a new kind of his- torical literature, which really supplied a want of the times, and met with imitators in many places during the following centuries. The same idea which had suggested the Liber Pontificalis also gave rise here and there in various dioceses to his- tories of the bishops, which often are of the more value for the general history of the Church on account of the importance of the sees, and the de- ficiency of other records. So the histories of the Neapolitan and Ravennese bishops, compiled in the ninth century, are documents of no slight moment for any one who is following carefully the vicissitudes of that age. Like the collection of the lives of the Roman bishops, the Gesta Episco- porum Neapolitanorum are the work of different writers, although also like them they were for a long time attributed almost wholly to one author, Johannes Diaconus. Waitz, in a recent addition of this book,^ has shown how it must be divided into three parts. The first, compiled by an unknown author towards the end of the eighth century. * Gesta Episcoporiim N'eapolitanorum edidit G. Waitz, in the volume Scriptores Renwi Langobardicartim et Italicartim, scec. vi.-ix. of the Monumenta GermanicB Historica. In what we say of the text of the Gesta we follow almost exclusively the authority of Waitz, whose edition is likely to remain the definite one. g6 lEarlg C^j^roniclm of Ktalg. begins with Christ, and descends to the year 763, adding with its dry records little or nothing to our knowledge. The second part belongs to that Johannes Diaconus to whom formerly nearly all the book was attributed, and to whom the credit still remains of having composed the larger and more important part. John began his work while a very young man, and taking up the history of the Neapolitan bishops from the year ^6^, when the other had left it, he brought it down to the death of the Bishop Athanasius I. (a.D. 872). The be- ginning of the life of this bishop's successor, written by a certain sub-deacon named Peter, forms the third part of the work, or rather the only fragment of it left, and it is so short that we need not stop to examine it. John has written his part with a fair amount of exactitude, nor can his Latin be accused of many errors. Considering the times, he is a writer of some merit, and is especially praise- worthy in the care with which he examines the truth of his facts, and the assurance of it which he gives his reader. This principal work of John's, as well as other minor ones, on the lives of some Neapolitan saints and the translation of their relics, owe their historical value to the numerous relations of Naples with other places, and especially with Rome, Greece, and the principality of Benevento. Of greater moment is the pontifical book by Agnellus of Ravenna. The very great importance of this city at the time of the decline of the Empire ^gttdlug of i^abcuna. 97 not only continued, but, on account of its favourable position on the Adriatic, rather increased during the first centuries of the Middle Ages. After the war with the Goths, Italy being reconquered by the Greeks, and then again for the greater part lost through the invasion of the Lombards, Ravenna became the seat of the Imperial Government, and might be considered, far more than Rome, the capital of the Empire in Italy. While the exarchs were governing the Pentapolis from Ravenna in the name of the emperors, Rome, surrounded by the Lombard dominion, became less and less subject to the imperial influence, since the popes did all they could to strengthen their own, and sought to free themselves from their dependence on Constanti- nople. So it happened that from this importance of the city of Ravenna resulted the importance of its see, and the authority of its archbishops rose so high as to induce them sometimes even to withstand Rome herself, and to refuse to recognize her pre- tensions to supremacy. From this it is easy to understand how great the value must be of this book of Agnellus, dealing as it does with these powerful bishops. In form much the same as the Roman Liber Pontificalis, it has also the same title, although it often shows itself but little favourable to Rome. Contrary to the custom of those who compiled the papal Lives, Agnellus has not omitted to make considerable mention of himself in his book, and hence we have no difficulty in forming IT. H 98 lEarlg (i^]}mxic\m of Utalg, an idea of his life. Born about 805, at Ravenna, of a noble family, and destined from childhood for the Church, he was educated in the cathedral {Ecclesia Ursiand), While still a child, he had the benefice conferred upon him of the Abbey of St. Mary ad Biachernas, and later that also of St. Bar- tholomew. The latter, however, afterwards was taken from him for some time by the Archbishop George, who from being his great friend became his enemy, and according to Agnellus without any good reason. He was ordained priest by Petronax, the archbishop who ruled the see from the year 817 till 835. Not only did the birth and riches of Agnellus combine to place him in a high position, but he also was as greatly distinguished among the clergy for his talents and learning as for his merely external advantages. This indeed is not saying much, as the last editor of Agnellus justly observes, for the clergy of Ravenna at that time were com- pletely uneducated, still it was enough to encourage him to undertake a work of no little utility for the distant future. A lover of the fine arts, and fre- quently commissioned to attend to the ornamenting and restoring of the churches of Ravenna, he does not omit to speak of them, and thus his book is also of use in tracing the history of those monu- ments which still make Ravenna among the most remarkable cities of Italy. He knew Greek, and often introduces Greek words into his writings, which, however, is quite natural in a country sub- ^gnellu^ of Mabenna. 99 ject to the Greek rule. It appears that his repu- tation for learning led the other priests of Ravenna to persuade him to undertake the office of writing the history of their bishops. Having agreed to do so, Agnellus proceeded but slowly with his task, although urged on impatiently by his colleagues, to whom he apparently read his book bit by bit as he composed it. This work, completed about the middle of the ninth century, begins from the Apos- tolic times with the life of St. Apollinaris, and comes down to the bishops who were contem- poraries of the author. It is a generally adopted opinion that it owed its original impulse to the Roman Liber Pontificalis, but we cannot see much foundation for this idea, which has grown out of the identity of name and out of some similarities in the arrangement ; but such similarities seem to us un- avoidable in a work of which the aim and materials were so similar. Besides, on this supposition how are we to explain why Agnellus never appears to have made use of the Roman Lives "i In many instances he might have extracted from them notices which he would have found useful with regard to the bishops of Ravenna, and it is very unlikely that he would have failed to do so had he been acquainted with the book. But however this may be, one of the merits of the work of Agnellus consists in his having had recourse, not only to books, but to other sources of information. One of its similarities to the Lives of the Popes is its frequent mention of the public 100 ISarlfi ^j^roniclcv^ of 3Italj)» monuments, and the fact that much of its history is derived from them. As we have said, Agnellus had a knowledge of art which was of great service to him in his labours, and we constantly meet in his book with descriptions of the churches and of other buildings of the city, while his narrative is sup- ported by the authority of epigraphs found in them. Neither does he neglect the personal appearance of the great men of whom he speaks, giving us descrip- tions of them taken from the numerous pictures then existing in Ravenna, of which there still re- mains a comparative wealth even after so many centuries and so many vicissitudes. " And if any of you, who are reading this ponti- fical book, should be disposed to doubt, and should wish to inquire, saying : ' Why did he not recount the acts of this bishop as he did those of the others, his predecessors } ' Listen, on this account : I, Agnellus, also called Andreas, a humble priest of this my humble Church of Ravenna, have com- posed this aforesaid pontifical book from the time of the blessed Apollinaris for about eight hundred years and more after his death, at the request and insistence of the brothers of this same see. And when I found what they had certainly done, it is pre- sented to your view, and I have not defrauded your eyes of what I heard from the elders and ancient men ; and when I have heard no history of them nor of what manner was their life, either through aged and long-lived men, or through some building, or ^gnellus; of jClabenna. lot through any other kind of authority, I have, God helping me through your prayers, composed their lives in order as one after the other held this see, that no interval should be left between the holy pontiffs ; and I believe not to have lied, as they were men of prayer, chaste, charitable, and winners of men's souls for God. But if there has been wonder among you how I could know about their likeness, know that painting taught me, as portraits were always made in their likeness during their lifetime ; and if there is any question as to whether I was right in describing their appearance from the pic- tures, Ambrosius of Milan, the holy bishop, in his Passion of the blessed martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, says of the appearance of the blessed Apostle Paul : * Whose countenance a picture taught me.'" As might be expected from this method of writing history, Agnellus mixes up many miracu- lous legends with his facts and the artistic details which he indirectly gives us. When in the older lives the assistance of positive information fails him and he knows little beyond the name of the bishop, he considers himself authorized to add on his own account meritorious acts and words of praise, com- paring, with somewhat bitter reproaches, these ideal lives of the ancients, with the real ones of the modern bishops. Not only does this detract from his trustworthiness when relating distant facts, but also his impartiality towards his contemporaries 102 lEarlg Q^f)tomtlm of Italg. is very doubtful, when we consider with what acrimony he expresses himself against the Arch- bishop George, who for a certain time took away from him his abbey of St. Bartholomew. He often uses great freedom of speech with regard to the popes, and shows them little favour, and this fact probably contributed to his being but little known in the Middle Ages, and to hinder the defusion of his book, there being now only one manuscript known which contains the whole of it. As a writer he exhibits the barbarisms of his time, and his rough and inelegant Latin is not even grammatical. His very unequal style has been aptly commented upon by Holder Egger in these words, with which we shall conclude our notice of Agnellus : " His language, like that of all the Italian writers of that age, more similar to the plebeian tongue than to that of the classic authors, pays little attention to grammatical rules. But various parts differ much among themselves in style and manner. He writes sometimes correctly enough, and for him elegantly, sometimes faultily to an extraordinary extent, and quite neglectful of good composition or correct construction. Sometimes he speaks simply and concisely, but when he recounts stories which he has heard, he is verbose, excited, often high- flown, and not seldom obscure. He principally imitates the Holy Scripture, his language being full beyond measure of its sayings, and also the fathers of the Church ; but at times, when he is i^okmical Wixiitt^, 103. carried along by some description, you find him repeating phrases from Virgil. From which also he falls into the ridiculous habit of using ancient names, so that he calls the Greeks of his time Pelasgians, Danaids and Myrmidons. It is more- over to be noted that his language is full of unusual terms — aira^ Xfyo/xlvwv — of such especially as are derived from the Greek." ^ The rapid moral decline which the Roman Church underwent towards the end of the ninth century, while it dried up the sources of the Liber PontificaliSy gave rise to some writings of a polemi- cal character, which have had a continuous historical importance up to these latter times, on account of the numerous questions which have sprung up with regard to papal infallibility. The story is well- known of Pope Formosus, whose dead body was dragged from its sepulchre by order of his suc- cessor and enemy Stephen VI., and was tried and solemnly condemned by a synod. This sacrilegious assembly declared him guilty of having usurped the apostolic chair and of having offended the laws of the Church, and his election was therefore annulled and all the acts of his pontificate declared void. When Formosus had thus been degraded, his disfigured corpse was despoiled of the pontifical insignia, and after being mutilated was thrown with ^ In the preface to the Liber Pontificalis by Agnellus, published in the volume Scriptores Reruni Langobardicariim et Italicariim, scec. vi.-ix. of the Momimenta Germatiice Historica. 104 lEarlg ©j^roniclcr^ of Italg. contumely into the Tiber. The ever-increasing depravity of the times and the ferocity of party- feeling had brought the papacy down to this miserable condition, and Gregory the Great had now successors very different from him. But some writers raised their voice against the vile conduct of Stephen, and undertook the defence of the dead Formosus. One of them, Auxilius, Frank by origin, lived at Naples, and seems to have died as a monk at Montecassino. He had been ordained priest by Formosus, and the ordination being con- sidered void, he, soon after this scandalous event, defended the cause of the condemned pope, which to a certain extent was his own, with much courage and, for that age, with much learning. The other who wrote on the same side was Eugenius Vul- garius, an Italian grammarian, also living as far as we know at Naples, and also author of a defence of Formosus, which was not only a defence but a panegyric. However, after his first writings, he leant for a time towards the opposite party, but again later, v/hen John X. came to the papal chair, he showed himself favourable to Formosus by writing the Invectiva in Romania if indeed he is the author of it, a point not yet quite cleared up. Although written in a heavy and artificial style, this pamphlet is almost eloquent from its tone of angry indignation. The Invectiva attacks the whole city of Rome, and accuses of the execrable crime the Romans who from ancient times were 1£ugcniu0 "Fulsariu^, 105 accustomed to repay their benefactors with death. Hence the holy, just, and cathoh'c Formosus had now to suffer the violence formerly suffered by Romulus, by St. Peter and St. Paul. " You dragged from its sepulchre his corpse which had already been nine months buried. If it should be interro- gated, what will it answer ? If it answered, all that horrible assembly, struck with terror, would in- stantly disperse." So, in few words, he describes the synod which judged Formosus, and which was called horribilis also by the Roman council held in the year 898 in order to make amends for this barbarous insult. From these polemical writings, which, notwith- standing their party tone, bear useful testimony to that extraordinary event, we must now turn to another kind of composition. As soon as St. Bene- dict had founded the first monasteries, the con- ventual system began immediately to take vast proportions. The spark lighted at Subiaco and Montecassino spread far and wide, and bands of Benedictines by this time were scattered over the country districts of Western Europe. As a response to this ascetic tendency many new monasteries were being constantly founded, which, favoured by circumstances, received privileges from princes and were enriched with gifts of land — a less-prized possession then than now — which they colonized, and by means of which they rapidly rose to a state of great wealth and power. The io6 lEadg (^f}xoMm of Balg, rule of St. Benedict, besides prescribing manual labour in the fields, imposed on the monks the duty of copying manuscripts, and this not only secured the inestimable advantage of preserving and multiplying books, but also helped to keep alive in the monasteries a faint trace of that in- tellectual culture which had then almost disap- peared in Italy, being entirely neglected by the rest of the clergy. To this we owe various writings touching the origin and the early beginnings of some monasteries, which were nearly all com- posed in the ninth and tenth centuries.^ Mixed with legends and miraculous stories, these writings contain a considerable mass of true facts, and many touches which the historian can make use of for filling in the picture of an age with regard to which we are singularly in the dark. One of these works relates the origin of the monastery of Farfa in Sabina, which we shall later have occasion to mention more at length. The first foundation is quite uncertain, and involVed in a legendary mist. A holy man named Lawrence, who came from Syria to Rome in the time of Julian the Apostate, is said to have founded this monastery, which was then destroyed on the * In speaking of these monastic writings, we cannot always follow the chronological order as we have tried to do hitherto. In certain cases, for reasons of similarity which the reader will easily understand, we have found it necessary to group together writings which have a long interval between them, thus perhaps exceeding the chrono- logical limit of this chapter. C^on^tructto iFarfcn^t^* 107 coming of the Lombards, or, according to another version, even earlier, at the time of the Vandal invasion under Genseric. Later, with the as- sistance of Faroald duke of Spoleto, the pilgrim Thomas of Morienna rebuilt the monastery. Monks flocked in rapidly from all sides, and the abbey so prospered as shortly to become one of the first in Italy, having a vast extent of territory, and powerful connections with the dukes of Spoleto and with Frank and Lombard sovereigns. Hence the great interest which attaches to all that the Construction or Liber coiistructionis farfensis has to tell us from the year 705, to which the second and certain foundation of the monastery can be approximately assigned, till the year 857, when the record ceases. The work of an unknown monk of the ninth century, this writing has not reached us in the form which its author gave it, and there only remains of it a portion which was later inter- polated into an old manuscript of the monastery containing lessons on the lives of some saints.^ * A fragment of the Constnictio was published according to the only text which remains of it, by the Benedictine Caetani in the third volume of the Acta. SS. Ord. S. Bencdidi, and reproduced in the collection of the Bollandists in the third volume for September. Bethmann was the first to publish the whole text in the Momwienta GermanicB Historka, vol. xi., and thought that it contained the complete original of the Constnictio as it was first written. The learned German, who has done much for the history of Farfa, was however mistaken, and it has recently been shown by Signor Ignazio Giorgi of Rome, in the Archivio delta Societh Romana di Storia Fatria, Anno ii., that the original text has really been lost. io8 lEarl^ ©j^fonklev^ of Ktatg. The fragments which remain are undoubtedly copied from the original, and bear witness to a purer Latin than is usual in contemporary writings. This perhaps is owing to the influ- ence of the ties which always bound the monas- tery to the Lombard and Frank rulers, and made of it, from the beginning, the bulwark nearest to the walls of Rome which the royal and im- perial authority had in its struggles with the apostolic chair. Governed by abbots of Frank origin, at a time when there was far more attention paid to ecclesiastical culture beyond the Alps than in Rome, the monastery never fell into a complete state of literary decay, and later we shall see come forth from its precincts the first beginnings of an historical renaissance, of which this Constructio gives in the mean time some indications. The life of the three founders of the monastery of St. Vincent on the Volturno is closely connected with this record, and has furnished materials for it. This monastery was founded in the first quarter of the eighth century, by three young noblemen of Benevento, through the counsel and assistance of that same Thomas of Morienna who had recalled to life the ruined monastery of Farfa. Autpertus, a monk, and later the abbot of St. Vincent, related the history of its founders not many years after their death. His narrative does not contribute much to our historical knowledge, and we only mention it on account of its connection with the history of Farfa, and as an ancient relic of the Lombard period.^ More instructive, on the other hand, is the Destriictio Farfensis, written at the beginning of the eleventh century by Hugo, abbot of Farfa. After the repeated invasions of the barbarians from the North, Italy had to undergo fresh invasions from Africa. The Saracens, having made themselves masters of Sicily, continued to extend their do- minion in the south of Italy, and where they could not establish themselves permanently, they made temporary excursions, in which they slaughtered and plundered wholesale. They advanced or retreated according to the amount of opposition which they encountered, and which depended on * Nevertheless we think it desirable to quote a passage where reference is made to the colonizing work of monasticism, which it appears to us was carried on in Italy, even in that time of profound moral degeneracy, of which we find traces in most monasteries towards the second half of the ninth century. It is the following passage, in which Thomas of Morienna exhorts the three young men to found their monastery on the banks of the Volturno : ' ' But the place, beloved sons, whither I desire that you should go, is in the province of Samnium, on the banks of the river Volturno, about a thousand steps from where it rises. In which place is situated the oratory dedicated to Christ's martyr named Vincent, and on each side of the river is a thick forest which serves as a habitation for wild beasts and a hiding-place for robbers. But Almighty God, to whom you wish to do service, will both preserve you uninjured in that place, and will keep the road safe and tranquil from fear of robbers for all those going thither, and also will make it abound in fruitful trees when the thorns and brambles have been cut away. Go then, my sons, go and abide in that place without any manner of fear." {Vita Padonis, Tasoiiis ct Tatonis Vultiirnensium^ in the volume already quoted of the Scriptores Remm Lang, et Ital.) no ISarlg ©Stomclcr^ of $talg» the momentary political conditions of the penin- sula. Rome herself, after having been frequently threatened, beheld the Saracenic hordes enter the church of St. Peter, and profane its altars. As was natural, the monasteries of or near the south of Italy, isolated in position and known to be wealthy, were the special object of the Saracens' greed. Their hatred of Christian temples and their rapa- city combined, led to constant raids against these abbeys, which after pillaging they often destroyed. The monastery of Farfa, situated among the Sabine hills and in a sufficiently accessible position, shared the common destiny of destruction. For a long time it remained deserted, and the monks only returned when there was some hope of their doing so in safety. The abbey after its restoration underwent many vicissitudes, until the monk Hugo, having been raised to the dignity of abbot, succeeded, in the course of a long and glorious reign, in raising both the general condition of the monastery and its discipline, which had fallen very low. A remarkable man in many ways, he was not satisfied with reforming his monastery, and restoring to it its pristine splendour, but he also wished to be its historian, and to continue the work of the anonymous author of the Constructio. In the good Latin which was traditional to the school of Farfa, he took up the thread where the other had dropped it, and carried on the history to his own times, entitling it Destructio from the culmi- nating fact related in it of the Saracenic incursion. For the history of these incursions, as well as for that of Rome and Spoleto in the times of Alberic, Marozia and Hugo, King of Italy, the Destructio is of great importance, and merits perhaps more attention than it has yet received from historians. Previous to the destruction of Farfa, the Saracens had destroyed the monasteries of St. Vincent, on the Volturno and of Montecassino. This latter, no less flourishing than the others and more famous, before being finally pillaged by the Arabs, had long been menaced, in consequence of its position halfway between Rome and Naples, on the summit of a mountain which commands the valley of the Garigliano, on the banks of which there was an Arab colony. During this period of anxiety a short chronicle was written, which, after recapitulating with the help of Paulus Diaconus the early history of Montecassino, goes on to give many details of the events in those parts of Italy, from the middle of the ninth century to the year ^67. This chronicle, called the chronicle of St. Benedict, is most valuable, both for the history of the Lombard principality of Benevento, as well as for that of the Arabs in Italy, and of their wars with the Emperor Ludovic II. Like the other chronicles of that time, it mixes up facts with legends, and is written in a Latin the rudeness of which could hardly be surpassed even in that barbarous age. In the following fragment is de- 112 lEarlg ©^t^oniclcr^ of Ktalg, scribed the manner in which the monastery escaped on one occasion from the slaughter which threatened it ; and the way in which the incident is related will show with what caution the historian has to examine these chronicles in order to separate the truth from the falsehood contained in them. " In those days the Saracens, leaving Rome, devastated the whole oratory of Peter, the prince of the most blessed apostles, and the church of the blessed Paul, and they killed there some Saxons,^ and as many more as they could without regard to sex or age. Then, taking the town of Fondi and plundering the neighbourhood, they quartered themselves in the month of September beyond Gaeta. Against these the army of the Franks advanced, but being beaten by the Saracens on the fourth of the Ides of November, took to flight. The Saracens followed them, and captured all their possessions till they came to St. Andrew, whose convent they burnt with fire. Then, when they came to the convent of the most blessed Bishop Apollinarls, called Albianus, and saw near it the holy mount of the most blessed confessor of Christ (Montecassino), they immediately desired to go there, but the lateness of the hour forbade their crossing ; for then such was the cloudlessness of the heavens and the dryness of the earth, that any one could if he wished cross the river on foot. * This seems to refer to soldiers stationed in Rome by the Frank emperors. ©j^tonicle of ^t 2$enetiict 113 But the monks of the blessed Father Benedict, seeing that death was so near them, without loss of time gave each other absolution, imploring the merciful Lord that He would favourably receive their souls in peace, which they expected every minute should depart by a speedy death. And they turned to their blessed master, Benedict, with litanies, and barefoot, and with ashes sprinkled on their heads. Then, while the terror and fearful expectation was greatest, and copious prayer was being made to Almighty God, the Abbot Apolli- narius his predecessor appeared in a vision to the Father Bassacius. * What,' saith he, ' ails you, and why are you so sorrowful? And Bassacius in reply : * Death is imminent, O father, and shall we not be afraid.-^' 'No,' replies he, * be not afraid ; for our pious Father Benedict has obtained your safety. Entreat God constantly with litanies and solemn masses, and God will hear the voice of those calling on Him ; and we, joining with you in the church, do not cease in common with the citizens of heaven to implore our Lord Jesus Christ on your behalf So when the pastor Bassacius had awoke and had declared this thing to the brethren, they all together raised their voices and blessed God, who mercifully saves them who hope in Him. Then suddenly came on a tremendous rain, lightning, and loud thunder, so that the river Carnellus (Garigliano), rising, overflowed its boun- daries, and where the day before the enemy might IT. I TI4 icarig (f^i)tonitUt^ of fitalg have gone over on foot, on the following day, con- strained by the Divine repulse, they could not even reach the bank of the river. They made every effort to cross, and when no way of getting over to the convent was to be found, they ran about furiously hither and thither, such is their fierce bar- barism, biting their fingers with rage and gnashing their teeth. And not to omit their usual crimes, they burnt with fire the convents of the blessed martyrs Stephen and George, and returned to their camp by the Two Lions. After some days, having killed their horses, they began their sea voyage ; and when they approached their province, so that they already could discern the nearer mountains, they, as their manner is, expressed their joy in a nautical shout. Then appeared among them a small ship carrying two men, one having the ap- pearance of an ecclesiastic, the other wearing a monk's habit. These said to them, 'Whence are you coming, and whither do you go .-* ' And they answered, saying, ' We are returning from Peter ; for we devastated all his oratory in Rome, and plundered the neighbourhood. We conquered the Franks and burnt the convents of Benedict. And you,' they add, * who are you ? ' They answer, 'You will soon see who we are.' Instantly arose a violent storm and hurricane, and all the ships were wrecked, and the whole of the enemy de- stroyed, for hardly any one escaped to tell these thinsfs to others. And afterwards the venerable Pope Leo surrounded the oratory of the blessed Peter with very strong, high walls, that such an event might never again occur in Rome." To the chronicle of Montecassino is added a catalogue of the abbots of the monastery, with the years indicated in which they lived and rule(3. And here, as we have mentioned this catalogue, appears to be the place also to speak of this other kind of historical document, not uncommon up to the end of the eleventh century, and very useful, especially for chronology. These catalogues gene- rally consist in a simple list of names of sovereigns, bishops, abbots, and other personages, with a mention of the years in which they governed, and sometimes the record of some event. So, for ex- ample, in one catalogue the series of Lombard kings terminates thus : " Ratchis reigned 5 years, 3 months. " Aystulph reigned 8 years, 6 months. " Desiderius reigned 18 years, 2 months, 10 days. "And thus are completed the 201 years in which the aforesaid twenty kings reigned in the kingdom of Italy, as is set forth above in particular. In which time Pavia was captured, and the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ had at that time entered the year 775. But after these aforesaid twenty kings, the dominion of the kingdom of Italy came to the emperor Charles, who succeeded the above- mentioned Desiderius." And after a few more words the catalogue begins the series of the Caro- ii6 lEarls d^^xomlm of IFtalg, lingians, and continues through all the rulers of Italy up to the Henries of the eleventh century.^ When Montecassino was finally seized and de- vastated by the Saracens (a.d. 833), the monks were obliged to take refuge in the neighbouring towns of Teano and Capua, and there, in a sort of exile, wait for better days. The monk Erchem- pert went with others to Capua, and there wrote a history of the Lombards of Benevento, which begins with Duke Arechis, and extends to the year 889, as usual drawing on Paulus Diaconus and his followers for the older portion. Born at Teano, Erchempert entered the monastery as a boy, and shared its troubled destiny in that age of continual turmoils. Having left Capua for a time after the restoration of Montecassino {SS6), he appears to * From the volume so frequently quoted of the Rerttvt Langob. et Ital. Scriplores, we take the names of a few catalogues, especially those which have an interest for Lombard history, such as the following : Catalogus regiim Langobardoriwi et ducum Bcnetientanoruni^ Cata- logus comitiim Capuan, Catalogus regum Langob ardcrtim et Italiconun Brixiensis et Nonantolanus, Catalogiis regtim Langob. et Ital. Venc- tus, Catalogus regum Langob. et Ital, Lombardus, Catalogus reguin tuscus, Catalogus regum Ital. Oscelensis, Catalogus imperatonivi, regum Italicorum, ducum Bencventanorjcm et Spoletinorujn Farfensis. In the same volume are also published a short and interesting life of St. Anselm, founder of the abbey of Nonantola, and various accounts of translations of relics which are also noteworthy. As is well known, the passion for possessing the relics of saints was so eager in the rude and superstitious times of which we are writing, that they M^ere being constantly carried about by fair or unfair means from one place to another. Under the generic name of translationes there are frequent accounts in the acts of the saints of these transportations, which have often indirectly an historical significance, lEitj^cmpnt 117 have returned there soon after, and to have lived habitually there, perhaps in some convent depen- dent on the mother abbey. During this second residence at Capua, being a Lombard by origin and connections, he was led, in consequence of the entreaties of his friends, to write his history, and to recount the vicissitudes of the Lombards in the south : " Of whom in these days nothing honourable or praiseworthy is known that could be related by a truthful pen, hence I shall, while heaving deep sighs from my inmost heart, go on to recount briefly and rudely not their rule, but their destruc- tion — not their good, but their evil fortune — not their triumph, but their downfall — not how they rose, but in what way they fell — not how they van- quished others, but how by others they were over- come and beaten. And I profess also, yielding to friendly entreaties, to narrate not so much what I have seen with my eyes, as what I have heard with my ears, imitating in part the example given by the Evangelists Mark and Luke, who described rather what they had heard than what they had seen." Living in the midst of the scenes of which he writes, sometimes spectator or victim of the events, more often in direct relation with those who had witnessed them, his narrative flows on with the easy simplicity of one speaking of things with which he is familiar. Somewhat rude in style, but ii8 ^avls ^j^tomcto of Ktalg. not without animation, he gives us many details with regard to the wars which were then weighing heavily on the south of Italy, and to the pillaging it underwent -at the hands alike of Saracens and Greeks; and for these latter he entertains a pro- found contempt, and perhaps even a greater hatred than for the former. His work deserts us at the year 889, but had a sequel which very unfortu- nately is lost. For this loss we are compensated to a certain extent by the work of an anonymous writer of Salerno,^ who gives us particulars about the history of the Lombard principalities up to the year 974. He makes great use of Paulus Diaconus and of Erchempert for his compilation, and can only be looked upon as original in the last part of his work. A lively but not very discerning writer, he is the only chronicler on whom we have to depend in these years for the history of southern Italy. This makes us regret all the more the work of Erchempert, who has certainly among the writers in the South the foremost place, nor are there any even in central Italy who can be com- pared to him, except those of the school of Farfa. In northern Italy two writers, very different from each other, give signs of literary activity in the domain of history. One of them, the priest Andrew of Bergamo, made a resume in the year Z'JJ of the Lombard history by Paulus Diaconus, and con- * Chronicon Salernita^tum, Mon. Germ. Hht. Scriptoresy iii. ^ancggncu^ ^n'cngarii. 119 tinued it up to his own time. This is perhaps the most barbarous of all the writings which we have yet mentioned, so that even its great accuracy, which makes it valuable for what regards the middle of the ninth century, does not prevent it from being exceedingly wearisome. On the other hand, a few years later, on the opening of the tenth century, we come upon an historical poem, which, leaving all other contemporary writings far behind, un- expectedly reveals to us a wide knowledge of the Latin language and of classic authors. Berengarius is the hero of this poem, which enlarges upon the exploits he performed in order to gain first the kingdom of Italy, and later the imperial crown. The poem, entitled Panegyriciis Berengarii, is in truth a panegyric, and therefore, when taken as an isolated source of history, has not much weight. With great address the anonymous author tries to give a legitimate air to every pretension put forward by Berengarius, and to excuse with his verses the tyranny of might. But although this work must not be implicitly trusted, it is of great merit as a literary production. It was apparently composed at Verona, between the years 916 and 924, by a grammarian whose name is unknown. We cannot be sure whether the author was lay or clerical, but it seems more probable, considering the ignorance then prevalent among the clergy, that he was a layman. Proposing to himself the examples of Homer, Virgil, and Statius, he follows 120 lEarlg ©j^ronickr^ of Italg* in their footsteps in relating the exploits of his hero up to his coronation in Rome. Notwithstand- ing many defects, such as involved constructions and artificial or obscure expressions, his hexame- ters — adorned with lines of classical poetry — are put together with sufficient ability, if we remember when they appeared. Intended to be read and studied in the grammatical schools, the panegyric was honoured by a contemporary com- mentary which explains the less easy passages. The commentary itself is also worthy of remark, on account of the excellent knowledge it shows of classical literature, but more especially for a certain way of treating the matter, which gives evidence of this knowledge, not only in the com- mentator, but also in those to whom he addressed himself^ In presence of this work and of the other signs of learning that appear scattered here and there in Italy about that time, the question naturally arises, what was then the state of Italian education ? Was Italy really sunk in the depths of barbarism, * Some verses of two Scotch monks residing in Milan, composed almost entirely in praise of Tadus, archbishop of that city (860-868), and of the Emperor Lothair, prove the presence of foreign men of letters in Lombardy. Some other verses of an indirectly historical character were compiled by an anonymous author in the year 8^6, but are quite worthless. Of decided value, on the contrary, is a long poem in Saphic metre, dictated at Verona in praise of Bishop Adalard. (Cf. Wattenbach, op. cit. i. 251.) All the more interest attaches to this poem because it seems quite certain that the panegyric of Berengarius was also by a Veronese pen. lEDucatiott of ll)c Haitg. 121 as would seem indicated by the scanty ecclesias- tical writings which have reached us from those centuries ? Professor Wattenbach has recently answered this question with such clearness and acumen that we should be defrauding our reader were we to withhold from him the following page of the learned German, or to give it instead in our own words : "Here we meet with a culture which certainly does not originate in the Church, but is nurtured by those isolated grammarians whose activity never ceased in Italy. It is the merit of W. von Giese- brecht to have pointed out that these schools always existed in Italy, and spread a degree of education among the laity which was unknown on this side of the Alps. In Italy, says Wipo in the eleventh century, all the youths go regularly to school, and only in Germany is it considered un- necessary or unbecoming to have a boy instructed unless he is intended for the Church. The Italian laity read their Virgil and Horace, but wrote no books ; while the clergy partly fell into a state of barbarism, partly were too much taken up with political affairs to share in the scientific efforts of the times. In this way we can explain the absence of literary productivity and the poverty of such literature as there was ; while on the other hand, in this panegyrist, and somewhat later in Liutprand, a sudden and astonishing richness of classical learn- ing, and great facility of expression, present them- 122 lEarlg CT^tomtto of Balg, selves, especially in versifying, which was a principal point in the school education. For a few also of the clergy tasted of this forbidden fruit, though in general the Church was opposed to such pastime, seeing in it, and with truth, a pagan element. Science v/as not here taken into the service of the Church ; it asserted its independence, but was almost entirely of a formal character, and therefore essentially unproductive."^ This arid historical era, the scanty sources of which we have tried here to place before the reader as they one by one presented themselves, closes in the year 961 with the rise of the dominion of the Othos. The feeble rule of Charlemagne's succes- sors, by undermining the force of the monarchy, had so strengthened that of the nobles, that they, having become by degrees nearly independent, quarrelled among themselves in a struggle for supremacy. In this way grew up those haughty and powerful lords of Turin, of Friuli, of Tuscany and Spoleto, who aspired to the kingdom, no longer feeling any allegiance to the empire. To this ^ Wattenbach, Dent. Geschichtsqu. i. 252 (ed. 1877). While we coincide in this opinion, we think it right to observe that long before Giesebrecht, the uninterrupted existence of Italian schools had been affirmed and proved by Tiraboschi in his History of Italian literature. On this subject there is an excellent essay by Ozanam, Des J^coles en Italie aux Te??ips Barbares, which takes also into account — perhaps even too favourably — the existence of ecclesiastical schools. A recent work by Salvioli, on public instruction in Italy from the eighth to the tenth centuries, is written in a less comprehensive spirit, but is valuable for its many details. Eiutprant)* 123 period belong the struggles of Berengarius, duke of Friuli, with Guido of Spoleto and with his son Lambert for the throne of Italy, and their disputes with each other and with the German and French princes for the imperial throne (a.d. 888-924) ; also the turbulent and tyrannical reigns of Rudolph, Hugo, and Lothair of Provence, and lastly of Berengarius II. who oppressed Italy, while in Rome the Alberics and the famous Marozia dragged through the mire the papacy of which they had made themselves masters (A.D. 924-961). At this point the darkness begins to diminish, and the age follows of the three Saxon Othos who held the empire and ruled Italy for about forty years, from the year 961 to 1002. This is not the place to examine the advantages and disadvantages of this rule, and how by it that bond between Italy and Germany was drawn so close as to unite the histories of the two nations from that time in a painful chain of events rife with misery and blood. We may mention, however, that Otho the Great, in order to restrain the unbridled power of the nobles, seconded the development of municipal liberty, and in the cities, by increasing the political attributes of the bishops, substituted to a certain extent the power of an elective nobility for that of an here- ditary one. This was the cause of the many adherents whom the Othos numbered among the clergy, and especially among the bishops of North Italy. Pre-eminent among them is Liutprand, 124 iSarlg (i^\)vom\m o( Jtalg. bishop of Cremona, who became the historian of those times.^ Like the more ancient writers whose works we have examined, Liutprand played a distinguished part in public life. He was born about the year 920 in Lombardy, and according to some in the very city of Pavia. Having lost his father in infancy, he was educated with great care by his stepfather, "a man graced with dignity and full of wisdom," as he tells us in words which recall what we have just said of the education of the Italian laity. In the year 931, being recommended to King Hugo as a boy of much talent, and possess- ing a fine voice, he was admitted to the royal court, and gained the king's favour ; later he entered the Church, and was inscribed among the deacons of Pavia. When in 945 Hugo had to fly from his kingdom, Liutprand succeeded in obtaining an honourable position in the court of the new king, Berengarius II. This monarch seems for some time to have appreciated his abilities and to have been glad to make use of them. In the year 949-50 he was sent to Constantinople as ambas- sador, for which position he seemed specially adapted by his education and family traditions, the * Liutprandi episcopi cremonensis opera omnia in usuni scholarujii ex Momimentis Germanics Historicis reciisa. Editio Altera. Recog- novit Ernestus Diimmler^ Ilannovercz, 1877. For all that refers to the life of Liutprand we owe much to DUmmier's admirable and concise preface, in which he recapitulates with great ability the many studies made in this century regarding Liutprand, though we think he sometimes treats him with rather too much indulgence. EiutpranlJ. 125 same post having been filled both by his father and his stepfather. This journey was of the greatest use to him in learning the customs and institutions of the Greeks, as well as in gaining a thorough knowledge of their language and literature, which was destined to be of great service to him in after life. After his return home he fell into great dis- grace, for what reason is not well known, with King Berengarius and his queen Willa, and was obliged to take refuge in Germany, where he was honour- ably received by the Saxon king Otho I. During his years of exile he familiarized himself with the German tongue, which also proved very advan- tageous to him later, in treating the State affairs with which he was entrusted when Otho, urged by his high destinies, descended into Italy. In the year 956, while he was still at the German court, he formed a friendship with Recemund, bishop of Elvira, who advised him to undertake a history of his own times. The advice was not given in vain, for after two years' reflection, Liutprand began his work at Frankfort. The hatred which he felt for King Berengarius and Queen Willa suggested a title for his work, and he called it Antapodosisy or the book of retribution, meaning by this that he would pay back good for good to his friends, and evil for evil to those who had driven him into exile. The six books of the Antapodosis were written in different places and with interruptions between 958 and 962. Beginning with the year 888 — a. 126 igatlg Q^ijxomlm of $talg, date sufficiently recent for the author to be able to collect oral contemporary, or nearly contem- porary evidence — he relates the history of the events as they had occurred throughout Europe. It is a very curious book, in which the vicissitudes of different countries follow and cross each other with an abundance of detail truly marvellous. Naturally Italian affairs occupy the greater part of the book, but its vast range embraces the most distant people and things. Italians, Germans, Saracens, types of every kind, from popes and emperors down to the common people, exploits of the purest virtue and indecent scandals, all are mixed up in this book, in which, moreover, it is remarkable how small is the part played by miraculous legends. The narrative reaches the year 950, but at that period the sixth book of the Antapodosis remains incomplete. Liutprand had intended to bring the work down to the time of his exile, but was hindered from doing so ; partly no doubt by the mass of public business which weighed upon him, partly perhaps, as Diimmler thinks, because his anger was appeased by the fall of Berengarius. The year 961 had brought a great change in his fortunes, and Otho the Great, imme- diately after his descent into Italy, proposed him for the episcopal chair of Cremona. His quick and versatile talents, his decided aptitude for diplomatic posts, his familiar knowledge of various languages, made him specially fitted for the conduct of State aiutprantJ* 127 affairs. From that time he was in the midst of everything that regarded Italy, and the relations of Otho with Greece. In the summer of the year 964 he went to Rome as ambassador to Pope John XI L, and shortly afterwards was present at the council which deposed that unworthy pontiff, and there interpreted Otho's speech to the Italian bishops. He took part in the election of Leo VIII., and in the deposition of his rival, Benedict V. He wrote, at the command of the emperor, a history of all the events of which he had been eye-witness from 960 to 964, and called it Historia OttoJtis. Perhaps the dignity of the high offices which he had filled, and his own share in the facts related, contributed to make the tone of this work much calmer and freer from that party feeling which rendered the Antapodosis so bitter against Beren- garius and Willa. Nor did this only serve to render him less partial, it also added vivacity and colouring to his narrative. The deposition of John XIL, for instance, is related in so lively and distinct a manner, that we seem, while reading, to be assisting at the council which decreed it. After describing the differences on account of which the emperor and the pope came to be on terms which admitted of no reconciliation, and telling how the pope not only paid no attention to his embassy, but, in defiance of the emperor, had received Adelbert, son of King Berengarius, within the very walls of Rome, Liutprand continues thus : 128 lEarlg (^f)tom\m of Balj). " While these things are happening, the oppres- sive constellation of the Cancer drives the emperor away from the Roman castles on account of the heat of Phoebus' rays. But when the constellation Virgo returning, brought a pleasant temperature, he came to Rome, having collected his troops, and been secretly invited by the Romans. But why should I say secretly, when the greater part of the Roman nobility proceeded to the castle of St. Paul, and invited the holy emperor, and even gave hostages } Why should I lose time with many words } The emperor having encamped near the city, the pope and Adelpert both fly from Rome. And the citizens receive the holy emperor into their town and repeat their promise of fidelity ; adding, and firmly swearing, that they would never elect or ordain a pope against the consent and choice of their lord the Emperor Otho, their august csesar, and of his son King Otho. " After three days, at the request of the Roman bishops and people, a large assembly is held in the church of St. Peter ; and with the emperor sat the archbishops : from Italy — for Ingelfred, patri- arch of Acquileia, who as it happened was detained in that city by a sudden illness, the Deacon Rodalph ; Walpert of Milan ; Peter of Ravenna : from Saxony — Adeltac, the archbishop ; Lando- hard, the bishop : from France — Otker, bishop of Spires: from Italy — Hubert of Parma, Liutprand of Cremona, Hermenald of Reggio." EiutpranU. 129 Here follows a long list of bishops, almost all Italian, and of the cardinals and Roman priests who were present at the council, as well as the representatives of the nobility and people of Rome after which Liutprand resumes his narrative : "These therefore being present, and keeping perfect silence, the holy emperor began thus : ' How right it would be that the Lord Pope John should be present at so distinguished and holy a council! But we ask you, O holy fathers, who have had life and business in common with him, why he refused to join such an assembly ? ' Then the Roman pontiffs and cardinal priests and deacons, with the whole populace, replied: 'We wonder that your most holy prudence should want us to inquire into this matter, which is not unknown to the inhabitants of Iberia, Babylon, or India. For he is not one of those who come in sheep's clothing, but are in truth ravening wolves. He rages so openly, he carries on so plainly his diabolical prac- tices, that he uses no circumambient ways.' The emperor ansv/ered : 'It appears to us just, that the accusations should be set forth one by one ; then what we should do can be decided on by common advice.' Then the cardinal priest Peter, rising up, bore witness that he had seen him celebrate mass without communicating. John, bishop of Narni, and John, the cardinal deacon, declared that they saw him ordain a deacon in a stable, and not at the appointed times. Benedict, the cardinal deacon, IT. K I30 ISarIg Qtf^tonitUt^ of Italg, with other deacons and priests, said that they knew that he had for reward made ordinations of bishops, and had ordained a bishop of Todi ten years old. As to sacrilege, they said there was no need of information, since it could be witnessed by sight rather than by hearing. . . . They told how he hunted publicly ; how he had blinded his godfather Benedict, who had afterwards died ; that he had mutilated and killed John, the cardinal sub-deacon ; they bore witness that he had been guilty of arson, and that he had worn helmet and cuirass with a sword girt round him. All declared — clergy as well as laity — that he had drunk wine in honour of the devil. They said that, in playing dice, he had invoked the assistance of Jove, Venus, and other demons. Finally, they declared that he did not even celebrate matins, or the canonical hours, nor bless himself with the sign of the cross. " The emperor, having heard all this, and knowing that the Romans could not understand his language, which was Saxon, commanded Liutprand, bishop of Cremona, to express to them in the Latin tongue these things as follows. And rising, he thus began : * It often happens, and we believe it from our own experience, that those placed in high dignities are defamed by the base- ness of the envious ; for the good are as displeasing to the wicked, as the wicked are to the good. And it is on this account that we hold in suspense this accusation against the pope which Benedict the Sliutpranti* 131 cardinal deacon has just read and made with you, being uncertain whether it has arisen from a zeal for justice or from the malice of impiety. Hence, according to the authority of the dignity granted to me, unworthy though I am, I call upon all of you, by God whom no man can deceive though he may wish to do so, and by His holy and imma- culate mother the Virgin Mary, and by the most precious body of the prince of the apostles, in whose church these things are being said, to fling no accusations against the lord pope of which he is not verily guilty, and which were not seen by men of the greatest probity.' Then the bishops, priests, deacons, and the rest of the clergy, with the whole Roman people, exclaimed as one man, * If Pope John has not committed both these base crimes read aloud by Benedict the deacon, and others baser and greater than these, may the most blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, not absolve us from the chain of our sins, he who by his word closes heaven to the unworthy, and opens it to the just, but may we be entangled in a chain of anathema, and in the Last Day be placed on the left hand with those who said to their Lord God : " Retire from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." Therefore, if thou dost not trust us, at least thou shouldst beheve the army of our lord the emperor, to which he approached five days ago, girded with the sword and wearing a shield, helmet and cuirass, and only the Tiber which 132 ^Earlg ©Dtomckr^ of Jtalg. flowed between prevented his being captured by the army while thus equipped.' Then the holy em- peror said : ' There are as many witnesses of this fact as there are warriors in our army.' The holy synod replied : * If it please the holy emperor, let letters be sent to the lord pope, that he may come to purge himself of all these things.' Then letters were prepared for him to the following purport : " * To the supreme pontiff and universal pope the Lord John, Otho, by Divine clemency august emperor, with the archbishops, the bishops of Liguria, Tuscany, Saxony, and France, in the Lord. Coming to Rome for the service of God, when we inquired of your sons, namely, the Roman bishops, cardinals, priests, and deacons, and moreover of the whole people, as to your absence, and what cause there could be why you should not wish to see us, the defenders of your Church and of yourself, they brought forward such things and so unseemly against you, that if they were said of actors we should feel ashamed. And lest these things should be hidden from your great- ness, we mention some of them to you in brevity, since did we try to express them all one by one a •\yhole day would not suffice to us. Know, there- fore, that not by a few, but by all, of our order as well as of the other, you are accused of homicide, perjury, and sacrilege. . . . They also say, a thing horrible to hear of, that you have drunk wine in honour of the devil, and have implored the assist- aiutprant). 133 ance, in the game of dice, of Jupiter, Venus, and other demons. We therefore earnestly entreat your paternity, that you should not refuse to come to Rome and clear yourself from all these things. If perchance you fear the violence of the impulsive multitude, we assure you with an oath that nothing shall be done against the sanction of the holy canons. Given the eighth of the Ides of November.' *'When he had read this letter, he wrote an answer as follows : * John the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the bishops. We have heard it said that you want to make another pope ; if you do this, I excommunicate you by Almighty God, that you may not have permission to ordain any one, or to celebrate mass.' "^ When this uncouth letter was read in the council, it gave as little satisfaction for its form as for its contents. They decided that the emperor, with the whole synod, should in reply bid John come to Rome to exculpate himself, threatening to depose him in case of his refusal. The letter was imme- diately written with the resolute vigour of phrase- ology and meaning with which it had been imagined. The excommunication threatened by * "Johannes espiscopus, servus servorum dei, omnibus episcopis. Nos audivimus dicere, quia vos vultis alimn papam facere ; si hoc facitis, excommunico vos da deum omnipotentem, ut non habeatis licentiam nulhim ordinate, et missam cclebrare." It is curious that in the letter sent by the council in answer to John, they reproach him also with the grammatical error which he made in writing millwn instead of ulhun. 134 lEarlg ©^rontcUt^ of Utalg. the pope was set at nought, and his flippant treat- ment of the assembly was strongly censured, their authority for threatening him with excommuni- cation in the case of his non-appearance was affirmed, and they finally compared him to Judas, whose treason had put an end to his apostolic authority. The letter was entrusted to the Car- dinals Adrian and Benedict, with the injunction to convey it to him without delay, — "Who, when they reached Tivoli, did not find him ; for he had already gone armed into the country ; nor was there any one who could tell them where he was. And when they could not find him, they returned with the letter to the holy synod, sitting for the third time. Then the emperor said : ' We waited for his coming that we might in his presence complain of his conduct towards us, but as we know with certainty that he will not come, we beg of you again and again to take diligent note of his perfidy to us. For we make it known to you, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, and the rest of the clergy, as also to the counts, judges, and the whole people, that this same Pope John, being oppressed by Berengarius and Adelbert, our rebels, sent messengers into Saxony to us, asking that for the love of God we should come into Italy and deliver from their fangs the church of St. Peter and himself But it is not necessary to tell what by the help of God we effected, since you can now see it. But he, saved by my labours from Siutptanli* 135 their hands, and reinstated in the dignity due to him, forgot the oath and fidelity which he promised me on the body of St. Peter, brought the same Adelpert to Rome and defended him against me, stirring up seditions, and made himself a leader in the war in the sight of our soldiers, putting on helmet and cuirass. Now let the holy synod pronounce what it decides upon this.' To this the Roman pontiffs, the rest of the clergy, and the whole of the people answered : ' An unheard of wound must be cauterized in an unheard of manner. If he only injured himself and not all by his corrupt conduct, he should at any cost be tolerated. How many who were chaste before, have become immoral from imitating him ! How many just men have from the example of his conversation become reprobate ! We therefore beg your imperial greatness to drive away from the holy Roman Church this monster, unredeemed from his vices by any virtue, and to put up another in his place, who may merit by the example of a good conversation to preside over and assist us, who may himself live rightly, and give us an ex- ample of right living.' Then the emperor replies : *What you say pleases us, and nothing will be more welcome to us than that such a one may be found, who may be placed at the head of this holy and universal see.' " When he had spoken thus, all with one voice exclaimed : * We choose for our shepherd, as su- 136 iEarlg CDj^romckr^ of Xtalg* preme and universal pope of the holy Roman Church, Leo the venerable protonotary of the holy Roman Church, a proved man and worthy of the supreme grade of the priesthood ; John the apostate being cast off on account of his reprobate conduct.' And when they had all said this for the third time, and the emperor had agreed, they conduct, with praises according to the custom, the said Leo to the Lateran palace, and, after a given time, raise him by holy consecration in St. Peter's church to the supreme priesthood, and promise with an oath to be faithful to him. "When these things had happened in this way, the most holy emperor, hoping that he could remain in Rome with but few men, gave permission to many to retire, that the Roman people might not be oppressed by the great number of the army. And when John, who was called pope, heard this, knowing how easily the minds of the Romans are bribed with money, sent messengers secretly to Rome, and promised the money of St. Peter and of all the churches, if they would fall upon the pious emperor and the Lord Pope Leo, and im- piously slay them. Why should I lose time in many words ? Then the Romans, confiding in the smallness of the army, nay, deceived by it, and encouraged by the promise of money, try to hurry upon the emperor with the sounding of a trumpet, in order to kill him. And the emperor meets them upon the bridge of the Tiber, which the Siutjprant), 137 Romans had barricaded with carts. And his strong soldiers, accustomed to war, and intrepid in courage and arms, rush out among them, and strike them down without resistance, as hawks among a crowd of birds. There were no hiding-places, no baskets, ships, or drains, which could protect the fugitives. They are slaughtered therefore, and as is customary in meeting with strong men, are everywhere wounded in the back. Who of the Romans would then have survived this massacre, if the holy emperor, moved by pity, of which he owed none to them, had not drawn and called back his men still thirsting for bloodshed .? " Unfortunately, the narrative of these events, written while they were happening, was not com- pleted by Liutprand, and was interrupted soon after this exaggerated account of the Roman sedition. Public affairs pressed upon him. Re- turning to Cremona soon after the council, he did not remain there long, and on the death of Leo VIII. (a.d. 965), was sent again to Rome for the election of the new pope. In 967, he took part in two other councils at Ravenna and Rome, and in the latter city was present at the coronation of the young Otho II., whom his father had raised to a share in the Empire. With his thoughts fixed on the restoration of a western empire, Otho's actions tended to bring the papacy into a certain sub- jection to him, while appearing only to reform it, and he tried to appropriate the whole of Italy, by 138 lEarlg fi^j^roniclcv^ of Italg. driving away from the south Arabs and Greeks. At the same time, and with the same object, he sought the friendship of the Byzantine court, and an alliance with it by means of the marriage of his son to a Greek princess, being desirous of surrounding his throne with the classic splendour of ancient traditions. The realization, however, of this plan met with hindrances in the susceptibility and suspicions of the Greeks, which certainly were justified by the growth of Otho's power in southern Italy. It was necessary to find the man fitted to conquer this diffidence, skilled in diplomatic intri- cacies and well acquainted with Greece. Certainly this man seemed to be Liutprand, who was sent to the Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, and com- missioned to make a formal demand for the hand of Theophania, daughter of Romanus II. But the embassy proved fruitless. Liutprand was badly re- ceived, and with open contempt. Nicephorus, at the very first audience, complained to him vehemently of his master's occupation of Rome, of the title of emperor which he had assumed, and of the recog- nition obtained from the princes of Benevento and Capua, — all things which he considered injurious to his interests. The arguments and bold answers of the ambassador availed nothing, or only served to add fuel to the wrath of the Eastern potentate. After various audiences, all of which were useless, and after having been scornfully treated in a thou- sand ways, and kept a long time at Constantinople Siutpranl). 139 more as a prisoner than an ambassador, Liutprand was at last allowed as a favour to return to his own land without having succeeded in anything. He was very much vexed at this diplomatic defeat, and gave vent to his vexation in the report of his embassy which he addressed to the two Othos and to the Empress Adelaide. Notwithstanding the traces of personal vanity and partiality customary in Liutprand's writings, this Relatio de Legatione Constantiiiopolitana offers us a most interesting picture of the Greek court. Gregorovius, with his usual exuberance of fancy, says that " this charm- ing pamphlet resembles an oasis which we meet with while crossing a literary desert," and adds, that since Procopius we have no writing to be com- pared to it. We, remem.bering Paulus Diaconus, should hesitate to subscribe to this judgment, but certainly the Relatio is among the most agreeable and instructive pieces of writing which the early part of the Middle Ages offers us in Italy. The description of the court of Nicephorus, the lively answers with which, according to his own account, Liutprand defended his sovereign and people from the accusations made against them, the treachery and greedy corruption of the Greeks, the difficulties he met with when he wanted to leave Constanti- nople, and also on his journey home, are all de- scribed with a vivacity which renders the book very attractive. Like all the other books of this writer, however, it also is incomplete, and the I40 lEarlg ©Ijtomcto of Balg. narrative of his return journey, at the beginning of the year 969 is interrupted. After his return to Otho's court, he continued to take part in public affairs. In 971, when the death of Nicephorus Phocas had made the relations between the two courts more amicable, it appears that he was again sent to Constantinople with the solemn embassy which went to fetch the princess Theophania, the destined bride of Otho II. But his career was now at an end, and he did not again reach his bishopric. The exact date and place of his death are unknown, but he seems to have died, either while still in Greece, or immediately after his return to Italy with Theophania, in the first months of 972, and when little over fifty years of age. The life and writings of this remarkable man bear the impress of a keen and original intelligence, as well as of a lively and passionate character. Equal to the best writers among his contemporaries in Europe, he is incomparably superior to the other Italian writers of the day. He received an excel- lent lay education from a child, and soon learnt to know and value the best authors. Terence, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and the classics generally, were familiar to him, and he tried to introduce phrases from them everywhere into his writings; and though there was in this much ostentation, yet he did it at least with more judgment than other mediaeval writers. Nor did he content himself with quota- tions from the Latin classics, but in all his writings Siutpranti. 141 took delight in showing off his erudition, by con- stantly interlarding his Latin with Greek words and phrases. As the model for his style he took principally Severinus Boetius, the influence of whose books was unlimited in the Middle Ages ; and especially in his Aiitapodosis he followed the example of Boetius by mixing often tolerably good verses with his prose. But even this exaggerated spirit of imitation did not suffice to destroy the literary originality of a man so strongly imbued with a sense of his own personality. The Aiita- podosis^ being the longest and most freely handled of his works, is the one perhaps which best reveals the character of the man and his contradictions. Talented and credulous, acute in his observation of facts, and rash in his judgments, desirous of good but too easily led to find fault, and a ready retailer of scandals, he takes bitter revenge on his enemies, especially Berengarius and Willa, while he is guilty of adulation when praising his bene- factors ; yet it is evident to the reader that he feels what he says, and paints in dark or bright colours according to his inmost convictions. His authority as an historian was formerly rated too low on account of these personal characteristics, and now we seem to note a modern tendency to rate him somewhat above his due. It appears to us that, although Liutprand's narratives, as far as they regard particular details, are of great use for confirming or explaining things related by his con- 142 iEarlj) ©j^romclcts of Itdv* temporaries, they must nevertheless be employed with more caution than is shown by some recent historians. But, on the whole, certainly no con- temporary work assists us more than his does to form a general idea of the tenth century, and to give us in vivid colours a mental picture of it. With his varied experience of life, and his carefully cultivated talents, Liutprand, both as statesman and as author, was more than any one else in a position to seize and combine the facts which he witnessed, while his lively and ingenuous disposition is especially adapted to awaken in us those same impressions which the real events had made upon his mind.^ The chronicle of Benedict of Mount Soracte, written about this time, is very different, both in spirit and in form, from the works of Liutprand.^ * The imperial idea, revived by the Othos and so warmly supported in Italy by Liutprand, had already, before the descent of Otho the Great, found a champion in the author of a Libellus de Imperatoria Potestate in urbe Roma (published in the Mon. Germ. Hist. SS. iii. 719-722), which is not without historical importance. Also two poems, appearing in North Italy in the first years of the eleventh century, are of some value for history on account of the imperial sympathies expressed in them. One of them especially, which laments the premature death of Otho III., contains some striking verses. 2 Chronicon Benedicti de S. Andrea. Mon. Germ. Hist. SS. iii. The life of St. Nilus, founder of the monastery of Grottaferrata, written in Greek by a disciple, and the letters of the famous Gerbertus, afterwards Pope Sylvester II. , contain contemporary historical data regarding this period of the Othos. Two lives also of St. Adalbert are worthy of attention, especially the more ancient one, written in i^^netitct rf ^oractc, 143 The monk Benedict, with rude simplicity, tries to put together the history of the world from the coming of Christ, but the only value of his labours lies in the local history of Rome about the times of Alberic, on whom, as protector of his monastery, he lavishes great praise. The voice of the monk rises in tones of reproach, though without either hatred or malice, against the new monarchs from beyond the Alps, whose soldiery he saw from the solitary and poetic heights of Soracte, spread over the Roman campagna. In strong contrast with the adulatory exaggeration of Liutprand, and breathing a kind of inspired melancholy, these rude pages leave an impression of sadness on the reader, and their barbarous language rises to a funereal elo- quence at the memory of the abandonment in which Rome was left after the ferocious acts of repression with which Otho stifled the rebellion of the Romans to his authority. "Woe to thee, O Rome ! " he exclaims, " who art oppressed and trampled on by so many nations ; who wert taken even by the Saxon king, and thy people put to the sword, and thy strength reduced to nought. Thou who in thy greatness didst triumph over the nations, didst trample on the world, and put to Rome by John Canaparius, abbot of the monastery of St. Alexis on the Aventine. " This work," as Giesebrecht justly observes in his history of the German empire, " interesting for being the only note- worthy literary production of a Roman at that time, is moreover one of the most important sources of contemporary history." T44 lEadg ©Jtonicto of Utalg. death the kings of the earth, holding the sceptre and supreme power, thou art despoiled by the Saxon king and utterly exhausted. . . . Thou wert too beautiful ; we can even now see all thy walls, with their towers and battlements. Thou hadst three hundred and eighty towers, forty-six castles, six thousand eight hundred battlements, and fifteen gates. Woe to thee. Leonine city ! Thou wast but lately captured by the king of the Saxons, and art now already abandoned ! " Melancholy words truly, and a sad contrast be- tween the present decline and the past splendour ! But if the wretched condition of Rome inspired the rude lament of Benedict of Soracte, on the other hand from Venice Johannes Diaconus, chaplain and perhaps relation of the Doge Pietro Orseolo (991-1009), opens to us the first pages of one of the most wonderful histories of the world.^ John had been sent several times as ambassador to Otho III. and Henry II., was a man of the world, and had much experience of life and of public affairs ; of this we find evident traces in his narra- tive, which flows along easily and entertainingly, without any display of rhetoric or much attention to grammar. Beginning with the first origins of ^ Johannis Diaconi Chronicon Venetum et Gradense. Mon. Germ. Hist. SS. iii. This chronicle was first known as the Chronicon Sagornini. The first books of the Chronicon Altinaie also deserve to be mentioned, as they contain very ancient and valuable materials for the history of Venice. Sjojbanuf^ ©iaconus;, 145 Venice, it extends to the year 1008, full of omissions and errors in the older part, but affording valuable information about contemporary facts, especially regarding the relations between the emperors and Venice. With John we are outside the life of the cloister, and breathe freely the fresh air of the lagunes. A worthy predecessor of Andrea Dandolo, he first gives us glimpses of that glorious epoch of the communes, towards which Italy was tending throughout the period of laborious efforts that we are now about to examine. IT. CHAPTER IV. INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES— REFORMS IN THE CHURCH AND THE CONTESTS REGARDING THE INVESTITURES — REVIVAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL CULTURE AND OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THE MONASTERIES — MONASTIC REGISTERS AND CHRONICLES — THE MONASTERY OF FARFA AND THE WORKS OF GREGORY OF GATING — THE " CHRONICON VULTURNENSE " — RENAISSANCE OF ARTS AND LETTERS AT MONTECASSINO PROMOTED BY THE ABBOT DESIDERIUS — THE MONK AMATUS AND HIS HISTORY OF THE NORMANS — LEO OSTIENSIS AND PETRUS DIA- CONUS, HISTORIANS OF MONTECASSINO — HISTORICAL WRITINGS OF SOUTHERN ITALY — LEGENDARY CHRONICLE OF THE MONASTERY OF THE NOVALESA. After the narrow defiles through which we have so long been wandering, wider horizons now open out to us. An age of giants begins, and the history of Italy returns to almost epic heights. iUcbibal of ©ultitrc. i47 Many elements were working together at that time. The papacy, having struggled out of the degradation into which it had fallen, begins to assert its power with audacity, and, while exaggerating the Roman traditions of Gregory the Great, claims, under the name of a universal spiritual dominion, the su- premacy of the Church over nations and kings. The empire, jealous of its rights, combats this excessive ambition, defends itself, partly by cavils, partly by violence, against the moral usurpation of the priesthood, and vainly tries to subjugate it. A band of Norman adventurers land in Sicily, and after clearing it of the Saracens, spread themselves over the south of Italy, where they lay the found- ation of a kingdom which is sometimes hostile to, sometimes the champion of the popes, while these in the meantime are engaged in maturing with far-reaching care the vast conception of the crusades with which they electrify the world. In the midst of so many changes, the Latin instinct almost imperceptibly awakens, and sows the first seeds of a new life destined to give glorious results for Italy — and this is the life of the Com- munes. Fresh vigour is infused into letters. Church, empire, and people all labour in different ways for the renaissance of learning. The need felt of a reform in the Church, and the efforts made to obtain it, first by the Othos and then continued under the great popes of the eleventh century, bring back intellectual culture and a love of study into 148 lEarla CDj^tonicto of Jtalg. the ranks of the clergy. The clashing of parties gives frequent rise to vehement polemical writings, and the wish to find grounds in the past for the rights claimed on each side, leads to a study of Roman law. The renewed vigour of public and private justice inspires an interest in ancient docu- ments ; while the rise and growth of municipal life revives in the laity the smouldering traditions of literary activity. The iron age for Italian chrono- graphy is ended. We may therefore infer that the reform which had made its way into the Church at the time of which we now write, was not solely the work either of the popes, the emperors, the minor clergy or the people. It was the result of a complex action. There was a regenerating breath stirring the world, and men's souls were unconsciously tending by different paths towards a reform which should satisfy their higher aspirations. Such a tendency, at first essentially religious in its tone, had of necessity to seek support from monasticism, which it carried along with it and made one of the principal instruments in this great movement. The second half of the eleventh century and the first half of the twelfth may be looked upon as the golden age of Western monasticism, both for the influence which it exerted on the Church in general and especially in the matter of reform, as well as for the influence and impulse which it received from the Church itself In the preceding age the corruption IWona^tft l^cformg, 149 of the monasteries was great everywhere, and, as we have seen, very great indeed in Italy. But when all seemed falling to ruin, we are met by a revival in the monastic rule at Cluny, which thence spread the beginnings of a universal improvement. Otho of Cluny, a wise and zealous reformer, did much good in spite of many obstacles, especially at Mon- tecassino, and also, at the request of the famous Alberic, prince of the Romans, in the monasteries of Rome and Sabina. This missionary of monastic reform combined high attainments with his moral virtues, and in France had studied philosophy, grammar, and the art of poetry. Naturally one of his efforts was to bring back a love of study to the convents, and to reform their schools, and though these reforms took root slowly, they produced an abundant harvest within a century. The monas- tery of Farfa was at the head of this intellectual revival. We have seen in the former chapter how the Abbot Hugo was not content with restoring the abbey to its pristine splendour, but did his best also to perpetuate its records by dictating one of the most remarkable historical writings of his age. Nor was this good example without followers. When Hugo died in 1039, he left behind him in the convent a school capable of continuing his work. In this school was educated the boy Gregory, belonging to the family of the counts of Catino in Sabina. His father, according to the custom of the time, had offered this child to the monastery. ISO ISarlg &\)X(i\\iclm of Utalg, as well as another son, who died soon after 1068. Gregory had been living humbly and unnoticed in the abbey for about thirty years, when towards the close of the eleventh century he proposed to the Abbot Beraldus II. a work of great magnitude, and was commissioned to carry it into effect. The invasions endured in the former century, the de- struction and long abandonment of the monastery, the wastefulness of bad abbots, had necessarily produced great disorder and brought about many changes in the estates of the convent, whence arose frequent contests about rights, and lawsuits in the courts. On this account Gregory proposed to re- arrange the archives, and after collecting all the documents on which the rights of the monastery were founded, copy them in their proper order into one book. This authentic copy would thus facilitate the use of them, and at the same time provide against any possible injury to the originals. Being entrusted with this undertaking, he imme- diately set to work, and continued at his fatiguing labour for fifteen years, only relinquishing it when advancing age and enfeebled sight rendered it im- possible for him to proceed. But the larger and more difificult part of the work was done, and he could therefore safely confide what remained to a nephew of his called Todinus, also a monk of Farfa, who added the last documents and brought it to a successful termination. The Farfa Register, or, as Gregory calls it, the Stcgorg of ©attno* 151 Liber Gemniagraphus sive Cleronomialis Ecclesice FarfensiSy is certainly one of the documents pos- sessing most importance for the Italian history of the Middle Ages from the Lombard times to the end of the eleventh century. The numerous and extremely ancient charters which it has preserved for us throw a special light on the history of law, and on the problem of the relations existing in the eighth and ninth centuries between the Latin popu- lations and their Lombard and Frank rulers. The Register contains, belonging to these two centuries alone, nearly three hundred and fifty documents, which form one of the principal bases for the studies made in Italy and Germany touching this period of our history. In this collection there are hundreds of charters of popes, emperors, kings, and dukes, mixed with private papers, which also possess great interest for the indirect informa- tion they give with regard to history, law, and topography. For the early and remarkable history of the duchy of Spoleto, the Farfa Register is the only source which remains to us, while for the special history of Rome in the tenth and eleventh centuries it may be considered of primary importance. We cannot, however, dwell long upon this unique document. Hitherto the scantiness of historical records has led to our mentioning collections which were not chronicles properly so called, but now, on the contrary, the great abundance which we meet 152 lEarlg @i)t:ontcto of Ktalg, with will oblige us generally to leave altogether on one side, or only to make passing mention of such indirect sources of history as diplomas and letters. Still we must pause for a moment over the Farfa Register, because it may be regarded as the most ancient collection, both large and com- plete, of this kind, and to a certain extent as the forerunner of the other registers, which appeared about this period, and which so wonderfully assisted to revive not only a taste for narrative, but also for historical criticism.^ Then, as a natural con- sequence to the registers, or rather to the researches made in the archives, followed the monastic chroni- cles, and the critical spark was fired in those quiet monks poring over the records of their convents. In the meditative silence of their cells, while ques- tioning and comparing these ancient documents, they found in them fragments of the history of their monastery, and were seized with the desire of narrating it to posterity. Gregory of Catino offers us an example of this kind of self-education, com- bined with a subtle sense of criticism. Alone and ^ The only one of some importance which we know of prior to that of Farfa is the Register of Subiaco. It is not, however, a com- pilation made all by one person and at one time, but is the work of several authors, begun early in the eleventh century and finished towards the beginning of the thirteenth. It contains documents of great antiquity, and is valuable for the local history of Rome, but its general interest is not so great. Both the Farfa and Subiaco Registers were hitherto unedited, but are now being published under the auspices of the Roman Historical Society. ^^rcgorg of €^atino, 153 without the aid of example, he invented so true and simple a method for the compilation of his work, that we could hardly expect a more correct one in a critic of to-day. Well aware of the historical value of his work, he devoted himself to it with noble conscientiousness, and with an ideal of what historical aims should be — limited and deficient, it is true, but of a high moral standard. He seems to approach in this respect to Cicero's definition, when he shows that history should benefit posterity, and cites as examples the just of past generations. " On this account, there- fore," he says in one place, '* are the lives of the just especially described, that we may pass ours while they last in a careful happiness like theirs, and free from offence. For it is written that the example of the just should make us more careful ; and if we follow in their steps we shall not stumble in the way." And animated with these thoughts he looked with afTectionate diligence for what was true regarding the history of his abbey, rejecting what was merely fable, and verifying his facts by the documents found in the archives. For the first legendary story of the very ancient foundation of Farfa he has no other authority but the Con- struction of which indeed he makes use, and from which he quotes but very cautiously, and without affirming anything touching which he has not exact information. " Let it therefore be enough to know," he says, "that this holy convent was 154 lEarlg ©t)tonicto of lEtalg, founded by that most holy man (Lawrence), but not at the public expense. And since we are ignorant of the time of its foundation, we prefer rather to be silent with regard to it than to say something untrue or without sufficient reason. For if it is unlawful to us to listen to a falsehood, how much more is it. unbecoming in us to tell one." A noble maxim, worthy of an historian, and too often, alas, neglected by the writers of ecclesiastical history ! But if, on the one hand, he was saved from credulity by the scrupulous fear of being mistaken, he does not hesitate, on the other hand, to seek assistance in his conjectures from critical comparisons, and so in this case, starting from a passage in St. Gregory's dialogues, and following out a close line of argument, he brings the founda- tion of the monastery to a date not to be exactly determined, but certainly anterior to that pontiff. However, the path he followed in his work is well indicated in the following page of his preface to the Register, which seems to us valuable if only for the signs it affords of the new intellectual movement which was beginning to make itself felt at that time in the convents : " For I hope nothing from my own strength, but from the love of God, and trusting in His assistance through the intercession of our most glorious lady, I attentively studied to carry out as faithfully and truly as I could this very pious and most profitable work. And though I am not equal to correcting ©wgorg of ©attno* 155 the corrupt parts in the matter of rhetoric, yet according to the littleness of my poor knowledge I have tried to correct what was confused beyond measure; not, indeed, too fully, lest it should appear to the simple that the order of the first edition made of the papers had been altered. And espe- cially because I could not sit far aloof from the crowd in order to devote greater attention to this quiet work, but, placed in public, could hardly ever enjoy a little tranquility, whereas this work requires the concession of solitude. Nor do I either con- sider that I was sufficiently fitted for this work, for I am not trained in the schools of the poets, nor learned in the deep knowledge of the grammarians, but almost from my cradle was brought up to Divine exercises in the school of this holy convent, and fed upon the faithful wisdom of the milk of the mother of God, and therefore would rather refer to it whatever I may have learnt that was useful during my labours. Hence, as it was com- manded to me by the aforesaid abbot, and by my other religious elders, I have diminished nothing of what I have seen in the order of the papers, and have increased nothing in the narrative of the facts, but have tried to transcribe what I saw with my eyes while writing, and could understand to be the true order, except some prolix and useless repeti- tions of words — as, for instance, some terminated obligations — lest, being already wearied by the cor- ruptions in many parts, if kept still longer at my 156 lEarlg ©j^romclcr^ of 3Etalg. writing- I should complete the volume much later, and it should be tedious, unfit for reference, and of immense size. Contenting myself, therefore, only with the truth of the facts and of those causes useful to be known, I have tried to carry out this work with ready and subtle sagacity and free from fraud, under the favour of Christ and assisted by the prayers of His mother, the perpetual Virgin, who is the cause of it. For we have been careful to insert the names of the witnesses into the copy of each charter, as we found them written in the originals. And those which we found worn from their great age, or eaten by worms, and therefore very difficult to decipher, we have left untouched for the same reason, being unwilling to insert into this unpolluted work anything but what we could clearly discern with our eyes, or understand by our truth-seeking intelligence. Thus, as I have striven to make a true and faithful copy, so may I deserve to receive pardon of my sins from Almighty God by the intercession of our lady, and also a per- petual reward for my relatives. For this did we put the name of Gemiiiagraphus to this book, that is, A Memorial of the Description of Lands, because in it we have inserted the lands of this convent from whomsoever or in whatsoever way they were acquired, and have comprehended them in one volume that they might ever be remembered. It also pleased us to call it Cleronomialis, that is, Book of Heredity of the Farfa Churchy since it ^Iregovj) of ©atino, 157 shows plainly the settled possessions belong-ing to her from the beginning. And we have prefixed the names of all the places, to each of which we have added its own number, and have noted very exactly in which documents you may find them." This passage seems to us clearly to indicate with how much discernment Gregory carried on the compilation of his great work, and the complete dispersion at this day of the originals increases our debt of gratitude to him for his wise forethought. Nor did the learned monk limit all his activity to this collection, but undertook and completed three other works — the Largitormm, the Floriger^ and the Chronicon Farfense. The first of these works, like the Register in its arrangement, contains the papers connected with the lands given by the monastery on long leases to those who undertook their culti- vation. Thus, while the Register authenticated the fixed possessions of the monastery, the Liber Lar- gitorius, or, as Gregory also called it, Liber Notarius sive EmphiteiLticuSy registered all its temporary con- tracts, and decided their circumstances and value. It begins with a document of the year 792 and ends about the beginning of the twelth century, with documents of the time of the compiler. An index and a preface explain the object of this col- lection, which is still almost unknown, although of great value for the history of landed property and of the state of agriculture in Italy in the Middle Ages. Of the other two works of Gregory, the 158 lEarlj) ©Ijromckr^ of iltalg. Floriger Cartariim is a copious topographical index of the Register arranged in alphabetical order, and is of minor account. Very important, on the other hand, is the third book, which was published by Muratori under the name of Chronicon Farfense. This compilation, made half in the form of a register, half in that of a chronicle, recapitulates the contents of the Register, and extracting from it the history of the convent, reproduces its principal documents. Following the guidance of the Con- striictio and Destruction of which we have already spoken, Gregory of Catino relates in this book the most remote events, critically comparing those two works with the documents found in the archives, and seeking the confirmation of the facts they relate. This book, full of information and papers taken from these archives, can be described in the same words as the Register, of which it may to a certain extent be regarded as both a compendium and a commentary. But the Chronicon Farfense in its scope and order has not really the form of a history ; and this might astonish us more were it not evident that, notwithstanding his sufficiently good Latin, Gregory was entirely deficient in the art of composition. His merits are of a different order, and his having before others, and more thoroughly than others, opened the way to a critical examination of documents, his turn for erudition, and his sincere love of truth, give an incalculable value to his work, and render him deserving of a ©j^ronicott TcfultwxntnM* 159 far higher estimation than that in which he has been hitherto held.^ About the time that the archives were being put in order at Farfa, the same thing was happening to those of other monasteries, and was giving rise to other chronicles and registers. The monastery of St. Vincent on the Volturno, which had from its foundation a sort of similarity to Farfa, also has its chronicle to show, composed and enriched with documents by a monk called John. John, having been exhorted to the work by his abbot Gerardus, had the satisfaction of showing it when considerably advanced to the Pontiff Paschal II. (A.D. 1099- II 18), who encouraged him with the words : " Well done, my son ; thou hast begun a great work, and study to accomplish still better what thou hast begun so well." This chronicle, which starts from the narrative of Autpertus touching the origin of the abbey ,^ and continues up to the year 1075, was finished later, when Gelasius II. was already pope (a.d. 1 1 18, 1 1 19). It may also be considered more as a register than a chronicle, and its real im- portance consists in the charters which form the basis and larger portion of the work. The an- tiquity of these charters — granted for the most part ^ A certain polemical treatise is also generally included among Gregory's works ; it is entitled Orthodoxa Defensio Imperialism and its object is to maintain the rights of the emperor against the papal pretensions. We, however, have not mentioned it among his writings, as we are strongly inclined to believe that he is not the author of it. ^ See the preceding chapter, p. io8. i6o lEadg ©j^romdcriS of Ktalg. by kings — makes this book very useful, not only for the history of Southern Italy, but also for that of the whole peninsula, as well as for the history of law. John's Latin is tolerably good in those passages in which he joins one document to another, but he has none of Gregory's critical discernment, and the valuable information which he gives is often mixed up with fabulous stories of miracles accepted by him without the least hesitation. If Farfa may be said to have initiated in the eleventh century a new historical movement, Mon- tecassino, on the other hand, must be admitted to have produced the best monastic histories written at that time in Italy. After the Abbot Aligernus (a.d. 949-985) had rebuilt that famous convent w^hich the Saracens had destroyed, its intellectual life gradually revived, and little by little developed and increased, until between 1058 and 1087 it reached its period of greatest vigour under the Abbot Desiderius, afterwards Pope Victor III. This is the most glorious era in the annals of Monte- cassino up to our present days, and all the more remarkable is this light of renaissance when com- pared with the dark and stormy period upon which it shone. Descended as he was from the princes of Benevento, aristocratic in all his tastes, of versatile talents, and of even too mild a dis- position, the pious, learned, and refined Desiderius seemed born to encourage arts and letters, and to give them efficacious support. To this also con- l^lenaisl^ancc at i^ontcca^^ino, i6i tributed the journeys undertaken by him, espe- cially one to Constantinople, whither he was sent as apocrisaritiSy together with Frederick of Lor- raine, destined also to become pope under the name of Stephen IX. "The Lorraine monk and the Lombard one," remarks Father Tosti of them with great truth, " when they returned from their Byzantine missions, brought back with them the seed of Greek civilization, and a description of what the St. Sophia of Justinian was like ; and on this account later Desiderius called together colonies of workmen to build and decorate the basilica and the convent, of which he truly became a second founder. And, indeed, it appears to me as if this Desiderius had almost natural leanings towards the East, whence he sought to evoke a beam of sunshine, which should gild and revive the disturbed regions of the West, and should warm the roots of the old Latin trunk into giving forth new shoots of civilization. Hence he was the first of the Roman pontiffs who raised his voice to collect armies against the Moslems of the East. The crusades were a pious folly ; but there is no doubt that from that disordered upheaving of all the West and its pilgrimage to the East, there resulted great benefits to science and art through the exchange of ideas between the long-divided generations." ^ * La Biblioteca dei Codici Manoscrifti di Monkcassino, perD, Luigi Tosti. Napoli, 1874. IT. M i62 lEarlg ©Dtdmclcr^ of Xtalg. Under the influence of these inspirations, Deside- rius rebuilt a great part of the monastery and the church, collecting into the latter all the most exquisite creations of the art of those days, and it is most unfortunate that this grand monument was entirely ruined by an earthquake a few centuries later. But it was not only art which was culti- vated at Montecassino. At the same time that all kinds of artists summoned from Lombardy, Amalfi, and Constantinople formed a school of art while working at mosaics, sculpture, and painting, there arose also a school of letters which spread its roots far and wide. The library was enriched with precious manuscripts, which, by order of Deside- rius, were written and illuminated in the abbey ; the documents in the archives were put in order, and history opened a way for itself among the theological and polemical writings. Just as Farfa sided with the empire in the great struggle of the investitures, Montecassino took part with the pope. Thence, as from a fortress, the monks often sallied forth like champions, and no sooner had they quitted the peace of the cloister, than they threw themselves heart and soul into the whirl of poli- tical and religious warfare, fighting their battles with tongue and pen. The only power which could really give the victory to the papacy was moral force, and the principal means of obtaining it was the learning which the monks instinctively strove to acquire and to keep possession of. Placed 5tlcnai^^a»ce at iWkOntcca^^ino. 163 not far south of Rome and well secured from imperial violence, Montecassino soon became the head-quarters of the most learned and zealous ecclesiastics of the time, and a centre of a political as well as of a literary movement. Among many other men of merit belonging to Montecassino were Pandulphus, of the family of the princes of Capua, who wrote in verse on mathematics and astronomy ; Constantinus Africanus, the founder of the medical school at Salerno; Oderisius, belonging to the counts of Marsia, a writer of note and later abbot of the convent ; Guaiferius, a poet ; and Alfanus, also a poet and a celebrated man, who, when he became archbishop of Salerno, gave hospitality to the fugitive Gregory VII. and received his dying breath. Naturally history was benefited by these learned tendencies, and the Abbot Desiderius him- self, in composing a book of dialogues on the miracles of St. Benedict, has preserved many most important historical facts, especially in connection with the pontificate of Leo IX., with whom he had lived intimately, and many of whose vicissitudes he shared. In the same way, the poems of Al- fanus have not only a literary but also an his- torical interest,^ as is also the case with those of ^ Especially the Versus de sitti,, Constructione et Renovatlotie Canobii Casinensis, on the rebuilding of the abbey as completed by Deside- rius, are very valuable for the history of art in the eleventh centuiy, and should be compared with what Leo Ostiensis wrote on the same subject in the history of which we are about to speak. 1 64 lEavlg (itijxowiclm of Xtalg. Guaiferius, and generally with many other writings coming to us at that day from Montecassino. But we have direct as well as indirect historical testi- mony, and the monk Amatus, a native of Salerno, dedicated to his abbot Desiderius, in appropriate words, his history of the conquest of Italy by the Normans, and of the earlier period of their rule. This history goes back to the origin of the Normans, and after treating of their invasions in Spain, England, and Italy, concludes with the death, in the year 1078, of Richard, Prince of Capua, one of the sons of Tancredi. The narra- tive is divided into eight books, and each of these into several chapters, which have short headings containing their respective contents. Unfortu- nately the manuscript of Amatus is lost, and we only know of it through an ancient French trans- lation discovered in the present century, and pub- lished by Champollion Figeac.^ All search after the original has hitherto proved fruitless, and it may be that it is irrevocably lost ; happily this loss is compensated for, not only by the French translation, but also by our knowing that the work of Amatus, a few years after it was written, was drawn largely upon by a far greater historian in the composition of a work which still exists. About the year 1060, the Abbot Desiderius ' Vystoire de li N'ormant et la Chroniqiie de Robert Viscart par Aimemoine du Moni-Cassin, publiees par M. Champollion Figeac, Paris, 1835. 2co (B^titmi^* 165 received into the monastery a lad of fourteen named Leo, intended for the cloister. He was carefully educated in the schools of Montecassino, and among his masters was Aldemarius, who, as he tells us, before being a monk had been " a prudent and noble cleric of Capua and the notary of Prince Richard." Leo soon attracted the attention of the monks and gained the affection of Desiderius, who before long took him into his confidence, and began to make use of him in the many weighty matters which occupied his thoughts. This daily intimacy bound Leo to Desiderius with affectionate gratitude and veneration, feelings not diminished by the death of Desiderius at Montecassino after having been pope for two years. Urban II. suc- ceeded him in the Roman pontificate, and Oderisius in the post of abbot ; the latter was probably a relation of Leo's, and certainly showed him the same confidence and good will as his predecessor. It was the new abbot who commissioned him to write the life of Desiderius, and soon after en- larged the scope of the work by desiring him instead to write the whole history of the abbey from the earliest times. He could not have made a better choice than Leo for such an undertaking. He was specially fitted for it by his office of keeper of the archives, which gave him great facilities for acquainting himself with all the his- torical documents of the convent ; also by his learning, and by his having always lived in the 1 66 lEai'lg ®i)romclcr0 of Balg, midst of monastic and state affairs, as well as by his intimate acquaintance with all the principal men who lived at Montecassino, or were in the habit of meeting there. He undertook the work at first with hesitation, but continued it earnestly, and related its origin and purpose in a dedicatory letter to the Abbot Oderisius. "Thy beatitude, O most reverend father, had already commanded me to devote myself to writing for the remembrance of posterity the glorious deeds of thy predecessor, the Abbot Desiderius of holy memory, a man very remarkable, and in these days quite alone of his order. For thou didst judge it unworthy to imitate the sloth of the ancients of this place, who of so many abbots did not think of leaving any literary memorial, either of their deeds or times ; and if by chance any one wrote about these things, it was so completely unmeaning and composed in so rude a style as to give more weariness than information to the readers. But thy paternity, striving anxiously to avert this from Desiderius, has been pleased to choose me for this work, imposing on me a burden certainly beyond my strength, so that> overcome by this consideration, I have already shrunk for a year feom attempting it. Lately, therefore, w^hen I was accompanying thee, according to my office, on thy return from Capua, thou didst remind me on the way of thy excellent command, asking me with interest whether I had fulfilled thy desire by %to ©0ttfn$i^. 167 writing out the deeds of Desiderius. But I, sur- prised by this sudden inquiry, was forced to answer according to the fact, that I had done nothing whatever. Then, regaining a little courage, I said : 'And when could I have obeyed thy command, when I have hardly been eight days following in the monastery for almost the whole of this year, sometimes by thy command in the service of our apostolic lord, sometimes occupied with thee in various matters? But does not this work demand no little leisure ? nor is it possible for one who is busy to give himself to such a vast matter, but rather for one freed from all cares.' Then thou, having patiently listened to my arguments, and scolded me very gently for my negligence, didst say: 'And now take what leisure thou wishest, and add no further delays in writing about Desiderius. Nay, I also desire and command, since this matter has been delayed till this day, that now, making thy begin- ning from our Father Benedict, thou shouldst dili- gently inquire into the series, times, and deeds of all the abbots of our place up to this same Desiderius, and that thou shouldst compose a history in the form of a chronicle, very useful for us and for our successors, by scrupulously searching out the charters of emperors, dukes, and princes, as well as the documents of all the rest of the faithful, through which the lands or churches which we now see belonging to the monastery came into its possession, and under what abbots. Besides 1 68 1£atlg ©Ijromtto of Utalg. this, thou wilt not regret to note briefly in their proper places the destruction as well as restoration of this convent, which occurred on two separate occasions, besides whatever noble memories re- main as to the works or deeds of distinguished men belonging to these parts.' After I began to meditate more attentively the importance of this command, there began also to increase in me many thorny thoughts as to whether or how I might fulfil it worthily, and not well comprehending from the poverty of my understanding, I did not know whether I had better choose to undertake or to decline so great a work, since in accepting it I felt guilty of rashness, and in declining it of dis- obedience. Besides, I remembered that my afore- said lord, Desiderius, had formerly imposed this very work on Alfanus, archbishop of Salerno, the most learned man of our times, but that he, under- standing well the great labour involved, had saved himself from such a danger. But if he who was incomparably superior in knowledge and eloquence was afraid of submitting to this burden, what was I to do, who possessed neither any knowledge nor any eloquence whatever } Moreover, it grieved my conscience that this work should not be committed by thee to some other of our brethren who are both far more learned than I am, and more accus- tomed to writing ; such, namely, as the diligence of that same holy predecessor of thine had collected together into this place from different parts of the TLto ©^tkngi^. 169 world, or had caused to be most carefully instructed in this same convent. So I was agitated by the uncertainty of these and similar thoughts, since the matter was certainly higher than I could reach, and more abstruse than I was capable of under- standing. Yet, since from the attachment which I had always specially felt for thy paternity, I had long decided never to refuse thee anything, I at length made up my mind ; and I who formerly had a cowardly fear of attempting only the deeds of Desiderius, now undertook to write in some manner those of all his predecessors, trusting in the assistance of God, and thus hoping to conclude everything by myself Then I sought out such little writings as seemed to treat of this matter, composed in a ragged style and briefly, and chief of these the chronicle of the Abbot John, who was the first to construct our monastery at Capua Nova ; also I collected the bool^s necessary for this task, namely, the history of the Lombards, and the chronicles of the Roman emperors and pontiffs ; likewise searched diligently for privileges and charters as well as concessions and documents with various titles (such as those of Roman pon- tiffs, of various emperors, kings, princes, dukes, counts, and other illustrious and faithful men), that were left to us after the two destructions by fire of this convent, although I could not find even all of them ; lastly, I questioned scrupulously all who had either heard of or seen any deeds of modern lyo ?£arlg ©j^toniclm of $talj). times or of abbots : thus, according as the small- ness of my judgment permits, I am attempting to do what thou hast commanded, more certainly from the obedience which I owe to thee as father and lord, than presuming on any knowledge of mine. May God be with me, and the grace of His Spirit, that I may fulfil this as efficaciously as thou didst diligently deign to command me ; so may this little book be most pleasing to thee, and profitable to many. In the mean time I have thought it well to mention these things in this sort of little preface, providing for myself lest I should be accused by uninformed people of rashness or presumption, so that if I be accused heedlessly, the authority of him who commanded me may be my excuse." Having thus begun his history, he carried it from the earliest beginnings of the abbey up to the year 1075, but could not continue it beyond that date, although he did not cease working at it even after being named cardinal bishop of Ostia by Paschal H., from which circumstance he has also been commonly called Leo Ostiensis. However, he was prevented by the interruptions of public affairs and of those troubled times from giving it his continued attention. He was in Rome at the time that Henry V. (A.D. nil), having forcibly seized upon Pope Paschal in St. Peter's, carried him off as a prisoner into Sabina. Leo and John, cardinal bishop of Tusculum, were able to escape captivity by disguising themselves ; and there Heo ©0tien0i0, 171 seems no doubt that Leo, as well as John, sought to arouse the Romans to the determined resistance which they made to Henry's German troops. But although he was not taken prisoner, and did not sign the convention regarding the investitures extorted by force from the pope, still he found himself obliged by the exigencies of the times to yield, however unwillingly, and to join those prelates who, like the pope, preferred conciliatory measures to the system of " no surrender " upheld by others. Among these latter one of the principal was Bruno, bishop of Segni, and abbot of Monte- cassino, a man of great learning and of most blameless life, but steadfastly opposed to any reconciliation with the empire. The pope thought it dangerous to have such a centre of opposition at Montecassino, and therefore sent Leo there, who succeeded in bringing about the abdication of Bruno, and his withdrawal to his not distant bishopric of Segni. When Leo returned to Rome he took a great part in the Lateran Council of 1112, after which there remain but few traces of his life. We know indeed that he died on a twenty-second of May, but it is uncertain whether in the fifteenth, sixteenth, or seventeenth year of the twelfth century. Besides the large supply of documents in the archives, Leo could also use in the compilation of his v/ork the libraiy of Montecassino, which fur- nished him with a rich supply of writings, bearing in some way on the history of the monastery. 172 lEarlg &l)tom\m of Utalg, The greater part of the writers of whom we have had to speak in these chapters were known to this learned monk, and he made copious use of them, besides drawing sometimes on sources now lost to us ; while, in the later period of his narrative, he was able to add his personal testimony of what he had heard and seen of contemporary history. For superiority of mind and natural impartiality, Leo is one of the most trustworthy writers in that age, which was a time of strong partisan tendencies, and if he had had leisure to carry the work on to the last years of his life, perhaps we should to-day have to regard him as the greatest Italian historian of the earlier Middle Ages, next to Paulus Dia- conus. Nor is the work of Leo less remarkable as a literary production, than as a contribution to history. We again quote with pleasure, on this point, the great living historian of Montecassino : " Then as to the form, we think that in the midst of much barbarism this Leo of Montecassino is the first to recall to us the Latin historians, and to give promise of those who would arise in Italy after the renaissance of letters. Neither in Italy, nor out of it, do we find any one who in those times approaches Leo, either for a certain connecting together of the facts, or for the reasoning and order in his manner of writing, whereby history is distinguished from the rude chronicle, which is nothing else but a material reproduction through writing of successive and incoherent notices of 5£co ^gtiengt^. 173 facts, dropping from the mind of the writer without a suggestion as to how or why they entered it. He himself feels that he is not a common writer of chronicles, for when deputed by the Abbot Oderi- sius to write the deeds of his predecessor Desi- derius, he tells how they had thought it blame- worthy that there had never been any one in the past who had undertaken to hand down in writing the labours of the ancient abbots, or if there was any one, he did it in so rude and uncouth a style as to cause the reader more weariness than instruction. He goes over the ground from St. Benedict to his own times ; prepares himself studiously for the narrative he has undertaken ; alludes to the sources whence he drew his infor- mation ; . . . and under a veil of religious humility reveals the consciousness of having done more than others in this narrative which the very Alfanus would not undertake when called upon to do so by Desiderius ; therefore he considers the title of chronicle unworthy of his work, and ventures to call it historiola. Hence, both for its truthfulness and for its form, this chronicle throws much light upon the history of the Middle Ages."^ ^ Tosti, La Bibliotecd dei codici manoscntti di Montecassino. See also what the learned father writes about the times of Desiderius in his histoiy of Montecassino. And to mention other judgments, Baronius calls Leo Ostiensis sa-iptor siii temporis integerrinitis, Muratori speaks of his magna: gravitatis et atictoritatis, and Watten- bach, who edited his works for the Monumenta Germanice^ regards him as most trustworthy. 174 lEailg ©j^ronicler^ of Italg, This work of Leo's, which breaks off with the account of the consecration of the restored abbey, was taken again in hand by Petrus Diaconus, and continued up to the year 1 1 38. Peter was a descendant of the illustrious family of the counts of Tusculum, and was born about 1107, son of the Roman Egidius, grandson of the Patrician Gregory, and great grandson of Alberic and Marozia. Offered as a child in 1 1 1 5 to the monastery under the Abbot Giraldus, he was educated there with care, studying principally under the superintend- ence of the monk Guido — a man, by his pupil's account, of great reputation, and the author of several historical works now lost, and of a " Vision of Alberic," which has remained famous from some people finding in it the idea which may first have inspired the "Divine Comedy." In 1128 the hos- tility of the counts of Aquino, with whom Peter's father had joined himself in close alliance, led to the Abbot Seniorectus sending the young monk away from Montecassino. Peter then retired to the neighbouring Atina, where, at the request of Atenolfus, the count of that city, he wrote the history of St. Mark's martyrdom, that saint having been the first bishop of the see of Atina in the apostolic times. During Peter's exile, his uncles, from whom his father had separated in order to join the counts of Aquino, wrote asking him to try if he could induce his father to become again their friend. Nothing is known with certainty i^cttu^ 3Bia(ouu^. 175 about it, but it appears that Peter agreed to the wishes of his relations ; certainly, not long after, we find him on amicable terms with them, and back at Montecassino in favour with the Abbot Senio- rectus, who later deputed him to continue the history of the abbey, giving him many details regarding it of which he had himself been eye- witness. But in the meantime, before being en- trusted with this work, he had gained a reputation by other writings. Being nominated, like Leo, keeper of the archives and librarian of the abbey, his quick and versatile talents, combined with his southern vivacity, led him soon to enter on a wide course of literary activity. At different times, and amidst many occupations, he copied a number of manuscripts, wrote lives of saints, stories of miracles, verses and letters, compiled a large register of the documents kept in the archives, related the lives of the more illustrious monks of the monastery, and continued the work which Leo Ostiensis had left unfinished. Peter was less mixed up than Leo in the political events of his day, and his numerous cares were almost all limited to the narrow circle of his convent, which explains both the number of his writings and the considerable size of some of them. The descent of Lothair into the south of Italy (A.D. 1137), constitutes the most eventful period of his life, which he relates to us with boastful self-complacency. In his day, the struggle about the investitures being at an end 176 lEarlg ©l^romckr^ of Jtalg. Montecassino showed, as far as was possible, an in- clination to look to the Empire for support against the frequent pretensions of the Norman princes and the Roman court. The abbey found that dependence on a distant emperor was far less dis- turbing than her temporal and spiritual relations with powerful neighbours. When Lothair and Pope Innocent II. were together near Melfi at Lago Pesole, Peter accompanied his abbot thither, and was there deputed to sustain, in the presence of the emperor, the rights of the monastery against the claims put forward in the Church's name by the Cardinal Gerardus. His easy and subtle eloquence carried off the victory after a dispute of several days, and the emperor was so astonished at such learning and eloquence, that he took the monk into high favour, heaping honours upon him and expressing a wish to take him back to Germany. This at least is Peter's account, and it really does appear that he would have followed the emperor, had not many causes combined to prevent it, and to keep him in Italy and in his convent. The date of his death is uncertain, but there is great proba- bility in Wattenbach's conjecture which would fix it soon after 1 140. The fact is that after that year we have no further notice of him, and it does not seem natural that so fertile a writer, who in the course of about ten years had begun and completed so many works, should have suddenly ceased writing and become absolutely silent. ^ctru^ iSiaconug. 177 Without taking into account his minor works, we find that the claims of Petrus Diaconus on our attention rest on several historical works full of good and bad points. His books on the illustrious men of Montecassino, and on the lives and deaths of the holy men of that monastery, contain a mix- ture of miraculous legends and of most valuable historical information, especially concerning the period nearest the author's lifetime. But his two most important works are the Register of Monte- cassino and the continuation of its chronicle. If the honourable love of truth which distinguished Gregory of Catino and Leo Ostiensis had also animated Petrus Diaconus, certainly the value of these two works, and especially of the chronicle, would be incalculable, but unfortunately this was not so. The doubts which he constantly inspires in us are very different from the security with which we can trust ourselves to the narrative of Leo. This latter is simple, impartial, truthful ; Peter vain, passionate, and insincere. His com- pilation of the Register is a great work and very useful, although most of the original documents still exist in the archives of Montecassino. This book, written in a beautiful Lombard hand, is very nearly as large as the Farfa Register, but differs from it in the arrangement of its contents. The documents do not follow each other simply in the chronological order, but are divided instead into various groups according to their various IT, N 178 lEarlg Qtijxomdm of Italj), characters, and, as appears from some words in the preface, according to a plan ah'eady initiated by Leo. " But in this work," says Peter, " the history of the venerable Leo, bishop of Ostia, was of the greatest service to us ; for he, beginning from our most blessed Father Benedict, wrote a book most valuable for everything relating to the convent of Montecassino, in which he showed such a profusion of knowledge, that he hardly omits anything which happened in that convent. So that, following in the footsteps of so great a man, I shall not indeed be able to reach to him with my poor faculties, yet have I retained the order of the oblations just as he determined them." This work of Peter's has been often and profitably consulted by the learned, and it would be desirable that the monks of Montecassino, when they have finished the splendid description which they are making of their manuscripts, should undertake the publica- tion of a code^: diplomaticus ^ of their original docu- ments, compared with the Register of Petrus Diaconus and completed from it. But if his work is valuable, it is not, however, to be received without much reserve. Both his own disposition and a tendency of his day contributed to render it untrustworthy. The constant contests about monastic property, often also as to the origin and authenticity of relics preserved in the convents, not only led the monks to compile Registers, but led also too often to fabrications and unscrupulous ^ttx\x$ 3Siaconu0, 179 alterations of documents. Nor was Peter free from this fault, to which his vain disposition rendered him specially liable, from the desire to find imaginary nobility of origin and circumstance for his monastery which was already so noble and famous in reality. Even if we cannot affirm that he actually fabricated false documents, there is certainly no doubt that he sometimes wittingly altered with interpolations the originals which he copied into his Register. And the same want of honesty is an ugly blot on his chronicle, which, starting as wc said from the point where Leo had stopped (a.d. 1075), continues up to the year 1138, and thus embraces the most remarkable historical period of that momentous age. Moreover, in this latter work, to the vanity of the monk for his monastery, is added the boastfulness of the man with regard to his lineage and himself; so that, wherever his book refers to the interests of the abbey or to his own person, whom he never fails to mention, its authority cannot be ever implicitly relied upon. Nevertheless the importance of the times gives a special value to his narrative, and in spite of these failings, we find it pleasant reading in consequence of the off-hand outspokenness of his style, which is attractive and often lays bare the mind of the writer, who was a strange mixture of ingenuousness and craft. Another thing in which he also differed from Leo was that, while the latter, though taking his information from many sources, i8o lEarlj) (!tf)tomlm of Italg, always composed the narrative himself, Peter, on the contrary, often copies whole passages from other writers, and transfers them in the very same words to his own book, from which results a great inequality of style. But the ' original part of his work, though sometimes too hastily and carelessly written, is always graphic, full of life and colour, and, notwithstanding his defects, Petrus Diaconus always remains a curious and entertaining writer, whom any one, anxious to be familiar with the his- torical literature of this age, will find it worth his while to read.^ The great artistic and literary revival ' at Monte- cassino was associated with a similar movement in the whole of southern Italy, where, in consequence of its immediate contact with the Greeks and Arabs, the fertilizing influence of two civilizations had succeeded in penetrating. The instincts, re- sembling those later exhibited by the Medicis, which Desiderius had carried with him into the cloister, were the instincts of the Lombard princes from which he sprang. The great Lombard nobles of that part of Italy, who had already in the times ' Another register, called that of St. Placidus, noteworthy though of less importance, is still kept at Montecassino, and is also the work of Petrus Diaconus. There as well are preserved two other interesting registers of the same age, belonging to convents con- nected with Montecassino, that of St. Angelas m Formis^ a monas- teiy in the territory of Capua, and that of the monastery of St. Matthew, the ruins of which still exist on a mountain very near the mother abbey. mxitm of ^outj^cru li^lyi, i8i of Paulus Diaconus shown themselves protectors of hterature, now having gradually grown into greater harmony with the native tendencies, had, in doing so, imbibed both the virtues and faults peculiar to them, as well as to the elements which remained of Greek rule. This was how it happened that those regions awoke so readily to new civilizing life, and exercised such useful influ- ence for some centuries to come on general civilization. And witness is borne to this first awakening, not only by the monastic labours of Montecassino, but also by various other works of an historical character, which we shall now mention in order to be free to turn to other subjects in the next chapter.^ Lupus Protospatarius has left us some accounts of the city of Bari on the Adriatic up to the year 1102, and later the Anonynms Ba~ rensis has done the same till the year 1152. Benevento possesses annals which reach the year 1 1 30, and a chronicle which unfortunately is in- ' Annalcs Barenses and Annales Ltipi Protospatarii, in Monu- menta Germanise Historica. Script., vol. v. Anonyjuus Baretisis, in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Script., vol. v. Annales Beneven- tani zxA Chronkon Dticum Beneventi^ in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., vol. iii. Falconis Beneventani Chronkon, in Muratori, op. cit., vol. v. Annales Cavenses, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., vol. iii., and more recently an important edition in the Codex Diplomatutis CavensiSy vol. V. Chronkon Normanicnm Brez'e, in Muratori, op. cit., vol. v. Guillermi ApuHensiSy Gesta Roberti IViscardi, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. , vol. ix. Gaufredi Malaterra Historia Skula, in Muratori, op. cit., vol. v. Alexandri Telesini, de Rebus gestis Rogerii Skiliae Regis, ibid. 1 82 lEadg ©jD^omcte of ^Italg. complete and rudely written, but of great historical value. In the same way there are the annals of the famous monastery of the Trinity at La Cava, near Salerno, which had been rebuilt about that time, and solemnly consecrated by Urban II. — an account of the consecration having also come down to us. We find information about the first Norman invaders in the chronicon normannicwn breve, of Taranto. Of the monk Amatus, who wrote at more length about the Normans, we have already spoken, and where his work breaks off there comes in to complete it the epic poem of William of Apulia, who celebrates Robert Guichard and the exploits of his Normans. A tolerably good poet for his day, and sufficiently acquainted with the classical writers, he sings the deeds of his hero in hexameters sprinkled with quotations from Virgil. His work, undertaken at the desire of Urban IL, and dedicated to Roger the son of Robert, in addition to the merit of having been written at times and in places near the events, shows a good knowledge of preceding writers, and, among these, of a bio- grapher of Robert's of whom we have to-day no traces left. A contemporary of the poet William, Godfrey Malaterra composed at the command of the great Count Roger a most valuable history of the Normans in Sicily, written in a fluent style, and full of information, also, regarding the mutual relations of the Normans and Pope Urban. The abbot Alexander of Telese related the deeds of King ©i)romcle of tjb^ ^obakga. 183 Roger with great partiality and affected elegance, while showing considerable knowledge of the subject. We see, therefore, that the great Norman epic was not without writers to celebrate it, and the newly awakened historical spirit found in those exploits such wide ground as no longer to yield to the legendary tendencies of a former age. And it is certain that the imagination began now to turn to human interests, with their living truths and strong ideals, so that the twilight of legendary story gave way to the full daylight of historical research, and took refuge in popular tradition, or in some obscure monastic writing destined to receive unexpected attention centuries later. And so it was that, far distant from the scenes of which we have been speaking, in the valley of Susa on the slopes of the Mont Cenis, a monk belonging to the monastery of the Nova- lesa was collecting the traditions concerning the descent of Charlemagne into Italy, and so pre- served memories of a cycle of legends which later inspired the medieval troubadours and poets, threw a glamour over Ariosto's fancies, and in our day added grace to the thoughtful muse of Manzoni, who in the tragedy of "Adelchi" combined them with historical facts. The real history of this convent of the Novalesa is the same as that of so many others of that time. Founded in the year 726, destroyed by the Sara- cens in 906 or in 916, restored about the year 1000, 184 lEarlg ©j^ronicto of Balg. it had, towards the middle of the eleventh cen- tury, among its monks one belonging to the territory of Vercelli, who wrote the chronicle of the monastery.^ This strange and fragmentary work has come down to us in the same old parchment roll on which the author wrote it, with interrup- tions, at long intervals, and without ever completing it. It begins almost immediately, drawing upon popular traditions for its inspiration, with the fabulous legend of a gardener monk of royal birth called Walter, who achieved wonderful exploits in defence of the convent ; and this is the same Walter, son of a king of Aquitania, and taken as ►hostage by Attila, whose story belongs also to the Niebelungen, the Scandinavian Wilkina-Saga, and the whole cloud of heroic traditions which sur- round Attila. And after these follow other legends concerning Charlemagne, which have this great im- portance that they relate what in less than three centuries the popular imagination had created regarding the facts which had taken place among those very mountains where the monk collected them. The vision of Charlemagne, the hospitality he met with at the Novalesa, the jongleur who taught Charles the pass by which he might cross the Alps and surprise the rear of the Lombards, the taking of Pavia, the sufferings of the Lombard king Desiderius, and the extraordinary prowess of ^ Chronicon Novaliciense, in Mon. Germ, Hist. Script., vol. vii. Q^iftomU of t\}t i^obaU^a. 185 his son Adelchi, are all so many legendary episodes full of poetry and feeling. A special value of this chronicle of the Novalesa, in which it differs from the learned chronicles of the monks of Southern Italy, is that it has preserved the impressions of the people, impressions which long outlast their original causes. Going backwards to the Lombard age where Paulus Diaconus leaves us, we can, by the light of this old parchment, give some colour- ing to the scanty notices which we succeed in extracting from vast registers and unadorned chronicles ; for if this writing, born at the foot of the Alps, is rather poetry than history, it is cer- tainly poetry which recalls the life of past ages, and repeats it to us after centuries of silence, just as the mountains which form a majestic circle round the ruins of the Novalesa, repeat the long and solitary echo of a sound that is hushed. CHAPTER V. THE LATER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE " PONTIFICAL book" — BRUNO OF SEGNI — WIBERT OF TOUL — PAUL OF BERNRIED— "ANNALES ROMANI " — PETRUS PISANUS — PANDULPH — BOSO — POLE- MICAL WRITINGS — ST. PETER DAMIANI— BONIZO'S " LIBER AD AMICUM " — THE LIFE OF ANSELM OF LUCCA — DOMNIZO'S LIFE OF THE COUNTESS MATILDA — THE LETTERS OF GREGORY VIL ''The blessed Pope Gregory (VIL) used to relate to us many things touching this man (Leo IX.), and it is from him that I remember having heard most of what I have been telling hitherto. Now one day when speaking of him (Leo), he began to reprove us, and me especially (so at least it seemed to me, since he kept his eyes fixed on me), for not commemorating the deeds of the blessed Leo, and not writing what would redound to the glory of the Roman Church, and be an example of humility ^runo of ,^cgm» 187 to many hearers." ^ These words of Bruno, bishop of Segni, show how, on the revival of authority and vigour in the Roman See, the need of a pontifical book was again felt, and the popes themselves sought to encourage the undertaking. And in fact in the eleventh century we find the lives of the popes, beginning with that of Leo IX. (d. 1049), related at great length by writers of some merit who often had been eye-witnesses of the events or nearly so, and connected with them in some way. Thus, for instance, the words which we have just quoted, occur in the life of Leo IX., written by that very Bishop Bruno, who was also abbot of Montecassino, and who in the former chapter showed himself so zealous and active a partisan in the struggle of the Investitures. But this work of his has little value, and was surpassed by others which were composed about the same time, such as a pathetic account of Leo's death, written in Rome by the priest Libuinus, the guardian of his tomb, and full of real facts as well as of miraculous legends. Also the life written by a monk of Benevento, which is very important for what it tells us of the imprudent expedition of Leo's against the Normans, and of the imprisonment ^ The importance of these words has been already pointed out with great judgment by Watterich, in the preface of his work on the lives of the popes, a collection which has been of great use to us in writing this chapter. Pontificu77i Romanoruvi Vitce, ah cegualibus conscriptiVy edidit I. M. Watterich, Lipsipe, 1862. lEarlg ©Ijtoniclcr^ of Italg. which followed his defeat. Of still greater import- ance are two other works by two Germans,^ Wibert of Toul, and Paul of Bernried, who wrote very diffusely, the first on Leo IX., the second on Gregory VII. Wibert, who was an intimate of Leo's when this latter was bishop of Toul, espe- cially abounds in details of his early history, but of the remainder, although meritorious, he does not give us so complete an account as not to oblige us to look elsewhere for further materials towards his life.^ Turning to the history of Gregory VII., left by Paul of Bernried, we find that it was written when the struggle of the Investitures was at an end, and in it we still hear the echo of the old dissensions, while the moral power of Gregory is magnified as if to admonish his adversaries of the risk they would run in renewing that great struggle. Having embraced an ecclesiastical career in 1102, Paul was ordained priest in 11 20, but owing to his persecution by the Emperor Henry V, he took refuge in the following year at Bernried, in the diocese of Augsburg. In 1122 he proceeded to ^ We should here notice that many German annalists of the eleventh century and beginning of the twelfth are of great use for the history of the papacy, which at that time was so intimately con- nected with the history of Germany. As it is beyond our province to examine them here, we content ourselves with mentioning that among the most important of these annalists are Eerthold, Bernold of Constance, and Lambert of Hersfeld, whose writings deserve careful attention from the student of Italian history. ^ Ap. Watterich, Vita Pontifiaim. Paul of 9l3crttt{cD, 189 Rome, and there perhaps he first thought of writing the life of Gregory VII., for which no doubt he then collected materials, studied the register of the Gregorian letters, and made inquiries touching his hero's vicissitudes of the eye-witnesses who survived, and among the rest of the pope himself, Calixtus II. After his return to Bernried, he ap- plied himself to his work, and completed it in 1128. He tells his story simply, and without displaying much critical ability, but his sources of information are generally good, he makes free and constant use of official documents, and he writes of what occurred fifty years before his own day with a tone of firm and ingenuous conviction which has a reassuring effect on the mind of his reader. He often has recourse to the supernatural for the explanation of his facts, to which he frequently adds legendary episodes, but he does it with so much simplicity and good faith that the modern critic has no difficulty in distinguishing between them and the trustworthy portion of the narrative, in which, taken as a whole, we find that dramatic age wonderfully reproduced. Villemain, an artistic historian who has painted in brilliant colours the life of Gregory VI I.,^ made large use of this biographer in order to add vivacity to his picture, especially in describing that stormy Christmas night in which a noble Roman, called Cencius, * Villemain, Histoire de Gregoire VII., Paris, Didier, 1872. 190 lEatlg ©j^roniclcrs of Italg* entered St. Maria Maggiore, tore Gregory from the altar, and dragged him wounded and a prisoner to his tower. We give here part of this scene as related by the old chronicler, whom it is interesting to compare with the modern historian, since it shows us how the vivid impressions of this simple priest of the Middle Ages have served to inspire one of the finest pages of French historical litera- ture in this century. " The night has come in which the son of dark- ness attacks the minister of light. First he sends out an exploring party to make inquiries, and they, calling together a certain set who lived in the street near the church, and hearing everything from them, sent notice of all that they heard to that villain, who lost no time in putting his men into armour and so disposing matters that each man might find a horse ready, in case any one should think of rising against them, after they had been successful either in compassing his death or in carry- ing him off alive. At last they came to the church, where the pope with great solemnity was chanting the midnight mass before the manger, according to the teaching of the Church, and received the Lord's body, he and all the clergy with him, the others also who were present partaking of the same sacra- ment, when suddenly a great noise and shouting arose and filled the whole church. Then searching everywhere and striking all they met with their drawn swords, they made for the place of the ^aul of l^trnrlcD, 191 manger, where the pope was enthroned high above all, and there, having struck some of those near and broken the doors, they were able to touch with their violent hands a small portion of the manger of the Eternal King and His Mother. Then they laid hands on the pontiff and seized him ; and one indeed, brandishing his sword, tried to cut off his head, but the Lord was pleased to prevent him. Yet was he struck on the head and severely wounded, and finally they dragged him with violence from the church before the mass was finished, dealing out on all sides slaughter and blows. But he, like an innocent and gentle lamb, raising his eyes to heaven, returned them no answer, complained not nor resisted, nor did he ask that they should have mercy upon him. At length, having divested him of the pall and chasuble, the dalmatic and tunic, and leaving him only the linen vestment and stole, they dragged him like a thief and placed him behind a sacrilegious fellow on horseback. But that other who had struck him on the forehead with a sword was seized by the devil, and for a long time rolled, foaming at the mouth, before the vestibule of that very church, while his horse fled away, nor was it ever again found. ". . . So all the clergy, their shepherd being struck down, ran hither and thither, and dismantled almost all the altars, nor were Divine services held in any of the churches on that day, except what had pre- ceded this event. But the elements, which up to that p ■ 192 lEarlg €]^romclei;0 of Italg. time had been so disturbed, became calm in order not to hinder the people who were zealous in the zeal of the Lord, and the earth absorbing nearly all the water which had collected during that heavy downpour, showed a dry surface to all who were ready to avenge this deed. So the whole night through signals and trumpets were sounded, and the soldiers patrolled all the roads, lest by any subterfuge he should be carried out of the city, but no trace of him could be found. Then while all were in doubt and ignorance even whether he were alive or dead, certain persons made it known to the crowds gathered together in the Capitol, that he was held captive in a certain tower. Then all the people began to raise their voices to the skies, and as soon as daylight had returned to the earth, they encouraged each other, and made for the house of that antichrist in immense numbers. So the battle began ; but at the very first attack the hostile party took to flight, and the whole faction shut itself up in that same tower. Then fire was set to the whole of the fortifications, and engines and battering rams being'^ brought, the wall was broken, and every- thing within the enclosure became the prey of the people of God. No one heeded his own danger, but each man, forgetful of himself, fought with might and main. '' But a certain man, together with a certain noble matron, had followed the Father Gregory, and they were of some comfort to him. For the man warmed ^^aul of 9i^ernmD» 193 him, suffering as he was from the length of the way he had been dragged and the cold of a winter night, with furs which he had brought, and cherished his feet in his bosom, while that matron fomented our father's wound, all wet from the great flow of blood, with medicaments, weeping and denouncing all those men as enemies of God and sacrilegious murderers ; acting like another Mary, for as that one, bewailing her sins, had washed the Lord's feet with her tears, so this one, declaring the crimes of all those men, was bathing with her tears this great shepherd. . . . " But great as was her courageous fidelity, equally great was another woman's perfidy of tongue. For as formerly, in the time of the Lord's Passion, the maiden who kept the gate had terrified Peter, so this one disturbed his vicar with biting insults. And she was the sister of that traitor, and for this reason did not hesitate to curse this great father. But there was another servant also and follower of the traitor who, holding a drawn sword, declared with blasphemies that he would, that very same day, cut off this great man's head. Yet the swift judgment of God was not slow in avenging his impiety. For a lance hurled from without and transfixing his throat, the passage of his cruel voice, flung him to earth dying and gasping, and thus despatched him to hell. . . . " Finally the pious pope, standing in the window with outstretched hands, commanded the excited IT. O 194 ^arlg €j^rontcto of Xtalg. crowd to be calm, and to let some of the principal people come up to him in the tower. Some, how- ever, fancying that he was urging them on to the work they had begun, made a great effort and broke into the tower. And so he was taken into the open air, the whole populace weeping for joy and com- passion ; for now they could see how he was covered with blood, which struck them with such horror that they all raised their voices to the skies. After this victory, following Pope Gregory to the same church of the Mother of God from which he had that night been dragged, they all congregated there, their hearts filled with no small joy. Then, at that same hour, their common father finished the mass which those ministers of Satan had stopped in the night, and gave them the blessing of God upon their victory. " But the son of perdition had, in the meantmie, escaped with all his family and his dependants, and, far from repenting, led a worse life than before, col- lecting around him many others like himself, and continuing, while he lived and when he could, to devise evil against him who had preserved him." ^ Party contests now more than ever seconded the revival of history in connection with the papacy, each side hoping to find support in a narrative of * Ap. Watteiich, Vila Fontijicum, i., p. 501, et seq. Paul of Bernried has also left us the account of the life and miracles of the blessed Herluca, a saintly visionary who died in 1142, and with whom he was on terms of close friendship. ^nnal^g l^omani* 195 the facts ; and since it is but very rarely that men can judge of facts quite irrespectively of the per- sons who are responsible for them, the lives of the popes are very frequently represented in a favourable or unfavourable light according to the sympathies of the writer. In Rome itself some writings were produced by these contending parties, which have been published under the name of Roman Annals,^ and exhibit the two contrary currents of thought in that day. The first of these writings, intended really to continue the old Liber Pontificalis, contains the lives of the various popes who followed each other at short intervals between the years 1044 and 1049. This writing, anonymous like all the others of this collection, is carefully composed, and full of details relating to the affairs of the town and of the noble families of Rome. Two other narratives follow this, which include the series of popes from Leo IX. to Alexander II. (1049- 1 07 2), written by partisans of the Empire, and consequently enemies to the papacy. On the other hand, the latter is favoured in another writing, which gives us a simple and graphic description of the violence to which Paschal II. was subjected in the Vatican, when Henry dragged him away from Rome as a prisoner. This writer was present at the occurrences which he relates, for he tells us : " We have written down the exact ^ Man. Germ. Hist, Script.^ vol. v., and republished by Watterich, op. cit. 196 lEarlg (^^xoMm of Balg* truth of these things just as we suffered them, saw them with our eyes, and heard them with our ears ; " and he goes on to describe also the lives of the antipopes who set themselves up against Paschal II. and Gelasius II. The last continuation reaches later times, and embraces the short papacies which followed each other quickly between Lucius III. and Clement III. (1181-1188), and the controversies of these popes with Frederick Barba- rossa. All these writings are biased, exaggerated both in praise and blame, and we find in all of them the party predilections of the authors, yet from having been composed on the spot, and while the events were happening, they are full of useful information, and, from a literary point of view, their rude and popular Latin is not without interest on account of its Italian forms of expression, sug- gesting the great change in language which that age of transformations was preparing for Italy. Besides this collection of pontifical lives, which may to a certain extent be regarded as a popular continuation of the ancient Lider Pontijicalis, there is another continuation of a more official character, written almost under the eyes of the popes, by two dignitaries of the Curia, Petrus Pisanus and Pandulph. The first of these writers, doubtless a native of Pisa, was already in the Curia in the time of Urban II., about 1094, while still very young, as notary of the apostolic palace, and continued in that office until he was named Pctru0 p^anu0. 197 cardinal deacon, between 1104 and 11 16, during the pontificate of Paschal II. When in 1108 the pope was obliged to go into Apulia, it appears that Peter was chosen to remain, together with Ptolemy of Tusculum, and Walfred, chief of the soldiery, in the territory of the lower Marittima round Terracina, in order to guard the rights of the Church. If this was so, the choice was a good one, for this was the only province which remained to a great extent quiet and loyal, while Rome and its neighbourhood were kept in a state of disturb- ance by the nobility opposed to the pope, and Ptolemy himself went over to the rebels. In the following year the pope returned to Rome, and Peter seems to have returned with him, but for some years we cannot follow his movements with any certainty.^ When the crusaders from Pisa ^ We think it prudent to speak hesitatingly of many details in the life of Petrus Pisanus. Watterich, who has devoted several most valuable pages to this author, appears to us to affirm with too much certainty as fact what is often only probable and ingenious hypothesis. And sometimes some of these hypotheses seem to us more ingenious than probable. For instance, not seeing Peter's name among those whom Henry V. made prisoners together with the pope in mi, Watterich thinks that he may have escaped in disguise, like the Cardinals John of Tusculum and Leo Ostiensis, and may with them have incited the Roman people to take up arms against the Germans. But this does not appear to us admissible even as an hypothesis. Such a fact could hardly have passed unnoticed, and we think it more hkely either that he was not in Rome at the time, or that he was not yet cardinal, and thus his doings did not receive so much attention as they were destined to receive later. €atlg @]^tonicler& of Italg. made a victorious expedition to the Balearic Isles against the Saracens (1114, 11 15), he was ap- parently there with his country people, and has left us an account of their deeds, of which we shall have occasion to speak. He certainly was cardinal in 1 1 16, and we find him again in Rome, com- missioned by Paschal II. to quell a tumult ; and when not successful, endeavouring at least to protect the old pope's life, which was menaced with danger by the Roman rebels. Afterwards, when the pope was compelled to fly, Peter, still in Rome, was one of those cardinals who refused to consecrate Henry V., who had returned to Rome to receive the imperial crown. He joined the sick pope later at Anagni, and took part in the election of Gelasius II., whose troubled destiny and exile he shared, remaining faithful to him and to his two successors, Calixtus 11. and Honorius II. After the death of this last, there was schism in the Church, and Petrus Pisanus, being on the side of the antipope Anacletus against Innocent II., was for eight years regarded as the soul of the schism on account of his learning and eloquence. At last, after a warm and lengthy discussion, carried on at Salerno in presence of King Roger, St. Bernard prevailed upon him to desert, the antipope (A.D. 1 1 37). It is strange that although this was a con- version of the greatest use to his cause. Innocent 11. should have tried to deprive Peter of his dignity as cardinal, and perhaps he would have really done ^ctru^ ^i^anu^* 199 so had not St. Bernard opposed with great vigour such an act of injustice, in a letter to the pope which well depicts the ardent nature of this apostolic man. " To you," he wrote to the pope — " to you I appeal, judge you between me and you ! In what, I ask, has your son deserved so badly from your paternity that you should be pleased to brand and design him with the marks and name of a traitor ? For did not your grace appoint me as your vicar in the reconciliation of Petrus Pisanus, if perchance God would deign to recall him through me from the filth of schism ? If you deny this I will prove it by as many witnesses as were in the Curia at that time. And was not this man, after these things, finally received into his order and dignity according to the word of my lord .? Who then has by counsel, or rather by fraud, obtained that things promised are withdrawn, and the words which pro- ceeded from your lips made of no effect ? And this I say, not in order to blame the apostolic severity and zeal which has kindled the fire of God against the schismatics . . . but . . . neither is it fitting that there should be involved in the same sentence he who abandoned his sin with those whom rather their sins abandoned. For His sake, who, to save sinners, spared not Himself, remove this ignominy from me, and by restoring him whom you estab- lished, consult also thereby your own sound and upright reputation." Nor was this letter written in vain. Petrus Pisanus continued to be cardinal, 200 lEarlg &f}xomtlm of 3Etal^. and in that character took part in the Lateral council of 1 1 39, and died in this dignity at an advanced age, in the year 1144. The histories of the popes who governed the Church from Leo IX. to Calixtus II. (1049-1124), may be in a way regarded as so many acts of a drama which culmi- nates in the pontificate of Gregory VII. All those pontificates had a single aim, and struggled for a principle, which the monk Hildebrand sustained before becoming pope, and, when he died, left as a legacy to his successors. From which we can easily understand why the pontifical book once more treats on a larger scale the lives of the popes, beginning with Leo IX., since with him also begins a new period in the history of the Church. In the words quoted above, according to which Gregory VII. exhorted Bruno of Segni to speak of Leo, we already catch a glimpse of this idea, and the same is followed out by Petrus Pisanus. Indeed, he has left us an almost uninterrupted series of the lives of the popes during that period, two of which, those of Gregory VII. and Urban II., are valuable for their many precise details; but superior to all, and showing a wide and searching knowledge of the facts, is that of Paschal II. What we have said of the personal experiences of Peter during this latter papacy will have sufficiently indicated the facilities he had for knowing the exact state of things, and the importance of his testimony. He was a man of great talent and ^antulp]^. 201 eloquence, " of whom," says John of Salisbury, " there was hardly the equal in the whole Curia ; " he was well acquainted with all the most important official documents with which he completed his narrative, quoting from them, and sometimes giving the whole of them. He thus depicts very vividly the course of that long and momentous pontificate, and writes in a pure style and with a serenity of judgment extremely rare in his day. In this last respect he may be compared to his illustrious contemporary and companion in the purple, Leo Ostiensis, to whom he is, however, very inferior; for Leo is a true historian and works upon a wide canvas, whereas Peter, as a biographer, has to remain within narrower limits. In another work, which we shall mention later, he gave more freedom to his imagination ; but in this he wisely restrains it, for in a narrative of events which touched him so nearly he might easily have fallen into exaggeration, and lost sight of that just measure and sober treatment of the subject which should be the special care of all authors. The very active personal part which Petrus Pisanus was obliged to take in the events of his day, forced him to discontinue the compilation of the pontifical book, which was then carried on by Pandulph, descendant of a noble Roman family and an officer of the Curia from the time of Paschal IL During the schism he, like Peter, took part with the antipope Anacletus, and by him was 202 ?Earlg Q^^tonitkt^ of Ktalg* made cardinal, but, when the schism ceased, his rank does not seem to have been recognized, and we have no further record of him. He wrote the lives of Gelasius II., Calixtus II., and Honorius II., the two latter but briefly, the former more at length, and it is the best written and most im- portant of the lives which we have from his pen. Unlike his predecessors, Pandulph does not bring forward documents to support his story, but draws upon his memory for the materials of his work. The story he has to tell is of things seen and suffered 'by himself in very anxious times. His pictures are vivid and graphic, and the dramatic force and feeling with which he depicts them, reproduces and fixes in the reader's imagination that agitated past just as he had himself ex- perienced it. Thus, for instance, no one who has read it will forget the scene as described by him of the painful flight to Gaeta of the old and careworn Pope Gelasius II., escaping from a sudden attack made upon him by Henry V. (a.d. 1118). There succeeded to this Roman Pandulph, in the compilation of the pontifical lives, an Englishman, Cardinal Boso, who held his title from the church of St. Pudenziana. He appears to have first belonged to the Curia about the year 1147, when Eugenius III. was in France, and continued in his office of apostolic writer until the elevation to the papal throne of Adrian IV., the only Englishman 33ogo, 203 who ever filled the Roman See. Then Boso, as he himself tells us, "having been appointed his chamberlain from the beginning of his apostolate and ordained (cardinal) deacon in the church of the holy Cosma and Damianus, remained with him constantly and intimately until his death." Raised in this manner to the dignity of cardinal, he managed the papal finances with great care, re- duced to subjection some rebellious vassals of the Church, and went as legate to England. After the death of Adrian he warmly supported the election of Alexander III., opposed by the Emperor Frederick I., and until the election was over pro- tected the conclave sitting in St. Peter's from the armed threats which surrounded it. From Alex- ander he received the title of cardinal priest of St. Pudenzlana, and shared with him in the famous struggle revived between Empire and papacy which, transformed into a national movement by the league of the Lombard communes, weakened the power of the Empire at the battle of Legnano. After the peace of Anagni, Boso was present at the meeting in Venice between pope and emperor, and followed the pope on his return to Rome, March 12, 1178. Soon after that, all mention of him In the pontifical registers ceases, and we may infer that his life closed about this time. Boso's work embraces, with but little interrup- tion, the history of the popes from Stephen VI. till Adrian IV. and Alexander III., but can lay claim 204 iEavlg €5tomclct0 of BItalg* to be original only in these two last pontificates.^ For all the rest he reproduces almost verbally the old catalogues and what had been written by the pontifical writers before his time, and especially for the eleventh century by Petrus Pisanus, Pan- dulph, and in the Liber ad Amicimi of Bonizo, of which we are about to speak. But if the first part of Boso's work is a mere useless repetition, the second and longer portion makes ample compensa- tion for this. His intimacy with the two popes of whom he writes, his high position in the Church, the varied and arduous offices which he held, and which procured for him a personal acquaintance with all the principal men in Europe, made Boso an invaluable biographer. Less talented than Petrus Pisanus, less graphic than Pandulph, he is at the same time more diffuse, more precise than they are, and gives us in minute detail all the events which took place in the Curia at that time, and their con- nection with the general events of the age. The first disagreements between Adrian and Frederick Bar- barossa, the death of Arnold of Brescia, the relations ^ This work of Boso's, republished recently by Watterich in his Vit(Z Pontificum, was preserved to us by Cencius Camerarius (later Pope Honorius III.), who in 1192 inserted it into \\\% Liber censinim Romanes Ecclesice, an ill-composed compilation but historically valuable, which was extracted from the archives and intended to serve as a register of all the sources of Church income. A fragment by another Englishman, John of Salisbury, very important for the history of Eugenius III., was published under the name of Historia Pontificalis in Mon. Gerin. Hist, Script., vol. xx. 93o^o* 205 of the pope with Southern Italy, the struggle of Alexander III. and the Lombard league against the Empire, and finally the interview between pope and emperor at Venice are the most salient features in the large picture which Boso has given us. His narrative, which may be said to close this older part of the pontifical book, makes us feel that we have entered on a new phase of history; the perusal of these two lives brings before us the rapid transformations which society was then under- going, and we catch a glimpse of fresh and wide horizons disclosing the new destinies which we shall presently meet with in the municipal chro- nicles. And, indeed, Boso gives much important testimony to the relations of the papacy, not only with the Empire, but also with the Italian muni- cipalities, both when he quotes from documents in the pontifical archives, and when he describes from memory things which he has seen. Especially for the study of the history of Rome itself, he appears to us worthy of more attention than he has hitherto received, as enabling us to correct the exaggera- tions of the imperial partisans too exclusively fol- lowed by some modern historians. Nor in this work of correction and comparison must we adopt all that Boso says without criticism, and it is only by weighing impartially the writings of the two parties against each other that we can arrive at that exact truth which can seldom be expected from one, however well intentioned he may be, 2o6 lEarlg ^j^romckr^ of Jtalg, who has taken an active part in the events of which he writes. And least of all could we expect it from Boso. Even without taking into account the personal affection he felt for both the popes whose lifes he wrote, it would not have been possible for any man to avoid all party feeling in that period of romantic struggles, when for a moment the national cause in Italy was inter- woven with that of the Church, and the resistance made by the Lombards to a foreign foe seemed to take the proportions of a holy war. But while following the course of the pontifical book we have left the eleventh century far behind, and we must now retrace our steps. The dispute regarding the Investitures, long, obstinate, and violent, gave rise to many polemical writings which have also more or less historical value, and of which some deserve the name of history. We have already mentioned the Orthodoxa Defensio Imperialis, a short treatise generally, but perhaps incorrectly, attributed to Gregory of Catino, and composed certainly at Farfa in the days of Paschal II. A temperate and able work, which may almost be said to be the best written at that time in favour of the Empire, and with the intention of giving canonical proof of its rights, it seems the precursor of Dante's De Monarchia^ and merits special atten- tion. There is another defence of the imperial rights based on the authority of the Roman law, and written by Petrus Crassus, besides some other polemical Mxitin^^, 207 noteworthy writings in favour of the antipope Wibert, especially one by Wido, bishop of Ferrara,' who after being attached to the cause of Gregory VII. and writing in defence of it, changed sides on the death of that pontiff and confuted his own arguments in another work full of historical in- formation. Also of a polemical character and in support of the imperial pretensions is a sort of panegyric of Henry IV., written by Benzo, bishop of Alba, in rhymed and rythmic prose, abject in its adulation of the emperor and in the vile insults directed against the Gregorian party; and still worse than this is the libel entitled Vita Gregorii Vll.y which Benno, one of Wibert's cardinals, wrote not only against Gregory but also against his pre- decessors and Urban II. Both these abusive writings have a certain value, not for the facts they relate, but as an expression of the state of men's minds and of the violence with which the two adverse parties fought. For if, as Wattcnbach observes, this violence showed itself in Italy with more bitterness and fewer scruples among the imperial followers, v/hile the Gregorian party had the advantage on their side of greater culture and a higher morality, still these latter by no means exhibited much gentleness in their writings. Party feeling is evident in all the literature of that age, and as we have already found it in Bruno of Segni and in the authors of the pontifical lives, so it shows itself among other instances in the angry poem 2o8 lEarlg Qtf}toMm of Italg, which laments the imprisonment of Paschal IL, and in a writing on the honour of the Church composed by Placidus, prior of the Abbey of Nonantola, as in another, but recently discovered, on the pope's right to excommunicate the emperor, attri- buted to Lambert of Ostia, later Pope Honorius 11.^ But we cannot here go minutely into all the polemical literature of this period, and as we have already mentioned sufficiently Bruno of Segni, it will be enough to speak only of two other writers of this kind, Peter Damiani and Bonizo of Sutri. Among the papal apologists in the eleventh century, the first place certainly belongs to St. Peter Damiani, one of the most singular men of his age, always contending between the instinctive mysticism which drove him into solitude and rigorous penances, and the inflexible will of Hilde- brand who forced him to come out of his convent and join in the warfare with all that passionate * Widonis ep. Ferrariensis de scismate Uildebranti, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., vol. xii. Benzonis ep. Albensis ad Heiitricum IV., libri vii. Ibid. vol. xi. Benuoms Vita Gregorii VII., ap. Goldast, Apol. pro Heinrico IV. Placidi No7iantulani Liber de Hoitore Ec- clesice, ap. Pez, Thes. Anecd., vol. ii. Tractdtus de Invcstihira, in Jahrbiicher der Akad. gemeinniitz. Wiss. zu Erfurt, Heft VIII., 1877. Also noteworthy is the writing of Cardinal Humbert Contra Sit?ioniacos in Martene et Durand, Thes. no v. Anecd. V., and that of Cardinal Deusdedit, Libellus contra Invasores et Sivioniacos et Reliquos Schismaticos, ap. Mai, Patrum Nova Bibliotheca, vol. vii. Cardinal Deusdedit is also author of a kind of register, in which, besides a collection of canons, are preserved imperial diplomas and charters of great antiquity relating to the Roman Church. It was published by Monsignor Martinucci, at Venice, in 1859. '^tkx iiamiani, 209 vehemence which characterized him. A nervous nature full of complex sensibilities, a strange mix- ture of tears and fire, of tenderness and violence, Peter Damiani left the mark of his own individu- ality on all his writings, which for the most part seek their justification in recent events, and con- tain arguments drawn from the state of society and, above all, of the clergy, for whose reform he worked with fiery zeal. He insisted on the celibacy of the clergy, and his treatises are our principal guides in following out the development of that question, so angrily contested and, notwithstanding all resist- ance, then definitely settled according to the wish of the Roman Church. Not only for this, but for all the burning questions of that day, Peter Damiani laboured, wrote and spoke, in councils, in courts, among the people, as theologian, ambas- sador, and agitator ; so that it would be impossible to give the history of the Church and of Italy in the eleventh century, without taking into account the polemical works and still more the correspond- ence of this monk, in whom were so strangely blended the opposite characters of a vehement partisan and of a contemplative eastern mystic.^ Strange also is the Hfe of Bonizo, whose Ltder ^ S. Petri Damiani Opera, ed. Const. Caetani, Bassano, 1783. This is a collection in four volumes of the works from this fertile writer's pen, which treats in prose and verse of every possible subject, whether in letters, homilies, lives of saints, political or religious treatises. Noteworthy next to the letters, and also very strange, are the writings entitled Apologia and Libet Gomorrhianus. IT. p 1£arls ©Drontcto of Jltalg* ad Amiciim is more than anything else a history of the papacy in his times, written in the form of a polemical treatise. Born, as may be conjectured, in the second quarter of the eleventh century, he makes his appearance in 1074 as subdeacon at Piacenza, and as one of the most zealous chiefs of a popular party then formed in Lombard y, and called the Pataria, which, favoured by the pope and favouring him, was bitterly opposed to the imperialist tendencies of the higher Lombard clergy, and to the marriage of priests. At the head of his party, Bonizo soon entered into a struggle with Dionysius, bishop of Piacenza, which ended in the defeat of this latter, who was rebuked by Rome and driven out of his see by the Pataria, who would have no more to do with him. In 1078 Gregory VIL appointed Bonizo to the bishopric of Sutri — a town which, on account of its position near Rome and on the road to the north of Italy^ required a thoroughly faithful bishop, one of de- termined energy in the temporal as well as in the spiritual struggle, and ready at need to take up arms in defence of the Church. In that same year, as things were looking bad in Lombardy, Bonizo was sent there by the pope as apostolic legate ; and again we find him there in 1081, always among the most active leaders of the Pataria, and so formidable that Benzo of Alba, in the panegyric mentioned above, when congratulating the emperor on his having seized Runtius, the head of the Pataria in 915ont?o» 211 Cremona, blinded and killed him, adds : " O Run- tius, sleep in thy sightless deformity ! Praise be to God that he who had dared to insult thee (the emperor) could not succeed in escaping from thy hands ! It is known in the four quarters of the globe how thou, most dreadful power, didst avenge thyself on Runtius of Cremona, and on several others. But as to Bonizellus,i Armanellus, and Morticiellus, those three demons, the whole nation laments that the same did not befall them also." As soon as he had escaped from this danger, he left Lombardy and hastened to rejoin the pope when the emperor moved towards Rome ; and afterwards, on the emperor's return northwards, he quickly went to his see of Sutri, where the following year Henry, when again in that neighbourhood, seized him and carried him off prisoner. But whether he was released or escaped by flight, certain it is that we find him, after a short interval, again on the scene as apostolic legate in Lombardy, in Tuscany, and with the Countess Matilda, to whom he was a trusty counsellor, always indomitably active and courageous. Perhaps to enable him to * A contemptuous form for Bonizo. This habit of altering the names of their opponents in order to give them a humiliating meaning, common among these polemical writers, is especially so in Benzo, Thus, for instance, besides the three names quoted in this passage, that of Anselmus, bishop of Lucca and friend of the Countess Matilda, becomes Asinehmis, that of Alexander II. Asinandrus ; and these examples of scurrilous hostility might be multiplied, nor was the opposite party free from it, t 212 iSailj) ©0rottickv0 of Ktalg. direct better the energies of the Pataria, of which he was the soul, he was transferred from the see of Sutri to that of Piacenza, where he had begun his career, and where — it is not known in what year, but certainly before 1092 — he met with a tragic end and died a martyr to his cause. "Bonizo of pious memory " — such is the record of him by the annalist, Bernold of Constance — " bishop of Sutri, but ex- pelled thence for his faithfulness to St. Peter, at last after many captures, tribulations and exiles, chosen as bishop by the Catholics of Piacenza, having had his eyes put out by the schismatics of that same place, and nearly all his limbs torn asunder, was crowned with martyrdom." Thus the ardour with which he fought excited revenge, and the fierce wish expressed by Benzo of Alba was triumphantly fulfilled. To his activity in doing, Bonizo added equal activity in writing. As proof of his ecclesiastical erudition he left behind him a collection of canons, a book on the sacraments, and an extract from the works of St. Augustine. But the book which places him in the ranks of polemical and historical writers, is one entitled Liber ad Amicum de Persecutione Ecclesice, in which, with the assistance of the canons and of Church history, he answers two questions submitted to him by some friend, namely, why God had permitted His Church to suffer such calamities, and whether it was lawful to take up temporal weapons in her defence. "Thou askest 33on{jo. 213 me, thou my only support in the tribulations which surround me : How is it that in this storm the mother Church on earth groaning cries aloud to God and is not heard, she is oppressed and is not delivered, and the children of obedience and peace are lying prostrate, while the children of Belial exult with their king, especially since He who dis- penses all things is also He who judges righteously? There is also another thing for which thou askest me the authority from the ancient examples of the holy fathers : Whether it was or is lawful for a Christian to take up arms on behalf of the faith ? To which uncertainties of thy mind, if thou wilt lend the ear of a sound heart, it will be easy to answer, both because we have it ready and because I have seen the great necessity at this time of writing it. Therefore, trusting in the mercy of God, who makes the tongues of infants eloquent, let us begin our discourse." And to find the answer he goes back to the past, and searches for it in the first vicissitudes of the Church, condensing them briefly with great though confused erudition, down to those of his own time which he relates at length. He sees the plant of Christianity spring from the blood of the martyrs in the first persecutions, take root among the nations and continue to grow in the midst of a thousand heresies from Constantine down to the Lombards, flourish under the first Car- lovingians, then decline, and again revive with vary- ing fortunes until his own age. And here begins 214 ^atlg QtfftoMm of Xtalg, the valuable part of his book, which, leaving almost entirely on one side the questions proposed by his friend, relates at length, with much historical insight and, for the last years, with the knowledge of an eye-witness, the events which had occurred during nearly half a century, from the days of Leo IX. to those of Gregory VII. Not an elegant writer, yet without pretensions, he sets down the facts simply as he knows them without ever inten- tionally altering anything, but seeking in them, if not the cause, at least the justification for later facts, and thus inaugurating an almost philosophical study of history, at the same time that Gregory of Catino in his solitary cell was inaugurating the erudite side of that study. Bonizo's disposition is always to justify the facts he relates by canonical and scriptural examples, for we must remember that his narrative aims at showing that the action of the papacy in his times was correct, and in accordance with the traditions of the Church. For if his ill- digested learning often makes him confuse dates and facts which were far removed from him, yet gradually, as he comes nearer to his own time, he becomes more precise, until in contemporary history, and especially in the life of Gregory, there is an amount of knowledge shown throughout the nar- rative which gives it considerable authority. Wat- terich, who in republishing Bonizo's work has written his life with great care, points out very justly that this is quite natural. His eventful life 9l3omjo. 215 had made him acquainted with all the principal men of the day, and he had had dealings with them in connection with the events of which he leaves us a record. Gregory VII. and his successor Desiderius of Montecassino, the Empress Agnes, the Countess Matilda, Bruno of Segni, the antipope Wibert, and many others, were all known to him personally, and with many he was on terms of intimacy, so that every new circumstance he relates suggests to us the thought that he may have had it related to him by an actor in the event, or at least by an eye-witness. For this reason we select from his work the account of one of the most striking episodes of the Middle Ages— the famous Canossa episode (A.D. 1077) — which he tells just as he must have heard it from the principal persons who took part in it. The history of this scene and the causes which led to it are so generally known, that it is superfluous to add any explanation to Bonizo's exceedingly clear narrative. " Meanwhile, when the excommunication of the king had reached the ears of the people, our whole Roman world trembled, and the Italians and Ultra- montanes judged differently of these things. For the Italians, after Easter, held at Pavia a council of malignants, in which all the Lombard bishops and abbots, under the direction of Wibert, and imitating Fotius and Dioscorus, joined in excom- m.unicating the lord pope of ancient Rome — a thing unheard of in the world that all at once the 2i6 ISarlg ©j^tomcUr^ of Italg. enemy of mankind should arm so many possessed bishops against the holy Roman Church. While these things were happening in Italy by the per- suasions of the devil, the Ultramontane princes meet together, and with wise counsel constitute both parties into a sort of tribunal, that they may clearly see whether the pope can excommunicate the king or not, and whether he can himself with justice be excom^municated. For they did not wish to destroy their law, which prescribes if any one has not been absolved from excommunication within the year and day, let him lose all the honours of his rank. Therefore the most prudent bishops, abbots, and clergy of that kingdom, having taken counsel according to the decrees of the holy fathers and the examples of the elders, decreed that the king could be excommunicated by the pope, and had been justly excommunicated, on account of his imitating Fotius and Dioscorus. What else? Finding nothing better at the time, after taking the sacrament, and followed by the Dukes Rudolph, Guelph, and Theodoric (for Godfrey, the husband of the most excellent Matilda, had died a few days before), and the rest of the bishops of the kingdom — they resolved that, if the king would acquiesce in their advice, they would bring the pope within the year's term beyond the Alps, v/ho, un- forced, would absolve him from the chain of excommunication ; and they obliged the king to swear with his own mouth, after taking the sacra- i^oni^o, 217 ment, that he would await the pope's presence and sentence. After which they all again unanimously- swore that, if the king would observe the sacrament taken, they would make the expedition into Italy with him, and would, having raised him to the imperial dignity, attack the Normans and deliver Apulia and Calabria from their yoke ; but that if, driven by his sins, he took the sacrament in vain, they would never again accept him as king and lord. "... In the meantime the venerable Gregory, for the sake of peace, was journeying towards Augsburg under great difficulties, for there was then raging a most severe winter. But the king, little heeding the sacrament, entered Italy. And some say that he desired to seize on the pope unex- pectedly, which seems probable enough ; for Gregory, the bishop of Vercelli, his chancellor, who was commanded by the princes to conduct the pope over the Alps, when he had crossed the Apennines, heard that he (Henry) had secretly entered the city of Vercelli, and told the pope of this, who then went to Canossa, a strong fortress of the most excellent Matilda. "Meanwhile the king, seeing his machinations discovered, laying aside, as it seemed, all fierceness, and putting on a dove-like simplicity, goes to Canossa, and for some days remaining barefoot on the snow and ice, deceives all the less cautious, and receives from the venerable Gregory the abso- lution which he craved in the sacrament during 2i8 ^arlg ©l^roniclct^ of Ittalg. the celebration of the mass, in the following manner : For he made him partake of the holy- table in the presence of the bishops, abbots, monks, priests, and laity in this manner, that if he httmiliated himself in spirit as in body^ and believed that th<^ pope was the rightful one, and that he had been excomimmicated on account of his imitati7ig Fotins and Dioscorus, and believed that he conld be ab- solved by this sacrament, then might it be given him for his salvation ; bitt if otherwise, might Sataft enter into him, as into Judas, by his mouth. What else ? During the celebration of the mass they took the communion together. Then it is commanded to all who are absolved from excommunication that they should keep aloof from the society of the excommunicated. But there are some who say that he swore to the pope by his life, and limbs, and honour : I, however, will affirm nothing of which I am quite ignorant. "Then the king, after he had been absolved from the ban, seemed in appearance sufficiently- devoted and obedient to the pope ; for he separated himself from the society of all those bishops, con- sidering them to be excommunicated, agreeing, however, at night, in all their wicked plans, and resolving that in his mind which afterwards was made clear by the result of the matter. And so he acted all the time that he remained at Piacenza, fearing especially the presence of his mother, the most religious empress, who happened to be there. 5^onijo» 219 "At the same time that Cencius/ hateful to God, whom we have mentioned above, came to him, whom in the day time he refused to see as being excommunicated, but at night gave himself wholly up to his pestilent counsels ; and when he saw that the pope could in no way be torn from the fortress of Canossa, he went to Pavia. There Cencius, hateful to God, died by a bitter death, and Wibert, with other excommunicated persons, celebrated his funeral with great pomp." ^ After completing the history of Gregory VII., Bonizo's book returns to the point whence it started ; and from the teachings of the past he comes to the conclusion that, in spite of all its persecutions, the Churoh is indeed dear to the Lord, and is growing in grace in the midst of difficulties which sometimes oblige her to take up temporal arms, and make it lawful for her to do so. "Therefore," he concludes, "let the glorious soldiers of God fight for the truth, strive for justice ; let them fight with true courage against heresy, which is raising itself in opposition to all that is said or worshipped. Let them emulate in good the most excellent Countess Matilda, a daughter of the blessed Peter, who, with a manly soul and despising all worldly goods, is prepared to die rather than infringe God's law, and is ready * The same that seized Gregory in St. Maria Maggiore, and carried him off to his tower. See above, p. 190. 2 Watterich, op. cit. i. 327-331. 2 20 ^atlg ©j^romckt^ of Xtalg, to combat the heresy now raging in the Church, as far as her strength permits. Into whose hand we believe that Sisera will be betrayed, and, like Jabin, will be lost in the river Kishon, because he has destroyed the Lord's vineyard and devoured it, so that it has become as the filth of the earth. But we pray, as befits our ofhce, that heresy may speedily perish, burned with fire and abashed at the rebuke of Thy countenance." Such is the con- clusion of this book, of which Bonizo wrote a sort of continuation in a work directed against Hugo, a cardinal of Wibert's, the loss of which is much to be regretted as, from what we know of it, it appears to have contained valuable information regarding the first years of Urban II.'s pontificate. One of Bonizo's friends and companions in these party struggles was Anselm, bishop of Lucca, nephew of Pope Alexander II., and beloved by Gregory VI L, who had proposed him as counsellor to the Countess Matilda, with whom he remained till his death. We have a biography of him, which is not without importance on account of the times and persons it mentions, written by a priest named Bardo, an intimate of his, who collected with affec- tionate fidelity the records of his virtues and of the miracles said to occur frequently at his grave.^ Better known, and of greater value, is a curious * Viia Ansehni ep. Lucensis, audcre Bardone^ in Mon. Germ. Hist, script., vol. xii. Anselm himself was the author of several works, partly polemical, most of which are lost. Bomnt^o. 221 poem written by Domnizo, a Benedictine monk, belonging to the church of St. ApoUonius in the Castle of Canossa, at the time of the Countess Matilda.^ In extremely rude and often obscure verses, he describes the deeds of his liege lady, moved to do so by his profound attachment and admiration for that remarkable woman. This devotion naturally weakens the authority of his statements, and his official position constrains him sometimes to a prudent reserve, while the confused rudeness of his style makes him tedious and often difficult to understand. This notwithstanding, as a recent admirer of his observes,^ " All those who write about Matilda and her times are obliged to have recourse to him, and find him very useful." Incorrect when relating distant events, passing rapidly or in silence over what he fears may offend Matilda, he abounds in sufficiently exact details of the matters in which he has personal experience ; and the affection which he retained for his heroine after her death gives a certain eloquence to his rough verses, as in the following passage at the end of his work, when he addresses Canossa, exclaiming, " O white stone . . . once thou wert happy and glorious when the great Matilda was with thee ; her illustrious forefathers ' Domnizo, Vita Mathildis^ ed. Bethmann, Mon. Germ. Hist, script., vol. xii. "^ A. Ferretti, author of a careful little treatise, entitled Canossa. Reggie Emilia, 1876. 22 2 lEarlg Qtiitonitlm of Jtalg, loved thee with ready affection, and built aloft thy walls ; the noble race which repose in thee are no more ; . . . No more breathes the great Matilda, but in thee her memory lives, and while she is blessed in new regions, everywhere resounds the glory of her lofty name."^ These were generations rich in remarkable men, but Gregory VII. towered above them all, and was doubtlessly the animating spirit of his age. A great man in the true sense, and superior to all the other successors of the first Gregory, he was both pope and monk, living in the world and with the world, and yet so separate from it in rigid strength of character, as to seem other than human in his nature. This extraordinary man, while he was carving out with iron hand a wonderful historical scheme, was at the same time its unconscious annalist, and marked the milestones of his progress in the register of his letters. From the earliest times, and during the whole of the Middle Ages, the Roman Curia adopted and continued the practice of copying all the acts sent out in its name, and of keeping them in registers for that purpose, ^ The following verses which describe the meeting of Henry IV. with Gregory VII., will give an idea of Domnizo's versification. He happened to be himself at that moment in the Castle of Canossa : — " Ante dies septem quam finem lanus haberet, Ante suam faciem concessit Papa venire, Regem cum plantis nudis a frigore captis. In cruce se iactans, Papse soepissime damans : Parce, beate pater, pie, parce michi, peto plane ! TLeiUt^ of ©agorg t^c ^^tjcnll), 223 arranged chronologically into books, and divided by years. This wise forethought would have prepared an inexhaustible mine of historical wealth, but that all the registers between that of Gregory the Great, and this of Gregory the VII., with the exception of a few letters of John VI 1 1., were lost in the course of time and circumstances. And unfortunately, not even the register of Gregory VII. has reached us entire, eight books only having sui*vived, so that his assistance fails us wholly for the last four years of his pontificate. Philip Jaffe, who has given us the best and completest edition of the Gregorian letters,^ tried partially to supply this want by collecting every other letter he could find, whether published or not ; but even so, what remains relatively to this last period is very scanty and unsatisfying. Still, fragmentary though it is, this historical document, more than any of the others which appeared at that time in Italy, throws immense light on the events of that age, and reproduces for us with statuesque distinctness the austerely majestic figure of Gregory, and shows him to us as he was in his intercourse with his contemporaries, and in his daily struggles with the difficulties unceasingly presenting themselves against his vast designs. An admirable book, which merits careful study, and can only be compared to ^ Moimmenta Gregoriana, edidit Ph. JafFe, Berolini, 1865. . A few more letters have been discovered since. We have here limited ourselves to mentioning the letters of Gregory only, but those which still exist of the popes near his time are also of great value. 224 lEarlg Q^f)tomc\m of Jtalg. the letters of the Great Gregory, from which, how- ever, it differs in many respects. A comparison of the books is equivalent to a comparison of the authors. Both blessed with the strength which springs from unbounded faith, and moved by an impersonal desire to assure the victory to this faith, both gifted with genius, and each of them superior to his age, yet following and bounded by many of the prejudices inseparable from it, these two popes still differ from each other in character, and in their ideal of the Church, an ideal which naturally varied with the change of times, events, and inspirations. In the first of these men, born on the threshold of the Middle Ages, there still breathes the life of the past, and his mind is formed amidst the traditions of ancient Rome and of the apostolic age — amidst the echoes of the Palatine and the Catacombs. Of an intelligence both far-seeing and flexible, of a heart disposed to indulgence and thirsting for affection and sympathy, of a character essentially human, he stands out as the most perfect figure in the whole course of medieval history. The other appears at the height of those dark ages, after a long night of corruption and barbarism, a monk from his child- hood, not hardhearted, but little disposed to tender- ness, calm, severe, unyielding, a born ruler. To reform the Church rotten to the core in consequence of past sins, to transform an enervated clergy into an austere order without worldly interests or affec- tions, to render the episcopate independent of royal Setters of Srcgorg t^e ^cbentj^. 225 authority and devoted to a pontiff, shepherd of nations and kings, supreme leader in the paths of righteousness and peace ; such is the ideal of this seventh Gregory, as it reveals itself in these letters which, if not written by his hand, are certainly in- spired by him, and all express in different circum- stances the same tendency. And if this ideal, exceeding the limits of possibility and of justice, did not reach its object, but soon giving way to new ideals was partly transformed, the personality of Gregory does not lose in grandeur on this account, and he still remains in history like a soli- tary eagle dominating the vast horizon from his lofty eyrie, and looking downwards in majestic in- difference. IT. CHAPTER VI. NEW PHASES OF ITALIAN THOUGHT FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURIES — SOUTHERN WRITERS OF THE NORMAN AND SUABIAN TIMES — SABA MALASPINA — HIS- TORIANS OF THE SICILIAN VESPERS — LIVES OF THE POPES — LIFE OF COLA DI RIENZO — LOMBARD MUNICIPAL WRITERS OF THE FIRST PERIOD— OTHO OF FREISING— GENERAL HIS- TORIES — ERA SALIMBENE OF PARMA— CHRO- NICLERS OF VARIOUS CITIES OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ITALY — CHRONICLERS OF LOMBARDY AND OF THE MARCA TRIVIGIANA — ALBERTINUS MUSSATUS. During the struggle of the Investitures between Church and Empire, a great change was gradually growing up in the political and intellectual con- dition of Italy, so that, on the cessation of that struggle, the literary history of the country is found to have passed unexpectedly into a new phase. The kingdom founded in the South by the Normans took deep root, became for a moment the seat of the Empire, and, in spite of many i^eto p^a^f^ of lEtaltan ^^ougj^t, 227 vicissitudes and changes of dynasty, remained up to our own days the only stable monarchy in Italy. The Roman Church, after rising so high under the powerful influence of Gregory VII., and widening immensely the circle of its spiritual and political influence, also occupied itself in increasing and strengthening its temporal patrimony, till, in the days of Innocent III. (d. 12 16), the summit was reached of a dominion which began to decline with Boniface VIII. (d. 1303). In Central and Northern Italy the communes, after a laborious season of latent preparation, suddenly blossomed out on all sides, and rapidly grew strong, rich, and free. Milan, Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, — at every step we meet with a city, and each city is a power. After the dawn which in the former century scattered much of the intellectual dimness, there now breaks forth the full radiance of Thomas Aquinas, Giotto, and Dante. In the midst of such abundance of life and energy, the laity begin to emancipate themselves from their sacerdotal leading-strings ; nay, democracy, after invading the State, attempts also to invade the Church. Every- where there is a quick ardour of thought and of action, while the new-born philosophical spirit begins to initiate new reforms, and under a thrilling impulse first given by Arnold of Brescia, boldly criticises the Church doctrines, which are defended by St. Bernard and later by the Dominicans. At this time also various heresies insinuate themselves 228 ?Sarlg ©l^rontclcr^ of Italg. among the masses, and with the introduction of new observances, give rise to religious enthusiasms and to strange excesses, promoted partly by- tendencies not varying from those which gave their first impulse to the democratic order of St. Francis of Assisi. These altered conditions alter the aspect also of the German Empire, which in the days of Frederick Barbarossa enters upon a national struggle, is Italianized for a moment under Frede- rick II., and then, being again transplanted to Germany, loses all its influence in Italy, and is completely enervated when Henry VII. crosses the Alps at the invitation of the Ghibellines. The names of Guelph and Ghibelline become a pretext and a password of Italian discord, which increases with the increase of vitality, and prepares for the nation every conceivable misfortune in the shape of strife, anarchy, and tyrannical rule. Neverthe- less, amid these contests, the true expression of Italian thought and character is developed in the growth of art and still more of language, which makes its first poetic efforts in Sicily at the court of Frederick IL, sings among the people the spiritual songs of the Franciscans, and after seek- ing perfection throughout all Italy, at last estab- lishes its home in Tuscany, and there awaits the approaching muse of Alighieri. Such is the period whose historians we now have to examine. Just as the sources of history dried up on the decline of the Roman Empire, so now ^outj^crti ©j^rotttcto, 229 the chronicles multiply in number, and become veritable histories, with the increase and fruit- fulness of popular life. The materials begin to crowd upon us in so much greater number and importance, that it is no longer possible, nor would it answer any purpose, to follow individually all the hundreds of chroniclers who spring up on all sides between the twelfth and fourteenth cen- turies. It is necessary to be brief And to begin with Southern Italy, in addition to the chroniclers of the first Norman period, already mentioned in the fourth chapter, we must notice others who flourished under the last kings of that dynasty, and who are more or less connected with the chroniclers of the Suabian period (A.D. 1 194-1268) which followed.^ The monastic chronicles also revived. To this age belong the Annales Casi- nenses (A.D. 1000-12 12), a compilation of the his- tory of Montecassino, derived by various monks from the historians already mentioned, and for the later years completed by facts which these monks had themselves collected. The monasteries ^ For the southern writers, in addition to our study of the originals, we have had frequent recourse to the excellent work published by Capasso, and entitled, Le fonti della storia delle provincie napoletane in ih.Q Archivio storico delle provincie napoletane, An. 1876. Some other publications in the Archivio storico Siciliano have also been of great service to us, and so have the works of two Sicilian historians, La Lumia and Amari. To this latter, the illustrious author of the Sicilian Vespers and of the history of the Moslems in Sicily, we owe special thanks for information given to us personally, and which proved most useful. 230 Icarlg (l^f)XoMm of Jtalg, of St. Clement of Casauria and of St. Bartholomew of Carpineto, both situated in the Abruzzi and of very ancient origin, also had their chronicles which, like that of Farfa, were enriched with valuable documents, and were compiled about the end of the twelfth century, the first by John, the second by Alexander, each a monk of the monastery whose records he collected. Of a wider character were the Annales Ceccanenses, first published under the name of Chrojticon Fosses Novcb, from the monastery in which they were found. They are composed in the form of a universal history, beginning with the Christian era and continuing down to the com- mencement of the thirteenth century, when they were written by a native of Ceccano. The first part is a useless piecing together of old writings, but later it becomes more diffuse and circumstantial. There is added to it by a different author (A.D. 1 192) a rude poem against the Emperor Henry VI., who by his marriage with the Norman Princess Con- stantia had set up the Suabian dynasty of the Hohenstaufen in the South, and had made himself hated both for the German influences he introduced, and for his cruelties towards the party of the Normans identified now with the Sicilians. Still more universal is the chronicle of Romuald Guarna, archbishop of Salerno and a celebrity of the medical school there, which begins with the creation, and comes down to the middle of the twelfth century where it breaks off. Romuald bore high offices in I^omualti of ^akttto* 231 the Norman court under the two Williams of Sicily, with whom he was allied by birth, and took a large part in the many turmoils which disturbed the last reigns of the Hauteville dynasty. He went to Venice as the representative of William II., surnamed the Good, and assisted in the name of his master at the meeting and treaties of peace, which took place there between the Pope Alex- ander III. and the Italian communes on the one hand, and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on the other. Being received by the emperor with great consideration, and having been successful in his negotiations, he speaks with lengthy com- placency of this meeting at Venice in his chronicle, which naturally is of great importance in its account of contemporary events. Nevertheless a certain partiality, easily explained in a man cpnstantly engaged in violent party struggles, leads him often to colour his facts, or to pass them over in silence, according to the interests of his own party, which was that of the government and monarchy, opposed by the feudal party of the barons impatient of the new men, who had seized the reins of power to their disadvantage. On the other hand it was to this feudal party that belonged Hugo Falcandus, a powerful and elevated writer, who with his history of Sicilian matters gained for himself the honour- able title of the Tacitus of the Middle Ages. His birthplace is disputed, but the truth seems to be that he was born in France, went while very young 232 lEarls ©j^tonicto of Xtalg. to Sicily, and remained there a long time, meeting, as he himself tells us, with assistance, favour, and an honourable position. Having returned to France, (or perhaps to England), he then wrote his history, and completed it about 1169; later, in 11 89, he took up the subject again in a letter to Peter of Blois, and touched once more on Sicilian affairs, at the time when William II. had died, and Tancred de Hauteville, placing himself at the head of the Norman party in Sicily, and being proclaimed king, tried to oppose the claims of the German Henry VI., and indeed continued to oppose them for four years until his death. Falcandus was the partisan and friend of the feudal Norman nobility established in Sicily, and he identified their interests with those of the kingdom to which he was much attached, notwithstanding the sharp words which he every now and then addresses to the Sicilians and Apu- lians, — words arising, however, rather from party antipathies than from dislike to their nation. He differs from Romuald of Salerno in hardly ever speaking of himself, and it is owing to this reti- cence that we know so little of his life. Another difference between him and the archbishop is that, whereas the latter has a tendency not to mention at all circumstances which are unfavourable to his party, Falcandus on the contrary is more coura- geous and faces the difficulty; explaining in accord- ance with his own point of view all the facts with which he is acquainted, either from having himself i^uQO iFalcattt)U0, 233 seen them, or from the accounts furnished him by his friends among the Norman nobility. And although his information is derived from interested sources, and he himself m a partisan in his heart, yet he shows more impartiality than one could expect ; while his great sagacity also told him that a bare narrative of the facts does not exhaust the duties of the historian's office, and he therefore has pre- served for us a number of details which we should not otherwise know, respecting the political con- stitution of the monarchy, the condition of the feudal lords, of the municipality, and of the people. Gibbon, notwithstanding some slight inaccuracies, speaks of Falcandus with his usual insight, and says that " Falcandus has been styled the Tacitus of Sicily ; and after a just, but immense, abatement from the first to the twelfth century, from a senator to a monk, I would not strip him of his title ; his narrative is rapid and perspicuous, his style bold and elegant, his observation keen. He had studied mankind, and feels like a man." And in relating the last vicissitudes of the Norman kingdom, and how Henry VI. made himself master of it by force, "against the unanimous wish of a free people," Gibbon quotes the prophetic words which Falcandus, on completing his history and when the struggle was beginning, wrote in his letter to Peter of Blois, — words which we give here in the English historian's rather free translation, that however reproduces faithfully the colouring and profound melancholy of the original. 234 lEatls &f)XoMm of Italg. " Constantia, the daughter of Sicily, nursed from her cradle in the pleasures and plenty, and edu- cated in the arts and manners, of this fortunate isle, departed long since to enrich the Barbarians with our treasures, and now returns with her savage allies, to contaminate the beauties of her venerable parent. Already I behold the swarms of angry Barbarians : our opulent cities, the places flourishing in a long peace, are shaken with fear, desolated by slaughter, consumed by rapine, and polluted by intemperance and lust. I see the massacre or captivity of our citizens, the rapes of our virgins and matrons. In this extremity how must the Sicilians act .-* By the unanimous election of a king of valour and experience, Sicily and Calabria might yet be preserved ; for in the levity of the Apulians, ever eager for new revolutions, I can repose neither confidence nor hope. Should Calabria be lost, the lofty towers, the numerous youth, and the naval strength of Messina might guard the passage against a foreign invader. If the savage Germans coalesce with the pirates of Messina ; if they destroy with fire the fruitful region so often wasted by the fires of Mount Etna, what resource will be left for the interior parts of the island, these noble cities which should never be violated by the hostile footsteps of a Barbarian } Catania has again been overwhelmed by an earthquake : the ancient virtue of Syracuse expires in poverty and solitude; but Palermo is still crowned with a ^uabiatt ^mot)» 235 diadem, and her triple walls enclose the active multitudes of Christians and Saracens. If the two nations, under one king, can unite for their common safety, they may rush on the Barbarians with invincible arms. But if the Saracens, fatigued by a repetition of injuries, should now retire and rebel ; if they should occupy the castles of the mountains and sea-coast, the unfortunate Christians, exposed to a double attack, and placed as it were between the hammer and the anvil, must resign themselves to hopeless and inevitable servitude." ^ We may say that with Hugo Falcandus closes the series of historians belonging to the Norman period, from which we pass to those of the Suabian rule, beginning with a poem by Peter of EboH, who related in well-turned verse the struggle between Tancred and Henry VI., writing of the latter what is more a panegyric than a history. This period is not very abundant in local chro- niclers for Southern Italy, although it is in it that appears the striking personality of Frederick II., who exercised such fascination over his contempo- raries in Italy, and whose court became a centre for all men of learning and letters, and almost the cradle of Italian poesy. The anonymous chronicle De Rebus Siculis, the Annales Siculi, and the Breve Chronicon Lauretanum are writings which the his- torian is glad to consult, but which in themselves * Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ^ chap. Ivi, 236 lEarlg mjtomtlm of fclg, are of little value ; and the only really important Southern chroniclers of that age are Richard of St. Germano, Nicholas of lamsilla, and Saba Malaspina on the continent ; and in the island of Sicily, Nicholas Speciale and Bartholomew of Neocastro. The first of these writers, born in the town of St. Germano at the foot of Montecassino, was imperial notary, and served Frederick II. in many matters. All that he had seen, his long acquaintance with public life, and perhaps the traditions of historical studies preserved in the great Abbey near which he was born, inspired him with the wish to write the history of the years from the death of William the Good until 1254. This accurate and simple work, written with impar- tiality, full of facts related frankly and without rhetorical effort or much vivacity of colouring, is really a chronicle, not a history, and is the surest guide we have for Frederick II.'s reign, and for the Neapolitan provinces in his time. The two others, whose names we have coupled with his, are also well-meaning and honest, but both of them passionate partisans in the struggle, now renewed for the third time, between Church and Empire, the last vicissitudes of which struggle they describe. Of the Ghibelline Nicholas of lamsilla we know nothing except his name, and even this with some uncertainty ; but from his work we may infer that he also was a notary, the secre- tary of King Manfred, and his familiar follower 5a]&a i^ala^pma* 237 from 1253 to 1256. This we gather from the very minute and exact information which he gives us of that chivalrous sovereign, especially during those years. His style is elegant and dignified, and his Ghibelline tendencies do not detract from his fidelity as an historian, since his party sympathies bring into play a natural disposition to compare events, and to judge of them synthetically, a disposition which he has in common with Saba Malaspina. We have also but scanty notices of this Saba, who was born in Rome of an ancient Roman family, became dean of the Church of Miletus in Calabria, and a member of the Curia in the time of Pope Martin IV., during whose pontificate (A.D. 1281- 1285) he wrote his history, which he dedicated to a college of officials belonging to the papal court. In this history he declares his intention to relate those facts of whose truths he could bear witness, or which, being generally received, seemed to him trustworthy. This work, divided into two parts, treats of the events of the kingdom from the death of Frederick II. to that of Charles of Anjou (a.d. 1 250-1 285). It is the history of a period of great disturbance and full of sudden changes, and embraces the adventurous reign of Manfred, who inherited from Frederick, together with the royal crown, the deadly hatred of the Guelphs against his family, as also the hostility of the papacy, which by its support advanced the designs of Charles of Anjou, until at the battle of 338 lEarlg ©j^ronicler^ of Ittalg^ Benevento Manfred lost both life and kingdom And after Manfred's death Saba continues to tell how Charles strengthened his position, and of his complex relations with the Guelph party in the whole of Italy, and especially with the pope and Roman municipality, of which he was senator. He also relates the tragic fate of the handsome and unfortunate Conradin, of Hohenstauffen, who as a boy of sixteen came from Germany in the vain hope of regaining the kingdom of his ancestors, but was vanquished at Tagliacozzo, and, by com- mand of the fierce Anjou lord, the graceful young head rolled like a stricken flower on the scaffold, to be, however, later avenged in Sicily at the sound of that terrible vesper bell (a.d. 1282). Although Guelph in feelings and belonging to the Curia, Saba renders full justice to the characters and misfortunes of both Manfred and Conradin, and makes no effort to disguise the faults of King Charles, while extolling exceedingly in him those qualities which had enabled him to conquer the kingdom, and to establish in it his own dynasty. Notwithstanding his pompous, affected style, and his bad Latin, he is not without a certain expressive vigour arising from the importance of his subject, and from the impression made upon him by all these changing fortunes.^ * It is no longer possible for us to notice any sources of history other than chronicles. We can only mention here in a note the letters of Petrus de Vinea, Frederick II. 's great chancellor, who i^att^olontcto of i^cofa^tro* 239 Saba treats the unexpected outbreak, which led to the revolution of the Vespers, and the establish- ment of the house of Aragon in Sicily, with much historical acumen and honesty, recognizing, in spite of his personal feelings, the causes which led to it, and the consequences resulting from it ; and like him in this are the other two principal historians of that event, Bartholomew of Neocastro and Nicholas Speciale, both Sicilians. Bartholomew, a lawyer and native of Messina, republican magistrate of that town during the revolution of 1282, then fiscal advocate, and in 1286 ambassador of John I. of Sicily to Pope Honorius IV., is perhaps the best witness we have of that movement. His narrative begins in 1250, and terminates in 1293, becoming more diffuse in the latter years, and describing minutely the events still fresh in the author's memory ; showing also an honest desire to be inspired Dante with one of the finest episodes in the Inferno. These letters are amongst the most valuable literary monuments of that age, and have the greatest historical merit. There are also existing other contemporary collections of letters written by men taking an active part in public life, but they are mostly unedited, though they deserve to be published either entirely or in part, as it is also most desirable that there should be a complete and definite edition of Petrus de Vinea's letters. For information with regard to them, an essay of the Neapolitan De Blasiis, may with advantage be consulted, as well as one by Huillard Breholles, Pierre de la Vigne, sa vie et sa correspondance. We should further make passing mention of the great collection in ten volumes, prepared by Huillard Breholles, and entitled Historia Diplomatica Friderici Secundi, as also another by Bartolomeo Capasso, Historia Diplo7natica Regni utriusque Sicilice ab anno 1250 ad annum 1266. 240 lEatlj) ®5totttcler0 of Italg, impartial, although occasionally his excessive affec- tion for his native town of Messina prevents him from doing full justice to Palermo-, and the part she took in freeing the island from French tyranny. The Historia Siciila of Nicholas Speciale embraces a later period, and beginning with the Vespers, reaches the year 1337, thus giving the reigns of the first princes of Aragon in Sicily. A distinguished statesman and a refined man of letters, Nicholas was on terms of friendship with Frederick II. of Aragon, who sent him in 1334 as ambassador to Pope Benedict XI L, and from this friendship we have, to quote the words of Amari, both an ad- vantage and a disadvantage ; the former because he was in a position as to time and place, to know exactly, and not as an outsider, what he was writing about, since he had seen it with his eyes and studied it closely ; on the other hand there is the disadvantage which may always accrue to the truth from, a courtier's caution.^ ^ Annates Casinenses, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, vol. xix. Chronicon Casauriense^ in Muratori Rer. Italic. Script, ii. 2. Chronicon S. Bartholofncei de Carpineto, in Ughelli, Italia Sacra, vol. vii. Romualdi Salernitajii Annates, ibid. Ilugonis Falcandi Historia de Rebus gestis in Sicilies Regno, in Muratori, op. cit. vii. Petri de Ebuto Carmen de Belto inter Heinricum VI. et Tancredum, ap. Dal Re, Cronisti e scrittori sincroni napoletani, Napoli, 1845. Ricardi de Sancto Germano Chronica, Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, xix. Nicotai de lamsitta De Rebus gestis Friderici II., Muratori, op. cit. viii. SabcB Mataspincz Res Sictitce, ibid, and better in Dal Re, op. cit. Nicotai Specialis Hist. Sicula, Muratori, op. cit. x. Bartho- lomcei de Neocastro Hist, Sicula, ibid. xiii. Of the writings %ibt^ of t^e popejs^ 241 Leaving now this celebrated island and return- ing to the mainland, we shall pass by the writers of the first Anjou period, who are few and of little interest for our subject, and turn immediately to the Roman writers. They also arc scanty, and Gregorovius remarks with truth that the best materials for the municipal history of Rome are furnished by the English chroniclers, William of Malmesbury, Roger Hoveden, and, above all, Matthew Paris, whose works are treasures of Italian history in the thirteenth century. We have already mentioned that Saba Malaspina, being a Roman, treated at the same time of Neapolitan and Roman affairs, which were then closely connected. The lives of the popes after those written by Cardinal Boso were resumed again by an anonymous priest, who related the doings of Innocent III. (A.D. 1198-1216), and describes that famous pontiffs position respecting the East and Sicily, with the accurate though diffuse know- ledge of a contemporary writer, but without either clearness or elegance of style ; while by another contemporary is the life of Gregory IX. (d. A.D. 1 241), written with great partiality, and in a spirit recognized as apocryphal, such as the Diurnali of Matthew Spinelli da Giovinazzo, and among the Roman chronicles that of Monal- deschi, we do not speak ; omitting likewise the Rebellamentu di Sichilia, a sort of historical romance, as Amari calls it, written in the Sicilian dialect, and proved, as we think satisfactorily, not to have been of the same period as the Vespers. IT. R 242 lEarlg Qtf)Vomhv^ of Jtalg, hostile to the Emperor Frederick 11. Of much greater merit is the history of the succeeding pope, Innocent IV. (a.d. 1243- 12 54), composed by his chaplain, Nicholas of Curbio, a laudatory writer, who is, however, well informed and careful, and reminds us of the best writers of the Pontifical Book, while he is superior to them in the facile grace of his style, and in a purity of language which makes us feel that we have entered upon a new and improved period of Latin letters — a period of rapid and extraordinary progress. After Nicholas of Curbio we have no more actual bio- graphies of popes, only dry notes which later were collected when, in the fourteenth century, historical studies took a wider character, from which resulted compilations such as the absurd chronicle of Martin of Troppau, famous under the name of Martinus Polonus, and others, less well known, but much better, by the Dominicans Bernardus Guidonis, and Ptolemaeus Lucensis, who, both starting from the Christian era, stop in the early part of the fourteenth century.^ The transfer of the papal court to Avignon led naturally to a falling off in Roman historical writings. The municipalities of Central and Northern Italy represented so many States, and had a political importance which was quite want- ing to Rome, absorbed as it was in that of the ^ PtoIemcBi Lucensis Historia Ecclesiaslica, Muratori, op. cit. xi. All tlic other pontifical lives, ibid. iii. Eife of ®ola l)i Jlienio^ 243 Popes. When they are not taken into account, the historical importance of the actual city of Rome was not greater than that of any other of the secondary communes, from which it was only distinguished by its ancient renown and its unique associations. And so true is this, that no sooner does the fantastic apparition of a singular man, emerging from the ruins of the Forum, and dreaming the return of past glories, ascend to the Capitol, and, after a short splendour, vanish again into the darkness, than a chronicle immediately appears, recording the passage of the meteor; but the life of Cola di Rienzo comes alone, and remains a solitary instance of its kind, as solitary as the hero whose deeds it com- memorates. Among a few fragments of little value, this life of Cola di Rienzo is really the only noticeable historical work produced by Rome in the four- teenth century. Some doubts have been raised as to its authenticity, which has even been posi- tively denied, nor can we say that we feel complete certainty on the point. Yet so strong do the reasons seem for considering it authentic, that when a careful examination of the remaining manuscripts, and an historical and philological study of the text make it possible to come to a definite conclusion, we think that the verdict will be a favourable one for the chronicle, and the result will be" a genuine edition free from the errors 244 lEatlg ®!)totttclft$; of Xtalg* and interpolations which deform the present one. But even now, with all its imperfections, this life is very attractive, written as it is in the Roman dialect, interspersed with dialogues and ingenuous exclamations, simple, clear, full of movement and life. The great admiration of the chronicler for Cola is tempered by his sincere patriotism and his love for Rome, which is stronger than any other feeling, nor does he fail to represent the Tribune in all his strange contradictions. That mixture in him of wisdom and caprice, of a classical grandeur of aims in a man who seemed almost inspired, and the childish vanity of one who had suddenly risen from a humble estate to unlimited power ; every impulse, every characteristic is so vividly described that he seems to rise before us, and live over again his life of turmoil. And with him we see those papal legates and proud barons now caressed, now threatened by Cola, trembling before him with fear and anger, and meditating vengeance the while ; here also are seditions boil- ing up suddenly, and as suddenly settling down, and those turbulent Romans armed and fighting in the public squares, then momentarily tranquil- ized to flame up afresh, and pass again through all the stages of indignation, shouts and tumults. This book is a romance far richer in imagination and vivacity than that of Bulwer, and is at the same time a history, just as the Tribune himself is one of those types, which arrest both the SomBatti Mtitm* 245 attention of the historian and the fancy of the poet.^ If in Rome there was a great scarcity of chro- niclers, it was very different in other parts of Italy, especially in Lombardy, where the municipal life was a very vigorous one, the liberty of the citizens was spreading, and with it their commerce, their ambitions, and the contests of arms, sometimes raised against the German invaders, more often in fratricidal wars between neighbouring cities, and even within the walls of the same city. In the eleventh century, when Rome was striving for supremacy, Milan was already beginning to trace the outline of her history according to the new tendencies, and a popular lay element penetrated into it, and introduced a special character of its own. Thus even the historian Arnulph, although a partisan of the ecclesiastical aristocracy of Milan, ^ Vi^a di Coladi Rienzo, Bracciano, 1624 and 1 63 1, ap. Muratori, Rer. Italic. Script, vol. iii., and another with notes by Zefirino Re, Forli, 1828, reprinted at Florence by Le Monnier. All imperfect editions, and the last the most imperfect of all. We should mention here that historical studies owe much to Cola, who may be said to have inaugurated Roman archaeology, by searching in ancient writers and inscriptions for the history of those monuments, which fired his imagination, and which up to that time had hardly any other record but the mediaeval legends, which are contained in the Mirabilia, a characteristic book of which we should very willingly have spoken, had we not feared to exceed the limits of our work. Some annals of Rome and the places near, published in the nine- teenth volume of the Monumenta Germa?iicB, also have a certain interest ; and important too are the Cronache Viterbesi of Nicola della Tuccia, published in Florence by Ignazio Ciampi. 246 lEarlg (^l)vonic\m of Italg. is also unconsciously influenced by this element in his Gesta Archiepiscoporum Mediolmiensium (a.d. 925-1076). In them he relates a disturbed period of perplexity and contest. On the one hand were the higher Milanese clergy, traditionally hostile to the pretensions of Rome, jealous of its riches and its prerogatives, and opposed to the rule of celibacy ; on the other hand the majority of the lower clergy and of the people, who, drawn into the current of the new ideas of reform, joined that party of the Pataria of which Bonizo of Sutri was, as we have seen, the champion, and afterwards the martyr, at Piacenza. Arnulph introduced the municipal chronicle at Milan, as at Venice we have seen it inaugurated by John the deacon, and " in the pages of Arnulph," as a recent writer well says, " we are no longer in the cloister, we are in the city, in the midst of its tumults and contentions.^ And while the Pataria of Milan also had its martyrs in Ariald and Erlembald, of whose lives we have a narrative, several writers arose to preserve for us the history of both the religions and the civil struggles ; among others the two Landulphs, the elder and the younger, the former belonging to the archiepiscopal party, and violently partial, the latter far better, more moderate and truthful, and of greater learning and accuracy. Born about the end of the eleventh century, this younger Landulph was carefully * Adolfo Bartoli, Storia della letteratura itah'ana, vol. i., Firenze, 1878. Sombart) Wixiitx^* 247 educated, and for the sake of further instruction went to Paris, where at that time young men from all parts of Europe congregated for study. On his return to his native town he was attached to the church of St. Paul, which had been rebuilt by his uncle Liprand, an eloquent, zealous and persecuted head of the Pataria ; and notwithstanding his high reputation, Landulph did not either escape perse- cution in the course of his life. The history of Milan from 1095 to 1137, which he wrote, contains according to Muratori all the more important events occurring during those years in Milan, and describes graphically to what excesses the greed for power could lead in those, as indeed in all, days ; nor does Landulph confine his narrative within the walls of Milan, but extends it to a considerable tract of Italian history. Two contemporaries of Landulph are a Magister Moyses, who celebrated in verse the praises of his native Bergamo, and another, but anonymous poet, who deplored the laying waste of Como by the Milanese, and the long and cruel war which pre- ceded this misfortune from 11 18 to 11 27. But the rapid succession of events prepared plenty of materials for new chroniclers, among whom we first find a Milanese known as Sire Raoul, or Radulph, to whom we are indebted for a good history of the wars sustained by the Milanese against Barbarossa. ^ * This chronicle has been generally attributed to Sire Raoul, of 248 lEatlg ®i)t:onidet^ of Italg, That solemn moment for Milanese history, when, after being levelled to the ground and furrowed by the plough of the conqueror, she suddenly rose up again unconquered and more implacable than ever against Frederick ; the terrible cruel- ties of that desperate struggle ; the deadly enmi- ties between some cities, and between others that honourable harmony, by which in the victory of Legnano Italy was saved (a.D. 1176, May 29th) ; all this finds in Raoul the testimony of an eye- witness, who relates the facts with calm severity and with a desire of benefiting future generations by these examples : " Those things which I have seen and have heard from truthful sources, I shall try to describe ; for posterity may derive the greatest benefit from them, if they learn through what has gone before to guard against the future." And the same sympathies animate the pen of another chronicler, Boncompagnus Magister Florentinus, who, from the Adriatic coast, describes, though with much more warmth, an episode in this con- test, namely the siege of Ancona, which, when hemmed in by Frederick's soldiers under the leader- ship of a warlike priest. Christian Archbishop of Cologne, made a vigorous resistance, and obliged the Germans to raise the siege. Taking a very different view of matters, and whom we know nothing except the name, but it appears that he had only collected and written down the notes of some Qther writer whose name has not reached us. Som^art) Wixxim* 249 passionate partisans of the emperor, were Otho Morena and his son Acerbus, who have left us a record of Frederick's doings in Italy, and of the vicissitudes of their native place of Lodi. Otho, who was Judge and Missies Imperialis under Lothair and Conrad III., carried his work down to 1 162, and it was continued afterwards to 11 67 by his son Acerbus, a favourite with the Emperor Frederick, who made him Podesta of Lodi. On his death at Siena in 1167, an anonymous writer continued his history for a few years longer, and wrote in a some- what more national spirit than the two Morenas, who, influenced by their great affection for the Empire, and by the hatred of long standing between Lodi and Milan, betray a violent animosity against this latter town ; yet in spite of their par- tiality, their power of reasoning and expression is such, and so varied is their information, that they must be considered among the best sources of our knowledge concerning that memorable period.-^ The grand figure of the Emperor Frederick Barba- ' Arnulfi Gesta Archiepiscoporum Mediolanensium, Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, vol. viii. Landulfi Historia Mediolanensis, ibid. Landulfi Junioris de S. Patilo Historia Mediolanensis, ibid. xx. and Muratori, op. cit. v. Andrea Vita S. Arialdi, Acta Sanctorum, June 5, Moysis Magistri Bergomensis De Latidibus Bergomi^ Muratori, op. cit. v. Anonymi Poema de bello et excidio Urhis Cometisis, ibid. , Radulfi sive Raul de Rebus gestis Friderici I. ibid, vi., and Annales Mediolanenses, Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, xviii. Boncompagni Magistri Florentini De Obsidione AiuoncB, Muratori, op. cit. vi. Otto Morena, Acerbus Morena, Anonymtis, De Rebus Laudensibus, Mon. Germ. Hist, Script, xviii. 250 lEarlg Qtf)tomUx^ of 3Italg, rossa evoked in Germany an historian, who must not be omitted from these pages. This was Otho, bishop of Freising, who was born from a second marriage of Agnes, daughter of the Emperor Henry IV., with Liupold, marquis of Austria, and hence was half-brother of King Conrad III., and uncle of Bar- barossa, whose faithful counsellor he became, and sharer in State affairs. In mind quick and versatile, melancholy and mystic in disposition, Otho inclined to monastic life, and indeed after some time passed in study at Paris, he turned Cistercian monk in the Abbey of Morimund, and became its abbot, but later was raised to the episcopal see of Freising, without however abandoning either the dress or the feelings of a monk. He accompanied his brother Conrad during the second Crusade, and led against the Saracens in Palestine an army which was destroyed, he himself escaping with difficulty, and after visiting Jerusalem he returned to Europe. There seems to have been little harmony between him and King Conrad, but when Frederick ascended the throne he took more part in public affairs, and remained with the emperor till 1158, when on Frederick's preparing to return to Italy, he obtained permission to remain behind in his native country, on account of his failing health. There he died soon after in that same Abbey of Morimund where he had been monk and abbot, and to which he was bound by many ties of affection, as he also was to his diocese of Freising, whose cathedral, after long ©tjo of dFt:eiging» 251 neglect in those troubled times, was restored by his munificence to riches and splendour. Otho, naturally inclined to meditation, and drawn to it still further by his serious philosophical and theological studies, was prompted by the scenes in which he was both spectator and actor to write a book of history, wherein to philosophize sadly on the vanity of human things and to seek comfort in the thought of immortality. The Chronicon, or, as Otho preferred to call it, the Liber de duabus civiiatibjis, is a synthetical study of the various ages of the world, beginning, as usual, with the Creation, and coming down to his own times, divided into seven books, and containing, in an eighth, a treatise on the last judgment and the world to come. He drew his historical information from Paulus Orosius and his philosophical opinions from the works of St. Augustine, and perhaps is the first who, in that early dawn of the renaissance, tried to connect the whole story of humanity into a foreordained system of causes and effects. Hence the value of this work for any one who is inquiring into the progressive development of historical research, and also, for a minute study of German history, the value of those books of the Chronicon, in which Otho treats of the times nearest his own. But the book of his which has greatest interest for Italian history is another concerning Barbarossa's earlier enterprises, and entitled Gesta Friderici Imperatoris. An impartial examiner of the differences between the Church 252 lEarlg (^itonitlm of 3Italg» and Empire, this bishop-monk, uncle of the emperor, eye-witness of many events, and minutely informed on many others, would be beyond all comparison the best historian of the day, did not certain grave defects obscure his merits. The same philosophical tendency of his mind which enables him to take in facts with a glance, and judge of them with sufficient fairness from a distance, makes him often careless in^ the details and not very reliable. Moreover, a love of showy phrases, a wish to increase the rhetorical effect by strong contrasts of light and shade, frequently induce him to alter in such a way the circumstances of his narrative that, even when it is on the whole truthful, many of its incidents become quite incredible. An instance of this is where, in his account of the sudden rising of the Romans against Frederick's army (a.d. 1155, June i8th), of the long and ob- stinate resistance, and the slaughter which ensued, he affirms that, while of the Romans there were a thousand killed, two hundred prisoners, and in- numerable wounded, only one of the Germans perished, and another was taken prisoner, an assertion whose incredible nature he softens with a classical mirum dictu} But if this defect, and a * " Praelium hoc a decima pene diei hora usque ad noctem pro- tractum est. Caesi fuerunt ibi vel in Tyberi mersi pene mille, capti ferme ducenti, sautiati innumeri, cseteri in fugam versi, uno tantum ex nostris, mirum dictu, occiso, uno capto. Plus enim nostras intemperies coeli sestusque illo in tempore maxime cirea Urbem im- ^tj^o of J^rd^mg* 253 certain mixture of national boastfulness with a courtier's adulation, often make him untrustworthy in details, he is nevertheless, taken all in all, of great importance as an historian, and often, when account- ing for facts, he shows remarkable insight in dis- covering their historical and political causes, and with great sagacity explains the present by the past. Thus, in the passage we are about to quote, we find a striking instance of this, especially if we take into consideration the fact that it was written by a German imperialist at a time when the will of Barbarossa, and the renewed study of Roman law were calculated to exaggerate the rights of im- perialism beyond all limits. "Nevertheless the Lombards had laid aside all the bitterness of their barbarous ferocity, in con- sequence, perhaps, of their marriages with the Italians, so that they had children who inherited something of Roman mildness and intellect from their maternal parentage, or from the influence of the soil and climate, and retain the elegance of the Latin language and a certain courtesy of manners. They also imitate the activity of the ancient Romans in the management of the cities and in the preservation of the State. Finally, they are so attached to their liberty that, to avoid the inso- moderatior, quam Romanorum Isedere poterant arma." Neverthe- less, "finite tarn magnifico triumpho," the emperor drew off his army the following morning, and encamped at a respectful distance from Rome. 254 lEarlg ©j^rontcUr^ of Balg* lence of rulers, they prefer to be reigned over by consuls than by princes. And since, as it is known, there are three orders among them, of captains, vassals, and the commons,^ in order to keep down arrogance, these aforesaid consuls are chosen, not from* one order, but from each, and, lest they should be seized with a greed for power, they are changed nearly every year. From which it happens that that territory is all divided into cities, which have each reduced those of their own province to live with them, so that there is hardly to be found any noble or great man with so great an influence, as not to owe obedience to the rule of his own city. And they are all accustomed to call these various territories their own Comitattis^ from this privilege of living together. And in order that the means of restraining their neighbours may not fail, they do not disdain to raise to the badge of knighthood, and to all grades of authority, young men of low- condition, and even workmen of contemptible mechanical arts, such as other people drive away like the plague from the more honourable and liberal pursuits. From which it happens that they are pre-eminent among the other countries of the world for riches and power. And to this they are helped also, as has been said, by their own in- dustrious habits, and by the absence of their princes, accustomed to reside north of the Alps. ^ Capitanei, vavassores, plebs. ©tj^o of dFrd^tng, 255 In this, however, they retain a trace of their bar- barous dregs, forgetful of ancient nobility, that while they boast of living by law they do not obey the laws. For they seldom or never receive the prince reverently, to whom it would be their duty to show a willing reverence of submission, nor do they obediently accept those things which he, ac- cording to the justice of the laws, ordains, unless they are made to feel his authority, constrained by the gathering of many soldiers. On this account it frequently happens that, whereas a citizen has only to be restrained by the law, and an adversary must be coerced with arms according to the law, they find him, from whom as their proper prince they should receive clemency, more often having recourse to hostilities for his own rights. From which results a double evil for the State, both that the prince has his thoughts distracted by the collecting of an army for the subjection of the citizen, while the citizen has to be compelled to obedience to his prince, not without a great expenditure of his own substance. Whence, for the same reason that the people are in such an instance guilty of rashness, the prince is to be excused, by the necessity of the case, before God and man. ' "Among the other cities of that nation, Milan, situated between the Po and the Alps, now pos- sesses the supremacy. . . . And it is considered more famous than other cities, not only on account of its greater size and its large number of armed 256 ^m\^ (^l)xoMm of Jtalg. men, but also because it has added to its jurisdic- tion two other cities placed in the same region, namely Como and Lodi. Then, as happens in human affairs, through the blandishments of a smiling fortune, it swelled out into such daring of pride, being elated with success, that it not only did not refrain from attacking all its neighbours, but ventured even without alarm to incur the recently offended majesty of the prince." It is to be regretted that a premature death prevented Otho from continuing his history beyond 1 1 58, when the conflict between Frederick and the Communes may be said to have only just begun. Doubtlessly his experience of the facts, his intimacy with the emperor, and his easy access to official documents would have increased the value of his book with the progress of events. Nor are we compensated for this loss by the continuation of his work down to 1 1 60 by his faithful chaplain Ragevinus, also an eye-witness and perhaps a more accurate narrator than his master, but as incom- parably inferior to him in talent and learning as in position. Besides this continuation, the Gesta gave rise to the poem of Guntherus Ligurinus, entitled Carmhia de Rebus gestis Friderici I. ^nobarbi, which has latterly led to many controversies regarding its authenticity, called in question by some of the learned to the extent of declaring it to be a fabrication of the sixteenth century. This ©otifvcg of ITiterbo, 257 conclusion, however, appears exaggerated, and it is far more reasonable to hold, with Gaston Paris, that this poem is a sort of literary exercise, written about the end of the twelfth century, almost entirely on the lines of Otho of Freising's Gesta^ so that historically speaking it is little more than a para- phrase in verse. Nor of much greater value are the Gesta Fridcrici by Godfrey of Viterbo, who treated of the same subject, but rudely and con- fusedly, without saying almost anything new. He wrote several other works, among them one well known, called the Pantheon, and also to him is attributed a poem on the exploits of Henry VI. against Tancred in Sicily, but it does not seem to be really his. It is disputed whether he was born at Viterbo or in Germany, and most critics regard him as German, but wc cannot say that the reasons for one opinion seem to us better than those for the other. Certainly when a boy he was educated at Bamberg, and belonged later as chaplain to the court of Frederick, whom he served zealously, following him in his campaigns and travelling for him, as he tells us, " twice in Sicily, three times in Provence, once in Spain, often in France, and forty times to Rome from Germany." He died at Viterbo, which, if not his birthplace, was certainly his adopted home during the last years of his life. It was rather the gift than the opportunities which were wanting on his part, to IT. S 258 lEailg ©l)romclei