name could be applied–Spain and France, England and Hungary, Poland and Bohemia—he insisted upon the supreme sovereignty of his See. Whenever he could do so he drew taut all the bonds which united these countries with the Roman centre. But against an enemy in battle array he was not armed.
The city was still loyal to Gregory, and Henry stormed it twice without success. When he appeared for the third time Gregory had still received no aid: the Normans had their hands full with the Grecian wars and forgot their pledge, and the German anti-King to whom Gregory appealed was himself in the field warring against Henry's supporters. As a result Germans and Lombards scaled the Leonine wall during June 1083. The battle raged around St. Peter's, and even inside the basilica itself. Gregory was entrenched at San Angelo, and would rather have sent the King the curse of the ban anew than the desired crown. Then an armistice inaugurated the last act of the drama, which lasted long. The Romans then were not more loyal than Romans have always been. The tired people, the clergy, the College of Cardinals itself, began to drift away from the Pope, who was determined to struggle to the death. The King and his wife received the body contested Imperial crowns from Vibert, the anti-Pope whom Lombard bishops had consecrated on Easter Day 1084. The deserted Pope could look down from the walls of the Mausoleum of Hadrian upon a festive throng on the banks of the Tiber. Henry speedily conquered the city while Gregory's messengers were hastening southward to summon the Normans. Robert Guiscard came with a powerful army, drove the German troops off, freed the beleaguered Pope and led him in triumph back to the Lateran. But the liberators took a dreadful revenge upon the city. Never before and never again has such a sea of horrors flowed over Rome; and all the ruins, all the ashes, all the blood, all the outcries of virgins dragged off to shame, pointed to Gregory as the guilty cause. The people, terrified by the threats of their tormentors, swore a new oath of loyalty to the Pope, but it was impossible for him to remain in the city longer. He left with Robert to escape from the desolation which everywhere called down a curse upon his name. As he went his way into strange regions, he rested awhile in Monte Cassino, the home of Benedict, whose garment he himself had worn. How
