him at the critical moment. However he managed to obtain possession of Benevento for the second time, and he caused the Saracen leader Masar to be executed (28 May 852). The Saracen commander-in-chief in Sicily, 'Abbās ibn al-Faḍl, avenged this deed by plundering and occupying the Calabrian coast.
The same performance was repeated as after the first departure of Louis. Meanwhile Mufarrij ibn Sālim had taken up Khalfūn's position at Bari. He took his revenge for past failures by founding an independent State, declaring his allegiance directly to the Abbasid Caliph. His successor assumed the title of Sultan, thus proclaiming his independence of the Sicilian Amīr. Little is known of the doings of these rulers of Bari, who were probably soldier-emperors like the subsequent Mamelukes in Egypt. The country as far as Central Italy lay defenceless at their feet, as the troubles in the territory of the old Duchy of Benevento became greater and greater, and prevented all defence. The western historians give the most incredible reports of the bloodthirstiness of these sultans. Capua and Naples had to suffer the most, but the rich monasteries further to the north, as San Vincenzo on the Volturno, and Monte Cassino, also saw the enemy either within their walls, or at least before them.
In order to put a stop to this distress the Emperor once more undertook (866) a great expedition against the Saracens, and finally forced them back on Bari and Taranto. In order to subjugate Bari however a fleet was necessary, and after long negotiations this was eventually placed at his disposal by the Byzantines. By co-operation at this stage the two emperors and their vassals at last succeeded (2 Feb. 871) in breaking the power of Bari. On his way to Taranto however to take this last bulwark from the Muslims the Emperor was compelled to fall back on Ravenna, and this too through the treachery of the self-same petty princes, whom he had just rescued from the severest distress. At the same time the Saracens appeared once more, this time on the western coast, and attacked Salerno, pushing forward also even as far as Capua. Louis sent help once more, and the Saracens were defeated at Capua on the Volturno, whereupon they left Italy, but only to return shortly afterwards with renewed forces. They did not meet the Emperor again in the south. He died in 875 in Northern Italy, and with his death all his successes appear to have vanished.
At this point Byzantium assumed the moral heritage of the Carolingian and profited by his deeds. The further struggle with the Saracens and their final expulsion from Italy belongs to the great Byzantine restoration under the Macedonian emperors of the Basilian dynasty. A few words only may here be added in regard to the conclusion of the Saracen domination on Italian soil. With the consent of the residents the Byzantines, who were up to that time stationed in Syracuse, had also settled in Bari. The loss of Syracuse in the
