OF THE EOMAX EMPIRE 183 phalanx ; and neither man nor steed nor armour could resist the weight of their long and two-handed swords. After a severe conflict, they were encompassed by the squadrons returning from the pursuit : and died in their ranks with the esteem of their foes and the satisfaction of revenge. The gates of Civitella were shut against the flying pope, and he was over- taken by the pious conquerors, who kissed his feet, to im- plore his blessing and the absolution of their sinful victory. The soldiers beheld in their enemy and captive the vicar of Christ ; and, though we may suppose the policy of the chiefs, it is probable that they were infected by the popular super- stition. In the calmi of retirement, the well-meaning pope deplored the effusion of Christian blood, which must be imputed to his account ; he felt, that he had been the author of sin and scandal ; and, as his undertaking had failed, the indecency of his military character was universally condemned. ^^ With these dispositions, he listened to the offers of a beneficial treaty ; ^^ deserted an alliance which he had preached as the cause of God ; and ratified the past and future conquests of the Normans. By whatever hands they had been usurped, the provinces of Apulia and Calabria Avere a part of the donation of Constantine origin of the and the patrimony of St. Peter : the grant and the acceptance t^e^to^h" ' confirmed the mutual claims of the pontiff and the adventurers. °™"" They promised to support each other with spiritual and tem- poral arms ; a tribute or quit-rent of twelvepence was afterwards stipulated for eveiy plough-land ; and since this memorable transaction the kingdom of Naples has remained above seven hundred years a fief of the Holy See.^*^
- • Several respectable censures or complaints produced by M. de St. Marc (torn,
ii. p. 200-204). As Peter Damianus, the oracle of the times, had denied the popes the right of making war, the hermit (lugens eremi incola) is arraigned by the cardi- nal, and Baronius (Annal. Ex;cles. a.d. 1053, No. 10-17) most strenuously asserts the two swords of St. Peter. ■*5 [We have no contemporary evidence for the conditions which the Normans imposed on Leo, whom they detained in Beneventum. Heinemann thinks it pro- bable (p. 143) that they required him to renounce the papal pretensions to sos-ereignty over territory in Apulia and Calabria, and to abandon his alliance with the Eastern Emperor. Leo, unable to bring himself to consent, remained at Beneventum till March, 1054 ; a severe illness (which proved fatal) filled him with a desire to return to Rome and induced him to consent to the Norman demands. He died on April 19. During his sojourn at Beneventum, he was engaged on a correspondence in connexion with the ecclesiastical quarrel — the final breach — with the Greek Church, see below, cap. Ix.]
- ^ The origin and nature of the papal investitures are ably discussed by Giannone
(Istoria Civile di Napoli, torn. ii. p. 37-49, 57-66) as a lawyer and antiquarian. Yet he vainly strives to reconcile the duties of patriot and Catholic, adopts an
