this primitive history of the Italian Normans, have appeared a few years ago by the discovery of the Chronicle of a contemporary Benedictine Monk of the convent of Monte Casino, an outline of which we here present to our readers.'

In the beginning of the eleventh century the present kingdom of the Two Sicilies was dismembered in many parts. The Greek cities of Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, had succeeded nearly in the same manner as Venice, in detaching themselves from the Eastern Roman Empire, and in gradually enlarging their dominion. The principalities of Benevento, Capua and Salerno, were then the only remains of the once powerful kingdom of the Longobards. Apulia and Calabria, the last possessions of the Byzantine Emperors in Italy, were governed by a Catapan, or viceregent, with a severity, the danger and folly of which the experience of centuries had not yet revealed. The Byzantine Catapan, the three Longobard princes, and the independent Greek dukes of Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta, all aspired to the supremacy, and were thus continually involved in wars, which were carried on almost in the same manner as the ancient feuds between the early Romans and their neighbors; border forays into the territories of the enemy being undertaken during harvest, when the crops were burnt down and the cattle carried off. The poor inhabitants lamented, and expected their deliverance with an ardor, which, at the time, did not only proceed from the ordinary desire of innovation, but might be sufficiently explained by the havoc of endless wars, and the impossibility, at once, of satisfying the rapacity of seven ambitious rulers. To these grievances might be added the annual depredations of the Saracens, who, either as pirates or as auxiliaries of the Italian princes, crossed over from Sicily, landed on the coasts and pillaged the country.*

Sicily had already for a long time been exposed to the piratical descents of the Arabs, before they were invited as auxiliaries of the Greek general, Empedocles, in the year 826, during his rebellion against the Emperor Michael the Stammerer. They readily answered to this appeal. Hassan Ben-el-Ferath landed on the island, and a bloody war commenced, which con

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tinued for nearly a century, and terminated with the conquest of Palermo and Syracuse by the Aglabites of Tunis, who changed the whole island into an Arabic province. An Emir was appointed governor, according to the custom of the Saracens, and Alcaldes had the subordi nate command of the different cities and districts; yet the inhabitants retained their old rights and privileges, and soon acquired an affection for their victors on account of their just and creditable government, and unusually liberal views in religious matters. Beneath the mild sway of the Aglabites and Fatimites, a multitude of Arabic cities and castles rose in the island; excellent manufactures were established, and the rich soil cultivated on a hitherto unknown scale. The sugar-cane was transplanted from Egypt; manna from Persia, and cotton from Asia Minor; the olive tree was sedulously tended and propagated, all over the island. Commerce flourished; numbers of merchant vessels daily arrived or departed from the different Sicilian ports, laden with rich cargoes. The objects of magnificence and luxury which commerce brought together, served in part to embellish the Saracen castles, which were moreover enriched with the treasures and precious booty carried home by the corsairs from their predatory incursions into Italy."

Among these expeditions, which were undertaken with great regularity, and many of which are mentioned by the Italian annalists, few have been more remarkable than one which happened in the beginning of the eleventh century. In the year 1016 a large Saracen fleet departed from Sicily and sailed for the Italian coasts. The fleet entered the bay of Salerno, and anchored off the city. Here, a numerous host of Arabs disembarked, and encamped on a grassy plain between the city and the sea, and despising an enemy whom they had so often vanquished, they cared only for refreshment and repose. Gaimar the Great, at that time ruler of Salerno, had refused to pay the tribute, which the Salernitan princes were annually accustomed to pay the Saracens. But now, fearing to expose the country and city to depredation and destruction, he at last thought it necessary to yield to the demands of the Arabs, and had already

given orders to collect and send off the money, when forty tall and handsome pilgrims presented themselves before him. They had arrived the day before from Palestine in an Amalfitan ship, and were going to leave Italy and return to Normandy, their native country. They strenuously represented to Gaimar the impropriety of Christians paying tribute to infidels, an action unworthy of brave men, and requested him to furnish them with horses and arms to fight the Saracens. The Longobard prince, highly pleased with this generous proposal, granted their request; and, followed by the warriors of Gaimar, the Norman pilgrims fell suddenly upon the Arabs, numbers of whom perished, and the rest with difficulty saved themselves by swimming to their ships.'

This was the first time that Lower Italy became acquainted with the Normans. Carried back triumphantly to the city, they received rich presents from the Prince of Salerno, who, with admiration, had witnessed their strength and prowess. Gaimar wished to persuade the pilgrims to remain in his service, but longing for their native country, from which they had been absent so long, they did not yield to his splendid promises, and returned to the North. Yet as they had told the prince that their country possessed men as valiant as themselves, " men who had been victors on every battle-field, and never turned their backs upon an enemy," he resolved to send ambassadors to Normandy, in order to invite the young warriors to come down to Italy. Nor did he execute this resolution without artifice: "like another Narses," as the old chronicler from Monte Casino says, "he ordered his envoys to present purple cloaks, bridles ornamented with precious stones, oranges, almonds nd other southern fruits, which have lways excited the avidity of the northern tations, and which did not fail now to inpire the young men with the ardent desire become acquainted with the magnifience of the South."

The Italian ambassadors, on their arrival 1 Normandy, were astonished at what they w there, all things were so different from hat they hitherto had had an opportunity observing. They found "on the outer Ige of France a plain covered with trees id various fruits; in this limited region

lived in great numbers a tall and stout nation, who formerly had inhabited an island called Nora, and were therefore named Nor-mants, men from Nora; man signifying people, in the German language. And the population augmenting at such a rate, that neither the fields nor the trees were able any longer to yield the necessaries of life to so numerous a nation, they migrated to various parts of the world. Thus did these people depart from their native country, and abandon small things to acquire great; and they did not imitate others, who wander out into the world to serve strangers, but they were like the heroes of antiquity, and desired to subdue the nations and bring them beneath their sway.

At last the Normans arrived at the harbor formed by the river Seine, where it discharges itself in the sea. They ascended the river, and advancing into the country, discovered that it surpassed in beauty and fertility all the countries along the shores of which they hitherto had sailed. They then conquered this fine region, which has numerous rivers abounding with fish, and immense forests, and is as proper for hawking as convenient for agriculture and cattle-breeding. Such was the country. As to the people, it possesses great cunning and ability; it shows hospitality to foreigners, takes bloody vengeance at all affronts, and devotes itself with zeal to eloquence and learning. The chieftains are fond of arms and fighting, and often encourage the youth, who, like the whole race, are covetous of gain and glory, to abandon their home and go abroad to foreign regions, where there is a prospect of acquiring greater wealth. They all delight to ride on noble steeds, to go hunting and hawking,' to wear beautiful armor and costly dresses; but in the hour of trial they can endure with incredible fortitude the inclemency of every climate, and all the dangers and hardships of a military life.1o

The forty Norman pilgrims on their return had related what they had seen and heard on their long wanderings, the dangers they had encountered, the heroic deeds they had achieved, and the precious gifts they had received. Thus they had already excited the desire of many to try the same fortune, and when the messen

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land. Asmund Drengot and his brothers, | on their flight from Normandy in the year 1017, "passed through the city of Rome, and arrived at Capua;' "15 and in another place it is said that they fled with their horses and arms only. William the Blind starting for Italy in the year 1054, with some monks and a retinue of twelve squires on a visit to his son, who had acquired renown and riches in the South, crossed the Alps and passed through Rome to Apulia." When Robert of Grentemesnil, in the year 1061, from the fear of Duke William, went into banishment," he mounted his steed with his two attendants, Fuleo and Urso, and rode through Gaul; he then repaired to Rome and joined Robert Wiscard in Lower Italy.' Speaking of the Normans, who in the beginning went to Apulia, it is generally said, "that they crossed the Tiber;" and finally, that those bands who in the year 1017, on the invitation of Melo, left Normandy, having arrived at a mountain pass on St. Bernard, (Mons Fovis,) where the inhabitants by towers and gates had shut the passage in order to demand a tribute of the travellers, broke open the gates, killed the guardians, and with their swords cleared their way to Rome and Apulia."

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On the arrival of the Normans in Lower Italy, they joined those troops which Melo in the meantime had obtained from the Longobard princes, who with avidity embraced every opportunity to weaken the Greek empire in Italy. In the beginning of the year 1018, when the cold was so intense that even the wild beasts perished in the mountains, Melo opened the contest, wherein he in a short time gained six victories; but in the next year fortune turned against him, and after the defeat near Cannæ, he was obliged to flee to Germany, where, a few months later, he died broken-hearted at the overthrow of all his hopes. Dato, his brother-in-law, who attempted to continue the feud against the Greeks, was routed and taken prisoner in the year 1021. The Greeks mounted him, in chains, on a donkey, and carried him triumphantly to Bari, where he was sewed up in a sack together with a serpent, a cock, and a monkey, and thrown into the sea. After the death of Dato the nephews of Melo rose as leaders against the Greeks, and to their assistance the German Emperor |

Henry the Second crossed the Alps at the head of a powerful army. But the Germans not being able to withstand the baneful influence of the Italian climate, the Emperor returned in 1023, without having succeeded in expelling the Greeks."

The nephews of Melo, who now gave up the contest, received from the Emperor some of his Italian fiefs, and with them Henry left the last twenty-five Normans who had survived the war, and remained faithful to the family of Melo. Among these are named Walter of Canisy, Hugh Faloch, Gusman, Stig, Thorstein and Balbus. Most of the other Normans had perished as the victims of their headlong courage and contempt of death. Of two hundred and fifty who had fought at the battle of Cannæ, only ten remained; and already at the time when Melo went into banishment, the three thousand warriors from Normandy had melted down to five hundred. Those who, besides the above-mentioned small number, faithfully adhering to the family of Melo, had escaped from the war, returned to Salerno and joined those of their brothers, who with the envoys of Gaimar at an earlier period had arrived from Normandy, and still served as regular troops (soudarii, i. e. soldiers) the prince of Salerno. The commander of these Normans was Thorstein Scitel, of whom for long years afterwards many wonderful traditions were told in Normandy. Thus the chronicles give some curious details, how he, in the court of the palace at Salerno, was attacked by a lion, whom he caught with his defenceless arms, lifted high in the air, and then hurled over the battlements of the castle; and how he, at last, by some Longobard traitors, was decoyed to a dragon, whom he succeeded in killing, but whose venomous blood occasioned his death.21

Provoked at the death of Thorstein, or, as another version has it, dissatisfied at not being rewarded according to the agreement, the Normans renounced their allegiance to the prince of Salerno and retired to the marshes of Campania, tenanted by frogs, where they erected a strongly fortified camp, and chose Rainulf, the brother of Asmund Drengot, for their leader. The Normans soon began to form a political system of their own. They would have lost all weight if one of the petty princes

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of Lower Italy had succeeded in subjecting his neighbors, and they therefore sought to maintain a certain balance of power, whereby their service would be always considered as important; and with great artifice and without shunning any danger or exertion, they fully accomplished their purpose. The Italian chroniclers, with the most vivid colors, describe the heroic valor of the Normans, which, though it excites their enthusiasm, yet inspires them with great bitterness. They bewail "the unheard of cruelty and savage fierceness of this foreign nation, who showed a more than heathen disdain for the holy church." These complaints are certainly in part to be regarded as the exaggerations of the bigoted chroniclers, or as a re-echoing of the olden time at all events they were not able to lessen the reputation of the Normans; it continued on the increase, the more the princes of Italy became confident, that the superior spirit, bravery and discipline of the foreigners, nearly in every battle, gave victory to the side which they espoused. Having assisted Duke Gergio in the recapture of Naples, from which he had been driven by the prince of Capua, the duke, in the year 1029, generously granted them a portion of land between Naples and Capua, where they built the strong castle Anversa la Normanna. They fortified the town with moats and high battlemented walls, and Rainulf, who married the sister of Gergio, sent envoys with this intelligence to Normandy, to invite his countrymen to strengthen the warlike colony by the migration of new bands. Many were those who followed his call: some departed because they were outlawed; others to meet their relations and friends, who had emigrated at an earlier period, and others again from a desire to acquire wealth and reputation with their swords. Among the last were the three eldest sons of Tancred of Hauteville.

II. In the neighborhood of Cotentin,” in Normandy, lay the castle of Hauteville, close to the present village of the same name. There are now few ruins of the castle left, but the surrounding meadows still preserving the names of Parc, Bois, Colombier, clearly indicate that they, during the middle ages, formed the feudal estate of a nobleman. At the castle of

| Hauteville, among the flower of the Northmen, lived in the beginning of the eleventh century a generous and brave baron, Tancred, who in his younger years had visited foreign courts," and performed many a gallant deed. During his residence at the court of Richard the Good, he once went a hunting with the Duke, a pastime highly esteemed by the Normans. Here he was attacked by a powerful wild boar," who had killed the pursuing hounds, but Tancred rushed forward and thrust the animal with so great force that the hil of his sword struck on its forehead, and the Duke, delighted with his prowess, retained him at his court, where he commanded ten of his knights." Having spent several years in the service of the Duke of Normandy, Tancred returned to his paternal estate, where he married Muriella, with whom he had five sons, William, Drogo, Humfrey, Godfrey, and Serlon. After the death of Muriella he took another wife, Fredesenda, who bore him the sons Robert, Malger, Alfred, William, Humbert, Tancred and Roger.' All the twelve sons of Tancred were distinguished in every knightly exercise, and from their early youth it was inculcated them, above all other considerations, to aspire to glory, not to suffer any equal near them, but rather to risk all to bring every rival beneath their sway.

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When William, Drogo, and Humfrey came of age and were armed knights they accepted the invitation of Rainulf of Anversa and departed for Italy. On the journey they earned their sustenance with their swords; and when they at last in the year 1035, arrived in Apulia, and there learned that the prince of Capua was at war with Gaimar the Fourth of Salerno, the successor of Gaimar the Great, they changed their former intention of joining the Norman colony at Anversa, and preferred to enter the military service of the Duke of Capua. But they soon became aware of the avarice of this prince: they left him again and marched off to Gaimar of Salerno, who at that time had persuaded some hundred other warriors, lately arrived from Normandy, to join his banner. At the head of these Salernitan Normans William and his two brothers performed the most daring and heroic deeds, and were liberally rewarded by Gaimar. Yes