CALIPHS OF AFRICA. 45 



their grateful devotions for so happy a dehverance. 

 By the care of Leo, Rome was soon restored to its 

 wonted splendour. The churches were renewed 

 and embellished; nearly 4000 pounds of silver were 

 consecrated to repair the losses of St. Peter ; and 

 his sanctuary was decorated with a plate of gold, 

 weighing 216 pounds, embossed with portraits of 

 the pope and the emperor, and encircled with a 

 etring of pearls. Had the Arabs been inspired with 

 the impetuous energies of the first soldiers of the 

 Koran, a different fate might have awaited the capi- 

 tal of Christendom. 



In the year 810 Corsica submitted to the Moham- 

 medan yoke. A powerful Saracen, named Lanza 

 Ancisa, introduced some troops into the island ; 

 and, by the united influence of arms and eloquence, 

 the inhabitants were induced to expel the Greeks 

 and embrace the Moslem faith. For 166 years 

 Lanza and his successors were sovereigns of the 

 island. At the close of that period, the zeal of the 

 Christians in Italy burst into a flame of war ; the 

 last king was driven away, and Corsica again ac- 

 knowledged the pope for her supreme lord. Sar- 

 dinia was invaded and subdued about the same time. 

 The natives did not long submit to the yoke ; they 

 expelled their assailants ; and, for a safeguard against 

 future aggressions, placed themselves under the 

 protection of Louis le Debonnaire, at that period 

 King of France and Emperor of the West. The 

 successors of Charlemagne were as feeble as the 

 representatives of the Prophet in the FJast ; and the 

 Sardinians, driven to their own resources, invested 

 their leaders, mider the title of judges, with full 

 military power ; and, for a while, the island was re- 

 lieved from the inroads of the Africans and Spanish 

 Moors. At the end of the ninth or beginning of the 

 tenth century, it seems to have again become a 

 Moslem province, and 100 years elapsed before its 

 state was changed. Pope .Tohn XVIIL, touched 



