534 N A P 
tied in Sicily, and befides were protected by the Neapo¬ 
litans, he could not reduce the place till the year 871, 
though he had received confiderable affiftance from his 
brother Lotharius, and the Greek emperor had fent him 
a fleet of 200 fail. The expulfion of the Saracens was 
completed the fame year by the taking of Tarento ; after 
which the emperor returned with great glory to Bene- 
vento, refolving next to carry his arms into Sicily, and 
expel the infidels from thence alfo. But his future 
fchemes of conqueft were fruftrated by a quarrel between 
him and Adelgife. The latter, pretending to have been 
infulted by the emprefs, and oppreffed by the French, 
feized the emperor himfelf, and kept him prifoner for 
forty days. His imprifonment would probably have been 
of much longer continuance, had not a body of Saracens 
arrived from Africa, who, being joined by fuch of their 
countrymen as had concealed themfelves in Italy, laid 
fiege to Salerno with an army of 30,000 men, ravaging 
the neighbouring country at the fame time with the ut¬ 
moft barbarity. By this new invafion Adelgife was fo 
much alarmed, that he fet the emperor at liberty; but firffc 
pbliged him to fwearthafhe would not revenge the infult 
that had been offered him, and that he would never re¬ 
turn to Benevento. Louis, having then joined his forces, 
to thofe of the prince of Salerno, foon obliged the Sara¬ 
cens to raife the fiege of Salerno ; but, though they were 
prevented from taking that city, they entirely deftroyed 
the inhabitants of Calabria, leaving it, according to the 
expreffion of one of the hiftorians of that time, “ as de¬ 
folate as it was at the flood.” 
In the year 873, Louis, being abfolved from his oath 
by the pope, went to Benevento, and was reconciled to 
Adelgife; but foon after this reconciliation he died, and 
the Saracens continued their ravages to fuch a degree, 
that the inhabitants of Bari were conftrained to deliver 
up their city to the Greeks. At the fame time, the Sa¬ 
lernitans, Neapolitans, Cajetans, and Amalfitans, having 
made peace with the Saracens, were compelled to agree to 
their propofal of invading the territories of the Roman 
pontiff. His holinefs exerted himfelf to the utmoft, both 
with fpiritual and temporal weapons, in order to defend 
his right; but was at laft reduced to the necefiity of be¬ 
coming a tributary to the infidels, and promifing to pay 
them a large fum annually. 
In the mean time, all Italy was thrown into the greateft 
confufion by the death of Charles the Bald, who died of 
poifon at Pavia, as he was coming to the pope’s affiftance. 
Sergius duke of Naples continued a firm friend to the 
infidels ; nor could he be detached from their interefts 
even by the thunder of a papal excommunication ; but, 
unluckily happening to fall into the hands of his brother 
Athanafius bilhop of Naples, the zeal of that prelate 
prompted him to put out his eyes, and fend him a clofe 
prifoner to Rome; for which the liigheft encomiums were 
bellowed on him by the holy father. 
In 876, Adelgife was murdered by two of his nephews ; 
one of whom, by name Gaideris, feized the principality. 
About the fame time, Landulph bifhop of Capua dying, 
a civil war enfued among his children, though theirffa- 
ther’s dominions had been divided among them according 
to his will. The princes of Salerno and Benevento, the 
duke of Spoleto, and Gregory the Greek governor of 
Bari and Otranto, took different fides in the quarrel, as 
they thought moft proper; and, to complete the confufion, 
the new bifhop was expelled, and his brother, though a 
layman, chofen to that office, and even confecrated by the 
pope, who wrote to Gauferius, forbidding him to attack 
Capua under pain of excommunication. But, though 
Gauferius was, in general, obedient to the pope’s com¬ 
mands, he proved refractory in this particular, and laid 
fiege to Capua for two years fucceffively. 
This the Capuan territories were reduced to the moft 
miferable fituation ; being obliged to maintain at the 
fame time, the armies of the prince of Benevento and of 
the duke of Spoleto. The Saracens, in the mean time, 
L £ S. 
took the opportunity of ftrengthening themfelves in 
Italy; and Athanafius, notwithstanding the great com¬ 
mendations he had received from the pope for putting out 
his brother’s eyes, confented to enter into an alliance 
with them, in conjunction with whom, he ravaged the 
territories of the pope, as well as thole of Benevento and 
Spoleto, plundering all the churches, monafteries, towns, 
and villages, through which they paffed. At the fame 
time, the prince of Salerno was obliged to grant them a 
fettlement in the neighbourhood of his capital; the duke 
of Gaeta invited them to his affiftance, being opprelled 
by the count of Capua ; and even the pope himfelf was 
obliged to make peace with them, and to grant them a 
fettlement on the north fide of the Carigliano, where they 
fortified themfelves, and continued for more than forty 
years. 
To put a ftop to the confufion which reigned in Italy, 
the pope now thought proper to reftore the bilhop of 
Capua, who had been expelled, but allowed his brother 
to refide in the city, and govern one half of the diocefe 4 
but, notwithftanding this partition, the civil diffenfions 
continued with the utmoft violence, the neareft relations 
murdering or banilhing each other, according as the for¬ 
tune of the one or the other prevailed. Athanafius, not¬ 
withftanding all the pope’s remonftrances, continued his 
alliance with the Saracens ; in conjunction with whom, 
he ravaged the territory of Benevento, and fomented the 
divifions in Capua, in hopes of being able to make a con¬ 
queft of it. At laft his holinefs thought proper to iffue a 
fentence of excommunication againft him ; but this at¬ 
tached him to the Saracens more than ever; infomuch, 
that he fent to Suchaim, king of the Saracens in Sicily, de¬ 
firing him to come over and command a great body of his 
countrymen who had fettled at the foot of Mount Vefu- 
vius. Suchaim accepted of the invitation, and immedi¬ 
ately turned his arms againft Athanafius ; allowing his 
troops to live at dil'cretion in the territory of Naples, 
where they ravilhed the women, and plundered the inha¬ 
bitants. Thefe calamities were, by the fuperftitious Nea¬ 
politans, imagined to be a confequence of the fentence of 
excommunication; and, therefore, theyufed their utmoft 
endeavours to perfuade the prelate to conclude a league 
with fome Chriftian prince, and renounce all connexion 
with the infidels. In this they at laft proved fuccefsful; 
and Athanafius concluded an alliance with Guaimarius 
prince of Salerno; in confequence of which, the Saracens 
were obliged to quit the Neapolitan territories, and retire 
to Agropoli. Athanafius then directed his force againft 
Capua, of which he made himfelf mailer in the year 882. 
The Saracens, however, frill continued their incurfions, 
and ravaged feveral provinces in fuch a manner, that they 
became entirely defolate. 
Thefe confufions continued for a long time; during 
which the Greeks found an opportunity of making them¬ 
felves mailers of Benevento, and well nigh became mailers 
alfo of Salerno; but in this they failed through the trea¬ 
chery of the bilhop, and in the year 896 they were to¬ 
tally expelled by him, four years after they had become 
mailers of it. In 915, the Saracens received fuch an over¬ 
throw at Carigliano, that fcarcely one of them remained. 
However, a new body foon arrived from Africa, and in- 
fefted the fea-coafts for fome time longer. A war alfo 
enfued between Landulph and the Greeks ; which con¬ 
cluded difad van tageoully for the former, who was obliged 
tofubmit to the emperor of Conllantinople in 94.3. 
In 961, Otho the Great, king of Germany, invaded 
Italy with a powerful army againft Berengarius III. and, 
marching to Rome, received the imperial crown from the 
hands of the pope. In 964, he ereried Capua into a 
principality, received homage from the other princes of 
Lombardy, and formed a defign of recovering Puglia and 
Calabria from the Greeks. But in this laft fcheme he 
failed; and, after various hoftilities,atreaty was concluded, 
and the young- princefs Theophania married to Qtho’s 
fon, afterwards emperor. 
z 
