536 
NAP 
his own army to proclaim him emperor, beginning hof- 
tilities immediately againft the Greek cities. Argyrus 
at the fame time took Giovenazzo, and befieged Trani, 
and foon after befieged Maniacus himfelf in Tarento; 
but he, being afraid of falling into the hands of the Nor¬ 
mans, fled to Otranto, and from thence to Bulgaria, 
where, being entirely defeated by one of the emperor’s 
generals, he was taken prifoner, and had his head ftruck 
off. 
The Normans, having now conquered the greateft part 
of Puglia, proceeded to make a divifion of their conqueft, 
in which, after each commander had got his proper fhare, 
the city of Melfis was left common to all, and appropri¬ 
ated as a place for affembling to confult about the moft 
important affairs of the nation. Argyrus alone was neg- 
lefted in this divifion ; but he, having gained the favour 
of the emperor by expelling the rebel Maniacus from 
Italy, was by him created duke of Bari, on purpofe to 
check the power of the Normans, with the title of Prince 
and Duke of Puglia. The Normans, however, were too 
powerful to be much awed by Argyrus, and behaved 
with great infolence to the neighbouring princes 5 but, 
as they could not be expelled by force, and were con¬ 
firmed in their conquefts by Henry II. emperor of Ger¬ 
many in 1047, the Greek emperor attempted to get rid of 
them, by fending Argyrus with large fums of money to 
bribe them to enter into his fervice againft the Perfians. 
But they, perceiving the ftiare, replied that they were 
refolved not to leave Italy unlefs they w r ere expelled by 
force : upon which Argyrus made ufe of the fame money 
in bribing the Puglians to affaflinate thefe invaders. This 
brought on a maffacre, in which greater numbers of 
Normans periflied than had fallen in all the late wars. 
Argyrus attempted to take advantage of the confufion 
produced by this maflacre, but was defeated; after which 
he had recourfe to pope Leo, befeeching him to deliver 
Italy from thefe cruel tyrants: but this fcheme proved 
ftill more unfuccefsful than the others had been ; for the 
pope himfelf was defeated and taken prifoner; and, in 
confequence of the refpedt fhowed him by the Normans, 
granted them, as a fief of the holy fee, all the conquefts 
they had made or lhould make in Calabria and Sicily. 
Soon after this, the Norman power became extremely 
formidable; the famous Robert Guifcard afcended the 
throne in 1056. He made great progrefs in the conqueft 
of Calabria, and reduced moft of the cities which held 
out for the Greeks in thofe parts. About the fame time 
the counts of Capua were expelled from their territory ; 
and the abbot Deliderius mentions his having feen the 
children of Landulphus V. the laft count, going about as 
vagabonds, and begging for their fupport. The pope, 
alarmed by thefe conquefts, excommunicated the Nor¬ 
mans by wholefale, pretending that they had feized fome 
of the territories belonging to the church ; but, by the 
pretended fubmiflion of Robert, he not only w’as per- 
l'uaded to take off the lentence of excommunication, but 
to inveft him with the provinces of Apulia, Calabria, 
and Sicily. After this he continued the war againft the 
Greeks with great fuccefs. In 1071, in conjunction with 
his brother Roger, he conquered the ifland of Sicily, and 
gave the inveftiture of the whole ifland to him with the 
title of count, referving to himfelf only the half of Palermo, 
Meflina, and the valley of Demona. The like fuccefs at¬ 
tended his arms againft Salerno in 1074; but after this, 
having unadvifedly taken fome places from the pope, he 
again fell under the fentence of excommunication ; yet 
he was reconciled to him in 1080, and received a fecond 
time the inveftiture of all his dominions. The next 
year he undertook an expedition againft the Greeks ; and, 
though the emperor was aflifted by a Venetian fleet, 
Robert made himfelf mafter of the ifland of Corfu, re¬ 
duced Durazzo, and great part of Romania; infomuch 
that, by the fuccefs of his arms, and his near approach to 
Conftantinopie, he ftruck an univerfal terror among the 
Greeks. But, while Robert was thus extending his con- 
L E S. 
quefts, he was alarmed by the news of a formidable re¬ 
bellion in Italy, and that the emperor Henry VI. had 
taken the city of Rome, and clofely flint up the pope in 
the caftle of St. Angelo. Robert, therefore, leaving the 
command of the army to his fon Boemund, returned to 
Italy, where he immediately difperfed the rebels, and re¬ 
leafed the pope, while his fon gained a conftderable victory 
over the Greeks. After this, Robert made great prepa¬ 
rations for another expedition into Greece, in order to 
fecond his fon Boemund. Alexius Comnenus, w'ho was 
about this time declared emperor by the Greek army, 
being aflifted by the Venetian fleet, endeavoured to oppofe 
his paflage ; but was entirely defeated, with the lofs of a 
great many galleys. But a final flop w'as now put to his 
enterprifes by his death, which happened in the ifland of 
Corfu in 1085. 
Though the power of the Normans was thus thoroughly 
eftablilhed in Italy and Sicily, and though the prince of 
Benevento was in 1130 invefted by the pope with the 
title of King of Sicily; yet, by reafon of the civil dif- 
fenfions w'hich took place among themfelves, and the 
general confuiion which reigned in Italy in thofe ages, 
they were obliged, notwithftanding all their valour, to 
fubmit to the emperor in 1195. By him the Sicilians 
were treated with io great cruelty, that the emprefs Con- 
ftantina was induced to confpire againft him in 1197, 
took him prifoner, and releafed him only on condition of 
his lending off his army immediately for the Holy Land. 
This was complied with; but the emperor did not long 
revive the reconciliation, being poifoned, as was fuppofed, 
by order of the emprefs. 
In 1254 the pope claimed the kingdom as afief devolved 
on the church in confequence of a lentence of depolition 
pronounced againft Frederic at the council of Lyons; 
but the kingdom was for fome time preferved and pro- 
tefled by Manfred, or Mainfroy, natural fon of the late 
emperor Frederic II. His father, at his death in 1250, 
had bequeathed him the principality of Tarento with 
fome adjacent counties. When his brother Conrad ar¬ 
rived from Germany to take poffeflion of the Sicilian 
kingdoms devolved to him, he became jealous of Man¬ 
fred’s power and abilities, and took from him a part of 
his inheritance. The prince, however, faithfully ferved 
him in reducing the enemies which the pope had excited 
againft him. Conrad, at his deceafe in 1254, left his in¬ 
fant fon Conradin, then in Germany, his heir, and ap¬ 
pointed a nobleman named Berthold regent. This was a 
man of mean abilities; and, when pope Innocent, who 
claimed the kingdom as a fief of the holy fee, made pre¬ 
parations to invade it, Berthold refigned the regency to 
Manfred. The pope excommunicated him; and Manfred, 
being able to make no oppofition to his army, received 
him fubmiflively in Naples. Soon after, however, he 
made his efcape to Lucera, where a colony of Saracens 
had been fettled by Frederic; and, raifing a body of 
troops from them, augmented by Germans who flocked 
to him from all parts of Apulia, he defeated and dif¬ 
perfed the papal army. Innocent, dying foon after, was 
fucceeded by Alexander IV. who renewed Manfred’s 
excommunication, and fent an army againft him, com¬ 
manded by cardinal Oflavian. Manfred, by his fuperior 
military talents, reduced this general to the neceflity of 
making a treaty, which the pope refilled to ratify, and 
gave the inveftiture of the kingdom to Edmund, fon of 
Henry III. of England. Manfred, however, recovered 
all the Neapolitan territory, and was received into the 
city of Naples, where he behaved with great generofity 
and clemency. He afterwards parted over to Sicily ; and, 
a report being fpread, probably through his contrivance, 
of the death of young Conradin, he was unanimoufly 
defied king by the Sicilian and Apulian barons, and was 
crowned at Palermo in 1258. 
Poffefllng his kingdom in profound tranquility, which 
he fecured by a mild and equitable adminiftration, he 
was enabled to fend troops into Lombardy for the 
fupport 
