1038. 176 THE DECLINE AND FALL fortified for their use ; "'■^ and they enjoyed as their own the corn and fruits, the meadows and groves, of that fertile district. The report of their success attracted every year new swarms of pilgrims and soldiers ; the poor were urged by necessity ; the rich were excited b)^ hope ; and the brave and active spirits of Normandy were impatient of ease and ambitious of renown. The independent standard of Aversa afforded shelter and en- couragement to the outlaws of the province, to every fugitive Avho had escaped from the injustice or justice of his superiors ; and these foreign associates were quickly assimilated in manners and language to the Gallic colony. The first leader of the Nor- mans was count Rainulf; and, in the origin of society, pre- eminence of rank is the reward and the proof of superior merit. -^ The Normans Since the conqucst of Sicily by the Arabs, the Grecian em- sicuy. A.D. pcrors had been anxious to regain that valuable possession ; but their efforts, however strenuous, had been opposed by the dis- tance and the sea. Tlieir costly armaments, after a gleam of success, added new pages of calamity and disgrace to the Byzan- tine amials ; twenty thousand of their best troops were lost in a single expedition ; and the victorious Moslems derided the policy of a nation, which entrusted eunuchs not only with the custody of their women, but with the command of their men.-^ After a reign of two hundred years, the Saracens were ruined by their divisions.- The emir disclaimed the authority of the king of 23 [The settlement was assigned to Rainulf — one of Rudolph's brothers — by Duke Sergius IV. of Naples. Aversa was founded in 1030 (Heinemann, op. cil. p. 58, note 2). Rainulf married the sister of Sergius, but after her death he deserted the cause of Naples and went over to the interests of the foe, Pandulf of Capua, married his niece and became his vassal, — Aversa being disputed territory between Naples and Capua. But, when the Emperor Conrad visited Southern Italy in 1038, Pandulf was deposed, and the county of Aversa was united with the principality of Salerno. This, as Heinemann observes (p. 69), was a political event of the first importance. The Roman settlement was formally recognized by the Emperor, — taken as it were under the protection of the Western Empire.] -*See the first book of William Appulus. His words are applicable to every swarm of barbarians and freebooters : Si vicinorum qnis pernrtiosus ad illos Confugiebat, eum gratanter suscipiebant ; Moribus et lingua quoscunique venire videbant Informant propria ; gens efficiatur ut una. And elsewhere, of the native adventurers of Normandy : Pars parat, exiguse vel opes aderant quia nullae ; Pars, quia de magnis majora subire volebant. - Liutprand in Legatione, p. 485. Pagi has illustrated this event from the Ms. history of the deacon Leo (torn. iv. a.d. 965, No. 17-19). ^ See the Arabian Chronicle of Sicily, apud Muratori, Script. Rerum Ital. tom ' i- P- 253-
