Victor III

ON BL. VICTOR III, POPE,

AT MONTE CASSINO IN ITALY.

In the year MLXXXVII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Victor III, Pope, at Monte Cassino in Italy (Bl.)

BY THE AUTHOR U. S.

§ I. The ancient cult of the Blessed: why he is here called only Blessed, and whether he ought to be called a martyr? Some eulogies of him; his Office, whose proper lessons are given.

[ ] Of blessed Pope Victor the third — who, as the writers relate, was called Dauferius until he received the monastic life in the monastery of St. Sophia at Benevento, and thereafter, until the summit of the supreme Pontificate, though conferred upon him unwilling and reluctant, was called Desiderius — The lawful cult of the Blessed. there offer themselves such manifest documents of a lawful and ancient cult that we can by no means be in doubt about it. For the beginnings of the public veneration of the faithful toward our Blessed are certainly not later than the Pontificate of Anastasius IV, not many more than sixty years from the death of Victor III: which beginnings of our Blessed's cult others judge should be set even earlier and linked to the times of Callistus II. However that be, this is established: that when the altar of St. Nicholas in the City, built by Callistus II, was being more becomingly adorned by Anastasius IV, among the Roman Pontiffs on the Epistle side, clad in Pontifical vestments and marked with the mitre and a round diadem about the head, there was — whether then first painted or then more elegantly rendered — set before the people for veneration the image of Victor III, rendered in an altogether similar manner, with this inscription, S. Victor Papa III, as has been more fully set forth by our most holy Lord Benedict XIV, most happily governing and enlightening the whole Church of Christ, in book 1, chapter 41 of the most illustrious Work On the beatification of the Servants of God and the canonization of the Blessed, which he once composed as a Cardinal and afterward revised as Pontiff. In the Paduan edition of this Work he gave an engraving on copper of the likeness of the said altar, to which Papebroch inserted one not much unlike in the Propylæum of May, at page 208.

[2] From the aforesaid inscription there without doubt flowed the title of Saint, He is called Saint by some: commonly attributed to Victor III by Bucelinus in the Benedictine Fasti and by others: and indeed I by no means deny that this appellation can in some fashion be given him, especially if we are willing to speak less rigidly. For, as the aforesaid most holy Lord relates in book 2, chapter 24, num. 15, when it had been doubted whether the appellation should be retained by which Teresa and Sancia (concerning these see volume III of June, on the seventeenth day of that month) were commonly called Saints, the sacred Congregation of Rites on the thirtieth day of May 1705, considering that from time immemorial they had been honored with this title, ordered that appellation to be retained: yet in such wise that no argument could be drawn from it for the increase of their cult. On almost the same ground I altogether judge that the title of Saint can be attributed to Victor III. It has pleased me, nevertheless, with some others, among whom is Menard, to call him here by the title of Blessed only, because, as the aforesaid Pope Benedict XIV has it in book 1, chapter 37, num. 7: According to the custom of the holy See and of the Congregation of sacred Rites, that servant of God is called Blessed who has obtained beatification, whether formal or equipollent; but Saint, he who was canonized in one or other of the ways explained above.

[3] but that appellation, strictly taken But in neither way can he be reckoned to have been entered into the roll of the Saints: not in the first, because there exists no sentence of any Roman Pontiff by which it could be proved that he was inscribed among the Saints with the form of law observed and the accustomed ceremonies employed. Nor in the other either: for equipollent canonization — I use the words of the same most holy Lord, book 1, chapter 41, num. 1 — is that by which … the supreme Pontiff orders that some servant of God, existing in ancient possession of a cult, and concerning whose heroic virtues, or martyrdom and miracles, there is a steadfast common assertion of historians worthy of belief and a continued fame of prodigies that does not fail, be honored in the universal Church by the recitation of an Office and a Mass on some determined day, with no formal definitive sentence intervening, no judicial processes premised, and no accustomed ceremonies employed. But in that same chapter 41, num. 31, the aforesaid Benedict XIV opens his mind more clearly concerning our Victor, whose words it has seemed good to set down here.

[4] does not suit Bl. Victor: Although what we have said above concerning the other Pontiffs Alexander II, Victor III, … has not been said as though we wished to assert that they are to be reckoned among the Saints and the canonized. For neither the simple denomination of Saint, as we shall demonstrate elsewhere, nor an image painted in a sacred place and at that time adorned with the ornaments with which the images of Saints are wont to be adorned — if the other circumstances be lacking, namely either a cult extended to the universal Church with the supreme Pontiff knowing and approving, or a definitive sentence delivered by him concerning the sanctity and the cult to be rendered in the universal Church — suffice for anyone to be reckoned among the Saints and the canonized: but the aforesaid things suffice only for this, that those whose images, chiefly by the authority of the Roman Pontiff, have been rendered in such a manner, with such a title and in such a place, may be held among those to whom some cult is permitted in a determined place; which cult, moreover, unless it be thereafter increased according to the manner set forth above, can constitute neither a formal nor an equipollent canonization. But we affirm that from images painted and set up, chiefly by the authority of the Roman Pontiff, in such a manner, with such a title and in such a place, a permission of cult in a determined place is inferred: because, as abbot Cajetan observes in his Commentaries on the Life of Gelasius II, page CXXXV, speaking of that same Lateran panel, neither would Callistus II and Anastasius IV have placed images painted in that manner and adorned with that title in a chapel, nor would their successors — and especially those who for two hundred continuous years celebrated the sacred rites in that same chapel and altar — have suffered those images to be retained there, unless they had had it in mind to indulge and permit a cult in honor of those who were represented by the images themselves. But since we have also asserted that the aforesaid cult does not constitute a formal or equipollent canonization unless it be increased according to the rite set forth elsewhere, therefore neither formally nor equipollently can Alexander II, Victor III, etc., be called Canonized. Thus far our most holy Lord Benedict XIV, most versed in this matter both by long experience and by assiduous labor. In his most prudent footsteps I have thought I must tread, and abstain hitherto from granting to Victor III the title of Saint, interpreting it namely in the rigid sense according to the custom of the Church.

[5] The same most holy Lord, in num. 24 of the chapter just praised, reports some extension of the cult of Bl. Victor III in these words: An Office of the Blessed obtained, whose lessons His Office besides, with proper lessons approved by the Congregation of sacred Rites, is celebrated under a double rite in the monasteries of Cassino and of Cava, in the city of Benevento, and in the city and diocese of Vaccia; which concession Erasmo Gattola, in the History of Cassino, century VI, sets down to the beneficence of Pope Benedict XIII. Of this Office, which is wholly from the common of a confessor pontiff except for the collect and the lessons of the second Nocturn, I subjoin here the four proper lessons, as a compendium of his Acts:

Lesson V. Victor the Third, Pope, formerly called Desiderius, born at Benevento of the princely family, from his first years frequently visited the churches, gave himself to divine readings, and delighted in the company of pious men. As a youth, forsaking a bride of equal nobility destined for him, he secretly sought the desert and put on the cowl. But being recalled home with the utmost force by his mother and his kinsmen, persisting in his holy vocation, he eluded his guards and fled to the monastery of Cava; where, having stayed a little while and been taught solid piety under the discipline of the holy abbot Alferius, on account of the importunate prayers of the prince of Benevento he returned to his fatherland on this condition, that he should be permitted under the regular habit to lead the life of a monk in the monastery of St. Sophia. But fearing that he might be drawn back from the service of God by the company of his fellow-citizens and household, he went on to the island of Tremiti, drawn by the fame of sanctity of the monks living there.

Lesson VI. The abbot of Tremiti, captivated by his exceptional prudence and notable holiness, resolved to commit to him the government of the monastery and to resign his insignia. When Desiderius had learned this, desiring rather to lie hidden and be unknown, he betook himself to the monks in the desert of Mount Majella, who led a rough and harsh life. Yet he could not long enjoy their company, being compelled by Pope Leo IX to return again to the monastery of St. Sophia at Benevento, where, worn out with long abstinence and with the continual vigils to which he assiduously gave himself, he fell into a grave sickness. Thereafter, when he had recovered, he withdrew to Cassino, and there, being enrolled in the company of the monks, by the utmost lowliness of mind and remarkable innocence of manners he won for himself the love and veneration of all; so much so that by common vote he was designated abbot (as he had long before been divinely forewarned in dreams), with the approval of Stephen the ninth, by whom he was also designated legate to Constantinople for the restoring of the communion of the Greek church with the Apostolic See.

[6] proper are recited. Lesson VII. Stephen being dead, Desiderius, now ready to cross the sea, is summoned by his own to take up the abbacy; and a little after is chosen by Nicholas the second Cardinal priest of the Holy Roman Church, and

is consecrated abbot of Cassino. While in that office he gave himself diligently to the managing of the affairs of the Christian commonwealth, and was kept occupied by the supreme Pontiffs in the most difficult matters, yet he by no means failed in his domestic cares. For he recalled the manners of the monks to the exact norm of the Rule; he increased their number; he restored almost all the buildings of the monastery afresh and more spacious; he bought up at vast price sacred furnishings wrought with wondrous art; and he took care that the basilica of Cassino, which he had raised from the foundations and splendidly adorned, should be dedicated with singular pomp by Alexander the second. Under his rule not only the highest pastors of the churches and the princes and dynasts of the world came in throngs out of eagerness to see the sacred place, but also many men celebrated for sanctity, among whom blessed Peter Damian, who, marvelling at the most cultivated manners of the monks and the utmost humility of the abbot, wove for them a brilliant eulogy, and called Desiderius the Archangel of monks.

Lesson VIII. But the humility of Desiderius shone forth most of all in his refusing, for almost a whole year, the dignity of the supreme Chair, which the judgment of his most holy predecessor Gregory the seventh, and the vote of the whole Church, had conferred upon him; yet overcome by the earnest wishes and prayers of prelates and princes, in the synod of Capua he resumed the name of Victor and the insignia of the pontificate which he had cast off. Being brought to Rome, he is consecrated with solemn rite, and recovered the basilica of St. Peter and then the City, when the pseudo-pontiff Guibert and the men of his faction had been cast out. He sent across into Africa against the Saracens an army gathered from almost all Italy under the banner of St. Peter, where, battle being joined, a hundred thousand of them were slain; a proof that this victory was won by a miracle is that it was known in Italy on the same day on which it had been gained in Africa. At Benevento, a synod being assembled, he smote the schismatics with an anathema; he wholly proscribed the practice of investitures, by which the freedom of elections in the Church was crushed, and decreed many other things pertaining to ecclesiastical discipline. The synod being concluded, seized by a mortal sickness, he ordered himself to be carried to Cassino, accompanied by Cardinals and bishops, where, broken by his assiduous labors for the reconciling of the Church's peace, on the sixteenth of the Kalends of October of the year one thousand and eighty-seven, having sat four months and seven days from the day of his consecration, he rendered his soul to God, most illustrious for holiness of life and for the glory of his merits. Thus far the lessons of the Office. The translation of the sacred relics of our Blessed also bears upon his cult, of which something below.

[7] Some have marked Bl. Victor with the title of martyr, as though for his constancy in defending the rights of the Church he was carried off by poison cast into the chalice. Whether he ought to be called a martyr? Thus Trithemius speaks in book 4 On the illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 12: He found the emperor Henry his enemy, by whose snares and fraud at last (as many suspect) he was killed by poison cast into the chalice while he was celebrating. Ptolemy of Lucca in book 13 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 13, has thus: He (our Blessed), as Martin writes, is extinguished by poison placed in the chalice and by taking it. But Vincent says that he died of dysentery: which could have come from the power of the poison administered to him by Henry's friends. Angelo de Nuce in his notes on chapter 73 of book 3 of the Chronicle of Cassino says: Report has borne it that Victor was extinguished by poison given him in the sacred chalice, from Antoninus, Caranza, and others; but our own writers by no means report it. This silence of writers contemporary with Victor seems of such moment that we can hold the aforesaid suspicion to be gratuitously invented; for Peter the Deacon would not have passed over in silence a matter of the greatest weight, certainly, for the commendation of Victor III and the disgrace of Guibert and the other schismatics — he who in chapter 70 of book 3, and often elsewhere, depicted graphically enough the crimes both of Guibert and of Henry against the Church. Whatever, then, be the case, this suspicion, not confirmed by sufficiently fit documents from elsewhere, does not seem to suffice for our attributing to Victor III the title of martyr.

[8] I find blessed Victor inscribed in the more recent sacred Fasti. His memory among the more recent martyrologists, Of him Ferrarius treats in the Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology; Wion in the Wood of Life. Menard in the Benedictine Monastic Martyrology on the XVI of September announces him thus: In the monastery of Cassino, the death of blessed Victor the third, Pope, most illustrious for holiness of life and the glory of miracles. Bucelinus in the Benedictine Menologium has thus on the same day: The deposition of St. Victor III, Supreme Pontiff, most celebrated for the remarkable sanctity of his life and his admirable lowliness of mind; and he subjoins a compendium of the Blessed's Acts, concerning which I shall observe some things in the course of our work. Further, what and how great a man blessed Pope Victor III was, the brilliant testimonies of the weightiest writers declare. Leo of Ostia in the Prologue to book 3 of the Chronicle of Cassino calls him the admirable and singular Man of his Order (that of St. Benedict). Peter the Deacon in the little work On the illustrious Men of Cassino, chapter 18, proclaims him full of the compunction of the fear of God, endowed with singular chastity, a monk in profession and in work.

[9] I pass over the illustrious testimonies of Baronius, Possevino, Pagi and others concerning Victor III. and some eulogies of the Blessed. How much Pope Stephen X esteemed him he declared when he confirmed and approved the election of Desiderius, who had lived among the monks of Cassino not yet two years, asserting that no one fitter than Desiderius could have been taken up for that office, although at that time the monastery of Cassino had many religious men, spiritual and endowed with much uprightness and prudence. See the Life to be given below, num. 15. Blessed Peter Damian too, most closely joined to our Blessed in much familiarity, as his frequent letters to him testify, betrayed very often what an excellent esteem he had conceived of his most upright manners, when he called him now the Abbot of holy converse, now the Archangel of monks, and in book 1, epistle 9, speaking thus of him: Behold, Desiderius the religious abbot of the monastery of Cassino draws near, who assuredly, as he is joined to blessed Daniel by the kinship of his name, so the assertion of truth does not part him from him. Nor did the fame of the blessed Pontiff's virtues flourish, widely spread, in the West only; it penetrated the East itself. For Michael Ducas Parapinacius, commending himself, his children and his empire to the prayers of this Blessed and of his brethren, transmitted many gifts to him, as may be seen in the Life, num. 72. The time of this honorable donation the author of the Chronicle noted only with these words: About these days: but what he had set out before must, as Nuce testifies, be referred to the year 1072. I would not fix this epoch for certain, and I marvel that among the charters of donations adduced by Erasmo Gattola there is not found the instrument by which Peter the Deacon says that the same emperor ordained that twenty-four pounds of gold be paid yearly from the palace of the empire of Constantinople.

[10] A compendium of the Blessed's life and deeds. A brief sylloge of the Blessed's life and deeds is contained in the epitaph with which his sepulchre is seen adorned, and which I here append, from the edition of Peter the Deacon, On the illustrious Men of Cassino, chapter 18, in the annotation:

Who I may have been, or what, of what sort, and how great, if any Should chance to wish to learn, the golden writings teach. My stock was of magnates, Benevento my fatherland, my name Is Desiderius, and thou, Cassino, my honor. Leaving an untouched bride, my mother, my fatherland, my kindred, I hasten hither, and am made a monk. Made abbot thereafter, I strove for a time to renew This whole place, as it is now beheld. Meanwhile I had been illustrious in the Roman city as Priest of thy Church, blessed Peter. Having held this honor one year less than six lustra, As Victor I thence mount the Apostolic throne. Scarcely four months and a half being thence accomplished, Bearing twice six lustra, I lie dead and entombed here. The last light stood in the virgin sign of the sun When the true Sun, God himself, bore me hence.

Certain things which might here be observed will receive their own light when we treat of each in particular.

§ II. The most grievous calumnies fastened upon the Blessed by various men, solidly refuted.

[ ] Many have calumniated the Blessed: That which has been common to almost all the Saints, Bl. Victor III had: his adversaries and detractors. Among these Hugh archbishop of Lyons holds the first place, having associated with himself in his part of the crime Richard of Marseilles. From Hugh other rivals of Victor drew what they vomited forth of their bile against him — whoever, in short, they may have been; for it is not necessary to investigate them more accurately or to set them down here by name. The cause on account of which Hugh's mind was estranged and exasperated against Victor Papebroch sets forth in the Propylæum of May, page 199, in these words: Three days before his death, when the Cardinals were consulting about the future election, Gregory VII had proposed three: of whom the first was Desiderius, the second Hugh archbishop of Lyons; who, the more seriously and steadfastly Desiderius strove to resist taking up the pontificate, the nearer to so great a hope he reckoned himself to be, and when contrary to his expectation he learned that Desiderius had accepted the pontificate, he was most vehemently moved in mind, and wrote to the countess Matilda a letter which appeared in the Labbe edition of the Councils (volume 10), taken from the Chronicle of Verdun. Among those named by Gregory VII to be substituted in the Apostolic See, the third was Otto of Ostia, who afterward succeeded Victor III; besides whom Peter the Deacon relates that a fourth was proposed by the same Saint, namely Anselm bishop of Lucca, as the Life of the Blessed testifies below, num. 94, but in the old edition chapter 65. Now I subjoin Hugh's letter, stuffed with calumnies, yet contracted into a compendium: whoever desires to see it entire, let him go to the writers praised.

[12] Hugh begins his letter, after a few things making nothing to our present purpose, among these Hugh of Lyons from the election of the abbot of Cassino made in his absence: To which, he says, both I and the rest of my brethren, sons of the holy Roman Church, loving the glory of men more than that of God, gave our assent because of the weakness of the time. Rightly here did Hugh depict himself, namely as a man loving his own glory rather than God's, who dared to assail a most holy Man with enormous calumnies when he saw his ambitious hope frustrated. He then goes on: But after we came to Monte Cassino, whither he himself had already gone before us, having tarried a while at Rome, under his leading, from his own familiar conversations with us — while, namely, he did not blush to recite boastfully his most nefarious acts in the ears of bishops and Cardinals — we perceived more copiously than we needed how intolerably we had offended God in his election. Then he narrates the charges: first, that he had pledged aid to Henry IV for obtaining the crown of the empire; second, that he had induced the same man to invade the lands of the Apostolic dominion; third, that he had proclaimed blessed Atto the Cardinal of Milan, who was bound with the chain of anathema and died in it; fourth, that he had both reproved in word and destroyed in deed the decrees of Gregory VII.

[13] The remainder of the letter, which is very long, tends wholly to show that Victor III had been unwilling to give his assent to the election made of him, cast atrocious slanders upon him affirming, he says, with terrible attestation that he had never acquiesced nor would acquiesce. Then he asserts that Victor, when the business of the election was resumed at Capua, provoked his supporters by certain soft and theatrical refusals, so that he might be compelled to take up the pontificate. Then Hugh says that he and others strove

to go against his craftiness, and openly declared that he would never consent to the election of Desiderius, and that it was publicly cried out by a certain other person that an infamous person ought not to be taken up as Roman Pontiff. The assembly being thus dissolved, he says that Victor bought the favor of duke Roger by promising that Alfanus should be consecrated archbishop of Salerno on Palm Sunday, and he subjoins, with the effrontery familiar to ambitious minds: On that same day therefore, when after dinner the Abbot, the duke and the prince had all risen from their midday sleep, … alas! O grief! the Abbot, as the wage of a most nefarious conspiracy, supported by the duke's authority, himself put the cope upon himself. You have here, reader, in summary that stinking letter, the rotten offspring of a cheated ambition: indeed there are in it almost as many calumnies as words, and as many most iniquitous fabrications.

[14] and rotten fabrications, Each of these, moreover, has long since been refuted by various writers, so that it is not at all necessary for me to spend my labor here upon overthrowing these accusations. Yet, that the reader may want for nothing, it will not be beside the purpose to transcribe the words of others, that it may be plain how undeservedly Hugh of Lyons rose up against a most holy Man. Noël Alexandre, in volume 6 of the Ecclesiastical History reprinted at Paris, page 428 and the following, after reporting the greater part of Hugh's letter, goes on thus: This letter of archbishop Hugh … teems throughout with calumnies. Fictitious are the charges which he objects against Victor III, from which he is more than sufficiently cleared by the judgment of Gregory VII concerning him, who judged him of all men the most worthy of the pontificate and the most useful to the Church: he is cleared by his notable humility, with which he so steadfastly refused the supreme dignity, and did not take it up save compelled by charity for the Church. To these may be added the wonderful steadfastness of the Cardinals, bishops and princes in pressing him to take up the pontificate.

[15] abundantly long since refuted by others. Then the first charge, of aid pledged by Victor to Henry IV, the aforesaid Noël thus dissolves: He had indeed promised king Henry his intercession with Gregory VII that he might be created emperor: but he knew very well that the most holy Pontiff would not grant him the crown of the empire unless he did penance and made satisfaction to the Church; and Desiderius's promise involved that hypothesis. The remaining charges fastened upon Victor the same author refutes thus: For the rest, how zealous he was for the Apostolic See and for ecclesiastical liberty he demonstrated on that occasion: for he did not approach Henry, who was already excommunicated, save to exhort him to peace and to hinder him from the overthrow of the monastery of Cassino. With the king's chancellor and his other ministers, although once his friends, being likewise entangled in excommunication, he was unwilling to eat, to drink, or to pray. To Henry, who commanded that he swear fealty to him and receive the monastery from his hand, and who threatened him, he answered: "That he would do this not only not for the sake of the monastery, but not even for the whole world." This answer of Desiderius agrees indeed in sense, but is expressed a little differently in words in the edition of the Chronicle of Cassino which I have followed: see the Life below, num. 82. Noël heaps up many more things after these, drawn from the Chronicle of Cassino, by which he sets before our eyes the unconquered steadfastness of Desiderius in defending the dignity of the Church, and his deeds in various meetings with the bishops adhering to the emperor and with the pseudo-pontiff himself; which I do not set down here, because they may be read in the Life, num. 82, 83 and 84.

[16] It is shown that all his other Then he continues thus: Further, he who so bore himself, and addressed the emperor, his ministers and the antipope with so great freedom, did not flatter the emperor, nor can it be said without calumny that he stirred him up to invade the patrimony of St. Peter: nor is it even likely that he made light of the Pontifical excommunications, who was unwilling to kiss the excommunicated, though they were his friends, nor to pray with them, nor to eat or drink with them, as the aforesaid author (of the Chronicle of Cassino) testifies. But how much he esteemed the decrees of his predecessor Gregory VII the synod of Benevento proves, in which he renewed them, chiefly those which he had enacted against those who give and receive investitures. These constitutions may be seen in the Life in our work, num. 112 and 113, where a little before are read those things by which Victor himself in the synod of Benevento vindicated himself from Hugh's calumnies; in which synod both Hugh and Richard, for their machinations against the lawful Pontiff, were cut off from the communion of the faithful, Because, says Victor III in the Life in our work, num. 112, they have of their own accord severed themselves from the communion of the Roman Church.

[17] Yet Hugh's disturbances, says the same Noël in the same place, Hugh separated himself from the communion of the Church. did not go so far as a completed schism, as his second letter to the countess Matilda proves, published from the chartulary of Cluny in the Spicilegium of d'Achery, and thence transcribed into volume X of the Councils of the Labbe edition, in which he writes thus: "At length we would have you know (I transcribe only the words chiefly bearing on this) that we have neither departed from the unity of those with whom, by the divine condescension, we have been fitted together in the body of the holy Church for the serving of blessed Peter, nor, by God's mercy, shall ever depart; nay, we have the purpose of serving in every way the advancement of the Apostolic See." In the same place he expostulates against the monks of Cluny because they said that he had departed from the communion of the Roman Church: "But among other things," he says, "they lie most impudently in one, namely that we have severed ourselves of our own accord from the communion of the Roman Church; whereas our conscience is witness to us, and the charity by which we are joined in the Lord, that we have not only not avoided their communion, but have resisted all who urged this upon us." Alexandre rightly observes that no completed schism arose from Hugh's disturbances, because he, having few adherents, quickly strove to reconcile himself to the Church, and was in fact reconciled under Urban II. Nevertheless the words adduced from him are not to be made much of. For even if perhaps he did not oppose Victor with the intention of stirring up a schism against him, but perhaps hoped that he would of his own accord again renounce the pontificate, which he had refused for almost two whole years, yet he did things by which he made himself unworthy of the Church's communion, as will be proved in its own place.

[18] The third charge laid upon Victor by Hugh shows abundantly his itch for calumniating. accusations and charges, On this matter Papebroch, in the place praised above at num. XI, speaks thus: But especially notable is the objection drawn from the praise which Victor gave to Atho archbishop of Milan when he was dead, although he had been excommunicated by Gregory VII, Desiderius himself subscribing the sentence. For Atho, a truly holy man, is confounded with Theobald, a schismatic and simoniac, whom king Henry had made archbishop in the place of Gotifred, equally a schismatic, and unable to endure any longer the hatred of the orthodox people. Certainly Atho was canonically elected, Alexander II approved the election, Gregory VII defended Atho's cause against Theobald, who had been intruded by Henry, and therefore Hugh carps at Victor III undeservedly. More concerning these disturbances at Milan, which threw all things Divine as well as human into confusion, and concerning Gregory VII's favorable affection toward Atho, may be seen in Ughelli's Italia Sacra, reprinted, volume 4, page 114 and following.

[19] And by all these things I think it sufficiently demonstrated were impudently fastened upon the Blessed, that no credit can be given to Hugh. What he adds about the impious bargain and the promise made to the duke about ordaining Alfanus bishop of Salerno appears to be altogether of the same bran. For however the matter stands as regards Alfanus, certainly Victor's pontificate did not depend upon the consecration of Alfanus, since all — and Hugh himself too — were begging Victor at last to accept the pontificate. Then, who but a madman would believe that he who had so long refused the pontificate at last wished to mount the chair of blessed Peter by giving the Salernitans an archbishop unworthy of that rank on account of ambition? In a matter so incredible Hugh's letter, stuffed with so many lies, certainly deserves no credit. Nay, we do not believe that Alfanus II, of whom we are treating, was unworthy of that rank, even if the Cardinals and bishops who elected Victor were for some time unwilling to consecrate him: for we know that the cause of the delay was another.

[20] both of Hugh, then of Lyons, In the Acts, num. 100, Peter the Deacon writes that the prefect of the emperor Henry was released at Rome by Roger duke of Calabria. And this reason is added: Namely on account of that grudge, that the bishops and Cardinals — the prince of Salerno, however, being the cause — were unwilling to consecrate the archbishop of Salerno. From these things we easily gather that the Cardinals did not stand in the way of the consecration because they judged Alfanus unworthy, but because they were unwilling to consecrate him against the will of the prince of Salerno; while Roger duke of Calabria took it very ill that in that matter they had more regard for the prince of Salerno than for himself: for it is for that reason that he is said to have released from prison Henry's prefect, who was to harass the Catholics at Rome. Roger at that time held Salerno, which he had seized by arms; but Gisulph the prince of Salerno was with the bishops and Cardinals, and probably had not yet yielded his right over the city of Salerno. There was therefore an altogether different reason for deferring the consecration of Alfanus than that they believed him unworthy. But the matter was without doubt at last settled, either because the prince of Salerno at length consented to the consecration, or because the bishops judged that he resisted further without warrant. However the matter stands, it is abundantly plain that Hugh sought nothing but matter for calumniating.

[21] and of Hugh of Flavigny, Hugh of Flavigny, too favorable and credulous toward his namesake Hugh, is twice injurious to our Victor in the Chronicle of Verdun. On page 232 he brings forward a certain letter in which Urban II, the successor of Victor III, is made to have spoken thus: Our lord Pope Gregory of blessed and worthy memory, when he was held at Salerno by the grave sickness of which he afterward died, the bishops and Roman Cardinals who were present there came to him, asking and demanding of him that he would show them whom he wished to be substituted as his successor in the pontificate. But he, thinking a little with himself, gave them these words: Whichever of these three, namely the bishop of Lucca, of Ostia, or the archbishop of Lyons, you shall be able to have, elect him as Pontiff. Which Pagi in the Critica, at the year of Christ 1087, num. 5, takes up thus: But that Urban II, before his pontificate called Cardinal of Ostia, wrote these things is utterly incredible; since he himself consecrated Victor III and knew well that Gregory VII had proposed, along with himself, Hugh of Lyons and Anselm of Lucca, Desiderius abbot of Cassino for his successor. Wherefore if that letter of Urban's was not fabricated by Hugh abbot of Flavigny — who published his Chronicle after the death of that same Urban — he expunged Desiderius's name from it, in order to excuse Hugh archbishop of Lyons and to show that he had not without reason shrunk from Desiderius's election.

[22] impudently fastened upon the Blessed, A fragment of a letter of Urban II to the monks of Cassino, given on the 6th of December in the year 1098, Erasmo Gattola reports in the History of Cassino, century VI, page 171, in which he speaks most honorably of Victor III: A question, he says, was raised by Desiderius of holy memory, Cardinal priest of the Apostolic See, and abbot of the monastery of Cassino,

who afterward by the grace of the divine condescension came to the summit of the supreme pontificate, but survived a short time, etc. More atrociously does Hugh of Flavigny calumniate Victor III, on page 234 of his Chronicle, printed by Labbe in the Bibliotheca Nova, devising this: He therefore (Victor III), having been consecrated by the bishop of Ostia, when he was saying Mass at St. Peter's, was struck within the canon by the judgment of God: and although recognizing late that he had erred, he deposed himself, and summoning the brethren from Monte Cassino who were with him, ordered himself to be carried thither and to be buried in the chapter-house, not as Pope but as abbot.

[23] This imposture of the chronicler of Verdun Noël Alexandre overthrows thus in the oft-praised place: are mere impostures. It is a calumny, he says, that, recognizing his error, he abdicated the pontificate: for indeed he discharged the Pontifical office to his last breath, having even designated a successor. It is likewise a calumny that he was struck by the judgment of God, whom rather the sanctity of his life, approved by miracles, testifies to have been most acceptable to God. And Papebroch in the Propylæum censures Hugh of Flavigny's calumny thus: Meanwhile it is established from Leo of Ostia, book III, chapter LXXIII, that he neither fell sick nor died at Rome: "but celebrating a council at Benevento, being gravely sickened in it, … after the council had been held for three days, he hastily returned to Cassino, … and after the third day happily passed to the Lord." I omit heaping up more here, and think unworthy of any answer a certain scribbler, of whom Noël Alexandre, concluding his article on Victor III, speaks thus: Unskilfully and altogether ineptly did the anonymous author write of Victor III in the chronological compilation which may be read among the writers of German affairs published from Pistorius's library: "This man in the schism was a schismatic." For indeed all the calumnies, as Mabillon observes on the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, century VI part 2, are expunged by the unanimous consent of the weightiest writers, who celebrate Victor with many praises.

§ III. The Acts of the Blessed, composed by various writers, to be given from the third book of the Chronicle of Cassino: its authority is vindicated.

[ ] Partly Leo of Ostia, The deeds of Bl. Victor III various men have consigned to writing, some more briefly, others more at length: but all seem to have drawn their writing from the same source. Whence, the rest being omitted, I shall give below the Acts of the blessed Pontiff drawn from book 3 of the Chronicle of Cassino. This third book of the Chronicle of Cassino Leo Marsicanus, now commonly called of Ostia, composed at the command of abbot Oderisius, as he himself testifies in the Prologue: but not the whole of it, as Mabillon rightly observes in book 67 of the Benedictine Annals, num. 27, writing thus: He did not finish all the Acts of Desiderius, but Peter the Deacon, far inferior to Leo in weight and authority, who continued the third book from chapter XXXV, as I was just saying, and added the whole fourth. Leo had indeed promised this, but did not fulfil his promise, whether forestalled by death or kept busy with other affairs, etc. This observation of Mabillon's is brilliantly proved from the Prologue of the fourth book, where Peter the Deacon speaks thus: And because the series of the abbots from the times of father Benedict down to the renewal of the church of blessed Martin had been drawn up by the aforesaid Leo, we, taking the beginning of our writing from the renewal of that same church, have taken care to join to that same history those things concerning the Life of the most holy Desiderius which had not been written down, lest the third book should seem to be mutilated in its greatest part.

[25] partly Peter the Deacon wrote the Acts of the Blessed: Certainly this testimony of Peter the Deacon is so perspicuous and clear that I marvel that Pagi in volume 4 of the Critica, at the year of Christ 1088, num. 4, could write thus: Leo of Ostia, bishop and Cardinal, who composed the History of the monastery of Cassino in three books, and carried it down to the death of Pope Victor III: for Peter's authority is not to be denied by Pagi, who himself uses it in that place in order to correct Baronius. No doubt therefore is left that the third book of the aforesaid Chronicle was compiled partly by Leo of Ostia, partly by Peter the Deacon: but whether Leo drew up chapter 34 itself, in the old division, or whether it is rather the offspring of Peter himself, is disputed: it will suffice here to have adduced the words of Angelo de Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 34, letter c, speaking thus: This chapter closes codex B, which contains only the history of Leo of Ostia. But Lauretus wrongly thought that the writing of the Ostian ended with the preceding chapter, misunderstanding the testimony of Peter, who in chapter LXVI of book IV writes that he is the author of the supplement to this Chronicle from the renewal of the church of blessed Martin, whereas that should have been taken exclusively, not inclusively. Certainly this chapter is read in Leo's codex, whose style it savors of, and Peter varied much here, so that from this at least Lauretus might have recognized that it was written by both: for thereafter you will not have the various readings of our manuscripts, since we have drawn what follows from Peter's single codex, etc.

[26] An edition of the Chronicle of Cassino prepared by Nuce, We have therefore a twofold writer who consecrated to the memory of posterity the Acts of our Blessed to be given below. Now I wish the reader to be briefly advised which edition of the aforesaid Chronicle I have followed, and for what reason. Lodovico Muratori, in volume 4 of the Writers of Italian Affairs, published at Milan in the year 1723, reprinted the Chronicle of Cassino, discoursing thus in the preface: Now Marsicanus's Chronicle appeared at Venice in the year MDXIII, then at Paris in the year MDCIII, then at Naples with the notes of Matteo Laureto in the year MDCXVI, and finally at Paris in the year MDCLXVIII, together with the commentary or annotations of Angelo de Nuce of Naples, abbot of Cassino. This last edition certainly excels all the preceding, and therefore I have followed it in preparing this new one. Of the three earlier editions recorded by Muratori, Giovanni Battista Mari speaks thus in his annotation on chapter 30 of On the illustrious Men of Cassino: Which editions, indeed, when collated with a most ancient manuscript copy preserved in the library of Cassino, which is called the Chronicon Casinense, the diligent reader will easily be able to recognize for himself to have been thrown down from their state of integrity and beset with corruptions. Whoever desires to know one by one the very many variations of those editions from the autograph, let him go to paragraph 1 of the Apology for Leo of Ostia and Peter the Deacon, which Erasmo Gattola subjoined at the end of the History of Cassino.

[27] And this is the reason why I have thought I must follow Nuce's edition, reprinted by Muratori: but I shall reprint only those chapters which serve to illustrate the blessed Pontiff's Life, and to be preferred to the rest, will be given below. the rest being passed over. In the Annotations, however, I shall briefly state what is treated in a chapter or part of a chapter omitted by the author. After the Prologue of Leo of Ostia I shall give the ancient division of chapters, as Nuce's edition has it; whose Notes also I shall for the most part retain, wherever they have seemed either useful or necessary. But those matters upon which Nuce observed nothing I shall illustrate with annotations, according to the practice of my Elders, wherever it shall be needful. But since the credit of the Blessed's deeds rests chiefly upon the authority of Leo of Ostia and Peter the Deacon, and some are found who have either nibbled at some things — even things bearing upon Victor III — or accused them of interpolation, it will not be beside the purpose to adduce here a few things which may establish the credit and integrity of those writers.

[28] Muratori in the aforesaid preface asserts that the whole Chronicle of Cassino is to be highly esteemed, The credit and authority of the writers and that such is the judgment of all the learned, both for other reasons and also from this, That Leo, a man of great weight and authority, in composing it made use both of the archive of Cassino and of other monuments of venerable antiquity. But Leo's authority he had a little before celebrated in these words: For his name is exceedingly celebrated in Baronius, Bellarmine, Possevino, Labbe, Vossius, Dupin, Cave, and others who review the Life and writings of ecclesiastical writers, whom the reader may easily consult. Notable also is the esteem of Peter the Deacon among weighty men, who often use his testimony to confirm the matters they narrate: wherefore I judge it superfluous to review them here; nor is this the place to discuss one by one the objections made against these two writers, since Gattola has performed that in the aforesaid Apology, with the testimonies of the learned adduced — whom therefore let the curious reader consult, lest I make the reading of this Commentary forbidding by inserting here many things, for the vindicating of the credit of the authors of the Chronicle of Cassino, which in no way pertain to the Blessed.

[29] There are, however, two matters pertaining to Leo's credit in narrating the Acts of Victor III: of the Chronicle of Cassino: the first, in our Life at num. 44, touches the famous controversy between the monks of Fleury and those of Cassino concerning the body of St. Benedict, which each side contends that it possesses: but I should be doing what is already done if I disputed about this matter, accurately discussed by Stilting in volume 1 of September, where he concludes with altogether great likelihood and with solid arguments that a part of the sacred pledge was carried to the French, but the other kept among the monks of Cassino, and judges that the by no means contemptible authors litigating on either side must be reconciled by that reasoning. See the preliminary Commentary on St. Aigulph, paragraphs 2 and 3. The other bears upon the mission of the monks of Cassino under abbot Desiderius, and the founding of various monasteries in Sardinia: of these the Life in our work treats at num. 33 and following. Receive the matter briefly: Bareso had asked Desiderius to send some of his men thither for the founding of a monastery in Sardinia: the Abbot complied, but the Pisans drove out those sent; at length after an interval of two years Bareso received two brethren sent from Cassino, Torchitorius, the other king of Sardinia, emulating Bareso's piety.

[30] Against this narrative an anonymous author of Milan, that this has here been interpolated, royal lecturer at Pavia, in volume 10 of the Writers of Italian Affairs, in the Chronographic Table of the middle age, section 6, num. 20, toward the end, rises up thus: Elsewhere, he says, we assuredly know Leo of Ostia to have been interpolated, unless we are held by an error. Most certainly Leo could not write things which had happened long after his death; nor should the interpolator have advisedly woven into book III, chapter XXIII, among the Acts of Desiderius abbot of Cassino, that expedition of twelve monks into Sardinia, Bareso reigning there. For that Bareso was only in the year MCLXIV called king of Sardinia, from being a judge, by Frederick Barbarossa, as his contemporary Morena, Alberic, Sigonius, our Calchus, and others more ancient and of the same country, presently to be praised, unanimously report under the said year MCLXIV. But the interpolator assigns Bareso and that expedition to the 5th year of Desiderius, who nevertheless was abbot from the year MLVIII to MLXXXVI (nay beyond that year, because he never laid down the government of the monks of Cassino)… But Leo at the most saw the year MCXV, as his commentator Angelo de Nuce testifies under num. CCCCLX (who did not observe the anachronism).

[31] someone has judged; but wrongly: He then goes on to prove his opinion, and to show that there was no king in Sardinia in the age of Desiderius, but that in the eleventh century it was divided into four parts by the Pisans and handed over to four judges to administer, until Barbarossa distinguished Bareso of Arborea with the new title of king, which authors

praised by the anonymous writer in fact connect with the year 1164; and at last he concludes thus: Hence every suspicion vanishes that another and older king, by name Paresso or Bareso, could have reigned in Sardinia from the year 1055 to 1086, as the interpolator of Leo falsely writes. To these last statements he had prefaced that Musactus, the Saracen king, was driven out of Sardinia and Corsica in the year 1015; and that Mugetus, king of the Balearic Islands, who had invaded Sardinia in hostile fashion, was happily taken by the Pisans in the year 1050. So that anonymous writer, although a little before he had asserted that it seemed harsh to call the Chronicle of Leo of Ostia interpolated, in this part detracts not a little from the credit and authority of that Chronicle.

[32] as they altogether prove, To this charge of interpolation Erasmus Gattula sets himself in opposition with all zeal, in the History of Monte Cassino, sixth century, page 154, where, after citing the words of the anonymous writer, which I have given in abridgement, he speaks thus: Yet that our Leo was interpolated in this place, no one man will say — with the leave of that most celebrated author — who shall have observed that the ancient manuscripts of Leo himself, the one written in what they call Lombard letters, the other in Latin, agree entirely, especially in this chapter XXIII of book III, with the edition lately brought out by Angelo de Nuce. Of this expedition of the twelve monks into Sardinia, and of the other of the two who were afterwards sent, Leo also makes mention in chapter XXIV and chapter XXVI, in which last, speaking of Aldemarius, he has these words: “Who had been my master in my conversion, and who had long since been ordained abbot for the brethren sent into Sardinia, etc.” Then Gattula adds that Leo, being a contemporary of Desiderius, had a thorough knowledge of his deeds; and that he was by no means deceived when he called both Bareso and Torchytorius kings of Sardinia, for the reason that those men in the charters and seals of their donations attributed this title to themselves: Which, says Gattula, whether it was rightly or wrongly assumed by those men, it did not belong to Leo and Peter to discuss.

[33] and likewise the authentic documents, A little further on he adduces the inscription which the leaden seal bears that authenticates the privilege of Bareso, and it is as follows: Baresone rex. Now this privilege, adds Gattula, whose original is preserved in our archive, and which we shall report word for word in the dissertation on the Cassinese jurisdiction, is found in the old Register of the privileges and donations of the monastery of Monte Cassino, which was drawn up by the order of Seniorectus, abbot of Monte Cassino, who presided over the monastery from the year 1127 to 1137, and was dedicated to that same abbot by Peter the Deacon. Accordingly, at folio 68 of this Register, marginal number 150, this privilege of Bareso, written in the Lombard character, bears this rubric: “The rescript of Bareso, king of the Sardinians, concerning the monastery of St. Mary in Bubalis, to Abbot Desiderius.” These few words suffice for our purpose; the studious reader will be able to see it entire in Gattula's Accessions to the History of Monte Cassino, page 174. The diploma of Torchytorius, the other king of Sardinia, by which he gave six churches to the monastery of Monte Cassino, is extant in the same Register at folio 259, marginal number 639; Gattula gives it entire in his History, page 154 and following. It will be enough for us to have transferred hither its opening, which runs thus: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God. In the year from his Incarnations (Incarnation) 1066, our lord Torckitori reigning, king (as king) of Sardinia, etc.

[34] From these things it is plain that, if the anonymous writer of Milan argues rightly, not only must the Chronicle of Leo of Ostia be held as interpolated, and likewise other reasons, but Peter the Deacon's Register also must be reckoned stuffed in more than one place with fables and inventions — and everyone sees how unfair it is to do this on account of some trifling scruple. For my part I should prefer to interpret the title of king more mildly, and to understand by it a petty king, a man foremost and chief among the Sardinians, who arrogated to himself the title of king although it had not yet been granted him by lawful authority: and how frequent this has been among various nations no one is ignorant who is even moderately versed in historical matters. And this conjecture of mine is made the more probable by this also, that the Genoese envoys, when they were to demand of the Emperor Barbarossa the royal name and dignity for Bareso, judge of Arborea, petitioned (as Caffaro witnesses in the Annals of Genoa, book 2) that Bareso should be the sole king, and should hold the island of Sardinia on the Emperor's behalf: which little word sole raises an altogether well-founded suspicion that those four judges usurped the title of king, to whose administration, as the anonymous writer of Milan writes after others, the whole of Sardinia was handed over divided into four parts.

[35] And these things, I think, are enough to keep anyone from branding the Cassinese Chronicle with the mark of interpolation on account of a trifling scruple about the royal title; by which the arguments both of the anonymous writer of Milan, but besides what has been said, this suspicion is dispelled by another diploma of King Bareso, subscribed in the year 1182 and granting many goods to the monastery of Monte Cassino, since among other things it runs thus: I, Parason, king and judge of Arborea, following so far as I can the pious footsteps of my grandfather and of my father, … grant to the church of St. Benedict of Monte Cassino the church of St. Nicholas of Gurgus with all its appurtenances … on such a compact and agreement, that he send thither twelve monks to serve God, etc. That privilege may be found entire in Gattula's Accessions to the History of Monte Cassino, page 266 and following. Certainly those words, following the footsteps of my grandfather and of my father, imply that the ancestors of this Bareso were affected with a singular devotion toward the monks of Monte Cassino, and probably under such an agreement as this Bareso here expresses: whence I can by no means be persuaded either that Leo of Ostia wrote falsehoods here, or that some ill-advised interpolator inserted the mission of the monks into Sardinia into Leo's Chronicle.

[36] But, someone will say, it is certain from the authors cited by the anonymous writer of Milan that the four judges of Sardinia were set over it by the Pisans, as of others are dispelled. and received all their authority from them: how then could it come about that, after the mission of the twelve monks had been hindered by the Pisans, who plundered everything, Bareso — however far he arrogated to himself the title of king — could exact satisfaction from the Pisans, who were surely his masters, which nevertheless Leo of Ostia asserts in chapter 242 (with us, number 34)? I find nothing here in all this that cannot be easily reconciled: for I judge him to be somewhat too hard upon the Pisans who thinks that that violence and plundering flowed from the lawful authority of the Pisan magistrates; but I altogether reckon that it must be ascribed to the ill-will and greed of certain robbers. However that may be, there is no doubt at all that Desiderius was held in the greatest honour and esteem among the neighbouring princes. Besides, it is established from number 35 of the Life that the legate of Alexander II pressed the Pisans for the restitution of what had been carried off, and that the Pisans cleared themselves before Desiderius and promised him fidelity, with the intervention of Godfrey, duke or marquis of Tuscany, of whom mention is also made in chapters 89 and 99 of book 2 of the Cassinese Chronicle. See there, if you please, the annotations of de Nuce. And I have discussed these matters somewhat at large, so that the fair-minded reader may perceive that in narrating the deeds of the blessed Pontiff I can safely rely upon the Cassinese Chronicle, especially since I have shown that the charges brought against it by a too rigid critic are of no weight.

§ IV. The illustrious birth of the Blessed: the chronology of his deeds up to the time when he came to Monte Cassino, and certain matters controverted in them: notice of the places.

[ ] Our Blessed, about the year 1027 Leo of Ostia touched briefly upon the most illustrious birth of the Blessed, asserting that he drew his line of blood from the most noble stock of the princes of Benevento: but, hastening on to greater things, he expressed neither the time of his birth nor his parents. Camillo Peregrini, in his Series of the Abbots of Monte Cassino, under the title Desiderius, speaks thus: He was born about the year 1027, and was called Dauferius. This epoch is confirmed by the epitaph of Victor III, in which we read thus: Twice six lustres bearing, dead, I am here entombed. For it is established that he died in the year of Christ 1087: if therefore he departed a sexagenarian, he must have been born about the year 1027 — about, I say: for it is not ascertained whether the twelve lustres were complete, or the last of them only begun, or whether nothing at all is to be added to the twelve lustres; and I had rather be ignorant of these things, as of the day and month of his birth, than divine them without any foundation.

[38] born of a most illustrious family The aforesaid Peregrini, in his work on the Stock of the Lombard Princes who came forth of the race of Atenulf, count of Capua and at length prince of Benevento, investigates the birth of the Blessed somewhat more deeply, when toward the end he discourses thus: Dauferius, born of an unnamed father, the son, as I think, of Landulf V, and near in kinship, unless I am mistaken, to Guaimar IV, prince of Salerno, by reason of Gaitelgrima, daughter of Pandulf II, prince of Benevento, sister of Landulf V and mother of Guaimar… Nor is it to be doubted that this man, set before our eyes by the writer of Ostia with such marks, as though with brush and colours, drew his descent from Atenulf: to which his primitive and native name Dauferius is not the least obstacle, foreign as it is in the family of Atenulf and never elsewhere heard; since it is hidden from no one that into individual other families, as we see happen in our own age too, foreign names have very often made their way, of which more than one instance occurs in this very stock of Atenulf, etc. He then brings forward certain reasons for changing a name, namely either to gratify wives, or those who receive the little ones from the sacred font; and in the margin he says that he passes over the many occasions which nowadays are wont to arise for imposing a name different from that customary in a given family — over which I too have no wish to linger.

[39] Marus, in the Life of Victor III prefixed to his Dialogues, of the princes of Benevento, asserts that he, the only offspring of the prince of Benevento, drew his origin from the Epiphania family. Unless he derived the appellation from the Greek ἐπιφανὴς, in Latin illustris, the Epiphania family is wholly unknown to me: nor indeed was it known to Peregrini, who nevertheless searched out everything most sagaciously. A little before the words just now recited he speaks thus: Besides the families hitherto set forth … (of Epiphania I have nowhere found a single word) far more others of the same race were likewise renowned there (at Capua) and at Benevento as well, … every prudent and skilled reader will readily agree, even though of them I have found nothing further even in the archives of Benevento themselves. Whether the word Epiphania was really the surname of the family from which our Blessed sprang, as Marus seems to hint, I do not inquire more deeply, since this is by no means necessary for illustrating the Acts of Victor III. This one thing I observe, that there are various heads on account of which, as Peregrini rightly asserts in the same dissertation, those who descended from a common stem constituted a family peculiar to themselves and assumed a different denomination: but the appellation Epiphania seems to fit none of these causes well enough.

[40] And these things concerning the Blessed's lineage are in any case sufficient. was he an only child? We must now see briefly whether Marus wrote rightly that Victor was the only offspring of the prince of Benevento. Angelo de Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 1 of book 3, comments thus: Giovanni Battista Marus… relates that Desiderius was the only offspring of the prince of Benevento: but he proves it by no documents, nor indeed does it seem to me likely,

that it should have been wrapped in silence by our writers. I confess that Marus' assertion is not altogether beyond doubt, and that it is not expressly handed down by the writers of the Cassinese Chronicle. Nevertheless I incline strongly to Marus' opinion: for the writer of Ostia in the said chapter 1 has it thus: But his father … loving him singularly, as being an only son, etc. Which words indeed, if they be taken in all strictness, exclude only a second male offspring, but not every child of the weaker sex as well: I judge, however, that it can be gathered from the writer of Ostia that Desiderius had no full sister either, at least none surviving his father's death; and this I conjecture from the fact that no mention of any sister occurs anywhere, even at the point where both the subject and the place would most of all have required it for the adornment of the history — namely in the third chapter of the ancient division, where the writer of Ostia describes the tears of his mother and her persuasions, that she might move the Blessed from his purpose of a stricter life; but of a sister or sisters he keeps deep silence. And since he, as de Nuce witnesses, pursues the deeds of Desiderius altogether fully and rather floridly, he would probably not have passed this over.

[41] In the whole first chapter of our division the writer of Ostia embraces the deeds of the Blessed, up to the time when he came to the monks of Monte Cassino. The deeds of the Blessed, until he came to the Cassinese, Peregrini, in his Series of the Abbots of Monte Cassino, briefly carries those Acts through the years thus: About the twentieth year of his age, of Christ 1046, bereaved by the slaying of his father by the Normans, carried off by force by his mother from the solitary life which he had at that same time chosen, and kept under strict guard for almost a whole year, namely 1047, and having slipped away from it in the year 1048, the twenty-second of his age, and having gone to Guaimar, prince of Salerno, near to him in kinship, and having asked that, since he was not permitted to live as a monk in his own country, he might be allowed to serve God quietly with him: obtaining his wish, he had been sent on at his own desire by that same prince to the monastery of the Holy Trinity which is called at Cava: when his mother, unable to move her son from his purpose, obtained from him, supported also by the patronage of Landulf VI, prince of Benevento (I should prefer, Pandulf, namely the III, his father), that he should at least return to Benevento and live at the monastery of St. Sophia under monastic profession, as he desired; which he did not refuse…

[42] a collection of his deeds arranged by years. Having stayed there for some years (say three, and up to the twenty-fifth year of his age, of Christ 1051), he betook himself to the monastery of Tremiti, situated in the islands of Diomedes; where he spent no small time (not indeed longer than a year and a half, or thereabouts); departing thence at about the end of the year 1052, the twenty-sixth of his age, and lodging for some while with Count Trasimund, that is, of Chieti, and his wife, who was related to him — that is, up to the beginning of the month of February in the year 1053, the twenty-seventh of his age — from that day to the third Sunday after Easter, for about three months, he remained among the solitaries of Mount Majella, and at length returned again to the monastery of St. Sophia. But after not many days, Pope Leo IX having returned from the parts beyond the mountains and being at Benevento, he became very familiar with him; … in that same year 1053, that is, in which that same Pontiff, conquered in war by the Normans in Apulia in the month of June, after about nine months made his way back to Rome, and died in the year 1054. But Desiderius, falling thereafter into an illness, sought Salerno, and having stayed there for a while, returned to Benevento, to St. Sophia; and after a little time had passed, since a report had grown strong that Pope Victor II had come from the parts beyond the mountains to Rome (Victor came in the year 1055, the twenty-ninth of Desiderius' age), he went to him as he was then staying at Florence, celebrating in that same year the synod of Florence; and remaining there for a little while, he departed, commended by letters of that same Pope to Peter, who not many days before, that is at the end of the aforesaid year 1055, had been elected abbot of Monte Cassino — namely at the beginning of the year 1056, the thirtieth of his age.

[43] The Blessed does not seem And this whole chronology of his deeds has been drawn out of the account of the writer of Ostia, and the particulars have been fitted by Peregrini to their several years with such probability that I do not see what can be greatly called into doubt by anyone, nor do I find elsewhere surer marks of time by which the things narrated could be more indubitably fixed. Further, in the Acts of the Blessed brought down thus far I find only two things which can furnish matter for any controversy, and that a slight one. The first concerns the marriage to which the writer of Ostia writes that the Blessed was drawn and destined by his parents, in this manner, with us in the Life, number 1: But (since) his father, wishing to involve him in secular affairs, … and to arrange that the name of his nobility should be propagated through his line of posterity, took pains, when he was now beginning to grow up, to betroth to him a girl equally noble, and in every way to hasten it, that the same kindred might be mutually strengthened. But since the Spirit of God had kindled the heart of Desiderius with his fire to the contempt of the world, etc.

[44] But Peter the Deacon, in his book On Illustrious Men, chapter 18, seems to hint than really to have contracted it. that the marriage was moreover celebrated, when he speaks thus: Leaving his bride at the wedding, he sought the desert. Peter's opinion has been embraced by others also, whom it is of no importance to enumerate. Certainly, if the marriage was entered upon, it cannot be placed after the Blessed's first flight into the desert, because, as the writer of Ostia has it in the Life, number 5: He spent almost a whole year under a great guard in his mother's house, secular in dress only, but for the rest celibate in mind, and no one could persuade him in any degree either of marriage or of any secular act. But I by no means believe that the Blessed was ever bound in marriage, although his parents must be said to have desired it exceedingly, both because the writer of Ostia keeps deep silence about a marriage entered upon, and because, when he had been dragged back from his flight and violently brought back to his mother, no one speaks of a contracted marriage or of a forsaken bride, nor does she herself appear anywhere, though it most concerned her, to call her bridegroom away from his purpose. These things I have discussed because, although it is done most ineptly and altogether foolishly, I find our Blessed accused in this matter of a double sin by certain slanderers, whose very name I am unwilling to insert into this Commentary. Let the reader meanwhile see how fraudulently they retail falsehoods for truths in order to seduce the unwary, and let him judge how justly I abstain from tearing down the rest of their calumnies and slanders, which of themselves leap to the eyes of any prudent man.

[45] The second concerns the old controversy between the monks of Cava and those of Monte Cassino. Whether, and on what ground That the Cassinese justly glory in the Blessed is beyond doubt; whether the monks of Cava claim him for themselves with equal right, let us see in a few words. Arnold Wion, with whom others also agree, in the Wood of Life, part 1, book 1, chapter 8, has it thus: Desiderius … from being a monk of the Holy Trinity of Cava, first provost, etc.; by which words he plainly assigns him to the monastery of Cava. Against Wion and those who adhere to him de Nuce rises with all zeal in the historical Excursus on chapter 7 of book 3 of the often-praised Chronicle, which the reader may consult if he please. It will not, however, be beside the purpose to set forth here de Nuce's lengthy dissertation, compressed into a few words. He argues thus: Desiderius cannot be called a foster-son of the monastery of Cava unless either he took the monastic habit there or made monastic profession there: but he contends that neither can be proved by any document, since he was first given the monastic dress by Santarus the hermit, and again by Siconulf, provost of St. Sophia at Benevento, and clothed in it went to Guaimar, prince of Salerno, by whom he was sent on to the monastery of Cava, as the writer of Ostia witnesses, who makes no mention of a monastic profession there, and whose testimony de Nuce calls irrefragable.

[46] Then he brings forward against the men of Cava as witness Desiderius himself, can he be ascribed to the men of Cava? speaking thus in book 3 of the Dialogues, page 155: Alferius was abbot of the monastery of the Holy Trinity built by himself on the side of the mountain which rises above the sea between the cities of Salerno and Amalfi: whose religious and God-beloved life I too in part beheld, who stayed with him for a little while on familiar terms, etc. From which de Nuce concludes thus: He therefore confesses himself a guest of Alferius, not a foster-son; nay, a guest for only a little time, though familiarly entertained. Certainly if the men of Cava contend that Desiderius must in all strictness be called their own foster-son, it lies upon them to bring forward solid documents by which to establish it. De Nuce closes his disputation with these words: As for the voluntary and liberal decision of Lauretus, namely that that little stay of Desiderius at Cava under the discipline of Alferius can effect this much, that Desiderius may in some degree be called a disciple of Alferius and a foster-son of the house of Cava, I think it will be by no means welcome to the men of Cava. For it will be easy for most prudent litigants to foresee that she is to be judged the false mother by the wise man, who suffers her son to be divided. I do not know whether the men of Cava demand anything more than what Lauretus grants them, since I have not seen their arguments and their claims. This, however, I think certain, that the men of Cava by no means wish Desiderius to be adjudged to themselves alone. Whence let the reader judge whether de Nuce rightly asserts that they, being content with Lauretus' liberality or justice, are to be called by the name of the false mother.

[47] Of the places which by his virtues Now I subjoin here some things concerning the virtues by which our Blessed shone wonderfully in the aforesaid places, which have been scattered by the writer of Ostia in various places: He began, he says in the Life, number 1, from the very rudiments of infancy to be noble in spirit rather than in flesh, and rather to give his labour to the service of God. So great, that is, was the fervour that had settled in his mind of surrendering himself wholly to the divine service, that Santarus the hermit, to whose discipline he had come to submit himself, was vehemently astonished that a boy so noble, so delicately reared, so rich, and above all the only child of his parents, should have come so fervently, despising all the pomps and vanities of the world, to serve the Lord under so strict a purpose; so the writer of Ostia in the Life, number 3. Of his zeal for continence and unspotted purity a judgment can be formed from what has been said above. And how greatly he strove to bring his body into subjection can be gathered from these words in the Life, number 9: Meanwhile Desiderius, falling into no slight illness through excessive abstinence and many vigils, etc. And that singular lowliness of mind which, as is plainly gathered from what has been said above and what is to be said below, was the Blessed's inseparable companion, compelled him to depart from this place also, to which a little before the fame of his sanctity and his zeal for virtue had drawn him. So the writer of Ostia in the Life, number 7: But since he was so loved by that same abbot (of the monastery of Tremiti) that he desired to hand over to him that same abbacy even while he himself yet lived, whereas he for his part fitted his mind to subjection rather than to prelacy, and therefore decided that he must give place, etc.

[48] Desiderius illustrated, But neither will it be useless to add here a brief

notice of some of the places which the Blessed illustrated beyond the rest by the brightness of his virtues. Benevento … an archiepiscopal city of the kingdom of Naples in the province of the Further Principate … on the river Sabato, where it receives the Calore, was, as Baudrand witnesses, the native place of Victor III, Supreme Pontiff. That the Blessed was born in the city of Benevento itself is indeed altogether probable, yet not quite certain, since contemporary authors by no means disclose it. Further, as Lubin witnesses in his Notice of the Abbeys of Italy, page 45, the monastery of St. Sophia was situated not far from the walls of the city of Benevento. Its founder was Arichis, who was the first to wish to be called prince of Benevento, as Leo of Ostia witnesses in book 1 of the Cassinese Chronicle, chapter 9, writing thus: He (Arichis) founded within the walls of Benevento a temple most rich and most seemly to the Lord, which … he named Holy Wisdom, … and establishing a convent of nuns, … he handed it over under the jurisdiction of blessed Benedict at Monte Cassino, to remain so for ever. And de Nuce annotates upon this place thus: Which (convent) afterwards passed into a monastery of men, and at last, being destitute of monks, obeys a commendatory abbot.

[49] The monastery of Cava, of the Cluniac Order under the rule of St. Benedict, a brief notice. and under the title of the Holy Trinity, is situated in the diocese of Salerno, in the place called at Cava, not far from the city of Salerno, from which, as Lubin will have it in his Notice of the Abbeys of Italy, page 94, it is distant only five miles; but Baudrand writes that it is scarcely four miles thence. Of the monastery of Tremiti I here subjoin no notice: its own place will be given to that monastery below in paragraph 6, where I shall try to clear up certain obscurer points. Concerning Magella or Majella, de Nuce observes thus in his notes on chapter 6: It is a mountain in the Abruzzi, the greatest of all in that province, and there among the mountain crags is the monastery of the Holy Spirit, now cultivated by the Celestines, then (that is, when Desiderius betook himself thither) by the Cassinese, or rather by monks of St. Benedict subject to the jurisdiction of the Cassinese. More about this mountain may be seen in Leandro Alberti's Description of the Whole of Italy, page 392. It is enough for us to have set forth some idea of these places.

§ V. He is chosen provost of Capua, then abbot of Monte Cassino: he is sent as legate to Constantinople: he is created cardinal: he takes part in various councils: he builds a new castle.

[ ] Did he first make monastic profession among the Cassinese? Thus far we have brought the blessed Pontiff as far as the monastery of Monte Cassino. Peter then presided over it, the thirty-fifth in the series of the abbots of Monte Cassino. By him both Desiderius and Alfanus, to whom Desiderius had been the author of a holier life, were becomingly received. By the same abbot Peter, as the writer of Ostia witnesses in the Life, number 12, they both obtained monastic consecration. Upon this place de Nuce comments thus: The writer of Ostia distinguishes two things: Associated to the brethren, that is, they gave in their names to the monastery of Monte Cassino, and obtained monastic consecration. Who would doubt the profession? Relying on this testimony of Leo, de Nuce contends that both are to be ascribed without doubt to the Cassinese; see what was said in numbers 45 and 46. I should not wish here to contradict de Nuce: yet it seems to me that it may justly be doubted whether it was then for the first time, when he came to the monastery of Monte Cassino, that the Blessed consecrated himself and his to God by the bond of religion. For this is clearly established, that he sought nothing more eagerly than to send the world its dismissal. Since therefore the writer of Ostia writes in the Life, number 6: On such a condition, therefore, it was at length obtained that he should return to Benevento, that it should be permitted him to remain at the monastery of St. Sophia under monastic profession without anyone's hindrance or contradiction: and since it is certain from number 6 of the Life that he stayed there most religiously for some years, it becomes to me too most probable, not to say evident, that he uttered religious vows from that time. This too is confirmed by the fact that in the Life, number 7, the Blessed is said to have often reflected with himself that a monk could not be perfect in his own country. But these matters are of too slight moment to need to be discussed more laboriously.

[51] Set as provost over the monastery of Capua In the Life, number 13, a remarkable vision of the Blessed is related, which, as the writer of Ostia writes, Seemed most manifestly to portend … that Desiderius would take the place of father Benedict in this monastery, which not long afterward the outcome of the matter proved. How long the Blessed's stay in the monastery of Monte Cassino was before he was sent on as provost to Capua is not altogether clear. This at least is gathered from the writer of Ostia, that this office was laid upon Desiderius by that same Peter who had adopted him among the Cassinese, and so before the 22nd of May in the year 1057, on which Peter laid down his dignity. But the writer of Ostia has passed over the things done in the monastery of Capua, recording only this: But when Pandulf, prince of that same city, wished to lay upon Desiderius certain unworthy and excessive burdens after the custom of former times, and he with a steadfast heart, as he was, by no means judged it fitting to assent to him in these, he departed from Capua and went to Richard. That Richard was count of Aversa, of the Norman race, then besieging Capua, and not long after he gained possession of its principality.

[52] he stoutly defends his own. The Pandulf whose unjust vexation the Blessed was compelled to avoid by leaving Capua, Peregrini calls the fifth, in his Series of the Abbots of Monte Cassino under the title Desiderius, and adds, Whence it appears that he had not died before this. But Michael the Monk, in his Catalogue of the Princes of Capua, reckons in the last place but one Paldolf together with his son Landolf, but writes that Paldolf died miserably in the year 1049, and finally relates that under Landolf, son, as he calls him, of the last Paldolf of the Lombards, the dominion of Capua was extinguished. Which of the two judges more correctly I do not inquire, since it matters little or nothing to the deeds of the Blessed whether it was Pandulf V, still surviving, as Peregrini will have it, who was unjust toward him, or Landulf his son, as Michael hints. Further, the writer of Ostia does not explain what that prince of Capua demanded of Desiderius. But since he adds, after the custom of former times, I think that Desiderius resisted the prince for no other cause than for the plundering of the goods belonging both to the church and to the monastery of St. Benedict, and their diversion to profane uses; on account of which, in book 1 of the Dialogues, page 30 and following, Desiderius relates that Pandulf of Capua (the fourth, according to Peregrini and others) was stripped of his principality by the Emperor Conrad and at last punished by God.

[53] Returning to Monte Cassino from Rome he is chosen abbot, Desiderius, supported by the patronage of Richard of Aversa and staying in the churches and estates of the monastery of Capua situated outside the city, was summoned to himself at Rome in the month of August by Stephen IX (whom others call the X), elected Roman Pontiff on the 2nd day of that same month in the year 1057, who, having from being chancellor of Leo IX become a monk of Monte Cassino, had in the year just now mentioned, on the 23rd of May, been created supreme governor of the Cassinese after the voluntary abdication of Peter. But our Blessed had scarcely arrived at Rome when ill health compelled him to return to Monte Cassino, whither Stephen also betook himself in the month of December 1057; and, brought almost to his last extremity by a grave illness, about the very feast of the Lord's Nativity, as Peregrini writes, he gave the monks power to elect an abbot who should succeed the deceased; Who, Peregrini goes on, acclaimed Desiderius, known even more familiarly to the Pontiff himself long before at Benevento in the time of Leo IX, and lately in the monastery of Monte Cassino, not two full years before, in the time of Abbot Peter. That the votes of all conspired upon Desiderius alone the writer of Ostia is also authority; yet not so but that they first judged that one and another should be taken. See the Life below, number 14, toward the end.

[54] Of this election of Desiderius, Bucelin writes thus in the Benedictine Menology at the 16th of September: plainly against his will, if we believe Bucelin: Having made monastic profession, he shone with such holiness of life that he was set as abbot over that most holy chief monastery of the world and of the Order, that of Monte Cassino; nay, was compelled to preside, since the most fervent prayers and tears of the brethren scarcely prevailed upon him, unwilling and much resisting. We saw in number 47, toward the end, that the Blessed left the monastery of Tremiti lest he should be compelled to preside, since he desired rather to be subject: we shall see below that he refused the supreme summit of all human majesty: and this remarkable modesty of Desiderius, both before and after he undertook the governance of the Cassinese, is at least of this much force, that we may suspect he would rather have passed a private life than be set over the rest. If, however, as Bucelin asserts, the Blessed shrank in every way from the election made of him, it is strange that this was not indicated by the writer of Ostia even by a single word: and on account of this very silence of Leo, if it is lawful to proceed by conjecture, I judge that he, however desirous of subjection he was, undertook that office not altogether unwillingly, either on account of the vision which, as the writer of Ostia relates, Seemed most manifestly to portend … that Desiderius would take the place of father Benedict in this monastery, and in which perhaps this was enjoined upon him by that same blessed father (of this we have treated in number 51), or because from that time he was planning in his mind those most illustrious works which he afterwards so happily accomplished in deed for the benefit of the Cassinese.

[55] However that may be, the election was approved by the vote of the Supreme Pontiff, the legation to Constantinople left unaccomplished, he returns to Monte Cassino. yet on this condition, that Desiderius should not enter upon the government before he had returned from the legation to Constantinople, as the Pontiff had long since determined to lay upon him. Stephen also enacted that, if he returned from Constantinople while he himself lived, he should at once preside over Monte Cassino; but if the Pontiff's death should have preceded Desiderius' return, the whole congregation should gladly receive him on his return, and none should dare to oppose him. These things being thus settled, and companions joined to Desiderius by the Pontiff, the Blessed girded himself for the journey. But whether on account of the inclemency of the air in the winter season, or on account of the hidden decrees of divine providence, the legation had no issue, Stephen having died at Florence at the end of the month of March in the year 1058, as is more fully set forth in the Life, number 16. Having therefore learned of the Pontiff's death by messengers sent by the Cassinese, and having taken counsel with the companions of his journey, Desiderius, to fulfil the wishes of his own, hastily returned to Monte Cassino, and on the 19th of April, on the very festival of the Lord's Resurrection, was eagerly sought anew by all as father and governor, and was ordained with the greatest solemnity.

[56] How justly, when placed on this height, he was called by the writer of Ostia in the Prologue to the Life, number 1, the restorer and renewer of the monastery of Monte Cassino, His illustrious deeds are touched upon. his excellent achievements brightly show: for not only did he restore that whole monastery to a more seemly form and one better fitted for the uses of the brethren, but he also fortified the domains and estates of the monastery against unjust invaders, and wonderfully increased them by the pious liberality of princely men, experiencing in all things the most present help of God: nor did he suffer his cares to be confined within the bounds of the monastery of Monte Cassino alone, but willingly extended them also to the monasteries subject to the jurisdiction of the Cassinese, watching solicitously over their advantage and over the splendour of the churches; sacred basilicas, both elsewhere and above all at Monte Cassino, he magnificently in part renewed, in part erected anew, and furnished with the most fitting adornment he could for the supreme Majesty dwelling therein, and the sacred

furniture for performing the awful Mysteries he sought out most sumptuously from every quarter. All which things, because they are narrated at length in the Life, I forbear to insert into this Commentary: in the course of it, however, I shall try so far as may be to fit the several particulars to their own times.

[57] He is created cardinal by Nicholas II, The Appendix to the Cassinese Chronicle, reprinted by Muratori, gives a full formula by which the abbot of Monte Cassino is to be elected, when elected to be confirmed by the Roman Pontiff, and finally to receive consecration or solemn benediction from the same. We saw in number 55 that the Blessed's election was confirmed by Stephen IX. His consecration, performed by Nicholas II, the writer of Ostia records in number 22 of the Life below. This took place at Osimo, a city of Italy in the Papal dominion in the March of Ancona, in the year of Christ 1059, on the 7th day of March, after that on the immediately preceding day the same Pontiff, having initiated him into the priesthood, had created him cardinal priest of the title of St. Cecilia. Moreover, how highly Nicholas esteemed the Blessed is shown abundantly by the most ample privilege briefly indicated by the writer of Ostia in number 22. It may be seen entire in Gattula's Accessions to the History of Monte Cassino, page 159 and following. I transfer a few words hither: To thee, most beloved son Desiderius, whom we have consecrated abbot, we grant … the monastery of the kindly father Benedict, … with its cells, castles, estates, and all its appurtenance, and by this our authority we confirm it… Moreover we corroborate to thee and to thy successors, in every assembly of bishops and princes, a seat higher than all abbots… Further, apart from the supreme Prelate of the Apostolic See, we forbid by this our authority the bishop or priest of any church whatever to presume any jurisdiction for himself in the aforesaid monastery or in its cells.

[58] and besides other favours, he is bidden to act in the Pope's stead. The remaining tokens of love and highest esteem toward the monastery of Monte Cassino and toward Desiderius himself, contained in these sufficiently lengthy Apostolic letters, I pass over. But those which I have recorded were grants of Apostolic favour common to Desiderius and to his successors. The last regarded our Blessed specially: Moreover, says the Pontiff, desiring to take counsel for the monastic religion, … we have decreed to take thee alone, for the days of thy life, as our vicar, etc.; so thoroughly, that is, was the virtue of Desiderius known to Nicholas II, that he did not hesitate to call him in the same place a religious and most prudent successor of St. Benedict, hoping that by his pious industry and solicitude the state of the monastic life would in those turbulent times continue entire and unharmed. At the end we read: Given at Osimo on the eighth of the Ides of March in the year of Jesus Christ one thousand and fifty-nine, which coincides with the first year of his pontificate, begun a few months earlier. For the rest, to what lands this vicarial power granted to the Blessed by Nicholas II extended is gathered from these words: From the river Pescara itself, as it flows into the sea, that is, through all Campania, the Principate also and Apulia and Calabria: and of these places, since more than once mention of them occurs in the Life below, I subjoin some brief notice. The river here recorded is called by the Italians Pescara from the small castle Pescara, built upon the foundations of the ancient town of Aternum, from which the river formerly took its name. Now Aternum, today Pescara, is a fortified town of the kingdom of Naples in the Hither Abruzzi. Campania, surnamed Felix, is a region of Italy, which now embraces the greater part of the Terra di Lavoro, which is a province of the kingdom of Naples. The Principate is assigned by geographers as twofold, the one hither, the other further, both of them provinces of the kingdom of Naples in Italy: the hither is in that tract where the Picentini once were and the western part of Lucania; the further, where formerly were the Hirpine peoples. Apulia too is set down as twofold, Daunia and Peucetia; the former is also called Capitanata, a province of the kingdom of Naples, the other Bari in the same kingdom. Calabria likewise is twofold, hither and further, both in the kingdom of Naples, the former stretching more toward the North, the other more toward the South. He who desires more, let him go to Leandro Alberti in his Description of the Whole of Italy, and to Baudrand in his Geographical Lexicon: I have used both in setting forth this notice of those regions.

[59] The elevation of Desiderius to the sacred purple, just now recorded, is related by the writer of Ostia in chapter 13 of the ancient division: Against the men of Fratta and of Traetto, but to this chapter 12 is prefixed, in which is told for what cause the Blessed built the New Castle. But that this deed of his is later in time than his entry upon the cardinalate I shall presently show. It is well first to recite here the words of the writer of Ostia. He has it thus in number 21: Meanwhile the townsmen of Fratta (others write Fracta), a breed, that is, of restless and treacherous men, like so many brigands, joining to themselves the men of Minturnae and other neighbours, did not cease, now by stealth, now openly, to harass the towns bordering on them which belonged to us. Then he relates the fraud of the men of Fratta and the causes of the quarrels, and at last adds: Desiderius, … since he could in no way quiet them either by benefits or by reasons, at length bent himself wholly to bridling their wickedness by force, and, supported by the help of Adenulf, duke of Gaeta, … presently with all urgency raised against them a castle, to which the name New was properly given, on the mountain which is called Peranus, etc.

[60] Mabillon, in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, sixth century, invaders of the Cassinese domain, part 2, page 593, sets forth that whole chapter 12 of the writer of Ostia summarily thus: In this chapter, he says, Desiderius is said to have built the New Castle by the help of Adenulf, duke of Gaeta, against the townsmen of Fratta, who were hostile to Minturnae and to the neighbouring towns of the Cassinese domain, when he had vainly tried to quiet them by reasons and benefits. But Mabillon seems not to have rightly understood the writer of Ostia, when he wrested his words to that sense, as if the men of Minturnae had suffered wrongs from the men of Fratta, whereas it is plain that these rather, in alliance with those, jointly invaded the bounds of the Cassinese domain, as will be plain to anyone who merely reads the words of the writer of Ostia cited in the preceding number. De Nuce comments upon the said chapter thus: Minturnae, at the mouth of the Garigliano, through which the river once flowed, now in ruins; nay, already in Leo's age, so that we are consequently compelled here to take the men of Minturnae for the men of Traetto; for since Traetto arose out of the remains of Minturnae, it could not undeservedly retain the ancient appellation. Certainly Baudrand places the Traetto of today as a city of the kingdom of Naples in the province of the Terra di Lavoro near the mouth of the river Liris, which by others is called the Garigliano; and Leandro Alberti in his Description of Italy, page 210, says: Traetto, not far from the place where Minturnae once was a city. And concerning Fratta the aforesaid Alberti has these words in the same place: Then at the third milestone beside the bank of the Liris is the town of Speninum: thence at the eighth, Fratta.

[61] He builds the New Castle. The time These things being premised, let us investigate the time at which Desiderius built the New Castle against the incursions of the men of Fratta and Traetto. This is certain from the writer of Ostia, that that stronghold was raised by the help of Adenulf, duke of Gaeta: likewise we have from the same that it was not done before he had procured for Adenulf the favour of the prince, namely Richard of Capua, as Peregrini says in his Series of the Abbots of Monte Cassino, under the title Desiderius, where he goes on thus: Who (Richard I), from being count of Aversa, obtained the principate of Campania with a certain limited power in the year 1058, but most fully in the year 1062; and that after that year — namely in the year 1063, and the month of May being past, which was the sixth year of Desiderius — Richard came to agreement with Adenulf, and permitted him to retain the duchy of Gaeta upon conditions now unknown, may be understood from countless ancient charters, in which he himself, together with his son Jordan, likewise marked with the dignity of the principate, began from the year already mentioned, 1063, to be called duke of Gaeta as well. But Michael the Monk, in his Catalogue of the Norman Princes of Capua, writes that Richard seized the duchy of Gaeta in the year 1064. Whatever the case may be, the authority of Peregrini leads me to think that Desiderius fortified himself and his own against the men of Fratta and the rest far later than the order of writing preserved in the Chronicle of the writer of Ostia would require.

[62] of that fortification is inquired into. Certainly that the building of the New Castle is later than the year 1059, in which the Blessed was created cardinal, is plainly gathered from what Gattula has in the Accessions to the History of Monte Cassino, page 158, where he reports a privilege of Abbot Desiderius granted to the men of Traetto, the tenor of which is such that it agrees excellently with what we adduced from the writer of Ostia in number 59, and clearly shows that Desiderius took pains to bind to himself by benefits and immunities the men of Traetto, whom Marinus, count of Traetto, with his wife Obdulana had subjected to the monastery of Monte Cassino, together with part of the castle of Fratta, as may be seen in the diploma of Marinus in the aforesaid Gattula, page 157 and following. But Desiderius' privilege is read as given in the third year of the principate of Richard, who, since he certainly did not enter upon the principate of Capua before the year 1058, the building of the New Castle against the men of Fratta and Traetto, whom he had vainly sought to conciliate, must have happened long after the year 1059, in which the Blessed obtained the dignity of cardinal. And these things have been discussed so that the reader may perceive that not all the deeds of Desiderius are arranged in their own times. Nothing, however, is on that account to be taken from the authority of the writer of Ostia, since nowhere does he hint that he everywhere follows the order of times, but even studiously professes that he will pass over many of the things he knew; and says only that he wishes in some fashion to touch upon his works.

[63] He takes part in the councils of Rome, That our Blessed, having been created cardinal, celebrated the festal day of St. Benedict in the monastery of Monte Cassino, and thence returned to Rome for the solemnity of Easter, the writer of Ostia is authority in number 23 of the Life. Nicholas II was then celebrating a council in the Lateran, at which Alger, Lanfranc, and the anonymous writer of Chifflet testify that one hundred and thirteen bishops were present: to this the Blessed subscribed in this manner, Desiderius, Cardinal of the title of St. Cecilia, as may be seen in Hardouin, volume 6 of the Councils, part 2, col. [ ]. Further, in this synod Berengarius abjured his heresy for the third time: various decrees were wisely made against incontinent priests and against simoniacs; and the constitution on the election of the Roman Pontiff was put forth, of which there will be occasion to speak below. Of this council the writer of Ostia makes no mention in the edition which I follow: yet de Nuce in his Notes on number 8 observes thus: Manuscript B has besides what is here above (letter c) concerning the constitution of Nicholas in the Roman council touching the election of the Supreme Pontiff.

[64] The Roman synod being celebrated, Nicholas assembled two others, of Benevento, and of Melfi, the one at Melfi, the other at Benevento, both in the year 1059. The Blessed was present at each: at that of Benevento, as the aforesaid collection of Hardouin witnesses, volume 6, part 2, col. [ ], where among the prelates is reckoned Desiderius, abbot and cardinal priest; and at that of Melfi also, as the writer of Ostia relates in number 23 of the Life in these words: Going forth from the city (our Blessed), he proceeded to Melfi, a city of Apulia, where the same Apostolic (Nicholas II) had then arranged to celebrate a council. This last council both the collection of Hardouin mentioned above and that of Labbe, volume 9, col. [ ], write as celebrated at Amalfi in Apulia; which writing Pagi in his Criticism, at the year 1059, calls an error, and strives to refute it on the ground that the writer of Ostia, whom both collections cite, asserts that the synod was gathered not at Amalfi but at Melfi. Certainly, as Pagi rightly observes in the same place, they are altogether different

cities, Amalfi and Melfi; for the latter belongs to Basilicata, a province of the kingdom of Naples, the former to the Hither Principate of the same kingdom.

[65] Nevertheless I do not so far find in either collection of the Councils an error worthy of reprehension: which last is called by others the council of Amalfi for nothing forbids the conjecture that Melfi, a city of the province of Basilicata, is designated by either name, as Orlendi testifies concerning the Amalfi of the Hither Principate, in The Sacred and Profane World, part 1, book 4, chapter 3, number 4, writing thus: Melphis, which is called both Melphia and Amalphia. Certainly it cannot be doubted that the Melfi of Apulia, as the writer of Ostia calls it, was called not only Melphia but also Amelphis: for the diploma of Richard, prince of Capua, which the writer of Ostia records in number 23 of the Life, and which Gattula gives entire from the Register of Peter the Deacon, number 404, folio 174, in the Accessions, page 161, runs thus to our purpose: In the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1059, in the twelfth indiction, the lord Nicholas, venerable Pope, gathering a sacred synod at Amelphis, etc.

[66] Now that diploma undoubtedly indicates no other synod than that which is recited by the writer of Ostia: it is said. and Baronius, treating of the same council, writes at Malphia, in volume 11 of the Annals, page 271. And indeed all ambiguity seems to be removed by the aforesaid collectors of the Councils through the added phrase in Apulia; for the Amalfi of the Hither Principate belongs to Campania; whereas Melfi, ennobled by the synod of Nicholas II, is situated in the province of Basilicata, and in this sense can be said to pertain to Apulia, either because, as Ughelli writes, it is the gate of Apulia, or because Apulia Peucetia contains part of the province of Basilicata, as Baudrand teaches in his Geographical Lexicon. And let these things be said to this end, that the discrepant writings of the Cassinese Chronicle and of the Register of Peter the Deacon may be reconciled.

§ VI. The reform of the monasteries of Tremiti and Subiaco: the restoration and consecration of the church of Monte Cassino, after which the whole monastery is renewed.

[ ] The Blessed is sent by Alexander II to reform the monks of Tremiti: We saw in numbers 57 and 58 in how great esteem our Desiderius was with Nicholas II, so much so that the Pontiff gladly committed his own part to him, meaning to keep monastic discipline sound and whole by his watchful industry. The privilege of Nicholas II was confirmed by his own vote also, or rather renewed, by Alexander likewise the second, who granted the fullest immunity not only to the monastery of Monte Cassino, but besides to all the churches belonging to the Cassinese domain, as may be seen in the Life, number 41. And how greatly the same Pontiff trusted the prudence of Desiderius he abundantly declared when he sent him by Apostolic authority to restore the discipline of the monasteries of Tremiti and Subiaco. What he did further, to bring back into a better state the monastery of Tremiti, defiled by the wicked manners of its inhabitants, is set forth in the Life, number 42 and following. Mabillon, in book 62 of the Benedictine Annals, number 115, abridged the narrative of Leo of Ostia, relating that deed of Desiderius among other deeds of the Benedictines which happened in the year of Christ 1066.

[68] the time of the event is inquired into, But the epoch of the monastery of Tremiti reformed by Desiderius I judge must by no means be bound to that year, and I rather think it should be referred to the year 1071, or at any rate not much earlier; for the writer of Ostia writes of Transmund, substituted in the place of Abbot Adam, that a few days after Desiderius had returned to his own, he tore out the eyes of three monks and cut off the tongue of a fourth; then, after setting forth the grief of Desiderius, he adds, in the Life, number 43: Since in that same year the solemnity of the dedication of our church was awaited, he is kept until then to come and receive sentence according to the measure of his fault. From which account, since it is certain that Transmund was rebuked and punished by Desiderius for his cruelty in the year 1071 — for in that year, as Mabillon himself confesses, it happened that the basilica of Monte Cassino was dedicated — and since the writer of Ostia seems to assert that a short space of time flowed between Transmund's ordination and the crime just recorded, it is not probable that the reform of the monks of Tremiti was undertaken by Desiderius from the year 1066; unless someone should think it must be said that Desiderius indeed betook himself to the monks of Tremiti in the year 1066, and there, having ordained a new abbot and rightly ordered the matters pertaining to monastic discipline, returned to the monastery of Monte Cassino, leaving behind some of his own to watch over religious observance, and of whom the writer of Ostia should be understood when he says: A few days after our men returned, etc. But of Cassinese left there to supply the part of Desiderius no mention is made by the writer of Ostia; nay, he openly says that certain of the men of Tremiti were given by the Blessed to Transmund, by whose counsels he was to be helped. Still less rightly did Lubin fix the time, when he wrote in his Notice of the Abbeys of Italy, page 392: Of the abbot of this (Tremiti) monastery the same (Cassinese) Chronicle makes mention about the year 1060, in book 3, chapter 27.

[69] The Blessed judged the aforesaid deed of Transmund savage and cruel, and therefore, having chastised him according to the prescript of the Rule of St. Benedict and certain other circumstances. and cast him from his place, did not suffer him to return any more to the men of Tremiti. On the contrary Hildebrand, archdeacon and cardinal of the Roman Church, and after Alexander II Supreme Pontiff, called Gregory VII, approved what Transmund had done, and judged that he had proceeded vigorously against wicked men. Upon which place de Nuce comments thus: Both the mildness of Desiderius and the severity of Hildebrand were a praiseworthy virtue: for to the same end there are many means, and sometimes opposite ones. Zeal is certainly good and praiseworthy if it be according to knowledge: but whether the zeal of Transmund was such in every respect, let him decide who will.

[70] Mabillon, in volume 4 of the Annals, page 682, judges that the monastery of Tremiti reformed by Desiderius Notice of that monastery, which probably is the same as that in which Desiderius is said by the writer of Ostia, in number 7 of the Life, to have spent some time — where the edition which I follow reads Tremitenus, not Tremitensis, though other editions generally preserve the latter writing. Of the monastery of Tremiti, in which Desiderius as a young man stayed, the writer of Ostia writes thus in the place just praised: Which is known to be situated in the Adriatic sea near an island once called by the name of Diomedes, distant about thirty miles from the mainland. And de Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 89 of book 2 of the Cassinese Chronicle, comments thus at number 10: In the Adriatic sea there are five islands lying off Apulia, over against Mount Gargano; of which the chief and greater than the rest is called Tremiti from the three mountains upon it, etc. Of the Diomedean islands Ortelius has these words in his Geographical Thesaurus: I in the map which contains a picture of these see five still to exist, if you reckon in those which present rather the form of rocks than of islands, of which the greatest and adorned with a monastery bears the name of St. Nicholas, the second of St. Dominus, etc. But Ortelius had premised, from Collenuccio, that all today are comprehended under the one name de Tremite, and that the greatest, on Leandro's testimony, is called St. Mary of Tremiti; and that the other, which is called St. Dominus, is also sacred to St. James the Greater, apostle, Pennotto relates in the Tripartite History, book 3, chapter 13, §3.

[71] Since therefore it is established from the writer of Ostia that that monastery which Desiderius as a young man inhabited, is the same as that which the Blessed inhabited in his youth; and which afterwards he set about reforming, was situated on the island of Tremiti, or at least on one of the Diomedean islands; and since Ortelius seems to speak in such a way that in these islands we ought to recognize only one monastery, at least of any note, and Lubin too in his Notice of the Abbeys of Italy assigns only one monastery to the island of Tremiti, it follows that the one of which we are treating is not to be distinguished from that which is now of Canons Regular under the title of St. Mary of Tremiti, as the said Lubin writes on page 392, asserting that its abbot is recorded in book 3, chapter 27, of the Cassinese Chronicle — that chapter, surely, which treats of the reform undertaken by Desiderius. To this also belongs what I read in Pennotto, book 3, chapter 13, §13, where he reports the beginning of a privilege granted to the men of Tremiti, which runs thus: Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son Ferro, abbot of Tremiti, etc. But wrongly, through the carelessness of the printers, that privilege is there called Urban III's; for since Pennotto reports the other privileges of the Roman Pontiffs, from Leo IX down to Gregory XIII, in the order in which they sat, why should he have set the privilege of Urban III before that which Alexander III granted? Whence I scarcely doubt that the privilege granted by Urban to Abbot Ferro belongs to the second Pontiff of that name: for one Ferro is said in the Life, numbers 39 and 40, to have been substituted for Transmund, and at last confirmed by Desiderius in the government of the monastery of Tremiti.

[72] nor different from that which Lubin calls de Treniche. Lubin, having just described the monastery of Tremiti, subjoins on the same page 392 another in these words: The abbey under the title of St. Mary de Treniche, whose abbot in the year 1064 was Transmund, son of Oderisius, sixth count of the Marsi, who was bishop of Valva; as Ughelli observes, volume 1 (of the old edition), page 256. But Lubin could not fail to notice that the reading in Ughelli is faulty: for besides that Treniche is a place plainly unknown to all the geographers I have seen, Transmund, who is said by Ughelli to have been raised in the year 1074 to the episcopal mitre of the church of Valva, is doubtless no other than he whom the writer of Ostia records in the oft-praised chapter 27 of book 3. And he, having been set by our Blessed over the monastery of Tremiti about the year 1071, and in that same year stripped of his dignity, obtained by the patronage of the archdeacon Hildebrand the abbey under the title of St. Clement of the island of the county of Balva, or, as the truer reading has it, of Penne, as Lubin himself observes on page 176, saying there besides that the Cassinese Chronicle records that abbey in book 3, chapter 27. And that Transmund, on the testimony of the writer of Ostia in the same place, from being abbot of St. Clement became bishop of Balva, or, as it is now written, Valva. The abbey de Treniche, then, distinct from that of Tremiti, vanishes: and as for Ughelli's writing from being abbot of St. Mary de Treniche, this perhaps arose from his having come upon an old and worn copy.

[73] The reform of the monastery of Subiaco happily undertaken. Of the reform of the monastery of Subiaco, which is situated within the bounds of the diocese of Tivoli in Latium, now the Roman territory, on the river Anio, and where St. Benedict laid the beginnings of the monastic life, the writer of Ostia makes no mention. Mabillon, in volume 5 of the Annals, page 49 and following, refers it to the year 1072. That monastery had, as Mabillon relates, been brought into a miserable state, both through the vexations and plunderings of outsiders, and through the dissolute manners of the monks, and above all through the infirmity and old age of Abbot Humbert, who was unable to recall his own to their duty. When these things became known to Pope Alexander II, he sent thither the archdeacon Hildebrand and our Desiderius

to come to the aid of the falling house with a ready remedy. How happily this was performed both by them and by John, the thirty-second abbot of that holy place, substituted in the place of Humbert, the curious reader will be able to see in the said Mabillon. But I do not know who that venerable Hugh is, bishop of Ostia and Velletri, who, as Mabillon says, set forth to Pope Alexander the desolation of that monastery. For it is certain that Bl. Peter Damian, created by Stephen IX cardinal bishop of Ostia, survived until the year 1072, and that Girald or Gerard succeeded him in the see of Ostia, dying under the pontificate of Gregory VII in the year, as Ughelli relates, 1077. Let Mabillon himself be consulted, volume 5 of the Annals, at the year of Christ 1067, number 8, where, treating of a certain instrument to which Gerard is read as subscribed as bishop of Ostia, he says that if that subscription truly holds good, it must be that he succeeded Peter Damian while he was still living, or was substituted for him when he resigned the dignity; and he asserts at last that Gerard was created bishop of Ostia by Alexander II after Damian's death.

[74] Let us resume the interrupted order of the deeds. I said a few things in number 56 about the illustrious achievements and the truly vast undertakings of the blessed Pontiff, He rebuilds the church of Monte Cassino with vast labour, by which, while he was abbot, he both restored the monastery of Monte Cassino and others, and renewed the basilica of Bl. Benedict and others belonging to the domain of the Cassinese. The old church on Monte Cassino having been pulled down, in the year 1066 he set about building a new one with the utmost magnificence. How great a work of masonry that was de Nuce briefly indicates in his Notes on chapter 28, letter i: That greater expenses of the Cassinese fabric were exhausted, he says — and indeed not on the things that remain, but on those that do not remain — will easily be gathered by whoever considers the natural face of this mountain: namely in cutting away the rocky crests, and demolishing with fire and iron the sheerest masses of cliff, so that a level place might be opened for the magnificent substructure. For the excavating of a single cistern (and there are eighteen at Monte Cassino) many thousands of gold pieces were spent. So arduous, indeed, did the work seem, that the Cassinese monks despaired of its being able to be completed by human strength even in the space of many years, and therefore tried in every way to deter their blessed Abbot from his purpose.

[75] But trust in God vehemently kindled the ardent mind of Desiderius to carry through what he had conceived, helped by the alms of the pious: the solemn and the signal piety and munificence of many wonderfully helped him to complete what he had begun. But since the brilliant testimonies of the religious liberality of princely men are narrated at length in the Life to be given below, there is no need to enumerate here those donations by which the fortunes of the Cassinese were greatly increased, and Desiderius gained the means of finishing the most sumptuous structure of the basilica and of enriching it with the most precious ornaments — all of which I forbear to relate here, as having been sufficiently set forth by the writer of Ostia. Five years Desiderius spent upon this vast and elegant work, and having finished it in the year 1071, he took care that on the very Kalends of October it should be dedicated with no less honour and magnificence, to the everlasting fame of his name. This festivity the writer of Ostia describes very fully, adding also what relics of the Saints were laid up in the place of the new basilica: more briefly Marco Antonio Scipione relates the solemnity of the dedication in his Eulogies of the Abbots of Monte Cassino, under the title Desiderius, whose words I here transcribe.

[76] And so a great number of sacred prelates and a most honourable circle of most illustrious men wonderfully heaped up the congratulation and pomp of the festal celebration; consecration of it, with a great concourse of princely men and prelates, for besides companies of monks and the very flower of the Roman nobility, on the one hand from among the bishops of all Italy and the most ample assembly of the Purpled Fathers as many as fifty-four prelates accompanied Pope Alexander (among whom twelve cardinals of our Order were eminent); and on the other hand the princes of Salerno, Capua, Benevento, Naples; the counts of the Marsi and of Balva, each with his own household of followers, came together for the celebration of the sacred dedication; while the concourse of common folk, especially from the neighbouring towns, became so vast that, the most capacious monastery being filled, and the dwellings of the city below loaded with the multitude of guests, all the sides of the lofty mountain, all the roads, and the far and wide extended level of the fields were strewn with the concourse and flood of people. And this so great multitude was refreshed for seven days with food and drink by the zeal and liberal charity of Desiderius.

[77] This narrative of Scipione agrees with what is more fully related below in the Life: the number of the bishops, it differs in this, that Scipione asserts that fifty-four prelates were present at that celebration, whereas the edition which I follow says only fifty-three, namely ten archbishops and forty-three bishops. But de Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 30, speaks thus at number 4: Manuscript B reads forty-four: yet they come to the same thing. Peter's manuscript does not count the bishop-elect of Castello as a bishop: Leo had counted him, for on the day after the consecration of the basilica he was ordained and anointed bishop. On the testimony of the same de Nuce in his Notes on chapter 34, number 3, the manuscript marked with the letter B contains the writing of the writer of Ostia alone. But if Leo counted in the bishop of Castello, he ought to have written not forty-four but forty-five bishops: for anyone counting the prelates enumerated in chapter 30 of the Chronicle will find, with the bishop-elect of Castello, fifty-five prelates named from their sees, unless perhaps it must be said that one and the same person held two bishoprics, or that someone's name was set down twice by a slight and easily pardoned inadvertence.

[78] who were present at the festal celebration, This last conjecture appears to me sufficiently probable: for among the bishops there is recorded in the twenty-third place the bishop of Melfi, and again in the thirty-ninth the bishop of Melfitto, and I see nothing which greatly forbids taking both writings of the same person. I know indeed that among the bishoprics of Italy there is found not only that called Melphitanus or Melphitensis from the city of Melfi in the province of Basilicata, but besides that of Melphitto, from Melpheta, or Malfatta or Molfetta, in Apulia Peucetia; and that the origin of this bishopric is thought most ancient, and is referred by some to the times of the Prince of the Apostles: but, as Orlendi rightly observes in The Sacred and Profane World, part 2, book 4, chapter 28, number 10, It is strange … that a bishopric so ancient, as to boast its beginning from the times of the Apostles, is conspicuous in none of the sacred councils held before the twelfth century. For the first bishop of Molfetta (Ughelli writes Melphitensis) whose memory has been handed down to posterity is John, who is read as subscribed among the bishops of the Roman province in the Lateran council summoned by Alexander III, Supreme Pontiff, in the year 1179. Ughelli too confesses, in volume 1 of Sacred Italy, column 916, that before the John just named no bishop of that place is found. This silence of the writers certainly favours my conjecture not a little; for if a bishop of Molfetta, distinct from the bishop of Melfi in the province of Basilicata, had been present at so famous a festivity, how should not at least some memory of him have been transmitted by some writer? How should Ughelli himself, in no way opposed to the antiquity of the bishopric of Molfetta, not have noted at least this anonymous one before John? However that may be, let the reader judge of my conjecture what he will: for this matter is of too little moment to need a more laborious inquiry.

[79] and the accounts of various writers concerning them Mabillon, treating of our Bl. Victor in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, sixth century, part 2, gives the proper names of some of the bishops who were present at the consecration of the basilica of Monte Cassino, and praises a manuscript pamphlet on this dedication, which Antonio Caracciolo published from the library of Monte Cassino with some other documents, in Neapolitan types, in the year 1626. It has been reprinted in volume 5 of the Writers of Italy, page 76 and following, and bears this title: The narrative, by an anonymous but ancient and trustworthy writer, of the most celebrated consecration and dedication of the church of Monte Cassino performed by Alexander II, Supreme Pontiff, from manuscript codex 47 of the library of Monte Cassino. And after premising much about the endeavours of Desiderius in raising the basilica and about its adornment, the anonymous author adds thus: But it seems to me an excellent thing and not to be despised to hand down to memory the names and number of the bishops and of some of the magnates who were present (since it is not easy to remember them all), so that by their number, and by the countless multitude of people also which then flowed together from all quarters of the earth, the glory of the dedication itself may become known.

[80] I too, both for the same cause and for a fuller notice of these bishops, have judged that the anonymous writer's list should be transferred hither. somewhat different, Immediately after the words just related he has it thus: And these are they: John, bishop of Porto; John, bishop of Tusculum; Ubaldus, bishop of Sabina; Alfanus, archbishop of Salerno; Hildebrand, archbishop of Capua; John, archbishop of Naples; John, archbishop of Sorrento; Girard, archbishop of Siponto; Bisantius, archbishop of Trani; Drogo, archbishop of Taranto; Erasmus, bishop of Segni; Peter, bishop of Anagni; Honestus, bishop of Veroli; Ambrose, bishop of Terracina; Leo, bishop of Gaeta; Pandulf, bishop of Marsi; Palumbus, bishop of Sora; Martin, bishop of Aquino; William, bishop of Teano; John, bishop of Cales, or of Forum Claudii, as it is in the Bull of Alexander II; Peter, bishop of Venafro; Geoffrey, bishop of Aversa; John, bishop of Piceno; Maraldus, bishop of Paestum; Albert, bishop of Bojano; Roger, bishop of Civitate; Campo, bishop of Dragonara; Stephen, bishop of Troia; Baldwin, bishop of Melfi; John, bishop of Canne; Robert, bishop of Fiorentino; Nicholas, bishop of Termoli; William, bishop of Larino; Peter, bishop of Guardia; John, bishop of Vigilia; Innacius, bishop of Monorbino; William, or Guibert, bishop of Ruvo; Datto, bishop of Ostuni; Peter, bishop of Monopoli; John, bishop of Giovinazzo; Maynard, bishop of Ariano; Arnald, bishop of Acerenza; Constans, bishop of Venosa; Hugh, bishop of Otranto; Geoffrey, bishop of Perugia; Theobald, bishop-elect of Castello, who, that is, was consecrated bishop on the day after the dedication.

[81] somewhat divergent, This list, counting in the bishop-elect of Castello, enumerates forty-six prelates: but the Chronicle fifty-five, unless, as is probable from what was said above in number 78, the bishop of Melfi and the bishop of Melfitto are the same person. Mabillon observes in the place just praised that far more prelates are enumerated by the writer of Ostia than by the anonymous writer, namely the archbishops of Amalfi and of Oria; the name of the former was John, as I gather from Ughelli, who writes that he was created in the year 1070: the name of the latter I cannot declare, nor his see with sufficient certainty. The anonymous writer also calls the bishops of Acerenza (or Acerentino) and of Otranto merely bishops, whom the writer of Ostia names archbishops, and more rightly, since, on Ughelli's testimony, the see of Acerenza was made archiepiscopal under Leo IX, or at any rate under Urban II, and Hugh of Otranto, on the same Ughelli's testimony, subscribed himself archbishop in the year 1068. On the contrary, where the writer of Ostia writes merely bishop of Taranto, the anonymous writer better notes him as archbishop, since this see is read to have been endowed with archiepiscopal dignity from the year 978.

[82] There are also missing from the anonymous writer's list some bishops recorded by the writer of Ostia, whose names I here supply from Ughelli: of Balva, called John and created about the year 1071; of Penne,

Pampus; are alleged and compared, of Roselle, now Grosseto, since Grosseto arose from the ruins of ancient Russellae, Bodo or Dodo; of Nola perhaps Saxo, who flourished under Urban II and is read to have been still surviving in the year 1093; of Lucera probably Azo, who is written to have sat in the year 1075; of Isernia or Sarno probably also Risus I, created by the authority of Alexander II in the year 1066, whose day of death is unknown; but in Ughelli's catalogue there is no one between him and John, who sat in the year 1119; of Salpi, either Raynald or his successor William. There is also missing in the anonymous writer the bishop of Avellino or Abellinum, but his name it has not been possible to discover, since, on Ughelli's testimony, after Timothy, who was still ruling this church in the year 501, the names of the bishops were not recorded for six hundred years. Concerning the bishop of Melfi, whom the writer of Ostia also counts in, see our conjecture at number 78. The anonymous writer records two bishops omitted by the writer of Ostia, those of Venafro and of Piceno: and let these things said about the difference between the two writings suffice.

[83] To the anonymous writer's list Caracciolo subjoins this: But from the original diploma of Alexander II, The memory of this dedication in the Calendars. which is in the archive of Monte Cassino, it appears that ecclesiastical prelates besides were present at this consecration of the church of Monte Cassino, namely Hildebrand, archdeacon of the Holy Roman Church, and Peter Damian, bishop of Ostia. And after all the bishops these cardinals subscribe the said diploma: I, Firminus, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church; Leo, Cardinal; Stephen, Cardinal priest; Landulf, Cardinal priest; Leo, Cardinal priest, on behalf of all the priests, Cardinals, deacons and clerics of the Holy Roman Church. For the rest, Menard inserted the celebration of the said dedication into his Benedictine Calendars, as honoured there with an annual veneration, writing thus at the 1st day of October: On this same day, the dedication and consecration of the patriarchal church of our holy father Benedict on Monte Cassino by Pope Alexander the second. Menard was followed by Ferrari in his General Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology.

[84] After building and dedicating the church, the Blessed turned his cares to the monastery, [Frequent earthquakes at the time of the renewal of the monastery of Monte Cassino:] which indeed he had begun to renew at the beginning of his prelacy, but which was not yet sufficient for the vast number of monks growing daily. For, as the writer of Ostia relates in the Life, number 57, within two years from the dedication the multitude of the Cassinese Congregation had grown by the abundance of those coming from every quarter to nearly a second hundred. A space of about three years was spent upon this building. The restoration and renewal of the monastery Mabillon relates in summary at the year 1072, in volume 5 of the Annals, page 48, where toward the end he has: But when the mountain was being dug away in order to enlarge the space of that chapter-house, frequent earthquakes occurred, which Leo Marsicanus thinks happened on account of the graves then necessarily violated, which perhaps had been those of holy men, although similar ones are not rarely felt there: which words not rarely, if, as it seems, Mabillon refers them to the times of Leo, plainly contradict him, since Leo writes thus in number 65 of the Life: Otherwise, indeed, earthquakes are wont to occur quite rarely in this place; and so read all the editions of the Cassinese Chronicle without exception which I have seen. This writing of the writer of Ostia Mabillon left untouched, nay, passed over unobserved, in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, sixth century, part 2, page 606. I do not inquire whether those earthquakes are truly to be ascribed to the violation of the tombs, as the writer of Ostia affirms that he, with many others, judged: I willingly confess too that the earthquakes recorded could have arisen from natural causes. But from whatever source they proceeded, I would rather believe Leo, writing that in his own age earthquakes were otherwise infrequent, than Mabillon, removed by many centuries from that age, asserting the contrary.

[85] More about the monasteries and churches either built or renewed by Desiderius I do not here add: of this structure almost nothing now survives. I briefly observe, however, that of both the basilica and the monastery built by him almost nothing now survives. For they were thrown down and destroyed by a vast earthquake in the year 1349, as Gattula witnesses in the History of Monte Cassino, page 545, speaking of the church alone. But Scipione, in his Eulogies of the Abbots, under the title William, sixth bishop, seventy-sixth abbot, says: At which time that most celebrated and by far most beautiful temple which of old Abbot Desiderius had built was utterly overthrown together with the famous monastery, so that not even a chamber remained unharmed. De Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 28, number 5, teaches that only the site and the remains of the tessellated pavement still remain, but that the magnificence of the old structure is discerned even in the ruins themselves.

[86] The oft-praised de Nuce, in his Notes on chapter 29 of book 3 of the Chronicle, Verses written by the Blessed in the apse of the church. inquires whether the monastic law was promulgated by St. Benedict at Monte Cassino or at Subiaco. Occasion for this dissertation was given by certain verses which the Blessed ordered to be written in the apse of the basilica. They are given below in the Life, number 53, and affirm beyond doubt that the law was first put forth at Monte Cassino. Those verses de Nuce entirely adopts, and strives with many arguments to establish the most ancient tradition, as he calls it, which fights for the Cassinese, and which has been called into doubt by certain more recent writers. This controversy does not properly belong to this place, whence it will be enough here to have adduced what de Nuce subjoins after reporting the testimonies of Zachary, Urban II, Callixtus II, Roman Pontiffs, and others: And these things certainly moved Desiderius, so that with steadfast and unshaken confidence he ordered to be inscribed in the apse of the new basilica in letters a cubit high and of gold: The law went forth hence, etc.: for he did not fear that a truth then most well known could be cavilled at and brought into odium, and in fact through so many centuries it is not read to have been cavilled at. Let the prudent reader consult de Nuce's historical Excursus, if he please, and having weighed the force of the reasons brought forward both for the Cassinese and against them, let him decide what he will about that controversy, which it has by no means seemed to me to belong to our purpose to settle here.

§ VII. Very many donations reduced to chronological order: the church of Monte Cassino violated, and therefore placed under interdict for some days: the chronology of other donations.

[ ] Various donations in the year 1069 and following Peter the Deacon, after relating the election of Pope Gregory VII, reports very many donations of princely men made to Bl. Abbot Desiderius or to the monastery of Monte Cassino, but in a somewhat disturbed order. But these can in some fashion be reduced to order by the help of the instruments which Gattula published in the History of Monte Cassino and in the Accessions to that History. For from these it is clear that many donations which Peter the Deacon narrated under the pontificate of Gregory VII must be fixed before it. The first of these seems to be the donation of Count Borrellus, related in the Acts, number 72, by which he grants to the Cassinese the church of St. Peter of Avellana: for the donation recited in Gattula's Accessions, page 179, is marked in the year … 1069, in the month of March, in the seventh indiction. There follows there a restitution made to the same monastery by Walter, but without any note of time, so that we may easily believe with Peter the Deacon that it was made long afterward. In the following month there seems to have followed the donation of the counts Theodinus and Oderisius, brothers, and of Count Bernard, all of whom the Deacon calls counts of Valva. These gave to the Cassinese two monasteries erected by St. Dominic the abbot in the county of Valva, concerning which see the Acts, number 73. The donation indeed is marked in Gattula in the year 1067, in the month of April, but in the seventh indiction, which implies the year 1069. Wherefore, since Peter the Deacon narrated this one after the other, I would rather believe that this is the later, than that it is earlier by nearly two whole years, and that a fault crept into the years of the vulgar era rather than into the years of the indiction. To the year 1070 some donations also seem to be assigned which are either passed over or reported too late in the Cassinese Chronicle. Such are the donations of the counts of Teano, John and Landulf, who each by a separate diploma give the half part of the castle which is called Mortula, and was also otherwise called Mirtula; but it is now almost deserted. Each instrument of donation is recited in Gattula's Accessions, page 170, and is marked in the year one thousand and seventy, … in the month of September, in the ninth indiction, which in that year began in the month of September. In the same year and the same indiction, but in the month of November, there is marked in the same place, page 171, the donation of Berard, count of the Marsi, who then gave to the Cassinese the monastery of the holy Mother of God and Virgin Mary which is called Lucus, as the diploma has it, to be seen more fully there. I only observe here that this Berard, count of the Marsi, appears to me plainly the same as the Bernard who was just now recorded in the other donation with the counts Theodinus and Oderisius of Valva: for in both instruments he is called the son of the late Count Berard. In the same year, or in those following, there followed the donation of Nobilo, count of the castle of Vipera, who offered to the Cassinese the monastery of St. Eustasius with various churches. The instrument of the donation is marked in Gattula's History, page 282, in the year 1070, but in the tenth indiction, which began from the month of September in the year 1071. And so there is a fault either in the years of Christ or in those of the indiction: for the indiction agrees with the year 1071 or 1072.

[88] by various princes In the year 1072 our Blessed received many donations. The first is that of Richard, prince of Capua, which is related with us in the Acts, number 71. For the instrument in Gattula's Accessions, page 176, is marked as given in the fourteenth year of the principate (of Richard), in the month of February, in the tenth indiction; that is, in the year 1072. From the instrument it is also clear that that monastery was called, not simply St. Angelo's, as the Acts have it, but St. Michael the Archangel's, with the surname ad Formam, or ad Formas. But of old it had been called ad Arcum Dianae, as is also read in the Cassinese Chronicle, book 1, chapter 57, because a temple of that same Diana was there. De Nuce adds in his Annotations: For that a temple of Tifatine Diana (so called from the neighbouring Mount Tifata) was there, even if all the authors were silent, he could have known from the inscribed stone monuments alone, still standing in the same place. Another donation of the same prince Richard is found in Gattula in the same place, page 177, and is marked as made in the same year one thousand and seventy-two, in the month of August, in the tenth indiction. There he gives to the Cassinese the church of St. Benedict Piczolus, situated in Capua not far from the church of the archbishopric, etc., together with the church of St. Peter in Scafati, situated in the territory of Naples, etc. In the same year, in the month of September, the monastery of Monte Cassino received the church of St. Magnus in the city of Fondi with three others, as the Acts have it in number 73, where the donors are called Leo and Girard, consuls of Fondi. But in the diploma of the donation in Gattula's History of Monte Cassino, page 259, mention is made almost of the consul Girard alone, with his wife Labinia. Yet some mention, such as it is, is also made of the consul Leo as donor after the middle of the diploma, so that I think the donation is rightly attributed to both. It is marked in the year

one thousand and seventy-two, in the month of September, in the tenth indiction. The eleventh indiction ought to have been noted, which begins in the month of September. The donation of John of Isernia, which is narrated in the Acts, number 74, was made in the same year and month according to the diploma recited in the work just praised, page 264, where there are given the monastery of St. Benedict of Bagnarola with two other churches, as is read in the Acts. The diploma was given in the year one thousand and seventy-two, in the month of September, in the eleventh indiction. To the same year probably, in the month of December, must be assigned the donation of Azzo, a Marsican noble, who gave to the abbey of Monte Cassino the castle of Mota, as in the diploma, or Meta, as it is called in the Acts, number 73, with all that he possessed in the valley of Orbetum. The donation, most faultily written, is marked in the year one thousand and seventy-two, and the day in the month of December, through the tenth indiction. The eleventh indiction indeed ought to have been noted in that year and month, but notaries frequently err in the indictions. For the rest, Peter the Deacon, in the passage of the Acts which we are expounding, does not name Azzo as the donor, but says that several things were given at once by certain Marsican nobles.

[89] To the same year perhaps, or perhaps even to 1073, made to Abbot Desiderius must be assigned the ample donation of Littefrid, consul of Fondi, or Littefrida the duke, as he is called in the diploma in Gattula's Accessions, page 180. For it is marked in the month of October and in the eleventh indiction, but it is written altogether barbarously, so that it is very doubtful whether the indiction, which implies the year 1072, is correctly expressed. The donation is sufficiently set forth in the Acts, number 74, provided we add that it was not absolute, but made on this condition, that it should take effect if Littefrid lacked lawful offspring. In the year 1074, in the month of October, Count Nobilo, who before had given the monastery of St. Eustasius to the abbey of Monte Cassino, added to it four other churches with the possessions belonging to it, namely those of St. Mark, St. Barbatus, St. Hilary and St. Eleutherius. Of these Peter the Deacon, book 3, chapter 61, has it thus: Moreover Nubilo too, count of the castle of Vipera, offered to this place the monastery of St. Eustasius within the same castle, and the church of St. Barbatus and of St. Eleutherius and of St. Hilary, and the monastery of St. Eustasius in the castle of Ribza. These things differ somewhat from what I have given from the instrument of the donation published in Gattula's History, page 283; not only because Peter the Deacon places both donations much later than the instrument, which is marked as made in the year of the Lord 1074, and in the thirty-seventh year of the principate of the lord prince Landolf, in the month of October, in the thirteenth indiction — all of which indicate the year 1074 — but also because he reports a second monastery of St. Eustasius as given by Count Nobilo or Nubilo. And so it is probable that this last monastery was given later, and that thus three donations made in different years were referred by Peter to the same time. Further, the prince Landolf recorded in the diploma is Landulf IV, prince of Benevento; and from this it is gathered that the castle of Vipera was in the Beneventan dominion. Of that castle Marius de Vipera, archdeacon of Benevento, makes mention in his Chronology of the Bishops of Benevento*, page 93, where he says that that castle was possessed by the family de Vipera until the year of the Lord 1305.

[90] on behalf of the monastery In the year 1075, or rather 1076, occurred the donation of Joffred Ridellus, a Norman by nation and duke of Gaeta, which is sufficiently set forth in the Acts, number 75. The donation in Gattula's History, page 267, is marked as made in the year one thousand and seventy-five, in the month of February, in the fourteenth indiction. The indiction implies the year 1076, and to this we ought more probably to ascribe the donation, because there is also added, and in the eighteenth year of the principate of the lord Richard, prince of Capua. For above, in the same month of February, the tenth indiction, that is the year 1072, is joined with the fourteenth year of Richard in his own diploma. This eighteenth year of his, therefore, must coincide with the fourteenth indiction and the year 1076. Probably the notary took the beginning of the year from Easter, as was customary in many provinces at that time, and so with him the year 1075 was running in the month of February, when with us it is the year 1076. To the same year, in the month of August, must be assigned the donation of Lando, lord of Hirpinum, which is related in the Acts, number 75: for the twin diploma of Lando, given in Gattula's Accessions, page 181, is marked in the year one thousand and seventy-six, in the month of August, in the fourteenth indiction. To the year 1077 is marked the donation of Robert de Bello Prato, a Norman by nation, who granted to the Cassinese the church of St. John, situated in the territory of the town which is called Pontecorvo, and is not far distant from Aquino toward the river Liris. The diploma of Robert is found in Gattula's History, page 313, given in the year one thousand and seventy-seven, in the month of April, in the fifteenth indiction. To the same year or the following must be assigned the donation of Peter, a Roman noble, who gave to the Cassinese the church of St. Antoninus, situated in the territory of Monte Porcolo. The instrument of the donation, published by Gattula in the History, page 236, has only these chronological notes: that it was given under the pontificate of Gregory VII, in the first indiction, in the month of September, on the twenty-fourth day. Wherefore, if the notary began the indiction from the Kalends of September, as was then more usual in Italy, he designates the year 1077; but if (which is less probable) he took the beginning of the indiction from the Kalends of January, he marked the year 1078.

[91] made to the monastery of Monte Cassino. Certainly in the year 1078 occurred that controversy between the Cassinese and the men of Capua which is related in the Acts, number 77. For it was handled at Capua before Gregory VII, who it is established was at Capua in the year 1078 from his own first Letter of book six, given at Capua on the Kalends of June in the first indiction, as may be seen in Labbe, volume 10 of the Councils, column 196. Besides, in the same year, in the month of November, Pope Gregory decided that controversy at Rome in favour of the Cassinese. Gregory's judgment Gattula published in his History, pages 254 and 255, and it was given at Rome on the seventh of the Ides of December, … in the sixth year of the pontificate of the lord Pope Gregory VII, in the second indiction. All the notes agree with the year 1078. In the same year Jordan, prince of Capua, gave to Desiderius for the abbey of Monte Cassino a certain castle called Suju, situated in the duchy of Gaeta. The donation in Gattula's Accessions, page 187, is marked on the ninth of the Kalends of October, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord … one thousand and seventy-eight, through the second indiction. But the privilege which is found in the same place, page 186, given by the same Jordan to the Cassinese, seems to be assignable to the year 1077, even though it is marked in the year one thousand and seventy-eight. For that year is implied by the first indiction joined with the month of December, and by the twentieth year of the principate of Richard and Jordan, and by the mention of Richard as living, who in the other is recorded as deceased. Gattula himself observed this, and warned that the year 1078 had been written by inadvertence for 1077. In the year 1079 Count John gave his part of the castle of Sujo, which I think is the same as the castle Suju recorded above; and likewise his part of the monastery of St. Erasmus in the city of Formiae, already given before by Joffred Ridellus. The donation is recited in Gattula's History, pages 267 and 268, and was made in the year 1079, in the month of May, in the second indiction. Peter the Deacon writes thus of these things in chapter 44: Moreover John, son of Count Hugh, following his father's example, offered and confirmed to blessed Benedict his whole part of the castle of Sujo, which is the half of it, with all things belonging to that same half, both within and without; and likewise his whole part of the aforesaid monastery of St. Erasmus in Formiae. I judge that donations of the same goods were sometimes repeated by different persons, because these were contending over the lawful possession of them. I shall certainly give such an instance below.

[92] In the same year 1079, probably in the month of April, the church of Monte Cassino was violated by the order of Jordan, prince of Capua, The church of Monte Cassino is violated whom we have already seen on various occasions a benefactor to that same monastery, and shall see so again hereafter. St. Gregory VII took that violation of the church so gravely that he was moved against both the prince and the monks as well, as guilty of negligence, and ordered the divine offices in that same church to cease for one or two weeks, as is related in the Acts, number 78. That the matter happened in the year 1079, and indeed in the month of April, we gather from the Letters of Gregory VII given on this occasion. Baronius recites at the year 1078, number 24, a Letter of Gregory to Prince Jordan, whom he sharply rebukes and exhorts to satisfaction. And it was given at Rome on the eleventh of the Kalends of May, in the second indiction, that is, on the 21st of April in the year 1079. And so at least about the year there is no doubt, nor even about the month, so far as it appears; because Gregory, who could have known the fact within two or three days, doubtless wrote to Jordan without delay, and he himself hints at this, saying: Most lately you did not fear with sacrilegious daring to enter, plunder and violate the church of blessed Benedict. From the twin Letter of Gregory to the Cassinese, both published in Gattula's History, page 149, although they otherwise lack the year and day on which they were given, the same becomes probable concerning the month of April; because in the second Gregory says that he had lately laid an interdict on account of the violated church; and presently he adds: But because the solemnity of the Lord's Ascension, venerable throughout the whole world, is now at hand, being unwilling that on account of anyone's crime so religious a place should lack the office of piety at so great a feast, we have decreed to absolve both you and that same place from the interdict. Easter in the year 1079 was on the 24th of March, and consequently the festivity of the Lord's Ascension on the 2nd day of May. Wherefore it is probable that the interdict was laid about the same time at which Gregory wrote to Prince Jordan, and lasted about eight or ten days, and that the violation of the church was committed some days before the interdict, certainly in the month of April.

[93] and is therefore laid under interdict for some days. Further, even though Pope Gregory accuses Abbot Desiderius and his monks of excessive timidity, yet he does not derive the reason for forbidding the divine offices from their fault, but from the crime of Prince Jordan and the violation of the temple, speaking thus in the first Letter to the monks: Wherefore, not bearing that the guilt of this rashness should go unavenged, especially since we weigh that your place has been violated, and that by the example of this crime worse things may befall you, we admonish you not to perform the divine office in the church of Bl. Benedict, but, uncovering all the altars which are within, to make all men know how great is the peril of such a violation, etc. In the other Letter, by which he lifts the interdict, he makes no mention of any fault of the Abbot or the monks, but commends both himself and his enemies to their prayers, and at last Prince Jordan himself in these words: Moreover

and pour forth prayers for him who violated so most holy a place, famed throughout the whole world, that God may give him a penitent heart, and so convert him to himself that in this life and the next he may deserve to obtain the grace of God. And from the benefits which Jordan afterwards conferred upon the abbey of Monte Cassino we easily gather that he made full satisfaction to the Cassinese and restored his former love toward them. To this amendment there perhaps profited him not a little the punishment divinely inflicted after the violence he had done, of which Peter the Deacon writes thus: But not for long, after the office was interdicted in our church, did the right hand of God defer vengeance. For the prince, the author of so great a crime, after he had received the money, lost his sight. Such a scourge of a compassionate God could indeed recall to his senses a prince who had fallen perhaps more through levity and the ungovernableness of some indignation than through malice.

[94] Other donations of princely men In the year 1080 Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia and Calabria, most well known in history for his deeds, gave to Bl. Abbot Desiderius the monastery of St. Peter of Taranto, a city lately taken, as the Acts have it, number 91. The instrument of the donation, by which certain other things too are given to the Cassinese, Gattula recites in the Accessions, pages 183 and 184, and there it is marked with these notes: In the year from the Incarnation … one thousand and eighty, in the month of June, in the third indiction. To the same year must be assigned the diploma of Jordan, prince of Capua, just recorded, by which all the donations, both of Jordan himself and of his father Richard, are confirmed to the Cassinese. It has indeed chronological notes not rightly consonant with one another, as it is published in the work already praised, page 184 and following; since it is marked as given on the thirteenth of the Kalends of October, in the year from the Incarnation one thousand and eighty, in the third indiction. For in the month of September of the year 1080 the fourth indiction had begun, just as in the month of September the fifth indiction is marked in the following diploma of the year 1081, and the sixth in the third of the year 1082, although those three are of the same prince and written by the same notary. The years too of Richard's principate in this instrument do not agree with the years of the principate in the following instruments, as will be plain to one who considers. And so these things must be imputed to the unskilfulness of the notary or to the carelessness of the transcribers or printers. Nevertheless I can scarcely doubt that the said diploma of Jordan was given in the year 1080, because Peter the Deacon, book 3, chapter 47, says that two years after these things (that is, after this diploma) the donation of the monastery of St. Rufus was made by Jordan, which is clearly fixed in the year 1082 and in the month of September. And this diploma of confirmation the said Peter records before, in these words: In the same year (not that in which the church of Monte Cassino was violated, as de Nuce wrongly explains; but that in which Gregory had celebrated his seventh Roman council, of which he was last treating, that is, the year 1080) Prince Jordan, whom we have recorded above, after the manner of the earlier princes made a general rescript for this monastery concerning all its bounds and appurtenances. By which rescript he also more particularly confirmed to that same monastery all the things which both his father and he himself had granted to this monastery, or exchanged, or restored. The enumeration of all of them may be seen there.

[95] In the same year 1080, in the month of October, Robert Guiscard gave the monastery of St. Nicander, in the year 1080 concerning which see the Acts, number 91, together with the two churches of St. Nicholas and St. Thomas, as may be seen more fully in the diploma in Gattula's History, page 276, where it is rightly signed in the year one thousand and eighty, in the month of October, in the fourth indiction. On the third day of November followed the donation of Oderisius, of which Peter the Deacon, book 3, chapter 61, has it thus: Moreover Oderisius, son of Lando, coming to this place from Babucum, most devoutly offered to this monastery the church of St. Mary situated below that same castle, and another church of St. Mary in the said castle, and that of St. Paul, and that of the holy Archangel in Mozzanum, and that of St. Quinzianus []. The instrument of the donation is found in Gattula's History, page 816, where it is read as given in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and eighty, and in the eighth year of Gregory VII, in the third indiction, on the third day of the month of November. The fourth indiction indeed ought to have been noted; but since the remaining chronological notes agree upon the year 1080, this must be imputed to the carelessness of the notary or of the transcribers. The town of Babucum, in which the donation was made, Leandro Alberti records as in Latium, and calls it a city. In the same month came the donation of Sanso, of whom Peter the Deacon writes this in chapter 44: Likewise Sanso, son of Albert, of the county of Penne, made a charter to this monastery of the whole portion of his inheritance, that is, of the half of the castle which is called Planellum, with the church of St. Stephen there, and of the half of Pasinianum, with land of a thousand modii by measure. The diploma of the donation Gattula recites in the Accessions*, page 182, in which all things are set forth more fully. It is read as given in the year one thousand and eighty, and on the day of the month of November, through the first indiction. Again the indiction is at fault, which was then the fourth. But an unskilful notary, who did not know the Latin tongue, could more easily commit this error than err in the years of the Christian era.

[96] In the year 1081 Jordan, prince of Capua, again showed himself a benefactor to our abbot Desiderius, and in the following years. and gave him, for the monastery, three parts of the greater lake of Aquino, which had been made over to his treasury on account of the enmities between the counts of Aquino and the prince, as is read in the instrument in Gattula's Accessions, page 187. It is there marked in the year one thousand and eighty-one, and on the sixteenth of the Kalends of October, and finally through the fifth indiction. All of which agree rightly. In the year 1082, or more probably 1083, the counts of Aquino themselves gave the aforesaid lake to Abbot Desiderius by a written diploma, which is subjoined in the said work, page 188. This diploma is read as given, In the year from the Incarnation one thousand and eighty-two, in the sixth indiction, in the month of February, in the twenty-fifth year of the principate of the lord Jordan, glorious prince. All the chronological notes imply the year 1083, provided we except the year of the Incarnation, so that it is probable that this was marked after the manner then in use in many places, by which the year 1082 ran until the Easter of the year 1083. Wherefore before this donation there seems to have been made the other donation of the said prince Jordan, giving to the Cassinese the church of St. Rufus of the city of Capua. Certainly the diploma of this, on page 189, was given on the eighth of the Kalends of October, in the year from the Incarnation one thousand and eighty-two, written at Capua through the sixth indiction, and in the twenty-fifth year of the principate of Jordan. For all these agree upon the year 1082 and the month of September.

[97] made to Desiderius. Of the aforesaid donations Peter the Deacon writes thus in chapter 47: Two years after these things (that is, after all the donations were confirmed) there was offered to this monastery by the same prince (Jordan) the church of St. Rufus within the city of Capua, which had long since been granted to him and confirmed by oaths by those to whom it had belonged by hereditary right according to the custom of the country, with its men-servants and maid-servants and tenants, and also with its books and ornaments, and absolutely all its appurtenances both without and within, a penalty of a thousand pounds of gold being set for those who should attempt to violate this. In those days too Count Adenulf together with his brothers made their offering in this place of the greater lake which is beside the city of Aquino, with all the appurtenances of that same place, over and above that offering which Prince Jordan had made a year before. Doubtless the prince had in the month of September of the year 1081 offered three parts of the lake taken away from the counts; but the counts, who were four brothers, Adenulf, Landulf, Pandulf and Lando, after a year and nearly five months, that is in the month of February of the year 1083, gave the whole lake, after they had probably renewed their friendship with the prince.

*. the same.

*. Quintianus.

§ VIII. The deeds of Desiderius toward reconciling Robert Guiscard and the other Norman princes with St. Gregory VII: his dealings with Henry, king of Germany: the remaining matters before his pontificate.

[ ] [The Blessed, peace between the Normans and the prince of Salerno having been attempted in vain,] How much in favour the blessed abbot Desiderius was with all the neighbouring princes is in any case clear from so many donations which we have seen made to him for the monastery of Monte Cassino down to the year 1083. But how great a lover of peace he was, and how much that favour, in which he was wonderfully strong with the princes, profited the Apostolic See, is now to be set forth. That part of Italy which constitutes the present kingdom of Naples had at that time many princes. But among all of them the Normans by far stood out, namely Robert Guiscard, to whom Pope Nicholas II had long since confirmed the duchy of Apulia and Calabria, and his brother Richard, whom the same Pontiff had likewise confirmed as prince of Capua. But those princes, being warlike rather than religious, not only invaded the cities of the Greeks and Saracens, but also assailed the Lombard princes in war, and from time to time tried to seize the cities subject to the Roman Church. For this cause the Roman Pontiffs on various occasions separated them from their communion. Peter the Deacon, book 3, chapter 45, narrates various things about the advances of Robert Guiscard against the Saracens in Sicily and against the Greeks in Apulia. And after relating the storming of Palermo in Sicily, he adds this to our purpose: The duke therefore, perceiving that such things had turned out to his wish, having gathered a very great army, arranges to pitch camp against Salerno (subject to the Lombard prince Gisulf). When the aforesaid Pope Gregory had learned this, he admonished Prince Gisulf, through father Desiderius, to sue for peace with the duke: to which he would not even return an answer. But the duke, gathering his army, fixed his tents around Salerno. And on the other side prince Richard, coming up at the duke's request, began most vehemently to assault it with divers engines of war. Hearing this, Desiderius went to Prince Richard and begged him to come with him to Gisulf. And when they had come thither, after many words spent in vain [*], Gisulf spurns their counsel, and affirms with an oath that he will on no terms make a league with the duke. And so Salerno is taken, and Gisulf loses his principate, never to be recovered, although he retained the title of prince of Salerno.

[99] After relating the storming of Salerno, the said author goes on thus: He happily reconciles Robert Guiscard with Gregory VII: Thence the duke with his army, the prince having joined himself to him, came to this monastery (of Monte Cassino), and being honourably received by Desiderius and the Brethren, and commending himself to their prayers, entered Campania with intent to subdue it. When such things had come to the ears of Pope Gregory, he cut off the duke and the prince from the thresholds, and having collected an army, arranged to march against them. When this was announced to the duke, hastily returning with the prince to Capua, the duke laid siege to Benevento, the prince to Naples. In this siege Richard, prince of Capua, in the year 1078, to which his death is everywhere bound, was absolved from excommunication and died, and Jordan his son succeeded him, says the said Peter. Further, the death of Richard profited

Bl. Desiderius, so that he might procure the desired peace between the Norman princes and St. Gregory VII. For first Prince Jordan, son of Richard, favouring Pope Gregory, not only abstained from any further assault upon Naples, but even set himself against Duke Robert, so that war was now arising between them. Meanwhile father Desiderius, hearing this, went to the duke and begged him to return to peace. Robert, obeying his admonitions, makes peace with the prince. And after some places of less moment had been stormed by the duke, Peter again subjoins this: Desiderius moreover, taking it ill that the duke should remain long an exile from the bosom of mother Church, went to Rome and began to beg Pope Gregory to loose the duke from the bond of anathema by which he had bound him. Having obtained this, Desiderius, the lover and preserver of peace, having set out with the Cardinals to the duke, loosed him from the bond of excommunication. From these things it is gathered that it was by the work of Bl. Desiderius that the peace between Pope Gregory and Duke Robert, which was useful and necessary to the Church, was firmly and stably composed.

[100] this peace made in the year 1078. It will be worth while if we investigate the year of so memorable a deed. Baronius binds that peace to the year 1080, where he reports its conditions in number 35 and following. But Pagi believes that Robert was loosed from excommunication and reconciled to the Church in the year 1077, and tries to show this at length at the year 1074, and again at the year 1077. But both opinions seem liable to error, and the peace is to be bound to the year 1078. For, first, that peace came together after the death of Richard, prince of Capua, which happened in the year 1078, not far advanced, as can easily be gathered from the diplomas of himself and of his son Jordan. Secondly, the peace was made after the raising of the siege of Benevento, as is clear from what has been said. But Benevento was still besieged about the beginning of March in the year 1078. For Gregory VII, in the fourth Roman council, which was held in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand and seventy-eight, … in the fifth year of Pope Gregory VII, and on the fifth of the Nones of March, in the first indiction, excommunicates all the Normans who labour to invade the land of St. Peter, … and those who besiege Benevento, etc., as may be seen more fully in Labbe, volume 10 of the Councils, column 370. And so at least the peace was concluded after the beginning of March in the year 1078, and thus Pagi's opinion, fixing it in the year 1077, is abundantly refuted. Against Baronius' opinion there fight not only Pagi's arguments, by which it is shown that the said peace cannot be deferred so long, since various writers narrate it immediately after the deeds of the year 1077, but also Peter the Deacon hints that it was made not long after the raising of the siege of Benevento, and not much longer after the death of Richard, prince of Capua. And he was certainly dead before the Kalends of June of the year 1078: for on that day the Pontiff was at Capua, as we saw in number 91; and he would not have come to Capua while Richard was living under excommunication. Nay, Richard seems already to have been dead when on the 3rd of March of that same year Gregory was holding the council mentioned above. For he seems as likely to have excommunicated those besieging Naples with Richard as those besieging Benevento. I therefore add no more, especially since Baronius' opinion rests upon no foundations. For a view of the conditions of the said peace, which belong less to the deeds of Bl. Desiderius, I refer the studious reader to the passage of Baronius praised above, where the oath of fidelity made by Robert to the Pontiff is marked on the third of the Kalends of July; but the year is not added.

[101] The Blessed goes to King Henry, The dealings of Bl. Desiderius with King Henry, which we give in the Acts, chapter 8, must be fixed in the year 1083. For the blessed Abbot was summoned by Henry after the latter had in part occupied Rome, as is gathered from the order of narration which Peter the Deacon observes. For before those things which we give from him in the Acts, he has in chapter 50, concerning the part of the City beyond the Tiber taken by Henry, in which is the Vatican basilica of St. Peter, this: Meanwhile the emperor Henry, in another year gathering an army, came to Rome, and took by force the portico of St. Peter, and destroyed it for the greater part, and set up the archbishop of Ravenna as invader of the Apostolic See without the counsel and will of the whole Roman Church. These things were done in the year 1083, as the writers agree, and as is narrated in other words in the pontifical Acts collected from the Chronicle of Bertold, and given with us in volume 6 of May, where, after two expeditions of Henry against Rome have been related, the author has this of the third: In the year 1083 Henry again, with a multitude of schismatics or excommunicates, before Pentecost advances to attack Rome: and so he enthroned Guibert of Ravenna, perjured, deposed and anathematized, at St. Peter's; not by the bishops of Ostia and Albano and Porto, who have this privilege, that they also consecrate the Pope, but by the bishops of Modena and Rimini, etc. All these things Baronius fixes to the year 1083, as also the dealings between Henry and Abbot Desiderius.

[102] How vigorously and steadfastly abbot Desiderius defended St. Gregory before Henry, and vigorously champions the cause of Gregory VII. the Acts sufficiently declare. But I should believe that Desiderius did even more for Gregory than is read there. Certainly Gregory, as soon as he had learned in the year 1081 that King Henry meant to come to Rome with an army about Pentecost, warned Desiderius of the matter, and exhorts him to keep faith with him in these words: But thou thyself, beloved brother, knowest that if the love of justice and of the honour of the holy Church did not hold us, and if we were willing to favour the so depraved will and wickedness of the king and his men, none of our predecessors could ever have had from former kings or even archbishops so ample and devoted service as we from this king and from the archbishop. But since we count their threats and savagery as nothing, we shall rather, if it be necessary, be ready to undergo death than to give assent to their impieties or to abandon justice. Wherefore we ask and admonish that, as befits thee, thou cleave to us, so that the honour of thy holy mother the Roman Church, which greatly trusts in thee, may now and always keep its strength. He adds that he has certainly learned that Henry is taking pains to draw Duke Robert Guiscard to his party by a marriage of his son with Robert's daughter; But, he says, let thy prudence watch carefully, and by diligent examination learn what has been done in this matter. And do thou thyself hasten to us as quickly as possible. From these words it is probable that Desiderius laboured that Robert Guiscard, to whom he was acceptable, might remain faithful to Gregory, as in fact he did remain.

[103] The things related in the Acts, number 86, concerning the taking of the City, In the year 1084 Henry takes the City, concerning the Pontiff besieged in the castle of Sant' Angelo, and concerning the same freed by Robert Guiscard and brought to Monte Cassino, are all to be connected with the year 1084. This chronology we have clearly from the pontifical Acts of Gregory VII, which were compiled from the Chronicle of Bertold of Constance, and given with us in volume 6 of May, in which on page 147, number 17, this is read: In the year 1084 Henry wintered in the territories of the Romans, and there awaited his Guibert of Ravenna who was to come to Rome… At this time the Emperor of Constantinople (Alexius Comnenus, with whom Robert Guiscard was waging war in Illyricum) sent a very great sum of money to Henry, formerly king, that he might assail in war Robert Guiscard, duke of Calabria and Apulia, a sworn soldier of the lord Pope, in vengeance for that same king… But Henry spent the money he had received … in conciliating to himself the common people of Rome: by whose help he entered the Lateran palace on the Thursday before Palm Sunday (that is, the 21st of March) with his Guibert of Ravenna. But the nobles of Rome, save very few, held with the lord Pope Gregory, and gave him forty hostages as well. And the Pope withdrew into the castle of Sant' Angelo, and held in his own power all the bridges of the Tiber and the stronger fortifications of the Romans. Henry, therefore, was in the City, but did not altogether prevail there. Meanwhile at the feast of Easter he wished to be crowned by the antipope Guibert, as follows in the Acts. Nor did he omit anything by which to try to claim the City for himself and to storm the castle of Sant' Angelo; but he had not forces sufficient to accomplish this in a short time, and Robert Guiscard did not allow him to tarry long at Rome.

[104] For in the same year, as the said Acts have it in number 18, but is compelled by Robert Guiscard to flee: and Pope Gregory Robert Guiscard, duke of the Normans, in the service of St. Peter, after the Kalends of May invaded Rome with an armed band, and having put Henry to flight, utterly despoiled the whole City, rebellious against Pope Gregory, and consumed the greater part of it with fire, because the Romans had wounded a certain soldier of his. Then, having received hostages from the Romans and kept them in the castle of Sant' Angelo, which they call the house of Theodoric, he himself, meaning to return to recover the land of St. Peter, in a short time recovered very many castles and cities for the lord Pope. But Henry, unable to withstand Robert, returns quite hastily to the parts of the Germans… And the lord Pope, having gathered a synod, again promulgated the sentence of anathema against Guibert the heresiarch and Henry and all their abettors: which he had also done long before at Rome on the past feast of St. John the Baptist, while Henry was still tarrying there. In the pontifical Acts of Cencius the Chamberlain, number 14, Henry is said to have fled one day before Robert came to Rome. In the third pontifical Acts, number 15, we read of Henry: To whom a messenger came, saying that if he did not rise from the siege, he would be driven out by Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia. Having received which message, he bade farewell to his Romans. About the fire thrown into the City by Robert all the Acts agree; but the second and third have it that that conflagration was in those parts of the City about the Lateran and the Colosseum, which even now have very few houses.

[105] is brought back to the Lateran palace, But what Peter the Deacon has in the Acts about Robert, as though, when Rome had been taken and Gregory freed from the castle of Sant' Angelo, he had presently gone out of the City with that same Pontiff, is refuted by all the pontifical Acts. The words adduced just now from the first imply that a council was celebrated by Gregory before he departed from the City. Cencius the Chamberlain in the second Acts, number 14, has it thus: These things therefore being thus accomplished, the duke returned to his own, and left his father Gregory the Pontiff, sitting in the Lateran palace with his brethren the bishops and cardinals, in peace, handling the affairs of the Church which arose from divers parts of the world, as the duty of his office required. And in number 16: This thrice and four times truly blessed Pontiff, after a long stay in the City, went down into Apulia, and, the aforesaid

duke Robert Guiscard meeting him, gloriously entered the famous city of Salerno. The two writers praised, both contemporaries, agree about the notable stay which Gregory made at Rome after Henry's flight; but the former asserts that the Pontifical castles were meanwhile recovered by Robert; the latter says that Robert returned to his own. Both could have happened: for Robert could have left his captains and soldiers for the storming of the castles and cities, and meanwhile have set out into Apulia, meaning to return shortly. The third and less ancient Acts, number 16, have: Thereupon he (Robert) went to the castle of Sant' Angelo, drew the lord Pope out of it, and led him with him to the Lateran. And after other things, in number 17: But the duke of Apulia, leading the lord Pope with him, left him at Salerno.

[106] From these things it is most probable that St. Gregory remained at Rome for at least some weeks, and thence goes first to Monte Cassino, then to Salerno. and perhaps a month or two, after Henry was put to flight in the month of May. In the Life of St. Anselm of Lucca, indeed, given with us at the 18th of March, a shorter stay is hinted at in number 18, when the author says of Robert: Before whose coming Henry, leaving the City, fled; which the duke confidently stormed in one day with an armed band, and brought back the lord Pope from the straitness of the tower into the breadth of the sacred Lateran palace with great triumph and glory. And so, some days having been spent there, they proceeded together to Salerno, etc. But we do not know how great a space of time that author meant to designate by some days, and we justly doubt whether he inquired exactly how long Gregory stayed in the Lateran palace. Wherefore more credit is to be given to the writers praised before, who assert a longer stay, especially since from the Chronicle of Bari, praised in Pagi at the year 1085, number 9, it is established that Robert only in the month of October crossed the sea to continue his expedition against the Greek emperor with his son, so that nothing hinders his having been able to fight for Gregory up to the month of July. Further, that Gregory was brought by Robert to Monte Cassino, none of the praised authors has except our own in the Acts. Nevertheless the matter does not on that account seem liable to doubt, since they had to go to Salerno, and could scarcely go to Salerno by a shorter way than through Monte Cassino. And so from Rome they set out for Monte Cassino, and thence for Salerno.

[107] In the year 1084, in which we are engaged, the possessions of the monastery of Monte Cassino again grew by the liberality of the pious. Donations in the year 1084 The first donation of this year which I find Peter the Deacon records, book 3, chapter 56, in these words: But in the following time Theodinus, son of Maynerius of Trivento, offered to this place the monastery of the holy Saviour, which is situated near the river Tresta, together with the castle which belongs to that same monastery, by name Pesclatura, and two other churches, that is, St. Mary of Colle Rotondo, and St. Paul of Petra Corvina, with all the movables and immovables of those same churches. The letters of this donation Gattula published in the Accessions, page 190, where they are signed in the year one thousand and eighty-four, … in the month of April, in the seventh indiction. The monastery is there said to be situated in the territory of Trivento, near the river Tresta. And the city Triventinum, now more often called Trivento, is in Samnium, or in the present county of Molise, on the river Trigno, as Baudrand has it. Another donation Gattula refers to this year in his History, page 238, where Count Henry gives to the Cassinese a certain church of St. Peter in the territory of the city of Lucera. This is otherwise called Nuceria of the Saracens. The donation is marked in the month of November, in the fifth indiction, and in the fourth year of the emperor Alexius, without the year of the Christian era. This year 1084 is implied by the fourth year of Alexius Comnenus; but the indiction agrees with the year 1081. Whether the said instrument seems sufficiently authentic those whom it concerns will be able to examine. In the Cassinese Chronicle I find nothing about that donation.

[108] Another in the same place the aforesaid Peter the Deacon relates, and in the following years to the monastery writing thus: Transmund also, count of Chieti, likewise offered to this monastery three castles of his right in the county of Penne, of which one is called Arseta, the second Bacucca, the third is named Bisenti, with land besides of ten thousand and more modii. This donation is set forth more fully in Transmund's diploma, published in Gattula's Accessions, page 191, where it is said to be given in the year one thousand and eighty-five, and on the day in the month of October through the eighth indiction. If the unskilful notary noted the indiction rightly, and meant to begin the new year with the new indiction, as some did, the donation was made in the year 1084; but if he erred in the indiction, it must be referred to the year 1085. There follow in Gattula, in the said work, pages 191 and 192, two donations of Jordan, prince of Capua, both of which he refers to the year 1085. But since each is marked in the ninth indiction, and each in the twenty-eighth year of Jordan's principate, I judge rather that the one which is there set first, and is read as made on the eighth of the Kalends of March, is the later, and belongs to the year 1086. For the ninth indiction cannot begin before the Kalends of September of the year 1085. And so a diploma given in the year 1085, in the month of February, was certainly not given in the ninth indiction. There is added the twenty-eighth year of the principate, which does not seem yet to have begun in the month of February of the year 1085, since Jordan obtained the principate with his father in the year 1058, but after the month of February, so far as I have been able to gather from his various diplomas. Whatever be the case, the second diploma was certainly given in the year 1085, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of December; but the other on the eighth of the Kalends of March, and in the year 1085, but perhaps carried on to Easter, and so with us it will be the year 1086. The donations may be seen in the diplomas themselves. Of these too and of others of the same prince mention is made in the Cassinese Chronicle, book 3, chapter 61.

[109] of Monte Cassino. To put an end to these numerous donations, I finally add the donation of Sikelgaita, widow of Robert Guiscard, of which the Acts treat in number 91. She gave the town of Cetraro, granted to her as a dowry. The diploma of the donation in the said Gattula is read as given in the year one thousand and eighty-six, in the ninth indiction. Thus much of the very great and very many donations which fell to Bl. Desiderius, for the monastery of Monte Cassino, by the liberality of Catholic princes. From them we can in some measure gather how highly the illustrious men and princes who held their dominions in the provinces neighbouring the monastery of Monte Cassino esteemed that excellent Abbot, and with how great love and veneration they followed both Desiderius himself and the monastery of Monte Cassino. But how great the esteem of abbot Desiderius was with St. Gregory VII, and with the Cardinals of the Roman Church, will appear more from those things concerning his election to the supreme pontificate which I now set about illustrating, omitting some donations and transactions which belong less to our purpose, and which may be seen in the Cassinese Chronicle.

*. had.

§ IX. The death of Pope Gregory VII, in whose place Desiderius, long resisting, is substituted, taking the name of Victor III: his deeds in the pontificate, and his blessed death.

[ ] Gregory VII, having died in the year 1085, before all others The time of the blessed death of St. Gregory VII, Pope, is assigned in the Acts, number 94, with chronological notes so clear and mutually consonant that there can be no doubt that he died in the year 1085, on the 25th day of May, which was a Sunday, as is clear from the Dominical letter E. Paul of Bernried agrees about the day, when in the Life of Gregory, given with us at the 25th of May, number 102, he writes that Gregory died on the festivity of Urban his predecessor. For St. Urban I, Pope, is honoured on the 25th of May. The pontifical Acts, given in the same place from Bertold, in number 19 clearly assign the same time in these words: At length, taken from this light in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1085, in the eighth indiction, on the eighth of the Kalends of June, he is not doubted to have received the βραβεῖον of the heavenly calling, being buried at Salerno in the church of St. Matthew, which he himself dedicated in that same year. I pass over others: for the matter is certain and beyond doubt, so that it must be believed that it happened either through a lapse of memory or through the printer's fault that the death of Gregory VII is read in Baronius' Annals at this year as fixed on the twenty-fourth of the month of May. For in the Roman Martyrology too the memory of St. Gregory is ascribed to the 25th of May. Further, that our Desiderius was commended by Gregory to the pontificate above the rest, not only the Acts have, but also the Life of Gregory already praised, in which at number 101 this is read: Moreover, being asked (Gregory VII in his last illness), amid so great a disturbance of the faithful, to designate a successor for himself and an avenger for the church against the aforenamed adulterer (Guibert the antipope), he gave the choice of three, namely of Desiderius, cardinal and abbot of the monastery of Monte Cassino; and of the most reverend bishops, Otto of Ostia and Hugh of Lyons.

[111] But since Otto had not yet returned from the parts of Germany and Gaul, … commended abbot Desiderius to the pontificate: and Hugh too, surveying his own governance, was far away; meanwhile he advised that the near-at-hand Desiderius should be chosen, who, though he would live a very short time, was nevertheless not without a figure of victory to be called Victor. To these three named by Gregory a fourth is added in our Acts, namely St. Anselm, bishop of Lucca, whose Life has been published at the 18th of March. Yet in the Life of St. Anselm I find nothing about his being proposed to the electors by St. Gregory, so that this very thing seems in some degree doubtful. William of Malmesbury, book 3 Of the Deeds of the Kings of the English, page 108, has the following about them: He (Gregory) was asked by the Cardinals to appoint a Pope, they alleging the example of blessed Peter, who while living had set Clement over the beginnings of the infant Church. He refused to follow that example, because it had been forbidden of old by councils; but said he would give counsel. If they wished a man powerful in the world, let them choose Desiderius, abbot of Monte Cassino, who would healthfully and in good time break the violence of Guibert with a body of soldiers; but if an ecclesiastic and eloquent man, let them take Odo, bishop of Ostia. So that writer, more remote in place and time from the events than the others we have praised, so that his account must be held less accurate, whether we regard the number of those whom Gregory proposed, or attend to the reasons for choosing which he added. In the Life of Gregory just praised there follows this to our purpose: The holy Father had foretold to that same Desiderius that he would not be present at his own passing, although he had visited him for that reason in his sickness, and [*] persevered with him to the end, and celebrated the holy obsequies with the rest; and had made him much astonished and sorrowful. And while he was hesitating in wonder what the hindrance would be, suddenly it is announced to him that a blockade of a certain castle subject to his monastery had been made by the Normans; and compelled by the necessity of succouring his own, he received leave to depart: and so, though unwilling, he gave place to the fulfilling of the prophecy. Thus far of the last

deeds and the death of St. Gregory VII, who is also read there to have foretold the victory won by the Catholics over the schismatics in Germany in the time of Victor III, concerning which the Chronicle of Bertold of Constance may be seen at the year 1086.

[112] [But he, struggling vehemently against it, is at length chosen in the year 1086, on the 24th of May,] The time at which abbot Desiderius was substituted as Pontiff in the place of Gregory VII by a lawful election is clearly expressed in the Acts, where, after an almost year-long delay which arose from his own shuffling and refusal, he is at length read to have been chosen, some sort of force having been used, in the year 1086 on the very Sunday of the feast of Pentecost, which in that year fell on the 24th of May. That the sole cause of so great a delay was that Desiderius steadfastly refused the pontificate is plainly gathered from the Acts. A few days after Gregory's death the votes of all who were gathered at Salerno already conspired upon Desiderius, commended by Gregory himself. For Gregory had died on the 25th of May, and already before Pentecost, then celebrated on the 8th day of June, he was asked by all to undertake the pontificate, as the Acts have it in number 95. The number of the electors having been increased, when they were preparing to use force upon him by the help of Jordan, prince of Capua, he fled to Monte Cassino. After the heat of summer, namely in the month of September or October, the said prince had gathered an army in order to bring Desiderius and all the electors to Rome; but Desiderius was unwilling to go to Rome, because he suspected that force would be used upon him, and so the journey was given up. At last, after the Easter of the year 1086, Desiderius determined to set out with the others for Rome, whither many bishops and cardinals from other parts had come together, perhaps then fearing less that force would be used upon him, since the number of the electors would be far greater; and perhaps also because Jordan, prince of Capua, and Rainulf the Norman, count of Aversa, who had both been unwilling to swear that no force should be used upon Desiderius, would not accompany him. For Gisulf, prince of Salerno, who had some years before lost Salerno, stormed by Robert Guiscard, more probably had need of the friendship of the Abbot of Monte Cassino than had cause to be feared by him. Lastly, the extreme necessity of electing a Pontiff could work upon Desiderius so that he should set his fear, whatever it was, below the good of the Church. And so at last, on the 24th day of May, Desiderius was elected and named Victor III, yet not consecrated in the same year, because he was unwilling to assent, or, if he had in some fashion assented, wished to lay down the pontificate.

[113] In the year 1087, on Palm Sunday, that is the 21st day of March, Victor III, moved by the many prayers of princely men and of bishops and cardinals, resumed the insignia of the Pontifical dignity in the assembly at Capua, [he accepts the election in the year 1087, on the 21st of March, and is consecrated on the 9th of May.] and determined to exercise the office of supreme Pastor, as the Acts have it, number 101. And so, after the Paschal festivity had been celebrated at Monte Cassino, he proceeded to the City, the prince of Capua escorting him with a body of soldiers. But since the antipope Guibert held the City, and Victor was unwilling to assault it, he crossed the Tiber with his men near Ostia, in order to occupy the Leonine city and the basilica of St. Peter in it, which was enough for his purpose. And when the followers of Guibert had been driven from the basilica of St. Peter, or rather from the portico which they had fortified, Victor III was consecrated on the Sunday after the Lord's Ascension, that is the 9th of May, nearly two years after the death of Gregory VII, and a full year, fifteen days excepted, after his own election. So great a delay of Victor in accepting the supreme dignity brightly shows how far he was from courting it. And the judgment of Gregory VII, who knew Victor most thoroughly, and with which the judgment of all the rest was so steadfastly in accord, that they persevered no less in offering him the dignity than he did in rejecting it, abundantly proves that Victor was most worthy of the supreme pontificate. Yet even so Hugh, bishop of Lyons, who grieved that his own hope had been baffled, burst out into grave slanders against the holy Man, and about this time wrote to the countess Matilda a Letter stuffed with calumnies. Those calumnies would have to be refuted in this place, had it not been done already in §2 of this Commentary. Wherefore I here only add that the countess Matilda by no means believed the calumniating Hugh, as is gathered from the Acts to be published below, number 103. For if she had believed Victor unworthy of the pontificate, she would not have flown at once with an army to Rome to see and help him.

[114] Further, Victor, having at length undertaken the pontificate, presently showed himself a vigorous successor of Gregory VII. The Blessed writes to the princes: he promotes the expedition For Bertold of Constance, at the year 1087, after relating the ordination, as he calls it, of Victor — but perhaps he implies Victor's final election, or rather his acceptance — goes on thus: Who at once after his election, having sent letters everywhere, declared that he would proceed according to the decrees of the holy fathers. He also confirmed the judgment of his predecessor of pious memory, Pope Gregory, upon Henry and all his abettors. And he was consecrated at the end of the month of May (nay, on the 9th day of May) at St. Peter's, by the Cardinal bishops, Otto of Ostia and Peter of Albano, with the remaining Cardinals. These last words about the consecration in some measure imply that Bertold had before spoken of the election; and so the said letters of Victor will have been drawn up already before the consecration. About the same time — whether after Victor accepted the election, or after his consecration, or even in the month of June, when Victor was staying at Rome with the most illustrious countess Matilda — is to be fixed his effort to unite the princes and peoples of Italy against the Saracens ruling in Africa, of which the Acts treat in number 108, where the great victory over them there related is so attributed to Victor as if he himself had gathered the army, and as if the very great slaughter had been inflicted on the African Saracens while he was still living. But, having considered other writers also, I judge that Victor was leader of this expedition almost only in that manner in which his successor Urban II promoted the expedition of the crusaders into the Holy Land, namely by exhorting and animating the peoples to undertake that expedition.

[115] of the Christians against the African Saracens: The lately praised Bertold has the following at the year 1088: At this time the Pisans and Genoese, and many others from Italy, invaded in hostile fashion the pagan king of Africa, and having plundered his land, drove him into a certain stronghold, and thereafter made him tributary to the Apostolic See. This very thing, that they made that king tributary to the Apostolic See, sufficiently implies that the Pontiff had some part in that expedition. Yet I should not wish to infer from it that the Pontiff's soldiers, or even the abbot of Monte Cassino's, were present at the expedition, since Victor needed all his forces in order to be able to defend himself in any way against Guibert. Francesco Maria Fiorentini, in his Italian work on the Life of the Countess Matilda, book 2, page 238, praises the words of a most ancient Martyrology of Lucca, in which at the year 1089 this is found: The Pisans and Genoese made a fleet [] into Africa, and took two most strongly fortified cities, Almadia and Sibilia, on the day of St. Sixtus (the 6th of August), in which war Hugh the viscount, son of Hugh the viscount, died. From which cities, almost all the Saracens having been slain, they carried off a very great booty of gold and silver, of robes and ornaments. From which booty they wonderfully enlarged the church of Pisa with divers ornaments, and built the church of Bl. Sixtus in Corte Vecchia. These things are in no way repugnant to what precedes, not even as to time. For the expedition could have been undertaken in the year 1087, Victor III exhorting, and the war in Africa begun in the same or the following year, and continued in the year 1089, in which the two cities are said to have been seized. The anonymous writer of Monte Cassino in his Chronicle, at the year 1086, after relating the ordination of Victor III, then has this: The Pisans, contending in Africa, conquered the Saracens. It is indeed marked in Muratori, volume 5 of the Writers of Italy*, page 58, at the year 1086; but all that that anonymous writer has at that year belongs to the following year 1087. From what has been said it is abundantly clear that the Pisans, with the Genoese, were the chief agents in that expedition; but that Victor was the exhorter, and so gave an example to the expeditions of the crusaders into the Holy Land, which followed after some years under Urban II.

[116] he holds a council at Benevento: Further, Victor, the month of June having been spent at Rome, and perhaps some part of July, returned to Monte Cassino, and consecrated the church of St. Nicholas in Pica. Then he set out for Benevento in the month of August, and there celebrated a council. In this the sentence of excommunication was repeated against the antipope Guibert and his schismatic abettors; and besides other decrees, Hugh, archbishop of Lyons, and Richard, abbot of Marseilles, are separated from the communion of the Church, because they had by their machinations against Victor separated themselves from the communion of the Church. Hugh of Lyons, indeed, in his second Letter to Matilda, denies that he had departed from the unity and communion of the Church. But in the first Letter he sufficiently confesses that at the time when Victor himself ratified his election, he had never been willing to consent, and had persisted in that mind up to the time at which he was writing to Matilda. For he complains of Otto, bishop of Ostia, whom, probably falsely, he says conspired with him at the council of Capua against Victor, because he showed obedience to him. I transfer some words hither: Forgetful, he says, of his purpose and of the promise made to us — which it is shameful to say — making peace with the abbot (that is, with Pope Victor), he paid him reverence in all things as to a Pope. Thus Hugh, indignant, concerning Otto of Ostia, whom he accuses of having paid reverence to Victor as to a Pope. He could not therefore afterwards with justice deny that he had been unwilling to render reverence and obedience to Victor as to a Pope; unless he had been willing to confess that he had done what he blamed Otto for doing. There is added that whole Letter, full of calumnies against Victor, which it is probable Hugh wrote with this mind, that he might draw Matilda to his own party, in order to cast Victor down from the pontificate. But Hugh tried Matilda in vain: nay, it scarcely seems to be doubted that that illustrious princess communicated the letter to Victor, so that he might the more beware of Hugh's machinations. As for Otto of Ostia, whom in the said Letter Hugh sets forth as having formerly agreed with him and been opposed to Victor, I should not easily believe that Otto agreed with Hugh otherwise than as to electing another Pontiff, if Victor had steadfastly persevered in refusing the pontificate. This could not justly be blamed; but Hugh went further, and not only denied obedience to Victor after his repeated election and Victor's acceptance of it, but even wished to bring persecutions upon him. And so he is rightly said to have separated himself from the communion of the Church: yet he came to himself under the pontificate of Urban II, and being reconciled with him, afterwards did many excellent things, as may be seen in the eulogy woven for him in Christian Gaul, volume 4, among the prelates of Lyons, column 97 and following.

[117] Probably in the same month of August, when

Bl. Victor had been seized in that same council, sick, he returns to Monte Cassino, where he sees to the election of an abbot: which was continued only three days, by a grave illness, he returned from Benevento to Monte Cassino, as the Acts have it, number 114. When he had come to Monte Cassino, he first made certain decrees for the benefit of the monastery of Monte Cassino. Then he saw to it that his successor as abbot should be elected by the monks, and confirmed the elected Oderisius, cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, who was provost of the monastery, by his own vote, and marked him with the abbatial ornaments. After this, on another day again, he called together the cardinals and bishops, and admonished and charged them, as Peter the Deacon says in number 115, to elect Otto of Ostia supreme Pontiff. Bl. Victor did this after the mind of St. Gregory VII. For of the three or four whom he had pronounced worthy of the pontificate above the rest, Otto of Ostia alone then remained worthy. For St. Anselm of Lucca was dead, whom some reckon among those named by Gregory. Victor, chosen by Gregory's counsel, was drawing near to death. Hugh of Lyons indeed was living; but by desiring that supreme dignity too much, and by attacking Victor with calumnies unworthy of a bishop, he had rendered himself utterly unworthy of the pontificate. There remained therefore only the bishop of Ostia of those named by Gregory, from whom Victor was unwilling to depart.

[118] Further, Victor is read to have spoken as though he had wished to abdicate the pontificate, he commends the election of his successor, so that a successor might be chosen while he was still living. Yet the word charged is not to be understood so strictly that Victor must be judged to have wished to take away the electors' liberty. For which cause it is equally doubtful whether we must cling so closely to the words of Peter the Deacon that it should seem it must be said that Victor wished the election of a successor to be made before his death. Nay, the words themselves do not imply this so clearly that I should believe the matter sufficiently certain, even if it were certainly established that Victor's words were reported most exactly. He is indeed said to have taken Otto by the hand and presented him to the other bishops, speaking thus: Receive him, and ordain him to the Roman Church, and hold him in my stead in all things, until you can do this. But I do not judge that these words must necessarily be understood of an abdication of the pontificate, as de Nuce understood them, commenting thus upon them: By which words he grants them the power of substituting a new Pontiff before he had breathed out his last breath, and abdicates the pontificate for that little space in which he was at the point of death, so that thus the election of his successor might be lawfully celebrated by the clergy, and that he himself might before his death free himself from the fear of an impending schism, etc. This explanation, I say, appears to me less necessary; nay, and less probable. For either he was abdicating at that very time, or he was not. If he was abdicating, he could no longer commit his own stead to others: if Victor was not abdicating, others could not elect before his death. I should therefore prefer to judge that Victor wished the election to be made after his death as quickly as possible; and therefore committed his stead to others, that they might arrange all things for making the election as quickly as possible after his death.

[119] and he dies on the 16th day of September in the year 1087. After this he ordered a tomb to be prepared for himself, and at last after the third day he died in the year 1087, on the 16th day of September. That after the third day some have ill understood and worst explained, as though he had died three days after contracting the illness. For since he was seized with the illness at Benevento, and made many dispositions during the illness itself, it is more probable that he died after almost the third week from contracting the illness than after the third day. The time itself abundantly teaches this. For the three days' council, at which he began to be sick, he held in the month of August, and he died on the 16th of September. Others have believed that Victor died on the third day after Oderisius was elected abbot. But that is altogether uncertain, and I rather believe that he died three days after the order for preparing the tomb. Hence it remains uncertain on what day he saw to the substituting of an abbot in his place, unless the time during which he administered the abbacy be exactly assigned. This is circumscribed in this place as twenty-nine years and four months, to which sixteen days are added. For he properly began the government of the abbacy in the year 1058, on the 19th day of April, as was said in number 55; according to this reckoning, therefore, he laid it down on the fourth day of September: which is not incredible. Nevertheless in the preface, number 1, he is said to have presided twenty-nine years and five months; but that fifth month was certainly not complete, so that it is credible that the author there used a round number, and thus said five months for four months and sixteen days. As to the time of his exercise of the pontificate, this can be reckoned in three ways: from his consecration, which the Acts rightly circumscribe as four months and seven days, namely from the 9th day of May to the 16th of September; or from the election accepted at the council of Capua, which was done in the same year on the 21st day of March, and thus he presided five months and twenty-six days; or lastly from the first election, made in the year 1086 on the 24th day of May, and from that time he presided one year, three months and twenty-three days. But these months and days have been passed over in the Acts as they are published.

[120] The burial of the Blessed and the various translations. Further, from what is said in the course of the Acts about the bodily infirmity of Bl. Victor, and from what is read there about his last illness, it clearly shines out that he did not die a sudden death, nor by poison administered to him, which has already been sufficiently refuted in §2. Of the tomb prepared for himself by Bl. Victor in the apse, as they call it, of the chapter-house, the Acts make mention in number 115. Of his burial Peter the Deacon writes briefly thus in On Illustrious Men, chapter 18: And he was buried in the apse of the chapter-house of Monte Cassino. Of the translations of the body Gattula, in the History of Monte Cassino, sixth century, page 172, records the following: The body of the most holy Pontiff was two centuries ago translated from its old tomb before the chapter-house to the old chapel dedicated to St. Bertharius. Then in the year 1650, when the basilica was being rebuilt, into the sacristy; from which in the year 1666 it was buried with great pomp by Angelo de Nuce, then abbot of Monte Cassino and afterwards archbishop of Rossano, at the right side of the new chapel of St. Bertharius, as is established from the Acts of the notary Francesco Pagliari, a citizen of San Germano. But at last, a great solemnity and pomp having been instituted in the year 1692, Andrea Deodato, then abbot of Monte Cassino, and afterwards himself archbishop of Rossano, again raised the body of St. Victor and buried it under the altar of the chapel dedicated to his name, as is established from the instrument drawn up in that same year on the 19th day of March among the Acts of Giuseppe Ricardi, notary of San Germano, at which two protonotaries and one Apostolic notary were present. To these I add no more; for both the epitaph and the Office of the Blessed have been given in §1, where his cult was treated of.

*. that.

*. that is, a fleet.

VITA

From book III of the Cassinese Chronicle,

by the authors Leo Marsicanus and Peter the Deacon,

from the edition of Angelo de Nuce, reprinted by Muratori.

Victor III, Pope, at Monte Cassino in Italy (Bl.)

BHL Number: 8558

By Leo Marsicanus.

PROLOGUE.

The occasion of writing. Out of many Desiderius, the thirty-seventh abbot of this monastery, and the fourth restorer and renewer of this place, sat twenty-nine years and five months ^a. For the first founder and builder of this monastery was the most holy father Benedict; Petronax the second; the third Aligernus: this our Desiderius stood forth as the fourth ^b. In whom, that is, almighty God in this our time seemed even bodily to fulfil that Evangelical promise in which it is said: Amen I say to you, that everyone who has left ^c house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life. Of this altogether admirable and truly singular Man of his order the matter of his deeds is so rich, so manifold, so finally abundant, that it could not seem unworthy of writing to Jerome himself, were he here, or to Sulpicius. Yet I, though the most unskilled of all ^d, and by no means sufficient for so great a work, yet both for the command of the most holy [*] father ^e Oderisius, by no means to be despised; and for the very great love which that same father Desiderius deigned to have toward me almost from my very infancy; when, scarcely fourteen years past, he most willingly received me in this holy place, instructed, nourished and advanced me.

[2] he professes that he will take only a few things Seeing, moreover, and grieving that, together with the profit of so great a work, the memory too of so great a Man would through the negligence of writers little by little come into oblivion and thereby into contempt; although I cannot elegantly, nor indeed sufficiently, embrace his works in their entirety; yet I shall set about, trusting in the help of God, to touch upon them in some fashion, and to commit them somehow to letters, for the glory of God and for the holy [*] memory of so great a Man, and also for the comfort of his sons, our brethren; judging it altogether fairer to undergo the mark of ignorance along with obedience and devotion, than to be wholly silent about so precious a matter: and deciding that it would be utterly unworthy, if, even though I cannot tell all, I should not take pains to relate at least a certain amount of his so many and so great works; after the most prudent manner, surely, of hunters pursuing wild beasts, who, even if they cannot take all, yet by no means neglect to take as many as they can. And since the works of so great a Man are altogether very many and almost innumerable, I confess that I shall pass over many even of those which I know; since if I had wished to write all, I should certainly have composed a long and unwieldy history: although on this account I do not doubt that I shall be blamed by many of our own, who recall those things together with me: but I, usefully consulting the reader's weariness, judged it enough if only those things were written which were most worthy of relating. For if some things are found less in my writing, they are seen in his works more clearly than the light.

[3] an author of no doubtful trustworthiness. The beginnings of this Man, since, by Christ's help, I am eager to take my start from thence, I learned from those who were his companions from the cradle. Many things besides I received from his own truthful mouth, when he frequently, out of exceeding goodness, made me cleave to him. Some things too I heard from certain elders. As for the rest, finally, I both saw very many of his doings with my own eyes, and was present at almost all of them up to his death. Whence I wish to make my reader most certain that in this little work I shall make no additions from without; that I shall write absolutely nothing about him but what is truthfully ascertained: as one who remembers that I have read in the simple sense: Thou shalt destroy, O Lord, all that speak a lie, saving indeed that other sense by which it is affirmed that this was said of heretics. But if perhaps someone, led by envy or malice, be unwilling to give credence to these things, and rather of favour

think that I have given my labour to this matter for the sake of favour; let him, if it please him, hasten hither and open his eyes and see, and through the things which are seen let him also, laying envy aside, consider, admire and believe those things which cannot be seen; and believing, let him render praise and thanks for this to the Giver of all good things; and so at last let him recognize that I have written few things out of the many of him, and the least out of the greatest.

ANNOTATIONS.

. otherwise, most reverend*.

. otherwise, sweet*.

The ancient division into chapters.

Chapter I. Of the origin, and infancy, and adolescence of Desiderius.

Chap. II. Of his taking of the monastic habit.

Chap. III. Of the violence done to him on account of the habit he had taken.

Chap. IV. Of Desiderius' flight to the monastery of Cava.

Chap. V. Of his return to the monastery of St. Sophia of Benevento.

Chap. VI. Of Desiderius' journey to the monastery of Tremiti, and to the monastery of Majella, and of his return to St. Sophia.

Chap. VII. Of the coming of Alfanus and Desiderius to this monastery.

Chap. VIII. Of Desiderius' vision and his provostship, and of Alfanus' archbishopric.

Chap. IX. Of the election and confirmation of Desiderius by the Pope.

Chap. X. Of Desiderius' reception into the abbacy.

Chap. XI. How he began to renew the monastery and its buildings.

Chap. XII. For what cause Desiderius built the New Castle.

Chap. XIII. Of the ordination of Pope Nicholas, and how by him he was consecrated cardinal and abbot, and how the same Apostolic held a council at Melfi in Apulia, and how St. Mary of Calena was granted to St. Benedict.

Chap. XIV. Of the restitution of St. Benedict's of Salerno, and of the exchange of St. Lawrence's, and how the charters of St. Benedict's of Salerno belonging to us were found, hidden, and cut up through envy of us.

Chap. XV. How by the aforesaid Pope the lord Oderisius was ordained deacon, and at Aquino lord Martin, and at Venafro lord Peter were made bishops.

Chap. XVI. How the same Apostolic confirmed the principate to Richard and the duchy to Robert Guiscard, and how each of them acquired it.

Chap. XVII. How the same prince made a rescript concerning the public square for our monastery situated at Capua.

Chap. XVIII. How he partly granted, partly exchanged, some castles bordering upon us.

Chap. XIX. Of the churches offered by certain persons and of other offerings.

Chap. XX. How many and what ornaments Desiderius then either acquired or made, and of the doors of the church in brief.

Chap. XXI. Of the ordination of Pope Alexander, and the controversy of Cadalus.

Chap. XXII. Of the scourge of thunderbolts and the Abbot's vision concerning it.

Chap. XXIII. How through Bareso, king of Sardinia, he directed twelve monks thither, and how they were hindered by the Pisans. Likewise of the offerings of him and of the other king in Sardinia, and of the satisfaction made by the Pisans.

Chap. XXIV. Likewise of the offerings of him and of the other king in Sardinia, and of the satisfaction made by the Pisans.

Chap. XXV. Of the coming of duke Roffrid to Aquino, and of the entry of the Normans into the March.

Chap. XXVI. How many brethren of this monastery were promoted to honours by the aforesaid Pope, and of the privilege made for us against archbishop Hildebrand.

Chap. XXVII. Of the monastery of Tremiti received and set in order by the aforesaid Abbot.

Chap. XXVIII. How by him the old church was pulled down and a new one built.

Chap. XXIX. How, craftsmen having been fetched from Constantinople, he adorned that same basilica with mosaic and stones, and with glass and paintings.

Chap. XXX. With how great glory he dedicated that same church, and with what relics he adorned it.

Chap. XXXI. Of the throngs of peoples flocking hither for the absolution.

Chap. XXXII. Of queen Agnes and her offerings.

Chap. XXXIII. Of the various ornaments of the church, and how, in order to enlarge the cloister, having destroyed the former workshops, he made them again.

Chap. XXXIV. Of the renewal of the church of St. Martin, and the building of Desiderius' little dwelling, and how he dedicated the churches of St. Bartholomew and of the Towers of Paradise.

Chap. XXXV. Of Alberic, and how being summoned he was present at a synod. Of Alfanus; of Amatus, and Constantine the African.

Chap. XXXVI. Of a demoniac and a certain lame woman cured by Pope Alexander, and of the exchange concerning St. Mary of Palladium, and the grant of the city of Terracina.

Chap. XXXVII. Of the restitution or offering and building of the monastery of St. Angelo ad Formas.

Chap. XXXVIII. Of seven miracles wrought by the merits of blessed Benedict.

Chap. XXXIX. Of certain renunciations and offerings.

Chap. XL. Of certain miracles wrought by the merits of blessed Benedict in Gaul and here.

Chap. XLI. Of the offerings of certain persons.

Chap. XLII. Of the suit raised before the Apostolic concerning the church of St. Sophia and the church of St. Angelo de Formas.

Chap. XLIII. Of the miracles of certain monks of this monastery.

Chap. XLIV. Of the offerings of certain persons.

Chap. XLV. How Robert Guiscard took Sicily, built Salerno and the church of St. Matthew the Apostle, reserving to himself the arm and very many places.

Chap. XLVI. Of money violently carried off, and of the interdict.

Chap. XLVII. Of certain offerings and confirmations.

Chap. XLVIII. Of the miracles of certain monks, and the renewal of St. Liberator's.

Chap. XLIX. Of the cause of the dissension between the emperor Henry and Pope Gregory, and how Robert Guiscard entered Romania.

Chap. L. Of the archbishop of Ravenna, invader of the Apostolic See, and how Desiderius went to the emperor, stayed, and returned.

Chap. LI. Of the death of two monks of this monastery.

Chap. LII. Of the castle of Saracenisco and of Sujo.

Chap. LIII. How Robert Guiscard brought the Apostolic to this place.

Chap. LIV. Of the nocturnal vision of a certain John, and when the Apostolic celebrated Mass.

Chap. LV. Of a certain part of the saving Cross brought hither, and the renewal of St. Benedict's in Capua, and rain asked for.

Chap. LVI. Of the offerings of certain persons, and of Aldemarius, a monk of this monastery.

Chap. LVII. Of the death of Robert Guiscard, and of the arm of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Chap. LVIII. Of the offerings of the same Robert in this monastery.

Chap. LIX. Of certain offerings and exchanges.

Chap. LX. Of certain grants made by Desiderius, and of the offerings of certain persons.

Chap. LXI. Of the offerings of certain persons.

Chap. LXII. Of Guaiferius of Salerno.

Chap. LXIII. Of the books which Desiderius caused to be made.

Chap. LXIV. Of the robbers.

Chap. LXV. Of the death of Pope Gregory, and of the election to be handled.

Chap. LXVI. Of the election made of Desiderius.

Chap. LXVII. Of the Elect's return to Monte Cassino.

Chap. LXVIII. Of the consecration of the elected Pope Victor. Of the body of St. Nicholas.

Chap. LXIX. Of the church of St. Peter, and the vision of the same Apostle.

Chap. LXX. Of Guibert the heresiarch and the persecution of the churches.

Chap. LXXI. How Pope Victor sent an army into Africa against the Saracens, and of the victory of that same army.

Chap. LXXII. Of the general council and the constitutions.

Chap. LXXIII. Of the death of Pope Victor and the appointment of abbot Oderisius.

Chap. LXXIV. What [*] and what sort of ecclesiastical ornaments Pope Victor, who was also abbot Desiderius, left in this monastery at his death.

. read how many*.

CHAPTER I.

The birth and holy adolescence of the Blessed: his twofold flight from his native place: his journey to various monasteries: most dear to Leo IX, and commended by Victor II, he embraces the Cassinese institute.

Chap. I.

Desiderius, therefore, drawing his line of blood from the most noble ^a stock of the princes of Benevento, Desiderius' birth, and his piety while still a boy. began from the very rudiments of infancy to be noble in spirit rather than in flesh, and chose from his mother's very breasts, so to speak, to give his labour rather to the service of God than to the vanities of the world. For while still a little boy he took pains to frequent the church, to hear and to read willingly the divine lessons, often to weave discourses about these with certain religious men, and whatever he could learn from them about good morals he busied himself to express in himself. But his father, wishing to involve him in secular affairs, and, as being an only son ^b, loving him singularly, [*] and arranging to propagate the name of his nobility through his line of posterity, took pains, when he was now beginning to grow up, to betroth to him a girl equally noble ^c, and in every way to hasten it, that the same kindred might be mutually strengthened. But since the Spirit of God had kindled the heart of Desiderius with his fire to the contempt of the world, the excellent Boy purposed on the contrary to act far otherwise than his father had arranged, and by such secret gestures as he could he showed that he sought rather the desert than marriage; and he would have satisfied his desires, had not the diligent guard of his parents, and their singular love and great solicitude, hindered him.

II.

[2] Not many days after, by God's judgment, his father having been slain by the Normans, The purpose of the anchoretic life Desiderius, having in some fashion got the opportunity which he had long desired, began in every way, though secretly, to busy himself that he might bring forth in deed the desire which he had conceived in thought. To a certain monk, then, well known to him, a man prudent enough in secular matters, by name ^d Jacinth, from whose relation I learned this, he communicates his whole counsel, discloses his vow, his will

he shows, and with faithful entreaty begs him to help him confidently in this. He was then about twenty years old. Thou knowest, he said, my father, how my kinsmen have entangled me in this wretched world: but since, to confess to thee truly, I long ago determined to be free for God; by him I adjure and beseech thee that, according to what thou knowest and canst do, thou wouldst loose me from these bonds and carry me away secretly from all men to some most remote solitude, that I may serve God more freely. What need of many words? Jacinth promises help in all things; but bids him beware lest perchance this suggestion be of demons ^e. But he recognized his heart firm in Christ in all things, and testing him by visiting him again and again, always found the same as before.

[3] On a certain day, already toward evening, mounting their horses together as though for a ride, they went out of the city, some servants following, and came to the church of blessed Peter, surnamed the Greater, which is situated beside that same city, and entering there as though for prayer, they leave their horses and the sword with which Desiderius was then girt with the aforesaid servants before the doors, as though to be kept. Thence, when it was now late, going out by a certain postern of that church, they set out on their journey; and although that place to which they had arranged to go was not more than eight miles distant thence, confounded alike by the straying of the night and by fear, they scarcely reached it in the morning of the next day. When the man of God, who was leading a solitary life there, Santarus by name, had beheld them, he greatly marvelled and rejoiced. And presently bringing them into his cell, and kissing Desiderius often, he began carefully to inquire why they had come. And so, learning Desiderius' will, he was vehemently astonished that a boy so noble, so delicately reared, so rich and above all the only child of his parents, should have come so fervently, despising all the pomps and vanities of the world, to serve the Lord under so strict a purpose. But since he knew that nothing is difficult or impossible to God, rendering him praise and the greatest thanks, he stripped Desiderius of the old man with his deeds — Desiderius himself above all urging it — and clothed him accordingly with the new man, who is renewed unto the knowledge of God; and, Jacinth returning betimes to his own, Desiderius remained alone with Santarus alone.

III.

[4] His servants therefore, as was said above, waiting for him in vain with his horses and arms before the doors of the church, Brought back by force from the desert to his own, when at length at last they had learned of his departure, night being now at hand, return betimes to the city, and with trembling minds report to his mother and kinsmen what had happened ^f. That night his mother spent in tears; but his kinsmen and relations, when morning came, mounting their horses, scatter through the various neighbourhoods to seek him, and at length, suspecting what was in fact the case ^g, come by the indication of his good qualities to the cell of Santarus. Bursting into it at once by force, they find him clothed in the monastic dress, and vehemently enraged, they assail the aforesaid servant of God with great insults and many revilings, and, stripping Desiderius quite dishonourably of the sacred garment, tear it with their own hands, and clothe him again in his former dress, though against his will and struggling. And at last, setting him upon a horse, themselves holding the reins, as though driving before them a very great booty, they return to the city after the manner of men triumphing. Here who would undertake to relate his mother's tears, and her complaints and persuasions alike, now cast in vain upon Desiderius, and the exultation of his kinsmen, nay of the whole city? He spent almost a whole year under a great guard in his mother's house, secular in dress only, but for the rest celibate in mind, and no one could persuade him in any degree either of marriage or of any secular act. So He whom the Lord was purposing to appoint a faithful and vigorous Steward of his house he kept pure and free from every stain of fleshly contagion, whence not undeservedly he was held by all the citizens as wonderful and desirable.

IV.

[5] But when scarcely any suspicion of his flight now held his mother, he flees to Salerno, and thence to the monastery and she strove to keep him with her at least as a cleric, since she could not as a married man, she suffered him more often to go alone to the bishop's house, which was near enough to her own, at first indeed not without a guard, then, as her sense of safety grew, alone. There was then in the monastery of St. Sophia ^h a provost named Siconulf, who, knowing fully Desiderius' desire, since he did not venture it by day lest suspicion should revive, spoke with him very often by night at the bishop's house. After not many days, coming to him by night, as he was wont, with horses, he led him clothed in a cowl secretly to Salerno, and returned swiftly to Benevento.

[6] of Cava he is sent, from which Presently Desiderius goes to prince Guaimar ⁱ, near to him in kinship, sets forth the cause of his coming, and begs that, since he did not dare to live as a monk in his own country because of his kinsmen's obstinacy, he might be allowed to serve God quietly with him. If he might obtain this, he would go nowhere thence; but if at some time he must give him back to his kinsmen, then let him rather now give him leave to hasten elsewhere. Guaimar, therefore, greatly gladdened by his coming, and vehemently marvelling at so great a fervour in so great a Youth, assents to his requests, and keeping him with him for some days, and most faithfully promising that he would be given back to no one against his will, at last sent him, at his own request, to the monastery of the Holy Trinity which is called at Cava ^k, situated not far from Salerno. And his kinsmen, pursuing him [*] the more and with frequent entreaties, appeal to Guaimar that Desiderius be given back to them: but the prince remaining in the promise which he had made to Desiderius, Landulf, prince of Benevento, wearied by the prayers of the mother and the kinsmen, came in person to Salerno, and demands that Desiderius be given back to his relations.

[7] On such a condition, therefore, it was at length at last obtained that he should return to Benevento, drawn back, he enters the monastery of St. Sophia: that it should be permitted him to remain at the monastery of St. Sophia under monastic profession without anyone's hindrance or contradiction. After they came to Benevento, all his relations rushing to meet him together with the city, the prince with all his retinue alike escorted him to the monastery. Gregory, a man then very prudent and vigorous, presided over that same monastery as abbot, who, receiving Desiderius with much gladness, because he was desirable to all, then first, changing his name, ordered him to be called Desiderius: for up to that time he was called Dauferius.

VI.

[8] While he therefore stayed there some years ^l in a most religious life, thence, migrating to various monasteries, and often reflected with himself that a monk could not be perfect in his own country, there came meanwhile to his knowledge the fame of the monastery of Tremiti ^m, which is known to be situated in the Adriatic sea near an island once called by the name of Diomedes, distant about thirty miles from the mainland. And since he had long since obtained at Benevento the friendship of the abbot of the aforesaid place, though leave was scarcely obtained, he went thither, and giving himself there to a sufficiently austere manner of life, spent no small ⁿ time. But since he was so loved by that same abbot that he desired to hand over to him that same abbacy even while he himself yet lived, whereas he for his part fitted his mind to subjection rather than to prelacy, and therefore decided that he must give place;

[9] he is compelled to return to St. Sophia's. At a certain time that same abbot, going out to look into the affairs of the monastery, asked that same Desiderius to go with him; and he, gladly embracing that opportunity of departure, thought it by no means to be put off. And when they had proceeded together, since the business so required, to the court of Count Trasimund ^o, the wife of that same count, greatly gladdened at Desiderius' coming, because he was her relation, obtained from her husband that she should keep him with her for a while, even against the abbot's will; of which detaining he himself, as he says, was the author. But hearing the then famous name of the hermits dwelling on Majella [p], and desiring to hasten thither and serve God more secretly, he begged the aforesaid count that he might be sent there, which was done. Where, when he had stayed for about three months, namely from the beginning of February until the third Sunday after Easter, under great continence, the above-named Jacinth was sent thither with letters on the part of the Apostolic [q] to the prior of that same hermitage, the tenor of which both bade the prior under threat not to presume to keep him any longer, and likewise charges him not to dare to spin out any further delays there. So he returned to the monastery of St. Sophia.

VII.

[10] Not many days after, the lord Pope Leo [r], most holy, He is dear to Pope Leo IX: Desiderius falls into an illness, returning from the parts beyond the mountains, entered Benevento; and since Desiderius had long since been known and exceedingly dear to Humbert, bishop of Silva Candida [s], both through him and through Frederick, then chancellor, he becomes known and very familiar to that same Pope, so much so that he frequently attended him in the office of the altar, and often read the Gospel [t] at his Masses. About the same time the aforesaid Pontiff went down into Apulia to fight with the Normans [u]: but being overcome by them by God's judgment, and returning to Benevento, having ordained Vodelric [x] archbishop, whom he had brought with him, after about nine months he returned to Rome and died. Meanwhile Desiderius, falling into no slight illness through excessive abstinence and many vigils, went to Salerno for healing.

[11] While therefore he stayed there for a while, Alfanus [y], who becomes to Alfanus the author of a holier life, who afterwards obtained the archbishopric of that same city, a most prudent and most noble cleric, was joined to him in the greatest familiarity; whose mind, exhorting it with frequent admonitions to the contempt of the world, he at length so prevailed upon that he would become a monk, if first he might be permitted, as he had long since conceived in his mind, to go to Jerusalem. This engagement being made firm between them, Desiderius returned to Benevento, and after not many days sends word to that same Alfanus to come to him. When he refused, and rather feared to leave Salerno, Desiderius went to him again, and, on account of his fear of certain men hostile to him, leading him out of the city by night clothed in his own cowl, brought him with him to Benevento. But when all the noble men and clerics began to frequent Alfanus, and to honour him becomingly for his very great prudence, and the purpose of the journey to Jerusalem began little by little to grow cool in his mind, and he declared that he wished in no wise and at no time to part from Desiderius' side, some time was spent by them at the monastery of St. Sophia.

[12] When lo, the report spread abroad that Pope Victor had come from the parts beyond the mountains to Rome, and with him he goes to Pope Victor II: by whom and that he would shortly come to these parts. Alfanus, terrified by such news, since he knew beyond doubt that his brothers would be accused concerning the slaying of prince Guaimar, resolved to forestall the Apostolic, and suppliantly begs Desiderius to go with him. And since he had a wonderful skill in singing and no small knowledge of the art of medicine

and had brought with him from home some manuscripts of that same art, he confidently trusted in every way that he would be held as something great in the court of the Supreme Pontiff. Having therefore made up and prepared as many medicines as he could, together with the archbishop [z] of that same city they set out for the Roman Pontiff into Tuscany, and find him staying at Florence. And so in a short time they obtained the greatest familiarity with him and were quite honourably treated.

[13] letters having been obtained, both are admitted among the Cassinese. But when, having now stayed there some little time, Desiderius had learned for certain that the Pope would by no means come to these parts, and moreover would shortly set out beyond the mountains, and at the same time considering that life in that same Pontiff's court was very unprofitable to his own purpose, he began in every way to urge Alfanus to ask leave of him at once to return. Peter [aa] had not many days before been elected abbot of this monastery by the brethren, who, to make known his own ordination, had then sent two brethren of this place to the Pope. Desiderius, therefore, having found the opportunity long desired, goes together with Alfanus to the Roman Pontiff, and prostrating themselves together at his feet, they beg leave to depart, and add a petition that, for the sake of living more religiously, he would deign to send them thither by the monks who had come to him from the monastery of Monte Cassino, and to commend them by his letters to the abbot and the brethren. The Apostolic assents, and so, as they had asked, they were sent with those brethren to this monastery, and being becomingly received by the abbot and associated with the brethren, they lived among them for a while very honourably and humbly, and were held by all in very great love, and also obtained monastic consecration from that same abbot, Frederick [bb] rejoicing more than enough at their coming.

ANNOTATIONS. U. S.

p. Consult what was said in the Commentary, number 49.

q. This word Apostolicus is everywhere used by writers of the middle age to designate the Roman Pontiff.

r. The ninth of this name, concerning whom see some things in the Commentary, number 42.

s. Silva … Candida, formerly called Silva Nigra, was a city of Tuscany on the Aurelian way, whose bishopric was afterwards united by Callixtus II to the neighbouring church of Porto, says Pagi in the Breviary of the Pontiffs, page 108. That this city is now in ruins Baudrand witnesses in his Lexicon.

t. Of the Blessed's familiarity with St. Leo IX and of the other things here narrated by the writer of Ostia, I read the following in book 3 of the Dialogues of Victor III: Whom (Leo IX) I also saw, and whose familiarity I was permitted to have: often too, when he was celebrating Mass in the church, I stood with him at the divine altar, clothed in sacred vestments, and read him the Gospel.

u. This unfortunate battle happened in the year 1053, as the Cassinese Chronicle witnesses, book 2, chapter 87, where in the often-praised reprinted edition of de Nuce I read thus: He proceeded into Apulia to fight with the Normans in the year of the Lord one thousand and fifty-three. De Nuce's edition, prepared at Paris in the year 1668, in which the same reading is found, Francesco Pagi probably did not see, when in volume 2 of the Breviary, page 351, he wrote: Leo of Ostia therefore errs, book 2, chapter XXXVIII, who … throws the battle back into the year 1054. That year indeed the Paris edition of the year 1603 marks, but doubtless through the carelessness of the copyists or printers, or by an error arising from elsewhere, a single figure was added. Many passages in which the edition of Laurentius Vincentinus (which de Nuce in his Preface to the reader calls no better than the Paris one already praised) differs from that which de Nuce prepared according to the manuscript codices of Leo of Ostia and Peter the Deacon, Erasmus Gattula gives in §1 of his Apology for Leo of Ostia, at the end of the History of Monte Cassino.

x. The edition which I follow here reads in the Notes Hodelrico.

y. The first of this name among the prelates of Salerno. Toppi in the Neapolitan Library writes that he was a kinsman of prince Guaimar; de Nuce judges the same, writing in his Notes on chapter 7 of the ancient division: Alfanus therefore was of the kinsmen of Guaimar and of those concerning whom book 2, chapter LXXXV — in which, namely, is narrated the slaying of Guaimar, perpetrated by a conspiracy of the Amalfitans, … and also of certain kinsmen and men of Salerno. But from Alfanus' terror recorded at the beginning of our number 12, if other documents be lacking, I should not dare to conclude his kinship with Guaimar, since he could have been of some other illustrious family, either of the Amalfitans or of the men of Salerno, which had a share in the prince's slaying. For the rest, on the testimony of Mabillon in the Annotations to the Acts of our Blessed, this Alfanus here recorded is famous among ecclesiastical authors on account of various little works which Peter the Deacon enumerates in his book On the Illustrious Men of Monte Cassino, chapter XIX… By Arnold Wion he is said to have been reckoned among the Saints, but it has not been possible to find his name in any sacred Calendars.

z. He was John, the first of that name.

aa. In book 2 of the Chronicle, chapter 94, the writer of Ostia writes thus: For which reason two brethren were sent on the part of the abbot and the brethren to him (the Pontiff Victor II), to set forth to him the whole truth or necessity of this matter. For the Pontiff took it ill that the election of Peter in the place of the deceased Richerius had been made without his knowledge.

bb. He was a Lorrainer by nation, and was substituted as abbot of Monte Cassino for Peter, who gave place of his own accord, and not long afterwards was created cardinal by Victor II, and succeeded him in the Pontificate as Stephen IX, by others called the X.

. add with*.

. otherwise, perceiving beforehand*.

CHAPTER II.

A remarkable vision of the Blessed: his election as abbot: his deeds up to the cardinalate: he takes part in the council of Melfi.

VIII.

In these days Desiderius had seen a vision not to be despised, The vision of Desiderius, who which the outcome of the matter confirmed quite soon after. For he saw himself standing together with Alfanus in a certain lofty and very beautiful tower, which was situated beside the chapter-house of the brethren; in which, that is, father Benedict was seen sitting upon a most seemly throne. And when, astounded at the sight of him, they were afraid, and by no means presumed to come nearer, blessed Benedict cheerfully beckoned to Desiderius, and with outstretched hand bade him sit beside him. But Alfanus, since he had not been called by him, went out of that house as though taking it ill; which vision seemed most manifestly to portend both that Alfanus would not stay long in this place, and that Desiderius would take the place of father Benedict in this monastery.

IX.

[15] stoutly resists the prince of Capua. Not long after, therefore, Alfanus, demanded by prince Gisulf ^a, was first made abbot at Salerno in the monastery of St. Benedict ^b; then obtained the archbishopric of that same city. But Desiderius was sent as provost to the monastery of Capua ^c. Richard, then count of Aversa, was assaulting Capua: but when Pandulf ^d, prince of that same city, wished to lay upon Desiderius certain unworthy and excessive burdens after the custom of former times, and he with a steadfast heart, as he was, by no means judged it fitting to assent to him in these, he departed from Capua and went to Richard ^e, and having received from him security for all the possessions of the monastery which were outside the city, and being moreover joined to him from that time in the greatest friendship, he stayed for a while in the dependencies ^f of that same monastery, very few brethren being left in the monastery, and the rest summoned to himself. He is elected abbot of Monte Cassino, with Pope Stephen IX.

[16] Thereupon, when the aforesaid Frederick had been elected abbot of this place, and at last ordained Roman Pontiff, as we have already noted above ^g in its own place, he went to him at Rome in the month of August with twelve other brethren of this place, being called by him by name, and there, stricken with the Roman fever, after a few days returned hither. And when the same Apostolic had come to this monastery after about four months, not long after he was held by a grave illness, and brought almost to his last extremity. Having therefore summoned the elders of this monastery, he gives them the choice of electing as abbot whom they would. And when they, having taken counsel with one another, judged now one, now another, as is the custom in such cases, to be elected, at length the common consent of all breathes toward the seeking of Desiderius, and with common prayers they entreat the Pope that he be granted them as father.

[17] And when the Apostolic had declared that that same election pleased him well enough: approving it under the compact of the legation to Constantinople, for both of old, from the time of Pope Leo, he had been very well known to him at Benevento, and from the time when abbot Peter had received that same Desiderius, not two full years before, he had bound him to himself with much familiarity, so much so indeed

that, being in his chamber, he confirmed the brethren's election, saying: That, although this monastery had at that time many religious and spiritual men endowed with much probity and prudence, yet they could not have elected from their own company anyone more fit for that office. And since, so long as he himself lived, he had determined to hand over that same abbacy to no mortal; but had long since arranged to make Desiderius the apocrisiarius ^h of the Roman See to the emperor of Constantinople, he laid it down that, if that same Desiderius returned while he himself survived, he himself would hand over the abbacy to him; but if he had died before his return, the whole congregation should receive him on his return as abbot without any contradiction. And so, giving him Stephen the Cardinal, and Mainard, afterwards bishop of Silva Candida, as companions of his journey, and recording him in the letters which he sent to the emperor as elect of the abbacy of Monte Cassino, he sent him away, charging him, when the legation was fulfilled, to hasten to return as quickly as he could.

[18] Desiderius therefore, busying himself to accomplish the office enjoined upon him, which Desiderius undertook but did not accomplish, but having taken whatever things were necessary for so great a journey, set out on the way together with the companions given him, and proceeded to the monastery of St. John which is called in Veneris ⁱ, that he might there take ship. But when he had stayed there in vain for some days, and by no means presumed to take ship on account of the inclemency of the air, he thence made for Siponto ^k, and there, having boarded a ship in which to sail to Bari ^l, he asked, through a certain bishop who had gone to Mount Gargano for the sake of prayer, that he should be commended to the brethren, and that it should be made known to them that he had taken ship: but when at Bari also he had been held up for a while on account of a storm, he likewise took pains to send another messenger hither, by whom, that is, he sent word to make known that on account of the intemperateness of the weather he was staying at Bari until that day. And it happened by the divine disposition, which had hitherto delayed him for the receiving of the honour of this place, that on the day on which that same messenger arrived here, on that same day also our brethren returned who had set out with the Pope, he having died at Florence and been buried. And so presently our men, having taken counsel, hastily send two brethren who should recall Desiderius, the Apostolic's death having been announced.

[19] Desiderius had now at last sufficiently prepared all that was necessary for the journey undertaken, and was now about to sail together with Argyrus, the magister of Bari ^m, when lo, on Palm Sunday itself toward evening he received those same messengers sent by our men, being forestalled by the Pontiff's death, he returns to his own, declaring that the Apostolic was dead and that they had been sent in haste by all the brethren to recall him; let him therefore return as quickly as possible, and take up the government of the monastery, as the Lord had ordained, all awaiting him with desire. Desiderius stiffened, stricken by so sudden a death of the Apostolic, and presently calling his companions, disclosed what the messengers had brought, and together with Argyrus they began to busy themselves how they might be able to return before the Pope's death was noised abroad. For they did not doubt that, if his death were known, they would be either taken or hindered by the Normans. Having therefore at once bought or procured some beasts for themselves and their companions to ride on, setting out on the journey on the Monday after Palm Sunday, they came to Robert Guiscard ⁿ, then indeed only count of the Normans of Apulia, but afterwards duke of all Apulia and Calabria and Sicily, asking that they might be allowed to pass safely through his land. And he, as he was a man of the greatest goodness, though he had already learned of the Pope's passing, both granted them safe-conduct and bestowed on Desiderius three horses of which he was still in need.

[20] and accepts the governance of the Cassinese. So, God prospering them in all things, having returned without any hindrance, on Holy Saturday itself, somewhat late, they arrived at the city of San Germano ^o. But on the Sunday of holy Easter, going up hither very early in the morning, after the custom of the monastery they entered the chapter of the brethren, Humbert, bishop of Santa Rufina, and Peter, bishop of Tusculum, presiding, and Stephen the Cardinal and Mainard, Desiderius' companions. For the aforesaid bishops Humbert and Peter, as we related far above [p], fleeing then from Rome from the ordination of Mincius [q], were on their way to Benevento to celebrate Easter; but, God so ordering, they had been invited and kept by our elders for the sake of so great a festivity. And so, after the solemn sermon of so great a day, presently Humbert, being very well aware of that whole arrangement, calls Desiderius, and charges him on the part of all the brethren to receive the obedience of the abbacy, as had once been arranged by the Pope. No delay in the midst [r], no waiting for an answer: at once all rising up received that same Desiderius, and carrying him with the greatest praises to the church, honourably placed him in the abbot's seat, all being filled with immense gladness and joy both for the Paschal solemnity and for his ordination, namely in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1058 [s].

XI.

[21] Therefore, having undertaken the abbacy, Desiderius began in every way to strive and to busy himself that what was said might be truly said. Seeing therefore that the workshops [t] of the whole monastery were both narrow in compass and unshapely in form, and ruinous both through age and through neglect, so much so that they all seemed covered with one continuous roof [u], and the entrance of one connected with the entrance of another, he was indeed roused in mind to set about renewing them; but he was again distressed, because for beginning so arduous a work he had almost no resources [x]. And so first, as though desiring to try what he could do, he finished with quite seemly workmanship the palace which abbot Richerius had long since begun on the eastern side of the monastery and carried up to the upper storey, and beside it, toward the church, he built a small but plainly suitable little building in which books might be stored. And when he saw that this had turned out for him with a prosperous issue, he determined to build from the foundations the house also in which the abbots had been wont to live, which, that is, adjoining the church on the north side, and supported on the lower part by the meanest props of wood, and seeming for the greatest part built of wattles, and he joined to it the palace with an apse, which the old men used to call Todericum [y].

[22] Thereupon, God inspiring and prospering him, he set about no less energetically renewing also that dwelling he restores, and adorns with new ones: which contained the brethren at rest on several storeys because of its smallness; namely on the side of the former to the south, which he was arranging to overthrow utterly for the sake of the space of the cloister. For on account of the very summit of that mountain, on which there was almost no level ground, the elders had scarcely made in this place the semblance of a very small cloister beside the apse of the church. That same house therefore was finished, a hundred and sixty cubits in length, and twenty-four cubits in breadth, and in height, on account of the unevenness of the mountain itself, of different measure, yet very great; and roofing it quite beautifully with beams of fir, he covered it with tiles and decorated it with various colours. And without any delay, in like fashion utterly pulling down the old chapter-house, he renewed it, and adorning it with a moulding of plaster round about, and with glass windows, and with a beautiful pavement of various marbles, he likewise covered it with tiles, and painted it with an exceedingly charming variety of colours.

XII.

[23] Meanwhile the townsmen of Fratta [aa], a breed, that is, of restless and treacherous men, he builds a stronghold against the robbers. like so many brigands, joining to themselves the men of Minturnae and other neighbours, did not cease, now by stealth, now openly, to harass the towns bordering on them which belonged to us: for the boundary which anciently divided between us and them, that is, two stone lions, since it stood not far from their castle, they had once maliciously and secretly broken and sunk in a nearby well; trusting in which fraud, whenever we reckoned our boundary between the two lions, as the rescripts contain, they obstinately affirmed that this was said of the lions which are set beside the gates of St. Gregory's. Desiderius, therefore, taking most ill their most frequent molestations, and at the same time remembering that saying, The observance of our order demands the highest quiet and security, since he could in no way quiet them either by benefits or by reasons, at length bent himself wholly to bridling their wickedness by force, and, supported by the help of Adenulf, duke of Gaeta, for whom he had procured the prince's favour, presently with all urgency raised against them a castle, to which the name New was properly given, on the mountain which is called Peranus, and so thenceforward compelled them to guard their own, and no longer to overrun other men's…: [bb]

XIII.

[24] Then (the Pope) sends word to this monastery that the lord abbot should meet him, as quickly as he can, as he sets out into the March, He is created cardinal and vicar of the Pope, namely that at the coming fast of the month of March he should receive both the grade of priest and likewise the office of the cardinalate. On the first Sunday of Lent, therefore, all necessaries being prepared, he took the road, and joined the Apostolic at the monastery of Farfa [cc], where, being received by him very amicably and honourably, he set out with him for Osimo. And so there, on the second Saturday of Lent, which then fell on the day before the Nones of March, being ordained Cardinal priest by that same Apostolic, and on the following Sunday obtaining the consecration of his abbacy, he received from him a quite honourable privilege, after the custom of his predecessors, by which moreover, namely for the dignity of his cardinalate and for the honour of the most holy father Benedict, that same Apostolic granted him his own stead throughout all Campania and the Principate, Apulia also and Calabria, from the river Pescara itself, as it flows into the sea [dd].

[25] he takes part in the synod of Melfi. After this, having received leave to return, coming to Rome on the next Sunday of mid-Lent, he solemnly celebrated Mass at the church of blessed Peter, and, accompanied by a countless throng of Romans, was conducted with the greatest praise to the title of St. Cecilia across the Tiber, and so returned to this monastery at the festivity of blessed Benedict. And since he had been invited by that same Pontiff for the sake of the Paschal festivity, he returned to Rome, and after the feast, going out from the City, he proceeded to Melfi [ee], a city of Apulia, where the same Apostolic had then arranged to celebrate a council; in which synod also, when Richard, prince of Capua, had been present with very many others, being admonished by the aforesaid Pope Nicholas, he made a rescript [ff] to Bl. Benedict concerning the monastery of St. Mary in Calena with its appurtenances.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Book 2 of the Chronicle, chapter 101.

q. By another name he is called John, bishop of Velletri, the pseudo-pope Benedict X. And de Nuce notes thus here: Leo had written, "of Mincius, then a simoniac", which mark of simony Peter seems to have rejected, sparing so far as he could the reputation of his kinsman.

r. Elsewhere is read, No delay after the command.

s. Peregrini, under Desiderius, assigns the day as the thirteenth of the Kalends of May, on which fell the festivity of the Lord's Resurrection.

t. Officinae are called in monasteries, on Du Cange's testimony, the small buildings in which are kept the things which pertain to the food and other uses of the monks.

u. It is a Greek word, and signifies a roof.

x. Pensum or Pensus or Pensa seems a word derived from Pensare, to pay, and here signifies that the Blessed then had almost nothing with which to pay the necessary expenses.

y. De Nuce observes thus upon this place: By palatium here I understand the court, and by absida the tribunal appointed for giving judgment: but why it was called Todericum I have not so far found: unless one may guess that the name was derived from Theodoric, king of the Goths, who, since he alone reigned in Italy and allowed no one the power of giving judgment except as dependent on himself, on that account every tribunal was called Todericum, etc.

z. Du Cange in his Glossary, adducing this passage of the writer of Ostia, interprets urna as a moulding.

aa. See what we have said in the Commentary, number 60 and following, about these harassings by the men of Fratta, and about the time of the stronghold built by the Blessed against these and others.

bb. The dots show that some things not pertaining to the Blessed have been passed over from the Chronicle.

cc. Of this monastery Muratori has this in his prolegomena to the Chronicle of Farfa: Among the other … monasteries that of Farfa formerly shone most of all, situated in the Sabine territory and the duchy of Spoleto on the river Farfa (which was also called Fabaris and Farfarus, on Baudrand's testimony), and distant about forty thousand paces from the city of Rome itself.

dd. We have taken some things from this privilege of Nicholas II in the Commentary, number 57 and following; a notice of the places you have there in number 58.

ee. Consult the Commentary, numbers 65 and 66.

ff. That rescript de Nuce recites entire in his Notes: a few words will suffice here. Having summoned the lord Desiderius, venerable abbot of Monte Cassino, for the remedy of my soul, and of my uncle Rainulf and of my brother Ascletinus, I invested him with the abbey which is called St. Mary in Calena, situated in the borders of Apulia between Mount Gargano and the Adriatic sea, beside the castle which is called Besti — Vesta or Vestia, a city, as the oft-praised Lubin relates.

CHAPTER III.

He provides for the honour and profit of his monastery: he increases the sacred furniture: he goes to Rome on behalf of Alexander II: he establishes monasteries in Sardinia.

XIV.

At that time Gisulf, prince of Salerno, on Desiderius' complaining of this, restored to this holy place the cell ^a of St. Benedict of Salerno, which up to that time the violence of the men of Salerno ^b had withdrawn from the right of our monastery. But when, the abbot having thereupon been withdrawn, he had appointed there a provost according to the custom of our cells, the men of Salerno, taking this very ill, began to press that same prince to permit that monastery to be ordered as it had been before. Constrained therefore by their request, the prince offered to this monastery in full the monastery of St. Lawrence ^c, built within the city of Salerno, which belonged to him by hereditary right; nor yet did he make void the restitution ^d which he had before made of the aforesaid cell… ^e

XVI.

[27] In these same days too (the Pope) confirmed ^f to Richard the principate of Capua and to Robert the duchy of Apulia and Calabria and Sicily, most friendly with Robert Guiscard and Richard of Capua, an oath of fidelity to the Roman Church having first been received from them, and also an investiture of tribute, of twelve pence yearly for each yoke of oxen. But since the running history has brought mention of these two magnates, namely Robert and Richard ^g, who beyond the other mortals of their time loved this place, and who were exceedingly devoted, faithful and most friendly to this our Desiderius all their life long, it seems worth while to insert into this little work, at least briefly, how each was advanced to the honour of his dignity… ^h But now the lord Abbot, although long since presiding at Capua, as we said above, though he had made him most friendly to himself, yet from that time he venerated him in every way as a father, committed himself to his counsels, willingly obeyed him as a lord.

XVII.

[28] In the first year, therefore, in which he was made prince together with his son Jordan, with the latter he transacts various matters after the custom of the earlier princes he made a general rescript ⁱ for this monastery concerning absolutely all its appurtenances and bounds: but in the following time he made a rescript for our monastery which is situated at Capua, concerning the public square which was between the wall of the city and the cloister of that same monastery, from which the brethren daily suffered great disquiet, both from all sorts of passers-by and from the chattering of the women nearby.

XVIII.

[29] Desiderius therefore, relying by God's will on the friendship of so great a power, for the tranquillity of the Cassinese. deeming that so acceptable a time was by no means to be neglected, began to press that same prince ^k both with prayers and with no small gifts, to deign to grant quiet and security to this monastery, which he professed to love so greatly, and to confirm to that same monastery, to be possessed for ever, the castles bordering upon us, by which we were frequently harassed on every side, which, namely, he had already brought under his own dominion. And so the prince most gladly assenting to his wishes, first indeed the castle which is called Mortula, together with the house of Fortinus; then the town of Fratta, of which we have already made mention above; and in the following year the Rocca ^l, surnamed Cucurrizzum [*], with all its appurtenances, and also the tower which is situated beside the sea, in that place, namely, where the river Liris mingles with the sea, and also the castle of Teramo: all these, I say, he granted and confirmed in full to this place by princely rescripts, one by one.

[30] And there were given in exchange to that same prince, for Fratta, the castle which is called Capriata with all its appurtenances, with three hundred bisantii ^m added besides. And for the castle of Teramo there was given him the castle which is called Conca, which he himself had long since restored to us, together with the court ⁿ of St. Felix of Miniano. Moreover Desiderius exchanged with the counts of Aquino at that same time the town nearer the monastery which is called Pesmons, and which was more hostile and troublesome than the rest; for which, namely, he granted them wholly the rock called Cellarellum [*], and Posta, keeping for himself the lake of that same place with the little church which is beside it; but the part of the fortified place of St. Urban which then belonged to us, that is, a hundred and twenty households, he gave separately to Count Adenulf ^o, to be held only in his own lifetime, keeping for himself twelve households with the church of St. Urban, and with land which would suffice for two yoke of oxen: on this condition, namely, that if the aforesaid count wished to restore to us those same households of men in his own lifetime, we should give him fifty pounds of pence; but if not, after his death all those men should return into our dominion… [p]

XX.

[31] Meanwhile Desiderius burned with a great desire to procure from every quarter the ecclesiastical ornaments also, The sacred furniture in which up to that time we seemed exceedingly poor: but a good desire, by God's gift, could not be ineffectual in so great a man, as will be clearly seen in what follows. And so, partly bringing from his own, partly borrowing from his Roman friends, having got together the sum of a hundred and eighty pounds, he redeemed almost all the ornaments of Pope Victor, which had been pledged here and there through the City; and these are they. A great diarodanum [q] cope, wholly interwoven with gold on every side, with fringes likewise of gold. A great diacitrina [r] chasuble, becomingly adorned on every side with golden bands [s]. Another likewise of exameta [t], surrounded round about with a frieze. Likewise a dalmatic of exameta, marked with gold and alb. [] at the head and feet and hands. A tunic of diapistis [u] with a very ample border of gold at the feet and hands and shoulders. Stoles woven with gold with their maniples and girdles, nine in number. A diarodanum* cloth with golden bands for the faldstool. Moreover it is well in this place to specify the several things which, from the time when he was ordained up to the renewal of the greater basilica, he either made or acquired among the church's furnishings: for the rest we shall pursue thereafter more fully.

[32] He clothed the pastoral staff with silver and gilded it: he made before the face of the altar a golden panel with gems of about ten pounds, he enlarges, and of the temple and monastery and also a censer of gold with gems and enamels [x] of two pounds. Having caused the book of Epistles for the Mass also to be written out, he adorned it with panels, one of gold, the other of silver. The manuscript too of the Rule of blessed Benedict, adorned within with very beautiful work, he clothed without with silver; and he did the like with one and another of the sacramentaries of the altar, and with two Gospel-books likewise and one Epistolary. For up to that time both the Gospels and the Epistles were read from the full Missal, which how unseemly it then was, is now sufficiently perceived. He did the same too with another little book, in which are the processional prayers. He made also a little book for singing before the altar, or on the step,

and joined to it panels of ivory wonderfully carved and adorned with silver. He also most zealously had a manuscript written of the Life of St. Benedict, and of St. Maurus, and of St. Scholastica.

[33] he provides for the honour. He also made silver doors for the entrance of the choir, of about thirty pounds. He made also wooden seats round about the choir with their backs, excellent alike in carving and in painting; and likewise he set up outside the choir a quite beautiful wooden step of the same work, in the manner of an ambo [], in which, namely, both the lessons at night and also the Epistles and Gospels at the Masses of the chief festivities might be read. In those days too, when a report had grown strong that the king would come into Italy, he, by no means senix [], proceeded to Amalfi, and there bought twenty silken cloths, which they call triblatti [y], so that if perchance it were necessary he might certainly have something to give the king, for the protection, namely, and the honour of this monastery. He also then acquired there a silver water-vessel of seven pounds, which he appointed to be for the ministry of the sanctified water in the procession of Sundays, together with another water-vessel of the same metal and size afterwards given him. But of all the triblatti, since the king had turned back from his journey, he presently ordered copes to be made. And seeing then the bronze doors of the bishop's church of Amalfi, since they had pleased his eyes well enough, he presently sent the measure of the doors of the old church to Constantinople, and had them made there very beautiful. For he had not yet arranged to renew the church, and for this cause those doors were made so short as they remain to this day.

XXI.

[34] Meanwhile, to return to what is above, the Apostolic having died at Florence he lends his support to Pope Alexander II: after the two years and a half in which he presided over the Church, when a very great sedition had begun to arise among the Romans about ordaining a Pontiff, the archdeacon Hildebrand with the Cardinals and the Roman nobles, counsel having been taken [*], lest the dissension should grow strong, at length after about three months elect Anselm, bishop of Lucca, as Roman Pontiff, and decree that he be called Alexander, our Desiderius setting out for Rome together with the prince, and supporting him in all things [z]…

XXII.

[35] Desiderius was now almost completing the fifth year of his ordination, of the scourge of thunderbolts when, more terribly than usual, by divine permission, that monastery was struck by a thunderbolt. For when the brethren on a certain day were performing in the church the customary solemnities of the first hour, suddenly a thunderbolt slipping down from heaven struck and killed the very priest of the week, whose name was Manno, a man of honourable repute, standing in the choir, and cast down to the ground the rest who stood about, as though lifeless. It also struck and killed a certain novice standing outside the choir, before the great cross itself. In the chapter-house it cut out the tablets of office, and left the tablet-keeper as though dead: it split the face of the picture of abbot Richerius painted on a panel in the same chapter-house, and likewise threw it down, and struck in very many places of the monastery; and this day was the fifteenth of the Kalends of February.

[36] The Blessed's vision. Wherefore the venerable Father, having taken counsel with the brethren, then appointed, in order to appease the wrath of God, that in every month the first Friday should be kept in abstinence by all in common, and that, going in procession with unshod feet, a Mass should accordingly be specially celebrated, and also that on all daily days throughout the year the prayer against lightning should be proclaimed at the public Mass and at the special psalms. Further, the lord Peter Damian, of whom we have already made mention above, coming to this monastery, when by word and by example alike he was kindling with fervent zeal all whom he could to the service of God, at length by the promise of the lord Abbot obtained from the whole congregation, by a voluntary offering for the remission of all sins, that on the Fridays of the whole year they should be content with bread and water only, and that on each of them each should receive a discipline after making confession. Moreover, that they should keep a three days' fast at the head of Lent every year. And often, when Desiderius was pondering and praying that it might be revealed to him what this meant, that the aforesaid scourge should so frequently wear down this place, on a certain night father Benedict appeared to him in a vision, and to him anxiously asking about this among other things, he taught that it was nothing other than the snares of the devil and the ancient envy against the place [aa]…

XXIII.

[37] About the same time legates on the part of Bareso [bb], king of Sardinia, came to this monastery, He sends brethren into Sardinia, by whom that same king, sending two great and excellent palls to blessed Benedict, begs that some brethren of our congregation be sent to him to establish a monastery, engaging and promising that the greatest honour and advantage would come to our interests in his kingdom, if the zeal of the monastic religion, hitherto unknown in those parts, should thenceforward, by our labour, become customary among them in the manner in which he had perceived it then to flourish among us. Presently the venerable Father, counsel having been deliberated, chose twelve of the better brethren of this monastery, and giving them abundantly both manuscripts of the divine Scriptures with divers apparatus of the ecclesiastical ministry and very many patronages [*] of the Saints, and also furniture of divers things, and appointing besides an abbot who should preside over them, sent them thither very honourably with a ship of the men of Gaeta.

[38] Nevertheless, God permitting and Satan hindering, whom the Pisans drive off; that same matter could not at that time come to effect. For the Pisans, led by the greatest envy of the Sardinians, when our men had already crossed with a prosperous enough issue to the island which is called Lilium, and having gone ashore in boats were awaiting a fit time for sailing, come upon them unexpectedly with armed vessels, and, treating both our men and all the rest indiscriminately and very injuriously, plunder everything [cc]…

XXIV.

[39] Meanwhile the king of the Sardinians, having received worthy satisfaction from the Pisans for so great injuries, but these being afterwards conciliated, when he had again sent word to this monastery that he indeed persisted much more ardently in his former devotion, and that we ought by no means to neglect the matter because of what had happened, that same king received most gladly two brethren at length sent thither after nearly two years, and by a rescript granted them the church of blessed Mary in the place which is called Bubalis [dd], and also St. Elias of the holy mountain with that whole mountain, for the establishing of a monastery, with very many tenants and servants, and with great substance and possessions.

[40] Desiderius sets up monasteries. Emulating him unto good, another king of that same Sardinia, by name Torchytorius, himself also made a charter of his offering, and sent it to this monastery, namely concerning St. Vincent of Taberna with its many servants and very many substances, and also concerning St. Mary at the warm river, and St. Martha, and St. Pantaleon at the Olives, and St. George of Tulvi, and St. Mary of Palma; all these churches, I say, with all their appurtenances, the aforesaid king bestowed by charter on blessed Benedict, for the establishing of a monastery from them. Moreover a legate was sent by Pope Alexander together with a monk of ours to the Pisans, that, unless they wished at once to feel the Apostolic anathema, they should restore in full the cause of blessed Benedict which they had wickedly snatched away, and, clearing themselves by due satisfaction, should never presume any more to disturb them in any degree. And they, presently obeying his commands, and professing that they had acted impiously toward us, suppliantly ask pardon, and with quite suppliant devotion restore whatever of these things could then be left and found, save only the relics of the Saints, for which, as was said above, they had bound themselves by oath. And not long after, when duke Godfrey [ee] had come to Pisa, and Desiderius had set out to him — for what cause I know not — by the duke's intervention and effort, after manifold satisfaction the Pisans return into his favour, and promise that they will thenceforth be most faithful both to that same Father and to this place.

ANNOTATIONS. U. S.

p. The whole of chapter 19 is omitted, which Mabillon under Bl. Victor III reports in summary thus: But in chapter XIX he (narrates) various donations made by Gregory, consul of Rome, by Baldwin, count of Valle Sorana, by Pandulf, count of Venafro, by Landulf, count of Miniano, … and by other pious and illustrious men, which it is of no help to enumerate here one by one.

q. Diarhodinus, as Du Cange writes, is a deeper rose colour.

r. That is, of a deeper citron colour.

s. Understand borders: and a border is the outermost part of a garment.

t. That is, of all-silk cloth: and the following word Friso signifies a fringe.

u. Du Cange in his Glossary, at the word Diapistus, has this at the end from the Sicilian History of Hugo Falcandus, in Muratori, volume 7 of the Writers of Italy, column 256: This greenish colour of diapistus flatters the eyes of beholders with a pleasing appearance.

x. The same Du Cange explains the word Smaldus and Smaltum as enamel, because enamel is called Smalto by the Italians. But here that word rather seems to signify precious stones, as also in that text which he recites from an old sheet of the library of Cluny, page 563: With gems and stones, namely those which they call smaldi.

y. That is, palls thrice dyed in scarlet, on Du Cange's testimony; whom, for a notice of the ecclesiastical ornaments which are here recounted, and for the interpretation of certain words upon which I have observed nothing, let the reader consult.

z. In the rest of that chapter is treated the schism of Cadalus against Pope Alexander II.

aa. In the remaining part Leo narrates other destruction by lightning.

bb. This history we have vindicated against the censure of the anonymous writer of Milan in the Commentary, number 30 and following.

cc. The remaining narrative sets forth how unworthily they were treated by the Pisans.

dd. Of the situation both of this and of the other places recorded here and in the following number I have no certain knowledge.

ee. The Godfrey or Gottfried here recorded, duke of Etruria and Lorraine, and, having obtained the March of Tuscany, also called marquis, was brother of Pope Stephen IX, surnamed the Bearded, and different from Godfrey of Bouillon, as de Nuce proves in his Notes on chapter 89 of book 2 of the Cassinese Chronicle.

. otherwise, Cucuruzzum*.

. otherwise, Cellarolam*.

. de Nuce, albis*.

*. that is, of a pulpit.

. that is, segnis* (sluggish).

. read habito*.

*. that is, with shrines of relics.

CHAPTER IV.

The immunity of the monastery of Monte Cassino obtained, and the reform of Tremiti undertaken by the Blessed: the building of the new basilica, and its costly adornment.

XXVI.

At the same time ^a the same Apostolic granted Desiderius a solemn privilege, The monastery of Monte Cassino subject to the Pope alone. besides the rest, concerning the entire liberty of this monastery, namely that no bishop of any church, save the Roman Pontiff, should presume in any way to usurp any jurisdiction whatever, not only in our own and principal church, but also in all the cells belonging to us wheresoever, forbidding it by Apostolic authority. At which time also, when Hildebrand, archbishop of Capua, swollen with a certain haughtiness, had tried to murmur against this authority, being publicly convicted in the Roman synod ^b, upon our making outcry about this, by the privileges of the Apostolic See, he confessed that he had sinned. Whence both to himself and to all his successors it was then forbidden, under strict anathema, that they should dare thenceforward to raise any question about it, or ever to move any suit at all against this venerable place.

XXVII.

[42] Moreover, when many dishonourable and abominable things were at that time noised abroad concerning the rulers of the monastery of Tremiti ^c, The discipline of the monastery of Tremiti, which very many privileges of the Roman Pontiffs also testify to have belonged to us of old, authority was given by the Apostolic to that same Desiderius to look into it and to dispose of it as should seem to him best. And he, having removed thence Adam, abbot of that same place, convicted of guilt in many crimes, with Robert of Loritello and Petro of Lesina, counts, and the bishops Trajan of Dragonara and of Civitate, and also the abbot of Terra Maggiore accompanying him, entered the aforesaid island, and there most honourably ordains as abbot Transmund, son of Oderisius, count of the Marsi, a youth then of excellent disposition indeed, of no small strength in prudence and letters, and trained also in this place from boyhood in honourable morals; but that at last he assented to the counsels of the worst brethren of that place: yet plainly of those whom our Abbot too had enjoined him to hearken to. For when our men returned, a few days after he tore out the eyes of three of the elder monks of that same place, and cut off the tongue of a fourth; for they had been accused before him by their companions of stirring up rebellion in the island.

[43] foully fallen, he strives When this was reported to our Desiderius, he took it very ill and grievously, and was consumed with the greatest sorrow over it, both for the misery of the sufferers, and for the savagery of him who ordered it, and lastly, what was chief and what more distressed his heart, for the infamy of this place. And since in that same year the solemnity of the dedication of our church was awaited, he is kept until then to come and receive sentence according to the measure of his fault. And him, when he had come, having rebuked him in the assembly of the whole monastery with very sharp and worthy castigation, he subjected to a graver penance, and did not permit him to return thither any more. But the archdeacon Hildebrand, altogether approving what Transmund had done, and affirming that he had done this by no means cruelly, but vigorously and worthily against malignant men, before the year was completed at length with difficulty wrested him from the lord Abbot, and, first committing to him the abbey of St. Clement of the island of the county of Balva ^d, a little after added to him the dignity of the bishopric of Balva.

[44] After this Desiderius sent word to the monk Ferro, to whom the aforesaid Trasmund [*] had committed the monastery, to come to him. And when he refused to come to him, and Desiderius on his part was in a manner ashamed to go to those parts because of what had happened, after a whole year and about eight months he complained about these matters to the duke ^e returning from Sicily, who at once sending thither compelled him to come out, and gave him over into Desiderius' power. And so the duke ^f, accompanied by bishops and abbots and monks and at the same time by Petro, count of Lesina, entered the island with two armed galleys ^g, and being received by the monks of the place with a quite honourable procession, on the next day was solemnly invested ^h with that same abbey by all the brethren of that same monastery. But being asked to assure them that he would never, while he lived, subject that same monastery to the monastery of Monte Cassino, but would keep it under his own dominion, he assented. Being asked also to ordain that it should thenceforth be for ever free from every claim or complaint of the Cassinese brethren, he refused, and answered that he ought by no means to do this, because it would be unjust. So then, all things being ordered as it pleased him, and three of our brethren left behind for the guardianship, he returned.

[45] But when afterwards, the aforesaid brethren having been recalled, and sets various rulers over it. he had committed the government of that same place to some other of our men, that man, using malignant counsel, puffed up with a certain haughtiness of pride, taking up a tyranny, chose to rebel, so that being summoned once and twice he scorned to come to Desiderius. And when he had excommunicated him, not many days after, by the zeal of Desiderius' faithful men, he was shamefully taken together with his abettors and brought to him. And him indeed, not long after loosed from excommunication, he set again over the cell of Ascoli ⁱ: but in the aforesaid monastery he committed his own stead to the abbot of Terra Maggiore ^k; and when he had died after no long time, again, as though now weary of it, he restored to the aforesaid Ferro the care of that same place; yet only on this condition, that while he himself lived he should answer to him for it: but after his death he should give it back into the hands of the Roman Pontiff. But of these things thus far. Now let us return to what is above, and hasten to describe how he built, and dedicated, and adorned the new basilica of blessed Benedict, as we ourselves beheld it, being present.

XXVIII.

[46] The venerable Abbot, therefore, being divinely established in all prosperity and quiet The new basilica at Monte Cassino by the merits of our most blessed father Benedict, and being held in so great honour by all round about, that not only all the middling sort, but even their princes and dukes themselves willingly obeyed him, and took pains to submit in all things to his will no otherwise than to that of their own father and lord, applied his mind, not without divine prompting, to pulling down the old church and building a new one more beautiful and more august; although to very many then of our elders this seemed too heavy and not to be attempted, and they tried very much to turn his mind from this intention, both by prayers and by reasons and in every way, since by them it was reckoned that so great a work could not be completed in all the time of his life, whereas he, trusting in God, promised himself and awaited the help of God alone for all the things which are done for God.

[47] he undertakes with great labour and expense: And so in the ninth year of his ordination ^l, but in the year of the divine Incarnation one thousand and sixty-six, in the month of March, in the fourth indiction, having first built beside the house of the sick a not very large basilica of blessed Peter, in which, that is, the brethren might meanwhile come together for the divine offices, he set about overthrowing from the foundations the aforesaid church of blessed Benedict, unfitting, both for its smallness and for its unshapeliness, for so great a treasure and so great a congregation of brethren. And since, being built on the very summit of the mountain, it had lain open on every side to the violent blasts of the winds, and had frequently been struck by fiery thunderbolts, he determined, trusting in the help of God alone, to cut away with fire and iron the rocky crest of that same mountain, and, so far as could suffice for the space of the basilica to be founded, to level the place dug out below, where he should lay the foundations. Having therefore appointed men to accomplish these things with all effort and the utmost urgency, he himself meanwhile set out for Rome, and meeting with all his closest friends, and at the same time dispensing money with a liberal hand as occasion served, bought abundantly columns, bases and lilies ^m, and also marbles of divers colours, and all these he carried with great confidence from the City to the port, and from the Roman port by sea as far as the tower of the Garigliano ⁿ, and thence to Sujo, in hired vessels: and from there as far as this place he brought them by waggon-carriage, not without the greatest labour.

[48] he levels the roads, hires craftsmen, And that you may the more admire the fervour of the faithful who served him, the first column here from the very foot of the mountain the mere number of the citizens set up by the strength of neck and arm: for, to increase the toil [], the ascent of this mountain was then exceedingly steep, narrow and rough; for it had not yet come into his heart to level and widen that same road, as he afterwards did. At length, therefore, the space of the whole basilica except the entrance having been levelled with no small difficulty, and all necessaries most abundantly provided, most skilful craftsmen having been at once hired, both Amalfitans and Lombards ^o, and the foundations having been laid in Christ's name, he began the fabric of that same basilica, a hundred and five cubits in length, and forty-three [] cubits in breadth, and twenty-eight cubits in height; and, bases being set beneath, he raised above them ten columns on one side and as many on the other, nine cubits high; and he set windows in the upper parts, quite ample, twenty-one indeed in the nave, and in the titulus [p] six long and four round, and two in the middle apse. Raising also the walls of each portico to a height of fifteen cubits, he marked them out with ten windows on this side and as many on that.

[49] and he lays up more becomingly the body of St. Benedict. Meanwhile, as he was accordingly arranging to level the entrance with the floor of the basilica, which was reckoned nearly six cubits, digging not three full ells he suddenly found the venerable tomb of father Benedict, and presently, counsel having been taken with religious men that he should by no means presume to move it in any way, he at once, lest anyone should be able to steal anything of so great a treasure, covered over that same tomb with precious stones in the same place in which it had been set, and above built with very beautiful workmanship a chest of Parian marble crosswise to the basilica, that is, from North to South, five cubits in length. And so in this manner the entrance remained at its former height, so that from its floor down to the floor of the basilica one descends by eight steps, under a very great arch, that is, which overhangs that same entrance, besides that step by which one goes up to the altar from every side.

[50] Further, in the greater apse toward the East he set the altar of blessed John the Baptist, The altars of the new church, and other in that place, namely, where father Benedict had of old built his oratory: but on the southern side the altar of the blessed Mother of God: and on the northern the altar of blessed Pope Gregory, beside whose apse he built a two-chambered [q] house for laying up the treasure of the ecclesiastical ministry, which house, namely, is customarily called the secretarium [r], and to it he joined another of like work, in which the ministers of the altar should be made ready. Indeed, since for the sake of widening the church he had taken away no small part of his own chamber, he accordingly made that same chamber, joined to the aforesaid secretarium, rather larger and more beautiful than the former; and next to it, that is, beside the portico of the principal church of blessed Nicholas, with a curved wall he founded a small indeed but exceedingly beautiful little building, and from it as far as the outermost front of the basilica he extended with like workmanship a quite venerable oratory of blessed Bartholomew the apostle.

[51] On its front too, near the doors [] of the greater church, he raised out of squared and very great stones a wonderful tower, buildings belonging to it are enumerated. which is commonly called the campanarium [s]. He made also an atrium before the church, which we by Roman custom call a paradisus [t], seventy-seven and a half cubits in length, fifty-seven and a half in breadth, and fifteen and a half in height; having four and as many columns on the twin fronts, but eight and eight along each side, resting upon four-cleft bases [u]. And in its southern side he built beneath the pavement of that same atrium a very great cistern of the same length, with arched work. And before the entrance of the basilica, and also before the entry of the atrium, he willed five arches above, which we call spiculi []. Further, in the western part of the atrium he raised at each corner a basilica, very beautiful, in the manner of towers; on the right indeed that of the holy archangel Michael; on the left that of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, to which, namely, there is an ascent within from the atrium by five steps. But now outside the vestibule of the atrium and those same basilicas, since the ascent to the church was very steep, he dug away that same mountain sixty-six cubits in length and as many in breadth, but seven cubits in depth, so that from the bottom up to the vestibule itself of the atrium one ascends by twenty-four marble steps which he set there, having in the space of their breadth thirty-six cubits.

XXIX.

[52] Meanwhile he sends legates to Constantinople to engage craftsmen, skilled indeed in the art of mosaic and of squared stone, Craftsmen having been fetched from Constantinople, of whom, namely, some should adorn with mosaic the apse and the arch and the vestibule of the greater basilica, and others should lay the pavement of the whole church with a variety of divers stones. And of what perfection the masters of these arts then sent to him were, may be judged [*] from their works; since in the mosaic everyone would think that he sees figures almost living and all things green, and in the marbles would suppose that flowers of every kind of colour bloom with a beautiful diversity. And since Latin culture, the mistress, had for five hundred years and more let the skill of these arts fall into disuse, and by the zeal of this man, our God inspiring and working with him, deserved at this time to recover it, lest indeed it should perish further from Italy, the Man of all prudence took pains that very many of the boys of the monastery should be diligently trained in these same arts. And not in these only, but in all crafts as well, whatever things can be wrought of gold or silver, brass, iron, glass, ivory, wood, plaster or stone, he provided himself with most zealous craftsmen from among his own. But of these elsewhere.

[53] with various ornaments the basilica Now, however, let us set forth, so far as we can, how he in part adorned and at length consecrated the basilica when it was built. Covering it therefore becomingly, the whole of it with the titulus and each portico and the vestibule, with roofs [*] of lead, he clothed the apse and the greater arch with mosaic, in the breadth of whose circuit, namely, he ordered these verses to be written in golden letters:

That, with thee as guide, he may possess the fatherland won for the just, Hence father Desiderius founded this hall for thee.

But in the apse, on this side and that, beneath the feet of the holy Baptist and of John the Evangelist, these verses:

This house is like Sinai, bearing [*] sacred laws, As the law shows, which was once here put forth; Hence went forth the law [x], which leads minds up from the depths, And, being published abroad, gave light through the climes of the world.

All the windows, both of the nave and of the titulus, he enclosed with panels compacted of lead and glass alike, and arched [*] with iron. But those which are set in the sides of each portico he made of plaster indeed, but of nearly like beauty.

[45] he most magnificently decorates. Thereupon, a panelled ceiling having been set beneath the beams, wonderfully marked with divers colours and figures, he painted all the walls too with a quite beautiful variety of all colours; and he laid the whole pavement of the entire church, with the adjoining oratories of blessed Bartholomew and blessed Nicholas, and likewise of his own chamber as well, with an altogether wonderful manifoldness of cut stones, hitherto unknown in these parts: but that especially which is next to the altar, and in the choir on those steps by which one goes up to that same altar, distinguished with slabs of precious marbles in a seemly diversity. The front too of the choir, which he set almost in the middle of the basilica, he fenced with four great tablets of marble, of which one is of porphyry, another green, the remaining two and all the others round about the choir plain []. But the vestibule of the church he had adorned above with most beautiful mosaic together with the arches over the lintel; and from there down to the bottom of the pavement he had the whole face of the basilica clothed with plaster. Clothing likewise the arch of that same vestibule on the outside with mosaic, he wrote there in golden letters the verses of Marcus the poet [y]. And ordering the remaining three parts of the atrium to be painted within and without with divers histories both of the Old and of the New Testament, he laid the whole with a marble pavement. And above he covered it with panelled ceilings and tiles, the vestibule too of that same atrium with its twin towers being in like manner painted, and opened out, and faced with marble [].

ANNOTATIONS. U. S.

p. Du Cange in his Glossary has it thus: The titulus is that part of the church in which the altar stands, βῆμα to the Greeks, Presbyterium to Latin ecclesiastical writers. And after adducing this and some other texts from the writer of Ostia, he at last adds this: Where Angelo de Nuce wrongly judged the titulus to be the transverse part of the church, which our people call la croisée.

q. That is, consisting of two chambers.

r. We ecclesiastics now call secretarium the house of the sacred treasures, which we also call the sacrarium and the sacristy. So de Nuce here.

s. The tower of a church, in which the bells hang, is called the campanarium.

t. A paradisus, on Du Cange's testimony, is an atrium planted about with porticoes, which Leo also here sufficiently expresses.

u. Mabillon under Bl. Victor III, and the edition of the Cassinese Chronicle of Guillaume de Bruel, read only habens, the word gerens being omitted. One or other of the two is certainly redundant.

x. Consult what was said in the Commentary, number 86.

y. This Marcus was a disciple of St. Benedict, who celebrated the praises of his master in a poem, which de Nuce published after the Chronicle, where it may be seen by the curious.

. otherwise, Transmundus*.

*. that is, of trouble.

. read of three*.

. read valvas* (leaves of the door)..

*. that is, pointed arches.

. read æstimari*.

*. that is, with roofs.

. ferentis*.

. read connexis*.

. otherwise, candidæ*.

*. that is, adorned with marbles.

CHAPTER V.

The solemn dedication of the new basilica: the concourse of the people to it: the gifts of the empress Agnes.

XXX.

The temple is dedicated with great celebration, All these things, therefore, having been accomplished within the space of five years, God prospering and aiding, Desiderius determined to dedicate the basilica with the greatest solemnity and vast rejoicing, unto everlasting memory, and going to Alexander, Pontiff of the highest See, most devoutly invited him to come to that same dedication. And when he had assented very willingly, he summoned also his archdeacon Hildebrand, and the other Cardinals and Roman bishops ^a, and very many of the clerics and nobles of the City, with most familiar affection. The day of so great a solemnity was appointed, by the counsel of the Apostolic and the Cardinals, on the very Kalends of October, and letters of invitation of that same Apostolic were given to all the bishops of Campania, the Principate, Apulia and Calabria. And so, the report of this matter being spread far and wide, so great a multitude of bishops of almost all Italy, of abbots, monks, clerics, magnates, nobles, middling folk, and men and women alike of divers condition, flowed together on the appointed day, that it would have been easier for anyone to reckon the stars of heaven almost than the number of them all ^b. So all the workshops of the monastery, and the very roofs too of all the workshops, so all the roads of the mountain from bottom to top, and, what shall I say, all the houses of the city and all its squares, and all the spaces too of the adjacent fields far and wide, were packed and crammed with the wedges of those gathered for so great solemnities.

[56] Meanwhile the provision throughout those three continuous days, preceding and following that same solemnity, with the Pope himself and very many prelates, namely in bread and wine, and in a manifoldness of divers meats ^c and fishes, was set out so abundantly that scarcely anyone could be found in so countless a multitude who did not say that he had received these things sufficiently. There were present, therefore, at so great a celebration ten archbishops ^d: that is, those of Capua, Salerno, Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi, Siponto, Trani, Acerenza, Otranto, Oria. And forty-three bishops, that is, those of Porto, Tusculum, Sabina, Segni, Anagni, Veroli, Terracina, Gaeta, Aquino, Sora, Marsi, Balva, Penne, Teano, Cales, Roselle, Aversa, Nola, Avellino, Paestum, Troia, Fiorentino, Melfi, Lucera, Dragonara, Civitate, Termoli, Guardia, Larino, Ariano, Isernia, Bojano, Salpi, Canne, Ruvo, Venosa, Monorbino, Vigilia, Molfetta, Giovinazzo, Monopoli, Ostuni, Taranto, Perugia, and the bishop-elect of Castello, who, namely, was consecrated bishop on the day after the dedication.

[57] And of the magnates, Richard, prince of Capua, with his son Jordan and his brother Rainulf; Gisulf, prince of Salerno, with his brothers; and princely men gracing the solemnity. Landulf also, prince of Benevento, and Sergius, duke of Naples, and Sergius, duke of Sorrento ^e. For duke Robert was at that time assaulting Palermo, and therefore could not then be present at so great a solemnity: but there was also a vast throng of the counts of the Marsi, and of Balva, and of the sons of Borrellus ^f. But of the other powerful and noble men, both of our own people and of the Normans, of all the lands round about, there was absolutely no possibility, nor any plan, of reckoning either the names or the countless number. With the highest devotion, therefore, and vast gladness, with the greatest honour and singular glory of all these, that same basilica of blessed Benedict was dedicated, with its five altars, on the very day of the Kalends of October, in the year of the divine Incarnation one thousand and seventy-one, in the ninth indiction, on a Saturday: and the middle altars indeed, marked, namely, with the names of blessed Benedict and of St. John, the aforesaid Apostolic blessed with his own hand: but the altar which is set in the southern part in honour of the holy Mother of God, John, bishop of Tusculum; and that in the northern part to the name of blessed Gregory, Hubald, bishop of Sabina; and that of St. Nicholas, Erasmus, bishop of Segni, solemnly dedicated.

[58] What relics indeed of the Saints were then laid up in the several altars, The sacred pledges are enumerated we have thought it opportune to insert in this place. And so in the altar of blessed Benedict there are the relics of the holy apostles Philip and James, and of the martyrs Alexander the Pope, Sebastian, Cyriacus, Chrysanthus and Daria. Namely a bone of the leg, of the arm, of the head, and of the hip ^g of Abdon and Sennen, and of Cecilia the virgin. Besides these too, two silver shrines containing very many pledges of divers Saints are honourably suspended within that same altar in the upper marble, which the most reverend Pope Benedict ^h, for the love and reverence of our most holy father Benedict, drawing them out from the archive of the Lateran palace, sent to this church of Monte Cassino in the first year of our abbot Theobald, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and twenty-three; and this the same most holy Pope wholly forbade, that any should presume to take anything hence. And these relics are: of the Wood of the Lord, of the Blood of the Lord, of the garments of the Lord, of the crown of thorns, of the stone of the holy Sepulchre, of the veil of the holy Mother of God Mary, of the apostles Peter and Paul, Andrew, John, James and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthias, Simon, Jude and Matthew. A sponge with the blood of the holy protomartyr Stephen; and those of Lawrence, Stephen the Pope, Pelagius the Pope, Martin the bishop, Prudentius, Julian, Augustine, Christopher, Aemilianus, Nicander and Marcian, Alexius, Anastasius, Eugenia, John and Paul, the Forty Martyrs, and of many others, are placed there.

[59] In the altar of St. John there is of the sponge which was set to Christ with vinegar; in the altars and in other places of the temple of the stone of the holy sepulchre of the holy Mother of God Mary; of the oil of the lamp of the holy Sepulchre, which, namely, every year, in a very wonderful manner, is kindled from heaven on the day of holy Easter Saturday, all men seeing it. Of the manna of the sepulchre of St. John the Evangelist. Of the water of the Jordan from that place where the Lord was baptized, and of the relics of St. Lawrence, Sebastian, and many others. In the altar of St. Mary there is of the stone of her sepulchre, and of the relics of the martyrs Dionysius the bishop, Caesarius the deacon, Stephen the Pope, Primus and Felician. In the altar of St. Gregory there is of the stone of the holy sepulchre, of the garment of St. Mary, of the garments of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of the relics of the holy Forty Martyrs, and also of Pancratius, Valentine and Hilary, of Martin the bishop, and of the dalmatic of St. Ambrose. In the silver tower which is in the greater arch these relics are placed: of the head of St. John the Baptist, of the garments of St. John the Evangelist, of Andrew the apostle, of Sebastian, of the Forty Martyrs, of the veil of St. Agatha, of the garments of St. Susanna. In the apse of St. John. In [*] the crown of the Saviour, the Wood of the Lord, a stone of the holy sepulchre.

[60] But above all these, which we have not thought fit to pass over in silence, and presently honourably laid up in stone in the capitals of the several columns of that same basilica, at the time of the building, there were placed quite reverently in little bronze boxes relics of the saints Philip and James, John and Paul, Nicander and Marcian, Cornelius and Cyprian, Cyrinus and Maximus, Sebastian, Phocas, Eutychius, the Forty Martyrs, of the hairs of St. Remigius the bishop, and of many others. In the altar of St. Nicholas there are relics of the holy martyrs Cornelius and Cyprian, Sebastian, Nicander and Marcian, Cyrinus and Maximus, Phocas the bishop, Eutychius, the Forty Martyrs, and of the hairs of St. Remigius the bishop. In the four corners of the bell-tower these relics are: the Wood of the Lord, of the stone of the holy sepulchre, of the garments of St. Mary, a stone from her sepulchre, of the holy apostles James, Philip, Bartholomew, of Martin the bishop. In the cross of the bell-tower, the Wood of the Lord, of the head of St. John the Baptist, of Bartholomew the apostle, of Cyriacus the deacon. In the frontispiece of the church, in the bronze cross, the Wood of the Lord, of the stone of the holy sepulchre, of Maurus the abbot and of the holy martyrs John and Paul ⁱ.

XXXI.

[61] The celebration of the Masses therefore having been solemnly accomplished, and by the authority of the Apostolic Power the absolution of confessed sins having been granted both to those who happened then to be present, and to all [*] who through eight continuous days might be able to hasten thither out of devotion for so great a solemnity, A vast concourse of people to the celebration, from which each returned to his own with the greatest and vastest gladness. But for the grace of the aforesaid absolution, so great a throng of men of divers sex and age continued hither from every quarter throughout those same eight days, that you would have thought that almost none of those who had flowed together on the first day had returned home.

Nor is there measure, as the peoples gather in a dense column, Nor rest; from night they hasten toward the light, and to await The day is irksome. The Lucanian [*] peoples gather, the Apulian youth gathers, And the Calabrians, and all whom either tide washes, Which on left and right roars round about all Latium; And Rome herself, mighty in Peter and Paul, Rejoices to grow thin of the sacred monuments of the heavenly [*] princes, Pouring forth thousands to the lofty walls of Cassinum: Piety conquers the hard journey, and the love of Benedict, And kindly faith conquers; present [*] to all he is believed to be there, Benedict too, the glory of the most high Christ.

Everyone certainly reckoned himself unfaithful, and altogether wretched, if he did not take pains to be present at least at the end of so great a solemnity.

[62] From that time the glory of so great a celebration began to be spread abroad through the whole Christian world; both the name of Desiderius and that of Monte Cassino grow famous. from then this place, though from of old it was famous and noble through the merits of father Benedict, began to be held far nobler and more glorious, and the name of father Desiderius, already long since great and famous among very many, began thenceforth to be diffused more famously and nobly through all the West, and to be proclaimed by all for the greatest prudence and religion, and was by all judged rightly to be preferred to all the abbots of his time in all places, not only in the Western and Eastern parts, but throughout the world. Partly, therefore, from a desire of seeing Desiderius, partly of beholding a temple so widely known and so famous, and partly, finally, of living in this most sacred monastery and serving God so long as they lived, many from many and from the farthest parts of the earth began to flow together hither, and, Desiderius gladly receiving them, it came about that within almost those two years the number of the congregation of this place had stretched to nearly a second hundred. And now how great a devotion of divers kings and powerful persons of either sex began to be had toward that same venerable Father, suppliant letters to him and seemly gifts bore witness, in which they earnestly commended themselves and all their own both to his prayers and to those of the brethren living under him.

XXXII.

[63] Nor does it seem right to pass over in silence the religious devotion of the empress Agnes ^k, who, like another queen of Sheba, The empress Agnes visits Desiderius. led by a great desire of seeing another Solomon and another temple, came hither from the farthest borders of Germany, and staying there for almost half a year, rejoiced and declared that she saw things far greater than those which she had learned by hearing about this place, both according to God and according to the world, deservedly judging both the place and the Father

and the brethren to be held more famous throughout the whole world than the men of their own order. And she offered to Bl. Benedict, as befitted the imperial dignity, magnificent gifts, that is, a chasuble of diasper ^l, wholly interwoven on every side with gold. Also an alb most becomingly adorned at the shoulders and head and hands with a frieze, and at the feet likewise surrounded with a frieze-band having [] in breadth almost the measure of a cubit; and together with it an amice with brustum ^m; two purple copes adorned with precious golden bands; a diarodanum cloth fringed with gold for before the face of the greater altar; and also a great pall with elephants, which they call a dossale* ⁿ: a Gospel-book ^o with a cast panel of silver of embossed work, and most beautifully gilded: also two silver candlesticks likewise cast, of the weight of twelve pounds.

ANNOTATIONS. U. S.

. perhaps, of the crown*,

. read omnibus*.

. otherwise, Campani*.

. cælestum*.

. read Deus*.

. habente*.

CHAPTER VI.

What ornaments the Blessed conferred upon the new basilica, and what buildings he made both within and without the cloister: and of various churches restored and consecrated.

XXXIII.

It is well now, after the dedication of the church, to describe the remainder of its adornment, The sumptuous ornaments, that we may thenceforth more freely be able to give our labour to the deeds of Desiderius, both in buildings and in any other magnificences. To the aforesaid royal city, therefore, sending one of the brethren with letters to the emperor, and with gold of the weight of thirty-six pounds, he ordered a golden panel to be wrought there for the face of the altar, with gems and enamels ^a of great beauty, with which enamels, namely, he had some histories out of the Gospel, but almost all of the miracles of blessed Benedict, marked out. And that fellow-brother of ours the emperor of Rome ^b received most honourably, and, so long as he stayed there, treated him and all his men honourably and reverently, and granted him imperial leave to have made there whatever ornaments [*] he wished. And so he made also four cast railings of bronze, to be set, namely, before the altar on this side and that between the choir and the entrance; and likewise a beam of cast bronze, with fifty candlesticks, in which, namely, as many wax candles might be set at the chief festivities, with thirty-six lamps hanging beneath from that same beam upon bronze hooks.

[60] Which bronze beam, namely, supported by bronze arms and hands, with which the new basilica was joined to the wooden beam which Desiderius had meanwhile had most beautifully carved and adorned with gold and dyes of colours, and he set it upon six silver columns four and a half cubits in height and of eight pounds each, on the very front of the choir: under which beam, indeed, he suspended five round icons, and above set thirteen square ones of like measure and weight: of which, namely, ten of the square ones the aforesaid brother carved at Constantinople in thick ^c silver and gilded, having some of them fourteen pounds each, others twelve: but all the round ones, a silver border of four pounds only surrounding them, he had painted for the rest with colours and figures by Greek skill: and three others of the square ones, of the same metal and measure, Desiderius ordered to be wrought by the work of his own craftsmen in no way unlike. Another round icon too, clothed on either side with silver wonderfully carved and gilded, and surrounded also on the outside round about with silver bosses, a certain nobleman then sent from the royal city to blessed Benedict, and afterwards another like it was ordered to be made; each is suspended on this side and that in the ciborium of the altar.

[61] The aforesaid brother also brought with him from Constantinople very beautiful cast bronze candle-holders ^d, two great and seven small. Desiderius moreover made another beam of silver, of about sixty pounds, likewise carved and gilded, which he placed in the greater arch before the altar, upon four silver columns partly gilded, of ten pounds and five cubits in height. He made also two great silver crosses of thirty pounds each, whose figures stood out in quite wonderful chasing, and he set them under the aforesaid beam between those same columns on this side and that upon marble supports. Further, he clothed the three remaining faces of the greater altar with silver of eighty-six pounds, well carved and gilded: for the faces of the other three altars were adorned on three sides with old panels. Four beams also for the ciborium of the altar he covered on the outside in like manner with carved and gilded silver; but within he decorated them with foils ^e and colours, of which two are six cubits in length and twenty and twenty pounds, and the other two four and a half cubits, and twenty and twenty pounds.

[62] are enumerated one by one. Six great candlesticks also, three cubits in height, he made of drawn and carved plates of silver, of six or five pounds apiece ^f, which, namely, at the chief feasts, being set before the altar in a straight line, are to be lighted with very great tapers. He made also a wooden pulpit for reading or singing, far more excellent and lofty than the former, at the ascent of six steps, and with divers dyes of colours and foils [] of gold he renders it most beautiful out of beautiful: before which he set upon a base of porphyry a silver column of twenty-five pounds, partly gilded, in the manner of a great candlestick, having six cubits in height, upon which, namely, the great candle which is to be blessed on Easter Saturday is solemnly to be raised. He made also a pharus ^g, that is, a very great crown of silver, of about a hundred pounds, having twenty cubits in circuit, with twelve towers standing out on the outside, and thirty-six lamps hanging from it, and he suspended it outside the choir before the greater Cross by a quite strong iron chain distinguished with seven gilded apples. These things having been in some fashion [] set down thus far concerning the building, consecration, and in part the decoration of the new basilica, let us make our return, together with our Desiderius, to the completing of the other buildings of the monastery.

[63] The ancient buildings of the monastery of Monte Cassino After the solemn dedication of the basilica had passed, therefore, Desiderius, seeing that, the divine power working with him and at the same time by the merits of father Benedict, all the things he had begun had come to perfection as he had desired, being now bolder, nay stronger, resolved with a great mind to widen the whole compass of the monastery, and, as he had already done with some, to renew the remaining workshops, with these also which he himself had built before the building of the church. And first indeed, desiring to enlarge the cloister, which it is agreed [] was still far too small for so great a congregation, presently pulling down the old refectory, which adhered quite irregularly on the side to the temple, and on the front to the chapter-house, and which [] he himself had also long since twice at different times enlarged, he built it in the further part of the future cloister, namely beside the southern side of the atrium of the church, very handsome and large enough, and adorned it wholly with divers colours by the skill of painters, and, a panelled ceiling being set upon the beams, covered it above with tiles. He also set in it a very beautiful and lofty reading-desk ^h, which, being very becomingly clothed with plaster, he rendered notable to all. Of which house, namely, the length [] extends to ninety-five cubits, the breadth reaches to twenty-three, and the height is raised to the fifteenth [], having its entrance on the eastern side, and on the western an apse, before which indeed a very ample table of the abbot is seen set crosswise. And it has on the southern side fourteen windows, three about the pulpit, but on the northern only two, and two round ones in each front, all notably wrought with glass in plaster as well as in lead.

[64] Beside that same house too, on the southern side, he destroys, and new ones the kitchen of the brethren, quite ample and beautiful,

he raised in two arches joined to one another, which a single column supports, and between it and the refectory he set steps and a door, whence all necessaries might be either brought into that same refectory or carried back. And on the other side of that same kitchen he set a cellar, from which, namely, all necessaries should be supplied both to the refectory and to the kitchen. After this, since the space of the cloister still did not seem to him sufficient for so great a multitude of brethren, the Man, certainly great-souled and of exceedingly great confidence, set about pulling down entirely the dormitory and chapter-house, which he himself had long since built at very great expense and pains, and also the old house of the sick, and, on the occasion of enlarging the cloister, to make those same houses too more ample. Since, therefore, he was setting about raising the outer wall of the dormitory far away from the other on a great precipice of the mountain, laying in the foundation, for the sake of the greatest firmness, a wall thick [*] by five cubits, he extended it lengthwise over a space of two hundred cubits, and raised it to a height of thirty cubits, distant twenty-four cubits from the inner wall. Having on the southern side only twenty ample windows, of which the three greatest are supported by three little marble columns. Which house, namely, far more ample, firmer and more beautiful than the former, was very zealously roofed with tiles by the skill of the workmen, and adorned with colours by the craft of the painters. Beside it too, at its further end, he built the brethren's vestry, small indeed, but quite suitable and beautiful.

[65] These things being completed in about three years, he set about digging away forthwith the mountain which lay within, more seemly and more convenient ones namely for a length of a hundred and five cubits, and for a breadth of forty-nine, and for a depth of about seven []; and so he set the building of the chapter-house on the eastern side crosswise, so that the inner angle of its front is joined to the outer angle of the titulus ⁱ of the basilica; but its apse seems to approach the dormitory: of which house, namely, the length is fifty-three cubits, the breadth twenty, and the height eighteen; and it has on one side nine most beautiful glass windows, on the other as many, on the northern front three round ones, and on the southern two likewise round, and it is most sufficiently adorned with a panelled ceiling and pavement, and with most precious paintings []. And so great a frequency of earthquakes we experienced at that time, while these things were being dug away, that on one day indeed we felt it seventeen times, and on some other days now four, now two, sometimes even six or five times, on each several day. Which certainly many of us thought had happened not without cause on account of the countless graves ^k of that same place, then of necessity violated, which perhaps had been those of holy men: otherwise, indeed, earthquakes are wont to occur quite rarely in this place.

[66] he erects, and raises buildings also But since a vast precipice remained on the inner side of the dormitory, having raised vaults ^l beside that same house, and filling up the rest with earth and stones thrown in, and likewise before the refectory, namely at the front of the cloister, building a very great cistern with a curved vault, he thus at length levelled the surface of the whole cloister. And so presently, setting up walking-arches all round upon a hundred and ten little marble columns [], he spread the whole cloister to a length of a hundred and five cubits [], and to a breadth of seventy-five []. And since that part of it which was next to the greater basilica, if it were made level with the rest, would not have made a fit entrance into that same basilica, he made vaults likewise below and above the walks, and in each of its corners [] he set marble steps by which one might descend into the rest, to the chapter-house [] indeed the fifteenth; and he laid the whole round about also with stone pavements of Byzantine craftsmen [], and adorned it with most beautiful paintings. Without any delay after finishing this, he brought down the upper storey of that palace which, begun by Richerius, he himself had finished, from its former height to the level of the cloister, and there [] established the rest of the sick brethren. Further, on the western side of the cloister, namely beside the cistern which we have mentioned before, he quite fitly arranged the cell of the novices, in which, namely, the same [] novices ought, according to the regular institute, both to meditate and to rest and to eat; and so at last he thoroughly taught the brethren, who had until then been disquieted and troubled more than enough over so many works, being now placed in a station of rest at once convenient and pleasant, to give their labour thenceforward to the regular order, the more strictly the more orderly.

[67] These things therefore all being accomplished according to his wish, and the inner workshops of the brethren being most becomingly completed, as he had fitted them [], outside the enclosure, and girds the cloister with a wall. he girds himself, unwearied and strong, to the completing [] likewise of the outer buildings of the monastery. On the western side, therefore, first raising a most firm wall, he set a gate almost thirty cubits outside the old one, of squared and hedged [*] stones, above which he made firm with a vast vault a most strong tower raised upon four great columns. But since a huge precipice lay open on the outside, while within there was a great mound, this being dug away, he made that precipice passable with its stones and earth, though by a sloping path, and there beside it, namely outside the gate, he built a very great guest-house: and so at last, with a wall on this side and that continuous and fortified after the manner of cities ^m, he enclosed the whole monastery round about. Thereupon on the northern side he built a palace of no small size for the reception of all guests. He also built a bakehouse with such beauty that many of the pilgrims coming hither, not knowing it, often assembled there to pray as though at a church. Nor did Desiderius, while these things were being done, cease to toil at procuring ornaments for the church, and to obtain from wherever he could, by whatever devices he could, the things that were suited to its beauty.

XXXIV.

[68] Recognizing therefore that, with Christ as leader, all things had turned out for him as he had desired, He restores the church of Bl. Martin, Desiderius thence turned his whole heart to renewing the church of blessed Martin, which almost alone of the old buildings now remained within the compass of the monastery. For, the former basilica of that same blessed Martin having been pulled down, and the foundations laid in Christ's name, he began the fabric of that same church, forty-three cubits in length, twenty-eight in breadth, twenty-four in height; and windows, nine on one side, as many on the other. Raising also the walls of each portico to a height of sixteen cubits, he marked them out with four and four windows ⁿ, and as many on the other; and those indeed which are in the nave he enclosed with panels compacted of lead and glass alike, bound with iron. Further, in the front of that same church, marking out three windows and one in the apse, he ordered them to be wrought of like beauty: but those which are in the porticoes he made of plaster indeed, yet of equal beauty. And he raised nine columns on one side and as many on the other. Beside that same church too, with a curved wall, he built a small indeed but very beautiful house for the ministry of that same church. And he had wonderful stone railings wrought before the altar of blessed Martin: and he becomingly clothed the apse with mosaic, in which also he ordered these verses to be written in golden letters:

This place had once stood dedicated to the worship Of demons, and Apollo was venerated in this temple: Which father Benedict, hastening hither, turned to the honour Of almighty God, and to the name of holy Martin; This, after five hundred years grown old and small, Desiderius pulled down, renewed, adorned and enlarged.

[69] And now how conspicuous the pavement of that same church is, he dedicates that of St. Bartholomew and others, how beautiful and laid with a manifoldness of divers marbles, is plain to the eyes of all. He ordered also a most beautiful reading-desk [*] to be built there, adorned with gold and colours by the skill of painters. For before the altar of that same blessed Martin Desiderius ordered a silver and gilded panel, most beautifully carved, of forty-four pounds, to be wrought, on which he carved almost all the histories of the blessed evangelist Matthew and of St. Martin, confessor of Christ. He made also bronze doors at the entrance of that same church. And beside that same basilica, building little dwellings in which he himself might stay, and beams being set on, he covered them above with tiles. When, the Lord working with him, he had finished these things as he had desired, he had the basilica of blessed Bartholomew the apostle solemnly dedicated, with the whole assembly of the brethren, on the third of the Nones of January, by John, formerly a monk of this monastery, afterwards bishop of Sora. In whose altar he laid up no small part of the Apostle's body in a silver casket, in which also he set these relics: of the stone of the holy sepulchre, and of Saints John and Paul, Vitus, Januarius, Hermes and the Forty Martyrs. And indeed Desiderius was held in such authority and favour with the Roman Pontiff, that in whatever churches or monasteries he wished which were bereft of their own pastor, it lay with him to substitute bishops or abbots out of his own brethren.

[70] Not long after this, those little buildings also, and adorns them with relics. which we have said were set like towers in the corners of the atrium, he had dedicated with great gladness on the fourth of the Ides of September, the one by that same John, the other by Leo, bishop of Aquino. Indeed in the altar of the blessed archangel Michael he laid relics of Saints Nicander and Marcian, John and Paul, Vitus, Mercurius and Catherine, and the names ^o of Saints Apollinaris the bishop, Protus and Hyacinth. But the altar of the Prince of the Apostles Leo, bishop of Aquino, consecrated to the divine name, the lord Abbot himself and the whole assembly of the brethren being present, with great gladness and devotion: and in that same altar these relics were laid up: of the five barley loaves [*], and of the holy apostles Peter, Matthew, James, of Nazarius and Celsus, Januarius, Felicissimus and Agapitus, Sergius and Bacchus, Nicander and Marcian, Aurelius, Protasius, Fortunatus and his companions, and of the garments of the three children [p]…

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

In Du Cange's Glossary some examples are alleged, all of which seem to me to imply candlesticks for setting wax candles upon.

p. In this place Leo of Ostia made an end of writing, as de Nuce observes, writing thus: This chapter closes manuscript B, which contains the History of Leo of Ostia alone… Certainly this chapter is read in Leo's manuscript, and savours of his style. And Peter has varied much here, so that from this at least Lauretus might have recognized that it was written by both. But hereafter you will not have the variant readings of our manuscripts: for we have taken what follows from Peter's single manuscript, etc. The variant readings which I have not given consist almost only in omissions, as may be seen in de Nuce.

. otherwise, operum*.

*. with plates.

. otherwise, quomodolibet*.

. otherwise, constabat*.

. otherwise, quodque*.

. longitudo*.

. otherwise, fifteen*.

*. that is, thick.

. otherwise, about ten*.

. otherwise, most beautiful*.

. otherwise, marble columns*.

. otherwise, eighty-five*.

. otherwise, sixty-five*.

. otherwise, corners*.

. otherwise, from the chapter-house*.

. otherwise, of the craftsmanship*.

. otherwise, there with a bath and the other conveniences*.

. otherwise it is added: namely the cell beside the refectory of the brethren*.

. otherwise, optaverat*.

. otherwise, to be repaired*.

. otherwise, cut*.

*. that is, a pulpit.

*. that is, of barley.

CHAPTER VII.

Various donations by various persons: the right over the churches of St. Sophia and St. Angelo is confirmed to the Cassinese by Gregory VII, who interdicts the sacred offices to the church of Monte Cassino.

By Peter the Deacon.

XXXVI.

In the following time the aforesaid Pope Alexander ^a, going out from the City, Of Pope Alexander and of others, came to this monastery, and being honourably received by Desiderius ^b… Moreover that same most holy Pontiff made a privilege for father Desiderius concerning the monastery of St. Mary in Palladio ^c, with its appurtenances, receiving from him the church of holy Jerusalem ^d, which the most reverend Pope Leo, as we have noted above, had handed over to our abbot Richerius. The aforesaid Pope Alexander also granted personally ^e to our Desiderius the city of Terracina, with its appurtenances. And when that same Pontiff had died ^f, the clergy and people of Rome come together in one, and electing Hildebrand, archdeacon of the Apostolic See, decree that he be called Gregory ^g; who, coming in that same year of his ordination to this monastery, and taking Desiderius ^h with him, proceeded to Benevento ⁱ… About the same time prince Richard by a rescript offered to blessed Benedict the church of St. Angelo which is called ad Formas ^k… And since that same place was very pleasant and quite fit for a monastery, he humbly asked Desiderius to take special pains with it for his own love, which he also did, receiving from the monastery of Albaneta ^l the whole half of all the movables, and sending thither also with the half the monks of that same place; and Desiderius began to build it entirely, as beautifully and as spaciously as it is seen today, where also within a short time he gathered forty and more monks to live under the rule…

XXXIX.

[72] About these days Michael ^m, emperor of Constantinople, sent very many gifts to father Desiderius by messengers whom he sent to him, who were exceedingly favourable to Desiderius, asking that they should assiduously beseech the clemency of almighty God for himself and his children, and for the state of his empire. Moreover also, out of reverence for father Benedict, for the salvation of his soul, he ordained by a rescript sealed with a golden bull that every year this monastery should receive from the palace of the empire of Constantinople twenty-four pounds of gold, and four palls, for the sustenance of our congregation. And Borrellus ⁿ the count, son of the elder Borrellus, when he had not undeservedly obtained the friendship of Desiderius on account of certain services of his in this place, most devoutly offered to blessed Benedict the monastery of St. Peter which is called of Avellana, which, namely, his father had forty-four years before handed over to blessed Dominic ^o to be built, and which that same Borrellus had enriched with quite an ample possession of lands, with its churches and tenants, and with absolutely all its appurtenances and possessions, which is land of about five thousand modii: and when long afterwards Walter, his nephew, wickedly retained twelve farmsteads of the stream of Franculus belonging to that monastery, coming to this monastery he of his own accord renounced them to us and restored them.

[73] illustrious donations in favour Theodinus too and Oderisius and Bernard, counts of Balva, not long after, themselves also offered in like manner to this monastery the monastery of St. Peter which is situated in the valley of Lacus, and another monastery of hermits in the place which is called Pratum Cardosum, which indeed had themselves likewise been founded not many years before by blessed Dominic, with five adjacent lakes, namely, with their churches and tenants, and with absolutely all their appurtenances and possessions, both in that same county of Balva and in that of the Marsi and of Chieti. In the same year there was offered to blessed Benedict by certain Marsican nobles the castle which is named Meta, in the valley of Orbetum, with all its bounds and appurtenances, and also the church of the holy father [] in the place where they are called Formae, and the church of St. Donatus above those same Formae, with all things that belong to those same churches, and moreover with all things that belonged by hereditary right to the aforesaid nobles, both in those same Formae and in the Cold Valley [p]. In the same year too Leo and Girard, consuls of Fondi [q], offered to the blessed father Benedict the monastery of St. Magnus with all things belonging to it, and with the fourth part of that same fishery of the lake of Fondi, and with the church of St. Mary beside the amphitheatre of the city of Fondi, those of St. Maurus and St. Martin at Tirille [r], and of St. Andrew at Terracina, and of St. Nicholas in the city of Rome, in the place which is called ad Fossa*, with all their appurtenances and goods.

[74] of the monastery of Monte Cassino. And in like manner, together with Richard surnamed de Aquila, the same [*] consuls offered to this place the church of St. Onuphrius with its appurtenances. And since that same place was suitable for building a monastery, Desiderius, desiring to make a monastery there, raised it, through Girard [s], provost of St. Nicholas in Pica, who was made the fifth abbot of this monastery after him, into the state in which it is now seen. In these days too Littefrid, consul of Fondi, made a charter to this monastery of all things that belonged to him of the city of Fondi, and of the valley of Cursa, and Aquaviva, and Ambrife, and Pastina and Ynola, Campus de Mele Vetera, and of the third part of the fishery at St. Anastasia, and of the monastery of the holy Archangel, and of all things that belonged to him by paternal or maternal right. About the same time too John of Isernia, a noble man, likewise offered to this monastery of Monte Cassino the monastery of St. Benedict, in the place Banlarola, with two other cells of it, that is, of St. Mary and St. Lucy, with all their appurtenances. The same did Morinus, count of Venafro [t], concerning four other churches, that is, of St. Nazarius of Piperozza, St. Peter of Sextus, St. Barbatus of Ravenola, and St. Martin of that same Furca.

XLI.

[75] At the same time, when Landenulf, who had been count of Cales [u], had contended with us about the bed of the river Garigliano [w], Certain other restitutions and grants. that it ought in no way to belong to our castle of Mortula, and that those men of the caves of that same place owed us nothing, the case having been long ventilated by the judgment of the judges of Sessa [x], he yielded, overcome by the reasons, and by a charter declared that he had absolutely no right in all these matters. But Loffrid also, who was surnamed Monius, at the same time coming by the command of prince Richard to this [] monastery, in the presence of Desiderius of his own accord by a writing declared and renounced into his hands those fisheries which are in the river Garigliano at the same currents, as it begins from the stream which is called Vivus, which comes down from those same caves, and goes as far as the stream which comes down from Holy Cross, and empties into the aforesaid river Garigliano; which fisheries, namely, anciently belonged partly to this monastery, partly to Holy Saviour of Cucuruzzum, and which up to that time the counts of Sessa had violently and in evil order retained. In the following time Loffrid, surnamed Ridellus, duke of the men of Gaeta [y], offered in this place the monastery of St. Erasmus of the city of Formiae [z], and the monastery of St. Peter De Foresta* in the appurtenance of Pontecorvo, with all their possessions. Then too Lando, lord of the city of Arpino [aa], coming to his death, made an assignment to this monastery of all things which belonged to him by hereditary right, that is, of the half of Arpino and of Monte Nero, and of St. Urban, and of Vicalvi and Casa Silverii, a penalty of a hundred pounds of gold being set upon the violators of this assignment, for all who should seek to remove it.

XLII.

[76] About the same time, the aforesaid Pope Gregory celebrating a synod at Rome, The suit concerning the monasteries of St. Sophia, Leo of this

librarian of that place, who afterwards was made bishop of Ostia, at the command of father Desiderius made a formal claim concerning the cell of Saint Sophia in Benevento, which the Beneventans had lately wrested by violence from the lordship of this monastery; and when the matter had been brought to a hearing, our title-deeds were read out in the hearing of all, showing how the prince Arichis [bb], the builder of that same church, had by a formal decree handed it over to this monastery of Cassino, and finally how all the Roman Pontiffs, emperors, kings, dukes and princes had confirmed the aforesaid cell to this place. When he had heard this, Pope Gregory declared that the Beneventans could by no means withdraw from its authority a church originally assigned to the monastery of Cassino; but that the church of Cassino ought altogether canonically and lawfully to hold that same cell in perpetuity…

[77] At the same time, when the aforesaid Pope Gregory was staying at Capua, and that of St. Angelus is adjudged to the men of Cassino by Gregory VII, the clergy of that city laid envious complaints before him, saying: The church of Saint Angelus, which of old had belonged to the jurisdiction of the church of Capua, had passed by an unjust exchange into the jurisdiction of our monastery. This complaint, of course, the same Apostolic Lord, at the entreaty of Desiderius, would not suffer to remain unexamined, and took pains to have it carefully investigated by suitable and truthful men, whether the exchange which had been given for that church appeared to be a fair one. And these men, investigating the matter most diligently, found and proved that the church of Saint John of Landepaldus, which had been given for that same exchange, had possessed considerably more in the way of property and ornaments at the time of the exchange. And this Ervæus [cc], then archbishop of that city, asserted that he truly knew to be so. When by this competent testimony every doubt about the aforementioned suit had been removed, the aforesaid Apostolic Lord decreed that both the archbishop and the clergy of Capua should rest from this question in perpetuity, and should raise no further suit concerning that exchange. And he presently, by a privilege, judged and decreed this to be firm and stable in perpetuity, namely that the same monastery ought to remain forever under the care and governance of the abbot of Cassino. By that same privilege also, confirming all things which either had then been granted there or should in the future be granted, he pronounced the sentence of excommunication upon the violators of this decree, unless perchance they should come to their senses; but upon those who observed it he wished the Apostolic blessing and perpetual peace to come…

XLVI.

[78] who binds the church of Cassino under an interdict. At the same time also the bishop of the church of Rosellæ [dd], coming to this monastery, deposited in this place no small sum of money. When this was reported to prince Jordan [ee], he sent soldiers and ordered that the same money should be taken from the sacristy of the church and brought to him. But the brethren answered to this: The money * which has been entrusted to father Benedict we by no means give to any living man; but placing it in the sacristy, let him who dares carry it off thence. The soldiers, hearing this and made drunk by the devil's goad, drew the money out of the sacristy of the church and carried it to the prince. But when so great and so monstrous and unheard-of an outrage came to the ears of Pope Gregory, not bearing that the guilt of this rashness should go unpunished, and fearing lest by the example of this crime our church should be violated again, he laid an interdict upon the divine office in the church of father Benedict, and caused all the altars to be stripped bare, declaring that in so great a crime he could charge even Desiderius and the brethren with excessive negligence and with a timidity that deserved sharp punishment, and that he ought to be more grievously moved against our congregation, were he not held back by that charity with which he had always loved this place…

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

p. Those places of the region of the Marsi, or of the county of Marsica, I do not investigate too curiously.

q. Fundi is an episcopal city of the kingdom of Naples, not far from the boundary of the Pontifical dominion, and about ten miles distant from Terracina, which is in the Pontifical dominion. But the monastery of St. Magnus is now of the Olivetan Order, as Nuceus observes.

r. That church situated in the county of Fundi is treated of again in book 4, chapter 84, as also the church of St. Magnus just mentioned, and the monastery of St. Onuphrius to be mentioned below.

s. This Girardus, born of the illustrious stock of the counts of the Marsi, was made a monk under Desiderius, as is said in book 4, chapter 43. About the individual churches which were given to the abbey of Cassino I observe nothing, lest the annotations grow to an immense size.

t. Venafrum is an episcopal city in Campania, or in the province of Terra di Lavoro, distant only ten miles from Monte Cassino, as Baudrand writes. Its count is doubtless here designated, the letter V being changed to b, as very frequently happens in the Chronicle of Cassino.

u. Calenum likewise was a city of Campania; but one which was long ago destroyed, as most hold. Baudrand, however, thinks that it is now called Carinula, or at least that Carinula grew out of the ruins of Calenum. But Carinula itself is now almost deserted, as he observes.

w. The river Garilianus, called in Italian Garigliano and in Latin Liris, separates Latium from happy Campania, and runs down into the Mediterranean sea.

x. Suessa, commonly Sessa, is an episcopal city of Campania, four miles distant from the aforesaid river Liris in the direction of Capua.

y. Caieta is likewise an episcopal city in New Latium and the kingdom of Naples, situated on a peninsula of the Mediterranean sea.

z. Formiæ was a city neighbouring Caieta, but it was destroyed by the Saracens, and its bishopric transferred to Caieta. Baudrand says that among the Greeks it was called Phormiæ and Hormiæ; and that out of its ruins grew Mola, which is a sufficiently pleasant town on the Formian gulf, now called the Gulf of Gaeta. Nuceus observes that that monastery afterwards passed to the Olivetans, and that the place is now called Castellone, marked on the maps near Mola.

aa. Arpinum is a town of the kingdom of Naples in Latium, not far from the Pontifical dominion, between Monte Cassino and Sora.

bb. The donation of the monastery of St. Sophia, that is, of the Eternal Wisdom, by Arichis prince of Benevento, who established his own sister there as the first abbess, is treated of in the Chronicle, book 1, chapter 9. But when our Desiderius dwelt there, an abbot presided, not an abbess. For it had been built in the beginning for nuns, as is read in book 1, chapter 6.

cc. Ughelli, in volume 6 of the Italia sacra reprinted, column 325, thinks that Ervæus, or Hervæus, was made archbishop of Capua in the year 1073, because he had firmly persuaded himself that these things had happened in the year 1073, in which Gregory VII was at Capua with our Desiderius. But that Pontiff was also at Capua in the year 1078, in which I have shown in the Commentary, number 93, that these things were done. Wherefore it is uncertain whether Hervæus was archbishop from the year 1073.

dd. Rusellæ, otherwise Rosellæ, was an ancient city of Etruria in the territory of Siena, which enjoyed a bishopric down to the 12th century; but then the bishopric was transferred to Grosseto, as is gathered from the catalogue of the bishops of Rosellæ or Rosella and of Grosseto which Ughelli gives in volume 3 of the Italia Sacra, column 660 and following. Nevertheless from that catalogue it cannot be gathered with certainty what is the name of the bishop of whom mention is here made.

ee. Jordan was prince of Capua, son of the often-mentioned Richard. Concerning the time when the affair took place, and the punishment and amendment of Jordan, consult the Commentary, number 94 and following.

* namely, of Benedict

* the same men

* read: they ought

* read: this

* read: the money

CHAPTER VIII.

Desiderius's meeting with Henry IV, in which he unconquerably defends the rights of the Church: communion with the Cluniacs established: various transactions.

The emperor ^a meanwhile sent a letter by the counts of the Marsi to father Desiderius, Henry IV with threatening letters that he should come to him. To this letter he gave no answer at all, because he did not know what sort of greeting ^b to write to him. The same emperor sent him another, threatening enough, because he had neither come to him nor answered his writings, and he ordered him not to delay to meet him at Farva ^c, unless perchance he wished to repent it grievously. To this Desiderius wrote back to him, in place of a greeting, the compliance of a due fidelity, and this because he thought he owed him no fidelity; and having set out many reasons to him in his own letter, he said that on account of the Normans he could not go to him, but that if perchance he should be willing to make peace with the Roman Pontiff, he would find some occasion of going to him; and at the end, to encourage him to peace, he wrote that neither the kingdom nor the Priesthood could remain unharmed in so great a discord. At this the emperor was angry, and moved with much indignation against Desiderius, and utterly forbade the messengers whom he was sending to the prince ^d to say anything to Desiderius, and ordered the prince to injure Desiderius as much as he could, unless he should come of his own accord to the emperor.

[80] When father Desiderius learned this, he made all these things known by letter to the Roman Pontiff, and consulted him as to what he ought to do about it, summons Desiderius, who, having consulted the Pope, but he received no answer from him upon this. Again therefore the emperor sent letters to Desiderius, that he should by no means fail to come to him at Easter and to celebrate that feast with him, and he sent another to the monks about the same matter; but he still put off going to him and deferred it. But after the prince and all the Normans were making their way to the emperor, and the prince was urging Desiderius to go with him, the same Abbot, calling the brethren together, said to them: Straits are upon me on every side: for if I do not go to the emperor, there hangs over us the peril and overthrow of the monastery; but if I go and fulfil his will, I shall incur the peril of my soul; and if I go and do not do his will, the peril of my body hangs over me, and at the same time I fear lest the emperor in his anger should grant to the Normans this monastery, which is under his protection and defence, as he does the whole principality.

[81] and having taken counsel with the brethren, Nevertheless I will go to him, delivering myself over to death and to danger; for I will not make my soul more precious than the most holy father Benedict: for indeed for your common salvation of souls and bodies, and for the safety of this place, if it cannot be otherwise, I choose to be anathema from Christ. For if I should be slain a thousand times, no one shall separate me from the love of this place; for I do not refuse to go and meet — I do not say the emperor, who is a Christian, but even any pagan or tyrant — provided I be able to free the property of the monastery from his barbarity. For Pope Leo also, in order to free the city of Rome from devastation and burning, went to meet Genseric ^e, the Arian king; and Savinus ^f of Canosa invited Attila, equally an Arian, to a banquet, and took the cup from his hand and drank; and father Benedict likewise received Zalla, a man of the Arian faithlessness, even into his prayer ^g, that he might soften him by the affliction of the peasant. When he had said these things, commending himself to father Benedict, he set out upon the journey.

[82] goes to him; but to one commanding unjust things Yet, with God protecting him, he took such care that in that whole journey, and in all that stay which he had there, although many bishops and men of honour met him, and very many of his own friends too, and the emperor's chancellor, he kissed no one *, prayed with none of them, ate or drank with none. But after he came to Albano ^h, neither did he himself go to the emperor, nor did he send anyone to him, but throughout that whole week only threats were sent to him from the emperor: for he ordered him to swear fealty to him, and to become his man by the placing of hands, and to receive the abbey from his hand. All which things, of course, Desiderius scorned with a brave spirit, saying that not only for the abbey, but not even for the honour of the whole world would he do it. And when the emperor perceived him to be so stiff and unbending, he was greatly angered, and commanded the prince to take his messengers and come with them to the monastery, and to hand it over to them; but when the prince had frequently spoken much good of Desiderius to him, and had brought him to him, he so bent himself that in the prince's presence he promised him his friendship, and that as far as he was able he would help him concerning the imperial crown and ⁱ the seeking of it — saving, however, his own order.

[83] he refuses to yield, and the dignity of the Church Since these things, in comparison with the foregoing, seemed light to Desiderius, because it could not be otherwise, he consented, and promised this to him in the prince's presence. And when he still demanded that he should receive the staff ^k of the abbey from him, he answered that when he should have seen him hold the crown of the Roman empire, then, if it seemed good to him, he would receive the abbey from him; but if he were unwilling, he would lay it down. After this the emperor, having received from the prince a great sum in payment, confirmed by a decree sealed with a golden bull the appurtenances of the whole principality of Capua, reserving to himself and to the empire the monastery of Cassino ^l, with all its goods and belongings. Besides these things, meanwhile, as long as Desiderius remained there, he contended daily and often with the bishops who were with the emperor concerning the honour of the Apostolic See, and especially also with the bishop of Ostia ^m, who even seemed to favour Pope Gregory: when the latter had shown him the privilege ⁿ of Pope Nicholas, which he had made together with the archdeacon Hildebrand and a hundred and twenty-five bishops, to the effect that a Pope should never be made in the Roman Church without the consent of the emperor, and that if it were done, he should know himself not to be held for Pope, and to be anathematized. Whereupon Desiderius openly refuted both him and all who were supporting him.

[84] For he said that neither a Pope, nor any bishop, he bravely defends against the Henricians. nor an archdeacon, nor a Cardinal, nor indeed any man whatever could justly do this: for the Apostolic See is our mistress, not a handmaid, nor subject to anyone, but set above all; and therefore it could by no reasoning stand that anyone should sell her as though she were a servant-girl. And if this was done by Pope Nicholas, it was without doubt done unjustly and most foolishly; nor can or ought the Church to lose her dignity through human folly, nor ought this ever to be in any degree consented to by us; nor, God willing, shall it ever again come to pass that the king of the Germans should appoint the Pope of the Romans. When at this the bishop said angrily: But if the men beyond the mountains should hear these things, all of them, banded together, would become one. Desiderius answered: Certainly if not only these, but the whole world too, were gathered into one against this, it could never drive us from this opinion: the emperor can indeed for a time, if God permit it, prevail and do violence to ecclesiastical justice, yet he will never be able to bend our consent to it. About these and many like matters he contended with them daily and very often, and convinced them by just arguments. With the archbishop of Ravenna ^o also he contended enough upon the same matter, and overcame him by just arguments concerning the aforesaid privilege, and reproved him not lightly for having also meddled in the matter of the Papacy; but when he wished to give satisfaction with many reasons and could not, he answered that he had done it against his will: for if he had not done it, the emperor would without doubt have taken away his honour. But Desiderius, receiving from the same emperor a decree sealed with a golden bull concerning the possessions of this place, and having obtained leave from the emperor to return, went back to this monastery.

LI & LII.

[85] About this time Hugh [p], the venerable abbot of Cluny, Communion with the Cluniacs entered upon: various transactions. a man of most celebrated life and reputation, came very devoutly to the threshold of father Benedict; and the venerable Desiderius, receiving him honourably, as befitted so great a man, and joining the fellowship of the Cluniac brethren to our congregation, established the remembrance [q] of them among us, and of our

congregation among them, those venerable men decreed that it should be held in perpetuity, in death and in life… In the following time Jannellus and Scifridus, for their own part and that of their kinsfolk, renounced to this monastery their claim upon the castle of Saracenisco [r] with its appurtenances, receiving there and then from Desiderius two hundred shillings of Pavian coin, a penalty of a hundred pounds of gold being laid down. Further, in these days Desiderius, in the presence of prince Jordan, granted to Goffridus, surnamed Monius, for the days of his life, the castle of Suio [s], on this condition, that he should acknowledge that castle as held neither from the prince nor from any man, but from the aforesaid abbot and his successors, and that he should from it do rightful service to this monastery and its abbots; but that at his death the aforesaid castle should return into the power of this place.

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

p. St. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, is venerated on the 29th day of April, at which his Acts were given by us. He came to Cassino, probably, in the same year 1083 in which Desiderius was with Henry.

q. Namely in the prayers, as the annotations of Nuceus show. He here also quotes the letter of abbot Desiderius to St. Peter Damian, to whom he promises that they would celebrate the anniversary of his death every year.

r. About the town or castle of Saracenisco, as it is here called, which had long before been granted to the men of Cassino, more is read in the Chronicle of Cassino, book 2, chapter 90. It is situated in a valley, and even now is subject to the men of Cassino.

s. On the occasion of this castle being granted in fief by the abbot, Nuceus quotes the oath of fealty which those took who became vassals of the abbot of Cassino.

* let it be

CHAPTER IX.

The Blessed kindly cherishes Gregory VII in his flight: the donations of duke Robert in favour of Desiderius: his care for letters and for the needy.

LIII.

Moreover in another year the emperor Eynricus came to Rome with an army, The Blessed receives Gregory VII, a fugitive from Henry IV. and began by all means to assail with various engines of war the aforesaid Pope Gregory, who had fortified himself against him in the castle of Saint Angelo. When this was reported to duke Robert ^a, who at that time was warring against the emperor of Constantinople, he left his son Bohemond ^b in that expedition, returned with all speed to Italy, and gathering a very immense army, made ready to march against the emperor for the deliverance of the Pope. When this was announced to Desiderius, he at once sent a messenger to Rome to announce both the deliverance of the Pope and the coming of the duke to the emperor ^c. Then the emperor, going out of the City — namely because he was without a garrison of soldiers — entered Civita Castellana ^d. But duke Robert, when he had come to Rome with his army to the church of the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs in the silence of the dead of night, by the counsel of the consul of the Romans set fire to the City. The Romans, therefore, struck by the unlooked-for event, and while they were intent upon quenching the fire, the duke, hastening at once with his army to the castle of Saint Angelo, and drawing the Pontiff thence, went out of Rome without delay ^e and conducted Pope Gregory as far as this monastery. And our abbot supported that Apostolic Lord, together with the bishops and Cardinals who had followed him, until his death ^f.

LV.

[87] Further, in these times a certain nobleman of the city of Amalfi, [The gift of the Holy Cross made to Cassino: the restoration of the monastery of Capua.] renouncing the world and all worldly things, came to this place, and being gladly received by Desiderius and made a monk, most devoutly offered to blessed Benedict a not inconsiderable portion of the wood of the saving and life-giving Cross, adorned with gold and precious stones and set in a golden icon, which he himself had taken from the palace of Constantinople in the conspiracy that was made against the emperor Michael ^g. But Desiderius after this, going to Capua and seeing the buildings of the monastery of Capua already laid in ruins, gave his mind to its renewal: for having pulled down the former church, he ordered other craftsmen to be brought in to make the capitals of the columns with wonderful workmanship; and calling to him Benedict, the provost of that place, he charged him to take pains to watch especially, all other things being set aside, over the renewal of that church; and he, obeying his command, built the basilica of father Benedict, most beautiful, as it is now seen. Which church indeed has in length ninety-eight cubits, in breadth fifty-two, in height forty; nine columns on the one side, and as many on the other…

LVII.

[88] The death of duke Robert, whose Meanwhile in this year duke Robert ^h, who had for a long time waged many battles prosperously with the emperor of Constantinople and his armies,

LVIII.

And had seized many of his cities, died while he was on that same expedition… But it does not seem unfitting here to add, in some part, for the knowledge of posterity, the sum of the offerings of this duke and of his wife Sichelgaita ⁱ, who beyond almost all mortals of their time took pains to love, to exalt, and to honour this place, father Desiderius, and our congregation. On the first occasion, therefore, when the same Abbot went to them at Reggio ^k, the duke gave him six hundred bezants, and five palls, and one little golden ship. On another occasion, one great pall and very many gems and pearls for seven hundred scyphati ^l. Likewise on another occasion, at the castle of Villari, he gave him six hundred bezants and two thousand African tarins ^m and thirteen mules with thirteen Saracens, and one great carpet : likewise when he fell sick, he sent this place a thousand scyphati*: likewise from Gallipoli ⁿ he sent three hundred bezants and two thousand tarins.

[89] When he came here the first time, and went into Campania, as also of his wife Sichelgaita he laid in the chapter-house twelve pounds

of gold and a hundred bezants, and upon the altar of Saint Benedict three hundred scyphati and three palls, and a hundred scyphati for the building of the dormitory, and a hundred in the refectory, and forty in the guest-house , and twelve pounds of pennies in the infirmary, and a hundred michalati ^o for the painting of the chapter-house. When he came against Aquino [p], he sent hither five hundred bezants. When he took Bari [q], he gave Desiderius twelve pounds of gold. Likewise a second time, when he marched against the city of Tivoli [r], he laid in the chapter-house twelve pounds of gold, and upon the altar a hundred scyphati and one great pall. The third time, when he returned from Rome with Pope Gregory, he laid in the chapter-house a thousand shillings of Amalfi, and a hundred bezants upon the altar, and going away from here he sent a hundred and ninety farganæ [s] to the brethren in the dormitory. On another occasion he sent hither a thousand tarins for fish: likewise a thousand tarins and one vessel worth a thousand shillings; likewise four hundred shillings of Amalfi: likewise from Romania [t] he sent hither a thousand michalati*.

[90] Moreover his wife, when she fell sick, sent to blessed Benedict forty-five pounds of silver and one pall; gifts plainly outstanding likewise when she came hither after the duke's death, she laid in the chapter-house three hundred scyphati, and covered all the tables of the refectory with cloths [u]. On another occasion they offered to blessed Benedict a golden altar, adorned with gems, pearls and enamels: a silken altar-covering, with a purple urn, adorned with pearls and enamels: a small golden chalice: a purple chasuble with an orphrey and with an eagle of pearls: one tunic of gilded perse cloth [w]: four copes: four silken albs: eight albs of cotton thread [x]: one pair of candlesticks of crystal and onyx and silver . Another pair of silver candlesticks with crystal knops [y]: one pair of silver basins [z] of seven pounds: a silver lantern of eight pounds: a silver shrine for above the altar with niello [aa], of eight pounds: a great ivory shrine: two silver gilt cups [bb] with niello, of fifteen pounds, out of which the brethren might drink on the chief feasts: a silver bowl with its ewer [cc], of twenty-four pounds: a larger crystal pitcher: a silver dish with niello, of fourteen pounds: another dish of sixteen pounds: two others of ten pounds. A great silken cloth with one wheel [dd], and three others equally great, and four smaller. Four hangings [ee] for the altar of Saint Benedict. Two Arabian curtains [ff], which hang above the choir; two other curtains, which are hung round about the choir through Lent. Likewise when she came hither after the duke's death, she laid in the chapter-house five pounds of gold, and gave two in the infirmary, one for expenses, the other for the building of a bath.

[91] are commemorated. Besides all these and many other things, which can neither be recalled nor numbered, they offered to blessed Benedict the monastery of Saint Peter Imperial at Taranto, with the tithe of the fishery and with the tithe of their handworkers: the monastery of Saint Angelus at Troia, of Saint Nicander, of Saint Anastasius in Calabria, of Saint Nicholas in Sellectanum, and the Fondaco at Amalfi with its appurtenances. In the following year the same duchess Sichelgaita, with the consent of her son duke Roger [gg], offered to blessed Benedict, by a charter sealed with a golden bull, the place which is called Cetrarium in Calabria, with its whole harbour and all its appurtenances, and all the tenants dwelling there — which she had long since received in dowry from her aforesaid husband duke Robert — on this condition, however, that as long as she herself lived, that place should remain in her lordship; but that after her death it should return to the jurisdiction of this monastery without any cavil of her heirs or successors, a penalty of a hundred pounds of gold being laid upon whoever should attempt to be a violator of this her offering. And besides these things she sent to blessed Benedict, by the hand of Desiderius, a most precious altar, wonderfully adorned with gold and enamels, pearls and gems, and — what is much more precious than all these — with the most sacred relics of the most blessed apostle and evangelist Matthew.

LXIII.

[92] But Desiderius took pains to give the very greatest care not only to buildings but also to the copying of books: Desiderius has very many books copied for he ordered a number of codices to be copied in this place, whose names are these: Augustine Against Faustus: On the Work of Monks: On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount: fifty Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans: his Sermons, the Epistles of Paul [hh]: On Genesis according to the letter: his Epistles: his Pastoral: On the Baptism of Infants. Ambrose On the things done in the church of Milan: On the Patriarchs: On the Faith, to the emperor Gratian: his Sermons. The Register of Pope Leo. The Register of Pope Felix. The Rule of Basil. Jerome on Ezekiel; on the Epistles of Paul; on the Twelve Prophets. Eugippius [ii]. The Sermons of Severianus [kk]: the History of Anastasius. The History of the Lombards, the Goths and the Vandals. The History of Jordanes , the bishop, on the Romans and the Goths. The History of Gregory of Tours. Josephus On the Jewish War. The History of Cornelius with Homer. The History of Erchempert [ll]. Bede on Tobias. On the Holy Places. A greater Gospel-book adorned with gold and precious stones, in which he placed these relics: of the wood of the Lord, and of the garments of Saint John the Evangelist.

LXIV.

[93] and in a time of famine relieves the needy. The Sermons of Pope Leo. The Sermons of Gregory Nazianzen. The Teaching of the Fathers. A Sacramentary [mm] with a Martyrology. Another Sacramentary. An Episcopal Ordinal. Gualfridus [nn] On the Offices. On the Rule. Passionals for the whole year, four books. Two Antiphonaries for the day, always to be kept in the choir. An Antiphonary for the night. The Lives of the Fathers. The Institutes of the Fathers. The Acts of the Apostles with the canonical Epistles, and the Apocalypse. The Epistles of Paul. Paralipomenon. On the Song of Songs, by Origen, Gregory and Berengarius. John Chrysostom On the Restoration of the Fallen. The Dialogue [oo] which he himself published, together with the deacon Alberic, on the miracles of the monks of this place. Another Dialogue. The Dialogue on the Life of Saint Benedict. Hilary of the mysteries and of hymns. Sedulius on the Gospels. Juvencus on the Gospels. A book of medicine. A Psalter. Creconius on the Libyan wars. The verses of Arichis, of Paul and of Charles. The verses of Paulinus. Cicero On the Nature of the gods. The Institutes of Justinian, his Novel. Terence. Horace with a geometry. Ovid's Fasti. Seneca. Virgil with the Eclogue * of Theodore. Donatus… Moreover at this time a very great famine arose through almost all Italy. Then Desiderius, having taken counsel with the brethren, bestowed food abundantly upon the needy.

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

p. Aquino is a city of the kingdom of Naples not far from the boundary of the Ecclesiastical state and from Monte Cassino.

q. Bari is a very well-known city of the same kingdom on the Adriatic sea. Robert took this from the Greeks.

r. Ribur is a city of Latium in the Pontifical dominion, commonly called Tivoli.

s. Nuceus says that the word farganas is unknown to him, and suspects that perhaps sarganas should be read. And he explains this word as wicker baskets, hurdles of rushes. But if sargans is to be read, I should rather believe that coverlets are meant, since the gift was given for the dormitory. Certainly by the neighbouring words sargea and sarfia coverlets are sometimes understood in the middle ages, because coverlets are frequently made of cloth of that name. For the same reason, therefore, they could have been called sarganæ or serginæ.

t. By Romania here understand the dominion of the emperor of Constantinople.

u. That is, with linen cloths, and probably also with napkins for those reclining at table.

w. That is, of a somewhat dark blue colour, such as is that of the peach-blossom, from which comes the name of the colour, in Italian perso, in French pers.

x. That is, of cotton cloth: for metassa among the Italians is a certain mass of collected threads, as is clear from the Life of St. Frances of Rome, volume 2 of March, page

* 103, number 2, where the same word is had and explained.

y. The upper part of the candlestick is called a malum (apple), because it is round like the fruit of an apple, says Nuceus.

z. The word bazili, otherwise bacile, baccile, and bacino, has an origin obscure enough. But it signifies a basin, as is clear from the various examples adduced in Du Cange.

aa. Nuceus, on the last chapter of book 2, explains that phrase cum nigello of encaustum, and the Glossary of Du Cange agrees, where encaustum is said to be a black or blackish substance made of silver and lead.

bb. That is, chalices or cups for drinking.

cc. A conca or concha is a vessel or basin for washing; but an aquimanile or aquamanile is a vessel for receiving the water which has been poured out for washing.

dd. What is signified by the word rotum I do not find.

ee. Things with which the altars might be wrapped round for protection, says Nuceus. Du Cange in his Glossary says: Whereupon I do not know whether circitoria are anything other than the cloths with which in the time of Lent the altars were covered and veiled. But neither opinion pleases me, because neither seems rightly to agree with the various passages in which the same word circitorium occurs. In the Chronicle of Cassino, book 3, chapter 74, among the ornaments which our Blessed left to his abbey, these are enumerated: Eleven great and excellent circitoria. Presently again: five circitoria, and five coverings. Then, A golden circitorium, etc. Many circitoria are enumerated there, and they are almost always joined with coverings. Who now would believe that there was so great a number of circitoria, if these had served only for wrapping round the altar for protection, or for covering it in the time of Lent? Who would persuade himself that circitoria applied to such uses were of gold? Wherefore I rather think that by the word circitorium is meant that veil with which the chalice is covered when one goes up to the altar to offer sacrifice, or comes away from the altar; and that by the word coopertorium is signified the corporal, as we call it, upon which the sacred host is placed and the chalice, and which at that time served also for that linen covering of the chalice which we now call the pall. The first reason for my conjecture is that among the gifts of Robert recounted in this chapter, and among the gifts left by Bl. Victor III, which are enumerated in chapter 74, nothing is listed by which those two things, most necessary to the Sacrifice, could be signified, unless they be designated by the words circitoria and coopertoria. This reason presses more strongly in the Chronicle of Cava in Muratori, volume 7, column 951, where all the things are enumerated which Roffridus, abbot of Cassino, found in the sacristy in the year 1189. Several circitoria and coopertoria are listed there; but besides these nothing else by which the veils of the chalice and the corporals can be designated, although these are most necessary to the Sacrifice and ought to be kept in the sacristy. The other reason is that circitoria and coopertoria are for the most part joined together in the enumeration, and therefore seem to have a use not indeed the same, but neighbouring. But let these things suffice about these matters.

ff. Namely, hangings of Arabian weave.

gg. Roger was the son and successor of Robert Guiscard. The donation of Cetrarium, and of the monasteries just mentioned, I have recounted in their places in the Commentary. About Cetrarium Nuceus notes this: He says "the place," not "the castle" or "the land," so as to indicate that he means to comprehend that whole tract, within whose boundaries there were formerly several hamlets or villages and estates, such as Cetrarius, St. Angelus, etc. That dominion is still possessed by the monastery of Cassino with full right in both fora, the spiritual and the temporal.

hh. Understand them as expounded by Augustine, because his Works are being listed.

ii. A certain Eugippius, or Eugepius, a priest, wrote the Life of St. Severinus, apostle of the Norici, given at the 8th of January. Whether this was he, or whether the Eugippius who collected many things out of the Works of St. Augustine was another, I do not inquire in this place.

kk. Severianus, bishop of Gabala in Syria, and rival of St. John Chrysostom, left some Sermons or Homilies to posterity.

ll. Erchempert was a monk of Cassino, who wrote a History of the Lombards of Benevento, Capua, Salerno, etc., says Gattola in his Historia Casinensis, page 70, where more about him may also be seen.

mm. That is, a Sacramentary, as it is commonly called, or a book of the Sacraments.

nn. Walafrid Strabo is meant, who wrote On the Divine Offices and certain other things.

oo. Concerning the Dialogues of Bl. Victor, Peter the Deacon in his book On Illustrious Men, chapter 18, writes this: Moreover, concerning the Miracles which were wrought by Bl. Benedict and by the monks of Cassino, he published four books together with Theophilus the deacon. On this a few things are to be observed. First, that those Dialogues were first published at Rome in the year 1651 by John Baptist Mari, and afterwards were reprinted several times. But, as Gattola observes in his Historia Casinensis, page 183, out of these books of Dialogues only three survive, and the third of them, in which the miracles done outside the monastery of Cassino are treated, is mutilated. Secondly, in the Acts he who published those Dialogues with the Blessed is called Alberic the deacon, in the passage cited Theophilus. Perhaps Alberic is the true name, but Theophilus a name adopted for the dialogue. Thirdly, I add from the praised Peter the Deacon what he subjoins about the Blessed's other writings: He also composed the chant of Bl. Maurus. Then he commends both Works in these words: In which he who wishes will find the path of the grammatical art, and the notes of the bridge of the sounding monochord. He also testifies that some Letters were written by him during his pontificate to Philip king of the Franks, and to St. Hugh abbot of Cluny.

* that is, a hanging

* guest-house

* onyx

* that is, a pair

* elsewhere he is called Jornandes

* of Tacitus, I suppose

* eclogue

CHAPTER X.

After the death of Gregory VII, Desiderius is, long resisting and against his will, put in his place; and, having laid aside the insignia of the Pontificate, returns to Cassino.

LXV.

Now in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and eighty-five, Gregory VII's judgment about his successor. in the eighth Indiction, when the lord Pope Gregory VII, of venerable and ever-to-be-recalled memory, was held at Salerno by a great sickness, being asked on the third day before his death by the bishops and Cardinals who were then present together with Desiderius what he should command after his death concerning the ordering of the Roman See, he answered that, if ever by any means they could, they should promote the same Desiderius to this Office: for he, besides that he was then the first Cardinal priest of the Roman Church, was strong both in the greatest prudence and in singular religion and in much friendship of the princes dwelling round about; but if they could by no means bend him to this, then they should hasten as quickly as possible after his death to elect as Pope either Hugh ^a, archbishop of Lyons, or Otto of Ostia ^b, or the bishop of Lucca — whichever of these * they could first obtain. Having settled this, he died, namely on the eighth day of the Kalends of June, on a Sunday, and was honourably buried within the church ^c of blessed Matthew the apostle and evangelist, having sat in the Pontificate twelve years, one month, and three days.

[95] Desiderius takes pains to promote the election of a new Pontiff, And since the Roman Church remained bereft of a Shepherd, and heretics and schismatics were striving after the manner of wolves to invade her, Desiderius, together with the bishops and Cardinals, and also with the religious laymen who had hitherto stood faithfully in Catholic unity and in obedience to Pope Gregory, began with one mind to treat how he might most fittingly set her in order. They sent, therefore, and caused to assemble from every quarter persons suitable for this office, so that from among them by unanimous consent they might elect, with the grace and help of God, the person who should be fit and apt for so great a rank. After this the bishops and Cardinals, coming together to the aforesaid Abbot, began to appeal to him upon the judgment of the aforesaid Pontiff, and most urgently to demand that in so great a necessity of the time he should succour the endangered Church by taking upon himself the papacy. To this he refused with a most obstinate answer to take the papacy upon himself; but he pledged that in other ways, such as he knew and could, he was ready for the service of the Roman Church. On the day of Pentecost he went to meet the bishop of Sabina ^d and Gratian ^e, who were coming from Rome, and reported to them the words which he had had with Pope Gregory about the ordering of the Church, and together with them he went to prince Jordan and count Rainulf, and having exhorted them to the service and help of the Roman Church, found them most willingly ready for everything.

[96] He then began vehemently to press the Cardinals to deliberate as quickly as possible about the person of the Pontiff to be elected, desiring himself in every way to be excluded. and to send letters to the countess Matilda ^f, that she should take pains that both the bishops whom we have mentioned, and as many persons as should be judged fit for so great an office, should come to Rome without delay. But they, neglecting to do this, were secretly plotting with prince Jordan to lay the pastoral charge upon the same Abbot, and were striving by many persuasions to bring him by any means to Rome, thinking that they could impose it upon him by force. Perceiving this beforehand, he began utterly to refuse and to contradict, and so, returning to this monastery, he began again to exhort the Normans and Lombards ^g, and all whom he could, to the service of the Roman Church, and found many of them prompt and ready for the business itself: but because the heat of summer was excessive, for that reason they then put off going to Rome until both the heat of summer should abate and the unhealthy season ^h should pass. But after the prince, having levied an army, came into Campania for the sake of going to Rome on this business, and when not a few bishops of these parts were accompanying him together with Desiderius, he himself, suspicious ⁱ of the aforesaid counsels, would not proceed further, saying that unless prince Jordan and count Rainulf and the Roman bishops * gave him their pledge in his presence that they would offer no violence to him in this matter, nor suffer others to offer it, he would by no means go with them. And as they refused to do so, for this cause the business then remained unaccomplished.

LXVI.

[97] Almost a year had already passed in such wavering, in which there was no Shepherd in the Apostolic See, By no entreaties or arguments no one undertook the care of the Lord's flock, and Guibert the heresiarch ^k with his followers was tearing the sheep of Christ redeemed by His blood, when about the feast of Easter the bishops and Cardinals of the Roman Church, coming together to Rome from various parts, sent word to the aforesaid Abbot that, together with the Roman bishops and Cardinals who were then staying with him, and with Gisulf prince of Salerno, who had then come from the Cisalpine parts, they should go to them as quickly as possible, in order that they might treat together of the ordering of the Roman Church. He, suspecting nothing, namely that they were already thinking of him for anything, since no mention was now made of him by anyone, took with him all the aforesaid and came to the city of Rome. On the day on which he arrived, on the Vigil of Pentecost, when Desiderius urged that the summit of the pontificate should be laid upon one of those persons who seemed fit either to them or to him, all the Roman clergy and people utterly refused to consent. And through that whole day a great crowd, as many as favoured the Catholic party,

both clerics and laymen, gathered to him; and now towards evening all alike were assembled — both the bishops and Cardinals and the other Romans who persevered in fidelity to blessed Peter the prince of the Apostles — in the deaconry of Saint Lucy, which is beside the Septe Solis ^l, and all with one mind began to beseech Desiderius with many prayers that he would not refuse to take upon himself the Roman pontificate, and to adjure him by all things divine and human that he would succour the endangered Church, set as she was in shipwreck, all of them together falling many times at his knees, some of them weeping.

[98] suffering himself to be moved to take up the pontificate, But Desiderius, who had long since resolved to pass his life in quiet, and who rather desired to end his time in a divine pilgrimage, began to refuse by every means, and firmly to promise that he would never consent to this. They pressed him vehemently, they insisted perseveringly; he struggled back the more vehemently, resisted the more perseveringly, saying: Know for certain that if you offer me any violence in this matter, I for my part will return to Cassino as quickly as I can, and will in no way ever meddle in it; and you by this are making a great laughing-stock both of yourselves and of the Roman Church. And because the hour * had now grown late, and night was already at hand, each returned to his own place. Early in the morning of the Sunday of Pentecost, all coming together to him again with one mind, they began to repeat the same things, and he none the less to persist in the resolution once fixed. Seeing that they were now getting nowhere at all, the priests and the Cardinal bishops said to Desiderius that whomsoever he should advise them to, him they were ready to elect. Whereupon, having taken counsel with Cencius, consul of the Romans, he at last decided that the bishop of Ostia should be elected Pope.

[99] at last he is elected against his will, After this they asked of him that he would receive in the monastery of Cassino that very Pontiff whom they should elect, and would support him with all his people until the Church should be at peace, just as he had done with the aforesaid Pope Gregory; and Desiderius promised most willingly to do this, and by the staff which he carried in his hand invested them with this upon his faith. But when now at last they were deciding upon the bishop of Ostia, suddenly again one of the Cardinals, declaring that this election was against the canons ^m, cried out that he would by no means consent; and though they alleged that for the time and for the necessity this must be borne *, they could by no means bend him to their opinion. But, as Solomon, the wise among the wise, testifies, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against God: for presently the bishops and Cardinals, together with the clergy and people, chafing at Desiderius's hardness, and seeing that they could do nothing with him by entreaties, determined to accomplish the business by force. At last, therefore, all together with one consent and mind seized him, dragged him along unwilling and struggling, and brought him to the aforesaid church of Lucy, martyr of Christ, and there, electing him according to the custom of the Church, imposed upon him the name of Victor. But since they did all this, as we have said, against his mind and will, he did indeed put on the red cope, but the alb they could never put upon him.

LXVII.

[100] At that time, therefore, the emperor's prefect ⁿ, released by the duke and his mother, but laying aside the insignia of the papacy he returns to his monastery. namely on account of that grudge that the bishops and Cardinals — at the instigation, however, of the prince of Salerno — had refused to consecrate the archbishop of Salerno ^o, assembling day and night in the Capitol against the same Elect with a number of men hired for wicked pay, brought the greatest persecutions upon him. After four days the same Elect, going out from Rome, came to Ardea [p], and staying there three days, went away to Terracina, and thereafter laid aside the cross and the mantle * and the other insignia of the pontificate in such a way that he could never by any means be persuaded to use them again, resolving rather to end his life in a divine pilgrimage for all the time of his life than to submit his neck to the most heavy burdens of so great a rank. He was pressed daily with entreaties and very frequent tears; the great perils of the churches were set before him; the loss of very many souls was urged upon him, by which the divine indignation was most plainly threatened against him; and so he returned to Cassino. Moreover, through the course of a whole year [q] the purpose of his mind stood so unmoved that by no arguments at all could he be turned aside to their exhortations and prayers. Yet the Cardinals and bishops who were with him did not on this account rest in any degree, but began to press prince Jordan to hasten as quickly as possible and to go with them to Rome for the consecration of the same Elect: and he, coming to this monastery with a great army, partly through the dissuasion of the Elect himself, partly through fear of the summer heat, was unwilling to advance further and returned home.

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

p. Ardea is a small town of the ecclesiastical dominion in Latium, distant from Rome sixteen thousand paces, says Baudrand, and a little further from Terracina, whither Victor was making his way, to lay aside the pontifical ornaments and return to Cassino.

q. Not for a whole year, but until the end of the year 1086, and even longer, as we shall see.

his*

hortari*

* that is, Cardinal bishops

hora*

adstruentes*

chlamydem*

CHAPTER XI.

The Blessed is crowned Pope: the depredations and sacrileges of the antipope Guibert: Victor's triumph over the Saracens.

LXVIII.

[ ] At last to the unremitting demands of the bishops and others In the following year, in mid-Lent, when a council of bishops had been gathered at Capua, and the aforesaid Elect together with the Roman bishops and Cardinals had presided over that council, and Cencius also, consul of the Romans, with other Roman nobles, and prince Jordan and duke Roger with almost all their chief men had been present — after the end of the council he was again unexpectedly, and while he suspected nothing of these things, urged by the clergy and laity with many prayers and tears, and for two days stood unmoved. At last, when the duke and the prince, together with the bishops and the other Catholic men, lay weeping at his feet, compelled by many arguments and entreaties, he scarcely at last gave way, and confirmed the past election by resuming the cross and the purple, namely on the twelfth day of the Kalends of April, on Palm Sunday: thence returning to Cassino, he celebrated Easter there.

[102] When the feast was over, he went to Rome with the prince of Capua and the prince of Salerno, he yields, and is consecrated Pontiff. and crossing the Tiber with them all near the city of Ostia, and being held by a grave sickness, he pitched his tents outside the portico of Saint Peter; and since the heresiarch of Ravenna, who, while Pope Gregory was still living, had seized the papacy, was holding the church of Saint Peter with an armed force, it was, by God's help, stormed and recovered by the prince's soldiers in less than a whole day. And on the Sunday after Ascension Sunday,

with many Romans and almost all the dwellers across the Tiber solemnly coming to meet him in the greatest throng, the aforesaid Elect was consecrated according to the ecclesiastical manner by the Roman bishops — namely those of Ostia, Tusculum, Porto and Albano — with very many Cardinals and bishops and abbots assisting, and was set in the Apostolic See on the seventh day of the Ides of May. On which day also the body of Saint Nicholas ^a, confessor of Christ, was brought to Bari from the city of Myra, in which it had rested for seven hundred and seventy-five years. And the aforesaid Pontiff, after staying about eight days at Rome, returned to this monastery together with the aforesaid princes.

LXIX.

[103] But after a short space of time the countess Matilda, coming to the City, The Blessed's meeting with Matilda, by whose help entreated that same Pontiff by legates with great supplications that she might deserve to enjoy the sight of him and to obtain converse with him: she suggested indeed that this had been the very greatest cause of her coming to Rome. The weakness of his body compelled him not to depart from the place; but because for the good of the holy Church he had determined to expose himself to all, even the utmost, dangers, he undertook the journey by sea. And when he had come to the City, he was most devoutly and most attentively received by the countess and her army and the other faithful of blessed Peter, and remained at the church of blessed Peter for eight days. Then, on the feast of Saint Barnabas ^b, solemnly celebrating Mass upon the altar of Saint Peter, on that same day by the help and aid of the aforesaid countess he entered Rome by way of the Trastevere ^c. She then held in her own jurisdiction the whole Trastevere, and the very greatest part of the Romans, and almost all the people of the nobles, and also the castle of Saint Angelo, the basilica of blessed Peter, the city of Ostia ^d and that of Porto: and she was staying at the island of Rome, which likewise stood under her jurisdiction.

[104] On the day, therefore, which preceded the birthday of the Apostles, a certain messenger, he recovers the church of St. Peter. coming as it were on the emperor's behalf, removed ^e all the consuls, senators and Roman people from the crown of the empire, when suddenly the Romans, coming upon them, seized everything except the church of blessed Peter: but that church itself, which the men of the aforesaid Pontiff were guarding from above, they could by no means enter. But because the multitude of Guibert the heresiarch was very great, those who were on Pope Victor's side, not being strong enough to withstand so great a band of enemies, withdrew into the Trastevere, or into the castle of Saint Angelo. When the day was already half spent, the heresiarch of Ravenna sang Mass in the church of Saint Mary in the Towers: for he had taken both bell-towers by setting fire and smoke beneath them; but when the sun was now sinking to its setting, those who had stood in the church came down openly with their arms and returned. Thus that Apostolic and Universal Church of blessed Peter — alas for the grief — lacked on that day, on which its chief feast fell, all office both of the night and of the day. Thus was frustrated the hope of Guibert the heresiarch, who was eager to celebrate Masses there on the solemnity of the Apostles. On the next day the Apostolic altar was washed by the heretics, and Mass was performed there. But on the following day all returned to their own homes, and that same church came back into the jurisdiction of Pope Victor…

LXX.

[105] Meanwhile Guibert the heresiarch, who after having given oaths of fidelity to his lord Pope Gregory the Seventh of blessed memory and having rendered him obedience for nine years, The antipope Guibert had seized the Apostolic throne, seeing that Pope Victor was held by all in the greatest veneration, released the emperor Henry ^f from the observance of the oath which he had formerly made to Pope Gregory at Canossa ^g, a town of Tuscany, and drew him to Rome, and with him began to assail the Catholic Church ^h. But those who were on Pope Victor's side in the parts beyond the mountains, learning that the emperor was lingering at Rome, made ready to rebel against him. And when the emperor Henry came against them, the fortune of war being various, as is usual, there was fighting for a very long time on both sides with many plunderings and burnings and slaughters.

[106] cruelly harasses the Church; while all upright men At last the aforesaid emperor, having left forces in Germany to resist, and having taken an army partly his own, partly hired or mercenary, laid waste Rome and its suburbs for four years ⁱ with such plunderings and burnings and slaughters as he could, and at last, having enthroned his own Simon more by money than by force, received the imperial crown from him, and brought upon those who did not favour or who did not communicate with him and his accomplices, both at Rome and in the whole Roman empire, a most savage and long-lasting persecution. By reason of this the churches of almost the whole Roman empire were made desolate, and the Christian religion well-nigh scattered, and twenty thousand men and more were slain in various regions, with Guibert the katopapa ^k cooperating. And he too, having driven out the Catholic bishops and abbots and other rulers of churches, men strong alike in learning and in religion, and having substituted wicked men and ignoramuses, one to each city and monastery or church, but sometimes two, or prelates lasting a year, by the damnable trafficking of his former master Simon Magus, raged [*] far and wide in the plundering of holy places and of Christians who did not favour him, since there was none to resist him under arms — raging indeed with the will of a Nero and a Decius, but with less power.

[107] render obedience to Victor III: But the same Guibert, who might much more rightly have been called Pope Demented than Clement ^l, in his little town which is called Argentum, having built as it were a lofty tower for his own defence, was waiting for his simoniac angels, with whom, of course, he might fly and rush headlong into the most fetid Stygian swamps — his legs being broken and reduced to nothing, God being in all things favourable to Pope Victor: to whom no one rendered Apostolic reverence or obedience except the emperor and his accomplices, or those who sold themselves to him, out of avarice, which is the service of idols, either for ever or for a time, by a covenant on oath; very many of whom, to whom his faithlessness had become plain, were not present when he celebrated his execrable sacrifices, knowing that he had succeeded none of the Roman Pontiffs, but had in the manner described been thrust in upon Pope Gregory, a perjurer and an usurper and a simoniac: for the Catholics, who defended the faith and religion with zeal for God, adhered to Pope Victor, most excellent in learning and religion.

LXXI.

[108] Meanwhile the same Apostolic Victor burned with an immense desire his notable victory over the Saracens. to confound, trample down and crush the infidelity of the Saracens dwelling in Africa ^m. Whereupon, having taken counsel with the bishops and Cardinals, and gathering an army of Christians from almost all the peoples of Italy, and delivering to them the banner of the blessed apostle Peter, he sent them, under remission of all their sins, against the Saracens dwelling in Africa. Under Christ's leadership, therefore, when they had made their way down to the African city, storming it with every effort, by God's help they took it, a hundred thousand fighting men of the Saracen army being slain. And that no one may doubt that this happened not without the divine will, on the very day on which the Christians gained the victory over the Saracens, on that same day it was divinely made known in Italy.

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

perhaps grassatus*

CHAPTER XII.

Victor holds a synod at Benevento: its decrees, and his holy death after returning to Cassino: the sacred furnishings left by him.

LXXII.

Now the aforesaid Pope Victor III, going out from the City, He assembles a synod at Benevento, in which came to this monastery, and having joined to himself bishops and Cardinals, the church

of Saint Nicholas in Pica he solemnly dedicated. And in the month of August, determining to hold a synod with the bishops of Apulia and Calabria, and also of the Principalities, he went to Benevento. And presiding over it, the same Apostolic Lord said: Your charity knows, dearest brothers and fellow-bishops, nor has it been hidden even from the whole world, how many adversities the holy Roman and Apostolic See, which by God's authority I serve, has borne, and how at last it has lain under the hammers and frequent poundings of the money-changers of the simoniac heresy, so that the pillar of the living God seemed now almost shaken and tottering, and the net of the supreme Fisherman, with the storms swelling, was being forced to sink into the depths of shipwreck. For Guibert the heresiarch, who, while my predecessor of holy memory Pope Gregory was living, invaded the Roman Church, having become the forerunner of Antichrist and the standard-bearer of Satan, does not cease to trample down, kill and tear in pieces the sheep of Christ.

[110] setting forth Guibert's enormous crimes, For having become the provoker, the persecutor, the heaper-up and the kindler of injuries against Pope Gregory, who could tell how many calamities, how many tribulations and how many persecutions he brought upon him? He stirred up conspiracies and plots against him, drove him from the City, deprived him — perjurer and simoniac as he was — of the Priesthood, so far as in him lay, and stirred up against him the Roman empire, nations and kingdoms; and, what has not been heard of from the beginning of the world, he himself excommunicated and condemned, presumed to excommunicate that same holy Pontiff, and has not to this day ceased to defile the city of Rome with sacrileges, murders, perjuries, conspiracies, outrages, and every mockery of vices and crimes; and being fortified with the faithlessness of Simon Magus and made his very workshop, calling out the accomplices of his wickednesses to so most impious and execrable a crime, and gathering the emperor's army, he has become an invader of the Apostolic See — against the Gospel precepts, against the decrees of the Prophets and Apostles, against the laws of the canons and of the Roman Pontiffs, with no preceding judgment of the Cardinal bishops, with no approving vote of the Roman clergy, with no fervour of the devoted people brought to bear — and in the holy Roman Church has become the head of all malice, wickedness and perdition.

[111] But when the clemency of Almighty God called the aforesaid Pontiff Gregory, he binds him with anathema: Hugh of Lyons after his labours and struggles, to eternal rest, and when now by the unanimous concord of the bishops and clergy and people of Rome they had set our littleness, contradicting and struggling by every means, over the Apostolic See, he, not fearing the judgment of the eternal Emperor, has until now not ceased to persecute Christ and the sheep for whom He shed His blood. Therefore by the authority of God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul and of all the Saints, we deprive him of every priestly office and honour *, and separating him from the thresholds of the Church, we bind him with the bond of anathema. You know besides, and well know, how many deceits and how many persecutions Hugh ^a, archbishop of Lyons, and Richard ^b, abbot of Marseilles, have brought upon me — men who out of pride and ambition for the Apostolic See, which they had hitherto secretly harboured, when they perceived that they could not obtain it, became schismatics in the holy Church; and Richard indeed had made our election at Rome with the bishops and Cardinals. And Hugh, coming to us a little later, casting himself at our feet, while he rendered us the obedience due to the Supreme Pontiff, though we were unwilling and drawing back, had asked and received from us a legateship in the parts of Gaul; and so, when they saw the weakness of our littleness struggling against the election made and approved by themselves, they pressed upon us by every means that we should not cast off the burden imposed for the Church's necessity.

[112] But when they beheld us bent to it, and orders Richard of Marseilles to be shunned. the overheated furnace ^c vomited forth the flame of ambition long conceived. Wherefore, seeing the unanimity of all the brethren against them, and that they struggled the more stubbornly in that crime of scandals, they were forthwith cut off from their communion and from ours. Whence we command you by Apostolic authority that you take care to abstain from them, and by no means communicate with them, because they have of their own accord cut themselves off from the communion of the Roman Church, since, as blessed Ambrose writes, he who separates himself from the Roman Church is truly to be reckoned a heretic ^d. We also decree that if anyone hereafter shall receive a bishopric or an abbey from the hand of any lay ^e person, he shall by no means be held among the bishops or abbots, nor shall any hearing be granted to such a bishop or abbot. Moreover we interdict him from the grace of blessed Peter and from entrance into the Church, until by coming to his senses he shall abandon the place which he has taken under the crime as much of ambition as of disobedience, which is the crime of idolatry. We decree likewise also concerning the lower ecclesiastical dignities.

[113] He issues a decree concerning investitures. Likewise, if any of the emperors, kings, dukes, marquesses, counts, or any of the secular powers or persons whatsoever shall presume to give the investiture of bishoprics, or of any ecclesiastical dignity, let him know that he is bound by the bond of the same sentence: nor is this to be wondered at, since the three hundred and eighteen fathers gathered in the Council of Nicæa excommunicated all sellers and buyers, saying: He who gives, and he who receives, let him be anathema. When therefore you do not shun such bishops, or abbots, or the remaining clerics — if you hear their Masses, or pray with them — you undergo excommunication along with them: and indeed to believe them to be even priests ^f is wholly to err. But receive penance and communion from none but a Catholic *: and if no Catholic priest be at hand, it is more right to remain without visible communion and to be communicated invisibly by the Lord, than to be communicated by a heretic and be separated from God. For there is no agreement of Christ with Belial, says the Apostle, nor any part of the faithful with the unbeliever: and every heretic is an unbeliever: and the simoniac, because he is a heretic ^g, is therefore an unbeliever; for although Catholics, on account of the heretics pressing upon them, may not be able to have the sacred communion of Christ visibly and bodily, yet, so long as they are joined to Christ in mind and body, they have the sacred communion of Christ invisibly. When therefore these things had been confirmed by the authority of all the bishops sitting in that council, they made copies and spread them through the East and the West.

LXXIII.

[114] But in that same council the same Pontiff fell gravely ill, He makes various ordinances at Cassino, and, having designated his own and after the council had been held for three days he hastily returned to Cassino, and going up to this monastery with the bishops and Cardinals, he ordered himself to be carried into the chapter-house of the brethren, and under the most strict anathema forbade that any of his successors ^h should dare to sell or alienate the land-rent ⁱ, churches, farms or any possessions whatsoever belonging to this monastery of Cassino. In like manner he forbade that any of the monks should dare to make a charter or a deed without the knowledge of his abbot; and if he did so, it should be void. He also then decreed that all the monasteries which are under the jurisdiction of this our monastery of Cassino should furnish a dinner ^k once every year to this our congregation. Having settled this, with the unanimous consent of all the monks, and with the aforesaid bishops sitting in that same chapter and confirming it, he appointed as abbot the lord Oderisius ^l, a very religious man and a Roman deacon, who at that time was performing the office of provost in this monastery.

[155] successors, he dies most holily. After this, having called together the same bishops and Cardinals, he admonished and commanded that, according to what his predecessor Pope Gregory had long since decreed, they should take pains to elect as Pope, as quickly as they could, Otto ^m bishop of Ostia; and taking him by the hand, since he was present, he handed him over to the other bishops, saying: Take him, and ordain him to the Roman Church, and hold him in my stead in all things, until you can do this. These things being thus arranged and decreed, he ordered a tomb to be built for himself in the apse ⁿ of that same chapter-house, and after the third day he happily passed over to the Lord on the sixteenth day of the Kalends of October, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and eighty-seven; and from the passing of father Benedict in the five hundred and seventy-ninth year ^o, having presided in the government of this monastery for twenty-nine years, four months, sixteen days: but in the Apostolic See, from the very beginning of his election, one year; from his consecration, four months and seven days.

LXXIV.

[116] Moreover the same Pope Victor left behind him at his death in this monastery these ornaments: nearly all of which, after the dedication of the church, he partly acquired himself together with the brethren of this monastery, There is recounted the sacred furnishing, at once numerous and costly, and partly recovered from others with whom they had been placed in pledge. Five chasubles of gilded diaper [p], and three without gold: three of gilded diarodana, two of diapistum and another citron-coloured, seven of gilded purple, and five others of purple, and two of samite , the chasuble of John the physician; six everyday chasubles, four for Lent. Eight dalmatics ready-adorned, and eleven others. Thirty-eight copes adorned with gold, and eighty-seven others. A hundred and ninety-three linen albs, ten of silk. Nineteen gilded stoles with their maniples: three of silver with their maniples: eighteen other stoles. Seven half-girdles [q]. Three golden fanones [r] for subdeacons, and fourteen others. Two great gilded camisiæ* [s] with their amices, and seven others of silk. Cloths [t] for the altar of Saint Benedict. One frontal [u] with pearls and another gilded frontal. Three coverings [w] with gold, and two others without gold.

[117] Eleven great and excellent hangings. Cloths for the altar of Saint John, left by the Blessed five hangings and five coverings. Cloths for the altar of Saint Mary: one purple frontal with gold, a covering with enamels, four hangings, four coverlets. Cloths for the altar of Saint Gregory, one golden hanging, and four others without gold, four coverlets, nineteen great dorsals [x], thirty smaller dorsals. Seven door-hangings [y]. Twelve golden chalices with their patens, seven greater and five smaller. A golden pipe [z] with an angle-piece. Two Saxon silver chalices, and seven others of silver. Two silver pipes. Two thuribles of gold, two of gilded silver, two others of silver of the largest size, and eight others of silver. One pair of crystal candlesticks, and another pair of silver with crystal knops, and five other candlesticks. Two great silver lanterns, and one for daily use. His own Gospel-book, the emperor's Gospel-book, Pope Stephen's Gospel-book, the empress's Gospel-book, two Gospel-books of brother Firmus, the Gospel-book of abbot Aligernus. Two sacramentaries with silver. Two epistolaries, one with a golden cover, the other with silver covers. The Rule of Saint Benedict with silver covers. A great silver casket with gems and enamels. Two silver shrines.

[118] Two great golden crosses with gems, and two other smaller golden ones, to the church of Cassino. and three silver ones for procession. A candlestick. A pitcher with its ewer. A Greek censer, another with niello. A pitcher with enamels: all these of silver. A golden pyx with enamels for the Body of the Lord, and another larger one of silver with niello. Three small cups [aa] of mother-of-pearl. Two chalices of onyx. Two pairs of silver basins. A hundred pounds of gold not

worked. Two golden stoles. An imperial fano [bb] entirely of gold. Twelve scaramangæ [cc] of the emperors. A silver crown above the altar of Saint John with five crosses, and another Greek cross. A silver-gilt crown adorned with precious stones, bearing six crosses; another crown above the altar of Saint Benedict, bearing three crosses adorned with precious stones. In Saint Nicholas's, a silver crown, and a cast silver cross. Eleven silver crowns which he found in the old church. Let these things, briefly said concerning the Life and character of the most reverend Pope Victor III, and concerning the renewal or adornment of this place, suffice. For the rest, as long as the orbit of this world turns, his praiseworthy merit ever receives increase, through Jesus Christ our Lord, * lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS. J. S.

p. Planetæ diasprae are of white colour, diarodanæ of rose, diapistæ of green, and cetrinæ of citron colour, as has been said already. The grammatical errors the reader will be able to observe for himself.

q. The word semicinctium signifies various things. Here, however, it seems to be a garment proper to bishops or abbots who use pontificals. In Du Cange a text is cited in which it is granted to a certain abbot that on feasts he may use mitre, gloves, dalmatic and semicinctium. Nuceus also cites many things about semicinctia on book 3, chapter 20. I think that what is here meant is that garment which is now commonly called a tunicle, and which bishops put on beneath the dalmatic.

r. Fano signifies a linen cloth or napkin. Here that word seems to be taken more strictly for the maniple of subdeacons. And that maniple, which they carried on the left arm, as the maniple is carried, was probably then of a form somewhat distinct from the maniples of deacons and priests.

s. The camisia is that ankle-length garment which is commonly called the alb, and which above was also called an alb; and the amice is the garment which encircles the neck and is put on beneath the alb.

t. The word pannus signified many things in the middle ages, and has already occurred several times in these Acts. That a tapestry, among other things, is signified by this word is clear from the Life of St. Athanasius of Naples cited in Du Cange. And so here likewise by panni may be meant precious tapestries with which the altars might be adorned on all sides. Nevertheless I think it more probable that by panni are meant the linen cloths with which the table of the altar must be covered: for in the enumeration of the sacred furnishings of the same monastery, which is found in the Chronicle of Cava, volume 7 of the Writers of Italy, column 951, no mention is made of panni, but of tualliæ, which there seem to be the same as panni here. And tualliæ rather designate altar-cloths than tapestries, which are not necessary.

u. If panni, as I have said, designate the altar-cloths, the facies must necessarily be distinguished from them. And this seems to me to be that ornament of the altar which in the Rubrics of the Mass is called the pallium. (In Belgium it is commonly called the antependium.) For it makes up the face of the altar from the footpace up to the table. Yet the use of that ornament is less in Italy, because that part of the altar is for the most part adorned with precious marble.

w. What coopertoria are, and presently circitoria, see in the Annotations on chapter 9, letter ee.

x. That hangings are signified by this word, I have already observed above.

y. He means the carpets which are hung before the door.

z. Nuceus, in the historical Excursus which he has on chapter 64 of book 4, proves that similar pipes were in use for giving communion to the people under the species of wine, when the people communicated under both kinds.

aa. A coppetella is a little vessel. And that pernæ are sea-shells from which pearls or uniones are gathered, Nuceus observes together with various Lexicons.

bb. We saw just now the fanones of subdeacons. But here that word is of a somewhat different signification. For fano also signifies a linen cloth or napkin in which the offerings are made by the people: and in that sense it seems here to be used.

cc. The word scaramanga or scaramangum is commonly explained in the Lexicons as a cloak, mantle, or pallium. Du Cange in his Greek-barbarous Lexicon, from Leunclavius, speaks thus about that word: A garment which military men wear over their other inner garments, to ward off rains, snows, frost, and the other inconveniences of the air. That exposition of the word is confirmed by many texts. Nevertheless not all the examples which are adduced by the same Du Cange in his Latin-barbarous Glossary seem to agree well enough with this signification of the word. I doubt also whether the exposition given agrees well enough with this passage, since I do not see whence the monastery of Cassino could have received so many imperial cloaks. I should therefore prefer to conjecture that they were palls received from Michael Ducas, emperor of Constantinople. For among his gifts, in number 72 of the Acts, are read four palls to be sent every year to the men of Cassino. And if he sent these four palls for three years, they will be twelve palls, which are probably called "of the emperors" because they were an emperor's gifts, not because they were imperial palls. For the rest, if any barbarous words are not here explained, the reader will find them explained already above. But the grammatical errors I have left to be observed by the readers themselves, because they are too frequent.

* and honour

* let it be received

* of all-silk

add qui* ("who")