In their native hills and forests, the Normans, like the Lombards, and, we may add, like all other people of Scandinavian or of Germanic descent, had been accustomed to meet twice a year, not merely to advise their chief, but to form a sort of diet or parliament, where their more weighty affairs were discussed and decided. At first these assemblies consisted of the conquerors only; but in time the more influential inhabitants were permitted to attend them. During a long period, however—probably unto the reign of Frederick II—they consisted of two estates only, the nobles and the ecclesiastics; the great body of the people had no rights, and consequently no representation. But as the towns purchased their independence of the feudal tribunals, and constituted themselves into municipal corporations; as the number of these corporations was multiplied by charters from the crown the new communities were permitted to send deputies to their general meetings.
The kings, who so often suffered from the powers of a haughty aristocracy, were here, as elsewhere, sufficiently disposed to encourage the formation and influence of this third chamber, or arm of the legislature. Besides, the burgesses were generally more able to supply the wants of the state; they were attached to the crown which had called them into existence; and among them justice was administered, at least in the last resort, by the royal judges. This triple power of the legislature was established contemporaneously both in the island and on the continent; but in the former, which had less intercourse with the world, it has subsisted in greater vigour down to our own times.
But if Roger thus established his sovereignty, he had the mortification to lose his two eldest sons, and to see the succession depend on a third, who was at once vicious and imbecile. Soon after his death, which happened in 1154, troubles began to distract the realm.[i]
Since the decease of Robert Guiscard, the Normans had relinquished above sixty years their hostile designs against the Empire of the East. The policy of Roger solicited a public and private union with the Greek princes, whose alliance would dignify his real character; he demanded in marriage a daughter of the Comnenian family, and the first steps of the treaty seemed to promise a favourable event. But the contemptuous treatment of his ambassadors exasperated the vanity of the new monarch; and the insolence of the Byzantine court was expiated, according to the laws of nations, by the sufferings of a guiltless people. With a fleet of seventy galleys, George, the admiral of Sicily, appeared before Corfu; and both the island and city were delivered into his hands by the disaffected inhabitants, who had yet to learn that a siege is still more calamitous than a tribute. In this invasion, of some moment in the annals of commerce, the Normans spread themselves by sea, and over the provinces of Greece; and the venerable age of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth was violated by rapine and cruelty.
The silk-weavers of both sexes, whom George transported to Sicily, composed the most valuable part of the spoil; and in comparing the skilful industry of the mechanic with the sloth and cowardice of the soldier, he was heard to exclaim, that the distaff and loom were the only weapons which the Greeks were capable of using. The progress of this naval armament was marked by two conspicuous events, the rescue of the king of France, and the insult of the Byzantine capital. In his return by sea from an unfortunate crusade, Louis VII was intercepted by the Greeks, who basely violated the laws of honour and religion. The fortunate encounter of the Norman fleet delivered the royal captive; and after a free and honourable entertainment in the court of Sicily, Louis continued his journey to Rome and Paris.
In the absence of the emperor, Constantinople and the Hellespont were left without defence, and without the suspicion of danger. The clergy and people—for the soldiers had followed the standard of Manuel—were astonished and dismayed at the hostile appearance of a line of galleys, which boldly cast anchor in front of the imperial city. The forces of the Sicilian admiral were inadequate to the siege or assault of an immense and populous metropolis; but George enjoyed the glory of humbling the Greek arrogance, and of marking the path of conquest to the navies of the West. He landed some soldiers to rifle the fruits of the royal gardens, and pointed with silver, or more probably with fire, the arrows which he discharged against the palace of the cæsars. This playful outrage of the pirates of Sicily, who had surprised an unguarded moment, Manuel affected to despise, while his martial spirit, and the forces of the empire, were awakened to revenge. The Archipelago and Ionian Sea were covered with his squadrons and those of Venice; in his homeward voyage George lost nineteen of his galleys, which were separated and taken; after an obstinate defence, Corfu implored the clemency of her lawful sovereign; nor could a ship, or a soldier of the Norman prince be found, unless as a captive, within the limit of the Eastern Empire. The prosperity and the health of Roger were already in a declining state; while he listened in his palace of Palermo to the messengers of victory or defeat, the invincible Manuel, the foremost in every assault, was celebrated by the Greeks and Latins as the Alexander or Hercules of the age.
A Norman Monk of the Twelfth Century
A prince of such a temper could not be satisfied with having repelled the insolence of a barbarian. It was the right and duty, it might be the interest and glory, of Manuel to restore the ancient majesty of the empire, to recover the provinces of Italy and Sicily, and to chastise this pretended king, the grandson of a Norman vassal. The natives of Calabria were still attached to the Greek language and worship, which had been inexorably proscribed by the Latin clergy; after the loss of her dukes, Apulia was chained as a servile appendage to the crown of Sicily; the founder of the monarchy had ruled by the sword; and his death had abated the fear without healing the discontent of his subjects; the feudal government was always pregnant with the seeds of rebellion, and a nephew of Roger himself invited the enemies of his family and nation.
[1155-1156 A.D.]