German of noble birth and royal
kindred, Leo had free access to the court and confidence of the emperor
Henry the Third; and in search of arms and allies, his ardent zeal
transported him from Apulia to Saxony, from the Elbe to the Tyber.
During these hostile preparations, Argyrus indulged himself in the use
of secret and guilty weapons: a crowd of Normans became the victims
of public or private revenge; and the valiant Drogo was murdered in a
church. But his spirit survived in his brother Humphrey, the third count
of Apulia. The assassins were chastised; and the son of Melo, overthrown
and wounded, was driven from the field, to hide his shame behind the
walls of Bari, and to await the tardy succor of his allies.

[Footnote 29: The biographer of St. Leo IX. pours his holy venom on the
Normans. Videns indisciplinatam et alienam gentem Normannorum, crudeli
et inaudita rabie, et plusquam Pagana impietate, adversus ecclesias Dei
insurgere, passim Christianos trucidare, &c., (Wibert, c. 6.) The honest
Apulian (l. ii. p. 259) says calmly of their accuser, Veris commiscens
fallacia.]

[Footnote 30: The policy of the Greeks, revolt of Maniaces, &c., must be
collected from Cedrenus, (tom. ii. p. 757, 758,) William Appulus, (l.
i. p 257, 258, l. ii. p. 259,) and the two Chronicles of Bari, by Lupus
Protospata, (Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. v. p. 42, 43, 44,) and an
anonymous writer, (Antiquitat, Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. i. p 31-35.)
This last is a fragment of some value.]

[Footnote 31: Argyrus received, says the anonymous Chronicle of Bari,
Imperial letters, Foederatus et Patriciatus, et Catapani et Vestatus.
In his Annals, Muratori (tom. viii. p. 426) very properly reads, or
interprets, Sevestatus, the title of Sebastos or Augustus. But in his
Antiquities, he was taught by Ducange to make it a palatine office,
master of the wardrobe.]

[Footnote 32: A Life of St. Leo IX., deeply tinged with the passions and
prejudices of the age, has been composed by Wibert, printed at
Paris, 1615, in octavo, and since inserted in the Collections of the
Bollandists, of Mabillon, and of Muratori. The public and private
history of that pope is diligently treated by M. de St. Marc. (Abrege,
tom. ii. p. 140-210, and p. 25-95, second column.)]

But the power of Constantine was distracted by a Turkish war; the mind
of Henry was feeble and irresolute; and the pope, instead of repassing
the Alps with a German army, was accompanied only by a guard o