from the dukes, by the ignorance
and flattery of the Italian subjects. [39] His genuine descent may be
ascribed to the second or middle order of private nobility. [40]
He sprang from a race of valvassors or bannerets, of the diocese of
Coutances, in the Lower Normandy: the castle of Hauteville was their
honorable seat: his father Tancred was conspicuous in the court and army
of the duke; and his military service was furnished by ten soldiers or
knights. Two marriages, of a rank not unworthy of his own, made him
the father of twelve sons, who were educated at home by the impartial
tenderness of his second wife. But a narrow patrimony was insufficient
for this numerous and daring progeny; they saw around the neighborhood
the mischiefs of poverty and discord, and resolved to seek in foreign
wars a more glorious inheritance. Two only remained to perpetuate
the race, and cherish their father's age: their ten brothers, as they
successfully attained the vigor of manhood, departed from the castle,
passed the Alps, and joined the Apulian camp of the Normans. The elder
were prompted by native spirit; their success encouraged their younger
brethren, and the three first in seniority, William, Drogo, and
Humphrey, deserved to be the chiefs of their nation and the founders of
the new republic. Robert was the eldest of the seven sons of the second
marriage; and even the reluctant praise of his foes has endowed him with
the heroic qualities of a soldier and a statesman. His lofty stature
surpassed the tallest of his army: his limbs were cast in the true
proportion of strength and gracefulness; and to the decline of life, he
maintained the patient vigor of health and the commanding dignity of his
form. His complexion was ruddy, his shoulders were broad, his hair and
beard were long and of a flaxen color, his eyes sparkled with fire, and
his voice, like that of Achilles, could impress obedience and terror
amidst the tumult of battle. In the ruder ages of chivalry, such
qualifications are not below the notice of the poet or historians: they
may observe that Robert, at once, and with equal dexterity, could wield
in the right hand his sword, his lance in the left; that in the battle
of Civitella he was thrice unhorsed; and that in the close of that
memorable day he was adjudged to have borne away the prize of valor from
the warriors of the two armies. [41] His boundless ambition was founded
on the consciousness of superior worth: in the pursu