increase of authority and of
force, he resumed the conquest of Calabria, and soon aspired to a rank
that should raise him forever above the heads of his equals.

By some acts of rapine or sacrilege, he had incurred a papal
excommunication; but Nicholas the Second was easily persuaded that the
divisions of friends could terminate only in their mutual prejudice;
that the Normans were the faithful champions of the Holy See; and it
was safer to trust the alliance of a prince than the caprice of an
aristocracy. A synod of one hundred bishops was convened at Melphi; and
the count interrupted an important enterprise to guard the person and
execute the decrees of the Roman pontiff. His gratitude and policy
conferred on Robert and his posterity the ducal title, [43] with the
investiture of Apulia, Calabria, and all the lands, both in Italy and
Sicily, which his sword could rescue from the schismatic Greeks and the
unbelieving Saracens. [44] This apostolic sanction might justify his
arms; but the obedience of a free and victorious people could not be
transferred without their consent; and Guiscard dissembled his elevation
till the ensuing campaign had been illustrated by the conquest of
Consenza and Reggio. In the hour of triumph, he assembled his troops,
and solicited the Normans to confirm by their suffrage the judgment of
the vicar of Christ: the soldiers hailed with joyful acclamations their
valiant duke; and the counts, his former equals, pronounced the oath
of fidelity with hollow smiles and secret indignation. After this
inauguration, Robert styled himself, "By the grace of God and St. Peter,
duke of Apulia, Calabria, and hereafter of Sicily;" and it was the labor
of twenty years to deserve and realize these lofty appellations. Such
sardy progress, in a narrow space, may seem unworthy of the abilities
of the chief and the spirit of the nation; but the Normans were few in
number; their resources were scanty; their service was voluntary and
precarious. The bravest designs of the duke were sometimes opposed by
the free voice of his parliament of barons: the twelve counts of popular
election conspired against his authority; and against their perfidious
uncle, the sons of Humphrey demanded justice and revenge. By his policy
and vigor, Guiscard discovered their plots, suppressed their rebellions,
and punished the guilty with death or exile: but in these domestic
feuds, his years, and the national strength, were unprofitably consu