med.
After the defeat of his foreign enemies, the Greeks, Lombards, and
Saracens, their broken forces retreated to the strong and populous
cities of the sea-coast. They excelled in the arts of fortification and
defence; the Normans were accustomed to serve on horseback in the field,
and their rude attempts could only succeed by the efforts of persevering
courage. The resistance of Salerno was maintained above eight months;
the siege or blockade of Bari lasted near four years. In these actions
the Norman duke was the foremost in every danger; in every fatigue the
last and most patient. As he pressed the citadel of Salerno, a huge
stone from the rampart shattered one of his military engines; and by
a splinter he was wounded in the breast. Before the gates of Bari, he
lodged in a miserable hut or barrack, composed of dry branches, and
thatched with straw; a perilous station, on all sides open to the
inclemency of the winter and the spears of the enemy. [45]

[Footnote 43: The acquisition of the ducal title by Robert Guiscard is
a nice and obscure business. With the good advice of Giannone, Muratori,
and St. Marc, I have endeavored to form a consistent and probable
narrative.]

[Footnote 44: Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 1059, No. 69) has published
the original act. He professes to have copied it from the Liber Censuum,
a Vatican Ms. Yet a Liber Censuum of the xiith century has been printed
by Muratori, (Antiquit. Medii Aevi, tom. v. p. 851-908;) and the names
of Vatican and Cardinal awaken the suspicions of a Protestant, and even
of a philosopher.]

[Footnote 45: Read the life of Guiscard in the second and third books of
the Apulian, the first and second books of Malaterra.]

The Italian conquests of Robert correspond with the limits of the
present kingdom of Naples; and the countries united by his arms have
not been dissevered by the revolutions of seven hundred years. [46]
The monarchy has been composed of the Greek provinces of Calabria and
Apulia, of the Lombard principality of Salerno, the republic of
Amalphi, and the inland dependencies of the large and ancient duchy of
Beneventum. Three districts only were exempted from the common law
of subjection; the first forever, the two last till the middle of the
succeeding century. The city and immediate territory of Benevento had
been transferred, by gift or exchange, from the German emperor to the
Roman pontiff; and although this holy land was sometimes invaded, the
n