of Calabria assumed the name and character of Normans.

As the genius of Robert expanded with his fortune, he awakened the
jealousy of his elder brother, by whom, in a transient quarrel, his life
was threatened and his liberty restrained. After the death of Humphrey,
the tender age of his sons excluded them from the command; they were
reduced to a private estate, by the ambition of their guardian and
uncle; and Guiscard was exalted on a buckler, and saluted count of
Apulia and general of the republic. With an 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, 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. 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 tardy 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 vo