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THE LAND OF iMANFRED
PRINCE OF TARENTUM AND KING
OF SICILY. RAMBLES IN REMOTE
PARTS OF SOUTHERN ITALY,
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
THEIR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
BY^ANET ROSSr^ILLUSTRATED
by" carlo' ORSL WITH A MAP

8

tONDON.JOHN MURRAY. ALBEMARLE ST.

TO
SIR JAMES LACAITA, k.c.m.g.,
Senator op the Kingdom op Italy.
To you, dear Friend, these pages about
your " Bel Paese " are affectionately dedi
cated. Without your kindly encouragement
and advice the)' would never have been
written.
Janet Ross.

PREFACE.

So little is known, even in Italy, about the
southern provinces of that fair land, that
when I started for my first visit to
Leucaspide, near Taranto, my Florentine
friends strongly advised me to leave ear
rings, brooches, and gold watch behind ;
and many foretold that I should be captured
by banditti, or even assassinated.
Of the kindness and courtesy I met with
everywhere the following pages will tell. I
only hope they may induce some of my
compatriots to brave the perils of Apulia,
which consist solely in bad inns ; they will be
amply rewarded. Some passages relating to
Taranto and to Leucaspide I have reproduced

PREFACE.

from my volume of "Italian Sketches," as
they help to complete this more detailed
account of those places.
My thanks are due to Cav. C. de Giorgi,
Signor V. Palumbo, and Signor G. Gigli, and
last, but not least, to Sir James Lacaita and
Mr. Hodgkins for their kind help.

Janet Ross.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE.
Sunny Apulia — Frederick Excommunicated  Isabella of
England — Manfred, Favourite of his Father — Frederick's
Love of Justice ... .... 1
CHAPTER II.
Trani — Dismal and Woe-begone Sounds — " La Battaria di Jesu "
— My Body-guard— The Great Bell Tower — " Professore
Ricca" — The Reception of Queen Helen — Queen Helen a
Fugitive and Widow— The Queen Imprisoned . . 11
CHAPTER IIL
Andria — A Eich but Dull Country— Andria Welcomes the
Emperor — One of the •• Divertimenti "— A Singular Feature
— Gastel del Monte in the Distance ... 27
CHAPTER IV.
Gastel del Monte — The Castle on nearer Acquaintance — The
Entrance to the Castle— Past Glories— Frederick as a Legis
lator — The Emperor's Commercial Views — Summary Justice
— Doorway of Gastel del Monte — A Brindisi — The Fate of
Manfred's Widow  37
CHAPTER V.
Barletta  Frederick's Commands  Manfred a Poet and
Musician — II Colosso di Arachi — The River Ofanto — The
Combat of the Knights  54

CONTENTS.

CHArTER VL PAGE.
History of Bari— A^ariety of Interest in Apulia— Mohammedans
Expelled— St. Nicholas of Myra— The Saint's Body Stolen—
— Anselm at the Council of Bari — Bari in Ruins for Sixteen
Years — Distich over the Gates of Bari — Not Appreciated
until Death — Marriage of Bona with Sigismund . 60
CHAPTER VII.
Bari and its Neighbourhood —Hopes Dispelled — The Priory of
San Niocolo da Bari — Tbe Treasure — The Cathedral of
St. Sabinus — Ruvo ; Nanni's Pot-house —The Noble Cathedral
of Bitonto — Frederick's Tomb . . . 83
CHAPTER vnr.
Leucaspide — We Approach the Ionian Sea — Massafra — The
Madonna della Scala— Rock-hewn Churches . 9G
CHAPTER IX.
Taranto — Splendid Tarentum — The Wizard Virgil — The Cathe
dral of St. Cataldus — Archytas the Pythagorean — TheBruttii
— A Naval Engagement — Leonidas of Tarentum . . 107
CHAPTER X.
Taranto — The " Mare Piccolo ' — Archbishop Capece-Latro —
The Shady Galsesus — The Mysterious " Lairo "—The Shep
herd's Song . . . . . , .120
CHAPTER XI.
Taranto, and Two Old Castles — Cruelty of the Romans — The
Situation of the City — Importation of the Cat — The Archives
at Taranto— The Road to Luperano — A Deserted Castle —
Lunch on the Roof of the Castle  I33

CONTENl'S.

CHAPTER XII. PAGE.

Among the Peasants of Apulia — -Apulian Horses— A AVild,
Melancholy Country — Honest, but Miserably Poor — Music
and Dancing — Un Canzon" del Paese— "La Gallipolina ''
— The Graviua of Leucaspide — Milk and Cheese— AVe Start
for Metaponto — All that Remains of Metapontum 14-7
CHAPTER xm.
Oriaand Mauduria— A Queer Old Town— The Via Appia at Oria
— Frederick's Splendid Gastle — A Child Immured Alive —
Loggia at Oria — Mysterious "Specchie"' — Pliny's Well —
Apulian Intelligence — " That Blessed Progress " — Taran-
tlsmo — A Tarantella .... . . 167

CHAPTER XIV.
Ogres and Sirens— The EvU Eye— Local Superstitions— The
King's Bride  ... 192

CHAPTER XV.
Lecce— Brindisi- The Great Tower at Lecce— The Statue of
St. Orontius — Ruins of the Ancient Lupise — Da Nobis
Hodie  206
CHAPTER XVI.
Lecce — Duke Sigismondo Castromediano — Political Prisoners
in 1852 — The Horrors of Montefusco — The Duke and Mr.
Gladstone — A Malarious Country .... 216
CHAPTER XVIL
Galatina— Church of San Stefano — Santa Caterina— Cav. Pietro
Cavoti — Popular Songs  226

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE.
Lecce — Tancred's Church^San Nicola e Cataldo — History
in the Names of Streets — The Marionettes — " Our Mary's "
Laws— An Old Legend . . . 238
CHAPTER XIX.
Otranto — Fever-stricken Otranto— Cathedral of Otranto —
Castle of Otranto — Terrible Malaria — An Old Custom . 250

CHAPTER XX.
Foggia and Lucera — Frederick's Favourite Head-quarters — Lo
Pitaffio — Lucera like a Shuttlecock — Frederick's Death-bed
— Treachery of Peter de Vinea — Frederick's Will . 260

CHAPTER XXI.
Lucera — The Huge Walls of Lucera — An Old Shepherdess —
A Peasant's Pride — Manfred's Adventures — A Photographer's
Opinion  272

CHAPTER XXII.
Our Lady of the Incoronata — Manfred's Hunting-Ground —
Pilgrims — Peasant-Costumes — "Scopa" — Licking the Dust
— A Good Business — "Tarantella" at the Incoronata 282

CHAPTER XXIII.
Manfredonia — Ancient Sipontum — Manfred Crowned King —
Our Host — Don Michele— Otho III. — A Bare-foot Pilgrim —
The Ascent of Mount Garganus  296

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE.
Monte Sant' Angelo and Manfredonia — Picturesque Costumes —
In a Crowd of Devout Pilgrims— A Church Unlike any
Other — ^Who was Rotila? — A Marvellous View — The History
of a Bell ... . . . 307
CHAPTER XXV.
Benevento — Benevento Despoiled — Trajan's Triumphal Arch
— "Ma e Molto Bello Sa" — Santa Sophia — Benevento
Cathedral— The Wine-shop . . . 321
CHAPTER XXVI.
Benevento — Santa Maria delle Grazie— The Virgin in Mourning
— Two-headed Dragon — A Lullaby — Our Musical Party 335
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Last Days of Manfred — Sieges of Benevento — Approach of
Charles of Anjou — Propositions of Peace Rejected — The Eve
of the Battle — Manfred's Death — His Body Buried and
Exhumed — A Legend of the Beautiful Helen 345

BY THE SA^IE AUTHOR.
AVitli Portraits and Illustrations, 2 vols.. Crown 8vo, 24«.,
THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN— MRS.
JOHN TAYLOR— MRS. SARAH AUSTIN— AND LADY
DUFF GORDON. By JANET ROSS.
" Mrs. Ross lias made us acquainted, not merely with three, but with four
generations of intellectual and accomplished Englishwomen. Her book isan
interesting chapter in family and provincial as well as in literary and social
liistory, the richness of whose contents we have inadequately indicated." —
Tfie Saturday Review.
" We are grateful to Mrs. Ross for her labour of love. It is to be hoped
that this memoir may serve to bring to the notice of a wider circle of
readers those wonderful letters from Egypt and the Cape, as unique in their
way as Lamb's or Mrs. Carlyle's."' — AtJiemanm.
" In addition to the many clever letters from tlie pen of Mrs. Austin
and Lady Dufl: Gordon, chere are numerous letters also from some of the
most il^tingiiLshed men and women of the century. Mrs. Ross's work is
agreeably full both of information and entertainment." — Globe.
" The letters are so well edited and annotated ... so well translated,
that the pages .slip by the reader almost as easily as those of a novel" —
(rirardiitii. " Both for the many stories and the fine traits of character set forth in
these volumes, Mrs. Ross deserves and will doubtless receive the thanks of
every reader." — Temple Bar.
'¦ Biography has rarely appeared in a more satisfactory form than that
it takes in this work." — Record.
" These pages leave us with a very clear impression of a wise high-minded
woman (Mrs. Austin), whose intellect and heart were so evenly balanced that
she ^va$ as free from extravagance as she was from coldness. It was no
wonder that everybody was in love with her. Her daughter is the subject
ot the third of these sketches. We are glad, however, once more to read
sometliing new of that fresh warm nature whicli drew to itself the devotion
of the Arabs of Luxor, just as lier mother had been the divinity of the
Maltese and the Boulogne sailors. The three beautiful Englishwomen were
well worthy of such a record as these tasteful pages afford."— >S;. James's
Gazette. " Two charming volumes, brimful of fresh and delightful reading."—
Pall Alall Gazette.
" This is a most interesting record, which will affect different readers in
different ways, though all alike must tind it interesting and profitable.
Mrs. Ross ha-i done the work of selection and editing with the utmost good
taste and care. Her narrative is sketchy and interesting. She has travelled
over a lon^^ road with graceful ligtitness, and has not missed much of beauty
or interest by the way." — Noiicoii/oT~mist.
" There is not a dull page in these two volumes, nor a letter that could
have been sparud. If we wish for a little more by way of personal detail it
is only becaiise what is given is so interesting that more would have been
welcome. Mo=t readers will feel that Mrs. Ross's pleasant task haS been
admirably performed." — Literary World.
JOHN MURRAY, Albemarle Street.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Olive Tree (2000 Yeare Old, Leucaspide) . Frontiajnaci: PAGE.
Aech of the Palace of Feedekick II. at
Foggia 

Pboobssion at TE-iNI 
A Griffin at the Doorway of San Giacomo
Apulian Cistern 
Gastel del Monte . ...
Old Plan of Castel del Monte
Doorway of Castel del Monte
Barletta 
The Empekor Heeaclius at Barletta .
Donkeys in the Fish-market at Bari .
Coin of Bari
Tavola del Paladino ....
Massafra . . ....
Leader of the Procession at Massafra
Santa Maria della Candelora
Eemains of Doric Column at Tarahto .
Taranto 
The Shepherd's Song (Music)

1
1119
27 373!)
4954
59
65
8396
101 102
105 107
120129

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Sir Jambs Lacaita, k.c.m.g.
Coin of Tarentum
Mule and Pony .
"La Gallipolina" (Music)
Don Ciccio going to say Mass
Balcony at Oria .
The Castle, Oria
Loggia at Oeia .
A Tarantella (Music)
ANCIENT Walls of Manduria
Foot-bridge at Lecce
St. Orontius in the Market-place op Lecce
Duke Sigismondo Castromediano .
Sta. Caterina, Galatina 
Campanile at Soleto ....
Doorway of San Marco at Lecce .
Door of San Nicola e Cataldo, Lecce .
Crypt of Otranto Cathedral . . . .

PAGE.
. 133
. 137
, 147
. 156
, 162
, 167
, 170
, 175
187 192
206210216 226
227238240250

Curious Pillar in Crypt op Otranto Cathedral 254

Bastion op Otranto Castle ...
" Lo Pitappio " at Foggia ...
Castle of Lucera . ...
Double Gateway, Lucera Castle .
Portrait of Old Shepherdess at Lucera .
Peasants approaching the

Procession op
Incoronata
NUNZIA .

255260272 273
275
282287

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv
PAGE.
MICHB ...  289
PIZZICA, PIZZICA, dell' INCORONATA (Music) . . 294
•' tarantella " at the incoronata . . . 295
Manfredonia .... ... 296
Peasants from Monte Sant' Angelo coming
DOWN TO Manfredonia  307
Campanile at Monte Sant' Angelo . . . 308
The Boar op Benevento  321
Nicola . .  322
ARCH of Trajan . .  324
Our Evening Party at Benevento . . . 335
Wine-shop at Benevento  345
Map . ..... At the End.

Arch, of the Palace of Frederick II. at Foggia.

CHAPTER I.

" La dove 6 lo mio core notte e dia." — King Enzio.
The sunny Apulian land, with its great
green plains, its colossal olive and caroub
trees, its milk-white, oriental-looking towns,
and its wild mountain valleys, is strangely
fascinating. No wonder that the Emperor
Frederick II. loved his Italian kingdom above
all else, and spent his few leisure moments
either in Sicily or at one of his splendid A

2 THE LAND OF .MANFRED. [Ch. i.
hunting seats in Apulia. The peasants still
speak with pride and affection of " our great
Emperor," and of his son, " our King Manfred,"
so that the chivalrous figure of the " Bello e
biondo," (handsome and fair-haired) son of
Frederick, seemed to haunt me at every turn.
Few princes have roused such love and
such hatred as Manfred ; extolled as wise
above all men, kindly, beautiful, and brave,
by the Ghibelline writers ; denounced as a
parricide, fratricide, and a devil incarnate, by
the historians of the Guelph faction. He
was born in 1232, and his mother Bianca
is described by an old chronicler as virgo pul-
cherrima, worthy of the love of Jove himself.
The best accredited accounts say that she was
a daughter of Count Boniface of Anglano, in
Piedmont, by a sister of Godfrey Maletta,
Count of Minio and Trecento in Sicily, grand
chamberlain (camerlingo) of the kingdom, and
widow of the Marquis Lancia.
The Emperor had two children by Bianca,
whom he appears to have married after the
death of Isabella of England, in order to legitimize
his favourite son, Manfred, and his daughter,
Constance, who married Charles John Ducas
Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea, during her father's
lifetime. This marriage with a schismatic Greek

FREDERICK EXCOMMUNICATED.

was very ill looked upon at Rome, and Pope
Innocent IV. gave it as one of his reasons
for excommunicating Frederick and declaring
his throne vacant.
So violent a measure on the part of the
head of the church does not seem to
have met with approval, for we read that a
French priest proclaimed the sentence from his
pulpit, at Notre Dame, in this dubious wise : —
" You know, oh, my brethren, that I am ordered
to publish an excommunication against the
Emperor Frederick for motives unknown to me
although I am aware of the serious quarrels and
the implacable hatred which exists between
this monarch and the Holy Pontiff ; and so, as
God alone knows which of the two is in the
wrong, I, with my whole strength, and as far as
in me lies, excommunicate him who does injury
to the other, and absolve the one who suffers
wrong." Frederick II. had been left, by the will of his
mother, the Empress Constance, under the
tutelage of Pope Innocent IIL, who arranged a
marriage for him when only fourteen years of
age, with Constance, widow of Alberic King of
Hungary, and daughter of Alphonso II. King of
Arragon. She was married to her boy-husband
with great pomp at Palermo, in 1209, and died
A 2

4 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. i.
in 1222, leaving one son, Henry, who was
crowned King of Germany and, having rebelled
against his father, died in prison in 1242. Three
years after the death of Constance, the Emperor
married the beautiful Yolande, only daughter of
Jean de Brienne, ¦ King of Jerusalem and Tyre,
by right of his wife. Since that time the rulers
of Sicily called themselves Kings of Jerusalem.
Yolande was married at Brindisi on the 9th
of November, 1225, and great rejoicings and
festivals were held in honour of the fair young
Empress. She died in the pride of her youth
and beauty at Andria, three years afterwards, in
giving birth to Conrad.
Six years elapsed before Frederick decided
on sending his trusted counsellor and secretary,
Peter de Vinea, to England to arrange a
marriage with Isabella, daughter of King John.
The question was debated for three days, and
on the 27th of February the request was granted,
when Isabella was brought from the Tower of
London, where she had lived in strict seclusion.
She is described as beautiful, modest, and
remarkable for her engaging manners and fine
taste in dress. After gazing on her, the envoys
declared she was most worthy of their Emperor,
and gave her a ring in his name, while she gave
another to Peter de Vipe^ for his master, Xhe

ISABELLA OF ENGLAND.

wedding outfit of the young Empress, we are
told, " would incite women to covetousness and
almost distract the Emperor's thoughts from his
bride." Her crown was of pure gold, studded
with jewels and adorned with images of the four
martyr Kings of England.
After a grand feast at Westminster, Isabella
and her ladies mounted their ambling palfreys
and, attended by her brother King Henry and
three thousand knights, went as far as Faver-
sham Abbey. Next day, after paying their
devotions at the Shrine of the Holy Martyr
at Canterbury, they reached Sandwich, where,
bidding a sorrowful farewell to the King, the
bride embarked on the 3rd of May, and reached
Antwerp after a voyage of three days.
At Cologne she was received with great en
thusiasm; ten thousand burghers went forth
to meet and conduct her through the city in
triumph. Hearing that the ladies in the bal
conies wished to see her face, she threw back
her hood, charming everyone by her beauty and
graciousness. The Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishop
of Exeter, an old friend of Frederick's, accom
panied her to Worms, where the marriage took
place on the 15th of July, and after four days
of festivities the Bishop and other Enghsh

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. i.

attendants returned home, taking four tame
leopards as a present from the Emperor to his
brother-in-law. An allusion to the royal coat-
of-avms, these leopards were the beginning ot
the menagerie in the Tower.
The Empress must have found a great change
from her quiet life as a girl ; we are told
that she was entrusted to the care of a body
guard of black eunuchs, "ugly as masks," and
on the 22 nd of August, after high mass in the
old cathedral at Mayence, she presided with
the Emperor at a banquet prepared on a plain
near the city, attended by all the Princes of
the Empire.
Many of them could remember when Frede
rick came as a mere boy from Sicily to win
the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and
some of them had been his companions in
the fifth crusade, the only successful attempt
upon Palestine within the memory of man. The
Minnesingers, Walter von Vogelweide among
them, loudly praised so noble a patron of their
art, exclaiming with joy that in spite of his long
absence the Emperor had not forgotten the
old German lays. From his time dates the
modernized form of the "Niebelungen Lied,"
and also the " Sachsenspiegel," which marks
the revival of the study of law.*
* Kington, " Life of the Emp. Fred. II."

MANFRED, FAVOURITE OF H/S FATHFJi. 7

From Mayence, Empress Isabella preceded her
husband into Italy, he following with his army
to chastise the insolent rebels of Lombardy,
headed by his son Henry. Among his followers
was a youth of nineteen, " immenseh- tall, with
a small head, pale face, long nose and thin hair,
who ate and drank sparingly, and had more
brains than wealth."* This was Rudolph of
Habsburgh, who on being promoted to the
throne of Frederick more than thirt}' years
afterwards, profited by the experience gained
in this and other campaigns, and took good
care never to meddle in the faithless politics of
Italy.f Isabella was much beloved by the
Apulians, and on her death in childbirth at
Foggia, on the ist of December, 1241, all the
bells in the kingdom were rung in token of
grief. Manfred was the favourite son of Frederick
II., and is described by the anonymous historian
of his reign as " Manfredus, id est manus
Frederici ; Minfredus, minor Fredericius ; Mon-
fredus, mons Frederici." Brought up under
his father's eye in the midst of a brilliant and
highly-educated court, the lad grew in beauty
and intelligence every day. When quite a
• Chron. Colmar. t Kington. " Life of the Emp. Fred. II." ,

8 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. i.
ji-outh he was married to Beatrice of Savo)'-
and soon afterwards created Prince of Taranto.
She died soon after the birth of a daughter
called Constance, after the Emperor's mother.
Frederick was himself a great linguist, speak
ing Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Arabic,
Italian, and German, and was well versed in
philosophy and other sciences.
He was also an author. We still possess
many sonnets and songs by him and the " De
arte venandi cum avibus," with additions and
commentaries by King Manfred. The frontis
piece representing the Emperor sitting bolt
upright on his throne, while two attendants
kneel before him with hawks on their wrists,
is very quaint. Frederick asks pardon in his
preface for using a few barbarous terms, as no
Latin words would express his meaning. Be
ginning with praise of hawking and his reasons
for preferring it to any other sport, he proceeds
to classify birds and describe their habits ;
giving a full description of their members,
their different modes of flight, moulting, and
fighting. He quotes Pliny on birds of prey,
and occasionally ventures to differ from Aris
totle. The gerfalcons of Iceland he praises as
the finest hawks, and gives minute directions
as to their capture and training, and claims to

FREDERICK S LOVE OF JUSTICE.

have introduced into Europe the hood for
covering the head of the falcon ; while he par
ticularly mentions as a rarity a white cockatoo
given to him by the Sultan of Cairo. Giordano
Ruffo, grand marshal of the realm, wrote, under
his master's supervision, " De Natura et Cura
Animalium ; " the description of the horse and
the advice as to the management and breaking
in of colts, is remarkably good.
St. Antonino who is not likely to have been
prejudiced in his favour, tells us that the word
of Frederick was so trusted that when he was
in straits for money in 1240, he caused bits of
leather to be stamped with his effigy, and
decreed that they should pass as gold cur
rency. People accepted them without diffi
culty, and at the end of the war the exchange
was scrupulously made into real coin.
He promulgated excellent laws, and his love
of justice was proverbial. The Anonimo Italico
wrote after his death : " Mortuo Friderico
praesertim in Itaha, omnis justitia cum ipso
sepulta est, quoniam frsenum ecclesise, et tiran-
norum omnimodo depravatum est taliter, quod
equus ad placitum ubique potest currere et ad
eorum libitum omnia conculare." (" When
Frederick was dead all justice, especially in
Italy, was buried with him, since the check upon

10 . THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. J.

the church and the tyrants was in every way so
turned from its proper use that, like a horse,
they ¦ could ever)^where run loose at their
pleasure, and trample down all at their own
free will.")

ill' liiii*^

Procession at Trani.

CHAPTER II.

TRANI.
We arrived at Trani, the Turenum of the
Itineraries, in Holy Week, and found all the
churches decked out with hangings, and the
people dressed in their best.
Like most Apulian towns, Trani is built of
white stone and well paved ; the roofs of the
houses are flat, and balconies abound.
Before dawn on Thursday morning I was
awakened by most dismal and woe-begone
sounds which came nearer and nearer, and
getting up, I saw a weird procession of white-
robed men wending their way slowly through

12 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. li
the streets, chaunting at the top of their voices.
Most ghostly did they look in the pale dawn ;
white hoods drawn over their heads, with holes
for their eyes. All day long one confraternity
or another paraded the town ; some all in
white, some with short black mantles, others
with blue. Some had small hats slung by their
sides, others wore large shovel hats over their
hoods, and some bore enormous wooden crosses,
which I was told they paid to carry.
On Good Friday there was a procession in
the morning chiefly for the women, who
were remarkably neat and well-clothed, nearly
all had silk dresses and large gold chains.
They had taken off their shoes, and their
white stockings were sadly soiled and torn
as they walked through the dirty streets, each
holding an enormous wax candle with both
hands. The priests were barefoot, and so were
the men who preceded the long line of women.
A barber, who offered me a seat in his shop,
told me with a sigh that it cost a great deal of
money nowadays to set up house on account
of the luxury of the women of Trani. " They
want silk gowns, they want necklaces, they
want rings ; and now progress is come, and
they learn to read and write ; but alas they
have not learnt to sweep or to sew." I after-

" LA BATTARIA DI JESU." 13
wards learnt that my friend the barber came
from Piedmont, and was unpopular in Trani
because he insisted upon his shop being swept
out every evening, an unheard-of innovation, as
I could well believe, judging from the floors
and the staircase of our inn.
In the afternoon there was a much grander
procession, life-size images of Our Lord and the
Virgin being carried high on men's shoulders
surrounded by many gentlemen of Trani, who
picked their way daintily through the dirt with
their poor bare feet.
On Saturday morning early I heard a great
altercation outside my door, and explanations
that I was a " Signora," and that it would
be most unbecoming to enter my room, as
I was probably in bed ; but that the gentle
men were in No. lo, and that their room could
be entered without impropriety. On coming
down to breakfast I found a man with a large
salver well filled with coppers and a few silver
pieces, who, in the impossible dialect of the
country, asked for a contribution, "per I'ab-
bavescio di Cristo, per la battaria di Jesu,"
which translated means, " for the resurrection
of Christ, for the battery of Jesus." Before
many hours were over we found out to our
cost what the battery was.

14 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ii.

The people of Trani are very proud of their
town, which they call the Athens of Apulia;
and when I asked whether it was on account of
any famous university, they said, no ; it was
because the assizes are held there !
The common people were astonished and
amused at my independent way of walking
about, and I was often asked, " Che donna siet ?"
" Di che paes' siet ?" (" What sort of woman.
are you ?" "What country do you come from?")
To save long explanations I answered Florence,
when the native good breeding came out in
saying they had heard how beautiful Florence
was, and how courteous the Florentines were,
which they saw was true from my not minding
the uncivil way in which I had been ques
tioned. My hat was a great source of wonder,
as all the women wear a shawl over their
heads ; no doubt a remnant of the Venetian
occupation in the fifteenth century.
At length, as I was wending my way, hke
most people in Trani, towards the cathedral, a
courageous street boy addressed me : " Ma, che
siet u' masch' che avet' u' cappel ?" (" But are
you a man that you wear a hat ?") The ques
tion was overheard by some respectable-looking .
young men, who came up hats in hand, ex
tremely irate, and scolded the small boy for

MY BODY-GUARD.

disgracing Trani in the eyes of a stranger,
begging me to excuse the want of manners.
" Was I going to the cathedral ? Would I allow
them to escort me," they asked ; to which I
gladly assented and we went on and entered
the fine old church which was chokeful.
My self-constituted body-guard got me a
chair, and stood round me to prevent my being
pushed about by the crowd. Curiosity however
got the better even of their manners, and in a
roundabout way they began to ask whether I
liked Trani, where I came from, who I was, and
where I was going. So we exchanged names ;
I duly admired Trani, and they complimented
me on my Italian and my extraordinary courage
in walking about alone. I said that my com
panions were artists who wanted to draw,
while I wanted to see all I could. " Ah, that
was all very well ; but courage, much courage
was necessary, and it was an admirable quality."
While we were exchanging pretty speeches, a
priest came out of a side chapel and suddenly
there was a great movement in the crowd in
the nave, chiefly composed of women. Cries
of joy, clapping of hands, stamping of feet and
shrieking, roused my curiosity. " E I'allegria dei
peccati " (" it is the jolhty of sins "), I was told,
which I thought an odd way of describing that

16 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ii.
the priest was sprinkling holy water, and ab
solving the congregation from venal sins.
The high altar was entirely hid by a large
blue curtain with a yellow cross on it which
was suspended by pulleys from the roof. At
eleven precisely the curtain fell on the steps in
front of the altar and then the noise was
deafening. As one of my Trani friends said,
"An earthquake is nothing to it." Sticks were
hammered on the pavement, chairs knocked to
pieces against the walls, everyone shouted at
the top of their voices, and the doors must have
been strong indeed to withstand the battering of
the boys outside, who had prepared immense
poles for the purpose. This was the " abbavescio "
or resurrection of Christ. At the same moment
the bells all began to ring, and a quantity of
poor little birds were let loose, to die eventually
of hunger as no window was ever opened in the
cathedral. Doves, sparrows, goldfinches, hnnets,
and larks flew frantically about, terrified by the
awful noise, and the thought of their unhappy
fate quite sickened me.
The crowd was most courteous when I tried
to leave the church, and made way for me, pass
ing word to one another that a stranger wanted
to reach the door, so that a lane was made
and I gained the steps leading down to the

THE GREAT BELL TOWER. 17
Piazza without any difficulty. Here an extra
ordinary scene presented itself: petards, rockets,
and crackers were going off in every direction.
Every street, nay, every house had its own
"battaria di Jesu," lines of little brown-paper
parcels of gunpowder, which were exploding
all over the town. The effect was that of
platoon-firing, and I realized the horrors of a
siege and wished for temporary deafness.
The cathedral stands on a promontory, and
behind is a piazza with a wall going sheer
down to the sea. Sitting on the marble seat
which runs all round, we looked over the
turquoise-blue water and saw the fine promon
tory of Mount Garganus rising on the opposite
side of the bay to the left ; the white lateen
sails of the fishing boats gleamed in the brilliant
sun, while to the right the coast was indented
with many a small bay, and the white houses of
Bisceglie, the ancient Vigilia, jutted far out into
the sea. Gulls were skimming lazily over the
blue water at our feet, and overhead the chesnut
kestrels were shrieking as they chased each
other in and out of the great bell-tower.
This is one of the sights of Trani, being
built over a gi-eat archway and rising two
hundred and seventy feet from the ground in
seven storeys, the upper one being an octagon
A3

18 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ii.
surmounted by a low spire. It is the work
of " Nicolaus, sacerdos et protomagister." The
west front of the cathedral is magnificent, with
a balcony resting on arches, lions and elephants
supporting the pillars of the doorway, and a
great deal of decoration. The bronze doors,
divided into compartments containing subjects
from Scripture, , which Fergusson saji-s, " for
beauty of design, or for the exuberance and
elegance of their ornaments, are unsurpassed by
anything of the kind in Italy, or probably in any
part of the world," were cast by Barisanus of
Trani in 1175, and the interior must have been
worthy of them until a barbarous Archbishop
modernized and whitewashed it (even the
columns) some fift}' years ago. Luckily he died
before he could spoil the crypt, where Philip,
Prince of Morea, second son of Charles I., lies
in a marble coffin. Here there are thirty marble
columns, and the whole effect is solemn and
beautiful. Some fine Gothic windows are still to be seen
in the narrow streets near the cathedral, and in
Via Romito stands the exquisite little church, San
Giacomo, which belonged to the Templars. The
principal door has a lion and a griffin on the
columns on either side, and is highly decorated.
A line of quaint little figures runs all along the

'PROFESSORE RICCA."

19

front

of the church, above them is another of
alternate birds and mytho
logical heads, while at the
top are heads of various
animals. There is a most
lovely small door at one
side, but the whole is in a
sad state of decay.
In a dirty back street
was the following inscrip
tion over a door, which
strongly re-called the mid

dle ages :

1 at tbe Dooi-way
". Giticomo.

" Professore Ricca."
" II medesimo Professore Ricca, per fare i suoi
unguenti, compera Serpen ti e Serpe grosse, vive;
Lupi, Orsi, Scimie, Marmotti, Faine, e tante altre
razze di animali selvaggi vivi e sani."
(" The said Professor Ricca will buy, for
making his salves, live Snakes and big Serpents,
Wolves, Bears, Monkeys, Marmots, Weasels, and
many other kinds of wild animals, alive, and in
good condition.")
The public garden. La Villa, perched on the
seawall, is wildly picturesque ; on one side is a
mound planted with golden cytisus and cypresses,
A 4

20 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ii.
all garlanded with pink china roses climbing into
the dark foliage. Long lines of dark blue irises
fringed the paths, and the pomegranates were
just putting forth their young shoots, tender
green dashed with scarlet, under the palms.
The circular harbour reminded me much of a
bit of Venice, and was, I learnt, constructed by
the Venetians when they occupied Trani in the
fifteenth century. The entrance from the sea is
narrow, and now the mud has so filled up the
harbour that only small ships can get in. Trani
once had a large commerce with the East and
was one of the ports whence the crusaders em
barked for the Holy Land.
Here it was that Manfred met his second wife,
Helen, daughter of Michael Comuensus, Despot
of Epirus, and Prince of Thessaly and Etolia.
Vincenzo Manfredi of Trani who lived early in
this century, copied the following account of
her reception out of an old manuscript in the
archives of the Dominicans in his native town :
" A lo di doi de lu mise de junio de ipso anno
1259 arrival in Apuha en octo galere la zita de lo
seniore re Manfredu, fillia de lu despotu de
Epiru, chiamata Alena, accompagnata da multi
baruni, et damicelle de lu nostru reami, e de
quillo de lu soi patre, et sbarcao in lu portu
de Trano, dovi 1' aspettava lu seniore Re ; lu quali

THE RECEPTION OF QUEEN HELEN. 21
quando seise la zita dalla galera, I'abbrazzao forti,
et la vasao. Dopo che I'appe conducta per tutta
la nostra terra tra I'acclamaziuni de tutta la genta,
la menao a lo castellu, dove ze foro grandi feste,
et suoni, et la sera foro facti tanti alluminare, e
tanti fano in tutti Ii cantuni de la nostra terra,
che paria che fossi die. Lu juorno appressu lu
seniore Re creao multi cavalieri, tra Ii quali foro
Ii nostri concittadini, messeri Cola Pelaganu et
Fidericu Sifula, che aviano accompagnata la
Reina in lu viaggiu cum le doi galeri della nostra
terra. La dicta Reina e multa avvenente, et de
bona manera, et e piue bella de la prima
mogliera de lo Re, et se dice che non haue piue
che dizesette anni."
(" On the second day of the month of June of
the year 1259 arrived in Apulia with eight
galleys the bride of the lord King Manfred,
daughter of the despot of Epirus, called Helen,
accompanied by many barons and damsels of our
kingdoms and of those of her father, and disem
barked in the port of Trani, where our lord the
King awaited her ; who when the maiden left
the galley, embraced her heartily and kissed her.
After conducting her about the town amid the
acclamations of all the people, he took her to
the castle, where there were great fetes and
music, and in the evening the illuminations were

22 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. ii.
SO great and so many beacons were lit in the
country round that it seemed like day. Next
morning the lord King created many knights ;
among them were our fellow-citizens. Messieurs
Cola Pelaganu and Frederick Sifula, who had
accompanied the Queen in her voyage with two
galleys of our city. The said Queen is very
beautiful and has charming manners, and is
handsomer than the first wife of the King, and
they say she is only seventeen.")
As I stood on the quays looking at the pretty
little port with small fishing smacks decked with
flags moored at the foot of the grey old church
of S""- Teresa, I thought of the gay doings when
the gallant young King, dressed in his favourite
green, "the colour of hope and youth," was
waiting to welcome the Greek princess whom
he loved so passionately and of whose beaut}'
he was so proud. They were married at Trani,
and afterwards went to Andria and to Castel
del Monte, the fine castle that Frederick II.
built, and that one sees like a crown above the
green land of Apulia for full sixty miles round.
At Trani, the birth of their eldest son Henry,
in April, 1262, was the occasion for "multi festi
et alluminiere " (many rejoicings and illumina
tions), as the same old chronicler before quoted
notes, and only five short years afterwards

QUEEN HELEN A FUGITIVE AND WIDOW. 23
Trani saw the beautiful and unhappy Helen,
a fugitive and a widow with four small
children, basely betrayed to Charles of Anjou.
At the risk of wearying my readers I give the
curious relation of the old Trani writer. The
treachery of the commander is still talked about
as a shame which blackens the good fame of
the city, and is a sore point with its inhabitants.
Curiousl)' enough, Frederick II. stigmatised
them in one of his favourite distichs, saying,
" Fugite Tranenses ex sanguine Judaj descen-
dentes' (" Avoid the inhabitants of Trani,
descended from the blood of Judas") :
" A lu die 28 de Fevraru s'appe novella che
lu Re Manfridu era statu roctu cii lu soi
exercitu sottu Benevento : ma non si sapia
se era muorto o \\w\x. Ma dopo alcuni
iuorni se dixe che lo Re Manfridu si era
trovatu accisu ne lu campo de la battaglia. La
Reina Alena che se trovava dintro Lucera alia
novella pocu mancao, che non cadisse morta
per lu doluri. La poverella non sapia ne che
diresi ne che provedimentu pigliari perzoche Ii
Baruni et Ii curtisciani a lu solitu loru le voltaro
Ii spalli. Li soli che non I'abbandonaro foro lo
nostru Cittadinu Messeri Monualdu cu la
mugliera Amundilla et Messeri Amerusio Ii
quali erano familiari et fideli a lu Re Manfridu.

24 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. il.
Questi I'animaro e la consilliaro a. fuggiri a
Trano per imbarcarisi ed irisene cu Ii figliuoli
dali soi parenti in Epiru. Messeri Amerusio
spedio subito no soi fideli messaggiu a Messer
Lupone soi amicu che armassi secretamenti una
galera o autru lignu sottile et la tenesse pronta
et apparecchiata. La nocte de Ii tre de Marcio
arrivaro in Tranu, ma non potero partire,
perzoche lu ventu spirava contrariu, ne si potiva
escire da lu portu. La reina Alena cum ipso
Munualdu et Amerusio si retirao dintro a
lu castellu secretamenti, dove furo receputi
cij multu amori de lu castellano. Ma
saputosi quisto da certi frati che travestiti
secundu se dicia Papa Chimente avia mandati
per lo Reami a fare sollevari la gente contru
alu Re Manfridu si portaro de lu dicto Castellanu
per capacitarlo a fari presune la reina cu Ii soi
figli, perzoche avria facto multo piazire a lu
sancto Patri et receputo premiu gi^andi da lu Re
Carlu. Et tantu Ii seppeno predicari che a la
fine a cossi fice lo traditure che serrao la povera
Alena cu Ii soi figli et alzao lo ponte de lu
castellu. A lu di sei de lu dicto mise arrivao
multa genti d'arme a cavallu de lu Re Carlu che
andava in cerca de la Reina, et la pigliaro cu
Ii soi quattru figh et tutto lu tesoru che avia, et
de nocte se Ii portaro ne si sappe dove."

THE QUEEN IMPRISONED. 25
(" On the 28th day of February we had news
that the King Manfred had been beaten with his
araiy beneath Benevento ; but none knew if he
were dead or alive. After some days they said
that the King Manfred had been found killed on
the field of battle. Queen Helen, who was
in Lucera, nearly died of the sorrow. The
poor thing did not know what orders to give or
what steps to take, because the Barons and the
courtiers, as is their wont, turned their backs on
her. The onl}' ones who did not abandon her
were our fellow-citizens, Messire Monualdu,
with his wife, Amundilla, and Messire Amerusio,
who were friends and faithful followers of
King' Manfred. These encouraged her and
counselled her to fly to Trani and embark with
her children for Epirus, to take refuge with her
relations. Messire Amerusio sent immediately
a faithful messenger to Messire Lupone, his
friend, with orders to arm, secretly, a galley or
other swift ship, and to hold it in readiness.
In the night of the 3rd of March they arrived
at Trani, but could not leave, because the wind
was contrary and the boats could not leave
the port. Queen Helen and Amerusio took
refuge, secretly, in the castle, where they were
received with much affection by the castellan ;
but this becoming known to certain monks in

26 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. ii.

disguise, who were sent, they sa)', by Pope
Clement all over the kingdom to incite the
people against the King Manfred, they went to
the said castellan to persuade him to make the
Queen and her children prisoners, as a deed
which would give much pleasure to the Holy
Father, and bring him great gifts from the King
Charles. So well did they preach that at
length the traitor did their bidding and shut up
poor Helen and her children, and raised up the
drawbridge of the castle. On the seventh of
the same month much cavalry arrived, sent by
King Charles, in search of the Queen, and
they took her, with her four children and all
the treasure they had, and b)' night they carried
them none knew where.")

27

Apulian Cistern.

CHAPTER III.

A N D E r A.

Andria is a full hour's drive from Trani, and
the road goes up and down hill in a perfectly
straight line through a rich but dull country,
teeming with corn, almond trees and olives, the
large fields divided by rough stone walls. It is
singular to see such vast stretches of country
without any cottages or farm-houses. The
ground was splendidh' tilled, seemingly by

28 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. iii.
invisible hands, for it was a holiday, so we saw
no peasants about, and looked in vain for their
houses. Large cisterns for collecting rain-water
were dotted about, and the only living creatures
we saw were the men engaged in hauhng up
water for their animals.
In former times all this country was sub
ject to perpetual inroads from the Turks, and
the general insecurity was so great that the
peasants were forced to live in the large towns.
This custom still prevails, and explains the size
of the Apulian cities and the dirt of their
streets. I was told that every morning, at day
break, over ten thousand labourers leave Andria,
many of them mounted on donkeys, mules,
or horses, as their fields are miles away.
The shepherds drive their flocks of goats and
sheep and the herdsmen their cattle through
the streets, making sleep impossible. After
sunset the town is again filled with its peasant
population, who are said to be quiet and
orderly. On approaching Andria we crossed a " Trat-
turo," one of the broad grass-grown highways
which since time immemorial have served for,
the yearly emigration of the immense herds and

ANURIA WELCOMES THE EMPEROR. 29

flocks of Apulia to their summer pastures in the
mountains of Calabria and Abruzzi.
The walls of the town are in great measure
destroyed and there are few ancient monu
ments left, as Andria underwent several sieges
in the times of its Angevine and Aragonese
rulers, and was finally sacked and burnt in 1799
by the Republican arm}-, commanded by General
Broussier and Count Caraffa, the feudal lord of
the city. But her burghers are still proud of
the preference shown by the great Emperor of
the middle ages for his faithful town of Andria,
which remained true to him when so many
Apulian cities declared for the Pope during his
absence in Jerusalem. On his return Andria
sent five youths of good family to welcome
him with the following verses : —
¦• Hex felix Federice veni dux noster amatus,
Est tuus adventus nobis super omnia gratus ;
Obses quinque tene, nostri pignamiu amoris,
Esse tecum volumus omnibus diebus et horis."
The Emperor answered by granting certain
privileges to the town, adding :
•' Andria felix nostris affixa medullis,
Absit quod Federicus sit tui muneris iners ;
.Andria vale felix, omnis que gravaminis expers."

30 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. iii.
Two of his wives are buried in the cathedral :
Yolande of Jerusalem, who died at Andria in
childbirth in 1228, and Isabella of England,
who died at Foggia in 124 1. I searched in vain
for any monument or inscription to show
where the remains of the Empresses lay, and
was assured by the sacristan that their tombs
were in an underground chapel, which was
filled with bones and rubbish, and closed.
The cathedral is a stately Gothic building of
three equal naves, with a fine choir ; but it has
been restored at different epochs, and is rather
bare. Outside, facing the palace of the Dukes of
Andria, stands the bronze statue of its patron
saint, Richard, who is supposed to have come
from England in 492 to "bring light to the
people who were encompassed with darkness,"
as the first line of the inscription runs. As no
Bishop of Andria can be traced further back
than the thirteenth century, I should be in
clined to place St. Richard in the same category
as St. Cataldus of Taranto, the Irishman who is
said to have come from Raphoe in 166.
In the street Corrado IV. di Svevia stands
the ancient church of S. Domenico, with a very
fine ruined cloister and convent behind. An
old man who lived in the refectory of the

OXF OF THE •• DIVFRTIMFNTL" 31
deserted convent asked us whether we had
seen the tomb of the Duke, and on our answer
ing in the negati\-e, led us into a chapel out of
the picturesque cloister. With pride he pointed
to a rudely painted board let into the wall, on
which was inscribed, " Hie jacet Corpus Serenis-
simi ducis Domini Francisci de Baucio funda-
toris huius conventus 1482, a3t. "12 ; " and
proceeded to unhook it. We then saw a long
hole in the wall, in which was placed an
open coffin with glass on the side facing us.
In this lay a brown mummy, a few white
hairs still remaining on the head, and one leg
slightly drawar up as though the Duke had died
in gi'eat pain. To our horror the old man
laid hold of the mummy, and danced it up
and down in the coffin ; he was quite disap
pointed at my refusin-^ to feel how light it was,
and expla.ined that this was one of the few
" divertimenti " (amusements) Andria could
offer to strangers.
Francis was of the great house of Balzo
or de Baux, whose ancestor Hugo came from
Provence with Charles of Anjou. Beltrando
del Balzo, Count of Andria, son of Hugo,
married Beatrice, daughter of Charles II. ;
she died in 1330, and was buried in the

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iii.

cathedral, where the proud inscription, "Rex
Mihi Pater Erat, Fratresque Robertus, Loy-
siusque Sacer, Regia Mater Erat, Bertrandi
Thalamos Non Dedignata Beatrix, A Quo
Deducta Est Baucia Magna Domus. Si Tangunt
Animos Haec Nomina Clara Meorum, Esto
Memor Cineri Dicere Pauca : Vale ! " marks
the place where her monument once stood.
If her bones are dispersed, at all events she is
not dandled up and down for the amusement
of the few visitors who go to Andria. The
name of this powerful family occurs constantly
in the history of the kingdom of Nciples. It
was a son of Beltrando di Balzo, Francis, who
persuaded Pope Urban VI. to support Charles
Durazzo in his pretensions to the crown, and
was thus the cause of the fall of Queen Joan I.
of Naples.
Andria lies so entirely out of the world that,
although it has forty-seven thousand inhabitants,
there is no inn of any kind. The few shops I
saw were very poor, and of the once famous
manufacture of earthenware we could not dis
cover a trace. The palace of the Dukes of
Andria, first inhabited by the Balzi and after
wards by the Caraffa, is a large square building
of no particular beauty, and belongs to a private

.1 SINGULAR FEATURE. 33
family. The Caraffa bought the Dukedom of
Andria from Gonsalvo de Cordova, to whose
family Ferdinand the Catholic gave it in 1503,
one year after he had invested the infamous
Caesar Borgia as Dux Handrise, when the Pope
and his son made so close an alliance with
Spain. The church of the Porta Santa, finished in
1265, under Manfred, is near the gate by which
St. Peter and later St. Richard are said to have
entered Andria, and the street leading to it is
still called Strada del Paradiso. It is possible
that the so-called portraits of Frederick II. and
of Manfred on either side the door (which is of
far later date) are copies of old medallions ; the
coats of arms, with the lions of Suabia, would
seem to confirm this.*
A singular feature in Italy is the hatred
existing, not only between the different pro
vinces, but between neighbouring towns and
villages. Thus at Trani they told us that the
people of Andria were all thieves and assassins,
uncivil to strangers, and perfect savages ; while
at Andria we were informed that Trani was
a nest of robbers, and its inhabitants "male-
* Rico. d'Urso: '• Storia di Andria." B

34 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iii.

ducati e gente di nessuna fede" (ill-bred and
untrustworthy). From Trani to Castel del Monte is a long
and dreary drive. A perfectly straight broad
road of eight miles, slightly uphill, leads to
Corato, through immense groves of almond trees,
and interminable vineyards kept in the Apulian
fashion ;, each vine having its own little hole so
as to collect every drop of rain, and being pruned
about a foot from the soil. When the almond
trees are in bloom the country must be beau
tiful ; our driver, who was of a poetical turn,
said, " as though rosy snow had fallen all
over the land." Flowers were scarce, for the
ground is so well tilled and the corn is kept
so clean that only a very few scarlet pop
pies gave a touch of colour to the mono
tonous brown of the vineyards and green of
the crops.
White stone walls divide the fields, and, partly
to get rid of the superabundant stones, partly to
provide shelter for the peasants when guarding the
grapes, queer-looking circular huts, rather like
tombs, are scattered all over the country. These
are most neatly built, without mortar, generally
in steps running up to a point, on which stands
a rough cross, and are called " Caselle." Corato,

CASTEL DEL MONTE IN 'THE DISTANCE. 35

and the seaport Bisceglie near by, recalled
the Borgias again to our minds, as Lucrezia
was Duchess of Bisceglie, both towns having
been the marriage portion of her unfortunate
husband, Don Alphonso of Arragon ; and she
kept the title after he had been murdered by
her brother, Caesar Borgia.
From Corato, the worst-paved town I ever
drove through, a cross country road of some
seven miles leads up to the low line of
hills "Le Murgie;" in some places the road
was made simply of huge blocks of stone, and
as we followed our carriage on foot, we
expected every instant to see the horses break
their legs and the carriage divide in two. For
days we had observed Castel del Monte firom
everywhere ; a round tower perched on a
conical hill rising above the long chain of the
" Murgie," it had in a way laid hold of us, and
I, at least, expected a sort of fairy palace.
Some months before I had also read " Wander-
jahre in Italien" by Gregorovius, and his
learned and poetical description of the castle of
the Hohenstaufen had made a deep impression
on me.
After leaving Corato we were among the
lines of hills and saw Castel del Monte no
B 2

3G THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. in.
more, until emerging from a little valley it
suddenly stood before us, crowning the green
hill. Our first impression was disappoint
ment at the small size of our much-talked-of
castle.

37

Castel del Monte.
CHAPTER IV.

CASTEL DEL MONTE.
Leaving the carriage at the solitary farm
house, we climbed in the hot sun up the steep
bare hill, and now saw that what had seemed
a round tower in the distance was an octagon,
with low octangular towers at each corner,
slightly higher than the castle walls. Built of
limestone of a rich creamy yellow colour,
which was quarried from the hill on which it
stands, Castel del Monte is in a good state of

38 THE LAND OF MANFRED [Ch. iv.
preservation. The Italian Government bought
it a few years ago from the Caraffa family,
who, fallen from their high estate, had allowed
shepherds to stall their flocks in the rooms
which had once re-echoed to the songs of the
minstrels the great Emperor delighted in, and
bandits to hide in the recesses of the towers,
while its walls were stripped of their marbles
to ornament churches at Andria. Glass has
been put in all the windows, and the two
doors, of which an old guard, who lives in a hut
close by, has the key, have been repaired. He
was delighted to see us, and said his life was very
lonely, and that if it were not for Vigilante
(his dog) he should not be able to bear it.
Castel del Monte, as I have already said, is
octangular, built round a courtyard, with eight
octagon towers, one at each angle. Between
each alternate pair of towers is a Gothic
window, divided by an elegant column of
pink marble with a rosace at the top. The
window above the chief entrance is wider
than any of the others, and is ornamented
with columns and tracery. There are eight
large rooms on the ground floor and eight
above, while five towers contain small, six-sided
vaulted rooms, and the other three winding
staircases. The principal gateway, all of rosy

THE ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE.

39

marble, faces the sea to the east, and is situated
between two towers ; a pair of guardian lions
uphold the columns, and the whole is hght and
harmonious, severe, 3'et elegant ; a happy
mixture of Gothic and classic. Renaissance and
antique. Several steps lead up to the entrance, and
a doorway on the right hand, of fine pro
portions, opens into the other seven great
halls. The castle being a perfect octagon and

.Scale of Feet
o 5 ro 20 30 40 so
Old Plan of Castel del Monte.

40 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
built round a court, every room is much wider
on the outside. Halt columns of red breccia
marble with Corinthian capitals stand in the
corners of the rooms, from which spring
marble ribs supporting the vaulted ceilings,
united in the centre by a large rosace of
flowers and heads. The remains of a marble
bench which ran all round the walls are still
extant in some places, and broad marble steps
lead up to the windows. There are a few traces
left of the white and rosy marble which clothed
the walls, and one hall still has a remnant of
its mosaic floor. Three of these halls have
doors leading into the courtyard, where there is
a large cistern of excellent water ; one doorway
is quite plain, the others of ogival shape and
diversely ornamented.
The upper floor which was inhabited by the
great Emperor, is more richly decorated. In
lieu of the one half column of breccia, the
vaulted roofs, which were in mosaic, are sup
ported by a group of three columns of white
marble in each corner. From four rooms the
view is superb, three others have windows
looking into the courtyard, and in two of these
are immense marble chimney-pieces, which the
old guard called " cimminere."
The room over the principal entrance has but

PAST GLORIES. 41
one door, so that one cannot make the circuit
of the rooms. This was probably the favourite
room of Frederick II., and as we mounted the
six pink marble steps and sat down in the em
brasure of the large window, I tried to recall
the past glories of his time. The Emperor loved
magnificence. Oriental ambassadors brought him
costly hangings, silks, and carpets, while his
own manufactories in Palermo rivalled the
East in the beauty of their productions.
Frederick IL, like his son Manfred, was accused
of favouring his Mohammedan subjects of Sicil)',
and of adopting their manners, and even their
creed. He spoke their language, admired and
cultivated their science, and caused their
philosophy to be translated into Latin.*
The sunny land, with its bright towns re
flected in the blue Mediterranean, and the
gaiety, the polished manners, the beauty and
the poetry of his southern subjects, were far
more congenial to the gi^eat Emperor than the
cold climate and coarse habits of the Germans.
Had the Hohenstaufens not been dispossessed
by the dynasty of Charles of Anjou, and the
whole land thrown back many centuries, the
social and intellectual advancement of the
world would have made rapid progress.
* Milman : " History of Latin Christianity."

42 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
The University of Naples was founded by
Frederick II. and liberally endowed ; he laid
down rules for the relations of its scholars with
the citizens, and fixed the price of lodgings.
To the most promising students he offered
employment, and money was advanced at low
interest to those who were too poor to pay
the fees. He had made large collections of
books in the East, and employed learned men
in translating from Arabic and Greek into
Latin, among them Michael Scott the so-called
magician, whose translation of Aristotle was
done by his order. Peter de Vinea tells us
that he had a passionate love for learned and
philosophical studies, and that after a know
ledge of affairs of laws and of arms, nothing
became a monarch so well ; and to these he
devoted all his leisure hours. Sculpture, paint
ing, architecture, music, and poetry were
patronized by him, and one may say that the
Italian language was fashioned at his court.
The earliest Italian sonnet was, I believe,
written by his Chancellor, the compiler of his
laws, Peter de Vinea.
As a legislator, Frederick II. may lay claim
to unbounded admiration, for his object was
to abolish feudal oppression and to set some
limit to the domination of the clergy. The

FREDERICK AS A LEGISLATOR. 41
Constitutiones Siculse are a standing monument
of his wisdom. He abohshed ^/^/Ha^^/u, droit
d'Aubaine (escheat to the Crown of the pro
perty of an alien), which was only done away
with in Europe in this century. The Crown
was to be the sole fountain of justice. All
the special courts of the great feudal barons
and higher ecclesiastics were abolished, and,
excepting in cases of marriage, no separate
jurisdiction of the clergy over the laity was
recognised. Appeals to Rome were permitted
solely for ecclesiastical matters, and the im
munities of the Jews and the Saracens were
maintained with absolute impartiality. The
right was asserted and exercised of declaring
the children of the clergy who by the canon
law were spurious, legitimate, and entitled to a
share in the inheritance of their parents, except
fiefs ; and capable of attaining to all civil
offices and honours. The great barons received
substantial benefits in lieu of the privileges
which they lost, their fiefs were made here
ditary to females and to collaterals in the third
degree. Cities were fireed from the intolerable juris
diction of the nobles and the clergy, and all
superior governors were named by the Crown.
Serfs were raised to the condition of free

41 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. iv.
peasants and could acquire and hold property,
and justice was to be obtained by the poorest
peasant against the most powerful magnate.
The great court of criminal law consisted of
the Chief Justiciary of the kingdom and four
other judges, and the administration of criminal
justice was exclusively reserved to the Crown.
Private war and the execution of the law by
private hands was strictly forbidden. Arms were
only to be borne by the officers of the Crown, or
by knights and their sons, or by burghers, when
away from their homes. If a knight killed a
man he was beheaded, while one of lower grade
was hanged ; each district was obliged to deliver
a homicide up to justice on penalty of a heavy
fine. Christians paying twice as much as Jews or
Saracens because they were bound to know and
maintain the law. The honour of women was
protected by stringent enactions and severe
penalties ; the Lateran decree of 1216, abohsh-
ing trials by combat and ordeal as vain and
superstitious, was enforced ; whoever wounded
another lost his hand ; and if a man drew his
sword to strike, he paid as a fine double the
tax charged for permission to wear it.
The Emperor framed laws for a system of
representative government. Two annual ses
sions of Parliament were ordained, one in March,

THE EMPEROR'S COMMERCIAL VIEWS. 45
one in August, where the barons and prelates
appeared in person together with the bailiffs of
the Crown ; large cities were represented by
four members, lesser ones by two, small towns
and other places by one ; a commissioner from
the Crown conducted the debates, during which
the behaviour of any public officer might be
questioned, while all were at liberty to offer
advice for the well-being of their towns or
districts. Commerce also engaged the attention of
this enlightened monarch, and he laid down
the maxim that commercial exchange benefited
both parties, and encouraged the export of corn
as a sure means of fostering its cultivation. He
established great fairs on certain days, some of
which are still kept, and made liberal treaties
with Venice, Genoa, Asia, the Greek Empire, and
some of the Saracen powers in Africa.* Need it
be said that the barons regretted the loss of
their old feudal rights, that the Church opposed
herself to all progress, and that each succeeding
Pope vied with the other in abusing and
excommunicating so remarkable a man ! f
* V. Raumer, '• GescMchte der Hohenstaufen."
f " Gregory IX. and his successor. Innocent IV., bore an
unquenchable hatred to the House of Suabia. No concessions
mitigated their animosity ; no reconciliation was sincere.
Whatever faults may be imputed to Frederick, it is impossible

4G THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
ftir any one, not blindly devoted to the Court of Rome, to deny
that he was iniquitously proscribed by her unprincipled
ambition. His real crime was the inheritance of his ancestors
and the name of tlie House of Suabia. In 1239 be was
excommunicated by Gregory IX. ; to this he was tolerably
accustomed by former experience ; but the sentence was
atleaded by an absolution of his subjects from their allegiance,
and a formal deposition. These sentences wore not very
effective upon men of vigoroas minds, or upon those whose
pasfious were engaged in their cause ; but tliey influenced
both those who feared the threatenings of the clergy and
those who wavered already as to their line of political
conduct. In the fluctuating state of Lombardy the excom
munication of Frederick undermined his interests even in
cities like Parma, that had been so friendly, and seemed to
identify the cause of his enemies with that of religion, a pre
judice artfully fomented by means of calumnies propagated
a'j;ainst liimself, and which the conduct of such leading
Glribelins as Kccelin, who lived in an open defiance of God
and man, did not contribute to lessen. In 12i0, Gregory
jn'oceeded to publisli a crusade against Frederick, as if he had
been an open enemy of religion, which he revenged by putting
to death all the prisoners he made who wore the Cross.
There was one tiling wanting to make the expulsion of the
Emperor from the Christian commonwealth more complete.
Gregory IX. accordingly projected, and Innocent IV. carried
into efEect, the convocation of a General Council. This was
held at Lyons (A.D. 1245), an Imperial city, but over which
Frederick could no longer retain his supremacy. In this
assembly, where one hundred and forty prelates appeared, the
question whether Frederick ought to be deposed was solemnly
discussed ; he submitted to defend himself by his advocates,
and the Pope, in the presence, though without formally col
lecting the suffrages of the Council, pronounced a sentence
by which Frederick's excommunication was renewed, the
Empire and all his kingdoms taken away, and his subjects
absolved from their fidelity. This is the most pompous act of
usurpation in all the records of the Churph of Rome, and the

SUMMARY JUSTICE. 47
Castel del Monte was built about 1238, and all
that we know of the architect is the legend that
Frederick II. sent one of his courtiers to see
how the work was progressing. The messenger
met with a lovely damsel at Melfi, and stayed
with her until summoned back by the Emperor.
Thinking that his master would never face such
bad roads or have time to visit the castle, he
trumped up a story of total failure. Enraged at
the account, Frederick sent guards to bring the
architect to his presence, who destroyed him
self and his whole family on receiving the mes
sage. The Emperor went to Castel del Monte,
and finding out the falsehood, he dragged the
offender by the hair of his head to the top of
one of the towers, and hurled him down from
the battlements, as a peace-offering to the
" manes " of his best architect.
There are no inscriptions of the Hohenstau
fen to be seen ; but what recalled Frederick II.
vividly to my mind were the hawks, sailing
about and shrieking sharply as they flew in and
out of their nests in the walls of the castle.
We went up on to the roof, which is
tacit approbation of a General Council seemed to incorporate
the pretended right of deposing kings, which might have
passed as a mad vaunt of Gregory VII. and his successors,
with the established faith of Christendom." — Hallam's
" Middle Ages.'"

48 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
flat, and paved with immense slabs of stone,
whence the rain runs into the cisterns on the
top of every tower. The view is glorious : at
our feet an immense rolling green plain, with
here and there a white farmhouse and large
herds of cattle, sheep, and horses grazing.
Now and again the soft melancholy tones of
the shepherd's pipe or the long drawn-out
notes of an eastern-sounding song, broke the
perfect stillness. The whole sea-coast, from the
promontory of Mount Garganus and the Bay of
Manfredonia to Bari, and right away to Mono-
poli, dim in a purple golden haze, lay to the east
and north. Barletta, Andria, Trani, Bisceglie,
Corato, and Ruvo shone white in the sunlight ;
fishing-boats dotted the brilliant blue sea, and
we understood why the peasants call Castel del
Monte "La Spia delle Pughe" (the spy of
Apulia). On the west rose the dark, purple,
rugged hills of the Basilicata and the fine cone
of the extinct volcano Mount Vulture, and
southwards the long chain of the wild hills of
Le Murgie faded away out of sight. Vineyards
made brown patches in the landscape, and the
"Caselle" looked exactly hke thousands of
Arab tents scattered over the country, which
was intersected with the long yellow lines of
straight roads leading from town to town. An

49

Doorway of Castel del Monte.

B3

50 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
ideal country for hawking, which was the
favourite sport of Frederick ; but we won
dered where he kept his horses, hunting
equipage, and retinue, for the castle could
not have contained them, and there, is no
room on the conical hill for anything else.
At the bottom of the hill we afterwards found
traces of buildings, which we were told had
been destroyed in order to take the stones to
Andria. We had lunch on the steps of the great
entrance, and invited the old guardian and his
active, bright little dog to join us. When
he took his first glass of red wine he
solemnly stood up and bowed, saying, "It
is a fortunate day ¦ for me when such dis
tinguished and clever people come into my
solitude^ and so I must say a brindisi." Strik
ing an attitude, with, his glass held high, he
declainied :
" La.forza dell 'uom e Tingegiio :'
E eol ingegno ogni cavalo s'aduma,
S'aduma tigre, alfante,. lioue :
Seduca il mar col caval.di legno :
Poi si educan le donne collo fiato dell 'uomo,
Poi si principion a far Ii fanoiuUini ;
Nu brindisi i faccio a tutti i Signori.
Ed io mi bevo i vini."

A BRINDISL 51

(" The power of man lies in the intellect :
By intellect you break in any horse,
You control tigers, elephants, lions ;
You educate the sea with horses of wood :
Then women are educated by the breath of man,
Then little children begin to appear ;
I make a brindisi to all the company.
And I drink up the wine.")
After this grand speech we finished our
repast, and I went to find out what unknown
flower I had seen from the castle windows,
shining like a crown of gold in the sun, on a
dark green stem ; while my companions went
to sketch. My flower, as I afterwards found
out, was an asphodel,* and I only saw it near
Castel del Monte, where the people call it
" Arrusha," which is the Arab word for bride.
The old guardian said he had heard some
thing about it in relation with King Manfred ;
but as he had a sublime contempt for all
" dicerie stupide del popolo " (stupid sayings of
the people), he could not tell me what. He
was almost angry when I inquired whether the
great Emperor or his handsome son Manfred
were never seen at night in the castle, or riding
in gallant array with their hawks on .their
wrists on All Souls Eve. Such , things were
* Agjilwdelus Ittteus.
B4

52 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. iv.
only fit for poor peasants, not for educated
people who could read, and I had better come
and amuse myself with the visitors' book, and
write down my name.
Castel del Monte was destined to be the
prison of the unfortunate sons of Manfred and
Helen. When mere babies (the eldest, Henry,
was only four years old) they were torn from
their mother, and could only count the long
dreary years by the increasing weight of their
chains. They were clothed and fed like beg
gars ; deserted and forgotten by all.
After thirty-two years Charles II. seems sud
denly to have remembered his father's unhappy
captives, and a writing of his is still extant
ordering that they should not be allowed to die
of hunger. The following year, in June, 1299,
they were transferred to the Castel dell' Ovo
at Naples, where their sister Beatrice had been
imprisoned for so long.
The end of these unfortunate princes is
shrouded in mystery ; according to one account
Frederick and Azzohno died before their eldest
brother, and are buried at Canosa, where two
plain slabs of stone, not far from the tomb of
Bohemund, are shown as their graves.
Another legend says that Frederick escaped
from prison, and went to Egypt. Henry, the

THE FATE OF MANFRED'S WIDOW. .53
eldest, was apparently still alive, and a prisoner
in the Castel dell' Ovo in 1309, where he is
said to have died, blind and old, in the reign
of King Robert.
Their mother was imprisoned in the castle
of Nocera, a town between Salerno and
Castellamare. Charles of Anjou only allowed
fort}' ounces of gold yearly for her main
tenance, after despoiling her of Corfu and her
own rightful possessions in Greece. Helen
died in February, 1271, aged twenty-nine,
and no trace of her grave is to be found at
Nocera, while the castle, where the. beautiful
Queen lay a prisoner, is a heap of ruins. The
inventory given to the King at Naples by
Enrico della Porta, her gaoler, of the very small
amount of clothes, jewels, and furniture she
left, brings her miser}' vividly before us. Every
thing is marked as " consumptum et vetustum,"
worn and old.

54

Barletta.
CHAPTER V.

BARLETTA.
Barletta, the ancient Bariolum, is another
milk-white town whose dirty streets do not
correspond to one's first impression of gaiety
and brightness. The Hohenstaufen often
resided there, and Frederick IL, after the
Empress lolanthe's death at Andria, sum
moned all the barons of the kingdom to Bar
letta to hear his commands before he started

FREDERICK'S COMM. 1 NDS.

for the crusade proclaimed by him in 1228.
He declared his son Henry heir of the Empire
and of the kingdoms of Naples and Sicilv ; in
case of his dying without heirs, the newh'-
born Conrad was to succeed him ; and Reginald,
Duke of Spoleto, was appointed Bailiff of the
realm. Gregory IX. had excommunicated the Emperor
the year before for not starting for the Holy
Land ; now he excommunicated him because he
went, and sent messengers to forbid the crusade.
Frederick paid no attention to the interdict,
and, as is well known, his expedition ended in
his crowning himself with his own hands in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre as King of Jeru
salem.*

* Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of Frederick's favourite
Teutonic Order, a, German of the best type, says, ¦' We
dissuaded him " (from having the seivice celebrated at
Jerusalem) " acting like one who is zealous for the exaltation
of both Church and Empire, because we saw no advantage
either to Frederick or to the Church in the project. So he
did not hear Mass, following our advice, but simply took the
crown from the altar, without any consecration, and carried it
to his throne, as is the custom. The Archbishops of Palermo
and Capua, and many other nobles, were present ; rich and
poor were there. He bade us speak both in Latin and
German on his behalf." Hermann von Salza, the noMest
man of his time, was the devoted friend of Frederick II. — v.
Raumer, " Geschichte der Hohenstaufen."

5C, THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. V.

Manfred was ver}' popular with the people
of Barietta, as when the city had been
stirred up by Pope Innocent IV. to rebel
against him in 1251, he ordered one gate to
be destroyed and himself entered first into
the revolted city, giving strict orders that
his soldiers should respect persons and pro
perty. A small fine was laid on the city,
and the result of his clemency was that, five
years later, when he called a Diet of Barons
together at Barletta, Jamsilla and Matteo
Spinelli* relate that "the people went forth
as far as the bridge to meet him in pro
cession, with palms in their hands, singing
and calling out, 'Benedictus, qui venit in
nomine Domini.' "
Manfred, like his father, was a poet and a
musician, and we read that "he was often
pleased to go out at night in the streets of
the city, singing ' strambuotti ' and songs ; and
with him were the tM'O Sicilian musicians, who
were great composers." His sweet, silver-toned
* The authenticity of the diary of Matteo Spinelli da
Giovenazzo has been questioned, and denied, chiefly by
German critics ; but Signor Minieri, the late learned " Super-
intendente " of the General Archives in Naples, has, I think,
triumphantly vindicated the character of the quaint old
chronicler. Sir James Lacaita, no mean judge, also coij-
siders the diary to be a bon& fiile document.

MAXFRFI), A POET AND .VUSlCLiN. 57

voice is mentioned several times as one of his
charms, together with his courteous, gentle
manners and great personal beauty. Jamsilla,
who was not likely to exaggerate, says, " For-
mavit enim ipsum natura gratiarum omnium
receptabilem ; et sic omnes corporis sui partes
conformi speciositate composuit ut nihil in eo
esset quod melius esse posset." (" For nature
endowed him with every grace, and so disposed
all the parts of his body in a harmony of
beauty that there was nothing in him which
could be made better.")
The first thing we were taken to see at
Barletta was "il Colosso di Arachi," as they
call the great bronze statue of the Emperor
Heraclius outside the Church of San Stefano.
It is eighteen feet high, and impressive from
its great size, but rather clumsy and ugly.
In the left hand the Emperor holds a globe,
in the other a small wooden cross, which
may be a modern substitution for a sword or
sceptre, as the whole statue looks rather menac
ing, and the cross seems out of place. The
accoutrements and the dress are Roman, but
the diadem round the head is that of the early
Greek emperors.
The statue is said to have been sent by Hera
clius as an offering to the shrine of the arch-

58 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. v.
angel Michael at Monte St. Angelo, and to
have been wrecked on the coast near Barletta,
where it lay imbedded in the sand until 1469,
when it was dug out, restored, and set up.
Another account says that the Venetians
brought it away from Constantinople, and that
their galley foundered near the shore of
Barletta. Some have a theory that it repre
sents the Emperor Theodosius, but his colossal
bronze statue is described as equestrian.
The sketch of the Emperor was made under
considerable difficulties, as the Barletta roughs
and street boys were perfectly insufferable,
and made our lives a burden to us for the short
time we were there.
I was told that in the Piazza near by there
was another colossus, far finer than this, and
much larger ; so I went, and found a modern,
life-size marble statue, of, I think, Cavour or
Massimo d'Azeglio, in the centre of a miserable
sandy desert miscalled a garden. My infor
mant, a respectable shopkeeper, was much
surprised at my want of enthusiasm. "This is
worth seeing, all of marble, and cost many
thousands of francs; that other old thing is
only fit to coin soldi" (pennies).
The interior of San Stefano is very fine, and
the columns are evidently from some old temple.

IL COLOSSO DI ARACHL

59

The Emperor Heraclius at Barletta.

00 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. V.

Our cabman insisted on taking us to the
Church of the "Teatini" to see "bella roba"
(beautiful things), which turned out to be
horrible mummified bodies in the crypt. But
the organ loft above the entrance door is
really "bella roba," all carved and painted in
rather exuberant but very beautiful Renaissance
style. In one of the streets leading to the
harbour is a splendid old palace of the Della
Marra family (now extinct), and the gateway in
the old walls close to the port is large and highly
ornamented, while the castle is picturesque,
and was one of the three strongest fortresses
of Southern Italy. Quite singularly dirty were
the streets leading to the cathedral, which
has a fine and tall campanile and a most
curious and noble west front of the twelfth
century, with wonderful monsters. Unfortu
nately there was some church /est a going on,
and so we could iiot examine the interior. The
pulpit is finely sculptured, and in a niche in
one of the huge pillars is a bust of Frederick I.
of Arragon, with a long inscription recording his
coronation on the 4th of February, 1459.
by the Cardinal Ursino, Archbishop of Trani,
The windows of pierced marble look like
lace ; they are quite Saracenic in character an(J
very beautiffil.

THE RIVER OFANTO. 61

Three miles above Barletta stands a small
tower, where the Ofanto enters the sea. This,
the ancient " Aufidus acer ; longe sonans ;
violens obstrepit " ("proud Aufidus, boiling and
violent"), is the last river along the coast for
two hundi^ed and sixty miles, from Manfre
donia right round the heel of the boot of
Italy to Taranto. It rises in the mountains
behind Melfi and passing under Canosa,
winds slowly past the few remains of Cannae,
where the Romans sustained their famous
defeat by Hannibal B.C. 216. Strabo speaks
of the vast extent of the walls of Canu-
sium, the modern Canosa, where the rem
nants of the Roman army took refuge after
the battle. Like so many towns of Magna
Graecia, Greek and Latin were both spoken
by its inhabitants ; " Canusini bilingues," says
Horace. Not very far off lies Venusia, the
birthplace of the poet, who calls himself " longe
sonantem natus ad Aufidum."
Barletta recalls the famous fight, recorded in
so many Itahan plays, songs, and names of
newspapers, the " Disfida di Barletta," fought
on the 13th of February, 1503, by thirteen
Italian knights against thirteen chosen French
champions. Gonsalvo de Cordova was besieged in Barletta

62 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. v.
by the Duke of Nemours, and in his cavalry
were many of the proudest and bravest Italian
nobles. The military reputation of Italy had
sunk so low that Alexander VI. sneeringly said
Charles VIII. of France could ride from the
Alps down to Naples with wooden spurs and
a piece of white chalk in his hand, to mark
the quarters for his army on the house-doors in
the various towns he passed through. Some
such observation was repeated by the French,
then, as now, imbued with considerable
contempt for their Latin cousins, and the
Italians resented the taunt and challenged the
French knights to combat for the honour of
fatherland. Prospero Colonna, the valiant
knight, and Bayard, " sans peur et sans
reproche," were named seconds, and the
Venetians, then in occupation of Trani and
considered neutral, were appointed to arrange
the hsts and name the judges from the three
Latin races.
They selected a spot between Andria and
Corato, where eighty years later the prefect of
the Terra d'Otranto, Duke Ferrante Carracciolo,
erected a monument to perpetuate the memory
of the "Disfida." It was restored in 1846, and
is commonly called the " Epitaffio " by the
people ; it stands in a flat field, all surrounded

THE COMBAT OF THE KNIGHTS. 63
with vineyards.* Guy de la Mothe, Jacques
de la Fontaine, and Charles de Forgues, were
among the French champions ; while the well-
known names of Ettore Fieramosca and Fan-
fulla da Lodi figure in the Italian list. It was
established that the horse and arms of the
vanquished knight should belong to his victor,
and a ransom of a hundred gold ducats. Ac
cording to the Italian version one Frenchman
remained dead on the field, while the others
were wounded and taken prisoners to the
* The inscription is as follows : —
" Quisquis Es Egregiis Animum Si Tangeris Ansis,
Perlege Magnorum Maxima Pacta Ducum.
Hie Tres Atque Decem Forti Coneurrere Campo,
Ausonios Gallis Nobilis Egit Amor
Certantes Utros Bello Mars Claret Et Utros
Viribus Atque Animis Auetel Alatque Magis
Par Numerus Paria Arma Pares Aetatibus Et Quos
Pro Patria Paritei' Laude Perisse luvet
Fortuna Et Virtus Litem Generosa Diremit
Et Quse Pars A''ictrix Debuit Esse Finit.
Hie Stravere ItaU Justo In Certanime G alios
Hie Dedit Italise Gallia Victa Manus.
O.-P.-T. Max. Bxeroitum
Deo:
Ferdinandus Caraceiolus .aSrolse^Dux Cum A. Philippe
Regum Max. Novi Orbis Monarca Salentinis Japieibusque
Praefect. Imperaiet Virtiitis Et Memorise Causa Ootagiula
Post Annis Anno a Christo Deo Nato MDLXXXIII.

Patrise Glorise Monumentum
Capitulum Tranense Refecit MDCCCXLVI."

04 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. v.
castle of Barletta, whence they had to send
for the ransom, being so sure of victory that
they had taken no money with them.
The French say that at the first shock seven
of their knights were overthrown ; but the
others defended themselves with such bravery
that after a dombat which lasted six hours the
judges declared it a drawn battle. What misery
would be saved if all national quarrels could be
thus decided, and the poor peasants left to till
their fields instead of fighting for the quarrels of
other people !

65

Donkeys in the Pish-market at Bari .

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORY OF BARI.
One of the great charms of little-known
Apulia is its variety of interest ; classical
scholars, artists and architects, lovers of the
Renaissance, and students of queer dialects, can
all find constant occupation. The country is
like a pahmpsest : Greek civilisation, philo
sophy and art is written over the remains of
the ancient Japygian, Lucanian, Bruttian, and
other primitive races ; Roman glory and poetry
over that again, until the Lombard, Saracenic. C

(56 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vi.
Norman, Suabian, French, and Spanish memories
bring us down to united Italy ruled at last by
an Italian king.
Bari, the ancient Barium on the Via Appia,
began existence very early, Japyx, son of
Daedalus, being the fabled founder. The whole
of Apulia, especially the southern part from
Taranto and Brindisi down to Cape Leuca, was
called lapygia after him by the Greeks. From
the number and importance of its coins we know
that Bari must have been a place of some
importance in the third century B.C., although
there is no mention of it before the Roman
conquest of Apulia.
Radelgis, Prince of Benevento, first invited
the Saracens of Sicily as allies to Bari, where
they became a terror to all the country
round. He betrayed them to Lewis IL,
and when the latter came with Guy Duke
of Spoleto, in 851, to pacify and settle
matters in Southern Italy, they were disarmed
and treacherously slain. The Emir of Sicily,
Abbas-Ibn-Fadhl, swore to avenge them, and
after taking Taranto in 852, he threw such a
force into Bari that it became the chief town of
the Mohammedan kingdom in Italy. In a few
years his lieutenant succeeded in wresting from
the Byzantines and the Lombards the principal

MOHAMMEDANS EXPELLED. 67
towns of Apulia and Calabria, when he threw
off his allegiance to his suzerain, and assumed
the title of Sultan.
The sufferings of the Christian population
at length reached the ears of Lewis, who
had lately become Emperor, and he marched
at the head of a German army, which was
reinforced by his Italian subjects, and in
866 began a war against the Sultan of Bari
which lasted five years, and ended by his
taking the city. But the Mohammedan power
soon became all-powerful again in the rest of
the province, and it was Basil I., the restorer of
the military power of Byzantium, who finally
drove them out of Apulia in 885, after a nine
years' struggle, when Bari became the seat of
the Greek Catapano, or governor, and his palace
stood where now we see San Niccolo. As
Petroni says in his exhaustive " Storia di Bari,"
" though the Mussulmans were hated for their
fierceness and their impiety, yet the southern
provinces of Italy have to thank them for their
immense trade with the East, and for the im
provement in ¦ agriculture ; particularly for
introducing the culture of cotton, a species of
which is still called by the peasants ' bambagia
turchesca.' "
In 1002 the unfortunate town was again
c 2

68 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. vi.
besieged by the Saracens, and saved by the
Venetian fleet under Doge Pietro Orseolo II.
Some eighty years later Bari received, "mid
tears of joy and great rejoicings," the bones
of the holy Nicholas of Myra, whose shrine
still attracts thousands of worshippers every
year. On the 9th May, 1087, three ships entered the
old harbour of St. George, about four miles from
the city, and soon it became known that on board
were the sacred relics of the great Saint, who
died in Lycia in 326, and whose tomb had been
a place of pilgrimage until the town of Myra was
destroyed by the Saracens.
Great was the ferment : laity and clergy rushed
down to the beach, and the Archbishop went in
state to receive the holy remains. But the Bari
sailors refused to give up their treasure, having
made a vow to build a church on purpose for the
reception of the relics.
High words ensued, and it seemed as though
the Saint would be the cause of bloodshed and
civil war, until the reverend abbot of the
Benedictine convent, Elias, who was beloved
and esteemed by all, got into a small boat and
went on board one of the ships, " where, after
adoring the sacred body with much reverence, he
pacified the sailors, saying this was no time for

ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA. 69
useless contest, and that they were not to delay
bringing their priceless treasure into the town ; all
wished them to maintain their vow, and all would
contribute ; that if they confided in him and
deposited the hoi}' bones in his church, he would
reverentially guard them and return them to
those from whom he had received them as soon
as the new church was built. This was done,
and the box containing the remains was carried
by the Benedictine fathers, surrounded by an
immense concourse of people, and deposited on
the altar of St. Benedict. Armed sailors and
many citizens watched it night and day, for fear
of the opposite faction, who might dare to steal
it."* The " opposite faction " was headed by the
Archbishop, who desired to get such a valuable
source of honour and wealth for his cathedral.
His actions and his words became so threatening
that there was at last a regular fight outside the
Church of St. Benedict, and several partisans
were killed on either side. The sailors who
were on guard round the altar took up the bones
of St. Nicholas, and carried them by a postern
door to the old palace of the Greek magistrate,
called the " Corte del Catapano," and into the
adjoining little Church of St. Eustache, alleg
ing that as the place belonged to the sovereign
* Petroni, " Storia di Bari."

70 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vi.
power, none would dare to attempt violent theft.
Armed sailors, and the good old abbot Elias
still continued to mount guard ; but Archbishop
Ursone was determined to get all he could, and
persuaded Duke Roger to grant him the ancient
palace of the Catapano in order that St. Nicholas
should remain at least under his jurisdiction, as
he saw it would be impossible to persuade the
sailors to let him have the sacred relics for his
cathedral. Two months afterwards the old Greek
building was pulled down, and the great Church
of San Niccolo began to rise from its ruins,
oblations pouring in from all sides.
The sailors, who were so afraid of their
Saint being stolen from them, had themselves
committed theft, and the account of their
proceedings in Petroni is amusing : " Three
ships left Bari laden with grain for Antioch,
and when off Myra the seamen began to
talk about St. Nicholas, and what a fine
thing it would be to release his remains
from the hands of the infidels. So at length
they determined to cast anchor in the port
of Andriaco and send a spy to Myra. Their
messenger returned with news that the city was
full of people celebrating a funeral feast, and
they abandoned their enterprise till another
voyage, when, meeting some Venetians, they

THE SAINTS BODY STOLEN. 71
found out that the same idea of liberating St.
Nicholas was cherished by them. The more
courageous among the Bari sailors now advocated
immediate action ; but timid counsels prevailed,
when a violent wind arose and prevented the
ships from leaving Andriaco. This was so
evidently a Divine admonition that, leaving the
more timid on board, forty-seven well-armed
men and two priests, b}' name Lupo and
Grimoaldo, set out, and when they approached
Myra concealed their arms and inquired the wa}'
to the tomb of the Saint. It la}' in a solitary
and picturesque valley guarded by four monks,
who were easily overpowered and induced by
threats to point out the exact place where holy
Nicholas was buried. Breaking the marble slab
they found his bones fioating in the so-called
Manna of St. Nicholas, and Grimoaldo the
priest wrapped them in his cloak. Murmuring
whispered prayers, they made the best of their
way back to the ships and hoisted all sails. The
wind was favourable, and in spite of the prayers
and cries of the people of Myra " (who cannot
have been so much ill-treated by the infidels as is
pretended), " the gallant sailors of Bari carried
off their prize."
In September, 1089, Pope Urban II. came to
dedicate the crypt of the new church and con-

72 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vi.
secrate Elias, Archbishop of Bari and first grand
prior of S. Niccolo, and the town made great
efforts to receive him worthily. With his own
hands the Pontiff placed the bones of St.
Nicholas in the tomb prepared for them under
the altar, where they still float in the sacred
liquor ; and declared the 9th of Ma}' a solemn
feast-day to be kept for ever in memory of the
arrival of the holy relics. A little more than a
hundred years later Bishop Conrad, the Imperial
Chancellor, consecrated the upper church in the
name of Pope Celestine III.
The good town of Bari seemed destined to be
a centre for religious matters, as Peter the Hermit
first preached the crusade here in 1095, ^"d the
following year crusaders began to pour into the
city, where a special hospital was erected for their
use near the Church of St. John. The " Ulysses
of the Crusades," Bohemund, a cubit taller than
ordinary men, valiant in battle, eloquent and
persuasive in speech, came with his young
cousin Tancred —
" . e non e aleun fra tanti,
Tranne Rinaldo, o feritor maggiore,
0 pill bel di maniere e di serabianti,
O pill eccelso ed intrepido di core;''
(" . . nor 'mid all is there.
Except Rinaldo, a more puissant knight.
Of princelier bearing, or in look more fair,
More high-minded, or more dauntless in the fight ;")

ANSELif AT THE COUNCIL OF BARL 73

and as an old writer says, " even nature helped
to increase the enthusiasm with showers of fiery
ribbons and falling stars on the night of the 4th
of August."
On the 3rdof October, 1098, all Bari went out to
receive Pope Urban II. , who had called together
the Greek and Latin dignitaries of the Church,
including Anselm, Archbishop of England, to
determine the dogma of the Procession of the
Holy Ghost from the Father and from the Son.
The council sat in the crypt of San Niccolo,
and the Greek prelates held their own manfully
against the arguments of the Pope for a week ;
" when Urban," says Lupo, " remembering
Anselm, who modest, as really learned men
always are, was sitting on a low stool, with loud
voice which caused the vault to ring again called
out, ' Where art thou, father and master Anselm,
worthy Archbishop of England ? Now do we
need all thy science and thy fertile eloquence.
Come, ascend this throne, and defend thy
mother church whom the Greeks are trying to
overthrow. Thou art as a messenger from God
to succour her.'
" All eyes turned towards Anselm, who spoke
in such manner, explaining all the chief points
in dispute and solving all difficulties, that the
Latins broke out into shouts of joy, while

74 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vr.
the Greeks by silence showed their displea
sure. " When he ceased all praised his eloquence,
faith, and science, and the Pope, when the ap
plause was stilled, said, ' Blessed be thy heart
and thy spirit, thy lips and thine eloquence,'
and without losing an}' more time the Holy
Father excommunicated all those who held
opposite tenets."*
Duke Roger having espoused the cause of the
anti-pope Innocent II. invited Emperor Lothair,
" the Saxon," to come to his aid in Italy. He
entered Apulia in 1137, and Bari submitted
without striking a blow, all save the castle,
which stood a siege of forty days. When
taken, the gallant little garrison of five hundred
men were all either hung or thrown into the sea,
and the castle rased. The Pope joined Lothair
in Barii; Taranto and other cities sent in
their submission, and the Emperor named
his brother-in-law, Count Rainulph, Duke of
Apulia. War again desolated the unhappy country
for two years, until Rainulph died suddenly at
Troia, and the Pope, taken prisoner by Roger,
was forced to crown him King of Sicily and
Duke of Apulia. * Petroni.

BARI IN RUINS FOR SIXTEEN YEARS. 75

Bari underwent a siege of two months, and
was at last taken b}- famine and saw her prin
cipal citizens hung by dozens from the windows
of their houses. Not content with killing the
living. King Roger made war on the dead, ex
huming the body of his chief antagonist Brunone,
Archbishop of Cologne, who had been buried in
the cathedral, and causing it to be dragged
with ignominy through the streets. He rebuilt
the castle, and abolished all freedoms gi'anted
to the town by antecedent rulers.
In 1 156 Bari, having espoused the cause of
the Greek Emperor, was rased to the ground by
William the Bad, son of King Roger. The
city remained a heap of ruins for sixteen years,
inhabited only by a few fishermen and some
poor priests, who would not abandon the
Church of St. Nicholas, ^^hich, fortunately,
escaped with but small damage. William IL,
surnamed the Good, then visited the unhappy
town, and gave large donations to the various
churches and monasteries, and in 11 89 Bari again
saw her harbour thronged with the ships of the
crusaders, under Frederick I.
Emperor Henry VL, "vago e signoril seni-
biante die si laido e crudele animo aveva "*
(" handsome and princely semblance, with so
filthy and cruel a soul "), King of Sicily by right
* Petroni.

76 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vi.
of his wife Constance, held a parliament in
Bari, where at first his great beauty won all
hearts, soon to be estranged by his treachery
and cruelty. His son, "our great Emperor,"
the second Frederick, often stayed in the birth
place of one of his favourite counsellors,
Bernardo di Costa, Archbishop of Bari and
afterwards of Palermo, who remained faithful
to the master he had loved as a boy, in spite
of the excommunications launched by succes
sive Popes. In Bari the Emperor received, in
1220, the "meek man of God," St. Francis, who
founded a small convent, afterwards suppressed
by the French. Frederick II. is said to have
played a trick upon him, which is com
memorated by an inscription in a chapel
dedicated to St. Francis in the castle.* The
Emperor must have reverenced his gentle and
godly guest, as he ordered an architect from
Germany, Jacobus ex Alemannia, to go to
Assisi and superintend the building of the great
convent and church of San Francesco.
The good people of Bari bitterly resented
a distich which Frederick IL, according to his
* " Hie lasciventem puellam, vel saevientem
Hydram igne domuit Francisous cinerea exutus
Veste prudens, qui ex aquis ortam Venerem
Et iuxta aquas adortam flammis extinxit,
Portis qui iuespugnabile reddidit
In hoc Castro Pudicitise claustrum."

DISTICH OVER THE GA TES OF BARL 77
wont, inscribed over one of the gates of the
city, when they took the side of the Pope
against him :
" Gens infida Bari verbis tibi multa promittit ;
Quffi, velut imprudens. statim sua verba remittit :
Ideo, quae dice, tenebis corde pudico,
Ut nudos enses, studeas vitare Barenses ;
Cum tibi dicit Ave, velut ab hoste, cave."
(" That fickle race of Bari, ever lavish of promises, which
on second thoughts they think it better not to fulfil. Lay
up, I say, in thy gentle heart this warning : Avoid a, Barian
as you would a dl•av^l sword, and when he bids you God
speed, beware of an enemy near to you.")
But the}' forgot the insulting lines, and re
ceived his gallant son Manfred with all honour
when he assumed the government of Apulia and
Sicily in the name of his brother Conrad, after
the death of their father at Firenzuola. Here it
was that he received the Emperor Baldwin of
Constantinople. " Alii 7 di Agosto" (says Mat
teo Spinelli), " lo imperatore de Constanti-
nopoli jonse a Bari, che veniva da Venetia, et
lo Re lo andao a trovare, et Ii fece assai cortesie
e carezze. E subito fece ponere in ordine una
jostra, et foro quattro manteneturi ; cioe lo
conte di Biccario, Mess.-Loffredo di Luffredo,
Mess.-Tancredo di Vintemiglia, et Mess.-Corrado
de Spatafora. Lo jorno di S. Bartolomeo dello
ditto anno 1259 fo fatta la jostra, et foro venti-
due aventurieri," &c. (" On the 7th of August
the Emperor of Constantinople arrived at Bari,

78 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vi.

coming from Venice, and the King went to
meet him, showing him many courtesies and
kindnesses. Immediately he proclaimed a
tournament, and four were the holders of the
field ; they were the Count of Biccario," &c.,
&c.) The old writer of Giovenazzo goes on
to name the twenty-four j ousters and their
accoutrements ; but, unfortunately, the follow
ing four pages of his manuscript are so
damaged as to be illegible, so that the
description of the tournament and the feasts
which followed are lost to us.
After the death of Manfred, Bari welcomed
his conqueror, Charles of Anjou, who made
magnificent offerings to the shrine of St.
Nicholas, but laid such burdens and taxes on
the people, and quartered so many soldiers in
the town, that Saba Malaspina, though a
Guelph, writes that the cry was, " O Re Man
fredi, noi non t'abbiamo conosciuto vivo ; ora ti
piangiamo estinto. Tu ci sembravi lupo rapace
fra le pecorelle di questo regno dacche per la
nostra volubilita ed incostanza siam caduti sotto
il presente dominio, tanto da noi desiderato, ci
accorgiamo in fine, che tu eri un agnello man-
sueto. ,Ora si, che conosciamo, quanto fosse
dulce il- governo tuo, posto in confronto dell'
amarezza presente. Riusciva a noi grave in

b

NOT APPRECIA TED UNTIL DEA TH. 79
addietro, che una parte delle nostre sostanze
pervenisse alle tue mani ; troviamo ora che
tutte, e, quel ch' e peggio, anche le persone
vanno in preda a gente straniera." (" O King
Manfred, when alive we did not appreciate
thee ; now we mourn thee dead ! To us thou
didst seem a ravening wolf among the sheep of
this realm ; but since we, by our love of change
and inconstancy, have fallen under the present
government, at last we perceive that thou
wast a gentle lamb. Now we know how
kindly was thy rule, by comparison with the
present harshness. To us it seemed hard that
a part of our substance should be taken by thee ;
now we find that all goes, and, what is worse,
even our persons fall a prey to foreigners.")
Bari was raised to a duchy in the four
teenth century, and after passing through the
hands of various masters, was ceded to Isabella
of Arragon in 1500. Beautiful, virtuous, and
talented, she had been carefully educated by her
mother, Ippolita Sforza, one of the cleverest
women of her time, always surrounded by
learned and distinguished men. At eighteen
she married her cousin, Gian Galeazzo Sforza,
soon afterwards poisoned by his uncle, Lodovico
il Moro. Isabella was a good musician and no
mean poet, as the following sonnet, published
by Bellincione in Milan, in 1493, proves : —

80 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. -vi.
" 0 I mille volte ringraziato Amore,
Ma piii quel santo giorno benedetto,
Che f u dal Ciel a questo fine eletto,
Cb'io vivo e mora sol eol mio Signore.
Se gelosia di lui sempre ho nel cuore.
Quest' 6 che I'amo d'un amor perfetto :
N6 sol col sense mira il mio inteletto,
Anzi ardo dentro al ouor del nostro onore.
Or questa e I'amorosa mia ferita,
E temo sol d'ogni ombra, perch' io I'amo,
E sempre sono a lui col cuore unita.
Come presto un bel fior casca dal ramo,
Cosi vegg' io eascar la nustra vita,
E pero il Ciel al nostro amor sol ohiamo."
(" Oh ! thousandfold I thank thee, divine Love,
And even more that holy, blessed day
When Heaven elected me, above all others,
To live and die solely with him I love.
If jealousy of him lives in my heart,
'Tis that I love him with most perfect love ;
Not only with my body do I worship him,
The holy flame burns in my soul and heart.
Such is the wound I cherish lovingly
That every shadow frights me for my love;
My heart and his united are for aye.
Like a fair flower falling from above,
I see our lifebloom fading fast away.
And make appeal to Heaven for our love ")
After being maltreated and imprisoned by
Lodovico il Moro, she obtained, on his deposi
tion by Louis XII. of France, the Duchy of
Bari as compensation for her dower, and was
received with the honour due to her misfortunes
and her goodness. Many Milanese followed her
to Bari, where she consecrated herself to the

MARRIAGE OF BONA WITH SIGISMUND. 81

education of her daughter Bona, and to the
good of her subjects, by whom she was so much
beloved that the city voluntarily gave up part
of their dues to her.*
In 1 5 17 Bona was married by proxy to
Sigismund, King of Poland, and the magni
ficence of her entry into Naples, where she
met the Polish Ambassadors, astonished the
Neapolitans. She was married on the 6th of
December, and afterwards there was a grand
banquet, at which she presided, dressed in blue
Venetian satin covered with bees in beaten gold,
and her cap all covered with pearls and precious
stones. The banquet lasted nine hours, from
two in the afternoon till eleven at night, and
Giuliano Passero in his giornale gives a quaint
list of the dishes.f
* Deliberazione decmiuuule del di 3U Marzo 1513.
fin primis pignolata in quattro con natte, et attonata
jelatina.
Insalata d'herbe.
Lo bollito, et bianco magnare con mostrada con I'ordine suo.
Li coppi di picciune.
Lo arrusto ordinario con miiTausto, et salza de vino agro.
Le pizze sfogliate.
Lo bollito salvaggio eon putaggio ungaresco, et preparata.
Li pasticci de carne.
La pagoni con sua salza.
Le pizze florentine.
Lo aiTusto salvaggio, et strangolapreiti.
Le pastiecelle de came.
La zuppa nauma.
C3

82 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. vi.
On the 26th of December Queen Bona left
Naples for Manfredonia, whence she embarked
on the 3rd of February, and reached Cracow on
the loth of April, 15 18, where the King received
her with great pomp and another banquet, which
lasted eight hours. Isabella of Arragon died in
1524, leaving the Duchy to her daughter, who,
when left a widow in 1548, insisted, in spite of
the entreaties of her son and daughters, on
returning to Bari. Here she held a brilliant
court frequented by learned men and artists ;
among the fomier was Scipione Ammirato, who
spent some time with her, on his way from
Lecce to Florence. Queen Bona died in
November, 1558, and bequeathed the Duchy ot
Bari and its appurtenances to Philip 1 1., King
of Spain and Naples.
Lo arrusto de f a^ani.
Almungiavare.
Li capuni copicrti.
Lc pizze bianche, et appresso gelatiua in^'otti.
Couigli eon suo sapore.
Li guanti.
Le starne con leinoucelli •¦sunc.
Li pasticci di cotognc.
Le pizze pagonazze.
Le pastiecelle di zucchero.
Le tartelle.
Alia tavola della signora llegma fo fontaua de adurc, fo misso
castagne di zuecaro con lo seacchiero, le nevolc, et procassa.
Levaro la prima tavola, e I'aqua a mano di buon odore,
Confietti.

83

Coin of Bari.

CHAPTER VII.

BARI AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
We went to Bari full of hope, as whenever
we had hinted elsewhere that a room might
be swept out or a table-cloth washed, we
were told, "Ah! you should see Bari; Paris
is nothing in comparison. Here we are only
provincials ; wait till you get to Bari." It
was the sole place where the hotel was really
bad and the beds inhabited ; the people, too,
are not at all " simpatici," as the Italians say,
and it was the only town where I was pes
tered by beggars. No fish was to be had,
which, remembering Horace's "Bari mcenia
piscosi, we thought rather hard.
C4

84 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vii.
But the priory of San Niccolo da Bari amply
repaid any small inconvenience. It is an
immense building like a fortress, with its big
towers guarding each side of the west front-
The doorway is flanked by two elegant
pillars resting on queer monsters, which sup
port the usual pointed hood. On either
side of the doorway stands a fine column,
taken from some classical building and used
merely as an ornament. The interior of the
church is very picturesque ; divided into three
aisles by columns of perfectly classical design,
the side aisles vaulted, while the centre one is
spanned by immense arches at irregular distances,
built, they told me, at various periods to support
the roof which had suffered in successive earth
quakes. A gallery runs all round the centre
aisle, and the ceiling is painted and richly gilt.
Behind the high altar is the tomb of Queen
Bona, executed many years after her death in
i593> by order of her youngest daughter, Anna
Jagellona, wife of Stephen I. of Poland. On a
sarcophagus of black marble kneels the Queen
in prayer and a female figure above life-size
stands on either side, one with a royal crown
representing Poland, the other with a ducal
crowil, Bari. In niches behind are figures of
St. Stanislas and St. Nicholas.

THE PRIORY OF SAN NICCOLO DA BARL 85
Three thrones also stand behind the altar, the
oldest said to have been used by Roger on his
coronation. Another is for the King, who by
right is the first canon of the church, and the most
remarkable one is the state throne of the prior,
supported by three crouching human figures and
a hon with a Saracen's head between his paws.
But who can describe the crypt ! Pillars,
apparently innumerable, with capitals richly
carved in every conceivable design, glowing
colour with dark shadows, and devout kneeling
figures, made a picture not easily forgotten.
The original pavement has been raised on
account of infiltrations from the sea, so that the
twenty-eight pillars appear to spring straight
out of the ground. One of them is in a cage of
iron bars to prevent the devout from scraping
and filing it away to nothing. The legend runs
that St. Nicholas turned it into iron, but I could
not find out what his object was.
The silver altar, underneath which lie, or
rather swim, in the " Maima di Sati Niccold,"
the bones of the Saint, was made by Domenico
Marinelli in 1684, and replaced the one given
by Urosius, " King of Rascia, Dioclea, Albania,
Bulgaria, and all the coast of the Adriatic as far
as the Danube," about 13 19, which was probably
melted down, as well as the lamps, candlesticks,

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. vii.

and silver covering of the whole vault, described
by Beatillo.
On the 8th of May thousands of pilgrims
come, chiefly of the poorest class, from
Southern Italy, and many from Greece and
Russia. They crawl, or rather wriggle flat on
the ground, to the altar of St. Nicholas, where a
priest, thrusting half his body into the hole above
the tomb, ladles out the sacred " manna," which
is given in a small silver bucket to the devout to
drink, and is supposed to cure all ills. I was
accompanied to the church by a gentleman of
Bari, who knew the Archbishop well, so a priest
came up and offered to get me some of the holy
manna ; in an undertone my friend advised me
to decline, he said it was extremely nauseous,
like bad brown sugar and water. As prayers
are necessary before the silver door in the altar
can be opened, which permits the priest to reach
the tomb, we alleged want of time, and pro
mised to return next day.
Going up again into the church we saw
the treasure, which is very interesting. Two
crosses given by Charles of Anjou are magni
ficent, with enamel fleur-de-lis and diverse
arms ; and on unscrewing a small gold cross
in the centre of the largest, held in its place
by screws with ruby heads, we saw a piece

THE TREASURE. 87
of the true Cross. Another reliquary in the
shape of a small cathedral, was a mass of enamel
and jewels, with the twelve apostles as an
ornament round the top. I was told to look
inside, and saw a small glass bottle with what
seemed a piece of red sealing-wax inside. The
priest told me that he had been highly favoured,
as when showing the treasure to the Archbishop,
who had not been long appointed, the blood in
that bottle had liquefied because Monsignore in
his pectoral cross had a fragment of the true
Cross. I think he said it was the blood of St.
Pantaleone. Of course I congratulated him on his
good fortune ; but could not help thinking of —
Dein Gnatia
. . . . Dedit risusque jocosque
Dum flamma sine thura liquescere limine saero
Persuadere cupit."
(" Gnatia ijresented us with subject for laughter, trying to
per.suade us that the incense melted on the threshold of the
temple, without the aid of fire.")
Charles of Anjou also gave a cross in rock-
crystal, with beautiful gold work upon it. Two
of the twelve large rock-crystal candlesticks
which were to stand round it are still left ; the
others have been stolen at various times. Many
other precious things are in the treasure-room,
besides a curious old picture of St. Nicholas, and
some fine illuminated missals.

88 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vn.
Leaving the church by the southern door, which
is almost as fine as the chief entrance, and so
deep as to contain two tombs, one canopied, of
very elaborate workmanship ; we emerged into
one of the three large " cortile," or squares, which
stand round the church, and are used as sleeping
places by the " cafoni," as the Calabrese and
Abruzzi peasants are called. My friend said it
was impossible to pass here at night during the
festival in May, for the poor pilgrims lay on
the pavement as thick as fallen leaves in a
forest. When the weather is bad many of them
die, either at Bari or on their long journey home.
The mortality is particularly great among the
children, whose patron saint Nicholas is,
and in whose service he performed one of his
best-known and much-painted and sculptured
miracles.* St. Nicholas is also the patron saint
* The legend is best told in the lullaby song of the
country ; — " Santo Nicola a la Taverna leva,
Era vigilia e nun se cammarava,
Disse a lu tavernaro n' avimmo niente 1
E I'ora 6 tarda e bulimo mangiane.
Tengo iru barilotto de tunnina
Tanto ch'6 bello nun se p6 assaggiane.
Santo Nicola ce fece la croce,
l7) tre fanoiulle fece resciuscitane.
Benedetto Dio e Santo Nicola,
A fatto tre miracoli di ggioja."

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. SABINUS. 80
of sailors ; and harbours of refuge, innumerable
chapels, and altars on the sea-coast bear his
name. He was the protector of the weak
against the strong, of the poor against the rich,
of the captive, the prisoner, and the slave, and
is universally popular.*
The Cathedral of St. Sabinus is far more
ancient than the Priory of St. Nicholas. The
crypt is said to have existed in 733, when during
a great storm a dismantled ship was driven into
the harbour, the remnant of a fleet sent bv
Emperor Leo IIL, the Isaurian, to make
war on the Pope of Rome. Two monks had
contrived to smuggle a box on board at Con
stantinople, containing a picture of the Virgin,
venerated in the basilica of Odego, and which
they had succeeded in saving from the icono-

(" St. Nicholas went to the inn. It was evening, and j'ou
could no longer walk. He said to the innkeeper, ' Have
you notliing, for it is late, and we wish to eat?' — 'I have
a barrel of tunny, better than was ever tasted.' St. Nicholas
made the sign of the Cross, and three children resuscitated.
Blessed be God and St. Nicholas ! He has done three miracles
full of joy ! ") — See F. Corrazini, " I oomponimenti minori
della Letteiatura Popolare Italiana."
* Mrs. Jameson, " Sacred and Legendary Art,"

90 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. vii.
clastic fury of Leo. They were received with
all honour, and after much persuasion, which
degenerated into threats, were induced to place
the sacred image in the cathedral, where the
"Madonna di Costantinopoli " to this day at
tracts many worshippers, and holds her feast-
day on the first Tuesday in April.
In 1028 the Greek bishop, Bisantius, built a
splendid cathedral over the crypt ; and sixty-
three years later the pious and good Archbishop
Elias, searching for the relics of other saints
supposed to be buried there, came upon a hole
in the altar of the crypt, and discovered the
bones of holy St. Sabinus, which had been
brought from Canosa in 850, and deposited
there by Bishop Angelario, as was proved by
an inscription on a marble tablet. In spite of
the indignant protests of the Canosians, who
to this day maintain that they possess the
relics of St. Sabinus, the Archbishop moved
the bones with great pomp and ceremony into
a fine marble tomb. The cathedral suffered
severely when William the Bad destroyed Bari
in 1 156, and had to be almost rebuilt, when the
two tall towers were added. Inside it has been
much spoilt by stucco, whitewash, and altera
tions in the beginning of the last century, but

RUVO; AND NANNPS POT-HOUSE. 91
the dehcate carving round the doors and win
dows outside is beautiful.
The harbour, with the dilapidated old castle,
is picturesque enough ; but, on the whole, we
were rather sorry for ourselves to have to pass
another night in so dirty a place in order to go
to Ruvo, and see the collection of Greek vases
belonging to Signor Jatta.
A capital tramway runs from Bari through
Bitonto to Ruvo (the ancient Rubos), and on
to Corato and Andria, but the road is dull and
dusty. At Ruvo we found a wonderful machine,
dignified by the name of omnibus, to take us up
the little hill into the town, which once was
surrounded by walls, and here and there a
round tower still remains. Some of the streets
are exceedingly picturesque ; all are dirty. We
went to the fine house where Signor Jatta lives,
and presented our letter of introduction to a nice
old porter, who immediately began to condole
with us on being in such a horrid place as Bari ;
we " should have been so much better at
Nanni's ; Nanni was a ' galant 'uomo,' and had
such good wine."
Signor Jatta was not to be found, nor the
key of the museum ; so we went to see what the
honest Nanni could give us for lunch, while a

92 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vn.
very intelligent, civil contadino went in search
of his master. Nanni's pot-house was a most
primitive and singularly dirty place, and we
incurred his contempt by preferring some light
white wine, which he stigmatised as water
bewitched, to the thick, heavy red wine of the
country. Our nice contadino came back in
despair. Signor Jatta had gone to Bari, bear
ing the keys of his museum in his pocket ; so
we went to see the cathedral. The ground
has evidently risen considerably, which makes
the three round doors, particularly the two side
ones, very low ; even I had to stoop to avoid
knocking my head. The centre door has a
sitting lion on either side ; above is the Lamb
of God, and Adam and Eve. The ceiling of the
nave is painted and near the top runs a broad
cornice, which once, they told me, had an iron
balustrade of great beauty ; the capitals of the
columns are very curious, some with various
queer animals interlaced. Unfortunately the
whole church has been whitewashed. The
high altar reached nearly to the roof, an
immense erection of the Annunciation of the
Virgin in carved and gilt wood. In the aisles
are chapels dedicated to different Saints, and in
one was a life-size silver statue of St. Roch,

THE NOBLE CA THEDRAL OF BITONTO. 93
Some beautiftil marble tombs, in low rehef, of
bishops, with the dates of 1430, 1446, 1582, are
in the floor. The finest was luckily covered by
the wooden pulpit, being thus better preserved.
In vain did we beg Signor Jaffa's dependent
not to lose more time with us ; he evidently
considered that the honour of Ruvo was in his
hands ; and although it was Sunday, and his
affianced bride was dining at his father's house,
he would not leave us. The people were very
civil, but evidently unused to strangers, and my
companion's sketching excited great interest.
They all wanted their portraits done, and
thought a minute each would be enough, ex
plaining that, as the tram only went at three, our
artist would have time to do sixty or eighty.
On leaving we in vain attempted to induce our
contadino firiend to accept a present ; he steadily
refused, but entreated us to return next day to
visit his master's museum.
We stopped at Bitonto, on the way back to
Bari, to see the noble cathedral, one of the
finest in Apulia. The west front has a mag
nificent doorway, with pillars supported by
monsters ; above are two highly ornamented
windows, and over these a circular window of
fine design, surmounted by an ornamental hood.

94 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. vii.
Beneath the roof of the side aisles runs an
open gallery of great beauty, with Saracenic
ornaments intermingled with Romanesque
figures of animals. Inside the cathedral are
two fine ambones, the largest bearing the
name of the sculptor, " Nicolaus, Sacerdos et
Magister, 1229." The crypt is well worth see
ing, though sadly disfigured by whitewash.
The piazza seems hardly changed since the
day when the mortal remains of the great
Emperor were borne sorrowfully towards
Taranto. The old chronicler, Spinelli, went to
Bitonto to see the procession, and describes
how, on the 28th of December, 1250, the fitter,
all hung with crimson velvet, surrounded by
the body-guard of Saracens weeping, six
companies of cavalry, many armed barons
clothed in black, and the syndics of the realm,
passed slowly through the piazza ; while heralds
proclaimed the death of Frederick II. and the
accession of Conrad, represented by the Regent
Manfred. From Taranto the body was carried
by sea to Messina, where the young Henry,
son of Isabella of England, had been sent by
his half-brother Manfred to accompany it to
Palermo, and represent King Conrad at the
funeral.* The tomb, an urn of red porphyry, sup-
* Matteo Spinelli da Giovenazzo.

FREDERICK'S TOMB. 95
ported by four lions and adorned with sculptures,
its canopy of granite upheld by six pillars, may
still be seen in the cathedral there. The fol
lowing touching inscription, placed by Manfred
over his father, has been replaced by another :
" Si probitas, sensus. virtutum gratia, census
Nobilitas orti possent resistere morti,
Non foret extinetus Fredericus, qui jacet intus."
(" If a noble nature, great goodness, many virtues, and
high lineage were sufficient to defy the power of death,
Frederick would not be sleeping in this grave which
encloses him.''

96

Tavola del Paladi^f.
CHAPTER VIII.

LEUCASPIDE.
" For wheresoe'ei I turn my ravished eyes.
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise ;
Poetic fields encompass mc around.
And still I seem to tread on classic ground."
Right glad were we to shake the dirt ot
Bari off our feet and escape from the univeral
smell of " cicutis allium nocentius " * (garlic,
herb more noxious than hemlock). The rail
way to Taranto passes through some beau
tiful country ; wild expanses of copse, and
pasture brilliant with flowers ; over deep
ravines and rocky passes, and through groves
of gigantic olive trees. Troops of half-wild
horses, mules, and donkeys, and dark-gray
* Horace.

WE APPROACH THE IONIAN SEA. 97
cattle were browsing on either side, and occa
sionally we passed a large white masseria
(farm-house) like a fortress ; or saw a town
shining in the sun, crowning a distant hill.
Frederick II. was perpetually recalled to our
minds. He founded the town of Altamura,
and began the fine cathedral there in 1220 ; he
built the castle at Gravina whence the Orsini
took one of their titles in the middle ages, and
at Gioja the great Emperor often stayed for
weeks, hunting and hawking. Soon the milky
Ionian Sea lay at our feet, and with the evening
mists visions of the mighty dead of Magna
Graecia rose before our eyes. We were bound
for Leucaspide, the "place of the white shields,"
where a phalanx of heavy-armed infantry, called
the Leucaspids, who served under Pyrrhus at
the battle of Asculum, are supposed to have had
their camp.
Leaving the train at Massafra, we were
greeted with effusion by various friends of
last year. Sir James Lacaita, who has trans
formed a ruin into a delightful residence, sent
his guard, Vito Anton, to meet us, who, in
honour of the " Signora," came dressed in his
holiday garb, armed with a long gun and a
revolver, relics of the days when brigandage was
rife in these parts. It was full moon, and the
D

98 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. viii.
big olive and caroub trees assumed fantastic and
weird shapes, while the asphodels gave out their
well-remembered pungent smell as we drove
along the straight white road. A sohtary
palm-tree rose tall against the sky, and the
night birds uttered queer shrieks and cries to
the accompaniment of the deep croaking of the
frogs in the marshes near the sea.
The loggia, or arcade, running all along the
south-west front of Leucaspide, overhangs a
garden full of orange trees, wallflowers, stocks,
Parma violets, carnations, and roses ; beyond
an expanse of brilliant green corn grows under
the colossal olive trees which arborists declare to
be at least two thousand years old ; then a belt
of cultivated land across which now and then
the white smoke of the rushing train reminds
us that we really are in the nineteenth century ;
and last, a long line of dark pines fringe the gulf
of Taranto. On the opposite side of the bay rise
the Basilicata mountains tipped with snow ; and
further down to the left, dimly perceptible on a
clear day, are the wild and rugged hills of Calabria.
The whole country is redolent of rosemary,
and in the Gravina* or deep ravine of Leucas-
• The graving are a singular feature in the geological
structure of this part of Apulia, deep fissures formed by
some sudden convulsion of nature.

LEUCASPIDE. 99
pide, the myrtle, white and pink gumcistus,
lentisk, and wild pear-trees were a blaze of
bloom. Troops of small black sheep with eyes
like topazes graze upon thyme and other
fragrant herbs among the rocks ; while their
shepherd, dressed in a waistcoat and trousers of
goatskin, all made in one, leans against a tree
or a wall and plays wild and melancholy music
on a little pipe made out of a cane. Horace
describes it exactly :
" Tibia non, ut nunc, orichalco vineta tubseque
jEmula, sed tenuis, simplexque, foramine paueo."
(" The flute, not such as it is now, bound with yellow
copper ore, and rivalling the trumpet in power, but slight
and simple, with few holes.")
About two miles from the masseria of
Leucaspide is a large flat expanse, once covered
with forest, now overgrown with heath ; the
short grass is studded with the lovely little
yellow and purple Romulea columnce, and
various bee orchises. Gold-coloured cytisus
contrasted beautiftilly with the soft blue-gray
rosemary, and purple windflowers bent gently
to the sea-breeze, as we followed the deep ruts
worn in the rock by the chariot-wheels of old.
The tracks lead across the high table-land and
pass by a cromlech, the " Tavola del Paladino,"
a huge irregular slab of stone, supported by three
D 2

100 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. viii.
smaller ones, half covering a tomb, seventeen
feet nine inches long by six feet six inches
broad, hewn out of the rock. In ancient days
the Paladins spread their feasts on the " Table "
to celebrate their victories over the Pagans ; so
at least the peasants say. Now the only living
things were a quantity of beautiful httle grass-
green hzards darting about in the sun, the
chestnut kestrel, always to be seen in Apulia,
and a lark :
"... che'n aere si spazia
Prima cantando, e poi tace contenta
Deir ultima doleezza che la sazia."*
(" That, warbling in the air, expatiates long.
Then, trilling out his last sweet melody.
Drops satiate with the sweetness.")
Massafra, six miles to the north of Leucaspide,
is a very dirty and extraordinarily picturesque
little town. Tradition says that the Saracens,
driven out of Taranto, took possession of the
rocky hill and resisted all attempts at dislodg
ing them ; thence the name, Massa-Africa (rock
of the Africans) ; now Massafra. Certainly
the people are thoroughly Arab in look and
gesture and in their passion for gay colours.
A deep gravina cuts the hill, on which the
town stands, in two. The view from the
• Dante, " Parad=°.," XX., 73.

MASSAFRA.

101

very high bridge which spans it is most
curious: on either side the ravine is honey
combed with pre-historic cave-dwellings, still

.. IbJ^

Massafi'a.
inhabited by the poor. Prickly pears grow to
such a size as almost to warrant the name of
trees, and one or two feathery palms wave
slowly to the wind, while the flat-roofed white
houses, daubed here and there with yellow, red,
blue, and green, complete the eastern illusion.
The Massafrese dialect is sui generis ; under
stood with difficulty by the people round, and
contains many Arabic words.
We were forttmate enough to see the great
"festa" of the Madonna della Scala, whose
colossal image is in the keeping of the nuns of
St. Benedict, alone permitted to dress and un-

102-

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. viii.

dress her. Two days before the procession the
Madonna is taken by night to the Church of La
Scala, about half a mile out of the town, and
everyone is hard at work preparing fireworks
to greet her re-appearance.
The little Piazza of Massafra was entirely
covered by an erection of high poles and lines
of thick cord, and the excitement, which was tre
mendous, increased as the shrill sound of fifes and
drums came nearer. A master of the ceremonies,
dressed like an Egyptian priest in an opera,
opened the procession, followed by a crowd of
women in their best clothes, with large wax
candles in their hands ; after them a brown silk

Leader of the Procession at Massafra.

THE MADONNA DELLA SCALA. 103
banner was carried by a Confraternity, wear
ing black capes and a large yellow rosette with
Charitas embroidered on it, fastened on the
left shoulder. Then came a fine old silver
crucifix, and a puce-coloured flag with a Virgin
painted on white silk in the middle ; a red silk
banner was attended by the Confraternity of
Sta.Philomena,who wore scarlet capes, their long
white dresses stiff with starch, and ornamented
with old lace, of which they are very proud. A
band preceded the congregation of the Carme
lites, who had quaint braces over their chocolate
coloured capes, ending in broad tablets, which
hung in front and behind, embroidered,, one with
the word Carmele, the other with Decor. The
congregation of the Rosario also had a band, and
an enormous white silk flag, all painted and
embroidered ; their capes were black with a
flower worked in coloured silks on the left side.
Just in front of the immense statue of the Virgin
came the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
in sky-blue capes, with the emblems of the
sacrament worked in silver on the left side ; four
monks, and the canons of the church in purple.
The Madonna's robe was of white silk heavily
embroidered with gold, and her crown, necklace,
and bracelets sparkled in the sun. The honour
of carrying her is put up to auction, and this

104 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. viii.
year the bearers paid as much as eighty tomola
of grain each.* Behind her was the Blessed
Sacrament, under a canopy borne by eight men,
who pay two tomola. The Madonna halted at
the Church of the Benedictine Convent, which
was not opened until the image had knocked
three times at the door. On the termination of
her visit the fireworks on the Piazza were let off
and the noise was deafening. Bits of stick and
flaming sheets of brown paper flew thick
through the air, and we retreated off the bal
cony, where as friends of " II Comendatore,"
as Sir James Lacaita is always called, we had
the best places. The whole procession now
wended its way through the narrow streets
down to the lower part of the town, to the
mother church of Massafra, which the Madonna
honours by a visit of eight days, after which she
returns to the more modern church in the Piazza.
Here she stays as long as she is " invited," i.e.,
as long as devotees will pay fifty francs a day
for her maintenance. Then she returns to the
convent, to be undressed and put away till
next year.
The modern Church of the Madonna della
Scala, so called fi-om the immense stair-
* Five tomola are equal to a quarter.

ROCK-HEWN CHURCHES.

105

case which has been built to descend into
the gravina, is built on the site of an ancient
rock-hewn church, of which a small por
tion still exists ; an arched passage with Saints

Sta. Maria della Candelora.

106 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. viii.
above life-size painted on the rock, and a
small chapel with a majestic Virgin and Child
frescoed above a curiously-shaped stone altar.
There is a Byzantine picture of the Madonna,
blackened with age, in the church, and the
sacristan loves to tell how some courageous
peasant, lured on by a mysterious light and
unearthly music, set to work to dig in the
gravina, where deep down he found this
picture. Nearer to Massafra there is another small
rock-hewn church, covered with frescoes ; altars,
pillars, and capitals are all cut out of the rock,
which rises nearly two hundred feet sheer above
it. Santa Maria della Candelora is well worth
the climb down into the gravina ; we only dis
covered it by accident in trying to find the place
where the "felpa " (cotton corduroy) is dyed,
for which Massafra is famous. E^'ery house has
one or more looms, and a large quantity of
short-stapled cotton, of excellent quality, is
cultivated in the plain.

107

Remains of Doric Column at Tai'antn
CHAPTER IX.

T A B A N T 0.
Of the famous and splendid Tarentum, already
an important city in 707 years B.C., when the
Spartan Parthenii arrived, there are scarcely

108 TEE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. ix.
any traces. The modern town occupies the
site of the Acropolis, but the only important
remains are a fine Doric column* and a fragment
of its companion, encased in the wall of a small
courtyard in the oratory of the Congregation of
the Trinity in the Strada Maggiore. At the
time of our first visit it was used as a summer-
house by the inhabitants of the cottage built
against it. These columns probably belonged
to the temple of Poseidon, titular deity of
Tarentum, and father of Taras, by the nymph
Saturia, who came with Jap}'x from Crete, and
gave her name to Saturium, now Torre di
Saturo, as her son did to Taranto.
As seen from the railway station, the view of
Taranto is very striking. The wavelets of the
Ionian Sea came lazily washing up at our feet, and
immediately opposite the town rose sheer from
the sea, tier upon tier of white houses crowned
by the Cathedral of St. Cataldo. The mediaeval
ramparts run round the foot of the rock on
which the city stands, glowing brown in the
bright sunshine. To our right lay the isles of
St. Peter and St. Paul, the Choerades of antiquity.

* The height of the column is twenty-seven feet eight inches,
of which nine feet ten inches are underground. The abacus
measures one foot ten inches in height, and ten feet seven
inches in width.

THE WIZARD VIRGIL. 109
which protect the anchorage of the outer port ;
to the left the sea narrows to a canal, until,
spanned by the old bridge, it opens into the
inner port, the Mai-e Piccolo. The fort built on
the island of St. Paul is called Laclos, a name
which recalls the author of " Les Liaisons Dan-
gereuses," an engineer officer, who died at
Taranto and was buried within the precincts of
the fort which he constructed.
Crossing the old bridge, which was terribly
damaged by a violent storm and inundation
some years ago, we came into the market-place,
where stands a large fountain built in 1543.
The water supply is excellent and unlimited ;
the aqueduct which brings it into the town over
the old bridge is, according to local tradition,
the work of the wizard Virgil, who disputed
with the witches for the dominion of Taranto,
and to gain the affections of the inhabitants
made it in one night. Before he had finished
the witches discovered what he was doing, and
began to construct the aqueduct of Saturo, but
dawn broke ere their work was half completed,
and they heard the joyous acclamations of the
Tarantines at the sight of the water brought
into the town by Virgil. The witches were
beaten, and their aqueduct stfll remains half
finished and in ruins.

no THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ix.
The real benefactor of Taranto appears to
have been the magistros Nicephorus, who was
sent by the Emperor Nicephorus Phocas in 967
to prevent either the Saracens from establishing
themselves in so favourable a position, or the
Emperor Otho I. of Germany, who threatened
the Greek supremacy in Southern Italy, from
seizing it. Nicephorus rebuilt the ruined city
and the seven-arched bridge, which, in spite
of repeated restorations, still presents charac
teristics of Byzantine work in the piles. An
enormous cistern at Triglio, on the hills near
the village of Statte, collects the infiltrations
from a very large extent of country ; thence
an aqueduct is tunnelled through the rock for
about four miles, its course being marked by
spiracoli, or air-holes. It is an extraordinary
work, for it is only four feet high and two
feet three inches wide, and the labourers must
have bent double as they cut their way through
the rock. The last three miles of this aqueduct
before it reaches the town are supported on
two hundred and three arches of irregular size
and more modern construction.
The streets of Taranto are narrow and tortuous,
particularly near the Marina, now Via Garibaldi,
where the dirty side alleys seem built for shadows,
not men. Here and there some good carving

THE CA THEDRA L OF ST. CA TALD US. Ill
may be seen in the lunettes above the door
ways. The people, who do not look healthy,
show their evident Greek descent by their
shapely hands and ears and well-poised heads.
In the upper town the houses are high, and
are built of white stone. Some of the palaces
are handsome, in a baroque, rococo style, with
balconies which bear witness to the Spanish rule,
and are suggestive of serenades.
The cathedral was built on the spot where
the body of St. Cataldus was discovered about
1050 by Archbishop Drogon, the successor of
Etienne, who died in the Greek ranks at the battle
of Montepeloso. Cataldus is said to have been a
disciple of St. Patrick, and to have come from
Raphoe, in Ireland, in 1 60 ; but his date is so un
certain that, taking one's choice among various
pious biographers, he may be placed anywhere
between the second and the tenth centuries.
Externally the cathedral has some Saracenic-
Gothic remains and fine gargoyles and monsters :
" Come per sostentar solajo o tetto
Per mensola talvolta una iigura,
Si vede giunger le ginocchia al petto."*
("As, to support incumbent floor or roof.
For corbel, Ik a figure sometimes seen.
That crumples up its knees unto its breast.")
* Dante, " Pnrgatorio," XX.

112 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. ix.
Internally it is completely modernised, although
some of the pillars are evidently spoils from
ancient temples, and the varied capitals are
beautiful. The roof is of wood, carved, painted,
and gilt, with large images of the Virgin and
St. Cataldus looking benignly down. The
chapel of the patron saint has been aptly
described as an " orgy of rococo," and the
Tarantines think it the most beautiful thing
in the world. We were ushered in with great
pomp and ceremony, and the sacristan pro
ceeded to climb up behind the altar and open
wide two fine silver doors. Out of a recess in
the wall he pulled a life-size figure on wheels,
swathed in a sheet very much as a shop-girl
would treat a lay figure with a fashionable dress.
The sheet was undone, and the silver image of
St. Cataldus was displayed to us in all its ugli
ness. Close to the cathedral is the large palace of
the archbishop, Monsignore lorio (1887), a most
cultivated and well-bred man, filling a difficult
post with consummate tact.
The view out to sea from " La Ringhiera," re-
christened Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is lovely at
all times of the day. In the early morning the
sea is so silvery gray that the white gulls look
like animated bits of waves that have suddenly
put on wings ; while at mid-day the water

ARCHYTAS THE PYTHAGOREAN 113
becomes azure blue, and shoals of porpoises
glint in the brilliant sun, racing and tumbling,
making the spray fly about like diamonds. In
the evening the sea seems a mass of molten gold,
and the sun sinks fiery red into banks of .purple
clouds. Nowhere have I seen such sunsets as
in Apulia. At a small distance from the high
sea-wall rises the " Ring of San Cataldo," a
fresh-water spring so powerful that no small
boat can get near it, and imder our feet, among
the rocks and green seaweed, swarms of fish
darted about like silver arrows.
Learning and philosophy have long dis
appeared from Taranto, and Horace's epithet
" molle" is as apphcable as in his day. Though
a town of over forty thousand inhabitants
I searched in vain for a bookseller. What a
change since Plato came from Athens to visit
the famous schools of the proud city, and was
received by his friend Archytas and a crowd
of Tarantine philosophers !
A disciple of Pythagoras, Archytas is cited
as one of the few who applied their ideas to
the government of a people, and who was not
spoiled by supreme power. A mathematician, an
astronomer, a philosopher, a mechanician, and
a brilhant writer, he was also a consummate
politician and a great general. Named Strategos

114 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. ix.
seven times, he, like Pericles at Athens, by the
sole power of his intellect and eloquence, con
trolled the destinies of his country. Under
his leadership the Lucanians were defeated, the
Tarantine navy swept the Ionian Sea and the
whole basin of the Adriatic, and the political
and commercial influence of Tarentum attained
its culminating point. The influence of Archytas
as a philosopher was so great that Plato adopted
some of his views, and Aristotle is thought to
have borrowed the idea of his categories, as
well as some of his ethical principles, fi^om the
great Tarantine. He entered into alliance with
Dionysius the younger, and persuaded him to
restore a small amount of liberty to the Greek
towns of Magna Grascia, which had fallen under
the tyranny of his father. As a sign of his
friendship for Archytas, Dionysius sent a great
candelabrum of bronze, with three hundred and
sixty-five burners, to be placed in the senate-
house of Tarentum.
Mistress of the Japygian peninsula, with the
whole commerce of the Adriatic in her hands,
and acknowledged head of all the Greek colonies
— for even Hadria, at the mouth of the Po, once
under the protection of Athens, had claimed
the patronage of Tarentum — it seemed for a
moment as though she would have become

THE BRUTTIL 115
queen of Italy ; but her prosperity and im
mense riches bred a passion for luxury and
idleness. Spartan traditions, military virtues,
and courage were lost in effeminate love of mag
nificence and general corruption of manners.
After the death of Archytas, Tarentum pro
duced no general capable of holding the Luca
nians in check ; her citizens preferred paying
mercenaries to fighting themselves, and called
in the aid of Lacedemonian or Epirote leaders.
About 353 B.C. the diverse populations of what
is now known as Calabria joined together, adopt
ing the name of Bruttii (vagabonds) which their
neighbours had given them in scorn. They took
the " town of Philoctetes, little Petilia resting on
its walls,"* from the Lucanians, but turned their
chief fury against the Greeks, whom they swore
to demolish. Tarentum, pressed hard by the
Lucanians, was incapable of aiding her con
federates, and sought the aid of Sparta, who in
338 B.C. sent a fleet and an army under Archida-
mus. He soon cleared the Tarantine territory
of the barbarians but fell under the walls of Man
duria fighting against the rebellious Messapians,
and his army was drawn into an ambush by the
Lucanians and destroyed. Tarentum and the
* VirgU, " iEn.," III., 402.
D4

116 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. ix.
federate cities raised an army which was hope
lessly beaten near Laus, when the Bruttii seized
Crotona and Caulonia, while the Lucanian
power rose so high that the Apulians abandoned
the alliance of Tarentum.
Alexander, King of Epirus, brother-in-law of
Alexander the Great, was summoned to the
aid of the oppressed Greeks, and in 332 B.C. he
landed at Tarentum with the airs of a conqueror
rather than of an ally, even causing gold and
silver money to be coined in his name. After
considerable successes against both Lucanians
and Bruttii he was killed in battle near Pandosia
in 326 B.C. on the streamlet Acheron, and thus
was fulfilled the oracle which warned him that
Acheron would prove fatal to him.
The Lucanians, encouraged by Rome, recom
menced the war against Tarentum, and won
several battles. Undeterred by former expe
rience, the Tarantines again sought foreign aid,
and in 303 B.C. Sparta sent Cleonymus, whose
violent temper had lost him the throne, to
their aid, with five thousand Lacedemonians ;
they raising twenty thousand foot soldiers,
two thousand cavalry, and a large body of
Messapian auxiliaries. The Spartan prince beat
the Lucanians and then proceeded to tyran
nise over Tarentum, Metapontum, and other

A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT. 117

Greek cities. Disorder ruled supreme, and the
Romans advanced as far as Tliurii, whence they
drove Cleonymus. Some few years later they
definitely crushed the Lucanians and the Bruttii,
upon which Locri, Crotona, and Rhegium
solicited and obtained Roman garrisons. This
was the first step towards the conquest of
Magna Graecia.
The few remains left on the Lecce road of
the great amphitheatre which commands so
extensive a view of the gulf, irresistibly recall
the day when during the representation of one
of the burlesque farces so dear to the Tarantines,
ten Roman galleys were seen sailing ostenta
tiously in ftiU war-trim close under the town
This was in direct defiance of the treaties, which
forbade vessels of war to pass beyond the
Lacinian promontory near Crotona. Seized
with rage the Tarantines rushed out of the
theatre and hastily manning some triremes,
attacked the Roman fleet. Four galleys were
sunk and Lucius Valerius, the naval decemvir,
was drowned ; one galley was brought into the
harbour in triumph, while the rest sought safety
in flight. The next day a body of Tarantines
marched on Thurii and forced the Roman garri
son to withdraw. Lucius Posthumius Megellus
was sent to Tarentum to demand reparation,

118 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. IX.
and rousing the laughter of the people by
his bad Greek, they hissed him out of the
theatre as though he had been a bad actor. The
Romans relate that a buffoon, surnamed the
Pint-pot from his constant drunkenness, threw
filth over the senatorial robe of Lucius Pos
thumius, who, holding it aloft said, " Men of
Tarentum, it will take not a little blood to
wash this gown."
All the Greek cities, with the remnants of the
Lucanians, Bruttii and Samnites, coalesced, when
too late, against the power of Rome. Their army
sustained a bloody defeat on the fields
" . . quse Liris quieta
Mordet aqua, taciturnus amnis ¦,""
(" . . . that Liris laves
And eats away with silent waves;")
and again the Tarantines had recourse to
foreign aid.
In 280 B.C. Pyrrhus landed in Italy, and for
ten years the war was maintained against Rome.
At first the Greeks had the advantage, owing
very much to
" The huge, earth-shaking beast.
The beast on whom the castle
With all its guards doth stand ;
The beast who hatli between his eyes
The sei-pent for a hand."f
* Horace, " Odes " I., XXXI. 7.
•j- Macaulay's " Lays of Ancient Rome."

LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM. 119
Finally, Pyrrhus was beaten near Beneven-
tuni by Curius Dentatus, and returned to Epirus,
leaving Milo, one of his generals, with a Spartan
garrison in the citadel of Tarentuni. On
receiving news of the death of the King at
Argos, Milo, bribed by the Romans, opened the
doors of the citadel and the arsenal to them, and
sailed away to Epirus, and the independence of
the famous city was lost for ever. One of the
most charming poets of the "Anthology,"
Leonidas of Tarentum, who emigrated to Greece
when the Romans conquered his fatherland,
ordered to have inscribed on his tomb : " I lie
far away from the land of Italy and from Taren
tum my country, and that is worse tlian death."
Among those led away captive to Rome were
a mother and her small child. The boy became
famous as Livius Andronicus, whose master
released him from slavery in consideration of
his wonderful talents. He it was who gave the
first rudiments of the regular drama to Rome.

120

Tarant.i.
CHAPTER X.

TARANTO.
The Mare Piccolo is the chief sight and curiosity
of Taranto. Innumerable tall poles, reflected in
the deep-blue water, support rows of rush-made
ropes in whose strands the spat of oysters and
mussels are fastened. Ninety-threie different
species of fish come to spawn every year in the
deep quiet inland sea, which teems with life, and
more than a hundred and fifty varieties of shell
fish are found here. Nautilus and argonauts are
occasionally seen spreading their fairy sails on
calm summer days, and the dainty quaint little
sea-horses are common. In the little fish-market
a conchologist might find amusement for many
an hour. Razor-fish, cockles, date-mussels, sea-

THE ^MARE PICCOLO.- 121

b

urchins, various murex and other small shell-fish,
go by the generic name of frutti di mare, and
are eaten raw. Long ropes of cozze nere
(mussels), thicker than the two hands can span,
hang in festoons on the walls, and one either
buys a piece of rope or detaches the mussels
that take one's fancy. I cannot say I liked them
uncooked, but fr'ied in batter they are very good.
Oysters are excellent and cheap ; it is worth
a journey to Taranto to sail on the Mare
Piccolo and haul up the long strands of rope,
choosing one's oyster as they come dripping
out of the sea. The pinna nobilis is still fished
for with the peculiar hook (pernilegum) described
by Pliny, now called pernuetico ; and is eaten
by the common people, who cook it in its own
beautiful shell. Lana-pesce they call it, from
the long filaments with which it attaches itself
to the rocks. In ancient times this silky beard
was woven into a transparent and costly tissue,
which we see represented in the frescoes at Her-
culaneum in the airy robes of the dancing-girls.
It was dyed purple or left the natural golden-
brown colour ; now it is only used to make
neck-ties or gloves as a curiosity for strangers.
It is amusing to watch the fishing boats
coming in from the open sea and gliding
beneath the old bridge into the quiet inner.

122 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. x.
ports to deposit their precious freight of
oyster and mussel spawn laid upon piled-up
faggots of lentisk. In the Greek times the
fishery was important, as is proved by the seal
or signature of the various magistrates who had
charge of the coinage, and who generally
stamped some zoophyte, mollusc, or crustacean
on one side of the coin ; now the fishing
produces over five million francs a year.
The Mare Piccolo* measures sixteen miles in
circumference, and is divided into two unequal
portions by the promontories of II Pizzone and
Punta della Penna. Hillocks slope gently down
to the water's edge, their whiteness relieved by
patches and streaks of green wherever a stream
let flows into the sea ; on the south side they
are crowned by the white villas of the rich
Tarantines, and one among these, Santa Lucia,
deserves notice as having been the abode of the
Archbishop Capece-Latro. A theologian, a
naturalist, and an antiquary, the great Arch
bishop was also an administrator and a politician
of ability. A member of the legislative assembly
instituted by Championnet, he was imprisoned
on the fall of the Republic and defended himself
¦" Since I was in Taranto an excellent hotel (H6tel de
I'Europe) lias been opened in the Borgo Nuovo. It has a
pretty garden, and overlooks the Mare Piccolo.

ARCHBISHOP CAPECE-LATRO. 123
SO successfully that he was acquitted, but refused
to leave his prison until the King made him a
public apology. Later, as home minister under
Murat, he elaborated that admirable jurisdiction
which did more for the kingdom of Naples in
seven years than the Bourbons had accom
plished in half a century. After their restoration,
despoiled of his archbishopric, and forced to
live under police supervision in Naples, he sold
his favourite villa, over the entrance* gate of
which he had inscribed, " Si Adam hie peccasset,
Deus igjiovisset," to the De Sinno family, who
became bankrupt, and their principal creditor.
General Florestano Pepe, the brave lieutenant
of Murat, took it in payment of their debt.
He never lived there, and bequeathed it to his
brother Guglielmo, the general of the Consti
tutional army in 1820, who left it to his Enghsh
wife. Not far from Santa Lucia are mounds formed
almost entirely of shells of the murex. Pliny
tells us that the Tarantine purple dye was held
in high esteem. It is supposed to have owed its
pecuharly red hue to the mingling of two species
of shell-fish, Murex trunculus, which was the
one used at Tyre, and Mure.x brandaris, used at
Laconia. The Greeks attributed the discovery of the

124 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. x.
dye to Hercules' dog, who, finding one of
these shell-fish on the beach, eagerly crushed it
and remained with pui-ple-stained jaws for ever
after. Pliny says the murex were caught by
pandering to their greediness. Into nets with a
fine mesh were put small shell-fish called Mitole,
which had been kept out of the water until half-
dead ; when lowered into the sea they gaped
wide open with thirst and pleasure, and the
murex rushed at his prey. Finding that he could
not push his long, spiny snout through the small
meshes of the net, he thrust his lance-like tongue
into the open shells of the mitole, which closed
upon him like a vice. When the nets were
drawn up, the murex hung in clusters, and were
sorted according to size; the smaller were
pounded, the larger ones broken, and the fish
extracted with an iron hook. The colour-bags
were cut out and thrown into salt, where they
were left three days. The fresher the murex,
the finer the dye.
The fishermen at Taranto, and indeed all along
the coast of the Ionian Sea, have an extraordinary
dread of the rays of the moon. They carefufly
protect the fish from them when caught, and if
they find a dead one on board after their night's
fishing, declare it is allunato, or moon-struck,
and nothing wfll persuade them to eat it.

THE SHADY GAL^SUS. 125
Our little boat was tossed about as we
attempted to approach the powerful fresh-water
springs, now called Citro and Citrello, which
rise in the Mare Piccolo about two hundred
yards from the mouth of the Le Citrezze. All
this is classic ground, as the wee streamlet, with
a course of about half a mile, is identified by
local antiquaries as the Galassus, in proof where
of they cite the little church on its banks, Santa
Maria del Galesio. Some scholars think the
Cervaso, at the east end of the bay, with a course
of nearly twenty miles, is where Propertius
represents the Mantuan poet as singing " under
the pine-groves of the shady Galsesus." Horace
has thrown a glamour over the place which
renders the small stream more famous than
many a mighty river :
•' Unde si Parese prohibent iniquse,
Dulce pellitis ovibus Galeesi
Flumen et regnata petam Laeoni
Rura Phalantho.
" Hie terrarum mihi prseter omnes
Angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto
Mella deeedunt viridique oertat
Bacca Venafro.
" Ver ubi longum tepidasque prsebet
Jupiter brumas, et amicus Anion
Fertili Baceho minimum Falernis
Invidet uvis."

126 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. x.
(" But this, if partial Fates prohibit,
I'll seek Gatesus' gentle river.
With skin-clad sheep, where once Phalanthus
Found rustic homage.
" Beyond all lands that corner charms me,
Where honey to Hymettus yields not,
Nor olive-berry fears the contest
With green Venafnim ;
" Where Jove bestows a tepid winter
And lengthen'd spring ; where Aulon, kindly
To teeming Bacchus, nowise envies
Falemian bunches.")
Monte Melone, about eight miles south of
Taranto, is supposed to be the " Aulon " of
Horace, and the Vin Greco from there is
excellent. Martial praises it, and also mentions
the Tarantine leeks :
" Fila Tarentini graviter redolentia porri
Edisti quoties, oscula clausa dato."
(•' As often as you eat shreds of the strong-smelling leek of
Tarantum, give kisses with your mouth closed.")
The sheep are no longer " skin-clad," nor is
their wool washed with wine and oil. They
are small, usually black, with clear yellow eyes,
and agile as deer ; but their fleece does not
often exceed two and a-half pounds in weight.
An old shepherd told me that, " according to
the rules of our forefathers,"* the sheep are
never let out to graze while the dew is on the
• Vide Columella.

THE MYSTERIOUS ' LA URO: 127
grass, and are always driven with their heads
turned away from the sun for fear of blindness.
He also declared that white sheep of a finer
race, which he called " pecore gentili," in
variably died, poisoned by the " Fumolo," *
which had no effect upon the " pecore moscie,"
or " carfagne," as he called his small, stunted
sheep. This same herb is used to pick the
prickly pears, as, when touched by the
"Fumolo," the quantity of minute prickles
on the fi'uit fall off. Frederick II. made
several laws to improve the race of sheep
in Apulia and extend the commerce in wool ;
and Queen Joan II. issued an edict in 141 5
to relieve the guild of wool manufacturers
from various imposts and taxes.
I observed that some of the flock the old
shepherd was guarding looked tired and hung
their heads wearily. I asked whether they
were ill, and he answered, " No, but I must
get rid of them, because the Laiiro has taken
an antipathy to them." On further inquiry,
he told me that the Laiiro was a little man,
only thirty centimetres high, always dressed
in velvet, and wearing a Calabrese hat with a
feather stuck into it.

128 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. x.
The Laiiro is most capricious : to some who ask
him for money he gives a sackful of broken pot
sherds ; to others who ask for sand he gives old
coins. He took a particular dislike to a cousin of
the old shepherd's, sitting on her chest at night
and giving her terrible dreams. At last she
was so worried by the Laiiro that she deter
mined to leave her house. All the household
goods and chattels were on the cart ; nothing
was left but an old broom, and when the good-
wife went to fetch it the Lauro suddenly
appeared, saying, " I'll take that ; let us be
off" to the new house." His antipathies or
likings are unaccountable : he will steal the
corn from one horse or mule to give it to
another, twist up their manes and tails in a
fantastic way, or shave them in queer patterns.
The Lauro would not allow the sheep I had
asked about to rest at night, and any animal
he hated had to be sold.
The shepherd also told me that on the night
of the 2nd November it was most uncanny to
be out after dark, as the souls of the dead, in
long white robes, some of them bearing torches,
were to be seen moving here and there in waving
lines, like a great silver serpent. My old shep
herd taught me the following song, which I after
wards heard everywhere in Apulia :

129

P

SHEPHERD'S SONG.

T'a fatt' o rio-oio rioc', E no lu sai pur-

m

^-Ig^El^E^g^E^

S— p-

^BEtt-

^=r-^=^

E^4

--I-

=F

(» I*

:3S=)v:

:i=5=

3=

S:

it=l^

ta Eic-eio, ric-cio La-ri-o la, Bic-cio,

=p=qii=

=Sl-"-P — l-P-

-*  *-^  9  9—
-m- -m- -m- -JB-

:-.=J.d

I

^^ 1

-^-T

-=1-^— =1-

-j: — =r

¦=r-

-:i-

=1:

-1^

ric cio La ri

la.

;:^

d:

^^|:

=^=

'-Trrr

130

THE LAND OF MANFRED.

[Oh.x.

CHORUS.

=i;

-^^-^

?=r^-*=zS-

Di te 

di te, .

di te sonn' am - mu-

qv-^qs _? — =N-p-

^—^-  *— :«.-

^

=-^-

'^ — ^--

-:t

-^¦

'^-

i

-^^-

1=:^^^:

:jtz9.-m.zjtr.

0-

ra te, L'aoqua di sta fou te, Og - ne ma-la-te

^v==^v

i

-p-

S ~5

^^\

— I — — r

3=53E

=t d:

¦^- — ^r

:3: ^

^

i«=

:|ii=:s

:^^=li^

=t

-J — ^-

.x_^_

— I  ^^--1

sa - ne. Bic-cio, ric-cio La-ri-o la, Rio - eio.

=!'>'==

S^

:is-p-

=1»«-P-

P

^===

-^-

E3Ei:— =1--

THE SHEPHERD'S SONG.

131

w.

d

ric - cio La-ri-o la.

3— p-

M-

Last verse.

-g -Sr-

T'o fatt' a stu - a-

l^^li

^ ^ -*- '

_. I.

—I.

3=j

:;«=:St:

=i*=^=*=»=

It

^lSr:t!=^=t*=

tJ

letf,

E non la sa pur ta, £ quanne ca-

i^^35^

^^Iz

w

\

d

S

:^=

SSzn=5=:l:

5=3=3^3z

±-i:

-d--

-=lr

^S^fe^

Chokus & co^o.

?^

r=^

--^=5q:

i^vhq:

- mine autruppi ca, E quanne ca- mine autruppi - oa

fe

=\i^

S*

^==^-

q-p.

-*-

n

EM"

3E=|g
=|;
E 2
132 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. x.
" T'a fatt'o riccio rice',
E no lu sai purta,
Riccio, riccio Lariola (bis').
(Chorus after every verse.)
Di te sonn' ammurate
L'acqua di sta fonte
Ogne malate sane
Riccio, riccio Lariola (bis').
" A Taranto so' le eozz'
E peso' in quantita.
Riccio, &c.
" E quant' e bella Lecc'
Ma Napoli k bella chiii.
Riccio, &e.
" I teng' a earn au f urn'
B non ta voglio d^.
Riccio, &c.
" T'o fatt'a stualett'
E non I'a sa purta
E quanne eamine antruppioi (bis).
Riccio, &c."
(" I have made you curls, and you don't know how to wear
them, curly, curly Lariola. With you I am in love. The
water of this fountain will cure every ill, curly, curly
Lariola. At Taranto there are mussels, and fish in quantities.
How beautiful is Lecce ! but Naples is still more so. I have
some meat in the oven ; but I will not give you any. I
have made you the boots ; but you don't know how to wear
them, and when you walk you trip up.")

133

Sir James Lacaita, K.C.M.G
CHAPTER XL

TARANTO, AND TWO OLD CASTLES.
It was on the banks of the Galaesus that
Hannibal encamped, when an act of odious
cruelty on the part of the Romans induced

134 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
the Tarantines to surrender their city to the
Carthaginians, a nation peculiarly hateful to
the Greeks. Thirteen young lads, scions of
the first families in Tarentum, had been taken
to Rome as hostages. One day they ran away,
but were caught at Terracina, brought back to
Rome, flogged, and thrown down the Tarpeian
Rock. The Tarantines opened their gates to
Hannibal, and slew every Roman they could
catch. M. Livius the praetor, with the chief
portion of the garrison, withdrew into the
impregnable citadel, whence they harassed
the town, and prevented the Tarantine fleet
from quitting their anchorage in the Mare
Piccolo. Hannibal conceived and executed the
bold idea of dragging the vessels across the
, narrow isthmus, which eventually was cut
through by Ferdinand I. of Arragon in 1480,
to secure the town against a surprise from the
Turks. He thus obtained the valuable aid of
the war-ships, which destroyed the Roman fleet
commanded by Decius Quintus.
For three years the garrison was immured in
the citadel ; and it was only in 209 B.C. that
Fabius Maximus, partly by generalship, partly by
cunning, re- conquered Tarentum. The unfor
tunate town was given over to all the horrors
of pillage, not even the sacred virgins of the

THE SITUATION OF THE CITY. 135
goddess Athene escaped ; they precipitated
themselves from the top of the building, pre
ferring death to dishonour. The fortifications
of the town were destroyed ; all the works of
art were taken away to Rome, save Lysippus'
colossal statue of Zeus, too large to move, and
the images of the Olympian deities in menacing
attitudes. Fabius Maximus sternly said, " Let
the irate gods be left to the Tarantines."
Tarentum never regained its ancient splen
dour, and, according to Strabo, was, with Nea-
polis and Rhegium, one of the last towns in Italy
which remained Greek in language and customs.
The site of the city has changed comparatively
little since he described it. " The whole of the
Bay of Tarentum is, in a great measure, without
havens, with the exception of this harbour, which
is large and most beautiful, being closed by a
bridge of considerable size ; it is in circum
ference one hundred stadia. The city is situated
on a peninsula, which is formed by the outer
sea and this inner harbour. So low is the
narrow neck of land that ships can be drawn
with ease across it. The city lies low, though
it rises somewhat towards the Acropolis, The
old wall enclosed a large space ; but now the
greater part of it in the vicinity of the peninsula is
deserted, and only what is near the mouth of the

136 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
harbour and in the neighbourhood of the citadel
remains inhabited : this part, however, in itself
forms a city of some size. It possesses a very fine
gymnasium, and a magnificent market-place, in
which stands the bronze colossal statue of Jupiter,
the largest in the world next to that of the Rho-
dians. Between the market-place and the mouth
of the haven lies the citadel, which retains only
a few remains of the magnificent monuments
which once adorned it ; for most of them were
destroyed by the Carthaginians when they
conquered the city, and those that remained
were carried off by the Romans when they
took it by assault."
The "fine gymnasium' no longer exists, nor
the " colossal statue ;'' and although Professor
Viola has been excavating for some years,
nothing of any great importance has yet been
found. The Tarantines have one great claim on our
gratitude : they first imported the cat.* The
Greeks generally tamed weasels to hunt rats and
mice, calling t\-ieva.gale, a word afterwards used
by Moschopoulos and the later Byzantine writers
to designate the cat ; but in Tarentum, owing,
no doubt, to the incessant intercourse with the
* Lenormant, •' La Grande Grece."

IMPORTATION OF THE CAT. 137
East, pussy became a domestic pet in very
early days. This is proved b}' the coins of the
finest epochs (fifth and fourth centur}- B.C.) On

one of them is the well-known Taras astride
on his dolphin, and on the reverse a seated
figure of a youth, holding a bird in his right
hand, while a cat climbs up his leg, attempting
to reach its prey. Some ancient Tarantine vases
also have representations of cats being fondled
by their mistresses, or catching birds.
I believe there is no name for the cat in
Hebrew, or any mention of it in the Bible ; nor
does it exist on the Babylonian and Assyrian
monuments. Greek writers mention the aioluros
(a beast carrying its tail like a plume) as an animal
to destroy for the sake of its skin. It was only
known as a domestic pet in Egypt, where
Herodotus saw it, and remarks on the strange
custom of the inhabitants to shave their eye
brows as a sign of mourning when the house-
cat died. It is singular that, until the end of
the first century, the Romans only knew the

138 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xi.
mustela (the gale of the Greeks) as destroyers
of vermin. Felis and feles is the word used
by Varro, Columella, and PhtEdrus to designate
the weasel ; but eventually it was applied to
pussy, though Pliny only uses it in connection
with the wild-cat. Persian or Angora cats must
have been imported about that time, as on a
Pompeian mosaic one of this breed is accurately
depicted as having just seized a pigeon, and in
the Capitoline Museum is a Roman bas-relief
showing an Angora kitten learning to dance.
Above her head are two birds suspended by a
cord, and she stands on her hind legs while a
woman plays the lyre. But as a domestic
creature the cat only came into general re
cognition among the Romans about the fourth
century, and from thence spread over Europe.
It is curious that in Italy, where proverbs
abound and are so constantly quoted, I have
only Heard three about cats.
In 36 B.C. Tarentum was the site of the last
meeting between Octavius and Mark-Anthony,
brought about by Octavia. After this it may
be said to have merged into the history of the
rest of Southern Italy, harried alternately by
the Goths and the Byzantines, and suffering
terribly from the inroads of the Saracen corsairs
in the ninth century.

THE ARCHIVES AT TARANTO. 139
In 1063 Robert Guiscard took Taranto, which
at his death fell to the share of his son, the hand
some, haughty, crafty, and faithless Bohemund,
of whom Anna Commena has left us so graphic
a portrait. His only son, heir of his name and
possessions, outlived him but a short time. Two
curious Acts, dated 1118 and 11 19, are preserved
in the archives at Taranto, recording certain
privileges granted by this prince and his mother,
Constance of France, to the ancient Monastery
of St. Peter (on the largest of the two islands).
By virtue of these Acts the community is al
lowed the use of two fishing-boats, a house,
and a certain quantity of ground on the main
land, with the right of erecting a mill on the
River Taras.
There are a quantity of MSS. and Acts in
the Municipal Palace of 1334, 1367, 1370,
1477, &c., all stuffed pell-mell into a chest of
drawers in one of the clerks' rooms. I was
kindly permitted to see them, but it would have
demanded many days' labour to unroll them
and read the contents. Some of the large seals
appended were very fine ; they ought to be
sorted and arranged.
On the death of the second Bohemund at
Antioch, Roger, King of Sicily, invaded the
principality and forced the orphan heiress,

140 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
Constance, to marry his son William the Bad.
For a short time Taranto fell under the do
minion of Tancred, but soon returned to her
allegiance. When William II. became king,
he bestowed the principality on his younger
brother, Henry, who held it till his death, when
the king recalled Tancred from Greece, and
installed him as Prince of Taranto and Count
of Lecce. Tancred afterwards usurped the
crown at the expense of Constance and her
husband, Henry VI. of Suabia, and gave
Taranto to his son William, whose title was
at first recognised by the Emperor when he
took possession of his Sicilian kingdom ; but,
on the prince going to Palermo to do homage,
Henry VI. treacherously seized, mutilated, and
blinded him, and incorporated the principality
with the kingdom.
Frederick II., on his return from Jeru
salem, stayed for some time at Taranto, and
built a palace in the highest part of the
town, the " Rocca Imperiale," where to-day
stands the Dominican church. In February,
1 23 1, he held a special court there, when
the Vicar of Italy, Gebhard von Arnstein,
brought him a flourishing report of the loyalty
of Siena.* The title of Prince of Taranto was
¦* " Life of the Emperor Frederick IT.," F. L. Kington.

THE ROAD TO LUPERANO. 141
borne by the great Emperor's favourite son,
Manfred, until he became king on the death of
his half-brother, Conrad.
About eight miles south of Taranto lies the
old baronial castle of Luperano belonging to the
head of the Muscettola family, one of whom
commanded at the siege of Florence under
Charles V. They came originally fron Ravello
near Amalfi, and are one of the oldest families
in Italy. The splendid bronze gates of the
cathedral at Ravello were given by Sergio
Muscettola and his wife Sigelgaita in 1179, "for
the honour of the Mother of God."
The road to Luperano passes out of the Lecce
gate by the castle built at Taranto by Charles V.
at the spot where the canal from the Mare Piccolo
joins the sea. This canal was cut by Ferdinand I.
of Arragon to secure the city against the attacks
of the Turks. This noble castle is, alas ! being
destroyed by the Italian Government in order
to build a dwelhng for an admiral, and the fine
round tower which guarded the entrance of the
canal into the Mare Piccolo has already disap
peared. The canal has been deepened and
widened to admit the largest ironclads, and
Taranto is destined to become what it once was,
the great seaport of Southern Italy.
Over the hideous new iron bridge we drove,

142 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
and through the Borgo Nuovo, a sandy desert
with lamentably hideous houses and wide, empty
streets. The ancient city extended far beyond
this, and we saw remains of the town walls
some two miles beyond. The yellow " flower
of Helen" grew luxuriantly in the fields, and to
our right the view of the Ionian Sea was, in
Fenelon's charming words, " fait a souhait pour
le plaisir des yeux."
Built round a courtyard, with arcades on two
sides of the first floor, and an external staircase
all overgrown with roses, jasmine, and passion
flower, Luperano seems the palace of the Sleep
ing Beauty. We rang a deep-sounding bell
three times without any result, but a fourth peal
brought a fair, curly-haired boy to an upper
window, who seemed rather alarmed at seeing
so large a party. Luckily Sir James Lacaita was
with us, and explained to the small Cerberus that
we wished to see the palazzo.
To Sir James the visit was a curious and rather
a sad one. Long years ago, in 1825, he had been
taken as a small boy by his widowed mother to
visit the Princess of Luperano, a Frenchwoman,
daughter of Marshal Jourdan, who went to fight
for American independence under La Fayette, and
afterwards took a leading part in the French wars,
and was made Marshal of France by Napoleon I.

.1 DESERTED CASTLE. 143
The great rooms looked desolate and bare,
with family portraits hanging crooked on the
walls, some of them half detached from their
frames. An old spinnet was in one corner of
what had been the Princess's boudoir, and some
gilt chairs with torn and faded painted satin
cushions, stood near it. From the fine terrace,
now going to ruin, we looked down into the
deserted, tangled garden ; here and there a
statue, or a rare shrub or tree, showed the
care Princess Angelique had bestowed on her
favourite residence.
'• She sprinkled bright water from the stream
On those that were faint with the sunny beam ;
And out of the cups of the heavy flowers
She emptied the rain of the thunder showers.
" Now all was neglected, the broken stalks
Were bent and tangled across the walks.
And the leafless net-work of parasite bowers
Massed into ruin, and all sweet flowers."*
Beyond were the huge silver-gray olive
trees, and in the distance on the sea-shore lay
Torre di Saturo, which marks the site of
Saturum, as there are traces of mosaic pave
ments and a subterranean passage. We strolled
through the deserted rooms haunted by the
image of the sprightly and fascinating French
woman, who outlived all her contemporaries and
* " The Sensitive Plant,'' Shelley.

144 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
at the age of ninety wrote a very pretty novel.
Some of the old people in the village still
remember how, in the time of " La Principessa
Francese," Luperano used to be the resort of
great people, with fine horses and carriages and
plenty of money, a httle of which found its way
into the pockets of the poor.
A mile beyond Luperano is the old castle of
Pulsano, also belonging to the Muscettolas, and
fast falling to decay. The high wall, with a
tower at each corner, which once surrounded
it, is gone, and the village now clusters close
round the keep. Pulsano is a fine example
of the thirteenth century ; an irregular oblong
with five towers : one large round tower and a
smaller square one on the right, and two small
round towers and one massive square one on
the left side.
The living rooms, now used as granaries, bear
traces of former splendour in their fine fireplaces,
gilt doors, and painted shutters. A wide stone
staircase leads from the courtyard to the first
floor, but it is a steep and narrow one which
ascends thence to the towers and roof We
were well rewarded, however, for our climb, for
the view is most beautiful : on one side the bay
of Taranto, with the white town glinting in the
brilliant sunlight, and all around for miles and

LUNCH ON THE ROOF OF THE CASTLE. 145
miles an immense stretch of green cornlana,
whence rise the majestic gray-green olive trees
with their huge gnarled trunks.
We were so fascinated with the beauty of
the place that we determined to eat our lunch
on the roof of the old castle. Our frugal
repast consisted of bread and cacio-cavallo
(an excellent Apulian cheese in the fonn of a
short club, so called because it is hung to dry,
tied in pairs a cavallo (astride) a pole), olives,
figs stuffed with almonds, and oranges ; but
hardly had we finished when the Syndic of
the village appeared. He was very red in the
face from the unwonted exertion of climbing on
to the roof, and most terribly put out at our
not having " honoured his house."
Sir James Lacaita had purposely avoided
letting the good man know of our arrival
until we had eaten, or the fatted calf would
have .been killed with a vengeance, our lunch
would not have been ready for hours, and
would have taken the place of dinner. After
many reproaches on his part, and much com
pliment on ours, we at length compromised
matters by going to take coffee and liqueur at
his house A live senator of the kingdom of
Italy is not caught every day at Pulsano, and
our advent set the whole house in a turmoil.
E3

146 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi.
But Sir James's wefl-tumed compliments and
suavity of manner soon put everybody at their
ease, and we all sat down in the Italian fashion,
in a large circle on very uncomfortable chairs.
The mistress of the house was half-amused,
half-astonished at my admiration of the old
castle (she had never been inside it), and when
I asked to be taken to see a Greek tomb
her son had discovered near by, she evidently
thought me quite mad. " What, a lady walk
over ploughed land ! " On further inquiry I
learned that the tomb had been destroyed ; it
took up too much room in the field.
The castle of Pulsano has a curious narrow
and very precipitous staircase, running like a
ladder direct from the courtyard to the roof.
In the cellars, which are immense, there is a
huge stone ball, with a hole cut half-way through
it. This used to be placed on a moveable iron
spike at the top of the staircase, and sent roll
ing down on to the assailants.
The population of the two httle villages of
Luperano and Pulsano are of quite a different
type from the Tarantines, being very fair. We
saw some children with perfectly flaxen hair and
ruddy complexions.

147

Mule and Ponv.

CHAPTER XII.

AMONG THE PEASANTS OF APULIA.
Apulian horses are wonderful ; handsome,
courageous little beasts, who think nothing of
forty or fifty miles a day. They have a great
deal of Arab blood in them, and look sleek and
well treated. The mules and donkeys are also
excellent. A wonderfully picturesque ornament
of burnished brass rises from the harness over
the animal's withers. It is surmounted by small
E4

148 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
revolving flags, and above them is a crescent.
The " tramieri," or carters, often wear earrings ;
gold circlets, like a half-moon, which stand out
from the face and are most becoming.
To us, who were used to the stately white
oxen of Tuscany, the cattle looked ugly : they
are of a dirty gray colour and have long horns,
but they are extremely hardy ; they are never
shod, for their hoofs are hke iron, well
suited to the cross-roads of Apulia which are
generally mere tracks worn in the rock.
Agricultural implements are curiously primi
tive : the spade is unknown, everything being
done with a short-handled, much-bent hoe.
Earth and stones are carried, as in Egypt, in
small rush baskets on one shoulder, each basket
containing about fifteen handfuls. I tried in
vain to convince a peasant at Leucaspide of the
merits of a wheelbarrow, but he thought it
would be "troppo comphcato" (too compli
cated), and ended with the true conservative
reason : " My forefathers always used baskets ;
what was good enough for them is surely good
enough for me."
The plough, weighing eight or ten pounds,
consists of two slender bent boughs of olive or
ilex for the shafts, and a tiny wooden coulter,
roughly shaped with a hatchet, which slightly

A WILD MELANCHOLY COUNTRY. 149
scratches the soil when the ploughman leans on
a stick that fits into a hole on the upper part.
Fourteen pairs of oxen and eight or ten mules
are sometimes seen ploughing in a line under
the huge olive trees, and when the day is over
the plough is tied between the horns of one of
the oxen, who trails the shafts behind him as he
sedately paces homewards.
" Videre fessos vomerem inversum boves
Collo trahentes languido."*
(" How pleasant it is to see the wearied oxen dragging the
inverted plough with their languid neck !")
The fields are very large and divided by rough
walls, built chiefly to get rid of the super
abundant stones. No furrows are made for the
water to drain off, but there is a depression
round every olive and caroub tree to collect
the " blessed rain " when it does fall.
It is a wild, curious, melancholy country,
" qui vous empoigne." I can understand some
people thinking it dull, from the absence of
human life, but the beauty none can dispute.
For the botanist it is a paradise, and I believe
Mr. Charles Lacaita has discovered various new
plants near his father's place. In April it looks
as though a bit of the sky had fallen in patches
among the young corn, when the exquisite
turquoise-blue iris (Morea fugax) opens its
* Horace, Ep. II.

150 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
lovely flowers exactly at mid-day. The pity
is it only lasts six hours, dying with the setting
sun. Each stem bears, however, several blooms,
so that their beauty lasts for a fortnight or more.
Anemones grow tall and strong, and the
vetches are abundantly represented ; one, of
a ruby colour, is positively dazzling in the
sun. Mignonette is wild all over the place, in
several varieties, as well as orchises. Squills
grow luxuriantly, and the graceful asphodel
surrounds the base of the olive and caroub
trees, the taller variety sending up a stately
stem some four feet high. In the moonhght
it looks weird and unearthly, bending slowly
to the sea-breeze, and wafting its strange, pun
gent smell up to the sky — fit flower for "the
spirits, the shades of the dead," to dwell among !
No wonder the people in Magna Graecia
believe in witches and in magic ! The lonely
stretches of country ; the fantastic shapes of
the great olive and caroub trees, in whose
misshapen trunks the brigands used to hide ;
the innumerable old tombs, crypts, and ca^'erns ;
and the remains of ancient buildings scattered
about on every side, are all calculated to im
press an ignorant population.
The Spanish titles of "Don" and "Donna"
are universal in the South, and everyone is

HONEST, BUT MISERABLY POOR. 151
called by their Christian name, "Don Carlo,"
" Donna Giulia,'' and so forth. " Janet " being
impossible to an Italian tongue, I became
" Donna Giovanna." The dependents kiss their
masters' hand and say, " Eccellenza," but have
a pleasant, frank way with them, and a sense
of their o"wn dignity which is delightful ; very
different from the cringing buffoonery of the
Neapolitans. They are an honest race, too, for the
large orange gardens are unguarded, and
the cattle remain out in the fields for six
months in the year. The long ladders for
pruning the tall olive trees are left out night
after night miles away from the " masserie ;"
and as they are worth some ten or fifteen francs,
and the people are miserably poor, I think it
says wonders for them. Their poverty may
be imagined by the food of the day-labourers,
polenta made of boiled beans. The inhabitants
of some of the towns on the Murgie hills eat
" la farinella" (pounded maize, peas, chestnuts,
&c., which have first been roasted in an oven),
which they eat just as it is, never attempting to
cook it. These towns, Noci, Alberibello, &c.,
are called by the others " Paesi di Farinella^'
to indicate their poverty. The hoeing, weeding
corn, &c., is afl done by gangs of women, who

152 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
come from the nearest towns, chiefly from those
on the Murgie hills, sometimes twenty miles off,
and stay for six weeks or two months, sleeping
all together in a big vaulted room on the ground
floor. While I was at Leucaspide one of the girls
had an attack of fever, and as I had made friends
with her one day in the fields, I took her some
coffee. She had never heard of such a thing,
and thought I had given her medicine. Later
in the day I took her some broth, but nothing
would make her drink it ; the smell made her
ill, she said.
The Masserie, or farmhouses, in this part of
Apulia are generally built on elevated ground,
to avoid the malaria. Round the large court
yard are high walls, and one side is occupied by
a vaulted ox-shed, built of stone, with a manger
running all round, divided off for each animal.
A majohca plate is sunk in the centre of each
division, and the massaro delle bestie, or keeper
of the beasts, sweeps the refuse into it every
day, and cleans it. At one end an arch
way leads into a vaulted room with stone
benches all round, on which the shepherds
sleep, and in the middle is a huge slab
of stone on which olive branches smoulder,
and where the massara prepares the meals for
the men.

MUSIC AND DANCING. 153
When I was at Leucaspide last year. Sir
James Lacaita had invited the women and some
bricklayers, who were working at a garden wall,
to an evening party, and having a lively recol
lection of the wild dancing and the still wilder
singing on that occasion, I begged our kind
host to give another entertainment. The
weather was beautiful, and the night warm, so
we went out on to the " Loggia," and there by
the light of the full moon, a southern moon,
the " Pizzica-Pizzica " was danced with all the
slancio and grace of these lithe graceful people.
A whole love-story is told in pantomime : the
man dances up to his partner and round her,
while she, holding her apron coquettishly in
the thumb and forefinger of each hand, seems
half to listen, half to fly from him. Then of a
sudden one arm is thrown above her head,
whfle the other hand is placed defiantly on her
hip, and, snapping her fingers, she darts away,
challenging her dancer to follow. Down the
long " Loggia " they flew, the man's head
thrown back, his eyes sparkling with excite
ment, while he shouted an occasional " ha-ha "
as he neared the girl. Then, retracing their steps,
the courtship recommenced, and in one or two
cases finished by the man sinking on one knee
in front of his dansetcse, which caused great

154 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
merriment and clapping of hands. As one
dancer tired another rushed in and took his
or her place, and even our host at length suc
cumbed to the exciting music, and showed that
his long sojourn in England had not caused
him to forget the intricate steps of the " Pizzica-
Pizzica," of which he told us, laughing and out of
breath, he had once been a famous performer.
Our orchestra was composed of a guitar,
a fiddle, and a guitar " battente',' which has
only five thin wire strings, and is a wild, queer,
inspiriting instrument which would "make a
buffalo dance," as they say ; a tambourine, and
a cupa-cupa, a large earthenware tube, with a
piece of sheepskin stretched tight over the top,
and a stick forced through a hole in the centre.
The player begins by spitting two or three
times into his hand, and then moves the stick
up and down as fast as he can ; this makes an
odd, droning sound, rather like a bagpipe in the
far distance. After some tumblers of wine had
been passed round I suggested a song, and one
of the men sang a most sentimental love-song,
rather out of tune, which everyone thought
beautiful, because he assured them it was
" scritto in musica" (written music). Of course
I applauded, but begged for a " canzon' del
paese" (song of the country). " La Gallipolina"

UN CANZON' DEL PAESE. 155
was unanimously called for, and a man, taking
the " ghitarra battente," sang as follows.
Musicians will probably say it is "all wrong;"
but it is fascinating and quaint, rather like Arab
music. It loses terribly, I need not say, by
being put to the piano.

156 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xii.

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THE GRAVINA OF LEUCASPIDE 159

"LA GALLIPOLINA.
'• Son stato a Roma e m' aggio confessato
A un padre vecchierello di Messina.
' Dimmelo figlio mio, il tuo pecoato 1 '
' Padre ad una donna gli voglio bene.'
' Zittiti, figlio mio, tu fai peccato,
Di amar la donna a te non te conviene.'
' Dimmelo padre mio com' aggio a fare,
Se vuoi il cor mio, essa lo tiene.'
' Allora figlio mio, sa che fare
Per penitenz' le voglioli piu bene.' "
( " To Rome I've been, and there confessed my sins : The
father was an old man from Messina. ' Tell to me, oh, my
.son, tell me your sins.' ' Father, I love a woman with all my
heart.' ' Hush ! oh, my son, that is a deadly sin ; ill does it
suit thee to love a woman.' ' Tell me, then, father mine, what
shall I do, for she has my whole heart in her keeping ? '
' Then, oh, my son, ] '11 tell thee what to do : Thy penitence
shall be to adore her.' ")

Behind the masseria of Leucaspide runs the
deep, wild, picturesque " Gravina di Leucaspide,"
the rocks in some places all overgrown with
rosemary, myrtle, gumcistus, and lentisk, which
when in bloom looks as though bits of crimson
"Love lies bleeding" were stuck on all over the
boughs. Wild pear-trees and wild olives spring
up on every side, mixed with the feathery
Pinus maritimus and the ilex. The land from
Taranto to near Bari is positively scarified with

160 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
these gravine, where now and then a torrent
rages in the winter, rolling down immense
boulders, while in the spring and autumn the
large flocks of long-haired goats and black sheep
browse on the innumerable aromatic herbs and
short grass.
When one meets a shepherd trudging through
the bushes after his flock, he grins from ear to
ear, saying "salute" {salve), and then pours
out a torrent of almost incomprehensible
dialect, raising his voice to a shout as he
perceives that you do not understand. His
good-bye is, " State vi ben " (keep well), and he
always says tu (thou), not from any want of
respect, but from old custom. His dress is a
waistcoat and trousers all of one piece, made of
goat's skin, with the hair turned inside, and
a brown cloth jacket woven from the fleeces of
his own animals. The shepherds guide their
flocks partly by voice and partly by throwing
stones ; they are unerring shots, and a marau
ding lamb who ventures into the corn jumps
high off the ground on receiving a stone on its
nose. The wild melancholy tunes they play on
their simple flutes mingle well with the deep
booming of the cow's bells and the sharp tinkle
of the smaller ones round the neck of the befl-
wether.

AIILK AND CHEESE. Kil
Sheep's milk is excellent, very rich in cream
and fragrant in taste, fi-om the quantity of
thyme and other sweet herbs eaten by the
animals. The ovile, or sheep-pen, consists of
three large yards, one for the ewes in. milk, one
for the lambs, and one for the ewes which are
not giving milk. At one end of the yard for the
milk-ewes is a tiny hut, divided in the middle.
Here sit two men, near apertures just large
enough to admit one sheep at a time. A boy
stands in the yard and pushes one ewe after
another through the holes into the hut, where
the men seize the poor beasts by their tails, as
they try to rush past, and milk them in an
incredibly short time. Each ewe gives a little
under a quart of milk a day .
The "massaro delle pecore^' or shepherd,
makes a sort of dry curd, called ricotta; it
is delicious, and mixes well with the honey,
which fully deserves the praises of the
poets. "Ricotta marzotica" made in March
and salted, keeps far into the summer, and
resembles the little Normandy cheeses. " Lu
quagliatul' like the Eastern " yaghourt" is a
common dish in Apulia, as it is in Sardinia, a
reminiscence probably of the Saracen inva
sions. In May, when the herbage is luxuriant,
cream an inch thick is made from the milk
F

162 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
of COWS or buffaloes, the same as Turkish
caimak. On Sundays and saints' days a priest with a
small boy came together, on a donkey, from
Massafra to say mass in the wee chapel near the

Don Ciccio going to say Mass.
threshing floor at Leucaspide. The fat padre
and his long-suffering beast recalled the lines :
" Or voglion quinci e quindi chi rincalzi,
Gli moderni pastori, e chi gli meni,
(Tanto son gravi,) e chi dirietro gli alzi,
Cuopron de 'mante lore, i palafreni.
Si che due bestie van soft' una pelle :
0 pazienza, che tanto sostiene !" •
(" Modem Shephelds need
Those who on either hand may prop or lead them,
So burly are they grown ; and, from behind.
Others to hoist them. Down the palfrey's sides
Spread their broad mantles, so as both the beasts
Are cover'd with one skin. 0 patience ! thou
That look'st on this, and dost endure so long !")
• Dante, " II Paradiso," Cauto XXI.

WE START FOR METAPONTO. 163
The fervour with which the labourers beat
their breasts when they said " mea culpa,"
was most edifying, but must have been very
painful. Vito Anton, the guard, always served
mass with an immense pistol stuck into his
belt behind, and was quite the most important
person of the ceremony.
Before leaving the hospitable roof of Sir
James Lacaita we determined to visit the ruins
of Metaponto, but waited the arrival of Mr.
(now Sir) Charles Newton from London.
One morning at daybreak we left Leucaspide
for Taranto, and by the first train, just as
" L'alba vinceva I'ora mattutina,
Che fuggia 'nnanzi, si che di lontano
Conobbi il tremolar della marina " ;*
(•' The dawn had chased the matin hour of prime,
Which fled before it, so that from afar
I spied the trembling of the ocean stream " ;)
we started for Metaponto. The line runs round
the end of the beautiful bay of Taranto, crossing
various small streams, and traversing a thick
growth of junipers, tamarisk, and oleanders,
while the banks of the railway were festooned
with mesambryanthemums of every hue, just
opening to greet the rising sun. Borage and
* Dante, " II Purgatorio," Canto I.
F 3

164 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
hellebore grew among the brushwood ; but we
were a joyous company and did not need
those " Sovereign plants to purge the veins
Of melancholy, and cheer the heart
Of those black fumes which make it smart ;
To clear the brain of misty fogs.
Which dull our senses, and soul clogs " ;
as old Burton says.
At the station of Metaponto we found three
trollies, and were soon spinning merrily along
the line, back to Cantoniere No. 9, close to a
lonely farmhouse belonging to the Prince of
Gerace, whose agent had kindly prepared two
ox-carts to take us to the Tavola dei Paladini,
as the fifteen lonely columns are called. Words
cannot describe the jolting, tilting, and groaning
of our two-wheeled conveyances. Getting in was
a work of danger, and demanded considerable
agility as they were immensely high, I suppose
in order to ford the Bradano in winter time,
when the river rose.
We went about three miles over a rolling
pasture land, troops of half-wild horses and
buffaloes keeping at a respectful distance. The
effect of the fifteen columns, five on one side,
ten on the other, spanned with their archi
traves, which is all that remains of the

ALL THAT REMAINS OF METAPONTUM. 165

gi-eat temple, is spoiled by a wall which has
been built all round to preserve them. The
learned ones of our party discoursed eloquently
on the " hai-mony of the spheres," the " motes
floating in the sunbeams," the " transmigration of
souls," and the "elements of the universe," while
we all lamented the disappearance of the tomb
of Pythagoras, which is said still to have existed
in the time of Cicero. Metapontum was a heap
of ruins in the time of Pausanias, about a.d. i 8o.
Now fifteen solitary columns in the midst of
an unhealthy plain, and the remains of a big
temple, partly excavated by the Due de Luynes
in 1828, is all that remains of the famous city
whose wealth and importance is proved by her
many beautiful coins.
We returned to the station of Metaponto,
passing the excavation made by the Due de
Luynes on our way. But all that could be
used for building purposes has been carried off",
and the solitary "masseria di Sansone," close
by, consists almost entirely of bits of columns
and ancient pieces of brickwork. I picked up a
rather fine antefix, and longed to wade into the
liquid mud which more than half covers the fallen
columns, fragments of architraves and capitals
of the old temple. One little bit of a small
amphora was fished out, to the alarm of the

166 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xii.
frogs, who resented the disturbance we created
exceedingly. At the station an excellent dinner awaited us,
and afterwards, while waiting for the luggage
train to which a carriage was to be attached to
take us back to Taranto, some of the party
braved the evening air and possible fever, and
walked under the eucalyptus trees towards the
seashore. It was a lovely evening. The moon
rose like a golden ball, illuminating all the
glorious bay ; the white wash of the waves
marked the shore line, and from the reeds
rose flights of curlews, uttering strange plain
tive shrieks as they wheeled round the un
wonted visitors, while the " sad Aziola "*
cried softly in the distance. Ever and anon a
slight breeze would raise a gentle ripple on the
sea and cause a long fine of phosphoric sparks
to start up, which sank again into the waters
as the wind fell. * Passerine owl.

167

Balcony at Oria.

CHAPTER XIIL

oria and manduria.
Leaving Taranto by train, we passed Grotta-
glie, a queer old town whose whole population

168 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiii.
is engaged in making pottery, which is quaint
and pretty, particularly the huge basins used
in the wine-shops of these parts for washing
tumblers. Some have elephants' heads as feet,
others negi-oes' or Saracens' heads ; all are
brilliant in colour and very decorative. But
they only make them once a year for the great
fair at Taranto at the end of May, and we in
vain tried to buy one. " Keep them in stock !
Oh, no ; they would be broken ; besides Signori
could not use such things, and the wine-shops
always ordered thepi for the next year's fair."
Grottaglie is a wonderfully dirty place, but has
an interesting small cathedral and some very
fine balconies. Francavilla, famous for its pyro
technics, half a mile from the railway station,
looks very imposing and brilliantly white. The
painted tiles which cover the cupolas of the big
church glistened invitingly in the sunlight ; but
we were bound for Oria and Manduria, and had
no time to spare.
We soon came to the ancient Messapian
capital, Oria or Uria, supposed to have been
founded by Japyx, son of Daedalus, and one of
the chief towns of old Calabria. Herodotus
calls it Hyria, and says it was among the first
colonies founded by the Cretans in this part of
Italy ; and in the time of Strabo a palace of one

THE VIA APPIA AT ORIA. 169

of the ancient native kings was still to be seen.
The powerful city fought with Tarentum, was
besieged and taken by Hannibal, and became
Roman after he was defeated. The Via Appia,
leading from Tarentum to Brundusium, passed
through it. Few places are grander than Oria,
crowned by its splendid castle standing on the
apex of the watershed between the Adriatic
and the Ionian Sea. It looks quite as though it
had been ¦' Piled by the hands of giant.-;
For godlike kings of old."
Rows of immense agaves fringe the roads, some
of them sending up flower-spikes eight and ten
feet high.
My admiration of the town delighted an
Orian gentleman who had come to meet us
at the station, and he proceeded to prove
that his birth-place' was two thousand eight
himdred and ninety-five years old. My
head spun round with his calculations. A
generation was thirty years ; now Oria had
been founded by the Cretans three generations
before the fall of Troy ; Troy was burnt nine
hundred and seventeen years before the birth
of Christ ; add ninety to nine hundred and
seventeen, and it is clear that Oria was founded
1007 B.C. Homer, Herodotus, Hesiod, and

170

lit,

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I,
i

FREDERICK'S SPLENDID CASTLE. 171
Cavaliere Newton (Sir Isaac) were all cited ;
and I was told that if I inclined to the opinion
that a generation was more than thirty
years, then the foundation of Oria really
became so ancient that it might be called
fabulous ; a statement which I was not disposed
to dispute. I afterwards discovered that my
learned friend had got all his information out
of a delightful old book, " Della Fortuna di
Oria," by Don Gasparo Papatodero, printed
in 1775 ; only he had added on a hundred and
thirteen years to bring his calculation down to
the present time.
We walked from the station up to the town,
in order to admire at our leisure the splendid
castle, built by Frederick II. in 1227, on the
ruins of the ancient fortress. It has the honour
of being the only strong place which defied the
arms of his fair-haired son with success. When
Manfred had taken Guardia Lombarda, fright
ening Pope Alexander IV. and his cardinals,
who were at Naples, so much that they kept
the fleet in readiness to set sail at any moment,
he received news from the Terra d'Otranto that
Manfredi Lancia, his cousin and representative,
had been defeated. The people of Brindisi had
besieged and taken Nardo, kiUing many of the
inhabitants and of Lancia's soldiers.

172 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xm.
Brindisi, Oria, Mesagne, Lecce, and Otranto
were in open rebellion against the House of
Swabia, so Manfred hastened south, and soon
restored order everywhere, save at Oria. No
sooner was one line of walls stormed than
another was built inside. His moveable towers
were set on fire when they approached the
castle, and Manfi-ed decided to reduce Oria by
famine. In spite of the determined resistance
opposed by the town, it would certainly have
succumbed had not the Pope sent his cardinal
legate, Ottaviano degli Ubaldini, with a large
ai-my into the Capitanata. Manfred was forced
to raise the siege, and return in all haste to
Lucera to collect his Saracen and German troops
to oppose the Papal army.
In Roman times Oria was a considerable
town, and local writers of the seventeenth
century mention the remains of " walls like
those of Volterra, and a deep ditch which
encircled five miles." Many Messapian and
Roman tombs have been found, and many
more destroyed. The noble castle is triangular,
with a huge square and two tall round towers,
one of which is half destroyed. It is surrounded
by a double line of walls with forty-five smaller
towers, and occupies the whole summit of the
highest of the two hflls on which the town is

.1 CHILD IMMURED ALIVE. 173

built. There is a legend about the castle walls
to account for the white mist which at night
fall hangs around Oria fumosa (smok}' Oria).
During their erection, the walls bulged or fell
down, and the head mason was at his wits' end.
Somebody, no one knows who, but it must have
been the devil, suggested that if a little boy
were bricked up alive in the walls they would
stand for ever. A widow's child was persuaded
to follow the mason, and was seen no more.
His mother rushed frantically through the town
calling him, and an eye-witness told her what
had happened. She died of grief and horror,
and her last words were : " Oh, cruel walls, as
my heart burns and smokes with sorrow, so may
Oria smoke for ever."
In the sixteenth century it belonged to the
Bonifazio family, the head of which turned
Protestant, forfeited his estates, and fled to
Switzerland, where he founded the present
family of Boniface. It then fell to the Bor-
romeos ; and Saint Carlo sold Oria, together
with Francavilla, for forty thousand ounces of
gold to the Marquis Imperiali. The price of
the two towns is said to have been given to
the poor, between daybreak and sunset, by the
charitable Saint. Afterwards it belonged to the
powerful Princes of Francavilla.

174 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xm.
The present Syndic of Oria will to me
always represent the idea of perpetual motion.
We sent to his house to beg for the keys, as
we wanted to see the wonderful view from the
top of the " Torre dello Sprone," whence one
sees the two seas, but he was " fuore a pas-
seggiar'" (out walking) ; so we strolled through
the picturesque streets, full of lovely balconies
and alcoves, to the cathedral, rather a fine
building, but sadly spoiled by restorations and
whitewash. In the crypt are the skeletons of
the brothers of the various confraternities, in
niches, some of them crowned with faded gar
lands of flowers, a ghastly sight.
The view from the piazza in front of the
church, across the lush green land, dotted with
white " masserie," and pink patches of almond
and peach groves, Manduria in the distance and
the blue sky beyond, is enchanting. We re
turned for the key, but the Syndic was still
walking, and when we came back from Man
duria he was out driving !
Round the walls of the old castle a garden
has been made. Pines and laurels, cypress, firs,
and eucalyptus grow together, festooned with
pink roses and lilac wisteria ; gardenias and
heliotrope are side by side with golden wall
flowers, a veritable garden of Armida ! In the

175

<j?5ili

176 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xm.

small museum are coins inscribed Orra, various
Messapian inscriptions, and some Greek vases
and glass out of the tombs.
The diligence from Oria to Manduria is a
wonderful vehicle ; very high from the ground,
with a low roof, it is painted canary yellow, and
ornamented at the back with a motto in large
black letters, "L'Invidia crepi e la fortuna trionfi."
(" Perish envy and ma}' good fortune triumph.")
The little horses took us at a good pace along
the six miles of a straight and excellent road
through a rich, smiling country, where cotton and
corn are extensively grown. Almond and peach
trees in full flower looked beautiful, mixed with
the gray olives in the immense green fields.
Some two miles from Manduria we crossed a
deep and wide fosse cut in the solid rock, the
ancient boundary between Oria and Manduria,
which seemed to continue for miles on either
side. To the left were two large green mounds,
about fifty feet in diameter and thirty-five
feet high, which I thought were barrows, and
probably tombs. Professor C. de Giorgi of
Lecce told me afterwards that they were called
" Specchie" of which there are many in the Terra
d'Otranto. These, however, differ from most
in being better preserved by the covering of
grass and weeds, and in having a wall which can

MYSTERIOUS " SPECCHIE." 177

Still be traced, built of square masses of stone.
It starts from the base of the largest mound,
and runs about a quarter of a mile to the
east. The northern wall has a ditch on the
outside and finishes at the smaller "Specchia;'
about two hundred and twenty yards from the
principal one. To the west the wall is cut by
the high road, and the southern one is lost in
the vineyards of the "masseria Schiavoni." No
one could tell me whether these " Specchie "
were tombs, ancient fortified dwellings, or
watch-towers, but they seem to bear a great
resemblance to the curious Nuraghas of Sardinia
described by Lamarmora.
Built of large stones piled up till they formed
a cone, most of the " Specchie " have fallen in
and are being destroyed to mend the roads or to
repair farm-houses. The peasants in the Terra
d'Otranto still build small huts in the fields,
which are rather similar, and which they call
by the curious name of " Truddwi," or Trulli.*
Outside Manduria we were met by the
Signori Arno, near relations of Sir James Lacaita,
whose carriages and horses rivalled those one
sees at Rome or Florence. They insisted on our
exchanging the diligence for their open landaus,
* " La Pi'ovincia di Lecce. Bozzetti." C. de Giorgi.
F3

178 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xm.
and we entered Manduria in state, everybody
turning out to see us, and saluting us as though
we were old friends.
To anyone coming from Tuscany three things
are most striking in Apulia : the absence of
beggars (save at Bari), the absence of swearing
and cursing, and the extreme hospitality one
meets with everywhere. From the cabman up
to the Duke, all are anxious that a "forestiere "
(stranger) should be as comfortable as possible,
not be cheated, and take away a good impres
sion of much-maligned " Italia Meridionale."
Manduria is a nice clean town, very Oriental
looking with its flat-roofed houses, and the in
habitants seem well-to-do, old-fashioned people.
There is a fine palazzo on the piazza which
belonged to the Princes of Francavilla. The
long balcony on the first floor is a magnificent
specimen of ironwork, and the double staircase,
leading up to an enormous un-roofed room, is
majestic. In early times Manduria was a large and
important city. Archidamus, King of Sparta,
was killed in battle close by, in 338 B.C. Fabius
Maximus laid siege and took it by assault before
recovering Tarentum for Rome in 209 B.C. It
was utterly destroyed by the Saracens in the
ninth centmy, and rebuilt in the thirteenth.

PLINY'S WELL. 179
when it was called Casal Nuova, as one reads in
old books of travel (Swinburne, Charles Ulysses,
etc.). Now the town is again called Manduria,
its original name having been restored to it by a
decree of Ferdinand IV. about 1784. The walls
of the ancient city, built of large rectangular
blocks of stone in regular courses without
mortar, can be followed in nearly their whole
circuit of three miles. They are double ; the
outside wall is over fifteen feet thick, whfle
the ditch is still wider and about ten feet
deep. The internal wall is ten feet thick,
and the remains of a very broad ditch can
be seen in a few places. The space between the
two lines of walls varies in breadth; to the south
it is nine hundred feet or more, and in a few
spots the walls are still sixteen feet high.
Inside, and not very far from the old walls
about half a mile from the present town, is the
famous well, described by Pliny, " In Salentino
juxta oppidum Manduriam lacus ad margines
plenus, neque exhaustis aquis minuitur, neque
infusis augetur." ("In the Salentine territory
there is, near the city Manduria, a well full to
the brim, the level of whose waters is never
changed by any quantity that may be withdrawn
or any addition that may be made." ) The
description is not quite exact, for the well is by
F4

180 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xm.
no means full to the brim ; the Mandurians,
however, say that the level of the water never
alters summer or winter.
We descended thirty wide, rough-hewn,
winding steps into a large circular cavern, ht
partly by an aperture above the well, which
stands about six feet high in the centre, and
partly by the entrance. The water is on a
level with the floor, and outside the well is
a small reservoir, into which the women dip
their jars. I was told that some sixty years ago
the well had been cleared out, as it was nearly
choked by stones, and that the depth was found
to be insignificant, which was a sad blow to
those who believed it went halfway through the
world. The walls of the cavern seem to be a
concrete of sea-sand and minute marine shells,
and the sandy path leading across the field to
the steps is strewn with small black stones, the
remains of scorie. They exist where the " Via
de Ferrari " (the Ironworkers' Street) was in
old days ; but local antiquaries have an idea
that the little stones are volcanic, whereas there
are no traces of volcanic action anywhere in
Apulia, south of Mount Vulture. The water is
pure and pleasant to the taste, but almost
lukewarm. I was rather astonished at being
told by a peasant who lent us his glass to

APULIAN INTELLIGENCE. 181
drink at the well, "You, of course, Signora,
who are ' istruita ' (i.e., can read and write),
know that Ovid says of our well, ' Neque crescit,
nee decrescit.' "
The amount of education of a queer, out-of-
the-way kind in Apulia is wonderful, excepting at
Taranto. Almost every town of any pretension
has its club, its professors, and generally its
historian, who spends years in writing a history
of his native town, in three or more ponderous
volumes. Some very creditable weekly and
monthly papers, well printed on good paper,
exist at Benevento, Trani, and Lecce ; and to
my surprise I found Herbert Spencer, Huxley,
Tyndall, and various other of our modem authors
correctly quoted in them. C. T. Ramage, who
visited Italy in 1828, was also struck by the
superior intelligence of the Apulians ; he says,
"I feel that I have got into a part of Italy
where the inhabitants are much more alive and
active than those I have hitherto visited. There
is a considerable commerce carried on of various
kinds, more particularly in oil ; I find, at the
same time, that they are more liberal in their
political sentiments."
Not far from Pliny's well, the proprietor,
Signor Gigli, has made some successful excava
tions. We went to his house, and he showed

182 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xm.
us some beautiful gold earrings, a large gold
signet ring, with a hippogryph deeply engraved
on it, and a number of vases. The museum at
Naples wanted to buy the latter, but Signor
Gigli was not to be tempted to part with his
treasures. He is a great collector of fairy tales
and folklore, and is writing a history of his
native city.
We went to lunch at the hospitable house
of Don Eugenio Arno, and there for the
first time experienced Apulian etiquette. All
the guests are sent to table first, and sit at one
end, while the master and mistress of the house
take the lowest and last places.
Don Eugenio told me some quaint customs
of this part of Italy which are fast disappearing.
" In my youth," said he, " I was a great dancer
of the ' Pizzica-Pizzica,' and some forty years ago,
whenever there was a marriage among the popolo
(people), one of the young men of the town,
of good family, used to give the bride his arm
to church and home again. I was often chosen
as ' II Cacciatore,' as we call him. There were
musicians, and refreshments for all comers, and
the ball was begun by the ' Cacciatore ' and
the- bride dancing the ' Pizzica-Pizzica' together :
while doing so he poured handfuls of bonbons,
with which his pockets were stuffed, over her

" THAT BLESSED PROGRESS." 183
head. When he stopped dancing he gave her a
present, and the bride then invited her father-
in-law, or his representative, to dance, and after
him all the guests in turn, who each gave her
a silver car lino (about forty -three centimes).
If the bride was pretty and popular, she
sometimes got a hundred and fifty francs in
this manner ; but now," said Don Eugenio, " that
blessed progress my uncle is always extolling
has changed the carlino into a two-centimes bit,
and the poor can no longer afford the expense
of musicians, wine, and food. Sometimes a
marriage festivity lasted two or three days.
Those were fine times ! " added he, sighing.
The " uncle who loved progress " was Sir James
Lacaita, who told me a quaint reminiscence of his
childhood. Before the French Revolution educa
tion had been entirely in the hands of the priests
and the monasteries. When these were sup
pressed nothing took their place, and the genera
tion of the end of the last century and beginning
of this hardly knew how to read and write. Sir
James, as a small boy of five, was sent, with
his brother, to an old priest. Padre Michele
Amoroso, recognised as a well-principled man
who taught properly. The padre had a
sister, who, like all the women hereabouts,
wove cotton-stuff, and the boys were employed

184 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xm.
in throwing the shuttles. Their good marks for
learning depended on the quantity of cotton
woven in the day !
I asked Don Eugenio also about the famous
Tarantola. It was too early in the year for us
to see the spider, or the effects of its bite ; but I
found that the common people and many of the
gentry still implicitly believe in " Tarantismo,"
in spite of the verse :
" Non fu Taranta, ne fu Tarantella,
Ma fu lo vino de la carratella."
(" It was not the Taranta, or the Tarantella,
But it was the wine of the little barrel.")
The account given by Don Eugenio, who told
me he had witnessed hundreds of cases, differs
from any I have seen. He said, " There are
various species of the insect, of different colours,
and two different kinds of 'Tarantismo,' the
wet and the dry ; women in the cornfields are
most liable to be bitten, because they wear so
little clothing on account of the intense heat. A
violent fever is the beginning of the disease ; the
person bitten sways backwards and forwards,
moaning violently. Musicians are called, and
if the tune does not strike the fancy of the
( Tarantata ' (or Tarantato, the person who has
been bitten), she (or he) moans louder,
crying, ' No, no ; not that air.' The fiddler
instantly changes, and the tambourine laeats

TARANTISMO. 185

fast and furious to indicate the difference of time.
At last the ' Tarantata ' approves of the time,
and springing up, begins to dance frantically.
" If she has the dry ' Tarantismo ' her friends
try to find out the colour of the 'Tarantola'
that has bitten her, and adorn her dress and her
wrists with ribbons of the same tint as the insect,
white or blue, green, red, or yellow. If no one
can indicate the proper colour, she is decked
with streamers of every hue, which flutter wildly
about as she dances and tosses her arms in the
air. They generally begin the ceremony indoors,
but it often ends in the street, on account of the
heat and the concourse of people. When the
' Tarantata ' is quite worn out she is put into a
warm bed, and sleeps, sometimes for eighteen
hours at a stretch. If it is a case of wet
Tarantismo, the musicians sit near a well, to
which the ' Tarantata ' is irresistibly attracted.
While she is dancing, relays of friends deluge
her with water, and," said Don Eugenio, " the
amount of blessed water used is not to be
believed." He spoke feelingly, as occasionally crops and
cattle are lost in Apulia from drought. Wet
'Tarantismo" seems to be the worst, as the
fever lasts seventy-two hours, but in either case
I was assured that if musicians were not called

186 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xm.
in, the fever continues indefinitely, and is in
so me cases followed by death.
" Near Taranto," continued Don Eugenio,
"lives a master- mason whom I know wefl; he
got new-fangled ideas into his head and mocked
at the idea of a spider's bite being venomous,
threatening to beat any of his female belongings
who dared to try the dancing cure in case they
were bitten by a 'Tarantola.' As ill-luck or
San Cataldo would have it, he was himself
bitten, and after suffering great pain and being
in a high fever for several days, at last sent for
the musicians, after carefully locking the door and
closing the windows of his house. But the frenzy
was too strong, and to the malicious delight of
all who believed in ' Tarantismo,' he tore open
the door and was soon seen jumping about in
the middle of the street, shrieking, ' Hanno
ragion' le femmine ! hanno ragion' le fem-
mine!'" ("The women are right! the women
are right ! ")
The following Tarantella I learnt from an old
peasant, who played it on his violin, accom
panied by his son with a "ghitarra battente,"
and another man, who played the ordinary
guitar. They were often called to play for
the "Tarantati," and assured me this was a
favourite air :

187

TARANTELLA.

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192

Ancient Walls of Manduria.
CHAPTER XIV.

OGRES AND SIRENS.
The principal church of Manduria is an old
building, with a fine rose-window in the west
front, and a richly ornamented campanile, into
which are built two fine and large heads, which
evidently belonged to some old Greek monu
ment. At a short distance from the town, near
a Capuchin convent, is the small chapel of San
Pietro Mandurino, from which steps lead about
forty feet underground into a small church shaped
like a Greek cross, with several shallow chapels.
Convent and chapel now belong to Sir James
Lacaita, who bought them from the Public
Domain to prevent their falling into utte.f ruin.

THE EVIL EYE. 193

The walls are covered with paintings much in
jured by the damp, and still more by restoration
of the most barbarous kind. But here and there
a hand, or a bit of drapery, or a portion of a
tace, show that the original frescoes were very
ancient, a fact also indicated by their subjects —
saints of the primitive Eastern church. This
may have been a catacomb, as well as the
underground passage which starts from the
little chapel, " Madonna della Pieta," and runs
for nearly three miles deep under the earth.
Signor Gigli, who has explored part of it, told me
that he found several very ancient altars. Local
tradition says that St. Peter landed on the sea
shore between Taranto and Manduria, at a place
called Bevagne. Thence he went to Manduria,
and baptized everybody. When the Pagans came
and persecuted the Christians, the latter dug
this subterranean passage and lived below
ground. "Jettatura," the evil eye, is still implicitly
believed in by many Italians. A small horn in
coral, mother-o'-pearl, or common bone, is the
antidote. A monk always gives the evil eye,
and, though no one refuses the charity he asks,
the sign (holding out the. first and fourth finger
of the right hand) for averting all ill effects is
invariably made behind his back. A person G

194 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
born on a Friday in March is fortunate, for he
cannot be bewitched, and the word Sabato
(Saturday), if pronounced in a peculiar way
and at a proper time, is a preservative against
the evil eye and witches. Signor Gigli told
me a most poetical wa}' of warning off an
approaching tempest, which is common in and
around Manduria. When black clouds menace
hail or a violent storm, a child under seven
years of age is placed in the middle of the
street with three small pieces of bread in its
hands. One piece of bread is thrown straight
forward, one to the right hand and one to the
left, while the child says aloud with a sup
plicating voice :
" Oziti, San Giuanni, e no durmiri,
Ca sta vesciu tre iiubi viniri ;
Una d'acqua, una di jentu, una di malitierapu ;
Do lu portamu stu malitiempu ?
S(3tt'a na crotta sciira.
Do no can1a jaddu ;
Do no luci luna,
Cu no fazza raali a me, e a nudda criatura,''
(•' Arise, St. John, and do not sleep, for I see three clouds
coming— one of rain, one of wind, and one of tempest. Where
shall we carry this liad weather? Into a dark cavern, where
no cock crows ; where no moon shines ; in order that it do no
harm to me, or to any other creature.")
Much can be divined from dreams. If you
dream of a white horse, bad news is sure to

LOCAL SUPERSTITIONS. 195
follow ; but carriages and horses bring a fortune.
To dream of shoes portends great happiness.
Oil must never be spilt, for it will cause mis
fortune and sorrow ; but the spilling of wine
is a happy event, generall}' a forerunner of
marriage. An eclipse will bring an epidemic, so will a
shower of falling stars or a meteor ; while an
Aurora-borealis is a sure sign of war.
No peasant woman will comb or brush her
hair on a Friday, unless she desires the death
of her husband, and the melancholy hoot of the
big owl portends a death in the family ; indeed,
in Apuha its common name is ." bird of death."
The famous well, which has never ceased to
give water in this arid land, is an object of great
pride to the Mandurians. When Signor Gigli
found the gold ornaments in a tomb not far
from it, some old women told him in strict
confidence, that he would never find the great
treasure which lies hid close by the well, the
chief of which is a hen and twelve chickens in
solid gold, unless he either cut the throat of a
young child under five years old over the well,
or induced a pregnant woman to stand close to
his excavations. She must hold a serpent to
her naked breast, and when the treasure was
reached the serpent would vanish. G 2

196 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
An ancient custom prevails at harvest-time,
which I thought might date from the worship
of Apollo ; but Sir James Lacaita told me it
was the pra}'er ordered by the Pope at the
time of the first Crusade, to be said at sunrise,
noon, and sunset for the Crusaders. When the
sun is about to sink on the horizon work is
stopped, and the labourers kneel in a semicircle,
with their faces turned to the setting sun. The
head-man recites a prayer, which all repeat in
chorus after him, and then they go home.
Fairies and ogres, and their enchanted castles
and woods, are as real to these happy peasants
as they were to me in my childhood. The
" Oreo," or ogre, is an old man with a long white
beard, claws on his fingers, and teeth as sharp
as nails : he lives under-ground, and is the
terror of naughty children and of pretty girls,
for whom he sets a trap by putting one of his
great ears, which resembles a cauliflower, out
side his cavern. The child or the maidfen pulls
again and again at the cauliflower, when out
comes the " Oreo " and eats them up, or drags
them down deep into the earth.
The fairies are little women, who assume the
shape of birds, flowers, or brooms. The evil-
disposed bring sickness and war to mankind ;
the kindlv fairies give sunlight, riches, and love.

THE KING'S BRIDE. 197
Sirens — ^beautiful creatures, half women, half
fish, with flowing hair and divine voices, who
lure people to their splendid palaces under the
waves— are often seen on moonlight nights
along the coast.
There is a legend that the most beautiful girl in
the country was enticed under the sea. Chained
by a long chain, she is allowed to approach the
coast once in a hundred years, when she sees
her beloved brother, who comes from a very
long way, no one knows how far, to see her in
the distance, and lament over her sad fate.
After a few minutes " Mamma Sirena" pulls
the chain, and the fair maid sinks again for a
hundred years. But the sirens are not always
so cruel, as the following tale will show ;
"The King's Bride.
" Once upon a time there were two widows,
who were great friends. One had an only
daughter, about eighteen, with eyes the colour
of the sea and hair like the sun. The other
woman also had a daughter of about the same
age, ugly, deformed, with white eyes like a cat,
and rough black hair like a witch.
" The two women promised each other that
whoever outlived the other should adopt the
orphan, and be to her as a mother. Ill fortune

198 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
knocked at the door of the beautiful young
girl, and she was left alone in the world, an
orphan, and went to live with her mother's
friend. Now the king of the country thought
he would like to be married ; but he deter
mined he would have the most beautiful woman
of his dominions for his wife, and set out to
journey through his dominions. When he ar
rived at the village he saw the poor orphan,
and fell desperately in love with her, which
made the mother of the ugly girl so angry that
she determined to revenge herself
"Heralds announced the approaching royal
marriage in all the towns and villages of the king
dom, and soon after it was celebrated with im
mense pomp of gold and jewels, in the presence
of the most noble lords and ladies, subjects of the
king. Directly after the ceremony fifty carriages
were waiting to conduct the royal couple and the
guests to the capital. Just before they started
the woman who had adopted the orphan girl
called the king aside and said to him, ' Your
Majesty, I received your bride into my house and
have guarded her from all ill ; in recompense
for this I beg one favour.' The king answered,
' Speak ; you shall have what you want.'
" ' Neither gold nor titles shall I ask of your
Majesty ; only that I and my daughter may

THE KING'S BRIDE. 199
accompany your bride alone in the carriage to
your palace, as it will be the last time we shall
be together in a familiar manner.'
" ' Granted,' said the king ; and they left the
village. First rode the king and his caA'aliers ;
then came the queen in her carriage with the
woman and her daughter ; the ladies and gentle
men and servants of the court brought up the
rear. " Soon they passed near a magnificent castle,
and the king, putting his head close to the win
dow of his wife's carriage and calling her by her
name, said, ' Look, that castle is ours ; we will
pass the summer there in delightful 'villegia-
tura! " The noise of the carriage, to which the queen
was not at all accustomed, prevented her from
hearing the exact words, and she asked the
woman, ' What did the king say ? '
" ' The king says you are to take off your fine
clothes and make my daughter put them on,'
answered she.
" The queen thought this was some generous
caprice of her husband's, and smilingly obeyed.
" After another hour they came to a fine forest,
with large trees and much shade. Again the
king rode up to the carriage window, and calling
his wife by her name, said —

200 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
" ' Look, this forest is ours ! Here we will
come to hunt.'
"The queen again did not understand, and
asked —
" ' What did the king say ? '
" And the woman answered, ' The king says
that you are to give your ornaments and your
royal crown, resplendent with sapphires and
diamonds, to my daughter.'
" The queen again smiled at this caprice of
her husband's and obeyed.
"An hour later the cavalcade came to the
seashore. The wind rose and black clouds
came chasing up from the horizon threatening a
storm. The king again approached the carriage
and said —
" ' Queen, look out upon this sea : here we will
come and row, all alone in the royal bark ! '
" Again the queen did not catch his words, and
the woman told her —
" ' The king says that you are to throw your
self into the sea.'
" A dull thud was heard, and the unfortunate
queen disappeared in the angry waves.
"She did not, however, merit death, for she was
as good as she was beautiful, and her misfortunes
came from being too obedient. So the sirens
received her, and with soft songs led her into

THE KING'S BRIDE. 201
their splendid palaces. There she saw many
men and women who had been drawn by the
fatal and fascinating voices of the sea-women
into the depths of the waters.
" Meanwhile, at daybreak the royal procession
reached the capital, and the palace was full of
ladies and lords to receive their new queen.
The king gave his arm to the bride, but when he
bent down to kiss her, he started back, like one
struck with lightning.
" ' So ugly,' thought he, ' is the queen ! Why
she seemed to me the most beautiful woman in
the kingdom.' The courtiers also were astonished
at such a change, and looked at each other in
silent dismay. The only joyous person was the
mother of the false queen, who was puffed up
twice her natural size with pride and delight,
and when the king asked her how such an
alteration could have been produced, she said —
" ' Majesty, the moon shone on her and stole
her good fortune, and then the sun shone on her
and took her beauty.'
"So all the rejoicings were at once suspended,
and the king retired to his own rooms, where
for three days and nights he admitted no one,
and his tears served him for food and drink.
" At the end of this time he determined to go
out and breathe the fresh air, and, refusing

202 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
all company, he wandered away alone. Un
wittingly he bent his steps to the sea-shore,
and as he gazed at the waves, sighing deeply,
all at once a voice seemed to rise from the
water. He listened, and it said^ — •
" ' O thou who comest to this beach, go to
the king and tell him my story.'
"The king thought, 'Who is it that speaks
thus ? ' and he said aloud, ' Who art thou, and
what wouldst thou from the king ? '
"Then the unknown voice (which was that
of the queen, who had been betrayed by the
woman with the ugly daughter) told all that
had happened in the carriage on the journey
to the capital.
" When the king heard this treachery he
was beside himself, but at last found voice to
ask, ' What must the king do to draw thee out
of the sea, and lead thee to his palace ? '
" ' Ah ! everything will, I fear, be in vain,
and I shall have to stay eternally beneath the
waves ; but I will go and ask the mother
siren, and if to-morrow <thou wilt come at
mid-day to the same spot I will give thee an
answer.' " Needless to say that the king was on the
beach next day hours before the appointed
time. At length the same voice said —

THE KING'S BRIDE. 203
" 'Art thou here ? In truth, thy kindness
to me, who am so unhappy, is very great.
Know that the mother siren has told me how
I could be freed, but it is so impossible a thing
that I prefer not to tell thee.'
" ' No, no, do not keep it from me ; whatever
it is I must hear it ! ' cried the king.
" ' Very well, I will tell thee. In order that
I may return to land, a huge load of bread,
another of cheese, and another of wine must
be thrown into the sea ; enough to permit the
sirens and their prisoners, who have not tasted
food for a long, long time, to appease their
hunger.' " When the king heard this he ran back
to his palace, and sent in haste to order every
well-to-do man in his dominions, within the
space of three days, to throw a cart-load of
bread, of cheese, and of wine into the sea.
Everyone thought the king had gone mad, and
laughed at such extravagance ; nevertheless,
they all did as he had commanded.
"The lovely queen, with eyes the colour of
the sea and hair like the sun, then came from
the waves, smiling, into the arms of her hus
band, who hid her until the night, when there
was a great ball at court. Dressed like a
stranger, she mixed with the crowd of courtiers.

204 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xiv.
and when all were seated in a circle the king
entered. " He walked up to the false queen, to whom
he made a slight bow, and then, saluting the
company with a wave of his hand, said, ' Gentle
men and ladies, I have called you together
in order that each should tell a story of love
or of sorrow, in order to divert my afflicted
mind.' " Everyone was much pleased, because they
hoped that at length the youthful monarch
would shake off the terrible melancholy with
which he had been oppressed for so many days ;
and by turns they told stories, too many to
repeat, moving the hearers to tears or to
laughter. "When it was the turn of the stranger, she
narrated her own tale, which thrilled the
audience with horror. Then the king rose and
asked —
" ' What punishment do they deserve who
thus betrayed this fair young girl ? '
"And all answered with one accord, ' Let the
queen decide.'
" The false queen, as white as well-washed
linen and almost fainting, murmured, 'They
merit death.'
" And the king cried, ' So be it ! '

THE KING'S BRIDE. 205
" Four armed men rushed into the room ;
and, taking off the royal crown from the head of
the false queen, they carried her and her mother
away, while the king presented to his subjects
the real queen, whose hair was the colour of
the sun and whose eyes were like the sea."

206

Foot-bridge at Lecce.
CHAPTER XV.

LECCE.
We had to spend some hours at Brindisi on
our way from Oria to Lecce, and fondly hoped
to find something to eat at the station. There
was a buffet, but the food was uneatable, and
as it was raining no cabs had come to meet the
train. " We were evidently not going to India ;
the mail left two days ago. What could we
want a cab for ? Besides, it was raining ; the
harness would be spoiled, and the driver would
get fever." At length I had recourse to the
station-master, my last resource in all difficul
ties in Apulia, and a most effectual one.

BRINDISI. 207

Certainly Brindisi can vaunt an unenviable
superiority over most places in the shape of
dirt and bad smells. It needed all the classical
reminiscences we could conjure up to make our
two hours' pilgrimage bearable. The cathedral,
where the great Emperor, who addressed the
city as " Filia solis, ave, nostro gratissima cordi''
(" Daughter of the sun, hail, thou who art so
dear to our hearts ! "), was married to the
beautiful Yolande of Jerusalem in 1225, has
but few vestiges left of its ancient splendour.
The most striking objects of the city are the
great castle, built by him, and flanked with enor
mous round towers added by Charles V. ; and
the single tall marble pillar, with its capital
ornamented with the heads of sea divinities.
The fellow fell down in the sixteenth century,
and was given to Lecce, where it stands in the
market-place. There are also remains of a
beautiful small circular church, like a baptistry,
of the time of the first Crusaders, but we could
not get inside.
The port has lately been much improved,
and during the works many of the piles driven
in by Julius Caesar to obstruct the entrance have
been pulled up.
Right glad were we to continue our journey
to Lecce, " the Florence of Apulia," as people

208 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xv.
in South Italy say. I was told several times,
" Oh, Lecce is so gay, the very name calls up a
smile ; and the Leccese are so civil and plea
sant ! " all of which we found quite true. Our
inn (" del Risorgimento") was comfortable and
clean ; the only thing that put the host out
was our calling for boiled eggs and bread and
butter at nine in the morning, with coffee and
milk. The idea was so novel, and the mixture
so extraordinary, that we always had to wait
half-an-hour. " Why did we not have a cup of
black coffee in bed like other people, and then
breakfast properly at mid-day ? " We had
" scapece" one night in memory of Frederick
IL, whose court cook, Berard, was famous for
the dish. Very nasty it was : fish boiled in
salt-water and sprinkled with saffron.
The first day of our stay at Lecce it rained,
which was lucky, as it enabled us to see the
delightful way in which the running stream,
flowing in the centre of every street, is bridged
across for foot-passengers. We went into a
church to escape a heavy shower, and I re
marked to my companions that a good hunter
would be necessary to take us home, when we
saw a man trundle up a long, odd-looking thing,
a broad plank on two wheels, with two feet
at the other end. With this he bridged the

THE GREAT TOWER AT LECCE. 209
water ; and we found two or more in every
street on our way home. Most practical people
are these Leccese ! The streets are so broad
that carriages, when there are any, can
pass along on either side of these extempore
bridges. The first cathedral and campanile were built
by Bishop Formoso in 1144, and rebuilt in 1230.
In 1574 the bell-tower was partly pulled down,
and in 1658 both cathedral and campanile were
entirely rebuilt. The latter, two hundred and
twenty-eight feet in height, is the seventeenth
highest tower in the world, as I was informed
with much pride, and was built by a local
architect, Zimbalo, commonly called "Lo Zin-
garello." It serves as a landmark for all boats
going from Otranto to Brindisi. In the good
old times, when corsairs ruled the sea, the high
campanili all over this country were used as
watch-towers. In the one at Lecce was a bell,
which a sentinel struck in a particular way, to
give the alarm if he saw suspicious vessels on
either sea.
The archbishop's palace and the seminary,
built of yellow Lecce stone and profusely
decorated, make two sides of the grandiose
Piazza del Duomo ; the third is formed by the
cathedral, with its immense rococo facade,
G3

210 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xv.

St. Orontius in the Market Place of Lecce.

THE STATUE OF ST. ORONTIUS. 211
which we thought very ugly. From time im
memorial a fair, which till the last century was
called " La Spasa di Monsignore," has been
held in this square on the ist of November. It
was formerly attended by merchants from all
parts of the Neapolitan kingdom, and every
buyer or seller paid a tax to the archbishop.
St. Orontius is the patron of Lecce, and his
bronze statue stands in the centre of the
" Piazza Sant' Oronzo," on the top of the mar
ble column which was brought from Brindisi
in 1 68 1. On the 9th of February, 1799, a Tree
of Liberty was planted in the square. On one
branch hung the Phrygian cap, on another a
yellow, red, and blue flag; but it was torn
down within twenty-four hours by an infuriated
mob, hounded on by the priests, who declared
the Saint was so offended by the sight of the
accursed tree that he had turned his head in
the contrary direction, and hfted up one foot
with the intention of walking down off his
column !
"Saint Orontius," so says the legend, "was
a nobleman of Lecce, a philosopher, and a
follower of Pythagoras ; notwithstanding which
he was charitable, sober, and hospitable. One
day, out hunting near the sea, he saw a stranger,
and (hke a true Southern Italian) instantly
G4

212 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xv.
asked him where he came from, who he was,
and whither he was going. The stranger said
his name was Justus, that he came from
Corinth, and was a disciple of St. Paul's,
going to Rome on religious matters." To cut
a long story short, Justus made a Christian of
the Pythagorean phflosopher in a few days,
baptized him, and, when he came back from
Rome, found that Orontius had converted not
only all his own compatriots, but also the Roman
garrison. St. Paul made him the first Bishop
of Salento, and in August, 66, Nero made him
a martyr and a saint by murdering him together
with Justus about two miles outside the city.
At one corner of the Piazza stands the
old municipal hall of Lecce, the " Sedile," built
in 1592, with Gothic arches and a richly
decorated doorway ; by its side is the little
" Cappella di San Marco," still belonging to the
City of Venice. Its doorway is extremely
pretty with the famous Lion of St. Mark in
a lunette. Guido of Ravenna has left a description
of the ruins of a theatre and other buildings
of the ancient Lupiae existing in the ninth
century, adding that the town of Rugge is
very near them. Galateo, writing in the
fifteenth century, says that there were then

RUINS OF THE ANCIENT LUPIyE. 21
extensive subterranean remains, vast arches,
covered gafleries, and foundations of the old
city to be seen ; while Buccarelli writes : " On
the 3rd of Jul}', 1803, new foundations were being
put to a shop which had fallen to ruins, just at
one angle of the Piazza, when the workmen
suddenly dug down into the ancient ' Via Mal-
ennia.' Many citizens, with lighted torches,
descended, and we found that the ' Via ' led in
the direction of Rugge. Various smaller subter
ranean passages branched off on either side, but
all were so choked with earth that we could not
explore any distance. Now, old tradition affirms
that this ' Via Malennia ' came from the prin
cipal square of the ancient town of Rhudiae, two
miles distant from Lecce, so that in time of
war, munition, food, and aid could go from one
city to the other without molestation." *
The Prefecture is an immense building, once
a monastery of the "Celestines," all built of
the yellow Lecce stone, which, when first
quarried, is soft and easy to work, hardening
by contact with the air. It, and still more the
adjoining Church of Santa Croce, are one mass
of the most elaborate decorations, a very orgy

* '-Lecce e i suoi Monumenti descritti ed illustrati." —
L. G. de Siinone.

214 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xv.
of baroque rococo, quite overpowering in their
excess of ornamentation. There is in Santa
Croce a picture of St. Oronzo protecting Lecce
from the great earthquake of 1743, which has
the following quaint inscription in Leccese
dialect : " Foi Santu Ronzu ci ni liberau, De
lu gra terramotu ci faciu. A' binti de Frebbaru :
tremulau. La cettate nu piezzu e nu cadiu.
Iddu de lu celu la uardau, E nuddu de la gente
nde patiu : E rande Santu, ma de Ii Santuni.
Face razzie e meraculi a miliuni." *
At Lecce there is a proverb, " La donna non la
sopporto neppure il Diavolo " (" Even the Devil
could not stand a woman"), which has its origin
in an old belief that the devil once married, but
was so bothered by his wife that he divorced her
within a week. Now he only has his old grand
mother, " Donna Silvia," a good old woman,
who is fond of coming up on to the earth. She
cooks and keeps house for her grandson, who is
very fond of her, and when he is tired he lays
his head on her lap and she sings him to sleep.

"¦ " It was St. Orontius who liberated us from the great
earthquake which occurred. On the 20th February every
thing trembled. The city did not go to pieces or fall down.
God of heaven looked down on us, and none of the people
suffered. He is a great Saint — one of the big saints. He
grants our prayers, and does miracles by the million."

DA NOBIS HODIE. 215
Signor Nutricati-Briganti* gives a delightful
example of the use of Latin in prayer by the
common people. A woman was explaining the
Pater-Noster to her little son, and he asked who
" Donna Bisodia" (da nobis hodie) was. " Oh,
she was the mother of God Almighty."
* " Intorno ai Canti and Racoonti Popolari del Leccese."

216

^f<3'

^>^^

Duke Sieismondo Castromediano.

CHAPTER XVI.

LECCE.

The Museum of Lecce, which contains many
interesting and beautiful objects, particularly
Greek vases of exquisite shapes and delicate

DUKE smiS.MONDO CASTROMEDIANO. 217
painting, owes its existence chiefl}-, I believe,
to the venerable patriot, Duke Sigismondo
Castromediano, the descendant of a Chiliano of
Limbourg, of German origin, to whom large
territories were given by William the Bad in
II 5 6. The present Duke was condemned to
death in 1848 by the Bourbons, afterwards
commuted to thirty years' imprisonment and
heavy fines. In 1859 he was sentenced to be
transported to America, but escaped and suc
ceeded in reaching England, and eventually
returned to Italy to aid in liberating his be
loved country.
Rarely have I been so impressed by anyone
as by this kindly, gracious, simple old man.
He had the goodness, although very ailing, to
come in from his country place, Caballino, two
miles distant from Lecce, to show me the
Museum, but I must confess that my attention
often wandered from the vase on whose beauty
the Duke was expatiating to the speaker him
self Far above the ordinary height, and still
upright, in spite of eleven years of cruel impri
sonment under King Ferdinand, the old man's
fine face and silver hair had an inexpressible
charm. I thanked him for his kindness, and
he said nothing gave him such pleasure as
to see an Englishwoman ; he had been so-

218 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xvi.
well received in England, when he and Poerio,
with other sixty-six political exiles, took refuge
there. Among others he told me that a friend of the
exiles of 1822, a woman, middle-aged, but still
handsome, whom Santa Rosa used to call " La
Sainte Protectrice des Emigres," had been kind
and helpful to him. He could not remember
her name, so I told him that she was my grand
mother, and her name was Mrs. Austin ; and on
the strength of this I begged Duke Sigismondo
to tell me about his imprisonment.
He said, " I'll tell you how I first met Poerio."
As he mentioned the name of his beloved
fellow-prisoner the old Duke's voice slightly
faltered and became caressing and tender like a
woman's when speaking of her child.
"After a year's imprisonment at Procida,
among convicts of the lowest description
imbued with every vice, the very refuse of
humanity, the Bourbon Government suddenly
sent the ' Rondine,' one of their war steamers,
to collect political prisoners in the islands of
Procida, Ischia, and Nisida, and carry them to
Naples. I suppose they thought we might still
find means to conspire, or that England would
attempt our liberation. On the deck of the
' Rondine,' on a fine winter's day, I first saw

POLITICAL PRISONERS IN 1852. 219
Poerio. We embraced and were as brothers
from that moment.
" Forgetting our chains we breathed the fresh
air, which seemed to us laden with perfume
after so many months passed in foetid under
ground cells, and we dared to hope. Friends
met again with jo}', and strangers became
intimate in a few minutes. But Poerio, already
broken in health, though serene and steadfast,
full of anecdote, sympathetic in manner and
voice, with brilliant eyes and a most persuasive
smile, he was the one we all looked to — he was
our loadstar.
" On the 8th February, 1 852, we neared Naples
as the sun went down, and soon boats full
of friends and well-wishers started from the
shore, waving handkerchiefs and striving to
catch sight of brothers, husbands, relations, or
friends, but the police boats soon drove them
away, and we could only distinguish the white
handkerchiefs waving in hundreds from the
shore and the small boats, as we entered the
military port.
"Like wild beasts we were driven and pushed
into a low and damp storeroom in the arsenal,
without any window. We had no room to move,
much less to sit down, on the wet stones. Some
fainted, and with one accord we shouted, while

220 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xvi.
those near the door beat it with their fists and
rattled their chains. At last a gaoler came and
removed fifteen out of the fifty to a stable.
For thirty-six hours we had been without food,
and at length we bribed a soldier by a large
present to give us some coarse brown bread, bad
cheese, and a few bottles of vinegar and water,
miscalled wine.
" After the bell of St. Martino had rung out
midnight, there began a great noise of car
riages, clanging of chains, hammering, and
orders given in sharp incisive tones. Soon
after, the doors were opened, and by the light
of flaming pine-torches we saw a double line
of gendarmes and police, and many closed
carriages. " We were rigorously searched, our pockets,
shoes, stockings, everything ; our chains were
violently shaken, pulled, and hit with a hammer,
a painful proceeding, as the ancles and shins
of some of us could testify. We were then
handcuffed two, three, or four together, and
packed into close carriages with a gendarme.
Another police officer sat on the box, a third
behind, and one rode on each side. Thus
guarded we traversed Naples at full gallop.
Schiavoni fainted from weakness and the pain
of his chains, but the fear of an attempted rescue

THE HORRORS OF MONTEFUSCO. 221
drove our gaolers like a whip of snakes. At
Avellino we halted, and there we knew our fate.
We were sent to rot in the prison of Montefusco,
as the commissar}', Campagna, announced to us
with a cynical smile — Montefusco, the prison
which Ferdinand II. , the very man who now
sent us there, declared in 1845 to be unfit for
the habitation of brutes, and ordered to be
destroyed in the name of humanity !
" Monteftisco is horrible ! Far, far worse than
anything imagined by Guerrazzi or Victor
Hugo. Excavated out of the solid rock in the
side of a mountain, the cells are low and damp,
and the darkness suffocating. One or two of my
companions went mad, poor Pironti got disease
of the spine, and Vuoso and Stagliano were
crippled by rheumatism. Poerio and I nearly
died of bronchitis, and Schiavoni lost an eye,
while seventeen out of our number were injured
for life by the weight of their chains. Those
who died of consumption or cholera, without
medicines, and without medical aid, died bless
ing their chains and Italy, and thanking God
for delivering them from such torments.
" The history of our prison is one of blood.
It was used for brigands and convicts of the
worst description, who only left it in charge of
the executioner. We found bones and skulls

222 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xvi.
covered by a little earth in our cells among
the broken potsherds and tiles, which cut our
feet. " It was bitterly cold when we arrived, and
as our beds and bedding had not been sent from
the other prisons, we passed the first nights
huddled close together for warmth, with only our
cloaks to cover us. We persuaded Carlo Poerio,
the most precious life amongst us, to take a
place near the wall, behind a pillar, which
rather shielded him from the bitter draught
coming from an open grated window. He and
Pironti, who were manacled together, lay down,
and Poerio was soon in a deep sleep. We sud
denly heard a noise and thought it was an earth
quake when we saw the wall bulge above the
head of our beloved Poerio. In an instant, spite
of chains and fatigue, some of us sprang to his
side, and we carried him and Pironti with our
handcuffed hands to a safe place. Hardly had
we done so when the wall fell ; a mass of putrid,
decaying matter. Ah ! how I loved him, my
Poerio," ended the Duke.
No wonder the people of Lecce bare their
head when the tall figure of "II Duca"
passes slowly along, leaning on his secretary's
arm, for he is very blind. Small honour
is it to Italy or the family of Savoy that

THE DUKE AND MR. GLADSTONE. 223
such a man should pass the last days of his hfe
in poverty, after giving his all to his country
and his King.
Duke Sigismondo mentioned Mr. Gladstone,
saying that probably "quel grande" (that great
one), as he called him, would not remember
him, but that he well recollected going
to Mr. Gladstone's house in London, and
finding him reading a Cork paper, with a
short account written by the Duke of the
sufferings endured in the Bourbon prisons.
Mr. Gladstone pointed to one sentence
which touched him extremely, the killing,
out of sheer spite by the gaolers, of a pet
nightingale which the poor prisoners had
tamed. We heard so much about the beauty of the
drive to S. Cataldo, the old port of Lupias,
v.'here everyone who had a soldo in his pocket
went in summer-time to bathe in the sea, and
of the excellent " stabilmento " where coffee
and cakes were as good as in Paris, that we de
termined to drive there. It certainly was the
longest eight miles I ever experienced ; one part
of the road traversed a perfect forest of huge
olive trees, which are always beautiful ; then
we crossed a boundless expanse of heath-like
downs, with pools of brackish water here and

224 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xvi.
there, and patches of the brilliant gold-coloured
" erba della malaria."*
At length we reached S. Cataldo, and our little
chestnut horse had a good roll in the sand, while
we looked into the cafi, which inspired us with
so little confidence that we decided on drinking
our coffee outside. Strolling along the sea
shore we watched the departure of some Bari
fishermen, who had been weather-bound for
three days. Most picturesque fellows, with
skull-caps of brown sheepskin, and long, shaggy,
brown cloth coats with pointed hoods. One of
the men looked very handsome and grand, with
his hood pulled over his head, and with his
sun-browned face, large brown eyes, chestnut
hair and beard, and agile yet stately walk. We
watched them put off their boats, and, with a
" State vi ben," pull out to sea.
Near by lay a wreck of the day before ; an
Austrian brigantine bound for Otranto. The
poor captain had lost his all, and, as the fisher
men gently put it, was "mortificato" (half-
sorrowful, half-hurt in his pride), as he had
sailed between Trieste and Bari or Otranto for
seventeen years, and thought he knew the
coast well, so he did not insure his vessel. A

A species of Elecampane, Inula viseosa.

A MALARIOUS COUNTRY. 225
Lecce gentleman who had driven to S. Cataldo
tried to console him by asking him to dinner.
For bathing, booths and tents are put up in
summer on the soft sand, but the whole place
reeks with malaria, and the people of the ca/^ take
it by turns to sleep here and at Lecce. We would
willingly have lingered longer on the shore of the
Adriatic, but our driver was so afraid of fever
that we turned homewards. The setting sun was
golden red behind the olives, and larks rose in
groups as we passed, while the seamews, driven
inland by the heavy weather at sea, flew shriek
ing over the pools of dark water. We thought
of our next day's excursion to Galatina, and felt
inclined to say to them :
" Seagull, seagull, sit on the sand :
It's never fine weather when you come to land."
The road was alive with most beautiful little
frogs, chestnut brown, with yellow-green stripes
and markings, much smaller and brighter in
colour than any I had seen in other parts of
Italy. We caught one, and I longed to take
him away with me, but he gaped so thirstily
that I let him hop back to the next pond ; I
hope he had no family in the one from whose
l)rink I took him.

H

226

rp^^h'^

sta. Caterina, Galatina.
CHAPTER XVIL

GALATINA.
After due consultation with our civil host of
the " Risorgimento," we determined to drive
to Galatina via Soleto, to see the beautiful
campanile, which we should have missed if we
had gone by train. Pliny mentions " Soletum
desertum," and Galateo describes the remains
of the ancient walls, which showed that once ft
was a large town.

CHURCH OF SAN STEFANO.

227

The campanile is certainly most beautiful,
well worth seeing ; and Soleto is so eastern-
looking with its one-
storied, flat-roofed,
white houses, that I
expected the people
to talk Arabic. We
were assured that the
campanile was not a
campanile at all, but
the tomb of some
great king, whose
name was not known,
he died too long ago.
(It was built by Rai-
mondello del Balzo
Orsini, " for the
honour of his name,"
in 1397.)
In the village stands
the small church of
San Stefano, with a
- striking doorway sur
mounted by a round
moulding and a pillar
at either side ; on
one stands an eagle,
on the other a hon.

Campanile at Soleto.

228 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xvii.
The interior is covered with frescoes by Greek
artists, very Byzantine in treatment, yet show
ing the influence of Italian art. Solemn saints,
larger than life, are displayed all round the
lower part of the side walls. The Assumption
of the Virgin occupies the upper part of the
east wall, and underneath, in the apse, but
above the altar, is God the Father holding a
small Christ in his arms, while the Holy Dove
descends on a walled city, where the Virgin is
seated, surrounded by the Apostles, who hold
inscribed scrolls in their hands. A majestic
angel, with a nimbus marked with the Cross, is
blessing the chalice, and other angels are above.
Thisjfresco seemed to me far older than the
others. On the west wall is the Last Judgment,
with a curious figure of the Devil in bas-relief,
moulded in stucco, holding a soul in his arms.
The Crucifixion is in the middle of the right-
hand wall, and on the opposite one is a female
figure with St. Michael, who holds . a medallion
in his left hand with a Greek cross, and <1>X<I>II
on it. All the paintings are sadly spoilt and
faded, but the colour is harmonious and beautiful.
The country is flat and the drive is dull, but
Santa Caterina, the great church built by the
same Raimondello del Balzo Orsini, in 1390, at
Galatina, well repays any trouble. He built it

SANTA CATERINA AT GALATINA. 229
because "the principal church, St. Peter, was
served according to the Greek rite, and all the
priests were Greek, and so was the language,
so that those Latins who understood not the
Greek tongue, could not pray to God in a
language they comprehended."*
The exterior of Sta. Caterina is fine, the door
ways are magnificent, and the interior is covered
with frescoes of wonderful colour. The nave is
lofty, and on either side are two aisles, the
inside one low and narrow, more like a cor
ridor between the nave and the exterior aisle.
Round the nave, the roof of which is divided
into four flatfish domes, runs a lambry frescoed
with life-size saints. The first dome as you
. enter is painted blue, with the virtues perched
on golden chalices of the most delicate drawing
and colouring ; on the upper walls is the Creation.
The second dome contains the Apocalypse, the
walls the life of Christ. Paradise is frescoed on
the third dome, and the Sacraments on the walls.
Above the high altar are the doctors of the
church painted in fresco, and on either side the
life of St. Catherine, the patroness. To the right
of the high altar is the fine tomb of Raimon
dello. Its pointed canopy has been struck by
* " Memorie Storiche della citta di Galatina del Dottor
B. Papadia."

230 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xvii.
lightning, which has also destroyed the hands
and arms of the kneehng knight, who is above
his own reclining figure, dressed as a monk.
By the side of the tomb is a most majestic
St. Catherine, sitting enthroned in a tryptich
(painted in fresco) between two angels. She is
in Norman costume. In the next compartment
is her martyrdom. The saint stands rapt in
ecstasy, with three wheels round her, of which
angels are breaking the spikes and rounds, while
men try in vain to repair them. Above, St.
Catherine is brought before the Emperor, and
in the next division she is ordered in vain to
worship idols ; her judge sits in scarlet robes,
and seems half relenting because of her youth
and beauty. On the left of the altar is the
death and the assumption of the saint, and
above, another scene of martyrdom ; two men
tear her clothes off, and her long golden hair
forms a cloak round her. Her reception by
Christ into heaven is the last fresco of the
choir, and is almost defaced.
Behind the high altar is a lady-chapel with
an eight-ribbed roof, so light that it looks
almost unreal ; it was added by Gian An
tonio, son of Raimondello Orsini, to contain his
magnificent tomb. Pillars, resting on crouching
lions, support his effigy lying on its right side

SANTA CATARINA AT GALATINA. 231
and gazing at the spectator. An angel at his
feet and one at his head draw aside the cur
tains which would shield him from sight, and
on the cornice under him is written, " Per piu
perfetto e piii gentil oprato, non si tolse giamai
spirto benato " (" From perfect and gentle deeds
a noble spirit never recedes"). At either end of
the distich are painted two heads, a man and
a woman, evidently portraits, and wonderfully
life-like. Above rises high a tabernacle of
most delicate workmanship, which supports his
kneeling figure and two angels.
The first aisle to the right, which, as I have
before said, is narrow and low, is all frescoed
with saints, but much defaced ; among them is
St. Anthony, life-size, patron of the Del Balzo
family ; Raimondello, quite small, kneels at the
feet of the saint in complete armour, save that
his legs are encased in stockings, one white and
one red. It seems he wore different-coloured
stockings ever after he was wounded in one leg
by Charles Durazzo in battle. These frescoes
are signed : Franciscus De Arecio fecit A.D.
mccccxxxv. But this inferior painter certainly
had nothing to do with the beautiful frescoes
in the nave, which look more like Florentine
work ; indeed the Paradise is almost worthy
of Fra Angelico himself.

232 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xvii.
On the exterior wall of the outer right-hand
aisle, is the history of St. George, that of the
Virgin on the interior one. But the frescoes
are ruined by the altars which have been
erected. In the left aisles five large baroque
altars of Lecce stone have replaced whatever
paintings once existed.
In the nave is a very baroque but picturesque
erection, an organ-loft of painted and sculptured
wood. It looked so unsafe that I accepted the
blind sacristan's statement that the doors of the
organ were beautifully painted, without risking
my neck by climbing up the ricketty stairs to
see them.
When we first entered the church we were
bewildered by the wealth of the things to see,
and found the sacristan so entirely ignorant
that I followed the advice given us at Lecce
by Professor C. de Giorgi, and went to call
on Cav. Pietro Cavoti, who is the Govern
ment delegate for the preservation of ancient
monuments and excavations in and about
Galatina. This sounds very grand, but as the
Government gives the most miserable stipend
and will not pay for necessary repairs to the
monuments they profess to preserve, it is a
farce. We were ushered into a room such as Faust

CAV. PIETRO CAVOTL 233
would have inhabited ; immense manuscripts,
queer bits of old pictures and sculpture,
Greek vases, and ancient glass bowls, lying
on the floor, table and chairs. After a
short time Signor Cavoti appeared ; so like
Faust, before Mephistofeles changes him into
a beautiful youth, that I expected to hear him
say: •' Heisse Magister, heisse Doctor gar,
Und ziehe schon an die zehen Jahr,
Herauf herab und quer und krumm,
Meine Schiiler an der Nase heruni." &c.
He received us courteously, turned a pile of
vellum manuscripts off their chair, which he
offered to me, and then waited for an explana
tion of our visit. I told him Professor de Giorgi
had mentioned him as the only person at Gala
tina who could tell us anything about Santa
Caterina, making my speech as complimentary
as was possible to a bungling Englishwoman ;
but I could see Signor Cavoti regarded us, myself
in particular, with some suspicion. Luckily we
discovered that he was an artist, and a fellow-
feeling immediately sprang up between him and
my companion. He took us into his studio and
showed us his water-colour copies of the frescoes
in the old church, which are admirable and ought
to be published, and proposed to accompany us

234 THE LAND OF MANFRED. iCh. xvii.
back there and tell us about the tombs and
frescoes. On the way he dropped behind with my
artist-friend and inquired whether I was a spy
of the English Government ; such things had
been heard of, and England was so rich that
she could afford to buy the whole church of
Santa Caterina and carry it bodily away. It
certainly was a curious thing to see a woman
travelling about and reading inscriptions on old
tombs; he thought it praiseworthy, but very
odd. Before we parted, however, we made
great friends, and to him I am indebted for
having been able to find out the subjects repre
sented on the walls of Santa Caterina.
The peasants about here still speak Greek,
with many Italian words intermixed. We found
some difficulty in understanding the people of
the little inn where we lunched. The food
was not bad, but rather queer, and served on
old Enghsh spode china. We asked for some
fruit and the " padrone " brought us a dish full
of oranges and lettuce, which is considered
a delicacy and eaten after meals with salt.
Signor Vito Palumbo, of Kalimera, who has
made the folklore, mythology, popular songs,
and tales of Magna Graecia the study of his
life, has kindly given me the following Greco-

POPULAR SONGS. 235
Salentine songs : they are interesting as illus
trating a language which is fast disappearing :

O TniKovKo Traei iravov or' avariKo,
T^at fia TO (jtia-Kw aov rbv EKKarcvvei
Aixrapoi icowXovju6)j£rai oro vepo,
BStyet' t6v ajxo T^a'i r^elvov ivSevvEi
E T^ip^a Trdfi Travnv arb ¦)(Xwpb,
B€e\ei' TO XaTdo r^at t/jv kucrvavovvei . . .
E cussi suntu ieu ci tantu t'amu :
Me tieni presu 'n bischiu, a lazzu, a ramii.
(Leccese version of the above.)
Lu turdu vae vulandu alia furesta.
Sente lu fiscu e rattu se 'bbanduna ;
La cerva vae pascendu I'erva 'resta,
Xu bide lazzu e sula se nipregiuna ;
Lu pisce vae nataudu all'acquafresca,
Nu bide I'amu ci morte Ii duna.
Cussl 'ccappai cu tie, ci tantu t'amu,
Tie si la pescatora e puerti I'amu ;
Cussl 'ccappai cu tie, fiamti de fata.
.Ieu su la cerva ci stau mprigiunata;
Cussi 'ccappai cu tie, stiddha lucentc,
La prima iiata ci te tinni meute.
Up springs the thrush in the azui'e sky ;
Downward he comes at thy whistling cry.
Swift dart.s the' fish in the babbling- brook.
Soon to be caught with thy cruel hook.
.Softly the deer to the pasture goes.
But is caught by the noose which my lady throws.
And thus by the love which I bear thee, you know,
I am caught as with birdlime, with hook or lasso.

236 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xvii.
Tfat ovfip,e o'ufiixe irdvTa aov uov Xiei ,
T^ai ovjifiE ovfifie, tCev ev ovjxixi /xai
T^ai ov/xfie ovfXfiE, r^aJ aoij fiE TpaSiti,
T^al ovjip.E ovfifie, tCoL b T^aipbg cnraei.
A /xoii TcXrjE KaXb, 'aov 'e fiE TpaSisi '
A fiov rtXijc KUKo, TTiavvEi ri^ai iraei'
T^'at '/3<J> (j>EpovTa jxivui ttov 'e iriaTEEi,
Tfat 'aov KoXbv 'kv 'eeiq et^eX ttov ttclel .
Yes, yes, in sooth, to me thou sayest always.
Yes, yes, in sooth, but yes thou meanest never ;
Yes, yes, in sooth, and so 'tis you betray me ;
Yes, yes, in sooth, and swiftly time is passing.
If to me thou wishest well, thou would'st not betray me ;
If to me thou wishest ill, surely thou wilt shun me ;
And I shall ever wounded be, more deeply than thou
knowest ;
And thou wilt never happy be, however far thou goest.

Aptfio KOTTira fxov irov pETroaEEi
T^ai 'c tI towo ae '(j>ivvov' va. araar]''
ApEfiu I ai TTori^Ei. 'V oe '^ukoveei,
Tf ( aoij tiaXirE va. aov fivpiart]'
' ApEfio arrj ¦KaSpouva. aov a' iTEvaEOL
ilov ak 'iroTi^t fi bXrj ti) vav)(i'i ;
^£ woTi^e arb (j)prjaico ri^ai arb Mfxa,
VtavpvE rb VEpbv utttj (jiovvruva'
2t woTii^E arb kci/ia r^al arb (j>piiaKv,
' 'EavpvE rb VEpbv arro XajuSi'/cKo.
Who knows where now thou art, my pot of flowers 1
And in what place they let thee stay :
Who knows who sprinkles thee with water !
Or bends to smell thy perfumed spraj' •
Who knows if thou art thinking of thy mistress I
Who tended thee with her whole soul :
She watered thee in winter and in summer
With watej' from the fountain drawn ;
She watered thee in sunshine and in winter
With water in the alembic borne.

POPULAR SONGS. 237
Tfai rapaaaE vii irajjc te r^ haEvla,
Aapya ctrrJj KaXrjfXEpa vit araar}'
Tfai fiiva rdo juoO ifa?/ tovtti Kapa^ia,
T^'ai 'r^aiaro aa Xovfjilpa Savari].
T^ai ' fiiva rovr) KapSia tote fiov 'kotj,
Ktt irfjpTE' tC £'X^^ 'Trdrra ri Voii 'e ttoei.
Far, far away from Kalimera's shore
You have departed to return no more ;
And ever since my heart's consuming flame
Bums with an ardour that I cannot tame ;
And burns more fiercely at the thought that you
Have left me. and have bid me no adieu.

238

Doorway of San Marco at Lecce.
CHAPTER XVIII.

LECCE.
The walks and drives round the walls of
Lecce are well-kept and pretty, with fine trees ;
but who can describe the beauty of Tancred's
Church, San Nicola e Cataldo ? Leaving the

TANCRED'S CHURCH. 239
town by the Porta di Rusce, a short walk
brought us to the Campo Santo, with a portico
of four large columns sustaining a heavy archi
trave. An avenue of tall cypresses, with an
undergrowth of Judas trees, one blaze of ruddy
amethyst, the ground carpeted with gi-ay-blue
peri\^'inkles (flowers of death, as they are called
in Italy), leads up to the middle of the cemetery
where stands the church. Well may Gregor
ovius say that it is " the most beautiful and most
characteristic monument of Norman art, and the
one which gives the most perfect impression of
classic simplicity and symmetry."
The principal door is a tall arch formed of
three broad bands of the richest decorations,
and a fourth of acanthus leaves curling outwards,
resting on a group of angels. The soft yellow
colour of the stone, the delicacy of the carving
and lightness of the design, makes it look
like old lace. On the architrave of the door is
written :
" Hac In Carne Sita Quia Labitur Irrita Vita ;
Consule Dives Ita Ne Sit Pro Carne Sopita ;
Vite Tancredus Comes Eternum Sibi Fedus ;
Firmat In Hiis Donis Ditans Hec Templa Colonis.''
Above the inscription are six female heads
fancifully surrounded with acanthus leaves, and
in the semi-lunette above one can see faint

240

Door of San Nicola e Cataldo, Lecce.

SAN NICOLA E CATALDO AT LECCE. 241
traces of a fresco of the Madonna and Chfld.
The church is small ; a high nave and two
aisles. Above the high altar a tall dome rests
on pointed arches, and a large lady-chapel,
frescoed rather in the style of Poccetti, is
behind. The roof of the church is painted in
arabesques, but the pillars and walls have been
whitewashed. Ascanio Grande, the poet, once extolled as
greater than Homer or Virgil, now all but for
gotten, lies buried in San Nicola. He died
about 1600. Another celebrated Leccese,
Scipione degli Ammirati, is buried, I believe,
at Florence.
A second, and even more beautiful doorway,
flanked with slender pillars resting on broken
lions, leads into the cloisters, which are now
bricked up and form, with the monastery, a
penitentiary school. Above the door is
written :
" .\nno Milleno Centeno Bis Qiiadi-ageno,
Que Patuit Mundo Christus Sub Rege Seeundo
Guillclmo Magnus Comito T.anoredus Et Agnus
Nomine Quem Legit Nicolui Templa Percgit."
This exquisite church was built by Tancred
nine years before he became King of Sicily. He
was the son of handsome Duke Roger, who
was sent by his father, the King of Sicily, to
H3

242 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xviii.
learn knightly usages and fine horsemanship at
his uncle's court. Count Robert of Lecce had
an only daughter, Sybilla, beautiful and accom
plished, and the cousins fell desperately in love
with one another. Duke Roger became ill and
was re-called to Sicily, where on his death-bed
he confessed his love to his father and begged
him to send an ambassador to marry Sybilla
in his name, and thus legitimize his little son.
Tancred became King of Sicily in 1189, and was
the last of the Norman Counts of Lecce ; he died
broken-hearted in 1194 at the loss of his only
son Roger from the plague.
The " Porta di Rusce," so called because the
road to the ancient Rhudiae, birth-place of
Ennius, passes under it, is ornamented with
busts of the mythical heroes, Malennius, Daunus,
Idomeneus, and his wife Euippa. If one is to
believe local historians, the last of these hero-
kings was a great patron of letters, and en
couraged Ferecides Sirus, who first demonstrated
the immortality of the soul, to found a school
of philosophy at his favourite residence, Lupiae.
As at Oria, so at Lecce, I was assured that
the town was a fine city long before the time of
Idomeneus and the fall of Troy ; and that the
antiquity of Rusce was evident by Malennius
having made an underground passage from the

HISTORY IN THE NAMES OF STREETS. 243

one city to the other. As I had no very clear
idea who Malennius was, I looked wise and said
nothing. Ovid certainly never was at Rhudiae, or he
would not have written :
" Ennius emeruit, Galabris in montibus ortus,
Contiguiis poni, Scipio magne, tibi ;"
(•'Ennius, born among the mountains of tire Calabri,
Has deserved to be placed next to thee, mighty Scipio ;")
for mountains there are none; not even the
smallest hill can be seen anywhere.
We passed a good many empty tombs on our
drive to Rusce, fi-om which I believe came many
of the one hundred and twenty-two known
Messapian inscriptions.*
A thing much to be commended at Lecce is
that the names of the streets have not been
changed. A burgher may almost learn the
mythical Greek, the Roman, and the Renais
sance history of his fatherland as he walks
through the town.
The " Porta di Napoli " is a triumphal arch
built in 1548 in honour of Charles V., with
a most pompous inscription. He built, or
rather enlarged the Castle of Lecce and parts
of the town walls. We saw the castle under
very favourable circumstances, a brilliant full
* " Le Iscrizioni Messapiche raccolte dai Cav. Luigi Mag-
giuUi e Duca Sigismondo Castromediano, 1S71."
H 4

244 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. X-vni
moon and a great show of fireworks close to
the bastions. It is astonishing how the "meri-
dionali" delight in fireworks, and how skilful
they are in fabricating them. Every night
during our stay at Lecce we saw rockets, Bengal
fire, &c., on one side or the other.
When the fireworks were over I insisted
on going into a booth with a large doll hang
ing outside, to see marionettes as done for
the people, not for gentlefolk. We paid a half
penny each and clambered up a ricketty ladder
into the " posti distinti," where our appearance
created quite a sensation. " Samson " was the
piece, and if anyone wants, as old Burton says,
"to batter the walls of melancholy," and enjoy
"mirth, which purgeth the blood, confirms
health, causeth a fresh, pleasing, and fine colour,
prorogues life, whets the wit, makes the body
young, lively, and fit for any manner of employ
ment," let him go and see " Samson " in a mari
onette theatre. When Dalila came on, with that
queer, spasmodic, irresponsible walk belonging
to a marionette, and sheared Samson of his mass
of hair with a pair of enomious scissors, the
audience applauded vigorously, "Well done,"
" She's the hairdresser for me," &c. But the
delightful parts of the entertainment were the in
terludes. " Or' e lu buon " (" Now comes the

THE MARIONETTES. 245
fun"), said a pretty Leccese next to me, who
was nursing her baby while she enjoyed the play.
She told me she was nineteen and had three
children ; and was most good-humoured, and
immensely amused at our not understanding the
jokes in broad dialect, which perhaps was just as
well. Between the acts Pulcinello came on, in
his well-known white pointed cap and white
dress, and made -violent love to Dalila ! His
dancing was so graceful and pretty that I did
not wonder at seeing her sink into his arms,
when the heavy father appears, and kicks
poor Pulcinello off the stage.
The most popular of the old rulers of Lecce
is " La nostra Maria " (our Mary), daughter c f
John Enghien Bourbon, who married Sveva del
Balzo and died at Lecce in 1373, leaving a sen
and a daughter. The son married Margaret of
Luxemburg, but died without heirs, and his
beautiful and clever sister, Maria, succeeded
him in 1384. She married Raimondello Orsiri,
the famous Prince of Taranto. After his death
she ruled the whole Calabrian peninsula as
Regent for her eldest son John Anton}-,
and defended Taranto against King Ladislas,
who, after an unsuccessful siege, offered her
marriage, reserving the rights of her children
to the principality. She followed her second

246 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xvili.
husband to Naples, and at his death in 141 4
was imprisoned by her sister-in-law, Joan II.
At the end of a year she succeeded in making
her escape with her children and returned , to
Lecce, where she was received with enthusiasm.
A curious specimen of the language of those
times is preserved at the Monastery of St.
Benedict of Conversano, in a letter written by
the Queen to the —
"Egregiae, honestae et Religiosae mulieri
Carissimae nobis Abbatissae Monasterii Sancti
Benedicti Civitatis Cupersani :
" Maria, Regina Hungariae, lerusalem et
Siciliae :
" Egregia Carissima post salutem :
" Recepemono la lettera vostra, et placzemi
assad, che lo Principe nostro beneditto figlio agia
fatto rendere la obediantia di Castellana, et re-
spondere delli raysoni debiti alia monasterio,
imperoche tanto muy, quanto ipso, sino tenuti
non solamente de le cose debite, ma etiam de
proprio subvenire la ecclesia pregandore che vi
piacza avere a mente alii vostri oracioni tanto
muy, quanto lo Principe, Gabriele, Catarina
vostra, e Ii pichirilli.
" Datum in Castro nostro Licii, &c., &c."
" La Maiesta de Madamma nostra Regina
Maria " made most admirable laws, and what is

OUR MARY'S" LAWS. 247

more, insisted on their observance. Strangers
who came to settle at Lecce were exempt from
taxes for three years, and old and decrepit persons
were not to pay any. Assassins were to be
whipped and then hung. Cloth merchants were
not to "transmutare Ii numi alii dicti panni. . .
se sono Ragusini chiamarli Ragusini et non panni
Veneciani " (" change the names of their cloths
... if they are Ragusian, call them Ragusian
and not Venetian cloths "). Horses were not to
be galloped in the streets of the town to the
risk of other people ; there was plenty of room
outside the walls, and so on.
Queen Mary died at Lecce in 1446, and was
buried in Santa Croce ; unfortunately, her tomb
was destroyed in the seventeenth century.
The country between Lecce and Otranto is
flat, but the colouring wonderfully beautiful,
and the white towns give a gay look to the
landscape, while the buffalo carts and pictu
resque dress of the peasantry were a per
petual delight to us.
Nardo, the ancient Neritum, lies not far
off on the hne to Gallipoii. It was of some
repute in classic days, and preserved its claims
to celebrity to a later date, if we may
believe Antonio de Ferraris, commonly called
Galateo. He was born at Galatone and

248 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xviii.
educated at Nardo, which he describes as
famous for its professors and a seat of greiat
learning. A. Galateo was physician to Alfonso
of Arragon and wrote, among other works, a
Latin account of his own country, "De Situ
Japygiae." He describes the appearance of "airy
phantoms" in the territory of Nardo, Con
versano, and Manduria, and curiously enough,
we saw a lake with boats in full sail in front of
the train. I could not persuade my companions
that it was only a mirage, until we came nearer
and it faded away. Ascanio Grande also
mentions the phenomena :
" Tal nella Magna Grecia, altera vista,
Non lungi il fonte del mio patrio Idume,
0 giardin novo, o citta nova e vista
Prima che spunti in Oriente il lume,
0 repentini allettano la vista
Navili, e pur prima che il ciel s'allume :
Poi fugge il .simulacro, e gli occhi sgombra,
E uovello stupor le menti imgombra. "
(¦•Thus, in Magna Grecia, a, glorious sight, not far from
where springs my native Idume, a new garden, or a new and
unknown city, rises before the sun illumines the eastern sky.
or suddenly ships rejoice the sight, before the sky is ablaze.
Then the phantom vanishes, one's vision clears, and wonder
fills the mind anew.")
In and about Lecce the mirage is called
" Mutate " or " Scangiate." One celebrated
case was told me, when the whole country was

AN OLD LEGEND. 249
alarmed, and messengers sent post-haste to warn
the governors of towns and fortresses of the
approach of a large fleet from the East. It was
in the fifteenth century, when the Turks were a
constant source of terror, and the fleet was seen
along the whole coast, from Mount Garganus
to the Capo de Leuca.
There is also an old legend that when Manfred
was born, two huge human forms appeared in
the clouds and fought, mid thunder and lightning,
from sunrise till midday, when one suddenly
vanished while the other turned into the sem
blance of a monk and was driven northwards
by a violent wind.

250

Crypt of otranto Cathedral.
CHAPTER XIX.

OTRANTO.
At Otranto we found a " guide, philosopher,
and friend," in the station-master. As he very
rarely sees any strangers, and has only four
trains to receive and despatch in the twenty-
four hours, he was delighted to have an oppor-

FEVER-STRICKEN OTRANTO. 251
tunity for a good talk. The station stands far
above the beautiful haven, which
¦' Was as a gem to copy Heaven engraven."
To the right lay the castle, associated for ever
with the name of Horace Walpole, and a steep
winding road led down to the shore, whence,
crossing the dirty little stream Idro, the " avius
Hydrus " of Lucan, one reaches fever-stricken
Otranto. Shelley's lines rose to our minds :
" Spawn, weeds, and fllth, a leprous scum,
Made the running rivulet thick and dumb.
And at its outlet flags huge as stakes
Dammed it up with roots knotted like watersnakes.
" And hour by hour, when the air was still.
The vapours arose which have strength to kill ;
At morn they were, seen, at noon they were felt,
At night they were darkness no star could melt."
We entered the little town by a long, vaulted
gateway which led into a narrow, picturesque
street, and turning sharp uphill to the right soon
came to the cathedral built by Ruggiero, Duke
of Calabria (as all this part of Italy was originally
called) and Apuha, son of Robert Guiscard. It was
consecrated in 1088 by the Archbishop Wilham,
acting for Pope Urban II. The fine rose window
dates from 1 481, as well as the beautiful side door
to the north, but the Renaissance scrolls on the
fagade were additions by Monsignore Gabriele
Adarzo di Santandro in 1674.

252 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xix.
In shape the Cathedral of Otranto is more
like the old basilican churches of Rome, St.
Clemente, or St. Pietro in Vincoli, than the
Lombardo-Gothic edifices one usually sees in
this part of Italy.
The mosaic pavement is exceedingly curious,
and considering that the Turks used the cathedral
as a stable after they stormed the town and
massacred the inhabitants, it has suffered com
paratively little. On entering the principal door
to the right is " Alexander Rex " seated on a
griffin, with a curious instrument, half sceptre,
half fan, in one hand. At his feet is a wolf, and
men and dogs in compartments round. Further
on are two and three-headed dogs, fishes, a man
with a trumpet in his hand riding on a large
fish, and a little boy behind astride on the fish's
tail, looking exceedingly impudent, and stags
and dogs. Round this part of the pavement ran
the inscription :
" Ex Jonath — donis per dexteram Pantaleonis,
Hoc opus insigne, est superans impendia digne."
In the centre of the cathedral a catafalque
had been erected for the funeral service of a
canon, so I could not copy all the inscription,
but Professor C. de Giorgi of Lecce was good
enough to give it to me. It surrounds a most
droll representation of Noah superintending the

CATHEDRAL OF OTRANTO. 263

sawing of wood and the building of the Ark ;
then comes the Ark finished, with animals walk
ing in, while Noah and his wife look on out
of a httle window with most disgusted faces.
The inscription runs :
" Humilis Servas Jonathas Hydruntin-Archieps. jussit hoc
ops fieri p. manus Pantaleonis p5ri."
In front of the high altar are circles formed
by entwining branches of a tree, with mytho
logical representations of the months of the
year, Cain and Abel, and " Rex Arturus."
On the left hand of the principal door is a
large circle with four lions' bodies all converging
from one head, the Tower of Babel, and the
inscription :
" Anno ab incarnatione DHi iiri Thii xpl.mclv indietioe xil.
Regnante drio nro W. rege magnifico."
I regretted the presence of the enormous cata
falque as I had been told that the mosaic in the
centre represented a tree whose roots started
from the door and ended in curling branches at
the altar, and that in one compartment Adam and
Eve were sitting in the branches and eating fruit.
They are generally pointed out as "monkeys
which once lived at Otranto." At one end of
the right-hand nave is a chapel, where a large
glass case contains a quantity of bones of the un
happy people slain by the Turks. Arrow-head s
and rusty points of daggers can still be seen

¦2->i

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xi\

Sticking in them, and an e;n- of wheat, covered
with black, dry blood, was most ghastl}-.
The twelve great green marble and Oriental
granite columns which divide the cathedral into
three aisles, are said to have been taken from a
temple of Minerva. The roof is of carved wood
and handsome. It is a pit}' that the interesting
pavement of the cathedral is not protected from
the nailed boots of the peasants by a covering of
wood, as has been done at Siena.
The crypt is most beautiful : it has forty-

f Mrious Pillar in Crypt of Otranto Cathedral.

CASTLE OF OTRANTO. 255

two pillars of different marbles, porphyry, and
Oriental granite, with capitals of various shapes
and designs, which certainly came from some
antique temple. I was assured that it dated
from the eighth century.
Alfonso of Arragon built the castle, and the
two large circular towers were added by
Charles V. The view from the ramparts is

Bastion of Otranto Castle.
magnificent, and the air was so light and ex
hilarating that we found it difficult to believe
in the intense malaria which ravages all this
coast. At our feet lay the lovely bay, sparkling
in the brilliant sun, the water so clear that one
saw the seaweed bending hither and thither,
and the different coloured rocks under the
sapphire-blue waves.
Opposite, looking seawards, the coast of
Albania was plainly visible : white villages.

256 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xix.
nestling near the seashore, and great, rugged,
snow-capped mountains (" Acrocerauniae hor-
ridos montes") rising into the sky, where their
peaks were lost in banks of fleecy cloud. How
we wished for Pyrrhus' bridge of boats, by
which Pliny says he thought of connecting
Hydruntum to Apollonia, to cross over the
sixty miles into Greece !
To the west rose the hill of Minerva, where
eight hundred inhabitants of Otranto were de
capitated by the Turks in 1480. Turning our
backs on the radiant sea, we looked down on
to the suburbs, Monte and Corpo Santo, where
live six hundred labourers, who, till the fall of
the Bourbons, were obliged to walk nearly two
miles round the outside of the fortifications if
they wanted to enter the town. Now a road
has been broken through a colossal bastion,
and they can enter Otranto within a few yards
of their houses.
A. Galateo, who saw the place before its
capture in 1480, describes it as thriving and
populous, though only occupying, like Taranto,
the arx or citadel of the ancient city. In his
time the circuit of the old walls still existed,
fortified with towers, enclosing a space of about
one and a-quarter square mile. They say that
twelve out of the twenty thousand inhabitants

TERRIBLE MALARIA. 257
were slain by the Turks, and man}' of the others
carried off to slaver-s'. No wonder the mothers
sing to their naughty children :
•' Li Turchi se la puozzouo pigliaue,
La puozzouo poitane a la Turchia,
La puozzono fa Turca da Cristiana.''
(" Let the Tm^ks take her away ; let them carry her to
Turkey ; let them change her from a Christian to a Turk.")
Every street in Otranto, and many door
steps, are ornamented with stone cannon-balls,
some of them enormous, and weighing two
and a-half hundredweight. How the Turks
fired such Brobdignag baUs I know not : an
idea of their size is conveyed when I say that
I had to get up to sit down on one of them.
The terrible malaria is caused chiefly by the
exhalations from Lake Alimine, not far from
Otranto. It is thirteen mfles in circumference,
and five feet below the level of the sea at high
tide, when the fishermen open a canal com
municating with the sea ; and they told me
that such quantities of fish are carried by the
strong current into the lake, that some are
pushed on to the banks and taken by hand.
Wherever this mixture of salt and fresh water
takes place malarious fever is sure to prevail.
On our journey back to Lecce a gentleman
of Sternatia was in the carriage with us, and
I

258 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xix.
he told me that a monument with an inscrip
tion existed in the church there to the memory
of Giulio Antonio Acquaviva, the commander of
the Neapolitan troops, who drove the Turks
out of Otranto. He was killed in the fight,
and his head struck off". The first news of the
battle was known at Sternatia by the appear
ance of his horse, bearing the headless trunk
back to the place which he had left that
morning. King Ferdinand granted his de
scendants, the present Dukes of Atri, the
privilege of assuming the arms and name of
Aragon. In that part of the Terra D'Otranto called
" II Capo " the people still speak Greek (though
not classical Greek) ; and the women of
Kalimera and Martano are renowned for their
beauty. They have a peculiar way of tying
their bright-coloured handkerchiefs round their
heads, which makes them look like animated
statues. The following song was composed by a
peasant of Martano, whose landlord, named
Gatto, sold the crop of olives on the trees at
a valuation. The peasant lost heavily by the
transaction, and his " padrone " refused to
indemnify him, so he abused him, according to

AN OLD CUSTOM. 259
old custom, in verse. Signor Vito Palumbo, of
Kalimera, gave it to me.
" Gattu, ca me brusciasti alle Carcare,
Utta pu na su dochi is ti cardia
Ca me brusciasti chiii' de centu stare,
Na su 'ndiastune ja ti spezialia !
Pui'u lu rimu cu poti vocare,
C'e Turchi na se paru' sti Turchia.
E sta canzune te la spiociu osci
Na min ef tasi na su vsemerosi ;
E sta canzude te la spieeiu crai
Na min eftasi na se piai arte ¦vrai."
(" Gatto, who hast bui-ned (ruined) me at Carcare, mayst
thou be seized with apoplexy at thy heart ; thou hast burned
(ruined) me to the amount of more than a hundred staia.*"
I hope it (the money thou hast cheated me out of) may serve
thee at the pharmacy ! Mayst thou be forced to pull the oar
(as a galley slave), and be carried by the Turks to Turkey (as
a slave). This song I iinish for thee .to-day, mayst thou not
see to-morrow's dawn. This song I will finish to-morrow,
mayst thou not last until this evening.")

A staja is about a third of a sack.

260

^¦C^: y:

' Lo Pitaffio " at Foggia.
CHAPTER XX.

FOGGIA AND LUCERA.
Foggia, the capital of the Capitanata, stands on
the vast rolling plain of the " Tavoliere," or table-

FREDERICK'S HEAD-QUARTERS. 261

land of "Puglia plana" (level Apuha), as dis
tinguished iTom "Puglia petrosa" (stony Apulia),
the southern portion of the province of Bari.
It is a populous and rich town, but dirty and
mean, and the dust is worse than in Egypt.
Foggia was the favourite head-quarters of the
Emperor Frederick IL, owing not to the beauty
of the surrounding country, but to the strate
gical position of the town. In his time it was
the starting point of the principal highways to
Ancona, Naples, and Rome, to Brindisi, Bari,
and Taranto ; now it is the great junction of the
Adriatic railway system whence all the trains
radiate. Nearly every trace of the middle ages
has been swept away ; all that remains of the
palace built by the great Emperor in 1223 is an
ornamental arch,* resting on two eagles, with
an inscription on a slab of marble :
•' Hoc Fieri Jussit Fredericus Cesar Ut Urbs Sit Foggia
Regalis Sedes Inclita Imperialis."
The architect was a certain Bartholomew, as
we read on a second inscription :
" Sic Cesar Fieri Jussit Opus Istum Proto Bartholomeus
Sic Construxit lUud."
A third runs :
" A. Ab Incarnatione M.ccxxill M. Junii xi. Ind. R. Dno.
N. Frederico Imperatore R. Sep. Aug. A. Iii. et Rege Sicilie
A. XXVI. Hoc Opus Felieiter Inceptum Est Prephato Dno.
Precipiente." * See Chapter I.

262 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xx.
The arch is built into the front of a private
house, and the inhabitants said a good many
strangers, "as many as twenty in the year,"
came to see it, "and they all talked such
curious languages."
The Empress Isabella of England died here in
December 1241, and the following year Henry,
the eldest son of the Emperor, who had rebelled
against his father and been imprisoned eight
years before, dashed himself from his horse on
the way from Nicastro to Martorano and was
killed. Frederick II. wrote a pathetic letter to
his subjects on the death of the only rebellious
son ever known in the annals of the House of
Hohenstaufen.*

* At the same time Frederick II. wrote the following letter
to his second son, Conra<l, who, as a mere boy, had been elected
King of GertQany in 1237 in lieu of Henry : " Strive after
wisdom and try not to play the king while you are still a
scholar. Emperors and kings are not solely distinguished
from other men because they are in a higher position, but
because their knowledge is greater and their actions more
worthy. Consult men who are distinguished by worth and
excellence ; avoid double-tongued servants, shun flattery, and
never listen to calumniators. Honour tho-e among the clergy
who are well intentioned towards us and the realm on account
of their founder ; rejoice in the severe discipline of military ser
vice and of warriors. Be gracious and accessible to all, just in
your mercy, and merciful in your justice, so that neither law,
truth, nor peace may suffei^ injury. Practice falconry and
hunting, the usual amusement of kings, with men who under

LO PITAFFIO. 263

The only other vestige at Foggia of the
Swabian dynasty is a well, still called " II Pozzo
deir Imperatore."
Santa Maria, the cathedral, also called Icona
Vetera, from being the proud possessor of a
miraculous image of the Virgin, given by Count
Roger, must have been a fine example of the
thirteenth century, until an earthquake in 1731
destroyed the roof and upper part, which have
been rebuilt in another style.
Charles of Anjou and his son Philip both
died at Foggia, but have left no trace behind
as far as I could find out. Ferdinand I. of
Aragon, who convened a parliament there to
plan the attack on the Turks after their occupa
tion of Otranto, has left a record of himself in
a picturesque little square. Here stands " Lo
Pitaffio," as they call it, a tall pedestal, with a
youthful, elegant figure on the top, which looks
like the ideal portrait of some fairy prince. To
get out of the hot sun in order to make a sketch
we went into a small side street and instantly

stand the art, at proper places and times. But we remind you
not to become too familiar with huntsmen and other ser
vants , who will only lower the majesty of the king by idle talk
and corrupt your good manners. Think of your father,
follow the advice set before you, and take warning by your
brother." — v. Raumer, " GeseMokte der Ilohtinstaufen."

264 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xx.
had chairs offered to us by an Arab-looking young
woman. " Caspite, how well the Signora talks
Itahan ; better than I do !" said she, after having
asked the usual string of questions. Her amuse
ment and interest in the sketch was extreme.
" Caspite, but the ' Pitaffio ' has walked on to the
gentleman's paper ! I shall go and tell the
Syndic that he is a thief !" and her white teeth
flashed as she laughed loud at her own joke.
About five miles from Foggia are a few
remains of ancient walls in the fields, all that is
left of " Arpi," one of the many cities said to have
been founded by Diomedes. When one stands
on the great swelling plain, so devoid of life that
a bird or a lizard becomes quite an interesting
object, it is difficult to realize that a great city
which could furnish thousands of soldiers, once
existed where all is now so arid and desolate.
"Siticulosa Apuha" (thirsty Apuha) it is
indeed, as Horace says.
Lucera, where the great castle built by
Frederick II. for his faithful Saracens stands,
is about nine miles from Foggia. An ex
cellent road leads straight across the immense
green plain, rising gradually for the last four
miles. The town of Lucera crowns a hill,
and is stiff in great part surrounded by
walls with towers and five gateways. The

LUCERA LIKE A SHUTTLECOCK. 265
possession of such a fine military position was
early recognised by the Romans, and it was
while on their way to relieve and succour the
Lucerians besieged by the Samnites, that the
Roman legions sustained the great defeat at the
Caudine Forks. The unhappy town was like a
shuttlecock between the belligerents, sacked by
the Romans, burnt by the Samnites, and retaken
by the Romans. In the fourth century it
appears to have been one of the most consider
able cities of Apulia, and it retained its pros
perity after the fall of the Roman Empire. In
663 it was taken from the Lombards by the
Emperor Constans II., and destroyed.*
Just before entering the " Porta di Foggia" we
saw the little church, " Madonna della Spica" (the
patroness of the reapers), which stands on the
site of an ancient temple of Ceres, and was built
for the Christian inhabitants of Lucera by
Frederick II. when he transferred his faithful
Saracens from Sicily to Apulia.
The Citadel of the Saracens is a quarter of a
mile from the town of Lucera, at the further
and more precipitous end of the long spur or
hill which rises abruptly from the plain, and
seems intended by nature for the site of a
* Smith's "Greek and Roman Geographical Dictionary."

266 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xx.
fortress. The castle covers a large extent of
ground, and is of the most beautiful warm
yellow-ochre colour. It is five-sided and ir
regular in shape, as the massive walls follow the
sinuosities of the hill. The side facing the town
is defended by a deep and wide ditch running
across the hill, and there are vestiges of draw
bridges. Fifteen square towers, at regular inter
vals, break the longest line of wall towards the
north and north-east, and two huge circular
towers flank the east front ; the largest is remark
able for the regularity of its masonry, and is as
perfect as the day it was built, save part of the
crown of battlements. Facing the Appenines
seven three-cornered towers jut out of the long
line of walls, and there is one fine arched
gateway. The corners of the towers and the grooves
for the portcullis of the gate are still intact ;
but the facing of stone on the walls has been
destroyed as high as a man can reach from the
ground. To the west there is only one large
round tower and four square ones, whence the
hill fafls precipitously into the plain below.
Hence one sees the ruins of " Castel Fiorentino,"
or " Firenzuola," where the Emperor Frederick
II. died on the 13th of December, 1250, aged
fifty-six. He had been warned that he should die

FREDERICK'S DEATH-BED. 267
among flowers,* and in consequence always
avoided Florence. In June he was ill at Andria,
and in November, when on his way to Lucera,
was not able to get beyond his little hunting
castle. John of Procida, a young doctor, and old
Berard, Archbishop of Palermo, who had never
wavered in his love for Frederick since 1212, in
spite of all the anathemas of the Pope's, were,
with Manfred, present at his death-bed.
The Papal party rejoiced at the death of their
great enemy. " Down to hell he went, taking
nought with him but a burden of sins," joyously
exclaims one monk ; f another recounted that
while he was praying he saw an army of five
thousand horsemen plunge into the sea, which
hissed as though they had been of red-hot
metal. One of the party told him that this was
the Emperor and his follow-ers. Others spread
the report that Manfred smothered his father.
Setting aside the great love that undoubtedl}'
existed between them, it was manifestly to Man
fred's interest that his father, whose right hand
he was, and who refused him nothing, should
live, instead of being succeeded by his half-
brother Conrad, who had been chiefly educated
* Svbflore marcescere (Saba MalasjnnaJ.
¦f Mon. Patavinus.

268 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xx

in Germany, and would probably be jealous of
him. The death of the Emperor was said to have
been hastened by two events, which occurred
in quick succession in 1249. Enzio, King of
Sardinia, his illegitimate son, to whom he was
much attached, was taken prisoner by the
Bolognese near Modena. When the prisoners
entered Bologna, Enzio excited universal sym
pathy and admiration by his great beauty and
his }'outh. His long golden hair fell in curls
to his waistband, and the grace and dignity
of his bearing won all hearts ; among them
that of the fairest maiden of the city, Lucia
Viadagola, from whom the Bentivoglios claim
to descend, tracing their name from her loving
words, " Enzio, che ben ti vogho." * The
Bolognese decreed that the young king, who
was only twenty-four, should be imprisoned

* Enzio was a musician and a poet, like his father. The
following lines were composed by him while in captivity :
" Tempo •vieii di satire e di scendere
E tempo e di parlare e di tacere,
E tempo di aseoltare e d'imprendfere,
Te^npo di molte cose provedere.
'' E tempo e di vegghiare e d'offendere,
6 tempo di minacce non temere,
E temp' 6 d'ubbidire e riprendfere,
E tempo e d'infinger non vedere.

TREACHERY OF PETER DE VINEA. 269

for life, refusing his offer to gird Bologna with
a silver ring for his ransom, and turning a
deaf ear to the threats and entreaties of
Frederick.f The imprisonment of Enzio was followed
b}' the treachery of Peter de Vinea, the
Emperor's most trusted counsellor. Many con
temporary writers say that Peter had become
arrogant, and attributed all the good deeds of
his master to his own influence ; that he often
acted in direct opposition to orders ; that he
accumulated immense wealth for himself and
his relatives ; and that, ever since the memo
rable Council of Lyons, he had been intriguing
with the Pope. Once before, the Emperor had
suspected his fidelity, but he had been able to
clear himself. Peter de Vinea was thrown into
prison in Cremona, where the mob tried to
lynch him, so that he was sent by night in
chains to Borgo San Donino.
" Pero io tengo saggio e conoscente
Colui che fa suoi fatti con ragionc
E chi col tempo si sa comportare.
" E che si mette in piacer delle gente,
Che non si trovi nessuna ragione,
Che sol d'un fatto si possa biasmare."*
* I'amasso Italiano.
¦j- V. Raumer, " Qeschichte der Holienstavfeu."

270 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xx.
The account given by Mathew Paris is con
firmed by two of Frederick's letters. An old
chronicler says that the chief Imperial physician,
who had been taken prisoner and shut up at
Parma, was sent back to his master by the
Legate in exchange for a Guelph noble. He
and Peter de Vinea had both been bribed by
the Pope to murder Frederick ; and one day,
when he was ill, poison was put into his bath,
and also mixed with the medicine Peter de
Vinea pressed him to take. Warned by a
friend, the Emperor bade the doctor drink half
the contents of the cup he was mixing. The
man pretended to stumble and let the cup fall,
but a little of the liquid was saved, and given
to some condemned criminals, who died im
mediately. The physician was hung and a fufl
council of nobles, at which letters were pro
duced which proved the connivance of the
Pope, was called, to decide upon the fate of
Peter de Vinea.
From San Donino he was taken to San Miniato
al Tedesco, in Tuscany, where his eyes were
put out ; and he was led through the town
mounted on an ass, with a crier before him ;
"Behold Master Peter de Vinea, the chief
counsellor of the Emperor, who betrayed his
master to the Pope !" On the road to Pisa,

FREDERICKS WILL. 271
where Peter knew that the people were ready
to tear him to pieces, he dashed his brains out
against a pillar to which he was chained. The
Emperor never recovered his spirits ; he wept
and wrung his hands, saying, " Woe is me !
my own bowels fight against me ! This Peter,
whom I thought a rock, who was the other
half of my life, has plotted my murder !
Whom can I trust ? Where can I henceforth
be safe ? "
Frederick II. names Manfred fi litis noster, in
his will as his heir, failing Conrad, or Henry,
or their sons. This would go to prove that
he married Bianca in order to legitimize his
favourite. For none of his other children,
Enzio, Frederick of Antioch, Selvaggia, or the
wives of the Counts of Acerra and Caserta,
are even mentioned. He specially left the
principality of Taranto and the counties of
Montecaglioso, Tricarico, and Gravina, and the
" honours " of Monte Sant' Angelo, to Manfred,
and named him Regent of the kingdoms of
Sicily and Apulia in Conrad's absence ; so that
his death left the whole weight of the Italian
realm on the shoulders of a lad of eighteen.*
* Giannone, " Istoria di Napoli."

272

- --X'~.V

Castle of Lucera.
CHAPTER XXI.

LUCERA.
The sight of Castel Fiorentino has taken me
away from Lucera, the size of which may be
imagined by my taking full twenty minutes to
walk round the inside of the walls. Between the
two large circular towers on the east, facing the
town of Lucera, a long piece of wall projects
beyond the regular line of the castle walls. This
is the outer side of the great palace where the
Emperor lived when at Lucera, and where the
treasure {camera fiscalis) was kept. We

THE HUGE WALLS OF LUCERA. 273

crept into the great square building through a
hole in the massive walls and found that the
centre was filled by a huge mound of rubble and
earth, out of which projected broken arches
and fragments of vaulting.
The first storey windows have been bricked
up, leaving slits for defence. In one corner
towered far above us a portion of a fine vaulted
roof, very hke the baths of Caracalla at Rome.
Some think that this was a portion of the old
Roman citadel repaired and altered by Frederick
IL, but M. de Breholles is of opinion that it
is entirely mediaeval work. The fragment of

Double Gateway, Lucera Castle.
vaulting and a part of the external wall cer
tainly look like Roman masonry, and different
from the rest of the castle. Between the big
palace and the largest of the circular towers are
the ruins of the keep, with vaulted underground 13

274 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxi.
corridors in two storeys. They now serve as
stabling for sheep, whose owners pay a high
rent to the municipality of Lucera for the right
of pasturage in and round the castle.
While my companion was sketching I wan
dered about, and going through one of the fine
double gateways I came on to a square platform
where stood the ruins of what had evidently
been the guard-house of a drawbridge. There I
found an old woman, who was extremely sur
prised to see a visitor, and we began to talk as
well as we could. " Will the Signora favour my
house ? " she said, smiling and pointing up to the
sky. She gave me a little three-legged stool to
sit down upon, and told me she, with her hus
band, her son, and grandson had come from
Campobasso in the Abruzzi mountains, with
their flock of eight hundred sheep, for the
winter. She was a most picturesque old woman,
and I envied her big silver pin and her hand
some earrings.
While we were talking a little wild head sud
denly appeared above the edge of the bastion
wall. " E lu guagnon ! " ( " it's the boy "), said
the old woman ; "come and salute the lady." I
asked where he came from, and on getting up
and looking over the side of the fortification I
saw a steep staircase of which the outer wall had

AN OLD SHEPHERDESS.

275

been torn away, leaving most of the over
hanging arch, which led almost perpendicularly

Portrait of Old Shepherdess at Lucera.
down into the deep fosse and seemed to con
tinue underground. The small boy assured me

276 THE LAND OF MANFRED [Ch. xxi.
that he could grope along for a quarter of a
mile in this subterranean passage, which led into
the centre of the town of Lucera.
Two walls of the guard-house were standing,
across which my shepherd friends had put
some planks and thick felt, and under this slight
shelter they slept on piles of sheep-skins. I
asked the old woman to sit for her portrait,
and went to fetch my companion ; she was
rather shy about it, and I am not sure she did
not think we were going to cast some spell on
her. I told her I wanted to have her face to
look at when I was far from Lucera, and then
she told me that, when young, she had been
very handsome and had beautiful hair. While
the portrait was in progress her son arrived, a
good-looking young fellow, with the magnificent
almond-shaped eyes that all the Abruzzese seem
to have. He was extremely courteous and
refined in manner, and wanted to go and fetch
home some ewes, because I said I liked fresh
milk. When we took leave of them I gave the
little boy a franc to buy sweets, upon which
his father's face became as black as thunder,
He snatched it out of the httle feflow's hand,
and held it out to me with quite a tragic air :
" You want to insult us ; are we beggars ? "

A PEASANT'S PRIDE. 277
I begged his pardon, and, to pacify him, said
I was going to ask him to give me a present —
one of his sheep-collars, made of wood. He
gave it me with the air of a prince, but with it
handed me the unfortunate franc ; so I said
I could not accept the collar unless his little
son took the money, in order to " have a sweet
mouth," as they say in Italy, when he next
went underground to Lucera. The shepherd
did not like it at all, but his old mother took
the franc ; and I promised to go and stay with
them at Campobasso if ever I went into the
Abruzzi mountains. We shook hands and said
good-bye quite like old friends ; but the young
shepherd said to me, " I see you don't know
our customs. When you come to Campobasso
do not give money ; a shake of the hand and
a smile is the payment we accept ;" and he
added, with a graceful nod, "the Signora can
smile!" Lucera irresistibly recalls the adventurous ride
of Manfred in 125 1, when he fied for his life,
after the people of Teano had murdered Baron
Borrello d'Anglona, because they suspected
he was lying in ambush to kill the prince.
Luckily a faithful adherent of the House of
Suabia was at Capua, where the Pope was then
staying, and sent a message : " Tell my lord, in

278 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxi.
the name of his servant, Galvano Lancia, to
leave Acerra immediately and fly to Apulia,
without letting his face be seen. There let
him gain over John the Moor, so as to get
possession of Lucera." Manfred, aware of the
hatred the Pope bore to all his house, mounted
with a few faithful followers, among them the
brothers Corrado and Marino Capece of Naples,
whose castle lay on the Apulian road. They
knew the country well, and led the prince by
mountain paths, "more fit for goats than
horses," avoiding Avellino, which belonged to
the Marquis of Hohenburg, his sworn enemy.
At three in the afternoon they reached Atri-
palda, where the wives of his faithful friends the
Capece received him with all honour ; " and the
prince, with the courtesy which always won
all hearts, invited the two noble and gentle
ladies to sit on either side of him at dinner."
After a short rest he went on to Nusco, a
castle belonging to the Count of Acerra, his
brother-in-law, where he spent the night.
Thence he went to Lavello and Venosa, where
he was received with great demonstrations of
joy and affection.
Leaving Venosa on the ist of November, in
the afternoon, they debouched on the great
plains of Apulia, where, in a violent storm of

MANFRED'S ADVENTURES. 279
rain and the darkness of the night, they lost
their way. By good luck they met a huntsman
who had been in the service of the Emperor,
and he led them to a little hunting-box, St.
Agapito, in the "Incoronata" woods, where
they were able to take refuge from the tem
pest, and dry their clothes at a large fire
which Adenolfo Pardo, the huntsman, insisted
on lighting to welcome his prince.
Next morning they mounted, and Manfred
rode up close to the walls of Lucera and took
off his helmet, so that the Saracens might see
his face and his fair hair. John the Moor,
"whose soul was as black as his face," was
absent from the castle, having gone to pay
obeisance to the Pope, and had left strict
orders that the gates were not to be opened
to any one. The Saracens, seeing the son of
their beloved Emperor, tried to persuade
Marchisio, the second in command, to give
up the keys, but he refused ; and Manfred was
on the point of entering his castle by creep
ing through a drain, when the Saracens made
a rush and burst the gates open. They
seized Manfred in their arms, and carried him
in triumph into the fortress, where all swore
fealty to him : " pro parte Regis et sua." *
* Giannone.

280 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxi.
The view from Lucera is splendid : to the east
Foggia shines white in the sun, and the great
rolling green plain stretches away to the gulf
of Manfredonia ; to the north rises the purple
mass of the Gargano mountains, and in the far
distance a silver streak of the sea. On the
south and west are the Appenines by Benevento
and the mountains of Bojano and Campobasso,
while the old Byzantine town of Troja looks quite
near, a white speck in the midst of a green hill
side. No wonder poor King Enzio exclaimed
in prison, when Apulia was mentioned, "La
dove h lo mio core notte e dia " (" There
where my heart is night and day").
When we went back to the town of Lucera
to get our carriage we tried in vain to get into
the cathedral, which has three fine Gothic door
ways ; the Government had, it seems, declared it
a " national monument," and one of the railway
engineers was restoring it ; alas ! He was on
the works of the line, which is nearly finished,
from Foggia to Lucera, and had the key in his
pocket. We heard there was a photographer in the
town, and after some trouble we found him, and
I asked for photographs of ^he castle. He stared
at me in blank amazement. "Perhaps the
Signora does not know that I am an artist ; I

A PHOTOGRAPHER'S OPINION. 281
only occupy myself with portraits." I then
inquired whether he had photographs of the
peasants and shepherds, "fit subjects for an
artist." Whereupon he explained to me, with
great condescension, that he did not look upon
such people as men and women. He only
photographed gentlemen and ladies ; but he
had done the gendarme, if I cared to have his
likeness, " because it was always useful to stand
well -with the authorities !"

I' 82

Procession of Peasants approaching the Incoronata.
CHAPTER XXII.

OUR LADY OF THE INCORONATA.
Next day we drove from Foggia to the
festival of " Our Lady of the Incoronata," which
takes place in the first week of May. The little
church stands in the middle of a small wood of
oak trees, the last remnant of the royal chase of
Frederick 1 1., about six miles from Foggia. We
passed many a tra'ino, or country cart, mounted
on two enormous wheels, and drawn by mules
or horses harnessed three abreast. Most of the
centre animals bore a wonderful edifice of burn
ished brass on their backs, two or three feet
high, surmounted by brass flags, which revolved
and glittered in the sun with every step the
beast took. The carts were covered with an
awning stretched on poles, and were crammed

MANFRED'S HUNTING-GROUND. 283
with men, women, and children. Other large
companies were toiling through the dust on foot,
with two or three donkeys carrying the small
children, or the sick who hoped to be cured
by the Madonna.
From the cornfields the skylarks and the cal
andre larks rose in quantities, the former circling
far above us and singing aloud in the clear bril
liant sky ; while the calandre perched on the
boundary stones, or any httle knoll of earth,
and took no heed of us, but dropped their wings,
ruffled their neck-feathers, and stretched out
their heads as they poured forth their wonderful
love-song. After crossing two watercourses, tiny
streams trickling among great gray boulders, we
reached the old oak trees under which the Em
peror and his son Manfred used to hunt deer
and wild boar. Matteo Spinelli describes how,
" De Jennaro 1259 Re Manfredo venne in Pugha
a fare la caccia de la Incoronata, che havia sette
anni, cha no era stata fatta, et ce foro chiij de
mille et quattrociento perzune, et lo Re volse,
cha chi pigliava la caccia fosse la soa, et fo
pigliato uno numero infinito de salvagina."
("In January, 1259, King Manfred came into
Apulia to hunt at the Incoronata, it being
seven years since any (hunt) had taken place,
and there were more than one thousand four

284 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxii.
hundred persons, and the King willed that whoso
killed game should have it for his own, and an
infinite number of wild animals were taken.")
The air was sweet with the may, which made
great white patches under the trees : in the
South, plants know how to bloom ; there was
not a leaf to be seen, every bush was a mass
of flowers. Over our heads the robinias (com
monly called acacias) waved their feathery
scented flowers, and the familiar bracken grew
stunted by the side of three species of asphodel ;
while, more splendid than ah, the royal-looking
inflorescence of the wild fennel reared its golden
sceptre four or five feet high.
Near the church a brisk trade was going
on in rosaries, children's toys, sweeties of
dubious aspect, tambourines and hazel-nuts,
in a row of wooden booths. Our driver was
most anxious that we should perform the
orthodox homage to the Madonna and drive
three times round the church ; but the dust
was stifling and the heat oppressive, so we
refused, much to his mortification.
The pilgrims come in parties, ranging from
ten to seventy or more, led sometimes by their
village priest, oftener by a capo, or head-man,
who has charge of the offerings for the shrine.
Those who could afford to travel " like gentle-

PILGRIMS. 285

men," in the tra'ini, were in the minority ; the
great mass of cafoni, or peasants, come on foot,
some of them walking over eighty miles to visit
"Our Lady of the Incoronata," whence they
generally go on to Monte Sant' Angelo to pray
at St. Michael's shrine, and then to Bari for the
festival of St. Nicholas.
The approach of these caravans is singu
larly impressive and picturesque. As the church
stands on slightly rising ground, one can see
many miles across the great green plain, and
the pilgrims look like lines of ants in the
far distance. Then one hears the alternate
chanting of the men and women as they wind
under the old oaks in single file, and, wayworn
and footsore, for many had discarded their cow
hide sandals, leaning on their long pilgrim's
staff, which has a small cross at the top, and an
iron double hook whence hangs a gourd of
water, and is ornamented with a branch of fir or
an olive bough, they tramp three times round
the church and kneel at the door.
We strolled among the parties of peasants
sitting on the parched grass ; some were eating,
others sleeping; and a circle had collected to
see a joyous Tarantella danced. The donkeys
formed quite a part of the family groups and
seemed to enjoy the tambourine playing and the

286 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxii.
singing as they munched their green fodder or
lay down with the children rolling between
their legs. A remarkably handsome lot of
people in full Abruzzi costume smiled invitingly
at me, so I went up and asked permission to
look at the ornaments of the women. They
were very civil, asked me to sit down on a pack-
saddle, over which they spread a clean cloth,
and then began to talk all at the same time,
raising their voices when they found that I did
not understand. The oldest man of the family
soon came to my aid ; he had been with Gari
baldi, and then for two years in the regular
army with his regiment at Florence. Whenever
"Galubardo," as he called his beloved leader,
was mentioned, he raised his hat and told me,
" first comes Christ, then Galubardo."
I soon understood their dialect sufficiently to
talk a little, and the women and I mutually
examined each other's dress with curiosity.
Some wore white linen shirts with a large frilled
and embroidered collar falling nearly to the
shoulders ; a red cloth bodice with detached
sleeves, tied on to the bodice by a bunch of gay-
coloured ribbons, and when not wanted, crossed
on the back. When they were worn a puffing
of the white shirt was left on each shoulder
between the body and the sleeve. Their petti-

PEA SANT- COSTUMES.

287

coats were generally of dark blue cloth, rather
short, and set in great plaits at the waist ; brown
worsted stockings, and sandals of cow-hide or
sheep-skin, completed the dress. All had large
silver hanging buttons on the bodice, enormous

Nunzia.
gold earrings, and a large filigree pin of fine
design and workmanship fastened the flat white
headdress to the back of the head, where the
hair was plaited up tight with tape.
The younger women had discarded the hand
some pin, flat headdress, and the large collar,
and wore a gay handkerchief picturesquely
wound round their heads, and a white ker-

288 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxii.
chief neatly folded over the breast. "Nunzia"
was strikingly handsome, with her dark hair,
almond-shaped eyes, and brilliant complexion.
The men wore short jackets of coarse dark-
brown homespun, with silver or gilt buttons,
and breeches of the same stuff; dark-blue cloth
waistcoats, edged with lighter blue ; and either
sheep-skin gaiters and sandals, or very pictu
resque and pretty long brown knitted stockings,
reaching well up the thigh and finished off in
elaborate patterns ; a scarlet woollen sash
round the waist, and a wide-awake hat tied
under the chin. One of the young men was
such a fine specimen of these independent
mountaineers, that I asked him to stand for his
portrait to my companion. He had once seen
a photograph taken, and immediately became
immovable, and consequently stiff and awkward.
Nothing would induce him to speak or to turn
his head whfle being sketched. In general the
men were fairer than the women; "Mich6"
had eyes of a curious green-blue colour, a tawny
moustache, and dark chestnut hair.
One of the men asked me whether I played
" Scopa" (a favourite game of cards in South
Italy) ; when I said yes, he told me, with a
sigh, that he was very unlucky at cards, and
for years had been trying to find a hzard with

' SCOPA. "

289

two tails, which invariably brought good luck,
only it was so difficult to find. He had heard
of a man now at Naples, " doing the gentleman "
on the proceeds of money won, thanks to the
possession of a lizard with two tails.

Miche.
When we arrived the church was, closed, but
now a stir in the crowd showed that the priests
had finished their siesta, so my companion shut
up his sketch-book, thanking his handsome
model, and offering him a franc "for cigars." K

290 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxii.
The moment our peasant friends saw the money,
smiles changed to frowns, and the present
was refused with the air of an Emperor. Did
we wish to insult them ? Miche had stood to
do the Signore a pleasure, not for money ; and
handsome Miche's face grew so fierce and
threatening that I thought my friend ran some
chance of a stab from his knife. So I came
forward and explained that it was all my fault ;
in my country beyond the sea we considered
sitting for our portraits such hard work that
even I should ask to be paid for doing it. At
length we all shook hands, but far less cordially
than on first acquaintance.
At the church door a curious and a most
horrible sight awaited us. The poor pilgrims
entered the church on their knees, shuffling along
towards the altar at the further end, and some,
chiefly women, went down on their elbows and
hands, and putting their faces to the ground,
actually licked the filthy pavement from the
door to the altar at the opposite end of the
church. As, of course, they could not see where
they were going, a friend or relation led them
by a handkerchief held in one hand. The
pavement looked as though great snails had
left their trail on it, and near the altar the
marks were aU bloody. It was a sickening

LICKING THE DUST. 291
and revolting sight, and does small honour to
the priests who impose such a penance on the
ignorant and superstitious peasantry.
The faces of the wretched creatures, who
had literally "licked the dust" for some sixty
paces, were no longer human. Begrimed with
filth, their poor tongues, all swollen and scarified,
hanging out of their mouths, they were panting
with excitement and fatigue. A young woman
had gone into a -violent fit of hysterics, and lay
shrieking and sobbing " Madonna mia cara " on
her mother's knees. I asked the old priest, I
am afraid rather indignantly, " How can you
allow such things ? " " Oh," he answered, ironi
cally, " it amuses them ! "
The altar, containing the miraculous picture
of the Virgin, is situated above the original little
chapel, where a branch of the oak-tree on which
the picture was seen is kept under an iron grating.
The legend relates that some wood-cutters
heard heavenly music above them in the boughs
of an old oak-tree, and looking up, saw angels
adoring a picture of the Madonna. They re
turned to Foggia and told the bishop, who, with
all his clergy, went in procession and brought
the picture to the town, where it was deposited
with much ceremony in the cathedral. Next
morning it had disappeared, and the wood-
K 2

292 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxii.
cutters again heard the angehc voice, and saw
the Madonna in her old place. Thrice the
bishop tried to induce the miraculous painting
to stay in his cathedral, and thrice it returned
to the oak-tree. At length it was understood
that Our Lady had elected to live in the solitary
forest, and there a small church was built.
One ascends to the high altar by a double
flight of steep steps out of the body of the more
modern church. The picture represents a black
Virgin with outstretched hands, and is covered
with gold and silver necklaces, watch-chains,
earrings, brooches, rings, and medallions, so that
the jet-black face and hands are all that can be
seen. The altar is hung round with ex-votos of
every description. Silver and wax legs, arms,
heads, eyes, hearts, &c., and a quantity of most
primitive little pictures representing the black
Madonna in the clouds, saving men from drown
ing, or from being run over, or burnt.
This is a remnant of an old pagan custom ;
does not Horace say :
" Me tabula sacer
Votiv& paries indicat uvida
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta maris dco."
( " While I, now safe on shore.
Will consecrate the pictured storm.
And all my grateful vows perform
To Neptune's saving powers." )

A GOOD BUSINESS. 293
The priests, whose turn it is to officiate at the
sanctuary of the Incoronata during the festival,
are considered fortunate, as the offerings they
receive during the month of May enable them
to live in affluence for the rest of the year.
At the church door was a vendor of wax and
silver ex-votos who wanted me to buy one to
offer at the shrine. As he had a very small stock
of limbs to choose from, we asked him how he
replenished it. He ingenuously related that
every evening the priests resold to him some of
the ex-votos at one-third less than their original
price ; " so," he added, reverently raising his hat,
" I and the Holy Virgin both do a good business."
Leaving the church we were attracted by the
sound of a pipe and a tambourine, mingled with
the incessant shrill -wild notes of a battente guitar.
We went towards a group of peasants and found
the "Tarantella" and the "Pizzica-Pizzica" in
full swing. As we approached, one of the men
sprang forward and threw his handkerchief on to
my shoulder. "Come and dance," he cried, with
sparkling eyes. I was obliged to confess with.
shame that I did not know how. But I begged
for a lesson, so a basket was turned topsy-turvy
for me to sit on and the best dancers were cafled
out in my honour. Few sights have I seen
more " hinreissend " than that wild Tarantefla

294

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxii.

danced under a blazing sun on the great
Apulian plain, with the asphodels, wild fennel,
and squills, burnt yellow and brown by the heat,
and the lithe figures swaying to the inspiring
music. For more than an hour we sat entranced,
till at last the evening bell warned us to bid
fare\vell to our Abruzzese friends, who made us
promise to pay them a visit in their mountain
village and teach them to dance " alia francese,"
in return for lessons in the Tarantella.
PIZZICA, PIZZICA, DELL' INCOEONATA.

" Tarantella " at the Incoronata.

296

Manfredonia.
CHAPTER XXIII.

MANFREDONIA.
The whole "tavohera," or plain of Apulia,
is intersected by broad green roads, called
" tratturi," about one hundred yards -wide, and
marked off by boundary stones. They are
public property, and no one is allowed to
cultivate them. The animals graze along them
as they descend in autumn from the Abruzzi
hills to reach their winter pasturage, or return
in spring to the mountains to avoid the summer
heat of the plains. At intervals are great tracts
of pasture, called " riposi laterali," where the
sheep and cattle are allowed to rest and feed
for twenty hours during their long journey.
In old days the whole " tavoliere" was Crown
property, and the owners of flocks and herds
paid a tax of so much per head to Government
for the right of grazing.*
• " Murray's Handbook. ' South Italy : Agriculture.' "

ANCIENT SIPONTUM. 297
Now all that is changed ; the greater part has
passed into private hands, and a law has been
passed allowing the pasture-land to be broken up ;
but the number of animals is still very great.
In 1886-87 eighty-seven thousand two hundred
and fifty-four sheep, eight hundred goats, and
seven hundred and fifty mules came from the
mountains into the plain. I could not obtain
the numbers of the cows and oxen. Each owner
of animals now rents the quantity of pasture he
requires from private persons, and the poll-tax
which used to be paid at Foggia is abolished.
An hour in the railroad took us from Fog
gia to Manfredonia, passing over the site of
Sipontum, situated close to a marsh called
" Pantano Salso," fonned by the river Candelaro.
The ancient church, Santa Maria di Siponto,
still exists, with its bell-tower ; and an antique
column stands melancholy and alone on the
grass-gro-wn piazza opposite the church door.
The railway has cut through foundations of an
cient houses of the town, founded, according to
the myth, by Diomedes, and has laid bare many
tombs. The church claims Siponto as one of
her oldest bishoprics, and says that the first
bishop was ordained by St. Peter himself.
History gives Felix, nominated by a council
in 465, as the first known Bishop of Siponto.

298 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiii.
Pope Alexander III. embarked here for
Venice in 1177, when he went to make peace
with the Emperor Barbarossa ; and here Conrad
IV. landed in August, 1252. He was met by his
half-brother, Manfred, who walked by his side
in solemn procession, and by all the barons.*
Conrad appears not to have inherited his
father's talents and virtues, and the cruelty he
showed at the taking of Naples alienated the
love of his people. Manfred, clever, valorous,
and always trying to soften his brother's
harshness, was so popular that the young
Emperor became jealous of him. Under the
pretence that he -wanted to lower the power of
the barons, he appealed to Manfred to set a
good example, and cede to the Crown the es
tates left to him by his father. He did so,
resei-ving only the principality of Taranto, on
which Conrad laid so heavy a tax that Manfred
got no income from it. The Emperor also
banished all Manfred's relatives on his mother's
side, among them his uncle, Galvano Lancia,
the " Vicario" of Tuscany, one of the most
trusted servants of Frederick II.
In 1254 Henry, son of Frederick II. and Isa
bella of England, died on his way to Melfi to
* Jamsilla.

MANFRED CROWNED KING. 299
visit his half-brother ; and in May the same year
the Emperor Conrad was seized with fever at
Lavello, and died after a few days' illness, aged
twenty-six, lea-ving one son of two years old.
Markgrave Berthold of Hohenburg was left as
"Baho," or Regent, for the young Conradin, and
he soon alienated the whole country by his
incapacity and greed, and the license he allowed
the German mercenaries.
The Pope began to collect an army to invade
Apulia, and was joined by many of the barons,
who were dissatisfied with the rule of Hohenburg.
At length he threw up his regency, and those
among the counts and barons who were still
faithftfl to the Empire, begged Manfred to
assume the reins of government, as being the
only person who could save the kingdom.
After considerable hesitation he consented,
and the barons and people swore fealty to him
as the representative of his young nephew
Conradin, with remainder to himself in case
the child died. In August, 1258, Manfred was
crowned King of Sicily and Apulia at Palermo.
"Alia fine del detto mese re Manfredo fo a
Siponto et disignao di levare la terra da chillo
mal'aera, et di ponerla dove sta mo, et chiamarla
dal nome suo Manfredonia."* (" At the end of

• M. Spinelli di Giovenazzo.

300 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiii.
the said month (January, 1259) King Manfred
went to Siponto and decided to move the town
from that bad air and to place it where it now
stands, and call it by his own name, Man
fredonia." ) And Manfredonia it still is, in spite
of all the efforts of Charles of Anjou to abolish
the hated name, and call it " Novo Siponto."
Evening was coming on as we reached Man
fredonia ; I had already been warned that the
hotel-keeper was an " originale " (an eccentric
person), and that if he did not fancy us he would
simply shut the door in our faces and leave us
to find a bed where we could. Luckily the sta
tion-master was in his good graces ; he accom
panied us to the " Locanda di Don Michele,"
and recommended us, begging our host to pre
pare his famous fish-soup.
Don Michele Rosari de Tosquez (to give
him his full name) certainly was odd, to say
the least. He held the lamp to my face,
and when I smiled and held out my hand, he
slapped me on the shoulder and said, " You
please me. Now that is so like women ! My
wife has just had her tenth chfld, so that I can't
give you our bed-room, the best in the house ;
curse the women ! " I mildly suggested that I
was a woman also, and that as long as my sheets
were clean I did not care about the room. We

OUR HOST, DON MICHELE. 301
asked the station-master to stay and dine ¦with
us, and while the famous fish-soup was preparing
went to walk about the town.
All over Southern Italy they have a perfect
craze for whitewash, so that Manfredonia by
moonlight looked so spick-and-span that it
seemed as though it had only just been built.
It is true that the town was sacked and burnt
by the Turks in 1620, but, except the ruins of
Manfred's old walls, and the fine castle finished
by Charles of Anjou, it was like a modem
Oriental town.
At dinner Don Michele waited on us himself,
and brought out a bottle of excellent old -wine
" for the Signora." He told us his story, which
was a curious one. His "forbears" had been
rich landowners near Troya, and he remembers
when a child of four or five the arrival of the
brigands one night, when they burnt the " mas
seria " and the store of hay, and hung his father
from the pigeon-tower. His two elder brothers
were killed, and his mother died of grief and
iright a few days later.
Don Michele said that he represented one of
the oldest famflies of Spanish descent in the
province, and had the title of Baron ; " only," he
added, "an innkeeper cannot call himself Baron;
but I am a gentleman for all that, and only

302 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiii.
keep an inn for people who are sympathetic to
me and know how to behave themselves."
All night we heard the tramp, tramp of the
pilgrims under our windows and the chanting of
hymns in honour of St. Michael ; for the 8th
of May is the " giorno di festa" of the great
archangel — " il qual nell' armi
Di lucido diamante arde e lampeggia,"**
(  who in his armour
Of lucent diamond burns and brightly shines,")
on the Garganus mountain. The legend says :
" In 491, during the reign of Emperor Zeno,
when Galesius was Pope, a rich man of
Siponto named Gargano lost his finest ox. He
and his servants searched for many days, and
at last it was found at the entrance of a cave in
the wild mountain. Furious at the trouble the
beast had given, Gargano shot at it with an
arrow, which recoiled and wounded him in the
leg. The miracle was recounted to the Bishop
of Siponto, St. Lauren tins, who ordered a
solemn fast, and three nights afterwards St.
Michael appeared in a dream and told the
bishop that he had selected that cave as his
earthly abode. Laurentius, with some of his
people, went up the mountain, and after some
hesitation, entered the dark cavern, which was
* Tasso.

OTHO III. A BARE-FOOT PILGRIM. 3(i3
suddenly flluminated by a supernatural light
and the rugged walls festooned with garlands of
flowers upheld by angels' hands. At one side
stood an altar of precious stones and on it stood
St. Michael, who left the print of his foot on the
rock, where it can be seen to this day. St.
Laurentius built a church at the entrance to the
cave, which he consecrated on the 29th of
September, 493.''
The Longobards plundered the sanctuary in
657, but when the Greek Emperor, Constans IL,
conquered Apuha he endowed the church richly,
and Monte Sant' Angelo remained Byzantine
until the advent of the Saracens. The Sultan
of Bari destroyed the church and seized the
treasure in 869, and part of the hill is still called
Monte Saraceno. In 998 Emperor Otho III. left
Rome bare-foot and, passing through Benevento
and Siponto, ascended the rough mountain bare
foot to beg the great archangel to cleanse him
from the blood of the handsome young Consul
Crescentius, who had been cruelly murdered at
Rome by his orders.
Such an illustrious pilgrim brought Mount
Garganus into vogue, and before Henry II.
returned to Germany, after driving out the
Greeks from Apulia, he also went to the shrine
of St. Michael. Hereby hangs another legend.

304 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiii.
When the saintly Emperor knelt in prayer the
cave was suddenly illumined with celestial
light and a choir of angels sang. The great
archangel appeared with a missal in his hands,
which he held to Our Lord, who became
visible. Christ kissed the book and com
manded St. Michael to hand it to the Emperor,
who remained petrified with holy terror. The
angel seized him by the hip and drew him down
to kiss the holy missal, and poor Henry II.
remained lame until the day of his death.
Another German Emperor, Lothair IL, was
among the pilgrims in 1137, and Frederick IL,
on his return from the crusade, gave a bit of
the true Cross to the sanctuary, which is still
shown to visitors.
We left Manfredonia in the early morning
in a carriage drawn by three stalwart horses,
and provided with a basket of provisions, into
which Don Michele insisted upon putting some
handsome old silver forks and a silver mug
for me. In vain I remonstrated, asked for
kitchen forks, and refused the silver mug. Don
Michele was obdurate. " Steal ! Oh, nobody
steals ; I don't choose that my Signora should
drink out of other people's glasses !"
For three miles we drove in the plain, between
the high mountains to our left and the sea to the

THE ASCENT OF MOUNT GARGANUS. 305
right. The dust was insufferable, in some places
knee-deep, and the glare from the white rocky
sofl blinding. We passed some lovely "mas
serie,"' that had evidently once been httle fortified
castles, standing among the olives, which do not
seem to like the soil here ; prickly pears, on the
contrary, and agaves, grew luxuriantly.
"Lo Sperone d' Itaha," the spur of Italy,
as the end of Mount Garganus is commonly
called, towered high above us ; and, after an
hour's jolting in the deep sand, we turned to
the left and began the steep ascent. The road
has been splendidly engineered up the face
of the rocky hill, and we were perpetually
crossing the long line of pilgrims, who went by
the short cut, the old mule-path, up which
emperors, popes, and princes had toiled in by
gone days. Occasionally a party would recite
litanies in honour of St. Michael, or sing " Ris-
petti" in chorus. One I learnt from some
"cafoni" (peasants), who had come from near
Benevento, and with whom we walked up a short
cut, to ease the horses at a particularly steep
incline. I envied their lungs as they breasted
the hill, singing, at the top of their voices :
" A I'angelo di Puglia voglio ine,
Vutu pe te, Nennella, voglio fane,
Scavezo e scarnso a lu camminane,
La turnatella nun ce magniamu pane,
K3

306 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiii.
Chiunque m' affronta dice : povero mesehino !
Sta penitenza chi te la fa fane ?
Me la fa fane na donna crurela,
Stu core nun e buluto cuntentane."
(" To the angel of Apulia I am going, prayers for thee,
Nennella, will I say; breakneck and stony is the road I
follow, there is no turnatella, so we eat bread. Those who
meet me say, poor fellow ! Who has imposed such a penance
on thee ? A cruel woman has laid it on me : she has refused
to satisfy this heart.")
The view as we ascended was magnificent :
below us the deep, bright blue sea, and the
undulating coast of the opposite side of the
bay, with the white towns (Barletta, Trani,
&c.) glistening in the sun, while far away
Castel del Monte, as usual, crowned the whole
land. We looked in vain for the " querceta
Gargani" (the oaks mentioned by Horace), or
for Lucan's box-groves. A few stunted olives
here and there, a wretched ilex eaten by the
sheep and goats, and some small fir-trees and
junipers, was all the vegetation we could see.

307

Peasants from Monte Sant' Angelo coming down to
Manfredonia.
CHAPTER XXIV.

MONTE SANT' ANGELO AND MANFREDONIA.
The town of Monte Sant' Angelo, which 1
thought was a small mountain village, turned
out to be a considerable town, containing, they
assured me, over thirty thousand inhabitants
The dress of the men -wis most jannty and
K4

308

Campanile at Monte Sant' Angelo.

PICTURESQUE COSTUMES. 309
picturesque : they looked like people in an
opera comique. A brown velveteen short jacket,
brown cloth waistcoat with gilt buttons, black
velveteen breeches, and black worsted stockings,
tied under the knee with a bunch of black
ribbons ; round the waist a dark-blue girdle,
and a white shirt with a very large falling
collar, under which appeared a loosely-tied
gay scarf. On their heads was a dark-blue
knitted cap, which, when pvflled out, made a
bag two feet long, and which they neatly folded
up, plait upon plait, until it made a small cup-
shaped cap, with a sk}--blue floss silk tassel on
the summit. This was worn on the back of
the head, where the hair was cut quite short.
In front it was longer, brushed up and frizzed
^'er}' much like that of fashionable young ladies'.
Some of them divided their front hair into three
tufts, one rising straight up, the other two
sticking out on either side. From their moun
tain training, they walked as upright as darts,
and were, in general, fair, with white skins and
briUiant complexions. We were struck with
the quantity of chimneys (showing how cold
it must be here in winter), often of exceedingly
ornamental design.
The first sight of the campanile of the
great church was very pretty, with parties of

310 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiv.
pilgrims, their "bordoni " (staffs) in their hands,
going single file through the crowd.
A small paved courtyard fufl of booths,
where "pietre di San Michele" (stones of St.
Michael, i.e., small cubes of alabaster, with a
cross scratched on them) and rosaries were
being sold, leads to a portico, under which
are two beautiful Gothic arched doors, the
right-hand one surmounted by a bas-relief of
the Madonna and Child, with two saints ; the
other by a row of archbishops, with others
in clouds above. Under the Madonna is in
scribed :
" Terribihs Est Locus Iste. Hie Domus Dei
Est Et Porta Caeh."
And on the other door :
"Ad Honorem Sancti Michaelis Archangeli,
Magister, Simeon de Hac ; — fecit hoc opus a.d.
D.c.c." Both doors lead into a large vaulted hall,
where vendors of medals, fir-branches for tying
on to the pilgrims' staffs, amulets and statuettes
in alabaster of St. Michael, which took to pieces
and packed into a wooden box, had established
themselves in niches in the walls. A long flight
of fifty-four steps, partly cut in the rock, winds
down under high, pointed arches, feebly lit by a
slit here and there, into a small courtyard, with a

IN A CROWD OF DEVOUT PILGRIMS. 311
balcony running all round, about twenty feet
from the ground. Our progress was slow as the
crowd was dense, and at every step the pilgrims
stopped either to say a prayer or to scratch the
outline of their hand or foot upon the wall or
the steps. I could not learn the meaning of
this custom ; it was " per devozione " (for devo
tion) they said, and one young peasant offered
to scratch the outline of my foot, " only it will
not be so good for the soul of the Signora as if
she did it herself"
The court must once have been a grave
yard, as the walls are covered with memorial
tablets, and on the left are two fine tombs,
one with the figure of a reclining knight and
the date, 1407. At the bottom of the flight
of steps leading into the church is a slab, with an
effaced inscription and four great metal rings.
One after another the kneeling pilgrims rattled
these, kissing the tips of their fingers after
they had touched them, and then ascended the
steps on their knees singing aloud. They also
shook and kissed the great rings on the fine
bronze doors, which were given in 1076 by
a Pantaleone of Amalfi. They were made
at Constantinople, and contain, in twenty-four
divisions, various scenes, in niello work, out of
the life of St. Michael.

312 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxiv.
There was such a crowd that I could only
make out two of the inscriptions. One was very
quaint : " Rogo et Adjuro Rectores Sancti Angeli
Micha. ut Semel in Anno Detergere Faciatis has
Portas Sicuti Nos nunc Ostendere Fecimus ut
Sint Semper Lucide et Clare." ( " I pray and
beg of the priests of St. Michael to cleanse these
doors every year in the way in which I have
shown, so that they may shine forth bright and
clear." ) The other ran, " Rogo vos omnes qui
hue venitis causa orationis ut prius inspiciatis
tam pulchrum laborem et sic intrantes preganimi
Dominum proni pro anima Pantaleonis qui fuit
auctor hujus laboris." ( " I beg of ye all who
come here to pray, first to examine this fine
work, and then entering do ye pray God on
your knees for the soul of Pantaleone, who was
the founder of this work." )
The perfect tolerance of the people struck
me extremely : the kneeling peasants smilingly
made room for me to look at the doors, one of
which they told me had fallen from Heaven
while the other came from the sea. A canon
came forward, rather astonished at seeing me
spefling out the inscriptions. "The Signora
must be Enghsh," he said ; " the English are
always copying old things other people don't
look at." He took us up to a long counter

A CHURCH UNLIKE ANY OTHER. 313
just at the entrance, behind which sat five
priests counting up the money and the offer
ings presented by the poor' "cafoni," and
told them that we were to be admitted at any
hour, " because the Signora is a learned person
who knows all languages, and is u7i' illustraziotie
del suo paese," an honour, as we should say, to
her country. Whereupon the five priests rose
and made me a profound bow. My Italian
friend whispered to me, "That means a present
of ten francs at least," which I thought cheap
for such a paean of praise. The canon said he
begged me to obsei-ve particularly the statue of
the Saint ; it was a " capo d' opera" but he was
not sure whether it was made by Donatello,
Raphael, or Michael Angelo ; he thought more
likely the latter, because of the name.
The church is unlike anything else in the
world ; one huge nave, the right-hand portion
being the original cavern, the other half masonry
with Gothic windows. The scene was most
extraordinary : part of the irregular cavern lit
up by hundreds of wax candles on the great
altar, where, under a rich canopy, stands the
statue of St. Michael, about three feet high,
like a pretty wax doll, with pink cheeks and
long flaxen curls. The flickering of the
lights made it seem as though the image now

314 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiv.
and then moved its large, white, gold-tipped
wings : '• Tndi spiega al gran volo i vaiini aurati." *
( •• I'hen opened for a great flight his golden wings." )
The dense I'Cneeling crowd, with the fir-
branches waving to and fro above them, the offici
ating priests in gorgeous raiment, the white-robed
chorister boys, and the clouds of incense in the
dim half-light, was like a curious dream. To the
left, rather behind the altar, was a deep recess,
in which is a well, " II Pizzilo," supposed to cure
all diseases ; and further still to the left a flight of
steep steps leads up into a small grotto, where
a priest was busy selling tiny alabaster crosses
made out of St. Michael's stone. The floor
was uneven and very wet cind slippery, while big
drops fell upon us from the roof Among the
crowd the religious fervour was considerable ;
some of the women were in hysterics, others
were carried out fainting, which, considering the
stifling atmosphere, was not astonishing.
We left the holy cavern by a narrow staircase
behind the counter, where the priests were
arranging their sous in piles, and, after much
squeezing, emerged on the balcony overhang
ing the courtyard, whence a steep flight of
steps led on to the top of the cave, which
* Tasso.

WHO WAS ROTILA ? 315
was covered with outlines of hands and feet,
some quite artistically carved, and others of
enormous size. On one side stood a weather-
beaten, ancient oak, whose boughs were laden
with stones -with a hole drilled through them. This
is another " devozione " of the pilgrims, which
evidently descends from the days when masks
or images were hung on trees in honour of
Bacchus. More steps led up into the street
near the beautiful octagonal campanile buflt by
Charles of Anjou. Thence we went to see a
noble black tower in the lower part of the town
which they told us was the tomb of St. Peter, or
of Rotila. No one could tell us who Rotila was,
" he died so long ago ; " the guardian of the
tower, whom w^e found after some trouble, told
us it was a Roman building ; it is now being
restored by the Government as a national
monument, and was full of scaffolding.
We created some astonishment by inquir
ing for an hotel, there was none ; but a
cml young man who had shown great in
terest in my companion's sketching, offered
to take us to his aunt, who had a house
to let, and would certainly allow us to
eat our lunch there. On the way we passed
a small jeweller's shop, and in the open
doorway sat the most beautiful young woman

316 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxiv.
I ever beheld. She was so covered with
jewellery, so immoveable, and had such a
dazzling white-and-red complexion, that we at
first thought she was an image. But she smiled
at our guide, and I asked permission to look at
her ornaments. Seven gold chains of various
sizes and lengths were round her throat, to each
was suspended a medallion, some of them fineh'
enamelled. Immense gold rings set with pearls
formed her earrings, and jewelled pins were
stuck into her soft, wavy black hair. Rings
covered all her fingers, and brooches were stuck
all over the front of her dress. But her beauty
was so extraordinary that one quite forgot the
exhibition of finery.
It seems that at Monte Sant' Angelo it is the
fashion for marriageable young ladies to sit on
least days and holidays decked out with all
their worldly goods and possessions, on show as
it were. We saw several others, but none to
compare with the "bella Sibifla," as she was
called. The aunt of our pleasant young guide was
very civil, gave us a table and chairs, and we
asked her nephew to " favour us " and share
the contents of Our basket. We wanted to give
the old lady a present, but she resolutely refused
to accept anything. She -was most anxious that

A MARVELLOUS VIEW. 317
I should take her house and come to live at
Monte Sant' Angelo ; " such fine air and good
water, and five rooms with a kitchen, and the
' bel divertimento ' (fine amusement) of the
pflgrims in May and September ; all for fifty
francs a year."
Afterwards we walked through the town up
to the castle, "where once lived a beautiful
Princess," but who she was or when she ex
isted no one knew. It commands the town,
and is of considerable extent, . with several
fine towers and bastions. The view was mar
vellous as we looked down on both sides to
the sea, and up to great fir and oak woods
behind us. In the distance on the seashore was
the campanile of Mattinata, which is supposed
to mark the place where Archytas, " who mea
sured sea and land and the sand that knows no
numbering," was shipwrecked and " doomed to
die." But Sir James Lacaita maintains that
the Litus Matinum was on the south-western
shore of the province of Lecce, about sixty
miles from old Tarentum, where a small vil
lage still exists not far from the shore, called
Matino. Evening was coming on as we drove rapidly
down the steep zig-zag road, and the whole
plain was bathed in a purple mist, lit up here

¦318 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxry.
and there with a golden ray from the setting
sun. No wonder Frederick II. said on his
return from the crusade, " If the God of the
Jews had seen my kingdom, the Terra di
Lavoro, Calabria, Sicily, and Apulia, he would
not have so often praised that land he promised
to the Jews and bestowed upon them."*
Don Michele welcomed us with effusion, and
had a very good dish of shefl-fish, cooked
according to a recipe of his ancestors, for our
dinner. Next morning we went to the pic
turesque old castle on the seashore, which is let
out to people from Foggia for sea-bathing in the
summer, and walked to the end of the mole
¦juilt by Manfred to improve the port. We then
went to the cathedral, which has been moder
nized and whitewashed. It was for the cam
panile that Manfred ordered " cha se nee facesse
una campana grossissima, che se senta cinquanta
miglia dintro terra, a tale che haveria potuto
venire succurso, se Manfredonia fosse stata
assaldata da nemici, mentre ei poco abitata,
et da chella hora se dicette, cha lo Re volia
capare de le terre grosse de tutta Puglia tante
casate per terra per fare Manfredonia terra di
tremilia fuochi.
* T. L. Kington, " Life of Emperor Frederick II."

THE HISTORY OF A HELL. 319
" Lo Re Manfredo feo commissario per mare,
et per terra MS. Marino Capece sopra lo appa-
recthio de la fabrica de la citta de Manfredonia,
et se ei mandato per travi a Schiavonia, et fo
condutta gi-an calce, et arena, et petre, et autre
cose, cha Ii boi de Puglia hanno assai che fare."*
(" That a huge bell should be made that
might be heard fifty miles inland, so that
succour might come if Manfi-edonia was as
sailed by enemies while it was yet sparsely
populated, and from that hour they say the
king means to take from the big towns of all
Apulia so many families from each city to make
of Manfredonia a town of three thousand
hearths. "The King Manfred made Messer Marino
Capece the commissary by sea and land over all
the bufldings of the city of Manfredonia ; he sent
for beams to Slavonia, and had so much lime
and sand and stones and other things taken
there that the oxen of Apulia have enough to
do.") The big bell was cast, and King Manfred went
in 1263 to hear it, but was much displeased
because it was not loud enough, and ordered
it to be re-cast, adding more metal. It did
* Matteo Spinelli da Giovenazzo.

320 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxiv.
not remain long at Manfredonia, for Charles of
Anjou sent it as an offering to the shrine of
St. Nicholas at Bari, where eventually it was
melted down into money.
When we said good-bye to our host at
Manfredonia I naturally asked for the bill, upon
which Don Michele produced a slip of dirty
paper, with a long line of figures. So many
pounds of fish, bread, and meat ; one chicken ;
so many eggs, pepper, salt, oil, vinegar, wine,
coffee, milk and sugar. " That is what I have
spent in the market for the Signora." The
whole came to an absurdly small sum, and I
remarked that the rooms, candles, and attend
ance were not mentioned. "Did T not say
that I keep an inn for my own pleasure ?"
answered Don Michele, drawing himself up ;
" this is what I have spent. If the Signora will
give me a franc with a hole in it to hang on to
my watch-chain in remembrance of her pleasant
visit, I shall wear it for ever ; if not — basta !"
In vain I argued, Don Michele was inflexible ;
so my companion ran upstairs and deposited
what we considered fair payment with Don
Michele's eldest daughter. I heard afterwards
that he was very angry and threatened to
close his inn against Englishwomen who insist
on paying for their rooms.

321

The Boar of Benevento.
CHAPTER XXV.

BENEVENTO.
Benevento is extremely dirty, and as curious
and interesting as it is dirty. Roman, Egyptian,
and mediaeval remains are all mixed up together
in picturesque confusion. It is one of the many
cities said to have been founded by Diomedes,
and as a proof of this we were shown the basso-
relievo in the cathedral belfry of the Calydonian
boar. The ancient Samnite name was Male-
ventum, changed by the Romans soon after
L

322

THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxv.

they defeated Pyrrhus close to the town, to the
present name.
We had been recommended to go to the
" Locanda di Benevento," " where our bustling
host" did not, like Horace's, "nearly burn his
house down whilst roasting lean thrushes,"
because there was not a fireplace in the house.
Nicola, the obliging and remarkably good-
looking young factotum, took us to the Stella
d'ltalia to dine, and on our return we were

Nic61a.

BENEVENTO DESPOILED. 323
received by a pleasant-looking old woman, who
immediately asked me whether I did not think
her husband very handsome. Seeing I did not
understand, she laid hold of Nicola by one ear
and placed him before me. " Look at him 1 Is
he not a beauty ?" said she, half in joke, half in
sober earnest. I afterwards heard that Nicola
was very fond of his wife, who might easily
have been his mother.
Benevento must have been a splendid town
before sieges and earthquakes nearly destroyed it.
For more than sixty years Naples has drawn all
the rare marbles for her churches and palaces
from Benevento, and yet many a poor hovel has
a doorway of " cipolino," or verd antique, or a
column of lovely rose-coloured marble at the
street corner, to prevent carriages from carrying
away the plaster.
The walls, like the rest of the town, are a
queer mixture of ancient and modern. At one
corner is a fine marble basso-relievo of a Roman
senator standing by a large basket, which seems
full of rolls of papyri. The figure has been
daubed chocolate colour, and St. Panaro written
underneath. Cippi, columns, prancing horses,
garlands, and here and there a huge marble head,
are buflt into the brickwork.
The great triumphal arch of Trajan is the most
L2

324

5m-^m

Arch of Trajan,

TRAJAN'S TRIUMPHAL ARCH. 325

beautiful and most perfect monument of the kind
existing ; it is called Porta Aurea, and spans the
road to Foggia, as it once did the Via Appia.
Splendid sculptures decorate each front repre
senting the Dacian wars of the Emperor, his
entry into Rome, his apotheosis, and, most re
markable of all, his marriage with Sabina. The
rosettes in the vault are quite intact, and on
either front is the inscription stating that the
Roman senate and people erected it to Trajan
in the seventh year of his reign, a.d. 104.
While we were lost in admiration of the gate
way, a loud fanfare from a most discordant
trumpet startled us.
Only small things, such as chickens, pigeons,
eggs, &c., can pay the octroi at Porta Aurea, so
whenever oxen or sheep, or a cart with wine or
charcoal, comes along the Foggia road, the gate
keeper blows his trumpet to warn the guards to
look out for smugglers along the line of wall
leading to the other town-gate opposite the
railway station. The gatekeeper was most
communicative, and told me that the inscrip
tions had been in letters of pure gold, which
even the "pagans" had respected when they
took Benevento; but those " cani di Francesi "
(French dogs) had lit great fires along the
architrave and melted them. He also informed

326 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxv.
us that the Emperor Constantine was a man of
little taste and less "criterio " (judginent), for "he
built a road sustained on thousands of columns
which started from S. Marco and passed over
Trajan's arch. The road debouched into the
centre of Benevento just in front of the phar
macy with the Royal arms." I naturally asked
what had become of all the columns. " Oh, some
were in the cathedral, the others had all been
carried away by those thieves the French."
Benevento stands on rising ground between
two rivers, the Calore and the Sabato, which
unite not far below the town and form the
fine River Volturno. The only open side is pro
tected by the castle, built by Pope John XXII.,
where the old Longobard fortress probably
stood. An inscription says, "Anno Domini
Mccccxi. Tpe : Dni Johis. P.P. xxil. Inceptum
Fuit Hoc Castrum Quod Construi Fecit Ven. Vir.
Dus. Guilelmus De Balacto." It is quaint in shape ;
a half-circle and two square sides, with Gothic
windows. All round the top runs a gallery sup
ported by heavy machiculations, and it is crowned
by two towers. Many fine bits of Roman sculp
ture are encased in the walls of the castle ;
among them a senator on horseback, and half of
a horse with great action, various garlands of
flowers, and a female head.

" MA E MOLTO BELLO SA." 327
The Prefecture is built on to one side,
and the view from the broad terrace over
looking the fertile valley of the Sabato is
enchanting. Below us the peasants were busy
among their tobacco plantations, shielded from
the wind by cane fences, and irrigated by
the river. Far away on the slope of a mountain
shone the white town of Caiazzo, while Monte
Sarchio, Monte Vergine, and Monte Vitolano,
stood out black against the blue sky. The
banks of the Sabato are planted with lines of
poplars, and in some places were quite white
with clumps of narcissus.
Near the old castle, facing a street called
(as usual) Corso Garibaldi, stands a short octa
gon marble column, covered with beautiful ara
besques; on it is perched a lion, with such a
drunken, would-be ferocious grin on his face,
showing all his teeth and hanging his tongue
out on one side, that we laughed aloud, to
the extreme displeasure of the porter of the
Prefecture. " Ma e molto bello sa, e assai
antico " (" But it is very beautiful, let me
tell' you, and extremely ancient"), he said;
"besides, it is the emblem of the majesty of
Benevento." Going down the Corso Garibaldi we came to
the " Piazza del Teatro," where stands the ancient

328 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. .^xv.
Church and Monastery of St. Sophia or St. Juve-
nalis, begun by Gisolfo II. about 740, and finished
by Arichis in 774. The square facade is mean,
and covered with whitewash, but there are two
fine " cipolino " columns on either side, and a
bas-relief of later date, over the door, represents
Our Lord seated on a curule chair, while a
truculent-looking St. Mercurio, in full armour,
pats the kneeling Duke Arichis on the cheek,
encouraging him, as it were, not to be afraid.
A female figure behind bends towards Christ.
The ground is all golden mosaic. In 768 Arichis
brought the ashes of St. Mercurio from Quinto-
decimo and deposited them in St. Sophia, and for
a long time the saint was looked up to as a
patron of the city.
The campanile is detached, the cloisters
which connected it with the church having
been destroyed. Roman remains were largely
used in its fabrication ; among others are
some pieces of well-sculptured gladiators, gar
lands, and inscriptions turned upside down. By
the side of the belfry is a wee house, with a
pretty " pergola" (treUis) of vines, and many
pots of carnations on the fiat roof, while over
the entrance, door is a board with "Barbiere dj
Genio" (the barber of genius) -written in big
letters. Indeed, beards must have a poor time

SANTA SOPHIA. 329
of it in Benevento, for every tenth shop is a
barber. I noted a " Barber of Christ," a " Barber
of the Universe," and one, who must hc-ve
suffered under the old priestly rule, now called
himself the " Barber of Hell."
The small cloister of St. Sophia, which is
still extant to the right of the church, is
perfectly beautiful : clusters of marble pillars,
with an endless variety of capitals, all covered
wath arabesques, queer animals, and yet stranger
men, fighting with lances and bows and arrows,
uphold low arches all pierced and worked
like lace. In the centre of the little garden is a
well whose mouth is an enormous white marble
capital, with a hole large enough to hold two
people drilled through it. An old monk came
up and was ver}' civil and rather amused at my
admiration. He took my companions into the
convent to see the astrological instruments
(made by themselves), and was profuse in his
regrets that their rules did not permit a woman
to enter without a permit from the Pope.
St. Sophia was once famous as a seat of
learning, and Beneventan phflosophers were
renowned throughout Italy in the ninth and
tenth centuries. Now it is the communal school,
and we -were taken into the church to hear the
boys sing, which they did remarkably well. Six

330 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxv.
immense antique Corinthian columns support
the dome of the church, and others the vaulted
arches which surround it. By the altar stands an
old statue of the Longobard founder, Arichis,
eleventh Duke of Benevento, whose elegy was
composed by his friend, Paul Warnefried.*
Of the ancient Longobard Cathedral, conse
crated on the 15th October, 666, by David, thirty-
first Bishop of Benevento, in honour of the
Virgin, little remains. What has been spared
by the two great earthquakes of 1456 and 1688
belongs to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The heavy square fagade into which many slabs
of tombs of the Longobard princes have been
built, has an arcade with stumpy columns resting
on lions with various animals under their paws.
The jambs and lintel of the central portal are
elaborately carved, so is the hood, supported
on queer beasts, and the doors are of bronze.
They are nineteen feet high and thirteen feet
¦wide, and are divided into seventy-two compart
ments ; the lower ones represent the twenty-
four bishops, belonging to the diocese of
Benevento, and the archbishop on his throne
in full pontificals ; the upper ones scenes from
the New Testament. Some say these doors,
* " Istoria della Citt4 di Benevento," E. Isernia.

BENEVENTO CATHEDRAL. .331
which are very inferior to those at Trani, were
made at Constantinople in the twelfth century ;
others that they are of Italian work early in the
thirteenth.* The interior of the cathedral is basilican, a
wide nave and four aisles supported on magnifi
cent antique columns. On either side of the
steps leading up to the high altar is an ambone
or pulpit of extreme beauty. The one to the
left has columns of black granite and white
marble, all carved and embossed, standing on
three lions. The right-hand one is more highly
ornamented, and has four lions and two griffins
to uphold it ; and a huge marble and mosaic
paschal candelabrum stands close by, resting on
four men. Precious marbles and golden mosaics
have been lavished on these three lovely works
of art, which were made by a certain Nicolaus
of Monteforte in 13 ii.
The square mediaeval campanile, built in
great part of ancient materials, is attached
to the cathedral, and has on one side a row
of seventeen small half-length figures in
high relief; they seemed to me Roman
senators and matrons, all save the centre
figure, which looks like an Emperor in full

* " Istoria della Citta di Benevento," E. Isernia.

332 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxv.
armour. The Beneventans declare they are
portraits of their old Longobard rulers. On the
other side is the famous basso-relievo of the
boar decorated for sacrifice, with a garland
round his head and a priest's stole across his
back. It is sculptured with a finish and
delicacy not to be surpassed. Underneath is an
inscription breathing the undying hatred of the
priests to the great Emperor :
 " a cui
Fu in vita e in morte il Vatican nemieo.''
("To whom in life and death the Vatican was an enemy.")
" Post Devastatam A Federico II. Anno
Mccxxxix. Hanc Civitatem Turris Haec Cam-
panaria Coepta Est Sub Archiepiscopo Romano
De Capoferris Anno M. CCLXXix. xi. Februarii
De Oblationibus Fidelium Et Cleri. Post Eanden
Urbem Prope Universam Terraemotu Ann.
M. DCLXXXViii. Dejectam Ipsa Immunis Instau-
rata Tribus Campanis Supra Quatuor Aucta Et Ad
Fastigiifm Perducta Est Proprio Sumptu, A Fr.
Vine. Mar. Ord. Praed. Card. Ursino."
The chief square of Benevento is named after
her learned and pious Archbishop, V. M. Orsini,
who became Pope Benedict XIII . He built the
fountain which stands in the centre of the
piazza, and restored the cathedral after the ter
rible earthquake in 1688, when he was buried

THE WINE-SHOP. 333
under the ruins of the palace and only dug out
after man}- hours. In the courtyard of the
palace, rebuilt by him, are a quantity of columns,
fragments of Egyptian obelisks covered with
hieroglyphics, sarcophagi, and old sculptures and
inscriptions. A broad staircase leads up to a
fine hall with the arms of the various arch
bishops and cardinals of Benevento painted all
round. One end of the room is occupied by
a topographical view of the principality of
Benevento, with small towns round it, sur
rounded by smaller views of the different dio
ceses, seven at the top and five on either side.
Near the bridge buflt by Pius VI. over the
Calore is a lovely view of the river and Santa
Maria delle Grazie. To reach the church we dived
into one of the oldest parts of the town called
" Portico di Posflipo," where we were in immi
nent danger of being squeezed to death between
long lines of donkeys carrying loads of stones,
sand, and lime, and the walls of the various
tortuous streets. The Beneventans are very
fond of flowers : every window had some old
pots and pans with carnations, and often a
tomato trained round it on strings. In a pictu
resque little piazza we came upon a wineshop
where the famous witches of Benevento must
once have congregated. A woman was cook-

334 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxv.
ing in the middle of a huge vault, with heavy
masses of smoke rolling about inside, illumined
now and then by long tongues of " wavering
flame -which was attempting to lick the highest
part of the ceiling," and lit up great brass plates
hanging on the rough walls.
Outside was stuck a bough of bay and a
notice, " II vin e buon " (the wine is good). A
cart was standing outside, and when its owner,
who was having a glass of the good wine, saw
we were trying to get a good view into the
shop, he came out and civilly moved his mule a
few paces. Then the host asked us to try his
wine, and they were both much diverted by my
asking about the walnut tree, round which the
witches used to dance at Benevento. "What, a
stranger knew about that ! The tree no longer
existed, but witches, oh, there were plenty."
They told me two proverbs about their rivers,
which show that besides being very pleasant
people to deal with, they have wit. Of the
Sabato {i.e., Saturday) they say, " A Benevento
si mangia il Venerdi il pesce fresco del Sabato "
( " At Benevento we eat on Friday the fresh fish
of Saturday " ) ; and of the Calore {i.e., heat),
" A Benevento il Calore cresce I'inverno " ( " At
Benevento the heat augments in winter ").

335

Our Evening Party at Benevento.

CHAPTER XXVI.

BENEVENTO.
The small but rich Church of Santa Maria delle
Grazie was once called San Lorenzo, and is said
to date from the seventh century. It seems
to have been abandoned between the twelfth
and fourteenth centuries, and then to have been
given, in the fifteenth, by Pope Martin V. to
the Benedictines, who still have a monastery

336 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvi.
attached to the church. A legend is told of
the miraculous wooden statue of the Virgin.
It was brought from Constantinople by the
beautiful virgin Artelaide, who fled from the
pursuit of the Emperor Justinian to her uncle
Narses. She died, aged seventeen, at Bene
vento, about 565, and is still worshipped as
a saint. Her church was destroyed by an
earthquake, which, however, respected the niche
in which stood the Madonna, so the statue was
transferred with much pomp to St. Lorenzo in
1 47 1, when the church was called Santa Maria
delle Grazie.
The Archbishop Orsini, afterwards Pope
Benedict XIIL, had a special veneration
for this Virgin, and never left the city or
returned to it without paying his devotions
at her shrine. The splendid gold crown she
wears was obtained at his intercession from
the chapter of the Vatican, who every year
bestowed a crown on some celebrated image,
out of a fund left for that purpose by Count
A. Sforza of Piacenza.*
The statue is so covered with jewels of every
description, from diamonds and rubies down to
silver watches and brass rings, that very little
* "Istoria della Citt4 di Benevento," B. Isernia.

THE VIRGIN IN MOURNING. 337
can be seen except the face, which is of wonderful
beauty and full of expression. The infant Christ
is a mere doll, which the Virgin holds on her left
arm. The railing in front of the altar is com
posed of every sort of precious marble and
magnificently worked. During the cholera in
1837, the Virgin was taken in procession to the
cathedral, without her crown, in sign of mourn
ing, as the monk told us, and a new and larger
church was vowed in her honour, if she would
only stop the disease. Some months later the
cholera ceased, and the present Pope Leo XIIL,
then Apostolic Delegate of the province, laid the
first stone of the promised church on the 26th of
May, 1839. The old cloisters are full of antique
remains : heads, friezes, sarcophagi, columns,
bits of Egyptian obelisks, &c., which were
once collected at the Liceo Giannone in the
town. Outside the church is a formless beast of
Egyptian granite, which may be the god Apis
or a hippopotamus, and was introduced to me as
"la femmina del porco nostro" ("the female of
our pig"). There is a tradition that a temple to
the goddess Isis once stood here, which was
under the special protection of the Emperor
Domitian. The Egyptian obelisk, which was
greeted in 1872 in the Piazza Papiniano, dates
L .q

338 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvi.
from his time also. On one side the hieroglyphic
inscription says :
"Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, who is saluted as Son
of God, as Gold, friend of all the Gods, Son of the Sun, Ruler
of Rulers, Domitian, everlasting God, decorated the temple
and statue of Isis, the great patron of Benevento and of the
other Gods. This obeli.sk of syenite, sent by him, the
Chief King, was set up by Lucilus Rufus, according to his
orders." As we were returning from inspecting the new
Church of the Madonna, which is not yet finished,
we met a priest with a most sympathetic face,
who bowed and smiled, so we began to talk, and
he told us he was keeper of the library founded
by Monsignor Pacca in Benevento, and offered
to show it to us. We entered a big doorway
in a narrow street, and going up two pairs of
stairs found ourselves in a large room, lit from
above, with a gallery round the top all crammed
with books. The room was divided into sec
tions by double bookcases, and comfortable
chairs and tables were provided for students.
Monsignor Schinosi has reason to be proud of
the ordering of his little realm, and I recom
mend any stranger to find out this most
courteous and pleasant canon. He produced
a manuscript history of Benevento by Nicastro,
who says that the famous walnut tree under
which the witches assembled was cut down in

TWO-HEADED DRAGON. 339

the time of Duke Romuald by St. Barbato
about 660.
In the time of Romuald it seems that the
Longobards worshipped* golden vipers, and the
Duke himself, though he had promised Bishop
Barbato to embrace Christianity, had an altar
in his palace on which stood a winged, two-
headed golden dragon, with two sphinxes in
jasper on either side, and various idols from the
Temple of Isis. This angered the bishop, who,
helped by the Duchess Theodorada, his disciple,
went -with an axe and broke the dragon and
idols to pieces. Of the fragments of the winged
monster he made a chalice for his church. He
then cut down the tree, to which, " riding on
goats, with flaming torches in their hands and
singing : " ' Sotto aqua e sotto viento
Alia nooe di Beneviento,'
<" ' Through water and through wind
To the walnut tree of Benevento,')
the witches used to fly from hundreds of miles
round."* The tree stood on the "Plana della Cap
pella," and the skin of an animal hung from its
branches. After many years a chapel, called
* Nicastro (MS.).
L4

340 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvi.
Santa Maria del Voto, was built there, the
remains of which can still be traced.
Any woman who wished to learn magic took
to herself a familiar spirit called a "Marti-
netto," and after she had anointed herself with
a mysterious ointment, he accompanied her
to the midnight revels under the walnut tree.
A man who suspected his wife of being a witch
beat her until she confessed, when he pardoned
her on condition of being taken to one of the
meetings. She consulted her " Martinetto," who
gave his consent, and that very night they all
rode for an hour on the back of a big black goat
high up in the air. There was a splendid
supper under the walnut tree, but the poor man
could get no salt, and asked for it repeatedly.
When it was brought to him he sighed, "Thank
God, at last I have some salt !" In an instant
everything vanished, and he found himself, naked
and stiff with cold, in a meadow. At daylight
he asked where he w^s, and the peasants told
him at Benevento, more than a hundred miles
from his own village.
Another pleasant story is that of a jovial
hunchback, who late one night passed a large
company who were singing, " Welcome Thursday
and welcome Friday;" upon which he answered,
" and Saturday and Sunday too." They all

.1 LULLABY. 341
laughed and danced, and he joined them, when
some of the women pulled off his hump and
played at ball with it. When he got home his
wife would not let him in as she did not recog
nise him without his hump.
A few bones of St. Barbato repose under the
high altar of the cathedral, but the Beneventans
ai-e very irate at not possessing the body of St.
Januarius, who was Bishop of Benevento in 305,
and whom they claim as a compatriot. Four
times the body of the saint was moved. First,
from Casa Marciana to his church extra mania
at Naples, in 325. Then Prince Sico took it
to Benevento in 825, whence Pope Adrian IV.,
in II 5 6, moved it for safety to the sanctuary
of Monte Vergine, and it was finally taken back
to Naples in 1494.
As we were returning to our inn an old
woman, sitting in the doorway of a house, was
rocking a child to sleep. Her lullaby song was
very pretty and original :
¦¦ Nonna, nonna, nunna nunnarella,
Stu piccirillo mio'n se vole addorme.
Suonnu, suonnu, vieni,
Vieni a cavallo e non veni appiedi ;
Vieni a cavallo a nu cavallo janco ;
La sella d'oro, la vriglia de diamante.
Non veni appiedi ca te stanehi,
Vieni cume a San Giorgio cavalcante."

342 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvl.
(" Nonna, nonna, nunna nunnarella,
This little one of mine will not go to sleep.
Sleep, sleep, come,
Coroe on horseback, do not come on foot ;
Come on horseback riding a white horse ;
The saddle is of gold, the bridle of diamonds.
Do not come on foot or you will be tired.
But come like St. George, on horseback." )
I'he people of Benevento are very musical,
and they have an instrument which is as lovel}'
in tone as it is poetical in name, " lu fisch' de la
primavera." I first heard a shepherd boy
playing " the pipe of spring," and was puzzled
by the long soft notes, like a nightingale mingled
with a beautiful tenor voice. I went towards
the sound, and found a small boy with a long
twig of poplar in his mouth. " E lu fisch' de la
primavera" ("it is the pipe of spring"), he
explained; " I have just made it, but to-morro-w
it will be dead ; the pity is you can only have
a pipe for about three weeks in the year."
" Lu fisch " is made either of poplar or of fig,
before the leaves come out, by cutting a thin
branch about three feet long, and gradually
working the green bark off entire. A mouth
piece is cut from the thickest end of the white
wood and inserted into the bark, and your pipe
is ready. The first finger of the right hand
serves to modulate the tone at the small end.

OUR MUSICAL PARTY. 343
I carried home the pipe in triumph, and found
out that handsome Nicola, among his other
virtues, could sing, play the guitar, and "lu
fisch." After dinner he brought his cousin a
barber, and another fi-iend, -who both played
and sang, and we had quite an evening party.
Impassioned love songs, in which the fair
maiden was compared to a violet, rose, or
jasmine flower, or to the moon or even
ing star; satirical songs, chiefly aimed at
monks and nuns, in broad dialect, the fun
of which I could not catch (which was
perhaps just as well); and last, an account
of a curious song or masquerade which the
shepherds, peasants, and fishermen of Bene
vento, sing and act at carnival time, called
" I dudici misi " (the twelve months). Each
month has its representative, its song, and its
dance. The following morning my poor pipe
was like a shriveUed snake's skin, hmp and
voiceless. Most of the inscriptions in honour of various
Roman Emperors cited in de Vita, Nicastro,
and other old writers, have disappeared ; and
of the fine Thermae, gates, and public build
ings, only Trajan's arch and part of the
huge amphitheatre remain. The latter is
like a rabbit -warren; every hole and corner

344 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxvi.
swarms with people, many of whom live under
ground in places like cellars. Nero witnessed
gladiatorial combats here, given in his honour
by Vatinius, a rich Beneventan.

345

Wineshop at Benevento.
CHAPTER XXVII.

THE LAST DAYS OF MANFRED.
The Emperor Frederick II. besieged Bene
vento t-wice. In 1230 the siege was put an
end to by the peace signed at San Germano

346 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxvii.
between the Pope and Frederick ; but in 1241
the city fell into his hands, and he addressed
her in one of his favourite distichs :
•' Andria tua soror, multo te prudcntius egit,
Ad nos qniB venit, quum nobis poemata legit ;
Propterea inoolumis permansit inultaque nobis.
Quod tibi numquam erit in multis implicita globis."
("Andria thy sister has acted more prudently
than thou. She came to meet us, reciting
verses. For this she has remained unhurt, and
has not felt the effects of our wrath. Such
will not be thy fate, enveloped as thou art by
many troops.")
Frederick does not seem to have carried out
his threats ; on the contrary he lightened various
taxes, and made a certain Sichenolfo of Bene
vento governor of the town, apparently by the
advice of one of his most trusted counsellors,
" Roffredo Epifanio," the greatest jurist of his
day, who was a Beneventan. Epifanio was
called the second Papinianus, and is claimed by
Benevento as one of her glories.* He was
executed by Caracalla in 212, and a few years
later his only son suffered the same fate.
Benevento is for ever connected with the
Hohenstaufens, for under her walls died the
"bello e biondo" Manfred, in 1266.
* ¦' Istoria della Citta di Benevento," E. Isernia.

APPROACH OF CHARLES OF ANJOU. 347

Charles of Anjou having been crowned King of
Apulia by five cardinals sent by Pope Clement IV.
from Perugia to Rome, started to conquer his
kingdom. Manfred summoned a parliament in
Benevento, and said to his assembled Barons :
" A fire which has long been burning in the
distance has approached with the rapidity of
lightning ; a danger which seemed onl}' to
arouse futile talk now threatens to overwhelm
us, unless we unite together to resist it. The
foreigirer who attacks us has been called in by
him who ought to promote peace through the
whole world, travestied in priestly designs and
unselfish motives. Who is there who does not
see through the web ? You have heard of the
kindliness of the King of France and of his
court ; do not think to find anything of the sort
here. A hard heart, a gloomy disposition, an
unbending will, leads these troops, and they are
not inferior to their commander in cruelty and
gi'eed for gold and blood. Do not imagine that
the expedition is against me only ; it is directed
against innocence and justice. Were Charles of
Anjou in any way related to the Hohenstaufen,
or had the choice of the Pope fallen on any great
Neapolitan or Sicilian family, there might be a
shadow of excuse ; but the sole object is to
make you forget all you owe to my father and

348 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvii.
his house, and to force you, a free people, to
accept a foreign ruler who is unworthy of you.
Do not believe that I, the King, will fall
alone, and that you will remain in possession
of your lands and your titles. The throne will
not suffice the ambitious and greedy Count of
Anjou ; he must perforce satisfy his helpers
and his helpers' helpers by your overthrow.
Do not be blinded by promises, but awake
to the fact that whoso seizes a throne contrary
to all right can only sustain himself by the help
of a party, and that ever}'one will be ruined in
order to besto-w exaggerated rewards on that
party. L6t us combine with all our power for
the common weal, common right, and common
honour, and teach this foreign, ambitious, and
greedy people that they cannot treat the kings,
realms, and people of our beautiful Italy accor
ding to their wicked will." *
Unfortunately, Count Richard of Caserta,
Manfred's brother-in-la-w, betrayed his trust.
Won by French gold and many promises, he
allowed Charles of Anjou to cross the bridge-of
the Garigliano.f
Taking Ceperano and Arce, the French pushed
rapidly forward, and on the loth of February

Raumer, '¦ O-esehichte rler Hidienstavfen.'' f Costanzo.

PROPOSITIONS OF PEACE REJECTED. 349

San Germano fell into their hands, in spite of
the desperate resistance of the Saracens, who
lost a thousand men. Manfred perceived that
the line of the Volturno was all-important, so
he collected all the troops he could at Capua,
which had been fortified by his father, and the
French army, finding the city too strong to be
attacked, and the Volturno swollen by recent
rains, marched towards the interior, and crossed
the river at Taliverno, hoping to reach Benevento
before Manfred.
After a toilsome inarch they reached the
heights, overlooking the city, about mid-day on
the 26th of February, only to find Manfred's
army drawn up in the plain. G. Villani says
that Manfred sent a messenger to Charles of
Anjou -with propositions for peace, but he was
sent back " with this reply in the French
language : Say to the Sultan of Nocera (for
thus he called Manfred, because he had Saracens
in his service) ' that with him I will make
neither peace nor truce, and that in a brief
space of time I shall send him to hell, or he will
send me to paradise.' "* Giles le Brun, Con
stable of France, advised an instant attack, and
Charles of Anjou, seeing the effect his words
* Muratori Annali. VII. 26'cl.

350 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvil.
had on the soldiers near by, addressed the
troops from a hillock, saying :
" The day of battle, which we all desired, is
come ; we must conquer or die. The cities and
people of Italy have received us hitherto -with
honours only because we have conquered ; if
we are beaten their innate hatred and their
inborn treachery will burst forth, so that we
shall not escape open hostility or underhand
persecution, and we shall never see our country
again. It is better to die with honour together
than to fall singly in co-wardly flight. Be not
afraid of the foe. At Ceperano and at San Ger
mano a handful of men could have withstood
a nation, but they fled like cowards. Why
should they be more courageous now ? You
come of a people whose name is a terror to the
-whole world, and -who are to foreign nations
like an all-destroying hammer.* They," point
ing to Manfred's army, " are neither of one race
nor of one country. We fight as good Christians,
strengthened by the blessing of the Church, and
for a holy cause. They are not even of the
same faith, but bowed to the earth with sin,
and condemned to everlasting damnation."
* " Bt est aussi comme mail du monde, en tout s'estrange
peuple." — Vie de St. Louis (MS.).

THE EVE OF THE BA TTLE. 351

"Then Bishop Guy of Auxerre, the papal
legate, bestowed his blessing on the army, and
promised absolution if they were victorious ;
and Charles made several knights."*
In the opposite camp the consultation was an
anxious one, but those who recommended
instant action carried the day ; and Manfred
addressed his people :
" Our foe has at length appeared, but their
numbers and magnificence are not so great as
we w-ere told. How small, how worn-out are
their horses ! How easy will be our victory if we
give them no time for rest ! Only the first
onslaught of the French is furious and alarm
ing ; if they find dogged and unexpected re
sistance their fury turns to cowardice. Our
ancestors have beaten the Gauls so often that
we surely ought not to fear them. Till now we
have been free and independent. Are we to
bend our necks to tyranny or to beg our lives
from the grace of these foreigners ? Death is
far better : let us either fight for freedom like
men, or find it in death 1 "
The battle seems from all accounts to have
been a series of skirmishes, in which the Germans
and the Saracens distinguished themselves by

352 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Oh. xxvii.

their bravery ; while many of Manfred's Italian
troops sought safet}' in flight, or deserted to the
enemy. Just as he was going to charge at the
head of a division, one of his henchmen cried
out :
" See, oh Lord, what a number of your men are
going over to the enemy ! — see how many are
seeking safety in traitorous flight ! " As Manfred
turned quickly round to look, his helmet, sur
mounted with a silver eagle, fell from his head on
to the saddle-bow, and the eagle was detached.*
He exclaimed :
" This is a sign from God, for I had fastened
it on my helmet securely with my own hands ;
it would never have fallen of itself ! " Then turn
ing to his aged and faithful sei-vant Okkursius,
he continued, " you were my father's cup-bearer,
and he recommended you to me above all men :
give me true counsel." " Oh King, it is, I fear,
too late," answered the old man ; " where are
now your singers and your lute-players whom
you loved more than your knights, to see
whether Charles will dance to their sweet
notes ? But thy life will I save by my death ! "
He put on the helmet of Manfred with the
Suabian eagle and threw himself into the fight.

S. Malespini.

MANFRED'S DEATH. 353

where he was killed. Manfred's people dis
couraged, broke, and he, determining not to
survive the loss of his throne and his honour,
spurred his horse into the thickest of the fight,
and was no more seen.*
Two days after the battle the Counts Giordano
and Bartolomeo Lancia, who had been taken
prisoners, saw a French trooper riding Manfred's
charger ; in despair they asked how he had got
the horse, and he told them that during the fight
the knight who rode it, with a friend who tried to
shield him, had dashed into their midst. " He
called on his men to follow him ; had they shown
the same courage the day would have been theirs.
My lance scratched the charger's head, and he
reared and fell with his rider, and our men killed
him with many blows and stripped his body.
The horse and this belt -were my share."
From the trooper's description of his beauty,
long fair hair, and gallant bearing, little doubt
remained that it was Manfred ; and the news
spread through the camp. The naked body
was sought and found, with that of the de
voted Roman, Theobald of Annibalis, by its
side. Some ribald soldiers threw it across a
donkey, calling out, " Who will buy Manfred ? "
* V. Raumer, " Geschiehte der Hohenstaufen." M

354 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvii.
But a French baron reproved them severely, and
ordered the body to be taken to the tent of
Charles of Anjou. The prisoners were sum
moned to recognise the body : they kissed the
hands and feet and bedewed it with their tears,
and Count Giordano d' Anglano, -who loved Man
fred hke a son, threw himself down by the side
of the corpse, exclaiming :
" Oime ! Signor mio, che e quello che io
veggio ? Signor buono, signor savio, chi ti ha
SI crudelmente tolto di vita ? Vaso di filosofia,
ornamento della milizia, gloria de' regi, perche
mi si niega un pugnale onde io possa uccidermi,
ed esserti compagno nella morte, come io fui
nella vita ! "* ( " Ah me, my Lord, what is it
I see ? Kind Lord, wise Lord, who has thus
cruelly taken thy life ? Well of philosophy,
ornament of the army, glory of rulers, why is a
dagger denied to me so that I may kill myself,
and be thy companion in death as I was in
life!") Charles of Anjou, addressing Count Richard
of Caserta as " his faithful servant,'' asked him
whether it was his brother-in-law, and he, look
ing down with a sneering face, said, "Yes, that is
Manfred." Many of the French knights shrank

* S. Malespini.

HIS BODY BURIED AND EXHUMED. 355

from the side of the traitor, and they all begged
that so gallant a foe might have honourable
burial. But Charles sternly refused to permit
an interdicted man to lie in hallowed ground.
So he was buried at nightfall by the bridge of
Benevento, and the French soldiers joined the
country people in raising a monument. Every
man brought a stone, and the remains of the
cairn can be seen to this day by the Ponte
Lebbrosi. The field is still caUed the " field of
roses." The Archbishop of Cosenza, the envoy of the
Pope, thought it was too good for Manfred to
lie in ground belonging to the Church, as he
claimed Benevento to be, and he caused the
body to be exhumed at nightfall, with reversed
and extinguished torches, and thrown on to the
bank of the River Verde, on the confines of the
Abruzzi and Piceno.*
" Se'l pastor di Cosenza, ih' alia caccia
Di me fu messo per Clemente, allora
Avesse in Dio ben letta questa faccia,
L' ossa del corpo mio sarieno ancora
In CO del ponte, presso a Benevento.
Sotto la guardia della gi'ave mora.
Or le bagna la pioggia, e muove il vento
Di fuor dal regno, quasi luiigo '1 Verde,
Ove le trasmuto a lume spento."f
" V. Raumer, '' Geschiehte der Hohen-itavfen."
¦\ Dante " Purgatorio," III. ( Gary 's translation).
M 2

356 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvii.
(" Had this text divine
Been of Cosenza's shepherd better scann'd,
Who then by Clement on my hunt was set.
Yet at the bridge's head my bones had lain . .
Near Benevento, by the heavy mole
Protected ; but the rain now drenches them,
And the wind drives, out of the kingdom's bounds.
Far as the stream of Verde, where, with lights
Extinguish'd, he removed them from their bed.")
The " Ponte Lebbrosi " is about a quarter of
an hour's drive from Benevento, and the road
lies through an ancient burial-ground, and some
ruins and well-tilled fields, to the small church
of S. Cosimo, behind which are several mills,
standing on the banks of the Sabato. Two
arches of the bridge look almost like Etruscan
work, great blocks of stone well joined without
cement. L. Septimus Severus restored it in
203, and could the stones but speak their remi
niscences would be curious. Julius Caesar,
Horace, Nero, Vespasian, and countless Popes,
have passed across it, and popular tradition
declares that Manfred,
" Comely and fair, and gentle of aspect,"
was buried here.
Out of the cairn still shown as that of the
unfortunate son of Frederick II. , grew a wild
rose, its pink flo-wers trailing across the gray
stones, and by it sat a shepherd boy, play-

A LEGEND OF THE BEA UTIFUL HELEN. 357
ing a plaintive air on his "pipe of spring."
I asked him whether he knew anything about
Manfred. " Era figghiu di Re " (" He was
the son of a King"), he said, "and had
golden hair ; but the witches carried him off
long ago."
At Naples there is a legend that Manfred's
widow, the beautiful Helen, was murdered, with
two of her children, in the Castello dell' Uovo,
and that on All Souls Eve a ghost, with long
wa-vy hair and a sceptre in its hand, used to be
seen gliding along the passages into the chapel.
With the sceptre the spirit touched a lapidary
stone in front of the altar, which slowly rose,
and from it came two children, who threw
themselves on to her breast. Then all three
knelt in front of the statue of Our Lady, lift
ing their hands in prayer.
The Virgin, turning to the infant Christ,
said to Him, " Sweet Son, give ear to the
unfortunate." The Child making no sign,
the Madonna set Him down, and throw
ing herself on her knees, prayed again,
" Sweet Son, give ear to the unfortunate."
Then the infant Christ dipped His finger
into the blood which gushed from the breast
of Helen, and wrote " Revenge " on the altar.
It was vain to try and wash out the word.

358 THE LAND OF MANFRED. [Ch. xxvii.
On All Souls Eve every year it was renewed,
until the night of the Sicilian Vespers, when
French blood ran in streams ; after which the
ghost of the beautiful Helen was no more seen
crying for revenge.

FINIS.

l^ibiisbeii by Joka itnrray Albeniilrle Strppt T.oikIoti

I N D E X.

A.
Alexandbk, King of Epirus, p. 116.
ANDRIA. p. 27. Cathedral of, p. 30. The Duke's Nunnery, p. 31.
Church of the Porta Santa, p. 33.
AXJOU, Charles of, p. 263 : crowned King of Apulia, p. 347 ; sends
a Message to King Manfred, p. 349. Refuses Burial in
consecrated Ground to the Body of King Manfred, p.
3.55.
AStonino, St., p. 9.
Anselm, St., of England, at Bari, p. 7.1.
Archytas, p. 113.
Aen6, Don Eugenio, p. 182.
AEPI, p. 261.
Aufidus, p. 61. B.
Battaria di Jesu, La, p. I;!.
Bari (the ancient Barium), p. 63. Saracens at, p. 66. St.
Nicholas' Bones broug'at to, p. 63. Peter the Hermit at,
p. 72. St. Anselm of England at, p. 73. St. Francis at,
p. 76. Distich on, by Frederick II., p. 77. Charles of Anjou
at, p. 78, Ceded to Isabella of Aragon, p. 79. Queen Bona
holds Court at, p. 82. Treasure of S. Niccol6 at, p. 86.
Cathech-al of, p. 89.
Barletta (the ancient Bariolum), p. 54. The Colossu? at, p. 57.
Cathedral of, p. 60. The •• Disfida" of, p. 61.

360 INDEX.

Beatrice del Balzo, Daughter of Charles II., p. 31.
Beatrice op Savoy, p. 8.
Benevento, p. 321. Walls of, p. 323. Arch of Trajan at, p. 824.
Castle of, p. 326. Santa Sophia, p. 328. Cathedral of,
p. 330. Sta. M.aria delle Grazie, p. 335. Egyptian Remains
at, p. 337. Golden Vipers of the Longobards, p. 339.
Witches of, p. 339. Lullaby, p. 341. " The pipe of Spring,"
p. 342. Besieged by Fredeiick II., p. 345. Manfred sum
mons a Parliament at, p. 347. Charles of Anjou under the
Walls of, p. 349. Burial of Manfred by the Bridge of,
p. 355.
Bianca, Mother of Manfred, p. 2.
Bitonto, Cathedral of, p. 93.
Bisceglie (the ancient Vigilia), pp. 17. 35.
Bohemund, p. 72.
Bona, Queen, p. 81. Death of, p. 82. Tomb of, p. 84.
Brindisi, p. 207.
Bruttii, The, p. 115. C.
Canosa (the ancient Cauusium), p. 61.
Cat, The, first Imported, p. 136.
Cataldo, St., old Port of Lupise, p. 223.
Cataldus, St., of Taranto, pp. 30. 111. Silver Image of, 112.
CASTEL DEL MoNTE, p. 37. Old Plan of, p. 39. Date of Building,
p. 47. Guardian of, p. 51. Prison of the Sons of Manfred,
p. 52.
Capece-Lateo, Archbishop, p. 122.
Castromediano, Duke of, p. 217. First Meeting with Poerio,
p. 218. Imprisonment of, p. 221. Recollection^ of the
Eight Hon. Mr. \V. E. Gladstone, p. 223
Cavoti, Professor, p. 232.
Charles op Anjou, pp. 53. 78. 86, 87.

INDEX. 361

CoNBAD, Emperor, born, pp. 4. 298.
Constance, Empress, p. 3.
Constance, Daughter of Frederick II., p. 2.
Constance op Aragon, p. 3.
Corato, p. 34.
Cordova, Gonsalvo de, p. 62.

E.

Enzio, King, pp. 268. 280.

Fabius Maximus, p. 134.
Fiorentino (or Firenzuola), p. 266.
Foggia, p. 260. Cathedral of, p. 263. Lo Pitaffio at, 263.
Frederick II., Emperor, p. 1. Marries Constance of Aragon,
p. 3. Marries Yolande of Jerusalem, p. 4. Marries Isabella
of England, p. 5. An Author, p. 8. Favourite Room of,
at Castel del Monte, p. 41. Founder of the University of
Naples, p. 42. A Legislator, p. 43. Summons a Parliament
at Barletta, p. 54. Crowns himself King of Jerusalem,
p. 55. Receives St. Francis at Bari, p. 76. Funeral of,
p. 94. At Taranto, p. 140. Death of, at Fiorentino, p. 266.
Grief of, at P. de Tinea's Treachery, p. 271. Will of,
p. 271. G.
GAL.SSUS, The, p. 125.
Galatina, p. 226. Church of Sta. Caterina at, p. 229. Visit
to Professor Cavoti at, p. 232.
Garganus, Mount, pp. 302. 305.
Giacomo, San, Church of, p. 18.
Grbco-Salentine Songs, p. 235.
Gregory IX., Pope, p. 55.
Grottaglie, p. 168.

362 INDEX.

H.
Habsburgh, Rudolph of, p. 7.
Hannibal, p. 134.
Helen op Epirus, p. 20. Taken Prisoner, p. 23. Dies at Nocera,
p. 53. Legend of, p. 357.
Henry VI., Emperor, p. 75.
Heraclius, Emperor, bronze Statue of, p. 58.
I.
Incoronata, Our Lady of the, p. 282. King Manfred Hunts
at, p. 283. Abruzzi Peasants at. p. 285. Church of,
p. 290.
Innocent III. and IV., Popes, p. 3.
Isabella op England, p. 4. Married to Frederick II., p. 5.
Buried at Andria, p. 30. Dies at Foggia, p. 262.

K.

King's Bride, The, p. 197.

L.
Lacaita, Sir James, pp. 97. 142. 145. Gives a Ball, p. 153. Early
Reminiscences of, p. 183.
Laiiro, The, p. 127.
Lecce (the ancient Lupiae), p. 208. Church of San Nicola e
Cataldo, at, p. 209. Campanile at, 210. St. Orontius,
Patron Saint of, p. 211. Ancient Eemains of, p. 212. Port
of, 223. Marionettes at, p. 244. Mary of, p. 245.
Leucaspide, p. 96. Gravina of, p. 159.
Leonidas op Tarentum, p. 119.
Lucanians, The, p. 115.
Lucera, p. 264. Castle of, pp. 265. 272. Shepherds at, p. 274.
Manfi'ed's Ride to, p. 277.
Lucius Posthumius, p. 117.
Luperano, Castle of, p. 142.

INDEX. 363

M.
Madonna della Scala, La, p. 104.
Massafra, p. 100.
Manduria, p. 117. Ancient Walls of, and Pliny's Well, p. 179.
Churches at, p. 192. Superstitions at, p. 193.
ilANPRED, p. 2 ; favourite Son of Frederick II., p. 7. Marries
Beatrice of Savoy, p. 8. Marries Helen of Epirus, p. 20.
News of Death received at Trani, p. 23. Children of.
Imprisoned, p. 52. Popularity at Barletta, p, 56. Wel
comes Emperor Baldwin at Bari, p. 77. Regretted at
Bari, 79. At his Father's Deathbed, p. 267. Ride to
Lucera, p. 277. Enters Lucera, p. 279. Hunts at the
Incoronata, p. 283. Eeceives Emperor Conrad at Siponto,
p. 298. Crowned at Palermo, p. 299. Founds Manfredonia,
p. 299. Orders big Bell, p. 318. Summons a Parliament
at Benevento, p. 347. Collects Troops at Capua, p. 349.
Loses his Helmet, p. 352. Death of, p. 353. Burial of,
p. 3.55.
5IANFRBD0NIA, p. 296. Founded, p. 299. Hotel-keeper at,
p. 300. Castle of, and big Bell, p. :US. My Hotel Bill at,
p. 320.
Marb Piccolo, The, p. 120.
Montefusco, p. 221.
Monte Sant' Angelo, p. 307. Costume at, p. 309. Church
of, p. 310. Manners and Customs at, p. 312. Castle at,
p. 317.
MuREX, how Caught, p. 124.

N.
Nardo (the ancient Neritum), p. 247.
Nicholas, St., p. 68. Manna of, p. 86. Miracle of, p. 88.
Niccolo, San, da Bari, Priory of, p. 84.

364 INDEX.

0.

Ofanto (the ancient Aufidus), p. 61.
Oria (the ancient lUyria), p. 169. Age of, 170. Castle of,
p. 171. Cathedral of, p. 174.
Orontius, St., p. 211.
Otranto, p. 250. Cathedral of, p. 251. Castle of, p. 255.
Turkish Cannon Balls at, p. 257.
P.
Paladino Tavola del, pp. 95. 99.
Pulsano, Castle of, p. 144.
Pyrrhus, p. 118. E.
Roger, King, p. 74. Takes Bari, p. 75.
Rudolf op Habsburgh, p. 7.
Rusce (the ancient Ehudiae), p. 243.
Euvo (the ancient Eubos), p. 91. S.
Santa Caterina at Galatina, p. 229.
Santa Maria della Candelora at Massafra, p. 106.
Santa Sophia at Benevento, p. 328.
St. Sabinus, Cathedral of, p. 89.
Scott, Michael, p. 42.
Shepherd's Song, The, p. 129.
Siponto (the ancient Sipontum), p. 297. St. Laurentius,
Bishop of, p. 302.
Soleto, p. 226.
Sternatia, p. 257.
" Specchie," near Manduria, p. 176.

INDEX. 365

T.
Tancred, last Norman Count of Lecce, p. 242.
Taranto (the ancient .Tarentum), p. 107. Old Bridge at, p.
109. Archives of, p. 139.
Tarantella, A, p. 187. At the Incoronata, p. 294.
Tarantola, The, p. 184.
Tavola del Paladino, pp. 96. 99.
Trani (the ancient Turenum), p. 11. Cathedral of, p. 15. Port
of, p. 20. Capture of Queen Helen at, p. 23.
V.
Vinea, Peter de, pp. 4. 42. His Treachery, p. 270. His Suicide,
p. 271. Y.
Yolande op Jerusalem, p. 4. Death of, p. 30.

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