No More Learning

When the pope, at his next audience, declared
that it was actually his intention to cross the Alps, Aistulf, it is said,
roared with rage like a wild beast. But after vain endeavours to change


## p. 216 (#248) ############################################

216 The Frankish Intervention [753-756
the pope's resolution, he was obliged to dismiss him, not daring to detain
him by force and expose himself to immediate conflict with the Franks.
The pope left Pavia on 5 November. The new Frankish king Pepin was
clearly resolved upon interfering in Italy, and Aistulf saw himself face
to face with a new situation immediately before reaching the aim he had
longed for so fervently.
But all links had not yet been broken off. Pepin sent embassies
over the Alps three times in order to induce Aistulf to yield, but in
vain. The public feeling among the Frankish nobles was by no means
favourable to war, and Aistulf, wishing to profit thereby, sent to Gaul
Pepin's brother and former co-regent Carloman, who was now monk in
Monte Cassino. While the Frankish army was already advancing, the
pope once more sent a letter full of entreaties to Aistulf, and Pepin
offered 12,000 solidi as recompense for the disputed territories; Aistulf
refused with threats and brought the whole of his forces, and the military
material he had stored up for his enterprise against Rome, to Susa at
the foot of Mont Cenis, awaiting the Franks' attack. He was too
impatient however to hold out behind the fortified clusae, and attacked
the Frankish vanguard by surprise; but not being able to deploy his
superior forces in the narrow vale, he was thrown back and was himself
very nearly killed; then he concentrated the rest of his army in the
fortified city of Pavia, where the main army of the Franks appeared
after a few days. But as the Franks shrank from a long siege and the
Frankish nobles, who had kept up friendly relations with the Lombards
dating perhaps from the time of Charles Martel, tried to mediate,
peace was made, Aistulf confirmed the treaty by oath, promising to
surrender those territories of Italy he had occupied illegally and to
acknowledge formally the Frankish king's sovereignty. He sent forty
hostages and made lavish presents to the king and the nobles as recom-
pense for the expenses of war (autumn 754). The pope returned to
Rome, accompanied by the Frankish ambassador Fulrad, and Pepin
retired over the Alps. But Aistulf did not think of keeping his oath.
Of all the towns he only surrendered Narni, and seeing that Pepin did
not interfere again, he resolved to put an end to the quarrel by a master
stroke. On 1 Jan. 756 a Lombard army again encamped before Rome
on the right bank of the Tiber, Aistulf rapidly approached from Spoleto
and the Beneventans from the south. With terrible threats, he re-
quired the pope's surrender while his bands plundered the Campagna.
Pepin's envoy, the abbot Warnehar, fought against the Lombards in
full harness and then informed his prince of what he had seen. But
Rome's strong walls saved her again; Aistulf gave up the siege after
five months and returned to Pavia (5 April) to await a new attack
from Pepin when winter was over and the melting snow rendered the
passage possible.
The Lombards were once more dispersed by the Franks near the


## p. 217 (#249) ############################################

756-763] Desiderius 217
clusae of Mont Cenis, and Aistulf again took refuge behind the walls
of Pavia. Shut up in this fortress, he again entreated forgiveness
and peace of Pepin by the nobles1 intervention. The latter granted
the rebel life and realm, which he had forfeited. Following the Frankish
verdict to which he had appealed, he was obliged to pay as indemnity
a third of the great royal hoard and costlier presents than two years before
to guarantee his further submission, and engage himself to pay a yearly
tribute of 12,000 solidi, as the I^ombards had once done in the time of
Agilulf. He actually now yielded up the towns whose surrender had
been stipulated two years earlier and Comacchio besides, and so the same
boundaries were re-established which had parted the two territories
before Aistulfs accession to the throne. Liutprand's conquests however
remained to the Lombard dominion, so that to the great disappoint-
ment of pope and emperor the status of the peace made in 680 was
not restored. Nevertheless this was the greatest humiliation the
Lombard realm had ever suffered for more than a century and a half,
since that first league between the Byzantine Emperor and the Franks
had been broken. Aistulfs eager policy of attack was crossed by a
new factor which had not entered into his predecessor's calculations.
The proud king did not long survive his fall. He died in consequence
of an accident while hunting (December 756).
After Aistulfs death a grave crisis broke out in the Lombard State.
The monk Ratchis left Monte Cassino and was acknowledged as ruler,
"servant of Christ and prince of the Lombard people," especially in the
north of the Apennines. But Spoleto as well as Benevento detached
itself from the kingdom and set up Alboin as duke of Spoleto, who
swore an oath of allegiance to the pope and the Frankish king. The
duke Desiderius was raised upon the buckler in Tuscany, and as he
engaged himself by document and by oath to surrender the towns
belonging to the Empire, and to live in peace and friendship with the
pope and the Frankish king, the Frankish plenipotentiary in Rome
supported him with great energy and the pope prepared the Roman
army for his defence. Ratchis then abdicated for the second time. On
the pope's demand, Desiderius actually ceded Faenza and Ferrara, but
as soon as he felt himself sure on the throne, he entered Spoleto by
force without consideration of the pope's wishes, made Duke Alboin
prisoner as a rebel, drove away the duke Liutprand of Benevento, who
was obliged to take refuge behind the walls of Otranto, and set up
Arichis as duke in his place, and gave him his daughter Adelperga to
wife. He made a proposal of co-operation against the pope and the
duke of Benevento to an imperial embassy which passed by: at the
same time he tried to render the pope's connexion with his former
allies as difficult as possible, appeared at St Peter's grave in Rome,
pretending friendly intentions, and forced the pope to write a letter to
Pepin, interceding for the surrender of the Lombard hostages. To be


## p. 218 (#250) ############################################


218
Desiderius
[763-771
i
sure the pope recalled this letter by means of the very messenger who
brought it, but still Desiderius succeeded in averting a new Frankish
intervention, greatly desired by the pope, by making certain concessions,
especially in relation to the patrimonies. At his next visit to Rome,
Desiderius framed a compact on the Frankish embassies'1 advice about
763 on the basis of mutual acknowledgment of the status quo; and
Desiderius promised to come to the pope's aid with all his forces in
case of an attack from the Emperor. It was only after Pope Paul's
death (767) that new difficulties with Rome arose when a party, hostile
to the late government, had raised Constantine to the papal throne, and
the defeated party's leader, the primiceriiis Christophorus, claimed the
Lombards' help. The defeated party entered Rome by force, led by
I-ombard troops and the Lombard priest Waldipert, but the Lombard
candidate Philip was not able to maintain himself on the papal throne
in place of Constantine; Stephen III was elected and Waldipert himself
slain by his former adherents (768). Shortly after this failure Desiderius
tried to procure the archbishopric of Ravenna for Michael, one of his
confidants (769); but Frankish commissioners dismissed him at the
pope's wish.
A new combination in foreign politics seemed to change the present
situation to the disadvantage of the pope and in favour of Desiderius.
Desiderius and Tassilo of Bavaria, both menaced by the Frankish pre-
ponderance, had entered into friendly relations, and Tassilo had married
Liutperga, daughter of Desiderius. Pepin's widow Bertrada conceived
the plan of securing peace by bringing one of her sons into relationship
with the Lombard royal family. Notwithstanding the pope's amaze-
ment, she crossed the Alps and asked one of Desiderius' daughters in
marriage for her son Charles. The betrothal took place under the
guarantee of the Frankish nobles and the marriage was accomplished.
Meanwhile Bertrada had endeavoured to reassure the pope about her
transactions with Desiderius. The latter had evidently renewed his
promise to respect the territorial status quo and restore the patrimonies
which were the private property of the Roman Church. Of course the
next consequence was the fall of the anti-Lombard party prevailing in
Rome. This was approved of by the pope, who wanted to escape his
minister's predominant influence. Desiderius appeared before Rome
with military forces, but under pretence of praying at the Apostle's
grave and arranging disputed questions. The pope came out to him
and received his promise by oath. But a papal chamberlain named
Paulus Afiarta, the leader of the Lombard party, raised up within the
town a revolt against Christophorus, whereupon the pope maintained
that Christophorus and his party conspired against his life. The accused
offered resistance within the town, but were betrayed by the Romans,
abandoned by the pope, and cruelly killed by Paulus Afiarta and his
accomplices. Desiderius did not now want to hear anything more


## p. 219 (#251) ############################################

759-772] End of the Lombard Kingdom 219
about transactions with the pope. But the Frankish kings seem to have
taken offence at his way of acting. Car Ionian died in Dec. 771,
but Charles, who laid claim to the whole Frankish realm without
considering Carloman's children, resolved to depart from the last year's
policy. He repudiated Desiderius, daughter, well knowing that he made
an enemy of the Lombard king by this insult. Carloman's widow
Gerberga with her children and followers fled to the Lombard king,
who was ready to use them as weapons against Charles. The new pope
Hadrian was naturally on the side of Charles, and so the political com-
bination of the time before Bertrada's intervention was re-established.
Embassies between the pope and Desiderius had no effect, because the
pope did not trust the king's promises, and for fear of losing his hold
upon the Frankish king firmly refused to anoint as kings Carloman's
children at the wish of Desiderius. Paulus Afiarta and his followers
(the Lombard party) were removed and punished, so that the Frankish
influence again decided the papal policy.
Meanwhile Desiderius had again occupied Faenza, Ferrara, Comacchio
(spring 772), and threatened Ravenna on every side; then he took
Sinigaglia, Jesi, Urbino, Gubbio, commanded his troops to attack Bieda
and Otricoli, in order to frighten the pope, and marched against Rome
with Carloman's children, after having vainly entreated the pope to
come to him. The latter made all preparations for defence and raised
his forces in Rome, but sent three bishops to the royal camp at Viterbo
with a bull, threatening with excommunication the king and all who
dared to step upon Roman soil. Desiderius actually broke up his camp
and retired; but the answer he made to the Frankish embassies, which
appeared in Italy at the pope's wish, in order to become acquainted with
the state of things, shews clearly enough that he expected to meet
a decisive stroke. He had prepared himself for this moment during the
whole time of his reign, trying to ensure the dynasty by the nomination
of his son Adalgis as co-regent (759), and to restrain the independence
of the dukes, though still attaching them to his person. He had made
costly presents to the great monasteries, and endowed them with
privileges, and had strengthened his party by new donations of landed
property. But nevertheless the Lombard kingdom did not offer united
resistance to the Franks. A number of emigrants had already fled to
the Franks even before the beginning of the war, and many nobles now
left Spoleto and went to Rome. Benevento did not take any part in
the war, and after the first failure not only the Spoletan contingents but
also a number of towns submitted to the pope voluntarily. Charles only
found resistance from the towns where the Lombard kings defended
themselves. Treason played a great part in the fall of the Lombard
realm, a fact which can be traced even in the sagas. After having
refused Charles' last offer, to pay 17,000 solidi if he fulfilled the pope's
demand, Desiderius put his trust in the strong position near the clusae
CB. VII.


## p. 220 (#252) ############################################

220 End of the Lombard Kingdom [773-774
of Susa, which he had fortified. Here, at the Porta d' Italia, he expected
Charles, who marched over Mont Cenis, while another corps took its
way over the Great St Bernard. But, owing to this circuit, no battle
seems to have taken place. Desiderius was obliged to retire to Pavia
(Sept. 773) with the warriors who were still faithful to him, while
Adalgis sought refuge with Carloman's children behind the fortified walls
of Verona, but fled from here also after a time and went into exile
at Constantinople. But except at Pavia and Verona Charles found no
resistance whatever in the Lombard realm. Verona with Carloman's
children surrendered even before Christmas to a detached troop under
Charles himself, whereas the siege of Pavia was prolonged to the
beginning of June 774, though famine and epidemics raged within the
town.
After the capitulation Charles brought Desiderius and his wife to
Gaul with the royal treasure, having received homage of the Lombards
who had gathered at Pavia, leaving there a Frankish garrison.
This was the end of the independent Lombard realm, and Charles
dated his succession in this realm from the fall of the royal town of
Pavia.
To be sure, the duchy of Benevento in the south had succeeded in
keeping its independence throughout all these disasters, and the prince
Arichis, Desiderius1 son-in-law, considered himself the Lombard king's
successor; but, important as this fact has proved for Italian history,
the Lombard kingdom had always been rooted in the north. The
occasion for its fall was given by the renewal of that combination
between the remnants of the respublica, now represented by the pope,
and the Franks, who had developed into a consolidated power; and
the Lombard State had never been equal to these combined forces.
A deeper reason lay in the structure of the Lombard State, which
had not been able, even in the intervals of peace, to attain any organic
unity. The small number of the Lombard people in connexion with
their form of settlement, conditioned as it was by the state of affairs
in the Roman Empire, had given too great importance from the first
to the single local groups and their dukes. Kingship, which had
been re-established in the distress of those times, exerted its uniting
and centralising power very slowly, and a perfect union had never
been accomplished. For the kingdom was founded on its royal domain,
and the latter on new conquests of land, with which the king's followers
had to be furnished. As was always the case in the medieval State
in which agriculture was practised, the warriors who were rewarded
in this way did not permanently attach themselves to the king, and
thus formed a continual danger to the kingship. The king was con-
tinually forced to new conquests and then obliged to give them up
again voluntarily, so that even the mightiest rulers made little lasting
impression on the State, especially when the possibilities of donations


## p. 221 (#253) ############################################


Causes of its Fall
221
diminished as the Lombard element drew nearer to the Roman. On
the other hand, the assimilation with the inhabitants of Italy in race
and culture had been rapidly carried out just on account of the smallness
of the conquering tribe and the necessary adaptations resulting; and it
was not the cultural and racial difference, but rather a difference of
organisation, resulting from the land's history and settlement, which
separated the three parts of Italy—the kingdom, the ecclesiastical State
and Benevento—through more than a thousand years.
r


## p. 222 (#254) ############################################

222
CHAPTER VIII.
(A)
IMPERIAL ITALY AND AFRICA: ADMINISTRATION.
When in the year 534 Justinian organised the imperial administration
in Africa, and after the year 540 in Italy, it was not so much his intention
to create a new civil code as to restore in the main the conditions which had
existed before the break in the Roman rule. In Africa this break had been
complete owing to the constitution of the Vandal kingdom. In Italy the
Roman civil administration had remained unaltered, even at the time
when the rule of the Gothic king had superseded the direct imperial
government, and therefore, after the expulsion of the Gothic army
quartered on the land, only the military administration had to be created
completely anew. Maintenance of the continuity, which from an im-
perial point of view had legally never been broken, and equal rights with
those provinces which had never bowed to the yoke of the barbarians,
are therefore the natural principles upon which Justinian founded his
reorganisation of the West. It was, however, impossible in practice to
ignore altogether the development of the last century. Africa and Italy
had for so many years lived in political independence of each other, that
it was no longer possible to look upon them as a united whole; in
consequence of this, their administration remained entirely separate, as
before. Whereas the dioecesis of Africa had been under the rule of the
praefectus praetorio per Italian, until its occupation by the Vandals, it
now received its own praefectus praetorio, who took the place of the
former, henceforth superfluous vicarius AJHcae, so that the praefectus
Italiae was limited to Italy. Sardinia and Corsica, however, which had
been in the possession of the Vandals and were now won back by
Justinian together with the Vandal kingdom, remained united with
Africa. It was further of decisive importance for Italy that it was no
longer, as before the so-called fall of the West-Roman Empire, ruled by
two emperors with a local division of power, but by one only, and that he
resided in the East. For the consequence was, that the court offices and
central offices proper, such as the magister officiorum, the quaestor, the
comites sacrarum largitionum, rerum privatarum and patrimonii, which
as the highest administrative offices in Italy had been maintained within



## p. 223 (#255) ############################################


Foundation of Imperial Administration
223
the Gothic kingdom parallel with the court offices and central offices
at Constantinople, now disappeared in Italy and were amalgamated with
the central offices at Constantinople. The same applies to the Senate,
which likewise was not a local but an imperial governing body. There was
no need to dissolve it; it disappeared from Rome in the natural course of
events, for the officials, of whom it was composed at that time, henceforth
only existed at Constantinople, the residence of the single emperor.
The principle underlying the bureaucratic administration by which
the Empire had been governed since Diocletian, and the details of which
had only been developed during the centuries following his reign, remained
unchanged: all autonomy was supplanted by a body of imperial func-
tionaries grouped hierarchically, according to their local and practical
powers, subject only to the absolute will of the Emperor and appointed
by him, chosen from the ranks of the landowners, the only persons
who had the right to migrate from their place of origin. They had at
their disposal as an auxiliary force a body of officials (officium), arranged
likewise hierarchically, but drawn from another class of the people.
Opposed, however, to the ruling class, which carried out the will of the
State by means of the bureaucratic organisation, stood, as the working
members of the State, all the rest of the population, tied hereditarily
to their class and its organisation, which as far as it existed had only
the one object of making its members jointly responsible for the expenses
of the State. The principle also of separating the civil from the military
power, which had first been completely carried into force by Constantine
the Great, though sometimes abandoned by Justinian in the East, was
intended by the Emperor to come into full force in the West, as soon as
an end had been put to the state of war1.
While the details of the Italian administration have to be gathered
partly from the so-called Pragmatica sanctio pro petitione Vigilii, and
partly from the remaining sources, chiefly the letters of Pope Gregory,
which unfortunately nowhere present a complete picture, the Codex
Justinianus (i. 27) contains the statutes of the organisation for the civil
and military adjustment within the African dioecesis, issued by Justinian
in the year 534. These statutes provided that the praefectus praetorio
Africne, who as a functionary of the highest class and receiving a salary
of 100 pounds gold (about £4500), stood at the head of the civil ad-
ministration, should have (besides his private cabinet, the consiliarii and
cancellarii, the grammatici and medici) an official staff* of 396 persons,
divided into ten scrinia and nine scholae. Four of the former, who were
also the best paid, were entrusted with the financial administration, and
one with the exchequer. Beside these there were the scrinium of the
primiscriniu. i or subadiuva, and one each of the commentariensis and of
the ab act it, who conducted the business of the chancery and the
1 To avoid repetition a knowledge of the administration of the Roman Empire is
here assumed. It has been described in Vol. i. Ch. n.
in. rm. (a)


## p. 224 (#256) ############################################

224
Administrative Division
k
archives, and lastly the scrinium operum for the Public Works and the
scrinium libellorum for the Jurisdiction. The cohortales, probably
assistant clerks, were divided into the scholae of exceptores, singularii,
mittendarii, cursored, rwmenculatores, stratores, praecones, draconarii and
chartularii. The sum total of the salaries paid to the staff" amounted
to 6575 gold solidi (a little over £4000), which had to be raised, like
the praefect's salary, by the dioecesis. Subordinate to the praefect were
seven governors, three of whom had the rank of a consularis and four
that of a praeses. It seems that the former—the text is not quite clear
—were the governors of the old provincia proconmdaris (Zeugitana,
Carthage), of Byzacena and of Tripolis, whilst the latter, who were of
inferior rank, appear to have governed Sardinia, Numidia and the two
Mauretanias (Sitifensis and Caesariensis); a staff' of 50 clerks was
attached to each of them.
For the protection of the dioecesis, after peace had eventually been so
completely restored that the conquering army and the moveable field-
army of the comitate uses could be withdrawn, a frontier-army was to be
newly enrolled, garrisoned and settled, and to be entrusted to the military
commanders of the separate frontier-provinces (limites). These were
under the duces of Tripolitana (in Leptis Magna), of Byzacena (in
Capsa or Thelepte, the command of which was afterwards shared with a
second dux at Hadrumetum), of Numidia (in Constantina), of Mauretania
(in Caesarea), and of Sardinia. Whilst these duces were to take up a
temporary residence in the capitals until the reoccupation of the old
frontiers should be complete, a few of the larger forts along the frontier
were given into the charge of tribunes. One of these, who was subor-
dinate to the dux of Mauretania, was also stationed at Septum to watch
the Straits of Gibraltar and to command the battleships there. Each
of these duces had, besides an assessor, a staff of 40 clerks with a
number of gentlemen-at-arms, the latter of whom he paid out of his own
sufficiently high stipend, handed over to him by the praefect. The
duces, viri spectabUes, i. e. officials of the second class, were subordinate
in military rank to the commanding magister militum of the moment.
It is true that this arrangement was quite provisional, for the limites were
not to be definitely adjusted till the old frontiers had been won back by
the Roman arms.
In Italy Justinian's division of provinces can hardly have differed
essentially from the old Roman one, which had been accepted by the
Ostrogoths. The jurisdiction of the praefect was curtailed not only by
the separation of Sardinia and Corsica and by the loss of the two
Rhaetias on the northern frontier, but furthermore by the enactment
of Justinian, which put Sicily under a special praetor of the second
class, from whom an appeal passed directly to the quaestor of the court
at Constantinople. It is doubtful whether the intermediate court of the
two vicarii (Italiae and urbis Rornae) was maintained under the praefect



## p. 225 (#257) ############################################


Defence of the Positions
225
With regard to the provincial governors the Pragmatica sanctio ordains
that they should be chosen from the inhabitants by the bishops and most
distinguished men in each province, but must obtain the sanction of the
praefect—a very peculiar regulation, which does not agree with the
general bureaucratic principles of the Byzantine administration, and
which seems to prove that as early as the middle of the sixth century
the position of the provincial governors, like that of the town councils in
Italy, was brought very low and considered more of an onus than an
honor. Not long afterwards this regulation was extended to the whole
Empire. The special position of the municipal officials of Borne under
the praefectus urbi together with other privileges of the old imperial capital
was maintained, though from the outset this administrative department
hardly fitted any better here than elsewhere into the frame of the general
administration, and had to be relieved of a number of its former duties.
The defence of the frontiers, temporarily established by Belisarius in
Africa, was organised in Italy by Narses, who had restored the natural
frontiers of Italy in the north to nearly the dimensions which had
been recognised by the Lombards in Gothic times after the cession of
Noricum and Pannonia to them. It is probable that the location
of the frontier troops was also influenced by the distribution of the
garrisons during the Gothic rule. In the east, Forum Julii (Friuli)
was the centre of a chain of small fortresses on the southern slope of the
Alps, which were connected with the fort of Aguntum (Innichen) by the
pass over the Kreuzberg. From this point the valley of the Bienz
probably became the frontier. The bishopric of Seben (Brixen) also
belonged to the Empire, and further south a chain of forts from Verruca
(near Trent) as far as Anagni (Nand) can be traced. Further west,
the Alpine passes were secured by forts at their southern end; thus
mention is made of one situated on an island in the Lake of Como, and
of another at the outlet of the pass over Mont Cenis at Susa. It is not
clear in what manner these limites, which had replaced the old ducatus
Rhaetiarum and the tractus Italiae circa Alpes of the Notitia Dignitatum,
were separated from each other. It appears, however, that some of the
troops which had come to Italy under Narses were garrisoned and settled
in them, and that certain generals who had served under Narses were
placed at the head of these ducatus. This would be the easiest explana-
tion for the fact that at a very early date the command over the
garrisoned legions in Italy was not held by ordinary duces, but by men
holding the higher rank of magister militum.
Justinian's dispositions had all been made on the assumption that
peace would be completely restored throughout the two new sections of
the Empire. During the wars of conquest, the Emperor's authorised
generals were, in Africa Belisarius, who was magister militum per
orientem, and in Italy latterly Narses, who, as patricius and holder
of high court offices, belonged to the highest rank. These had acted
C. MED. H. VOL. II. CH. VIII. (a)
16


## p. 226 (#258) ############################################


226
The Exarch
A
without restriction, both in their military and in their civil capacity,
subject only to the instructions they received from the Emperor.
Procopius calls each alike avroicpartop tov TroXe/tov.
Circumstances, however, allowed neither country any lasting peace;
martial law continued as a consequence of the state of war, and neither
Africa nor Italy could safely be left without an active army. It became
necessary to create and to uphold a supreme authority, to which the civil
administration had to be subordinated for military purposes. In Africa
a passing attempt was made by Justinian to equip the praefectw
praetorio with the power of a magister militum, but this was an
exceptional case. In Africa, as also in Italy, when the Lombards
invaded it after the recall of Narses, the rule was to appoint extra-
ordinary military commanders, who held a high rank and were superior
to the praefectus. But when the state of war proved to be chronic, the
extraordinary office developed into a regular one. In the year 584 an
exarch is mentioned in Italy for the first time, and here as in Africa the
title exarch is henceforth commonly applied to the head of the military
and civil administration. In this combination of military and civil
functions the exarch reminds us of certain exalted provincial governors,
whom Justinian, deviating from the general principles of the Roman
administration, had already installed in the East. But the exarch is far
more than these. Holding, as he does, the highest office in his division
of the Empire, he not only belongs to the highest class with the title
exceUentissimus, but he owns also the full title of patricius, a distinction
not usually shared by the praefect. If the patrician holds a court
office it is usual, in official language, to substitute this for the title
patricius, as for instance cubicularius et exarchus, or occasionally patricius
et exarchus. In ordinary life, when speaking of the exarch in Italy and
Africa, only the title patricius was used.
The power of the exarch was practically unlimited. Like the Gothic
kings, he was the emperor's representative; and as such, like his pre-
decessors, e. g. Belisarius and Narses, he held absolute command over
the active troops temporarily stationed in that part of the Empire, as
well as over the frontier legions. At the same time he took a hand,
whenever it pleased him, in the civil administration, decided ecclesiastical
matters, negotiated with foreign countries and concluded armistices.
His power was only limited in time, inasmuch as he might at any
moment be recalled by the emperor, and in extent inasmuch as his
mandate applied only to a definite part of the Empire. He could there-
fore issue decrees, but could neither make laws nor conclude a peace
valid for the whole of the Empire. The command of the exarch of Italy
extended beyond Italy to the rest of the old dioecesis of West Illyricum,
and to Dalmatia, which also, since Odovacar's time, had been added to
the Italian kingdom. The military system of Sicily, on the other hand,
was allowed, at least in later years, to develop independently.


## p. 227 (#259) ############################################


The Militarising of the Administration
227
It followed naturally that the exarch, who resided at Ravenna, had
at his court, besides an ojficium befitting his rank, a number of advisers
and assistants for the miscellaneous branches of his activity. We will
only mention here the consiliarius, the cancellarius, the maior domus, the
scholastici versed in jurisprudence, and in Africa a inro<rTpaT7]yo<; with the
rank of patricius, a representative of the emperor's representative. He
was further, like all generals of that time, surrounded by a number
of private soldiers, gentlemen-at-arms who held a more distinguished
position than soldiers of the regular army. The court of these vice-
emperors was in every aspect a copy of the imperial court, and their
powerful position makes it conceivable that, when in the middle of the
seventh century the centre of the Empire was in distress, the attempt was
repeatedly made both from Africa and Italy to replace the emperor by
an exarch. It was in this manner that the dynasty of Heraclius attained
to the throne.
The consequences of the uninterrupted state of war, caused in Africa
by the Berbers and later by the Muslims, and in Italy by the Lombards,
of course affected, not only the head of the general administration, but
also its organisation and its efficacy.
Tripolitana was detached from
Africa, probably under the Emperor Maurice, and added to Egypt.
Mauretania Sitifensis and the few stations of the Caesariensis which the
Empire was able to uphold, were joined together into one province,
Mauretania Prima, whilst distant Septum, with the remains of the
Byzantine possessions in Spain, became the province Mauretania Secunda.
Of still greater importance is the fact that Justinian's plan of restoring
the frontiers of the Empire to the extent they had before the Vandal
occupation, was never carried out. It even became necessary in several
provinces to move back again the line of defence already reached, so that
the duces did not hold command in the border-lands of their own
provinces, but were stationed with their garrisoned legions in the interior.
This makes it impossible to define the sphere of local power between the
dux and the tribuni on the one hand, and the praeses on the other. The
provinces themselves became as it were limites. Just as the praefect
continued to exist under the exarch, so there existed, at least in the
beginning of the seventh century and perhaps even up to the definite loss
of Africa, side by side with the duces, a number of civil praesides, not to
speak of the various revenue officers who were employed for the taxation.
Naturally the duces and the tribuni who were appointed by the exarch
proved the stronger, and continually extended their powers at the expense
of the civil officials. The development, which must have led to the com-
plete suppression of the civil administration, hardly reached its final stage
in Africa, because it was forcibly cut short by the Mahometan occupa-
tion. It went further in Italy. The Lombards in their onslaught had
broken up the whole of the Italian administration in the course of
about ten years; attempts to re-establish it failed, and when about the
ch. viii. (a) 16—2


## p. 228 (#260) ############################################

228 New Administrative Division
beginning of the seventh century the Empire had accepted the inevitable,
it made no further attempt to gain the remote border-lands, but saw its
task in trying to secure what remained of the Roman possessions. It
had been customary so far for the various army corps, of which some
were recruited from the East, to fight in different parts of Italy, led by
their magistri militum under the superior command of the exarch.
The primus exercitus was stationed at Ravenna at the immediate disposal
of the commander-in-chief. But gradually, and especially when by the
repeated truces a certain state of equilibrium had been attained, there
were no more reinforcements from the East, except perhaps the regiment
of guards for the exarch, and the legions in Italy were stationed at those
points which seemed most important for the defence. In the interior of
Italy also ducatus sprang up in all directions with duces or magistri
militum at their head; everywhere forts were erected and put under the
command of a tribune.
By the conquests of Rothari, who seized Liguria, and of Grimoald in
the seventh century, as also by those of Liutprand and Aistulf in the
eighth century, the frontiers were still further displaced, but as early as
the first half of the seventh century the following ducatus can be dis-
tinguished: Istria and Venetia, both confined to the coast-land and the
islands; the exarchate proper (in the narrower sense), the provincia
Ravennatium, the borders of which lay between Bologna and Modena
in the west, along the Po in the north, and from which the ducatus of
Ferrara was detached in the eighth century; the Pentapolis, i. e. the
remains of Picenum, with its dux residing at Ariminum; the ducatus of
Perusia, which with its numerous and strong forts covered the most
important passes of the Apennines and the Via Flaminia, the only
connexion between the remains of the Byzantine possessions in the
north, and in particular Ravenna, with Rome; Tuscia to the north of the
lower course of the Tiber; Rome and her immediate surroundings, with
the forts in partibus Campaniae to the south, as far as the valley of
the Liris; the ducatus of Naples, i. e. the coast-towns from Cumae to
Amalfi with a part of Liburia (Terra di Lavoro); the ducatus of
Calabria, consisting of the remains of Apulia and Calabria, Lucania
and Bruttium. This division supplanted the old division into provinces,
and, when about the middle of the seventh century not only the
praefect of Italy, but also the provincial praesides disappeared com-
pletely, the names of the old provinces continued to be used in ordinary
conversation only to define certain parts of Italy. The functions of the
duces and praesides were completely absorbed by the magistri militum
in the same way as those of the praefectus praetorio were absorbed by
the exarch. The whole administration had been militarised, and the
same status established which in the East under similar conditions appears
as the "theme" system.
The civil administration of the State, however, was not only threatened


## p. 229 (#261) ############################################

The Church and the Public Administration 229
by the military organisations, but also by another factor, the Church,
which prepared to occupy the gaps left by the activity of the State, and
to enter upon a part of its heritage. Through means of influence peculiar
to herself and not accessible to the State, the Church had in Italy a very
special position through her extensive landed property, as also by right
of privileges which former emperors, in particular Justinian, had accorded
to her. The legal privileges of the Church went so far, that popes of the
sixth century already claimed for the clergy the right to be judged by
ecclesiastics only, and its landed property was protected by special laws.
The influence of the Church in all matters could only be controlled by
the actual power and authority of the State, for the claim of the pope
and of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to be the representatives of the
civitas Dei, and as such superior to worldly authorities, permitted
a growth of power to an unlimited extent.
The material foundation for this power was supplied by the immense
wealth, of the Roman Church especially, which designated its posses-
sions by preference as patrvmonium pauperum. The starting-point for
its activity was indeed the care of the poor, a field which had been
entirely neglected by the State, but gained importance in proportion
to the increasing distress of the times and the insufficiency of the public
administration. The State itself, in fact, not only allowed the bishops
an important voice in the election of the provincial governors, but it
granted them a certain right of control over all officials, in so far as
they were permitted to attend to the complaints of the oppressed
population, and to convey them to the magistrates in authority or even
to the emperor himself. Time after time there was intervention, mostly
by the popes, and no part*of the administration was free from their
influence.
The predominance of the ecclesiastical influence over the secular in
the civil administration shews itself very clearly in the department of
municipal government, for the curiales, the remainders of the old 7roXt? ,
having lost their autonomy and become mere bearers of burdens, were
already doomed. In Lilybaeum, for instance, the wealthy citizens,
manifestly the curiales, had made an agreement with the bishop in
accordance with which the bishop took over certain of their burdens,
and in return a number of estates were transferred to the Church. At
Naples the bishop tried to get possession of the aqueducts and the city
gates. Above all, at Rome the pope extended the range of his power
in his own interest and in the interest of the population, who could no
longer depend upon the regular working of the public administration.
The Pragmatica sunctio had guaranteed the maintenance by the State
of the public buildings at Rome; nevertheless, in the seventh century
the care of the aqueducts as well as the preservation of the city walls
passed over to the papal administration. By this time no more mention
is made of the praefectura urbhs, and when after almost two centuries it
CH. VIII. (a)



## p. 230 (#262) ############################################

230 Militarising of Landed Property
appears again in our sources, it has become a pontifical office. The old
public distribution of provisions was replaced by the beneficial institutions
of the Roman Church, by her diaconates, shelters, hospitals and her
magnificent charity organisation, through which money and provisions
were dealt out regularly to a large part of the population. The vast
granaries of the Roman Church received the corn brought from all the
patrimonies, especially from Sicily, for the purpose of feeding a population
whose regular sources of income were totally insufficient for their support.
The recognised superiority of the papal administration is also illustrated
by the fact that the State further felt induced to hand over to the
granaries of the Church the revenue paid in kind by Sicily, Sardinia and
Corsica and set aside for the provisioning of Rome and its garrison, so
that the pope appears in many respects as the emperor's paymaster
(dispensator). But the pope becomes also the emperor's banker when
the funds for the payment of the army are made over to him, so that—
for a time at least—the soldiers are paid through his offices. Thus the
organs of state administration were one by one rendered superfluous by
the development of a well-organised papal central government, whilst
the managers of the pontifical estates in the different provinces, the
rectores patrimonii, who were entrusted with the representation of the
pope in all secular matters, had an ever-increasing number of duties
heaped upon them.
In proportion as the reinforcements of soldiers from Byzantium failed,
Italy had to depend more upon her own resources, i. e. upon the soldiers
who had been settled in Italy at the time when the inner boundaries were
established—evidently in imitation of the old limitanei—and upon the
native population, which latter being compelled to take its share in the
watch-service (murorum vigiliae) and obliged to provide for their own
up-keep, could soon no longer be distinguished from the former. For
example, the castrum SquiUace was erected on land belonging to the
monastery of the same name, and for the allotments conceded to them the
soldiers had to pay a ground-rent (solaticum) to the monastery. The
castrum Callipolis had been built within the precincts of a manor owned by
the Roman Church, and the coloni of the Church themselves formed its
garrison. All those who were obliged to do military service in a fort
under the command of the tribune formed the numerus or bandus, and
being a corporation had the right to acquire landed property. The
inhabitants of Comacchio, for instance, taken collectively, are called
milites, and only in the large cities, such as Rome or Ravenna, the
milites do not embrace the entire population. On the other hand we
often find the inhabitants of a fort dependent upon a landlord. But
though the power of a tribune and that of a landlord were originally
derived from entirely different sources, they were naturally brought
nearer to each other in the course of their development, for while it
became more common for the tribunes to acquire landed property, the


## p. 231 (#263) ############################################

Effect of the Italian Revolution
231
landowners grew more military. For the tribune did not only hold the
command of a fort, the power of raising part of the taxes, and the
jurisdiction over the population within the whole district of the fort,
but in addition to this the landed property of the State or of the
corporation fell to his share. Thus, the more the armed power assumed
the character of a militia, the more important it became that the
tribunes, who probably continued to pay their nomination-tax or
suffragium to the exarch, should be chosen from the landlords of the
district, like the officers holding command under them in the numerus,
who are occasionally mentioned, such as the domesticus, the vicarius, the
loci servator, and others. Probably in many cases the nomination by
the exarch became a mere formality, and certain seigniorial families
raised a claim to the tribunate. These local powers, the lords of the
manor, who were qualified for the tribunate, formed the actual land-
owning military aristocracy, who, by uniting in themselves all the
administrative offices of the first order, virtually ruled over Italy, although
under the supervision of officials appointed by the central government.
Among these local powers were the various churches, the bishoprics, and
above all the Roman Church, the estates of which must in many respects
have been exempt from the government of the tribunes, much the same as
were the fundi excepti of the preceding time, so that they existed by the
side of the secular tribunes, but not in subjection to them. When in the
beginning of the eighth century the militia in the town of Ravenna was
reorganised, a special division was provided for the Church besides the
eleven other bandi. About the same time we see the rector of the
patrimonium of Campania leading the soldiers of the Church in a
campaign.
The conclusion and spread of this development of local powers formed
the social change which led to the great Italian revolt in the first third
of the eighth century. /The state of anarchy in the centre of the Empire
and the dangers by which Constantinople itself was threatened through
the advance of Islam, had been a powerful help to the Italian struggle
for independence/j Different parts of Italy had at various times wit-
nessed risings oftne local powers, till the separate discontented forces
united in a great opposition movement under the leadership of the
pope. This took place when Gregory II boldly withheld the increased
tax which Leo the Isaurian, the great organiser of the Byzantine
Empire, attempted to raise for the benefit of the central government;
and when, in addition to this, the edict against the worship of images and
the outbreak of Iconoclasm incited religious passions against the imperial
reformer. The first act of the rebels was to expel the exarch and the
duces, the representatives of the central government, and to replace
them by confidential friends of the local powers. At Rome the pope,
and at Venice an elected dux (doge) took the place of the former authorities.
The dicio, as it was then called, was by this revolt transferred from the

. I
4
CH. VIII. (a)


## p. 232 (#264) ############################################


232
Changes in the Administrative Division
1
emperor to the local authorities, though they remained in formal
adherence to the Empire. This, at least, was the pope's wish, and no
emperor set up by the opposition in Italy was generally recognised.
The suppression of the revolt resulted in the resumption of the dido by
the emperor, and during the next generation Italy was again ruled by
his deputies and appointed duces. The fact, however, that in consequence
of the Italian revolt the local powers had for a number of years been
practically independent, could not be undone. Henceforth it was
impossible to appoint officials in the place of tribunes. In the local
organisation the landed proprietors had gained a complete victory over
the bureaucracy, and in this the hereditary principle had prevailed. But
the bureaucratic superstructure, by which the emperor exercised his
dicio, was entirely out of touch with the seigniorial element at its base,
and from this resulted—at least as far as North and Central Italy were
concerned, where the revolution had temporarily taken a firm hold
—the complete and permanent dissolution of the central power of the
State.
Not very long after the termination of the Italian revolt there
appears at Rome as the highest imperial authority the patricius et dux
Stephanus. The title of patricius, and various other circumstances,
indicate that he was no longer subordinate but equal to the exarch of
Ravenna, and that Central Italy south of the Apennines had been con-
stituted as an independent province or theme. This division of Byzantine
Italy, which had long been geographically prepared, was probably due
as much to strategical reasons, e. g. the advance of the king of the
Lombards, as to any political necessity. Stephanus, however, seems
to have been the first and last to bear the new title; after him there
appears no other permanent representative of the emperor at Rome.
The exarchate proper, comprising the Byzantine possessions north of the
Apennines from which the ducatus of Rome had been detached, was
ruled by the exarch, who resided at Ravenna until King Aistulf took
possession of that town (750-751), when only Venice and a part of
Istria of the lands north of the Apennines remained under Byzantine
rule. All that was left to the Byzantines in the two southernmost
peninsulas of Italy was, at a date which cannot be exactly determined,
united into a ducatus which received the name of Calabria, and retained
this name even when the Byzantines had completely evacuated the
south-eastern peninsula which had formerly borne this name, and were
confined to their forts of the former Bruttium in the south-west. This
ducatus, which was not linked geographically to the rest of Byzantine
Italy, was placed under the command of the patricius of Sicily, so that it
was separated from Italy in its administration. In the same way the
churches of southern Italy were, in consequence of the Italian revolt,
detached from Rome and subordinated to the Greek patriarchate at
Constantinople. Thus in the second quarter of the eighth century there


## p. 233 (#265) ############################################

Pontifical State under Byzantine Suzerainty 233
were in the western part of the Byzantine Empire three themes under
patrician governors—the Exarchate, Rome, and Sicily (with Calabria), of
which the latter was for the most part Greek in language and culture,
whereas the two first were Latin.
After the disappearance of the patrician governor from Rome, the
pope took his place and claimed the right to rule directly the city of Rome
with her surroundings, and also indirectly the ducatus attached to Rome
in the north and south as supreme lord of the two duces, and to restore
more or less the situation which had existed during the Italian revolt.
The papal bureaucracy, which had been developed to a certain extent on
the model of the Byzantine bureaucracy, took the place of the imperial
administration. In other words, the pope assumed the dido over
Rome and the district belonging to it. Here in times of war and
peace he reigned like the exarch before him, negotiated and concluded
truces with the Lombards, recognising however the suzerainty of the
emperor, whose commands he received through special embassies, and
reckoning his dates from the years of the emperor's reign. At the em-
peror's command he went to King Aistulf at Pavia, and thence—probably
also in accordance with the imperial wishes—crossed the Alps and visited
the king of the Franks. The concessions of Pepin and Charles the
Great were called "restitutions,11 by which was understood that the old
boundaries between the Empire and the Lombard kingdom, as they
had been recognised before Liutprand's reign, were restored, and the
sovereignty of the emperor within these boundaries was legally undis-
puted. This is proved by the fact that down to the year 781 the popes
reckoned their dates from the years of the emperor's reign. The
dispute between the popes and the Prankish kings on the one side and
the emperors on the other arose from the fact that Pepin gave the
dicio of the restored domains to the pope, and not to the emperor who
laid claim to it, so that the pope became the real master in the new
Pontifical State and no room was left for a representative of the emperor.
Moreover the pope overstepped the limits which had hitherto bounded
the sphere of his power, by including in his dicio not only the former
patrician ducatus of Rome but also the exarchate proper. This gave
rise to protracted struggles with the archbishop of Ravenna, who as the
exarch's successor assumed the dicio north of the Apennines. It was
probably in the year 781 that the new state of affairs was officially
recognised and thereby consolidated, by an agreement between Charles
and Pope Hadrian on the one side, and the Greek ambassador on
the other. According to this agreement the emperor, or rather the
empress-regent Irene, abandoned all claims to the sovereignty over the
Pontifical State in favour of the pope.
The emancipation from the dicio of the imperial government of those
parts of Italy which still remained under Byzantine rule, was carried out
in a way analogous to that of the Pontifical State, the only difference
CH. VIII. (a)




## p. 234 (#266) ############################################

234 Venice
being that here the acquisition of the dicio was effected by the local
powers themselves and not through the interference of a foreign ruler,
and that the formal suzerainty of the Empire was maintained for a longer
time. In Venice, which about the end of the seventh century had been
detached from Istria as a special ducatus, circumstances were particularly
favourable to the development of the seigniorial local powers as repre-
sented by the tribunes, though it is true that after the suppression of the
Italian revolt it fell back under the imperial dicio, and was again ruled
by duces or magistri militum nominated by the emperor, not by elected
chiefs. In the second half of the eighth century, however, after the fall
of the exarchate, the bonds of subordination relaxed here as elsewhere,
and the nomination of the Doge became more and more an act of mere
formality. The Doge was placed in power by that fraction of the tri-
bunicial aristocracy which was for the moment in the ascendancy; by
them he was elected and to them he looked for support. He succeeded
in making his office lifelong, and sought to legalise his position by
soliciting and receiving a court title, as a form of recognition by the
emperor at Constantinople. In agreement with the emperor, some Doges
even tried to make the power hereditary in their families, chiefly we
may suppose in virtue of their extensive landed property and their
wealth. Nevertheless, from the time when in his final treaty of peace
with Byzantium (812) Charles the Great definitely renounced the con-
quest of Venice, the suzerainty of the Greek emperor was permanently
recognised. This was shewn by the sending of ceremonial embassies
whenever a change of sovereign took place at Constantinople, by the
appeal for recognition of every new Doge, who probably had to buy his
Byzantine title with a high siiffragium, and by the fact that the Venetian
fleet was obliged to lend support to the Byzantines, at least in the West.
We also hear otherwise of occasional interference on the part of the
Byzantine emperor, though Venice naturally grew more and more
independent.
In the south, the dux of Naples considered himself the successor of
the imperial governor of Campania, and a right of control over him was
in fact claimed by the patrkius of Sicily. The actual holder of the dicio,
however, was the dux, who, while professing adherence to the Greek
Empire, often acted in political matters with complete independence,
making his office first lifelong and afterwards hereditary. In the first
quarter of the ninth century the Byzantine Empire succeeded tem-
porarily in re-establishing a magister militum as the real functionary,
but in the course of time here as elsewhere the local powers, and at
times the bishop, remained victorious, so that the position of Naples
resembled in every way that of Venice. It is however true that some
other local seigniories, in particular Amalfi and Gaeta, detached them-
selves from the ducatus of Naples and, after a gradual secession from
the supreme rule of the dux of Naples, exercised the dicio independently


## p. 235 (#267) ############################################

Naples, Amalfi, Gaeta 235
within their spheres of interest, formally as direct subjects of the Greek
emperor, and enjoying equal rights with Naples. At the head of these
minor States were hypatoi or praefecti, who in time also developed
dynasties. Thus the Byzantine bureaucracy was supplanted every-
where by local powers who usurped the dido, and of whom some, for
instance Venice and the coast towns of southern Italy, acknowledged
the emperor's suzerainty, whilst others, like the Pontifical State, refused
to do so. The victory of the local powers signified at the same time
the universal establishment of the medieval system of seigniorial rule.
(B)
GREGORY THE GREAT.
If the sixth century after Christ was one of the great ages of the
world's history, it would not be difficult to claim for Pope Gregory I
that he was the greatest man in it. The claim would be contested on
behalf of the Emperor Justinian and the monk Benedict of Nursia, if
not by many another who influenced the course of affairs; but if the
work of medieval leaders of men is to be judged by its results on later
ages, Gregory would seem to occupy a position of commanding greatness
which is unassailable.
The facts of his life for the fifty years before he became pope are
soon told, yet hardly one of them is without significance. He was born
in Rome, of a family noble by race and pious by hereditary attachment
to the things of God, probably in the year 540. Justinian was Caesar,
dwelling at Constantinople, but exercising no slight control over Church
and State in Italy. Vigilius was pope, and an example of pitiable
irresolution in things both sacred and profane. Few could have foreseen
in 540 that before the life—not a long one—of the child born to the
ancient family of Roman senators and nobles would have closed in a new
century, the temporal power of the Papacy would have been securely
founded and the power of the Empire and the authority of the Emperor
in Italy threatened with a speedy end. In the onrush of barbarian
conquest it was not the military success of Justinian's generals which
was to be continued under the heirs of his Empire and to secure the
position which they had won. They had—in the words of the Liber
Pontificalia—made all Italy rejoice, but it was the patient diplomacy
of a great pope which would preserve the central independence of
Christian Rome, between the decaying power of the Byzantines
and the extending dukedoms of the Lombard invaders. It would
not be preserved for long, it is true; but so firmly was it founded
ch. vin. (b)


## p. 236 (#268) ############################################


236
Early Life of Gregory
[540-576
on the immemorial traditions of the city, and the holy sanctions of
the ecclesiastical rule, that it was destined to survive and emerge into
supremacy when the discordant powers which had threatened it had
passed away. And that this was so was due conspicuously to the
descendant of Pope Felix IV who first saw the light before the sixth
century had run half its course.
Gregory was the son of the regionarius Gordianus, a rich nobleman
with a fine house on the Caelian hill who held an office of organisation
connected with the Roman Church. His mother was afterwards ranked
among the saints, and so were two of his father's sisters. He was
brought up in the life of a Christian palace, among the riches of both
worlds, as a saint, says his biographer John the Deacon, among the
saints. In his education none of the learning of the time was neglected,
and it is with the consciousness of a wider knowledge than the stricter
folk of the day would allow that his biographer calls him arte philo-
sophic, a student of Divine philosophy, not of the degraded type of
Greek word-splitting which had lingered on at Athens till Justinian
closed the schools ten years or so before Gregory was born. He was taught
grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, after the fashion of the day. He did not
learn Greek then, or even later, though he lived six years in Constanti-
nople. For literary elegance he never cared, and he almost boasted of
the barbarisms of his style. In later life he is found reproaching a
Frankish bishop for expounding grammar, perhaps even for studying it;
but there was more in the reproof than the mere regret for time wasted
that might be more profitably employed not only by a bishop, but, as
he says, by a religious layman: it was the sense of alarm with which the
Christian scholars still regarded a mythology whose morals were by no
means dispossessed from their influence on men. Of Art, on the other
hand, he was not ignorant: towards painting as well as music he was
sympathetic throughout his life. What special training he received
was, there seems no doubt, in law. When boyhood was over, he
emerges into light as praefect of the City of Rome (573), holding what
was at least theoretically the highest office among the citizens,- one of
great labour and dignified ostentation, and, even in the decay of the
city's independence, of serious responsibility. That his tenure of office
was distinguished by any special achievement we do not know; but his
leaving it was dramatic and significant. His father was dead: his
mother had gone into a nunnery: he was one of the richest men, as he
was the highest official, in Rome. But the religious training of his early
years had never ceased to dominate his life. Now, at the very time
when political leaders were most needed, and when he was in a position
to win the foremost place among them, he laid aside ambition, put off"
his silk and his jewels, gave his father's property for the founding of six
monasteries in Sicily and in charity for the Roman poor, and turned the
great palace on the Caelian hill into a house of monks, entering it


## p. 237 (#269) ############################################

c. 580-690] Plans of Mission to the English
237
himself as a brother among the rest. For three years he lived in
seclusion the religious life, according to the rule, there can be little
doubt, of St Benedict, which he often afterwards so warmly eulogised.
The chief of the Roman citizens had become a humble monk among
monks: it was a contrast typical of the life, set betwixt civilisation and
Christianity, barbarism and ascetic devotion, of the early Middle Age.
In the monastery of St Andrew the second part of Gregory's training
was accomplished. For three years he was learning all that monasticism
could teach him. And first it taught him a keen interest in the
evangelisation of the heathen. It was probably at this date (though
the evidence is uncertain), when he was one of the most famous
personages in Rome, the chief civil ruler of the city who had given up
all for the religious life, that his attention was first directed towards the
distant isle of Britain. There is no reason to doubt the familiar story
told so picturesquely by Bede, a narratio fidelivm as the earlier Monk
of Whitby calls it, that he was walking in the forum when he saw some
Anglian lads, probably exposed for sale. He had heard of their coming
and desired to see the denizens of a country concerning which Procopius
had told the strange tale that thither Gaulish boatmen ferried the
souls of the dead by night. Beautiful boys these were, with light
complexion and light hair. "Alas," he said, when he was told they were
heathens, "that lads so bright should be the slaves of darkness. " He
asked what was the name of their race. "Angli," they told him, and he
answered that they had angel faces and should be coheirs of the angeli
in heaven. They came from Deira: so should they be saved de ira Dei.
Their king was Aelle: Alleluia should be sung in his land. From that
moment Gregory planned to evangelise the English. He obtained the
leave of the Pope, Benedict I; but the punning habit which seemed to have
given him the first thought of his mission now intervened to check him
in its course. He sat reading, during the rest time on the third day of
his journey, and a locust settled on his book, and locustn seemed to mean
loco sta: he should not proceed. So it proved, for messengers from the
Pope hurried to command his return, for the people of Rome would not
suffer the departure of one whose services to them had been so recent and
whose conspicuous self-abnegation seemed to shed a glory on the city of
St Peter. The call of the Angles was set aside, but it was not forgotten.
Gregory was given to learning, to asceticism, and to active assistance to
the papal court.
The learning of his school-days was now continued on more exclusively
ecclesiastical lines. In earlier years he had loved to read Augustine and
Jerome. He became a deep student of the Bible. Later years, when
he can have had little time for close study, shewed that he had become
acquainted with the text of the Scriptures in detail more exact than was
at all common in his day. What he read he pondered on, and he
became a master of that " divine art" of Meditation which was to be so
CH. VIII. (b)
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288 Gregory as Apocrisiarius [577-590
exhaustively developed in the Medieval Church. And to meditation he
added vigil and fast till his health was injured for the rest of his life.
But the time, as he looked back to it again and again from the troubled
world, seemed like a happy shore as seen by the storm-tossed mariner on
the waves of a mighty sea. On the sea of public life indeed he was soon
about to embark again.
First he was made one of the Seven Deacons who shared with the
Pope the governance of Rome, in charge of the seven regions of the city.
For such a post few could have been so well fitted as he who had played
so conspicuous a part in municipal life. This may have been in 578. In
that year Benedict I died; while the city was in throes of plague and flood,
and the Lombards were on the point of attack. Pelagius II, the new pope,
determined to send to Constantinople, as his resident at the Emperor's
court, one who knew so completely the needs and the dangers of old
Rome. In the spring of 579 Gregory left Italy as the apocriiiarius of the
Pope. The six years, or more, during which he resided in the imperial
city supplied perhaps the last and most important of the formative
influences of his life. Tiberius II was emperor (578-582), Eutychios
was patriarch (577-582). The papal envoy was theologian as well as
statesman, and he controverted a theory of the latter that the resurrec-
tion-body would be impalpable, convincing at least the former so that
he put the erroneous treatise in the fire. But while he did not neglect
theology, for he also wrote while he was at Constantinople his famous
Moralia, a commentary on the Book of Job, a very Corpus of Divinity
in itself, containing also many wise saws and modern instances, he was more
continuously and actively employed in studying the magnificent system
of imperial government. In a city notorious for the luxury of the
nobles and the political independence of the people, where public
interest was divided between the controversies of theologians and the
games of the hippodrome, he saw how the turbulent life of a fickle and
arrogant population was guided, not always wisely, by ecclesiastics, and
restrained with extraordinary and imperceptible tact by an army of
officials who, when dynasties changed and the throne tottered, preserved
the fabric of the imperial constitution through all hazards and gave
for centuries the most marvellous example of constitutional organisation
amid the confused revolutions of Medieval Europe.