The Shores Of The Adriatic, The Italian Side - An Architectural And Archaeological Pilgrimage (1906) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: and vexatious moments. I am only a man like other men; but you are now numerous, you are strong by the grace and protection of heaven; you have accomplished great deeds the renown of which has spread far, for never in history have nobler deeds been done by men so weak in number, with such small resources. Choose then from among you the wisest and most valiant and make him your chief. Do not abandon this fertile land which you have acquired so rapidly, though by very hard work." Then he devoutly joined his hands and added, raising his eyes to heaven, " ? Lord spare me, have pity upon me who am a sinner?Lord of all Power Come to the help of Thy people whom I have led hither." He then addressed other noble words to those around and stretched his hands a last time towards them to give them that holy benediction which God has permitted the dying to leave to those who remain on the earth. Thus speaks Ordericus Vitalis. A priest stood beside him to whom he confessed in a loud voice, and then received the Sacraments of the Church, dying on July 17, 1085, aged seventy. With the conquest of Sicily Apulia became of less consequence, and the capital was fixed at Palermo. The Suabians, however, lived a good deal on the mainland, and Frederick II. built several residential castles and hunting-lodges. The earlier Angevins were equally fond of Apulia. At a later period it suffered greatly from the contests between the French and the Spaniards for the possession of the kingdom of Naples, and the excesses of Lautrec were disgraceful. One chivalrous episode stands out as a survival of the manners of the earlier period, the " Disfida di Barletta," which took place in 1503. The French had besieged Barletta for seven months fruitlessly, and during this time it was agreed that eleven Spanish knig...