Apulia

“ Modern Apulia comprises the three provinces of Foggia, Bari and Lecce (the latter corresponding roughly with the ancient Calabria, which, however, extended somewhat farther north inland) , and is often known as Le Puglie; it Modern Apulia. stretches from Monte Gargano to the south-east extremity of Italy, with an area of 7376 sq. m.; it is bounded on the north and east by the Adriatic, on the south-east by the Gulf of Taranto, on the south by Basilicata and on the west by Campania and the Abruzzi. ”

“ It was a municipium under the early empire, but was converted into a colonia under Antoninus Pius by Herodes Atticus, who provided it with a water-supply. In the 6th century it was still the most important city of Apulia. Among the ancient buildings which are still preserved, an amphitheatre, an aqueduct and a city gate may be mentioned. ”

“ The road system of Apulia, which touched all the important towns, consisted of three main lines, the Via Appia (see Appia, Via) , the Via Traiana, and the coast road, running more or less parallel in an east-south-east direction. The first (the southernmost) , coming east from Beneventum, entered Apulia at the Pons Aufidi, and ran through Venusia to Tarentum, and thence, 236 turning north-east, to Brundusium. The second, coming north-east from Beneventum, turned east at Aecae, and ran through Herdoniae, Canusium, Butuntum, Barium and Gnathia (Gnatia) to Brundusium. ”

“ The natives of Calabria were still attached to the Greek language and worship, which had been inexorably proscribed by the Latin clergy: after the loss of her dukes, Apulia was chained as a servile appendage to the crown of Sicily; the founder of the monarchy had ruled by the sword; and his death had abated the fear, without healing the discontent, of his subjects: the feudal government was always pregnant with the seeds of rebellion; and a nephew of Roger himself invited the enemies of his family and nation. ”

“ Lucania is a picturesque and fertile country, watered by many rivers. Bruttium is of similar character, and was especially valued in old times for its pine forests, which, from their timber and pitch, yielded an important revenue to the Roman government. Both countries attracted multitudes of Greek colonists, whose cities early rose to a high degree of wealth and civilization. (See Book III, §§ 87, 90.) Apulia, unlike any other division of central or southern Italy, consists chiefly of a rich, unbroken plain, from twenty to forty miles in width, gently sloping from the mountains to the sea. ”

“ The youth (for so the lady appeared) seeming to him a pleasant young man, he asked her what countryman he was, and whether he wanted employment? Veronica, who in sport had learned in her youth to imitate the language of an old woman of Apulia, who was in her father’s house, thought she would make use of those Pugliese words which she recollected, as often as she could in the course of her conversation with him, and answered, “I am a native of Apulia, and came forth from home only to get a situation, but, as I am the son of a noble father, I would not wish to undertake too menial a place.” ”

“ The indefatigable counsellor went from Apulia to Naples, traversing towns and villages, collecting men everywhere, proclaiming loudly the acquittal of the queen and her marriage with Louis of Tarentum, also that the pope was offering indulgences to such as would receive with joy their lawful sovereigns. ”

“ The Roman church shall have the right to hold councils in any of the cities of Apulia or its dependencies or Calabria, except that a council may not be held in any city in which the king is staying, without his consent. The Roman church shall have the right to send its legates into Apulia and its dependencies and into Calabria, but those legates shall not waste the possessions of the churches to which they are sent. The Roman church shall have the same right of consecration and visitation in the island of Sicily.... ”

“ Walter of Brienne and his small French following invaded Apulia, and fought hard against Diepold of Acerra, another of King Henry’s Germans. Meanwhile Markwald, now in open alliance with the Bishop 318of Troja, made himself master of Sicily, and regent of the young king. His death in 1202 removed the most dangerous enemy of both Innocent and Frederick. But the war dragged on for years in Apulia, especially after Diepold had slain Walter of Brienne. The turbulent feudal barons of Apulia and Sicily profited by this long reign of anarchy to establish themselves on a permanent basis. ”

“ The industries of Apulia are mainly pastoral or agricultural. Besides sheep, a considerable number of horses, cattle and swine are bred; while despite the lack of water, which is the great need of modern Apulia (in 1906 arrangements were made for a great aqueduct, to supply the three provinces from the headwaters of the Sele) , cultivation is actively carried on, especially in the province of Bari, where grain, wine, olives, almonds, lemons, oranges, tobacco, &c., are produced in abundance, and the export of olive oil is attaining considerable importance. ”

“ No tongue So vast a theme could equal, speech and thought Both impotent alike. If in one band Collected, stood the people all, who e'er Pour'd on Apulia's happy soil their blood, Slain by the Trojans, and in that long war When of the rings the measur'd booty made A pile so high, as Rome's historian writes Who errs not, with the multitude, that felt The grinding force of Guiscard's Norman steel, And those the rest, whose bones are gather'd yet At Ceperano, there where treachery Branded th' Apulian name, or where beyond Thy walls, O Tagliacozzo, without arms The old Alardo conquer'd ”

“ The Tarentines had also much intercourse with Apulia by land; all the Greek civilization to be met with in the south-east of Italy owed its existence to them. That civilization, however, was during the present period only in its infancy; it was not until a later epoch that the Hellenism of Apulia was developed.
Relations of the Western Italians to the Greeks
It cannot be doubted, on the other hand, that the west coast of Italy northward of Vesuvius was frequented in very early times by the Hellenes, and that there were Hellenic factories on its promontories and islands. ”

“ The flocks that wintered in the plains were driven in summer to the mountain pastures, from Apulia proper into the Southern Apennines, and from the Capitanata into the Abruzzi, toll (dogand) being taken from them on the way for the King of Sicily. The treaty settled that "the dogana of Apulia" should be collected by the commissaries of Spain and equally divided between the kings. The French, supported by recent administrative usage, denied that the Capitanata was part of Apulia, and claimed it as a necessary complement of their own share. ”

“ If the Samnites had been united, they would indeed have made every exertion to support the Vestinians. This was not done, and therefore the Romans overthrew the Vestinians, and reduced them to subjection. They now got a firm footing in Apulia, and thus compelled the northern confederacy to keep on a good understanding with them. It was a great advantage, to be in possession of Apulia. The country of the four Sabellian peoples, and also the territories of the northern Samnites, Pentrians, Bovians, and even the Frentanians, are mountain districts and pasture lands on the Abruzzi ”

“ The Romans, however, had a far bolder plan. Just as formerly in the Latin war, they described a semicircle round Samnium; but with much greater risk than at that time. The Samnites were intensely [Pg 477] hated by the Apulians; the latter, the ruling tribes of whom were Oscan, may have partly overpowered, partly incorporated with themselves, and partly driven out the old Pelasgian inhabitants. The country of Apulia is a basin in the midst of mountains; it is like a theatre. The hills are ranged in the form of a horseshoe, and they likewise belong to Apulia ”

“ At the same time the slave population increased, as the free population declined. In Apulia, Lucania, and the Bruttian land, pastoral husbandry must even in the time of Cato have preponderated over agriculture; the half-savage slave-herdsmen were here in reality masters in the house. Apulia was rendered so insecure by them that a strong force had to be stationed there; in 569 a slave-conspiracy planned on the largest scale, and mixed up with the proceedings of the Bacchanalia, was discovered there, and nearly 7000 men were condemned as criminals. ”

“ As the inhabitants of the district, except in ancient times, have never been particular in speaking of the Peucetii or Daunii precisely, and as the whole of this country is now called Apulia, the boundaries of these nations are necessarily but ill defined: wherefore we ourselves shall not be very exact in treating of them. ”

“ The Norman possessions in Calabria and the recent acquisitions in Sicily remained in the hands of Guiscard's brother Count Roger, nominally a vassal of the duke of Apulia, while the northern principality of Capua kept its independence, to be subsequently exchanged for feudal vassalage. Roger of Apulia, however, was a weak ruler, in spite of the good will of the church and his uncle's support, and the revolt of his brother Bohemond and the Apulian barons threatened the land with feudal disintegration. ”

“ The stronger influence exerted by Hellenism over Apulia than over any other Italian region is explained partly by its position, partly by the slight development of any national culture of its own, and partly also perhaps by its nationality presenting a character less alien to the Greek stock than that of the rest of Italy. ”

“ Both armies traversed Apulia without fighting any important action, Hannibal marching by night always on the look-out for a chance of surprise or ambush, Marcellus never moving but in daylight, and then only after careful reconnoitring.
3 At Capua, in the meantime, Flaccus was occupied with the sale of the property of the principal citizens and the farming of the revenues from that part of the territory which had become Roman domain-land; the impost being paid in corn. ”

“ There was a wide-spread movement amongst the slaves in Apulia this year. The herdsmen had entered into a conspiracy and were making the highroads and public pastures insecure through acts of brigandage. The praetor L. Postumius, who was administering the district from Tarentum, made a strict and close investigation, and sentenced as many as 7000 men. Many took to flight and many were executed. The consuls who had been for a long time detained in the City by the enrolment of troops departed at last for their provinces. ”

“ So after the Moslems had been expelled, Apulia and Calabria were again Imperial lands.
There is a curious point to notice about the name Calabria. Originally Calabria had been the heel of Italy, as any classical atlas will show. Then, under Constans II (641-668) , there was a new administrative division of the Empire. According to this, the old provinces of Calabria, Apulia, and Bruttii (the toe of Italy) were united as "Calabria." Soon after 671 Romuald, Duke of Beneventum, seized the greater part of this land, leaving the Empire not much more than Bruttii. So this remained as Calabria. ”

“ For the which cause, the Saracens fled into Apulia, but Manfred did not therefore cease to molest the Pope and the Church in their followers and troops, and he abode now in Sicily and now in Apulia, in great luxury and in great delights, following a worldly and epicurean life, and for his pleasure keeping many concubines, living lasciviously, and it seemed that he cared neither for God nor for the saints. But God, the just Lord, which, through grace, delays His Cf. Par. ”

“ In pursuance of the senate's orders he selected Murgentia, one of those cities, for the settlement of Moericus and his Spaniards.
22 As both the consuls had Apulia for their province, and as there was less danger from Hannibal and his Carthaginians, they received instructions to ballot for Apulia and Macedonia. Macedonia fell to Sulpicius, and he superseded Laevinus. Fulvius was recalled to conduct the consular elections in Rome. The Veturian century of juniors was the first to vote, and they declared for T. Manlius Torquatus and T. Otacilius, the latter being at the time absent from Rome. ”

“ Especially was this true of the pastoral districts such as Apulia, the chosen land of cattle-breeding, which is called by contemporaries the most deserted part of Italy, and of the region around Rome, where the Campagna was annually becoming more desolate under the constant reciprocal action of the retrograde agriculture and the increasing malaria. Labici, Gabii, Bovillae, once cheerful little country towns, were so decayed, that it was difficult to find representatives of them for the ceremony of the Latin festival. ”

“ But these disturbances, that may have seemed mere sporadic relics of the havoc and exhaustion left by the Hannibalic war, were only quelled for the moment. It was soon found that the seeds of insecurity were deeply planted in the settlement that was called a peace. During the year 185 the shepherds of Apulia were found to have formed a great society of plunder, and robbery with violence was of constant occurrence on the grazing lands and public roads. The praetor who was in command at Tarentum opened a commission which condemned seven thousand men. ”

“ Disappointed in his hopes of assistance from Frederic, Adrian, with characteristic energy, resolved to assist himself; and rejoined to the ruffianism of William with a ban of excommunication, a proceeding which instantly decided in the pope's cause several of the most powerful nobles of Apulia, especially Robert Count of Loritelli, the king's cousin, Andrew Count of Rupi Canino, Richard Count of Aquila, and Robert Prince of Capua; men who, like the bulk of their order, were impatient to shake off the oppressive and ignominious yoke of the royal favourite Wrajo. ”