arms at
once against Beneventum; where not only the pope, but also prince
Robert of Capua, and several other leaders of the rebellion resided.
As the king approached, the prince of Capua, seized with terror, fled;
but with so little caution as to fall into an ambush set for him by
his vassal and fellow rebel, Richard Count of Fondi; who took the
prince his son and daughter prisoners, and delivered them to his
sovereign; by which piece of seasonable perfidy, Richard atoned for
his treason, and recovered the royal favour.

As to Robert, he was shipped off to Palermo, thrown into a dungeon,
where his eyes were put out. In this sad condition, however, he did
not long survive, as the severity of his treatment soon brought death
to his relief.

With such melancholy proofs of the mutability of worldly fortune
before his eyes, and viewing, moreover, the success of his enemy as a
sign of the divine disapprobation of his having been so weak as to
refuse terms of peace against his better judgment, Adrian now resolved
to lose no time in doing what was yet in his power towards repairing
his error; and began by successfully requesting the Sicilian king, to
give up farther pursuit of his vengeance against the rest of the rebel
chiefs, still shut up in Beneventum, and to pardon them on condition
of their quitting the kingdom. He next offered to close with those
terms of peace,--the rejection of which had caused the present war,--and
sent ambassadors to the king on the subject. William received them
respectfully and opened negotiations with them. The pope, on his part,
engaged to invest the king in feoff with the kingdom of Sicily, the
duchy of Apulia, the principality of Capua, Naples, Salerno, and
Malfi, with the March and with all that he claimed on this side the
Marsa. The king, in return, engaged to swear fealty to the pope; to
defend him against his enemies; and to pay him a fixed yearly tribute
for Apulia, Calabria, and the March. These formed the principal
articles of the treaty now agreed to. But there were others included,
in which the king took advantage of his position as conqueror, to
exact terms in favour of the secular, and to the detriment of the
spiritual power in his states. By these terms, the royal right to
confirm canonical elections, was extended; appeals to Rome, from
Apulia were restricted; while in Sicily, they were wholly abolished,
as well as the right to send legates into the island.

This peace was signe