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152 rebuilt. Not a little of this wanly dawning prosperity was due to the stability which was at last acquired by the princely houses. The rulers of Capua-Benevento, Salerno and the rest reigned long and transmitted an assured, if not unharassed, dominion to their heirs. Their thriving was soon shewn in hostility to their Byzantine suzerain. Picingli's victory had not ameliorated the government of the Italian themes. Calabria, the Greek character of which was being accentuated by the inrush of refugees from Sicily, might only be restive at exactions due to blackmail paid to the Fatimite Caliph for respite from his subjects' raids; but the Lombards, who were predominant in Apulia, hankered for autonomy, and in spite of bribes in cash and titles, were inclined to side with the aggressive prince of Capua. Landolf I took advantage of the Apulians' discontent and the weakness of the strategoi, with their insufficient means and their coast harried by Saracen and Slav pirates. In concert with Guaimar II of Salerno and the Marquess Theobald I of Spoleto he overran c. 927 the greater part of Longobardia and held it some seven years. Not till the Eastern Empire could ally with a strong king of the Regnum Italicum was it possible to oust Landolf and his allies.

The strong king was long in coming. Berengar indeed received in December 915 the imperial crown from John X, in disregard of Louis the Blind's rights, perhaps in reward for his concurrence in Alberic's assistance at the Garigliano, perhaps to counterbalance the then dangerous might of the Eastern Emperor in the south. But Berengar was no whit more powerful thereby. Hungarian raids still occurred and a more persistent enemy began to trouble western Lombardy. At the close of the ninth century bands of Saracen pirates coming from Spain had established themselves in a fortified settlement on the coast of Provence, on the Golfe du St Tropez, called Fraxinetum, the name of which is preserved in Garde-Freinet. Thence, as their numbers grew, they conducted terrible raids on the surrounding territory. Provence was the worst sufferer, but, since the Saracens made the Alps their favourite plundering centre, Italy too was a victim. The Alpine valleys were desolated, the great roadside abbeys, such as Novalesa, were destroyed. Bands of pilgrims to the graves of the Apostles at Rome were robbed and massacred, till the intercourse of Italy with the north-west was in danger of ceasing. Here again the magnates fought in isolation when only a combined effort could root out the evil. Berengar seems to have done nothing, perhaps he could do nothing, but his discredit naturally increased.

The fickle magnates meanwhile were looking out for another rival king. Bertha of Tuscany, whose husband Adalbert II was dead, again worked for the restoration of the line of Lothar I and brought in her son by her first marriage, Hugh, Duke of Provence, who ruled his native country during Louis the Blind's incapacity. This first attempt failed (c. 920) and then a group of northern magnates headed by Adalbert of