Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/447

 SALERNO

397

SALERNO

einated by the Amalfians in 1031. It was only with the assistance of the Normans that his son Gisulfus III was able to recover his throne. The cruelty of Gisulfus against the Amalfians gave to Robert Guis- card, brother-in-law of Gisulfus, a pretext to wage war and to take possession of Salerno, which was bravely defended (1075). Gisulfus ended his days in the pontifical states. Thus the last Lombard principality of Italy came to an end. At the death of Guiscard his states were divided; Salerno was inherited by Roger, who was succeeded (1111) by his son WiUiam; at the latter's death Salerno gave itself to Roger II of Sicily (1127), from whom it was taken by the Emperor Lothair (1137), although the latter was unable to hold it. In 1196 Salerno was again besieged, by land and sea, for having held Constance, wife of Henry IV, a prisoner. For this offence dread- ful revenge was taken and Salerno never recovered from the damage done to it in the pillage. The heirs

in 1811, together with the University of Salerno. Among the famous physicians that it produced were: Garisponto, author of the " Passionarium Salerni"; Cofone (Ars medendi); and Matthaius Platearius, author of a commentary on the "Antidotarium" of Nicol6 Pietro Musandino (thirteenth century). The "Herbarium" of the school of Salerno was dis- seminated throughout Europe in the twelfth century. In the same century the rules of h3'giene of this school were collected and edited in leonine verse; these rules, which even now are not antiquated, were the school's greatest title to praise. The "Anony- mus Salernitanus " who continued the history of the princes of Benevento from Erchempertus to 980, Andrea Sabatini a pupil of Raphael, and Andrea da Salerno were natives of this city.

In view of its position, it was natural that Salerno should receive the light of the Gospel at an early date; in fact, various saints, as Antes, Caius, and For-

of the first princes of the House of Anjou bore the title of Prince of Salerno; John II inve.sted with it Girolamo Colonna, nephew of Martin V. Charles V suppressed the principality, but the province con- tinued to be called Principahty of Salerno.

The medical school of Salerno was famous in medieval history; it was founded neither by Charles the Great nor by the Arabs, the city never having been under the dominion of either. Its origin is to be found in the Benedictine monastery of Salerno, established in 794, in which the botanical and the medical works of the ancients were studied. Its fame grew, when about the year 1070 the celebrated Costantino Africano took refuge there. He had studied in the schools of the Arabs at Babylon, at Bagdad, and in Eygpt, and was presented by the brother of the caliph of Babylon to Guiscard, who took him as secretary. He gave a new impulse to philosophical and to medical studies by making known in the West the works of the Arabs. Roger I gave laws to the schools of Salerno, which was the first Western school to introduce academic degrees. New regulations were established for it by Frederick II, who ordered that no one should practise medicine without being "licensed" by that school, the fame of which waned after the fifteenth century through the competition of Naples. The school was suppressed

tunatus (28 August), suffered martyrdom there. The age of Bonifacius and four other saints who preceded Gaudentius on the episcopal throne is uncertain; Gaudentius, however, was bishop in 499, which would show that the see was created towards the end of the fourth century. Other bishops were: Asterius, who went to Constantinople with Pope Agapitus in 534; St. Gaudiosus (eighth century); Petrus (834), formerly BLshop of Canusio, who took refuge at Salerno when the Saracens destroyed his capital, and built the Church of San Giovanni Battista; Bernardus (850), a man of great virtue, who restored several buildings. In 984 Salerno became an archiepisco- pal see, the first archbishop being Amato. Other archbishops were: San Alfano (1058-85), who re- ceived the exiled Gregory VII; Romualdo Guarna (1153), who took an important part in the ecclesias- tical and political affairs of the Kingdom of Naples; Nicolo Agello (1181), taken prisoner by Henry IV to Germany, where he remained for many years notwithstanding the prayers of the popes, espe- cially of Innocent III; Guglielmo de' Godoni (1298), chancellor of the Duke of Calabria, whose successors, to Orso Minutolo (13.30), resided at Avignon; Barnaba Orsini (1441), who restored the cathedral; Giovanni Vera (1500), later a cardinal, who was sent on several pontifical legations to France and to England; Giro-