ij. Oppugnatio Neapolis (The Siege of Neapolis)
Now this is the story of how the Bones were found and removed from the Tomb in recent times [12th cent.]. In A.D. 1061 the Norman Roger Guiscard [c.1031-1101] had invaded Sicily and by 1091 he had driven out the Saracens [Saraceni] and therefore was made Count by his brother Robert. Later, in A.D. 1130, his son Roger II became Sicily's first king, crowned by the Antipope Anacletus II. After defeating Pope Innocent II in A.D. 1139 Roger II was granted all the Norman kingdoms of Southern Italy.
Although Neapolis had never been subdued by force of arms,
Roger II was very powerful, and so Sergius, the Magister
Militum [Master of the Soldiers] of Neapolis, submitted
to him. However, the ancient city rebelled in 1132, and
although King Roger ravaged all of Southern Italy, he was
unable to conquer Neapolis. Indeed, thanks to the
Enchanted Egg and Walls,
the city was able to repel Roger's fleet of 60 ships, but
the countryside was so devastated that Neapolis again
petitioned for peace. In the spring of 1135 she rebelled
again and Roger laid siege to the walls of the city, but
through Necromancy
[cf. "The Magic Fly"]
the people sent pestilence and a plague of flies against
the soldiers, and so Roger's army was forced to withdraw. He
attacked again in the summer, by land and also bringing an
enormous naval fleet, but it was scattered by a magical
tempest. Thus Neapolis remained undefeated, but blockaded
throughout 1136.
iij. Inquisitio Ossium Vergilii
(The Quest for Vergil's Bones)
![[exterior of Vergil's tomb]](../images/Vergil-tomb-1.gif)
Because of his defeats, King Roger realized that Neapolis
had supernatural protection, and that its source was the
hidden Bones of Vergilius, the city's patron. For in his
opulent coronation ceremony in Panormus [Palermo], he had
learned that that city was protected by a Hero. For Panormus
possessed the Bones of Aristoteles [Aristotle], which were
held in a vessel hung in mid-air in a sanctuary that had
originally been a Pagan temple, but was later a Christian
church, and then a mosque. The people prayed to these relics
for many reasons, but chiefly for protection. For
Aristoteles was the Hero who protected Panormus, just as
Orestes' Bones gave victory to the Spartans, and Alcmene's
Bones guarded Thebes; so also other cities are protected by
the Bones of Orpheus, Pelops, Antaeus, Hector, Hesiod, Plato
and others.
Now King Roger supported learning of all kinds, but especially of the Saracens, including their secret lore; and he was acquainted with many scholars and professors. Therefore he sent Ludowicus, an English scholar of the Stoic School, who had exiled himself to Apulia [the region around Naples], to obtain Vergilius' bones through trickery. For this philosopher had told him that after many vigils and fasts he could locate Vergilius' Bones, which he wanted to take to France. Therefore King Roger gave him a letter granting permission to seek the Bones.
Indeed, through his secret arts Ludowicus quickly found the Bones in a grave mound in the midst of a mountain near the city. Beneath Vergilius' skull he found a book, the Master's Ars Notaria, as well as other Secrets [alia Arcana]. When Ludowicus had taken these things from the Tomb, the Neapolitan people became frightened that the city would suffer some disaster, so Sergius, the Magister Militum, gathered a great number of people and, in spite of Roger's plotting, they took the Bones from the Englishmen.
![[interior of Vergil's tomb]](../images/Vergil-tomb-2.gif)
Although Ludowicus protested that he wanted the bones for
only 40 days, and that he hoped that by means of them the
whole of Vergilius' Magic would be revealed, his request was
denied, and in the end he was granted only the book. Later,
Joannes Neapolites [John of Naples], who was a Cardinal in
the time of Pope Alexander, showed some parts of it to
Gervasius Tileburiensis [Gervase of Tilbury, fl. 1200; see
also
"The Magic Fly"],
who tried the spells and found them to be most efficacious.
(Gervasius, in turn, has passed them on to me, Alexander
Neckam, and I too shall shortly pass them on, whatever parts
of the Ars Notaria have been preserved.)
Then the people put the Bones in a leather bag [culleus] and took it to the Castrum Ovi [the Castello dell'Ovo or Castle of the Egg] and placed them for protection in a wooden Ark [Arcus ligneus] in the Shrine of the Egg [Sacellum Ovi]. (Others say that the Castle of the Egg was a ruin at that time, and that it was Robert the Wise [1309-43] who took the jar [orca] containing Vergilius' Bones, some columns and small statues from the ruined Tomb and placed in the Castle, which had been rebuilt by William I in A.D. 1154. -- J.O.)
In spite of Roger's thwarted attempt to obtain the Bones,
in 1139 Neapolis again sought peace, and the following year
he was allowed to make his triumphal entry into the city,
although the price for this triumph was many favors for the
Neapolitan nobles.
iv. Ossa Postea (The Bones in Later Years)
![[path to Vergil's tomb]](../images/Vergil-tomb-3.gif)
So much from Alexander Neckam. The Bones continued to
protect the Neapolis, for when in A.D. 1191 Henry VI of
Germany marched from Rome and attacked the enchanted Walls,
his army was destroyed by a devastating plague, and he was
forced to retreat. He returned in 1194, bringing Conrad of
Querfurt, chancellor to the emperor, who knew the secret of
the Bones and through Necromancy neutralized their protection
of the Walls. (Conrad had been selected to be Henry's tutor
by his father, Frederick Barbarossa, which is why Henry was
so well schooled in ancient learning; Conrad was later
elected Bishop of Hildesheim.) Thus Neapolis fell to Henry,
and when Conrad inspected the city's Palladium [i.e. the
Egg], he discovered that there was a minute crack in the
glass Ampule, breaking its Hermetic Seal, and it was this
flaw that had allowed Conrad's Necromancy to enable Henry's
conquest of the city.
When Francesco Petrarca [Petrarch] returned to Neapolis around A.D.1360, he visited again the Tomb of Master Vergilius, where he had first paid homage with Robert the Wise, and he planted a laurel, sacred to Apollo; many have come since to take a cutting from this holy tree, and the Laurel Twigs [Virgulae Laurea, a pun on Virgil] have travelled to many lands. His friend Giovanni Boccaccio also visited. We know that this place is the authentic Shrine of Divine Vergilius, for at the end of the sixteenth century the Bishop of Ariano still had ancient documents to prove it.
To this day Vergilius' Bones can be seen in the Castle, where they are protected by an iron cage. When the Bones are exposed, the wind wails and the sea is whipped into a frenzy, and this tempest continues until the bones are restored to their resting place. Many reputable people have verified this, including Conrad of Querfurt.
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