In May 1053 Leo IX. reached Monte Casino. There soon flocked round him a motley army, drawn together from every district of central and southern Italy and eager to uphold the Holy Father against the Norman usurpers; but the few hundred Germans, who had followed the Pope over the Alps, were probably more serviceable in the field than the mixed multitude of Italians. The Normans, abandoned by their allies, united all their scanty forces for a decisive struggle. The armies met on 18th June near Civitate (Civitella) on the banks of the Fortore, the place of the first Norman victory in Italy. The longhaired and gigantic Germans affected to despise their diminutive Norman foes, and the fiercest fight was fought between the Pope’s fellow-countrymen and Humphrey of Hauteville, the new Count of Apulia, who commanded the Norman right. There the Norman horse long sought in vain to break up the serried phalanx of the German infantry. But the left and centre of the Normans, led respectively by Richard, the new Count of Aversa, and Robert Guiscard, easily scattered the enemies before them, and, returning in good time from the pursuit, enabled Humphrey to win a final victory over the Germans. Leo IX. barely escaped with his liberty from the fatal field. Peter Damiani and the zealots denounced him for his unseemly participation in acts of violence, and the object which had induced him to depart from his sacred calling had been altogether unfulfilled. [Sidenote: Peace between the Normans and the Pope.] He retired to Benevento, where he soon came to an understanding with the Normans, giving them his apostolic blessing and absolving them from their blood-guiltiness. Even in the moment of victory the Normans had shown every respect to the head of the Church, and self-interest now combined with enthusiasm to make them his friends. But Leo entered into no formal treaty with them. He remained at Benevento, carefully watching their movements and corresponding with Constantine Monomachus in the hope of renewing the league against them. But his dealings with the Greek Empire soon broke down owing to the theological differences which the acute hostility of Leo and Michael Cærularius now brought to a head. Leo gave up all hope of western help when he fulminated the excommunication against Cærularius, which led at once to the final split of Catholic and Orthodox. In the spring of 1054 he returned to Rome and died. His exploits and holy life had given him a great reputation for holiness, and he was canonised as a saint. Even the disaster of Civitate and the eastern schism did little to diminish his glory. [Sidenote: Victor II., 1054–1057.]