СНАР. ІІ.

OTHO DECLARED EMPEROR.

45

just, befitting, expedient, that we bestow our favour upon Otho. Long enough have we delayed, and laboured for unity by our letters and our envoys; it beseems us no longer to appear as if we were waiting the issue of events, as if like Peter we were denying the truth which is Christ; we must therefore publicly declare ourselves for Otho, himself devoted to the Church, of a race devoted to the Church, by his mother's side from the royal house of England, by his father from the Duke of Saxony, all, especially his ancestor the Emperor Lothair, the loyal sons of the Church; him, therefore we proclaim, acknowledge as king; him then we summon to take on himself the imperial crown."

Innocent, now committed in the strife, plunged into it with all the energy and activity of his character. To every order, to the archbishops, bishops and clergy, to the princes and nobles, to every distinguished individual, the Archbishops of Cologne and Magdeburg, the Archbishop of Aquileia, the Palgrave of the Rhine, the Landgrave of Thuringia, the King of Bohemia, the Counts of Flanders and of Brabant, were addressed letters from the See of Rome, admonitory, persuasive, or encouraging, according to their attachment or aversion to the cause of Otho. The Legate in France had directions to break off, if possible, the alliance of Philip Augustus with the Duke of Swabia: John of England was urged to take more active measures in favour of Otho; the Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina crossed the Alps with his co-legate the Brother Philip; he had an interview in Champagne with the legate in France, the Cardinal March. Bishop of Ostia. They proceeded to Liège, from thence to Aix-la-Chapelle. At Neuss Otho appeared before the three Papal legates, and took an oath of fidelity to the Pope couched in the strongest terms. He swore to maintain all the territories, fiefs, and rights of the See of Rome, granted by all the Emperors down

Rather later the Pope endeavours to alarm Philip Augustus. Philip (the Emperor), he says, had claimed the guardianship of Frederick II. and the possession of Sicily. If he had gained

January,

this "in superbiam elatus aliud cogitaret, et regnum Francorum sibi dispo neret subjugare, sicut olim disposuerat frater ejus Henricus."-Epist. i. 717. Did Innocent believe this?

The Legate proclaims Otho.

June 29.

Otho's Diet at Cologne.

wards, from Louis the Pious; to maintain the Pope in the possessions which he now holds, to assist him in obtaining those which he does not now occupy; to render the Pope that honour and obedience which has ever been rendered by the pious Catholic Emperors. He swore to conduct himself as to the affairs of the Roman people, the Lombard and Tuscan leagues, according to the Pope's counsel, as also in any treaty of peace with the King of France. "If on my account the Church of Rome is involved in war, I will aid it with money. This oath shall be renewed both by word of mouth and in writing when I shall receive the imperial crown. The Cardinal Guido departed to Cologne; he proclaimed with the applause of Otho's partisans, Otho Emperor in the name of June 8, 1201. Innocent. He awaited the concourse of prelates and nobles which he had summoned to Cologne: few came; some even of the bishops closed their doors against the messengers of the Legate. Again he summoned them to Corvey, and began to threaten the interdict. From thence he went to Bingen, where he spoke more openly of the interdict. From Bingen letters were written to the Pope, describing the progress of Otho's affairs as triumphant. "Nothing now is heard of Philip and his few partisans; with him as under God's displeasure every thing fails, he can gather no army; while Otho will soon appear at the head of 100,000 The Cardinal could hardly intend to deceive the Pope, he was no doubt himself deceived. At that very time were assembled at Bamberg, the Archbishops of Philip's Diet Magdeburg and Bremen, the Bishops of Worms, at Bamberg. Passau, Ratisbon, Constance, Augsburg, Eichstadt, Havelberg, Brandenberg, Meissen, Naumburg, and Bamberg; the Abbots of Fulda, Herzfeld, and Kempten; the King of Bohemia, the Dukes of Saxony, Austria, Steyermark, Meran, Zahringen, the "Stadtholder of Burgundy," and a number of other princes. They expressed themselves in terms of which the contemptuousness was but lightly veiled. They refused to believe (reason would not admit, loyal simplicity would not believe) that the unseemly language which the Bishop

Sept. 8, 1201.

men.

CHAP. II.

ANSWER OF THE PRINCES.

47

of Palestrina, who gave himself out as the Legate of the Pope, presumed to hold regarding the Empire, had been authorized by the admirable wisdom of the Pope, or the honoured conclave of the Cardinals. "Who has ever heard of such presumption? What proof can be adduced for pretensions, of which history, authentic documents, and even fable itself is silent? Where have ye read, ye Popes! where have ye heard, ye Cardinals! that your predecessors or your legates have dared to mingle themselves up with the election of a king of the Romans, either as electors, or as judges. The election of the Pope indeed required the assent of the Emperor, till Henry I. in his generosity removed that limitation. How dares his holiness the Pope to stretch forth his hand to seize that which belongs not to him? There is no higher council in a contested election for the Empire, than the Princes of the Empire. Jesus Christ has separated spiritual from temporal affairs. He who serves God should not mingle in worldly matters; he who aims at worldly power is unworthy of spiritual supremacy. Punish, therefore, most holy Father, the Bishop of Palestrina for his presumption, acknowledge Philip whom we have chosen, and, as it is your duty, prepare to crown him.”

Nov. 2.

Innocent replied in somewhat less dictatorial and imperious language; "it was not his intention to interfere with the rights of the electors, but it was his right, his duty, to examine and to prove the fitness of him whom he had solemnly to consecrate and to crown." His Legates had instructions to proceed with the greatest caution, to pause before they proclaimed the direct excommunication of the great prelates of the realm. These prelates were already under the ban, which comprehended the partisans of Philip. But of the virtual or direct excommunication they were equally contemptuous: not a prelate was estranged from Philip or attached to Otho, by the terror of the Papal censures. This of almost all the great

Non enim elegimus nos personam, sed electo ab eorum parte majori (Innocent had up to this time acknowledged the election of Philip to have been by a minority) qui vocem habere

array

ecclesiastics of Germany against the Pope during this whole contest is remarkable, but intelligible enough. Almost all the richer and more powerful Bishoprics were held by sons or kinsmen of the noble houses; they were German princes as well as German prelates. The survey of the order shows at once the ecclesiastical state of the realm, and unfolds the nature of the strife. The rivals for the Primacy, the Archbishopric of Mentz, were both of noble houses-Leopold of the house of Schonfeld, Siegfried of that of Eppstein. Leopold's ambition was to retain the Bishopric of Worms with that of Mentz. The Pope at once repudiated this monstrous demand, irrespective of the ulterior claims to the Primacy, which he adjudged to Siegfried. But the Chapter of Mentz, with three exceptions, were for Leopold and Philip (it was the same cause to them). Mentz long refused to open her gates to the Pope's Primate. Leopold, warlike, enterprising, restless, seems to have nourished a mortal hatred to Innocent; he threw back, as has been said, the ban of the Pope, and solemnly excommunicated the successor of St. Peter; and at length, leaving both the See to which he aspired and that which he actually possessed, he descended into Italy, in order to instigate the cities of Romagna to throw off the Papal yoke. The banner of the Archbishop of Mentz floated in the van of the anti-Papal army. In many of these cities the Bishop of Worms met with success; and hence, when after the death of Philip a general amnesty was granted to his civil and ecclesiastical partisans, Leopold only was excluded, and abandoned to the vengeance of the Pope. Such was the state of the Primacy; like the Empire, an object of fierce and irreconcilcable strife. The Archbishop of Treves, timid, avaricious, and time-serving, was on the side which paid him best. He had been inclined to Otho, then fell off to Philip. At one time he offered to resign his See, and then, being supported by the inhabitants of Treves, declared for Philip. He was excommunicated by the Legate; the Archbishop of Cologne empowered to seize his domains; yet even when he was bought to the party of Philip, he made excuses to elude a public meeting and

CHAP. II.

GERMAN HIERARCHY FOR PHILIP.

49

acknowledgment of the Emperor. Adolph, Archbishop of Cologne, had raised Otho to the Empire, crowned him in Aix-la-Chapelle; he had been the soul of the confederacy; but already there were dark rumours of his treachery and meditated revolt. That revolt took place at length; but wealthy Cologne repudiated her perfidious Prelate, maintained her fidelity to Otho, declared Adolph deposed, and elected a new Prelate, the Bishop of Bonn. The Archbishop of Salzburg was for Philip; he was held in such high respect that to him was entrusted the protestation of the Diet of Bamberg; he alone, at a later period, seemed worked upon by the Papal influence to incline somewhat more to the cause of Otho. The Archbishop of Bremen in his remote diocese contented himself with a more quiet support of Philip; the Archbishop of Magdeburg was unmoved alike by the friendly overtures of Innocent, and by the excommunication of the Legate. The Archbishop of Besançon received Philip with the utmost pomp, led him to his cathedral, and gave him all the honours of an Emperor. The Archbishop of Tarantaise had officiated at the coronation of Philip. The Bishops of Bamberg, Halberstadt, Spires, Passau, Eichstadt, Freisingen openly showed their contempt for the Papal mandates; the three latter, in defiance of the Pope, maintained the right of the Bishop of Worms to the Primacy. The Bishop of Spires seized two servants of the Pope, imprisoned one and threatened to hang the other. The Archbishops of Besançon and Tarantaise, the Bishops of Spires and Passau were cited to Rome to answer for their conduct; they paid not the least regard to the summons. The murder of the Bishop of Wurtzburg is a more frightful illustration of the state of things. Conrad of Rabensberg was related by his mother to the house of Hohenstaufen; he had been appointed Chancellor of the Empire by Henry. He was on his way to the Crusade, when he heard that the Chapter of Hildesheim had chosen him their Bishop. He fulfilled his vow. On his return he found that he had been elected Bishop of Wurtzburg. Conrad was tempted by the wealthier see, which was in the neighbourhood of the house of his race. He would willingly have retained both.

VOL. IV.

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