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Page 44
The Saxons exulting in their first success, wished to revive the league
with Suabia; but first besought the Holy See to indicate which side they
should espouse. Gregory's saintly and heroic reply displays the pure
motives by which he was animated in excommunicating the king, and which
continued to govern his conduct throughout the contest. He cannot
recommend the anathematized monarch to the embraces of the Saxons--nor,
on the other hand, does he entirely commend the self-interested zeal of
Rodolph. He wishes to humble the king without exalting his adversaries--
to reform the empire without a civil war. Had he possessed a particle
of the lofty ambition which has sometimes been ascribed to him, this was
the moment to attach the Saxons to the Suabian confederacy, and give a
death-blow to the Franconian line. But instead of an animated
exhortation to arms, in the name of outraged religion, the magnanimous
Pontiff writes: "Forget not, I pray you, the frailty of human nature;
and remember the piety of his father and his mother, unequalled in our
time." Gregory's respect for Henry's parents seems to have inspired him
with the charitable hope, which never deserted him, that the king would
renounce his vices and return to virtue. It is well to keep this in
view, since it is easier, after an inquiry into the struggle between
them, to justify the severity than the lenity of the Holy See.
The fifteenth of October had at length arrived, and the eyes of Germany
were eagerly directed to Tribur. The left bank of the Rhine was
glittering with the chivalry of Upper Germany, and the legions of Suabia
were encamped along the bristling river. Here might be seen the swarthy
Bohemian, the stern Thuringian rider, the gay Loinhard, and the gigantic
Swiss, all mingling together, and apparently indifferent as to where
they might be led. Gilbert de Hers felt a new and ardent delight in
gazing upon the long and dazzling array of helmets and spears. He longed
for the hour when the whole mass would be in motion against a body as
beautiful and powerful as itself. With far different feelings did Father
Omehr behold the formidable battalia. He knew that the pomp of war, if
often sung by poets, is oftener chronicled in hell. In the beautiful
language of the age, he had been taught that "Peace is the language of
heaven, for Christ, who came from heaven, spoke that language, saying,
'_Pax vobis!_' It is the language of Angels, who cried, exulting, '_In
terra pax!_' It is the language of the Apostles, who thus greeted every
house they entered: '_Pax huic domui_'" Were the hasty and unscrupulous
penmen of our generation to draw their information from the writings of
the Saints, instead of from martial legends or miserable perversions
even of these, they would find the spirit of the Ages of Faith
eminently pacific, and could be induced so to represent it. At least,
the Church, the teacher and the regenerator of Europe, breathed nothing
but "Peace!" Many holy doctors went so far as to condemn hunting, as
being calculated to make men love war. And even the war-cry of the
red-crossed knights was: "_Mansuetudinem qu�rimus et non bella!_"
The nobles of the empire, the principal prelates who remained faithful
to Rome, and the Papal legates, Siccard, Patriarch of Aquileia, and
Altmann, Bishop of Passau, were assembled within the town in solemn
council. Scarcely, however, had their deliberations begun, before Otto
of Nordheim, at the head of the flower of Saxony, appeared among them
and declared himself in their favor. Then former jealousies and wrongs
were forgotten, and Otto and Welf and Rodolph, cordially embracing each
other, devoted themselves to the execution of whatever enterprise the
common cause might require. Seven days were consumed by the council in
the discussion of the diseases, the wants, and the dangers of the State.
In the meantime, Henry, apprised of the meeting, had hastened with his
army to Oppenheim, and occupied the opposite side of the river.
When informed that his cruelty, his blasphemy, his perfidy were strongly
exposed and unanimously condemned, and that he was denounced as a
violator of law and propriety, false to the dignity of the Church, and
faithless to the State, he implored the princes to accept his
contrition, and offered to resign all but the insignia of royalty, with
which he could not honorably part, and to give hostages for his future
good behavior. But the council replied that they knew his sincerity too
well to desire another proof of it; and that a perfidy so deeply rooted
as his must be incurable. The messages of the monarch served only to
inflame his opponents still more violently against him; and the princes,
disgusted with his pretended submission, resolved to elect a new king,
pass the Rhine, and attack the imperial troops. Henry, driven to
despair, concentrated his forces upon a single point, and prepared to
give battle, determined to conquer or die.
But here, again, the peaceful spirit of the Church interfered to prevent
a scene of carnage, by withholding the Apostolical suffrage from the
nominee to the imperial dignity. As in almost every battle chronicled by
Froissart, the bishops at first passed from army to army, exhorting to
peace, and studying to bring the point in dispute to an amicable
adjustment, so at this moment the Papal legates and the bishops
compelled the confederates to give the king to the end of the year to
repent, if he complied with certain conditions, the observance of which
was required for the peace and safety of Germany. The two most important
of these conditions were, to retire from public life, and to seek, in
person, at Rome, the raising of the interdict. It is impossible not to
see in this arrangement the finger of Gregory, solicitous to avert
bloodshed, and directed by his magnanimous and charitable repugnance to
credit Henry's utter depravity.
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