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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Truce of God, by George Henry Miles
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Truce of God
+       A Tale of the Eleventh Century
+
+Author: George Henry Miles
+
+Release Date: March 8, 2005 [EBook #15289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUCE OF GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geoff Horton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUCE OF GOD
+
+_A Tale of the Eleventh Century_
+
+By
+George Henry Miles
+
+With an Introduction By
+John C. Reville, S.J., Ph.D.
+
+New York
+Joseph F. Wagner, Inc.
+London: B. Herder
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAP.
+  I.
+  II.
+  III.
+  IV.
+  V.
+  VI.
+  VII.
+  VIII.
+  IX.
+  X.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+"The Truce of God" by our American novelist and dramatist, George Henry
+Miles, is not only a romantic and interesting story, it recalls one of
+the most striking achievements of the Middle Ages.
+
+After the tide of barbarian invasion, Goths and Vandals, Heruli,
+Burgundians and Franks had swept away the edifice of Roman civilization,
+had it not been for the regenerating influence of Christianity, another
+empire as cruel would have risen on the ruins of Rome. No other power
+would then have ruled but the sword. The sword was king, and received
+the worship of thousands. Now and then a ruler appeared like Theodoric,
+Charlemagne, the Lombard Luitprand, who used the sword on the whole for
+just and beneficent ends. And because these warrior kings, even in the
+midst of their conquests, brought some of the blessings of peace to
+their subject peoples, these peoples welcomed their sway. Peace was,
+then as now, one of the world's needs.
+
+Although the eighth, ninth and succeeding century were not without their
+brighter sides and were not those totally Dark Ages they have been
+represented by the enemies of the Church, nevertheless, seeds of evil
+passions, which in spite of her endeavors the Church had been unable
+completely to stifle, lingered in the hearts of those strong-limbed,
+strong-passioned Teutonic races which had succeeded to the tasks and
+responsibilities of pagan Rome. Those races did not have Rome's
+organizing power. By force, it is true, in a great measure, but force
+intelligently applied, but also by patience, by an instinct for justice
+and for order, Rome had welded her vast empire into a coherent whole.
+Rome really, and effectively ruled. She had authority, she had prestige,
+she was respected and feared, until the fatal day when, for her vices
+and tyranny, she began to be hated. That day her fate was sealed.
+
+The Teutonic races lacked the power of organization. They were strong
+and comparatively free from the vices of Rome; they had a rude sense of
+justice. But that very sense and instinct for that one essential of
+ordered life drove the individual to take the execution of the law and
+of justice into his own hands and to claim his rights at the point of
+the sword. The result can be easily imagined. The sword was never for a
+long time thrust back into the scabbard. Incessant wars, not at the
+bidding of the ruler, nor sanctioned by the voice of public authority or
+for the public welfare, but for private ends, for revenge, for greed and
+booty, were waged throughout the length and breadth of Europe.
+
+The civil government, or the empty simulacrum that went under the name,
+seemed powerless, for the simple reason that the strong arm of either a
+Charlemagne or a Charles Martel too seldom appeared to check the
+culprits, or because the civil government itself only added fuel to the
+flame, by the encouragement it gave to license and violence by its own
+evil example.
+
+But society had to protect itself. Conscious of its danger, and that it
+was doomed to destruction, if some remedy were not found, it evolved in
+the tenth and the following century, not an absolutely efficacious
+remedy, but one which enabled it to pass in comparative safety that
+dangerous period and carried European civilization to the full glories
+of the age of Dante, St. Louis and the Angel of the Schools. The remedy
+was feudalism.
+
+That institution has been misunderstood. It was called forth by special
+needs, and when the conditions which it met in an almost providential
+manner changed, it quietly passed away. But it rendered an important
+and never-to-be forgotten service to war-torn Europe. Feudalism can
+scarcely be called a complete and rounded system. For it was constantly
+undergoing modification. It was not the same north as south of the
+Loire. It was one thing on the west, and quite another on the east of
+the Rhine. In general it was, as Stubbs described it ("Constitutional
+History." Vol. 1, pp. 255, 256), "a regulated and fairly well graduated
+method of jurisdiction, based on land tenure, in which every lord, king,
+duke, earl or baron protected, judged, ruled, taxed the class next below
+him; ... in which private war, private coinage and private prisons took
+the place of the imperial institutions of power." Land, "the sacramental
+tie" then, "of all relations," and not money, was the chief wealth of
+those ages. For services rendered, therefore, fiefs or landed estates
+were the reward. Feudalism thus rested on a contract entered into by the
+nation represented by the king, which let out its lands to individuals
+who paid the rent not only by doing military service, but by rendering
+such services to the king as the king's courts might require. The bond
+was frequently extremely loose, and it was hard then to say which of the
+two was in reality the stronger, the feudal lord or the technically
+lower, but sometimes in reality stronger, vassal.
+
+The feudal lord was bound to support his vassal, and in return, had a
+right to expect his help in the hour of danger. The feudal lord owed his
+vassals justice, protection, shelter and refuge. If certain privileges,
+claimed by the feudal lord, were onerous, the vassal was not without
+some guarantee that he would be shown fair play; for it was evident that
+unless in some way rights and obligations were fairly well balanced, and
+there was a fair return for service rendered, the whole system would
+soon crumble to pieces.
+
+The "system," if it can be called one, was, as we have said, by no means
+perfect, but it bridged the historic gap which stretches between the
+fall of the Carolingian power and the full dawn of the Middle Ages. It
+saved Europe from anarchy. Its blessings cannot be denied. It helped to
+foster the love of independence, of self-government, of local
+institutions, of communal and municipal freedom. The vassal that lived
+under the shadows of the strong towers of a feudal lord did not look
+much further beyond, to the king in his palace or in his courts of
+justice, for protection. He found it closer at home. The vassal,
+moreover, began to think of his own rights and privileges, to value them
+and to ask that they be enforced. The idea of right and law, one of the
+most deeply engraved in the Christian conscience in the Middle Ages,
+grew and developed. The barons were the first to claim these rights;
+gradually the whole nation imitated them. Even when they claimed them,
+primarily for themselves, the whole nation participated sooner or later
+in their blessings. The Barons of Runnymede were fighting the battles of
+every ploughboy in England when they wrenched _Magna Charta_ from King
+John.
+
+Although many a feudal lord was a proud and hard-driving master, yet the
+vassal and the serf knew that there were limits which his lord dared not
+transgress; that the very spirit of his "caste", for such to a certain
+extent was the social rank to which the feudal lord belonged, would not
+tolerate any too flagrant a violation of his privileges. A bond of
+united interests was found between feudal noble and his vassal. They
+were found side by side in war; their larger interests were the same in
+peace. Loyalty, honor, fidelity took deep root in the society which they
+represented.
+
+As the aristocracy of feudalism was founded, not on wealth or money, but
+on land tenure, one of the most stable titles to prestige and authority
+found in history, there was in the underlying concept of society in
+those days a feeling of stability and permanency, which for a time made
+feudalism, in spite of its flaws, a bulwark of order. It fostered even
+a strong family spirit. Baron, count or earl, behind the thick ramparts
+of his castle, lived a patriarchal life. He was, with his retainers and
+men-at-arms, his chaplains, to watch over his spiritual needs, his wife
+and children and vassals, dependent upon him for protection and safety,
+impelled by every sense of honor, duty and chivalry to make them feel
+that he was their sword and buckler. They were closely knit to him.
+There was a patriarchal bond between them. Family spirit grew strong
+and, under the teaching of the Church, it became pure.
+
+Feudalism had its flaws. It was strictly an aristocratic institution. It
+fostered the spirit of pride and bore harshly at times upon the serf and
+the man of low degree. But its harsher features were softened by the
+teachings of the Church. When it was at its height, voices of Popes like
+Alexander III and of Doctors like St. Thomas Aquinas, were lifted to
+proclaim the equality of all men in the sight of God. At the altar, serf
+and master, count or cottier, knelt side by side. In the monasteries and
+convents, the poor man's son might wear the Abbot's ring and in the
+assemblies and councils of the realm, the poor clerk of former days,
+might speak with all the authority of a Bishop to sway the destinies of
+both Church and State.
+
+One of the greatest evils of feudalism was that it fostered to excess
+the warlike spirit. Of its very nature, the system was a complex one. It
+gave rise to countless misunderstandings between the various grades of
+its involved hierarchy. The opportunities and plausible pretexts for
+misunderstandings, quarrels and war were many. A petty quarrel in
+Burgundy, in Champagne, in the Berry in France, involved not only the
+duke and count of these territories but almost every vassal or feudal
+lord in the province. The same might be said of the German nobles in
+Suabia, Thuringia and Franconia. Private wars were frequent, and though
+the barbarism of the past ages had almost completely disappeared under
+the teaching of the Gospel, these contests, as might be expected, were
+both sanguinary and wasteful.
+
+The Church fought manfully against these private wars. It took every
+possible means to prevent them entirely. When in the nature of things,
+it found it impossible to do away with them altogether, it tried to
+mitigate their horrors, to limit their field of operation, to diminish
+their savagery. If the kingly authority was flouted, save perhaps when a
+sturdy ruler like William the Conqueror in England, or Hugh Capet in
+France, showed that there was a man at the helm, who meant to rule and
+was not afraid to quell rebellious earls and make them obey, there was
+one power these mail-clad warriors respected. They respected the
+Apostles Peter and Paul, they respected My Lord the Pope, and the
+Bishops of France and Normandy and England who shared in their
+authority. They flouted a king's edict, but none but hardened criminals
+among them laughed at an episcopal or a Papal excommunication.
+
+These rude men, and it places their rude age high in the scale of
+civilization, respected religion. They lowered the sword before the
+Cross. The Church had for the disobedient and the refractory one
+terrible weapon, which she was loath to use, but which she occasionally
+used with swift and tragic effect, the weapon of excommunication. Many a
+modern historian or philosopher has smiled good-naturedly and in mild
+contempt at this weapon used by the Church to frighten her children,
+much as children are frightened by flaunting some horrid tale of ogre or
+hobgoblin before them. Yet the student of history might profitably study
+the use which the Church has made of such an instrument, and find in it
+one of the most effective causes of social regeneration in the Middle
+Ages.
+
+The Church, in order to fight the military and armed excesses of
+feudalism, employed many means. It is to her that we owe what is known
+as the "Truce of God," or the enforced temporary suspension of
+hostilities usually, from the sunset of each Wednesday to Monday
+morning. Under pain of excommunication, during that interval, which at
+several times was further extended so as to comprise the seasons of
+Advent and Lent, and some of the major feasts, the sword might not be
+drawn in private quarrel. From a decree of the Council of Elne, in the
+South of France, we find that the "Truce of God," the "_Treuga Dei_" as
+it was technically called, was in full honor and had reached the height
+of its beneficent power in 1207. But long before, in the days when
+Gregory VII was Pope, and William of Normandy had just won his English
+crown, and Henry III ruled in Germany and Henry I in France, in the days
+when feudalism was making its first attempts to bring order out of
+chaos, several councils of the Church in France and in Normandy had
+traced out the plan and the outlines of the "Truce of God." Earlier
+even, at the Councils of Charroux (989), Narbonne (990), Le Puy and Anse
+(990), severe penalties were pronounced against those who wantonly in
+time of war destroyed the poor man's cattle or harried his fields, or
+carried off his beasts of burden. "Leagues of Peace" were formed to
+diminish the horrors of war, to protect the helpless, to enforce order.
+The Council of Poitiers, where there is one of the earliest mentions of
+these "Leagues of Peace," was held 1223 years ago. The Council of
+Bourges in 1031 created a species of national militia to police the
+rural districts and prevent war. Our ancestors believed in leagues with
+"teeth in them." From France where the movement had its origin and
+culminated at Elne (1207) in the full organization of the "Truce of
+God," it spread eastward into Germany and Thuringia. The German duchies
+and the Austrian marches submitted soon after to its humanitarian and
+Christian code. In 1030, the Pope, the French and German princes united
+their efforts for the development of the forerunners of the "Truce of
+God," the conventions known as the "Peace of God." The Peace, the
+earlier institution of the two, exempted from the evils of war,
+churches, monasteries, clerics, children, pilgrims, husbandmen; the
+cattle, the fields, the vineyards of the toiler; his instruments of
+labor, his barns, his bakehouse, his milch cows, his goats and his fowl.
+The Truce forbade war at certain "closed seasons." It gave angry
+passions time to subside, and endeavored to discredit war by making
+peace more desirable and its blessings more prolonged. It is probable
+that the Council of Charroux already mentioned laid the germs of the
+Truce. At the Council of Elne we see it fully organized. In 1139 the
+Tenth General Council, the Second Lateran, gave in its eleventh Canon
+its official approbation to what must be considered one of the most
+beautiful institutions of the Middle Ages.
+
+Under the guidance of our American author, George Henry Miles, we are
+led back to the days of the eleventh century. He is an accurate and
+picturesque chronicler of that iron, yet chivalrous age. If on the one
+hand, we see the sinister figure of Henry IV of Germany, on the other we
+find the austere but noble monk Hildebrand, who became Pope St. Gregory
+VII. We hear the clash of swords drawn in private brawl and vendetta,
+but see them put back into the scabbard at the sound of the church bells
+that announce the beginning of the "Truce of God." The tale opens
+beneath the arches of a Suabian forest, with Gilbert de Hers and Henry
+de Stramen facing each other's swords as mortal foes; it closes with
+Gilbert and Henry, now reconciled, kneeling at the tomb of the fair and
+lovely Lady Margaret, their hates forgotten before the grave of
+innocence and maidenly devotion, and learning from the hallowed memory
+of the dead, the lesson of that forgiveness that makes us divine.
+
+The American novelist, like the Italian Manzoni, teaches the lesson
+inculcated in "The Betrothed" ("_I Promessi Sposi_"). It is a lesson
+of forgiveness. It is noblest to forgive. Forgiveness is divine. Forgive
+seventy times seventy times, again and again. In Manzoni's story, the
+saintly Frederick Borromeo preaches and acts that sublime lesson in his
+scene with the _Innominato_ with compelling eloquence. In "The Truce of
+God," the Lady Margaret, the monk Omehr, the very woes of the Houses of
+Hers and Stramen, the tragic madness of the unfortunate Bertha, the
+blood shed in a senseless and passionate quarrel, the bells of the
+sanctuary bidding the warring factions sheathe the sword, incessantly
+proclaim the same duty. In writing his story, George Henry Miles was not
+only painting for us a picture aglow with the life of olden times, but
+pointing out in a masterly way, the historic rôle of the Church in
+molding the manners of an entire generation.
+
+The reader of "The Truce of God," in spite of the fact that the romance
+seems to be sketched only in its broadest outlines, gets a distinct
+knowledge of its chief actors. They live before his eyes. De Hers and
+Stramen are not mere abstractions. They have the rugged, clear-cut
+character, the sudden passions, the quick and at times dangerous and
+savage impulses of the men of the eleventh century. In them the
+barbarian has not yet been completely tamed. But neither has he been
+given full rein. Somewhere in these hearts, there lurks a sentiment of
+honor, of knighthood, which the Church of Christ has ennobled, and to
+which the helpless and the innocent do not appeal in vain.
+
+The American has caught this sentiment and plays upon it skillfully. His
+setting is in keeping with his story. The wandering minstrel, the
+turreted castle, the festive board, the high-vaulted hall with its oaken
+rafters, the chase, the wide reaches of the forests of Franconia, the
+beetling ramparts of old feudal castles by the Rhine or the lovely
+shores of the Lake of Constance, the vineyards on the slopes of sunny
+hills, the bannered squadrons, the din of battle, the crash of helm and
+spear, are brought before us with dramatic power. Historic figures
+appear on the scene. Close to the principal actors in the story, we see
+the gallant Rodolph of Arles, Godefroi de Bouillon, Berchtold of
+Carinthia, Hohenstaufen and Welf, acting their life drama at the council
+board or on the field of battle. We see a woman and an old man, Mathilda
+of Tuscany and Pope St. Gregory VII, slowly but surely building on the
+foundations of a half-molded civilization the ramparts of the City of
+God. "The Truce of God" is true to the requirements of the historical
+romance. It summons before us a forgotten past, and makes it live. We
+forget in the vitality and artistic grouping of the picture, in the
+nobility of the author's purpose and the lasting moral effect of the
+story, the occasional stiffness of the style. It is the style of the
+refined scholar, perhaps also of the bookman and the too conscious
+critic. Occasionally it lacks spontaneity, directness and naturalness.
+It might unbend more and forget ceremony. But it is picturesque,
+forcible, clear, and bears us along with its swing and dramatic
+movement.
+
+American Catholics must not forget the excellent work done by George
+Henry Miles for the cause of Catholic literature, the more so as his
+name is not infrequently omitted from many popular histories of American
+literature. Yet the author of "The Truce of God" had mastered the story
+teller's and the dramatist's art. "If there was ever a born
+_littérateur_," writes Eugene L. Didier, in _The Catholic World_ for
+May, 1881, "that man was George Henry Miles. His taste was pure,
+exquisite and refined, his imagination was rich, vivid, and almost
+oriental in its warmth." Moreover, he consecrated his life and his
+talents to the cause of Catholic education, identifying himself for many
+years with Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, with whose
+annals so much of the early history of the Catholic Church in the
+United States, is closely linked.
+
+The author of "The Truce of God" was born in Baltimore, July 31, 1824;
+he died at Emmitsburg, July 23, 1872. In his twelfth year the lad
+entered Mount St. Mary's College. Here he became a Catholic and had
+afterwards the happiness of seeing his family follow him into the
+Church. The studies at the "Mountain" in those days were still under the
+magic and salutary spell of the venerable founder, Bishop Dubois, and
+his followers. They were old fashioned, but they were solid, with the
+classics of Greece and Rome, mathematics, philosophy and religion as
+their foundation. They were eminently calculated to mold thinkers,
+scholars and cultured Catholic gentlemen. They left a deep impression on
+the young Marylander. After his graduation at the end of the scholastic
+year, 1843, the law for a short while lured him away, to its digests,
+its quiddits and quillets, abstracts and briefs. But it was putting
+Pegasus in pound. Miles at a lawyer's task was as much out of place as
+Edgar Allan Poe was when mounting guard as a cadet at West Point, or
+Charles Lamb with a quill behind his ear balancing his ledger in India
+House. The Mountain and the Muses lured him back to Emmitsburg, where a
+short distance from the college gate, in the quiet retreat of
+Thornbrook, he settled to his books and a professor's tasks at the
+Mount. Close by were the lovely haunts of La Salette, Hillside, Loretto,
+Tanglewood, Andorra, Mt. Carmel, every little cottage and garden,
+eloquent, it has been said, of the faith and piety of the builders of
+the Mount, who breathed the spirit that thus baptized them ("The Story
+of the Mountain. Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, Emmitsburg,
+Maryland." By the Rev. E. McSweeny. Vol. II, p. 102). For its historic
+associations, its panorama of hills, wooded slopes and fields, the spot
+could scarcely be matched within the wide amphitheater of the hills of
+Maryland.
+
+To Emmitsburg, to his "boys", the young professor of English literature
+gave his enthusiasm, his idealism, his love of all that was fair in art
+and the world of books. His enthusiasm inspired them with a love of
+artistic excellence, which, neither in his own work, nor in that of his
+pupils would tolerate anything commonplace. Before coming to Thornbrook,
+he had written "The Truce of God," first published as a serial in the
+_United States Catholic Magazine_, established by John Murphy of
+Baltimore, and which under the editorship of Bishop Martin John Spalding
+and the Rev. Charles I. White achieved a national reputation. Two other
+tales, "Loretto," and the "Governess," had also been published and were
+extremely popular. Like "The Truce of God," they were of the purest
+moral tone, elegant in diction, the work of a thorough literary
+craftsman. In 1850, the American actor, Edwin Forrest, offered a prize
+of $1,000.00 for the best drama written by an American. Miles easily
+carried off the reward with his play "Mohammed." Rich with all the
+colors of the East, glowing with the warmth and poetry of Arabian
+romance and story, "Mohammed" was rather the work of a thinker and a
+poet than of a master dramatist. It was never acted, Forrest himself
+judging that it had not that ebb and flow of passion, nor that strong
+presentation of character which of all things are so necessary for the
+stage. Yet in other plays, notably in "_Señor Valiente_" and especially
+in "_De Soto_," and "Mary's Birthday," Miles showed that in him the
+dramatic note was not lacking, and in both he scored remarkable
+successes.
+
+From Baltimore, after he had left the pursuit of the law, and from
+Thornbrook, close to the academic halls in which from 1859 he passed his
+entire life, Miles seldom emerged into public notice. Twice he visited
+Europe, his impressions of the second journey (1864) being recorded in
+"Glimpses of Tuscany." In 1851 President Fillmore sent him on a
+confidential mission to Madrid. That same year, John Howard Payne, the
+loved singer of "Home, Sweet Home," was reinstated in his consulship of
+Tunis. Like Miles, that wandering bard was a convert to the Catholic
+Faith. But unlike Miles, he did not enter the Church until the very end
+of his life, practically on his death bed. Catholics will be glad to
+know that the song, "Home, Sweet Home," whose underlying melody Payne
+caught from the lips of an Italian peasant girl, was written by one who,
+after many strange wanderings, found "Home" at last in that Church which
+is the mistress and inspirer of art. Like Payne, Miles captured the
+fancy of his countrymen with one song, "Said the Rose," which at one
+time was the most popular song in the United States. It has not the
+depth and the melting tenderness of "Home, Sweet Home," but its quaint
+fancy and melodious verse struck a responsive chord. In his "Inkerman,"
+a stirring ballad, which every American boy of a former age knew by
+heart, there was an echo of the "Lays of Ancient Rome," of the "Lays" of
+Scott and Aytoun, while in the more ambitious "Christine" (1866), there
+was the accent of the genuine poet, something that recalled the
+"Christabel" of Coleridge. Miles had projected a series of studies on
+the characters and plays of Shakespeare. Judging from two remaining
+fragments, "Hamlet" and "Macbeth," the latter a mere outline, we regret
+that the writer was not able to finish the task. To beauty of language
+his study of "Hamlet" adds keen analytical powers and original views.
+("An American Catholic Poet," _The Catholic World_. Vol. XXXIII, p. 145
+ff.)
+
+In the quiet churchyard on the slope of his beloved Mountain, in a
+simple grave, over which the green hills of Maryland keep guard, not far
+from the class-rooms and the chapel he loved, rest the mortal remains of
+the author of "The Truce of God." It is not necessary to describe him.
+Those who read this simple but romantic and stirring tale of the
+eleventh century which he wrote three-quarters of a century ago, cannot
+fail to catch the main features of the man. They will conclude that in
+George Henry Miles, religion and art, the purest ideals of the Catholic
+faith and the highest standards of culture and letters, are blended in
+rare proportion.
+
+JOHN C. REVILLE, S.J.,
+_Editor-in-chief_.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUCE OF GOD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+ Of ancient deeds so long forgot;
+ Of feuds whose memory was not;
+ Of forests now laid waste and bare;
+ Of towers which harbor now the hare;
+ Of manners long since changed and gone;
+ Of chiefs who under their gray stone
+ So long had slept, that fickle fame
+ Hath blotted from her rolls their name.
+
+ SCOTT.
+
+
+Reader! if your mind, harassed with the cares of a utilitarian age,
+require an hour of recreation; if a legend of a far different and far
+distant day have aught that can claim your sympathy or awaken your
+attention; if the "Dark Ages" be to you Ages of Faith, or even lit with
+the gray morning-light of civilization, come wander back with me beyond
+the experimental revolution of the sixteenth century, to the time when
+the Gothic temples of the living God were new.
+
+It was the eleventh century: the sun shone as brightly then as now; ay,
+and virtue too, though sympathy for a lustful tyrant has stamped the age
+with infamy. Through an extensive forest in Suabia, as the old chronicle
+from which I copy relates, a gallant youth was urging on, with voice and
+rein, a steed that seemed as bold and fiery as his rider. The youth's
+flashing eye, and the spear in his hand, told clearly enough that the
+boar was before him. On he went, as if the forest were his element, now
+bending low beneath the knotted bough, now swerving aside from the stern
+old trunk which sturdily opposed his progress, and seemed to mock him as
+he passed. On he went, as if danger were behind and safety before him;
+as if he galloped to save his own life, not to risk it in taking a
+boar's. An angry bark and a fearful howl rang in the distance, and the
+hunter's bugle sounded a merry blast. On he went, faster than before,
+and now as if he sought his mortal foe. The boar was at bay; monarch of
+the wood, he had turned to defend his realm, and his white tusks were
+soon red with the blood of the noble hounds who fearlessly disputed his
+right. The youth leaped from his horse with the speed of thought. Bred
+to the chase, the well-trained animal stood firm while his master
+cautiously, but with the calmness of the victor of a hundred frays,
+advanced against the bristling monster. Quitting the dogs for this new
+assailant, the boar came madly on; the huntsman sank upon one knee, and
+so true was his eye, and so firm his hand, that the heart of the savage
+was cloven by the spear. The youth rose to his feet, dizzy from the
+shock, and, springing nimbly upon the grim body of his prostrate victim,
+his fine form swelling with the rapture of his recent triumph, brought
+his horn to his lips, and again its notes went ringing merrily through
+the woods.
+
+Echoes, like fading memories, growing fainter and fainter as they
+receded, gave the only response.
+
+"Where can they be?" said the youth, "their steeds were fleet. Out of
+sight and out of hearing! How completely I have beaten them."
+
+He laughed triumphantly as he said this, and, sitting down upon the long
+grass, began to caress an enormous hound that panted at his feet, as
+unconcernedly as though the forest now contained nothing more formidable
+than doves or lambs. His horse, thoroughly domesticated, strayed a
+little from the dead boar, feeding as it went.
+
+The youth took off his plumed bonnet, and, flinging back his long black
+hair, fell into one of those light, smiling day-dreams which belong only
+to the young and innocent. He built fifteen air-castles in as many
+minutes. But at last he grew impatient; he sounded blast after blast;
+still no answer came. The trees kept up their sleepy sigh, and the
+sapless branches creaked, but no human voice, no human foot save his
+own, broke the silence.
+
+"Thou hast given me a goodly chase," exclaimed the youth, springing up
+and addressing the boar, "and I shall wear this in remembrance of thee."
+
+He drew his hunting-knife, and soon uprooted one of the monster's tusks.
+Depositing the precious relic in a hunting pouch he wore at his side, he
+mounted his horse, rather puzzled where to go.
+
+"It is easier to get in this oaken field than to get out of it," said
+our hunter, "but if the forest have an end, I'll find it. Now, my dear
+loitering friends, we hunt each other."
+
+Giving his horse the spur, and allowing the creature to choose its
+course, he called on the lagging hounds, and dashed away as rapidly as
+he had come. The wood was light as ever, and here and there sunbeam
+lay, like a golden spear, along the ground yet the rich lustre of the
+sky, wherever it was visible the hum of numberless insects, the fresh
+flight of the awakened bird, and the freer and cooler breeze, warned the
+youth that sunset was near. On went the noble steed, with steady step
+and trembling nostril while his finely veined ears spoke so rapidly that
+the rider could scarcely understand their language. They passed through
+long lines of trees that opened into other lines, from one limited
+horizon to another, yet all was green before and behind, to the right
+and to the left, one interminable emerald. The light turned from a rich
+gold to a golden red, and yet it played only on whispering leaves and on
+the long grass at their feet. Still the youth felt no fear, but hummed
+some old ballad, or drew a lively peal from his horn. He dismounted to
+refresh himself at a spring that had nestled among some rocks, and was
+murmuring there like a spoiled child. Having cared for the gallant
+animal which had borne him so well, he stretched himself a moment upon
+the green bank.
+
+"Ha! what is that!" he exclaimed, bending forward to listen; "a
+horseman? Let him come; friend or foe, I shall be glad to see him."
+
+He was on his horse in a moment. As he turned to look behind, he saw a
+gentleman, richly dressed, and admirably mounted, coming at full speed
+from another quarter of the wood. The stranger was quite young, perhaps
+a year or two older than our hunter, but certainly not over
+twenty-three. The youth knit his brows as the horseman approached, and
+eyed him keenly and sternly. When within a few yards of the spring, the
+stranger dismounted and drew his sword. The youth did the same. His
+handsome features were now distorted with anger and disdain, and it was
+difficult to recognize in the fierce figure, that seemed the guardian
+dragon of the fountain, the laughing boy who sat there so quietly a
+moment before. The stranger appeared to return the bitter hatred.
+
+"I have found you, Gilbert de Hers," he muttered; "your bugle has rung
+your knell."
+
+Gilbert replied but by a laugh of scorn, and the next instant their
+swords gleamed in the air. But just as the two blades met with a sharp
+clang, there came stealing through the wood the mellow sound of a
+distant bell. It was like the voice of an angel forbidding strife. Those
+soft, lingering notes seemed to have won a sweetness from the skies to
+pour out upon the world, and, filling the space between field and cloud,
+connected for a moment heaven and earth--for they wake in the heart of
+man the same emotions more perfectly felt in paradise.
+
+For many centuries after the destruction of the Roman Empire, when all
+human institutions were swept away by the resistless torrent that poured
+from the North, and the Church of God alone stood safe and firm, with
+the rainbow of heaven around her, the stern warriors of Germany asserted
+their rights, or redressed their wrongs with the sword, and scorned to
+bow before the impotent decrees of a civil tribunal. A regular system of
+private warfare gradually sprang up, which falsely led every man of
+honor to revenge any real or fancied offence offered to any of his
+kindred. The most deadly enmity frequently existed between neighboring
+chiefs, and the bitter feeling was transmitted unimpaired from father to
+son. The most dreadful consequences inevitably resulted from this fatal
+installation of might in the outraged temple of justice. Until lately a
+blind prejudice and a perverted history have charged this unfortunate
+state of things to the pernicious influence of the Church of Rome. But
+the wiser Protestants of the present day, considering it rather a poor
+compliment to their faith to assign its birth to the sixteenth century,
+are beginning to be awake to the powerful instrumentality of the
+Christian Church in the regeneration of mankind, and the production of
+modern civilization. Few, indeed, even with the light of history, can
+form an adequate idea of the immensity of the task assigned to
+Christianity in shedding light over the chaos that followed the
+overthrow of Rome, in reducing it to order, and preparing the nicely
+fitted elements of modern Europe.
+
+The Catholic Church beheld, and bitterly deplored, the evils of private
+warfare. Council after council fulminated its decrees against the
+pernicious system; men were exhorted by the sacred relics of the Saints
+to extinguish their animosities, and abstain from violence. But the
+custom had taken deep root; for, in the language of a well-known
+Protestant historian, "it flattered the pride of the nobles, and
+gratified their favorite passions." But in the eleventh century the
+Church had gained a partial victory over the dearest appetites of the
+fiery Frank and the warlike Saxon. It was enacted, under pain of
+excommunication, that private warfare should cease from the sunset of
+Wednesday to the morning of Monday, and few were hardy enough to expose
+themselves to the penalty. The respite from hostilities which followed
+was called the "Truce of God."
+
+It was not the musical voice of the bell that made Gilbert de Hers pause
+on the very threshold of the struggle, and bite his lip until it grew
+white; but the sweet-toned bell announced the sunset of Wednesday. The
+young men stood gazing at each other, as though some spell had
+transformed them into stone. But the messenger of peace had stayed the
+uplifted sword, and, sheathing their unstained weapons, they knelt upon
+the green carpet beneath them, and put forth the same prayer to the same
+God.
+
+It is a sight that may well command the eyes of Angels, when, though
+deaf to earthly laws and considerations, the angry heart, in the first
+heat of its wild career, still stops obedient to the voice of religion.
+Amid the dross of human frailty, the pure metal shines with the lustre
+that surrounds the sinner in the morning of his conversion.
+
+They rose almost together, and their faces, so lately flushed with
+anger, were now calm and subdued.
+
+"Farewell! Henry de Stramen," said Gilbert, as he leaped into the
+saddle.
+
+"Farewell!" replied his antagonist, and, almost side by side, they
+proceeded in the direction of the bell.
+
+A deadly feud was raging between the families of Hers and Stramen. It
+had continued for more than twenty years, and now burned with unabated
+fury. It originated in some dispute between Gilbert's father and the
+Lord Robert de Stramen, Henry's uncle, which resulted in the death of
+the latter. The Baron of Hers was charged with the murder, and, though
+he persisted in declaring his innocence, Henry's impetuous father, the
+Lord Sandrit de Stramen, swore over the dead body of his brother to take
+a bitter revenge on the Baron of Hers and all his line. Henry de Stramen
+had been nursed in the bitterest hostility to all who bore the name of
+Hers, and the unrelenting persecution of the Lord Sandrit had made
+Gilbert detest most cordially the house of Stramen. It was with mutual
+hatred, then, that the two young men had met at the spring. They knew
+each other well, for they had often fought hand to hand, with their
+kinsmen and serfs around them. Now they were alone, and what a triumph
+would be the victor's! but the bell, the Tell of peace, the
+silver-tongued herald of the truce of God, had sheathed their weapons.
+
+It could not have been without a severe struggle that the two mortal
+foes rode quietly in the same direction, with but a few yards between
+them. They were not half an hour in the saddle when they discovered the
+spire of the church they were both in search of, rising gracefully above
+the trees. As they emerged from the forest, they could see stretching
+before them a broad expanse of hill and dale, wood and field. Scattered
+here and there were the humble dwellings of the forester and husbandman,
+and, from their midst, towering above them, like Jupiter among the
+demigods, stately and stern rose the old castle of the house of Stramen.
+The western sky was still bathed in light, and shared its glories with
+the earth; airy clouds, ever changing their hues, sported, like
+chameleons, on the horizon; the stream that wound around the castle
+seemed sheeted with polished silver: the herds and flocks were all
+still, and the voice of the birds was the only sound; and, amid this
+beauty and repose, how lovely and majestic was that finely moulded
+Gothic church!
+
+Henry de Stramen tied his horse to a tree, and was soon lost in the
+elegantly carved doorway. Gilbert paused a moment, and gazed upon the
+open country before him with very mingled emotions. He had been there
+before at the head of his clan to disturb the serenity which, in spite
+of himself, was now softening his heart. He did not linger long, but led
+his horse a little within the woods, and entered the church. The
+gray-headed priest at the altar was solemnly chanting, from the
+beautiful liturgy of the Church, as he knelt down on the hard aisle, and
+the branching ceiling seemed to catch and repeat the notes. Through the
+stained window, where was pictured in unfading colors many a scene
+suggesting the goodness and mercy of God, and the blessed tidings of
+salvation, came the fading light of day, softened and beautiful. It was
+not merely the superior genius of the age that made the chapels and
+cathedrals of the Ages of Faith so immensely superior to the creations
+of the present day, but its piety too; that generous and pure devotion
+which induced our ancestors to employ their best faculties and richest
+treasures in preparing an abode as worthy as earth could make it of the
+presence of the Son of God. Then the house of the minister was not more
+splendid than his church, his sideboard not more valuable than the
+altar.
+
+Gilbert saw around him the hard, sunburnt features, the stalwart forms
+he had marked in the desperate fray; he could touch the hands, now
+clasped in prayer, that had been so often raised against him in anger.
+Beside him knelt the maiden, with her brow all smooth and unfurrowed by
+care, and the matron who, numbering more than double her years, had felt
+more than treble her sorrows. The youth was deeply moved, as he gazed,
+and thought he might have robbed that mother of her son, that wife of
+her husband, that sister of a brother. Those gentle, melancholy beings
+had never harmed him, and, perhaps, in a moment of passion, he had
+deprived their existence of half its sweetness, and turned their smiles
+to tears. It was with an aching, an humbled heart that he bowed his head
+until it touched the cold floor, when the Lamb without spot was elevated
+for the adoration of the faithful.
+
+A hymn, befitting the occasion, had been intoned, and the priest had
+left the altar, but those fervent men and women did not hurry from the
+church as if grateful for permission to retire, but lingered to meditate
+and pray.
+
+Gilbert remained until all had gone save Henry de Stramen and a lady who
+knelt beside him. They rose at length, and, passing so close to Gilbert
+that he could distinctly see their faces, left him alone. He was in the
+act of rising when the priest appeared, and beckoned him into the
+sacristy.
+
+"Remain here," the old man said, taking the youth by the hand.
+
+"I must hurry home, Father," replied Gilbert; "my father will have no
+peace, thinking the boar has killed me."
+
+"Let him fret awhile; it is better he should lament you alive, than dead
+by the serfs of Stramen."
+
+"They dare not attack me!" exclaimed the youth; "they fear the Church
+and my own arm too much for that!"
+
+"Nay, peace!" rejoined the priest; "it is better not to expose them to
+the temptation, or you to the danger."
+
+The practicability of spending the night in security in the very teeth
+of Stramen Castle had not occurred to Gilbert; he hesitated a second or
+two, and then, as if all his plans and ideas had undergone a thorough
+revolution, gracefully promised obedience.
+
+"You are right, Father," he said; "and to speak truth, I am weary
+enough. If you promise me protection to-night, I will gladly rest my
+head wherever you place the pillow."
+
+"Those who sleep with me," whispered his venerable adviser, "must
+content themselves without a pillow. But I will promise you a safe
+couch, though it is a hard one; the softest beds are not always the
+freest from danger. In the mean time, tarry here until I have said some
+prayers."
+
+"But my horse," interposed Gilbert.
+
+His companion rang a small bell. A benevolent-looking man, somewhat past
+the prime of life, plainly dressed in a black cassock, answered the
+call. The priest conversed awhile with him, in an undertone, and then,
+ascertaining from Gilbert where his horse was, dismissed the attendant,
+remarking that the animal should not suffer.
+
+Motioning Gilbert to a chair, the priest entered the sanctuary. Instead
+of sitting down, the young noble leaned against a lancet window which
+commanded a view of the neighboring castle. He stood there looking idly
+upon the darkening prospect, until the appearance of two persons riding
+rapidly along the main road to the castle, aroused his attention. He
+followed them eagerly with his eyes until they were completely lost in
+the twilight. One of the riders was evidently a woman; but it would be
+inquiring too minutely into Gilbert's thoughts to determine whether that
+circumstance, or the proneness of youth to become interested in trifles,
+excited his curiosity.
+
+Night was fast approaching, and a light from the altar made itself felt
+throughout the church. Still the priest knelt before the sacred
+tabernacle, and Gilbert longed for his appearance. He grew impatient of
+being alone, when a companion was so near at hand; the place was
+strange, and there were no well-known objects to stand in the place of
+friends, supplying by the thousand associations they conjure up, and
+their mute appeals to memory, the absence of language.
+
+The minutes wore heavily on; but at length the priest entered the
+sacristy. Gilbert followed him out of the church to a very small house a
+few paces off, within the shadow of the wood. The house, which was but
+one story high, was divided into two rooms by a stone partition. In the
+back room slept the pastor of the church, Father Omehr. The front room
+contained a table and a bench. Father Omehr, for this was the name of
+Gilbert's companion, struck a light and made the young man sit down upon
+the bench, while he spread out upon the table some fruit and bread and
+wine.
+
+"Eat, my son," said the old man; "the wine is good and the bread is
+quite fresh. These grapes are better than any in Hers."
+
+Gilbert seemed inclined to dispute the last assertion; but the length
+and vigor of his repast strongly confirmed the opinion expressed by his
+host. The latter remained standing with his arms folded on his breast,
+and regarded the youth with a smile, as he indulged the keen appetite
+sharpened by the severe exercise of the day. The meal was eaten in
+silence, save an occasional entreaty from Gilbert to his entertainer to
+partake of his own cheer, and the refusal. The little lamp between them
+shone upon two noble faces: in spite of the great disparity between
+their ages, they were alike; not so much in feature as in the character
+of the head.
+
+The priest must have been near seventy. The top of his head was entirely
+bald; yet the little hair left him, which grew behind in a semicircle,
+from ear to ear, was only sprinkled with gray. He was tall and admirably
+formed for strength and agility; and though his cheek was pale and
+sunken, and his high broad forehead ploughed by many a heavy line, still
+in his eye and lips and nose were visible the relics of a splendid
+creation. There was an expression of great energy about his mouth; his
+whole face indicated intelligence and benevolence; and it was the actual
+possession of this energy, intellect, and virtue that made Father Omehr
+a worthy descendant of the noble emissaries of Adrian, who, ever in the
+rear of Charlemagne's armies, healed by the Cross the wounds inflicted
+by the sword, and drove forever from the forests of Germany the gloomy
+and accursed rites of Hesus and Taranis.
+
+Gilbert de Hers was more than a fearless hunter and skilful soldier. He
+had been carefully instructed by his confessor in the writings of the
+Fathers--in logic, philosophy, and the classics; he had read the death
+of Patroclus, and the episode of Nisus and Euryalus; he knew by heart
+many of those beautiful hymns whose authors, in the spirit of Catholic
+humility, had concealed their names. He was much beloved by all who knew
+him and were permitted to love him. His charities were numerous and
+unostentatious. Though scarcely twenty-one, his bearing, was bold and
+manly; there was no disguise about his large black eyes; they spoke out
+all his thoughts before his tongue could tell them. Apart from the great
+beauty of his features, high thoughts had printed a language on his face
+much more fascinating than mere regularity of feature. His very elegant
+form did not promise extraordinary strength, yet he was as formidable to
+his foes as welcome to his friends.
+
+Gilbert rose at the conclusion of his rather protracted meal, and
+declared he would remain seated no longer while his companion stood. The
+priest carefully removed the remnants, after which he sat down upon the
+bench, and obliged the youth to sit beside him.
+
+"Now, my son," he said, "tell me what in the world has brought you here
+alone?"
+
+"No inclination of mine, my dear Father," replied Gilbert.
+
+"Who has sent you then?"
+
+"I am sent by chance," answered Gilbert, laughing. "Early this morning I
+set out, with some twenty companions, in pursuit of a boar. I was better
+mounted than they, and so was the boar, for he distanced them. When the
+chase was at an end I found myself entirely alone, and could hear
+nothing of my men. I did not know where I was; so I permitted my horse
+to choose his own course, and by some accident he has brought me here."
+
+Father Omehr listened attentively, and added, after a pause:
+
+"It is well you came not yesterday. Did you meet any one in the wood?"
+
+Gilbert felt the searching eye of his companion upon him, and related
+with much embarrassment all that had happened at the spring.
+
+"I knew he was in search of something to prey upon when he left me so
+suddenly. That Henry de Stramen should thus pursue a boy!--fie! It is a
+stain upon his manhood!"
+
+Gilbert looked up in the speaker's face to ascertain if he were in
+earnest.
+
+"And but for that little bell, where should you be at this moment?"
+
+"Here, Father, most likely!"
+
+This was said so calmly and maliciously, that Father Omehr could not
+repress a smile. But it quickly vanished, and left behind an expression
+of deep sorrow.
+
+"And must this fatal feud last forever?" was his passionate exclamation;
+"are ye ever to revel in carnage, like the lion of the desert--and shall
+the example of the Son of God inspire nothing but contempt for those who
+imitate Him?"
+
+The missionary buried his face in his hands, and Gilbert, abashed by the
+solemn rebuke, kept a respectful silence.
+
+"O Gilbert! Gilbert!" resumed the priest, lifting his tearful eyes from
+the ground, "if your God submitted to insult and stripes and death to
+save you, can you not patiently endure for His sake a few slight
+injuries?"
+
+"Our injuries are not slight," replied the youth, "nor is the vengeance
+of the house of Stramen an idle threat. They have burned the houses of
+our serfs, desolated our fields, butchered our kinsmen and dependants;
+shall we not protect ourselves, even though our resistance makes their
+blood run freely? They have accused my father of a crime of which he is
+innocent, and have sought to visit upon him real chastisement for the
+imaginary murder. Shall I stand still and tamely see them wreak their
+most unrighteous wrath upon my guiltless parent's head?"
+
+"I should be glad, my son, if you confined yourselves to mere
+resistance; but how often have you inflicted, within sight of this very
+door, the injuries of which you complain? Could you see what I see--the
+orphan's piteous face, the widowed mother's tear of agony--blighted
+hopes and unavailing regrets--you might pause in your fearful
+retaliation!"
+
+"They have brought it on themselves," said Gilbert, musing, "_they_ are
+the aggressors."
+
+"Alas! be not the means by which their sins are aggravated."
+
+"You must address yourself to them!" returned the other.
+
+"And have I not? Day and night I have reasoned, implored, prayed; I have
+represented the folly, injustice, and impiety of their violence; I have
+held out to them the anger of God and the maledictions of man; I have
+employed art, eloquence, and reproof: but all in vain. Oh, what years of
+misery has your quarrel cost me! Could I only live to see it healed; to
+see you once more living like Christian men, employed in atoning for
+your own sins, not in arrogantly chastising each other's faults; to see
+the sword of discord broken, and peace and love and safety proclaiming
+the Divine efficacy of our holy religion! We all have enough to do to
+vanquish ourselves, and have little time to spare in subduing others,
+unless we aid them in conquering their passions, and then we promote our
+salvation: but your conquests only peril your eternal welfare."
+
+Gilbert understood from this last remark that his companion had read
+what was passing in his mind, and he contented himself by saying:
+
+"Believe me, Father, I regret their obstinacy."
+
+"You are young now," pursued his monitor; "but, trust me, when your old
+limbs fail you, and your sight waxes dim, your angry deeds will rise
+like spectres around you and haunt you to the tomb."
+
+Gilbert attempted no reply, but listened with the air of one who
+approved the advice, but despaired of ever profiting by it. After an
+interval of meditation, Father Omehr arose and spread some soft fleeces
+in the corner of the room.
+
+"May you sleep soundly, my son," he said, "and beg of God grace to
+moderate your angry passions. Your bed is not very soft, but it is in
+your power to sanctify it, and then it will be better than the down
+which muffles those who disdain or neglect to invoke the Divine
+protection."
+
+Gilbert knelt down and received the old man's blessing, who, wishing him
+a good night, withdrew into his own apartment and closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+    The golden sceptre which thou didst reject,
+    Is now an angry rod to bruise and break
+    Thy disobedience.
+
+Gilbert de Hers, as the good priest withdrew into his own apartment,
+resumed his seat upon the bench, and soon became absorbed in meditation.
+His varying face betrayed the character of each thought as it filed
+before his mind in rapid review. For more than an hour he remained in
+that statue-like state, when we, in a measure, assume a triple being, as
+the past and the present unite to form a future.
+
+But as all reveries, like life itself, must end, Gilbert at length
+seemed to be aware of the reality of the unpretending bed in the corner.
+Having repeated the prayers which his piety suggested, he extinguished
+the almost exhausted taper, and threw himself upon the bed. He could not
+sleep, however; for, great as the fatigue of the day had been, the
+excitement was greater. His mind was perpetually recurring to the events
+at the spring, from which they wandered to his father's lonely and
+anxious chamber: now he remembered the earnest appeal of Father Omehr,
+and now pondered the injuries he had received from the house of Stramen.
+Through a narrow opening in the wall he could see the noble church
+sleeping in the moonlight. Its walls of variegated marble had been
+built principally at the expense of the Barons of Stramen, for in those
+days it was not unfrequent for private families to erect magnificent
+churches from their own resources; and as his eye rested upon the misty
+window, perhaps he felt that though utterly opposed in all else, there
+was one thing in common between his own haughty race and the founders of
+that church--religion.
+
+The night wore on, and was far advanced; but Gilbert still kept piling
+thought upon thought, unable and even scarcely desiring to exchange them
+for the deep repose or more confused images of slumber. It must have
+been after midnight when, as he lay awake, he could distinctly hear the
+sound of blows. Gilbert was not a moment in conjecturing the cause; he
+knew at once that the venerable priest was subjecting himself to
+corporal chastisement. He did not live in an age when voluntary
+mortification was ridiculed, when a sacred ambition to imitate a
+crucified God insured contempt from man. Then, those self-denying
+religious were not taunted with "the hope of gaining heaven by making
+earth a hell." And perhaps Gilbert knew that the spiritual peace and
+delight derived from such chastisements, were infinitely sweeter, even
+here below, than the impure pleasures of worldlings. Feeling thus, he
+could not but contrast the mortified life of that holy man with his own
+indulged and pampered existence. He had never known the sting of
+adversity, and rarely been thwarted in a single desire; yet how much
+greater his sins than those of Father Omehr! Amid such reflections he
+felt--and it is a salutary feeling--the truth of a hereafter.
+
+But we will no longer pursue the reflections of the youth. Some time
+after the sounds had ceased he fell asleep, and was only roused by the
+sun streaming into his apartment, and the solemn tones of the church
+bell.
+
+The morning was beautiful. The sun was everywhere; kindling the hoary
+tops of the Suabian Alps, sparkling on the broad Danube as it rolled
+majestically on from the southwest to the northeast, lighting up hamlet,
+hill, vale, rivulet, forest, and making the church glitter like a
+stupendous diamond. But Gilbert was ill-prepared to enjoy this blaze of
+beauty. In a melancholy mood he leaned against the window, watching the
+sturdy serf in the centre of his family, as he came to share the
+blessings of the Mass. He was rather startled when the outer door opened
+and admitted the lady he had seen in the church the night before with
+Henry de Stramen. She came unattended, save by an old female servant,
+who carried with some difficulty a basket filled with fruits,
+delicacies, and medicines of various kinds, designed for Father Omehr to
+apply to any purpose his piety might point out.
+
+Though in the year 1076 chivalry was not the regular and well-defined
+institution it became during and after the Crusades, yet the same amount
+of valor and devotion to woman was expected from the knight. The spirit
+of Christianity, operating upon Teutonic virtue, which has raised the
+woman from the drudge of man to be the ornament of society, created a
+chivalric courtesy long before the cry of "_Deus vult!_" rang from Italy
+to England. Gilbert de Hers, born and bred in the courtly circle of
+Suabia, though his spurs were not yet won, was still familiar with the
+duties of knighthood. As the lady paused, surprised at his presence, he
+made a profound and respectful reverence, and he would have done the
+same had she been less noble, or had he known, as he then surmised, that
+the fair visitor was the daughter of his father's deadliest foe.
+
+Their embarrassment was relieved by the appearance of Father Omehr, who
+extended to both his blessing, gratefully received the basket from the
+attendant, and, after Margaret de Stramen had retired, accompanied
+Gilbert to the church. As they emerged into the morning air, Gilbert
+caught a glimpse of the graceful figure of the young lady entering the
+church. But his attention was soon arrested by a strange, wild-looking
+being upon the church steps. She was apparently not over forty, tall,
+slightly built, and evidently the victim of insanity. Her long black
+hair hung in thick masses over her pale face and deathly-white neck; her
+arms swung to and fro with a restless motion, and she sang at intervals
+snatches from the ballads for which Suabia is so renowned. As Gilbert
+passed her, she bent her large wild eyes upon him with an expression of
+such fearful meaning, that brave as was the youth in battle, he recoiled
+from their ferocious glare. The next instant she was abstracted as
+before, and crossed her hands upon her breast in an attitude of
+devotion. Gilbert looked to his companion with an inquiring eye, but the
+priest was silent.
+
+The next instant they were treading the marble aisle. Gilbert knelt down
+upon a tombstone, and endeavored to compose himself for the Mass. He
+perceived from the glances thrown upon him from time to time by some of
+the peasantry, that he was recognized as an enemy, yet respected as one
+under the aegis of religion. These glances became more frequent when
+Father Omehr, in his brief discourse, eloquently adverted to the example
+of Jesus in the forgiveness of injuries, and enforced the sacred duty of
+a Christian to imitate that Divine model. In powerful terms the
+gray-haired priest portrayed the miseries of discord, and the blessings
+of mutual forbearance; and Gilbert felt that a change was creeping over
+him.
+
+He left the church when the Holy Sacrifice had been completed,
+meditating upon the pastor's powerful exhortation. But the train of his
+thoughts was broken upon the steps by that wild face almost touching
+his. As the maniac stared fixedly at him, she muttered in a hoarse
+whisper:
+
+  They laid him 'neath a noisy tree,
+    And his glossy head was bare;
+  They piled the cold earth on his breast,
+    Then left him helpless there.
+
+While the youth listened in amazement, and almost in terror, the frantic
+woman drew from her bosom a long knife, and inflicted a deep wound upon
+him before he could wrench it from her determined grasp. The knife had
+penetrated to the rib, but not farther, having glanced off to the side.
+As the blood spread rapidly over his hunting-shirt, the maniac gave a
+wild laugh, and repeated in the same low, dismal tone:
+
+  'T is red, 't is red, as red as his;
+    Man's blood is ever red;
+  'T was thus his side was crimsoned o'er
+    When they told me he was dead.
+
+With the last words, she laughed again, more wildly than before, and,
+darting into the wood, was soon lost among the gigantic trees.
+
+Some serfs were standing around, but offered no assistance. They seemed
+rooted to the ground in terror at the rash act, and crossed themselves
+in mute astonishment. At this juncture, while Gilbert was examining the
+extent of the wound, and vainly endeavoring to stanch the blood, the
+Lady Margaret and the priest appeared at the doorway, having been
+attracted by the loud laugh of Gilbert's assailant.
+
+Comprehending in an instant that Gilbert had been wounded, Father Omehr
+hastened to support him.
+
+"It is but a trifle, Father," said the youth, anxious to relieve the
+evident uneasiness of the old man.
+
+"May God will that it be so!" replied the priest, eagerly removing the
+hunting-shirt, and examining the path of the knife. After which, having
+carefully replaced the garment, he turned to the serfs who yet lingered
+there, inquiring, in a voice of deep indignation:
+
+"Who has dared to do this? Who has been impious enough to draw blood
+during the truce of God, upon the threshold of God's sacred temple?"
+
+One of them hastened to reply:
+
+"It was Alber of the Thorn's widow, crazy Bertha. God preserve us from
+such a deed, at such a time, and in such a place!"
+
+"But could you not have prevented it?" continued the priest, eyeing the
+man until he quailed.
+
+Gilbert interposed.
+
+"They are not to blame, Father," he said; "I did not expect the attack
+myself, and none else could have prevented the blow."
+
+"It bleeds much," pursued the priest, again examining the wound.
+
+Gilbert made a step forward, but Father Omehr detained him, and
+reluctantly the youth allowed himself to be supported by two of the
+serfs of Stramen to the bed he had occupied during the night.
+
+Margaret de Stramen, in the spirit of the age, had gone to the cell,
+after discovering the nature of the young man's injury, and taken from
+the basket she had brought some salves and stringents with which she
+stood ready at the door. She washed the wound and dressed it with the
+tenderness peculiar to woman, and received Gilbert's thanks with a
+slight inclination of the head. Having completed her task, she drew the
+priest aside, and, looking up into his face with evident emotion, said:
+
+"Could there have been poison on the knife?"
+
+Though spoken in a whisper, the youth must have heard it, for he smiled
+at first, and the next moment became pale as death. Father Omehr noticed
+the change upon his features, and replied loud enough to be overheard:
+
+"No, no! it cannot be. Some momentary paroxysm prompted the deed; there
+could have been no preparation, no predetermination."
+
+"It is not for his sake," continued Margaret, in a still lower tone, and
+withdrawing farther from the bed; "not for his sake I fear an
+unfortunate result; but for our own. I know that it is Gilbert de Hers
+who lies there, and I have drunk too deeply in the prejudices of our
+family to repine at any calamity that may befall him. But this impious
+outrage can insure nothing but the Divine vengeance upon our heads. If
+he were borne down in battle, I perhaps should rejoice at heart at the
+triumph of my father; but I would rather die than see him perish from a
+noble confidence in the house of Stramen."
+
+"You are not responsible, my child," rejoined her companion, "for the
+blind violence of a crazy woman. I am confident that the wound is not
+dangerous. Perhaps the accident, apparently so untoward, may in the end
+be productive of good. We are too apt to receive as good what should be
+avoided as evil, and to deem that a curse which should be considered a
+blessing."
+
+The young lady made no reply, but advanced to Gilbert's bedside.
+
+"Believe me, sir," she began with dignity but in some confusion, "that I
+sincerely regret the accident which has confined you here, and that I
+desire and will pray for your speedy recovery. You cannot suspect the
+house of Stramen of conniving at such a cowardly assault; they are too
+powerful in the field to resort to such a pitiful stratagem. Our effort
+shall now be to secure you from further violence."
+
+The blood returned to Gilbert's cheek as she spoke. Feeble with pain and
+the loss of blood, he with difficulty replied:
+
+"I little expected ever to receive such kindness as you have shown me
+from the daughter of my father's foes; but come what may, kind lady, I
+shall never forget your services. I feel assured that the kinsmen of
+her whom I address, could never be guilty of so ignoble an action."
+
+It was not without pleasure that the noble maiden heard an answer so
+flattering to her pride, and so earnestly pronounced. Her cheek became
+brighter than Gilbert's as she bowed and left the apartment, attended by
+the old woman servant.
+
+We will leave Gilbert, for the present, in the care of Father Omehr, to
+follow the footsteps of the fair lady of Stramen.
+
+Margaret led the way rapidly to the border of the forest, where she had
+left a groom with horses. She sprang lightly upon her spirited palfrey,
+and exchanging a few words with the old woman, dismissed both domestics
+to the castle, and galloped off alone in an opposite direction. As she
+rode along, she was greeted with smiles and blessings by all who met
+her; yet she seemed to heed but little the frequent reverence and
+heartfelt salutation.
+
+After proceeding about three miles, she struck into a deep, dark ravine,
+through which there rushed a slender stream, whose waters, seldom
+gladdened by a sunbeam, seemed to groan and murmur like an angry
+captive. The way, thickly strewn with moss-bound stones and the
+mouldering skeletons of trees, required all the maiden's horsemanship.
+But she struggled on, until she reached something midway between a
+grotto and a hut, projecting from the side of the gully, and looking as
+though by some fantastic freak of nature it had grown there, so
+admirably was it in keeping with the character of the place.
+
+From the time she had mounted her horse, the maiden's face expressed
+great anxiety, which increased as she alighted and entered the singular
+excrescence we have mentioned. A blazing pine-knot driven in the ground,
+shed a fierce, and flickering light over the interior of this gloomy
+abode, for it was an abode--and more, a home--the home of Bertha! The
+maniac was sitting upon a rude bench, close to the firebrand which gave
+a fearful lustre to her haggard features, while with a species of
+exultation she gazed upon the knife stained with Gilbert's blood, still
+clenched in her hand.
+
+The husband of this unfortunate woman had, about a year before, been
+mortally wounded in a chance affray between the partisans of the lords
+of Hers and Stramen. He was brought home only to die in the arms of his
+wife. The shock had reduced her to this miserable extremity. She could
+not be prevailed upon to remain in the cottage she had occupied in the
+hour of her joy; and though repeatedly offered a home by Father Omehr
+and the Baron of Stramen, she had built for herself this wild nest, and
+obstinately refused to leave it except to wander to the church or to the
+grave-yard. She was maintained by the Lady Margaret principally, and by
+the charities of the peasantry. Up to the present time, she had been
+perfectly harmless, and was rather loved than feared by the children of
+the country. She had always manifested an extreme affection for the Lady
+Margaret, to whom she would sing her sweetest songs, and whose hand she
+would almost devour with kisses.
+
+Margaret, though somewhat appalled at Bertha's frightful appearance, yet
+confiding in the power she had over her, advanced and silently sat down
+upon the bench. For some minutes Bertha seemed unconscious of the
+presence of her visitor, but suddenly removing her eyes from the knife,
+she bent them upon Margaret. In an instant a smile of strange sweetness
+stole over the poor creature's wasted face: every trace of anger
+disappeared as she fell upon her knees and raised the hem of the
+maiden's garment to her lips. Without rising she sang one of those
+simple ballads which even insanity could not make her forget. The lady
+of Stramen patiently permitted her to proceed without interruption. But
+the moment her strange companion was silent, she minted to the knife,
+exclaiming:
+
+"Is this blood, Bertha?"
+
+Still kneeling, the woman began:
+
+  The chieftain swore on bended knee,
+    That blood for blood should flow--
+  Then leaped upon his coal-black steed,
+    And spurred against the foe.
+
+"Has anyone hurt you?" continued Margaret.
+
+But Bertha only replied:
+
+  Sir Arthur swung his falchion keen--
+    The serf implored in vain;--
+  The knight is galloping away--
+    The serf lies on the plain!
+
+"Bertha! Bertha! this is wrong: I hope you have committed no violence?"
+
+But the answer, as before, was given in rude, indefinite verse.
+
+It may be unnecessary to say that the object of the lady's visit was to
+discover if the knife had been poisoned. Finding that all question
+would be useless, she had recourse to an artifice to effect her purpose,
+suggested by the discovery of a splinter buried in Bertha's thumb.
+
+"Let me remove this--it must give you pain," she said, examining the
+hand she had taken in hers, and reaching after the knife. Bertha
+passively resigned the weapon, but rapidly withdrew her hand, just as
+her mistress feigned to prepare for the incision. Margaret shuddered,
+for she naturally saw in that quick gesture a confirmation of her worst
+fears. For some moments they gazed at each other in mute anxiety. Bertha
+was the first to break the silence, and her words revived a gleam of
+hope in the bosom of her companion.
+
+"No! no!" she exclaimed, slowly and sternly, "his blood must not mix
+with mine!"
+
+"Is there poison here?" pursued the lady, in a low searching tone.
+
+She received in reply:
+
+  There was no poison on the steel
+    That robbed Sir James of breath;
+  There was no poison on the blade
+    That well avenged his death.
+
+Greatly relieved, but still unsatisfied, the high-born damsel sprang to
+her feet.
+
+"It is the blood of Hers!" she cried, exultingly.
+
+The maniac's face assumed a look of savage triumph.
+
+"Then will I keep this blood-stained instrument as a precious jewel.
+Farewell, Bertha; you shall hear from me soon."
+
+She passed rapidly through the narrow aperture by which she had
+entered, leaving Bertha in blank amazement, utterly unable to comprehend
+what had passed.
+
+Emerging from the dark ravine, the Lady Margaret rode straight toward
+the old castle of Stramen, whose gray towers retained their sombre
+majesty, which the merry sun could not entirely dispel. It was not long
+before she passed the drawbridge, sped through the massive gate, and
+reined in her palfrey upon the ample terrace; when, having thrown her
+bridle to an attendant, she proceeded at once to her chamber, and
+summoned Linda, the old domestic, to her side.
+
+"You are skilled in such matters, Linda," she said, producing the knife,
+before the faithful neif had finished her salutation; "is there poison
+on this blade?"
+
+Linda took the knife, and having examined it attentively, returned it to
+her mistress; after which she left the room, making a signal that she
+would soon return. After the lapse of a few minutes, she reappeared with
+a vessel of boiling water, which she placed upon a marble slab. Then
+taking from her pocket a piece of polished silver, and at the same time
+receiving the knife, she plunged them both into the hissing liquid. As
+the lady of Stramen, eagerly watching the experiment, stood bending over
+the water with her back to the door, she was not aware of her father's
+presence. He had entered unperceived, and was contemplating in some
+surprise the mysterious operation going on before him. He could scarce
+repress a laugh, for there was something ludicrous in Linda's very wise
+and consequential manner, as she knelt over the kettle, while his
+daughter, equally absorbed, her hat yet untied, continued in an attitude
+of profound attention beside her.
+
+When the water had cooled, the old woman with a trembling hand drew out
+the silver--it was bright as ever!
+
+"It is venomless as the bill of the turtle-dove," she exclaimed, with
+the importance of an oracle, looking up at her mistress.
+
+"May I ask the meaning of all this, without being referred to the prince
+of magic for an answer?" said the Baron of Stramen, stepping forward;
+and he added, addressing Linda, who in her surprise had nearly
+overturned the vessel: "Do you wish to be hung for a witch?"
+
+The old woman slunk terrified into a corner, but Margaret hastily
+replied:
+
+"You are already informed, sir, of the violation of the truce of God,
+which occurred this morning. Our magic consisted only in the discovery
+that there was no poison upon the knife which inflicted the wound."
+
+"I cannot but think," rejoined her father, "that you have displayed an
+unnecessary interest about the result. That young stripling has cost me
+more lives than he numbers years; and though I could not connive at
+Bertha's attempt to assassinate, I certainly do not see much reason to
+rejoice at his escape."
+
+It may have been that Margaret quailed a little beneath her father's
+rigid scrutiny, but without embarrassment she returned:
+
+"If I had been born and bred to arms, if my breast were accustomed to
+the coat of mail, if my hand could wield the battle-axe, I might
+anxiously crave, or coldly behold the murder of a foe confiding in our
+generosity and in our plighted faith to the Church; but I have never
+worn the gauntlet, or drawn the sword; my heart has never exulted at the
+gladsome sight of an enemy's blood, and I scorn to ascribe the interest
+I may have shown, to a wish of having the sweet assurance that a scion
+of Hers would perish like a dog, when in reality I hoped to find the
+weapon venomless."
+
+"Spoken like a woman, as you are," muttered the knight. "I would have
+you feel otherwise, but God has given you your sex; I cannot change its
+nature."
+
+The Baron of Stramen was a tall, powerful man, whose vigor fifty years
+had not impaired. His face was stern, though not repulsive, and free
+from any approach to vulgarity. A man of strong passions, yet the
+strongest of all was an unvarying love for his daughter, on whom seemed
+to have centered all the tenderness of which he was capable. On the
+present occasion, he put an end to further controversy by drawing
+Margaret to his side, and giving her an exquisitely wrought head of
+Gregory VII.
+
+"Treasure it, my child," he said, "it is the faithful likeness of a
+wonderful man--a man who may one day, with a few stout hearts to second
+his energy, chastise the impious tyranny of the house of Franconia!" He
+spoke with deep feeling, and, after pacing the room, with his arms
+folded upon his broad breast, abruptly stalked through the door,
+apparently absorbed in some momentous question.
+
+No sooner had he gone, than Margaret turned to Linda, who still occupied
+the corner, and dismissed her with a message to Father Omehr. When
+alone, she knelt down before an ivory image of the Blessed Virgin and
+prayed--not to the polished ivory--but to the Mother of purity whose
+intercession it suggested, with a fervency and constancy which only they
+venture to ridicule who cannot record the virtues of Mary without a
+sneer.
+
+Though not apprehensive, Father Omehr was pleased to learn from Linda
+that the knife had not been poisoned. Gilbert's eye brightened at the
+intelligence, though he had not given utterance to his fears--_fears_
+they were--for even the young and brave recoil in terror from death,
+when it assumes a form and hovers near in a detested shape. Having
+informed the youth that a messenger had been despatched to his father,
+the priest left Gilbert in charge of the sacristan, and proceeded on his
+daily errand of mercy through the neighborhood. By men like him,
+fervent, fearless, faithful, the rude Northern hordes were induced to
+abandon their idolatry, and embrace the faith of the Church of Rome.
+These noble missionaries slowly but surely prepared the canvas on which
+were afterward laid, in colors of enduring brightness, the features of
+Christian civilization.
+
+When Father Omehr returned, Gilbert was asleep. The sacristan put in his
+hands a letter from a distinguished prelate, informing him of the
+nomination of Henry, canon of Verdun, by Henry IV.
+
+"O God, protect Thy holy Church!" exclaimed the missionary, crushing the
+paper in his excitement. "If the ministers of God become the creatures
+of the king, despotism and irreligion must inevitably ensue. How long
+will virtue be accounted a crime? Shall every faithful shepherd be
+supplanted, to make room for the wolf of lay investiture, the instrument
+of a lustful tyrant, raised by simony, and upheld by royal favor?"
+
+Gilbert's light slumber had been broken by the voice of his benefactor.
+As soon as Father Omehr saw the youth awake, he approached him, and
+inquired, with great kindness of manner, whether he felt better.
+
+The youth replied in the affirmative.
+
+"I have discovered," continued the other, "that you have richly deserved
+this wound. You killed with your own hand the husband of the woman who
+stabbed you, and though the chance thrust of an affray, it was noted,
+and communicated to Bertha by an eye-witness, one of the combatants.
+This is her revenge--but how inadequate to her suffering!"
+
+"It is, indeed," said Gilbert, replying to the last remark, which had
+been particularly emphasized. His companion could not conceal the
+satisfaction with which he hailed this reply, as an omen of regret, and
+of a right apprehension of his former violence. But the youth was
+drowsy, and prudence forbade a longer conversation. At the close of the
+evening service, the lady of Stramen was seen to exchange a few words
+with her venerable pastor, but she did not enter the cell.
+
+The gorgeous sun of ancient Suabia was beneath the horizon--but Gilbert
+slept upon his couch; the moon had lit her feebler torch, and walked
+silently beneath the stars--yet not until midnight did Gilbert awake.
+All was profoundly still. The dim light of the taper at his bedside
+revealed only the motionless figure of the sacristan, and the outline of
+a crucifix hanging against the wall. His eyes involuntarily closed, and
+in a moment he stood before his father, in the oaken halls of Hers--his
+retainers were around him--the horses pranced merrily--the bugle
+sounded--"On to the chase!" was the cry. He opened his eyes--the
+crucifix became more distinct.
+
+He knelt before a prince, and arose a knight--a broidered kerchief
+streamed from his polished casque--the herald, in trumpet tones,
+proclaimed his prowess--the troubador embalmed his deeds in immortal
+verse--the smiles of high-born damsels were lavished upon him--the page
+clasped his sword at the mention of his name. He opened his eyes--the
+crucifix, and the sacristan!
+
+A form of beauty was before him--at first, haughty and disdainful, but
+gradually assuming a look of interest and pity--it bent over him, and
+poured a balm into his wound, with a prayer for its efficacy--but the
+figure lifted its finger with a menacing air, and pointed to a snake,
+hissing from its hair--a mist settled around him, and the apparition was
+gone. He opened his eyes--the taper burned brighter--the crucifix became
+more distinct.
+
+Gilbert was now fully awake. His wound was more painful than it had yet
+been, and in vain he endeavored to win back the repose so lately
+enjoyed. Nor was corporal uneasiness his only annoyance. Father Omehr's
+revelation of the motives by which Bertha was actuated, had left a more
+painful impression upon his mind than his monitor perhaps desired.
+Though the priest had not directly attributed the woman's insanity to
+her husband's death, Gilbert too clearly understood that such was the
+fact. His was too generous a heart, not to deplore bitterly so terrible
+a calamity, of which he was--however unintentionally--the cause. He felt
+no resentment for his misguided assailant--he would willingly have
+exposed himself to a second attack, could he have thus restored her
+reason. The memento of the crucifixion--that Catholic alphabet, the
+crucifix--held up unto his soul the wondrous truth that God had
+voluntarily suffered, for the sake of man, all that humanity can endure;
+and the youth interiorly acknowledged that the errors of his life were
+but imperfectly balanced by the inconvenience he then experienced.
+
+It is not in the pride of health and youth, surrounded by pleasure, and
+strangers to care, that a heart, wedded to the world, is apt to
+prostrate itself in humility before the Author of life; but in danger
+and affliction, we learn to mistrust our self-sufficiency, and feel our
+complete dependence upon an invisible and almighty power. We are much
+more disposed to appeal to heaven for protection, than to return thanks
+for repeated favors. It is not to be wondered at, then, that Gilbert
+sought relief in prayer; there is nothing more natural to one who
+prefers the consolations of religion to the staff of philosophy. He was
+far indeed from that exalted perfection of loving God for Himself alone;
+but who can predict what may spring from the mustard-seed?
+
+By the first gray light of the morning Father Omehr was bending over his
+youthful charge: Gilbert was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+  Fit to govern!
+  No, not to live. O nation miserable,
+  With an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptred,
+  When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again?
+
+  MACBETH.
+
+The third Friday after Gilbert had been wounded, he mounted his horse,
+and, accompanied by Father Omehr, set out for the Castle of Hers, which
+lay some four leagues distant to the south.
+
+"You are sad, Father," said the youth, who felt all the exhilaration of
+returning strength, heightened by the freshness of the morning.
+
+"It is true, my son; for though in all the trials of this pilgrimage I
+endeavor to turn to God the cheerful face He loves to see in affliction,
+I am sometimes weak enough to tremble at the gloomy period before us. We
+are upon the eve of a tremendous struggle. You may not be aware of it,
+for you are unaccustomed to watch events which govern the future for
+good or evil; but the firmness of our Holy Father, and the increasing
+recklessness and impiety of the emperor, must create an earthquake
+sooner or later."
+
+"My father," replied Gilbert, "has imputed to His Holiness a want of
+firmness."
+
+"Alas, with how little reason! He who, when seized by Cencius and his
+armed assassins at the altar of St. Mary Major--bruised, and dragged by
+the hair to the castle of his assailant--yet remained calm and unmoved,
+with the face of an Angel, neither imploring mercy nor attempting an
+ineffectual resistance--cannot be accused of a want of firmness. The
+matchless benevolence--the heart which melts at the first symptom of
+repentance--the clemency which led him, while his wounds were yet fresh,
+to pardon Cencius, prostrate at his feet--have also induced him to
+hearken to the promises of King Henry and accept his contrition."
+
+"But is it not almost folly to trust the royal hypocrite to whom Suabia
+pays so heavy a tribute? I wish that when his infant majesty fell in the
+Rhine, there had been no Count Ecbert nigh to rescue him!"
+
+"Is it not rather an exalted charity, of which you have no conception,
+and a Christian forgiveness which puts to shame your last ungenerous
+wish?"
+
+"I can have no sympathy or pity for him who has loaded with insult a
+princess alike distinguished for beauty and virtue."
+
+"You mean the queen, his wife. But tell me, when he endeavored to
+procure a divorce from Bertha, who prevented the criminal separation?
+Was it the boasted chivalry of Suabia? No! Peter Damian, the Pope's
+legate, alone opposed the angry monarch, and told him, in the presence
+of all his courtiers, that 'his designs were disgraceful to a
+king--still more disgraceful to a Christian; that he should blush to
+commit a crime he would punish in another; and that, unless he renounced
+his iniquitous project, he would incur the denunciation of the Church
+and the severity of the holy canons.' The result was the reconcilement
+of Henry with Bertha, in Saxony. And though Alexander was Pope, Peter
+received his instructions from Hildebrand. But there is a wide
+difference between your hostility to Henry of Austria and the resistance
+of Gregory VII to his encroachments: your motives all flow from human
+considerations, and seek a human revenge; his, on the contrary, proceed
+from the knowledge of his duty, to God, and breathe forgiveness: you
+seek the king's destruction and your own aggrandizement--Gregory, the
+king's welfare, and the independence and prosperity of the Christian
+Church."
+
+We will no longer continue a conversation which, to be intelligible to
+all, would require a more intimate acquaintance with the history of the
+times than can be obtained from the books in free circulation among us.
+Though Gregory VII has been reproached by all Protestants, and by some
+Catholics, with an undue assumption of temporal power, and an
+unnecessary severity against Henry IV of Austria, it is certain that, in
+his own day, he was charged by many of his own friends, particularly, in
+Saxony and Suabia, with too tender a regard for a monarch who violated
+his most solemn engagements the moment he fancied he could do so with
+impunity, and whose court, already openly profligate, threatened to
+present the appearance of an Eastern seraglio. A hasty glance at the
+prominent facts of the dispute will leave us in doubt whether to admire
+most the dignified and Christian forbearance of the Pope while a hope of
+saving his adversary remained, or the unwavering resolution he
+displayed, even to death in exile, when convinced that mercy to the king
+would be injustice to God.
+
+No sooner had Gregory assumed the tiara, than he addressed letters to
+different persons, in which he assured them of his earnest desire to
+unite with Henry in upholding the honor of the Church and the imperial
+dignity; to accomplish which he would embrace the first opportunity of
+sending legates to Henry, to acquaint the king with his views. But,
+while proferring his love, he declared that, if Henry should venture to
+offer God insult instead of honor, he would not fail in his duty to the
+Divine Head of the Church through fear of offending man. So, in a letter
+to Rodolph, Duke of Suabia, who at that time was known to be secretly
+hostile to the king, Gregory declared that he entertained no ill feeling
+whatever for Henry, but simply desired to do his duty.
+
+There were two evils which Gregory was resolved to extirpate: lay
+investitures, and the incontinence of the clergy. When the power of
+appointing to benefices was usurped by the civil power, the emperor was
+sure to fill the highest places in his gift with creatures of his own.
+The inevitable result of this was to create two classes of prelates--one
+of lay, the other of ecclesial investiture. Its ultimate effect was to
+render the Church completely depend upon the State, and to change and
+corrupt its very source with the varying vices of libertine despots. It
+was found (and how could it be otherwise?) that the protégés of the
+emperor studied only how to please him; and that, in serving the State
+and the prince, they became indifferent to the Church. Selected to serve
+a particular purpose, or chosen in consideration of a valuable donation,
+the lay nominee had been sure to fulfil the object for which he was
+elevated, or to indulge the avarice or ambition which had craved the
+appointment. It was in attempting to remedy this fatal innovation that
+Gregory found himself repeatedly thwarted by Henry; and yet he had been
+censured by those who lament the worldliness of a portion of the
+medieval clergy, for striking at the root of the evil.
+
+After repeated provocation, the arm of the Pope is uplifted to strike;
+but Henry, awed by his menaces, and by an insurrection in Saxony,
+hastens to avert the blow by an unreserved submission and the fairest
+promises. He confesses, not only to have meddled in ecclesiastical
+matters, but to have unjustly stripped churches of their pastors--to
+have sold them to unworthy subjects guilty of simony, whose very
+ordination was questionable--and implores the Pope to begin the reform
+with the Cathedral of Milan, which is in schism by his fault.
+
+Gregory pardons him; and, in 1074, holds his first council at Rome
+against simony and the incontinence of the clergy. It was in this year
+that Henry, already pressed by the Saxons and Thuringians, found himself
+threatened by Salomon, King of Hungary. In this emergency, he has
+recourse to Gregory, who, by an eloquent letter, calms the indignant
+Hungarian.
+
+With the year following, the campaign against Saxony begins. This brave
+but turbulent people had risen against the towns in possession of Henry,
+and burned the magnificent Cathedral at Hartzburg. Here again the Pope
+secured to the king the powerful assistance of Rodolph, Duke of Suabia,
+in conjunction with whom the royal army obtains a decisive victory at
+Hohenburg. But once in security and crowned with success, the graceless
+monarch forgets his submission, and exclaims, "It does not befit a hero,
+who has vanquished a warlike people, struggling in defence of what they
+hold most sacred, to bow humbly down before a priest, whose only weapon
+is his tongue!" Faithless to his recorded vow in the hour of danger, he
+nominates Henry, canon of Verdun, to fill the see vacated by the Bishop
+of Liège; and, soon after, calls to the see of Milan, Theobald, his own
+chaplain, in place of the murdered Herlembaud. Thus repeatedly deceived,
+Gregory must strike at last, or sacrifice the independence of the Church
+of God to human weakness.
+
+It was in the pause between these new indignities and the consecration
+of Hidolphe in the archbishopric of Cologne, that Father Omehr and
+Gilbert rode slowly on toward the Castle of Hers.
+
+The conversation naturally turned from the consideration of impending
+evils, to the miserable feud actually existing between the two houses of
+Hers and Stramen.
+
+"I sincerely wish it were ended," said Gilbert, in reply to a vehement
+denunciation just pronounced by his companion. "I could willingly
+forgive all the injuries I have received at their hands, when I remember
+the kindness of the Lady Margaret."
+
+The priest looked quickly up in the young man's face, but Gilbert was
+gazing with an abstracted air upon the blue outline of the beautiful
+Lake of Constance, which just began to appear to the south.
+
+"It were far better," he said, commanding the youth's attention by
+taking his hand--"it were far better to forgive them when you remember
+the prayer of your dying Jesus for His persecutors, than out of
+gratitude to the ordinary courtesy of a pitying damsel."
+
+Gilbert made no direct reply, nor did he return the glance of his
+friend, which he well knew was upon him.
+
+"I could wish," he began, after a considerable pause, "before leaving
+your hospitable roof, to have expressed to the Lady Margaret my deep
+sense of the interest she deigned to display in my regard, and which I
+fear has done more to soften my feelings toward her father, than the
+nobler and holier motive you have mentioned."
+
+There was a humility in this that pleased the good missionary; but he
+saw with pain and uneasiness the direction which the ardent mind of the
+youth was evidently taking, and instantly rejoined:
+
+"Did you know the Lady Margaret better, you would spare yourself that
+regret. In her charitable attention to your wants, she overcame a
+natural repugnance to yourself. She would rather miss than receive any
+return you can make, and is always more inclined to set a proper value
+upon the solid and eternal recompense of God, than attach any importance
+to the empty and interested gratitude of man."
+
+Gilbert's eyes were bent again upon the Lake of Constance. They were now
+at the foot of a long, high hill, which they began to ascend in
+silence. Gilbert pressed his horse rather swiftly up the gradual ascent,
+and they soon gained the summit.
+
+"What is the Danube to that splendid lake!" cried the mercurial
+stripling; "and what is there in all the lordship of Stramen to vie with
+this!"
+
+The view now opened might excuse his excitement, even in a less
+interested person. The Castle of Hers, though built for strength,
+presented a very different appearance from that of Stramen: its outline
+was light and graceful, and it seemed rather to lift up than cumber the
+tall hill that it so elegantly crowned. It was situated upon the border
+of the lake, which, by trouvère and troubadour, in song and in verse, in
+every age and in every clime, has been so justly celebrated. A few miles
+to the southwest the mighty Rhine came tumbling in; who, as the German
+poets say, scorns to mingle his mountain stream with the quiet waters of
+the lake. We will attempt no further description, for fear of spoiling a
+finer picture, which must already exist in the eye of the reader,
+created by more skilful hands.
+
+As the horsemen neared the castle, they saw a knight, followed by a few
+men, dashing down the hill. Gilbert knew his father, and hastened to
+meet him. Their meeting was manly and cordial. The baron stopped but to
+embrace his son, and hastened to welcome Father Omehr. He dismounted,
+and imprinted a kiss upon the old man's still vigorous hand.
+
+"I should be childless now," he said, "but for your kindness; and you
+know that words would but mock my feelings."
+
+The tears in the baron's eyes expressed more than a long oration.
+
+Father Omehr only replied, with a laugh, "You must blame your son's
+indiscretion, and not applaud me!" Thus saved from a formal and
+unsatisfactory conversation, the knight remounted his horse and led the
+way to the castle.
+
+Upon the slope of the hill, half-way between the castle and the lake,
+was a chapel built of white stone, which had stood there, according to
+tradition, from the ninth century. It was said to have been erected by
+Charlemagne, on his second expedition against the Saxons. The Baron of
+Hers had ornamented and repaired it with much taste and at great
+expense, until it was celebrated throughout the circle of Suabia for its
+richness and elegance. It had been dedicated to Mary the Morning Star,
+as appeared from a statue of the Blessed Virgin surmounted with a star,
+and was called the Pilgrim's Chapel. It was in charge of Herman, a
+priest, who had studied at Monte Cassino under the Benedictines, with
+Father Omehr, whom he loved as a brother. They had spent their period of
+training and had been ordained together; and, for forty years they had
+labored in the same vineyard, side by side, yet seldom meeting. When
+they did meet, however, it was with the joy and chastened affection
+which only the pure-minded and truly religious can know; and they would
+recall with tears of happiness the scenes of other days--the splendid
+convent, whose church shone like a grotto of jewels and precious
+stones--the learned and devout monk, and the theological difficulties
+over which they had triumphed hand in hand.
+
+After taking some slight refreshment (for the baron could ill brook a
+refusal of his cheer), Father Omehr left the father and son to each
+other, and began to descend the path to the chapel. Herman had gone to
+administer the last Sacraments to a distant parishioner. Father Omehr
+knelt down in the chapel and awaited his return. It did not seem long
+before his brother missionary entered through the sacristy and knelt
+beside him. The little chapel was very beautiful, with its branching
+pillars, supporting clusters of Angels carved in stone. The images of
+the Saints served to awaken many fine emotions--and the principal statue
+of Our Lady, which the artist had designed to represent the immaculate
+purity of the Mother of God--gave an indescribable sweetness to that
+consecrated spot: but more beautiful still, and more acceptable to God,
+were the two holy men who, bent with age and grown gray in the service
+of a heavenly Master, bowed down together before the altar of the Most
+High, and for a time forgot each other in the contemplation of the
+majesty and infinite goodness of Him they served.
+
+At length they rose; and when in the open air gave way to the impulse of
+human love, which until then had yielded to a loftier feeling.
+
+There was a room in the Castle of Hers in which Herman spent the hours
+not required for the active duties of his ministry, and to this the two
+friends retired. There for more than an hour, they discussed topics of
+mutual interest--compared the condition of their flocks--and wandered
+back to Naples and Monte Cassino. The introduction of this last subject
+seemed to remind Herman of something he had forgotten; for he started up
+and went to a shelf, which was filled with extracts he had been
+permitted to make from the celebrated library of the convent, and taking
+down a small piece of parchment, gave it to his companion. It was an
+illuminated manuscript of the _Salve Regina_.
+
+"It was sent me yesterday across the lake by a Benedictine monk," he
+said, when Father Omehr had finished reading and raised his eyes in
+wonder and delight.
+
+"And who has written it?"
+
+"A namesake of mine--a Benedictine. It was not seen until after his
+death, when the manuscript was discovered in his cell. What is more
+remarkable is that the monk was distinguished for nothing but his piety,
+and had never made any pretension to learning or accomplishment."
+
+Much to the surprise of Herman, his friend, though deeply moved by that
+beautiful effusion of Catholic piety, seemed not to give the entire
+attention which it so eminently deserved.
+
+"Listen!" he said, repeating the lines. "What melody! what tenderness!
+what love! You certainly must feel its exalted piety?" he added,
+appealing to Father Omehr.
+
+"I do, indeed; but you perceive that I am disturbed. In brief, then--for
+I could not bring myself to say until now--Anno of Cologne is dead."
+
+Anno, Archbishop of Cologne, was revered throughout Europe in the
+eleventh century for his virtue and wisdom. It is said of him that,
+when others slept, he rose, filled with a holy zeal, and visited many
+churches, carrying with him his pious offerings. In the halls of kings,
+says the poet who celebrates his virtues, he sat with the haughtiness of
+the lion; in the hut of the peasant, he stood with the humility of a
+lamb. So obnoxious was he to the king, that Henry at one time assaulted
+him sword in hand; and he was only saved from death by the interposition
+of a monk. Alone, he founded five monasteries, including that of
+Siegberg, his favorite residence, where he died, and where his tomb was
+long pointed out to the traveller. He was said to have emitted a light,
+the splendor and beauty of which spread around like the lustre of a
+precious stone in a ring of gold.
+
+"O God, the giver of all!" exclaimed Herman, after a pause, "in taking
+him to Thyself, do not leave us desolate!"
+
+Father Omehr then described the fearful ulcers which had tormented
+Anno's body, and the celestial visions and brilliant apparitions that
+delighted his soul and foreshadowed the bliss awaiting him in the life
+to come.
+
+"But let us not weep for him whose epitaph is in the mouths of the widow
+and the orphan, and whose soul is in the hand of God!" said the pious
+chaplain of Hers, grasping the hand of his friend.
+
+"Not for him I weep," was the reply; "nor yet for the bereaved people of
+Cologne." The missionary paused, unable to proceed, and then hurriedly
+exclaimed, "Who is to be his successor? Who is to appoint him?--Gregory
+VII or Henry of Austria!"
+
+"He will not dare!" ejaculated the other, who not until this moment
+clearly understood his more keen-sighted friend.
+
+"He who has dared to fill the sees of Liège and Milan may not scruple to
+dishonor the see of Cologne! But let us pray and hope; for suffer what
+we may, we cannot be conquered."
+
+This long interview was here terminated by the bell of the Benedictine,
+summoning to dinner. The Baron of Hers was noted for his fine person and
+his polished address, and saluted them with even more than his usual
+politeness as they entered the dining-room. He was the only one of the
+group who seemed at ease; for the two missionaries could not forget the
+death of Anno--and Gilbert, from some cause or other, had lost his
+sprightliness.
+
+"I fear," said the knight to Father Omehr, "that you have half made a
+traitor of Gilbert, for he will no longer let me abuse my friends at
+Stramen, but sides with them against me. It is hard to fight our battles
+all alone, and against our friends, after forty."
+
+"The Lady Margaret, who dressed his wound, must be blamed--not I,"
+replied the priest.
+
+The handsome face of the Baron of Hers, in an instant, became black as
+night, and as quickly recovered its former mildness; but the change,
+apparently, was not noticed by him who had caused it.
+
+"I have heard," resumed the knight, in a careless tone, "that the young
+lady possesses much virtue, intelligence, and beauty, and is wise enough
+to prefer the cloister to the court."
+
+"You have not been misinformed; yet her health is so feeble, that the
+grave will probably anticipate her choice of either."
+
+It was not until the close of the meal that the Lord of Hers was
+informed of the death of the Archbishop of Cologne, and from that time
+until they rose the conversation turned wholly upon the venerated and
+saintly prelate.
+
+Toward sunset they descended the hill and walked along the picturesque
+banks of the lake. The noble sheet of water stretched away to the south
+far as the eye could reach, burnished by the sun, and forming part of
+the horizon.
+
+"This lake of ours," said the baron, "has obtained a reputation which
+the best man cannot expect--and, indeed, would not desire: no one has
+ever breathed a word against it."
+
+"There is a boat!" interposed Gilbert, pointing to a speck in the
+distance, which his father discovered after a long search, and was
+invisible to their two older companions. They stood in the shadow of
+some trees, and watched the object as it increased in size and gradually
+assumed the undeniable outline of a boat. It came from the direction of
+Zurich, and pointed directly to the castle. As it neared, they could
+distinguish four stout rowers and a person seated in the stern. With
+increased speed it seemed--for it was now within hailing distance--the
+boat darted straight to where they were standing; and, before it was
+made fast, the gentleman in the stern sprang ashore, and, removing the
+cloak in which he had been enveloped, discovered the princely features
+of Rodolph, Duke of Suabia. Rodolph was descended from the counts of
+Hapsburg, on the father's side--and, on the mother's, from the
+illustrious family of Otto the Great. He was styled King of Arles, and
+resided for the most part at Zurich. He was connected with Henry of
+Austria by a double tie, Matilda, his first wife, having been the sister
+of the king, and Adelaide, to whom he was then married, being the sister
+of the queen. But, though thus allied to Henry, he neither loved nor
+respected him. Once, indeed, the emperor had summoned him to court, on
+the charge of entertaining projects hostile to the house of Franconia,
+but Rodolph, well knowing the treacherous character of the monarch, and
+always a hero, boldly refused, preferring the fortune of arms to the
+fate of an investigation. Subsequently, filled with horror at the
+impiety of the Saxons in burning the Cathedral at Hartzburg, hallowed by
+numerous relics, and filled with the rich offerings of the faithful, he
+had united with Henry to chastise their sacrilege. At the battle of
+Hohenburg, in the van--the privilege of Suabia--he distinguished himself
+above all others by his impetuous valor, and only left the field when
+covered with wounds. Rodolph was equally remarkable for the size and
+beauty of his person, and the elevation of his soul. The Teutonic
+antiquities contain many songs of the Minnesingers, in which he is
+invested with all the qualities of mind and heart and body that can
+adorn the knight; but one fault is imputed to him--ambition. His
+subjects almost worshipped him, and his power is said to have been built
+upon their hearts. So conspicuous was he among his brother dukes, that,
+at the Diet of Gerstungen, in 1073, he had been offered the imperial
+crown, but he declined it unless awarded by the unanimous suffrages of
+the confederation.
+
+Between him and the Baron of Hers a close friendship of long standing
+had existed, which had been interrupted by the baron's refusal to
+accompany him the preceding year in the expedition against Saxony. This
+refusal had been dictated by the knight's invincible repugnance to
+Henry, and by the politic move of conciliating all who opposed the
+emperor. Since the battle of Hohenburg they had not met.
+
+After receiving the formal salutation due to his rank, Rodolph cordially
+embraced the Lord of Hers, and extended his regards to Gilbert, who
+could not sufficiently admire the hero of Hohenburg.
+
+"But for your father's obstinacy," he said to the youth, "you would now
+be a knight. But I will see you win your spurs yet."
+
+The greetings over, they all began to ascend the hill. The duke would
+not pass the chapel without entering. The pavement upon which they knelt
+had been worked with many a rich and curious device; but time and the
+knees of the faithful had worn away most of the finest tracery. At the
+foot of one of the columns still remained this fragment of an
+inscription:
+
+  _Hoc pavimentum ... feci
+  ... ductus amore Dei._
+
+This was the spot upon which the duke loved to kneel. Before rising, he
+drew from under his robe a golden chalice, and gave it to Herman, who
+was beside him. The priest took it and carried it to the sanctuary.
+
+"I would almost give the decade of Jura," exclaimed Rodolph, as he
+approached the castle gate, "to know who made that superb pavement."
+
+"It resembles more the pavement of a cathedral than the simple floor of
+a chapel," said Father Omehr. "I wish we had such an one to our little
+church at Stramen."
+
+"Trust that to your successor," replied the duke; "you have given him
+the walls, the pillars, the windows, and the roof, and are well entitled
+to a pavement and alabaster altar at his hands."
+
+They were now at the gate, into which were cut two niches containing
+statutes of SS. Victor and Apollinaris. The bars, which yielded to every
+stranger and to every peasant, flew open before the high-born group, and
+the almoner, as he recognized the duke, bent his knee in reverence. They
+mounted a heavy flight of stairs, and, traversing an arched gallery,
+were ushered into the principal hall. This large room was hung with
+solemn tapestry, reaching from the ceiling to the floor. The
+characteristic piety of these ages displayed itself in the beautiful
+recesses in the walls, adapted to the reception of holy water, and in
+the devices upon the floor and ceiling, which always conveyed some pious
+meaning. The walls were covered with paintings chiefly relating to the
+exploits of the lords of Hers, or filled up with heraldic blazonry.
+
+In the cathedral or in the castle, in the monastery or in the chapel,
+durability was the principal object of the architect. It is true that
+the genius of the age contrived to combine the greatest strength with
+the greatest elegance; but durability was the great end. The pious men
+of the Middle Ages did not erect mere shells, which, though sufficient
+for their own brief lives, would crumble over their posterity; but
+looked to the wants of future generations. And, then, there was a
+reliance upon posterity which is neither felt nor warranted now. Thus,
+in the minor Church of the Nativity in the lordship of Stramen, which
+had been designed by Father Omehr, and which had exhausted the revenues
+of the barony, the missionary had conceived it upon a scale to which his
+present means were insufficient, but to which the charity of another
+generation would be adequate. This was always the case with the
+cathedrals. Even the castles themselves had so many rooms set apart for
+recluses and wanderers, that it was easy to convert them into
+monasteries; and the Castle of Hers, with very little alteration, would
+have made an excellent convent.
+
+Rodolph was about to throw himself into one of the large high-back
+chairs of state; but yielding a graceful respect to the aged priests, he
+motioned them to be seated, and placed himself between them.
+
+"You are rather pale, my lord duke, from your wounds," said the baron,
+as an attendant entered with some wine-cups--"and I beg you to accept
+from my son a draught of the vintage you used to relish."
+
+Rodolph received the goblet from the youth, and replied, as he raised it
+to his lips, "How I missed you at Hohenburg!"
+
+"I would have given my lordship," returned the baron, "to have seen you
+outstripping all the chivalry of Austria, and charging where none dared
+to follow!"
+
+"My fair cousin, the Margrave Udo, would have atoned for the thrust at
+my face, which made me see more stars than were ever created, had you
+been at my side."
+
+"But to aid you was to assist Henry; and I was loth to break our league
+with Saxony."
+
+"That league was merely defensive, and _they_ broke it by aggression and
+sacrilege."
+
+"But we could not punish their crime without strengthening the power of
+that greater criminal, the emperor."
+
+"You acted uncharitably," said the duke; "but you judged aright, and I
+have forgiven you."
+
+"For which; my liege," replied the baron, "I cannot be too grateful."
+
+"Listen," continued the King of Arles, "ye true pastors of the Church of
+God, and you, Albert of Hers, that Henry of Austria has nominated a
+successor to Anno of Cologne!"
+
+At this announcement Herman and the knight sprang to their feet, while
+their looks expressed their horror and surprise. But Father Omehr kept
+his seat, and said calmly:
+
+"Will your highness inform us more fully?"
+
+The duke resumed: "A messenger, post haste from Goslar, brought me the
+news this morning at Zurich. Henry refused to meet the Pope in council
+to take measures for the purification of Milan, Firmano, and Spoleto,
+and has thus replied to the threat of excommunication. The nominee is
+Hidolph, who is attached to his own chapel, a man of no merit whatever,
+but devoted to the emperor; and whose principal endeavor it has been to
+remedy by art the unprepossessing exterior which nature has given him."
+
+"I know him," said Father Omehr. "Is he yet consecrated?"
+
+"No! All Germany is indignant at the choice, and the people of Cologne
+are imploring the monarch to make another appointment."
+
+"It will serve but to confirm the nomination," said the priest of
+Stramen.
+
+"What remains to His Holiness?" inquired Rodolph.
+
+Slowly and solemnly the missionary pronounced the single word:
+
+"Excommunication!"
+
+"Henry is preparing for it!" exclaimed the duke, rising and addressing
+the Lord of Hers; "he convened at Goslar all who respected his
+summons--among whom was the Duke of Bohemia: and he has liberated Otto
+of Nordheim, my adversary at Hohenburg, and received him into his most
+secret councils. It must _come_, my friend," he added, grasping the
+baron's hand; "we shall not be separated here; and, if I mistake not, we
+have in Gilbert one who is not to be awed by the lion of Franconia!"
+
+Father Omehr beheld with sorrow the meaning glances of the proud nobles,
+as they eagerly joined hands; and he read in the animated features of
+the hero of Hohenburg that the impending excommunication would be the
+signal for a revolt. He rose, and, exchanging a few words in an
+undertone with Herman, explained the necessity he was under of
+returning at once to the Castle of Stramen.
+
+"I will accompany you," said the duke, "if you will delay your departure
+a few minutes."
+
+Father Omehr expressed his assent, and retired to the chapel with
+Herman, leaving the two knights in close converse. Gilbert ran to order
+the best horse for the duke, and to see that his venerable benefactor
+should want nothing to carry him safely over the intervening hills.
+After exchanging many kind adieus, Rodolph and the missionary, near the
+close of twilight, started for the Castle of Stramen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+  _...Simonis leprosam
+  Execrate hæresim,
+  Sacerdotum simul atque
+  Scelus adulterii,
+  Laicorum dominatus
+  Cedat ab ecclesiis._
+
+  ST. PETER DAMIAN.
+
+The King of Arles and the missionary rode along without an escort, and
+felt none of the fears that the traveller of the times is often made to
+entertain for his personal safety. They did not apprehend any violence,
+and their only preparation for the expedition had been a recommendation
+to God through Our Lady and the Saints. It is as purely imaginative in
+historians and novelists--and it is difficult indeed to distinguish the
+one from the other--to surround every castle with a wall of banditti, as
+to station in Catholic countries of the present day, a robber or an
+assassin behind every tree. In the Middle Ages, the stranger could
+wander from castle to castle with as little danger as the nature of the
+country permitted; even in times of war, the blind, the young, the sick,
+and the clergy were privileged from outrage, though found on hostile
+territory. And in war, peace, or truce, the pilgrim's shallop was a
+passport through Christendom; he was under the special protection of the
+Pope, and to thwart his pious designs was to incur excommunication.
+Even amid the terrors of invasion, the laborer was free to pursue his
+occupation, and his flocks and his herds were secure from molestation;
+for it was beneath the dignity of the man-at-arms to trample upon the
+person or property of the poor unarmed peasant. Such were the principles
+recognized even in the eleventh century; and though we witness frequent
+departures from these admirable provisions, we must be careful not to
+mistake the exception for the rule, or to impute to the spirit of the
+age a violence and contempt of authority common to all times, and found
+alike in Norman and Frank, American and Mexican. To balance these
+infringements of regular warfare or "blessed peace," we often meet with
+instances as beautiful as the march of Duke Louis, the husband of St.
+Elizabeth, into Franconia, in 1225, to obtain reparation for injuries
+inflicted on a _peddler_.
+
+"I hope the Baron of Stramen has lost none of his vigor," said the duke;
+"we were together at Hohenburg, and I may need him at my side again. His
+son Henry, too, whom I knighted before the battle, and who won his spurs
+so nobly, how is he?"
+
+"They were both well," replied Father Omehr, "when I saw them last, and
+were anxiously expecting a visit from their liege."
+
+"And the Lady Margaret, from whom not a knight can boast a token, though
+all are striving to obtain one?"
+
+"She has not altered since you saw her," answered the priest; "she was
+always rather frail, but I do not see that she grows weaker."
+
+"You cannot imagine," interposed Rodolph, "how much it grieves me to be
+unable to reconcile these two families whom I so dearly love, and who,
+in the camp or in the chamber, have proved themselves so devotedly
+attached to me. I cannot even ask of one in the hearing of the other,
+without giving offence or receiving a bitter answer. In all things else,
+they are obedient as this horse to his rein; but the moment I speak of
+reconciliation, the stubborn neck is arched, and will not relax either
+for threats or entreaties."
+
+"Your grief cannot equal mine," returned the missionary, "and I confess,
+that without the hope of obtaining assistance from heaven, I should
+despair of ever softening the determined animosity of the Baron of
+Stramen. The Lord of Hers, perhaps, might be induced to throw enmity
+aside, if his adversary relented; but he cannot be persuaded to sue for
+peace, especially when his supplication might be unavailing."
+
+"I cannot believe," continued the duke, "that my friend of Hers could
+have killed Robert of Stramen, since he most positively denies it. It is
+true that their relations were anything but amicable, yet Albert of Hers
+would scorn to take a knight at a disadvantage, and would not attempt to
+conceal the result of a mortal struggle. If Robert of Stramen fell by
+his hand, it must have been in fair combat; and if in a fair tilt, there
+is no motive for concealment."
+
+"But the circumstances are strong enough to amount to conviction in an
+angry brother's eyes. A woman, who has since lost her mind, named
+Bertha, her father, and her husband, all swore to have seen Sir Albert
+ride away from the spot a short time before the body was found; and the
+scarf of the Lord of Hers was clutched convulsively in the dead man's
+hand. The wound upon the head resembled that produced by hurling a mace,
+and was of such a character that the head could not have been protected
+by any steel piece. I do not consider this conclusive against the Lord
+of Hers, or even incapable of explanation; but real and unequivocal
+guilt itself could not justify the untiring malignity of the Baron of
+Stramen. His brother's soul would be much better honored by his prayers,
+than by imprecations and the clash of steel; we cannot avenge the dead,
+for their bodies are dust, and their souls absorbed in things eternal;
+and Sandrit de Stramen is but making his brother's misfortune the
+occasion of his own temporal, and perhaps eternal injury. I wish,
+indeed, this criminal work of vengeance could be stopped."
+
+"Yes," replied the duke, "they had better husband their energies, for if
+I read the future aright, Suabia will have need of every nerve."
+
+Rodolph paused here; and as his companion did not reply, they rode on in
+silence.
+
+"I have a plan," exclaimed the duke, with singular vivacity. "But tell
+me first, has that young Gilbert seen the Lady Margaret?"
+
+In reply the missionary briefly narrated the events of which the reader
+is already in possession. "Then," pursued the King of Arles, eagerly, "I
+have strong hopes of success. Listen to me, holy Father: the maiden is
+beautiful and virtuous, the youth fair and knightly, and I can so
+represent one to the other, as to create an attachment strong enough to
+insure to filial love a victory over parental hate. It is fair, I think,
+to employ the bodily graces of these young persons against the mental
+deformity of their parents--to array the child against the father, when
+we seek the triumph of innocence over sin."
+
+"Your highness is inclined to be romantic," rejoined the priest.
+
+"Only the circumstances are romantic, and they seem to have shaped
+themselves; my plan is practical enough. Tell me--what think you of it?"
+
+"Briefly, then, I think your project impracticable."
+
+"Impracticable! You cannot know, Father, all that love and youth will
+dare; but I, whose earthly life has given me experience in such matters,
+have seen the impossibilities of sober minds yield to the irresistible
+energy of two plighted hearts. Oh, no; it is not impracticable."
+
+"I will grant you," replied the missionary, "that these two young
+persons might be brought to love each other, that they might marry in
+spite of family opposition, but the result would make your romance a
+tragedy."
+
+"How so?" inquired the duke. "May we not deem without impiety that God,
+in His mercy, has designed them for the extirpation of this miserable
+feud, and has drawn out of the stern parents themselves the instruments
+by which their hearts may be softened?"
+
+"It is impossible," said Father Omehr, "for us to discover by any human
+means what the mercy of God may appoint; all we can do is to ask for
+light to guide our steps, and to exercise the reason with which He has
+endowed us. I have good ground to believe that any approach to
+tenderness, on the part of the children, would widen the breach between
+the fathers. And were such the case, the consummation of your plan would
+give only a new and horrible feature to the present discord, by severing
+the bond between child and parent. For, unless I am much deceived, the
+lords of Hers and Stramen would turn away in disgust from children whom
+they would consider, not only to have disobeyed them, but to have proved
+faithless to their race. In this view, I can not suppose that heaven
+indicates the path to final reconciliation through fresh dissension. The
+hearts of the parents can not be softened in the way your highness
+proposed, and that must be the first step in your plan. Besides, I have
+little confidence in the agency of a human and selfish love to reach an
+end that ought to be gained by purer motives. I have discovered, from
+observation, what the power you spoke of will dare; I know its greatness
+and its littleness."
+
+"I must tax my ingenuity for a more auspicious scheme," resumed Rodolph
+of Suabia, "for I begin to be distrustful of my first. I was a little
+romantic, I confess; but it is thus we give the rein to some solitary
+impulse of youth, lingering, like a firebrand, among our more matured
+resolves."
+
+They had ridden slowly, and were now on the brink of the ravine, three
+miles from the Castle of Stramen. The waning moon and the bright
+starlight showed them a white figure standing in the road, a few paces
+from the mouth of the gorge.
+
+"Who is that before us?" asked the noble.
+
+"Bertha, the poor crazy woman, who swore to the presence of the Lord of
+Hers at the spot where Robert de Stramen was found," whispered the
+priest, and he advanced to where she stood.
+
+"I heard your horse's hoofs, Father," she said, "and I came to get your
+blessing."
+
+"And you shall have it, Bertha," he answered, extending his hands over
+her head. "Good night," he added, seeing that she did not move.
+
+"Who is this you have brought us?" continued the woman, pointing to the
+duke.
+
+"That," replied Father Omehr, "is Rodolph, Duke of Suabia, and King of
+Arles."
+
+Bertha approached the duke, knelt down, and kissed his hand. She then
+walked slowly up the ravine.
+
+"A singular being," exclaimed the duke, as they gave their horses the
+spur, for it was growing late. "I have not seen any one thus afflicted
+for many years, and it is always a painful sight."
+
+The two horsemen were now at the church, but they passed it and kept on
+to the castle; and hearty was the welcome of the noble duke to the halls
+of Stramen castle. Sir Sandrit's eyes gleamed with delight as he saluted
+his liege; Henry's cheek flushed with pleasure when Rodolph, the flower
+of German chivalry, spoke of his youthful prowess at Hohenburg; the Lady
+Margaret loved the duke for the praises he heaped upon her brother. Nor
+were the domestics gazing idly on; but kept gliding to and fro, and
+hurrying here and there until the genial board was spread, and the fish,
+fresh from the Danube, smoked, and the goblet gleamed.
+
+As it was near midnight when they sat down, Father Omehr felt at liberty
+to leave the room without ceremony. The Lady Margaret stayed no longer
+than courtesy demanded, when she rose and retired to her chamber. This
+young lady had always been noted for her piety and her charities to the
+poor, whose wants she was sure to discover and supply. Under the skilful
+and fervent training of Father Omehr, she had learned to repress a
+spirit, perhaps naturally quick and imperious, and to practise on every
+occasion a humility very difficult to haughty natures. There was even
+some austerity in her devotion; for she would subject herself to
+rigorous fasts and to weary vigils, and deny herself the luxuries that
+her father delighted in procuring for her, little dreaming that they
+were secretly dispensed to the sick of the neighborhood. She never
+failed to hear Mass, unless prevented by sickness or some other
+controlling cause, but every morning laid a bunch of fresh and fragrant
+flowers upon the altar of our Blessed Mother. And who shall say that the
+sweet lilies of the field, the roses and the violets, colored with the
+hues of the dawn, and freshened in the dew of the twilight, when offered
+and consecrated by the homage of an innocent heart, are not grateful to
+her whose purity they typify! Yet there was a lurking family pride in
+Margaret's heart that she could not entirely eradicate, and a sleeping
+antipathy to the house of Hers that at times betrayed itself to her
+watchful self-examination. The reader must not imagine that, when she
+told the missionary at Gilbert's bedside that had the youth fallen in
+battle she perhaps would rejoice, she actually desired such an event.
+She spoke to one who knew her better. She felt this antipathy, but did
+not know its extent; and, with the humility of virtue, she feared that,
+although engaged in an act of charity, there might be the fiend of
+revenge at the bottom of her soul. Margaret de Stramen was not blind to
+her imperfections, and she did not hesitate to impute to herself an
+inclination to the un-Christian hate so cherished by her family. But she
+endeavored to overcome it by prayer, by the Sacraments, by penance, and
+by pondering the splendid example of Jesus of Nazareth.
+
+The Lady Margaret was not one of those fair and fanciful creations,
+endowed with such exquisite sensibilities as to perceive and return the
+admiration of a young knight-errant with whom she had been associated by
+any romantic circumstance. Nor was her disposition of that impulsive
+kind which will permit the impression of a moment to overthrow the
+prejudices of years. But to her joy and surprise, she found that, far
+from rejoicing at Gilbert's misfortune, she had regretted it; and
+regretted it, not merely because it might stigmatize the fair name of
+Stramen, but also in obedience to an elevated generosity that sickened,
+ungratified, at the sight of obtained revenge. She had been almost
+constrained to render assistance to the youth; and there are some who
+think the sting of a favor worse than the fang of an injury, and are
+more disposed to forgive after having benefited. With the facility
+peculiar to a gifted woman, she had read in Gilbert's face the
+ingenuousness and goodness of his heart, and though she did not ascribe
+to him any exalted qualities, she admitted that it was not easy to
+believe him guilty of cruelty or meanness. In a word, the sympathies of
+the woman were now arrayed against family pride and family prejudice,
+and a trial still more dangerous and severe awaited her piety and
+resolution.
+
+In the morning, after hearing Mass, she found the duke and her father in
+close conversation, while her brother was busily preparing for some
+important event. It was soon evident that Rodolph was about to depart,
+and that Henry was to accompany him; for the grooms led to the door two
+handsome and stalwart steeds, richly caparisoned, and four mounted
+men-at-arms rode up and halted upon the terrace, where they waited
+motionless as statues of steel.
+
+When their private conference was over, the duke advanced, and took the
+Lady Margaret by the hand. "I am selfish enough," he said, "to deprive
+you of your brother for a few weeks, to assist me by his counsel, and
+protect me by his arm, should it be necessary, in a little adventure we
+have resolved to undertake."
+
+"I am too true to you, my lord," replied Margaret, "to desire my
+brother's society when you request his assistance. Were I a young
+knight, I should esteem it no light favor to march--no matter where--as
+an escort to Rodolph, Duke of Suabia."
+
+"And I, fair maiden," returned the duke, "could wander to the end of
+the world with such a companion."
+
+"I hope you may not find Henry so agreeable as to carry you so far, for
+I expect to welcome you back in a week."
+
+"If I consulted my pleasure," said Rodolph, "I should not be absent a
+day, but my duty may detain me a month. I will not offer an apology for
+so long a stay, because I fear that before sunset you will have ceased
+to think of me, or remember me only in connection with your brother."
+
+"A noble duke," replied the lady, "whose name is heard wherever the
+minstrel tunes his harp, whose word was never plighted in vain, whose
+sword was never stained in an unrighteous cause, whose arm and purse are
+ever at the command of the poor and persecuted, whose courage and
+clemency, wisdom and piety, so well entitle him to the love of all his
+people, is not so easily forgotten."
+
+"I assure you, on my honor," exclaimed Rodolph, "that I value your words
+more than all the songs of all the minstrels I ever heard. I would I
+were worthy your praise; but you have inspired me to deserve it.
+Farewell! I see that Henry is impatient, and we must not lose the early
+morning."
+
+He bade adieu to the baron and his daughter, and turned to mount his
+horse, when Bertha touched his arm, and placed in his hand something
+enveloped in silk. Bertha said not one word, but she looked earnestly up
+in Rodolph's face, and then walked away as swiftly and silently as she
+came. The duke could not help remarking the wild beauty of her pale and
+wasted face, and remained some moments gazing after her with a painful
+interest. He removed the silk and found that it contained a ring
+garnished with a stone of rare value. He started as his eye fell upon
+the trinket, for he remembered that years ago he had given it to the
+Lord of Hers. How could it have come into Bertha's possession, was the
+question that naturally occurred to him; but the answer came not so
+readily as the question. While the duke was thus pondering, Henry had
+embraced his father and sister, and leaped upon his horse. Rodolph
+mounted slowly, after examining the girths with his own hand; and the
+little troop, waving a parting salute, swept over the drawbridge, and
+were soon lost among the trees.
+
+About the same hour, or a little earlier, the Lord of Hers, with a small
+retinue, had set out in an opposite direction, but on the same mission.
+Rodolph had long seen that King Henry's unprincipled ambition threatened
+the liberties of religion and of Austria, and he only paused for the
+Papal excommunication to throw off all allegiance to a monarch who could
+not be safely trusted. That excommunication was impending, and, as may
+be easily conjectured, the duke was making a rapid circuit of his
+dominions, to unite his barons more closely to his interests; to warn
+them to prepare for the approaching struggle; to confirm the weak and
+wavering in their fidelity; inspire the resolves of those who were true
+and firm, and make all the pulses of the circle of Suabia throb in
+concert to the action of one grand moving power. To gain time, the Lord
+of Hers had been despatched to the provinces bordering upon the Rhine
+with letters from Rodolph to the principal barons there, while the duke
+himself, with Henry of Stramen, followed the Danube.
+
+For many months there had been no active warfare between the hostile
+houses, though the feud had lost none of its venom. But age was
+stiffening the impetuosity of the old barons; and their sons, no longer
+urged on by the battle-cry of their sires, listened with more attention
+to the advice and representations of their spiritual instructors.
+Gilbert of Hers was not inclined to take an injury to his breast, and
+hug it there; but the bold and frequent incursions of Henry of Stramen
+had induced him to retaliate rather in a spirit of rivalry than of
+revenge. Henry of Stramen inherited all his father's implacability, but
+he had often yielded to his sister's solicitation to dedicate to the
+chase the day he had devoted to a descent upon the lordship of Hers. The
+troubled condition of Germany had also diverted the chiefs from the
+disputes of their firesides to the civil wars of the empire; and neither
+the Lord of Hers nor the Baron of Stramen gave much attention to aught
+else than the league that Rodolph was forming against Henry IV of the
+house of Franconia.
+
+Gilbert, left almost without a companion--for the good priest Herman,
+whose time was divided between his pastoral duties, his prayers, and his
+studies, saw him but at intervals--found time to hang very heavily upon
+his hands. He thought the old reaper weary and sluggish, for the scythe
+flies fast only when we employ or enjoy the moments. The autumn blast
+was beginning to lend a thousand bright colors to the trees, and the
+giddy leaves, like giddy mortals, threw off their simple green for the
+gaudy livery that was but a prelude to their fall--for the beauty that,
+like the dying note of the swan, was but the beauty of death. It was the
+season of all others for the chase, that health-giving but dangerous
+pastime, which our ancestors pursued with almost incredible eagerness,
+hunting the stag or the boar, over hill and dale, bog and jungle,
+through every twist and turn, as their Anglo-Saxon descendants now
+pursue the flying dollar.
+
+But Gilbert often declined the invitation of the forester to fly the
+falcon, rarely indulging in his favorite amusement. He preferred to
+wander along the borders of the magnificent Lake of Constance, or to
+loiter among the neighboring hills, and watch, from some bare peak, the
+broad-winged vulture sailing slowly and steadily through the skies. He
+would watch it until it became a mere speck in the blue distance: we may
+often catch ourselves gazing after receding objects as though they were
+bearing away a thought we had fixed upon them. His wound was nearly
+well, and the freshness of health was again in his cheeks; but his
+spirit had lost a part of its sprightliness, and he seemed to have grown
+older. He did not evince his former relish for the manuscripts of
+Herman, but his visits to the chapel were more frequent and lasted
+longer. Thus, day after day, he would study the lake, the clouds, and
+the cliffs, neither fearing an attack from the men of Stramen, nor
+meditating one against them.
+
+We shall leave him in his inactivity, to trace the progress of events
+which form one of the most important and exciting periods in history.
+
+Rodolph was not a moment too soon in concentrating his power; for Henry
+IV, flushed with his recent victory over the Saxons, had called at
+Goslar a diet of the princes of the empire, under the pretext of
+deciding, in their presence, the fate of their Saxon prisoners. Only a
+small minority of the princes obeyed the summons; but the real object of
+the king became evident when he made them swear to exalt, upon his own
+death, Conrad his son, a minor, to the throne. In the meantime, the news
+of the nomination of Hidolph, as successor to the sainted Anno, had
+spread to Rome. The Pope beheld with profound sorrow the obstinacy and
+ambition of the king. Henry was not to be driven from his purpose by the
+universal contempt this nomination excited, and he replied to the
+repeated remonstrances of the citizens of Cologne, that they must
+content themselves with Hidolph or with a vacant see. And his firmness
+triumphed over the popular indignation; for Hidolph was invested by the
+king with the crozier and the ring, and finally consecrated Archbishop
+of Cologne.
+
+But his victory was not complete. He had yet to cope with an adversary
+more formidable than popular opposition; one who would not yield to
+temporal tyranny the watch-towers and guardian rights of spiritual
+liberty. That adversary was Gregory VII. Already the tremendous threat
+had issued: "Appear at Rome on a given day to answer the charges against
+you, or you shall be excommunicated and cast from the body of the
+Church." But the infatuated monarch, too proud to recede, hurried on by
+his impetuous arrogance, and by the unprincipled favorites and corrupt
+prelates who shared his bounty, loaded the Papal legates with scorn and
+contumely, and drove them from his presence.
+
+He did not even wait for the sentence of excommunication to fall, that
+now hung by a hair above his head, but began the attack, as if resolved
+to have the advantage of the first blow. Couriers were despatched to
+every part of the empire, with commands to all the prelates and nobles
+upon whom he could rely, to assemble at Worms, where he promised to meet
+them without fail. Twenty-four bishops and a great number of laymen
+hastened to obey the summons. The conventicle sat three days, and the
+following charges were formally preferred against the Pope: "That he had
+by force extracted a solemn oath from the clergy not to adhere to the
+king, nor to favor or obey any other Pope than himself; that he had
+falsely interpreted the Scriptures; that he had excommunicated the king
+without legal or canonical examination, and without the consent of the
+cardinals; that he had conspired against the life of the king; that, in
+spite of the remonstrances of his cardinals, he had cast the Body and
+Blood of our Lord into the flames; that he had arrogated to himself the
+gift of prophecy; that he had connived at an attempted assassination of
+the king; that he had condemned and executed three men without a
+judgment or an admission of their guilt; that he kept constantly about
+his person a book of magic."
+
+So palpably absurd and false were these charges that three of the
+assembled prelates refused to sign an instrument for the deposition of a
+pontiff, so little conforming to the ancient discipline, and unsupported
+by witnesses worthy of belief. Nor were Henry's machinations confined
+to Germany, but he ransacked Lombardy and the marches of Ancona for
+bishops to sign these articles of condemnation, and even aspired to
+infect Rome itself by presents and specious promises. But the golden ass
+could not then leap the walls of Christian Rome.
+
+Gregory's principal accuser was the Cardinal Hugues le Blanc, whom he
+had previously excommunicated. This ambitious man rose in the council
+and taunted the Pope with his low extraction, at the same time charging
+him with crimes that were proved to be the offspring of calumny and
+error. He produced a forged letter, purporting to come in the name of
+the archbishops, bishops, and cardinals, from the senate and people of
+Rome, inveighing against the Pope, and clamoring for the election of
+another head of the Church. Encouraged by imperial patronage, and
+stimulated by a desire to rid himself of disgrace by sullying the hands
+that had branded him, the excommunicated cardinal did not hesitate to
+call the Pope a heretic, an adulterer, a sanguinary beast of prey. The
+emperor himself knew Gregory too well to believe such a tissue of
+absurdity; but he hoped to find others more credulous than himself.
+
+Upon the accusations already specified, and the invectives of Hugues le
+Blanc, the assemblage of prelates at Worms resolve upon the deposition
+of Gregory VII. It is then that Henry steps forth, as the life and soul
+of the conventicle, armed with its decree, and addresses an insulting
+letter to the Pope, inscribed "Henry, king by the grace of God, to
+Hildebrand." In this letter, the decree of the conventicle is lost in
+the insolence of the king. "I," is the language of the missive, "I have
+followed their advice, because it seemed to me just. I refuse to
+acknowledge you Pope, and in the capacity of patron of Rome command you
+to vacate the Holy See." Can the most jaundiced eye, can the man who
+learned, even in his boyhood, to loathe the name of Hildebrand, read
+these expressions without confessing that the king was the aggressor,
+and that if the Christian Church had a right to expect protection from
+its appointed head, Gregory VII was called upon to vindicate the majesty
+and liberty of religion so grossly outraged in his person? Surely it
+will not be asserted at this day that the head of the State, by virtue
+of his temporal power, should be the head of the Church; or does that
+beautiful logic still exist, which denied an absolute spiritual
+supremacy in the successor of St. Peter, yet admitted it as an
+incidental prerogative to the crown of England? But we have yet to see
+the last act of this attempted deposition.
+
+A clerk of Parma, named Roland, was charged with the delivery of this
+letter, and the decrees of the conventicle of Worms. A synod had been
+convoked in the Church of Lateran, and the Pope, surrounded by his
+bishops, occupied a chair elevated above the rest. Roland's mission had
+been kept a profound secret, and, when he appeared before the conclave,
+not a prelate there could guess his purpose. They had not heard the
+voice that had gone forth from Worms. But they did not long remain in
+suspense. Turning to the Pope, the envoy thus began "The king, my
+master, and all the ultramontane and Italian bishops, command you to
+resign, at once, the throne of St. Peter and the government of the Roman
+Church, which you have usurped; for you cannot justly claim so exalted a
+dignity without the approbation of the bishops and the confirmation of
+the emperor!" Then addressing the clergy, he thus continued: "My
+brothers, it is my duty to inform you, that you must appear before the
+king at the approaching festival of Pentecost, to receive a Pope from
+his hand; for the tiara is now worn, not by a Pope, but by a devouring
+wolf!"
+
+Receive a Pope from the king! receive from Cæsar what he must usurp to
+bestow! Had Gregory flinched, the independence of the Church would have
+been sacrificed, and her acknowledged inability to cope with royal vices
+would have permitted every European monarch to change his queen with his
+courtiers. Henry IV would have had his successor to Bertha; Philip
+Augustus his Agnes de Méranie; and Henry VIII his Cranmer and his
+scaffold without one moment's opposition.
+
+But no sooner had Roland pronounced those last words, than the Bishop of
+Porto leaped from his chair, and cried out: "Seize him!" The prefect and
+nobles of Rome and the soldiers drew their swords, and, in their sudden
+fury, would have killed the audacious envoy, had not Gregory, repeating
+his magnanimity to Cencius, covered the clerk with his own body, and by
+his calmness and eloquence controlled the indignation and disgust of his
+too zealous friends.
+
+"My friends!" he said, with all the dignity of human greatness, elevated
+and purified by the most exalted piety, "disturb not the peace of the
+Church. Behold the dangerous times, of which the Scripture speaks, are
+come, when men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, and
+disobedient to parents. We cannot escape these scandals; and God has
+said that He has sent us like sheep in the midst of wolves. It is
+necessary for us then to combine the innocence of the dove with the
+prudence of the serpent. Now, when the precursor of Antichrist erects
+himself against the Church, he must find us innocent and prudent; these
+dispositions constitute wisdom. We must hate no one, but bear with the
+madmen who would violate the law of God. Remember that God, descending a
+second time among men, proclaims aloud: 'He who would follow me must
+forsake himself!' We have lived in peace long enough, and God wishes
+that the harvest should again be moistened with the blood of His Saints.
+Let us prepare for martyrdom, if it shall be needed, for the law of God,
+and resolve that nothing shall sever us from the charity of Jesus
+Christ."
+
+The synod, in breathless interest, listened to the holy Pontiff, who
+then proceeded with wonderful composure to read the charges that had
+been preferred against him. Among Roland's letters was another signed,
+"Henry, king not by usurpation, but by the grace of God, to Hildebrand,
+false monk and anti-pope." This was couched, if possible, in language
+more insulting than the former. One sentence will show the temper of the
+document, and prove that the king was struggling to build up a monarchy
+of divine rights and appointment. "A true Pope, Saint Leo, says, _Fear
+God! honor the king_! But as you do not fear God, neither do you honor
+me whom He has appointed king." Can any expression more clearly indicate
+that Henry of Austria had resolved to crush a Pontiff who stood between
+him and unquestioned despotism, and that he aimed at a heaven-
+commissioned temporal power, often conceded, it is true, but never by
+Catholicity. The letter concludes with these words: "I, Henry, king by
+the grace of God, warn you, with all our bishops: descend! descend!"
+
+When the Pope had finished reading the invectives of Henry and those who
+were weak enough to second his ambition, so great was the exasperation
+of the synod, that he adjourned it to meet the next day. When the morrow
+came, in the presence of one hundred and ten bishops, he recited his
+former indulgence to Henry, his paternal remonstrances, and his repeated
+proofs of love and goodness. The whole assembly rose in a body, and
+implored him to anathematize a perjured prince, an oppressor, and a
+tyrant, declaring that they would never abandon the Pope, and that they
+were ready to die in his defence. It was then that Gregory VII rose and
+pronounced, amid the unanimous acclamations of the synod, the sentence
+of excommunication against the emperor.
+
+Thus went forth this awful thunderbolt for the first time against a
+crowned head. A dissolute and ambitious monarch had called upon the
+successor of St. Peter to yield up the keys, and lay the tiara at the
+feet of the lion of Austria, because that successor had declared an
+invincible determination to preserve the purity of the Church and its
+liberties, at the sacrifice of life itself. The tyrant struck in anger,
+and the Pontiff, incapable of yielding, gave the blow at last; for the
+_temple_ of religion was insulted and invaded.
+
+It is easy, when calmly seated at a winter's fireside, to charge Gregory
+VII with an undue assumption of temporal power. But he who will study
+the critical position of Europe during the eleventh century, must bow
+down in reverence before the mighty mind of him who seized the moment to
+proclaim amid the storm the independence of the Christian Church. Was
+not this resistance to Henry expedient? Yes! And to one who knows that
+the Church was the lever by which the world was raised from barbarism to
+civilization, and will confess, with Guizot, that without a visible
+head, Christianity would have perished in the shock that convulsed
+Europe to its centre, the truth is revealed, as it was to the master
+mind of Gregory, that had he pursued any other course, peace and unity,
+as far as human eye extends, would have perished with the compromised
+liberty of the Church of Rome. Let us rejoice, then, that this sainted
+Pontiff hurled against the Austrian tyrant the anathema on which was
+written--"The independence of the Church of God shall be sustained,
+though the thrones of princes crumble around her, or though her
+ministers are driven to seal their fidelity with death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+  Fierce he broke forth: "And darest thou then
+  To beard the lion in his den?
+    The Douglas in his hall?
+  And hopest thou hence unscathed to got
+  No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!
+  Up drawbridge, grooms!--ho! warder, ho!
+    Let the portcullis fall!"
+
+  MARMION
+
+For three weeks the Lady Margaret had expected the duke and her brother;
+for three weeks Gilbert had impatiently awaited his father's return.
+
+Toward the close of September, a group of young children might be seen
+clustering around an old man, at the edge of the forest, within a
+stone's throw of the Church of the Nativity. They were listening eagerly
+and delightedly to the patriarch they had surrounded, in whom we
+recognize Father Omehr. The faces of the infant band were bright with
+innocence and that happy alchemy which turns the merest toy to a costly
+treasure. There was a tender piety on the features of those children
+that moved the heart. Devotion lies upon the face of youth with a
+peculiar fitness. As we see it dwelling in that unsullied abode, we
+remember how the cheek of the Madonna is pressed against the infant in
+her arms. Their instructor seemed to have caught a portion of their
+light-heartedness. Sad recollections and gloomy anticipations were
+forgotten. The throes of the empire and dangers of the Church intruded
+not; for a moment, the aged missionary felt the elasticity of childhood,
+and, as his heart was as pure, his face became as bright as theirs.
+
+"Perhaps you have thought, my children," the priest was saying, while
+his hand rested lightly upon the head of the nearest boy, "perhaps you
+have thought at times, that had you been little children at Jerusalem
+when our Saviour entered the city in triumph, and the people went forth
+to meet Him with palm-branches, you too would have run to welcome Him,
+and laid fruits and pretty flowers at His feet. Perhaps you have thought
+that you would have offered Him some refreshing drink as He tottered
+under His cross up the hill of Calvary; that you would have embraced Him
+and wept most piteously when He fainted away in agony. How delightful
+would it have been to receive a smile from your suffering Lord! You have
+still the very same opportunity, my children, you would have had at
+Jerusalem. You can still run to meet your Redeemer! He loves the flowers
+of a pure heart better than those which make the green fields as
+beautiful as the blue sky with its stars; and He values the tears we
+shed for our sins more than the pain we should have felt to see Him
+suffer. Still continue to bring the fruits and flowers of piety and
+obedience to your parents to Jesus, and you will be permitted to wait
+upon Him in heaven for all eternity.
+
+"Go, now, and play! And when the bell rings, come quietly to the
+church."
+
+Not until his little flock had dispersed did Father Omehr perceive that
+the Lady Margaret was standing almost at his side.
+
+The Lady Margaret has changed since we saw her return the parting salute
+of Rodolph and Henry. Her cheek has grown brighter, but her brow is
+smoother and paler. Her face is sweeter than ever, though still more
+melancholy. It may have been the balminess of the afternoon, solicitude
+for her brother's return, or a transient feeling, that controlled the
+expression of the maiden's face, but it seemed to have still less of
+earth in its exquisite proportions, and her eye was softer and deeper.
+
+It was Monday afternoon; and on this day every week, the missionary
+instructed the children of the neighborhood and prepared them for
+Communion. There still remained an hour before the time for evening
+service, and Father Omehr proposed to the Lady Margaret a walk along the
+shady avenue at the border of the forest. Disengaging herself from the
+children, who loved her and were clustering about her, she readily
+assented.
+
+"Father," began the maiden, as they walked together, "when may we expect
+the duke?"
+
+"Before long, I hope," replied the missionary; "the conventicle at Worms
+will decide at once which of his barons are for and which against him. I
+should not be surprised to see them returning at any moment."
+
+"Are they in no danger from ill-disposed chieftains?" asked the lady.
+
+"The duke will pass through a friendly country, and is too much loved
+and feared to be assailed in his own dominions. Your father, I presume,
+is not anxious about their safety?"
+
+"Oh, no! He talks as if they were invulnerable."
+
+"At least," returned the priest, "you should rest content with praying
+for them, and not distress yourself with idle fears."
+
+A pause of some minutes ensued here, during which Margaret's mind seemed
+actively and painfully employed. She broke the silence by exclaiming, in
+a low but earnest tone:
+
+"I have always been too much influenced by idle fears--my whole life has
+been a tissue of timidity."
+
+"Do not accuse yourself unjustly, my child," said her companion; "we
+must beware, even in reproaching ourselves, that we do not despise the
+favors of God, and lose the grace of perseverance in virtue."
+
+The fair girl was again silent, but she suddenly exclaimed, with much
+emotion:
+
+"Year after year I felt a strong impulse to join the convent at Cologne,
+founded by the sainted Anno, but was withheld by a fear of my own
+weakness; I resolved to seek the cloister and forget the garb and
+customs of the world, but I feared that I might thus confirm my father
+in his indifference to religion and my brother in his antipathy to the
+house of Hers. The months kept gliding by, and still I was irresolute. I
+have prayed, with all the ardor I could command, for light to see my
+vocation; and if God have mercifully granted it, I wilfully remain
+blind. This self-made uncertainty and irresolution cost me many a pang;
+nor have I even the merit of patiently and cheerfully enduring what they
+inflict."
+
+Margaret was violently agitated as she spoke, but was not entirely
+subdued by her excited heart, though more than one big tear went down
+her cheeks.
+
+"Margaret!" said her venerable companion, stopping short and speaking so
+impressively that the maiden looked up through her tears.
+
+"Margaret!" he repeated, as their eyes met, "you have done much to
+soften your father's anger and your brother's impetuosity, and your
+mediation has perhaps endeared you to heaven--but you can do _more_!
+Devote your life to the extinction of the feud between the houses of
+Stramen and Hers--look to the duty that stares you in the face, and
+fulfil that vocation before you seek another! Make peace between these
+houses the first object of your prayers, and the aim of all your
+efforts, and God will soon determine whether the cloister or the castle
+requires your presence in the accomplishment of your noble end!"
+
+As Father Omehr concluded, the Lady Margaret, yielding to the impulse
+she had till then controlled, wept like a child. Yet it was not deeper
+dejection that made her sob as though her heart would break, but rather
+a sense of relief, and a sweet consolation that banished all spiritual
+dryness. Her instructor had often before suggested her obligation to
+consecrate herself to the task of healing the feud; but never had he so
+solemnly warned her, and never had she seen her duty so clearly.
+
+"Be calm, my child," continued the missionary; "you can compose yourself
+in the church, while I prepare for the service. Prostrate yourself
+before the infinite majesty and goodness of God, and invoke His
+assistance, with a determination to accept with resignation whatever
+trial He may send. And forget not to supplicate the intercession of the
+Blessed Mary. Open your heart to her; beg her to discover and obtain its
+pious wants. _She_ whom Jesus obeyed on earth, will not ask in vain in
+His eternal kingdom: God, who made her the medium of salvation to man
+while she remained a poor Jewish virgin, cannot deem her unworthy of
+being the channel of His choicest graces to us, now that she stands
+beatified in heaven!"
+
+The Lady Margaret passed into the church and knelt before the altar.
+There she remained until the psalms were sung and the evening hymn was
+over. When she rose, her face was calm, and even joyous. There was no
+exultation in her look, but it was full of meek serenity. As she left
+the church, she met Father Omehr. She greeted him with a smile that told
+what a load was taken off her heart. There was gratitude, esteem, and a
+holy joy in that smile--it was full of tender and indescribable
+sweetness--it was an expression of the happiness and purity of her soul.
+
+It was not the bright smile of youth, or the warm smile of affection; it
+had none of the witchery of woman, but much of the devotion of the
+Saint: beautiful as she was, and still more beautiful as it made her, it
+suggested the Creator, not the creature.
+
+"We shall expect you to-night, Father," she said, pausing but a moment.
+
+Father Omehr nodded, and dismissed the children, who had come for a
+parting blessing, while the maiden turned her palfrey toward the castle.
+She rode swiftly, for dark clouds were climbing up the knew the extent
+of his infatuation, he was revolving the feasibility of revealing his
+attachment. At last he had determined to embrace the first chance of
+declaring a love now past concealment.
+
+At the same time that the Lady Margaret was speeding to Stramen Castle,
+Gilbert was standing on the top of a steep hill that rose abruptly some
+distance to the north of that on which the towers of his fathers were
+built. He found a pleasure in surveying the majestic masses of thick
+dark clouds, that slowly overspread the West and swallowed up the sun.
+There seemed to be a mysterious sympathy between him and the angry
+elements, or perhaps he felt flattered to find the deep thunder and
+arrowy lightning less potent than the feelings within his bosom. He
+laughed at the coming storm, while the eagle flew by with a shriek, and
+the cattle sought any casual shelter. But, as he was not ambitious of
+becoming thoroughly wet, he sprang down the hill when the big drops
+began to fall, and entered a neat cottage situated in the opening of a
+rich valley, that swept from the hills toward the lake.
+
+"What! alone, Humbert?" said the youth. "Your wife and children are not
+out in this storm, I hope?"
+
+"They are praying in the next room," replied the man, sinking his voice.
+
+Gilbert turned to the window; but the rain was now pouring down in
+torrents, and he could discern nothing but the lightning. Humbert was a
+favorite with the Lord of Hers. He played upon the harp with more than
+common skill, and could personate the regular minnesinger to perfection.
+His stock of ballads was inexhaustible, and some of his original songs
+might well compare with his borrowed lore. Besides this, he was a daring
+huntsman, an expert falconer, and a trusty follower.
+
+"Humbert!" exclaimed the youth, in a searching whisper, "would you like
+to play the minnesinger in this storm?"
+
+The retainer smiled and replied, "Yes, if I were a bull, and could
+bellow the lay."
+
+But Gilbert answered, without relaxing a muscle, "You will not be called
+upon to play until you can be heard."
+
+"Then we might as well wait until to-morrow," said the other, with great
+_sangfroid_, looking over Gilbert's shoulder at the rain.
+
+"But understand me!" muttered the youth, rather sternly; "I am in
+earnest! Will your harp weather this storm?"
+
+"Yes," returned Humbert, still playfully, "if we loosen its strings: I
+have a water-proof case for it. But I have no water-proof case for
+myself; and being compelled to brace _my_ nerves for the encounter, they
+will be apt to snap."
+
+"You incorrigible trifler, can you disguise yourself as well now, as
+when you palmed yourself upon us all for the minstrel Guigo?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And can you array me as your harpbearer, and alter this face and form
+of mine?"
+
+"With much more ease than I can play the minstrel in this storm."
+
+"Then do it at once," said Gilbert.
+
+"My lord!"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Here!"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now!"
+
+Humbert eyed the young noble with a comic surprise.
+
+"Had we not better wait until the rain abates?"
+
+"It is abating now," replied Gilbert.
+
+It was true: the first frenzy of the storm was over, and there was
+coming a pause in its wild career.
+
+"There!" resumed the youth; "you can ride to the castle and bring two
+good horses before it begins again. Quick! I shall wait here."
+
+"You had better wait upstairs, out of sight," suggested Humbert.
+
+"You are right."
+
+"This way, my lord;" and, followed by his retainer, the young noble
+ascended to a room that might have been called Humbert's studio. The
+latter, descending at once, called his wife, exchanged a few words with
+her, the import of which was to keep herself invisible, and, accustomed
+to a ready obedience, he leaped upon his horse and spurred for the
+castle. The distance was not greater than half a league, yet to Gilbert
+he was absent an age.
+
+It was quite dark before Humbert had completed the disguises to his
+satisfaction. His own was a masterpiece in its way. He assumed a grace
+and a lightness that might well become a minstrel of no ordinary degree.
+The character of his face was completely changed, and was reduced, by
+means of long flaxen curls and other artificial additions, from frank
+manliness to almost feminine delicacy. The Lord of Hers himself could
+not have recognized his son in the drooping, swarthy, gypsy-looking
+figure that stood beside Humbert. Gilbert's head was enveloped in
+something like a cowl, and his whole figure was muffled up in a coarse
+brown cloak. Thus attired, he was to play the part of a Bohemian
+harp-bearer.
+
+The moment the finishing touches were put, the impatient youth hurried
+the more cautious yeoman to the saddle. The rain had ceased to fall, but
+the sky was still overcast and threatening. Though the moon was more
+than half full, they had barely light enough to justify the rapid pace
+at which the noble led the way. It was a little out of character for the
+minnesinger to carry his own instrument when a harp-bearer was so near
+at hand. But Humbert knew how to sling the harp across his back, and
+Gilbert, a mere novice in the art, would have found the burden
+excessively embarrassing. Gilbert pressed forward without opening his
+lips or looking behind, until they had entered the lordship of Stramen.
+Humbert, respecting the humors of his superior, followed just as
+silently. But he began to grow anxious as they kept advancing, and he
+could not repress an exclamation of surprise as Gilbert halted on the
+brink of the ravine we have described before, within a league of the
+castle. They led their horses down into the gully and tied them to two
+stout trees.
+
+"Give me the harp!" exclaimed the youth, commanding rather than
+entreating. Humbert surrendered the instrument without a word, and they
+emerged from the ravine. They walked on, side by side, still in silence;
+for Gilbert's mind was wrought up to the highest pitch, and held too
+thrilling communion with itself to notice his companion, except at brief
+intervals. But when they came within full view of the dim turrets of
+Stramen Castle, and the youth kept steadily advancing toward them,
+Humbert stopped short, and perceiving that Gilbert still advanced, he
+made bold to stay the rash stripling by touching his arm.
+
+Gilbert started and stood still; then said, with cold contempt: "Do you
+flinch?"
+
+"From what?" inquired the other, calmly.
+
+"From that mass of stone."
+
+"What have we to do with that?"
+
+"Enter it before an hour."
+
+"And die before an hour," replied Humbert.
+
+"Or live," said Gilbert, rather to himself than to his attendant, and
+resuming his rapid advance.
+
+Humbert stood awhile, rooted to the ground, in mute amazement at his
+lord's inexplicable behavior. But every moment was precious. He sprang
+forward, and again seizing Gilbert's arm, he threw himself on his knees.
+
+"My dear lord!" he exclaimed, "I conjure you in the name of your father
+to desist from this madness, and to return! You are rushing upon certain
+destruction! You are flinging away your life! Remember it is Monday! The
+arm of our blessed mother, the Church, cannot protect you to-day! My
+wife and my children will be left without a father, and the lordship of
+Hers without an heir!" Here the honest yeoman burst into tears, but the
+youth's determination was taken. He disengaged himself from his
+follower's grasp, and said, resolutely, but kindly:
+
+"Return!"
+
+"And leave you to perish alone?" cried Humbert, springing to his feet.
+"No, no! I am no craven! And why should I return? To be reproached with
+having seduced my lord into danger, and then basely deserted him? If you
+advance, I go with you, though I cannot guess your object, or justify
+your seeming madness. But I implore you to remember your duty as a son
+and as a Christian, and not to take a step that will make your enemies
+exult and your friends tear their hair in sorrow!"
+
+For a moment the noble stood irresolute; but the next instant he seized
+Humbert's hand with a vice-like grip, and whispered in his ear, "I must
+see the Lady Margaret!"
+
+Without waiting for a reply, Gilbert strode forward. Before the
+drawbridge was gained, Humbert had recovered himself, and was prepared
+to put forth all his daring and skill to extricate themselves from the
+consequences of this perilous adventure.
+
+"Ho! warder!" he cried, in a confident tone, "a minnesinger--Ailred of
+Zurich--and his harp-bearer, wet and fasting. Shelter in the name of
+God!"
+
+Down came the drawbridge, and the portcullis rose and fell, leaving them
+on the other side of the moat, surrounded by the men of Stramen. They
+were conducted with much respect to a comfortable room in the castle,
+and the arrival announced to the Lord Sandrit de Stramen. The baron,
+who had heard of Ailred's rising fame, was delighted with the
+intelligence, and invited the minstrel to his principal hall. Humbert
+encased his harp, and having tuned it, delivered it to Gilbert. Then,
+with scrupulous care, having re-examined his costume, he ascended a
+flight of stairs, escorted by a serf, and ordered Gilbert to follow.
+They were ushered into a spacious room, hung with armor and broidered
+tapestry.
+
+By a blazing fire were seated the baron and Father Omehr, and some paces
+behind them stood several attendants. Sir Sandrit rose and saluted the
+minstrel with much courtesy, and bade him warm himself at the genial
+hearth. Humbert received the baron's congratulations without
+embarrassment, and pledged his health in a brimming bowl. While the
+minnesinger and the noble were exchanging compliments, Gilbert kept a
+respectful distance, supporting the harp. He feared to look at the
+missionary, who sat, evidently little concerned about Ailred of Zurrich,
+wrapped in meditation. His heart had grown cold when, on entering the
+room, as he glanced around, he missed the Lady Margaret. Was she sick?
+Was the prophecy to be so swiftly consummated? He maintained his
+position unnoticed, save by the domestic who offered him wine, until the
+diligent seneschal had spread a long table, which soon presented a most
+tempting appearance. Venison, boar's flesh, fish, fowl, pastries of
+various kinds, and generous bowls of wine, proclaimed the hospitality of
+the proud baron. Father Omehr blessed the board, but declined
+participating in the repast.
+
+Sir Sandrit forced the troubadour to sit at his side, while Gilbert
+occupied a seat at the lower end of the table, among the dependents of
+the house; for the arrival of a minstrel was one of those momentous
+occasions when the lord of the fee welcomed his retainers to his own
+board, and extended equal favor and protection to the highest and the
+lowest. Humbert's animation increased as the sumptuous meal progressed,
+while his naturally brilliant qualities, and a remarkable fund of wit
+and anecdote, so fascinated the baron that he was wholly absorbed in the
+charming Ailred. Gilbert sat silent and watchful, eating just enough to
+avoid observation. When the banquet was drawing to a close, the Lady
+Margaret entered the room, and glided to a seat beside the priest. The
+blood rushed to Gilbert's face with such a burning thrill, that he bent
+his head to hide his confusion. He trembled in the violence of his
+smothered emotion. It was some minutes before he dared to look up. Her
+face was exposed to his gaze, and he could see every feature distinctly.
+She was still the same--ay, more than the same--she was lovelier than
+ever. Regardless of discovery, he fixed his eyes upon the apparition
+that had haunted him so long, and was only recalled to a sense of his
+position by a loud call from the baron for the harp.
+
+As he carried the instrument to the spot indicated by Ailred, the baron
+presented the minstrel to his daughter. Humbert behaved with becoming
+reverence. He took his station a few feet from the table, between Sir
+Sandrit and his daughter, and began to prelude with decision and great
+sweetness. Gilbert stood behind him, with his back to the baron and his
+face to the Lady Margaret. Humbert, emboldened by his reception, and
+perhaps inspirited by the wine, sounded the chords with admirable
+effect; and when the expectation of the audience was at the highest, he
+introduced a beautiful ballad, and raising his voice, sang the praises
+of Rodolph of Suabia. The baron and all his followers were listening
+intently to the minstrel, as, with a heaving breast and flashing eye, he
+recited the glory of Suabia and of her majestic duke. Even Father Omehr
+was carried away by the excited Humbert. But Gilbert's eyes and soul
+were riveted upon the Lady Margaret. What was the strain to him? he
+heard it not. The violent hopes and fears that had alternately shaken
+him, had given way to a silent rapture; the unnatural tension of his
+nerves was relaxed, and in spite of all his efforts, the tears gleamed
+in his eyes. When the lay was over, the room resounded with loud
+praises, and the baron threw a chain of gold around the minstrel's neck.
+
+At this moment Margaret encountered Gilbert's eyes; she reddened with
+anger at first, but almost instantaneously became pale as death. Gilbert
+saw that he was recognized--he bent his head upon his breast, and
+prepared for the worst. But so completely had Humbert engrossed all
+eyes, that the maiden's agitation was not observed. She had penetrated
+the youth's disguise, and the discovery stunned her. She was bewildered,
+and could not determine what course to pursue. Humbert sounded his harp
+again, and began a wild romance. Concealing her agitation, she
+endeavored during the song to collect her thoughts. What embarrassed her
+most, was to divine whether Gilbert's purpose in his mad visit were
+hostile or merely a piece of bravado. But she resolved to take no step
+without mature reflection. She was deliberating whether she could
+communicate her secret to Father Omehr, without so surprising him as to
+excite remark, when he rose and left the room.
+
+The Lady Margaret was detained to hear some verses improvised to
+herself, which she rewarded with a slight token; she then withdrew,
+without raising her eyes to Gilbert. After she had disappeared, the
+baron dismissed the guests and retained the minstrel. Seizing this
+opportunity, Humbert told Gilbert he might retire until he was called,
+and the youth passed out, leaving behind only a few favorite retainers
+with Sir Sandrit and the minnesinger. As the door closed behind him,
+Gilbert found himself in a long and dimly lighted corridor. He saw a
+black figure enter at the other end--it was Father Omehr.
+
+"It rains too hard at present to venture out," said the priest, in
+passing, and he re-entered the hall to wait till the gust had exhausted
+itself.
+
+Gilbert wandered along the arched gallery without any definite aim, yet
+expecting to see the Lady Margaret start from some secret niche.
+Suddenly his cloak was pulled so sharply, that he grasped his sword,
+which he had been prudent enough to conceal beneath the ample folds of
+his gown. As he turned, he saw a woman with her finger on her lips, but
+it was not the Lady Margaret: that shrivelled face and curved back
+belonged to Linda. The old neif, after thus enjoining silence, made a
+gesture for the youth to follow, and shuffled noiselessly before him.
+Gilbert's heart was well-nigh bursting with anxiety as they strode
+along. When they reached the point where the corridor branched off into
+many smaller passages, Linda entered one that opened through a
+sharp-arched door upon the top of a battlemented tower. The youth felt
+relieved by the cold, damp wind that drove through the aperture against
+his burning cheeks. As they reached a recess near the tower, Linda
+stopped and leaned against a buttress with her arms crossed on her
+breast. At this moment, Gilbert became aware of the presence of a third
+figure, muffled from head to foot in a mantle of fur; he felt that the
+Lady Margaret stood before him, but all his gallant resolutions melted
+away, and he remained mute and motionless, powerless to speak or act.
+Apparently unconscious of Gilbert's presence, the lady stepped within
+the recess and knelt before a statue of the _Mater Dolorosa_; the youth
+was awed and abashed: he began to consider his daring adventure an
+unwarrantable intrusion; he meditating kissing the hem of her garment
+and retiring with all his love unspoken. In the midst of his suspense
+Margaret arose and confronted him; her manner was formal and dignified
+without being cold or stern.
+
+"Are you Gilbert de Hers?" she said, in an undertone, but her voice was
+firm and clear.
+
+Gilbert bowed, but made no other reply.
+
+"What is your motive in coming here?" pursued the maiden, still calmly.
+
+The youth was silent, his eyes fixed on the pavement.
+
+"Why have you come so mysteriously--in such a strange disguise?"
+
+But still no answer came.
+
+"Are you here," continued his fair questioner, with more emphasis, "on a
+hostile mission? Are you seeking vengeance on our house by stealth? Are
+you engaged in the prosecution of some criminal vow to injure us? Speak!
+Have you come to draw blood?"
+
+"No, no!" muttered Gilbert, finding voice at last; "I bear your house no
+enmity."
+
+"Beware!" said the lady. "Remember that for years you have been our
+professed and bitter enemy."
+
+"I was your enemy. I solemnly declare myself one no longer."
+
+"Then what has impelled you to this step? Is it an idle curiosity--a
+mere piece of bravado?" Gilbert made no reply.
+
+"Is the object of your visit fulfilled? If so, fly at once! Your life is
+in danger--you cannot long escape detection--it is dangerous to tempt my
+father. Go! you will find none else here to listen to your denial of an
+inimical intent in this reckless deception."
+
+"My object is but half fulfilled!" exclaimed the youth, throwing himself
+at the Lady Margaret's feet.
+
+It would argue a poor knowledge of the quick apprehension of woman, to
+say that the maiden was entirely unprepared for such a movement; but the
+suddenness of the demonstration made her start. Gilbert's embarrassment
+had disappeared in his fervor. He no longer stammered and stuttered,
+but with unhesitating eloquence went through that ancient but ever fresh
+story, found in the mouths of all suitors in all ages. Linda stood with
+her eyes and mouth distended, looking as though she had been petrified
+just as she was about to scream. It was rather a poor omen for Gilbert
+that Margaret should have turned to the old servant, who had advanced a
+pace, and calmly motioned her back to her corner. The daughter of
+Stramen listened to Gilbert's passionate professions with the air of one
+who was hearing the same vows, from the same person, under similar
+circumstances for the second time. She could scarcely have foreseen
+this, but there is no estimating the power of anticipation it is the
+mother of much presence of mind and unpremeditated wit.
+
+After reciting the history of his love from its dawn to its zenith,
+Gilbert began to conjure her not to slight his affection, and not to
+permit family prejudices to stand in the way of their union.
+
+"It can never be sufficiently lamented," he said, "that the demon of
+revenge has so long separated our houses, which ought to be united in
+the closest ties of friendship. It is time for us to learn to forgive.
+We have been too long aliens from God, and wedded to our evil passions.
+We must fling aside the scowl of defiance, the angry malediction, the
+sword and the firebrand, and, like Christians and neighbors, contract an
+alliance that may edify as much as our discord has scandalized. I
+conjure you, in the name of the victims already made by our feud--of the
+numbers who must perish by its continuance--in the name of the holy
+Church whose precepts we have disregarded, of the God whose Commandments
+we have violated, not to dismiss me in scorn and anger. I have perilled
+my life, that I might end our enmity in love."
+
+"I am most happy," interposed the Lady Margaret, availing herself of the
+first pause in his rapid utterance, "I am most happy," she repeated, in
+a voice of singular sweetness, "that our enmity may end in love--"
+
+A smile of exultation shot over Gilbert's face, and a sound of joy
+trembled on his lips. This did not escape the maiden, for she instantly
+added:
+
+"But not in the love you propose!"
+
+The light was gone from Gilbert's countenance, and he stared wildly into
+the lovely and mournful face before him.
+
+"Not in the love you propose," she resumed. Hitherto she had spoken
+seriously and without agitation, but now her whole manner was changed.
+Her cheek glowed and her eyes gleamed: a sudden animation appeared in
+every limb. She took a step forward, and bent over the still kneeling
+youth, fixing upon his a steady, penetrating gaze, as though she sought
+to read his inmost soul.
+
+"Tell me, Gilbert de Hers," she said, "do you truly desire peace between
+us?"
+
+"As I live," replied Gilbert, "yes!"
+
+"Do you desire it for the love of God, and because our enmity displeases
+Him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then consecrate yourself to the attainment of that peace! Let no
+selfish motive spur you on! Look to heaven for your recompense, not to
+me I Aspire to eternal favor, not to mortal love! As for me--my days are
+numbered here!--but what remains of life, I devote to the same holy end.
+We will labor together, though apart, in a noble cause--our prayers
+shall be the same--our hopes the same--our actions guided by the same
+resolves! If I should die before our task is done--if my death fail to
+soften my father's heart--falter not in your enterprise! With the grace
+of God, I shall be with you still! Fix your heart _there!_"
+
+Her trembling finger was raised to heaven as she spoke, and in the
+splendor of her pious enthusiasm, she seemed rather the guardian Angel
+of the youth than a daughter of earth.
+
+Gilbert remained as one entranced--he did not even hear the sharp scream
+that burst from Linda, as Bertha, with her hair streaming wildly over
+her face and neck, darted toward them through the corridor, followed by
+a dozen men-at-arms.
+
+"Fly! fly! my lady!" cried the terrified neif, setting the example.
+
+But Margaret remained firm.
+
+"Rise!" she said to Gilbert, who still knelt as if turned to stone.
+Alive to her voice, he sprang to his feet.
+
+"Back!" cried the Lady Margaret to the leader of the party, who was now
+within a few feet of her.
+
+"Pardon me, my lady," said the man, bowing deeply; "your sire has
+commanded us to arrest the harp-bearer."
+
+The maiden reflected an instant, and then said: "Offer him no
+violence--take him before my father--I will accompany you."
+
+Gilbert had drawn his sword, but at a sign from the Lady Margaret,
+replaced it in his belt, and suffered himself to be seized by two of the
+men of Stramen. Margaret led the way along the corridor, followed by
+Bertha, whose voice could be heard at times mingling with the clang of
+the heavy feet that waked a hundred echoes along the vaulted passage.
+Had Gilbert looked behind him as he left the ravine, he would have seen
+a female figure there--that figure had dogged him ever since. Bertha was
+again his evil spirit: with a peculiar cunning, she had followed him
+unobserved to the interview with the Lady Margaret, and then
+communicated her suspicions by gestures and broken sentences to the
+baron. Scarce knowing whether to credit the confused story of the
+unfortunate woman, Sir Sandrit had ordered Gilbert's arrest, rather to
+get rid of Bertha's importunity than as a prudent or necessary measure.
+When the youth entered the room with Margaret, Bertha, and his armed
+escort, the baron said, without any irritation:
+
+"Is this a Bohemian, my daughter? Has he been telling your fortune?"
+
+But the Lady Margaret was silent.
+
+"Unmuffle that churl," pursued the knight, manifesting some impatience;
+"let us see what lurks beneath that sordid cowl."
+
+"Hold!" cried the youth, arresting the lifted arm of his guard and
+uncovering his head with his own hand. "There is no motive for
+concealment now, sir," he continued, meeting without flinching the
+kindling eye of the baron. "I am Gilbert de Hers!"
+
+At this bold declaration, Sir Sandrit started up, almost livid with
+anger, while the corded veins swelled in his menacing brow; Father Omehr
+clasped his hands, despondingly at first, and then, raising them as if
+in prayer, kept his eye fixed on the baron; the Lady Margaret bent her
+head in deep affliction, and Humbert involuntarily struck his harp. The
+single note sounded like a knell: a death-like silence ensued. Already
+four stalwart soldiers had secured Gilbert's arms, and with determined
+looks they waited but a signal from their chief: still the infuriated
+knight scowled at Gilbert, and still the latter firmly bore the storm.
+
+"To prison with him!" at length exclaimed the baron. "Instant death were
+too good for the designing villain who has stolen like a snake into our
+midst. Away with the deceiver, who would stoop, to seek by a most
+unmanly stratagem the revenge he dared not openly attempt."
+
+"The bravest of your name," retorted Gilbert, "has not yet dared to set
+foot within my father's halls."
+
+"Because we murder not by stealth!" shouted Sir Sandrit, stung by the
+sarcasm.
+
+"I meant no murder in coming here!"
+
+"Aha! you find it easy to disguise your designs as well as your person!"
+
+"I came to renounce the foe at your daughter's feet, and tell her that I
+loved her. I have done so--do your worst!"
+
+While the youth was speaking, the maddened baron snatched a heavy mace
+from a man who stood by. Already the ponderous mass quivered in his
+powerful grasp, when his daughter, with a piercing shriek, threw herself
+upon his arm. After a vain effort to free himself, the ready knight
+seized the weapon with his left hand, and with wonderful adroitness and
+strength prepared for the blow. But the baron's arm was again arrested.
+Between the chieftain and the motionless object of his wrath stood
+Father Omehr. The mace must crush that majestic forehead, that
+benevolent eye, must steep those venerable hairs in blood, before it can
+reach the unfortunate Gilbert. Calm, but stern, the missionary, stood,
+superior to the frenzy of the noble.
+
+"Forbear! In the name of God I command you--forbear!" Such was his
+exclamation, as, with one arm outstretched, he opposed his hand to the
+mace.
+
+"Tempt me not!" cried the baron, growing pale, and stamping in his rage.
+
+"Tempt not your God!" returned the fearless priest.
+
+"Stand aside! Beware! You shelter a miscreant!"
+
+"Beware yourself of the fiend at your heart!" replied the old man,
+maintaining his perilous position.
+
+"Think not to thwart me always," resumed Sir Sandrit. "I have too long
+permitted your interference. Again and again have you thrust yourself
+between me and the objects of my wrath! You have ever sided with my
+inferiors--protected my serfs, and insulted their master."
+
+"I have sided with mercy and with your better nature. You are a demon
+now--and seek what, if obtained, would make you even loathe yourself,
+and would, in the pure eye of God--"
+
+A shrill blast of a bugle sounded at the castle gate.
+
+"The duke! the duke!" exclaimed the Lady Margaret, throwing her arms
+around her father's neck.
+
+The mace was still uplifted, the priest was still before it, Gilbert was
+still pinioned by the men of Stramen, and all was silent as the tomb,
+when Rodolph and Henry entered the room.
+
+"Did you listen to that minion, Margaret?" said the baron to his
+daughter, without seeming to notice the presence of the duke.
+
+"It is because she gave me no hope," interposed Gilbert, "that I am
+indifferent to your anger."
+
+Rodolph, perceiving the difficulty at a glance, put his arm in his angry
+baron's and led him aside, while Henry advanced to his sister. After a
+long and vehement discussion, the King of Arles left the knight standing
+with his arms folded on his breast and his back to the group, and
+released Gilbert from the close grasp of his captors.
+
+"Come with me," he said, in a whisper.
+
+"Where?" inquired Gilbert.
+
+"To the other side of the drawbridge?"
+
+"But--I cannot leave Humbert," said the youth, pointing to the
+frightened minnesinger.
+
+"He shall go with you--they care not for him."
+
+At a beck from the duke, Humbert was at his side. "Follow me," said
+Rodolph.
+
+But Gilbert lingered a moment to press Father Omehr's hand to his lips,
+and then the three passed silently, out of the apartment. They soon
+gained the terrace, where, to his surprise, Gilbert found his own
+horses that had been tied in the ravine. Bertha had brought them there.
+The two adventurers were conducted by the duke beyond the castle bounds.
+The clouds had passed away, and the moon and stars shone brightly.
+
+"Away now!" cried the hero of Hohenburg.
+
+Bidding the noble duke an affectionate farewell, Gilbert and his
+follower sprang to the saddle and galloped off. But the adventures of
+the night were not yet over. Hardly had they passed the ravine, before
+Humbert's quick ear detected the tramp of a horse behind them.
+
+"Faster!" said Gilbert, putting spurs to the somewhat jaded animal he
+rode.
+
+Faster they went, but the sound came nearer and nearer. Again Gilbert
+urged on his horse, and again the galled creature bounded forward, but
+the pursuing sound came faster than they. Humbert looked behind, and by
+the bright moonlight saw a solitary horseman advancing at a furious
+pace.
+
+"It is but one man," said he.
+
+"So much the worse!" replied the youth, without checking his speed.
+
+"He must overtake us!" continued Humbert; "he gains at every leap!"
+
+It was true. The horseman was almost on them.
+
+"Fly not so fast, gentlemen!" he cried as he came up.
+
+"I knew it was he," muttered Gilbert, halting.
+
+"You have given me some trouble to overtake you!" said Henry of Stramen,
+with a bitter sneer, as he wheeled his swift horse, which had darted
+ahead, and confronted them.
+
+"Had I been well mounted," answered Gilbert, "you should have had your
+trouble in vain!"
+
+"I conjectured as much, from your determined flight," returned Henry.
+
+Gilbert was stung to the quick, but he constrained himself to reply:
+
+"With your permission, sir, we will ride on."
+
+"My permission can only be obtained in one way, and that way should
+already have been embraced by a Suabian noble."
+
+Saying this, the young knight leaped to the ground, and drew his sword.
+
+"You will dismount, I trust!" he continued, as Gilbert sat steadily in
+his saddle.
+
+"No! Let me pass, I entreat you!" said Gilbert, putting his horse in
+motion. But Henry of Stramen, with a sudden spring, caught the reins,
+and forced the animal well-nigh upon his haunches.
+
+"I knew it!" cried Henry, with a bitter laugh. "You took advantage of my
+absence to insult my sister, but I returned too soon for your chivalry.
+Dismount! The truce of God covers not to-day. Dismount! Add not
+cowardice to deceit!"
+
+This was more than Gilbert could bear. Quick as lightning he stood
+beside the challenger. It was but the work of a moment to throw off his
+coarse cloak and draw his sword. Having chosen his position, he awaited
+the assault of his adversary. Humbert looked on in breathless interest,
+while the two young nobles fought in the moonlight. For some minutes
+Gilbert maintained his ground, despite the furious efforts of his
+assailant. There was a strong contrast between the desperate energy of
+Henry and the calm courage of Gilbert. But at length the latter began to
+recede rapidly down a gentle slope. His antagonist recklessly pursued.
+The motive of Gilbert's retreat soon became evident. Henry's foot
+slipped on the long grass, slimy from the recent rain, and he fell at
+full length upon the ground. Before he could rise, Gilbert had mounted
+the far fleeter steed of his opponent.
+
+"Return, coward! and see if chance will save you again!" shouted Henry,
+as he gained his feet.
+
+"Your sister has saved you once, and she shall save you again!" answered
+Gilbert; and, without regarding the denunciations of the knight of
+Stramen, he called to Humbert, and resuming the road to Hers, was soon
+out of hearing of Henry's threats.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+  No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
+  Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
+  The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
+  Become them with one half so good a grace
+  As mercy does.
+
+  MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
+
+The sentence pronounced at Rome against Henry IV of Austria spread
+consternation wherever it went; the resolute prepared for instant
+action, and the timid looked in vain for a peaceful asylum. There could
+be no neutrality, since not to serve the king was to serve his
+antagonist. Throughout the empire the stern challenge was ringing: "Are
+you for the Pope or for the king?" The gay and reckless champions of the
+court, the knights of the house of Franconia, and many a bold
+adventurer, crowded around the royal banner. Many a haughty prelate,
+too, seduced by avarice or ambition, urged on the monarch in his mad
+career.
+
+But the enterprise of Rodolph and the Lord of Hers had been most happily
+timed, and the chivalry of Suabia were prepared to follow their martial
+duke at a moment's warning. That warning followed shortly after the date
+of the last chapter. Gilbert had gained his chamber as the morn was
+breaking, and had hardly time to review the exciting events of the
+night, before an attendant announced his father's arrival. The Lord of
+Hers had reached Zurich on his return, just as the tidings from Rome had
+been received; and without pausing an instant, he hurried across the
+lake to convey the intelligence to the King of Arles. The baron was
+himself too much excited with the momentous results at last developed,
+and the still more momentous sequel already shadowed forth in the
+uncertain future, to remark the nervous and somewhat jaded appearance of
+his son. His first words, after hastily embracing Gilbert, were:
+
+"Where is the duke?"
+
+"At Stramen Castle," replied the youth.
+
+"When did he arrive?"
+
+"Last night," answered Gilbert, without reflecting that he was, as
+effectually as possible, giving his father a clue to his hare-brained
+expedition with Humbert. It was well for him that the baron was too well
+satisfied with the information to inquire how it had been obtained; for,
+incapable of deceiving his parent, he would have been compelled, very
+reluctantly, to submit a brief account of his connection with Ailred of
+Zurich, the minnesinger. A chilly anticipation of the question struck
+him, just as the words escaped his lips, and his cheek tingled as the
+blood came creeping against it. But, to his great relief, his father,
+without noticing his confusion, turned to a soldier who stood behind
+him, and thus addressed him:
+
+"Mount your best horse and ride for life and limb to Stramen Castle!
+Here!" continued the baron, taking a fold of parchment from his breast,
+as the man, prompt to obey without question or hesitation, bowed and
+was going; "this for his highness, the King of Arles. Guard it with your
+life from the enemies of the duke, and if you meet the serfs of Stramen,
+proclaim your errand. Away! spare neither spur nor rein!" cried the
+knight, as the man dashed fearlessly down the hill.
+
+Rodolph of Suabia was scarcely less anxious to see the Lord of Hers,
+than the latter had been to acquaint the duke with Gregory's rigorous
+measures. He felt assured that the infamous conventicle at Worms must
+have been already met by the Pope, and he thirsted for news from Rome.
+He knew that the Lord of Hers would be first in possession of the facts,
+from his position along the Rhine; and anxious not to lose a moment in
+executing his plans, which were to be regulated by the action of the
+Holy See, he could scarcely be prevailed upon to defer till daylight his
+return to Zurich by the Castle of Hers.
+
+The baron's envoy had not accomplished half the distance between the
+rival castles, before he met the duke, unattended, as was his wont,
+bearing rapidly down upon him. He was no stranger to the lordly bearing
+of the duke, for he had watched him in battle, when the strife was
+warmest and the fight most dubious. The moment he recognized him, he
+sprang from his horse, and uncovering his head and kneeling down,
+presented the parchment as Rodolph advanced. Without dismounting, the
+duke received the missive, and eagerly unrolling it, began to read. The
+instrument contained a narrative of the proceedings of the council and a
+transcript of the sentence of excommunication. The noble's eagle eye
+flashed at it scanned the page, and his broad bosom heaved. He struck
+his breast in his excitement, and brandishing the parchment in the air,
+exclaimed aloud, in a deep, tremulous voice: "Well done, thou noble
+Pontiff! Now, my brother Henry, the time has come, and heaven be the
+judge between us!"
+
+With these meaning words Rodolph galloped on, unmindful of the soldier
+behind him. Yet it would seem he had not entirely forgotten the
+messenger, for when alighting at the Castle of Hers, he threw the man a
+largess such as had never fallen to his lot before.
+
+The duke could not but smile when he saw Gilbert, and taking him aside,
+he whispered in his ear: "You will soon have an opportunity to display
+upon the battle-field the gallantry of the Bohemian harp-bearer, and to
+couch a lance for Suabia and the Lady Margaret!"
+
+"But how can I thank you for--"
+
+"Thank that generous priest and that noble girl!" said Rodolph,
+interrupting the youth; "I ran no risk in interposing: the Baron of
+Stramen was but cancelling an old debt; I intercepted a battle-axe that
+was descending upon him at Hohenburg, and I asked mercy for you, in
+requital."
+
+After a long interview, the duke and Albert of Hers resolved to assemble
+the chiefs of the ducal party at Ulm, and to fix the fifteenth of
+October for a general meeting, at Tribur, of all who would take up arms
+against the king.
+
+While the Lord of Hers was engaged in persuading the Duke of Bohemia and
+the bishops of Würtzburg and Worms to repair to Ulm without delay,
+Gilbert was polishing his armor and exercising his barb. The stirring
+spirit of the times, the approaching honors of knighthood, with a golden
+chance of winning his spurs, assisted in diverting his mind from a
+melancholy contemplation of the hopelessness of his love. But even when
+brandishing his stout lance, or wheeling his good war-horse, he would
+hear those withering words: "_The grave will anticipate her choice!_"
+followed by the fatal echo which came from her own lips, in solemn
+confirmation of the prophecy: "_My days are numbered here!_" Nor could
+the dazzling dreams of young ambition shut out the still more delicious
+sight of the Lady Margaret, now kneeling before the _Mater Dolorosa_,
+now appealing to him with the pure emotion and wondrous beauty of an
+Angel, and now clinging to her father between him and the battle-axe.
+
+While the stern Sandrit de Stramen was preparing his vassals for the
+impending strife, and literally converting the scythe into the
+sword--while he spared no expense or trouble in supplying his men with
+arms and horses, all gayly decorated to make a gallant show at
+Tribur--while the sturdy yeomen were leaving their ploughs in the field
+to pay their rent by the service of shield and sword--the Lady Margaret,
+uninfluenced by the war-like bustle, calmly pursued her meditations, her
+daily visits to the church, and her numberless acts of charity. She had
+a delicate and difficult duty to perform in soothing the proud mind of
+her brother, stung to the quick by his unlucky encounter with Gilbert.
+The young knight of Stramen was panting for an opportunity to retrieve
+his misfortune and wipe out his fancied disgrace. When in conversation
+with his sister, to whom he would outpour his passionate impulses, he
+pledged himself over and over again to bring the daring stripling to his
+knee, who had dared to insult her in his absence. To his fiery threats,
+Margaret would offer no direct opposition, for she feared to awaken an
+easily excited suspicion that she sympathized far too warmly with the
+culprit. This suspicion would have paralyzed her influence. She
+contented herself with pointing out the impossibility of settling a
+domestic quarrel at the present moment, and the imperative duty of
+considering rather the public weal than the gratification of a private
+inclination. And at times, when Henry appeared more tractable, and when,
+moved by her tender affection and earnest discourse, he exhibited a
+disposition more closely resembling her own, she would suggest what a
+nobler and better revenge it would be to seek an opportunity of saving
+Gilbert's life in the coming struggle. Henry's chivalrous nature was
+easily attracted by this suggestion, and he determined to prove his
+superiority over his rival, before attempting his ultimate revenge.
+
+Father Omehr's duties increased as the fifteenth of October approached.
+The yeomen and vassals of Stramen recked little of their bodies, but
+they cared not to peril their souls. They feared not to expose their
+breasts to the arrow and lance, and to meet the powerful war-horse with
+unflinching spear; but they were solicitous, at the same time, to purify
+their hearts for the mortal struggle. This wise precaution indicates no
+craven spirit, for he who fears eternity the most, fears death the
+least. The good missionary beheld with a mournful eye the preparations
+everywhere making for a struggle apparently inevitable. He shared not in
+the ambition of Rodolph or the ardor of his barons; and he bitterly
+lamented the dire necessity which compelled blessed peace to disappear
+beneath the withering breath of war. Yet war seemed to be the
+unavoidable result of the excommunication, and the action of the Pope
+was necessary to preserve the purity and liberty of the Church. Deeply
+as he deplored the present crisis, he exclaimed, "Thy will, O God, be
+done! We have done what seemed to be our duty, be the consequences what
+they may!"
+
+The empire was thus divided into two great parties. At first the
+partisans of the king were much more numerous and powerful, but their
+strength was daily diminishing, as conscience began to operate upon
+some, and fear upon others. The most marked and appalling chastisement
+was overtaking the fiercest calumniators of the Pope. It happened that,
+on a certain festival, the Bishop William, in the presence of the king,
+interrupted the Mass by a violent denunciation of the Pope, in which he
+called him an adulterer and false apostle, and assailed him with bitter
+raillery. Hardly had the ceremonies been concluded before the episcopal
+slanderer was struck down with a fatal malady. In the midst of the most
+excruciating torments of mind and body, he turned to the minions of
+Henry who surrounded him, and cried: "Go, tell the king, that he, and I,
+and all who have connived at his guilt, are lost for eternity!" The
+clerks at his bedside conjured him not to rave in that manner; but he
+replied, "And why shall I not reveal what is clear to my soul? Behold
+the demons clinging to my couch, to possess themselves of my soul the
+moment it leaves my body. I entreat you--you, and all the faithful, not
+to pray for me after my death!" With this he died in despair. The same
+day, the cathedral of Utrecht, in which he had preached, and the royal
+pavilion, were suddenly consumed by fire from heaven. Burchard, Bishop
+of Misne, Eppo of Ceitz, Henry of Spire, and the Duke Gazelon, were
+successively the victims of sudden and fatal misfortunes. Whatever may
+be the impression produced at the present day, it is certain that these
+examples and a great number of others, struck terror into the partisans
+of the king, and many prelates and priests threw themselves at the feet
+of the Pope and renounced their errors. Thus, Udo, Archbishop of Trèves,
+repaired all penitent to Rome, and Herman of Metz began to waver in his
+hitherto steady fidelity to Henry.
+
+While these causes were sapping the imperial power, Henry was
+unexpectedly menaced from another quarter. The two sons of Count Geron,
+William and Thiery, who had for some time secretly cherished the hope of
+regaining the lost freedom of their country, saw in the present
+confusion the moment for which they had sighed. They raised the standard
+of revolt, and were soon at the head of a band of young and noble
+chieftains, whose intrepid bearing and dauntless confidence inspired the
+nation with the desire and the hope of liberty. The escape of the two
+Saxon princes from Henry's hands and their arrival in Saxony gave an
+irresistible impulse to the movement, and the whole circle, animated by
+the same spirit, rose haughtily to throw off the heavy yoke, never
+patiently endured.
+
+Rodolph lost not a moment in concentrating his forces and in profiting
+by this new defection. He had already secured the powerful assistance of
+Berthold of Carinthia and Welf of Bavaria, and could now oppose to the
+emperor the formidable league of Suabia, Carinthia, Bavaria, and a
+portion of Lombardy. His policy evidently was to conciliate the Saxons,
+and he deemed their impiety sufficiently chastised at Hohenburg. He took
+care to assure them that so far from having anything to apprehend from
+his opposition to their enterprise, they might rely upon his assistance
+and countenance.
+
+Henry had long affected a contempt for the anathemas of Gregory and an
+unconcern he was far from feeling; but this formidable coalition burst
+the shell of his apathy and laid bare his uneasiness. He supplicates his
+nobles in the disaffected provinces to meet him at Mayence; but his
+earnest prayers are disregarded. Finding his advances indignantly
+rejected by the princes of Upper Germany, and seeing that his prelates
+were rapidly deserting him, he addresses himself to the task of
+conciliating the Saxons. He employs every artifice to excite Otto of
+Nordheim against the two sons of Geron--menacing Otto's own sons, whom
+he held as hostages, in case the father refused. But the noble Saxon
+replied, that he would stand or fall by his country. Though signally
+foiled in all his schemes, Henry was still at the head of a numerous and
+veteran army, and he boldly advanced upon the marches of the Misne, to
+give battle to the sons of Geron. The Saxons did not wait an attack, but
+sallied forth to meet the monarch. The Mulda, swollen with the recent
+rains, alone separated the hostile armies, when the king, seized with a
+sudden panic, ordered a hasty retreat, and fell back upon Worms, where
+he gave himself up to a lively regret and the gloomiest forebodings.
+
+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 quærimus 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.
+
+There were some who regretted this peaceful result, among whom the stern
+Baron of Stramen was conspicuous for his open denunciation of the treaty
+nor could the polished Lord of Hers conceal his contempt for a
+compromise, which threw away a present advantage, in consideration of
+the fear-extorted oath of a perjured debauchee. Rodolph himself deeply
+regretted that the Pope would not consent to crown him king, a
+consummation he required before acting against his brother, lest he
+should be branded as a rebel. Even Gilbert and Henry of Stramen were
+crestfallen in the blight of all their budding hopes. Of all our Suabian
+friends, Father Omehr was the only one who rejoiced in this amicable
+termination of the council, and who devoutly returned thanks to God for
+averting a direful war, and proclaiming, in the favorite language of
+heaven, "_Pax fiat!_"
+
+During two months and a half, Henry buried himself in solitude at Spire.
+Rodolph remained watchful and expectant, now at Zurich, and now in
+Saxony. All was calm in the lordships of Hers and Stramen. The Lady
+Margaret was lamenting the absence of Father Omehr, who had been
+summoned to Rome, and whose missionary duties were performed by the
+pious Herman.
+
+The year of grace was drawing to a close, and the proud baron began to
+hope that the emperor would permit it to pass without observing the
+stipulation in the treaty to repair to Rome and ask pardon of the Pope.
+The new year had begun, and January was half over when the King of Arles
+was startled with the intelligence that Henry had purchased from
+Adelaide, the widow of the Margrave Otho, a free passage into Italy,
+and, in spite of snow and ice, had crossed the Alps, and was approaching
+the fortress of Canossa, whither Gregory had retired. At first it was
+rumored that the monarch had gone to depose the Pope, and the Duke of
+Suabia secretly exulted in the prospect of instant action. But it was
+soon ascertained that Henry presented himself in the character of a
+suppliant, and the result of his application was awaited with breathless
+interest.
+
+Early in the spring of 1077, toward the close of a cold, bright day,
+Rodolph was seated in his palace at Zurich, surrounded by Albert of Hers
+and Gilbert, on one side, and on the other, by Sandrit and Henry of
+Stramen. This strange meeting, though unexpected and unwelcome to the
+hostile knights, was designed by Rodolph, who thought that by thus
+accustoming them to restrain their passions in his presence, and by
+distinguishing them with equal confidence, aid praising both sides in
+equal measure, he might control, in some degree, the antipathies he
+could not entirely subdue. But the barons maintained a stern, unyielding
+reserve, and Gilbert studiously avoided the disdainful gaze of Henry of
+Stramen. The lamps were scarcely lighted when a messenger from Rome was
+announced, and the next moment Father Omehr entered the room.
+
+The nobles rose, and, greeting the venerable missionary respectfully and
+affectionately, conducted him to a seat, and gathered about him. When
+the attendants had been dismissed, and the duke invited him to proceed,
+Father Omehr thus began to describe the interview between the Pope and
+the king, to which he had been an eye-witness:
+
+"I had the happiness to be with His Holiness when Henry was conducted by
+the noisy populace to the walls of Canossa; and though we knew not with
+any certainty whether the king's intentions were inimical or friendly, I
+could discover in the Pontiff's placid face neither hope nor fear. The
+first prayer presented by the royal suppliant, ascribed ambition and
+envy to the leaders of the coalition against him."
+
+"Tyrant!" interposed the Lord of Hers, "he begins his penitence by a
+calumny."
+
+"Our Holy Father only replied," continued the priest, "that the
+ecclesiastical law did not permit him to judge the accused in the
+absence of his accusers; and invited him, since he confided in his
+innocence, to meet his accusers at Augsburg, and abide by the Papal
+decision."
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed Rodolph, eagerly. "And what said the king?"
+
+"That the anniversary of his excommunication was approaching, and that
+unless the interdict were raised, his rights to the crown would be
+forfeited. Should the Pope receive him to favor at once, he promised to
+submit to whatever His Holiness might subsequently decree, and answer
+his accusers at Augsburg."
+
+"Artful villain!" ejaculated Albert of Hers.
+
+"But His Holiness remained inflexible," resumed the missionary. "At
+last, moved by the prayers and tears of those around him, he permitted
+Henry to approach him, to prove his penitence and atone for his contempt
+of the Holy See. The prince delayed not to avail himself of this grace;
+and the next morning presented himself at the inner gate of the castle,
+barefoot and in sackcloth, where he remained, fasting, from daybreak to
+sunset. This he repeated the second and the third day."
+
+"Oh that I had seen him in that saintly guise!" cried the duke, with a
+short, disdainful laugh, while he rubbed his hands, and pressed the
+floor with his iron heel.
+
+"Consummate hypocrite!" said the Lord Albert.
+
+"Coward!" muttered the Baron of Stramen.
+
+"I think I can hear his piteous cries now," continued Father Omehr,
+endeavoring to excite their compassion, "put forth at intervals:
+'_Parce, beate Pater, pie, parce mihi, peto, plane!_'"
+
+But the nobles only expressed extreme disgust.
+
+"Finally," proceeded the priest, "the supplications of the saintly
+countess, Matilda, and of many holy men, induced our good Father to
+raise the anathema on these conditions, proposed to the king, still
+barefoot and numbed with cold."
+
+A deathlike silence prevailed as the missionary began the enumeration:
+
+"That Henry should appear at Augsburg--that the Pope should be the
+judge--that he should submit without resistance to the decision--that he
+should banish the excommunicated bishops and favorites--and if one of
+these conditions were violated, that his guilt would be deemed
+established, and the princes of the empire at liberty to elect another
+king."
+
+The knights still sat in silence, as if spell-bound, while Father Omehr
+calmly went on with his narrative:
+
+"The monarch swore to observe the compact inviolably. But to give
+additional solemnity to the oath, the Pontiff, while celebrating the
+Mass that followed the reconciliation, turned from the altar, and thus
+addressed the king: 'Do, if it please you, my son, as you have seen me
+do. The German princes are continually charging you with crimes for
+which they demand an interdict over you for life, not only from the
+seals of royalty, but from all communion with the Church or society.
+They demand your immediate condemnation; but you know the uncertainty of
+human judgments. Do, then, as I advise you, and if you are conscious of
+innocence, rid the Church of this scandal and yourself of these
+imputations! Receive this other half of the Host, that this proof of
+your innocence may silence your enemies, and I pledge myself to be your
+best champion in appeasing your barons and in arresting this civil
+war!'"
+
+"And Henry?--" whispered Rodolph, trembling with excitement.
+
+"Recoiled from a proof so terrible," answered the missionary.
+
+The duke still occupied his chair, with his forehead knit, and his arms
+folded on his breast, but the Lord of Hers sprang to his feet and began
+to pace the room, and the Baron of Stramen brought his battle-axe
+heavily against the floor.
+
+"Tell me," said Albert of Hers, addressing Father Omehr, "did not the
+Pope revoke his pardon at this evident insincerity?"
+
+"No," was the reply.
+
+"Then, may God forgive me," returned the excited knight, "but the mercy
+of His Holiness sounds like human folly!"
+
+"It is weakness--cowardice!" muttered the Baron of Stramen.
+
+The missionary smiled at cowardice in connection with the name of
+Gregory VII.
+
+A bright smile now began to break over Rodolph's face, and he said,
+turning to his friends:
+
+"My gallant knights, this is but an expedient of the king's to gain
+time, he will never confront us at Augsburg. We must prepare for a
+struggle more desperate than ever, and, before another day, I must set
+out for Saxony."
+
+The prophecy of the King of Arles was soon verified. For five days after
+leaving Canossa, Henry kept his oath; on the sixth he broke it, and,
+with an armed band, prevented the Pope from appearing among the princes
+at the Diet of Augsburg.
+
+Before another week had passed, the lordships of Hers and Stramen seemed
+almost deserted. Rodolph had passed into Saxony, to assemble an army
+there, leaving Welf, the Duke of Bavaria, and the Lord Albert, to
+collect the forces of Suabia. Rodolph had taken with him the Baron of
+Stramen, with his son, and Gilbert de Hers. Father Omehr, who had been
+secretly charged by the Pope to moderate the zeal of the King of Arles,
+had also followed the duke, commuting his flock and the Lady Margaret to
+the care of Herman. It was with a heavy heart that Gilbert saw the
+towers of Stramen fading in the distance, and felt that he was leaving,
+perhaps forever, a being to whom he was so deeply attached, without a
+word, a glance, or even a look. He had, however, evinced his solicitude
+for the Lady Margaret's welfare by solemnly charging Humbert to watch
+over her in his absence and protect her with his life.
+
+The knights and burghers of Suabia were now assembling at Ulm. Scarce a
+man could be seen between the Danube and the Lake of Constance: mothers
+were working in the fields, with their children about them, and here and
+there some old or infirm vassal was seated at his cabin door. Little did
+the Lady Margaret dream, as she gazed from her lattice over the
+beautiful country, dipping down into the river, dotted all over with
+thriving cottages, from which the quiet smoke of peace was
+curling--little did she think, as she watched the green fields
+struggling through the melting snow, and fixed her eyes upon the Church
+of the Nativity, how soon those Cottages would flame, those fields be
+red with human gore, and that church be polluted by a hireling soldiery.
+Little did she think, when praying for the safety of her father and
+brother, that her own paternal castle would be the first victim of the
+war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+  The wild dog
+  Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent.
+  O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
+
+  HENRY IV.
+
+Shut out from Augsburg by the treachery of the emperor, Gregory VII
+retired to Canossa, where he resolved to let the affairs of Germany
+shape themselves for a time, while he awaited a more favorable moment
+for action. Nor was his gigantic mind occupied with Germany alone, and
+the movements there which menaced his life and the liberty and purity of
+the Church. Dalmatia, Poland, and England claimed his constant
+attention. With the most powerful monarch in Europe plotting his
+downfall, he contrived to win the love and obedience of Zwonomir, to
+force the rebellious Boleslaus from his throne, and to purify England
+still more from simony and incontinency.
+
+As Henry's submission to the Pope had disgusted the bold who were ready
+to assist him, and repelled the timid who waited but a second call, so
+his shameless perjury and fearless defiance of Gregory at Augsburg
+reassembled his professional adherents, and inspired with new courage
+those who secretly clung to his cause. The mitres of Luinar, Benno,
+Burchardt of Lausanne, and Eppo of Ceitz again sparkled around him, and
+Eberhard, Berthold, and Ulric of Cosheim displayed their lances to
+confirm his resolution. In every country and in every age there must
+exist a large and powerful party prone to pleasure and license, which is
+easily arrayed against virtue, when the indulgence of their criminal
+passions is threatened. This party is ever formidable, especially when
+supported by a powerful king, nobly descended, and legally invested with
+the crown. A natural sympathy, too, had been awakened for the emperor,
+as numbed with cold he besought the pity of the Pontiff; and, with
+proverbial fickleness, men, in ascribing humility to the king, imputed
+arrogance to the Pope. Owing to these causes, it was not long before
+Henry found himself stronger than ever. Inflamed with new ardor, he
+loudly lamented his submission at Canossa, and cursing the hours of
+misery passed there, swore speedy vengeance against the presumptuous son
+of Bonizo the carpenter.
+
+Rodolph had no sooner reached Forchheim, than it was announced that a
+general diet would be held there for the discussion of matters of vital
+importance to the Church and State, with the suggestion that the absence
+of the king would facilitate their deliberations. The Count Mangold de
+Veringen was despatched to the Pope, inviting him to sanction the diet
+by his presence, to aid them by his wisdom and intrepidity, and to take
+the helm of the tempest-tossed vessel of state. He was also commissioned
+to inform His Holiness of their determination to elect a new king. The
+Pope, in reply, conjured them not to be precipitate, and to wait his
+arrival before they acted.
+
+There was one feature in the proposed diet to which Gregory
+objected--the attempted exclusion of Henry from any participation in it.
+This he endeavored to remedy by obtaining a promise from the emperor to
+attend the meeting in person. It was partly to avoid the appearance of
+partiality, but principally in the hope of reconciling the angry
+factions, that the Pope requested the presence of his unscrupulous
+antagonist. Henry not only recoiled from his engagement, but, by
+blocking up all the avenues to Forchheim, compelled the Pope to remain
+at Carpineta, unable either to enter Germany or return to Rome.
+
+Bernard, cardinal deacon, Bernard, Abbé of St. Victor, and the
+celebrated Guimond, the Papal legates, announced to the confederates the
+desire of His Holiness that they should wait his arrival. But the
+assembled nobles dreaded the least delay. Already their cause was
+weakened by indecision, and a hostile army was in the field, receiving
+daily accessions. Though May had been fixed for the opening of the diet,
+so great was the impatience of Rodolph and his barons, that it was
+concluded in the middle of March. No sooner had the legates delivered
+their instructions, than deliberations were virtually begun. The chiefs
+directed all their efforts to induce the legates to sanction the
+election of a king, and confirm their choice. Guimond and his
+companions, faithful to their instructions, replied: "It were far better
+to await the arrival of His Holiness"; but they added, imprudently,
+"that they did not wish to oppose their advice to the wisdom of the
+princes, who knew much better than they what was most conducive to the
+interests of the State." Assuming an implied permission to act from
+these words of courtesy, the nobles proceeded at once to cast their
+votes. A scene of confusion ensued, created by the jarring of private
+interests. These were finally quelled by the interposition of the Papal
+legates, and the balloting proceeded without interruption. The vote of
+the bishops alone remained to be taken. The Archbishop of Mayence rose,
+and exercising his prescriptive title, gave the first voice for Rodolph
+of Suabia. Adalbert and the other bishops followed his example. Otto,
+Welf, Berthold, ranged themselves on the same side, and amid universal
+acclamations Rodolph was proclaimed king.
+
+Something still remained--the Papal confirmation. There were some who
+were sad and mute amid the general rejoicings, and among them was Father
+Omehr. In vain had he implored Rodolph to postpone the session, at least
+until the appointed time would arrive: the King of Arles regarded the
+delay as suicidal. In vain, too, he conjured the legates to refuse their
+approval, at least until May, and begged them, with tears in his eyes,
+not to give the signal for civil war. All the princes and a majority of
+the bishops conceived that the denial of the Apostolic benediction would
+destroy the hopes of the Church party. They beheld in themselves the
+champions of the Church, and identified their own welfare with that of
+the Holy See; they believed that Gregory was only restrained by
+circumstances from granting the prayers of those who had sworn never to
+desert him; they maintained that although the Pope might not have
+permitted the election, he could not refuse to sanction their choice
+after it had been made. Moved by these passionate representations, and,
+perhaps, expecting to please the Sovereign Pontiff, the legates yielded,
+and confirmed the election of Rodolph.
+
+When Rodolph heard that he had been called to the throne he shut himself
+up in his room and sent for Father Omehr. Scarce a minute elapsed before
+the missionary stood at his side. They gazed at each other in silence
+for some moments. The duke's lips were compressed, and his brow gathered
+into a deep frown. Mingled sorrow and hope were portrayed in the
+missionary's face, and his breast heaved with excitement.
+
+"I am king!" said Rodolph, in a whisper, still scanning the priest, as
+though he would read his soul.
+
+"Not yet!" was the reply.
+
+"Who can prevent it?"
+
+"God!"
+
+"Most humbly would I submit to His gracious interposition," said the
+duke, bending his head devoutly; "but can any human power prevent it?"
+
+"Yourself!"
+
+Rodolph buried his face in his hands and with rapid, nervous gestures
+paced up and down the small apartment.
+
+"Hear me!" he exclaimed, suddenly leading Father Omehr to a chair, and
+taking a seat beside him. "Hear me!" he repeated, bending forward until
+his lips almost touched his companion's ear, and the veins swelled in
+his throat and temples:
+
+"I have toiled and sighed and prayed for this! Day after day, night
+after night, for years, this has been the aim of all my actions, ay,
+even the limit of my aspirations. Once to be king--oh! ever since I
+first clutched a lance I panted for it! In love, in sickness, in peace,
+in war, I never forgot that one surpassing object--the crown! Hear me
+on! It is now within my reach--I can touch it--and you ask me to resign
+it?--"
+
+The duke paused a minute, his eagle eye flashing fire; then, with a
+vehemence almost appalling, he resumed: "You ask me to resign it--and I
+_would_, without a pang--gladly, cheerfully--this very instant! Yes--I
+swear to you--here in presence of my Creator, that I no longer covet the
+crown I have well-nigh worshipped; that, but for Germany and the Church,
+I would rather place it on Henry's perjured head than wear it on my
+own!"
+
+"Then you will resign it?" said the missionary, eagerly.
+
+Rodolph slowly shook his head and fixed his eyes upon the floor.
+
+"Let no fears for the Church and your country restrain you," pursued the
+priest; "they both demand your refusal, not your acceptance."
+
+Still Rodolph sternly shook his head.
+
+"Then as you value honor, defer your decision until the appointed
+time--our Holy Father may still be with us--it is treacherous to deprive
+him of the opportunity of interfering, by thus anticipating by a month
+the day on which we invited him to meet us."
+
+"It is too late for interference now," replied the duke, "and of what
+avail is it to pause on the brink when all the avenues from Carpineta
+are closed by Henry's minions?"
+
+"Have confidence, I conjure you," exclaimed the other, passionately, "in
+the virtue and wisdom of His Holiness. Rest assured that he will find
+some means to avert bloodshed and yet preserve his See and the empire."
+
+"War is inevitable!"
+
+"Obey the Pope and trust in God. Beware how you take upon yourself to
+plunge the nation in war--to tear down the sacred barriers of peace--and
+open the floodgates for a thousand evil passions to deluge Germany with
+crime and blood! Can you foresee what may occur--what a month may
+develop--what new political combination the master mind of Gregory may
+devise for our preservation?"
+
+"I must rather beware," returned the noble, "how I sacrifice the last
+hope of my country and the main support of religion by procrastination
+and criminal hesitation. If I refuse the crown, I disband my party. Men
+will leave us, and say we tremble, and before long we are at the tender
+mercies of the tyrant, for my resignation, while striking terror into
+our ranks, will infuse new courage into his. Then would I see my
+allies--the friends whom I seduced into rebellion and then
+abandoned--destroyed in detail--pursued, hunted down, exiled, and
+martyred before my eyes. No! come what may, I must accept."
+
+"What is your situation now," rejoined the missionary, "that you have
+anything else to expect than defeat and disgrace? You know the
+emperor--you have seen his dauntless courage, his consummate skill, his
+desperate resolution. You know that he is at the head of an army more
+numerous and better disciplined than your own. And you must also clearly
+foresee that if the Pope--as he certainly will--shall condemn the policy
+of his legates, your efforts will want the principle of life which alone
+can bless them with success."
+
+"If the prospect now is bad," said Rodolph, solemnly, "delay can only
+make it worse. And I believe that, could His Holiness see what is
+evident to us, he would command me to accept the crown, and place it
+with his own hands upon my head."
+
+"You are mistaken--wofully mistaken, my lord. While a hope of averting
+anarchy and civil war remains, Gregory will not adopt the surest means
+of inflicting both. Trust in God for the future! Do not pursue what to
+the mole-blind vision of humanity seems expedient, when certain
+bloodshed is the result! Humble yourself before Him who alone can exalt
+and lay low! Confide in the efficacy of prayer! Think not that God will
+desert His Church or her champions!"
+
+"I do trust in the future," answered the duke, "but not until I have
+embraced what reason dictates for the present."
+
+"Do you hold your reason more enlightened than that of His Holiness?"
+
+"He cannot see what I see. Urge me no more! It is too late to recede. I
+know well what dangers I incur by accepting the crown--and what disgrace
+I should earn in refusing it. Did I consult my inclinations, I should
+renounce the glittering ornament: but I will not have men to point at me
+covertly, and say, 'He faltered!' I will not endanger the noble barons
+who have devoted themselves to my advancement. If I have sinned in
+alluring them thus far, I will not deepen my guilt by betraying them.
+Though I knew that the crown which I am about to assume were like the
+gift of Medea, I would still set it on my temples: better pay the
+penalty of ambition by advancing than by timidly retreating, when
+boldness may remedy, and retreat is certain death!"
+
+The tread of armed men was heard along the passage, and immediately
+afterward the Count Mangold entered the room.
+
+"The diet awaits your highness' answer," he said, bowing deeply to the
+duke.
+
+"I will follow you," said Rodolph, "and deliver it in person." Saying
+this, he strode proudly from the room, preceded by the count and his
+attendants.
+
+As the door closed behind them, Father Omehr fell upon his knees. He
+knelt there with the tears streaming down his pale cheeks and his hands
+clasped in prayer, until a long loud shout announced Rodolph's
+acceptance. Then the trumpets' merry notes, mingled with the joyful
+clang of arms, went up to heaven together with the missionary's sighs.
+Father Omehr appeared scarcely to hear the martial revelry, but as the
+tumult increased, he rose and glided from the room.
+
+Amid the congratulations of the bishops, nobles, and people, Rodolph
+proceeded in great pomp to Mayence, where he was to be crowned and
+consecrated the following day. It was after nightfall when Rodolph
+reached the palace prepared for his reception; and seizing the first
+moment to escape from the embraces of his friends, he retired early to
+his chambers, accompanied only by Gilbert de Hers. Rodolph had always
+evinced a strong partiality for Gilbert, which the youth repaid by the
+liveliest love and admiration. No sooner were they alone, than the duke
+threw himself dejectedly into a chair, and was soon plunged into a fit
+of gloomy abstraction. Gilbert stood motionless beside him, inwardly
+wondering at the silence and despondency of the man, who, a moment
+before, had been gayly exchanging felicitations with all who approached
+him.
+
+"Sit down, my son," said the duke.
+
+Gilbert mechanically obeyed.
+
+"Do I seem happy?" asked Rodolph.
+
+"No, my lord; are you unwell?"
+
+"Do I seem overwhelmed with joy at my good fortune?"
+
+"Has anything befallen you, sire?" inquired the youth.
+
+"Yes!" cried the monarch-elect, seizing his wrist, "the gratification of
+my ambition!"
+
+Gilbert started at the trembling tones and excited gesture of his
+companion.
+
+"Gilbert," continued the duke, regaining his composure, "you see me in
+possession of all that I ever craved on earth. I am now legally invested
+with the imperial crown. It was not the peaceable enjoyment of the
+throne I asked, but permission to occupy it. I am gratified. With all my
+hopes realized--I never was more miserable than at this moment. I am not
+sad because I feel that my career is drawing to a close--that I shall
+be unsuccessful in the struggle for undisputed power: it is sufficient
+for me that I die a king. I tremble because I have discovered the
+impotence of earthly things to gratify the cravings of an immortal
+soul--because, in finding that I have a capacity of enjoyment not to be
+appeased by the highest dignities on earth, I begin to comprehend my
+immortality. I see what a shadow I have pursued--how madly I have
+neglected eternal happiness for temporal preferment. You, my son, are
+full of earthly hope, dreaming of the Lady Margaret, of minstrels'
+praises, and knightly fame. Do not think me harsh, if I pray God that
+you may speedily know their emptiness. You can never rise as high in
+this mundane atmosphere as I am now; but your soul is as immortal as
+mine, and would sicken over less renown, as I do over this."
+
+Rodolph paused, and Gilbert, struck dumb with surprise, gazed up into
+his face.
+
+"It is late, my son," he resumed, "and we must part. Is there anything
+you would ask before leaving me?"
+
+"There is to be a tournament to-morrow," the youth faltered out.
+
+"And you would take part, in spite of my discourse," said the duke, with
+a smile.
+
+Gilbert's reddening cheeks answered for him.
+
+"I must forbid you to couch lance to-morrow," said Rodolph, tenderly;
+"you shall receive your spurs at my hands when I am king, but let me be
+the judge of the time. And remember, my son," he added, detaining
+Gilbert as the latter was about to retire, "remember what you have seen
+this night. When men shall question my motives, and extol or condemn
+me, you may say that Rodolph of Suabia was inspired by ambition to seek
+the crown, but that when it was within his grasp, he would have turned
+from it in disgust, had not conscience and patriotism compelled him to
+wear it."
+
+As Gilbert, deeply moved, kissed his hand and withdrew, Rodolph retired
+to an oratory into which his apartments opened. He had been there
+engaged in prayer for more than an hour, when the Archbishop of Mayence
+appeared, and, after a brief adoration, entered the confessional. There,
+in the silent hour of midnight, the king knelt before the priest, in
+obedience to the voice of that God who bequeathed us a Church to
+administer the Sacraments which He appointed for our salvation, and
+through which we can only attain it. When Rodolph sat again in his
+chamber, his brow was calmer and his eye softer and brighter.
+
+The morning of the twenty-sixth of March dawned calm and bright. A warm
+sun suddenly interrupted a long-protracted spell of cold weather, the
+snow rapidly disappeared from the fields and streets, and the credulous
+saw a happy omen in the genial spring day that broke through the icy
+fetters of winter to greet the coronation. A splendid procession moved
+to the cathedral, and during the celebration of Solemn High Mass,
+Sigefroy, Archbishop of Mayence, crowned and consecrated Rodolph
+rightful king and defender of the kingdom of the Franks.
+
+After the ceremony, the nobles assembled to witness the tournament,
+where the newly crowned monarch presided with a crowd of barons at his
+side. Gilbert stood at some distance from the royal person, and watched
+the tilting with all-absorbing interest. Henry of Stramen displayed so
+much address and managed his horse with so much skill that Gilbert could
+scarce forbear to join in the applause rendered by those around him. So
+intent was he upon the lists that a citizen by his side had, unobserved
+by him, severed the links of a massive gold chain which he wore around
+his neck, and had concealed it in his gown. But a page who had perceived
+the theft, throttled the culprit and drew the chain from its
+hiding-place. The man was ordered to prison, and Gilbert had forgotten
+the occurrence, when the assembly was disturbed by loud cries and
+imprecations from without. Gilbert quick as thought passed through the
+doorway and stood in the street. The bourgeois of Mayence were zealous
+partisans of Henry, and had already scowled upon the honors paid to his
+rival. The maltreatment of their townsman had kindled the spark of
+discontent to flame. They had attacked the soldiers of Rodolph, who, as
+was customary, attended the joust unarmed, and had rescued the thief. As
+Gilbert stood watching the tumult, he was singled out as the object of
+attack, probably at the direction of the citizen who had suffered in the
+attempt to steal his chain. The situation of the young noble, clad only
+in a velvet doublet and armed only with a light sword, was extremely
+precarious. Yet he did not dream of flight, but for a time kept his
+assailants at bay, slowly falling back upon the arena. A number of
+soldiers issuing from the pavilion gathered around him, but, shorn of
+their weapons, they could only parry without returning the blows of
+their adversaries, who were well supplied with stones and clubs.
+
+Gilbert had not left the lists unobserved by Rodolph, who immediately
+despatched a page to watch his movements. When informed of his young
+friend's danger, he arose and cried in a loud voice:
+
+"Gentlemen, we would not have you meddle in this affray: a party of my
+men have gone for their arms, and it will speedily be terminated. But
+the son of Albert de Hers is now overpowered by these boors. Let some
+one hasten to his rescue!"
+
+Three young knights at once dismounted and passed out: the foremost bore
+in his crest a long dark plume.
+
+The generous soldiers, who had hitherto received upon their defenceless
+bodies the blows aimed at Gilbert, were almost all beaten down, and in a
+few minutes more he would have been exposed comparatively unaided to the
+fury of the populace. His sword was shivered to the hilt, and though he
+drove back a giant who attempted to close with him, by dashing the guard
+in his face, he must have fallen beneath a club that swung over his
+head, had not a tall knight, completely clad in armor, striding before
+him, intercepted the blow, and dashed the assailant to the earth. A
+shower of blows saluted the youth's deliverer, but he bore them
+unflinching, and, vigorously plying his two-handed sword, cleared a
+space around the exhausted Gilbert. The two other knights arriving at
+this moment, the contest became more equal. But the mob were now
+displaying deadlier weapons, and Rodolph reluctantly resolved to
+command his chivalry to disperse the rabble, when his soldiers arrived
+with their arms. Inflamed by the loss of their comrades, the now
+formidable troops threw themselves upon the citizens, and pursued them
+with great slaughter to their homes. When the knights were left without
+an enemy, Gilbert advanced to embrace his deliverer. But the knight of
+the black plume stepped back a pace, and raising his visor, disclosed
+the features of Henry of Stramen, cold, haughty, and showing just the
+traces of a smile of disdain.
+
+Gladly at that moment would Gilbert have fallen into his arms and
+entreated him to forget the past; but there were too many eyes to
+witness a repulse. He contented himself by saying:
+
+"Sir, you have preserved my life, and with the grace of God you shall
+not repent it."
+
+Henry made no reply, and they parted.
+
+Gilbert was far too generous to regret an incident which laid him under
+such deep obligations to Henry of Stramen. He rejoiced that it had
+occurred, for it might remove the mortification produced by their late
+encounter, and diminish the mortal hatred with which he was regarded. He
+was also well disposed to welcome any accident that might give him a
+pretext for conciliating the house of Stramen. Henry perhaps secretly
+exulted that he had conferred a favor upon Gilbert that would gall his
+heart, while it poured a balm upon his own. Still he did not hold the
+youth in the same utter detestation as before.
+
+On the next day, Rodolph, following an ancient custom, began a tour
+through his dominions.
+
+Germany now presented the spectacle of a country claimed by two kings.
+To Gregory the party of the old king was heretical and odious--that of
+the new king pure and orthodox. Though all his sympathies were with the
+latter, he still openly blamed and deplored the conduct of his legates,
+and refused to acknowledge Rodolph as king. The Pope well knew what a
+delicate undertaking it was to depose a sovereign whom he had
+consecrated, and how fraught with danger such a precedent must be. His
+interest evidently called him to receive Rodolph at once into his arms,
+and had he done this, the result of the contest would have been very
+different. In the behavior of Gregory we discover, in addition to an
+insuperable aversion to countenance civil war, a disposition to endure
+the last extremity rather than dethrone a legitimate monarch, and
+perhaps a preference of Henry, for his parents' sake, to his rival.
+
+Both kings prepared vigorously for the struggle which could not be long
+postponed. Henry's measures were admirably calculated to increase his
+power. He scattered rich benefices lavishly among the clergy, lured on
+the soldiers of fortune with tempting bribes, and granted enviable
+privileges to the seaboard towns. The citizens of Augsburg, after
+tasting his bounty, braved the menaces of his antagonist. Hordes of
+brigands from Bohemia were attracted to his camp by brilliant largesses
+and the prospect of an easy booty. The German cities, and particularly
+those along the Rhine, had always, pursuant to the policy of his
+ancestors, been the object of his peculiar favor, and the merchants of
+Worms were relieved from all imposts. The population of these cities
+was soon ranged under the banner of Henry, whose ranks increased so long
+as gold could buy, and the promise of license and plunder attracted.
+
+Rodolph's policy served to diminish instead of swelling his numbers. He
+devoted himself, at the sacrifice of everything else, to gain the Pope
+to acknowledge him as king. He appeared the inflexible chastiser of
+simony and ecclesiastical corruption. The very day of his coronation he
+had obtained the dismissal of a simoniacal deacon. Everywhere he
+compelled the nominees of Henry to fly, and filled their places with
+zealous champions of the canonical discipline. At Constance and Zurich
+he drove the irregularly appointed bishops from their sees: he placed
+Lutold, a zealous champion of the Pope, over the monastery of St. Gall,
+which had been devoted to his rival. Many, frightened by these
+severities, deserted his standards, and others recoiled from the
+presence of so rigorous an enforcer of spiritual purity.
+
+Thus, while the cause of Henry was flourishing under his criminal
+artifices, Rodolph was weakened by his honest severity. Yet there was
+this difference between the parties. The minions of Henry were goaded on
+by individual interests--the partisans of Rodolph by a common resolution
+to die in defence of a sublime principle; the first were incited by the
+hope of plunder, the lust of empire, ambition, avarice, or a lawless
+appetite for war--the last were animated by a love of liberty, and
+fought for future security from oppression; the one prepared to preserve
+unrighteous license and ill-gotten gains--the other were inspired by
+the hope of regaining the freedom of which they had been unjustly
+deprived, and by the resolve to regain their ancestral rights and to
+protect the outraged Church of God.
+
+Albert of Hers with all his energy and address had not succeeded in
+extracting from Suabia more than two thousand men. With this small force
+he joined Rodolph, who was then encamped at the little village of
+Sommeringen, with scarce three thousand Suabians. Here they learned that
+Henry, at the head of twelve thousand effective troops, was advancing
+upon Suabia through Ratisbon. Rodolph soon heard of the atrocities of
+his rival, who abandoned the country to fire, sword, and rapine. Old men
+and women, pale with fear, came crowding into camp with thrilling tales
+of the brutality of the Bohemians and their associates. The war had
+begun; and Henry was devastating the region bordering on the Danube and
+the Rhine, from Esslingen to Ulm.
+
+Though his force did not amount to half that of his opponent, Rodolph,
+enraged by the crimes he could not prevent, would have gone to meet his
+competitor, but for the unanimous opposition of his nobles. While the
+Suabian party were deliberating upon the best course to pursue, Henry,
+by a forced march, fell unexpectedly upon their rear. Taken by surprise
+and overpowered by numbers, they fled in all directions, and Rodolph,
+accompanied only by a remnant of his army, escaped with difficulty into
+Saxony. Suabia was now at the mercy of the victor.
+
+Tidings of this disastrous defeat had not yet reached the Lady Margaret.
+The scanty intelligence she could occasionally glean was not such as to
+brighten the melancholy caused by the absence of her father and
+brother. Her fears thickened daily, as rumor, for once unable to
+exaggerate, divulged the massacres and impieties of the old
+imperialists. Her only relief was in the Sacraments, administered by the
+saintly Herman, and in prayer. The wives of the yeomen, not knowing when
+to expect the enemy, sought shelter in the castle with their parents and
+children. There were gathered the innocent, the aged, the young, the
+beautiful, and the Lady Margaret experienced some relief in
+administering to their wants and calming their anxiety. She did not rely
+much upon the few faithful soldiers who were left to guard the castle;
+but though womanly apprehension would often blanch her cheek, and her
+frame quiver as some recent deed of shame was unfolded, her confidence
+in God continued unabated.
+
+One afternoon, as the Lady Margaret, surrounded by the inmates of the
+castle, was seated in the hall, Bertha, clad in a black mantle, stole
+silently into the room, and glancing wildly around, began to traverse
+the apartment with rapid strides. Her excited manner attracted much
+attention, and many anxious conjectures were made as to the cause of her
+meaning gestures. At length, stopping before the Lady Margaret, who
+watched her movements with a troubled eye, she sang, almost in a
+whisper:
+
+  The sunbeam was bright on their shields as they came,
+    But dim on their blood-rusted spears;
+  They gave up the hamlet to pillage and flame,
+    And scoffed at the kneeling one's tears!
+
+"Perhaps the enemy are upon us," said a graycoated palmer, who for some
+days had shared the bounty of the Lady Margaret.
+
+At these words, a general murmur ran round the group, and then all was
+still as death.
+
+Bertha resumed, in a louder tone:
+
+  They come--they come--the groan, the shout
+  Of death and life ring wildly out!
+  The sky is clouding at their cry,
+  As they toss their reeking blades on high;
+  Arm, gallants all! and watch ye well,
+  Or to-morrow's chime will be your knell.
+
+As she concluded the rough fragment, she extended her arm to the south,
+and shaking her finger menacingly, muttered, "They come!"
+
+This thrilling announcement called forth more than one cry from the lips
+of the trembling listeners. To increase the panic, a groom burst into
+the room, and whispered something into the Lady Margaret's ear that made
+her start and turn pale as marble. Awhile she sat motionless and
+apparently sinking. But it was not long before her weakness disappeared,
+and her face assumed a serene, undaunted expression that imparted new
+hope to those who were sobbing about her. The wailing was hushed as she
+rose and said, calmly and without faltering:
+
+"We shall probably be attacked in a few hours by an inferior force. Let
+us pray to God that we may be able to defeat their malice."
+
+In uttering this she had fallen upon her knees, and the rest of the
+group, imitating her example, knelt beside her. When that solemn and
+fervent prayer was over, the voice of the gray palmer was again heard,
+as he cried:
+
+"If any man here can still hurl stone, or thrust spear, let him follow
+me to the walls!"
+
+About six, in whom age had not quenched the fire or strength of youth,
+and as many beardless youths, sprang up at the call, and accompanied the
+speaker out of the room.
+
+Exclusive of this new force, the defenders of the castle were not more
+than twenty, yet so admirable were its defences that they might hold in
+check an attacking party of more than a hundred. The warder and his men
+were grouped together at the main gate, straining their eyes against the
+horizon, where the smoke of some cottages indicated the presence of the
+foe, when the palmer advanced and asked permission to assist them. This
+was readily granted, and the recruits were soon supplied with defensive
+armor and the usual weapons. The palmer wore his headpiece over his
+hood, and, with his breast-plate over his gown, which, tucked up with
+more than John Chandos' prudence, but half revealed the thigh-pieces
+beneath it, he was equally conspicuous and grotesque.
+
+A body of mounted men could now be plainly seen rapidly advancing. They
+no longer stayed to desolate the humble dwellings in their path, but
+swept on against the stately castle which seemed to bid them defiance.
+The Lady Margaret was now among the soldiers, animating them to
+resistance. Guided by the palmer, to whom the command had been tacitly
+yielded, the men were busily engaged in carrying large stones up to the
+battlements over the archway.
+
+"Who are our assailants?" asked the maiden, as with a firm step she
+mounted the wall.
+
+The advancing troops rode up to the raised drawbridge, displaying as
+they came the picturesque costume and swarthy face of the Bohemian
+marauder. The Lady Margaret's cheek was now deeply flushed, and the
+haughty spirit of her race flashed within her eyes and curled her lip in
+scorn.
+
+"They are not a hundred," she said to the palmer, who stood at her side.
+
+In reply, the palmer pointed to a body of men-at-arms, then emerging
+from a clump of trees in which they had been hitherto concealed. Her
+color fell at the sight of this new force--yet only for a moment: the
+next instant her cheek resumed its glow. This column, about a hundred
+strong, approached slowly and cautiously, as if expecting a sally, until
+they too had reached the moat.
+
+"We call upon you to open your gates!" exclaimed a knight, who rode a
+little in advance.
+
+"To whom?" replied the Lady Margaret, in a loud voice.
+
+"To your rightful king and master, Henry of Austria!"
+
+"We do not own a monarch," she returned, "who has forfeited the crown,
+and our gates shall be closed against all who come in his name."
+
+"You refuse to surrender?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Prepare then, for we will force a passage!"
+
+"We are ready, and invite you to begin!"
+
+The animation which had hitherto supported the maiden gave way, and,
+all trembling, she descended the rough steps and returned to the castle.
+
+The attack was at once begun. The assailants were not supplied with
+cross-bows or instruments for casting stones, and the palmer with the
+soldiers, who readily submitted to his command, could safely watch their
+operations from the battlements. Some with their battle-axes dashed into
+the moat and swam across to cut the chain which raised the bridge; but
+hardly had they reached the shore before they were struck down with
+stones hurled from the walls. The palmer's object was to hold out until
+nightfall, and create as much delay as was attainable. The sun was
+already half hidden behind the hills.
+
+But the fall of the bridge now became inevitable. Their ammunition was
+exhausted, and three of the assailants, armed with axes, occupied the
+bridge, while others were arriving at intervals.
+
+"Let us at least gain five minutes," exclaimed the palmer. "One sortie
+for the Pope and Rodolph of Suabia!"
+
+The bars were withdrawn and the gallant band poured out.
+
+"Suabia!" shouted the palmer, as he launched a heavy mace at one who was
+hewing at the chain, and felled him to the earth. With a well-aimed
+thrust he laid another at his feet, and so well was he seconded that the
+bridge was soon cleared. This gallant feat was greeted with cries of
+rage from their opponents on the other bank, many of whom, forgetting
+their heavy armor in their indignation, leaped into the water and sank,
+muttering idle imprecations. For some minutes the defenders held the
+bridge, but fearful of being intercepted, they made good their retreat
+and stood safe within the gate, without the loss of a man.
+
+As further resistance was impossible, the bridge was abandoned to its
+fate, and was speedily lowered, amid the rejoicings and threats of the
+besiegers. It was now toward twilight, and the strong gate would baffle
+their efforts till dark. When that was won, the ballium and the inner
+wall could still be disputed.
+
+"There is nothing to be done now," said the palmer to his companions;
+"and you had better go to the castle and take some refreshment, for we
+will soon have need of all our strength."
+
+As they retired at his suggestion, he climbed to the crenelles and
+looked anxiously out upon the plain until the men returned; when,
+resigning the barbican to the warder, he went to receive the thanks of
+the Lady Margaret, who expressed her gratitude for his services by
+waiting upon him in person.
+
+The assailants had cut down a tree which they used as a battering-ram
+against the gate; but the stern bars were yet unbroken. It was now
+pitch-dark. A thunderstorm had suddenly gathered, and the report of the
+distant bolt came upon the ear, mingling with the still more appalling
+clash of the beam against the gate.
+
+Brief indeed was the repose of the palmer before he was again at the
+embrasures. Bold as he was, he trembled as a blinding flash poured a
+flood of livid light over the plain and castle. It was not the sudden
+bolt that awed him; but the lightning streamed upon a host of armed men,
+stretching away as far as the eye could reach. They were not half a
+mile off. Another flash leaped out, and revealed a forest of spears. "It
+is the king himself!" muttered the palmer; "we will be surrounded by a
+host! God assist us, or we are lost!"
+
+Such were the sounds that trembled on his lips as he abandoned his post.
+Selecting the groom who had announced the enemy, he whispered to him:
+
+"Do you wish to save your mistress?"
+
+"With my life!" said the man.
+
+"Then lead me to the postern gate."
+
+In their impetuosity, the attacking party had neglected to blockade this
+avenue, before darkness prevented them from discovering it. The banks of
+the moat opposite the gate had been made shelving, so as to afford a
+means of retreat to the besieged, without giving any advantage to the
+besieger. When they had gained the postern and drawn back the bolts, the
+palmer said to his companion:
+
+"Now, as you value life and honor, saddle the best three horses--one for
+yourself, one for your lady, the third for me--swim the moat, and wait
+till I come."
+
+The groom promised obedience, and they separated--the groom to the
+stable, and the palmer in quest of the Lady Margaret. He found her in
+the midst of her dependents, praying in the oratory. It was a sight to
+make the heart bleed--that defenceless group, with tearful eyes and
+hands raised trembling to heaven, now starting as the iron gate groaned
+beneath the heavy blows, now glancing timidly around as the lightning
+streamed in upon them. The palmer stepped up to the maiden and drew her
+aside.
+
+"You must fly with me!" he said.
+
+"Why? Are we not safe?"
+
+"Before one may count a hundred, we are surrounded by the whole army of
+the tyrant!"
+
+This sudden and awful disclosure was too much for the frail maiden,
+already exhausted by watching and excitement. She grasped his wrist, and
+shuddering as she fixed her eyes on him, staggered forward, and would
+have fallen, had not the palmer caught her now unconscious form, and,
+raising it in his arms, passed from the room. Through the gallery, down
+the staircase, along the portico he passed, as swiftly as though he
+carried but a child. The wind came damp and cold against his cheek, the
+rain poured pitilessly upon his head, the arrowy lightning seemed to
+play around his feet, but manfully he hurried on with his precious
+charge. The gate was reached; he paused but an instant to hail the groom
+and take breath, then slid into the moat, and in a short space stood
+safe upon the other side. Here he staid but to envelop the maiden in his
+own heavy cloak, which he had snatched up when the rain began. As her
+consciousness was but imperfectly restored, the palmer mounted one of
+the horses and placed her before him. The groom, at his direction,
+sprang to the saddle and led the third animal.
+
+When they were a little within the wood, the palmer exclaimed
+
+"Can you find the road to Count Montfort's?"
+
+The groom replied in the affirmative.
+
+"Then take the lead, and strike it at the nearest point."
+
+After groping for some minutes, they succeeded in hitting it, and, aided
+by the lightning, pursued their course as swiftly as the stormy night
+permitted.
+
+The Lady Margaret was awakened to her situation only to pour forth
+torrents of tears. In vain the palmer tried to moderate her grief--she
+could scarcely be persuaded from returning.
+
+The rain had now ceased, and as the clouds rolled away, they obtained
+light enough to continue their flight more rapidly and securely.
+
+"Look!" cried the groom, as they stood on the top of a lofty hill. The
+palmer could scarcely repress an inclination to throttle his imprudent
+friend; for as the Lady Margaret turned her head, she saw a column of
+smoke and flame curling up, as if it warred against the skies.
+
+"It is my father's castle!" she said. "Oh, what has become of those we
+left?" she added shuddering. "Let us trust in God!" murmured the palmer.
+Brighter and brighter grew the flame--higher and higher rose the lurid
+column. Still the Lady Margaret continued to gaze on the fiery pillar.
+At last the light suddenly expanded and burned awhile with intense
+brilliancy. It was but for a moment. Dimmer and dimmer grew the flame,
+and darkness soon settled over the ashes of Stramen Castle.
+
+The palmer now placed the maiden upon the third horse, and led the way
+with his hand upon her bridle. Two hours more brought them to the
+fortress of Tübingen, where the brave Count Montfort, though refusing to
+join Rodolph, had designed to hold out to the last against his perjured
+and sacrilegious rival. The palmer demanded admittance in the name of
+Albert of Hers, and instantly obtained it.
+
+The generous countess received the daughter of Stramen with open arms,
+and the count swore first to protect and then to avenge her. Nor was the
+palmer forgotten. Despite his ridiculous costume, now soiled and torn
+and stained with blood, he exhibited no embarrassment when ushered into
+the presence of the noble group.
+
+"The Lady Margaret would know her deliverer," said the countess.
+
+The palmer removed his head-piece and threw back his hood.
+
+"Do you remember me, my lady?" he asked, with a smile.
+
+The maiden looked as one striving to recall a dream.
+
+"Do you remember Ailred of Zurich, the minnesinger?"
+
+Her cheek turned scarlet as she exclaimed, "Oh I how much I owe to you!"
+
+"You owe me nothing, lady," returned Humbert.
+
+"Is my life nothing?"
+
+"If you prize that," was the reply, "reserve your thanks for him who
+made your safety my duty."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+  Hark to the trump and the drum,
+  And the mournful sound of the barbarous horn,
+  And the flap of the banners that flit as they're borne,
+  And the neigh of the steeds, and the multitude's hum,
+  And the clash, and the shout, "They come, they come!"
+
+  SIEGE OF CORINTH.
+
+Rodolph was received with open arms by the Saxons. Dukes, counts, barons
+and gentlemen hastened to Merseburg, where, at a grand festival in his
+honor, he was solemnly acknowledged king of the Saxons. On every side
+the Saxons were flying to arms against their old enemy, and the princes
+unanimously advised the new monarch to march against his competitor, who
+had been recently again anathematized by the Papal legates. Rodolph,
+burning to retrieve his defeat and to save Suabia from further
+desolation, hearkened eagerly to suggestions that chimed so well with
+his own inclinations. He tarried only to wait the reinforcements of Welf
+and Berthold, and, hoping to expedite their union with him, marched upon
+Melrichstadt in Franconia.
+
+Henry was no sooner apprised of this intended junction, than he resolved
+to defeat it. Instantly evacuating Suabia, he led his powerful army
+toward Saxony. He had deployed twelve thousand peasants to cut off the
+two dukes, and advanced with the rest of his force to the banks of the
+Strewe. Before reaching the river, he ascertained that Rodolph was
+encamped on the opposite side. It now occurred to his unprincipled mind,
+that he might deprive his rival even of the warning which his open
+approach would give, by deputing a flag of truce to solicit a parley.
+The artifice succeeded. Scarcely had the deputation left the Saxon camp,
+before Henry began the attack. Unprepared for this treacherous movement,
+Rodolph had barely time to form his ranks and address a few words of
+encouragement to his troops. He was answered with a shout that attested
+the eagerness of his soldiers for the fray. Already the clang of arms,
+the cries of the living, and the groans of the dying were heard along
+the line. The army of Rodolph was drawn up in two divisions--one
+commanded by the king, the other by the valiant Otto of Nordheim. As the
+division of Otto was a little in the rear, that of the monarch was for a
+time exposed alone to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. But nobly
+indeed was the brunt of the battle borne. Rodolph waited not the onset,
+but led on his columns to the charge. Then Suabian and Saxon darted
+forward shoulder to shoulder, and the lords of Hers and Stramen, side by
+side, shouted their battle-cries and hurled their followers upon the
+opposing ranks. Such was the ardor inspired by Rodolph that, at the
+first shock, two of Henry's columns were broken. But this advantage did
+not long avail against equal courage and superior numbers. Henry was at
+the head of the finest troops in the empire. But the consciousness of
+the sacredness of their cause made the soldiers of Rodolph invincible.
+Already Eberard le Barbu, the faithful counsellor of Henry, the Count
+of Hennenburg, Thibalt, and Henry of Lechsgemund had fallen around their
+lord. At this moment some bishops, retiring from the ranks of Rodolph,
+communicated a panic to those around them. It was in vain that Rodolph
+displayed the brilliant valor that had won him the name of the first
+knight of the times--that the Lord of Hers put forth his utmost skill,
+and the Baron of Stramen displayed his unrivalled strength. Menace and
+entreaty failed alike, nor could example or reproach recall the
+fugitives.
+
+"Why does not Otto advance!" exclaimed Rodolph, who, by dint of almost
+superhuman exertion, had preserved his front still unbroken. "Unless I
+am supported within a minute, the battle is lost."
+
+Hardly had the words escaped his lips, before the war-cry of
+Saxony--"St. Peter! St. Peter!" burst from three thousand throats, and
+the noble Otto and the Count Palatine Frederick could be seen leading on
+their troops, all fresh and panting for the fight. Borne down by this
+vigorous assault, the pursuing column fell back in confusion, and were
+routed with great slaughter. Rodolph, having rallied his men, rushed on
+to where the imperial standard was waving, and with his own hand cut
+down the banner of his rival. A cry now arose: "Henry is dead!"
+Dispirited and borne down, the troops of Henry turned and fled in
+confusion. They were pursued up to the gates of Würtzburg, where the
+vanquished monarch found an asylum. The Saxons passed the night on the
+battle-field, amid hymns of praise and cries of joy.
+
+In the morning, Rodolph, from his inferiority being unable to pursue
+his victory, reentered Merseburg in triumph; and Henry, unwilling to
+hazard another engagement, fell back upon Ratisbon to levy new troops.
+
+Thus ended the battle of Melrichstadt: all night the waters of the
+Strewe, as they glided carelessly along, were red with the noblest blood
+in Germany.
+
+Some hours after nightfall, when all the requisite precautions had been
+taken, Gilbert de Hers, unharmed, but worn out by the fatigues of the
+day, retired to his father's tent. He was alone, for the Lord of Hers
+was in council with the king. It was a sultry night in August, and,
+stripping off his armor, he threw himself upon a couch, and gazed
+languidly but steadily at the flickering watch fires. He had been
+knighted on the field by the king, and had nobly worn his spurs, but his
+thoughts were evidently not running on his own prowess or the praises of
+his monarch. A listless calm had succeeded his late excitement. His
+meditations were rather rudely interrupted by the entrance of a man who
+dashed aside the curtains of his tent and pressed the young noble's hand
+to his lips.
+
+"Humbert!" exclaimed the astonished youth, springing to his feet; and
+embracing his trusty follower, he poured forth question upon question
+with such rapidity that Humbert did not even attempt a reply. When
+Gilbert had composed himself sufficiently to listen, the gallant
+retainer began to relate all that had occurred at the lordship of
+Stramen. Gilbert listened mute and breathless until informed of the Lady
+Margaret's safe arrival and princely reception at the fortress of
+Tübingen. Then, forgetting his rank in his joy and gratitude, he threw
+his arms around his companion's neck, and forced into his hands the
+chain of gold which had nearly proved fatal to him at the tournament.
+
+"The morning after our arrival at Tübingen--" resumed Humbert.
+
+"Yes--go on!" said the youth, who not until then had reflected upon the
+danger of her position, even at Tübingen, and was eagerly drinking in
+the words of his companion.
+
+"The morning after our arrival we saw Henry's whole army drawn out in
+the plain. We were summoned to surrender. The whole court replied: 'A
+Montfort holds no parley with a perjured king and false knight.'
+Instantly we were furiously assaulted on all sides. But the defences
+were complete and completely manned, and they fell back foiled at every
+point. For three long days we held the barbican against their united
+efforts. On the morning of the fourth they began to retire, and before
+sunset we were left without an enemy. When I found that my services were
+no longer required, I determined to return to Hers, and then seek you
+here."
+
+"Had the Lady Margaret recovered from her fright and fatigue?" asked the
+youth.
+
+"With the exception of a slight cough, brought on, I suppose, by the
+rain."
+
+Gilbert's next question related to his paternal estate.
+
+"The chapel stands uninjured," said Humbert.
+
+"And the castle?"
+
+"The blackened walls alone remain!"
+
+"We shall be avenged!" cried the young knight, drawing a deep breath.
+"How was the chapel preserved?"
+
+"Numbers of women and children had fled there for protection, and our
+good Father Herman, standing in the doorway, told the miscreants they
+must pass over his body. He would have fallen a victim to his zeal, had
+not the Duke Godfrey de Bouillon interposed and driven back his soldiers
+with loud reproaches."
+
+"Where is Herman now?"
+
+"Among his poor flock, who have lost almost all--endeavoring to procure
+them food and shelter, and exhorting them to patience and submission to
+the will of God."
+
+"How fared Stramen Castle?"
+
+"Even worse than your own."
+
+"And the church?" continued Gilbert.
+
+"Was despoiled and fired."
+
+At this instant the curtain of the tent was parted again, and Father
+Omehr stood before them.
+
+When informed of the fate of his church, the missionary calmly raised
+his eyes to heaven and repeated, in a clear, steady voice, those sublime
+words: "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the
+name of the Lord!"
+
+But when apprised of the position of his parishioners, who must
+inevitably have perished from the oldest to the youngest, the old man
+bent his head upon his breast, and, pressing his hands to his face, wept
+bitterly. He soon recovered his habitual resignation, and then, turning
+to Gilbert, said mournfully:
+
+"Do you see, my son, that God is _beginning_ to punish our feud?"
+
+Immediately after his victory, Rodolph despatched messengers to the Pope
+to give him the intelligence, and implore him to recognize the king in
+the victor.
+
+We always approach with veneration and extreme diffidence the character
+of this mighty man. It is difficult, indeed, to form an adequate idea of
+his moral grandeur. The better you study his views, the more you are
+astonished at his wisdom and fore-sight; the deeper your scrutiny of his
+motives, the higher your respect for his sanctity. His was an age of
+transition. The great question was still undecided: Shall liberty or
+tyranny prevail--barbarism or civilization? This question depended upon
+the answer to another: Shall the Church of God be free or become the
+creature of temporal power? Already William the Conqueror and Henry of
+Austria were trying to fetter the spouse of Christ--already the gulf was
+opening that threatened spiritual Rome with destruction. Then it was
+that Gregory VII saved the Church as Curtius saved the city; but while
+the pagan has been raised to the skies, the Christian has been insulted
+and belied.
+
+Never can we sufficiently contemplate the spectacle of one man
+contending against the world! Not a chieftain, at the head of an army,
+subduing kingdom after kingdom, but a priest, without a carnal weapon,
+resisting a continent combined at once to crush him, and finally
+vanquishing by his death. Uninspired by ambition, assailed by every
+earthly motive, God alone could have directed, and God only could have
+upheld him. The Emperor of Austria had sworn to depose him, the
+Italians promised to assist his antagonist. With scarce a footing in
+Germany or Italy, cooped up on a barren peak, he wrestled with the
+haughty conqueror of England, humbled the pride of Nicephorus Botoniates
+who had usurped from Michael Paripinasses the empire of the East, and
+deposed Guibert the guilty Bishop of Ravenna. Yet amid these cares, such
+as human shoulders seldom knew before or since, he forgot not the
+objects to which he had dedicated his life--the punishment of simony and
+the preservation of ecclesiastical purity. It was in the attainment of
+these, that he arrayed kingdoms against him and died in exile at
+Salerno. Harassed and chained down as he was, the councils of Anse,
+Clermont, Dijon, Autun, Poietiers, and Lyons were thundering against
+simony and incontinency.
+
+It would be presumptuous to offer a word in defence of the conduct of
+such a man, had not his actions been so grievously misstated, and his
+aims so ungenerously misinterpreted. It were as well to point out the
+sun when the eye is dazzled by its brightness.
+
+Gregory received Rodolph's envoys with every mark of affection, but
+dismissed them, saying he could not comply with their request. The
+Pontiff's object was to keep royalty within its legitimate sphere, not
+to depose a particular king, and he wished to accomplish this with as
+little bloodshed as possible. He saw clearly enough that to declare for
+Rodolph would be to proclaim war to the knife. He also hoped that Henry
+would have recourse to his mediation after his defeat. He was again
+disappointed. His very friends now began to desert him, upbraiding him
+with ingratitude and coldness. The Saxons addressed him several epistles
+in which they threatened to abandon him. But less moved by their threats
+than their entreaties, the Pontiff accused them of weakness and
+insolence. There was another reason sufficient to deter him from
+confirming the nomination of Rodolph, had none other opposed it. All
+Italy, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of Henry, and waited only
+the pontifical coronation of his rival, to rise in open rebellion. When
+the history of the times is carefully studied, it will be confessed that
+the Pope's refusal to accede to Rodolph's request was dictated by the
+greatest wisdom, enlightened and purified by the greatest virtue and
+forbearance.
+
+Still hoping to arrest the purple tide of civil war, Gregory despatched
+legate after legate to Henry, charging them to omit no lawful means to
+incline the monarch to peace, and induce him to abide by the decision of
+a diet which should be convened to judge between him and his rival. This
+was the pacific adjustment to which the Pontiff looked. But Henry
+remained deaf to all these remonstrances, constantly declaring that the
+sword alone must decide. He was again at the head of a powerful army,
+and burned to retrieve the lustre of his arms. Rodolph, perceiving that
+another battle was inevitable, prepared for it without delay. Each king
+was now in quest of the other.
+
+They met near Fladenheim in Thuringia. As at Melrichstadt, the allied
+forces of Suabia and Saxony were drawn up in two divisions under Rodolph
+and Otto. The former occupied a steep hill on the bank of a deep
+stream, which separated the combatants. Otto with his Saxons was
+stationed in the van, and was to sustain the attack, while the division
+of Rodolph was to act as a reserve. It was a bitter cold day in January,
+and a thick mist had canopied the river. Under cover of this, Henry, by
+a retrograde movement, gained the rear of his adversary. Rodolph,
+unconscious of this, was anxiously listening for the din of battle as
+the fog partially obscured his view. Gilbert had never seen the new
+king's noble brow so calm and unclouded--he had never seen his eye flash
+so proudly and joyously, or the same sweet, buoyant smile upon his lips.
+But as the hostile army filed out into the plain, and Rodolph found that
+the enemy he had expected in front was in his rear, a deep frown for a
+moment dispelled his smiles. It was only for a moment. He saw that Henry
+was now between him and Otto.
+
+"Ride to my noble Otto," he said to Gilbert, who was at his side, "and
+bid him charge at once." Before Rodolph had altered his array, Gilbert
+brought back the Saxon's answer:
+
+"Otto of Nordheim declines to abandon the advantages of his position,
+and says he will not fail you, should you require his assistance."
+
+"It is well," said the king, frowning slightly; "he will not fail us."
+Then turning to Albert of Hers, he said, in a whisper: "Otto wishes the
+glory, of deciding the day, as at Melrichstadt. Let us try that he may
+obtain the laurel of victory instead of the odium of defeat. Gentlemen!"
+he said, in a loud voice, exchanging cheerful smiles with the Suabian
+nobles around him, "you have now an opportunity of meeting face to face
+the desolators of your country. Soldiers!" he said, mingling among his
+troops, "there are the Bohemians who butchered your wives and families!"
+As the whole body clamored for the signal to begin, Rodolph gave the
+word, and the chivalry and yeomanry of Suabia swept rapidly down the
+hill. They were met at the base by the whole army of Henry. Still,
+nothing daunted, Rodolph displayed his impetuous valor, the lords of
+Hers and Stramen rushed on the destroyers of their castles, and Gilbert
+and Henry fought side by side, each trying to outstrip the other. At
+this moment, as Rodolph was tugging at his lance to draw it from a body
+of a knight he had pierced, it was seized by Vratislaus, Duke of
+Bohemia. As Vratislaus put forth all his strength to disarm his
+antagonist, Rodolph suddenly yielded up the weapon, and as the duke
+staggered back, sprang upon him with his sword. Timely succor alone
+saved the Bohemian.
+
+"He will be rewarded for capturing my lance," said Rodolph, calmly. "Had
+not his friends been so fleet, he might have had his recompense in
+another world."
+
+But the Suabians, opposed to three times their number, were beginning to
+retreat, when Otto of Nordheim, true to his word, emerged from the mist
+and fell upon the enemy's flank.
+
+"Well done, thou Saxon eagle!" exclaimed Rodolph, eagerly, seeing the
+discomfited foe staggering before this unexpected and vigorous attack.
+"Henry of Stramen, ride to the duke, and tell him he has won the day."
+
+Rodolph, surrounded by some of his barons, among whom were the lords of
+Hers and Stramen and Gilbert, was posted upon a little knoll, watching
+the progress of the fight, when Henry returned with Otto's
+acknowledgments to the king.
+
+"Sire!" said Albert of Hers, riding up to the monarch, "your cunning
+rival there has profited by this mist, and I think we may now turn it to
+our account."
+
+"How?" asked the king.
+
+"The enemy has left his camp in our rear--we may cross the river
+unperceived and surprise it. Give me five hundred men, and I will not
+leave him as much as would satisfy a peasant."
+
+Rodolph instantly acceded to the request, and commanded the Baron of
+Stramen to assist in the enterprise. Though somewhat loath to unite in
+any undertaking with his sworn enemy, Sir Sandrit had learned to subdue
+his personal prejudices for the welfare of Germany. And perhaps his
+desire to avenge his recent wrongs overpowered his aversion to the
+author of older injuries. He readily assented, and now, united for once,
+the rival clans of Hers and Stramen moved rapidly across the ice on
+their chivalrous mission. By a well-executed movement they came
+unperceived upon the guard. No quarter was given there; scarce a hostile
+soldier escaped. Sir Albert bade his men spare not the cowards whose
+swords were red with the blood of babes and mothers. Sir Sandrit, at the
+top of his voice, shouted, "Remember the castle!" Henry and Gilbert
+unrelentingly pursued the terror-stricken fugitives. When they returned
+to the captured camp, every article of luxury was gone. The vessels of
+gold and silver, which the Patriarch of Aquileia and many of the other
+nobles had brought to grace the revels of their king, were now in the
+hands of their rough victors, who brandished the precious goblets in the
+air, crying, "Death to the spoilers of Suabia!" The purple curtains,
+torn into shreds, were trailed in the clotted gore and dust. Before many
+minutes the pillage was as complete as the surprise. When nothing
+remained to slay or plunder, the barons gave the signal to retreat, and
+they recrossed the ice. Had they remained an instant longer, Henry IV
+would have fallen into their hands; for hardly had they left, before the
+monarch, flying from the battle-field, conducted by a guide named Louis,
+entered his ruined camp.
+
+The battle was over when the detachment reached the scene of action.
+Folkmar, governor of Prague, had fallen, Henry had fled, and the
+Bohemians were routed with prodigious slaughter. The fugitives rallied
+under the walls of Wartburg. But they were speedily dispersed and
+pursued, until nightfall saved them from further molestation.
+
+"The mist of Fladenheim is clearing away," said Rodolph, pointing to the
+setting sun, which now broke out in unclouded splendor, as the fog
+vanished before a strong north wind. That day was like his life, most
+brilliant at its close. Otto now advanced, and the two monarchs embraced
+with mutual affection and esteem. Whatever rivalry there might be
+between them was forgotten in success.
+
+Henry retired into Franconia and dismissed his army, and Rodolph again
+solicited the Pope to confirm his election.
+
+The news of these victories imparted some consolation to the Lady
+Margaret's breast, now torn with anxiety and solicitude. Her grief was
+not lightened because her own misfortunes were avenged in Henry's
+adversity, but because the chances of peace were increased by Rodolph's
+success. She was now incapable of relishing revenge. The feudal
+antipathies so long nourished and so early instilled as to be almost a
+part of her existence, were entirely, eradicated. From the evening of
+her interview with Father Omehr, before the now ruined Church of the
+Nativity, she had dedicated her life to the extinguishment of the feud
+between the houses of Hers and Stramen. For this she had prayed, for
+this she had toiled. But her labors were interrupted by the harsh music
+of war, by gong and tymbalon.
+
+What could she do now? Nothing. Nothing? When she knelt before the altar
+at Tübingen before the sun had risen, and the Countess of Montfort felt
+as if she had given shelter to an Angel, was she doing nothing? When she
+lingered in the oratory of our Blessed Mother long after the sun had
+set, and the menials passed by on tiptoe lest they should mar the
+celestial expression of her face, was she doing nothing? There had come
+a deeper lustre still into the Lady Margaret's eye, and the blush on her
+cheek mingled not so freely with the pure white in which it was cradled.
+Perhaps her head was not so erect--perhaps the line of the back had lost
+in firmness what it gained in grace. Already the men and women of
+Montfort had learned to love and bless her, and as she passed among them
+serenely and silently, like a spirit of light, and as they marked the
+strange transparency of her features, they would salute her with a
+feeling in which awe prevailed, and, after thoughtfully gazing at her
+awhile, transfer their glance to the skies. The Lady of Montfort loved
+to hear the maiden sweetly singing the _Salve Regina_, for which Humbert
+had invented or selected a melody of singular beauty, but often, when
+the hymn was concluded, the countess's cheeks would be bathed in tears,
+and she would fold the Lady Margaret in her arms, and gaze up earnestly
+into her face.
+
+Gilbert! Gilbert! come read this face of more than earthly beauty! See
+if the words that haunt you are chiselled there!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+  Glory is like a circle in the water,
+  which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
+  Till, by wide spreading, it disperse to nought.
+
+  SHAKESPEARE.
+
+The battle of Fladenheim was fought just as Gregory VII was opening his
+seventh synod at Rome. Hardly had the ancient canons been renewed and
+Guibert of Ravenna excommunicated, before the envoys of Rodolph
+appeared, and, after reciting Henry's fresh iniquities, supplicated
+their master's coronation and his rival's deposition.
+
+The Pope had not failed to invite his impious antagonist to abide by his
+decision, but his recent defeat seemed only to have confirmed his
+obstinacy. It was evident that Henry would keep the field while a hope
+of success remained, and that peace could not be recovered but by the
+complete triumph of one of the hostile parties. The Pontiff no longer
+hesitated. Since all hope of an amicable adjustment had fled, the
+interests of the Church and of mankind required the ascendency of
+Rodolph; and Gregory saw that to withhold his sanction now, was to peril
+his cause, or at least to prolong the contest. The victory of Fladenheim
+had calmed the impetuosity of the Italian nobles who burned to declare
+for Henry; and they were disposed to preserve a safe neutrality. The
+cruelties and vices of the Franconian were past endurance; the moment
+for which the Suabian so patiently and yet so ardently looked, had at
+length arrived. Rising before the crowded council, the noble Pontiff,
+giving voice to a holy enthusiasm he could not restrain, invoked the aid
+of St. Peter, the Prince of Apostles, and of St. Paul, the Teacher of
+the Nations. He called upon them to witness, that in spite of his grief,
+his groans, and his tears, he had been chosen their most unworthy
+successor; and that princes, ecclesiastics, and courtesans were leagued
+to accomplish his death or exile. "By _your_ authority," he exclaims,
+"relying upon the mercy of God and the pity of His Virgin Mother, I
+excommunicate Henry and all his partisans, and absolve his subjects from
+their allegiance. And even as Henry is justly deprived of his royalty by
+his pride, his disobedience, and perfidy, so are the same power and
+royal authority granted to Rodolph for his humility, his submission, and
+his merits."
+
+The envoys of Rodolph hastened back to Saxony, bearing him the Papal
+confirmation of his election and the benediction so fervently
+pronounced. The king and his army were inspired with the most lively joy
+and confidence. Those who before had dreaded the result, no longer
+doubted, but deemed the agony of the empire already ended. Mass was
+celebrated amid universal rejoicings, and Saxon and Suabian forgot the
+desolation of their homes in this presage of victory and peace. The camp
+of Henry presented another scene. The excommunicated king abandoned
+himself to the most violent transports of fury. He swore the destruction
+of the daring Pontiff and the usurper who now went forth as the chosen
+champion of the Holy See. He assembled at Mayence thirty bishops and a
+proud array of princes and barons.
+
+Here again was acted the solemn farce of the conventicle of Brixen. A
+decree was prepared and published, asserting that it was necessary to
+cut off from the communion of the faithful, a priest who had been rash
+enough to deprive the august person of majesty of all participation in
+the government of the Church, and to strike him with anathema. "He is
+not the elect of God," runs the instrument, "but owes his elevation to
+his own unblushing fraud and corruption. He has ruined the Church--he
+has distracted the State; he has embittered the life of a _pious and
+peaceful_ monarch, upheld a perjured rebel, and scattered everywhere
+discord, jealousy, and adultery. For this, here in final council at
+Mayence, we have resolved to depose, expel, and, if he disobey our
+command, to doom to eternal condemnation a monster who preaches the
+pillaging of churches and assassination, who abets perjury and homicide,
+who denies the Catholic and Apostolic faith concerning the Body and
+Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ--this accursed Hildebrand, this ancient
+ally of the heretic Berengarius, this conjurer and magician, this
+necromancer, this monk possessed by a devil, this vile apostate from the
+faith of our fathers."
+
+After this violent invective had been launched, Guibert of Ravenna was
+unanimously elected anti-pope, under the name of Clement III. Henry next
+addressed himself to win the support of England; but Cardinal Lanfranc
+condemned his precipitation, and refused to unite in these insults and
+outrages.
+
+The brief respite from arms that followed the battle of Fladenheim was
+over. Hostilities had commenced. Cries of war were heard from every
+quarter, and while the two kings were mustering their strength for
+another great struggle, the partisans of Rodolph and Henry were daily
+mingling in deadly strife. Nor were princes and counts, knights, pages,
+and vassals alone in the field, but the spear and sword flashed in the
+hands of bishops, abbots, and monks. Ulrich, Abbot of Saint Gall, was
+ravaging Linzgau and Thurgovia, demolishing the castles of Otto, of
+Marchdorf, Marquard of Bregence, and Hartman of Kyburg, and forcing the
+friends of Rodolph to fly before him.
+
+These trivial advantages were amply compensated by the victory of Welf
+over Frederick of Hohenstaufen, at Hochstadt, and the occupation of
+Augsburg.
+
+It was in the month of October, 1080, that Henry, confiding in the
+superior of numbers and discipline of his army, advanced upon Saxony,
+where Rodolph calmly awaited his approach. Each monarch well knew that
+the approaching contest would be decisive of his fate, and had omitted
+nothing to insure the victory. Anxious to shorten an interval of such
+painful suspense, they longed to meet, Henry stimulated by hatred and
+the memory of his recent defeats, Rodolph animated by a just indignation
+and conscious rectitude.
+
+Once upon the soil of Saxony, Henry swept the country with fire and
+sword to the banks of the Elster. He took a strong position at Mulsen,
+and awaited reinforcements from Bohemia. When the desired succor had
+arrived, he put his army in motion, intending to desolate the country
+and then retire. But he had not advanced far, before he discovered the
+allied forces of Saxony and Suabia drawn up to oppose him. Daunted for a
+moment, by this gallant host, he fell back upon the Elster. The deep
+river prevented a farther retreat. His position was protected by narrow
+and difficult approaches, and by a deep morass. Here he passed the
+night.
+
+Early in the morning of the fifteenth of October, the army of Henry was
+drawn up in battle array along the Elster, while the vanguard of his
+rival became visible in the distance. The soldiers of the former were
+unwearied and invigorated by a night of repose; the troops of Rodolph
+were jaded with forced marches over roads almost impassable. Rodolph,
+apprehensive lest fatigue should prove fatal, would have declined an
+immediate action, but he found it impossible to restrain the ardor of
+his men. The knights leaped from their sinking steeds and formed
+themselves on foot, and the infantry, forgetting their toil at the sight
+of the foe, continued to advance. They halted at length on the edge of
+the deep morass of Grona, in full view of the opposing army on the other
+side.
+
+With Henry were the bishops of Bâsle and Lausanne with their
+men-at-arms, the Count Palatine Herman with all Franconia, Marquard of
+Carinthia, and Lutold, his son. Many recreant Bavarians were around him,
+and even Suabia raised her arm against her noble duke, in the person of
+Werner, Archbishop of Strasburg. There, too, were found Ulrich of
+Eppenstein, Arnaud of Lentzburg, Ulrich of Bregenz, Lutold of
+Dillingen, the counts and prelates of the house of Welschneuenburg,
+Egina of Achalm, and Werner of Gruningen. But conspicuous, even amid
+that high-born and martial group, stood the Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and
+Frederick of Hohenstaufen.
+
+Rodolph was surrounded by Altman of Constance, and the mitres of Coire,
+Rheinau, Stein, Würtzburg, and Worms; he could touch the hands of
+Eckhard of Richenau, of the Abbot of the Convent of All Saints at
+Schafhouse, and of William de Hirschau, the most exemplary man of his
+day. Welf, Otto of Nordheim, Berthold of Carinthia, and Hugo, Count
+Palatine of Tübingen, were ready to support him with their lives, as
+they marched on proudly at the head of their vassals and soldiers.
+Glittering at his side were raised the lances of Marquard of Bregenz,
+Hartman of Dillingen, Burchard of Nellemburg, Cuno and Lutold of Achalm,
+Werner of Hapsburg, Adalbert of Calm, Albert of Hers, and Sandrit of
+Stramen.
+
+At the moment the advancing columns halted, the legates of Gregory
+appeared in front of the army and imparted the Papal benediction to all
+who had taken up arms against the enemy of the Church and of the
+liberties of Germany. As if a thunderbolt had stricken them down, the
+soldiers sank simultaneously upon their knees, and, with their heads
+bent upon their hearts, received the boon so dearly prized. While they
+were yet kneeling, the clerks began to intone the eighty-second Psalm,
+and the solemn strains could be heard all along the ranks. How sad was
+the thought, that this calm music was but the prelude to the groans of
+the dying and the hoarse shouts of blood-stained victory! As the army
+rose at the last note of the Psalm, the clash of steel, instead of the
+mournful chant, was heard along the line.
+
+Rodolph, pale and thoughtful, but calm and dignified, rode through his
+columns, uttering brief expressions of encouragement and confidence,
+which were answered by cheers that made the welkin ring. When he had
+gained an eminence which commanded a view of both armies, a messenger,
+darting from his side, flew like an arrow toward the column of Welf of
+Bavaria. After the lapse of a few minutes, the Bavarians had turned the
+morass, and were almost within striking distance of the enemy. Without
+moving from his position, Frederick of Hohenstaufen waited the assault.
+The next instant the Bavarians had encountered the Bohemians hand to
+hand. For a time the combat seemed equal, but at length the division of
+Welf could be seen slowly falling back. The Suabian nobles, who had
+hitherto watched the contest in silence and the deepest interest,
+besought the king to permit them to aid the retreating column. But
+Rodolph firmly refused. He watched the combatants sternly, but without
+moving a muscle, until the main body of Henry's army was in motion, and
+then Gilbert could see the smile he had marked at Fladenheim, curling
+the hero's lip and lighting up his eye. Yet it was not the same smile:
+there was something sadder, yet fiercer in it. Never had his eye flashed
+forth such wild lustre, or his bosom heaved with such pent-up emotion.
+
+Then, as the main body of the Saxons pressed rapidly forward under Otto
+of Nordheim, against the foe disordered by pursuit, and Rodolph saw his
+plans accomplished, he turned to the Archbishop of Mayence, and
+exclaimed, in a voice broken by deep feeling:
+
+"The day is ours!"
+
+The prelate uttered a prayer of thanksgiving, and, turning to the king,
+said:
+
+"I give your highness joy!"
+
+"I may need your prayers rather than your congratulations," replied
+Rodolph, in a whisper, and he closed his visor.
+
+The king still occupied the height from which he had directed the
+battle, that had now become general. Around him were the chivalry of
+Suabia and his former faithful subjects, acting in concert with a large
+body of Saxons. Henry's army was divided into two bodies, one of which,
+commanded by the monarch in person, was engaged with Otto, while the
+other, led by Godfrey de Bouillon and Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
+assailed the Bavarians. Welf, borne down by numbers, still retreated in
+obedience to his instructions.
+
+"Our turn has come at last, gentlemen," cried the king. "Forward!"
+
+The barons, who had waited as impatiently as hounds in the leash,
+required no second bidding, but dashed after their chivalrous monarch,
+who was in full course with his lance in rest. Already, in Henry's camp,
+the _Te Deum_ was sounding in anticipation of the victory promised by
+the supposed rout of the Bavarians. But the arrival of Rodolph changed
+the face of affairs. The strife then began in earnest. The enemy
+recoiled at first before the king's impetuous charge, but they were
+commanded by the ablest knights in the empire, and soon recovered from
+their momentary panic. Foremost of all his gallant chiefs, Rodolph
+carried death and terror into the Bohemian ranks. He seemed endowed with
+supernatural strength, and neither lance nor mace could arrest his
+brilliant career. Wherever the foe was thickest, or the fight most
+dubious, his white crest gleamed like some fearful meteor. It was
+difficult for the Suabian nobles to keep up with their invincible
+monarch, and only by dint of the most extraordinary efforts about twenty
+of the best lances of his army could prevent his falling alone upon the
+hostile masses. Among those who fought at his side were the lords of
+Stramen and Hers, Gilbert and Henry. At this moment a band of perhaps
+thirty horsemen, with their spears in rest, headed by a knight of
+gigantic size and another whose deeds had proclaimed him equally
+formidable, came like a thunderbolt through the opening files of the
+Bohemians, and fell upon the Suabian group.
+
+The shock was fearful. Many of the combatants were hurled to the earth;
+but the white plume still waved, and Rodolph of Suabia was in mortal
+combat with Godfrey de Bouillon. The giant had singled out Sandrit of
+Stramen, who spurred to meet him with equal avidity. In an instant both
+riders rolled in the dust. The antagonist of Sir Sandrit was the first
+to rise, and as the knight of Stramen staggered to his feet, the
+battle-axe of his opponent was poised above his head. A moment more and
+the Lady Margaret would have been an orphan--for Frederick of
+Hohenstaufen's strength was not to be babied by steel casque or bars of
+proof. But the axe was destined to take another direction. A mounted
+knight, spurring to the rescue of Sir Sandrit, was within a few bounds
+of the Lord of Hohenstaufen. Sir Frederick saw his danger, and with
+wonderful quickness changed his aim, and discharged the ponderous weapon
+against this new assailant. But the Suabian, displaying equal quickness,
+fell suddenly upon the neck of his steed, and the flying mass passed
+harmlessly over his head, grazing his crest. But as the rider rose to
+his seat, a Bohemian knight, darting before Sir Frederick, checked his
+career. Such was the fury of the onset that both were unhorsed. The
+saddle-girths of the Suabian had given way, but the Bohemian fell,
+pierced by the spear of his antagonist. The former sprang uninjured to
+his feet, and drawing his sword, rushed against the first object of his
+attack. Sir Sandrit, dizzy from his first shock, was staggering beneath
+the heavy blows of his powerful opponent, as the knight whose advance we
+have marked, crying "God and Suabia!" turned aside a stroke aimed at the
+exhausted baron, and stepped between them.
+
+"Who are you?" said the Lord of Hohenstaufen, parrying a blow and
+returning it. "Your shield bears no device; beware lest you fall before
+it obtains one!"
+
+"I shall take a device when I have earned one," was the reply. "My name
+would convey nothing to your ears."
+
+"Then perish in your insignificance!" exclaimed the giant, bringing down
+his sword with both hands. But the blow was avoided with admirable
+agility, and the combat went on in silence. It seemed as if the struggle
+could not last an instant, for Frederick towered full a foot above his
+adversary. But the Lord of Hohenstaufen was fatigued by his passage with
+the Baron of Stramen, and his wonderful strength was partially balanced
+by the superior activity of the Suabian. In the mean time, numbers of
+Rodolph's knights had now arrived, and the Duke Godfrey was compelled to
+retreat. Frederick of Hohenstaufen lingered until almost surrounded, and
+then retired slowly before his antagonist, hoping to obtain some
+advantage from the pursuer's impetuosity.
+
+But the Suabian was as cautious and dangerous as ever.
+
+"Hold, Sir Knight!" said Frederick, suddenly sinking his sword and
+lowering his visor. "I beg your name."
+
+"I am called Gilbert de Hers," replied the youth, imitating his example.
+
+"There," cried the Lord of Hohenstaufen, throwing down his glove, "wear
+that for me, and say for Frederick of Hohenstaufen, that he rarely coped
+with better knight."
+
+At these words, the giant mounted a horse which a groom had brought him
+through the fray, and, waving an adieu, wheeled off to another part of
+the field. Gilbert raised the gage and fastened it in his casque. There
+was a strong tumult in the young noble's heart. In spite of his
+impulsive disposition, he was never so calm as when in danger. Though
+sharing the intense excitement of the battle-field, he was not carried
+away by the frenzy of the strife. Though the praises of an illustrious
+enemy were sounding in his ears, he felt little of the exultation which
+such a circumstance might naturally impart. He had rescued the Baron of
+Stramen from imminent peril; but though the Lady Margaret's image had
+been before him through the horror and glory of the day, it was only for
+a moment that he thrilled at the prospect of a relenting father. His
+interview with Rodolph had sunk deep into his soul, and not even the
+pomp and terror of war could blot from his mind the contemplation of the
+king and his solemn language. He knew not why, but he could scarce
+withdraw his eyes from the snow-white crest, which, still unwearied,
+hung upon the now retiring columns of the foe. The Count Rapatho had
+already fallen before the fiery Rodolph, and the _Te Deum_ was hushed as
+the mangled corpse was brought into Henry's camp.
+
+Nor was Otto of Nordheim less successful. At the head of the Saxon
+infantry, he had routed the legions of Franconia, and had driven numbers
+into the deep and rapid river. Fruitlessly did Henry endeavor to
+preserve his array and keep his ground: he was routed at every point.
+The Saxons, now certain of victory, would have fallen upon and pillaged
+the camp. But Otto was too old a warrior to throw caution aside because
+of a partial success. "Wait a moment!" was all the veteran said, as he
+checked their appetite for plunder; and the wisdom of his advice was
+soon made evident. Henry de Laca, Count Palatine of the Rhine, began to
+menace his rear. The troops of the count were fresh, and had been
+proved in former trials. As they advanced with the rapidity and
+steadiness of veterans, singing the _Kyrie eleison_, they seemed well
+able to retrieve the fortunes of the day.
+
+"Another triumph awaits us!" cried Otto; "let us trust in God!"
+
+Without hesitating a moment, the gallant Saxon, with his wonted
+impetuosity, fell upon the advancing lines, and, though stubbornly
+resisted for a time, gained at last a complete victory. When the forces
+of the Palatine of the Rhine had been driven across the Elster, Otto
+turned to his soldiers, exclaiming:
+
+"Now to the camp, and take the reward of your valor!"
+
+In the meanwhile, the retreat of the Bohemians had turned into a
+confused flight. Rodolph, in the eagerness of pursuit, had rashly
+penetrated too far into the flying masses of the foe, who now turned
+upon the pursuer. Awhile the white crest danced amid hostile helmets and
+spears--then vanished.
+
+"He is down!" screamed Gilbert, in agony, hewing his way toward the
+king. Rodolph was alone against a host, while his horse sank up to his
+knees in the marshy ground. Before succor could arrive, a sword had
+cloven through the monarch's wrist, and his right hand fell to the
+ground.
+
+"It is the hand that I raised when swearing allegiance to Henry,"
+muttered Rodolph, bitterly. With tears in his eyes, Gilbert struggled to
+reach the king, who, unarmed and disabled, drove his steed against the
+circle that hemmed him in. His crest was gone, and his armor hacked and
+stained with blood: still fearlessly he bore up against his foes, and
+seemed to rejoice in the unequal strife. The chivalry of Suabia were
+spurring fast to the rescue, and Gilbert, now supported by a small band
+of friends, was almost at his side, when Godfrey de Bouillon charged the
+king with levelled lance. The steel, impelled by a powerful hand,
+entered at the groin, and Rodolph, mortally wounded, fell to the ground.
+The Bohemians uttered a cry of joy at the king's overthrow, for they
+knew him well by his armor and actions. Their triumph was short-lived,
+however, for the Suabians, eager to avenge their leader, gave no
+quarter, and the victorious Saxons had attacked their rear.
+
+"Stop not now!" said Rodolph to the nobles about him; and the lords of
+Hapsburg, Tübingen, Achalm, Hers, and Stramen swept on to avenge him.
+Gilbert remained rooted to the spot. His lance dropped from his hand as
+he leaped from his horse and knelt beside his monarch. Already the
+helmet had been removed by one who supported the dying hero in his arms.
+From Gregory VII to Pius IX, from the Dominican that accompanied Cortez
+to the Jesuit who followed a more recent conqueror, the Catholic
+missionary had been found in the front of battle. It was Father Omehr
+whose breast now pillowed the monarch's head. Gilbert's heart was almost
+bursting as he pressed the only remaining hand to his lips and saw that
+he was recognized. Feeling he could not long survive, Rodolph raised his
+head and asked, in a dying voice, "Whose is the day?" "Yours, my lord,
+yours!" replied those who were around him; for Gilbert, unable to speak,
+did not attempt to answer, but continued to gaze on the eagle eye over
+which the film of death was gathering fast.
+
+"Yours, my lord, yours," repeated the mourners. At these words, Rodolph
+fell back in the missionary's arms, saying, "Then I accept with joy the
+end to which God has called me. Death no longer disturbs me, since it
+brings victory with it." From this moment he was speechless; and with
+his gaze earnestly bent upon his shield, that had been raised by a page,
+and on which was blazoned a crowned lion sleeping upon the knees of the
+Blessed Virgin, Rodolph of Suabia breathed his last. The calm face of
+the dead was not paler than Gilbert, who, unmoved by the shout of
+victory, watched the clay that had so lately been--a king.
+
+While they bore the body to the royal pavilion, the pursuit was
+continued with terrible effect. The Saxons remembered the losses they
+had suffered five years before--the Suabians saw their desolated homes
+and their expiring duke. The small remnant of Henry's army that escaped
+the relentless sword and the equally fatal depths of the Elster, were
+only reserved for a fate still more dreadful. After wandering about, a
+prey to want and misery, they were now butchered by the peasantry of
+Saxony and Thuringia, who, armed with hatchets and scythes, flew to
+avenge upon the relic the wrongs they had suffered from the whole army.
+Many of the fugitives plunged into the forests, preferring the slow
+tooth of famine to the swifter stroke of steel. Others, concealing
+themselves until the first gust of passion was over, besought the mercy
+of the peasantry, who, at last moved with compassion or glutted with
+slaughter, received them as fellow-beings, healed their wounds, and sent
+them to their homes. Henry of Austria, with a suite little proportioned
+to his rank, fled to Bohemia.
+
+There was none of the exultation of victory in the allied camp that
+night: each soldier seemed to feel that the conquest had been too dearly
+won. Rodolph was not only beloved by the Suabians, who from their
+cradles had experienced his bounty, his virtue, and justice, but he had
+endeared himself to the Saxons by his affability, his wisdom, and his
+valor. He had healed their private quarrels and humbled their public
+enemies; he found them divided and feeble, he left them united and
+vigorous. They regarded him as the savior of Saxony, and affectionately
+styled him "_Pater patriæ_." Nor was the grief of the bishops and
+priests less ardent and sincere, for they felt that a zealous and
+dauntless defender of the Church had fallen.
+
+The soldiers, scattered about in groups, slept little, but whispered to
+each other, and fixed their eyes upon the torches that burned so
+steadily in the royal pavilion. There was stretched, cold and stiff, the
+victor of the day, his noble features rigid in death, while his barons
+knelt weeping around the bier, and the Archbishop of Mayence recited
+prayers for his soul. The night wore away, and when the morning broke
+out cheerfully as though no care were in the world, Gilbert de Hers
+still knelt beside the corpse of the king. No tears were in his eyes
+then, and the expression of his face varied between deep thought and
+deep grief. He might have remarked that the scorn had departed from
+Henry of Stramen's lip; but he did not. His mind was occupied with
+other things; and silent and sad, he would not leave his vigil beside
+the dead.
+
+Early in the morning of the sixteenth, the victorious army, sadder than
+defeat could ever have made it, entered Merseburg. After the obsequies
+had been performed with equal solemnity and magnificence, the body of
+the king was deposited in the choir of the cathedral. A statue of gilt
+bronze for many a year marked the tomb of Rodolph of Suabia.
+
+On the same evening, when the soldiers were scattered through the town,
+and the nobles had retired to such quarters as they could procure,
+Gilbert de Hers sought out Father Omehr, and found him in an apartment
+which the Archbishop of Mayence had obtained for the missionary.
+
+Up to the day of his interview with Rodolph at Mayence, Gilbert's mind
+had been wholly engrossed with the bright pictures which a vivid and
+worldly fancy and a keen ambition to excel can always unfold to the eye
+of youth. At times he remembered the night passed in the missionary's
+humble dwelling, when Bertha's knife had confined him there, and he saw
+again the crucifix and the sacristan. But this was only for a moment.
+The image of the Lady Margaret was sure to enter and banish every other
+feeling than that of deep love for her. But from the night of the
+coronation, a change had fallen upon the youth, which Father Omehr's
+keen eye had not failed to remark. He displayed no longer the same
+thoughtless gayety or the same dreamy abstraction. He had reveries, it
+is true, proceeding from the fear of losing the Lady Margaret, or the
+hope of gaining her. The missionary had refrained from questioning the
+young knight, nor did Gilbert reveal any secret to his venerable friend.
+Whether he might have recovered his former levity can scarcely be
+answered, but the death of Rodolph seemed to have extinguished it
+forever. So great a change had this last incident wrought in him, that
+it was not only evident to Father Omehr and Sir Albert, but all who knew
+him were struck with his altered manner. They ascribed it to grief
+alone, for they knew him to have been the monarch's favorite.
+
+When the young noble and the old priest, whose love for each other had
+steadily increased, had sat awhile in silence, the latter took his
+companion by the hand, and, as the visit seemed to solicit the question,
+said, in a tone evincing the interest of a parent: "My son, what ails
+you?"
+
+Then, for the first time, the violent and various feelings which had
+been aroused in Gilbert's breast found a vent in tears. An hour almost
+passed away before he could compose himself, and then he only said: "To
+witness him struck down by death just as he had gained all for which he
+lived--to see the fruit of thirty years' labor snatched from his lips
+before he could taste it! O God, for what trifles are we toiling!"
+
+It was difficult to recognize Gilbert de Hers in the pale, excited face
+and trembling figure which, with clasped hands and eyes upturned,
+uttered these meaning words.
+
+Another hour passed, and the youth was kneeling at the missionary's
+feet.
+
+Midnight was tolled by the great bell of the cathedral, and Gilbert had
+risen.
+
+"My son," said Father Omehr, as they parted, "you have been taught to
+despise the world--the next step is to love God!"
+
+Otto of Nordheim and Welf of Bavaria had determined to keep their forces
+together until apprised of Henry's further designs, and the allied
+armies rested upon their arms at Merseburg. In the meantime Henry used
+every artifice to raise another army; but such a panic had seized his
+adherents, that they declared they would rather be swallowed up in the
+earth than again encounter the Saxons. When Otto and Welf were thus
+assured of Henry's immediate inability to injure them, they disbanded
+the troops which had served them so gallantly. Much as the soldiers
+longed to return to their homes, they did not part without some
+reluctance. They had long toiled side by side in the same glorious
+cause; they had shared the same dangers and the same pleasures. They had
+slept and kept watch together. Reminiscences of hair-breadth escapes and
+of mutual services had created friendships of no ordinary strength. For
+many days the different troops could be seen evacuating the city under
+their feudal chiefs, until at last scarce a soldier remained at
+Merseburg.
+
+It was about the first of November that the barons of Hers and Stramen
+set out with the relics of their clans for their lordships in Suabia.
+The face of Sandrit of Stramen was sterner than ever, and his son seemed
+to have caught a portion of his severity. They rode along swiftly, and
+whenever they spoke it was about the Lady Margaret. Father Omehr alone
+preserved his equanimity, and even he was now unusually absent and
+thoughtful. Nor was the retinue of Albert of Hers more cheerful. Sir
+Albert's eyes were fixed on the ground in deep dejection; tears were
+ever and anon springing into Humbert's eyes, and even the vassals behind
+them were gloomy and dispirited. They were returning to a desolated
+home, it is true; but, what was worse, they were returning without
+Gilbert.
+
+The Lady Margaret was still at Tübingen. With scarce more fervor did
+Gregory VII uphold against the world the measures he deemed essential to
+the liberty, unity, and purity of the Church, than did this young girl
+pursue the object to which she had consecrated herself--the extinction
+of the feud. Humble as were her aim and efforts, when contrasted with
+the objects and exertions of the sainted Pontiff, she could still
+imitate his piety and perseverance. The reader may have remarked the
+changes in the Lady Margaret's character. She was naturally haughty and
+impetuous, though generous and sincere. In spite of her piety, that
+pride, so difficult to curb, would still break out. But these
+infirmities had been zealously combated, until religion had triumphed
+over the weakness of humanity. Still, for some time, the Lady Margaret
+was unhappy, and accused herself of human love in seeking the
+reconciliation, imputing the revolution in her feelings to a culpable
+tenderness. But she soon discovered that vanity--that an aspiration
+after the _consciousness_ of perfection rather than true
+piety--occasioned her uneasiness. She no longer tormented herself with
+dangerous mistrusts, but gave all she had to God, begging Him to purify
+the gift and supply her mind with the dispositions to render the
+offering acceptable. She had learned that most difficult lesson even to
+the holy--to hope rather than despond in the conviction of unworthiness.
+There was one other victory which the Lady Margaret had gained over
+herself: she had suppressed an inclination to return the attachment of
+Gilbert de Hers, which she clearly saw could only lead to unfortunate
+results. It was the remembrance of this inclination that occasioned the
+misgivings which she had at last obtained grace to disregard.
+
+Such was the Lady Margaret at the time of the battle of Elster. She
+frequently reverted to the challenge she had given the assailants of
+Stramen Castle, and detected in that defiance a relic of her former
+pride. It was the last spark.
+
+She was now in daily expectation of her father and brother, and of one
+almost equally dear--Father Omehr. Her walks were confined to a large
+room adjoining her chamber, and thence along the corridor to the chapel.
+Her evening exercise was to walk, supported by the Countess of Montfort,
+to the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and observe the custom of her
+earliest youth, by leaving there a bunch of flowers. She spent most of
+the day in a cushioned chair--she was too weak to kneel long. She loved
+to sit in the sunlight, holding the countess's hand in her own
+attenuated fingers. Then she would speak of her father and brother, and
+say that on the morrow they would surely be reunited. She never
+mentioned sickness or pain; she saw her companion's tears falling fast
+at times, but she would only wipe them away with a smile and an
+embrace. As the sunbeams played upon her wasted features, fringing her
+hair with gold, and encircling her with a brilliant halo, the countess
+would turn away from the lovely vision to hide her emotion, and whisper
+to herself: "This is a glimpse of the world beyond the grave!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+  We need not mourn for thee, here laid to rest;
+  Earth is thy bed, and not thy grave; the skies
+  Are for thy soul the cradle and the nest.
+  There live!
+
+  TASSO.
+
+Toward the close of November, on one of those bright warm days, when
+winter, as if in memory of the departed summer, puts by his blasts and
+snows, the Countess of Montfort was seated at the bedside of the Lady
+Margaret. The countess, though in the bloom of health and youth, was sad
+and tearful. The maiden, though her breath was short and difficult, wore
+a smile upon her lips. The shadow of death was on her sunken temples,
+and had touched her quivering nostril and waxen ear, through which the
+light came as through porcelain. Yet the eyes were closed, and the pale
+lips moved, and the wasted hands, embracing a crucifix, were joined in
+prayer. She could still beg God to heal the feud. How edifying, how
+beautiful, how sublime the spectacle!--sublimer than the deeds of
+heroes, the conceptions of poets, the aspirations of genius. What is
+Archimedes moving the world to the humblest Christian moving heaven by
+prayer!
+
+In a corner of the room a small statue of the Immaculate Mother of God
+stood upon a pedestal. The marble figure breathed all that purity and
+simplicity so striking in the images which adorned the old Gothic
+cathedrals. The eyes of the maiden frequently rested upon it, and as
+often as sunset came, she would bid the countess place a bunch of
+flowers at its feet. Thus did she continue to the end of her life the
+pious custom of her infancy.
+
+All was still in the darkened chamber, and the rich tapestry hung
+mournfully from the walls. The things of earth make the earthly heart
+ache in the presence of death. But how joyously the eye of faith kindled
+up, as it rested on the face of the meek sufferer!
+
+The door opened softly, a light step entered, and a female servant
+whispered something to the countess. She started and looked suddenly at
+Margaret. The invalid had caught the whisper, low as it was. A slight
+tinge was visible on her cheek, as she pressed her white fingers to her
+breast and said, in a low tone:
+
+"God be praised! It is my father! Bring him to me."
+
+Is this dying girl his daughter! Is this attenuated form all that
+remains of his noble, his beautiful, his darling Margaret? Like a
+blasted pine, the stalwart warrior fell upon his knees, with a groan as
+if his heart had burst, and buried his face in the curtains. Henry, all
+tears and sobs, caught his sister's outstretched hand and held it to his
+heart, gazing in anguish at the ruin of his idol. Behind these knelt
+Father Omehr. For a moment the man triumphed over the Christian, and he
+too felt the thorn of grief in his throat. But when Margaret's calm eye
+rested on him, and her meek smile beamed out, he felt the rapture which
+is only known to the holy, when a soul is happily returning to the bosom
+whence it came.
+
+"Let us thank God for having thus united us!" said the Lady Margaret,
+and they remained some minutes in silent prayer.
+
+"Father!" whispered the invalid.
+
+The broad chest was convulsed and the moan deepened, but that bent,
+crushed figure made no reply.
+
+"Father!" she repeated, as her hand fell, in a caress, upon her parent's
+head.
+
+Sir Sandrit, starting at her touch, looked up and seized the hand. A
+minute had changed his face, as if a year had been ravaging there: it
+was so furrowed, so haggard. He gazed but an instant at his daughter;
+then hid his face again, muttering but one word: "Margaret!"
+
+"Father," said the maiden to Father Omehr, who now stood at her at her
+pillow, "is Albert of Hers at home?"
+
+The missionary nodded.
+
+"Let him know that Margaret of Stramen, on her death-bed, entreated him
+to fly here without a moment's delay."
+
+Even the sound of that hated name produced no perceptible impression
+upon the heart-broken baron. The Count Montfort, who had just entered
+the room, suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"I, myself, will deliver your message, my child, as quickly as horse can
+speed."
+
+Margaret endeavored to thank him, but, exhausted by excitement and
+exertion, she fell back upon her pillow. The countess prudently led the
+unresisting father from the room, and despatched Henry to administer to
+his grief.
+
+"I am changed," said Margaret to the missionary, as she recovered.
+
+"God has changed you for Himself, my child," replied the old man,
+struggling with the weakness of human nature, for he had known and loved
+her from her infancy.
+
+"I have hoped so, even in the recollection of my many sins, for His
+mercy is infinite. May He uphold and strengthen my father, and teach him
+to rejoice in the change he now deplores!"
+
+The countess left the room, and once more the Lady Margaret opened her
+soul to her first confessor.
+
+The baron knelt all night beside his dying child. He watched her broken
+slumbers, as if he feared each might be the last. A thousand sighs of
+anguish and affection were given and returned before another day began
+to dawn. How precious are the last hours of life! In our inability to
+lengthen them, we strive to gather into them more feeling and action
+than we could extract from as many years.
+
+As the sun flashed out the Lady Margaret seemed animated with new
+strength. Her father trembled at the suggestion--what if she should
+recover! Thus hope feeds upon the wishes of the heart.
+
+An hour before noon the Count Montfort, accompanied by Albert of Hers,
+entered the apartment. Sir Albert, obeying a look which the maiden gave
+him, advanced, and with much emotion pronounced the words, "My lady, I
+am here!"
+
+Sir Sandrit had anticipated all; nor did his son manifest the least
+surprise. They both stood sorrowful and mute, nor did anger and disdain
+appear in the features with which they were so familiar. Albert of Hers
+saw, at a glance, the position in which he was placed.
+
+"Father!" began the sinking girl--"father! let me die in the assurance
+of meeting you hereafter. In the name of Him before whom I am soon to
+appear, forgive this man!"
+
+The struggle had already taken place in the baron's soul. When his heart
+was trampled in the dust, his pride was broken. The stubborn rock was
+smitten by the heaven-directed wand, and the waters of contrition gushed
+forth.
+
+"You have conquered, my child," he murmured, kneeling and kissing her
+pale forehead.
+
+"Not I, my father. God is the conqueror!"
+
+It seemed as if her upward glance had rested upon something more than
+mortal, her face assumed an expression of such unearthly meaning. Sir
+Albert, too, knelt beside his ancient foe: he felt it impious to stand.
+
+The maiden motioned to the countess, who raised and supported her in her
+arms and drew back the long hair which had partially covered the hollow
+cheeks. Without a word, but with an eloquence that must have charmed the
+attendant Angels as much as it entranced the mortals who witnessed it,
+she placed her father's hand into Sir Albert's right hand, while Henry
+took the left.
+
+"Albert de Hers," said Sir Sandrit, as the tears coursed down his brown
+cheeks, "I freely forgive you and yours; and nevermore shall my hand be
+raised against you."
+
+Henry repeated the words after his father.
+
+"And I," said the Lord of Hers, "will forget the past: and I declare,
+here in the presence of dying innocence, that I am guiltless of your
+brother's blood!"
+
+The Countess of Montfort sobbed aloud, and her husband made no effort to
+conceal his tears. Father Omehr, who had raised his hands to heaven in
+an ecstasy of gratitude, now exclaimed:
+
+"Let me speak for one who is not here: Gilbert de Hers has long since
+forgiven those who were once his father's foes."
+
+The object of her life was attained--the goal was reached--the victory
+was won. There lay the victor, supported in the arms of her friend. The
+victory was hers, for though heaven had won it, she had won heaven by
+prayer. What are earth's conquests to a victory like this! What the
+splendid overthrow of nations--what Thermopylæ, or Marathon, or
+Trafalgar to this triumph over long-nourished hatred! When does man
+appear in so magnificent an attitude as when, by fervent prayer and
+complete humility, he converts heaven into an agent by which his desires
+are accomplished!
+
+Yet the dying victor felt no pride. Her heart was dissolved in
+gratitude: she knew her nothingness, and ascribed all to God. She spoke
+not, she wept not: even the wonted smile forsook her lips. She only felt
+the immensity of the goodness of God--she only bowed before this new
+manifestation of his power. The three knights, who looked up in her
+face, saw she was invoking a blessing upon them, and reverently bent
+their heads, as if in the feeling that the blessing was then descending.
+
+Young girls clothed in white were noiselessly strewing with flowers the
+way by which the adorable Sacrament was to pass from the chapel to the
+chamber. The blessed candle, the emblem of the light of faith and of the
+heavenly mansions, was lit, and the maiden, unable to kneel, received
+the Sacred Body as she lay. Her eyes were closed, and, as if detached
+from all earthly things, she continued to murmur, almost inaudibly,
+passages from the Psalms and pious ejaculations. She raised her finger
+to trace upon her lips the sign of Christ, and then fell into her agony.
+
+Three times the bell had tolled when the last absolution was given, and
+its solemn voice still sounded at regular intervals, mingling with the
+sublime words that bade the faint soul go forth from the world in the
+name of God the Father Almighty, who created it, in the name of Jesus
+Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered for it, in the name of
+the Holy Spirit, which had been imparted to it: in the name of Angels
+and Archangels, in the name of Thrones and Dominations, in the name of
+Principalities and Powers, in the name of Cherubim and Seraphim, in the
+name of Patriarchs and Prophets, in the name of holy Apostles and
+Evangelists, in the name of holy martyrs and confessors, in the name of
+holy monks and hermits, in the name of holy virgins and all the Saints
+of God, that its rest that day might be in peace, and its habitation in
+holy Sion!
+
+There was no struggle, no contortion, to mark the moment of
+dissolution. The face only grew more serene and less death-like, as the
+soul passed from its frail tenement.
+
+The bells no longer swung slowly and solemnly, but poured forth a
+festive sound. And well might they peal more merrily then, than at
+birth, or marriage, or earthly conquest. Tears were falling fast around
+the bed; yet only the body wept--the soul was exulting.
+
+On the morning of the third day after the Lady Margaret's death, a
+funeral procession could be seen slowly approaching, within sight of the
+ruins of Stramen Castle and the blackened Church of the Nativity. The
+peasantry, who were expecting it, had gone forth to meet the remains of
+their dearly loved lady, and rosy children were scattering flowers
+before the bier. They could not repress some tears and sighs for their
+benefactress, yet they knew it was for themselves they grieved, not for
+her they had lost. How they wondered at first--and how their wonder
+melted into joyous thanksgivings, to see the Lord of Hers supporting the
+now humble and contrite Baron of Stramen!
+
+The mourners--if such they may be called--entered the grave-yard, which
+was near the church, and had not been violated by the sacrilegious
+marauders, and halted before a new-made grave. In those days, it was the
+peculiar privilege of bishops, abbots, and holy priests to be buried
+within the church, or only extended to laics of distinguished sanctity.
+Yet Father Omehr had assured the maiden that she might be interred in
+the choir at Tübingen. Margaret had declined a privilege of which she
+deemed herself unworthy, saying that she did not wish to be associated
+in sepulture with those from whom she was far separated in merit, and
+expressing a wish to be placed beside her mother. And they laid her,
+with prayers and unbidden tears, in the place she had chosen.
+
+The gorgeous sun of ancient Suabia was beaming out in cloudless
+splendor, and the mountains and the Danube, the forest and the fields
+looked lovely in the glittering day; yet not one of those who stood
+around the grave would have said to the dead, "_Awake!_" if the word
+could have recalled her to share the beauty of the world before them.
+When the Count and Countess of Montfort saw that their longer presence
+would only impose a restraint upon the family group, they bade the
+missionary a silent adieu, and began to retrace their steps to Tübingen.
+
+The cottage of the missionary was spared on account of its
+insignificance; and Father Omehr led the Lord of Hers and the father and
+son into his humble apartments, which had been zealously tended by his
+pious penitents. All was arranged just as he had left it, to his own bed
+and the corner where Gilbert had slept. There was nothing here to mark
+the scourge which had desolated the smiling country without. The Baron
+of Stramen sat down upon a bench, covering his face with his hands.
+Here, in the sight of his ruined castle, and with the funeral tears of
+his only daughter undried upon his cheeks, he was happier than he had
+been for many a year: happier than when carousing in his father's
+halls--happier than when proudly embracing his darling child--happier
+than when engaged in avenging his brother--happier than when exulting in
+the victories of Rodolph! And Henry, too, shared in this blessed change
+wrought by his sister's prayers. Each heart was too full for speech;
+words would have fallen meaningless and cold.
+
+At this eloquent moment, a man, exhausted with running, and greatly
+agitated, abruptly entered the cottage. He checked himself, however, and
+stood as if petrified at the sight of the group before him. Father
+Omehr, who rightly judged that his rude intrusion must have been caused
+by no ordinary occurrence, rose, and in a whisper commanded him to
+explain himself.
+
+"Bertha seems adying!" said the man.
+
+"Where is she?" asked the priest.
+
+"About a mile from here--I will take you there." The Baron of Stramen
+seemed not to listen, for he sat motionless; but his son manifested much
+interest.
+
+"Shall I go with you?" he said to the missionary.
+
+"No, my child, remain with your father."
+
+Albert de Hers had started up at the peasant's announcement, and
+followed Father Omehr out of the apartment.
+
+"Permit me," he said, "to accompany you; I feel that the call is
+intended for me too. This ring," he continued, holding up his finger,
+"was given me in my youth by Rodolph of Suabia; in a moment of folly and
+sin, I parted with it. After an interval of more than twenty years, it
+was restored to Rodolph by this Bertha, without a word of explanation.
+He gave it to me the night before his death"--here the baron paused an
+instant--"and informed me how and from whom he had received it. I
+resolved to seek out the woman on my return; for if she be the Bertha to
+whom I gave this ring, even in her madness she may throw light upon an
+event hitherto involved in mystery."
+
+"You mean the death of Sir Sandrit's brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I see no reason to oppose your wish," said the missionary; "perhaps the
+mercy of God may choose to reveal what we vainly have endeavored to
+discover."
+
+It was not known how Bertha had escaped from the castle on the fatal
+night when it was fired and its inmates put to the sword. Her insanity
+might have shielded her; or she might have availed herself of the
+confusion and darkness to elude observation, or extricated herself by
+some secret passage. A peasant thought he had seen her, by moonlight,
+walking along the moat of the castle, some days after the hostile army
+had disappeared; but his account was discredited until she appeared by
+daylight to the surviving vassals of Stramen, when they emerged from the
+forest in which they had taken refuge. At the time of the return of the
+soldiers of Stramen, she was much thinner and walked with difficulty,
+rarely issuing from her retreat in the ravine, to which she had again
+retired. On the morning of Margaret's funeral she could be seen, pale
+and haggard, tottering toward the grave-yard. The simple peasants
+recoiled before the ghastly figure, which, tall and trembling, with a
+black gown and death-white face, passed among them like a spectre.
+Before she reached the church she fell senseless to the ground. The
+humanity of those who observed her triumphed over their fears, and they
+bore her to a newly finished house hard by.
+
+This was all the missionary could glean from his guide, as they walked
+swiftly toward the shed pointed out by the peasant.
+
+They found her lying motionless upon a bed in a corner of the room. As
+they entered, she opened her eyes, and, after keenly scanning the Lord
+of Hers, raised herself with difficulty upon her arm. Father Omehr
+started. The wild light of insanity had left her eyes, and her glance,
+though firm and resolute, was gentle and natural.
+
+"Do you know me, Bertha?" said the missionary, springing trembling to
+the bedside.
+
+"Oh, yes," was the reply. "I have been in a long, wild dream!" and she
+passed her hand over her high, clammy forehead. "And I know _you_, Sir
+Albert of Hers, and I know that God has brought you here at this
+moment."
+
+The stout warrior, who never quailed before any odds, and whose
+self-possession was as remarkable as his valor, quivered before the
+mournful gaze of that weak woman. The room seemed to reel, and he leaned
+against the wall for support.
+
+"There is one other I must see--Sandrit of Stramen. Father, have him
+brought here now; there is not one moment to be lost."
+
+The missionary whispered a few words to a youth who was present, and the
+stripling passed hurriedly out.
+
+"Have you sent for him?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will he soon be here?"
+
+"He is scarce a mile off."
+
+"It is well," she continued, lifting up her large black eyes; "God has
+designed it all! And now," she resumed, after a brief pause, "we must be
+alone until the baron comes."
+
+At a signal from the missionary, Albert of Hers and the wondering
+peasants silently withdrew.
+
+The half hour that elapsed before Sir Sandrit's appearance, seemed like
+an age to the Baron of Hers, who in an agony of suspense paced up and
+down the clearing before the cottage. At last, however, the two noblemen
+and Henry of Stramen were admitted.
+
+Bertha was sitting upright in bed, supported by Father Omehr, who
+beckoned to Henry to assist him. There were traces of recent tears upon
+her furrowed cheeks, and her form seemed to dilate as she gazed at the
+nobles before her.
+
+"Listen to me, Baron of Stramen!" she began, looking full at the noble,
+in whom surprise was gaining a temporary mastery over grief; "listen,
+for it is God's mercy that permits me to speak and you to hear! Twenty
+years ago I was young and beautiful. I was loved by your brother and by
+him who stands at your side."
+
+Albert de Hers turned pale as death, and drawing the ring from his
+finger, advanced a step, saying hoarsely, "Are you the Bertha to whom I
+gave this ring?"
+
+She took the trinket in her hand, and after examining it over and over,
+replied:
+
+"I _am_ that Bertha. But how did you get this?"
+
+"From the Duke Rodolph, to whom you gave it."
+
+The woman knit her brows, as if struggling to recall some confused
+impression, and at length said: "Yes, I did give it to him; I remember
+now. Where is he?"
+
+"In heaven, I trust," replied the Lord of Hers.
+
+At the word heaven, the tears started in the eyes of the poor creature,
+and she hung her head. The silence was profound and painful. She was the
+first to break it.
+
+"Interrupt me no more," she said, suppressing her emotion. "Hear me
+through. Robert of Stramen and Albert of Hers were rivals for my love,
+and they began to hate each other bitterly on my account. I loved
+neither, for I had promised to marry Albert of the Thorn, and I loved
+him as much as my vain heart was able to love anything. But I was weak
+enough to receive the presents they gave me for the sake of wearing the
+finery, and my lover was pleased, because we were poor. My Lord of
+Stramen, do you remember the day we brought you your brother's corpse?"
+
+The baron shuddered.
+
+"On that very morning--oh! how distinctly do I see it--I was sitting in
+the ravine, not far from my mother's house, when a wild boar pursued by
+hounds rushed madly by me. As I stood trembling, a horseman followed,
+dashing along at full speed. He reined up when he saw me. It was the
+Lord of Hers. He began to smile, and asked me to forgive him the fright
+he had given me, and, untying a scarf which he wore around his waist,
+threw it over my shoulders. Then he put this ring on my finger and
+galloped off, crying he must not miss the stand. This much you know,
+Albert of Hers, but you do not know what followed. Was it not as I have
+said?"
+
+The noble nodded.
+
+"O God, strengthen me to reveal all!" continued the now agitated woman.
+"I began to walk down the ravine, when I met Albert of the Thorn. I
+showed him my presents, and we sat down at the foot of a pile of steep
+rocks, beside a little spring. Albert was arranging the scarf about my
+neck, when Sir Robert of Stramen suddenly stood before us. His face was
+pale with rage, and his lips were all foaming. I screamed at his awful
+appearance. I knew well that he hated my betrothed, and had threatened
+his life if he married me. He snatched the scarf from my neck, and
+shaking it at me, said: 'I know very well from whom this came!' Then,
+turning upon Albert, he cried: 'And for you, who pretend to love her, to
+connive at his guilt! You shall pay for your baseness with your life!'
+He stopped here, as if rage had choked him, and drew his sword. Albert
+sprang quickly up the ledge of rocks, and Sir Robert followed. I saw
+Albert stoop, pick up a large fragment of rock, and hurl it--I saw Sir
+Robert fall, and then I grew sick and dizzy, and fainted. When I
+recovered, Albert was watching me, trembling and livid. I looked around,
+and there was Sir Robert, stretched out stiff and still and bloody. He
+had worn nothing but a light cap on his head, and the stone had made a
+fearful dent in his temple. I knelt beside him, and prayed, and chafed
+his hands, and brought water from the spring and poured it upon his
+face. I hoped he would come to life, even if he would only revive to
+kill me. It was all in vain. He grew cold: he was dead. Again I looked
+at Albert--he was shaking like a leaf. 'Bertha,' he said, 'I am a lost
+man! When Sir Sandrit knows this, I cease to live.' I saw his danger,
+which did not until then occur to me, and I lost my concern for the dead
+in my fears for him. I loved him better than anything in the world, and
+the devil, who knew my heart, suggested a scheme for his preservation.
+The scarf of the Lord of Hers, which bore some family device, was
+grasped in the dead man's hand, and I saw at once how strongly that
+circumstance implied the noble's guilt. I concealed the ring he had
+given me in my pocket. 'Come!' I said to Albert, 'let us take the body
+to Sir Sandrit, and tell him that we found it in a spot from which we
+had just seen the Lord of Hers depart.' He refused at first, and would
+not touch the body, but by argument and entreaty, I prevailed upon him
+to be guided by me.
+
+"Sandrit of Stramen, you know the rest. You know that we swore to have
+seen the Lord of Hers ride away from the fatal spot just before we found
+the body. It was the fact; but my lover and I were perjured in the sight
+of God. I do not wish to lighten my crime before men, when it is written
+out so plainly against me before Angels. I was a perjured
+woman--perjured through love and fear. I heard you swear vengeance. I
+wept, but I was silent. I saw your fury and your wars. My heart bled,
+but I was silent. There was no rest, no sleep, no peace for me. It was
+not my husband's death that drove me mad. Oh, no! It was remorse. There
+were spectres all around me--I trembled before the innocent, fled
+before the guilty. The caresses of my child that died at my breast
+tortured me. I felt as though my breath had withered and defiled it.
+Every hour was full of misery--day and night there was a gnawing at my
+heart. At last my mind gave way, and the justice of heaven struck him
+with death and me with madness!"
+
+Bertha paused an instant, quite exhausted, then again exerting herself,
+she said:
+
+"I do not ask you to forgive me--but forgive each other."
+
+"They have forgiven each other already," said Father Omehr. "They are
+friends."
+
+"Friends?"
+
+"The Lady Margaret reconciled them on her death-bed."
+
+"The Lady Margaret dead!"
+
+"She was buried this morning."
+
+"Yes," said Bertha, "it was to her funeral I was going. Yes, she is
+dead--the beautiful, the young, the innocent--she has been praying for
+me in heaven."
+
+At these words a smile beamed over her sharp features, and she sank
+gradually back in bed, lowered by Henry and the missionary.
+
+The proud Lord of Hers was, in spirit, in sackcloth and ashes. He
+attributed the existence of the feud to his indiscretion and guilt, and
+reproached himself with all its pernicious consequences. He saw in the
+wreck before him the fruits of his sin; Bertha's misery and madness
+seemed wholly his own unhallowed work. The strong man shuddered at the
+consequences of his folly, and beat his breast, and wept like a child.
+
+Sandrit of Stramen also accused himself of having caused the feud by his
+rash credulity, and driven Bertha to perjury and insanity by his
+impetuous and uncontrollable temper. For, he reasoned, had she reposed
+any confidence in his justice and charity, she would have told the
+truth.
+
+Henry of Stramen saw that all his brilliant achievements against the
+family of Hers were only unjustifiable murders and robberies, and his
+haughty spirit was humbled and contrite.
+
+Father Omehr saw their contrition, but he was entirely absorbed in the
+penitent Bertha.
+
+Bertha lived three days after the revelation, constantly engaged in
+prayer and acts of contrition. Her profound sorrow affected and edified
+the missionary and all the neighborhood. On the third day she received
+the Viaticum, and expired in the arms of the Baron of Stramen, who,
+together with the Lord of Hers, had repeatedly assured her of their
+complete forgiveness. Her last words were: "I know she is praying for me
+in heaven."
+
+She was buried, as she desired, near the Lady Margaret, with nothing but
+a rude wooden cross to mark her grave.
+
+On the day after her burial, Father Omehr and the three nobles set out
+for the Castle of Hers. Humbert had already fitted up for his lord some
+rooms which had been only partially consumed, and Albert of Hers had
+prevailed upon the baron and his son to remain with him until they could
+find suitable lodgings at home. The reconciliation between the nobles
+was complete; and at sunrise the next day they could be seen kneeling
+together before the altar of the Pilgrim's Chapel, eating the Bread of
+Life. If the Angels rejoice at such a sight, how much greater must be
+the joy of the Saints!
+
+But where was Gilbert, that he could not share in the blessed feast?
+
+The Middle Ages abound in characters better entitled to our
+consideration and esteem than the classic magnates of Greece and Rome.
+There is not in pagan antiquity such a combination of virtue, constancy,
+fortitude, and valor as was presented in Matilda of Tuscany, "the
+heroine of the Middle Ages." She devoted herself to the cause of the
+Holy See as early as 1604, and her life was a series of sacrifices
+cheerfully made for the security of the Church. While wondering at her
+heroism, you love her for her charity, and revere her for her piety. Let
+Catholics read her life, and they will embalm her in their hearts. Her
+unvarnished actions are a nobler eulogy than even the unfading wreath
+flung by a master's hand on the grave of the martyred Marie Antoinette.
+
+At the time of the battle of the Elster, this pious defender of the
+Faith was sorely pressed by the Lombards, who sided with the emperor.
+The imperial troops had gained a victory at Mantua, which revived the
+drooping royal cause.
+
+When Gilbert de Hers parted from his father and friends, he turned his
+horse's head to Matilda's camp. The partisans of the heroic princess
+took little notice of the nameless knight who came among them without
+follower or page, and whose shield was simply blazoned with an azure
+cross. He was silent and reserved, shrinking from observation and mirth,
+and either engaged in meditation or prayer.
+
+The gloomy aspect of the future was also capable of furnishing the youth
+with sufficient food for reflection. The death of Rodolph spread
+consternation over Saxony and Suabia: both circles were crippled by
+internal dissensions, and unable to profit by their victory. Inspired by
+this, and by his rival's death, and encouraged by the attitude and
+successes of the Lombards, Henry meditated an invasion of Italy, and the
+conquest of Rome itself. He reorganized a powerful army, and penetrated
+Lombardy, leaving Frederick of Hohenstaufen to hold Suabia in check,
+while Saxony was convulsed by the rival schemes of Otto and Herman.
+
+Never before had the Holy See seemed in such imminent danger. England
+and France looked coldly on, and the emperor of the East sympathized
+with his brother of Austria.
+
+Gregory alone awaited the storm calm and fearless, relying upon the
+sacredness and justice of his cause, neither dismayed nor discouraged by
+the fickle course of human events. He deplored the spirit which arrayed
+itself against truth, but he found in the recollection of the trials of
+the Apostles and their successors abundant consolation for himself and
+his friends. Florence, Padua, Cremona, Milan had fallen before the
+Austrian invader. Lucca swelled the triumphs of the tyrant. Fortress
+after fortress was wrested from Matilda; Henry sat down before the gates
+of Rome at last, in the plains of Nero and opposite the fortress of St.
+Peter. Yet the sublime Pontiff displayed no symptom of uneasiness,
+though half of Europe was against him.
+
+Gilbert's first impulse was to fly to Rome, but the approaches to the
+city were all in possession of the enemy. The noble Matilda could ill
+spare a good lance, and the Romans then displayed so much resolution and
+gallantry, that the German army was repulsed in every assault. To the
+young knight's heart, wounded by the siege of Rome and misfortunes of
+Matilda, the tidings of the reconciliation at home were like a sweet
+balsam. And though the blessed intelligence was blended with the account
+of the Lady Margaret's death, it was not the less welcome. Gilbert had
+long since ceased to regard the Lady Margaret with human love. He
+revered her as one sacred to heaven, upon whom death had already set the
+seal of eternity, and, far from weeping over her early grave, he exulted
+at her triumphant flight to the judgment-seat of God.
+
+Two long years crept by, and the imperialists were still before Rome.
+Gilbert looked anxiously for succor to Suabia and Saxony, but the sudden
+death of Otto of Nordheim laid his hopes in the dust, and Henry, for the
+third time, invested the eternal city. Hitherto, the Romans, encouraged
+by the Pope, had made an heroic resistance, and the besiegers had
+suffered incredibly from their desperate sallies, as well as from the
+diseases that decimated them. But the fidelity of the citizens was
+beginning to totter beneath the protracted warfare, and many sighed for
+a period to their calamities. Henry failed not to profit by these
+dispositions, and poured in thirty thousand golden florins to inflame
+them.
+
+The horizon grew darker and darker--the Pope more winning, more
+eloquent, more determined. Matilda did not fail him in this crisis. The
+knight of the azure cross had already won the confidence of the princess
+by his valor, his prudence, and his piety, and she now selected him as
+the instrument of her generosity. She pointed to a large amount of
+silver, saying that she intrusted him with the dangerous and difficult
+duty of conveying it to Gregory. Gilbert gladly accepted the perilous
+commission. He loaded a number of mules with the treasure, concealed
+beneath vegetables, and disguising himself as a peasant, took a guide
+and set out for Rome. During a dark and stormy night he contrived to
+pierce the hostile lines and enter the city by the Lateran gate.
+
+Gilbert found the Pope seated in the midst of an assembly. He could at
+last feast his eyes upon the wonderful and sainted man whom he had all
+his life loved and venerated. When the Pontiff rose and spoke of the
+virtue and fortitude that ought to sustain them in this crisis, he
+seemed endowed with supernatural power, and moved all present to tears.
+It seemed as though his soul foreknew it was the last time his voice
+should be raised in defence of his grand and holy cause.
+
+Another year passed by; the festival of Easter was approaching. Henry
+was meditating a return to Germany, when a deputation of the citizens
+arrived in his camp, offering to surrender the capital. The Lateran gate
+was opened, and the imperial army began to enter the city. The Roman
+soldiers, finding themselves betrayed, flew to arms, and Gilbert de Hers
+was once more contending with the warriors he had met at Fladenheim and
+the Elster. Godfrey de Bouillon fell wounded before the desperate
+resolution of the besieged, and as he was brought to his knee, vowed a
+pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But, outnumbered and confused, the
+defenders were driven into the citadel, and Henry, with his queen at his
+side, entered in triumph. The next day Guibert of Ravenna was installed
+in the Lateran palace in the See of St. Peter, and consecrated on the
+twenty-fourth of March, by the bishops of Modena and Arezzo. His first
+act was to crown King Henry in the Vatican. Gregory retired to the
+castle of San Angelo, and the giddy populace greeted the anti-pope with
+shouts of joy. A severe chastisement awaited their perfidy and
+inconstancy. Robert Guiscard was advancing with thirty thousand infantry
+and six thousand cavalry, and Henry fled before the redoubtable prince,
+whom he had provoked by an alliance with Alexis, the Emperor of the
+East. Abandoned by Henry, who had returned to Austria, the treacherous
+Romans barred their gates. Robert asked admission, but in vain; and his
+irritated soldiers forced their way at midnight through the Flaminian
+gate. The city was crimsoned with flame and sword. A body of Saracens
+formed part of the Norman's army, and their fury knew no bounds. From
+three points of the city the flames were streaming. Scarce could the
+Papal guards preserve a portion of the churches from pillage and
+destruction. St. Sylvester's and St. Lawrence were wrapped in fire, and
+the basilicas, from the quarter of Lateran to the Coliseum, were
+involved in the red ruin. For three days the conqueror raged like a lion
+in the capital of the Christian world. The frenzied people again
+attempted resistance, and again the streets ran with their blood. When,
+gorged with slaughter and booty, the ferocious conquerors had evacuated
+the city, Gregory and his attendants reentered Rome and occupied the
+Lateran palace. He lingered in the venal city only long enough to
+convoke a council and renew his anathemas against Henry and Guibert, and
+then retired to Monte Cassino.
+
+Gilbert was not permitted to accompany the Pontiff to his retreat, but
+was dispatched to Matilda with an account of all that had occurred. He
+found the magnanimous princess threatened by an army more than treble
+her own. But she was undismayed and full of hope, meditating a bold
+enterprise that was crowned with success. In the dead of the night, when
+the imperialists, secure in their numerical superiority, were plunged in
+sleep, she led the remnants of her troops into the hostile camp. The
+sleepers awoke to the cry of "St. Peter! St. Peter!" and perished ere
+they could grasp their arms. The chivalry and nobility of Lombardy were
+well-nigh exterminated. In a few hours, corpses and tents alone remained
+of the hostile array. Why should not Sorbara be as magical a word as
+Thermopylæ? It _would_ be, if the Christian chroniclers had shared the
+pride or shown the polish of Grecian historians, and if modern
+Christians felt a Grecian enthusiasm for the deeds of their Christian
+ancestors. Matilda differed from Leonidas but in one respect--in
+surviving the action and remaining victor on the field.
+
+Some days after the battle, Gilbert was summoned into Matilda's
+presence.
+
+"I owe you more," she said, "than I can ever repay. Your former
+voluntary services and fidelity are enhanced by your brilliant exploits
+in this last victory. Be pleased to style yourself Governor of Modena."
+
+Gilbert advanced a step, and sinking upon one knee, replied:
+
+"Madam, I came to share in your generous devotion to our common Father,
+and to assist you as best I could. You are now--thanks to your own
+valor--victorious and secure. I must decline your bounty, for from this
+moment I renounce the soldier. Here is my sword, madam; since Rome and
+you no longer require it, I shall not need it; nowhere would I more
+willingly resign it than thus at your feet."
+
+As the morning dawned, Gilbert de Hers, accompanied by a troop of horse,
+set out for Monte Cassino.
+
+Gregory had retired to Salerno, where he passed his days in the
+contemplation of heavenly things, and in reading the lives of the Saints
+and ecclesiastical history. Gilbert soon heard of his increasing
+weakness. The sun that had poured its light over the world, despite the
+mists and clouds of error and vice, was setting at last. How his dying
+words bespeak the Saint: "My best-loved friends, I count my labors
+nothing. That which gives me confidence is the consciousness of having
+loved justice and hated iniquity!" When his assistants, groaning in
+anguish, adverted to their desolate condition after his death, he
+raised his arms to heaven, exclaiming, "I will ascend there, and plead
+your cause before a God supremely good!"
+
+On the twenty-fifth of May, 1085, were uttered those memorable words
+that smote the forehead of guilty Europe as if with a burning hand: "I
+have loved justice and hated iniquity--therefore I die in exile."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Years passed by. Peace smiled once more in the lordships of Hers and
+Stramen. A new dwelling had risen from the ashes of Stramen Castle. The
+Church of the Nativity was repaired, and again rose in beauty over the
+faithful who flocked there to worship. Yet there was a stranger priest
+at the altar, and often after Mass the people would gather around a
+marble slab just before the altar, on which was written:
+
+"_Credo quod Redemptor meus vivit._"
+
+This was the tomb of Father Omehr; his epitaph was written and treasured
+in the hearts of all who knew him, and, transmitted from sire to son,
+required no foreign chisel to deepen the impression upon the living
+tablet.
+
+The Lords of Stramen and Hers were often together, and were beloved by
+their vassals for their uniform courtesy and charity. Their hairs were
+whitening, and when Sir Sandrit walked to the churchyard he leaned upon
+Henry's arm.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Years passed by. Henry IV, worn down by misfortune and the rebellion of
+his eldest son, for his own offspring held up the poisoned chalice to
+his lips, had followed his sainted antagonist to the eternal tribunal,
+and his body had been cast out as excommunicated from its sepulchre. The
+male line of the Franconian emperors had expired in Henry V; Lothaire of
+Saxony, a zealous champion of Rome, had been raised to the throne. Time
+was revealing that Gregory VII was triumphant even in death, for the
+right of investiture was conceded to the Pope, and the celibacy of the
+clergy strictly enforced.
+
+The Lords of Stramen and Hers were sleeping with their fathers. The hill
+on which the Pilgrim's Chapel stood was no longer crowned with a castle,
+but with a monastery occupied by Benedictine monks. The whole lordship
+of Hers was blooming under their munificent administration. Humbert,
+whose long locks had now seen eighty winters, still lived at the foot of
+the hill, surrounded by a goodly number of stalwart sons and fair-haired
+daughters. And sometimes in the long winter evenings, when the fire
+sparkled brightly and the old man was garrulous with joy, he would tell
+how he once entered a hostile castle as a minnesinger with a noble
+lover, and how the knight defied the angry father. Yet he never revealed
+that this knight was the generous abbot who now supplied them with the
+means of innocent mirth, who ministered to all their wants, and whose
+life was so meek and blameless. For Gilbert de Hers was abbot in the
+cells that had once been the halls of his sires.
+
+And one word, reader. It was not after the Lady Margaret's death that he
+embraced the resolution of dedicating himself to God, but on the
+battle-field of the Elster, and over the corpse of Rodolph of Suabia.
+He had proved his sincerity in the wars of Matilda, and when he quitted
+the princess for Monte Cassino, it was to assume the habit of the
+novice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One bright afternoon in the fall of 1126, two aged men were walking
+arm-in-arm toward the Church of the Nativity. One was attired as a
+Benedictine, the other as a knight. They stopped at the church and
+before a cluster of tombs. On one of the slabs was carved a Greek cross
+with a single tear under it, and beneath the tear the words:
+
+"_O crux sancta adjuva nos._"
+
+It was the resting-place of the Lady Margaret, between the graves of her
+father and mother. The monk and the knight knelt down and prayed. As
+they rose, the bells of the church announced the close of day, and
+ushered in the TRUCE OF GOD.
+
+With their bosoms heaving with recollections of the past, Gilbert of
+Hers and Henry of Stramen went into the church where fifty years before
+they had met in youth and enmity, and they knelt together beside the
+grave of Father Omehr, with their hearts full of tenderness and hope and
+love, while the sun of ancient Suabia was setting, and the bells poured
+forth their silvery peal.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Truce of God, by George Henry Miles
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Truce of God
+       A Tale of the Eleventh Century
+
+Author: George Henry Miles
+
+Release Date: March 8, 2005 [EBook #15289]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUCE OF GOD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geoff Horton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUCE OF GOD
+
+_A Tale of the Eleventh Century_
+
+By
+George Henry Miles
+
+With an Introduction By
+John C. Reville, S.J., Ph.D.
+
+New York
+Joseph F. Wagner, Inc.
+London: B. Herder
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAP.
+  I.
+  II.
+  III.
+  IV.
+  V.
+  VI.
+  VII.
+  VIII.
+  IX.
+  X.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+"The Truce of God" by our American novelist and dramatist, George Henry
+Miles, is not only a romantic and interesting story, it recalls one of
+the most striking achievements of the Middle Ages.
+
+After the tide of barbarian invasion, Goths and Vandals, Heruli,
+Burgundians and Franks had swept away the edifice of Roman civilization,
+had it not been for the regenerating influence of Christianity, another
+empire as cruel would have risen on the ruins of Rome. No other power
+would then have ruled but the sword. The sword was king, and received
+the worship of thousands. Now and then a ruler appeared like Theodoric,
+Charlemagne, the Lombard Luitprand, who used the sword on the whole for
+just and beneficent ends. And because these warrior kings, even in the
+midst of their conquests, brought some of the blessings of peace to
+their subject peoples, these peoples welcomed their sway. Peace was,
+then as now, one of the world's needs.
+
+Although the eighth, ninth and succeeding century were not without their
+brighter sides and were not those totally Dark Ages they have been
+represented by the enemies of the Church, nevertheless, seeds of evil
+passions, which in spite of her endeavors the Church had been unable
+completely to stifle, lingered in the hearts of those strong-limbed,
+strong-passioned Teutonic races which had succeeded to the tasks and
+responsibilities of pagan Rome. Those races did not have Rome's
+organizing power. By force, it is true, in a great measure, but force
+intelligently applied, but also by patience, by an instinct for justice
+and for order, Rome had welded her vast empire into a coherent whole.
+Rome really, and effectively ruled. She had authority, she had prestige,
+she was respected and feared, until the fatal day when, for her vices
+and tyranny, she began to be hated. That day her fate was sealed.
+
+The Teutonic races lacked the power of organization. They were strong
+and comparatively free from the vices of Rome; they had a rude sense of
+justice. But that very sense and instinct for that one essential of
+ordered life drove the individual to take the execution of the law and
+of justice into his own hands and to claim his rights at the point of
+the sword. The result can be easily imagined. The sword was never for a
+long time thrust back into the scabbard. Incessant wars, not at the
+bidding of the ruler, nor sanctioned by the voice of public authority or
+for the public welfare, but for private ends, for revenge, for greed and
+booty, were waged throughout the length and breadth of Europe.
+
+The civil government, or the empty simulacrum that went under the name,
+seemed powerless, for the simple reason that the strong arm of either a
+Charlemagne or a Charles Martel too seldom appeared to check the
+culprits, or because the civil government itself only added fuel to the
+flame, by the encouragement it gave to license and violence by its own
+evil example.
+
+But society had to protect itself. Conscious of its danger, and that it
+was doomed to destruction, if some remedy were not found, it evolved in
+the tenth and the following century, not an absolutely efficacious
+remedy, but one which enabled it to pass in comparative safety that
+dangerous period and carried European civilization to the full glories
+of the age of Dante, St. Louis and the Angel of the Schools. The remedy
+was feudalism.
+
+That institution has been misunderstood. It was called forth by special
+needs, and when the conditions which it met in an almost providential
+manner changed, it quietly passed away. But it rendered an important
+and never-to-be forgotten service to war-torn Europe. Feudalism can
+scarcely be called a complete and rounded system. For it was constantly
+undergoing modification. It was not the same north as south of the
+Loire. It was one thing on the west, and quite another on the east of
+the Rhine. In general it was, as Stubbs described it ("Constitutional
+History." Vol. 1, pp. 255, 256), "a regulated and fairly well graduated
+method of jurisdiction, based on land tenure, in which every lord, king,
+duke, earl or baron protected, judged, ruled, taxed the class next below
+him; ... in which private war, private coinage and private prisons took
+the place of the imperial institutions of power." Land, "the sacramental
+tie" then, "of all relations," and not money, was the chief wealth of
+those ages. For services rendered, therefore, fiefs or landed estates
+were the reward. Feudalism thus rested on a contract entered into by the
+nation represented by the king, which let out its lands to individuals
+who paid the rent not only by doing military service, but by rendering
+such services to the king as the king's courts might require. The bond
+was frequently extremely loose, and it was hard then to say which of the
+two was in reality the stronger, the feudal lord or the technically
+lower, but sometimes in reality stronger, vassal.
+
+The feudal lord was bound to support his vassal, and in return, had a
+right to expect his help in the hour of danger. The feudal lord owed his
+vassals justice, protection, shelter and refuge. If certain privileges,
+claimed by the feudal lord, were onerous, the vassal was not without
+some guarantee that he would be shown fair play; for it was evident that
+unless in some way rights and obligations were fairly well balanced, and
+there was a fair return for service rendered, the whole system would
+soon crumble to pieces.
+
+The "system," if it can be called one, was, as we have said, by no means
+perfect, but it bridged the historic gap which stretches between the
+fall of the Carolingian power and the full dawn of the Middle Ages. It
+saved Europe from anarchy. Its blessings cannot be denied. It helped to
+foster the love of independence, of self-government, of local
+institutions, of communal and municipal freedom. The vassal that lived
+under the shadows of the strong towers of a feudal lord did not look
+much further beyond, to the king in his palace or in his courts of
+justice, for protection. He found it closer at home. The vassal,
+moreover, began to think of his own rights and privileges, to value them
+and to ask that they be enforced. The idea of right and law, one of the
+most deeply engraved in the Christian conscience in the Middle Ages,
+grew and developed. The barons were the first to claim these rights;
+gradually the whole nation imitated them. Even when they claimed them,
+primarily for themselves, the whole nation participated sooner or later
+in their blessings. The Barons of Runnymede were fighting the battles of
+every ploughboy in England when they wrenched _Magna Charta_ from King
+John.
+
+Although many a feudal lord was a proud and hard-driving master, yet the
+vassal and the serf knew that there were limits which his lord dared not
+transgress; that the very spirit of his "caste", for such to a certain
+extent was the social rank to which the feudal lord belonged, would not
+tolerate any too flagrant a violation of his privileges. A bond of
+united interests was found between feudal noble and his vassal. They
+were found side by side in war; their larger interests were the same in
+peace. Loyalty, honor, fidelity took deep root in the society which they
+represented.
+
+As the aristocracy of feudalism was founded, not on wealth or money, but
+on land tenure, one of the most stable titles to prestige and authority
+found in history, there was in the underlying concept of society in
+those days a feeling of stability and permanency, which for a time made
+feudalism, in spite of its flaws, a bulwark of order. It fostered even
+a strong family spirit. Baron, count or earl, behind the thick ramparts
+of his castle, lived a patriarchal life. He was, with his retainers and
+men-at-arms, his chaplains, to watch over his spiritual needs, his wife
+and children and vassals, dependent upon him for protection and safety,
+impelled by every sense of honor, duty and chivalry to make them feel
+that he was their sword and buckler. They were closely knit to him.
+There was a patriarchal bond between them. Family spirit grew strong
+and, under the teaching of the Church, it became pure.
+
+Feudalism had its flaws. It was strictly an aristocratic institution. It
+fostered the spirit of pride and bore harshly at times upon the serf and
+the man of low degree. But its harsher features were softened by the
+teachings of the Church. When it was at its height, voices of Popes like
+Alexander III and of Doctors like St. Thomas Aquinas, were lifted to
+proclaim the equality of all men in the sight of God. At the altar, serf
+and master, count or cottier, knelt side by side. In the monasteries and
+convents, the poor man's son might wear the Abbot's ring and in the
+assemblies and councils of the realm, the poor clerk of former days,
+might speak with all the authority of a Bishop to sway the destinies of
+both Church and State.
+
+One of the greatest evils of feudalism was that it fostered to excess
+the warlike spirit. Of its very nature, the system was a complex one. It
+gave rise to countless misunderstandings between the various grades of
+its involved hierarchy. The opportunities and plausible pretexts for
+misunderstandings, quarrels and war were many. A petty quarrel in
+Burgundy, in Champagne, in the Berry in France, involved not only the
+duke and count of these territories but almost every vassal or feudal
+lord in the province. The same might be said of the German nobles in
+Suabia, Thuringia and Franconia. Private wars were frequent, and though
+the barbarism of the past ages had almost completely disappeared under
+the teaching of the Gospel, these contests, as might be expected, were
+both sanguinary and wasteful.
+
+The Church fought manfully against these private wars. It took every
+possible means to prevent them entirely. When in the nature of things,
+it found it impossible to do away with them altogether, it tried to
+mitigate their horrors, to limit their field of operation, to diminish
+their savagery. If the kingly authority was flouted, save perhaps when a
+sturdy ruler like William the Conqueror in England, or Hugh Capet in
+France, showed that there was a man at the helm, who meant to rule and
+was not afraid to quell rebellious earls and make them obey, there was
+one power these mail-clad warriors respected. They respected the
+Apostles Peter and Paul, they respected My Lord the Pope, and the
+Bishops of France and Normandy and England who shared in their
+authority. They flouted a king's edict, but none but hardened criminals
+among them laughed at an episcopal or a Papal excommunication.
+
+These rude men, and it places their rude age high in the scale of
+civilization, respected religion. They lowered the sword before the
+Cross. The Church had for the disobedient and the refractory one
+terrible weapon, which she was loath to use, but which she occasionally
+used with swift and tragic effect, the weapon of excommunication. Many a
+modern historian or philosopher has smiled good-naturedly and in mild
+contempt at this weapon used by the Church to frighten her children,
+much as children are frightened by flaunting some horrid tale of ogre or
+hobgoblin before them. Yet the student of history might profitably study
+the use which the Church has made of such an instrument, and find in it
+one of the most effective causes of social regeneration in the Middle
+Ages.
+
+The Church, in order to fight the military and armed excesses of
+feudalism, employed many means. It is to her that we owe what is known
+as the "Truce of God," or the enforced temporary suspension of
+hostilities usually, from the sunset of each Wednesday to Monday
+morning. Under pain of excommunication, during that interval, which at
+several times was further extended so as to comprise the seasons of
+Advent and Lent, and some of the major feasts, the sword might not be
+drawn in private quarrel. From a decree of the Council of Elne, in the
+South of France, we find that the "Truce of God," the "_Treuga Dei_" as
+it was technically called, was in full honor and had reached the height
+of its beneficent power in 1207. But long before, in the days when
+Gregory VII was Pope, and William of Normandy had just won his English
+crown, and Henry III ruled in Germany and Henry I in France, in the days
+when feudalism was making its first attempts to bring order out of
+chaos, several councils of the Church in France and in Normandy had
+traced out the plan and the outlines of the "Truce of God." Earlier
+even, at the Councils of Charroux (989), Narbonne (990), Le Puy and Anse
+(990), severe penalties were pronounced against those who wantonly in
+time of war destroyed the poor man's cattle or harried his fields, or
+carried off his beasts of burden. "Leagues of Peace" were formed to
+diminish the horrors of war, to protect the helpless, to enforce order.
+The Council of Poitiers, where there is one of the earliest mentions of
+these "Leagues of Peace," was held 1223 years ago. The Council of
+Bourges in 1031 created a species of national militia to police the
+rural districts and prevent war. Our ancestors believed in leagues with
+"teeth in them." From France where the movement had its origin and
+culminated at Elne (1207) in the full organization of the "Truce of
+God," it spread eastward into Germany and Thuringia. The German duchies
+and the Austrian marches submitted soon after to its humanitarian and
+Christian code. In 1030, the Pope, the French and German princes united
+their efforts for the development of the forerunners of the "Truce of
+God," the conventions known as the "Peace of God." The Peace, the
+earlier institution of the two, exempted from the evils of war,
+churches, monasteries, clerics, children, pilgrims, husbandmen; the
+cattle, the fields, the vineyards of the toiler; his instruments of
+labor, his barns, his bakehouse, his milch cows, his goats and his fowl.
+The Truce forbade war at certain "closed seasons." It gave angry
+passions time to subside, and endeavored to discredit war by making
+peace more desirable and its blessings more prolonged. It is probable
+that the Council of Charroux already mentioned laid the germs of the
+Truce. At the Council of Elne we see it fully organized. In 1139 the
+Tenth General Council, the Second Lateran, gave in its eleventh Canon
+its official approbation to what must be considered one of the most
+beautiful institutions of the Middle Ages.
+
+Under the guidance of our American author, George Henry Miles, we are
+led back to the days of the eleventh century. He is an accurate and
+picturesque chronicler of that iron, yet chivalrous age. If on the one
+hand, we see the sinister figure of Henry IV of Germany, on the other we
+find the austere but noble monk Hildebrand, who became Pope St. Gregory
+VII. We hear the clash of swords drawn in private brawl and vendetta,
+but see them put back into the scabbard at the sound of the church bells
+that announce the beginning of the "Truce of God." The tale opens
+beneath the arches of a Suabian forest, with Gilbert de Hers and Henry
+de Stramen facing each other's swords as mortal foes; it closes with
+Gilbert and Henry, now reconciled, kneeling at the tomb of the fair and
+lovely Lady Margaret, their hates forgotten before the grave of
+innocence and maidenly devotion, and learning from the hallowed memory
+of the dead, the lesson of that forgiveness that makes us divine.
+
+The American novelist, like the Italian Manzoni, teaches the lesson
+inculcated in "The Betrothed" ("_I Promessi Sposi_"). It is a lesson
+of forgiveness. It is noblest to forgive. Forgiveness is divine. Forgive
+seventy times seventy times, again and again. In Manzoni's story, the
+saintly Frederick Borromeo preaches and acts that sublime lesson in his
+scene with the _Innominato_ with compelling eloquence. In "The Truce of
+God," the Lady Margaret, the monk Omehr, the very woes of the Houses of
+Hers and Stramen, the tragic madness of the unfortunate Bertha, the
+blood shed in a senseless and passionate quarrel, the bells of the
+sanctuary bidding the warring factions sheathe the sword, incessantly
+proclaim the same duty. In writing his story, George Henry Miles was not
+only painting for us a picture aglow with the life of olden times, but
+pointing out in a masterly way, the historic role of the Church in
+molding the manners of an entire generation.
+
+The reader of "The Truce of God," in spite of the fact that the romance
+seems to be sketched only in its broadest outlines, gets a distinct
+knowledge of its chief actors. They live before his eyes. De Hers and
+Stramen are not mere abstractions. They have the rugged, clear-cut
+character, the sudden passions, the quick and at times dangerous and
+savage impulses of the men of the eleventh century. In them the
+barbarian has not yet been completely tamed. But neither has he been
+given full rein. Somewhere in these hearts, there lurks a sentiment of
+honor, of knighthood, which the Church of Christ has ennobled, and to
+which the helpless and the innocent do not appeal in vain.
+
+The American has caught this sentiment and plays upon it skillfully. His
+setting is in keeping with his story. The wandering minstrel, the
+turreted castle, the festive board, the high-vaulted hall with its oaken
+rafters, the chase, the wide reaches of the forests of Franconia, the
+beetling ramparts of old feudal castles by the Rhine or the lovely
+shores of the Lake of Constance, the vineyards on the slopes of sunny
+hills, the bannered squadrons, the din of battle, the crash of helm and
+spear, are brought before us with dramatic power. Historic figures
+appear on the scene. Close to the principal actors in the story, we see
+the gallant Rodolph of Arles, Godefroi de Bouillon, Berchtold of
+Carinthia, Hohenstaufen and Welf, acting their life drama at the council
+board or on the field of battle. We see a woman and an old man, Mathilda
+of Tuscany and Pope St. Gregory VII, slowly but surely building on the
+foundations of a half-molded civilization the ramparts of the City of
+God. "The Truce of God" is true to the requirements of the historical
+romance. It summons before us a forgotten past, and makes it live. We
+forget in the vitality and artistic grouping of the picture, in the
+nobility of the author's purpose and the lasting moral effect of the
+story, the occasional stiffness of the style. It is the style of the
+refined scholar, perhaps also of the bookman and the too conscious
+critic. Occasionally it lacks spontaneity, directness and naturalness.
+It might unbend more and forget ceremony. But it is picturesque,
+forcible, clear, and bears us along with its swing and dramatic
+movement.
+
+American Catholics must not forget the excellent work done by George
+Henry Miles for the cause of Catholic literature, the more so as his
+name is not infrequently omitted from many popular histories of American
+literature. Yet the author of "The Truce of God" had mastered the story
+teller's and the dramatist's art. "If there was ever a born
+_litterateur_," writes Eugene L. Didier, in _The Catholic World_ for
+May, 1881, "that man was George Henry Miles. His taste was pure,
+exquisite and refined, his imagination was rich, vivid, and almost
+oriental in its warmth." Moreover, he consecrated his life and his
+talents to the cause of Catholic education, identifying himself for many
+years with Mount St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland, with whose
+annals so much of the early history of the Catholic Church in the
+United States, is closely linked.
+
+The author of "The Truce of God" was born in Baltimore, July 31, 1824;
+he died at Emmitsburg, July 23, 1872. In his twelfth year the lad
+entered Mount St. Mary's College. Here he became a Catholic and had
+afterwards the happiness of seeing his family follow him into the
+Church. The studies at the "Mountain" in those days were still under the
+magic and salutary spell of the venerable founder, Bishop Dubois, and
+his followers. They were old fashioned, but they were solid, with the
+classics of Greece and Rome, mathematics, philosophy and religion as
+their foundation. They were eminently calculated to mold thinkers,
+scholars and cultured Catholic gentlemen. They left a deep impression on
+the young Marylander. After his graduation at the end of the scholastic
+year, 1843, the law for a short while lured him away, to its digests,
+its quiddits and quillets, abstracts and briefs. But it was putting
+Pegasus in pound. Miles at a lawyer's task was as much out of place as
+Edgar Allan Poe was when mounting guard as a cadet at West Point, or
+Charles Lamb with a quill behind his ear balancing his ledger in India
+House. The Mountain and the Muses lured him back to Emmitsburg, where a
+short distance from the college gate, in the quiet retreat of
+Thornbrook, he settled to his books and a professor's tasks at the
+Mount. Close by were the lovely haunts of La Salette, Hillside, Loretto,
+Tanglewood, Andorra, Mt. Carmel, every little cottage and garden,
+eloquent, it has been said, of the faith and piety of the builders of
+the Mount, who breathed the spirit that thus baptized them ("The Story
+of the Mountain. Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary, Emmitsburg,
+Maryland." By the Rev. E. McSweeny. Vol. II, p. 102). For its historic
+associations, its panorama of hills, wooded slopes and fields, the spot
+could scarcely be matched within the wide amphitheater of the hills of
+Maryland.
+
+To Emmitsburg, to his "boys", the young professor of English literature
+gave his enthusiasm, his idealism, his love of all that was fair in art
+and the world of books. His enthusiasm inspired them with a love of
+artistic excellence, which, neither in his own work, nor in that of his
+pupils would tolerate anything commonplace. Before coming to Thornbrook,
+he had written "The Truce of God," first published as a serial in the
+_United States Catholic Magazine_, established by John Murphy of
+Baltimore, and which under the editorship of Bishop Martin John Spalding
+and the Rev. Charles I. White achieved a national reputation. Two other
+tales, "Loretto," and the "Governess," had also been published and were
+extremely popular. Like "The Truce of God," they were of the purest
+moral tone, elegant in diction, the work of a thorough literary
+craftsman. In 1850, the American actor, Edwin Forrest, offered a prize
+of $1,000.00 for the best drama written by an American. Miles easily
+carried off the reward with his play "Mohammed." Rich with all the
+colors of the East, glowing with the warmth and poetry of Arabian
+romance and story, "Mohammed" was rather the work of a thinker and a
+poet than of a master dramatist. It was never acted, Forrest himself
+judging that it had not that ebb and flow of passion, nor that strong
+presentation of character which of all things are so necessary for the
+stage. Yet in other plays, notably in "_Senor Valiente_" and especially
+in "_De Soto_," and "Mary's Birthday," Miles showed that in him the
+dramatic note was not lacking, and in both he scored remarkable
+successes.
+
+From Baltimore, after he had left the pursuit of the law, and from
+Thornbrook, close to the academic halls in which from 1859 he passed his
+entire life, Miles seldom emerged into public notice. Twice he visited
+Europe, his impressions of the second journey (1864) being recorded in
+"Glimpses of Tuscany." In 1851 President Fillmore sent him on a
+confidential mission to Madrid. That same year, John Howard Payne, the
+loved singer of "Home, Sweet Home," was reinstated in his consulship of
+Tunis. Like Miles, that wandering bard was a convert to the Catholic
+Faith. But unlike Miles, he did not enter the Church until the very end
+of his life, practically on his death bed. Catholics will be glad to
+know that the song, "Home, Sweet Home," whose underlying melody Payne
+caught from the lips of an Italian peasant girl, was written by one who,
+after many strange wanderings, found "Home" at last in that Church which
+is the mistress and inspirer of art. Like Payne, Miles captured the
+fancy of his countrymen with one song, "Said the Rose," which at one
+time was the most popular song in the United States. It has not the
+depth and the melting tenderness of "Home, Sweet Home," but its quaint
+fancy and melodious verse struck a responsive chord. In his "Inkerman,"
+a stirring ballad, which every American boy of a former age knew by
+heart, there was an echo of the "Lays of Ancient Rome," of the "Lays" of
+Scott and Aytoun, while in the more ambitious "Christine" (1866), there
+was the accent of the genuine poet, something that recalled the
+"Christabel" of Coleridge. Miles had projected a series of studies on
+the characters and plays of Shakespeare. Judging from two remaining
+fragments, "Hamlet" and "Macbeth," the latter a mere outline, we regret
+that the writer was not able to finish the task. To beauty of language
+his study of "Hamlet" adds keen analytical powers and original views.
+("An American Catholic Poet," _The Catholic World_. Vol. XXXIII, p. 145
+ff.)
+
+In the quiet churchyard on the slope of his beloved Mountain, in a
+simple grave, over which the green hills of Maryland keep guard, not far
+from the class-rooms and the chapel he loved, rest the mortal remains of
+the author of "The Truce of God." It is not necessary to describe him.
+Those who read this simple but romantic and stirring tale of the
+eleventh century which he wrote three-quarters of a century ago, cannot
+fail to catch the main features of the man. They will conclude that in
+George Henry Miles, religion and art, the purest ideals of the Catholic
+faith and the highest standards of culture and letters, are blended in
+rare proportion.
+
+JOHN C. REVILLE, S.J.,
+_Editor-in-chief_.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUCE OF GOD
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+ Of ancient deeds so long forgot;
+ Of feuds whose memory was not;
+ Of forests now laid waste and bare;
+ Of towers which harbor now the hare;
+ Of manners long since changed and gone;
+ Of chiefs who under their gray stone
+ So long had slept, that fickle fame
+ Hath blotted from her rolls their name.
+
+ SCOTT.
+
+
+Reader! if your mind, harassed with the cares of a utilitarian age,
+require an hour of recreation; if a legend of a far different and far
+distant day have aught that can claim your sympathy or awaken your
+attention; if the "Dark Ages" be to you Ages of Faith, or even lit with
+the gray morning-light of civilization, come wander back with me beyond
+the experimental revolution of the sixteenth century, to the time when
+the Gothic temples of the living God were new.
+
+It was the eleventh century: the sun shone as brightly then as now; ay,
+and virtue too, though sympathy for a lustful tyrant has stamped the age
+with infamy. Through an extensive forest in Suabia, as the old chronicle
+from which I copy relates, a gallant youth was urging on, with voice and
+rein, a steed that seemed as bold and fiery as his rider. The youth's
+flashing eye, and the spear in his hand, told clearly enough that the
+boar was before him. On he went, as if the forest were his element, now
+bending low beneath the knotted bough, now swerving aside from the stern
+old trunk which sturdily opposed his progress, and seemed to mock him as
+he passed. On he went, as if danger were behind and safety before him;
+as if he galloped to save his own life, not to risk it in taking a
+boar's. An angry bark and a fearful howl rang in the distance, and the
+hunter's bugle sounded a merry blast. On he went, faster than before,
+and now as if he sought his mortal foe. The boar was at bay; monarch of
+the wood, he had turned to defend his realm, and his white tusks were
+soon red with the blood of the noble hounds who fearlessly disputed his
+right. The youth leaped from his horse with the speed of thought. Bred
+to the chase, the well-trained animal stood firm while his master
+cautiously, but with the calmness of the victor of a hundred frays,
+advanced against the bristling monster. Quitting the dogs for this new
+assailant, the boar came madly on; the huntsman sank upon one knee, and
+so true was his eye, and so firm his hand, that the heart of the savage
+was cloven by the spear. The youth rose to his feet, dizzy from the
+shock, and, springing nimbly upon the grim body of his prostrate victim,
+his fine form swelling with the rapture of his recent triumph, brought
+his horn to his lips, and again its notes went ringing merrily through
+the woods.
+
+Echoes, like fading memories, growing fainter and fainter as they
+receded, gave the only response.
+
+"Where can they be?" said the youth, "their steeds were fleet. Out of
+sight and out of hearing! How completely I have beaten them."
+
+He laughed triumphantly as he said this, and, sitting down upon the long
+grass, began to caress an enormous hound that panted at his feet, as
+unconcernedly as though the forest now contained nothing more formidable
+than doves or lambs. His horse, thoroughly domesticated, strayed a
+little from the dead boar, feeding as it went.
+
+The youth took off his plumed bonnet, and, flinging back his long black
+hair, fell into one of those light, smiling day-dreams which belong only
+to the young and innocent. He built fifteen air-castles in as many
+minutes. But at last he grew impatient; he sounded blast after blast;
+still no answer came. The trees kept up their sleepy sigh, and the
+sapless branches creaked, but no human voice, no human foot save his
+own, broke the silence.
+
+"Thou hast given me a goodly chase," exclaimed the youth, springing up
+and addressing the boar, "and I shall wear this in remembrance of thee."
+
+He drew his hunting-knife, and soon uprooted one of the monster's tusks.
+Depositing the precious relic in a hunting pouch he wore at his side, he
+mounted his horse, rather puzzled where to go.
+
+"It is easier to get in this oaken field than to get out of it," said
+our hunter, "but if the forest have an end, I'll find it. Now, my dear
+loitering friends, we hunt each other."
+
+Giving his horse the spur, and allowing the creature to choose its
+course, he called on the lagging hounds, and dashed away as rapidly as
+he had come. The wood was light as ever, and here and there sunbeam
+lay, like a golden spear, along the ground yet the rich lustre of the
+sky, wherever it was visible the hum of numberless insects, the fresh
+flight of the awakened bird, and the freer and cooler breeze, warned the
+youth that sunset was near. On went the noble steed, with steady step
+and trembling nostril while his finely veined ears spoke so rapidly that
+the rider could scarcely understand their language. They passed through
+long lines of trees that opened into other lines, from one limited
+horizon to another, yet all was green before and behind, to the right
+and to the left, one interminable emerald. The light turned from a rich
+gold to a golden red, and yet it played only on whispering leaves and on
+the long grass at their feet. Still the youth felt no fear, but hummed
+some old ballad, or drew a lively peal from his horn. He dismounted to
+refresh himself at a spring that had nestled among some rocks, and was
+murmuring there like a spoiled child. Having cared for the gallant
+animal which had borne him so well, he stretched himself a moment upon
+the green bank.
+
+"Ha! what is that!" he exclaimed, bending forward to listen; "a
+horseman? Let him come; friend or foe, I shall be glad to see him."
+
+He was on his horse in a moment. As he turned to look behind, he saw a
+gentleman, richly dressed, and admirably mounted, coming at full speed
+from another quarter of the wood. The stranger was quite young, perhaps
+a year or two older than our hunter, but certainly not over
+twenty-three. The youth knit his brows as the horseman approached, and
+eyed him keenly and sternly. When within a few yards of the spring, the
+stranger dismounted and drew his sword. The youth did the same. His
+handsome features were now distorted with anger and disdain, and it was
+difficult to recognize in the fierce figure, that seemed the guardian
+dragon of the fountain, the laughing boy who sat there so quietly a
+moment before. The stranger appeared to return the bitter hatred.
+
+"I have found you, Gilbert de Hers," he muttered; "your bugle has rung
+your knell."
+
+Gilbert replied but by a laugh of scorn, and the next instant their
+swords gleamed in the air. But just as the two blades met with a sharp
+clang, there came stealing through the wood the mellow sound of a
+distant bell. It was like the voice of an angel forbidding strife. Those
+soft, lingering notes seemed to have won a sweetness from the skies to
+pour out upon the world, and, filling the space between field and cloud,
+connected for a moment heaven and earth--for they wake in the heart of
+man the same emotions more perfectly felt in paradise.
+
+For many centuries after the destruction of the Roman Empire, when all
+human institutions were swept away by the resistless torrent that poured
+from the North, and the Church of God alone stood safe and firm, with
+the rainbow of heaven around her, the stern warriors of Germany asserted
+their rights, or redressed their wrongs with the sword, and scorned to
+bow before the impotent decrees of a civil tribunal. A regular system of
+private warfare gradually sprang up, which falsely led every man of
+honor to revenge any real or fancied offence offered to any of his
+kindred. The most deadly enmity frequently existed between neighboring
+chiefs, and the bitter feeling was transmitted unimpaired from father to
+son. The most dreadful consequences inevitably resulted from this fatal
+installation of might in the outraged temple of justice. Until lately a
+blind prejudice and a perverted history have charged this unfortunate
+state of things to the pernicious influence of the Church of Rome. But
+the wiser Protestants of the present day, considering it rather a poor
+compliment to their faith to assign its birth to the sixteenth century,
+are beginning to be awake to the powerful instrumentality of the
+Christian Church in the regeneration of mankind, and the production of
+modern civilization. Few, indeed, even with the light of history, can
+form an adequate idea of the immensity of the task assigned to
+Christianity in shedding light over the chaos that followed the
+overthrow of Rome, in reducing it to order, and preparing the nicely
+fitted elements of modern Europe.
+
+The Catholic Church beheld, and bitterly deplored, the evils of private
+warfare. Council after council fulminated its decrees against the
+pernicious system; men were exhorted by the sacred relics of the Saints
+to extinguish their animosities, and abstain from violence. But the
+custom had taken deep root; for, in the language of a well-known
+Protestant historian, "it flattered the pride of the nobles, and
+gratified their favorite passions." But in the eleventh century the
+Church had gained a partial victory over the dearest appetites of the
+fiery Frank and the warlike Saxon. It was enacted, under pain of
+excommunication, that private warfare should cease from the sunset of
+Wednesday to the morning of Monday, and few were hardy enough to expose
+themselves to the penalty. The respite from hostilities which followed
+was called the "Truce of God."
+
+It was not the musical voice of the bell that made Gilbert de Hers pause
+on the very threshold of the struggle, and bite his lip until it grew
+white; but the sweet-toned bell announced the sunset of Wednesday. The
+young men stood gazing at each other, as though some spell had
+transformed them into stone. But the messenger of peace had stayed the
+uplifted sword, and, sheathing their unstained weapons, they knelt upon
+the green carpet beneath them, and put forth the same prayer to the same
+God.
+
+It is a sight that may well command the eyes of Angels, when, though
+deaf to earthly laws and considerations, the angry heart, in the first
+heat of its wild career, still stops obedient to the voice of religion.
+Amid the dross of human frailty, the pure metal shines with the lustre
+that surrounds the sinner in the morning of his conversion.
+
+They rose almost together, and their faces, so lately flushed with
+anger, were now calm and subdued.
+
+"Farewell! Henry de Stramen," said Gilbert, as he leaped into the
+saddle.
+
+"Farewell!" replied his antagonist, and, almost side by side, they
+proceeded in the direction of the bell.
+
+A deadly feud was raging between the families of Hers and Stramen. It
+had continued for more than twenty years, and now burned with unabated
+fury. It originated in some dispute between Gilbert's father and the
+Lord Robert de Stramen, Henry's uncle, which resulted in the death of
+the latter. The Baron of Hers was charged with the murder, and, though
+he persisted in declaring his innocence, Henry's impetuous father, the
+Lord Sandrit de Stramen, swore over the dead body of his brother to take
+a bitter revenge on the Baron of Hers and all his line. Henry de Stramen
+had been nursed in the bitterest hostility to all who bore the name of
+Hers, and the unrelenting persecution of the Lord Sandrit had made
+Gilbert detest most cordially the house of Stramen. It was with mutual
+hatred, then, that the two young men had met at the spring. They knew
+each other well, for they had often fought hand to hand, with their
+kinsmen and serfs around them. Now they were alone, and what a triumph
+would be the victor's! but the bell, the Tell of peace, the
+silver-tongued herald of the truce of God, had sheathed their weapons.
+
+It could not have been without a severe struggle that the two mortal
+foes rode quietly in the same direction, with but a few yards between
+them. They were not half an hour in the saddle when they discovered the
+spire of the church they were both in search of, rising gracefully above
+the trees. As they emerged from the forest, they could see stretching
+before them a broad expanse of hill and dale, wood and field. Scattered
+here and there were the humble dwellings of the forester and husbandman,
+and, from their midst, towering above them, like Jupiter among the
+demigods, stately and stern rose the old castle of the house of Stramen.
+The western sky was still bathed in light, and shared its glories with
+the earth; airy clouds, ever changing their hues, sported, like
+chameleons, on the horizon; the stream that wound around the castle
+seemed sheeted with polished silver: the herds and flocks were all
+still, and the voice of the birds was the only sound; and, amid this
+beauty and repose, how lovely and majestic was that finely moulded
+Gothic church!
+
+Henry de Stramen tied his horse to a tree, and was soon lost in the
+elegantly carved doorway. Gilbert paused a moment, and gazed upon the
+open country before him with very mingled emotions. He had been there
+before at the head of his clan to disturb the serenity which, in spite
+of himself, was now softening his heart. He did not linger long, but led
+his horse a little within the woods, and entered the church. The
+gray-headed priest at the altar was solemnly chanting, from the
+beautiful liturgy of the Church, as he knelt down on the hard aisle, and
+the branching ceiling seemed to catch and repeat the notes. Through the
+stained window, where was pictured in unfading colors many a scene
+suggesting the goodness and mercy of God, and the blessed tidings of
+salvation, came the fading light of day, softened and beautiful. It was
+not merely the superior genius of the age that made the chapels and
+cathedrals of the Ages of Faith so immensely superior to the creations
+of the present day, but its piety too; that generous and pure devotion
+which induced our ancestors to employ their best faculties and richest
+treasures in preparing an abode as worthy as earth could make it of the
+presence of the Son of God. Then the house of the minister was not more
+splendid than his church, his sideboard not more valuable than the
+altar.
+
+Gilbert saw around him the hard, sunburnt features, the stalwart forms
+he had marked in the desperate fray; he could touch the hands, now
+clasped in prayer, that had been so often raised against him in anger.
+Beside him knelt the maiden, with her brow all smooth and unfurrowed by
+care, and the matron who, numbering more than double her years, had felt
+more than treble her sorrows. The youth was deeply moved, as he gazed,
+and thought he might have robbed that mother of her son, that wife of
+her husband, that sister of a brother. Those gentle, melancholy beings
+had never harmed him, and, perhaps, in a moment of passion, he had
+deprived their existence of half its sweetness, and turned their smiles
+to tears. It was with an aching, an humbled heart that he bowed his head
+until it touched the cold floor, when the Lamb without spot was elevated
+for the adoration of the faithful.
+
+A hymn, befitting the occasion, had been intoned, and the priest had
+left the altar, but those fervent men and women did not hurry from the
+church as if grateful for permission to retire, but lingered to meditate
+and pray.
+
+Gilbert remained until all had gone save Henry de Stramen and a lady who
+knelt beside him. They rose at length, and, passing so close to Gilbert
+that he could distinctly see their faces, left him alone. He was in the
+act of rising when the priest appeared, and beckoned him into the
+sacristy.
+
+"Remain here," the old man said, taking the youth by the hand.
+
+"I must hurry home, Father," replied Gilbert; "my father will have no
+peace, thinking the boar has killed me."
+
+"Let him fret awhile; it is better he should lament you alive, than dead
+by the serfs of Stramen."
+
+"They dare not attack me!" exclaimed the youth; "they fear the Church
+and my own arm too much for that!"
+
+"Nay, peace!" rejoined the priest; "it is better not to expose them to
+the temptation, or you to the danger."
+
+The practicability of spending the night in security in the very teeth
+of Stramen Castle had not occurred to Gilbert; he hesitated a second or
+two, and then, as if all his plans and ideas had undergone a thorough
+revolution, gracefully promised obedience.
+
+"You are right, Father," he said; "and to speak truth, I am weary
+enough. If you promise me protection to-night, I will gladly rest my
+head wherever you place the pillow."
+
+"Those who sleep with me," whispered his venerable adviser, "must
+content themselves without a pillow. But I will promise you a safe
+couch, though it is a hard one; the softest beds are not always the
+freest from danger. In the mean time, tarry here until I have said some
+prayers."
+
+"But my horse," interposed Gilbert.
+
+His companion rang a small bell. A benevolent-looking man, somewhat past
+the prime of life, plainly dressed in a black cassock, answered the
+call. The priest conversed awhile with him, in an undertone, and then,
+ascertaining from Gilbert where his horse was, dismissed the attendant,
+remarking that the animal should not suffer.
+
+Motioning Gilbert to a chair, the priest entered the sanctuary. Instead
+of sitting down, the young noble leaned against a lancet window which
+commanded a view of the neighboring castle. He stood there looking idly
+upon the darkening prospect, until the appearance of two persons riding
+rapidly along the main road to the castle, aroused his attention. He
+followed them eagerly with his eyes until they were completely lost in
+the twilight. One of the riders was evidently a woman; but it would be
+inquiring too minutely into Gilbert's thoughts to determine whether that
+circumstance, or the proneness of youth to become interested in trifles,
+excited his curiosity.
+
+Night was fast approaching, and a light from the altar made itself felt
+throughout the church. Still the priest knelt before the sacred
+tabernacle, and Gilbert longed for his appearance. He grew impatient of
+being alone, when a companion was so near at hand; the place was
+strange, and there were no well-known objects to stand in the place of
+friends, supplying by the thousand associations they conjure up, and
+their mute appeals to memory, the absence of language.
+
+The minutes wore heavily on; but at length the priest entered the
+sacristy. Gilbert followed him out of the church to a very small house a
+few paces off, within the shadow of the wood. The house, which was but
+one story high, was divided into two rooms by a stone partition. In the
+back room slept the pastor of the church, Father Omehr. The front room
+contained a table and a bench. Father Omehr, for this was the name of
+Gilbert's companion, struck a light and made the young man sit down upon
+the bench, while he spread out upon the table some fruit and bread and
+wine.
+
+"Eat, my son," said the old man; "the wine is good and the bread is
+quite fresh. These grapes are better than any in Hers."
+
+Gilbert seemed inclined to dispute the last assertion; but the length
+and vigor of his repast strongly confirmed the opinion expressed by his
+host. The latter remained standing with his arms folded on his breast,
+and regarded the youth with a smile, as he indulged the keen appetite
+sharpened by the severe exercise of the day. The meal was eaten in
+silence, save an occasional entreaty from Gilbert to his entertainer to
+partake of his own cheer, and the refusal. The little lamp between them
+shone upon two noble faces: in spite of the great disparity between
+their ages, they were alike; not so much in feature as in the character
+of the head.
+
+The priest must have been near seventy. The top of his head was entirely
+bald; yet the little hair left him, which grew behind in a semicircle,
+from ear to ear, was only sprinkled with gray. He was tall and admirably
+formed for strength and agility; and though his cheek was pale and
+sunken, and his high broad forehead ploughed by many a heavy line, still
+in his eye and lips and nose were visible the relics of a splendid
+creation. There was an expression of great energy about his mouth; his
+whole face indicated intelligence and benevolence; and it was the actual
+possession of this energy, intellect, and virtue that made Father Omehr
+a worthy descendant of the noble emissaries of Adrian, who, ever in the
+rear of Charlemagne's armies, healed by the Cross the wounds inflicted
+by the sword, and drove forever from the forests of Germany the gloomy
+and accursed rites of Hesus and Taranis.
+
+Gilbert de Hers was more than a fearless hunter and skilful soldier. He
+had been carefully instructed by his confessor in the writings of the
+Fathers--in logic, philosophy, and the classics; he had read the death
+of Patroclus, and the episode of Nisus and Euryalus; he knew by heart
+many of those beautiful hymns whose authors, in the spirit of Catholic
+humility, had concealed their names. He was much beloved by all who knew
+him and were permitted to love him. His charities were numerous and
+unostentatious. Though scarcely twenty-one, his bearing, was bold and
+manly; there was no disguise about his large black eyes; they spoke out
+all his thoughts before his tongue could tell them. Apart from the great
+beauty of his features, high thoughts had printed a language on his face
+much more fascinating than mere regularity of feature. His very elegant
+form did not promise extraordinary strength, yet he was as formidable to
+his foes as welcome to his friends.
+
+Gilbert rose at the conclusion of his rather protracted meal, and
+declared he would remain seated no longer while his companion stood. The
+priest carefully removed the remnants, after which he sat down upon the
+bench, and obliged the youth to sit beside him.
+
+"Now, my son," he said, "tell me what in the world has brought you here
+alone?"
+
+"No inclination of mine, my dear Father," replied Gilbert.
+
+"Who has sent you then?"
+
+"I am sent by chance," answered Gilbert, laughing. "Early this morning I
+set out, with some twenty companions, in pursuit of a boar. I was better
+mounted than they, and so was the boar, for he distanced them. When the
+chase was at an end I found myself entirely alone, and could hear
+nothing of my men. I did not know where I was; so I permitted my horse
+to choose his own course, and by some accident he has brought me here."
+
+Father Omehr listened attentively, and added, after a pause:
+
+"It is well you came not yesterday. Did you meet any one in the wood?"
+
+Gilbert felt the searching eye of his companion upon him, and related
+with much embarrassment all that had happened at the spring.
+
+"I knew he was in search of something to prey upon when he left me so
+suddenly. That Henry de Stramen should thus pursue a boy!--fie! It is a
+stain upon his manhood!"
+
+Gilbert looked up in the speaker's face to ascertain if he were in
+earnest.
+
+"And but for that little bell, where should you be at this moment?"
+
+"Here, Father, most likely!"
+
+This was said so calmly and maliciously, that Father Omehr could not
+repress a smile. But it quickly vanished, and left behind an expression
+of deep sorrow.
+
+"And must this fatal feud last forever?" was his passionate exclamation;
+"are ye ever to revel in carnage, like the lion of the desert--and shall
+the example of the Son of God inspire nothing but contempt for those who
+imitate Him?"
+
+The missionary buried his face in his hands, and Gilbert, abashed by the
+solemn rebuke, kept a respectful silence.
+
+"O Gilbert! Gilbert!" resumed the priest, lifting his tearful eyes from
+the ground, "if your God submitted to insult and stripes and death to
+save you, can you not patiently endure for His sake a few slight
+injuries?"
+
+"Our injuries are not slight," replied the youth, "nor is the vengeance
+of the house of Stramen an idle threat. They have burned the houses of
+our serfs, desolated our fields, butchered our kinsmen and dependants;
+shall we not protect ourselves, even though our resistance makes their
+blood run freely? They have accused my father of a crime of which he is
+innocent, and have sought to visit upon him real chastisement for the
+imaginary murder. Shall I stand still and tamely see them wreak their
+most unrighteous wrath upon my guiltless parent's head?"
+
+"I should be glad, my son, if you confined yourselves to mere
+resistance; but how often have you inflicted, within sight of this very
+door, the injuries of which you complain? Could you see what I see--the
+orphan's piteous face, the widowed mother's tear of agony--blighted
+hopes and unavailing regrets--you might pause in your fearful
+retaliation!"
+
+"They have brought it on themselves," said Gilbert, musing, "_they_ are
+the aggressors."
+
+"Alas! be not the means by which their sins are aggravated."
+
+"You must address yourself to them!" returned the other.
+
+"And have I not? Day and night I have reasoned, implored, prayed; I have
+represented the folly, injustice, and impiety of their violence; I have
+held out to them the anger of God and the maledictions of man; I have
+employed art, eloquence, and reproof: but all in vain. Oh, what years of
+misery has your quarrel cost me! Could I only live to see it healed; to
+see you once more living like Christian men, employed in atoning for
+your own sins, not in arrogantly chastising each other's faults; to see
+the sword of discord broken, and peace and love and safety proclaiming
+the Divine efficacy of our holy religion! We all have enough to do to
+vanquish ourselves, and have little time to spare in subduing others,
+unless we aid them in conquering their passions, and then we promote our
+salvation: but your conquests only peril your eternal welfare."
+
+Gilbert understood from this last remark that his companion had read
+what was passing in his mind, and he contented himself by saying:
+
+"Believe me, Father, I regret their obstinacy."
+
+"You are young now," pursued his monitor; "but, trust me, when your old
+limbs fail you, and your sight waxes dim, your angry deeds will rise
+like spectres around you and haunt you to the tomb."
+
+Gilbert attempted no reply, but listened with the air of one who
+approved the advice, but despaired of ever profiting by it. After an
+interval of meditation, Father Omehr arose and spread some soft fleeces
+in the corner of the room.
+
+"May you sleep soundly, my son," he said, "and beg of God grace to
+moderate your angry passions. Your bed is not very soft, but it is in
+your power to sanctify it, and then it will be better than the down
+which muffles those who disdain or neglect to invoke the Divine
+protection."
+
+Gilbert knelt down and received the old man's blessing, who, wishing him
+a good night, withdrew into his own apartment and closed the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+    The golden sceptre which thou didst reject,
+    Is now an angry rod to bruise and break
+    Thy disobedience.
+
+Gilbert de Hers, as the good priest withdrew into his own apartment,
+resumed his seat upon the bench, and soon became absorbed in meditation.
+His varying face betrayed the character of each thought as it filed
+before his mind in rapid review. For more than an hour he remained in
+that statue-like state, when we, in a measure, assume a triple being, as
+the past and the present unite to form a future.
+
+But as all reveries, like life itself, must end, Gilbert at length
+seemed to be aware of the reality of the unpretending bed in the corner.
+Having repeated the prayers which his piety suggested, he extinguished
+the almost exhausted taper, and threw himself upon the bed. He could not
+sleep, however; for, great as the fatigue of the day had been, the
+excitement was greater. His mind was perpetually recurring to the events
+at the spring, from which they wandered to his father's lonely and
+anxious chamber: now he remembered the earnest appeal of Father Omehr,
+and now pondered the injuries he had received from the house of Stramen.
+Through a narrow opening in the wall he could see the noble church
+sleeping in the moonlight. Its walls of variegated marble had been
+built principally at the expense of the Barons of Stramen, for in those
+days it was not unfrequent for private families to erect magnificent
+churches from their own resources; and as his eye rested upon the misty
+window, perhaps he felt that though utterly opposed in all else, there
+was one thing in common between his own haughty race and the founders of
+that church--religion.
+
+The night wore on, and was far advanced; but Gilbert still kept piling
+thought upon thought, unable and even scarcely desiring to exchange them
+for the deep repose or more confused images of slumber. It must have
+been after midnight when, as he lay awake, he could distinctly hear the
+sound of blows. Gilbert was not a moment in conjecturing the cause; he
+knew at once that the venerable priest was subjecting himself to
+corporal chastisement. He did not live in an age when voluntary
+mortification was ridiculed, when a sacred ambition to imitate a
+crucified God insured contempt from man. Then, those self-denying
+religious were not taunted with "the hope of gaining heaven by making
+earth a hell." And perhaps Gilbert knew that the spiritual peace and
+delight derived from such chastisements, were infinitely sweeter, even
+here below, than the impure pleasures of worldlings. Feeling thus, he
+could not but contrast the mortified life of that holy man with his own
+indulged and pampered existence. He had never known the sting of
+adversity, and rarely been thwarted in a single desire; yet how much
+greater his sins than those of Father Omehr! Amid such reflections he
+felt--and it is a salutary feeling--the truth of a hereafter.
+
+But we will no longer pursue the reflections of the youth. Some time
+after the sounds had ceased he fell asleep, and was only roused by the
+sun streaming into his apartment, and the solemn tones of the church
+bell.
+
+The morning was beautiful. The sun was everywhere; kindling the hoary
+tops of the Suabian Alps, sparkling on the broad Danube as it rolled
+majestically on from the southwest to the northeast, lighting up hamlet,
+hill, vale, rivulet, forest, and making the church glitter like a
+stupendous diamond. But Gilbert was ill-prepared to enjoy this blaze of
+beauty. In a melancholy mood he leaned against the window, watching the
+sturdy serf in the centre of his family, as he came to share the
+blessings of the Mass. He was rather startled when the outer door opened
+and admitted the lady he had seen in the church the night before with
+Henry de Stramen. She came unattended, save by an old female servant,
+who carried with some difficulty a basket filled with fruits,
+delicacies, and medicines of various kinds, designed for Father Omehr to
+apply to any purpose his piety might point out.
+
+Though in the year 1076 chivalry was not the regular and well-defined
+institution it became during and after the Crusades, yet the same amount
+of valor and devotion to woman was expected from the knight. The spirit
+of Christianity, operating upon Teutonic virtue, which has raised the
+woman from the drudge of man to be the ornament of society, created a
+chivalric courtesy long before the cry of "_Deus vult!_" rang from Italy
+to England. Gilbert de Hers, born and bred in the courtly circle of
+Suabia, though his spurs were not yet won, was still familiar with the
+duties of knighthood. As the lady paused, surprised at his presence, he
+made a profound and respectful reverence, and he would have done the
+same had she been less noble, or had he known, as he then surmised, that
+the fair visitor was the daughter of his father's deadliest foe.
+
+Their embarrassment was relieved by the appearance of Father Omehr, who
+extended to both his blessing, gratefully received the basket from the
+attendant, and, after Margaret de Stramen had retired, accompanied
+Gilbert to the church. As they emerged into the morning air, Gilbert
+caught a glimpse of the graceful figure of the young lady entering the
+church. But his attention was soon arrested by a strange, wild-looking
+being upon the church steps. She was apparently not over forty, tall,
+slightly built, and evidently the victim of insanity. Her long black
+hair hung in thick masses over her pale face and deathly-white neck; her
+arms swung to and fro with a restless motion, and she sang at intervals
+snatches from the ballads for which Suabia is so renowned. As Gilbert
+passed her, she bent her large wild eyes upon him with an expression of
+such fearful meaning, that brave as was the youth in battle, he recoiled
+from their ferocious glare. The next instant she was abstracted as
+before, and crossed her hands upon her breast in an attitude of
+devotion. Gilbert looked to his companion with an inquiring eye, but the
+priest was silent.
+
+The next instant they were treading the marble aisle. Gilbert knelt down
+upon a tombstone, and endeavored to compose himself for the Mass. He
+perceived from the glances thrown upon him from time to time by some of
+the peasantry, that he was recognized as an enemy, yet respected as one
+under the aegis of religion. These glances became more frequent when
+Father Omehr, in his brief discourse, eloquently adverted to the example
+of Jesus in the forgiveness of injuries, and enforced the sacred duty of
+a Christian to imitate that Divine model. In powerful terms the
+gray-haired priest portrayed the miseries of discord, and the blessings
+of mutual forbearance; and Gilbert felt that a change was creeping over
+him.
+
+He left the church when the Holy Sacrifice had been completed,
+meditating upon the pastor's powerful exhortation. But the train of his
+thoughts was broken upon the steps by that wild face almost touching
+his. As the maniac stared fixedly at him, she muttered in a hoarse
+whisper:
+
+  They laid him 'neath a noisy tree,
+    And his glossy head was bare;
+  They piled the cold earth on his breast,
+    Then left him helpless there.
+
+While the youth listened in amazement, and almost in terror, the frantic
+woman drew from her bosom a long knife, and inflicted a deep wound upon
+him before he could wrench it from her determined grasp. The knife had
+penetrated to the rib, but not farther, having glanced off to the side.
+As the blood spread rapidly over his hunting-shirt, the maniac gave a
+wild laugh, and repeated in the same low, dismal tone:
+
+  'T is red, 't is red, as red as his;
+    Man's blood is ever red;
+  'T was thus his side was crimsoned o'er
+    When they told me he was dead.
+
+With the last words, she laughed again, more wildly than before, and,
+darting into the wood, was soon lost among the gigantic trees.
+
+Some serfs were standing around, but offered no assistance. They seemed
+rooted to the ground in terror at the rash act, and crossed themselves
+in mute astonishment. At this juncture, while Gilbert was examining the
+extent of the wound, and vainly endeavoring to stanch the blood, the
+Lady Margaret and the priest appeared at the doorway, having been
+attracted by the loud laugh of Gilbert's assailant.
+
+Comprehending in an instant that Gilbert had been wounded, Father Omehr
+hastened to support him.
+
+"It is but a trifle, Father," said the youth, anxious to relieve the
+evident uneasiness of the old man.
+
+"May God will that it be so!" replied the priest, eagerly removing the
+hunting-shirt, and examining the path of the knife. After which, having
+carefully replaced the garment, he turned to the serfs who yet lingered
+there, inquiring, in a voice of deep indignation:
+
+"Who has dared to do this? Who has been impious enough to draw blood
+during the truce of God, upon the threshold of God's sacred temple?"
+
+One of them hastened to reply:
+
+"It was Alber of the Thorn's widow, crazy Bertha. God preserve us from
+such a deed, at such a time, and in such a place!"
+
+"But could you not have prevented it?" continued the priest, eyeing the
+man until he quailed.
+
+Gilbert interposed.
+
+"They are not to blame, Father," he said; "I did not expect the attack
+myself, and none else could have prevented the blow."
+
+"It bleeds much," pursued the priest, again examining the wound.
+
+Gilbert made a step forward, but Father Omehr detained him, and
+reluctantly the youth allowed himself to be supported by two of the
+serfs of Stramen to the bed he had occupied during the night.
+
+Margaret de Stramen, in the spirit of the age, had gone to the cell,
+after discovering the nature of the young man's injury, and taken from
+the basket she had brought some salves and stringents with which she
+stood ready at the door. She washed the wound and dressed it with the
+tenderness peculiar to woman, and received Gilbert's thanks with a
+slight inclination of the head. Having completed her task, she drew the
+priest aside, and, looking up into his face with evident emotion, said:
+
+"Could there have been poison on the knife?"
+
+Though spoken in a whisper, the youth must have heard it, for he smiled
+at first, and the next moment became pale as death. Father Omehr noticed
+the change upon his features, and replied loud enough to be overheard:
+
+"No, no! it cannot be. Some momentary paroxysm prompted the deed; there
+could have been no preparation, no predetermination."
+
+"It is not for his sake," continued Margaret, in a still lower tone, and
+withdrawing farther from the bed; "not for his sake I fear an
+unfortunate result; but for our own. I know that it is Gilbert de Hers
+who lies there, and I have drunk too deeply in the prejudices of our
+family to repine at any calamity that may befall him. But this impious
+outrage can insure nothing but the Divine vengeance upon our heads. If
+he were borne down in battle, I perhaps should rejoice at heart at the
+triumph of my father; but I would rather die than see him perish from a
+noble confidence in the house of Stramen."
+
+"You are not responsible, my child," rejoined her companion, "for the
+blind violence of a crazy woman. I am confident that the wound is not
+dangerous. Perhaps the accident, apparently so untoward, may in the end
+be productive of good. We are too apt to receive as good what should be
+avoided as evil, and to deem that a curse which should be considered a
+blessing."
+
+The young lady made no reply, but advanced to Gilbert's bedside.
+
+"Believe me, sir," she began with dignity but in some confusion, "that I
+sincerely regret the accident which has confined you here, and that I
+desire and will pray for your speedy recovery. You cannot suspect the
+house of Stramen of conniving at such a cowardly assault; they are too
+powerful in the field to resort to such a pitiful stratagem. Our effort
+shall now be to secure you from further violence."
+
+The blood returned to Gilbert's cheek as she spoke. Feeble with pain and
+the loss of blood, he with difficulty replied:
+
+"I little expected ever to receive such kindness as you have shown me
+from the daughter of my father's foes; but come what may, kind lady, I
+shall never forget your services. I feel assured that the kinsmen of
+her whom I address, could never be guilty of so ignoble an action."
+
+It was not without pleasure that the noble maiden heard an answer so
+flattering to her pride, and so earnestly pronounced. Her cheek became
+brighter than Gilbert's as she bowed and left the apartment, attended by
+the old woman servant.
+
+We will leave Gilbert, for the present, in the care of Father Omehr, to
+follow the footsteps of the fair lady of Stramen.
+
+Margaret led the way rapidly to the border of the forest, where she had
+left a groom with horses. She sprang lightly upon her spirited palfrey,
+and exchanging a few words with the old woman, dismissed both domestics
+to the castle, and galloped off alone in an opposite direction. As she
+rode along, she was greeted with smiles and blessings by all who met
+her; yet she seemed to heed but little the frequent reverence and
+heartfelt salutation.
+
+After proceeding about three miles, she struck into a deep, dark ravine,
+through which there rushed a slender stream, whose waters, seldom
+gladdened by a sunbeam, seemed to groan and murmur like an angry
+captive. The way, thickly strewn with moss-bound stones and the
+mouldering skeletons of trees, required all the maiden's horsemanship.
+But she struggled on, until she reached something midway between a
+grotto and a hut, projecting from the side of the gully, and looking as
+though by some fantastic freak of nature it had grown there, so
+admirably was it in keeping with the character of the place.
+
+From the time she had mounted her horse, the maiden's face expressed
+great anxiety, which increased as she alighted and entered the singular
+excrescence we have mentioned. A blazing pine-knot driven in the ground,
+shed a fierce, and flickering light over the interior of this gloomy
+abode, for it was an abode--and more, a home--the home of Bertha! The
+maniac was sitting upon a rude bench, close to the firebrand which gave
+a fearful lustre to her haggard features, while with a species of
+exultation she gazed upon the knife stained with Gilbert's blood, still
+clenched in her hand.
+
+The husband of this unfortunate woman had, about a year before, been
+mortally wounded in a chance affray between the partisans of the lords
+of Hers and Stramen. He was brought home only to die in the arms of his
+wife. The shock had reduced her to this miserable extremity. She could
+not be prevailed upon to remain in the cottage she had occupied in the
+hour of her joy; and though repeatedly offered a home by Father Omehr
+and the Baron of Stramen, she had built for herself this wild nest, and
+obstinately refused to leave it except to wander to the church or to the
+grave-yard. She was maintained by the Lady Margaret principally, and by
+the charities of the peasantry. Up to the present time, she had been
+perfectly harmless, and was rather loved than feared by the children of
+the country. She had always manifested an extreme affection for the Lady
+Margaret, to whom she would sing her sweetest songs, and whose hand she
+would almost devour with kisses.
+
+Margaret, though somewhat appalled at Bertha's frightful appearance, yet
+confiding in the power she had over her, advanced and silently sat down
+upon the bench. For some minutes Bertha seemed unconscious of the
+presence of her visitor, but suddenly removing her eyes from the knife,
+she bent them upon Margaret. In an instant a smile of strange sweetness
+stole over the poor creature's wasted face: every trace of anger
+disappeared as she fell upon her knees and raised the hem of the
+maiden's garment to her lips. Without rising she sang one of those
+simple ballads which even insanity could not make her forget. The lady
+of Stramen patiently permitted her to proceed without interruption. But
+the moment her strange companion was silent, she minted to the knife,
+exclaiming:
+
+"Is this blood, Bertha?"
+
+Still kneeling, the woman began:
+
+  The chieftain swore on bended knee,
+    That blood for blood should flow--
+  Then leaped upon his coal-black steed,
+    And spurred against the foe.
+
+"Has anyone hurt you?" continued Margaret.
+
+But Bertha only replied:
+
+  Sir Arthur swung his falchion keen--
+    The serf implored in vain;--
+  The knight is galloping away--
+    The serf lies on the plain!
+
+"Bertha! Bertha! this is wrong: I hope you have committed no violence?"
+
+But the answer, as before, was given in rude, indefinite verse.
+
+It may be unnecessary to say that the object of the lady's visit was to
+discover if the knife had been poisoned. Finding that all question
+would be useless, she had recourse to an artifice to effect her purpose,
+suggested by the discovery of a splinter buried in Bertha's thumb.
+
+"Let me remove this--it must give you pain," she said, examining the
+hand she had taken in hers, and reaching after the knife. Bertha
+passively resigned the weapon, but rapidly withdrew her hand, just as
+her mistress feigned to prepare for the incision. Margaret shuddered,
+for she naturally saw in that quick gesture a confirmation of her worst
+fears. For some moments they gazed at each other in mute anxiety. Bertha
+was the first to break the silence, and her words revived a gleam of
+hope in the bosom of her companion.
+
+"No! no!" she exclaimed, slowly and sternly, "his blood must not mix
+with mine!"
+
+"Is there poison here?" pursued the lady, in a low searching tone.
+
+She received in reply:
+
+  There was no poison on the steel
+    That robbed Sir James of breath;
+  There was no poison on the blade
+    That well avenged his death.
+
+Greatly relieved, but still unsatisfied, the high-born damsel sprang to
+her feet.
+
+"It is the blood of Hers!" she cried, exultingly.
+
+The maniac's face assumed a look of savage triumph.
+
+"Then will I keep this blood-stained instrument as a precious jewel.
+Farewell, Bertha; you shall hear from me soon."
+
+She passed rapidly through the narrow aperture by which she had
+entered, leaving Bertha in blank amazement, utterly unable to comprehend
+what had passed.
+
+Emerging from the dark ravine, the Lady Margaret rode straight toward
+the old castle of Stramen, whose gray towers retained their sombre
+majesty, which the merry sun could not entirely dispel. It was not long
+before she passed the drawbridge, sped through the massive gate, and
+reined in her palfrey upon the ample terrace; when, having thrown her
+bridle to an attendant, she proceeded at once to her chamber, and
+summoned Linda, the old domestic, to her side.
+
+"You are skilled in such matters, Linda," she said, producing the knife,
+before the faithful neif had finished her salutation; "is there poison
+on this blade?"
+
+Linda took the knife, and having examined it attentively, returned it to
+her mistress; after which she left the room, making a signal that she
+would soon return. After the lapse of a few minutes, she reappeared with
+a vessel of boiling water, which she placed upon a marble slab. Then
+taking from her pocket a piece of polished silver, and at the same time
+receiving the knife, she plunged them both into the hissing liquid. As
+the lady of Stramen, eagerly watching the experiment, stood bending over
+the water with her back to the door, she was not aware of her father's
+presence. He had entered unperceived, and was contemplating in some
+surprise the mysterious operation going on before him. He could scarce
+repress a laugh, for there was something ludicrous in Linda's very wise
+and consequential manner, as she knelt over the kettle, while his
+daughter, equally absorbed, her hat yet untied, continued in an attitude
+of profound attention beside her.
+
+When the water had cooled, the old woman with a trembling hand drew out
+the silver--it was bright as ever!
+
+"It is venomless as the bill of the turtle-dove," she exclaimed, with
+the importance of an oracle, looking up at her mistress.
+
+"May I ask the meaning of all this, without being referred to the prince
+of magic for an answer?" said the Baron of Stramen, stepping forward;
+and he added, addressing Linda, who in her surprise had nearly
+overturned the vessel: "Do you wish to be hung for a witch?"
+
+The old woman slunk terrified into a corner, but Margaret hastily
+replied:
+
+"You are already informed, sir, of the violation of the truce of God,
+which occurred this morning. Our magic consisted only in the discovery
+that there was no poison upon the knife which inflicted the wound."
+
+"I cannot but think," rejoined her father, "that you have displayed an
+unnecessary interest about the result. That young stripling has cost me
+more lives than he numbers years; and though I could not connive at
+Bertha's attempt to assassinate, I certainly do not see much reason to
+rejoice at his escape."
+
+It may have been that Margaret quailed a little beneath her father's
+rigid scrutiny, but without embarrassment she returned:
+
+"If I had been born and bred to arms, if my breast were accustomed to
+the coat of mail, if my hand could wield the battle-axe, I might
+anxiously crave, or coldly behold the murder of a foe confiding in our
+generosity and in our plighted faith to the Church; but I have never
+worn the gauntlet, or drawn the sword; my heart has never exulted at the
+gladsome sight of an enemy's blood, and I scorn to ascribe the interest
+I may have shown, to a wish of having the sweet assurance that a scion
+of Hers would perish like a dog, when in reality I hoped to find the
+weapon venomless."
+
+"Spoken like a woman, as you are," muttered the knight. "I would have
+you feel otherwise, but God has given you your sex; I cannot change its
+nature."
+
+The Baron of Stramen was a tall, powerful man, whose vigor fifty years
+had not impaired. His face was stern, though not repulsive, and free
+from any approach to vulgarity. A man of strong passions, yet the
+strongest of all was an unvarying love for his daughter, on whom seemed
+to have centered all the tenderness of which he was capable. On the
+present occasion, he put an end to further controversy by drawing
+Margaret to his side, and giving her an exquisitely wrought head of
+Gregory VII.
+
+"Treasure it, my child," he said, "it is the faithful likeness of a
+wonderful man--a man who may one day, with a few stout hearts to second
+his energy, chastise the impious tyranny of the house of Franconia!" He
+spoke with deep feeling, and, after pacing the room, with his arms
+folded upon his broad breast, abruptly stalked through the door,
+apparently absorbed in some momentous question.
+
+No sooner had he gone, than Margaret turned to Linda, who still occupied
+the corner, and dismissed her with a message to Father Omehr. When
+alone, she knelt down before an ivory image of the Blessed Virgin and
+prayed--not to the polished ivory--but to the Mother of purity whose
+intercession it suggested, with a fervency and constancy which only they
+venture to ridicule who cannot record the virtues of Mary without a
+sneer.
+
+Though not apprehensive, Father Omehr was pleased to learn from Linda
+that the knife had not been poisoned. Gilbert's eye brightened at the
+intelligence, though he had not given utterance to his fears--_fears_
+they were--for even the young and brave recoil in terror from death,
+when it assumes a form and hovers near in a detested shape. Having
+informed the youth that a messenger had been despatched to his father,
+the priest left Gilbert in charge of the sacristan, and proceeded on his
+daily errand of mercy through the neighborhood. By men like him,
+fervent, fearless, faithful, the rude Northern hordes were induced to
+abandon their idolatry, and embrace the faith of the Church of Rome.
+These noble missionaries slowly but surely prepared the canvas on which
+were afterward laid, in colors of enduring brightness, the features of
+Christian civilization.
+
+When Father Omehr returned, Gilbert was asleep. The sacristan put in his
+hands a letter from a distinguished prelate, informing him of the
+nomination of Henry, canon of Verdun, by Henry IV.
+
+"O God, protect Thy holy Church!" exclaimed the missionary, crushing the
+paper in his excitement. "If the ministers of God become the creatures
+of the king, despotism and irreligion must inevitably ensue. How long
+will virtue be accounted a crime? Shall every faithful shepherd be
+supplanted, to make room for the wolf of lay investiture, the instrument
+of a lustful tyrant, raised by simony, and upheld by royal favor?"
+
+Gilbert's light slumber had been broken by the voice of his benefactor.
+As soon as Father Omehr saw the youth awake, he approached him, and
+inquired, with great kindness of manner, whether he felt better.
+
+The youth replied in the affirmative.
+
+"I have discovered," continued the other, "that you have richly deserved
+this wound. You killed with your own hand the husband of the woman who
+stabbed you, and though the chance thrust of an affray, it was noted,
+and communicated to Bertha by an eye-witness, one of the combatants.
+This is her revenge--but how inadequate to her suffering!"
+
+"It is, indeed," said Gilbert, replying to the last remark, which had
+been particularly emphasized. His companion could not conceal the
+satisfaction with which he hailed this reply, as an omen of regret, and
+of a right apprehension of his former violence. But the youth was
+drowsy, and prudence forbade a longer conversation. At the close of the
+evening service, the lady of Stramen was seen to exchange a few words
+with her venerable pastor, but she did not enter the cell.
+
+The gorgeous sun of ancient Suabia was beneath the horizon--but Gilbert
+slept upon his couch; the moon had lit her feebler torch, and walked
+silently beneath the stars--yet not until midnight did Gilbert awake.
+All was profoundly still. The dim light of the taper at his bedside
+revealed only the motionless figure of the sacristan, and the outline of
+a crucifix hanging against the wall. His eyes involuntarily closed, and
+in a moment he stood before his father, in the oaken halls of Hers--his
+retainers were around him--the horses pranced merrily--the bugle
+sounded--"On to the chase!" was the cry. He opened his eyes--the
+crucifix became more distinct.
+
+He knelt before a prince, and arose a knight--a broidered kerchief
+streamed from his polished casque--the herald, in trumpet tones,
+proclaimed his prowess--the troubador embalmed his deeds in immortal
+verse--the smiles of high-born damsels were lavished upon him--the page
+clasped his sword at the mention of his name. He opened his eyes--the
+crucifix, and the sacristan!
+
+A form of beauty was before him--at first, haughty and disdainful, but
+gradually assuming a look of interest and pity--it bent over him, and
+poured a balm into his wound, with a prayer for its efficacy--but the
+figure lifted its finger with a menacing air, and pointed to a snake,
+hissing from its hair--a mist settled around him, and the apparition was
+gone. He opened his eyes--the taper burned brighter--the crucifix became
+more distinct.
+
+Gilbert was now fully awake. His wound was more painful than it had yet
+been, and in vain he endeavored to win back the repose so lately
+enjoyed. Nor was corporal uneasiness his only annoyance. Father Omehr's
+revelation of the motives by which Bertha was actuated, had left a more
+painful impression upon his mind than his monitor perhaps desired.
+Though the priest had not directly attributed the woman's insanity to
+her husband's death, Gilbert too clearly understood that such was the
+fact. His was too generous a heart, not to deplore bitterly so terrible
+a calamity, of which he was--however unintentionally--the cause. He felt
+no resentment for his misguided assailant--he would willingly have
+exposed himself to a second attack, could he have thus restored her
+reason. The memento of the crucifixion--that Catholic alphabet, the
+crucifix--held up unto his soul the wondrous truth that God had
+voluntarily suffered, for the sake of man, all that humanity can endure;
+and the youth interiorly acknowledged that the errors of his life were
+but imperfectly balanced by the inconvenience he then experienced.
+
+It is not in the pride of health and youth, surrounded by pleasure, and
+strangers to care, that a heart, wedded to the world, is apt to
+prostrate itself in humility before the Author of life; but in danger
+and affliction, we learn to mistrust our self-sufficiency, and feel our
+complete dependence upon an invisible and almighty power. We are much
+more disposed to appeal to heaven for protection, than to return thanks
+for repeated favors. It is not to be wondered at, then, that Gilbert
+sought relief in prayer; there is nothing more natural to one who
+prefers the consolations of religion to the staff of philosophy. He was
+far indeed from that exalted perfection of loving God for Himself alone;
+but who can predict what may spring from the mustard-seed?
+
+By the first gray light of the morning Father Omehr was bending over his
+youthful charge: Gilbert was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+  Fit to govern!
+  No, not to live. O nation miserable,
+  With an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptred,
+  When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again?
+
+  MACBETH.
+
+The third Friday after Gilbert had been wounded, he mounted his horse,
+and, accompanied by Father Omehr, set out for the Castle of Hers, which
+lay some four leagues distant to the south.
+
+"You are sad, Father," said the youth, who felt all the exhilaration of
+returning strength, heightened by the freshness of the morning.
+
+"It is true, my son; for though in all the trials of this pilgrimage I
+endeavor to turn to God the cheerful face He loves to see in affliction,
+I am sometimes weak enough to tremble at the gloomy period before us. We
+are upon the eve of a tremendous struggle. You may not be aware of it,
+for you are unaccustomed to watch events which govern the future for
+good or evil; but the firmness of our Holy Father, and the increasing
+recklessness and impiety of the emperor, must create an earthquake
+sooner or later."
+
+"My father," replied Gilbert, "has imputed to His Holiness a want of
+firmness."
+
+"Alas, with how little reason! He who, when seized by Cencius and his
+armed assassins at the altar of St. Mary Major--bruised, and dragged by
+the hair to the castle of his assailant--yet remained calm and unmoved,
+with the face of an Angel, neither imploring mercy nor attempting an
+ineffectual resistance--cannot be accused of a want of firmness. The
+matchless benevolence--the heart which melts at the first symptom of
+repentance--the clemency which led him, while his wounds were yet fresh,
+to pardon Cencius, prostrate at his feet--have also induced him to
+hearken to the promises of King Henry and accept his contrition."
+
+"But is it not almost folly to trust the royal hypocrite to whom Suabia
+pays so heavy a tribute? I wish that when his infant majesty fell in the
+Rhine, there had been no Count Ecbert nigh to rescue him!"
+
+"Is it not rather an exalted charity, of which you have no conception,
+and a Christian forgiveness which puts to shame your last ungenerous
+wish?"
+
+"I can have no sympathy or pity for him who has loaded with insult a
+princess alike distinguished for beauty and virtue."
+
+"You mean the queen, his wife. But tell me, when he endeavored to
+procure a divorce from Bertha, who prevented the criminal separation?
+Was it the boasted chivalry of Suabia? No! Peter Damian, the Pope's
+legate, alone opposed the angry monarch, and told him, in the presence
+of all his courtiers, that 'his designs were disgraceful to a
+king--still more disgraceful to a Christian; that he should blush to
+commit a crime he would punish in another; and that, unless he renounced
+his iniquitous project, he would incur the denunciation of the Church
+and the severity of the holy canons.' The result was the reconcilement
+of Henry with Bertha, in Saxony. And though Alexander was Pope, Peter
+received his instructions from Hildebrand. But there is a wide
+difference between your hostility to Henry of Austria and the resistance
+of Gregory VII to his encroachments: your motives all flow from human
+considerations, and seek a human revenge; his, on the contrary, proceed
+from the knowledge of his duty, to God, and breathe forgiveness: you
+seek the king's destruction and your own aggrandizement--Gregory, the
+king's welfare, and the independence and prosperity of the Christian
+Church."
+
+We will no longer continue a conversation which, to be intelligible to
+all, would require a more intimate acquaintance with the history of the
+times than can be obtained from the books in free circulation among us.
+Though Gregory VII has been reproached by all Protestants, and by some
+Catholics, with an undue assumption of temporal power, and an
+unnecessary severity against Henry IV of Austria, it is certain that, in
+his own day, he was charged by many of his own friends, particularly, in
+Saxony and Suabia, with too tender a regard for a monarch who violated
+his most solemn engagements the moment he fancied he could do so with
+impunity, and whose court, already openly profligate, threatened to
+present the appearance of an Eastern seraglio. A hasty glance at the
+prominent facts of the dispute will leave us in doubt whether to admire
+most the dignified and Christian forbearance of the Pope while a hope of
+saving his adversary remained, or the unwavering resolution he
+displayed, even to death in exile, when convinced that mercy to the king
+would be injustice to God.
+
+No sooner had Gregory assumed the tiara, than he addressed letters to
+different persons, in which he assured them of his earnest desire to
+unite with Henry in upholding the honor of the Church and the imperial
+dignity; to accomplish which he would embrace the first opportunity of
+sending legates to Henry, to acquaint the king with his views. But,
+while proferring his love, he declared that, if Henry should venture to
+offer God insult instead of honor, he would not fail in his duty to the
+Divine Head of the Church through fear of offending man. So, in a letter
+to Rodolph, Duke of Suabia, who at that time was known to be secretly
+hostile to the king, Gregory declared that he entertained no ill feeling
+whatever for Henry, but simply desired to do his duty.
+
+There were two evils which Gregory was resolved to extirpate: lay
+investitures, and the incontinence of the clergy. When the power of
+appointing to benefices was usurped by the civil power, the emperor was
+sure to fill the highest places in his gift with creatures of his own.
+The inevitable result of this was to create two classes of prelates--one
+of lay, the other of ecclesial investiture. Its ultimate effect was to
+render the Church completely depend upon the State, and to change and
+corrupt its very source with the varying vices of libertine despots. It
+was found (and how could it be otherwise?) that the proteges of the
+emperor studied only how to please him; and that, in serving the State
+and the prince, they became indifferent to the Church. Selected to serve
+a particular purpose, or chosen in consideration of a valuable donation,
+the lay nominee had been sure to fulfil the object for which he was
+elevated, or to indulge the avarice or ambition which had craved the
+appointment. It was in attempting to remedy this fatal innovation that
+Gregory found himself repeatedly thwarted by Henry; and yet he had been
+censured by those who lament the worldliness of a portion of the
+medieval clergy, for striking at the root of the evil.
+
+After repeated provocation, the arm of the Pope is uplifted to strike;
+but Henry, awed by his menaces, and by an insurrection in Saxony,
+hastens to avert the blow by an unreserved submission and the fairest
+promises. He confesses, not only to have meddled in ecclesiastical
+matters, but to have unjustly stripped churches of their pastors--to
+have sold them to unworthy subjects guilty of simony, whose very
+ordination was questionable--and implores the Pope to begin the reform
+with the Cathedral of Milan, which is in schism by his fault.
+
+Gregory pardons him; and, in 1074, holds his first council at Rome
+against simony and the incontinence of the clergy. It was in this year
+that Henry, already pressed by the Saxons and Thuringians, found himself
+threatened by Salomon, King of Hungary. In this emergency, he has
+recourse to Gregory, who, by an eloquent letter, calms the indignant
+Hungarian.
+
+With the year following, the campaign against Saxony begins. This brave
+but turbulent people had risen against the towns in possession of Henry,
+and burned the magnificent Cathedral at Hartzburg. Here again the Pope
+secured to the king the powerful assistance of Rodolph, Duke of Suabia,
+in conjunction with whom the royal army obtains a decisive victory at
+Hohenburg. But once in security and crowned with success, the graceless
+monarch forgets his submission, and exclaims, "It does not befit a hero,
+who has vanquished a warlike people, struggling in defence of what they
+hold most sacred, to bow humbly down before a priest, whose only weapon
+is his tongue!" Faithless to his recorded vow in the hour of danger, he
+nominates Henry, canon of Verdun, to fill the see vacated by the Bishop
+of Liege; and, soon after, calls to the see of Milan, Theobald, his own
+chaplain, in place of the murdered Herlembaud. Thus repeatedly deceived,
+Gregory must strike at last, or sacrifice the independence of the Church
+of God to human weakness.
+
+It was in the pause between these new indignities and the consecration
+of Hidolphe in the archbishopric of Cologne, that Father Omehr and
+Gilbert rode slowly on toward the Castle of Hers.
+
+The conversation naturally turned from the consideration of impending
+evils, to the miserable feud actually existing between the two houses of
+Hers and Stramen.
+
+"I sincerely wish it were ended," said Gilbert, in reply to a vehement
+denunciation just pronounced by his companion. "I could willingly
+forgive all the injuries I have received at their hands, when I remember
+the kindness of the Lady Margaret."
+
+The priest looked quickly up in the young man's face, but Gilbert was
+gazing with an abstracted air upon the blue outline of the beautiful
+Lake of Constance, which just began to appear to the south.
+
+"It were far better," he said, commanding the youth's attention by
+taking his hand--"it were far better to forgive them when you remember
+the prayer of your dying Jesus for His persecutors, than out of
+gratitude to the ordinary courtesy of a pitying damsel."
+
+Gilbert made no direct reply, nor did he return the glance of his
+friend, which he well knew was upon him.
+
+"I could wish," he began, after a considerable pause, "before leaving
+your hospitable roof, to have expressed to the Lady Margaret my deep
+sense of the interest she deigned to display in my regard, and which I
+fear has done more to soften my feelings toward her father, than the
+nobler and holier motive you have mentioned."
+
+There was a humility in this that pleased the good missionary; but he
+saw with pain and uneasiness the direction which the ardent mind of the
+youth was evidently taking, and instantly rejoined:
+
+"Did you know the Lady Margaret better, you would spare yourself that
+regret. In her charitable attention to your wants, she overcame a
+natural repugnance to yourself. She would rather miss than receive any
+return you can make, and is always more inclined to set a proper value
+upon the solid and eternal recompense of God, than attach any importance
+to the empty and interested gratitude of man."
+
+Gilbert's eyes were bent again upon the Lake of Constance. They were now
+at the foot of a long, high hill, which they began to ascend in
+silence. Gilbert pressed his horse rather swiftly up the gradual ascent,
+and they soon gained the summit.
+
+"What is the Danube to that splendid lake!" cried the mercurial
+stripling; "and what is there in all the lordship of Stramen to vie with
+this!"
+
+The view now opened might excuse his excitement, even in a less
+interested person. The Castle of Hers, though built for strength,
+presented a very different appearance from that of Stramen: its outline
+was light and graceful, and it seemed rather to lift up than cumber the
+tall hill that it so elegantly crowned. It was situated upon the border
+of the lake, which, by trouvere and troubadour, in song and in verse, in
+every age and in every clime, has been so justly celebrated. A few miles
+to the southwest the mighty Rhine came tumbling in; who, as the German
+poets say, scorns to mingle his mountain stream with the quiet waters of
+the lake. We will attempt no further description, for fear of spoiling a
+finer picture, which must already exist in the eye of the reader,
+created by more skilful hands.
+
+As the horsemen neared the castle, they saw a knight, followed by a few
+men, dashing down the hill. Gilbert knew his father, and hastened to
+meet him. Their meeting was manly and cordial. The baron stopped but to
+embrace his son, and hastened to welcome Father Omehr. He dismounted,
+and imprinted a kiss upon the old man's still vigorous hand.
+
+"I should be childless now," he said, "but for your kindness; and you
+know that words would but mock my feelings."
+
+The tears in the baron's eyes expressed more than a long oration.
+
+Father Omehr only replied, with a laugh, "You must blame your son's
+indiscretion, and not applaud me!" Thus saved from a formal and
+unsatisfactory conversation, the knight remounted his horse and led the
+way to the castle.
+
+Upon the slope of the hill, half-way between the castle and the lake,
+was a chapel built of white stone, which had stood there, according to
+tradition, from the ninth century. It was said to have been erected by
+Charlemagne, on his second expedition against the Saxons. The Baron of
+Hers had ornamented and repaired it with much taste and at great
+expense, until it was celebrated throughout the circle of Suabia for its
+richness and elegance. It had been dedicated to Mary the Morning Star,
+as appeared from a statue of the Blessed Virgin surmounted with a star,
+and was called the Pilgrim's Chapel. It was in charge of Herman, a
+priest, who had studied at Monte Cassino under the Benedictines, with
+Father Omehr, whom he loved as a brother. They had spent their period of
+training and had been ordained together; and, for forty years they had
+labored in the same vineyard, side by side, yet seldom meeting. When
+they did meet, however, it was with the joy and chastened affection
+which only the pure-minded and truly religious can know; and they would
+recall with tears of happiness the scenes of other days--the splendid
+convent, whose church shone like a grotto of jewels and precious
+stones--the learned and devout monk, and the theological difficulties
+over which they had triumphed hand in hand.
+
+After taking some slight refreshment (for the baron could ill brook a
+refusal of his cheer), Father Omehr left the father and son to each
+other, and began to descend the path to the chapel. Herman had gone to
+administer the last Sacraments to a distant parishioner. Father Omehr
+knelt down in the chapel and awaited his return. It did not seem long
+before his brother missionary entered through the sacristy and knelt
+beside him. The little chapel was very beautiful, with its branching
+pillars, supporting clusters of Angels carved in stone. The images of
+the Saints served to awaken many fine emotions--and the principal statue
+of Our Lady, which the artist had designed to represent the immaculate
+purity of the Mother of God--gave an indescribable sweetness to that
+consecrated spot: but more beautiful still, and more acceptable to God,
+were the two holy men who, bent with age and grown gray in the service
+of a heavenly Master, bowed down together before the altar of the Most
+High, and for a time forgot each other in the contemplation of the
+majesty and infinite goodness of Him they served.
+
+At length they rose; and when in the open air gave way to the impulse of
+human love, which until then had yielded to a loftier feeling.
+
+There was a room in the Castle of Hers in which Herman spent the hours
+not required for the active duties of his ministry, and to this the two
+friends retired. There for more than an hour, they discussed topics of
+mutual interest--compared the condition of their flocks--and wandered
+back to Naples and Monte Cassino. The introduction of this last subject
+seemed to remind Herman of something he had forgotten; for he started up
+and went to a shelf, which was filled with extracts he had been
+permitted to make from the celebrated library of the convent, and taking
+down a small piece of parchment, gave it to his companion. It was an
+illuminated manuscript of the _Salve Regina_.
+
+"It was sent me yesterday across the lake by a Benedictine monk," he
+said, when Father Omehr had finished reading and raised his eyes in
+wonder and delight.
+
+"And who has written it?"
+
+"A namesake of mine--a Benedictine. It was not seen until after his
+death, when the manuscript was discovered in his cell. What is more
+remarkable is that the monk was distinguished for nothing but his piety,
+and had never made any pretension to learning or accomplishment."
+
+Much to the surprise of Herman, his friend, though deeply moved by that
+beautiful effusion of Catholic piety, seemed not to give the entire
+attention which it so eminently deserved.
+
+"Listen!" he said, repeating the lines. "What melody! what tenderness!
+what love! You certainly must feel its exalted piety?" he added,
+appealing to Father Omehr.
+
+"I do, indeed; but you perceive that I am disturbed. In brief, then--for
+I could not bring myself to say until now--Anno of Cologne is dead."
+
+Anno, Archbishop of Cologne, was revered throughout Europe in the
+eleventh century for his virtue and wisdom. It is said of him that,
+when others slept, he rose, filled with a holy zeal, and visited many
+churches, carrying with him his pious offerings. In the halls of kings,
+says the poet who celebrates his virtues, he sat with the haughtiness of
+the lion; in the hut of the peasant, he stood with the humility of a
+lamb. So obnoxious was he to the king, that Henry at one time assaulted
+him sword in hand; and he was only saved from death by the interposition
+of a monk. Alone, he founded five monasteries, including that of
+Siegberg, his favorite residence, where he died, and where his tomb was
+long pointed out to the traveller. He was said to have emitted a light,
+the splendor and beauty of which spread around like the lustre of a
+precious stone in a ring of gold.
+
+"O God, the giver of all!" exclaimed Herman, after a pause, "in taking
+him to Thyself, do not leave us desolate!"
+
+Father Omehr then described the fearful ulcers which had tormented
+Anno's body, and the celestial visions and brilliant apparitions that
+delighted his soul and foreshadowed the bliss awaiting him in the life
+to come.
+
+"But let us not weep for him whose epitaph is in the mouths of the widow
+and the orphan, and whose soul is in the hand of God!" said the pious
+chaplain of Hers, grasping the hand of his friend.
+
+"Not for him I weep," was the reply; "nor yet for the bereaved people of
+Cologne." The missionary paused, unable to proceed, and then hurriedly
+exclaimed, "Who is to be his successor? Who is to appoint him?--Gregory
+VII or Henry of Austria!"
+
+"He will not dare!" ejaculated the other, who not until this moment
+clearly understood his more keen-sighted friend.
+
+"He who has dared to fill the sees of Liege and Milan may not scruple to
+dishonor the see of Cologne! But let us pray and hope; for suffer what
+we may, we cannot be conquered."
+
+This long interview was here terminated by the bell of the Benedictine,
+summoning to dinner. The Baron of Hers was noted for his fine person and
+his polished address, and saluted them with even more than his usual
+politeness as they entered the dining-room. He was the only one of the
+group who seemed at ease; for the two missionaries could not forget the
+death of Anno--and Gilbert, from some cause or other, had lost his
+sprightliness.
+
+"I fear," said the knight to Father Omehr, "that you have half made a
+traitor of Gilbert, for he will no longer let me abuse my friends at
+Stramen, but sides with them against me. It is hard to fight our battles
+all alone, and against our friends, after forty."
+
+"The Lady Margaret, who dressed his wound, must be blamed--not I,"
+replied the priest.
+
+The handsome face of the Baron of Hers, in an instant, became black as
+night, and as quickly recovered its former mildness; but the change,
+apparently, was not noticed by him who had caused it.
+
+"I have heard," resumed the knight, in a careless tone, "that the young
+lady possesses much virtue, intelligence, and beauty, and is wise enough
+to prefer the cloister to the court."
+
+"You have not been misinformed; yet her health is so feeble, that the
+grave will probably anticipate her choice of either."
+
+It was not until the close of the meal that the Lord of Hers was
+informed of the death of the Archbishop of Cologne, and from that time
+until they rose the conversation turned wholly upon the venerated and
+saintly prelate.
+
+Toward sunset they descended the hill and walked along the picturesque
+banks of the lake. The noble sheet of water stretched away to the south
+far as the eye could reach, burnished by the sun, and forming part of
+the horizon.
+
+"This lake of ours," said the baron, "has obtained a reputation which
+the best man cannot expect--and, indeed, would not desire: no one has
+ever breathed a word against it."
+
+"There is a boat!" interposed Gilbert, pointing to a speck in the
+distance, which his father discovered after a long search, and was
+invisible to their two older companions. They stood in the shadow of
+some trees, and watched the object as it increased in size and gradually
+assumed the undeniable outline of a boat. It came from the direction of
+Zurich, and pointed directly to the castle. As it neared, they could
+distinguish four stout rowers and a person seated in the stern. With
+increased speed it seemed--for it was now within hailing distance--the
+boat darted straight to where they were standing; and, before it was
+made fast, the gentleman in the stern sprang ashore, and, removing the
+cloak in which he had been enveloped, discovered the princely features
+of Rodolph, Duke of Suabia. Rodolph was descended from the counts of
+Hapsburg, on the father's side--and, on the mother's, from the
+illustrious family of Otto the Great. He was styled King of Arles, and
+resided for the most part at Zurich. He was connected with Henry of
+Austria by a double tie, Matilda, his first wife, having been the sister
+of the king, and Adelaide, to whom he was then married, being the sister
+of the queen. But, though thus allied to Henry, he neither loved nor
+respected him. Once, indeed, the emperor had summoned him to court, on
+the charge of entertaining projects hostile to the house of Franconia,
+but Rodolph, well knowing the treacherous character of the monarch, and
+always a hero, boldly refused, preferring the fortune of arms to the
+fate of an investigation. Subsequently, filled with horror at the
+impiety of the Saxons in burning the Cathedral at Hartzburg, hallowed by
+numerous relics, and filled with the rich offerings of the faithful, he
+had united with Henry to chastise their sacrilege. At the battle of
+Hohenburg, in the van--the privilege of Suabia--he distinguished himself
+above all others by his impetuous valor, and only left the field when
+covered with wounds. Rodolph was equally remarkable for the size and
+beauty of his person, and the elevation of his soul. The Teutonic
+antiquities contain many songs of the Minnesingers, in which he is
+invested with all the qualities of mind and heart and body that can
+adorn the knight; but one fault is imputed to him--ambition. His
+subjects almost worshipped him, and his power is said to have been built
+upon their hearts. So conspicuous was he among his brother dukes, that,
+at the Diet of Gerstungen, in 1073, he had been offered the imperial
+crown, but he declined it unless awarded by the unanimous suffrages of
+the confederation.
+
+Between him and the Baron of Hers a close friendship of long standing
+had existed, which had been interrupted by the baron's refusal to
+accompany him the preceding year in the expedition against Saxony. This
+refusal had been dictated by the knight's invincible repugnance to
+Henry, and by the politic move of conciliating all who opposed the
+emperor. Since the battle of Hohenburg they had not met.
+
+After receiving the formal salutation due to his rank, Rodolph cordially
+embraced the Lord of Hers, and extended his regards to Gilbert, who
+could not sufficiently admire the hero of Hohenburg.
+
+"But for your father's obstinacy," he said to the youth, "you would now
+be a knight. But I will see you win your spurs yet."
+
+The greetings over, they all began to ascend the hill. The duke would
+not pass the chapel without entering. The pavement upon which they knelt
+had been worked with many a rich and curious device; but time and the
+knees of the faithful had worn away most of the finest tracery. At the
+foot of one of the columns still remained this fragment of an
+inscription:
+
+  _Hoc pavimentum ... feci
+  ... ductus amore Dei._
+
+This was the spot upon which the duke loved to kneel. Before rising, he
+drew from under his robe a golden chalice, and gave it to Herman, who
+was beside him. The priest took it and carried it to the sanctuary.
+
+"I would almost give the decade of Jura," exclaimed Rodolph, as he
+approached the castle gate, "to know who made that superb pavement."
+
+"It resembles more the pavement of a cathedral than the simple floor of
+a chapel," said Father Omehr. "I wish we had such an one to our little
+church at Stramen."
+
+"Trust that to your successor," replied the duke; "you have given him
+the walls, the pillars, the windows, and the roof, and are well entitled
+to a pavement and alabaster altar at his hands."
+
+They were now at the gate, into which were cut two niches containing
+statutes of SS. Victor and Apollinaris. The bars, which yielded to every
+stranger and to every peasant, flew open before the high-born group, and
+the almoner, as he recognized the duke, bent his knee in reverence. They
+mounted a heavy flight of stairs, and, traversing an arched gallery,
+were ushered into the principal hall. This large room was hung with
+solemn tapestry, reaching from the ceiling to the floor. The
+characteristic piety of these ages displayed itself in the beautiful
+recesses in the walls, adapted to the reception of holy water, and in
+the devices upon the floor and ceiling, which always conveyed some pious
+meaning. The walls were covered with paintings chiefly relating to the
+exploits of the lords of Hers, or filled up with heraldic blazonry.
+
+In the cathedral or in the castle, in the monastery or in the chapel,
+durability was the principal object of the architect. It is true that
+the genius of the age contrived to combine the greatest strength with
+the greatest elegance; but durability was the great end. The pious men
+of the Middle Ages did not erect mere shells, which, though sufficient
+for their own brief lives, would crumble over their posterity; but
+looked to the wants of future generations. And, then, there was a
+reliance upon posterity which is neither felt nor warranted now. Thus,
+in the minor Church of the Nativity in the lordship of Stramen, which
+had been designed by Father Omehr, and which had exhausted the revenues
+of the barony, the missionary had conceived it upon a scale to which his
+present means were insufficient, but to which the charity of another
+generation would be adequate. This was always the case with the
+cathedrals. Even the castles themselves had so many rooms set apart for
+recluses and wanderers, that it was easy to convert them into
+monasteries; and the Castle of Hers, with very little alteration, would
+have made an excellent convent.
+
+Rodolph was about to throw himself into one of the large high-back
+chairs of state; but yielding a graceful respect to the aged priests, he
+motioned them to be seated, and placed himself between them.
+
+"You are rather pale, my lord duke, from your wounds," said the baron,
+as an attendant entered with some wine-cups--"and I beg you to accept
+from my son a draught of the vintage you used to relish."
+
+Rodolph received the goblet from the youth, and replied, as he raised it
+to his lips, "How I missed you at Hohenburg!"
+
+"I would have given my lordship," returned the baron, "to have seen you
+outstripping all the chivalry of Austria, and charging where none dared
+to follow!"
+
+"My fair cousin, the Margrave Udo, would have atoned for the thrust at
+my face, which made me see more stars than were ever created, had you
+been at my side."
+
+"But to aid you was to assist Henry; and I was loth to break our league
+with Saxony."
+
+"That league was merely defensive, and _they_ broke it by aggression and
+sacrilege."
+
+"But we could not punish their crime without strengthening the power of
+that greater criminal, the emperor."
+
+"You acted uncharitably," said the duke; "but you judged aright, and I
+have forgiven you."
+
+"For which; my liege," replied the baron, "I cannot be too grateful."
+
+"Listen," continued the King of Arles, "ye true pastors of the Church of
+God, and you, Albert of Hers, that Henry of Austria has nominated a
+successor to Anno of Cologne!"
+
+At this announcement Herman and the knight sprang to their feet, while
+their looks expressed their horror and surprise. But Father Omehr kept
+his seat, and said calmly:
+
+"Will your highness inform us more fully?"
+
+The duke resumed: "A messenger, post haste from Goslar, brought me the
+news this morning at Zurich. Henry refused to meet the Pope in council
+to take measures for the purification of Milan, Firmano, and Spoleto,
+and has thus replied to the threat of excommunication. The nominee is
+Hidolph, who is attached to his own chapel, a man of no merit whatever,
+but devoted to the emperor; and whose principal endeavor it has been to
+remedy by art the unprepossessing exterior which nature has given him."
+
+"I know him," said Father Omehr. "Is he yet consecrated?"
+
+"No! All Germany is indignant at the choice, and the people of Cologne
+are imploring the monarch to make another appointment."
+
+"It will serve but to confirm the nomination," said the priest of
+Stramen.
+
+"What remains to His Holiness?" inquired Rodolph.
+
+Slowly and solemnly the missionary pronounced the single word:
+
+"Excommunication!"
+
+"Henry is preparing for it!" exclaimed the duke, rising and addressing
+the Lord of Hers; "he convened at Goslar all who respected his
+summons--among whom was the Duke of Bohemia: and he has liberated Otto
+of Nordheim, my adversary at Hohenburg, and received him into his most
+secret councils. It must _come_, my friend," he added, grasping the
+baron's hand; "we shall not be separated here; and, if I mistake not, we
+have in Gilbert one who is not to be awed by the lion of Franconia!"
+
+Father Omehr beheld with sorrow the meaning glances of the proud nobles,
+as they eagerly joined hands; and he read in the animated features of
+the hero of Hohenburg that the impending excommunication would be the
+signal for a revolt. He rose, and, exchanging a few words in an
+undertone with Herman, explained the necessity he was under of
+returning at once to the Castle of Stramen.
+
+"I will accompany you," said the duke, "if you will delay your departure
+a few minutes."
+
+Father Omehr expressed his assent, and retired to the chapel with
+Herman, leaving the two knights in close converse. Gilbert ran to order
+the best horse for the duke, and to see that his venerable benefactor
+should want nothing to carry him safely over the intervening hills.
+After exchanging many kind adieus, Rodolph and the missionary, near the
+close of twilight, started for the Castle of Stramen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+  _...Simonis leprosam
+  Execrate haeresim,
+  Sacerdotum simul atque
+  Scelus adulterii,
+  Laicorum dominatus
+  Cedat ab ecclesiis._
+
+  ST. PETER DAMIAN.
+
+The King of Arles and the missionary rode along without an escort, and
+felt none of the fears that the traveller of the times is often made to
+entertain for his personal safety. They did not apprehend any violence,
+and their only preparation for the expedition had been a recommendation
+to God through Our Lady and the Saints. It is as purely imaginative in
+historians and novelists--and it is difficult indeed to distinguish the
+one from the other--to surround every castle with a wall of banditti, as
+to station in Catholic countries of the present day, a robber or an
+assassin behind every tree. In the Middle Ages, the stranger could
+wander from castle to castle with as little danger as the nature of the
+country permitted; even in times of war, the blind, the young, the sick,
+and the clergy were privileged from outrage, though found on hostile
+territory. And in war, peace, or truce, the pilgrim's shallop was a
+passport through Christendom; he was under the special protection of the
+Pope, and to thwart his pious designs was to incur excommunication.
+Even amid the terrors of invasion, the laborer was free to pursue his
+occupation, and his flocks and his herds were secure from molestation;
+for it was beneath the dignity of the man-at-arms to trample upon the
+person or property of the poor unarmed peasant. Such were the principles
+recognized even in the eleventh century; and though we witness frequent
+departures from these admirable provisions, we must be careful not to
+mistake the exception for the rule, or to impute to the spirit of the
+age a violence and contempt of authority common to all times, and found
+alike in Norman and Frank, American and Mexican. To balance these
+infringements of regular warfare or "blessed peace," we often meet with
+instances as beautiful as the march of Duke Louis, the husband of St.
+Elizabeth, into Franconia, in 1225, to obtain reparation for injuries
+inflicted on a _peddler_.
+
+"I hope the Baron of Stramen has lost none of his vigor," said the duke;
+"we were together at Hohenburg, and I may need him at my side again. His
+son Henry, too, whom I knighted before the battle, and who won his spurs
+so nobly, how is he?"
+
+"They were both well," replied Father Omehr, "when I saw them last, and
+were anxiously expecting a visit from their liege."
+
+"And the Lady Margaret, from whom not a knight can boast a token, though
+all are striving to obtain one?"
+
+"She has not altered since you saw her," answered the priest; "she was
+always rather frail, but I do not see that she grows weaker."
+
+"You cannot imagine," interposed Rodolph, "how much it grieves me to be
+unable to reconcile these two families whom I so dearly love, and who,
+in the camp or in the chamber, have proved themselves so devotedly
+attached to me. I cannot even ask of one in the hearing of the other,
+without giving offence or receiving a bitter answer. In all things else,
+they are obedient as this horse to his rein; but the moment I speak of
+reconciliation, the stubborn neck is arched, and will not relax either
+for threats or entreaties."
+
+"Your grief cannot equal mine," returned the missionary, "and I confess,
+that without the hope of obtaining assistance from heaven, I should
+despair of ever softening the determined animosity of the Baron of
+Stramen. The Lord of Hers, perhaps, might be induced to throw enmity
+aside, if his adversary relented; but he cannot be persuaded to sue for
+peace, especially when his supplication might be unavailing."
+
+"I cannot believe," continued the duke, "that my friend of Hers could
+have killed Robert of Stramen, since he most positively denies it. It is
+true that their relations were anything but amicable, yet Albert of Hers
+would scorn to take a knight at a disadvantage, and would not attempt to
+conceal the result of a mortal struggle. If Robert of Stramen fell by
+his hand, it must have been in fair combat; and if in a fair tilt, there
+is no motive for concealment."
+
+"But the circumstances are strong enough to amount to conviction in an
+angry brother's eyes. A woman, who has since lost her mind, named
+Bertha, her father, and her husband, all swore to have seen Sir Albert
+ride away from the spot a short time before the body was found; and the
+scarf of the Lord of Hers was clutched convulsively in the dead man's
+hand. The wound upon the head resembled that produced by hurling a mace,
+and was of such a character that the head could not have been protected
+by any steel piece. I do not consider this conclusive against the Lord
+of Hers, or even incapable of explanation; but real and unequivocal
+guilt itself could not justify the untiring malignity of the Baron of
+Stramen. His brother's soul would be much better honored by his prayers,
+than by imprecations and the clash of steel; we cannot avenge the dead,
+for their bodies are dust, and their souls absorbed in things eternal;
+and Sandrit de Stramen is but making his brother's misfortune the
+occasion of his own temporal, and perhaps eternal injury. I wish,
+indeed, this criminal work of vengeance could be stopped."
+
+"Yes," replied the duke, "they had better husband their energies, for if
+I read the future aright, Suabia will have need of every nerve."
+
+Rodolph paused here; and as his companion did not reply, they rode on in
+silence.
+
+"I have a plan," exclaimed the duke, with singular vivacity. "But tell
+me first, has that young Gilbert seen the Lady Margaret?"
+
+In reply the missionary briefly narrated the events of which the reader
+is already in possession. "Then," pursued the King of Arles, eagerly, "I
+have strong hopes of success. Listen to me, holy Father: the maiden is
+beautiful and virtuous, the youth fair and knightly, and I can so
+represent one to the other, as to create an attachment strong enough to
+insure to filial love a victory over parental hate. It is fair, I think,
+to employ the bodily graces of these young persons against the mental
+deformity of their parents--to array the child against the father, when
+we seek the triumph of innocence over sin."
+
+"Your highness is inclined to be romantic," rejoined the priest.
+
+"Only the circumstances are romantic, and they seem to have shaped
+themselves; my plan is practical enough. Tell me--what think you of it?"
+
+"Briefly, then, I think your project impracticable."
+
+"Impracticable! You cannot know, Father, all that love and youth will
+dare; but I, whose earthly life has given me experience in such matters,
+have seen the impossibilities of sober minds yield to the irresistible
+energy of two plighted hearts. Oh, no; it is not impracticable."
+
+"I will grant you," replied the missionary, "that these two young
+persons might be brought to love each other, that they might marry in
+spite of family opposition, but the result would make your romance a
+tragedy."
+
+"How so?" inquired the duke. "May we not deem without impiety that God,
+in His mercy, has designed them for the extirpation of this miserable
+feud, and has drawn out of the stern parents themselves the instruments
+by which their hearts may be softened?"
+
+"It is impossible," said Father Omehr, "for us to discover by any human
+means what the mercy of God may appoint; all we can do is to ask for
+light to guide our steps, and to exercise the reason with which He has
+endowed us. I have good ground to believe that any approach to
+tenderness, on the part of the children, would widen the breach between
+the fathers. And were such the case, the consummation of your plan would
+give only a new and horrible feature to the present discord, by severing
+the bond between child and parent. For, unless I am much deceived, the
+lords of Hers and Stramen would turn away in disgust from children whom
+they would consider, not only to have disobeyed them, but to have proved
+faithless to their race. In this view, I can not suppose that heaven
+indicates the path to final reconciliation through fresh dissension. The
+hearts of the parents can not be softened in the way your highness
+proposed, and that must be the first step in your plan. Besides, I have
+little confidence in the agency of a human and selfish love to reach an
+end that ought to be gained by purer motives. I have discovered, from
+observation, what the power you spoke of will dare; I know its greatness
+and its littleness."
+
+"I must tax my ingenuity for a more auspicious scheme," resumed Rodolph
+of Suabia, "for I begin to be distrustful of my first. I was a little
+romantic, I confess; but it is thus we give the rein to some solitary
+impulse of youth, lingering, like a firebrand, among our more matured
+resolves."
+
+They had ridden slowly, and were now on the brink of the ravine, three
+miles from the Castle of Stramen. The waning moon and the bright
+starlight showed them a white figure standing in the road, a few paces
+from the mouth of the gorge.
+
+"Who is that before us?" asked the noble.
+
+"Bertha, the poor crazy woman, who swore to the presence of the Lord of
+Hers at the spot where Robert de Stramen was found," whispered the
+priest, and he advanced to where she stood.
+
+"I heard your horse's hoofs, Father," she said, "and I came to get your
+blessing."
+
+"And you shall have it, Bertha," he answered, extending his hands over
+her head. "Good night," he added, seeing that she did not move.
+
+"Who is this you have brought us?" continued the woman, pointing to the
+duke.
+
+"That," replied Father Omehr, "is Rodolph, Duke of Suabia, and King of
+Arles."
+
+Bertha approached the duke, knelt down, and kissed his hand. She then
+walked slowly up the ravine.
+
+"A singular being," exclaimed the duke, as they gave their horses the
+spur, for it was growing late. "I have not seen any one thus afflicted
+for many years, and it is always a painful sight."
+
+The two horsemen were now at the church, but they passed it and kept on
+to the castle; and hearty was the welcome of the noble duke to the halls
+of Stramen castle. Sir Sandrit's eyes gleamed with delight as he saluted
+his liege; Henry's cheek flushed with pleasure when Rodolph, the flower
+of German chivalry, spoke of his youthful prowess at Hohenburg; the Lady
+Margaret loved the duke for the praises he heaped upon her brother. Nor
+were the domestics gazing idly on; but kept gliding to and fro, and
+hurrying here and there until the genial board was spread, and the fish,
+fresh from the Danube, smoked, and the goblet gleamed.
+
+As it was near midnight when they sat down, Father Omehr felt at liberty
+to leave the room without ceremony. The Lady Margaret stayed no longer
+than courtesy demanded, when she rose and retired to her chamber. This
+young lady had always been noted for her piety and her charities to the
+poor, whose wants she was sure to discover and supply. Under the skilful
+and fervent training of Father Omehr, she had learned to repress a
+spirit, perhaps naturally quick and imperious, and to practise on every
+occasion a humility very difficult to haughty natures. There was even
+some austerity in her devotion; for she would subject herself to
+rigorous fasts and to weary vigils, and deny herself the luxuries that
+her father delighted in procuring for her, little dreaming that they
+were secretly dispensed to the sick of the neighborhood. She never
+failed to hear Mass, unless prevented by sickness or some other
+controlling cause, but every morning laid a bunch of fresh and fragrant
+flowers upon the altar of our Blessed Mother. And who shall say that the
+sweet lilies of the field, the roses and the violets, colored with the
+hues of the dawn, and freshened in the dew of the twilight, when offered
+and consecrated by the homage of an innocent heart, are not grateful to
+her whose purity they typify! Yet there was a lurking family pride in
+Margaret's heart that she could not entirely eradicate, and a sleeping
+antipathy to the house of Hers that at times betrayed itself to her
+watchful self-examination. The reader must not imagine that, when she
+told the missionary at Gilbert's bedside that had the youth fallen in
+battle she perhaps would rejoice, she actually desired such an event.
+She spoke to one who knew her better. She felt this antipathy, but did
+not know its extent; and, with the humility of virtue, she feared that,
+although engaged in an act of charity, there might be the fiend of
+revenge at the bottom of her soul. Margaret de Stramen was not blind to
+her imperfections, and she did not hesitate to impute to herself an
+inclination to the un-Christian hate so cherished by her family. But she
+endeavored to overcome it by prayer, by the Sacraments, by penance, and
+by pondering the splendid example of Jesus of Nazareth.
+
+The Lady Margaret was not one of those fair and fanciful creations,
+endowed with such exquisite sensibilities as to perceive and return the
+admiration of a young knight-errant with whom she had been associated by
+any romantic circumstance. Nor was her disposition of that impulsive
+kind which will permit the impression of a moment to overthrow the
+prejudices of years. But to her joy and surprise, she found that, far
+from rejoicing at Gilbert's misfortune, she had regretted it; and
+regretted it, not merely because it might stigmatize the fair name of
+Stramen, but also in obedience to an elevated generosity that sickened,
+ungratified, at the sight of obtained revenge. She had been almost
+constrained to render assistance to the youth; and there are some who
+think the sting of a favor worse than the fang of an injury, and are
+more disposed to forgive after having benefited. With the facility
+peculiar to a gifted woman, she had read in Gilbert's face the
+ingenuousness and goodness of his heart, and though she did not ascribe
+to him any exalted qualities, she admitted that it was not easy to
+believe him guilty of cruelty or meanness. In a word, the sympathies of
+the woman were now arrayed against family pride and family prejudice,
+and a trial still more dangerous and severe awaited her piety and
+resolution.
+
+In the morning, after hearing Mass, she found the duke and her father in
+close conversation, while her brother was busily preparing for some
+important event. It was soon evident that Rodolph was about to depart,
+and that Henry was to accompany him; for the grooms led to the door two
+handsome and stalwart steeds, richly caparisoned, and four mounted
+men-at-arms rode up and halted upon the terrace, where they waited
+motionless as statues of steel.
+
+When their private conference was over, the duke advanced, and took the
+Lady Margaret by the hand. "I am selfish enough," he said, "to deprive
+you of your brother for a few weeks, to assist me by his counsel, and
+protect me by his arm, should it be necessary, in a little adventure we
+have resolved to undertake."
+
+"I am too true to you, my lord," replied Margaret, "to desire my
+brother's society when you request his assistance. Were I a young
+knight, I should esteem it no light favor to march--no matter where--as
+an escort to Rodolph, Duke of Suabia."
+
+"And I, fair maiden," returned the duke, "could wander to the end of
+the world with such a companion."
+
+"I hope you may not find Henry so agreeable as to carry you so far, for
+I expect to welcome you back in a week."
+
+"If I consulted my pleasure," said Rodolph, "I should not be absent a
+day, but my duty may detain me a month. I will not offer an apology for
+so long a stay, because I fear that before sunset you will have ceased
+to think of me, or remember me only in connection with your brother."
+
+"A noble duke," replied the lady, "whose name is heard wherever the
+minstrel tunes his harp, whose word was never plighted in vain, whose
+sword was never stained in an unrighteous cause, whose arm and purse are
+ever at the command of the poor and persecuted, whose courage and
+clemency, wisdom and piety, so well entitle him to the love of all his
+people, is not so easily forgotten."
+
+"I assure you, on my honor," exclaimed Rodolph, "that I value your words
+more than all the songs of all the minstrels I ever heard. I would I
+were worthy your praise; but you have inspired me to deserve it.
+Farewell! I see that Henry is impatient, and we must not lose the early
+morning."
+
+He bade adieu to the baron and his daughter, and turned to mount his
+horse, when Bertha touched his arm, and placed in his hand something
+enveloped in silk. Bertha said not one word, but she looked earnestly up
+in Rodolph's face, and then walked away as swiftly and silently as she
+came. The duke could not help remarking the wild beauty of her pale and
+wasted face, and remained some moments gazing after her with a painful
+interest. He removed the silk and found that it contained a ring
+garnished with a stone of rare value. He started as his eye fell upon
+the trinket, for he remembered that years ago he had given it to the
+Lord of Hers. How could it have come into Bertha's possession, was the
+question that naturally occurred to him; but the answer came not so
+readily as the question. While the duke was thus pondering, Henry had
+embraced his father and sister, and leaped upon his horse. Rodolph
+mounted slowly, after examining the girths with his own hand; and the
+little troop, waving a parting salute, swept over the drawbridge, and
+were soon lost among the trees.
+
+About the same hour, or a little earlier, the Lord of Hers, with a small
+retinue, had set out in an opposite direction, but on the same mission.
+Rodolph had long seen that King Henry's unprincipled ambition threatened
+the liberties of religion and of Austria, and he only paused for the
+Papal excommunication to throw off all allegiance to a monarch who could
+not be safely trusted. That excommunication was impending, and, as may
+be easily conjectured, the duke was making a rapid circuit of his
+dominions, to unite his barons more closely to his interests; to warn
+them to prepare for the approaching struggle; to confirm the weak and
+wavering in their fidelity; inspire the resolves of those who were true
+and firm, and make all the pulses of the circle of Suabia throb in
+concert to the action of one grand moving power. To gain time, the Lord
+of Hers had been despatched to the provinces bordering upon the Rhine
+with letters from Rodolph to the principal barons there, while the duke
+himself, with Henry of Stramen, followed the Danube.
+
+For many months there had been no active warfare between the hostile
+houses, though the feud had lost none of its venom. But age was
+stiffening the impetuosity of the old barons; and their sons, no longer
+urged on by the battle-cry of their sires, listened with more attention
+to the advice and representations of their spiritual instructors.
+Gilbert of Hers was not inclined to take an injury to his breast, and
+hug it there; but the bold and frequent incursions of Henry of Stramen
+had induced him to retaliate rather in a spirit of rivalry than of
+revenge. Henry of Stramen inherited all his father's implacability, but
+he had often yielded to his sister's solicitation to dedicate to the
+chase the day he had devoted to a descent upon the lordship of Hers. The
+troubled condition of Germany had also diverted the chiefs from the
+disputes of their firesides to the civil wars of the empire; and neither
+the Lord of Hers nor the Baron of Stramen gave much attention to aught
+else than the league that Rodolph was forming against Henry IV of the
+house of Franconia.
+
+Gilbert, left almost without a companion--for the good priest Herman,
+whose time was divided between his pastoral duties, his prayers, and his
+studies, saw him but at intervals--found time to hang very heavily upon
+his hands. He thought the old reaper weary and sluggish, for the scythe
+flies fast only when we employ or enjoy the moments. The autumn blast
+was beginning to lend a thousand bright colors to the trees, and the
+giddy leaves, like giddy mortals, threw off their simple green for the
+gaudy livery that was but a prelude to their fall--for the beauty that,
+like the dying note of the swan, was but the beauty of death. It was the
+season of all others for the chase, that health-giving but dangerous
+pastime, which our ancestors pursued with almost incredible eagerness,
+hunting the stag or the boar, over hill and dale, bog and jungle,
+through every twist and turn, as their Anglo-Saxon descendants now
+pursue the flying dollar.
+
+But Gilbert often declined the invitation of the forester to fly the
+falcon, rarely indulging in his favorite amusement. He preferred to
+wander along the borders of the magnificent Lake of Constance, or to
+loiter among the neighboring hills, and watch, from some bare peak, the
+broad-winged vulture sailing slowly and steadily through the skies. He
+would watch it until it became a mere speck in the blue distance: we may
+often catch ourselves gazing after receding objects as though they were
+bearing away a thought we had fixed upon them. His wound was nearly
+well, and the freshness of health was again in his cheeks; but his
+spirit had lost a part of its sprightliness, and he seemed to have grown
+older. He did not evince his former relish for the manuscripts of
+Herman, but his visits to the chapel were more frequent and lasted
+longer. Thus, day after day, he would study the lake, the clouds, and
+the cliffs, neither fearing an attack from the men of Stramen, nor
+meditating one against them.
+
+We shall leave him in his inactivity, to trace the progress of events
+which form one of the most important and exciting periods in history.
+
+Rodolph was not a moment too soon in concentrating his power; for Henry
+IV, flushed with his recent victory over the Saxons, had called at
+Goslar a diet of the princes of the empire, under the pretext of
+deciding, in their presence, the fate of their Saxon prisoners. Only a
+small minority of the princes obeyed the summons; but the real object of
+the king became evident when he made them swear to exalt, upon his own
+death, Conrad his son, a minor, to the throne. In the meantime, the news
+of the nomination of Hidolph, as successor to the sainted Anno, had
+spread to Rome. The Pope beheld with profound sorrow the obstinacy and
+ambition of the king. Henry was not to be driven from his purpose by the
+universal contempt this nomination excited, and he replied to the
+repeated remonstrances of the citizens of Cologne, that they must
+content themselves with Hidolph or with a vacant see. And his firmness
+triumphed over the popular indignation; for Hidolph was invested by the
+king with the crozier and the ring, and finally consecrated Archbishop
+of Cologne.
+
+But his victory was not complete. He had yet to cope with an adversary
+more formidable than popular opposition; one who would not yield to
+temporal tyranny the watch-towers and guardian rights of spiritual
+liberty. That adversary was Gregory VII. Already the tremendous threat
+had issued: "Appear at Rome on a given day to answer the charges against
+you, or you shall be excommunicated and cast from the body of the
+Church." But the infatuated monarch, too proud to recede, hurried on by
+his impetuous arrogance, and by the unprincipled favorites and corrupt
+prelates who shared his bounty, loaded the Papal legates with scorn and
+contumely, and drove them from his presence.
+
+He did not even wait for the sentence of excommunication to fall, that
+now hung by a hair above his head, but began the attack, as if resolved
+to have the advantage of the first blow. Couriers were despatched to
+every part of the empire, with commands to all the prelates and nobles
+upon whom he could rely, to assemble at Worms, where he promised to meet
+them without fail. Twenty-four bishops and a great number of laymen
+hastened to obey the summons. The conventicle sat three days, and the
+following charges were formally preferred against the Pope: "That he had
+by force extracted a solemn oath from the clergy not to adhere to the
+king, nor to favor or obey any other Pope than himself; that he had
+falsely interpreted the Scriptures; that he had excommunicated the king
+without legal or canonical examination, and without the consent of the
+cardinals; that he had conspired against the life of the king; that, in
+spite of the remonstrances of his cardinals, he had cast the Body and
+Blood of our Lord into the flames; that he had arrogated to himself the
+gift of prophecy; that he had connived at an attempted assassination of
+the king; that he had condemned and executed three men without a
+judgment or an admission of their guilt; that he kept constantly about
+his person a book of magic."
+
+So palpably absurd and false were these charges that three of the
+assembled prelates refused to sign an instrument for the deposition of a
+pontiff, so little conforming to the ancient discipline, and unsupported
+by witnesses worthy of belief. Nor were Henry's machinations confined
+to Germany, but he ransacked Lombardy and the marches of Ancona for
+bishops to sign these articles of condemnation, and even aspired to
+infect Rome itself by presents and specious promises. But the golden ass
+could not then leap the walls of Christian Rome.
+
+Gregory's principal accuser was the Cardinal Hugues le Blanc, whom he
+had previously excommunicated. This ambitious man rose in the council
+and taunted the Pope with his low extraction, at the same time charging
+him with crimes that were proved to be the offspring of calumny and
+error. He produced a forged letter, purporting to come in the name of
+the archbishops, bishops, and cardinals, from the senate and people of
+Rome, inveighing against the Pope, and clamoring for the election of
+another head of the Church. Encouraged by imperial patronage, and
+stimulated by a desire to rid himself of disgrace by sullying the hands
+that had branded him, the excommunicated cardinal did not hesitate to
+call the Pope a heretic, an adulterer, a sanguinary beast of prey. The
+emperor himself knew Gregory too well to believe such a tissue of
+absurdity; but he hoped to find others more credulous than himself.
+
+Upon the accusations already specified, and the invectives of Hugues le
+Blanc, the assemblage of prelates at Worms resolve upon the deposition
+of Gregory VII. It is then that Henry steps forth, as the life and soul
+of the conventicle, armed with its decree, and addresses an insulting
+letter to the Pope, inscribed "Henry, king by the grace of God, to
+Hildebrand." In this letter, the decree of the conventicle is lost in
+the insolence of the king. "I," is the language of the missive, "I have
+followed their advice, because it seemed to me just. I refuse to
+acknowledge you Pope, and in the capacity of patron of Rome command you
+to vacate the Holy See." Can the most jaundiced eye, can the man who
+learned, even in his boyhood, to loathe the name of Hildebrand, read
+these expressions without confessing that the king was the aggressor,
+and that if the Christian Church had a right to expect protection from
+its appointed head, Gregory VII was called upon to vindicate the majesty
+and liberty of religion so grossly outraged in his person? Surely it
+will not be asserted at this day that the head of the State, by virtue
+of his temporal power, should be the head of the Church; or does that
+beautiful logic still exist, which denied an absolute spiritual
+supremacy in the successor of St. Peter, yet admitted it as an
+incidental prerogative to the crown of England? But we have yet to see
+the last act of this attempted deposition.
+
+A clerk of Parma, named Roland, was charged with the delivery of this
+letter, and the decrees of the conventicle of Worms. A synod had been
+convoked in the Church of Lateran, and the Pope, surrounded by his
+bishops, occupied a chair elevated above the rest. Roland's mission had
+been kept a profound secret, and, when he appeared before the conclave,
+not a prelate there could guess his purpose. They had not heard the
+voice that had gone forth from Worms. But they did not long remain in
+suspense. Turning to the Pope, the envoy thus began "The king, my
+master, and all the ultramontane and Italian bishops, command you to
+resign, at once, the throne of St. Peter and the government of the Roman
+Church, which you have usurped; for you cannot justly claim so exalted a
+dignity without the approbation of the bishops and the confirmation of
+the emperor!" Then addressing the clergy, he thus continued: "My
+brothers, it is my duty to inform you, that you must appear before the
+king at the approaching festival of Pentecost, to receive a Pope from
+his hand; for the tiara is now worn, not by a Pope, but by a devouring
+wolf!"
+
+Receive a Pope from the king! receive from Caesar what he must usurp to
+bestow! Had Gregory flinched, the independence of the Church would have
+been sacrificed, and her acknowledged inability to cope with royal vices
+would have permitted every European monarch to change his queen with his
+courtiers. Henry IV would have had his successor to Bertha; Philip
+Augustus his Agnes de Meranie; and Henry VIII his Cranmer and his
+scaffold without one moment's opposition.
+
+But no sooner had Roland pronounced those last words, than the Bishop of
+Porto leaped from his chair, and cried out: "Seize him!" The prefect and
+nobles of Rome and the soldiers drew their swords, and, in their sudden
+fury, would have killed the audacious envoy, had not Gregory, repeating
+his magnanimity to Cencius, covered the clerk with his own body, and by
+his calmness and eloquence controlled the indignation and disgust of his
+too zealous friends.
+
+"My friends!" he said, with all the dignity of human greatness, elevated
+and purified by the most exalted piety, "disturb not the peace of the
+Church. Behold the dangerous times, of which the Scripture speaks, are
+come, when men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, and
+disobedient to parents. We cannot escape these scandals; and God has
+said that He has sent us like sheep in the midst of wolves. It is
+necessary for us then to combine the innocence of the dove with the
+prudence of the serpent. Now, when the precursor of Antichrist erects
+himself against the Church, he must find us innocent and prudent; these
+dispositions constitute wisdom. We must hate no one, but bear with the
+madmen who would violate the law of God. Remember that God, descending a
+second time among men, proclaims aloud: 'He who would follow me must
+forsake himself!' We have lived in peace long enough, and God wishes
+that the harvest should again be moistened with the blood of His Saints.
+Let us prepare for martyrdom, if it shall be needed, for the law of God,
+and resolve that nothing shall sever us from the charity of Jesus
+Christ."
+
+The synod, in breathless interest, listened to the holy Pontiff, who
+then proceeded with wonderful composure to read the charges that had
+been preferred against him. Among Roland's letters was another signed,
+"Henry, king not by usurpation, but by the grace of God, to Hildebrand,
+false monk and anti-pope." This was couched, if possible, in language
+more insulting than the former. One sentence will show the temper of the
+document, and prove that the king was struggling to build up a monarchy
+of divine rights and appointment. "A true Pope, Saint Leo, says, _Fear
+God! honor the king_! But as you do not fear God, neither do you honor
+me whom He has appointed king." Can any expression more clearly indicate
+that Henry of Austria had resolved to crush a Pontiff who stood between
+him and unquestioned despotism, and that he aimed at a heaven-
+commissioned temporal power, often conceded, it is true, but never by
+Catholicity. The letter concludes with these words: "I, Henry, king by
+the grace of God, warn you, with all our bishops: descend! descend!"
+
+When the Pope had finished reading the invectives of Henry and those who
+were weak enough to second his ambition, so great was the exasperation
+of the synod, that he adjourned it to meet the next day. When the morrow
+came, in the presence of one hundred and ten bishops, he recited his
+former indulgence to Henry, his paternal remonstrances, and his repeated
+proofs of love and goodness. The whole assembly rose in a body, and
+implored him to anathematize a perjured prince, an oppressor, and a
+tyrant, declaring that they would never abandon the Pope, and that they
+were ready to die in his defence. It was then that Gregory VII rose and
+pronounced, amid the unanimous acclamations of the synod, the sentence
+of excommunication against the emperor.
+
+Thus went forth this awful thunderbolt for the first time against a
+crowned head. A dissolute and ambitious monarch had called upon the
+successor of St. Peter to yield up the keys, and lay the tiara at the
+feet of the lion of Austria, because that successor had declared an
+invincible determination to preserve the purity of the Church and its
+liberties, at the sacrifice of life itself. The tyrant struck in anger,
+and the Pontiff, incapable of yielding, gave the blow at last; for the
+_temple_ of religion was insulted and invaded.
+
+It is easy, when calmly seated at a winter's fireside, to charge Gregory
+VII with an undue assumption of temporal power. But he who will study
+the critical position of Europe during the eleventh century, must bow
+down in reverence before the mighty mind of him who seized the moment to
+proclaim amid the storm the independence of the Christian Church. Was
+not this resistance to Henry expedient? Yes! And to one who knows that
+the Church was the lever by which the world was raised from barbarism to
+civilization, and will confess, with Guizot, that without a visible
+head, Christianity would have perished in the shock that convulsed
+Europe to its centre, the truth is revealed, as it was to the master
+mind of Gregory, that had he pursued any other course, peace and unity,
+as far as human eye extends, would have perished with the compromised
+liberty of the Church of Rome. Let us rejoice, then, that this sainted
+Pontiff hurled against the Austrian tyrant the anathema on which was
+written--"The independence of the Church of God shall be sustained,
+though the thrones of princes crumble around her, or though her
+ministers are driven to seal their fidelity with death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+  Fierce he broke forth: "And darest thou then
+  To beard the lion in his den?
+    The Douglas in his hall?
+  And hopest thou hence unscathed to got
+  No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!
+  Up drawbridge, grooms!--ho! warder, ho!
+    Let the portcullis fall!"
+
+  MARMION
+
+For three weeks the Lady Margaret had expected the duke and her brother;
+for three weeks Gilbert had impatiently awaited his father's return.
+
+Toward the close of September, a group of young children might be seen
+clustering around an old man, at the edge of the forest, within a
+stone's throw of the Church of the Nativity. They were listening eagerly
+and delightedly to the patriarch they had surrounded, in whom we
+recognize Father Omehr. The faces of the infant band were bright with
+innocence and that happy alchemy which turns the merest toy to a costly
+treasure. There was a tender piety on the features of those children
+that moved the heart. Devotion lies upon the face of youth with a
+peculiar fitness. As we see it dwelling in that unsullied abode, we
+remember how the cheek of the Madonna is pressed against the infant in
+her arms. Their instructor seemed to have caught a portion of their
+light-heartedness. Sad recollections and gloomy anticipations were
+forgotten. The throes of the empire and dangers of the Church intruded
+not; for a moment, the aged missionary felt the elasticity of childhood,
+and, as his heart was as pure, his face became as bright as theirs.
+
+"Perhaps you have thought, my children," the priest was saying, while
+his hand rested lightly upon the head of the nearest boy, "perhaps you
+have thought at times, that had you been little children at Jerusalem
+when our Saviour entered the city in triumph, and the people went forth
+to meet Him with palm-branches, you too would have run to welcome Him,
+and laid fruits and pretty flowers at His feet. Perhaps you have thought
+that you would have offered Him some refreshing drink as He tottered
+under His cross up the hill of Calvary; that you would have embraced Him
+and wept most piteously when He fainted away in agony. How delightful
+would it have been to receive a smile from your suffering Lord! You have
+still the very same opportunity, my children, you would have had at
+Jerusalem. You can still run to meet your Redeemer! He loves the flowers
+of a pure heart better than those which make the green fields as
+beautiful as the blue sky with its stars; and He values the tears we
+shed for our sins more than the pain we should have felt to see Him
+suffer. Still continue to bring the fruits and flowers of piety and
+obedience to your parents to Jesus, and you will be permitted to wait
+upon Him in heaven for all eternity.
+
+"Go, now, and play! And when the bell rings, come quietly to the
+church."
+
+Not until his little flock had dispersed did Father Omehr perceive that
+the Lady Margaret was standing almost at his side.
+
+The Lady Margaret has changed since we saw her return the parting salute
+of Rodolph and Henry. Her cheek has grown brighter, but her brow is
+smoother and paler. Her face is sweeter than ever, though still more
+melancholy. It may have been the balminess of the afternoon, solicitude
+for her brother's return, or a transient feeling, that controlled the
+expression of the maiden's face, but it seemed to have still less of
+earth in its exquisite proportions, and her eye was softer and deeper.
+
+It was Monday afternoon; and on this day every week, the missionary
+instructed the children of the neighborhood and prepared them for
+Communion. There still remained an hour before the time for evening
+service, and Father Omehr proposed to the Lady Margaret a walk along the
+shady avenue at the border of the forest. Disengaging herself from the
+children, who loved her and were clustering about her, she readily
+assented.
+
+"Father," began the maiden, as they walked together, "when may we expect
+the duke?"
+
+"Before long, I hope," replied the missionary; "the conventicle at Worms
+will decide at once which of his barons are for and which against him. I
+should not be surprised to see them returning at any moment."
+
+"Are they in no danger from ill-disposed chieftains?" asked the lady.
+
+"The duke will pass through a friendly country, and is too much loved
+and feared to be assailed in his own dominions. Your father, I presume,
+is not anxious about their safety?"
+
+"Oh, no! He talks as if they were invulnerable."
+
+"At least," returned the priest, "you should rest content with praying
+for them, and not distress yourself with idle fears."
+
+A pause of some minutes ensued here, during which Margaret's mind seemed
+actively and painfully employed. She broke the silence by exclaiming, in
+a low but earnest tone:
+
+"I have always been too much influenced by idle fears--my whole life has
+been a tissue of timidity."
+
+"Do not accuse yourself unjustly, my child," said her companion; "we
+must beware, even in reproaching ourselves, that we do not despise the
+favors of God, and lose the grace of perseverance in virtue."
+
+The fair girl was again silent, but she suddenly exclaimed, with much
+emotion:
+
+"Year after year I felt a strong impulse to join the convent at Cologne,
+founded by the sainted Anno, but was withheld by a fear of my own
+weakness; I resolved to seek the cloister and forget the garb and
+customs of the world, but I feared that I might thus confirm my father
+in his indifference to religion and my brother in his antipathy to the
+house of Hers. The months kept gliding by, and still I was irresolute. I
+have prayed, with all the ardor I could command, for light to see my
+vocation; and if God have mercifully granted it, I wilfully remain
+blind. This self-made uncertainty and irresolution cost me many a pang;
+nor have I even the merit of patiently and cheerfully enduring what they
+inflict."
+
+Margaret was violently agitated as she spoke, but was not entirely
+subdued by her excited heart, though more than one big tear went down
+her cheeks.
+
+"Margaret!" said her venerable companion, stopping short and speaking so
+impressively that the maiden looked up through her tears.
+
+"Margaret!" he repeated, as their eyes met, "you have done much to
+soften your father's anger and your brother's impetuosity, and your
+mediation has perhaps endeared you to heaven--but you can do _more_!
+Devote your life to the extinction of the feud between the houses of
+Stramen and Hers--look to the duty that stares you in the face, and
+fulfil that vocation before you seek another! Make peace between these
+houses the first object of your prayers, and the aim of all your
+efforts, and God will soon determine whether the cloister or the castle
+requires your presence in the accomplishment of your noble end!"
+
+As Father Omehr concluded, the Lady Margaret, yielding to the impulse
+she had till then controlled, wept like a child. Yet it was not deeper
+dejection that made her sob as though her heart would break, but rather
+a sense of relief, and a sweet consolation that banished all spiritual
+dryness. Her instructor had often before suggested her obligation to
+consecrate herself to the task of healing the feud; but never had he so
+solemnly warned her, and never had she seen her duty so clearly.
+
+"Be calm, my child," continued the missionary; "you can compose yourself
+in the church, while I prepare for the service. Prostrate yourself
+before the infinite majesty and goodness of God, and invoke His
+assistance, with a determination to accept with resignation whatever
+trial He may send. And forget not to supplicate the intercession of the
+Blessed Mary. Open your heart to her; beg her to discover and obtain its
+pious wants. _She_ whom Jesus obeyed on earth, will not ask in vain in
+His eternal kingdom: God, who made her the medium of salvation to man
+while she remained a poor Jewish virgin, cannot deem her unworthy of
+being the channel of His choicest graces to us, now that she stands
+beatified in heaven!"
+
+The Lady Margaret passed into the church and knelt before the altar.
+There she remained until the psalms were sung and the evening hymn was
+over. When she rose, her face was calm, and even joyous. There was no
+exultation in her look, but it was full of meek serenity. As she left
+the church, she met Father Omehr. She greeted him with a smile that told
+what a load was taken off her heart. There was gratitude, esteem, and a
+holy joy in that smile--it was full of tender and indescribable
+sweetness--it was an expression of the happiness and purity of her soul.
+
+It was not the bright smile of youth, or the warm smile of affection; it
+had none of the witchery of woman, but much of the devotion of the
+Saint: beautiful as she was, and still more beautiful as it made her, it
+suggested the Creator, not the creature.
+
+"We shall expect you to-night, Father," she said, pausing but a moment.
+
+Father Omehr nodded, and dismissed the children, who had come for a
+parting blessing, while the maiden turned her palfrey toward the castle.
+She rode swiftly, for dark clouds were climbing up the knew the extent
+of his infatuation, he was revolving the feasibility of revealing his
+attachment. At last he had determined to embrace the first chance of
+declaring a love now past concealment.
+
+At the same time that the Lady Margaret was speeding to Stramen Castle,
+Gilbert was standing on the top of a steep hill that rose abruptly some
+distance to the north of that on which the towers of his fathers were
+built. He found a pleasure in surveying the majestic masses of thick
+dark clouds, that slowly overspread the West and swallowed up the sun.
+There seemed to be a mysterious sympathy between him and the angry
+elements, or perhaps he felt flattered to find the deep thunder and
+arrowy lightning less potent than the feelings within his bosom. He
+laughed at the coming storm, while the eagle flew by with a shriek, and
+the cattle sought any casual shelter. But, as he was not ambitious of
+becoming thoroughly wet, he sprang down the hill when the big drops
+began to fall, and entered a neat cottage situated in the opening of a
+rich valley, that swept from the hills toward the lake.
+
+"What! alone, Humbert?" said the youth. "Your wife and children are not
+out in this storm, I hope?"
+
+"They are praying in the next room," replied the man, sinking his voice.
+
+Gilbert turned to the window; but the rain was now pouring down in
+torrents, and he could discern nothing but the lightning. Humbert was a
+favorite with the Lord of Hers. He played upon the harp with more than
+common skill, and could personate the regular minnesinger to perfection.
+His stock of ballads was inexhaustible, and some of his original songs
+might well compare with his borrowed lore. Besides this, he was a daring
+huntsman, an expert falconer, and a trusty follower.
+
+"Humbert!" exclaimed the youth, in a searching whisper, "would you like
+to play the minnesinger in this storm?"
+
+The retainer smiled and replied, "Yes, if I were a bull, and could
+bellow the lay."
+
+But Gilbert answered, without relaxing a muscle, "You will not be called
+upon to play until you can be heard."
+
+"Then we might as well wait until to-morrow," said the other, with great
+_sangfroid_, looking over Gilbert's shoulder at the rain.
+
+"But understand me!" muttered the youth, rather sternly; "I am in
+earnest! Will your harp weather this storm?"
+
+"Yes," returned Humbert, still playfully, "if we loosen its strings: I
+have a water-proof case for it. But I have no water-proof case for
+myself; and being compelled to brace _my_ nerves for the encounter, they
+will be apt to snap."
+
+"You incorrigible trifler, can you disguise yourself as well now, as
+when you palmed yourself upon us all for the minstrel Guigo?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And can you array me as your harpbearer, and alter this face and form
+of mine?"
+
+"With much more ease than I can play the minstrel in this storm."
+
+"Then do it at once," said Gilbert.
+
+"My lord!"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Here!"
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now!"
+
+Humbert eyed the young noble with a comic surprise.
+
+"Had we not better wait until the rain abates?"
+
+"It is abating now," replied Gilbert.
+
+It was true: the first frenzy of the storm was over, and there was
+coming a pause in its wild career.
+
+"There!" resumed the youth; "you can ride to the castle and bring two
+good horses before it begins again. Quick! I shall wait here."
+
+"You had better wait upstairs, out of sight," suggested Humbert.
+
+"You are right."
+
+"This way, my lord;" and, followed by his retainer, the young noble
+ascended to a room that might have been called Humbert's studio. The
+latter, descending at once, called his wife, exchanged a few words with
+her, the import of which was to keep herself invisible, and, accustomed
+to a ready obedience, he leaped upon his horse and spurred for the
+castle. The distance was not greater than half a league, yet to Gilbert
+he was absent an age.
+
+It was quite dark before Humbert had completed the disguises to his
+satisfaction. His own was a masterpiece in its way. He assumed a grace
+and a lightness that might well become a minstrel of no ordinary degree.
+The character of his face was completely changed, and was reduced, by
+means of long flaxen curls and other artificial additions, from frank
+manliness to almost feminine delicacy. The Lord of Hers himself could
+not have recognized his son in the drooping, swarthy, gypsy-looking
+figure that stood beside Humbert. Gilbert's head was enveloped in
+something like a cowl, and his whole figure was muffled up in a coarse
+brown cloak. Thus attired, he was to play the part of a Bohemian
+harp-bearer.
+
+The moment the finishing touches were put, the impatient youth hurried
+the more cautious yeoman to the saddle. The rain had ceased to fall, but
+the sky was still overcast and threatening. Though the moon was more
+than half full, they had barely light enough to justify the rapid pace
+at which the noble led the way. It was a little out of character for the
+minnesinger to carry his own instrument when a harp-bearer was so near
+at hand. But Humbert knew how to sling the harp across his back, and
+Gilbert, a mere novice in the art, would have found the burden
+excessively embarrassing. Gilbert pressed forward without opening his
+lips or looking behind, until they had entered the lordship of Stramen.
+Humbert, respecting the humors of his superior, followed just as
+silently. But he began to grow anxious as they kept advancing, and he
+could not repress an exclamation of surprise as Gilbert halted on the
+brink of the ravine we have described before, within a league of the
+castle. They led their horses down into the gully and tied them to two
+stout trees.
+
+"Give me the harp!" exclaimed the youth, commanding rather than
+entreating. Humbert surrendered the instrument without a word, and they
+emerged from the ravine. They walked on, side by side, still in silence;
+for Gilbert's mind was wrought up to the highest pitch, and held too
+thrilling communion with itself to notice his companion, except at brief
+intervals. But when they came within full view of the dim turrets of
+Stramen Castle, and the youth kept steadily advancing toward them,
+Humbert stopped short, and perceiving that Gilbert still advanced, he
+made bold to stay the rash stripling by touching his arm.
+
+Gilbert started and stood still; then said, with cold contempt: "Do you
+flinch?"
+
+"From what?" inquired the other, calmly.
+
+"From that mass of stone."
+
+"What have we to do with that?"
+
+"Enter it before an hour."
+
+"And die before an hour," replied Humbert.
+
+"Or live," said Gilbert, rather to himself than to his attendant, and
+resuming his rapid advance.
+
+Humbert stood awhile, rooted to the ground, in mute amazement at his
+lord's inexplicable behavior. But every moment was precious. He sprang
+forward, and again seizing Gilbert's arm, he threw himself on his knees.
+
+"My dear lord!" he exclaimed, "I conjure you in the name of your father
+to desist from this madness, and to return! You are rushing upon certain
+destruction! You are flinging away your life! Remember it is Monday! The
+arm of our blessed mother, the Church, cannot protect you to-day! My
+wife and my children will be left without a father, and the lordship of
+Hers without an heir!" Here the honest yeoman burst into tears, but the
+youth's determination was taken. He disengaged himself from his
+follower's grasp, and said, resolutely, but kindly:
+
+"Return!"
+
+"And leave you to perish alone?" cried Humbert, springing to his feet.
+"No, no! I am no craven! And why should I return? To be reproached with
+having seduced my lord into danger, and then basely deserted him? If you
+advance, I go with you, though I cannot guess your object, or justify
+your seeming madness. But I implore you to remember your duty as a son
+and as a Christian, and not to take a step that will make your enemies
+exult and your friends tear their hair in sorrow!"
+
+For a moment the noble stood irresolute; but the next instant he seized
+Humbert's hand with a vice-like grip, and whispered in his ear, "I must
+see the Lady Margaret!"
+
+Without waiting for a reply, Gilbert strode forward. Before the
+drawbridge was gained, Humbert had recovered himself, and was prepared
+to put forth all his daring and skill to extricate themselves from the
+consequences of this perilous adventure.
+
+"Ho! warder!" he cried, in a confident tone, "a minnesinger--Ailred of
+Zurich--and his harp-bearer, wet and fasting. Shelter in the name of
+God!"
+
+Down came the drawbridge, and the portcullis rose and fell, leaving them
+on the other side of the moat, surrounded by the men of Stramen. They
+were conducted with much respect to a comfortable room in the castle,
+and the arrival announced to the Lord Sandrit de Stramen. The baron,
+who had heard of Ailred's rising fame, was delighted with the
+intelligence, and invited the minstrel to his principal hall. Humbert
+encased his harp, and having tuned it, delivered it to Gilbert. Then,
+with scrupulous care, having re-examined his costume, he ascended a
+flight of stairs, escorted by a serf, and ordered Gilbert to follow.
+They were ushered into a spacious room, hung with armor and broidered
+tapestry.
+
+By a blazing fire were seated the baron and Father Omehr, and some paces
+behind them stood several attendants. Sir Sandrit rose and saluted the
+minstrel with much courtesy, and bade him warm himself at the genial
+hearth. Humbert received the baron's congratulations without
+embarrassment, and pledged his health in a brimming bowl. While the
+minnesinger and the noble were exchanging compliments, Gilbert kept a
+respectful distance, supporting the harp. He feared to look at the
+missionary, who sat, evidently little concerned about Ailred of Zurrich,
+wrapped in meditation. His heart had grown cold when, on entering the
+room, as he glanced around, he missed the Lady Margaret. Was she sick?
+Was the prophecy to be so swiftly consummated? He maintained his
+position unnoticed, save by the domestic who offered him wine, until the
+diligent seneschal had spread a long table, which soon presented a most
+tempting appearance. Venison, boar's flesh, fish, fowl, pastries of
+various kinds, and generous bowls of wine, proclaimed the hospitality of
+the proud baron. Father Omehr blessed the board, but declined
+participating in the repast.
+
+Sir Sandrit forced the troubadour to sit at his side, while Gilbert
+occupied a seat at the lower end of the table, among the dependents of
+the house; for the arrival of a minstrel was one of those momentous
+occasions when the lord of the fee welcomed his retainers to his own
+board, and extended equal favor and protection to the highest and the
+lowest. Humbert's animation increased as the sumptuous meal progressed,
+while his naturally brilliant qualities, and a remarkable fund of wit
+and anecdote, so fascinated the baron that he was wholly absorbed in the
+charming Ailred. Gilbert sat silent and watchful, eating just enough to
+avoid observation. When the banquet was drawing to a close, the Lady
+Margaret entered the room, and glided to a seat beside the priest. The
+blood rushed to Gilbert's face with such a burning thrill, that he bent
+his head to hide his confusion. He trembled in the violence of his
+smothered emotion. It was some minutes before he dared to look up. Her
+face was exposed to his gaze, and he could see every feature distinctly.
+She was still the same--ay, more than the same--she was lovelier than
+ever. Regardless of discovery, he fixed his eyes upon the apparition
+that had haunted him so long, and was only recalled to a sense of his
+position by a loud call from the baron for the harp.
+
+As he carried the instrument to the spot indicated by Ailred, the baron
+presented the minstrel to his daughter. Humbert behaved with becoming
+reverence. He took his station a few feet from the table, between Sir
+Sandrit and his daughter, and began to prelude with decision and great
+sweetness. Gilbert stood behind him, with his back to the baron and his
+face to the Lady Margaret. Humbert, emboldened by his reception, and
+perhaps inspirited by the wine, sounded the chords with admirable
+effect; and when the expectation of the audience was at the highest, he
+introduced a beautiful ballad, and raising his voice, sang the praises
+of Rodolph of Suabia. The baron and all his followers were listening
+intently to the minstrel, as, with a heaving breast and flashing eye, he
+recited the glory of Suabia and of her majestic duke. Even Father Omehr
+was carried away by the excited Humbert. But Gilbert's eyes and soul
+were riveted upon the Lady Margaret. What was the strain to him? he
+heard it not. The violent hopes and fears that had alternately shaken
+him, had given way to a silent rapture; the unnatural tension of his
+nerves was relaxed, and in spite of all his efforts, the tears gleamed
+in his eyes. When the lay was over, the room resounded with loud
+praises, and the baron threw a chain of gold around the minstrel's neck.
+
+At this moment Margaret encountered Gilbert's eyes; she reddened with
+anger at first, but almost instantaneously became pale as death. Gilbert
+saw that he was recognized--he bent his head upon his breast, and
+prepared for the worst. But so completely had Humbert engrossed all
+eyes, that the maiden's agitation was not observed. She had penetrated
+the youth's disguise, and the discovery stunned her. She was bewildered,
+and could not determine what course to pursue. Humbert sounded his harp
+again, and began a wild romance. Concealing her agitation, she
+endeavored during the song to collect her thoughts. What embarrassed her
+most, was to divine whether Gilbert's purpose in his mad visit were
+hostile or merely a piece of bravado. But she resolved to take no step
+without mature reflection. She was deliberating whether she could
+communicate her secret to Father Omehr, without so surprising him as to
+excite remark, when he rose and left the room.
+
+The Lady Margaret was detained to hear some verses improvised to
+herself, which she rewarded with a slight token; she then withdrew,
+without raising her eyes to Gilbert. After she had disappeared, the
+baron dismissed the guests and retained the minstrel. Seizing this
+opportunity, Humbert told Gilbert he might retire until he was called,
+and the youth passed out, leaving behind only a few favorite retainers
+with Sir Sandrit and the minnesinger. As the door closed behind him,
+Gilbert found himself in a long and dimly lighted corridor. He saw a
+black figure enter at the other end--it was Father Omehr.
+
+"It rains too hard at present to venture out," said the priest, in
+passing, and he re-entered the hall to wait till the gust had exhausted
+itself.
+
+Gilbert wandered along the arched gallery without any definite aim, yet
+expecting to see the Lady Margaret start from some secret niche.
+Suddenly his cloak was pulled so sharply, that he grasped his sword,
+which he had been prudent enough to conceal beneath the ample folds of
+his gown. As he turned, he saw a woman with her finger on her lips, but
+it was not the Lady Margaret: that shrivelled face and curved back
+belonged to Linda. The old neif, after thus enjoining silence, made a
+gesture for the youth to follow, and shuffled noiselessly before him.
+Gilbert's heart was well-nigh bursting with anxiety as they strode
+along. When they reached the point where the corridor branched off into
+many smaller passages, Linda entered one that opened through a
+sharp-arched door upon the top of a battlemented tower. The youth felt
+relieved by the cold, damp wind that drove through the aperture against
+his burning cheeks. As they reached a recess near the tower, Linda
+stopped and leaned against a buttress with her arms crossed on her
+breast. At this moment, Gilbert became aware of the presence of a third
+figure, muffled from head to foot in a mantle of fur; he felt that the
+Lady Margaret stood before him, but all his gallant resolutions melted
+away, and he remained mute and motionless, powerless to speak or act.
+Apparently unconscious of Gilbert's presence, the lady stepped within
+the recess and knelt before a statue of the _Mater Dolorosa_; the youth
+was awed and abashed: he began to consider his daring adventure an
+unwarrantable intrusion; he meditating kissing the hem of her garment
+and retiring with all his love unspoken. In the midst of his suspense
+Margaret arose and confronted him; her manner was formal and dignified
+without being cold or stern.
+
+"Are you Gilbert de Hers?" she said, in an undertone, but her voice was
+firm and clear.
+
+Gilbert bowed, but made no other reply.
+
+"What is your motive in coming here?" pursued the maiden, still calmly.
+
+The youth was silent, his eyes fixed on the pavement.
+
+"Why have you come so mysteriously--in such a strange disguise?"
+
+But still no answer came.
+
+"Are you here," continued his fair questioner, with more emphasis, "on a
+hostile mission? Are you seeking vengeance on our house by stealth? Are
+you engaged in the prosecution of some criminal vow to injure us? Speak!
+Have you come to draw blood?"
+
+"No, no!" muttered Gilbert, finding voice at last; "I bear your house no
+enmity."
+
+"Beware!" said the lady. "Remember that for years you have been our
+professed and bitter enemy."
+
+"I was your enemy. I solemnly declare myself one no longer."
+
+"Then what has impelled you to this step? Is it an idle curiosity--a
+mere piece of bravado?" Gilbert made no reply.
+
+"Is the object of your visit fulfilled? If so, fly at once! Your life is
+in danger--you cannot long escape detection--it is dangerous to tempt my
+father. Go! you will find none else here to listen to your denial of an
+inimical intent in this reckless deception."
+
+"My object is but half fulfilled!" exclaimed the youth, throwing himself
+at the Lady Margaret's feet.
+
+It would argue a poor knowledge of the quick apprehension of woman, to
+say that the maiden was entirely unprepared for such a movement; but the
+suddenness of the demonstration made her start. Gilbert's embarrassment
+had disappeared in his fervor. He no longer stammered and stuttered,
+but with unhesitating eloquence went through that ancient but ever fresh
+story, found in the mouths of all suitors in all ages. Linda stood with
+her eyes and mouth distended, looking as though she had been petrified
+just as she was about to scream. It was rather a poor omen for Gilbert
+that Margaret should have turned to the old servant, who had advanced a
+pace, and calmly motioned her back to her corner. The daughter of
+Stramen listened to Gilbert's passionate professions with the air of one
+who was hearing the same vows, from the same person, under similar
+circumstances for the second time. She could scarcely have foreseen
+this, but there is no estimating the power of anticipation it is the
+mother of much presence of mind and unpremeditated wit.
+
+After reciting the history of his love from its dawn to its zenith,
+Gilbert began to conjure her not to slight his affection, and not to
+permit family prejudices to stand in the way of their union.
+
+"It can never be sufficiently lamented," he said, "that the demon of
+revenge has so long separated our houses, which ought to be united in
+the closest ties of friendship. It is time for us to learn to forgive.
+We have been too long aliens from God, and wedded to our evil passions.
+We must fling aside the scowl of defiance, the angry malediction, the
+sword and the firebrand, and, like Christians and neighbors, contract an
+alliance that may edify as much as our discord has scandalized. I
+conjure you, in the name of the victims already made by our feud--of the
+numbers who must perish by its continuance--in the name of the holy
+Church whose precepts we have disregarded, of the God whose Commandments
+we have violated, not to dismiss me in scorn and anger. I have perilled
+my life, that I might end our enmity in love."
+
+"I am most happy," interposed the Lady Margaret, availing herself of the
+first pause in his rapid utterance, "I am most happy," she repeated, in
+a voice of singular sweetness, "that our enmity may end in love--"
+
+A smile of exultation shot over Gilbert's face, and a sound of joy
+trembled on his lips. This did not escape the maiden, for she instantly
+added:
+
+"But not in the love you propose!"
+
+The light was gone from Gilbert's countenance, and he stared wildly into
+the lovely and mournful face before him.
+
+"Not in the love you propose," she resumed. Hitherto she had spoken
+seriously and without agitation, but now her whole manner was changed.
+Her cheek glowed and her eyes gleamed: a sudden animation appeared in
+every limb. She took a step forward, and bent over the still kneeling
+youth, fixing upon his a steady, penetrating gaze, as though she sought
+to read his inmost soul.
+
+"Tell me, Gilbert de Hers," she said, "do you truly desire peace between
+us?"
+
+"As I live," replied Gilbert, "yes!"
+
+"Do you desire it for the love of God, and because our enmity displeases
+Him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then consecrate yourself to the attainment of that peace! Let no
+selfish motive spur you on! Look to heaven for your recompense, not to
+me I Aspire to eternal favor, not to mortal love! As for me--my days are
+numbered here!--but what remains of life, I devote to the same holy end.
+We will labor together, though apart, in a noble cause--our prayers
+shall be the same--our hopes the same--our actions guided by the same
+resolves! If I should die before our task is done--if my death fail to
+soften my father's heart--falter not in your enterprise! With the grace
+of God, I shall be with you still! Fix your heart _there!_"
+
+Her trembling finger was raised to heaven as she spoke, and in the
+splendor of her pious enthusiasm, she seemed rather the guardian Angel
+of the youth than a daughter of earth.
+
+Gilbert remained as one entranced--he did not even hear the sharp scream
+that burst from Linda, as Bertha, with her hair streaming wildly over
+her face and neck, darted toward them through the corridor, followed by
+a dozen men-at-arms.
+
+"Fly! fly! my lady!" cried the terrified neif, setting the example.
+
+But Margaret remained firm.
+
+"Rise!" she said to Gilbert, who still knelt as if turned to stone.
+Alive to her voice, he sprang to his feet.
+
+"Back!" cried the Lady Margaret to the leader of the party, who was now
+within a few feet of her.
+
+"Pardon me, my lady," said the man, bowing deeply; "your sire has
+commanded us to arrest the harp-bearer."
+
+The maiden reflected an instant, and then said: "Offer him no
+violence--take him before my father--I will accompany you."
+
+Gilbert had drawn his sword, but at a sign from the Lady Margaret,
+replaced it in his belt, and suffered himself to be seized by two of the
+men of Stramen. Margaret led the way along the corridor, followed by
+Bertha, whose voice could be heard at times mingling with the clang of
+the heavy feet that waked a hundred echoes along the vaulted passage.
+Had Gilbert looked behind him as he left the ravine, he would have seen
+a female figure there--that figure had dogged him ever since. Bertha was
+again his evil spirit: with a peculiar cunning, she had followed him
+unobserved to the interview with the Lady Margaret, and then
+communicated her suspicions by gestures and broken sentences to the
+baron. Scarce knowing whether to credit the confused story of the
+unfortunate woman, Sir Sandrit had ordered Gilbert's arrest, rather to
+get rid of Bertha's importunity than as a prudent or necessary measure.
+When the youth entered the room with Margaret, Bertha, and his armed
+escort, the baron said, without any irritation:
+
+"Is this a Bohemian, my daughter? Has he been telling your fortune?"
+
+But the Lady Margaret was silent.
+
+"Unmuffle that churl," pursued the knight, manifesting some impatience;
+"let us see what lurks beneath that sordid cowl."
+
+"Hold!" cried the youth, arresting the lifted arm of his guard and
+uncovering his head with his own hand. "There is no motive for
+concealment now, sir," he continued, meeting without flinching the
+kindling eye of the baron. "I am Gilbert de Hers!"
+
+At this bold declaration, Sir Sandrit started up, almost livid with
+anger, while the corded veins swelled in his menacing brow; Father Omehr
+clasped his hands, despondingly at first, and then, raising them as if
+in prayer, kept his eye fixed on the baron; the Lady Margaret bent her
+head in deep affliction, and Humbert involuntarily struck his harp. The
+single note sounded like a knell: a death-like silence ensued. Already
+four stalwart soldiers had secured Gilbert's arms, and with determined
+looks they waited but a signal from their chief: still the infuriated
+knight scowled at Gilbert, and still the latter firmly bore the storm.
+
+"To prison with him!" at length exclaimed the baron. "Instant death were
+too good for the designing villain who has stolen like a snake into our
+midst. Away with the deceiver, who would stoop, to seek by a most
+unmanly stratagem the revenge he dared not openly attempt."
+
+"The bravest of your name," retorted Gilbert, "has not yet dared to set
+foot within my father's halls."
+
+"Because we murder not by stealth!" shouted Sir Sandrit, stung by the
+sarcasm.
+
+"I meant no murder in coming here!"
+
+"Aha! you find it easy to disguise your designs as well as your person!"
+
+"I came to renounce the foe at your daughter's feet, and tell her that I
+loved her. I have done so--do your worst!"
+
+While the youth was speaking, the maddened baron snatched a heavy mace
+from a man who stood by. Already the ponderous mass quivered in his
+powerful grasp, when his daughter, with a piercing shriek, threw herself
+upon his arm. After a vain effort to free himself, the ready knight
+seized the weapon with his left hand, and with wonderful adroitness and
+strength prepared for the blow. But the baron's arm was again arrested.
+Between the chieftain and the motionless object of his wrath stood
+Father Omehr. The mace must crush that majestic forehead, that
+benevolent eye, must steep those venerable hairs in blood, before it can
+reach the unfortunate Gilbert. Calm, but stern, the missionary, stood,
+superior to the frenzy of the noble.
+
+"Forbear! In the name of God I command you--forbear!" Such was his
+exclamation, as, with one arm outstretched, he opposed his hand to the
+mace.
+
+"Tempt me not!" cried the baron, growing pale, and stamping in his rage.
+
+"Tempt not your God!" returned the fearless priest.
+
+"Stand aside! Beware! You shelter a miscreant!"
+
+"Beware yourself of the fiend at your heart!" replied the old man,
+maintaining his perilous position.
+
+"Think not to thwart me always," resumed Sir Sandrit. "I have too long
+permitted your interference. Again and again have you thrust yourself
+between me and the objects of my wrath! You have ever sided with my
+inferiors--protected my serfs, and insulted their master."
+
+"I have sided with mercy and with your better nature. You are a demon
+now--and seek what, if obtained, would make you even loathe yourself,
+and would, in the pure eye of God--"
+
+A shrill blast of a bugle sounded at the castle gate.
+
+"The duke! the duke!" exclaimed the Lady Margaret, throwing her arms
+around her father's neck.
+
+The mace was still uplifted, the priest was still before it, Gilbert was
+still pinioned by the men of Stramen, and all was silent as the tomb,
+when Rodolph and Henry entered the room.
+
+"Did you listen to that minion, Margaret?" said the baron to his
+daughter, without seeming to notice the presence of the duke.
+
+"It is because she gave me no hope," interposed Gilbert, "that I am
+indifferent to your anger."
+
+Rodolph, perceiving the difficulty at a glance, put his arm in his angry
+baron's and led him aside, while Henry advanced to his sister. After a
+long and vehement discussion, the King of Arles left the knight standing
+with his arms folded on his breast and his back to the group, and
+released Gilbert from the close grasp of his captors.
+
+"Come with me," he said, in a whisper.
+
+"Where?" inquired Gilbert.
+
+"To the other side of the drawbridge?"
+
+"But--I cannot leave Humbert," said the youth, pointing to the
+frightened minnesinger.
+
+"He shall go with you--they care not for him."
+
+At a beck from the duke, Humbert was at his side. "Follow me," said
+Rodolph.
+
+But Gilbert lingered a moment to press Father Omehr's hand to his lips,
+and then the three passed silently, out of the apartment. They soon
+gained the terrace, where, to his surprise, Gilbert found his own
+horses that had been tied in the ravine. Bertha had brought them there.
+The two adventurers were conducted by the duke beyond the castle bounds.
+The clouds had passed away, and the moon and stars shone brightly.
+
+"Away now!" cried the hero of Hohenburg.
+
+Bidding the noble duke an affectionate farewell, Gilbert and his
+follower sprang to the saddle and galloped off. But the adventures of
+the night were not yet over. Hardly had they passed the ravine, before
+Humbert's quick ear detected the tramp of a horse behind them.
+
+"Faster!" said Gilbert, putting spurs to the somewhat jaded animal he
+rode.
+
+Faster they went, but the sound came nearer and nearer. Again Gilbert
+urged on his horse, and again the galled creature bounded forward, but
+the pursuing sound came faster than they. Humbert looked behind, and by
+the bright moonlight saw a solitary horseman advancing at a furious
+pace.
+
+"It is but one man," said he.
+
+"So much the worse!" replied the youth, without checking his speed.
+
+"He must overtake us!" continued Humbert; "he gains at every leap!"
+
+It was true. The horseman was almost on them.
+
+"Fly not so fast, gentlemen!" he cried as he came up.
+
+"I knew it was he," muttered Gilbert, halting.
+
+"You have given me some trouble to overtake you!" said Henry of Stramen,
+with a bitter sneer, as he wheeled his swift horse, which had darted
+ahead, and confronted them.
+
+"Had I been well mounted," answered Gilbert, "you should have had your
+trouble in vain!"
+
+"I conjectured as much, from your determined flight," returned Henry.
+
+Gilbert was stung to the quick, but he constrained himself to reply:
+
+"With your permission, sir, we will ride on."
+
+"My permission can only be obtained in one way, and that way should
+already have been embraced by a Suabian noble."
+
+Saying this, the young knight leaped to the ground, and drew his sword.
+
+"You will dismount, I trust!" he continued, as Gilbert sat steadily in
+his saddle.
+
+"No! Let me pass, I entreat you!" said Gilbert, putting his horse in
+motion. But Henry of Stramen, with a sudden spring, caught the reins,
+and forced the animal well-nigh upon his haunches.
+
+"I knew it!" cried Henry, with a bitter laugh. "You took advantage of my
+absence to insult my sister, but I returned too soon for your chivalry.
+Dismount! The truce of God covers not to-day. Dismount! Add not
+cowardice to deceit!"
+
+This was more than Gilbert could bear. Quick as lightning he stood
+beside the challenger. It was but the work of a moment to throw off his
+coarse cloak and draw his sword. Having chosen his position, he awaited
+the assault of his adversary. Humbert looked on in breathless interest,
+while the two young nobles fought in the moonlight. For some minutes
+Gilbert maintained his ground, despite the furious efforts of his
+assailant. There was a strong contrast between the desperate energy of
+Henry and the calm courage of Gilbert. But at length the latter began to
+recede rapidly down a gentle slope. His antagonist recklessly pursued.
+The motive of Gilbert's retreat soon became evident. Henry's foot
+slipped on the long grass, slimy from the recent rain, and he fell at
+full length upon the ground. Before he could rise, Gilbert had mounted
+the far fleeter steed of his opponent.
+
+"Return, coward! and see if chance will save you again!" shouted Henry,
+as he gained his feet.
+
+"Your sister has saved you once, and she shall save you again!" answered
+Gilbert; and, without regarding the denunciations of the knight of
+Stramen, he called to Humbert, and resuming the road to Hers, was soon
+out of hearing of Henry's threats.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+  No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
+  Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
+  The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
+  Become them with one half so good a grace
+  As mercy does.
+
+  MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
+
+The sentence pronounced at Rome against Henry IV of Austria spread
+consternation wherever it went; the resolute prepared for instant
+action, and the timid looked in vain for a peaceful asylum. There could
+be no neutrality, since not to serve the king was to serve his
+antagonist. Throughout the empire the stern challenge was ringing: "Are
+you for the Pope or for the king?" The gay and reckless champions of the
+court, the knights of the house of Franconia, and many a bold
+adventurer, crowded around the royal banner. Many a haughty prelate,
+too, seduced by avarice or ambition, urged on the monarch in his mad
+career.
+
+But the enterprise of Rodolph and the Lord of Hers had been most happily
+timed, and the chivalry of Suabia were prepared to follow their martial
+duke at a moment's warning. That warning followed shortly after the date
+of the last chapter. Gilbert had gained his chamber as the morn was
+breaking, and had hardly time to review the exciting events of the
+night, before an attendant announced his father's arrival. The Lord of
+Hers had reached Zurich on his return, just as the tidings from Rome had
+been received; and without pausing an instant, he hurried across the
+lake to convey the intelligence to the King of Arles. The baron was
+himself too much excited with the momentous results at last developed,
+and the still more momentous sequel already shadowed forth in the
+uncertain future, to remark the nervous and somewhat jaded appearance of
+his son. His first words, after hastily embracing Gilbert, were:
+
+"Where is the duke?"
+
+"At Stramen Castle," replied the youth.
+
+"When did he arrive?"
+
+"Last night," answered Gilbert, without reflecting that he was, as
+effectually as possible, giving his father a clue to his hare-brained
+expedition with Humbert. It was well for him that the baron was too well
+satisfied with the information to inquire how it had been obtained; for,
+incapable of deceiving his parent, he would have been compelled, very
+reluctantly, to submit a brief account of his connection with Ailred of
+Zurich, the minnesinger. A chilly anticipation of the question struck
+him, just as the words escaped his lips, and his cheek tingled as the
+blood came creeping against it. But, to his great relief, his father,
+without noticing his confusion, turned to a soldier who stood behind
+him, and thus addressed him:
+
+"Mount your best horse and ride for life and limb to Stramen Castle!
+Here!" continued the baron, taking a fold of parchment from his breast,
+as the man, prompt to obey without question or hesitation, bowed and
+was going; "this for his highness, the King of Arles. Guard it with your
+life from the enemies of the duke, and if you meet the serfs of Stramen,
+proclaim your errand. Away! spare neither spur nor rein!" cried the
+knight, as the man dashed fearlessly down the hill.
+
+Rodolph of Suabia was scarcely less anxious to see the Lord of Hers,
+than the latter had been to acquaint the duke with Gregory's rigorous
+measures. He felt assured that the infamous conventicle at Worms must
+have been already met by the Pope, and he thirsted for news from Rome.
+He knew that the Lord of Hers would be first in possession of the facts,
+from his position along the Rhine; and anxious not to lose a moment in
+executing his plans, which were to be regulated by the action of the
+Holy See, he could scarcely be prevailed upon to defer till daylight his
+return to Zurich by the Castle of Hers.
+
+The baron's envoy had not accomplished half the distance between the
+rival castles, before he met the duke, unattended, as was his wont,
+bearing rapidly down upon him. He was no stranger to the lordly bearing
+of the duke, for he had watched him in battle, when the strife was
+warmest and the fight most dubious. The moment he recognized him, he
+sprang from his horse, and uncovering his head and kneeling down,
+presented the parchment as Rodolph advanced. Without dismounting, the
+duke received the missive, and eagerly unrolling it, began to read. The
+instrument contained a narrative of the proceedings of the council and a
+transcript of the sentence of excommunication. The noble's eagle eye
+flashed at it scanned the page, and his broad bosom heaved. He struck
+his breast in his excitement, and brandishing the parchment in the air,
+exclaimed aloud, in a deep, tremulous voice: "Well done, thou noble
+Pontiff! Now, my brother Henry, the time has come, and heaven be the
+judge between us!"
+
+With these meaning words Rodolph galloped on, unmindful of the soldier
+behind him. Yet it would seem he had not entirely forgotten the
+messenger, for when alighting at the Castle of Hers, he threw the man a
+largess such as had never fallen to his lot before.
+
+The duke could not but smile when he saw Gilbert, and taking him aside,
+he whispered in his ear: "You will soon have an opportunity to display
+upon the battle-field the gallantry of the Bohemian harp-bearer, and to
+couch a lance for Suabia and the Lady Margaret!"
+
+"But how can I thank you for--"
+
+"Thank that generous priest and that noble girl!" said Rodolph,
+interrupting the youth; "I ran no risk in interposing: the Baron of
+Stramen was but cancelling an old debt; I intercepted a battle-axe that
+was descending upon him at Hohenburg, and I asked mercy for you, in
+requital."
+
+After a long interview, the duke and Albert of Hers resolved to assemble
+the chiefs of the ducal party at Ulm, and to fix the fifteenth of
+October for a general meeting, at Tribur, of all who would take up arms
+against the king.
+
+While the Lord of Hers was engaged in persuading the Duke of Bohemia and
+the bishops of Wuertzburg and Worms to repair to Ulm without delay,
+Gilbert was polishing his armor and exercising his barb. The stirring
+spirit of the times, the approaching honors of knighthood, with a golden
+chance of winning his spurs, assisted in diverting his mind from a
+melancholy contemplation of the hopelessness of his love. But even when
+brandishing his stout lance, or wheeling his good war-horse, he would
+hear those withering words: "_The grave will anticipate her choice!_"
+followed by the fatal echo which came from her own lips, in solemn
+confirmation of the prophecy: "_My days are numbered here!_" Nor could
+the dazzling dreams of young ambition shut out the still more delicious
+sight of the Lady Margaret, now kneeling before the _Mater Dolorosa_,
+now appealing to him with the pure emotion and wondrous beauty of an
+Angel, and now clinging to her father between him and the battle-axe.
+
+While the stern Sandrit de Stramen was preparing his vassals for the
+impending strife, and literally converting the scythe into the
+sword--while he spared no expense or trouble in supplying his men with
+arms and horses, all gayly decorated to make a gallant show at
+Tribur--while the sturdy yeomen were leaving their ploughs in the field
+to pay their rent by the service of shield and sword--the Lady Margaret,
+uninfluenced by the war-like bustle, calmly pursued her meditations, her
+daily visits to the church, and her numberless acts of charity. She had
+a delicate and difficult duty to perform in soothing the proud mind of
+her brother, stung to the quick by his unlucky encounter with Gilbert.
+The young knight of Stramen was panting for an opportunity to retrieve
+his misfortune and wipe out his fancied disgrace. When in conversation
+with his sister, to whom he would outpour his passionate impulses, he
+pledged himself over and over again to bring the daring stripling to his
+knee, who had dared to insult her in his absence. To his fiery threats,
+Margaret would offer no direct opposition, for she feared to awaken an
+easily excited suspicion that she sympathized far too warmly with the
+culprit. This suspicion would have paralyzed her influence. She
+contented herself with pointing out the impossibility of settling a
+domestic quarrel at the present moment, and the imperative duty of
+considering rather the public weal than the gratification of a private
+inclination. And at times, when Henry appeared more tractable, and when,
+moved by her tender affection and earnest discourse, he exhibited a
+disposition more closely resembling her own, she would suggest what a
+nobler and better revenge it would be to seek an opportunity of saving
+Gilbert's life in the coming struggle. Henry's chivalrous nature was
+easily attracted by this suggestion, and he determined to prove his
+superiority over his rival, before attempting his ultimate revenge.
+
+Father Omehr's duties increased as the fifteenth of October approached.
+The yeomen and vassals of Stramen recked little of their bodies, but
+they cared not to peril their souls. They feared not to expose their
+breasts to the arrow and lance, and to meet the powerful war-horse with
+unflinching spear; but they were solicitous, at the same time, to purify
+their hearts for the mortal struggle. This wise precaution indicates no
+craven spirit, for he who fears eternity the most, fears death the
+least. The good missionary beheld with a mournful eye the preparations
+everywhere making for a struggle apparently inevitable. He shared not in
+the ambition of Rodolph or the ardor of his barons; and he bitterly
+lamented the dire necessity which compelled blessed peace to disappear
+beneath the withering breath of war. Yet war seemed to be the
+unavoidable result of the excommunication, and the action of the Pope
+was necessary to preserve the purity and liberty of the Church. Deeply
+as he deplored the present crisis, he exclaimed, "Thy will, O God, be
+done! We have done what seemed to be our duty, be the consequences what
+they may!"
+
+The empire was thus divided into two great parties. At first the
+partisans of the king were much more numerous and powerful, but their
+strength was daily diminishing, as conscience began to operate upon
+some, and fear upon others. The most marked and appalling chastisement
+was overtaking the fiercest calumniators of the Pope. It happened that,
+on a certain festival, the Bishop William, in the presence of the king,
+interrupted the Mass by a violent denunciation of the Pope, in which he
+called him an adulterer and false apostle, and assailed him with bitter
+raillery. Hardly had the ceremonies been concluded before the episcopal
+slanderer was struck down with a fatal malady. In the midst of the most
+excruciating torments of mind and body, he turned to the minions of
+Henry who surrounded him, and cried: "Go, tell the king, that he, and I,
+and all who have connived at his guilt, are lost for eternity!" The
+clerks at his bedside conjured him not to rave in that manner; but he
+replied, "And why shall I not reveal what is clear to my soul? Behold
+the demons clinging to my couch, to possess themselves of my soul the
+moment it leaves my body. I entreat you--you, and all the faithful, not
+to pray for me after my death!" With this he died in despair. The same
+day, the cathedral of Utrecht, in which he had preached, and the royal
+pavilion, were suddenly consumed by fire from heaven. Burchard, Bishop
+of Misne, Eppo of Ceitz, Henry of Spire, and the Duke Gazelon, were
+successively the victims of sudden and fatal misfortunes. Whatever may
+be the impression produced at the present day, it is certain that these
+examples and a great number of others, struck terror into the partisans
+of the king, and many prelates and priests threw themselves at the feet
+of the Pope and renounced their errors. Thus, Udo, Archbishop of Treves,
+repaired all penitent to Rome, and Herman of Metz began to waver in his
+hitherto steady fidelity to Henry.
+
+While these causes were sapping the imperial power, Henry was
+unexpectedly menaced from another quarter. The two sons of Count Geron,
+William and Thiery, who had for some time secretly cherished the hope of
+regaining the lost freedom of their country, saw in the present
+confusion the moment for which they had sighed. They raised the standard
+of revolt, and were soon at the head of a band of young and noble
+chieftains, whose intrepid bearing and dauntless confidence inspired the
+nation with the desire and the hope of liberty. The escape of the two
+Saxon princes from Henry's hands and their arrival in Saxony gave an
+irresistible impulse to the movement, and the whole circle, animated by
+the same spirit, rose haughtily to throw off the heavy yoke, never
+patiently endured.
+
+Rodolph lost not a moment in concentrating his forces and in profiting
+by this new defection. He had already secured the powerful assistance of
+Berthold of Carinthia and Welf of Bavaria, and could now oppose to the
+emperor the formidable league of Suabia, Carinthia, Bavaria, and a
+portion of Lombardy. His policy evidently was to conciliate the Saxons,
+and he deemed their impiety sufficiently chastised at Hohenburg. He took
+care to assure them that so far from having anything to apprehend from
+his opposition to their enterprise, they might rely upon his assistance
+and countenance.
+
+Henry had long affected a contempt for the anathemas of Gregory and an
+unconcern he was far from feeling; but this formidable coalition burst
+the shell of his apathy and laid bare his uneasiness. He supplicates his
+nobles in the disaffected provinces to meet him at Mayence; but his
+earnest prayers are disregarded. Finding his advances indignantly
+rejected by the princes of Upper Germany, and seeing that his prelates
+were rapidly deserting him, he addresses himself to the task of
+conciliating the Saxons. He employs every artifice to excite Otto of
+Nordheim against the two sons of Geron--menacing Otto's own sons, whom
+he held as hostages, in case the father refused. But the noble Saxon
+replied, that he would stand or fall by his country. Though signally
+foiled in all his schemes, Henry was still at the head of a numerous and
+veteran army, and he boldly advanced upon the marches of the Misne, to
+give battle to the sons of Geron. The Saxons did not wait an attack, but
+sallied forth to meet the monarch. The Mulda, swollen with the recent
+rains, alone separated the hostile armies, when the king, seized with a
+sudden panic, ordered a hasty retreat, and fell back upon Worms, where
+he gave himself up to a lively regret and the gloomiest forebodings.
+
+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 quaerimus 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.
+
+There were some who regretted this peaceful result, among whom the stern
+Baron of Stramen was conspicuous for his open denunciation of the treaty
+nor could the polished Lord of Hers conceal his contempt for a
+compromise, which threw away a present advantage, in consideration of
+the fear-extorted oath of a perjured debauchee. Rodolph himself deeply
+regretted that the Pope would not consent to crown him king, a
+consummation he required before acting against his brother, lest he
+should be branded as a rebel. Even Gilbert and Henry of Stramen were
+crestfallen in the blight of all their budding hopes. Of all our Suabian
+friends, Father Omehr was the only one who rejoiced in this amicable
+termination of the council, and who devoutly returned thanks to God for
+averting a direful war, and proclaiming, in the favorite language of
+heaven, "_Pax fiat!_"
+
+During two months and a half, Henry buried himself in solitude at Spire.
+Rodolph remained watchful and expectant, now at Zurich, and now in
+Saxony. All was calm in the lordships of Hers and Stramen. The Lady
+Margaret was lamenting the absence of Father Omehr, who had been
+summoned to Rome, and whose missionary duties were performed by the
+pious Herman.
+
+The year of grace was drawing to a close, and the proud baron began to
+hope that the emperor would permit it to pass without observing the
+stipulation in the treaty to repair to Rome and ask pardon of the Pope.
+The new year had begun, and January was half over when the King of Arles
+was startled with the intelligence that Henry had purchased from
+Adelaide, the widow of the Margrave Otho, a free passage into Italy,
+and, in spite of snow and ice, had crossed the Alps, and was approaching
+the fortress of Canossa, whither Gregory had retired. At first it was
+rumored that the monarch had gone to depose the Pope, and the Duke of
+Suabia secretly exulted in the prospect of instant action. But it was
+soon ascertained that Henry presented himself in the character of a
+suppliant, and the result of his application was awaited with breathless
+interest.
+
+Early in the spring of 1077, toward the close of a cold, bright day,
+Rodolph was seated in his palace at Zurich, surrounded by Albert of Hers
+and Gilbert, on one side, and on the other, by Sandrit and Henry of
+Stramen. This strange meeting, though unexpected and unwelcome to the
+hostile knights, was designed by Rodolph, who thought that by thus
+accustoming them to restrain their passions in his presence, and by
+distinguishing them with equal confidence, aid praising both sides in
+equal measure, he might control, in some degree, the antipathies he
+could not entirely subdue. But the barons maintained a stern, unyielding
+reserve, and Gilbert studiously avoided the disdainful gaze of Henry of
+Stramen. The lamps were scarcely lighted when a messenger from Rome was
+announced, and the next moment Father Omehr entered the room.
+
+The nobles rose, and, greeting the venerable missionary respectfully and
+affectionately, conducted him to a seat, and gathered about him. When
+the attendants had been dismissed, and the duke invited him to proceed,
+Father Omehr thus began to describe the interview between the Pope and
+the king, to which he had been an eye-witness:
+
+"I had the happiness to be with His Holiness when Henry was conducted by
+the noisy populace to the walls of Canossa; and though we knew not with
+any certainty whether the king's intentions were inimical or friendly, I
+could discover in the Pontiff's placid face neither hope nor fear. The
+first prayer presented by the royal suppliant, ascribed ambition and
+envy to the leaders of the coalition against him."
+
+"Tyrant!" interposed the Lord of Hers, "he begins his penitence by a
+calumny."
+
+"Our Holy Father only replied," continued the priest, "that the
+ecclesiastical law did not permit him to judge the accused in the
+absence of his accusers; and invited him, since he confided in his
+innocence, to meet his accusers at Augsburg, and abide by the Papal
+decision."
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed Rodolph, eagerly. "And what said the king?"
+
+"That the anniversary of his excommunication was approaching, and that
+unless the interdict were raised, his rights to the crown would be
+forfeited. Should the Pope receive him to favor at once, he promised to
+submit to whatever His Holiness might subsequently decree, and answer
+his accusers at Augsburg."
+
+"Artful villain!" ejaculated Albert of Hers.
+
+"But His Holiness remained inflexible," resumed the missionary. "At
+last, moved by the prayers and tears of those around him, he permitted
+Henry to approach him, to prove his penitence and atone for his contempt
+of the Holy See. The prince delayed not to avail himself of this grace;
+and the next morning presented himself at the inner gate of the castle,
+barefoot and in sackcloth, where he remained, fasting, from daybreak to
+sunset. This he repeated the second and the third day."
+
+"Oh that I had seen him in that saintly guise!" cried the duke, with a
+short, disdainful laugh, while he rubbed his hands, and pressed the
+floor with his iron heel.
+
+"Consummate hypocrite!" said the Lord Albert.
+
+"Coward!" muttered the Baron of Stramen.
+
+"I think I can hear his piteous cries now," continued Father Omehr,
+endeavoring to excite their compassion, "put forth at intervals:
+'_Parce, beate Pater, pie, parce mihi, peto, plane!_'"
+
+But the nobles only expressed extreme disgust.
+
+"Finally," proceeded the priest, "the supplications of the saintly
+countess, Matilda, and of many holy men, induced our good Father to
+raise the anathema on these conditions, proposed to the king, still
+barefoot and numbed with cold."
+
+A deathlike silence prevailed as the missionary began the enumeration:
+
+"That Henry should appear at Augsburg--that the Pope should be the
+judge--that he should submit without resistance to the decision--that he
+should banish the excommunicated bishops and favorites--and if one of
+these conditions were violated, that his guilt would be deemed
+established, and the princes of the empire at liberty to elect another
+king."
+
+The knights still sat in silence, as if spell-bound, while Father Omehr
+calmly went on with his narrative:
+
+"The monarch swore to observe the compact inviolably. But to give
+additional solemnity to the oath, the Pontiff, while celebrating the
+Mass that followed the reconciliation, turned from the altar, and thus
+addressed the king: 'Do, if it please you, my son, as you have seen me
+do. The German princes are continually charging you with crimes for
+which they demand an interdict over you for life, not only from the
+seals of royalty, but from all communion with the Church or society.
+They demand your immediate condemnation; but you know the uncertainty of
+human judgments. Do, then, as I advise you, and if you are conscious of
+innocence, rid the Church of this scandal and yourself of these
+imputations! Receive this other half of the Host, that this proof of
+your innocence may silence your enemies, and I pledge myself to be your
+best champion in appeasing your barons and in arresting this civil
+war!'"
+
+"And Henry?--" whispered Rodolph, trembling with excitement.
+
+"Recoiled from a proof so terrible," answered the missionary.
+
+The duke still occupied his chair, with his forehead knit, and his arms
+folded on his breast, but the Lord of Hers sprang to his feet and began
+to pace the room, and the Baron of Stramen brought his battle-axe
+heavily against the floor.
+
+"Tell me," said Albert of Hers, addressing Father Omehr, "did not the
+Pope revoke his pardon at this evident insincerity?"
+
+"No," was the reply.
+
+"Then, may God forgive me," returned the excited knight, "but the mercy
+of His Holiness sounds like human folly!"
+
+"It is weakness--cowardice!" muttered the Baron of Stramen.
+
+The missionary smiled at cowardice in connection with the name of
+Gregory VII.
+
+A bright smile now began to break over Rodolph's face, and he said,
+turning to his friends:
+
+"My gallant knights, this is but an expedient of the king's to gain
+time, he will never confront us at Augsburg. We must prepare for a
+struggle more desperate than ever, and, before another day, I must set
+out for Saxony."
+
+The prophecy of the King of Arles was soon verified. For five days after
+leaving Canossa, Henry kept his oath; on the sixth he broke it, and,
+with an armed band, prevented the Pope from appearing among the princes
+at the Diet of Augsburg.
+
+Before another week had passed, the lordships of Hers and Stramen seemed
+almost deserted. Rodolph had passed into Saxony, to assemble an army
+there, leaving Welf, the Duke of Bavaria, and the Lord Albert, to
+collect the forces of Suabia. Rodolph had taken with him the Baron of
+Stramen, with his son, and Gilbert de Hers. Father Omehr, who had been
+secretly charged by the Pope to moderate the zeal of the King of Arles,
+had also followed the duke, commuting his flock and the Lady Margaret to
+the care of Herman. It was with a heavy heart that Gilbert saw the
+towers of Stramen fading in the distance, and felt that he was leaving,
+perhaps forever, a being to whom he was so deeply attached, without a
+word, a glance, or even a look. He had, however, evinced his solicitude
+for the Lady Margaret's welfare by solemnly charging Humbert to watch
+over her in his absence and protect her with his life.
+
+The knights and burghers of Suabia were now assembling at Ulm. Scarce a
+man could be seen between the Danube and the Lake of Constance: mothers
+were working in the fields, with their children about them, and here and
+there some old or infirm vassal was seated at his cabin door. Little did
+the Lady Margaret dream, as she gazed from her lattice over the
+beautiful country, dipping down into the river, dotted all over with
+thriving cottages, from which the quiet smoke of peace was
+curling--little did she think, as she watched the green fields
+struggling through the melting snow, and fixed her eyes upon the Church
+of the Nativity, how soon those Cottages would flame, those fields be
+red with human gore, and that church be polluted by a hireling soldiery.
+Little did she think, when praying for the safety of her father and
+brother, that her own paternal castle would be the first victim of the
+war.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+  The wild dog
+  Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent.
+  O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
+
+  HENRY IV.
+
+Shut out from Augsburg by the treachery of the emperor, Gregory VII
+retired to Canossa, where he resolved to let the affairs of Germany
+shape themselves for a time, while he awaited a more favorable moment
+for action. Nor was his gigantic mind occupied with Germany alone, and
+the movements there which menaced his life and the liberty and purity of
+the Church. Dalmatia, Poland, and England claimed his constant
+attention. With the most powerful monarch in Europe plotting his
+downfall, he contrived to win the love and obedience of Zwonomir, to
+force the rebellious Boleslaus from his throne, and to purify England
+still more from simony and incontinency.
+
+As Henry's submission to the Pope had disgusted the bold who were ready
+to assist him, and repelled the timid who waited but a second call, so
+his shameless perjury and fearless defiance of Gregory at Augsburg
+reassembled his professional adherents, and inspired with new courage
+those who secretly clung to his cause. The mitres of Luinar, Benno,
+Burchardt of Lausanne, and Eppo of Ceitz again sparkled around him, and
+Eberhard, Berthold, and Ulric of Cosheim displayed their lances to
+confirm his resolution. In every country and in every age there must
+exist a large and powerful party prone to pleasure and license, which is
+easily arrayed against virtue, when the indulgence of their criminal
+passions is threatened. This party is ever formidable, especially when
+supported by a powerful king, nobly descended, and legally invested with
+the crown. A natural sympathy, too, had been awakened for the emperor,
+as numbed with cold he besought the pity of the Pontiff; and, with
+proverbial fickleness, men, in ascribing humility to the king, imputed
+arrogance to the Pope. Owing to these causes, it was not long before
+Henry found himself stronger than ever. Inflamed with new ardor, he
+loudly lamented his submission at Canossa, and cursing the hours of
+misery passed there, swore speedy vengeance against the presumptuous son
+of Bonizo the carpenter.
+
+Rodolph had no sooner reached Forchheim, than it was announced that a
+general diet would be held there for the discussion of matters of vital
+importance to the Church and State, with the suggestion that the absence
+of the king would facilitate their deliberations. The Count Mangold de
+Veringen was despatched to the Pope, inviting him to sanction the diet
+by his presence, to aid them by his wisdom and intrepidity, and to take
+the helm of the tempest-tossed vessel of state. He was also commissioned
+to inform His Holiness of their determination to elect a new king. The
+Pope, in reply, conjured them not to be precipitate, and to wait his
+arrival before they acted.
+
+There was one feature in the proposed diet to which Gregory
+objected--the attempted exclusion of Henry from any participation in it.
+This he endeavored to remedy by obtaining a promise from the emperor to
+attend the meeting in person. It was partly to avoid the appearance of
+partiality, but principally in the hope of reconciling the angry
+factions, that the Pope requested the presence of his unscrupulous
+antagonist. Henry not only recoiled from his engagement, but, by
+blocking up all the avenues to Forchheim, compelled the Pope to remain
+at Carpineta, unable either to enter Germany or return to Rome.
+
+Bernard, cardinal deacon, Bernard, Abbe of St. Victor, and the
+celebrated Guimond, the Papal legates, announced to the confederates the
+desire of His Holiness that they should wait his arrival. But the
+assembled nobles dreaded the least delay. Already their cause was
+weakened by indecision, and a hostile army was in the field, receiving
+daily accessions. Though May had been fixed for the opening of the diet,
+so great was the impatience of Rodolph and his barons, that it was
+concluded in the middle of March. No sooner had the legates delivered
+their instructions, than deliberations were virtually begun. The chiefs
+directed all their efforts to induce the legates to sanction the
+election of a king, and confirm their choice. Guimond and his
+companions, faithful to their instructions, replied: "It were far better
+to await the arrival of His Holiness"; but they added, imprudently,
+"that they did not wish to oppose their advice to the wisdom of the
+princes, who knew much better than they what was most conducive to the
+interests of the State." Assuming an implied permission to act from
+these words of courtesy, the nobles proceeded at once to cast their
+votes. A scene of confusion ensued, created by the jarring of private
+interests. These were finally quelled by the interposition of the Papal
+legates, and the balloting proceeded without interruption. The vote of
+the bishops alone remained to be taken. The Archbishop of Mayence rose,
+and exercising his prescriptive title, gave the first voice for Rodolph
+of Suabia. Adalbert and the other bishops followed his example. Otto,
+Welf, Berthold, ranged themselves on the same side, and amid universal
+acclamations Rodolph was proclaimed king.
+
+Something still remained--the Papal confirmation. There were some who
+were sad and mute amid the general rejoicings, and among them was Father
+Omehr. In vain had he implored Rodolph to postpone the session, at least
+until the appointed time would arrive: the King of Arles regarded the
+delay as suicidal. In vain, too, he conjured the legates to refuse their
+approval, at least until May, and begged them, with tears in his eyes,
+not to give the signal for civil war. All the princes and a majority of
+the bishops conceived that the denial of the Apostolic benediction would
+destroy the hopes of the Church party. They beheld in themselves the
+champions of the Church, and identified their own welfare with that of
+the Holy See; they believed that Gregory was only restrained by
+circumstances from granting the prayers of those who had sworn never to
+desert him; they maintained that although the Pope might not have
+permitted the election, he could not refuse to sanction their choice
+after it had been made. Moved by these passionate representations, and,
+perhaps, expecting to please the Sovereign Pontiff, the legates yielded,
+and confirmed the election of Rodolph.
+
+When Rodolph heard that he had been called to the throne he shut himself
+up in his room and sent for Father Omehr. Scarce a minute elapsed before
+the missionary stood at his side. They gazed at each other in silence
+for some moments. The duke's lips were compressed, and his brow gathered
+into a deep frown. Mingled sorrow and hope were portrayed in the
+missionary's face, and his breast heaved with excitement.
+
+"I am king!" said Rodolph, in a whisper, still scanning the priest, as
+though he would read his soul.
+
+"Not yet!" was the reply.
+
+"Who can prevent it?"
+
+"God!"
+
+"Most humbly would I submit to His gracious interposition," said the
+duke, bending his head devoutly; "but can any human power prevent it?"
+
+"Yourself!"
+
+Rodolph buried his face in his hands and with rapid, nervous gestures
+paced up and down the small apartment.
+
+"Hear me!" he exclaimed, suddenly leading Father Omehr to a chair, and
+taking a seat beside him. "Hear me!" he repeated, bending forward until
+his lips almost touched his companion's ear, and the veins swelled in
+his throat and temples:
+
+"I have toiled and sighed and prayed for this! Day after day, night
+after night, for years, this has been the aim of all my actions, ay,
+even the limit of my aspirations. Once to be king--oh! ever since I
+first clutched a lance I panted for it! In love, in sickness, in peace,
+in war, I never forgot that one surpassing object--the crown! Hear me
+on! It is now within my reach--I can touch it--and you ask me to resign
+it?--"
+
+The duke paused a minute, his eagle eye flashing fire; then, with a
+vehemence almost appalling, he resumed: "You ask me to resign it--and I
+_would_, without a pang--gladly, cheerfully--this very instant! Yes--I
+swear to you--here in presence of my Creator, that I no longer covet the
+crown I have well-nigh worshipped; that, but for Germany and the Church,
+I would rather place it on Henry's perjured head than wear it on my
+own!"
+
+"Then you will resign it?" said the missionary, eagerly.
+
+Rodolph slowly shook his head and fixed his eyes upon the floor.
+
+"Let no fears for the Church and your country restrain you," pursued the
+priest; "they both demand your refusal, not your acceptance."
+
+Still Rodolph sternly shook his head.
+
+"Then as you value honor, defer your decision until the appointed
+time--our Holy Father may still be with us--it is treacherous to deprive
+him of the opportunity of interfering, by thus anticipating by a month
+the day on which we invited him to meet us."
+
+"It is too late for interference now," replied the duke, "and of what
+avail is it to pause on the brink when all the avenues from Carpineta
+are closed by Henry's minions?"
+
+"Have confidence, I conjure you," exclaimed the other, passionately, "in
+the virtue and wisdom of His Holiness. Rest assured that he will find
+some means to avert bloodshed and yet preserve his See and the empire."
+
+"War is inevitable!"
+
+"Obey the Pope and trust in God. Beware how you take upon yourself to
+plunge the nation in war--to tear down the sacred barriers of peace--and
+open the floodgates for a thousand evil passions to deluge Germany with
+crime and blood! Can you foresee what may occur--what a month may
+develop--what new political combination the master mind of Gregory may
+devise for our preservation?"
+
+"I must rather beware," returned the noble, "how I sacrifice the last
+hope of my country and the main support of religion by procrastination
+and criminal hesitation. If I refuse the crown, I disband my party. Men
+will leave us, and say we tremble, and before long we are at the tender
+mercies of the tyrant, for my resignation, while striking terror into
+our ranks, will infuse new courage into his. Then would I see my
+allies--the friends whom I seduced into rebellion and then
+abandoned--destroyed in detail--pursued, hunted down, exiled, and
+martyred before my eyes. No! come what may, I must accept."
+
+"What is your situation now," rejoined the missionary, "that you have
+anything else to expect than defeat and disgrace? You know the
+emperor--you have seen his dauntless courage, his consummate skill, his
+desperate resolution. You know that he is at the head of an army more
+numerous and better disciplined than your own. And you must also clearly
+foresee that if the Pope--as he certainly will--shall condemn the policy
+of his legates, your efforts will want the principle of life which alone
+can bless them with success."
+
+"If the prospect now is bad," said Rodolph, solemnly, "delay can only
+make it worse. And I believe that, could His Holiness see what is
+evident to us, he would command me to accept the crown, and place it
+with his own hands upon my head."
+
+"You are mistaken--wofully mistaken, my lord. While a hope of averting
+anarchy and civil war remains, Gregory will not adopt the surest means
+of inflicting both. Trust in God for the future! Do not pursue what to
+the mole-blind vision of humanity seems expedient, when certain
+bloodshed is the result! Humble yourself before Him who alone can exalt
+and lay low! Confide in the efficacy of prayer! Think not that God will
+desert His Church or her champions!"
+
+"I do trust in the future," answered the duke, "but not until I have
+embraced what reason dictates for the present."
+
+"Do you hold your reason more enlightened than that of His Holiness?"
+
+"He cannot see what I see. Urge me no more! It is too late to recede. I
+know well what dangers I incur by accepting the crown--and what disgrace
+I should earn in refusing it. Did I consult my inclinations, I should
+renounce the glittering ornament: but I will not have men to point at me
+covertly, and say, 'He faltered!' I will not endanger the noble barons
+who have devoted themselves to my advancement. If I have sinned in
+alluring them thus far, I will not deepen my guilt by betraying them.
+Though I knew that the crown which I am about to assume were like the
+gift of Medea, I would still set it on my temples: better pay the
+penalty of ambition by advancing than by timidly retreating, when
+boldness may remedy, and retreat is certain death!"
+
+The tread of armed men was heard along the passage, and immediately
+afterward the Count Mangold entered the room.
+
+"The diet awaits your highness' answer," he said, bowing deeply to the
+duke.
+
+"I will follow you," said Rodolph, "and deliver it in person." Saying
+this, he strode proudly from the room, preceded by the count and his
+attendants.
+
+As the door closed behind them, Father Omehr fell upon his knees. He
+knelt there with the tears streaming down his pale cheeks and his hands
+clasped in prayer, until a long loud shout announced Rodolph's
+acceptance. Then the trumpets' merry notes, mingled with the joyful
+clang of arms, went up to heaven together with the missionary's sighs.
+Father Omehr appeared scarcely to hear the martial revelry, but as the
+tumult increased, he rose and glided from the room.
+
+Amid the congratulations of the bishops, nobles, and people, Rodolph
+proceeded in great pomp to Mayence, where he was to be crowned and
+consecrated the following day. It was after nightfall when Rodolph
+reached the palace prepared for his reception; and seizing the first
+moment to escape from the embraces of his friends, he retired early to
+his chambers, accompanied only by Gilbert de Hers. Rodolph had always
+evinced a strong partiality for Gilbert, which the youth repaid by the
+liveliest love and admiration. No sooner were they alone, than the duke
+threw himself dejectedly into a chair, and was soon plunged into a fit
+of gloomy abstraction. Gilbert stood motionless beside him, inwardly
+wondering at the silence and despondency of the man, who, a moment
+before, had been gayly exchanging felicitations with all who approached
+him.
+
+"Sit down, my son," said the duke.
+
+Gilbert mechanically obeyed.
+
+"Do I seem happy?" asked Rodolph.
+
+"No, my lord; are you unwell?"
+
+"Do I seem overwhelmed with joy at my good fortune?"
+
+"Has anything befallen you, sire?" inquired the youth.
+
+"Yes!" cried the monarch-elect, seizing his wrist, "the gratification of
+my ambition!"
+
+Gilbert started at the trembling tones and excited gesture of his
+companion.
+
+"Gilbert," continued the duke, regaining his composure, "you see me in
+possession of all that I ever craved on earth. I am now legally invested
+with the imperial crown. It was not the peaceable enjoyment of the
+throne I asked, but permission to occupy it. I am gratified. With all my
+hopes realized--I never was more miserable than at this moment. I am not
+sad because I feel that my career is drawing to a close--that I shall
+be unsuccessful in the struggle for undisputed power: it is sufficient
+for me that I die a king. I tremble because I have discovered the
+impotence of earthly things to gratify the cravings of an immortal
+soul--because, in finding that I have a capacity of enjoyment not to be
+appeased by the highest dignities on earth, I begin to comprehend my
+immortality. I see what a shadow I have pursued--how madly I have
+neglected eternal happiness for temporal preferment. You, my son, are
+full of earthly hope, dreaming of the Lady Margaret, of minstrels'
+praises, and knightly fame. Do not think me harsh, if I pray God that
+you may speedily know their emptiness. You can never rise as high in
+this mundane atmosphere as I am now; but your soul is as immortal as
+mine, and would sicken over less renown, as I do over this."
+
+Rodolph paused, and Gilbert, struck dumb with surprise, gazed up into
+his face.
+
+"It is late, my son," he resumed, "and we must part. Is there anything
+you would ask before leaving me?"
+
+"There is to be a tournament to-morrow," the youth faltered out.
+
+"And you would take part, in spite of my discourse," said the duke, with
+a smile.
+
+Gilbert's reddening cheeks answered for him.
+
+"I must forbid you to couch lance to-morrow," said Rodolph, tenderly;
+"you shall receive your spurs at my hands when I am king, but let me be
+the judge of the time. And remember, my son," he added, detaining
+Gilbert as the latter was about to retire, "remember what you have seen
+this night. When men shall question my motives, and extol or condemn
+me, you may say that Rodolph of Suabia was inspired by ambition to seek
+the crown, but that when it was within his grasp, he would have turned
+from it in disgust, had not conscience and patriotism compelled him to
+wear it."
+
+As Gilbert, deeply moved, kissed his hand and withdrew, Rodolph retired
+to an oratory into which his apartments opened. He had been there
+engaged in prayer for more than an hour, when the Archbishop of Mayence
+appeared, and, after a brief adoration, entered the confessional. There,
+in the silent hour of midnight, the king knelt before the priest, in
+obedience to the voice of that God who bequeathed us a Church to
+administer the Sacraments which He appointed for our salvation, and
+through which we can only attain it. When Rodolph sat again in his
+chamber, his brow was calmer and his eye softer and brighter.
+
+The morning of the twenty-sixth of March dawned calm and bright. A warm
+sun suddenly interrupted a long-protracted spell of cold weather, the
+snow rapidly disappeared from the fields and streets, and the credulous
+saw a happy omen in the genial spring day that broke through the icy
+fetters of winter to greet the coronation. A splendid procession moved
+to the cathedral, and during the celebration of Solemn High Mass,
+Sigefroy, Archbishop of Mayence, crowned and consecrated Rodolph
+rightful king and defender of the kingdom of the Franks.
+
+After the ceremony, the nobles assembled to witness the tournament,
+where the newly crowned monarch presided with a crowd of barons at his
+side. Gilbert stood at some distance from the royal person, and watched
+the tilting with all-absorbing interest. Henry of Stramen displayed so
+much address and managed his horse with so much skill that Gilbert could
+scarce forbear to join in the applause rendered by those around him. So
+intent was he upon the lists that a citizen by his side had, unobserved
+by him, severed the links of a massive gold chain which he wore around
+his neck, and had concealed it in his gown. But a page who had perceived
+the theft, throttled the culprit and drew the chain from its
+hiding-place. The man was ordered to prison, and Gilbert had forgotten
+the occurrence, when the assembly was disturbed by loud cries and
+imprecations from without. Gilbert quick as thought passed through the
+doorway and stood in the street. The bourgeois of Mayence were zealous
+partisans of Henry, and had already scowled upon the honors paid to his
+rival. The maltreatment of their townsman had kindled the spark of
+discontent to flame. They had attacked the soldiers of Rodolph, who, as
+was customary, attended the joust unarmed, and had rescued the thief. As
+Gilbert stood watching the tumult, he was singled out as the object of
+attack, probably at the direction of the citizen who had suffered in the
+attempt to steal his chain. The situation of the young noble, clad only
+in a velvet doublet and armed only with a light sword, was extremely
+precarious. Yet he did not dream of flight, but for a time kept his
+assailants at bay, slowly falling back upon the arena. A number of
+soldiers issuing from the pavilion gathered around him, but, shorn of
+their weapons, they could only parry without returning the blows of
+their adversaries, who were well supplied with stones and clubs.
+
+Gilbert had not left the lists unobserved by Rodolph, who immediately
+despatched a page to watch his movements. When informed of his young
+friend's danger, he arose and cried in a loud voice:
+
+"Gentlemen, we would not have you meddle in this affray: a party of my
+men have gone for their arms, and it will speedily be terminated. But
+the son of Albert de Hers is now overpowered by these boors. Let some
+one hasten to his rescue!"
+
+Three young knights at once dismounted and passed out: the foremost bore
+in his crest a long dark plume.
+
+The generous soldiers, who had hitherto received upon their defenceless
+bodies the blows aimed at Gilbert, were almost all beaten down, and in a
+few minutes more he would have been exposed comparatively unaided to the
+fury of the populace. His sword was shivered to the hilt, and though he
+drove back a giant who attempted to close with him, by dashing the guard
+in his face, he must have fallen beneath a club that swung over his
+head, had not a tall knight, completely clad in armor, striding before
+him, intercepted the blow, and dashed the assailant to the earth. A
+shower of blows saluted the youth's deliverer, but he bore them
+unflinching, and, vigorously plying his two-handed sword, cleared a
+space around the exhausted Gilbert. The two other knights arriving at
+this moment, the contest became more equal. But the mob were now
+displaying deadlier weapons, and Rodolph reluctantly resolved to
+command his chivalry to disperse the rabble, when his soldiers arrived
+with their arms. Inflamed by the loss of their comrades, the now
+formidable troops threw themselves upon the citizens, and pursued them
+with great slaughter to their homes. When the knights were left without
+an enemy, Gilbert advanced to embrace his deliverer. But the knight of
+the black plume stepped back a pace, and raising his visor, disclosed
+the features of Henry of Stramen, cold, haughty, and showing just the
+traces of a smile of disdain.
+
+Gladly at that moment would Gilbert have fallen into his arms and
+entreated him to forget the past; but there were too many eyes to
+witness a repulse. He contented himself by saying:
+
+"Sir, you have preserved my life, and with the grace of God you shall
+not repent it."
+
+Henry made no reply, and they parted.
+
+Gilbert was far too generous to regret an incident which laid him under
+such deep obligations to Henry of Stramen. He rejoiced that it had
+occurred, for it might remove the mortification produced by their late
+encounter, and diminish the mortal hatred with which he was regarded. He
+was also well disposed to welcome any accident that might give him a
+pretext for conciliating the house of Stramen. Henry perhaps secretly
+exulted that he had conferred a favor upon Gilbert that would gall his
+heart, while it poured a balm upon his own. Still he did not hold the
+youth in the same utter detestation as before.
+
+On the next day, Rodolph, following an ancient custom, began a tour
+through his dominions.
+
+Germany now presented the spectacle of a country claimed by two kings.
+To Gregory the party of the old king was heretical and odious--that of
+the new king pure and orthodox. Though all his sympathies were with the
+latter, he still openly blamed and deplored the conduct of his legates,
+and refused to acknowledge Rodolph as king. The Pope well knew what a
+delicate undertaking it was to depose a sovereign whom he had
+consecrated, and how fraught with danger such a precedent must be. His
+interest evidently called him to receive Rodolph at once into his arms,
+and had he done this, the result of the contest would have been very
+different. In the behavior of Gregory we discover, in addition to an
+insuperable aversion to countenance civil war, a disposition to endure
+the last extremity rather than dethrone a legitimate monarch, and
+perhaps a preference of Henry, for his parents' sake, to his rival.
+
+Both kings prepared vigorously for the struggle which could not be long
+postponed. Henry's measures were admirably calculated to increase his
+power. He scattered rich benefices lavishly among the clergy, lured on
+the soldiers of fortune with tempting bribes, and granted enviable
+privileges to the seaboard towns. The citizens of Augsburg, after
+tasting his bounty, braved the menaces of his antagonist. Hordes of
+brigands from Bohemia were attracted to his camp by brilliant largesses
+and the prospect of an easy booty. The German cities, and particularly
+those along the Rhine, had always, pursuant to the policy of his
+ancestors, been the object of his peculiar favor, and the merchants of
+Worms were relieved from all imposts. The population of these cities
+was soon ranged under the banner of Henry, whose ranks increased so long
+as gold could buy, and the promise of license and plunder attracted.
+
+Rodolph's policy served to diminish instead of swelling his numbers. He
+devoted himself, at the sacrifice of everything else, to gain the Pope
+to acknowledge him as king. He appeared the inflexible chastiser of
+simony and ecclesiastical corruption. The very day of his coronation he
+had obtained the dismissal of a simoniacal deacon. Everywhere he
+compelled the nominees of Henry to fly, and filled their places with
+zealous champions of the canonical discipline. At Constance and Zurich
+he drove the irregularly appointed bishops from their sees: he placed
+Lutold, a zealous champion of the Pope, over the monastery of St. Gall,
+which had been devoted to his rival. Many, frightened by these
+severities, deserted his standards, and others recoiled from the
+presence of so rigorous an enforcer of spiritual purity.
+
+Thus, while the cause of Henry was flourishing under his criminal
+artifices, Rodolph was weakened by his honest severity. Yet there was
+this difference between the parties. The minions of Henry were goaded on
+by individual interests--the partisans of Rodolph by a common resolution
+to die in defence of a sublime principle; the first were incited by the
+hope of plunder, the lust of empire, ambition, avarice, or a lawless
+appetite for war--the last were animated by a love of liberty, and
+fought for future security from oppression; the one prepared to preserve
+unrighteous license and ill-gotten gains--the other were inspired by
+the hope of regaining the freedom of which they had been unjustly
+deprived, and by the resolve to regain their ancestral rights and to
+protect the outraged Church of God.
+
+Albert of Hers with all his energy and address had not succeeded in
+extracting from Suabia more than two thousand men. With this small force
+he joined Rodolph, who was then encamped at the little village of
+Sommeringen, with scarce three thousand Suabians. Here they learned that
+Henry, at the head of twelve thousand effective troops, was advancing
+upon Suabia through Ratisbon. Rodolph soon heard of the atrocities of
+his rival, who abandoned the country to fire, sword, and rapine. Old men
+and women, pale with fear, came crowding into camp with thrilling tales
+of the brutality of the Bohemians and their associates. The war had
+begun; and Henry was devastating the region bordering on the Danube and
+the Rhine, from Esslingen to Ulm.
+
+Though his force did not amount to half that of his opponent, Rodolph,
+enraged by the crimes he could not prevent, would have gone to meet his
+competitor, but for the unanimous opposition of his nobles. While the
+Suabian party were deliberating upon the best course to pursue, Henry,
+by a forced march, fell unexpectedly upon their rear. Taken by surprise
+and overpowered by numbers, they fled in all directions, and Rodolph,
+accompanied only by a remnant of his army, escaped with difficulty into
+Saxony. Suabia was now at the mercy of the victor.
+
+Tidings of this disastrous defeat had not yet reached the Lady Margaret.
+The scanty intelligence she could occasionally glean was not such as to
+brighten the melancholy caused by the absence of her father and
+brother. Her fears thickened daily, as rumor, for once unable to
+exaggerate, divulged the massacres and impieties of the old
+imperialists. Her only relief was in the Sacraments, administered by the
+saintly Herman, and in prayer. The wives of the yeomen, not knowing when
+to expect the enemy, sought shelter in the castle with their parents and
+children. There were gathered the innocent, the aged, the young, the
+beautiful, and the Lady Margaret experienced some relief in
+administering to their wants and calming their anxiety. She did not rely
+much upon the few faithful soldiers who were left to guard the castle;
+but though womanly apprehension would often blanch her cheek, and her
+frame quiver as some recent deed of shame was unfolded, her confidence
+in God continued unabated.
+
+One afternoon, as the Lady Margaret, surrounded by the inmates of the
+castle, was seated in the hall, Bertha, clad in a black mantle, stole
+silently into the room, and glancing wildly around, began to traverse
+the apartment with rapid strides. Her excited manner attracted much
+attention, and many anxious conjectures were made as to the cause of her
+meaning gestures. At length, stopping before the Lady Margaret, who
+watched her movements with a troubled eye, she sang, almost in a
+whisper:
+
+  The sunbeam was bright on their shields as they came,
+    But dim on their blood-rusted spears;
+  They gave up the hamlet to pillage and flame,
+    And scoffed at the kneeling one's tears!
+
+"Perhaps the enemy are upon us," said a graycoated palmer, who for some
+days had shared the bounty of the Lady Margaret.
+
+At these words, a general murmur ran round the group, and then all was
+still as death.
+
+Bertha resumed, in a louder tone:
+
+  They come--they come--the groan, the shout
+  Of death and life ring wildly out!
+  The sky is clouding at their cry,
+  As they toss their reeking blades on high;
+  Arm, gallants all! and watch ye well,
+  Or to-morrow's chime will be your knell.
+
+As she concluded the rough fragment, she extended her arm to the south,
+and shaking her finger menacingly, muttered, "They come!"
+
+This thrilling announcement called forth more than one cry from the lips
+of the trembling listeners. To increase the panic, a groom burst into
+the room, and whispered something into the Lady Margaret's ear that made
+her start and turn pale as marble. Awhile she sat motionless and
+apparently sinking. But it was not long before her weakness disappeared,
+and her face assumed a serene, undaunted expression that imparted new
+hope to those who were sobbing about her. The wailing was hushed as she
+rose and said, calmly and without faltering:
+
+"We shall probably be attacked in a few hours by an inferior force. Let
+us pray to God that we may be able to defeat their malice."
+
+In uttering this she had fallen upon her knees, and the rest of the
+group, imitating her example, knelt beside her. When that solemn and
+fervent prayer was over, the voice of the gray palmer was again heard,
+as he cried:
+
+"If any man here can still hurl stone, or thrust spear, let him follow
+me to the walls!"
+
+About six, in whom age had not quenched the fire or strength of youth,
+and as many beardless youths, sprang up at the call, and accompanied the
+speaker out of the room.
+
+Exclusive of this new force, the defenders of the castle were not more
+than twenty, yet so admirable were its defences that they might hold in
+check an attacking party of more than a hundred. The warder and his men
+were grouped together at the main gate, straining their eyes against the
+horizon, where the smoke of some cottages indicated the presence of the
+foe, when the palmer advanced and asked permission to assist them. This
+was readily granted, and the recruits were soon supplied with defensive
+armor and the usual weapons. The palmer wore his headpiece over his
+hood, and, with his breast-plate over his gown, which, tucked up with
+more than John Chandos' prudence, but half revealed the thigh-pieces
+beneath it, he was equally conspicuous and grotesque.
+
+A body of mounted men could now be plainly seen rapidly advancing. They
+no longer stayed to desolate the humble dwellings in their path, but
+swept on against the stately castle which seemed to bid them defiance.
+The Lady Margaret was now among the soldiers, animating them to
+resistance. Guided by the palmer, to whom the command had been tacitly
+yielded, the men were busily engaged in carrying large stones up to the
+battlements over the archway.
+
+"Who are our assailants?" asked the maiden, as with a firm step she
+mounted the wall.
+
+The advancing troops rode up to the raised drawbridge, displaying as
+they came the picturesque costume and swarthy face of the Bohemian
+marauder. The Lady Margaret's cheek was now deeply flushed, and the
+haughty spirit of her race flashed within her eyes and curled her lip in
+scorn.
+
+"They are not a hundred," she said to the palmer, who stood at her side.
+
+In reply, the palmer pointed to a body of men-at-arms, then emerging
+from a clump of trees in which they had been hitherto concealed. Her
+color fell at the sight of this new force--yet only for a moment: the
+next instant her cheek resumed its glow. This column, about a hundred
+strong, approached slowly and cautiously, as if expecting a sally, until
+they too had reached the moat.
+
+"We call upon you to open your gates!" exclaimed a knight, who rode a
+little in advance.
+
+"To whom?" replied the Lady Margaret, in a loud voice.
+
+"To your rightful king and master, Henry of Austria!"
+
+"We do not own a monarch," she returned, "who has forfeited the crown,
+and our gates shall be closed against all who come in his name."
+
+"You refuse to surrender?"
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Prepare then, for we will force a passage!"
+
+"We are ready, and invite you to begin!"
+
+The animation which had hitherto supported the maiden gave way, and,
+all trembling, she descended the rough steps and returned to the castle.
+
+The attack was at once begun. The assailants were not supplied with
+cross-bows or instruments for casting stones, and the palmer with the
+soldiers, who readily submitted to his command, could safely watch their
+operations from the battlements. Some with their battle-axes dashed into
+the moat and swam across to cut the chain which raised the bridge; but
+hardly had they reached the shore before they were struck down with
+stones hurled from the walls. The palmer's object was to hold out until
+nightfall, and create as much delay as was attainable. The sun was
+already half hidden behind the hills.
+
+But the fall of the bridge now became inevitable. Their ammunition was
+exhausted, and three of the assailants, armed with axes, occupied the
+bridge, while others were arriving at intervals.
+
+"Let us at least gain five minutes," exclaimed the palmer. "One sortie
+for the Pope and Rodolph of Suabia!"
+
+The bars were withdrawn and the gallant band poured out.
+
+"Suabia!" shouted the palmer, as he launched a heavy mace at one who was
+hewing at the chain, and felled him to the earth. With a well-aimed
+thrust he laid another at his feet, and so well was he seconded that the
+bridge was soon cleared. This gallant feat was greeted with cries of
+rage from their opponents on the other bank, many of whom, forgetting
+their heavy armor in their indignation, leaped into the water and sank,
+muttering idle imprecations. For some minutes the defenders held the
+bridge, but fearful of being intercepted, they made good their retreat
+and stood safe within the gate, without the loss of a man.
+
+As further resistance was impossible, the bridge was abandoned to its
+fate, and was speedily lowered, amid the rejoicings and threats of the
+besiegers. It was now toward twilight, and the strong gate would baffle
+their efforts till dark. When that was won, the ballium and the inner
+wall could still be disputed.
+
+"There is nothing to be done now," said the palmer to his companions;
+"and you had better go to the castle and take some refreshment, for we
+will soon have need of all our strength."
+
+As they retired at his suggestion, he climbed to the crenelles and
+looked anxiously out upon the plain until the men returned; when,
+resigning the barbican to the warder, he went to receive the thanks of
+the Lady Margaret, who expressed her gratitude for his services by
+waiting upon him in person.
+
+The assailants had cut down a tree which they used as a battering-ram
+against the gate; but the stern bars were yet unbroken. It was now
+pitch-dark. A thunderstorm had suddenly gathered, and the report of the
+distant bolt came upon the ear, mingling with the still more appalling
+clash of the beam against the gate.
+
+Brief indeed was the repose of the palmer before he was again at the
+embrasures. Bold as he was, he trembled as a blinding flash poured a
+flood of livid light over the plain and castle. It was not the sudden
+bolt that awed him; but the lightning streamed upon a host of armed men,
+stretching away as far as the eye could reach. They were not half a
+mile off. Another flash leaped out, and revealed a forest of spears. "It
+is the king himself!" muttered the palmer; "we will be surrounded by a
+host! God assist us, or we are lost!"
+
+Such were the sounds that trembled on his lips as he abandoned his post.
+Selecting the groom who had announced the enemy, he whispered to him:
+
+"Do you wish to save your mistress?"
+
+"With my life!" said the man.
+
+"Then lead me to the postern gate."
+
+In their impetuosity, the attacking party had neglected to blockade this
+avenue, before darkness prevented them from discovering it. The banks of
+the moat opposite the gate had been made shelving, so as to afford a
+means of retreat to the besieged, without giving any advantage to the
+besieger. When they had gained the postern and drawn back the bolts, the
+palmer said to his companion:
+
+"Now, as you value life and honor, saddle the best three horses--one for
+yourself, one for your lady, the third for me--swim the moat, and wait
+till I come."
+
+The groom promised obedience, and they separated--the groom to the
+stable, and the palmer in quest of the Lady Margaret. He found her in
+the midst of her dependents, praying in the oratory. It was a sight to
+make the heart bleed--that defenceless group, with tearful eyes and
+hands raised trembling to heaven, now starting as the iron gate groaned
+beneath the heavy blows, now glancing timidly around as the lightning
+streamed in upon them. The palmer stepped up to the maiden and drew her
+aside.
+
+"You must fly with me!" he said.
+
+"Why? Are we not safe?"
+
+"Before one may count a hundred, we are surrounded by the whole army of
+the tyrant!"
+
+This sudden and awful disclosure was too much for the frail maiden,
+already exhausted by watching and excitement. She grasped his wrist, and
+shuddering as she fixed her eyes on him, staggered forward, and would
+have fallen, had not the palmer caught her now unconscious form, and,
+raising it in his arms, passed from the room. Through the gallery, down
+the staircase, along the portico he passed, as swiftly as though he
+carried but a child. The wind came damp and cold against his cheek, the
+rain poured pitilessly upon his head, the arrowy lightning seemed to
+play around his feet, but manfully he hurried on with his precious
+charge. The gate was reached; he paused but an instant to hail the groom
+and take breath, then slid into the moat, and in a short space stood
+safe upon the other side. Here he staid but to envelop the maiden in his
+own heavy cloak, which he had snatched up when the rain began. As her
+consciousness was but imperfectly restored, the palmer mounted one of
+the horses and placed her before him. The groom, at his direction,
+sprang to the saddle and led the third animal.
+
+When they were a little within the wood, the palmer exclaimed
+
+"Can you find the road to Count Montfort's?"
+
+The groom replied in the affirmative.
+
+"Then take the lead, and strike it at the nearest point."
+
+After groping for some minutes, they succeeded in hitting it, and, aided
+by the lightning, pursued their course as swiftly as the stormy night
+permitted.
+
+The Lady Margaret was awakened to her situation only to pour forth
+torrents of tears. In vain the palmer tried to moderate her grief--she
+could scarcely be persuaded from returning.
+
+The rain had now ceased, and as the clouds rolled away, they obtained
+light enough to continue their flight more rapidly and securely.
+
+"Look!" cried the groom, as they stood on the top of a lofty hill. The
+palmer could scarcely repress an inclination to throttle his imprudent
+friend; for as the Lady Margaret turned her head, she saw a column of
+smoke and flame curling up, as if it warred against the skies.
+
+"It is my father's castle!" she said. "Oh, what has become of those we
+left?" she added shuddering. "Let us trust in God!" murmured the palmer.
+Brighter and brighter grew the flame--higher and higher rose the lurid
+column. Still the Lady Margaret continued to gaze on the fiery pillar.
+At last the light suddenly expanded and burned awhile with intense
+brilliancy. It was but for a moment. Dimmer and dimmer grew the flame,
+and darkness soon settled over the ashes of Stramen Castle.
+
+The palmer now placed the maiden upon the third horse, and led the way
+with his hand upon her bridle. Two hours more brought them to the
+fortress of Tuebingen, where the brave Count Montfort, though refusing to
+join Rodolph, had designed to hold out to the last against his perjured
+and sacrilegious rival. The palmer demanded admittance in the name of
+Albert of Hers, and instantly obtained it.
+
+The generous countess received the daughter of Stramen with open arms,
+and the count swore first to protect and then to avenge her. Nor was the
+palmer forgotten. Despite his ridiculous costume, now soiled and torn
+and stained with blood, he exhibited no embarrassment when ushered into
+the presence of the noble group.
+
+"The Lady Margaret would know her deliverer," said the countess.
+
+The palmer removed his head-piece and threw back his hood.
+
+"Do you remember me, my lady?" he asked, with a smile.
+
+The maiden looked as one striving to recall a dream.
+
+"Do you remember Ailred of Zurich, the minnesinger?"
+
+Her cheek turned scarlet as she exclaimed, "Oh I how much I owe to you!"
+
+"You owe me nothing, lady," returned Humbert.
+
+"Is my life nothing?"
+
+"If you prize that," was the reply, "reserve your thanks for him who
+made your safety my duty."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+  Hark to the trump and the drum,
+  And the mournful sound of the barbarous horn,
+  And the flap of the banners that flit as they're borne,
+  And the neigh of the steeds, and the multitude's hum,
+  And the clash, and the shout, "They come, they come!"
+
+  SIEGE OF CORINTH.
+
+Rodolph was received with open arms by the Saxons. Dukes, counts, barons
+and gentlemen hastened to Merseburg, where, at a grand festival in his
+honor, he was solemnly acknowledged king of the Saxons. On every side
+the Saxons were flying to arms against their old enemy, and the princes
+unanimously advised the new monarch to march against his competitor, who
+had been recently again anathematized by the Papal legates. Rodolph,
+burning to retrieve his defeat and to save Suabia from further
+desolation, hearkened eagerly to suggestions that chimed so well with
+his own inclinations. He tarried only to wait the reinforcements of Welf
+and Berthold, and, hoping to expedite their union with him, marched upon
+Melrichstadt in Franconia.
+
+Henry was no sooner apprised of this intended junction, than he resolved
+to defeat it. Instantly evacuating Suabia, he led his powerful army
+toward Saxony. He had deployed twelve thousand peasants to cut off the
+two dukes, and advanced with the rest of his force to the banks of the
+Strewe. Before reaching the river, he ascertained that Rodolph was
+encamped on the opposite side. It now occurred to his unprincipled mind,
+that he might deprive his rival even of the warning which his open
+approach would give, by deputing a flag of truce to solicit a parley.
+The artifice succeeded. Scarcely had the deputation left the Saxon camp,
+before Henry began the attack. Unprepared for this treacherous movement,
+Rodolph had barely time to form his ranks and address a few words of
+encouragement to his troops. He was answered with a shout that attested
+the eagerness of his soldiers for the fray. Already the clang of arms,
+the cries of the living, and the groans of the dying were heard along
+the line. The army of Rodolph was drawn up in two divisions--one
+commanded by the king, the other by the valiant Otto of Nordheim. As the
+division of Otto was a little in the rear, that of the monarch was for a
+time exposed alone to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. But nobly
+indeed was the brunt of the battle borne. Rodolph waited not the onset,
+but led on his columns to the charge. Then Suabian and Saxon darted
+forward shoulder to shoulder, and the lords of Hers and Stramen, side by
+side, shouted their battle-cries and hurled their followers upon the
+opposing ranks. Such was the ardor inspired by Rodolph that, at the
+first shock, two of Henry's columns were broken. But this advantage did
+not long avail against equal courage and superior numbers. Henry was at
+the head of the finest troops in the empire. But the consciousness of
+the sacredness of their cause made the soldiers of Rodolph invincible.
+Already Eberard le Barbu, the faithful counsellor of Henry, the Count
+of Hennenburg, Thibalt, and Henry of Lechsgemund had fallen around their
+lord. At this moment some bishops, retiring from the ranks of Rodolph,
+communicated a panic to those around them. It was in vain that Rodolph
+displayed the brilliant valor that had won him the name of the first
+knight of the times--that the Lord of Hers put forth his utmost skill,
+and the Baron of Stramen displayed his unrivalled strength. Menace and
+entreaty failed alike, nor could example or reproach recall the
+fugitives.
+
+"Why does not Otto advance!" exclaimed Rodolph, who, by dint of almost
+superhuman exertion, had preserved his front still unbroken. "Unless I
+am supported within a minute, the battle is lost."
+
+Hardly had the words escaped his lips, before the war-cry of
+Saxony--"St. Peter! St. Peter!" burst from three thousand throats, and
+the noble Otto and the Count Palatine Frederick could be seen leading on
+their troops, all fresh and panting for the fight. Borne down by this
+vigorous assault, the pursuing column fell back in confusion, and were
+routed with great slaughter. Rodolph, having rallied his men, rushed on
+to where the imperial standard was waving, and with his own hand cut
+down the banner of his rival. A cry now arose: "Henry is dead!"
+Dispirited and borne down, the troops of Henry turned and fled in
+confusion. They were pursued up to the gates of Wuertzburg, where the
+vanquished monarch found an asylum. The Saxons passed the night on the
+battle-field, amid hymns of praise and cries of joy.
+
+In the morning, Rodolph, from his inferiority being unable to pursue
+his victory, reentered Merseburg in triumph; and Henry, unwilling to
+hazard another engagement, fell back upon Ratisbon to levy new troops.
+
+Thus ended the battle of Melrichstadt: all night the waters of the
+Strewe, as they glided carelessly along, were red with the noblest blood
+in Germany.
+
+Some hours after nightfall, when all the requisite precautions had been
+taken, Gilbert de Hers, unharmed, but worn out by the fatigues of the
+day, retired to his father's tent. He was alone, for the Lord of Hers
+was in council with the king. It was a sultry night in August, and,
+stripping off his armor, he threw himself upon a couch, and gazed
+languidly but steadily at the flickering watch fires. He had been
+knighted on the field by the king, and had nobly worn his spurs, but his
+thoughts were evidently not running on his own prowess or the praises of
+his monarch. A listless calm had succeeded his late excitement. His
+meditations were rather rudely interrupted by the entrance of a man who
+dashed aside the curtains of his tent and pressed the young noble's hand
+to his lips.
+
+"Humbert!" exclaimed the astonished youth, springing to his feet; and
+embracing his trusty follower, he poured forth question upon question
+with such rapidity that Humbert did not even attempt a reply. When
+Gilbert had composed himself sufficiently to listen, the gallant
+retainer began to relate all that had occurred at the lordship of
+Stramen. Gilbert listened mute and breathless until informed of the Lady
+Margaret's safe arrival and princely reception at the fortress of
+Tuebingen. Then, forgetting his rank in his joy and gratitude, he threw
+his arms around his companion's neck, and forced into his hands the
+chain of gold which had nearly proved fatal to him at the tournament.
+
+"The morning after our arrival at Tuebingen--" resumed Humbert.
+
+"Yes--go on!" said the youth, who not until then had reflected upon the
+danger of her position, even at Tuebingen, and was eagerly drinking in
+the words of his companion.
+
+"The morning after our arrival we saw Henry's whole army drawn out in
+the plain. We were summoned to surrender. The whole court replied: 'A
+Montfort holds no parley with a perjured king and false knight.'
+Instantly we were furiously assaulted on all sides. But the defences
+were complete and completely manned, and they fell back foiled at every
+point. For three long days we held the barbican against their united
+efforts. On the morning of the fourth they began to retire, and before
+sunset we were left without an enemy. When I found that my services were
+no longer required, I determined to return to Hers, and then seek you
+here."
+
+"Had the Lady Margaret recovered from her fright and fatigue?" asked the
+youth.
+
+"With the exception of a slight cough, brought on, I suppose, by the
+rain."
+
+Gilbert's next question related to his paternal estate.
+
+"The chapel stands uninjured," said Humbert.
+
+"And the castle?"
+
+"The blackened walls alone remain!"
+
+"We shall be avenged!" cried the young knight, drawing a deep breath.
+"How was the chapel preserved?"
+
+"Numbers of women and children had fled there for protection, and our
+good Father Herman, standing in the doorway, told the miscreants they
+must pass over his body. He would have fallen a victim to his zeal, had
+not the Duke Godfrey de Bouillon interposed and driven back his soldiers
+with loud reproaches."
+
+"Where is Herman now?"
+
+"Among his poor flock, who have lost almost all--endeavoring to procure
+them food and shelter, and exhorting them to patience and submission to
+the will of God."
+
+"How fared Stramen Castle?"
+
+"Even worse than your own."
+
+"And the church?" continued Gilbert.
+
+"Was despoiled and fired."
+
+At this instant the curtain of the tent was parted again, and Father
+Omehr stood before them.
+
+When informed of the fate of his church, the missionary calmly raised
+his eyes to heaven and repeated, in a clear, steady voice, those sublime
+words: "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the
+name of the Lord!"
+
+But when apprised of the position of his parishioners, who must
+inevitably have perished from the oldest to the youngest, the old man
+bent his head upon his breast, and, pressing his hands to his face, wept
+bitterly. He soon recovered his habitual resignation, and then, turning
+to Gilbert, said mournfully:
+
+"Do you see, my son, that God is _beginning_ to punish our feud?"
+
+Immediately after his victory, Rodolph despatched messengers to the Pope
+to give him the intelligence, and implore him to recognize the king in
+the victor.
+
+We always approach with veneration and extreme diffidence the character
+of this mighty man. It is difficult, indeed, to form an adequate idea of
+his moral grandeur. The better you study his views, the more you are
+astonished at his wisdom and fore-sight; the deeper your scrutiny of his
+motives, the higher your respect for his sanctity. His was an age of
+transition. The great question was still undecided: Shall liberty or
+tyranny prevail--barbarism or civilization? This question depended upon
+the answer to another: Shall the Church of God be free or become the
+creature of temporal power? Already William the Conqueror and Henry of
+Austria were trying to fetter the spouse of Christ--already the gulf was
+opening that threatened spiritual Rome with destruction. Then it was
+that Gregory VII saved the Church as Curtius saved the city; but while
+the pagan has been raised to the skies, the Christian has been insulted
+and belied.
+
+Never can we sufficiently contemplate the spectacle of one man
+contending against the world! Not a chieftain, at the head of an army,
+subduing kingdom after kingdom, but a priest, without a carnal weapon,
+resisting a continent combined at once to crush him, and finally
+vanquishing by his death. Uninspired by ambition, assailed by every
+earthly motive, God alone could have directed, and God only could have
+upheld him. The Emperor of Austria had sworn to depose him, the
+Italians promised to assist his antagonist. With scarce a footing in
+Germany or Italy, cooped up on a barren peak, he wrestled with the
+haughty conqueror of England, humbled the pride of Nicephorus Botoniates
+who had usurped from Michael Paripinasses the empire of the East, and
+deposed Guibert the guilty Bishop of Ravenna. Yet amid these cares, such
+as human shoulders seldom knew before or since, he forgot not the
+objects to which he had dedicated his life--the punishment of simony and
+the preservation of ecclesiastical purity. It was in the attainment of
+these, that he arrayed kingdoms against him and died in exile at
+Salerno. Harassed and chained down as he was, the councils of Anse,
+Clermont, Dijon, Autun, Poietiers, and Lyons were thundering against
+simony and incontinency.
+
+It would be presumptuous to offer a word in defence of the conduct of
+such a man, had not his actions been so grievously misstated, and his
+aims so ungenerously misinterpreted. It were as well to point out the
+sun when the eye is dazzled by its brightness.
+
+Gregory received Rodolph's envoys with every mark of affection, but
+dismissed them, saying he could not comply with their request. The
+Pontiff's object was to keep royalty within its legitimate sphere, not
+to depose a particular king, and he wished to accomplish this with as
+little bloodshed as possible. He saw clearly enough that to declare for
+Rodolph would be to proclaim war to the knife. He also hoped that Henry
+would have recourse to his mediation after his defeat. He was again
+disappointed. His very friends now began to desert him, upbraiding him
+with ingratitude and coldness. The Saxons addressed him several epistles
+in which they threatened to abandon him. But less moved by their threats
+than their entreaties, the Pontiff accused them of weakness and
+insolence. There was another reason sufficient to deter him from
+confirming the nomination of Rodolph, had none other opposed it. All
+Italy, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of Henry, and waited only
+the pontifical coronation of his rival, to rise in open rebellion. When
+the history of the times is carefully studied, it will be confessed that
+the Pope's refusal to accede to Rodolph's request was dictated by the
+greatest wisdom, enlightened and purified by the greatest virtue and
+forbearance.
+
+Still hoping to arrest the purple tide of civil war, Gregory despatched
+legate after legate to Henry, charging them to omit no lawful means to
+incline the monarch to peace, and induce him to abide by the decision of
+a diet which should be convened to judge between him and his rival. This
+was the pacific adjustment to which the Pontiff looked. But Henry
+remained deaf to all these remonstrances, constantly declaring that the
+sword alone must decide. He was again at the head of a powerful army,
+and burned to retrieve the lustre of his arms. Rodolph, perceiving that
+another battle was inevitable, prepared for it without delay. Each king
+was now in quest of the other.
+
+They met near Fladenheim in Thuringia. As at Melrichstadt, the allied
+forces of Suabia and Saxony were drawn up in two divisions under Rodolph
+and Otto. The former occupied a steep hill on the bank of a deep
+stream, which separated the combatants. Otto with his Saxons was
+stationed in the van, and was to sustain the attack, while the division
+of Rodolph was to act as a reserve. It was a bitter cold day in January,
+and a thick mist had canopied the river. Under cover of this, Henry, by
+a retrograde movement, gained the rear of his adversary. Rodolph,
+unconscious of this, was anxiously listening for the din of battle as
+the fog partially obscured his view. Gilbert had never seen the new
+king's noble brow so calm and unclouded--he had never seen his eye flash
+so proudly and joyously, or the same sweet, buoyant smile upon his lips.
+But as the hostile army filed out into the plain, and Rodolph found that
+the enemy he had expected in front was in his rear, a deep frown for a
+moment dispelled his smiles. It was only for a moment. He saw that Henry
+was now between him and Otto.
+
+"Ride to my noble Otto," he said to Gilbert, who was at his side, "and
+bid him charge at once." Before Rodolph had altered his array, Gilbert
+brought back the Saxon's answer:
+
+"Otto of Nordheim declines to abandon the advantages of his position,
+and says he will not fail you, should you require his assistance."
+
+"It is well," said the king, frowning slightly; "he will not fail us."
+Then turning to Albert of Hers, he said, in a whisper: "Otto wishes the
+glory, of deciding the day, as at Melrichstadt. Let us try that he may
+obtain the laurel of victory instead of the odium of defeat. Gentlemen!"
+he said, in a loud voice, exchanging cheerful smiles with the Suabian
+nobles around him, "you have now an opportunity of meeting face to face
+the desolators of your country. Soldiers!" he said, mingling among his
+troops, "there are the Bohemians who butchered your wives and families!"
+As the whole body clamored for the signal to begin, Rodolph gave the
+word, and the chivalry and yeomanry of Suabia swept rapidly down the
+hill. They were met at the base by the whole army of Henry. Still,
+nothing daunted, Rodolph displayed his impetuous valor, the lords of
+Hers and Stramen rushed on the destroyers of their castles, and Gilbert
+and Henry fought side by side, each trying to outstrip the other. At
+this moment, as Rodolph was tugging at his lance to draw it from a body
+of a knight he had pierced, it was seized by Vratislaus, Duke of
+Bohemia. As Vratislaus put forth all his strength to disarm his
+antagonist, Rodolph suddenly yielded up the weapon, and as the duke
+staggered back, sprang upon him with his sword. Timely succor alone
+saved the Bohemian.
+
+"He will be rewarded for capturing my lance," said Rodolph, calmly. "Had
+not his friends been so fleet, he might have had his recompense in
+another world."
+
+But the Suabians, opposed to three times their number, were beginning to
+retreat, when Otto of Nordheim, true to his word, emerged from the mist
+and fell upon the enemy's flank.
+
+"Well done, thou Saxon eagle!" exclaimed Rodolph, eagerly, seeing the
+discomfited foe staggering before this unexpected and vigorous attack.
+"Henry of Stramen, ride to the duke, and tell him he has won the day."
+
+Rodolph, surrounded by some of his barons, among whom were the lords of
+Hers and Stramen and Gilbert, was posted upon a little knoll, watching
+the progress of the fight, when Henry returned with Otto's
+acknowledgments to the king.
+
+"Sire!" said Albert of Hers, riding up to the monarch, "your cunning
+rival there has profited by this mist, and I think we may now turn it to
+our account."
+
+"How?" asked the king.
+
+"The enemy has left his camp in our rear--we may cross the river
+unperceived and surprise it. Give me five hundred men, and I will not
+leave him as much as would satisfy a peasant."
+
+Rodolph instantly acceded to the request, and commanded the Baron of
+Stramen to assist in the enterprise. Though somewhat loath to unite in
+any undertaking with his sworn enemy, Sir Sandrit had learned to subdue
+his personal prejudices for the welfare of Germany. And perhaps his
+desire to avenge his recent wrongs overpowered his aversion to the
+author of older injuries. He readily assented, and now, united for once,
+the rival clans of Hers and Stramen moved rapidly across the ice on
+their chivalrous mission. By a well-executed movement they came
+unperceived upon the guard. No quarter was given there; scarce a hostile
+soldier escaped. Sir Albert bade his men spare not the cowards whose
+swords were red with the blood of babes and mothers. Sir Sandrit, at the
+top of his voice, shouted, "Remember the castle!" Henry and Gilbert
+unrelentingly pursued the terror-stricken fugitives. When they returned
+to the captured camp, every article of luxury was gone. The vessels of
+gold and silver, which the Patriarch of Aquileia and many of the other
+nobles had brought to grace the revels of their king, were now in the
+hands of their rough victors, who brandished the precious goblets in the
+air, crying, "Death to the spoilers of Suabia!" The purple curtains,
+torn into shreds, were trailed in the clotted gore and dust. Before many
+minutes the pillage was as complete as the surprise. When nothing
+remained to slay or plunder, the barons gave the signal to retreat, and
+they recrossed the ice. Had they remained an instant longer, Henry IV
+would have fallen into their hands; for hardly had they left, before the
+monarch, flying from the battle-field, conducted by a guide named Louis,
+entered his ruined camp.
+
+The battle was over when the detachment reached the scene of action.
+Folkmar, governor of Prague, had fallen, Henry had fled, and the
+Bohemians were routed with prodigious slaughter. The fugitives rallied
+under the walls of Wartburg. But they were speedily dispersed and
+pursued, until nightfall saved them from further molestation.
+
+"The mist of Fladenheim is clearing away," said Rodolph, pointing to the
+setting sun, which now broke out in unclouded splendor, as the fog
+vanished before a strong north wind. That day was like his life, most
+brilliant at its close. Otto now advanced, and the two monarchs embraced
+with mutual affection and esteem. Whatever rivalry there might be
+between them was forgotten in success.
+
+Henry retired into Franconia and dismissed his army, and Rodolph again
+solicited the Pope to confirm his election.
+
+The news of these victories imparted some consolation to the Lady
+Margaret's breast, now torn with anxiety and solicitude. Her grief was
+not lightened because her own misfortunes were avenged in Henry's
+adversity, but because the chances of peace were increased by Rodolph's
+success. She was now incapable of relishing revenge. The feudal
+antipathies so long nourished and so early instilled as to be almost a
+part of her existence, were entirely, eradicated. From the evening of
+her interview with Father Omehr, before the now ruined Church of the
+Nativity, she had dedicated her life to the extinguishment of the feud
+between the houses of Hers and Stramen. For this she had prayed, for
+this she had toiled. But her labors were interrupted by the harsh music
+of war, by gong and tymbalon.
+
+What could she do now? Nothing. Nothing? When she knelt before the altar
+at Tuebingen before the sun had risen, and the Countess of Montfort felt
+as if she had given shelter to an Angel, was she doing nothing? When she
+lingered in the oratory of our Blessed Mother long after the sun had
+set, and the menials passed by on tiptoe lest they should mar the
+celestial expression of her face, was she doing nothing? There had come
+a deeper lustre still into the Lady Margaret's eye, and the blush on her
+cheek mingled not so freely with the pure white in which it was cradled.
+Perhaps her head was not so erect--perhaps the line of the back had lost
+in firmness what it gained in grace. Already the men and women of
+Montfort had learned to love and bless her, and as she passed among them
+serenely and silently, like a spirit of light, and as they marked the
+strange transparency of her features, they would salute her with a
+feeling in which awe prevailed, and, after thoughtfully gazing at her
+awhile, transfer their glance to the skies. The Lady of Montfort loved
+to hear the maiden sweetly singing the _Salve Regina_, for which Humbert
+had invented or selected a melody of singular beauty, but often, when
+the hymn was concluded, the countess's cheeks would be bathed in tears,
+and she would fold the Lady Margaret in her arms, and gaze up earnestly
+into her face.
+
+Gilbert! Gilbert! come read this face of more than earthly beauty! See
+if the words that haunt you are chiselled there!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+  Glory is like a circle in the water,
+  which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
+  Till, by wide spreading, it disperse to nought.
+
+  SHAKESPEARE.
+
+The battle of Fladenheim was fought just as Gregory VII was opening his
+seventh synod at Rome. Hardly had the ancient canons been renewed and
+Guibert of Ravenna excommunicated, before the envoys of Rodolph
+appeared, and, after reciting Henry's fresh iniquities, supplicated
+their master's coronation and his rival's deposition.
+
+The Pope had not failed to invite his impious antagonist to abide by his
+decision, but his recent defeat seemed only to have confirmed his
+obstinacy. It was evident that Henry would keep the field while a hope
+of success remained, and that peace could not be recovered but by the
+complete triumph of one of the hostile parties. The Pontiff no longer
+hesitated. Since all hope of an amicable adjustment had fled, the
+interests of the Church and of mankind required the ascendency of
+Rodolph; and Gregory saw that to withhold his sanction now, was to peril
+his cause, or at least to prolong the contest. The victory of Fladenheim
+had calmed the impetuosity of the Italian nobles who burned to declare
+for Henry; and they were disposed to preserve a safe neutrality. The
+cruelties and vices of the Franconian were past endurance; the moment
+for which the Suabian so patiently and yet so ardently looked, had at
+length arrived. Rising before the crowded council, the noble Pontiff,
+giving voice to a holy enthusiasm he could not restrain, invoked the aid
+of St. Peter, the Prince of Apostles, and of St. Paul, the Teacher of
+the Nations. He called upon them to witness, that in spite of his grief,
+his groans, and his tears, he had been chosen their most unworthy
+successor; and that princes, ecclesiastics, and courtesans were leagued
+to accomplish his death or exile. "By _your_ authority," he exclaims,
+"relying upon the mercy of God and the pity of His Virgin Mother, I
+excommunicate Henry and all his partisans, and absolve his subjects from
+their allegiance. And even as Henry is justly deprived of his royalty by
+his pride, his disobedience, and perfidy, so are the same power and
+royal authority granted to Rodolph for his humility, his submission, and
+his merits."
+
+The envoys of Rodolph hastened back to Saxony, bearing him the Papal
+confirmation of his election and the benediction so fervently
+pronounced. The king and his army were inspired with the most lively joy
+and confidence. Those who before had dreaded the result, no longer
+doubted, but deemed the agony of the empire already ended. Mass was
+celebrated amid universal rejoicings, and Saxon and Suabian forgot the
+desolation of their homes in this presage of victory and peace. The camp
+of Henry presented another scene. The excommunicated king abandoned
+himself to the most violent transports of fury. He swore the destruction
+of the daring Pontiff and the usurper who now went forth as the chosen
+champion of the Holy See. He assembled at Mayence thirty bishops and a
+proud array of princes and barons.
+
+Here again was acted the solemn farce of the conventicle of Brixen. A
+decree was prepared and published, asserting that it was necessary to
+cut off from the communion of the faithful, a priest who had been rash
+enough to deprive the august person of majesty of all participation in
+the government of the Church, and to strike him with anathema. "He is
+not the elect of God," runs the instrument, "but owes his elevation to
+his own unblushing fraud and corruption. He has ruined the Church--he
+has distracted the State; he has embittered the life of a _pious and
+peaceful_ monarch, upheld a perjured rebel, and scattered everywhere
+discord, jealousy, and adultery. For this, here in final council at
+Mayence, we have resolved to depose, expel, and, if he disobey our
+command, to doom to eternal condemnation a monster who preaches the
+pillaging of churches and assassination, who abets perjury and homicide,
+who denies the Catholic and Apostolic faith concerning the Body and
+Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ--this accursed Hildebrand, this ancient
+ally of the heretic Berengarius, this conjurer and magician, this
+necromancer, this monk possessed by a devil, this vile apostate from the
+faith of our fathers."
+
+After this violent invective had been launched, Guibert of Ravenna was
+unanimously elected anti-pope, under the name of Clement III. Henry next
+addressed himself to win the support of England; but Cardinal Lanfranc
+condemned his precipitation, and refused to unite in these insults and
+outrages.
+
+The brief respite from arms that followed the battle of Fladenheim was
+over. Hostilities had commenced. Cries of war were heard from every
+quarter, and while the two kings were mustering their strength for
+another great struggle, the partisans of Rodolph and Henry were daily
+mingling in deadly strife. Nor were princes and counts, knights, pages,
+and vassals alone in the field, but the spear and sword flashed in the
+hands of bishops, abbots, and monks. Ulrich, Abbot of Saint Gall, was
+ravaging Linzgau and Thurgovia, demolishing the castles of Otto, of
+Marchdorf, Marquard of Bregence, and Hartman of Kyburg, and forcing the
+friends of Rodolph to fly before him.
+
+These trivial advantages were amply compensated by the victory of Welf
+over Frederick of Hohenstaufen, at Hochstadt, and the occupation of
+Augsburg.
+
+It was in the month of October, 1080, that Henry, confiding in the
+superior of numbers and discipline of his army, advanced upon Saxony,
+where Rodolph calmly awaited his approach. Each monarch well knew that
+the approaching contest would be decisive of his fate, and had omitted
+nothing to insure the victory. Anxious to shorten an interval of such
+painful suspense, they longed to meet, Henry stimulated by hatred and
+the memory of his recent defeats, Rodolph animated by a just indignation
+and conscious rectitude.
+
+Once upon the soil of Saxony, Henry swept the country with fire and
+sword to the banks of the Elster. He took a strong position at Mulsen,
+and awaited reinforcements from Bohemia. When the desired succor had
+arrived, he put his army in motion, intending to desolate the country
+and then retire. But he had not advanced far, before he discovered the
+allied forces of Saxony and Suabia drawn up to oppose him. Daunted for a
+moment, by this gallant host, he fell back upon the Elster. The deep
+river prevented a farther retreat. His position was protected by narrow
+and difficult approaches, and by a deep morass. Here he passed the
+night.
+
+Early in the morning of the fifteenth of October, the army of Henry was
+drawn up in battle array along the Elster, while the vanguard of his
+rival became visible in the distance. The soldiers of the former were
+unwearied and invigorated by a night of repose; the troops of Rodolph
+were jaded with forced marches over roads almost impassable. Rodolph,
+apprehensive lest fatigue should prove fatal, would have declined an
+immediate action, but he found it impossible to restrain the ardor of
+his men. The knights leaped from their sinking steeds and formed
+themselves on foot, and the infantry, forgetting their toil at the sight
+of the foe, continued to advance. They halted at length on the edge of
+the deep morass of Grona, in full view of the opposing army on the other
+side.
+
+With Henry were the bishops of Basle and Lausanne with their
+men-at-arms, the Count Palatine Herman with all Franconia, Marquard of
+Carinthia, and Lutold, his son. Many recreant Bavarians were around him,
+and even Suabia raised her arm against her noble duke, in the person of
+Werner, Archbishop of Strasburg. There, too, were found Ulrich of
+Eppenstein, Arnaud of Lentzburg, Ulrich of Bregenz, Lutold of
+Dillingen, the counts and prelates of the house of Welschneuenburg,
+Egina of Achalm, and Werner of Gruningen. But conspicuous, even amid
+that high-born and martial group, stood the Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and
+Frederick of Hohenstaufen.
+
+Rodolph was surrounded by Altman of Constance, and the mitres of Coire,
+Rheinau, Stein, Wuertzburg, and Worms; he could touch the hands of
+Eckhard of Richenau, of the Abbot of the Convent of All Saints at
+Schafhouse, and of William de Hirschau, the most exemplary man of his
+day. Welf, Otto of Nordheim, Berthold of Carinthia, and Hugo, Count
+Palatine of Tuebingen, were ready to support him with their lives, as
+they marched on proudly at the head of their vassals and soldiers.
+Glittering at his side were raised the lances of Marquard of Bregenz,
+Hartman of Dillingen, Burchard of Nellemburg, Cuno and Lutold of Achalm,
+Werner of Hapsburg, Adalbert of Calm, Albert of Hers, and Sandrit of
+Stramen.
+
+At the moment the advancing columns halted, the legates of Gregory
+appeared in front of the army and imparted the Papal benediction to all
+who had taken up arms against the enemy of the Church and of the
+liberties of Germany. As if a thunderbolt had stricken them down, the
+soldiers sank simultaneously upon their knees, and, with their heads
+bent upon their hearts, received the boon so dearly prized. While they
+were yet kneeling, the clerks began to intone the eighty-second Psalm,
+and the solemn strains could be heard all along the ranks. How sad was
+the thought, that this calm music was but the prelude to the groans of
+the dying and the hoarse shouts of blood-stained victory! As the army
+rose at the last note of the Psalm, the clash of steel, instead of the
+mournful chant, was heard along the line.
+
+Rodolph, pale and thoughtful, but calm and dignified, rode through his
+columns, uttering brief expressions of encouragement and confidence,
+which were answered by cheers that made the welkin ring. When he had
+gained an eminence which commanded a view of both armies, a messenger,
+darting from his side, flew like an arrow toward the column of Welf of
+Bavaria. After the lapse of a few minutes, the Bavarians had turned the
+morass, and were almost within striking distance of the enemy. Without
+moving from his position, Frederick of Hohenstaufen waited the assault.
+The next instant the Bavarians had encountered the Bohemians hand to
+hand. For a time the combat seemed equal, but at length the division of
+Welf could be seen slowly falling back. The Suabian nobles, who had
+hitherto watched the contest in silence and the deepest interest,
+besought the king to permit them to aid the retreating column. But
+Rodolph firmly refused. He watched the combatants sternly, but without
+moving a muscle, until the main body of Henry's army was in motion, and
+then Gilbert could see the smile he had marked at Fladenheim, curling
+the hero's lip and lighting up his eye. Yet it was not the same smile:
+there was something sadder, yet fiercer in it. Never had his eye flashed
+forth such wild lustre, or his bosom heaved with such pent-up emotion.
+
+Then, as the main body of the Saxons pressed rapidly forward under Otto
+of Nordheim, against the foe disordered by pursuit, and Rodolph saw his
+plans accomplished, he turned to the Archbishop of Mayence, and
+exclaimed, in a voice broken by deep feeling:
+
+"The day is ours!"
+
+The prelate uttered a prayer of thanksgiving, and, turning to the king,
+said:
+
+"I give your highness joy!"
+
+"I may need your prayers rather than your congratulations," replied
+Rodolph, in a whisper, and he closed his visor.
+
+The king still occupied the height from which he had directed the
+battle, that had now become general. Around him were the chivalry of
+Suabia and his former faithful subjects, acting in concert with a large
+body of Saxons. Henry's army was divided into two bodies, one of which,
+commanded by the monarch in person, was engaged with Otto, while the
+other, led by Godfrey de Bouillon and Frederick of Hohenstaufen,
+assailed the Bavarians. Welf, borne down by numbers, still retreated in
+obedience to his instructions.
+
+"Our turn has come at last, gentlemen," cried the king. "Forward!"
+
+The barons, who had waited as impatiently as hounds in the leash,
+required no second bidding, but dashed after their chivalrous monarch,
+who was in full course with his lance in rest. Already, in Henry's camp,
+the _Te Deum_ was sounding in anticipation of the victory promised by
+the supposed rout of the Bavarians. But the arrival of Rodolph changed
+the face of affairs. The strife then began in earnest. The enemy
+recoiled at first before the king's impetuous charge, but they were
+commanded by the ablest knights in the empire, and soon recovered from
+their momentary panic. Foremost of all his gallant chiefs, Rodolph
+carried death and terror into the Bohemian ranks. He seemed endowed with
+supernatural strength, and neither lance nor mace could arrest his
+brilliant career. Wherever the foe was thickest, or the fight most
+dubious, his white crest gleamed like some fearful meteor. It was
+difficult for the Suabian nobles to keep up with their invincible
+monarch, and only by dint of the most extraordinary efforts about twenty
+of the best lances of his army could prevent his falling alone upon the
+hostile masses. Among those who fought at his side were the lords of
+Stramen and Hers, Gilbert and Henry. At this moment a band of perhaps
+thirty horsemen, with their spears in rest, headed by a knight of
+gigantic size and another whose deeds had proclaimed him equally
+formidable, came like a thunderbolt through the opening files of the
+Bohemians, and fell upon the Suabian group.
+
+The shock was fearful. Many of the combatants were hurled to the earth;
+but the white plume still waved, and Rodolph of Suabia was in mortal
+combat with Godfrey de Bouillon. The giant had singled out Sandrit of
+Stramen, who spurred to meet him with equal avidity. In an instant both
+riders rolled in the dust. The antagonist of Sir Sandrit was the first
+to rise, and as the knight of Stramen staggered to his feet, the
+battle-axe of his opponent was poised above his head. A moment more and
+the Lady Margaret would have been an orphan--for Frederick of
+Hohenstaufen's strength was not to be babied by steel casque or bars of
+proof. But the axe was destined to take another direction. A mounted
+knight, spurring to the rescue of Sir Sandrit, was within a few bounds
+of the Lord of Hohenstaufen. Sir Frederick saw his danger, and with
+wonderful quickness changed his aim, and discharged the ponderous weapon
+against this new assailant. But the Suabian, displaying equal quickness,
+fell suddenly upon the neck of his steed, and the flying mass passed
+harmlessly over his head, grazing his crest. But as the rider rose to
+his seat, a Bohemian knight, darting before Sir Frederick, checked his
+career. Such was the fury of the onset that both were unhorsed. The
+saddle-girths of the Suabian had given way, but the Bohemian fell,
+pierced by the spear of his antagonist. The former sprang uninjured to
+his feet, and drawing his sword, rushed against the first object of his
+attack. Sir Sandrit, dizzy from his first shock, was staggering beneath
+the heavy blows of his powerful opponent, as the knight whose advance we
+have marked, crying "God and Suabia!" turned aside a stroke aimed at the
+exhausted baron, and stepped between them.
+
+"Who are you?" said the Lord of Hohenstaufen, parrying a blow and
+returning it. "Your shield bears no device; beware lest you fall before
+it obtains one!"
+
+"I shall take a device when I have earned one," was the reply. "My name
+would convey nothing to your ears."
+
+"Then perish in your insignificance!" exclaimed the giant, bringing down
+his sword with both hands. But the blow was avoided with admirable
+agility, and the combat went on in silence. It seemed as if the struggle
+could not last an instant, for Frederick towered full a foot above his
+adversary. But the Lord of Hohenstaufen was fatigued by his passage with
+the Baron of Stramen, and his wonderful strength was partially balanced
+by the superior activity of the Suabian. In the mean time, numbers of
+Rodolph's knights had now arrived, and the Duke Godfrey was compelled to
+retreat. Frederick of Hohenstaufen lingered until almost surrounded, and
+then retired slowly before his antagonist, hoping to obtain some
+advantage from the pursuer's impetuosity.
+
+But the Suabian was as cautious and dangerous as ever.
+
+"Hold, Sir Knight!" said Frederick, suddenly sinking his sword and
+lowering his visor. "I beg your name."
+
+"I am called Gilbert de Hers," replied the youth, imitating his example.
+
+"There," cried the Lord of Hohenstaufen, throwing down his glove, "wear
+that for me, and say for Frederick of Hohenstaufen, that he rarely coped
+with better knight."
+
+At these words, the giant mounted a horse which a groom had brought him
+through the fray, and, waving an adieu, wheeled off to another part of
+the field. Gilbert raised the gage and fastened it in his casque. There
+was a strong tumult in the young noble's heart. In spite of his
+impulsive disposition, he was never so calm as when in danger. Though
+sharing the intense excitement of the battle-field, he was not carried
+away by the frenzy of the strife. Though the praises of an illustrious
+enemy were sounding in his ears, he felt little of the exultation which
+such a circumstance might naturally impart. He had rescued the Baron of
+Stramen from imminent peril; but though the Lady Margaret's image had
+been before him through the horror and glory of the day, it was only for
+a moment that he thrilled at the prospect of a relenting father. His
+interview with Rodolph had sunk deep into his soul, and not even the
+pomp and terror of war could blot from his mind the contemplation of the
+king and his solemn language. He knew not why, but he could scarce
+withdraw his eyes from the snow-white crest, which, still unwearied,
+hung upon the now retiring columns of the foe. The Count Rapatho had
+already fallen before the fiery Rodolph, and the _Te Deum_ was hushed as
+the mangled corpse was brought into Henry's camp.
+
+Nor was Otto of Nordheim less successful. At the head of the Saxon
+infantry, he had routed the legions of Franconia, and had driven numbers
+into the deep and rapid river. Fruitlessly did Henry endeavor to
+preserve his array and keep his ground: he was routed at every point.
+The Saxons, now certain of victory, would have fallen upon and pillaged
+the camp. But Otto was too old a warrior to throw caution aside because
+of a partial success. "Wait a moment!" was all the veteran said, as he
+checked their appetite for plunder; and the wisdom of his advice was
+soon made evident. Henry de Laca, Count Palatine of the Rhine, began to
+menace his rear. The troops of the count were fresh, and had been
+proved in former trials. As they advanced with the rapidity and
+steadiness of veterans, singing the _Kyrie eleison_, they seemed well
+able to retrieve the fortunes of the day.
+
+"Another triumph awaits us!" cried Otto; "let us trust in God!"
+
+Without hesitating a moment, the gallant Saxon, with his wonted
+impetuosity, fell upon the advancing lines, and, though stubbornly
+resisted for a time, gained at last a complete victory. When the forces
+of the Palatine of the Rhine had been driven across the Elster, Otto
+turned to his soldiers, exclaiming:
+
+"Now to the camp, and take the reward of your valor!"
+
+In the meanwhile, the retreat of the Bohemians had turned into a
+confused flight. Rodolph, in the eagerness of pursuit, had rashly
+penetrated too far into the flying masses of the foe, who now turned
+upon the pursuer. Awhile the white crest danced amid hostile helmets and
+spears--then vanished.
+
+"He is down!" screamed Gilbert, in agony, hewing his way toward the
+king. Rodolph was alone against a host, while his horse sank up to his
+knees in the marshy ground. Before succor could arrive, a sword had
+cloven through the monarch's wrist, and his right hand fell to the
+ground.
+
+"It is the hand that I raised when swearing allegiance to Henry,"
+muttered Rodolph, bitterly. With tears in his eyes, Gilbert struggled to
+reach the king, who, unarmed and disabled, drove his steed against the
+circle that hemmed him in. His crest was gone, and his armor hacked and
+stained with blood: still fearlessly he bore up against his foes, and
+seemed to rejoice in the unequal strife. The chivalry of Suabia were
+spurring fast to the rescue, and Gilbert, now supported by a small band
+of friends, was almost at his side, when Godfrey de Bouillon charged the
+king with levelled lance. The steel, impelled by a powerful hand,
+entered at the groin, and Rodolph, mortally wounded, fell to the ground.
+The Bohemians uttered a cry of joy at the king's overthrow, for they
+knew him well by his armor and actions. Their triumph was short-lived,
+however, for the Suabians, eager to avenge their leader, gave no
+quarter, and the victorious Saxons had attacked their rear.
+
+"Stop not now!" said Rodolph to the nobles about him; and the lords of
+Hapsburg, Tuebingen, Achalm, Hers, and Stramen swept on to avenge him.
+Gilbert remained rooted to the spot. His lance dropped from his hand as
+he leaped from his horse and knelt beside his monarch. Already the
+helmet had been removed by one who supported the dying hero in his arms.
+From Gregory VII to Pius IX, from the Dominican that accompanied Cortez
+to the Jesuit who followed a more recent conqueror, the Catholic
+missionary had been found in the front of battle. It was Father Omehr
+whose breast now pillowed the monarch's head. Gilbert's heart was almost
+bursting as he pressed the only remaining hand to his lips and saw that
+he was recognized. Feeling he could not long survive, Rodolph raised his
+head and asked, in a dying voice, "Whose is the day?" "Yours, my lord,
+yours!" replied those who were around him; for Gilbert, unable to speak,
+did not attempt to answer, but continued to gaze on the eagle eye over
+which the film of death was gathering fast.
+
+"Yours, my lord, yours," repeated the mourners. At these words, Rodolph
+fell back in the missionary's arms, saying, "Then I accept with joy the
+end to which God has called me. Death no longer disturbs me, since it
+brings victory with it." From this moment he was speechless; and with
+his gaze earnestly bent upon his shield, that had been raised by a page,
+and on which was blazoned a crowned lion sleeping upon the knees of the
+Blessed Virgin, Rodolph of Suabia breathed his last. The calm face of
+the dead was not paler than Gilbert, who, unmoved by the shout of
+victory, watched the clay that had so lately been--a king.
+
+While they bore the body to the royal pavilion, the pursuit was
+continued with terrible effect. The Saxons remembered the losses they
+had suffered five years before--the Suabians saw their desolated homes
+and their expiring duke. The small remnant of Henry's army that escaped
+the relentless sword and the equally fatal depths of the Elster, were
+only reserved for a fate still more dreadful. After wandering about, a
+prey to want and misery, they were now butchered by the peasantry of
+Saxony and Thuringia, who, armed with hatchets and scythes, flew to
+avenge upon the relic the wrongs they had suffered from the whole army.
+Many of the fugitives plunged into the forests, preferring the slow
+tooth of famine to the swifter stroke of steel. Others, concealing
+themselves until the first gust of passion was over, besought the mercy
+of the peasantry, who, at last moved with compassion or glutted with
+slaughter, received them as fellow-beings, healed their wounds, and sent
+them to their homes. Henry of Austria, with a suite little proportioned
+to his rank, fled to Bohemia.
+
+There was none of the exultation of victory in the allied camp that
+night: each soldier seemed to feel that the conquest had been too dearly
+won. Rodolph was not only beloved by the Suabians, who from their
+cradles had experienced his bounty, his virtue, and justice, but he had
+endeared himself to the Saxons by his affability, his wisdom, and his
+valor. He had healed their private quarrels and humbled their public
+enemies; he found them divided and feeble, he left them united and
+vigorous. They regarded him as the savior of Saxony, and affectionately
+styled him "_Pater patriae_." Nor was the grief of the bishops and
+priests less ardent and sincere, for they felt that a zealous and
+dauntless defender of the Church had fallen.
+
+The soldiers, scattered about in groups, slept little, but whispered to
+each other, and fixed their eyes upon the torches that burned so
+steadily in the royal pavilion. There was stretched, cold and stiff, the
+victor of the day, his noble features rigid in death, while his barons
+knelt weeping around the bier, and the Archbishop of Mayence recited
+prayers for his soul. The night wore away, and when the morning broke
+out cheerfully as though no care were in the world, Gilbert de Hers
+still knelt beside the corpse of the king. No tears were in his eyes
+then, and the expression of his face varied between deep thought and
+deep grief. He might have remarked that the scorn had departed from
+Henry of Stramen's lip; but he did not. His mind was occupied with
+other things; and silent and sad, he would not leave his vigil beside
+the dead.
+
+Early in the morning of the sixteenth, the victorious army, sadder than
+defeat could ever have made it, entered Merseburg. After the obsequies
+had been performed with equal solemnity and magnificence, the body of
+the king was deposited in the choir of the cathedral. A statue of gilt
+bronze for many a year marked the tomb of Rodolph of Suabia.
+
+On the same evening, when the soldiers were scattered through the town,
+and the nobles had retired to such quarters as they could procure,
+Gilbert de Hers sought out Father Omehr, and found him in an apartment
+which the Archbishop of Mayence had obtained for the missionary.
+
+Up to the day of his interview with Rodolph at Mayence, Gilbert's mind
+had been wholly engrossed with the bright pictures which a vivid and
+worldly fancy and a keen ambition to excel can always unfold to the eye
+of youth. At times he remembered the night passed in the missionary's
+humble dwelling, when Bertha's knife had confined him there, and he saw
+again the crucifix and the sacristan. But this was only for a moment.
+The image of the Lady Margaret was sure to enter and banish every other
+feeling than that of deep love for her. But from the night of the
+coronation, a change had fallen upon the youth, which Father Omehr's
+keen eye had not failed to remark. He displayed no longer the same
+thoughtless gayety or the same dreamy abstraction. He had reveries, it
+is true, proceeding from the fear of losing the Lady Margaret, or the
+hope of gaining her. The missionary had refrained from questioning the
+young knight, nor did Gilbert reveal any secret to his venerable friend.
+Whether he might have recovered his former levity can scarcely be
+answered, but the death of Rodolph seemed to have extinguished it
+forever. So great a change had this last incident wrought in him, that
+it was not only evident to Father Omehr and Sir Albert, but all who knew
+him were struck with his altered manner. They ascribed it to grief
+alone, for they knew him to have been the monarch's favorite.
+
+When the young noble and the old priest, whose love for each other had
+steadily increased, had sat awhile in silence, the latter took his
+companion by the hand, and, as the visit seemed to solicit the question,
+said, in a tone evincing the interest of a parent: "My son, what ails
+you?"
+
+Then, for the first time, the violent and various feelings which had
+been aroused in Gilbert's breast found a vent in tears. An hour almost
+passed away before he could compose himself, and then he only said: "To
+witness him struck down by death just as he had gained all for which he
+lived--to see the fruit of thirty years' labor snatched from his lips
+before he could taste it! O God, for what trifles are we toiling!"
+
+It was difficult to recognize Gilbert de Hers in the pale, excited face
+and trembling figure which, with clasped hands and eyes upturned,
+uttered these meaning words.
+
+Another hour passed, and the youth was kneeling at the missionary's
+feet.
+
+Midnight was tolled by the great bell of the cathedral, and Gilbert had
+risen.
+
+"My son," said Father Omehr, as they parted, "you have been taught to
+despise the world--the next step is to love God!"
+
+Otto of Nordheim and Welf of Bavaria had determined to keep their forces
+together until apprised of Henry's further designs, and the allied
+armies rested upon their arms at Merseburg. In the meantime Henry used
+every artifice to raise another army; but such a panic had seized his
+adherents, that they declared they would rather be swallowed up in the
+earth than again encounter the Saxons. When Otto and Welf were thus
+assured of Henry's immediate inability to injure them, they disbanded
+the troops which had served them so gallantly. Much as the soldiers
+longed to return to their homes, they did not part without some
+reluctance. They had long toiled side by side in the same glorious
+cause; they had shared the same dangers and the same pleasures. They had
+slept and kept watch together. Reminiscences of hair-breadth escapes and
+of mutual services had created friendships of no ordinary strength. For
+many days the different troops could be seen evacuating the city under
+their feudal chiefs, until at last scarce a soldier remained at
+Merseburg.
+
+It was about the first of November that the barons of Hers and Stramen
+set out with the relics of their clans for their lordships in Suabia.
+The face of Sandrit of Stramen was sterner than ever, and his son seemed
+to have caught a portion of his severity. They rode along swiftly, and
+whenever they spoke it was about the Lady Margaret. Father Omehr alone
+preserved his equanimity, and even he was now unusually absent and
+thoughtful. Nor was the retinue of Albert of Hers more cheerful. Sir
+Albert's eyes were fixed on the ground in deep dejection; tears were
+ever and anon springing into Humbert's eyes, and even the vassals behind
+them were gloomy and dispirited. They were returning to a desolated
+home, it is true; but, what was worse, they were returning without
+Gilbert.
+
+The Lady Margaret was still at Tuebingen. With scarce more fervor did
+Gregory VII uphold against the world the measures he deemed essential to
+the liberty, unity, and purity of the Church, than did this young girl
+pursue the object to which she had consecrated herself--the extinction
+of the feud. Humble as were her aim and efforts, when contrasted with
+the objects and exertions of the sainted Pontiff, she could still
+imitate his piety and perseverance. The reader may have remarked the
+changes in the Lady Margaret's character. She was naturally haughty and
+impetuous, though generous and sincere. In spite of her piety, that
+pride, so difficult to curb, would still break out. But these
+infirmities had been zealously combated, until religion had triumphed
+over the weakness of humanity. Still, for some time, the Lady Margaret
+was unhappy, and accused herself of human love in seeking the
+reconciliation, imputing the revolution in her feelings to a culpable
+tenderness. But she soon discovered that vanity--that an aspiration
+after the _consciousness_ of perfection rather than true
+piety--occasioned her uneasiness. She no longer tormented herself with
+dangerous mistrusts, but gave all she had to God, begging Him to purify
+the gift and supply her mind with the dispositions to render the
+offering acceptable. She had learned that most difficult lesson even to
+the holy--to hope rather than despond in the conviction of unworthiness.
+There was one other victory which the Lady Margaret had gained over
+herself: she had suppressed an inclination to return the attachment of
+Gilbert de Hers, which she clearly saw could only lead to unfortunate
+results. It was the remembrance of this inclination that occasioned the
+misgivings which she had at last obtained grace to disregard.
+
+Such was the Lady Margaret at the time of the battle of Elster. She
+frequently reverted to the challenge she had given the assailants of
+Stramen Castle, and detected in that defiance a relic of her former
+pride. It was the last spark.
+
+She was now in daily expectation of her father and brother, and of one
+almost equally dear--Father Omehr. Her walks were confined to a large
+room adjoining her chamber, and thence along the corridor to the chapel.
+Her evening exercise was to walk, supported by the Countess of Montfort,
+to the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and observe the custom of her
+earliest youth, by leaving there a bunch of flowers. She spent most of
+the day in a cushioned chair--she was too weak to kneel long. She loved
+to sit in the sunlight, holding the countess's hand in her own
+attenuated fingers. Then she would speak of her father and brother, and
+say that on the morrow they would surely be reunited. She never
+mentioned sickness or pain; she saw her companion's tears falling fast
+at times, but she would only wipe them away with a smile and an
+embrace. As the sunbeams played upon her wasted features, fringing her
+hair with gold, and encircling her with a brilliant halo, the countess
+would turn away from the lovely vision to hide her emotion, and whisper
+to herself: "This is a glimpse of the world beyond the grave!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+  We need not mourn for thee, here laid to rest;
+  Earth is thy bed, and not thy grave; the skies
+  Are for thy soul the cradle and the nest.
+  There live!
+
+  TASSO.
+
+Toward the close of November, on one of those bright warm days, when
+winter, as if in memory of the departed summer, puts by his blasts and
+snows, the Countess of Montfort was seated at the bedside of the Lady
+Margaret. The countess, though in the bloom of health and youth, was sad
+and tearful. The maiden, though her breath was short and difficult, wore
+a smile upon her lips. The shadow of death was on her sunken temples,
+and had touched her quivering nostril and waxen ear, through which the
+light came as through porcelain. Yet the eyes were closed, and the pale
+lips moved, and the wasted hands, embracing a crucifix, were joined in
+prayer. She could still beg God to heal the feud. How edifying, how
+beautiful, how sublime the spectacle!--sublimer than the deeds of
+heroes, the conceptions of poets, the aspirations of genius. What is
+Archimedes moving the world to the humblest Christian moving heaven by
+prayer!
+
+In a corner of the room a small statue of the Immaculate Mother of God
+stood upon a pedestal. The marble figure breathed all that purity and
+simplicity so striking in the images which adorned the old Gothic
+cathedrals. The eyes of the maiden frequently rested upon it, and as
+often as sunset came, she would bid the countess place a bunch of
+flowers at its feet. Thus did she continue to the end of her life the
+pious custom of her infancy.
+
+All was still in the darkened chamber, and the rich tapestry hung
+mournfully from the walls. The things of earth make the earthly heart
+ache in the presence of death. But how joyously the eye of faith kindled
+up, as it rested on the face of the meek sufferer!
+
+The door opened softly, a light step entered, and a female servant
+whispered something to the countess. She started and looked suddenly at
+Margaret. The invalid had caught the whisper, low as it was. A slight
+tinge was visible on her cheek, as she pressed her white fingers to her
+breast and said, in a low tone:
+
+"God be praised! It is my father! Bring him to me."
+
+Is this dying girl his daughter! Is this attenuated form all that
+remains of his noble, his beautiful, his darling Margaret? Like a
+blasted pine, the stalwart warrior fell upon his knees, with a groan as
+if his heart had burst, and buried his face in the curtains. Henry, all
+tears and sobs, caught his sister's outstretched hand and held it to his
+heart, gazing in anguish at the ruin of his idol. Behind these knelt
+Father Omehr. For a moment the man triumphed over the Christian, and he
+too felt the thorn of grief in his throat. But when Margaret's calm eye
+rested on him, and her meek smile beamed out, he felt the rapture which
+is only known to the holy, when a soul is happily returning to the bosom
+whence it came.
+
+"Let us thank God for having thus united us!" said the Lady Margaret,
+and they remained some minutes in silent prayer.
+
+"Father!" whispered the invalid.
+
+The broad chest was convulsed and the moan deepened, but that bent,
+crushed figure made no reply.
+
+"Father!" she repeated, as her hand fell, in a caress, upon her parent's
+head.
+
+Sir Sandrit, starting at her touch, looked up and seized the hand. A
+minute had changed his face, as if a year had been ravaging there: it
+was so furrowed, so haggard. He gazed but an instant at his daughter;
+then hid his face again, muttering but one word: "Margaret!"
+
+"Father," said the maiden to Father Omehr, who now stood at her at her
+pillow, "is Albert of Hers at home?"
+
+The missionary nodded.
+
+"Let him know that Margaret of Stramen, on her death-bed, entreated him
+to fly here without a moment's delay."
+
+Even the sound of that hated name produced no perceptible impression
+upon the heart-broken baron. The Count Montfort, who had just entered
+the room, suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"I, myself, will deliver your message, my child, as quickly as horse can
+speed."
+
+Margaret endeavored to thank him, but, exhausted by excitement and
+exertion, she fell back upon her pillow. The countess prudently led the
+unresisting father from the room, and despatched Henry to administer to
+his grief.
+
+"I am changed," said Margaret to the missionary, as she recovered.
+
+"God has changed you for Himself, my child," replied the old man,
+struggling with the weakness of human nature, for he had known and loved
+her from her infancy.
+
+"I have hoped so, even in the recollection of my many sins, for His
+mercy is infinite. May He uphold and strengthen my father, and teach him
+to rejoice in the change he now deplores!"
+
+The countess left the room, and once more the Lady Margaret opened her
+soul to her first confessor.
+
+The baron knelt all night beside his dying child. He watched her broken
+slumbers, as if he feared each might be the last. A thousand sighs of
+anguish and affection were given and returned before another day began
+to dawn. How precious are the last hours of life! In our inability to
+lengthen them, we strive to gather into them more feeling and action
+than we could extract from as many years.
+
+As the sun flashed out the Lady Margaret seemed animated with new
+strength. Her father trembled at the suggestion--what if she should
+recover! Thus hope feeds upon the wishes of the heart.
+
+An hour before noon the Count Montfort, accompanied by Albert of Hers,
+entered the apartment. Sir Albert, obeying a look which the maiden gave
+him, advanced, and with much emotion pronounced the words, "My lady, I
+am here!"
+
+Sir Sandrit had anticipated all; nor did his son manifest the least
+surprise. They both stood sorrowful and mute, nor did anger and disdain
+appear in the features with which they were so familiar. Albert of Hers
+saw, at a glance, the position in which he was placed.
+
+"Father!" began the sinking girl--"father! let me die in the assurance
+of meeting you hereafter. In the name of Him before whom I am soon to
+appear, forgive this man!"
+
+The struggle had already taken place in the baron's soul. When his heart
+was trampled in the dust, his pride was broken. The stubborn rock was
+smitten by the heaven-directed wand, and the waters of contrition gushed
+forth.
+
+"You have conquered, my child," he murmured, kneeling and kissing her
+pale forehead.
+
+"Not I, my father. God is the conqueror!"
+
+It seemed as if her upward glance had rested upon something more than
+mortal, her face assumed an expression of such unearthly meaning. Sir
+Albert, too, knelt beside his ancient foe: he felt it impious to stand.
+
+The maiden motioned to the countess, who raised and supported her in her
+arms and drew back the long hair which had partially covered the hollow
+cheeks. Without a word, but with an eloquence that must have charmed the
+attendant Angels as much as it entranced the mortals who witnessed it,
+she placed her father's hand into Sir Albert's right hand, while Henry
+took the left.
+
+"Albert de Hers," said Sir Sandrit, as the tears coursed down his brown
+cheeks, "I freely forgive you and yours; and nevermore shall my hand be
+raised against you."
+
+Henry repeated the words after his father.
+
+"And I," said the Lord of Hers, "will forget the past: and I declare,
+here in the presence of dying innocence, that I am guiltless of your
+brother's blood!"
+
+The Countess of Montfort sobbed aloud, and her husband made no effort to
+conceal his tears. Father Omehr, who had raised his hands to heaven in
+an ecstasy of gratitude, now exclaimed:
+
+"Let me speak for one who is not here: Gilbert de Hers has long since
+forgiven those who were once his father's foes."
+
+The object of her life was attained--the goal was reached--the victory
+was won. There lay the victor, supported in the arms of her friend. The
+victory was hers, for though heaven had won it, she had won heaven by
+prayer. What are earth's conquests to a victory like this! What the
+splendid overthrow of nations--what Thermopylae, or Marathon, or
+Trafalgar to this triumph over long-nourished hatred! When does man
+appear in so magnificent an attitude as when, by fervent prayer and
+complete humility, he converts heaven into an agent by which his desires
+are accomplished!
+
+Yet the dying victor felt no pride. Her heart was dissolved in
+gratitude: she knew her nothingness, and ascribed all to God. She spoke
+not, she wept not: even the wonted smile forsook her lips. She only felt
+the immensity of the goodness of God--she only bowed before this new
+manifestation of his power. The three knights, who looked up in her
+face, saw she was invoking a blessing upon them, and reverently bent
+their heads, as if in the feeling that the blessing was then descending.
+
+Young girls clothed in white were noiselessly strewing with flowers the
+way by which the adorable Sacrament was to pass from the chapel to the
+chamber. The blessed candle, the emblem of the light of faith and of the
+heavenly mansions, was lit, and the maiden, unable to kneel, received
+the Sacred Body as she lay. Her eyes were closed, and, as if detached
+from all earthly things, she continued to murmur, almost inaudibly,
+passages from the Psalms and pious ejaculations. She raised her finger
+to trace upon her lips the sign of Christ, and then fell into her agony.
+
+Three times the bell had tolled when the last absolution was given, and
+its solemn voice still sounded at regular intervals, mingling with the
+sublime words that bade the faint soul go forth from the world in the
+name of God the Father Almighty, who created it, in the name of Jesus
+Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered for it, in the name of
+the Holy Spirit, which had been imparted to it: in the name of Angels
+and Archangels, in the name of Thrones and Dominations, in the name of
+Principalities and Powers, in the name of Cherubim and Seraphim, in the
+name of Patriarchs and Prophets, in the name of holy Apostles and
+Evangelists, in the name of holy martyrs and confessors, in the name of
+holy monks and hermits, in the name of holy virgins and all the Saints
+of God, that its rest that day might be in peace, and its habitation in
+holy Sion!
+
+There was no struggle, no contortion, to mark the moment of
+dissolution. The face only grew more serene and less death-like, as the
+soul passed from its frail tenement.
+
+The bells no longer swung slowly and solemnly, but poured forth a
+festive sound. And well might they peal more merrily then, than at
+birth, or marriage, or earthly conquest. Tears were falling fast around
+the bed; yet only the body wept--the soul was exulting.
+
+On the morning of the third day after the Lady Margaret's death, a
+funeral procession could be seen slowly approaching, within sight of the
+ruins of Stramen Castle and the blackened Church of the Nativity. The
+peasantry, who were expecting it, had gone forth to meet the remains of
+their dearly loved lady, and rosy children were scattering flowers
+before the bier. They could not repress some tears and sighs for their
+benefactress, yet they knew it was for themselves they grieved, not for
+her they had lost. How they wondered at first--and how their wonder
+melted into joyous thanksgivings, to see the Lord of Hers supporting the
+now humble and contrite Baron of Stramen!
+
+The mourners--if such they may be called--entered the grave-yard, which
+was near the church, and had not been violated by the sacrilegious
+marauders, and halted before a new-made grave. In those days, it was the
+peculiar privilege of bishops, abbots, and holy priests to be buried
+within the church, or only extended to laics of distinguished sanctity.
+Yet Father Omehr had assured the maiden that she might be interred in
+the choir at Tuebingen. Margaret had declined a privilege of which she
+deemed herself unworthy, saying that she did not wish to be associated
+in sepulture with those from whom she was far separated in merit, and
+expressing a wish to be placed beside her mother. And they laid her,
+with prayers and unbidden tears, in the place she had chosen.
+
+The gorgeous sun of ancient Suabia was beaming out in cloudless
+splendor, and the mountains and the Danube, the forest and the fields
+looked lovely in the glittering day; yet not one of those who stood
+around the grave would have said to the dead, "_Awake!_" if the word
+could have recalled her to share the beauty of the world before them.
+When the Count and Countess of Montfort saw that their longer presence
+would only impose a restraint upon the family group, they bade the
+missionary a silent adieu, and began to retrace their steps to Tuebingen.
+
+The cottage of the missionary was spared on account of its
+insignificance; and Father Omehr led the Lord of Hers and the father and
+son into his humble apartments, which had been zealously tended by his
+pious penitents. All was arranged just as he had left it, to his own bed
+and the corner where Gilbert had slept. There was nothing here to mark
+the scourge which had desolated the smiling country without. The Baron
+of Stramen sat down upon a bench, covering his face with his hands.
+Here, in the sight of his ruined castle, and with the funeral tears of
+his only daughter undried upon his cheeks, he was happier than he had
+been for many a year: happier than when carousing in his father's
+halls--happier than when proudly embracing his darling child--happier
+than when engaged in avenging his brother--happier than when exulting in
+the victories of Rodolph! And Henry, too, shared in this blessed change
+wrought by his sister's prayers. Each heart was too full for speech;
+words would have fallen meaningless and cold.
+
+At this eloquent moment, a man, exhausted with running, and greatly
+agitated, abruptly entered the cottage. He checked himself, however, and
+stood as if petrified at the sight of the group before him. Father
+Omehr, who rightly judged that his rude intrusion must have been caused
+by no ordinary occurrence, rose, and in a whisper commanded him to
+explain himself.
+
+"Bertha seems adying!" said the man.
+
+"Where is she?" asked the priest.
+
+"About a mile from here--I will take you there." The Baron of Stramen
+seemed not to listen, for he sat motionless; but his son manifested much
+interest.
+
+"Shall I go with you?" he said to the missionary.
+
+"No, my child, remain with your father."
+
+Albert de Hers had started up at the peasant's announcement, and
+followed Father Omehr out of the apartment.
+
+"Permit me," he said, "to accompany you; I feel that the call is
+intended for me too. This ring," he continued, holding up his finger,
+"was given me in my youth by Rodolph of Suabia; in a moment of folly and
+sin, I parted with it. After an interval of more than twenty years, it
+was restored to Rodolph by this Bertha, without a word of explanation.
+He gave it to me the night before his death"--here the baron paused an
+instant--"and informed me how and from whom he had received it. I
+resolved to seek out the woman on my return; for if she be the Bertha to
+whom I gave this ring, even in her madness she may throw light upon an
+event hitherto involved in mystery."
+
+"You mean the death of Sir Sandrit's brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I see no reason to oppose your wish," said the missionary; "perhaps the
+mercy of God may choose to reveal what we vainly have endeavored to
+discover."
+
+It was not known how Bertha had escaped from the castle on the fatal
+night when it was fired and its inmates put to the sword. Her insanity
+might have shielded her; or she might have availed herself of the
+confusion and darkness to elude observation, or extricated herself by
+some secret passage. A peasant thought he had seen her, by moonlight,
+walking along the moat of the castle, some days after the hostile army
+had disappeared; but his account was discredited until she appeared by
+daylight to the surviving vassals of Stramen, when they emerged from the
+forest in which they had taken refuge. At the time of the return of the
+soldiers of Stramen, she was much thinner and walked with difficulty,
+rarely issuing from her retreat in the ravine, to which she had again
+retired. On the morning of Margaret's funeral she could be seen, pale
+and haggard, tottering toward the grave-yard. The simple peasants
+recoiled before the ghastly figure, which, tall and trembling, with a
+black gown and death-white face, passed among them like a spectre.
+Before she reached the church she fell senseless to the ground. The
+humanity of those who observed her triumphed over their fears, and they
+bore her to a newly finished house hard by.
+
+This was all the missionary could glean from his guide, as they walked
+swiftly toward the shed pointed out by the peasant.
+
+They found her lying motionless upon a bed in a corner of the room. As
+they entered, she opened her eyes, and, after keenly scanning the Lord
+of Hers, raised herself with difficulty upon her arm. Father Omehr
+started. The wild light of insanity had left her eyes, and her glance,
+though firm and resolute, was gentle and natural.
+
+"Do you know me, Bertha?" said the missionary, springing trembling to
+the bedside.
+
+"Oh, yes," was the reply. "I have been in a long, wild dream!" and she
+passed her hand over her high, clammy forehead. "And I know _you_, Sir
+Albert of Hers, and I know that God has brought you here at this
+moment."
+
+The stout warrior, who never quailed before any odds, and whose
+self-possession was as remarkable as his valor, quivered before the
+mournful gaze of that weak woman. The room seemed to reel, and he leaned
+against the wall for support.
+
+"There is one other I must see--Sandrit of Stramen. Father, have him
+brought here now; there is not one moment to be lost."
+
+The missionary whispered a few words to a youth who was present, and the
+stripling passed hurriedly out.
+
+"Have you sent for him?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will he soon be here?"
+
+"He is scarce a mile off."
+
+"It is well," she continued, lifting up her large black eyes; "God has
+designed it all! And now," she resumed, after a brief pause, "we must be
+alone until the baron comes."
+
+At a signal from the missionary, Albert of Hers and the wondering
+peasants silently withdrew.
+
+The half hour that elapsed before Sir Sandrit's appearance, seemed like
+an age to the Baron of Hers, who in an agony of suspense paced up and
+down the clearing before the cottage. At last, however, the two noblemen
+and Henry of Stramen were admitted.
+
+Bertha was sitting upright in bed, supported by Father Omehr, who
+beckoned to Henry to assist him. There were traces of recent tears upon
+her furrowed cheeks, and her form seemed to dilate as she gazed at the
+nobles before her.
+
+"Listen to me, Baron of Stramen!" she began, looking full at the noble,
+in whom surprise was gaining a temporary mastery over grief; "listen,
+for it is God's mercy that permits me to speak and you to hear! Twenty
+years ago I was young and beautiful. I was loved by your brother and by
+him who stands at your side."
+
+Albert de Hers turned pale as death, and drawing the ring from his
+finger, advanced a step, saying hoarsely, "Are you the Bertha to whom I
+gave this ring?"
+
+She took the trinket in her hand, and after examining it over and over,
+replied:
+
+"I _am_ that Bertha. But how did you get this?"
+
+"From the Duke Rodolph, to whom you gave it."
+
+The woman knit her brows, as if struggling to recall some confused
+impression, and at length said: "Yes, I did give it to him; I remember
+now. Where is he?"
+
+"In heaven, I trust," replied the Lord of Hers.
+
+At the word heaven, the tears started in the eyes of the poor creature,
+and she hung her head. The silence was profound and painful. She was the
+first to break it.
+
+"Interrupt me no more," she said, suppressing her emotion. "Hear me
+through. Robert of Stramen and Albert of Hers were rivals for my love,
+and they began to hate each other bitterly on my account. I loved
+neither, for I had promised to marry Albert of the Thorn, and I loved
+him as much as my vain heart was able to love anything. But I was weak
+enough to receive the presents they gave me for the sake of wearing the
+finery, and my lover was pleased, because we were poor. My Lord of
+Stramen, do you remember the day we brought you your brother's corpse?"
+
+The baron shuddered.
+
+"On that very morning--oh! how distinctly do I see it--I was sitting in
+the ravine, not far from my mother's house, when a wild boar pursued by
+hounds rushed madly by me. As I stood trembling, a horseman followed,
+dashing along at full speed. He reined up when he saw me. It was the
+Lord of Hers. He began to smile, and asked me to forgive him the fright
+he had given me, and, untying a scarf which he wore around his waist,
+threw it over my shoulders. Then he put this ring on my finger and
+galloped off, crying he must not miss the stand. This much you know,
+Albert of Hers, but you do not know what followed. Was it not as I have
+said?"
+
+The noble nodded.
+
+"O God, strengthen me to reveal all!" continued the now agitated woman.
+"I began to walk down the ravine, when I met Albert of the Thorn. I
+showed him my presents, and we sat down at the foot of a pile of steep
+rocks, beside a little spring. Albert was arranging the scarf about my
+neck, when Sir Robert of Stramen suddenly stood before us. His face was
+pale with rage, and his lips were all foaming. I screamed at his awful
+appearance. I knew well that he hated my betrothed, and had threatened
+his life if he married me. He snatched the scarf from my neck, and
+shaking it at me, said: 'I know very well from whom this came!' Then,
+turning upon Albert, he cried: 'And for you, who pretend to love her, to
+connive at his guilt! You shall pay for your baseness with your life!'
+He stopped here, as if rage had choked him, and drew his sword. Albert
+sprang quickly up the ledge of rocks, and Sir Robert followed. I saw
+Albert stoop, pick up a large fragment of rock, and hurl it--I saw Sir
+Robert fall, and then I grew sick and dizzy, and fainted. When I
+recovered, Albert was watching me, trembling and livid. I looked around,
+and there was Sir Robert, stretched out stiff and still and bloody. He
+had worn nothing but a light cap on his head, and the stone had made a
+fearful dent in his temple. I knelt beside him, and prayed, and chafed
+his hands, and brought water from the spring and poured it upon his
+face. I hoped he would come to life, even if he would only revive to
+kill me. It was all in vain. He grew cold: he was dead. Again I looked
+at Albert--he was shaking like a leaf. 'Bertha,' he said, 'I am a lost
+man! When Sir Sandrit knows this, I cease to live.' I saw his danger,
+which did not until then occur to me, and I lost my concern for the dead
+in my fears for him. I loved him better than anything in the world, and
+the devil, who knew my heart, suggested a scheme for his preservation.
+The scarf of the Lord of Hers, which bore some family device, was
+grasped in the dead man's hand, and I saw at once how strongly that
+circumstance implied the noble's guilt. I concealed the ring he had
+given me in my pocket. 'Come!' I said to Albert, 'let us take the body
+to Sir Sandrit, and tell him that we found it in a spot from which we
+had just seen the Lord of Hers depart.' He refused at first, and would
+not touch the body, but by argument and entreaty, I prevailed upon him
+to be guided by me.
+
+"Sandrit of Stramen, you know the rest. You know that we swore to have
+seen the Lord of Hers ride away from the fatal spot just before we found
+the body. It was the fact; but my lover and I were perjured in the sight
+of God. I do not wish to lighten my crime before men, when it is written
+out so plainly against me before Angels. I was a perjured
+woman--perjured through love and fear. I heard you swear vengeance. I
+wept, but I was silent. I saw your fury and your wars. My heart bled,
+but I was silent. There was no rest, no sleep, no peace for me. It was
+not my husband's death that drove me mad. Oh, no! It was remorse. There
+were spectres all around me--I trembled before the innocent, fled
+before the guilty. The caresses of my child that died at my breast
+tortured me. I felt as though my breath had withered and defiled it.
+Every hour was full of misery--day and night there was a gnawing at my
+heart. At last my mind gave way, and the justice of heaven struck him
+with death and me with madness!"
+
+Bertha paused an instant, quite exhausted, then again exerting herself,
+she said:
+
+"I do not ask you to forgive me--but forgive each other."
+
+"They have forgiven each other already," said Father Omehr. "They are
+friends."
+
+"Friends?"
+
+"The Lady Margaret reconciled them on her death-bed."
+
+"The Lady Margaret dead!"
+
+"She was buried this morning."
+
+"Yes," said Bertha, "it was to her funeral I was going. Yes, she is
+dead--the beautiful, the young, the innocent--she has been praying for
+me in heaven."
+
+At these words a smile beamed over her sharp features, and she sank
+gradually back in bed, lowered by Henry and the missionary.
+
+The proud Lord of Hers was, in spirit, in sackcloth and ashes. He
+attributed the existence of the feud to his indiscretion and guilt, and
+reproached himself with all its pernicious consequences. He saw in the
+wreck before him the fruits of his sin; Bertha's misery and madness
+seemed wholly his own unhallowed work. The strong man shuddered at the
+consequences of his folly, and beat his breast, and wept like a child.
+
+Sandrit of Stramen also accused himself of having caused the feud by his
+rash credulity, and driven Bertha to perjury and insanity by his
+impetuous and uncontrollable temper. For, he reasoned, had she reposed
+any confidence in his justice and charity, she would have told the
+truth.
+
+Henry of Stramen saw that all his brilliant achievements against the
+family of Hers were only unjustifiable murders and robberies, and his
+haughty spirit was humbled and contrite.
+
+Father Omehr saw their contrition, but he was entirely absorbed in the
+penitent Bertha.
+
+Bertha lived three days after the revelation, constantly engaged in
+prayer and acts of contrition. Her profound sorrow affected and edified
+the missionary and all the neighborhood. On the third day she received
+the Viaticum, and expired in the arms of the Baron of Stramen, who,
+together with the Lord of Hers, had repeatedly assured her of their
+complete forgiveness. Her last words were: "I know she is praying for me
+in heaven."
+
+She was buried, as she desired, near the Lady Margaret, with nothing but
+a rude wooden cross to mark her grave.
+
+On the day after her burial, Father Omehr and the three nobles set out
+for the Castle of Hers. Humbert had already fitted up for his lord some
+rooms which had been only partially consumed, and Albert of Hers had
+prevailed upon the baron and his son to remain with him until they could
+find suitable lodgings at home. The reconciliation between the nobles
+was complete; and at sunrise the next day they could be seen kneeling
+together before the altar of the Pilgrim's Chapel, eating the Bread of
+Life. If the Angels rejoice at such a sight, how much greater must be
+the joy of the Saints!
+
+But where was Gilbert, that he could not share in the blessed feast?
+
+The Middle Ages abound in characters better entitled to our
+consideration and esteem than the classic magnates of Greece and Rome.
+There is not in pagan antiquity such a combination of virtue, constancy,
+fortitude, and valor as was presented in Matilda of Tuscany, "the
+heroine of the Middle Ages." She devoted herself to the cause of the
+Holy See as early as 1604, and her life was a series of sacrifices
+cheerfully made for the security of the Church. While wondering at her
+heroism, you love her for her charity, and revere her for her piety. Let
+Catholics read her life, and they will embalm her in their hearts. Her
+unvarnished actions are a nobler eulogy than even the unfading wreath
+flung by a master's hand on the grave of the martyred Marie Antoinette.
+
+At the time of the battle of the Elster, this pious defender of the
+Faith was sorely pressed by the Lombards, who sided with the emperor.
+The imperial troops had gained a victory at Mantua, which revived the
+drooping royal cause.
+
+When Gilbert de Hers parted from his father and friends, he turned his
+horse's head to Matilda's camp. The partisans of the heroic princess
+took little notice of the nameless knight who came among them without
+follower or page, and whose shield was simply blazoned with an azure
+cross. He was silent and reserved, shrinking from observation and mirth,
+and either engaged in meditation or prayer.
+
+The gloomy aspect of the future was also capable of furnishing the youth
+with sufficient food for reflection. The death of Rodolph spread
+consternation over Saxony and Suabia: both circles were crippled by
+internal dissensions, and unable to profit by their victory. Inspired by
+this, and by his rival's death, and encouraged by the attitude and
+successes of the Lombards, Henry meditated an invasion of Italy, and the
+conquest of Rome itself. He reorganized a powerful army, and penetrated
+Lombardy, leaving Frederick of Hohenstaufen to hold Suabia in check,
+while Saxony was convulsed by the rival schemes of Otto and Herman.
+
+Never before had the Holy See seemed in such imminent danger. England
+and France looked coldly on, and the emperor of the East sympathized
+with his brother of Austria.
+
+Gregory alone awaited the storm calm and fearless, relying upon the
+sacredness and justice of his cause, neither dismayed nor discouraged by
+the fickle course of human events. He deplored the spirit which arrayed
+itself against truth, but he found in the recollection of the trials of
+the Apostles and their successors abundant consolation for himself and
+his friends. Florence, Padua, Cremona, Milan had fallen before the
+Austrian invader. Lucca swelled the triumphs of the tyrant. Fortress
+after fortress was wrested from Matilda; Henry sat down before the gates
+of Rome at last, in the plains of Nero and opposite the fortress of St.
+Peter. Yet the sublime Pontiff displayed no symptom of uneasiness,
+though half of Europe was against him.
+
+Gilbert's first impulse was to fly to Rome, but the approaches to the
+city were all in possession of the enemy. The noble Matilda could ill
+spare a good lance, and the Romans then displayed so much resolution and
+gallantry, that the German army was repulsed in every assault. To the
+young knight's heart, wounded by the siege of Rome and misfortunes of
+Matilda, the tidings of the reconciliation at home were like a sweet
+balsam. And though the blessed intelligence was blended with the account
+of the Lady Margaret's death, it was not the less welcome. Gilbert had
+long since ceased to regard the Lady Margaret with human love. He
+revered her as one sacred to heaven, upon whom death had already set the
+seal of eternity, and, far from weeping over her early grave, he exulted
+at her triumphant flight to the judgment-seat of God.
+
+Two long years crept by, and the imperialists were still before Rome.
+Gilbert looked anxiously for succor to Suabia and Saxony, but the sudden
+death of Otto of Nordheim laid his hopes in the dust, and Henry, for the
+third time, invested the eternal city. Hitherto, the Romans, encouraged
+by the Pope, had made an heroic resistance, and the besiegers had
+suffered incredibly from their desperate sallies, as well as from the
+diseases that decimated them. But the fidelity of the citizens was
+beginning to totter beneath the protracted warfare, and many sighed for
+a period to their calamities. Henry failed not to profit by these
+dispositions, and poured in thirty thousand golden florins to inflame
+them.
+
+The horizon grew darker and darker--the Pope more winning, more
+eloquent, more determined. Matilda did not fail him in this crisis. The
+knight of the azure cross had already won the confidence of the princess
+by his valor, his prudence, and his piety, and she now selected him as
+the instrument of her generosity. She pointed to a large amount of
+silver, saying that she intrusted him with the dangerous and difficult
+duty of conveying it to Gregory. Gilbert gladly accepted the perilous
+commission. He loaded a number of mules with the treasure, concealed
+beneath vegetables, and disguising himself as a peasant, took a guide
+and set out for Rome. During a dark and stormy night he contrived to
+pierce the hostile lines and enter the city by the Lateran gate.
+
+Gilbert found the Pope seated in the midst of an assembly. He could at
+last feast his eyes upon the wonderful and sainted man whom he had all
+his life loved and venerated. When the Pontiff rose and spoke of the
+virtue and fortitude that ought to sustain them in this crisis, he
+seemed endowed with supernatural power, and moved all present to tears.
+It seemed as though his soul foreknew it was the last time his voice
+should be raised in defence of his grand and holy cause.
+
+Another year passed by; the festival of Easter was approaching. Henry
+was meditating a return to Germany, when a deputation of the citizens
+arrived in his camp, offering to surrender the capital. The Lateran gate
+was opened, and the imperial army began to enter the city. The Roman
+soldiers, finding themselves betrayed, flew to arms, and Gilbert de Hers
+was once more contending with the warriors he had met at Fladenheim and
+the Elster. Godfrey de Bouillon fell wounded before the desperate
+resolution of the besieged, and as he was brought to his knee, vowed a
+pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But, outnumbered and confused, the
+defenders were driven into the citadel, and Henry, with his queen at his
+side, entered in triumph. The next day Guibert of Ravenna was installed
+in the Lateran palace in the See of St. Peter, and consecrated on the
+twenty-fourth of March, by the bishops of Modena and Arezzo. His first
+act was to crown King Henry in the Vatican. Gregory retired to the
+castle of San Angelo, and the giddy populace greeted the anti-pope with
+shouts of joy. A severe chastisement awaited their perfidy and
+inconstancy. Robert Guiscard was advancing with thirty thousand infantry
+and six thousand cavalry, and Henry fled before the redoubtable prince,
+whom he had provoked by an alliance with Alexis, the Emperor of the
+East. Abandoned by Henry, who had returned to Austria, the treacherous
+Romans barred their gates. Robert asked admission, but in vain; and his
+irritated soldiers forced their way at midnight through the Flaminian
+gate. The city was crimsoned with flame and sword. A body of Saracens
+formed part of the Norman's army, and their fury knew no bounds. From
+three points of the city the flames were streaming. Scarce could the
+Papal guards preserve a portion of the churches from pillage and
+destruction. St. Sylvester's and St. Lawrence were wrapped in fire, and
+the basilicas, from the quarter of Lateran to the Coliseum, were
+involved in the red ruin. For three days the conqueror raged like a lion
+in the capital of the Christian world. The frenzied people again
+attempted resistance, and again the streets ran with their blood. When,
+gorged with slaughter and booty, the ferocious conquerors had evacuated
+the city, Gregory and his attendants reentered Rome and occupied the
+Lateran palace. He lingered in the venal city only long enough to
+convoke a council and renew his anathemas against Henry and Guibert, and
+then retired to Monte Cassino.
+
+Gilbert was not permitted to accompany the Pontiff to his retreat, but
+was dispatched to Matilda with an account of all that had occurred. He
+found the magnanimous princess threatened by an army more than treble
+her own. But she was undismayed and full of hope, meditating a bold
+enterprise that was crowned with success. In the dead of the night, when
+the imperialists, secure in their numerical superiority, were plunged in
+sleep, she led the remnants of her troops into the hostile camp. The
+sleepers awoke to the cry of "St. Peter! St. Peter!" and perished ere
+they could grasp their arms. The chivalry and nobility of Lombardy were
+well-nigh exterminated. In a few hours, corpses and tents alone remained
+of the hostile array. Why should not Sorbara be as magical a word as
+Thermopylae? It _would_ be, if the Christian chroniclers had shared the
+pride or shown the polish of Grecian historians, and if modern
+Christians felt a Grecian enthusiasm for the deeds of their Christian
+ancestors. Matilda differed from Leonidas but in one respect--in
+surviving the action and remaining victor on the field.
+
+Some days after the battle, Gilbert was summoned into Matilda's
+presence.
+
+"I owe you more," she said, "than I can ever repay. Your former
+voluntary services and fidelity are enhanced by your brilliant exploits
+in this last victory. Be pleased to style yourself Governor of Modena."
+
+Gilbert advanced a step, and sinking upon one knee, replied:
+
+"Madam, I came to share in your generous devotion to our common Father,
+and to assist you as best I could. You are now--thanks to your own
+valor--victorious and secure. I must decline your bounty, for from this
+moment I renounce the soldier. Here is my sword, madam; since Rome and
+you no longer require it, I shall not need it; nowhere would I more
+willingly resign it than thus at your feet."
+
+As the morning dawned, Gilbert de Hers, accompanied by a troop of horse,
+set out for Monte Cassino.
+
+Gregory had retired to Salerno, where he passed his days in the
+contemplation of heavenly things, and in reading the lives of the Saints
+and ecclesiastical history. Gilbert soon heard of his increasing
+weakness. The sun that had poured its light over the world, despite the
+mists and clouds of error and vice, was setting at last. How his dying
+words bespeak the Saint: "My best-loved friends, I count my labors
+nothing. That which gives me confidence is the consciousness of having
+loved justice and hated iniquity!" When his assistants, groaning in
+anguish, adverted to their desolate condition after his death, he
+raised his arms to heaven, exclaiming, "I will ascend there, and plead
+your cause before a God supremely good!"
+
+On the twenty-fifth of May, 1085, were uttered those memorable words
+that smote the forehead of guilty Europe as if with a burning hand: "I
+have loved justice and hated iniquity--therefore I die in exile."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Years passed by. Peace smiled once more in the lordships of Hers and
+Stramen. A new dwelling had risen from the ashes of Stramen Castle. The
+Church of the Nativity was repaired, and again rose in beauty over the
+faithful who flocked there to worship. Yet there was a stranger priest
+at the altar, and often after Mass the people would gather around a
+marble slab just before the altar, on which was written:
+
+"_Credo quod Redemptor meus vivit._"
+
+This was the tomb of Father Omehr; his epitaph was written and treasured
+in the hearts of all who knew him, and, transmitted from sire to son,
+required no foreign chisel to deepen the impression upon the living
+tablet.
+
+The Lords of Stramen and Hers were often together, and were beloved by
+their vassals for their uniform courtesy and charity. Their hairs were
+whitening, and when Sir Sandrit walked to the churchyard he leaned upon
+Henry's arm.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Years passed by. Henry IV, worn down by misfortune and the rebellion of
+his eldest son, for his own offspring held up the poisoned chalice to
+his lips, had followed his sainted antagonist to the eternal tribunal,
+and his body had been cast out as excommunicated from its sepulchre. The
+male line of the Franconian emperors had expired in Henry V; Lothaire of
+Saxony, a zealous champion of Rome, had been raised to the throne. Time
+was revealing that Gregory VII was triumphant even in death, for the
+right of investiture was conceded to the Pope, and the celibacy of the
+clergy strictly enforced.
+
+The Lords of Stramen and Hers were sleeping with their fathers. The hill
+on which the Pilgrim's Chapel stood was no longer crowned with a castle,
+but with a monastery occupied by Benedictine monks. The whole lordship
+of Hers was blooming under their munificent administration. Humbert,
+whose long locks had now seen eighty winters, still lived at the foot of
+the hill, surrounded by a goodly number of stalwart sons and fair-haired
+daughters. And sometimes in the long winter evenings, when the fire
+sparkled brightly and the old man was garrulous with joy, he would tell
+how he once entered a hostile castle as a minnesinger with a noble
+lover, and how the knight defied the angry father. Yet he never revealed
+that this knight was the generous abbot who now supplied them with the
+means of innocent mirth, who ministered to all their wants, and whose
+life was so meek and blameless. For Gilbert de Hers was abbot in the
+cells that had once been the halls of his sires.
+
+And one word, reader. It was not after the Lady Margaret's death that he
+embraced the resolution of dedicating himself to God, but on the
+battle-field of the Elster, and over the corpse of Rodolph of Suabia.
+He had proved his sincerity in the wars of Matilda, and when he quitted
+the princess for Monte Cassino, it was to assume the habit of the
+novice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One bright afternoon in the fall of 1126, two aged men were walking
+arm-in-arm toward the Church of the Nativity. One was attired as a
+Benedictine, the other as a knight. They stopped at the church and
+before a cluster of tombs. On one of the slabs was carved a Greek cross
+with a single tear under it, and beneath the tear the words:
+
+"_O crux sancta adjuva nos._"
+
+It was the resting-place of the Lady Margaret, between the graves of her
+father and mother. The monk and the knight knelt down and prayed. As
+they rose, the bells of the church announced the close of day, and
+ushered in the TRUCE OF GOD.
+
+With their bosoms heaving with recollections of the past, Gilbert of
+Hers and Henry of Stramen went into the church where fifty years before
+they had met in youth and enmity, and they knelt together beside the
+grave of Father Omehr, with their hearts full of tenderness and hope and
+love, while the sun of ancient Suabia was setting, and the bells poured
+forth their silvery peal.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Truce of God, by George Henry Miles
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