such it must
be accorded its place.

Bonn was formerly the residence of the Electors of Cologne, after their
removal from that city in 1268, at which time it was also the shelter of
Archbishop Englebert, who had fled from Cologne.

XXIV

GODESBERG AND ROLANDSECK

_Godesberg_

Within full view of the Seven Mountains, on the opposite bank of the
Rhine, is Godesberg,--"a cheerful village with a castle which is a
splendid ruin," say the guide-books.

They might go a bit further and recount something of its political and
religious history, although usually they do not, but rush the tourist
up-river to Coblenz, giving him only a sort of panoramic view of this
portion of the Rhine.

Originally a _castellum romain_, the "cheerful village," known to the
ancients as Ara Ubiorum, came under the control, in 1210, of the
Archbishop Theodoric of Cologne, who built a chapel to St. Michael on
the ancient ruins, which, according to tradition, had endured from the
times of Julian the Apostate.

For many centuries there was a chateau here which served as the
country-house of many of the archbishop-electors of the Empire, until
destroyed by a thunderbolt. In 1593 it was pillaged by the troops of the
Archbishop Ernest, and to-day only a great, lone, round tower remains
intact.

For the rest it is a fine ruin and a picturesque one.

_Rolandseck_

But a short distance above Godesberg is Rolandseck; opposite which is
the island of Nonnenwerth, with which it is associated in a famous
legend.

The chivalrous Roland sought the love of some fair being, whose beauty
and whose virtues should deserve and retain the heart of so brave and
gallant a young knight. Nor did he look about in vain, for Hilda, the
daughter of the lord of the Drachenfels, was all that dreams had
pictured to his youthful fancy as worthy of an ardent soul's devotion,
and soon he was made happy by a confession from the maiden that his
passion was returned. Lost in a dream of first love, the knight forgot
the world and its struggles, and, in the expectation of an early day for
his wedding with his mistress, he lived a life of perfect joy,--now
gazing with Hilda upon the windings of the Rhine; now watching her as
she stooped gracefully to tend the flowers which peace allowed to
flourish under the walls of her father's stronghold.

But Roland lived in times when love was but the bright, transient
episode of a life of war. The laws of chivalry forbade a t