Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]

A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
one for David of Burgundy.

Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.

Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
of militant bishops!

The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]

The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.

Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal thron