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