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 ki
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