Widow and he, out of their insignia, under false pretences, and
otherwise left in the lurch. Not Friedrich, but one Lothar, a stirring
man who had grown potent in the Saxon countries, was elected Kaiser.
In the end, after waiting till Lothar was done, Friedrich's race
did succeed, and with brilliancy,--Kaiser Barbarossa being that same
Friedrich's son. In regard to which dim complicacies, take this Excerpt
from the imbroglio of Manuscripts, before they go into the fire:--

"By no means to be forgotten that the Widow we here speak of, Kaiser
Henry V.'s Widow, who brought no heir to Henry V., was our English
Henry Beauclerc's daughter,--granddaughter therefore of William
Conqueror,--the same who, having (in 1127, the second year of her
widowhood) married Godefroi Count of Anjou, produced our Henry II. and
our Plantagenets; and thereby, through her victorious Controversies with
King Stephen (that noble peer whose breeches stood him so cheap),
became very celebrated as 'the Empress Maud,' in our old History-Books.
Mathildis, Dowager of Kaiser Henry V., to whom he gave his
Reichs-Insignia at dying: she is the 'Empress Maud' of English Books;
and relates herself in this manner to the Hohenstauffen Dynasty, and
intricate German vicissitudes. Be thankful for any hook whatever on
which to hang half an acre of thrums in fixed position, out of your way;
the smallest flint-spark, in a world all black and unrememberable, will
be welcome."--

And so we return to Brandenburg and the "ASCANIEN and BALLENSTADT"
series of Markgraves.

Chapter IV. -- ALBERT THE BEAR.

This Ascanien, happily, has nothing to do with Brute of Troy or the
pious AEneas's son; it is simply the name of a most ancient Castle
(etymology unknown to me, ruins still dimly traceable) on the north
slope of the Hartz Mountains; short way from Aschersleben,--the Castle
and Town of Aschersleben are, so to speak, a second edition of Ascanien.
Ballenstadt is still older; Ballenstadt was of age in Charlemagne's
time; and is still a respectable little Town in that upland range of
country. The kindred, called GRAFS and ultimately HERZOGS (Dukes) of
"Ascanien and Ballenstadt," are very famous in old German History,
especially down from this date. Some reckon that they had intermittently
been Markgrafs, in their region, long before this; which is conceivable
enough: at all events it is very plain they did now attain the Office
in SALZWEDEL (straightway shifting it to B