Bruno of Merseburg (Bruno Magdeburgensis)
(The Book of the Saxon War)
Table of Contents
Prologue
To his most beloved lord, never to be named without pious veneration, Werinhero, venerable prelate of the holy Church of Merseburg, Bruno, though the most insignificant member of his household, offers whatever devotion of both the inner and outer man can avail.
Between him who gives a gift and him to whom it is given, this principle must be observed: that when the giver can find nothing more precious in his treasury to give, then the receiver should accept no gift more gladly than such a one. Considering this, when I wished to offer some gift to your paternity, whom I always desire to serve with my strength, indeed beyond my strength, by which I might outwardly demonstrate the fervor of my mind through the attestation of some work, after searching through all the coffers of my resources, I found only the gift of letters, which I judged both suitable to your dignity and not unequal to my devotion.
For I esteem this gift more precious than all others that human kindness can bestow upon one another, because its origin is nobler, its use more excellent, and its age is proved to be more lasting. For gold and the other things that men consider of highest value, born from the bowels of the earth, provide no benefit to the soul, but offer brief assistance to the frailty of the body or even shameful service to luxury, and while they sustain human bodies, they cannot escape their own destruction. Even if they lie undisturbed, they are not safe, since, gnawed by the bites of moths or rough corrosion, they cannot endure for long.
But the study of letters, dug from the dung heaps beside the soul by the hoe of reason, owes no service to the weakness of the body, but rather forms and instructs the mind of him by whose industry it came forth, a mind so unaware of old age or destruction that the power of letters even strives to snatch from the very rush of time those things that are swept to destruction by its torrent-like violence, and to display them always fresh, as if stationary, to those who read.
Therefore I wish to write briefly and truthfully about the war that King Henry waged with the Saxons, as I was able to learn from those who were present at the events. This war is memorable both for its magnitude and for the mercy of God, which we experienced in the war itself, as anyone who deigns to read the following pages will be able to recognize. For thus did God mix the oil of piety with the wine of severity in His vessel, so that we might joyfully acknowledge that the prophet spoke truly: 'When You are angry, You will remember mercy' (Habakkuk 3:2), and the Apostle: 'God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able' (1 Corinthians 10:13).
But before I begin to unfold the course of the war itself, I must first say a few things about the boyhood and youth of this same Henry, so that when the reader has learned what kind of life he led as a boy and young man, he may be less surprised that he began a civil war when he became a man. Therefore may your dignity deign to receive this work with as much eagerness as the devotion with which it is offered by me.
Chapter 1
1. After the Emperor Henry departed from this world by a happy death (in the year 1056), his son Henry the Fourth, unhappily left behind in this world to live, received his father's kingdom by common election. Because he could not yet govern it properly, being a mere boy of five years, his mother the venerable Empress Agnes, by the command of all the princes, took charge of him along with the care of the kingdom. But as time went on, the boy grew in age but not in wisdom either before God or before men, and swollen with royal pride he listened less and less to his mother's admonitions. Then Anno, the venerable bishop of Cologne, violently snatched him from his mother (in May 1062), and with all diligence, as befitted an imperial child, took care to raise him, looking out not so much for the king as for the kingdom.
For he was not unaware that a foolish king will destroy his people, and that cities are inhabited through the wisdom of the prudent, nor was he ignorant that, just as virtues distinguish some who are born of humble stock, so vices disgrace those born of great parents, if instruction and good character are lacking.
But after he had passed through the simplicity of boyhood and entered adolescence, which is the common field of all vices, and had arrived at the fork of the Samian letter (as Horace describes), he abandoned the lofty narrowness of the right-hand path and chose the sloping breadth of the left-hand road to walk upon, and having utterly renounced the path of virtues, he resolved with all his strength to pursue his desires. And so that he could do this more freely — for under that master he was not permitted to do whatever he pleased — he first completely shook off the authority of that master's governance, and he who had been chosen to govern the kingdom now disdained to be governed by anyone.
Therefore when the king was released from the bishop's tutelage (on March 29, 1065) and began to be his own master, he then revealed that he had decided not to follow the way of life. For the thorns of lust, which at this age weary even those who dry them up within themselves by frequent fasting and uproot them by constant prayer, sprouted all the more fruitfully in him because he himself, burning with the fire of early youth and overflowing with the luxurious delights of kingship, did not tear them from the field of his heart, nor did anyone dare to cut them out of him with the iron of correction, since the king spurned those who admonished him.
Chapter 2
2. At that same time Adalbert, bishop of Bremen, was so swollen with the typhus of pride that he considered no one his equal either in secular nobility or in holy conduct. When he was celebrating a public Mass in the king's presence at some great feast, and had ascended to a higher place as was customary to preach the word of God to the people, among other things he complained that the good and noble in this land had died out, and said that he alone and the king — placing himself before the king, of course — remained of the nobility, though two brothers of his, born of the same parents, were standing present. And although he did not bear the name of Peter, the prince of the apostles and his own brother, he nonetheless claimed to possess the same power that Peter had, or even greater, because he had never denied his Lord as Peter had.
Chapter 3
3. He commanded a certain abbess in his diocese, who had offended him in some way, under obedience to depart this present life within fifteen days. And because she was sick at the time, that vain man hoped that his command could be fulfilled in her, and if she happened to die, he wanted it to be believed that she had died by his order. But on that very day, her health already restored, she sent a messenger to the bishop for some reason or other. When he saw the messenger approaching from afar, he joyfully said to those sitting beside him: 'Is my power any less over this woman than my brother Peter's was over Sapphira? Behold, that wretched woman is dead, by my authority commanding it!' But when, as the messenger drew nearer, he learned that she was alive and had recovered from her illness, greatly confounded by his own pride, he fell silent.
Chapter 4
4. Once when he was at the king's court, as was his custom, and was loading the king's table every day with more lavish dishes than the king himself, one day when everything pertaining to food had been consumed through excessive extravagance, his steward had nothing suitable that he could, as was his custom, place on the king's table for the king himself to eat; nor was there money with which to buy fine food, because he had spent all his silver on similar indulgence. Since the bishop was well aware of this, he was hiding that day so that the steward could not find him, wanting the steward to procure by his own ingenuity, by whatever means, something decent to set before him at table. But when the steward, after searching for his lord for a long time, finally learned that he was in a certain chapel where he had taken refuge, he knocked more insistently at the door of the chapel and demanded to be let in.
When the bishop recognized his voice, he suddenly threw himself on the ground as if in prayer. The steward entered and, seeing him lying there, could not rouse him by coughing or clearing his throat. Finally he stretched himself out beside the bishop as if about to pray alongside him, and speaking into his ear said: 'Pray that you may have something to eat today, for you do not yet have anything that can be honorably placed upon your table.'
The bishop, as if suddenly awakened from an ecstasy, said: 'What have you done, you utter fool, that you have rashly torn me from conversation with God? If you had seen what Brother Transmandus was worthy to see, you would never have approached me while I was at prayer.' This Transmandus happened to be present, and because he saw that such things pleased the bishop, he had long since claimed to have seen angels speaking with him during prayer. He was in fact a painter from Italy.
Chapter 5
5. This bishop, therefore, when he saw the king rushing headlong over the precipices of vice like an unbridled horse, sought to attach himself closely to his side: not to tear out by the roots with the hand of stern authority the thorns of vice that had sprung up, and to plant the seeds of virtue through episcopal preaching, but rather to water the shoots of vice with the rain of flattery, and if any fruits of virtue should emerge, to kill them with the bitterness of perverted teaching.
For he did not, as one should before crimes are committed to prevent them, say with Tobit: 'Guard yourself from all fornication, and at all times bless God, and ask Him to direct your ways'; nor, to wash away crimes already committed with tears of repentance, did he carry the iron of rebuke hidden beneath the covering of a parable, as Nathan did, so that by suddenly lancing the ulcer of the mind, the poison of conscience might flow out. Instead he gave him what was virtually an apostolic command: 'Do all things that please your soul; only take care that on the day of your death you are found in the right faith' — even though Scripture says: 'Do not go after your lusts,' and again: 'Do not sow evil in the furrows of injustice, lest you reap it sevenfold.'
But he taught as if it were in a man's power to change his life in a single hour, even though the proverb says: 'A young man, according to his way, even when he grows old will not depart from it,' and: 'A new jar will long keep the fragrance it first absorbed' (Horace). Therefore, strengthened in wickedness by this unbishoplike teaching of the bishop, the king rushed headlong through the precipices of lust, like a horse and mule that have no understanding; and he who was king of many peoples set up a throne within himself for lust, the queen of all vices.
Chapter 6
6. He kept two or three concubines at once; and not content with these, whenever he heard of someone's daughter or wife who was young and beautiful, if she could not be seduced, he commanded that she be brought to him by force. Sometimes he himself, accompanied by one or two attendants, would go by night to where he had learned such women were; and sometimes he achieved his wicked desire, but other times he barely escaped being killed by the parents or husband of the woman he pursued.
His wife, whom he had married against his will at the urging of the princes, though she was noble and beautiful, he held in such hatred that after the wedding he never willingly saw her, because he had not celebrated the marriage of his own free will. And so he sought in many ways to separate her from himself, so that he might then do forbidden things as if lawfully, since he would no longer have the lawful bond of marriage.
Chapter 7
7. Indeed he ordered a certain one of his intimates to seek the queen's bed, and promised him a great reward if he should obtain it, since he hoped she would not refuse, because as a young woman who had known a husband, she was now living as if abandoned. But the queen, having a manly heart within her womanly body, immediately understood from what source this plan had originated. At first she refused as if indignant; but since the man persisted stubbornly, as he had been coached to do, she promised with her lips only what was asked. The man joyfully reports the matter to the king and indicates the hour at which it is to be accomplished.
The king, delighted, goes with the adulterer to the queen's bedchamber, so that when he himself saw them mingling together, he could legally cast her off from the marriage, or even, which he desired more, kill her. But when the adulterer knocked at the queen's door, and she quickly opened it, the king, fearing that if the other man were let in first he himself would be shut out, burst through the door in haste. The queen recognized him, left the adulterer outside, shut the door with the utmost speed, and having summoned her maidservants, beat him so thoroughly with benches and sticks, weapons she had gathered for this purpose, that she left him half dead.
'You son of a whore,' she said, 'where did you get such audacity as to hope for adultery with a queen who has a most powerful husband?' He cries out that he is Henry, that he is her husband, that he had wanted her lawful bed. She cries back that this is no husband who had sought a furtive act of adultery; if he were her husband, why did he not approach her bed openly? And so, having beaten him nearly to death, she threw him out of her bedchamber, and with the door shut, retired to her own bed.
He did not dare confess to anyone what had happened to him; but feigning another illness, he lay in his bed for nearly a whole month. For she had spared neither his head nor his belly, but had battered his whole body while leaving the skin unbroken. And after he recovered, although sharply chastised, he did not abandon his old vices.
Chapter 8
8. If any woman brought a complaint before him about any injustice and demanded that justice be done for her by his royal authority, if her age and beauty pleased his lust, instead of the justice she sought, she received manifold injustice. For after he had satisfied his lust upon her for as long as he pleased, he gave her to one of his servants as a wife. Thus did he most shamefully dishonor the noble women of this land, first abusing them vilely himself, and then degrading them still more vilely with servile marriages. All this that false and deceiving bishop saw; he saw it, and did not forbid it; indeed by his teaching he strengthened him, as if encouraging him, to do such things without fear or shame. For he said it was foolish if he did not satisfy the desires of his youth in all things.
Chapter 9
9. Many great crimes of this kind I willingly pass over, because I hasten to other crimes of his of a different sort; let this alone hold the final place here, which the just Judge will not leave unavenged, namely the disgrace he inflicted upon his sister: that he held her down with his own hands while another man, compelled by his command, lay with her in the brother's presence. It did not avail her that she was an emperor's daughter, that she was his only full sister from both parents, that she had been betrothed to Christ with the sacred veil upon her head.
Chapter 10
10. But because unspeakable rapes tend to breed even more unspeakable murders, just as he in his lust violated not one Bathsheba alone, so in his cruelty he slew not one Uriah alone. For he perpetrated so many monstrous crimes in his murders that it is doubtful whether his greater infamy lies in his incestuous lust or his immeasurable cruelty. He was horribly cruel to all, but to none so much as to his closest intimates. Whoever shared all his secrets and was the confidant or accomplice of his vices and crimes, while he complacently supported the king's plotting of others' deaths, feeling secure about his own safety, was compelled to suffer the death he did not fear. And for what fault? Because he spoke a single word against the king's will, or, remaining silent, showed by some gesture that some plan of the king's displeased him.
For he had many counselors, but none dared give him any counsel except what pleased him. If anyone, even unwittingly, advised something he did not want, he paid for the offense he had committed in ignorance with the shedding of his own blood. Nor did the king show his anger to anyone until he had the unwary man's life taken from him.
Chapter 11
11. A certain one of his close advisers named Conrad, a young man distinguished by nobility and character — if only God had granted him this one thing, that he had never been a counselor of the king — this man was one day at Goslar, certain that he enjoyed the king's favor as fully as when he had it at its best. The king, however, was at the castle of Harzburg, to which no one ascended unless summoned by name, except those who were privy to and supporters of his crimes. So the king sends word to Goslar, ordering Conrad to come to him with the utmost speed, and to bring no one with him except his squire as escort.
Believing that he was being summoned to some council at which no one but himself was permitted to be present, and wanting to show his loyalty all the more, he did even more than he was ordered: making himself his own squire, he rode utterly unaccompanied. And so, coming into the forest, he saw an ambush but did not believe it was set for him; yet because, being alone, he feared so great a number, he quickly sought a nearby church.
Burchard, the prefect of Meissen, the most villainous leader of this murder plot, follows him to the church and promises him under his pledge of faith that if he will come out, he will suffer no harm. Although Conrad had no trust in him, yet knowing that if he did not come out willingly they would not spare the church, he came out and entrusted himself to his good faith. Leading him into a wilderness, as they had been ordered, they cruelly slew him; and not even at the moment of his death did they tell him why he was dying.
Nor did anyone ever truly know why he had been killed, except that some whispered that the king accused him of having lain with one of his concubines. But the king, to remove suspicion of the death from himself, ordered all his friends to pursue the perpetrators of that same death, whom he had ordered to hide for a time; and he had Conrad buried in an honorable place, and he himself attended the burial in mourning, and being skilled at feigning all things, shed not a few tears. But it was believable to no one that he had not been killed, as indeed he had been, by the king's command.
Chapter 12
12. There was a rumor that he killed a certain most noble young man among his intimates with his own hand, while pretending to jest; and that, after secretly burying him, on the following day he came as if penitent to his master Bishop Adalbert, and received from him a pardon without any satisfaction. But since it did not fall to me to learn the truth of this matter, I thought it best to leave it among uncertain things, even though it was on nearly everyone's lips.
Chapter 13
13. But I knew a certain one of the king's intimates who once came from the court to visit his brother — and that brother was a bishop — and boasted to his brother that there was no one at court who was more in the king's favor than he. When his brother the bishop heard this gladly and diligently admonished him to seek by every means to preserve the king's favor, since it was honorable for him and useful for all his kin, the man said: 'I would do so, if I could hold the favor of the heavenly King along with the favor of the earthly one. But in truth,' he said, 'I have come to know that whoever is intimately in favor with this king cannot have eternal life.'
Therefore he gradually and prudently withdrew himself from the court, and came less and less to the king's private councils, and was neither entirely absent nor present as frequently as he had been accustomed. When the king noticed him less assiduous in his service, he did not inquire the reason, nor did he show him any ill will; but now wishing to spare his own sword, he sought to destroy him by another's blade. And so, for a reason whether feigned or real I do not know, he sent him on an embassy to the king of Russia. The man gladly accepted this mission, first because by it he seemed to prove that he had not lost the king's favor, to whom the king did not hesitate to entrust secrets as before; then because he hoped that by the labor of this embassy, having successfully completed it and returned, he would deserve to receive no small benefice from the king; and this too was not the least of his reasons, that he was gladly away from the court. So he set out, not yet understanding what had been arranged concerning him.
But after several days, when he had stopped at an inn in the evening, he ordered a fine supper to be prepared for him. And when his companions had already drunk a good deal, a certain Slav, a person of low station, jumped up and said: 'I do not know what it is that I am carrying, which Bishop Eppo gave to me and ordered me to deliver to the king to whom you are being sent.' When the man asked that it be shown to him, the Slav produced a letter sealed with the king's image. Without delay he broke the seal and ordered his clerk to read and explain to him what the letter said.
The clerk read it and explained; and this was the meaning of the letter: 'Know that you can best show what kind of friend you are to me if you bring it about that this messenger of mine can never return to my kingdom; whether you accomplish this by eternal imprisonment or rather by death, consider it to make no difference.' And so, having consigned the letter to the fire, the man cheerfully continued on his journey, prudently fulfilled his embassy, returned having been given no small gift, and brought royal presents to his lord the king.
Chapter 14
14. About a certain intimate counselor of his, whose name, like those of many others, I deliberately pass over, I learned a matter that I thought fitting to insert here, because it contains within itself two of the king's not least vices, namely cruelty and lust. This man, though he was not born in Saxony, married a woman born in Saxony, a maiden as beautiful in body as she was noble in birth. The king himself obtained her for him from her parents, the king himself attended the wedding — though it is doubtful whether more for the honor of the bridegroom or for love of the bride.
She had not yet laid aside the modesty of her betrothed virginal chastity, when the king, laying aside all shame, asked the bridegroom himself to send her to his bed. 'Although I would never wish to refuse you anything,' the man said, 'not even my life itself, this is the one thing that it is not fitting for you to ask of me, nor can I grant it to you.' The king, a great dissembler, showed neither by expression nor by words the great pain he felt in his heart.
But after not many days, when the man was now feeling secure and feared nothing, the king sent for him at nearly midnight, commanding him to come alone. Although, knowing the king's ways, he was certain that he would have to die that very night, he nonetheless went where he was ordered; but first he put on a triple coat of mail under his tunic. And when he had come to the vestibule of the royal bedchamber, behold, two swords struck at his two sides, which would have met in the middle of his entrails, had not the strength of the breastplate repelled them.
He nevertheless reached the king and told him how he had been received before his bedchamber. The king ordered him that if he wished to go on living, no one should ever learn of this from him.
Chapter 15
15. To all these evils he added this evil, which gave to all the other evils both strength for the old ones to flourish and a beginning for new ones to arise. For he did not appoint bishops according to the quality of their merits and the decrees of the canons, but whoever gave the most money, or whoever was the greatest flatterer of his crimes, this man was deemed most worthy of any bishopric. And when he had thus given a bishopric to someone, if another offered more, or praised his crimes more, he had the first one deposed as if he were a simoniac, and the second one consecrated in the same place as if he were a saint.
Thus it happened that many cities in those times had two bishops at once, neither of whom was worthy of the name of bishop. The bishopric of Bamberg, as rich in material possessions outwardly as it was venerable for its learned men within, he gave to a certain peddler — or rather sold for an incalculable sum of money — who knew better how to appraise the coins of any currency than how to read the text of any book, let alone understand or expound it, or even pronounce it correctly.
When he pronounced the first reading, as was customary, at the sacred office of the Easter vigil before learned clerics, he read: 'The earth was formless and — a cow!' He himself was assuredly, though two-legged, a brute cow, empty of all virtue! Yet even he, although he spared neither his own gold nor that of the church he had been given to govern in order to obtain the king's favor, was deposed at the king's own instigation, and the bishopric was given to another — not one who was more worthy of the bishopric in life and wisdom, but one who had been the greater sycophant of the king's crimes in all things.
Chapter 16
16. In the midst of all this, as his youth was now passing, as soon as he gained Bishop Adalbert of Bremen as his counselor, at that man's urging he began to seek out high mountains naturally fortified in desolate places, and to build upon them castles of such a kind that, if they stood in suitable locations, would be an immense support and ornament to the kingdom. The first and greatest of these he called Harzburg; he adorned it so richly within with royal buildings, built such a monastery within it, placed such ornaments in the monastery, and gathered so many clerics there from every quarter, that it equaled some episcopal seats in all its appointments, and even surpassed several of them.
Whatever ecclesiastical ornament he saw any bishop possessing that was particularly splendid, whether obtained by command or by entreaty, he strove to bestow upon his monastery. The other castles, however, he labored to make not so much beautiful as strong. Happy and most happy he would have been, if he had erected those same fortifications against the pagans. For they would long since have either all become Christians, or been made perpetual tributaries to Christian princes.
But this construction of castles in various places at first seemed like a childish game to our people, because his evil intention was not yet recognized. And not only did they not prevent it, fearing no danger as yet, when they could have done so, but even, as if divining that he would thereby become warlike against foreign nations, they helped him with the construction itself, with both resources and labor.
But after the garrisons stationed in those castles began to conduct raids throughout their surroundings, to carry off the products of others' labor for their own use, to compel free men to servile work, and to make sport of other men's daughters and wives, then for the first time they understood what those castles portended, and yet they still did not presume to resist or defend themselves. Those who were being harmed merely made their complaints in secret to those who, being further removed from the castles, suffered no harm as yet. But the uninjured, by neglecting to bring aid to the injured, were lending strength to the tyranny against themselves.
For from farmers he advanced to soldiers, and from the fruits of the earth to the seizure of liberty itself; and Frederick of the Mountain, who was regarded as preeminent among free men and nobles, the king claimed to be his serf; likewise Wilhelm, who was called 'the king of Lotheslovo' on account of his excessive self-cultivation, he persecuted with such cruelty — because Wilhelm had many estates but not much wisdom — that it was chiefly on account of these two men that the conspiracy against the king was formed throughout all Saxony, even though from those same two men the worst repayment was made. For after all the Saxons had begun open war against the king, those two, forgetting their sworn oaths, were the first to abandon their country and desert to the enemy as worthless turncoats. But this will become clear later.
Chapter 17
17. The Swabians, hearing of the Saxons' calamity, secretly sent their envoys to them and made a pact: that neither people would lend the king aid in oppressing the other. For the king wanted to violently oppress the Swabians as well, and to compel them to pay him tribute from their estates. If the Saxons had faithfully kept this pact, they would have been free both from the disgrace of treachery and from a great part of their calamity.
Chapter 18
18. Siegfried, archbishop of the see of Mainz, sent letters full of complaint to the bishops Werinhero of Magdeburg and Burchard of Halberstadt, saying that the king had chosen places in his diocese suitable for conducting raids, and having placed castles and garrisons there, was doing much harm to the property of his church. He also asked in the same letters that they join themselves to Archbishop Anno of Cologne in the most faithful pact; not because they were estranged by any enmity, but because they were not united by such a friendship that each dared to entrust his secrets to the other, as he would wish.
He said this would be necessary for the whole kingdom; because if those two, who were the greatest in the realm, were to come faithfully together as one, they could have established the entire kingdom in great security. And those two bishops could accomplish this all the more easily because one of them, namely the bishop of Magdeburg, was the brother, and the other the cousin, of the above-named archbishop of Cologne.
Nearly all the princes of the German kingdom made the same complaint to one another; yet no one dared to confess it openly, so great was the terror the king inspired in all of them. Thus although the Saxons alone appeared to begin this war openly, it was not begun by their counsel alone. But though they each suffered so many and such great calamities and insults, while each man grieved only over his own wound, and one as yet untouched did not share the grief of one wounded, they did not resist the common evil by common counsel.
The king was planning universal ruin, repelling every obstacle to this end, and seeking from everywhere the resources by which his evil will might be fulfilled; but they, thinking it a particular evil, prepared no instruments of defense against the common destruction. He, in order to crush them all more easily as he wished, first attempted to undermine one by one those men in whom their strength chiefly resided.
Chapter 19
19. (Year 1070.) Otto, a prudent and brave man, who was born in Saxony and was duke in Bavaria, the king sought to depose by every cunning device, because he had no doubt that Otto would aid the Saxons together with all the Bavarians. So he hired a certain man named Einno, who had nothing of virtue except boldness, with a price and enticed him with promises, to say that the duke had plotted with him concerning the king's death, and to promise that he would prove this, if the duke denied it, by single combat.
So when the day of that combat had been set, Otto was warned by his friends, bishops and other princes, that if he came to Goslar, where the duel was to take place, even if he defeated his adversary, he would not return from there alive. He therefore chose to be unjustly deprived of his honor rather than to submit to a trial where he knew that violence would be done to justice itself. So he withdrew to his own lands, and allied with Magnus, duke of Saxony, waged a cruel war against the king for nearly two years (in the year 1071). Then, compelled by the counsel of friends, when they surrendered themselves to the royal power, the king held Duke Magnus in his prison for a full two years, so that no one in this time knew whether he was alive or where he was.
Chapter 20
20. Afterward he sent envoys to the king of the Danes across the sea (in the year 1073) and asked him to meet him at Bardowick, where he himself also traveled with a few attendants, although no report attests that any king before him had ever reached those parts. He met that king there and held a secret conference with him, at which no one was present except Bishop Adalbert and one of the royal counselors. The conference itself, however, did not remain secret for long, because the one who was present alone with the bishop, since he could not prevent the plan they had made there, did what he could — namely that the princes of Saxony, whose interests were at stake, should not be kept in ignorance of that plan. For the king of the Danes swore to King Henry that he would bring him aid by land and sea against all his enemies, and specifically against the Saxons, as much as he could; and King Henry promised him that he would give him all the regions bordering his kingdom as his own property.
Chapter 21
21. Therefore when that conference was concluded and the king of the Danes had returned, King Henry inspected the fortress of Luneburg, which was nearby; and having observed its fortification, he burned with desire for it in his usual manner most vehemently, as if, should he hold it in his power, no one in those parts could resist him. That fortress had always belonged to the ancestors of Duke Magnus and had come by hereditary right to him and his uncle Hermann. From the few men he had with him, therefore, he left about seventy of his most faithful in that fortress, who would also compel the castle itself and the entire surrounding region to obey the royal authority in servile fashion. But when these men had rashly entered, Hermann waited until the king had departed from his borders, and then immediately surrounded the fortress with a large force. What were they to do? The fortress was indeed strong and insurmountable to all except famine alone, but apart from the few loaves the departing monks had left behind, it had nothing that could be eaten, and hunger ordered them to abandon the fortress, while the valor of the opposing force did not allow them to go out. And for a small number it was not safe to come to battle against an army. They therefore offered surrender to Count Hermann; but he said that none of them would depart unless Duke Magnus, the son of his brother, were returned. When this was discovered, the king found himself in great distress, nor could he easily think of what would be useful to him. He could not free those who were besieged by force, because he did not believe he could assemble an army from the Saxons, whom he had offended; and from the other peoples subject to his rule he did not have a multitude for whom it would be safe to go there. He was unwilling to return the duke, because while he held him in chains, he was safe from a Saxon war. For the sole fear that the duke might be killed was what prevented war from being started despite so many injuries received. But so many noble kinsmen they had, who were also strong — if he let them perish, he would find no one faithful to him thereafter, and he would have no time of safety from their relatives. He therefore returned Duke Magnus and received back his multitude of faithful men. From this a proverb arose and was spread throughout all Saxony: that one Saxon was worth seventy Swabians, or that seventy Swabians could be ransomed for one Saxon.
Chapter 22
22. How great were the joys throughout all Saxony at the return of Duke Magnus, Ciceronian eloquence could not express: they would not have rejoiced more over him if they had received him back from the dead. The more they had despaired of ever seeing him alive, the more they exulted with greater joy upon seeing him alive; and not only his own relatives or dependents rejoiced at his deliverance, but the entire people without exception unanimously gave praise to almighty God, who had miraculously freed him. For the one whom his uncle had been unable to ransom at an incalculable price of estates or money, divine mercy freed by a means that human prudence could never have devised. And so almost nothing was heard from the mouth of all Saxony except: 'Thanks be to God for the admirable liberation of Duke Magnus!' Those who had never seen him gave thanks to God for his rescue no less than if they had been of his family or household.
Chapter 23
23. Then, as the feast of the apostles, namely Peter and Paul, drew near, the king ordered that the entire multitude of Saxon princes should assemble at Goslar, so that if any matter worthy of action regarding the common affairs of the kingdom should arise, he himself might deal with it by the common counsel of the princes. All hastened there eagerly, because they hoped that there would be some end to the calamities that Saxony had long endured. Therefore, when the feast had been solemnly celebrated and the day appointed for conducting business had arrived, the bishops, dukes, counts, and others assembled at the palace at the very first light of dawn; and sitting there, they waited in vain for the king to come out to them or to order them to enter. For he, with the doors of his bedchamber closed, was occupied inside with his parasites playing at dice and other trifling amusements, and he held it as nothing that so many great men should keep watch at his door like the most worthless slaves. The entire day passed; neither he himself nor any messenger bearing truthful word came out to them. When night had already fallen, one of his parasites came out and mockingly asked the princes how long they wished to wait there, since the king had gone out through another door and was hurrying at full speed to his own city? There all were so disturbed — they who had been held in such contempt by the king's arrogance — that, had not Margrave Dedi restrained their fury with his prudence, they would at that very hour have all together openly renounced the king, with all fear cast aside. That day and this cause first began the war; that day was the beginning of all the evils that follow. For on that same night, the princes, having scarcely eaten, each with the one person they trusted most, assembled by agreement in a single church, while all others were already asleep; and there, after shedding not a few tears, they declared that it would be better for them to suffer any death whatever than to live such a life amid such great calamities and insults. And so, having fixed a day and place where they would all meet with all the Saxons and jointly take action concerning their common liberty, which they saw was about to be snatched from them, each returned to his own home as if he would never again come to the king's service.
Chapter 24
24. Therefore, not long afterward, great and small, as had been arranged, all assembled at the estate called Normeslovo. Not everyone understood why so great an assembly had been made in so small a place. Then Otto, who had once been duke but still held the title of duke, with the entire multitude gathered, ascended a hill from which he could be heard by all while speaking, and requested silence. When this was done and all stood with ears attentive, he began a speech of this kind:
Chapter 25
25. "Why your princes have asked you, O best soldiers, to assemble in such great numbers in this place — though almost all of you individually already know — nevertheless, so that none of you may claim ignorance, it has seemed good to us that you should all together learn the reason. The calamities and insults that our king has individually inflicted upon all of you over many years are great and intolerable; but those which he still plans to inflict, if almighty God permits, are far greater and more grievous. Strong fortresses, as you know, he has built in great number in places naturally defended, and there he has stationed no small multitude of his faithful men equipped with every kind of arms. Since these fortresses were not built against the pagans, who have laid waste all our land that borders theirs, but in the middle of our land, where no one ever intended to make war against him, and since they have been fortified with such great effort — what they portend, very many of you have already experienced in part, and unless the mercy of God and your valor prevent it, you will all experience it soon. Your goods, you who live nearby, are carried off against your will into those very fortresses; they abuse your daughters and wives for their lust whenever they wish; your servants and draft animals they command to serve them in whatever they wish; indeed, they compel even you yourselves to carry any burdens on your free shoulders, however foul. But what you now endure I consider tolerable. For after he has built his fortresses throughout our entire land according to his will, and has filled them with armed soldiers and all other things pertaining to this enterprise, then he will no longer plunder your goods piecemeal; but he will seize everything you possess all at once, and, bestowing your goods upon foreign men, he will order that you yourselves — free and noble-born — become the slaves of unknown men. Will you suffer all this to be done to you, bravest of men? Is it not better to die with valor than to lose a wretched and dishonorable life in disgrace, once you have become the mockery of their arrogance? Slaves bought with money do not endure the unjust commands of their masters, and will you, born in freedom, bear servitude with equanimity? Perhaps because you are Christians, you fear to violate the oaths made to the king. Quite right — but to a king. While he was my king and did the things that belong to a king, I kept the fealty I had sworn to him whole and undefiled; but after he ceased to be king, there was no one to whom I owed loyalty. Therefore it is not against a king, but against the unjust despoiler of my liberty; not against my fatherland, but for my fatherland and for my liberty — which no good man loses except together with his life — that I take up arms, and I demand that you take them up with me. Therefore awake, and leave to your children the inheritance left to you by your parents; do not through your negligence or sloth allow yourselves and your children to become the slaves of foreign men. But lest the cause seem insufficiently compelling to any of you for us to take up arms against the king — especially we who from his infancy nurtured him in our land above all and proved ourselves more faithful to him than all other peoples subject to his rule — let each man set forth before you all the injuries he has suffered from him; and then let a common judgment determine whether a sufficiently great necessity compels us to repel these injuries."
Chapter 26
26. Therefore Werner, Archbishop of Magdeburg, declared that his city had been twice invaded by the king with slaughter and plundering; and moreover he asserted that he grieved no less over the common injuries than over his own, and promised that he would resist them as if he alone had suffered them all. Bishop Burchard of Halberstadt complained that the king had unjustly taken from him the estates of a certain nobleman named Bodo, which by right ought to belong to his church. Duke Otto made complaint that the king had unjustly seized from him the duchy of Bavaria, which he had long and rightfully possessed, although he had been convicted of no crime, by means of some invented fraud. Margrave Dedi, concerning the estates rightfully belonging to him that had been taken from him by injustice, made his complaint. Count Hermann narrated what had recently happened: that the king had craftily seized his city of Luneburg, left to him by inheritance; and that, if he had been able to hold it, he intended to possess not by royal authority but by injustice the entire region that his parents had rightfully bequeathed to him. Frederick, the count palatine, complained that a great benefice he had held from the abbey of Hersfeld had been taken from him by the king's unjust command, and that he wished to buy it back from the king for a hundred hides of farmland, but was unable to do so. Frederick of the Mountain and William, surnamed "the King," the first of whom the king wished to strip of his liberty, the second of his inheritance — each made his complaint on his own behalf, which moved everyone to pity more than the other grievances, because they judged that in those two men they could see what he planned to do to all; namely, that he intended, if he could, to strip everyone of both their liberty and their possessions at once. Then the rest each put forward the injuries they had suffered, the recounting of which neither page nor memory suffices. Therefore all who had assembled there — and a very great host had assembled — individually swore oaths: the bishops, that they would defend with all their strength, so far as their clerical order permitted, the liberty of their churches and of all Saxony against all men; the laymen, that as long as they lived they would not surrender their liberty, and would no longer permit anyone to violently plunder their land.
Chapter 27
27. Not long after (in August 1073), they marched by a direct road to the Harzburg, where the king was, with a great army, and pitched camp opposite the fortress so that they could be seen from it. When the king saw them, he was indeed struck with sudden terror and was frightened; but since he was a dissembler, as if fearing nothing, he sent messengers to say that he was more than a little amazed at what so great a gathering of people could want; that he did not think he had done anything so wrong against them that they should rightly have begun a civil war. They should lay down their arms. If they had any grievance, he was prepared to hear it with a peaceful mind, and if anything needed correction, to correct it by the counsel of the princes and his friends. The messengers were Bishop Frederick, Duke Berthold, and Siegfried, the king's chaplain. For Adalbert, Bishop of Bremen, had recently died. To them Duke Otto gave the response on behalf of all the Saxons: that they had not assembled there in a hostile spirit, nor to begin a civil war; that they would serve the king with all fidelity, if he wished to be king; that they asked him to destroy the fortresses he had built not for the defense of the realm but for its destruction; but if he refused, then they understood why they had been built; yet they intended, with the help of divine mercy, to defend their liberty and their goods against the violence of all men. And when the messengers returned and reported to the king what had been said, and they, although they tried hard, had been unable to persuade him to do what was asked — he now did not even trust his closest friends, because they had not given him the counsel he wanted, but withdrawing from everyone and deliberating alone with himself what to do, since he considered it neither honorable to suddenly destroy his fortresses built over many years, as if compelled by force, nor safe to attend any assembly with the few men — whom he had already begun to trust less — in the face of such a great army prepared for anything: with only the few men to whom he entrusted the fortress knowing, he abandoned Saxony by night, and fleeing through the rough woodland terrain that he had often traversed while seeking sites for fortresses, he came to eastern Francia with a few companions. When the princes who had been with him learned of his flight, saying they had been shamefully abandoned, each hastened to his own territory in similar flight. This flight took place in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1073.
Chapter 28
28. After the Saxons learned of the king's flight, which could not long be concealed, they delayed not at all: they left men there to besiege this fortress, which could not easily be destroyed; the rest went on to destroy the other fortresses, which were not as strong. Some of them crossed over to the Thuringians, and making known to them the entire sequence of events, they joined them to their alliance by oaths given and received. Also, whoever had previously not dared to swear with them while the king was in the province — now that the king had been put to flight, they compelled them either to flee their land and follow the king, or to swear with them for their land against the king.
Chapter 29
29. When all these things had been duly accomplished, since in a short time capturing the Harzburg fortress would have been most difficult — for if it stood in a suitable location, the site would be fit for a royal palace — and abandoning it would have been dangerous for all Saxony, because if only provisions had been stockpiled there, it would remain impregnable against any army however great, they built another fortress equally strong, in which, by placing garrisons in turns, they prevented supplies or provisions from reaching the enemy. But the besieged sometimes, while provisions were being brought to the Saxons at the new fortress, suddenly burst forth and had them carried within their own walls. Yet by doing this, although they inflicted some harm or indignity upon their enemies, they thereby taught them to be more cautious and diligent. Therefore on both sides fierce fighting took place nearly every day; but the Saxons were the stronger because their fortress was set on a higher hill, so that anyone stationed in the lower one was safe from the hurling of stones only under roofs, and fresh soldiers relieved the exhausted, and provisions came to them in abundance — all of which were the opposite for the enemy. For they could not easily hurl stones to the higher position, nor did others relieve their exhausted men, and hunger, a most fierce enemy, afflicted them not a little; which would have long since driven them, defeated, to surrender, had not certain Saxons who had previously been their friends secretly supplied them with food.
Chapter 30
30. Meanwhile the king humbly approached the individual princes of the German realm, tearfully declaring that he had been unjustly expelled from the kingdom of Saxony, which he had received both as his paternal inheritance and by the election of them all, and he told them that in this matter the dishonor had been done not so much to himself as to all of them, who had been disrespected in his person; he humbly begged aid from all of them, by which he might avenge both his own and their injury. But not many of them were moved by his words, because almost all knew what great calamities he had inflicted upon the Saxons — especially since he had wished to inflict the same evils upon the Swabians and the eastern Franks as well. Nevertheless, looking more to their own honor than to his, they promised to come to his aid on this condition: that, with the Saxons summoned to an assembly, they would carefully examine the claims of both sides; and if indeed they had violently expelled him without fault, they would labor with all their strength to restore him to his kingdom; but if through his own fault, credulous of the counsels of fools, he had lost a land full of every abundance, they would advise him, if he would listen, to set aside his fury and to be just and merciful to the nations subject to him — which is the proper duty of a king — and no longer to listen to those by whose bad counsel he had been deceived. They refused absolutely to fight gratuitously against Christian men, innocent and their own kinsmen. The king accepted these words as if they were welcome, because he recognized that what he intended could not be done — namely, to enter Saxony with an army by force and without an assembly, and to make them all, subjected to his rule against their will, into slaves from free men. He therefore sent envoys to the princes of Saxony, promising all manner of good things if they would allow him to return to his kingdom in peace; to Duke Otto, on whom he knew all their counsels depended, he promised to restore the honor unjustly taken from him with a great increase, if Otto would agree to restore him to his former dignity.
Chapter 31
31. Therefore, with a great army assembled — though not prepared for battle unless dire necessity compelled it — around the Kalends of February, when the year of the Lord's incarnation 1074 had recently begun, he prepared to enter Saxony. But the Saxons, having learned of his approach in advance, went out to defend their land with a very great army to the town called Nachan, and pitched camp not farther from the king than that each army could see the other. Scouts were nevertheless sent from both sides, who diligently explored the strength of each army, and reported to their own side most reliably what they had seen. Now the Saxon army was so great that it was believed to be twice as large as the king's army. Therefore those who were on the king's side, having heard of the Saxons' numbers and military equipment — for the king had told his men that they had neither horses nor military training, but were merely rustic men ignorant of the art of war — although they had previously been uncertain about fighting because they did not see a worthy cause for battle, they were now made certain about not fighting, because along with cause they also lacked the forces with which they could safely confront so great a multitude. So the king, as his princes commanded, sent embassies to the Saxons and promised to do everything they wished to prescribe, provided they would not deny him the dignity of his father, which he confessed he had lost through the fault of his youth and bad counselors. Then Duke Otto and the others to whom great things had been promised persuaded the rest to receive him on these conditions: He would destroy his fortresses and never rebuild them; he would carry out no more plundering in their land; in Saxony he would arrange all matters to be managed by the counsel of the Saxons, and would admit no man of a foreign nation as an advisor in his affairs; and he would never take vengeance on any of them for his expulsion. And when the king most faithfully promised to do all these things and more, he dismissed his army, crossed over to the Saxons with a few attendants, and was escorted with praises and triumphal joy all the way to Goslar. The ill-considered arrangement of this treaty was the origin of the greatest evils for the Saxons. For the Swabians, who had not forgotten the treaty they had previously made with the Saxons and had refused to come against the Saxons with the king — the Saxons themselves forgot about them while they were making their treaty with the king; and because of this the Swabians were turned from faithful friends into the most savage enemies. If they had either not done this, or in doing it had included the Swabians as their allies, they would have been free from the charge of treachery and would not have had so many most cruel enemies.
Chapter 32
32. At the same time, however, we recognized the very great mercy of God toward us, which we should never consign to oblivion. For since the severity of winter was so great that all rivers and marshes provided dry passage to those wishing to cross, and since, with all men assembled against the king, only the women with their small children had been left at home, the pagans, always hostile to us, could have reduced all Saxony to ashes and carried off the women and children, had not God by His wondrous mercy commanded them, as if forgetful of their native cruelty, to remain quiet within their own borders as if enclosed.
Chapter 33
33. Therefore when the king had come to Goslar with the Saxon army accompanying him, not forgetting himself, he began to seek pretexts so that he would not be required to destroy his fortresses immediately, as he had promised. When certain of our princes saw him spinning out delays, wishing to please him, they advised that he should hand over the greater fortress that he wished to preserve to some one of the Saxon princes as if in surrender, until the fury of the people, which then burned vehemently, should cool somewhat, and then the fortress, as he wished, would remain intact. For the people were pressing vehemently for it to be torn down; and they cried out that if this were not done, they would immediately rebel anew. The king, placed in many difficulties, did not know what to do; for he neither wished to destroy that fortress, nor trusted any of the princes who promised that it would stand if it were handed over to them; and he greatly feared the people, lest they resume war again. For with what strength could he defend himself, caught almost alone in the midst of an army, or by what flight could he conceal himself, surrounded on all sides by savage enemies? Therefore, returning to his own cunning, he devised a trick — which, however, did not achieve the result he had hoped for. For he secretly ordered some of his old retainers to dismantle only the topmost rampart, and when the people, seeing this and hoping the whole thing would fall, departed, they would stop demolishing, and so, with the few ruins repaired, it would remain intact as he wished. But they, sparing their own labor, brought in neighboring peasants, whom they ordered, as they themselves had been ordered, to tear down only the uppermost walls. But the peasants, having now received power over that place where they had long since suffered many evils, did not heed what they were ordered to do but what they had long desired, and did not rest from demolishing until they saw that not one stone remained upon another. Therefore the royal buildings, constructed at royal expense over many years, they destroyed in a short time, and in such great walls they did not leave even the foundations undug. The king's envoys did not dare utter a word, because the people threatened to kill even them if they contradicted anything. And so they demolished the monastery, completed with laborious work, down to its foundations; they plundered the entire treasure accumulated there, whether it belonged to the king or the church; they broke the sweet-sounding bells; they dug up the king's son and brother, whom he had buried there, and scattered their bones like refuse; and they did not permit anything whatsoever of that place to remain.
Chapter 34
34. But when the king learned that his fortress had been thus annihilated, though he was indeed inwardly shaken by great grief of heart, he displayed it by no outward sign, because he considered it pointless to show his pain to those he hated, when he could not satisfy his hatred at present by punishing them as he wished. The leading men of Saxony, knowing that the king's mind was, not without reason — though he concealed it — greatly disturbed, sought by every means to appease him, offering to clear themselves of the charge of having counseled or willed the deed in whatever way he himself might command; and to punish those who were implicated in the crime with whatever penalty he wished; but they accomplished nothing. For the king was angry not so much at those who had confessedly committed the outrage, as at those who were clearing themselves of the crime committed by others; and disdaining to be angry at peasants, he meditated kindling his fury against the greatest men of this region, whenever the time should come. In the meantime, however, not to the extent he wished, but to the extent he was presently able, he avenged his fortress, and ordered that all fortresses or any fortifications of this land, except the ancient cities built for the honor of the realm, be demolished. That this command had proceeded not from the calm rigor of justice but from the turbulent agitation of an angry heart could be recognized especially from this: that he ordered certain fortresses of which no wrong was alleged to be destroyed, while very many convicted of plundering and robbery he ordered to remain untouched, if money were paid. When these things had been thus accomplished, as if moved by no grief and contemplating no evil against Saxony, before the month of March had ended (in 1074) he left Saxony and crossed over to the inhabitants of the Rhine and the other parts of Francia with a mind ill at ease despite its pretense of joy. It is reported that as he departed from our borders, he said with an oath that he would never again wish to return to Saxony unless he had first gathered such strength that he could do in Saxony whatever he pleased.
Chapter 35
35. Having therefore assembled the princes of those regions, now prostrating himself humbly before them one by one, now before all together, he made his complaint, saying that his former injuries from the expulsion now seemed light to him, and that these seemed great and incurable; in the former case he and his princes had been despised, but in the latter their contempt had been joined with contempt for the heavenly host, and — what was even greater than all this — contempt for the divine majesty. For he told them weeping that while, yielding to their counsels against his own will, he handed over his fortress built at royal expense to the Saxons to be demolished, they not only destroyed it in an inhuman manner, which was all that had been permitted to them, but furthermore, more cruel than all pagans, they razed to its foundations a monastery consecrated to God and the saints, broke like profane objects the bells, chalices, and other things collected for the honor of God, or plundered them as if by hostile pillage, pitifully cast out from their tombs his brother and son — both of royal blood — and scattered their limbs to the wind, and — what was more abominable than all the rest — tore the relics of the saints from the sacred altars with accursed hands and scattered them like filth through profane places. Having related all these things not without copious weeping, kissing the feet of each one, he begged that if they did not care to avenge his own injury, they should at least not suffer the insult inflicted upon God and God's saints to remain unavenged. He said the Saxons should not be called Christians, who, by committing the aforementioned crimes in the house of Christ, showed that they neither loved nor feared Christ. Those princes, rather, ought to prove themselves faithful followers of Christ by not hesitating, burning with zeal for Christ, to avenge His injuries with His own help. While he repeated these complaints and supplications at every assembly of the princes, a full year passed before his wish to lead an army into Saxony was fulfilled. For all who knew the wretched miseries he had inflicted upon Saxony — since all war is a harsh thing and no sufficient cause for this war was apparent — sought any pretext to postpone this war. Indeed, had not the Saxons offended Rodolf, Duke of the Swabians, when they entered into their treaty with the king, as was described above, perhaps the king would still not have had forces against Saxony. For Rodolf, deceived by the Saxons in whose support he had trusted, reconciled himself with the king as best he could, and was the first to promise the king that he would invade the Saxons with all his men in a hostile manner. But this, as I said, happened after a full year.
Chapter 36
36. Meanwhile, by sending envoys to all the surrounding peoples, by giving gifts and promising greater ones, he wished to make all men enemies of the Saxons if he could, because he sought not so much to subject them to his power — which could easily be done without war — as to utterly remove them from the number of the living. To Vratislav, Duke of the Bohemians, he promised the city of Meissen with all its dependencies, and thus enlisted him as an ally for his cause. To the Liutizi pagans he loosened the reins of the cruelty they had always shown toward the Saxons, and granted them to annex as much of Saxony to their borders as they could. But they said that they had come to know the Saxons through many storms of war, and had rarely or never rejoiced in wars against them; that their own land sufficed for them, and that they would be content if they could defend their own borders. He reminded the king of the Danes of his oath-confirmed promise, and affirmed that he would give him everything he had pledged. Philip, the ruler of Latin France, he solicited with many promises, that mindful of their old friendship, he would come to his aid whenever summoned. But Philip, similarly accused by his own subjects and nearly deposed from his ancestral throne, said he could scarcely hold on to his own dignity, to which he still clung — much less attempt to restore to this man the dignity from which he had utterly fallen. He called William, king of the English people, to his aid on the condition that he would return the favor equally, if he ever needed him. But William replied that he had acquired that land through the violence of war and therefore feared that if he left it, he would not be received back into it. He asked William, Duke of Poitou, his mother's brother, to have pity on his sister's son and bring him aid by which he might be restored to the kingdom of his father, of which he was unjustly deprived. But the duke replied that so great were the forces of the Franks, Normans, and Aquitanians between them, that by no stratagem could he have passed through such a great military strength with an army.
Chapter 37
37. Cheated of all these except the Bohemians, since he did not have sufficiently large forces from foreign peoples against the Saxons, he hit upon the worst plan — one he knew perfectly well to be so — namely to divide Saxony and to make Saxons fight against Saxons, so that whichever side lay defeated, he himself would triumph as the exultant victor. He therefore ordered the princes of Saxony to come to him individually, inventing some important matter which he said he wished to settle by their counsel. They, suspecting nothing, came where they were summoned — nor would they have ceased coming even if they had been ordered to appear before the king by a simple command with no reason given. But he received each one who came at first with flattery, and when they had stayed with him for some time, he opened his mind to them and compelled them to swear that they would help him to crush Saxony with all their strength, and that they would reveal this to no one; and if they did not immediately do so, they could not leave him. Hence it happened that in our party stood the father, and in the opposing one the son; on one side one brother, on the other side the other. Many also of the magnates who held estates in both regions, in order to preserve both, voluntarily left a son or brother here and crossed over to the king, or themselves remained here and sent brothers or sons to the king. He summoned most men of the military class to himself in the same manner, and as he perceived each man's disposition, he solicited him for civil war with threats or promises. He did not even disdain to entreat servants summoned to him, that by killing or deserting their lords, they might earn the gift of freedom or even become the lords of their own lords. But all these things were still secret; because if anyone swore his support to the king, he was compelled to swear faithful silence about the same.
Chapter 38
38. What shall I say of the fact that to those bishops whom he could not draw to his side, he sent gifts of such a kind as would rob them of both their bishopric and their life, so that he might give the bishopric to persons who would give their consent to his will in all things? Through a certain deceitful monk he sent to Werner, Archbishop of Magdeburg, a powder of spices as an excellent gift, which he told him had been sent to him from Italy by his mother as beneficial against many ailments. He ordered a portion of it, placed in a crust of bread, to be given to a puppy; and we saw the puppy die without delay, and we rejoiced that the bishop had not tasted such medicine.
Chapter 39
39. But after the loquacity of rumor began to proclaim all these things throughout Saxony and to predict the coming evils in the same order in which they later arrived, the common people, who do not know how to weigh causes, rejoiced and threatened to overthrow at the first assault all who had invaded their lands. But the nobility was afflicted with great distress, as they measured with subtle examination of reason the overwhelming strength of the king against their own very meager forces. For on the one side they saw coming to battle the Franks holding both banks of the Rhine, the Swabians, Bavarians, Lotharingians, and Bohemians; but on the other side they found scarcely a third part of Saxony, because all the Westphalians and all those dwelling around Meissen, corrupted by the king's gold, had defected from us. Even that third part itself scarcely remained faithful, because royal promises were constantly soliciting individuals within it. All the bishops too, except four — the bishop of Magdeburg, of Halberstadt, of Merseburg, and of Paderborn — either openly went over to the king, or stood with us with wavering spirit, so that to whichever side affairs might turn out favorably, they could safely incline.
Chapter 40
40. At the same time we saw many signs throughout Saxony, from which we were able to foresee the evils that came afterward. That we saw in the meadow of Magdeburg crows fighting so fiercely among themselves that some left others lying lifeless, I refrain from narrating, because I have more sacred things to tell, no less prophetic of the future. The pastoral staffs of our bishops, in fair weather, indeed in the scorching heat of summer, standing in the chapels, became so moist that they would fill one's hand with their water, if anyone took hold of them. In Stidaraburg there was a wooden image of Christ hanging on the cross, which at the same time flowed with such a stream of sweat on summer days that it did not cease sweating even when wiped with cloths, and it filled several small vessels with the sweat it produced. Werinher, bishop of Merseburg, while celebrating the sacred solemnities of the mass and placing a portion of Christ's body into the Lord's blood as was customary, that portion sank to the bottom of the chalice, as if Christ's flesh had been turned to lead. A certain priest in the diocese of Magdeburg, in the village of Weddinge, distinguished in neither part of his way of life, who was renowned neither for the stain of vices nor the praise of virtues, when during the consecration of the sacraments he came to communion and lifted the chalice, he saw the wine converted not only spiritually but also visibly into blood; terrified equally by its redness and thickness, he did not presume to consume any of it, but carried it with great fear to the city of Magdeburg, where it is still reverently preserved.
What do we think all these things signified, except the suffering that we afterward experienced?
Chapter 41
41. Therefore, since the king's anger, kindled against us too greatly by the length of time, could no longer be hidden, and it was evident from certain signs what evils he intended to do to us, then our princes individually and all together alike sent constant embassies, now with letters, now without letters, to the king himself, in which they sought this one thing from him with much supplication: that, having assembled a council of his princes, he should either show them to be guilty before those princes and punish the convicted by their judgment, or that they themselves should demonstrate their innocence by any trial whatsoever and remain in his favor as they had been until then. But when they had received no response of mercy from him, and had learned that he was dealing in every way only with their destruction, they directed embassies to those who were princes with him, and humbly asked them to be willing to appease the king's mind toward them. Of these, it was decided to include one letter which the archbishop of Magdeburg sent to the archbishop of Mainz, so that from this one anyone might recognize all the others, since they were all of the same kind.
Chapter 42
"To the Lord Siegfried, most holy priest of Christ, Werinher, though unworthy, archbishop of the holy church of Magdeburg, and with him all the bishops, dukes, counts, and all the clergy and laity together of Saxony, great and small, send devout prayer and subject service. The manifold and great tribulations which, our sins requiring it, afflict us irremediably unless divine mercy comes to our aid, compel us to seek humbly the compassion of all who either fear God or recognize themselves to be human. Wherefore, since we know your excellency to fear and love God equally, we flee especially to the mercy of your holiness, humbly praying that for the sake of the fear of God you weigh our cause justly, and, if it be found just, grant us the aid of your mercy for the love of justice, which is Christ. Our lord the king, after he became a youth and, rejecting the counsel of his princes, began to be his own master and submitted himself to the direction of those who consider neither what is fair nor what is good, always sought to oppress us in an unaccustomed manner, to snatch our goods from us and hand them over to his favorites, for no other fault than that those men had little or nothing at home and saw our land to be fruitful. And so he seized the more fortified places of our region with the strongest castles, in which he stationed not a few armed men, who would either compel us to serve him in servile fashion or kill those who wished to defend their liberty.
There how many dangers, how many insults, how many losses we suffered in our persons, in our wives, in our possessions, and how the mercy of God freed us from these for a time, we pass over because we believe it is known to you. After indeed the mercy of God calmed so great a storm and restored His peace and favor to us, we know of nothing we have done against him for which he should justly wage renewed war against us. The estates which he complained had been taken away, we returned to his envoys, until the envoys themselves said there was nothing remaining that we ought to return. The castles and other fortifications which he ordered to be destroyed in our territories, we demolished them all, except those which he himself permitted to stand despite our objections. Regarding the destruction of his monastery and the violation of the tombs of his son and brother and the scattering of their bones, when you hear how it was done, you will recognize that we are innocent. The destruction of that very castle where these things took place he was unwilling to entrust to any of us, but assigned this work to his own servants and household members; who, being negligent and lazy, in order to accomplish more quickly what they had been commanded, gathered together all the peasants who were in that vicinity and gave them the authority to demolish the castle. The peasants indeed, as ignorant peasants who had suffered many evils from that same castle, since no one was present to restrain them, wished nothing to be left in it by which it would need to be restored again.
Afterward we very often sent an embassy to our lord the king as humble servants with much supplication, that, if we seemed to have done anything against him in that or any cause, we might give satisfaction by the judgment of his princes, either by denying or by making amends. Since we have not yet been able to obtain by anyone's help that he would be willing to receive this embassy, we all together, prostrate at your feet, beseech your holiness to be willing to soften the anger of our lord the king toward us, and to persuade him that what he would do for one man, he would deign to do for an entire people -- namely, that he not seek to devastate us with warlike fury before he shows us to be criminals before his princes and unwilling to make amends for our crime. Let him accept from us whatever guarantee you and his other princes shall have ordered, so that he may come to us without war, and either punish us by your judgment if we have deserved it, or dismiss us in peace with his favor if we are found innocent. But if he refuses this, let him order his princes to assemble in whatever part of his kingdom, and to whomever of us he wishes to be present, let him grant safe-conduct for going and returning, and whatever you shall have judged should be done concerning us, let him do it.
Therefore suggest this to our lord, and for the fear of God persuade him to consider that we are human beings, lest he desire to destroy us who are innocent, to the peril of his own soul. If your sublimity shall have been sluggish or insufficiently devout in carrying out these things, the strict judgment of God will demand our souls from you. But if perhaps the king is unwilling to hear your pious counsel, we ask and beseech you that at least he may not be able to have you and your people as instruments of his fury; lest, while you serve his fury, you incur danger to your life and soul. Farewell."
Chapter 43
43. Our princes individually sent embassies containing the same meaning, whether by letters or by words, to all the princes on that side, and at last they received from the king, barely overcome more by importunity than softened by mercy, this response: that they could have his favor only on this condition, if they were willing to surrender themselves and their liberty and everything they possessed to the royal power without any condition. This they refused to do, because they had often experienced him to be devoid of any mercy.
Chapter 44
44. Therefore when more than a year had passed since the king departed from Saxony, and the king was at Mainz on the feast of the Lord's resurrection (the year 1075, April 5), a messenger of the Saxons came there with letters, which he presented to Udo, archbishop of Trier, who was celebrating mass that day, while standing in the pulpit delivering a sermon to the people, and he asked, in the name of all the Saxons and for the love of God, that he read them aloud to all the people and explain them. When the king forbade this to be done, the messenger himself boldly set forth the sense of the letters to all the people in a brief speech, and in the words of all the Saxons demanded that all who feared God should not wish to invade Saxony by arms before it had been convicted of any crime.
But Rudolf, duke of the Swabians, not forgetful of the treaty recently made between the Saxons and the king, incited the king not to let the injury done insultingly both to God and to himself and all his princes go without vengeance, and promised him his support with all the forces he could muster. All the other princes did the same, some indeed enticed by many promises, but most driven by the necessity of impending death, which they could not avoid.
Chapter 45
45. When this was heard by the Saxons, they then sent frequent embassies to the king and all the chief men, beseeching them not to wish to attack them, who were innocent, with the sword; because if they were shown to be guilty of any offense against the royal majesty, they were prepared to suffer punishment at their discretion. Then the king sent word to the archbishop of Magdeburg along with certain others of his favor; and he made known that he had been advised by his friends not to destroy an entire people without fault; and he said that he was willing to hear their counsel, if those Saxons would separate from their enemies and surrender to him Burchard, bishop of Halberstadt, Duke Otto, Frederick the Count Palatine, along with the others whom he still sought.
To this embassy, with the consent of those who were demanded, the reply was given that they would be presented to him on this condition: that they should stand under the judgment of both sides' princes, so that the verdict of those princes would either condemn the convicted or reconcile the innocent to the king's favor together with the whole Saxon people. But William, surnamed Rex, and Frederick de Monte, when they saw that war had now openly begun, forgetting the oath they had sworn with the other Saxons and the many calamities which they themselves had suffered, and moreover that they themselves were the principal cause of the war's beginning, faithlessly deserted their fatherland and, yet more faithless, fled by night to the king, the enemy of their fatherland. For afterward neither countrymen nor enemies trusted them, and among both they were despised and wretched, worthless and faithless.
Chapter 46
46. Therefore the king came with the entire army he could muster to a place near Beringa, and there pitched his camp and sat down. But on the other side the Saxons positioned their camp near Nechilstedi, and waited for the king to summon them to a council. And while they were preparing the words with which they wished to clear their accused, a messenger of the king was there, who said that the king wished to dispute with the Saxons not with words but with the sword, and set the following day for this contest. That messenger had not yet finished his words well when another came, saying the king was approaching with his entire army (the year 1075, June 13). At first not believing this, when they realized it was all too true, since there was no opportunity either to form a plan or to arrange an army for battle -- as those who are caught off guard are wont to do -- the few who had either courage or arms at hand went bravely into battle, but the greater number, for whom either courage or arms were far away, turned to flight.
But those very few who stood firm in the battle performed well, as much as they could, both their own part and that of those who had fled. For unless God had decreed to humble our pride there, our very few would have put that entire army to flight. For their rearguard, not knowing that the greater part of our men had given themselves to flight, began themselves also to seek the protection of flight, and had they not recognized our men's flight sooner, by fleeing they would have left victory to us. Whom the chance of battle gave to whom to kill, not even those who were killing could recognize, because so great a cloud of dust had arisen that there could scarcely be any distinction for anyone between citizen and enemy. This much, however, we learned: that our margrave Udo struck his cousin Duke Rudolf powerfully in the face with his sword, and had the nasal of the helmet not faithfully protected him, he would have completely cut off the upper part of his head.
Brothers were on opposing sides in that battle, fathers against sons, and other bonds of affection too were divided against each other. But if anyone committed a crime against his own kinsman, it could not be known by anyone. That battle was indeed most savage, but accomplished in the shortest time. For our men, though few in number yet great in valor -- for the enemy themselves confessed they had never heard such mighty blows of swords -- after they saw that they had been abandoned by their own, and they themselves had grown weary from killing many, fewer from the already few, they gradually withdrew from the danger, and left to the king indeed the glory of victory, but with great ruin of his own men. For while from our side, among the greatest princes Count Gevehard fell, and from the middle rank Folcmar and Suidger, from the other side eight chief men lay dead, no less noble than the king himself. This first battle took place in the year of the Lord 1075, on the Ides of June, on a Tuesday.
Chapter 47
47. Therefore the king, having obtained victory with much bloodshed of his own men, remained for some days within his camp, until he gathered back those whom fear had scattered from among his men, and had his dead either buried or carried back to their homeland for burial. Then he entered Saxony in great joy, judging it so prostrate that it would never rise again. He plundered and seized everything in his path, or consumed it with fire. If pagans had defeated us thus, they would not have exercised greater cruelty upon the vanquished. It availed women nothing to have fled into the churches or to have brought their belongings there. For the men had been able to hide by lurking in the forests. The women in the very churches, even if they had fled to the altar, they violated, and when their lust had been satisfied in barbarous fashion, they burned the women together with the churches.
But our princes entered various strongholds, and from there sent embassies to meet the king's princes, beseeching them that at least now they would give thanks to God for His glory, and for the name of Christ would spare their brothers in Christ, even the vanquished. It was decided to include some of these embassies, so that from these the reader might recognize the rest, since they all had the same meaning.
Chapter 48
"To Siegfried of Mainz and Adalbero of Wurzburg, most holy bishops, Werinher, bishop of Magdeburg in name only, sends whatever is most humble and devout. Because I do not doubt that you two burn with the flame of God's two commandments more than others, I flee as a suppliant especially to you two, asking and beseeching that in this you prove the perfect charity of God, which I trust you possess, by showing the compassion of mercy mercifully toward your wretched brothers.
Consider that, as you know better than I, whatever divine grace bestows upon anyone, this is reckoned to him in the place of a talent, for which he must render an account to the coming Judge. And so, since the mercy of the heavenly King has been pleased to grant you familiarity with our lord the king, so use that familiarity for the benefit of all who need your help, that everyone who has been aided by your assistance may rejoice in your good fortune, and God Himself may bestow upon you the eternal reward for the interest on the talent.
First of all, then, let your mercy deign to treat my cause mercifully with our lord, namely because I have always wished and do wish to serve his honor with my strength and beyond my strength. But if perhaps his majesty accuses me because I recently came as if about to fight against him, reply with this, which the Truth Himself, who is Christ, knows to be true: that I came for no cause of fighting, but only for this reason, as had been arranged before his envoys, that I might present to him those whom he had called his enemies from our territories, whether willing or unwilling, so that by the judgment of you and other princes, either those caught in crime would undergo just punishment, or those found innocent would, through your intercession, receive his favor. Since he did not deign to accept their case, what was fitting for me except to withdraw, as I did?
If he imposes any other charges upon me, to make a long matter short, I will submit to the verdict of you and other men of the same rank. Then let your holiness deign to suggest to our lord the king that he remember that he holds the place and name of the heavenly King, who says He desires mercy rather than sacrifice, and who came not to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him; so that while reflecting on these things and striving to imitate in his deeds Him whose member he is and whose name he bears, he may merit to be crowned with the glory of eternal blessedness in the heavenly kingdom.
For nearly a whole year we approached nearly all the princes of the realm as suppliants with letters and other embassies, and begged them to obtain for us the opportunity to come before them, so that by their judgment we might either be condemned if guilty or acquitted if innocent. Since we were never able to obtain this, we again humbly beseech you and all the faithful of God, that at least now, after he has sated his anger with our blood, after God has given him honor as was fitting, let him lay aside his fury, give glory to God, and do now, after so much blood has been shed, what he could have done before blood was spilled.
Let him give us a place where we may meet with you, and with Dukes Rudolf, Berthold, and Godfrey; and in whatever matter we shall seem to you to be guilty, having set aside all our own will, we shall willingly submit to the judgment of your wisdom. There has never been such great cruelty in any pagan, that when he could have subjected people to their condemnation without any danger or effort, he should choose to subjugate them not without danger to himself and his own.
But if he labors to pour out our blood until none of it remains, let him consider that this cannot easily be done without some mingling of his own people's blood. And so if he intends to show us no mercy, let him at least wish to spare the hands and swords of his own men. Therefore suggest these things, and whatever more fitting things you can, to our lord, and persuade him to fear God and not to destroy but to protect the people over whom he has been appointed as ruler: so that both he, if he hears you, and you, if you have counseled well, may receive the eternal reward."
Chapter 49
"To the lords and N., holy priests, and the other men of the same virtue and rank, Werinher, filled with all misery, wishes to share in eternal mercy. Although I see that all the supplications which I have made to your fatherhood by words or letters have profited me nothing so far, yet I do not cease again to entreat your piety, that if neither the calamity of me, an innocent man, nor any piety -- which is accustomed to show mercy even to the guilty -- has moved you, at least my persistence may overcome you by its very wearisomeness.
By the clemency of almighty God, therefore, I equally ask and admonish you, most holy bishops, to deign to consider yourselves in my place, and not to allow me to be condemned, who have not only been convicted of no crime, but have not even been accused of any crime. Let a charge first be laid against me, let a place of defense be granted me, where either as a guilty man I may be forced to undergo fitting punishment by your judgment, or as an innocent man I may merit to have your fellowship under the favor of our lord. For who was ever justly condemned before he had been accused of any crime? I have not yet learned that any charge whatsoever has been laid against me, and already, as if convicted of very many crimes, I have suffered the most savage punishments.
But if anyone accuses me of having been or being faithless to my lord, he lies no less than he who said to the Lord: 'You have a demon.' Therefore treat these matters clemently with our lord, and persuade him to reflect that he is a king, and teach him why he is called king. May your wisdom also deign to weigh within itself what sort of crime and how great it is to lay waste the goods of churches, to pollute or burn the churches themselves; and if this seems to be any great crime, prove yourselves faithful to our lord in this: that by calling him back from injustice, you free his soul from the fire of hell; lest, while he unjustly devastates the outward goods of the saints, he be justly deprived of inner goods, stripped of the grace of the saints. Let your prudence also remember that the Apostle threatens death not only to those who do things worthy of death, but also to those who consent to them."
Chapter 50
50. Frederick indeed, the venerable bishop of Munster, because he was originally from our territories and had once been a canon of the church of Magdeburg, sent a letter to the archbishop of Magdeburg, in which he urged him to strive to make peace with the king in whatever way he could.
To which letter the archbishop of Magdeburg sent back this letter in reply:
Chapter 51
"To the most holy priest of God, Frederick, Werinher, unworthy in that which he is called, sends the devoted affections of brotherly service. Although I am so filled with the grief which this new tribulation has begotten that in the depths of my heart no place can be found for any joy, nevertheless when I received the letter of your consolation, I suppressed my tears of grief not a little, because I have some relief of pain when I see even one brother grieving with brotherly grief. But then I would rejoice with solid joy, if I could see you considering not only the tribulation we have experienced, but also our innocence, or if you could help to bring about in deed the counsel you give me concerning making peace.
For what crime of ours preceded it, that our land should be laid waste with fire and sword by our king and all the princes of the realm, and especially by our fellow-bishops? Or if there was any crime, in what council of priests, in what assembly of princes was it openly declared? When did we, having been summoned, refuse to come to make satisfaction? By whom have we been accused and convicted? On the contrary, after we learned that the anger of our lord the king had blazed up against us, albeit without cause, we humbly begged individual princes, both priests and laymen, by written word and spoken word, to obtain for us the opportunity to come before them, so that either as criminals we might be condemned by their judgment, or, being without crime, we might be dismissed with the peace and favor of our lord.
When we saw that this availed us nothing, we ourselves often sent an embassy to our lord as humble servants, beseeching him either to condemn us publicly by the judgment of princes if we were found guilty of a crime, or to bestow upon us the serenity of his favor if we were found to be without crime. For this fault, then, a savage devastator invaded our land and rendered it nearly desolate with fire and sword. If only laymen had been in that army, perhaps they would have spared the churches and ecclesiastical property. But since very many priests were present, they spared nothing sacred, but watched the churches which either they themselves or their brethren had consecrated being set ablaze with impious fire, and did not protest. What then should laymen do, when they saw bishops consenting to or even instigating such things?
But granting that these things were done, although we have been punished beyond measure before being found in any way guilty of any fault, although we have been devastated with slaughter and fire without guilt by those by whom we ought to have been defended even in open crime, nevertheless we accept the counsel of your piety concerning making peace, if we see it can be done without greater harm to us. Let the princes of those regions come to some place where we can safely meet them, and let them instruct us by their wisdom what we should now do; because whatever is pleasing to them, provided it does not harm us or our descendants, our agreement will harmoniously fulfil. And if your fatherhood, undertaking this task, will complete it in deed, along with the heavenly reward you will always have us all as faithful friends."
Chapter 52
52. At that same time almighty God showed great mercy to the city of Magdeburg through the merits of the saints who are held there in great number, and so wonderfully defended both the city itself and the whole diocese from the cruel invasion of the king, that no one who learned of it may doubt that the city remained unharmed at that time through the merits of those saints. For it had been revealed before the battle to a certain handmaid of God through a vision that if the head of Saint Sebastian, which is kept with great veneration in that same city, were carried around the boundaries of the diocese, no enemy could enter those same boundaries.
When she reported this to Meginfrid, prefect of the same city, and the prefect, before they went out to battle, reported it in our hearing to our archbishop, after the battle was finished we had the head itself carried around all our boundaries before the king arrived, and we learned from the actual outcome of events that it was just as the handmaid of God had foretold. For wherever the king came to those boundaries, he turned back in terror at the divine warning, and nowhere did he enter that diocese.
Chapter 53
53. But when the king, accompanied by his army, came to Goslar, and was received there with triumphal glory by some of our bishops, he asked his friends what he should do, and could scarcely find what would be useful to him. For the counsel which nearly all gave him -- that he should give thanks to God for his victory and receive the Saxons into his peace and favor as a Christian king -- he did not accept; but what he alone wanted, namely to immediately subject everyone to his servitude, he could not accomplish for the present.
For he was unable to capture all the princes, because they had been scattered in different directions, nor could he remain long in this land with his army, because the famine that year had then been useful to us, and the month of July did not yet present ripe crops; nor indeed did he think it safe to remain in Saxony without an army at that time. He departed therefore with his entire army, and held Saxony, as before, in uncertainty.
For after he withdrew, the Saxons assembled again, and praised God with humble devotion for having mercifully chastised them without permitting them to be utterly crushed, and they exhorted one another to fight unanimously for their liberty with all their strength; and they conjectured that God's mercy had not been entirely taken from them, because, having been scourged as if by paternal affection, they had received an opportune time through the king's departure for regaining their strength.
Chapter 54
54. Meanwhile the king was gathering the entire army again, so that entering Saxony in the month of October, he might consume the crops, which he had seen plentiful in the fields in July, either by using or by burning them, and either deliver the whole people, if rebellious, to be devoured by the sword, or subject the humble to perpetual servitude. On the other side, the Saxons, now made prudent by the great danger, came with no smaller an army, no longer about to turn their backs in flight as before, but ready to fight bravely for their liberty, so that they would either hold it firmly with God's help, or lose it together with their lives.
Therefore both armies met at a place called Everha, and were far from each other not in place but in spirit. Yet the king's army was not as eager for battle as before, because he had learned by experience that the Saxons were not, as he had heard, unwarlike, and a great portion of his previous multitude was lacking. For Dukes Berthold and Rudolf, after they returned from the first battle, were struck with divine compassion, publicly fasted for forty days, and faithfully vowed to God that they would no longer fight for the king against the innocence of the Saxons.
Then those men sent envoys to the Saxons; and having received and given pledges of faith, the princes from both sides assembled for a secret council. There they promised our people on their word that if by surrendering voluntarily they were willing to do honor to the king, all of Saxony would remain quiet in peace, and they themselves would be in neither a harsh nor a long captivity. We also learned, as rumor attested, that the king had sworn to his princes that if they accomplished this for his honor, he would dismiss them all at the beginning of the following November with peace and his favor.
Therefore all our bishops, dukes, counts, and other chief men, having received from them the handclasp of faith, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the royal power (October 25), and commanded their whole people, deeply saddened, to return to their homeland.
Chapter 55
55. When our princes had been distributed among the various places of custody, the king, having dismissed his army, entered Saxony with great glory, and was received by those who were at home with even greater glory. For they hoped that he was coming, as he had promised, with peace and mercy, and would consign all their offenses to perpetual oblivion.
But he, forgetful of his promise, neither rendered humble and worthy praises to God for the victory he had received so easily, nor believed that the glory he then possessed would ever slip from him. Had he then humbly prostrated himself before the King of kings and shown the conquered the mercy of God, he would have made not only the Saxons whom he had defeated, but all the peoples over whom he ruled, both fear and love him equally, and he would have sent the fame of his glory, to be praised by all, even to those nations which were not subject to him. But since, not unmindful of his old cruelty, he cared only to be feared and not to be loved, he had neither the Saxons faithful to him nor the other nations of his kingdom devoted to him, and he was losing the immense praise among foreign peoples that he could have had. For he was no less cruel to friends than to enemies, except that he exercised cruelty upon his friends first, so that his enemies might learn from this what they should expect for themselves.
Chapter 56
56. He first invaded the possessions of Margrave Ekkibert, who had given no aid to the Saxons but had favored the king with his whole heart, as one who was of very close kinship to the king, and gave them to Othelric, one of his counselors. This Othelric was originally from Godesheim, and because he had completely cast off the fear of God, he had the surname Godeshaz, because it had truly come from the hatred of God that he clung intimately to the king and directed the king's mind according to his own will. Then he lavished upon his parasites the goods of our captives, which ought to have remained intact for them if his faith had been intact, and everything good he had promised his princes concerning us, he lied about completely. Then he entrusted to his followers the cities and castles and whatever fortifications Saxony still had, and commanded them to exercise tyranny throughout the entire region.
Chapter 57
57. He celebrated the feast of the Lord's Nativity, when the year 1076 from the Incarnation of the Lord began, at Goslar, having summoned the bishops of his party to him, with a spirit far from festive, because he had planned to contaminate the feast that is the beginning of human salvation with the wicked murder of Otto; whom Christ miraculously rescued in honor of His own nativity by the same grace with which God willed to become man at that very season to free the human race. For he had entrusted the duke himself to Robert, bishop of Bamberg, for safekeeping, and the bishop had handed him over to his soldiers to guard in a certain castle while he himself proceeded to the royal court. But the king sent men there without the bishop's knowledge and ordered the duke to be brought to him, in such a way that, reversing the order of time, they traveled by night and rested by day in place of night. And when in the middle of the night he was being led unarmed by four armed men, and had come to Goslar, and they had wished to proceed through the courtyard toward the forest, then for the first time he understood that they had been ordered to kill him in the forest. Therefore he begged them to allow him to pray at the monastery. When this was denied him, he suddenly seized the sword of one of them by the hilt, and with the naked blade, against their will, reached the bedchamber of his guardian bishop, and with a great commotion woke the bishop and made known the matter that was being carried out against him, and begged the bishop to rescue him from the danger of a secret death. When this had been made known throughout the town, the king did not dare to destroy him as he had wished, but allowed him to go freely through the court wherever he wished. But he, as he was a man prudent in all things, frequently attended the king's councils, and by his wisdom in a short time earned the result that whatever pertained to the king's honor, the king himself arranged chiefly by his counsel. Thus the one whom he had recently held as his most savage enemy, he now began to have as his most faithful counselor (year 1076).
Chapter 58
58. When we learned that those princes who held our men in custody were at Goslar, we sent them letters of supplication for the liberation of our princes, each city or province for the rescue of its own bishop or chief man. Of these letters, it seemed good to append only one:
Chapter 59
"To the Lord Udo, most holy shepherd of Christ's holy sheep, the clergy and people of the Magdeburg church send most faithful devotion of both the inner and outer man. That we have not yet sought the acquaintance and favor of so great a man through any display of our service, we vehemently accuse ourselves among ourselves, and we blush all the more that we have not made ourselves known to you through any service of ours, because without having earned it we have received such great consolations of your piety in our many tribulations. For of all the tribulations which either long experience has wisely taught us to bear, or which their very novelty, being unfamiliar, renders all the heavier for us, none has ever weighed upon us more heavily than that we have had to be deprived of our lord archbishop, indeed our most loving father, through the misery of so long a captivity, especially in these stormy times, in which he would be most necessary to us. But since, as we have learned from his own message, he enjoys much of the kindness of your piety, so that he confesses himself not afflicted by the pain of captivity, but refreshed by your great sweetness from the labor by which he had been greatly wearied, we willingly forget all the afflictions we suffer, and as long as we know our head rejoices, we count the pain of the members, however great it may be, as nothing. Therefore, all with one accord prostrate with devoted heart at the feet of your Paternity, we give you most abundant thanks for your piety, because while you have alleviated by your mercy this care that most afflicted us, you have caused us to entrust all our other anxieties to the winds to be carried into the Cretan sea.
But if, by divine clemency favoring us, your Paternity will have made this joy complete for us and will have helped our lord to return more quickly to his own by his own prayers and those of his people, you will never regret having bestowed your former benefits upon us, since you will have both our lord himself as a friend always most ready for everything, and all of us no less devoted and subject to you than your own clergy or people. To accomplish this, if your Sublimity shall wish to strive with the zeal we hope for, we believe it can be done without much labor, because we hold this as certain: that he is held as an innocent captive and the safety of his church alone was the cause of his surrender. May almighty God therefore preserve you long in this life as a consolation to His Church, and after this life grant you the eternal reward of the blessed life. Farewell."
Chapter 60
60. When the king had therefore occupied the cities and all the fortifications in Saxony with garrisons of his faithful men, and thought that nothing stood in his way to prevent him from doing everything he wished in Saxony, he departed from us in the middle of Lent (1076), leading many hostages with him, and leaving behind among us men who would exact tribute from our regions. When he had entered his own territories, and his dukes and the others who had fought bravely in the battle were expecting triumphal gifts, he was preparing to give even now as a reward for valor the death which he had been accustomed to lavish upon nearly all his faithful followers. Grieving that not enough of the princes had fallen in the battle according to his wish, he desired that the life which he believed they had preserved through cowardice should be taken from them through cruelty. For so that he alone might be lord of all, he wished no lord to live in his kingdom. And so with three very strong armed men he entered a certain deserted house in the middle of the night, and secretly brought one of Duke Rudolf's soldiers there. The soldier, seeing the swords, feared for himself, because he had no means of escape; but when the king loaded him with many promises if he would kill Duke Rudolf at the first opportunity that presented itself, not from love of the promises but from fear of the swords before him, he promised as if gladly that he would do this, and confirmed his promise with an oath. But when morning came, and the duke, having been much praised by the king for his valor and loyalty, had been dismissed with great courtesy and was departing, the soldier seized his arms and swiftly pursued him, and rushing through the midst of the crowd with his lance extended, threatened with a loud cry to kill the duke. But when he was surrounded by the soldiers and questioned about the cause of his alarm, he laid out the whole sequence of what had been done in the night, and casting down his arms, made known to the duke himself what he had sworn and by what force he had been compelled.
Chapter 61
61. At another time, when the same duke was leading the queen by the hand from a monastery, the king ordered a certain archer to pierce him with an arrow beside the queen. But the duke, forewarned by the same archer, did not escort the queen further, but having found some pretext, hastily withdrew from her.
Chapter 62
62. A third time, when certain matters were being discussed within the king's chamber, and the duke with a few of his men was present at those proceedings, word was brought to him that two of the king's servants were guarding the door with naked swords, who would stab the duke on either side as he came out. And so he secretly had his own men come with hidden swords, and had some of them enter the chamber, while many others stood before the doors. When everything had been arranged as he had ordered, approaching the door with his men he said: 'Such doorkeepers, lord king, I would not wish to have seen just now in your chamber, nor do I ever wish to see them again hereafter.' Having spoken these words, he departed in great fury, and declared -- and fulfilled his declaration -- that he would never again come to the king's court.
Chapter 63
63. By the same or a similar trick he also sought to destroy Duke Berthold, because these two seemed most to resist his malice. And why do I mention his cruelty toward only two, when I can assert that no prince was safe from such danger? For on a certain day, while the king himself was lingering in his chamber with his jesters, and the bishops and other chief men were waiting in the vestibule, he is reported to have said to those who were accomplices and supporters of his wickedness: 'Behold, these are the ones who have the riches of my kingdom, and have left me and all my people in poverty. If they were removed from the scene, I and all my household could quickly become rich. Therefore, if you are men and desire to have riches, attack these unarmed men vigorously now while you are armed, and take everything they possess.' He always kept in his chamber many axes with broad gleaming blades, against which neither shield nor helmet could resist by any strength. And had not Anno, the bishop of Cologne, been warned shortly before by one who was about to commit the deed along with the others, on that day a wretched crime would have been perpetrated.
Chapter 64
64. But to return briefly to earlier events: when our chief men had made their surrender, the king ordered all the paths that lead through the mountains into Italy to be closed, and did not permit the way to lie open to any man, lest the truth of the matter should reach the pope before he himself through envoys should win the pope over to his own favor. Then he sent envoys to the Roman pontiff, who were to inform him that the bishops of Saxony, forgetful of their order, had engaged against him in battle, and were to ask him to depose them from their priestly rank as faithless perjurers and authors of civil war, so that he might place in their stead men of such quality that the church might be governed in peace.
But rumor had preceded the king's envoys to the pope, and had truthfully disclosed to him the whole sequence of events. Therefore he sent a letter to the king in which he charged him with many other crimes, and begged him to release the bishops from captivity, with their churches and property fully restored to them, and after this to convene a council in a place where the pope could come, where the bishops either, if they were found worthy, would lose their episcopal dignity, or would receive canonical satisfaction for the injuries they had suffered. And if the king were unwilling to be obedient to these sacred canons and to expel the excommunicated from his company, he threatened to cut him off like a rotten limb from the unity of holy Mother Church with the sword of anathema. When this message was received, and confirmed by his own men whom he had sent returning from the pope, the king was very distressed, because in the apostolic authority he did not find the support for his malice that he had hoped for.
Chapter 65
65. The king therefore came to Worms together with his deceivers, and entered into counsel with them one by one or in pairs, as to how he might pay back a worthy return for that insult which all had heard the Roman pontiff had inflicted upon him, namely that he had threatened to excommunicate him, when such a thing had been unheard of in all ages. After they had turned over many ideas in many ways for a long time, at last it pleased some of them that a council of bishops should be held, that the pope should be condemned as a Simoniac by common consent, and that once he was deposed, the king should install in his place one of his own friends, who would carry out with full willingness everything that had pleased the king. Having therefore entered into and confirmed this plan, he caused all his bishops to assemble, and compelled them to renounce their subjection and obedience to Hildebrand, who was called but was not the Roman pontiff; and so that afterwards none of them could deny it, he had each of them, with his name written above, inscribe in his own hand a renunciation of Hildebrand on individual documents in this manner: 'I, N., bishop of the city of N., from this hour and henceforth renounce my subjection and obedience to Hildebrand, and hereafter I will neither regard him nor call him pope.' This indeed few did willingly, those who were themselves the authors of the plan; but more wrote letters of renunciation out of fear of death, yet showed that they had done so unwillingly by this: that as soon as opportunity is given them, they send letters of humble confession to the pope, and acknowledge themselves guilty before him, but plead the excuse of necessity. Then he sent letters throughout all Italy, inclining the princes of that land to favor his party with great gifts and even greater promises. And so while our bishops renounced only in writing, those others renounced even by oath. He also corrupted a great many Romans with money, and begged them with such letters to cast Hildebrand down from the honor of the apostolic see.
He also directed a letter full of insults to the pope himself, in which he threateningly commanded him to quickly relinquish the apostolic name and see. This is the text of the letter:
Chapter 66
'Henry, by the grace of God king, to all the clergy and people of the holy Roman church, grace, greeting, and every good. That faith is believed firm and unshaken which is always preserved the same both in the presence and in the absence of him to whom it is owed, and is not altered either by the prolonged absence of the one to whom it is due, or by the weariness of a long time. We know that you preserve such faith toward us and we give thanks, and we ask that it may continue, namely that, as you do, you may constantly remain friends to our friends and enemies to our enemies. Among whom, marking out Hildebrand the monk, we rouse you to enmity against him, because we have discovered him to be both an invader and oppressor of the church, and a plotter against the Roman commonwealth and our kingdom, as is readily apparent from the following letter directed to him by us:'
Chapter 67
'Henry, not by usurpation but by the pious ordination of God king, to Hildebrand, now no longer pope but false monk. Such a greeting you have merited for your confusion, you who have passed over no order in the church without making it a partaker of confusion rather than honor, of curse rather than blessing. For to speak briefly of a few outstanding matters among many: you did not fear to touch the rulers of the holy church, namely archbishops, bishops, and priests, as the anointed of the Lord; rather, like slaves who do not know what their master does, you trampled them under your feet. By trampling them you won for yourself the favor of the common crowd. You judged them all to know nothing, but yourself alone to know everything. And this knowledge you strove to use not for building up but for destruction, so that we may rightly believe that blessed Gregory, whose name you have claimed for yourself, prophesied about you when he said: "From the abundance of his subjects, the mind of a prelate is usually puffed up, and he thinks that he knows more than all others when he sees that he can do more than all others." And indeed we endured all these things while we strove to preserve the honor of the apostolic see. But you understood our humility to be fear, and therefore you did not fear to rise up against the very royal power granted to us by God, which you dared to threaten to take from us, as though we had received our kingdom from you, as though the kingdom or empire were in your hand and not in God's hand; whereas our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to the kingdom but has not called you to the priesthood. For you ascended by these steps: namely by cunning, which the monastic profession abhors, you obtained money; by money, favor; by favor, the sword; by the sword you reached the seat of peace, and from the seat of peace you have disturbed the peace -- arming subjects against their prelates, teaching that our bishops called by God should be despised by you who were not called, usurping for laymen the ministry over priests, so that they depose or despise those whom they had received from the Lord's hand to be taught through the laying on of hands by bishops.
Me also, who, though unworthy, have been anointed among the Lord's anointed to the kingdom, you have touched -- me whom the tradition of the holy Fathers has taught should be judged by God alone, and whom it has declared should not be deposed for any crime unless, God forbid, we should have strayed from the faith; since even the prudence of the holy bishops committed Julian the Apostate to be judged and deposed not by themselves but by God alone. The true pope, blessed Peter himself, cries out: "Fear God, honor the king." But you, because you do not fear God, dishonor me, His appointed one. Wherefore blessed Paul, who did not spare even an angel from heaven if he should preach otherwise, did not exempt you either, teaching otherwise on earth. For he says: "If anyone, whether I myself or even an angel from heaven, should preach to you anything beyond what we have preached, let him be anathema." Therefore, condemned by this anathema and by the judgment of all our bishops and our own, come down and relinquish the apostolic see you have seized! Let another ascend to the throne of blessed Peter, one who cloaks no violence with religion, but teaches the sound doctrine of blessed Peter. For I, Henry, king by the grace of God, together with all our bishops say to you: Come down, come down.'
'This is the text of our letter to Hildebrand the monk. We have written it to you as well so that both our will may satisfy you, and your charity may satisfy us, or rather God and us. Rise up therefore against him, most faithful ones, and let him who is first in faith be first in his condemnation. We do not say this so that you may shed his blood, since after his deposition life is a greater punishment for him than death, but so that you may compel him if he refuses to step down, and receive into the apostolic see another man elected by us with the common counsel of all the bishops and yourselves, one who is both willing and able to heal what this man has wounded in the church.'
Chapter 68
68. When these letters were brought to the lord pope, who was presiding over a holy synod in the Lateran basilica, and were read aloud before the synod, so great a commotion arose in the church that the same envoy, had he not found protection at the pope's feet, would have been miserably torn limb from limb. On the following day the lord pope declared before that same synod how often and with how great gentleness he had rebuked the king for his great crimes, with how great courtesy he had asked and with apostolic authority had commanded him to release the bishops from captivity; and what bitterness of pride he had received in return for his fatherly kindness. Then, with all crying out that such an insult should not remain unavenged, by the counsel and consent of all, he condemned Henry by synodal judgment, and struck him -- stripped of the name and honor of king -- with the sword of anathema, and sent letters into the kingdom of the Germans, of which it seemed good to append the copy here:
Chapter 69
'Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all who desire to be numbered among the sheep which Christ entrusted to blessed Peter, greeting and apostolic blessing. You have heard, brothers, a new and unheard-of presumption; you have heard the wicked babbling and audacity of schismatics who blaspheme the name of the Lord in blessed Peter; you have heard the pride raised up to injury and insult of the holy and apostolic see, the like of which your fathers neither saw nor heard, nor does the record of the scriptures show that such a thing ever arose from pagans or heretics. Even if some precedent for such an evil had ever appeared since the founding of the church and the propagation of the faith of Christ, all the faithful should nevertheless grieve and groan at so great a contempt and trampling down of apostolic, indeed divine, authority. Wherefore if you believe that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given to blessed Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ, and if you desire through his hands to prepare for yourselves entrance to the joys of eternal life, you must consider how greatly you ought now to grieve at the insult inflicted upon him. For unless here, where your faith and hearts are tested through the trials of temptation, you become sharers in his sufferings, without a doubt you are not worthy, as partakers of future consolation and sons of the kingdom, to receive the heavenly crown and glory. We therefore beg your charity to strive to implore the divine mercy earnestly, so that He may either turn the hearts of the impious to repentance, or by restraining their wicked counsels, may show how foolish and stupid are those who attempt to overthrow the rock founded in Christ and to violate the divine privileges.'
Chapter 70
'Blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, incline, I beseech you, your merciful ears to us, and hear me your servant, whom you have nourished from infancy, and to this day have delivered from the hand of the wicked, who hate and persecute me for my faithfulness to you. You are my witness, and my lady the Mother of God, and blessed Paul your brother, among all the saints, that your holy Roman church drew me unwilling to its helm, and I did not consider it a prize to ascend to your see, but rather wished to end my life in pilgrimage than to seize your place for worldly glory, for secular ambition. And therefore by your grace, not by my own works, I believe that it has pleased you and pleases you that the Christian people specially entrusted to you should obey me specially for the office entrusted to me in your stead, and that to me by your grace power has been given by God to bind and loose in heaven and on earth. Relying therefore on this trust, for the honor and defense of your church, on behalf of almighty God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, through your power and authority, I deny to King Henry, son of the Emperor Henry, who has risen up against your church with unheard-of pride, the governance of the entire kingdom of the Germans and of Italy, and I release all Christians from the bond of the oath which they have made or shall make to him, and I forbid anyone to serve him as king. For it is fitting that he who strives to diminish the honor of your church should himself lose the honor which he appears to hold. And because as a Christian he has scorned to obey, and has not returned to God whom he abandoned, by keeping company with the excommunicated and committing many iniquities, and by spurning my warnings which I sent him for his salvation -- you being witness -- and by separating himself from your church, attempting to rend it, I bind him with the chain of anathema in your stead, and thus I bind him in reliance on you, so that the nations may know and acknowledge that you are Peter, and upon your rock the Son of the living God has built His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.'
Chapter 71
71. Then, after no long time had passed, the lord pope, lest he be thought to have excommunicated the king more from the grief of his own injury than from zeal for justice, sent these letters to the German regions, in which he testifies that he had excommunicated him justly.
Chapter 72
'Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all bishops, dukes, and counts, and to the other faithful in the kingdom of the Germans who defend the Christian faith, greeting and apostolic blessing. We have heard that some among you doubt concerning the excommunication which we have made against the king, and inquire whether he was justly excommunicated, and whether our sentence proceeded from the authority of lawful censure with the deliberation it required. Wherefore, how we were brought to excommunicate him, as truly as we could, with our conscience as witness, we have taken care to lay open before the eyes and understanding of all -- not so much that we may cast individual charges, which alas are all too well known, into the public view as if by our own outcry, but rather that we may satisfy the opinion of those who think that we seized the spiritual sword rashly and more from the impulse of our own mind than from divine fear and zeal for justice.
While we were still placed in the office of deacon, when an unfavorable and very dishonoring report was brought to us concerning the king's actions, out of regard for the imperial dignity and the reverence due to his father and mother, and also out of hope and desire for his amendment, we often admonished him through letters and messengers to desist from his depravity, and mindful of his most illustrious birth and dignity, to order his life by such conduct as would befit a king and, God granting, a future emperor. But after we came, though unworthy, to the summit of the pontificate, when his age and his iniquity grew equally, understanding that almighty God would require the soul of that man from our hand all the more strictly in proportion as greater freedom and authority had been given to us above others to rebuke him, we exhorted him with much greater care by all means -- by arguing, beseeching, and rebuking -- to amend his life.
While he often sent us devoted greetings and letters excusing himself, partly because of his youth, which was fickle and frail, and partly because he had been ill-advised and ill-counseled many times by those in whose hands the court was, he promised in words that he would most readily receive our warnings from day to day, but in fact by the aggravation of his crimes he utterly trampled upon them. Meanwhile we summoned certain of his intimates, by whose counsels and machinations he had, induced by bribes, defiled bishoprics and many monasteries with wolves instead of shepherds through the heresy of simony, to repentance: so that they might return to the venerable places to which they belonged the goods of the churches which they had received with sacrilegious hand through the intervention of so wicked a commerce, while there was still room for amendment, and they themselves might make satisfaction to God through laments of penitence for the iniquity they had perpetrated. When we learned that they spurned the time granted them to carry this out and persisted obstinately in their accustomed wickedness, as was fitting, we separated these sacrilegious men, servants and limbs of the devil, from the communion and body of the whole church, and we admonished the king to expel them from his household, from his councils, and from all fellowship with him as excommunicated persons.
Meanwhile, as the Saxon cause grew more severe against the king, and he saw that the strength and resources of the kingdom wished for the most part to desert him, he again sent us a letter that was suppliant and full of all humility, in which, rendering himself very guilty before almighty God and blessed Peter and us, he also offered prayers that whatever had been done through his fault in ecclesiastical matters contrary to canonical institution and the decrees of the holy Fathers, we should strive to correct by our apostolic providence and authority; and in it he promised us his obedience in all things, his agreement, and his faithful assistance. This same thing he also afterwards confirmed by renewed promise, when he had been received to penance by our fellow bishops and legates, Humbert bishop of Praeneste and Gerald bishop of Ostia, whom we had sent to him, placing his hands on the sacred stoles which they held at their necks. Then after some time, when battle had been joined with the Saxons, the king offered such thanks and sacrifices to God for the victory he had gained, that the vows which he had made concerning his amendment he immediately broke, and heeding none of the things he had promised, he received the excommunicated back into his intimacy and communion, and dragged the churches into the same confusion to which he had been accustomed. Struck with heavy grief at this, although after the benefits of the heavenly King had been despised almost all hope of his correction had been taken from us, we nevertheless resolved that his spirit must still be tried, desiring rather that he should hear apostolic gentleness than experience severity. And so we sent him warning letters, that he should remember what and to whom he had promised, that he should not believe he could deceive God, whose wrath, the longer His patience endures, is the more severe when He begins to judge; and that he should not dishonor God who honors him, nor attempt to extend his power to contempt of God and insult of the apostolic see, knowing that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Moreover, we sent to him three religious men, his own faithful followers, through whom we admonished him in private to do penance for his crimes, which are indeed horrible to speak of, yet known to many and published abroad in many parts; for which crimes the authority of divine and human law attests that he should not merely be excommunicated until he makes fitting satisfaction, but should be stripped of all the honor of the kingdom without hope of recovery. Finally, that unless he should separate the excommunicated from his company, we could judge or determine nothing else concerning him except that he should be separated from the church in the fellowship of the excommunicated, with whom he chose to have his part rather than with Christ. Indeed, if he were willing to accept our warnings and correct his life, we called and call upon God as witness how greatly we would rejoice at his salvation and honor, and with what great love we would embrace him in the bosom of the holy church, seeing that he, established as prince of the people and holding the governance of a most ample kingdom, ought to be a defender of the Catholic peace and justice.
But how much account he made of our written words or those sent through envoys, his deeds declare. Bearing it indignantly that he should be reprimanded or corrected by anyone, not only could he not be recalled from his misdeeds to amendment, but seized by an even greater fury of his conscience, he did not cease until he had caused almost all the bishops in Italy, and in the German lands as many as he could, to make shipwreck of the faith of Christ, by compelling them to deny the obedience and honor owed to blessed Peter and to the apostolic see, which was granted by our Lord Jesus Christ.
When therefore we saw that his iniquity had reached its peak, for these causes -- namely first, that he was unwilling to abstain from communion with those who had been excommunicated for the sacrilege and guilt of the heresy of simony; then that he was unwilling, I do not say to accept, but not even to promise penance for the criminal acts of his life, having lied about the faith which he had promised into the hands of our legates; and moreover that he did not shrink from rending the body of Christ, that is, the unity of the holy church -- for these faults, I say, we excommunicated him by synodal judgment, so that those whom we could not bring back to the way of salvation by gentleness, we might at least be able, with God's help, to recall by severity; or if, God forbid, he should not even fear the censure of strictness, at least our own soul should not succumb to the peril of negligence or timidity.
If therefore anyone thinks this sentence was pronounced unjustly or unreasonably, if he is such a person as is unwilling to apply the sense of understanding to sacred rules, let him deal with us about it, and let him patiently hear and accept not what we teach but what divine authority teaches, what it decrees, what the harmonious voice of the holy fathers judges. We do not, however, think that any of the faithful who knows the statutes of the church is held by this error, so as not to affirm this was rightly done, even if he does not dare to declare it publicly, at least in his heart; although even if we -- which God forbid -- had bound him with such a chain without sufficiently grave cause or in a less than proper manner, as the holy fathers assert, the sentence should not for that reason be spurned, but absolution should be sought with all humility.
But you, most beloved, who have not wished to abandon the justice of God for the king's anger or for any danger, despising the foolishness of those who on account of accursedness and falsehood bring about their own ruin, stand firm and take courage in the Lord, knowing that you defend the cause of Him who, as unconquerable King and magnificent Triumphator, shall judge the living and the dead, rendering to each according to his work. Of His manifold reward you too shall be assured, if you remain faithful and unshaken in His truth to the end. For which reason we also pray the Lord unceasingly for you, that He may give you strength to be strengthened through the Holy Spirit in His name, and may turn the king's heart to repentance; so that he too may one day acknowledge that we and you love him far more truly than those who now comply with and encourage his iniquities. And if by God's inspiration he shall wish to come to his senses, whatever he may plot against us, he will always find us ready to receive him into holy communion, as your charity shall advise us.'
Chapter 73
73. Afterwards indeed, to further confirm the excommunication he had made, he sent these letters into the German regions:
'Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the brother in Christ, Bishop N., greeting and apostolic blessing. That you understand yourself to be prepared for bearing labors and dangers in defense of the truth, we do not doubt to be a gift of God, whose ineffable grace and wondrous clemency is such that He never permits His elect to go wholly astray, never allows them to be utterly overthrown or cast down, since in the time of persecution He shakes them by a certain useful trial and, even after some alarm, makes them stronger than they were before. For just as among cowards fear paralyzes one man so that he flees more shamefully than another, so also among the brave it inflames the manly heart of one to act more boldly than another, to charge more ardently. This we have taken care to commend to your charity with a word of exhortation: that it may delight you all the more to stand in the battle line of the Christian religion among the foremost, since you do not doubt that they are nearest and most worthy to God the victor.
As to what you have asked -- that you be aided and fortified, as it were, by our writings against the madness of those who babble with impious mouths that the authority of the holy apostolic see could not excommunicate King Henry, a man who despises the Christian law, who is manifestly a destroyer of churches and of the empire, and an author and abettor of heretics, nor absolve anyone from the oath of fealty to him -- this does not seem so very necessary to us, since so many and most certain proofs of this matter are found in the pages of Sacred Scripture. For we do not believe that those who impudently detract from and contradict the truth, adding to the sum of their own damnation, have fitted this to the boldness of their defense so much from ignorance as from the madness of wretched desperation. Nor is this surprising; for it is the custom of the reprobate to defend those like themselves for the protection of their own wickedness, because they count it as nothing to incur the perdition of falsehood.
For to say a few things out of many, who does not know the voice of the Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, speaking in the Gospel: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven"? Are kings perhaps excepted here, or are they not among the sheep that the Son of God committed to blessed Peter? Who, I ask, in this universal grant of binding and loosing, considers himself excluded from the power of Peter -- unless perhaps that wretched man who, refusing to bear the yoke of the Lord, subjects himself to the burden of the devil and refuses to be numbered among the sheep of Christ? Yet this profits him not at all for his wretched liberty, because he shakes off from his proud neck the power of Peter divinely granted to him; for the more anyone through pride refuses to bear it, the more heavily it weighs upon him to his damnation at the judgment.
This institution of the divine will, therefore -- this foundation of the governance of the Church, this privilege principally handed down and confirmed by heavenly decree to blessed Peter, prince of the apostles -- the holy fathers, receiving and preserving it with great veneration, called the holy Roman Church the universal mother, both in general councils and also in all their other writings and acts. And just as they received its teachings for the confirmation of the faith and the instruction of sacred religion, so also they received its judgments; agreeing in this and concurring as with one spirit and one voice, that all greater matters and chief affairs, and also the judgments of all churches, ought to be referred to it as to a mother and head; that there is no appeal from it, and that its judgments neither ought to be nor can be reviewed or overturned by anyone.
Whence blessed Pope Gelasius, writing to the Emperor Anastasius, supported by divine authority, instructed him in this manner as to what and how he ought to think about the primacy of the holy and apostolic see: "Even if it is fitting that the necks of the faithful be bowed to all priests generally who rightly handle divine things, how much more ought assent to be given to the prelate of that see which the supreme Godhead willed should be preeminent over all priests, and which the continuing devotion of the universal Church has always honored?" Wherein your prudence clearly perceives that never by any merely human counsel can anyone equal himself to the privilege or prerogative of him whom the voice of Christ set above all, whom the venerable Church has always acknowledged and devoutly holds as primate.
Likewise Pope Julius, writing to the eastern bishops, said concerning the power of the same holy and apostolic see: "It would have befitted you, brothers, to speak with refinement, not with irony, regarding the holy Roman and apostolic Church, since our Lord Jesus Christ Himself graciously addressed it saying: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." For it has the power, granted to it by a singular privilege, to open and close the gate of the heavenly kingdom to whomsoever it wills. Shall it then not be permitted to judge concerning earthly things, to whom the power of opening and closing heaven has been given? Far from it! Do you not remember what the blessed apostle Paul says: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels, how much more the things of this world?"
Blessed Pope Gregory also decreed that kings should fall from their dignity who presumed to violate the decrees of the apostolic see, writing to a certain senator in these words: "If any of the kings, priests, judges, or secular persons, knowing this page of our constitution, shall attempt to act against it, let him be deprived of the dignity of his power and honor, and let him know that he stands guilty before the divine judgment for the iniquity he has perpetrated; and unless those things which have been wrongly taken away by him are restored, or he has bewailed with worthy penance the things unlawfully done, let him be cut off from the most sacred body and blood of the Lord our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and let him be subject to severe punishment at the eternal judgment.' Now if blessed Gregory, a most mild teacher indeed, decreed that kings who violated his statutes concerning a single hospital should not only be deposed but also excommunicated and condemned at the eternal judgment — who shall reprove us for having deposed and excommunicated Henry, who is not only a despiser of apostolic judgments but also, as far as in him lies, a trampler upon Mother Church herself, a most shameless plunderer and most atrocious destroyer of the whole kingdom and of the churches — unless perhaps someone like him?
As we have learned from blessed Peter's teaching in the letter concerning the ordination of Clement, in which he says thus: 'If anyone shall be a friend to those to whom he' — speaking of the same Clement — 'does not speak, he is himself one of those who wish to destroy the Church of God; and though he seems to be with us in body, he is against us in mind and spirit, and this enemy is far more wicked than those who are outside and openly hostile.' For this one, under the guise of friendship, carries on what is hostile and scatters and lays waste the Church.
Note therefore, dearest brother, if he judges so severely the man who associates by friendship or conversation with those against whom the pope has turned on account of their deeds — with what severity does he condemn that very man against whom he has turned on account of his deeds! But to return to the matter: shall not a dignity invented by worldly men ignorant of God be subject to that dignity which the providence of almighty God devised for His own honor and mercifully bestowed upon the world? His Son, just as He is believed without doubt to be God and man, so also is He held to be the supreme priest, the head of all priests, sitting at the right hand of the Father and ever interceding for us — He who despised worldly kingship, of which the sons of this world are so puffed up, and came of His own will to the priesthood of the cross.
Who does not know that kings and dukes had their origin from those who, ignorant of God, strove with blind desire and intolerable presumption to dominate their equals — that is, other men — through pride, plunder, treachery, murder, and in short nearly every kind of crime, driven on by the prince of this world, namely the devil? And when they struggle to bend the priests of the Lord to their feet, to whom are they more rightly compared than to him who is head over all the sons of pride — who, tempting the supreme pontiff Himself, the head of priests, the Son of the Most High, and promising Him all the kingdoms of the world, said: 'All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me!'
Who can doubt that the priests of Christ are to be regarded as the fathers and teachers of kings and princes and of all the faithful? Is it not recognized as the height of wretched madness if a son should attempt to subjugate his father, a disciple his teacher, and by unjust impositions subject to his own power the one by whom he believes he can be bound and loosed not only on earth but also in heaven?
As blessed Gregory recalls in the letter directed to the Emperor Maurice, Constantine the Great, emperor and lord of nearly all the kings and princes of the whole world, clearly understanding this, at the holy Council of Nicaea sat last after all the bishops and did not presume to render any sentence of judgment upon them; but even calling them gods, he judged that they ought not to be subject to his judgment, but rather that he depended on their decision.
Pope Gelasius, also persuading the aforementioned Emperor Anastasius not to regard the truth conveyed to his senses as an insult, added these words: 'There are indeed two powers, august emperor, by which this world is principally governed: the sacred authority of the pontiffs and the royal power; and of these the weight of the priests is so much the greater, inasmuch as they will render an account even for the kings of men at the divine judgment.' And after a few words inserted he says: 'Know therefore that among these matters you depend on their judgment, and they are not to be reduced to your will.'
Supported therefore by such decrees and such authorities, many pontiffs excommunicated some kings, others emperors. For if some specific example concerning the persons of princes is required: blessed Pope Innocent excommunicated the Emperor Arcadius because he consented that Saint John Chrysostom should be driven from his see. Another Roman pontiff likewise deposed the King of the Franks from his kingdom — not so much for his own iniquities as because he was not useful for so great a power — and substituted Pippin, the father of the Emperor Charlemagne, in his place, absolving all the Franks from the oath of fealty which they had sworn to the former king. The holy Church also frequently does this by well-established authority when it absolves soldiers from the bond of an oath — as has been done to those bishops who are deposed from the pontifical rank by apostolic authority.
And blessed Ambrose — though a saint, yet not a bishop of the universal Church — for a fault that did not seem so very grave to other priests, excommunicated and excluded from the church the great Emperor Theodosius. He also showed in his writings that gold is not so much more precious than lead as the dignity of the priesthood is loftier than royal power, writing thus near the beginning of his pastoral work: 'The honor and sublimity of the episcopate, brothers, can be equaled by no comparisons. If you compare it to the splendor of kings and the diadem of princes, these will be far inferior — as if you were to compare the metal of lead to the brilliance of gold; for you may see the necks of kings and princes bowed at the knees of priests, and having kissed their right hand, they believe themselves fortified by their prayers.'
And after a little: 'All these things, brothers, you should know we have set forth for this reason: to show that nothing in this world is more excellent than priests, nothing more sublime than bishops is to be found.' Your fraternity should also remember that a greater power is granted to the exorcist — when he is appointed as a spiritual commander to drive out demons — than can be given to any layman for the sake of worldly dominion. For over all kings and princes of the earth who do not live religiously and who do not fear God as they ought in their actions, demons — alas! — hold dominion and confound them with wretched servitude. For such men, not led by divine love, do not desire to preside for the honor of God and the benefit of souls, as devout priests do, but strive to dominate others in order to display their intolerable pride and to satisfy the lust of their minds.
Concerning whom blessed Augustine says in the first book of On Christian Doctrine: 'When anyone strives to dominate even those who are by nature his equals — that is, other human beings — his pride is altogether intolerable.' Furthermore, as we have said, exorcists have authority from God over demons; how much more, then, over those who are subject to demons and are members of the demons? If therefore exorcists so greatly surpass these, how much more do priests?
Moreover, every Christian king when he comes to the end of his life — that he may escape the prison of hell, that he may pass from darkness into light, that he may appear absolved from the bonds of his sins at God's judgment — humbly and pitifully seeks the aid of a priest. And who, whether among priests or even among laypeople, when placed at the point of death, has ever implored the help of an earthly king for the salvation of his soul? What king or emperor, by the office imposed upon him, is able to snatch any Christian from the power of the devil by holy baptism, to number him among the sons of God, and to fortify him with the holy chrism? And what is greatest in the Christian religion — which of them is able by his own mouth to confect the body and blood of the Lord? Or to which of them has been given the power of binding and loosing in heaven and on earth?
From all of which it is plainly gathered how greatly the dignity of priests surpasses in power. Or which of them can ordain any cleric in the holy Church? Still less depose one for any fault? For in ecclesiastical orders, the power to depose is greater than the power to ordain. Bishops indeed can ordain other bishops, but can in no way depose them without the authority of the apostolic see. Who, then, even one with the slightest learning, would doubt that priests are to be preferred to kings? And if kings are to be judged by priests for their sins, by whom more rightly than by the Roman pontiff should they be judged?
In sum, it is fitting that any good Christians should be understood as kings far more properly than wicked princes. For the former, by seeking the glory of God, vigorously govern themselves; but the latter, seeking not the things of God but their own, being enemies to themselves, tyrannically oppress others. The former are the body of the true King, Christ; the latter, truly the body of the devil. The former rule themselves to this end: that they may reign eternally with the supreme Emperor; but the power of the latter works to this end: that they may perish in eternal damnation with the prince of darkness, who is king over all the sons of pride.
Nor indeed is it greatly to be wondered at that wicked pontiffs consent to an unjust king, whom they love and fear on account of the honors they have wickedly obtained through him — they who, by simoniacally ordaining anyone at all, sell God even for a vile price. For just as the elect are inseparably united to their Head, so also the reprobate are stubbornly leagued against the good with him who is the head of wickedness. Against whom, indeed, we ought not so much to argue as to groan for them with tearful laments, that almighty God may snatch them from the snares of Satan by which they are held captive and lead them at last, even after many perils, to the knowledge of the truth.
This we say concerning kings and emperors, because, swollen with a singular glory, they reign not for God but for themselves. But since it is the duty of our office to distribute exhortation to each according to the rank or dignity in which he appears to flourish, we take care, with God as author, to provide the weapons of humility to emperors and kings and other princes, that they may be able to suppress the surges of the sea and the waves of pride. For we know that worldly glory and secular care are wont to drag especially those who rule toward self-exaltation; by which, always neglecting humility and seeking their own glory, they desire to be preeminent over their brethren.
Then it seems most useful for emperors and kings that, when their mind would raise itself up on high and delight itself in its singular glory, it should find ways to humble itself, and where it was rejoicing, let it feel that there is more to fear. Let them therefore consider diligently how perilous, how fearful is the imperial or royal dignity, in which the fewest are saved; and those who by God's mercy come to salvation are not equally glorified in the holy Church by the judgment of the Holy Spirit, as are many of the poor.
For from the beginning of the world up to our own times, in all authentic Scripture we do not find seven emperors or kings whose lives were so distinguished by remarkable holiness and the power of miracles as was the universal multitude of those who despised the world — though we believe that many of them found the salvation of God's mercy with the Almighty. For, to say nothing of the apostles and martyrs, what emperor or king shone equally in miracles as blessed Martin, Anthony, and Benedict? What emperor or king raised the dead, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind? Behold, the Emperor Constantine of pious memory, Theodosius, and Honorius, Charles, and Louis — lovers of justice, propagators of the Christian religion, defenders of the churches — the holy Church indeed praises and venerates, but does not judge that they shone with so great a glory of miracles. Furthermore, to how many names of kings or emperors has the holy Church ordained that basilicas or altars be dedicated, or masses be celebrated in their honor? Let kings and other princes fear, lest in proportion as they rejoice to be set above other men in this life, they be all the more subjected to eternal fires. Whence it is written: 'The mighty shall be mightily tormented.' For they will render an account to God for as many men as they had subject to their dominion.
But if it is no small labor for any private religious person to guard his own single soul, how great a labor hangs over princes concerning many thousands of souls? Moreover, if the judgment of the holy Church greatly constrains the sinner for the killing of a single man, what shall become of those who deliver many thousands to death for the honor of this world — who, though they sometimes say with their lips 'My fault,' yet rejoice in their hearts over the slaughter of many, as if it were an extension of their honor, and do not wish that they had not done what they did, nor grieve that they have driven their brethren to hell? And since they do not repent with their whole heart, nor are willing to relinquish what was acquired or held by human blood, their repentance remains before God without a worthy fruit of penance. Whence indeed there is much to be feared, and it must frequently be recalled to their memory that, as we have said, from the beginning of the world, through the various kingdoms of the earth, very few holy kings are found out of their innumerable multitude — whereas in one single pontifical see alone, namely the Roman, in succession from the time of the blessed apostle Peter, nearly one hundred are counted among the most holy.
Why is this so, unless because kings and princes of the earth, delighting in vain glory, as has been mentioned, prefer their own interests to spiritual things; while devout pontiffs, despising vain glory, set the things of God above carnal matters? The former easily punish those who offend against themselves, yet bear with equanimity those who sin against God; the latter quickly forgive those who sin against themselves, but do not lightly spare those who offend God. The former, excessively devoted to earthly pursuits, count spiritual things as of little worth; the latter, diligently meditating on heavenly things, despise what is earthly.
All Christians, therefore, who desire to reign with Christ must be admonished not to seek to reign through ambition for secular power, but rather to keep before their eyes what the most holy Pope Gregory admonishes in his Pastoral Book, saying: 'Among these things, therefore, what is to be followed and what feared, unless that the one who is strong in virtues should come to rule under compulsion, and the one who is empty of virtues should not approach even when compelled?' For if those who fear God come under compulsion with great dread to the apostolic see — in which those duly ordained are made better by the merits of blessed Peter the apostle — with how much more dread must the royal throne be approached, in which even the good and humble, as is known from Saul and David, become worse?
For what we have mentioned concerning the apostolic see is contained in the decrees of blessed Pope Symmachus, as we also know from experience: 'He, namely blessed Peter, sent to his successors the enduring dowry of merits together with the inheritance of innocence.' And after a few words: 'For who would doubt that he is holy, whom the summit of so great a dignity raises up — in which, if the good things acquired by merit are lacking, those bestowed by the predecessor of the place suffice? For either it raises the illustrious to these heights, or it illuminates those who are raised up.'
Wherefore, let those whom the holy Church of its own accord summons by deliberate counsel to imperial or royal governance obey humbly, not for transitory glory but for the salvation of many, and let them always beware of what blessed Gregory testifies in the same Pastoral Book: 'He becomes like the apostate angel when a man disdains to be like other men. So Saul, after the merit of humility, swelled to the tumor of pride at the height of power. For by humility he was set above others, by pride he was rejected — the Lord testifying, who says: When you were small in your own eyes, did I not make you head of the tribes of Israel?' And a little further on: 'Yet in a wondrous way, when he was small in his own estimation, he was great before the Lord; but when he appeared great in his own eyes, he was small before the Lord.'
Let them also vigilantly keep in mind what the Lord says in the Gospel: 'I do not seek my own glory'; and 'He who would be first among you, let him be the servant of all.' Let them always set the honor of God before their own; let them embrace and guard justice, preserving to each his own right; let them not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, but always adhere with their hearts to the devout. Let them not seek to subject and subjugate the holy Church to themselves as a handmaid; but rather, recognizing that its priests are the eyes of the Lord, their masters and fathers, let them strive to honor them fittingly.
For if we are commanded to honor our carnal mothers and fathers, how much more our spiritual ones? If he who curses his carnal father or mother is to be punished with death, what does he deserve who curses his spiritual father or mother? Let them not, enticed by carnal love, strive to set their own son over the flock for which Christ shed His blood, if they can find one better and more useful than he; lest by loving a son more than God they inflict the greatest harm upon the holy Church. For he is clearly convicted of not loving God and neighbor as a Christian ought, who neglects to provide, as best he can, for so great and so necessary a benefit of holy Mother Church. For when this virtue, that is charity, is neglected, whatever good anyone may have done, he shall lack all fruit of salvation. Therefore, by doing these things humbly and keeping the love of God and neighbor as is fitting, let them trust in the mercy of Him who said: 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' If they humbly imitate Him, they shall pass from a servile and transitory kingdom to the kingdom of true liberty and eternity. Amen.
We admonish you, our brothers and fellow bishops, not to fear to speak the truth to the faces of princes, lest, trembling before them, you incur that saying of Gregory: 'When anyone on earth cowers before a man against the truth, he sustains the wrath of that same truth from heaven.'
Chapter 74
74. The king's envoy returned, and when he informed the king — who was then at Utrecht — that he had been excommunicated, the king, on the advice of William, bishop of that city, counted the excommunication as nothing. The same bishop, also fearing that if the people heard this news they would leave the king as one excommunicated, made a speech to the people during mass and derisively announced that the king had been excommunicated; but he asserted with whatever words he could muster, being an eloquent man, that this excommunication was of no force.
But he was compelled to recognize in his own person how much force it had — if only he had been permitted to come to his senses from his pride by repentance. For in that very place where he was disparaging the Roman pontiff and laboring with many words to annihilate his authority, he himself was seized by a grave illness, in which he was held fast until the pitiful end of his miserable life. And so, as the disease grew worse and worse, while a certain man of the king's was with him and asked him to send him back to the king with a message, he said: 'This is the message I send him: that he and I, and all who support his wickedness, are damned forever.'
And when he was admonished by his clerics who were present not to say such things, he replied: 'What else should I say but what I can visibly perceive to be true? For behold, demons stand around my bed, waiting to seize me the moment I expire. Therefore, when I have been led out of my body, I beg you and all the faithful not to weary yourselves making supplications for me.' Thus dying in this desperation, reconciled to God by no prayers, he lay for a long time unburied, until word was sent to Rome, and when counsel was sought from there, lest the people be infected by the stench, he was buried by apostolic command without commendatory rites.
Not long after his death he appeared to the Abbot of Cluny, before the latter had learned that he was dead, and said: 'I am not alive, but truly deceased, and buried in hell.' Thus that wise man, and in all things an honorable man had he not been infected with the poisons of avarice, came to a foolish and miserable end — because he refused to guard against this while he could. And why do I say only he died miserably? since it is manifest that almost all of Henry's intimates and supporters likewise suffered equally wretched deaths, and the more wretched were those who had been the more faithful to him, because that fidelity was truly treachery.
Chapter 75
75. For, to digress and repeat some things or run ahead: the patriarch — who as legate of the apostolic see had been the chief author of Henry's deposition and the establishment of a new king — after he became a turncoat and attached himself to the former king as though he were still king, was overtaken by sudden death; and because he had associated with the excommunicated, he was withdrawn from this life without communion and without confession. But since it was not fitting that a man of such great dignity should go to hell alone, he had, as we have heard, fifty of his own people as companions, struck down by the same sudden death — lest those whom he had as partners in wickedness he should lack as sharers in retribution.
Chapter 76
76. Udo, Archbishop of Trier, a man full of all piety, while too mild in not resisting tyranny, yielded to Henry more than was fitting. He poured the oil of his consent upon Henry's fiery fury and granted permission for churches to be plundered. And soon the next morning he was found dead, so that it was clear to all that he had died such a death because he had not feared to give his assent to the plundering of churches.
Chapter 77
77. Eppo, Bishop of Zeitz, while crossing a certain stream seated on a strong horse in the bishopric of Saint Kilian — a stream which anyone could cross on foot without danger, where there was no reason for any fear — died when his horse fell, and so perished. Saint Kilian so arranging it, that he who as the violent intruder of that city unjustly drank his wine should also justly drink his water and seek wine no more; and because he remained irreconcilable to us, he departed this life unreconciled to God.
Chapter 78
78. Duke Godfrey, who was the greatest enemy of Saxony, perished, pierced by a savage blade in a private part of his body, neither cleansed by a final confession nor fortified by holy communion.
Chapter 79
79. Godebald, while lifting the hind foot of his newly shod horse to check whether the shoe had been properly fitted, was struck in the forehead by that very hoof, and was thus snatched from this life.
Chapter 80
80. Burchard, the prefect of Meissen, when he was attacked in one of the cities over which he presided by its citizens, tried to flee, spurring in vain the horse on which he sat. The horse, often praised before for its speed, now, when the greatest speed was most needed, stood stock still, as if to say: 'It is not permitted to me to snatch from you now the man who, when it was in his power, refused to correct himself.' He therefore died with great peril to his soul, because he had often given his consent to the dangerous counsel of the most savage king.
Chapter 81
81. Liupold, the brother of Berthold the king's counselor — and himself also a counselor of the king — while riding one day alongside the king and conversing with him about various matters, the hawk he was carrying on his left hand began to flutter as if seeking its prey. As he leaned forward slightly after the bird, he fell heavily from his horse and received into the middle of his chest the sword with which he was girded, which had slipped from its sheath with the hilt fixed in the ground. And he who had often been a partner or author of wicked counsel departed this life without the counsel of eternal salvation.
Having treated these matters in part, and passing over many similar ones, I wish to return to the journey I had begun, which I departed from not by straying but by deliberately digressing.
Chapter 82
82. Therefore, when the embassy of the pontiff and the excommunication or deposition of King Henry became known, all those who held our people captive — because they could find no mercy from the king while he was king, and now owed him no fealty or submission since he was no longer king — released them all freely to return home, without Henry's knowledge.
Chapter 83
83. But let me relate, for the praise of God and the consolation of all the wretched, how wonderfully Bishop Burchard of Halberstadt was freed from a miserable doom by divine mercy. While Henry was near the Danube and had with him his sister's husband Solomon, who had likewise been driven from the kingdom of Hungary — for in those times the deposition of kings was in full force — he entrusted Bishop Burchard to his son-in-law, who was about to return to his homeland where he barely held on, possessing a few cities at its extremity. He earnestly begged him to ensure that Burchard would never again be seen within the borders of Germany; and Solomon promised this.
When the bishop sensed what was happening, he addressed the few friends he had there in few words, as the urgency of the moment demanded, and begged them all in God's name to think of a way to rescue him. Then a certain Othelric told him that there stood a certain deserted house not far from the riverbank, and advised him to try by any means to get inside it. The bishop, placed in a boat with only one chaplain, was ordered to go ahead of the former king, until Solomon, having dined with his father-in-law, should swiftly pursue him racing with the current.
Gently floating downstream, therefore, the bishop did not give way to sleep, nor occupy himself with idle conversation, but lifted his heart to God with all devotion and kept his eyes fixed intently on the bank, until he should catch sight of the house that had been pointed out to him. When he spotted it, he asked the boatmen to be willing to set him ashore, so that he might relieve his bowels and answer the call of nature. They, suspecting nothing, showed mercy to the wretch and allowed him to go ashore with his chaplain as companion. Why should I linger, when I see no lingering in him? He moved further from the bank, and while the boatmen shouted at him not to go further away, he approached the house, and knocking gently and calling upon God in supplication, he said: 'Open.'
Never had he said, nor will he ever say, 'Open' with greater devotion of heart — unless perhaps when he hopes that the gate of the heavenly kingdom will someday be opened for him. Othelric, with horses and companions made ready, received the bishop, and resting by day but hastening by night, with the mercy of God attending them, he brought him to Halberstadt. With what great rejoicing of the whole people he was received, my dull pen is unable to express. Even those who had formerly hated him ran to meet him, joyful and exulting.
Chapter 84
84. Our princes, therefore, returning from their various places of exile almost all at the same time to their homeland, gave great cause for joy to those who were at home, and opened the mouths of many in praise of God. For they found almost the entire populace assembled, with tributes being demanded on their estates to be paid, having already given up hope of retaining their freedom and ready to do whatever they were commanded.
Hermann, the paternal uncle of Duke Magnus, and Dietrich of Katlenburg — for these had arrived somewhat before the rest — cried out to the astonishment of all: 'Do not, most excellent Saxons, do not accept the yokes of servitude! Do not make your inheritance subject to tribute! Do not despair of the mercy of God! Behold, we who gave ourselves into captivity for your sake have returned by the clemency of God, against the will of him who held us, ready to fight for you and yours as long as we live. Raise up therefore your necks, free now that the yoke of servitude has been shaken off, never again to be pressed down by servitude, with God's help. Hold back your hands from paying tributes! Keep your possessions free, just as you received them free from your parents!
But you supporters of wickedness, who sought the favor of a cruel tyrant through the oppression of the wretched people — cease from oppressing, stop your exactions, and from this hour either remain faithfully and under oath to fight with us for liberty, or depart at this hour like faithless and perjured enemies from us and from our fatherland, never to return!'
By such words the enemies were confounded and ceased from their ferocity, and the citizens, strengthened and their former courage restored, easily united in unanimity. Finally, joined together, they expelled Henry's garrisons from all the castles and freely restored them to those to whom they had belonged. Other possessions, which the tyrant had unjustly seized from those to whom they belonged and even more unjustly bestowed upon those who had no right to them, they took back and caused to return to their rightful owners.
When all these things had been duly accomplished within our borders, they fixed a day and place where they might assemble to renew the alliance for the defense of the fatherland, and to compel those in whom any suspicion of disloyalty might remain either to leave their territories or to join them faithfully.
Chapter 85
85. When Henry heard all these things, he was greatly troubled in his mind, and coming to Mainz, he summoned to himself certain of the remaining captives, he commanded to be led away, and negotiated with them about the price by which they might ransom themselves to be released. Meanwhile, a sedition having arisen between the soldiers of Mainz and Bamberg, the city was set on fire by the Bambergers, so that the whole or the greatest part of it seemed likely to burn. While Henry himself and all the people hastened to extinguish it, our captives, left without a guard, found a boat, crossed the Rhine, and hurrying day and night, reached their homeland. Among them was also Gertrude, widow of the most noble Duke Otto, brother of Hermann, whom Ludwig had captured nearly two years before and had brought to his lord Henry so that he might extort money from her, which he also did.
Chapter 86
86. Henry, therefore, the former king, seeing all things opposing his will, when he understood that he was making little progress by wolfish ferocity, considered putting on a sheepskin — not a crow's — so that by a show of piety and justice he might deceive those whom he could not overcome by violent cruelty. For he wished to send envoys to Saxony who would say that he desired to do them more good than they themselves could wish, that he utterly rejected injustice along with all vices as far as he could, and that he would surrender himself to obey them in all things; but he found no one who would presume to carry this embassy, because none even of his own people believed that what he uttered with his mouth he held in his heart, nor did anyone doubt that if someone brought this message of falsehood to the Saxons, already greatly exasperated, he would truly pay the penalty for false promises. There had remained, however, two of our men with him: Werner of Magdeburg and the bishop of the same name from Merseburg; who, although they could have returned home like the others against the king's will, were unwilling to do so, because they feared to offend God, from whom all power comes, even in one so impious. These, therefore, he sent to Saxony with the aforesaid embassy, but said nothing to them about their return. They indeed urged upon the Saxons with all their will what they had been commanded, but the Saxons, knowing his many lies, did not doubt that these promises too were infected with the poison of falsehood. And when the bishops wished to report back their responses, they were commanded to choose one of two options: either to remain here now, or never to return here hereafter.
Chapter 87
87. Our princes, therefore, assembled together, confirmed themselves as one by oaths and hostages mutually given, and in order to hold together most firmly, they resolved to elect a king to whom all would be subject. But when they heard that the Swabians deeply repented having so cruelly broken the ancient alliance, they were pleased to send envoys to them about renewing the pact, so that coming together again as one, they might overcome the bitterness of their enmities with the great sweetness of affection, and mutually forgiving one another, might stand united against the enemy common to all, with one king chosen from among them. They also sent letters to the lord pope, in which they humbly begged that either in person or through a messenger he would come as a consoler to their nearly ruined people.
Chapter 88
88. The Saxons, therefore, having gathered no small army (October), marched to the Rhine opposite the town called Oppenheim, where the patriarch had also assembled with the Bishop of Passau, the legate of the Roman pontiff, together with a considerable multitude of Swabians, all of whom were waiting for the Saxon army to arrive. As they drew near (October 16), the patriarch and the other leading men — because from the recent battle the swords of both sides still dripped with blood, and although through mutual embassies they had forgiven one another, yet lest (as easily happens among armed men) a sedition started by base persons should destroy the treaty that had been made — went to meet the Saxons and urged them to confirm in person the friendship they had renewed while absent. Then Duke Otto, violently deprived of his honor, on one side, and Duke Welf, unjustly elevated to the same honor, on the other, gave each other the kiss of peace on this condition: that when the new king had been elected — the purpose for which they had assembled from both sides — whichever of them rightfully retained that honor, the other would willingly concede it to him without envy. Likewise the soldiers of both sides, of the second and third rank, gave the kiss of peace, forgiving whatever injuries they had done to one another, not without much weeping. Then all, having been made faithful friends from enemies, pitched their camps so close together that each people could without difficulty hear the other's speeches. And when they had begun to hold discussions about establishing a king, the Saxons wished to elect someone from among the Swabians, and the Swabians from among the Saxons; Henry, meanwhile, was held in the city of Mainz on the other bank of the Rhine, having abandoned all hope of retaining the kingdom. He nevertheless sent messengers to try to bend them to mercy, so that they might deign to accept his now sufficient correction. But no embassy from any of them was accepted by any of our men, unless first he was absolved from the bond of excommunication through the apostolic legate. So, that the pen may run swiftly: they promised that they would accept his penitent humility on the condition that he would fulfill everything that our men proposed for him to do. When he had pledged this, they first proposed to him that he restore to power the Bishop of Worms, who had long been expelled from his city; next, that he immediately have letters written in which he would confess that he had unjustly afflicted the Saxons, which letters, after our men had inspected them, he would have sealed with his image in our men's presence, and once sealed, would give to our envoys to be sent through Italy and the German lands; and that he himself, coming to Rome, would be freed from the bond of excommunication through worthy satisfaction. The bishop was therefore immediately led into the city with great honor; the letters, sealed with the king's seal in the presence of our men, were sent by our messengers through the cities of Italy and of the German kingdom were dispatched; he himself prepared with all haste to cast off the bond of excommunication through the Roman pontiff's indulgence. Our men, however, each confirmed by oath that unless Henry IV, son of the Emperor Henry, had been absolved from the ban by the pope at the beginning of the month of February, he would never again by any device be called or be their king. This oath the patriarch took first, and having reduced it to writing, placed it in his purse; but because he kept it better in writing than in deed, as was said a little before, he paid a cruel penalty. Then the Bishop of Passau, legate of the Roman See, did the same; and after them all the bishops, dukes, counts, and other greater and lesser men who were present; but the bishops did more than the others in this, because they preserved the oath in writing as well. Then, sending a legate, they asked the pope to come to Augsburg at the beginning of February, so that with the case diligently examined before all, he would either absolve him, or with him bound yet more tightly, they would seek another with the pope's consent who knew how to reign. All these things having been accomplished there, each army parted with great affection, and each returned to their homes rejoicing and singing praises to God.
Chapter 89
89. But when the pope, as he had been asked, was making his way toward Augsburg so that he might be present there at the beginning of February — which was the year of the Lord 1077 — as had pleased the princes, and our men were hastening to come there from the opposite direction to receive the lord pope reverently as was fitting, behold, it was reported to the pope that Henry had entered Italy with a great army, and that if the pope himself crossed the mountains as he wished, Henry intended to install another pope. And so, having quickly sent a legate to meet our men, he himself returned, sad and indeed fearing much for himself, to protect Italy from sword and fire.
Chapter 90
90. Henry, meanwhile, wandering through Italy in body but even more in mind, did not know what to do, because whatever he did, he feared losing the kingdom. For unless he came as a suppliant to the pope and was absolved from the ban through him, he knew for certain that he would not recover the kingdom. But if he came as a suppliant to make satisfaction, he feared that the pontiff would take the kingdom from him because of the magnitude of his crimes, or would double the bonds of apostolic authority upon him if he were disobedient. Thus, amid many cares, he was pulled in different directions. But although he had no doubt that he was ruined either way and would ruin himself further, he nevertheless chose that course in which he thought there was some hope; and clothed in wool, with bare feet, he came to the pope, saying that he loved the heavenly kingdom more than the earthly one, and that therefore he would humbly accept whatever penance the pope wished to impose upon him. The pope, rejoicing at such great humility from so great a man, commanded him not to put on royal garments until he himself should permit it, so that the contrition of his heart might be more acceptable to Almighty God, in that he showed it outwardly too by the testimony of humble attire; and that he should avoid the company or conversation of those who were excommunicated, lest what had been cleansed in him by God's grace through his own conversion should be made more unclean than before by the contagion of others. When he promised to do both these things, he was absolved and released on this condition, being much admonished not to lie to God; for if he did not fulfill his promises, not only would the former bonds not be removed, but even stricter ones would be added. And so, returning to his own people, when he began to separate them from his table, they raised a great uproar, saying to him that if he now repelled those by whose wisdom and valor he had hitherto maintained the kingdom, the pope could neither restore that kingdom to him nor acquire another. By these and other such words his mind was changed, and by the wicked counsel of wicked men, he returned to his former ways. He placed a golden diadem on his head, and in his heart retained an excommunication stronger than iron. He mingled in the communion of the excommunicated, and that wretched man was driven from the communion of the saints. Now he made it manifest to all that what he had said was not true — that he loved the heavenly kingdom more than the earthly one. If he had but remained a little while in obedience, he would both now hold the earthly kingdom in peace and would someday receive the heavenly one to possess without end. But now, having become disobedient, he will not have even what he loves except with great toil; and he will not receive the other except through a great change of his entire life.
Chapter 91
91. Meanwhile the Saxons and Swabians assembled at Forchheim, and envoys from other regions were also present, who indicated that their people would approve whatever these men should conveniently determine for the commonwealth. The legate of the pope was also present, who would confirm by the authority of the apostolic sublimity all that our men should usefully arrange concerning the kingdom. From many whom they proposed as worthy by their uprightness for the election, at last the Saxons and Swabians concordantly elected Rudolf, Duke of Swabia, as their king. But when each man was supposed to acclaim him as king, some wished to interpose certain conditions, so that they would raise him as king over them on this condition: that he would specifically promise them redress for their injuries. For Duke Otto was unwilling to accept him as his king unless he promised to restore the honor unjustly taken from him. So too many others interposed their individual causes, wanting him to promise that he would correct them. Understanding this, the papal legate forbade it, and showing that he was to be king not of individuals but of all, declared it sufficient that he promise to be just to all. He said moreover that if he were elected in the manner that had been begun, with promises made one by one beforehand, the election itself would appear not sincere but polluted with the poison of simoniacal heresy. Nevertheless, certain causes were specifically excepted there, which, because they had unjustly prevailed, he ought to amend; namely that he should not give bishoprics for a price or for friendship, but should allow each church the free election from among its own members, as the canons command. This too was approved there by common consent and corroborated by the authority of the Roman pontiff: that the royal power should not pass to anyone by heredity, as had been the custom before, but the son of a king, even if he were very worthy, should rather become king through free election than through the line of succession; and if the king's son were not worthy, or if the people did not want him, the people should have the power to make whomever they wished king. All these things having been lawfully established, they led Rudolf, the king-elect, to Mainz with great honor, and assisted him reverently and valiantly, as soon appeared, while he received the royal consecration. He was consecrated by Siegfried, Archbishop of the city of Mainz, with many others present and assisting, in the year of the Lord 1077, on the 7th day before the Kalends of April.
Chapter 92
92. On the very day of his consecration there nearly occurred a pitiable deed, such that one day would be both the beginning and the end of his reign, and a proverb might truly arise about him: that he was so vigilant a king that he never saw sleep in his kingdom. For when on the very day of his anointing, at the entrance of the Mass, the whole church of the faithful was invited under the name of Jerusalem to spiritual joy — and from this nearly the whole church, even among religious persons, maintains on that day a not contemptible custom of playing games — when the new king's dinner was finished, his young men came to the common sport, for a double reason: both for the royal consecration and even more for the ancient custom. But the townspeople, seeing this sport, were kindled with a cruel zeal; and because they favored the former king more than the new king, they plotted to disrupt the game and to sow some seed from which a sedition might arise, in suppressing which the king, when he came forward, might be killed by some means. They therefore sent certain of their young men to mingle in the courtiers' game and to construct by whatever art some occasion for fighting. And so one of them secretly cut off a fur collar adorned with precious pelts from a certain nobleman of the court, and withdrew as if wishing to conceal the theft, and yet preferred to be caught, so that he might receive what he did receive. For the man whose good garment had been dishonored pursued the one who was carrying part of his clothing, gave him merely a blow, and took back the piece of his garment. Then the townspeople, posted in ambush for this very purpose, armed men rushed upon the unarmed courtiers, and severely wounded many of them, even killing some. For the arms of the courtiers had been left in their lodgings while they themselves were gathered around the king, and the townspeople had seized them and had made it impossible for their owners to find them. The king, seeing such things, wished to put himself in danger and either rescue his men or fall together with them; but those around him recognized that this whole tumult had been started because of him, and therefore did not permit him to descend from the palace. The courtiers, therefore, and the whole army gathered themselves into the greater church of Saint Martin, and there, banded together, fortified with counsel and arms, they suddenly burst forth with great force and either killed or captured the townspeople, except those who, trusting to flight with fear lending them speed, departed swiftly. On the next day all the leading men of the city came as suppliants before the king, and for the wickedness they had committed, they submitted to whatever punishments the king wished to impose, and swore that henceforth they would remain faithful to him forever.
Chapter 93
93. But the king, having no trust in them, left the city and went to the Swabians; and having tarried there briefly, he crossed over to Saxony. For having celebrated the feast of the Lord's Resurrection in the city of Augsburg, he came to Erfurt at Pentecost, and from there, escorted with royal honor by no small multitude of Saxons, he celebrated the principal feast of the chief apostles in the city of Merseburg with great devotion. When the greater and lesser men from all parts of Saxony had assembled there and had unanimously confirmed him in the kingdom as he had been elected by the princes, the king said that it did not seem to him fitting or useful for the Saxons to sit quietly at home as if enjoying full peace; and he urged them, having gathered an army, to take the offensive and invade the enemy's territory, so that by doing something bold, they might both cast off from themselves the stigma of sloth with which they had been branded, and diminish the arrogance of the enemy, who was puffed up with pride from victory. Which they also gladly did.
Chapter 94
94. Therefore in the month of August, King Rudolf besieged the city of Wuerzburg with a great army, and ordered siege engines of various kinds to be prepared for storming it. While these were being prepared, he himself, as a Christian king fearing God, reflected that if the city were captured, the common people once admitted could not be restrained — not even by the king himself — from destroying or plundering churches and ecclesiastical property. Therefore he sat there sluggishly, and seeking various pretexts so that there would be no assault on the city, he remained there for nearly a whole month accomplishing nothing; and he preferred to bear the glorious reproach that he could not capture the city, rather than to acquire the perilous glory of having no sacred thing spared when the city was destroyed.
Chapter 95
95. Meanwhile Henry the former king, having assembled an army neither great nor strong — for the greatest part of it consisted of merchants — prepared to march against our men; and advancing with a sluggish pace, he waited in vain for the Bavarians and Bohemians whom he hoped would come to his aid. When King Rudolf heard this, he joyfully abandoned the siege and hastened to meet the enemy, fiercer than the savage foe himself. Both armies, therefore, came together at the river called the Neckar, and on opposite banks pitched their camps with diverse intentions of fighting. For our men offered them the choice: either they should withdraw farther from the bank and grant our men the opportunity to cross, or they themselves, having been given safe space on our bank, should cross over to fight with our men. But they, although provoked with many insults to do one or the other, were unwilling to do either. And when they had sat there for many days and our men had often given them in vain the opportunity to come across, at last they, seeing that they were no match for our men and that the reinforcements they hoped for were not coming, since they could not prevail by military valor, tried by cunning to avert this war from themselves. For they made a temporary truce with our men, by which, if possible, they might arrive through mutual discussions at a permanent peace. Having therefore granted each other security to come and go, they said: what need was there for our men to decide the matter with them by the sword, when they were prepared to settle it by words; and if indeed justice commended our cause, they would leave their lord and join our side, on the condition that if their cause were proved better, our men would not disdain to be joined to them under the same terms. When our men approved this, and our king himself promised that, in order that a faithful peace might be made between them, he would willingly step down from the kingship, a day was set on which they would come to settle this matter, with neither king present; and the two armies parted from each other. And behold, they saw a great throng of Bavarians and Bohemians, whom they had long been expecting, arriving. Learning this, Henry became exceedingly glad; and forgetting the peace that had been made, he would already have attacked our men from the rear, now less cautious, if those princes who had been mediators or authors of the peacemaking had not feared to stain their honor. And so our men returned home in peace and spent a whole year neither harming anyone nor harmed by anyone.
Chapter 96
96. In the following year, which was the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1078, the Saxon army was assembled again, and by sending an embassy they asked the Swabians to come to meet them, so that with the valor of both peoples combined, they might compel all who opposed them either to come over to their side, or wear down with the dire tribulation of war those who refused to be allied with them. Learning of this, Henry, having gathered his strength, intervened between them; nor did he allow both armies to unite. The Saxon army therefore came to Mellrichstadt, and there found Henry with no small force of valor. Why should I delay in narrating, when they made no delay in acting? The battle was begun fiercely (August 7), nay rather cruelly; both sides fought, and on this side and that the fortunes of battle were varied: these fled, those fled; our men were captured but rescued, the enemy were slain. Among our men, the first to flee were those who should never have come to the battle at all — the bishops of one name but, so to speak, not of one omen; for both were called Werner. The Archbishop of Magdeburg was intercepted by the inhabitants of that region and miserably killed; the Bishop of Merseburg, however, was stripped of everything and returned home naked. Let whoever reads this think that I said this not to his shame but to his glory; for from his own mouth I heard more than once that he would not have wished to avoid enduring that nakedness for any weight of gold or silver. In the same flight, Bernard, archdeacon of the Roman See, Siegfried, Archbishop of Mainz, and Adalbert, Bishop of Worms, were captured. But the first two were rescued not long after by the mercy of God; the third was brought into the presence of Henry, the cruel tyrant — who nevertheless was freed long afterward by divine mercy against the tyrant's will. Because all these men knew better how to sing psalms — having been raised in the religious life — than to arrange armed legions for battle, turned to flight by the mere sight of the combatants, so great a multitude followed them that the king believed the entire army had given itself completely to flight. When the king could not recall them either by promising certain victory or by threatening perpetual servitude if they did not return, thinking himself left alone with a few men, he too began gradually to retreat, drawing nearer to the borders of Saxony.
Chapter 97
97. Meanwhile, our men who had bravely engaged the enemy at first, knowing nothing of those left behind them, resisted bravely against the strong adversaries, and pressing even harder against the less strong, compelled them to seek the refuge of flight. There one of our men, seeing an adversary coming toward him, greeted him as if he were a comrade, saying: 'Saint Peter!' — which name all the Saxons kept on their lips as their watchword. But that man, exceedingly proud and beginning only to mock the name, with his sword poised over the other's head, said: 'This your Peter sends you as a gift!' And he had not yet finished his whole speech when he had the sword of another Saxon in his skull, who said: 'And have this gift from your Henry, the raving tyrant.'
Chapter 98
98. Hartwig, then the arch-chaplain of the Archbishop of Mainz — who was to enter the city of Magdeburg as archbishop on this same day a year later — was surrounded by a multitude of enemies so that there was no place for him to escape (in the year 1078, August 7). When they, mocking him as though already captured, said that they would more gladly see him now in the favor of their lord, as he once had been, he, like a prudent man, so tempered his response that he neither uttered a falsehood, yet by deceiving them avoided the present danger. For in few words, as the time demanded, he replied, saying: 'As I see it, in the chamber of the lord king last night none of you saw me.' 'But let us hasten to our friends, lest the enemy suddenly catch us unawares!' Now they were not far from a small Saxon detachment; when those men thought the Saxons were their own and realized they were nearly captured, he said: 'Go where you wish; I shall join my friends!'
Chapter 99
99. William, son of Count Gero, while rashly going along with only a few companions, was captured by surprise by Eberhard, who had his surname from the size of his beard, and was being led by his soldiers to be presented to his lord Henry as a great trophy. Eberhard himself followed not far behind, as if watching lest anyone rescue the prisoner. And behold, a larger Saxon force came upon him from the side, and quickly killed him as he offered little resistance. Seeing this, those who were leading William, forgetting their prisoner, hastened to their lord. William, however, not forgetting himself, returned to his own men with all the speed he could.
Chapter 100
100. Meanwhile Duke Otto and Frederick, the count palatine of Sommerschenburg, fighting fiercely in different parts of the field, did not cease until they had driven Henry with all his men to flight, and they pursued the fleeing enemy for so long that they saw them being enclosed within the walls of Wuerzburg. But Frederick, not knowing what Duke Otto had accomplished, returned rejoicing to the place of battle; for he who holds the field of slaughter after the enemy has been routed is considered the victor. Duke Otto, returning to the same place not long after and seeing such a great multitude, thought they were the enemy, and because he was very weary, did not think it useful to begin a fight with them. He nevertheless sent a scout to find out the truth for him. When the scout delayed there, Otto reckoned that he had been captured or killed by the enemy; and since he found no comrade that he recognized, though victor indeed, yet not joyful because he did not know it, he returned to his homeland.
Chapter 101
101. Frederick, meanwhile, having gathered to himself those returning from the battle from various directions, spent that night in joy and especially in divine praise. On the next day, having received all things that either their comrades or the enemy had left behind there, they carried with them the better items that they could transport; the rest they gave to the fire, lest they benefit the enemy. Then, returning with great joy and singing, they ravaged Schmalkalden and other surrounding towns and villages with plundering and burning, because those inhabitants had the day before stripped or killed our men as they fled. They also violently rescued Siegfried, Archbishop of Mainz, whom the enemy had captured and were still holding along with many others, and rejoicing and singing hymns to God, they brought him back to Saxony. After all our men had assembled from their various directions, and had related to one another, each in turn, what brave deeds they had done and what great dangers they had escaped and how, with much weeping they unanimously rendered many praises to God, both for the defeated and routed enemies and also for the liberation of so many priests.
Chapter 102
102. On our side, therefore, apart from the Bishop of Magdeburg, who fell while fleeing, no one of any note perished in that battle; but on the enemy's side there lay among the noblest princes Eberhard the Bearded, who had been the most savage inciter of this war, Poppo and Thiebald together, and Henry of Lechsgemuend. This second battle, therefore, took place in the year of the Lord 1078, on the 7th day before the Ides of August, on a Tuesday.
Chapter 103
103. Henry, coming to Regensburg in the following October, gathered the princes and told them that he had now put an end to the long struggle, and nothing remained for him to do except to make those who had been his partners in the labor also partners in a worthy reward. For he said that the Saxons had been so laid low in the clash of the recent battle that unless farmers from foreign peoples came, the Saxon land, turned into a wilderness, would be left to be inhabited by wild beasts. Therefore he asked them to enter with him that land, rich in all kinds of crops, and faithfully pledged to them that they would find no one to oppose their entry. To make this believable to them, he sent forward pretended messengers with rehearsed speeches, who, in the hearing of all, said to the king — as they had been instructed — in the name of Duke Otto and Count Hermann, that they alone of free men, all others having been killed in the recent battle, had been left in Saxony thanks to flight; that they now too late repented having ever, trusting in their numbers, presumed to resist the royal power; that they humbly awaited the king's coming, so that the land might have cultivators; that they asked for themselves neither honor nor freedom, but only their lives, although they were unworthy even of that. When these words had been spoken, just as the cunning man himself had dictated them, those who had received them with too credulous an ear already possessed all of Saxony in empty hope, and as if already possessing it, deceived by empty hope, they swelled with pride. Therefore with all haste they hurried to follow where hope drew them; nor did they want their army to be very large, lest each man receive less of that region's spoils the more men there were to divide them; for nature ordains that the smaller the quantity of the shares, the greater the number of those shares. Coming, therefore, to the forest that separates the Thuringians from Franconia, they heard — and it was true — that the Saxons were sitting on the other side of the forest with such a multitude as they had never before been known to have assembled. For they had nearly sixty thousand armed soldiers, who were determined either to die bravely or to defend their land. When at first they did not believe what they heard, after they sent scouts and found it to be all too true, they hastened much more to go back, driven by fear, than they had hastened to come, drawn by hope. But Henry the former king, lest he should have assembled so great an army for nothing, marched with the same force against the Swabians; where he spared neither churches nor churchyards, and made no distinction between sacred and profane things, in order to satisfy the insatiable greed of those whom he had deceived by promising them Saxony. There, as I have already related in anticipation (chapter 76), Archbishop Udo of Trier miserably died a sudden death, when, setting aside the fear of God, he permitted profane hands to go freely against sacred things.
Chapter 104
104. (Year 1079:) Meanwhile the lord pope, forgetful of his apostolic vigor — for what reason we do not know — greatly changed from his former position. For he who had previously excommunicated Henry with all his supporters with apostolic severity, and had powerfully forbidden him the power of reigning, and had absolved from their oaths by apostolic authority all who had sworn fealty to him, and had confirmed the election of the new king by his own consent, now commanded by letter that a council be held, that both kings be summoned and heard, and that the one whom justice permitted to reign should be confirmed securely in the kingdom, the other being deposed. The text of this letter, so that what I say may be more clearly understood, I have taken care to set down below; it arrived in the month of February in the year of the Lord 1079.
Chapter 105
105. Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God (Gregory VII, Register IV, 23), to his dearest sons in Christ, Bernard the deacon, and Bernard the abbot, greeting and the apostolic benediction. 'We do not doubt that it is known to your brotherhood that we set out from Rome, trusting in God's mercy and the help of blessed Peter, in order to cross to the regions of the Germans to establish peace among them to the honor of God and the benefit of the holy church. But because those who were to escort us according to what had been arranged failed to appear, hindered by the king's arrival in Italy, we remained in Lombardy, among the enemies of the Christian religion, not without great danger, and as yet, as we desired, we have been unable to proceed beyond the mountains. Wherefore we admonish you, and on behalf of blessed Peter we command you, that trusting in the authority of this our precept, and girded on our behalf by that same prince of the apostles, you admonish both kings, namely Henry and Rudolf, that they open for us a safe way of passage thither, and provide assistance and escort through such persons in whom you have full confidence, so that the way may lie open for us under Christ's protection. For we desire, with the counsel of the clergy and laity of that kingdom who fear and love God, to examine the case between them with God's favor, and to show which side justice more favors for governing the kingdom. For you know that it belongs to our office and the providence of the apostolic see to examine the greater affairs of the churches, and to decide them as justice dictates. This matter which is being conducted between them is of such great dignity and such great peril that if it be neglected by us on any occasion, it will bring great and lamentable harm not only to them and to us but also to the universal church. Wherefore, if either of the aforesaid kings should refuse to obey this our will and deliberation and give place to your admonitions, and lighting the torches of his pride and greed against the honor of God Almighty, should attempt to bring about the desolation of the whole Roman Empire, resist on our behalf by all means and with all ability, even unto death if necessary — nay rather, by the authority of blessed Peter, contradicting him in the governance of the whole kingdom, separate both him and all who consent with him from the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and from the thresholds of holy church, always keeping in memory that he who scorns to obey the apostolic see incurs the guilt of idolatry, and that the blessed Gregory, that holy and most humble doctor, decreed that kings fall from their dignities if by rash daring they presume to oppose the commands of the apostolic see. But to the other, who shall have humbly obeyed our command and shown obedience to the universal mother, as befits a Christian king, having convoked a council of all the clergy and laity whom you can summon, provide counsel and assistance in all things, and confirm him in the royal dignity by the authority of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul on our behalf, and command all bishops, abbots, clergy, and laity dwelling in the whole kingdom to obey him faithfully, as befits a king, on behalf of Almighty God.'
Chapter 106
106. Gregory, bishop (Gregory VII, Register IV, 24), servant of the servants of God, to his beloved brothers in Christ, the archbishops, bishops, dukes, counts, and all the faithful of Christ, both clergy and laity, to all, both greater and lesser, dwelling in the kingdom of the Teutons, greeting and apostolic benediction. We wish to make known to you, dearest brothers, that we have commanded our legates — namely Bernard, a faithful son and deacon of the holy Roman Church, and likewise Bernard, the devout abbot of the monastery of Marseilles — to admonish both kings, namely Henry and Rudolf, either in person or through suitable messengers, to provide me a safe passage to come to you, with God's favor, in order to examine the dispute that has arisen between them on account of sins. For our heart is tossed about in great sadness and grief, if through the pride of one man so many thousands of Christians are handed over to temporal and eternal death, and the Christian religion is confounded, and the Roman Empire is led to destruction. For each king seeks assistance from us — nay, from the Apostolic See, over which, though unworthy, we preside — and we, trusting in the mercy of Almighty God and the aid of blessed Peter, are prepared, with your counsel, you who fear God and love the Christian faith, to determine equity in the case on both sides, and to render assistance to the one whom justice is known to favor for the governance of the kingdom. Wherefore, if either of them, puffed up with pride, by some device obstructs our coming to you, and fearing the judgment of the Holy Spirit on account of his injustice, becomes disobedient by resisting the holy and universal Mother Church — despise him as a member of Antichrist and a destroyer of the Christian religion, and uphold the sentence that our legates shall pronounce against him in our name, knowing that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). But to the other, who shall conduct himself humbly and shall not despise the judgment decreed by the Holy Spirit and pronounced through us — for we believe without doubt that wherever two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, they are illumined by His presence (Matt. 18:20) — to him, I say, render service and reverence according to what our aforesaid legates shall decree, striving and in every way obeying him, that he may honorably obtain the royal dignity and come to the aid of the holy Church, which is now nearly failing. For it should not slip from your hearts that he who despises obedience to the Apostolic See incurs the guilt of idolatry, and that blessed Gregory, that holy and most humble doctor, decreed that kings should fall from their dignities and be deprived of the participation in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, if they should presume to despise the decrees of the Apostolic See. For if the see of blessed Peter looses and judges celestial and spiritual matters, how much more earthly and secular ones?
But you know, dearest brothers, that from the time we departed the City, we have remained in great peril among the enemies of the Christian faith, and yet, swayed by neither terror nor affection toward either of the aforesaid kings, we have promised no assistance contrary to justice. For we would rather undergo death, if need be, than consent, overcome by our own will, that the Church of God should come to confusion. For we recognize that we have been ordained and placed in the Apostolic See for this purpose: that in this life we may seek not the things that are ours, but the things that are Jesus Christ's, and following in the footsteps of the Fathers through many labors, may tend, by God's mercy, toward future and eternal rest.
Chapter 107
107. When these letters were received, Cardinal Bernard carried out what had been enjoined upon him. But our countrymen, when they had received those letters, fell from the great hope which they had placed in the apostolic rock, because they had sooner believed the sky would stand still or the earth would move like the sky than that the chair of Peter would lose the steadfastness of Peter. Therefore they sent back these letters to him, by which they wished to rouse him — terrified, as by a maidservant, by the fear of the present life — as if by the voice of a crowing cock, and, strengthened by regard for Christ, to recall him to the virtue of his former constancy:
Chapter 108
108. To the lord apostolic and venerable Pope Gregory, the faithful of blessed Peter and his own, as much devoted service as the oppressed can render. We have already set forth many complaints to this holy see on account of our various calamities. That we have not yet obtained any measure of justice or consolation, we impute not so much to your holiness as to our own sins. If, therefore, we had undertaken the matter for which such great evils befell us by our own counsel and deliberate choice, it would be less grievous to bear if your gravity were slower to rise to our aid. But as it is, the burden which we took up solely at the command of your authority ought also to have been lightened by that same hand supporting it. Your excellency is our witness, and your letters which we hold as testimony, that it was not by our counsel, nor even for our cause, but for injuries inflicted upon the Apostolic See that you deprived our king of his royal dignity, and with terrible threats forbade us all to serve him as king, and absolved all Christians from the bond of the oath which they had made or would make to him, and then bound him with the chain of anathema. In all these things we obeyed your paternity at great peril to ourselves, as is now evident; and because we refused to agree with the others to his deposition at your deposition, he exercised such cruelty upon us that very many of our people, having lost all their substance, laid down their lives in this struggle, and left their sons disinherited and reduced from wealth to poverty.
But those who survive, anxious daily for their lives, have lost nearly all means of subsistence. Yet since no persecution could overcome us, he himself was overcome, so that — though unwillingly — he presented himself before you and rendered honor, with his own disgrace, to the one whom he had dishonored. For this labor we received this reward: that he who, at the peril of our souls, was compelled to worship the traces of your feet, was absolved without our counsel and without correction, and recovered the freedom to harm us. And when that absolution from anathema became known to us through your letter, we understood that nothing had been changed regarding the sentence of the kingdom that had proceeded against him, nor do we even now understand how it could be changed. For we are utterly unable to perceive how that absolution of oaths could be annulled. Without the observance of oaths, however, the office of royal dignity can in no way be administered. Therefore, since we had been without a ruler for more than a year, another was substituted in the place from which he had transgressed, by the election of our princes. And when a great hope of restoring the empire was growing from the one king elected for us, and not from two kings, behold — your letters arriving unexpectedly declare two kings in one kingdom and appoint a legation to both. This plurality of the royal name and, in a way, division of the kingdom was followed also by a division of the people and the rivalries of factions; since in your letters they saw the person of that transgressor always placed first, and it was demanded from him, as from one in power, that he provide you safe-conduct to these parts to examine the case. As for the manner of this examination — if we may say so with due respect — it is marvelous in our eyes: namely, that he who has already been deposed by synodal judgment with no condition interposed, while another has been confirmed in the same dignity by apostolic authority, should now at last be brought to account, and what has been finished should be begun anew, and a question be raised about a matter beyond doubt. This too disturbs our weakness: that just as we are urged to persevere firmly in what we have begun, so also to the opposing party hope is hinted at by words and deeds. For the associates of the aforesaid Henry, who are branded with infamy throughout the whole realm, and who by serving him as king are manifestly disobedient to synodal precepts, and together with their head have been separated from the holy Church by an apostolic legate — when they come to this see, they are kindly received, and not only do they return unpunished, but are moreover crowned with glory and honor, and returning in pride to their former disobedience, they mock our misery. To us, however, it is reckoned as foolishness and folly that we abstain from the company of those who are so lovingly received into communion by our very head. And this too is added to the sum of our misfortune: that besides those offenses we ourselves commit, even the fault of our adversaries is beaten upon us, since it is attributed to our negligence that we do not send competent and frequent envoys here. For it is clearer than daylight that those men prevent this from being done — the very ones who swore to you by oath that they would not prevent it. And now there is silence about the violent blocking of the sacred route and about their manifest perjury, while it is imputed to us that we do not send messengers.
We know, dearest lord, and we hope from the consideration of your piety, that you do all these things with good intention and some subtle deliberation; but we, unlearned men, being unable to penetrate that hidden dispensation, set before you what we have plainly seen and heard — that from the encouragement given to both sides and the uncertain postponement of certain matters, the following has arisen and continues to arise daily: civil wars and worse than civil wars, innumerable homicides, devastations, fires without distinction of house or church, incomparable oppressions of the poor, plunderings of church property such as we have never heard of or seen, the collapse of both divine and secular law without hope of repair; and finally, in the struggle of two kings — each of whom received from you the hope of obtaining the kingdom — so great a squandering of royal resources that henceforth the kings of our lands must be sustained by plunder rather than by royal revenues. These calamities would either not exist or would be far less if your judgment had not veered to the right or to the left from the course you had begun.
You have undertaken a difficult journey on account of your zeal for the house of the Lord, on which it is laborious to advance but dishonorable to retreat. Do not, most holy Father, do not falter on the way, and do not, by further delaying and taking precautions on both sides, allow such great evils to grow and multiply. If it is burdensome for you to speak on behalf of those who risked their lives in great peril for you, at least come to the aid of churches that in your times have been miserably destroyed and reduced to servitude by unheard-of oppression. If it does not seem prudent to resist their open destroyers face to face on account of present dangers, at least take care that you do not allow what you have already done to be rendered void. For if what was determined in the Roman synod and afterward confirmed by a faithful legate of the Apostolic See must be covered over in silence and held as nothing, we are wholly ignorant of what we should henceforth believe or hold as settled. We have spoken this to your holiness not at all arrogantly, but in the bitterness of our soul, because there is no sorrow like our sorrow. For since through obedience to the shepherd we have been exposed to the jaws of wolves, if we must also beware of the shepherd himself, we are more wretched than all men. May Almighty God rouse you to such zeal against the enemies of Christ that the hope we have placed in you may not confound us.
Chapter 109
109. When they had received no answer to these letters according to their wishes, they sent him letters again, so that — since he had not been roused at the first crowing of the cock, as Peter according to Mark was not — at least when the people of the Church gave voice a second time, as it were a cock, he might be roused from the torpor of hesitation and rise up with Peter to the steadfastness of Peter:
Chapter 110
110. To the Lord, truly apostolic, Gregory, the faithful of blessed Peter and his own, devoted service according to their strength. Your holiness knows, and it is known to all round about, how difficultly and at what peril to the bearers we transmit embassies to you, because the road that in all ages was open and passable to all peoples, tribes, and tongues is now closed and blocked — especially to those who labored not a little for the honor of him to whose body that same road leads. It would befit your honor and our necessity that, since we accomplish this with such great difficulty, some benefit might come to us from it, some consolation in tribulation. But whatever question, whatever complaint we direct to the see that has always been the teacher of judgment and justice, we receive no definitive answer, but all things are suspended in uncertain futurity. For among many other matters, we recently informed your holiness what sentence Lord Bernard pronounced against Henry, hateful to God, and his accomplices, and what he decreed concerning King Rudolf by your command, trusting that if this came to your knowledge, our entire cause would advance and prosper thereby. But after our long expectation, when the messenger at last returned, no other consolation was reported to us except that you said you had not believed the things we had communicated. And why, dearest lord, did it seem incredible to you — what our brothers and fellow bishops, namely the lord of Wurzburg, the lord of Passau, and other religious men, reported to you in truth, and testified that they had seen and heard? Surely, lord, we do not trust to be delivered by words of falsehood, but rather we believe that the truth will set us free. God, who is truth, who alone considers labor and sorrow, has not forsaken those who hope in Him, but has visited us in mercy and compassion. For our King Rudolf, strong in Him who gives salvation to kings, triumphed mightily over the enemies of the Lord, while Henry, in his usual manner, together with his accomplices — apart from those who fell by the sword — was turned to flight, along with that companion and partaker whose malice you tried in vain to overcome with good: namely Rupert of Bamberg, who is the author and instigator of all these things.
And oh, if only you had been sufficiently instructed by his and his companions' shameful deceit! Do not, dearest lord, do not any longer, to the mockery of your holy name, coddle such men, and after so many rebuffs and shameful deceptions, seek safe-conduct from them again and again. Your coming to us would be as desirable to us as it is necessary; but we truly know that you will never come to our parts by their consent unless they are first certain that you favor their side — not for justice but for their own will. Therefore do not place hope in the good faith of those by whose treachery you have been deceived so often. Behold, you see how evils have multiplied in the land — evils without number; and the contest which was begun by you and undertaken at your command is no longer settled by you or by your decrees, but is left to be decided by the judgment of swords.
We therefore ask and beseech you in the Lord that, putting aside now all blandishments and delays, you gird yourself with zeal for justice; and if not for our sake, then for the honor of the holy Church's see, confirm what the legate of that same see has accomplished, so that both by living voice and by letters sent everywhere you may declare without ambiguity what is to be held in this division of the Church, and what is to be followed. If this had been done long ago, we are certain that the unjust party would have already lost so much strength that it could no longer prevail to harm either you or us. Let your holiness no longer establish ambiguities about certain matters and things leaning both ways — which up to now have seemed to sustain us while yet not provoking our enemies. But it is certain that in no way will you be able to deliver the Church entrusted to you from its misery here unless you are willing to endure the enmity of its enemies.
We also ask that you not allow the canonical statutes to be neglected in this matter: that the bodies of excommunicated persons who were killed while persecuting the Church be permitted to be buried in church precincts; but where they have been buried, that you prohibit the celebration of divine services there. Many of them have been buried in the city of Augsburg. You can easily send your letters to the congregations of that place by means of traveling pilgrims. May Almighty God so direct you in these and all things that, just as you preside over the holy Church, so also you may be of benefit to it.
Chapter 111
111. They also directed a third letter, which they ordered to be read aloud in the Roman synod, in the hope that the lord pope might be roused to the rigor and stability of his apostolic dignity, either by himself or through the intervention of the universal Church:
Chapter 112
112. We complain to blessed Peter, and to his vicar the lord apostolic Gregory, and to the entire council of the holy Roman Church, concerning the injuries and violence which we have suffered and unceasingly suffer at the hands of lord Henry, for no other reason than that we are obedient to the Apostolic See. It has come to our attention that in the holy Roman synod recently held, the question was raised and doubted by some whether the aforesaid man should be excommunicated or not. Wherefore we, to whom this matter has become more clearly known through grievous experience, have deemed it worthy to announce, according to our estimation, for how many existing reasons he ought not only to be excommunicated but has already in many ways been truly excommunicated. This holy Roman Church is witness for how many crimes and with what unheard-of presumption he was bound by the chain of anathema in the synod of that same Church — yet not before, as we learned from the letters of the lord apostolic himself, it had been proven that he scorned many admonitions of the Apostolic See and always became worse from correction. Let it therefore be considered concerning him, who was found incorrigible three years ago, whether within this three years he has so reformed and come to his senses that there should now be any doubt about pronouncing sentence against him.
Having been excommunicated, therefore, as we have already said, it is known everywhere with what prolonged obstinacy he despised the apostolic punishment. At length, compelled by necessity — which is not unknown — and seeking absolution, he was unable to obtain it until he swore an oath that he would give satisfaction for all the charges against him, at whatever time the lord pope should appoint. Absolved on this condition, he departed. But when it pleased the lord apostolic, he sent legates and letters demanding that he do what he had promised under oath. When the bearers of those letters approached him, they were seized by his supporters; some were thrown into custody until they could be ransomed with money, while others were stripped and shorn. When this was reported to our people, they sent the legation and apostolic letters again through another messenger; but he, hearing the words of the legation, gave no reply, and refused to accept the letters offered to him. Of this matter there are many competent witnesses, especially the legate of the Apostolic See, lord Cardinal Bernard, who had been sent to those parts for this very business. When he saw that his legation was proceeding in vain, although it was certain that the aforesaid man was bound by the chain of his former anathema on account of added perjury to his disobedience — from which he had only been conditionally absolved for a time — nevertheless he imposed what had been enjoined upon him by the Apostolic See. Therefore, by apostolic command, forbidding him the governance of the kingdom anew, he separated him from the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and from the threshold of the holy Church — both him and all who consented to him — and confirmed another man in the royal dignity by apostolic authority.
Despising these edicts of the holy Roman Church as he did many others, and invading the kingdom that had now been forbidden to him a second time, he demolished and scattered it to such an extent that it can no longer be called a kingdom, since scarcely any royal resources remain. And when his own means were not sufficient to win over supporters of the kingdom, he stretched out his hand into the holy of holies and became a public invader of the churches of God — not in the manner that we know has been presumed by some tyrants before. For these transgressions are incomparable and without precedent. For it was not just any properties or some modest resources of the churches, but very many bishoprics that he usurped for himself after driving out the bishops, and whatever pertained to the service or sustenance of the bishops, he gave over entirely to his own uses and those of his men. On this account, when the bishops raised their outcry, the lord pope, satisfying their complaints, in his piety excommunicated in the synod held on the 17th of the Kalends of December all who had invaded their goods. When this became known to the aforesaid man, whom it is most certainly established to be the author and participant of that same invasion, he himself did not cease from invasion on that account, nor did he repel from his communion even for an hour those who had been excommunicated along with him.
But we have heard that his defenders offer such excuses for these complaints: that he himself took nothing of the goods of the churches, nor did anyone invade them at his command. We do not charge him with that; but we accuse him of this — and are most ready to prove it — namely, that his men invaded church property with his permission, and he granted this to them at their request, distributing to each as he wished; and at this price they were hired to lend their strength to his iniquity. Whatever of the bishops' resources remained after that distribution and was not granted to soldiers, he himself uses as if they were his own, and they serve his purposes so openly as if they had come to him by hereditary right. If we are convicted of falsehood in this accusation, we who are the accusers are prepared to undergo the punishment of the accused. Let the holy Apostolic See therefore judge; let the councils of the holy Fathers be searched; let the decrees of the Roman pontiffs be consulted, whether those who do such things or who consent to those who do them are to be considered excommunicate and sacrilegious, and whether communion should be had with them or their supporters. Since they truly know that what we say about him is true, they knowingly share in his wicked works, and they are accustomed to come here for this purpose: to spread the cover of defense over injustice, and to stand as patrons of such great crimes.
And when in the council of this holy Church, which has always taught abstinence from the excommunicated, they present themselves as if they were advocates, they are listened to as patiently as our own people, with no distinction made between the injured and those who injure. These same men also recently, in the retinue of their lord, rose up against those who obey apostolic precepts, in order to compel them to disobedience — namely in the regions of Swabia, where by the burning of churches and the destruction of altars innumerable sacrileges were committed. In this matter we neither rightly accuse nor excuse them; but we truly affirm that the plunder committed in churches and their precincts was perpetrated with the consent and permission of the prince and of nearly all the magnates who were present, with the deliberate intent that they judged that sacrilegious army could not otherwise be sustained.
This too the holy Roman Church knows: that the aforesaid Henry affirmed to the lord apostolic under oath that henceforth neither he himself nor anyone he could restrain would prevent anyone from any place in the world from traveling to the threshold of the apostles. But how he observed that sworn promise, the evidence of events itself makes clear even while we remain silent. Therefore, besides the sentence that has been promulgated against such transgressors both by the ancient Fathers and by your holiness, the Archbishop of Mainz, following the examples of his predecessors, joined by seven bishops who had the same cause for grievance, for the defense of the church entrusted to him delivered the aforesaid man, who is his parishioner, to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, together with all his accomplices. Likewise, the lord Bishop of Wurzburg, in the presence and with the cooperation of the legate of the Apostolic See, lord Bernard, anathematized all those who were guilty by deed or counsel in the matter of his having been barred from his see. The author of this prohibition is not uncertain; he who also most frequently resides in the city of that same see, in which scarcely anyone is not excommunicated.
Behold, your holiness has heard in how many ways that man has been condemned together with his supporters, and is truly to be condemned. We therefore beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by Him whose place you hold: even if you do not think it necessary to add anything to the sentences already pronounced against those men, at least forbid most firmly that they be received into communion either at this holy see or anywhere else, until they have given satisfaction to the churches they have harmed — lest the flock entrusted to you be further contaminated by them, and lest that most wicked leaven corrupt the whole lump.
Chapter 113
113. Then from that very synod he sent the following letter to the Teutonic lands:
Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to all clerics and laity dwelling in the Teutonic kingdom who are not held by the bond of excommunication, greeting and apostolic benediction. What and how great our care has been and is, that the plague of destruction and desolation be removed from your kingdom, and that peace, honor, and your accustomed dignity be restored to you — this we declared in the synod celebrated this year during Lent at Rome. For by the judgment of the Holy Spirit we decreed and commanded that in your kingdom a convention of all bishops and laymen who fear God and desire peace among you should be held, and that it should be determined in the presence of our legates whether justice favors more the one or the other — Henry, that is, or Rudolf — who contend with each other over the governance of the kingdom; and that the more unjust party, overcome by reason and constrained by the authority of blessed Peter, should more easily yield and, with God's favor, cease from the destruction of souls and bodies; while the more just party should put greater trust in God, and aided by the authority of blessed Peter and the agreement of all who love justice, should hope altogether for victory and fear neither death.
But because it has come to our attention that certain enemies of God and sons of the devil among you are striving, against the prohibition of the Apostolic See, to render the aforesaid convention void — and panting to fulfill their desires not through justice but through pride and the desolation of the entire kingdom, and to destroy the Christian religion — we admonish you and command you on behalf of blessed Peter that you give no assistance to such men and do not communicate with them. For in the aforesaid synod all have already been bound by the chain of excommunication and anathema, and by the power of blessed Peter they have been bound so that they can obtain no victory — so that at least, compelled, they may be confounded and recalled from the death of their souls and the desolation of their own homeland. But you, dearest brothers, do not in any way doubt me, that I knowingly favor the unjust party in any manner. For I desire to undergo death for your salvation rather than to seize the glory of the whole world to your destruction. And if any, trusting in falsehood, should indicate otherwise to you by letters or words, by no means give them heed. For we fear God and are afflicted daily for love of Him, and therefore we make little of pride and the pleasures of the world, because we believe without doubt that we shall soon find consolation with Him. May Almighty and merciful God, who beyond hope and beyond merit has mercy and consoles us in our tribulation, open your hearts in His law and confirm you in His precepts, so that by the authority of blessed Peter He may lead you, absolved from all sins, to the heavenly kingdom to reign.
Chapter 114
114. In response to which letter, our countrymen sent this letter which I have appended:
We received some time ago the letters of your holiness, containing the following: that you had decreed in the Roman synod that a convention of all bishops and God-fearing laymen should be held in our parts, to examine the question of which of the two who contend over the governance of the kingdom justice favors more. In this matter we first wonder at what prudence has determined, which it is certain can in no way be done. For we know that it has not slipped from your memory — since it has been so frequently raised before you in persistent complaints — that nearly all bishops who are obedient to the Apostolic See have been driven from their bishoprics and flee and hide from the face of their persecutors; and how can these men meet and confer with their persecutors about those causes for which some of them have been killed, others carried off into captivity, and the rest stripped of all their possessions?
Furthermore, we also consider it remarkable that we are ordered to examine the cause of that man together with those very men whom the legate of the holy Roman Church, by your command, has both separated from the threshold of the holy Church. But if none of these things had stood in the way, what concern is it of ours to reconsider the sentence of the Roman synod that was concluded long ago, and to bring the matter to account anew? What business is it of ours to examine whether justice favors for obtaining the kingdom the one from whom you forbade the governance of the kingdom three years ago by synodal judgment? Ought not the examination to have preceded the judgment rather than belatedly follow it? We know your intelligence: that never has a synod presided over by you judged a matter that had not been examined. What need, then, of a second examination? But if the aforesaid man has not yet been examined, but as you say is still to be examined, what was the reason for forbidding royal dignity by apostolic dignity to an unexamined man, without any qualification or condition? If not yet examined but still to be examined, why were we commanded by your authority to obey another king before it was certain that this one could not reign? Our witnesses in this matter are your letters — for the legate of the Apostolic See, by your command, forbidding the former man the governance of the kingdom anew, separated from the threshold of the holy Church both him and all who consented to him; and the other, who was substituted in his place by our election, he confirmed in the royal dignity by apostolic authority, and commanded all dwelling in the Teutonic kingdom to obey him, on behalf of Almighty God. Are all these things to be destroyed and reckoned as nothing?
But to say nothing of all the rest, certainly if that single absolution of oaths which you performed in the synod is to have effect, it is beyond doubt that he cannot be king. For how can he reign to whom no one henceforth owes allegiance? How can he govern a people when, in conducting legal proceedings, he cannot bind anyone by the obligation of oaths to render a just judgment? But if — God forbid! — that apostolic dispensation is not to be held as valid, what will become of those bishops and others who, in the hope of the aforesaid absolution, broke the oaths they had made to the aforesaid Henry? Are they not manifestly convicted of perjury? For if he can justly reign, then those acted unjustly who cast off from themselves the yoke of the allegiance they had promised him.
And yet another thing. What will become of those oaths that were afterward made to King Rudolf, to whose dominion we were subjected by your authority? Behold what a disturbance of affairs! Let all who think soundly take notice and see whether anything of this kind has ever been done, whether a confusion like this confusion has ever been heard of in the Church. See, dearest lord, that the earth is shaken and disturbed. If you wish to heal its wounds, persist firmly in what you have begun, and do not destroy what you have built. For if you wish to turn back on the journey you have begun and to seek detours on account of difficulty, you not only fail to heal what has been wounded, but you wound what is whole. For if, by ignoring what your authority has established, you abandon us in the midst of the storm that we incurred on your behalf, heaven and earth are witness over us that we have been unjustly destroyed.
Chapter 115
115. Likewise, after some interval of time, our countrymen sent this letter to the lord apostolic:
It is not hidden from your holiness how great the persecutions we have suffered in obeying you, how we have been reckoned as sheep for the slaughter, how we have been made a byword and a reproach. If therefore, by enduring such things for you, we have earned no favor from you, and are not worthy to have effort expended on our liberation — why is at least justice, which is not to be denied even to enemies, denied to us? If therefore it is just — as we have learned from your many exhortations that it is just — that we should obey your sentence that went forth against Henry, then why are those who on the contrary proudly resist that same sentence of yours not constrained according to justice? Why do they feel no censure of apostolic authority for this disobedience? Why is that which is forbidden both to them and to us granted to them? Or how is it permitted to them which has been made unlawful for us? Behold, they themselves, without any contradiction from you, give assistance to obtain the kingdom to the one from whom you have forbidden the governance of the kingdom; they serve as a king the one whom you have so thoroughly deposed from royal dignity that you absolved all from the bond of the oath which they had made or would make to him; they share in communion by associating with the one whom the legate of the holy Roman Church anew forbade the governance of the kingdom, separated himself from the thresholds of holy Church by his defiance; they direct all their strength toward our oppression. For whatever evil we suffer, we suffer from those whom you both ought to and are able to restrain. Since no resistance is offered them by your authority, without a doubt the reins are loosened toward our destruction. Therefore, that famous valor of yours, which according to the Apostle always had ready the means to punish all disobedience — why does it not punish this disobedience? Why does it overlook it, and indeed such a disobedience from which unheard-of evils arise, evils without number? If ever we, wretched sheep, have transgressed in anything, immediately, without delay, without hesitation, the punishment of apostolic severity was visited upon us. But now, when it comes to the wolves who with open bites rage against the Lord's flock, everything is deferred with patience and long-suffering, everything is tolerated in a spirit of gentleness. Therefore we beseech you by the name of the Lord Jesus, whether the terror of the sinful man — whose glory is dung and worms — has made you go astray, or the soft persuasion of familiar persons has beguiled you, that you return to your senses, that you be mindful of honor and the fear of the Lord, and if you do not spare us for our own sake, at least for the sake of your own innocence in so great an effusion of blood. For if you permit them to rage against us any further — those whom you ought to and are able to restrain — it is to be feared that before the just Judge you will have no excuse for our destruction.
Chapter 116
116. Thus the entire year was consumed, so that scarcely anything memorable happened in our regions, except that apostolic legates frequently came to both sides, and now promising apostolic favor to us, now to our enemies, they carried away with them from both sides as much money as they could collect in the Roman fashion.
Chapter 117
117. In the following year, which was from the Incarnation of the Lord 1080, in the month of January, Henry, having again gathered an army of no small multitude, wished to invade Saxony, reckoning that the Saxons, being lovers of quiet while peace lasted, would not frequently go forth in the winter season. But the Saxons, already trained by many labors and roused from the sleep of ease by many disturbances, strove with all their might to meet him and to repel his assault from the invasion of their region. But he, with his customary cunning, had divided the Saxons from one another by many promises, so that not long before the day of battle Widekind, Wiprecht, and Theoderic the son of Gero, along with many others, crossed over from the Saxons to the enemy, and Margrave Ekbert, with his legion, joining neither side, sat idly not far from the combatants, uncertain of the outcome of the war, waiting to see to which side victory would fall so that he might join them as an ally with congratulations.
Therefore both armies came together at a place called Flarchheim, and they had taken position so that between them there was a stream, not wide indeed but deep. And so our men, drawn up to defend the bank on their side, awaited the enemy coming toward them on the slope of the hill, so that by the advantage of the position they might more easily push back the descending enemy. And they ordered Duke Otto to be the first to engage in battle. Therefore, while our men thus drawn up were watching for the enemy to come against them, the enemy, as they always used to do, fighting with cunning, caught our men unawares, and while they were expected to come from the front, suddenly they appeared behind the backs of those looking the other way.
Then King Rudolf sent a swift messenger to Duke Otto, beseeching him by God, that mindful of his former valor, as had been arranged, he should not refuse to begin the battle first. Duke Otto replied that if they had come to him first, as had been expected, he would in no way fear their violence; but now he was unable to turn around the formation of his legion; and he asked that those to whom they had come first should receive them with all their strength, promising that as soon as he could, he would come to their aid.
And so the battle began very differently from what had been planned. For the last became first, and the first last. The fighting was fierce on both sides, but it ended in a brief moment. For the Saxons, turning about most swiftly, showed terrible faces to the enemy who had come upon them from behind, and did not cease until they compelled them, turned to flight, to show them their backs. And so the victorious Saxons, having returned, gave many praises, as was fitting, to the Giver of all good things.
From our side there fell in that battle Meginfried, the prefect of Magdeburg, and from the enemy Folcmar and the prefect of Prague, and with them no small number of Bohemians and others. But Henry, who as soon as the battle began entrusted himself to flight, was led away by Lothowig through the forest by hidden paths. His army, not long after, driven to the same refuge of flight, sat down exhausted near a certain castle called Wartburg, and there rested until their bodies could be refreshed with food and rest.
But our men, who held the castle, assailed them with a sudden attack, and having routed them, plundered nearly everything they had: horses, arms, vessels of gold and silver, pepper and other spices, cloaks and precious garments. For in that same company were the patriarch and other princes of those regions, who had carried immense riches with them. This third battle took place in the year of the Lord 1080, on the 6th of the Kalends of February [January 27], on the second day of the week [Monday].
Chapter 118
118. In that same year the lord pope sent the following letter from a synod to the German lands:
Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all archbishops and bishops dwelling in the German and Saxon kingdom, and to all princes, and indeed to all greater and lesser men, who are not excommunicated and who are willing to obey: greetings and apostolic blessing.
Since from the strife and dissension which has existed so long among you, we daily recognize that the greatest peril exists in the holy Church and the greatest harm on every side among you, therefore it has seemed good to us, and it has seemed good also to our brethren assembled in council, to burn with the highest desire and to labor with the greatest effort according to our strength, that suitable envoys, distinguished in both piety and learning, should be sent from the side of the apostolic see to your regions, who might gather together pious bishops, and also laymen who are lovers of peace and justice dwelling in your regions, suitable for this task: who, with the grace of the Lord going before them, on a day and at a place appointed by them, both they themselves and those whom we must still join to them, should either arrange peace, or, having first ascertained the truth, exercise canonical censure upon those who are the cause of so great a discord.
But since we are not unaware that there are some who, overcome by diabolical instigation, ignited by the torches of their own iniquity, led by greed, desire discord rather than peace to be made and seen, we have decreed in this synod in the same form as in the preceding one, that no person of any power or dignity whatsoever, whether great or small, whether prince or subject, should presume with any presumption to oppose our legates, and after they have arrived among you, to act against the arranging of peace; nor afterward should anyone dare to rise up against another contrary to the prohibition of those legates, but all should observe a firm peace without any pretext or deceit up to the day appointed by them.
But whoever shall attempt to violate these decrees of ours with any presumption, we bind him with the chain of anathema, and not only in spirit, but also in body and in all the prosperity of this life we bind him by apostolic authority, and we take away victory in arms, so that thus at least they may be confounded and crushed with a double destruction.
Chapter 119
119. Likewise the lord pope to King Rudolf:
Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to King Rudolf and to all who with him are defending the Christian religion: greetings and apostolic blessing. That the kingdom of the Germans, until now the noblest among all kingdoms of the world, I now see being devastated, confounded, and annihilated by fires, slaughters, and plunderings — how great a grief thereby lodges in my heart, how unceasing a groaning afflicts me in my inmost being — He alone is witness who searches and proves the hearts of all men.
For embassies from Henry are brought to me now quite frequently, both through his own messengers, and through his kinsmen and the princes and relations of other lands, now promising all obedience, now soliciting through various devices, desiring with the utmost effort to accomplish this from me: that they might be able to incline me to their side according to his wish. But since on this side and that both Roman gravity and apostolic gentleness compel me to walk the middle path of justice, I must strive by all means that I can to discern, by the judgment of the Holy Spirit, true justice from false, and perfect obedience from feigned, and to bring matters to their conclusion in a fixed order.
But these things and others, if by God's favor my legates arrive safely among you, they will attest and teach better by the living voice than these letters can.
Chapter 120
120. Likewise the lord pope to King Rudolf:
Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to King Rudolf and to all dwelling with him in the kingdom of the Saxons, both bishops and dukes and counts, and also to the greater and lesser men: absolution of sins and apostolic blessing.
Since Truth itself declares that the kingdom of heaven belongs to all who suffer persecution for justice's sake, and the Apostle cries out that no one can be crowned unless he has fought legitimately: do not, my sons, falter in this warlike fury which has now vexed you for so long a time; do not doubt our faithful assistance because of the lies of any deceitful person, but more and more apply yourselves to the labor — now soon to be finished — of defending ecclesiastical truth and protecting the liberty of your nobility, and rising up against the adversary, strive to set yourselves and your bodies as a wall for the house of Israel.
What has already been decreed in two assemblies of our synod concerning King Rudolf and concerning Henry, and what was there determined regarding the peace and concord of the kingdom — even with oaths — you can learn most clearly through our letters and through your legates, unless perhaps they have been captured; and if anything still remains, you have it ready to hear through the bishops of Metz and Passau and the abbot of Reichenau, who are delaying with us awaiting the outcome of the matter, when they themselves shall have come to you. Lastly, we do not wish you to be unaware that with all the urgency that is required, both with the constancy of our prayer and with the gravity of our office, we do not hesitate both to provide for your needs by looking ahead and to look ahead by providing for them.
Chapter 121
121. In the same year, in the month of October that is, Henry, tireless in the labors of warfare, again gathered an army to invade the kingdom of Saxony. The Saxons, however, with an immense multitude met him at a place called Cancul, and having pitched camp there, they sat waiting, so as to defend their borders from hostile invasion with God's help.
And when, having sent out scouts, he learned of our strength and did not dare to engage it with his own force, he turned to the art of malice, and by the cunning of deceit he divided our army into two parts, so that what he did not presume to approach while it was intact — distrusting his own forces — he would not fear to attack it divided into parts, if necessity should compel him. For while avoiding battle, he marched with his entire army toward Erfurt, but sent his swiftest horsemen back against Goslar, who, having burned certain villages, would hasten back to him quickly. But the Saxons, informed by their scouts of his march toward Erfurt, although they could easily have pursued or even outrun him, having seen smoke behind them, all hurried in that direction, to keep him from Goslar and those parts of Saxony.
But he, carrying out the journey he had begun toward Erfurt, had plundered the town already set on fire, when our army, realizing it had been deceived, leaving behind a great crowd of foot soldiers and horsemen, pursued him. And when our men were already drawing near to him, and saw that he wished to burn the bishopric of Naumburg, outrunning him by a swift march through the mountains, they bravely defended the city from burning.
When he learned of this, burning and laying waste to everything in his path, he came to the river called the Elster; and having seen its great depth, he pitched camp there unwillingly. Here it happened that I learned the various opinions of various people, but which of them the truth favors, I was not permitted to know.
For some said that because he had twice withdrawn defeated from battle, he no longer wished to try the fortune of battle, but with our men deceived by his stratagem, he wished to burn a great part of the region, and thus without battle, as if with the glory of victory, to retreat to his own territories, but that unknowingly he had run into the depth of this river, and thus was forced — since he could not easily cross — to commit himself to battle. Others thought that he had deliberately chosen this place for the fight out of malicious intent, where his own men, whom he did not fully trust, either had to fight bravely, or had to face the peril of the river as the price of a shameful flight. Still others believed that he sought those regions because he hoped for aid from the Meissen men or the Bohemians, for whom he had sent envoys; and if they had been united with him, as he expected, then passing powerfully through Merseburg and Magdeburg and through all of Saxony, he could have laid waste to everything and subjected it to his dominion forever.
Chapter 122
122. Therefore Henry, having pitched camp on the bank of the Elster, at first dawn the next morning arranged his battle lines, because he wanted no delay in battle on his part (year 1080, October 15): when behold, our men arrived, exhausted by great haste and the roughness of the journey, having left many behind on the road due to weariness, and hearing that the enemy was at hand, without delay they arrayed themselves for the defense of their fatherland. But when it was seen that the foot soldiers were exceedingly few, since most were unable to keep up, all the horsemen who did not have strong enough horses were ordered to become foot soldiers; and then, drawn up in order, they advanced slowly to meet the enemy. The bishops urged all the clerics who were present to sing Psalm 82 with great devotion.
Both armies came together at the marsh called the Grona, and because the marsh had no ford, both armies hesitated and halted there, and taunting each other with insults so that the others would cross over to them first, both sides held their own bank without moving. At last our men, learning that the head of the marsh was not far away, made for it; seeing this, the opposing side made for the same end of the marsh by an equal route. When they had come together on firm ground, they joined hands in combat, and on both sides they wrought a pitiable deed. But Henry, as soon as he saw them mingling with each other in battle, gave himself to flight as was his custom. His army, however, pressed our men with such strength that, with some of our men turning their backs, a false rumor came to their camp which announced with lying mouth that the Saxons had been defeated.
And while the bishops who were aiding Henry, together with their clerics, were joyfully singing the Te Deum laudamus, Rappodo, one of the highest princes, was carried in dead. Those who bore him shouted from afar to those who were in the camp: "Flee, flee!"
For Duke Otto, having taken up a troop of foot soldiers, repaid an equal turn to those who had put our men to flight, and did not cease pursuing them as they showed him their backs, until he saw them rushing through the midst of the camp and crossing the river with considerable peril. For scarcely a smaller part of the enemy perished in the river than in the battle.
Then the foot soldiers, hoping for a complete victory, wanted to rush to plunder the camp. But Duke Otto, shrewd in war, fearing that some of the enemy might still have remained behind, warned them to keep their hands from plunder for the time being, until they were certain that no enemy was hiding behind them and could safely plunder the enemy camp.
And so, having returned with the foot soldiers, he found at the place of battle Henry of Laach with the greatest part of the army, already triumphing as if in victory and singing the Kyrie eleison with a joyful shout. When Duke Otto had seen that multitude, he wished at first to avoid it, because he saw that he did not have a force with which he thought it safe to fight against so great a legion; but reconsidering again, since it is not difficult for God to conquer many with few, he boldly attacked them, and God giving them the spirit of fear, he quickly turned them to flight.
Therefore when all the enemy had either been drowned in the river or put to flight beyond the river: "Now," said Duke Otto, "search the camp in safety; now take securely whatever you find; and whatever belonged to the enemy today, call it your own, since your valor has provided it for you!" Before these words were even finished, they overran the enemy camp and seized in haste everything that was found.
And there were found many precious tents, many chests of bishops full of sacred vestments and vessels, many vessels of gold and silver suited for daily use, many plates of silver and gold as well, and the very greatest part of their counted money, very many horses and the finest ones at that, arms of every kind, changes of clothing, and other garments beyond estimation — or to say it briefly, whatever the bishops of Cologne and Trier and about fourteen others had brought with them, whatever Duke Frederick, Count Henry, and the other richest men had carried with them, whatever they had seized in Erfurt — all these things our men plundered together and returned to their own camp in triumph.
Chapter 123
123. But those who had escaped the sword — what calamities they endured in the river, the forests, and the marshes is not credible to anyone except one who happened to see all these places in person. For the river has such banks on both sides that on this side no one can enter it except by falling, and on that side no one can climb out except by grasping bushes or grass and crawling. Many fleeing men, as they fell headlong and plunged swiftly into the river on this side, and on the other side leaped from the backs of their horses onto the bank, hacked at the riverbank with their swords in order to drag their horses out of the river after them, and at last, exhausted from hacking, having abandoned their horses and thrown away their arms, they seized upon flight in terror.
Therefore whatever the Unstrut, where we were defeated, had sinned against us, the Elster avenged for us twofold. For there we lost only our own possessions while fleeing, but here we took from the fleeing and slain enemy both their own goods and ours, which they had taken from us by plundering.
In the flight, moreover, very many brave men were slain by peasants with axes and clubs, many nobles and illustrious men were captured by persons of low rank, many tormented by the cruelest hunger did not hesitate to give horses or swords for a morsel of bread, nor if they found bread for sale did they spare anything of their own. But if any captives were brought to some worthy man of ours, they were healed if they had been wounded, and were sent home to their country freely, properly fitted out with clothes and arms.
Then they were told that Henry their lord wished to return to Saxony with the army that still remained to him. But they replied that they would rather, if it were possible, go around the entire world than ever cross Saxon territory again.
Chapter 124
124. Meanwhile the Saxons, having returned to their camp, found that a great part of their joy had been diminished, because their king Rudolf, having received two wounds — one fatal, the other disfiguring — grieved more for the fall of his people than for his own fate. But when he learned that his people held the victory: "Now," he said, "gladly shall I bear, living and dying, whatever the Lord shall have willed!"
And although his right hand had been cut off, and he had a grievous wound in the belly where it descends to the groin, nevertheless, in order to console those whom he saw grieving over his death, he confidently promised that he would not die just yet; and putting aside the care of himself, he showed his wounded men what treatment should be applied. By which fortitude and piety together our princes were deeply moved, and they all pledged to him in concord that if almighty God should wish to preserve his life, as long as he lived — even if he lacked both hands — Saxony would have no other ruler he should choose. Greatly rejoicing at this pledge, he was released by a blessed death. This fourth battle took place in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1080, on the Ides of October [October 15], a Thursday.
Chapter 125
125. Then in the month of December, when our princes had assembled to deliberate on the state of their kingdom, behold, a messenger appeared who reported that Henry, having returned to his own people from the battle, had boasted that, with the king of the Saxons slain, he had subjected all of Saxony to his dominion, and was now approaching with a gathered army, so as to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord at Goslar. But our men, having assembled a great army over three days, marched out to meet him, resolved to defend their homeland by force. When he learned of this, he fell from his great hope, because he had expected that the Saxons, since they had no ruler, could easily be conquered. Therefore, having dismissed his army and changed his plan, he sent envoys to the Saxons, proposing that since they were unwilling to be without a king, they should make his son their king, and he would swear to them that he would never enter the land of Saxony. To this embassy Duke Otto — who was accustomed to cloaking weighty matters in a certain playful, jesting manner — replied: "Often," he said, "I have seen a bad calf born from a bad ox; and therefore I have no desire for either the son or the father."
Chapter 126
126. When the next Nativity of the Lord had passed, at which the year 1081 from the Incarnation of the Lord had begun, Henry the former king was preparing to enter Italy, in order to put some end to the long toil of his affairs — namely, that either by placating the lord Pope Gregory with a feigned humiliation, or by compelling him through tyrannical force, he might cast off the chains of the ban by which he was bound; or, what he preferred even more, that by forcibly ejecting Gregory from the pontifical see and installing Wibert of Ravenna in that same see — who had already been justly excommunicated for three years — he might freely do whatever pleased his tyranny, since he would have the favor of the apostolic see for his every wish. But his intimates did not think it safe, with the Saxons violently inflamed by the recent battle, to leave their borders open to invasion, since they had no doubt of the Saxons' coming if, by proceeding into Italy, they left their homeland without military strength. Therefore they sent messengers to our princes, requesting a private conference and proposing a time and place at which selected princes from each side might meet to discuss the common good. They met beyond the river called the Weser, in the forest called Capuana, because it is known to belong to the city called Capua [i.e. Kauffungen]. The bishops who met in February 1081 from their side were those of Cologne, Trier, Bamberg, Speyer, and Utrecht; from our side, those of Mainz, Magdeburg, Salzburg, Paderborn, and Hildesheim.
When those from the other side wished to hold a secret conference that only the princes would hear, our men were unwilling to conduct any discussion except one that all who had assembled, great and small, might be permitted to hear. Then, sitting on either side, they were silent for a long time; for our men, who had come at the others' request, were waiting to learn what they wanted; while the others, wishing to appear not as having requested our men's presence but as having come at our men's request, were listening for what our side might ask. At length our men, breaking the silence, asked Gebhard, Archbishop of Salzburg, to speak on behalf of all. Rising — for he was in all things a prudent and honorable man, bringing no small distinction to the office he held — with a modest countenance and a measured voice, he poured forth the wisdom of a wise and devout heart:
Chapter 127
127. "Venerable bishops and all the Saxon princes whom you see present here: they have deigned to impose upon me this task, that I should set forth to you the sentiments of all through the office of my speech. Therefore I wish all of you — holy priests and distinguished leading men — to be asked to deign to hear me patiently, and to bring to the common cause, which I have been commanded to plead, a tranquil mind by which you may recognize the truth and examine the facts; for it is no more in our interest than in yours, if you are willing, to understand what I am about to say. We rely confidently on your own testimony, because we trust that you, although you have departed from our fellowship, have not departed from the love of truth. By your testimony, I say, we wish to prove how many injuries, how many insults we have suffered while we were subjected to the king's service with all our heart and all our will, as was fitting. You yourselves know how often, individually or collectively, we sought your aid, so that in return for our willing service he might at least grant us this reward through your intercession: that he would lift from us the burden of the many calamities that were crushing us unbearably. That we often made this request, you know very well; and what we accomplished by requesting, you likewise know very well. For this we do not blame you, because we have learned that you often labored on our behalf, even though it profited us little. But what final reward he gave to our devotion — what need is there to speak of it, when it is plain before the eyes of all that he repaid us with the worst of what he had in greatest measure? For he cast priests — not only those convicted of no crime, but not even canonically accused — into chains like bandits, or drove from their sees those whom he could not seize, stripped bare of all their possessions; the goods of the churches, by which bishops should either sustain themselves or support the poor of God, he handed over to the supporters of his crimes to be plundered. He has already laid waste to our land many times with fire and sword; he has slain our kinsmen and soldiers, innocent within our own borders, when he had no cause for war except that he wished to make slaves of the sons of free men. Often we implored him, often each and all of you, humbly, that he lay down the sword and settle the dispute with us through legal proceedings, and we readily pledged that we would follow your judgment in all things. What we accomplished by all this, we call you yourselves to witness. Therefore we who are now present, together with all whom the Saxon land holds, humbly beseech you, O most holy priests of Christ, and you, O most noble princes and bravest soldiers: be mindful of almighty God and of your office — consider that you are called to be shepherds of souls, not destroyers, and that you received the sword for the defense, not for the annihilation, of the innocent — and be unwilling to persecute us, your brothers in Christ, your kinsmen in the flesh, any further with fire and sword. Whatever hardships we have suffered from you until now, we forgive you and shall ascribe them to our own sins, and shall call them the chastisement of divine mercy, provided that henceforth we may be secure from your injuries. Lay down the sword and fire, and as befits Christians dealing with Christians, conduct the case with arguments, not with slaughter; and what we asked before the shedding of blood, grant us now at least, sated as you are with our blood.
Many hardships indeed has your lord Henry cruelly inflicted upon us; with many calamities he has wearied us beyond measure, and yet behold, we are ready to accept him as our king, as he once was; behold, we are ready to swear fidelity and submission to him and to keep our oath faithfully and willingly — only let your true assertions establish this: that we may do so with our clerical order intact, and that laymen may do so without detriment to the sacred faith. Nor shall we depart from this field until we have completed everything I have said. But if you deign to attend to our arguments, we shall demonstrate with true, manifest, and firm reasons drawn from the testimony of the Scriptures, that neither clergy nor laity can have lord Henry as king with the salvation of our souls. Now therefore either show us convincingly that he can justly reign, and accept us as faithful allies under his rule; or, permitting us to prove truthfully that he cannot reign by right, extend to us — nay, to the truth — your friendly consent, and cease persecuting us as enemies. And if you object that you are bound by the oath you swore to him, we shall likewise confirm that no oath can justly compel you to persecute us.
This therefore is the sum of our petition: that you either show us convincingly that lord Henry can reign by right, or allow us to show you truthfully that he cannot; and when the matter has been demonstrated one way or the other, that you cease persecuting us with fire and sword."
Chapter 128
128. Then they replied that they had not come together to settle the case, and that they were not of such great wisdom as to presume to undertake so great a matter on the spur of the moment; especially since it appeared to pertain not to themselves alone, but to the king and all those subject to his kingdom. They asked, however, that from the beginning of February — which it then was — until the middle of June, peace be granted by both sides, within which time, a convention having been held, the same case that our men now wished to pursue might be deliberated by the common counsel of both parts of the entire realm. But our men, perceiving their deceit — because they wanted to have such a long period of peace so that those who remained at home would be safe while those proceeding to Italy could insult the apostolic dignity — replied that they wished neither to deceive nor to be deceived, but to give and seek a firm and complete peace until the end of the aforesaid period.
When those men promised to grant peace to all the Germans who were supporters of our side, Duke Otto said: "Do you really think us so stupid that we do not understand the scheme of your cunning? You seek security of peace from us for your side until you can dishonor the apostolic dignity; and you promise us your peace while you mistreat, at your pleasure — if God permits — him who is our head. O what fine peace is given to the body while the head, cruelly cut off, is more cruelly mocked! Therefore give to us and to all of ours, and accept for yourselves and all of yours, either a complete peace or none at all. But if you are unwilling to grant full peace to us and to all our friends, great and small, then go on the journey you have begun — with this warning given in advance: that in your own territories you will soon have unwelcome guests, and when you return from Italy you will not find your possessions guarded as you would wish. For we do not wish to conceal from you that as soon as we can, we intend to have one ruler who, with God's powerful aid, will both defend us from injuries and repay in kind those who have done us wrong."
The common soldiers of the opposing side therefore cried out that our men were offering a fair deal, and their own princes were not accepting what was fair; that henceforth they would be less ready to fight than they had been until then, because they had recognized that the cause of justice lay with the Saxons; and that this assembly profited us more than victory in three battles, because what they had never been able to believe — that our men humbly both demanded and offered justice — they themselves had heard in person.
Thus they parted from each other, with a peace granted on both sides for only seven days.
Chapter 129
129. Henry therefore entered Italy at the beginning of March, intending to sow discord there too, just as he had previously done in the German land, so that he might leave no part of his kingdom at peace, and might not fail to corrupt the tranquility of peace with the poisons of civil wars.
Chapter 130
130. The princes of Saxony sent envoys to all the peoples of the German tongue, to enemies no less than to friends, asking them to choose any other ruler, with the exception of Henry and his son; they pledged that they would faithfully serve whoever he might be, so that all the members of the kingdom, as they had once been, might come together as one under one king. In the month of June, having assembled an army, they marched into eastern Franconia and, laying it waste with plunder and fire, avenged many injuries that had been done to them. For, making a wide path with flames, they came not far from Bamberg, and there, meeting the Swabians as old friends, they deliberated by common counsel on the common business of establishing a king; and after many deliberations, they all unanimously agreed to elect Hermann as king.
Chapter 131
131. But when the Saxons had returned home joyful and triumphant, retaining no doubt about receiving their king, the princes of the opposing side, not forgetting their old craft, sought to disrupt his election by every means, because they greatly feared the elected king. They therefore asked Duke Otto to speak with them alone, and with many promises tried to persuade him to waver in the election; yet they could not prevail upon him to promise them anything definite. While he was thus hesitating, and a large part of Saxony was consenting to his hesitation, the entire summer passed, and his instability had thrown nearly all of Saxony into commotion. But in the month of November, when he was again summoned by them to a private conference, and had already inclined entirely to the side of our enemies, by the mercy of God — lest he lose in his final days so many labors that he had endured for his homeland — the horse on which he was sitting fell on level ground and so crushed one of his legs that for nearly an entire month he could not travel unless carried.
Therefore, returning to his senses by the prompting of God's grace, he understood that he had sinned and had been chastised by divine mercy. Accordingly, sending various embassies, he renounced the enemies and faithfully promised his fellow citizens that he would always remain loyal and in harmony with them. Whereupon the princes of Saxony, greatly rejoicing, received their king Hermann with great jubilation at Goslar, a few days before the Nativity of the Lord. On the feast of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, he was reverently anointed as king by Siegfried, Archbishop of Mainz, when the year 1082 of the Lord's Incarnation had already begun.