powerful of the Saxon princes. But the bearded roughlooking warriors, with their blunt uncourtly ways and loud speech, found no favour in the eyes of the wilful child. He refused with obstinate persistence to make any response to their friendly and good-humoured overtures or even to acknowledge their presence when they appeared at court. Probably, as historians suggest, this boyish antipathy would have been eventually overcome had Henry's opportunities of meeting the princess been more frequent. A closer acquaintance would have made a more favourable impression and unfolded to his growing intelligence the sterling worth which lay hidden beneath their unpolished exteriors. Unfortunately, he did not remain long enough with Hanno for his dislike to be softened or removed, and henceforth his life was spent with men who still further prejudiced his mind against the unoffending chiefs. Had the King been left to the tuition of the saintly Archbishop, and undergone a severe though judicious training, the whole course of his unhappy life would have been changed. "His natural propensities make it difficult to judge whether he would have proved a good man," yet under the charge of so keen a politician as Hanno, he would at least have proved a successful monarch, capable of wielding with authority the sceptre of his sires. But, alas! ere he had learned the value of his tutor, and before he had overcome the faults engendered by over-indulgence, the poor child was again thrown into the vortex of self-gratification and idleness. In the October of 1061, when Henry had been little more than a year with Hanno, the Archbishop went to Rome. He intended by his presence at the coronation of Alexander to testify his loyalty to that Pontiff, and, in spite of the wishes of the Empress to the contrary, he would not forego his resolution. During his absence the "talented and witty, but gay and immoral" Adalbert, Bishop of Bremen, succeeded in drawing the King into his power. The monarch being young and impressionable, hailed with delight the freedom, the change Empress Quits Germany afforded and was not at all willing to return to the strict surveillance of his former guardian. In Adalbert's palace he was at full liberty to devote his hours to ease and pleasure, and to indulge without restraint in the licentious customs of the day. His passions, encouraged by the example of the worldly prelate, became his master and made a moral shipwreck of all the glorious and noble qualities he had inherited from his sires. If the Empress had entertained hopes that her son's removal from Hanno's charge would restore her own authority as Regent, she was soon undeceived. Adalbert was far too politic to allow her to resume the reins of government, which he preferred to keep in his own hands. The young King who, according to historians, treated all serious matters as a jest, was only too glad to resign his responsibilities to whomsoever would relieve him of the trouble. The wily Archbishop therefore soon possessed himself of the supreme authority which was supplemented by absolute control of the exchequer. The position of the Empress was indeed a most unhappy one. Bereft of her husband, and separated from her child, there needed but the usurpation of her power in the empire to crush her proud spirit to the earth. Bitterly had she deplored her hostile attitude towards the Church upon whose gentle bosom she now desired to breathe out her repentance and her grief. Quitting Germany where she was no longer acknowledged as Regent, she repaired to Rome, that bourne of the humbled and contrite. It was but sixteen years since she had last visited the Capitol. Then she had entered the city as a bride, and, escorted by a large and brilliant retinue, had been led by her husband to the throne and crowned as Empress amid the acclamations of the crowd. Those days had passed, and now she was returning to the scene of her triumph, overwhelmed by misfortunes which were for the greater part the consequences of her own weakness and folly. Laying aside for ever her jewels and rich robes, she clothed herself in the coarse black garb by which penitents testified to their contrition for past sins. Casting herself at the feet of the Pontiff whom in her days of pride she had opposed, she begged the Apostolic forgiveness that Alexander was only too ready to accord. Although still in the prime of life, Agnes, weary of the world, sought comfort and peace in the shelter of the cloister where, although she took no vows, she remained in strict seclusion until her death some sixteen years later. The calm uneventful routine of her conventual life continued unbroken, except by the rare advent of visitors from Germany, whose reports of her son's misdoings filled her cup of sorrow to the brim. The opposition of the Empress to the free election of Alexander, far from preventing the reform of which it was the pioneer, served to strengthen the decisions arrived at by preceding Popes, "that the hands of the Pontiffs should no longer be manacled with the fetters of worldly advancement." Laws against Simony CHAPTER V God's blessing on the architects who build No less than the builders of cathedrals, That leads from earth to heaven." The Golden Legend.-LONGFELLOW. ALMOST the first act of Alexander had been to convene a Council at which one hundred Bishops from all parts of Europe were present. At this meeting were confirmed the decrees which had been repeatedly issued against “incontinent clerics and particularly simony, a vice which infected all the elections of the time." The laws thus levelled against simony were especially resented by Adalbert. The prelate had no less than twelve benefices under his charge for which he openly trafficked, and which proved a fruitful source of revenue for the King and for himself. Not only was Henry encouraged in his pernicious habits, but funds were supplied from the coffers of the Church to meet the expenses of his licentious pleasures. By this baneful example and influence, the Bishop fostered in the mind of his young charge a disregard of the ecclesiastical rights of which, when crowned Emperor, he would swear to become the avowed champion. The weeds of antagonism and defiance of the Holy See thus early developed in a fruitful soil, were never afterwards eradicated. 6777 Nor was this intolerance confined to spiritual matters, but extended to state affairs, and led to serious disturbances in the Empire. Encouraged by Adalbert's short-sighted policy, the King ridiculed the Saxon chiefs to their faces, and by his insults so roused their ire, that they broke out into open rebellion. The rising was quickly suppressed by the imperial troops, but the courage of the princes was not damped by this reverse. The powerful Dukes of Suabia and Bavaria, though quieted for a time, were not conquered, and only awaited an opportunity of revenging themselves for the King's insolence and tyranny. In the following year (1065) Adalbert, unwilling to take the further responsibility of the Regency, declared the King, though only in his sixteenth year, to have attained his majority. The Bishop did not, by this act, intend to resign the reins of power, which by flattering the vices and humouring the fancies of the youthful monarch, he still trusted to retain. King but in name, Henry took up his royal residence at his birthplace, Goslar, a well-fortified city which lay at the foot of the Rammelsberg, in the heart of Saxony. The city dated back to the year 920, when it was founded by the first who bore the name upon which Henry brought such discredit. The restless nobles, roused to fury by the continued misgovernment of the King, which they rightly ascribed to Adalbert, at length took action and made a midnight attack upon the palace. The terrified courtiers fled in dismay, and the Bishop barely escaped falling into the hands of the irate Saxons, who had surrounded the building in the hopes of taking him prisoner. It had been the wish of the late Emperor that his infant son should be betrothed to his cousin Matilda. Being unable to effect his purpose, he chose instead Bertha, daughter of the Margrave of Susa. The lady is described as being exceedingly plain and homely in appearance and manners, but of a most loving and amiable disposition. Hanno had, by |