fluous, is evil. It was not in contempt of our most beloved and most reverent father and consecrator that we compelled the cardinals to depart from the confines of our land. But with those things and on account of those things which they bore in writing, or about to be filled in to the disgrace and scandal of our empire, we could not permit them to proceed further. The exits and entrances of Italy we neither closed by an edict nor do we wish in any way to close them to pilgrims or to those approaching the Roman see for their reasonable necessities with testimonials from their bishops and prelates. But we do intend to oppose those abuses through which all the churches of our land are oppressed and worn out, and almost all monastic discipline is dead and buried, God, through the emperor, has exalted the church to be at the head of the world; at the head of the world the church, not through God, as we believe, now tries to demolish the empire. It began with a picture;[1] from a picture it went on to a letter; from a letter it tries to go on to authority. We shall not suffer it, we shall not permit it. We will rather lay aside the crown than to consent that the crown, together with ourselves, be so abased. Let the pictures be obliterated, the writings retracted, so that they may not remain eternal sources of discord between the kingdom and the priesthood." These and other things, concerning the peace with Roger and William of Sicily and the other conventions which have been drawn up in Italy, which we do not dare to give in full, we heard from the lips of our lord emperor. The count Palatine, moreover, being absent, having been already sent ahead to prepare for an expedition into Italy,—we heard nothing from the chancellor, who was still present there, that did not savour of humility and peace except that he stood by those men in the danger to their lives that threatened them from the people. And
- ↑ The picture referred to is described in the Cologne Annals (Mon. Ger. xvii. 766). Innocent II. sits upon a throne, while King Lothar, Frederick's predecessor, bends before him with folded hands to receive the crown of the empire. Underneath was written, as we learn from Ragewin, iii. 10: "The king comes before the gates, first swearing to preserve the rights oi the city. He is afterwards made the pope's vassal, and takes the crown which he gives."
