DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0169
CONTEST BETWEEN THE TIARA AND THE CROWN. 158
recur to the human mind as twin spirits in immor-
tality.
The fate of Henry, though of infinitely less moment,
may be given in a few words. On his precipitate retreat
from Rome, with a small disorderly force, he was attacked
in crossing the domains of the Great Countess by her
troops, and though he did not fall in the fight, nor yet
was made prisoner, he lost so many men and so much
treasure that he was effectually disabled from ever re-
turning to Italy.
His reign in Germany was henceforth undisturbed by
civil wars; but though Otho of Nordheim, the hero of
Saxony, was dead, and Herman, of Luxemburg, who
had succeeded Rudolf, of Swabia, abdicated in his favour,
still, the consequences of his crimes and follies, and of
his contempt for human and divine laws, fell heavily on
his later years. He was engaged in renewed conflicts
with the Papacy, and as neither his heart nor his conduct
had been amended, he expired of grief at the parricidal
cruelty of his son, and his end was unhallowed by the
comforts of religion, or by the prayers of the Church.
Henry had not one redeeming trait—unless, perhaps,
indomitable personal courage may be considered such :
and the end of this reprobate and unteachable monarch
inspires neither regret nor compassion.
The genius of Hildebrand rules the Church even now
in all the conflicts with the civil power. His great
realisation of the vision of St. Augustine can readily be
traced. If succeeding Pontiffs had maintained the lofty
standard of personal virtue of this great man, their
empire would probably have been eternal—eternal, not
in the assertion, but in the practice and exercise of des-
potism ; but, like every other earthly institution, time
has proved its resistless enemy. Although leagued with
the civil power, Europe and South America were entirely
subject to the literal execution of the plans of Hildebrand,
and though these were enforced by the most savage
butcheries, the most relentless persecutions by fire, by
confiscation, by poison, by every rigour of the civil and
recur to the human mind as twin spirits in immor-
tality.
The fate of Henry, though of infinitely less moment,
may be given in a few words. On his precipitate retreat
from Rome, with a small disorderly force, he was attacked
in crossing the domains of the Great Countess by her
troops, and though he did not fall in the fight, nor yet
was made prisoner, he lost so many men and so much
treasure that he was effectually disabled from ever re-
turning to Italy.
His reign in Germany was henceforth undisturbed by
civil wars; but though Otho of Nordheim, the hero of
Saxony, was dead, and Herman, of Luxemburg, who
had succeeded Rudolf, of Swabia, abdicated in his favour,
still, the consequences of his crimes and follies, and of
his contempt for human and divine laws, fell heavily on
his later years. He was engaged in renewed conflicts
with the Papacy, and as neither his heart nor his conduct
had been amended, he expired of grief at the parricidal
cruelty of his son, and his end was unhallowed by the
comforts of religion, or by the prayers of the Church.
Henry had not one redeeming trait—unless, perhaps,
indomitable personal courage may be considered such :
and the end of this reprobate and unteachable monarch
inspires neither regret nor compassion.
The genius of Hildebrand rules the Church even now
in all the conflicts with the civil power. His great
realisation of the vision of St. Augustine can readily be
traced. If succeeding Pontiffs had maintained the lofty
standard of personal virtue of this great man, their
empire would probably have been eternal—eternal, not
in the assertion, but in the practice and exercise of des-
potism ; but, like every other earthly institution, time
has proved its resistless enemy. Although leagued with
the civil power, Europe and South America were entirely
subject to the literal execution of the plans of Hildebrand,
and though these were enforced by the most savage
butcheries, the most relentless persecutions by fire, by
confiscation, by poison, by every rigour of the civil and