Читать книгу 21 MYSTERY & ROMANCE NOVELS - Robert Barr - Страница 77

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It would perhaps be wrong to censure the two Archbishops for military neglect in failing to take note of anything that was happening except in the very limited space which was encircled by their combined forces. The siege had gone on for so long that it had become largely a matter for routine. The Emperor was supposed to be in the far East, and their Lordships had been kept continually informed of his valorous doings in that distant region, but even if he had been in his capital it is little likely that the august prelates would have paid much heed to his vicinity, for it had been a long time since the powerful princes who ruled in Treves and Cologne had taken account of the commands, much less the desires, of their nominal overlord at Frankfort. It may seem strange that the news of a largely increased force at the capital had not reached them, but news at best travelled slowly, even when specially sent, and in this case it had to pass through the territory of the Archbishop of Mayence, and he, if he knew what was going on at Frankfort, would not have felt it his duty to communicate the intelligence to one who had been his open enemy, or to the other who had deserted him.

Thus, then, it came about that the first intimation the Archbishops had of impending calamity from outside was the appearance of the soldiers of the Emperor on the plain at the edge of which their camp was set, while other troops were seen marching up the valley of the Moselle. The progress of the newcomers was so rapid that simultaneous tidings of their approach came from several quarters at once, and before the fourth messenger had told his tale, a final one came from Alken, saying a company had gone up the valley of the Thaurand, and had cut off communication between the camp of their Lordships and the force which was besieging the castle. While the Archbishop of Cologne was listening in wonder to this account of the entirely unexpected advent of an outside army, his more astute brother of Treves at once saw that the camp was surrounded, and remembered that, although his own forces around Thuron might be strong enough to repel the invaders, yet there was no officer among them with sufficient authority to command his troops to fight, unless he had orders to that effect from the Archbishop himself. This situation lent seriousness to the position of their Lordships, who might thus be taken prisoners while their own armies lay idle, almost within calling distance.

"What does this incursion mean?" asked the Archbishop of Cologne, "and what is to be done in the face of it?"

"Neither of these questions can I answer at this moment. It cannot be that his Lordship of Mayence has made common cause with Heinrich of Thuron, and has had the temerity to put this small force against ours, yet our long futile lingering here may have given him a scant respect for us, which is not without a basis of reason."

They were together in the large tent, and before Konrad von Hochstaden could reply, word was brought that Baron von Brunfels, accompanied by a strong escort, had ridden into camp and demanded audience.

"Ay!" cried the Prince of Treves, "it is Brunfels, then, whom we have to thank for this surprise. The Emperor's long absence has encouraged him to strike a blow on his own account. He will not be difficult to deal with, for he has no show of right in attacking nobles of higher station than his own, unless by the Emperor's direct command, and he himself would be the first to counsel his Majesty against so grave a blunder."

"Perhaps the Emperor has sent him such permission."

"It may be, but I doubt it. I remember now that when Brunfels was last in Treves I refused to see him, yet, if he resented that as a rebuff, he has taken long to bring his anger to a heat. He is a cautious man, and a dangerous one. I would much rather meet your friend of Mayence. We will admit him and set conjecture at rest."

When Baron von Brunfels entered, he bowed low to each of the prelates, who returned his salutation with dignified courtesy.

"Your Lordships will pardon me if I plunge at once into my mission without introduction, as the matter with which I am charged is urgent. I am commanded by his Majesty, Rodolph of Hapsburg, Emperor of Germany, to see that an immediate injunction is placed upon the commander of the besieging forces around Thuron, ordering him to permit the passing of food and wine through the lines for the consumption of those in the beleaguered stronghold. The laden horses will presently reach Alken, and it is his Majesty's wish that they proceed to the castle without interruption."

"It is most remarkable that the Emperor should have found occasion to send from the Holy Land instructions so minute regarding the re-victualling of a castle on the Moselle," said the Archbishop of Treves, in his most icy tone. "Am I at fault if I infer that the imperial message has been coloured somewhat during transmission?"

"My Lord, you are evidently not aware that his Majesty is now encamped within less than half a league of this spot. May I urge upon your consideration that there is danger in delay."

"Danger? To whom?"

"I am a plain spoken man, my Lord and I find a difficulty in impressing upon you the seriousness of the situation, in terms suitable for me to use in addressing you. His Majesty is at the head of a force which, compared with that under your joint command, is overwhelming. Your camp is at this moment surrounded, and the messenger you send will be compelled to carry a passport from his Majesty before he gets word with your general. I therefore counsel you to make haste in forwarding the message, for, if the convoy reaches your lines before the messenger, it will force its way through to the castle gates, and thus we may have unnecessary bloodshed to deplore."

"Let us have no bloodshed," said the Archbishop of Cologne, speaking for the first time. "If the situation stands as Baron von Brunfels describes it, resistance is useless."

"I assure you such is the case, my Lord of Cologne, and I thank you for your suggestion. I again implore you to give the order I ask for."

"Softly, softly," said the Archbishop of Treves, in his smoothest manner. "This haste appears to me more suspicious than convincing. I must ask to see the Emperor before I can believe so readily that he has returned at a moment so critical."

"The moment is so critical, my Lord, that I ignore your reflection on my truthfulness, and, as regards seeing His Majesty, my next office is to command the immediate attendance of both your Lordships to make explanation satisfactory to him regarding this siege."

"If the Emperor desires explanation from me he may come to my city of Treves and ask for it."

"My Lord, I deeply regret my inability to convince you of the peril in which you stand, and which you insist, to my sorrow, upon augmenting. I would his Majesty had sent one more skilful in the use of words. It is no part of my duty to inform you that Treves is at this moment in the possession of the imperial troops, as also is the city of Cologne. It seems you cannot understand that, for the first time since Frederick Barbarossa, Germany has an emperor. Your angry sovereign I have with difficulty constrained to give you a hearing, and now my mission has failed. Your camp is surrounded, your troops are outnumbered, your cities are taken, yet you stand here wasting the few moments allowed you to show some inclination of obedience, and thus give your friends an opportunity of interceding on your behalf with his Majesty."

"Treves taken?" murmured von Isenberg, like a man speaking in a dream.

"I bid you farewell," continued the emissary of the Emperor, "and return to his Majesty to report the lack of success which has attended my mission."

"Stop! Stop!" cried von Hochstaden. "I will accompany you to the Emperor's headquarters. The siege has been carried on against my will; indeed I should never have engaged in it were it not that I was assured the castle would be delivered to us when we sat down in force before it, and even then I assisted merely to uphold the feudal law which had been violated by Black Heinrich. His Majesty was absent, and I held it but the bare duty of a good vassal to make a stand for rightful authority, when the Emperor was not here to assert his privileges."

The Archbishop of Treves cast one malignant glance of intense hatred at his timorous ally, who was so palpably eager to save himself at the expense of his partner. He scorned, however, to make reply, and remained silent while von Brunfels spoke.

"Such is not the understanding his Majesty has of the beginning of the contest. He is informed that Count Heinrich appealed to his Emperor and yours, yet you immediately attacked the Count, and I, acting for the Emperor in his absence, have received no notice of the appeal, nor have I had any communication with either of you regarding this siege during the two years it has been in progress. I trust you will be able to convince his Majesty that his present view of the case is based on inaccurate information."

"I admit——" began the trembling Archbishop of Cologne, but his colleague interrupted him.

"We admit nothing. We shall wait upon the Emperor together, for in this matter my doughty auxiliary and I stand or fall in company. What has been done has been done after mutual consultations, and with the consent of both. If then we are to be threatened, I ask you to inform his Majesty that we shall appeal direct to the Pope, and I think the young Emperor will be ill-advised to bring on a contest between himself and the Holy Church, for such conflicts have resulted disastrously for monarchs before now, even when they were more firmly seated on their thrones than Rodolph of Hapsburg is on his."

"My Lord, I am dismayed to find that what I have said has been construed into a threat. Such was not my intention, and I beg you to believe that anything approaching a menace would bring censure on me from his Majesty, and in the launching of it I should be gravely exceeding my commission. Nevertheless, I cannot be blind to the fact that your words bear distinct defiance against his Majesty the Emperor, but as I have myself so far fallen short of my purpose, which was not to intimidate, but to impress upon you the plight in which you stand, I shall forget your words and consider them unsaid, extending to you that merciful construction of your language which I hope you, in turn, will kindly bestow upon me."

"I ask no consideration from you, my Lord of Brunfels. What I have said, I have said. I shall appeal to the Pope and place myself under his august protection. Any action taken against me is an action against the Holy Church, and the consequences must fall on whose head they may, be it that of Baron or that of Emperor."

"I the more deeply regret this decision that I have already had communication with his Holiness the Pope upon the matter in question."

"Ha! With what result?"

"When the siege was begun, I considered it my duty, in the interest of the absent Emperor, to obtain some decision from the Pope that might be an aid to his Majesty on his return. I sent an envoy to Rome and acquainted his Holiness with the cause of the quarrel, in so far as it was understood by me, informing him that the siege had been entered upon, asking him whether or not the Emperor was to believe that the conduct of your Lordships had the sanction and support of his Holiness. The reply to my message stated that it was impossible for his Holiness to judge who was in the right or who was in the wrong, as he had heard nothing of your Lordships' side of the matter."

"A most just and admirable decision."

"Commendable and cautious, as I thought at the time, but still erring, if anything, on the side of vagueness."

"I cannot permit you to criticise the message of his Holiness in my presence, Baron von Brunfels. The answer was clarity itself."

"The second message undoubtedly was, and perhaps its receipt made me place less than true value on the first. When the siege had continued a year and a half without visible result, I thought it my duty to send another message to the Pope giving him a brief outline of the situation. I said that Count Heinrich apparently held you both powerless. I feared that if you could do nothing against one of the humblest of your vassals, there was little to be expected were you suddenly confronted with the power of the empire. I informed his Holiness that there was now collected in and near the capital a well-drilled force of nearly a hundred thousand men, all animated by the wildest enthusiasm for their Emperor, to whose return they were most impatiently looking forward. I implored his Holiness to give me his view of the case, so that I might be properly equipped for advising his Majesty upon his arrival, saying that I feared the gravest complications, because war had been waged in his Majesty's dominions without his consent, adding that his Majesty might decide you were rebels caught red-handed, and might, alas, treat you as such."

"Your account did not lack a spice of partizanship and exaggeration."

"I endeavoured to adhere strictly to the truth. The army at Frankfort was larger than I stated, and its numbers were being continually increased. My prediction regarding his Majesty's opinion of the siege has been more than fulfilled."

"No matter. What said his Holiness the Pope?"

"His answer was a marvel of close and accurate reasoning. He said he divided your authority under two heads, namely, the spiritual and the temporal. In one section he assumed responsibility; in the other he disclaimed it. What you did as Archbishop of the Church was his concern; your acts as an elector of the Empire you must answer for to his Majesty, to whom he sent his blessing. He had made inquiry regarding your quarrel with Count Heinrich, and so far as he understood it, no question affecting the Church had arisen. Count Heinrich had been charged with a violation of the Feudal Law, and had therefore appealed to the Emperor, and not to the Pope, as would have been the case had the dispute been ecclesiastical. His Holiness regarded your alliance as a military union between the electors of Treves and Cologne, and not as a spiritual conjunction of the Archbishops of those two cities. The duty then devolved upon the Emperor to deal with the two electors, and if the result unfortunately caused a vacancy in the Archbishoprics of Treves and Cologne, his Holiness would be pleased to appoint to those august offices two prelates who would be personæ gratæ to his Majesty."

The Archbishop of Treves remained silent, a deep frown on his brow, his thin lips tightly compressed. During the interesting recital, he glanced darkly and suspiciously at the narrator several times, but he evidently saw no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report, in fact the account bore internal evidence of its correctness, for he knew the cautious nature of the Pontiff, and was well aware that His Holiness desired to have on the side of the Church the strong and winning hand.

The Archbishop of Cologne, however, was voluble in his praise of the pontifical decision.

"A most able exposition," he cried. "Would that I had heard it when it was delivered. I have been misled and deceived from the first. It was not my wish to continue the siege, and I am here now under coercion. That I can prove to his Majesty, and I beg your intercession, Baron von Brunfels, explaining to his Majesty that I am here, and have been here, against my will. If I had known that his Holiness, the Pope, had given such a decision—an admirable and most excellent laying down of the law—I would at once have withdrawn my men, even if we had to cut our way through all opposition. Pray so inform his Majesty. Why did you not place before us the expression from his Holiness, Baron; then all this difficulty might have been avoided?"

"I had not the honour to serve your Lordships. I acted throughout in the interests of his Majesty, the Emperor, whose vassal I am. May I now for the last time ask you to give me the order I previously requested from you?"

"Surely, surely," cried von Hochstaden, "and that at once. My Lord of Treves, it is your men who compose the line near the village, therefore I beseech you to give the order. I would immediately give it myself," he added, turning to von Brunfels, "but I have little authority in the camp, and I might not be obeyed. If your laden horses will approach the castle from the other side, I will bestow instruction upon my Captain there to permit them to pass."

The Archbishop of Treves looked on in sullen silence and made no observation, but neither did he take the action required of him. A messenger entered breathless with the news that a force flying the imperial flag had broken the line near the village, and that a convoy of burdened animals was now mounting the slope towards the gates of the castle. The Archbishop of Cologne wrung his hands, and, almost on the verge of tears, bemoaned the unfortunate occurrence, calling on Heaven and all present to witness that he was not the cause of it. The impassive mask of the Archbishop of Treves gave no indication regarding the nature of the thoughts that were passing through his mind.

"My Lords," said von Brunfels impressively, "whoever is to blame, the action I feared has taken place, while we were wasting precious moments in useless talk. The second part of my mission is still to be accomplished, and I wish it a better ending than that which has attended the first. I command you, in the name of the Emperor, to appear together before him at high noon in the royal tent now erected on this plain. You will come prepared to answer truthfully all questions put to you, and his Majesty will listen patiently to whatever explanation you are pleased to offer for your grave infraction of the Feudal Law. I entreat you to believe that nothing but instant and abject submission will be of avail."

"His Majesty shall have it from me," earnestly alleged the Archbishop of Cologne.

The Archbishop of Treves made no comment, but gravely inclined his head, as the envoy of the Emperor took his departure.