"All well enough in its way! that may intimidate some," answered Dassel; "but in this way you lessen the Papal power, and increase that of the bishops. What will the Emperor gain by the change?"
"What the Pope alone possesses now, will become the property of a thousand different individuals, and I have always looked upon a divided power as more easy of direction than when it is vested in one person."
"Your Majesty's observation is just and to the point," replied the wily statesman.
After a lengthy interview, Rinaldo left the Emperor to take charge of the preparations for the council. Louis breathed freely at the announcement of the departure of the German army for Besançon. Alexander had written to him of the intended campaign of the English King against Frederic. At the same time he learned that Andrew of Hungary was ready to march an army into Germany, as soon as the Imperial troops crossed the French frontier. In the meanwhile, the Emperor, accompanied by several of his princes, and by about fifty Bishops and Archbishops, nearly all of whom were as yet unconsecrated, had arrived at Besançon. King Waldemar of Denmark came to meet him there, but he was attended by only one prelate, the Bishop Absalom of Roskilde, for the northern sovereigns could not make up their minds to attend a council which had been convened in defiance of the canonical rules, and with the sole view of legalizing the acts of the schismatical Frederic. The preliminaries against Alexander, the recognition of Victor, and, as a natural consequence, the Imperial supremacy, were rapidly and skilfully arranged.
As the Emperor was leaving his apartment, to proceed with great pomp to the cathedral where the council was to be held, a letter with the seal of the Abbey of Cluny was handed to him.
"From Cluny! Who brought this?" he asked.
"A strange horseman," said the chamberlain. Barbarossa hastily ran it over, while Rinaldo examined his expression, with eager curiosity.
"Pshaw! it is scarcely worth talking about," said Frederic, laying the letter aside; "at least, we have no time to meddle with it. Still if you would like to know," he added, seeing Dassel's curiosity, "Count Rechberg informs us that he is going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. That is all; the young man could do nothing better in order to escape the bonds in which a sage statesman would have tied him. Let us hope that he will come back completely cured. My lord Chancellor, you may give the signal for our departure now."
Under ordinary circumstances, it is probable that Barbarossa would not have listened so calmly to his kinsman's resolve, but just then he was busied in a matter of interest to all Christendom, and he could think of nothing else.
A long and brilliant cavalcade of princes and prelates proceeded to the Cathedral of Besançon, where the Emperor did not neglect the opportunity of holding the Pope's stirrup. Victor received the attention haughtily, as though it were in some way an offset to the many humiliations which he had suffered. The bishops and princes took their places in the centre of the nave. The presidency of the council was assigned to Victor, with Frederic on the right hand, and Waldemar, King of Denmark, on his left.