While reflecting with reverence upon this picture of the Emperor in the crypt, we should also consider the picture of the living Emperor, as revealed in this story of his earthly pilgrimage. If we do this in the right way, refusing to be influenced by those harpies who pursue all great and noble men in history that they may besmirch their memories, we shall be inspired by the example of his great deeds to make our own pilgrimage a blessing both to ourselves and others.
Footnotes
[1]Ingelheim is a small town in Hesse, eight miles west of Mainz.
[2]Johannisberg is a village near Wiesbaden, famous for its wine.
[3]The Rheingau is a district on the right bank of the Rhine, also famous for its vineyards.
[4]Aachen is the German name of Aix-la-Chapelle, famous for its baths and the Cathedral founded by Charlemagne, where his marble throne is preserved.
[5]A canton of Switzerland, which was once subject to the monastery of Saint Gall.
[6]The Alemanni were a German race which occupied the region from the Main to the Danube.
[7]The Burgundians were also a German race which invaded Gaul and founded the Kingdom of Burgundy.