Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology on Oct. 26. Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus, Aut. 1583, on Nov. 20, under the name of Bertuald. Surius on Nov. 20, which was the day of his death. Authority Thankmar, “Vita Bemwardi Hildesheimensis episc.” Thankmar was priest of Bemward, sent by him to Rome in the matter of the contention about Gandersheim. He is partial, no doubt, for he gives only his master’s side of the question. His statements are borne out by the “ Annales Hildesheimensis,” ad ann. 1001, 1002, 1007, in Pertz, Mon. Scr. Germ, t. i. p. 92 sq. Thankmar’s Life of Bernward is in Pertz, t. v. p. 765 — 775, and in the “Acta Sanctorum” for October, t. xi. p. 996—1024.] The abbey of Gandersheim, on the river Gander, a confluent of the Seine, stood on the borders of the ancient diocese of Hildesheim. It had been founded in 856 by Ludolf, duke of Saxony, for his daughter, Hathumod, who, at the age of twelve, was made abbess, under the supervision of Altfrid, bishop of Hildesheim. Bishop Altfrid and Hathumod died the same year, in 874. Altfrid had been a munificent benefactor of the abbey, and his successors in the see continued to feel a lively interest in the abbey, which they regarded as an ornament to the diocese. Bishop Wigbert completed all the buildings except the church; and on the death of Gerburg, the second abbess, instituted her successor. Bishop Otwin invested Gerburg II. with the office of abbess, as his predecessors had done before him; and when nuns desired to be veiled, the ceremony was invariably performed by the bishops of Hildesheim.

But in 993 Bernward became bishop of Hildesheim, and at this time S. Willigis was archbishop of Mainz. GanderS. Bernward' sheim became a bone of contention between them during several years, causing scandal, expense, and riot; and, as usual, a woman was at the bottom of the mischief. This woman was Sophia, daughter of Otho II [German king and emperor, co-ruler with his father Otto I from 967 and sole ruler 973–983].,1 who had set her mind on taking the veil in the abbey of Gandersheim, with the purpose of becoming eventually its abbess. Osdag was at the time bishop of Hildesheim — a venerable prelate, very old and very holy, but only a bishop; and the Princess Sophia, as she was about to renounce the world, chose to do so royally, and receive the veil from no ecclesiastic lower than an archbishop.2 She signified to Willigis of Mainz, primate [the leading bishop of a country] of all Germany, that she chose him to perform the ceremony. Willigis readily assented to the request, regardless of the fact that he was invading the diocese of another. There was this plea he might have alleged to extenuate his conduct, that Pope Agapetus II. had by bull exempted the abbey of Gandersheim from episcopal jurisdiction, and made it dependent on the Holy See alone. But the abbesses had never acted on this bull; they had invariably applied to the bishops of Hildesheim to perform all the ecclesiastical functions that they required.

The Princess Sophia was to renounce the world and all its pomps and vanities on the feast of S. Luke. Bishop Osdag, before the day, visited the archbishop of Mainz, and asked him by what authority he was about to invade the diocese of Hildesheim. To avoid a scene and a scandal, the old bishop made this inquiry in private. AVilligis, who seems to have been ignorant of the bull of Agapetus, insolently replied that he regarded Gandersheim as within the limits of his own 1 Otho II., by his wife Theophania, the Byzantine princess, had three daughters: Sophia, abbess of Gandersheim; Adelheid, abbess of Quedlinburg; and Mathilda, who married Ezo, Count Palatine.

3 ** Secundi imperatoris Othonis filia fomes, ut pace omnium dicam, hujusmodi dissentionis dum a suo episcopo, domino videlicet Osdago, sacrum velamen accipere spemit, Willegisum appetit; indignum sestimans, nisi a palligero consecrari, quod ipse annuit.” — Thankmar, c. 21.

VOL. XIV. diocese, and that on the day appointed he would be on the spot, and, in defiance of Bishop Osdag, would veil the princess and those who were about to renounce the world with her, and exercise in Gandersheim the plenitude of his archiepiscopal authority.

When S. Luke’s day came, and the Emperor Otho III. was present with his mother, the Empress Theophania, the bishops of Paderborn, Minden, and Worms, both Osdag and Willigis appeared on the scene, and a loud and angry altercation ensued in the very church, as to which had rights therein. Suddenly Osdag bade his servants plant his throne in the middle of the apse, and seating himself thereon, he proclaimed to all that he had taken his rightful position in the church, and that he would maintain it. Willigis was furious, and violence would have ensued had not the empress intervened with the other bishops, and effected a compromise reluctantly submitted to. Willigis was to say mass at the altar; both were to hold the veil, and together cover Sophia with it; but Osdag was to perform the rest of the ceremony. Willigis had his throne drawn also into the apse, and “that day,” says Thankmar, “the unusual thing was done, never before seen by us, of two bishops sitting together at the side of the altar, both vested in their full pontificals.”

Now when it came to the veiling of the nuns, in the middle of the mass, Bishop Osdag rose, and turning to the emperor, asked him if he gave his consent to the renunciation of the world by his sister. Then he asked all the rest concerned; and when he had received a reply in the affirmative, he demanded of the Princess Sophia, and after her of the other candidates, whether they would take the oath of obedience to the see of Hildesheim [a bishop’s “see” is his diocese, named from his seat (Latin sedes)], to him and to his successors. When they had taken the required oath, he announced publicly to clergy and people that the archbishop vS. Bernward.

had neither right nor jurisdiction within those walls, and that he could not venture to minister therein unauthorized by the bishop of Hildesheim.1 So matters ended, and rested till the quarrel broke out again, when Bernward, whom we have already mentioned, was bishop of Hildesheim. This Bernward was son of Dietrich, count of Sommerschenburg by the daughter of Adalbero, Count Palatine. His mother’s brother was Folkmar, afterwards bishop of Maestricht. He was educated by Thankmar, master of the school at Hildesheim, who survived him and became his biographer.

Bernward was a man with a love of art. He painted, and also wrought in metal with greater skill than many a smith whose life is spent in his art. Several specimens of Bernward’s work remain. He cast the bronze gates, sixteen feet high, himself, for his cathedral, in 1015. They are unsurpassed as specimens of early metal work. The subject of the basreliefs on them, designed and executed by himself, is the First and Second Adam. In the cathedral square stands at the present day his brazen pillar, fourteen feet high, bearing, in bas-relief, twenty-eight representations of the events of our Lord’s Life and Passion, winding round it like a scroll, from the base upwards, after the manner of those of Trajan [Roman emperor 98–117]’s column. The date of this is 1022. In the treasury of S. Michael’s is a crucifix twenty inches high, covered with gold plates, set with precious stones, and ornamented with filigree, made by the bishop. In the same treasury are two silver crosses and one of silver gilt, and two candlesticks of a mixed metal; 2 also a gold chalice set with jewels, all the obtentu regis ejusque matris licentiam ab eodem episcopo (Osdago) obtinuit (Willigisus) ut ibi (Gandersheimii) in natali S. Lucse Evangelistse missam celebraret archiepiscopus et praedictae Sophiae velationem simul cum eo ageret; de cseteris vero velandis virginibus noster praesul suo jure provideret.” 2 Silver with some other metals united with it. They bear the inscription: ** Bemwardus praesul candelabrum hoc puerum suum primo hujus artes flore non auro non handiwork of Bernward. He is known to have made other objects, which were lost in the Thirty Years' War, when Hildesheim was occupied by the Swedes. He was moreover diligent in providing copies of the Gospels. At Hildesheim is still preserved a book of the Four Gospels, beautifully written and illuminated for Bishop Bernward, and dates ioii. It bears the inscription, “ I Bernward had this codex written out, at my own cost, and gave it to the beloved saint of God, Michael. Anathema to him who alienates it.” This is written with his own hand. Another book of the Gospels contains a portrait of him in pontifical vesture, but without mitre, kneeling before an altar.

He built and endowed monasteries and churches, and fortified the town with strong towers. He was a good man, chaste, pious, and abstemious, and is regarded as a saint. Willigis, archbishop of Mainz, was born at Schoningen, near Helmstadt, and was the son of a wheelwright. His talents procured his advancement. He became canon of Hildesheim, and was appointed chaplain to the Emperor Otho II., and had the good fortune to be raised to the primatial see of Mainz by the emperor in 975, and Benedict VII. sent him the pall. The story goes that when he arrived at Mainz, and proceeded in procession to the minster to be installed, he noticed that the haughty burghers, impatient at the idea of being ruled by a man risen from the ranks, had chalked cartwheels on every hoarding and blank wall, and urchins derisively span along the street on hands and toes, after the fashion of a wheel. On reaching the cathedral, Willigis noticed a blank shield hung over the throne. He asked its purpose, and was told that the arms of the reigning archbishop were always emblazoned thereon. “ Go,” said Willigis to a servant, “ fetch me a painter, and bid him argento et tamen ut cernis conflare jubebat.” They were found buried with him when his body was taken up in 1 194.

S. Bernward. decorate the shield with a white cartwheel, and inscribe under it as my motto, ‘ Willigis, remember whence thou art sprung ! ’ ” it is certain that the city of Mainz, after the death of Willigis, out of gratitude for the many advantages it had gained through him, adopted this shield as its arms, and his white cartwheel on a field gules remains the coat of Mainz to this day.

However humble may have been Willigis on the first day of his elevation, his humility speedily evaporated when he felt his power as a prince of the empire, primate of Germany, and lord with power of life and death, making war and concluding peace, over a vast territory.

The proverb, “ Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride to the devil/’ bade fair to be exemplified in the case of Willigis.

Otho II. had confided to him the education of his son, and when his pupil had come to the throne, under the title of Otho III., Willigis seized the reins of government during the minority of the prince, between 983 and 989. Relying on his influence with the emperor, and inspired with jealousy of Bernward, who was a favourite with Otho III.,1 Willigis resolved on reasserting his claim to the abbey of Gandersheim, and of thereby at once extending his authority, and insulting and humiliating his young rival. Sophia was not long in affording him an opportunity. If we may trust Thankmar, under the aged abbess Gerburg II., the discipline of the convent had become greatly relaxed. A bevy of young nuns, nursed in the lap of luxury, as Thankmar says, and unrestrained by a superior too old to attend to her duties, were likely to follow their own caprices. 1 “Hanc iram et indignationem archiepiscopi adversus venerandum praesulcm creavit maxime praecipua familiaritas domini Imperatoris, qua ilium speciali devotione pietatis ceteris familiarius percoluit.... ob hoc animositatem et invidiam plurimorum in se commovebat, apprime quoque Moguntini episcopi, qui indignabatur aliquem praeter se familiaritatis locum apud imperatorem habere." — Thankmar. Sophia set the abbess at defiance, and, in spite of her remonstrances, left the cloister for the more congenial palace, and spent from one to two years there, intriguing with the faction of Willigis, and living in such a manner as to cause ugly scandals to circulate.1 When these stories reached the ears of Bishop Bernward he remonstrated with her, and urged her to return to the quiet of the life she had vowed in her cell at Gandersheim. Sophia listened at first impatiently, then refused to listen at all, forbade the bishop access to her, and flew to the archbishop, to pour into his ear a torrent of wrathful and malicious speeches against the bishop of Hildesheim, who had dared to rebuke a princess of blood royal. u I renounce all allegiance to Bernward,” said the furious woman. “You, archbishop, veiled me; neither I nor the convent of Gandersheim belong to the diocese of Hildesheim; and if you ask for proofs, I can find them. There are plenty at Gandersheim who will swear to this.”

Then Sophia returned to her abbey, and did her utmost to incite the nuns to rebellion against the bishop. Bernward, hearing that this was going on, thought it his duty to visit the abbey. He was received with studied discourtesy, even with insult.

Nowit happened that the church, which had been greatly enlarged and beautified, needed consecration. Gerburg being too old to manage affairs, Sophia had taken the arrangement of the consecration into her own hands. Without consulting the bishop, she sent to Archbishop Willigis, and requested him to dedicate the church. He was only too glad to have the opportunity for reasserting his claim, and he fixed the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, a.d. iooo, for the ceremony. The abbess sent a messenger to Bishop Bernward, 1 Sophia, domina Gerburga invita multumque renitente, ad palatium factione Willegisi se contulit: ibique annum vel biennium commorata, dissolubilis vitae traunitem incedens, varium de se sparsit rumorem." — Thankmar. S. Bernward.

inviting him to the dedication, and informing him of the day. However, shortly after, Willigis postponed the ceremony for a week, till S. Matthew’s day, probably because he knew that in that week Bernward could not attend; he would be engaged, according to his turn in court, in other duties. On the day first appointed, the bishop of Hildesheim arrived at the abbey, and found nothing prepared, except some retainers of the abbess, ready to resist him by force should he attempt to consecrate the church. The bishop entered the sacred building, and said mass before a large congregation, as the people from the neighbourhood flocked in when they heard that their diocesan was there. The nuns stood in their stalls, sullen and contemptuous. It was customary then on solemn days for the people to make offerings of bread (oblationes); these were blessed by the priest or bishop, and were then distributed among the congregation. When blessed they were termed Eulogise, and were given to those present, and sent to those absent, as tokens of love and intercommunion. The rite still subsists in some French churches. The benediction and distribution of the pain benit is a peculiar feature of the ritual in the diocese of Paris.

This blessed bread is, of course, quite distinct from the Host. It is, like the Greek antidoron, a relic of the ancient agape, or love feast, following the celebration of the Eucharist.

When the deacons and subdeacons went to the nuns of Gandersheim for their oblations, they refused to give anything, and when the bread presented by the people had been blessed, and some of it was offered to them, they flung the pieces away, with curses loudly expressed upon the bishop.1 1 “ Oblatas incredibili furore et indignatione projiciunt, saeva maledicta episcopo ingerunt.”— Thankmar.

Bernward, ashamed of the noise and indecency of the nuns, burst into tears, and “ charitably attributing this conduct to the ignorance, rather than the malevolence, of these furious women,” he finished the mass with broken voice, blessed the congregation, and departed.

In the meantime Sophia was living with Archbishop Willigis on the most familiar terms,1 and using all her arts night and day to incite him against Bishop Bernward. As the bishop could not attend at Gandersheim on S. Matthew's day, he commissioned Eckhardt, bishop of Schleswig, driven from his see by the incursions of the Slavonians, to represent him, and remonstrate with the archbishop.

On the vigil of S. Matthew's day Willigis arrived at Gandersheim with the bishops of Paderborn and Verden, Duke Bernard of Saxony, and a large body of followers. On the morrow at dawn, appeared Bishop Eckhardt and a party from Hildesheim of clerks and monks, and after saluting the archbishop and the duke, announced that the bishop of the diocese was detained at court, and could not attend, but that he expressed his surprise that the archbishop should invade his diocese, and undertake to consecrate a church beyond the bounds of his proper jurisdiction 3 and in all fraternal charity he requested him to desist. The archbishop blazed forth into fury, and vowed that he would certainly perform the consecration on the following day, which was a Sunday.

But when on that day the archbishop appeared in the church, Bishop Eckhardt and the clergy of Hildesheim made such strenuous opposition, that the matter was referred to a synod to be held on S. Andrew’s day, and Willigis bade the bull of Pope Agapetus II. be read aloud to all the people.2 1 “ Sophia illi assidue cohserens et cohabitans, haec interdiu noctuque ambigebat.” — Thankmar.

Thankmar disingenuously disguises the fact, saying that he caused some previously unheard of privileges accorded to the convent to be rehearsed. 5. Bernward.

The bishops of Verden and Paderborn, who were unaware before that Willigis was acting in opposition to the bishop, took Eckhardt aside and urged that Bernward should make appeal to the emperor and the Pope, for that otherwise, in the absence of Otho III. in Italy, there was no one to oppose the archbishop, and prevent his carrying matters through with a high hand, and establishing a precedent which it would be difficult afterwards to upset. Bernward took the hint, and started as soon as possible for Rome.

He hastened south over the Brenner, down the valley of the Adige past Trent, and arrived at Rome on the 4th January, 1001, having left Hildesheim on the 5th November. Considering that it was winter, and the passes were deep in snow, he had certainly accomplished his journey with great speed.

When the emperor heard that Bernward was approaching Rome, he went out to meet him, kissed him, and made him take up his abode as his guest in the palace. Silvester II.— the learned Gerbert — was then Pope. Otho had appointed his kinsman and chaplain Bruno, to the throne of S. Peter, under the title of Gregory V. He had been driven from Rome by the turbulent citizens acting under the consul Crescentius. Gregory was replaced by the arms of the emperor, and the anti-Pope John XVI., set up by Crescentius, was mutilated and insulted by his rival,1 and Crescentius put to death by the emperor.

Gregory V. died, it is said by poison, and Otho III. appointed the learned Gerbert in his room. Rome broke out into revolt, but was again crushed into submission by the young emperor. Bishop Bernward arrived when Otho was 1 Pope John XVI. had his eyes put out, his nose and tongue cut off, and in this state, it is said by the command of the hardhearted Pope himself, he was paraded through the streets on an ass with his face to the tail, and with a wine-bladder on his head. An heroic monk of Calabria, S. Nilus, in vain implored that such ignominy might not be offered by one consecrated prelate to another. His voice was not listened to by the Pope, flushed with success. master of Rome, and Silvester II. was acknowledged as Pope by the reluctant and sullen Romans.

The day after Bemward arrived, the Pope summoned him to his presence, and listened to his tale. The disturbances at Gandersheim had already reached his ears, and therefore Bernward found the Pope prepared for what he had to say, and eager to address himself to remedy a scandal. In the meantime the synod convoked by the archbishop of Mainz, for S. Andrew's day, had met at Gandersheim. He had brought with him the bishop of Paderbom, a number of Hessian and Thuringian ecclesiastics, and some from that portion of Saxony which belonged to his arch-diocese. Eckhardt of Schleswig appeared on behalf of the absent bishop of Hildesheim, and read a formal prohibition to the archbishop to intrude upon the cure of another prelate who was absent, and carrying his appeal to the feet of the emperor and the Pope.

When the archbishop heard this, his countenance blackened with rage, and he burst into a furious command to Eckhardt to hold his tongue, and go look after his own sheep in the wilderness.

“ My diocese,” answered Eckhardt, “ is depopulated by the invasions of barbarians, my city deserted, my church desolate. I have no longer a see, and am become the servant of the church of Hildesheim.”

The archbishop then summoned witnesses to swear that Gandersheim was in the diocese of Mainz. But the bishops present interfered, knowing that Bemward was with the emperor and Pope, and argued that in his absence it was unlawful to receive such oaths. Eckhardt again raised his voice and renewed his protest. Willigis roughly ordered him to keep silence, or he would order his servants to eject him from the church. This led to a tumult. Eckhardt, and all the clergy of Hildesheim who were present rose, and protesting that they refused to acknowledge the synod, withdrew, leaving in the church only Archbishop Willigis and his own creatures. Witnesses were called to swear to the boundaries, but no agreement was come to. Some swore that the river Innerste, which flows by Lauterbach, was the limit of the diocese of Hildesheim, others that it was bounded by the Oder, which enters the Leinne at Nordheim. The archbishop summed up in his own favour, and pronounced that the monastery belonged to the arch-diocese of Mainz, and threatened with excommunication whoever should reject his authority or interfere with it, in the district of Gandersheim. A report of what had taken place at the synod was at once forwarded to Bishop Bernward. At this time Henry, duke of Bavaria, afterwards emperor, was with Otho in Rome. He was a pious man, and felt keenly the scandal this miserable contest was causing, and he joined with Bernward in urging the Pope to put an end to it. By his advice, Silvester summoned a synod of twenty Roman prelates, and some from Tuscany. Bishops Siegfried of Augsburg, Henry of Wurzburg, and Hugh of Zeitz, there, with the emperor, attended also.

The assembly was held in the church of S. Sebastian. After the Gospel had been read, and benediction given, Bernward rose from his seat, and stepping forward, briefly narrated his case before the Pope, the emperor, the duke of Bavaria, and all the bishops present. The Pope then asked the council what judgment they gave. The bishops requested permission to retire and consult in private. Permission was accorded, and on their return, Silvester again asked them their decision. They replied, that no bishop had a right to enter another diocese and hold a synod there, or perform any ministrations therein without the consent of the bishop of the diocese; nor could such a gathering as that held by Willigis at Gandersheim be termed a synod.

“By what name do you then designate it?” asked the Pope. The council replied, “ We entitle it a schism conciliating discords.”

Silvester asked, “Are its decisions, then, to be rejected ?” The council answered, “ By authority of the canons and of the holy fathers they are to be annulled.” Then Silvester announced, “ By my Apostolic power and the authority of the assembled holy fathers, we dissolve, break, and annul all that has been decided and established by Archbishop Willigis and his confederates at Gandersheim, in the absence of his brother bishop Bernward.” He added, “ Our brother, the bishop Bernward asks that the investiture of which he has been despoiled by the archbishop, may be restored and confirmed to him. What say you to that, my brethren ?”

The council replied, “ There is no necessity for restoring an investiture of which the archbishop was incompetent to deprive him. But because he beseeches this, if it please the emperor, let the staff of your Apostolic Holiness restore and confirm it to him.”

The Pope replied, “ Be it done, according to your pleasure.” And he put his staff in the hand of the bishop, saying, “We restore and confirm to you the convent of Gandersheim with its adjacent farms and boundaries, and by the apostolic authority of SS. Peter and Paul I forbid any one from interfering with you therein, except so far as the canons permit.”

This done, the Pope asked the council what further steps should be taken. The council replied, that a synod should be appointed to be held on June 22, at Pohlde, near Herzberg, in Saxony, under the presidence of Frederick, cardinal priest, a Saxon by birth, who should be sent thither as legate [an official representative sent by the pope] from the Holy See, to communicate the deciS. Bernward.

sion of the council and of the Pope to the bishops of Germany.1 Bernward did not at once leave Italy. The revolt of Tibui and afterwards of Rome detained him. He was unwilling to desert the emperor at a season of difficulty. But when Tibur was reduced and Rome had submitted, he took his departure, bidding farewell to the young emperor, who was so speedily to fall a victim either to the climate of Rome, or to the poison of the vengeful widow of Crescentius. Bernward, laden with relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor], crossed the S. Bernard pass, was hospitably received at Agaunum by Rudolf, the Burgundian king, and arrived at Hildesheim on April ioth, 1001, being Maundy Thursday.

Frederick, the papal legate, arrived in Germany with the pomp and retinue befitting his office, and on the day appointed for the synod appeared at Pohlde. He was received with anything but obsequiousness by the archbishop of Mainz, who knew the tenour of the paper he brought from Rome. The entry of the legate into the conclave was received with hooting and groans from the archbishop and his party. No proper seat was provided for the legate, and Bernward and the archbishop of Hamburg had to make room for him between them. It was with difficulty that the storm of curses and yells could be controlled.2 When at length silence was obtained, the legate began by urging all present to peace and charity, and then having exhibited his credentials, he presented a letter from the Pope to the archbishop of Mainz. Willigis refused to touch or look at it.3 The 1 Thankmar, the biographer of Bernward, accompanied the bishop to Italy; his account of the council is graphic, it is that of an eye-witness. 2 “ Archiepiscopus et qui ei favebant, mira indignatione et execratione ilium spernabant; quum ad concilium ventum est vix dici poterit, quanta seditione et tumultu agitetur. Nam nec locus sessionis Vicario Apostolici idoneus conceditur; horribilis strepitus ingeminatur, jus fasque contemnatur, canonica disciplina annullatur.” — Thankmar.

3 “Epistolam papae.... profert, publiceque recitari precatus, quam cum archiepiscopus tangere vel videre dedignaretur,” &c. — Ibid. Vicar Apostolic then ordered it to be read publicly. It contained a rebuke to the archbishop for his conduct in the matter of Gandersheim. At a signal, the doors of the church were thrown open, and the armed retainers of the archbishop burst in, shouting, and threatening Bernward and the legate. The conclave broke up in tumult, and was adjourned to the following day by the legate, who strove to make himself heard above the din of arms. The archbishop left the church, but the legate pertinaciously followed him, and bade him attend the adjourned synod next day, on pain of being put under the ban of excommunication. The archbishop scornfully ignored the summons, and departed for Mainz at the head of his servants and adherents.

At the hour appointed the legate took his place in the church, and when he learned that the archbishop had left Pohlde, he interdicted him from the execution of his office in the following terms: — “ Because thou hast withdrawn thyself from the synod, and hast been disobedient to the commands of the Roman Pontiff, by the authority of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and their vicar, Pope Silvester, know that thou art suspended from all sacerdotal functions till the feast of the Nativity, and that thou art summoned in person to appear before the Pope.”

The indignant legate then sped back to Rome, and laid an account of the treatment he had undergone before the Pope and the emperor. Both were filled with indignation, and issued orders to the German bishops to appear in Rome, not only to hold a synod, but also, attended by their vassals, to assist the emperor in constraining the turbulent Italians. Shortly after his return, Frederick, the legate, was appointed to the see of Ravenna.

At Hildwardshausen was a convent of nuns ruled by Rotegard, aunt of Bernward. This nunnery had been given by the emperor to the bishop of Hildesheim, and in the same 6". Bernward \ year he went there to consecrate the church. But the arcnbishop sent his servants beforehand, and they removed all the preparations made for the ceremony, resisted the bishop, prevented him from entering, and beat his servants. Bernward, unable, or unwilling to force his entrance, went thence to Gandersheim; but Sophia hearing of his approach summoned the vassals of the archbishop to her assistance, and when Bernward arrived he found an armed multitude prepared to dispute his passage.

The bishops of North Germany, determined if possible to bring this scandalous strife to an end, summoned a synod at Frankfort, to meet directly after the Feast of the Assumption. The archbishops of Cologne and Trhves were invited to attend, and appeared on the appointed day together with Willigis of Mainz, Rhietar of Paderborn, Robert of Spires, Beringar of Werden, and Eckhardt of Schleswig. The last named, together with Thankmar, the priest, Bemward’s biographer, represented the interests of the bishop of Hildesheim, who was ill.

Willigis, irritated at the absence of Bernward, along with some of his party as hot-blooded as himself, angrily demanded that Bernward should appear in person; but Thankmar succeeded in pacifying them by assuring the council that the bishop was really ill and unable to attend. Willigis refused to abandon his pretensions over Gandersheim, and the council separated, after having ruled that neither the archbishop nor the bishop should exercise episcopal functions therein till after the diet which was convoked for the octave of Pentecost in the ensuing year, at Fritzlar. When the time approached for Bernward to depart for Rome to attend the council summoned for Christmas Day, he found himself unable to make the journey through continued sickness, and he was obliged to despatch in his place hiF old schoolmaster, Thankmar, to whom we are indebted for all the particulars of the Gandersheim contest. Thankmar met the emperor at Spoleto, and tarried with him till the 27th of December, when the council met in the city of Todi. Only three German bishops had come, those of Augsburg, Liege, and Zeitz, though several others, especially Heribert of Cologne, had started to attend it. Willigis contemptuously refused even to send delegates to plead his cause. Bemward was represented by Thankmar. The Pope invited Thankmar to explain the case. He flung himself on his knees before the emperor and the Pope, and implored them to defend his master’s cause, the cause of justice and of canon law. He narrated the whole story, and was followed by Frederick, bishop of Ravenna, who gave a lively picture of the insults and outrages to which he had been subjected at Pohlde. His narrative elicited murmurs of indignation from the assistant Italian bishops on the audacity, the defiance, and insubordination of the archbishop of Mainz, and they demanded his immediate excommunication. But the German prelates urged delay till archbishop Heribert of Cologne should arrive, and the council was prorogued till January 6, 1002. But by that day no more bishops had come out of Germany, and the assembly was again postponed to the morrow. As on that day they had not appeared, no final decision was arrived at.

On January 13 Thankmar departed for his own country, laden with presents from the emperor. A few days later Otho III. died, poisoned by Stephania, the widow of Crescentius, who had nursed her revenge, and with subtle malignity had woven her spells round the young emperor till he had fallen a victim, first to her beauty and then to her vengeance. She became his mistress that she might obtain the chance of poisoning him. He died at the age of twenty-two S. Bernward.

The death of Otho prevented the assembly of the diet at Fritzlar. Italian poison, which had freed Rome of the presence of a barbarian emperor, speedily relieved it also from that of a German and virtuous Pope. Silvester II. died May 12, 1003. The cup was mixed for him also by Stephania, according to popular belief.1 Otho dying childless, the succession to the throne was disputed. Henry of Bavaria claimed it as the nearest of kin, and was supported by the clergy on account of his piety, and munificence towards the Church. The other competitors were Hermann of Swabia, and Eckhardt of Meissen. But Henry’s party was considerably strengthened by the adhesion of Willigis. Eckhardt, his most dangerous opponent, lost his life before he could carry his projects into execution.

Henry was crowned at Aix-la- Chap ell e, and Hermann resigned his pretensions. On August 10 Henry II. arrived at Paderborn, and there his wife Cunegund was crowned by Willigis. In the meantime, Gerburg II., abbess of Gandersheim, had died, and Sophia was elected in her room. She sent at once to Willigis, and he instituted the new abbess, without Bernward being in a position to resist, for she had wrung from the emperor permission to have the ceremony performed by the archbishop.

Henry, who had been distressed at the contest before he was emperor, now that he was in power used his best endeavours to bring about a conciliation between Willigis and Bernward. In 1007 the emperor celebrated Christmas at Pohlde, surrounded by his princes lay and ecclesiastical. He took the opportunity to urge on Willigis to submit the matter of Gandersheim to his arbitration. The archbishop 1 “Veneficio ejusdem mulieris etiam Papa Romanus gravatus asseritur; ita ut loquendi usum amiserit.” — Ann. Saxo.

VOL. XIV. 8 felt it was not to his interest to oppose the king. Henry then announced that the consecration of the church at Gandersheim should take place on the 5th January next ensuing, and the veiling of the nuns on the following day, the Feast of the Epiphany, and he invited both Willigis and Bernward to be present and hear his award. On the appointed day the emperor arrived, and Bernward was required to say mass. When mass was ended, the king went forth with the archbishop and bishop and addressed the people. He said that he recognized the church and the adjacent farms as belonging to the bishop of Hildesheim. Willigis, shamed at his past pertinacity, thrust his pastoral staff into the hand of Bernward, and said, “ Beloved brother, I renounce all right over this church, and I give to you this pastoral staff which I hold, as a testimony before Christ, the king, and our brethren, that neither I nor my successors can have any right here/’ Thus the wretched contest had been brought to an end by the king, before whose face, as Thankmar says, all strifes melted away, and foes became friends. For the rest of his days Willigis remained on the best terms with Bernward, probably heartily regretting the impetuosity and ambition which had caused such discord, and had brought upon himself not a little reproach.

Willigis died in ion, and is regarded as a saint. From the lessons for his festival in the diocese of Mainz (February 23) every allusion to the Gandersheim affair is carefully excluded. It is the same with a life of the saint existing in MS. in the Mainz Cathedral library. Bernward has greater claims to a place in the Kalendar, which he occupies on October 26. He died in the odour of sanctity about a.d. 1022, and was canonized by Pope Celestine III. in 1194.