selves suddenly stopped, as if by an irresistible force, and turning back,left God's true servant to find his way through the woods to a more hospitable region."
Otto-William was triumphant. Rodolph, having exhausted all his resources, was obliged to ask help of Henry II. An interview took place at Strasbourg in the early summer of 1016. Rodolph made his appearance with his wife, Ermengarde, and two of her sons who did homage to the Emperor. Rodolph himself, not satisfied with renewing the engagement to which he had already sworn, to leave his kingdom on his death to Henry, recognised him even then as his successor and swore not to undertake any business of importance without first consulting him. As to Otto-William, he was declared to have incurred forfeiture, and his fiefs were granted by the Emperor to some of the lords about his court.
Next came the carrying-out of this programme, a matter which bristled with difficulties. The Emperor himself undertook the despoiling of the Count of Burgundy. But entrenched within their fortresses, Otto-William and his partisans successfully resisted capture. Henry could only ravage the country, and being recalled by other events to the northern point of his dominions, was obliged to retreat without having accomplished anything. Thus the imperial intervention had not availed to restore Rodolph's authority. Again abandoned to his own resources, and incapable of making head against the rebels, the king of Burgundy gave ear to the proposals of the latter, who offered to submit on condition that the engagements of the Treaty of Strasbourg were annulled. Just at first, Rodolph appeared to yield. But the Emperor certainly lent no countenance to the expedient, the result of which would be disastrous to himself, and as early as February 1018 he compelled the king of Burgundy, his wife, his step-sons and the chief nobles of his kingdom solemnly to renew the arrangement of Strasbourg[1]. He then directed a fresh expedition against the county of Burgundy. It is not known, however, whether its results were any better than those of the expedition of 1016.
A few years later, when Henry II died (13 July 1024) Rodolph attempted to shake off the Germanic suzerainty, by claiming that former agreements were ipso facto invalidated by Henry's death. The latter's successor, Conrad II of Franconia, at once made it his business peremptorily to demand what he looked upon as his rights, and Rodolph
- ↑ This account of the years 1016-18, which are of the first importance in the history of Burgundy, departs very notably from that given by the latest learned authority who has devoted attention to the question, M. René Poupardin, in his study, Le royaume de Bourgogne, pp. 126-134. Our account is founded on a fresh study of the text of Thietmar of Merseburg and of Alpert, whose meaning appears to us not to have been always clearly brought out till now. The text of Alpert is, moreover, evidently inexact as to most of the points. Although a contemporary, he has made himself the echo of loose reports denied by other authors.
