his adhesion. The expedition thus rapidly carried out, with a decision all the more remarkable as Odo II had at that very moment to reckon with the hostility of the king of France against whom he had rebelled[1], certainly had the result of deciding a large number of the Burgundian lords, whether willingly or unwillingly, to declare for the Count of Blois. The Archbishop of Lyons and the Count of Geneva pronounced against the Emperor. It was high time for the latter to intervene.
Having secured the submission of the Polish duke, Mesco II, Conrad hastened back and in the depth of winter marched without stopping upon Basle (January 1033). From thence he quickly reached Soleure and then the monastery of Payerne, to the east of Lake Neuchâtel. He took advantage of the Feast of Candlemas (2 February) to have himself solemnly elected and crowned there as king of Burgundy by the nobles who favoured his cause and had come to meet him. From thence he advanced to lay siege to Morat, which was held by the partisans of the Count of Blois. But the cold was so intense and the resistance of the besieged so determined that Conrad was forced to abandon the enterprise and fall back upon Zurich, and from thence return to Swabia until the season should be more favourable.
Luckily for the Emperor, Odo was obliged during the spring of 1033 to make head against Henry I, King of France, who for the second time had made an attempt upon Sens[2], and he was for several months quite unable to follow up his early successes in Burgundy. Some months later hostilities were resumed between Conrad and his rival, but already the latter had begun to cherish new projects, and instead of entering Burgundy he invaded Lorraine and threatened Toul. Conrad replied by an invasion of Champagne. Both parties, having grown weary of the fruitless struggle, decided on opening negotiations. A meeting took place; according to the German chroniclers Odo took an oath to abandon all claims upon Burgundy, to evacuate the fortresses he still held there, and to give hostages for the fulfilment of these promises finally, he undertook to give the nobles of Lorraine, who had suffered by his ravages, every satisfaction which the imperial court should require.
These promises, if they were really made, were too specious to be sincere. As soon as the Emperor had withdrawn in order to suppress a revolt of the Lyutitzi on the borders of Pomerania, Odo renewed his destructive expeditions through Lorraine. Conrad realised that he must first of all make a good ending of his work in Burgundy; he gained the help of Humbert Whitehands, Count of Aosta; he was therefore able in May 1034 to make a junction at Geneva with some Italian troops brought to him by Boniface, Marquess of Tuscany; without
