antithesis to the saintly Henry who preceded him. Undoubtedly he sought from the outset of his reign to emancipate himself from the overweening power of the Church. He decided questions relating to the Church on his own authority, often without reference to a Church synod. He kept a firm hold on episcopal elections; he appointed his bishops and expected a handsome gratuity from the man of his choice. From Udalrich, elected to the see of Basle in 1025, we are frankly told that "the king and queen received an immense sum of money." Wipo adds that the king was afterwards smitten with repentance, and swore an oath never again to take money for a bishopric or abbacy, "an oath which he almost succeeded in keeping[1]." In truth the oath weighed but lightly on his conscience and affected his practice not at all. If, however, he did nothing to promote, he did little to hinder, reform. More than one of his charters bestows lands on Cluniac houses, and by including the kingdom of Burgundy (a stronghold of the reforming movement) in the Empire, he insensibly advanced a cause with which he was out of sympathy. The leaders of the reforming party, Richard, Abbot of St Vannes at Verdun, and Poppo, Abbot of Stablo (Stavelot), made steady if slow progress in their work, which met with the sympathetic encouragement of the Empress Gisela. The ruins of the picturesque Benedictine abbey of Limburg and the magnificent cathedral of Spires remind us that the thoughts of Conrad, who once at least is described as "most pious," sometimes rose above things merely temporal.
Conrad above all realised the importance of increasing the material resources on which the Empire depended. By careful administration he increased the revenue from the crown lands; he revoked gifts made to the Church by his too generous predecessors, and allocated to himself demesne lands which had fallen into the hands of the dukes. The reign of Conrad was a time of prosperity for Germany; he encouraged the small beginnings of municipal activity by grants of mint and market rights; the peace was better kept. To Conrad the cause of justice came first among the functions of royalty. A story is told of how the coronation procession was interrupted by the complaints of a peasant, a widow, and an orphan, and how Conrad, without hesitation and in spite of the remonstrances of his companions, delayed the ceremony in order to award justice to the plaintiffs. Stern, inexorable justice is a strong trait in his character. This strong, capable, efficient ruler did much for his country. The allurements of Italy, the mysteries of Empire, had led his predecessors to neglect the true interests of Germany. It is to his credit that he restored the strength of the German monarchy and increased enormously the personal influence and authority of the Crown. He prepared the way for his son, under whom the Holy Roman Empire reached the apogee of its greatness.
- ↑ "In quo voto pene bene permansit." Wipo, c. 7.
