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at the stake in Paris, Lyons, Angers, Blois, and Bordeaux. By his edicts of Châteaubriant (1551) and Ecouen (1553) the punishment of death was decreed for attendance at secret religious meetings. In 1557 ecclesiastics, under the title of inquisitors, were introduced into the parliaments to sit as judges in all cases against heretics. Finally, in 1559, two members of the parliament of Paris, Du Faur de Pibrac and Anne Du Bourg, having been bold enough to advocate in his presence the liberty of conscience, were incarcerated, and Du Bourg was afterward publicly hanged and burned. These bloody measures were the forerunners of religious wars. Henry's foreign policy was partially successful. The English, who were then in alliance with the emperor Charles V., were desirous of securing the union of Scotland by the marriage of young Edward VI. with Mary Stuart; French troops were sent to Scotland, and Mary was brought to France and affianced to the dauphin Francis. Meanwhile the city of Boulogne was besieged, and England gave it up in 1549, for one third of the sum which had been stipulated for its surrender. In Italy, Henry protected Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma, against the imperial troops, and in 1552 became the ally of Maurice of Saxony and the other Protestant princes who were struggling to throw off the yoke of Charles V., and soon after seized the episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Charles, having concluded the treaty of Passau with his German opponents, tried to reconquer those cities, and in 1553 made a fruitless attack upon Metz, which was defended by François de Guise, and avenged his defeat by pillaging Picardy, but was once more defeated at Renty in 1554. The French at the same time were successful in Italy, where Brissac conquered Savoy and Piedmont. Charles having abdicated in favor of his son Philip II., a 5 years' truce was signed at Vauxcelles in Feb. 1556. Henry II., however, soon renewed the war, but fortune did not now attend his arms; the duke of Guise was foiled in his attempt against the kingdom of Naples by the superior ability of the duke of Alva, and the constable Montmorency was totally defeated near St. Quentin, in 1557, by Duke Philibert Emmanuel of Savoy. Had Philip II. improved the opportunity, Paris would have been taken; but his delay gave time to his rival to make preparations for defence; and Guise, being recalled from Italy, revenged the disgrace of Montmorency's defeat by the conquest of Calais in 1558, the only place that the English still possessed on French soil. The Spanish troops under Egmont, however, having won a new victory, Henry II., weary of war and yielding to the entreaties of his mistress, concluded, April 3, 1559, the disastrous peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. He kept indeed Calais, Metz, Toul, and Verdun, but consented to restore all his conquests in Italy and the Netherlands, including no fewer than 198 strong places. Henry's daughter Elizabeth was to be married to Philip, and his sis

ter Margaret to the duke of Savoy. During the festivities which were held in Paris to celebrate the peace and the double marriage, Henry II. was mortally wounded in a tilt with Montgomery, the captain of his guards, and his sceptre passed to his eldest son, Francis II., the husband of Mary, queen of Scots.

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HENRY III., the last king of the Valois family, born in Fontainebleau, Sept. 19, 1551, assassinated Aug. 2, 1589. He was the 3d son of Henry II., and the favorite of his mother, Catharine de' Medici, and in his youth bore the title of duke of Anjou. Being placed at the head of the Catholic army in the reign of Charles IX., he won, in 1569, the victories of Jarnac and Moncontour over the Protestants. He participated in the councils that brought about the St. Bartholomew massacre in 1572. His military reputation, aided by his mother's intrigues, procured his election to the throne of Poland in 1573; but his refined and effeminate habits were distasteful to the Poles, while he himself disliked their independent spirit and coarse manOn hearing of the death of his brother Charles IX. in 1574, he secretly escaped and returned to France, passing through Vienna and Venice. His arrival was marked by the renewal of civil war. The Protestant party, being strengthened by their alliance with that party of Catholics known as the Politiques, had taken up arms; their German auxiliaries were however defeated at Dormans, Oct. 11, 1575, by the duke of Guise; and the king, fearful of the growing popularity of that prince, hastened to conclude the peace of Beaulieu, in May, 1576, the terms of which were so favorable to the Protestants as to be considered a betrayal of the Catholic cause. This gave rise to the holy league, which, under pretence of protecting religion, aimed chiefly at furthering the ambitious designs of the house of Guise. Henry attempted to avert the danger by declaring himself chief of the league during the session of the states-general, which met at Blois in Dec. 1576; but the association clung faithfully to Guise as their leader, and made use of their majority in the states to curtail the prerogatives of the king and force him into another war against the Protestants. After reluctantly carrring it on for a few months, he put an end to it by the treaty of Bergerac, Sept. 17, 1577, and tried by conciliatory measures to win over the most influential of the Catholics. This policy was of little avail; the "lovers' war," as it is called, broke out, which he however succeeded in bringing to an early conclusion by the treaty of Fleix, Nov. 26, 1580. A momentary lull occurred; but the king became more and more unpopular by his unbounded licentiousness and prodigality. On the death of his younger brother, the duke of Alençon, by which the succession to the crown reverted to the Protestant Henry of Navarre, the spirit of the league rekindled; the association extended all over the provinces, and became more formidable than ever; the majority of the nation

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was indeed adverse to accepting as heir apparent a prince who was not a Catholic. Henry III., although not sharing this popular prejudice, was obliged to go to war with his future successor, and assembled 4 armies. By thus increasing its burdens he hoped to make the nation weary of the contest, while he exerted his ingenuity to make such combinations as would thwart the projects of the league. His favorite Joyeuse, however, was defeated by the king of Navarre at Coutras in 1587, and his own unpopularity increased, the league making him answerable for the reverses which befell the Catholic party. On all sides he was denounced as a traitor, and his deposition was publicly advocated. The duke of Guise was recalled to Paris by his adherents, and, notwithstanding repeated orders from the king, triumphantly entered the capital. Henry having summoned troops for his own defence, the Parisians raised a formidable rebellion; barricades were constructed, May 13, 1588; and the king barely escaped from his ambitious rival. He immediately convoked the states-general at Blois, in the hope of finding support among them; but the majority was still against him; his life and crown were at stake; he resorted to violent means, and on Dec. 23, 1588, caused the duke of Guise to be murdered in his own apartment by his body guards, the "forty-five." This was a new incentive to the league. Henry, branded as an assassin, anathematized by the pope, deposed by decrees of the Sorbonne and the parliament, had no other resource but to unite with Henry of Navarre, and both marched in concert against Paris, the principal seat of the league. During the siege of that city, a Dominican monk, Jacques Clément, whose fanaticism had been encouraged by Guise's own sister, the duchess of Montpensier, presented himself at St. Cloud to the king as the bearer of an important letter, and stabbed him mortally with a knife. With Henry III. the Valois family became extinct, and the Bourbons ascended the throne of France.

HENRY IV., the 1st French king of the house of Bourbon, born at the castle of Pau, Dec. 14, 1553, assassinated in Paris, May 14, 1610. The son of Antoine of Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, he was brought up by his mother in the Protestant religion, carefully educated, and inured to hardship. As early as 1569 she took him to the Protestant army before La Rochelle, and placed him under the control of Admiral Coligni. He was present at the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour, both disastrous to his party. He distinguished himself in the military operations in southern France, which were terminated by the peace or edict of St. Germain in 1570. The seeming reconciliation of the Protestant and Catholic parties was to be sealed by the marriage of young Henry with Margaret, the sister of King Charles IX.; it was agreed to in April, 1572, and notwithing the sudden and unexpected death of Jeanne of Navarre, which occurred in June under very suspicious circumstances, the ceremony was

performed on Aug. 17, 7 days before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. A number of eminent Huguenots had congregated in Paris to participate in the matrimonial festivities, and were slaughtered during the bloody night of Aug. 24. Henry himself, a prisoner in the Louvre, saved his life by abjuring his faith. For nearly 4 years he was detained at court, strictly watched, dissembling his real sentiments under the cover of levity. At last, Feb. 2, 1576, he succeeded in making his escape, took refuge first in Alençon, then crossed the Loire at the head of a number of his adherents, revoked his abjuration, took command of the Protestant troops, and successfully carried on hostilities against the Catholics, which brought about the peace of Beaulieu, May 4, 1576. The states-general at Blois having issued coercive decrees against the Huguenots, Henry took up arms again, but peace was concluded at Bergerac, Sept. 17, 1577. On the breaking out of the "lovers' war" in 1580, of which he gave the signal, and was indeed the soul, he inspired his adherents with confidence and ardor, and accomplished deeds of heroic valor at the siege of Cahors, which city he stormed after a tremendous fight of 4 days' duration. He thus gained a high position, not only among his own party, but in the eyes of his opponents. The death of his mother in 1572 had left him king of Navarre, and on the death of the duke of Alençon, or rather of Anjou, youngest brother of Henry III., June 10, 1584, he became heir apparent to the French crown. He was then 31 years of age. Deserted by Henry III., who yielded to the paramount influence of the duke of Guise, proscribed by the Catholic party and the league as a heretic, excommunicated by Pope Sixtus V., his cause seemed desperate; but although his troops scarcely numbered one tenth as many as the Catholic army, he soon took the field with his wonted courage. The victory of Coutras, Oct. 20, 1587, greatly bettered his fortunes, although it was followed by the defeat of several auxiliary troops sent to him by the German princes. The journée des barricades, when Henry II. was compelled to flee from Paris and to leave his metropolis in the hands of the rebellious duke of Guise, brought about a reconciliation between the kings of France and Navarre, who united their forces to oppose the league, and in concert laid siege to the capital. The assassination of Henry III. greatly increased the difficulties of Henry of Navarre. He was at once deserted by the Catholic nobles who supported the cause of his predecessor, but who, notwithstanding their devotion to royalty, would not accept a Protestant king; the league at the same time raised against him his uncle, the cardinal of Bourbon, whom they_proclaimed king under the title of Charles X.; and the nation itself evinced no partiality for Henry. He was obliged to raise the siege of Paris, was pursued through Normandy by the duke of Mayenne, and seemed to be in imminent danger, when he thwarted the hopes of his enemies by

his heroic stand near the castle of Arques; notwithstanding their large superiority in point of numbers, they were obliged, Oct. 6, 1589, to beat a retreat, leaving from 1,000 to 1,200 men on the battle field. Henry, quickly returning to Paris, seized its suburbs, but could not take possession of the city itself for want of artillery. Another and still more decisive victory over Mayenne, that of Ivry, which he won March 14, 1590, once more opened before him the road to the capital, which he blockaded for several months, and had reduced to the last extremities, when it was relieved by the approach of a Spanish army_under Alexander Farnese, duke of Parma. For two years longer the war was carried on with varied success, Henry being more than once worsted by his opponents, but, amid the most trying circumstances, showing such perseverance, ingenuity, and valor as to uphold the drooping spirits of his followers. A favorable change in his fortunes became apparent during the year 1593. Discord prevailed among his enemies; the ambitious designs of Philip II. of Spain, who openly manifested his desire of placing his daughter on the throne of France, inspired the French Catholics, and even the leaguers, with distrust and anger. A better feeling grew up among the people, who, being weary of so protracted a war, instinctively leaned toward the prince from whom alone peace could be expected. Every thing showed him that the time had come for a decisive step; and he therefore abjured Protestantism at St. Denis in July, 1593, and was crowned at. Chartres, Feb. 17, 1594. Thus the strongest obstacle in his way was removed; the majority of the nation at once sided with him. Paris surrendered, March 22, and within a few months most of the Catholic governors of the provinces and cities also submitted. Mayenne still held Burgundy with the assistance of Spanish troops; but the great constable of Castile having been defeated at Fontaine-Française, June 5, 1595, negotiations were entered into, and the duke, swearing allegiance to Henry, kept the governorship of the province. Picardy was meanwhile in the hands of Spain, against which war had been formally declared; the king led his army against Amiens, and, notwithstand ing the presence of the Spanish army under the archduke Albert, forced that city to capitulate (1597), and the next year brought to submission the duke of Mercœur, who had heretofore acted as an independent sovereign in Brittany. France was now wholly under his control; he gave her peace at home by the celebrated edict of Nantes, April 15, 1598, and abroad by the treaty of Vervins with Spain, May 2. Henry now perseveringly pursued the policy of restoring order and prosperity to his kingdom, strengthening the royal authority, and placing France in a respectable position abroad. In this laborious task he was especially assisted by the duke of Sully. Agriculture, mining, commerce, and manufactures were encouraged; roads were opened and repaired; the army reVOL. IX.-7

ceived a better organization, while strong fortresses were built along the N. and E. frontiers; the navy, which had been neglected, was improved, and attention was paid to the French colonies in America. In short, improvements were made in every branch of the public service. The ambitious aspirations of provincial governors were effectually checked; political conspiracies were severely punished; municipal franchises and immunities, that had been revived or extended during the civil wars, were curtailed; and obedience to the king became the order of the day. After the death of his celebrated mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées, having procured the dissolution of his former marriage with Margaret of Valois, Dec. 1599, Henry married Maria de' Medici, the niece of the grand duke of Tuscany, which secured his influence among the Italian princes. A short war with the duke of Savoy put him (1601) in possession of several valuable districts on the E. frontier. A formidable conspiracy having been plotted by the duke of Bouillon and the count of Auvergne, in conjunction with Marshal Biron, who also maintained secret relations with Spain and Savoy, Henry had his old companion in arms arrested, tried before the parliament, and beheaded, July 31, 1602 A few years later, the count of Auvergne, having engaged in new intrigues, was incarcerated in the Bastile; and the duke of Bouillon, the constant promoter of rebellions among the Protestants, was dispos sessed of his principality of Sedan, and would even have lost his life but for Queen Elizabeth's entreaties. His power being thus firmly established, he resumed the political designs of Francis I. and Henry II., allied himself with German Protestant princes, and made preparations for a fresh war against the house of Austria. It is even said that he aimed at nothing short of. an entire reorganization of Europe, which, according to his plans, would have formed a kind of "Christian commonwealth or confederation," consisting of 15 large states-5 hereditary monarchies, 6 elective kingdoms, and 4 republics

under the direction of a supreme council, called the "senate of the Christian commonwealth." However this may have been, he was on the eve of leaving Paris to take the command of the French army in the north, when, while taking a ride through Paris, May 14, 1610, he was stabbed to the heart by the fanatic François Ravaillac. His death was regarded as a national calamity. Henry's children, by his second wife, were Louis XIII., who succeeded him; Gaston, duke of Orleans; Elizabeth, who married Philip IV. of Spain; Christine, who became duchess of Savoy; and Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. of England. César, his natural son by Gabrielle d'Estrées, was the founder of the house of Vendôme, and grandfather of the celebrated duke who distinguished himself under Louis XIV. The high capacities of Henry IV., as well as his shortcomings and "amiable faults," have always been well known; it is but recently, however,

that his ready wit and charming style have become fully appreciated from the publication of his Lettres missives. This correspondence, which will consist of 9 vols. 4to., the 7th of which appeared in 1858, is published by M. Berger de Xivrey in the Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France.

III. GERMANY.

HENRY I., king of Germany, surnamed the Fowler or Falconer (der Finkler or Vogler), the 1st of the line of Saxon sovereigns of Germany, born in 876, died in 936. He was the son of Otho the Illustrious, duke of Saxony, upon whose death he succeeded to the duke doms of Saxony and Thuringia. His father had been elected in 912 to the sovereignty of Germany, but had caused Conrad, duke of the Franks, to be elevated in his stead. This sovereign undertook to deprive Duke Henry of part of his inherited estates, but the latter fought his enemy at Eresburg (modern Stadberg), and compelled him to acknowledge all the ducal rights of Saxony and Thuringia. Conrad discovered the great qualities of his opponent, and, having been mortally wounded in an expedition against the Hungarians, sent overtures to Henry with the sacred arms and crown of the German sovereigns. The envoys, it is said, found the duke in the Hartz mountains, with a falcon upon his wrist, and this, according to tradition, was the origin of his surname. Henry's election was formally declared in 919, by the nobles of Franconia and Saxony. The dukes of Swabia and Bavaria refused their homage, but were speedily brought to submission. Henry also conquered Lorraine, which had hesitated to accept him. He erected the fief into a duchy, giving his daughter in marriage to Duke Giselbert; and having thus consolidated the sovereignty of Germany, he turned all his attention to arresting the Slavic and Hungarian inroads. The Hungarians advanced into the very heart of Saxony (924). Their leader was captured; and the best terms Henry could obtain was a truce of 9 years in exchange for the restoration of the captured general, and a promise of the continuance of the yearly tribute. Henry made the most of the truce by organizing his army, building castles, fortifying cities, and reducing Brandenburg, together with the tribes upon the Eider and the Elbe, and extending his rule to Prague. From this period dates the fealty of the Bohemian princes to Germany (929). On the expiration of the truce war with the Hungarians was renewed, and Henry gained a complete and decisive victory on the banks of the Saale (933), which for the time relieved Germany from all danger of invasion. In 934 he defeated the Danes, who were ravaging the coasts of his northern provinces. He reigned 18 years, and during that period elevated the kingdom to the height of power and command. He was the terror of enemies, but mild, just, and kind to friends and subjects. The municipal privileges which he granted were the foundation of the Germanic corporations.

HENRY II., emperor of Germany, greatgrandson of the preceding, surnamed the Lame, and in a subsequent age the Saint, born in 972, died in 1024. He was the 5th and last German sovereign of the line of Saxony. He became duke of Bavaria in 995, succeeded his cousin Otho III. upon the imperial throne in 1002, and was crowned at Rome in 1014. His reign was an uninterrupted series of contests with his great vassals, and against Slavic tribes and the Hungarians, whom he labored with much success to convert to Christianity. His zeal in the propagation of the faith, his submission to the church, and his liberality to the clergy, obtained for him from Pope Eugenius III. a place in the calendar of saints. His surname of the Lame was gained by spraining a foot in leaping from a window to escape an attack by the people of Pavia, whose affection he thought to win by dismissing his principal body guard after his reduction of the city (1004). He was rescued by his troops, encamped outside the walls.

HENRY III., emperor of Germany, surnamed the Black, the Bearded, the Old, and the Pious, born in 1017, died in 1056. He was the son and successor of the emperor Conrad II., having been elected during his father's life. He suc ceeded accordingly in 1039. No emperor since Charlemagne sustained himself with more vigor or dignity throughout his reign. He repeatedly and successfully interfered in the affairs of Hungary, and a portion of that country (from Kahlenburg to the Leitha) was definitively united to Austria. Three claimants at this time were contesting the papal tiara. Henry summoned a council at Sutri in 1046, deposed them all, and created a German bishop of Bamberg (Suidger) pope, under the title of Clement II. He subse quently gave 3 successive German popes to Rome, reserving to himself a thorough control of the spiritual administration. The temporal princes he held at the same time in actual subjection, transforming the German empire into a monarchy of which the elected sovereign was absolute ruler. He promoted education, and encouraged art and science. He obtained the admiration of his subjects by challenging Henry I. of France to mortal combat, for having accused him of breaking his word. His first wife was daughter of Canute, king of England.

HENRY IV., emperor of Germany, son of the preceding, born in 1050, died in 1106. He was but little over 5 years old when his father died, and the regency was at first intrusted to his mother, Agnes of Aquitaine; but her authority was overthrown by the nobles, and she retired to Rome, while Henry was taken to Cologne by the archbishop Hanno. Shortly afterward he became the pupil and ward of Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, from whom he imbibed principles of hostility against the temporal lords, especially those of Saxon descent, which embittered his whole reign. At 15 he was declared of age, and in the following year (1066) was removed by the nobles from the immediate control of Adalbert. The counsel and

instructions of the archbishop, however, were never forgotten, and Henry soon manifested a hatred of the Saxons by acts of oppression and violence. He had already espoused Bertha, the daughter of an Italian prince of Susa, and now sought to be divorced from her. The pope manifested opposition, and Henry, after vainly resorting to unworthy means for the accomplishment of his wishes, at length, with characteristic instability, became reconciled to his young wife, whose noble conduct subsequently won and retained his affection. Meanwhile the exasperated nobles of Saxony rose against the emperor, drove him from his favorite abode at Goslar, and successively from other Saxon strongholds which he had built. Henry was compelled to seek safety in flight, and for 3 days wandered in the Hartz without food. Under the guidance of a mountaineer, he at length escaped to the Rhine, assembled an army, defeated the Saxons, and desolated their country with fire and sword. Other princes of the empire now interfered, and the Saxon nobles, after public humiliation upon their knees, were admitted to mercy. Many of them, however, were retained as prisoners, and their fiefs were made over to other vassals. Henry rebuilt his Saxon fortresses, and by his arrogance and extortion planted anew the seeds of revolt. Meanwhile he was suddenly commanded by Pope Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) to appear at Rome to answer for crimes laid to his charge, upon penalty of excommunication. Henry's indignation vented itself for the moment in a missive addressed to the "false monk Hildebrand," informing him of his deposition by the German prelates (Worms, 1076), and of his excommunication by judgment of the same assembly. The pope immediately issued sentence of excommunication. Henry soon learned the necessity of submission. Deserted and threatened by the majority of the German princes, he hastened to Italy, accompanied by his wife and a single attendant, and humbled himself before the pope in the most penitential manner. Clad in a shirt of hair, and barefooted, he was compelled, it is said, to pass 3 whole days in an outer court of the castle of Canossa, in midwinter, awaiting Gregory's permission to appear before him. On the 4th day he was admitted and received absolution. With this, after finding adherents among the Lombards, his courage and resentment alike revived. He began a war with the sword and with the pen, which for 30 years he sustained with the greatest skill and determination, and in which for the most part he maintained the ascendency. Such were the opening scenes of the long and violent contest concerning investitures a conflict between state and church which was destined to rage for half a century, and which, subsequently resumed, was protracted until 1268. During Henry's absence the German princes had deposed him, and elected Rudolph of Swabia, in a diet at Forcheim (March, 1077); but there were yet cities and bishoprics in Germany which remained faithful,

and Henry found himself able to make war. Rudolph was forced to retire from Swabia, which duchy, together with the hand of his daughter Agnes, Henry bestowed upon a bold adherent, Count Frederic of Buren, who soon built his castle on the summit of Mt. Staufen, and founded thus the greatness of the race of Hohenstaufen. The war raged fiercely meanwhile in the fairest regions of Germany. The pope, not sorry to find the rival emperors consuming their strength against each other, is supposed to have fostered the quarrel for his own purposes. At length, reproached by the Saxons in terms which seemed to brook no further delay, he sent the crown to Rudolph, and again excommunicated Henry. The latter, in turn, again declared the pope deposed, and caused an antipope, Clement III., to be elected. At this period (1079) fortune appeared to favor Henry; but in the following year he lost a great battle in Saxony, near Gera. In the action, however, Rudolph was slain by Godfrey of Bouillon, the hero of the first crusade. The fall of Rudolph, although the victory was won by his army, was considered a judgment of God, and the effect was to enlist an immense increase of numbers in the service of Henry, who now marched upon Rome, and besieged it with short intervals during 3 years. Gregory, in great extremity, retreated into the castle of St. Angelo, and Henry contented himself with a coronation by his own pope, Clement (1084). Robert Guiscard, the Norman duke of Calabria, at length approached from lower Italy, and Henry retired, leaving Rome to be plundered by the Normans, and Gregory to be rescued by them from his own people, who had laid siege to the castle. Hermann of Luxemburg succeeded Rudolph in the rival emperorship, and Victor succeeded Gregory in the rival papacy (1085); but neither could withstand the power of Henry. Hermann soon resigned his dignity, and his successor, Egbert of Thuringia, having been assassinated, the Saxons submitted. Henry's eldest son, Conrad, whom he had named. king of the Romans, was now gained over by the papal party. He was deposed, and died in 1101. His defection was followed by that of his brother Henry, who, in view of the renewal of the papal ban against his father by both Urban and Pascal, who had in turn succeeded Victor, resolved to support the church. He affected reconciliation, however, and the emperor, having been treacherously seized and carried prisoner to Ingelheim, was compelled by the prince to resign his throne. Henry escaped from prison, and sought an asylum at Liége, where he soon died.

HENRY V., emperor of Germany, surnamed the Young, second son of the preceding, born in 1081, died in Utrecht, May 22, 1125. His filial ingratitude and treachery are noticed in the account of Henry IV., whom he succeeded in 1106. Notwithstanding his revolt against his father, he acted from the outset of his reign according to the principles of the late emperor, and in defiance of the pope he claimed the right

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