where Victor was once more declared Pope; and Alexander and his faction were excommunicated.

It was after his authority had been fully recognised, and his election declared valid by all the clergy of France and England, that the title of Alexander ran the greatest risk of being denied in one, if not in both of those kingdoms. The Count of Champagne, with his two brothers, possessed territories sufficient to make them very formidable to so weak a monarch as Louis; and they had also obtained a degree of influence over him, after his marriage with their sister, which rendered them the most dangerous opponents that Alexander could encounter. If Henry, seeing the great political mistake that he had committed, had joined with the Count of Champagne in the beginning of the year 1162, there cannot be the slightest doubt that Louis would have gone over to the party of the Empire; and that if the clergy had not resisted such mutability of conduct France would have led the way in acknowledging Victor. Henry, however, refrained, affecting to be entirely guided by the King of France; and, in the meanwhile, Frederic employed the Count of Champagne to influence the mind of the French monarch by every means in his power. The first step which the Count gained, was to persuade Louis to receive a letter from Victor, brought by the hands of one of that Prelate's agents, who was admitted to the French Court. The next point was to bring the King to listen to a new suggestion from the

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Emperor regarding the means to be taken for the purpose of terminating the schism in the Church. The proposal was to hold another general Council, in the town of Avignon, at which both Popes were to be present, and once more to investigate the whole facts of the election, and either acknowledge one Pope and depose the other, or depose both, and elect another. The next effort was to induce Louis to send an ambassador to the Emperor for the purpose of treating upon this matter. Not only were all these steps gained, but the wily Count of Champagne obtained for himself the post of ambassador, and set out with all speed to confer with the Emperor at Pavia.

Such was the state of affairs in France at Easter, in 1162; and on the 11th of April, in that year, the Pope Alexander, feeling fully convinced of a warm and favourable reception in France, landed at Maguelonne, and made his arrival known to the King of France. He was gratulated by the nobles and the people of the south of France, with the utmost joy and enthusiasm; the Count of Toulouse went down to Montpelier to receive him; all the other princes of Languedoc gathered round him, and rivalled one another in showing him respect: and the lower orders crowded upon his path wherever he went. All this, however, was not sufficient to compensate for the first news that Alexander received after his landing in France. It was, that new hesitation had taken possession of the

mind of Louis; that he was listening to proposals from the Emperor, all of which tended to call his election in question, and that he had even sent an ambassador to the Imperial court of Pavia, to treat in regard to the assembling of a new Council. Alexander's indignation at the unworthy conduct of the King of France overcame his prudence; and when two envoys from Louis, chosen-as if for the purpose of marking his change of feeling-from an inferior order of the clergy, came to offer him formal congratulations, he received them with coldness and haughtiness so marked, that the weak King gave way to a violent fit of passion, and committed himself with the Emperor so far that it was scarcely possible to retract. The Bishop of Orleans was immediately dispatched to communicate with the Count of Champagne, and to bear to that nobleman a letter from the King of France, in which Louis acknowledged that he regretted having recognised Alexander. He also gave his ambassador full power to agree to the convocation of a new Council, and to settle all the particulars regarding it with the Emperor. Very seldom, indeed, has so much been left to the discretion of a minister, as was now trusted by Louis to the judgment of the Count of Champagne. That prince, of course, took advantage of his power to forward his own purposes, and entered into a treaty with the Emperor, by which it was agreed, that Louis and Frederic should meet at St. Jean de Losne, where

the Saône, at that time, formed the boundary between France and the Empire, accompanied by the bishops and nobles of both countries, and also by the two claimants of the Papacy. A number of persons were chosen to judge the cause of Alexander and Victor; and the Emperor on his own part, with the Count of Champagne on that of Louis, promised to abide by their decision, and instantly to recognise the Pontiff who should be declared duly elected.

One or two particulars are worthy of notice, in regard to this agreement. In the first place, the decision of the cause was not left to ecclesiastics alone, it being expressly stipulated, that a number of knights were to be among the judges. In the next place, the idea of deposing both Popes was abandoned; although there can be no doubt that, if the allegation of the Emperor was true-that Alexander, by taking an illegal oath, had rendered himself incapable-such a proceeding would have been perfectly just, as Victor could not pretend to a sufficient number of votes to give him the Papacy, from which Alexander had excluded himself.

The Count of Champagne, however, suffered this proposal to be dropped entirely; and having obtained the powers already mentioned from his sovereign, he gave Frederic the fullest assurance that Louis would abide by the decision of this new council. There can be no doubt that both the Emperor and the Count were perfectly certain of what

the decision of the council would be, for they were both well aware that Alexander, who had refused to submit his cause to a court composed entirely of ecclesiastics, would by no means present himself for judgment before an assembly where laymen assumed to themselves the right of dealing with the highest ecclesiastical affairs.

How far the promises of the Count of Champagne went cannot well be told, nor is it possible to discover to what length his newly kindled anger at Alexander carried the unstable king of France. It is certain, however, that Frederic and Victor both entertained the most sanguine hopes of winning France from the party of their opponent; and that Victor actually dispatched nuncios to the court of the French king.

Rumours of all these transactions reached Alexander at Montpelier, and of course alarmed him greatly, especially when he found that his enemies were daily making progress, notwithstanding his holding a council in the south of France,* at which a number of Bishops and Abbots were present from the most distant parts of that kingdom. He accordingly endeavoured, as far as possible, to do away the effects of his imprudent conduct, and employed the good offices of the Bishops of Langres and Senlis to work upon the mind of the king, while at the same time he gained the more powerful influence of the king's own brother, whom we have

* At Montpelier, 17th of May, 1162.