BOOK VI. A.D. 1252. Duke of Saxony; Matilda was the wife of Henry, Count of Ascanio; Elizabeth, celebrated for her beauty and virtue, was Queen of Germany; Adelaide was married to the Landgrave of Hesse, and Agnes died a virgin in the cloister of Quedlingburg. His sons, Albert and John, succeeded him in the government of Brunswick and Luneburg; Otho was made Bishop of Hildesheim, and Conrad Bishop of Verden. His remains were in the first instance interred at Luneburg, but afterwards transferred to Brunswick. BOOK VII. CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST DIVISION BOOK VII. A.D. 1252. the Great: ALBERT, the eldest son, on the death of his father, Otho the Child, succeeded to the government of the duchy of Brunswick and Lune- History of Albert burg. Born in 1236, he was yet young in years, but he was considered of an age sufficient to entitle him to take his place in the diet at Frankfort. Accordingly, we find that he accompanied his brother-in-law, the King of the Romans, to that city, where, in the presence of the princes of the empire, he was invested by him with the states of his family. From the prudence and care with which Otho had watched over the government of his duchy, during the latter years of his reign, these states enjoyed a degree of peace and prosperity, that formed a striking contrast to the anarchy and civil war which everywhere existed around them; and Albert, from the high consideration in which his father had been held, BOOK VII. A.D. 1252. many at this time. his real or supposed influence with the emperor, and we may add, his own very superior talents, had acquired, notwithstanding his youth, so much weight and consideration among his equals, that when only seventeen years of age, we find him engaged in mediating between the King of Denmark and the Duke of Sleswick, whose quarrels kept the northern frontier in alarm, and had added greatly to the disorders that prevailed in the heart of the empire. He succeeded, we are told, in effecting a peace between these contending parties, and afterwards turned his thoughts to the best means of re The state of Ger- storing tranquillity to Germany, which at that time happened to be deserted by both the candidates for the crown. Conrad was in the south, fighting against the Pope for the kingdom of Sicily, and William was sacrificing the important interests of the empire to his private feelings, as Count of Holland, and wasting his treasure and the blood of his subjects, in an attempt to establish his brother-in-law, John De Avenes, in the countries of Hainault and Flanders. Albert tried to produce something like a union among the princes in favour of William, who, not -BOOK VII. A.D. 1253. gains withstanding, that he paid more attention than was proper to his private concerns, still conducted himself towards the Germanic body William ground: with so much wisdom and liberality, that he daily became more popular, and his party increased in strength. Conrad, on the other hand, who had been remarkable for his prudence and good management during his father's lifetime, seemed now perfectly unequal to the difficulties with which he was surrounded. He had become so severe in his judgments, that they often degenerated into cruelty, and so suspicious of his friends, that even the Sicilians began to withdraw from him; Conrad loses his and therefore we cannot be surprised that his influence had declined in Germany. Manfred, the illegitimate brother of Conrad, had been appointed governor of Naples, and had become rather popular by his good management: this was no sooner known, than he was removed from all his employments. Henry, his only legitimate brother, was beloved because he was of a mild and amiable disposition; this was sufficient to increase the king's hatred, and he was cut off so very suddenly, that it was thought he had been poisoned. friends: BOOK VII. A.D. 1254. His death. Blinded by his passions, or rather, we should say, the complicated state of his affairs had overwhelmed his reason, this son of Frederick II. was fast verging to destruction, when, fortunately, he was taken from the world, in the twenty-sixth year of his and third year of age, his reign as King of Sicily. He left one child, Conradin, whose end was still more unfortunate, but though some of the electors did hold out for the rights of hereditary succession, this prince could never be considered as any competitor with William of Holland. The latter would soon have secured the unanimous suffrages of the German princes, and been honoured with the imperial crown, had his life William sole King been prolonged. But unfortunately, as we have of the Romans: already remarked, he could not help feeling as Count of Holland, when he ought to have acted as King of Germany. There had long existed a spirit of rivalry between the Hollanders and the people of Friesland, and William, now elevated far above the chief of the neighbouring state, was determined to subject them to the authority of the Counts of Holland, under pretence of compelling them to submit to the laws of the empire. William had |