Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/359

 REACTION IN GERMANY. 343 tian sanctuary. IN"© words were strong enough to describe the transcendant merits and services of the martyr, and no punish- ment could be invented too severe for the murderers. The bishops were roundly rated for their indifference in the matter, and were ordered to take immediate and effective measures. The Domini- can provincial, Conrad, was commanded, in conjunction with the bishops, to carry on the Inquisition vigorously, and to preach a crusade against the heretics.^ In spite of this furious grief and wrath the German prelates maintained a most provoking calmness. The fanatic Conrad, Bish- op of Hildesheim, it is true, preached a crusade as ordered by the pope, and under his impulsion the Landgrave, Conrad of Thu- ringia, zealously purged his land of heretics, and completely de- stroyed all their assemblies, levelling to the ground Willnsdorf, which was reckoned their chief abiding-place ; while his brother,' Henry Kaspe, and Hartmann, Count of Kiburg (Zurich), took the cross under the same auspices, and received, in consequence, papal protection for their dominions. Even this measure of activity, however, was regarded unfavorably in Germany, and there was no response to the cry for vengeance. The Diet of Frankfort duly assembled February 2, 1234, and the first business recorded was an accusation brought by King Henry himself against the Bishop of Hildesheim for having preached the crusade ; it was treated as an offence, and though he was pardoned by unanimous request, the recalcitrance against the papal tendencies was none the less significant. Then the memory of the martyred Conrad was ar- raigned, and this, as a matter of faith, was discussed by the eccle- siastics separately. There were twenty-five archbishops and bish- ops present, who were almost unanimous in condemning him, while the Bishop of Hildesheim and a Dominican named Otto strenu- ously defended him. One of the prelates exclaimed that Master Conrad ought to be dug up and burned as a heretic ; but no con- clusion seems to have been reached, for the proceedings were in- terrupted by the introduction of a procession of those whom he had shaved in penance the preceding year, who marched in with a cross at their head, and complained of his cruelty with dolorous ^ * Epistt. Select. SiecuI. XIII. T. I. No. 533, 537, 558, 560-1. -Chron. Erfor- diens. ann. 1234 (Schannat Vindem. Literar. I. 94).