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102 by assembling a synod at Chelles, at which it was declared "that if the Pope of Rome put forth an opinion contrary to the Canons of the Fathers, it should be held null and void, according to the words of the Apostle 'Flee from the heretic, the man who separates himself from the Church'" and it was added that the abdication of Arnulf, and the nomination of Gerbert were irrevocable facts, having been determined by a council of provincial bishops, and this in virtue of the Canons, by the terms of which it is forbidden that the statutes of a provincial council should be rashly attacked by anyone (993). The weakness of the Papacy made such audacity possible; a series of synods assembled by a legate of the Pope on German soil, and later at Rheims, to decide in the case of Arnulf and Gerbert, led to nothing (995-996).

But this barren struggle was exhausting the strength of the Capetian monarchy. Hardly had that monarchy arisen when it seemed as if the ground were undermined beneath it. Taking advantage of the difficulties with which it was struggling, Odo (Eudes) I, Count of Chartres, had, in the first place, extorted the cession of Dreux in 991, in exchange for his co-operation at the siege of Laon (which co-operation still remained an unfulfilled promise), then, in the same year, had laid hands upon Melun which the king had afterwards succeeded, not without difficulty, in re-taking. Finally, in 993, a mysterious plot was hatched against Hugh and Robert; the conspirators, it was said, aimed at nothing less than delivering them both up to Otto III, the young King of Germany. Odo was to receive the title of Duke of the Franks, and Asselin the archbishopric of Rheims; possibly a Carolingian restoration was contemplated, for though Charles of Lorraine had died in his prison in 992, his son Louis survived, and was actually in custody of Asselin. All was arranged; Hugh and Robert had been invited to attend a council to be held on German soil to decide upon Arnulf's case. This council was a trap to entice the French kings, who, coming with a weak escort, would have been suddenly seized by an imperial army secretly assembled. A piece of indiscretion foiled all these intrigues. The kings were enabled in time to secure the persons of Louis and of Asselin. But such was their weakness that they were obliged to leave the Bishop of Laon unpunished. An army was sent against Odo, but when he offered hostages to answer for his fidelity, the Capetians were well content to accept his proposals and made haste to return to Paris.

What saved the Capetian monarchy was not so much its own power of resistance as the inability of its enemies to follow up and co-ordinate their efforts. Odo I of Chartres, involved in a struggle with Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou, and attacked by illness, could only pursue his projects languidly, and had just concluded a truce with Hugh Capet when he died (12 March 996) leaving two young children. The Papacy, for its part, was passing through a fearful crisis; forced to