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Rh difficulty he reduced most of the strongholds in the northern part of the Burgundian kingdom, forced the Count of Geneva and the Archbishop of Lyons to acknowledge his authority, and again caused the crown to be placed solemnly upon his head at a curia coronata held at Geneva. Morat still held out for the Count of Blois; it was taken by storm and given up to pillage. The cause of the Count of Blois was now lost beyond redemption in Burgundy, and Conrad, recognised by all, or practically all, could promise himself secure possession of his new kingdom.

Meanwhile, Odo, no more successful in his enterprise against Lorraine than in his Burgundian expedition, was soon to meet his death before the walls of Bar (15 November 1037).

From the day that the submission of the kingdom of Burgundy to the Emperor Conrad became an accomplished fact, the history of the kingdom may be said to come to an end. Yet it is not well to take literally the assertions of late chroniclers who sum up the course of events in such terms as these: "The Burgundians, not departing from their habitual insolence towards their king, Rodolph, delivered up to the Emperor Conrad the kingdom of Burgundy, which kingdom had, from the time of the Emperor Arnulf, for more than 130 years, been governed by its own kings, and thus Burgundy was again reduced to a province." But there was really a short period of transition; in fact at an assembly held (1038) at Soleure, Conrad, doubtless feeling the need of having a permanent representative in the kingdom, decided on handing it over to his son Henry. Whatever may have been said on the subject, it appears that Henry was in fact recognised as king of Burgundy; the great lords took a direct oath of fealty to him, and the Emperor doubtless granted him the dignity of an under-kingship, with which the Carolingian sovereigns had so often invested their sons.

But this form of administration did not last long. As early as 4 June 1039 King Conrad died, and now Henry III, the young king of Burgundy, found the kingdoms of Germany and Italy added to his first realın. The title of king of Burgundy was now, however, only an empty form. The domains which the sovereign had at his disposal in Burgundy were so insignificant that during the latter years of Rodolph III the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg could write in reference to him: "There is no other king who governs thus; he possesses nothing but his title and his crown, and gives away bishoprics to those who are selected by the nobles. What he possesses for his own use is of small account, he lives at the expense of the prelates, and cannot even defend them or others who are in any way oppressed by their neighbours. Thus they have no resource, if they are to live in peace, but to come and commend themselves to the lords and serve them as if they were kings."

The very name of "Kingdom of Burgundy" covered a whole series of territories without unity, without mutual ties, and over which the king's