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146 control was quite illusory. Rodolph III, in his latter years, hardly ever so much as shewed himself outside the districts bounded by the valleys of the Saône and the Doubs and between the Jura and the upper course of the Rhône. The greater part of the lords, shutting themselves up within their own domains, made a show of ignoring the king's authority, or else merely deferred their revolt because, knowing the king near at hand, they might fear being constrained by him. "O king!" exclaimed the Chancellor Wipo to Henry III a few years later, "Burgundy demands thee; arise and come quickly. When the master tarries long absent, the fidelity of new subjects is apt to waver. The old proverb is profoundly true 'Out of sight, out of mind.' Although Burgundy is now, thanks to thee, at peace, she desires to view in thy person the author of this peace and to feast her eyes upon the countenance of her king. Appear, and let thy presence bring back serenity to this kingdom. Formerly, thou didst with difficulty subdue it; profit now by its readiness to serve thee."

As a matter of fact, Burgundy could spare her king very well, and the efforts made by Henry III to render his government in these parts a little more effective were to be unavailing. Despite his frequent visits, and the attempts that he made to reduce to obedience his rebellious vassals, notably the Counts of Burgundy and Genevois, Henry III accomplished nothing lasting. On his death (1056), his widow, the Empress Agnes, tried as fruitlessly to restore the royal power by sending Rudolf of Rheinfelden, Duke of Swabia, to represent her in the kingdom. Later on, Henry IV, when he had attained his majority, and after him Henry V in his struggle with the Papacy, met with hardly anything but indifference or hostility in Burgundy as a whole. Henry V's successor, Lothar of Supplinburg, himself supplies the proof of the purely nominal character of his authority in these distant provinces, when, on summoning the lords of Burgundy and Provence to join an expedition which he was preparing for Italy, he exclaims: "At sundry times we have written to you to demand the tribute of your homage and submission. But you paid no heed, thus emphasizing in an indecorous manner your contempt for our supreme power. We intend to labour henceforward to restore in your country our authority, which has been so much diminished among you as to be almost completely forgotten. ... Thus we command you to appear at Piacenza, on the Feast of St Michael, with your contingent of armed men."

This summons was to produce no result. The Emperors tried by every means to make their power a reality. Following the example of the Empress Agnes, who had sent Rudolf of Rheinfelden to represent her, Lothar of Supplinburg, and afterwards Frederick Barbarossa were to try the experiment of delegating their authority to various princes of the Swiss house of Zähringen whom they appointed "rectors" or viceroys. This rectorate, soon to be called the Duchy of Burgundia