MURDER OF CONRAD OF MARBURG. 341 lie." Master Conrad sullenly muttered, " If he had been convicted it would have been different," and withdrew. The count finally agreed to aUow the matter to be referred to Kome, and ecclesias- tics of distinction were appointed to lay the proceedings before the Holy See for final decision.* Maddened by his defeat, Conrad at once proceeded to preach in the streets of Mainz a crusade against some nobles who had been summoned and who had not appeared. To this both the archbishop and the king objected, and he was forced to desist. With his usual impulsiveness he then abruptly determined to quit an ungrateful world, and to five henceforth in retirement at Mar- burg. The king and archbishop offered him an armed escort, but he would accept nothing save letters of surety, and with these he departed to meet his fate. Those against whom his crusade had been preached lay in wait for him near Marburg and despatched him, July 31, regardless of his entreaties for mercy. His faithful follower, Friar Gerhard, refused the opportunity offered him to escape, threw himself on the body of his beloved master, and per- ished with him. The scene of the murder is supposed to be Kap- peln on the Lahnsberg, where a chapel was erected to commemo- rate it. The body was carried to Marburg and buried by the side of St. EHzabeth, and when the latter was translated to the mao-- nificent Elizabethskirche, his bones were likewise carried thither^f The immediate reputation which Conrad left behind him is shown by the vision, related by a contemporary, which indicated that he was hopelessly damned. Modern ecclesiastics, however take a more favorable view of his career, and even the amiable Alban Butler describes him as a virtuous and enhghtened priest who rendered great service by his preaching, and whose fervor' disinterestedness, and love of poverty and austerity rendered him' a model for his contemporaries. Yet, unaccountably, the Church has not yet proceeded to his vindication as a martyred saint, and
- Gest. Treviror. Archiepp. c. 174. - Sachsische Weltchronik, ann I033
(Pertz, II. 292).-Annal. Wormatiens. (loc. cit.).-Godefrid. S. Pantaleon Annal ann. 1233. ' t Sachsische Weltchronik, loc. cit.-Gest. Treviror. loc. cit.— Alberic Trium foTo^oT* ^^^^--E^Pl^^^di^"- Variloq. ann. 1233.-Chron. Erfordiens. ann 1233 (Schannat Vindem. Literar. I. 93).-Trithem. Chron. Hirsauo- ann 12SS Kaltner, pp. 160-1. ST. MICHAEL'S ^- COLLEGS §
