leader, the Archbishop of Cologne, made his peace with the king, and when Odilo of Cluny, who had, it seems, been present at the election, and had been the recipient of Conrad's first charter (a confirmation of certain lands in Alsace to the Cluniac monastery of Payerne), exerted his influence in Conrad's interest, the bishops were prevailed upon to make their submission. Conrad was therefore able to make his royal progress through Lorraine unhindered.
It was customary for a newly elected king to travel through his kingdom, dispensing justice, settling disputes, ordering peace. Within a year of his coronation (he was back in Mayence at the end of August 1025) Conrad had visited the more important towns of the five great duchies of his kingdom. On his journey through Saxony two significant events occurred; he received the recognition of the Saxon princes and gave a decision against Aribo of Mayence, shewing thereby that he was not to be swayed from the path of justice even in the interests of the foremost prelate of Germany. Before Conrad's election the Saxon princes under their Duke Bernard had assembled at Werla, and there decided on a course of action similar to that which they had pursued on the occasion of the election of Henry II in 1002. They had, it seems, absented themselves from the electoral council, with the object of making their acceptance of the result dependent upon conditions. They required the king to acknowledge the peculiarly independent position, the ancient and barbaric law, of the Saxons. They met him at Minden, where he was keeping his Christmas court. Their condition was proposed and accepted, and their homage, hitherto deferred, was duly performed to their now recognised sovereign[1].
Since the time of Otto III, the jurisdiction over the rich nunnery of Gandersheim had been the cause of a fierce dispute between the bishops of Hildesheim and the archbishops of Mayence. It had been one of the reasons for the breach between Aribo and the late Emperor, who had in 1022 decided in favour of the Hildesheim claim. While Conrad remained in Saxony the matter was brought up before him. The outlook was ominous for Bishop Godehard; Conrad was not likely to give cause for a quarrel with the powerful archbishop to whom he owed his crown, and whom he had already favoured by conferring on him the archchancellorship of Italy, in addition to the archchancellorship of Germany which he had previously held. Moreover, the influential Abbess Sophia, the daughter of the Emperor Otto II, was known to favour the claims of Aribo. On the other hand, Conrad could not lightly reverse a decision made by his predecessor only two years before, and he may also have felt some resentment towards Aribo for the latter's refusal to crown his queen. Postponements and compromises were tried in vain. At last, in March
- ↑ This interpretation of the rather confused evidence is Bresslau's, I. 12 and n. 7. Cf. also his edition of Wipo, Script. Rer. Germ. 1915, p. 11, n. 1.
