308 Readings in European History a consultation, he chose as king, Otto the Pious, count of Poitou, son of the late duke Henry [the Lion] of Saxony. 1 . . . Duke Philip, driven by the necessity of strengthening his cause to seek help on every side, succeeded by means of gifts in gaining the support of most of the princes. He made himself master of the royal towns, had all the people do him homage, assumed the title of king, and, on the Sunday after Easter, entered Worms wearing the crown. In Lower Ger- many, he sought to gain the favor of the nobles of Lorraine, among whom Walrav, son of Duke Henry of Limburg, came over to his side and was invested by him with a royal castle called Berinstein, as a fief. . . . At Cologne about this time, a star was visible at about the ninth hour, 2 which was considered by all as a good omen for their king who was chosen there three days after the star appeared. Hastening to Aix-la-Chapelle the royal residence to be consecrated, he found the city hos- tile to him and garrisoned with the troops of Duke Philip under the above-mentioned Walrav. He undertook the siege of the town and with great effort and expense brought it to submission. Upon his entry he was consecrated by Archbishop Adolph of Cologne and placed upon the throne. Even Walrav was taken into his good graces and now received from him, as a fief, and as a token of reconcilia- tion, the same castle of Berinstein with which he had already been invested by Duke Philip. The archbishop, however, who conceived this to be a menace to his territory, con- quered and destroyed the castle. Walrav, estranged thereby from King Otto, returned to his allegiance to Duke Philip, and, in all the wretched confusion to which Germany now fell a prey, he was an instigator and leader. Toward the beginning of October, King Philip got to- gether a very large army and, with the King of Bohemia and his other allies, took up a position on the river Moselle, 1 Otto had been given Poitou as a fief by his uncle, Richard the Lion-hearted of England. 2 Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon.
