Zawis and Kunigunde/Chapter 20
CHAPTER XX.
BOPPO CONFRONTS AND REPUDIATES RUDOLPH.
As soon as Lord Boppo had retired to his simple, airy dwelling, where he reposed almost as much in the open air as formerly he had done during his campaigns, he gave instructions to his attendant to admit no person except on emergent magisterial business. Then seating himself before a very plain oaken chest, almost black with age, he took from his vesture a large key.
“Let me refresh my memory,” he mused, “with a view of the old and honored emblems.” Then opening the chest, he took out an enwrapped and folded white mantle. Gashed it was, and fissured, and rent; and it bore some faded blood-stains; and as the old hero reviewed each token of former eagerness to give and take, he pointed in silence to each storied mark of battle. Placing his finger on one and another, he mused, and thought of the special memory, attached to every one. “I will not boast of these evidences,” he said solemnly. “I have long doubted of the justice and the wisdom that arrayed us against either Moslem or Livonian. Those men held their territories of ancient right; and although eminent persons condemned both to death for opinions, I must concede to both most conspicuous chivalry, sterling honor in all their engagements, generosity to adversaries who deserved but little of it, courtesy in their tents such as none of us could surpass, and few could equal, a splendor of equipment that even Louis did not approach, and a reasonableness in their demands that put our violent and unjustifiable intrusion to the blush. Pretending to honor the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, we rendered it a scene of rapine, massacre, and the wantonness of bloodshed. Obeying the imperious summons of the vicegerent of Christ to abandon our country, its interests, its people, its altars and its peace, we returned,—such of us as did return,—to find our estates in the hands of monks, our dignities usurped by bishops, our wealth collected by the agents of the vicegerent under dreadful terrorism, and our families impoverished, and too often glad to receive a pittance at the gate of that monastery which had arisen from the proceeds of our land mortgaged fora soldier’s outfit. Such a revolution has our wild sentimentalism wrought upon us!
“In Livonia we acted simply as robbers without even an excuse, except the lust for land disguised as an ardor for the cross. In furtherance of this unholy violence we cultivated a sense of honor, a chivalrous fortitude, a sterling adherence to truth, an abhorrence of falsehood, and above all of treachery, virtues which filled us with an enthusiasm that blended an unrighteous cause with exalted feelings, and blinded us to the coarse criminality of our proceedings. Only remains to me now the sense of honor as of old, the adherence to truth, the abhorrence of falsehood and especially of treachery, the purity of hospitality, and the sacredness of our own hearthstone to an invited guest, that I trust will continue to ennoble mankind. Unwittingly the cross we bore on mantle and gonfalon assumed a sable hue, and I fear sable must characterize its symbolism.”
Here the veteran drew forth a gold chain collar interlaced with oak leaves and acorns, supporting a medallion with the figure of a black bear having under it a hillock enameled in green. “It is a memorial of the unrequited Frederick,” he said; “but my possession of it is associated with Rudolph. Not happily appropriate as an emblem; yet it is intended to represent the native patriotism of the Swiss under the symbol of their best known and most familiar quadruped. Rudolph esteemed the gift to me a compliment. But I entertain strong apprehension that Rudolph and his advisers are of those who assume heroic virtue in order to conceal clandestine villainy. A palpable contradiction between the pretense and the act constitutes the abhorred vice that chivalry especially repudiated.” Boppo next drew forth, suspended from a plain, short silk ribbon, a cross potent, sable, charged with another cross double potent, gold, surcharged with an escutcheon of the empire; the principal cross surmounted by a chief semé of France.
“Ah!” said the old man, “I have some right to this. It recalls the day of Damietta, criminally glorious as it was. My special charge, that won the day and the fortress, induced Louis to append to our badge the chief semé with the lilies of France in token of his approval. For such baubles do men unhorse their reason, beat down their better sense, stab their humanity,and trample their social impulses in the mire. Should Rudolph be convicted of so dastardly a conspiracy as that which has consigned a more chivalrous knight than himself to a felon’s dungeon, for the heinous purposes attributed to him, then all the crime committed at Acre and at Antioch, all the robber violence of Remové, of Culm, of Riga and other castles in Livonia and in Samland, are excusable offenses compared with the base conspiracy, hatched in secret, that attempts to seize the estate of a knight of our own kindred, and our own order, intending to gratify the vulgar greed of an aspiring tyrant. Rudolph is old and worn; and I deem myself bound to seek his presence. Only his own avowal could justify me in imputing so dark a stain to a Swiss knight and an emperor. Like every other accused man, he is entitled to an unembarrassed defense, as freely as the open judicial lists can supply it.”
The old man, feeling the burden of his years, took the precaution of providing himself with an attendant. To the latter, mounted on a slow and stout packhorse, was consigned the care of such encumbrance as his journey required.
The old man bent his way first toward Fürstenberg to ascertain the exact conditions prevailing there. On his approach to the Moravian frontier such intelligence continually presented itself, in the excited conversation of the people, as left no doubt that in its main features the truth had not been overstated. Zawis lay a prisoner after presenting himself at the palace at Prague, on a most dutiful and courteous mission, where he had been directly invited to present himself as an honored guest, by order of the king in person. “Wenzel is but a boy,” said the peasants, “and a neglected boy. His soul is not his own. Bohemia is intended to be made a province attached to the new dynasty, no longer as a kingdom, but as a family estate. Rudolph himself is but a hired servant to a new master who has exchanged us for provinces in Italy, although we never belonged to him.”
Boppo determined to change his course and proceed to Vienna. He should there be better able to procure definite advices of the precise locality where the emperor should be found.
On this point Hungarian and Moravian peasants were necessarily inignorance. Nearing Vienna, Boppo learned to his surprise the seething discontent of the inhabitants of that city. The better to observe the situation, he resolved to seek the hospitality of the great Cistercian Monastery at Neustadt. Approaching this great establishment, he observed pendent from the neck of a monk, whose garb differed from the others, a cross of equal arms, fleurie, quarterly sable and argent. This dreadful symbol recalled the too painful scenes at Gran; and the old man determined not to entrust himself within the fortress, and possibly the prison gates of that strongly walled enclosure.
But why the presence of that menacing symbol here? Securing a lodgment in a large but decayed dwelling now occupied by many separate families, Boppo determined to observe the place and the people. A quiet distrust showed itself in every face. Men and women moved almost stealthily. Yet not the furtive glance of the self-conscious coward, not the searching look of the suspicious criminal who attempts to read an enemy in the eyes, but the averted look of the man who simply avoids others and desires to go his way unmolested, revealed itself to Boppo. Experience detected the difference. Further observation removed doubt; andthe old man knew that he stood amid a community of Catharoi. The presence of the cross of equal arms, quarterly sable and argent, at once explained itself. He noticed and answered the countersign privately and cautiously given, and such as no eyes but those of the initiated could detect. The same signals now prevailed among the almost blended sects that became known universally from this period as Waldenses; but still in many places also as Sabbatati. A secret consultation advised a speedy departure. No overt act had yet occurred, and the proximity of Vienna, where the great body of the population sympathized with Waldensian civil and religious reforms, rendered severity improbable.
A rest of one day enabled the old man to renew his journey with fresh energy.
Resuming his old method of military reasoning, Boppo arranged before ‘his mental vision the components of the situation before him. “Rudolph,” he reflected, “entertains especial designs against Bohemia. He has married his daughter to Otakar’s son, and his son to Otakar’s daughter to make the succession certain in his family. He has deprived Wenzel even of the most ordinary education, and surrounded him with agents that work only on his sensibilities, rendered unusually keen by religious terrorism. He is now advanced in life; and I judge troubled at finding impediments where he least expected them. The national mind of Bohemia, represented by Zawis, must be utterly crushed before it can wholly substitute Habsburg for Premysl.
“These subjects, I doubt not, occupy much of his thoughts; and as the occasion creates excitement he is certainly preparing to subdue any commotion in Moravia. Wenzel’s advisers on their part certainly are at work to secure the emperor’s co-operation in their plans to perfect the result of their conspiracy. Assuredly I shall find direct messengers from Prague at the imperial court. Rudolph must assist the completion of a design evidently his own.
“Wenzel would never venture on a step so dangerous and imperial, without the sanction of his father-in-law plainly intimated beforehand.
“I must regard the fate of Zawis as already decided. Therefore no delicacy or tenderness must impede my action, or embarrass my speech.”
Boppo and his attendant experienced no difficulty in discovering that a deputation from Prague was then at court, and only awaited the assembling of a body of troops intended by the emperor to enforce the orders already issued respecting the subjugation of Zawis’ retainers, who showed strong signs of resistance.
The diet at Erfurt, which began its sessions at Christmas 1289, continued until mid-lent of the following year. During this somewhat stormy period politically within the empire, Rudolph heard a multitude of local complainings. Robber knights abounded in that region. An order to pursue and apprehend many of these freebooters compelled the emperor to proceed for a short period to Ilmenau. Here his chief force had assembled; and twenty-nine predatory chiefs, or poor knights who would gladly have fought as Rudolph did against the Prussians under Otakar, suffered the extreme penalty of imperial displeasure. At this place Boppo encountered a large number of pleading wives and children, of interested barons and landholders, of merchants whose property these free lances protected while they plundered that of competitors, all clamorous for imperial clemency. Between these counter applications, expressed with an energy and clamor long disused on such occasions. Rudolph found himself harassed, and in an unamiable temper. He was, however, candid; saying to each and all, “The sword was not put into the hands of gentlemen to oppress but to, protect; not to maintain violence, but to promote justice. The noble and the commoner must abstain from wrongdoing alike, the former all the more as they are noble.”
“Ah! Semovit, is it you indeed?” exclaimed Ryngold, Boppo’s attendant, meeting an old acquaimtance.
“Yes, truly; and is it you I see or some other fellow?” rejoined Semovit, laughing.
“What cheer?” inquired Ryngold.
“Scarcely passable,” answered Semovit. “Little enjoyment, less luck these days. Only our poor pay, and even that not regular.”
“What leisure, then?” asked Ryngold.
“To-day and to-morrow on guard; and after that ordered to prepare for Moravia. Some pestilent fellow has raised a disturbance again.”
“It is now twenty-nine years since we met in Prussia, and here we are soldiering yet,” said Ryngold.
“Even so,” replied Semovit, “but I doubt whether Moravia will see my face this time. Rudolph’s service is not as good as a snug tavern and a widow in Vienna.”
“What hours, then, to-morrow on guard?” asked Ryngold.
“Noon until six, worse luck,” said Semovit; “and I should have not that only that a troublesome embassy from Prague has insisted on an audience at three and I must be there.” A quart of beer renewed old comradeship and Ryngold departed to announce his intelligence to his master.
At the hour named Boppo presented himself, reasoning that he had better speak, as no opportunity would occur at Erfurt.
Advancing with the deputation, and being instantly recognized by Semovit, who saluted most respectfully, Boppo entered and placed himself at the head of the visitors. Rudolph sat apparently oppressed with thought, and filled with displeasure, his face half turned away, and his clenched right hand on the table. Slowly turning his countenance, the grand presence of Lord Boppo, to his amazement, rose before him. Perplexity amounting almost to consternation confused and suppressed his utterance.
“Your majesty will allow me,” began the old man, “to take final leave of former comrade and commander. Full fifty years of acquaintance, much of that time in good-fellowship, entitle me to pay my last respects. I hope I may doso with all the knightly and fraternal feeling that I enjoyed of old. Profoundly shall I grieve if the sudden imprisonment of the good Lord Zawis is due to imperial purpose enforced by the methods adopted to deceive and ensnare him. Is the statement true that a knight still unconvicted of offense has been enticed, by a false pretense of hospitality, and in the name of his prince, into the palace where that hospitality was proffered, and was then seized violently and immured in a felon’s dungeon, when he trusted to the sacred word of his king according to the confidence of a brave knight and true? Had your majesty a share in that transaction?”
“Zawis was not apprehended by my orders,” replied Rudolph, suddenly required to defend himself; “but I approve of what has been done.”
“Sir,” said Boppo, “I have seen my baronial fortress reduced to ashes by the Tartars, and have gladly taken refuge in a hovel; it was in some sort the fortune of war. I have seen my wife die in exile, and have laid her by the highway; I have suffered the total wreck of all fortune; but I have abstained from a word of plaint because in my dark days I have aided you and others to inflict similar misery and death on the wives and children of men better than we; and I have done it in the name of the Lord Christ. I have seen my daughter given to the flames by that ferocious fanaticism that has slaughtered multitudes in the name of faith, and has given men only the same paganism under another name, like two idols cut from the same stick; and I have endured it as being the natural result of my own evil methods inflicted by inevitable natural retaliation on myself.”
Here Rudolph showed some sign of impatience, but the stern voice and gesture of the old man held him bound.
“But no instance of treachery, no act of deceit, no violation of hospitality, no insidious message, no profanation of my hearthstone and its sacredness, no abnegation of my own honor has ever sullied the life or the thought of Boppo.” Then taking the mantle and crosses, he said, “I received these things from you as emblems of the same unsullied honor in the giver. Take them, sir, I fling them down; I repudiate them, stained as they now are with the knightly treachery of the man who gave them. Such evil deeds as this you have committed strongly indicate to me the spirit and the conduct of your house in years to come; and I trust I also represent the indignation of true knighthood, and the repudiation of such acts and of the spirit that prompts them by the self-respect of revolted nations. I doubt not the day shall come when the only hope of your line shall shrink from the eyes of society and the presence of the assembled pride of nations like a fugitive from justice.”
Boppo strode from the presence of Rudolph, leaving the mantle and the crosses at his feet.