the cathedral
itself has come to be known as the "Cathedral of the Emperors."

Eight emperors and three empresses have been placed within these tombs:
Conrad II., Henry III., Henry IV., Henry V., Philip of Suabia, Rudolph
of Hapsburg, Albert of Austria, Adolph of Nassau, the wife of Conrad
II., Bertha, the unfortunate companion of Henry IV., and Beatrice, the
wife of the great Barbarossa.

Above the tombs of the emperors one may read the following Latin
inscription:

"_Filius hic--Pater Hic--Avus Hic--Proavus
jacet istic--Hic proavi conjux--Hic Henrici Senioris._"

The cathedral of Speyer was far from being completed at this time, but
the new bishop, Siegfried, was a no less able architect than his
predecessor, and he directed the work with zeal and talent.

[Illustration]

Already the principal body of the church was rearing itself skyward, and
in 1060 the edifice was practically complete, after thirty years of
persevering effort.

It is a bizarre sort of a church as seen to-day, and must always have
had much the same character; still it is of a style which gave birth to
a new and distinct movement in cathedral building, and the authorities
have declared that the three edifices founded by the Emperor Conrad, the
cathedral of Speyer, the collegiate church of St. Guidon, and the
monastery of Limburg, were the foundations of a new school of
ecclesiastical architecture, and the envy of all the other provinces of
the Empire.

The cathedral was consecrated under Bishop Eginhard, and immediately all
church-building Europe went into raptures over it, its proportions and
dimensions, its fine plan, its six spires, and the magnificently
spacious arrangement of its transept and apside.

In 1159 the fabric suffered much from fire, but before a decade had
passed it was restored in such a manner that the church again stood
complete.

Another fire followed in 1189, and in 1450 yet another of still greater
extent, and only the holy vessels, the reliquaries, and the altar
ornaments were saved from the flames.

Bishop Reinhold, of Helmstadt, and the chapter, set about forthwith to
rebuild the cathedral, and, while its ashes were still smouldering,
they took a vow to make it more beautiful than before.

The bishop wrote a letter to Pope Boniface VIII., on the occasion of his
jubilee in the same year, and obtained a pontifical decree that all who
gave financial help toward the erection of the new cathedral should be