ous man, influenced by a profound zeal
for the peace of Europe and the propagation of the Christian faith.
Gregory received the ambassadors of Rhodolph graciously, extorted from
them whatever concessions he desired on the part of the emperor, and
pledged his support.

Ottocar, King of Bohemia, still remained firm, and even malignant, in
his hostility, utterly refusing to recognize the emperor, or to perform
any of those acts of fealty which were his due. He declared the
electoral diet to have been illegally convened, and the election to have
been the result of fraud, and that a man who had been excommunicated for
burning a convent, was totally unfit to wear the imperial crown. The
diet met at Augsburg, and irritated by the contumacy of Ottocar, sent a
command to him to recognize the authority of the emperor, pronouncing
upon him the ban of the empire should he refuse. Ottocar dismissed the
ambassadors with defiance and contempt from his palace at Prague,
saying,

"Tell Rhodolph that he may rule over the territories of the empire, but
he shall have no dominion over mine. It is a disgrace to Germany, that a
petty count of Hapsburg should have been preferred to so many powerful
sovereigns."

War, and a fearful one, was now inevitable. Ottocar was a veteran
soldier, a man of great intrepidity and energy, and his pride was
thoroughly roused. By a long series of aggressions he had become the
most powerful prince in Europe, and he could lead the most powerful
armies into the field. His dominions extended from the confines of
Bavaria to Raab in Hungary, and from the Adriatic to the shores of the
Baltic. The hereditary domains of the Count of Hapsburg were
comparatively insignificant, and were remotely situated at the foot of
the Alps, spreading through the defiles of Alsace and Suabia. As
emperor, Rhodolph could call the armies of the Germanic princes into the
field; but these princes moved reluctantly, unless roused by some
question of great moment to them all. And when these heterogeneous
troops of the empire were assembled, there was but a slender bond of
union between them.

But Rhodolph possessed mental resources equal to the emergence. As
cautious as he was bold, as sagacious in council as he was impetuous in
action, he calmly, and with great foresight and deliberation, prepared
for the strife. To a monarch in such a time of need, a family of brave
sons and beautiful daughters, is an inestimable blessing. Rhodolph
s