be possible that the emperor had betrayed the Church to the Jews. His complaint was echoed in the hearts of the princes of the Church. A number of bishops assembled at Lyons for the purpose of discussing the best method of humbling the Jews, and disturbing their hitherto peaceful existence. They also considered how the emperor might best be influenced to adopt their resolutions. It was resolved at the meeting that a letter should be handed to the emperor, setting forth the wickedness and the danger of favoring the Jews, and specifying the privileges which ought to be withdrawn (829). The letter of the synod, as we have it now, is signed by three bishops, and is entitled, "Concerning the Superstitions of the Jews." Agobard wrote the preface, in which he explains his position in the quarrel. In it, after accusing the Jews, he blamed their friends as being the cause of all the evil. The Jews, he said, had become bold through the support of the commissioners, who had given out that the Jews were not so bad after all, but were very dear to the emperor. From the standpoint of faith and of the canonic laws the argument of Agobard and the other bishops was irrefutable, and had Emperor Louis the Pious set store by this logic, he would have had to extirpate the Jews, root and branch. Fortunately, however, he took no notice of it. This happened either because he knew Agobard's character, or because the letter containing the accusations against the Jews never reached him. Agobard's fear that the letter would be intercepted by the friends of the Jews at court may have proved well founded. The Jew-hating bishop of Lyons, however, had his revenge. In the following year (830), he took part in the conspiracy against the empress Judith, by joining the sons, who nearly succeeded in dethroning their father. Agobard was thereupon deprived of his office, and had to seek safety in Italy, but Louis soon restored him to his office, after which Agobard left the Jews unmolested.