The bellicose saint paid no heed to the Imperial mandate, and the Emperor was obliged to send two courtiers to enforce respect for his orders; but they failed. The bishop then appealed to his brother prelates, entreating them to bring home to Louis his sinful conduct. His appeal met with hearty response. It was generally felt that the question was a test of the relative strength of Church and Court, and the supporters of the one were as determined to uphold their cause as were the partisans of the other. A number of prelates met at Lyons and held a consultation as to the best means of humbling the Jews and bringing the Emperor to the path of orthodoxy. ♦829♦ The fruit of this meeting was a joint letter of protest “concerning the superstitions of the Jews,” addressed to Louis. The manifesto produced no result, and in the following year the Bishop of Lyons joined the conspiracy of the Emperor’s sons against their father, was worsted, and paid for his treason by temporary exile to Italy, whence, however, he soon returned on condition, it seems, that he should leave the Jews alone. The struggle only served to demonstrate the Emperor’s power and determination to protect his material interests in the teeth of ecclesiastical opposition. ♦838♦ Nor did Louis the “Pious” withdraw his countenance from the Jews even after the scandalous apostasy of his favourite Bishop Bodo to Judaism--an event which produced an enormous shock through Frankish Christendom, especially as it occurred directly after the bishop’s visit to Rome.[48] It is probable that a closer inspection of the Holy See accelerated Bodo’s resolution, though contemporary indignation traced it to the direct agency of Satan. ♦843♦