Robert, son of Hugh, did not resist with equal success the attempts of Gregory V. Robert had married Bertha, although she was his relative in the fourth degree, and that he had been godfather of a son that she had by the Count of Chartres, her first husband. They exclaimed against a marriage made in contempt of two such serious impediments. Too much terrified by these clamours, Robert resolved to restore Arnoul to the See of Rheims: this complaisance by which he hoped to reconcile himself to the See of Rome, appeared but an indication of his weakness. The pope did not hesitate to declare the marriage void; he excommunicated the two spouses, and Robert, compelled to part Bertha, married Constance. This pliability has been much urged against him; but after the re-establishment of Arnoul, a perseverance in retaining Bertha would have led almost infallibly to fatal consequences. We must consider that Robert was the second king of his family; that this new dynasty had scarcely reigned ten years; that Gerbert, one of the most judicious men of this epoch, had left the King of France in order to attach himself to Otho III.; that this emperor had appeared at the council in which Gregory V. had excommunicated the son of Hugh; and finally, that these anathemas were then so dreadful, that at the present day we can scarcely avoid suspecting exaggeration in what is related to us of their effects.¹³⁰ It was the first time France beheld herself placed under an interdict, and that she received the injunction to suspend the celebration of the divine offices; the administration of the sacrament to adults, and religious sepulture to the dead. We are assured that Robert, when excommunicated, was abandoned by his courtiers, his relations, his household, and that even two servants who remained with him caused to pass through the fire the things which he had touched. ¹³⁰ “I know,” says Bossuet, “that Peter Damien assures us, that no person held intercourse with the king, except two servants for the necessary occasions of life. But, either those of whom the pious Cardinal received this information have exaggerated, or at least we must suppose that the public officers continued to exercise their duties, since without it the government could not subsist an instant. Besides if it were true, that the exercise of certain public offices had been suspended for some time, all history would testify to this interregnum, and relate the confusion which would have resulted from it.” Defence of the Grail. Cler. p. 2,1. 6, c. 27. Bossuet also observes, that at the moment in which Robert was struck with these terrible anathemas, nobody thought or asserted that this excommunication could carry the least attaint to the sovereign authority of this monarch.