Rodolphus duke of Swabia having been nominated emperor, Gregory excommunicated Henry once more. “I take the crown from him he said, and give the Teutonic kingdom to Rodolph.” He even made a present to the latter of a crown, round which was to be seen an indifferent latin verse, of which here follows a translation. “La Pierre a donne a Pierre, et Pierre donne a Rodolphe le diademe.”¹⁶³ Peter, a stone, has given to Peter, and Peter gives to Rodolph a diadem. At the same time Henry elevated to the papacy Guibert the archbishop of Ravenna, and assembled an army against Rodolph. In vain Gregory prophesied that Heniy would be vanquished, would be exterminated before St. Peter: it was Rodolph who fell; he was killed in a skirmish by Godfrey of Bouillon, nephew of Matilda. Henry marched down on Rome: after a long seige, he took it by assault; and Gregory shut up in the mole of Adrian, continued to excommunicate the conqueror. ¹⁶² Henry’s Eccles. Hist. 1074, 1080, 1. 62 and 63. ¹⁶³ Petra dedit Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolpho. It will be perceived that the pun is perfect only in the French, the English is wholly incapable of it. The commotions which were prolonged in Germany, compelled Henry to make frequent journies. During the siege of Rome, and after his entrance into this capital, he quitted it more than once. Robert Guiscard took advantage of one of these occasions to deliver Gregory, but still more to ravage and pillage the city: he burned one quarter, which has since remained almost deserted, that between St. John de Lateran and the Coliseum, and reduced to slavery a great number of the inhabitants. This was the most memorable result to the Romans, and the most lasting to this pontificate¹⁶⁴ Hildebrand, borne away by the Normans to Salerno, terminated his career there the 24th of May, 1085, excommunicating Henry to the last, with the antipope Guibert, and their adherents¹⁶⁵ So lived and so died Gregory VII., whose name, under Gregory XIII., was inscribed in the Roman martyrology, to whom Paul V. decreed the honours of an annual festival¹⁶⁶ and for whom Benedict XIII. in the 18th century, challenged the homage of all Christendom: but we shall see the parliaments of France oppose this design with an efficacious resistance. ¹⁶⁴ Vita Greg. 7, édita à Card. Arrag. p. 313.—Landulph Sen. I. 3, c. 3, p. 120.—Rer. Jtal. vol. 5, p. 587. ¹⁶⁵ Pauli. Beruried. Vit. Greg. VII. c. 110, p. 348.—Sigeb. Chron. ann. 1085. ¹⁶⁶ Fleury’s Eccles. Hist. 1. 63, a. 25.—Act. Sonet. Bell. 25. maii. It is deserving of greater reprehension than Gregory himself merited, the canonization, after five hundred years of study and experience, of his deplorable wanderings. For the excuse cannot be alleged in favour of his panegyrists that his enterprises may find in his enthusiasm, his ignorance, and the thick darkness of his age. Pasquier,¹⁶⁷ with too much reason describes him as: