help. Otto, besides his Danish friends, relied on his uncle Richard,
and, after his death, on his uncle John. Philip formed a league with
his namesake Philip of France. But distant princes could do but little
to determine the result of the contest. It was of more moment that
both appealed to Innocent III, and that the Pope willingly accepted
the position of arbiter. "The settlement of this matter," he declared,
"belongs to the apostolic see, mainly because it was the apostolic see
that transferred the Empire from the East to the West, and ultimately
because the same see confers the Imperial crown."

In March, 1201, Innocent issued his decision. "We pronounce," he
declared, "Philip unworthy of empire, and absolve all who have taken
oaths of fealty to him as king. Inasmuch as our dearest son in Christ,
Otto, is industrious, discreet, strong, and constant, himself devoted
to the Church and descended on each side from a devout stock, we, by
the authority of St. Peter, receive him as king, and will in due
course bestow upon him the imperial crown." The grateful Otto promised
in return to maintain all the possessions and privileges of the Roman
Church, including the inheritance of the countess Matilda.

Philip of Swabia still held his own, and the extravagance of the papal
claim led to many of the bishops as well as the lay magnates of
Germany joining in a declaration that no former pope had ever presumed
to interfere in an imperial election. But the swords of his German
followers were a stronger argument in favor of Philip's claims than
the protests of his supporters against papal assumptions. As time went
on, the Hohenstaufen slowly got the better of the Guelfs. With the
falling away of the North, Otto's cause became distinctly the losing
one. In 1206, Otto was defeated outside the walls of Cologne, and the
great trading city was forced to transfer its obedience to his rival.