They consequently dissolved the alliance, and sought peace on terms
which vastly augmented the power of the conqueror.

Basle now incurred the displeasure of Rhodolph. He led his armies to the
gates of the city, and extorted satisfaction. The Bishop of Basle, a
haughty prelate of great military power, and who could summon many
barons to his aid, ventured to make arrogant demands of this warrior
flushed with victory. The palace and vast possessions of the bishop were
upon the other side of the unbridged Rhine, and the bishop imagined that
he could easily prevent the passage of the river. But Rhodolph speedily
constructed a bridge of boats, put to flight the troops which opposed
his passage, drove the peasants of the bishop everywhere before him, and
burned their cottages and their fields of grain. The bishop, appalled,
sued for a truce, that they might negotiate terms of peace. Rhodolph
consented, and encamped his followers.

He was asleep in his tent, when a messenger entered at midnight, awoke
him, and informed him that he was elected Emperor of Germany. The
previous emperor, Richard, had died two years before, and after an
interregnum of two years of almost unparalleled anarchy, the electors
had just met, and, almost to their own surprise, through the
fluctuations and combinations of political intrigue, had chosen Rhodolph
of Hapsburg as his successor. Rhodolph himself was so much astonished at
the announcement, that for some time he could not be persuaded that the
intelligence was correct.

To wage war against the Emperor of Germany, who could lead almost
countless thousands into the field, was a very different affair from
measuring strength with the comparatively feeble Count of Hapsburg. The