"
He could not persuade the archbishop, who went his own way and was
beaten and exiled for a season, nor could he prevent the King from
yielding to the blandishments of Frederick and getting mixed up in
the papal troubles; but he went with him to Germany and saved him at
the last moment from committing himself by making him leave the
church council just as the anti-pope was about to pronounce sentence
of excommunication against Alexander. He commanded Absalon to
remain, as a servant of the church, but Absalon replied calmly that
he was not there in that capacity, but as an attendant on his King,
and must follow where he went. It appeared speedily that the
Emperor's real object was to get Valdemar to own him as his
over-lord, and this he did, to Absalon's great grief, on the idle
promise that Frederick would join him in his war upon all the Baltic
pagans. However, it was to be a purely personal matter, in nowise
affecting his descendants. That much was saved, and Absalon lived
long enough to fling back, as the counsellor of Valdemar's son, from
behind the stout wall he built at Denmark's southern gate, the
Emperor's demand for homage, with the reply that "the King ruled in
Denmark with the same right as the Emperor in Germany, and was no
man's subject.
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