Our only motive for noticing this unimportant siege is a desire of
relieving the attention of the reader, too long fixed to perils of “the
imminent deadly breach,” by an amusing anecdote.
In the year 1138, the duke of Wittemberg warmly opposed the election
of Conrad III., who was proclaimed emperor; and when the new monarch
had assumed the diadem, he refused to acknowledge him, and shut himself
up in the little city of Weinsberg. The angry emperor immediately
laid siege to the place: the garrison resisted his attacks with manly
bravery, and only yielded to force and greatly superior numbers. The
conqueror, at first, determined to submit all to fire and sword; but
he relented in favour of the women, to whom he granted permission to
depart, each carrying with her as much as she was able of what she
most valued in the world. The wife of the duke took advantage of this
indulgence to save the life of her husband. She mounted him upon her
shoulders, and all the women of the city followed her example. When
Conrad saw them going out loaded with this precious burden, and with
the duchess at their head, he could not maintain either his gravity or
his anger against such a spectacle: he pardoned the men for the sake of
the women, and the city was saved.