THE SCENE: In a dispute between the (German) Holy Roman Empire and the pope, the Germans finally took things too far… when they messed with his hat.
THE TEXT: Saying a mass of thanksgiving, the lord pope consecrated the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and the emperor partook of the Eucharist, which they divided between themselves. In this way he solemnly pledged to church a wonderful guarantee that they would be joined in undivided love and that the agreement would be kept.
But before the lord pope had even put aside his episcopal vestments after mass, the mad Germans invented a pretext for a quarrel, gnashed his teeth in fury, and began to rage out of control. Their treachery caught everyone by surprise. With drawn swords they rushed about like men who were out of their minds and attacked the Romans who, properly in such a place, were not armed. The Germans shouted threats that all the Roman clergy, bishops as well as cardinals, would be seized or slaughtered; and going even beyond the limits of insanity, they did not fear to lay their wicked hands on the lord pope himself.
The emperor found himself terribly disturbed and departed from the City as quickly as possible. But a Christian took away as prey that which no Christian had ever been heard to take, namely the lord pope and as many cardinals and bishops as he could. He took up residence at Civita Castellana, a place well fortified by nature and human skill. He treated the cardinals vilely as he shamefully disrobed them; and something horrible to say, he rudely stripped even the lord pope himself of his pluvial and mitre.
– The Deeds of Louis the Fat, Suger, 12th Century AD
