The title, if it added little to the power, yet certainly seems to have increased the dignity of the Empire, and by consequence the jealousy of other states, of France especially. This did not, however, go so far as to prevent its recognition by the Pope and the French king[248], and after the sixteenth century it would have been a breach of diplomatic courtesy to omit it. Nor have imitators been wanting[249]: witness such titles as 'Most Christian king,' 'Catholic king,' 'Defender of the Faith[250].'
[201] 'Pruzzi,' says the biographer of St. Adalbert, 'quorum Deus est venter et avaritia iuncta cum morte.'--_M. G. H._ t. iv.
It is curious that this non-Teutonic people should have given their name to the great German kingdom of the present.
[202] Conring, _De Finibus Imperii_. It is hardly necessary to observe that the connection of Hungary with the Hapsburgs is of comparatively recent origin, and of a purely dynastic nature. The position of the archdukes of Austria as kings of Hungary had nothing to do legally with the fact that many of them were also chosen Emperors, although practically their possession of the imperial crown had greatly aided them in grasping and retaining the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia.
[203] Cf. Pfeffel, _Abrégé Chronologique_.
[204] Letter of Frederick I to Otto of Freising, prefixed to the latter's History. This king is also called Sweyn.
[206] Albertus Stadensis apud Conringium, _De Finibus Imperii_.
[207] There is an allusion to this in the poems of the Cid. Arthur Duck, _De Usu et Authoritate Iuris Civilis_, quotes the view of some among the older jurists, that Spain having been, as far as the Romans were concerned, a _res derelicta_, recovered by the Spaniards themselves from the Moors, and thus acquired by _occupatio_, ought not to be subject to the Emperors.
[208] One of the greatest of English kings appears performing an act of courtesy to the Emperor which was probably construed into an acknowledgment of his own inferior position. Describing the Roman coronation of the Emperor Conrad II, Wippo (c. 16) tells us 'His ita peractis in duorum regum præsentia Ruodolfi regis Burgundiæ et Chnutonis regis Anglorum divino officio finito imperator duorum regum medius ad cubiculum suum honorifice ductus est.'