This misguided effort caused the
three Archbishops to arrest Prince Roland, the Emperor's only son, and
incarcerate him in Ehrenfels, a strong castle on the Rhine belonging to
the Archbishop of Mayence, who was thus made custodian of the young man,
and responsible to his brother prelates of Cologne and Treves for the
safe-keeping of the Prince. The Archbishops, as has been said, were too
well satisfied with the weak administration then established at
Frankfort to wish a change, so the lad was removed from the capital,
that the citizens of Frankfort might be under no temptation to place him
at their head, and endeavor to overturn the existing order of things.
This being the state of affairs in Frankfort, with every one gloomy, and
a majority starving, it was little wonder that the main cellar of the
Rheingold tavern should be empty, although when times were good it was
difficult to find a seat there after the sun went down. But in the
smaller Kaiser cellar, along each side of the single long table, sat
young men numbering a score, who ate black bread and drank Rhine wine,
to the roaring of song and the telling of story.
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