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he had strayed. But the German bishops sided with the emperor,
and gave the pope an answer which showed the growth of a strong
national spirit. They said that they could not countenance the
words of the pope, which seemed by their ambiguity to assert
unheard-of claims. They besought the pope to explain his words,
so as to give peace to the empire and to the church. Meanwhile
Frederick I was preparing for an expedition into North Italy.
Adrian IV judged it prudent not to declare himself the enemy of
one who was so powerful. On 1 Feb. 1158, he sent from Rome
legates who met the emperor at Augsburg. They greeted him with
reverence and modesty, and handed him a letter from the pope, in
which Adrian IV explained that he had used the term beneficium
in its scriptural, not in its feudal signification (‘Ex
beneficio Dei, non tanquam ex feudo, sed velut ex
benedictione.’—Radevicus, 760). Frederick I was satisfied with
this explanation, and friendly relatio