On 27 July 1206, Philipp defeated a Cologne army loyal to Otto in Wassenberg. This was the only time that the armies of the two kings met. After the battle, the two kings met for the first time. It took place in an atmosphere of confidentiality ("colloquium familiare") and offered the necessary consideration for the honor of the two kings. Direct negotiations in public were rather unusual at the time. However, the negotiations failed. Pope Innocent III also noticed Otto's decline in the empire and a month or two later Philip was loosed from the papal ban. In 1207/08 the Pope approached Philip and negotiations about the imperial coronation began, and also it seemed probable that a treaty was concluded by which were renewed the marriage negotiations of the nephew of the Pope with one of Philip's daughters and to receive the disputed territory of Tuscany.