Chapter 431 Target Rome
The fact that people tend to go crazy when they get old is reflected in Mircea. This war may cause the whole of Europe to be targeted.
But before that, a battle of public opinion was needed. The reason why the Bishop of Rome was able to gain a foothold was that Constantine dedicated a piece of land to the church, but this document was vigorously promoted in the 10th century. It can basically be concluded that the Pope forged it in order to obtain legal power.
According to legend, this document was issued by Constantine I and gave Pope Cyril the authority to govern Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa, and the Roman city, as well as Italy and the entire Western Roman Empire. Successor of Vester I and Peter after him. The governing institutions of the Roman Empire were transferred to the new capital of Eastern Rome.
This document had a great influence on the exchanges between Pope Stephen II and King Pepin the Short in the eighth century. In 754, Pepin was anointed by Stephen II, who was the archbishop at the time, and ascended the throne to replace the Merovingian family as king of France. Later, he also received Italy and Lombardy as gifts from Pepin.
In this case, let's start with a battle of public opinion. The Orthodox clergy could no longer stand the arrogance of the Catholic Church, so they took advantage of this incident to kill everyone.
As a result, an article was published in the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople to spark discussion. It directly states that the document originally dedicated to the church by Emperor Constantine is false, because the wording in this document shows that this document cannot be a product of the fourth century. Although some of the terms are consistent with the style of the Imperial era, others do not belong to the fourth century. Like fiefdoms are mentioned.
From this we can conclude that this is a document forged by the Catholic Church for its own selfish gain. In order to bring order to the chaos, the Orthodox Church authorized the Roman Empire to take back this unjustified land.
This incident directly caused the Catholic Church to explode. No one expected that the Orthodox Church would have such a big impact. This is to drive the Pope to death.
The cardinals took the lead in taking action, accusing the Roman Empire of plundering Rome and had offended God, and would be punished sooner or later. The six electors of the Shinra also expressed their intention to form a coalition to defend the Holy City. (Brandenburg and Pomerania did not agree, Bohemia was too chaotic and quarreled)
Who knew the Orthodox Church was so stubborn that it would dare to ask the Pope to return the land. Can I agree to this? I can't. Otherwise, what prestige does the church have?
This time the news spread very quickly and relied on popular newspapers in the upper class. The few pictures in the past became more than a dozen. In addition to government decisions, there are also news on business recruitment, culture and religion, banquet invitations, etc. Constantinople, founded by Peter, is the most popular newspaper at the moment.
When newspapers published that Constantine's donation of soil was forged by the West, public sentiment turned in the direction they expected. All of them hated the Pope, and after hearing that the six electors supported the pseudo-bishop of Rome, they even started to hate him.
Now Constantinople is discussing when to send troops to regain its homeland. The publicity campaign was initially successful.
The previously assembled army will not be disbanded for the time being, and 20,000 of them will go to the Papal State via Romagna. At the same time, the new firearms army will also arrive by boat, but it will take a while.
However, with such a big reaction from Rome, all but one country responded. The country that didn't respond was France. As long as the Pope of Rome is kicked out, the Pope of Avignon he supports can become the only existence in the Catholic world. He wished that the Pope was not here, so how could he support him.
Pope Gregory XII began to call on the Catholic world to defend Rome against the pagans. But recently Florence and Siena have 6,000 people, and Naples and Romagna are Orthodox. Now we have to deal with them, and we can only mobilize everyone in the Papal State.
But what pleased him was that the Kingdom of Aragon was doing well again. The king directed most of his navy to transport soldiers first to Sardinia and then to Rome. And they will join forces with Castile to defend the Western Mediterranean. If Rome's attack fails, they will form a coalition to attack Malta.
The most important Duke of Burgundy did not answer. Why? It is very simple. Britain has taken action. But it's not an attack, it's a retreat.
I don’t know what the King of England thought, but he gave all the Normandy area to Stefan. He obtained a large area of land without any effort, which made him re-evaluate England as an ally.
Henry IV was also heartbroken, and he hesitated for a long time to retreat from such a large land. But if he could see the Duke of Normandy fighting with Burgundy and Orleans, he could take the opportunity to attack and capture Paris. Moreover, the rule in Normandy was not smooth. The benefits brought by the rule were far less than the costs, so he simply quit. Only a few seaside towns such as Calais are left.
This did give Stefan a foothold, but after the ravages of England and the mercenary group, Normandy at this time was already sparsely populated and desolate. It can only be said that it is a very suitable place for reclamation.
Although it is not possible, it is still our own land. I can only hold my nose and admit it. However, with several older brothers chasing him, Stefan would not rest easy on this Duke. His goal is at least that of a king or an independent principality.
Now he was the most "loyal" minister around Charles VI, and Salmon provided him with a lot of conveniences. His wife's status as a princess and his own status as a duke also allowed him to gather a group of minor nobles and high-ranking officials around him. He had his initial team in France.
In addition, representatives of the Hanseatic League and Genoa came to the door and said that they could provide Stefan with a loan of 200,000 gold coins, but when it expired, he would have to exchange it for items of equal value or other things, otherwise they would go to Constantine Fort took the money.
Stefan signed the contract generously and wanted to get the money first. As for how to pay it back, he had to think carefully. After all, the most important thing now was to organize an army. The relationship between England and France is becoming more and more tense, and war may rekindle one day, and he, the Duke, will join it.
In his spare time, he also likes to read books and learn from the lessons and methods of his predecessors. Before it was Alexander, Caesar, and Trajan, more recently it was Charlemagne and Justinian, and today it is a more recent one, King William I of England.
It was a miracle that more than 10,000 people conquered England. He must learn from it. At the same time, the "Domesday Book" he formulated was a powerful blow to the local nobility. Such an outstanding monarch was worthy of being his predecessor.
"That's great, if only I could copy his path." Stefan thought this way. For the family, the impossible must be made possible, so as to encourage them to continue on.