eastern european eagle

Chapter 170 Secular and religious chaos
In addition to Crimea, the population of Transylvania is also growing rapidly, thanks to Mary's peasant decree, a large number of peasants fled to Transylvania, although the nobles stepped up their pursuit, there were still peasants Risk your life to escape.This made the Hungarian nobles miserable.

Some nobles came to Mary and offered to buy the escaped peasants with gold coins, and begged Mary not to take them in anymore.But Mary said it was just normal population movement.

Sigismund was also a headache, and the defeat in the Transylvanian War was another blow to prestige after the Battle of Skopje.The nobles in Hungary did not support him, and the princes in Shinra also expressed their consideration. Only Albrecht of Upper Austria strongly supported him.This made Sigismund very grateful.

Moreover, he is also the only heir of the Luxembourg family. If it weren't for his brother having no heirs, he would have been alone.

However, did his brother Wenzel really have no children, at least he and his first wife did not.

Sofia of Bavaria, Queen of Bohemia, nurses a baby in a castle in Podjeblad, near Prague.

Wenzel looked at his children with his wife, and felt warm in his heart.At the same time, he was also worried about what would happen to them after he died.

Since last year, the nobles and princes in Bohemia and Shinra began to form factions against him. They demanded to reduce the royal power, get more land, etc., and even their younger brother joined them.Wenzel is difficult to fight, and can only compromise.

It was under these circumstances that his wife gave birth to a daughter.Wenzel named her Anne. In order to prevent accidents, Wenzel hid his wife and children in Podjeblad, intending to wait for a chance to speak out.

"What should we do next?" Wenzel asked the ministers around him.

"There are very few chances of a comeback now, and neither the nobles nor the lords will compromise, but what happened in Hungary made them doubt Sigismund's ability to handle it."

Although Wenzel is not as capable as his younger brother, he occasionally has a bright mind.Adopt an indulgent policy towards the religious reformation that is gradually rising in Bohemia, trying to use them to regain the monarchy.And he also has the title of King of Germany. In the "Golden Seal Edict" promulgated by his father Charles IV, he can become King of Germany with the support of four electors, but he does not say that he can be abolished with the support of four electors. De Wang.Therefore, taking advantage of the loopholes in the edict, Wenzel has been fighting with the princes.

He also heard about the Hungarian affairs, and it was really cool, Sigismund had been coveting his own position, and some people in the palace were bribed by him.The purpose is to monitor his every move and ensure that he has no heirs.

Now that she finally has a daughter, Wenzel naturally wants to ensure their safety.Finding a fiancé for Annie is the most important thing.

But who to look for, France, no way, the Holy See of Avignon supported by France is opposed to the Holy See supported by Shinra;

However, news from the East interested him.Hungary was divided into two, Wallachia continued to defeat Ottoman, the revival of the Orthodox Church, and the dazzling information all said one thing: unite with the East.

At this time, in the territory of Shenluo, the princes of the three major religions are preparing to elect the nobleman Rupert as the king of Germany. Naturally, the Luxembourg faction headed by Wenzel will not sit still.He is ready to compromise with those lords who are against him, especially Sigismund, and intends to use Bohemia's regency as a bargaining chip, but he is also worried that Sigismund will take refuge in the other party, and if he dies, his family may also die. More bad luck than good luck.That country called Wallachia should be good, talk to them another day?

At Charles University in Prague, a speech promoting Wycliffe's ideas was taking place, but was quickly seized by the bishop of Prague.

"These people are all possessed by demons and need to be purified. Take them away..."

The fat bishop arrested them and took them away. John watched all this in the crowd, and a surge of anger welled up in his heart. At this moment, he strengthened his belief even more.

The religious reform movement was surging in Bohemia. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Orthodox missionaries also fished in troubled waters.Begins missionary work in Brno and builds the Orthodox Church.

The missionary activities of the Orthodox Church are all carried out underground, taking advantage of the splitting node of the Western Church to expand its power.Some people support the idea of ​​the Orthodox Church, but are unwilling to use Eastern etiquette for prayers. The church also adapts to the situation and proposes that as long as the Patriarch of Constantinople and Eastern religious ideas are recognized, Western church etiquette can be used for prayers and other religious activities.The Western Orthodox Church was born.

These variant churches recognize the supreme authority of the Church of Constantinople, using Western etiquette but agreeing with Eastern ideas. This is really inappropriate for the Catholic Church, and various taxes and indulgences are pressed on them.No one can bear it, not to mention the terrible inheritance tax. After death, half of the property must be handed over to the lord and the church.They can only turn to the Orthodox Church for comfort.

At present, there are mainly four Western Orthodox churches: the Naples Orthodox Church, the Hungarian Orthodox Church, the Polish Orthodox Church, and the Bohemian Orthodox Church.The number of believers ranged from a few hundred to thousands. They opposed the Catholic Church and left alone to establish towns and live elsewhere.The kings of Hungary and Poland naturally adopted tough policies against them, but Bohemia and Naples were very subtle. Laszlo and Wenzel wanted to use the church to achieve their own goals, so they did not stop them and let them grow.

This kind of religious chaos in the West will continue for a while, and it will take 17 years to wait until Sigismund holds a meeting. This period of time is a good opportunity for the East.

In the East, the Orthodox Church re-established its grassroots organization in Anatolia, but not in a big city like Nicaea or Nicomedia, but in a small town on the northern coast of the Black Sea.This was supported by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The church is preaching and spreading the Wallachian language by the way, so it will be less difficult to rule these areas in the future.The Greeks living here were rejected by the immigrant Turkic people. In order to survive, they could only be assimilated by them. They believed in the Crescent Church and spoke their language. Maybe they felt that Rome's counterattack was hopeless.

And now, a group of Orthodox churches who speak the Wallachian language came here again after decades, which gave them a glimmer of hope. Could it be that they can finally stop going on like this, and happy days are coming? ?

(End of this chapter)