Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 277: Last Will and Testament! Last Will and Testament!
Baldwin said he was used to it, and Balian could actually understand it.

Compared to Baldwin, perhaps 99% of the people in this world are insects.

Baldwin's father was Amaury I, the second son of Fulk of Anjou.

My mother said she was from a noble family. Her father was the ruler of the County of Edessa, but in 1144, the city of Edessa was destroyed...

Because of the close relationship between the Edessa and Jerusalem lines, the marriage between Baldwin's parents was considered a consanguineous marriage.

For this reason, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was also concerned about the political influence of the landless nobles of the County of Edessa.

The kingdom had long been embroiled in controversy over the marriage of Baldwin's mother.

Ultimately, until his death, Baldwin's mother was never a queen, so he was considered "of humble origins."

It even required a guarantor to legalize Baldwin's status so that he would not be considered an illegitimate child.

But such a birth was just the insignificant beginning of Baldwin's miserable life.

Due to his mother's problems, Baldwin was not raised by his biological mother.

When he was nine years old, the young prince was diagnosed with leprosy, a chronic infectious disease that is mainly transmitted through droplets, but it is not highly contagious and there is no cure in this era.

The sick leper king began to lose his sense of pain, his skin ulcerated, and he lost his fertility...

As a teenager, Baldwin was precocious, determined, and optimistic in the face of his illness.

He resembles his father in appearance, build, walking and expression. He learns quickly but speaks with a stutter.

Baldwin loved stories and history lessons at the time, and William of Tyre praised his excellent memory, saying that he never forgot a kindness or a slight.

Then the 13-year-old patient ascended the throne, defeated Saladin at the age of 16, and was defeated by Saladin at the age of 18...

The kingdom struggled to survive in the endless wars and conflicts.

The young king died at the age of 24, leaving behind a kingdom full of factional conflicts and problems.

Is Baldwin great?
No, even Mungissa relied more on Reynald's keen tactical sense than Baldwin.

He is just a legend.

With his amazing personal charm, he maintained the unity of this small kingdom, and despite his illness, he personally went to the battlefield to boost everyone's morale...

What more could one ask for from a patient?

At least Balian wouldn't be too demanding of the young man.

"At Jacob's crossing, they were like this. When I rushed back to Jerusalem, these nobles and lords."

"They were arguing and hysterical. When they saw that I had lost, they wanted to surrender, but they were reluctant to give up their interests, so they blamed each other and wanted to say that they were not wrong..."

"I lectured them and told them that it was nothing, that the sky wasn't going to fall, and that day wasn't the end of the kingdom."

"I had a truce with Saladin for two years, and then I won again."

Balian smiled. He knew what Baldwin said.

Balian was very happy when he listened to Baldwin talking about the past because it reminded him of the past.

On the other side, after a series of disputes, Ameri stood up and loudly stated his demands.

"Last Will! Last Will!"

"Nowadays, there are disputes over the throne, factions fighting and constantly attacking each other. We should issue another will! Follow the will of the late king and let the four monarchs of Europe make the decision!"

As soon as Ameri said this, all the nobles present fell silent.

Balian and Baldwin both smiled sarcastically.

From a country's perspective, relying on bloodline and seniority within the family to determine the heir is undoubtedly a lottery.

The result of this for the Kingdom of Jerusalem was that a leper and a child became king.

Jerusalem is not a peaceful country; it is a place of suffering and endless war.

Before his death, the Leper King had already determined that Guy was a vermin. For the survival of the country itself, he left a will, hoping that the four major monarchs of Europe, namely: the monarchs of England, France, Germany, and the Papal States, would propose the heir to the throne.

The benefit of doing this is not to select real talents, but to hope to deepen ties with Europe and thus obtain more reinforcements.

But what can I say? Three and a half years ago, Ameri, that is, the Marshal of the Kingdom, openly declared that historical documents have no practical significance.

They formed a faction, closed the gates of Jerusalem, and crowned Sibylla, who then broke her agreement and crowned Guy.

From that moment on, the division of the kingdom was a foregone conclusion.

Now, however, the throne is once again in dispute, but Amery is once again using the will to prevaricate.

He was so shameless that he could break his promise and make a profit, and he could take back what he had done. Among all the nobles present, he was the best.

"I'm used to it. That's how they were back then."

Balian seemed to hear these words again.

Being seriously ill, he was not fit to join in such a dispute and could only watch from the sidelines.

On the other hand, someone on Isabella's side didn't understand the relationship and actually followed up Ameri's words with a further question.

"Nowadays, time is urgent. How can we wait for a few months for the European monarchs to send envoys?"

The same words were repeated again. It was this reason that convinced some nobles at that time, but this time the roles were reversed.

But for no apparent reason, Balian seemed to hear another sentence: "The man who spoke betrayed you. He was bribed."

Indeed, at this juncture, any method of following the other party's suggestion to discuss the feasibility would be tantamount to walking into a trap, because this is exactly what the other party wants to hear.

As expected, Ameri didn't say much, he just moved aside slightly to let the person behind him stand up.

None of the nobles present were very familiar with this person, but they all knew at least one thing: he was the liaison officer sent to Tyre by Charles the Lionheart.

"See, this is what we have been prepared for..."

In the synagogue of Tyre, a drama was being performed, but the person who planned this drama had never participated in it. Geoffrey, a man who set foot in the Levant for the first time in his life.

Over the past few days, Jeffrey has used amazing energy to sort out the relationships between people in Jerusalem and plan today's scene.

As the eldest of three brothers, he knew his younger brother very well. If he simply re-stated the will, it would be a joke.

And any joke, if enough people support it, or more precisely, the military, then it will not be so funny.

In fact, Lionheart's troops were not large, totaling perhaps 12,000 people, among which the number of knights was far less than that of the German Crusaders.

It seems that he is not as good as either Saladin or Gairis, but that is not how it works.

The messenger brought by Amery was the liaison officer of Lionheart. Under Lionheart's command were more than 12,000 British and French crusaders. Behind these 12,000 crusaders were hundreds of aristocratic families in Britain and France.

Naturally, they will not be united as one, but a mob.

But the Kingdom of Jerusalem was also a motley crowd, and the kingdom was the party seeking help, while the British and French Crusaders were the party coming to help.

Free is the most expensive thing. When the reinforcements expressed their opinions, many nobles in the kingdom were bound to respond.

In particular, Geoffrey found many less staunch supporters from Isabella's aristocratic faction through the organization of interpersonal relationships.

This is how a good show was performed.

Amery said he wanted a will to let the monarchs of England, France, Germany and the Church decide who would own the throne. The next moment, Isabella's men took over and said they had no time to wait. The next moment, the envoys of the British and French Crusaders came out and said they could participate in the meeting.

Although it is impossible to directly declare the winner, it also ensures that Guy's crown will not be taken off so easily.

It can be considered as buying more time for their faction.

It should be said that the arrival of the British and French Crusaders, coupled with the envoys' statements, increased Guy's value in united front work and made the faction of Patriarch Iraklius look up to Guy.

At the same time, they forced some nobles who did not benefit significantly from the reform process to side with their faction and put pressure on Balian.

Faced with such a problem and caught up in such a dispute, Eden didn't think twice and directly chose to support Isabella on behalf of Germany.

The two sides voted two to one, and everyone in the hall looked at the calm and composed Iraklius. If there was anyone present who was most likely to represent the Pope of Rome, it would only be this Patriarch.

For a long time, Irakliu did not speak, and finally he just said: "I am not qualified."

This is different from what Ameri thought, because at this juncture, Irakliyo did not choose to kill them all?
On the other side, Conrad stood up and reiterated his attitude. As a representative of the Italians, he chose to support Isabella.

Although Italy was a fragmented country at that time, due to similar interests, they all needed to retain their trade privileges in the Levant.

Therefore, they elected Conrad as their representative to speak out.

Even though Italians did not have the right to vote in the will, who made them the important financiers of the Crusades?

It was the assistance from the Venetians in particular that enabled the Crusaders to gain a foothold in the Levant.

When the envoys of the Venetian Albino family took sides, Isabella's side had the upper hand overall.

The relative balance between the two sides once again made the negotiations fruitless.

European political game is a rather complicated process.

Before resorting to force, all parties in the game often need to exercise restraint.

One of the issues involved here is the community of interests.

If a king directly arrested and executed a baron without proper reason, this action would in fact pose a threat to all other nobles.

Even if the nobles supported the king, if they could not gain any benefits, they would have to worry about whether they would be the next person to be executed without reason.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was relatively simple in this regard, because there was indeed a parliamentary platform in which all nobles could participate, thus limiting the number and scope of the game.

If it is a more traditional European kingdom, the game mode between them will be more abstract.

It might be like this: a duke is unhappy with the king and wants to rebel.

But the earls under the duke felt that supporting the king would weaken the rights of their own lords, so they turned against the earls.

The barons under the earl thought it was a good thing that the earl was suppressed by the duke, so they rebelled against the earl.

Then to a specific knight below...

It could also be something else: at a meeting in a certain republic, a representative raised a very sensitive topic. The other representatives present felt that it was indeed sensitive and they could not come to a conclusion, so they needed to return to the provinces to convene a parliament for discussion.

After the representatives from each province returned to their provinces, they called representatives from each city to hold a meeting. The representatives from each city felt that this issue was indeed sensitive and that they had no power to make a final decision. What if they were held accountable afterwards? Therefore, they needed to return to their cities to hold meetings to discuss the issue.

After the meetings in various cities were held, the representatives who came were still undecided and needed to continue nesting dolls...

There is no such thing as saying anything. Once the king gives an order, everyone has to obey. Even if the king orders the knight to capture someone, the knight will have his own ideas and make choices that are in his own interests.

……

The reason why the Venetians stood up to support Isabella's claim to the throne was actually very simple. Isabella showed them a wonderful business prospect.

Commercial trade with the Second Kingdom made the Venetian families residing in the Second Kingdom earn a lot of money.

Even during this period, Balian made a request to exchange cannons for ships.

There is nothing to hide about the principle of artillery itself. The technical details of production are what need to be kept strictly confidential. The raw materials for producing artillery are what really need to be controlled.

It’s like in the 21st century, the principles and production methods of the atomic bomb are all over the Internet, but how many countries dare to say that they can definitely develop it?
The spread of artillery technology is inevitable, so it would be better to directly engage in arms business to gain some benefits for the kingdom.

A nearly 40-meter-long galley was docked at the port of Tyre. For the Mediterranean at that time, such a ship was already a giant ship, requiring at least two hundred rowers to make it sail on the sea.

Each ship like this was worth two or three thousand ducats, but Venice had three of them ready for exchange.

Looking at these big ships, Walter couldn't help but sigh.

The Venetian representative next to him was repeatedly counting the artillery and asking about the types and differences of the artillery.

These cannons weigh hundreds of kilograms, and any problem with any of them would mean we could not afford it, so we are extremely cautious.

At this moment, cannons were pushed onto ships, and the way of naval warfare was about to be overturned. However, standing on the tide of this era were the Venetians and Jerusalem.

(End of this chapter)