Quote Originally Posted by The Lemongate View Post
The Archbishop of Reims' eyes flare up when the Duke of Ancona reveals his map. His voice crashes down on the Council with terrible imprecation and menace:

Retract your blashphemous claims from the lands of the Holy See at once or you shall soon find yourself at odds with France and many members of this Council! The Holy Father is not some sort of unaligned, petty prince whose frivolous claims can be pushed aside! Should your armies dare to even set foot within his dominion, be assured that France and all those who wish to call her friend will drive down upon you with such a terrible wrath that nothing of your demesne will remain standing and your vile heresy will be wiped from the pages of the histories! It is already bold enough for you to menace your christian neighbors in Genoa, do not compound your impious greed with sins.

Turning towards the Fatimid envoy and cooling the fire of his words, the Archbishop continues:

Your demands to restrain the movement of agents in your lands is understandable, but since the Holy City of Jerusalem falls within your sphere of influence, surely, you would allow the faithful and the duly appointed representatives of the Christian Kings of Europe to have access to such an important site? It would be viewed most auspiciously if you would grant us such a right.
OOC:
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I don't see what the big deal about the pope is, here. There's no more crusades, so there's not much point besides role-playing a casus belli for an excommunication. Nevertheless, if the rest of Europe highly disagrees with me, I don't really need Rome anyway. I expect that, in this case, nobody else will be making their own claims on the Papacy, then.


The Duke of Ancona, once he has returned from his unexpected and urgent business, takes a look at the scroll where the discussion has been recorded, and stands to make a deep apology.

"The Republic of Venice would wish to make an apology towards the Papal State of Rome. There appears to have been a... mistake in the intelligence that our nation has gathered as of late. The Doge and myself had been led to believe that the Pope no longer held sway over the hearts of the kings and sovereigns of Europe in this day and age. We know for sure that, should he wish to call a crusade to Jerusalem now, not a single one of you would take up arms and the cross for Christendom.

Clearly, this is not so, and I would beg the forgiveness of my peers and His Holiness himself for such a sacrilegious statement. Venice rejects all of its unjust claims on the Holy City; however, as this seems to be the only opposition, all other claims will stand. The Doge will soon be sending a private messenger to the Holy Roman Emperor to speak of the ownership of Emilia-Romagna and the city of Bologna; as he has not deigned to send his representative here yet, we have no way of knowing his own opinion on the matter."

With that, the Duke lets out a deep sigh and takes a seat.