Stories thread - King of the Romans PBM

[OverKnight]

East Anglia, England, 1182

Cardinal Aston, called the Righteous, shivered in his private chambers. This winter was particularly harsh, or perhaps his age, 60, caused him to feel that way. The Cardinal stared at the letter before him, the man who had written him had quite the dark name among the priests of Europe.

Yet the offer was tempting, the schism between the Empire and Church had lasted longer than anyone had foreseen. Aston had heard that the the new Chancellor, the man who had written the letter before him, had made a massive offer for peace to the Pope. Yet it had been rejected. Aston wondered why Florence and 10,000 florins had been cast aside by the Holy Father. Still Aston had never understood Domingo when they were in the College of Cardinals together. He hated to admit it, but Aston had suffered from the sin of envy when the younger man had been elevated.

Before him on the table lay a way he could be the Pope. An offer that he should refuse out of hand, yet the current Pontiff was harming the Church by his stubbornness. The Empire was on a self-proclaimed Crusade to the Holy Land and had shown a willingness for atonement. The Kaiser himself had been found innocent of heresy by the Inquisition when he was a prince, and Aston had heard rumors that Henry had mourned Pope Gregory and assisted in his burial. Having defied the late Kaiser like that, the English Cardinal wondered if the sins of the father should be visited on the son. This should be considered.

Making a decision, the Cardinal called for ink and paper.


West of Hamburg

Captain Humphrey shook Wilhelmus Becker's hand.

"To be honest good sir, I had not thought an alliance to be possible. Until, of course, I received the letter from the King and the Cardinal. The florins don't hurt either I suppose."

Becker smiled, "Florins always help negotiations, Captain. But so does mutual need and the recognition of that fact. I wish you luck against the Danes."


Rome

Conrad Salier shook his head. Why was he being ordered by the Chancellor to oversee the building of a watchtower on the coast of Italy? The letter mentioned a need to keep an eye on the Milanese, but Conrad wasn't convinced. Something odd was going on. Still, orders were orders.

Only after the Count of Milan had left the city, did the Chancellor's messenger hand a second letter over to Captain Friedrich, the man left in charge of the Garrison. It was an order he had been expecting, yet Friedrich had no enthusiasm for it. Sighing, he began to issue orders for the troops to assemble.


South of Rome

The camp of Pope Filippus was centered around a small village church, which was now the seat of his Holiness. A guard ran into the church seeking the Pontiff.

"My lord, the sentries have spotted Imperial banners."

The Pope turned from his prayers, "They come to negotiate again? How long will it take those apostates to realise they must return Rome to me? Yet they mewl about Florence and florins. Once the Princes of Europe heed my call for a Crusade, then we will see them beg!"

Exiting the church, the Pope turned his gaze north, looking for the Imperial envoys.

There were banners, but behind them rose a large dust cloud raised by the marching of many men. The Reich had negotiated with the Pope for the last time.


Anatolia, East of the Hellespont

Chancellor Otto von Kassel stared into the flames of the camp fire. His plan was in motion, all that was left to do was to await damnation if he was wrong, or salvation if he was right. It was the greatest risk he had ever taken in his life. Only time would tell if it would succeed.

[Kagemusha]

Near Hellespontos 1182

Dietrich´s day was saved.Few letters from home had arrived and he was sitting on a rock and trying to read carefully. His eyesight wasnt what it was used to be and water filled his eyes as he tryed to make out the letters from the pergament. He tryed to to bring the letter closer to his eyes,but the letters remained blurry. For a moment he stared at the letter and hoped that his eyes could focus better,but to no avail.

He dropped the letters to his lap and scratched his head for a while.After that he raised his head and looking at the distance thought.

"Here i am in the middle of nowhere trying to read the news from home and cant even succeed in that simple task".

To Dietrich these letters were even more important then others, becouse he didnt receive too many these days to begin with. At the vanguard army of the crusade were besides him Count Von Mandorf and knight Von Mahren. While Mandorf had been busy with Reich´s politics and was constantly in contact towards home,the affairs of the two Franconians were something completely different. Dietrich had retired from public life and had even rejected to read some letters,becouse of their political nature. Mandorf had been thoughtfull and tryed to avoid discussing any topics concerning Reich and Dietrich had started to think that Mandorf might even be thinking that he had become bit wierd or atleast turning little bit senile.
Knight Von Mahrens actions didnt help much in that,since the young knight had isolated himself almost completely from others and spent most of his time alone wondering around the crusade,sometimes hunting,sometimes just riding around alone.

"Im sure that Mandorf thinks now that we Franconians are grazy. Old fool and young man who is acting like already dead man."

The decision to withdraw from public life and go to crusade at his advanced age hadnt been an easy one for Dietrich. Basicly no one had been happy about it. Not his political allies like Leopold,his counts,his wife and least his daughter. Grim smile passed on Dietrichs face when he remembered his wifes reaction about his decision.

"You fool! You stupid old kinight!How dare you abandon your family and Duchy and go to some quest when you dont even have a chance to reach its target!Abandoning your fragile wife and daughter who love you the most in this god forsaken world!"

Dietrich could easily still remember how furious Agnes had been before bursting into tears.It was easy to regognice who´s daughter she was.

"How much i miss them. I could give up my life for seeing my family even once more before the end."

Dietrich knew deep down that the worse thing about this crusade was that in matter of fact he wasnt even himself happy about beeing part of it.What was here for him in this journey? Salvation? Salvation from the sins committed by the old blood hound Kaiser?

"God have mercy on his soul in hell."

The old warhorse had really got us into trouble.Trouble so deep that even now that Henry was the Kaiser,it was like the old Kaiser´s ghost was still haunting the Reich and casting a shadow on Henry´s reign,becouse of the magnitude of the deed´s done by the old Kaiser. Dietrich was sure that those troubles would surely outlive Dietrich himself easily.

Dietrich woke up from his thoughts as his personal scribe adressed him.

"Sire, would you like to give answers to the new letters?"

Dietrich responded.

"Answer,yes answers. My good man i need you to read these letters so i can give answers, becouse without knowing the questions it is hard to answer them."

Scribe read the letters to Dietrich. One was from his wife and two others were from Steward Von Kastillien and Count Von Hamburg. Agnes had wrote a long letter about things at home.About Hedewigis,how she was growing up and how they both missed him. For Dietrich each of his wife´s letters felt heart braking and comforting at the same time. He knew that Agnes would take care of everything,but also the sorrow for beeing apart from her and Hedewigis made the old knight feel each time even older.
The letters from the steward and Count Hamburg were not good news.

Franconia was struggling to survive. Enemies harassed her now more then ever and the internal situation was far from good. As two of the power figures in Franconia had departed on the crusade, Franconia had been left vulnerable and also after a short while it seemed that the adopted brothers,Von Kastillien and Von Hamburg didnt come along too well.
Dietrich knew that the situation was bad and it was his fault that it had gone that way. It was Dietrich´s decision to abandon everything and take the cross. But it was others who suffered from it.
There was always the option to get back into politics,nothing could deny his right to take the leads once more,also there was the possibility to change the Steward,but then the current one would be disgruntled and would be against the politics of the new one.

"This is all my doing and it is my task to solve the situation. I have been avoiding my responsibilities for far too long.I have to do decisions to solve this situation,the sooner the better."

Dietrich nodded to himself and then sayed to the scribe.

"Let us start writing some letters. It seems we have some work to do."

[OverKnight]

Avignon, France, 1184

Pope Filippus was dead, and the College of Cardinals had convened to select the next Vicar of Christ. The Cardinals, over objections of the Imperial delegation, had decided to meet in this small French city rather than Rome. The fate of the previous four Popes, all meeting their ends in Italy, had made this seem a prudent course of action.

The candidates for elevation:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was an interesting situation. Cardinal Herden had the votes of his fellow Imperial clergy at his disposal, but his Empire was excommunicated and at war with many of the other Catholic nations.

Cardinal Aston was the most respected of the Preferati, but there were no other English Cardinals to support him. He had seniority but little clout.

Cardinal Frederik was considered a favorite by many, he had support within his own faction, but not as much as those of the Reich. The Danes hungered to elevate another Pope after the fall of Andreas, killed in Kaiser Heinrich's last battle.

The Venetians, though favored by the Church with three Cardinals, had none among the Preferati. Their votes would be influential, and most likely go against the Empire. Sicily had two votes, and many wondered, that without a candidate of their own, if they would support Cardinal Herden. The Hungarians and the Papal States, an entity that currently only existed on paper, each had one vote. Their Cardinals would most likely vote for anyone but the Imperial candidate.

The College gathered in Avignon's Cathedral to reach a decision. The faithful outside waited for the puff of white smoke from the chimney of the rectory, produced by the burning of the counted ballots, that would indicate the elevation of a new Pope.

to be continued

[OverKnight]

Part II

Cardinal Herden sighed as he listened to the sermon in the Cathedral before the Papal conclave officially began. Usually the rituals of the Church were of great comfort to him, but not today. Typically, the sermon given before the conclave concerned the challenges facing the Church, and a zealous French priest, one of the hosts, was railing against the Empire. If he was to be believed, the Reich was the dominion of the Beast, it's Kaiser the anti-Christ and the end of days was approaching. The priest wanted a Pope to be elected who would immediately call a Crusade to liberate Rome from the clutches of Satan.

Of course, Herden wryly thought to himself, the priest failed to mention that the French had attacked the Empire four years before the second investiture crisis. Still, it was to be expected. Looking around at his fellow Cardinals and their attendants, he noticed several of them nodding in agreement. That was not a good sign. Herden hoped the Chancellor knew what he was doing.

It was Otterbach, his fellow Imperial Cardinal, who had approached him first with the proposal from the Chancellor. Herden was not surprised, Charles had always possessed a keen political eye, and his defeat in the last Papal conclave had incensed him, pushing him further into the pro-Imperial camp. Herden remembered that a whispering campaign had been started against Otterbach by Domingo, the future Filippus, or so it was rumored. Gossip had arisen that Charles was a eunuch, of all things, and therefore unfit to be Pontiff. When Herden had informed Charles, he had been angry and asked if any other accusations were being mentioned. Having been told no, he replied, "If that's the worst they say, let them talk."

When Filippus had died, it was rumored that his former opponent had offered a prayer of thanksgiving.

Still Otterbach had been defeated and now he had proposed a plan to Herden, who stood for the Papacy himself. It required that Herden abandon his own candidacy, a sacrifice, but he was practical enough to realize that it was most likely doomed anyway. Still, the plan required a level of subterfuge he found distasteful. Yet if the Reich was to be reconciled, and of course his chances of attaining the throne of Peter in the future revived, it was necessary. It didn't hurt that the Chancellor had promised to advance the military career of the grand-nephew of his departed mentor, Peter Scherer.

The sermon ended, and with the invocation "Extra Omnes", everyone who was not a Cardinal or one of their attendants was ushered out of the Cathedral. The conclave had begun. It was time for Cardinal Herden to play his part.

Wait for him to come to you, Otterbach had advised him. Sure enough, an hour into the conclave, Herden was approached by Cardinal Frederik the Missionary.

"Karl, by God, it is good to see you again. I am sorry about the change of venue, but some of our brothers felt safer here."

Herden put on his best smile and replied, "Of course Frederik, we must not let temporal concerns intrude on our holy task."

The Danish Cardinal nodded in agreement, "Yes, exactly, quite astute. You must understand that the conditions that compel us not to meet in Rome, also imperil your own candidacy."

Herden maintained his smile with great effort, "I am aware of this Frederik, but I feel compelled to continue. I may be the only candidate who could ease the spiritual suffering of my people."

"Of course, your concern for your flock is to your credit. What if I was to tell you that if I was to be elevated, I would accept the penance of the Reich, in the name of our Lord, that our dear departed Filippus refused. There would be peace, and of course reconciliation with the Church after further signs of atonement."

"I would be intrigued", Herden responded, trying to fake interest, "If indeed another candidate could care for my flock better than I, I would be a fool not to elevate him to a position where he could do so."

The Imperial Cardinal could see the gleam of ambition alight in the other Cardinal's eyes as he replied, "Yes, it would be foolish not to support that candidate. Do we have an understanding, Karl?"

In response, Cardinal Herden, sacrificing his candidacy and his pride, took the hand of Cardinal Frederik and kissed his ring. Offering a silent prayer for forgiveness, he tried to make the gesture as ostentatious as possible.

The Danish Cardinal, well satisfied with the show of subservience, passed on to other possible supporters after a few pleasantries.

Sparing a quick glance around him, Herden could see the Venetian delegation staring at him. Their gaze then followed the departed Dane. They quickly fell back into an animated discussion.

If Charles is right, Herden thought to himself, the Venetians, lacking a candidate themselves, will want to be the power behind the throne. They can hardly be that if it looks like the Danes are beholden to us. It's a good thing the voting is by secret ballot.

As if to confirm his thoughts, the Venetians moved over to speak with Cardinal Aston. The poor man had been left alone up until now, but as the day wore on he became quite popular.

The election only took one ballot:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As the ballots burned in the hearth of the rectory, white smoke poured forth from the chimney, proclaiming the new Pope, Lanbertus of England.


Epilogue

South of Nicea

Otto von Kassel smiled, the message about Aston's elevation had reached him as he was sorting through the final orders for the attack on the Egyptians.

I hope Pope Lanbertus is a man of his word, thought Otto, and more upright than some of his fellows.

With Cardinals on the mind, Otto's thoughts turned to the Imperial clergy. It's odd, with Herden I needed to have a family friend promoted and speak to his ambition to gain his cooperation. All that I needed to do for Otterbach was to promise that Count Salier would not take part in an attack on Filippus. I know he was raised in a nunnery, but for a Cardinal to take such personal interest in one man's soul is peculiar.

Shaking his head, Otto's thoughts turned to the attack, I've done all I can, now I wait. I best get to the task at hand.

Otto motioned over a messenger.

"Tell Duke von Saxony he may attack, and may God aid him in his battle."

Of course, Otto thought, God helps those, who help themselves.

[Ignoramus]

Metz, 1180

"Ulrich Hummel, Duke of Swabia, Elector of the Reich.

To Otto von Kassel, Chancellor of the Reich, Duke of Bavaria, Elector of the Reich.

Mein Chancellor, it is with great difficulty that I profess my loyalty to you. You have flagrantly disregarded the interests of mein Duchy. Here I am with all these Swabians, to be willing to be content with cowering behind our walls and repelling these Franks. Our lands are constantly pillaged, plundered, and desolated. The city of Dijon is crowded with homeless peasants whose homes have been destroyed by the French. Prinz Jobst is scarcely able to maintain order in the city due to their uproar.

And what, may I ask of you, are you concerned about? Italy? The east? Bah, may I remind you that there are many men in Swabia who are now questioning your leadership. And not yours only, they are also beginning to doubt the wisdom of the Diet to invest the leadership of the Reich to such a man as you.

I warn you to reconsider your actions carefully; there are those who would be not afraid to reject one who is off in the east.

Written in Metz, in the year of our Lord, 1080."


"Duke Hummel,

You had the opportunity to address the needs of Swabia during the past Diet session. You and some of your fellow Swabians did not, that is not my fault.

With all respect, Duke, if you bothered to view the election results, you would see that the Diet has given me a mandate for my goals, not yours.

I agree Swabia has endured much, but so have the other Duchies of the Reich. I will take steps to address the unrest in Dijon. I will make sure that your Duchy is well guarded against the French, but that is all I can do at the moment. Peace and reconciliation with the Church is my priority, all other goals are secondary.

I would ask that you consider your own actions carefully. The Kaiser, who is with me in the east I must remind you, appointed you Duke. It would be a shame if he came to regret his decision.

Look to the defense of your realm, my Lord, and remember your oath of fealty to the Kaiser and all shall be well.

Chancellor von Kassel"

[Ignoramus]

Rheims, 1186

"Mein Gott! So that's their game, is it?" sighed Ulrich, as he read the lastest dispatch from the Imperial Diet.

It had looked so promising. After marching across the border into Champagne, Ulrich and the depleted Swabian army had reached the city of Rhiems. It was an impressive sight, surrounded by thick stone walls, flanked by towers. After blockading the city's four main gates, Ulrich was hopeful that the fate of the city was now sealed. Reports had filtered through the camp that though the city was well supplied, the French had but a weak garrision quartered here. After setting his engineers to construct siege equipment, Ulrich was confident that an brief assault would carry the city.

But then the besiegers became the besieged. After surveying his men, a party of horsemen rushed back towards the Duke.

"Mein lord Duke, the French are here!" shouted the leader, Rupert von Hapsburg, a knight from the Tyrol.

Ulrich turned with a start. He had not counted on another French army in the vicinity of Rheims. Was not a large army already besieging Dijon? Quickly regaining his composure, Ulrich signalled the men to come to his tent.

Once they had entered, Ulrich began to question them.

"Where are the French camped?" he began, "How many men do you estimate march under the Fleur de lis?"

"They are but four miles distant, mein Duke." answered Rupert. "Herr Lothar and I reckon that they are over 700 men strong, though we had difficulty in concealing ourselves from the French sentries."

"You have done well, gut ritters." replied Ulrich, "You have the gratitude of your Duke and Swabia"

As the knights exited Ulrich's tent, a page bowed before entering. When he entered he silently handed Ulrich a missive bearing the unmistakeable seal of the Imperial Diet.

A discreet cough interrupted his train of thought. As Ulrich looked up, he saw Jan van Ghent, his Flemish military advisor.

"They have forced mein hand; I must pull back. Those fools in the Diet care more about following rules, rather than serving the Reich. I have just heard that they will call upon mein men to desert, unless I withdraw. Mein men would remain loyal, but I cannot lead them into a life of inglorious exile.

Besides, there are the French to consider. They have now surrounded us. Regardless of mein actions, I shall have to fight mein way out of thier encirclement. The losses will be heavy, but I trust that on this field we will deal them such a blow that will break the spirit of all those who swear loyalty to the French King.

But the further insult comes unabated. They now demand my abdication as Duke of Swabia. For what? For marching across a border of our enemies? I have little pride left this day, for they have trampled Swabia into the dirt."

"Your course is decided? asked van Ghent, "What shall you do, and where shall you go?"

"I shall take a loyal band of Swabians with me to the Holy Land. Perhaps there I can make a name for myself, but I cannot remain in Swabia as a disgraced knight, though it was unjustly deserved."

"Very well, I shall go with you!" exclaimed van Ghent, "But first, we have a French army to scatter."

Ulrich smiled and buckled on his sword.

[Kagemusha]

Peace

It was a a quiet evening in the crusader camp. Dietrich was sitting alone on his camp stool outside of his tent,watching how a warm breeze from the Mediterranian Sea shook the grass and little trees on the small hill his tent was positioned. The warm breeze felt good on Dietrich´s old wrinkled skin. He liked the Southern weather, but maybe it was just the aging that made him like more hospital enviroment of the Mediterranian.
Dietrich sipped some red wine from a cup he was holding and took a look on the surrounding camp. To the smaller tents of pilgrims on the outskirts of the camp,going through the larger individual tents showing where Counts and Knights had their spots on this huge war camp stopping in the end to an single huge tent in the middle of the camp, the Kaiser Henry´s tent with its bright Imperial colours and swarm of soldiers,messengers and scribes besieging it.
Dietrich was happy that Henry was with them. He liked the Kaiser very much and had many times wondered how different the father and son were. Where Heinrich had been an autocrat and very jealous of his personal power, Henry was more kind,calm and was more of an mediator as Kaiser. Maybe some felt that the good character of Henry was sign of weakness,but Dietrich didnt agree on such opinions.
For him fighting together with Henry had been a real honour,commanding the right wing of the army was position of great honour. Dietrich had witnessed also the commanding abilities of Kaiser in that battle and he was pleased on what he had seen.Dietrich thought.

"I hope that the Kaiser will be safe and one day will return to the Reich. Under his leadership and bit of luck,the reich could be heading towards a golden age."

Dietrich streched his legs on the camp stool a bit and continued thinking about the current situation. One man had completely suprised him in the last few years.That man was Chancellor Von Kassel.

"In the end of the reign of Kaiser Heinrich i became to think that Von Kassel was nothing but an upstart who was ready to betray anyone or anything to climb the latters towards larger power. Now this man has completely suprised us when he finally got the power´s of Chancellor. Nothing pleases me more then that we are now back on the lap of mother church. I think that this huge effort made by Von Kassel will turn us once more towards more peacefull times.Unfortunately im not sure that i will witness that time"

During the last battle something had happened. At the middle of the fight when Dietrich and his knights were charging on the right wing,suddenly when Dietrich was gallopping towards the enemy, a swift pain had crossed the left side of Dietrichs body. First he had thought that he had been hit by an arrow,but soon he realized that the pain was coming from inside. Dietrich had crashed on the enemy,but for a moment he couldnt bare even the weight of his shield and he had thrown it to the ground. Soon his veterans had surrounded him,becouse they had thought that the Duke was wounded,but as the pain gave away, Dietrich had commanded his men forward.
When the battle had ended and Dietrich had undressed his armour he felt like his whole body was covered on cold sweat. At that moment he understood that the Lord had told him that soon his time on this earth would be over.
Dietrich had acted like nothing had happened,but his close men knew something was wrong. Maybe becouse of their respect towards their leader they had not bothered asking questions, in which they knew they would have not gotten answers anyway.

As months had passed,Dietrich had felt how his stength started to vanish,little by little. He still could walk and do normal things,but as the time passed he was getting slower and slower. The kingdom of heaven was coming closer and closer towards old Dietrich.
As he sat on his camp stool in the diminishing light of the evening,his thoughts turned into Franconia. To the dark forests and hills covered on morning mist. To the shores of the wild northern sea. Oh how he missed his land,the land he wouldnt see anymore. As the last rays of sun disappeared behind the horizon,the old knight raised slowly from his seat and walked to his tent. A page came inside and offered Dietrich´s evening meal. Tasty roast with bread and some more wine. When Dietrich was finished with his suppers and the page had cleared the table,Dietrich opened an scroll.

"I have been avoiding this decision for far too long.Well now the decision is made.I hope its the right one."

Dietrich thought as he casted his seal ring on hot red wax and pushed the mark of the Duke of Franconia on the pergament.
For a while Dietrich just sat there looking at the scroll.Then he wrapped it up and placed on the draw where he put all his letters and documents that were to be dispatched. Dietrich tasted the last few drops from his wine glass and then undressed and layed down to his bed. With his eyes closed he prayed a silent prayer.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. "

During the last sentences of the prayers,Dietrich felt like he was getting lighter. He saw his family, the faces of his wife and daughter smiling to him,he saw how light was starting to shine around their faces and with silent voice Dietrich sayed.

"Im coming home."