Re: Imperial Messenger Service
(OOC: Consider this as going out in early 1338, just getting a little jump on things. Obviously just PM me to add your name if so desired.)
Distributed to every German settlement and noble of consequence, barring those at sea:
Nobles of the Reich, while our enemies have been unified by the folly of unification we have, until recently, been quite divided over the same issue and it's consequences. The time has come to end our disunity and to dissolve the overwhelming political and financial support which has allowed our enemies to devote so many resources and armies to our destruction. I have a modest proposal towards that goal, a public renunciation of the effort towards unification and a denunciation of the Byzantines, thus offering our 'Catholic Alliance' opponents a chance to rethink their singleminded attempts to crush us.
I cannot guarantee any good result, but if by making the effort we divert even a tenth of our enemy's support and disrupt their coordination then I am confident the end result will be the triumph of the Reich!
I would ask every noble to review this document and, if they find it acceptable, to send me permission to include their name upon it before I have it translated and published at large. I would particularly appeal to acting Kaiser Peter von Kastilien to add his name in all haste. It is worth noting that I have already secured Pope Renaldus' cooperation in this effort, and I expect Father Luther will be pleased by it and offer to sign it as well:
The Complete Renunciation of the Catholic-Orthodox Unification
The undersigned do formally and publically renounce any further attempts at reunification of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. This noble, if misguided, endeavor by important figures on both sides of the schism was permanantly undermined and made impossible by outright Byzantine treachery. At the last possible moment a plot was discovered by men of the Reich involving agents of Byzantium stealing the Reich's treasury, capturing and torturing members of the German nobility, and laying waste to the Reich's capital, Rome. Though some aspects of this vile scheme were unpreventable it's advancement has finally been entirely halted, and can now expect to be reversed.
That the other nations of Europe would muster their every effort to oppose the tragically flawed reunification of Orthodoxy with larger Christianity is understandable, however, today the Papacy and the Reich stand together in repudiating the very idea of unification. The idea of a 'Catholic Alliance' standing opposed to a Catholic nation in good standing with the Pope is just as impossible now as the idea of unification itself.
Pope Renaldus
Father Alexander Luther
Prinz Peter von Kastilien, Duke of Franconia
King Matthias Steffen, of Outremer
Duke Lothar Steffen, of Bavaria
Duke Arnold, of Austria
Duke von Salza, of Swabia
Count Dieter Bresch, of Madgeburg
Count Friedrich Karolinger, of Innsbruck
Crusader Andreas von Salzgitter
Count Fritz von Kastilien
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