Eagle’s Glory

Latest website: "Even if a saint, or even if God raises his sword against you, I will wave my sword to block you..."

Hearing such affectionate words, Aiglon was absolutely elated. If it were anyone else, he would have to worry that this was unintentional flattery, but from Agnes' mouth, it would definitely not be a lie.

She will always follow him from now on.

Aiglon looked back at the statue of Joan of Arc. The girl still had her eyes closed, as if she couldn't bear to see one of her noble and brave descendants trapped in the clutches of the devil.

Humph, that means you were born too early, otherwise I would have taken you down too. He uttered rebellious remarks in his heart, and then, as if to demonstrate, he held Agnes in his arms tighter.

Fortunately, this blasphemous enjoyment did not last long. Agron and Agnes left the Virgin Chapel together and returned to the main hall of the Tau Palace Church, allowing the poor saint to become pure again.

When Aigron came to the main hall, Archbishop Lance was already waiting here.

The archbishop is about fifty or sixty years old, with a thin build and a livid and serious expression on his face due to long-term sermons. Like many clergy, in order to increase his sense of authority, he still has gray-white hair. Big beard.

At this time, he was wearing a luxurious robe and a bishop's crown on his head, which made him look like a senior clergyman.

However, he was obviously respectful to Aiglon. When he saw the young man, he made the sign of the cross and bowed to the young man in front of him.

"Dear Your Majesty the King of Rome, your arrival has made the whole city and the whole country excited and reassured. I sincerely thank God for sending you back to France at a time when our country is about to fall into an era of chaos, so that you can protect the people and The highest faith..."

Following the bishop's greetings, the priests behind him bowed to pay tribute to Aiglon, leaving no one in any doubt who is the real owner of this place.

Logically speaking, Aigron is not a king yet, and whether he is even considered a French prince or aristocrat is still open to question. The archbishop does not need to be so respectful, but as an organization that has been passed down for thousands of years and has happily cooperated with feudal lords and ruling classes everywhere, of course the church Understand what "assessing the situation" means. Since Aigron is now unmistakably about to become the monarch of France, the church is naturally happy to please this young man as soon as possible and get a new protector for itself.

Since the outbreak of the Great Revolution, France has entered a new historical stage. It is not certain whether the slogans of freedom, equality and fraternity have been implemented.

However, the deep-rooted Catholic faith has been completely shaken. Due to historical tradition, the French Church is a hardcore counter-revolutionary force, and the church's property is coveted by the revolutionary government.

Therefore, the Great Revolution regarded the old clerical forces as enemies from the beginning. Even before falling out with the king, the attack on the church had already begun.

The National Assembly first recognized freedom of belief and declared to protect the religious rights of all non-Catholics. Then in 1790, the National Assembly passed the Priests Act, which required all priests to swear allegiance to Parliament and the law. Of course, the biggest blow was the confiscation of religious documents in various places. Church real estate and other assets.

Faced with this dilemma, most of the church's clergy naturally chose to resist. They refused to swear allegiance to the new system, and this further intensified the contradiction between the church and the revolution. As the conflicts escalated, people in Paris began to burn statues of the pope and banned those priests who refused to take the oath from speaking. In 1790, Rome withdrew its ambassador to France, and revolutionary France completely broke with the Roman Church.

By 1791, as the situation worsened step by step, massacres of priests by the revolutionary masses also began to break out, and the so-called "Time of Terror" began.

Since that time, the church's extreme hostility to the Revolution has become an unchangeable sentiment, and they are willing to support any monarch as long as these lawless revolutionary parties can be eliminated.

The situation in France then changed, and governments came and went like a revolving door. In just a few decades, two empires and two dynasties emerged. The attitude of the church was that "a country cannot live without a king for a day." In other words, as long as France It's just a monarchy. It doesn't matter which family's king sits on the throne.

Whether it is the Bonaparte family, the Bourbon family, or the Orleans family in power, the church is willing to cooperate with it. It does not care who is the orthodox and the usurper, as long as the monarch can suppress those revolutionary parties.

In 1871, with the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War, the Second Empire collapsed. Thiers and others formed a provisional government to cede territory to Prussia and pay compensation to temporarily stabilize the situation. The political circles then began to consider establishing a new National body.

At this time, the French monarchists began to prepare to support the new monarch. The orthodox faction supporting the Bourbon family and the Party of Order supporting the Orleans family considered cooperation. The Pope strongly supported this motion. The successor of the Bourbon family, Count Chambord, After rejecting the joint proposal, the Pope was still bitter about it.

Therefore, for the church, the most terrifying situation for France is to fall into a republic and become a hell that subverts the order of faith. They firmly support Aigron as the new monarch.

What's more, Aiglon has always presented an image of a "defender of the faith" and has a good relationship with the Roman Church. Even the Pope publicly praised his feat of defeating the Turks in his sermons, so in the eyes of the French church people , he becomes more pleasing to the eye.

Of course Aigron is well aware of this, and he is also using the church with peace of mind. No matter how many impacts it has received, at least at this time, the church still has huge spiritual power and can win over a large number of supporters for him. .

Of course, he does not intend to rely solely on the Catholic Church, because ruling a country by superstition and ignorance will only make him a rebellious tyrant, which is not his pursuit.

"Nice to meet you, Your Majesty Bishop." Faced with the Archbishop's greetings, Aigron also bowed to the Bishop. "I'm glad you welcomed me so warmly. The people here are very warm and religious."

The archbishop was also happy to be praised by Aigron. "This place has witnessed countless kings stopping here for thousands of years, and it also enthusiastically hopes that you will leave your mark here... Your Majesty, if you can be crowned here, it will be something that our entire generation will remember. Brilliant moment.”

Although Aigron has not clearly stated his plans, there are few real secrets in the so-called politics, and his desire to restore the empire is an open secret. People spread the word in private, and only mentioned Aigron's parade and the whole nation. The referendum was regarded as just a formality.

As a member of the church, the Archbishop of Reims is of course happy to see a new monarch take over the throne so that the country will not fall into the abyss, but he is also worried. After all, the first emperor of the empire was crowned at Notre Dame de Paris. of.

After all, Reims is just a small place. The only thing that can make it famous is the coronation place of past kings. If Aigron follows suit, his "religious status" will inevitably decline.

However, Aigron's answer finally disappointed him, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty Bishop, I have other ideas about the coronation ceremony, and it's too early to discuss this now. I prefer to wait for the people to give their verdict before considering this." thing."

Although Aigron's words were very tactful, the bishop could certainly hear it, and he rejected him.

Then the bishop's face darkened. This was a huge blow to the Diocese of Reims - if the empire was really passed down from generation to generation, then the traditions formed by the two generations of emperors would definitely not be changed by future generations, so for a long time Reims Cathedral will not attract the attention of the world and will be forgotten!

When he thought of this bleak scene, his mood instantly fell to the bottom, but he was still a little unwilling. "Your Majesty, you must have seen how enthusiastic the people were towards you and your party just now..."

"When King Charles X came here, were you the one who crowned him?" Aigron asked suddenly.

This sudden question made the Archbishop stunned for a moment. After a moment, he nodded slightly awkwardly. "Yes, when the king came, I applied holy oil on him and completed the coronation ceremony..."

In 1825, King Charles X came to Reims to be crowned king (he was also the last French monarch in history to come to Reims Cathedral to be crowned), only a few years had passed since then.

At the moment, the king has not died, he has just been deposed and exiled, but politically he is no longer important.

"So, was the welcome he received then warm? How does it compare to today?" Aigron then asked.

"Well..." Generally speaking, everyone would avoid embarrassment on this kind of topic. The archbishop didn't expect that Aigron would take the initiative to lift the veil of embarrassment in front of him, so he was a little at a loss for a while.

In any case, the county magistrate is not as good as the current one. Aigron is now the person he must not offend, so he made a decision quickly.

In the end, he could only put on a smile and carefully please Aigron, "You are naturally more loved."

Aiglon just smiled contemptuously, and his hint was actually very clear - the so-called public enthusiasm is just a mentality of watching the excitement. No matter who wears the crown, they can all get the same cheers, since So, why should we think too much about their mentality?

After being blocked by Aigron, the archbishop did not dare to insist on asking him to be crowned in Reims in the future. However, when he was extremely depressed and could only force a smile to deal with Aiglon, Aiglon suddenly gave His other hopes.

"Mr. Bishop, you just said that the people were cheering for our group. Does that include this young lady?" Aigron glanced at Agnes, who was silent next to him.

The bishop nodded quickly and then replied, "Of course, Your Majesty! The image of Joan played by this young lady is very in line with people's expectations. Even the priests around me are full of praise."

"Agnes, did you hear that? Even the archbishop is satisfied with your performance." Agron said to Agnes with a smile.

Then, he looked at the bishop again, "Your Majesty Bishop, please allow me to introduce to you. This young lady's name is Agnes de Nordlien. She is a pious and loyal girl. She has always been loyal to chastity. She is familiar with the legends of Joan of Arc and hopes to follow Joan of Arc as an example, so during this parade, she took the initiative to play the role of Joan of Arc."

Having said all that, I am not your little mistress...

The bishop cursed in his heart. Of course he didn't want Aigron to change the subject, but what could he do? So he could only be patient and take the initiative to say hello to Agnes, "Miss Agnes, your piety is really touching. I believe the Lord will also appreciate you. I hope you can serve our almighty God as well in the future as you do now." At your service..."

Agnes was in a daze, after all, she couldn't speak in front of the archbishop.

Now, she has met many important people, and these marshals and bishops, these important people who she originally regarded as gods, are all polite to her.

what is this? Of course she knew it.

Is this the way the world is today... Everyone follows the trend, she couldn't help but think to herself.

But who can blame this? Including herself and her family, isn't it the same?

"Thank you for your teaching, Lord Bishop, I will keep it in mind." So she could only respond like this.

"We just visited your church and saw the statue of Joan of Arc. We are all very satisfied, but after all, we are still too lacking in religious knowledge." Aigron spoke again, "Can you tell us about the history here? What kind of miracle?"

Although he was a little impatient, since Aigron said this, the archbishop had to play a guest role as a tour guide. Taotao kept telling him about the so-called holy sites in various churches in Reims - after all, this is one of his jobs. One.

Legend has it that when Bishop St. Remy baptized Clovis I, the first king of France, and 3,000 Frankish warriors in Reims, the holy oil used for baptism ran out. So the Bishop of St. Remy knelt before the altar and prayed to God. God heard St. Remy's prayer, and the two small bottles of holy oil were miraculously filled with holy oil again and became inexhaustible. This is the story of "God fills the holy oil bottle" that has become widely circulated.

Of course, there were not ten thousand but eight thousand similar "miracles" in the Middle Ages. In that era of poverty, chaos and ignorance, there were endless wars and endless plagues. In order to obtain temporary peace of mind, people would willingly believe in some superstitious things. , there is nothing wrong with expecting some supernatural power to protect you from pain.

After listening for a while, Aigron finally broke his silence.

"Mr. Bishop, what you said is very interesting, but I think...it still lacks something that makes people remember it fresh."

"Things that are still fresh in my memory? What do you mean?" The bishop was a little confused.

"I mean, there are legends about Joan of Arc and similar stories... Since she has stayed here for a while, she will definitely stay, right?" Aiglon asked patiently.

"I...I haven't heard of it..." The Archbishop shook his head.

"Then you can dig it out now." Aiglon was a little impatient. "To tell you the truth, I plan to ask the Holy See to make her a saint and make her one of the totem symbols of France and the Empire. Can't you help me? Are you busy?"

Now that Aigron had mentioned this, the Archbishop finally realized it.

"Oh, yes, yes... Your Majesty, of course I can find it!"

He discovered that maybe there was still some possibility of saving Lance's shaky "status in the world."