The Rise of the European Emperor

The matter is not over. After the meeting, many abbots did not give up. In particular, the abbots, who were determined not to vote in the remaining quarter. Although they lost the vote, they did not intend to let Bishop Conrad go, and threatened to sue.

Bishop Conrad was supported by the Pope, so he was naturally not frightened, so he sneered:

"Want to sue? Okay, do you want me to provide travel expenses? Bonn or Rome? Whatever you do! Of course, the Archbishop of Cologne is not qualified to revoke my post. You can only go to Rome. Do you want me to provide the carriage?"

Bishop Conrad is right. Although the Archbishop of Cologne is the leader of the bishopric states in the northwestern region of Germany, he only has the right to recommend and agree who should be the bishopric bishop, but he does not have the right to dismiss the bishopric of the episcopal state. In this era, the revocation of a bishop, even if it is not a bishop of the bishopric, requires the approval of the Pope. Even divorce requires the Pope's personal approval.

If it is up to the Archbishop of Cologne to remove the power of Bishop Conrad, Bishop Conrad may be afraid. However, in Europe only the Pope has the power to revoke the bishopric. In this way, Bishop Conrad is not afraid at all. Because, the Pope not only promoted his nephew John as assistant bishop, but also wrote a letter to comfort him personally. With the support of the Pope, who is he afraid of?

So, in the face of those abbots who opposed him, Bishop Conrad was very arrogant. Even Bishop Conrad threatened that the land transferred to Marin would be divided exclusively from the land owned by the monastery, which voted against it.

Although I don't know why Bishop Conrad is so arrogant, the people present are not fools. Many people speculated that Bishop Conrad's actions should have been acquiesced by the Pope. Otherwise, no one would be so brainless. Because, if the Pope is dissatisfied with Conrad's approach, even if the bill is forcibly passed, it can be found to be invalid.

Bishop Conrad is obviously not a brain-dead, otherwise he would not be able to take the position of bishop of the two bishops. Therefore, many abbots who have calmed down have begun to wonder if there is anyone in the Holy See who supports Bishop Conrad in doing so. Otherwise, no one wants to die like this.

And the 1/4 of the abbots who were firmly opposed, although they felt strange, but because they couldn't get down to the stage, they insisted and organized a group to go to Rome to petition.

Seeing the abbots leaving in the car, Bishop Conrad sneered, and loudly ordered the Minister of Agriculture to take out the ledger of the land ownership in the area where the abbots were located, and start arranging which lands should be assigned to Marin. Bishop Conrad openly told the Minister of Agriculture—just leave enough fields for the monasteries to feed the priests. Everything else is transferred...

The other abbots present breathed a sigh of relief, Bishop Conrad's approach was too cruel.

You know, the so-called fields enough to feed those priests,

It refers to the food produced, enough for the priests of the monastery to be fed and clothed, and that's it.

If this standard is used, I am afraid that none of the rural monasteries in the Münster area needs more than 100 Ugrams of land.

However, in fact, because of the large amount of land in the Bishopric of Munster, the cultivated land of ordinary monasteries has reached more than 1,000 Ugrams. The richer, with a few thousand Eugrams of arable land, are richer than most barons. Therefore, in the Bishopric of Münster, every country monastery is equivalent to a wealthy baronie.

Moreover, within the jurisdiction of each monastery, the abbots were only required to hand over a tenth of the harvest. The remaining 90% is for him to take the big head, and the rest is handed over to his subordinates to share.

Of course, every time the abbot is replaced, that is, when the previous abbot dies, the monastery at this time is not so attractive. Because, the bishop can appoint a new abbot. At this time, the priests in the monastery will compete to curry favor with the bishop and offer a lot of benefits. But after successfully becoming the abbot, he immediately got up and might not be willing to pay attention to the bishop.

Therefore, the bishops thought maliciously - if only the abbot died every day. In that case, I have received more bribes from the candidates for the abbot...

It is precisely because of the interests of the church land that most of them are in the hands of those rural abbots. Therefore, Bishop Conrad and his clergy officials place such importance on the interests of the 50,000 Eugrams. As for dividing up the land of the monastery, they didn't care too much. In any case, it was not them, but the priests of the country monasteries, who suffered losses.

...

Just when the abbots of the Bishopric of Münster organized a group to appeal to Rome, hundreds of religious princes from all over Germany had already written to the Holy See, protesting that the Holy See had given the German religious princes as a gift to the secular princes. the behavior of.

In the eyes of those religious princes, if this goes on, they themselves will one day be given away as a rewarding gift. Therefore, they had a sense of fear about the outcome of the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück being sent as gifts, for fear that the next one would be the gift to be sent.

To this end, hundreds of religious princes in the German region decided to jointly protest and put pressure on the Holy See to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Julius II also felt a headache after receiving the joint protest. After all, he had just become Pope and had not yet secured his seat. As a result, it was opposed by so many religious princes in the German region. If one were not handled properly, the prestige of the Holy See would be greatly reduced.

To this end, after thinking for many days, Julius II finally came up with a countermeasure...

He issued a papal decree against all the religious princes of Germany. In the decree, Julius II took the lead in accusing the religious princes in the German region, and he was a little bit against the Holy See.

For example, regarding the issue of tithing, the vassal states began to look for excuses of one kind or another, and began to pay tithes in arrears and underpayments. In short, I just try to find a way to deduct the tithing, and I don’t want to hand it over to the Holy See.

Therefore, this time, the two religious princes of the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück were given to Marin as gifts. In addition to thanking him for his outstanding contribution to the Holy See, he punished the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück. The Bishopric of Nabruck is also an important reason for this. Because, in recent years, the tithe paid by the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück to the Holy See has been reduced from half to about 30%. Therefore, these two countries will be targeted by the Holy See...

In fact, the tithe paid to the Holy See by the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabruck in recent years is indeed only 30%. The reason is that the Bishopric of Münster and the Archbishopric of Cologne joined forces to deduct about 20% of the tithe for various reasons. Among them, the Archbishop of Cologne took the big head, and Bishop Conrad only took the small head. Moreover, the lead is also the Archbishop of Cologne.

However, when Julius II accused, he did not accuse the Archbishop of Cologne, nor did he specifically accuse Bishop Conrad, but the two bishopric states of Münster and Osnabrück, and The act of giving the two countries to Marin was interpreted as a form of punishment.

Moreover, in the decree, Julius II also threatened-if any religious princes were found to have tax evasion and tax evasion, the fate of the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück would be an example...

Of course, Julius II, as an old-fashioned politician, naturally knew the method of "hitting a stick and then giving two dates". At the end of the decree, Julius II also announced that the bishops of the bishops were allowed to levy an additional tenth of the harvest from the church land of the subordinate monasteries as a subsidy for the daily expenses of the bishops.

This policy benefited the bishops of the bishopric countries, while the bottom-level abbots were harmed. However, Julius II did not care what the abbots thought. Because, after all, those abbots are just country rich people. They don't have an army, they don't have a say in national affairs, they're just a group of very affordable clergy leaders. Even if they oppose the Holy See, there is no sound in putting P. Unlike the bishops who hold military power and have a say in the situation in Europe, their voices will be heard...

Sure enough, after this Pope's decree was made public in Germany, the bishops were very dissatisfied with Julius II's threatening tone. However, the "two dates" given at the end really made them like it too much.

From the highly independent abbots under his command, and legally obtaining 10% of the income, the total amount is definitely a huge income. Stimulated by this huge benefit, the bishops in the German region only cheered.

Moreover, Julius II also promised in the decree that as long as those bishopric countries no longer evade taxes, there is no longer a risk of being sent out by the Holy See.

Although they can no longer find a way to manipulate the tithes, Julius II allowed them to legally blackmail the abbots below, but it was able to make the bishops get enough or even far more compensation than before. Therefore, the bishops have praised the wisdom of His Majesty the Pope...

As for the abbot whose interests have been damaged, dare to speak ill of the Pope? Who dares to try? Exactly, the bishop can say you are "blasphemous", and then take the opportunity to dismiss the disobedient abbot and replace it with his own. Worst of all, you can also take advantage of the opportunity to re-elect abbots and wantonly take bribes from candidates...

In this way, Julius II quickly consolidated his reputation in Germany by compromising the interests of the low-level abbots who had no voice to curry favor with the bishops. For a time, Julius II became the most popular pope among German bishops (including bishops from other regions). Moreover, because of the fear of being punished as a typical example, the tithes of the German bishoprics will probably no longer be in arrears and find excuses to seek relief in the future. Because, there are two unfortunate examples of the Bishopric of Münster and the Bishopric of Osnabrück, and no one wants to lose power easily...