"...Does the Emperor’s Diet know of this?"
"The council is nothing but a useless bunch of elders squabbling over grain taxes," the bishop said sarcastically, brandishing his cup. "When you return to your church, you’ll see corruption rampant in the lands of Von Frundsberg."
Anselm gave a stiff bow, pouring the Bishop more wine to ensure the man fell into a drunken sleep.
"God’s will shall be done, Your Grace," Anselm murmured. He could stand with a dying Church that ant to burn the Swabian forges to ash, or he could stand with the terrifying future forged by Lord Konrad.
Anselm chose Lord Konrad’s path.
Upon returning to Swabia, Anselm ant to write a fiery book against the thieving ways of the Church.
He would use Konrad’s printing presses to strike thousands of copies in plain German, flooding the trade roads with a new, working-man’s faith.
Anselm believed he was making a great, brave choice to save his holand from fire and sword.
Within the walls of the master’s room, Konrad von Frundsberg read the deciphered letter sent by Father Anselm.
Lady Isolde stood still by the desk.
"Father Anselm is now writing the laws of a new schism... he thinks he acts of his own free will to save us." Konrad stated.
"The priest’s mind was read truly; we knew the sight of the Bishop’s rot would turn him," Isolde confird, "His book will be printed within the week."
"But..." Konrad went on, "the Emperor’s laws rest entirely upon a single Catholic faith... the mont Father Anselm’s book is read, these lands will be nad a nest of heretics."
"Just so," Konrad stated. "A war of faith breaks the Emperor’s rule..."
***
The Ducal Palace of Munich, Bavaria.
The lavish chambers of Katarina of Bavaria showed the great wealth of the Wittelsbach house.
On the wood rested a rolled piece of vellum.
The wax bore the mark of a Hanseatic rchant, but Katarina’s mind saw through the lie at once.
Katarina felt a sudden spike of anger.
Her first thought was that this was a cruel boast... she guessed Isolde ant to use the child she carried to mock the Bavarian lady now that Katarina was sent away from the Swabian forges.
She carefully read the ciphered words using the rchant’s key set by Lord Konrad.
Isolde wrote of the Bishop of Augsburg’s snare of thieves, naming the weight of fine steel and Baltic saltpeter now trapped by the priests’ blockade.
But the master of spies placed the bla entirely upon the Duke.
The last words of the letter were a threat: "If the Duke wishes his promised arms before the season turns, he must command his halberdiers to march east and sweep the priests’ thieves from the roads. The von Frundsberg forges will bear no bla for delays born of your own failure."
"..." Katarina felt a bitter anger at the spy-master’s brazen nerve.
Isolde was not begging; she was using the Bavarian need for cannons as a whip to force their hand.
"You dare to command my father’s swords as if we were your paid sell-swords, Isolde," Katarina hissed to the empty room.
Yet, Katarina’s noble pride mattered less than the safety of the Bavarian realm... the truth was plain: if Konrad von Frundsberg’s furnaces grew cold, the Bavarian footn would lack the new arms they so desperately needed.
She took the deciphered vellum and went straight to the Duke’s counting room.
Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria sat in his counting house, a room used only for tallying Fugger silver and the pay of sell-swords.
He was checking the newest tallies of Swabian half-plate.
The Duke ant to cast aside the useless chainmail of his footn, giving them the strong, new steel breasts forged by his future son-in-law.
Katarina walked past the guards and opened the doors.
"You enter unbidden, Katarina," Duke Wilhelm noted, not looking up from his ledger.
He dipped his quill, tallying the silver needed to arm three thousand n. "Speak quickly."
Katarina stepped to the desk, "The trade roads are broken, the Bishop of Augsburg has raised a snare of thieves against the von Frundsberg lands."
The duke’s pen stopped; he knew nothing of the bishop’s plot. "The Swabian League has called for no war."
Katarina laid the deciphered letter upon the ledger. "The Bishop of Augsburg spits upon the Emperor’s Diet. He has decreed all von Frundsberg goods to be unholy. He uses the Pope’s na to spur the lesser Swabian lords to steal the wagons, calling the theft of our bought steel a lawful taking of Church tithes."
The Duke Wilhelm stared at the vellum. The Catholic Church was using its holy na to play the common thief, and in doing so, they were cutting the Bavarian supply lines!
"...more than this, the von Frundsberg gunners need those sa roads to bring in Baltic saltpeter. If Konrad’s great guns lack powder, he cannot finish the plans for the siege cannons we have already paid for. Our silver will be wasted."
Duke Wilhelm stood up from his desk. He was a true son of the Church, raised to fear the Pope’s wrath... but the Pope in Ro could not guard the Bavarian borders from the Bohemians; Konrad von Frundsberg’s great guns could.
"The priests have misjudged the situation..." Duke Wilhelm stated.
"How shall we strike back?"
"I will not let a fat Bishop steal Bavarian goods by law... I shall send a writ to the Swabian Diet at once." the Duke commanded.
He began to pace the counting room. "The writ shall declare that stealing any wagon bearing the von Frundsberg or Bavarian mark is an open act of war against this Duchy. I shall order our 2,000 halberdiers currently holding the northern pass to march east at once, to break the blockade and keep our trade roads safe by the sword."
"This writ will tear the Holy Roman Empire apart in a war of faith..." Katarina warned, seeing the ruin that must follow.
"Keeping our swords sharp is the highest law... I shall see my footn have the steel they need to hold our borders. You have done well to bring this to , Katarina." Duke Wilhelm countered.
Katarina gave a curtsy and left the counting room.
Within the hour, the Duke’s clerks were writing out scores of the formal writs...
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