THE PAPAL STATES
Status Ecclesiasticus
Dicio Pontificia
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice
Genesis 22:18
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THE CONCLAVE
PRIMO CONCLAVI AGUNTUR
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Under the Papacy of Eugenius IV, three factions developed within the Church of Rome. These factions would change over time, with the passing of ages, but in truth their lineage stretch back to the Council of Nicaea - to the very founding of the Christian faith.
Here they shall be known as:
THE LEAGUE OF CORINTH
FOEDERA CORINTH
A highly conservative faction founded after the Corinthian Christian tradition. Against all forms of ecumenical deviation. In control of the College of Cardinals since the time of Pope Celestine V.
THE SWORDS OF THE PIOUS
GLADIO PERCUSSERANT FILII DE PIIS
In control of the Papal militia. Made up of would-be commanders, a military class of aristocracy who vie for mastery over the Italian peninsula. They form the core of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, the Papal military elite. More prone to political intrigue and compromise.
THE BANK OF THE VATICAN
RIPAE OECUMENICUM VATICANUM
A highly secretive shadow state within the Papal State, the Bank acts independently of the Corinthians and the Swords, bankrolling arms of the state which benefit its interests. It controls the Papal Curia, a treasury which all of of Europe pays tithes to.
These factions, and others, will define the course of this story, which begins in the Year of Our Lord - 1444.
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PART I
THE ERA OF DOMINION
EUGENIUS IV
OF THE PAPAL STATES
BISHOP OF ROME
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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In the time of Eugenius IV, the Papal Conclave was at the height of its power - the eastern schism had subsided stemmed by a Catholic Poland, the Islamic Caliphs were practically banished from Iberia - with Granada alone remaining - and the doctrine of the Church stood unquestioned.
Eugenius IV issued calls for suitable diplomatic relations to be established with holy nations and Godly rulers whom the Papacy could rely on in times of future crisis. Wisely, the King of Castile and the Serene Republic of Venice swore and oath of protection to His Holiness and his successors. With suitable alliances sourced, the Swords of the Pious were granted a charter of conquest to invade to the southern Kingdom of Naples and seize its lands for the Church.
By 1448, a string of victories was halted when the Papal army was defeated at Anzio, and a long retreat north was begun. The Holy See's forces wintered in Ravena before returning the following year to defeat the King of Naples - claiming the Adriatic coast for the Papacy.
For their support in the Neapolitan conflict, His Holiness granted Venice and Castile further cardinals.
In 1453, the King of Castile requested Papal involvement in their upcoming war with the Granadan Emirate. A call for Crusade went out across Europe, its call answered by all righteous Christians - to finish the holy work of the Reconquista.
The war went poorly for the Iberians, leading to the decision that the Pious would intervene, rallying their forces and heading to Castile - who were quickly becoming overrun by a coalition of Islamic kingdoms; Tunis, Morocco, Granada, and Fezzan. By 1456, the Papal army had become stalled in the Alps, and the Crusader forces had been defeated at Seville, falling back into the Iberian hinterland. By the time the Papal forces reached Iberia, the capital at Toledo was threatened.
Meanwhile, a Tunisian fleet had landed north of Rome, along with ten-thousand Islamic warriors, who marched south and threatened the city. Hearing the news of Rome's danger, the commanders of Papal forces in Iberia pressed for a decisive victory to end the war, which came in January 1457 at the Battle of Toledo, saving the Castilian capital from capture and routing the Islamic forces. Upon hearing the news of defeat in Iberia, the Tunisians abandoned their march on Rome and returned to North Africa. The work of the Reconquista was finished.
Eugenius IV died of natural causes in 1464.
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INNOCENTUS VIII
OF THE KINGDOM OF CASTILE
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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With the election of Innocentus VIII, the Conclave took on a clearly defined Pro-Castilian bias, now formalised in the election of an Iberian pope. Close to the King of Castile, Innocentus would make decisions without proper consultation within the Conclave, such was the case shortly after his election in 1465 when he excommunicated Henry VII, King of England. This move angered the League of Corinth and the Vatican Bank, who heavily relied on the patronage of England at this time.
The end of the Hundred Years War had enveloped France in calamity; swamped by corruption, overextension, and hostile coalitions, her fall was underway by the year 1467, giving the advantage to the Agincourt Concession (English territory in France) and the insurgent Kingdom of Burgundy who increasingly sought to displace and challenge French power. With the French state distracted, and sensing little opposition, Innocentus gave his blessing to the invasion of Provence (Lower) - ending with the Treaty of Aix in 1469, expanding the Avignone Papacy to encompass a large slice of southern Gaul.
It was also during this time at Innocentus VIII decided to commit the Papal States as the member of the Holy Roman Empire, pleasing the Austrian Emperor and preserving the empire in Italy.
In 1473, Castile seized the Irish county of Desmond from some petty local king, planting the Iberian presence on Ireland, angering Henry VII further. This act was supported by Innocentus VIII, who was granted a charter of investigation, and sent many inquisitors to the Irish province to conduct the first of the Irish Witch Trials (1473 - 1490), the first major witch trials in Europe since the Valais Trials of 1427. With the assistance of the Catholic Church, an isolated corner of Europe was subjected to torture and persecution for decades - a consequence of a geopolitical game being played out between Castile and England.
By 1474, a second invasion of the rump Kingdom of Naples was launched, ceding further lands to the Papal States in Calabria and the city of Naples itself. This move outraged surrounding Italian city states and the powerful Republic of Florence, who seized on some arcane provision in an ancient treaty as justification for a war of coalition against His Holiness which was launched in 1477.
The Coalition of Luca, which comprised of many major Italian and Germanic states, was defeated at the Battle of Volterra, ending the coalition war in 1480 in a Papal victory.
As the collapse of France accelerated, the Duke of Burgundy let it be known that he had claimed the Crown of France, and henceforth would be styled as such. The Duke of Burgundy also issued the Proclamation of Reims in 1487- which maintained that it would preserve its Flemish, Dutch, and Germanic holdings in addition to any French claims.
Innocentus VIII was killed in 1488. The assassin, an Irishman, later confessed under torture to be acting on behalf of the English.
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CLEMENS VII
OF THE PAPAL STATES
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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In the Year 1489, just as Clemens VII, a servant of the Corinthian faction, was ordained and elected by the cardinals of Rome, a little known Italian theologian called Matteo Vermigli pinned a series of grievances to a cathedral door in Genoa. The infamous Trenta Punti (30-Points) Thesis.
It was the start of the Protestant Reformation, though at the time the scale of the problem was not fully grasped, with Clemens VII believing the heresy to be a mere offshoot of Waldenism (a backwards Alpine reformism practiced by few). It was, in reality, the start of something far worse.
In 1492, Clemens VII, fearing French revanchism, added the Avignone Papacy to the Holy Roman Empire. In return, Clemens personally pressed the emperor on the issue of the Czech Hussites, still practicing their perversion of Christianity long after the execution of Jan Huss. The Emperor gave Clemens his word that the will of the Church would be done, and the heresy extinguished.
This gave rise to the Council of Anzio in 1493, where Cardinals from across the Catholic world gathered to assess the scale of current deviations across Europe, and to plan for a means to counter their evil influence. It was here where the scale of the problem became apparent; the Waldenists had converted thousands across the Republic of Genoa, who now were on the verge of seceding from the church itself. A general frenzy of inquisition began over the next several years, across Italy and Germany, hunting for spreaders of this false faith - Protestantism.
In 1496, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice invaded Genoa, annexing the heathen lands. The Papal States gained the island of Corsica - where a brutal series of trials and inquisitions began against the local population. It was the first war of counter-reformation, though neither side knew what was yet to come.
In 1499, the Swords of the Pious strong-armed Clemens into calling for a further crusade against the Islamic kingdoms of North Africa. Falling into a deep depression, Clemens felt his authority slipping, the might of his church challenged by the heretics.
He died shortly after, the circumstances remain a mystery.
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CLEMENS VIII
OF THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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A devoted militarist and student of the Swords of the Pious, Clemins VIII's election was seen as a huge victory for the aristocracy, and gave speed to the preperations for a joint Castilian-Papal invasion of North Africa.
The following campaign resulted in the island citadel of Djerba being ceded to Rome, with Castile seizing a number of coastal provinces from Tunis. Driven by a lust for glory, Clemens VIII and his sycophantic generals all pressed for the Papal forces to push into the Mamluk caliphate, over the Nile and towards the Holy Land.
A series of disasters would see fifty-thousand Islamic warriors threaten the newly won citadel at Djerba. Despite being tactically insignificant, Clemens ordered that his generals march the army back to the island's defence, leaving the Castilian armies in Egypt and facing the Caliph's forces alone, hoping that the island's defences would protect them.
This led to the last stand and defeat at Djerba, with twenty-two thousand Italians defeated - killed or sold into slavery.
In the following Peace of Acre, Castile alone took Holy Land, establishing the Duchy of Sidon, a crusader state north of Jerusalem, in the Assyrian Heights.
By 1504, the Bank of the Vatican, now the most powerful of the three major factions within the Conclave, plotted to sideline Clemens VIII - his foolish foreign war had cost the Papal State dearly in lives and gold, with little more to show for it than a trinket off the African coastline.
A promising Cardinal, the Comandante of Urbino, Filipe Renza, was given eight thousand men to crush a revolt of ten-thousand on the heretic island of Corsica. This he accomplished, and drew powerful admirers in the Bank of the Vatican. They had found their champion.
END OF PART I
KHAGAN OTEMESH GENGHISID
1407 -1447
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KHAN OF ASTRAKHAN
KHAN OF CRIMEA
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1444
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The steppes have been split asunder, the delicate balance of power is broken,
the nomadic nations of eastern Europe are becoming weaker with each day.
Through administrative incompetence and military failure, the so-called 'Tatar yoke' is now long gone.
The orthodox princes rule instead as the primary power in the East.
The sons of the great 'Golden horde' now live divided, their new Khans ruling no great lands, their armies winning no great victories.
These are the final moments for the heirs of Genghis, it would seem.
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KÚCHÚK MUHAMMAD
and the
WAR OF THE STEPPES
1450-1467
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A timeline
It is the year 1447
The sun is rising on a reborn steppe.
The Khan is dead, Kúchúk Muhammad Genghisid now rules the nomadic confederations of Astrakhan and Crimea.
Proclaiming himself as the rightful ruler of all Tatars, he
renames his confederation to 'The Great Horde'.
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1448
Following the death of his brother, Khan Ursus Genghisid commands a strong host into the lands of Astrakhan before occupying the old Mongolian seat of power in Sarai.
There he proclaims himself as the rightful heir, by right of birth.
1449
Following his uncle's betrayal, Kúchúk hastily musters his army in the new capital of Saratov, there he winters before heading south; towards Sarai, towards war.
1450
On the fields of Sarai, the two armies meet, there the future of the Steppe hangs in the air - though none know yet.
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THE BATTLE OF SARAI
1450
Having had plenty of time to prepare, Ursus chose a site for the battle.
A large open field suitable for cavalry combat.
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It is the 14th of November, 1450 - the two armies are about to meet.
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Surveying his uncle's army from a small hill, Kúchúk wastes no time, the order to attack is given.
Initial army formations.
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The two armies crash into each other as the sounds of battle begin to travel across the steppe.
Hours pass, the two masses pushing each other back and forth across the field.
Horses begin to break off from the battle, the frightened animals running across the vast sea of grass in terror - their saddles empty.
The battle finally ends as the retinue of Ursus is partially encircled in the middle of the chaos, and fearing for his own life - the Khan surrenders.
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THE NEW SUN
Following the defeat of his uncle, the young Khan, now hailed as 'The new sun' executed his uncle for treason before taking his retinue on as his own, as well as taking the dead Khan's wife & daughters for himself.
Ursus only son and heir Kumit had 'mysteriously' died only a few hours after the fighting, and so the lordship over the people of Nogai fell onto Kúchúk.
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The outcome of the battle could be felt far and wide, and most of all in the court of Khan Kelebek.
Outraged over the execution of a fellow Khan and the subsequent 'usurpation' of Nogai the Khan gathered a large host - sending them into the lands of Tambov, near Saratov to raid.
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THE UNIVERSAL RULER
Having no time to celebrate the victory over his uncle Kúchúk marched north towards Tambov, where he won two victories - one at Penza in 1452 and another at Samara in 1453, both decisively.
With his newfound advantage, he led his host into the lands of Kazan, defeating Kelebek's host on the field at Bolgar in 1455, before laying siege to the walled city of Kazan.
Kelebek proved unable to contain his nobles, as they later deposed him in the year 1460 due to the ever-looming threat of a Muscovite invasion from the east.
The nobles then offered to crown Kúchúk as their new Khan, on the terms that he leave the city unmolested as well as protect them from any potential Muscovite incursions.
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THE MUSCOVITE REPLY
1462
Following the assimilation of Kazan into the Great Horde, there was a surge of outrage in the Grand Principality of Muscovy.
The khanate of Kazan had long been a pawn in the hand of Grand Prince Ivan III, the city, in particular, had been given Muscovite protection from Uralic raiders in exchange for trading rights and hefty tributes.
A letter was dispatched to the new Khan of Kazan, demanding that all previous diplomatic relations Khan Kelebek had with Moskva be reinstated.
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BATTLE OF TULA
1467
The Khan responded by marching his army straight towards the Muscovite capital in 1463, his army raiding throughout the fertile interior of Ryazan and Yaroslavl before encountering a large Russian host outside Tula in 1468.
The odds seemed to favour the Muscovites, they possessed almost twice as many men as the Tatars - as well as hundreds of heavily armoured knights.
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29th of May, 1468.
Deploying his army in a crescent formation, the Khan placed his elite, heavily armoured Turkic lancers in the middle and the lighter more agile nomadic horsemen on his flanks.
This proved to be ingenious, as the knights of Muscovy charged forwards, they rammed into the Tatar centre - engaging in hand to hand combat.
During their charge, the nomadic horsemen rushed forwards - engaging the infantry columns left behind.
Unable to do anything against such a mobile foe, the morale of the Russian levy started to plummet - the infantry soon began to rout.
With the Infantry out of the way, the rest of the Tatar army was able to finally relieve the centre - who had been struggling to keep the mounted knights at bay.
Forming a near-complete encirclement of the remaining Muscovite cavalry the horse-archers began raining down arrows on the confused knights.
The battle was over.
During the chaos, Vasiliy, the son of Ivan III and heir to the Muscovite throne was struck and killed by an arrow - his death went unnoticed during the battle and his body was only identified two days after the battle.
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With the first victory secured, Kúchúk pushed on towards Moskva.
By then, Panic had broken out in the streets of Moskva - the royal court and the local nobles had all abandoned the city in hopes to raise an army in Novgorod.
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1469
Moskva is burned & looted by the Tatar army, a large portion of its population either killed or enslaved.
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'THE NEW SUN' SETS
1485
Outside Terek, history would suddenly change.
Whilst on the march home from a campaign in Persia, the great Khan Kúchúk would suddenly fall off his horse.
He then quietly passed away, three days later, aged 63.
He was only a few days away from Saratov, the home he had not seen since he was young.
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KÚCHÚK MUHAMMAD
KHAN OF ASTRAKHAN
KHAN OF CRIMEA
KHAN OF NOGAI
KHAN OF KAZAN
1450-1485
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1486
SARATOV
What started as a small settlement by the Volga had now grown into one of the largest cities in Eurasia, all of the riches & slaves captured in Nogai, Kazan, and Muscovy had been sent home - turning the city into a melting pot for different cultures and technology.
In the honor of their great Khan, who lifted the Tatar people out of a Dark age - the city was renamed Kúchúkqorum
In a kurultai held in Sirai, the nobles of the Great Horde elect Ishim, the son of Kúchúk as their new Khan.
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INTO EUROPE
1488
The new Khan wasted no time continuing what his father started.
Rumours of Polish-Lithuanian weakness had reached the Steppes, and several reports indicated the Polish were at war with the emperor of the HRE.
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THE SONS OF SUBUTAI
The warring states of Europe were caught off-guard, a Tatar host, forty-thousand strong rushed into Ukraine - taking the border fortress of Lubnie within a year.
The Polish were quick to respond, however, and a strong army was sent to defend the vulnerable lands of Lithuania proper.
Khan Isham personally led his troops in the battle of Zaporizhia - where the Polish army was soundly defeated, the elite core of Turkic lancers Kúchúk had fostered played a major role in the battle by smashing the Polish centre.
Taking the advice of his generals Khan Isham used his advantage to advance north, towards Vilnius.
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LITHUANIA PROPER
1491
In the forests outside Minsk, the Tatars had a brief encounter with a band of Lithuanian cossacks, who managed to ambush the larger Tatar army and inflict some heavy losses.
With most of their supplies either destroyed or stolen by the cossacks, the Tatars opted to acquire new supplies by looting the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in 1491.
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With most of the garrison either dead or having defected due to a local revolt, the grand city of Vilnius fell in six months.
The Khan then set his eyes on the gem of the Polish crown, Warszawa.
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AT THE GATES OF EUROPE
1492
Meeting no opposition, the Tatar horde arrived and began to lay siege to the Polish capital in 1492
The capital was already in bad shape, large amounts of refugees that were fleeing the war had entered the city and there was already a shortage of food.
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The Tatars made use of an old Mongolian tactic by diverting the river Vistula around the city - effectively cutting it off from its water supply.
The water shortage along with disease proved too much for the defendants and the city was eventually taken.
For several days the Tatar horde laid waste to Warszawa, a majority of the buildings in the city being burned to the ground and its population either being killed or sold into slavery.
And as a final punishment, as the Tatar warriors returned to their homeland, they churned up the earth behind them and trampled it with their horses.
The event came to be known in Poland as 'Umierający", or simply 'The Dying'.
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TO BE CONTINUED
THE PAPAL STATES
Status Ecclesiasticus
Dicio Pontificia
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overfloweth. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 23
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PART II
THE ERA OF EXPANSION
CLEMENS VIII
OF THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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Pope Clemens VIII's weakened Papacy would be toppled by events to the edges of the Catholic world.
The Kingdom of England, racked with political intrigue and internal religious strife, broke formally from the Catholic Church in 1505, forming the heretical "Church of England", an Anglican corruption of Christian thought, infused with the same bastard principles of Waldenism, and the other pockets of Germanic heresy that were sprouting across the empire.
For his failures to impose sufficient punishment on the English for their betrayal, Clemens VIII was forced to resign the papacy and renounce his title and position, the first since Gregory XII in 1415.
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PAULUS II
OF THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
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Elected to the Papacy in 1506, Paulus II was of the hardline conservative faction of the church, and promised a swift military campaign of retribution against heretic princes, heretic republics, and the heretic King Henry of England.
This he would implement in the decision to invade the Republic of Genoa in 1512, the birthplace of the Waldenist Schism. The heretic republics of Florence and Milan united against His Holiness, and defeated the Papal forces at the Battle of Assisi, scattering the host towards the north, where they sheltered and rebuilt their force in Avignone.
The Republican forces marched on Rome itself. With the capital threatened, and the heretics closing in, Paulus abandoned the city to make for the Citadel at Avignone, the 2nd seat of the Papacy for centuries.
But Paulus was betrayed, and slain on a roadside three miles from Rome.
The Republic's forces entered and briefly occupied the city of Rome - violating its holy sites and burning many sacred icons, yet many were spared by a the Florentine General Ambrizzo, a great admirer of Michelangelo and his contemporaries.
Despite this, the capital of the Catholic world was now occupied by a foreign heretic power. It was a disaster. The Catholic Church would not forget this dishonour.
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HADRIANUS IV
OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
KING OF NAPLES
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Elected in exile in 1513, Pope Hadrianus ruled from Avignone - assembling an army of Spanish and Ventian mercenaries, and loyal followers from the Gaulic interior, to unite with the surviving Papal army and march south.
First, the Papal forces smashed the Genoans at the Battle of Cueno, seized Genoa and Albenga and put them both to the sword. Then the Venetians, who has been promised administration of the lands, occupied what survived and began the process of dismantling the heretical sickness that plagued that land.
An offer of peace was presented to His Holiness in 1514, the Republic of Florence, realising that defeat looked likely, ceded the rich and fertile lands of Sienna to the Papacy, and paid substantial tribute to the Vatican Bank for damages inflicted on the Holy See.
Upon the return of Hadrianus IV to Rome in 1515, the Papal States had triumphed over the heretic league of Italians, petty as they were. Yet, his city was in deep turmoil - and the intellectual contagion of Waldenism had seeped into the peasantry, who now practiced their blasphemy in secret.
In March of 1515, Hadrianus issued the famous 'Edict of Anzio' - which outlawed the practice of Neo-Waldenism and its off-shoots formally, declaring Matteo Vermigli (the founder of Italian Neo-Waldenism) to be an enemy of any Catholic state.
Vermigli would be captured attempting to cross the Austrian border in April 1515. The Holy Roman Emperor would invite cardinals from across Europe to publicly refute Vermigli in a Medieval heresy trial.
Matteo Vermigli Italian theologian, and founder of the reformation, would be burned at the stake in June 1515. His cause and life's work would outlive him.
In response to the Edict of Anzio, the heretics protested loudly, denying the right of the Pope to outlaw such practices. This would lead to them being dubbed 'Protestors' or 'Protestants' by Papal scribes. The name stuck.
The news of Vermigli's death prompted a spontaneous outrage across Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, later to be known as the Great Peasants War. Rome itself faced an insurrection of twenty-seven thousand, who were put down by the Swords of the Pious, saving the city from being sacked.
By the end of 1515, Hadrianus was secure in his power, and passed the Monastery Brewing Act; formalising the centuries old practice of alcoholic distillation in religious sites, and taxing it accordingly, swelling the Papal treasury.
By 1517, the Conclave was pleased to report that all traces of Protestantism had been eradicated from the city of Genoa itself, and small pockets of practitioners were being removed from the countryside and made an example of. The Catholic Church was slowly turning back the tide, in Italy at least.
In 1523, Harianus was pleased to accept the title of King of Naples, resolving a succession crisis within the rump kingdom to the south of the peninsula. It would now act as vassal, a mere step away from becoming a formal territory of the Papal States.
With the Papal strength and confidence growing, Hadrianus ordered that preperations be made for the invasion of the Republic of Florence, to punish them for their attack on Rome in 1512 and their continued heresy, as Protestant Republic could not be allowed to continue.
Hadrianus would not live to see this plan come to fruition, however, as he died suddenly in 1527.
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PIUS II
OF THE PAPAL STATES
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
KING OF NAPLES
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Pius II, born Filipe Renza, made his name as a military commander and later a cardinal for the state of Urbino, and a zealot inquisitor who crushed a Corsican revolt in 1504 and defeated the Tunisian Caliph at Djerba in 1515.
Now, he had been elected with a strong and universal vote of confidence that many popes never recieve. From all corners of the Catholic world, Pius was recognised as the right choice for Pontiff.
Pius led Papal forces into the Republic of Florence in 1527, beginning years of military occupation and a campaign of ruthless terror against the protestant peasants of the land. The Neo-Waldenist mockeries of Fierenze were seized by inquisitors and changed back into holy sites. Many thousands were tortured and confessed their treasons and heresy against God and his servants upon this earth.
For each month of occupation, at least one hundred would be publicly burned in the Piazza del Duomo. Florence Cathedral was the seat of Pius II during and after the occupation.
Peace came in 1531, with the city of Firenze ceded to the Papal States. Florence swore an oath to follow the true faith, and be loyal to Christ's servant, His Holiness Pope Pius II.
The following year, in 1532, Pius gathered the entire Christian world (and the heathen spies within them) to the Germanic hinterland, to convene the COUNCIL OF TRENT.
The Council began with the Corinthian-Niceno Creed, a proclamation that condemned Protestantism as an abomination, and a perversion of God's Will as described in the Holy Bible and the Liturgy. It was only the beginning of the Council, which would continue for decades, handing out increasingly severe punishments and mandates to be directed against Protestants.
For these victories, and for bringing peace within the Church, Pius was celebrated.
He would finish his triumph with a proclamation of intent: to sail to the New World and find the Garden of Eden itself - or rather a new paradise that, when cultivated by Christian hands, may be transformed into Eden.
Pius died shortly after the Declaration of Eden, in 1537.
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CLEMENS IX
OF THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE
BISHOP OF ROME
BISHOP OF AVIGNONE
VICAR OF CHRIST
KING OF THE PAPAL STATES
KING OF NAPLES
LORD OF SIDON
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A hardened militarist, Clemens IX came to the Papacy with ambition to expand the reach of the church into new lands - into the Protestant north, across the sea to the New World, and into the Holy Land. Some of these goals would elude him, but some would be his life's work.
His papacy began with the order to invade the weakened Savoyard state in 1538, seizing the French and Swiss land to the north and west of the Italian Alps, doubling the size of the Avignone concession.
The Republic of Venice, a once loyal ally, felt threatened by the expanding Austrian and Papal States surrounding it and decided to break this geopolitical deadlock by sailing to the New World and, with the help of the heretic English, establishing a colony in the Edenic Lands, called by the Portuguese who founded it "Brazil".
With the right to the rest of the New World promised to the Spanish, the Papacy had been betrayed by the Doge of Venice and a schism developed between the allies.
However, Clemens' fortune would shift unexpectedly when the Spanish ruler offered to sell the overseas Duchy of Sidon to the Catholic Church, to rule directly as a Papal Crusader State, or Outremer (the term used during the 13th century).
Although many had thought the time of crusader states finished since the year 1291, with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Mamluks, the Spanish had successfully restored the old city of Sidon and administered it well. They had rebuilt much of the old cathedral which had been destroyed by the Mongols in 1260, and expanded the walls to face modern foes.
In 1545, the Lordship of Sidon was restored by by Papal decree, and Clemens IX was awarded the title.
He would make plans for his own kingdom's expansion, in due time. Denied the New World, he would settle for reshaping the Old.
END OF PART II
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