King Phillippe Accidentally Fought The Church And The Church Won
Breton coat of arms, circa 1136:
King Phillippe de Cournaille was well known to be a pious man. King Phillippe always rendered his tithes to the Church, he had a record of establishing bishoprics and monasteries, and he was renowned for giving any indulgences received for his position as Papal Controller to the poor. King Phillippe had, in fact, made it a policy of his realm to invite any priests passing through Valencia to his table for dinner, conservation, and a night of rest.
During the winter of 1127, a priest arrived at Kazr Brezhoneg late in the afternoon.
“Halt! Who are you, and what business have you at Kazr Brezhoneg?” demanded the castle guard.
The guard was outfitted in the usual fashion: overtunic in the Breton livery – ermine quartered against or four pallets gules, essentially the Vieux Bretagne quartered over the Old Aragon – holding the traditional pike and with a helmet reminiscent of what a later age would call a “guerretog”[1]. The guard’s facial scars spoke volumes about his service in one of Brittany’s many wars, while the guard’s missing left hand bore similar witness to how the man had been released from active service to guard duty.
“My name is Joseph Mustafa. I am a Cistercian monk, traveling though these lands to establish new monasteries. I had heard of the generosity King Phillipe is noted for showing to men of the cloth, and hoped that I might beg a meal and a room for the night,” responded the priest.
The priest was clad in the usual outfit of white tunic, black scapular, and hood; the man carried only a long walking stick and a bag holding his meager possessions.
“Come inside, then; come inside!” boomed the guard. “King Phillippe welcomes all holy men. Go straight past the courtyard and ask for Steward Richenza.”
The guard stepped aside and ushered the priest inside. The priest walked quickly through the courtyard, noting to all corners the bustling activity. At the stables, horses were being shod, at the aviary, the falconer was hooding a nervous hawk…and everywhere were people stalking from place to place with fixed gazes.
The priest eventually found Steward Richenza, a serious looking woman with an unfortunate nose and a more unfortunate haircut that resembled nothing so much as a monk’s tonsure that had been allowed to grow out in the back. Steward Richenza settled in Father Mustafa and allowed him to wash before leading him to the Great Hall for dinner.
Over dinner King Phillippe and his court ate lavishly while debating the issues (and, more often, sharing the gossip) of the day. Topics of great interest were the Rapacity of the Tsar, the Collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, and how ugly Duke Gustav of Normandy’s wife had been before he drove her into an early grave to escape. Between gossip and news, Father Mustafa managed to engage King Phillippe in theological discussion. Alas, the discussion was not concluded as the hour grew late, and so King Phillippe invited the Father to postpone the remainder of his journey and to stay another night.
Over the next few weeks, Father Mustafa spent what other courtiers described as an inordinate amount of time with King Phillippe. King Phillippe was very interested in the stories of the Apostles, especially Paul, the Father of the Church…and one night in January, he sprung to his feet and exclaimed:
“Wait! I have it! The original Disciples were but men, correct?”
“Well…yes, they were. But they were inspired by the direct Word of God,” Father Mustafa nervously responded.
“And yet, they were able to understand God’s Plan and to put it into action. We are men! We have the Direct Word of God as Written in the Bible! We need no priests to tell us how to live!” shouted King Phillippe.
Father Mustafa tried to convince the King that his interpretation was fatally flawed, but King Phillippe could not be convinced. Over the next two years, King Phillippe was officially recognized as a dangerous heretic. Lords began to revolt against King Phillippe, with the tacit (and, in some cases, overt) backing of Rome.
King Phillippe was forced ultimately to come crawling to Pope Guy to confess his sins. After assigning a priest personally to verify that King Phillippe was adhering to all practices as set forth by Rome, Pope Guy recognized that King Phillippe was once again a member of Holy Mother Church in all forms.
The whole experience had left King Phillippe shaken. After all, if he could be so easily led into heresy, what about all those other, lesser, men? Were there even now excommunicates who would return gladly to the Church if given the chance? The question gnawed at King Phillippe. And so King Phillippe called upon Pope Guy – King Phillippe had of necessity developed a close relationship with Pope Guy during the months of oversight, and Pope Guy remembered how King Phillippe had offered Breton support during Guy’s campaign for the Papacy – with a simple request.
Bring all the excommunicates to the fold. Not pure forgiveness; after all, King Phillippe had been required to repent, and so should all the rest. But King Phillippe could not bear the thought that Counts, Dukes, and Kings who could be good Catholics, if only given the opportunity, would be eternally damned by his inaction. And so, after much cajoling, Pope Guy announced a Papal Bull revoking the excommunication of all those living, and exhorting them to return to the fold.
[1] OOC Editor's Note: I’m shooting for something similar to a conquistador helmet here, but adjusting the word to fit into my increasingly more desperately faked Nou Brezhoneg.
[AAR Reward: remove "modest" trait from King Phillippe. Hey, he convinced the Pope to revoke excommunication from everyone!]
[AAR Note: all living characters with the excommunicated trait have had it removed.]