Chapter 34:Religious Civil Disorder
With Poland and Britain out of the war, it remained to sit on Aragon and Portugal until Savoy gave up. This took so long that Louis IV died of boredom on August 9th. Some say he's still propped up in the throne room, waiting...
On August 10th, 1504, Rene III was crowned Emperor - a decent administrator and diplomat, he was excellent in military matters - not that the Empire ever got into fights.
On September 1st, Champagne and Orleanais celebrated 50 years of Imperial rule.
On June 1st, 1505, Liguria, Napoli, Messina, Apulia, and Calabria celebrated 50 years since they were annexed by the Empire, bringing the Empire's total of core Centers of Trade to 3 (Liguria, Vlaandern, Paris).
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On June 6th, Sardinia defected from Aragon to the Empire.
In September, the Protestants split into another faction, and the Reformed Church was born in Hamburg under Jordan des Baux. Emperor Rene and the court started taking bets on how many more movements would start. Provinces within the Empire were quickly joining the Protestant and Reformed movements, leaving the Empire fractured in religious thought.
On January 12th, 1508, the Empire tired of waiting for Savoy to seek peace, so they forced Aragon to cede the Beleares, Malta, and Palermo, and Portugal to cede Tunis. Aragon also gave up all external claims and 50 ducats.
With peace, Rene III decided to tackle the question of the Empire's religion. Paris had recently converted to Protestantism, as had a sizable minority of
Imperial provinces. The Reformed church was making much less headway in the realm. His advisers were, unsurprisingly, split on the matter. Rene, personally, was considering a conversion to Protestantism, but had previously put it off, not wanting to cause a stir during war, and not wanting to publically put a rift between the Pope and himself. However, Rene finally decided that the realm should follow the lead of Paris, given that it would be the capital in the near future. That it would also follow his personal religious beliefs was a happy coincidence.
Thus, on the 12th, Emperor Rene III officially converted to Protestantism in an elaborate ceremony in the
Cathedral of the Holy Savior, and made the French Protestant Church the official church of the realm. To help shepherd the new religion along, he instituted the office of Superintendent.
With the new production efficiencies brought by the change in religion, the Emperor was able to pass the Importation Act and Statute of Monopolies, further strengthening the Imperial economy.
With the change to Protestantism, the Emperor and his council had to decide how to handle conversions. Rather than immediately start converting Catholic provinces, the Emperor chose a different plan: Reformed and Heathen provinces would be converted first,while Catholic provinces would be "encouraged" to convert on their own. Tunis was the first province converted, on March 21st.
The Catholic Church obviously could not sit idly by as the most powerful nation in Europe slipped from her grasp, and as Protestantism and the Reformation spread like wildfire. A council was called in Le Mans (the last major French city held by the French crown), and the Counter Reformation was begun.
With the various Christian churches at odds with each other, civil disorder began to become a serious problem in the empire - Catholic mobs tried to stamp out Protestant inroads, Protestant mobs tried wiping out counter reformists and burned Catholic churches, and Reformed mobs tried to wipe both sides out. All three sides turned to the Emperor for help. The Catholics asked that he either reconvert to Catholicism, or express tolerance for his Catholic subjects. The Reformed and Protestant sides demanded that heretics be crushed - with their own ideas of who the heretics were.
Throughout January and early February 1511, Rene and his council argued over what to do. Again, his advisers were split, both by religion and pragmatism. As usual, it fell to the Emperor to make his choice. Reluctantly, he felt that the country wasn't big enough for all three churches, requiring that heretical beliefs be eradicated. This choice didn't solve any problems - instead, it merely ratcheted up the unrest within the realm. Rebels popped up everywhere, and the Imperial cavalry had its hands full just keeping order.
With the conversion to Protestantism, peace, and the Empire's not-so-stellar reputation, the Emperor decided to take time to improve relations with vassal states and let the Empire's reputation improve a bit, before he demanded that his vassals (especially the so-called King of France) integrate their states into the realm.
