Chapter IV: God's Justice
Rulebook of the Teutonic Order, 1847 Edition (source: openlibrary.org)
The military campaigns of 1470-1471 saw the first triumphs of the Livonian Order. The conversion of the aristocracy of Tver and Pskov was the first step towards the spread of Catholicism in Russian lands and confirmed the position of the Brothers as protectors of Terra Mariana.
However Livonia remained a loose confederation of factions, each one with their own agenda. In particular, local bishoprics still answered to the Archbishop of Riga instead than the Livonian Grandmaster. In this climate, distrust between different parties was common and even easier was for the Hand of the Devil to find weak and corruptible people, ready to do his unholy bidding.
The session of the Livonian Council called in January 1472 was the first step taken by Grandmaster Johann Wolthuss to change the situation, although in an unconventional way...
- By a Forgotten Chronicler of the Livonian Order
<<It's good to see you back safe in Fellin, my lord>> said Ludwig Klein to the Grandmaster, while the council members were taking their seats. Marshal Robin Offenberg frowned upon this obvious display of kindness by Klein; the fat merchant was renown for having a huge appetite for food, money and power. Surely he wouldn't have minded if an accident happened to the head of the Order... But was his greed enough to win his fear?
<<I am no lord, Herr Klein.>> answered Johann Wolthuss, first Grandmaster of the Livonian Order, a blonde man in his mid-twenties, not handsome, but certainly capable of getting attention with that cold stare in his blue eyes. In front of him on the table there was a massive tome sealed with a chain and a lock: one of the three complete copies of the Teutonic Ordensbuch, containing the code of the Order, a symbol of justice and power. <<You should know how to address me.>>
<<Of course... Grandmaster.>> replied Klein with a sly smile. <<Yet this is a surprise for us to have you back already. When news of a Moorish aggression in Moldavia reached us, we were sure you would have run to help King Casimir, especially given the... new-found trust that bind us.>>
The other councilmen were now sitting in silence, watching the conversation unfold with interest. The meeting had already begun.
<<But they are getting help from us.>> said Master-at-Arms Mathias Minucci, fourth son of an Italian baron and an Austrian noblewoman, first military advisor to the Grandmaster, a man with short temper. Robin had only sympathy for him. <<Supplies, weapons, everything that we could spare. Except men, the Order can't afford sending his soldiers marching to the shores of the Black Sea. Even to help our allies. But you know that, don't you?>>
This seemed to silence Klein, and most people in the room were nodding ponderously. There were thirteen of them, members of this restricted council which was in place since the Livonian Brothers joined the Teutons. It was composed by the Grandmaster, the Seneschal, four Commanders, the High Chaplain, the Master-at-Arms and, upon request of Johann, Robin himself. This for the Livonian Order. The bishops, nobles and merchants of Livonia could send a representative each: because the council was officially a military meeting, there was no need to extend the invitation. By desire of the previous Grandmaster... no, Master Osthoff, the last place belonged to the Burgomaster of Wenden, Adomas Oginski, a man in his early forties with a short beard and a paternal face. Not only he represented the richest city of Livonia, but he was also instrumental in running with success the local hospital of the Order. The same place where Osthoff found the boy who would have become his successor and took him into the Order. Certainly the Grandmaster had a soft spot for the man, but Robin had heard other stories about Oginski, that his devotion to Christ was not as strong as expected and that he was practising usury, a terrible sin in the eyes of Our Lord. The Grandmaster seemed not to hear this rumours or to simply dismiss them as fake.
Anyway, thirteen there were, like the Christ with his Apostles. And, among them, there was a traitor as well. Robin realized that God's Justice sometimes works in strange ways.
<<Yes, about this “alliance”, fellow council-members, I wonder if it was the right thing to do?>> said young Lord Peeter Kross, an Estonian noble who only recently succeeded his father as head of the family, chosen as a compromise between the more influential aristocratic families of Livonia. A puppet. Expendable and easy to manipulate.
The Seneschal coughed heavily before speaking. As expected he would have done most of the talking: he was older than Johann and wiser in the ways the council works. Formally, loyalty to the Order was due by ancient laws and customs, but diplomacy had regularly to be used to guarantee the cooperation of the local factions. After all, the incapacity to have a dialogue with their subjects was the chief reason why the Teutonic Order had fallen and was now a shadow of his former self. Still, sometimes diplomacy was not enough...
<<It was an agreement that will benefit everybody involved.>> said the Seneschal with his hoarse voice. <<King Casimir would face serious opposition among his own nobles if he were to start a new campaign against the Russian Lords. On top of that, his resources are already stretched to contain the remnants of the Horde and the Turks: he negotiated an alliance with Novgorod and gave the feud of Smolensk to Duke Ivan of Muscowy to avoid troubles on the eastern border.
However, we do have His Holiness' permission, and mission, to convert the Heretics east of the Lake. Our claim is recognized not only by King Casimir, but by all of his nobles. He intends to use us to prevent Muscowy from growing too strong or dangerous. Eventually, I would also expect him to grow more fond of us than his petty merchants in Novgorod. They provide him with rich gifts, but we can provide stability to his Kingdom.>> He paused, coughing again. He could have been the new Master if he wasn't so sick, or at least mount a credible opposition to Johann.
<<The advantages for us are many. As I said, if we can break the alliance between Novgorod and King Casimir, the door to the east will truly be open. On top of that, the experience of the recent campaigns proved how useful it was to have the support of Lithuanian troops in our military action. Finally, we all know that our pact of non-aggression with Duke Ivan is temporary at best and Muscowy is a much more dangerous foe than the Prince-Merchants. If it breaks... When it breaks, we will need all the help we can muster.>>
<<We all understand that, but we believe these decisions should have been taken after consulting the rest of the council.>> This was old Bishop Iulius of Dorpat; his faction was composed of the clerics not chosen by the Grandmaster and who answered instead to the Archbishop of Riga. <<You must understand, Grandmaster, that even your predecessor couldn't rule this land without us. Also, you won a crushing victory upon the Lords of Pskov and Tver. Still it appears you didn't ask much from them except for some oaths and tributes. Certainly the words of a few nobles won't cleanse those lands of the taint of heresy. The Teutonic Knights would have been much less generous with them.>> He was stroking his beard while talking, as to underline the meaning of what he was saying.
<<And I still believe that was the best course of action, Your Excellence.>> replied Johann staring at the bishop with his cold eyes. Robin sensed doubt in the old man, but he was experienced in hiding it. <<About our victories, the best way to teach those people the proper loyalty to Rome is to get the help of their rulers. The oaths are binding, but the rulers will maintain their flags, something that their people know and trust.
About the decision to sign a treaty with King Casimir, we were perhaps not careful enough: it seems somebody tried to prevent us from accomplishing our goal.>>
<<Oh, dear Lord, what do you mean Grandmaster?>> asked Klein. Robin could see Lord Kross shift uncomfortably in his chair. Even the Bishop seemed surprise.
<<Marshal Offenberg, would you explain them?>>
<<Certainly Grandmaster.>> said Robin. It finally came his turn to talk, which was good, because he wanted this story to be over as soon as possible. <<As you all should know by now, I was chosen as envoy by the Order to discuss the terms of our alliance with King Casimir. I left with ten trusted men in the middle of the night, riding as fast as we could towards Krakow. A few miles from our destination we were attacked. They came at us with swords and arrows, in a point of the road which offered poor visibility to the travellers. I left five of my men on that road. At the end of the combat, twelve of our aggressors were dead on the ground, while some of them escaped. I thought it could be just brigands, but the quality of their weapons and armours was too impressive to be simple criminals. That steel came from the north, as the gold which was found in their pockets. The Prince-Merchants of Novgorod hired and armed them.>>
<<That's terrible!>> said Lord Kross in an acute voice <<We should pay them back with the same coin...>>
<<How? By hiring other assassins?>> mocked Minucci <<You seem very eager to adopt this kind of ways. Maybe you want to tell us who sold our Brothers to the Russians?>>
The young noble became pale and tried to answer, but Johann didn't give him time and addressed instead all the council.
<<Obviously anybody could have bought those weapons and hired those assassins. However only somebody who does fear justice tries to hide his deeds. The warning is clear. We need to prepare for the worst in our current situation with Novgorod. At the moment they are busy defending their commercial interest from the Crown of England, but this is not going to last forever.>>
The Grandmaster stood and began walking around the table, slowly and carefully, accompanied by the sound of the steel he was wearing.
<<And yet, as the Master-at-Arms said, they couldn't have organized such a precise attack without detailed information coming from inside Livonia.>>
All the council-men could feel the stare of the Grandmaster on their back. Robin tried not to smile.
<<Fellow council-members, I am afraid there is a traitor among us.>>
<<What?>> exclaimed Klein, breathing anxiously, red in face.
<<I won't stay here being casually accused, if you have any proof...>> Peeter Kross tried to get up, but the man next to him, Commander Heinrich Funck, a big and hairy warrior, put his hand on the young man's shoulder and forced him to sit again.
<<You will stand down... My lord.>> added with a smirk. Kross became even paler.
<<As Lord Kross said, if you have any proof, Grandmaster, you should share that knowledge with the council. >> Bishop Iulius was looking at the empty space in front of him, trying to appear calm, but the way he was stroking his beard now betrayed nervousness... Fear?
The representative of Wenden, Oginski, seemed instead calm and relaxed, without betraying the minimal emotion.
<<Proof, Your Excellence? We already found all the proof that we needed. During lunch I had my Master-at-Arms search your rooms here in Fellin for evidence and we found Russian coins in one of them. A lot of gold, really. This is now a court of justice.>>
Johann stopped behind Ludwig Klein: <<That room happens to be yours, Herr Klein.>>
The fat merchant of Kurland started to move strangely, not daring to stand up, still trying to turn his body to face the Grandmaster.
<<No my lord... I mean, Grandmaster, I swear, I don't own any Russian gold... Or, maybe yes, maybe I do, but not here... I mean, I did not get it for that reason, I'm an honest man... I swear...>> He was about to cry. Robin tried not to laugh. The Seneschal coughed.
There was a moment of silence, then the Grandmaster spoke again.
<<You know what? I believe you. In fact, I believe somebody is trying to frame you.>>
Robin looked around carefully and now saw surprised expressions also on the faces of the Commanders and the Seneschal... They had not been told this part of the script!
<<However, I had my men observe in secret what was happening around your rooms. So we actually know that somebody tried to frame you, hiding that gold in your room. It was one of us.>>
It all happened so quickly. Somebody went for his sword and was about to get up, but Minucci was too quick, had his dagger ready in a flash and, with a fluid movement of his arm, pierced the head of the man standing next to him, a strike from below. Commander Funck finally stood up, the hilt of the dagger, shaped as the cross of the Order, showing between his chin and his throat, the blade running through his mouth half-open and piercing his brain. He left the sword in his right hand fall on the ground, gurgled a silent curse, or a prayer, then he fell too, dead. Minucci slowly leaned forward and recovered his dagger soaked in blood, extracting it from Funck's head; with the other hand took the white cloak of the former Commander and began to clean his weapon.
Most of the people in the room were shocked before realizing what exactly had happened. Among them, only Robin and Minucci had been informed exactly of what was going to happen, the others were given only partial information to avoid ruining the “surprise”. Peeter Kross was looking at the body next him in horror, but somehow managed not to throw up the lunch. Probably the man had never seen a fresh corpse before. The High Chaplain, a quiet man dressed in heavy purple robes, quick to react, stood up and got closer to the body, kneeling in front of him, then started to whisper a prayer in Latin.
<<So it was him.>> said calmly Oginski.
<<Yes, it was.>> admitted the Grandmaster <<We also had previous reports of Funck leaving his fortress in Reval to meet with Russian merchants in inns on the road to Novgorod.. We hoped it could be to get some information out of them, but it appears it was the other way around.>> He came back to sit on his chair.
<<They must have bought him with gold, women or other pleasures. Funck was never the most pious of us, but betrayal... That's a deadly sin in the eyes of the Lord. My predecessor, Master Osthoff, told me to to watch him closely... Now I wish we had acted sooner.>>
<<Why.. Why not just arrest and execute him? Why all of this?>> squealed Klein, who was trying to regain his composure, but he knew already the answer. That the meeting was meant to show the determination of the new Grandmaster... And was also a warning to all the council.
Somebody did not like the idea.
<<What you did>> shouted Bishop Iulius standing up, his hands on the table <<is against the rules! First you hide from us important information and instead drag us in this farce where only you and your "friends" know the true meaning. But you also pass final judgement on an accused, executing him in front of the council without a process. This wouldn't have happened before. According to the
Ordensbuch...>>
<<Only God can pass final judgement.>> replied the Grandmaster, beating his fist on the very book in front of him <<And we are not the Teutons. So you will stop talking to me in this way. Now a new Order rules this land, and with the Emperor's permission. You will get my trust after you have proved yourself to be worth.>> Paused.<<Beginning to pay your taxes to Livonia will be a good start anyway...>>
Johann smiled at the Bishop like a wolf.
<<What? Our taxes have always been paid to the Archbishop of Riga, the spiritual Lord of Terra Mariana. His Holiness didn't give you any
libertas to do this! >>
<<No, but his Imperial Majesty did. Now that we answer to the temporal authority of the Emperor, the bishoprics will start paying their taxes to the local Lords who in turn will pay the Order as usual. This was already decided under my predecessor, just never put in practice... My aim is to rectify that. Did you understand what I just said, Lord Kross?>>
<<Yes... Yes, Grandmaster. The other Lords will be pleased.>>
Bishop Iulius' eyes went wide and his mouth, under the white beard, was trembling.
<<We all belong to this land>> concluded the Grandmaster <<and we shall stood and prosper together. Or die divided. You have witnessed the fate of who opposes us. God wants us to help each other, not fall to petty betrayals and squabbles for power.>>
The High Chaplain rose from Junck's body, having concluded his prayer. <<
Deus vult.>> said solemnly to the people in the room.
<<God wills it.>> said Oginski, surprisingly.
Klein was still shocked after the experience to say anything.
Robin saw realization in the eyes of the Bishop: if he had tried to oppose the Grandmaster, he would have been alone in that room. And the Imperial Law was actually supporting Johann's edict. He fell back on his chair, defeated.
The Grandmaster smiled again. <<Now, Brother Minucci, will you get rid of this body, please? The council has other points to address.>>
Robin Offenberg smiled as well. He really liked the new Grandmaster, and the two of them had become very close over the last few years. He would have done well, he knew that... Still, looking at the other Commanders, he realized that they had not liked a slightest bit being lied about who the true traitor was. The expression of the Seneschal was difficult to read, but Robin could see a wounded pride mixed in it; and pride is something very valuable to a sick man.
Yes, Johann would have been an excellent Grandmaster, and a good leader for entire Livonia, provided he survived his own Brothers first...