The Magyar Emperor
Chapter II: Maybe Not so Holy After All.
Rome – January 24th Anno 1238
A long procession of old men dressed in white robes was underway in front of the pope. This day the people of Rome were granted an official church sermon conducted by the pope himself. However, as it was with the papacy, everything would take even longer than the usual sermon in a regular church. At one end of the plaza sat the pope dressed in his pompous clothes. He sat at the usual throne of the pope which was made out of pure gold, a note to everyone that the papacy was just another power-hungry institution and the pope usually was not a devote man of the faith. This particular pope – Innocentius IV had gained the papal throne by support from the Holy Roman Emperor, to whom he even took orders from… for now.
On each side of the pope stood several men, all of them were dressed in white robes with red stripes as to signify their position as papal envoys but still separate them from the cardinals (who wore a wholly red dress. Just before the sermon the pope had been meeting with his envoys who had returned from the number of realms that confessed to the catholic path of Christianity. The mission that the envoys carried with them was to control the piousness of the Christian rulers as well as granting them the papal blessing if they saw fit, in the name of the pope that is.
“Your holiness, I must say that I thank you for this occasion. It is truly a sight to see an official sermon conducted by the holy office.” The man to the right of Innocentius remarked.
“Ah so wonderful that you would think so Henri, I hope that the peasants think the same as you do.” Innocentius replied.
“Of course they do your holiness.” Henri assured the pope. “But I have matters of importance to discuss with you.”
“I thought we had already done so at the meeting earlier?” Innocentius asked as he turned to look at Henri.
Henri returned the move and gazed the pope in the eyes. “The emperor Baudouin in Constantinople is dead; his son is set to rise to the throne of their little empire. I just wanted to ask if you would grant them their blessing so that I can give it to them upon my return.”
“Well that shouldn’t be much of a problem, why did you wait till now to tell me?” the pope wondered.
“Your holiness, it is complicated, but alas, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire has somehow landed into the hands of a child.” Henri said.
“And how does this matter?” Innocentius said.
“Well you see, the emperor of the Byzantines is now an 11 year old Hungarian Catholic boy called Imre. So now there is no actual reason for us to support the Latin Empire anymore, the righteous heir to the Roman Empire has once again become Catholic and the schism has thus almost been ended.” Henri whispered as to not let the others hear.
“Oh my, indeed that is complicated. Ah well, Baudouin was he called right?” the pope asked.
“Yes your holiness.” Henri answered.
“Very well then, as their claim has been nullified by recent events, we should see how this plays out, however, if they want my blessing they will have to work for it. We will see how this ends but upon your return Henri make sure that they know whom they must bend their knees to.” Innocentius said.
“Yes your holiness.” Henri replied and he fell in line with the other envoys once again. The process neared its end and soon pope Innocentius IV stood up and had begun addressing the masses of Rome in Latin, speaking the words of the one true god. Henri had other things to contemplate however, as a Frank he could not abandon his kin in Constantinople for the upstart nomadic Magyar in Anatolia who know were titled the emperor of the Byzantine Empire. The pope wanted the Latin Empire to bend the knee to his will; a stance Henri was sure came from his association with the emperor of the HRE and his loathing of the Franks… well, except for Henri...
Constantinople – February 5th Anno 1238
The ceremony had been magnificent. With almost all the resources that could be mustered for such an event, emperor Baudouin II had been crowned emperor of the Latin Empire just moments earlier. The lords of that had owned allegiance to his father had now sworn their oaths of loyalty to the new ruler of Constantinople. At the same time, the heir to the empire, Baudouin son of Baudouin, had been announced and in a small diversion, been appointed as heir to the emperor and as such was now officially the crown prince of the empire.
The ceremony had gone well but afterwards Baudouin had not been happy. After a short feast in his honor, Baudouin had retired to his office where he had welcomed Henri, the papal envoy just returned from Rome. Henri had carried vicious news to the new emperor had he had succumbed to anger as he had heard the demands of the papacy.
“I will not be pushed down by some stupid Italian in Rome!” Baudouin bellowed as he clinched is fists and leaned forward from his working chair.
“I know your highness.” Henri replied for the fifty-eleventh time. He was at this point tired of the rage the emperor had burst out in, it was understandable but it had now gone way beyond the acceptable, according to Henri though.
“Curse that bought man; he was placed on that throne just to advance the interests of the Germans. We Franks are being pressured by the pope to line up and soon we all will be executed and be vassals of the German emperor…” Baudouin said with a low voice as he leaned back on his chair and exhaled.
“I can only say that I share your views emperor, but what you need to do now is to get rid of this so called Magyar on the Byzantine throne.” Henri explained.
“But what can I do about? If I send assassins then they certainly know it is me doing it…” Henri replied. “All we can do is to continue taking his territory before he is old enough to be using his father back in Hungary to attack us on two fronts.”
“Maybe so, but there is other ways that can be pursued.” Henri said. “You can go after the mohammedans, if you become renowned for your zeal and devoutness then not even the pope can move against such a pious man. For he cannot declare holy wars ineligible anymore, not with Jerusalem under siege by the Ayyubids.”
“So you say that I must go after the ones that even those marching beneath the true cross couldn’t defeat?” Baudouin startled asked.
“Indeed your highness.” Henri replied. “That or wage war directly against this new emperor on the throne in Anatolia.”
“Curse this pope and damned be all of the Magyars!” Baudouin exclaimed. “We shall prepare the empire for war and glory shall be ours.”
“That is most excellent your highness.” Henri said and felt delighted. He had successfully managed to get the emperor into the mindset to wage war on the infidel Muslims that currently occupied the holy land. Maybe now the young boy sitting on the throne of Byzantium would be shown as a weakling… Or he could contact the other side and stage the fall of the boy emperor…