Golden Prague
Prologue
Prague, January 1419
Valclav IV, son of Karel I the Emperor, and King of Bohemia was dying. The whole court knew it.
He had been a weak King and a weak man and the Diet of nobles that ruled in his name would not under normal circumstances have been unhappy to see him die. Then again these were not normal circumstances.
Jan Biskup, Archbishop of Prague was a worried man. He controlled one of the most powerful factions in the Diet, was personally extremly wealthy and was at only 40 extremely young for his position. His future would have been golden indeed if had not been for that Hussite business.
Yes...the Hussites. From his office in the palace Jan could see the near daily confrantations between the followers of the dead preacher and the followers of the status quo.
"Emmince?" coughed Petr Mestan his secratary gently.
"Hmm? Sorry I was caught up in my thoughts. Continue your report." said Jan as he sat back down in his comfortable chair and listened.
"The Bavarians have accepted the offer of marriage Emminence. Princess Klára and her entourage have just left. I have also spoken with the Polish Consul about the possibility of marrying Princess Ludmila and the reaction was favourable." spoke Mestan in his usual rather dry tones. He was a fine servant but the archbishop (hardly a warm man himself) occasionally found his lack of evident emotion offputting.
Oh well, at least he wouldn't quibble whatever the order.
"Have my suggestions about reforming the local goverment been applied?" Jan was firmly of the belief that as much power should be concentrated in Prague as possible. He had butted heads with more local nobles than he could count.
"Yes Emminence, though not without some complaints. Also Burgomeister Rychtar has reformed the tax system in Prague and has begun training specialised 'Tax Collectors'."
Jan considered this. "It's a sound idea and overall I'm in favour but the burghers might be less keen - half of them had the old Baliffs in their pockets. Still if it works here maybe we could apply it elsewhere... Is that all?"
"Yes Emminence"
"Good, now send for Countess Markéta, I have business to discuss with her."
After Mestan had left the Archbishop wandered over to his grand window overlooking the city. He could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance.
"Lord my God" he whispered in near silent prayer, "help me to steer through this rising storm..."
To be continued...
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Ok this is my first EU II AAR (though I'm working on a HoI AAR for Romania) so it isn't going to be too great. Don't expect Mario Puzo or anything.
This is just a prologue so things will get better.
In case it isn't clear in the text so far I haven't done much. I moved the slider 1 towards Centralisation, started building a tax collector in Bohemia and set up Royal Marriages with Bavaria and (later in 1419) Poland.
Anyway, please read and review.
Do chuid
