Bastions
Prologue Two: The Prussians
Part 19
efæn ien diskusijá, in swiendorog, wors ien kárs.
Even a debate, to Sviendorog, was a war.
As the tenth year of Sviendorog's fifteen years of peace came to a head, the Saxon nobility in Poland was becoming restless. The landed Saxons thrived on land, their riches and authority determined by who had the most land. But the era of the Saxons was waning. They were a backwards people, clinging to old languages and customs despite the fact (or maybe in spite of) their blood was more and more diluted. Some say that the division between Saxon and Prussian was defined by religion, others say it was the exile of Prince Ælle, but neither group is completely right. The conversion to Greek Orthodoxy was precipitated by Æthelweard and enforced by Eabert, two very Saxon Kings. The exile of Ælle was a hit to the Saxons, but they had eventually moved on to Prince Æthelwulf and later accepted the rise of Prince Gunvald. What it might have been was a spitefulness. The Saxons made up the highest tier of nobility save one spot: the Kingship. And what they could not have they would eventually try to take. The Saxons of the late XII Century are an oft forgotten people. Many maintained some connection to Catholicism, even after eighty years. Their language served as a tribal factor, dividing them from the rest of society. But their tribe was under siege, attacked from all sides by the march of progress and the language of the laymen.
In 1191 five Saxon nobles tried to overthrow Sviendorog and install a noble republic like that in Poland. They were lead by Eadwig de Seagrave, descendent of Æthelstan (Prussia's first marshal). They planned an assassination, one which failed and of course tipped off that the Saxons were not as trust worthy as might first appear. However, Sviendorog had to be gentle. Many in his court, and in the nation at large, blamed the Catholics. Religious tension had been dying down, but in the West tension between Catholic Poles and Orthodox Prussians was slowly simmering. Luckily the assassin was quickly caught and the perpetrators were soon being hunted by the army. With any luck, Sviendorog would solve the problem quickly and quietly before a mass panic turned into a pogrom. The situation was tense, but self control dominated the search. Once the men were found they were executed as traitors, some of the first men to be declared so. By keeping these low-key, executing them in a dungeon without the pomp and circumstance of later executions, Sviendorog prevented the five men from becoming martyrs.
But the damage to the Saxons had been done. Five of their most prominent people were now dead, their lands divided up and handed out to Prussians in an attempt to curb the power of the Saxons. The Saxons also began a new issue for the King, the eternal dance between a monarch and his nobles. This would eventually come to a head in the XIV and later XVI Centuries, but would be a dominating principal behind the throne. In Prussia the King was the sole ruler of the Kingdom. His authority was absolute, but it was still questioned. Many wanted in on the power, especially the nobles. The monarchs main ally, then, was always the middle class. The monarch would often play the merchants and the nobles against one another. The nobles feared the wealth of the merchants would oust them from power, and the merchants coveted the positions of the nobles. By cycling older nobles out for younger blood, the monarch kept himself surrounded by loyal allies. This would eventually spark the civil wars of the XIV Century, though was less important in the civil war of the XVI Century.
Meanwhile, in the West, the Infinite War had its first serious ebb and flow. The French, now joined by a semi-united German rabble, was able to push the Caliph back to Iberia forcing many Muslims out of France and into Africa. The Italians were able to do the same with the peninsula. They set up new Crusader Kingdoms, lead by men deemed by the Pope "worthy of God's Kingdoms on Earth." These included the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Leon. But the Crusaders were divided on who could rule what. Catalonia ruled much of southern France, territory the French wanted back. Sicily found itself more full of Muslims then of Christians; and the Italians did not like a German ruling their land. The Irish and English had taken Leon, but were unhappy when a French man was put on the throne. In fact, Germany had made the most out of the Crusades, despite joining much later than the others. So the stage was set for the Crusades to fail once again for the Christians.
The Egyptians, led by a Shiite, took an all-Shia army into Sicily, quickly over taking the Crusaders and installing an even more stable Muslim government there then there was before. And worse, the Egyptians had pushed all the way up to the city of Rome, recognizing its importance to the Catholics. The Caliphate readily pushed back Leon and Catalonia after it gathered its strength. Leon was wiped out and Catalonia was left as two small tributary states: the City of Barcelona and the County of Savoy. Soon the Muslims marched far beyond their original limits, turning everything around. In 1203 the worst happened, the city of Rome fell to the Muslims sending shock waves throughout Europe. The King of France resigned that day, leaving his nation to anarchy. Many German nobles, especially those near France or in the defunct Crusader states fled to Prussia and the Roman Empire. The Christian world crumbled as Popes and Antipopes sprung up around Europe. But the true Pope fled to the Carpathian mountains, to a fortress granted to him by the Hungarian King. But Catholicism was breaking apart, shattering into bits as people were left to fend for themselves.