I’d been thinking a bit about Bishoprics lately, as I was reading The Burgundians, by Bart van Loo and how the House of Bourgogne gained influence in the bishoprics of the Low Countries, Liege and Utrecht, actually putting members of their family on the episcopal thrones. The same thing happened throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
I thought therefore it would be really cool if countries were able to support candidates for Bishops, much like they can for elected kings in Poland.
The new Bishop could then be selected from, one candidate from each of the estates, a papal appointee, and one each from countries influencing the Bishopric. A candidate from a foreign country being chosen would then increase relations and give the ‘same dynasty’ opinion modifier.
The problem I had when I came up with this as I was reading the book was: what’s the point? Why would anyone do this?
The Riga DD has inspired me to further develop it and offered an answer: Indulgences. I think the ability to sell indulgences should not be exclusive to Riga, but available to all Bishoprics. It should also not give stability, but Papal Influence. It would then turn into a way to obtain Papal Influence that circumvents the Papal States, and thus be a way for countries on bad terms with the Papal States to still gain influence in the Curia, much as historically powerful countries used their influence in local bishoprics to gain influence in the Church, whether they were on good terms with the Pope or not.
If the ability was directly tied to opinion with the Bishopric, say a max of 200 opinion gave 10 Papal Influence for the cheapest monetary price, and lower opinion would see less gains for higher prices, would give an incentive for countries to maintain good relations with Bishoprics, something that is currently not really a factor in game, although it was historically.
Say you are France, and you’re on a collision course with the Papal States for all the usual reasons, you could suck up to Trier, try to get your own candidate installed as bishop to more easily max out relations, and get Papal Influence that way. You could spend your PI on trying to become the Pope and undo any possible excommunications,
This way, IMO far more interesting than simply spending some gold on a button, should replace the ‘Indulgences’ sold by the Pope. Papal Indulgences should work just like described above (with Papal Influence given according to the Papal State’s opinion of you) but also give a boost to opinion with the Papal State, so it would either improve the Papal State’s opinion of you if he has a bad one, and if he already likes you, you’d gain a fair amount of Papal Influence. That way it would be a preventive measure to avoid excommunication (because the Pope can’t do it if the Papal States has positive relations with you) and not just a ‘get out of excommunication’ button.
Bishoprics’s Indulgences sold to countries that are on bad terms with the Papal States, could add corruption to the seller and the AI should only accept when at extremely good terms with the buyer.
Indulgences sold to excommunicated countries should add Reform Desire.
So where does that leave Riga. Well, I think the proposed government type that Riga can gain through its missions are very interesting. But instead of basically being a merchant republic with some special religious-themed ability, I think it should be a theocracy with all the abilities of a merchant republic. Basically, a bishopric with devotion and all the rest, which can create a Trade League, build tradeposts etc. A Mercantile Bishopric, if you will.
It could even have a special ability, like the selling indulgences one proposed, like ‘sell blessing’ or ‘sell relic’, giving stability or legitimacy to the buyer.
Mercantile Bishoprics could be given as a Government Reform available to some other bishoprics as well, for example Cologne (historically one of the major centers of the Hansa) as a reward for a mission to supplant Lubeck (humiliate Lubeck, control Lubeck’s capital, gain x% trade power in Lubeck node, that sort of thing). A similar mission might be given to Magdeburg, or even Utrecht could be an option, with its control over the Hanseatic cities of the Oversticht, or as a reward for when they control the trade centers of Holland and become a true trade power.
Anyway, those were my ideas: supporting candidates in bishoprics, bishoprics selling indulgences, and mercantile bishoprics.
I think these mechanics would integrate the proposed indulgence selling into the existing system somewhat better, fix some problems with the current indulgence-mechanic and make the diplomatic roles of bishoprics more interesting and more important, as they should be from a historical point of view.
I thought therefore it would be really cool if countries were able to support candidates for Bishops, much like they can for elected kings in Poland.
The new Bishop could then be selected from, one candidate from each of the estates, a papal appointee, and one each from countries influencing the Bishopric. A candidate from a foreign country being chosen would then increase relations and give the ‘same dynasty’ opinion modifier.
The problem I had when I came up with this as I was reading the book was: what’s the point? Why would anyone do this?
The Riga DD has inspired me to further develop it and offered an answer: Indulgences. I think the ability to sell indulgences should not be exclusive to Riga, but available to all Bishoprics. It should also not give stability, but Papal Influence. It would then turn into a way to obtain Papal Influence that circumvents the Papal States, and thus be a way for countries on bad terms with the Papal States to still gain influence in the Curia, much as historically powerful countries used their influence in local bishoprics to gain influence in the Church, whether they were on good terms with the Pope or not.
If the ability was directly tied to opinion with the Bishopric, say a max of 200 opinion gave 10 Papal Influence for the cheapest monetary price, and lower opinion would see less gains for higher prices, would give an incentive for countries to maintain good relations with Bishoprics, something that is currently not really a factor in game, although it was historically.
Say you are France, and you’re on a collision course with the Papal States for all the usual reasons, you could suck up to Trier, try to get your own candidate installed as bishop to more easily max out relations, and get Papal Influence that way. You could spend your PI on trying to become the Pope and undo any possible excommunications,
This way, IMO far more interesting than simply spending some gold on a button, should replace the ‘Indulgences’ sold by the Pope. Papal Indulgences should work just like described above (with Papal Influence given according to the Papal State’s opinion of you) but also give a boost to opinion with the Papal State, so it would either improve the Papal State’s opinion of you if he has a bad one, and if he already likes you, you’d gain a fair amount of Papal Influence. That way it would be a preventive measure to avoid excommunication (because the Pope can’t do it if the Papal States has positive relations with you) and not just a ‘get out of excommunication’ button.
Bishoprics’s Indulgences sold to countries that are on bad terms with the Papal States, could add corruption to the seller and the AI should only accept when at extremely good terms with the buyer.
Indulgences sold to excommunicated countries should add Reform Desire.
So where does that leave Riga. Well, I think the proposed government type that Riga can gain through its missions are very interesting. But instead of basically being a merchant republic with some special religious-themed ability, I think it should be a theocracy with all the abilities of a merchant republic. Basically, a bishopric with devotion and all the rest, which can create a Trade League, build tradeposts etc. A Mercantile Bishopric, if you will.
It could even have a special ability, like the selling indulgences one proposed, like ‘sell blessing’ or ‘sell relic’, giving stability or legitimacy to the buyer.
Mercantile Bishoprics could be given as a Government Reform available to some other bishoprics as well, for example Cologne (historically one of the major centers of the Hansa) as a reward for a mission to supplant Lubeck (humiliate Lubeck, control Lubeck’s capital, gain x% trade power in Lubeck node, that sort of thing). A similar mission might be given to Magdeburg, or even Utrecht could be an option, with its control over the Hanseatic cities of the Oversticht, or as a reward for when they control the trade centers of Holland and become a true trade power.
Anyway, those were my ideas: supporting candidates in bishoprics, bishoprics selling indulgences, and mercantile bishoprics.
I think these mechanics would integrate the proposed indulgence selling into the existing system somewhat better, fix some problems with the current indulgence-mechanic and make the diplomatic roles of bishoprics more interesting and more important, as they should be from a historical point of view.
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