The Eagle of Eastern Europe

In addition to Crimea, the population of Transylvania also grew rapidly. Thanks to Mary's peasant edict, a large number of peasants fled to Transylvania. Although the nobles intensified their pursuit, there were still peasants Risk your life and escape. This made the Hungarian nobles miserable.

Some nobles approached Mary and offered to buy the escaped peasants with gold coins, and asked Mary not to take them in again. But Mary said this was just a normal population movement.

Sigismund also had a headache. The defeat in Transylvania was another blow to his prestige after the Battle of Skopje. The nobles in Hungary did not support him, and the princes within the HRE also expressed their consideration. Only Albrecht of Upper Austria strongly supported him. This made Sigismund very grateful.

Moreover, he is the only heir of the Luxembourg family. If it weren't for his brother's lack of heirs, he would have been alone.

However, does his brother Wenzel really have no children, at least not with his first wife.

Sofia of Bavaria, Queen of Bohemia, breastfeeds her baby in a castle in Podebrad, near Prague.

Wenzel felt warm in his heart when he saw his children and his wife together. At the same time, he was also worried about what they would do after he died.

Last year, nobles and princes in Bohemia and HRE began to form a faction to oppose him. They demanded to reduce the royal power, obtain more land, etc. Even his younger brother joined them. Wenzel was difficult to resist and had to compromise.

It was under these circumstances that his wife gave birth to a daughter. Wenzel named her Anne. In order to prevent accidents, Wenzel hid his wife and children in Podjebrad, intending to wait for an opportunity before telling them.

"What should we do next?" Wenzel asked the minister next to him.

"There are very few chances of a comeback now. Neither the nobles nor the lords will compromise, but what happened in Hungary makes them doubt Sigismund's ability to handle it."

Although Wenzel is not as capable as his younger brother, he occasionally has bright ideas. They adopted an indulgent policy towards the rising religious reform trend in Bohemia and tried to use them to regain the monarchy. And he also has the title of King of Germany. In the "Golden Seal" issued by his father, Charles IV, he can become a German king with the support of four electors, but it does not say that it can be abolished with the support of four electors. King De. Therefore, Wenzel continued to fight against the princes by taking advantage of the loopholes in the edict.

He also heard about what happened in Hungary, and it was really cool to be honest. Sigismund had always coveted his position, and some people in the palace were bribed by him. The purpose is to monitor his every move and ensure that he has no heirs.

Now that he finally has a daughter, Wenzel naturally wants to ensure their safety. Finding a fiancé for Anne was the most important thing.

But who to look for? France, no, because the Holy See of Avignon supported by France is in opposition to the Holy See of Rome, supported by the HRE. The UK, too, is too far away. Not even within the HRE, who knows what the princes are thinking.

However, news from the East interested him. Hungary was divided into two, Wallachia defeated the Ottomans in succession, the Orthodox Church was revived, and the dazzling information all said one thing: union with the East.

At this time, the three major religious princes in the HRE are preparing to elect the noble Rupert as the German king. Naturally, the Luxemburg faction headed by Wenzel will not sit still and wait for death. He was prepared to compromise with those lords who were targeting him, especially Sigismund, and planned to use the regent of Bohemia as a bargaining chip, but he was also worried that Sigismund would defect to the other party, and if he died, his family might also More bad luck than good. That country called Wallachia should be nice. Let’s talk to them some other time?

At Charles University in Prague, a lecture was being given to promote Wycliffe's ideas, but he was soon caught by the Bishop of Prague.

"These people are possessed by demons and need to be purified. Take them away..."

The fat bishop caught them and took them away. John watched all this in the crowd, and a surge of anger surged into his heart. At this moment, he strengthened his belief even more.

The religious reform movement was raging in Bohemia, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Orthodox missionaries also fished in troubled waters. Started missionary work in Brno and built an Orthodox church.

The missionary activities of the Orthodox Church are carried out underground, taking advantage of the split in the Western Church to expand its power. Some people support the ideas of the Orthodox Church, but are unwilling to use Eastern rites for prayers. The church also adapts to the situation and proposes that as long as it recognizes the Patriarch of Constantinople and Eastern religious ideas, Western church rites can be used for prayers and other religious activities. The Western Orthodox Church was born.

These variant churches recognize the supreme authority of the Church of Constantinople, use Western rites but identify with Eastern ideas. This is really the Catholic Church being too inappropriate, and various taxes and indulgences are pressed on them. No one would be able to bear it, not to mention the terrifying inheritance tax. After death, half of the property must be handed over to the lord and the church. They could only turn to the Orthodox Church for solace.

There are currently four main Western Orthodox churches: the Naples Orthodox Church, the Hungarian Orthodox Church, the Polish Orthodox Church, and the Bohemian Orthodox Church. The believers, whose numbers ranged from a few hundred to thousands, rebelled against the Catholic Church and set off on their own to establish towns and live elsewhere. The kings of Hungary and Poland naturally adopted tough policies against them, but Bohemia and Naples were very subtle. Laszlo and Wenzel wanted to use the church to achieve their own goals, so they did not stop them and allowed them to do so. grow.

This kind of religious strife in the West will continue for some time. It will take 17 years until Sigismund holds a meeting. This period of time is a good opportunity for the East.

In the East, the Orthodox Church re-established grassroots organizations in Anatolia, but not in big cities like Nicaea or Nicomedia, but in a small town on the Black Sea coast in the north. This was supported by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The church preached and spread the Wallachian language along the way, so that it would be easier to rule these areas in the future. The Greeks living here were rejected by the immigrant Turks. In order to survive, they had to assimilate to them, believe in Crescentism, and speak their language. Maybe they felt that Rome's counterattack was hopeless.

And now, a group of Orthodox Christians who speak the Wallachian language have come here again after decades. This has given them a glimmer of hope. Could it be that they finally don’t have to go on like this and happy days are coming? ?