The Eagle of Eastern Europe

After many hardships, Peter finally arrived in Prague.

At the end of the 9th century, Czech Duke Bozhivoi moved his residence from Levi Hradec to Prague Castle. Gradually, craftsmen and merchants came to the place below the castle. Thus, cities began to be born. By the beginning of the 12th century, Prague had developed into a prosperous city.

In 1348, Charles IV ordered the New Town of Prague to be built on the vast area between Više Castle and the Old Town. As a result, this area gradually became filled with citizens' houses, markets, gardens, churches and monasteries. In terms of size and elegance, Prague rivaled the most famous cities of the time such as Rome, Florence, Paris, and Cologne. Although Prague is one of the largest cities in Europe and the third largest city in the Holy Roman Empire in terms of area, Prague has a smaller population than Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Constantinople and Paris.

This is a more prosperous city than Buda and Brno, so Peter naturally wants to see more.

"Your Highness, after the expansion of the previous king, Prague has become one of the largest cities in the empire. It is also the permanent residence of the current emperor."

Peter was already on the bridge, and the charm of the old town was tempting him. And he couldn't help but want to see the city.

Peter's timing may have been a little off, though. At this time, the cholera plague spread to Bohemia, resulting in a sharp decrease in the Czech population and desolation of the land. In addition, the aristocracy became impoverished and Charles IV's son Wenceslas IV was not interested in politics. Bohemia's international status declined, and domestic The political situation has become tense.

"Let's go to the university first!"

Charles University was built during the reign of Charles IV. It was the first university in Central Europe and a cultural gathering place in Bohemia.

Peter came here not only to enjoy the scenery, but also to see the figure who would cause the biggest war in Bohemian history. At this time, he should be developing in the university.

And when we walked near the church, a man with a big belly and dressed in bishop's clothes was chattering and holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"What is he doing?"

"I don't know, it seems like I'm trying to sell something."

Looking at this man, Peter felt that he must have paid for the bishop's seat. And they will intensify their search for money.

This is indeed the case. These people, like tax collectors, will go to great lengths to obtain more money. The most important thing is tithes, followed by various donations. Of course, more could be gained by issuing indulgences.

The sale of indulgences by Christian priests was a unique phenomenon in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095. In order to allow the Crusaders to strengthen their religious beliefs, the Pope announced that all those who joined the army could obtain remission of sins and penalties, and issued indulgences to every Crusader. . The theoretical basis for the church to be able to reduce the punishment of sins is that the church maintains a "merit bank" to store the infinite merits of Christ and the good deeds of the martyred saints, which can be allocated to believers to offset the punishments they deserve for their crimes.

Catholic theology believes that after criminal believers obtain forgiveness through confession to God, the church can exempt them from the temporal punishment for their sins, that is, "exemption from sin." The Catholic Church believes that Christ was crucified and his merits are immeasurable. The Virgin Mary and the saints also accumulated many "good deeds". In addition to atonement for their own sins, there is still excess merit, which accumulates and becomes the "merit bank" of the church. The church has the right to decide on sinners. When the good deeds done are not enough to fully make up for the crime, some merit can be obtained from the merit bank to offset the debt of the crime and punishment. The bishop has the power to absolve some of the punishments, and the pope has the power to absolve all the punishments. In 1313, the Catholic Church began to sell this coupon in Europe. The Pope claimed that believers could be forgiven of "sin and punishment" by purchasing this coupon.

After the Great Schism of the Catholic Church, Avignon and Rome began to issue indulgences indiscriminately in order to obtain more funds. Among them, the HRE was the most serious. The money extracted from this country every year could be compared with the trade volume of Venice. Therefore, the HRE was Cow called the Pope.

As part of the HRE, Bohemia naturally suffered the most oppression. And this time the indulgence propaganda is a microcosm.

"As long as you have this, you will atone for your sins and your soul can ascend to heaven."

The bishop promoted the indulgences with great fanfare, and as soon as the people in the audience heard that they could ascend to heaven, they put their few money into each other's wallets, just to exchange for this piece of paper.

Peter saw that they were selling well, so he spent a few gold coins to buy a few.

"Is this what they call an indulgence?"

Peter looked at this piece of paper. He couldn't see where the salvation was whether he looked at it horizontally or vertically. He saw nothing but cannibalism.

"A few ducats are exchanged for such a piece of paper. What's the point of it?"

Peter complained about the so-called indulgences to the people next to him, and became more and more angry as he talked. He almost wanted to bury the bishop alive. Anyway, no one reported him missing in this era.

In order not to cause trouble, Peter left here and went to the hotel. He wanted to have a good rest and think about how to commit a crime. After they left, another person also came here.

This man was about twenty years old, with a beard and dressed in priestly clothes. He was very sad to see the people going crazy and snatching indulgences.

"John, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing, just walking."

----Dividing line----

At night, there was a large cart loading something at the back door of the church. During the day, the bishop was telling the groom to transport these things to his manor as quickly as possible.

Naturally, the groom did not dare to slack off, but it was already getting late, so he decided to transport him out of the city at dawn the next day. He rested in an inn and kept a close eye on the truck.

At this moment, a man planned to play a dice game with him, and the loser would drink a glass of wine. The groom naturally fought to the end, because he liked this best.

The two of them were drinking one cup at a time, and I don’t know how much time passed. The groom was dizzy and wanted to surrender, but he was dissuaded by his enthusiastic opponent, and he also added a bet - two ducats.

The groom also persisted, but he was at the end of his strength. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep on the table, and the truck he was staring at was naturally tampered with by others.

When the coachman woke up the next day, he saw two gold coins next to him. He thought he had gotten a bargain, so he happily pulled the carriage away without thinking much.

"My lord, they have all been replaced. He will never find out."

"That's good"

Peter watched the other party's carriage go further and further away, and he couldn't help but feel happy. Now I'm rich.