Chapter 170: The Great Battle Between Secularism and Religion

In addition to Crimea, Transylvania's population also grew rapidly, thanks to Mary's Peasant Law. A large number of peasants fled to Transylvania. Although the nobles intensified their pursuit, some peasants still fled at the risk of their lives. This made the Hungarian nobles miserable.

Some nobles approached Mary and proposed to buy the escaped peasants with gold coins and asked Mary not to take them in anymore. But Mary said that this was just normal population movement.

Sigismund was also a headache. The failure of the Transylvanian War was another blow to his prestige after the Battle of Skopje. The nobles in Hungary did not support him, and the princes in the Holy Roman Empire also expressed their consideration. Only Albrecht of Upper Austria strongly supported him. This made Sigismund very grateful.

Moreover, he was the only heir to the Luxembourg family. If it were not for his brother's lack of offspring, he would probably have been alone.

However, did his brother Wenzel really have no offspring? At least he and his first wife did not.

In a castle in Podebrad near Prague, Sophia of Bavaria, the Queen of Bohemia, was holding a baby and breastfeeding.

Wenzel felt warm in his heart as he watched his children and wife together. At the same time, he was also worried about what would happen to them after his death.

Last year, nobles and princes in Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire began to form factions against him. They demanded a reduction in royal power, more land, etc., and even his younger brother joined them. Wenzel could not resist and had to compromise.

It was under this circumstance that his wife gave birth to a daughter. Wenzel named her Anne. In order to prevent accidents, Wenzel hid his wife and children in Podebrad and planned to wait for an opportunity to tell them.

"What should we do next?" Wenzel asked the ministers around him.

"There are few chances of a comeback now. The nobles and lords will not compromise, but what happened in Hungary makes them doubt Sigismund's ability to handle it."

Although Wenzel's ability is not as good as his younger brother, he occasionally has a bright mind. He adopted an indulgent policy towards the rising religious reform in Bohemia, trying to use them to regain the monarchy. He also had the title of German King. In the Golden Bull issued by his father Charles IV, he could become the German King by obtaining the support of four electors, but it did not say that the German King could be abolished by obtaining the support of four electors. So Wenzel has been fighting with the princes by taking advantage of the loopholes in the Bull.

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

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

But who should he find? France, no, the Avignon Church supported by France was in opposition to the Roman Church supported by the Holy Roman Empire; Britain, no, too far away; the Holy Roman Empire, even less, who knew what those princes thought.

However, the news from the East made him interested. Hungary was divided into two, Wallachia defeated the Ottoman Empire, and the Orthodox Church was revived. The dazzling information was all saying one thing: to unite with the East.

At this time, the three major religious princes in the Holy Roman Empire were preparing to elect the noble Rupert as the German King. The Luxembourg faction headed by Wenzel would naturally not sit idly by. He was ready to compromise with those lords who were against him, especially Sigismund, and planned to use the regency of Bohemia as a bargaining chip, but he was also worried that Sigismund would surrender to the other side, and once he died, his family would probably be in danger. That country called Wallachia should be good. Let's talk to them another day?

At Charles University in Prague, a speech promoting Wycliffe's ideas was in progress, but it was soon captured by the Prague Bishop.

"These people are possessed by the devil 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 in his heart. At this moment, he strengthened his belief.

The Reformation movement was surging in Bohemia, and Orthodox missionaries took advantage of this opportunity to fish in troubled waters. They began to preach in Brno and built an Orthodox church.

The missionary activities of the Orthodox Church were all carried out underground, taking advantage of the node of the split of the Western Church to expand their power. Some people supported the ideas of the Orthodox Church, but were unwilling to use Eastern rituals for prayer. The church also responded to the situation and proposed that as long as the Patriarch of Constantinople and Eastern religious ideas were recognized, Western church rituals could be used for religious activities such as prayer. The Western Orthodox Church was born.

These variant churches recognized the supreme authority of the Church of Constantinople, used Western rituals but recognized Eastern ideas. This was really too much for the Catholic Church. All kinds of taxes and indulgences were weighing on them. No one could bear it, not to mention the very terrible inheritance tax. After death, half of the property had to be handed over to the lord and the church. They could only turn to the Orthodox Church for comfort.

At present, there are four Western Orthodox Churches: the Naples Orthodox Church, the Hungarian Orthodox Church, the Polish Orthodox Church, and the Bohemian Orthodox Church. The number of believers ranged from a few hundred to thousands. They opposed the Catholic Church and left alone to build towns and live in other places. The kings of Hungary and Poland naturally adopted a tough policy towards them, but Bohemia and Naples were very delicate. Laszlo and Wenzel wanted to use the church to achieve their own goals, so they did not stop them and allowed them to grow.

This religious chaos in the West will continue for some time. It will take another 17 years for Sigismund to hold 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 northern Black Sea coast. This was supported by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The church preached and spread the Wallachian language, so that it would be less difficult to rule these areas in the future. The Greeks living here were rejected by the immigrant Turks. In order to survive, they could only be assimilated by them, believe in the Crescent Church, and speak their language. They might think that Rome’s counterattack was hopeless.

And now, a group of Orthodox churches speaking the Wallachian language have come here again after decades, which has ignited a glimmer of hope for them. Could it be that they can finally stop like this, and happy days are coming?