Chapter 99

At this time, the Duke of Buckingham's coffin stopped in St. Wes cathedral.

The funeral will take place in four days. Before that, the representatives of the States and counties had come to the rosary palace from all over the country. The Duke of Buckingham is almost the last imperial symbol of the last era, and his funeral is far more meaningful than all of his contemporaries.

During the days waiting for the arrival of those attending the funeral, General John stood in front of his father's coffin.

This is probably the time when General John spent the most time with the Duke of Buckingham. When he was young, the Duke of Buckingham often led troops to fight. When he grew up, he took over the task of garrison from his father. With General John, the Duke of Buckingham was accompanied by his old friends.

The first mate of Charles arrived at METZL castle on the day of the king's return. He went into the palace to see the king and gave him a sword.

"This is the sword he used."

Charles looked with some recollection at the sword with ruby inlaid on its handle.

"He left it on the ship at that time, and now it's returned to its owner."

When the young Duke of Buckingham left Warwick pirates, he once asked them if they needed some material support. At that time, the pirates on the ship blew him off the ship, shouting that they wanted to rob the noble. They would have a chance. As a result, after the Duke of Buckingham left, they found the sword in his room.

This sword should be a gift from Charles the lion, the Duke's father, when he became a knight.

When the Duke of Buckingham left the sword to walway's pirates, walway's Pirates decided that he was also a member of his brother.

"Let it be with him." Said Charles, smiling.

When a knight with status is buried, his sword will be used as a companion. It was a symbol that he faithfully performed his duty of fighting bravely as a knight, guarding the territory and protecting the weak. But Buckingham Duke's everything turned into red earth, armor and sword were not able to stay. [2]

Charles knew this, and he came here to bring the Duke's sword.

If it is in accordance with the normal practice of the Holy See, it should be the Archbishop of St. Wes Cathedral who presides over the whole funeral of the Duke of Buckingham. He is the head of the bishop of the whole region of Legrand.

But the Archbishop of St. Louis, who was supposed to be one of the most important figures in the funeral, was forgotten by the king.

Perhaps, it should not be called forgetting.

Instead, the king did not intend to involve the Archbishop of St. Louis in this funeral.

"Father Anil is here."

The housekeeper reports to the king.

………………

Father Anil is waiting for the king outside the Rose Palace.

He reached out and gently grasped the cross on his chest, reciting the passages of the holy book in a low voice in his heart.

At the invitation of the king, he came to METZL castle, the capital of Legrand, under the protection of several rose knights, or "guards".

"Dean."

Young father lemy looked at his tutor anxiously. From time to time, he swept his eyes from the swords of several rose knights in front of them.

According to the truth, as an ordinary Abbot in a remote place, it should be an honor to be summoned by the king. But

Father lemy can't help but think of the more and more popular saying these days -

it is said that the rebellion in the North was initiated by the Holy See, and the death of the Duke of Buckingham was directly related to the Holy See, which made the young king more furious than ever. The cruel monarch was determined to set off a bloody revenge for his uncle, which aimed at all the clergy in Legrand.

The people who talked in private only took it as a conversation after dinner, but father lemy had to be very surprised.

He is different from the ordinary priest. Before following father Anil to leave the Holy See, he also came into contact with some forces in the Holy See and knew something that ordinary people didn't know.

Father lemy thinks that the death of the Duke of Buckingham may have something to do with the Holy See.

If the Duke of Buckingham really died at the hands of the Vatican, then the king who has always made amazing moves is likely to launch bloody revenge on the Vatican forces in Legrand.

At this time, when Dean Anil was invited by the king, father lemy could hardly control himself.

After the persuasion failed, father lemy did not trust his tutor to come to the palace full of murders, so he followed father Anil here again. Along the way, he clearly felt the coldness and hostility from the rose Knights - which made him even more anxious.

In father lemy's eyes, the magnificent Rose Palace is a huge death penalty field.

"It's all right, kid."

Father Anil opened his eyes. He gently comforted his students.

Father Anil raised his head and looked at the huge cross at the top of St. Wes Cathedral in the distance. It seemed that he could see another country on the west side of the abyss Strait and the Holy See with its numerous crosses.The movement of the Holy See of Blaise came day by day, the war in the North subsided day by day, and the pain in Dean Anil's heart increased day by day.

As expected, the holy court intervened in the rebellion in the north. In the name of the Holy Lord, they involved countless lives in the vortex of war.

And war only brings hatred.

The rumor that the king was about to carry out bloody revenge on all the clergy upset Dean Anil.

Among the clergy, there may be some people who are indeed the dark chess of the Holy See, but there are also more people who have nothing to do with these rebellious wars. They are just some pious young people, but now they have to bear this hatred because of what the Holy See and the Pope have done.

Now, the current of hatred has swept over.

The pain brought by the war is hard to erase, even if the final victory, the trauma is still very heavy. The free town of Legrand, which is directly bordered by Newcastle and Balboa, suffered inhuman massacres in the rebellion. In fact, many of the rebel forces simply obeyed the Lord's orders.

Relatives of both sides, brothers, died in the war, and many families broke up in just two months.

After happiness becomes a mirage, people need a goal to shift hatred.

The reason why the rumor spread so quickly is closely related to the pain and hatred.

Dean Anil had a hunch at the beginning of the war. These days, he began to feel the change of people's attitude towards the Monastery: people did not accept their help to rebuild their homes, the poor refused their alms, and fewer people went to pray

The young priests in the monastery slowly droop their heads in front of exclusion, not knowing what they have done wrong.

What did they do wrong?

Aren't they compassionate?

"But..."

Father lemy's heart is sour. What else does he want to say.

"The Lord is above."

Dean Anil nodded a few times in his chest, gently shaking his head to stop him.

He didn't know the danger of coming to the Rose Palace this time, but he couldn't avoid it because of the danger. Those young pious people should not die innocently. He wanted to state something to the king and ask for something from the king. If this is really a death row, please start with him.

It was their sin, and he had no regrets.

The housekeeper came out of the palace.

He asked father Anil to go in alone.

………………

The palace, the king's study.

The king was looking through all the records of the funeral service.

The importance of the Holy See's status in the secular world is largely due to the intermediary status of their clergy. In the concept of the Holy See, believers are far away from the kingdom of God, and bishops and priests hold the key of "the gate of the kingdom of God". Funeral is a significant embodiment of this status, the core point is "Purgatory theory".

But not everyone recognizes the intermediary status of the clergy.

It is precisely because some theologians hold different opinions all the time that the Holy See made a formal provision at the Holy Spirit Bay holy meeting in 1411: purgatory is the place where the soul is exiled and suffered after death until the "doomsday judgment". Here, the soul will be purified by the fire of purgatory until the end of redemption. [3]

the king also heard the rumor that he would blood wash all the monasteries and churches. To some extent, he secretly pushed the spread of the rumor.

However, the king did not intend to do so.

One reason:

as early as a thousand years, people's daily life has been integrated with faith. It can be said that belief has become an indispensable aspect of life. If we want to eliminate it directly, it will only impact on the existing system, and even make the existing system collapse.

The king does not deny that this belief has long been a part of today's Legrand.

His goal is not the faith itself, but the holy see as an institution of faith.

After returning to Legrand, the king received some information about the kingdom of Blaise:

at the coronation ceremony of Prince Charles, he performed the "gift of crimo V" and handed over the secular rule of the whole lowland territory and the western part of the kingdom to the Pope.

But the action of the Holy See was not smooth. If they are only limited to this, then they will not encounter too much resistance, but if they want to really obtain the control of secular politics and economy, they will inevitably have some contradictions with the old local stakeholders.

Vatican's energy is focused on Blaise. It's a chance for Legrand.

He wants to build his own church.

The housekeeper knocked at the door.

"Come in."

The king closed the file in his hand, which is a record of the Holy Spirit Bay meeting in 1411.

In this record, a priest protested the Pope's interpretation of the confessions. He denied the key concept of "Purgatory" and "the gate of God".The priest, his name is:

Anil.

The author has something to say: I'm a little busy at home today, and I don't have a second watch in the evening.

[1] In the middle ages, "friends" were almost as important as relatives in funerals. “…… Friendship is a kind of emotion that suddenly appears in pain and comes with a surge. Another is that the vigil in funeral belongs to the internal affairs within the scope of family obligations. In history, several popes even refused to arrange it in religious planning. The king's keeping vigil here is also a form of struggle between church and family influence in the middle ages.

In fact, in the middle ages, funerals were always the result of the struggle of influence between the church and the family. If you are interested in the culture of death in the middle ages, you can read Danielle Alexander bidon's "life about death in the middle ages, 13th-16th century"

[2] when the nobles with status in the middle ages were buried, they would dress like knights and put their swords beside them.

[3] The concept of purgatory is closely related to "original sin". Before the religious reform, the concept of immortality was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so the theory of purgatory was widely spread. There are several ways to redeem the soul, such as intercession, mass, charitable donation, etc. atonement voucher is also related to this. In the later reform period, people put forward a new concept of death.

Some reference papers are as follows:

[1] Ren Leping. On the British funeral reform in the 19th century [D]. Nanjing University, 2014.

[2] song Juan. Religious reform and the concept of death in Britain and its embodiment [D]. Qufu Normal University, 2016. (the third quotation is from here)

[3] Shi Qinghai. The evolution of Christian death culture: from the 1st century to the 17th century [D]. East China Normal University, 2004.

in this paper, some references are as follows