Chapter 222： The Worms Empire Conference

At the end of January, the Archbishop of Mainz suddenly issued a convening order calling for a meeting of the Worms Empire. Marin just needed some advance goals at the Worms Empire Conference, so he took a team of cavalry troops south.

Actually, this meeting was supposed to be held in autumn. However, as the initiator of the Worms Empire Conference, the Speaker of the Imperial Parliament, Archbishop of Mainz, from last fall to winter, has been in poor health. It didn't recover until years later. Therefore, the meeting that was supposed to be held in the autumn was simply postponed to a year later.

The Empire Conference is not held every year, and there is no fixed time. However, when it comes to major events, everyone really has to meet.

Last spring, Marin united with the main and deputy leaders of the Hanseatic League, defeated the Kalmar Union of Denmark, which had once equaled the Holy Roman Empire, and also seized the Principality of Schleswig and Holstein.

This is definitely a major event that will change the European landscape. Therefore, Archbishop Mainz issued a convening order as early as last summer to prepare to discuss this matter, and intends to mediate the contradictions between the parties. However, before waiting for the imperial conference to be held, the Archbishop of Mainz suddenly became ill and had not been well for a long time. In desperation, Archbishop Mainz had to cancel the convening order again. It wasn't until the year later that the body recovered, and a convening order was issued again.

As an important protagonist at this meeting, Marin must of course go in person. Moreover, Marin took the brigade and many gold coins to the south on the day of the call.

As for why go so early? Do you need to ask, of course, to bribe those members of the Imperial Parliament ...

Before, Marin had already bribed some major princes, such as five of the seven electors (the electors of Brandenburg and Elector of Saxony are not counted).

However, there are many members of the Imperial Parliament. To what extent? According to Marin's statistics, at present, the Imperial Parliament has 7 electors, 4 archbishops, 46 bishops (bishopric bishops), 21 Duke of German-speaking districts, 2 Duke of non-German-speaking districts (Savoy and Milan), Fifty-six senior priests (princes of the monastery), eleven female convents, 75 imperial cities, and 110 earldoms or dominions.

In total, the Imperial Parliament has up to 330 seats, or 330 votes.

Of course, it is not that Marin needs to bribe the 330 voters. In that case, Marin will go bankrupt. In accordance with established practice, those bishops and senior priests, as well as female convents, are basically looking forward to the three religious emperors Hou Weima.

That is to say, as long as the three Archbishops of Mainz, Archbishop Trier and Archbishop Cologne are settled, basically most religious members will be willing to vote for you. There are 120 votes for all religious members. The secular votes are 210.

Among them, these 210 secular ballot holders, 75 imperial cities are self-contained, 21 of the dukes, Bavaria, Baden, Jülich, Crieff, Braunschweig, Lorraine, Geddes, An Principalities such as Hart and Henneberg are also self-contained.

Several other principalities have their own factions. For example, the Principality of Burgundy naturally belongs to the faction of Austria; the Principality of Saxony belongs to the faction of the Elector of Saxony; and Württemberg belongs to the Swabian League and also belongs to the Austrian faction; The Brandenburg faction (actually oppressed by Brandenburg) ...

And those princes and dominions are basically attached to the five secular electors ...

In short, the 30-odd votes attached to the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, Marin is not thinking about it. He can only start from other aspects.

The king of Bohemia changed his attitude because of the relationship between the Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania, and will support Marin with his younger brother. The Elector of Palatinate was also bought by Marin.

In this way, Marin still needs to buy, probably the nine principalities that are self-contained. Among them, the Principality of Cliff is its own ally, no need to buy it. Although the Duchy of Geddes is not reliable, it is temporarily an ally. Therefore, Marin needs to buy it. In fact, the remaining seven principalities.

In addition, for those 75 imperial cities, Marin does not have to worry about it. If it was changed to before, Marin might be worried. However, since Lubeck's thighs were embraced, these imperial cities have become easier to communicate with. Because, these 75 imperial cities, all started by commerce. Since it is necessary to engage in business, it must be inseparable from the support of the Hanseatic League. Therefore, for the leader of Lübeck, these imperial cities must give face. Even if there is no eye-opening, there will not be much, most of them have to face Lübeck.

Not only that, even those lords, many owe money to the Hanseatic League. As long as Lübeck ’s views do not violate their own interests, they dare not refute easily.

Therefore, Marin's choice to form an alliance with Lübeck was indeed a very wise decision. At least, in the Imperial Parliament, those imperial cities would not embarrass him.

However, what surprised Marin was that Hamburg, the deputy leader of the Hanseatic League, was not an imperial city ...

But after thinking about it, Marin understood. why? No matter how powerful Lübeck is, it mainly targets those imperial cities and some nobles who owe money to the Hanseatic League. However, the total number of imperial cities is only 75. The number of seats in the Imperial Parliament is 330.

In other words, in the Imperial Parliament, the imperial city is a minority and cannot control the overall situation. Only those seven electors who form an alliance can occupy an overwhelming advantage.

Therefore, it is not easy for Hamburg City to join the Imperial Parliament.

After coming to Worms, Marin met with Speaker Lübeck Tagfacht and Hamburg Speaker Heisenberg. This time, Lübeck and Hamburg came to participate in the Imperial Conference. There are two main goals-the first is to let everyone recognize the actual occupation of the Principality of Holstein by Lübeck and Hamburg; the second is to let Hamburg join the Imperial Parliament, Become an imperial city with voting rights.

Marin wanted to ask Lübeck to help persuade those imperial cities, but Lübeck turned to Marin in turn. What did Lubeck ask Marin? It turned out that Lübeck wanted Marin as a middleman to introduce them to the relationship with Emperor Maximilian I.

For a long time, relying on economic means, Lübeck controlled the imperial city and some nobles who wanted to borrow money in the imperial parliament. However, the number of votes obtained can never exceed half. Therefore, Lübeck believes that it is necessary to find an alliance that has more votes.

Originally, Lübeck wanted to contact the seven electors. Because, in the alliance formed by the seven electors, more than half of the votes were cast. If they can form an alliance with them, Lübeck ’s voice in the imperial meeting will be very large.

However, the Seven Electors believe that the Hanseatic League led by Lübeck is already economically strong. If he gains the right to speak in politics again, he will become a superpower no less than an elector. Therefore, the Seven Electors had agreed that they would never agree to cooperate with Lübeck and maintain political repression against the Hanseatic League.

In desperation, Lübeck thought of Austria, which also did not deal with the seven electors. Under Maximilian I, he had many votes. Not to mention the votes of the Austrian and Burgundian lords, the Swabian League votes are also numerous.

This is why Lubeck and Hamburg were willing to form an alliance with Marin during the war against Denmark.

If Marin had no use value, Lübeck and Denmark would ignore Marin. No, after coming to Worms, the two big speakers of Lübeck and Hamburg asked Marin to help introduce them to Maximilian I ~ www.novelhall.com ~ to reach a political alliance with Austria.

Maximilian I was different from the electors. As an emperor, he was born to oppose the princes. The reason why the Holy Roman Empire appeared in 75 imperial cities independent of princes was with the support of successive emperors. These cities were originally cash cows for princes. But with the support of the emperor, they broke away from the control of various princes and were also hostile by the princes.

Therefore, Maximilian I and the imperial cities stood opposite the princes. Before, the Hanseatic League was busy doing business and did not care about political demands.

But this time, Lübeck needed to legally occupy the eastern half of the Principality of Holstein. Hamburg needs to become an imperial city, and it also needs to legally occupy the western half of the Principality of Holstein. In this way, they must acquire allies. Emperor Maximilian I, who had many votes and was willing to find a partner, became the first choice of the Hanseatic League.

In addition, Marin's allies, the Principality of Cliff and the Principality of Geddes, were also the objects that Lübeck and Hamburg wanted to win. Especially John, Duke of Cliff, not only Duke of Cliff, but also Earl of Mark, has two council votes. Moreover, Marin himself is also a member of the Imperial Parliament and has a ticket. Therefore, the relationship between Marin and the Hanseatic League is actually a mutually beneficial alliance of interests ...