Chapter 2699 Firebird Land (7)

There is a well-known figure in Spain. He was originally a country nobleman who lived in an era when knights had long been extinct. Although he was not rich, his general life could still be maintained.

He has a hobby, like reading knight novels, and often fantasizes that he is a chivalrous knight, so at the age of 50, he proclaimed himself "Don Quixote de La Manche", which means the guardian of the La Manche area, Then he rode on a bony horse, picked up an old shield and spear, and pulled the neighbor who would be the "Governor of the Island" in the future to make meritorious deeds.

In knightly novels, knights always have a lover, so Don Quixote imitated the appearance of the knight in the book, and said compliments to a peasant girl, or the peerless beauty in his eyes.

The peasant girl is not as stupid and crazy as Don Quixote. Don Quixote, who has been despised by the "loved one", is as haggard and sad as the knight in the novel.

Everyone else took him for a lunatic, or teased him like a clown. Later, he returned to his hometown and was soon bedridden under the blow of disappointment. At this time, he woke up, but after leaving a will, he said another sentence: "How could a knight die in bed".

The author of this novel, Cervantes, lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. After Columbus "discovered" the American continent, Magellan also completed the first human voyage around the world with the support of Charles V of Spain. He first reached Brazil, then passed through a strait to the Pacific Ocean.

At that time, the most in-demand commodities in Europe were spices. The purpose of Magellan’s voyage was to find the “Spice Islands” in addition to the great geographical discovery. Magellan did not return like Columbus. After his death, the crew discovered Guam. They used everything Things were exchanged with the locals, and the ship did not return until the cabin was full of spices such as pepper, cinnamon, and ginger.

Then the direction of Spanish conquest turned towards South America and the Aztec Empire. At that time, when all European countries were facing unmanageable financial problems due to monetary austerity, the huge amount of gold and silver imported from South America caused Spain to fall into inflation. .

In addition, the ambition of Philip II, King of Spain at that time, was inflated. It was at the beginning of the French War of Religion. Spain defeated France, and the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John were also repelled by Spain. Van Tess chose to join the military career, became the cardinal's attendant and came to Rome.

Charles V, who unified Spain and was also complained by Florentine officials as stingy, was the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire to be crowned by the Pope. The sack of Rome in 1527 was also related to this emperor. The French Wars of Religion are also known as the Huguenot Wars. At that time, Calvinism was spreading in France. In Calvinism, like Luther, they believed that "human beings cannot be redeemed through righteous deeds." heaven.

Whether a person is redeemed or not, and whether he will fall into hell forever is decided when he is in the womb. The "Antwerp News" at that time refuted the heresy: God takes the innocent baby from the mother's arms and throws it into the womb. to hell.

During Georgiana's visit to Belgium this time, she saw the churches of the Counter-Reformation. Salvation was very important in the eyes of people of that era, as well as doing good. There were so many saints around the 9th century that the apostles were needed to distinguish them from these mortal saints.

Before the golden age of the Netherlands, there was a wave of iconoclasm smashing, and the emperor Leo II of the Eastern Roman Empire also issued an order to destroy icons, but this time the iconoclasm movement in the Netherlands did not It was different from that time. Charles V is the grandson of Maximian I and Mary of Burgundy. He obtained Spain, the Netherlands and other places by "inheritance", and of course a lot of land he inherited.

He believed that a united territory required a united faith, and as a Catholic country crowned emperor by the Pope, he certainly needed to ban Luther and his supporters.

In 1587, Cervantes served in Andalusia, purchasing munitions for the Armada and the army. This may be a "beautiful job" in many eyes, but Cervantes' memoirs don't think so.

If you want to buy military supplies, you have to collect taxes first. Cervantes visited the farmers of Ecija who are known for their miserliness. Even though he was using the name of the royal tax collector, these farmers would still resist with amazing lies and all legal means. tax.

Later, he planned to change his job and asked the king to be transferred to the West Indies, but he was not granted. In 1591, he was traveling between villages to purchase military supplies. One day, he was arrested by the Inquisition on the grounds that the accounts were unclear.

The Inquisition was established in the 13th century. In the early Inquisition, the bishop was responsible for the investigation and handed over to the secular court for sanctions. For example, the execution of heresy by burning at the stake was proposed by Emperor Frederick II.

By the time Cervantes was imprisoned in the Inquisition, the Eighty Years' War had already broken out. This war not only cost a lot of money, but also dragged Spain, which had silver mines, into the abyss. Moreover, after William of Orange was assassinated in 1584, England became the protector of the Netherlands, which indirectly led to the naval battle between England and the Spanish Armada in 1588.

In 1566, a movement of smashing icons broke out in a small town in the Netherlands, and quickly spread to the entire Netherlands. It takes a lot of money to support a global empire like Spain, a lot of money, and as Philip II said, all problems boil down to one thing, money and more money.

The Netherlands was the most developed handicraft industry and commercial area in Europe at that time. It was regarded as a "cow" by Spain, and the tax paid to the Spanish treasury was half of the total income. What makes the conflict between the two parties irreconcilable is the Inquisition and the "Blood Edict", which stipulates that heretics must be executed and their property confiscated, and that hiding and harboring heretics is the same crime as heretics.

From the performance of Edward III during the Hundred Years War between England and France, it is not difficult to see that the cities of the Netherlands enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, and they could not even form an alliance with Britain, which provided wool, through the Duke of Flanders, even if it was loose.

During the reign of Mary of Burgundy, in order to get more cities to recognize her right to rule, she gave up some powers, including recognizing the superior status of nobles, priests and city administrators.

Before coming to Belgium, Georgiana heard that before hops were discovered and widely used, spices were needed for brewing Belgian beer, and this package of spices had to be purchased from the monastery.

In addition, there is another problem. The secular court declared the marriage of the two to be valid, but the ecclesiastical court, which governs the sky, the earth, and who revolves around the earth and the sun, feels that they also have jurisdiction. This means that a couple elopes, holds a religious wedding, and their marriage is legal and valid. But the parents of the children would not agree, because the marriage involves property issues, so the secular court is more inclined to abide by the parents' opinions and hold a witness wedding approved by the parents.

The world always belongs to young people. Marriage is the end point of the love between a man and a woman. Fairy tales always end with the marriage of a prince and a princess, and the two live happily together. In short, in the Low Countries in the 16th century, it was not recognized that the marriage notice was not issued more than three times.

In 1521 Charles V conquered the episcopal city of Tournai, once a French enclave in Flanders. Since Luther burned the Pope's excommunication in 1520, Luther was ordered to attend the Imperial Council of Worms, which was presided over by Charles V and promised to Luther by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony. personal safety.

Luther did go, but the emperor expelled him and arranged for the Elector of Saxony to arrest him. The Elector of Saxony, who promised Luther's safety, placed him in a castle, and the Aztec empire fell in the same year.

A proclamation issued by the emperor in 1521 allowed magistrates to impose penalties such as fines, exile, and penitent pilgrimages on criminals who violated religious laws, instead of being burned at the stake, although this loophole was quickly closed, it remained. After trouble.

In addition to the growing persecution of the Huguenots by the Church and the intensification of the Inquisition's prosecutorial raids and violations of the jurisdiction of magistrates, the angry nobles sent a petition to the female regent Margaret, which proposed the suspension of heresy legal requirements.

The pagans in Spain were called the Moors. Alexander VI confiscated a lot of property when he asked the king to expel them. Although the Genoese bankers suffered heavy losses, they recovered the "lost land" and established a unified Spanish kingdom.

Florence was only a city that could actually establish a republic, but Machiavelli's dream was shattered with the "help" of the Spaniards.

Although Orange is a small piece of land, William married Princess Anna of Saxony in Brussels. This princess is the only heiress like Mary of Burgundy, but she is different. In order to avoid going down the old road of Burgundy, Anna did not choose a king with a prominent family background, but chose William who only inherited a part of the land in the Netherlands.

He was raised in front of the "ruler of the world" Charles V from an early age, and he is a very capable talent, while Princess Anna was spoiled and spoiled since childhood, childish and arrogant, completely unable to live in harmony with William. The eldest son of the two died in 1566. She fell into depression and alcoholism.

Margaret truthfully conveyed the petition made by the local nobles, but Philip II replied that it would continue to be implemented.

In 1567, the Duke of Alba led the Spanish army to the Netherlands along the "Spanish Road". , his task is to eliminate those who pose a threat to the royal family, this "bloody court" executed thousands of people, and sometimes he will deliberately withhold the king's amnesty, so that even fewer people can be exonerated.

So William of Orange chose to break with the Spanish royal family, gave up his prominent identity and life, and devoted himself to the revolutionary movement of the Netherlands.

At the same time, Princess Anna made friends with a man named John Rubens, who was the father of the famous painter Rubens. He was a lawyer. Bens was arrested.

The Nassau family immediately came forward and asked Princess Anna to sign, either to admit the crime of the two, or to execute Rubens immediately. The princess chose to plead guilty, and she was imprisoned with only her illegitimate daughter as companion.

This marriage should have ended here, but Anna's natal Saxony was unwilling to let it go, and brought the lawsuit to the Imperial Court, demanding the arrest and execution of William of Orange. William is listed as the most wanted criminal.

However, Philip II of Spain strongly supported the Catholic Inquisition after he suppressed the icon smashing movement, further infringing on the ruling power of the local "regency".

The uprising gradually turned into a religious war, and mercenaries from all over came to serve in the Low Countries, though not entirely. With the bankruptcy of the Spanish royal family in 1575, it meant that the army stationed in the Netherlands had no pay. At that time, Cervantes was being held captive by the Berbers, waiting for his family to redeem him with money.

When other countries fell into war because of the religious reform, Spain, which had passed the peaceful reform, did not weaken its strength, but lost its advantage because of the Dutch revolution.

But in that era dominated by the sea, cities such as Bruges and Antwerp that relied on sea transportation quickly understood the strength of Spain in its heyday.

Finally, representatives of the North and South Netherlands signed an armistice agreement in Ghent, and the remaining rebels fled to Antwerp, a city that had just been sacked by Spanish troops.

Some support the monarchy, some support the republic, some support the Catholic Church, and some support the Huguenots. The short-lived peace is just an opportunity for all parties to form an alliance. Corresponding to the Utrecht League is the Arras League. They have three positions against the king, loyalty, conditional loyalty, and resistance.

Because of the Queen's protection of Orange, he signed charters allowing Calvinist ships to "harvest" Spanish ships, so embarrassing Elizabeth that the privateers had to be expelled in 1572.

After William of Orange was shot and killed, Queen Elizabeth rejected the olive branch offered by the Federation and instead formed an alliance with the rebel army. The British navy developed rapidly during Elizabeth's reign, and a naval battle occurred four years later.

About 100 years later, the Sun King Louis XIV and Charles II joined forces to invade the Netherlands. At the time, the 22-year-old William III of Orange faced him, and he spent the rest of his life fighting against the Sun King.

When everyone pays attention to these major events, few people notice that a book "Witchcraft Studies" written by Lecturer Reuven replaced the water drilling method mentioned in "The Witch's Hammer", which set off a wave of burning witches across Europe .

Someone wrote a book denouncing this "witch scare," and it was soon banned, but Georgiana managed to find a copy, among the old books that the police confiscated.

It wasn't for nothing that she spent money to arrange these books. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, which was felt elsewhere, in December 1790, just as Austria was marching on Brussels, the La Villeret reported that the lawyer Hendrik van der Nutt persuaded the Belgians to Submit to the emperor in exchange for Leopold's unconditional restoration of the "old constitution", that is, the old constitution of the Southern Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries, which guaranteed "the tyranny of bishops and monks". The constitution is a tool to protect the hierarchy and privileges.

The current mayor of Brussels, Lupe, smashed the cross of the Leuven Seminary, and then the French collected the seminary's books and put them in the house where the military court was located. In 1792 all the districts of Brussels unanimously rejected the French decree that they did not need equality, but were determined to "maintain the priesthood and the hierarchy".

She often advises people to be good at listening, but the shouting people outside don't really intend to burn her as firewood. Not everyone would treat other people's children as their own, even if it was a blood-related sister's child, Harry couldn't stay in Petunia's house, and the family not only regarded him as a servant, but also as a burden.

Because it can exempt the country from the burden, William Pitt Jr. even publicly stated that children's labor and hard work can create wealth instead of feeding them with taxes.

The parishioners will donate to the church, and the "big shots" don't have to worry about taking care of their children. She just needs to kneel in front of the shrine and repent like a pious woman. This is what the people want.

Before she lost the ability to think, the only thing she could think of was that William III, who became the king of England, did not issue a bill to protect wizards, and Bonaparte... just like the "Villager" wrote, ordinary people support and oppose the revolution, Determines whether enlightenment or superstition gains the dominant position in the end.

Bonaparte used science to perform to the locals in Egypt, and she couldn’t find a better description for her poor descriptive power. Perhaps, as he said, an admirable liar encourages people to change the appearance of the world with him.

For wizards, which "king" is more worthy of following?

What about women?

She laughed immediately, feeling that she was really like Don Quixote, who actually took the fantasy seriously, no wonder it looked like a joke in the eyes of others.

"What are you laughing at?" St. Tyrrell asked.

"Aren't you afraid?" Georgiana glanced at the Duchess of La Rochefoucauld who was not far away.

"Aren't you asking if this is a riot?" Saint-Tirrell asked.

"Are you going to say 'No, Sire, this is a revolution'?" Georgiana aired.

Saint Tyrell laughed.

"It's time for me to feed the fish." He said as if he had nothing to say.

"I don't think it'll die from starving for a day." Georgiana yawned.

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

"No, I didn't sleep all night." She rubbed her eyes and said, "I'm so tired."

"You can't die if you don't sleep all night," he countered.

Georgiana stuck out her tongue at him, and then turned to see the distinguished guest. Before she went, she had to change her clothes, which was not suitable for seeing the archbishop.