Swiss Arms 99 (Patreon)

Swiss Arms

Chapter 99

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

Compared to the election of the prince-bishop, the tour of the Compact took far less time and elicited less stimulation. Eventually, our caravan came back around through the same path we took on the tour but in reverse. 

We went from Splugen to Thusis. Next, from Thusis to Vaz. Vaz to Chur. Then, from Chur to Klosters. And finally, from Klosters to Davos-Fluelaberg. 

And by the time we reached home the first snow of the season had fallen, though it was just one day of snow and it was still sunny.

“It’s really one town now, huh?” I asked Isabella as we looked trotted forward on the road that once had nothing on either side. Now, there were farms and houses on either side of the road, and there was a building every hundred feet or so from Davos to Fluelaberg. There were even some getting built right now as our caravan was passing by. 

“It is,” Isabella hummed. “Does this mean that you’ll start taking over Davos’s administration as well?” 

“Nah,” I replied quickly. “Davos is a member of the Compact. They will rule themselves as they see fit. It’s not my place to tell them what to do. But Kraft and I will have to get together to demarcate exactly where Davos ends and Fluela begins.”

For a while, there was only the clip-clops of trotting horse hooves on the paved road and lighter thumps of marching soldiers and the creaks and grinds of the cart and carriage wheels. To our sides were the narrowing and ascending Fluela Valley, still full of trees but also growing farmlands whose operations have halted for the year as winter was beginning. Livestock continued to graze, however, and I found myself rather satisfied by the number of sheeps, goat, and cows leisurely roaming the fields. 

It was awesome to see how big of a positive impact I have had on the people here. 

“Hans?”

“Yes, ‘bella?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing much. Just happy to see that everyone is doing well.”

“They should be with how good you are as a ruler.”

“... Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” she replied with a smile. “... But i do have something I want to talk to you about.”

“Hmm? About what?”

“I know that you are … sympathetic towards some heathens, particularly the Jews and the Saracens.”

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her. “Sympathetic would be an overstatement,” I replied. “As long as they follow the law and don’t proselytize in public, then I don’t care if they worship the Lord differently.”

“Are you not worried about what the clergy would say about that?” she asked more pointedly. 

I blinked. “Why would I be?”

“Because the pope might not take kindly to having pagans and heathens in the empire?”

“... Hungary has pagans and heathens in the tens of thousands, Isabella,” I pointed out. “They have their own villages, too.”

She looked at me in complete surprise. “They do?!” 

“Yes. Compared to them, I don’t even have a hundred people to worry about. Hell, I don’t even have Muslims or Jews in any official position while Hungary does.”

She looked shocked by what I just revealed. “I … I never knew. I mean I knew that the Cuman did get briefly excommunicated for something like it but…”

“The Cuman?”

“Ah. My father told me about him. He was the king of Hungary … thirteen years ago. He had a few pagan mistresses.”

I shrugged. “Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard about that. I guess it’s not exactly something the kingdom cares to talk about. Especially with the current interregnum.” 

Indeed. Right now, there was a three way power struggle in the Kingdom of Hungary. Charles Roberts of Anjou (maybe fitten years old now), Wenceslaus of Bohemia (a sixteen year old), and the oligarch nobles of Hungary. This, of course, completely ignored everyone who wasn’t actively involved in the succession crisis like Duke Otto III of Lower Bavaria of House Wittelbachs.

This was relevant to both Isabella and I because her family in the House of Gorizia and our ally Henry of Tyrol both bordered Hungarian lands in Slovenia and Croatia. On top of that, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria was ruled by the Wittelbachs, whose house was the rival of the Habsburgs, the house of the emperor and Henry’s older sister married into said house. 

Personally, I didn’t care too much about the situation over there. It would be best for me if Charles Robert of Anjou got the Hungarian crown because it wouldn’t change anything. If Wenceslaus got Hungary, then he would have both Bohemia and Hungary under his rule, which would alter the balance of power. If the Hungarian oligarchs managed to win… Well, that would be chaos that would certainly spill over into Gorizian and Henry’s lands. If it got too rowdy, then there were sure to call me for help.

However, there was a scenario that was unlikely to happen but also possible. One of the claimants of the Hungarian crown was Otto III of House Wittelbachs, one of the co-Dukes of Lower Bavaria. He was also the one that I mentioned to the emperor to persuade him as Otto III was offered the Hungarian crown by some of the Hungarian nobles because he was the grandson of Bela IV of Hungary, who was in power only thirty-three years ago. 

If the Wittelbachs got the Hungarian crown, then there was a high possibility that the Habsburgs and the Wittelbachs will go to war, especially because the Habsburg’s Duchy of Austria would sit right in between the larger Hungarian lands and the Wittelbachs’ Bavarian lands.

And obviously, I would get called up for war because I was a direct vassal of the empire and famous for my martial exploits. 

Never mind the fact that an empowered Wittelbachs was a potential ally of Duke Louis of Upper Bavaria, also of the Wittelbachs.

“Anyways, yes. If Muslims and Jews can have whole villages in Hungary and the pope doesn’t do anything about it as long as they don’t attain extremely high positions in the kingdom, then why can’t a few live in my barony? Besides, most of the Jew and Muslim men have joined the militia as well.”

“I didn’t know,” she muttered. She looked contemplative as she looked forward. “But is it really alright?”

“Hmm?”

“Won’t your people be upset that you are allowing the Jews and Saracens?”

“If they feel that upset, then they can take their property except land and leave. Because if they try anything violent or even attempt to pressure me to change, then I will punch each and every one of them very, very hard. No one tells me what to do without a good fucking reason… Actually, yeah. I’m going to make that a punishment. Stupid people get stupid punishment. Like my fist to their face.”

“Hans! How is that stupid?” Isabella whispered. 

“Because that’s not what Christ asks of us.”

That brought the rest of the caravan to look at me. 

“Christ’s greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your body, mind, and soul. The second commandment is to love your neighbor. Nowhere in the Bible does the Christ say to only love fellow Christians. No, Christ says to love your neighbors as you love yourself. Anyone who says otherwise is using God’s name in vain.”

“... which verse are those, milord?”

I looked over my shoulder and saw one of my rangers. 

“Mark chapter 12 verse 30 and 31.”

The rest of the travel up to the town wall was in silence.

-VB-

A/N: *Ladislaus IV of Hungary, the king who got excommunicated for putting a former muslim as the palatine of Hungary but which still pissed off the pope, had pagan Cuman mistresses, the pope planned a crusade against him, but died to three Cuman assassins at the age of 27.