Chapter 318: East-West Schism (1/2)

Deep within the center of Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor sat on his throne with a downcast expression. The man was on the verge of tears, but he could not allow himself to be seen crying as Emperor. As such, he steeled his resolve and continued to read the letter in his hands written by his son Decentius.

Arethas was dead, according to his second son; the man had died in combat against the Mamluke forces early on in the campaign. Since then, Decentius had been leading the Byzantine troops to victory in North Africa.

The news of the death of a man who was more of a brother to Emperor Vetranis than his siblings was a great shock to the man. With the Strategos' death, many things became uncertain. Especially in regards to their relations to the West.

News had spread to Constantinople about Austria's war for independence, which appeared to favor the self-proclaimed King Berengar von Kufstein. The Byzantines had not taken a stance on the conflict. Instead, they stayed utterly neutral.

After all, Berengar was the largest supplier of arms and armor to the Byzantine Empire. Though they had begun to have success in replicating the Arkebuse, most of their weapons still came from Austria. Meanwhile, relations with the Holy Roman Empire were tenable at best.

This was not the only reason for staying neutral in Austria's war for Independence.  There was a matter of significant debt that the Byzantine Crown had towards Austria due to the agreement made about unlimited arms support.

Arethas was the mastermind of all dealings with the upstart King in the West.  Without him, it would be challenging to maintain the friendly relationship that the Byzantines had with their debtor. If he sent the wrong diplomat to negotiate further, it could spell ruin to the Empire's finances.

Losing his closest aid and confidant, who was the godfather to his children, was one thing. Yet, the ramifications such an occurrence had was enough to cripple the Emperor with anxiety. On top of this, such a tragedy occurred shortly after his daughter's disappearance and presumed death.

The only good news that Vetranis had heard within the last year or so was that his son had salvaged the situation and had rapidly begun to reconquer Egypt and Lybia. Before long, the entirety of those two regions would fall into the Byzantine Empire's hands, and they would be able to repay the massive debt that had accumulated with Austria.

With this in mind, the aging Byzantine Emperor sighed heavily; now that his alliance with France had crumbled, his next best option was an Independent Austria; if Arethas was still around, Vetranis was sure the man would advise him to establish friendly ties to the young King.

If only Honoria was still alive, Emperor Vetranis might consider betrothing her to the upstart King from Austria to cement an alliance between their two realms. Of course, that was assuming Berengar was willing to break his betrothal to his cousin. Honoria was an Imperial Princess, and he would not tolerate her being a concubine.

Austria had proven itself a military and economic power like no other, even now the staple currency of international trade had begun to shift to the Austrian Thaler, so much so that some Merchants who visited the Empire had started to accept the Austrian currency as the sole means of coinage for their products.

If the Austrians were indeed to become independent and annex the Swiss Confederation as they have proclaimed, the future was bright for the fledgling Kingdom; as such, the Emperor was at a crossroads.

For some time now, there had been significant pressure from the Vatican on the Orthodox Church to support them in their efforts to combat Berengar's alleged heresy. To the point that the Patriarch had been visiting Vetranis daily, insisting on cutting off trade with the self-proclaimed Kingdom to the West.

As Vetranis was thinking of such matters, the Patriarch of Constantinople appeared before him in his great hall. When Vetranis saw this, he sighed heavily before speaking his thoughts allowed.

”Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Tell me, Petrus, just what have you come to ask of me this time? If it is about cutting ties with Austria, my answer remains the same.”

When Petrus heard this response, he frowned; the relations between the Vatican and Constantinople were beginning to deteriorate rapidly; the more the Emperor stalled on giving him a reply, the worse the situation became. If he did not provide the Vatican with what they wanted soon, a full-scale schism was bound to occur over the issue of the Berengar Heresy.

With this in mind, the old Patriarch of Constantinople began to address the Emperor in a dignified fashion.

”Your majesty, a representative of the Vatican, has arrived, and given us a request if we do not publically denounce Duke Berengar von Kufstein and his heresy, as well as provide monetary aid to the Vatican for their upcoming crusade against him, then the results will be an outright schism.