Chapter 9: The Second Summon
Chapter 9: The Second Summon
"Alright, milady, you can stop painting pretty pictures for me. If your connections were truly that effective, you wouldn’t need to forge an alliance with my family."
Starting with a county sounded tempting, but it came with no shortage of problems. The first and foremost would likely be wearing a green hat. A considerable number of noblewomen of this era had rather chaotic private lives. This often depended on the balance of power within the marriage; if the husband was strong and the wife weak, she naturally wouldn’t dare to be too outrageous.
Of course, harmonious couples existed, but they were a minority.
For many people of this era, wearing a cuckold’s green hat was nothing significant. Each played their own game. You have your lover, I’ll find my mistress; it was a political marriage, after all. As long as the child was Lothar’s, the title of Count would fall to the Habsburg family. If Count Werner were negotiating with this countess, he would likely agree quite readily.
Green hats aside for a moment. Within the territory, whether it was lower vassals or soldiers, their loyalty was to the Countess. He would also provoke a powerful count backed by Henry the Lion. This would severely limit his development.
Moreover, in the traditional Catholic world, any attempt at expansion was prone to alarming one’s neighbors. Historically, Henry the Lion himself, after successively acquiring the two great duchies of Saxony and Bavaria and even attempting to claim the imperial throne, was confronted by an "anti-Henry the Lion coalition" formed by a group of princes. The two sides fought for a full two years. Although Henry the Lion won, he was later exiled by the Emperor, thus losing in the game of power.
Lothar never underestimated the movers and shakers of this world just because he had a golden finger. One mustn’t forget that witches wielding extraordinary powers also existed in this world. If there were witches, there would be other supernatural forces to balance them; he just didn’t know about them yet.
Having thought this through, Lothar immediately firmed his resolve. "Milady, please forgive me, but I cannot accept your proposal."
The Countess snorted coldly. "Knight, are you doubting the heritage of the House of Calw?"
Lothar shook his head. "My apologies, milady. I mean no offense. I simply feel that an elected emperor, lacking personal strength, might not be able to sit securely on the throne. Moreover, Henry the Lion of the Welf family, being the most powerful prince in the Empire, is the true strong contender for the imperial throne."