Chapter 2078 Bavaria Independence?

Three powerful and rich men got together, and they inevitably talked about ZZ. The baron said meaningfully, "Brexit is a good start~"

William was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"Initially, the sentiment for independence was very high. Recently, because the United Kingdom took the lead, the voices of Bavaria's independence have been getting higher and higher~"

Yang Cheng asked, "What do you think? You also want to be independent?"

"From the perspective of the family, independence is indeed good for us, but this is not realistic."

What the baron said is true enough. In recent years, due to the overall economic downturn in Europe, a large number of nationalism and regional separatism have risen. European countries that have always regarded themselves as democratic and equal have also begun to worry about the issue of sovereign unity.

Coupled with the fact that Brexit has caused the trend of anti-integration, the EU model of European integration has been widely questioned.

As the engine of the EU economy, Germany has always been praised by the world for its strong Germanic national will. However, even in Germany, which seems to be monolithic, there are also internal divisions. It is the largest federal state in southeast Germany-Bavaria, In the latest survey, more than one-third of Bavarian respondents want independence from Germany, which is not a low proportion.

In fact, Bavaria joined halfway, so how could they be expected to be of one mind and one mind towards Germany?

Opening the history books, after the fall of the Carolingian Dynasty of the Charles Empire in 843 AD, the entire East Frankish Kingdom, that is, the German region, was composed of four regions, namely the four duchies of Saxony, Franconia, Swabia and Bavaria.

Since the dynasty is almost gone, a king has to be elected to rule. The representatives of the four duchies of the East Frankish Kingdom discussed and decided to let the West Franks be the king of East Frankish.

But this caused the dissatisfaction of the nobles. After agreeing to divide the family, they still find someone to be the king. Is this waiting for restoration? However, there is no way to object to the decision of the upper management.

As a result, a duke named Conrad of West Frank became the king of the Kingdom of East Frank.

The following year, the ruler of the Duchy of Saxony, the Duke of Saxony, died, and the new Duke of Saxony was Henry "The Birdcatcher", the son of the previous Duke.

When Henry first came to the throne, King Conrad proposed to deprive the Duchy of Saxony of the land in Thuringia. This move angered the newly appointed Duke Henry. However, he did not directly confront the king. After all, he directly declared war on the king. In case the king unites with the other three duchies, he has no chance of winning.

So he angered the king's adviser, the Archbishop of Mainz, and drove the Mainz church out of Thuringia.

King Conrad was not stupid. He knew that the Saxon had the idea of ​​rebellion, but in the eyes of other principalities, Henry did not directly oppose the king, so the king could only send his younger brother to crusade. , Duke Henry won a complete victory, and the king could only lead his army here in person.

Henry avoided the edge and chose to retreat to his own territory to stand firm. The long-term confrontation would only be harmful to this new country, so the king had to sign an armistice agreement with Henry, which also made Henry the first in history to defeat the royal power, A duke who keeps his estate.

Not only that, but before his death in 918, King Conrad believed that "the king's luck" had been handed over to the Saxons, and Henry changed from a duke to a king. This was also the first king from this region in German history.

The matter is not over yet, Swabia and Bavaria, who have been unknown until now, jumped out. Why can you Saxons be kings? Swabia is still relatively peaceful, and Bavaria directly elected its own king and wants to become independent from the Kingdom of East Frankia, that is, the German region.

The newly appointed King Henry saw this situation and knew that he would not be able to sit on the throne if he didn't do anything. First, he took down the vacillating Principality of Swabia.

The isolated Bavaria did not flinch and planned to start a protracted war.

In fact, Henry was also involved in another battle at the time, that is, with West Franks for Lorraine near the Rhine.

Henry did not expect the two-line battle. On the one hand, Lorraine changed hands to West Frank, which means that there is no hope of recovering. On the other hand, the siege troops against Bavaria could not withdraw. They had no choice but to negotiate peace with the King of Bavaria. Bavaria gave up its independence and surrendered to King Henry. , while King Henry guaranteed the independence of Bavaria. On the surface, Germany completed the unification for the first time, but the power was still not concentrated in the king.

Everyone can see that Bavaria is now a country within a state. Henry thinks it doesn't matter, but his son Otto I doesn't think so—my majestic king can't manage the affairs of his own territory? However, with the previous contract, I have nothing to do with Bavaria.

Until 937, when the former King of Bavaria died, King Otto I felt that he could test the Bavarian region's attitude towards unification, and made a small request, that is, to take back the privileges of the church in the Principality of Bavaria.

The young king implemented his plan too early, causing the new duke to directly raise the banner of rebellion. Unexpectedly, this was just the tip of the iceberg of the dissatisfaction of the principalities with the Saxon king.

Earlier, Otto's half-brother, Donkemar, had asked for a frontier title, but Otto rejected his proposal, which made Donkemar hold a grudge, and the dukes of Franconia and Lorraine, who were about to make a move, colluded with the West Francois. Foreign forces elected another brother of Otto to open rebellion, the whole country was in chaos, and the throne was in jeopardy.

Now, Otto understood why his father had compromised back then. Everyone obeyed the royal family just to save face for the royal family.

In 939, the Duke of Lorraine on the Rhine once pushed the king to a desperate situation. At a critical juncture, Swabia, which had been silent among the five principalities, broke into the battle and decided to side with the king. Otto finally quelled the rebellion and saved his father. Dynasty founded.

Otto also learned a lesson from it. After that, Otto used a series of means to "revenge" the principalities. Franconia even lost the duke forever, and the entire principality was directly taken over by the royal family;

The person who took over Lorraine was a friend of Otto; for the hero Swabia, Otto let his son, the next emperor, marry the daughter of the Duke of Swabia to establish a relationship; and Bavaria was later granted Canonization was given to another duke who surrendered who was still in rebellion not long ago.

That is to say, after the Carolingian Charles Empire was split into three parts, the East and the West, the real right to rule Bavaria has never been owned by the King of East Franks.

Henry the Fowler did not reclaim the sovereignty, nor did his son Otto surrender it to a capitulation duke who was neither related nor related.

For the next hundred years or so, all the kings who took office were unwilling to interfere in the relations between several duchies. If they had time to settle down, it would be easier to fight against the outside world.

Germany first laid down Bohemia to the east, which is now the Czech Republic, and then directly intervened in Italy's internal disputes. Although Italy was half-hearted about Germany, it ostensibly joined the Kingdom of Germany, and then rebelled immediately after the army withdrew.

As a result, a new country called the "Holy Roman Empire" was formed based on today's German territory.

One more thing, this Holy Roman Empire is neither holy, because it has nothing to do with Catholicism; nor is it in Rome, just because the emperor of the country needs to go to Rome for the coronation. To put it bluntly, it is just the vest of the German Empire.

Bavaria, which was left alone, was gradually controlled by a family named Welf. At the beginning, Welf III, as the Duke of Bavaria, only married his sister to the royal family, and then ensured that the Welf family ruled Bavaria forever. Welf IV's His son Black Henry forcibly planned part of the land of Saxony to Bavaria based on the royal relationship.

Black Henry's son also married the daughter of the then Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II, and even ran for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis that he was the son-in-law of the former emperor.

Most of the territory, including the Saxon region, was controlled by the Welf family from Bavaria, and the royal family of the Holy Roman Empire was gradually eroded by this family.

At this time, an emperor of the Shenluo Empire came to the throne, and he was the famous "Red Beard" Frederick Barbarossa.

The title of "Red Beard" comes from his six expeditions to Italy. The blood of the Italians dyed his beard red, which is enough to show his cruelty.

Frederick's mother was from the Welf family, but in order to become Holy Roman Emperor and consolidate his position, he decided to vigorously weaken the Welf family that controlled Bavaria.

Although Frederick succeeded in depressing Henry the Lion, Duke of the Welf family in Bavaria, the power of the Welf family could only be restrained, not eliminated.

The family's power is deeply rooted in all walks of life in Bavaria, and it is trying its best to insert the family members into the top ranks of the empire.

Frederick's operation similar to the "reduction of the Tibetans" in the history of our country can only prevent the Welf family from continuing to expand its power, and let it continue to rule Bavaria, the family's old nest, but don't be too independent , Just give the emperor a little face.

By the end of the Middle Ages, the Holy See's economic exploitation of various places reached its peak.

The wealth that Germany handed over to the Holy See at the beginning of the 16th century was more than 20 times higher than the taxes collected by the emperor at the end of the 15th century.

The oppression and exploitation of the Holy See was resisted by the people. Martin Luther from Germany set off a vigorous religious revolution. However, his reforms were not thorough, and the people who were deeply persecuted by the Holy See still felt that it was not enjoyable enough.

As a result, the broad masses of the people defected to Münzer, another leader who advocated more radicalism in the anti-Holy See, and it was under the leadership of Münzer that a large-scale peasant uprising broke out in Germany.

The rebels mainly came from three places, Franconia, Saxony and Swabia.

As the old principality, Bavaria is absent.

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