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Chapter 34


Copenhagen

November 1636


To Frederik, archbishop and bishop, governor of Westphalia


My dearly beloved son,

This is to let you know that I have disposed of your half-sister Sophia in marriage, or for future marriage once they reach the Netherlands, to a French Huguenot nobleman who is in the diplomatic service of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar in Burgundy, thus eliminating the threat that Corfitz Ulfeldt might force a marriage with her now that Eleonore Christine is safely in the West Indies.

Your half-brother Waldemar, I have sent to be trained properly as a military officer, either by Frederik Hendrik in the Netherlands or, failing that placement, by Bernhard.

Ulfeldt made a fool of himself, so is now in exile from the capital, under house arrest. The other families of the rigsraad are displaying signs of resistance to Our handling of the matter, to the extent that sterner measures on Our part may become necessary.

It is Our plan to also end the current betrothals of the three younger countesses of Schleswig-Holstein, your half-sisters.

The up-time physicians now in this world have confirmed the sad news we learned from their encyclopedias: that the happy marriage of your older brother, Our oldest son, Christian the Chosen Prince, will not be blessed with children. For all the miracles they brought, they have no remedy for this. The crown princess is desolate.

While in this world, since the miracle of 1631, events differ, so that it cannot be certain that your older brother will predecease me, still . . . with Ulrik, your younger brother who in that world was dead but for Us in this world is alive again, but having been given over to the Swede and the USE, the order of succession in the kingdom of Denmark should be made clearer than it was a dozen years hence in that other world. If the situation within Our realm remains as it is now, it certainly must by some means be made clearer to the nobles of the rigsraad. However I am considering other options, so the time for public discussion has not yet come.


Your faithful father,

Christian


Magdeburg

November-December 1636


The convocation of all the USE governors (as distinct from a meeting of the House of Lords in Parliament, although the personnel was identical) in Magdeburg took place at the most awkward possible time of the year for travel, of course. It was scheduled to deal with all the ongoing furor—the up-timers called it “fall-out” for some inexplicable reason—resulting from the Holstein incident. And what Frederik had been doing since the Holstein incident.

Which was, since the executions in July, nothing discernable. Nothing perceptible. As far as outside observers could tell, the governor of Westphalia had been doing nothing at all during the entire late summer and autumn.

Thus, as the opening ceremonies proceeded, not one of the other governors had the slightest idea what to expect from Westphalia—which did not prevent astonishing amounts of speculation.

They got a position paper that shocked them all—not all for the same reason, of course.

Westphalia recommended that every province of the USE take measures to eliminate pockets of private jurisdiction across the board and ensure that all persons, whether free or serf, were subject only to clear and transparent public laws which were to be administered either by officials paid by and accountable to the government, whether at the level of village, town, city, or province, or, in regions where such entities existed, through such systems as village and municipal courts or juries. Almost as an afterthought, it added a recommendation that in keeping with the elimination of private jurisdiction, forced labor on domain lands imposed by landlords on the families of peasants holding farms, partial farms, or cottages under any form of servile tenure ought to be promptly abolished, and the right of free movement, with reasonable restrictions, such as, perhaps, a year’s notice by someone with an existing employment agreement, which need not be a written contract, must be enacted and enforced.

Nobody liked the position paper.

It was obvious why the holders of private jurisdictions didn’t care for it. Every province and state of the USE other than the State of Thuringia-Franconia, even Magdeburg and Mecklenburg, still had at least a few pockets of private jurisdiction, whether ecclesiastical, municipal, or associated with noble privileges. Some had many.

The liberals objected to its ignoring almost entirely the economic aspects of serfdom, such as forms of land tenure, because it focused on the jurisdictional aspects.

Debate ensued. At length.

Westphalia responded that the economic aspects of serfdom had not been at issue in the Holstein incident and therefore had not been included in the province’s position paper, but the convocation did not have a closed agenda and any other governor was certainly welcome to introduce for debate a position paper addressing them if the others were inclined to put those complex questions on the table.

“Well,” Helene Gundelfinger commented to the abbess of Quedlinburg and Mary Simpson at dinner that evening, “I think that pretty much counts as ‘hitting the ball back into the other guy’s court’ as Ed Piazza would say if he could have made the meeting.”

Two days later, Mathias Strigel of Magdeburg Province altered the sporting analogy by picking the ball up and starting to run with it, with Bugenhagen from Hamburg playing as his defense.

After that, it took less than a week for the convocation to adjourn sine die with nothing resolved.

* * *

Gerhard Schepler argued Frederik into going out for a non-mandatory social excursion on their last evening in Magdeburg. “Everyone ought to at least see the famous Golden Arches.”

The band performing that evening produced the absolute worst excuse for music that had ever passed Frederik’s ears. The title of the song was called “Born to Be Wild.” Who would want to be wild? Only someone determined to destroy good order.

Frederik did not approve of opposition to divinely established authority no matter who opposed it. Opposition by a lord was as culpable as opposition by a serf. Probably, it was more culpable, because God had entrusted the lord with more responsibilities. As in the case of the minas. While Schepler and his friends danced, he stood as far away from the band as he could manage and reflected on Luke 19:12-27. An unprofitable servant remained an unprofitable servant, no matter what his worldly rank.

Thad and Carol Ann Cochran were having an evening out, for a change.

The band was loud enough that they didn’t have to whisper.

“Isn’t that Prince Frederik?” she asked. “The Danish guy from Westphalia?” She bent her neck a bit so her head pointed to the right and slightly toward the back of the room.

Thad took a look and nodded.

“I wonder what he’s thinking, just standing there.”

“I know what I’d be thinking if I was him.”

“What?”

“I’ve been trying to follow the news coming out of the convocation. Two dozen people there and no more than a half dozen of them ever going in the same direction at the same time. If I was him, I’d be thinking: Not my circus; not my monkeys.” Thad took a deep swig of his beer. “He’s started something, though. What I’m thinking myself is that when the rest of the governors get back home, they’re going to discover from people down at the grass-roots level that they should have come up with some decisions while they were here. And that they’re going to have to come up with some decisions pretty damned fast, now, if they don’t want the train to leave the station without them.”

Thad worked in the USE Department of Transportation. He spent a lot of time thinking about trains.

He said pretty much the same thing to Tom Leek the next time he saw the man.

* * *

Everything was packed and ready to go. That was an advantage of having a well-trained and well treated staff. Profitable servants. In his household, things were, unless faced with immovable obstacles, done when and how they should be done.

Nevertheless, Frederik walked over from the government house to his lodgings to make one last check-up, since he would be leaving Quedlinburg for Münster rather than returning to the USE capital city.

Rist greeted him with, “Another of those pamphlets.”

Frederik glanced at it. In no way significantly different from all the others.

“File without response,” he said.

The secretary made a note, stuffed the offending pamphlet inside his doublet since the boxes were already packed, bowed himself out, and left the hotel to get into the carriage that would take them to the abbess of Quedlinburg’s mandatory, or near-mandatory (Dorothea Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg qualifying as a force of nature) post-conference gathering at her new women’s college to see her pet up-timer’s school music program.

Frederik stood at the window and watched Rist’s departing figure with mild annoyance. If he managed to get the University of Rinteln up and running again for the fall term, which seemed likely, he would lose his secretary and have to find a new one.

He shrugged his cloak over his shoulders and fastened the frog at his neck as he descended the stairs.

Idiotic pamphlet.

A few snowflakes descended on his head as he stepped outside. He flipped the fur flaps of his hat down over his ears.

“Prince of Westphalia.” How utterly absurd.

He pulled on his gloves.

Let Ulrik have Kalmar and the USE. Sweden, if he got along well enough with Kristina.

He walked rapidly toward his own carriage.

King of Denmark.


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