《The Summon》Chapter 52 - How to Reduce the Power of the Nobles?

Advertisement

Edward III, His Majesty the King of the mighty, or maybe not so mighty, nation of Theron sat down.

Most of the nobles had accepted that they were in the wrong and the compensation was enough, but not all.

Those had decided to declare independence, so technically his realm was in a state of civil war right now. But with the mioght of the Archmage behind him, the defeat of his troops seemed unlikely, to say the least.

But something like that should not happen, how could such idiots have so mujch power in his realm?

Of course, he choose to ignore that technically he was also on of those idiots, but there was one vital difference in his mind: He was actually intelligent.

He had called for Jonathan, mayb e he had an idea how to prevent something like this from happening again.

Jonathan sighed. What would the king want from him, he wondered?

He had some ideas, which would need the cooperation of the king, but the printing press did not have any major effect to this date.

No wonder, it would take decades at least to have a significant impact, but still, he had some plans for it. He could at least lie the groundwork, straight up copy some of the more important works of the enlightnment, maybe with some slight modifications through the power of hindsight, and so beginn the transformation into strong democratic regimes.

Hopefully without a french-style revolution, but that, he thought, was unlikely. Maybe if he were still alive at that point he could prevent some of the worst excesses, which were likely, but even then, he would guess that that would be impossible.

He reached the room where he last spoke with the king, knocked, and after an acknowledgement, entered.

Then, after the greetings were sufficiently exchanged, the king began to speak: "Jonathan, you might know that the kingdom is in a state of civil war right now. The reason for that was the immense power of the nobles and how little ability I have to reign them in. I need some way to reduce that problem, do you have an idea?"

Advertisement

Jonathan thought for a moment and answered: "Yes, I do have a way. In fact, I have already lied the groundwork. In my world, one of the most important states is a so-called constitutional monarchy. To transform your kingdom intop something like this would massively depower the nobles, but the thing is, it would also take away power from you and your descendants. Constitutional monarchs have gnerally only representative power, and now active political power. But nobles loose even much of their represantative role, which lets you have more power then them."

"Why should I do something that limits my power?"

"The answer for that is very simple, your majesty. The power of your position will be limited either way in the next 300 years at the latest, I would guess. It is your desicion if you want it and the one occupying it at that point to survive, or not. The constitutional monarchy would let your office survive, in some form. It likely will loose even more power when this worlds age of revolutions happens, but I have another reason to want a peaceful change here."

"And what would be that reason, Jonathan? I honestly do not think the situation is as bad as you make it out to be, but let's assume I believe you."

Jonathan sighed and answered in a low voice: "The age of revoutions in my world was a bloodbath of immense proportions. It generally is not as good idea to give the reigns of governmen into thse completely unprepared for that, who are also panicked idealists. Having a good, working example of a basic government structure and a power able to send advisors might reduce those problems. But some things will happen regardless, peaceful transition of power will not happen everywhere. And some of the mopre important and more difficult developments, I likely will not live to see. We speak here about centuries, in which small changes in society will happen. Maybe the presence of a constitutional monarchy will speed things up, but maybe not."

Advertisement

The king looked at Jonathan and said: "Gooutside around the castle or something, I need to think about what you said."

Jonathan complied.

    people are reading<The Summon>
      Close message
      Advertisement
      Next Chap
      You may like
      You can access <East Tale> through any of the following apps you have installed
      5800Coins for Signup,580 Coins daily.
      Update the hottest novels in time! Subscribe to push to read! Accurate recommendation from massive library!
      2 Then Click【Add To Home Screen】
      1Click