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The Lyon Guild (9)
"Most guild members probably think that way."
"Why? Are you interested in being the guild leader?"
Rockefeller chuckled and replied.
"I'm not even a goldsmith yet."
"That's true. You're not a goldsmith yet. Yeah, I was having a silly thought."
Although he said that, Rockefeller was genuinely considering becoming the guild leader.
He could easily give up the position of lord, but the position of guild leader was different.
'It will be a significant position. The moment I become the guild leader, all the moneylenders in the guild will develop into a more evolved form than they are now.'
That is, into banks.
"From what I've heard, it seems that the guild leader is someone who is elected to help all the guild members."
The shop owner did not deny it.
"That's right. The original purpose of the Lyon Guild was for weak moneylenders to join forces. You may not know this, but just a few decades ago, moneylenders were practically trapped in this Ghetto Nuovo. At that time, they couldn't even be treated as people."
Why?
Because they were engaged in usury, and everyone despised and oppressed them.
"Only recently has that perception softened a bit, and it's all thanks to the help of the bishop. The church also needed money, you see. And since the moneylenders had the money, the church showed favor. It's funny, but the bishop here needs this to move up to a better position."
"You mean money?"
"That's right. Even in the church, you need money to secure a position. If you look at the political struggles within the church, it's all a war of gold."
"A war of gold..."
"His Holiness the Pope knows that he needs money to spread the teachings of John the Saint, so he especially cherishes the diocese that offers more donations. That diocese is considered to have a strong faith. Anyway, it's a well-known fact that His Holiness the Pope cherishes the diocese that offers more donations. And he takes special care of the owner of that diocese."
The arm bends inward.
Through a casual conversation, Rockefeller found a way to win over Bishop Verkis.
'I remember the bishop here used to be an archbishop. But now he's just a bishop. That means...'
Rockefeller unknowingly smiled.
'Either he doesn't have a good relationship with His Holiness the Pope, or the donations from this diocese are smaller than before.'
"So, I heard that there used to be an archbishop here, but now there's only a bishop. Is there a reason for that?"
A story about a city not mentioned in the novel.
When Rockefeller asked, the shop owner sighed briefly.
"It's probably all about money, isn't it? People are like that. If you give them one thing, they're happy, but if you give them two and then take one away, they hate it. Lyon is in that situation."
"I'd like to hear more about it."
At Rockefeller's request, the shop owner began to speak.
"As Lyon developed commercially and money became available, Verkis, who was a priest at the time, became greedy. At that time, as it is now, if you bring a lot of donations to the Papal Court, the Pope and the Papal Court would pay more attention to you. So, he sent an excessive amount of donations to the Papal Court."
"It seems that Bishop Verkis was doing very well at the time."
"He was. There was even a time when the Pope himself visited, and he was called an archbishop."
"So when did things go wrong?"
"Rather than going wrong, as I said before, he pushed himself too hard. It's not like money keeps falling from the sky."
"So, did what you mentioned earlier happen?"
"That's what happened. Initially, the Papal Court was happy, but as the donations here continued to decrease, they became discontent. In fact, they were still giving more donations than anywhere else."
"I see."
"People can be so cunning. When they became dissatisfied with the donations, the Papal Court began to question the faith here."
"It's a funny story. After all, it's still quite a bit of money."
"To appease them, Bishop Verkis tried to somehow raise money and asked Benjamin for help, but as I said earlier, it was too much from the start, and he failed."
At this point, Rockefeller asked a follow-up question.
"Did the relationship between the two become a little strained at the time? I'm talking about Bishop Verkis and Benjamin."
"Still, they were from the same family, so they knew each other's situations. Bishop Verkis eventually gave up, realizing it was too much."
"I see. So, the result was..."
"Obviously. The Holy See gave Archbishop Verkis the position of Archbishop, but when the church funds decreased, they demoted Verkis by one rank just because there are many moneylenders here. Unfortunately, it was because of the moneylenders that he reached the position of Archbishop, but his greed held him back and he was demoted to Bishop again."
"It's a pity."
"There wasn't anything particularly wrong with Archbishop Verkis, but if he hadn't been so greedy at that time."
"He could have had better results if he climbed up step by step."
"But I don't know this very well, but there was a rumor that the relationship between Archbishop Verkis and the Pope was not very good at that time. I don't know the details of the church affairs, so I'm not sure."
Rockefeller's ears perked up.
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