“I find myself in an unusual position,” Karl admitted. “For complicated reasons, I find it would be much better if I temporarily had a great deal less cash on hand.”
“I have to ask.” Judy the Younger grinned. “What complicated reasons?”
“My uncle wants me to send him five hundred thousand guilder in silver.”
Judy tut-tutted. “You people don’t know anything about money.”
“Be nice, Judy, or I’ll send you to your room,” Judy the Elder told her daughter.
“I note, however,” Karl said, “that you didn’t disagree with her.”
“Well . . .”
“It’s perfectly all right. I have come to believe that, to a great extent, our knowledge of money is on a par with our knowledge of medicine.” Karl sighed. “The truth is that three years ago my family knew more, or at least as much, about money and finance as anyone in Europe. And Kipper and Wipper were, I believe, less the result of avarice than of ignorance.”
Judy the Elder was giving Karl what he could only describe as a doubtful look.
“It’s true, ma’am,” Karl said. “I’m not saying that avarice played no role, but my family minted money using less silver and after only a short while, no one trusted it. You people mint money out of no silver and everyone trusts it.”
Sarah cleared her throat. “Ah . . . why does your family want you to send them eighteen to twenty million dollars in silver? I mean, well, extravagant lifestyle or not, that’s a lot of money.”
“It’s not lifestyle,” Karl said. “It’s politics. Most of my family’s lands are in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. When Albrecht von Wallenstein declared himself the king of Bohemia, he effectively conquered my family’s lands. We hold those lands in fief from the king of Bohemia.
“King Albrecht must let us collect our rents and taxes from our lands. To do otherwise would be to declare before all the world that he doesn’t respect the rights of his nobles. But, with my uncles in Vienna and serving in Ferdinand II’s court, he is pointing out that he is not required to allow those monies to go to people who are actively at war with him.”
“But you’re not actively at war with him,” Judy the Elder said, nodding.
“Quite right. I am living here in Grantville, a prince in name, but acting as a businessman and not holding any government post for any state. I can collect family rents, tithes and taxes. My uncles can’t, not for lands that are in Bohemia or Silesia. Then there is the matter of my Aunt Beth. She is the duchess of Cieszyn, a duchy in Silesia. Aunt Beth is involved in two lawsuits in the Holy Roman Empire, one with the empire itself and one with my uncle, her husband. Aunt Beth is living in her duchy and daring Uncle Gundaker to come see her there. She appealed to King Albrecht on both cases and he has found for her in both cases. She, in return, has sworn loyalty to King Albrecht.”
“What are the cases about?” Judy the elder asked.
“In a sense both are about her being a woman. There was a privilege granted by King Władysław II Jagiellon to Duke Casimir II of Cieszyn in 1498, under which was secured the female succession over Cieszyn until the fourth generation. Aunt Beth is the fourth generation or her older brother was. Ferdinand II insists that she was disqualified by her gender. The lawsuit with Uncle Gundaker involves the wording of the marriage contract and who is the duke or duchess of those lands. And, as I said, when King Albrecht took Bohemia, she appealed both cases to him as her new liege. Albrecht confirmed her as duchess of Cieszyn. She swore fealty to him and has dropped all persecution of non-Catholics in Cieszyn.”
“Good for her,” Judy the Younger said.
“I agree, though I prefer not to say so in my uncle’s hearing,” Karl said.
“Makes sense. There’s lots of stuff I don’t like to talk about in front of Sarah, because she gets all high and mighty.”
“Judy,” Judy the Elder said, warningly, but Judy the Younger just grinned.
“Still, it seems simple enough,” Sarah said. “You appeal to King Albrecht about your rights and collect your rents.”
“Would that it were so simple. There are other issues. Among them that some of our lands are in the Holy Roman Empire—what’s left of it—and openly giving fealty to King Albrecht would be an act of treason against the empire. Not to mention the fact that both my uncles are in the service of the emperor.”
“Would it be taken that seriously?” Judy the Elder asked. “I’m no historian, but I seem to recall that it was . . . is . . . pretty standard practice to have part of the family on one side and the other part on the other, to cover all the bets, so to speak.”