Europe in 1346

This article is intended for non-western readers or western readers that are not familiar with the middle age.

In 1346, the kingdom of France is ravaged by the hundred year war and just lost the battle of Crecy.

Knight Templars have been arrested thorough Europe, its last remaining members are in hiding or joined other orders.

Hailing from Avignon, pope Clement VI recently launched a crusade to fight heretics abroad.

Dark times nurtures dark thoughts and dark thoughts nurtures heresy.

Soldiers being in short supplies the inquisition have to recourse to ask for outside help.

Your character is amongst the soldiers god has chosen for this task.

Politics

In 1346, Europe is torn apart by power struggles.

The society is divided in three classes, the ones who work, the ones who fight and rule (the nobles) and the ones who pray (the religious).

Nobles inherit their lands and have a strong dominion over their people. They can edict laws and raise taxes. Their responsibility is to oversee their lands and protect their people from invaders. They organise the police, the army and the economy.

Kingdoms are constituted of lords who follow a King, also chosen by heredity.

Kings have their own lands, but are usually not the wealthiest lords of their realm. They have limited powers over the lords they oversee and power struggles inside a kingdom are constant.

Kings can edict laws, raise taxes and launch wars, but they can only do so with the support of their lords.

Nobles are very careful about their reputation, which will influence greatly their relations with their neighbours, that's why the unwritten law of honour is a defining factor in the medieval society.

Lords will follow their king in combat with their troops not because the law obliges it, but because honour command it.

The main powers in western Europe are France, England, the Holy Roman empire (Germany) and the Pope.

There is in a war between England and France that just started and there is a power struggle between France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope.

The Pope is the head of the catholic Church and since all Europeans are firm believers, he uses this influence to take political power from Kings. Popes are elected by the cardinals (highest members of the church)

The current Pope have been strongly supported by France and he is based in Avignon instead of Rome.

Faith

In the middle age, religion is the foundation of society. Every European is a firm believer and follower of the Catholic church.

They will go to the local church every Sunday to listen to a sermon, not attending would be frown upon and can lead to social exclusion.

The Church is the cement between all European nations, while each nations have their own languages, all ecclesiastics can speak latin it is the only international language.

The Church holds the social aspect of society, they open hospitals where the poor and the sick can live for free for a certain period of time to be taken care of by monks.

Monasteries accept anyone in their order, so it is a great refuge for outcasts and orphans. As long as you follow the rules of the monastery, you will be fed and sheltered.

The few existing schools are held by Monks and the vast majority of books have been copied by them.

The Church keeps track of time (bells are rung every hours to indicate the time) and keep every records of birth (baptism) and marriages.

Faith is a very strong drive of society, to a point where people are willing to go to war and die in the crusades only because the church says god will pardon their sins. Wealthy nobles are spending fortunes to buy pardons from the church.

Anyone willing to join the church can do so either as part of the secular or regular order.

"Secular" members of the church follow the rules of the church and become priests, they are part of the "main branch" of the church and have to organise prayers.

"Regular" members will join as Monks and follow specific rules related to the order they have chosen, they usually decide to recluse themselves in remote monasteries.

Secular members may chose to also be regular members and vice versa.

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