Council of Ghent (Chaos)

The Council of took place during 1551-56.
== Causes ==
 of the , mightiest monarch of Europe, had broken with the pope and started his own church, the Occidental Church. After having lost the , he had to resign in favor of his son.
The new king of , , was willing to scrap Caesaropapism, so the council of Ghent was started.
== Results ==
After long discussions, the western churches would be reunited. In return, some of the Occidental reforms were introduced in the rest of the world too. Plus, the theologians from various countries, where printing was widespread meanwhile, decided an important change in the doctrine: Instead of good works, only the belief in God is what counts. The most important change (which was necessary for and many other countries), however, was that the church couldn't claim back its secularized property.
Now the pope was the highest spiritual authority in all of Western Europe again. But now, people have started to question him...
Different religious opinions were restricted to the "outlaw states" of and .
The delegates from the various nations also have to decide who should own which Caribbean island, since there are now seven nations represented (counting as only one). There was a lot of confusion who discovered which island first, which contrasted with who officially took claim and who settled where first. At the end, all the smaller powers got a few islands, but most hoped to change the situation.
== Occidental reforms ==
The Occidental church had introduced many original laws. One part of them was directed against trade with Muslim countries, so some luxuries (silk, Syrian glassworks, East Asian spices, even incense) were forbidden or severely taxed, while Occidental Christians were encouraged to replace them with Atlantean luxuries (furs, tobacco, cayenne peppers). Other new laws preached by the church heavily discriminated Jews and Muslims - a big stain, since it also meant that Arab and Hebrew books could only be acquired under great difficulties.
Category:Councils (Chaos)