Records: England bans Inquisition

## **An Act of Defiance**

The Inquisition, in its best interpretaton, was meant as fact-finding – but the simple fact was that the real-world use amounted to state-supported terrorism.

Only one technical inquisition had ever been attempted in the British Isles and that was sparked by France's Philip the Fair looking to hunt down the Knights Templar (they were rich and he wanted what they had). That Inquisition was unsuccessful in England.

In France, things had been very different, as evidenced with the persecution and slaughter of the Cathars and Waldensians. While Italy hadn’t fully organized their own Inquisition yet, that was more a side-effect of a constant state of war than a lack of Papal religious interest.

In England, at that moment, it was intended as protection for the Lollards. If the last five decades of Edward III weren't enough, like the Statute of Provisors (1350) and the Statute of Praemunire  (1353), this symbolic banning of the Inquisition was a sign to the College of Cardinals that England was setting a new course.

### **Magical Subtext**

While thoughts of an Avignon campaign against English Lollards had been tossed around a great deal, and some cases "vigorously prosecuted," it hadn't amounted to a named *Inquisition*.

After Archbishop Sudbury's visit to Rome, that was likely to change. From Lollards to magic, the Vatican had it with English troublemakers. They'd tossed around the idea of enlisting the English against the encroaching Turks, perhaps even giving the Plantagenet Crown license to conquer Constantinople, but the appoint of John Wycliffe and the rise of the Jesuits in English Court was enough to dampen the idea. At the time, to be fair, King Edward III was more senile than not and Prince Edward looked like he might die before his father.

Easing forward, in this world of slow news travel, the magic news traveled fast. Magic in the hands of Lollards put the Vatican on Red Alert. Sudbury's impression was the basis on a Crown prediction that the Curia's next step in the effort to bring England to heel: *an inquisition against English magic*.

Given the "Incidence of Incidents," some made the correlation themselves and spread the fear. The Plantagenets were having none of it.

### **And *this* Army**

Now half a year after the Battle of Arundel, and the inheritance of a small fleet of French and Castilian ships, the English Crown had momentum. It was undecided where that was going: Wales, Scotland or across the channel to France, but King Edward was not going to allow the Church to undermine England.

Notably, not only was the Royal Army still going through upgrades – like adding magical motors to the wheels and taking away most of the horses – but the Royal Company's Shipworks had just completed Keel Group Two. This meant 10 galleons, all armed with stainless steel cannons, were now afloat and starting their shakedown runs.

King Edward made sure that the *Neptune* and *Poseidon*, 1500-ton Man o' War galleons, made trips past London as the crews came up to speed. The Channel had seen little action since Arundel – and Edward needed to keep the pressure on to make sure it stayed that way.