Since various reforms were implemented in Austria, all estates of Austria have felt that the Emperor's power has been enhanced to an unprecedented level.
The integration of territories is one of the more important aspects of this.
In the era when the Albrecht line, the Leopold main line, and the Tyrol branch divided the world and ruled Austria together, the separatism of the local princes led to the decline of Austria.
Since Rudolf IV promulgated the "Privilegium Maius," Austria should have continued to launch an assault on the imperial throne under the unity of the Habsburg Family.
However, only a few years after Rudolf IV died, his two younger brothers signed a treaty to partition Austria, and each launched expansions in the western and eastern territories, becoming involved in various conflicts and wars.
Upon the death of Leopold, his branch split again, directly causing the imperial power that was originally second only to the Bohemia Kingdom to fall to the level of a few second-rate small states.
In this turbulent era, all Austrian states suffered significant setbacks, some from external sources, such as the incursions of the Swiss and even the Hussite, and some from internal sources, such as the rebellion of the Styria nobility.
Eventually, thanks to a windfall sent by the Luxembourg Family, the Albrecht line, as the senior line, regained control of the situation, and Laszlo completed the integration of the territories.
A complete Austria gave him the opportunity to obtain key resources such as money and manpower from various territories, while geographical barriers and long-standing divisions made it difficult for the nobles to form a complete new class capable of confronting him.
In the plateau area formed by the Alps and their foothills in western Austria, a smallholder economy was prevalent, and the farmers of Tyrol and Outer Austria, together with city representatives, formed the fourth estate of the Estates Assembly, which clearly shows the particularity of the western region.
In the small plains of the east, although manorialism remained popular and even integrated some eastern characteristics, the development of cities, especially the development of Vienna, had a certain siphoning effect on the surrounding areas. Coupled with the extremely strong royal authority around Lower Austria, it was difficult for nobles to amass huge estates in the limited space.
The lack of huge estates meant that Eastern-style large manors that were completely self-sufficient and supported large numbers of private armed forces were extremely rare here.
Therefore, there were almost no powerful local nobles in Austria capable of threatening the Grand Duke's rule.
Their weak nature made it difficult for the Estates Assembly to substantially hinder the monarch from turning his will into reality; it even retreated again and again, gradually degenerating into a powerful tool for assisting in handling local affairs when the bureaucratic system was imperfect.
Although the pathetic Austrian nobles often tried to wrestle with Laszlo, such as resisting tribute taxes, and this time, striving for legislative power, most of the time they could not truly interfere with the Emperor's decisions.
Whenever the Emperor applied a little pressure, they had to make concessions. Sometimes there were those brave enough to resist, and the Emperor would generously let them choose a decent way to die between beheading and hanging.
However, oppression was not the norm, and many of the old rights of each estate were still respected by the Emperor and the Vienna government.
Laszlo certainly could not really go to war against all the estates of Austria; in fact, he was still a bit worried now.
Theoretically, the pathetic Austrian nobles were beneficial to his rule, but looking at it from a larger perspective, the weakness of the Austrian nobility made Austria extremely lacking in the motivation to integrate the dynasty's territories.
Admittedly, the Austrian territories became the source of the Habsburg Family's power and a reliable base because of the existence of the estates, but its limitations were also very obvious—it was too weak and simply not enough to allow the Habsburg Dynasty to complete the transformation of a snake swallowing an elephant.
Historically, this problem remained unresolved for centuries. For example, after the Thirty Years' War, nouveau riche military nobles from the Empire, Spain, Hungary, Italy, the Low Countries, and even Britain swarmed into Bohemia, becoming the emerging Bohemian noble class.
At first glance, the Habsburg Family completed a major reshuffle of the Bohemian elite, thereby establishing an absolute monarchy there.
But in reality, only a very small number of nobles in Bohemia at that time came from the Austrian noble circle at the core of the Habsburg Dynasty, precisely because of the weakness and frailty of the Austrian noble forces at that time.
Later, when Bavaria attacked Bohemia, many Bohemian nouveau riche surrendered at the first sight of the wind, making the Habsburg Family taste the bitter fruit.
After Laszlo achieved victory in the second Hussite Wars, he rewarded the imperial warriors who participated in this reconquest with land and privileges, among which the number of nouveau riche from Austria could not form a sufficient advantage over the nobles from the Empire and Hungary.
Laszlo could only hope that future assimilation policies could create a new identity beyond region and culture, which was his primary goal thereafter.
As the first step in building a new identity, Laszlo attached great importance to revising and implementing new laws, which happened to touch the sensitive nerves of the estates, especially the nobles and clergy.
The Emperor hoped to consolidate the budding autocratic rule maintained by his personal authority and military coercion, while simultaneously consolidating the fragile annexation and expansion of Austria in Bohemia, in order to prepare for future confrontation against the strong and stubborn separatist forces in Hungary and the Empire.
In this process, the independence of the Austrian and Bohemian estates would inevitably be damaged, and disputes would thus unfold.
"The voices of opposition are louder than ever before; do you have any ideas, Georg?"
Laszlo was walking on the drawbridge leading from the venue to the Hofburg Palace. A cold wind blew, and he pulled his clothes tighter and turned to ask the Chief Minister beside him.
In fact, the controversy over the "imperial code" had appeared long ago. When he ordered the implementation of unified decrees in Lower Austria a few years ago, the estate representatives of the other states had expressed their concerns about it.
When he finally decided to promulgate this new code at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg next April, those nobles who sensed something wrong finally began to get anxious.
The clergy, having received the Emperor's promise earlier, did not show too much resistance to this.
However, the lords and knights—that is, the upper nobility and the petty and middle nobility—who were usually in a state of opposition, were now standing on the same side.
The resistance of the two estates forced Laszlo to pay attention to the attitude of his subjects.
"I think the suggestions of the opponents are not without merit.
They have cited the case of the late King of France, Charles VII, hoping that you can convene regional assemblies like the French, and dispatch government officials and legal experts to collect, organize, and compile new laws from the unwritten customary laws of the past.
Doing so would be beneficial to the governance of Austria."
As an expert proficient in feudal law, canon law, and Roman law, and also as the administrator of the Austrian territories, the Archbishop's view on this matter was not as pessimistic as Laszlo's.
He had only promoted the reform of the Roman law curriculum at the University of Vienna a few years ago, introduced the current mainstream commentating school to the university, and attracted a group of Roman law experts from Italy to train more professional talents for Austria.
A major feature of the commentating school was actively combining ancient laws with realistic situations, and the integration with customary law was a core part of the research.
The so-called customary law actually represented a type of right, initially referring to "tax customs," including the lord's judicial power, taxation power, and corvée labor power.
With the maturation of the feudal system, customary law was greatly expanded. With the accumulation of cases, numerous unwritten legal norms were crowned with the name of customary law.
The expansion of royal judicial power made judicial practice increasingly difficult; therefore, unifying laws and improving efficiency to save litigation costs became an important demand of local officials and the public.
Generally speaking, there were two solutions.
One was for professionals who had been engaged in judicial trials for years to organize and compile customary laws, such as the "Customs of Beauvaisis," "Swabian Code," and "Saxon Code."
The second was for the monarch to directly promulgate written statutes to unify the laws of the entire country, however, similar attempts had never been successful.
As for the calls to directly inherit Roman law, they had been completely abandoned in the current era; after all, the Romans had not experienced the feudal era, so how could their laws solve current problems?
Among these two methods, Laszlo chose the second, recruiting some professionals to have the government lead the compilation and revision of a code that would theoretically be valid throughout the entire Empire, and taking the opportunity to realize coverage over Austria, Bohemia, and even the Milan territories.
Realistic factors and the ideal of governing the world prompted Laszlo to make such a decision.
The imperial power of the Habsburg Family had become unprecedentedly strong and stable through years of conquest and diplomacy, and countries such as Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary had all established relatively unified and standardized military and fiscal systems.
Laszlo's control over the church and nobility had reached an unprecedented level; the construction of the administrative system and infiltration into local areas had been ongoing for more than a decade, and the Imperial Court of Justice had also established authority by using the method of borrowing a chicken to lay eggs.
He concluded that the time had now come to initially integrate the Austrian legal and judicial system.
Today, Austria is politically stable and economically prosperous, but the judiciary is complicated and inconvenient, wasting a large amount of social resources.
Compiling a code to standardize judicial procedures and sentencing bases, making the trial of cases more certain and fairer, thereby reducing the burden on the public and keeping the subjects of Austria united and peaceful, is conducive to maintaining the public interest.
The idea was good, but it changed its flavor when implemented.
Although no one questioned the Emperor's rule, who knew if the code compiled by the Emperor according to his own wishes would secretly damage everyone's old rights?
Once a conflict occurs between these, there are only two results.
Either grassroots judicial officials comply in public but oppose in private, protecting privileges rather than imperial power, or armed conflict eventually breaks out, using swords to decide whose law is more legitimate.
At least Archbishop Georg did not want to see the latter situation happen.
Originally, Austria had been peaceful for so many years; if the Emperor provoked a rebellion across the country, the trouble would be huge by then.
Especially at this critical juncture when the Imperial Diet is about to be held, if something goes wrong in Austria, the princes will definitely seize the opportunity to kick someone when they are down.
"What they care about is nothing more than whether the privileges granted to them by those unwritten laws of the past will be damaged. So-called customs are all bad habits. I think it wouldn't matter if they were abolished," Laszlo said in a muffled voice.
Although he felt a bit unhappy, Laszlo's position had actually loosened a bit.
Conflicts of interest and the occurrence of change are never peaceful. Touching the interests of an entire class and what it will eventually evolve into—he knows it all too well.
"Your Majesty, haven't you always admired Philip IV of France? Perhaps we can learn from their approach."
"Where did I admire that guy? Ahem, tell me about it."
Laszlo did indeed have many improper thoughts about Rome and the Holy See, but being pointed out by his own Archbishop made him somewhat embarrassed.
"Philip IV also once set out to suppress the noble forces in his country. He once promulgated a decree claiming that 'the legal validity of customs comes from the monarch's tolerance'."
"That is well said, tolerance... that is it." Laszlo couldn't help but sigh; the French still moved too fast and too far.
Among so many European countries, only France had touched the pinnacle of royal power before the arrival of the new era.
Although the final ending was not very good, at the crossroads of the feudal system turning into a modern system, France was undoubtedly the benchmark for progress.
"In Roman law, there are also principles similar to 'the monarch is not bound by the law' and 'what the monarch likes has legal effect'. If we agree to compile customary law, we can also add the claim that 'the Emperor is above custom', which actually counts as putting the privileges of each estate into a cage, facilitating future governance.
Moreover, collecting, organizing, and compiling complicated customary legal provisions probably cannot be completed without ten years. You can stabilize them for the time being, and then slowly strive for results favorable to us.
You can declare that customary law will serve as a supplement to the "imperial code," so the princes of the Empire probably will not express opposition to this."
"Doesn't that mean that outside the Imperial Court of Justice, they will still judge however they want?" Laszlo immediately grasped Georg's meaning, but it also made him more depressed.
Georg also sighed helplessly and persuaded earnestly: "Your Majesty, you and I both know what the situation of the Empire is. Rather than saying customary law is a supplement to the new code, the reverse is actually closer to the reality."
"That is true," Laszlo shook his head, his footsteps becoming heavier, "Let's first obtain the name of imperial judicial authority, and we can discuss the rest later."
"And what about the Estates Assembly?"
"You go and talk to them. Say some nice things; just say that I have always respected their rights and will not easily deprive or damage them. The compilation of customary law is necessary, but as for how to do it specifically, let them wait for news from the government."
"Hmm, then regarding another important issue, which is launching a new round of land and household registration, and renewing the "Adjournment Agreement"..."
"Fine, fine, I will also attend in person next."
Upon hearing about the negotiations involving taxes for years to come, Laszlo's face turned bitter, but he had to accept reality and abandon his plan to slack off.
The previous "Adjournment Agreement" had two years left to expire. If it were renewed, it would be just like stipulating the amount when renewing indirect taxes with tax farmers; it would also have to be adjusted according to economic development.
If there were no accidents, the tribute taxes he could receive from the Austrian states in the next ten years should have a very considerable growth.