By the time they entered Sibylla's private residence in Jaffa and escaped the cheers and clamor that had followed them all the way, Sibylla finally could not hold back her change of expression.
"How dare you show your face here!"
"Why shouldn't I?"
Lothar reached out and took a hardcover volume from the bookshelf. Whether it was the calfskin cover inlaid with gold leaf and silver thread or the snowy white pages within, everything about it spoke of its extravagant price.
"Tsk, are Jaffa and Ascalon really this wealthy? A complete set of hardcovers—I thought only the princes and nobles of the Eastern Empire who monopolized the silk industry would buy such gaudy, impractical things."
"You shameless scoundrel! Wasn't it you who advertised that every coin spent on your bookshops would become a blade swung at the infidels?"
Sibylla was furious. "Your bookshops have made it impossible even for the Church's indulgences to sell wherever they are established, and now you have the nerve to call them gaudy and impractical?"
The reason Lothar's many workshops did such booming business was not merely their outstanding quality. A considerable part of it came from Lothar's "star power." In this era, the slogan "If you don't buy, you're not a Christian" was truly terrifying.
Lothar was briefly embarrassed.
He had indeed instructed Males, who oversaw the printing workshops, to use this promotional strategy. According to the Church, Lothar had amassed vast "good works" by recovering the Holy Land, enough to distribute among the faithful and offset their sins.
There had also been no shortage of harassment from merchant guilds and underhanded interference from the Church. In Europe, there were precedents of even papal envoys being murdered while inspecting local regions, let alone Lothar's printing workshops.
The twists and turns involved could not be