Sir Briggs said awkwardly, "As I said before, Father Gleiner explicitly turned me down. Now that the Cologne Parliament has passed its resolution, he is even less likely to..."
A cold smile curled Henderson's lips. "Gleiner entered Cologne's political circles long ago, so he doesn't care much about the loss of Church assets. But the archpriests, parish priests, and even the monks at the Church School will see their interests suffer greatly once the Church gives up its land and tax revenues. We should start with them. On one hand, they can influence the Church Party in the Cologne Parliament; on the other, we can have them stir up public sentiment in Cologne and lead demonstrations outside the Prince-Bishop's Palace."
The Cologne Parliament was housed immediately east of the Prince-Bishop's Palace in Münster.
Sir Briggs's eyes instantly lit up.
That was right. The local Church's main sources of income were rents from tenants on its land and its share of the tithe. The clergy would certainly be furious if the Holy See used those two things to "bribe" Cologne's government.
If these men spread the word among the public that "joining the Holy Trade Alliance would harm Cologne," negotiations could hardly proceed smoothly, even if Parliament had already opened accession talks. No, Parliament would most likely reverse its resolution.
"You're right." He immediately grabbed his coat and started toward the door. "Let's go see Father Dressler right now."
Henderson asked, "Who is that?"
"The archpriest of the Münster outskirts. He has tremendous influence among the clergy."
An archpriest handled a city's day-to-day ecclesiastical affairs and supervised every parish priest in his district, with authority second only to the bishop's. In a large city such as Münster, two archpriests separately administered the city proper and its outskirts.
"There's no hurry." Henderson