Chapter 1: Being good at reincarnation is also a blessing.
[...In the history of European politics, one cannot speak without mentioning the position and influence of the Church. The Church’s political statements created meaningful trends in approval ratings for each government, and this tendency continues even today, in an era where the number of skeptics and non-believers has increased. If one refers to the graph below...]
Kang In-ho, a graduate student in political science (master’s candidate), muttered as he looked at the thesis he was writing.
"Sigh... I should have chosen a different topic."
It was entirely the fault of his advisor that In-ho, who wasn't even a history major, ended up digging into the correlation between Catholicism and European politics.
[I have read your graduation thesis. For an undergraduate, you analyzed modern image politics quite sharply.]
[Thank you, Professor.]
[But it is still superficial. Where do you think the origins of image politics start?]
[I believe image politics is a modern concept. I see it as having been born alongside the development of media and internet communities, such as SNS.]
[That is precisely why I find your graduation thesis superficial.]
[Pardon?]
[Think about it, In-ho. Historically, politics and image have always gone hand in hand. A political position is, when you get down to it, an image. The first emperor of Rome, Augustus, called himself 'Princeps'. Do you know what 'Princeps' means?]
[It means 'First Citizen'.]
[Correct. Whether in modern times or in history, building a political image has always been important. Later, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire called themselves the successors to the Roman emperors. They also strove to be recognized as the protectors of Catholicism.]
[... .]
[Politics and image are inseparable. Historically speaking, what we do is no different from performing the political actions of the past through different media, just in a more sophisticated way.]
[Does that mean the politics of our time haven't developed at all? I cannot agree with that.]
[I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but it means you need to look at the roots.]
[The roots?]
[I will give you an assignment. The topic is the change in Roman Catholicism and European political history.]
[Why Roman Catholicism, of all things?]
[In European political history, Catholicism is an inseparable relationship. Even now, with the separation of church and state, the status of Roman Catholicism in the European political landscape cannot be ignored. Furthermore, since Roman Catholicism can be seen as the largest and oldest political group to have survived into the modern era, I believe it will be a good teaching tool to broaden your perspective, In-ho.]
[... .]
[Try to penetrate European political history with Catholicism at the center. You will be able to discover many interesting facts.]
[... .]
[You can do that, right?]
He called it an assignment, but in reality, it meant he had to dig into the connection between Roman Catholicism and European political history.
Could a mere graduate student, and one who had just entered graduate school at that, defy his advisor?
In-ho, who had no choice but to do it because he was told to, let out a sigh.
"Haa..."
Of course, the advisor wasn't wrong.
Roman Catholicism was an organization far more incredible than I had imagined.
"It wouldn't be wrong to say they practically ruled Europe."
This was no joke.
Hans Morgenthau, a master of international politics, once defined political power as the ability to control the minds and actions of others.
Thinking of the Catholic Church today, one might wonder if it was really to that extent, but in the context of the Middle Ages, one could conclude that it was exactly that.
"In modern terms, you could call it a supranational organization like the European Union or the UN."
Perhaps it was even more incredible than that.
In the Middle Ages, the Church was a school, a hospital, a community space, an administrative agency, a court, an investigative agency, a tax office, a public opinion agency, and so on.
Does that mean it was everything?
Of course, it was.
Didn't Saladin say it in *Kingdom of Heaven*?
Nothing.
Everything.
The physical power of the Papal States itself was not worth calling an empire.
It didn't have a vast territory, it didn't have strong military power, nor did it earn much money through trade.
Secularly speaking, the power of the Pope and Roman Catholicism could never be seen as very strong.
If they had been that strong, why would they have needed to beg the monarchs of each country to participate in the Crusades?
They could have just raised an army themselves and retaken Jerusalem.
But if you broaden your perspective to the spiritual aspect, Roman Catholicism was different.
The influence to dispatch European armies to the Middle East without moving an army of their own.
The administrative power to extract tithes.
The spiritual dominance that permeated the entire life of a human being from birth to death.
Let’s look at Hans Morgenthau’s statement once more.
Political power is the ability to control the minds and actions of others.
Roman Catholicism controlled the people of Europe—no, the era of the Middle Ages itself.
Like the line from a certain game character, Roman Catholicism controlled the control.
Then, you might think this.
'No, if they were such a powerful force, why did they suffer the Avignon Papacy?'
'Or, during the Reformation, couldn't they have just crushed them with an army?'
'Didn't they go bankrupt building luxurious cathedrals by selling indulgences?'
"Funny stories."
In-ho sipped his coffee again.
"Because politics isn't that simple."
After the Avignon Papacy, Catholicism did not simply collapse.
During the time of John XXII, they dispatched bureaucrats to collect taxes directly.
Clement VI decided to buy Avignon and turn it into the Papal States.
The Avignon Papacy itself was a result close to a dramatic compromise between France and Catholicism, and it was also a struggle to protect ecclesiastical authority by avoiding the chaotic situation of the Italian Peninsula.
Even if the relative status of Catholicism fell, its absolute status as the pillar of the European spiritual world hardly plummeted.
"Though, perhaps that’s to be expected."
I don't want to admit it, but I could see why my advisor told me to understand European political history through Catholicism.
The authority of the Church separated from the secular, and the power that resulted from it.
The political judgments and confrontations of Catholicism that don't appear in textbooks.
And countless intrigues and schemes.
The complex problems within the Church that seemed unified yet divided.
In-ho thought that this was the essence of politics that had continued from the past to the present, and what his advisor wanted to teach him.
"Hmm... Clement VI, was it..."
In-ho was lost in deep thought as he read the materials.
As one of the Popes during the Avignon Papacy, he was quite a complex figure.
Privately, it is said that the palace he built while purchasing Avignon was infinitely luxurious, but he was also a figure who strictly forbade the persecution of Jews during the Black Death and contributed to the independence of Catholicism.
In that respect, some evaluate him as a Renaissance-style Pope ahead of his time.
"To me, he looks like a typical elite bureaucrat."
From the perspective of a modern person, and furthermore, from his own perspective as a political science student, it was hard to see that he had made meaningful judgments in the face of the disaster of the century, the Black Death.
His microscopic judgments weren't bad, but should one consider him lacking as a Pope who commanded all of Europe from a macroscopic point of view?
Even regarding the Black Death, the disaster of the century, he could not escape the framework of 'God's wrath' and merely focused on burying the victims and pastoral activities.
In an era where medical progress was infinitely slow and things like astrology and the Four Humors theory were mainstream, it might be an excessive demand to ask him to identify the cause of the Black Death and present a clear solution.
"Still, it's a pity."
It was true that a sense of unavoidable regret remained.
Even with the powerful power group of Catholicism in his hands, he could not control the disaster that was the Black Death.
If he had used the authority of Catholicism to encourage quarantine and hygiene.
Or, even if it were cold-blooded, if he had isolated the infected.
If he could have automated the tracking and response in affected areas using the control tower that was Roman Catholicism.
Of course, this was hindsight, and he knew it was the arrogance of a modern person.
Nevertheless, the reason he kept imagining it was due to the boredom of a graduate student who didn't want to write his thesis.
"If that had happened, the history of Europe could have changed."
What would Europe have looked like if it had overcome the Black Death well?
Would a more powerful Renaissance have come?
Or would it have become a more closed-off world?
Perhaps the Reformation wouldn't have happened, and the spirit of capitalism that Max Weber hypothesized might not have appeared.
"Well, it's just useless delusion. Would it have been different if it were me? Perhaps."
As In-ho was about to take another sip of coffee, he realized he had finished it.
"Ugh. I should save my thesis and go buy some new coffee."
The moment the water droplets on the plastic cup wet his hand and In-ho pressed the power button.
*Crackle.*
"Uh...?"
The computer sparked, and electricity surged through In-ho’s body.
Kang In-ho. 26 years old.
An ordinary political science student in South Korea died just like that.
Without even dreaming that his delusions would become reality.
- - - -
"Aaaaaah!"
When he opened his eyes, In-ho touched his body.
"Uh... am I alive?"
He felt none of the pain of the electric shock that had been vibrating through his body.
"Haa..."
In-ho let out a sigh of relief and looked around.
"Where... am I?"
A colorful quilt.
Antique wooden furniture.
It certainly wasn't his room, and it was too flashy a space to be a hospital.
"Where... where is this?"
In-ho gave a hollow laugh at the appearance of the room, which reminded him of the Middle Ages.
"Don't tell me I fainted and am dreaming?"
As In-ho was staring blankly at his surroundings, he heard someone’s urgent footsteps, and the door swung wide open.
"Pierre Roger!"
The man, who had the appearance of a typical Westerner, glared at In-ho, fuming with anger.
"King Philip VI is calling for you! To be sleeping until this hour! His Majesty will be furious!"
"Pardon?"
"This is no time for this. Hurry up and get dressed, we must go to the court!"
At that moment, In-ho began to grasp his situation with the speed of someone thinking up an excuse after being caught playing games on the computer by their mother.
'No... no, it can't be.'
"What did you just call me?"
"Are you still not fully awake? We are out of time! We must go quickly. Please, let's move!"
"Wait a moment. Tell me my name again. Who did you say I am?"
"Pierre Roger. The Archbishop of Rouen!"
In-ho clutched his head.
If his theory was correct, the situation was far more serious than he had imagined.
"What year is it right now?"
The man let out a sharp sigh and replied.
"It is 1331, is it not? I told you, we have no time."
In-ho groaned.
'I'm screwed.'
Pierre Roger.
Archbishop Clement.
All these names pointed to one thing.
"I am... Clement VI?"
With roughly sixteen years left until the Black Death would spread.
In-ho had possessed the body of Clement VI before he had even become Pope.
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