Re-drafting the Golden Bull

"Your Majesty, please feel free to command."

Janus was looking forward to the first task the Emperor gave him.

He hoped to gain the Emperor's trust through his political achievements, thereby realizing his political ideals.

Laszlo's expression suddenly turned serious, and he said to Janus in a low voice, "You should know about the Golden Bull signed by Andrew II, right?"

Janus nodded; this bull was well-known in Hungary, and its clauses greatly restricted the power of the Hungarian monarchy.

If the task the Emperor gave him was related to this bull, then this task was likely to be quite arduous.

No matter what, he would first listen to what the Emperor wanted him to do.

"Your Majesty, I know the contents of the Golden Bull; it is precisely what granted the kingdom's nobles extensive privileges."

"Exactly," Laszlo slammed his hand on the armrest of the throne, "This bull is unreasonable and out of date.

Now, the kingdom's nobles are using that parchment as their shield.

Tax exemption privileges, raising private armies, resistance clauses... even the military expenses for the border guards protecting the kingdom have to be squeezed out of their fingers little by little.

Isn't it absurd that these bastards are toying with me like Andrew II?

Even after the nobles humiliated and hanged Andrew II's Queen, this incompetent king still couldn't do anything about the nobles.

But I am different; I will send all transgressors to their graves!

This situation cannot continue, so I have decided to find someone to draft a second version of the Golden Bull for me.

I want to use the new bull to break the nobles' tax exemption privileges and judicial immunity.

Janus, you are responsible for this important work; I hope you do not disappoint me."

Janus's expression changed slightly, and he took a deep breath before replying, "Your Majesty, I will do my best."

Archbishop Veszter frowned and stroked his beard, saying worriedly, "Your Majesty, the nobles' reaction to this matter will likely be quite strong.

The authority of the Saint Stephen's Crown does not allow us to bypass the Hungarian Parliament—"

"The Hungarian Parliament?" Laszlo suddenly sneered, "When they refused to pay the Turkey tax and put their own interests above the nation's safety, the Hungarian Parliament was already rotten.

Janus, the new bull must abolish the nobles' right to resistance.

All acts of resistance against the King will be considered treason and must be finally judged by my Royal Court."

"Your Majesty, this almost completely overthrows the Golden Bull of 1222; is it… too radical?"

Even a radical reformer like Janus felt that Laszlo's idea was too extreme.

He had heard that the Emperor had remained restrained in the Hungarian Parliament in recent years, maintaining the stability of the Kingdom, and had thought the Emperor was a moderate.

Now it seemed that the Emperor had deceived everyone, including Archbishop Veszter.

Laszlo merely shook his head and did not respond to Janus's question.

Veszter suddenly coughed lightly, covering the silver cross on his chest with his palm: "Your Majesty, the Church's tax exemption…"

"Archbishop, rest assured," Laszlo raised his hand to interrupt Veszter, his tone softening slightly, "The Holy Istvan's legacy must naturally be protected.

However, while the Church's property is holy, when it concerns national security, the Church cannot remain aloof.

I will retain a part of the Church's tax exemption privileges, but the land tax must be reinstated."

Archbishop Veszter's expression changed rapidly, from surprise to gloom, and finally, he sighed deeply, saying as if resigned, "Alright, Your Majesty, this is also for the Kingdom."

The Archdiocese of Esztergom, as the most important diocese in Hungary, contributed about five thousand florins in fiscal revenue annually.

This money was negligible compared to the wealth they extracted from Church lands.

After Janus and Archbishop Veszter left the royal palace, Laszlo immediately summoned Matthias and had him arrange for the convening of this year's Hungarian Parliament.

This year's Hungarian Parliament was very rarely convened by Laszlo's own initiative, rather than being forced to convene after repeated requests from the nobles.

This also meant that this year's Hungarian Parliament would be very different from previous years.

However, when a large number of royal bailiffs conveyed the news of the Hungarian Parliament's convening to every corner of the Kingdom, the nobles were still surprised by the Emperor's change and did not realize that anything was amiss.

Laszlo set the deadline for the Hungarian Parliament's convening in late autumn, which was when the farmers harvested, and his tax reform would also begin then.

For this day, he had been preparing for several years.

First was the establishment of the Hungarian Court of Justice.

This institution was originally established to resolve noble territorial disputes within the Kingdom, but Laszlo actually intended from the beginning to use it as a supervisory body for tax reform.

At that time, those nobles, in order to ensure the legality of their territories, scrambled to report all their properties and pay a "court tax" proportionally.

These properties were indeed recognized by the Royal family and became their legal territories,

But at the same time, the properties they reported were all registered in the herald's office directory, available for retrieval at any time.

So, who would need to retrieve the nobles' property information?

That would naturally be the Hungarian Royal Financial Committee established by Laszlo.

Because they needed to use this information to determine the tax base and clarify who to tax.

This committee, led by Financial Minister Ernust Janos, recommended by Archbishop Veszter to Laszlo, was a financial institution that directly managed the Royal family's income.

Prior to this, the tax system of the Kingdom of Hungary was quite chaotic.

In the central government, the Grand Treasurer, the Kingdom's Regent, and the Court Steward all had functions of managing the Royal family's finances, and their management scopes overlapped, leading to constant problems with taxation.

Locally, the local officials within the Royal family's territories were county governors and governors personally selected and appointed by Laszlo.

They were responsible for collecting various taxes from the Royal family's territories and remitting most of them to the central government.

However, many local officials often withheld taxes or accumulated wealth in other ways.

For example, just last year, Hunyadi Laszlo excessively taxed the Royal family's territory in Transylvania, but only the normally collected portion of the taxes was remitted to the Royal family.

All the extra money went into his own pocket, with the misappropriated taxes reaching an astonishing thirty thousand florins.

Only the most powerful Governor of Transylvania dared to do such a thing.

Customs duties, special taxes, financial contributions from the Church, and commercial taxes from cities also frequently experienced chaos.

In order to unify financial management and rectify the chaos in taxation, Laszlo merged the national treasury and private treasury into one, all managed by the Financial Minister and the Royal Financial Committee.

He clearly divided the financial institutions into three levels, adopting a "central-county-village or manor" three-tier structure, implementing vertical management.

In addition, Laszlo frequently dispatched bailiffs to patrol the Hungarian Royal family's territories to monitor local officials.

After several corrupt officials were executed as examples, most of the Royal family's officials in the western part of the Kingdom became more restrained.

After completing this series of preliminary reforms, Laszlo determined that the time was ripe enough to extend such a tax system from the Royal family's territories to the entire country.

As for what to do if the nobles rebelled?

Mobilize the army, defeat the rebels, arrest the traitors, court trial, confiscate property, and publicly behead them.

Once this chain of actions was completed, all the difficult problems of the Kingdom of Hungary would naturally be resolved.

Having made full preparations, Laszlo finally intended to drop his facade and bare his fangs at the Hungarian nobles who were accustomed to freedom.