Frederick Rothschild was chosen to serve as Antonio’s successor because of his strong Catholic credentials, his bilingualism, and also maintaining the same keen mind for administration (courtesy of his banking background) that his predecessor had. Ascending the throne as Frederico I, Frederico was an active leader like Antonio, but not as insanely pragmatic. He respected the Catholic Church for both political and personal reasons, and while he kept Antonin measures in place to keep the Church on a leash, he did not seek to shorten it. His popularity was such that the Council did not try to depose him in the 1869 election, nor did they try to make him abdicate in 1874 (it had become tradition for Council-supported Monarchs to have “terms” of five years).
A pious Catholic, Frederico confided in his local priest regularly, but more importantly, he felt he should atone for Antonio’s constriction of the Church through aiding the Papacy. The Pope was declared free to move about once more, though he still had to contend with state security escorts and subterfuge by the government. However, Frederico’s largest boon to the Catholic Church was his desire to root out Protestantism, or at least extremist variants of it.
In the years after the Fall, the desperate circumstances naturally led to an increase in the average citizen’s piety, and churches often found themselves at maximum capacity where they still stood. People turned to God so as to have some source of light in a bleak time, and with this came a large surge in many beliefs. One belief that gained particular currency was biblical literalism, generally propagated by Protestant sects wherever they still existed. While the Catholic Church had shot down such ideas (feeling that a literalist argument inherently caved in on itself under scrutiny), other sects had not. There was a growing “Literalist Problem” among Protestant Riccese as well as heretical Catholics. Frederico had several attempted solutions for this problem, banning creationism (as well as its Young Earth variant) in schools in 1869.
At a time when evolutionary theory was only in its formative stages and still under great scrutiny (even from many factions within the Church), this was a radical idea. The Catholic Church gleefully seized upon the opportunity to combat heresy, however, decreeing that creationism went against all historical evidence that had been unearthed and violated basic human reason, a gift from the Lord. The Church further argued that a God who would create a world only a few thousand years old with all its various species intact, and then leave evidence of progressive development of species on an old Earth, would be committing divine entrapment and could hardly be the one true deity the Church promulgated. While some arguments were made that the Devil could have left evidence for evolution to lead believers astray, these beliefs were quickly smothered within the Church hierarchy; the Church had clearly sided with evolutionary theory.
Frederico did not stop at evolution in his desire to expand Church power and infuse all Riccese with a common faith. With the Church having declared reason and science to be means of expanding one’s faith, rather than leading to heresy, apostasy or atheism, Frederico began to expand the role of the Church in education. While the Church had led the universities of much of post-Roman Europe, the rise of the Enlightenment had greatly curbed its hand in the education system; Frederico remedied this by granting the Church a special private school charter that set aside land in communities without schools (the definition of “school” was sometimes stretched by the judges Frederico appointed) for Church use in 1870. Students were not only being taught evolution, rejection of superstition, and some of the most controversial scientific theories in these educational institutions, but a deep love of God and all of Creation – especially to his representative in the Pope.
Frederico’s policies began to pay off, as Church rosters reported a relative spike in converts in the mid-1870s. This was in part to the Church and state working together to promulgate a doctrine that explained why democracy and individualism (which Riccio still theoretically supported) did not work within a religious institution. The Church declared in 1873 that in the affairs of man, the common citizen could see everything that was going on around him, and by bringing his concerns to a government (also of man), he could enact changes that would be appropriate; it made sense for humans to have democracies for temporal regimes as such regimes understood their material interests best. The Church, by contrast, could not possibly welcome democratic ideals, as an understanding of God required a longstanding, intimate relationship that took countless years to nurture. While a man could determine his material interests as soon as he could think (from food to fill his stomach to lower taxes on his income), he was not so savvy with what was best for him spiritually, and so such decisions had to rest with a body specifically designed for such. The Church stated it was absurd that every human had the innate (rather than developed) ability to determine what was correct; why then did people subscribe to alternate beliefs, or not know of Jesus despite never having heard of him? The Church concluded its arguments against a democratic, individualist Church by denying that the Church was by any means an “elitist” organization, as its opponents often alleged: any person with sufficient time and dedication could join the ranks of the priesthood or other organs of the Church, and God willing, ascend to the office of Pontiff itself.
With Enlightenment individualism, transparency and democracy reconciled with Catholic paternalism, Frederico had managed to steer scientific development away from the atheism and agnosticism it imbued in many. Indeed, many scientists reported devout beliefs in Riccese research projects, and not necessarily from fear of reprisal. The state and church worked together in their fostering of education and science, using Riccio’s wealth to encourage radical scientific developments while using savvy to prevent the same for politics. Frederico’s regime was a perfect demonstration of Church relationships in Riccio: one of symbiotic antagonist. The Catholic Church and government greatly served to advance each other’s agenda of social domination, but they could fight as often as they cooperated when the time came to decide who called the shots; as the historical record shows, the state won out.
Frederico’s accomplishments went far beyond the religious sphere. Besides expanding the national bank (nominally a public institution, but its board of directors often aligned almost exactly with the wealthiest families of Riccio) to help fund private and public programs, he became extremely active in foreign policy, believing the time had come for Riccio to begin asserting itself in a peaceful manner, to re-establish the prominence it had once been the proud owner of.
One of his first foreign visits was to New Venezia in West Africa in 1866. New Venezia had acquired many of the Riccese territories it had sought when it declared independence many decades ago as a result of the Fall, and while it was not as powerful as Riccio, the state had grown to become fairly prosperous and hardly the backwater client republic it had been before the Brazilian Era. Rather than coming to the Venetians expecting tribute or any sign of submission, he greeted the Venetian government with great amicability, returning home after having inked treaties of friendship, trade and even talks of an alliance. Students were exchanged between universities and trade barriers were lifted, while they became committed to the idea that Italy was one nation, but two states. Many had feared that the increased strength of New Venice relative to Riccio would lead to enmity similar to that seen during the Glorious War of 1824-1827. Frederico I put this anxiety to rest, allowing the friendship with the descendants of the mutinous regiments established at the end of the War to be rekindled (and with far less lingering memories of slaughter), securing for Riccio a trade partner across the Atlantic and keeping the Italian people unified.
Frederico’s greatest diplomatic adventure was the British Expedition of 1869. In February of that year, in response to reports of border clashes between Riccese and British settlers on the frontiers, the Emperor arrived in the Two Americas, as the state had come to be officially known, and went to work easing the tensions. One of his first orders of business in the country was naturally to meet with the British sovereign and the country’s Cabinet. Frederico arranged several treaties with the British, guaranteeing: relaxed trade restrictions; economic privileges in each other’s territory; non-aggression; defined borders; and a statement that the British and Riccese friendship from before the Fall would continue to endure in the new state of affairs. The Riccese also signed less public agreements, such as respecting each other’s desired territories (Italy, France and Germany for Riccio, Britain, Canada and the Eastern Seaboard for Britain) and the Riccese agreeing to limit their political agenda in the Roman Catholic Church as a whole (thus keeping the Two Americas’ Catholic population loyal to the Church and not the Riccese government). Stable, peaceful relations with the British were key to not just guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Riccio, but its economic health: Brazil and the Two Americas had valuable raw materials that the each greatly desired, and trade allowed both to fill their needs without recourse to a violent and bloody war that would rip across an entire continent.
Frederico would not return to Brazil until November, having decided on an extended tour of the Two Americas’ territory. During his stay, Frederico met with local leaders all the way from Colombia to Argentina to discuss trade opportunities and simply to have conversation, giving many communities a personal connection with the Riccese monarchy. Having brought with him several financial magnates (including members of the Council families, who wanted to make sure the Monarch wasn’t getting too ambitious with his foreign companions), he also donated considerable amounts of funds to various projects all over the country. The British Expedition was a massive boon to many local economies, the Emperor helping with the founding of schools, mines, hospitals and churches. He even had artists come along on his trip to record what they saw in writing, drawing and painting, many of their pieces being auctioned to raise funds for cooperative programs with the British or even donated to the British as a sign of friendship. Frederico was not popular in just the home country, but among many British citizens as well, representing a Riccese neighbor that was not only strong, but incredibly warm and welcoming.
With Riccio having set the stage for peace and cooperation with its two closest neighbors, Riccese ambitions proceeded to grow. Wishing to secure valuable trade routes and resources for the inevitable recovery of the world economy, Frederico directed ships to cross the Atlantic in search of areas suitable for light colonization in 1869. By 1873, Riccese merchants and soldiers had established several fortified settlements in Europe and Africa.
While the forts seldom had more than a hundred residents within their walls, they were nonetheless incredibly important. They allowed Riccese ships to establish refueling depots along the European coastline, as well as giving them a safe haven to take up anchor in times of need. In the South, they were especially lucrative, granting Riccio a secure passage to the riches of the Near East. The fortifications were also of great use for propaganda, Riccio having finally returned to the motherland, though like most of Europe, Italia was now a dreary place that didn’t seem far from Medieval social and economic standards. In the Congo, control of the strategic mouth of the namesake river enabled Riccio to begin the economic subjugation of inland tribes, while Catholic priests began to move inland to help restore the decaying churches dating to the pre-Fall era (to their horror, many had become pagan shrines, but that would be remedied). These forts, initially solely to protect trade, soon were becoming instruments of Riccese political power, as settlers seeking abundant land (often taken from the small local European populations) began to move eastward, forcing the expansion of fortifications across the board to provide for them. What had begun as simple outposts would gradually turn into economic centers of the Empire, providing not just trade access, but goods such as rubber from the Congo, crops from Sicily and Brest, and wool from Calais, though this would occur long after Frederico had vacated the throne.
Frederico’s forced abdication came about as a result of circumstances beyond his control. When he opened the doors of trade around the Atlantic with his many visits, it is no small surprise that turbulent economic changes occurred. Industries that were once quite prosperous often were forced out of business by new rivals in the Two Americas and New Venezia, not to mention the Middle East. While the recession would end as all recessions do, its timing close to the election of 1879 was the death knell for Frederico’s popularity. Accepting the people’s mandate, Frederico gave a respectful farewell address that was widely printed and wished his successor luck in correcting the economy’s issues and restoring Riccio to its former glory. While Frederico was forced out by populist pressures, later analysts would consider him one of the most important monarchs of Riccese history, having consolidated the use of the Church as a tool of social control while preserving its independence, and setting the stage for a return of Riccese wealth and power to much of the world. Unlike most Council-era monarchs, he was bestowed a genuinely flattering name, “The Diligent.”
