I'm working on a novel in a fictional land, and in this world their is an amalgamation of the Catholic church. Specifically similar to the Holy Roman Empire and how they endorsed various religious leaders and gave them validation of power. But my question is this, are there any notable royal figures which the Church specifically targeted? Such as strong propaganda against them, assassination attempts, or even military uprisings against ruling groups that opposed them. I'm aware of Henry the VIII, as well as the actions against perceived heretics (the Inquisition, and Templar Order come to mind first). It would be much appreciated if I could read up on more examples of this type of political/religious conflict and the results of this clash between religion and state. Thank you in advance for any replies
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your novel, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists, based on past experience: some aspiring novelists have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.