More dealings with foreign Heads of State. Visitations from other Royalty are excellent opportunities to cement my position. Honorable and trusting to a fault (at least to my mind), the martial roots of the kingdom to our North and East may prove useful in securing borders when this insurrectionist rabble inevitably try to flee these lands. My informants have alluded to some of the nobility harboring these treacherous scoundrels, or at least allowing them passage across their land. More evidence will be necessary, of course, but it would be a magnificent irony for "treasonous" nobles to have, say a duchy, confiscated and given to those who have proved "loyal" to the Crown by turning them in. This would also allow these extensive holdings to be carved up into smaller parcels, weakening the landed nobility further, but garnering the loyalty of the several petty lordlings I would install in their place. Perhaps some of this newly free land could be used as a bribe to neighboring kingdoms, ensuring that no support be found beyond the border. Several possibilities exist here, but a great deal more evidence must be discovered.

Meanwhile, a few words of praise and an otherwise meaningless token, distributed at no cost to the treasury, seem once again to have purchased loyalty and good will. It is astounding how simple it appears to be thought of as a "good" king. I shall have to be sure and mention my growing reputation to him during our next little chat.