Indeed, as a "good businessman" and as a politician, Henry VII was aware that "to enrich the merchants was to enrich himself through increased customs duties" At the same time, Henry VII would "win the gratitude of the business classes. It was this mechanism that weakened and finally ruined the feudal system in England. In Germany, however, the same conditions did not exist. There was no strong central government in Germany to collect custom duties on trade. Instead, income from trade flowed directly back to the feudal lords located in the various principalities and fiefdoms throughout Germany. With Germany divided into a patchwork of small kingdoms and fiefdoms, governmental power lay securely under the control of local feudal lords. In order to bring about the reforms they wanted, the knights needed the united support of both the cities and the peasantry. However, this united support proved to be elusive. The peasantry distrusted the knights almost as much as the higher nobility. Only a plan that included a total abolition of serfdom, bondage, and the privileges of the nobility could induce the peasantry to join the knights in the struggle for reform. The Eternal Peace of 1495 In the 1495 Reichstag, the Imperial Cities presented an Act of Protest, containing several points, that pointed to their lack of effective representation in the Reichstag. However, the only part of the Act which was actually passed was the ban on private warfare. Even then, the princes made sure that the ban applied only to the knights and specifically exempted any private wars in which the princes might engage. This took from the knights a major source of income and pride. Capturing and holding cities and princes for ransom had been the main source of income for knights. Franz von Sickingen, often called the "Last Knight," lived most of his life along the Rhine. After spending some time in the service of the Emperor Maximillian against Venice, he spent many years terrorizing cities and princes up and down the Rhine, which made him a very rich man. When the election of 1519 took place, he accepted heavy bribes from Francis I of France, but eventually led his troops to Frankfurt where their presence helped to ensure the victory of Charles V. After this, Von Sickingen mounted an invasion of French Picardy for Charles. Sickingen became acquainted with Ulrich von Hutten, a religious humanist knight.