They should show up in the peripheries of the next few chapters. I‘ve planned out the marriages for most of the Catholic Monarchs’ kids now as well.
A Second White Rose - Edmund, Earl of Rutland Survives
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
- Start date
That's very Fair. Plus the yorkist would had Made sure to tell her as she grew what an awful man he was. And that the only remarcable thing he ever did was marrying Bona and having her.
And btw we Will visit castile and Aragón soon?
Great chapter, the Lancaster-York Civil War is over with the death of the Red Prince, hilarious that Edward told him that Bona is his mistress 🤣🤣🤣. Like all the future marriages about to happen, interesting that Bona insured William of Bedford is marrying Bianca Sforza, she's using her power to let her family rise. Can't wait to see the ultimate fate of Bona of Savoy, hopefully it's a happy one. Nice that Scotland is completely under the control of England, annexation will definitely come at a later date. Keep up the good work 👍 👍 👍
Thank you! I'm looking forward for you to see what I have in store
Glad to be of service. Always been interested in George as someone who had such potential to be significant. Nice to see you making something of him.
Oh, he’ll definitely reach that potential here. He’s also married Anne Holland, daughter of Anne of York and the Duke of Exeter, so he’ll be close to the royals as well.
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Chapter Twenty-Two: Uprising
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Chapter Twenty-Two: Uprising
King Louis XI’s faint grasp on power after the Franco-Alliance War had depended on him fostering an image of himself as the great punisher of misdeeds against France. John II, Duke of Bourbon had been executed shortly after the Treaty of Meaux had been signed, and his brother Peter had fled to England. Peter, and the whole Bourbon family, were stripped of their titles and lands, but Peter continued to be known as the Duke of Bourbon in England [1]. Louis also launched an attack on the Candale branch of the House of Foix, the head of which was John de Foix, Earl of Kendal. John was a Gascon nobleman who had fought for England during the 1440s and 1450s, being rewarded with a noble title in England. He had even been made a Knight of the Garter in 1445, but in 1462 John swore fealty to Louis XI, thus relinquishing his right to his English earldom. Louis XI now sent a small army to besiege Taillebourg Castle, where John and his family resided. Jean d’Armagnac, Duke of Nemours was ordered to lead the Siege of Taillebourg, which saw the death of John de Foix - but his son Gaston de Foix escaped with his wife Catherine of Navarre [2]. They fled to Bordeaux where they chartered a ship to take them to England immediately. They landed at Southampton, within lands held by William Blount, Earl of Dorset, in right of his wife Margaret Beaufort. Dorset arranged for Gaston - now going as Gaston II - to meet with Edward IV, in which Gaston swore allegiance to the English king, and in return Gaston was allowed to access the Earldom of Kendal. In 1479, Gaston II and Catherine of Navarre had another son, who they decided to name Daniel, after the Biblical Jewish nobleman from Jerusalem who was exiled to Babylon. The inspiration of naming their son after a famous exile could not be clearer.
Other than his punishment of certain nobles, Louis XI’s reign depended on the link he had forged between France and Burgundy by the marriage of Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine and Marie of Burgundy, suggesting that Burgundy was not totally lost to the French. However, the Battle of Longwy shattered these aspirations when Nicholas’s regency collapsed. It immediately became clear that Louis had given far too much away in the Treaty of Meaux and had no chance to win it back. A rebellion led by Charles, Duke of Berry and supported by a group of French nobles called the Exiles kicked off in Paris. All the Exiles were men who had lost a lot of land in the Treaty of Meaux - Berry, for example, had lost control of Normandy, and John II, Count of Rethel had lost the county of Nevers to Burgundy and Eu to England [3]. The Uprising of the Exiles lasted for just over a week and saw chaos being unleashed in Paris, culminating in the death of Louis XI on 25th October 1478. Louis was succeeded by his eight-year-old son, who became King Charles VIII of France, and Berry swept aside any opposition to get himself elected as regent.
Charles VIII was crowned King of France on 1st August 1479 in Reims, which - being a part of Champagne - was now held by Philip IV of Burgundy as a feudal grant from the French throne. That mere fact infuriated Charles VIII’s regent and uncle Charles, Duke of Berry, as it was a constant reminder of what France had lost in recent years. It was no secret that Berry despised the peace created at the Treaty of Meaux, to the point where William Hastings, Count of Clermont invited Berry to Rouen for a meeting to ensure Berry had no desire to overthrow the Treaty of Meaux. Berry reassured Hastings that he had no desire to alter the Treaty, since he didn’t want to risk another war - but he did explain that he led the rebellion that ended up with Louis XI’s death to demonstrate to his brother that the mistakes he made that allowed for the Treaty of Meaux to pass could not go unpunished.
Now living in Vienna with her husband Maximilian, Anne de Valois heard of the events taking place in France with increasing concern. When she heard of the Uprising of the Exiles and the death of her father, she became furious with the Duke of Berry and incredibly worried for Charles VIII’s safety. She began to send envoys into France to recruit certain nobles to protect and look after Charles VIII; the first of these was John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange, but he was soon joined by Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine and Louis, Duke of Orleans, who was married to Anne’s sister Joan de Valois. Already, factions were emerging among the French nobility. There were the Exiles, the men who had overthrown Louis XI, who wanted a hard line against the allies to reassert French power and rebuild France from its losses, and there were the Pacifists, who believed that co-operation with the Bruges Alliance and adherence to the Treaty of Meaux were in France’s best interests - this faction was led by the nineteen-year-old Charles, Count of Angoulême and René, Duke of Alençon. But there were also the Carolinians, made up of the men Anne had recruited to protect her brother, and the French noblemen in exile in England too. With all these rival groups with opposing ambitions, it was only a matter of time until everything boiled over into violence again.
Fontainebleau Palace, 2nd September 1480
Charles, Duke of Berry had received an invitation from King Edward IV to join the celebration of the capture of the Red Prince, but he had felt no inclination to go. To Berry, the invitation itself felt like a slap in the face - he would have preferred that all the lords of Europe bar him were invited in some way - and so he made up some excuse about having to govern France during difficult times and he couldn’t afford to leave.
Now, the uncle of Charles I, Duke of Savoy had stopped at Fontainebleau Palace to meet with Berry and tell him what he had seen. France and Savoy had been in alliance since the marriage of Louis XI and Charlotte of Savoy, and Philip of Savoy had a lot to tell the French king.
“The most shocking moment of the celebration,” Philip paused, “was when I discovered that King Edward had seduced my sister Bona into becoming his latest mistress.”
Berry blinked and raised his eyebrows. “He- I’m sorry?” He stammered. “You mean, he seduced Bona of Savoy, his mortal enemy’s wife?” He said, on the verge of bursting out in shocked, and somewhat disturbed, laughter.
Philip nodded. “I was stupefied. Utterly lost for words.” He said. “I know not how such an arrangement came about, but I am told that it must have been just before the Scottish war started, as Edward told the Red Prince of it just before he was executed.”
Berry slumped back in his chair and rubbed his temple. “I - I don’t even know what to say, Philip.”
“It seems no-one does.” Philip agreed. “I had best be off. I will be expected in Savoy soon... I’ll have to tell my siblings of what I have seen.”
Philip excused himself, leaving Berry to wonder over what he had just heard, and sighed. “His enemy’s wife...” he said, burying his head in his hands.
Scotland transformed into England's plaything, the Red Prince dead, his wife turned into the latest mistress of Edward IV.
What was becoming of France and her allies?
As Charles VIII grew older, fears spread of what exactly would become of France when he married Cecily of York. Some began spreading rumours that her mother Catherine of Bourbon had been a witch - which they used as an explanation for why the Duke of Bourbon turned against Louis XI - and had trained Cecily in the ways of witchcraft. If that was the case, then Cecily would use her powers to enrapture Charles VIII and essentially rule France through him, just to hand France over to King Edward IV. Berry himself never spoke on such a topic, so while he never agreed with the conspiracy theory, he never dismissed it either. Then on 30th June 1485, on his fifteenth birthday, Charles VIII made a public attack against the conspiracy theories and the rumour mongers peddling them. He asserted that he would marry Cecily of York, regardless of the continuous rumours, and hoped to personally organise the marriage soon. Then, on the night of 5th July 1485, Charles VIII died in his sleep. There was no sign of any violence being done against Charles, but many suspected that he had been poisoned.
With Charles VIII gone, his heir was his uncle and regent Charles, Duke of Berry, who now took over as King Charles IX of France. Charles already had a son - a boy, born in 1483, who had been named Philip after King Philip VI, the first king of the House of Valois - and so, purely from a dynastic point of view, his reign seemed safer than Charles VIII’s had. But almost everyone in Europe suspected Charles IX of poisoning his nephew. Louis, Duke of Orleans now fled France to Brittany - he was next in line to the French throne after Dauphin Philip, and no longer felt safe. In England, Edward IV blamed Charles IX for Charles VIII’s death, and swore that Charles IX had deprived his eldest daughter Cecily of her future husband. In the Holy Roman Empire, Anne was devastated by what had happened to her little brother, and it was clear to her that Charles had committed regicide. She began demanding that Frederick III prepare to invade France to punish Charles IX for his crime. While Frederick was not keen on the idea, Maximilian was. At the same time, Charles began looking for allies on the international stage, while furious nobles began to stir the pot of rebellion and uprising once more. The War of the French Succession was about to begin.
[1] - Peter’s wife is Louise of Albret, who in OTL was John II, Duke of Bourbon’s mistress.
[2] - not the Catherine of Navarre who became the queen of Navarre after her brother King Francis Phoebus’s death, but her aunt.
[3] - OTL, John is known as John II, Count of Nevers. Nevers went to Burgundy, but John and Charles the Bold were never on the best of terms, let’s say, so I can’t imagine John would have been able to keep Nevers.
Amazing work as always @Zestinobambino ! The universal spider is no more! He dies with his aspirations dashed. Very beautiful
And Charles IX just lightened the fuse that would weaken France SO much.... What a fool. Very good for france's enemies though
And Charles IX just lightened the fuse that would weaken France SO much.... What a fool. Very good for france's enemies though