Fruit of the Pomegranate - A Tudor Timeline

[ranichi17]

“The Year of Our Lord 1519 starts promisingly for most of Europe. In the Kingdom of England, the disastrous result of outbreak of the Sweat has begun to remedy itself. London was recovering, as well as the surrounding counties, and the King has just celebrated Christmas with his Court, the star of the celebration being little Prince Hal, who, unlike his predecessors, has thrived to become the apple of his parents' and sister's eyes.

Across the Channel, Francis I celebrates the holidays with his obviously pregnant Queen, Claude of Brittany. Francis hopes to one-up his English rival by claiming his wife is carrying another son.

In Spain, England's ally through Catherine of Aragon, nominally ruled by Juana of Castile, but whose real power resides in her son and Regent Charles, Portuguese-born courtier Fernando de Magallanes puts the finishing touches on his grand expedition to discover a route to the East without disturbing Portugal and breaking the Treaty of Tordesillas, which, if it succeeds, will give Spain a new route to the treasured spices. Meanwhile, in the New Eden, the conquista under Hernán Cortés has begun.

As January draws to a close, an important news spread like wildfire. Maximilian of Habsburg is dead. A new Emperor must be elected.”

-“Saeculum Aureum: The European Riscoperta” by Frances Somerset​

 

[kasumigenx]

Francis I's wife is Claude of France not Anne of Brittany.

 

[ranichi17]

Francis I's wife is Claude of France not Anne of Brittany.

Oops, wrong Breton duchess. Fixed.

 

[kasumigenx]

Marie de Bourbon (1515)
- daughter of Charles, Duke of Vendôme
- OTL was considered a bride for James V

Both Hal and Marie have genes that caused the madness of Henry VI which was from the Bourbon Family, that could result in a mentally unstable heir.

 

[ranichi17]

Both Hal and Marie have genes that caused the madness of Henry VI which was from the Bourbon Family, that could result in a mentally unstable heir.

How closely related were they? I couldn't find an exact family tree to trace it.

 

[kasumigenx]

Their common ancestor is Louis I duke of Bourbon, who was mentally unstable.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Wonder how the Imperial Election will go. Francis as per OTL will still be his blustery self, trying to curry favor in the Empire. But Charles has Castile, Aragon, Burgundy, and the Habsburg Hereditary Realms behind him.

Question though, will Mohacs go as OTL? Cause it would be really interesting to see Bohemia and Hungary remain allies but not possession of the Habsburgs.

 

[corvus13]

It would be interesting to see Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg elected Emperor, since in OTL he became a devoted Protestant, although at this point, still Catholic.

 

[ranichi17]

OTL, the Electors tried to give the Crown to the Elector of Saxony.
All I can say about TTL is that there's a possibility that Charles won't be Emperor.

 

[ranichi17]

Portrait of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor​

“Election of 1519

The 1519 election took place on March 28 in Frankfurt [1]. It was one of the most controversial elections that occured in the history of the Empire.

The Electors were as follows:

• Albert of Mainz, Elector of Mainz
• Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads, Elector of Trier
• Hermann of Wied, Elector of Cologne
• Louis II Jagiellon, King of Bohemia, also King of Hungary
• Louis V, Elector Palatine
• Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
• Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg

Elected: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.


This election followed the death of Emperor Maximilian on January 31, 1519 [2]. The two main candidates were Charles, the King of Spain, and Francis I, the King of France. Running as a dark-horse candidate was Henry VIII, King of England. Although Charles was a Habsburg by paternal ancestry, his father Philip being the son of Maximilian, he spoke French, and was thought to be as much a foreigner as Francis; while the experiment of giving the Empire to the monarch of another foreign power had never been tried. On the other hand, France and the Empire had not been joined since the days of the Carolingian dynasty.

Charles and Francis tried to outdo each other in voluminous bribes; Charles in the end had deeper pockets. Charles could count on the vote of the King of Bohemia, his brother-in-law; in the meanwhile, Francis had bought the Elector of Trier. Although full details of the election were never revealed, it is possible that the Electors sought a way out of their dilemma by electing as Emperor the Elector of Saxony, but that he turned them down. In the end, Charles was elected unanimously, though with some misgivings by the Elector of Brandenburg. A few weeks after Charles’ coronation, a rumour spread that Francis was actually the real winner, though that was never proved [3].”

- “Imperial Elections of the Holy Roman Empire,” Omnipedia: the Free Encyclopedia [4]​

___________________
[1] OTL, the elections occurred on the 28th of June.
[2] OTL, he died on the 12th.
[3] Funny story, when I tried to randomize the candidates with the electors in random.org, Francis became the winner. If you want me to keep it, I'll gladly change this.
[4] OTL, Wikipedia. I wanted to change the ATL term for the word encyclopedia, but it turns out the first usage of the word was 2 years before the POD

 

[Ladymadchan]

Duchess Maria de Viseu of Portugal (born 1521) might make a good match for Prince Hal as a Hapsburg relative and a King's daughter.

 

[corvus13]

Renee of France is available, unless you don't want a French marriage.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

[3] Funny story, when I tried to randomize the candidates with the electors in random.org, Francis became the winner. If you want me to keep it, I'll gladly change this.

Keeping Charles as Emperor would be fine. He's still gonna be King of Castile-Aragon and ruler of the Burgundian realms anyway.

 

[ranichi17]

Keeping Charles as Emperor would be fine. He's still gonna be King of Castile-Aragon and ruler of the Burgundian realms anyway.

Yeah, I figured. Besides wouldn't it better if something else were to happen, like, let's see... a war?

 

[Timaeus]

too big, dear.

 

[ranichi17]

too big, dear.

Oops. *insert standard CURSE YOU AHNENBLATT here*
Do I still have time to reupload it?

 

[ranichi17]

There, better sized.

 

[ranichi17]

 

[kasumigenx]

Princess Mary was betrothed to Francis III, the Dauphin perhaps that match succeeds.

 

[ranichi17]

Infobox on Bessie Blount's Omnipedia Entry [1]
​

“Henry was often promiscuous during the last stages of the Queen's pregnancies, when vigorous intercourse was seen as a danger to the child, and her pregnancy with Prince Hal was no exception. This coincides with the time that Mistress Elizabeth Blount retired from court.

Elizabeth Blount, known in life as Bessie, was the vivacious blonde eighteen-year-old daughter of Sir John Blount and his wife Catherine Pershall. Little is known about her early life, and there is no known existing portrait of her. She was sent to court as a young girl to become one of Queen Catherine's maids-of-honour. Sometime after her arrival, she caught the King's eye and became his mistress in 1514 or 1515. In 1519, she was married off to Gilbert Tailboys, who was later made a baron [2].

It has long been speculated that her daughter Elizabeth, or perhaps even her son Henry, were fathered by the King [3]. One witness said that Henry Tailboys bore a resemblance to his purported father, Henry VIII, although no portraits survived to prove the claim. Also in favour of the King's paternity is that the child was named Henry, implying his royal father gave the blessing to name him after his royal self. And if Lady Elizabeth Tailboys was indeed born in June 1519, then this would point to the King possibly being her biological father, since her mother's affair with the King ended in 1522. The date also makes it possible for Henry Tailboys to have been conceived before the end of the affair, as Henry was born in late 1522. Another historian also points out that when Elizabeth Tailboys' husband tried to claim his wife's title jure uxoris, it was decided in her favour that she would be the holder of the title suo jure instead of her husband as they do not have issue, a rare decision at a time when husbands held their wives' titles [4].

Childbed and marriage marked the end of Henry's affairs. Children, Henry seemed to think, were for wives, not mistresses, who should inhabit a more ethereal realm of chivalric fantasy.”

- “The Lovers of Henry VIII” by Susan Weir​

___________________
[1] OTL, she died in 1540, and she had three daughters with her second husband.
[2] OTL, she married in 1522.
[3] Butterflies at work. Instead of Henry Fitzroy, we have Lady Elizabeth Tailboys, who was not claimed by Henry as she was not a boy and a proof that he can sire male heirs. Besides, he already has his son TTL. Let's just say that the sperms that impregnated Catherine and Bessie were switched.
[4] This actually happened OTL with Bessie's eldest daughter.