Fruit of the Pomegranate - A Tudor Timeline
- Thread starter ranichi17
- Start date
Long story short, yes. But that's not the only thing that's different after all.
Ave Imperator
Henry VIII and Charles V standing in the presence of Leo X
“To say that Charles was discomforted by the Anglo-French alliance is an understatement. He was the underdog, and this time was not to be the last. Only twenty, he was the youngest of the three clashing monarchs. His protruding jaw did not help, as it made him slow of speech, leading many to think he was slow of wit as well.
We have said that Katherine was uneasy with the prospect of having a French prince for a son. Although she did not manage to impede neither betrothal to Francis nor the Cloth of Gold, she did secure a meeting between her husband and her nephew, uttering such heartfelt pleas. ‘Raising her eyes to heaven, with clasped hands [she] gave praise to God for the grace she hoped he would do her that she might see Charles.’ To see her nephew was ‘her greatest desire in the world. [1]’ Henry, ever the loving husband, doffed his hat and complied. Katherine got her wish.
Charles landed in Dover on May 26 [2], to a thunderous salute from the waiting English fleet. Katherine’s instincts were right, the meeting between Henry and Charles proved a successful venture.
During his visit, Charles, whose desire to see his uncle allied to him and not to the hated French, set out to charm everyone in the English court, particularly Cardinal Wolsey who was rumoured to have been promised the papacy. Although there are no records of the proceedings, it is entirely possible that it was on occasion of this visit that the betrothal of Prince Hal and Princess Johanna was first touched upon [3]. Sure enough, three months later, the first-cousins-once-removed were married by proxy.”
- “Plus Ultra” by Luitgard von Kassel
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[1] Actually an OTL quote.
[2] Also an OTL date.
[3] IOTL, this was the occasion where Mary's betrothal to Charles was first discussed. Here, Henry hits two birds with one stone, obtaining the friendship of both the Empire and France using his children.
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How is Charles the underdog? If anything,Fat Henry is the underdog.The man rules the smallest and poorest realm out of the three by a significant margin but frequently tries to outspend and outdo his opponents.
He's the one who stands to gain nothing with the alliance and the one with least experience.
Anne of the Thousand Days
Arms of the Bolwyn Family of London [1]
“Sometime after the meeting on the Field, two young ladies arrived at the English court. These two girls, the daughters of Sir Thomas Bolwyn, would in time be the most talked about women of their generation not of blood royal.
The Bolwyn daughters were educated abroad as a result of their father’s position as the English diplomat to various Continental courts. Both girls were companions to Margaret of Austria, and later on, to Mary the Elder when she became Queen of France.
Contemporary portraits paint a contrasting picture of these two women. While Lady Mary was fair of hair and skin, the very picture of an English Rose, Lady Anne was dark–haired and olive–skinned, something considered exotic in the English court. These were not their only differences, however. While Lady Mary was described to be passive and shy, Lady Anne captured the attention of the court through her seductive personality and her fierce wit and temper.
Lady Mary, the elder Bolwyn daughter, was said to have embarked on several affairs while at the French court. Rumours circulated about her being ridden by half the French court. Francis I referred to her as ‘The English Mare.’
The Bolwyns’ return to England was one of great shame. Although Queen Claude was tolerant of her husband’s liaisons, her successor was cut from a different cloth. It is now widely accepted that it was Queen Anne of Navarre who was behind the banishment of the Bolwyns from the French court. Along with other mistresses of Francis, Queen Anne sent the girls packing when she once discovered Lady Mary ‘astride her good husband’ on their own marriage bed. This banishment, however, was covered up in England, and the official reason for the girls’ return was their impending betrothals.
Following their return to England, Lady Mary was married to her cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond as a way to settle disputed family claims over the Earldom [2]. During the wedding feast, Mary caught the eye of Henry VIII, and after the couple’s honeymoon, Lady Mary and her sister were summoned to court to serve as Queen Catherine’s ladies–in–waiting. This was simply a way to hide her new royal affair, as she was made into Henry’s official mistress in all but name.
Royal favour, however, was as fickle in England as it was in France. When Lady Mary quickened with child, she was dumped by the King for her sister, the Lady Anne. Lady Mary retired from court and gave birth to her daughter while staying in her husband’s estate. The sickly child, named Anne after her aunt, was said to have borne a passing resemblance to Henry, and was afterwards talked about in court as ‘the King’s cuckoo.’ [3]
We have mentioned Anne. Lady Anne was the younger Bolwyn daughter and a favourite of Margaret of Austria. She returned with her sister to England after the latter’s banishment from France and soon both of them joined Queen Catherine’s retinue. By all accounts, Lady Mary was the more attractive Bolwyn, and yet it was Anne who caught the long–lasting fancy of King Henry, due partly to her ambition and intellect.
During her time in the service of the Queen, Anne was courted by Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland, whom she later married [4]. But even as a married woman, she continued to have her dalliance with the King. The King in return, showered her immediate family with honours, even raising her father to the peerage as Viscount Rochford and her husband as the Marquis of Pembroke [5].
While she was the King’s mistress, Lady Anne’s popularity soared, and soon it was she, not the Queen, who was sought out for royal grants. It was said of this time that King Henry had two Queens, one to wed and one to bed.
The peak of Anne’s reign came when she gave birth to the King’s only acknowledged natural daughter, Lady Anne FitzRoy. It came at a cost, however, as the Lady Anne never fully recovered her health after her daughter’s birth. She was forced to retire from court, and at the same time ending the king’s infatuation. Thus ended the reign of Anne of the Thousand Days [6].”
— “Messalina: The Rise and Fall of Royal and Papal Mistresses” by Isabel de Ayala
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[1] One of the many spellings of the name Boleyn.
[2] IOTL, it was Anne who was going to marry Ormond as a way to unite the disputed inheritance. This plan was dashed and Ormond eventually married Lady Joan Fitzgerald.
[3] Yes, it’s another one of Henry’s bastards. Think of her as an alt-Catherine Carey.
[4] ITTL, since Henry had a male heir and was not planning on marrying another woman, Wolsey did not break the betrothal so they eventually got married. This marriage was somewhat happy, except for Anne’s affair.
[5] Instead of being Marquess in her own right, Henry merely granted the marquisate to her husband, but on the stipulation that it would be solely Anne’s children who would inherit it, else it goes back to the Crown.
[6] alt-Elizabeth I. Henry had to acknowledge her not only because of his real infatuation with Anne, but also because at this time Henry was the only one bedding Anne and she can’t be claimed to be Percy’s daughter. Elizabeth* would become suo jure Marchioness of Pembroke after both her mother and stepfather’s deaths. Anne would go on to bear Percy’s heirs, and yes, her daughter would cause trouble in her brother’s reign.
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Toujours Fidèle
1530 Portrait of Anne of Navarre, Queen of France [1]
“One of the most cherished jewels of the Second Schism of Christianity [2] is Queen Anne of France, whom we shall talk about presently.
Even before she left for France, Queen Anne had an unquenchable interest in religion. Born a princess of Navarre, where Salic Law had no hold, she was considered her mother’s heir up until the moment of her brother’s birth. Had she not been the heir, she would have certainly ended up in a convent like so many of her sisters. Nevertheless, because of this exposure to the unfairness inflicted upon her sex, she so desired to change it.
At the age of twenty–eight, by that time considered a spinster, she was packed off to France by her brother to fulfill a marriage pact, certainly without her consent. It was intended as an off–hand slight, as Henri was expecting her age will render her infertile. Unfortunately for her brother, Anne fulfilled her dynastic duty by providing her husband three daughters and a son, with each birth being increasingly taxing to her health than the last: the stillborn Claude in 1523, Catherine in 1525, Henry in 1526, and finally the sickly Anne in 1531 whose birth had sapped the last of her strength and killed her.
Queen Anne was extremely pious, and she expected her husband to be as well. Sadly, this was one key difference between the royal couple which caused their marriage to be strained. While Francis tolerated the church and even gave them concessions, he lapsed in prayer and kept mistresses, something which Anne, who took for her device the words ‘Toujours Fidèle,’ never forgave. When the queen once caught her husband desecrating their marriage bed with a courtier from England, she forced him to exile all of his mistresses from court and keep only to her bed.
Anne took to queenship eagerly. More so than her predecessor, she strengthened ties between France and the rest of Europe and arranged masques to improve the loyalty of French vassals, all the while taking care not to overspend. After the meeting on the Field, she nurtured a friendship with Mary of England, with whom she kept correspondence with up until the end of her life. She also developed a close bond with her sister–in–law Marguerite, through whom she met Louis de Berquin, a religious scholar who she eventually sponsored.
De Berquin was nobly born in Artois at around the year 1490. In the academia, he was inspired by the works of Erasmus and Lefevre. He was interested in religious reforms, which was placed him under close scrutiny by the increasingly hostile church. If not for his patroness, he would have been condemned and Gallicanism would never have taken root.
In 1529, while Mary of England was preparing to be wed to the Dauphin, the Church declared de Berquin heretical and summoned him to Rome for a trial. Knowing he will not come back alive, Anne gave her scholar refuge in Château de Cognac. It was there that he declared his separate church, and Anne and her family supported him through it, eventually turning their back on Rome and taking France along with them.”
— “Schisms of Christianity” by Marianne Enjolras [3]
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[1] Actually a 1533 portrait by Pieter de Kempener entitled Portrait of a Lady.
[2] TTL term for the Reformation.
[3] I cannot resist. I’m sorry.
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Renee of France perhaps? She was born in 1910, so it's not a stretch for her and Charles to be married. And she's be a good idea if he wanted to neutralise Frane somewhat and would also give his children a claim to Brittany, which could be interesting in the future. There's also his OTL sister-in-law Beatrice of Portugal, who was less fortunate than her sister in terms of childbirth, but still a good choice to strengthen the Iberien Alliance. You also could try Mary Tudor the Younger and have the betrothal of Francis and her fall out, or maybe another English royal; possibly Frances Brandon or Margaret Douglas might be a good choice? Guilia or Maria D'Aragona would work. Or you might try Anne de Laval, who would bring more claims to the throne of Naples to the him. Isabella of Bragzanga would be a good alternate from Portugal as well, if you want one that would be more traditional.
AFAIK Renée is betrothed/married to the king of Navarre.
A d'Albret or a de Laval match is awkward. Bona Sforza's mother offered Ferdinand of Aragon her daughter for whichever of his grandsons inherited the Spaniah realm. That said, Giulia or Isabella of Naples are living with their mother at Valencia. But, my money is on Beatriz (Isabel's sister)
A d'Albret or a de Laval match is awkward. Bona Sforza's mother offered Ferdinand of Aragon her daughter for whichever of his grandsons inherited the Spaniah realm. That said, Giulia or Isabella of Naples are living with their mother at Valencia. But, my money is on Beatriz (Isabel's sister)
That betrothal could be easily overturned. Say Charles offers to marry her to gain a perpetual peace (so like, 5 years), Franvis will provide a new bride for the King of Navarre.
That said, I agree Beatrice would be the best bet, which would lead to some very interesting developments on the front. Of Charles only has one son later in the marriage, and Beatrice dies, then he will be most likely forced into remarriage. Which would leave him with some very interesting options that were not apparent at this point.
I'm curious though as to whom the Ferrarese duke would score as a wife for his son and heir with Renée out the running - I can't see them accepting a stepdown to a mere duke from a king (albeit of a predominantly occupied kingdom). And the Este duke was rather cash-strapped (or at least so it would seem on the insistance that the marriage be consumated immediately to prevent an annulment and thus having to return the dowry to the French crown).
a pair of star-cross’d lovers
What's this? An update? Holy crap, I'm not lazy today.
Anyway, this is part one of the update. The next part will be posted tomorrow.
Yes, I know, some of this looks ASB. Let it pass.
Sophia of Masovia as Cleopatra [1]
“Perhaps no other seemingly insignificant event could have caused so much strife and heartbreak as that which we shall talk about presently.
In 1521, Ferdinand of Habsburg married the Princess Anna of Hungary in accordance to the terms set by the Congress of Vienna. The wedding was attended by illustrious men and women from both Western and Eastern Europe, most significantly the bridegroom’s brother Charles.
Revelry abounded the wedding party all the way until dawn. Within that merry confusion, Charles met Sophia, eldest sister of the Duke Stanislav of Masovia and a member of the House of Piast, the former Kings of Poland [2]. The next day, a few gossiping courtiers would whisper that Charles was seen exiting Sophia’s bedchamber clad in nothing but his sleeping robe. Some would say afterwards that the Eastern Sophia was an enchantress who placed a spell on the Emperor and cause him to see only her.
Enchantress or not, Sophia did capture the Emperor’s heart. Long after his brother’s wedding, Charles was finding pretext after pretext just to visit the Polish Court. Meanwhile, the Duke of Masovia keeps a steel eye on his sister so as to avoid any other rumours of impropriety.
During such a visit, the Duke of Masovia is awoken one night by a knock on his door. It is the Emperor, bidding the Duke to walk beside him for a whiff of night air. The Duke does so, unwilling to disobey a man with such a high rank. The mystery only increases when the pair reach the castle’s church and worsens when they step inside. Within the confines of the church are gathered the palace chaplain and two veiled ladies of obviously high standing. The veils lifted, they revealed themselves to be the Duke’s two sisters, the eldest Sophia and the youngest Anna. A simple and rather rushed marriage occurs, after which Charles and Sophia left, hands held by each other and grinning.
None of Charles’ courts were pleased, and neither was the Polish king, who threatened to occupy the Masovian lands until Charles threatened him with annexation in return. The Cortes in Charles’ Spanish domains denounced him almost immediately, demanding Charles to return the Crowns to his mother Juana and labelling him as a traitorous foreign usurper. Portugal was not pleased either, as before Charles eloped, the Spanish and Portuguese were already discussing a marriage between Charles and the Infanta Isabella. Manuel of Portugal threatens to banish every Spaniard in his land, until he is bought off by a marriage proposal between Catherine Habsburg and the Infante John.
For years, Charles’ hold in Spain was weak. There were many who saw his mother as the rightful ruler. Matters were not helped when he appointed men from his Burgundian court in high Spanish offices. Discontentment increased when Charles raised taxes to pay for his campaign in the Imperial elections. When the news of Charles’ marriage spread, riots broke out all over the Spanish lands until it turned into full-scale rebellion. The War for the Spanish succession had begun.”
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[1] OTL portrait of an unknown woman as Cleopatra.
[2] IOTL, she was the wife of Stephen VII Báthory
Anyway, this is part one of the update. The next part will be posted tomorrow.
Yes, I know, some of this looks ASB. Let it pass.
Sophia of Masovia as Cleopatra [1]
“Perhaps no other seemingly insignificant event could have caused so much strife and heartbreak as that which we shall talk about presently.
In 1521, Ferdinand of Habsburg married the Princess Anna of Hungary in accordance to the terms set by the Congress of Vienna. The wedding was attended by illustrious men and women from both Western and Eastern Europe, most significantly the bridegroom’s brother Charles.
Revelry abounded the wedding party all the way until dawn. Within that merry confusion, Charles met Sophia, eldest sister of the Duke Stanislav of Masovia and a member of the House of Piast, the former Kings of Poland [2]. The next day, a few gossiping courtiers would whisper that Charles was seen exiting Sophia’s bedchamber clad in nothing but his sleeping robe. Some would say afterwards that the Eastern Sophia was an enchantress who placed a spell on the Emperor and cause him to see only her.
Enchantress or not, Sophia did capture the Emperor’s heart. Long after his brother’s wedding, Charles was finding pretext after pretext just to visit the Polish Court. Meanwhile, the Duke of Masovia keeps a steel eye on his sister so as to avoid any other rumours of impropriety.
During such a visit, the Duke of Masovia is awoken one night by a knock on his door. It is the Emperor, bidding the Duke to walk beside him for a whiff of night air. The Duke does so, unwilling to disobey a man with such a high rank. The mystery only increases when the pair reach the castle’s church and worsens when they step inside. Within the confines of the church are gathered the palace chaplain and two veiled ladies of obviously high standing. The veils lifted, they revealed themselves to be the Duke’s two sisters, the eldest Sophia and the youngest Anna. A simple and rather rushed marriage occurs, after which Charles and Sophia left, hands held by each other and grinning.
None of Charles’ courts were pleased, and neither was the Polish king, who threatened to occupy the Masovian lands until Charles threatened him with annexation in return. The Cortes in Charles’ Spanish domains denounced him almost immediately, demanding Charles to return the Crowns to his mother Juana and labelling him as a traitorous foreign usurper. Portugal was not pleased either, as before Charles eloped, the Spanish and Portuguese were already discussing a marriage between Charles and the Infanta Isabella. Manuel of Portugal threatens to banish every Spaniard in his land, until he is bought off by a marriage proposal between Catherine Habsburg and the Infante John.
For years, Charles’ hold in Spain was weak. There were many who saw his mother as the rightful ruler. Matters were not helped when he appointed men from his Burgundian court in high Spanish offices. Discontentment increased when Charles raised taxes to pay for his campaign in the Imperial elections. When the news of Charles’ marriage spread, riots broke out all over the Spanish lands until it turned into full-scale rebellion. The War for the Spanish succession had begun.”
– “Plus Ultra” by Luitgard von Kassel
___________________
[1] OTL portrait of an unknown woman as Cleopatra.
[2] IOTL, she was the wife of Stephen VII Báthory
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Interesting. Will Sophia mirror her OTL fertility in that she had between 1-3 living children (OTL she either had Anna, Stephen and Klara or just the daughter Klara)? Or will she be a better biological match with Charles that Stephen?
What's this? An update? Holy crap, I'm not lazy today.
Anyway, this is part one of the update. The next part will be posted tomorrow.
Yes, I know, some of this looks ASB. Let it pass.
Sophia of Masovia [1]
“Perhaps no other seemingly insignificant event could have caused so much strife and heartbreak as that which we shall talk about presently.
In 1521, Ferdinand of Habsburg married the Princess Anna of Hungary in accordance to the terms set by the Congress of Vienna. The wedding was attended by illustrious men and women from both Western and Eastern Europe, most significantly the bridegroom’s brother Charles.
Revelry abounded the wedding party all the way until dawn. Within that merry confusion, Charles met Sophia, eldest sister of the Duke Stanislav of Masovia and a member of the House of Piast, the former Kings of Poland [2]. The next day, a few gossiping courtiers would whisper that Charles was seen exiting Sophia’s bedchamber clad in nothing but his sleeping robe. Some would say afterwards that the Eastern Sophia was an enchantress who placed a spell on the Emperor and cause him to see only her.
Enchantress or not, Sophia did capture the Emperor’s heart. Long after his brother’s wedding, Charles was finding pretext after pretext just to visit the Polish Court. Meanwhile, the Duke of Masovia keeps a steel eye on his sister so as to avoid any other rumours of impropriety.
During such a visit, the Duke of Masovia is awoken one night by a knock on his door. It is the Emperor, bidding the Duke to walk beside him for a whiff of night air. The Duke does so, unwilling to disobey a man with such a high rank. The mystery only increases when the pair reach the castle’s church and worsens when they step inside. Within the confines of the church are gathered the palace chaplain and two veiled ladies of obviously high standing. The veils lifted, they revealed themselves to be the Duke’s two sisters, the eldest Sophia and the youngest Anna. A simple and rather rushed marriage occurs, after which Charles and Sophia left, hands held by each other and grinning.
None of Charles’ courts were pleased, and neither was the Polish king, who threatened to occupy the Masovian lands until Charles threatened him with annexation in return. The Cortes in Charles’ Spanish domains denounced him almost immediately, demanding Charles to return the Crowns to his mother Juana and labelling him as a traitorous foreign usurper. Portugal was not pleased either, as before Charles eloped, the Spanish and Portuguese were already discussing a marriage between Charles and the Infanta Isabella. Manuel of Portugal threatens to banish every Spaniard in his land, until he is bought off by a marriage proposal between Catherine Habsburg and the Infante John.
For years, Charles’ hold in Spain was weak. There were many who saw his mother as the rightful ruler. Matters were not helped when he appointed men from his Burgundian court in high Spanish offices. Discontentment increased when Charles raised taxes to pay for his campaign in the Imperial elections. When the news of Charles’ marriage spread, riots broke out all over the Spanish lands until it turned into full-scale rebellion. The War for the Spanish succession had begun.”
– “Plus Ultra” by Luitgard von Kassel
___________________
[1] OTL portrait of Archduchess Magdalene of Austria.
[2] IOTL, she was the wife of Stephen VII Báthory
The habsburg chin came from the piasts.
Let Slip the Dogs of War
An Illustration of Charles V in his armor
“As soon as the news of Charles’ marriage to Sofia of Mazovia was announced, widespread riots occurred in Castile and Aragon.
In Toledo, a group of men openly defaced an illustration bearing the likeness of the new Queen. None of them were caught, as they dispersed immediately before the Emperor’s men caught them in the activity. Toledo had long been unstable because of Charles’ previous campaign expense raising the city’s taxes.
In the wake of the defacement, Charles ordered the most radical of the city’s leaders out of Toledo and tried replacing them with new administrators known to be loyal to Charles. As the radical leaders were leaving the city, another riot sparked, the mob killing all but three of the Emperor’s new appointees. Afterwards, the city voted on the leadership of Juan López de Padilla.
The events in Toledo spread out to nearby cities, until most of Castile rose in rebellion. Aragon and Leon followed soon after. Those cities with a vote in the Cortes placed a proposition for Charles:
- Cancel the taxes voted in the Cortes of Corunna.
- A return to the local-controlled encabezamiento system of taxation.
- Reserve official positions and church benefices for Iberians.
- Prohibit money from leaving the kingdom to fund foreign affairs.
- Designate an Iberian to lead the kingdom in the absence of the king.
The last proposition was later changed, in that Charles is to be deposed, replaced with his mother Juana, and that her heir be Ferdinand. This change was what they later followed in the Treaty of Burgos.
Noble support for the rebels was scarce in the first phase of the war, but it increased when Pedro de Girón grabbed a hold on Juana, who was imprisoned by her son in Tordesillas, soon after the city fell. Juana, who was said to have recovered her wits the moment she escaped imprisonment, agreed on signing the proposition laid before her and called out for her nobles to support her in removing her ‘usurping son,’ recalling her mother Isabella’s plight against Enrique IV and La Beltraneja [2].
Charles set out himself to put down the rebels on August 8 1525. He was met with a massive defeat in Villalar. His resources depleted, he turned to the Pope. The Pope remained silent, choosing to stay neutral.
Charles accepted defeat five months later, when Madrid and Barcelona fell. The Treaty of Burgos was signed on the 12th of January 1526, which stripped Charles and his heirs of their rights to the Spanish domains. Castile, Leon, Aragon, and the Southern parts of Italy along with Sicily went back to Juana, while Charles kept his Habsburg inheritance and the Northern part of Italy.
Ferdinand was sworn in as the Prince of Asturias and Girona, suddenly thrust into the role of heir. For years thereafter, there were two factions in the peninsula, the Carlines and the Fernandines. The Carlines regarded Ferdinand as a usurper, pointing out to his plethora of miscarried and stillborn sons as divine punishment. Finally, Ferdinand was redeemed when in 1531, his wife Anna gave birth to twin sons named Alfonso and Ferdinand.
In the Empire, Charles tightened his grasp on his remaining domains by securing valuable marriages for his sisters. Eleanor married the Elector Palatine in 1524, having been widowed the previous year after an epidemic of plague. Catherine was sent to the Portuguese court in 1521, as part of the betrothal agreement between her and her cousin Infante João. They were formally wed in Lisboa in 1523, a week after her sixteenth birthday.”
– “Jacob and Esau: The Life and Times of the Warring Habsburg Brothers” by María Hernandez Fonseca
___________________[1] Most of these are actually what happened IOTL’s Revolt of the Comuneros and Revolt of the Brotherhoods. I can’t write battles.
[2] IOTL, Juana not supporting the Comuneros was the final nail in the coffin of defeat. Here, it becomes the other way around.
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It was due to the marriage of Cymburgis to Charles V's ancestors, Sophia and Charles are distant cousins..