[1] When the future King Edward V was born, he was often seen as his parents' victory as their marriage was seen quite controversial. Edward's early childhood was filled with uncertainty as the War of Roses raged on. But by the time of his father's death, the Lancaster line had nearly died out and the Yorks were in full power. King Edward was a man of seventeen, already married to Anne of France who was pregnant with their first child, when he ascended.
The marriage between King Edward and Anne of France was done in hopes of ending the fighting between France and England. It did not. However, Edward would proclaim that King Louis had blessed England with the most shrewd and perceptive queen. Their marriage was unusually happy by the standards of the time. Edward had no known mistresses and was a devoted husband.
One of King Edward's first steps was reconciling his mother's side of the family with his father's. There are certain stories floating around that Edward grabbed both of his uncles' ears and promised them if they continued to behave badly, he would send them to their rooms with no supper. His efforts mostly paid off even though they were still quite frosty with each other. In hopes of bridging the gap, Edward had one of his maternal cousins be betrothed to Edward of Middleham. Ironically the one thing the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Rivers did agree on was being against his decision to allow Henry Tudor to return to England, restoring his lands and titles.
King Edward believed that red and white roses needed to remain united. He arranged for the marriage of Margaret Pole and Henry Tudor, and gave the latter a place on his council, seeing it as the perfect way to bring the ranments of the line of the red rose back into the fold. Thankfully, his gamble paid off, with the Duke of Richmond proving to be indispensable as an advisor.
Over time Edward would be called the Uncle of Europe as he arranged dynastic matches for his sisters and brothers including the marriage of his younger brother Richard, Duke of York with Anne of Brittany and his sister Cecily would marry King James of Scots. He was well known for his diplomatic and pious nature. However his twenty-year-reign came to a sudden bloody and tragic end, during a joust celebrating his thirty-seventh's birthday, he received a lance to the face, knocking him off his horse. He died in agonizing pain, a violent end for a peaceful man.
[2]
Elizabeth was the sole surviving child of Edward V and Anne of France. A precocious child, she once entertained a visiting French delegation with a performance on the virginals. By the age of nine, she could read and write Latin. She studied French, Spanish, music, dance, and perhaps Greek. If her father was disappointed in having only one child, he still doted on her and she grew up quite close to the daughters of Henry Tudor and Margaret Pole. Her mother, seeing that she was unlikely to bear a living son, arranged for her to marry her cousin Richard, the namesake grandson of the Duke of Gloucester. The marriage proved very fruitful, with eleven living children after sixteen pregnancies.
Her rule is characterized by a blend of strength, intellect, and diplomacy. Queen Elizabeth becomes known for her shrewd political maneuvering, navigating the complex web of European power dynamics to secure England's interests. England experiences a period of stability, prosperity, and cultural flourishing. Known as the Elizabethan Era, her reign witnesses a surge in artistic and literary achievements; under her rule, women gain increased opportunities for education and participation in public life. Female scholars, writers, and artists flourish, contributing to the cultural and intellectual development of England. This Renaissance of female creativity and expression leaves a lasting impact on English literature, art, and philosophy. She forges alliances with Catholic monarchs, such as the Habsburgs in Spain and the Valois in France, solidifying England's position as a bastion of Catholicism.
Inspired by the Catholic humanist movement, she encourages church leaders to address corruption and promote social welfare. Monastic orders flourish under her patronage, focusing on charitable works and education. She implements social reforms, such as labor protections and poverty alleviation measures, to address the needs of the less fortunate. Her dedication to social justice and compassion earns her the admiration of the common people and solidifies her popularity among her subjects.
Her reign leaves an indelible mark on English history, shaping the religious, social, and cultural landscape of the nation. England, firmly rooted in Catholicism, develops a distinct identity as a bastion of the faith.
[3] When Elizabeth and Richard of Gloucester married, it was agreed that the latter would receive the lesser title of Prince Consort, making it clear that it was the main line who ruled in hopes to avoid a civil war. Richard was born in 1515, his parents' oldest surviving son. He resembled his maternal great-grandfather in all the wrong ways being hotblooded and impulsive.
By the time, he was in his twenties, he had already sired two bastards from two different woman. He would scandalously have his longtime mistress Susan Brown, a daughter of one of his guards, live in his household, letting her act as his wife in everything but name, father another five natural children with her. This behavior continued even after he was married to Princess Margaret of Spain. Unlike the happy marriages of his predecessors, Richard despised his wife and refused to sleep with her, loudly proclaiming he'd rather bed a cow as it would be more attractive.
In 1545, war broke out between France and Brittany. The descendants of Richard, Duke of York naturally called upon England to which Prince Richard gladly took up the charge, using it as an excuse to leave his unwanted spouse and enjoy a bit of glory. He seiged Boulogne with an army of forty thousand men, hoping it would cause France to split their troops.
His plan worked but he certainly wished he hadn't. King Charles X decided that England was the bigger threat than Duke John of Brittany and had his more experienced commanders attack the Pale of Calais suspecting that this would enrage Richard and cause him to do something impulsive. He wasn't wrong, Richard, having received false reports from scouts, left the majority of his men at Boulonge and raced to Calais, where his men were promptly ambushed and defeated. Richard managed to escape across the English channel, but the remainder of his men at Boulonge were forced to abandon the seige and later surrender.
Richard returned home a failure. Calais fell under the French's hands and Brittany was forced to make large concessions. He was so enraged by the humiliation that when he became king, he barred the French ambassador from his coronation. Almost immediately becoming king, Richard petitioned the pope for an annulment from his unhappy marriage. Years of suffering her husband's insults, mistress, and bastards, Princess Margaret wrote to her brother, Philip, to agree so she could return home and not have to deal with her husband's sins.
Despite the urging of his advisors, Richard had no wish to find another wife, preferring instead to continue sleeping his way through England, Wales, and parts of Ireland. His debauchery would be his undoing as he eventually died of syphilis.
[4] The third son of Elizabeth I and Richard of Gloucester, Edward was the only one to have survived Richard. (The middle brother Henry died at the attack of the Pale of Calais). So, at Richard's death and with Richard only having bastard children, Edward was the clear heir. A middle age widowed father of four, Edward was something of an unknown as he had mostly avoided court.
But England quickly learned that Edward was calm methodical man—that might not have any of his ancestors temper, charm, and intellect—but had an impressive work ethic. Edward went to work straightening out England's foreign relations and finances. He would wed his children in a network of alliances that in 1560 turned on France. England would invade and retake both Calais and Normandy. Brittany would be able to shake off the concessions forced under the previous treaty. And to cap it all off, Edward would wed the widowed sister of the King of France to formalize the forced peace. Edward and his new bride would have 2 children.
The rest of his reign was rather calm, and as he got older, Edward handed more and more of the day to day responsibilities to his heir, Henry, such that upon Edward's death in 1599, the hand over of power was smooth.
Born to Edward V and his French wife, Henry was from birth Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, growing into, unlike his father, a ferocious, if methodical young man, full of valour and an eagerness to prove himself that led to him being nominated Duke of Normandy and Boulogne, ruling English holdings in France from a young age. While Henry grew apart from the English gentry, he would gain valuable experience as an administrator and extensive connections with the French nobility, something that would prove him well in the future. Returning to England in 1595, upon which he assumed much of his father's responsabilities, Henry would marry Princess Aslaug of Norway, daughter of King Frederick of that land, the last Catholic remnant in Scandinavia.
Aslaug would be Henry's first queen, and also the wife with which he shared the most peaceful and loveable life. Henry was a tall, martial man, who while temperate when it came to women and food was a raging alcoholic whose temper was easy to flare. Henry's following two wives would often come to feel his wrath, often physically, while Aslaug would be the love of Henry's life until the last of his days. Queen Aslaug would die giving birth to their third child, which would cause Henry to go a deep depression. Chronicler and writer John d'Erbray and Quercy, Henry's favourite writer and a Franco-English native of Calais, would later write in his memoirs that "The Queen Aslaug took the King's soul with her to Purgatory, and when it came back, it had killed whatever joyous youth there was still left in the King".
Henry would be taken out of his stupor when the end of the male line of the Valois would come, creating an opening for the English throne. The Catholics in France, knowing that the Princes in direct line to the throne had Calvinist sympathies, would invite Henry to became King of France and restore Catholicism to the Kingdom. Convening a grand crusade, Henry would invade France and take it for himself, renaming the House of York to the ancient name of d'Anjou and dividing his time between London, Rouen and Paris. He would, to appease the Habsburgs, who would go from allies to enemies, marry Catherine of Spain, his second wife, with whom he would have five children.
Henri would be, despite his many failings, a popular Kingdom, managing to hold the realms in personal union due to sheer strength of personality. He would become a widower again, and re-marry once more, marrying the heiress of Brittany, Margaret, with whom he would have 6 more children, even as an old man. He would die of liver failure in 1641, being succeeded by Fredrick.