Dibs on Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebon...
But no one actually called him that, right?
Dibs on Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebon...
Just a question: was Isaac Newton butterflied away ITTL?
A compromise, maybe? A Presbyterian Scotland under James, a Kingdom of Ireland (Catholic with perhaps some rights for Anglicans) under the Duke of Lorraine and a Commonwealth of England (I'm imagining some sort of Act of Tolerance for all Protestants).
An island of tolerance in the 17th Century would be nice. I can also imagine TTL's Commonwealth's colonial/overseas endeavours to be a lot more, well, coperatised. An tacit alliance between overseas traders, colonial companies, the military establishment and religous dissidents to rule England.
But no one actually called him that, right?
The problem James has is that whichever choice he makes alienates the other. If he goes to Scotland, he hangs the Irish Royalists out to dry and potentially loses his crown there to Lorraine; if he goes to Ireland, he disillusions the Scots and abandons the Scottish Royalists. Both choices have things to commend them; he’s also potentially screwed either way. Who’d be King, eh?
as the Essex minister Ralph Josselin wrote, “the disproportion between our Nation and Scotland, in our enjoyments, and privileges" led him to believe that "we can get nothing worth our labour and cost there. " In no way, he argued, could “power and domination” be the English aim in invading Scotland, “seeing it would cost us more to gain such a power, then ever we could get by the most entire communion in it; and it would be a sad exchange for English men to remove from such a fertile and flourishing Nation, to make a plantation of the fag end of the Creation. ”
It's a very minor point, but I never would have expected the phrase "the fag end of the Creation" to be in use before the Nineteenth Century.
Cheers,
Nigel.
So... I was just going over my copy of the TL and I realized...
There never was a chapter 33.
Huh. We're calling it the British Revolution now?
Unsurprisingly EdT is correct - "fag end" or more accurately "fagge end" is dated that to 1605-1615 in its use.
I never doubted it. Presumably, the phrase originally referred to unburnt pieces of firewood (faggots) rather than cigarettes.
Cheers,
Nigel.
I wonder how things are going in France, while England is all blood and smoke...
Two in three days! Glad to see this TL resume.
Any additional trouble within France can only be good news for Spain. With unrest in Paris, and the Dutch in the midst of a civil war, the Army of Flanders must be having a better time than OTL. Not that Philip IV is in an enviable position, but IOTL his kingdom is in better shape, or at least in less danger of imminent collapse.
With a few lucky breaks, Spain might be able to hold on to Dunkirk and Roussillon. Even retaining Portugal might not be out of the question.
The period, in previous updates, had TTL books refer to it as such, as well as the War of the Four Kingdoms. ITTL the series of civil wars on the British Isles with different objectives were probably easily be lumped together as a event with a common theme i.e. Charles I's intransigence, and ascribed a common purpose, especially if the intervention in Scotland and Ireland end with a single British government under the Commonwealth, even as Westminster all but groans at the prospect. I imagine that, if James, Lorraine, and the other factions in Ireland damage each other enough for Lambert to move in, and Scotland ends up under English rule, later Commonwealth figures ITTL will create the myth of a joint purpose resulting in Great Britain.
I'd say James is letting his emotions get the better of him, but considering everything he's dealt with at his age, it'd be hard to find that many who'd keep a level head in similar circumstances at age fifteen.
The situation in Scotland is going to be shaken. A shared sense of betrayal by the King may unite the factions, or it could lead to the Remonstrants using the loss of the Resolutioneer's hope of a King to purge them and (ideally) make some sort of deal with the Commonwealth to solidify their control. The British Revolution may only refer to a series of revolts in the British Isles, rather than a united British entity being formed from the conflict, as an argument for this outcome, but I get the feeling that all this will do is lengthen the conflict and see Scotland turn into a blood quagmire.
Ireland will likely see two sides emerge in the anti-English faction, one being the Loyalist crowd who favour James on the throne and are opposed to the idea of a Catholic Ireland run by the Duke of Lorraine, and the Cardinal/Duke faction who probably see James are an upstart child who doesn't get that his family's time has passed and that things are going to change in Ireland. Again, the hope would be that James manages to create some form of control, but is unable to launch a campaign on England, but I can only see both sides tearing one another apart, and the victor drawing the ire of the Commonwealth and it's New Model Army working to smash them down.
One pet-theory of mine is that James' actions end up creating a truce between the Commonwealth and Scots who work to prevent Ireland from becoming a Royalist/Papist blade to their backs. I'm not sure how likely it is, at this point, but it's simply a theory I have.
So no Stuart Scotland then? Interesting?
Winston Churchill really needs to be fighting for the other side. All he is doing by fighting for James is ensuring more misery and bloodshed.
Maybe the Scottish end up up as a theocracy governed by the Kirk. As I recall, they were pretty close to that in OTL.
So... I was just going over my copy of the TL and I realized... There never was a chapter 33.
I wonder how things are going in France, while England is all blood and smoke...
Huh. We're calling it the British Revolution now?
Any additional trouble within France can only be good news for Spain. With unrest in Paris, and the Dutch in the midst of a civil war, the Army of Flanders must be having a better time than OTL. Not that Philip IV is in an enviable position, but IOTL his kingdom is in better shape, or at least in less danger of imminent collapse.
With a few lucky breaks, Spain might be able to hold on to Dunkirk and Roussillon. Even retaining Portugal might not be out of the question.
On the subject of Spain, have butterflies affected this man? Unlike his brothers Prospero and Charles he was not a misshapen spawn of incest, and his survival would markedly improve the prospects his country, and family.
In the other hand, Spain has troubles in Naples to be solved first. How is going the Neapolitan revolt, BTW?
Ah, the awkward feeling when you realize you invaded somewhere because of bad intel
Would it be somewhat reasonable to assume that Sexby's "M" is John Thurloe or a subordinate thereof?
Anyways, it will be interesting to see if TTL's Commonwealth will actually succeed where OTL's failed and actually elect a new parliament (Preferably one that doesn't try to put a crown on the nearest plausible head).