The Union of Crowns: A Timeline
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
On the contrary, there was European interest in Africa for centuries, they just couldn't get far due to disease. In the pre-Suez era, South Africa is an important stop on the trip to India and Australia, one that would very much be in British interests to control. IRL, the Dutch colonised South Africa in 1652, if Britain can get the jump on them, their issues with the Dutch and Boers later on can be entirely avoided.
trading spots were the only real areas taken by Europeans, alongside slaver outposts in this era. Though yeah due to the EIC, the Brits will show interests in the cape of good hope.
I hope that the princess Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and her husband the archduke Albert of Austria (rulers and sovereigns of the Spanish / Southern Netherlands) will have at least one surviving son ITTL, leading to a full independent "Belgian" Catholic nation and monarchy, under a new dynastical branch of the Habsburg family, in the 17th century.
If apart from a son they also had a daughter, she could marry the Duke of York Charles Stuart (IOTL king Charles I of England), giving to Britain an important, powerful and prosperous ally on the other side of the English Channel.
If apart from a son they also had a daughter, she could marry the Duke of York Charles Stuart (IOTL king Charles I of England), giving to Britain an important, powerful and prosperous ally on the other side of the English Channel.
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A potential divergence of a stronger and more independent Southern Netherlands (thanks to the surviving issue of Isabella and Albert) could be that the Twelve Years' Truce (signed between Spain / the Southern Netherlands and the Dutch Republic in 1609) is lengthened indefinitely, leading to a long-lasting peace in the Benelux region that economically would benefit both countries considerably.
With the Southern Netherlands becoming independent from the direct Spanish rule and the "Eighty Years' War" paused indefinitely, the Spanish Road between the Duchy of Milan and the Spanish Netherlands would be rendered useless, causing the Duchy of Milan to become an economic burden for the Spanish Monarchy with a quite reduced strategic value.
This situation could be resolved by having King Philip III of Spain make a cession of the Duchy of Milan to his brother-in-law Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy, who could be crowned King of Italy or Lombardy with the support of Spain and the Pope, with the purpose of become an Italian counterweight or buffer state between France and the HRE. With the POD of this TL in 1603, the Prince of Piedmont Philip Emmannuel, heir and eldest son of Charles Emmanuel I, could avoid his death by smallpox in 1605 ITTL, eventually succeeding his father and being a better and more competent ruler than his younger brother Victor Amadeus (IOTL Duke of Savoy).
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VVD0D95
Banned
Finally caught up, must say I’m really impressed and I’m really liking this!
Maria of Brandenburg as henrys wife is an interesting choice give. James otl preference for one Catholic and one Protestant marriage for his eldest children.
Mann as the seat of the primate of britain is also intriguing. Wonder how this will all play out.
Maria of Brandenburg as henrys wife is an interesting choice give. James otl preference for one Catholic and one Protestant marriage for his eldest children.
Mann as the seat of the primate of britain is also intriguing. Wonder how this will all play out.
Chapter 7: The Great Union
The Union of Crowns
Chapter 7: The Great Union
***
From The Long 17th Century: A History by Hans Schmidt
“The rapid spread of Lutheran and Calvinist ideals throughout Europe, had made the situation for the Catholic Church dire, and the Counter-Reformation that had led to the Cologne War in the 1580s and the Strasbourg Bishop’s War in the early 17th century. All of these events, hurt the credibility of the Protestants, as they believed that the counter-reformation would see their religion stamped out by the unruly Catholics. As a result, many Protestant nations in the Holy Roman Empire banded together to form what is called as the Protestant Union.
Members of the Protestant Union
Despite the actions of establishing the union having roots in deeper Protestant and reformist history, two events prompted the creation of the union. Rudolf II and Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire and Bavaria respectively re-imposed Catholicism in Donauworth in 1607, and in 1608, a majority of the Holy Roman Imperial Diet, bribed by the Austrians and Bavarians as they were, had decided that the possible renewal of the Peace of Augsburg, signed in 1555 would have to be conditional on the restoration of all appropriated Church lands. This threatened the economic situation of the Protestant nations, and as a result, they joined together in an alliance with one another.
This union did consist of all Protestant countries in the Holy Roman Empire, however did form the strongest block of Protestant nations within the Empire. It included the Palatinate, Neuburg, Wurttemberg, Baden-Durlach, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Anhalt, Zweibrucken, Oettingen, Hesse-Kassel, Brandenburg, Ulm, Strasbourg, Nuremburg, Rothenburg, Windsheim, Schweinfurt, Weissenburg, Nordlingen, Schwabisch Hall, Heilbronn, Memmingen, Kempten, Landau, Worms, Speyer, Aalen and Glengen. It formed a formidable block within the empire, and presented Rudolf II with a great threat to his power within the Empire. The Protestant Union already had 2 electors, and if they could woo the others, then Rudolf II would find his dominion over his empire in Central Europe in extreme trouble.
The establishment of the Protestant Union also prompted the Catholics to form their own counter-block to the Protestants, and on the 5th of July 1608, the Catholic Prince-Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, including the ones from Augsburg, Constance, Passau, Regensburg, and Wurzburg, and finally Salzburg, joined each other in an assembly in Munich. During this meeting, the Catholic powers, sponsored by Austria, formed the Catholic League as a counter-balance to the Protestant League. The first conflict between these two power blocks would be the War of the Julich Succession, which would prove to be the prelude to the 20 Years War.
Flag of the Catholic League.
The United Duchies of Julich-Cleves-Berg entered a succession crisis in 1609, when its duke, Johann Wilhelm died on the 25th of March, 1609, sparking off a crisis throughout the general Holy Roman Empire. The Duchy had a total territory of around 14,000 square kilometers, and was extremely economically rich, due to proximity to the Spanish Road, and the German economic centers of trade. Johann Wilhelm had no children to succeed him and Rudolf II had claims to the duchies through his intermarriage. Other pretenders to the Duchies arrived in the form of Brandenburg and Palatinate as well, and while several other claimants appeared too, the claims of Rudolf II, Brandenburg and the Palatinate were the only real and credible claimants. The former Duke’s wife, Antonia of Lorraine, created a regency council, and took care of the governance of the duchies.
However the regency had been created with the explicit understanding and support from Rudolf II. Brandenburg and the Palatinate saw this a as a blatant powergrab from the Habsburg Monarchy and the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Palatinate-Neuberg signed the secret Treaty of Dortmund, where they promised to split the duchies between themselves and allied themselves against the Habsburg claim to the Duchies. 10,000 men of this allied force entered the Duchies and began to fight with the pro-habsburg garrison in the region, trying to enforce their claims to the region. This situation was directly against the favor of the Catholics, as the Protestant claimants taking the throne of the Duchy would directly endanger the Spanish Road. Furthermore, the situation deteriorated in 1609, when Henry IV of France, signed a secret pact with the Hohenzollerns and Wittelsbach claimants, sending a force of 22,000 men under the command of Marshal de La Chatre to Northeastern France to intimidate Rudolf II into backing down. Of all the leaders in Catholic Europe, the Protestants trusted Henry IV the most, due to his former Protestant beliefs, and his religious tolerance for Protestants in France. His aid was invaluable, as neither Spain nor Austria was capable of going to war during this time, still dealing with domestic upheavals as they were.
Henry IV of France.
The situation for the Catholic powers deteriorated when in 1610, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of England joined in (though England only served to be involved diplomatically and explicitly told everyone that they were not going to go to war) intervening against the Catholic claimants of the throne. The issue was diffused as claimants, Wolfgang Wilhelm, the Count Palatine of Neuburg and Joachim Ernst, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach took the duchies by force, dividing the duchies between themselves, and despite the fact that the forced annexation of these duchies held no official recognition from the Emperor, it was de-facto recognized by all parties involved in the War of the Julich Succession.
This small conflict would prove itself to be the violent precursor to what became the 20 Years War, as the Protestant Union and the Catholic League used valuable lessons learned in this small conflict to their advantage to further their military might.”
***
From The House of Vasa: A History by Gustav Andersson
“The Battle of Kircholm in 1605 had destroyed the Swedes during their fight with the Poles, it would not prove to be the turning point of the war. Jan Chodkiewicz was but a single man, and while he himself was a brilliant commander, the Swedes decided to avenge their loss at Kircholm by going on the offensive. Daugagriva Castle, an imposing fortress in Livonia, between strategic lines of communication and transportation was their first objective, and Marshal Joachim Frederick von Mansfield led a force of around 8,000 men to take the fortress that was occupied by its Polish garrison. It was strategic in the sense that without taking the fort, any attack on the city of Riga would be futile, and Riga was certainly a major goal of the Swedes. Bolstered by Scottish and English mercenaries, the Swedes attacked. The Polish garrison was commanded by Fraciszek Biallozor, who lacked men, with only 130 soldiers capable of fighting, and his cannons, around 40 of them, were old and antiquated and incapable of fighting on proper terms with Mansfield’s new modern cannons. The fortress fell to the Swedes after a day’s bombardment on the 27th of July 1608.
The Battle of Kircholm 1605
With the fortress at the heart of Riga captured, Swedish galleys from Reval began to pour into the Gulf of Riga, bringing reinforcements, ammunition and they enforced a blockade of the City of Riga itself, with the Swedes intent on taking the city. Meanwhile, Chodkiewicz was informed that the Swedes were intent on taking Riga, and he knew that he could not cut the Swedes off due to the strong reinforcements of Swedes coming from across the seas, where the Poles had no naval capability of cutting them off.
As a result, Chodkiewicz decided to move towards the city of Parnu in Swedish Estonia, which was lightly guarded by Danil von Wochen, with some 2,000 troops under his command. On March 18, 1609, these troops marched into the city of Parnu and the surprised Swedish garrison gave up without a real fight against the Polish force commanded by Chodkiewicz. Von Wochen managed to escape however, and after receiving reinforcements from Reval and Narva, his force was bolstered to 4,000 men and he turned around and laid siege to Parnu, intent on retaking the city that was captured by the Polish Hetman. Chodkiewicz and his 3,500 men were put under siege by the Swedes, with the man unable to aid the other Polish forces in their prosecution of the war.
Meanwhile the war continued to degrade for the Poles, when Vasili IV of Russia allied with the Swedes to press the Russian claims to Smolensk. The Swedes dispatched 5,000 soldiers, mostly Finns and Estonians, to Russia under the command of General Jacob de La Gardie. Tensions had been high between Russia and Poland ever since the Poles invaded in 1605 to aid the False Dmitry I. Despite the breakdown of stability in Russia during this time, which is called the Time of Troubles, Vasili IV managed to stabilize the situation for the time being, and approached Charles IX of Sweden for an alliance against Poland, which was made official during the Treaty of Viborg in 1609. The Russians, invaded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the east, with 30,000 men under the command of Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky.
Vasili IV of Russia and Jacob de la Gardie
The situation for the Poles was extremely dangerous, however bad news came again when Riga fell to the Swedes after a yearlong siege on the 20th of August, 1609, and the Siege of Parnu ended on December 12, 1609, which saw Chodkiewicz captured by the Swedes. He was well treated under imprisonment, however without him to make the war go better for the Poles, the war with Sweden and Poland, continued to destroy Poland’s military capability.
By mid-1610, the Swedes had reconquered Livonia, and Smolensk was under siege. A Swedish-Russian army under Jacob De La Gardie defeated a Polish relief force sent by Sigismund III under the command of Stanislaw Zolkiewiski at the Battle of Polotsk, and destroyed Poland’s hopes of turning the war around. With their soldiers mutinying due to the lack of funds, and the treasury running dry, the Poles finally sued for peace against the Russians and Swedes. With the death of Charles IX in 1611, the new King, Gustav II Adolf of Sweden also decided for peace, as Sweden was tired after a decade of war. The Treaty of Reval signed in November 21, 1611 forced Poland to cede Smolensk to the Russians, while Swedish Livonia was restored to the Swedes, and in addition they annexed the important port town of Riga. Sigismund III was forced to disavow his claim to the Swedish throne as well. The Swedes and Russians returned victorious. This war would have massive implications, as it would allow Vasili IV to stabilize his throne at home in Russia, and it would prove to become the first step into a great career for the new young king of Sweden.”
***
From The Union of Crowns by Robert William Johnson
“Political integration had been the key forefront of King James I/VI policy when he took the English throne, and the Highlander War had expanded that front into Ireland as well, supported by most of the Irish Gaelic Lords. In 1609, the negotiations for union were sidelined for a year due to the War of the Julich Succession.
During the war, the English and Scots provided monetary aid to the Protestant Union, and English mercenaries, around 200 of them, found their way into the armies that were used by the Hohenzollerns to annex the Duchy. The English also intervened in late 1609 when King Henry IV of France threatened to go to war with the Holy Roman Empire. James I, ever the pacifist and peacemaker, decided to intervene diplomatically, and English ambassadors throughout the continent began to intrigue in favor of peace. It was English goading that forced Maurice, the Prince of Orange of the Dutch Republic to intervene in the War of the Jullich Succession in favor of the Protestant Union.
In mid-1610, after the defeat of the Catholic claimants, the English and Scots turned to the union once again, and this time the issue of Ireland came up. The Irish Lords did want Union with Scotland and England, however on the basis that persecution of the Irish Language stopped, and that the Catholic irish and Protestant Irish were equally represented in the House of Commons. The Loyalty of the Catholic Gaelic Lords, led by Lord Tyrone made it hard for even the die-hard and radical Protestants to deny them this right. Throughout 1610 and 1611 negotiations continued and the Chief of the O Cathain Lords of Ulster and Leinster, Donnell Ballagh O’Cahan began to negotiate what is called the Irish Emancipation Act.
Donnell Ballagh O’Cahan
This act was controversial for many devout Britannics [1] as they believed giving too much rights to the Catholics would disrupt the social fabric of the country which had fought for religion bitterly in the past half a decade. The Irish Emancipation Act passed through the English and Scottish Parliaments on March 12, 1611 and stated that in the case of full political union between the Three Kingdoms, then the number of Irish seats in the unified House of Commons would be divided equally between the Protestant Irish and Catholic Irish. The Catholic population of Ireland were allowed to have the vote (as worthless as that provision was in the 17th century, considering less than 0.1% of the population voted in England at the same time, the gravitas and posterity of the provision aided in unionist feelings), and The Irish Emancipation Act also provided the freedom of practicing the Roman Catholic Religion within only Ireland with the oath that would be made to swear allegiance to the King of Britain holding no reference to the Protestant Faith for the Irish. This would enable the Irish to legally participate in the affairs of their local governments without formally renouncing their faith. It also provided a sly solution to the English and the Scots, as now most of their own Catholics would move to Ireland, and remove the Catholic instability in their own lands for the greater moment.
After the passage of the act, almost immediately a general mass immigration took place as many Catholics from England, Wales and Scotland fled from their respective homes into Ireland, where (relative) tolerance of the Roman Catholic Faith was achieved. From 1611-1711, around ~500,000 Catholics from Scotland and England would leave and emigrate to Ireland, forming the basis of the modern Anglo-Irish and Irish-Scots community in the Emerald Isle, which constitutes a tenth to a fifth of their total population today.
Finally on the 18th of November, 1611, the Acts of the Union were signed by the English Government, Parliament and the Scottish Government, Parliament. The Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, Alexander Seton, the 1st Earl of Dunfermline and the Lord High Chancellor of England, Thomas Egerton, the 1st Viscount of Brackley met with one another in London and declared that their union was invaluable and forever, and soon after on November 26, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Thomas Jones, the Archbishop of Dublin, also declared Ireland to be in union.
Ratification of the Acts of the Union in Scotland and Ireland. Red voted no for Union and Green voted yes for Union
(Note: The 'voters' were all landed commissioners, and not the common people however).
The Second Acts of the Union were then signed on the 27th of November, 1611 with the following provisions:-
In Scotland and Ireland majority of the commissioners present for ratifying the union, voted in favor of ratifying the union, and on December 21, the Parliament of England, Scotland and Ireland adjourned themselves and the Parliament of Great Britannia was opened by James I/VI. On January 1, 1612, James I/VI was proclaimed King James I of Great Britannia. Thus the political situation in Europe, changed forever.”
Flag of the Kingdom of Great Britannia
***
[1] – Remember that the Anglican and Scottish Churches have united. Their colloquial name is Britannic Communion or simply Britannics ittl.
Chapter 7: The Great Union
***
From The Long 17th Century: A History by Hans Schmidt
“The rapid spread of Lutheran and Calvinist ideals throughout Europe, had made the situation for the Catholic Church dire, and the Counter-Reformation that had led to the Cologne War in the 1580s and the Strasbourg Bishop’s War in the early 17th century. All of these events, hurt the credibility of the Protestants, as they believed that the counter-reformation would see their religion stamped out by the unruly Catholics. As a result, many Protestant nations in the Holy Roman Empire banded together to form what is called as the Protestant Union.
Members of the Protestant Union
Despite the actions of establishing the union having roots in deeper Protestant and reformist history, two events prompted the creation of the union. Rudolf II and Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire and Bavaria respectively re-imposed Catholicism in Donauworth in 1607, and in 1608, a majority of the Holy Roman Imperial Diet, bribed by the Austrians and Bavarians as they were, had decided that the possible renewal of the Peace of Augsburg, signed in 1555 would have to be conditional on the restoration of all appropriated Church lands. This threatened the economic situation of the Protestant nations, and as a result, they joined together in an alliance with one another.
This union did consist of all Protestant countries in the Holy Roman Empire, however did form the strongest block of Protestant nations within the Empire. It included the Palatinate, Neuburg, Wurttemberg, Baden-Durlach, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Anhalt, Zweibrucken, Oettingen, Hesse-Kassel, Brandenburg, Ulm, Strasbourg, Nuremburg, Rothenburg, Windsheim, Schweinfurt, Weissenburg, Nordlingen, Schwabisch Hall, Heilbronn, Memmingen, Kempten, Landau, Worms, Speyer, Aalen and Glengen. It formed a formidable block within the empire, and presented Rudolf II with a great threat to his power within the Empire. The Protestant Union already had 2 electors, and if they could woo the others, then Rudolf II would find his dominion over his empire in Central Europe in extreme trouble.
The establishment of the Protestant Union also prompted the Catholics to form their own counter-block to the Protestants, and on the 5th of July 1608, the Catholic Prince-Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, including the ones from Augsburg, Constance, Passau, Regensburg, and Wurzburg, and finally Salzburg, joined each other in an assembly in Munich. During this meeting, the Catholic powers, sponsored by Austria, formed the Catholic League as a counter-balance to the Protestant League. The first conflict between these two power blocks would be the War of the Julich Succession, which would prove to be the prelude to the 20 Years War.
Flag of the Catholic League.
The United Duchies of Julich-Cleves-Berg entered a succession crisis in 1609, when its duke, Johann Wilhelm died on the 25th of March, 1609, sparking off a crisis throughout the general Holy Roman Empire. The Duchy had a total territory of around 14,000 square kilometers, and was extremely economically rich, due to proximity to the Spanish Road, and the German economic centers of trade. Johann Wilhelm had no children to succeed him and Rudolf II had claims to the duchies through his intermarriage. Other pretenders to the Duchies arrived in the form of Brandenburg and Palatinate as well, and while several other claimants appeared too, the claims of Rudolf II, Brandenburg and the Palatinate were the only real and credible claimants. The former Duke’s wife, Antonia of Lorraine, created a regency council, and took care of the governance of the duchies.
However the regency had been created with the explicit understanding and support from Rudolf II. Brandenburg and the Palatinate saw this a as a blatant powergrab from the Habsburg Monarchy and the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Palatinate-Neuberg signed the secret Treaty of Dortmund, where they promised to split the duchies between themselves and allied themselves against the Habsburg claim to the Duchies. 10,000 men of this allied force entered the Duchies and began to fight with the pro-habsburg garrison in the region, trying to enforce their claims to the region. This situation was directly against the favor of the Catholics, as the Protestant claimants taking the throne of the Duchy would directly endanger the Spanish Road. Furthermore, the situation deteriorated in 1609, when Henry IV of France, signed a secret pact with the Hohenzollerns and Wittelsbach claimants, sending a force of 22,000 men under the command of Marshal de La Chatre to Northeastern France to intimidate Rudolf II into backing down. Of all the leaders in Catholic Europe, the Protestants trusted Henry IV the most, due to his former Protestant beliefs, and his religious tolerance for Protestants in France. His aid was invaluable, as neither Spain nor Austria was capable of going to war during this time, still dealing with domestic upheavals as they were.
Henry IV of France.
The situation for the Catholic powers deteriorated when in 1610, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of England joined in (though England only served to be involved diplomatically and explicitly told everyone that they were not going to go to war) intervening against the Catholic claimants of the throne. The issue was diffused as claimants, Wolfgang Wilhelm, the Count Palatine of Neuburg and Joachim Ernst, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach took the duchies by force, dividing the duchies between themselves, and despite the fact that the forced annexation of these duchies held no official recognition from the Emperor, it was de-facto recognized by all parties involved in the War of the Julich Succession.
This small conflict would prove itself to be the violent precursor to what became the 20 Years War, as the Protestant Union and the Catholic League used valuable lessons learned in this small conflict to their advantage to further their military might.”
***
From The House of Vasa: A History by Gustav Andersson
“The Battle of Kircholm in 1605 had destroyed the Swedes during their fight with the Poles, it would not prove to be the turning point of the war. Jan Chodkiewicz was but a single man, and while he himself was a brilliant commander, the Swedes decided to avenge their loss at Kircholm by going on the offensive. Daugagriva Castle, an imposing fortress in Livonia, between strategic lines of communication and transportation was their first objective, and Marshal Joachim Frederick von Mansfield led a force of around 8,000 men to take the fortress that was occupied by its Polish garrison. It was strategic in the sense that without taking the fort, any attack on the city of Riga would be futile, and Riga was certainly a major goal of the Swedes. Bolstered by Scottish and English mercenaries, the Swedes attacked. The Polish garrison was commanded by Fraciszek Biallozor, who lacked men, with only 130 soldiers capable of fighting, and his cannons, around 40 of them, were old and antiquated and incapable of fighting on proper terms with Mansfield’s new modern cannons. The fortress fell to the Swedes after a day’s bombardment on the 27th of July 1608.
The Battle of Kircholm 1605
With the fortress at the heart of Riga captured, Swedish galleys from Reval began to pour into the Gulf of Riga, bringing reinforcements, ammunition and they enforced a blockade of the City of Riga itself, with the Swedes intent on taking the city. Meanwhile, Chodkiewicz was informed that the Swedes were intent on taking Riga, and he knew that he could not cut the Swedes off due to the strong reinforcements of Swedes coming from across the seas, where the Poles had no naval capability of cutting them off.
As a result, Chodkiewicz decided to move towards the city of Parnu in Swedish Estonia, which was lightly guarded by Danil von Wochen, with some 2,000 troops under his command. On March 18, 1609, these troops marched into the city of Parnu and the surprised Swedish garrison gave up without a real fight against the Polish force commanded by Chodkiewicz. Von Wochen managed to escape however, and after receiving reinforcements from Reval and Narva, his force was bolstered to 4,000 men and he turned around and laid siege to Parnu, intent on retaking the city that was captured by the Polish Hetman. Chodkiewicz and his 3,500 men were put under siege by the Swedes, with the man unable to aid the other Polish forces in their prosecution of the war.
Meanwhile the war continued to degrade for the Poles, when Vasili IV of Russia allied with the Swedes to press the Russian claims to Smolensk. The Swedes dispatched 5,000 soldiers, mostly Finns and Estonians, to Russia under the command of General Jacob de La Gardie. Tensions had been high between Russia and Poland ever since the Poles invaded in 1605 to aid the False Dmitry I. Despite the breakdown of stability in Russia during this time, which is called the Time of Troubles, Vasili IV managed to stabilize the situation for the time being, and approached Charles IX of Sweden for an alliance against Poland, which was made official during the Treaty of Viborg in 1609. The Russians, invaded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the east, with 30,000 men under the command of Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky.
Vasili IV of Russia and Jacob de la Gardie
The situation for the Poles was extremely dangerous, however bad news came again when Riga fell to the Swedes after a yearlong siege on the 20th of August, 1609, and the Siege of Parnu ended on December 12, 1609, which saw Chodkiewicz captured by the Swedes. He was well treated under imprisonment, however without him to make the war go better for the Poles, the war with Sweden and Poland, continued to destroy Poland’s military capability.
By mid-1610, the Swedes had reconquered Livonia, and Smolensk was under siege. A Swedish-Russian army under Jacob De La Gardie defeated a Polish relief force sent by Sigismund III under the command of Stanislaw Zolkiewiski at the Battle of Polotsk, and destroyed Poland’s hopes of turning the war around. With their soldiers mutinying due to the lack of funds, and the treasury running dry, the Poles finally sued for peace against the Russians and Swedes. With the death of Charles IX in 1611, the new King, Gustav II Adolf of Sweden also decided for peace, as Sweden was tired after a decade of war. The Treaty of Reval signed in November 21, 1611 forced Poland to cede Smolensk to the Russians, while Swedish Livonia was restored to the Swedes, and in addition they annexed the important port town of Riga. Sigismund III was forced to disavow his claim to the Swedish throne as well. The Swedes and Russians returned victorious. This war would have massive implications, as it would allow Vasili IV to stabilize his throne at home in Russia, and it would prove to become the first step into a great career for the new young king of Sweden.”
***
From The Union of Crowns by Robert William Johnson
“Political integration had been the key forefront of King James I/VI policy when he took the English throne, and the Highlander War had expanded that front into Ireland as well, supported by most of the Irish Gaelic Lords. In 1609, the negotiations for union were sidelined for a year due to the War of the Julich Succession.
During the war, the English and Scots provided monetary aid to the Protestant Union, and English mercenaries, around 200 of them, found their way into the armies that were used by the Hohenzollerns to annex the Duchy. The English also intervened in late 1609 when King Henry IV of France threatened to go to war with the Holy Roman Empire. James I, ever the pacifist and peacemaker, decided to intervene diplomatically, and English ambassadors throughout the continent began to intrigue in favor of peace. It was English goading that forced Maurice, the Prince of Orange of the Dutch Republic to intervene in the War of the Jullich Succession in favor of the Protestant Union.
In mid-1610, after the defeat of the Catholic claimants, the English and Scots turned to the union once again, and this time the issue of Ireland came up. The Irish Lords did want Union with Scotland and England, however on the basis that persecution of the Irish Language stopped, and that the Catholic irish and Protestant Irish were equally represented in the House of Commons. The Loyalty of the Catholic Gaelic Lords, led by Lord Tyrone made it hard for even the die-hard and radical Protestants to deny them this right. Throughout 1610 and 1611 negotiations continued and the Chief of the O Cathain Lords of Ulster and Leinster, Donnell Ballagh O’Cahan began to negotiate what is called the Irish Emancipation Act.
Donnell Ballagh O’Cahan
This act was controversial for many devout Britannics [1] as they believed giving too much rights to the Catholics would disrupt the social fabric of the country which had fought for religion bitterly in the past half a decade. The Irish Emancipation Act passed through the English and Scottish Parliaments on March 12, 1611 and stated that in the case of full political union between the Three Kingdoms, then the number of Irish seats in the unified House of Commons would be divided equally between the Protestant Irish and Catholic Irish. The Catholic population of Ireland were allowed to have the vote (as worthless as that provision was in the 17th century, considering less than 0.1% of the population voted in England at the same time, the gravitas and posterity of the provision aided in unionist feelings), and The Irish Emancipation Act also provided the freedom of practicing the Roman Catholic Religion within only Ireland with the oath that would be made to swear allegiance to the King of Britain holding no reference to the Protestant Faith for the Irish. This would enable the Irish to legally participate in the affairs of their local governments without formally renouncing their faith. It also provided a sly solution to the English and the Scots, as now most of their own Catholics would move to Ireland, and remove the Catholic instability in their own lands for the greater moment.
After the passage of the act, almost immediately a general mass immigration took place as many Catholics from England, Wales and Scotland fled from their respective homes into Ireland, where (relative) tolerance of the Roman Catholic Faith was achieved. From 1611-1711, around ~500,000 Catholics from Scotland and England would leave and emigrate to Ireland, forming the basis of the modern Anglo-Irish and Irish-Scots community in the Emerald Isle, which constitutes a tenth to a fifth of their total population today.
Finally on the 18th of November, 1611, the Acts of the Union were signed by the English Government, Parliament and the Scottish Government, Parliament. The Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, Alexander Seton, the 1st Earl of Dunfermline and the Lord High Chancellor of England, Thomas Egerton, the 1st Viscount of Brackley met with one another in London and declared that their union was invaluable and forever, and soon after on November 26, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Thomas Jones, the Archbishop of Dublin, also declared Ireland to be in union.
Ratification of the Acts of the Union in Scotland and Ireland. Red voted no for Union and Green voted yes for Union
(Note: The 'voters' were all landed commissioners, and not the common people however).
The Second Acts of the Union were then signed on the 27th of November, 1611 with the following provisions:-
Article [1] decreed that the ‘Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, shall upon the 1st of January, 1612, shall be forever after be united into one Kingdom by the name of Great Britannia.’
Article [2] proved the legitimacy and primacy of the House of Stuart as the ruling dynasty of the new kingdom.
Article [3] provided for the creation of the unified Parliament of Great Britannia. 475 seats were designated for England, 30 for Wales, 50 for Scotland and 108 for Ireland (54 for Catholics and 54 for Protestants) for a total seat amount of 663. 20 Scottish Peers were to be sent to the House of Lords alongside 34 Irish Peers (17 Catholic and 17 Protestant).
Article [4] provided the provisions needed for the freedom of trade and navigations between the now united three kingdoms.
Articles [5-18] dealt with the economy of the nation, with the British Pound reaffirmed as the currency of the kingdom.
Article [19-21] reaffirmed the continuation of the Scottish, Irish and English legal systems with the continuation of the Magna Carta, and Scots Law most prominently.
Articles [22-27] provided the new departments and rights of the kingdom as well.
In Scotland and Ireland majority of the commissioners present for ratifying the union, voted in favor of ratifying the union, and on December 21, the Parliament of England, Scotland and Ireland adjourned themselves and the Parliament of Great Britannia was opened by James I/VI. On January 1, 1612, James I/VI was proclaimed King James I of Great Britannia. Thus the political situation in Europe, changed forever.”
Flag of the Kingdom of Great Britannia
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[1] – Remember that the Anglican and Scottish Churches have united. Their colloquial name is Britannic Communion or simply Britannics ittl.
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I do hope Great Britannia is only a fancy Latin name with it being referred to as Great Britain in the future. Great Britannia just sounds weird.
Also Anglos in Ireland, even if Catholic, would help assimilate it into the isles.
Also no ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’ that’s a classic name after all.
Also Anglos in Ireland, even if Catholic, would help assimilate it into the isles.
Also no ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’ that’s a classic name after all.
The names of the Realms can vary greatly for minor things.
For example: UK could have been quietly called the Kingdom of the Two Britains (in the same way as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, made up of Sicily and Naples). Albion, Britannia, are other possibilities. It could also simply be called England, in case Scotland (and Ireland) had simply been conquered like Wales.
PS: Kingdom of the Two Britains it sounds better if England and Brittany (French) were in personal union. Although Ireland is a worthy replacement.
thanks!
Yeah. Charles will be getting the catholic match ittl
the Church of Britain will have a future that's for sure!
Meh, it was actually the otl proposed name.
Catholic Anglo-Scots who immigrated to Ireland tended to.....go native so to speak
yeah the name UK is not in existence ittl.
The Kingdom of Two Britains.........sounds really weird and rad at the same time.