A More Personal Union

[Thespitron 6000]

Originally Posted by Yorel

I don't know, but the names sounds a bit... anachronical to me: it sounds too much like the name of a modern-day French company. I do not know if the word "Explorations" would be used and, even if the word Ocean and its "offsprings" existed at the time, it seems to me that the naval companies of every countries tended to use words referencing to the seas rather than the Ocean: that would be "Maritime" in France. Then again, I am no expert on languages and linguitsics...

Compagnie des Cent-Associés (Company of the One Hundred Associates) -- 1628
Compagnie de l'Occident -- 1664
Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique (Company of the American Isles) -- 1635
Compagnie de Saint-Christophe -- 1626

Most colonial companies actually referenced territories, rather than seas--e.g., East India Company, Virginia Company, etc. "Ocean" dates to the 14th century, and "exploration" to 1537 (in English). Founded in 1551, the (English) Company of Merchant Adventurers had the full name of The Mystery, Company, and Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places Unknown, so the Navarrese calling their company the Royal Company for Oceanic Exploration does not strike me as anachronistic. I actually referenced these historical companies when creating the name!

[Thespitron 6000]

"The Days Are Evil", Part Three

“...all is alarum, all is war. War, and war again, touches every tongue. The priest in his pulpit and the merchant in his mercantile and the hewer at his axe and the child at play, none speak naught but of war. In the streets young blackguards strut and fight, they wear the most obscene fashions and their speech is lofty and foolish, and they duel over trifles, and cut each other down in the street. Paris dances the tarantelle as we poison one another, for the city is unsettled. Young maidens dress immodest, their breasts out for all to see, and old crones consort with stripling boys for their pleasure. Soldiers are everywhere, and the clank and groan of forges ring round by day and by night. Swords are made and guns are made and powder is made, but there is no war. Respectable women of good families feud at dances and feasts, and the almoner strikes the beggar. A great heat waxeth strong over the city and country, and tempers are short. We cannot bear it, and some great beast of the apocalypse haunts the horizon. Men are cruel and brutal, the country is fraught; the days are evil.”

--Michel de Montaigne, letter to friend, July 1587

[Shnurre]

Originally Posted by Thespitron 6000

Shnurre,

Reading back through the posts you highlighted, I realize that I implied, although never stated, that the Russians and the Poles concluded a separate peace in 1571, which is in fact what happened. By the terms of the treaty, both sides are more or less back to status quo ante, although the Russians do retain Polotsk. Derpt is part of the new Livonian state. Vitebsk is still Polish.

As for the marriage between Ivan Ivanovich and Isabella of Sweden, negotiations sort of petered out and nothing came of it. I'll do an update of Northern European politics here soon, I promise!

If maps vary from what (alternate) reality should be, always assume that I suck at making maps.

Thank you for your quick response.
Seems quite a natural compromise between Russia and Poland: Russia doesn't get all it manage to take( Orsha, Mstislavl an Vitebsk stay Polish) but gets the most valuable and solid one- Polotsk an recognition of gains in Livonia.
That's a pity that the marriage failed but it happens.

[chr92]

Just to give kudos for your Francis Drake, as well as everything else.

[Xgentis]

Let's see what happend next.

[Thespitron 6000]

Autumn 1587: The wild card in European geopolitics is Poland. Catholic but anti-Hapsburg, anti-Swedish but also anti-Danish, and headed by a teenage girl most of Europe regards as inexperienced and frivolous. However, Polish military forces may be sufficient to tip the balance to one side or the other in any coming war. As a result, the King of Poland is courted aggressively by both the League and the Alliance. For Charles VI, an alliance with Augusta will remove a dangerous sword to his back, while Henri and his allies see the Poles as a valuable diversion, occupying the attention of the Hapsburgs and preventing them from moving forces west.

Unlike many less-astute monarchs, Augusta has never allowed her female favorites to dominate life at court, and rarely lavishes preferment on them or their families. Nevertheless, there has grown up a small cult of Augustologists in the Warsaw diplomatic corps, who have learned that there is often a correlation between the King’s favorite and her foreign policy. So when Augusta turfs out her current favorite, the Polish Agnieszka Błociszewski, and begins fawning over the Polish-born German Katherine von Flemming, alert observers sit up and take notice. As a result, when, in late November 1587, Augusta concludes a non-aggression pact with the Holy Roman Empire, few Augustologists are surprised. The treaty simply states that neither Poland nor the Empire will make war against the other; no military aid is demanded by either. Charles is happy with this, although his pressure to have the twenty-year-old Augusta marry an eligible Hapsburg comes to naught, for this allows him to relax about his northeastern border.

Alliance diplomats are disgusted, describing Augusta in dispatches as “frivolous”, “an empty-headed beauty,” and “a girl who treateth her soldiers as dolls, for she insisteth that each man wear the colors of the next, all alike, and marcheth them about, and doth delight in their dress and carriage so greatly that she changeth it on the fort[night], as it please her.” And although Augusta frequently takes part in military maneuvers, Alliance observers are not impressed, regarding war as a man’s game, and something the young King is bound to fail at, “by virtue of her sex”. They are also baffled by the fact that she is the only monarch in Europe not to hire mercenaries, preferring a small but well trained army to hired guns. “She hath more haires [sic] than virtues, and more hair than wit,” writes one French diplomat. Alliance contempt for Augusta is almost palpable.

[Derekc2]

Augusta is awesome!!! She's realised that the mercenary army is stupid. I wonder if she'll eventually marry though. If she does I hope it's one of the lower nobility so she can keep her power.

[Thespitron 6000]

Winter 1587 - 1588: Perennially strapped for cash, Henri le Cyclope is always on the lookout for ways to save money, especially with matters military at the top of his mind. He is aware that the Spanish can field more men because they can pay more men; Italian and German mercenaries are sure to figure largely in the coming conflict. Therefore, Henri needs ways to make his own men count for more. Already, much of his army has been trained in the use of the new flintlock arquebus, but the flintlock only provides a small advantage over the proven matchlock--although Henri is saving a fortune on wick. Pike and shot, the current mode of warfare, has any number of breakdowns for pikemen versus arquebusiers, but Henri finds them all inadequate for his needs. Inevitably, he must make trade-offs.

That is, however, until the inventor and mathematician Jacques Besson provides the answer. Henri’s court has become a gathering-place for inventors, engineers, and artists--Henri himself is a talented painter and sketchist--and Besson has distinguished himself by developing new lathing techniques for manufacturing cannon. Now he provides the solution to Henri’s problem: the Besson knife. Besson reckons, quite rightly, that a pike is simply a long pole with a blade at the end, and an arquebus or musket is simply a long pole. The Besson knife fits over the end of the barrel of the firearm, thus turning the weapon into a short pike. At a stroke, Besson has doubled the number of pikemen and the number of musketeers in Henri’s army. Besson knives quickly spread through the regiments of Henri’s vassals, who recognize the usefulness of being able to carry both a firearm and a spear into battle.

[Derekc2]

If this keeps up France may be more known for their military achievments instead of their achivmeants in culture.

[Thespitron 6000]

January 22, 1588: Joyous peals of bells ring out over Paris, as word is spread that Queen Madeleine has given birth to a healthy son. Royal proclamations soon confirm the good news, and prayer services for the health of the new prince are held across France. Henri names his son Henri Alexandre; the new prince is Dauphin of France and Duke of Rothesay from birth, with other honors to follow. At his christening proxies for Elizabeth Tudor and Frederick of Denmark stand in as the baby’s godparents. Madeleine is beside herself with joy; she has finally delivered the much-needed heir at the age of twenty-six. Henri, the proud father, shows off the infant to all who will see it; young Henri Alexandre, meanwhile, spends most of his time sleeping.

[Derekc2]

Wow the king actually showed...origianality to the kid's name! It's a miriacle.

[Thespitron 6000]

Spring 1588: Ferdinand’s armada now numbers over 300 ships, docked in Cadiz Harbor, and getting more numerous by the month. Of these, over fifty are galleons. Ferdinand reckons he will have to defeat the English, Dutch, and Navarrese navies to land his troops in England. The more ships he has, the better.

[Yorel]

Just caught up with the last updates.

Augusta of Poland is awesome: I believe she shouldn't be underestimated. Especially on the battlefield .

I also France has developped the OTL equivalent of the Bayonnette (the Besson Pike). And we can be happy, for a son is born to the King

[Thespitron 6000]

May 1588: The Licorne and the Schildpad, having raced across the Pacific, sometimes even within sight of each other, arrive in Kagoshima Harbor, exhausted. On their way to China, both ships have been forced to alter their course northward to avoid Portuguese galleons swarming the waters between Macao and Japan, and have put in at Kagoshima to resupply, before planning on circling north through the East China Sea and then south to Nanjing. However, the two captains are surprised when their ships are immediately impounded by the local authorities. Word of the arrival of these strange new barbarians is quickly sent to Honshu and the court of the Regent, Oda Nobunaga, who is perplexed by their arrival. However, Nobunaga is quick to see an opportunity. For too long, he’s been dependent on the Portuguese for his India trade. Making an arrangement with these strangers, who seem to detest the Portuguese, might give him more options, and allow him to bargain with the Portuguese from a position of strength.

So important does he consider this matter that he ventures south from Kyoto in person, to visit Honshu and treat with these foreigners. Upon learning that the Dutch and the Navarrese, who are being held separately, are hostile to the Portuguese, he is overjoyed, and begins negotiation. Finally it is the Dutch who come to an accord with him; less familiar with these waters, they are afraid of being beaten to China by the Navarrese, and are willing to agree to much in exchange for free passage of Japanese waters. Nobunaga negotiates a port concession for the Dutch and free trade in the port of Kagoshima--in exchange for the Dutch teaching the Japanese to build sleek frigates like the one they now sail. The Dutch, not having much room to bargain, agree, and after a month impounded in the Regent’s custody, they are allowed to sail on to Nanjing--but only after leaving a shipwright and two joiners behind.

Without informing them of the nature of the deal he’s made with the Dutch, he strikes a similar deal with the Navarrese. Gritting their teeth, the Navarrese also accept, recognizing that without compliance, they’ll be prisoners thousands of miles from home. Soon, at two different sites--at Takamatsu and Osaka--Japanese carpenters and ship-builders are being trained in European ship-building techniques.

[G.Bone]

Thespitron - this is a very good story. It's somewhat favorable to the French but there are other advancements covered by other states. The short entries also help.

[Xgentis]

Finaly the King has an heir and he is healthy without deffect that must have releived him. I see that France has less money but is more inovative and OTL history shown us that inovation might help to win a war.

[kellineil]

So is this TLs bayonette equivalent of the original plug type or have they moved directly to the socket version?

[Razgriz 2K9]

It's a plug type. The Bayonet is directly attached to the barrel of the gun, so we do not have as of yet, a musket in the style of the 18th century.

[Historico]

Originally Posted by Thespitron 6000

January 22, 1588: Joyous peals of bells ring out over Paris, as word is spread that Queen Madeleine has given birth to a healthy son. Royal proclamations soon confirm the good news, and prayer services for the health of the new prince are held across France. Henri names his son Henri Alexandre; the new prince is Dauphin of France and Duke of Rothesay from birth, with other honors to follow. At his christening proxies for Elizabeth Tudor and Frederick of Denmark stand in as the baby’s godparents. Madeleine is beside herself with joy; she has finally delivered the much-needed heir at the age of twenty-six. Henri, the proud father, shows off the infant to all who will see it; young Henri Alexandre, meanwhile, spends most of his time sleeping.

We have a Dauphin!!!, I wonder depending if the House of Valois does manages to keep its hold on the three kingdoms after Henri's death, how will having dual names affect the angelicization of his title Henry Alexander. Could he decide to reign as Alexander I and IV of England, France and Scotland?

[Thespitron 6000]

July 1588: Rudolf of Serbia takes in marriage Anasztazia Bathory, the daughter of Stephen Bathory, the Prince of Transylvania, and his wife and niece Elizabeth. Stephen is interested in an anti-Ottoman alliance, although he is not interested in joining the Catholic League, and his wife has a reputation for great piety and charity. Rudolf has long put off marrying, stating “the needs of state outweigh the needs of the one”, but at last he bends to the influence of his councilors, who are quick to point out the need of Serbia for a prince. The choice is an odd one, as the groom is thirty-six, while the bride is only seven. Still, the Serbs cheer on their young queen as she’s crowned in Belgrade; the girl is pretty enough, after all, with dark eyes and lustrous black hair. “His bride is very Turkish,” says one observer, but with her mother’s fame as a Christian exemplar, the Serbs have no doubt that her daughter will provide a similar light of faith in their kingdom.