Indeedy. Isabella is a very important woman, even by medieval queen standards.
POSTSCRIPT--I'm kind of amazed nobody's asking why Edward's biography is called "A Magnificent Counterfeit"...
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Born a King; The Life and Times of John the Posthumous
- Thread starter Space Oddity
- Start date
Indeedy. Isabella is a very important woman, even by medieval queen standards.
POSTSCRIPT--I'm kind of amazed nobody's asking why Edward's biography is called "A Magnificent Counterfeit"...
Our next installment will take us back to France. See how they handle dealing with the Regent being dead! And various other stuff! It will be magical! And bloody.
Oh, so bloody.
Oh, so bloody.
1322-3: France
1322-3: THE SECOND REGENCY BEGINS
"If the question of who was to become the next regent of France was simply decided by proximity of blood then the answer would have been simple--Charles, Count of de la Marche would have taken the position. However, there were several problems standing in his way, most notably the fact that he was not in France when his brother perished, but in Cyprus, attempting to swear his sword to the service of the King of Armenia, having taken up the cross two years previously[1]... Indeed, it would be several months after the fact before Charles even learned of his brother's death and weeks after that before he was able to even get a ship back to France...
"Of course, distance alone was not the only obstacle--there was also a matter of rank--while Charles possessed an appanage and title, he had never been formally recognized as a Peer of France. Arguably, this was a fairly negligible reason to keep him from the Regency, one a vigorous and skillful politician could have easily side-stepped. But that was another, more significant problem--the Count of de la Marche was not a vigorous, skillful politician. Instead, he was a rather notoriously earnest young man whose reputation suffered from being the husband to an acknowledged adulteress--one who, rather than conveniently dying in the manner of his elder brother the Hutin's wife, lived on in her imprisonment, and had in fact born a child to one of her jailers[2]. Things which had prevented the absent prince from gaining much in the way of champions during his absence...
"Thus, the competition for the regency came down to two men, Charles of Valois, and Eudes of Burgundy. Valois could boast of closer relation to the young king, but Eudes maintained that he possessed the greater title and peerage as Duke of Burgundy, in contrast to Charles' peer rank as Count of Anjou[3]. However Eudes was a more blunt and aggressive man, more prone to alienating those he would need as allies--further, his sister Joan was married to Valois' son. In the end, he was bought off by being allowed to his administer the vast estates of his brother-in-law, the young Count of Poitiers[4], until the latter reached his majority. By the time the Count of de la Marche arrived, Valois was well-ensconced as Regent, leading the Count to leave after a few months of ineffectual plotting in return for further funding of his increasingly desperate crusading pretensions...
"An ambitious man with an undeniable flair for the dramatic, Charles of Valois took power in a grand ceremony in Paris. He followed his assumption of power with another expulsion of France's Jews 'for the manifold deeds of wickedness with which they have troubled our land' as well as sundry arrests of Philip the Tall's ministers for corruption, even as he took steps to crush the rebelling nobles and revolting peasants that troubled his nephew's final year as Regent... By 1323, Charles of Valois was the undisputed master of France, an act he cemented by the marriage of his daughter Isabella[5] to the King... He was now not only John's Regent, but his father-in-law..."
--John I of France, Vol. 1; A King in His Cradle, Antony Oates (1978)
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[1] For clarification, the Kingdom of Armenia talked about is what we could call Cilicia. More on this in our next installment, which will detail the Count's misadventures in the East in full.
[2] Actually what happened OTL.
[3] Charles of Valois had gotten the title by his marriage to his first wife. And then hung onto it after she passed.
[4] IOTL, Philip V's son was dead by this point.
[5] This would be his third daughter Isabella by his third wife, who IOTL married the Duke of Bourbon. Not his elder daughter Isabella by his first wife, who married the Prince of Brittany, and is presently dead. Or his other elder daughter Isabella by his second wife, who is a nun. This isn't half as bad as his two daughters named Joan, both of whom are alive, and married to very important men.
"If the question of who was to become the next regent of France was simply decided by proximity of blood then the answer would have been simple--Charles, Count of de la Marche would have taken the position. However, there were several problems standing in his way, most notably the fact that he was not in France when his brother perished, but in Cyprus, attempting to swear his sword to the service of the King of Armenia, having taken up the cross two years previously[1]... Indeed, it would be several months after the fact before Charles even learned of his brother's death and weeks after that before he was able to even get a ship back to France...
"Of course, distance alone was not the only obstacle--there was also a matter of rank--while Charles possessed an appanage and title, he had never been formally recognized as a Peer of France. Arguably, this was a fairly negligible reason to keep him from the Regency, one a vigorous and skillful politician could have easily side-stepped. But that was another, more significant problem--the Count of de la Marche was not a vigorous, skillful politician. Instead, he was a rather notoriously earnest young man whose reputation suffered from being the husband to an acknowledged adulteress--one who, rather than conveniently dying in the manner of his elder brother the Hutin's wife, lived on in her imprisonment, and had in fact born a child to one of her jailers[2]. Things which had prevented the absent prince from gaining much in the way of champions during his absence...
"Thus, the competition for the regency came down to two men, Charles of Valois, and Eudes of Burgundy. Valois could boast of closer relation to the young king, but Eudes maintained that he possessed the greater title and peerage as Duke of Burgundy, in contrast to Charles' peer rank as Count of Anjou[3]. However Eudes was a more blunt and aggressive man, more prone to alienating those he would need as allies--further, his sister Joan was married to Valois' son. In the end, he was bought off by being allowed to his administer the vast estates of his brother-in-law, the young Count of Poitiers[4], until the latter reached his majority. By the time the Count of de la Marche arrived, Valois was well-ensconced as Regent, leading the Count to leave after a few months of ineffectual plotting in return for further funding of his increasingly desperate crusading pretensions...
"An ambitious man with an undeniable flair for the dramatic, Charles of Valois took power in a grand ceremony in Paris. He followed his assumption of power with another expulsion of France's Jews 'for the manifold deeds of wickedness with which they have troubled our land' as well as sundry arrests of Philip the Tall's ministers for corruption, even as he took steps to crush the rebelling nobles and revolting peasants that troubled his nephew's final year as Regent... By 1323, Charles of Valois was the undisputed master of France, an act he cemented by the marriage of his daughter Isabella[5] to the King... He was now not only John's Regent, but his father-in-law..."
--John I of France, Vol. 1; A King in His Cradle, Antony Oates (1978)
--------------------------------------------
[1] For clarification, the Kingdom of Armenia talked about is what we could call Cilicia. More on this in our next installment, which will detail the Count's misadventures in the East in full.
[2] Actually what happened OTL.
[3] Charles of Valois had gotten the title by his marriage to his first wife. And then hung onto it after she passed.
[4] IOTL, Philip V's son was dead by this point.
[5] This would be his third daughter Isabella by his third wife, who IOTL married the Duke of Bourbon. Not his elder daughter Isabella by his first wife, who married the Prince of Brittany, and is presently dead. Or his other elder daughter Isabella by his second wife, who is a nun. This isn't half as bad as his two daughters named Joan, both of whom are alive, and married to very important men.
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Just wait until you see the complete list of John's in-laws. The Valois have got connections everywhere.
It's more about the fact that Edward looked great--handsome, tall, athletic--but when you had actually ruling...
Well, things tended to get very bad, very fast.
POSTSCRIPT--Also, sorry about the latest bit of persecution. But... well, this is the Medieval equivalent of Zoot Suit Riots...
Worth noting is that IOTL, the Count of Valois died in 1325. Assuming his mortality is the same ITTL, he'll only last two more years as Regent. Of course, he could live longer ITTL, and even if he doesn't, his eldest son Philip (OTL Philip VI) is probably waiting in the wings to take over the Valois Regency, and he lived until 1350. One wonders when King John will finally assume personal rule...
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John will reach his legal majority in late 1330, at the age of 14. Of course, how much actual influence he will hold at that point is anyone's guess right now...
POSTSCRIPT--And remember, Philip is also--John's brother-in-law. Well... one of them.
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1319-23: The Holy Land
1319-23: CHARLES OF DE LA MARCHE'S UNEXCELLENT ADVENTURE
"Charles of de la Marche's efforts at an Armenian crusade began in personal disappointment--thwarted politically by his elder brother Philip at home, with a ruined farce of a marriage that he could not extract himself from, life in France seems to have become intolerable for him. A deeply, if conventionally pious man, it seems likely that he chose to cast personal misfortune as a sign from God, and like so many of his class, he turned to warfare in the Holy Land as a form of penitence. While there were numerous projects available for a prince who wished to fight for the Cross, Charles turned to one that seemed promising and tantalizingly near to Jerusalem--the Kingdom of Armenia, whose monarch, Oshin, was said to be considering union with the Church of Rome. With what we imagined was an excellent chance of serving as a French van who would be followed by the might of his nephew's kingdom, Charles set out for what he imagined was his grand place in history...
"Even though he was heading to the East with only a few dozen men-at-arms, Charles' preparations took months. By the time of his arrival in Cyprus, King Oshin was dead, and his young son, Levon IV was king, under the regency of Oshin's brother-in-law, Oshin of Corycos[1]. Oshin of Corycos was not so friendly with Rome as his cousin had been--indeed, there were rumors he had poisoned the King for that very reason. The arrival of a French prince on his kingdom's metaphorical doorstep offering his sword to fight the Turk and Mahometan was thus less divine providence to his mind then a constant irritation. Oshin's rule was a tenuous thing, based both on a manipulation of his traditional status, and his willingness to placate more traditional elements of his besieged kingdom--allowing a French prince and his armed escort to ride around and fight Mamluks and Turks at will was an obvious danger to it. Thus, Charles wound up spending over a year in negotiations, getting nowhere, even as his men sat idle and soaked up his funds. At which point the news of his brother's death reached him...
"Charles' return to France accomplished nothing, aside from raising tensions between France and England, and he returned to Cyprus with little more than a promise of funds. By the time he returned, most of the men he had gathered had left. His last few months were spent between pointless negotiations with the Armenian Regent, and desperate efforts to gather a new army, which seemed to have worn down his always fragile health. His death in the beginning of 1323--rumored to be another poisoning in some circles--saw him leave behind no children, simply his still imprisoned wife.[2] He was the last surviving child of Philip the Fair."
--While the Savior Wept: Crusading in the 14th Century, by Barbara Morell, 1983
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[1] This was actually the state of affairs in Cilicia IOTL.
[2] Charles survived to 1328 IOTL, outliving Blanche by two years, by some accounts.
"Charles of de la Marche's efforts at an Armenian crusade began in personal disappointment--thwarted politically by his elder brother Philip at home, with a ruined farce of a marriage that he could not extract himself from, life in France seems to have become intolerable for him. A deeply, if conventionally pious man, it seems likely that he chose to cast personal misfortune as a sign from God, and like so many of his class, he turned to warfare in the Holy Land as a form of penitence. While there were numerous projects available for a prince who wished to fight for the Cross, Charles turned to one that seemed promising and tantalizingly near to Jerusalem--the Kingdom of Armenia, whose monarch, Oshin, was said to be considering union with the Church of Rome. With what we imagined was an excellent chance of serving as a French van who would be followed by the might of his nephew's kingdom, Charles set out for what he imagined was his grand place in history...
"Even though he was heading to the East with only a few dozen men-at-arms, Charles' preparations took months. By the time of his arrival in Cyprus, King Oshin was dead, and his young son, Levon IV was king, under the regency of Oshin's brother-in-law, Oshin of Corycos[1]. Oshin of Corycos was not so friendly with Rome as his cousin had been--indeed, there were rumors he had poisoned the King for that very reason. The arrival of a French prince on his kingdom's metaphorical doorstep offering his sword to fight the Turk and Mahometan was thus less divine providence to his mind then a constant irritation. Oshin's rule was a tenuous thing, based both on a manipulation of his traditional status, and his willingness to placate more traditional elements of his besieged kingdom--allowing a French prince and his armed escort to ride around and fight Mamluks and Turks at will was an obvious danger to it. Thus, Charles wound up spending over a year in negotiations, getting nowhere, even as his men sat idle and soaked up his funds. At which point the news of his brother's death reached him...
"Charles' return to France accomplished nothing, aside from raising tensions between France and England, and he returned to Cyprus with little more than a promise of funds. By the time he returned, most of the men he had gathered had left. His last few months were spent between pointless negotiations with the Armenian Regent, and desperate efforts to gather a new army, which seemed to have worn down his always fragile health. His death in the beginning of 1323--rumored to be another poisoning in some circles--saw him leave behind no children, simply his still imprisoned wife.[2] He was the last surviving child of Philip the Fair."
--While the Savior Wept: Crusading in the 14th Century, by Barbara Morell, 1983
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[1] This was actually the state of affairs in Cilicia IOTL.
[2] Charles survived to 1328 IOTL, outliving Blanche by two years, by some accounts.
Amazingly, Isabella is probably the most important of the bunch. And Charles was actually king of France IOTL.
It was pretty much the same IOTL. He got married three times.
His first wife cheated on him. And he only got a divorce once he became king.
His second wife died during childbirth. They had a son who died shortly thereafter.
His third wife gave him three daughters. The last one posthumously.
1322-4: England, France, and the HRE
1322-4: QUEEN'S PLAY IN THE GAME OF WAR
"Edward's thwarting of his domestic foes brought little relief to England on the international scene--indeed, a few months after crushing Lancaster's forces so decisively at Bouroughbridge, he was engaged in yet another inconclusive campaign in Scotland, one that would claim the life of his natural son Adam Fitzroy[1]. Meanwhile, he continued to antagonize France, still refusing to pay homage for Gascony--indeed, the death of the Count of Poitiers and ascent of the Count of Valois lead to increased optimism in Edward's inner circle that a solution that would respect his royal dignity would be found. Charles of Valois after all, was a firm traditionalist who believed fully in the prerogatives of France's feudal lords--further, he was also a blood uncle to Edward's half-brothers. And finally, moreso than any other member of the French royal family--even including his nephew the Count of de la Marche who was at that very moment making his own sad attempt to fight for the Cross in the East--Charles of Valois felt the crusading fever that seemed to have been transmitted in the French royal blood since St. Louis. Edward felt--not without cause--that promises of aid against the Mahometan (and perhaps the Schismatics, considering Valois' other ambitions) in the near future would be most effective in getting the new Regent to sympathize with his view. And perhaps he was correct, for when the Count of de la Marche briefly arrived back from the East, and in between attempts to be named Regent, attempted to raise a furor over the death of his sister, Charles of Valois obligingly hushed him...
"While we can never be sure what ultimately caused Edward's plans to fail, it is likely that another scheme of his played a significant part. For all his hopes to win the French over by negotiation and promises, the King also desired to keep them at bay with a system of continental alliance. Marriages and betrothals for his children with continental princes were part of this grand ambition. It would be his ultimately successful efforts to betroth his eldest son to a daughter of the Count of Hainaut that would open the door for an even greater match for himself. His efforts attracted the attention of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, himself looking for a bride amongst the Hainauts. A man, like Edward, in need of alliances, he felt certain he saw a highly profitable one here. And so, scrapping his previous plans for her[2], the Emperor's agents suggested that his daughter Mathilde's hand might be available--for the King of England himself. Edward jumped at the offer, and within months, young Mathilde was headed for England, his second child-bride, even younger than his first, and with an even more impressive gap of years...
"Mathilde--or 'Maude' as she would swiftly become known as in England--was a very different bride then Isabella--quiet, docile, and unambitious--who quickly won her husband's rather paternal affection. The English public seems to have been less impressed--Edward's hasty remarriage put a lie to the rather extravagant claims of sorrow at Isabella's death he'd made during the Contrariant Uprising[3] and suggested that his enemies' accusations of murder might not be so baseless after all. But more than that, the marriage allied Edward with one of the most startling men in Europe, a man who had just finished a bloody war for the Imperial throne, and would follow it by beginning a lifelong quarrel with the Pope. Despite France's carefully maintained neutrality during the dispute, it had undeniably leaned towards Louis' Habsburg rival Frederick the Fair. All of Edward's vague promises to assist in recapturing Jerusalem at some point in the near future couldn't coax Charles of Valois out of the fears that an England allied with Louis IV produced. Indeed, it seems to have convinced the Regent that he was being played with. His response was to play back.
"The complicated state of affairs in Gascony, with its frequently overlapping vassalages, gave Charles many chances to do this. On November 1323, a case involving the village of Saint-Sardos was decided in favor of a nearby priory, placing the village under the direct rule of the French King[4]. Nearly a year later, in late September 1324, a royal sergeant arrived in Saint-Sardos, and erected a stake with the royal arms to symbolize the change of authority. Local landowners, fearful that this would likely be the first step of turning Saint-Sardos into the base of a royal garrison, responded quickly--Saint-Sardos was raided that very night, and burned to the ground. The unfortunate sergeant was hanged from his own stake[5].
"And so, after years of stalling, Edward found himself facing the very real prospect of war with France..."
--A Magnificent Counterfeit: the Life and Reign of Edward II of England, Jason Soames 1994
-------------------------------------------------
[1] This is all from OTL.
[2] IOTL, Mathilde married the young Margrave of Meissen.
[3] IOTL, this is generally called the Despenser War. Or Wars.
[4] This was decided in December 1322, IOTL.
[5] This also all happened IOTL, albeit roughly a year earlier.
"Edward's thwarting of his domestic foes brought little relief to England on the international scene--indeed, a few months after crushing Lancaster's forces so decisively at Bouroughbridge, he was engaged in yet another inconclusive campaign in Scotland, one that would claim the life of his natural son Adam Fitzroy[1]. Meanwhile, he continued to antagonize France, still refusing to pay homage for Gascony--indeed, the death of the Count of Poitiers and ascent of the Count of Valois lead to increased optimism in Edward's inner circle that a solution that would respect his royal dignity would be found. Charles of Valois after all, was a firm traditionalist who believed fully in the prerogatives of France's feudal lords--further, he was also a blood uncle to Edward's half-brothers. And finally, moreso than any other member of the French royal family--even including his nephew the Count of de la Marche who was at that very moment making his own sad attempt to fight for the Cross in the East--Charles of Valois felt the crusading fever that seemed to have been transmitted in the French royal blood since St. Louis. Edward felt--not without cause--that promises of aid against the Mahometan (and perhaps the Schismatics, considering Valois' other ambitions) in the near future would be most effective in getting the new Regent to sympathize with his view. And perhaps he was correct, for when the Count of de la Marche briefly arrived back from the East, and in between attempts to be named Regent, attempted to raise a furor over the death of his sister, Charles of Valois obligingly hushed him...
"While we can never be sure what ultimately caused Edward's plans to fail, it is likely that another scheme of his played a significant part. For all his hopes to win the French over by negotiation and promises, the King also desired to keep them at bay with a system of continental alliance. Marriages and betrothals for his children with continental princes were part of this grand ambition. It would be his ultimately successful efforts to betroth his eldest son to a daughter of the Count of Hainaut that would open the door for an even greater match for himself. His efforts attracted the attention of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, himself looking for a bride amongst the Hainauts. A man, like Edward, in need of alliances, he felt certain he saw a highly profitable one here. And so, scrapping his previous plans for her[2], the Emperor's agents suggested that his daughter Mathilde's hand might be available--for the King of England himself. Edward jumped at the offer, and within months, young Mathilde was headed for England, his second child-bride, even younger than his first, and with an even more impressive gap of years...
"Mathilde--or 'Maude' as she would swiftly become known as in England--was a very different bride then Isabella--quiet, docile, and unambitious--who quickly won her husband's rather paternal affection. The English public seems to have been less impressed--Edward's hasty remarriage put a lie to the rather extravagant claims of sorrow at Isabella's death he'd made during the Contrariant Uprising[3] and suggested that his enemies' accusations of murder might not be so baseless after all. But more than that, the marriage allied Edward with one of the most startling men in Europe, a man who had just finished a bloody war for the Imperial throne, and would follow it by beginning a lifelong quarrel with the Pope. Despite France's carefully maintained neutrality during the dispute, it had undeniably leaned towards Louis' Habsburg rival Frederick the Fair. All of Edward's vague promises to assist in recapturing Jerusalem at some point in the near future couldn't coax Charles of Valois out of the fears that an England allied with Louis IV produced. Indeed, it seems to have convinced the Regent that he was being played with. His response was to play back.
"The complicated state of affairs in Gascony, with its frequently overlapping vassalages, gave Charles many chances to do this. On November 1323, a case involving the village of Saint-Sardos was decided in favor of a nearby priory, placing the village under the direct rule of the French King[4]. Nearly a year later, in late September 1324, a royal sergeant arrived in Saint-Sardos, and erected a stake with the royal arms to symbolize the change of authority. Local landowners, fearful that this would likely be the first step of turning Saint-Sardos into the base of a royal garrison, responded quickly--Saint-Sardos was raided that very night, and burned to the ground. The unfortunate sergeant was hanged from his own stake[5].
"And so, after years of stalling, Edward found himself facing the very real prospect of war with France..."
--A Magnificent Counterfeit: the Life and Reign of Edward II of England, Jason Soames 1994
-------------------------------------------------
[1] This is all from OTL.
[2] IOTL, Mathilde married the young Margrave of Meissen.
[3] IOTL, this is generally called the Despenser War. Or Wars.
[4] This was decided in December 1322, IOTL.
[5] This also all happened IOTL, albeit roughly a year earlier.