[1] Lionel of Antwerp/Clarence was the second son of Edward III, married to Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, and subsequently widowed in 1363. Upon his elder brothers death in 1361, he became Prince of Wales and Heir Apparent. Upon being widowed, he had only one child - a daughter who survived to adulthood - and his father looked for a new wife for him. In 1366, he was married to Catherine of Luxembourg, the widowed daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV and the pair had four more children.
His reign saw the Peasants Revolt and the end of the Fifty Years War which lasted for almost 50 years after starting in 1337. This ended because Lionel was concerned about further peasant rebellions and the ensuing difficulties he was facing with Ireland and Scotland. Edward III had attempted to conquer Scotland and place Lionel's brother John on the Scottish throne, but this had ultimately failed and Lionel dispatched John to Ireland to put down unrest.
Lionel died in 1399 and was succeeded by his son, Percy I.
A drawing of King Percy I of England
[2] Born in 1368, Percy was the first child and son of King Lionel I and Catherine of Luxembourg. A stubborn and prideful boy, who viewed that nearly all were beneath him, Percy showed great aspirations to become a military commander. He even once proclaimed to his father that he would be able to quash any revolt for him.
King Lionel I died in 1399, Percy became the new King of England. His style of governing was much more harsh and hotheaded than his father and frequently stamped down on those who opposed him. Percy soon adopted a new title, Sovereign of the English, as in the people of England, which he intended to become as synonymous as the title of King.
Three years after the Glyndŵr Rising had erupted in 1400, Percy personally led an army to the Welsh marches. Despite a cruel and long campaign of terror and death, the rebellion continued, however, the King was satisfied believing that the rebels would soon be defeated.
When he finally returned to the capital, he made plans to invade France. But, before he could set his plans into motion, Percy was found dead in his bed, most likely poisoned in his sleep. He was succeeded by his son, Edward.
Kenneth Branagh as Edward IV in BBC's "The Plantagenets."
[3] Edward was the only son of Percy, born to him when he was still Prince of Wales in 1387. In 1386 Prince Percy married Joanna of Lorraine, daughter of John I, Duke of Lorraine. Joanna was the younger sister of Maria of Lorraine who was married to the Dauphin of France, who later would be Charles VIII of France. This marriage to the sister-in-law of the future king was an attempted rapprochement with France to build the peace at the end of the Fifty Year war by Edward's grandfather, King Lionel. Both Percy and Joanna were just 17 at their marriage.
Edward was born nine months later. His mother, the Princess of Wales doted on him. His father had little to do with him, in fact he had little to do with his wife also. The Prince and the Princess had separate apartments in the royal residence of
Richmond Palace. The estrangement increased when Percy became King and many believed Queen Joanna was behind his poisoning in order to stop his intended invasion of her homeland.
Edward was 19 when he took the throne and he immediately ended the plans for his father's invasion of France. His mother, the Dowager Queen Joanna, was a main advisor during the first years of his reign. She was only 37 and soon remarried to Richard Mortimer, the 4th Earl of March (OOC: not OTL's Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl, as Philippa never married Edmund, the 3rd Earl in TTL.) Edward made Richard the Duke of March.
In 1407 Edward married Richard's cousin-once-removed on his mother's side, Lady Elizabeth FitzAlan of Arundel, who'd been fostered by Richard and his first wife, Claire of Kent, who'd been a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and died of the sweating sickness in 1401. (Duke Richard and Clair had had no children of their own.)
Edward was not like his father at all. His father's arrogance had assumed the rebellion in Wales was over after his personal intervention and cruelty. The truth was that it continued. King Edward now sent emissaries to meet with the Welsh rebels and listen to their grievances.
The solution offered by the King was that the Welsh would be given the same rights as the English, their lords seated in the House of Lords, and the burghers in the Commons, but
Owain Glyndŵr must bend the knee. Owain refused. But the other Welsh lords were insistent that they take this victory and they forced him to accept. Edward was asked to let Owain continue his claim as the Prince of Wales if he submitted. Edward countered with offering him the title of the Duke of Powys. He reluctantly accepted after his Tudor relatives insisted.
From this point on, Edward's kingdom was at peace. Edward and Elizabeth had many children and England and Wales prospered in his reign. He died after a reign of near 36 years and was succeeded by Richard, Prince of Wales.
Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins playing Richard II with his wife, Maria of France, in BBC’s series, “The Plantagenets”
[4] Born in 1410 and named after his godfather, Richard Mortimer, the 1st Duke of March, as a child, Richard, Prince of Wales, enjoyed a happy childhood, with his parents and siblings.
His father, had a strong bond with his children, many future psychiatrists, believe that Edward was compensating for his own relationship with his father.
His education was a mixture of administrative training, learning Latin, French and Welsh, set to be an inclusive of all his people as well as military, with Edward instilling in him that war was only to be used as a last option, stating that God does not wish for his Christian soldiers to kill one another.
In 1430, his father arranged double wedding, with a marriage for 20 year old Richard, with 19 year old, Maria of France, a granddaughter of Charles VIII of France and Maria of Lorraine, via their eldest son, Charles, Grand Dauphin of France, along with his elder sister, Princess Joanna, marrying Charles, Petit Dauphin of France.
The pair would be as fertile as their parents, resulting in seven births before the death of his father, when Richard became king at the age of thirty one.
For his children and other children of nobility, Richard, wanting the future generations to have an outstanding education, he would commission a number of education facilities including a college on a town on the outskirts of Richmond, known as Kew College
(In OTL Henry VI sets up Eton College near Windsor castle) and then later setting up another at Oxford, known as King’s College in his honour.
(In OTL Henry VI sets up Kings College at Cambridge)
Richard reign was one of prosperity, with no wars resulting in a basic tax rate being collected from a large populated country, meant the treasury had additional funds at its disposal.
As well as education, Richard would see stones laid for St. George Cathedral, in Gloucester as well as St. David Cathedral, in Powys.
Richard was able to invest in the Cinque Ports in the Kent coast, converting them from joint military and trade purposes, to solely trade. While in the north, he arranged for better fortifications along the Scottish border.
Richard also improved infrastructure across the nation including roads that connected all major cities and towns in England and Wales.
In 1479, 68 year old, Richard collapsed during a meeting with Parliament, he was rushed to nearby bed, however had been found to have succumbed to a heart attack. He was succeeded by his son, Henry.
Jacob Collins-Levy & Jodie Comer as King Henry IV & Queen Guinevere of BBC's "The Plantagenets."*
[5] Henry Plantagenet was the third child and second son of Richard, the then Prince of Wales, and his wife, Princess Maria. His older sister, Princess Eleanor, was born in 1431. He and his slightly older identical twin, Edward, were born in 1433. His younger siblings were Arthur, born in 1437, John, born in 1439, and another set of twins, Isabel and Joanna, born in 1441, only a few weeks before Richard ascended to the throne. Isabel and Joanna were not identical.
From birth, Prince Henry was the Earl of March, as his father had inherited the Duchy from his godfather, Richard Mortimer. When Richard became king, he granted the title of the Duke of March to Henry, making him the 3rd Duke at the age of seven. His older brother was made the Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales. All the princes and princesses were given intense education at Richmond Palace. In 1450, the two twin princes were the first royal children to attend University as they attended Oxford at King College.
After Oxford in 1455 the two princes married. Edward married a French Princess, Catherine Valois. Henry married Guinevere Tudor, the oldest daughter of the current Duke of Powys, Owain Tudor, who was five years his junior. As the Duchy of the March included Welsh lands (it
was the Welsh March,) it made sense for Henry to marry a Welsh Princess. Harry and Gwen (as they were known) set up their household in the March and had no idea that he'd become King one day. By 1561 they had a number of children and it seemed their marriage, although arranged for political purposes, had quickly become a love match.
The same was not true for Edward and Catherine. Catherine and Edward just didn't like each other from the start. They did their marital duty and she conceived, but had a miscarriage. After that they went their separate ways. Although Edward had several mistresses, when rumors spread that the Princess was entertaining in her bed a French Knight who was visiting the court with the Princess' brother, the Dauphin Louis, he felt compelled to confront him, expecting the Knight, the Chevalier Pierre Flambeau, to deny and leave the court. Instead he admitted it, insulting the Prince, pointing out his own affairs, and calling him a 'louse.' Edward had no choice but to challenge him. They met on the tourney field in one of the last jousts in England. Edward died at the age of 28 in 1461 on the field when Flambeau's knobbed lance broke and a shard pierced the prince's chest. Catherine fled back to France with her brother and Flambeau, with whom she continued her affair.
Harry and Gwen were at the tourney and he witnessed his beloved brother's death. Suddenly he was the heir to the throne. When Harry, Gwen, and their children returned to the March, he was now the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cornwall as well as the Duke of the March. They were both young, she was 23 and he was 28, and continued to have children.
(Peace was preserved with France by a formal apology from the Dauphin, the Princess, and Flambeau, claiming the death of the Prince of Wales was an unfortunate accident and not the intent of the Chevalier.)
Eighteen years later, the 46 year old Harry became King Henry IV.
The most important event of King Henry's reign did not occur in England or Wales. It occurred half a world away when the "Admiral of the Seas," Cristoforo Colombo, sailing for the Empire of the Republic of Genoa, succeeded in crossing the Atlantic Ocean to what he thought was the Indies with a fleet of twenty ships.
Genoa was the dominant power in the Mediterranean, having taken parts of the former Byzantine Empire when it fell including Crimea, Cyprus, Crete, several Aegean Islands, and parts of the Peloponnese. During the 15th Century Genoa had also added Sicily, Malta, and conquered Granada (Including Gibraltar) and Western Morocco to their Empire, which had already included Corsica, Sardinia, and the northeast coast of Italy. Genoa and Portugal had been racing to see who could sail around Africa first and Genoa had also discovered the Canary Islands and colonized them. Colombo had been an important part of this exploration and expansion for Genoa. in 1483, he'd convinced the Doge and the Great Council of the Republic to finance his voyages to the West.
When Colombo returned to Europe in 1484 with his discovery of islands in the west, the news spread like wildfire and the race to explore was on. England and Wales was already ahead on this race, having worked to increase it's infrastructure for trade under Henry's father. He'd continued that, building ships and ports. While the other European powers of Castile, France, the Netherlands, and Norway rushed to establish themselves, England had the infrastructure.
In 1485, Henry commissioned his own exploration fleet of 35 ships to sail west, using the northern route that had led to Iceland and Greenland and the fabled Vinland. Hugo Montgomery was the Admiral of the Fleet and after sailing to Iceland, then Greenland, he sailed west and charted the east coast of Neustralia, as Montgomery named the new Continent. He charted it from across the strait separating Neustralia from Greenland down past the island he named New Caledonia, in the large bay he named the Caledonian Sea, then along the coast until he reached the end of the land and sailed into the Genoan Sea. He found several rivers and named them from native names: the Mohikun (Hudson), the Leneypea (Delaware), the Keshapik (James), and the Rickohawk (Savanah). His voyage took three years and he claimed the entire continent of Neustralia for England & Wale and left behind trading forts at the Caledonian Sea, the Mohikun, the Leneypea, and the Rickohawk. He returned to England with his ships laden with beaver pelts and astonished all with his stories.
In 1489 Montgomery sailed with a fleet of 100 ships and this time sailed southwest from Iceland and discovered the fishing banks in the seas east of New Caledonia, resupplied the trading forts, and explored further into the Caledonian Bay, discovering the Magna Huron River (St. Lawrence). He returned to England in 1492 to report to the King.
But the King had died when he'd been thrown off his horse while fox hunting in the March. So it was the news of the Fishing Banks and the Magna Huron were reported to his son, William of Dublin.
*The actors appeared younger than they should have in this scene as they had played Harry & Gwen from when they were young adults.
[6] The man who would one day grow to become the third of England's William was born in a quiet day of march in 1465 to then Prince Henry and Princess Guinevere, in a visit of the Princely couple to the Pale of Ireland. He would be the second and last of Henry's sons, led by a brood of five surviving older sisters and followed by other two. His brother Edmund would die as a young boy, which would see William quickly take up the mantle of Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Henry would be destined to a firm and varied education, as he learned almost six languages in his life and comprehended a few more. Following the footsteps of his father, William boud attend King's College in Oxford, where he would receive a secondary education in law, dialectics and diplomacy.
William would grow to be a man of beastly size, reaching almost two meters. He was, as recorded by historians, a handsome man, who held his hair short and his beard long, being also reported to be hairy. His first months as prince of Wales, residing in Ludlow had come to show the type of man he would be, brazen but loyal, intelligent and talented, but luckless. A very ambitious lad from a young age, William would use his prerogative as Prince of Wales to start what would be recorded in history of the "Welsh conquest of Ireland" (A obvious play of jokes, as Ireland, was conquered by England, but by the Prince of Wales and his "Welsh" army) as he would invade Leister and Connacht in early 82, conquering much of it in a fell swoop. The Irish campaign would where William would spend most of his time as Prince of Wales. perhaps his greatest personal achievement. It would serve as the stamp of approval that most of the English nobility would unusually stamp upon him, as William's conquests by 1492 were more than assured, and, his appeasement of both the Irish, who would come to see their future King in a new light after his conquest, and the many English nobles who got rewards on the island.[/B]
William of Dublin, in his official portrait in his investiture as King of Ireland
The sudden death of his father, in 1492, would see William of Dublin, as he had been known until then, become William the III, of the House of Plantagenet. It was in this time that the news from the new world would come back to William as he was crowned - with England quickly hopping on breaking apparently rising Genoan domination of Columbia, as German cartographers would soon name the full continent, which, the English would in time adopt as well. William, as his close Portuguese-soon-to-be-Spanish cousins, would share with him. William would prepare many colonial ventures, sending many English, Welsh and Irishmen over the sea to England's new colonies in the Columbian East. The English would attempt to spread their colonists all over the East coast, with the majority settling in below the Hudson and the Rickohawk river. The further anglicized river bays of Mohican, Lenape, Kespeak and Rickhaw would see major the first and major settlements, with the Mohican river becoming home to the fledling city of New York, as the venture was done under the patronage of the Dukes of York, the Lenape river home to Williamston, Kespeak home to Montgomery and the Rickohaw home to Hudson, named after another English explorer of the time named Liam Hudson, with many more settlements spread in between.
It was also in the first year of his reign that William had his third child by his wife, Madalena, Infanta of Spain. The marriage had been done to cement relations with the soon to burst Empire of Spain, ruled under the reign of Henrique the I, son of the now both deceased Alfonso the V of Portugal-Castille and Isabel of Aragon, Madalena's brother. The Capet-Burgundians of Portugal had in less than a generation united the lands of the Castillian Lancasters and the Barcelona's of Aragon, and the patriotic fervor felt against Morocco and Genoa itself would see the newly risen Spanish Empire (A fun fact found by later Historians, William of England and Henry of Spain would both acquire their second royal and their imperial title, in that order, at the same time) conquered much of the west Mediterranean and the Canarias from Genoa, which would see the unified Spain sending their famous conquistadors into New Castille (Mexico and Central America), New Vizcaya (Colombia, Venezuela and Panama) alongside Pizzaro's conquest of the Inca Empire, establishing the third colony of New Navarre.
The Genoan themselves had only kept the island of Antonina (Puerto Rico), with the French settling Saint Domingue and the Spanish Cuba, with the English settling the Bahamas. The other two rising players in Colonial Columbia would be the United Kingdom of Sicily under the Angevins, and France under the recently crowned Burgundians, by far the richest state of Europe. The French would settle the aforementioned Saint Domingue, alongside Canada and Acadia above the Mohican colonies and Antartique by the platine river (Uruguay, Argentina, Chile).
This heavy rush of European states to America would see the birth of the short-lived Atlantic slave trade, as the Mediterranean Christian states would prefer the enslave the Muslim north Africans than the slowly Christianising Africans below the Sahara, with Jolof, Benin, and the Kongo all adopting Christianity on missions organized by the Pope and the Emperor of Spain.
The arisal of these all these settlements over all these vast lands would be fueled by an extreme population boom in France, England and Spain, but by this time most of these colonies, especially those dependent more on settlers, would be bare bones, but this would be a start and it would be these settlements and claims that the various European power would bring to the pope in the treaty of Oviedo, where the New World would be divided between the various powers with colonies in America.
William's reign would also face one of the greatest defeats of the English monarchy with the final loss on their land on the continent. The death of the last Valois's would see the Burgundian Dukes rise to the throne of France, uniting a vast realm with already another vast realm, making France extremely rich and powerful. An opportunity of alliance with the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire would be wasted by William, something which would want him to the rest of his days, with France defeating both powers separately. The Burgundian François of Charolais, also known as François the I of France, would be responsible for bringing Aquitaine, Gascony and Calais back into the French crown, defeating William in the battle of Talmond in 1507, handing William the greatest humiliation of his reign. It would see William turn an eye to the consolidation of his rule in England and Ireland, and continued expansion overseas.
William would thus die in 1516, succeeded by his son, Constantine.
A painting of Constantine I
[8] Constantine was born in 1492, the last son of King William III and Infanta Madalena of Spain. Many at the court believed that the prince was insane as he showed various levels of obsessiveness when participating in his habits and interests. At that, he was often even compared to King Percy I of England. Although Constantine never seemed to pay attention to these people, in fact, he showed very little interest in people at all. He would frequently not be seen for several days and would only appear if his father or mother asked him to.
After he heard of his father’s defeat at the Battle of Talmond, it seemed that Constantine showed even more coldness towards the King. In one of his entries in his diary, Constantine stated that his father may have been a successful man in the isles, but that he had failed his people in the European mainland and the new world.
When he unexpectedly ascended to the throne, after that his elder brothers died in a ship explosion, Constantine immediately went to work and micro-managed nearly all aspects of running the functions of the state. He also showed a particular focus on expanding the English colonies. With the promises of land and titles, he encouraged people to go west, fight Indians, and take their lands. And, back at home, Constantine commenced a military build-up of the army and the navy to combat the French. During the process, he fired many generals who did not meet his standards, which were quite high.
Finally, in 1521, Constantine sent a declaration of war, which urged King François I to surrender his lands in Acadia and Canada. However, the King refused, still competent upon his victory over the English in 1507. Two years later, he was singing a different tune in the city of Carlsruhe, whereby treaty he was forced to give up most of France's colonial possessions. Though, some considered that he was quite lucky as Constantine made no attempt in taking France’s profitably Caribbean colonies.
For the rest of his reign, Constantine continued to improve the manners of producing value from England's new world colonies. In 1536, he died having never married or produced any heirs. He was succeeded by his younger sister, Constance, and her husband, Charles, their second cousin once removed, the Duke of York.
Natalie Portman & Eric Bana as Constance & Charles in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
[9] Constance Plantagenet was the first official reigning queen of England, Wales & Ireland, but only because the number two person in line for her brother's throne insisted on it; he was the Duke of York, her husband, the heir of the senior Plantagenet cadet line descended from Prince Arthur, the third son of
Richard II, and oldest of
Henry IV's two younger brothers. Richard had created the Duchy of York for his third son (and granted Henry the Duchy of March and his fourth son, John, the Duchy of Kent, also a new creation.)
The son of Arthur, Prince Charles, was the 2nd Duke of York and was Charles' grandfather. It was Prince Charles who was the Duke of York who financed the settlement of Neustralia, a term still used for England's colonial endeavor in eastern North Columbia, and had New York named after him. He also was close to King William's older sons, Prince William and Prince Henry, and a major supporter of William's efforts to retain their French provinces. He and his son, Arthur the Earl of March, were with the two princes in France and all of them died in the explosion of the ship that was transporting them home in 1507. The young Charles, only four years old, now was the 3rd Duke of York and the richest individual in the kingdom besides the King. He and his mother were brought into Richmond Palace to live with William. There he became close to the youngest child of William, his young daughter, Constance, also only four, eleven years younger than Constantine.
When Charles returned to his estates in York in 1523, he had married Constance, uniting the main Plantagenet line and the cadet line, with Constantine's blessings.
As Constantine had no children, the heir to his throne was Constance if women were allowed to inherit and Charles was if they followed Salic Law. It had never been an issue in the kingdom before. Now it became a matter for Parliament to settle. Those who wanted to follow the Salic Law used the precedent of Stephen of Blois succeeding Henry I, his uncle, instead of Maud, his daughter. Charles was adamant for the rights of his wife and convinced her brother the King to agree. So it was that Parliament decreed that women were eligible to inherit the throne after the male heirs took precedence. This was intentionally vague as it didn't define how distant a male heir needed to be to take precedent. But it was close enough for Constantine to issue a royal decree in 1528 that his sister and her husband were his joint heirs if he had no children.
Charles and Constance had three children in their marriage, all of them surviving to adulthood, all born before they took the throne in 1536.
The major issue before the King and Queen in their joint reign was religion. Many of the English had been interested in reform since the Wycliffe attempts to translate the Vulgate into English. Now that the Reformation had swept across the Continent and then divided into three versions (Lutheranism, Swiss Reformed, Anabaptists) there were sects in England, Wales, and Ireland (not so much in Ireland) who wanted the kingdom to follow suit. Charles and Constance were devout Catholics and Charles as a young man had written a treatise refuting the thinking of Luther and been granted the honorary title of "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope for it. On the throne they took this seriously and did their best to remove the Protestants from England. Unlike on the continent where this meant warfare and persecution, Charles & Constance followed a two fold path. Those who kept their religion private would not be investigated, even if someone accused them of holding heretical views. Those not able to do so were peacefully invited to leave the kingdom. Points of departure were the Netherlands where the Swiss Reformed option had taken over or Scotland, which also had moved in that direction. But another option was one of the provinces of Neustralia. Up the Mohican River from New York was an empty land (the natives didn't count in European eyes) and there these Protestants could settle, remain loyal English subject, yet pursue a divergent faith.
When Queen Constance died in 1545 at the age of 41 it was a shock to everyone. She died in childbirth as she'd gotten with child again at this late age. The child was still born and now the King was a widower. He never married again nor had a mistress. For the rest of his life, King Charles wore a Franciscan monk's habit and lived as if he had taken vows in his personal life, eschewing all luxuries.
He continued the policies he had pursued with Constance of building the navy, continued exploration of Columbia beyond Neustralia, including financing an explorer to sail around South Columbia and to the west coast of North Columbia. He also created a company to work for colonization in the West Indies Sea (what had originally been called the Genoan Sea) and the southeast coast of South Columbia. The colony there was called Constancia.
He died in his sleep. He hadn't been eating well in his last few months and had lost a lot of weight.
[10] Charles Plantagenet was the oldest child of his parents, born in 1526. He was ten-years-old when his uncle died, and his mother and father took the thrones. He was made the Prince of Wales shortly after their joint coronation. When Charles turned sixteen, he went to a university in Italy. It was there he met his lifetime friend, Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It would be Cosimo who would encourage Charles' future patronage of the arts. Charles would eventually arrange a marriage between their houses.
Three years later, Charles would learn of his mother's passing and return to England. He became his father's trusted advisor for twelve years, taking over most of his duties when his health began to fail.
In the meantime, Charles arranged the marriages of his siblings and himself. In 1547, he would marry Mary of Scotland, who was nearly five years his senior, hoping to make peace with Scotland after years of tension. Despite their age difference, the two managed to have a happy marriage and a healthy sex life, managing to have eleven children, seven of whom lived to adulthood.
When he became king, Charles was eager to sponsor as many artists, composers and playwrights as he could. He was determined to make English renaissance successful, taking inspiration from both Italy and France.
As for the question of religion, Charles remained resolutely silent. It was well known that his wife was a member of the Swiss reform and practiced her religion openly. When it was remarked upon, Charles only stated "She prays to the same God." His refusal to even continue his parents' policies, instead letting heretics pray openly as long as they made no war. This lack of action caused a Catholic uprising. At the end, the Duke of Richmond famously declared "if they were hoping to force my brother's hand, it backfired badly." Indeed, Charles was increased at what he said was a most unchristian act. He lead the troops himself to crush the rebellion.
Sadly, this would be his undoing as he would be captured and executed by the rebel leaders. He was succeeded by his oldest son, James.
Alan Cumming as James I & VII in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
[11] Prince James, born in 1549, was the firstborn child of Charles and Mary. From birth he was the heir to the English, Welsh, and Irish throne and second in line for the Scottish throne behind his mother Mary, as her older brother, James VI Stewart, of whom he was named after, had never married to have legitimate issue. King James was twelve years older than his sister and had been more a parental figure from the death of their father, King James V, in 1530, when Mary was nine and James VI was 22 and became king of Scotland. When James VI died in 1680 at the age of 72, James Plantagenet was 31 and had been King of England, Wales, and Ireland for a year. His mother, the dowager Queen now became the reigning Queen of Scotland; James Plantagenet was first in line to the Scottish throne and was formally the Duke of Rothesay.
James had married a Medici, like his uncle the Duke of Richmond. His bride wasn't a niece of Cosmo like his uncle's wife, but his daughter, Jessica de' Medici, who was 15 when they married in 1566 when James was 17. Jessica was said to be the most beautiful woman in Europe and James doted on her. She was a northern Italian, blonde beauty. They had several children and James doted on them too.
Gwyneth Paltrow as Queen Jessica in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
As King of England with a nominal Catholic bride, related to popes, but raised by his mother as a Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland's faith, the couple were a perfect example of the vision of England as a multi-religious community. One of James' first acts as King was to have Parliament formalize the idea that England was a place of religious toleration. The entire kingdom except the few rebels, supported this enthusiastically.
James was actually on the field of battle when he requested Parliament to pass the Act of Toleration for England and Wales. He didn't request the Irish Parliament to do this, but it was clear he intended to do so in the future as there was a large minority of Protestants in Ireland, mainly Anglo-Normans in the southeast and Scots Presbyterians in the north. (Ireland and England/Wales were not one united kingdom but two in personal union since William III.) As the dispatches were sent, he turned his attention to fight the remaining rebels and mounted battle.
The stronghold of the rebels was in Kent, where John Marlowe, the archbishop of Canterbury, the most important bishop in Catholic England, sat, where he had been supported by James' 4th cousin, Duke David Plantagenet, the 4th Duke of Kent, whom had been killed in battle against Charles II. But it was David's son, John, the 5th Duke, who had then led the rebels and captured and killed his king. However, his uncle, the younger brother of David, William Plantagenet, although as fiercely Catholic as the rest of the Kent Plantagenets, had remained loyal and was with James on the field when word reached them that John had committed regicide. It was the archbishop himself who brought the news and explained that despite his council, the young Duke had done the horrid deed. The archbishop now bowed the knee and swore loyalty, claiming his aim had never been regicide but simply to protect the rights of Catholics. James promised him their rights would be protected, which he did in the Act of Toleration.
The Battle of Canterbury in 1579 was a fierce battle and the victory of the King and his loyalists was overwhelming as many across the kingdom, Catholic as well as Protestant, had flocked to join the new King. The Archbishop John Marlowe blessed the royal forces and many of the rebels fled from the superior numbers.
Duke John was captured and arrested, as were those who'd assisted him in killing Charles II instead of opposing him. The rest were granted pardons if they swore loyalty to the King and accepted that England/Wales was going to be a land of religious toleration. Most did.
The trial of Duke John was not like the trial he'd done on his king where he was judge, jury, and executioner. James insisted it be the fairest trial ever. It wasn't until June of 1580 that it ended, the Duke was found guilty of murder, and beheaded. James granted the Duchy to William Plantagenet, who became the sixth Duke. This generosity of the King to the former rebels and other members of the Kent Plantagenet cadet line ended the religious divisions in the kingdom. It was clear to the Catholics that religious toleration meant everyone, Catholic and Protestant (and Jew) would be respected, treated as full Englishmen or Welsh with full rights.
By 1584, his Irish kingdom had followed suit, despite the Catholic majority being much larger than in England/Wales where it was only a slight majority. Scotland was the opposite. There the nation was Presbyterian and all other forms of worship were required to be in secret. After Ireland passed its Act of Toleration, James journeyed to Scotland and spoke to the Parliament, making it clear if he became king on his mother's death he would ask for a similar act there and would not enforce any persecution of Catholics, other kinds of Protestants, or Jews. It was a long debate, but in 1587, as Queen Mary lay dying in her chambers, the Scots Parliament passed their Act of Toleration and extended an invitation to James to be their King on his mother's death. It was only a few weeks later that James became the seventh of his name to be King of Scotland, with him now being the monarch of three kingdoms in personal union. (England and Wales were one kingdom with two ethnicities.)
The British renaissance moved full ahead under James, he supported play-writes and often attended the theatre. He continued his father's sponsorship of the arts, and focused on architecture. His biggest building project was a new palace to replace the decaying Richmond Palace. Built in the heart of London, Plantagenet Palace was a magnificent structure of marble that became the most significant building in London.
Plantagenet Palace with the Thames behind it.
The other important part of his reign was the tension between the English colonial expansion and the Spanish one. Both empire claimed Florida, the Spanish name given to the peninsula in the southeast of North Columbia. Finally in 1603 this tension broke into open warfare in Florida and that expanded into a general colonial war in not only the West Indies Sea but in Europe as nations divided up between which side they supported. Genoa, Tuscany, the Papal States, and Morocco took the side of England. France and Sweden took the side of Spain, hoping this might be their opportunity to weaken their main rival.
This became known as the Twelve Years War due to its length. King James died before it was done, although by 1613 it was clear that northern Florida was in English hands and the island chain to the east of lower Florida, the Bahamas.
Emperor Nicholas I out for a walk
[12] Born in 1570, Prince Nicholas was the second son of King James I & VII and Princess Jessica de' Medici. Upon the death of his baby brother, William, Nicholas became the first in line to the throne of the kingdoms. Nicholas, a smart child with the propensity to learn, greatly enjoyed participating in the social aspects of the royal court, though he always maintained an allure of honour, respectability, and seriousness. He never took part in things that he labelled to be ''morally depraved''.
At his own suggestion to improve relations with the Holy Roman Empire, a marriage was arranged between him and Princess Anna Maria, who was the sole child of Francis II, King of the Romans and son of Emperor Frederick VI. Soon after their marriage, in 1590, Nicholas and his wife were blessed with their first child. Later on, Nicholas' marriage to Anna Maria would help maintain neutrality from Austria and most of the Holy Roman Empire during the Twelve Years' War.
Speaking of which, when the war dragged on, Nicholas began to paint several paintings, most of which typically depicted great victories against the Spanish and their allies. His father was so impressed by these paintings that the King ordered the construction of what would later become the National Museum of the Arts, so they could be exhibited. During this time, Nicholas also began to be influenced by the writings of John Dour, a British Renaissance writer and advocate for Unional Nationalism, which called for a more centralized form of government, opposed regionalism, and would promote a sense of patriotism to the Isles as a whole.
When his father died, Nicholas was left to oversee the end of the Twelve Years' War. Two years later, Florida was completely secured and with this, Nicholas renamed it to Campestris (meaning Flatland in Latin), to rid it of its Spanish name. And, the following years, Nicholas and his supporters began to work on executing John Dour’s ideas. Although, in the end, they did not succeed in ridding the isles of regional parliaments, they successfully implemented their wanted form of nationalism, Nicholas I proclaiming himself, Emperor of the Isles.
The Emperor died in 1624 and was succeeded by his grandson, Prince James.
Rufus Sewell as the King Emperor James II & VIII in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
[13] James, Prince of Wales, Duke of the March, Cornwall, Rothesay and Cork, became the heir to the various thrones of the British Isles in 1611 when he was not yet a year old when his father, Prince William, the previous Prince of Wales, Duke of the March, Cornwall, Rothesay and Cork, died in the last battle of the 12 Years War. Prince William was only 20 years old and his young bride was a year younger. They'd married in 1609. She was Hilde of Brunswick-Lüneburg, one of the small duchies of the Holy Roman Empire, which was an ally of the British Kingdoms in the war.
It was Swedish forces that had invaded the Holy Roman Empire, hoping to recover control of the southern shore of the Baltic Sea that had once been part of their Empire, which at this point included Finland, Norway, Denmark, and the lands on the southeastern shore of the sea. William's father, King Nicholas, had allied with the Germans and had sent William to the German lands often as a child to visit his mother's relatives and cement the relationship. Hilde and William were a love match and William along with her older brother Ernst, and William's best friend, the slightly older Earl of Kent, Richard Plantagenet of Kent, were a trio of drinking friends, gamblers, and soldiers. (Richard was the son of Harold Plantagenet, the 6th Duke of Kent, who'd fought alongside his father, William the Loyal, the 5th Duke, for King James I against his cousin the Regicidal Duke.)
These three led a combined Brunswickian/British force to face the Swedes in Saxony. The Battle was a decisive victory for the various German and British forces against the Swedes, who fled back across the Baltic. But even in victorious battles there are losses and in this battle it was the young heir to the British Thrones who was one of them. Ernst and Richard brought Hilde the news as she waited back at home with Richard's wife, the very pregnant Lady Childia Northrop of Sussex.
So it was that young James never knew his father. He also was distant from his grandfather, as Princess Hilde chose to live with Richard the Earl of Kent and her best friend Lady Childia, in Canterbury with Duke Harold. In 1611 Childia gave birth to a girl they named Elizabeth.
It was in 1618, when James was not yet eight years old, that the various British Kingdoms' thrones were consolidated into one Imperial Throne. Although the kingdoms remained separate with separate Parliaments and ministers, the union was no longer personal, but a permanent feature of one Emperor ruling all the Kingdoms. By this point, it was clear the two young children were inseparable and the parents and grandparents were already talking about a future marriage. Nicholas approved of uniting the ruling Plantagenets with the Kent line that had served him and his father so well during and after the rebellion. Duke Harold, as his father before him, was a leading figure in the kingdom, often serving as the Chancellor of the Treasury and always as an advisor to the King, which was a main reason that the King's heir was fostered to him. A marriage between James and Elizabeth seemed both politically right as well as right in that the two youngsters had already had a 'play marriage'.
Both were trained and educated to someday be future rulers of the Empire. They learned not only their English letters, but also Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, Italian, and German. They received the best scientific education of the time and a philosophical instruction in the values of beauty, reason, and tolerance. They were instructed by Catholic Priests, Presbyterian Ministers, and Lutheran Pastors from Hilde's home.
When his grandfather died, James was 14 and he was by then formally betrothed to Lady Elizabeth, age 13. There was no question who should be regent and that was Duke Harold. He and his entire family moved into Plantagenet Palace with the Dowager Queen Ann Marie, and James and Elizabeth's education continued. James had desired to go to Oxford like his ancestors and study at King's College, but now that he was the King of King's College, it was not feasible. Instead his education in history, governance, law, and the geography of the world took place inside the vast complex that was Plantagenet Palace.
In 1628 on his 18th Birthday, the young King formally took control of his Empire, although in truth little changed. The last four years of his education had included his future grandfather-in-law often discussing with him all matters before the throne before making a decision. As he got older more and more he was making decisions to then be approved or not by the Regent. After Harold was no long the Regent, but just the Chancellor of the Treasury, the final choice was supposedly James' decision, but he still relied heavily on the old man.
In 1632 James and Elizabeth were wed and they immediately started a family. Early the next year, only days after Elizabeth announced she was with child, Duke Harold died at the age of 78. Now James could only turn to his foster grandfather for advice in his imagination, which he did for the rest of his life.
There were no more major wars in his reign, but there were colonial skirmishes. It seemed, however, the powers of Europe did not want to fight each other at home, having been traumatized by the horrors of the 12 Years War. But a War with the Spanish was fought in the late 1630s over Constancia in South Columbia . In the end the British had to surrender this distant colony to the Spanish Empire, who renamed it for the redwood trees that grew there as "Brazil". In balance, the Spanish islands in the West Indies Sea of Hamica and Hispaniola were taken by the British, renamed Jamaica and Bethania, after the King and Queen. However, twenty years later, the western part of Bethania was lost to the French who'd been using the large bay there since before the British took it as a harbor for their privateers.
In the 1660s James sent explorers to the north to chart the large bay there and seek a northwest passage. One was not found then but the Bay was charted and determined to be another route to the fur lands of upper Canada. It was named James Bay. James also sent explorers up the Magna Huron River to explore the great lakes of the interior. By the 1680s they had discovered the upper reaches of the great inland river that flowed into the Gulf of Florida (OTL Gulf of Mexico) of which the Spanish had discovered its mouth and named it the Mizzizzippi, from the local native term. The British called the same river the Minnesota and the land drained by its upper reaches by the same name.
These colonial enterprises brought vast wealth to the British Empire. From the West Indies Sea came sugar, molasses, and rum. From the southern provinces of Neustralia came tobacco and indigo, while from the northern provinces came maple syrup and cod from the East New Caldonian Banks. But the biggest source of wealth was from the fur trade.
Not only did the British Isles have the Canadian Fur trade, especially in beaver, they also had another source of fur that no one else in Western Europe had. When King James sent out explorers to the north and west to find a Northwest Passage in the 1660s, he also sent out explorers to the north and east to find a Northeast Passage. Like those who went west, they couldn't find a passage taking them all the way to the Far East, but again they discovered a new sea- in this case the White Sea north of Russia and east of Scandinavia. The Russian Muscovites had already reached the White Sea and built a port when in 1667 British ships sailed into their port and established a special relationship with Russia, which still was distant from the west, having not reached either the Black Sea to its south nor the Baltic to its west. Russia was expanding east across the Urals into Siberia and by the end of James' reign would reach the Pacific. This was a source of fur too that rivaled Canada. Britain had a monopoly on the Russian fur trade of beaver, sable, and once the Russian reached the Pacific, sea otter. For Russia it meant the manufactured goods of Britain, its textiles, the Cod of the Atlantic, tobacco and rum. Once Britain reached India, it meant tea also. Both nations grew rich by this trade and Russia began to become more and more European.
If the Kings before James had wanted to make Britain, and especially London, a place of grandeur and glory, James II now had the means and wealth to do so. Plantagenet Palace became a Mecca of beauty and wealth. Vast gardens with magnificent lawns for croquet, tennis, lawn bowling, and golf were created in the courtyards of the Palace and the lands surrounding it.
James had a vast and magnificent building created to match the Palace for Parliament and a Cathedral in London with a myriad of chapels in it so all the faiths of the Empire, including Judaism, could meet and worship along side each other in separate places in the same vast complex. Using the new science a real clock tower was added to the Tower of London, that now became a museum. This had a giant clock that could be seen by all below that was lit at night like a lighthouse and great bells that rang the hours. London Bridge was rebuilt and the shores of the Thames were changed from mud banks to stone with walk ways along it.
Inside Plantagenet Palace it was all silk, satin, fine crystal, porcelain, art, and gold. Especially gold. Music was everywhere and fashion was vital. The nobility from the three kingdoms spent most of their time at the Palace instead of their estates.
James was called the King Emperor of Gold and Elizabeth was called the Goddess of Beauty.
James lived until he was 85 and when he died he had many grandchildren and great grandchildren and the British Empire was the most powerful and wealthiest nation in Europe.
George Blagden as Richard III Plantagenet in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
[14] Born the third child of six but the oldest son, his parents named him after the Duke of Kent and close advisor (the second king to be named Richard after a Duke close to the throne); they never expected it would be a perfect match for his nickname, “Rich Richard”.
As the son and heir to the King Emperor of Gold, as well as the nickname, he gained the title, Prince of Wealth.
Growing up, the Prince surrounded himself with a variety of young attractive nobility of all genders indulging in immoral conduct, particularly promiscuity. He was famed for taking many lovers, often elevating them to high positions for as long as they held his interest and then pensioning them off with gifts of titles, positions and estates.
In 1666, the philandering Prince Richard was forced to marry and chose as his bride, Duchess Amelia Dorothea of Hesse-Saxe-Gotha (1639–1709), daughter of Grand Duke Albert II and Charlotte Bourbon of Saint-Cloud (cadet of the Orléans branch.)
The marriage was an unhappy one, Amelia was shocked by her husband’s lifestyle, with the couple drifting and eventually living apart. Amelia would reside with her children at Winchester, avoiding the sinful acts happening in London, although the pair would share mutual respect at prestigious events and share a few solitary nights together to have more children.
His time as Prince of Wales was spent supporting the arts, becoming patrons of many artists, composers, musicians and writers, magnifying the beauty around him.
In 1695, 60 year old, Richard became Emperor, however by this point, he was showing the tertiary effects of syphilis and his body has began to waste away, at his coronation in 1696, many commented how it looked more like a gaunt skeleton had be crowned, rather than the most powerful man in the world.
Years of living fast had caught up and the Emperor would be dead within a couple of years from his succession. His death was mourned by his favorites, who soon found a cold future was upon them, with the succession of his son, James.
Emperor James III & IX of the British Isles in 1721
[15] Prince James was born in 1667 as the first child of Richard, the then Prince of Wales, and Duchess Amelia Dorothea of Hesse-Saxe-Gotha. During his childhood, James spent more time with his mother and siblings at Winchester than with his father in London, which would have an influence on his personal life. He attended King's Collage at Oxford where he became one of the most intelligent people of his time, and would tell his friends a lot of facts.
In 1690, James married Sophia of Brunswick-Hanover (1665-1748), the daughter of Duke Maximilian Augustus and Elizabeth of Bavaria. Unlike his parents marriage, his own marriage was much more happy, as the couple loved each other and would have seven children together.
Upon becoming Emperor of the British Isles in 1698, James continued the fur trade that started in his grandfather's reign and used the vast wealth he got from it to build palaces that showed off the magnificence of Britain, including the Jacobite Palace, which has a blend of western and Russian styles of construction.
Europe during James’ reign saw many changes, including the spread of Unional Nationalism in countries like Sweden (which renamed itself as Scandinavia in 1721) and the Holy Roman Empire (which started a process of centralizing), and the Ottoman War (1703-1714), where the Ottoman Empire was defeated and the city of Constantinople taken by the Genovese (Now known as the Republic of Genoa-Byzantine).
Meanwhile in the New World, the British fought a war against the Spanish in the mid 1720s. In the end, Britain managed to take back the southern part of Brazil from Spain, which they renamed back to Constancia. This meant that Britain now had a colony bordering the French colony of Antartique, which Constantine I had wanted to take from the French back in the 1500's.
James died in 1734 at the age of 67, surrounded by his family. He was succeeded by his son, Augustus.
Rip Torn as Augustus I Plantagenet in BBC's "The Plantagenets"
[16] Augustus was born in the year 1700 on Epiphany Day. He was the fourth child and first son of King James and Queen Sophia and was named after his grandfathers as Maximillian Augustus Richard Plantagenet, but was known as Augustus and to those close to him, 'Gus.' He was the first of the heirs to the throne to study at university at the University of Edinburgh instead of Oxford.
He took a commission in the Imperial Navy and insisted he serve as a real officer. Although the Russians now had a port on the Baltic Sea, in fact it was their capital, St. Thomasburg, founded by Tsar Thomas I the Great Romanov in 1703, the Russian Fur trade still was for the British Empire more profitable in the northern route to the White Sea as the Scandinavian Empire charged tolls for all ships of other nations entering or exiting the Baltic and high tariffs on all trade goods on those ships. So it was that as a young officer he served on the HMS Hugo Montgomery from 1722 until 1725. When the Russians realized the Prince of Wales was regularly visiting them at Arcangel, the Tsar Thomas II, journeyed there to meet him in 1724 along with his family, including his 21 year old daughter Princess Natasha Romanov. The Prince spent a few days with the Romanovs and a marriage was arranged, if approved by King James, between the Princess and the Prince. James approved and in 1726, the Princess journeyed to London from St. Thomasburg. (It was more economical for non-traders to use the Baltic route and pay the toll.)
The couple wed the following year and took up residence in a luxurious set of apartments in Plantagenet Palace. The extravagance of decorations and furnishings still were a part of that Palace, but the extravagance in lifestyle had diminished tremendously in the reign of King James. By the time Augustus became king at the age of 34 upon his father's death, he and Natasha had four children. The new Queen spoke perfect English (in fact all Russians spoke the other European languages with a British accent as English was the second language of the St. Thomasburg Court.)
It was during Augustus' reign that the forces of Unional Nationalism finally united the three kingdoms into one united empire in the Act of Imperial Unity of 1738. One Parliament now met in London with members from all three kingdoms. (Neustralia, Canada, and Constancia did not send members to Parliament, but had their own local legislative bodies and appointed Imperial Governors for each province [Neustralia had several provinces as did Canada.])
It was also in this period that the Prime Minister became a tradition that it always was held by the majority leader of the Parliament and all ministers in the Imperial Government were members of the House of Commons of the majority party.
The Emperor organized the various trading companies that traded with India, the East Indies, China, and Japan (which remained open to the West) into one Company with an Imperial Charter:
The British Oriental Trading Company.
During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the burgeoning Industrial Revolution took off with more and more manufacturing of textiles being done with steam powered machines.
Despite being a land of religious tolerance, or maybe due to it, the mid 18th Century saw what came to be called "The Great Revival" sweep the land. It started in the English Lutheran Church under the Wesley Brothers, Henry the Preacher and Geoffrey the Hymn Writer, and spread to all faiths. Those holding these new religious views were known as Methodists due to their insistence on strict methods of personal piety in prayer, meditation, and study.
There were several wars that the Empire fought during his reign, but they all were limited affairs of small armies facing each other on the field of battle and didn't affect most folk. Britain fought for the Independence of Savoy from Burgundy-France in the Savoy War of 1744, which saw Burgundy-France defeated. In 1767-1770, the Empire supported the Portuguese in their attempt to separate from the Spainish. Although it failed in Iberia, the Spanish Empire's colony of Northern Brazil, Constancia's neighbor , declared itself independent. As most of its settlers were Portuguese and not Aragonese, Catalonian, or Castilian, they had joined the war for separation and they achieved it. Finally there was the War of 1782 in which the Empire and Burgundy-France fought over rights in India. This was an easy victory for the Empire and the British Oriental Trading Company now had a monopoly on trade with the Sub-Continent.
When the news reached the court, the Emperor listened attentively and then interrupted the proceeding with a coughing fit. He had to retire to bed and from then on he was bed ridden. Seven months later in early 1783, just past his 83rd birthday, he died. During that time his _________________, ______________, who then succeeded him, had acted as Regent.
