alternatehistory.com
1329-30: France
1329-30: VERY SUPERSTITIOUS, THE DEVIL'S ON HIS WAY
"By the end of the 1320s, the France political scene was heaving under powerful factions, each advancing their own private interests above the state. The Regent, Philip of Valois, proved ineffectual at preventing this, and frequently putty in the hands of such individuals as Robert of Artois, Jean de Marigny[1], and his own wife Joan of Burgundy. Indeed, the Regent was soon preoccupied by a string of personal tragedies, the death of numerous children that trimmed his swelling brood into nothing more than two sons. Valois turned to religion and mysticism in response, holding elaborate masses and consulting with astrologers and fortunetellers.
"He was not alone in this. When, over twenty years later, the Affair of the Horoscopes was being brought before tribunals, the list of clients would include many of the most prominet nobles in the court, one reason for the scandal's persistance. It was an age of superstition and fear, an age where men saw God as a spirit to be appeased more than a beloved creator.
"It was in this atmosphere that the Regent began to approach the Pope about another crusade. John was wary--Charles of Valois' efforts had generally amounted to nothing more than an attempt to gouge money from the French clergy--something which might have derailed the entire effort if something had not happened to make the Count of Valois hopeful. In 1329, Levon IV of Armenia came of age, and in a bloody purge, executed the regent, Oshin of Korikos, his brother Constantine, his daughter Alice--who was Levon's wife--and ushered in a new, pro-Western government[2]. While Philip doubtless could not help be somewhat worried by the sudden destruction of a man whose situation so resembled his own, the siren call of a friendly Armenia remained for those who dreamed of a free Jerusalem, and so, like his cousin Charles of de la Marche, he found himself in the exhausting and ultimately pointless discussions with the kingdom.
"Discussions that distracted him from threats closer to home..."
--While the Savior Wept: Crusading in the 14th Century, by Barbara Morell, 1983
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[1] Brother of Enguerrand de Marigny, Philip IV's famed Chamberlain, and one of the great political survivors of medieval France.
[2] This happened IOTL. Armenian Cilicia was a... terrifying place at times.
"By the end of the 1320s, the France political scene was heaving under powerful factions, each advancing their own private interests above the state. The Regent, Philip of Valois, proved ineffectual at preventing this, and frequently putty in the hands of such individuals as Robert of Artois, Jean de Marigny[1], and his own wife Joan of Burgundy. Indeed, the Regent was soon preoccupied by a string of personal tragedies, the death of numerous children that trimmed his swelling brood into nothing more than two sons. Valois turned to religion and mysticism in response, holding elaborate masses and consulting with astrologers and fortunetellers.
"He was not alone in this. When, over twenty years later, the Affair of the Horoscopes was being brought before tribunals, the list of clients would include many of the most prominet nobles in the court, one reason for the scandal's persistance. It was an age of superstition and fear, an age where men saw God as a spirit to be appeased more than a beloved creator.
"It was in this atmosphere that the Regent began to approach the Pope about another crusade. John was wary--Charles of Valois' efforts had generally amounted to nothing more than an attempt to gouge money from the French clergy--something which might have derailed the entire effort if something had not happened to make the Count of Valois hopeful. In 1329, Levon IV of Armenia came of age, and in a bloody purge, executed the regent, Oshin of Korikos, his brother Constantine, his daughter Alice--who was Levon's wife--and ushered in a new, pro-Western government[2]. While Philip doubtless could not help be somewhat worried by the sudden destruction of a man whose situation so resembled his own, the siren call of a friendly Armenia remained for those who dreamed of a free Jerusalem, and so, like his cousin Charles of de la Marche, he found himself in the exhausting and ultimately pointless discussions with the kingdom.
"Discussions that distracted him from threats closer to home..."
--While the Savior Wept: Crusading in the 14th Century, by Barbara Morell, 1983
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Brother of Enguerrand de Marigny, Philip IV's famed Chamberlain, and one of the great political survivors of medieval France.
[2] This happened IOTL. Armenian Cilicia was a... terrifying place at times.
- Space Oddity
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