A Death in Scotland...

...Dumbass.
I do think John III is going to fuck himself over, but I wonder how big of a mess he'll leave behind (and who he'll leave it to). As noted, all the other current candidates have serious issues, themselves, and I'm not sure a Swedish Republic is even a plausible option, here (more plausible than it would be if they had any particularly acceptable candidate for king, but still).
 
Three Queen (Pt. 5)
Three Queens (Pt. 5)
England, September 1570

-- Queen Elizabeth found herself contemplating the mess in Ireland, the Desmond Rebellion[1] had been in hand, reduced down to guerilla fighting in the mountains in Kerry. Led by that traitor James FitzMaurice FitzGerald[2] against her rightful rule, her forces in Ireland had been commanded by Sir Henry Sidney, a very effective Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Or at least he HAD been until the man was killed in a skirmish in Kerry, though it still wasn't clear if it was actual bandits or some of the FitzGerald fighters pretending to be as such.

Now the Desmond Rebellion, which was being contained and killed by attrition could potentially begin roaring back to life... If the English forces in Ireland showed anymore weakness.

As such she would need to select a new Lord Deputy of Ireland, from amongst the military commanders and leaders present, Thomas Butler, the 10th Earl of Ormond would be an obvious choice... If it wasn't for the fact that the man was already becoming one of the most powerful noblemen in Ireland and giving him the Lord Deputyship would inflate his power even more.

But insulting him with a refusal carried it's own risks, then there was the fact that she had known him since she they were children[3], having found commonality in being the unwanted son of an Irish Earl and the Princess who became a Bastard.

It was a risk, but Elizabeth's good memories of the Earl of Ormond won out in the end.

Her warrant making him the Lord Deputy of Ireland would be sent out with surprising speed for a monarch as indecisive as Elizabeth, though Ireland being Ireland and England's grip being very brittle outside of the Pale, it would be a while before the Earl received the news. Though by then it would just be a formality since he had already taken command in all but name anyway.

Thus with Ireland in hand once more (and surely it would stay in hand, right?) there was some pleasant things happening at court as well, she had received a surprise offer of a marriage between herself and the future King of Navarre... Which wasn't impressive considering that the actual 'Kingdom' of Navarre was tiny, and wedged in-between France and Spain, however the ruling family of Navarre held quite a bit of land in France, as vassals to the King of France, and from this came their power, along with a solid blood claim on the French throne.

The diplomatic party from Jeanne III's Navarre had even brought her sketches of Henri de Bourbon, the seventeen year old dashing Prince who was already showing signs of being a successful general, sadly the offer had been made too quickly for a proper portrait of the lad to be made, but the thought of having such a figure at her side was very tempting.

However her little Frog had returned to England to press his suit, which was also a good offer, and with the looming and very likely match between the Princess Margaret and the future Holy Roman Empire, it would be very wise to find a means to tie into the possible Valois-Habsburg Alliance.

Her advisers were splitting into factions between Henri de Bourbon and Francis, Duke of Alençon, the pressure on her to marry was enormous and even she couldn't see a means to dance around the subject for too much longer.

She, Elizabeth I of England was going to get married by the end of the year, or at the very least have a solid betrothal contract lined up.

The only question was who...


-- Queen Margaret Douglas was feeling a good deal better with each passing day as her son showed more and more signs of recovery from whatever had struck him down.

Officially she was sticking with the food poisoning story to hide her very real fears of an actual poisoning attempt, the idea that her son had just gotten sick of his own accord was ludicrous in a world filled with Papists and Marians willing to stab you in the back or burn you in your own home.

And speaking of the world, as Margaret contemplated the latest letter from Bess of Hardwick, the possibility of a marriage between her son and one of Bess's daughters was beginning to show signs of moving from the hypothetical and into reality as her son got back to full health.

Charles was her son and deserved much better of course, but sadly the world being what it was he would just have to make due with a girl with a big dowry rather than a Princess.

Margaret could even overlook that her son's recovery was due to the efforts of that 'secret' Jew doctor.

However there was one matter that was sticking in her throat, the continued existence of Mary of Scots, the murderous bitch that had killed her other son in betrayal and deceit and now mocked her just by existing.

Now getting Bess of Hardwick to do what needed to be done would be difficult, especially since rumor had it that Mary of Scots had wormed her way into becoming Bess's friend, however as her husband inevitably won in Scotland, the position of Scotland's new (and rightful) royal family would be more and more powerful, more alluring, more tempting...

Margaret was hoping to hear word of Mary of Scots 'tragic' death by some strange contrivance, like choking on her dinner, or falling down a flight of stairs, or eating a bowl of rusty nails by accident within a year or so.

Then Bess would get that marriage that the TRUE Queen of Scotland was offering her.


-- A bit later in the month, as Elizabeth finished approving of Sir John Hawkins becoming an MP once she held the next session of Parliament[4], news reached England of the latest events in the war in Scotland. The English army had come upon the city of Glasglow, in which the city had been under the control of the Marians besieging the King's Men hold up in Glasglow Castle, and discovered that word had flown ahead them a bit, thus the city had been preparing for a siege, even while besieging it's center of city government.

It was suspected that they had had little forewarning to prepare for a siege and whispers that the city had few supplies meant that, God willing, it would be a short siege followed by someone defecting and surrendering the city.

Some part of her still wondered if perhaps she should be supporting Mary instead, but practicality demanded that she not do that.

The needs of England were the needs of England, and England did not need Mary of Scots back on the Scottish throne, plotting a Papist Restoration.


-- Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, better known as 'Bess of Hardwick' contemplated the latest news, word was reaching Hardwick Hall of the besieging of Glasglow, which had of course caused dear Mary no small amount of hurt.

It was impossible not to pity her, a Queen of France, a Queen of Scotland, and now just another exiled noblewoman. A failure in the savage game of dynastic politics, her own people turning against her like dogs on a bone.

The only bright spot in all that was the prospect of marrying her 15 year old unwed daughter Elizabeth to the heir of 'King Mattie', though Bess knew that Mary had more crude epithets for the man.

Bess had kept the news of the possible match from Mary, and so far the Scottish Queen didn't seem to know a thing, which was good.

Considering that if she had read between the lines correctly... Margaret Douglas really wanted Mary dead.

Bess suspected that would be the real bride-price, the life of Mary of Scots, the blood on her hands.

Bess prayed that God would forgive her because she had no idea what to do, Mary was her friend now, but this marriage was a social coup like no other.

And it was being reported that Charles, Duke of Albany was recovering from whatever illness had befallen him.

Bess of Hardwick decided not to make a decision just yet, she needed to mull it over, and in this case get a drink.

She needed it.


Notes

[1] The First Desmond Rebellion to historians in RL.

[2] In the inconsistent nature of names in this era, he is sometimes called FitzMaurice, sometimes FitzGerald.

[3]Thomas Butler was more than just Elizabeth's childhood playmate and a friend, he was also her cousin through Anne Boleyn who had some Ormund-Butler blood.

[4] In RL as a reward for his role in helping to suppress the Ridolfi Plot, Sir John Hawkins was made the MP of Plymouth in 1571, in this TL his help was a bit lesser than what he did in RL, but never the less he got a similar award for his years of loyal service to the Crown, in both RL and TTL it serves as his retirement from adventuring on the high seas.
 
All kinds of illnesses happen in that era. Surely, Mary's death under these circumstances would not be too suspicious... :evilsmile:

Mary's death would be easily non-suspicious. If she is just found dead without any injures all would suppose that she just mourned herself to death.
 
Sede vacante (Pt.2)
Sede vacante (Pt.2)
Rome, the Papal States, September to October 1570

-- 19 September, Pope Urban VII had reigned as Pope for sixteen days[1], most of which after his coronation had been spent in bed, drifting in and out of consciousness while the Papal Court and the visiting Cardinals were simply waiting for his now inevitable death, while engaging in quiet but intense political jockeying in anticipation for another Papal Conclave.

Alongside which came the usual rumors of poison and a brief spat of anti-semitism by the locals of Rome who tried to 'storm' the Jewish Ghetto of the city before being stopped by a combination of the city guards, their own drunkenness, and the fact that it was after sunset, and by law the only gate in or out of the ghetto was locked after sunset[2].

By the late evening of 19 September, Pope Urban breathed his last, he was 59 years old[3]. But the exact cause of his death was then, and still is, debatable. Did his body simply succumb to illness exacerbated by the conditions of the conclave? Or was he actually poisoned? And if he was poisoned then by whom?

The atmosphere of St. Peter's was thick with rumor and innuendo, even as the now reduced members of the Cardinalate gathered to elect a Pope.

Again.

As soon as the Second Conclave of 1570 began it ran into some turbulence in the form of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle and Alessandro Farnese, who once again read the letter from Philip II of Spain to the Conclave, the one vetoing Farnese's candidacy for the Papacy.

Cardinal Farnese simply snatched the letter out of Granvelle's hands and in a smug tone reread the part stating, 'this time' out loud and informed Granvelle that the letter was CLEARLY about the previous conclave and when that conclave ended, so to did that letter's mandate. After all Philip II of Spain was known as a man of honor, Farnese's own kinsman no less, and thus he would personally work to reassure Philip II of his own good nature and deal with whatever 'ill advisors' were whispering poison in the King's ear against him.

Thus indirectly establishing that he, Farnese was very much a candidate for the Papacy to the stuttering and stammering Granvelle, got to work to secure the Papal Tiara for himself.

This is where he ran into problems, granted he established that Philip's veto from the last conclave no longer had official weight, never the less the word of the King of Spain did carry quite a bit of unofficial weight with the Cardinalate, especially with the looming threat of Ottoman invasion in the next year hanging over their hands, and the simple fact that of the great powers in Europe, only Spain and Philip II were willing to protect them.

Many of Farnese's allies were reluctant to earn to ire of Philip II, even while not thrilled with Granvelle's heavy handed tactics.

But if the 'Pro-Spanish' and 'Italian' facts were smarting, the French were in worse shape, they had pinned most of their energy in the last conclave on Ippolito II d'Este, who had the merits of both being the Italian Cardinal of Santa Maria in Aquiro AND the Cardinal-Protector of France, but when it had quickly been made apparent that Ippolito's time had passed, the French had splintered badly.

This time the French were better prepared, they had ANOTHER Italian candidate to trot out with extensive ties to France, Luigi d'Este, the nephew of Ippolito, the Bishop of Ferrara, the son of Ercole d'Este and Renée de France, the daughter of Louis XII (thus making Luigi a cousin of Charles IX of France). While Granvelle and Farnese were squabbling, Luigi made significant showings in the balloting as September began to approach October, each one netting him a steadily growing network of Cardinals who were quickly getting sick and tired of the austerity of the Conclave, the bickering, and the whole 'the Turk is attacking Cyprus and will come for Italy next' thing was giving France it's best chance at getting a hold on the Papacy in a good long while.

Seeing this, Granvelle would demonstrate that while he was an ill-tempered man, a Habsburg loyalist, and someone who could make enemies out of anyone, he did have a good brain when he chose to put it to work and could see that the grudge match with Farnese wasn't getting him anything, but he couldn't afford to back down now, besides making him look weak it risked Farnese rallying and getting the Papacy, which Granvelle knew that Philip II did not want. But he knew that the last thing the Habsburg dynasty wanted was France with a friendly Pro-French Pope in St. Peter's.

The problem was that the list of alternative Italian candidates was a bit thin, most of the Italian cardinals were either too young, like Michele Bonelli who while papabile was only 29, or like Ferdinando de' Medici who was only a Cardinal due to his family wanting to keep control of certain ecclesiastical lands and had not taken his final vows on the off-chance that he needed to be yanked out of the church to inherit the de' Medici's secular holdings.

The other batch were either too old, or simply didn't have the right connections or influence to get their hands on the Papal Tiara, however there was one man who stood out from pact a bit, a man that gave Granvelle an idea, but first he needed to talk to Farnese in private.

What exactly was said during their private meeting is unknown, but the end result is not in doubt, within the day during the second balloting the Archbishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo made a strong appearance in the voting.

Charles Borromeo was a man of strong faith and piety, a champion of the Counter-Reformation he was already notable for working alongside men such as Philip Neri and Ignatius of Loyola[4], not to mention his ties to the former Paul IV and working alongside many English Catholic clergy and thinkers that had fled their homeland due to Elizabeth's persecutions of Catholics.

In fact in the previous conclave the Archbishop of Milan had been considered papabile, but ultimately had fallen to the wayside and thus hadn't bothered to campaign for the Papacy this go around, falsely assuming that he didn't have a chance against Farnese and the French.

This changed things, along with meeting with Farnese and his various allied Cardinals and Bishops, and Granvelle himself as the balloting began shifting against Luigi d'Etse and towards himself.

Now in the face of this, the French could still have turned to their King for a veto of Borromeo and effectively dared Philip to publicly acknowledge that his veto of Farnese was invalid and put it on Luigi, this giving Farnese the initiative to become Pope.

But the elephant in the room was the looming war with the Turk, Christendom needed to show it's unity and strength and bickering over which Cardinal would become Pope for months on end would endanger all of it.

As a sweetener, Borromeo quietly signaled to the French that they would not be completely left out in the cold... But that would be dependent on which French Cardinals came around to support him, and how quickly they did it.

Thus on 6 October in the year of our Lord 1570, despite being described "As austere, dedicated, humorless and uncompromising as the Carafa Pope."[5] Charles Borromeo secured the votes needed to be elected as Pope.

Borromeo's Papal name was the first of many waves that he would make during his tenure as Pope, the name? At first legend has it that Borromeo floated 'John' in honor of St. John the Baptist, but was protested by almost the entire Cardinalate due to the memory of the Antipope John XXIII[6] who had only died a century ago, so Borromeo stated that would be known as Ambrosius, in honor of St. Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, thus Pope Ambrose I became the first Pope to use a name no one had used before since Pope Lando[7].

It was the first of many waves that Pope Ambrose I would find himself making.



Notes

[1] Pope Urban's reign ties with RL's Pope Boniface V, making Urban VII and Boniface V the second place holders of shortest papal reigns in history.

[2] Yes, this was a thing in Rome, you can thank Pope Paul IV for it. Then again this was a thing in a lot of places in Europe, as awful as these Ghettos were, they did also afford some protection from time to time.

[3] In RL, Girolamo di Corregio died in 1572 in Rome, presumably of old age.

[4] And like them, Charles Borromeo would eventually be declared a saint, despite certain controversies that will pop up in a different form in this TL as well.

[5] Referring to Pope Paul IV, and the comparison is apt since Paul IV was an influence in Borromeo's early career.

[6] The Antipope John XXIII was single handedly responsible for NO ONE taking up the name 'John' until RL's John XXIII did it in the late 1950s, and even then he had to clarify that HE was the true 'John XXIII' and not 'John XXIV'.

[7] This happened quite recently in RL with Pope Francis.


Author's Note: I normally don't do direct Author Notes (unless I screw up something obvious), but I will confess that it's been over a month since the last update. This is due to a combination of RL issues, general distraction, and some laziness on my part. I apologize for the last thing and I am still committed to this story, I will get better about working on it regularly.
 
Last edited:
Top