A Second White Rose - A Wars Of The Roses TL
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
- Start date
Just happy that this time they Will not cause a realm shaking change in course ( Henry VIII abandoning the catholic fold to marry Anne)
Edward V as much of a fan as he is of Henry V ( who himself was FIERCELY pious) plus His mothers Charlotte and other relatives Will NOT have Richard stray from catholisismThat's true.
Or is it? Only time will tell
That might be true. But anything could happen, not necessarily religious.
Pretty unjust when OTL was all fault of Henry VIII… but I guess who the myths will always win over the real history…
Eh, fair. I guess in general, there WILL be trouble, and the Boleyns will find themselves at the centre.
Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Western Edge
Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Western Edge
Crozon, 14th August 1509
Richard liked it here. Right at the edge of his realm, he could look out upon an ocean vaster than his mind could handle. He could sit, and let the sound of the waves ease his mind, help him forget the worries of kingship for a little while.
He had first come here when he was... six years old? Perhaps seven. His father had liked the view, but told Richard that a king barely has time to find pleasure outside of his palace. That was why, Richard thought, kings and princes spent so long building ornate homes for themselves with lavish gardens and exotic treasures. Not just because they had the money to do so, but because a life of kingship was a life without a chance to escape to more natural beauty.
“Your Majesty?” Someone behind him said. Richard turned around to see one of the knights, called Francis (in their native Breton tongue, Frañsez) of his household holding a scroll.
“We have just been delivered this from Rennes, your Majesty.” Frañsez said. “The expedition has gone well; they have reached Douar Neves [1], and have begun building.”
Richard smiled. That was good news. It had been a long road til this moment, starting off with the Breton decision to sponsor the Italian explorer Zuan Chabotto [2] on his expedition to the New World in 1497, where he discovered Douar Neves, a completely new island, claimed for Brittany. Once the news of Chabotto’s discovery returned to Brittany, people came to hope that this new extension of Brittany’s sovereign borders could be made to be a functional part of it, just as the Spanish and the Portuguese had lands well outside their borders. After a bit of negotiating with the Spanish, aided by the fact that Richard was married to a Spanish princess, Ferdinand and Isabella had agreed to allow a Breton presence in the north of the New World. Finally, by 1508, a crew of sixty volunteers - thirty men, thirty women - were ready to depart from Brittany. They had set sail a few months ago, and now they had landed.
“That is good news.” Richard said. “Have the volunteers said what they have named their first home?”
Frañsez nodded. “They are building a town on the southern edge of the island. It is called Richarzhker [3], in honour of the king who has made their new town possible.” He explained, and Richard smiled again. Then he turned back to the ocean that carried onwards for miles, and smiled fondly.
This place, Crozon, was no longer the western edge of his realm. Now, his kingdom stretched far behind his eyes, spanning an entire ocean.
Richard was unsure whether that made him feel almighty, or absolutely tiny.
King Richard I of Brittany’s legacy did include the beginning of the Breton empire, with the island of Douar Neves (later written in English as Darneve) at its centre. The city of Richarzhker (later written as Rickskerr in English) stayed small for many years as the original sixty colonists struggled with the realities of frontier life, but with shipments of produce being taken to the island every six months, by 1550, the city was in a position to expand its influence. Back in Brittany itself, Richard I began working on securing the future of his dynasty. His son and eventual successor Richard was born in 1497, and he was followed by two daughters, called Marie (after her mother Maria of Aragon, born in 1500) and Elizabeth (named in honour of Richard’s step-mother Elizabeth of York, born in 1504). Elizabeth of York herself remained important in her step-son’s regime, and before her death in February 1504 suggested a marriage for Richard, Count of Étampes and her own granddaughter Anne de la Pole, the only daughter of Edmund, Duke of Suffolk and Anne FitzAlan, and the elder sister of the future Duke of Suffolk, named Francis. The de la Pole family had spent plenty of time in Brittany, with Edmund acting as England’s ambassador to the kingdom for some time, so Richard of Étampes had met Anne de la Pole many times before. Richard I agreed to the match, though it was not until 1514 that it would take place, when both Richard and Anne were seventeen years old.
Just to Brittany’s left lay the Duchy of Normandy, a vassal state of England ruled by King Edward V’s uncle, Richard V. Richard V was married to Richard I of Brittany’s twin sister Margaret, but his heart lay elsewhere. In 1492, Richard V had started an affair with Lady Jane Boleyn. In the eyes of the Duke of Normandy, Lady Jane made the perfect mistress - a pretty widow with no children by her last marriage. Jane was the widow of Sir Philip Calthorpe, who had served in Richard’s household for six years. By Jane, Richard had two children born out of wedlock by the time of his marriage to Margaret; they were called Thomas (1493) and Helen (1495). These were followed by two more daughters and a son, called Madeleine (1499), Charlotte (1502) and Philip (1503). Richard V married Margaret of Brittany in 1495, and it wasn’t long until a rivalry for influence developed between Jane and Margaret. Jane used her influence with Richard to convince him to make her brother Thomas Boleyn the Count of Mortain, giving the Boleyn faction a solid base from which to build the rest of their support. However, the majority of the rest of the Norman nobility were against them, seeing the Boleyns as unapologetic social climbers and leeches, whose drops of Irish noble blood was not enough to justify their ends. Margaret of Brittany found an ally in Henry Bourchier, Count of Eu, who was among Richard V’s chief advisors and his Lord Chancellor.
Even though Jane Boleyn had his heart, Richard and Margaret did their duty together, and consummated their marriage early in 1496. Their first child came in December that year, a girl called Isabel after Richard’s mother Isabel Neville. By 1496, they had two more daughters, called Margaret (born in 1499) and Elizabeth (born in 1504), as well as three children who had died young. Two of those three were short-lived sons. By 1510, Richard V, Duke of Normandy’s health was failing, but he had no legitimate sons. However, it was becoming clear that Richard intended to make Thomas, his first son by Jane Boleyn, his heir. The bastards of Normandy had all been given the surname “Deseyne”, the royal surname that Richard V had chosen for his family after the instructions from King Edmund for the cadet York branches to change surnames, emphasising that Richard viewed the bastards legally as members of the House of Normandy. It wasn’t long until the Boleyn faction began to press Richard to make Thomas Deseyne his official heir. Margaret of Brittany protested, claiming that his rightful heir was Isabel, her daughter. She instead proposed that Isabel Deseyne marry William Bourchier, the eldest son of her ally Henry, Count of Eu and his wife Mary Say, and have him become the Duke of Normandy, jure uxoris, on Richard’s death. The Norman nobility grew divided.
By the time King Edward V came into his majority rule in 1511, the situation in Normandy was growing tense. He feared the consequences of inactivity - he knew that if Normandy broke out into civil war, there was every chance that the French would take advantage of that and reconquer Normandy. To that end, Edward stepped in quickly to quell the matter, and he did so in favour of Margaret of Brittany’s party. Isabel Deseyne, Richard V and Margaret’s eldest daughter, was betrothed to the sixteen-year-old William Bourchier. But Richard V died before the marriage could take place, with his death taking place on 19th September 1512. For a period of four months the sixteen-year-old Isabel Deseyne claimed the title Duchess of Normandy as Isabel I. It was a bold move, designed to demonstrate that she alone was the rightful ruler, and it served as a reminder that any husband she took - whether Boleyn or Bourchier - would only rule Normandy through her. Isabel I rapidly proved that she was every bit a granddaughter of King Edward IV, and she would go on live up to his reputation as the Soldier King.
On 20th January 1513, in Rouen Cathedral, Isabel I of Normandy married William Bourchier. Despite the fact that Normandy was her birthright - a fact that she had made very well known - Isabel allowed William to style himself as William III, Duke of Normandy. William was incredibly impressed by his wife’s ferocity, and came to very deeply admire her for it. Likewise, Isabel admired William’s kindhearted and somewhat pious nature as he strove to serve her and Normandy well. That admiration would evolve into a profound love from both sides.
[1] - Douar Neves is (if OpenL didn’t lie to me) Breton for Newfound Land, which should give you a hint as to where it is.
[2] - that’s John Cabot; Zuan Chabotto is how he signed his letters in Venetian. So in this TL, it was the Bretons who sponsored his expeditions to North America, not the English.
[3] - Richarzhker translates (hopefully!) to Richard City, Richarzh being the Breton spelling of Richard.
@Zestinobambino ! Amazing chapter as always! Glad to see that Richard I of britannny is thriving and that he loved her step-mother so dearly as to honour her through his daugter.
Thomas Boleyn appears! The father of the infamous Boleyn siblings mary, anne and george! May them be loyal to the new ducal couple.
Long live isabel I and William III, Their love story will be one for the ages! i can feel it! And long live the new dynasty of normady: House Bourchier!
Thomas Boleyn appears! The father of the infamous Boleyn siblings mary, anne and george! May them be loyal to the new ducal couple.
Long live isabel I and William III, Their love story will be one for the ages! i can feel it! And long live the new dynasty of normady: House Bourchier!
Thank you! Yep, this was a fun chapter all around to write - it'll be interesting to see how the Boleyns get on with Isabel and William Bourchier!
And what did you think of the start of the colonisation of the New World?
Hope the Boleyns have better luck in normady than they did OTL in england (specially anne and george)
Awesome, and can't wait to see more of it from both portugal and spain (specially the latter since without beign too involved in european affairs they will manage the rivers of riches much better and hopefully build a much more stable and sturdy foundation for the spanish empire)
We shall see.
Yeah, I think the same goes for the Portuguese Empire too. Jaime and João are going to be very desirable husbands across Europe!