A Second White Rose - A Wars Of The Roses TL
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
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Chapter Sixty-One: Legacies Of Dead Kings
Chapter Sixty-One: Legacies Of Dead Kings
After Louis XIII’s accession as King of France, Emperor Maximilian was quick to celebrate his son’s achievements. He compared himself and his son to the first Holy Roman Emperor, the legendary Charlemagne, and bestowed on Louis the title of King of the Romans, officially marking him out as Maximilian’s preferred successor to the office of Emperor. It was a huge boost for the House of Habsburg politically - whether or not France was successfully integrated into the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs still had a hereditary right to the French throne, so even if they lost the imperial throne they would still have a vast amount of power. As well as bringing France, it also brought Milan into the Habsburg fold, setting Louis up to be able to maintain a stronger presence in Italy when he became Emperor. Louis XIII’s eldest son Maximilian was made the Dauphin, and the children of Louis and Queen Valentina - whose names were Maximilian (born in 1511), Valentina (born in 1512) and Charles (born in 1514) became some of Europe’s most eligible aristocrats for marriage.
As well as inheriting France and Milan, Louis XIII inherited a whole host of problems, not least a staggering amount of debt from his predecessors. The War of the French Succession had ruined the royal treasury, with the French kings being forced to take out loans from various banks, not least the Florentine Medici bank, to whom Louis now owed a mind-boggling amount. But Florence was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, which gave Louis a method of negotiation: he wrote to Lorenzo de’ Medici and promised him that if he cancelled the debt the French crown owed to Florence, then he would convince Emperor Maximilian to grant Florence as a hereditary fief to the Medici. The offer had its intended effect and Lorenzo cancelled the debt, but Louis had to work harder to convince Maximilian to ennoble the Medici. It worked, though, and by 1516 Lorenzo de’ Medici was the Duke of Florence. The decision greatly upset the Florentines, who still took pride in their republic, although the Medici had greatly undermined it, and it rankled with the rest of the Italian dukes, who saw the Medici as shameless parasites whose blood was not worthy of the aristocracy.
But not everyone was thrilled by Louis XIII’s succession, and some were indeed terrified of what it meant. Juan III foresaw the recreation of the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne, and decided that it would be safer to have peace with Louis XIII than anything else. He offered his eldest son and daughter as spouses for Louis’s, offering Jaime, Prince of Asturias to Valentina Habsburg and his younger sister Catalina of Castile to Dauphin Maximilian. Louis accepted both marriages, with the intent of cancelling out the dowry payments. Louis XIII was also quick to come to a final peace between France and Occitania, ruled by his rival claimant on the French throne, Philip VII. The meeting between Louis and Philip went over the first half of 1515. Philip agreed that the Princes of Occitania accepted the House of Habsburg as the Kings of France, and Philip finally dropped his regnal number from VII to I to reflect this. In return, Louis gave the western portion of Languedoc back to Occitania, and supported the principality as a state that was independent of both Spain and France.
Bruges, 9th November 1514
Lionel, Prince of Burgundy sighed. His brother Sebastian had always been somewhat of a coward.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Sebastian said, “but you must. The Principality‘s future - our future - depends on you listening to me.”
“A dramatic claim, Seb.” Lionel said. “But go on.”
“Thank you.” Sebastian said, and drew in a breath. “You hold the majority of land in the Principality as a grant from the Empire, yes? Brabant, the County Palatine of Burgundy, they are imperial lands, yes?”
“Yes.”
“And the Duchy of Burgundy, Flanders... they are both French lands. Which Louis XI granted independence to, under the rule of our father. Separate from France.”
“Yes.”
“Well, we hold independent land from France, and granted land from the Empire. Now that a Habsburg sits on the French throne, where is the line between Empire and France? What if Louis XIII decides he no longer wishes for us to have any independence?”
“It is, technically, possible.” Lionel conceded. “But have you forgotten that Emperor Maximilian is our uncle, and King Louis is our cousin?”
“Of course I haven’t.” Sebastian retorted.
“Then why do you insist that they conspire against us?” Lionel demanded. “You worry far too much, brother. Go back to Luxembourg, make love to sweet Helen, and forget your concerns. They need not bother you.”
No matter what Lionel I said, his words couldn’t persuade all. His brother-in-law Charles II, Duke of Savoy in particular felt incredibly threatened by the idea of having a Habsburg on the French and imperial thrones. The Duchy of Savoy was technically independent from both France and the Holy Roman Empire, but it drove a wedge between France and the Duchy of Milan, now also ruled by Louis Habsburg. Charles knew that it was only a matter of time before one Habsburg or another decided it was time to make France and Milan a land-continuous state. Charles II therefore decided he needed to attempt to negotiate some kind of defensive alliance against future Habsburg expansion, and found an ally with Sebastian of Burgundy, who didn’t share Lionel’s carefree attitude. Charles had his first son in 1516 with his wife Anne of Burgundy, Lionel and Sebastian’s elder sister, and the boy was named Amadeus. Amadeus was quickly betrothed to Emma of Ponthieu, the eldest child of Lionel II, Count of Ponthieu and his wife Isabelle of Lorraine.
In 1513, King John I of Denmark died, leaving his throne to his son Christian as King Christian II. He was married to a girl of the House of York - Catherine of York, daughter of King Edward IV and his second wife Isabel Neville. Christian and Catherine were married in Copenhagen in 1500 by the Archbishop of Lund, at the ages of nineteen and twenty-two respectively. Catherine had inherited her father’s taste for financial reform, a gift that Christian swiftly made use of in his government, with Catherine rising to the top of his inner circle reasonably quickly. In 1514, Christian put Catherine in charge of the Sound Dues of Øresund, and it wasn’t long after that that Christian II received an invitation from Catherine’s nephew, Edward V of England, to meet him in London.
In May 1515, a host of rulers from northwestern Europe arrived in London. Their meeting would become known as the London Conference, and it was predominantly Edward V’s attempt to live up to his father Edmund I’s dream of a trade alliance to combat the influence of the Hanseatic League. However, the recent Habsburg takeover in France terrified many of France’s neighbours - while the initial plan for this trade league had been England, Burgundy and Denmark, the London Conference saw Edward V and Eleanor I representing England and Scotland, Lionel I of Burgundy, Christian II of Denmark, Isabel I and William Bourchier of Normandy, Richard II of Brittany and Philip I of Occitania, all gathered together. It was Lionel I’s suggestion to resurrect the name of the old wartime alliance between England, Burgundy and Brittany, seeing as that war against France had started a chain reaction of events that had led to this league being created. Indeed, on 24th February 1519, the Bruges League was officially created - a trading alliance between England, Scotland, Denmark (and the Kalmar Union), Burgundy, Normandy, Brittany and Occitania. As well as improved trade links between member nations, all of the states agreed that they would offer more beneficial terms to each other’s royals in terms of negotiating marriage alliances - reduced dowries, or preferential treatment in negotiations, for example. This part of the Bruges League was christened with a marriage alliance between England and Occitania, with Philip I’s son and heir Charles, Count of Toulouse being betrothed to Edward V’s younger sister Charlotte of York. They were married in 1521, in Bordeaux, and Charlotte was the first English princess to step foot in Bordeaux for many years. The significance of the moment was not lost on her.
A map of the members of the Bruges League, inflated to include areas of nominal control (Gaelic Ireland and the Burgundian sphere of influence)
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@Zestinobambino ! A trastamara/Habsburg Double marriage?! You're too good to us! Thanks! Really hope this one pans out way better than it did OTL.
@Zestinobambino , Just noticed something:
M. 1485 Anne of York:
1a. Ana of Aragon (1498)
5a. Catalina of Castile (1510)
Ana is 13 years older than Dauphin Maximilan, i think that a better match would be Catalina and him, they're much closer in age, but i completely agree with Jaime and Valentine given that Jaime is the older one
M. 1485 Anne of York:
1a. Ana of Aragon (1498)
5a. Catalina of Castile (1510)
Ana is 13 years older than Dauphin Maximilan, i think that a better match would be Catalina and him, they're much closer in age, but i completely agree with Jaime and Valentine given that Jaime is the older one
Thank you! Glad to hear it.
We can only hope!
Ah, good point. I’ll change that. I suppose Ana is a good fit for João, Afonso VI’s heir. Keeps up a certain trend.
Always
That we do
Yessir, and i hope Jaime and Joao are close as brothers too
Great! the Iberian powers must remain allies, to both get profits from their forming Empires and of course to wage war on the Turks and moroccans
Probably. That, and also potentially worried about the fact that compared to the HRE, France is FAR more centralised. Maximilian, Louis and their descendants are sure to try and replicate that a bit.
Yessir! It's time For the HRE to start living up to the Román part of the name