That is true. They have a reasonably successful model to base it off.
A Second White Rose - A Wars Of The Roses TL
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
- Start date
Yessir, the difference beign that with their now fairly amicable relationship with the papacy the capital would be Austria (with paris acting as a secondary one), to demostrate the origin of the new order
Chapter Sixty-Two: Empire In The Making
Chapter Sixty-Two: Empire In The Making
By the time Louis XIII took over in France, King Ferdinand II of Aragon’s health was beginning to fail, and the affairs of Aragon were left more and more to the Aragonese nobility and Ferdinand’s heir Juan, who already ruled in Castile. But Juan and Ferdinand differed immensely on some opinions - for example, Juan chose to negotiate a peace with the Habsburgs, revolving around the double marriage of Dauphin Maximilian and Catalina of Castile, and of Jaime, Prince of Asturias and Valentina Habsburg. Ferdinand disagreed aggressively, demanding that Juan completely annex the Principality of Occitania instead of just holding it as a vassal state under Philip, as a show of strength against an expansionist Habsburg dynasty.
Barcelona, 27th January 1515
“I’m tired, Abuelo!” Jaime called out in between ragged breaths. His little arms were growing too heavy for him to move, and swest was running down his body. “Please, let me rest.”
“Your enemies will not offer you such luxury.” Ferdinand snapped. “Why should I?”
“Just a minute, please!”
“No!” Ferdinand snapped again. “Is this dummy a challenge for you, boy? If so, what hopes do you have to secure your crowns? By God, if your ancestors saw you struggling to hit a dummy made of hay, they would be rolling in their graves!”
That trick worked. “I’m sorry, Abuelo! I’ll make you proud!” He shouted, and with tears close to his eyes, Jaime lifted his wooden sword and kept drilling, swinging the sword at the dummy in front of him, though he could feel his eyes getting tired, his swings getting sloppier. Ferdinand soon noticed too, and grunted.
“Stop. We are done for today.” He said, and Jaime immediately did so. The wooden sword dropped out of his hand, and he himself dropped to the floor in a heap of raggedy breaths and sweat. Servants rushed into the courtyard to serve the prince some water, as cool as they could make it, and he gulped it down with a violent thirst.
Only seconds later, Ferdinand’s son Juan and his wife Anne appeared in the courtyard, and they soon saw little Jaime gasping for air and water. “Jaimito!” Anne gasped and rushed to her son, scooping him up in her arms. Then she turned to Ferdinand.
“Your Majesty, does this not seem a bit excessive?!” Anne asked.
“Not at all.” Ferdinand shook his head. “On the contrary, I have only trained my grandson today as hard as my father trained me.”
“Well, I will not let you inflict the same misery on my boy.” Anne said harshly. “You are not to train any of my sons again in swordsmanship.” She said, then turned to Jaime in her arms. “Come now, Jaimito. Let us see if the cooks have any of those lemon cakes going spare...”
As she walked away, Ferdinand turned to glare at Juan. “You let your wife make these decisions for you?”
“I let the mother of my children decide not to let you hurt my children, yes.” Juan said, and Ferdinand tutted.
“You are far too soft, Juan! You have much too much of your mother’s love in you, and nowhere near enough of what it takes to be a soldier.”
“To be a soldier? Remind me, Padre, who was it that won us Occitania?” Juan pointed out, growing angry.
“Pah.” Ferdinand spat. “Your victory there was luck. You are too soft, Juan. I know it, Anne knows it, God knows your subjects know it. Is there a Castilian alive today that you have left disappointed when they came to your court for a favour, or have you granted your aid to all who ask?”
“You make it sound like my compassion for my subjects is a weakness.” Juan retorted. “A king needs to be able to inspire his people, and show them that he is there for them. Caring for one’s subjects is not a weakness.”
“With how much you care, it may well be.” Ferdinand said, himself now feeling the rage growing. A terrible heat, in the pit of his stomach. “A tough hand is needed!”
“What, like the hand you have had with the Barcos de Esclavos?” Juan asked drily. “I have heard the stories of what you have done there. You should be ashamed of yourself for the cruelty on those ships.”
“You know damned well why I had-“ Ferdinand started, but the yell died on his lips. His mind went blank and his ears were filled with an infernal hissing. Ferdinand’s legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. The last thing he could hear was Juan crying for a physician.
It soon became clear to the Aragonese court that King Ferdinand II had suffered from a stroke, and the elderly king, approaching his sixty-third birthday, was left under the care of the court physician for the next few weeks. He did recover from the stroke, but he never truly returned to full health and it was not much longer until he died, on 6th May 1515. Ferdinand’s death left the crown of Aragon to Juan, who now fully inherited the legacy his parents had created for him - he became King Juan III of Aragon as well as of Castile, possessing the thrones of Sicily, Sardinia and Navarre as well. The death of Ferdinand also made Jaime inherit many more princely titles - he was now Prince of Asturias, Girona and Viana. In Navarre, Juan was swift to announce himself as Juan III too, even though Jean d’Albret had already taken that name. Juan did this by reasoning that Jean d’Albret had only been king of Navarre through his wife Catherine, and therefore the true crown power was with her and not him. By establishing himself as Juan III across his kingdoms, Juan hoped that he would be quick to promote national unity.
Juan also began setting up the future of his realm through his children. Jaime was already betrothed to Valentina Habsburg, and his youngest daughter Catalina to the Dauphin Maximilian. To keep friendly relations with Portugal, Juan betrothed his eldest daughter Ana (born in 1498) to her first cousin the Prince of Portugal, João (born in 1499), who was only one year younger than her. For his younger sons, Eduardo and Ferdinand, Juan first provided them with dukedoms and viceroyalties - Eduardo was made Viceroy of Sicily and Duke of Syracuse, and Ferdinand was made Viceroy of Navarre and Duke of Pamplona. Then Juan negotiated marriages related to those viceroyalties. Eduardo was betrothed to his first cousin Isabella of Naples, daughter of Ferdinand II of Naples and Catalina of Aragon. He also offered Ferdinand of Pamplona to the youngest daughter of Jean d’Albret and Catherine of Navarre, called Isabella. Finally, Juan arranged an alliance between himself and King George I of Poland, and betrothed his daughter Isabella (born in 1505) to George’s eldest son Casimir (born in 1502).
Cádiz, 8th April 1515
“You are Nasrid.”
Ahmet repeated those words to himself. Only in his head. He would not let the Catholics know that he was Nasrid, or who knew what would become of him?
“You are Nasrid.”
Since 1492, Ahmet’s father Muhammad had lived the life of a sultan in exile. He had lost Granada to the Catholic Monarchs, then fled Iberia to Fes, where he had built his own palace. He tried to raise armies to retake Granada, but he never managed it.
“You are Nasrid.”
Eventually, Ahmet became his own man, and raised his own army. Well, it was barely an army, to be honest. A few old soldiers and a handful of opportunistic and optimistic young men, like Ahmet, who had never tasted battle before. But they knew there were still enough Muslims in Granada to raise support there, and so they sailed.
“You are Nasrid.”
Those were the last words Muhammad had spoken to Ahmet before he sailed. The battle went terribly - most of Ahmet’s men were captured, including Ahmet himself. The rest were executed. But those who were captured were indentured, forced into contracts giving their rights to the Spanish crowns, as had so many Muslims since Granada fell. Now he was on a ship as a slave, being sent to the New World to live the rest of his life as a slave to the Christian colonists.
It was all Ahmet could do to hold his tongue when one of the Spaniards on the ship kicked Ahmet’s friend Suleyman to the ground. “Get up, infidel dog.” The Spaniard growled, and Suleyman - a weak man at the best of times, but with the scraps of food they had been given recently, he looked close to death - struggled to his feet.
“Lo siento,” Suleyman murmured.
That was the bit that infuriated Ahmet. The Spaniards would assault them at random, and expect them to apologise for daring to be there for them to attack. Ahmet still had his pride, and rarely apologised, which only made it worse for himself. Call it royal pride.
But every Muslim on the ship knew Ahmet was the son of Sultan Muhammad XII of Granada. It was only a matter of time until he would save them.
He was Nasrid, after all, and it was his duty to keep the line alive. Sooner or later, they would be liberated. [1]
[1] - now you might be wondering what I’m setting up here. This is actually a set-up for a sort of collaboration with the imaginative genius that is @Cascadia-97 ! I’ve asked them, and I have been granted permission to incorporate their Oregonian Caliphate into this TL. I hope you enjoy this part of the story!
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@A Random Man I know I said we’d go east next, but I was really excited for this chapter... we’ll head eastwards next! I promise 
@Zestinobambino ! Amazing work as always!
RIP Ferndinand II ! And yay! Juan has finally united all His parents crowns. Loved the Navarre bit. Thanks For talking the reccomendation as well as the Jaime part!
Btw remember to add Sardinia to the crowns Juan inherited from His father. Oh, and that His half-brother Alonso was the one to crown him.
Loved the marriage prospects For juan's kids! And the titled For His younger sons
And boy hope Nasrid Will not cause too much trouble For Juan.
RIP Ferndinand II ! And yay! Juan has finally united all His parents crowns. Loved the Navarre bit. Thanks For talking the reccomendation as well as the Jaime part!
Btw remember to add Sardinia to the crowns Juan inherited from His father. Oh, and that His half-brother Alonso was the one to crown him.
Loved the marriage prospects For juan's kids! And the titled For His younger sons
And boy hope Nasrid Will not cause too much trouble For Juan.
Thanks For this! Was looking forward to more Juan@A Random Man I know I said we’d go east next, but I was really excited for this chapter... we’ll head eastwards next! I promise
Thank you for the recommendation for Jaime! And of course, I always manage to forget Sardinia...
I'm glad you like the marriages! And Ahmet and the Nasrids have a long journey yet.
Np. Always happy to help You!
And Alonso too. He, Jorge of Portugal and Anthony of burgundy Will show the world that as long as illigitimate children are treated For well theyll be Their family's BIGGEST and fiercest supporters.
That they do
That's true. And Arthur as well, in Well, Now What? (Shameless self-plug)
@Zestinobambino ! Oh! And also add that Jaime gained the title Prince of Girona (title of the heir of the aragonese crown)
Almost slipped My mind. As Juan said, gotta build unity between the kingdoms.
And don't forget to add the Alonso part btw
You better 😤😤😤😤@A Random Man I know I said we’d go east next, but I was really excited for this chapter... we’ll head eastwards next! I promise
So we'll be seeing an Islamic state rise in the New World? It'll be interesting seeing how Islam changes in the New World. Native Americans might attach themselves to it if convinced correctly, though modifications will be made to make the Faith more easy to understand.
The Christians will not tolerate the rise of a Caliphate in the Americas.
Hope that Juan can negotiate with them. Because that's true. He Will not let such an Empire and his parents work be stolen
By the time there's enough Muslims in America for this Islamic nation to rise, then America on the whole will look very different. Depending on how Europe is looking at the time, and whose colonisation efforts in the New World are doing well, then some European Christian country could very easily support the Muslims in becoming independent if it meant a war with Spain that they could gain land from.
Of course, this is all some time away yet.
There's truly no solidarity between christian countries huh?
Just like the OTL alliance between france and the ottomans