Yes, but according to what I have read they (Anne and Charlotte) would’ve been the de-jure titular Queens of Jerusalem.
An Imperial Match: Anne Boleyn marries Charles V
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
Oh I see, I know other people claimed the title hit I always thought they were the rightful holders.
Not really. The claim of the main blood line was the “Brienne“ one and the direct line there go to Charlotte’s cousin Isabella and her daughter Bona Sforza. Still that claim was united to the “Cyprus” one (held by the Savoy and then Laval) who was a line junior than the Brienne one, but the one who had the de-jure rulership once Bona’s line was extinct and Henry II de la Tremoilles held both claims
The Anjous had bought another claim, junior than the “Brienne“ and ”Cyprus” under male preference primogeniture but superior to theirs under blood-proximity (and that claim was the one who Louis XII had given for Germaine’s son).
The Savoy kept the use of the Cyprus title, the Aragon of Naples and later the Spanish Kings kept their claim on Jerusalem (as they claimed the Anjou one as part of their titles in Naples, keeping them as tied to the Kingdom and not to the Anjou family). The Dukes of Lorraine also claimed to be the heirs of the Anjou claim and transmitted this claim to the Habsburg-Lorraine
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Yes. I intended the “Cyprus” title/claim to Jerusalem (still they Savoy used the titles for both Cyprus and Jerusalem so was easy misunderstanding that)
23rd of July, 1522.
Lisbon, Portugal. 23rd of July, 1522.
Leonor smiled as she entered her husband’s study, her large belly leading her forward. João had his back to her, his dark hair nicely brushed under a black cap, and his back was hunched, as if he was looking at something on his hands.
“The little one is moving,” she told him, a hand atop her stomach, feeling the child’s movements within her, “He feels when you are near.”
João turned to her and she saw his worried expression and the paper on his hand. He tried to smile at her but it did little to assuage the emptiness of his eyes and the dark circles under them. Leonor stepped forward, ready to press a helping hand to his face and ask him what was wrong, but she stopped when he did the same and gave her the paper in his hand.
It was a letter from the Portuguese ambassador to England. He told the King about her brother Charles’ visits to their uncle, Henry VIII, and about how furious the English king was about Charles’ marriage to one of his courtiers, a lady called Anne Boleyn.
Leonor frowned and read the letter again. No, it was true. She had not mistaken it. She read it again. Charles was married? But she thought he was betrothed to little Mary Tudor. How could he be married when he was already promised to another? And to a courtier no less, an English courtier. This did not make any sense. This was unlike Carlos. How could he have been so stupid?
“I don’t understand it,” she said, looking up at her husband of four years, “Charles is married?”
“It seems he is,” João answered, shaking his head, “And I understand as much as you do.”
Leonor thought he understood more than her because he did not know Charles as she did. He had always sacrificed everything for the sake of his realm, including his family. Once, he had caught her reading a lovely letter from the Elector Palatine and made them swear before witnesses that they had not procured a secret marriage. She had given him her life, following him to Castile when their grandfather died and marrying João for the sake of his alliances.
Oh, she was happy enough now and would not dream of being married to anyone. Life with João and their daughters, Maria and Joana, was good in a way she had not known before, but Leonor would never forget that it was not her choice to go to Portugal.
“The Caesar you dream of marrying has no heart,” she once told Isabella, her sister-in-law, “He sacrifices everyone for his ambitions.”
Leonor loved Charles, but she could not stop the resentment from growing in her heart at the notion that he had married for love. And to a woman of no prospects, no less. This was not fair.
She recognized the name of her new sister at last. Anne Boleyn, though Leonor knew her as Anna de Boullan. She had once been a maid of honour and companion to her aunt, Margaret of Austria, and shared a year of her childhood with the children of Philip the Fair. During those months, Anne had been in love with Charles, who was the only one to not notice it. Though he might have noticed and harboured his own feelings of affection, seeing as what he had done now.
“This will break Isabella’s heart,” João said, removing her from her thoughts.
Before Leonor could agree, someone else stepped inside the study, and a high clear voice rose through the room, “What will break my heart?”
João and Leonor turned to see who had entered it. It was Isabella, wearing a beautiful gown of blue damask and sapphires in her golden hair. They hesitated, sharing a look before Leonor stepped forward and gave Isabella the letter. She frowned before she read and the effect it had on her was almost immediate, as she began to tremble, the letter crumbling in her hands.
“No,” she said, “No, no.”
João stepped forward, “I am so sorry, sister.”
Isabella looked up and Leonor saw how her eyes were full of tears, her cheeks bloodshot. “This can’t be,” she said, “Charles would never…”
“But he has,” said Leonor, not unkindly.
Isabella sobbed and turned around, running back from where she came from.
Oh, no poor Isabella... At least here she may hope to live a longer and less stressed life... Nice touch with the names of Leonor and João's daughters. Great chapter!
I think you may be surprised by the great plans I have for Isabella.
Leonor could die in childbirth while Joao then dies for one reason or another, leaving an underage son who needs a regent, but I think the role would probably go to one (or possibly more than one) of the little king's paternal uncles.
True maybe if they are unable/disinterested Isabella could be Regent, or maybe they could form a collective Regency?