Arthur of Brittany TL

Verse 1
Verse 1

On 1200, Constance of Brittany gives birth to twins, a son named Conan and a daughter named Alix and survives the birth of her child, this is her final pregnancy and advises her son to a French alliance against his own uncle.

Due to the abduction of the Countess of Angouleme, Arthur was given a chance to attack John, but his mother, Constance advised him not to attack his uncle and he should amass more forces against his own uncle.

Constance would also tell Arthur not to consider a marriage with Marie of France and find a bride that would provide him a son soon.

On 1201 a treaty between Portugal and Brittany by marrying Eleanor of Brittany to Alfonso, Prince of Portugal, the future Alfonso the fat which would establish an alliance between England-Brittany and Portugal, the two realms already have common interests and common heritage by the existence of Bretonia, a Brythonic colony in Galicia, and he made his sister leave Brittany once the marriage alliance has been decided and married Alfonso the Prince of Portugal in the end of the year.

Eleanor of Brittany, would give birth five children namely;

Sancho II of Portugal b. 1202

Eleanor of Portugal b. 1203

Beatriz of Portugal b. 1208

Afonso III of Portugal b. 1210

Fernando, Lord of Serpa b. 1216

While Alix of Thouars is betrothed and promised to Ferdinand of Castile to strengthen the ties of the cousins Arthur and Ferdinand.
 
Verse 2
Verse 2

Her father died in 1196 and Constance's fate was decided by the new King, her brother Peter II. Peter arranged her marriage with King Emeric of Hungary, and the nineteen-year-old Constance left Aragon for Hungary. The wedding took place in 1198. Two years later, in 1200, the Queen gave birth to a son, called Ladislaus.

When King Emeric was dying, he crowned his son Ladislaus co-ruler on 26 August 1204, Constance gave birth to a daughter on May 1204 named Constance of Hungary. The King wanted to secure his succession and had his brother Andrew promise to protect the child and help him govern the Kingdom of Hungary until reaching adulthood. Emeric died three months later, on 30 November.

On 1204, Peter II of Aragon would marry Urraca of Castile, a cousin of Arthur, instead of marrying a countess in Toulouse.

Ladislaus succeeded him as King while Andrew became his Regent. Andrew soon took over all regal authority while Ladislaus and Constance were little more than his prisoners. Constance managed to escape to Vienna with Ladislaus.

The two found refuge in the court of Leopold VI, Duke of Austria, but Ladislaus would soon die (7 May 1205). The former Regent and now King Andrew II of Hungary took the body of his nephew and buried him in the Royal Crypt of Székesfehérvár. Duke Leopold sent Constance back to Aragon and Constance of Hungary to Hungary, Constance is promised to Konrad the Curly of Silesia.

Arthur was considering on marrying Sanchia on 1205, however on that time, the dowager queen of Hungary would replace Sanchia of Aragon and it is Sanchia who would marry the future king of Sicily, Frederick I of Sicily who is a candidate to the Holy Roman Empire.

Arthur would marry Constance of Aragon on Bordeaux on 1206, this would give Arthur a strong ally in the south.

Constance of Aragon would give birth to four children namely

Henry b. 1208

Eleanor b. 1210

Richard, duke of Aquitaine b. 1212

Joan b. 1215
 
Verse 3
Verse 3

In June 1204, the fall of Rouen allowed Phillip to annex Normandy, while Anjou and Poitou would defect to Arthur I of Brittany.

John needed money for his army, but the loss of the French territories, especially Normandy, greatly reduced the state income. A huge tax would be needed to reclaim these territories. He imposed the first income tax, raising the (then) huge sum of £70,000.

When Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter died on 13 July 1205, John became involved in a dispute with Pope Innocent III. The Canterbury Cathedral Chapter claimed the sole right to elect Hubert's successor, and favored Reginald, a candidate out of their midst. However, both the English bishops and the King wanted someone else to have this powerful office. The king wanted John de Gray, one of his own men. When their dispute could not be settled, the Chapter secretly elected one of their members as Archbishop. A second election imposed by John resulted in another nominee. When they both appeared in the Vatican, Innocent disavowed (rejected) both elections, and his candidate, Stephen Langton, was elected despite the objections of John's observers. John was supported in his position by the English barons and many of the English bishops and refused to accept Langton.

John expelled (dismissed) the Canterbury Chapter in July 1207, to which the Pope reacted by placing an interdict on the kingdom which meant that no one could receive religious blessings. John retaliated by closing down the churches. He confiscated (on paper) all church possessions, but individual churches were able to negotiate terms for managing their own properties and keeping the produce of their estates. After his excommunication, John tightened these measures and he got plenty from the income of vacant sees and abbeys. For example, the church lost an estimated 100,000 marks to the Crown in 1213. The Pope gave permission for some churches to hold Mass behind closed doors in 1209. In 1212, they allowed last rites to the dying. While the interdict was a burden to many, it did not result in rebellion against John.
 
Verse 4
Verse 4

In November 1209 John was excommunicated, and in February 1213, Innocent threatened stronger measures unless John submitted. The papal terms for submission were accepted in the presence of the papal legate Pandulph in May 1213 (according to Matthew Paris, at the Knights Templar Church at Dover); in addition, John offered to surrender the Kingdom of England to God and the Saints Peter and Paul for a feudal service of 1,000 marks annually, 700 for England and 300 for Ireland. With this submission, written in a document, John gained the support of his papal overlord in his new dispute with the English barons.

The heavy scutage levy for the failed campaign was the last straw, and when John attempted to raise more in September 1214, many barons refused to pay. The barons no longer believed that John can regain his lost lands.

In May 1215, Robert Fitz Walter led forty barons to renounce homage to the king at Northampton. The so-called 'Army of God' marched on London, taking the capital as well as taking Lincoln and Exeter.

John met their leaders and with their French and Scots allies at Runnymede, near London, on 15 June 1215. There they sealed the Great Charter, called in Latin Magna Carta. It established a council of 25 barons to see John kept to the clauses like protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, parliamentary assent for taxation, and scutage limitations.

Because he was forced to seal the charter, John sought approval to break it, from his overlord the Pope. Denouncing it as "not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust", the Pope agreed. This provoked the First Barons' War. The barons invited a Breton invasion by Arthur I of Brittany and Arthur I of Brittany accepted the offer of the crown of England as a reward for his support.

John would die on 1216 and Arthur I is crowned and confirmed as King and John’s family including Isabella of Angouleme would be exiled on Ireland, both Constance of Aragon and Arthur I of England would be crowned as King and queen with their children as heirs.

In response, the King of France would confiscate Arthur I of Brittany of Aquitaine and Anjou, giving Aquitaine including Poitou and Gascony to Alice of Champagne, an alternative heir of Eleanor of Aquitaine as a compensation to the loss of Champagne to her cousin Theobald.
 
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Verse 5
Verse 5

Peter II of Aragon would ally with the Kingdom of Sicily to strengthen its influence on the Mediterranean and he would betroth Sanchia of Aragon to the King of Sicily

Sanchia of Aragon and Frederick were married in the Sicilian city of Messina on 15 August 1209. In the ceremony, she was crowned Queen of Sicily. By this time, Sanchia of Aragon is Twenty-three-year-old and her new husband only fourteen. a year later, in 1210, Sanchia gave birth to a son, called Henry, followed by twin daughters named Constance and Beatrice b. 1212 and another son named Frederick b. 1221.

On 9 December 1212, Frederick was crowned King of Germany in opposition to Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor. During the absence of her husband, Sanchia stayed in Sicily as regent of the Kingdom until 1220.

At first Frederick controlled Southern Germany but Otto IV was effectively deposed on 5 July 1215. This time Sanchia was crowned German Queen with her husband.

Pope Honorius III crowned Frederick Holy Roman Emperor on 22 November 1220. Sancha was crowned Holy Roman Empress while their son Henry became the new King of Germany. She died of malaria less than two years later in Catania and was buried in the Cathedral of Palermo, in a Roman sarcophagus with a beautiful oriental tiara.
 
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Verse 6
Verse 6

Isabella of Angouleme and her children would be expelled to Ireland by Arthur I who was crowned as king by the nobles of England.

The King of England, Arthur I would negotiate peace quickly with Louis VIII the King of France, marrying his daughter, Joan of England with Louis, the younger who is raised like a saint in order to cement peace regarding England and France over Aquitaine and Anjou, another marriage he would make is his daughter, Eleanor of England and Henry of Germany, the son of Frederick I of Sicily and later Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

On this point in 1216 he would send his sister, Alix to Castile to marry Ferdinand III the King of Castile, after that she would marry the King of Castile, Ferdinand which would make Ferdinand, the cousin of Arthur happy and he would ask Innocent II to make dispensation any of the affinity relations between Alix and Ferdinand due to Arthur of Brittany and Ferdinand being cousins.

Ferdinand III would exclaim that Alix or Alicia of Brittany is beautiful and would make a good bride, Arthur would hear that Ferdinand III is happy on his new bride and both Eleanor of Brittany and Alix have strengthened England’s ties with the Iberian Kingdoms.

Alix would prove to be fragile and give birth to three children namely Henry b. 1217, Eleanor b. 1219 and Ferdinand b. 1220, she would die months after the birth of Ferdinand.
 
Verse 7
Verse 7

On 1220, Alice, now duchess of Aquitaine would negotiate a marriage between Joan of England and her son, Henry of Cyprus who is also set to inherit Aquitaine and Joan would transmit Arthur’s rights to her.

Alice of Champagne would be content of gaining the Aquitainian inheritance for her and her son and it would mean that the Ramnulfids, the original heirs to the Duchy of Aquitaine would regain Aquitaine from the Plantagenets for a long time.

The betrothal would be agreed by Arthur I of England and Brittany as he has no other option and would not want to anger France anymore since it borders his own Duchy of Brittany, his dynasty would have enough time to establish and establish the connections between the two countries of Brittany and England.

Meanwhile Isabella of Angouleme herself would plot against Louis VIII and Philippe Auguste since they confiscated their estates in France.
 
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Verse 8
Verse 8

The Magna Carta was a document signed by King Arthur I of England and Duke of Brittany after negotiations with his barons at Runnymede, Surrey, England in 1217.

There they sealed the Great Charter, called in Latin Magna Carta. It established a council of 25 barons to see Arthurkept to the clauses, including access to swift justice, parliamentary assent for taxation, scutage limitations, and protection from illegal imprisonment, he would swear that he would uphold the new laws and would not be like his tyrant uncle.

Magna Carta has influenced English law down to the present day. It is one of the most celebrated documents in the History of England. It is recognised as a cornerstone of the idea of the liberty of citizens.

Magna Carta contains 63 clauses written in Latin on parchment. Only three of the original clauses in Magna Carta are still law today. One defends the freedom and rights of the English Church, another confirms the liberties and customs of the City of London and other towns. This clause (translated) is the main reason the Carta is still famous:

"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled. Nor will we proceed with force against him except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice".

"No-one is above the law, even the king."

"Right to a fair trial."

"People who are taxed should have some kind of representation."
 
Verse 9
Verse 9

In 1223, Matilda of Boulogne married her husband, Infante Afonso, second in line to the Portuguese throne, younger brother of King Sancho II of Portugal.

Matilda of Boulogne is 7 years older than infante Alfonso, Infante Alfonso would sire Joanna of Portugal(1224), Robert(1228), Fernando(1232) and Maria(1234).

Due to lack of issue of his brother, Sancho II of Portugal, Afonso would take control of the Kingdom of Portugal which would cause a union between Portugal and the County of Boulogne.
 
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