Edward II of England, the Clever Handed

Whoah! How did that happen?????

An obscure Welsh family is connected by marriage to the Emperor and the Queen of Scotland - they must have married VERY well????????
Oh yes. Even without the marriage to the widow of OTL Henry V, the Tudors were still upwardly mobile. And in TTL, the Beauforts were never disinherited (as it wasn't deemed necessary). The only bad news is that the King of Scots seems to have inherited OTL Henry VIII's inability to father healthy male heirs. We'll that, and Scotland is going to be very insulted and unruly that their Queen was passed over as bride to Prince Henry.
 
Nope - won't happen. Without the Valois marriage Owen Tudor remains an obscure Welshman and possibly a servant at court. Certainly his sons are not half brothers to the King and won't get Earldoms.
 
Nope - won't happen. Without the Valois marriage Owen Tudor remains an obscure Welshman and possibly a servant at court. Certainly his sons are not half brothers to the King and won't get Earldoms.
You make a good point. I'll change it to Beaufort cousin. It makes no difference to Margaret's history.
 
Chapter Thirty Five: The Scottish Succession

As expected, the sudden shift from wooing the Scottish Queen to wooing the Portuguese Queen offended many in the Scottish court. The Emperor sent his charming and diplomatic second son, Prince John the Duke of York and Feria, to Edinburgh to calm tensions. Edward might have wished to have John marry Margaret, but John was an open man lover with a set of contracts with the youngest son of the half African Duke of Mali that rendered a marriage contract all but impossible.

Edward stalled with a shocking request to the pope: that the heir to the British throne be allowed to have more than one wife, like the kings of the Bible did. The Pope of course refused the audacious demand, but the delay gave the Scots time to calm down. John teasingly offered to broker a marriage with one of the Duke of Mali's other sons but the Scottish court was not receptive. He was however, able to scotch (pun intended) an offer from the Austrian Emperor to marry one of his sons.

Edward V was still left with the need to find his Scottish vassal a husband. Ideally one who had a family history of mostly daughters, in the hope that there would be a new Queen that could marry Henry and Isabella's oldest son. But Margaret's husband was ultimately decided by diplomacy. To the north, the Kalmar Union was suffering from struggles between its component nobilities that threatened to drive Sweden out of the Union. Although the Scandinavians were Britain's rival in the Antilles, they were a valuable distraction to Austria. The Scandinavian king needed to dispose of his Swedish rival, Gustav Vasa, and Edward was willing to invite Gustav to Britain and offer to make him King of Scots.

Gustav hoped to use his position in Scotland to strengthen his position in Sweden, and so accepted the offer. As it happened though, of the first four children born to this union, three were boys. While after the same amount of time, Isabella the Queen of Spain and Portugal, and Princess of Wales and Asturias, had only had a single girl, Elizabeth of Lisbon.

There seemed plenty of time though, and far more pressing matters. Britain had been supporting the Ottoman Empire against Austria. But word came that the Ottoman fleet had defeated a combination of Papal, South Italian, and Austrian ships to threaten naval superiority. And Suleman the Magnificent was personally leading an army to the gates of Vienna itself. Britain and Austria would have to temporarily forget their differences to stand against this common enemy.
 
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Chapter Thirty Six: East verses West

Theoretically, the Austrian Emperor was happy to have the help of another Christian monarch in the fight against a Muslim horde. But Phillip, still handsome in his old age, was well aware that his British rival would use the Ottoman threat to expand his own power.

Despite the treaty of Venice banning British river ships from the Danube, it had never been practical to bring them through the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Even now, Edward V suggested it would be faster to reinforce Vienna by sending the river fleet through the old Karlsgraben canal. But Phillip forbade even temporary upgrades that would bring navigation from the British Rhine all the way to his capital. So the ships stayed at home.

Phillip agreed to allow British troops to land at Venice to march into Ottoman held Croatia and flank the enemy army. But this required the British Navy to break the Ottoman fleet. The British heir, Prince Henry, personally led the Mediterranean fleet to face the Ottomans off the coast of Sicily.

The Ottomans had taken advantage of windless days to flank the Papal fleet. So Henry made sure he had as many propeller upgraded ships as the Navy could provide. The Ottoman ships were smaller and faster though, and the Ottomans boarded many ships to try to burn them. The current flagship, Imperial Standard, was overtaken and boarded by Ottomans with a new weapon: hand cannons.

Henry was wounded in the attack, but he ordered the Aurochs below deck to be freed to run amok among the enemy troops, who had to retreat before the ship could be set on fire. The Prince withdrew from the battle, but ordered the Imperial Standard to continue the attack. The Ottomans were routed, and the British fleet made it to Venice.

Henry survived the battle, but would be unable to personally lead his troops to Vienna. So his brother's lover, Wali of Mali, took the troops north. A gay pagan to determine the future of Christian Europe.
 
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Chapter Thirty Seven: the Battle of Eisenstadt

Lord Wali took command of the local cavalry in Venice and took the British troops and cavalry north through Slovenia towards Vienna. Unaware of the fact that the Ottoman army had broken off its siege and was moving on to invade Hungary.

The British encountered the advance guard of the Ottomans just outside the town of Eisenstadt. Both armies had been on a hard march, and Wali decided to place his army where they were and let the Ottomans further tire themselves coming to the Britons.

The Ottoman Janissaries charged the center of the British line, but the line held and the Venetian cavalry flanked the Ottoman army. Wali located Suleman in the Ottoman ranks and pushed the British cavalry right into the center of the Ottoman line. The Janissaries were pushed aside by the sheer weight of the attack. Suleman rode into the fray, seeking out his opponent.

Wali and Suleman met in the middle of the battlefield and fought one on one. Suleman bested Wali, but before the British commander could be hurt the battle turned in favor of the Britons. Suleman withdrew his forces, sacrificing some of his Janissaries to punch a hole in the Venetian flank and escape back down through Croatia.

Henry was delighted and wrote his father to have Wali named Duke of New Lisbon, the new colony on the west coast of the British Antilles.* Henry gathered the opposing sides in Venice for another conference. A line was drawn between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary, and a buffer zone was created from Slovenia and Croatia. It was put in personal union with the Kingdom of Naples, which ruled Southern Italy, and it's independence was guaranteed by all three Empires.

Henry recovered from his injury, but though he continued to lay with his wife, they had no further children. So when Edward V and Empress Joanna joined Edward's ancestors in the Imperial Cathedral in Five Ports, and Henry succeeded to the throne as Henry I, Henry proclaimed his daughter Elizabeth the Princess of Wales and Asturias, and Duchess of New York colony.**

*OTL Baja California
**OTL Florida and Georgia
 
I corrected the last chapter, which mistakenly had Phillip the Handsome leading the Britons instead of the correct Prince Henry, the Prince of Wales and Asturias. Sorry about that.
 
Chapter Thirty Eight: The Princess Elizabeth and Her Great Matter

As Elizabeth grew to marriable age, the question of finding a husband for the next Empress of the Britons grew pressing. But Elizabeth was becoming a very determined young woman and had very definite ideas about her own future.

The obvious candidate was the heir to the Scottish throne, Prince Christian. And in fact, an informal engagement existed from the time they were both children. But his Scandinavian father had raised him as a Lutheran, and as he grew up he became more and more devout. This wasn't a problem to the Imperial court, but when Christian started spending more time at Five Ports, he was found by the Princess to be very stiff and tiresome. Elizabeth told her father that if she was forced to marry such a man, she would need a handsome general as the Empress Isabella had had.

The man Elizabeth theorized was actually waiting in the wings. Robert, the son of the Duke of Buckingham and a childhood friend of the Princess, actually forward a proposal to the Emperor for Elizabeth's hand before a final decision could be made about the Scottish match. Henry I liked Robert Buckingham and met with him personally to refuse the request. Henry told the boy that he would make an excellent husband, but to marry him to a future Empress would produce unacceptable tensions between the barons of the Empire.

Robert Buckingham retired from court, an act that infuriated Elizabeth. She made several attempts to force her father to demand Robert's return, but Henry refused her. Elizabeth did not want to marry only for political necessity, but her father reminded her that he himself had had his bride chosen by his father. Despite that, he obeyed and had married the Queen of Portugal. This marriage of diplomatic purpose had now grown into a tender partnership and Henry saw no reason why Elizabeth could not find happiness in a similar match.

A possible marriage to the widowed heir of the King of Poland was considered, but he angered the Polish nobility by marrying a commoner. Elizabeth herself however, wrote to him to congratulate him on the marriage. And then one day a shocking offer was made.

Without the kind of income that the British Empire had coming in from her colonies, the Austrian Empire was approaching bankruptcy. Old Phillip had passed, and the new Emperor was looking for wealthy friends to repay the debts brought on by the Protestant Reformation and the war with the Ottomans. And so came the amazing request for an end to two centuries of aggression between the two Empires. Charles V proposed marriage between the Princess Elizabeth and his nephew Maximilian.

Henry I was stunned and at first wasn't sure what to make of the offer. His brother Prince John stated that the Austrian Emperor was mad, but that didn't mean that Britain shouldn't take advantage of it. Henry agreed with that, and so an invitation was made to Prince Maximilian for a State Visit to England, the first made by a member of the old Holy Roman Empire in over two hundred years.
 
Wow, this looks like a CK2 campaign, very entertaining. I find it weird that there aren't more tensions between the continental holdings and the colonies, especially in Africa.

I need to ask, when exactly are we?
 
Wow, this looks like a CK2 campaign, very entertaining. I find it weird that there aren't more tensions between the continental holdings and the colonies, especially in Africa.

I need to ask, when exactly are we?
Thanks so much for your comments. As far as the year goes, it's 1548. Sometimes it's not clear, but in this instance it's right after Sigmund II Augustus, the King of Poland remarried.

The smoothness of relations between the Empire and Scotland, France, and the colonies comes down to the fact that they are basically still independent in a feudal relationship. But the Iberian states are, in fact, going to start chafing under the Imperial system. And as the feudal system gives way to more centralized states, the rest of the Empire may start considering what is in it for them.
 
Chapter Thirty Nine: Prince Max

The Princess Elizabeth was cool to the idea of yet another suitor, even scoffing at his name. "Let's just start with Max," she corrected a lady in waiting, "and wait to see if the million is warranted."

The visit started off on a sour note with a letter from the Austrian Emperor. It was surprising that Charles insisted that Maximilian be kept away from Protestants. But Henry was insulted that Charles was expecting a dowry payment for Elizabeth. Henry told Maximilian that despite what may happen in Austria, future Empresses of the Britons were not sold for cows. But Maximilian was genuinely contrite and apologized for his uncle's presumption.

Max may have been flirting with Lutheranism at home, but he was charming and diplomatic, unlike the boring Prince Christian of Scotland. Elizabeth was captivated, and would gladly have married him, until a terrible scandal broke out. Maximilian came out as a Protestant, and a furious Charles V ordered him home.

Maximilian didn't want to go home, and pleaded for the mercy of the Emperor of the Britons. Henry I sympathized with the Prince, but his first responsibility was to use the affair to the advantage of his Empire. He asked the Austrian ambassador how Charles V intended to compensate Britain for the time and money wasted on Maximilian's visit. The ambassador was shocked and didn't know how to respond.

Elizabeth was surprised to realize that she didn't want to Maximilian to leave. She went to her father to ask him to grant the Prince asylum. Henry wasn't willing to offend the Austrian Emperor by interfering in Hapsburg family difficulties, but promised to help if he was at all able. Elizabeth knew how international politics worked and wasn't satisfied with her father's assurances. So she made a gamble that the Austrians would forgive her because of her youth, and found a Protestant minister willing to marry Elizabeth and Max.

Charles' rage dwarfed his earlier anger. But the laws of the Britons recognized Protestant performed weddings, and Henry considered the matter closed, reminding his counterpart that "what God has joined together, no man or Emperor should put asunder."

Britain was off the hook, but things weren't finished for Austria. When the Protestant Princes of Germany found out about Maximilian becoming Lutheran, they rose up against the Emperor and named Maximilian the King of Germany. They wanted Max back as well, and again Elizabeth refused to send him back. Henry put the Rhine fortresses on alert and waited to see what the conflict across the border would bring.
 
Chapter Forty: The Protestant War, part one - The Kingdom of Germany

Henry I had managed, despite Charles V's annoyance, to avoid having to do anything about Maximilian's marriage to Elizabeth. However, the German Princes were doing their best to drag him back into the conflict.

British opinion about Germany was that the indefensible German plains were too expensive to own unless Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary could be gained as well. Henry informed Maximilian that the Prince could have Elizabeth or Germany, but that the Imperial council would not pay for both. With Henry's assistance, Maximilian then drafted a response that was vague enough to take the crown if circumstances changed but did not bind him to it.

The Protestant Princes might have used force to insist on a decision, but they needed to focus their attention on Charles V. An agreement was made with the Kalmar Union to invade Bohemia from the North, and for a time it seemed that the Protestants had the upper hand. And then the Kalmar Union sent word to Henry I in hopes that the Britons would join in the fight in exchange for territory in Italy.

Henry was tempted to accept the deal, especially when the Pope attempted to assist Charles by issuing an edict against both the Protestants, and all heresies. Designed to hurt the political strength of German rebels, it also hit directly at the via media being created in the British Empire.

Henry demanded that the Pope clarify his position to indicate that the Britons weren't bound by the edict. But the Pope had had enough Henry's autonomy. A second edict was issued, threatening excommunication if Henry didn't help Charles and stamp out heresy in his own realm. Among other offenses, the Emperor's brother living openly as a man lover was mentioned as being opposed to biblical teachings.

This was more than Henry could tolerate. Homosexuality had been quietly tolerated during the Middle Ages, and Henry wasn't about to let it suddenly be used as a whip against him. He issued his own edict, under the authority given to him as a descendant of Isabella: saint, Defender of the Faith, and White Goddess of the colonists. He reminded his subjects that his brother was the son of an Emperor, and that the Holy oil ran through John's veins as surely as blood.

And then came the shocking heart of Henry's edict. The entire Papacy was declared deposed, and Henry himself would guarantee his subjects' spiritual freedom from now on. A shiver of horror ran through Christendom at the implication. Protestants had fled from the Pope's jurisdiction before. But with this was far more than that. Henry was declaring himself both a Pope and a demigod. It was left to be seen if he had the strength to back it up.
 
Chapter Forty One: The Protestant War, part two - The Spanish Revolt

Henry I summoned the full Imperial Council: the British Witangamot, the French Parliament, and the advisory bodies of Scotland, Spain, British Africa, and the British Antilles, to answer the alarmed requests for clarification that were coming in.

Out of all the territories, it was the heavily Catholic Spains that were the most horrified. The Duke of Toledo called the Emperor's edict blasphemy, and refused to accept it. The Portuguese lords, also more Catholic than the rest of the Empire but not wanting to be swallowed up by their neighbors, were willing to accept the edict and quash rebellion in Spain if need be, as long as their rights to practice as they had were protected.

Henry pointed to the coexistence of Lutheran Scotland and Catholic France as proof that their beliefs, as well as the Spanish, would remain respected. He issued his famous declaration that the Emperor would not "look into men's souls, and that all he wanted was temporal loyalty.

The Scottish and the colonial representatives, the latter who had already welcomed the break from Rome, cheered the assertion, and the edict was welcomed with only some abstentions from the French and of course, massive refusal from the Spanish.

Henry reinforced the castles in Spain and sent the Mediterranean fleet to Barcelona, and when Spain rose, led by the Duke of Toledo, the Emperor was ready. Feria, governed by the massively popular Prince John, remained loyal and had huge recruitment to defend the Empire.

There was however, differences of opinion in how to handle the rebellion. France and Portugal, who despite the union of the Crowns were economic rivals of Spain, wanted the revolt crushed as brutally as possible. This became a more popular view after Barcelona rebels tried to board His Majesty's Imperial Warship Solaris, which had crossed the Atlantic when the edict was posted and was led by Antillian native Admiral Montezuma, Baron Tenochtitlan.

But the Scottish Queen personally reminded the Emperor that the actions of his ancestor, Edward Longshanks, had created a rift in Scotland that had taken over a century to repair. Henry elected then to use the most powerful weapon at his disposal: the treasury. He announced that damages incurred during the revolt would be covered by the Crown, but only for loyal subjects.

With it now more profitable to support the Emperor, the Duke of Toledo 'accidentally' falling from a window in his castle, and trade cut off from both Portugal and France, the rebellion burned itself out. Henry now turned his attention to the Austrian Empire, which with Papal help had recovered and now threatened to crush the uprising in Germany.
 
Chapter Forty Two: Freedom of Religion

Charles V had subdued Central Europe through a combination of military prowess, spiritual extortion, and the misfortune of his Polish ally.

The King of Poland was on his third wife, and yet his only heir was his sister Anna, who the Austrian Emperor had married to his son Phillip. They had four children, and inevitably one of them would unite the crown of the Holy Roman Empire with those of Poland and Lithuania. Their combined forces were brought to bear against Germany and the Kalmar Union at the behest of Charles V, who pushed the Scandinavians back into Pomerania.

The German Protestant states desperately needed British help, but the last thing Henry I wanted was to be saddled with a divided and vulnerable German kingdom. Especially when he had a score to settle with the Pope. Henry had been both excommunicated and put under interdict, in an attempt by the Pope to have him overthrown. The plan had failed, but as long as the Pope claimed authority over the Britons, Henry had no legitimate power over the British Christian Church and was looked at as only a Protestant.

Henry attacked with his own deadliest weapon: the British Navy, which continued to grow and advance with the best science it could muster . Strong enough to take on both the Austrians and the Kalmar Union (though thankfully, diplomacy had prevented that scenario), the Navy tore through the Papal fleet and landed outside Rome.

The Pope had asked Charles V for help, and the Emperor had offered to evacuate the Pontiff from the Vatican, but there was no way he was going to antagonize the Britons after all the work he'd put into marrying his nephew to the Princess Elizabeth. The Austrian fleet remained in Venice, and while the Austrian army did seize several key Papal cities, they stayed well clear of Rome.

Henry I was happy to see his counterpart refusing to protect the Pope and instead of pressing into Italy proper, offered to broker a settlement between all the involved parties. The Kalmar Union received control of the Hanseatic cities that had troubled it for so long. Charles V got a share of the Papal States and custody of the Pope, and all he had to do was accept that the German Princes has control over which religion their subjects followed. And Henry got the rest of the Papal territory and recognition as the head of the Church of the Britons.

Henry went home to Five Ports with a great victory, and Europe was at peace for several years. But Spain was never fully reconciled with the Britons, and as time passed the French also grew restive. But by that time, Henry I had joined his ancestors in the next life. And the Empire's new crisis would be overseen by the Empress Elizabeth and by King Consort Maximilian.
 
Chapter Forty Three: the War of the French Succession (1560)

There is a likely apocryphal story that the Empress Isabella attempted to warn Elizabeth about the French crisis. It was said later that the night before Elizabeth's ascension Isabella appeared to Elizabeth in a dream. With a crowned, infant Edward II on her lap, Isabella related to Elizabeth that they had forgotten something.

But in the aftermath of Henry I's death, the warning was overlooked. It wasn't until later when news reached the court that Louis Valois, a now very distant cousin, had been proclaimed King of France that the crisis first occurred to any of the Britons. France had been in personal union with Britain for over 230 years and the succession was treated as being the same. But now Louis and some rebellious nobles were claiming that the old Salic laws still applied and a woman could not be Queen of France.

Members of the Witangamot who had lands in France quickly pointed to the slowly merged infrastructure and bureaucracy and insisted that France was in fact if not by name a full part of the Empire and the old succession laws didn't apply. However, the Scottish lords refused to vote in favor of this clarification as it implied that Scottish law was also of dubious legal standard. Elizabeth chose to go by the most direct route though. After confirming the legitimacy of most of the laws of her realms, she declared that Salic law was a relic of the old Papist system and had ended with her father's edict.

Louis and his supporters didn't accept that and organized a liberation army. Spanish supporters, who still followed the Pope in secret, flooded across the border to join in the fight, armed and supplied by the children of the Spanish nobles who had rebelled a generation earlier.

Elizabeth's forces were faced with a similar situation to that previous revolt. Any direct attacks on French cities was seen as a foreign invasion that bolstered Valois support. And given that France was the Empire's bread basket, it wasn't practical to cut off trade. Imperial troops and loyalists forced their way into Paris, which was divided by the conflict, and cleared safe passage for the Empress to personally summon the French Parliament. At first, the rebels refused to participate, but relented when it became obvious that there were still enough supporters to legitimize Elizabeth's Parliament. They asked for, and received, guarantees of safe passage.

Elizabeth knew that power plays were just that, and demanded that the rebels tell her what France would gain with a different monarch that they couldn't get from her. She was reminded that she wasn't French any more, and though Maximilian's part in the monarchy was limited to a two headed eagle on his personal crest and the family being known as the Plantagenet line of the House of Hapsburg, in the future it was only going to be less French. France was losing something of its identity by remaining joined to the Empire.

Elizabeth firmly denied the claims, pointing to the survival of a unique French culture fir two centuries, and the even more unique cultures of the colonies thriving as well. It was then that Louis Valois made his shocking entrance into the chamber, insisting that as the King of France that this was his Parliament.

Louis made the issue religion, declaring the Empress an apostate for attempting to overthrow the Pope. Elizabeth accused Louis of the old Papist trick of using false teachings to gain power they weren't entitled to. Louis insisted that he was entitled to be King of France. Elizabeth replied (in French, of course), "The King of France? It's me!"

Elizabeth then shockingly pulled out proclamations for over half of the rebel leaders. After Edward II had taken control of France, British allies had been rewarded with new lands and greater titles under the authority of Edward, the King of France, and his descendants. While everyone was free to leave safely, anyone who left as her enemy would be leaving those lands and titles here for redistribution. While Louis and many of his allies were unconvinced, it unnerved many others.

In the end, it was Louis' territory of the English (now French) Netherlands, and only a quarter of the Kingdom of France that left the assembly preparing for war with the Empress. And Elizabeth still held onto the Rhine corridor.
 
Chapter Forty Four: The Throne of France

The opening phase of the war was spent on construction, as the last two hundred years had been spent building defenses against Germany that were now pointed in the wrong direction.

Louis put a great deal of money into the defense and armies of his would be kingdom. But Elizabeth had the vast resources of Africa and the Antilles to draw on, and a navy that wasn't awaiting delivery. The British fleet entered the virtually defenseless harbor at Bruges without challenge and the city surrendered to the Empress.

A desperate Louis knew that at the moment, the Christian Great Powers were all great friends. So he contacted the Ottoman sultan with a request for aid and an alliance. Suleman the Magnificent was an old man, but he immediately sent his fleet out to engage the British Mediterranean fleet while a task force rounded Gibraltar to relieve Bruges.

Admiral Robert Raleigh has his hands full dealing with the Ottoman threat in the Mediterranean, and the Ottoman task force met the Atlantic fleet off the coast of Brittany, led personally by Maximilian. And while the Mediterranean battle ended in a draw, the task force was swiftly defeated by a much larger, better equipped fleet.

Up to this point, the Pope had been little more than a spiritual arm of the Hapsburg government that few noticed. So everyone was surprised when he issued an edict on the matter. Especially when it denounced the rebels for making an alliance with the dreaded infidel Turks. Louis was forced to meet with the Pontiff and remind him that Louis' allies had declared for the Pope. But that it would be for nothing without support that the Hapsburgs wouldn't give.

They seemed to be at an impass, and then further bad news came: Suleman the Magnificent had suffered an apoplexy when he learned about the defeat of his task force. He lingered for a few days, but the Great Sultan ultimately died.

The loyalist Duchy of Cleves, led by William the Rich, had struck out with a sizeable army and conquered several small counties that he gave to his sister Anne to ennoble her husband, who was a handsome, wealthy, but middle class merchant. With his forces collapsing, Louis escaped to the Papal Court in Vienna and left his allies to their fates.

The fates were kind though. The rebels lost most of their territories, and a great deal of money, but they kept their lives. Assuming that they were willing to swear a personal oath acknowledging Elizabeth as the true and only monarch of France. Some of them escaped to Vienna as well (Louis would die in a 'mugging' later that year), but the rest accepted the status quo with belated obedience. *

*My apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I haven't given up on this time line, I was just a little stuck on how the succession would play out.
 
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