List of monarchs III

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Monarchs of England
1135 - 1163: Stephen I (House of Blois)
1163 - 1179: William III (House of Blois) [1]
1179 - 1201: William IV (House of Blois) [2]
1201 - 1222: Stephen II (House of Blois) [3]
1222 - 1247: John I (House of Blois) [4]
1247 - 1276: Helena (House of Blois) [5]
1276 - 1300: John II (House of Hereford) [6]
1300 - 1355: Edward I (House of Hereford) [7]
1355 - 1356: Arthur I (House of Hereford) [8]
1356 - 1378: Richard I (House of Hereford [9]
1378 - 1413: Judith I (House of Hereford) and
1378 - 1411: John III (House of Luxembourg) [10]
1411 - 1429: Percival I (House of Luxembourg) [11]
1429 - 1474: John IV (House of Luxembourg) [12]
1474 - 1478: Baldwin I (House of Luxembourg) [13]
1478 - 1506: Marianne (House of Brabant) [14]
1506 - 1536: Stephen III (House of Brabant) [15]
1536 - 1540: Stephen IV (House of Brabant) [16]
1540 - 1565: Baldwin II (House of Brabant) [17]
1565 - 1592: Henry II (House of Brabant) [18]
1592 - 1641: Stephen V (House of Brabant) [19]
1641 - 1672: Baldwin III (House of Brabant) [20]
1672 - 1712: Baldwin IV (House of Brabant) [21]
1712 - 1741: Henry III (House of Brabant) [22]
1741 - 1742: Louis (House of Brabant) [23]
1742 - 1783: Alexandrina (House of Brabant) [24]
1783 - 1806: John V (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [25]
1806 - 1865: Percival II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [26]
1865 - 1885: Alexander (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [27]
1885 - 1899: Judith II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [28]
1899 - 1921: John VI (House of Baden) [29]

Spoiler: See Previous Footnotes

[1] Stephen I recovered from the illness that would have killed in 1154 and lived another nine years, in that time his remaining son William I, Count of Boulogne became more interested in the throne of England as his father managed to solidify the Blois's grip on the country in the lull of peace that came from the Treaty of Winchester (1153) with Henry Fitzempress and his land-wealthy wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine. Stephen found cause to renege on the treaty in 1162 as he was dying and proclaimed his son William his heir. This detonated the 'Second Phase' of The Anarchy and William III became King on horseback, fighting the forces of Henry Fitzempress and his Aquitanian army (borrowed from his wife). William would leave much of the governance of England in the hands of his wife, Isabel de Warenne as Regent and caregiver to their four children after a swift coronation. William's entire reign was spent fighting 'Henry II' and the war continued onward in an ugly stalemate as William's eldest son, another William, was crowned in Westminster.

[2] Whereas his grandfather and father fought militarily for their right to England, William IV chose instead to fight a more defensive war, knowing that he had only to outlast Henry Fitzempress' attempts to claim the throne instead of outright stopping and pushing him out. The situation worked, to an extent. Henry's armies wore themselves out chasing William and his allies all over England, and many (particularly those from Aquitaine, his wife's home province) deserted him to return to their homes. Henry Fitzempress was well known to be a man of unflagging strength, but even he was tiring of the decades of warfare trying to add England to the empire he sought to create. By 1182, both sides were so utterly exhausted they could fight no more, and England was a flaming ruin. The ensuing London Accord (1183) formally ended the Anarchy that had devastated so many lives, with William marrying Henry's second daughter, Aelinor, who brought Normandy (long ago conquered by Henry's father) as her dowry. Henry would never give Normandy up in his lifetime, but slowly, bit by bit, the county was brought back under English rule, despite the grumblings of Aelinor's brothers (who ended up fighting one another over Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, and perhaps even the weather). William's marriage to Aelinor was a fruitful one, bearing ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The rest of William's reign saw him focus primarily on rebuilding England and arguing with his barons, who had amassed a great deal of power, land, and castles during the Anarchy. Though he improved much in his final years, the arguments with the barons would continue into the reign of William's eldest son, Stephen II.

[3] Stephen II spent most of his reign reasserting the royal authority over the vassals of the English crown, this meant dealing with the over powerful Barons, the Welsh marcher-lords who had become independent in all but name, and the Church which was seeking greater autonomy and power over appointments to Bishoprics. What assisted Stephen II in focusing on domestic matters, and continuing to heal the realm from the ravages of the Anarchy, was that perennial enemy of England, France, was having to deal with the powerful 'Plantagenet brothers', the sons of the deceased Henry Fitzempress and his wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine, and Louis VII and Philip II of France being dragged into Crusades in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the forces of Islam. Stephen II managed to establish a Common Law for the whole of England and managed to find a balance between himself and the Barons, a few Baronal families had died out during the Anarchy and their lands had reverted to the crown, with the English kingdom rebounding the Crown grew in power, so Stephen found himself able to begin enforcing his will and forced several barons to tear down illegal castles and accept the King's Common Law. He was less successful with the Welsh marcher-lords, and plans for an invasion of Ireland fell threw due to continuing problems with the northern reaches of England and Scottish raids against his border lords. While Stephen II had three daughters, his only son Prince Baldwin died of an unknown disease at age 14, and so Stephen II's eldest brother John became King when Stephen II died in 1222.

[4] King John, during his youth prepared to join the clergy, strengthened position of the Church in England, giving numerous privileges to clergy. John regarded non-hereditary hierarchs of Catholic Church as lesser danger to his rule than barons. As result he was praised by chroniclers (who were mostly clergymen) and was later known as 'John the Just' or 'John the Good', despite his rather not very pious lifestyle-John was allegedly father of over hundred children, but only one of them was legitimate-his successor Helena.

[5] Daughter of an outwardly pious father who was incredibly promiscuous and father dozens of illegitimate children could only lead to her being a little conflicted - and as a result she tried to forge a happy medium between her father' extremes, between the barons and the clergy her father had promoted to power, opening avenues of conversation between the two faction. At the time of her accession there was even questions as to her suitability to rule - many elders could not concieve of a woman in control of England and championed Stephen and John's brother Thomas to be King, but given John had long been setting up his daughters accession by insertinh supporters of the idea in key positions, they relented and despite the religious/political tensions, her reign proved to be comparatively peaceful. Married to an obscure continental noble, she had several children and when she died of a sweating sickness, the throne passed to her son, John II.

[6] Son of Helena and her husband, Herbert, Earl of Hereford. His father was obscure nobleman from Normandy, whom King John II has given Earldom of Hereford and whom he later married to his only legitimate daughter and heiress. According to rumors, Herbert was King's illegitimate son and because of this John of Blois elevated him to Earldom and pushed for pharaonic marriage between his kids to keep his bloodline on the throne, although these rumors of incest between his parents likely were part of John II's black legend spread later by clergy, unhappy with his policy-John II, unlike his grandfather, tried to limit Church's influence in the Kingdom and was conflicted with Pope and threatened with excommunication due to controversy over taxation of clergy and seizure of property of some monasteries.

[7] The third son of John II and his wife, Catherine of Scotland (their first two sons having died young), Edward's early reign was beset by troubles. Many of the clergy, who were unhappy with the reversal of the policies of John I by John II (something that Edward himself was continuing), began to whisper in the ears of several of Edward's distant cousins who had distant claims to the throne via their descent from William IV's many offspring. It was one of them who should be sitting on the throne of England, not this untried boy whose only claim to the throne came through a woman who had likely married her own half-brother to secure her own power. The first decade of Edward's reign saw several rebellions on the part of many of these distant cousins, each determined to claim what many clergymen were claiming was rightfully theirs. Each of them, however, failed. While Edward himself was not the most martial of men (at least, compared to men like Richard Fitzhugh, a famous knight of the day who was often called "the paragon of war and knightly values"), a legacy left to him by his father was a strong government able to ward off threats like this. Combined with a keen insight into people (thus allowing him to replace good, competent men on his council with other good, competent men when the need arose), and Edward was able to navigate this difficult period with relative success. As a result, though, the ranks of the nobility were severely pruned, as those who joined in the rebellions were either killed on the battlefield, executed afterward, or were scattered into exile. The clergy too suffered. Edward refused to have "a flock of rebellious monks spreading poison instead the values of Christ" in his kingdom. He might have executed them too, but having no desire to continue the conflict with the Pope that had so mired his father, Edward settled for stripping them of their offices and exiling them. The Pope grumbled about this, but was made to see it was the lesser of two evils at this point in time. The rest of Edward's reign was comparatively peaceful. Being not a man who embraced war, Edward instead focused on the arts of peace and plenty. He founded several schools and universities, urged his nobility to send their sons there (which many of them did, given that these nobles had been given what they had by Edward after the various rebellions by his Blois cousins), and also expanded England's trading network beyond just the coast of France. Goods from places like Italy, Greece, and various eastern European countries began to appear in England. Edward's personal life was perhaps a little more fraught. His first wife, Edith of Gloucester, bore him only one child, a daughter, Margaret. When Edith died in 1326, Edward remarried Urraca of Aragon two years later, and together they had five children, four of them sons. Margaret's vehement dislike of her stepmother was only matched by Urraca's disdain for Margaret. All attempts at mediation on Edward's part failed, and when he died in 1355, the stage was set for another round of civil war, as Margaret had long claimed to be his successor despite Edward's proclamations of his eldest son with Urraca, Arthur. All of Edward's hard work in keeping England safe and at peace seemed on the verge of crashing down.

[8] Arthur, named after his father's favourite hero, legendary King Arthur, from the very beginning of his reign had to fight against a rebellion of his sister's supporters. Being a skilled commander, he was able to crush his opponents in the decisive Second Battle of Hastings, where forces led by Margaret's husband, Conan of Brittany, called 'Conan the Barbarian' due to his violent temper, were almost completely annihilated-Conan was killed in the battle, Margaret, informed about her husband's death, threw herself into the sea. The war was over, but Arthur, wounded with spear during late stage of battle, died just three days after later, leaving the throne to his younger brother, Richard.

[9] The younger twin of Arthur I, Richard I was left to clean up the mess of the thankfully brief rebellion of their older half-sister. Though Margaret and her husband were both dead, there still remained their young children, the eldest of which, Geoffrey, had been with his parents for the battle (though not involved directly due to his age). With his father's death and his mother's suicide, Richard had the new Count of Brittany in his custody as a hostage, a potent political tool in his dealings with both Brittany itself and with France. Richard considered restoring Geoffrey to Brittany after the payment of a significant ransom and with a bride of Richard's own choice to hopefully prevent any future incursions, but the sudden invasion of Brittany by the combined forces of Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine put paid to that plan. Geoffrey's four younger siblings were all forced to flee to England and into Richard's waiting hands. Brittany was then carved up between the three invaders, all of them led by descendants of Henry Fitzempress and Aelinor of Aquitaine (just as Geoffrey himself was, via his father). That bloodline still proved particularly troublesome, even nearly two centuries later. To prevent problems in the future, Richard decided then to nip the problem in the bud. His half-nieces were all packed into separate convents, and Geoffrey's younger brother became a clergyman. Geoffrey himself remained titular Count of Brittany, but he was kept in close confinement for the rest of his days and he never married nor had any children. Thus Margaret's line was ended without bloodshed. Richard spent the rest of his reign defending Normandy, which was being subjected to attacks from the Plantagenet families as they attempted to conquer it as they had Brittany. He married Isabella of Bohemia in 1360, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and had children, Judith, Isabella, Maud, and Arthur. He was succeeded in 1378 by his oldest surviving child, Judith.

[10] Judith became heiress of his father, after her only brother Arthur died as result of horse ridding accident. She ruled together with her husband, John, Count of Luxembourg, cousin of her mother from cadet branch of Imperial House of Luxembourg. Judith and John were both ambitious and power hungry, and shared desire to join thrones of England and HRE, spending vast sums of money from Royal treasure to bribe Electors with little effect. After death of her husband Judith's menthal health gradually degenerated, she remained titular Queen Regnant untill her death in 1413, although power was taken de facto by her son and successor Percival who had hellish job to repair England's finances, damaged by his parents' HRE adventures.

[11] Following the political upheaval in France, and the machinations and power struggles of the House of Hereford it must gave felt like a breath of fresh air to have a raven haired handsome, well spoken and educated youth on the throne - having clearly inherited his mothers good looks rather than his fathers pallid complexion, he was popular with women of all ages. But we'e they popular with him? Court gossip abounded that he was rather too fond of Thomas, Earl of Huntingdon - with both Thomas and his sister the ironically named Marion spending frequent weekends with the young King. Whatever may be the case, Percival married Marion and produced an heir - the future of the House of Luxembourg was secure, for the time being - and over the next several years, several more issue was produced. Court gossip was hushed sufficiently for the rumours to never reach the public at large - but never entirely hushed and not sufficiently to halt any estrangement between Percival and Marion who attempted to manipulate evidence of collusion in a plot with religious extremists to blow up the King during a meeting of the Privy Council. Percival was put to the test - wife or lover - and with a stranger stepping forward to accuse Marion of witchcraft, Percivals choice seemed clear cut. But it wasn't - because the Earl of Huntingdon was mysteriously shot and the title shifted to one of Percivals own sons, the shooter was never found and later historians suggest he was one of Marions lovers, a court musician. By this point, the accusation against Marion had made it to the privy council and, with the King effectively emotionally crippled, and with the evidence seemingly abundant, they convicted her and she was beheaded. In emotional distress, the King resorted to drink and debauchery and fifty days after his wife was beheaded, and sixty days after his possible lover was shot, Percival hung himself from a tree whilst out hunting. He left behind several children and was succeeded on the throne by his son John.

[12] John IV had many interest (he was poet, painter, even amateur alchemist), but ruling the country definitely wasn't one of them-he let his advisors to took the reins. But despite his passive nature, he was generally remembered as good king-his reign was long period of peace and fast cultural development of the Kingdom. John IV was succeeded by his son, Baldwin I.

[13] Baldwin I, the oldest remaining son of John IV took the throne in his fourties and bedridden from a jousting accident that broke his leg and infection set in and just wouldn't heal properly. Four years of agony saw Baldwin I finally succumb to death at age 45 and was succeeded by his only surviving child, Marianne of Brabant.

[14] The sole child of Baldwin I of England, Marianne I would take the throne at the age of nine, and placed under a recency of her Paternal cousin, John of Anglesey; a Bastard of King Percival. Queen Marianne chose to marry her cousin her cousin Louis of Brabant, at the age of 16, and by the age of 19 the Royal couple had three sons.
Marianne would reign for 28 years, with the only major conflict being a small skirmishing war with the Dukes of Zütphen between 1491 and 1498.
She would be succeeded by her eldest son Stephen of Brabant.

[15] Stephen III, King of England was 20 years old when he rose to the throne, and knew what his place in history would be. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Aquitaine in 1503, the Plantagenet Empire was crumbling, and between the Kings of France, Lorraine and Navarre, the last Plantagenet heiress, the Duchess Renata of Aquitaine, turned to the English for support, 35 to the English King's 22 upon their marriage, the duo focused on holding lands connected to Normandy at the least, and thus by 1512, the two held Brittany, Anjou and a fair chunk of Maine. Flanders was lost, as was Aquitaine, but with at least those lands secure, Stephen III felt success in his endeavor.

Further success for the Brabant English royal family came when, in 1515, Stephen's youngest brother, Ferdinand, Earl of March, was able to marry Violante I, Queen of Portugal, the grandest heiress in Europe, after Stephen's own wife, and this one was of an age with her husband and wouldn't lose any of her inheritance. The marriage secured English relations with Portugal, and managed to remove the most ambitious of Stephen's nobles from his court, ensuring a safer court for himself, his wife and their 6 children.

However, in 1521, Stephen's life turned upside down with the arrival of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, who arrived at the English court, to marry the King's nephew, Geoffrey, Earl of Cambridge. However, Stephen himself was obsessed with her beauty, and thus began an affair with her, beginning the Cambridge Civil War.

Essentially, England fell into civil war the Montferrat Princess, who between 1522 and 1530, was dragged across England, Ireland and Normandy by Stephen, producing three illegitimate daughters all the while writing long, angry letters to her husband, demanding he fix the problem with her love so they could find a solution. With the death of Renata of Aquitaine in 1528 due to heart problems, the solution became obvious, and in 1531, Stephen III married Theresa Giovanna, after her marriage to the Earl of Cambridge was annulled, and two weeks later Geoffrey of Cambridge was married to the Princess Eleanor of England, and raised to the title of Duke.

England was the laughing stock of Europe.

To make matters worse, in 1533, Thomas, Duke of York, Stephen's brother and Cambridge's father, died defending Anjou, thus losing those territories to the new King of Navarre. Losing that territory was truly frustrating to Stephen, who sent his eldest son, another Stephen, to retake it, dying in 1536 before news could arrive that the new King had been captured by the Navarrese.

[16] Nearly all of Stephen IV's reign was spent in captivity at the hands of the King of Navarre, who refused to release him without an enormous ransom. Stephen, needless to say, was furious. Thanks to his father's foolishness over "the Montferrat whore", much of his inheritance had been conquered. Anjou was gone, and he could only watch helplessly as Maine and Brittany soon followed. He knew that part of the problem was that his people could not fight effectively when they feared for his own life. By 1540, Stephen had had enough. He had been able to turn many of his jailers to his side, promising them lands and titles in England if they helped him to escape. He was able to get a message out to his younger brother, Baldwin, informing him of what was to happen. The ensuing escape nearly went off without a hitch, but when Stephen and his allies were discovered at the worst possible moment, it fell into a bloody free-for-all. Stephen made it to the boat that his brother had sent to him, but he was mortally wounded in the process. He died on the crossing back to England, leaving his younger brother to clean up their father's mess.

[17] Its tough to sat when Baldwin's reign began - whether it began in 1536 when his brother was captured and made prisoner of the King of Navarre, or whether it began four years later when he formally ascended the throne. As Lord Protector he had composed a good council of nobles to advise him, a council - or Parliament - that continued once he had been crowned. It was much that the council could do to continue keeping England out of the French conflicts as their running foe continued to form a combined entity - an actual Kingdom of France rather than the aligned and minor Kingdoms with Sub-King that existed heretofore. Likewise, they turned their attention north to Scotland and west to Wales and Ireland to strengthen bonds and alliances there. Baldwin married Princess Euphemia of Rothesay, daughter of Andrew, Duke of Rothesay and granddaughter of King Andrew II of Scotland (of the reborn House of Balliol) - selected to strengthen the bonds but far enough away from the Scottish crown to avoid a personal union.

Baldwin and Euphemia of Rothesay had several children and when Baldwin succumbed to what modern medical historians suspect was cancer, the throne passed to Henry, his grandson.

[18] Born Henry of Mar, Henry II of England became the King of England by chance, because his father had married his mother. Now, this might seem a strange turn of phrase, but James, Duke of Mar was the youngest son of Percival, Earl of Kent when, in 1532, he fell in love with Helena of England, the youngest of then Prince Baldwin's three daughters by his first wife, Marie of Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had brought with her support for what was considered to be the obvious French/English War for Aquitaine, before Stephen IV's capture. Helena of England, then Helena of Norfolk, was thus a catch for the half-Scottish nobleman, who wooed her considerably, before being offered a choice by Baldwin as Regent to the throne. He could either (a) marry Helena, but give up his Scottish title, invest what money he had into the ongoing English War, and potentially become ennobled by a grateful King Stephen when he OBVIOUSLY would be returned to England, or (b) marry the eldest daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, Joan of England, take her and her mother back to Scotland, and forget about Helena. Baldwin was, at this time, pursuing his brother's decidedly anti-Scottish foreign policy, and was currently housing the Welsh Princess Aelinor of Gwent, who was Stephen's betrothed, who would ultimately marry Baldwin's youngest brother, John, Duke of Bedford and produce no children.

Both options were harsh, and for a time it looked like James, Duke of Mar would give signs that he was considering returning to Scotland, potentially to marry his first cousin, the Lady Juliana Stewart, who would in 1540 marry her other first cousin, Thomas of Kinross. Instead, the Duke of Mar found himself a suddenly valuable ally when, in 1535, Marie of Poitiers died in childbirth to what would have been a son, and in 1536, Baldwin, Duke of Norfolk became Baldwin II, King of England and suddenly was able to ally himself with the Scots. Plans for a match between his eldest daughter Mary of England and

James, Duke of Mar was the cousin of the King of Scots, and thus in 1537 was one of 4 noblemen tasked with escorting the Princess Euphemia of Rothesay to England, as not only were they cousins, but they actually descended from the same Scottish King on their father's sides, with the Mar dynasty coming from Robert III's second marriage as King of Scotland, while the Rothesay's came from his first marriage, which thus fathered Andrew II of Scotland, and his son and thus Euphemia. Thus, they were somewhat closely related, and had known each other somewhat well as children, and at one point Euphemia was to have been betrothed to James' elder brother Andrew, before his untimely passing. Thus, when in 1538 the Duke of London, heir to the throne was born, Helena of England was granted permission to marry the Duke of Mar, no commitments needed, and in 1540 they celebrated their birth of their first child, young Henry of Bar. He would be their only child.

Helena of England would come to the forefront of the Succession by 1550, with 4 deaths in a row. The first, her elder sister to still be living, Catherine of England, married the King of Barcelona in 1540, dying in childbirth in 1544 with a stillborn son. Next, her brothers by Euphemia of Rothesay, the Duke of London and Duke of Norfolk both died of the measles, leaving, at that point, only Helena and her younger sister Renata as heirs to the throne. And then, finally, John of Cambridge, the last scion of the Duke of Cambridge, who had marry Stephen III's youngest daughter and, for a time, was considered Baldwin's next heir, died in a hunting accident in which his third wife seems to have accidentally shot him with an arrow. As his first to brides, Francesca of Sicily and Hannah of Gloucester had both failed to produce children, it was thus only Helena, Duchess of Mar, her son and the infant Princess Renata to inherit the crown.

To make matters more complicated, in 1552, Afonso II of Portugal, great-grandson of the Earl of March, who had become King of Portugal through marriage, demanded his right to the English Throne be admitted, and thus in 1553, Baldwin II of England had the "Grand Matter of the English Succession" drawn up, listing the succession as:

1. Any son hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
2. Any son hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
3. Helena of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
4. Renata of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
5. Any daughter hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
6. Any daughter hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
7. The eldest legitimate descendant of Ferdinand, Earl of March, should he not hold a foreign throne of his own.
8. Prince Francis of Lorraine, only son of Joan of England, daughter of Stephen III of England, and his descendants legitimately begotten.
9. John, Duke of Brabant, and his heirs legitimately begotten.
10. Geoffrey, Count of Castilla, and his heirs legitimately begotten.

Now this line of succession frustrated not only the King of Portugal, but also the Duke of Gloucester and many others in and out of England. In particular Simon of Maine, married to Isabeau of England, daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat and Stephen III of England demanded to know why he had been left out. Not only was his wife technically legitimate, as the marriage of Stephen III and Theresa Giovanna was recognized by the Pope, but he himself was a descendant of John IV through his second son, who's line was now Counts of Maine. Afonso of Portugal would have started a war over the whole thing, but in 1555 his eldest son was betrothed to Renata of England with the promise that, potentially Helena of England and her son might be skipped over.

Thus, when Helena of England died in 1562, the 22 year old Henry of Bar was heir to the throne, with all subsequent pregnancies of Euphemia of Rothesay producing either daughters (Mary, born 1552, Anna, born 1555, and Eleanor, born 1560) or stillborn/short-lived sons (1549, 1554, 1556, 1561 and a final one in 1564). He was treated as such, and in 1563, at his grandfather's urging, he married French Princess Louise d'Angouleme, the granddaughter of Charles X of France, and sister to the Dauphin. The girl in question was 12 when the marriage took place, and the Pope himself spoke out against "child brides", causing Henry of Bar some embarrassment.

Thus, when he succeeded to the throne in 1565, he had by his side a 13 year old wife, unable to produce children or lay with him for another 4 years by current Church law, and a whole royal family to quietly get rid of. In 1568, he convinced Euphemia of Rothesay to retire to a convent, taking with her Mary of England, who had always shown a vocation for a religious life. In 1570, a 15 year old Anna of England was betrothed to Henry of Bar's current ally, Nicholas of Burgundy, and in 1573, shortly after the birth of his first child, Eleanor of England was betrothed to Sigismund II, King of Hungary, and sent to live in the Regency Court of Hungary with his mother, the domineering Eleanora d'Este, an Italian princess.

Henry II of England was not a man for which power came lightly. His father, forever sure his son would be ousted from his rightful place on the throne, had become his strongest advisor, to the point where upon his death, the King of England was said to have refused for him to be buried until the stench of death was overpowering. Regardless, he saw that his father was buried with his mother, and in 1580, a year after James, Duke of Mar's death, he was retroactively given the title Duke of London, as was his right as husband to an heir to the throne.

The King of England went far to reward his loyal family. In 1574, the Earl of Kent, his uncle (his father coming from the this Earl's father's second marriage) was married to heiress Alice Percy, and made Viceroy of Normandy. Meanwhile, Thomas of Kent was awarded the title Count of Mayenne and sent as Viceroy of Anjou, replacing John of Gloucester, who found himself tasked with acting as dignitary to the Irish Lords, because Henry wanted to invade Ireland but needed to know if it would simply be easier to have them bow to him. In 1583, with the birth of Henry's daughter Charlotte of England, a distant cousin of the King's, George Bullen, was made the Baron Choulet, sent to Anjou and made a part of the Count of Mayenne's entourage.

There was a mindfulness to the way the King rewarded his family, sending them to do the hard work in foreign places, to prevent them from growing to powerful at home. He also moved people frequently to prevent power bases from forming. in 1584 He removed the Earl of Kent from Normandy, replaced him with George Bullen, who he felt had done good work in Anjou, and Kent replaced Mayenne in Anjou, while Mayenne acted as his advisor until 1587, when he was moved to Maine. This standard of frequent moves led to some hostility amongst those who lost lucrative positions, but the King made sure none were moved too low or too high, with exception to George Bullen, who never was removed from Normandy due to his amazing track recorded, but instead sent young men to train as future advisors.

In 1590, at the age of 50, Henry II of England replaced himself, when he positioned his heir Stephen as Regent to England while he travelled across the continental positions of England to ensure everything ran as well as he had been told. He travelled with his wife, who remained in Calais after discovering herself pregnant. However, in 1591, after his wife's birth to a daughter named Violante, he felt the need to rush back to London, and it was soon discovered why. In 1592, only barely making it back to England, Henry II of England died. It's unsure what killed him, but it seems likely that a slow working illness had been taking his health slowly, and his work to delegate had been, in part, to ensure England was prepared at his death. Thus, England fell to his heir.

[19] King Stephen V inherited a relatively stable position, both at home and on the continent. He continued his father's policies, shifting around his family and practicing meritocracy where possible. During his reign, the first English expeditions sailed out to the New World. After all the intrigues and chaos of his predecessors, Stephen V was a welcome change, and is still remembered as Good King Stephen. He died after a long, peaceful, and relatively boring reign, and was succeeded by his heir Baldwin III.

[20] Baldwin III, the eldest nephew of Stephen V via his brother, Prince Sigismund, Duke of Wessex, ascended the throne due to his uncle outliving all of his children and grandchildren. Many expected the untrained King to fail, instead he would be remembered as Baldwin the Wise by history. Supportive of the merchant classes to expand the wealth of the Kingdom, Baldwin's England saw the growth of the English holdings in the New World with the establishment of the Stephanus Bay Colony, named in honor of his predecessor, and centered around the town (and future city) of Kings Port.

Baldwin's designation of 'The Wise' would come from his hosting of two great meetings that would change the face of Christendom and Europe, the first was his role as the host of the Council of London for the Catholic Church in 1648-1651, the 19th Ecumenical council in Catholic History and it's impact was significant. For the last three centuries the church had been plagued by significant corruption, nepotism, and laxity in teaching proper doctrine to priests in all levels of the church, and this was bleeding into the local populous, whom had embraced several heresy movements which, while most had been put down, continued to persist in the shadows due to the continued failings of the men in charge of God's church, the Council of London was the brainchild of Pope Christopher II and King Baldwin III to begin correcting these issues and to reinforce the Church's role as the sole arbitrator of God's will in the world.

Baldwin III would also host the Great Meeting of London of 1663, in which he served as a neutral arbitrator to the various Irish lords, who had managed to form five small petty-Kingdoms in the absence of English rule since the Anarchy, the Five Petty Kings agreed that Baldwin's third son, Prince Eustace would be made the first High King of Ireland in centuries with his capital the city of Dubhlinn.

Baldwin III would have a total of seven sons and three daughters, the third son would become High King Eustace I of Ireland, but his eldest son would inherit the English throne upon Baldwin's death in 1672 and become Baldwin IV.

[21] Baldwin IV came to the throne in 1672 after the death of his father and the accession of his younger brother Eustace as High King of Ireland. He was a well intentioned individual - but the most important thing that everyone remembers about him is that he didnt do anything important. Maintaining the status quo for almost half a century whilst Eustace and his line established themselves over the water as well as continuing the other diplomatic efforts started by his father. He didn't marry though he had several mistresses and numerous illegitimate children - and he might have even married his mistress in a morganatic marriage, he did appoint a certain Henry FitzBaldwin as the Duke of (the Isle of) Wight in 1692. When he died, from pneumonia, his lack of legitimate issue meant that the crown passed to his nephew, Prince Henry of York.
[22] At the age of 20, the Prince had never expected to raise to the throne, he thought a child would be born through an alternative marriage but this was not to be.
He had been staying in the City of York, commanding a defense force, against Scotland, following his father's death a few years previously.
With news of his uncles death, Henry, rode South to claim the throne, with a group from his army to support him, fearing a bastard taking their father's crown.
Henry had many rebellions and revolts, attacking his rule, he would die at the age of 39, when he died in his sleep following what many though was a poisoning.
[23] Louis, only son of Henry, who outlived him, was just six months old, when his father died. Like most of his siblings (with exception of his sister Alexandrina) he was sickly child and, like it was excepted, have not survived long and soon followed his father.

[24] Alexandrina, the only daughter of Henry III inherited the throne from her infant brother Louis under very suspect circumstances. A lusty, buxomly beautiful girl with fiery red hair who only became more beautiful with age. Queen Alexandrina was unwed at age 15 when she became Queen and stayed that way until she was 22 when she found a man who could keep up with her in the bedroom, a minor Russian nobleman named Grigory Potemkin, though the Queen had had several lovers before this, they were all swept aside when she encountered Potemkin at a masked ball in Paris.

She delighted in the exotic goods that were coming to England from the new world colonies, such as tobacco and encouraged more colonial projects in the Caribbean Sea which brought even more exotic goods such as new vegetables and fruits and what would be a foundation of England's wealth in trade until the Asian colonies emerged in the 19th century, sugar.

Alexandrina had a number of pleasure palaces constructed and made the nobility attend her for at least nine months out of the year, creating a rotation of 'seasons' in which she could keep an eye on the rich and powerful, even while enjoying the attentions of her husband and giving him many children, including the heir to the throne, John.

Alexandrina would die at age 53 of a heart attack three years after her husband died, though legends would spread that she had been killed by a bull while trying to have sex with it, unable to find a suitable replacement for her husband in her bed.​

[25] John was the first of 3 sons (John, William and Geoff) birthed by Alexandrina. After his mother died, John took the throne. John was a favorite of many, becoming a very respected man. He was known for visiting towns in his country and talking to the everymen. He was also said to have a great sense of humor. At 25, he wed Princess Mary of Denmark, and sired 2 boys (Percival and Oliver). He was shot down in London in 1806, leading to a beginning of a big conflict.

[26] The assassination of John V led to England joining the Popular Wars, a series of bloody conflicts that had swept Europe over the course of the previous generation and had only now hit England itself. In these uncertain times, King Percival ascended the throne a young man, and did what he could to maintain peace and order throughout his kingdom while fighting what seemed to be a massive storm of ideologies that had taken hold of many other kingdoms. After many years, he and his allies triumphed. He avoided death on many occasions, finally dying in bed. He passed on his crown to his greatgrandchild Alexander, Duke of Southampton.

[27] The Prince and Princess of Wales died when their ship went down in a storm whilst on tour in the Mediterranean and left no issue, the Duke of York suffered a heart attack and stroke, his eldest the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was shot in a hunting accident and his eldest, the Duke of Sussex, died of an opiate overdose at age twenty one, a year before he would have become King. Alexander should never have become King - as the spare of an heir to the spare, at birth he was fifth in line to the throne and the possibilities at that point only indicates he would move downwards. As such, whilst he was clearly never going to be King (or so they thought) he was still subject to the Royal Marriages Act which meant his grandfather would need to give permission to him to marry. Percival II granted his ascent, perhaps allowing his romantic side to agree rather than his logical one - which saw his grandson marry Margaret Warbash, a celebrity American sharpshooter who went by the stage name of Sureshot Peggy and who had made her name as part of the curiosity troop cultivated by PT Barnum. Beautiful but a tomboy, she wasn't what was expected of a Duchess, much less the consort of the Heir Apparent or a Queen. Even before she became Queen, she devoted herself to women's rights and the abolition of slavery which saw her and Alexander clash with the Prime Minister and Parliament. "Margaret of America" became a forerunner to the suffragettes and her friendship with Emmaline Pankhurst in her dotage is often marked on. Alexander and Margaret had six children - an equal number of boys and girls - and when Alexander dies in his fifties from complications following surgery, he was succeeded by Judith II, his daughter.

[28] Oldest daughter of Alexander, as young girl she was wounded by anarchist assassin, who tried to kill her father, this traumatic event left mark of her reign and explains her reactionary views, shared by her husband, Margrave Albert of Baden.

[29] the Eldest son of Queen Judith and Prince-Consort Albert of Baden, John VI would take the throne in 1899, and his twenty two year long reign would be seen as the golden age of English rule.
His Empire would expand over Patagonia, and over much of Southern Africa as well.
John VI would die in 1921, and pass the Throne to his eldest son_______

 

[The_Last_Plantagenet]

Monarchs of England
1135 - 1163: Stephen I (House of Blois)
1163 - 1179: William III (House of Blois) [1]
1179 - 1201: William IV (House of Blois) [2]
1201 - 1222: Stephen II (House of Blois) [3]
1222 - 1247: John I (House of Blois) [4]
1247 - 1276: Helena (House of Blois) [5]
1276 - 1300: John II (House of Hereford) [6]
1300 - 1355: Edward I (House of Hereford) [7]
1355 - 1356: Arthur I (House of Hereford) [8]
1356 - 1378: Richard I (House of Hereford [9]
1378 - 1413: Judith I (House of Hereford) and
1378 - 1411: John III (House of Luxembourg) [10]
1411 - 1429: Percival I (House of Luxembourg) [11]
1429 - 1474: John IV (House of Luxembourg) [12]
1474 - 1478: Baldwin I (House of Luxembourg) [13]
1478 - 1506: Marianne (House of Brabant) [14]
1506 - 1536: Stephen III (House of Brabant) [15]
1536 - 1540: Stephen IV (House of Brabant) [16]
1540 - 1565: Baldwin II (House of Brabant) [17]
1565 - 1592: Henry II (House of Brabant) [18]
1592 - 1641: Stephen V (House of Brabant) [19]
1641 - 1672: Baldwin III (House of Brabant) [20]
1672 - 1712: Baldwin IV (House of Brabant) [21]
1712 - 1741: Henry III (House of Brabant) [22]
1741 - 1742: Louis (House of Brabant) [23]
1742 - 1783: Alexandrina (House of Brabant) [24]
1783 - 1806: John V (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [25]
1806 - 1865: Percival II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [26]
1865 - 1885: Alexander (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [27]
1885 - 1899: Judith II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [28]
1899 - 1921: John VI (House of Baden) [29]
1921 - 1930: Edward II (House of Baden) [30]

Spoiler: See Previous Footnotes

[1] Stephen I recovered from the illness that would have killed in 1154 and lived another nine years, in that time his remaining son William I, Count of Boulogne became more interested in the throne of England as his father managed to solidify the Blois's grip on the country in the lull of peace that came from the Treaty of Winchester (1153) with Henry Fitzempress and his land-wealthy wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine. Stephen found cause to renege on the treaty in 1162 as he was dying and proclaimed his son William his heir. This detonated the 'Second Phase' of The Anarchy and William III became King on horseback, fighting the forces of Henry Fitzempress and his Aquitanian army (borrowed from his wife). William would leave much of the governance of England in the hands of his wife, Isabel de Warenne as Regent and caregiver to their four children after a swift coronation. William's entire reign was spent fighting 'Henry II' and the war continued onward in an ugly stalemate as William's eldest son, another William, was crowned in Westminster.

[2] Whereas his grandfather and father fought militarily for their right to England, William IV chose instead to fight a more defensive war, knowing that he had only to outlast Henry Fitzempress' attempts to claim the throne instead of outright stopping and pushing him out. The situation worked, to an extent. Henry's armies wore themselves out chasing William and his allies all over England, and many (particularly those from Aquitaine, his wife's home province) deserted him to return to their homes. Henry Fitzempress was well known to be a man of unflagging strength, but even he was tiring of the decades of warfare trying to add England to the empire he sought to create. By 1182, both sides were so utterly exhausted they could fight no more, and England was a flaming ruin. The ensuing London Accord (1183) formally ended the Anarchy that had devastated so many lives, with William marrying Henry's second daughter, Aelinor, who brought Normandy (long ago conquered by Henry's father) as her dowry. Henry would never give Normandy up in his lifetime, but slowly, bit by bit, the county was brought back under English rule, despite the grumblings of Aelinor's brothers (who ended up fighting one another over Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, and perhaps even the weather). William's marriage to Aelinor was a fruitful one, bearing ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The rest of William's reign saw him focus primarily on rebuilding England and arguing with his barons, who had amassed a great deal of power, land, and castles during the Anarchy. Though he improved much in his final years, the arguments with the barons would continue into the reign of William's eldest son, Stephen II.

[3] Stephen II spent most of his reign reasserting the royal authority over the vassals of the English crown, this meant dealing with the over powerful Barons, the Welsh marcher-lords who had become independent in all but name, and the Church which was seeking greater autonomy and power over appointments to Bishoprics. What assisted Stephen II in focusing on domestic matters, and continuing to heal the realm from the ravages of the Anarchy, was that perennial enemy of England, France, was having to deal with the powerful 'Plantagenet brothers', the sons of the deceased Henry Fitzempress and his wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine, and Louis VII and Philip II of France being dragged into Crusades in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the forces of Islam. Stephen II managed to establish a Common Law for the whole of England and managed to find a balance between himself and the Barons, a few Baronal families had died out during the Anarchy and their lands had reverted to the crown, with the English kingdom rebounding the Crown grew in power, so Stephen found himself able to begin enforcing his will and forced several barons to tear down illegal castles and accept the King's Common Law. He was less successful with the Welsh marcher-lords, and plans for an invasion of Ireland fell threw due to continuing problems with the northern reaches of England and Scottish raids against his border lords. While Stephen II had three daughters, his only son Prince Baldwin died of an unknown disease at age 14, and so Stephen II's eldest brother John became King when Stephen II died in 1222.

[4] King John, during his youth prepared to join the clergy, strengthened position of the Church in England, giving numerous privileges to clergy. John regarded non-hereditary hierarchs of Catholic Church as lesser danger to his rule than barons. As result he was praised by chroniclers (who were mostly clergymen) and was later known as 'John the Just' or 'John the Good', despite his rather not very pious lifestyle-John was allegedly father of over hundred children, but only one of them was legitimate-his successor Helena.

[5] Daughter of an outwardly pious father who was incredibly promiscuous and father dozens of illegitimate children could only lead to her being a little conflicted - and as a result she tried to forge a happy medium between her father' extremes, between the barons and the clergy her father had promoted to power, opening avenues of conversation between the two faction. At the time of her accession there was even questions as to her suitability to rule - many elders could not concieve of a woman in control of England and championed Stephen and John's brother Thomas to be King, but given John had long been setting up his daughters accession by insertinh supporters of the idea in key positions, they relented and despite the religious/political tensions, her reign proved to be comparatively peaceful. Married to an obscure continental noble, she had several children and when she died of a sweating sickness, the throne passed to her son, John II.

[6] Son of Helena and her husband, Herbert, Earl of Hereford. His father was obscure nobleman from Normandy, whom King John II has given Earldom of Hereford and whom he later married to his only legitimate daughter and heiress. According to rumors, Herbert was King's illegitimate son and because of this John of Blois elevated him to Earldom and pushed for pharaonic marriage between his kids to keep his bloodline on the throne, although these rumors of incest between his parents likely were part of John II's black legend spread later by clergy, unhappy with his policy-John II, unlike his grandfather, tried to limit Church's influence in the Kingdom and was conflicted with Pope and threatened with excommunication due to controversy over taxation of clergy and seizure of property of some monasteries.

[7] The third son of John II and his wife, Catherine of Scotland (their first two sons having died young), Edward's early reign was beset by troubles. Many of the clergy, who were unhappy with the reversal of the policies of John I by John II (something that Edward himself was continuing), began to whisper in the ears of several of Edward's distant cousins who had distant claims to the throne via their descent from William IV's many offspring. It was one of them who should be sitting on the throne of England, not this untried boy whose only claim to the throne came through a woman who had likely married her own half-brother to secure her own power. The first decade of Edward's reign saw several rebellions on the part of many of these distant cousins, each determined to claim what many clergymen were claiming was rightfully theirs. Each of them, however, failed. While Edward himself was not the most martial of men (at least, compared to men like Richard Fitzhugh, a famous knight of the day who was often called "the paragon of war and knightly values"), a legacy left to him by his father was a strong government able to ward off threats like this. Combined with a keen insight into people (thus allowing him to replace good, competent men on his council with other good, competent men when the need arose), and Edward was able to navigate this difficult period with relative success. As a result, though, the ranks of the nobility were severely pruned, as those who joined in the rebellions were either killed on the battlefield, executed afterward, or were scattered into exile. The clergy too suffered. Edward refused to have "a flock of rebellious monks spreading poison instead the values of Christ" in his kingdom. He might have executed them too, but having no desire to continue the conflict with the Pope that had so mired his father, Edward settled for stripping them of their offices and exiling them. The Pope grumbled about this, but was made to see it was the lesser of two evils at this point in time. The rest of Edward's reign was comparatively peaceful. Being not a man who embraced war, Edward instead focused on the arts of peace and plenty. He founded several schools and universities, urged his nobility to send their sons there (which many of them did, given that these nobles had been given what they had by Edward after the various rebellions by his Blois cousins), and also expanded England's trading network beyond just the coast of France. Goods from places like Italy, Greece, and various eastern European countries began to appear in England. Edward's personal life was perhaps a little more fraught. His first wife, Edith of Gloucester, bore him only one child, a daughter, Margaret. When Edith died in 1326, Edward remarried Urraca of Aragon two years later, and together they had five children, four of them sons. Margaret's vehement dislike of her stepmother was only matched by Urraca's disdain for Margaret. All attempts at mediation on Edward's part failed, and when he died in 1355, the stage was set for another round of civil war, as Margaret had long claimed to be his successor despite Edward's proclamations of his eldest son with Urraca, Arthur. All of Edward's hard work in keeping England safe and at peace seemed on the verge of crashing down.

[8] Arthur, named after his father's favourite hero, legendary King Arthur, from the very beginning of his reign had to fight against a rebellion of his sister's supporters. Being a skilled commander, he was able to crush his opponents in the decisive Second Battle of Hastings, where forces led by Margaret's husband, Conan of Brittany, called 'Conan the Barbarian' due to his violent temper, were almost completely annihilated-Conan was killed in the battle, Margaret, informed about her husband's death, threw herself into the sea. The war was over, but Arthur, wounded with spear during late stage of battle, died just three days after later, leaving the throne to his younger brother, Richard.

[9] The younger twin of Arthur I, Richard I was left to clean up the mess of the thankfully brief rebellion of their older half-sister. Though Margaret and her husband were both dead, there still remained their young children, the eldest of which, Geoffrey, had been with his parents for the battle (though not involved directly due to his age). With his father's death and his mother's suicide, Richard had the new Count of Brittany in his custody as a hostage, a potent political tool in his dealings with both Brittany itself and with France. Richard considered restoring Geoffrey to Brittany after the payment of a significant ransom and with a bride of Richard's own choice to hopefully prevent any future incursions, but the sudden invasion of Brittany by the combined forces of Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine put paid to that plan. Geoffrey's four younger siblings were all forced to flee to England and into Richard's waiting hands. Brittany was then carved up between the three invaders, all of them led by descendants of Henry Fitzempress and Aelinor of Aquitaine (just as Geoffrey himself was, via his father). That bloodline still proved particularly troublesome, even nearly two centuries later. To prevent problems in the future, Richard decided then to nip the problem in the bud. His half-nieces were all packed into separate convents, and Geoffrey's younger brother became a clergyman. Geoffrey himself remained titular Count of Brittany, but he was kept in close confinement for the rest of his days and he never married nor had any children. Thus Margaret's line was ended without bloodshed. Richard spent the rest of his reign defending Normandy, which was being subjected to attacks from the Plantagenet families as they attempted to conquer it as they had Brittany. He married Isabella of Bohemia in 1360, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and had children, Judith, Isabella, Maud, and Arthur. He was succeeded in 1378 by his oldest surviving child, Judith.

[10] Judith became heiress of his father, after her only brother Arthur died as result of horse ridding accident. She ruled together with her husband, John, Count of Luxembourg, cousin of her mother from cadet branch of Imperial House of Luxembourg. Judith and John were both ambitious and power hungry, and shared desire to join thrones of England and HRE, spending vast sums of money from Royal treasure to bribe Electors with little effect. After death of her husband Judith's menthal health gradually degenerated, she remained titular Queen Regnant untill her death in 1413, although power was taken de facto by her son and successor Percival who had hellish job to repair England's finances, damaged by his parents' HRE adventures.

[11] Following the political upheaval in France, and the machinations and power struggles of the House of Hereford it must gave felt like a breath of fresh air to have a raven haired handsome, well spoken and educated youth on the throne - having clearly inherited his mothers good looks rather than his fathers pallid complexion, he was popular with women of all ages. But we'e they popular with him? Court gossip abounded that he was rather too fond of Thomas, Earl of Huntingdon - with both Thomas and his sister the ironically named Marion spending frequent weekends with the young King. Whatever may be the case, Percival married Marion and produced an heir - the future of the House of Luxembourg was secure, for the time being - and over the next several years, several more issue was produced. Court gossip was hushed sufficiently for the rumours to never reach the public at large - but never entirely hushed and not sufficiently to halt any estrangement between Percival and Marion who attempted to manipulate evidence of collusion in a plot with religious extremists to blow up the King during a meeting of the Privy Council. Percival was put to the test - wife or lover - and with a stranger stepping forward to accuse Marion of witchcraft, Percivals choice seemed clear cut. But it wasn't - because the Earl of Huntingdon was mysteriously shot and the title shifted to one of Percivals own sons, the shooter was never found and later historians suggest he was one of Marions lovers, a court musician. By this point, the accusation against Marion had made it to the privy council and, with the King effectively emotionally crippled, and with the evidence seemingly abundant, they convicted her and she was beheaded. In emotional distress, the King resorted to drink and debauchery and fifty days after his wife was beheaded, and sixty days after his possible lover was shot, Percival hung himself from a tree whilst out hunting. He left behind several children and was succeeded on the throne by his son John.

[12] John IV had many interest (he was poet, painter, even amateur alchemist), but ruling the country definitely wasn't one of them-he let his advisors to took the reins. But despite his passive nature, he was generally remembered as good king-his reign was long period of peace and fast cultural development of the Kingdom. John IV was succeeded by his son, Baldwin I.

[13] Baldwin I, the oldest remaining son of John IV took the throne in his fourties and bedridden from a jousting accident that broke his leg and infection set in and just wouldn't heal properly. Four years of agony saw Baldwin I finally succumb to death at age 45 and was succeeded by his only surviving child, Marianne of Brabant.

[14] The sole child of Baldwin I of England, Marianne I would take the throne at the age of nine, and placed under a recency of her Paternal cousin, John of Anglesey; a Bastard of King Percival. Queen Marianne chose to marry her cousin her cousin Louis of Brabant, at the age of 16, and by the age of 19 the Royal couple had three sons.
Marianne would reign for 28 years, with the only major conflict being a small skirmishing war with the Dukes of Zütphen between 1491 and 1498.
She would be succeeded by her eldest son Stephen of Brabant.

[15] Stephen III, King of England was 20 years old when he rose to the throne, and knew what his place in history would be. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Aquitaine in 1503, the Plantagenet Empire was crumbling, and between the Kings of France, Lorraine and Navarre, the last Plantagenet heiress, the Duchess Renata of Aquitaine, turned to the English for support, 35 to the English King's 22 upon their marriage, the duo focused on holding lands connected to Normandy at the least, and thus by 1512, the two held Brittany, Anjou and a fair chunk of Maine. Flanders was lost, as was Aquitaine, but with at least those lands secure, Stephen III felt success in his endeavor.

Further success for the Brabant English royal family came when, in 1515, Stephen's youngest brother, Ferdinand, Earl of March, was able to marry Violante I, Queen of Portugal, the grandest heiress in Europe, after Stephen's own wife, and this one was of an age with her husband and wouldn't lose any of her inheritance. The marriage secured English relations with Portugal, and managed to remove the most ambitious of Stephen's nobles from his court, ensuring a safer court for himself, his wife and their 6 children.

However, in 1521, Stephen's life turned upside down with the arrival of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, who arrived at the English court, to marry the King's nephew, Geoffrey, Earl of Cambridge. However, Stephen himself was obsessed with her beauty, and thus began an affair with her, beginning the Cambridge Civil War.

Essentially, England fell into civil war the Montferrat Princess, who between 1522 and 1530, was dragged across England, Ireland and Normandy by Stephen, producing three illegitimate daughters all the while writing long, angry letters to her husband, demanding he fix the problem with her love so they could find a solution. With the death of Renata of Aquitaine in 1528 due to heart problems, the solution became obvious, and in 1531, Stephen III married Theresa Giovanna, after her marriage to the Earl of Cambridge was annulled, and two weeks later Geoffrey of Cambridge was married to the Princess Eleanor of England, and raised to the title of Duke.

England was the laughing stock of Europe.

To make matters worse, in 1533, Thomas, Duke of York, Stephen's brother and Cambridge's father, died defending Anjou, thus losing those territories to the new King of Navarre. Losing that territory was truly frustrating to Stephen, who sent his eldest son, another Stephen, to retake it, dying in 1536 before news could arrive that the new King had been captured by the Navarrese.

[16] Nearly all of Stephen IV's reign was spent in captivity at the hands of the King of Navarre, who refused to release him without an enormous ransom. Stephen, needless to say, was furious. Thanks to his father's foolishness over "the Montferrat whore", much of his inheritance had been conquered. Anjou was gone, and he could only watch helplessly as Maine and Brittany soon followed. He knew that part of the problem was that his people could not fight effectively when they feared for his own life. By 1540, Stephen had had enough. He had been able to turn many of his jailers to his side, promising them lands and titles in England if they helped him to escape. He was able to get a message out to his younger brother, Baldwin, informing him of what was to happen. The ensuing escape nearly went off without a hitch, but when Stephen and his allies were discovered at the worst possible moment, it fell into a bloody free-for-all. Stephen made it to the boat that his brother had sent to him, but he was mortally wounded in the process. He died on the crossing back to England, leaving his younger brother to clean up their father's mess.

[17] Its tough to sat when Baldwin's reign began - whether it began in 1536 when his brother was captured and made prisoner of the King of Navarre, or whether it began four years later when he formally ascended the throne. As Lord Protector he had composed a good council of nobles to advise him, a council - or Parliament - that continued once he had been crowned. It was much that the council could do to continue keeping England out of the French conflicts as their running foe continued to form a combined entity - an actual Kingdom of France rather than the aligned and minor Kingdoms with Sub-King that existed heretofore. Likewise, they turned their attention north to Scotland and west to Wales and Ireland to strengthen bonds and alliances there. Baldwin married Princess Euphemia of Rothesay, daughter of Andrew, Duke of Rothesay and granddaughter of King Andrew II of Scotland (of the reborn House of Balliol) - selected to strengthen the bonds but far enough away from the Scottish crown to avoid a personal union.

Baldwin and Euphemia of Rothesay had several children and when Baldwin succumbed to what modern medical historians suspect was cancer, the throne passed to Henry, his grandson.

[18] Born Henry of Mar, Henry II of England became the King of England by chance, because his father had married his mother. Now, this might seem a strange turn of phrase, but James, Duke of Mar was the youngest son of Percival, Earl of Kent when, in 1532, he fell in love with Helena of England, the youngest of then Prince Baldwin's three daughters by his first wife, Marie of Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had brought with her support for what was considered to be the obvious French/English War for Aquitaine, before Stephen IV's capture. Helena of England, then Helena of Norfolk, was thus a catch for the half-Scottish nobleman, who wooed her considerably, before being offered a choice by Baldwin as Regent to the throne. He could either (a) marry Helena, but give up his Scottish title, invest what money he had into the ongoing English War, and potentially become ennobled by a grateful King Stephen when he OBVIOUSLY would be returned to England, or (b) marry the eldest daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, Joan of England, take her and her mother back to Scotland, and forget about Helena. Baldwin was, at this time, pursuing his brother's decidedly anti-Scottish foreign policy, and was currently housing the Welsh Princess Aelinor of Gwent, who was Stephen's betrothed, who would ultimately marry Baldwin's youngest brother, John, Duke of Bedford and produce no children.

Both options were harsh, and for a time it looked like James, Duke of Mar would give signs that he was considering returning to Scotland, potentially to marry his first cousin, the Lady Juliana Stewart, who would in 1540 marry her other first cousin, Thomas of Kinross. Instead, the Duke of Mar found himself a suddenly valuable ally when, in 1535, Marie of Poitiers died in childbirth to what would have been a son, and in 1536, Baldwin, Duke of Norfolk became Baldwin II, King of England and suddenly was able to ally himself with the Scots. Plans for a match between his eldest daughter Mary of England and

James, Duke of Mar was the cousin of the King of Scots, and thus in 1537 was one of 4 noblemen tasked with escorting the Princess Euphemia of Rothesay to England, as not only were they cousins, but they actually descended from the same Scottish King on their father's sides, with the Mar dynasty coming from Robert III's second marriage as King of Scotland, while the Rothesay's came from his first marriage, which thus fathered Andrew II of Scotland, and his son and thus Euphemia. Thus, they were somewhat closely related, and had known each other somewhat well as children, and at one point Euphemia was to have been betrothed to James' elder brother Andrew, before his untimely passing. Thus, when in 1538 the Duke of London, heir to the throne was born, Helena of England was granted permission to marry the Duke of Mar, no commitments needed, and in 1540 they celebrated their birth of their first child, young Henry of Bar. He would be their only child.

Helena of England would come to the forefront of the Succession by 1550, with 4 deaths in a row. The first, her elder sister to still be living, Catherine of England, married the King of Barcelona in 1540, dying in childbirth in 1544 with a stillborn son. Next, her brothers by Euphemia of Rothesay, the Duke of London and Duke of Norfolk both died of the measles, leaving, at that point, only Helena and her younger sister Renata as heirs to the throne. And then, finally, John of Cambridge, the last scion of the Duke of Cambridge, who had marry Stephen III's youngest daughter and, for a time, was considered Baldwin's next heir, died in a hunting accident in which his third wife seems to have accidentally shot him with an arrow. As his first to brides, Francesca of Sicily and Hannah of Gloucester had both failed to produce children, it was thus only Helena, Duchess of Mar, her son and the infant Princess Renata to inherit the crown.

To make matters more complicated, in 1552, Afonso II of Portugal, great-grandson of the Earl of March, who had become King of Portugal through marriage, demanded his right to the English Throne be admitted, and thus in 1553, Baldwin II of England had the "Grand Matter of the English Succession" drawn up, listing the succession as:

1. Any son hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
2. Any son hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
3. Helena of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
4. Renata of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
5. Any daughter hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
6. Any daughter hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
7. The eldest legitimate descendant of Ferdinand, Earl of March, should he not hold a foreign throne of his own.
8. Prince Francis of Lorraine, only son of Joan of England, daughter of Stephen III of England, and his descendants legitimately begotten.
9. John, Duke of Brabant, and his heirs legitimately begotten.
10. Geoffrey, Count of Castilla, and his heirs legitimately begotten.

Now this line of succession frustrated not only the King of Portugal, but also the Duke of Gloucester and many others in and out of England. In particular Simon of Maine, married to Isabeau of England, daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat and Stephen III of England demanded to know why he had been left out. Not only was his wife technically legitimate, as the marriage of Stephen III and Theresa Giovanna was recognized by the Pope, but he himself was a descendant of John IV through his second son, who's line was now Counts of Maine. Afonso of Portugal would have started a war over the whole thing, but in 1555 his eldest son was betrothed to Renata of England with the promise that, potentially Helena of England and her son might be skipped over.

Thus, when Helena of England died in 1562, the 22 year old Henry of Bar was heir to the throne, with all subsequent pregnancies of Euphemia of Rothesay producing either daughters (Mary, born 1552, Anna, born 1555, and Eleanor, born 1560) or stillborn/short-lived sons (1549, 1554, 1556, 1561 and a final one in 1564). He was treated as such, and in 1563, at his grandfather's urging, he married French Princess Louise d'Angouleme, the granddaughter of Charles X of France, and sister to the Dauphin. The girl in question was 12 when the marriage took place, and the Pope himself spoke out against "child brides", causing Henry of Bar some embarrassment.

Thus, when he succeeded to the throne in 1565, he had by his side a 13 year old wife, unable to produce children or lay with him for another 4 years by current Church law, and a whole royal family to quietly get rid of. In 1568, he convinced Euphemia of Rothesay to retire to a convent, taking with her Mary of England, who had always shown a vocation for a religious life. In 1570, a 15 year old Anna of England was betrothed to Henry of Bar's current ally, Nicholas of Burgundy, and in 1573, shortly after the birth of his first child, Eleanor of England was betrothed to Sigismund II, King of Hungary, and sent to live in the Regency Court of Hungary with his mother, the domineering Eleanora d'Este, an Italian princess.

Henry II of England was not a man for which power came lightly. His father, forever sure his son would be ousted from his rightful place on the throne, had become his strongest advisor, to the point where upon his death, the King of England was said to have refused for him to be buried until the stench of death was overpowering. Regardless, he saw that his father was buried with his mother, and in 1580, a year after James, Duke of Mar's death, he was retroactively given the title Duke of London, as was his right as husband to an heir to the throne.

The King of England went far to reward his loyal family. In 1574, the Earl of Kent, his uncle (his father coming from the this Earl's father's second marriage) was married to heiress Alice Percy, and made Viceroy of Normandy. Meanwhile, Thomas of Kent was awarded the title Count of Mayenne and sent as Viceroy of Anjou, replacing John of Gloucester, who found himself tasked with acting as dignitary to the Irish Lords, because Henry wanted to invade Ireland but needed to know if it would simply be easier to have them bow to him. In 1583, with the birth of Henry's daughter Charlotte of England, a distant cousin of the King's, George Bullen, was made the Baron Choulet, sent to Anjou and made a part of the Count of Mayenne's entourage.

There was a mindfulness to the way the King rewarded his family, sending them to do the hard work in foreign places, to prevent them from growing to powerful at home. He also moved people frequently to prevent power bases from forming. in 1584 He removed the Earl of Kent from Normandy, replaced him with George Bullen, who he felt had done good work in Anjou, and Kent replaced Mayenne in Anjou, while Mayenne acted as his advisor until 1587, when he was moved to Maine. This standard of frequent moves led to some hostility amongst those who lost lucrative positions, but the King made sure none were moved too low or too high, with exception to George Bullen, who never was removed from Normandy due to his amazing track recorded, but instead sent young men to train as future advisors.

In 1590, at the age of 50, Henry II of England replaced himself, when he positioned his heir Stephen as Regent to England while he travelled across the continental positions of England to ensure everything ran as well as he had been told. He travelled with his wife, who remained in Calais after discovering herself pregnant. However, in 1591, after his wife's birth to a daughter named Violante, he felt the need to rush back to London, and it was soon discovered why. In 1592, only barely making it back to England, Henry II of England died. It's unsure what killed him, but it seems likely that a slow working illness had been taking his health slowly, and his work to delegate had been, in part, to ensure England was prepared at his death. Thus, England fell to his heir.

[19] King Stephen V inherited a relatively stable position, both at home and on the continent. He continued his father's policies, shifting around his family and practicing meritocracy where possible. During his reign, the first English expeditions sailed out to the New World. After all the intrigues and chaos of his predecessors, Stephen V was a welcome change, and is still remembered as Good King Stephen. He died after a long, peaceful, and relatively boring reign, and was succeeded by his heir Baldwin III.

[20] Baldwin III, the eldest nephew of Stephen V via his brother, Prince Sigismund, Duke of Wessex, ascended the throne due to his uncle outliving all of his children and grandchildren. Many expected the untrained King to fail, instead he would be remembered as Baldwin the Wise by history. Supportive of the merchant classes to expand the wealth of the Kingdom, Baldwin's England saw the growth of the English holdings in the New World with the establishment of the Stephanus Bay Colony, named in honor of his predecessor, and centered around the town (and future city) of Kings Port.

Baldwin's designation of 'The Wise' would come from his hosting of two great meetings that would change the face of Christendom and Europe, the first was his role as the host of the Council of London for the Catholic Church in 1648-1651, the 19th Ecumenical council in Catholic History and it's impact was significant. For the last three centuries the church had been plagued by significant corruption, nepotism, and laxity in teaching proper doctrine to priests in all levels of the church, and this was bleeding into the local populous, whom had embraced several heresy movements which, while most had been put down, continued to persist in the shadows due to the continued failings of the men in charge of God's church, the Council of London was the brainchild of Pope Christopher II and King Baldwin III to begin correcting these issues and to reinforce the Church's role as the sole arbitrator of God's will in the world.

Baldwin III would also host the Great Meeting of London of 1663, in which he served as a neutral arbitrator to the various Irish lords, who had managed to form five small petty-Kingdoms in the absence of English rule since the Anarchy, the Five Petty Kings agreed that Baldwin's third son, Prince Eustace would be made the first High King of Ireland in centuries with his capital the city of Dubhlinn.

Baldwin III would have a total of seven sons and three daughters, the third son would become High King Eustace I of Ireland, but his eldest son would inherit the English throne upon Baldwin's death in 1672 and become Baldwin IV.

[21] Baldwin IV came to the throne in 1672 after the death of his father and the accession of his younger brother Eustace as High King of Ireland. He was a well intentioned individual - but the most important thing that everyone remembers about him is that he didnt do anything important. Maintaining the status quo for almost half a century whilst Eustace and his line established themselves over the water as well as continuing the other diplomatic efforts started by his father. He didn't marry though he had several mistresses and numerous illegitimate children - and he might have even married his mistress in a morganatic marriage, he did appoint a certain Henry FitzBaldwin as the Duke of (the Isle of) Wight in 1692. When he died, from pneumonia, his lack of legitimate issue meant that the crown passed to his nephew, Prince Henry of York.
[22] At the age of 20, the Prince had never expected to raise to the throne, he thought a child would be born through an alternative marriage but this was not to be.
He had been staying in the City of York, commanding a defense force, against Scotland, following his father's death a few years previously.
With news of his uncles death, Henry, rode South to claim the throne, with a group from his army to support him, fearing a bastard taking their father's crown.
Henry had many rebellions and revolts, attacking his rule, he would die at the age of 39, when he died in his sleep following what many though was a poisoning.
[23] Louis, only son of Henry, who outlived him, was just six months old, when his father died. Like most of his siblings (with exception of his sister Alexandrina) he was sickly child and, like it was excepted, have not survived long and soon followed his father.

[24] Alexandrina, the only daughter of Henry III inherited the throne from her infant brother Louis under very suspect circumstances. A lusty, buxomly beautiful girl with fiery red hair who only became more beautiful with age. Queen Alexandrina was unwed at age 15 when she became Queen and stayed that way until she was 22 when she found a man who could keep up with her in the bedroom, a minor Russian nobleman named Grigory Potemkin, though the Queen had had several lovers before this, they were all swept aside when she encountered Potemkin at a masked ball in Paris.

She delighted in the exotic goods that were coming to England from the new world colonies, such as tobacco and encouraged more colonial projects in the Caribbean Sea which brought even more exotic goods such as new vegetables and fruits and what would be a foundation of England's wealth in trade until the Asian colonies emerged in the 19th century, sugar.

Alexandrina had a number of pleasure palaces constructed and made the nobility attend her for at least nine months out of the year, creating a rotation of 'seasons' in which she could keep an eye on the rich and powerful, even while enjoying the attentions of her husband and giving him many children, including the heir to the throne, John.

Alexandrina would die at age 53 of a heart attack three years after her husband died, though legends would spread that she had been killed by a bull while trying to have sex with it, unable to find a suitable replacement for her husband in her bed.​

[25] John was the first of 3 sons (John, William and Geoff) birthed by Alexandrina. After his mother died, John took the throne. John was a favorite of many, becoming a very respected man. He was known for visiting towns in his country and talking to the everymen. He was also said to have a great sense of humor. At 25, he wed Princess Mary of Denmark, and sired 2 boys (Percival and Oliver). He was shot down in London in 1806, leading to a beginning of a big conflict.

[26] The assassination of John V led to England joining the Popular Wars, a series of bloody conflicts that had swept Europe over the course of the previous generation and had only now hit England itself. In these uncertain times, King Percival ascended the throne a young man, and did what he could to maintain peace and order throughout his kingdom while fighting what seemed to be a massive storm of ideologies that had taken hold of many other kingdoms. After many years, he and his allies triumphed. He avoided death on many occasions, finally dying in bed. He passed on his crown to his greatgrandchild Alexander, Duke of Southampton.

[27] The Prince and Princess of Wales died when their ship went down in a storm whilst on tour in the Mediterranean and left no issue, the Duke of York suffered a heart attack and stroke, his eldest the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was shot in a hunting accident and his eldest, the Duke of Sussex, died of an opiate overdose at age twenty one, a year before he would have become King. Alexander should never have become King - as the spare of an heir to the spare, at birth he was fifth in line to the throne and the possibilities at that point only indicates he would move downwards. As such, whilst he was clearly never going to be King (or so they thought) he was still subject to the Royal Marriages Act which meant his grandfather would need to give permission to him to marry. Percival II granted his ascent, perhaps allowing his romantic side to agree rather than his logical one - which saw his grandson marry Margaret Warbash, a celebrity American sharpshooter who went by the stage name of Sureshot Peggy and who had made her name as part of the curiosity troop cultivated by PT Barnum. Beautiful but a tomboy, she wasn't what was expected of a Duchess, much less the consort of the Heir Apparent or a Queen. Even before she became Queen, she devoted herself to women's rights and the abolition of slavery which saw her and Alexander clash with the Prime Minister and Parliament. "Margaret of America" became a forerunner to the suffragettes and her friendship with Emmaline Pankhurst in her dotage is often marked on. Alexander and Margaret had six children - an equal number of boys and girls - and when Alexander dies in his fifties from complications following surgery, he was succeeded by Judith II, his daughter.

[28] Oldest daughter of Alexander, as young girl she was wounded by anarchist assassin, who tried to kill her father, this traumatic event left mark of her reign and explains her reactionary views, shared by her husband, Margrave Albert of Baden.

[29] the Eldest son of Queen Judith and Prince-Consort Albert of Baden, John VI would take the throne in 1899, and his twenty two year long reign would be seen as the golden age of English rule.
His Empire would expand over Patagonia, and over much of Southern Africa as well.
John VI would die in 1921, and pass the Throne to his eldest son, Prince Edward.

[30] Prince Edward took the throne in 1921, and was initially perceived well, as a young and liberal King. However the 1929 Coup by Winston Johns, and the Blackshirt Movement would unthrone Edward. He was followed by his cousin ________.

 

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Monarchs of England
1135 - 1163: Stephen I (House of Blois)
1163 - 1179: William III (House of Blois) [1]
1179 - 1201: William IV (House of Blois) [2]
1201 - 1222: Stephen II (House of Blois) [3]
1222 - 1247: John I (House of Blois) [4]
1247 - 1276: Helena (House of Blois) [5]
1276 - 1300: John II (House of Hereford) [6]
1300 - 1355: Edward I (House of Hereford) [7]
1355 - 1356: Arthur I (House of Hereford) [8]
1356 - 1378: Richard I (House of Hereford [9]
1378 - 1413: Judith I (House of Hereford) and
1378 - 1411: John III (House of Luxembourg) [10]
1411 - 1429: Percival I (House of Luxembourg) [11]
1429 - 1474: John IV (House of Luxembourg) [12]
1474 - 1478: Baldwin I (House of Luxembourg) [13]
1478 - 1506: Marianne (House of Brabant) [14]
1506 - 1536: Stephen III (House of Brabant) [15]
1536 - 1540: Stephen IV (House of Brabant) [16]
1540 - 1565: Baldwin II (House of Brabant) [17]
1565 - 1592: Henry II (House of Brabant) [18]
1592 - 1641: Stephen V (House of Brabant) [19]
1641 - 1672: Baldwin III (House of Brabant) [20]
1672 - 1712: Baldwin IV (House of Brabant) [21]
1712 - 1741: Henry III (House of Brabant) [22]
1741 - 1742: Louis (House of Brabant) [23]
1742 - 1783: Alexandrina (House of Brabant) [24]
1783 - 1806: John V (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [25]
1806 - 1865: Percival II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [26]
1865 - 1885: Alexander (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [27]
1885 - 1899: Judith II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [28]
1899 - 1921: John VI (House of Baden) [29]
1921 - 1930: Edward II (House of Baden) [30]
1930 - 1945: Crispin (House of Baden) [31]

Spoiler: See Previous Footnotes

[1] Stephen I recovered from the illness that would have killed in 1154 and lived another nine years, in that time his remaining son William I, Count of Boulogne became more interested in the throne of England as his father managed to solidify the Blois's grip on the country in the lull of peace that came from the Treaty of Winchester (1153) with Henry Fitzempress and his land-wealthy wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine. Stephen found cause to renege on the treaty in 1162 as he was dying and proclaimed his son William his heir. This detonated the 'Second Phase' of The Anarchy and William III became King on horseback, fighting the forces of Henry Fitzempress and his Aquitanian army (borrowed from his wife). William would leave much of the governance of England in the hands of his wife, Isabel de Warenne as Regent and caregiver to their four children after a swift coronation. William's entire reign was spent fighting 'Henry II' and the war continued onward in an ugly stalemate as William's eldest son, another William, was crowned in Westminster.

[2] Whereas his grandfather and father fought militarily for their right to England, William IV chose instead to fight a more defensive war, knowing that he had only to outlast Henry Fitzempress' attempts to claim the throne instead of outright stopping and pushing him out. The situation worked, to an extent. Henry's armies wore themselves out chasing William and his allies all over England, and many (particularly those from Aquitaine, his wife's home province) deserted him to return to their homes. Henry Fitzempress was well known to be a man of unflagging strength, but even he was tiring of the decades of warfare trying to add England to the empire he sought to create. By 1182, both sides were so utterly exhausted they could fight no more, and England was a flaming ruin. The ensuing London Accord (1183) formally ended the Anarchy that had devastated so many lives, with William marrying Henry's second daughter, Aelinor, who brought Normandy (long ago conquered by Henry's father) as her dowry. Henry would never give Normandy up in his lifetime, but slowly, bit by bit, the county was brought back under English rule, despite the grumblings of Aelinor's brothers (who ended up fighting one another over Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, and perhaps even the weather). William's marriage to Aelinor was a fruitful one, bearing ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The rest of William's reign saw him focus primarily on rebuilding England and arguing with his barons, who had amassed a great deal of power, land, and castles during the Anarchy. Though he improved much in his final years, the arguments with the barons would continue into the reign of William's eldest son, Stephen II.

[3] Stephen II spent most of his reign reasserting the royal authority over the vassals of the English crown, this meant dealing with the over powerful Barons, the Welsh marcher-lords who had become independent in all but name, and the Church which was seeking greater autonomy and power over appointments to Bishoprics. What assisted Stephen II in focusing on domestic matters, and continuing to heal the realm from the ravages of the Anarchy, was that perennial enemy of England, France, was having to deal with the powerful 'Plantagenet brothers', the sons of the deceased Henry Fitzempress and his wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine, and Louis VII and Philip II of France being dragged into Crusades in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the forces of Islam. Stephen II managed to establish a Common Law for the whole of England and managed to find a balance between himself and the Barons, a few Baronal families had died out during the Anarchy and their lands had reverted to the crown, with the English kingdom rebounding the Crown grew in power, so Stephen found himself able to begin enforcing his will and forced several barons to tear down illegal castles and accept the King's Common Law. He was less successful with the Welsh marcher-lords, and plans for an invasion of Ireland fell threw due to continuing problems with the northern reaches of England and Scottish raids against his border lords. While Stephen II had three daughters, his only son Prince Baldwin died of an unknown disease at age 14, and so Stephen II's eldest brother John became King when Stephen II died in 1222.

[4] King John, during his youth prepared to join the clergy, strengthened position of the Church in England, giving numerous privileges to clergy. John regarded non-hereditary hierarchs of Catholic Church as lesser danger to his rule than barons. As result he was praised by chroniclers (who were mostly clergymen) and was later known as 'John the Just' or 'John the Good', despite his rather not very pious lifestyle-John was allegedly father of over hundred children, but only one of them was legitimate-his successor Helena.

[5] Daughter of an outwardly pious father who was incredibly promiscuous and father dozens of illegitimate children could only lead to her being a little conflicted - and as a result she tried to forge a happy medium between her father' extremes, between the barons and the clergy her father had promoted to power, opening avenues of conversation between the two faction. At the time of her accession there was even questions as to her suitability to rule - many elders could not concieve of a woman in control of England and championed Stephen and John's brother Thomas to be King, but given John had long been setting up his daughters accession by insertinh supporters of the idea in key positions, they relented and despite the religious/political tensions, her reign proved to be comparatively peaceful. Married to an obscure continental noble, she had several children and when she died of a sweating sickness, the throne passed to her son, John II.

[6] Son of Helena and her husband, Herbert, Earl of Hereford. His father was obscure nobleman from Normandy, whom King John II has given Earldom of Hereford and whom he later married to his only legitimate daughter and heiress. According to rumors, Herbert was King's illegitimate son and because of this John of Blois elevated him to Earldom and pushed for pharaonic marriage between his kids to keep his bloodline on the throne, although these rumors of incest between his parents likely were part of John II's black legend spread later by clergy, unhappy with his policy-John II, unlike his grandfather, tried to limit Church's influence in the Kingdom and was conflicted with Pope and threatened with excommunication due to controversy over taxation of clergy and seizure of property of some monasteries.

[7] The third son of John II and his wife, Catherine of Scotland (their first two sons having died young), Edward's early reign was beset by troubles. Many of the clergy, who were unhappy with the reversal of the policies of John I by John II (something that Edward himself was continuing), began to whisper in the ears of several of Edward's distant cousins who had distant claims to the throne via their descent from William IV's many offspring. It was one of them who should be sitting on the throne of England, not this untried boy whose only claim to the throne came through a woman who had likely married her own half-brother to secure her own power. The first decade of Edward's reign saw several rebellions on the part of many of these distant cousins, each determined to claim what many clergymen were claiming was rightfully theirs. Each of them, however, failed. While Edward himself was not the most martial of men (at least, compared to men like Richard Fitzhugh, a famous knight of the day who was often called "the paragon of war and knightly values"), a legacy left to him by his father was a strong government able to ward off threats like this. Combined with a keen insight into people (thus allowing him to replace good, competent men on his council with other good, competent men when the need arose), and Edward was able to navigate this difficult period with relative success. As a result, though, the ranks of the nobility were severely pruned, as those who joined in the rebellions were either killed on the battlefield, executed afterward, or were scattered into exile. The clergy too suffered. Edward refused to have "a flock of rebellious monks spreading poison instead the values of Christ" in his kingdom. He might have executed them too, but having no desire to continue the conflict with the Pope that had so mired his father, Edward settled for stripping them of their offices and exiling them. The Pope grumbled about this, but was made to see it was the lesser of two evils at this point in time. The rest of Edward's reign was comparatively peaceful. Being not a man who embraced war, Edward instead focused on the arts of peace and plenty. He founded several schools and universities, urged his nobility to send their sons there (which many of them did, given that these nobles had been given what they had by Edward after the various rebellions by his Blois cousins), and also expanded England's trading network beyond just the coast of France. Goods from places like Italy, Greece, and various eastern European countries began to appear in England. Edward's personal life was perhaps a little more fraught. His first wife, Edith of Gloucester, bore him only one child, a daughter, Margaret. When Edith died in 1326, Edward remarried Urraca of Aragon two years later, and together they had five children, four of them sons. Margaret's vehement dislike of her stepmother was only matched by Urraca's disdain for Margaret. All attempts at mediation on Edward's part failed, and when he died in 1355, the stage was set for another round of civil war, as Margaret had long claimed to be his successor despite Edward's proclamations of his eldest son with Urraca, Arthur. All of Edward's hard work in keeping England safe and at peace seemed on the verge of crashing down.

[8] Arthur, named after his father's favourite hero, legendary King Arthur, from the very beginning of his reign had to fight against a rebellion of his sister's supporters. Being a skilled commander, he was able to crush his opponents in the decisive Second Battle of Hastings, where forces led by Margaret's husband, Conan of Brittany, called 'Conan the Barbarian' due to his violent temper, were almost completely annihilated-Conan was killed in the battle, Margaret, informed about her husband's death, threw herself into the sea. The war was over, but Arthur, wounded with spear during late stage of battle, died just three days after later, leaving the throne to his younger brother, Richard.

[9] The younger twin of Arthur I, Richard I was left to clean up the mess of the thankfully brief rebellion of their older half-sister. Though Margaret and her husband were both dead, there still remained their young children, the eldest of which, Geoffrey, had been with his parents for the battle (though not involved directly due to his age). With his father's death and his mother's suicide, Richard had the new Count of Brittany in his custody as a hostage, a potent political tool in his dealings with both Brittany itself and with France. Richard considered restoring Geoffrey to Brittany after the payment of a significant ransom and with a bride of Richard's own choice to hopefully prevent any future incursions, but the sudden invasion of Brittany by the combined forces of Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine put paid to that plan. Geoffrey's four younger siblings were all forced to flee to England and into Richard's waiting hands. Brittany was then carved up between the three invaders, all of them led by descendants of Henry Fitzempress and Aelinor of Aquitaine (just as Geoffrey himself was, via his father). That bloodline still proved particularly troublesome, even nearly two centuries later. To prevent problems in the future, Richard decided then to nip the problem in the bud. His half-nieces were all packed into separate convents, and Geoffrey's younger brother became a clergyman. Geoffrey himself remained titular Count of Brittany, but he was kept in close confinement for the rest of his days and he never married nor had any children. Thus Margaret's line was ended without bloodshed. Richard spent the rest of his reign defending Normandy, which was being subjected to attacks from the Plantagenet families as they attempted to conquer it as they had Brittany. He married Isabella of Bohemia in 1360, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and had children, Judith, Isabella, Maud, and Arthur. He was succeeded in 1378 by his oldest surviving child, Judith.

[10] Judith became heiress of his father, after her only brother Arthur died as result of horse ridding accident. She ruled together with her husband, John, Count of Luxembourg, cousin of her mother from cadet branch of Imperial House of Luxembourg. Judith and John were both ambitious and power hungry, and shared desire to join thrones of England and HRE, spending vast sums of money from Royal treasure to bribe Electors with little effect. After death of her husband Judith's menthal health gradually degenerated, she remained titular Queen Regnant untill her death in 1413, although power was taken de facto by her son and successor Percival who had hellish job to repair England's finances, damaged by his parents' HRE adventures.

[11] Following the political upheaval in France, and the machinations and power struggles of the House of Hereford it must gave felt like a breath of fresh air to have a raven haired handsome, well spoken and educated youth on the throne - having clearly inherited his mothers good looks rather than his fathers pallid complexion, he was popular with women of all ages. But we'e they popular with him? Court gossip abounded that he was rather too fond of Thomas, Earl of Huntingdon - with both Thomas and his sister the ironically named Marion spending frequent weekends with the young King. Whatever may be the case, Percival married Marion and produced an heir - the future of the House of Luxembourg was secure, for the time being - and over the next several years, several more issue was produced. Court gossip was hushed sufficiently for the rumours to never reach the public at large - but never entirely hushed and not sufficiently to halt any estrangement between Percival and Marion who attempted to manipulate evidence of collusion in a plot with religious extremists to blow up the King during a meeting of the Privy Council. Percival was put to the test - wife or lover - and with a stranger stepping forward to accuse Marion of witchcraft, Percivals choice seemed clear cut. But it wasn't - because the Earl of Huntingdon was mysteriously shot and the title shifted to one of Percivals own sons, the shooter was never found and later historians suggest he was one of Marions lovers, a court musician. By this point, the accusation against Marion had made it to the privy council and, with the King effectively emotionally crippled, and with the evidence seemingly abundant, they convicted her and she was beheaded. In emotional distress, the King resorted to drink and debauchery and fifty days after his wife was beheaded, and sixty days after his possible lover was shot, Percival hung himself from a tree whilst out hunting. He left behind several children and was succeeded on the throne by his son John.

[12] John IV had many interest (he was poet, painter, even amateur alchemist), but ruling the country definitely wasn't one of them-he let his advisors to took the reins. But despite his passive nature, he was generally remembered as good king-his reign was long period of peace and fast cultural development of the Kingdom. John IV was succeeded by his son, Baldwin I.

[13] Baldwin I, the oldest remaining son of John IV took the throne in his fourties and bedridden from a jousting accident that broke his leg and infection set in and just wouldn't heal properly. Four years of agony saw Baldwin I finally succumb to death at age 45 and was succeeded by his only surviving child, Marianne of Brabant.

[14] The sole child of Baldwin I of England, Marianne I would take the throne at the age of nine, and placed under a recency of her Paternal cousin, John of Anglesey; a Bastard of King Percival. Queen Marianne chose to marry her cousin her cousin Louis of Brabant, at the age of 16, and by the age of 19 the Royal couple had three sons.
Marianne would reign for 28 years, with the only major conflict being a small skirmishing war with the Dukes of Zütphen between 1491 and 1498.
She would be succeeded by her eldest son Stephen of Brabant.

[15] Stephen III, King of England was 20 years old when he rose to the throne, and knew what his place in history would be. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Aquitaine in 1503, the Plantagenet Empire was crumbling, and between the Kings of France, Lorraine and Navarre, the last Plantagenet heiress, the Duchess Renata of Aquitaine, turned to the English for support, 35 to the English King's 22 upon their marriage, the duo focused on holding lands connected to Normandy at the least, and thus by 1512, the two held Brittany, Anjou and a fair chunk of Maine. Flanders was lost, as was Aquitaine, but with at least those lands secure, Stephen III felt success in his endeavor.

Further success for the Brabant English royal family came when, in 1515, Stephen's youngest brother, Ferdinand, Earl of March, was able to marry Violante I, Queen of Portugal, the grandest heiress in Europe, after Stephen's own wife, and this one was of an age with her husband and wouldn't lose any of her inheritance. The marriage secured English relations with Portugal, and managed to remove the most ambitious of Stephen's nobles from his court, ensuring a safer court for himself, his wife and their 6 children.

However, in 1521, Stephen's life turned upside down with the arrival of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, who arrived at the English court, to marry the King's nephew, Geoffrey, Earl of Cambridge. However, Stephen himself was obsessed with her beauty, and thus began an affair with her, beginning the Cambridge Civil War.

Essentially, England fell into civil war the Montferrat Princess, who between 1522 and 1530, was dragged across England, Ireland and Normandy by Stephen, producing three illegitimate daughters all the while writing long, angry letters to her husband, demanding he fix the problem with her love so they could find a solution. With the death of Renata of Aquitaine in 1528 due to heart problems, the solution became obvious, and in 1531, Stephen III married Theresa Giovanna, after her marriage to the Earl of Cambridge was annulled, and two weeks later Geoffrey of Cambridge was married to the Princess Eleanor of England, and raised to the title of Duke.

England was the laughing stock of Europe.

To make matters worse, in 1533, Thomas, Duke of York, Stephen's brother and Cambridge's father, died defending Anjou, thus losing those territories to the new King of Navarre. Losing that territory was truly frustrating to Stephen, who sent his eldest son, another Stephen, to retake it, dying in 1536 before news could arrive that the new King had been captured by the Navarrese.

[16] Nearly all of Stephen IV's reign was spent in captivity at the hands of the King of Navarre, who refused to release him without an enormous ransom. Stephen, needless to say, was furious. Thanks to his father's foolishness over "the Montferrat whore", much of his inheritance had been conquered. Anjou was gone, and he could only watch helplessly as Maine and Brittany soon followed. He knew that part of the problem was that his people could not fight effectively when they feared for his own life. By 1540, Stephen had had enough. He had been able to turn many of his jailers to his side, promising them lands and titles in England if they helped him to escape. He was able to get a message out to his younger brother, Baldwin, informing him of what was to happen. The ensuing escape nearly went off without a hitch, but when Stephen and his allies were discovered at the worst possible moment, it fell into a bloody free-for-all. Stephen made it to the boat that his brother had sent to him, but he was mortally wounded in the process. He died on the crossing back to England, leaving his younger brother to clean up their father's mess.

[17] Its tough to sat when Baldwin's reign began - whether it began in 1536 when his brother was captured and made prisoner of the King of Navarre, or whether it began four years later when he formally ascended the throne. As Lord Protector he had composed a good council of nobles to advise him, a council - or Parliament - that continued once he had been crowned. It was much that the council could do to continue keeping England out of the French conflicts as their running foe continued to form a combined entity - an actual Kingdom of France rather than the aligned and minor Kingdoms with Sub-King that existed heretofore. Likewise, they turned their attention north to Scotland and west to Wales and Ireland to strengthen bonds and alliances there. Baldwin married Princess Euphemia of Rothesay, daughter of Andrew, Duke of Rothesay and granddaughter of King Andrew II of Scotland (of the reborn House of Balliol) - selected to strengthen the bonds but far enough away from the Scottish crown to avoid a personal union.

Baldwin and Euphemia of Rothesay had several children and when Baldwin succumbed to what modern medical historians suspect was cancer, the throne passed to Henry, his grandson.

[18] Born Henry of Mar, Henry II of England became the King of England by chance, because his father had married his mother. Now, this might seem a strange turn of phrase, but James, Duke of Mar was the youngest son of Percival, Earl of Kent when, in 1532, he fell in love with Helena of England, the youngest of then Prince Baldwin's three daughters by his first wife, Marie of Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had brought with her support for what was considered to be the obvious French/English War for Aquitaine, before Stephen IV's capture. Helena of England, then Helena of Norfolk, was thus a catch for the half-Scottish nobleman, who wooed her considerably, before being offered a choice by Baldwin as Regent to the throne. He could either (a) marry Helena, but give up his Scottish title, invest what money he had into the ongoing English War, and potentially become ennobled by a grateful King Stephen when he OBVIOUSLY would be returned to England, or (b) marry the eldest daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, Joan of England, take her and her mother back to Scotland, and forget about Helena. Baldwin was, at this time, pursuing his brother's decidedly anti-Scottish foreign policy, and was currently housing the Welsh Princess Aelinor of Gwent, who was Stephen's betrothed, who would ultimately marry Baldwin's youngest brother, John, Duke of Bedford and produce no children.

Both options were harsh, and for a time it looked like James, Duke of Mar would give signs that he was considering returning to Scotland, potentially to marry his first cousin, the Lady Juliana Stewart, who would in 1540 marry her other first cousin, Thomas of Kinross. Instead, the Duke of Mar found himself a suddenly valuable ally when, in 1535, Marie of Poitiers died in childbirth to what would have been a son, and in 1536, Baldwin, Duke of Norfolk became Baldwin II, King of England and suddenly was able to ally himself with the Scots. Plans for a match between his eldest daughter Mary of England and

James, Duke of Mar was the cousin of the King of Scots, and thus in 1537 was one of 4 noblemen tasked with escorting the Princess Euphemia of Rothesay to England, as not only were they cousins, but they actually descended from the same Scottish King on their father's sides, with the Mar dynasty coming from Robert III's second marriage as King of Scotland, while the Rothesay's came from his first marriage, which thus fathered Andrew II of Scotland, and his son and thus Euphemia. Thus, they were somewhat closely related, and had known each other somewhat well as children, and at one point Euphemia was to have been betrothed to James' elder brother Andrew, before his untimely passing. Thus, when in 1538 the Duke of London, heir to the throne was born, Helena of England was granted permission to marry the Duke of Mar, no commitments needed, and in 1540 they celebrated their birth of their first child, young Henry of Bar. He would be their only child.

Helena of England would come to the forefront of the Succession by 1550, with 4 deaths in a row. The first, her elder sister to still be living, Catherine of England, married the King of Barcelona in 1540, dying in childbirth in 1544 with a stillborn son. Next, her brothers by Euphemia of Rothesay, the Duke of London and Duke of Norfolk both died of the measles, leaving, at that point, only Helena and her younger sister Renata as heirs to the throne. And then, finally, John of Cambridge, the last scion of the Duke of Cambridge, who had marry Stephen III's youngest daughter and, for a time, was considered Baldwin's next heir, died in a hunting accident in which his third wife seems to have accidentally shot him with an arrow. As his first to brides, Francesca of Sicily and Hannah of Gloucester had both failed to produce children, it was thus only Helena, Duchess of Mar, her son and the infant Princess Renata to inherit the crown.

To make matters more complicated, in 1552, Afonso II of Portugal, great-grandson of the Earl of March, who had become King of Portugal through marriage, demanded his right to the English Throne be admitted, and thus in 1553, Baldwin II of England had the "Grand Matter of the English Succession" drawn up, listing the succession as:

1. Any son hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
2. Any son hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
3. Helena of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
4. Renata of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
5. Any daughter hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
6. Any daughter hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
7. The eldest legitimate descendant of Ferdinand, Earl of March, should he not hold a foreign throne of his own.
8. Prince Francis of Lorraine, only son of Joan of England, daughter of Stephen III of England, and his descendants legitimately begotten.
9. John, Duke of Brabant, and his heirs legitimately begotten.
10. Geoffrey, Count of Castilla, and his heirs legitimately begotten.

Now this line of succession frustrated not only the King of Portugal, but also the Duke of Gloucester and many others in and out of England. In particular Simon of Maine, married to Isabeau of England, daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat and Stephen III of England demanded to know why he had been left out. Not only was his wife technically legitimate, as the marriage of Stephen III and Theresa Giovanna was recognized by the Pope, but he himself was a descendant of John IV through his second son, who's line was now Counts of Maine. Afonso of Portugal would have started a war over the whole thing, but in 1555 his eldest son was betrothed to Renata of England with the promise that, potentially Helena of England and her son might be skipped over.

Thus, when Helena of England died in 1562, the 22 year old Henry of Bar was heir to the throne, with all subsequent pregnancies of Euphemia of Rothesay producing either daughters (Mary, born 1552, Anna, born 1555, and Eleanor, born 1560) or stillborn/short-lived sons (1549, 1554, 1556, 1561 and a final one in 1564). He was treated as such, and in 1563, at his grandfather's urging, he married French Princess Louise d'Angouleme, the granddaughter of Charles X of France, and sister to the Dauphin. The girl in question was 12 when the marriage took place, and the Pope himself spoke out against "child brides", causing Henry of Bar some embarrassment.

Thus, when he succeeded to the throne in 1565, he had by his side a 13 year old wife, unable to produce children or lay with him for another 4 years by current Church law, and a whole royal family to quietly get rid of. In 1568, he convinced Euphemia of Rothesay to retire to a convent, taking with her Mary of England, who had always shown a vocation for a religious life. In 1570, a 15 year old Anna of England was betrothed to Henry of Bar's current ally, Nicholas of Burgundy, and in 1573, shortly after the birth of his first child, Eleanor of England was betrothed to Sigismund II, King of Hungary, and sent to live in the Regency Court of Hungary with his mother, the domineering Eleanora d'Este, an Italian princess.

Henry II of England was not a man for which power came lightly. His father, forever sure his son would be ousted from his rightful place on the throne, had become his strongest advisor, to the point where upon his death, the King of England was said to have refused for him to be buried until the stench of death was overpowering. Regardless, he saw that his father was buried with his mother, and in 1580, a year after James, Duke of Mar's death, he was retroactively given the title Duke of London, as was his right as husband to an heir to the throne.

The King of England went far to reward his loyal family. In 1574, the Earl of Kent, his uncle (his father coming from the this Earl's father's second marriage) was married to heiress Alice Percy, and made Viceroy of Normandy. Meanwhile, Thomas of Kent was awarded the title Count of Mayenne and sent as Viceroy of Anjou, replacing John of Gloucester, who found himself tasked with acting as dignitary to the Irish Lords, because Henry wanted to invade Ireland but needed to know if it would simply be easier to have them bow to him. In 1583, with the birth of Henry's daughter Charlotte of England, a distant cousin of the King's, George Bullen, was made the Baron Choulet, sent to Anjou and made a part of the Count of Mayenne's entourage.

There was a mindfulness to the way the King rewarded his family, sending them to do the hard work in foreign places, to prevent them from growing to powerful at home. He also moved people frequently to prevent power bases from forming. in 1584 He removed the Earl of Kent from Normandy, replaced him with George Bullen, who he felt had done good work in Anjou, and Kent replaced Mayenne in Anjou, while Mayenne acted as his advisor until 1587, when he was moved to Maine. This standard of frequent moves led to some hostility amongst those who lost lucrative positions, but the King made sure none were moved too low or too high, with exception to George Bullen, who never was removed from Normandy due to his amazing track recorded, but instead sent young men to train as future advisors.

In 1590, at the age of 50, Henry II of England replaced himself, when he positioned his heir Stephen as Regent to England while he travelled across the continental positions of England to ensure everything ran as well as he had been told. He travelled with his wife, who remained in Calais after discovering herself pregnant. However, in 1591, after his wife's birth to a daughter named Violante, he felt the need to rush back to London, and it was soon discovered why. In 1592, only barely making it back to England, Henry II of England died. It's unsure what killed him, but it seems likely that a slow working illness had been taking his health slowly, and his work to delegate had been, in part, to ensure England was prepared at his death. Thus, England fell to his heir.

[19] King Stephen V inherited a relatively stable position, both at home and on the continent. He continued his father's policies, shifting around his family and practicing meritocracy where possible. During his reign, the first English expeditions sailed out to the New World. After all the intrigues and chaos of his predecessors, Stephen V was a welcome change, and is still remembered as Good King Stephen. He died after a long, peaceful, and relatively boring reign, and was succeeded by his heir Baldwin III.

[20] Baldwin III, the eldest nephew of Stephen V via his brother, Prince Sigismund, Duke of Wessex, ascended the throne due to his uncle outliving all of his children and grandchildren. Many expected the untrained King to fail, instead he would be remembered as Baldwin the Wise by history. Supportive of the merchant classes to expand the wealth of the Kingdom, Baldwin's England saw the growth of the English holdings in the New World with the establishment of the Stephanus Bay Colony, named in honor of his predecessor, and centered around the town (and future city) of Kings Port.

Baldwin's designation of 'The Wise' would come from his hosting of two great meetings that would change the face of Christendom and Europe, the first was his role as the host of the Council of London for the Catholic Church in 1648-1651, the 19th Ecumenical council in Catholic History and it's impact was significant. For the last three centuries the church had been plagued by significant corruption, nepotism, and laxity in teaching proper doctrine to priests in all levels of the church, and this was bleeding into the local populous, whom had embraced several heresy movements which, while most had been put down, continued to persist in the shadows due to the continued failings of the men in charge of God's church, the Council of London was the brainchild of Pope Christopher II and King Baldwin III to begin correcting these issues and to reinforce the Church's role as the sole arbitrator of God's will in the world.

Baldwin III would also host the Great Meeting of London of 1663, in which he served as a neutral arbitrator to the various Irish lords, who had managed to form five small petty-Kingdoms in the absence of English rule since the Anarchy, the Five Petty Kings agreed that Baldwin's third son, Prince Eustace would be made the first High King of Ireland in centuries with his capital the city of Dubhlinn.

Baldwin III would have a total of seven sons and three daughters, the third son would become High King Eustace I of Ireland, but his eldest son would inherit the English throne upon Baldwin's death in 1672 and become Baldwin IV.

[21] Baldwin IV came to the throne in 1672 after the death of his father and the accession of his younger brother Eustace as High King of Ireland. He was a well intentioned individual - but the most important thing that everyone remembers about him is that he didnt do anything important. Maintaining the status quo for almost half a century whilst Eustace and his line established themselves over the water as well as continuing the other diplomatic efforts started by his father. He didn't marry though he had several mistresses and numerous illegitimate children - and he might have even married his mistress in a morganatic marriage, he did appoint a certain Henry FitzBaldwin as the Duke of (the Isle of) Wight in 1692. When he died, from pneumonia, his lack of legitimate issue meant that the crown passed to his nephew, Prince Henry of York.
[22] At the age of 20, the Prince had never expected to raise to the throne, he thought a child would be born through an alternative marriage but this was not to be.
He had been staying in the City of York, commanding a defense force, against Scotland, following his father's death a few years previously.
With news of his uncles death, Henry, rode South to claim the throne, with a group from his army to support him, fearing a bastard taking their father's crown.
Henry had many rebellions and revolts, attacking his rule, he would die at the age of 39, when he died in his sleep following what many though was a poisoning.
[23] Louis, only son of Henry, who outlived him, was just six months old, when his father died. Like most of his siblings (with exception of his sister Alexandrina) he was sickly child and, like it was excepted, have not survived long and soon followed his father.

[24] Alexandrina, the only daughter of Henry III inherited the throne from her infant brother Louis under very suspect circumstances. A lusty, buxomly beautiful girl with fiery red hair who only became more beautiful with age. Queen Alexandrina was unwed at age 15 when she became Queen and stayed that way until she was 22 when she found a man who could keep up with her in the bedroom, a minor Russian nobleman named Grigory Potemkin, though the Queen had had several lovers before this, they were all swept aside when she encountered Potemkin at a masked ball in Paris.

She delighted in the exotic goods that were coming to England from the new world colonies, such as tobacco and encouraged more colonial projects in the Caribbean Sea which brought even more exotic goods such as new vegetables and fruits and what would be a foundation of England's wealth in trade until the Asian colonies emerged in the 19th century, sugar.

Alexandrina had a number of pleasure palaces constructed and made the nobility attend her for at least nine months out of the year, creating a rotation of 'seasons' in which she could keep an eye on the rich and powerful, even while enjoying the attentions of her husband and giving him many children, including the heir to the throne, John.

Alexandrina would die at age 53 of a heart attack three years after her husband died, though legends would spread that she had been killed by a bull while trying to have sex with it, unable to find a suitable replacement for her husband in her bed.​

[25] John was the first of 3 sons (John, William and Geoff) birthed by Alexandrina. After his mother died, John took the throne. John was a favorite of many, becoming a very respected man. He was known for visiting towns in his country and talking to the everymen. He was also said to have a great sense of humor. At 25, he wed Princess Mary of Denmark, and sired 2 boys (Percival and Oliver). He was shot down in London in 1806, leading to a beginning of a big conflict.

[26] The assassination of John V led to England joining the Popular Wars, a series of bloody conflicts that had swept Europe over the course of the previous generation and had only now hit England itself. In these uncertain times, King Percival ascended the throne a young man, and did what he could to maintain peace and order throughout his kingdom while fighting what seemed to be a massive storm of ideologies that had taken hold of many other kingdoms. After many years, he and his allies triumphed. He avoided death on many occasions, finally dying in bed. He passed on his crown to his greatgrandchild Alexander, Duke of Southampton.

[27] The Prince and Princess of Wales died when their ship went down in a storm whilst on tour in the Mediterranean and left no issue, the Duke of York suffered a heart attack and stroke, his eldest the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was shot in a hunting accident and his eldest, the Duke of Sussex, died of an opiate overdose at age twenty one, a year before he would have become King. Alexander should never have become King - as the spare of an heir to the spare, at birth he was fifth in line to the throne and the possibilities at that point only indicates he would move downwards. As such, whilst he was clearly never going to be King (or so they thought) he was still subject to the Royal Marriages Act which meant his grandfather would need to give permission to him to marry. Percival II granted his ascent, perhaps allowing his romantic side to agree rather than his logical one - which saw his grandson marry Margaret Warbash, a celebrity American sharpshooter who went by the stage name of Sureshot Peggy and who had made her name as part of the curiosity troop cultivated by PT Barnum. Beautiful but a tomboy, she wasn't what was expected of a Duchess, much less the consort of the Heir Apparent or a Queen. Even before she became Queen, she devoted herself to women's rights and the abolition of slavery which saw her and Alexander clash with the Prime Minister and Parliament. "Margaret of America" became a forerunner to the suffragettes and her friendship with Emmaline Pankhurst in her dotage is often marked on. Alexander and Margaret had six children - an equal number of boys and girls - and when Alexander dies in his fifties from complications following surgery, he was succeeded by Judith II, his daughter.

[28] Oldest daughter of Alexander, as young girl she was wounded by anarchist assassin, who tried to kill her father, this traumatic event left mark of her reign and explains her reactionary views, shared by her husband, Margrave Albert of Baden.

[29] the Eldest son of Queen Judith and Prince-Consort Albert of Baden, John VI would take the throne in 1899, and his twenty two year long reign would be seen as the golden age of English rule.
His Empire would expand over Patagonia, and over much of Southern Africa as well.
John VI would die in 1921, and pass the Throne to his eldest son, Prince Edward.

[30] Prince Edward took the throne in 1921, and was initially perceived well, as a young and liberal King. However the 1929 Coup by Winston Johns, and the Blackshirt Movement would unthrone Edward. He was followed by his cousin Crispin of York.

[31] Crispin was picked as a puppet monarch by the new government when it had been populated by representatives of the Blackshirt Movement and led by the new Prime Minister, Oswald Moseley. The only member of the royal family remotely receptive to his manifesto, Moseley sought to influence Crispin further by marrying him to his Blackshirt Movement groupie sister-in-law, Unity Mitford, and the marriage occurred in 1934. King Crispin and Queen Unity reigned for fifteen years, amidst several assasination attempts and any number of coups, military and otherwise. When Unity died in 1944 at the age of 30 after failing to produce an heir, the Blackshirt Movement lost their figurehead and their grasp on government when Crispin began to very publically suffer a mental breakdown - leading to the assassination of Moseley by Resistance member Ian Fleming (who would later become Prime Minister) and the predictable abdication and resultant suicide of Crispin.

The provisional government looked to ________, the deposed Kings ________ to take the throne.

 

[The_Last_Plantagenet]

Monarchs of England
1135 - 1163: Stephen I (House of Blois)
1163 - 1179: William III (House of Blois) [1]
1179 - 1201: William IV (House of Blois) [2]
1201 - 1222: Stephen II (House of Blois) [3]
1222 - 1247: John I (House of Blois) [4]
1247 - 1276: Helena (House of Blois) [5]
1276 - 1300: John II (House of Hereford) [6]
1300 - 1355: Edward I (House of Hereford) [7]
1355 - 1356: Arthur I (House of Hereford) [8]
1356 - 1378: Richard I (House of Hereford [9]
1378 - 1413: Judith I (House of Hereford) and
1378 - 1411: John III (House of Luxembourg) [10]
1411 - 1429: Percival I (House of Luxembourg) [11]
1429 - 1474: John IV (House of Luxembourg) [12]
1474 - 1478: Baldwin I (House of Luxembourg) [13]
1478 - 1506: Marianne (House of Brabant) [14]
1506 - 1536: Stephen III (House of Brabant) [15]
1536 - 1540: Stephen IV (House of Brabant) [16]
1540 - 1565: Baldwin II (House of Brabant) [17]
1565 - 1592: Henry II (House of Brabant) [18]
1592 - 1641: Stephen V (House of Brabant) [19]
1641 - 1672: Baldwin III (House of Brabant) [20]
1672 - 1712: Baldwin IV (House of Brabant) [21]
1712 - 1741: Henry III (House of Brabant) [22]
1741 - 1742: Louis (House of Brabant) [23]
1742 - 1783: Alexandrina (House of Brabant) [24]
1783 - 1806: John V (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [25]
1806 - 1865: Percival II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [26]
1865 - 1885: Alexander (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [27]
1885 - 1899: Judith II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [28]
1899 - 1921: John VI (House of Baden) [29]
1921 - 1930: Edward II (House of Baden) [30]
1930 - 1945: Crispin (House of Baden-York) [31]
1945 - 1989: Stephen VI (House of Baden) [32]

Spoiler: See Previous Footnotes

[1] Stephen I recovered from the illness that would have killed in 1154 and lived another nine years, in that time his remaining son William I, Count of Boulogne became more interested in the throne of England as his father managed to solidify the Blois's grip on the country in the lull of peace that came from the Treaty of Winchester (1153) with Henry Fitzempress and his land-wealthy wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine. Stephen found cause to renege on the treaty in 1162 as he was dying and proclaimed his son William his heir. This detonated the 'Second Phase' of The Anarchy and William III became King on horseback, fighting the forces of Henry Fitzempress and his Aquitanian army (borrowed from his wife). William would leave much of the governance of England in the hands of his wife, Isabel de Warenne as Regent and caregiver to their four children after a swift coronation. William's entire reign was spent fighting 'Henry II' and the war continued onward in an ugly stalemate as William's eldest son, another William, was crowned in Westminster.

[2] Whereas his grandfather and father fought militarily for their right to England, William IV chose instead to fight a more defensive war, knowing that he had only to outlast Henry Fitzempress' attempts to claim the throne instead of outright stopping and pushing him out. The situation worked, to an extent. Henry's armies wore themselves out chasing William and his allies all over England, and many (particularly those from Aquitaine, his wife's home province) deserted him to return to their homes. Henry Fitzempress was well known to be a man of unflagging strength, but even he was tiring of the decades of warfare trying to add England to the empire he sought to create. By 1182, both sides were so utterly exhausted they could fight no more, and England was a flaming ruin. The ensuing London Accord (1183) formally ended the Anarchy that had devastated so many lives, with William marrying Henry's second daughter, Aelinor, who brought Normandy (long ago conquered by Henry's father) as her dowry. Henry would never give Normandy up in his lifetime, but slowly, bit by bit, the county was brought back under English rule, despite the grumblings of Aelinor's brothers (who ended up fighting one another over Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, and perhaps even the weather). William's marriage to Aelinor was a fruitful one, bearing ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The rest of William's reign saw him focus primarily on rebuilding England and arguing with his barons, who had amassed a great deal of power, land, and castles during the Anarchy. Though he improved much in his final years, the arguments with the barons would continue into the reign of William's eldest son, Stephen II.

[3] Stephen II spent most of his reign reasserting the royal authority over the vassals of the English crown, this meant dealing with the over powerful Barons, the Welsh marcher-lords who had become independent in all but name, and the Church which was seeking greater autonomy and power over appointments to Bishoprics. What assisted Stephen II in focusing on domestic matters, and continuing to heal the realm from the ravages of the Anarchy, was that perennial enemy of England, France, was having to deal with the powerful 'Plantagenet brothers', the sons of the deceased Henry Fitzempress and his wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine, and Louis VII and Philip II of France being dragged into Crusades in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the forces of Islam. Stephen II managed to establish a Common Law for the whole of England and managed to find a balance between himself and the Barons, a few Baronal families had died out during the Anarchy and their lands had reverted to the crown, with the English kingdom rebounding the Crown grew in power, so Stephen found himself able to begin enforcing his will and forced several barons to tear down illegal castles and accept the King's Common Law. He was less successful with the Welsh marcher-lords, and plans for an invasion of Ireland fell threw due to continuing problems with the northern reaches of England and Scottish raids against his border lords. While Stephen II had three daughters, his only son Prince Baldwin died of an unknown disease at age 14, and so Stephen II's eldest brother John became King when Stephen II died in 1222.

[4] King John, during his youth prepared to join the clergy, strengthened position of the Church in England, giving numerous privileges to clergy. John regarded non-hereditary hierarchs of Catholic Church as lesser danger to his rule than barons. As result he was praised by chroniclers (who were mostly clergymen) and was later known as 'John the Just' or 'John the Good', despite his rather not very pious lifestyle-John was allegedly father of over hundred children, but only one of them was legitimate-his successor Helena.

[5] Daughter of an outwardly pious father who was incredibly promiscuous and father dozens of illegitimate children could only lead to her being a little conflicted - and as a result she tried to forge a happy medium between her father' extremes, between the barons and the clergy her father had promoted to power, opening avenues of conversation between the two faction. At the time of her accession there was even questions as to her suitability to rule - many elders could not concieve of a woman in control of England and championed Stephen and John's brother Thomas to be King, but given John had long been setting up his daughters accession by insertinh supporters of the idea in key positions, they relented and despite the religious/political tensions, her reign proved to be comparatively peaceful. Married to an obscure continental noble, she had several children and when she died of a sweating sickness, the throne passed to her son, John II.

[6] Son of Helena and her husband, Herbert, Earl of Hereford. His father was obscure nobleman from Normandy, whom King John II has given Earldom of Hereford and whom he later married to his only legitimate daughter and heiress. According to rumors, Herbert was King's illegitimate son and because of this John of Blois elevated him to Earldom and pushed for pharaonic marriage between his kids to keep his bloodline on the throne, although these rumors of incest between his parents likely were part of John II's black legend spread later by clergy, unhappy with his policy-John II, unlike his grandfather, tried to limit Church's influence in the Kingdom and was conflicted with Pope and threatened with excommunication due to controversy over taxation of clergy and seizure of property of some monasteries.

[7] The third son of John II and his wife, Catherine of Scotland (their first two sons having died young), Edward's early reign was beset by troubles. Many of the clergy, who were unhappy with the reversal of the policies of John I by John II (something that Edward himself was continuing), began to whisper in the ears of several of Edward's distant cousins who had distant claims to the throne via their descent from William IV's many offspring. It was one of them who should be sitting on the throne of England, not this untried boy whose only claim to the throne came through a woman who had likely married her own half-brother to secure her own power. The first decade of Edward's reign saw several rebellions on the part of many of these distant cousins, each determined to claim what many clergymen were claiming was rightfully theirs. Each of them, however, failed. While Edward himself was not the most martial of men (at least, compared to men like Richard Fitzhugh, a famous knight of the day who was often called "the paragon of war and knightly values"), a legacy left to him by his father was a strong government able to ward off threats like this. Combined with a keen insight into people (thus allowing him to replace good, competent men on his council with other good, competent men when the need arose), and Edward was able to navigate this difficult period with relative success. As a result, though, the ranks of the nobility were severely pruned, as those who joined in the rebellions were either killed on the battlefield, executed afterward, or were scattered into exile. The clergy too suffered. Edward refused to have "a flock of rebellious monks spreading poison instead the values of Christ" in his kingdom. He might have executed them too, but having no desire to continue the conflict with the Pope that had so mired his father, Edward settled for stripping them of their offices and exiling them. The Pope grumbled about this, but was made to see it was the lesser of two evils at this point in time. The rest of Edward's reign was comparatively peaceful. Being not a man who embraced war, Edward instead focused on the arts of peace and plenty. He founded several schools and universities, urged his nobility to send their sons there (which many of them did, given that these nobles had been given what they had by Edward after the various rebellions by his Blois cousins), and also expanded England's trading network beyond just the coast of France. Goods from places like Italy, Greece, and various eastern European countries began to appear in England. Edward's personal life was perhaps a little more fraught. His first wife, Edith of Gloucester, bore him only one child, a daughter, Margaret. When Edith died in 1326, Edward remarried Urraca of Aragon two years later, and together they had five children, four of them sons. Margaret's vehement dislike of her stepmother was only matched by Urraca's disdain for Margaret. All attempts at mediation on Edward's part failed, and when he died in 1355, the stage was set for another round of civil war, as Margaret had long claimed to be his successor despite Edward's proclamations of his eldest son with Urraca, Arthur. All of Edward's hard work in keeping England safe and at peace seemed on the verge of crashing down.

[8] Arthur, named after his father's favourite hero, legendary King Arthur, from the very beginning of his reign had to fight against a rebellion of his sister's supporters. Being a skilled commander, he was able to crush his opponents in the decisive Second Battle of Hastings, where forces led by Margaret's husband, Conan of Brittany, called 'Conan the Barbarian' due to his violent temper, were almost completely annihilated-Conan was killed in the battle, Margaret, informed about her husband's death, threw herself into the sea. The war was over, but Arthur, wounded with spear during late stage of battle, died just three days after later, leaving the throne to his younger brother, Richard.

[9] The younger twin of Arthur I, Richard I was left to clean up the mess of the thankfully brief rebellion of their older half-sister. Though Margaret and her husband were both dead, there still remained their young children, the eldest of which, Geoffrey, had been with his parents for the battle (though not involved directly due to his age). With his father's death and his mother's suicide, Richard had the new Count of Brittany in his custody as a hostage, a potent political tool in his dealings with both Brittany itself and with France. Richard considered restoring Geoffrey to Brittany after the payment of a significant ransom and with a bride of Richard's own choice to hopefully prevent any future incursions, but the sudden invasion of Brittany by the combined forces of Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine put paid to that plan. Geoffrey's four younger siblings were all forced to flee to England and into Richard's waiting hands. Brittany was then carved up between the three invaders, all of them led by descendants of Henry Fitzempress and Aelinor of Aquitaine (just as Geoffrey himself was, via his father). That bloodline still proved particularly troublesome, even nearly two centuries later. To prevent problems in the future, Richard decided then to nip the problem in the bud. His half-nieces were all packed into separate convents, and Geoffrey's younger brother became a clergyman. Geoffrey himself remained titular Count of Brittany, but he was kept in close confinement for the rest of his days and he never married nor had any children. Thus Margaret's line was ended without bloodshed. Richard spent the rest of his reign defending Normandy, which was being subjected to attacks from the Plantagenet families as they attempted to conquer it as they had Brittany. He married Isabella of Bohemia in 1360, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and had children, Judith, Isabella, Maud, and Arthur. He was succeeded in 1378 by his oldest surviving child, Judith.

[10] Judith became heiress of his father, after her only brother Arthur died as result of horse ridding accident. She ruled together with her husband, John, Count of Luxembourg, cousin of her mother from cadet branch of Imperial House of Luxembourg. Judith and John were both ambitious and power hungry, and shared desire to join thrones of England and HRE, spending vast sums of money from Royal treasure to bribe Electors with little effect. After death of her husband Judith's menthal health gradually degenerated, she remained titular Queen Regnant untill her death in 1413, although power was taken de facto by her son and successor Percival who had hellish job to repair England's finances, damaged by his parents' HRE adventures.

[11] Following the political upheaval in France, and the machinations and power struggles of the House of Hereford it must gave felt like a breath of fresh air to have a raven haired handsome, well spoken and educated youth on the throne - having clearly inherited his mothers good looks rather than his fathers pallid complexion, he was popular with women of all ages. But we'e they popular with him? Court gossip abounded that he was rather too fond of Thomas, Earl of Huntingdon - with both Thomas and his sister the ironically named Marion spending frequent weekends with the young King. Whatever may be the case, Percival married Marion and produced an heir - the future of the House of Luxembourg was secure, for the time being - and over the next several years, several more issue was produced. Court gossip was hushed sufficiently for the rumours to never reach the public at large - but never entirely hushed and not sufficiently to halt any estrangement between Percival and Marion who attempted to manipulate evidence of collusion in a plot with religious extremists to blow up the King during a meeting of the Privy Council. Percival was put to the test - wife or lover - and with a stranger stepping forward to accuse Marion of witchcraft, Percivals choice seemed clear cut. But it wasn't - because the Earl of Huntingdon was mysteriously shot and the title shifted to one of Percivals own sons, the shooter was never found and later historians suggest he was one of Marions lovers, a court musician. By this point, the accusation against Marion had made it to the privy council and, with the King effectively emotionally crippled, and with the evidence seemingly abundant, they convicted her and she was beheaded. In emotional distress, the King resorted to drink and debauchery and fifty days after his wife was beheaded, and sixty days after his possible lover was shot, Percival hung himself from a tree whilst out hunting. He left behind several children and was succeeded on the throne by his son John.

[12] John IV had many interest (he was poet, painter, even amateur alchemist), but ruling the country definitely wasn't one of them-he let his advisors to took the reins. But despite his passive nature, he was generally remembered as good king-his reign was long period of peace and fast cultural development of the Kingdom. John IV was succeeded by his son, Baldwin I.

[13] Baldwin I, the oldest remaining son of John IV took the throne in his fourties and bedridden from a jousting accident that broke his leg and infection set in and just wouldn't heal properly. Four years of agony saw Baldwin I finally succumb to death at age 45 and was succeeded by his only surviving child, Marianne of Brabant.

[14] The sole child of Baldwin I of England, Marianne I would take the throne at the age of nine, and placed under a recency of her Paternal cousin, John of Anglesey; a Bastard of King Percival. Queen Marianne chose to marry her cousin her cousin Louis of Brabant, at the age of 16, and by the age of 19 the Royal couple had three sons.
Marianne would reign for 28 years, with the only major conflict being a small skirmishing war with the Dukes of Zütphen between 1491 and 1498.
She would be succeeded by her eldest son Stephen of Brabant.

[15] Stephen III, King of England was 20 years old when he rose to the throne, and knew what his place in history would be. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Aquitaine in 1503, the Plantagenet Empire was crumbling, and between the Kings of France, Lorraine and Navarre, the last Plantagenet heiress, the Duchess Renata of Aquitaine, turned to the English for support, 35 to the English King's 22 upon their marriage, the duo focused on holding lands connected to Normandy at the least, and thus by 1512, the two held Brittany, Anjou and a fair chunk of Maine. Flanders was lost, as was Aquitaine, but with at least those lands secure, Stephen III felt success in his endeavor.

Further success for the Brabant English royal family came when, in 1515, Stephen's youngest brother, Ferdinand, Earl of March, was able to marry Violante I, Queen of Portugal, the grandest heiress in Europe, after Stephen's own wife, and this one was of an age with her husband and wouldn't lose any of her inheritance. The marriage secured English relations with Portugal, and managed to remove the most ambitious of Stephen's nobles from his court, ensuring a safer court for himself, his wife and their 6 children.

However, in 1521, Stephen's life turned upside down with the arrival of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, who arrived at the English court, to marry the King's nephew, Geoffrey, Earl of Cambridge. However, Stephen himself was obsessed with her beauty, and thus began an affair with her, beginning the Cambridge Civil War.

Essentially, England fell into civil war the Montferrat Princess, who between 1522 and 1530, was dragged across England, Ireland and Normandy by Stephen, producing three illegitimate daughters all the while writing long, angry letters to her husband, demanding he fix the problem with her love so they could find a solution. With the death of Renata of Aquitaine in 1528 due to heart problems, the solution became obvious, and in 1531, Stephen III married Theresa Giovanna, after her marriage to the Earl of Cambridge was annulled, and two weeks later Geoffrey of Cambridge was married to the Princess Eleanor of England, and raised to the title of Duke.

England was the laughing stock of Europe.

To make matters worse, in 1533, Thomas, Duke of York, Stephen's brother and Cambridge's father, died defending Anjou, thus losing those territories to the new King of Navarre. Losing that territory was truly frustrating to Stephen, who sent his eldest son, another Stephen, to retake it, dying in 1536 before news could arrive that the new King had been captured by the Navarrese.

[16] Nearly all of Stephen IV's reign was spent in captivity at the hands of the King of Navarre, who refused to release him without an enormous ransom. Stephen, needless to say, was furious. Thanks to his father's foolishness over "the Montferrat whore", much of his inheritance had been conquered. Anjou was gone, and he could only watch helplessly as Maine and Brittany soon followed. He knew that part of the problem was that his people could not fight effectively when they feared for his own life. By 1540, Stephen had had enough. He had been able to turn many of his jailers to his side, promising them lands and titles in England if they helped him to escape. He was able to get a message out to his younger brother, Baldwin, informing him of what was to happen. The ensuing escape nearly went off without a hitch, but when Stephen and his allies were discovered at the worst possible moment, it fell into a bloody free-for-all. Stephen made it to the boat that his brother had sent to him, but he was mortally wounded in the process. He died on the crossing back to England, leaving his younger brother to clean up their father's mess.

[17] Its tough to sat when Baldwin's reign began - whether it began in 1536 when his brother was captured and made prisoner of the King of Navarre, or whether it began four years later when he formally ascended the throne. As Lord Protector he had composed a good council of nobles to advise him, a council - or Parliament - that continued once he had been crowned. It was much that the council could do to continue keeping England out of the French conflicts as their running foe continued to form a combined entity - an actual Kingdom of France rather than the aligned and minor Kingdoms with Sub-King that existed heretofore. Likewise, they turned their attention north to Scotland and west to Wales and Ireland to strengthen bonds and alliances there. Baldwin married Princess Euphemia of Rothesay, daughter of Andrew, Duke of Rothesay and granddaughter of King Andrew II of Scotland (of the reborn House of Balliol) - selected to strengthen the bonds but far enough away from the Scottish crown to avoid a personal union.

Baldwin and Euphemia of Rothesay had several children and when Baldwin succumbed to what modern medical historians suspect was cancer, the throne passed to Henry, his grandson.

[18] Born Henry of Mar, Henry II of England became the King of England by chance, because his father had married his mother. Now, this might seem a strange turn of phrase, but James, Duke of Mar was the youngest son of Percival, Earl of Kent when, in 1532, he fell in love with Helena of England, the youngest of then Prince Baldwin's three daughters by his first wife, Marie of Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had brought with her support for what was considered to be the obvious French/English War for Aquitaine, before Stephen IV's capture. Helena of England, then Helena of Norfolk, was thus a catch for the half-Scottish nobleman, who wooed her considerably, before being offered a choice by Baldwin as Regent to the throne. He could either (a) marry Helena, but give up his Scottish title, invest what money he had into the ongoing English War, and potentially become ennobled by a grateful King Stephen when he OBVIOUSLY would be returned to England, or (b) marry the eldest daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, Joan of England, take her and her mother back to Scotland, and forget about Helena. Baldwin was, at this time, pursuing his brother's decidedly anti-Scottish foreign policy, and was currently housing the Welsh Princess Aelinor of Gwent, who was Stephen's betrothed, who would ultimately marry Baldwin's youngest brother, John, Duke of Bedford and produce no children.

Both options were harsh, and for a time it looked like James, Duke of Mar would give signs that he was considering returning to Scotland, potentially to marry his first cousin, the Lady Juliana Stewart, who would in 1540 marry her other first cousin, Thomas of Kinross. Instead, the Duke of Mar found himself a suddenly valuable ally when, in 1535, Marie of Poitiers died in childbirth to what would have been a son, and in 1536, Baldwin, Duke of Norfolk became Baldwin II, King of England and suddenly was able to ally himself with the Scots. Plans for a match between his eldest daughter Mary of England and

James, Duke of Mar was the cousin of the King of Scots, and thus in 1537 was one of 4 noblemen tasked with escorting the Princess Euphemia of Rothesay to England, as not only were they cousins, but they actually descended from the same Scottish King on their father's sides, with the Mar dynasty coming from Robert III's second marriage as King of Scotland, while the Rothesay's came from his first marriage, which thus fathered Andrew II of Scotland, and his son and thus Euphemia. Thus, they were somewhat closely related, and had known each other somewhat well as children, and at one point Euphemia was to have been betrothed to James' elder brother Andrew, before his untimely passing. Thus, when in 1538 the Duke of London, heir to the throne was born, Helena of England was granted permission to marry the Duke of Mar, no commitments needed, and in 1540 they celebrated their birth of their first child, young Henry of Bar. He would be their only child.

Helena of England would come to the forefront of the Succession by 1550, with 4 deaths in a row. The first, her elder sister to still be living, Catherine of England, married the King of Barcelona in 1540, dying in childbirth in 1544 with a stillborn son. Next, her brothers by Euphemia of Rothesay, the Duke of London and Duke of Norfolk both died of the measles, leaving, at that point, only Helena and her younger sister Renata as heirs to the throne. And then, finally, John of Cambridge, the last scion of the Duke of Cambridge, who had marry Stephen III's youngest daughter and, for a time, was considered Baldwin's next heir, died in a hunting accident in which his third wife seems to have accidentally shot him with an arrow. As his first to brides, Francesca of Sicily and Hannah of Gloucester had both failed to produce children, it was thus only Helena, Duchess of Mar, her son and the infant Princess Renata to inherit the crown.

To make matters more complicated, in 1552, Afonso II of Portugal, great-grandson of the Earl of March, who had become King of Portugal through marriage, demanded his right to the English Throne be admitted, and thus in 1553, Baldwin II of England had the "Grand Matter of the English Succession" drawn up, listing the succession as:

1. Any son hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
2. Any son hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
3. Helena of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
4. Renata of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
5. Any daughter hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
6. Any daughter hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
7. The eldest legitimate descendant of Ferdinand, Earl of March, should he not hold a foreign throne of his own.
8. Prince Francis of Lorraine, only son of Joan of England, daughter of Stephen III of England, and his descendants legitimately begotten.
9. John, Duke of Brabant, and his heirs legitimately begotten.
10. Geoffrey, Count of Castilla, and his heirs legitimately begotten.

Now this line of succession frustrated not only the King of Portugal, but also the Duke of Gloucester and many others in and out of England. In particular Simon of Maine, married to Isabeau of England, daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat and Stephen III of England demanded to know why he had been left out. Not only was his wife technically legitimate, as the marriage of Stephen III and Theresa Giovanna was recognized by the Pope, but he himself was a descendant of John IV through his second son, who's line was now Counts of Maine. Afonso of Portugal would have started a war over the whole thing, but in 1555 his eldest son was betrothed to Renata of England with the promise that, potentially Helena of England and her son might be skipped over.

Thus, when Helena of England died in 1562, the 22 year old Henry of Bar was heir to the throne, with all subsequent pregnancies of Euphemia of Rothesay producing either daughters (Mary, born 1552, Anna, born 1555, and Eleanor, born 1560) or stillborn/short-lived sons (1549, 1554, 1556, 1561 and a final one in 1564). He was treated as such, and in 1563, at his grandfather's urging, he married French Princess Louise d'Angouleme, the granddaughter of Charles X of France, and sister to the Dauphin. The girl in question was 12 when the marriage took place, and the Pope himself spoke out against "child brides", causing Henry of Bar some embarrassment.

Thus, when he succeeded to the throne in 1565, he had by his side a 13 year old wife, unable to produce children or lay with him for another 4 years by current Church law, and a whole royal family to quietly get rid of. In 1568, he convinced Euphemia of Rothesay to retire to a convent, taking with her Mary of England, who had always shown a vocation for a religious life. In 1570, a 15 year old Anna of England was betrothed to Henry of Bar's current ally, Nicholas of Burgundy, and in 1573, shortly after the birth of his first child, Eleanor of England was betrothed to Sigismund II, King of Hungary, and sent to live in the Regency Court of Hungary with his mother, the domineering Eleanora d'Este, an Italian princess.

Henry II of England was not a man for which power came lightly. His father, forever sure his son would be ousted from his rightful place on the throne, had become his strongest advisor, to the point where upon his death, the King of England was said to have refused for him to be buried until the stench of death was overpowering. Regardless, he saw that his father was buried with his mother, and in 1580, a year after James, Duke of Mar's death, he was retroactively given the title Duke of London, as was his right as husband to an heir to the throne.

The King of England went far to reward his loyal family. In 1574, the Earl of Kent, his uncle (his father coming from the this Earl's father's second marriage) was married to heiress Alice Percy, and made Viceroy of Normandy. Meanwhile, Thomas of Kent was awarded the title Count of Mayenne and sent as Viceroy of Anjou, replacing John of Gloucester, who found himself tasked with acting as dignitary to the Irish Lords, because Henry wanted to invade Ireland but needed to know if it would simply be easier to have them bow to him. In 1583, with the birth of Henry's daughter Charlotte of England, a distant cousin of the King's, George Bullen, was made the Baron Choulet, sent to Anjou and made a part of the Count of Mayenne's entourage.

There was a mindfulness to the way the King rewarded his family, sending them to do the hard work in foreign places, to prevent them from growing to powerful at home. He also moved people frequently to prevent power bases from forming. in 1584 He removed the Earl of Kent from Normandy, replaced him with George Bullen, who he felt had done good work in Anjou, and Kent replaced Mayenne in Anjou, while Mayenne acted as his advisor until 1587, when he was moved to Maine. This standard of frequent moves led to some hostility amongst those who lost lucrative positions, but the King made sure none were moved too low or too high, with exception to George Bullen, who never was removed from Normandy due to his amazing track recorded, but instead sent young men to train as future advisors.

In 1590, at the age of 50, Henry II of England replaced himself, when he positioned his heir Stephen as Regent to England while he travelled across the continental positions of England to ensure everything ran as well as he had been told. He travelled with his wife, who remained in Calais after discovering herself pregnant. However, in 1591, after his wife's birth to a daughter named Violante, he felt the need to rush back to London, and it was soon discovered why. In 1592, only barely making it back to England, Henry II of England died. It's unsure what killed him, but it seems likely that a slow working illness had been taking his health slowly, and his work to delegate had been, in part, to ensure England was prepared at his death. Thus, England fell to his heir.

[19] King Stephen V inherited a relatively stable position, both at home and on the continent. He continued his father's policies, shifting around his family and practicing meritocracy where possible. During his reign, the first English expeditions sailed out to the New World. After all the intrigues and chaos of his predecessors, Stephen V was a welcome change, and is still remembered as Good King Stephen. He died after a long, peaceful, and relatively boring reign, and was succeeded by his heir Baldwin III.

[20] Baldwin III, the eldest nephew of Stephen V via his brother, Prince Sigismund, Duke of Wessex, ascended the throne due to his uncle outliving all of his children and grandchildren. Many expected the untrained King to fail, instead he would be remembered as Baldwin the Wise by history. Supportive of the merchant classes to expand the wealth of the Kingdom, Baldwin's England saw the growth of the English holdings in the New World with the establishment of the Stephanus Bay Colony, named in honor of his predecessor, and centered around the town (and future city) of Kings Port.

Baldwin's designation of 'The Wise' would come from his hosting of two great meetings that would change the face of Christendom and Europe, the first was his role as the host of the Council of London for the Catholic Church in 1648-1651, the 19th Ecumenical council in Catholic History and it's impact was significant. For the last three centuries the church had been plagued by significant corruption, nepotism, and laxity in teaching proper doctrine to priests in all levels of the church, and this was bleeding into the local populous, whom had embraced several heresy movements which, while most had been put down, continued to persist in the shadows due to the continued failings of the men in charge of God's church, the Council of London was the brainchild of Pope Christopher II and King Baldwin III to begin correcting these issues and to reinforce the Church's role as the sole arbitrator of God's will in the world.

Baldwin III would also host the Great Meeting of London of 1663, in which he served as a neutral arbitrator to the various Irish lords, who had managed to form five small petty-Kingdoms in the absence of English rule since the Anarchy, the Five Petty Kings agreed that Baldwin's third son, Prince Eustace would be made the first High King of Ireland in centuries with his capital the city of Dubhlinn.

Baldwin III would have a total of seven sons and three daughters, the third son would become High King Eustace I of Ireland, but his eldest son would inherit the English throne upon Baldwin's death in 1672 and become Baldwin IV.

[21] Baldwin IV came to the throne in 1672 after the death of his father and the accession of his younger brother Eustace as High King of Ireland. He was a well intentioned individual - but the most important thing that everyone remembers about him is that he didnt do anything important. Maintaining the status quo for almost half a century whilst Eustace and his line established themselves over the water as well as continuing the other diplomatic efforts started by his father. He didn't marry though he had several mistresses and numerous illegitimate children - and he might have even married his mistress in a morganatic marriage, he did appoint a certain Henry FitzBaldwin as the Duke of (the Isle of) Wight in 1692. When he died, from pneumonia, his lack of legitimate issue meant that the crown passed to his nephew, Prince Henry of York.
[22] At the age of 20, the Prince had never expected to raise to the throne, he thought a child would be born through an alternative marriage but this was not to be.
He had been staying in the City of York, commanding a defense force, against Scotland, following his father's death a few years previously.
With news of his uncles death, Henry, rode South to claim the throne, with a group from his army to support him, fearing a bastard taking their father's crown.
Henry had many rebellions and revolts, attacking his rule, he would die at the age of 39, when he died in his sleep following what many though was a poisoning.
[23] Louis, only son of Henry, who outlived him, was just six months old, when his father died. Like most of his siblings (with exception of his sister Alexandrina) he was sickly child and, like it was excepted, have not survived long and soon followed his father.

[24] Alexandrina, the only daughter of Henry III inherited the throne from her infant brother Louis under very suspect circumstances. A lusty, buxomly beautiful girl with fiery red hair who only became more beautiful with age. Queen Alexandrina was unwed at age 15 when she became Queen and stayed that way until she was 22 when she found a man who could keep up with her in the bedroom, a minor Russian nobleman named Grigory Potemkin, though the Queen had had several lovers before this, they were all swept aside when she encountered Potemkin at a masked ball in Paris.

She delighted in the exotic goods that were coming to England from the new world colonies, such as tobacco and encouraged more colonial projects in the Caribbean Sea which brought even more exotic goods such as new vegetables and fruits and what would be a foundation of England's wealth in trade until the Asian colonies emerged in the 19th century, sugar.

Alexandrina had a number of pleasure palaces constructed and made the nobility attend her for at least nine months out of the year, creating a rotation of 'seasons' in which she could keep an eye on the rich and powerful, even while enjoying the attentions of her husband and giving him many children, including the heir to the throne, John.

Alexandrina would die at age 53 of a heart attack three years after her husband died, though legends would spread that she had been killed by a bull while trying to have sex with it, unable to find a suitable replacement for her husband in her bed.​

[25] John was the first of 3 sons (John, William and Geoff) birthed by Alexandrina. After his mother died, John took the throne. John was a favorite of many, becoming a very respected man. He was known for visiting towns in his country and talking to the everymen. He was also said to have a great sense of humor. At 25, he wed Princess Mary of Denmark, and sired 2 boys (Percival and Oliver). He was shot down in London in 1806, leading to a beginning of a big conflict.

[26] The assassination of John V led to England joining the Popular Wars, a series of bloody conflicts that had swept Europe over the course of the previous generation and had only now hit England itself. In these uncertain times, King Percival ascended the throne a young man, and did what he could to maintain peace and order throughout his kingdom while fighting what seemed to be a massive storm of ideologies that had taken hold of many other kingdoms. After many years, he and his allies triumphed. He avoided death on many occasions, finally dying in bed. He passed on his crown to his greatgrandchild Alexander, Duke of Southampton.

[27] The Prince and Princess of Wales died when their ship went down in a storm whilst on tour in the Mediterranean and left no issue, the Duke of York suffered a heart attack and stroke, his eldest the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was shot in a hunting accident and his eldest, the Duke of Sussex, died of an opiate overdose at age twenty one, a year before he would have become King. Alexander should never have become King - as the spare of an heir to the spare, at birth he was fifth in line to the throne and the possibilities at that point only indicates he would move downwards. As such, whilst he was clearly never going to be King (or so they thought) he was still subject to the Royal Marriages Act which meant his grandfather would need to give permission to him to marry. Percival II granted his ascent, perhaps allowing his romantic side to agree rather than his logical one - which saw his grandson marry Margaret Warbash, a celebrity American sharpshooter who went by the stage name of Sureshot Peggy and who had made her name as part of the curiosity troop cultivated by PT Barnum. Beautiful but a tomboy, she wasn't what was expected of a Duchess, much less the consort of the Heir Apparent or a Queen. Even before she became Queen, she devoted herself to women's rights and the abolition of slavery which saw her and Alexander clash with the Prime Minister and Parliament. "Margaret of America" became a forerunner to the suffragettes and her friendship with Emmaline Pankhurst in her dotage is often marked on. Alexander and Margaret had six children - an equal number of boys and girls - and when Alexander dies in his fifties from complications following surgery, he was succeeded by Judith II, his daughter.

[28] Oldest daughter of Alexander, as young girl she was wounded by anarchist assassin, who tried to kill her father, this traumatic event left mark of her reign and explains her reactionary views, shared by her husband, Margrave Albert of Baden.

[29] the Eldest son of Queen Judith and Prince-Consort Albert of Baden, John VI would take the throne in 1899, and his twenty two year long reign would be seen as the golden age of English rule.
His Empire would expand over Patagonia, and over much of Southern Africa as well.
John VI would die in 1921, and pass the Throne to his eldest son, Prince Edward.

[30] Prince Edward took the throne in 1921, and was initially perceived well, as a young and liberal King. However the 1929 Coup by Winston Johns, and the Blackshirt Movement would unthrone Edward. He was followed by his cousin Prince Crispin of York.

[31] Crispin was picked as a puppet monarch by the new government when it had been populated by representatives of the Blackshirt Movement and led by the new Prime Minister, Oswald Moseley. The only member of the royal family remotely receptive to his manifesto, Moseley sought to influence Crispin further by marrying him to his Blackshirt Movement groupie sister-in-law, Unity Mitford, and the marriage occurred in 1934. King Crispin and Queen Unity reigned for fifteen years, amidst several assasination attempts and any number of coups, military and otherwise. When Unity died in 1944 at the age of 30 after failing to produce an heir, the Blackshirt Movement lost their figurehead and their grasp on government when Crispin began to very publically suffer a mental breakdown - leading to the assassination of Moseley by Resistance member Ian Fleming (who would later become Prime Minister) and the predictable abdication and resultant suicide of Crispin.

The provisional government looked to Prince Stephen Louis, the deposed Kings nephew to take the throne.

[32] king Stephen VI was invited to take the throne in 1945, as being the Cousin of Crispin I, and the Nephew of Edward II via the second son of John VI, Prince John, Duke of Somerset.
His long reign was primarily devoted to the recovery of England from the long years of the Blackshirt Dictatorship. Great effort was put into restarting trade with other nations, as well as rebuilding England's international image.
When Stephen VI died in 1989, the throne passed to _________.

 

[Timaeus]

Monarchs of England
1135 - 1163: Stephen I (House of Blois)
1163 - 1179: William III (House of Blois) [1]
1179 - 1201: William IV (House of Blois) [2]
1201 - 1222: Stephen II (House of Blois) [3]
1222 - 1247: John I (House of Blois) [4]
1247 - 1276: Helena (House of Blois) [5]
1276 - 1300: John II (House of Hereford) [6]
1300 - 1355: Edward I (House of Hereford) [7]
1355 - 1356: Arthur I (House of Hereford) [8]
1356 - 1378: Richard I (House of Hereford [9]
1378 - 1413: Judith I (House of Hereford) and
1378 - 1411: John III (House of Luxembourg) [10]
1411 - 1429: Percival I (House of Luxembourg) [11]
1429 - 1474: John IV (House of Luxembourg) [12]
1474 - 1478: Baldwin I (House of Luxembourg) [13]
1478 - 1506: Marianne (House of Brabant) [14]
1506 - 1536: Stephen III (House of Brabant) [15]
1536 - 1540: Stephen IV (House of Brabant) [16]
1540 - 1565: Baldwin II (House of Brabant) [17]
1565 - 1592: Henry II (House of Brabant) [18]
1592 - 1641: Stephen V (House of Brabant) [19]
1641 - 1672: Baldwin III (House of Brabant) [20]
1672 - 1712: Baldwin IV (House of Brabant) [21]
1712 - 1741: Henry III (House of Brabant) [22]
1741 - 1742: Louis (House of Brabant) [23]
1742 - 1783: Alexandrina (House of Brabant) [24]
1783 - 1806: John V (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [25]
1806 - 1865: Percival II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [26]
1865 - 1885: Alexander (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [27]
1885 - 1899: Judith II (House of Potemkin-Brabant) [28]
1899 - 1921: John VI (House of Baden) [29]
1921 - 1930: Edward II (House of Baden) [30]
1930 - 1945: Crispin (House of Baden-York) [31]
1945 - 1989: Stephen VI (House of Baden) [32]
1989 - present: John VII (House of Baden) [33]

Spoiler: See Previous Footnotes

[1] Stephen I recovered from the illness that would have killed in 1154 and lived another nine years, in that time his remaining son William I, Count of Boulogne became more interested in the throne of England as his father managed to solidify the Blois's grip on the country in the lull of peace that came from the Treaty of Winchester (1153) with Henry Fitzempress and his land-wealthy wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine. Stephen found cause to renege on the treaty in 1162 as he was dying and proclaimed his son William his heir. This detonated the 'Second Phase' of The Anarchy and William III became King on horseback, fighting the forces of Henry Fitzempress and his Aquitanian army (borrowed from his wife). William would leave much of the governance of England in the hands of his wife, Isabel de Warenne as Regent and caregiver to their four children after a swift coronation. William's entire reign was spent fighting 'Henry II' and the war continued onward in an ugly stalemate as William's eldest son, another William, was crowned in Westminster.

[2] Whereas his grandfather and father fought militarily for their right to England, William IV chose instead to fight a more defensive war, knowing that he had only to outlast Henry Fitzempress' attempts to claim the throne instead of outright stopping and pushing him out. The situation worked, to an extent. Henry's armies wore themselves out chasing William and his allies all over England, and many (particularly those from Aquitaine, his wife's home province) deserted him to return to their homes. Henry Fitzempress was well known to be a man of unflagging strength, but even he was tiring of the decades of warfare trying to add England to the empire he sought to create. By 1182, both sides were so utterly exhausted they could fight no more, and England was a flaming ruin. The ensuing London Accord (1183) formally ended the Anarchy that had devastated so many lives, with William marrying Henry's second daughter, Aelinor, who brought Normandy (long ago conquered by Henry's father) as her dowry. Henry would never give Normandy up in his lifetime, but slowly, bit by bit, the county was brought back under English rule, despite the grumblings of Aelinor's brothers (who ended up fighting one another over Anjou, Aquitaine, Brittany, and perhaps even the weather). William's marriage to Aelinor was a fruitful one, bearing ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. The rest of William's reign saw him focus primarily on rebuilding England and arguing with his barons, who had amassed a great deal of power, land, and castles during the Anarchy. Though he improved much in his final years, the arguments with the barons would continue into the reign of William's eldest son, Stephen II.

[3] Stephen II spent most of his reign reasserting the royal authority over the vassals of the English crown, this meant dealing with the over powerful Barons, the Welsh marcher-lords who had become independent in all but name, and the Church which was seeking greater autonomy and power over appointments to Bishoprics. What assisted Stephen II in focusing on domestic matters, and continuing to heal the realm from the ravages of the Anarchy, was that perennial enemy of England, France, was having to deal with the powerful 'Plantagenet brothers', the sons of the deceased Henry Fitzempress and his wife, Aelinor of Aquitaine, and Louis VII and Philip II of France being dragged into Crusades in the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the forces of Islam. Stephen II managed to establish a Common Law for the whole of England and managed to find a balance between himself and the Barons, a few Baronal families had died out during the Anarchy and their lands had reverted to the crown, with the English kingdom rebounding the Crown grew in power, so Stephen found himself able to begin enforcing his will and forced several barons to tear down illegal castles and accept the King's Common Law. He was less successful with the Welsh marcher-lords, and plans for an invasion of Ireland fell threw due to continuing problems with the northern reaches of England and Scottish raids against his border lords. While Stephen II had three daughters, his only son Prince Baldwin died of an unknown disease at age 14, and so Stephen II's eldest brother John became King when Stephen II died in 1222.

[4] King John, during his youth prepared to join the clergy, strengthened position of the Church in England, giving numerous privileges to clergy. John regarded non-hereditary hierarchs of Catholic Church as lesser danger to his rule than barons. As result he was praised by chroniclers (who were mostly clergymen) and was later known as 'John the Just' or 'John the Good', despite his rather not very pious lifestyle-John was allegedly father of over hundred children, but only one of them was legitimate-his successor Helena.

[5] Daughter of an outwardly pious father who was incredibly promiscuous and father dozens of illegitimate children could only lead to her being a little conflicted - and as a result she tried to forge a happy medium between her father' extremes, between the barons and the clergy her father had promoted to power, opening avenues of conversation between the two faction. At the time of her accession there was even questions as to her suitability to rule - many elders could not concieve of a woman in control of England and championed Stephen and John's brother Thomas to be King, but given John had long been setting up his daughters accession by insertinh supporters of the idea in key positions, they relented and despite the religious/political tensions, her reign proved to be comparatively peaceful. Married to an obscure continental noble, she had several children and when she died of a sweating sickness, the throne passed to her son, John II.

[6] Son of Helena and her husband, Herbert, Earl of Hereford. His father was obscure nobleman from Normandy, whom King John II has given Earldom of Hereford and whom he later married to his only legitimate daughter and heiress. According to rumors, Herbert was King's illegitimate son and because of this John of Blois elevated him to Earldom and pushed for pharaonic marriage between his kids to keep his bloodline on the throne, although these rumors of incest between his parents likely were part of John II's black legend spread later by clergy, unhappy with his policy-John II, unlike his grandfather, tried to limit Church's influence in the Kingdom and was conflicted with Pope and threatened with excommunication due to controversy over taxation of clergy and seizure of property of some monasteries.

[7] The third son of John II and his wife, Catherine of Scotland (their first two sons having died young), Edward's early reign was beset by troubles. Many of the clergy, who were unhappy with the reversal of the policies of John I by John II (something that Edward himself was continuing), began to whisper in the ears of several of Edward's distant cousins who had distant claims to the throne via their descent from William IV's many offspring. It was one of them who should be sitting on the throne of England, not this untried boy whose only claim to the throne came through a woman who had likely married her own half-brother to secure her own power. The first decade of Edward's reign saw several rebellions on the part of many of these distant cousins, each determined to claim what many clergymen were claiming was rightfully theirs. Each of them, however, failed. While Edward himself was not the most martial of men (at least, compared to men like Richard Fitzhugh, a famous knight of the day who was often called "the paragon of war and knightly values"), a legacy left to him by his father was a strong government able to ward off threats like this. Combined with a keen insight into people (thus allowing him to replace good, competent men on his council with other good, competent men when the need arose), and Edward was able to navigate this difficult period with relative success. As a result, though, the ranks of the nobility were severely pruned, as those who joined in the rebellions were either killed on the battlefield, executed afterward, or were scattered into exile. The clergy too suffered. Edward refused to have "a flock of rebellious monks spreading poison instead the values of Christ" in his kingdom. He might have executed them too, but having no desire to continue the conflict with the Pope that had so mired his father, Edward settled for stripping them of their offices and exiling them. The Pope grumbled about this, but was made to see it was the lesser of two evils at this point in time. The rest of Edward's reign was comparatively peaceful. Being not a man who embraced war, Edward instead focused on the arts of peace and plenty. He founded several schools and universities, urged his nobility to send their sons there (which many of them did, given that these nobles had been given what they had by Edward after the various rebellions by his Blois cousins), and also expanded England's trading network beyond just the coast of France. Goods from places like Italy, Greece, and various eastern European countries began to appear in England. Edward's personal life was perhaps a little more fraught. His first wife, Edith of Gloucester, bore him only one child, a daughter, Margaret. When Edith died in 1326, Edward remarried Urraca of Aragon two years later, and together they had five children, four of them sons. Margaret's vehement dislike of her stepmother was only matched by Urraca's disdain for Margaret. All attempts at mediation on Edward's part failed, and when he died in 1355, the stage was set for another round of civil war, as Margaret had long claimed to be his successor despite Edward's proclamations of his eldest son with Urraca, Arthur. All of Edward's hard work in keeping England safe and at peace seemed on the verge of crashing down.

[8] Arthur, named after his father's favourite hero, legendary King Arthur, from the very beginning of his reign had to fight against a rebellion of his sister's supporters. Being a skilled commander, he was able to crush his opponents in the decisive Second Battle of Hastings, where forces led by Margaret's husband, Conan of Brittany, called 'Conan the Barbarian' due to his violent temper, were almost completely annihilated-Conan was killed in the battle, Margaret, informed about her husband's death, threw herself into the sea. The war was over, but Arthur, wounded with spear during late stage of battle, died just three days after later, leaving the throne to his younger brother, Richard.

[9] The younger twin of Arthur I, Richard I was left to clean up the mess of the thankfully brief rebellion of their older half-sister. Though Margaret and her husband were both dead, there still remained their young children, the eldest of which, Geoffrey, had been with his parents for the battle (though not involved directly due to his age). With his father's death and his mother's suicide, Richard had the new Count of Brittany in his custody as a hostage, a potent political tool in his dealings with both Brittany itself and with France. Richard considered restoring Geoffrey to Brittany after the payment of a significant ransom and with a bride of Richard's own choice to hopefully prevent any future incursions, but the sudden invasion of Brittany by the combined forces of Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine put paid to that plan. Geoffrey's four younger siblings were all forced to flee to England and into Richard's waiting hands. Brittany was then carved up between the three invaders, all of them led by descendants of Henry Fitzempress and Aelinor of Aquitaine (just as Geoffrey himself was, via his father). That bloodline still proved particularly troublesome, even nearly two centuries later. To prevent problems in the future, Richard decided then to nip the problem in the bud. His half-nieces were all packed into separate convents, and Geoffrey's younger brother became a clergyman. Geoffrey himself remained titular Count of Brittany, but he was kept in close confinement for the rest of his days and he never married nor had any children. Thus Margaret's line was ended without bloodshed. Richard spent the rest of his reign defending Normandy, which was being subjected to attacks from the Plantagenet families as they attempted to conquer it as they had Brittany. He married Isabella of Bohemia in 1360, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor and had children, Judith, Isabella, Maud, and Arthur. He was succeeded in 1378 by his oldest surviving child, Judith.

[10] Judith became heiress of his father, after her only brother Arthur died as result of horse ridding accident. She ruled together with her husband, John, Count of Luxembourg, cousin of her mother from cadet branch of Imperial House of Luxembourg. Judith and John were both ambitious and power hungry, and shared desire to join thrones of England and HRE, spending vast sums of money from Royal treasure to bribe Electors with little effect. After death of her husband Judith's menthal health gradually degenerated, she remained titular Queen Regnant untill her death in 1413, although power was taken de facto by her son and successor Percival who had hellish job to repair England's finances, damaged by his parents' HRE adventures.

[11] Following the political upheaval in France, and the machinations and power struggles of the House of Hereford it must gave felt like a breath of fresh air to have a raven haired handsome, well spoken and educated youth on the throne - having clearly inherited his mothers good looks rather than his fathers pallid complexion, he was popular with women of all ages. But we'e they popular with him? Court gossip abounded that he was rather too fond of Thomas, Earl of Huntingdon - with both Thomas and his sister the ironically named Marion spending frequent weekends with the young King. Whatever may be the case, Percival married Marion and produced an heir - the future of the House of Luxembourg was secure, for the time being - and over the next several years, several more issue was produced. Court gossip was hushed sufficiently for the rumours to never reach the public at large - but never entirely hushed and not sufficiently to halt any estrangement between Percival and Marion who attempted to manipulate evidence of collusion in a plot with religious extremists to blow up the King during a meeting of the Privy Council. Percival was put to the test - wife or lover - and with a stranger stepping forward to accuse Marion of witchcraft, Percivals choice seemed clear cut. But it wasn't - because the Earl of Huntingdon was mysteriously shot and the title shifted to one of Percivals own sons, the shooter was never found and later historians suggest he was one of Marions lovers, a court musician. By this point, the accusation against Marion had made it to the privy council and, with the King effectively emotionally crippled, and with the evidence seemingly abundant, they convicted her and she was beheaded. In emotional distress, the King resorted to drink and debauchery and fifty days after his wife was beheaded, and sixty days after his possible lover was shot, Percival hung himself from a tree whilst out hunting. He left behind several children and was succeeded on the throne by his son John.

[12] John IV had many interest (he was poet, painter, even amateur alchemist), but ruling the country definitely wasn't one of them-he let his advisors to took the reins. But despite his passive nature, he was generally remembered as good king-his reign was long period of peace and fast cultural development of the Kingdom. John IV was succeeded by his son, Baldwin I.

[13] Baldwin I, the oldest remaining son of John IV took the throne in his fourties and bedridden from a jousting accident that broke his leg and infection set in and just wouldn't heal properly. Four years of agony saw Baldwin I finally succumb to death at age 45 and was succeeded by his only surviving child, Marianne of Brabant.

[14] The sole child of Baldwin I of England, Marianne I would take the throne at the age of nine, and placed under a recency of her Paternal cousin, John of Anglesey; a Bastard of King Percival. Queen Marianne chose to marry her cousin her cousin Louis of Brabant, at the age of 16, and by the age of 19 the Royal couple had three sons.
Marianne would reign for 28 years, with the only major conflict being a small skirmishing war with the Dukes of Zütphen between 1491 and 1498.
She would be succeeded by her eldest son Stephen of Brabant.

[15] Stephen III, King of England was 20 years old when he rose to the throne, and knew what his place in history would be. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Aquitaine in 1503, the Plantagenet Empire was crumbling, and between the Kings of France, Lorraine and Navarre, the last Plantagenet heiress, the Duchess Renata of Aquitaine, turned to the English for support, 35 to the English King's 22 upon their marriage, the duo focused on holding lands connected to Normandy at the least, and thus by 1512, the two held Brittany, Anjou and a fair chunk of Maine. Flanders was lost, as was Aquitaine, but with at least those lands secure, Stephen III felt success in his endeavor.

Further success for the Brabant English royal family came when, in 1515, Stephen's youngest brother, Ferdinand, Earl of March, was able to marry Violante I, Queen of Portugal, the grandest heiress in Europe, after Stephen's own wife, and this one was of an age with her husband and wouldn't lose any of her inheritance. The marriage secured English relations with Portugal, and managed to remove the most ambitious of Stephen's nobles from his court, ensuring a safer court for himself, his wife and their 6 children.

However, in 1521, Stephen's life turned upside down with the arrival of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, who arrived at the English court, to marry the King's nephew, Geoffrey, Earl of Cambridge. However, Stephen himself was obsessed with her beauty, and thus began an affair with her, beginning the Cambridge Civil War.

Essentially, England fell into civil war the Montferrat Princess, who between 1522 and 1530, was dragged across England, Ireland and Normandy by Stephen, producing three illegitimate daughters all the while writing long, angry letters to her husband, demanding he fix the problem with her love so they could find a solution. With the death of Renata of Aquitaine in 1528 due to heart problems, the solution became obvious, and in 1531, Stephen III married Theresa Giovanna, after her marriage to the Earl of Cambridge was annulled, and two weeks later Geoffrey of Cambridge was married to the Princess Eleanor of England, and raised to the title of Duke.

England was the laughing stock of Europe.

To make matters worse, in 1533, Thomas, Duke of York, Stephen's brother and Cambridge's father, died defending Anjou, thus losing those territories to the new King of Navarre. Losing that territory was truly frustrating to Stephen, who sent his eldest son, another Stephen, to retake it, dying in 1536 before news could arrive that the new King had been captured by the Navarrese.

[16] Nearly all of Stephen IV's reign was spent in captivity at the hands of the King of Navarre, who refused to release him without an enormous ransom. Stephen, needless to say, was furious. Thanks to his father's foolishness over "the Montferrat whore", much of his inheritance had been conquered. Anjou was gone, and he could only watch helplessly as Maine and Brittany soon followed. He knew that part of the problem was that his people could not fight effectively when they feared for his own life. By 1540, Stephen had had enough. He had been able to turn many of his jailers to his side, promising them lands and titles in England if they helped him to escape. He was able to get a message out to his younger brother, Baldwin, informing him of what was to happen. The ensuing escape nearly went off without a hitch, but when Stephen and his allies were discovered at the worst possible moment, it fell into a bloody free-for-all. Stephen made it to the boat that his brother had sent to him, but he was mortally wounded in the process. He died on the crossing back to England, leaving his younger brother to clean up their father's mess.

[17] Its tough to sat when Baldwin's reign began - whether it began in 1536 when his brother was captured and made prisoner of the King of Navarre, or whether it began four years later when he formally ascended the throne. As Lord Protector he had composed a good council of nobles to advise him, a council - or Parliament - that continued once he had been crowned. It was much that the council could do to continue keeping England out of the French conflicts as their running foe continued to form a combined entity - an actual Kingdom of France rather than the aligned and minor Kingdoms with Sub-King that existed heretofore. Likewise, they turned their attention north to Scotland and west to Wales and Ireland to strengthen bonds and alliances there. Baldwin married Princess Euphemia of Rothesay, daughter of Andrew, Duke of Rothesay and granddaughter of King Andrew II of Scotland (of the reborn House of Balliol) - selected to strengthen the bonds but far enough away from the Scottish crown to avoid a personal union.

Baldwin and Euphemia of Rothesay had several children and when Baldwin succumbed to what modern medical historians suspect was cancer, the throne passed to Henry, his grandson.

[18] Born Henry of Mar, Henry II of England became the King of England by chance, because his father had married his mother. Now, this might seem a strange turn of phrase, but James, Duke of Mar was the youngest son of Percival, Earl of Kent when, in 1532, he fell in love with Helena of England, the youngest of then Prince Baldwin's three daughters by his first wife, Marie of Poitiers, a French noblewoman who had brought with her support for what was considered to be the obvious French/English War for Aquitaine, before Stephen IV's capture. Helena of England, then Helena of Norfolk, was thus a catch for the half-Scottish nobleman, who wooed her considerably, before being offered a choice by Baldwin as Regent to the throne. He could either (a) marry Helena, but give up his Scottish title, invest what money he had into the ongoing English War, and potentially become ennobled by a grateful King Stephen when he OBVIOUSLY would be returned to England, or (b) marry the eldest daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat, Joan of England, take her and her mother back to Scotland, and forget about Helena. Baldwin was, at this time, pursuing his brother's decidedly anti-Scottish foreign policy, and was currently housing the Welsh Princess Aelinor of Gwent, who was Stephen's betrothed, who would ultimately marry Baldwin's youngest brother, John, Duke of Bedford and produce no children.

Both options were harsh, and for a time it looked like James, Duke of Mar would give signs that he was considering returning to Scotland, potentially to marry his first cousin, the Lady Juliana Stewart, who would in 1540 marry her other first cousin, Thomas of Kinross. Instead, the Duke of Mar found himself a suddenly valuable ally when, in 1535, Marie of Poitiers died in childbirth to what would have been a son, and in 1536, Baldwin, Duke of Norfolk became Baldwin II, King of England and suddenly was able to ally himself with the Scots. Plans for a match between his eldest daughter Mary of England and

James, Duke of Mar was the cousin of the King of Scots, and thus in 1537 was one of 4 noblemen tasked with escorting the Princess Euphemia of Rothesay to England, as not only were they cousins, but they actually descended from the same Scottish King on their father's sides, with the Mar dynasty coming from Robert III's second marriage as King of Scotland, while the Rothesay's came from his first marriage, which thus fathered Andrew II of Scotland, and his son and thus Euphemia. Thus, they were somewhat closely related, and had known each other somewhat well as children, and at one point Euphemia was to have been betrothed to James' elder brother Andrew, before his untimely passing. Thus, when in 1538 the Duke of London, heir to the throne was born, Helena of England was granted permission to marry the Duke of Mar, no commitments needed, and in 1540 they celebrated their birth of their first child, young Henry of Bar. He would be their only child.

Helena of England would come to the forefront of the Succession by 1550, with 4 deaths in a row. The first, her elder sister to still be living, Catherine of England, married the King of Barcelona in 1540, dying in childbirth in 1544 with a stillborn son. Next, her brothers by Euphemia of Rothesay, the Duke of London and Duke of Norfolk both died of the measles, leaving, at that point, only Helena and her younger sister Renata as heirs to the throne. And then, finally, John of Cambridge, the last scion of the Duke of Cambridge, who had marry Stephen III's youngest daughter and, for a time, was considered Baldwin's next heir, died in a hunting accident in which his third wife seems to have accidentally shot him with an arrow. As his first to brides, Francesca of Sicily and Hannah of Gloucester had both failed to produce children, it was thus only Helena, Duchess of Mar, her son and the infant Princess Renata to inherit the crown.

To make matters more complicated, in 1552, Afonso II of Portugal, great-grandson of the Earl of March, who had become King of Portugal through marriage, demanded his right to the English Throne be admitted, and thus in 1553, Baldwin II of England had the "Grand Matter of the English Succession" drawn up, listing the succession as:

1. Any son hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
2. Any son hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
3. Helena of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
4. Renata of England, and her descendants legitimately begotten.
5. Any daughter hereby fathered on Euphemia of Rothesay by King Baldwin.
6. Any daughter hereby fathered by King Baldwin on any true wife of his under the Catholic Church.
7. The eldest legitimate descendant of Ferdinand, Earl of March, should he not hold a foreign throne of his own.
8. Prince Francis of Lorraine, only son of Joan of England, daughter of Stephen III of England, and his descendants legitimately begotten.
9. John, Duke of Brabant, and his heirs legitimately begotten.
10. Geoffrey, Count of Castilla, and his heirs legitimately begotten.

Now this line of succession frustrated not only the King of Portugal, but also the Duke of Gloucester and many others in and out of England. In particular Simon of Maine, married to Isabeau of England, daughter of Theresa Giovanna of Montferrat and Stephen III of England demanded to know why he had been left out. Not only was his wife technically legitimate, as the marriage of Stephen III and Theresa Giovanna was recognized by the Pope, but he himself was a descendant of John IV through his second son, who's line was now Counts of Maine. Afonso of Portugal would have started a war over the whole thing, but in 1555 his eldest son was betrothed to Renata of England with the promise that, potentially Helena of England and her son might be skipped over.

Thus, when Helena of England died in 1562, the 22 year old Henry of Bar was heir to the throne, with all subsequent pregnancies of Euphemia of Rothesay producing either daughters (Mary, born 1552, Anna, born 1555, and Eleanor, born 1560) or stillborn/short-lived sons (1549, 1554, 1556, 1561 and a final one in 1564). He was treated as such, and in 1563, at his grandfather's urging, he married French Princess Louise d'Angouleme, the granddaughter of Charles X of France, and sister to the Dauphin. The girl in question was 12 when the marriage took place, and the Pope himself spoke out against "child brides", causing Henry of Bar some embarrassment.

Thus, when he succeeded to the throne in 1565, he had by his side a 13 year old wife, unable to produce children or lay with him for another 4 years by current Church law, and a whole royal family to quietly get rid of. In 1568, he convinced Euphemia of Rothesay to retire to a convent, taking with her Mary of England, who had always shown a vocation for a religious life. In 1570, a 15 year old Anna of England was betrothed to Henry of Bar's current ally, Nicholas of Burgundy, and in 1573, shortly after the birth of his first child, Eleanor of England was betrothed to Sigismund II, King of Hungary, and sent to live in the Regency Court of Hungary with his mother, the domineering Eleanora d'Este, an Italian princess.

Henry II of England was not a man for which power came lightly. His father, forever sure his son would be ousted from his rightful place on the throne, had become his strongest advisor, to the point where upon his death, the King of England was said to have refused for him to be buried until the stench of death was overpowering. Regardless, he saw that his father was buried with his mother, and in 1580, a year after James, Duke of Mar's death, he was retroactively given the title Duke of London, as was his right as husband to an heir to the throne.

The King of England went far to reward his loyal family. In 1574, the Earl of Kent, his uncle (his father coming from the this Earl's father's second marriage) was married to heiress Alice Percy, and made Viceroy of Normandy. Meanwhile, Thomas of Kent was awarded the title Count of Mayenne and sent as Viceroy of Anjou, replacing John of Gloucester, who found himself tasked with acting as dignitary to the Irish Lords, because Henry wanted to invade Ireland but needed to know if it would simply be easier to have them bow to him. In 1583, with the birth of Henry's daughter Charlotte of England, a distant cousin of the King's, George Bullen, was made the Baron Choulet, sent to Anjou and made a part of the Count of Mayenne's entourage.

There was a mindfulness to the way the King rewarded his family, sending them to do the hard work in foreign places, to prevent them from growing to powerful at home. He also moved people frequently to prevent power bases from forming. in 1584 He removed the Earl of Kent from Normandy, replaced him with George Bullen, who he felt had done good work in Anjou, and Kent replaced Mayenne in Anjou, while Mayenne acted as his advisor until 1587, when he was moved to Maine. This standard of frequent moves led to some hostility amongst those who lost lucrative positions, but the King made sure none were moved too low or too high, with exception to George Bullen, who never was removed from Normandy due to his amazing track recorded, but instead sent young men to train as future advisors.

In 1590, at the age of 50, Henry II of England replaced himself, when he positioned his heir Stephen as Regent to England while he travelled across the continental positions of England to ensure everything ran as well as he had been told. He travelled with his wife, who remained in Calais after discovering herself pregnant. However, in 1591, after his wife's birth to a daughter named Violante, he felt the need to rush back to London, and it was soon discovered why. In 1592, only barely making it back to England, Henry II of England died. It's unsure what killed him, but it seems likely that a slow working illness had been taking his health slowly, and his work to delegate had been, in part, to ensure England was prepared at his death. Thus, England fell to his heir.

[19] King Stephen V inherited a relatively stable position, both at home and on the continent. He continued his father's policies, shifting around his family and practicing meritocracy where possible. During his reign, the first English expeditions sailed out to the New World. After all the intrigues and chaos of his predecessors, Stephen V was a welcome change, and is still remembered as Good King Stephen. He died after a long, peaceful, and relatively boring reign, and was succeeded by his heir Baldwin III.

[20] Baldwin III, the eldest nephew of Stephen V via his brother, Prince Sigismund, Duke of Wessex, ascended the throne due to his uncle outliving all of his children and grandchildren. Many expected the untrained King to fail, instead he would be remembered as Baldwin the Wise by history. Supportive of the merchant classes to expand the wealth of the Kingdom, Baldwin's England saw the growth of the English holdings in the New World with the establishment of the Stephanus Bay Colony, named in honor of his predecessor, and centered around the town (and future city) of Kings Port.

Baldwin's designation of 'The Wise' would come from his hosting of two great meetings that would change the face of Christendom and Europe, the first was his role as the host of the Council of London for the Catholic Church in 1648-1651, the 19th Ecumenical council in Catholic History and it's impact was significant. For the last three centuries the church had been plagued by significant corruption, nepotism, and laxity in teaching proper doctrine to priests in all levels of the church, and this was bleeding into the local populous, whom had embraced several heresy movements which, while most had been put down, continued to persist in the shadows due to the continued failings of the men in charge of God's church, the Council of London was the brainchild of Pope Christopher II and King Baldwin III to begin correcting these issues and to reinforce the Church's role as the sole arbitrator of God's will in the world.

Baldwin III would also host the Great Meeting of London of 1663, in which he served as a neutral arbitrator to the various Irish lords, who had managed to form five small petty-Kingdoms in the absence of English rule since the Anarchy, the Five Petty Kings agreed that Baldwin's third son, Prince Eustace would be made the first High King of Ireland in centuries with his capital the city of Dubhlinn.

Baldwin III would have a total of seven sons and three daughters, the third son would become High King Eustace I of Ireland, but his eldest son would inherit the English throne upon Baldwin's death in 1672 and become Baldwin IV.

[21] Baldwin IV came to the throne in 1672 after the death of his father and the accession of his younger brother Eustace as High King of Ireland. He was a well intentioned individual - but the most important thing that everyone remembers about him is that he didnt do anything important. Maintaining the status quo for almost half a century whilst Eustace and his line established themselves over the water as well as continuing the other diplomatic efforts started by his father. He didn't marry though he had several mistresses and numerous illegitimate children - and he might have even married his mistress in a morganatic marriage, he did appoint a certain Henry FitzBaldwin as the Duke of (the Isle of) Wight in 1692. When he died, from pneumonia, his lack of legitimate issue meant that the crown passed to his nephew, Prince Henry of York.
[22] At the age of 20, the Prince had never expected to raise to the throne, he thought a child would be born through an alternative marriage but this was not to be.
He had been staying in the City of York, commanding a defense force, against Scotland, following his father's death a few years previously.
With news of his uncles death, Henry, rode South to claim the throne, with a group from his army to support him, fearing a bastard taking their father's crown.
Henry had many rebellions and revolts, attacking his rule, he would die at the age of 39, when he died in his sleep following what many though was a poisoning.
[23] Louis, only son of Henry, who outlived him, was just six months old, when his father died. Like most of his siblings (with exception of his sister Alexandrina) he was sickly child and, like it was excepted, have not survived long and soon followed his father.

[24] Alexandrina, the only daughter of Henry III inherited the throne from her infant brother Louis under very suspect circumstances. A lusty, buxomly beautiful girl with fiery red hair who only became more beautiful with age. Queen Alexandrina was unwed at age 15 when she became Queen and stayed that way until she was 22 when she found a man who could keep up with her in the bedroom, a minor Russian nobleman named Grigory Potemkin, though the Queen had had several lovers before this, they were all swept aside when she encountered Potemkin at a masked ball in Paris.

She delighted in the exotic goods that were coming to England from the new world colonies, such as tobacco and encouraged more colonial projects in the Caribbean Sea which brought even more exotic goods such as new vegetables and fruits and what would be a foundation of England's wealth in trade until the Asian colonies emerged in the 19th century, sugar.

Alexandrina had a number of pleasure palaces constructed and made the nobility attend her for at least nine months out of the year, creating a rotation of 'seasons' in which she could keep an eye on the rich and powerful, even while enjoying the attentions of her husband and giving him many children, including the heir to the throne, John.

Alexandrina would die at age 53 of a heart attack three years after her husband died, though legends would spread that she had been killed by a bull while trying to have sex with it, unable to find a suitable replacement for her husband in her bed.​

[25] John was the first of 3 sons (John, William and Geoff) birthed by Alexandrina. After his mother died, John took the throne. John was a favorite of many, becoming a very respected man. He was known for visiting towns in his country and talking to the everymen. He was also said to have a great sense of humor. At 25, he wed Princess Mary of Denmark, and sired 2 boys (Percival and Oliver). He was shot down in London in 1806, leading to a beginning of a big conflict.

[26] The assassination of John V led to England joining the Popular Wars, a series of bloody conflicts that had swept Europe over the course of the previous generation and had only now hit England itself. In these uncertain times, King Percival ascended the throne a young man, and did what he could to maintain peace and order throughout his kingdom while fighting what seemed to be a massive storm of ideologies that had taken hold of many other kingdoms. After many years, he and his allies triumphed. He avoided death on many occasions, finally dying in bed. He passed on his crown to his greatgrandchild Alexander, Duke of Southampton.

[27] The Prince and Princess of Wales died when their ship went down in a storm whilst on tour in the Mediterranean and left no issue, the Duke of York suffered a heart attack and stroke, his eldest the Duke of Clarence and Avondale was shot in a hunting accident and his eldest, the Duke of Sussex, died of an opiate overdose at age twenty one, a year before he would have become King. Alexander should never have become King - as the spare of an heir to the spare, at birth he was fifth in line to the throne and the possibilities at that point only indicates he would move downwards. As such, whilst he was clearly never going to be King (or so they thought) he was still subject to the Royal Marriages Act which meant his grandfather would need to give permission to him to marry. Percival II granted his ascent, perhaps allowing his romantic side to agree rather than his logical one - which saw his grandson marry Margaret Warbash, a celebrity American sharpshooter who went by the stage name of Sureshot Peggy and who had made her name as part of the curiosity troop cultivated by PT Barnum. Beautiful but a tomboy, she wasn't what was expected of a Duchess, much less the consort of the Heir Apparent or a Queen. Even before she became Queen, she devoted herself to women's rights and the abolition of slavery which saw her and Alexander clash with the Prime Minister and Parliament. "Margaret of America" became a forerunner to the suffragettes and her friendship with Emmaline Pankhurst in her dotage is often marked on. Alexander and Margaret had six children - an equal number of boys and girls - and when Alexander dies in his fifties from complications following surgery, he was succeeded by Judith II, his daughter.

[28] Oldest daughter of Alexander, as young girl she was wounded by anarchist assassin, who tried to kill her father, this traumatic event left mark of her reign and explains her reactionary views, shared by her husband, Margrave Albert of Baden.

[29] the Eldest son of Queen Judith and Prince-Consort Albert of Baden, John VI would take the throne in 1899, and his twenty two year long reign would be seen as the golden age of English rule.
His Empire would expand over Patagonia, and over much of Southern Africa as well.
John VI would die in 1921, and pass the Throne to his eldest son, Prince Edward.

[30] Prince Edward took the throne in 1921, and was initially perceived well, as a young and liberal King. However the 1929 Coup by Winston Johns, and the Blackshirt Movement would unthrone Edward. He was followed by his cousin Prince Crispin of York.

[31] Crispin was picked as a puppet monarch by the new government when it had been populated by representatives of the Blackshirt Movement and led by the new Prime Minister, Oswald Moseley. The only member of the royal family remotely receptive to his manifesto, Moseley sought to influence Crispin further by marrying him to his Blackshirt Movement groupie sister-in-law, Unity Mitford, and the marriage occurred in 1934. King Crispin and Queen Unity reigned for fifteen years, amidst several assasination attempts and any number of coups, military and otherwise. When Unity died in 1944 at the age of 30 after failing to produce an heir, the Blackshirt Movement lost their figurehead and their grasp on government when Crispin began to very publically suffer a mental breakdown - leading to the assassination of Moseley by Resistance member Ian Fleming (who would later become Prime Minister) and the predictable abdication and resultant suicide of Crispin.

The provisional government looked to Prince Stephen Louis, the deposed Kings nephew to take the throne.
[32] king Stephen VI was invited to take the throne in 1945, as being the Cousin of Crispin I, and the Nephew of Edward II via the second son of John VI, Prince John, Duke of Somerset.
His long reign was primarily devoted to the recovery of England from the long years of the Blackshirt Dictatorship. Great effort was put into restarting trade with other nations, as well as rebuilding England's international image.
When Stephen VI died in 1989, the throne passed to John VII.

[33] John VII is the eldest son of Stephen VI, and is the face of modern England, looking forward to the present. The King has liberalized the realm and delegates his realm to a liberal government. He is father to three sons and a daughter, and grandfather to seven boys and three girls.

 

[Timaeus]

Kings of Zosyneia (Go-Joseon)

300 - 286 BC: Alexandros I/Alishanda the Kingslayer (Argead Dynasty) [1]
286 - 265 BC: Alexandros II (Argead Dynasty) [2]
265 - 230 BC: Karanos I (Argead Dynasty) [3]
230 - 220 BC: Alexandros III (Argead Dynasty) [4]
220 - 208 BC: Amyntas I (Argead Dynasty) [5]
208 - 154 BC: Karanos II (Argead Dynasty) [6]

[1] Alexandros of Macedon in 330 was forced to leave the Persian Empire he had just conquered after the Betrayal at Rhages by his trusted generals and the Andragorid Satraps who had taken the throne and begun a new conquest of Greece. With a remnant of around ten thousand soldiers, Alexander took to the Silk Road and began his Anabasis to the East (for certainly, the shame of his defeat laid far too heavy upon him to return to the west, and Persia was far too dangerous). Alexander continued east, alternately subjugating and trading with the Tocharians and Scythians of the steppe, developing his tactics and his skill at administration.

He ended up on the borderlands of the Qin in 320, whom he fought for and then betrayed in their failed conquest of Chu, breaking the strength of the Qin for decades and opening the way for the Tocharians. For the next few years, Alexander fought for and courted the royal courts of the Warring States, keeping each of them from dominating any of the others and bringing with him his people whom the Huaxia called the Yuanzhi, Ionians.
After decades of bloodshed spanning half the world, Alexander and his people of made of Tocharians and half-Greeks ended up on the eastern borderlands of Yan, to the east of which was a land of temperate climate called Joseon. And Alexander conquered it and made it his own, doing unto it what he felt he should have done unto the Persians.

And so Alexander became king of Zosyneia, and ruled for fourteen years, crushing the pirates who would dare plunder his shores. His final campaign in 290 was a conquest of Kyushu as a commander to keep the pirates away. His death in 286 left the kingdom in the hands of his eldest son by a Tocharian woman named Alexandros.

[2] Heir to his father and ascending to the throne at the age of thirty-nine, Alexandros the Younger ascended to the throne of Nea Pella (OTL Pyongyang) relatively peacefully. An ally to the king of Yan, Alexandros II continued to intervene in the politics of the Huaxia, keeping all the kings of the Warring States from conquering one another. He continued to receive Tocharian settlers from the far west who had themselves pillaged their way through the Warring States. In addition, he also continued to subjugate the polities of Iamathai (Japan), and commissioned the Zosyneian literary work called 'The Secret History of the Maqidun', detailing the life of his father and the history of his ancestors.

After twenty-one years on the throne, he passed the throne to his son Karanos.

[3] Karanos was born on the battlefield and raised on the tales of his grandfather's glory, named after the founder of his dynasty which once ruled a kingdom far to the west and for one brief moment had ruled an empire greater than all of the realms of the Huaxia put together. The prince learned to rule and to fight, and with his ascension at the age of thirty-seven he went forth and fought.

And in his time, there was to lack of battles to be fought. The Kingdom of Chu, having defeated its rivals, had declared itself Hegemon of All Under Heaven, though many kingdoms yet stood against it, stood separate from it. Karanos joined the coalition of states arrayed against the kingdom, and defeated the Hegemony in its campaigns, maintaining the balance of power that was the corner stone of Zosyneia's foreign policy. Even so, Karanos still thirsted for a lasting legacy, and so sailed east into Iamathai. His father and grandfather had subjugated the westernmost island, and established footholds on the main island (Honshu) and the other southern island, but had not continued beyond that. He went forth and subjugated the tribes of the other southern island and further settled the main island with Zosyneians. He built temples to the gods, to his grandfather Alexandros who was the son of Zeus Philippos, and to the three children of Zeus Iamathaios: Athena Amteras, Apollo Tukhyoume, and Hermes Sysanos. And to the tribes of Iamathai he gave his most lasting legacy, writing.

He returned home and then ruled peacefully and justly. After a long reign of thirty-five years, during which his own son had lived a full life and died before him, Karanos passed the throne of Nea Pella to an already mature heir in his grandchild Alexandros.

[4] An entitled, nasty man, Alexandros III was, in many ways, his grandfather's opposite. He through infamously decadent parties, fathered many children on many women, and in 224, possibly set fire to a Temple of Zeus Philippos because he was certain a priest inside had mocked him. His 10 year reign only lasted due to the support of his brothers, who he distrusted, and in 220, he died at only 29, drowned in honey during a particularly wild orgy. His brother Amyntas I would be tasked with righting the wrongs of his brother.

[5] Amyntas I would spend the beginnings of his reign restoring public trust in the Argead Dynasty, using the remains of his father's temple to Zeus Philippos as a foundation for a newer, grander structure called The Grand Temple of the Gods. A blending of the local shamanistic religions and deities and the Hellenistic faith brought by their ancestor Alexandros along with their Grecian culture.

It was during Amyntas's reign that to the north the state of Han had risen to power, having used Alexandros III's reign of misrule as an opportunity to take Chu apart in an alliance with Wei and Qi. Amyntas I would wage war against the 'Triad Alliance' (as he called it) that would ultimately end in a humiliating defeat for Zosyneia.

Word reached the Greco-Joseon Kingdom of events in the former empire of their founder, the generals of Alexandros I had carved up the Argead Empire into a series of kingdoms for themselves and then went to war against one another to make their own Empire. None had succeeded in doing.

Word had also reached the remaining Diadochi Kingdoms of the survival of 'Alexandros the Conqueror' and the Kingdom of Zosyneia, but the distances involved meant that any meaningful communication was impossible.

Amyntas I would continue to reign despite his military losses against the Triad, successfully defending Zosyneia against their reprisal invasion and died in 208 BC soon after the end of the invasion, his successor would be his eldest son Karanos.

[6] Karanos II was forced to bear much humiliation, a massive tribute to the Triad alliance for peace being only the least of his problems. His kingdom in ruins even after the able defense of his father Amyntas, the King of Zosyneia undertook the long, hard task of rebuilding and fortifying the kingdom. One of the main things he undertook in his long reign was the subjugation of the remaining petty kingdoms of Iamathai, which he saw as a last refuge for the Zosyneian people. He expanded the realm up to the Kanto Plain, where he fought the last great native king of the land, Taraspikos of the Kyrokantoi (Kurokanto no Tarashihiko), who had gathered the seventeen kings of the Eteoiamathaiai and fought and died. With their defeat, Karanos II expanded the kingdom of Iamathai twicefold.

After his long reign, Karanos passed his throne to _____.

 

[lucon50]

PRINCIPATE LIVES ON
Roman Emperors

27 BC-14 AD: Augustus (Iulio-Claudia)
14 AD-32 AD: Drusus (Iulio-Claudia)
32 AD-54 AD: Germanicus (Iulio-Claudia)
54 AD-67 AD: Nero (Iulio-Claudia)

 

[Kaze]

Lord Protector / King of the Commonwealth
1. Oliver Cromwell (reigns - 1649 to 1658) [1]
2. King Richard the Fourth (r. 1658-1712)
3. (insert your own)

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.

 

[Shiva]

Kings of Zosyneia (Go-Joseon)

300 - 286 BC: Alexandros I/Alishanda the Kingslayer (Argead Dynasty) [1]
286 - 265 BC: Alexandros II (Argead Dynasty) [2]
265 - 230 BC: Karanos I (Argead Dynasty) [3]
230 - 220 BC: Alexandros III (Argead Dynasty) [4]
220 - 208 BC: Amyntas I (Argead Dynasty) [5]
208 - 154 BC: Karanos II (Argead Dynasty) [6]
154 - 128 BC: Amyntas II (Argead Dynasty) [7]

[1] Alexandros of Macedon in 330 was forced to leave the Persian Empire he had just conquered after the Betrayal at Rhages by his trusted generals and the Andragorid Satraps who had taken the throne and begun a new conquest of Greece. With a remnant of around ten thousand soldiers, Alexander took to the Silk Road and began his Anabasis to the East (for certainly, the shame of his defeat laid far too heavy upon him to return to the west, and Persia was far too dangerous). Alexander continued east, alternately subjugating and trading with the Tocharians and Scythians of the steppe, developing his tactics and his skill at administration.

He ended up on the borderlands of the Qin in 320, whom he fought for and then betrayed in their failed conquest of Chu, breaking the strength of the Qin for decades and opening the way for the Tocharians. For the next few years, Alexander fought for and courted the royal courts of the Warring States, keeping each of them from dominating any of the others and bringing with him his people whom the Huaxia called the Yuanzhi, Ionians.
After decades of bloodshed spanning half the world, Alexander and his people of made of Tocharians and half-Greeks ended up on the eastern borderlands of Yan, to the east of which was a land of temperate climate called Joseon. And Alexander conquered it and made it his own, doing unto it what he felt he should have done unto the Persians.

And so Alexander became king of Zosyneia, and ruled for fourteen years, crushing the pirates who would dare plunder his shores. His final campaign in 290 was a conquest of Kyushu as a commander to keep the pirates away. His death in 286 left the kingdom in the hands of his eldest son by a Tocharian woman named Alexandros.

[2] Heir to his father and ascending to the throne at the age of thirty-nine, Alexandros the Younger ascended to the throne of Nea Pella (OTL Pyongyang) relatively peacefully. An ally to the king of Yan, Alexandros II continued to intervene in the politics of the Huaxia, keeping all the kings of the Warring States from conquering one another. He continued to receive Tocharian settlers from the far west who had themselves pillaged their way through the Warring States. In addition, he also continued to subjugate the polities of Iamathai (Japan), and commissioned the Zosyneian literary work called 'The Secret History of the Maqidun', detailing the life of his father and the history of his ancestors.

After twenty-one years on the throne, he passed the throne to his son Karanos.

[3] Karanos was born on the battlefield and raised on the tales of his grandfather's glory, named after the founder of his dynasty which once ruled a kingdom far to the west and for one brief moment had ruled an empire greater than all of the realms of the Huaxia put together. The prince learned to rule and to fight, and with his ascension at the age of thirty-seven he went forth and fought.

And in his time, there was to lack of battles to be fought. The Kingdom of Chu, having defeated its rivals, had declared itself Hegemon of All Under Heaven, though many kingdoms yet stood against it, stood separate from it. Karanos joined the coalition of states arrayed against the kingdom, and defeated the Hegemony in its campaigns, maintaining the balance of power that was the corner stone of Zosyneia's foreign policy. Even so, Karanos still thirsted for a lasting legacy, and so sailed east into Iamathai. His father and grandfather had subjugated the westernmost island, and established footholds on the main island (Honshu) and the other southern island, but had not continued beyond that. He went forth and subjugated the tribes of the other southern island and further settled the main island with Zosyneians. He built temples to the gods, to his grandfather Alexandros who was the son of Zeus Philippos, and to the three children of Zeus Iamathaios: Athena Amteras, Apollo Tukhyoume, and Hermes Sysanos. And to the tribes of Iamathai he gave his most lasting legacy, writing.

He returned home and then ruled peacefully and justly. After a long reign of thirty-five years, during which his own son had lived a full life and died before him, Karanos passed the throne of Nea Pella to an already mature heir in his grandchild Alexandros.

[4] An entitled, nasty man, Alexandros III was, in many ways, his grandfather's opposite. He through infamously decadent parties, fathered many children on many women, and in 224, possibly set fire to a Temple of Zeus Philippos because he was certain a priest inside had mocked him. His 10 year reign only lasted due to the support of his brothers, who he distrusted, and in 220, he died at only 29, drowned in honey during a particularly wild orgy. His brother Amyntas I would be tasked with righting the wrongs of his brother.

[5] Amyntas I would spend the beginnings of his reign restoring public trust in the Argead Dynasty, using the remains of his father's temple to Zeus Philippos as a foundation for a newer, grander structure called The Grand Temple of the Gods. A blending of the local shamanistic religions and deities and the Hellenistic faith brought by their ancestor Alexandros along with their Grecian culture.

It was during Amyntas's reign that to the north the state of Han had risen to power, having used Alexandros III's reign of misrule as an opportunity to take Chu apart in an alliance with Wei and Qi. Amyntas I would wage war against the 'Triad Alliance' (as he called it) that would ultimately end in a humiliating defeat for Zosyneia.

Word reached the Greco-Joseon Kingdom of events in the former empire of their founder, the generals of Alexandros I had carved up the Argead Empire into a series of kingdoms for themselves and then went to war against one another to make their own Empire. None had succeeded in doing.

Word had also reached the remaining Diadochi Kingdoms of the survival of 'Alexandros the Conqueror' and the Kingdom of Zosyneia, but the distances involved meant that any meaningful communication was impossible.

Amyntas I would continue to reign despite his military losses against the Triad, successfully defending Zosyneia against their reprisal invasion and died in 208 BC soon after the end of the invasion, his successor would be his eldest son Karanos.

[6] Karanos II was forced to bear much humiliation, a massive tribute to the Triad alliance for peace being only the least of his problems. His kingdom in ruins even after the able defense of his father Amyntas, the King of Zosyneia undertook the long, hard task of rebuilding and fortifying the kingdom. One of the main things he undertook in his long reign was the subjugation of the remaining petty kingdoms of Iamathai, which he saw as a last refuge for the Zosyneian people. He expanded the realm up to the Kanto Plain, where he fought the last great native king of the land, Taraspikos of the Kyrokantoi (Kurokanto no Tarashihiko), who had gathered the seventeen kings of the Eteoiamathaiai and fought and died. With their defeat, Karanos II expanded the kingdom of Iamathai twicefold.

After his long reign, Karanos passed his throne to his grandson Amyntas II.

[7] Amyntas II took the throne at just age 15 and ruled over a land that had recovered from the attacks of the First Triad, to the north of Zosyneia that alliance had collapsed as rebellion had broken out in the Triad's occupied regions of Chu and they were forced to contend with a resurgent Qin invasion that resulted in most of the western portions of Chu falling into Qin hands, while the Triads each barely held onto the Northern regions, the south of the former Chu state formed a rump King under the last remaining male member of the Mǐ dynasty, King You of Chu. Amyntas II decided to reassert Zosyneian power in the wild north by marrying the 23 year old sister of King You, forming the Zosyneia-Chu Alliance, making himself the first member of the Argead dynasty not to marry a woman of the 'Old Blood' (the Grecian descendants of Alexandro I's followers who had become powerful nobles in Zosyneia).

This caused Qin to form the Second Triad with Han and Wei, while Zhao formed an alliance block with Qi and Yan, leaving the realms evenly matched in terms of military strength and ironically created an era of peace and prosperity for the entirety of Amyntas II's reign.

With peace secure, Amyntas II became focused on more philosophical matters, specifically the introduction of the various schools of philosophy that had emerged in the states to the north of Zosyneia, even while they too had become influenced by the Grecian philosophy introduced by the Zosyneians. Of the three schools of the Hundred Schools of Thought, Amyntas II wrote on the three he deemed 'the most worthy of consideration', Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism and began to encourage experimentation and debate between these three schools and the Aristotelian, Platonic, and Socratic schools of philosophy, this would mark the birth of new philosophical schools of thought, even while Amyntas II continued his predecessors policy of finding ways to fuse the Grecian religion with the local faiths, their gods being absorbed into the Olympian Pantheon, even while the Gods worshiped by Zosyneia would be unrecognizable by the first Alexandros.

Amyntas II died an old man warm in his bed and was succeeded by, ____.

 

[Kaze]

List of monarchs of Middag (aka Insular Minyue)
(NOTE: The names of the monarchs in this list used POJ romanization and Chinese characters)

110 BCE-95 BCE: Iau Ki-Ko (繇居股) (Royal Clan of Iau)[1]
95-91 BC: Iau Tau: (Royal Clan of Iau) [2]
91 BC -? (insert your own)


[1] Previously reigned as the monarch of Minyue (閩越, Bân-oa̍t), Ki-ko and most of the Minyue royal court, joined with most of the noblemen and loyal merchants, had fled east to the island of Paiwan (OOC: OTL Taiwan), particularly in the center of the island. From the town of Middag, which was already been populated by mixed Minyue-indigenous families, he reestablished the Minyue royal court in a relatively large residence of a local aristocrat, which would become the Royal Palace of Middag. During his reign, Ki-ko has reestablished the way of life back in Minyue while at the same time he encouraged the indigenous islanders to modify their way of life by adapting agriculture, domesticating native deer and encouraging larger families. Already aware of what happened to his old homeland, he actively encouraged the formation of a strong and robust permanent army and navy to defend the island's west coast. Died at the age of sixty-one and succeeded by his son Tau.
[2] Tau succeeded his father. He continues his father's work in reinforcing the island against invasion. As an olive branch to the tribes there in, he marries four native Taiwanese girls (each from a different tribe). He intervenes in the Crown Prince Liu Ju's revolt against his father (Emperor Wu of Han) recovering the province of Canton at the cost of his life. He is succeeded by his _____________.

 

[The_Last_Plantagenet]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth

1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]



[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to _______.

 

[Jonathan]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to _______, his ________.

 

[The_Last_Plantagenet]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]
1787 - 1799: William III (House of Cromwell) [5]

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, his second son.

[5] despite being the second son, with his Elder brother Prince Richard, Duke of Cornwall, alive, Prince William was named as heir to his father due to his Elder brothers mental and physical disabilities, both of which were extensive.
Williams reign was spent regaining the support of Europe, and was largely successful especially in northern Europe among the Protestant nations, and Portugal. William III would marry Louise of Lippe, but no children would come from this marriage. Prince Richard would die in 1793, and so William III was then the sole remaining Cromwell, and his heir was his sister who had been married off to a German dynasty.
When William III died in 1799, the throne passed to _______.

 

[Timaeus]

Kings of Zosyneia (Go-Joseon)

300 - 286 BC: Alexandros I/Alishanda the Kingslayer (Argead Dynasty) [1]
286 - 265 BC: Alexandros II (Argead Dynasty) [2]
265 - 230 BC: Karanos I (Argead Dynasty) [3]
230 - 220 BC: Alexandros III (Argead Dynasty) [4]
220 - 208 BC: Amyntas I (Argead Dynasty) [5]
208 - 154 BC: Karanos II (Argead Dynasty) [6]
154 - 128 BC: Amyntas II (Argead Dynasty) [7]
128 - 100 BC: Alexandros IV Hemiserikos (Argead Dynasty) [8]

[1] Alexandros of Macedon in 330 was forced to leave the Persian Empire he had just conquered after the Betrayal at Rhages by his trusted generals and the Andragorid Satraps who had taken the throne and begun a new conquest of Greece. With a remnant of around ten thousand soldiers, Alexander took to the Silk Road and began his Anabasis to the East (for certainly, the shame of his defeat laid far too heavy upon him to return to the west, and Persia was far too dangerous). Alexander continued east, alternately subjugating and trading with the Tocharians and Scythians of the steppe, developing his tactics and his skill at administration.

He ended up on the borderlands of the Qin in 320, whom he fought for and then betrayed in their failed conquest of Chu, breaking the strength of the Qin for decades and opening the way for the Tocharians. For the next few years, Alexander fought for and courted the royal courts of the Warring States, keeping each of them from dominating any of the others and bringing with him his people whom the Huaxia called the Yuanzhi, Ionians.
After decades of bloodshed spanning half the world, Alexander and his people of made of Tocharians and half-Greeks ended up on the eastern borderlands of Yan, to the east of which was a land of temperate climate called Joseon. And Alexander conquered it and made it his own, doing unto it what he felt he should have done unto the Persians.

And so Alexander became king of Zosyneia, and ruled for fourteen years, crushing the pirates who would dare plunder his shores. His final campaign in 290 was a conquest of Kyushu as a commander to keep the pirates away. His death in 286 left the kingdom in the hands of his eldest son by a Tocharian woman named Alexandros.

[2] Heir to his father and ascending to the throne at the age of thirty-nine, Alexandros the Younger ascended to the throne of Nea Pella (OTL Pyongyang) relatively peacefully. An ally to the king of Yan, Alexandros II continued to intervene in the politics of the Huaxia, keeping all the kings of the Warring States from conquering one another. He continued to receive Tocharian settlers from the far west who had themselves pillaged their way through the Warring States. In addition, he also continued to subjugate the polities of Iamathai (Japan), and commissioned the Zosyneian literary work called 'The Secret History of the Maqidun', detailing the life of his father and the history of his ancestors.

After twenty-one years on the throne, he passed the throne to his son Karanos.

[3] Karanos was born on the battlefield and raised on the tales of his grandfather's glory, named after the founder of his dynasty which once ruled a kingdom far to the west and for one brief moment had ruled an empire greater than all of the realms of the Huaxia put together. The prince learned to rule and to fight, and with his ascension at the age of thirty-seven he went forth and fought.

And in his time, there was to lack of battles to be fought. The Kingdom of Chu, having defeated its rivals, had declared itself Hegemon of All Under Heaven, though many kingdoms yet stood against it, stood separate from it. Karanos joined the coalition of states arrayed against the kingdom, and defeated the Hegemony in its campaigns, maintaining the balance of power that was the corner stone of Zosyneia's foreign policy. Even so, Karanos still thirsted for a lasting legacy, and so sailed east into Iamathai. His father and grandfather had subjugated the westernmost island, and established footholds on the main island (Honshu) and the other southern island, but had not continued beyond that. He went forth and subjugated the tribes of the other southern island and further settled the main island with Zosyneians. He built temples to the gods, to his grandfather Alexandros who was the son of Zeus Philippos, and to the three children of Zeus Iamathaios: Athena Amteras, Apollo Tukhyoume, and Hermes Sysanos. And to the tribes of Iamathai he gave his most lasting legacy, writing.

He returned home and then ruled peacefully and justly. After a long reign of thirty-five years, during which his own son had lived a full life and died before him, Karanos passed the throne of Nea Pella to an already mature heir in his grandchild Alexandros.

[4] An entitled, nasty man, Alexandros III was, in many ways, his grandfather's opposite. He through infamously decadent parties, fathered many children on many women, and in 224, possibly set fire to a Temple of Zeus Philippos because he was certain a priest inside had mocked him. His 10 year reign only lasted due to the support of his brothers, who he distrusted, and in 220, he died at only 29, drowned in honey during a particularly wild orgy. His brother Amyntas I would be tasked with righting the wrongs of his brother.

[5] Amyntas I would spend the beginnings of his reign restoring public trust in the Argead Dynasty, using the remains of his father's temple to Zeus Philippos as a foundation for a newer, grander structure called The Grand Temple of the Gods. A blending of the local shamanistic religions and deities and the Hellenistic faith brought by their ancestor Alexandros along with their Grecian culture.

It was during Amyntas's reign that to the north the state of Han had risen to power, having used Alexandros III's reign of misrule as an opportunity to take Chu apart in an alliance with Wei and Qi. Amyntas I would wage war against the 'Triad Alliance' (as he called it) that would ultimately end in a humiliating defeat for Zosyneia.

Word reached the Greco-Joseon Kingdom of events in the former empire of their founder, the generals of Alexandros I had carved up the Argead Empire into a series of kingdoms for themselves and then went to war against one another to make their own Empire. None had succeeded in doing.

Word had also reached the remaining Diadochi Kingdoms of the survival of 'Alexandros the Conqueror' and the Kingdom of Zosyneia, but the distances involved meant that any meaningful communication was impossible.

Amyntas I would continue to reign despite his military losses against the Triad, successfully defending Zosyneia against their reprisal invasion and died in 208 BC soon after the end of the invasion, his successor would be his eldest son Karanos.

[6] Karanos II was forced to bear much humiliation, a massive tribute to the Triad alliance for peace being only the least of his problems. His kingdom in ruins even after the able defense of his father Amyntas, the King of Zosyneia undertook the long, hard task of rebuilding and fortifying the kingdom. One of the main things he undertook in his long reign was the subjugation of the remaining petty kingdoms of Iamathai, which he saw as a last refuge for the Zosyneian people. He expanded the realm up to the Kanto Plain, where he fought the last great native king of the land, Taraspikos of the Kyrokantoi (Kurokanto no Tarashihiko), who had gathered the seventeen kings of the Eteoiamathaiai and fought and died. With their defeat, Karanos II expanded the kingdom of Iamathai twicefold.

After his long reign, Karanos passed his throne to his grandson Amyntas II.

[7] Amyntas II took the throne at just age 15 and ruled over a land that had recovered from the attacks of the First Triad, to the north of Zosyneia that alliance had collapsed as rebellion had broken out in the Triad's occupied regions of Chu and they were forced to contend with a resurgent Qin invasion that resulted in most of the western portions of Chu falling into Qin hands, while the Triads each barely held onto the Northern regions, the south of the former Chu state formed a rump King under the last remaining male member of the Mǐ dynasty, King You of Chu. Amyntas II decided to reassert Zosyneian power in the wild north by marrying the 23 year old sister of King You, forming the Zosyneia-Chu Alliance, making himself the first member of the Argead dynasty not to marry a woman of the 'Old Blood' (the Grecian descendants of Alexandro I's followers who had become powerful nobles in Zosyneia).

This caused Qin to form the Second Triad with Han and Wei, while Zhao formed an alliance block with Qi and Yan, leaving the realms evenly matched in terms of military strength and ironically created an era of peace and prosperity for the entirety of Amyntas II's reign.

With peace secure, Amyntas II became focused on more philosophical matters, specifically the introduction of the various schools of philosophy that had emerged in the states to the north of Zosyneia, even while they too had become influenced by the Grecian philosophy introduced by the Zosyneians. Of the three schools of the Hundred Schools of Thought, Amyntas II wrote on the three he deemed 'the most worthy of consideration', Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism and began to encourage experimentation and debate between these three schools and the Aristotelian, Platonic, and Socratic schools of philosophy, this would mark the birth of new philosophical schools of thought, even while Amyntas II continued his predecessors policy of finding ways to fuse the Grecian religion with the local faiths, their gods being absorbed into the Olympian Pantheon, even while the Gods worshiped by Zosyneia would be unrecognizable by the first Alexandros.

Amyntas II died an old man warm in his bed and was succeeded by his son Alexandros.

[8] Alexandros IV was the first king of the Argead dynasty to be born of a woman not of the Helleno-Tocharian elite. There were other cadet branches that had some of the blood of the native peoples of Iamathai and Zosyneia and the Huaxia, but Alexandros IV was the first king who had the blood of kings on both sides of his lineage, thus reflected in his epithet of Hemiserikos. The Argead prince had the looks of his mother, but in demeanor was much like his father Amyntas.

As king, Alexandros would also look into the philosophies of the Huaxia, and find himself patronizing Mohist philosophers, using them to design and build new cities and fortresses in Iamathai and on the border with the state of Yan, and learning from them the ways of statecraft. In return, the Mohists saw the writing system of the Zosyneians as an interesting novelty which would allow far more people to learn how to write.

The Mohists would be an influence on the successors of Alexandros, especially on _____, his _____, who would succeed him after his death.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]
1787 - 1799: William III (House of Cromwell) [5]
1799 - 1852: Oliver IV (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [6]

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, his second son.

[5] despite being the second son, with his Elder brother Prince Richard, Duke of Cornwall, alive, Prince William was named as heir to his father due to his Elder brothers mental and physical disabilities, both of which were extensive.
Williams reign was spent regaining the support of Europe, and was largely successful especially in northern Europe among the Protestant nations, and Portugal. William III would marry Louise of Lippe, but no children would come from this marriage. Prince Richard would die in 1793, and so William III was then the sole remaining Cromwell, and his heir was his sister who had been married off to a German dynasty.
When William III died in 1799, the throne passed to his brothers adopted son, Arthur Wellesley.
[6] Much like the Constitution of the Lord Protectors in 1649, and the Amendment of 1786 allowed the Lord Protectors to pass over his eldest child in favour of a more appropriate sibling, it also allowed for children not of the body to be brought into the line of succession. And with any immediate male line heirs of Oliver III exhausted, the 'not of the body' clause was effected during the reign of his son, William III. William convinced government to recognise the adoption of Arthur Wellesley, a promising young Army officer appointed Duke of Wellington upon his adoption - continuing his career over the following decades in the Netherlands, India, the Anglo-Mysore Conflict and the Siege of Seringapatam. It was shortly after this final battle that the Duke was recalled to England in order for him to take over the throne from his adoptive uncle. Taking the regnal name of Oliver IV to solidify his connection to the Cromwell dynasty, he soon found himself pressured into marriage and found himself presented with the French, Amelie d'Orleans, daughter of the Duke of Orleans, as wife. This causes complications when Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the French monarchy and becomes subsequently First Consul and then Emperor. Oliver IV threw his support behind the European forces arranged Napoleon and even managed to form an alliance with the King of America, Charles IV. In 1815, Oliver IV became the final monarch to face an enemy in battle and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Following his defeat, Napoleon was exiled to an island in the middle of nowhere and the British enjoyed a special relationship with the French, now with Amelies brother installed as King. Oliver IV and Amelie only produced two children - one of whom would succeed Oliver IV when he died of old age in 1852.

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]
1787 - 1799: William III (House of Cromwell) [5]
1799 - 1852: Oliver IV (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [6]
1852 - 1866: Richard V (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [7]

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, his second son.

[5] despite being the second son, with his Elder brother Prince Richard, Duke of Cornwall, alive, Prince William was named as heir to his father due to his Elder brothers mental and physical disabilities, both of which were extensive.
Williams reign was spent regaining the support of Europe, and was largely successful especially in northern Europe among the Protestant nations, and Portugal. William III would marry Louise of Lippe, but no children would come from this marriage. Prince Richard would die in 1793, and so William III was then the sole remaining Cromwell, and his heir was his sister who had been married off to a German dynasty.
When William III died in 1799, the throne passed to his brothers adopted son, Arthur Wellesley.
[6] Much like the Constitution of the Lord Protectors in 1649, and the Amendment of 1786 allowed the Lord Protectors to pass over his eldest child in favour of a more appropriate sibling, it also allowed for children not of the body to be brought into the line of succession. And with any immediate male line heirs of Oliver III exhausted, the 'not of the body' clause was effected during the reign of his son, William III. William convinced government to recognise the adoption of Arthur Wellesley, a promising young Army officer appointed Duke of Wellington upon his adoption - continuing his career over the following decades in the Netherlands, India, the Anglo-Mysore Conflict and the Siege of Seringapatam. It was shortly after this final battle that the Duke was recalled to England in order for him to take over the throne from his adoptive uncle. Taking the regnal name of Oliver IV to solidify his connection to the Cromwell dynasty, he soon found himself pressured into marriage and found himself presented with the French, Amelie d'Orleans, daughter of the Duke of Orleans, as wife. This causes complications when Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the French monarchy and becomes subsequently First Consul and then Emperor. Oliver IV threw his support behind the European forces arranged Napoleon and even managed to form an alliance with the King of America, Charles IV. In 1815, Oliver IV became the final monarch to face an enemy in battle and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Following his defeat, Napoleon was exiled to an island in the middle of nowhere and the British enjoyed a special relationship with the French, now with Amelies brother installed as King. Oliver IV and Amelie only produced two children - one of whom would succeed Oliver IV when he died of old age in 1852.
[7] The son of Oliver IV, Richard V's reign saw the dramatic expansion of Britain's industrial and military power as the scramble for Africa began to take root. His marriage to
Princess Friederike of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg produced no children. Richard's reign proved to be short lived, and he died of what is now believed to be lung cancer to be succeeded by his only sibling,

 

[emk163]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]
1787 - 1799: William III (House of Cromwell) [5]
1799 - 1852: Oliver IV (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [6]
1852 - 1866: Richard V (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [7]
1866 - 1886: George I (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) {8}

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, his second son.

[5] despite being the second son, with his Elder brother Prince Richard, Duke of Cornwall, alive, Prince William was named as heir to his father due to his Elder brothers mental and physical disabilities, both of which were extensive.
Williams reign was spent regaining the support of Europe, and was largely successful especially in northern Europe among the Protestant nations, and Portugal. William III would marry Louise of Lippe, but no children would come from this marriage. Prince Richard would die in 1793, and so William III was then the sole remaining Cromwell, and his heir was his sister who had been married off to a German dynasty.
When William III died in 1799, the throne passed to his brothers adopted son, Arthur Wellesley.
[6] Much like the Constitution of the Lord Protectors in 1649, and the Amendment of 1786 allowed the Lord Protectors to pass over his eldest child in favour of a more appropriate sibling, it also allowed for children not of the body to be brought into the line of succession. And with any immediate male line heirs of Oliver III exhausted, the 'not of the body' clause was effected during the reign of his son, William III. William convinced government to recognise the adoption of Arthur Wellesley, a promising young Army officer appointed Duke of Wellington upon his adoption - continuing his career over the following decades in the Netherlands, India, the Anglo-Mysore Conflict and the Siege of Seringapatam. It was shortly after this final battle that the Duke was recalled to England in order for him to take over the throne from his adoptive uncle. Taking the regnal name of Oliver IV to solidify his connection to the Cromwell dynasty, he soon found himself pressured into marriage and found himself presented with the French, Amelie d'Orleans, daughter of the Duke of Orleans, as wife. This causes complications when Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the French monarchy and becomes subsequently First Consul and then Emperor. Oliver IV threw his support behind the European forces arranged Napoleon and even managed to form an alliance with the King of America, Charles IV. In 1815, Oliver IV became the final monarch to face an enemy in battle and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Following his defeat, Napoleon was exiled to an island in the middle of nowhere and the British enjoyed a special relationship with the French, now with Amelies brother installed as King. Oliver IV and Amelie only produced two children - one of whom would succeed Oliver IV when he died of old age in 1852.
[7] The son of Oliver IV, Richard V's reign saw the dramatic expansion of Britain's industrial and military power as the scramble for Africa began to take root. His marriage to
Princess Friederike of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg produced no children. Richard's reign proved to be short lived, and he died of what is now believed to be lung cancer to be succeeded by his only sibling, George
{8} The only sibling of Richard V, he was an advocate of exploration and science. He even founded the British Royal School of Science. He had a wife and 4 children. 1 son and 3 daughters. This son was known as ____.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

Monarchs of the British Commonwealth
1649 - 1658: Oliver I (House of Cromwell) [1]
1658 - 1696: Richard IV (House of Cromwell) [2]
1696 - 1743: Oliver II (House of Cromwell) [3]
1743 - 1787: Oliver III (House of Cromwell) [4]
1787 - 1799: William III (House of Cromwell) [5]
1799 - 1852: Oliver IV (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [6]
1852 - 1866: Richard V (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [7]
1866 - 1886: George I (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [8]
1886 - 1901: Oliver V (House of Cromwell-Wellesley) [9]

Spoiler

[1] Oliver Cromwell is proclaimed hereditary king by parliament in 1649. He refuses it twice, but on the third time accepts it.
The majority of his reign was calm and peaceful, and he fulfilled the role of Constitutional Monarchy well, submitting to Parliament when they asked. He kept his links to the military, and actively led the British Army against the Stuart Army in the Battle of Southampton in 1654, when James Stuart and an army landed at Southampton and attempted to bring about a restoration of his Elder Brother; Charles 'II'.
Oliver I would die in 1658, and pass the throne to his eldest son Richard IV.
[2] Richard IV would take the throne in 1658, and the majority of his reign was spent attempting to legitimise the House of Cromwell in the eyes of Foreign Monarchs. He would marry the daughter of the Danish King, and would sire three sons and two daughters. The daughters were married into foreign dynasties; those of Denmark and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttal, and the sons were given royal dukedoms, with the Eldest being made the traditional Prince of Wales, and the others being made Duke of York, and Duke of Sussex. Richard IV would pass in 1696, and would pass the throne to grandson, Oliver, Prince of Wales.
[3] Son of Prince Edward, Oliver, succeeded his father as heir, when Edward died aged 44. Named after his great-grandfather, Oliver, was a strong military head, who married Agnes of Sweden, forming trio, alliance between the mightiest Protestant nations, an alliance that would see a war between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire, .
His reign saw land gained from France, with the support of native French Huguenots.
However he died of a heart attack following a heated discussion with his war council, never seeing the end of the Great War.
[4] Oliver III came to the throne after his fathers heart attack - his reign saw the discontent of the American colonies sharply increase, resulting in their declaration of independence from British control in 1777. But rather than develop a colonial government - they invited the Jacobite pretender to the throne of Britain, Bonnie Prince Charlie, to assume the freshly created crown of the United Colonies of the Americas. With a figurehead such as the new King Charles of America, the colonies commanded a greater alliance from the European powers. Despite Oliver II's work in that regards, the foreign monarchies - even the ones that the Cromwells had married into - were more willing to provide support to the Jacobites. Britain lost control of the colonies, their independance was granted in 1777 and a serious threat to the Cromwells now had a defined power base, even one securely removed from continental Europe.

Oliver III had a long and satisfying marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Gedern, curiously the aunt of his now-rivals wife in the colonies. The Stolberg-Gederns had purchased themselves a front row seat to the struggle to retain the throne of Britain, and they would need to decide whose side they were going to play their hand for. But not quite yet - with the birth of several children from 1745 and the age of 25 onwards, Oliver III had secured the future of the Cromwells for the moment and when he died from being hit by a lightning bolt whilst wandering in the grounds of the palace during a storm, the crown passed to Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, his second son.

[5] despite being the second son, with his Elder brother Prince Richard, Duke of Cornwall, alive, Prince William was named as heir to his father due to his Elder brothers mental and physical disabilities, both of which were extensive.
Williams reign was spent regaining the support of Europe, and was largely successful especially in northern Europe among the Protestant nations, and Portugal. William III would marry Louise of Lippe, but no children would come from this marriage. Prince Richard would die in 1793, and so William III was then the sole remaining Cromwell, and his heir was his sister who had been married off to a German dynasty.
When William III died in 1799, the throne passed to his brothers adopted son, Arthur Wellesley.
[6] Much like the Constitution of the Lord Protectors in 1649, and the Amendment of 1786 allowed the Lord Protectors to pass over his eldest child in favour of a more appropriate sibling, it also allowed for children not of the body to be brought into the line of succession. And with any immediate male line heirs of Oliver III exhausted, the 'not of the body' clause was effected during the reign of his son, William III. William convinced government to recognise the adoption of Arthur Wellesley, a promising young Army officer appointed Duke of Wellington upon his adoption - continuing his career over the following decades in the Netherlands, India, the Anglo-Mysore Conflict and the Siege of Seringapatam. It was shortly after this final battle that the Duke was recalled to England in order for him to take over the throne from his adoptive uncle. Taking the regnal name of Oliver IV to solidify his connection to the Cromwell dynasty, he soon found himself pressured into marriage and found himself presented with the French, Amelie d'Orleans, daughter of the Duke of Orleans, as wife. This causes complications when Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the French monarchy and becomes subsequently First Consul and then Emperor. Oliver IV threw his support behind the European forces arranged Napoleon and even managed to form an alliance with the King of America, Charles IV. In 1815, Oliver IV became the final monarch to face an enemy in battle and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Following his defeat, Napoleon was exiled to an island in the middle of nowhere and the British enjoyed a special relationship with the French, now with Amelies brother installed as King. Oliver IV and Amelie only produced two children - one of whom would succeed Oliver IV when he died of old age in 1852.
[7] The son of Oliver IV, Richard V's reign saw the dramatic expansion of Britain's industrial and military power as the scramble for Africa began to take root. His marriage to
Princess Friederike of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg produced no children. Richard's reign proved to be short lived, and he died of what is now believed to be lung cancer to be succeeded by his only sibling, George
[8] The only sibling of Richard V, he was an advocate of exploration and science. He even founded the British Royal School of Science. He had a wife and 4 children. 1 son and 3 daughters. This son was known as Prince Sebastian, but reigned as Oliver V.

[9] Oliver V came to the throne following the death of his father. In a time when the King of America was facing a revolution of his own, maintaining the status quo was something very desirable. An individual who had remained a bachelor until his thirties, he found himself maneuvered into a marriage with Josephine of Sweden, already widowed daughter-in-law of Oscar II with two sons from her husband, the deceased Duke of Vastergotland. Josephine and Oliver V increased their diplomatic ties to the Americans and proposed a marriage between the American Kings second son, the Duke of Virginia, and their eldest daughter - in the event of a royalist triumph in their civil war. A second Stuart defeat in a second Civil War would leave the match undesirable and without a country to hitch diplomatic ties to. In the end, the Stuart victory in America was decisive and the proposed marriage occured, ending two hundred years of animosity between the countries. However, when Oliver V died in 1901 from pneumonia, the crown didn't pass to the Duchess of Virginia, but to one of her numerous other siblings (Oliver V and Josephine had a dozen children survive to adulthood), their _________, _________