[1] Henry was born on 6th May 1268, in Windsor Castle during the reign of his paternal grandfather, Henry III of England and was the fifth child and second son of Lord Edward, by his first wife, Eleanor of Castile.
Because of his place of birth, he was known in his early life as Henry of Windsor.
On 3 August 1271, Henry's older brother John died in the custody of their paternal granduncle Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. His death left Henry the eldest surviving child of Edward and second-in-line to the throne of England.
When his grandfather, Henry III died on 16 November 1272, Edward became King of England and Henry his heir apparent.
In 1273, Henry was betrothed to Joan I of Navarre.
Joan was born in Bar-sur-Seine, Champagne on 14 January 1273 as a princess of the House of Blois.
The following year, upon the death of her father, she became Countess of Champagne and Queen of Navarre. Due to her age, her mother, Blanche, was her guardian and regent in Navarre.
Various powers, both foreign and Navarrese, sought to take advantage of the minority of the heiress and the "weakness" of the female regent, which caused Joan and her mother to seek protection at the court of Philip III of France. Her mother arrived in France in 1274, Philip would late arrange for the Pope to declare Joan and Henry’s betrothal to be voided and by the Treaty of Orléans in 1275, Joan was betrothed to Philip's son, Philip.
Blanche, therefore, placed her daughter and the government of Navarre under the protection of the King of France. After this, Joan was brought up with her betrothed, Philip.
Henry became gravely ill at Guildford in 1274, neither of his parents made the short journey from London to see him. He was tended by his grandmother, Eleanor of Provence, who had raised him during the four years his parents were on Crusade. The queen dowager was thus at that moment more familiar to him than his parents, and the better able to comfort him in his illness.
Henry was known for being a sickly child and he was lucky to survive into adulthood.
Following the voiding of Henry’s betrothing, in 1276, Edward arranged for his son to be betrothed to Henry’s cousin, Blanche of Brittany (b. 1271) daughter of John II, Duke of Brittany, and his wife Beatrice of England, (daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence)
The pair were married in Winchester in December 1281 and the couple would go on to have eight children. As a wedding gift, Edward created his son, Earl of Winchester, which had gone extinct following the death of Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester in 1265.
Between 1297 and 1298, Henry was left as regent in charge of England while his father campaigned in Flanders against Philip IV, who had occupied part of the English king's lands in Gascony.
Edward I would perform a second campaign into Scotland in 1300, and this time took his son with him, making him the commander of the rearguard at the siege of Caerlavrock Castle.
In the spring of 1301, the king declared Henry, the Prince of Wales, granting him the earldom of Chester and lands across North Wales; hoping that this would help pacify the region and that it would give his son some extra financial independence.
Edward I mobilized another army for the Scottish campaign in 1307, which Prince Edward was due to join that summer, but the elderly King had been increasingly unwell and on 7 July 1307, died, meaning Henry became King Henry IV.
Henry IV would carry on with his father's planned campaign into Scotland and on 4 August received homage from his Scottish supporters at
Dumfries and would name his younger brother, Edward of Caernarfon, whom had came up with him as Constable of Scotland. With a strong English army presence in Scotland, kept Robert the Bruce from getting too powerful.
Much of Henry’s reign was peaceful, with him having a good working relationship with the many earls and barons within his kingdom.
A major set back was an environmental event, problems in
English agriculture, part of a wider phenomenon in northern Europe known as the Great War, which began with torrential rains in late 1314, followed by a very cold winter and heavy rains the following spring that killed many sheep and cattle. The bad weather continued, almost unabated, into 1321, resulting in a string of bad harvests.
Revenues from the exports of wool plummeted but Henry was lucky to be able to import grain and move food about internally.
Henry’s wife, Blanche died on 19 March 1327 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
On 5th April 1328, 59-year-old Henry married for a second time to another cousin, Lady Isabel Plantagenet of Lancaster, (b. before 1317), daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and Maud Chaworth, and a descendant of Henry III, through his son, son of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester.
This marriage only saw three children born, before Henry’s death on 31st May 1335 aged 67 years old, was succeeded by his son, John.
[2] John became king in his late forties. He had started to loose his hair sometime in his thirties, hence the nickname. He was a serious man who rarely smiled. His wife was Elizabeth of Austria who he married shortly before his father became king. Despite the sourness of the groom, they had a happy marriage with Elizabeth being able to get a rare laugh from her husband. They would have eight children, on which only two lived to adulthood.
In 1335, the Thousand Days War broke out. Robert the Bruce of Scotland had married Isabella of France in hopes of obtaining help against the English. When Robert II gained his father's throne, his mother proclaimed him the King of France as well, entreating England to join forces.
King John disagreed. He saw nothing to gain by helping either side and in fact, felt it would be far easier to take advantage of the war to increase his holdings in both of the realm. It was seen as a dishonorable move by his enemies. His allies who reaped the benefits saw it as prudent move.
In 1340, after the war had ended, King Philip arranged for his grandson to marry the granddaughter of King John, and his granddaughter to marry the Prince of Wales' son. France and England signed an agreement to end all hostilities. This would be in effect for almost three decades while both of the monarchs were alive.
For the next twenties years until his death, John went to work on consolidating the monarch's power in England, wanting Parliament to have a greater voice without having to loose his authority. He wanted to work alongside Parliament, feeling they should be treated as a partner instead of a restriction.
He died in his sleep, nearly eighty and would be succeeded by King Alphonse I.
[3] Born in 1317, Alphonse was named for his great-uncle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who played a large part in raising him, particularly given his parents were often busy traveling around their vast domains, especially once his father had gained full sovereignty over Gascony as part of the treaty that ended the Thousand Days War. Indeed, Alphonse was named Duke of Gascony in 1343, after the region had been fully integrated into the Plantagenet domains. He spent much of his time as heir to the throne anglicising Gascony's legal code and enforcing the terms of the treaty his father had coerced the French and Scots into agreeing to, which is what gave rise to his nickname of 'the Arbiter'. It was in this role that he stood as chief witness to the marriage of Robert II's of Scotland's only daughter, Isabel, to Philip V of France's son and heir, Charles, Dauphin of France, who was granted the Scottish Crown Matrimonial immediately following the ceremony in May 1350. France and Scotland were thus united in the lines of both claimants to the French throne, as John of England had suggested as a compromise twelve years earlier, three years before he agreed to betroth his - at that point theoretical - grandchildren to the equally as yet unborn grandchildren of Phillip of France.
The treaty also declared that should Isabel and Charles have two sons, the eldest would inherit France and the second Scotland. All the same, however, Alphonse was more than a little concerned that circumstances would conspire to encircle the Plantagenet Empire with the new Franco-Scottish Kingdom, so he urged his father to seek matches for him and his younger sister Eleanor that would give the Plantagenets allies in central Europe should such a thing look like it might occur.
John, who shared his son's fears, though he wouldn't admit it, promptly married Alphonse to Margaret of Bavaria, the second daughter of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who was eight years Alphonse's junior. Eleanor, meanwhile, was affianced to Peter I of Portugal and wed him in November 1339, just after her nineteenth birthday.
Despite the age difference between Alphonse and Margaret, their marriage seems to have been something of a meeting of minds, and they were happily wed for almost twenty years until Margaret's death from plague in 1362. They had twelve children, seven of whom survived to adulthood, and the eldest of whom married Blanche of France, as John and Phillip had arranged all those years ago.
By the time Alphonse succeeded his father in April 1366, he was already forty-nine and still shattered by the death of his beloved partner Margaret. A shadow of his former self, he was happy to be a figurehead monarch, spending most of his time in the sanctuary of Flaran Abbey, where Margaret was buried, and leaving his heir to manage much of the day-to-day business of the Plantagenet Empire. So unassuming a monarch was he, in fact, that his death in October 1371 went almost unremarked by the vast majority of his subjects - though they all enjoyed the holiday granted for his heir's coronation the following March!
The tombstone of King John III, even though it does not contain his remains, was placed right next to the one of his father, Alphonse I.
[4] The first son of Duke Alphonse and Margaret of Bavaria, John, was named after his grandfather and at that time the current king, John II. Ever since his young age, the young John was the kind of person who was overly pessimistic. Not that, but, he was rather socially isolated due to his quirks, which caused the Prince to have frequent bouts of insecurity and melancholy. Despite his father's several attempts, John's moods remained mostly the same. And, as John continued to grow, the reminders of his marriage, which had been arranged by his grandfather, would be brought up increasingly more often, causing more unease for the Prince.
When Alphonse succeeded to the throne after the death of John II, he left most of his royal duties to the new Prince of Wales. This occurs even though John attempted on several occasions to give the task of administration to his younger brothers, who he viewed as more capable compared to him. A year later, upon her coming of age, John married Blanche, daughter of the Dauphin of France. And, although one of John's fears were not realized, the marriage was not a terrible one, at least, it would be a childless one, as well. When his father died, John was devastated and he became even more saddened when he became aware of the fact that most of the pheasants of London did not commemorate the passing of the King. Many people of high status would later remark that the atmosphere of King John III's coronation was rather depressing, with the King not showing up until late in the day.
Merely, two years after his ascension to the throne, John III on one day vanished and was never seen again, despite the efforts of his successor to find him. Some suggest that the King might have killed himself, however, others point out that the many writings of John III may suggest differently. Either way, in 1373, the English throne now belonged to his brother, Edward.
[5] Edward was the third son of Alphonse and Margaret. His older brother, Henry died at age five. He married a wealthy Irish heiress named Maud de Ulford, never expecting to become king.
He was in Ireland, celebrating the birth of his fifth child when he heard the news that his brother had vanished. He immediately headed to London, ready to lead the search for John, refusing to even be called king until they were certain that his brother was truly lost to them. He would not hold his coronation until five years had passed, still holding onto hope that they would recover John even after he and his wife were crowned.
Despite not being close to his older brother, Edward fell into a depression as the years went on, feeling that he had somehow failed him. He also grew paranoid that this was some sort of plot against his family and would keep his seven children close to him, in fear that whoever took their uncle would take them as well.
His depression and parnionoa caused his health to fail, not to mention how much time he spent combing the countryside for his brother, and after just seven years on the throne, he died of pneumonia after chasing a rumor that John had been spotted in Wiltshire, refusing to stop the search even though it was raining, leaving his son Alphonse to succeed him.
[6] Named after his grandfather, Alphonse was born in 1366 as the eldest child of Edward II and Maud de Ulford, and grew up in Ireland where he had a happy childhood. But following the disappearance of his uncle John and subsequent ascension of his father as King of England, Alphonse became paranoid and would help his father look for John, as well as collecting everything he can on his life.
Alphonse became King in 1380 following the death of his father Edward, but had an regency lead by his mother until he turned 18 in 1384. During his short reign, Alphonse continued to expand his collection and grew became more naive as he started to believe everything that people said about the fate his uncle to be true. This resulted in him accepting an offer from relative who said they knew what happened to John. So while waiting for their arrival at the Tower of London, Alphonse was stabbed in the back by an assassin who was working for the person he was meeting with, his Uncle Thomas, who was proclaimed as the new King of England.
[7] Thomas was the fourth son of King Alphonse and Queen Margaret. Fed up by the weakness of his predecessors, Thomas, Duke of Normandy plotted their downfall. He also arranged for the deaths of the seven children of Edward II with only his twelve-year-old son and his nine-year-old daughter (born six months after her father's death) managing to be smuggled out of the country. It is said upon learning of their flight, Thomas strangled Maud de Ulford in a rage.
Thomas' supporters covered up the mess, proclaiming that French and Scottish assassins were the true culprits, as they hoped to weaken the Plantagenets and reclaim their land. They rounded up a few scapegoats to present as the conspirators in the massacre, torturing them into making a confession before hanging drawing and quartering them.
However, while this fooled only some people (mostly the ones who wanted to believe it), Thomas was largely unpopular. He ruled with an iron fist and his enemies would often die in "accidents".
In his personal life, he had married Isabel of Brittany, daughter of the Duke of Brittany in 1379. Although their marriage was unhappy, mostly because of Thomas violate nature which was worse when he drank, the couple had ten children, six of whom would live to adulthood.
Eager to expand his lands, Thomas decided to subjugate the rest of Ireland, starting a campaign in 1395, leading his army to ravish the Irish countryside. It would be in Ireland where he met his end.
In 1397, Thomas was fighting with the last of the Irish Chieftains when a horn would sound and another army would come racing down the hill. Even worse, some of his own men started turning on their allies. The monarch was captured and brought to the head of the attacking army, a ghost from his past who had returned to enact bloody vengeance.
"This is for my mother and my siblings," Henry declared as the sword swung down, separating the tyrant's head from his shoulders.
After the death of King Thomas (who was mourned by virtually no one), his allies and sycophants rallied around his oldest son while his enemies supported the newly recovered child of King Edward II causing a civil war to break out.
[8] Arthur "the Luckless" is a tragic if unknown figure in English history. The eldest son of Thomas I, he was a quiet and religiously-inclined boy who supposedly aspired to be a bishop one day, he was thrust upon the throne at the age of fourteen in horrible circumstances, with revolts in support of Henry, Edward's son, blossoming across the country and his only supporters men so depraved that they would have been killed or banished if captured. Despairing of victory, he hurried all of his siblings into exile in Brittany and tried to muster an army in the Home Counties, only scrounging a few dozen men to face off the thousands that supported his cousin, and rather than trying to defeat him in battle he decided his best option was to flee to the continent after buying time for his siblings. As such, he set about preparing defenses for London throughout autumn 1397 and into the spring of 1398, when the primarily northern Henrain army approached the capital. However, on 2 May most of his men defected and an angry mob stormed the palace, nearly lynched Arthur and dragged him out to Henry's camp, whence he was thrown into the Tower of London. On 28 May he was hung, drawn, and quartered, his last words supposedly being
"I have loved the Lord with all my heart and soul and mind, may He let me pass from this world quickly."
After Arthur's overthrow, the son of Edward II, Henry V took the throne.
[9] The man who would one day be known as Henry V was a boy shaped by tragedy and uncertainty. His father died when he was just three years old. Then nine years later, his uncle slaughtered most of his family. He and his youngest sister were smuggled out of their home in Surrey by a Welsh man, known only as Griffin (suspected to the son of Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri who disappeared around the same time). This mysterious Griffin took Henry and his sister Margaret through England and to Wales, by pretending to be a wealthy merchant widower, traveling with his two children. Once in Wales, he got safe passage and brought them to Portugal where the descendants of Peter of Portugal and Eleanor of England would welcome them. Unfortunately, their ship would be blow off course and land in France, causing them to make another perilous journey, dodging the agents of Thomas along the way. Once they reached Lisbon, Griffin would vanish from history again, the only proof of his existence would be the letters exchanged between Henry and his sister Margaret. These letters were later used for basis of many books and movies chronicling the epic journey from England to the Portuguese court, some more accurate then others. It is long suspected that Griffin returned to Wales, so he could start a rebellion against the tyrant Thomas, but was captured and executed or died of an illness as he made his way home.
View attachment 680340
Griffin and Henry as they are portrayed in the 2009 film:
My Travels with Griffin.
At age fifteen, Henry left Portugal and traveled around Europe, seeking friends to help reclaim his stolen throne. He used the tricks Griffin taught him to keep himself hidden in plain sight, often calling himself Harri Griffin, much to the amusement of many. It was on his travels he met the love of his life, Princess Ursula of Denmark, the She-Bear of the Kalmar Union. She was a fierce and witty woman, and was Henry's most ardent supporter.
View attachment 680339
Portrait of Princess Ursula.
At eighteen, he returned to Portugal to see his sister marry Prince Alfonso of Portugal and he would introduce her to his new wife, Ursula.
Using the same subterfuge that had gotten him out of England, Henry snuck back in, pretending to be a merchant. He went to Wales first, winning over many nobles (it is suspected that he had some personal item of Griffin that he showed as proof of the man's heritage) before meeting with the last Irish chief. Managing to supertenously contact nobles and gentlemen who had chafed under Thomas's rule. With them, he arranged a trap.
It is said that he smiled upon seeing his family's murder in chains. "This is for my mother and my siblings!" Henry declared as he swung the sword separating the tyrant's head from his shoulders.
Afterwards, King Henry made a speech, declaring that anyone who surrendered to him would receive a pardon, but for those who continued to serve the reign that was created by spilling the blood of innocents then they would suffer his uncle's fate.
A year later, he arrived in London to cheering crowds. Henry was known to be kind to his allies, but brutal to his enemies. His cousin, Arthur would learn this first hand. He was crowned with his wife, Ursula who gave birth to the first of their fourteen children in 1400. Eager to make more alliances, Henry would seek marriages from the various European countries.
Henry accepted the last of Irish chiefs' surrender and now called himself, the King of England, Ireland and Wales.
He spent many years trying to bring stability back to his kingdom, rooting out the corruption that had allowed the failure of his father and brother's reigns as well as allowing the monstrosity of Thomas to happen as well as dealing with attempted rebellions from his uncle's children who wanted the crown for himself.
He died in 1426, aged forty-nine, having fallen sick with a fever. It is said, his last words were: "We did it, Griffin."
[10] Queen Eleanor I would be born on March 5, 1421 to the "King Who Never Was", Prince Edward and his wife, Matilda of Scotland as his only daughter and child, becoming heir to the throne after her father died in 1424 from a bout of the plague with Henry never really recovering from the loss of his son contributing to his death two years later. Owing to how she became Queen at a young age, Eleanor's early reign would be marked by how her uncles, grandmother, and mother all fought for control over her regency with her being witness to the power struggles for her regency being something that would shape her reign after she assumed the position of Queen in practice and not de jure.
During her reign, Queen Eleanor I would spend much of her reign on reforms to centralize the realm her grandfather had left her, continuing the reforms her grandfather had instituted to eliminate corruption with a major portion of this reforms being how she emphasized merit over connections in the administration and military. These reforms, in addition to eliminating corruption, would strengthen the gentry and the nascent proto-bourgeois at the expense of the old nobility, who Eleanor never fully trusted owing to her experiences as a young woman. In her foreign policy, Eleanor I would be a ruler who would ally with the Holy Roman Empire against France and Scotland, seeking to contain France owing to England's control over Gascony and the French Crown's desire to gain Gascony.
In her personal life, Queen Eleanor I would end up marrying a distant cousin of hers to maintain the dynasty with said marriage producing eight children, five of which made it to adulthood. She would also bring forth the English Renaissance with her patronage of culture and the arts as well, inviting many polymaths, artists, and scholars to her court.
During the last years of her reign, Queen Eleanor I would patronize an expedition which landed in a brave new world which the explorer then named Eleanoria in honor of the Queen which had sponsored the expedition. Eleanor I would die on the final day of 1500 at the age of 79 with a smile on her face, knowing the realm would be in stable hands after a reign of 74 years. She would be succeeded by her grandson, Richard.
[11] Richard was named after his ancestor the Lionheart. Much like his grandmother, his father died when he was young, fighting a noble rebellion that had risen in protest to Eleanor's policies. Afterwards Queen Eleanor banned private armies.
He was raised by his grandfather's family who was descended from the second marriage of King Henry IV. He also loved the stories of his great-great-great grandfather and had the letters between King Henry of England and his sister, Queen Margaret of Portugal about their adventures with the mysterious Griffin so much that as a birthday present, his wife, Isabel of Navarre, had copies of the letters published in a book dedicated to the new king.
Richard adored the chilviric romances, and had a series of portraits made of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. He spent a lot of money on jousts and tourneys, giving a bit of a headache for his advisors who were tried to keep a firm hand on his wasteful spending and keeping the affairs of the kingdom in order.
In the spring of 1512, Richard was injured during the joust with a lance to his eye. He was dead before he hit the ground, cutting his reign short and forcing his young niece to succeed him.
Anne I d'Armagnac, Queen of England, Ireland and Wales (c.1520). Miniature carried by her husband.
[12] Anne,
Mademoiselle d'Armagnac was just 13 when her world changed forever. Born to Elizabeth Plantagenet, Richard's only surviving sister, during her marriage to the elderly
Count of Armagnac in France, Anne was the eldest of 6 daughters. Her mother, widowed at 17 while pregnant with her second child (a stillborn son) had returned to England to marry the
Earl of Suffolk against her grandmother's wishes. Anne, initially abandoned in France, was brought to England in 1504, at Queen Eleanor's demand, to marry a cousin, Duke Richard of Somerset, Eleanor's favourite grandson, who she hoped would become an ally to the future King. The fact Anne was, in 1504, 5 years old, meant little. It was a formality to tidy inheritances and enrich Eleanor's favourite. When Duke Richard died at sea 2 years later, Eleanor quickly married the child off a second time to the
Earl of Beaumont, in order to prevent Anne from being returned to France into the new
Count of Armagnac's care, as he wished for Anne to marry his own son to tidy up inheritances. When this husband, a sickly child, also died prior to Eleanor's death (in 1507), Anne was married off a final time prior to her uncle's accession to Edmund Beaumont, second son to the
Earl of Dorset, who essentially bought Anne from the Queen. Anne's third husband did not die, but instead, in 1511, her uncle the King had the match annulled on the basis of age (Anne was, at this time, 12, and her husband was 8) and returned, finally, to her mother's care.
Elizabeth Plantagenet was, in 1511, suddenly very rich, very powerful, and had all her daughters in her care (Anne's 5 younger sisters had been removed from their mother by the
Dowager Countess of Suffolk in 1506 at Eleanor's command due to "Elizabeth's sinful behaviour", after the widow was rumoured to have seduced a priest). It was a miracle. 9 months later, she was dead of smallpox, her brother was dead, her daughters was Queen in a court full of would-be Queens. Anne would later have her mother buried in a full royal ceremony, despite her scandal, and would write that the world had been very harsh to such a kind woman.
Eleanor Plantagenet,
Queen of England, Ireland and Wales had had 5 sons and 13 grandsons. At the time of Anne d'Armagnac's succession, she had one surviving male-line descendent, who was legally unable to inherit the throne. Some of it had been war, some had been poor fertility (two of Eleanor's sons had had no children at all, and 4 of her granddaughters were never to concieve), and much had been luck. Anne's cousin, the
King of Portugal, was her only male rival, son of her great-aunt Catherine Plantagenet, but even he was to have his own fertility issues, with only 2 children across 4 wives. The Plantagenets were essentially dying out. There were cousins, off course (Anne's second husband was a Plantaganet via a long line) but many were just struggling to continue on their families. Anne, the daughter of two dying Houses (Anne's potential betrothed in France would die childless in 1516, and his brother would follow in 1545 with no sons), saw this as a punishment. They were sinful. They needed saving. Anne's main contender for the throne was, of course, her sisters. The daughters of Elizabeth Plantagenet and Guy Manners,
Earl of Suffolk, were all just as legitimate as her, just as royal as her, but English. And so, she sent them to convents. But not local convents. She sent them across the continent. Supposedly to prove the religious piety she wanted to project, Anne sent "her Princesses" to France, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and Barcelona in order to spread the good word. Her youngest sister, Constance Manners, apparently begged to stay in England and had to be given "much wine" to board the ship that took her away. e.
There was a Regency, of course, ruled by Henry Pembroke,
Duke of Devon, who's own familial issues (his son had married a pirate queen, and thus had been disinherited) meant her had no close male relatives to marry the Queen off to. Most assumed one of her distant cousins would get the part of King. Much of the Regency was spent in negotiations to establish Anne's marriage and succession. But the intelligent young woman knew that she had time on her hand. No one could agree who she should marry. Thus, at 18, released from the Regency, she made a ploy. She wrote to the Pope and asked who he thought she should marry. She only asked that she not marry a cousin, or a fellow King. She wanted a partner, not a lord. And of course, as she suspected, he suggested her own personal choice, his nephew. Anne thus married, in 1519 at 20 years old, Ludovico Augustus Colonna,
Duke of Bari, a 33 year old widower with no money, 7 illegitimate sons, and absolutely no recorded relation to the Plantagenets. Her court balked at the match. Anne granted him relatively poor lands in Ireland and granted him the duty of landscaping the gardens of her palace in London. She had a husband who never bothered her, who made the Pope happy, and soon enough, she needed it. Because the Queen probably murdered someone.
Anne's sisters had, for the most part, gone quietly into their vocations once it was clear there was no sympathy from the Queen. Two would die young and Joan, the eldest sister after Anne herself, would have 3 children by a local lord as his mistress in France. Then there was Constance. The young girl who had begged to remain in England all those years prior was able to argue her way out of her convent in 1518, at the age of 12, with the argument that she'd been too young to consent to her position, and in fact, hadn't consented at all. Free but destitute, Constance traveled to the court of Duke Diego of Barcelona, who in turn brought her to Ferdinand I of Navarre, who sent her to Portugal. That's where things get tricky. By this time it was 1521, and a 15 year old Constance was trying to find a pension for herself at her cousin's court. Instead, she was given a husband. Duarte,
Duke of Beja, was the King's favoured nephew, and had been married to his daughter for a time, until her death in childbirth. Constance was thus in the pit of Portuguese snakes. That's when she received invitation to travel to England and meet with her sister. Pregnant, she sailed back home, never to return.
Anne's reign had, for the most part, been smooth since her marriage. The Kingdom had no major wars, France had focused it's attentions against an invasion from Lorraine, and Scotland was amidst a civil war that she was able to play against itself to secure the border. But her sister, a rival, was a problem for Anne. Which everyone knew. It was rumoured that Anne's 1521 miscarriage was due to stress about the arrival of Constance of Beja. Thus, when the
Duchess of Beja was stabbed in an inn while travelling to London, the blame was at the Queen's feet. An inquest proved unsatisfactory. The country was in shambles. Her throne was in danger. It took 17 trials to determine the (alleged) truth: that Francisco Lopez, a Castilian spy, had had Constance killed to ensure the Portuguese succession fell in favour of the
King of Castile. Few believed it. Anne's throne was only saved by the Pope's recognition of her innocence. Her husband died of pneumonia from digging weeds the next year. She hurriedly remarried Prince Charles of Scotland,
Duke of Ross, to try and prevent more drama. Her children by Charles all died in infancy. By 1530, the succession was up in the air, France had begun to war on her for Normandy and other English continental holdings, and in 1531 she collapsed while at mass, and died of what was likely a heart attack.
Anne's reign is historically defined by the murder of Constance Manners, and the guilt is regularly laid at her feet. The Castilian conspiracy is considered a weak excuse, she failed to appropriately defend either her own or her country's honour, and lost the Portuguese alliance that helped protect English trade. But Anne's successes outside of this should be considered to. She produced a currency standard that helped solve inflation in her domains, oversaw a court filled with some of the greatest minds in Europe, rebuilt the roads in Northern England, and managed to do so while maintaining a surplus in the treasury. Had she lived another decade, she might have seen even greater stability within her country and implemented further progressive policies.
[13] The death of Queen Anne left England without a clear heir as the King of Portugal had died with his children proceeding him, leaving Portugal to its own succession crisis. Five contenders put themselves forth for the English throne.
1. Robert Plantagenet, 12th Duke of Cumberland. He was a descendant of the male line of John II of England, his great-uncle was Queen Eleanor's faithful husband. Although, his claim was weak as there were several people ahead of him and his father had taken part in the Noble Rebellion, he was still one of the last male descendants who was of age (twenty-five) and he had three sons of his own. This made him quite an attractive option. He has sent envoys to the King of Castile, offering support for their subjection of Portugal in exchange for helping him win the war.
2. Thomas Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. He was a descendant of King Edward I's daughter and had close ties to the royal family. He was loyal to a fault, being Queen Eleanor's fiercest supporter during the Noble rebellion. He had served as Lord Chancellor for Richard's reign, before retiring. As he was eighty-three, he died in the middle of the war, passing his claim on to his son, also named Thomas. Thanks to his ties to the Butlers and the Fitzgerlds of Ireland, the Norfolks has the support of the Irish in exchange for better treatment.
3. Philippe Augustus de Paris, bastard of Joan Manners, the half-sister of Queen Anne. His claim was backed by the French who were eager to use their support to take back their ancestral lands. He was not seen as a serious contender for once thing, his bastardy and the other, he was completely French and suspected to be a mere puppet. However, he does have some support in England mainly the Earls of Suffolk.
4. Catrin of Wales. She was the youngest granddaughter of Queen Eleanor, married to Rhys ap Gruffydd, Earl of Monmouth. She was backed by Henry Pembroke, Duke of Devon, the grandson of the previous duke, along with the rest of the Welsh nobility. However, the rest of the domains were harder to convince, not only was she a woman (despite the proof of Eleanor and Anne, there was still grumbling of a women ruling), she was only eighteen and had no heirs unlike her rivals beside Philip Augustus.
5. Elizabeth, Duchess of Brittany. The last living descendant of the wicked King Thomas I. Her brother had died young, making her inherit the duchy at age twenty where she married the Duke John of Burgundy. When Queen Anne died, she was thirty and had three children, one of them a healthy son. Eager to offshoot the French influences, she and her husband have joined together with the Duke of Gosceny, and the Duke of Normandy to claim the throne.
Although there were other claimants around Europe, these five were seen the main ones because of their manpower and the influence of their supporters. The war would last for twelve years until two of the claimants, Elizabeth, Duchess of Brittany, and Thomas Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, decided to drop their claims and back Catrin of Wales instead. Their combined forces ended the war.
[14] Catrin of Wales, or Kathryn as she would be known in the annuals of history, would find her life full of ironies.
She would lose her beloved 1st husband, Rhys ap Gruffydd in one of the earliest battles of the Succession Crisis, but this would leave her available to wed the son of Elizabeth, Duchess of Brittany, the fourteen year old John of Burgundy. With the might of both Brittany and Burgundy behind her, Catrin would find herself one of the main players in the Succession Crisis.
Then as Catrin's forces won battle after battle, Catrin found herself often on the battle front where subpar medical recourses are believed to have caused her first two children to have died young.
Then, when after 12 years of battle, Catrin was crowned Queen of England, her only surviving child at the time, John of Saint-Malo, was made Prince of Wales and sent South to govern Wales, and Mother and child would rarely meet again.
Additionally, Catrin found herself in something of a Cold War with her husband, John of Burgundy who saw himself as rightfully King Regent instead of King Consort.
After 8 short years of ruling, Catrin would die in childbirth, leaving Prince John of Wales to rule.
[15] John was born in the Brittany town of Saint-Malo in 1533, to Catrin of Wales and John of Burgundy, heir of both Brittany and Burgundy, his birth came nine months after their wedding. Catrin had hoped to give birth in England, however terrible storms had delayed their travel.
While his father and mother went to fight in England, John of Saint-Malo would stay with his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth, Duchess of Brittany, for the first eleven years of his life, be raised with his cousins, Henri, second son of Philip Duke of Gascony and his wife Mary of Brittany, and Robert, third son of William of Normandy and his wife, Catherine of Brittany, this family connection would come in handy in future endeavors.
In early 1543, with victory in her sights, Catrin arranged for loyalist to her cause to collect him from Brittany and be brought to her side. John was united with the woman who gave birth to him, but felt no warmth.
A year after the war was won, his mother named him, Prince of Wales and sent him south to govern the land, it was a rare occasion if the two were ever at the same event and when it did happen the two were very distant.
For the next nine years, John served as a fair ruler in Wales, working closely with the Welsh nobility on tax income, with merchants on trade and local lords to build up farming harvest and villages.
In 1552, nineteen year old John married Lady Anne Mowbray, grand daughter of Thomas Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, who had yielded early on in the Succession crisis to Catryn, via his son and heir, Henry, Earl of King’s Lynn, whom under Catryn has served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, working with his family ties to the Butlers and the Fitzgerlds. It was through the trade talks between Ireland and Wales that John met Lady Mowbray.
When his mother died, 1553, twenty year old John was proclaimed as king, he took the regal number “V” to represent his father was King John IV, even if he was never crowned as King Regent rather than just a consort.
With no real power left in England, his father returned to the continent and remarried to Anne, Princess of France.
For another nine years, John served as King of England, performing a similar standard of rule as he had in Wales. His father-in-law, whom recently became the new Duke, became lord chancellor and other members of the Mowbray family served in high offices, including his second brother-in-law, John Mowbray, who was made Earl of Suffolk, following the traitorous death of Philippe Augustus de Paris’s supporters.
Upon the death of his father John V of Burgundy and VI of Brittany died, John would inherit both duchies, to the annoyance of King of France, who had hoped that John would have sired a second son with his second wife, allowing France to fight for their right to the Duchies, however a bloody stillborn left her unable to carry a single child to term.
The last twenty two years of his life was spent navigating the toxic politics of mainland Europe, with France pushing for a war, leading to John signing an alliance treaty with his cousins in Normandy and Gascony, supporting each other should France’s aggression get worse.
His death aged 61 came following a short illness in the winter of 1584. He was succeeded by his son, Arthur.
[16] Little by little, England had been breaking off bits of the Scottish land and digesting them into their domain over the past three hundred years. It finally came to a head when the King of Scots died in 1597 with no clear heir. As Arthur was a descendant of Matilda of Scotland who had been Queen Eleanor's mother, he decided to declare himself as the new Scottish monarch.
King Arthur was born in 1565, the third son of King John and Anne Mowbray. His two older brothers died in early childhood, one of smallpox and the other of frail health before he was born. His parents named him in hopes that he would be different. Thankfully he was a robust child, with a bit of a rebellious streak thanks to the coddling he received as a result of his brothers' early death.
His father died when he was nineteen and he spent the early years expanding the trade and exploration routes. He sought to claim more territory in the new world, taking the riches that were discovered. He sponsored the famous playwright William Shakespeare, being the first to view his masterpiece
Excalibur whose King Arthur had a lot in comment with the current monarch----a mere coincidence obviously
. Arthur seemed to have very little interest in battle, only taking care to forfitfy the defenses of his lands in Europe, least France take his peacefulness as weakness,
In 1597, that all changed. No sooner had King James of Scots died, Arthur marched from London to Stirling, proclaiming himself the new ruler. The war was not a long one as Scotland's usual allies, the French, were busy with their own wars against the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Castile and Portugal.
Arthur married Arabella Stewart, daughter of the Duke of Lennox who was the niece of the late king. They would go on to have four children. In 1603, he had himself declared Emperor, feeling it was the natural conclusion to being monarch over so many lands.
He spent the rest of his reign, trying to appease those in Scotland, Ireland and Brittany who were very independent minded. Alas, he would die in 1619 with tensions still bubbling, leaving his son Charles to deal with it.
[17] Prince Charles was born in 1599 as the first child of Arthur I and Arabella Stewart and became Emperor of the Isles at the young age of 20. During his reign, Charles continued the policies of his father in governing the Empire, and married a Burgundian noblewoman in 1621, whom he had three children with. He was assassinated in 1631 when he was poisoned while having a feast. He was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth.
[18] Elizabeth was born in 1622. Her mother would go on to have two more children, both daughters (Mary in 1625 and Charlotte in 1627). In 1631, when Emperor Charles was assassinated, it was discovered the Dowager Empress was pregnant for a fourth time, so nine-year-old Elizabeth was forced to wait seven months to see if she would rule at all. However, during that time, a regency council was assembled, headed by the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Brittany---her uncle Edward.
First thing the regency council did was search for the culprits behind the regicide. They uncovered a conspiracy by the Duke of Lennox who felt that Scotland had been stolen from the Stewarts by Emperor Arthur. He and his accomplices had plotted to kidnap the new Empress force her to marry Lennox's son, therefore allowing the Stewarts to be the royal dynasty, they were denied. Instead, the conspirators were lead into a trap, arrested and executed.
While all this was happening, Elizabeth stayed at her mother's side along with her younger sisters. She later wrote in her dairy, that if she had a brother, it would please her as she knew it would give her grieving mother some happiness. However, in December of 1631, the dowager Empress would give birth to another girl, named Catherine after Elizabeth's favorite Queen Regent.
Just days after Catherine's christening, nine-year-old Elizabeth was crowned Empress in a lavish ceremony. She was a born show woman, blowing kisses to the crowds as she passed them. England's delight, they called her.
Elizabeth had been her father's heir for most of her life and therefore was taught to rule from when she turned six. When she was eighteen, it was decided she could govern for herself and the regency council was disbanded, although, Elizabeth would give her regents much praise for keeping her empire running smoothly during those nine years.
It was during her reign, that Elizabeth began to focus on giving her subjects a greater voice, believing that the best way to counter rebellion and strife was to listen as much as command. She created a post of Grand Minister for England, Wales, Ireland, Burgundy, Scotland, Brittany and her lands in the new world. The Grand Minster would be voted on by the people themselves and would act as both an ambassador and a speaker of the House of Commons.
Elizabeth tried to balance her moderate views with the more conservative nature of the members of the privy council, make a set of strict rules for the minsters to adhere to, not wanting to be seen as giving her power away least she was seen weak and flighty. Additionally she noted in her diary, she could not afford to give the minsters as much powers as she would like for they were men and would seek to control her.
The empress for all her moderate views, believed in the divine right of kings and emperors and would not allow anyone to take some of her power. This made finding a husband for herself tricky. She needed to marry a man befitting her station, but at the same time one who would not try to name themselves her equal or her better.
For her sisters, it was a bit easier. The youngest Catherine, who Elizabeth doted on like she was her daughter, was married to the Duke of Segorbe the second son of the King of Iberia, making a new treaty to replace the long forgotten one between Portugal and England. Her second youngest sister, Charlotte was married to the King of France's nephew, the Duke of Orleans. As for Mary, she was married to the Duke of Norfolk's son, a distant cousin.
All marriages seemed rather low for the daughters of an Emperor with some of Elizabeth's detractors painting her as a woman, jealous of her sisters and wanting to humiliate them by refusing to let any of them become queens. In truth, Elizabeth knew that if she were to die childless, one of her sisters would succeed her and so she wanted them to marry men who were unlikely to gain a throne, putting their empire under the rule of a foreign ruler. She even vetted the prospective husbands herself, to be sure they were worthy of her sisters.
As for Mary, Charlotte and Catherine, they understood their sister's motives and were quite happy with their chosen husbands. The four sisters maintained a close relationship for the rest of their lives with Mary often acting as Elizabeth's chief advisor.
It was only after she had arranged her sisters marriages, did Elizabeth search for a husband for herself, making it clear to her advisors that she would not marry any man who sought to rule her or rule through her. As a woman, who learned from a young age how to spot ambitious men or men who spoke honey while thinking poison, she would demand to met her perspective suitors in person she could judge their characters. Some members of her council and her own family feared this would turn any prospective husbands off. It had the opposite effect, with several princes and dukes traveling to England, determined to win over the "Empress of Steel" as some called her.
Elizabeth would soon regret her policy as she found she could barely walk anywhere without a prospective groom popping out of the bushes or around the corners, wanting to speak to her. "I have become so paranoid that I have my maids checking under my bed and in my closets," she wrote to her sister. Mary was less than sympathetic. "You issued a challenge. Do not be surprised when the bull charges after you wave a red sheet in front of its face."
Perhaps in hopes of ending almost two years of an endless line of suitors coming to England to woo her, Elizabeth married in 1647 at age twenty-five, to fifth son of King Sigsmund of Poland, Prince Andrew Jagiellon. His brothers were already married and had sons of their own making him the perfect candidate. Andrew had from to England, a year earlier (officially to act as his father's envoy, not that anyone believed that) and so Elizabeth's policy of getting to know her prospective groom and born fruit. Even better as the fifth son, Andrew was not taught to govern anything bigger than a duchy (Elizabeth made him the Duke of Wessex) and therefore did not have any objections to his wife ruling.
The couple hard a harmonious relationship even if it wasn't a particularly loving one. However, their marriage would be cut short in 1650 when the Irish people would rise up in rebellion, after the discovery that some Englishmen were rigging the Grand Minster Elections so that only men who supported English polices were elected.
It was a slap in the face to the Irish people who had long felt their culture was under attack by the English for thousand of years. Elizabeth for her part was enraged when she learned of the corruption, arresting the men involved and having them tried and sentenced to imprisonment, but the damage had been done and the rebellion was in fully swing.
Duke Andrew lead the troops himself as they meet the Irish in Dublin. The battle was bloody and although, England emerged victorious, it was a pyrrhic one with many men including Andrew himself dying of their wounds.
"In the end, there was no winner," Elizabeth noted sadly in her diary. With her husband's death, Elizabeth felt she had no choice, but to execute the leaders of the rebellion, stating she sympathized with their plight, and would see justice done, but she could not allow them to go unpunished for rebelling against the crown.
She had the Earl of Tyrone, Conor O' Neil (the descendant of the last Irish Chieftain whose family had held onto their Irish roots stubbornly) as Lord Deputy of Ireland, allowing him to make changes to the government as long as they did not contradiction the English laws. She also gave him leave to investigate the alleged corruption. Oddly Hugh seemed to spend more time in England then in Ireland, often in the company of the Empress who he became fast friends with. Although there was never any suggestions of marriage (even before the rebellion, the Earl would have been a poor match for the Empress), many rumors flew that he and Elizabeth were lovers.
Despite this, or perhaps consequentially, Elizabeth married for a second time in 1653 to Erik Vasa, brother to the King of Sweden. Unlike her first marriage, this own was anything but harmonious. Erik tried to throw his weight around by banishing Conor from court. The Earl of Tyrone actually had the nerve to laugh at the other man, "My lord, I answer to no one, but the Empress. If she wants me gone, I will leave. If she does not, I won't be parted with her." When Erik went to the Empress to complain, Elizabeth was furious. "Who do you think you are? There are my subjects, husband, not yours. You command nothing. Not them and certainly not me."
In 1663, at age forty-one, Elizabeth would miscarry twins which took a terrible toll on her health. After hanging on for three more years, Elizabeth would die in her bed, holding her beloved Coner's hand, leaving her son Arthur to rule.
[19] At his birth in 1658, Arthur replaced his elder half-sisters as Queen Elizabeth’s heir. He greatly resembled his great-grandfather and namesake, Arthur I. The lack of any paternal influence in Arthur’s appearance did spark a minor rumor that perhaps his father was the Earl of Tyrone, not Erik Vasa.
But any rumor of Arthur’s alternate paternity died with his mother in 1666. Erik Vasa strongly pushed his position as Arthur’s father to try and gain influence in the regency council. And Erik Vasa would be appointed to the regency council, but found his power checked by his step-daughter, Anne, Duchess of Wessex, who was easily the most influential member of the regency council.
Anne would work hard to shield Arthur from the conflict in the regency council and the rest of his childhood was spent with his nieces and nephews (Anne’s children). And while it must be said, Arthur had a happy childhood, it left him unprepared for actual ruling.
So, upon the dissolving of the regency council, Arthur would appoint many of his former regents (but not his father) to positions of power, so that they could continue ruling on his behalf. Leaving his responsibilities to others, Arthur would spend his time traveling around his empire, seeking fun and new experiences. Funnily enough, this pressing of the flesh, would make Arthur one of the most beloved Emperors, each of his lands seeing him as “A True Welsh/Scot/Burgundian/Breton/Insert Ethnicity Here.”
During one of his visits to Wales, Arthur would meet one Gwyneth ferch Thomas, the daughter of a minor Welsh nobleman. To the shock of his sister, Arthur would announce his intention to wed Gwyneth, saying “What is Arthur without his Guinevere?” (When Anne of Wessex pointed out the fact that the legendary Arthur without Guinevere probably would have been better off, Arthur ignored her). So the marriage went on ahead.
Arthur’s romantic marriage further endeared him to his people, and as now Queen Gwyneth joined him on his travels, people would come to love her just as much if not more than Arthur. Unfortunately, this fairy tale was short lived as Arthur and Gwyneth would both perish when their ship went down traveling back from Brittany. Arthur would be succeeded by his half sister, Anne.
