List of monarchs III
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What If ... William of Hatfield survived
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his ___________, ___________
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his ___________, ___________
What If ... William of Hatfield survived
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir.
What If ... William of Hatfield survived
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his_____
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
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View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his_____
What If ... William of Hatfield survived
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
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Her father literally reigned for 33 years, William VI for 37, Elizabeth I for 51 years....
Historic can mean in terms of cultural, political changes, too. I don't think it has to be length mostly.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
[19]
Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left the royal palace forever, after ensuring that those who served him were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
[19]
Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left the royal palace forever, after ensuring that those who served him were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
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No, I didn't end the monarchy, Charles just abdicated. Edited
....the list isn't over. Charles just abdicated - the monarchy still exists, he just isn't the monarch
wwbgdiaslt
Gone Fishin'
That's not what you've written.
If only he abdicated, those who served his family would still have jobs and wouldn't need to find employment elsewhere.
It's also indicated that his children did not succeed him either, which they would if he had simply abdicated his own claim.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Emperor of Britannia and Francia
Augustus I: 1860-1899 (Hanover) [20]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
[19]
View attachment 805687
Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left, after ensuring that those who served his family were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife and children, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
[20] Although the last child born to Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg and Princess Catherine, in 1809, Prince Augustus was a strong willed child.
As was tradition in Hanover, Augustus was raised as a ward in the household of Friedrich III Hohenzollern, ruler of the German Empire which at the time ruled over the Hanovian Duchy.
The military and imperial lifestyle, would install in Augustus a staunchly conservative view of life, seeing similarities within the hierarchy of the army being similar to that of society, the need for everyone to have a rank, know their place and to listen to their superiors.
While under Emperor Friedrich, Augustus would in 1820, marry Friedrich's niece, Grand Duchess Mathilde Charlotte of Germany (b. 1811) daughter of his brother, Albert Ludwig and Duchess Emilia Rebekka of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Augustus would return to the court of his mother, a few weeks after his 25th birthday, bringing with him, his wife and their own minor household-court, mainly made up of German military and academic, for the next six years, Augustus served within the military department.
Following the death of his mother in 1840, thirty-one year old, Augustus was horrified to see the actions his older brother was taking. To save some of the royal residences, he purchased them and placed them under military control.
Once he heard about the referendum, Augustus knew the last straw had been drawn, he began employing soldiers to act as agents provocateurs, spreading rumours amongst the population about his brother, this included "deteriorating mental health of King Charles" and that during his solo tour of Scandinavia "Charles had been brainwashes and/or bewitched by the enemy of our nation."
Historians today believe that Augustus's actions greatly influenced the opinion of the voting gentry in favour of forcing Charles to abdicate. In the aftermath of the landslide result, Augustus would use the military to place him on the throne, creating an Imperial constitution, concerning himself with every aspect of his empire, with great energy and skill, installing military chiefs, within politics, with Field Marshall, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, being appointed as Imperial Prime Minister, showing a de jure "democratic constitutional monarchy" while in de facto, was "a military dictatorship"
Augustus and Louis-Napoléon would work together, building a rapid economic growth, through military enlistment, unemployment was hardly an issue, while soldiers were trained to work any job needed to support the Emperor and Empire.
This went on until the Emperors death at the age of 90, in 1799, he was succeeded by his heir, _____________. Augustus's state funeral turned into, at the time, the longest and largest military parade ever seen.
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Emperor of Britannia and Francia
Augustus I: 1860-1899 (Hanover) [20]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
(8)
Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
(12)
Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeded by her heir.
[19]
View attachment 805687
Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left, after ensuring that those who served his family were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife and children, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
[20] Although the last child born to Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg and Princess Catherine, in 1809, Prince Augustus was a strong willed child.
As was tradition in Hanover, Augustus was raised as a ward in the household of Friedrich III Hohenzollern, ruler of the German Empire which at the time ruled over the Hanovian Duchy.
The military and imperial lifestyle, would install in Augustus a staunchly conservative view of life, seeing similarities within the hierarchy of the army being similar to that of society, the need for everyone to have a rank, know their place and to listen to their superiors.
While under Emperor Friedrich, Augustus would in 1820, marry Friedrich's niece, Grand Duchess Mathilde Charlotte of Germany (b. 1811) daughter of his brother, Albert Ludwig and Duchess Emilia Rebekka of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Augustus would return to the court of his mother, a few weeks after his 25th birthday, bringing with him, his wife and their own minor household-court, mainly made up of German military and academic, for the next six years, Augustus served within the military department.
Following the death of his mother in 1840, thirty-one year old, Augustus was horrified to see the actions his older brother was taking. To save some of the royal residences, he purchased them and placed them under military control.
Once he heard about the referendum, Augustus knew the last straw had been drawn, he began employing soldiers to act as agents provocateurs, spreading rumours amongst the population about his brother, this included "deteriorating mental health of King Charles" and that during his solo tour of Scandinavia "Charles had been brainwashes and/or bewitched by the enemy of our nation."
Historians today believe that Augustus's actions greatly influenced the opinion of the voting gentry in favour of forcing Charles to abdicate. In the aftermath of the landslide result, Augustus would use the military to place him on the throne, creating an Imperial constitution, concerning himself with every aspect of his empire, with great energy and skill, installing military chiefs, within politics, with Field Marshall, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, being appointed as Imperial Prime Minister, showing a de jure "democratic constitutional monarchy" while in de facto, was "a military dictatorship"
Augustus and Louis-Napoléon would work together, building a rapid economic growth, through military enlistment, unemployment was hardly an issue, while soldiers were trained to work any job needed to support the Emperor and Empire.
This went on until the Emperors death at the age of 90, in 1799, he was succeeded by his heir, _____________. Augustus's state funeral turned into, at the time, the longest and largest military parade ever seen.
What If ... William of Hatfield survived
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Emperor of Britannia and Francia
Augustus I: 1860-1899 (Hanover) [20]
Augustus II: 1899-1924 (Hanover) [21]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
View attachment 804544
King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeed by her heir.
[19]
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Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left, after ensuring that those who served his family were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife and children, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
View attachment 805702
[20] Although the last child born to Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg and Princess Catherine, in 1809, Prince Augustus was a strong willed child.
As was tradition in Hanover, Augustus was raised as a ward in the household of Friedrich III Hohenzollern, ruler of the German Empire which at the time ruled over the Hanovian Duchy.
The military and imperial lifestyle, would install in Augustus a staunchly conservative view of life, seeing similarities within the hierarchy of the army being similar to that of society, the need for everyone to have a rank, know their place and to listen to their superiors.
While under Emperor Friedrich, Augustus would in 1820, marry Friedrich's niece, Grand Duchess Mathilde Charlotte of Germany (b. 1811) daughter of his brother, Albert Ludwig and Duchess Emilia Rebekka of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Augustus would return to the court of his mother, a few weeks after his 25th birthday, bringing with him, his wife and their own minor household-court, mainly made up of German military and academic, for the next six years, Augustus served within the military department.
Following the death of his mother in 1840, thirty-one year old, Augustus was horrified to see the actions his older brother was taking. To save some of the royal residences, he purchased them and placed them under military control.
Once he heard about the referendum, Augustus knew the last straw had been drawn, he began employing soldiers to act as agents provocateurs, spreading rumours amongst the population about his brother, this included "deteriorating mental health of King Charles" and that during his solo tour of Scandinavia "Charles had been brainwashes and/or bewitched by the enemy of our nation."
Historians today believe that Augustus's actions greatly influenced the opinion of the voting gentry in favour of forcing Charles to abdicate. In the aftermath of the landslide result, Augustus would use the military to place him on the throne, creating an Imperial constitution, concerning himself with every aspect of his empire, with great energy and skill, installing military chiefs, within politics, with Field Marshall, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, being appointed as Imperial Prime Minister, showing a de jure "democratic constitutional monarchy" while in de facto, was "a military dictatorship"
Augustus and Louis-Napoléon would work together, building a rapid economic growth, through military enlistment, unemployment was hardly an issue, while soldiers were trained to work any job needed to support the Emperor and Empire.
This went on until the Emperors death at the age of 90, in 1899, he was succeeded by his heir, his grandson. Augustus's state funeral turned into, at the time, the longest and largest military parade ever seen.
[21] Augustus (called Auggie to differentiate him from his grandfather) was the first born son of Prince Louis and his wife, Princess Sofia of Sweden. Prince Louis, named for his father's best friend was born in 1839. Shortly upon becoming second in line to the throne,, Louis married Sofia of Sweden. Sadly Louis was killed during a military campaign in Asia in 1868, leaving his toddler son without a father.
Auggie would write in his later memoirs, that despite the love and care his mother and paternal grandparents lavished on him, his father's death would always leave a hole in their family that no one was able to fill. Auggie was a bookish and shy boy, something that his grandfather would try fix. While Auggie would eventually come out of his shell, his love for reading over more physical actives would not be vanquished. Despite this divide, Emperor Augustus clearly adored his grandson and they would read plenty of books on great military leaders.
In 1883, Auggie would request to travel to the Americas. His grandfather agreed, believing it would be good for him. He composed a journal of his adventures which he would later adapt to his extensive memoirs. Three years later he returned home to discover that a bride had been chosen for him and he was expected to get married right away. The usually mild mannered Auggie was rather annoyed at that, feeling his grandfather was infantilizing him. They had a fight about it, with Sofia and Matilda having to step in to play mediator. A compromise was made. Auggie would met the girl and get to know her for at least a few months.
The bride to be was Princess Alexandria of Greece, a girl of sixteen. Auggie was immediately charmed by Alexandria's sunny deposition and sweet personality. They hit it off and were married by 1889, having their first child in 1890. Nine years later, Emperor Augustus died, leaving the thirty-year-old Auggie to take the reigns of ruleship. His first act was to arrange his grandfather's funeral just the way he had ordered it in his will.
However, Auggie was not as military minded as his grandfather and would not pretend otherwise. He supported the rise of the Socialist party, funding many of their members advancement in politics, wanting to separate the military from the civilians. He was vocally supportive of social reforms, encouraging the advancement of society. He funded several schools and library, wanting to gain more knowledge.
Tragically in 1924, Auggie would be killed in a motorcar accident, leaving_______as his successor.
Kings of England
Richard II: 1377 to 1399 (Plantagenet)
William III: 1399 to 1402 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (1)
Edward IV: 1402 to 1435 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (2)
Charles I "the Victorious": 1435 to 1456 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Monarchs of England and France
Charles I and VIII "the Victorious": 1456 to 1460 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (3)
Edward V and I: 1460 to 1462 (Plantagenet-Windsor) (4)
Catherine I: 1462 to 1481 (Plantagenet-Windsor by birth, Griffins by marriage) (5)
Waltislaus I: 1481 to 1503 (Griffins) (6)
Wenceslaus I: 1503 to 1520 (Griffins) (7)
Catherine II: 1520 to 1545 (Griffins) (8)
Edward VI and II: 1545-1549 (Granada) (9)
Elizabeth I: 1549-1600 (Granada) [10]
Henry IV "the Black": 1600-1616 (Stafford) (11)
Margaret I: 1616-1670 (Stafford) (12)
William IV "The Explorer" : 1670-1700 (Toledo) [13]
William V "The Academic" : 1700-1731 (Toledo) [14]
Edward VII and III: 1731-1740 (Toledo) [15]
William VI: 1740-1777 (Brittany) [16]
Henry V: 1777-1810 (Brittany) [17]
Monarchs of England, France, and Hanover
Catherine III : 1810-1841 (Brittany by Birth, Hanover by Marriage) [18]
Charles IX and II: 1841-1860 (Hanover) [19]
Emperor of Britannia and Francia
Augustus I: 1860-1899 (Hanover) [20]
Augustus II: 1899-1924 (Hanover) [21]
Patrick Stewart as William III in Shakespeare's "William III", adapted in 2016
(1) William was born at Christmas time of 1336 at Hatfield. He had three elder siblings - Edward, Isabella and Joan. He had have several more and would later be created as Duke of Windsor and engaged to Violante Visconti in 1368 when she was only thirteen. However as William was on campaign on behalf of his father, they did not marry until 1371.
Five years later, his brother Edward died, and in 1377, his father died and his nephew Richard II succeeded to the throne. Richard initially proved himself to be a reasonably capable monarch, and acted as godfather to William and Violante's only child. But by 1399, this had changed and a rebellion lead bt William's other nephew, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, forced Richard II to abdicate. Although William, by that point 62, had refused participation in the rebellion, he had also not pledged support to Richard either. Lancaster saw his own succession whilst William lived would be seen as illegitimate, and the rebels crowned William as William III in 1399.
William's reign itself was short at only three years, he died in 1402. Whilst he was devout in his own religious beliefs, he firmly believed that each should worship to their own manner and refused to sponsor any laws against Lollardism, despite pressure from the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel. William was not as indebted to the support of the Catholic Church as the Duke of Lancaster would have been had he been the one succeeded.
William permitted Richard II to be buried in the tomb that he had constructed for himself at Westminster despite petitions by Lancaster to have him buried elsewhere. Lancasters constant opposition was somewhat solved in late 1400 when the Welsh Revolt began with the election of Owain Glyndwr as Prince of Wales. William placed the Duke of Lancaster in command of the Welsh Front where the Duke met his end in 1401, with the Duke's fifteen year old son, also Henry, succeeding to his fathers Dukedom. Some argued, and indeed, the later William III history play describes, that William had alerted the Welsh forces as to Lancaster's troop movement so that he might be murdered in battle given his ongoing opposition to William's desired policies.
By the end of 1401, Welsh independence seemed all but guaranteed.
In 1402, William would die - of old age - and he would be succeeded by his only child, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, having been widowed for sixteen years
Jeremy Irons as Edward IV, during the television series The Edwardian Crown, 2010-2013, based on the works of William Shakespeare, based around Edward IV’s reign.
[2] Born in 1374, Edward of Windsor, was the only child born to William, Duke of Windsor and Violante Visconti, during the reign of his grandfather and namesake, King Edward III, whom gave him the title Earl of Maidenhead.
There were deep discussions on whom he should marry, with suggestions of him marrying a cousin, such as Constance of York, the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile or Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his second wife, Constance of Castile.
Instead Edward would marry Margaret of Bohemia (1373-1410) the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV by his fourth wife Elizabeth of Pomerania. Margaret’s half-sister, Anne of Luxembourg, would go on to become Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II, these marriages were arranged to bring the Holy Roman Empire on England’s side in their war with France.
In regards to the War with France, Edward would carry on the war, fighting using the avenues of military and diplomacy.
Edward offered rewards for noblemen who raised men to battle in the fields of France, famously raising Sir Henry Percy, from Earl to Duke of Northumberland, these strong armies saw outstanding military success.
With Holy Roman Empire on board, putting pressure on France’s East borders, Edward would also use his family’s ties to Castile to cause trouble in South West France.
Internally Edward worked on stabilising the monarchy’s position as well as placating the lords. When Owain, threaten to form an alliance with King Charles VI of France, Edward, offered better terms of independence, while still receiving paid homage or tributes to England as a sign of political and diplomatic truce.
Edward and Margaret’s marriage would produce two children, before her premature death in 1410, following this Edward would marry Isabella of Lorraine (1400–1453) going on to have ten children, of whom only four survived to adulthood.
On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy of Lorraine from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time, the added military units and strategic location, assisted in the war with France. His death in 1435 was mourned deeply, with many expecting him to be close to ending the war.was succeeded by his son, Charles.
[3] Produced in Edward's first marriage with Margaret of Bohemia, Charles was named after his illustrious grandfather, Charles of Luxembourg. Raised during a period of military upheaval both in England and in France, Charles was famously raised "on the march" and grew into both a talented general and a favourite of England's soldiery. Endowed with the Duchy of Aquitaine in his 18th birthday, Charles, more so than his father Edward, led the war effort in France during the latter part of the latter's reign. Charles would marry Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, as a guarantee that both sides would keep to the truce. Despite their antagonistic origins, Charles and Catherine established a working, friendly relationship and both took care of each other.
Having spent so much of his childhood in France, many expected England to return to it's backwater status as it had suffered under previous Plantagenet rulers, but Charles, acknowledging his precarious situation in the English political scheme and with the truce in France having held for a long time now, decided to sail back to England where he was rapidly coronated as Charles I. This move proved to be the right one as Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to Lionel of Clarence, the younger brother of William III, would ally with the Welsh and start a rebellion in Eastern England in a bid to attain royal status for the Mortimer family and the Duchy of Clarence. Charles, alongside his half brothers, John, Duke of Bedford and heir to Lorraine (1413-1466) and William, (1419-1471) who at the time was yet to reach adulthood and thus had not been given a title yet, although he would receive the title of Duke of Clarence in the aftermath of "Mortimer's War", marched to Wales with the full muster of England. Leading the army with the assistance of the Plantagenet Dukes of Lancaster and York, both of whom had previous relations with Mortimer and had wanted to assure the King of their loyalty, Charles crushed Mortimer in no time and captured him and most of the Mortimer family, where he famously had them all executed minus the children, whom were placed in the Tower of London.
Charles did not stop at Mortimer and instead invaded Wales as veteran troops from his French holdings arrived and secured the English advantage. The Welsh nobility, for all their bravery, were not able to repeat the feat they had managed under Owain Glyndwr, and with the House of Mathrafal already severely unpopular with the populace, Charles took both Wales and the title of its Prince for himself. With commemorations and jubilation marking every English city, Charles had firmly claimed his place in the heart of his English vassals and was, as the scribes of the age tell, "the most popular Prince in Christendom".
Upheaval in France, however disturbed the small peace Charles had won in England. Charles VIII of France died under suspicious circumstances and his only living child at that time was Princess Radegonde, a small girl of five years. Charles, feeling that the time to reclaim France had finally come, sailed to Rouen and many expected him to put forth the Plantagenet claim to the French crown at that time, however, political circumstances stopped him from doing so. The theoretical heir to Charles VII was John, Duke of Orléans, whom had for many years been an English captive but had been released by Edward IV as a show of compassion the day of Charles' marriage with Catherine of Valois, and he and Charles had, surprisingly, created a stark friendship during his imprisonment. However, on the other side of France, stood the prestigious Duke of Burgundy, Phillip, who, with the extinction of the Valois-Anjou family at... English hands, had received the prosperous Duchies of Anjou and Bar, alongside the County of Provence. This had made Philip undoubtedly the most powerful man in France, even more so than Charles himself, who had England at his disposal. Burgundy's rivalry with the House of Orléans was, even if not as fiery as it had been in previous years, still present, and thus, Charles' advisors believed that just as their King planned to claim the French throne, so would the Duke of Burgundy, whom would have an easier time fielding an army in France despite Charles owning both the Duchy of Normandy and Aquitaine.
Charles, feeling trapped by circumstance, instead travelled to Paris with his retinue, where he officially recognized John as King and has his French peerages recognized in turn. To the great surprise of the English, the Duke of Burgundy did much the same a month later, and, rather accidentally, John of Orléans had grabbed for himself the crown of Saint Louis. It was a humiliating experience for both Burgundians and English, and Charles returned to Rouen completely infuriated. Charles remained in France for until 1438, when he returned to England.
Returned to England, Charles would surround himself with clerks and lawmakers and published in 1400 the "Codex Carolus", the most complete revamping of English law since the Magna Carta. It became England's "first" constitution, corrected many of the loopholes in the law of the realm and re-organized the Kingdom's economy, something that would bring great benefits in the future. It also, unsurprisingly for an autocrat such as Charles, removed many of the privileges granted by the Magna Carta and centralized the King's power to a level that had not been seen before in England. It is unsurprising, then, that many of the Kingdom's nobility were discontent and rallied around the Duke of Northumberland, Henry "Hotspur" Percy in a revolt against Charles. Despite their attempts at getting the Dukes of Lancaster to become figureheads for the rebellion, they did not, and thus, Percy's cause lacked the legitimacy it needed to become a substantial threat to a ruler such as Charles. Despite holding out for a year and a half, Northumberland and his supporters were all put in chains, their lands attainted and put under the royal domain, something which served only to increase the power of Charles and to a lesser degree, the royal dukes of Lancaster and York. To administer the vast lands that were directly under him, Charles established a rather meritocratic order of bureaucrats and stewards that drew mainly from the lower aristocracy and the bourgeouisie, something rather new for the time but that would come to be followed in other European realms.
With the balance of power in France stubbornly remaining intact, Charles would create a new navy and lead various incursions into Ireland, that would see much of the south and east of that island incorporated into the English realm, although rebellion remained active there until almost 1450, to which Charles responded with ferocity. English, Breton and French man-at-arms would be rewarded for their service with depopulated lands in Ireland during much of Charles' rule, which would finally allow England to cement peace in the green isle.
John of France would be succeeded by his son Louis in 1454, a feeble princeling that would rally the French lords to war with Charles in an attempt to recuperate Normandy, Aquitaine and Calais. The opportunity that Charles had awaited for his whole life had finally arrived, but soon turned into a disturbingly savage three-way campaign between Orleanist, Plantagenets and Burgundians over the French Crown. Charles would capture King Louis in Bourges in 1456, although the victories on the field saw much of Northern and Western France captured by the Plantagenets, the Burgundian resistance in Anjou and Maine remained strong and the Burgundians would capture the holy city of Reims alongside Charles' brother, the Duke of Lorraine, who would sadly spend the rest of Charles' reign in captivity.
With Paris in his hands and the French crown on his hand, the English victory at the Battle of Joigny would bring the Burgundians to the negotiating table, although Charles would be forced to concede much of Champagne, Auxerre and Berry alongside his brother's Duchy of Lorraine in exchange for peace. The usually lively and energetic King of England and now, finally, France, turned a took for the worse in what was the greatest victory of his life. Depressed at the fate of his brother and with rebellion in much of the french countryside, Charles' spent the remainder of his reign quelling rebellion after rebellion. The King would eventually catch pneumonia and would be confined to his bed in 1460, and he would never leave it again. Charles "the Victorious" died in Poitiers, upon which his heir, ___________, took possession of both the English and French crowns. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine of France, and their seven surviving children.
[4] Edward V was born on March 6, 1421 as the oldest of King Charles' sons with Edward being someone who would distinguish himself as an intelligent and capable prince from a young age, even if he would be someone who would be notable as well for his short temper and rumored homosexuality. Despite his quirks, Edward would prove himself both in the battlefield during his father's conquests and as an administrator as the Prince of Wales.
However, while he would prove to be an intelligent and capable man as Crown Prince and his short reign was marked by a surprising amount of vigor and competence from the King as he would deal with rebellions and enact broad administrative reforms which sought to consolidate his father's conquests, his reign would prove to be a short one for two years into his reign, he would die from a hunting accident, leaving Catherine the new (monarch) of England and France.
Catherine of England was born in Late 1422, almost exactly eighteen months after her elder brother, Edward V. She was one of seven children of Charles I to survive their father - her elder brother, unmarried and childless, succeeded to the throne, and her younger brother, Charles, predeceased Edward and, much like Edward, left no surviving issue. This meant that in 1461, at the age of 40, Catherine suddenly became the senior heir to England. In 1440, she had married Barnim, Duke of Pomerania, and largely resided in Wolgast in the Duchy of Pomerania, itself a vassal state of the Holy Roman Empire. As such, whilst Catherine probably shouldn't have succeeded to the throne in England, given the mores of the time and avaliable male line claimants via her York and Gloucester cousins, her ability to marshall imperial support and papal sanctioning overcame England apprehension and bought off anyone who prevaricated. France was a bigger problem - the Capetian heirs existed and saw the death of Edward V as their opportunity to seize back France. Whilst Catherine became nominal Queen Regnant of France, the Capetian male line claimant took the still of King in France. The first decade of her reign was predominantly focused on the problem of the French Crown - in the spirit of Edmund Ironside and Cnut the Great, Catherine sent envoys to meet Capetian ambassadors in Calais.
Catherine was ceded the northern coast, from Brittany, Normandy, Anjou, the Channel Islands, Vermandois, to the eastern border, with Flanders and the States of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the traditional royal estates of the Capetians and the Isle de France.
The Capetians held Gascony, Aquitaine (in return for giving up their claim to the royal estates), Toulouse, Burgundy to the southern coast on the Mediterranean.
Whichever of Catherine or the Capetian claimant should die first, the other would retake the others French lands. This was a gamble, Catherine was approaching fifty by this point, and the Capetian claimant was in their twenties. However, Catherine had a trump card - she was a woman and did not actively enter battle, placing that duty upon her husband and sons, and brothers-in-law and later nephews. The Capetian contender did not have that luxury - attempting to pursue the same line as Catherine and deploying his own relatives on the battlefield whilst remaining ensconced in the Palais de Toulouse, they were labelled "Louis the Coward" and provoked onto the battlefield.
This weakened the Capetians and they saw the Iberian states align and threaten the Western border, seizing Gascony and land on the south coast.
This period became known as The War of the Three Frances (1464 to 1474) which only took interference from the Holy Roman Emperor to resolve. The borders at that point would hold, the previous Calais Agreement between England and the Capetians was voided.
The remaining seven years of Catherine's reign was a tense peace as the Iberian states figured out how their new French territories would be divided, resulting in the recreation of Gascony as an independent state held by a mutually agreed candidate.
In 1481, Catherine died and was succeeded in her domains by her Grandson; Prince Waltislaus of Wales.
Prince Waltislaus of Cornwall was born in 1464, to Prince Barnim, Duke of Cornwall (B. 1441), the eldest son and heir of Catherine I, and her husband Barnim VIII, Duke of Pomerania, and the young wife of the Prince, his distant cousin; Yolande of Lorraine. Unlike his father, the young Prince was raised largely in England and, at the age of six, was given his own household in the City of London, a fine complex of gilt halls and apartments, and to this day, is known as the Waltislaus Palaces. It was in 1477, when his father did pass, whilst on a voyage to Pomerania, and so the young Waltislaus inherited two entities; his father's place in the line of succession, and also the inheritance left by his Grandfather, the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast. Between the years of 1477 and 1479, the Prince resided in the Duchy, and made good friends with several Imperial Noblemen and their courtiers. Whilst in Pomerania-Wolgast, he used the regal name of Wartislaw XI, but also when travelling through his grandmother's French lands, he used the name of Gauthier, and in addition, to letters to the Church and the Papacy, he used the name of Waltharius, and thus lent himself the nickname of "the Many-Named Prince".
With the death of his grandmother, Catherine I, in 1481, the young Prince became Waltislaus I of England, and immediately he did set about to establish a new Parliament, summoning the appropriate Lords and Bishops to convene, and it was this "Great Parliament" that established an annum payment to the crown of fifteen thousand pounds to do with as they please, while the parliament would allocate the rest for other needs.
With the turn of the year to 1482, Waltislaus did abdicate the throne of Pomerania to his Paternal uncle; Prince Joachim, the second son of Catherine I and Barnim of Pomerania, who became the Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast as Joachim II. In the same year, He also married Margaret of Bavaria, the daughter of Ludwig IX, who he had became greatly acquainted with during his time in the Empire. Some say the young Prince was held under the sway of his older wife, her being some eight years older, but the evidence of such is slim, and the marriage seems to have been a much more equal arrangement than many of the time. During their time of marriage, they would have eight children, of whom five did survive to adulthood.
In the early years of his reign (1482-1492), Waltislaus did turn his attention to the Kingdom of France, laying in tatters and left to him by his grandmother. He resolved to find a peace, but would not agree to the sole point by which Charles IX, the King of France, stood by, which was the complete accedement of the French Crown and territories to himself. Over the period, the English and French Armies came to blows several times, and it was brought to an end by a strange turn. With the death of Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, the throne of Lorraine fell to Waltislaus by virtue of his Maternal line. With the sudden appearance of essentially an English Army on the Eastern flanks of his territory, Charles VIII was willing to give up his sole demand and turn to the negotiating table, and so the Treaty of Rouen was signed in 1492, whereby Normandy, the County of Boulogne, and Brittany were determined to be English Possessions, outside of France, while the remainder of France returned to the House of Capet.
With the end of the French Wars, and Waltislaus standing atop a mighty noncontiguous empire, from Ireland to Lorraine, with Normandy, Brittany, Boulogne, and England in between. For a glorious period of some half a decade, the English Empire was the Glory of Europe, and Waltislaus was consulted on nearly all matters in Western Europe. This suddenly came crashing to an end in 1497, with the death of his wife. For some two years, the King was a dark-minded individual, rarely holding court and dressing solely in black thereon. It was only in 1500 that the King's mood did lighten, and he did marry Maria of Castile, the fifth child and third daughter of the King of Castile; Enrique IV. The pair would have two children.
It was in the year 1503, when the King was brought low by a painful disease of the stomach, and after some four days of agony, the King did pass, and was succeeded by Wenceslaus.
Jordan Renzo as King Wenceslaus and Sai Bennett as Agnes of Burgundy in "The French Princess", adapted from the book by Philippa Gregory
Good King Wenceslaus, second son of Waltislaus and Margaret of Bohemia, became Heir to England after the death of his elder brother, Barnim, Prince of Wales, in 1499. Wenceslaus, named after Saint Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia, and he had taken the stories of his namesake to heart, giving generously from his own estates to the widowed, orphaned, injured and sick, took prayer frequently and was conscientious, studious and polite. When he succeeded his father in 1503, this was largely seem to be a good thing and his coronation was considered to be a herald of prosperity and good fortune. Which it was - just not in France, which devolved into an ongoing period of infighting and civil war.
During the reign of Charles I and Edward V, there had been two factions that contended they were the rightful King of France, the Burgundian and the Orleanist. When Catherine had succeeded to her French lands, the two factions had reached a compromise - it was better to join together and oust the English Queen and her Pomeranian children, than languish in disunity and leave the country in foreign hands. This worked ... ish. The Burgundians had ceded much of their lands to England in treaties, with little practical return, other than a complicated agreement on French succession laid forward by the Orleanists, and had done this grudgingly. Further treaties had reformatted these territories, and Burgundy had received some of her lands back in the Treaty of Rouen, but the Orleanist who sat on the French throne was refusing to honor the agreement of fifty years prior which, in turn, sent a deputisation from the Burgundian Capets to London to seek support from the English Pomeranians, this deputisation also offered Wenceslaus the hand in marriage of Agnes of Burgundy, the daughter of Denis, Duke of Burgundy, the Burgundian claimant. There was much discussion in the Privy Council and the New Parliament about whether this marriage would bring England back into conflict with France, something they wished to avoid given the prosperity that had been longed for. Wenceslaus' stepmother, Maria of Castile, had also been steadily positioning her own sister, Eleanor, as wife for her step-son, and the Privy Council feared offending the Castilian royals by backing out of the agreement. It was a conundrum.
In the end, Eleanor was engaged to Wenceslaus' brother, Bogislaw, Duke of Buckingham, and the Good King married to Agnes of Burgundy in 1504. This threw the English into partnership with the Burgundian Capets, and as part of the marriage contract, they were obliged to support the Burgundian claim against the Orleanist King of France. But Wenceslaus and his Privy Council were clever, they had codified that England would not be obliged to provide this support until Queen Agnes had both provided a son, and that son had survived his first three years. So it was that, despite numerous births, the obligation to provide troops was not undertaken until 1509. Prior to the Treaty of Calais, Burgundy had held vast tracts of French land, and this was their primary goal - to recover that land. If they could press their claim to the throne, that was good, but to begin with seizure of their "stolen" lands would satisfy. Some seizure was successful, some was not - but by 1415, the Anglo-Burgundy alliance was in a much better position to push their claim to the throne than they had been six years earlier.
1415 also saw the withdrawal of English support to Burgundy when the Prince of Wales passed, leaving Wenceslaus with no surviving issue. As such, the implication was that Burgundy had failed to fulfil their part of the contract, to yield an heir for England, and thus England reset the terms. Agnes would need to provide another son and that son would need to survive until they were three before England would recommit to supporting the Burgundian claim to France. No further children were born, but in 1419, Agnes fell pregnant - but before she could birth the child, Wenceslaus died after a fall from a horse during a hunt.
Ultimately, Wenceslaus was succeeded by his daughter, Catherine.
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Catherine II of England and France
Upon the death of her brother, Catherine became the sole surviving child of her parents (who had lost a slew of children to the many diseases that ran rampant during that time). Not to be discouraged by her child's gender, Agnes of Burgundy raised her daughter to be a king. She swore up and down that her daughter would build a greater empire than any man that ever came before her. Throughout the remainder of Agnes' life, she lived only for securing her daughter's succession, for which Catherine would be very grateful once she was old enough to know of it. She, like her namesake, would later marshal imperial support and liberally bribe the pope in order to receive dispensations and pardons.
The Duke of Buckingham had no children, but he desired the thrones for himself. There was a nasty infight between Agnes and Bogislaw for the regency of Catherine, which was finally won when Bogislaw died while falling off his horse in a hunt. Although Agnes had not even been in the country when Bogislaw's horse fell in public, rumors still floated around that she had had a hand in his death. Thus, with the help of her step-mother-in-law Maria of Castile, Gascony was reclaimed and recreated as a dower land for Agnes to retire to as her daughter reached maturity.
Catherine II, as she was now known, married an Iberian cadet princeling and bore him six children, five of those being the much-desired male heirs. With such a strong line of succession before she even turned twenty, she looked like God's chosen, especially when compared to the childless and aging Burgundian rulers. Given the vast dominions of her realm, she was often on the road and needed deputies to govern during her absences. To that end, her mother and step-grandmother were admirable regents; after their deaths, her husband's bastards stepped up whenever needed. As their boundaries, institutions and laws remained distinct despite all her attempts of unifying them, she ultimately settled for extensive warfare in the final years of her reign to rally her subjects.
She would die shortly after the birth of her second grandson, and would be succeeded by her heir.
[9] Edward was Catherine's firstborn grandson born in 1540. His father, also Edward, died in a jousting accident just a few weeks before he was born. He was a sickly child growing up and was only five when he became king of his grandmother's vast holdings. He would not hold it for very long for in 1549, the disease called the sweating sickness swept over England, killing thousands, including several members of the king's family, including his cousin and playmate, John. Despite the desperate attempts to protect him by his regents, King Edward also fell victim to the disease and his delicate constitution meant he was dead within hours.
As the plague ravaged England, the council scrambled to find the next heir before they had a succession crisis on their hands.
[10]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England and France, as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter.
Elizabeth was the cousin of Edward VI and II, she was named after her mother, Infanta Isabel of Spain. Although female succession was much more accepted now, it still wasn't preferable to a male heir. After all a woman could so easily die in childbirth, and she was expected to yield to her husband in all matters. What happened if the husband didn't want what was best for his wife's domains?
Her first act as an independent queen was to provide support for Burgundy, while severing ties with the Holy Roman Empire. She also refused to entertain any talks of marriage, once going so far as to set fire to a portrait that would have been sent to a suitor. She dreamed of reuniting the great empire ruled by her ancestors, and styled herself as ruler of Aquitaine and Toulouse. This earned the ire of the actual Capetian ruler, who declared war that Elizabeth would win; the house of Capet died out in the legitimate male line during this war. Thanks to this, she was finally persuaded to marry.
Hailed as "Gloriana", the woman who brought glory to her domains, she was more moderate in government than her grandmother had been. As she grew older she became celebrated for her successful reunification of her empire, being hailed as God's chosen that enabled her to survive several conspiracies to her life. The portraits, pageants, and literature of the day could not have existed without her generous patronage, and thus a cult of personality would grow around her.
She would die in her sleep at the age of sixty, surrounded by her six surviving children. She would be succeeded by her heir, Henry.
[11] Elizabeth married Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, her childhood friend and second cousin. It was said he was chosen because he had the same interests as his wife, companions of the male persuasion. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Elizabeth and Henry managed to have six children who thankfully had a mixture of their parents' features to still any nasty rumors of infidelity and impotence. The first of their children was Prince Edward of Wales, named for his unfortunate uncle, born in 1561. He was his parents' favorite child. His younger brother, Henry, born in 1567, was less so.
While Edward was gentle and softspoken, Henry was hot tempered and always getting into trouble. By the time he was fifteen, he had already had a bastard. Then he promptly got into a fist fight with the Earl of Surrey for saying he was his mother's son. Elizabeth and Henry the Elder decided that the best way to quell their son's libido was to find him a wife. They chose an English heiress, Margaret Parr, the only daughter of the Baron Parr. The match was often called one made in hell for the couple seemed to fight as passionately as they made love. The latter always followed the former to the point that friends of the couple wondered if they deliberately made each other mad.
In 1588, Henry's life would change when his brother was found dead in his bed. To this day, it is unknown exactly what happened. All that is known is Edward retired after a night of quiet reading and in the morning, his servants found he would not wake. Some suspect that Henry or his wife Margaret had the Prince of Wales poisoned. As Edward had not been able to produce any living heirs with his wife, Catalina of Spain, it meant Henry was now the future king.
Twelve years later, Queen Elizabeth would die. Henry wasted no time throwing a lavish double coronation, barely even sparing a thought to his mother's funeral. Henry and Margaret already had five children and would have six more over the next fifteen years. If any expected Henry to shape up once he became king, they were quickly debased of that notion. Henry had his younger brothers act in his stead as he continued the partying and sleeping around as he had in his youth. The treasury left over by his mother's diligent work was almost drained by his tenth year.
With many angered by his crass behavior and poor leadership, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. In 1613, Henry's enemies were backing a man calling himself the son of the late Prince Edward, having been born and raised in secret to keep him safe from his wicked uncle. Edward's wife, Catalina, had died a year after her husband and therefore was not around to confirm or deny this.
For his part, King Henry was enraged by the rebellion espically with the figurehead pretending to be the posthumous son of the late Prince of Wales. He famously shouted, "even in death, he continues to torments me." This did not help the allay the suspicions that he had murdered his brother. He ordered that his younger brothers be arrested on suspicions of treason. The younger of the two fled to the New World and would never be heard from again. The elder was executed with false evidence and his last words were denouncing Henry as a false king.
To say things were not going well would be an understatement. As his reputation grew worse, the more paranoid he got. Henry began to see enemies in every corner. Several of his closest advisors found themselves ousted from court, if they were lucky, a head shorter if they were not. The only person who could talk Henry down was Margaret. For as violate as their relationship was, Margaret was the only one who could calm him down, talk him out of his worst decisions. It said something that his downfall happened just one year after Margaret died of childbed fever.
Devasted by Margaret's death, Henry decided to led the troops himself to Wales where the pretender was hiding. That was his first mistake. His second was attacking the pretender during peace talk. One of the pretender's men shot Henry with his gun, causing him to die a slow and agonizing death. His daughter, Margaret, would take the throne and all the trouble that came with it.
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Margaret, Queen of England and France.
Margaret's accession to the throne was marked by great tragedy. The Welsh war, as she would refer to it, had caused the deaths of her father and brothers as they were all executed by the pretender's forces. In a fit of rage, Margaret was said to have physically broken free from the chains which held her at the time and used them to beat her captor to death. She was involved in the political intrigues of her father's reign, and defeated the man calling herself her cousin and the true king in battle.
Assigned a religious education, she was trained in riding and military skills, for she was queen despite her youth. Her grandmother, Margaret of Stafford, ruled as her regent until she reached her sixteenth birthday and married an Iberian princeling, who would otherwise have been destined to sire a cadet line in relative obscurity. In her letters, she displayed a blistering sense of humor, often wisecracking about contemporary politics, and was deeply fond of falconry.
Her first act as queen in her own right was to declare war against Wales for what had happened to her father and brothers. As the pretender was quickly losing support in his homebase, Margaret's troops quickly overcame his, and she would later have him executed as a traitor with his severed head displayed on her shield. All accounts note that she personally fought bravely and ably, unhorsing several male enemies and famously leading from the front with apparent great charisma and competence. After this expedition, she returned home and bore her husband four children, who were all blessed with robust health.
Her domestic reign recovered from the economic depression which her father's reign had plunged it into, and she herself was a frugal woman. The national debt incurred slowly began to drop. Her court was cold and austere with no status symbols, although her husband's collection of literary manucsripts survive to this day. She also manoeuvered to form an alliance with Burgundy, marrying off her youngest child to their ruler.
The middle years of her reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Papal taxation of the Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the general population. Though a devout Catholic in her personal life, Margaret was not so dependent on the Pope as her predecessors, and never wrote a letter in reply to the many that had been written to her from various churchmen.
She died quite peacefully in her sleep, and was deeply mourned by her surviving family. Her devastated husband was known to have flung himself onto her grave and wept that she had taken half of his heart and soul with him. But she had died, and a new reign was about to begin.
[13] William was born to Queen Margaret of England and France, and Ferdinand, who was the Second Son of the Duke of Alba, of the House of Toledo. As the oldest of the 4 children, William often as a child would pretend that he was a great explorer and would play along with his younger siblings in that vein. Although it might have been amusing and " cute " at first to his parents, this would foreshadow the great explorations to the far reaches of the world that William would undertake as King himself.
William developed over time intellectual Gifts that was noticed by his mother. By only age 11, he was already speaking 4 languages. Upon turning 16, Queen Margaret would send William to the University of Oxford, the first time ever that a Royal would attend a University. He would thrive in the academic enviroment, often debating theology and philosophy with some of the top intellectuals at the University. At the age of 19, he became the first Royal ever to graduate from Oxford with a College Degree.
When it came time for Marriage, William had no shortage of potential brides. His mother wary of the previous alliances and marriages that led to the Welsh War and the resulting consitutional crisis, encouraged him to marry outside the usual English/French/Iberian bubble. After a year of thinking and Discernment, William settled on Princess Christina, of the Kingdom of Sweden, and a member of the House of Vasa. At first, this caused consternation with the Public, who saw the Swedes as foreigners and outsiders. Princess Christina however would quickly change people's minds as her gentle approach and cheerful demeanor brought more happiness to the Kingdom after decades of War , Austerity, and instability. William and Christina would go on to have 7 children, who would all grow up to Adulthood.
Upon the death of his mother in 1670, William ascended the throne. He continued for the most part the conservative fiscal policies of his mother. However, he implemented several new political reforms that in his view would bring more stability to the country after decades of division. The first political reform was the introduction of the Office of Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would be Chosen from the Parliament. This would ensure the continuity of Government even if there was no Monarch in power. The second Political reform was the Parliament itself. William would introduce for the first time, a provision that would allow all property owning white males to vote for an elected representative in Parliament. It was revolutionary for it's time. The nobles and aristocracy protested, but William held firm. The first ever Parliament Election was held in 1675, and record turnout was recorded. Joseph Clark was then appointed as the New Prime Minister. Prime Minister Clark and William would work well together, especially on William's next big project, the exploration of the New World.
Under William's direction and leadership, the Kingdom would embark on multiple exploration trips to the New World ( what is now known today as North and South America ). By the time of his death in 1700, The Kingdom established colonies in North America, Central America, and some parts of South America ( The Spanish however held most of South America.). William made sure that the newly discovered Natives would treated with dignity and respect. The Kingdom was benefited from the new found riches of the discovered lands. The Kingdom under his leadership would also embark to the Far East. In 1687, for the first time ever, a Ambassador was appointed to the Empire of China, and Vice Versa.
William also invested heavily, in Science and Engineering, believing that the Kingdom would benefit. New Universities were established that focused almost exclusively on the Sciences and Engineering, including the University of Birmingham. William embraced a Conservative Foreign Policy that focused more on trade, and commercial interests rather than the constant warring that occupied previous rulers. For the first time ever in a long time, the Kingdom was at peace.
In 1700, the 82 year old King died suddenly of a stroke. Mourned by his family, the Kingdom, and the wider world at large, William would be considered as one of the great Kings in World History. He was succeded by his heir.
[14] William, born 1662, was grandson of William IV, through his eldest son, Ferdinand, Earl of Cambridge, born 1640.
Ferdinand sadly died in 1669, returning from a tour of North America, as royal dignitary meeting Native American Chief, known as kings of the new world.
7 year old, William now became second in line to the throne to his great grandmother’s throne, unlike his father and grandfather, his idea of adventure was reading books or tracing the penny through the accountant’s files.
Little under a year of his father’s death, Queen Margaret would pass away, leaving 8 year old William as heir and the new
Many believe that he gained this trait through his maternal side, his mother Fernanda of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Iberia.
His mother was allowed input into the tutoring and upbringing of William, while King William IV had the final say.
Educated at Oxford, a tradition since Queen Margaret set her son. William enjoyed studying mathematic, focusing mainly on economics, stating that he found maths to be both practical and abstract, involves analytical thought, logical reasoning and precise communication, all the signs of a great king. He would use his love of numbers to assist his grandfather’s investments of Science and Engineering.
After leaving Oxford, William would search for a bride, many were suggested, with cousins through out continental Europe, but his eyes settled on Alexandria of Scotland, the marriage was a happy one, producing five children.
The death of his grandfather, left 38 year old, William to succeeded to the throne and began his reign of balancing the finances, expanding the empire, increasing trade and keeping the peace his grandfather had created.
His death came just before his 69th birthday, from a stroke, he was succeeded by his son, Edward.
[15]
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King Edward VII and III
The oldest son of William and Alexandria, he succeeded his father just after he turned fifty. A charming, fun-loving playboy who cared little for academics, he eschewed the family tradition of attending Oxford, and during his father's reign he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout the kingdom performing ceremonial public duties and represented the royal family on visits abroad. He has been described as a "top tier athlete", playing competitive boxing and football. He was a hard-partying drinker too, and was often seen in brothels with a whole host of "unsuitable" beauties. His refusal to settle down and marry any of the suggested candidates his parents wanted also further strained relations.
In his early forties he finally married a young woman who recently graduated from Oxford, the school he rejected attending. This large age gap was widely criticized, but the marriage itself proved quite stormy, producing two children, but later rumors of infidelity brought question to the true parentage of the children. However, his rule was tarnished by scandal and financial extravagance. His ministers found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible, and he was strongly influenced by favourites. Edward's charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of Europe", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
Dying shortly before he turned sixty, he left his kingdom in the hands of his heir, his nephew, William.
[16] William was the grandson of William and Alexandria through their eldest daughter, Anne. His mother had married the Duke of Brittany in 1700. She would have five children, including William himself. She died in 1723. William's father, Charles remarried twice, giving him plenty of half siblings. William never thought he would be king of England and had a very idyllic childhood.
He went to study in the university of Florence, growing a great appreciation of the Italian culture. He even met and married an Italian woman by the name of Enrichetta d'Este, a cousin of the Duke of Modena. They were married in 1730 just one year before his grandfather would die and his uncle would become King of England and France. King Edward's two children had both died in their early childhood so the council pushed him into naming the young William as his heir.
In 1734, William and his pregnant wife journeyed to the English court where the latter was made the Duke of Wessex (his father would live for another decade which meant he was still the Earl of Dreux). Six years later, William found himself King of England and France. At once William set to work ushering an age of renaissance, he patronized the finest artists and playwrights he could discover, wanting his court to be full of culture.
William was well known to be a very hands on monarch who made up for his unpreparedness as a king with his willingness to work alongside the prime minister. He also renewed the friendship between his allies, making marriage alliances with them.
He ruled in peace for thirty years before he fell ill with typhoid fever. He would die in 1777, just a few months shy of his seventieth-fourth birthday. He left a thriving kingdom in the hands of his son, Henry.
Henry V, King of England and France.
[17]
Henry was the only son of William and Enrichetta, and their youngest child, born in 1734. As a boy he was very domineering, having been spoiled by his doting mother. His older sisters were also maternal figures to him due to their large age gap, and the expectations of his parents that he was to be the priority of the family due to his status as the heir.
At the age of sixteen he married the Modenese princess Maria Fortunata d'Este, who was three years older. They produced seven children together, but otherwise maintained a distant relationship. Maria refused to cater to him the way his mother and sisters had, and her deep piety was anathema to his irreverent and fun-loving nature. He continued his father's patronages, with his court being described as "the richest in Christendom". He spent large amounts on expensive status symbols to show off his power and wealth as king of such a large country, while his collecting habits show an eye for style and an interest in scholarship, particularly history. He acquired fine clothes, jewels, and furnishings, as well as a collection of beautifully illuminated historical and literary manuscripts, many made specially for him. He also ensured that his children received the very best education possible, lavishing vast sums on them even as he and his wife slowly separated over the years.
His court was cosmopolitan, containing assorted foreign people including Italian and African minstrels. The autonomy they would have had over their lives is disputed to this day, but it is known that Henry accepted them as part of his court's culture, although he did not christen any of them. He poured large amounts of money into reconstructing royal residences, even commissioning some private palaces to be built for himself.
Complaints from Parliament that royal justice was not being actively administered by the king in person occurred throughout his reign, partly due to his practice of delegating responsibility to appointed justices. Records of jewels and fabrics being sent to his favorites survive in the accounts of his treasurers, which was a widely criticized practice due to the public perception of the pointlessness of such expenses. In response to criticism from the minister (who had been a leftover from his father's reign), he abolished the office of prime minister altogether.
Towards the end of his reign, Henry had declared war on Burgundy and Spain, in an attempt to claim some of the wealth of those lands. However, due to his unexpected death, it was now up to his heir to clean up the mess.
Catherine was not expected to become Queen, at all. Indeed as the second youngest child of King Henry and Queen Maria ( Being born in 1772) and as the only girl in the family, she was kind of well... disregarded. Her parents had a distant marriage, and her father was not an attentive parent, despite the lavish lifestyle Catherine and her brothers received. Queen Maria despite her personal piety, was a cold mother who often verbally abused her only daughter. And so Catherine had a lonely, and sad childhood. Historians today would call it child abuse. Despite that, she managed to grow close to her nannies, whom she considered to be her true parents in all but name. Catherine did receive a excellent education however. By age 12, she learned several different languages.
By the time she turned 18, Catherine was ready for marriage. Her beauty combined with her intelligence , meant that she was the number 1 prospective Princess of Europe. Princes and Dukes from all over the contienent sought her hand. Being quite picky, she rejected alot of choices, including the Crown Prince of Spain. She then eventually settled on Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg, the head of the House of Hanover. Catherine and George Augustus were married in 1790 at Westminster Abbey. Catherine and George would grow to have a loving relationship unlike her own parents, and she would give birth to 6 children, who all grew to adulthood. Settling in Brunswick-Luneberg, Catherine expected that this would be her life forever...... and it was the case for the next 20 something years. Until it wasn't.
The declining situation in her home country troubled Catherine Greatly, but what could she do ? Nothing. She was thousands of miles away, far away from the fiasco that her father initiated. And she didn't wanted to be Queen. She hoped that her brothers would control the situation once her father had passed. Well that hope failed. Her youngest Brother, Charles died at 27 of a Brain Tumor. And her older brothers although married, were unable to have children. The situation was made worse when King Henry declared war on Burgundy and Spain, and then dying while in battle, during the seige of Barcelona. Her older 5 brothers since they were unable to have children, gave up their succession rights. Catherine was now Queen. She had read stories of her ancestors such as her namesakes, and Queen Margaret who Catherine admired. She realized that like Queen Margaret, she has to fix the country she loved. And so, on in 1810, at the age of 38, Catherine was crowned Queen of England and France, and de facto Hanover as well. George Augustus would be named Prince Consort.
Upon becoming Queen, Catherine reversed many of her father's moves. She restored the office of Prime Minister, and announced that she would become a ceremonial monarch, meaning that the Prime Minister would have full executive powers. She along with George would instead serve as a symbol of Unity for the Kingdom. The transition however would take some years to complete. Meanwhile, Catherine and the Prime Minister worked together to end the wars with Spain and Burgundy, and as a political move married two of her children off to those countries. Catherine also pushed for a conservative fiscal policy, ending the overspending that her father initiated. By 1819, the coffers have been refilled.
1825 marked the year that the Kingdom of England and France became a fully consitutional monarchy with the prime minister having full executive powers. Catherine was relieved. She started to focus on providing a moral sensibility, and a symbol of Unity for the country. The Catherinian Era as it was named, was marked by a strict decorum, as well as massive expansion to Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Colonial projects were embarked. Catherine became known as the Mother of the Nation.
In 1841, after a historic reign of 31 years, Catherine died of what is now called today, Parkinson's disease at the age of 69. She was succeed by her heir.
[19]
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Charles IX and II, King of England, France and Hanover.
A controversial man, he is either hailed as a hero or a villain, but he was certainly an incredibly enigmatic man. Charles was Catherine's oldest son, born in 1791. He married Archduchess Maria Ludovika, they had a happy marriage with three children. Raised mostly by his mother who instilled into him the failures of monarchy, he was at heart a far more liberal man than was accepted in his time.
He advocated modernization based on foreign loans and closer ties with countries like Spain, Burgundy and even the Nordics (he made history by being the first royal to tour Scandinavia, leaving his wife as regent for the two years he spent abroad). While traveling, he appears to have seen a lot of poverty and suffering that made him deeply ashamed of the opulence of his inheritance. He returned home and proceeded to stop all colonial projects that his mother had began. He also tore down some royal residences that his predecessors built, allowing all the material to be reused. He also hosted a referendum, which found a majority in favor of his abdication, finding the royal family a drain on public resources and taxes. And so, Charles packed up his belongings and left, after ensuring that those who served his family were able to find comfortable lodgings and professions elsewhere. He would, from now on, refer to himself only as "Charles Hanover".
In under twenty years he had significantly changed the prestigious monarchy that had been so cherished by his predecessors, and retired to the countryside in Spain. By all reports, he lived a blissfully happy life with his wife and children, never caring about the international uproar that he had caused. It is debatable to this day whether or not he was just too incompetent to rule such a vast empire, if he secretly despised his family and wanted to flee but preferred to destroy their legacy this way instead, or if he had a weak will and was manipulated by adventurist forces.
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[20] Although the last child born to Duke George Augustus of Hanover-Brunswick-Luneberg and Princess Catherine, in 1809, Prince Augustus was a strong willed child.
As was tradition in Hanover, Augustus was raised as a ward in the household of Friedrich III Hohenzollern, ruler of the German Empire which at the time ruled over the Hanovian Duchy.
The military and imperial lifestyle, would install in Augustus a staunchly conservative view of life, seeing similarities within the hierarchy of the army being similar to that of society, the need for everyone to have a rank, know their place and to listen to their superiors.
While under Emperor Friedrich, Augustus would in 1820, marry Friedrich's niece, Grand Duchess Mathilde Charlotte of Germany (b. 1811) daughter of his brother, Albert Ludwig and Duchess Emilia Rebekka of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Augustus would return to the court of his mother, a few weeks after his 25th birthday, bringing with him, his wife and their own minor household-court, mainly made up of German military and academic, for the next six years, Augustus served within the military department.
Following the death of his mother in 1840, thirty-one year old, Augustus was horrified to see the actions his older brother was taking. To save some of the royal residences, he purchased them and placed them under military control.
Once he heard about the referendum, Augustus knew the last straw had been drawn, he began employing soldiers to act as agents provocateurs, spreading rumours amongst the population about his brother, this included "deteriorating mental health of King Charles" and that during his solo tour of Scandinavia "Charles had been brainwashes and/or bewitched by the enemy of our nation."
Historians today believe that Augustus's actions greatly influenced the opinion of the voting gentry in favour of forcing Charles to abdicate. In the aftermath of the landslide result, Augustus would use the military to place him on the throne, creating an Imperial constitution, concerning himself with every aspect of his empire, with great energy and skill, installing military chiefs, within politics, with Field Marshall, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, being appointed as Imperial Prime Minister, showing a de jure "democratic constitutional monarchy" while in de facto, was "a military dictatorship"
Augustus and Louis-Napoléon would work together, building a rapid economic growth, through military enlistment, unemployment was hardly an issue, while soldiers were trained to work any job needed to support the Emperor and Empire.
This went on until the Emperors death at the age of 90, in 1899, he was succeeded by his heir, his grandson. Augustus's state funeral turned into, at the time, the longest and largest military parade ever seen.
[21] Augustus (called Auggie to differentiate him from his grandfather) was the first born son of Prince Louis and his wife, Princess Sofia of Sweden. Prince Louis, named for his father's best friend was born in 1839. Shortly upon becoming second in line to the throne,, Louis married Sofia of Sweden. Sadly Louis was killed during a military campaign in Asia in 1868, leaving his toddler son without a father.
Auggie would write in his later memoirs, that despite the love and care his mother and paternal grandparents lavished on him, his father's death would always leave a hole in their family that no one was able to fill. Auggie was a bookish and shy boy, something that his grandfather would try fix. While Auggie would eventually come out of his shell, his love for reading over more physical actives would not be vanquished. Despite this divide, Emperor Augustus clearly adored his grandson and they would read plenty of books on great military leaders.
In 1883, Auggie would request to travel to the Americas. His grandfather agreed, believing it would be good for him. He composed a journal of his adventures which he would later adapt to his extensive memoirs. Three years later he returned home to discover that a bride had been chosen for him and he was expected to get married right away. The usually mild mannered Auggie was rather annoyed at that, feeling his grandfather was infantilizing him. They had a fight about it, with Sofia and Matilda having to step in to play mediator. A compromise was made. Auggie would met the girl and get to know her for at least a few months.
The bride to be was Princess Alexandria of Greece, a girl of sixteen. Auggie was immediately charmed by Alexandria's sunny deposition and sweet personality. They hit it off and were married by 1889, having their first child in 1890. Nine years later, Emperor Augustus died, leaving the thirty-year-old Auggie to take the reigns of ruleship. His first act was to arrange his grandfather's funeral just the way he had ordered it in his will.
However, Auggie was not as military minded as his grandfather and would not pretend otherwise. He supported the rise of the Socialist party, funding many of their members advancement in politics, wanting to separate the military from the civilians. He was vocally supportive of social reforms, encouraging the advancement of society. He funded several schools and library, wanting to gain more knowledge.
Tragically in 1924, Auggie would be killed in a motorcar accident, leaving_______as his successor.