The Autobiography of Arthur

Always great to see a new update!

Perhaps he, in his struggles, temporarily forgot he was the future King, but you can bet nobody else did. Reading this really saddened me. I never realised how desperately he sought to convince himself that nobody was aware of his position. Or how early the self-deception began. Certainly, my father and others were aware. They spent the next few decades advancing on the basis of those winter afternoons.
So Henry Radcliffe is providing annotations now! A good way to avoid the Unreliable Narrator problem, unless of course Henry is letting his own biases get to him.

It looks like Arthur's problem is he's too modest, and is reluctant to carry himself in a regal manner. And judging from the annotation, it seems to be something he'll become known for. Interesting to see how that will shape his reign.

On the other hand, it very much seems that he'll be a strong patron of the English Renaissance, in all respects.

The small casement window was open where I sat. A hot gush of wind came rushing through, causing the torches of my chamber to dance. Far on the horizon, I could see the bright flashes of Zeus. Storms were on their way.
Great closing paragraph. What could be on the horizon? Judging from what you've shared so far, he'll be going through a lot of personal turmoil, even if England isn't going through political turmoil.

On a closing note, I really think you did a great job capturing the adolescent outlook here, and anyone who has been there can relate, even if it's to a sixteenth-century monarch.
 
Another short one, but I guess that's better than nothing.....

X.

As summer and the King returned, he summoned me to his chambers. I fortified myself for the interview by drinking three cups of wine in rapid succession.

Father was in his favour place: his work closet, or, as it was popularly known, his “counting house”. He was wrestling with a great mass of papers when I arrived, his head bent over a veritable pile of them. I noticed, for the first time, how grey his hair was. He was without his customary hat and the torchlight turned his head to silver. Perhaps this was why he never appeared in public without a head covering.

“Curse it!” He gestured toward the papers near the Royal Seal. “Isabella is dead and your sister-in-law is the new Queen of Castile. They say she is a lunatic; I would see her for myself.” He continued flicking through the sheets as he said, “And make sure you deal with your wife.”

Evidently, his sojourn in the North had not improved his moods, but I committed to sending an invitation to Joanna and her husband, Philip, to attend our Court. I could have argued that it is unnatural for humans to continue in normal function when they have experienced a death near at hand, but I did not persist.
He proceeded to talk about maintenance costs of the menagerie at the Tower. All kinds of strange and unwelcome beasts had been present to Father by various misguided well-wishers. Lions, wild boars, camels, elephants and turtles all clamoured for attention. My thoughts were they were better suited to the bottom of the Thames.

“I am sorry, Father.” Interruptions were rarely permitted and this was no different.

“You have many things to be sorry for, but it does seem your conduct has been reasonably self-managed since my departure,” he said, abruptly putting down his pile of papers. “You wish to request something?”

“Yes, your Grace.”

“What, then? What do you want?”

“Sire, I must tell you of a visit I received during your absence.” As I described an encounter with the younger Cabot, my father suddenly interrupted the discussion, racked with a ferocious cough. I had never heard a cough so deep. When he regained his spirit, I proceeded to call on him to fund yet another voyage to the New World. By the time I had finished, his head was lowered, his eyes full of tears. He managed one brief outburst.

“Yes, yes, I will it.”

I left him in distress, but with a pledge to raise Cabot and his matter to the Council. Over the coming year, the cough would worsen, until it became a permanent part of him. Within two years, blood would begin to appear in the sputum: a clear sign of approaching death.

However, during the coming autumn, my Father wed again. His attentions were focused on Joan. How did he feel, becoming a father again, seeing his certain death each morning? I prayed that I would be spared such knowledge when my time came. The King carried on. And lived through that winter and the next.

So I was not to be a eighteen-year-old year. Nor a nineteen-year-old King, for which I thanked God nightly. I was far too young, though not young enough to need a Protector. I would have to deal with men many years older than myself. I would deal with men who were publicly my supporters, but who were truly out for themselves. And there would be the ever-present pretenders and factions.

I had several Yorkist cousins, in particular, Edmund de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk and the son of Edward IV’s sister. He styled himself “the White Rose” and he lay in France, ready to move against me. And I must face rulers almost triple my age, Ferdinand, Maximilian, Louis, Julius. I would be a youth in a pack of veteran intriguers and dissemblers. Father had fought three pitched battles to hold his Crown and I would, most likely, have to do the same. How would I fare on the battlefield? Richard III had been a good and brave fighter, but he was hacked to pieces and his naked body slung over a horse.

There would be a test, sometime, as to whether I would be a worthy king. And I shrank from it. I did not want a test and prayed the Virgin that she would let it fall on some other man. I was afraid. I no longer wished to be King. When I was young, I had presumed that God had chosen me, so I must be protected. But I had learned of Saul. And of Henry VI. God sets up kings just to watch them fall, to illustrate something in His own purposes. We cannot know it. Would I one day be a fallen king or, even worse, a foolish king?
 
Really glad to see you've kept this going. In this case, a short one is definitely better than nothing.

It's a fairly quiet period right now, not too much to write about. But it looks like there will be some interesting material in the very near future: Sebastian Cabot's first voyage to the New World, the state visit of Philip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad, the birth of Joanna Tudor, and the birth of Henry Tudor of Wales. I'm very much looking forward to hearing about all of those, as the reign of Henry VII begins to wind to a close.

He's not too whiny and self-reflective, though, is he?
I've seen worse. He's reasonably adjusted for a young man, and doubly so for a royal.
Agreed. He's got a lot to live up to as heir to the throne. And unless you drown it in false bravado like OTL Henry VIII did, it's bound to get to you. And Arthur is looking back on his teenage years from afar, so he's probably overemphasizing his emotional state a little, because he remembers it so vividly.

Keep up the good work, and looking forward to the next update :)
 
Just considering as a future story idea for someone, there is a recording of a shipwreck by Joanna the Mad and Philip the Handsome on their way to Castile which forced their stay in England. WI that ship had sunk in a storm?

The Burgundian line would be practically extinct, with Lady Margaret of Savoy the next heir and after her, I think it was John III, Duke of Cleves (and father of the OTL famed Anne of Cleves). Would he be allowed to inherit through a tenuous females line separated by 150 years? Curious if anyone can advise? Perhaps it would be another cause of ongoing contest between the HRE (as protector of Cleves) and France (as overlord of Burgundy).

I also found records of a suggested marriage between Henry VII and Margaret of Savoy, but she was not interested. And an idea matching OTL Henry with Sabina or Sybille, daughters of the Duke of Bavaria.

If Joanna dies, the throne passes to the offspring of Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, uniting the Castilian and Portuguese thrones.

Anyway, throwing the idea out there for someone who wants a confusing POD.
 
Just considering as a future story idea for someone, there is a recording of a shipwreck by Joanna the Mad and Philip the Handsome on their way to Castile which forced their stay in England. WI that ship had sunk in a storm?

The Burgundian line would be practically extinct, with Lady Margaret of Savoy the next heir and after her, I think it was John III, Duke of Cleves (and father of the OTL famed Anne of Cleves). Would he be allowed to inherit through a tenuous females line separated by 150 years? Curious if anyone can advise? Perhaps it would be another cause of ongoing contest between the HRE (as protector of Cleves) and France (as overlord of Burgundy).

I also found records of a suggested marriage between Henry VII and Margaret of Savoy, but she was not interested. And an idea matching OTL Henry with Sabina or Sybille, daughters of the Duke of Bavaria.

If Joanna dies, the throne passes to the offspring of Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, uniting the Castilian and Portuguese thrones.

Anyway, throwing the idea out there for someone who wants a confusing POD.

I think Margaret of Savoy could be either remarried to OTL Henry VIII or she could be remarried to the duke of Cleves who have claims in Burgundy.
 
I think Margaret of Savoy could be either remarried to OTL Henry VIII or she could be remarried to the duke of Cleves who have claims in Burgundy.

Very doubtful. After her two marriages to Juan of Asturias and the Duke of Savoy, she refused any further marriages.

Also, LacheyS, were Joanna and Philip's kid with them? I was under the impression that the initial expedition to Spain did not include those children they had: Joanna had two more children in Spain, Ferdinand and Catherine, but the ones before that stayed behind and were raised in Burgundy. However, with enough genetic butterflies (esp given child mortality of the era), you could have Joanna and Philip's kids die young and then the ship sink.
 
Yes, Margaret of Savoy would not get married again.

I wasn't suggesting that I include a shipwreck in this timeline; just that someone might consider it as a POD one day. I didn't know the children were not on board, so that kinda kills the idea anyway. No real point bumping them off except to end the line, which wouldn't happen if the kids weren't on board.;
 
X. cont.

The new subject at Court was the expected arrival of my sister-in-law and her husband. Queen Joanna had been in contact with her sister and Catherine had joined her new mother-in-law in taking all the arrangements in hand, despite being six months pregnant. I believe it was in the planning that my wife forgot the loss of her mother. Though they had been parted three years, it is undoubtedly true she bore more love for the good woman who bore her than the Emperor who gave her seed.

The whole business had ballooned into a grand affair in which members of the Burgundian court and the Castilian court would travel to meet with members of the English court. Such a thing had never been done before, in either ancient or present-day practice. Both Father and I knew that this event could lay the foundation for a strong containment on future French aggression.

January, 1506. Philip the Fair (who was not as handsome as claimed) stood on the castle deck of his ship in the fairest winds that God ever sent mortal man. Their great sails appeared to have been painted to look like cloth-of-gold. They were arriving at Dover with their every moment settled to the last detail for the coming months. Entertainments, decorations throughout the palaces, silk throughout the banquet halls and a continuous flow of wine.

My initial thoughts of the King were that he was not handsome as claimed. I noticed many flaws in his countenance. His nose was an ugly protuberance and he had small, strange eyes. His fashions were acceptable, but his neck was oddly shaped.

“Brother,” he said, kissing my cheek.

“Frere!” I said, kissing his.

We drew back and held each other at arm’s length and he smiled. “Je suis heureux de vous bienvenue,” I approximated in my oddly accented French.

“Let us all embrace!” he cried. “Let there be a great ceremony of love.”

Soon, all the courtiers were mingling and speaking with each other, which, in itself, was astounding. “Nous dinerons ce soir,” I said in a low voice. He gestured towards the crowd.

“If only our ancestors could have seen this,” he said. “I hope for your friendship.”

The King and Queen of Castile joined Catherine and I as we paraded through the streets to a joyous welcome. It was dusk when we set out and the individual faces could still be made out in the light, but by the time the procession had ended, we walked in torchlight.

On the great royal dais in the temporary banquet hall that evening, I looked at Philip sitting beside me. He was older than me, and yet he seemed somewhat eager. I find that true royalty is clear from the first moment a child draws breath. Philip did not possess that mysterious substance. He was not a Christian majesty, in the same way as his wife. Queen Joanna sat with him, while Catherine sat at my right hand, gamely biting her lip and bearing the painful joints she was experiencing with this pregnancy.

Philip exclaimed in false appreciation when he was brought a tray of fruits artfully arranged into a pyramidal shape. The head steward presented it with a dainty, pearl-handled cutlery set and a pitcher of frothed cream to dribble over it. The fruit was sweet and juicy.

“Not like my wife,” Philip replied when I told him this. We were conversing in French, for Philip’s English was insubstantial beyond well-practiced phrases. “I think you received the more fair of sisters.”

All about us, courtiers purposefully scrambled around the large tables. Afterwards, they would dance together too and the conversation seemed lively. I tried to focus on them to distract myself from Philip’s less than gallant remarks.

“I understand you are a dancer,” Philip said. “I must be an English talent. For I have found certain English ladies in my court to be most talented in their movements.”

“What movements do you prefer?” I pressed back. “I will instruct my musicians to compensate for you, if you wish.”

“I dance anything. It is of no matter how we start.”

“How refreshing!” I exclaimed. “A modest type of monarch.”

Catherine and I were glad to retire to a pleasant house owned by a wealthy merchant who had loaned it for royal use. We had begun to settle into sleep after some initial greetings when Empson arrived and disrupted the house to discuss costs for some ceremonial clothing. Any other time would have been more advisable. He seemed to be a constant, nagging presence at my Father’s side, and now I found with this planning that he was becoming a nag at mine.

Catherine was immediately concerned. “Ah, dear wife,” I comforted her as we settled into our beds, “there will undoubtedly be problems and delays. Nothing is as perfect as it is on parchment. But that’s why we men would be lost without our smart and beautiful wives.” I had become solicitous, the provider of reassurance in my marriage. “Tomorrow, we shall forth.”

As early morning broke over the tightly packed roofs of Dover, numbers overflowed the streets. Furs, gold and jewels bedazzled the crowds and the hooves of thousands of horses deafened us all. By noon, we had reached the hill above the capital and then Greenwich Palace. New Arabian carpets covered the floors and intricate carved wooden furniture seems to have appeared. Obviously, the new Queen was having some good effect upon my Father.
 
Nice to see that the future Henry of Wales is well on his way. I expect that, though you didn't mention it explicitly, Joan of Naples is also pregnant, seeing as her daughter is going to be named after the Queen who is presently visiting England. Is it because Arthur didn't want to admit it to himself? Or was he out of the loop at the time, wrapped up in his own wife's pregnancy?

Also interesting that Arthur doesn't seem to think much of Philip the Handsome. Makes a nice counterpoint with OTL Henry VIII, who idolized him and viewed him as a role model... and we all know how that turned out.

I like how Arthur was behaving in this update. He carried himself remarkably well, a fine representative of England and of his father. Looking forward to the next update - I imagine Henry and Joanna will both be gracing us with their presence.
 
He doesn't seem that whiny, I agree it is probably pretty normal stuff for a near adult with responsibilities

Thanks for the reassurance.

Nice insight into what may be the tenor of Anglo-Spanish relations TTL. Cordial, even if the two may not be very close.

Maybe I was too subtle, but I wanted to portray that Arthur, while he is polite to Philip, does not really find him likeable and, in fact, a bit sordid. He won't be particularly devastated when King Philip dies.

Nice to see that the future Henry of Wales is well on his way. I expect that, though you didn't mention it explicitly, Joan of Naples is also pregnant, seeing as her daughter is going to be named after the Queen who is presently visiting England. Is it because Arthur didn't want to admit it to himself? Or was he out of the loop at the time, wrapped up in his own wife's pregnancy?

Also interesting that Arthur doesn't seem to think much of Philip the Handsome. Makes a nice counterpoint with OTL Henry VIII, who idolized him and viewed him as a role model... and we all know how that turned out.

I like how Arthur was behaving in this update. He carried himself remarkably well, a fine representative of England and of his father. Looking forward to the next update - I imagine Henry and Joanna will both be gracing us with their presence.

Not too subtle, cause Brainbin picked it up. Joan of Naples will not know she is pregnant in TTL until March, 1506, so nobody knows of the pregnancy. Prince Henry of Wales will be born in April, so that's the current focus for the family.

I can see Burgundy and England having future strong relations, but it won't be dependent on the way in which their respective rulers view each other. I will be more because the new Duke of Burgundy will be the King's future and present son-in-law. Arthur will continue this policy when he becomes King - attempting to join Tratsamara, Hapsburg and Tudor in a broad anti-French dynasty.

Henry will be born in the next installment, named for his grandfather. I won't be focusing on the royal visit, because they will mainly be in company with King Henry and Queen Joan. I think that Arthur will also be positing on Pope Julius II, who has formed a new army and laid the foundation stone of the new St Peters Basilica. I am considering throwing in an event which might lead to a rebellion before Arthur assumes the throne.
 
Henry will be born in the next installment, named for his grandfather. I won't be focusing on the royal visit, because they will mainly be in company with King Henry and Queen Joan. I think that Arthur will also be positing on Pope Julius II, who has formed a new army and laid the foundation stone of the new St Peters Basilica. I am considering throwing in an event which might lead to a rebellion before Arthur assumes the throne.
Well, the opening phases of the War of the League of Cambrai are fast approaching - and whether or not Arthur joins in 1513 is going to be the first major foreign policy decision of his reign. So it's definitely good for us to know his thoughts on all the major players.

I had thought that Mary would have been born (or stillborn, rather) between Arthur and Henry, given the three year gap, but I guess she's coming between Henry and Elizabeth? Or did Arthur just not feel up to mentioning yet another tragedy?

Finally, I forgot to mention Sebastian Cabot before. Looking forward to seeing where he goes. I'm wondering if his discoveries will be along the lines of Jacques Cartier, or of Henry Hudson... or maybe someone entirely different!
 
Well, the opening phases of the War of the League of Cambrai are fast approaching - and whether or not Arthur joins in 1513 is going to be the first major foreign policy decision of his reign. So it's definitely good for us to know his thoughts on all the major players.

I had thought that Mary would have been born (or stillborn, rather) between Arthur and Henry, given the three year gap, but I guess she's coming between Henry and Elizabeth? Or did Arthur just not feel up to mentioning yet another tragedy?

Finally, I forgot to mention Sebastian Cabot before. Looking forward to seeing where he goes. I'm wondering if his discoveries will be along the lines of Jacques Cartier, or of Henry Hudson... or maybe someone entirely different!

I don't think that Arthur will initially join the War of the League of the Cambrai, but he may reconsider on the death of Louis XIII in January, 1515. However, there is also a possibility that his father-in-law may seek to drag him into the war against the Moors prior to this.

Mary will be born in April, 1509.

Sebastian Cabot will return to England via Brittany in May, 1508. He will, of course, initially return to his father's discovery in Newfoundland and then will determine that no North West Passage exists. Following this, he will travel down the North American coastline, making contact with the Muskoke (OTL Muskogee) before reaching Santo Domingo (OTL capital of Dominican Republic)
 
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