The Grand Duchy of the West - A Valois-Burgundian TL
- Thread starter BlueFlowwer
- Start date
Thank you! I got the idea when Frisia and Guelders was brought up in my former tl. Plus the matching names of Philip and Philippa being a power couple in the west was to good to pass up and since Lorraine is gonna go to Nicholas and he married Mary so Philippa needed a husband. The portrait of Philippa is actually of Catherine of Saxony, but she looked exactly like the Philippa I had in mind for this tl, so I went with her. I couldn't find any good portrait of her.
I'm rather surprised, I forshadowed it more then once!
Exactly. I was sure who Mary of York was destined to die early well before her actual death
Ooh it seems the issue that is Guelders has been more or less solved with this marriage and excellent writing!
Yes, it is. I looked at the Guelders Wars otl, went nooooo, and then married Philip and Philippa together. The issue was Charles, so I wanted him to remain childless, but that might look a bit weird to people and Guelders might want him as a figurehead anyway, so thus the fabricated "woe is me and I fear for my soul so get thee into a nunnery because I fear BETRAYAL and BTW here is my single and very eligible sister that you Should Totes Marry because PEACE" act in Holland that I guarantee the playwrights are gonna Dramatize Until Kingdom Come later in the renaissance. Besides with Philip being his brother in law, no one is gonna be suspicious about Charles being Devoted To Philip and thus they can stay together
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Very nice! The marriage is a good one especially as it solves the problems Phillip has in Holland, and the way Phillipa is described is good for Holland proper! I do hope we get to see Burgundy/Flanders gain more land too.
Ps I'm happy I inspired the match!
It is isn't it? And I'm a sucker for a powercouple as always. I think you will like the next chapter regarding lands when I post it.
yeee that is very good indeed! Power couples are very nice and they seem to be in love with each other.
also more lands is always good for the Low Countries! Especially when they need it against France!
Chapter 13 - France and Brabant 1483 - 1490
Chapter 13 – The Mad War – France and Brabant from 1483-1490
King Louis XI of France died in December 1483. The Dauphin, now Charles VIII of France was only 13 years old, and would require a regency. The task of steadying France fell to Anne de Beaujeu, Charles’s eldest sister and Duchess of Bourbon and her husband Peter, Duke of Bourbon. Anne’s regency would be turbulent. Despite her efforts, she faced a coalition of rebels whose long grievances with the crown erupted in 1485. Ironically one of the leading causes happened because of Philip of Brabant.
Two betrothals happened.
The first were of John of Burgundy who found his bride in 1482. Peter II, Count of St Pol and Luxembourg died in late October and the sole heiress were his ten year old daughter, Marie. In 1480 after the wars with France were over, the areas of Luxembourg had been damaged by enemy forces and Peter needed aid from the duchy to restore it back to order. In return he had to send his daughter Marie to court, to be a ward of the dowager duchess. After Peter’s death, Philip arranged for Marie to be betrothed to John in order for him to inherit the County of St Pol near Picardy. Philip’s idea with the marriage was for John to have a powerbase in case France tried to invade the region. As John was nine years old and Marie ten, the marriage would not happen until 1487, when John came of marrying age. Marie also had the claim to the County of Soissons, Brienne and Marle, but that laid in France, close to Reims.
The County of St Pol in 1482
Under the summer of 1483 a treaty was worked out. Marie would marry John and St Pol would become part of the Duchy of Brabant. John would respect his wife’s inheritance and if the marriage was childless the lands would pass to the next heir. Anne de Beaujue was concerned with the marriage, as it could lead to John and his brother encroaching on French territories. The outcome of the war against Burgundy had depleted a lot of the French forces and the illegitimacy of their claim to the duchy had let to internal tensions with the nobility, who had decried the king for being willing to ignore the rights of inheritance laws. The death of the marshal of France in battle had also left France in need of a new commander of their forces. Jean de Baudricourt became the new marshal in 1480 and a adviser to the king for the last years. Upon the death of Louis, he transferred his loyalty to Anne, swearing fealty to the new king.
Duke Louis II of Orléans tried to seize the regency in January 1484, but he had been rejected by the States General of Tours. His festering rage towards the monarchy was partly due to still being married to his sterile and unloved wife, Joan of Valois, the sister of Anne and Charles.
The marriage of Charles VIII of France and Isabella of Burgundy
In spring 1484 the marriage between Charles VIII of France and Isabella of Burgundy finally took place, the couple having turned 14 as the Treaty of Arras had specified. The relationship between the newlyweds had bloomed ever since they had meet in Paris four years earlier. The young king had come to love his intelligent and pretty bride and she enjoyed the company of her affably fiancé. The marriage in Notre Dame Cathedral was a splendid affair, and for the time, peace reigned. Duke Philip sent emissaries to the wedding, giving his sister valuable presents. Isabella in return petitioned her husband to keep good tone with Burgundy and it seemed to have paid off, Charles sent joyful greetings to his brother-in-law. Isabella’s estates that she had brought with her was finally put in her control as well.
Two years later another betrothal occurred, this time taking place in Brittany. Jean, Count of Montfort had been engaged to Anne of Burgundy, the sister of Philip and Isabella since the age of seven, but in 1486, Francis broke of the agreement to make another alliance with Richard III of England instead. He took advantage of the regency in France to betroth his only son to Eleanor of Gloucester, the second daughter of the king. England could surely offer military support to Brittany in case France tried to invade the duchy. The agreement was also made to make up for Francis harbouring the last Lancastrian Henry Tudor. Queen Beatrice supported the alliance, as she wanted Eleanor to make a grand match. Her youngest stepdaughter had become the queen’s favourite, while her sister Joan stayed more aloof. The Breton ambassador and Jean IV de Rieux, a marshal of Brittany, who had travelled to London in the late summer of 1486 was treated to a banquet, dancing, and a joust upon their arrival, while the pregnant Beatrice acted as a gracious hostess. The Earl of Cornwall, Richard of Windsor, was almost six months old when the betrothal was struck.
Beatrice was not the only consort expecting a baby that year. Both the Queen of England , the Queen of France, the Princess of Asturias, and the Duchess of Brabant would all announce pregnancies in the span of the twelve months span of December 1485 to the next December. 1486 would become known in history as The year of the Princes. The previous year had been the opposite, as several kingdoms had been blessed with daughters. Lorraine had seen a second daughter, Yolande to Nicholas and Mary, Hedwig of Austria had arrived to Maximilian and archduchess Hedwig, and Isabel and Ferdinand greeted their last infanta, Catalina. John II of Portugal and Eleanor of Viseu also ended up with a surprise daughter, Infanta Isabella that year.
The first prince to arrive did so in Windsor Castle on the 7th of February. The future king Richard IV were born to Richard III of England and Beatrice of Portugal, while his little brother, the Duke of York came forth on the 25th of March in 1487.
Brussels saw the birth of the Grand Duchy’s heir on the 3rd of June in 1486. Baby Philip of Brabant’s arrival after midnight was cheered with celebrations lasting for several days and ringing of the church bells. His birth also cemented Philippa’s position as the Grand Duchess and shut the naysayers up permanently. The splendid christening and Philippa’s churching both took place at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, the latter on the 26h of July.
Philippa’s christening was greeted with a Ommegang, a traditional pageantry in the Low Countries. The Ommegang was a large, opulent participation of the guilds, crafts, and chambers of rhetoric, each of which contributed a float to a procession through the streets. The creators had decided to change the date of the progression this time in order to celebrate their new duchess and the whole court greatly enjoyed the spectacle playing out in the city. Little Anne of Burgundy had to be lifted by her brother to see the whole thing, being absolutely delighted by the actors dressed up as mythological creatures, knights, false ships, giants and other beings.
The Ommegang in Antwerp during the baroque age
In Seville, on the 7th of August, the Prince and Princess of Asturias welcomed their first child, baby Juan and France saw their new Dauphin, born in the Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours in the Loire Valley on the 29th of November.
Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours
In 1487 storm clouds began gathering at the horizon. The drums of war started rolling in France and Burgundy too would play its part. The regents of France took the impending marriage between John and Marie as a provocation, while the possibility of Brittany being linked with England posed another threat. At Christmas 1486 a delegation arrived from Paris to Antwerp, the message carried a threatening tone to the duke. Philip was not willing to declare open war against France, but either one had forgotten the turmoil that the late Louis XI had caused, so a subtler tactic was in order.
Louis II of Orléans raised his standard against Anne and Peter along with Francis and the conflict turned from manipulations to force of arms. The Duke of Angouleme, John IV of Chalon-Arlay and Alain d’Albret joined the cause against the regents.
It was in the middle of this that John II, Count of Nevers died in January of 1487. As he had no son, the heir to Nevers was his grandson, Engelbert of Cleves, the younger brother of John II of Cleves. The problem was that Engelbert had been held hostage by the Duke of Brabant since 1484. And Philip had no plans to free him without getting something in return.
By 1487 two factions had formed, the Orléans party and the Bourbon party. The Orléans had backers: the king of England and the Duke of Lorraine, who had no reason for helping the king of France. Richard III sent a force of 6, 000 men to Brittany, with around thousand archers. They were commanded by Richard Ratcliffe, an able military commander. Brabant also provided funds, even if it was discreet. The French royal troops had Swiss and Italian mercenaries in their service. The commander of the French army was Louis la Trémoille.
The Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in June would decide the outcome of the tension between the Crown and the Orléans-Brittany party. The forces were evenly matched, both amounted to 15,000 each.
Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier
The battle initially went in favour of the royal forces, the Orléans party being fragmented and having a hard time to fight efficiently, but the tide turned after Jacques Galliota was killed by the Prince of Orange’s forces. It would be the english longbows that decided the outcome, the sky was said to have been black with falling arrows. The Breton forces would use their cavalry very efficiently, breaking the royal line. The losses to the forces would be hard, around 9,000 men is said to have died, when the Orléans party lost less than 2000 men.. The final blow was when Louis La Trémoille died. The commander had, in a effort to regain the command of the panicked royal forces come within reach of the english archers. Richard III had given Ratcliffe a clear objective in the battle when the english army had left for Brittany: Kill the commanders. Ratcliffe spotted his opponent and immediately ordered several rains of arrows at him. The tactic paid off, Trémoille and several of his captains died in the dense hail.
With the commander and several other officers’ dead the battle was quickly won.
It had been a devastating victory for the Orléans party. However, the regency of Charles VIII ended not much later, leaving the new king with a weakened political power.
The result of the victory resulted in the Treaty of Verger in 1488. The dukes strengthened their autonomy against the crown, the crown would also remove their forces on the ducal territories. Anne of France and Peter, duke of Bourbon would leave the court and return to Bourbon. But France made a few gains despite it all. Nicholas of Anjou reached an agreement with France in the aftermath, in return for France backing off the Duchies of Anjou, Bar and the Counties of Provence and Maine, he ceded his claim to Gien to the king. Philip and John abandoned their claim to Soissons to France, as Nicholas sold them the County of Guise in return. The trades had been motivated by the distance between all the domains, as Nicholas found it difficult to exert his power over them. Guise laid just near the Bishopric of Cambrai. Philip had appointed his illegitimate uncle, Jean, bastard of Burgundy as bishop in Cambrai in 1480 after his illegitimate great-uncle John of Burgundy had died the year before. He put Guise under Jean’s protection until John attained his majority in 1490.
Margaret of York and Marie, Countess of St Pol, unknown Italian artist
It was at this point Philip dispatched an emissary to the estates of Nevers and Rethel with a deal. His illegitimate uncle, Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy had been entrusted with an important mission. Philip would trade the County of Auxerre to Nevers in return for the County of Rethel and the County of Eu. Philip also demanded the custody of John II’s infant granddaughter, Marie d’Albret to be sent to Brabant as a hostage at once. She would be betrothed to Jean of Brabant, Philip’s second son, also an infant. If Charlotte, Countess of Rethel did not agree to the terms, then Philip would force the issue at sword point. As Charlotte’s husband Jean d’Albret had died shortly after his daughter’s birth during the battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in service of France.
Anthony’s adroit diplomacy paid off as the estates in Nevers agreed with Philip’s condition. Rethel and Eu were far away and the option of adding Auxerre had several of them salivating at the prospect of enlarging the County and while Engelbert were held hostage, Nevers were vulnerable. The trade benefited Philip too. Auxerre was far away from his possessions after the duchy of Burgundy had been lost and his authority were weak in the area. Rethel, Eu and Guise were more tempting areas that could be consolidated easier as they laid in the border areas of the duchy. Trading Engelbert also meant Philip had leverage regarding Cleves as he was the brother of the duke. Philip was able to extort a huge sum of money in repatriation for the invasion of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in 1481. He used parts of the money to build the Muiden Castle near Amsterdam in order fortify his control of Utrecht and the northern parts of Holland.
Muiden Castle
With the marriage of his brother and his second son settled, Philip turned to his heir, four-year-old Philip and his youngest sibling, Anne of Burgundy in 1490. Grand matches would be planned for them both. And it was just as well, as Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, died in the same year.
Author's Note: I GOT THE JOB TODAY!
So, here we have the Mad War in France of 1488. This time it goes different, as England and Burgundy backs them against France. Engelbert is still captive, so Philip was able to swap Auxerre for Rethel and Eu. He also got Guise from Nicholas. Marie d'Albret is born a few years earlier then otl, because she was born in 1491 in real life. And she grows up as a cherished wardhostage in the ducal court with her infant husband. And male Anne of Brittany married Richard III's second daughter Eleanor. First daughter Joan will marry James IV of Scotland.
Also as promised: BABIES EVERYWHERE! I threw in a Portuguese infanta for shit and giggles thou. So many matches to plan! *rubs hands with glee*
King Louis XI of France died in December 1483. The Dauphin, now Charles VIII of France was only 13 years old, and would require a regency. The task of steadying France fell to Anne de Beaujeu, Charles’s eldest sister and Duchess of Bourbon and her husband Peter, Duke of Bourbon. Anne’s regency would be turbulent. Despite her efforts, she faced a coalition of rebels whose long grievances with the crown erupted in 1485. Ironically one of the leading causes happened because of Philip of Brabant.
Two betrothals happened.
The first were of John of Burgundy who found his bride in 1482. Peter II, Count of St Pol and Luxembourg died in late October and the sole heiress were his ten year old daughter, Marie. In 1480 after the wars with France were over, the areas of Luxembourg had been damaged by enemy forces and Peter needed aid from the duchy to restore it back to order. In return he had to send his daughter Marie to court, to be a ward of the dowager duchess. After Peter’s death, Philip arranged for Marie to be betrothed to John in order for him to inherit the County of St Pol near Picardy. Philip’s idea with the marriage was for John to have a powerbase in case France tried to invade the region. As John was nine years old and Marie ten, the marriage would not happen until 1487, when John came of marrying age. Marie also had the claim to the County of Soissons, Brienne and Marle, but that laid in France, close to Reims.
The County of St Pol in 1482
Under the summer of 1483 a treaty was worked out. Marie would marry John and St Pol would become part of the Duchy of Brabant. John would respect his wife’s inheritance and if the marriage was childless the lands would pass to the next heir. Anne de Beaujue was concerned with the marriage, as it could lead to John and his brother encroaching on French territories. The outcome of the war against Burgundy had depleted a lot of the French forces and the illegitimacy of their claim to the duchy had let to internal tensions with the nobility, who had decried the king for being willing to ignore the rights of inheritance laws. The death of the marshal of France in battle had also left France in need of a new commander of their forces. Jean de Baudricourt became the new marshal in 1480 and a adviser to the king for the last years. Upon the death of Louis, he transferred his loyalty to Anne, swearing fealty to the new king.
Duke Louis II of Orléans tried to seize the regency in January 1484, but he had been rejected by the States General of Tours. His festering rage towards the monarchy was partly due to still being married to his sterile and unloved wife, Joan of Valois, the sister of Anne and Charles.
The marriage of Charles VIII of France and Isabella of Burgundy
In spring 1484 the marriage between Charles VIII of France and Isabella of Burgundy finally took place, the couple having turned 14 as the Treaty of Arras had specified. The relationship between the newlyweds had bloomed ever since they had meet in Paris four years earlier. The young king had come to love his intelligent and pretty bride and she enjoyed the company of her affably fiancé. The marriage in Notre Dame Cathedral was a splendid affair, and for the time, peace reigned. Duke Philip sent emissaries to the wedding, giving his sister valuable presents. Isabella in return petitioned her husband to keep good tone with Burgundy and it seemed to have paid off, Charles sent joyful greetings to his brother-in-law. Isabella’s estates that she had brought with her was finally put in her control as well.
Two years later another betrothal occurred, this time taking place in Brittany. Jean, Count of Montfort had been engaged to Anne of Burgundy, the sister of Philip and Isabella since the age of seven, but in 1486, Francis broke of the agreement to make another alliance with Richard III of England instead. He took advantage of the regency in France to betroth his only son to Eleanor of Gloucester, the second daughter of the king. England could surely offer military support to Brittany in case France tried to invade the duchy. The agreement was also made to make up for Francis harbouring the last Lancastrian Henry Tudor. Queen Beatrice supported the alliance, as she wanted Eleanor to make a grand match. Her youngest stepdaughter had become the queen’s favourite, while her sister Joan stayed more aloof. The Breton ambassador and Jean IV de Rieux, a marshal of Brittany, who had travelled to London in the late summer of 1486 was treated to a banquet, dancing, and a joust upon their arrival, while the pregnant Beatrice acted as a gracious hostess. The Earl of Cornwall, Richard of Windsor, was almost six months old when the betrothal was struck.
Beatrice was not the only consort expecting a baby that year. Both the Queen of England , the Queen of France, the Princess of Asturias, and the Duchess of Brabant would all announce pregnancies in the span of the twelve months span of December 1485 to the next December. 1486 would become known in history as The year of the Princes. The previous year had been the opposite, as several kingdoms had been blessed with daughters. Lorraine had seen a second daughter, Yolande to Nicholas and Mary, Hedwig of Austria had arrived to Maximilian and archduchess Hedwig, and Isabel and Ferdinand greeted their last infanta, Catalina. John II of Portugal and Eleanor of Viseu also ended up with a surprise daughter, Infanta Isabella that year.
The first prince to arrive did so in Windsor Castle on the 7th of February. The future king Richard IV were born to Richard III of England and Beatrice of Portugal, while his little brother, the Duke of York came forth on the 25th of March in 1487.
Brussels saw the birth of the Grand Duchy’s heir on the 3rd of June in 1486. Baby Philip of Brabant’s arrival after midnight was cheered with celebrations lasting for several days and ringing of the church bells. His birth also cemented Philippa’s position as the Grand Duchess and shut the naysayers up permanently. The splendid christening and Philippa’s churching both took place at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, the latter on the 26h of July.
Philippa’s christening was greeted with a Ommegang, a traditional pageantry in the Low Countries. The Ommegang was a large, opulent participation of the guilds, crafts, and chambers of rhetoric, each of which contributed a float to a procession through the streets. The creators had decided to change the date of the progression this time in order to celebrate their new duchess and the whole court greatly enjoyed the spectacle playing out in the city. Little Anne of Burgundy had to be lifted by her brother to see the whole thing, being absolutely delighted by the actors dressed up as mythological creatures, knights, false ships, giants and other beings.
The Ommegang in Antwerp during the baroque age
In Seville, on the 7th of August, the Prince and Princess of Asturias welcomed their first child, baby Juan and France saw their new Dauphin, born in the Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours in the Loire Valley on the 29th of November.
Château de Plessis-lèz-Tours
In 1487 storm clouds began gathering at the horizon. The drums of war started rolling in France and Burgundy too would play its part. The regents of France took the impending marriage between John and Marie as a provocation, while the possibility of Brittany being linked with England posed another threat. At Christmas 1486 a delegation arrived from Paris to Antwerp, the message carried a threatening tone to the duke. Philip was not willing to declare open war against France, but either one had forgotten the turmoil that the late Louis XI had caused, so a subtler tactic was in order.
Louis II of Orléans raised his standard against Anne and Peter along with Francis and the conflict turned from manipulations to force of arms. The Duke of Angouleme, John IV of Chalon-Arlay and Alain d’Albret joined the cause against the regents.
It was in the middle of this that John II, Count of Nevers died in January of 1487. As he had no son, the heir to Nevers was his grandson, Engelbert of Cleves, the younger brother of John II of Cleves. The problem was that Engelbert had been held hostage by the Duke of Brabant since 1484. And Philip had no plans to free him without getting something in return.
By 1487 two factions had formed, the Orléans party and the Bourbon party. The Orléans had backers: the king of England and the Duke of Lorraine, who had no reason for helping the king of France. Richard III sent a force of 6, 000 men to Brittany, with around thousand archers. They were commanded by Richard Ratcliffe, an able military commander. Brabant also provided funds, even if it was discreet. The French royal troops had Swiss and Italian mercenaries in their service. The commander of the French army was Louis la Trémoille.
The Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in June would decide the outcome of the tension between the Crown and the Orléans-Brittany party. The forces were evenly matched, both amounted to 15,000 each.
Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier
The battle initially went in favour of the royal forces, the Orléans party being fragmented and having a hard time to fight efficiently, but the tide turned after Jacques Galliota was killed by the Prince of Orange’s forces. It would be the english longbows that decided the outcome, the sky was said to have been black with falling arrows. The Breton forces would use their cavalry very efficiently, breaking the royal line. The losses to the forces would be hard, around 9,000 men is said to have died, when the Orléans party lost less than 2000 men.. The final blow was when Louis La Trémoille died. The commander had, in a effort to regain the command of the panicked royal forces come within reach of the english archers. Richard III had given Ratcliffe a clear objective in the battle when the english army had left for Brittany: Kill the commanders. Ratcliffe spotted his opponent and immediately ordered several rains of arrows at him. The tactic paid off, Trémoille and several of his captains died in the dense hail.
With the commander and several other officers’ dead the battle was quickly won.
It had been a devastating victory for the Orléans party. However, the regency of Charles VIII ended not much later, leaving the new king with a weakened political power.
The result of the victory resulted in the Treaty of Verger in 1488. The dukes strengthened their autonomy against the crown, the crown would also remove their forces on the ducal territories. Anne of France and Peter, duke of Bourbon would leave the court and return to Bourbon. But France made a few gains despite it all. Nicholas of Anjou reached an agreement with France in the aftermath, in return for France backing off the Duchies of Anjou, Bar and the Counties of Provence and Maine, he ceded his claim to Gien to the king. Philip and John abandoned their claim to Soissons to France, as Nicholas sold them the County of Guise in return. The trades had been motivated by the distance between all the domains, as Nicholas found it difficult to exert his power over them. Guise laid just near the Bishopric of Cambrai. Philip had appointed his illegitimate uncle, Jean, bastard of Burgundy as bishop in Cambrai in 1480 after his illegitimate great-uncle John of Burgundy had died the year before. He put Guise under Jean’s protection until John attained his majority in 1490.
Margaret of York and Marie, Countess of St Pol, unknown Italian artist
It was at this point Philip dispatched an emissary to the estates of Nevers and Rethel with a deal. His illegitimate uncle, Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy had been entrusted with an important mission. Philip would trade the County of Auxerre to Nevers in return for the County of Rethel and the County of Eu. Philip also demanded the custody of John II’s infant granddaughter, Marie d’Albret to be sent to Brabant as a hostage at once. She would be betrothed to Jean of Brabant, Philip’s second son, also an infant. If Charlotte, Countess of Rethel did not agree to the terms, then Philip would force the issue at sword point. As Charlotte’s husband Jean d’Albret had died shortly after his daughter’s birth during the battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier in service of France.
Anthony’s adroit diplomacy paid off as the estates in Nevers agreed with Philip’s condition. Rethel and Eu were far away and the option of adding Auxerre had several of them salivating at the prospect of enlarging the County and while Engelbert were held hostage, Nevers were vulnerable. The trade benefited Philip too. Auxerre was far away from his possessions after the duchy of Burgundy had been lost and his authority were weak in the area. Rethel, Eu and Guise were more tempting areas that could be consolidated easier as they laid in the border areas of the duchy. Trading Engelbert also meant Philip had leverage regarding Cleves as he was the brother of the duke. Philip was able to extort a huge sum of money in repatriation for the invasion of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in 1481. He used parts of the money to build the Muiden Castle near Amsterdam in order fortify his control of Utrecht and the northern parts of Holland.
Muiden Castle
With the marriage of his brother and his second son settled, Philip turned to his heir, four-year-old Philip and his youngest sibling, Anne of Burgundy in 1490. Grand matches would be planned for them both. And it was just as well, as Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, died in the same year.
Author's Note: I GOT THE JOB TODAY!
So, here we have the Mad War in France of 1488. This time it goes different, as England and Burgundy backs them against France. Engelbert is still captive, so Philip was able to swap Auxerre for Rethel and Eu. He also got Guise from Nicholas. Marie d'Albret is born a few years earlier then otl, because she was born in 1491 in real life. And she grows up as a cherished ward
Also as promised: BABIES EVERYWHERE! I threw in a Portuguese infanta for shit and giggles thou. So many matches to plan! *rubs hands with glee*
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Absolutely loved the chapter! Congrants on the Job
Yay britanny remains strong in the face of france!
Loved the birth of the Princes, specially that of little Richard, he was born in the same castle as Edward III, England's greatest king, i expect grand things for him!
Can't wait for the matches for little Philip and Anne!
Yay britanny remains strong in the face of france!
Loved the birth of the Princes, specially that of little Richard, he was born in the same castle as Edward III, England's greatest king, i expect grand things for him!
Can't wait for the matches for little Philip and Anne!
Seeing the pieces move around is quite nice! Especially when Phillip trades the counties far from him for rethel and Eu is very cool and it definitely would help with Brabant's control over their lands. Seeing the nobles gaining power from the centralising french royalty is always quite cool, and I hope britanny achieve long term independence. Mattias Corvinus dying would affect a lot of things but things should stay the same considering that he died the same year as otl.
Thank you! I'm so glad I'm almost crying.
The Anglo-flemish alliance needs to get back on its feet.
I owe it all to @Tsipouras1997 for the idea about Rethel and Eu. And Brabant got Guise too!
And mayhaps Philip jr will get a english princess like his grandfather....