well i very highly doubt she would happy with whoever it is but knowing that it is a
french girl
will not do her any good
Eh, eh… the problem is not so much the nationality as everything else…
Damn well at least she gets a slightly better deal...
She could had get a good deal also in OTL, if she had taken it, but she rejected it both OTL and ATL. Still here the Pope was NOT prisoner of Charles V so he was free to do whatever he wished and Henry got his annulment
 
Motherhood - Marguerite
Marguerite, Duchess of Bourbon had always fiercely loved all the children of her brother Francis and had been a maternal figure for them since the death of her unlucky sister-in-law Claude, but still was surprised to discover how much she loved her own child as soon her little Francis, styled Count of Clermont, was born: maybe the difference was owed to the fact who carried him in her womb for nine months and suffered in the childbirth room, instead of simply supporting Claude, or maybe was the fact who Francis was undeniably hers, while she had always know who mothering her orphaned nieces and nephews was only temporary, until her brother remarried, and then she would have to leave the raising of the children to her next sister-in-law. She was grateful to her husband Charles, who had let her name their child after her late brother (and the young king) instead of choosing a name from his family, specially considering how much her husband still resented and hated her late brother. Marguerite had been surprised by her husband‘s proposal of the name as the best name for which she had hoped was Charles, after her father and both her husbands as she had been sure who her husband would not allow her to name the baby Francis. Probably his happiness in having an son and heir, and a very healthy one, had pushed him to reward his wife with that gift, for which Marguerite was really grateful.
Still Charles had been much less charitable with Louise, who had been allowed only to a short visit to her daughter and infant grandson as the Duke of Bourbon had little intention to tolerate his much hated mother-in-law for more than the strictly necessary for the sake of Marguerite and of the young King Francis II.
During the visit Louise had again started to involve Marguerite in her plots as she needed her daughter to talk to the younger sister of the late Claude, as she planned to marry the 15 years old Renée to the King of England, but she needed first to have Renée acknowledging who her elder sister Claude had been the rightful Duchess of Brittany and who Claude’s children were all ahead of her in the Breton succession, as their mother Anne of Brittany had tried to leave Brittany to her younger daughter instead of the elder, for preserving the Breton independence and Renee had been quite vocal in reclaiming her rights, so now she needed to sign the recognition of her nephew, the young King Francis II as rightful Duke of Britanny before being allowed to marry anyone and naturally the princess hated Louise so she needed Marguerite to persuade her sister-in-law to comply with Louise’s wishes for the good of France, as the English alliance would give them peace and security for their borders.
 
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Damn, hopefully Marguerite will be successful in convincing Renee, it would be a good match after all...
Do not worry, Marguerite know how take Renee and has influence over her, unlike her mother, and she can be really persuasive if necessary, and Renee‘s match to Henry VIII would do a lot for securing France’s stability during the remaining years of Francis II’s minority
 
I was thinking she runs to Emperor Charles, who has recently helped other french affiliated nobles regain titles and asks for his aid. I have a soft spot for independent Celtic countries
 
I was thinking she runs to Emperor Charles, who has recently helped other french affiliated nobles regain titles and asks for his aid. I have a soft spot for independent Celtic countries
She would then BETRAY her country and her young nephew in a moment in which they are already in a bad situation. Plus Charles had NOT helped anyone to recover French lands (the Duke of Bourbon received his title and lands back directly from Louise and under condition of marrying Marguerite as they were her dowry)
if you want see something with an independent Brittany this is NOT the right timeline for it (at least for the moment), but my others TL (A reborn Lotharingia and A Destiny fulfilled) have a Brittany independent from France…
 
Duties and worries - Ferdinand
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, had always put the loyalty to his Imperial brother in the first place, since their first meeting in Spain, when he was only 14 years old. At this point he was hating that loyalty as it forced him to stay in Speyer to preside the Diet (started the 25th of June) wanted by his absent brother, who was currently enjoying the company of his new wife in Spain, instead of being in Vienna to await the birth of his firstborn child or in Hungary with an army to help King Louis II to repeal the dangerous Ottoman invasion who had started another tentative to conquer Hungary: unluckily he had not enough troops of his own for sending a substantial help to his brother-in-law, the Spanish armies were still in Italy and were unlikely to be able to move before the winter blocked the passages in the Alps as they would need time for moving and would not start any preparative for departing from their actual positions unless Charles ordered it. He had written to his brother as soon he had received the news of the Ottoman advance asking him to support Mary’s husband (and he was sure who Eleanor, newly married in Milan and Isabella (who had birthed her sixth child, a daughter called Isabella, a month earlier) from the Netherlands had also asked the same to their brother) but the messenger would need time to reach Charles and so was unlikely who the troops would be ready to depart in time for being useful in Hungary. Twenty days had been more than enough for starting to be already tired of the discussions of the Diet, who was also preventing him from calling, as regent for his brother, all the German Princes to raise men for an imperial army for fighting the Ottomans. Unluckily the supporters of the heretic monk Martin Luther wanted the abolition of the Edict of Worms and that was something who neither Charles or him had any intention to concede, as they feared the diffusion who the dangerous ideas of the monk could have once they stopped to be illegal (as they had already spread far too much for their liking at this point). At least France was quiet and likely still shocked for the deaths of Francis I and Alençon, Louise of Savoy‘s regency and the return in France of Charles of Bourbon and his hasty remarriage to Marguerite, sister of Francis and widow of Alençon, who had both die as consequence of a battle lost again the Spanish Army lead by Bourbon.
Ferdinand‘s bitter reflections were interrupted by the arrival of a messenger from Vienna, who had a letter from his wife Anna, in which she announced who their child had born the 11th so four days earlier and who both she and the baby, a girl who she had named Elisabeth as they had agreed, were fine and in good health. He was sorry to have been unable to be near to his wife but luckily she was able to understand and knew who Ferdinand had not choice. Well, at least that news had removed a reason for worrying and hopefully he would continue to receive only good news and nothing of his fears would became true
 
Very interesting to see Ferdinand once more being his brother's deputy, I know he'll try the best to ensure the best outcome for Charles's reign.
Yes, Ferdinand right now hate the position in which he is but he will always strive to do his best as regent for both his brother and the Empire (and Charles is really grateful for it) as right now his life is dedicated to serve both (and rule Austria and Wurttemberg)
 
The price to pay for our birth - Renée
Renée of France had always felt to be more Breton than French, and without doubt felt the ties with their maternal inheritance much more strongly than her elder sister as Claude had cared little to nothing for Brittany, consenting to their father first and after to her husband to tie the country to France far too strongly for her liking. Still Renée was not so stupid to not understand who she had zero chances to recover control of Brittany and in any case she would not try to take away Brittany from little Francis now, who he was a young and parentless King. Renouncing forever to the claim on Brittany given to her by her mother’s will would be hard, but she feared too much the consequences of trying to enforce it and the English crown was a valuable prize who would fully compensate her sacrifice: King Henry was much older than her, but he was in need of an heir and would surely respect her and left her free to continue to follow her interest once she would give him his long awaited heir. The only valid reason who she had for refuting to sign the agreement as she had menaced to do, was to spite Louise, who had enraged her with her pretensions, but Marguerite had been able to persuade her who renouncing to the Crown of England for that would be really stupid and she and their nephew, the young King, had promised to take care of Brittany, learn the history of the country and preserve its institutions, keeping it only in personal union with France without trying to incorporate it. Louise had not be happy for that promise and the fact who she and Francis II had to put it on paper and sign it (and also the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon had signed it), but had resigned after the Duchess of Bourbon had told her who that was the only way for getting what she wanted. Renee had often dreamed to become Duchess of Brittany and restoring its independence and she wondered the reason for which that dream had been so strong when she was denied the means for realizing it but she knew who she had made the right choice and only the future would tell her if anything was behind that dream: for now she was to become Queen of England in few months and she truly hoped to find happiness on the other side of the sea
 
The end of the Diet - Ferdinand
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and Regent of the Holy Roman Empire was long tired of the Diet, Speyer and all the discussions: he longed to return home to his wife Anna and to meet their newborn daughter, as thinking who she would was almost a month old and he had never seen his firstborn child made him really unhappy. Still Ferdinand doubted who he would be free to go soon as the discussions of the Diet had not yet produced any results and they were already in the second week of September. Charles had ordered him to not consent to abrogate the edict of Worms for any reason, and Ferdinand fully agreed with him on that point, but the Princes who supported Luther, and a couple of Electors were among them, pretended that abrogation before accepting any order from the Emperor or his regent, including the call of the Imperial Army for fighting against the Ottomans, who were attacking Hungary. Ferdinand had sent to Louis II, King of Hungary, all the men who he had been able and hoped who his brother-in-law would be able to repel or at least block the invasion. His fears for Louis, who was both Anna’s brother and the husband of his own sister Mary, and for Mary herself, were always in the back of his mind as Ferdinand knew who he had to pray and hope for the best outcome and who Hungary would be able to resist until the next spring, when the Spanish Army would be able to join the fight (as he had no doubt who Charles would sent his soldiers and who he would not do it only for Mary‘s sake but because he felt who as Holy Roman Emperor he had the duty to fight against the Turks for defending the Christian lands).
The meeting was still in course when a messenger for Vienna, arrived with a message for him from Anna, who had ordered him to consign the letter only to the Archduke and as soon was possible as was very urgent. The discussions of the Princes stopped, leaving the room in silence while Ferdinand opened the letter, finding only few words from Anna, who with a trembling hand asked him to return immediately to Vienna, plus other three letters, addressed to him: one from Mary, whose writing was trembling like Anna’s and two from unknown hands, who were still sealed, unlike Mary’s: Ferdinand choose to start to read from the more ruined of the two letters, discovering who was from Stephen Bathory, the Palatine of Hungary, who was reporting about the terrible defeat of the Hungarian Army in the battle of Mohacs, the 29th of August, battle in which King Louis and many other commanders, had lost their lives. The second letter was from John Zapolya, the Voivode of Transylvania, who had been unable to reach with his men the Royal Army in time for the battle, in which his younger brother George had died. Both Bathory and Zapolya were asking for reinforcements as they doubted to be able to do much with the men at their disposal for preventing the Turks from conquering the whole Hungary. The letter of Mary was the worst one as his sister was telling him who she was escaping from the now indefensible Buda, searching refuge in Bohemia and while distraught for the death of her most beloved husband and scared for her own life, she had still found the strength to remind him who the future of both Bohemia and Hungary was in his hands as he was the one who had right to be elected as next king of Hungary and Bohemia, as he was married to Louis‘ only sibling. John, Elector of Saxony, since the death of his elder brother ( the great protector of Luther), only few months earlier, made the mistake to ask to the Archduke, who was stunned and spechless, and with a strange expression on his face, what news had received, saying who if were important things they had the right to know them. Ferdinand, who was trying to keep under control both his pain and his rage in seeing who his worst fears had become true, at that point lost any desire to keep peace and answered harshly, without trying anymore to contain his rage, calling the Elector of Saxony and the other Princes who supported the heretic monk “Friends of the Turks” and “disgrace of the Christianity“ before revealing the tragedy who had happened eleven days earlier in Hungary and concluded his speech with the order to end the diet and go home and start to prepare their armies as they now would be unable to do much for help Hungary, but he expected to see all of them with their armies at the start of the spring for repel the Turks from Hungary. The Princes were frozen in hearing the usually affable brother of the Emperor talking in that way as Ferdinand usually was the diplomat of the family and the one to cool his Imperial brother’s temper, mediating between him and them, so nobody dared to say anything and all of them left as quickly was possible the room: the Diet was over and with her any hope of a compromise about religion and they would need all to go to fight as they knew who refuting to obey to that order would mean be branded as traitors of the Empire and the Christianity (and none of them had any intention to receive that treatment, now who the King of France was dead and so unable to protect them)
 
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