The Legacy of St.Henry; England, 1421-

I gotta get back to writing but I can't make myself do it. Posting a bit of something already written to try and spur myself on.

Long Live the King?

Though Richard III was dead it seemed that he had left the Plantagenet dynasty fully secure. During their 32 years of marriage Richard’s wife Anne had given birth to no less than 16 children.
The two eldest William and Richard having died years earlier it came down to the 27 year old Prince Edward to take up the position as the most powerful man in Christendom.

Edward IV

The reign of Edward IV though on the surface peaceful was never short of the risk of war.
In 1510 the first major crisis of his reign emerged with border skirmishes between Lotharingia and the Empire escalating almost to the point of war. For several years Europe stood on the brink of erupting into all out war- both France and the Empire wanted to conquer Lotharingia, seeing its lands as rightfully their own.
Lotharingia was both literally and figuratively stuck in the middle between the two great powers of Europe forced to try and balance relations with the two so as to try and ensure they would never come to a partition agreement and collectively launch a campaign of conquest.
This Lotharingian crisis was perhaps the most tense in its history and it’s final resolution did not come for at least a decade; certainly long after Edward’s reign was over.

The second major crisis in Edward IV’s reign was the breakout of war between Milan and Savoy in 1512. This crisis was tied in with that in the north due to Milan’s being (albeit only nominally) part of the empire meaning that for France to directly intervene could have resulted in all out war. Though they couldn’t directly enter into the war a Milan-ruled Savoy would nonetheless not be a favourable situation for France and so they did meddle.
Money was sent to Savoy for the hiring of troops and with some prompting in late 1513 Genoa eventually risked getting involved in the war. The tide quickly turned against Milan and with Venice deciding to go to war against them in early 1515 it became clear to Milan that the war was lost.

Though Edward was a very skilled ruler, successfully managing to keep French lands out of direct danger through diplomatic manoeuvring of other nations his reign was short lived.
From December 1513 onwards the king began to show signs of ill health and on the 21st of August 1515 he finally passed away.
Though they had been married for 10 years Edward’s wife had yet to give birth to a surviving son, instead they had only the two daughters: Isabel and Margaret.

Sometime before Edward’s death when it had became clear due to his ill health that he was not long for the world a decision on his successor had been reached: French Salic law would apply for the entirety of his lands and it would be his younger brother Louis who would take over the whole empire, not his eldest daughter Isabel.

To many this decision was just common sense: Louis was a proven administrator and one of the finest horsemen in the country whilst Isabel was just a six year old girl. Amongst large amounts of both the general population and the nobility however it was not at all a popular decision. Louis was widely seen to have swayed the decision in his own lust for power.
To many in England (and elsewhere) this was seen as nothing more than a blatant disregard of English law in favour of French centred uniformity.

Louis I

The reign of Louis the first could not have possibly gotten off to a worse start. To celebrate his coronation as King of France a grand festival was held just outside of Paris. As part of the festivities a tournament was held in which Louis (always a keen participant in such events) fully participated.
Things initially went well for the young king with several victories being won, when he came to face the Marquis of Astorga however things took a turn for the worse as his opponent’s lance shattered upon his helmet sending splinters through into his eyes.

For a few weeks things were very touch-and-go over whether the king would survive but eventually, he pulled through. As a result of the accident however he was totally blinded and over the years that followed his state of health was shaky at best and his personality post-accident drastically altered beyond even what could be expected from losing ones sight. However he remained somewhat capable of playing a part in government.

Things changed in the Autumn of 1518 however when his mental health declined drastically into full blown insanity. He was soon removed from the public eye with an alliance of nobles taking over the day-to-day running of the country. There was serious talk of officially removing Louis from his role as king due to his being utterly incapable but Louis still had his supporters and he did show brief periods of lucidity.

The argument of what to do with Louis remained a fairly constant issue for the rest of his reign; not that it was particularly long. In 1520 Louis finally passed away.
Officially this was simply as a result of his illness finally getting the better of him though the truth of the matter is even today rather controversial with many believing that there was foul play at work and it was all part of the political struggle between the nobility; the ambitious Duke of Bourbon, Henry I, is believed to be the most likely perpetrator.
 
Whoop - good to see this back.

It's a bugger for Louis, from the use of Salic law i think we're going to have some mutterings from England.

Looking forward to more.
 
just curious but shouldnt we understand where the wives of these kings our... its important in the sense that it allows kings to have claims to differant thrones and nobles for that matter
 
Louis II

The death of Louis I moved all of the power in the Plantagenet empire squarely into the hands of the nobility. Though Louis I did show brief periods of recovery -his supporters always believing a full recovery was just around the corner- with his young son there could be no such interruptions in the rule of the nobles.

Louis II was born in 1513, the only son of the elder Louis. His elevation to the position of King at the age of only seven guarantied the nobility at least nine years (likely more) of free reign over the kingdom with all of the factions plotting to extend this via influencing the child king as he matured and his adult personality and views came into being.

The factions were many and always shifting.
The Duke of Bourbon was a constant in the political struggle: distantly related to the former Valois kings of France it’s not unreasonable to assume that his ambitions were very high indeed.
The figure around whom Bourbon’s opposition usually gathered was the elderly Humphrey Plantagenet, Count of Calais; the direct descendant of the second son of Henry VI. Humphrey was a well respected figure amongst the nobility for his part in the Nevers War.
Also major players were the Dukes of Northumberland (Henry Percy) and Norfolk (Henry Mowbray) who as part of their goals sought to readdress the balance of power between England and France.

For two and a half years the Plantagenet Empire continued to be fraught with constant governmental problems and its foreign policy was largely crippled as a result. War between the Empire and Lotharingia came and went with the Dutch scoring a shock victory; Ireland rose up in mass rebellion- the ineffectual response brought against this made many severely doubt Plantagenet power and bred yet more trouble on the distant island for decades to come; And, another crusade was called by the Pope, this time to free Greece from Turkish hands. Few in France and England though were willing to go adventuring whilst their positions at home were threatened.

In1523 things changed drastically in court politics with the return of Prince Phillip, the eldest of Richard III’s remaining sons and first in line to the throne. After having spent the previous decade fighting in the defence of Christian Egypt he moved swiftly upon his return and soon established himself as a major player in court.
The diplomatic wrangling continued ever onwards but now it became more firmly divided into two camps: the ‘loyalists’ and the Bourbonists with both the English and the French nobility being split amongst the two sides.

By 1524 the Plantagenet realms looked to be on the brink of full scale civil war with court intrigue reaching critical levels and many of the nobles actively building large private armies (providing a healthy boost to the burgeoning Swiss economy).
Fate however had a different plan in mind and in April King Louis passed away after a brief illness.


just curious but shouldnt we understand where the wives of these kings our... its important in the sense that it allows kings to have claims to differant thrones and nobles for that matter

Nothing too significant has happened in that department....so far.
The prior kings just married generic daughters of powerful nobles and maybe the occasional princess of a friendly country (who has lots of brothers)
 
Finally nearly upon part 2.
Here is a very rough (i.e. probally horribly off in places) map of the area in question right now. (1524)
Ireland, France and England are under one crown with Scotland very much subserviant to that crown.
Brittany and other regions do exist but they are technically part of the larger countries so aren't marked as independant. In the case of Ireland this would probally have been wise but it is de jure at least all under the crown.

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This has been horrible writing but I really want to get it done.
When my computer died I lost absolutely pages of writing and having to redo it all was really damned annoying. Nonetheless I've finally caught up with mysef.


Phillip I

The timing of Louis’ death could not have been worse for Phillip, the King’s brief illness and sudden death had came when Philip was away from Paris seeing to affairs in Guyenne.
To the Bourbonists this seemed to be an absolute blessing as they set into action their meticulously thought out plan. They were the first to hear of the King’s death and all word of his passing was kept secret as they made their move.

Many of those who could potentially oppose them were dealt with swiftly in the course of one night, for some it was an assassin’s knife as they slept in their bed whilst others had their homes stormed by soldiers.
Bourbon’s men were ruthless in their actions, official figures record around thirty eight of their ‘opponents’ were murdered in the course of a few hours however this does not count the large number of servants and innocent civilians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The actual death total of April the thirteenth was likely well into the high hundreds.

Though the Bourbonists were well organised their execution was of course not perfect and many they would have liked to see dead were able to escape the city; this was not a ideal situation for Bourbon but it suited his purposes just fine in the short term, all possible resistance had been removed from Paris and the next day Louis’ death was officially announced and Henry of Bourbon crowned the new, rightful king of France.

It is important to note here that Bourbon only proclaimed himself King of France. Attempts were made by his supporters to reach out to rebellious elements in England and Ireland and get them to make a move of their own.

In Ireland these efforts were a complete waste; the French and English nobles here had no nationalist sentiments and were generally deeply reliant upon the Plantagenet central government to protect them from the Gaelic uprisings that were a constant threat on the island.

In England though the Bourbonists had some moderate success as several English nobles, led by the Duke of Norfolk, deciding that this would mark a good time to strike out against the King. The execution of their rebellion however left much to be desired.
Norfolk’s men attempted to install a pretender on the English throne- ‘Edward V’, purportedly the long lost son of Edward IV, who Norfolk and his fellow Englishmen had carefully hidden away from Louis I and his scheming to raise in safety (Edward V had in fact had a son however it is generally accepted that he had died within hours of birth. The identity of this Edward was most likely Samuel Jarman, a minor retainer of the Earl of Tankerville).
Norfolk and his supporters hastily raised an army and marched upon London expecting the full support of the people and a largely ambivalent, purely self-serving nobility. In reality however times were good and the people in no mood for rebellion with most of the nobility fully supporting the legitimate Plantagenet line. A battle was fought near Colchester on the 26th of April in which Norfolk was soundly defeated with both he and ‘Edward V’ killed in a futile last ditch cavalry charge (as later immortalised in Arthur Cromwell’s comedy of errors ‘Edward V’ with the famous line “Cry God for Eddy, England and St.George!”)

Meanwhile back in France word only reached Philip of Louis’ death a week after Bourbon’s take over. Though he was caught completely off guard by the sudden death of his nephew he immediately set into action; reportedly setting off for Bordeaux within five minutes of hearing the news. Upon his arrival a rushed ceremony at Bordeaux cathedral crowned him ruler of the Plantagenet realms.
After his quick coronation Philip then began a slow march north east.

As Philip marched towards Paris his small army steadily grew in size with his supporter’s and their retainers meeting with him on the road.
Word of the Bourbonists night of terror in the capital had spread and as a result many who would otherwise have been neutral to the unfolding events swayed towards supporting Philip; chief amongst these being the powerful Duke of Brittany John VII whose joining of Philip at Poiters almost doubled the size of the loyalist army over night.

Battle was finally met as Philip’s force was crossing the Loire in Orleanais.
Numbers wise the advantage was very much in the Bourbonist’s favour, however, as became clear once battle was met, most of these were little more than peasants hastily pressed into service whilst the bulk of Philip’s force consisted of trained fighters and the cream of French knighthood.
Though the massed peasant ranks the Bourbonists had pressed into service fled at the earliest opportunity there did still exist a solid core of soldiers who were able to put up a long fight as they held a bridge against Phillip’s men. Eventually though they were overwhelmed and the road to Paris lay open.

The Plantagenet forces were able to enter Paris without any opposition. Upon hearing of the defeat of their army the Bourbonists had attempted to flee abroad; many of them were soon caught, nevertheless others including the would be King Henry himself escaped justice for quite some time (Bourbon was eventually caught and executed five years later when he made the mistake of visiting the court of the French friendly king of Denmark).

Philip’s ‘official’ coronation as King of France and ruler of the Plantagenet lands took place several days later, it was not until July that he made his first journey to England to undergo the ceremonies involved in becoming king of England.

The early years of Philip’s reign were mostly spent securing his position and restoring the central authority that had steadily lapsed under his predecessors.
There was one major foreign adventure of note under Philip’s rule; in 1528 a large army led by the Duke of Lyonnais was sent to Egypt to help the embattled Christians in their latest fight against Ottoman-backed Arab invaders. This escapade was very much the exception to the rule however and Christendom remained largely at peace with itself allowing Phillip to remain in Paris and devote himself solely to domestic issues.

In the autumn of 1537 the tranquillity of Philip’s reign was upset with a sudden large-scale uprising of peasants in Southern Yorkshire.
Their reasons for rebelling were not unusual; poor harvests and a lack of local relief led them to seek to bring the king’s attention to their plight.
The rebels’ march on London went peacefully even in spite of the sheer number of people involved and their progress went unopposed. Within two weeks they had reached the city however once here they were unsure about what to do next.

In London no one was willing to meet with the rebels but no one knew quite how to disperse them. The military forces available numbered less than one thousand and the idea of killing innocent peasants who were simply drawing attention to their plight did not appeal to many.

After five days of waiting outside the city certain elements amongst the rebels grew restless as rumour spread the king was in London but being stopped from meeting them by his French ‘advisors’. As a result the rebels forced themselves into London spreading panic amongst the inhabitants of the city. Though professional soldiers were restricted to those guarding royal possessions the city did have a citizen militia and fighting soon broke out between the Yorkshiremen and the Londoners.

The fighting lasted for several days destroying well over half of the city in the process. Eventually the Earl of Pembroke was able to eject the rebels from the city with the help of soldiers brought in by sea from France.
Several purported ‘ringleaders’ were captured and executed however the majority were seemingly allowed to escape. This news did not please Philip.

In the Spring that followed the first battle of London Philip made his second ever visit to England; expressly for the purpose of revenge against the Yorkshire peasantry. He travelled with a large army to the area from which the rebellion had originated and begun what is popularly (with much exaggeration) known as the second scouring of the north.
Many suspected of involvement with the rebellion were rounded up and ‘disappeared’ whilst their property was confiscated or destroyed outright. A large area of Yorkshire was all but depopulated as panicked farmers fled the area for fear that they may be the next to be implicated.

In the years following the Yorkshire uprising and its brutal suppression Philip once more spent all of his time in France however the political situation in these years was a lot tenser then that of the beginning of his reign. From 1538 onwards Plantagenet-Lotharingarian relations soured dramatically as the two nations competed for dominance in trade with the Indies. A major low point in relations came in 1541 when the two mutually embargoed each other. Though for much of France the effects of this were not very significant, the Low Countries still remained England’s major trading partner as they had done for centuries before.

In 1543 Phillip’s spies reported England to be on the verge of all out rebellion. Its citizens seemingly picked and chose which laws to adhere to and popular songs spoke of little but disdain for King Philippé.
Phillip’s method of trying to resolve the unrest in England had two parts:
Firstly and most obviously was the posting of more royal soldiers to the country. Though the Yorkshire rebellion had already played its part in increasing the number of professional soldiers in England the country was still lacking any force of a size that could be termed an army.
Secondly, he planned to tour the country. He would start in London and from there travel from town to town being greeted by cheering crowds as he went desperate for a glimpse of their king.

At first Philip’s grand tour went well, many citizens realising that it was probably in their best interests to do what they were told and celebrate the king’s visit.
It was in November that the first major hiccup of the tour occurred. In Bath as Philip relaxed in a private bath he was suddenly set upon by a knife wielding man (who according to most reports was also naked). Philip just barely managed to fend off the attacks of this unknown man (popularly referred to as ‘Nicolas of the bath’) long enough for his guard to enter and dispatch of the would-be assassin.

Against the advice of several of his advisors Philip decided to continue his tour as planned after this attack; historians disagree on whether this was down to bravery on Philip’s part or simple naivety in believing the man was an isolated maniac.

Philip’s tour for the rest of that year and into the beginning of 1544 was largely uneventful; the main event of note being an ‘unnerving deathly silence’ amongst the gathered crowds as he first entered Stafford. By the Spring as Philip headed northwards though the population grew steadily more hostile and in several towns the royal guard found itself pressed into action against jeering crowds.

Philip continued on regardless believing that abandoning his tour halfway through would be a definite sign of weakness and prompt further unrest in the country. To be on the safe side though his security was increased significantly, visits better planned out and details of his movements not so publically announced as they had been before. The purpose of his tour had changed from greeting the cheering masses to simply visiting the local elites and ensuring that if he did not have the support of the people he at least had the support of those who controlled them.

On April the 15th 1544 the prosperous town of Manchester played host to the royal retinue. Intelligence suggested at the time that something big might be being planned by radical groups and so Philip’s visit was impeccably planned; he would visit the town hall for a feast with the area’s wealthiest men, his route to the hall specifically designed to avoid those areas where undesirable elements would be likely to congregate (for they would surely get word of Philip’s slow moving retinue long before it reached the town).
Outside of Philip’s travelling court only six men knew of Philip’s plans; amongst them was the wealthy printer, Richard Coxon.

Philip entered the town safely with his scouts reporting nothing out of the ordinary and travelled down the pre-planned route. They were around halfway to the town hall on Baker’s Street when one of the most famous events in Anglo history transpired.

As the front most of Philip’s guards began to exit the street sudden explosions shook the area. The detonations were many and of varying sizes, the largest of them being two carts at the entrances to the street which exploded with enormous force filling the air with shrapnel that shredded men alive.
Its widely believed that Philip was shielded by the men and horses of his bodyguard allowing him to survive these initial explosions. Immediately following them however figures appeared in the upper windows of the street’s houses and showered the street below with bolts and arrows.

Mounted men left the town immediately heading for the four corners of the Kingdom.
The king was dead. The word had to be spread.
It was time for the men of England to make their move.
 
Whoop - can't wait to see how this pans out :D

What about the king in exile?

Is he still in exile or did he accept the french as rulers etc?
 
Whoop - can't wait to see how this pans out :D

What about the king in exile?

Is he still in exile or did he accept the french as rulers etc?

What king in exile?
Bourbon? He travelled around foreign courts trying to gain support to help him take the French throne (without any success) until he visited Denmark whose king at the time was trying to improve reations with France-England so turned him over.
 
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The original king of England.

John maybe - his son?

Henry V was the original king of England and he took over France. Its just over the years his successors gravitated more towards France due to it being the richer, more important kingdom and by the 16th century they're well and truly the French kings of England not vice-versa.

The original king of France ran away to Aragon but they decided to side with Henry V (with the help of some bribes) and kept Charles in comfortable imprisonment for the rest of his life.

I've got a family tree but again I lost a better version of it in my crash so have to redo it. Will post it
 
Its incomplete. Both Plantagenet lines continue as does Valois-Burgundy.

And titles given have priority for England just because the TL is focussed on Britain.

edit- and I forgot to put Henry Vs death date in. Suffice to say though he is a respected figure he isn't immortal :p

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Part 2: Revolution
The war begins

The first shots had been fired; England was soon to descend into full scale civil war.
One of the men who left Manchester after the assassination was Richard Coxon, he rode straight to Notthingham where he was soon joined by others from all around the country.

By April the 20th it was decided that enough of them had gathered for their intended purpose; the first meeting of the New English Witenagemot.
The first drafts of two major documents were signed on that day.
The first was the “The People’s Petition” which outlined their intention to break away from the old system of government and asking the new king to accept their will as that of free Englishmen and to consent to having his powers in England greatly reduced.
Also signed was “The Deconstruction Articles”, in essence the first English constitution which took away rights from the English central government and granted greater privileges to the regions.

Though most of the revolutionaries had republican desires their first meeting refrained from an outright declaration of independence though many still pushed for such this especially in light of events in Manchester; the original plan had been simply to capture the King and force him to sign several agreements. Amongst the rebels his death was officially put down to an accident caused by the unpredictable nature of gunpowder nonetheless there were mumblings that perhaps those in charge of the Manchester attack had known exactly what they were doing in the hope of forcing England down a radical path.

Though the pretence of reaching an agreement with the monarchy without bloodshed still existed very few people now believed it was possible and so the revolutionary’s military campaign began immediately.

Nottingham was of course the first city to fall; the majority of its citizenry was fully sympathetic to the revolutionary cause and seizing what government officials who remained loyal proved a simple and bloodless task.

Beyond Nottingham many other settlements also fell from within though none quite so easily.
In Lancaster the people rose up and seized their city after the bulk of its guard had left to assist in the hunt for the king’s assassins in Manchester.
In Norwich the commoners protested publically in the streets and when the guard was instructed to disperse them they instead chose to turn upon their commander, the (New, French) Earl of Norfolk.

Not all went perfectly well for the English rebellion its early days, if anything, quite the opposite.
This was most tellingly shown in London where a massed uprising was expected but instead only a couple of hundred men moved against the authorities, the majority of whom soon met an unpleasant end.

The English nobility found itself greatly divided on the rebellion.
Though there were those amongst them with nationalist sentiments of re-establishing an English ruled kingdom free from French influence the vast majority of them obviously wanted to do this along fairly conservative lines. The rebel’s demands for increasing the power held by the burghers were not greeted with open arms to say the least however a few nobles were somewhat sympathetic; for instance the Earl of Surrey, the only noble to be present at the Nottingham Witenagemot; and the Duke of Bedford, a descendant of Henry IV, he fancied himself to be a potential new king for England and seemed so desperate to gain this position he was willing to be little more than a figurehead.

The government’s reaction to the uprising was harsh. The demands of the rebels were snubbed and the call went out for an army to be raised and sent to England straight away. Though he had never been particularly close to his father the new king, Henry VIII was incensed at the betrayal in Manchester and demanded the harshest possible reaction against the people of England; an attitude which was thankfully tempered by his council.
This reaction had obviously been expected by the rebels and so they too were beginning to raise armies of their own. The initial uprising had managed to give them control of several major settlements though these were largely scattered across the country giving a map of areas of control at the time a very speckled appearance.
This scattered situation didn’t last long however as the rebels moved out from their main strongholds to seize control of neighbouring settlements that had not fallen to uprisings from within whilst loyalist forces did likewise to isolated rebel towns.

By the end of these initial stages of fighting more definite main areas of control had stabilised (though there were of course hold outs on both sides). The main area of rebel control mainly stood in the centre and the west of the country including Wales- where the Fremen cause gained a lot of support from outside of their usual burger power base with Welshmen eager to gain the increased autonomy the new England promised.

As the royalist and rebel armies clashed on land the commanders of both sides knew that the war would be won at sea. The majority of the western Plantagenet’s wealth lay in France and it was here that they raised the armies that they hoped would end the rebellion.

On October the16th the French armada sailed from Calais. English pirates had already proven themselves to be a major menace to French interests around the globe and several of the earlier attempts to send minor forces to reinforce positions in England had been intercepted by the rebel ships that dominated the channel primarily from their base in Plymouth.

The fleet planned to sail directly for London and from there its soldiers were to march north to relieve the besieged city of Cambridge. No reports of a rebel fleet in the west the channel were received and as the French fleet rounded Kent it looked like it was in the clear, suddenly though it was attacked.
The English had long since heard of the large French fleet preparing to sail (it was hardly a secret) and had even learned of exactly when it planned to leave port. Sailing from Dutch ports where they had been posing as simple merchant ships (which in fact most of the rebel fleet originally was) they converged upon the French armada and pelted it with fire from afar.

The outcome of the battle of Thanet is very debatable. The English caused enormous damage to the French fleet and managed to kill huge numbers of the soldiers destined for England however their numbers were too few and their time too short to completely stop the French and over half of it managed to make it to London as planned.
The monarchists had been reinforced however it was with substantially less soldiers than had left France. Additionally amongst the ships the English had managed to sink was the Vigilant- which unbeknownst to the English or even most of the French fleet happened to be carrying a huge sum of money intended to pay for the royalist armies in England.

With their new reinforcements Cambridge was soon relieved and after a series of minor battles the tide soon turned from a gradual rebel advance to a slow retreat.

At least that’s how things went in the south of England, in the north things were only just beginning.
 
On Diemenism:

As you may have noticed in this timeline there has been absolutely no mention of Protestantism despite it getting into the appropriate time period for it. This is because with the POD for this timeline being in the early 15th century there is just no reason to assume Martin Luther will even be born let alone publish his 95 thesis.
In this timeline the late 15th century saw a succession of good popes who somewhat pre-empted Protestantism with an early ‘counter-reformation’; cracking down on many of the things that made the church so unpopular IOTL.
Though the chance of religion being a major conflict issue has been removed however all the other issues of the time which contributed along with religion to produce unrest in Europe still remained.

So it is that in 1526 we get Martijn Van Diemen. A until then mostly insignificant Dutchman who writes an epic book called ‘The Way of the World’. In this he talks of the rising power of the burghers and how this means the commons deserve a far greater role in the world than the established feudal social order allows them.
Its not quite so blunt about this as to say the nobles should all be killed and replaced with commoners of course, it phrases it all in terms that this is the best way for a country to be prosperous and happy so he avoids a sticky end.

Following Diemen though we get a long stream of thinkers influenced by his book.
Many of these are not quite so restrained as Van Diemen and a large number of these follow-on Dieminists outright condone the execution of all monarchs, the complete redistribution of wealth, etc… Many of these writers of course do meet sticky ends; and even poor old Martijn gets himself in quite some hot water due to them.

The subject of religion is one that was ignored in The Way of the World. Some people do read into it though that the church is the central point of the old social order and so it is the primary target of what must go. The most radical of Diemenist factions even flirt with outright atheism.

In essence ‘The Way of the Word’ is an ATL ‘Communist Manifesto’; the difference being of course that rather than a capitalist>socialist>communist change being proposed it is a feudal>capitalist (with perhaps hints of utopian socialism/communism at the end) one.
Diemenism is the communism of its day; both in terms of its popularity with certain segments of society and the fear and hatred it attracts from most of the governments of the time.

Enter Scotland

Though anti-clericalism was far from the norm amongst the English revolutionaries much of their thinking was based upon Diemenist principals and so radicals did exist in not insignificant numbers. Though in much of the country such individuals tended to find their views drowned out amongst the crowd of less extreme opinion, in some revolutionary groups, radical views did hold sway. The most historically prominent of these was the Northallerton Brigade.

Starting out in North Yorkshire the NB enjoyed much success against the loyalist presence in the north of the country; successfully sacking the town of Scarborough and playing a prominent role in the revolutionary take over of York in June, 1545. It was during the take over of York that the NB’s extremism enjoyed its most infamous moment with the capture, trial and execution of the Archbishop of York, Gregory Pain.

Following the revolution’s success in Yorkshire the leader of the Northallerton Brigade, Samuel Robertson, found himself appointed head of the army that was to head northwards to formally liberate the far north of the country and guard against any attempts by the monarchists to send fresh forces into England via their vassal of Scotland.
Robertson’s appointment was a very controversial move by the rebel leadership; the execution of Gregory Pain was rapidly becoming infamous all across Europe. Nonetheless the revolution looked to be in a bad way, defeat after defeat was being suffered in the south and it seemed to be only with Robertson’s men that any moral boosting victories could be found to keep the English people supportive of the uprising.

Thus far Scotland had remained quiet on the rebellion. Though requests had been made by the monarchy for the Scots to send forces to aid against the rebellion they had thus far sent not a single man to aid the Plantagenet armies. Many in Scotland were quite happy to let rebellion tear apart England; afterall a weakened England would drastically loosen the Plantagenet grip on Scotland.

As the revolutionary forces moved into the lands of the Bishop of Durham however the situation in the north finally changed.
The Bishop of Durham was understandably quite worried about the encroaching rebels especially considering the fate of his colleague in York.
The Duke of Northumberland, as the most powerful man in the area, had been appointed responsible for all monarchist operations in the north however he was still in the process of raising his army and believed his best chance would be to try and hold the rebels on the Tyne and let the French armies in the south do the majority of the fighting. He encouraged the bishop to abandon Durham (with its vast religious wealth) and head to Alnwick instead.

The Bishop did have a number of professional troops at his disposal in addition to the loyalty of most the population however compared to the numerous and highly experienced revolutionaries these were hopelessly outmatched.
The bishop was not willing to simply abandon his city and so in desperation he turned to the other major power in northern Britain-Queen Joan I of Scotland.

Joan was young and a devout Christian. The tales of radical Diemenism on her kingdom’s doorstep troubled her greatly. Nonetheless her nobility urged her to do nothing, Scotland’s safety was the top priority and it was very unlikely the Diemeninsts would even reach Scotland let alone pose a threat by the time they did.
Joan had to step carefully when dealing with her nobility, anti-English feeling was high and she had been unpopular ever since her birth; she being the daughter of David III and Margaret Plantagenet, second daughter of Edward IV.

Eventually the decision was made. Though Joan was only a 16 year old girl and so not fully in command her kingdom she did have close allies at court and was wise beyond her years when it came to understanding people. Eventually her will was able to become dominant amongst the views of the regency council The Scots would march south.

It was at Raby Castle where the Scottish forces first clashed with a major revolutionary army in an attempt to lift the siege of the castle. The battle was hard fought but eventually the Scots emerged victorious. Durham was saved.

Fresh from their victory and with a new influx of recruits from local inhabitants seething for revenge against the revolutionaries who had ravaged their lands the Scots then proceeded further to the south.

The news of the Scottish advance upon Northern England spread fast amongst the revolutionary forces currently campaigning in the south of the country. At this time the bulk of the revolutionary’s numbers were made up of northerners- many of whom decided to withdraw to the north to defend their homes, decisions which of course proved utterly disastrous for the Fremen forces as a whole.

After a brief battle in the north of the county the Scots set up camp around York and remained there for a close to a year until the city finally fell.
In the south however things moved far quicker as the rebels were steadily pushed further and further back with only a few cities managing to hold out for lengthy sieges, amongst them being Nottingham itself. Eventually though Nottingham did fall and a series of executions by the monarchist forces followed, the majority of the rebel leadership had already long since escaped westward though the loss of their headquarters was a huge blow.

Following their take over of York the Scots then headed west. Westmorland and Cumberland were soon secured by the Scots (despite the rebellion never really having spread there) and a series of vicious battles were fought for the control of Lancashire with the Scots eventually emerging victorious.

By mid 1547 the rebellion looked all but defeated. Aside from a few coastal forts that were managing to hold out they had lost control of practically all of England and had retreated into the mountains of Wales where they hoped to utilise the rugged terrain to stop the monarchist advance.

In England a series of reprisals were being carried out amongst those who were believed to have aided the rebellion with many hundreds of traitors being executed and their property seized. The seizure of property proved to be a massive boon to the monarchist forces; the loss of the Vigilant having left the financial situation of the monarchy not just in England, but overall, on very shaky ground.
This proved to be so much so that eventually things got very out of hand. The majority of the rebel’s main backers had been wealthy merchants and so the monarchist forces began to associate all wealthy merchants with being rebel sympathisers purely so they could seize their property; a course of action which had the obvious side-effect of creating rebel support where there had been little before, the government was slow to latch onto this and actively stamp out the practice however.

By l549 Britain was a heavily divided island locked in a stalemate.
Across most of England and Wales the monarchy held control over a rebellious populous. The majority of the rebel hold out areas had finally been overrun though minor pockets of rebellion kept arising and needing to be stamped out. Additionally despite the loss of their home ports English pirates continued to be a persistent problem leading to a increasingly tense political situation with Lotharingia whose ports were known to be a favourite destination for ‘English merchant ships’.

In north Wales the diehard rebels continued to hold out. Henry VIII had originally hoped to starve them out in the harsh terrain however it was now becoming very clear to him that this was not going to happen.

In northern England too the situation was looking very tense. Despite the defeat of the rebels the Scots were refusing to leave northern England. The Duke of Northumberland had became a virtual prisoner in his own castle and the fortifications of many castles in the north of ‘Scottish occupied England’ were undergoing a drastic modernisation, the expense of which seemed to suggest the Scots were there to stay. Additionally rumour began to spread of secret talks between the rebels and the Scots to install Joan as the new Queen of England.

The war in Britain was far from over.
 
I'm trying to stay focussed on Britain to avoid getting all too confusing, a brief summary for elsewhere though:

Lotharingia is doing very well. It's really become one of the most powerful nations in Europe. The big political issue there is the pull away from its French routes towards being a fundamentally Dutch country- the nobility remain heavily French though the most powerful of the commons and the bulk of the kingdom is 'Dutch'/'German'.

Germany is in a bit of a mess. The HRE was already very loose and on its way out but its defeat in the last war against Lotharingia really ruined it with the Loths gaining control of 3 electoral seats. There remain some powerful states and alliances in the empire though. Bohemia in particular is having good fortune here and is avoiding being passed around.

The Ottoman Empire is there but not as powerful at OTL. It constantly goes to war with Hungary with both sides winning and losing occasionally. Its expansion in Asia is a bit of a slow creep due to more pressing concerns in Europe.

Egypt holds out. Palestine fell at the end of the 15th century but Egypt is holding on though its in a constant battle for survival. Its system of fortifications along the west of thr Sinai are very elaborate.
The Europeans primarily rule with the aid of the Copts with the muslims making up a vast under class. There are occasional upsurges in catholic zealotism that try to convert the Copts but usually these wither out. Both group think each other better than muslims and rely on each other to survive. There has also been quite a large number of christian immigrants to Egypt- lots of Greeks (mostly converted to catholocism officially but its a open secret they're really orthodox), French and Italians.

Iberia remains divided into Portugal, Aragon, Castille and Navarre.
Aragon remains in Naples. Portugal and especially Castille are big on the idea of continuing the reconquista in N.Africa with Fez/Morocco always being tossed around between the two of them and Moorish rule.

In Scandinavia the Kalmar union is still there but it has devolved into more of a federation than a strict union and Denmark and Sweden keep looking like going to war would totally destroy the last of the union.

Outside of Europe Mexico was overran by a bunch of 'crusaders' from Iberia and is nominally a totally independant, crusader ruled, christian country. Its working out just as messy as OTL though.
Direct contact has been made with the Inca (by the Loths) but there has been no invasion yet.
 
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