Great chapter! I like that madeleine has margaret beaufort as one of her attendants. and hopefully her pregnancy goes well and she gives edward a healthy baby (preferably a son but honestly a healthy daughter would do as long as she is followed by a son).
The Sunne in Splendour: A War of the Roses Timeline
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
She has no reason for that. She is a French princess who had made a fully political match so…
I think she has the right to be upset if she wants to. This is her husband who's clearly humiliating her.
Sometimes, we have no reason to be upset and yet we still do. It's human nature.
Humiliating? That is NOT true, unless Edward is disrespecting her or flaunting the relationship with Elizabeth… Edward rig
ht now is not openly acknowledged that relationship so…
This is true
I mean, I meant to write that Madeleine found Elizabeth's presence in the castle humiliating, so if you didn't get that, that's an oops on my part.
October 1464
October 1464. Château des ducs de Bourgogne, France.
Philippe the Good extended his hand when the messenger came, picking up the letter sent for him. He was holding court, seating in his ducal throne as his vassals mingled between them, eating and drinking at his expense. His son, Charles, talked with a fair lady, daughter of a rich artist who had come to Dijon at his expense, smiling and flirting with her. Though the death of Isabella of Bourbon left him a heartbroken widow, he had come around in the past few weeks, and his grief was just a distant memory now. Philippe didn’t like that. He’d have to do something about his son’s behaviour and, looking at the seal in the letter, he knew just how to.
With his wife, Isabella of Portugal, by his side, he broke the seal on the letter and began to read.
Mon cher cousin,
How sad I was to hear of the death of Countess Isabella, our mutual kin. Such a lovely lady, she was, without a match in this world. France seems bleaker without her. Her death is made more tragic when one remembers she left no son behind, only a daughter. I hope Lady Maria, your granddaughter, is well and that she has not found the loss of her mother to be too much of a shock to her. Girls are often much more emotional than boys.
But we must not ignore the opportunity at hand. Now that your heir is widowed, he may try again for a son in a more nubile and young wife and since the Treaty of Arras entitles him to a French princess, I believe I have just the candidate in my head.
My sister-in-law Bona of Savoy is young, beautiful, cultured and one of nineteen children, so she is likely to produce many heirs for your House. She turned fifteen in August and is ready for marriage. I have taken the liberty of talking with her father beforehand, and the Duke of Savoy agrees that this would be a suitable match. All it needs is your approval, of course.
The King of France.
Philippe looked at his son again. He had moved on from the fair lady and was talking with some merchants from Amsterdam, smiling as he did so. Philippe turned to the letter. He sighed and rubbed his temple.
He felt old. Tired. Soon, he knew, he would no longer be in this world and he’d like to have a grandson in the nursery before he did so, a certainty that his dynasty would continue. Philippe had been disappointed in the birth of his granddaughter Maria and refused to attend her baptism, as it was only for a girl. A boy however, would not suffer such a slight.
And maybe Bona of Savoy was just what they needed to have such a boy. A boy for the Valois-Burgundy who’d lead their land to greatness.
Yes. He thought this would be good. This would be sensible.
--
October 1464. Windsor Castle, England.
The child moved lazily within her, setting himself in place for his birth, and Elizabeth caressed her belly with her hands over the blue dress. “Hello, little one,” she whispered, stopping in the middle of an empty corridor. The child kicked her in response, high in her ribs and she giggled. He was a quiet one, but strong. He’d make a fine knight someday.
Hello, little prince, she wanted to say, but the baby in her belly was no prince. Nor could he ever be. She was not Edward’s wife, though she had longed to be. That honour belonged to the Queen.
And the Queen was with child as well. Or so the rumours said. Soon, she would give England a prince, the prince that should have been Elizabeth’s child by rights. Soon, Edward would have his heir, a half-French, half-Valois boy that would be tied by blood to the greatest dynasties in continental Europe.
Yet, Elizabeth was not happy about it. Though she had no quarrel with the Queen - or the King’s wife, as she was still not crowned - she hated her. Hated her for being Edward’s wife, for being the one walking by his side, the one who would meet foreign dignitaries and who’d smile and win hearts for the Yorkist cause. Hated her because that had been her destiny, her fate. Edward once promised to wed her and her mother used to say that she had a glittering future ahead of her, only for all of that to die once she arrived.
Madeleine of Valois. Magdalene. Daughter of a King of France, sister to another. A widow who found herself on Edward of York’s bed. What did she have that Elizabeth did not? Familial connections? Her mother was the daughter of a powerful landowner in Europe and her father, a beloved baron. Beauty? No one could say Madeleine was more beautiful than her. Grace? Fortune? Wealth? Fertility? Piety? What could have possibly made her the Queen when Elizabeth deserved the title more?
She leaned against the wall and touched her face, surprised to find tears sliding down her cheeks. Being with a child made her more emotional than normal. She cleaned her face and took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down before anyone found her in such a state. Elizabeth straightened her back again and returned to walking about, leading herself blindly to her chambers.
Edward had set her up in a wing of the palace contrary to the Queen’s, near him. She had lavish apartments and servants attending to her, both because of her condition as Countess of Pembroke and because of the King’s affections towards her. There, she found two of her ladies waiting for her.
Elizabeth toed off her slippers and said, “Help me loosen this dress, please.” It was so tight. She could barely breathe. Though the dress had been made with the thought of a woman in her lying-in, Elizabeth had gained much weight in her pregnancy, just as she did the two times before. And she was so far along that nothing felt comfortable on her, not even her shifts or her soft nightgowns. If she had to be honest, Elizabeth would say that she could not wait until her confinement and for this baby to be off of her.
They had just finished helping her get more comfortable when the door opened and her father walked in, waving off the guard that stood outside. “There is no need to announce my presence for my own daughter!” he said and she stood up, smiling at him.
“Father!” she said with all the excitement of a little girl. Her father murmured her name and kissed her on both cheeks before embracing her, “What are you doing here?”
Though her family had been displeased when the news of her illegitimate pregnancy got out, they had forgiven her rather quickly. Mother always visited her at Castle Pembroke, bringing her younger sisters with her, and Father never ceased to send her loving letters, even when she returned to court.
But seeing him there was a surprise. Anthony had returned to their state and his wife, while none of her other brothers were invited by the king to join the court, as they needed his permission to grace the halls of Windsor Castle. If her father was there, it meant either the king invited him or he sneaked in, a thought so ludicrous that she giggled.
“The King invited me,” said Father, puffing up his chest like a proud pigeon, “And named me Lord High Treasurer!”
“What?” Elizabeth asked. She could not believe what he was saying, “Baron Mountjoy has been set aside?”
Her father nodded, “The King was displeased with his dealings with Burgundy, or some other reason. It doesn’t matter. Now I am part of the privy council and will be here with you. Won’t that be fun?”
“The Earl of Warwick will be furious,” she murmured, still disbelieving the situation they were in, “Baron Mountjoy was one of his followers.”
“What care do I have about what the Earl of Warwick thinks?” her father responded, “He is no danger to me.”
Then forcing a match who would be useless on Charles who was fully against it and Milan without a Duchess, as Bona was the most logical match for Galeazzo Sforza? Well, if you are happy with it…
As for the marriage between bona and charles, well, what about offering agnes of savoy, bona's older sister? she only married in 1466 according to the french wiki and she would be 19 in 1464, an even better age for childbearing than 15. And then bona can still marry in milan.
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Idkn, royal blood maybe? And a proper dowry. And no money grabbing river of relatives. Hmmp.
Their sister Marie of Savoy could be another good and plausible option...
(IOTL she married a minor French nobleman in 1466)