It has already been mentioned that Magdalena is not bearing any more children, but a united family does wonders for the court, and most importantly for the Royal Children.
The Sunne in Splendour: A War of the Roses Timeline
- Thread starter pandizzy
- Start date
Reading this story I have this head cannon now of the future Edward V being totally opposite of his father by being faithful and almost prudish but also trying to project a strong family front ( sorta like what Victoria and Albert did in OTL) and demanding his family, especially his legitimate brothers doing the same since they are part of The Family. I have a feeling that might cause some problems down the road .
Yeah, ofc he does but this won't cause anything serious like war or something.
Tho courtiers won't really care, they're mostly after money and position.
In a way, yes, but a closer family front would bring them peace of mind, especially with the upcoming war. For instance, knowing who will be regent in case Edward IV died. Magdalena is currently set to be regent, but if she is out of favor with the king, Richard of Gloucester or some other noble could easily steal the regency. It could even cause a split at court, with Edward and Magdalena factions. Edward has also pretty much abandoned his duties to visit his illegitimate children in the countryside. No, it will not cause war, but it certainly help keep everything under control.
I don't think they expect him to die, people aren't that pessimistic overall and I think many of them would like Richard as regent better than Magdalena if it came to that. If that's a concern, that's extremely minor concern, considering most of them probably have bastards too.
It's more that he's a King that's dodging everything he's supposed to do as King to avoid his wife.
It's a PR nightmare. Edward is neglecting his children by his wife to play house with Isabella and his bastards. The nobles who are aligned with Magdalena aren't happy, the church isn't happy. I mean, what is he going to do? There's rumors he was actually married to Eleanor Talbot, and Arthur is her son, and he's about to go to war with the Queen's homeland! Are we about to see a change in the line of succession? What is going on?
Well, he can do that from where he currently is. Maybe, it's not a good example but Sigisimund II of Poland ruled for like 5 years practically from bumfuck village in middle of nowhere and the country was still functional.
Tbh that wouldn't make nobles particularly well-dispossed towards Queen.
Honestly, @TheBookwormBoy and I had quite the fight about whether or not E5 would be faithful to his wife. We both disagreed on that front, but we did reach an accord in the end. I can't say what it was, but I will say that Blanche is nowhere near being of age to become a wife in truth rather than just in name. She is still only eight, after all.
Sigismund was also a good number of decades removed from Edward, so the technology was quite different (medieval vs renassaince) and the vision of what a king ought to be was not the same.
Yeah, that's just one example though, and even Henry VIII didn't do something quite like this...
I wonder if the Yorkist children will have some resentment for their Gordon half siblings, especially Catherine since she seems to be the anxious and high strong one of the brood. Maybe if Edward lV dies early or Edward V comes to power the Gordon children will not be as honored as Edward’s other bastards. I’m sure the Yorkist children are like “ Dad rather spend time with these kids instead of us? Seriously??” I’m sure there is going to be some jealousy.
Tho that number of decades didn't see any significant communication improvement.
Well, Nell and her unborn sibling aren't Gordon. They are Plantagenets!
I still haven't decided how Ned and his brothers will deal with Nell and the new baby. They definitely don't know each other, since Ned, Ed and Dickon aren't in London where Nell lives and Baby Lionel is still very much an infant. I do know that Nell, for example, will marry quite scandalously, but whether her father or brother is the king, I can't say.
Certainly, the York children are close with some of their father's bastards, Bess and Arthur as the greatest examples, though since Edward only recognized a portion of his natural children, they can't know them all.
And the York sisters probably won't stick around for long. Magdalena is leaving for Bohemia at 1480 at the latest, with Cecily right after her. The only ones that might have an opinion about Nell are Catherine and Mimi, who are too young to really create such petty discord.
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Family Tree - Gloucester
Richard Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Gloucester (October 1452-) m. Mary Stewart (May 1453-April 1477)
- Philippa of Gloucester (January 1472-). Twin to Joan.
- Joan of Gloucester (January 1472-). Twin to Philippa.
- Edward, Earl of Oxford (July 1473-)
- Richard of Gloucester (August 1474-)
- Edmund of Gloucester (March 1476-April 1477)
May 1478.
May 1478. Westminster Palace, England.
Her heart was in her throat, her palms cold and sweaty in nerves. Catherine Woodville walked behind her sister-in-law, her blue skirts swishing across the floor of the corridors as they passed through the courtiers who were not allowed into the palace’s most private areas. She could feel their beady eyes upon her, wondering why a hussy of the disgraced Rivers family would show her face at court, and she tried not to let it deter her.
She could not fail. Jane was good enough to find her a position at the Queen’s household and she would not let that chance go. John had told her not to return home until she had a husband, or a match lined up. All of her other sisters were married and Catherine, as the baby, was the only one left. Elizabeth had her earl, Anne, the Viscount Bouchier. Eleanor and Jacquetta had decided to join a convent together, while Margaret married John Welles, Lady Richmond’s half brother and Martha had recently married Sir John Bromley of Baddington. Mary made a love match to Sir Walter Herbert, younger brother to the Earl of Cardiff and now only, Catherine remained unhitched.
One of Her Grace’s French cousins died in childbirth and the Countess of Wiltshire’s own ladies had to find positions amongst other noblewomen of England, leaving all of their spots on the Queen’s household open. Catherine, in fact, was just one amongst many new arrivals. She knew Elizabeth Howard, who had married the father of the future Duke of Norfolk, would also be coming to court, reportedly to ensure her son married Anne de Mowbray. Catherine considered exchanging letters with Mistress Elizabeth to ensure she would know at least someone that was not her sister-in-law, but she never managed to put all her thoughts into paper.
So she was entirely alone, her heart racing. Jane turned to look at her as soon as they reached the closed doors of the Queen’s private chambers, a court within a court. Guards were posted outside, wearing the Queen’s livery with her motto sewn into their sleeves. A Gallic rooster holding the stem of a white rose of York and Semper Eadem embroidered in golden thread.
“Be respectful to Her Grace,” said Jane in a low tone. “Do not mention your sister, Lady Pembroke, or any other of the King’s mistresses. Her Grace prefers to pretend they do not exist.”
“Yes, I understand,” said Catherine, looking at her feet. Jane was the Countess of Rivers and she was no one in particular.
“You are not to speak to her until you are spoken to,” Jane continued, serious. “I’m aware that you have been taught proper etiquette by the late Countess, but it does not hurt to remember: you must always be at least two steps behind the Queen when we are walking and be prepared to drop anything at a moment’s notice to follow her wishes. Our daily duties may vary, but we must assist Her Grace in her charities and her own duties as Queen, which includes preparing her bed if the King is to visit her.”
“But--,” Catherine hesitated at the sharp arch of Jane’s eyebrow. Then, she gulped and decided to continue speaking. “I thought the King and Queen were separated.”
“The Queen is still young, many years away from losing her fertility,” said Jane. “The King’s dalliance with Lady Erroll is just that, a dalliance and His Grace’s light will soon return to his wife.” She sighed, shaking her head as if even she couldn’t believe the words she was saying, before she turned her blue-grey eyes back to Catherine. “I do not have to tell you what will happen if you decide to soil your immortal soul in search of the King’s embrace.”
Catherine shook her head. “No, of course, not.” Her cheeks were burning furiously as she imagined it. Catherine was just a child when Elizabeth dallied with the King, and she could barely remember him. He rarely, if ever, visited their holdings in Kent, for fear of seeing his former mistress once again.
Jane observed her face, reading her expression carefully before she, satisfied with whatever it was that she found, nodded and moved to enter. The guards, recognizing Jane, let her in without much question, looking at Catherine with thinly-veiled curiosity clear in their faces. She couldn’t possibly be the first arrival that day. It was nearly noon, and the Queen had just returned from Mass to meet her new ladies-in-waiting.
They passed from the corridor to a bright and large room, half of it covered in wooden panels, a reform that was still unfinished on that day, though she couldn’t see any worker present. She imagined they had left for the day, so as to not bother the Queen and her new ladies with their duties. It was a wonder that the Queen stayed in her apartaments while they were being renovated, though she imagined Her Grace was unwilling to forego the intimacy of the Queen’s royal bedchambers, even if they were being remodelled with the new fashionable wood panels. Catherine had read many reports that the panels kept the room warmer, which she saw in the seemingly thin fabrics of the women’s dresses. Maybe she would write to John and ask him about it. Her brother knew everything there was to know.
Then, after she thoroughly examined the room, Catherine turned her eyes to the Queen. She was a small woman, though nowhere near as fat as Elizabeth always said she was, with a round face and flushed cheeks. Clearly, she had good health, with attentive blue eyes and a small nose. Catherine thought she was quite pretty, her few wrinkles and laughing lines improving her expression. Her beauty was one that clearly matured over the ages and she was certainly more beautiful at that moment than during her youth.
She was sitting on a carved wooden armchair, her two hands on the armrests with a tall golden canopy over her. She was wearing a beautiful kirtle of cloth-of-gold, her dark green over gown in the Burgundian fashion laced across it and a pointed hennin with a sheer veil. Though she wore no crown, there were so many jewels and precious stones in her figure that none could think her as anything but the wife of a great man. Or a great woman in her own right.
Catherine saw that there were other young girls and women around her, waiting for the Queen's orders and approval. When the doors shut behind Catherine, they all, including her, dipped into the deepest curtsies they could muster, heads bent. The Queen gestured for them to straighten up, so they did.
“Good morning,” she said, in a cheerful voice with a slight French accent. “It is very good to see all of you.”
Her eyes moved through the crowd, until they stopped at Catherine. She had clearly shaved her eyebrows to make her forehead appear taller, a symbol of beauty, but Catherine thought she could almost imagine the woman arching them in question.
She continued to stare at her and only when the pressure in her became unbearable, her eyes moved away. “Certainly, your duties have already been explained thoroughly by whichever relative is sponsoring your stay here, but I have some other words to be said: You will all be honourable, discreet, just and thrifty in your conduct. You will present a godly spectacle to others, attend Mass daily and display a virtuous demeanour.” It was as if her eyes returned to Catherine, remaining in her until she thought she might wet herself, but the Queen wasn’t even paying attention to her. She was simply looking around the crowd of girls.
There were so many of them. Beautiful women, looking for husbands. She thought she would never stand out.
“On pain of instant dismissal and banishment,” the Queen continued, “You must not quarrel, swear or say evil and lewd things. Nor ever behave lewdly. You will set a standard for everyone else. Do you understand?”
Catherine and the other newcomers nodded and curtsied once more, murmuring, “Yes, Your Grace.”
The women formed a line, another one of the Queen’s established ladies whispering their names into her ear. Catherine thought she was maybe the fifteenth or sixteenth in the queue, with a dozen others behind her, neither the first nor the last. When it was her time to curtsy once again before the Queen, the woman whispering something in the Queen’s ear, she was already exhausted.
But still, when the Queen offered her a hand, as she did to all others, with her gleaming ruby ring that the King was purported to have given her after the birth of the Prince of Wales, Catherine leaned in to kiss it. “Your Grace,” she whispered.
The Queen dipped her chin at her. “Lady Catherine,” she said.
--
Starý Hrozenkov, Kingdom of Bohemia.
As soon as the procession appeared on the horizon, Maximilian tapped the sides of his horse with his feet to spur him on. He heard his procession gasp behind him, shocked by the sudden show of emotion from him, but he couldn’t care. Not at all. Not when he got closer and closer to the procession bearing the Imperial black and yellow eagle in their flags and the ravens of Matthias Corvinus.
The riders coming his way stopped, as did the carriage running down the hills of Bohemia and into the region of Slovakia. Maximilian pulled at his horse’s reins when the door to the carriage stopped, already dismounting even before Kunigunde stepped outside.
His sister looked at him, her veil flapping in the wind. “Maximilian!” she shouted and he pulled her into a deep embrace, feeling all the emotions he held deep inside of him slip out. He hadn’t seen his sister in years, ever since he became King of Bohemia and it was too long. Far too long.
Maximilian and Kunigunde were the sole surviving children of Emperor Frederick. There were others. Christopher, Helena and John, but they had died. Frederick blamed the deceased Empress for their deaths, because she had fed them too much Portuguese food, he thought, and had done as much as he could to keep the surviving children away from her. And when Kunigunde fell ill as a baby, the Emperor took her away from the Empress. They never saw her mother after that and she had been dead for ten years.
He placed his sister on the ground again, suddenly sad. Maximilian tried to shake the feelings off to look at Kunigunde, who was now much taller than she had been when he last saw her. He was 5’6’’, and Kunigunde seemed on the verge of breaking five feet. She wouldn’t be very tall, considering their parents’ height, but she was taller than before and his heart broke a little.
He touched her face, wisps of blonde hair slipping from her headdress. “Look at you,” Maximilian murmured, feeling like a proud father. “Look at the Queen of Hungary.”
Kunigunde rolled her eyes, but she smiled. “I’m not queen yet,” she said. “Father said it isn’t certain until the King consummates the match.”
“And that won’t happen for many years still,” said Maximilian, suddenly angry. Kunigunde was still just a child, even if she wore her hair like an adult woman. She was barely thirteen. Nowhere near being able to be a wife in truth.
“If you say so,” said Kunigunde, rolling her eyes again. Maximilian chuckled, hugging his sister once again before he stepped back. His father had arranged an alliance with Matthias Corvinus to drive the Turks away from Europe. The King of Poland and the King of Naples were also involved, though there was no marriage to make the alliance secure. Kunigunde would marry the King of Hungary to ensure there would be peace between their countries, and to sweeten the deal, she would be given Lower Austria when their father died.
Maximilian might have raged at that before, but now, he was only glad to see his sister once again.
Awww, I really love the descriptions of appearances, hopefully Catherine proves wiser than her sister..