Italy and Iberia
On returning to England and learning what the king had done to his family in his absence, Edmund, Earl of Richmond initially aimed to make the best of a bad situation. He travelled north to his estates in Yorkshire with his wife Elizabeth Hastings and set about in his duties as a nobleman. But by 1544, Richmond felt truly disillusioned with King Edmund II. Once he heard about how Pope Callixtus had allowed Conrad I to divorce Catalina of Sicilia as a favour to a crusader, Richmond wondered if he would be able to secure a similar favour and left England to travel to Rome in March 1545 with his wife. He made his case to Pope Callixtus IV in person - Edmund II had arrested and executed the father of a crusader and confiscated the Tudor family’s lands, which was a direct breach of the king’s duty of protecting the families of anyone who had gone on crusade. The pope was thoroughly unimpressed by Richmond’s arguments; after all, Henry Tudor had tried to blackmail Edmund II out of fighting against the Avignon conspiracy, which had directly threatened the Pope’s position. Despite failing to secure papal backing, Richmond stayed in Italy longer than he expected, and fell in with the House of Este, headed by Ercole II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. Ferrara and Richmond came to develop a respect for each other and Ferrara even named his third son Edmondo after the earl [1], who was born in 1547.
In Iberia, after Miguel’s death in the crusade, the throne had passed to his eldest son Hercules. However, King Hercules of Iberia, born in 1528, was very much unlike his mythological namesake, and was a rather sickly child. He spent the Eleventh Crusade contracting and recovering from a slew of diseases while his elders governed the realm on his behalf. In 1542 his mother, Annabelle of Burgundy, arranged for Hercules to marry Maria of Naples, daughter of Charles VI and Maria of Aragon, once the two were older. However, that day would not come. On 10th February 1543, Hercules passed away from tuberculosis, at the age of fifteen. The Iberian throne now went to his younger brother João, who was six years younger than Hercules. In an attempt to reassure the Iberian people of the continuity between Miguel and João, Annabelle arranged for João to have three different coronations, as Miguel had. João was crowned King João III of Portugal in Lisbon on 26th June 1543, King Juan III of Castile in Toledo on 4th July, and King Joan III of Aragon in Zaragoza on 11th July. He was then proclaimed by his full title King João III of Iberia, King of Portugal, Castile, León, Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia, Majorca and Sicily by the grandees and burghers within the Cortes Generales on 28th July. Given João’s young age, a regency was needed to govern for the foreseeable future, and for ease the Cortes Generales agreed that the regency council for Hercules would be carried forward. This regency was dominated by the Portuguese, led by Teodósio, Duke of Braganza, João de Lencastre, Duke of Aveiro and Fernando de Castro, Duke of Viseu. The council was also joined by the Castilian crusader Fernando Álvarez, Duke of Alba, the Aragonese nobleman Alfonso de Ampurias, Duke of Segorbe, and Juan de Zúñiga, who was the tutor of both Hercules and João. Although Miguel had made peace with Charles VI of Naples during the Crusade, the regency council still planned on following an anti-Habsburg policy, which revolved around plans to take back Naples, keep the Holy Roman Empire out of Navarrese lands and weaken imperial rule in France.
A few years after João’s triple coronation, in 1547, King Edmund II of England’s crown servant Robert Aske travelled to Iberia. Aske was a lawyer from Selby, in Yorkshire, and was a man of well-connected birth; his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of John Clifford, Baron Clifford, and Margaret Bromflete, the only daughter of Sir Henry Bromflete and Eleanor FitzHugh [3]. Trained as a lawyer, Aske was recruited into Richard, Duke of Albany’s household in Yorkshire in 1523, and after coming to Edmund II’s attention in 1532 he was soon brought into the royal household in a slew of roles. He grew to be one of Edmund’s closest advisors, and certainly his closest advisor without a noble title. Aske had been a key part in helping Edmund set up the institutions to allow for the Eleventh Crusade to go as smoothly as possibly, and had taken part in the persecution of Henry Tudor, Duke of Somerset [4]. In 1546, Edmund appointed Aske as ambassador to Iberia, and Aske set sail in June. While there, Aske met the young king of Iberia and his regency council, as well as King Gaston II of Navarre, and busied himself negotiating a renewed alliance between England, Iberia and Navarre. He pledged that England would support Iberian and Navarrese interests in preventing imperial expansion. Aske managed to secure future spouses for Edmund’s youngest children - Edmund, Duke of Clarence (born in 1534) and Isabel of York (born in 1539). Edmund, Duke of Clarence was betrothed to Maria of Navarre, Gaston II’s eldest daughter (born in 1538), and Isabel was betrothed to Ferdinand, Count of Foix, Gaston’s second son (born in 1545). Aske returned to England and reported back to King Edmund on the Navarrese matches he had secured for the king’s children. Edmund was suitably pleased with Aske’s work and made him Baron Vessy, recreating the barony that his great-grandfather Henry Bromflete had briefly been granted.
In January 1547, Edmund II heard word that Edmund, Earl of Richmond had taken shelter with Ercole, Duke of Ferrara in Italy. This was a concerning development from Edmund’s perspective - Ferrara was a member of the Medici faction in the ongoing feud between the Habsburgs, who sought political control over Rome to solidify their position as Holy Roman Emperor, and the Medicis, who preferred an independent papal states combined with the dukes and counts of Italy. It was known that Pope Callixtus had entertained the idea of carving out a great holy state within central Italy by combining the papal states with Florence, Urbino, Ferrara and Tuscany, but such a project would require monumental political manouevring between the various noble families. It would no doubt invoke war with the Habsburgs as well. Even so, the concept still stood - and having Richmond in Ferrara’s court meant that he could more easily get the Pope’s ear in the future.
[1] - OTL, Ercole II d’Este only had two sons, called Alfonso and Luigi. Luigi ended up in the Church, so Edmondo probably will too. I accept the historical improbability of any Italian calling his son Edmund, but the name Edmondo d’Este just has a lovely ring to it.
[2] - the OTL mother of Mary, Queen of Scots.
[3] - Robert Aske was the OTL leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace against Protestantism. There‘s also a minor butterfly in here - the Cliffords are never created Earl of Cumberland, and remain stuck at the baronial level.
[4] - Henry Tudor was the second son of the first Henry Tudor, just as Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII. I just liked the idea of reversing Aske and Henry’s fates - ITTL, it’s Aske who signs Henry’s death warrant, not the other way round. Nice bit of irony.
In Iberia, after Miguel’s death in the crusade, the throne had passed to his eldest son Hercules. However, King Hercules of Iberia, born in 1528, was very much unlike his mythological namesake, and was a rather sickly child. He spent the Eleventh Crusade contracting and recovering from a slew of diseases while his elders governed the realm on his behalf. In 1542 his mother, Annabelle of Burgundy, arranged for Hercules to marry Maria of Naples, daughter of Charles VI and Maria of Aragon, once the two were older. However, that day would not come. On 10th February 1543, Hercules passed away from tuberculosis, at the age of fifteen. The Iberian throne now went to his younger brother João, who was six years younger than Hercules. In an attempt to reassure the Iberian people of the continuity between Miguel and João, Annabelle arranged for João to have three different coronations, as Miguel had. João was crowned King João III of Portugal in Lisbon on 26th June 1543, King Juan III of Castile in Toledo on 4th July, and King Joan III of Aragon in Zaragoza on 11th July. He was then proclaimed by his full title King João III of Iberia, King of Portugal, Castile, León, Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia, Majorca and Sicily by the grandees and burghers within the Cortes Generales on 28th July. Given João’s young age, a regency was needed to govern for the foreseeable future, and for ease the Cortes Generales agreed that the regency council for Hercules would be carried forward. This regency was dominated by the Portuguese, led by Teodósio, Duke of Braganza, João de Lencastre, Duke of Aveiro and Fernando de Castro, Duke of Viseu. The council was also joined by the Castilian crusader Fernando Álvarez, Duke of Alba, the Aragonese nobleman Alfonso de Ampurias, Duke of Segorbe, and Juan de Zúñiga, who was the tutor of both Hercules and João. Although Miguel had made peace with Charles VI of Naples during the Crusade, the regency council still planned on following an anti-Habsburg policy, which revolved around plans to take back Naples, keep the Holy Roman Empire out of Navarrese lands and weaken imperial rule in France.
A few years after João’s triple coronation, in 1547, King Edmund II of England’s crown servant Robert Aske travelled to Iberia. Aske was a lawyer from Selby, in Yorkshire, and was a man of well-connected birth; his mother Elizabeth was the daughter of John Clifford, Baron Clifford, and Margaret Bromflete, the only daughter of Sir Henry Bromflete and Eleanor FitzHugh [3]. Trained as a lawyer, Aske was recruited into Richard, Duke of Albany’s household in Yorkshire in 1523, and after coming to Edmund II’s attention in 1532 he was soon brought into the royal household in a slew of roles. He grew to be one of Edmund’s closest advisors, and certainly his closest advisor without a noble title. Aske had been a key part in helping Edmund set up the institutions to allow for the Eleventh Crusade to go as smoothly as possibly, and had taken part in the persecution of Henry Tudor, Duke of Somerset [4]. In 1546, Edmund appointed Aske as ambassador to Iberia, and Aske set sail in June. While there, Aske met the young king of Iberia and his regency council, as well as King Gaston II of Navarre, and busied himself negotiating a renewed alliance between England, Iberia and Navarre. He pledged that England would support Iberian and Navarrese interests in preventing imperial expansion. Aske managed to secure future spouses for Edmund’s youngest children - Edmund, Duke of Clarence (born in 1534) and Isabel of York (born in 1539). Edmund, Duke of Clarence was betrothed to Maria of Navarre, Gaston II’s eldest daughter (born in 1538), and Isabel was betrothed to Ferdinand, Count of Foix, Gaston’s second son (born in 1545). Aske returned to England and reported back to King Edmund on the Navarrese matches he had secured for the king’s children. Edmund was suitably pleased with Aske’s work and made him Baron Vessy, recreating the barony that his great-grandfather Henry Bromflete had briefly been granted.
In January 1547, Edmund II heard word that Edmund, Earl of Richmond had taken shelter with Ercole, Duke of Ferrara in Italy. This was a concerning development from Edmund’s perspective - Ferrara was a member of the Medici faction in the ongoing feud between the Habsburgs, who sought political control over Rome to solidify their position as Holy Roman Emperor, and the Medicis, who preferred an independent papal states combined with the dukes and counts of Italy. It was known that Pope Callixtus had entertained the idea of carving out a great holy state within central Italy by combining the papal states with Florence, Urbino, Ferrara and Tuscany, but such a project would require monumental political manouevring between the various noble families. It would no doubt invoke war with the Habsburgs as well. Even so, the concept still stood - and having Richmond in Ferrara’s court meant that he could more easily get the Pope’s ear in the future.
[1] - OTL, Ercole II d’Este only had two sons, called Alfonso and Luigi. Luigi ended up in the Church, so Edmondo probably will too. I accept the historical improbability of any Italian calling his son Edmund, but the name Edmondo d’Este just has a lovely ring to it.
[2] - the OTL mother of Mary, Queen of Scots.
[3] - Robert Aske was the OTL leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace against Protestantism. There‘s also a minor butterfly in here - the Cliffords are never created Earl of Cumberland, and remain stuck at the baronial level.
[4] - Henry Tudor was the second son of the first Henry Tudor, just as Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII. I just liked the idea of reversing Aske and Henry’s fates - ITTL, it’s Aske who signs Henry’s death warrant, not the other way round. Nice bit of irony.
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