WI: Elizabeth of York does not die in childbirth

Arthur Tudor dies in this scenario, but his mother does not. It goes something like this:

Elizabeth of York survives her bout with childbed fever, albeit just by a whisker. Her recovery shall be a long one before she is finally able to hold her daughter, Princess Katherine; the kingdom temporarily is thrown into chaos for an interlude as both the king and queen are quite ill, but to the shock of the entire kingdom, Elizabeth finds a way to address her subjects from her bedroom window: it will be the one and only time in her life she does anything political. She reaffirms her attachment to the House of Tudor, and standing beside her in her seat is her son, Henry Jr, as she is his protector and otherwise behind the scenes she and Margaret have doubled security on the boy. Her public statement is reprinted to be read across the land and goes over well with the subjects, but its other meaning is not lost on the grasping De La Poles: they have been the ones causing a whisper campaign at court. Henry Sr. is unfortunately at this time is not entirely conscious and unable to hold things together as he usually does and has alas been afflicted with the same disease his son had, a form of hantavirus, then-called sweating sickness. He does not catch it from Arthur, no, but for reasons unknown to most (and since it is the early 16th century in which people believe in potions and talismans, nobody ever will know) the king is quite ill and modern doctors would call it hantavirus because unlike TB the king is vomiting and in quite a bit of pain whenever he tries to eat.

Henry Sr. takes nearly seven weeks to recover but blessedly regains consciousness not long after Elizabeth has her day: when she finally is able to see the king she explains that the usual plan of Margaret Beaufort taking all the political hits while the queen remained blameless and beloved simply does not work in Henry's absence and needs rethinking. Henry Sr. ponders this and grudgingly is happy that his wife intervened as without a former York there would have been no way to quell the oh so stubborn Yorkists still skulking about or contain the whisper campaign. (That, and the attempt made by Margaret Beaufort failed. People already thought she usurped power that was not due her and her appearance of acting in the king's stead made things much worse.) The De La Poles eventually make their way to the Tower and will wind up dying there, not executed, but largely forgotten long into the reign of Henry Tudor's son. (Literally: Henry Jr, as King Henry VIII of England is told, age 40, that the last of them has died. He will stare blankly at the person who tells him.)

Henry Sr. knows he must act fast if he is to make sure that nobody questions his fitness to rule, especially from what he remembers happened to Margaret of Anjou and her husband. Usually a reserved man who prefers to withdraw into his little chamber like an accountant into his booth, Henry makes extra effort to be seen. The christening of their daughter, Katherine, is greeted with pomp and a pr campaign that is designed to silence dissent with soft power, and it works.

However, behind the scenes, there are still two unresolved issues: the eminent departure of Margaret Tudor for Scotland and the widow of Arthur Tudor still hanging around.

TO BE CONTINUED..........
 
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Having heard of the turmoil in the kingdom, King James of Scotland writes to Henry Sr and asks for a delay in sending Margaret to Scotland. His information is a little out of date in that he believes that Henry Sr is still sick in bed and does not want to be associated with a princess whose natal kingdom may break out into war again. He has not moved to annul the union yet, which is the good news. Henry scratches his beard (he has grown one as the opportunity to shave in between puking episodes was just not there) and sits down to process the information. Petting his pet monkey, a vervet monkey he's named Francis, he hatches a plan. Margaret is thirteen and publicly he has said that the queen and his mother are against sending Margaret off to Scotland. Henry knows his young daughter is very much nervous about her wedding night anyway and nearly lost her mother, and most in the kingdom do not know that he's a more doting parent and husband than his public persona lets on (he actually spent quite a bit of coin on her trousseau, but off the books he bought her a clavichord: "For Margaret, Queen of Scots. Remember me by this. Papa.")

But he cannot let James think he's still ill. That would make Ferdinand in Spain start to get agitated, and the whole house of cards would come down. Hmmm, what to do?

Ahhh....a solution.

Make James come and get Margaret. "Your Grace, your request is granted. We shall delay Margaret's coming to Scotland but we send with this letter two that were involved in much mischief during our illness. They shall be more than happy to talk of the falsehoods and lies spoken of us in our illness as they have been attainted. It would appear to us that they showed great disloyalty to our queen and called her a traitor to their cause and far worse that greatly displeases us. It is our wish that by the time they have reached Edinburgh they shall have done naught but march there in the rain, in the bog, and on the heath and rocks. The stink that comes from their persons and their sored and festering feet we hope you will receive with my compliments, for such is the punishment for men that dare challenge an anointed king."

"We ask that you keep them not in what the peasant volk call the Tollbooth as we have been advised that it is close to the road. Shall they need more particular care in His Scottish Majesty's castle as we have it on good authority that if they would dare to threaten our lady the Queen Elizabeth they would be a terrible threat to the Queen of Scots. They must thusly be sent far from her for her safety. They must never be permitted a moment alone for we fear if they were bold enough to cause such troubles in the lands near York they would certainly cause his Majesty the King of Scots a great deal of harm, riling up the peasants, trying to foment an army, damaging the Alliance we have made. It would be a tragedy that my daughter's heart is too tender for. "

With my trusted men we have also sent a likeness of the Queen of Scots and us. It is a token of our goodwill. We await the time when she can claim her place at your side with much interest.

Henricus VII Rex Anglorum"

Smiling, Henry Sr. sends the little boils on the bum of humanity with his sealed letter and the portrait within two weeks. He devilishly delights to himself that James will not like the image of a smiling and healthy King of England depicted holding a copy of their treaty in one hand and across the table is the Queen of Scotland, Margaret, holding what appears to be a Tudor rose and a thistle, both of which appear to have pricked her fingers. The cheekiest bit will be the monkey. Francis will be sent with Henry Sr's representatives and the toerag Yorkists. Francis the vervet monkey never liked the two Yorkist lordlings from the moment he set eyes on them years ago. Now they have finally been bold enough to defy the king and their humiliation shall be to be sent barefoot in rags to Scotland to tell King James that 1) Henry Sr is actually feeling fine and dandy and has condemned two traitorous toads as proof 2) It would not be wise to welch on the treaty signed last year between the crowns..it won't look good and 3) Henry Sr. has no problem letting them loose in Scotland to cause mayhem in the borders to make the King of Scots look bad if he tries to annul the marriage.

Francis the monkey will be biting the Yorkist dogs and savaging them every step of the way up to Scotland. And fat chance if Francis the vervet monkey ever takes a shine to King James. The King of Scots will want to be rid of Francis because he will never figure out that Henry Sr. has trained Francis to only respond to commands in Welsh: it will be WONDERFUL. It will drive King James of Scotland to madness! Francis was named for Henry Sr.'s onetime host, the Duke of Brittany. Everyone in the court of Henry VII knew who the vervet monkey's namesake was and it would not take much for King James IV of Scotland to figure out what the monkey had done to earn such an epithet (the size of the monkey's ears compared to the late Duke Brittany was uncanny in resemblance.)

Francis the vervet monkey only ever warmed up to a handful of people: the late Arthur, the late Jasper Tudor, Henry Jr., and Margaret, daughter of Henry Sr and now Queen of Scots. Early in their marriage, Henry Sr. used to get a kick out of watching his wife, Queen of England, furious at her gabled hood being stolen by the monkey and screaming bloody murder at him to stop...in English. She may not be able to understand a word the Welsh harpists sing at Christmas, but Elizabeth of York, known to her family and husband as Bess, has become expert at Welsh phrases like, "SIT!" "BITE HIM!" "BRING TO ME!!" "NO POOING!" "STAY!" "HOP UP!" "LEAVE IT ALONE!" "GO NIGHT NIGHT!" "GO TO YOUR CAGE!!"

And all that mayhem is going to arrive at the court in Edinburgh. Henry Sr sits there and imagines the letter he will help his daughter write some months in the future: "My lord, I am sorry to hear that he has caused you so much trouble. He unfortunately does not like dogs. Or cats. Or sharing his grapes. Or being in the rain. And he bites my lord the King because he is terrified of falcons and shall fly into a rage at the very sight of one and this is wherefore in my caring of him I never allow him out of the saddlebag on the hunt, save for when the falcon is safely back in the mews."

I am much cheered to hear that progress continues in my benefit for Holyrood. But alas, I cannot see the new buildings just yet. I must have a better sign on my husband's constance and I am sorry to tell His Majesty that the King of England is not disposed towards taking back the miscreants that threatened my mother and brother and defied him. There is ample room in the dungeons of my lord's castle for that. Perchance my lord would consider asking my further intercession with the king and would kindly return Francis so that his wife, Queen of Scots, may properly set him right?...."


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Edinburgh

Nearly one month after Henry Sr sent an entourage including 7 horsemen, 2 attainted Yorkists who now wish they had never been born, one vervet monkey, and the only chamber man in the entirety of Richmond Palace that speaks the words of Welsh that matter to a monkey. (He is also the one entrusted with cleaning Francis and his poo.)

James IV of Scotland is having dinner when he receives the intelligence and entourage. What his eyes behold is a bit startling. He recognizes the formerly noble men in front of him. It is definite proof that Henry Sr is very much alive and well. These two were lucky in that they did not hang.

James reads the letter.

His thoughts sound like this "Mmm hmm. Yes. Granted? She's NOT coming? Wait...she's NOT coming and her father is back to full health...Uh oh. I crossed Henry Sr. and I have made a blunder in assuming Civil War would break out. I may have put the treaty in jeopardy. Not good."

"And Henry has sent me these two foul smelling oafs. He claims he wants them far away from his daughter and family. Let me hear of what has come to pass from THEIR mouths..."

And indeed everything that has happened comes pouring out of their mouths. They try to gain James's sympathy. Perkin Warbeck came close, once. But the fools overplay their hand in reminding James IV of Warbeck's failure. Salient points the King of Scotland takes into account are these 1) Queen Elizabeth is alive and well and has a new princess 2) King Henry is back to full health 3) The De La Poles are in the Tower 4) The men in front of James are penniless and have had all their lands seized by the crown.

It becomes clear: Henry has dumped these two on the King of Scots and James is not going to be able to make Henry Sr. take them back. If James rejects them, the entourage is instructed to release them in the borderlands favoring the Scottish side. This would give an excuse for Henry Sr. to squeeze terms out of a new treaty if James tries to quell the desperate men. And above all, welching on the terms of marrying Margaret and other sundry issues between the two men will get James in hot water with some of the nobles.

James later inspects the simple portrait of Margaret, Queen of Scots and the King of England, Henry Sr. It is like the one on the left, the king, is taunting him with a cheeky smile. The King of England is smiling in this portrait-wait, what?!! James had met Henry Sr. He was very very dour and serious. Some of James's best spies assured him that Henry, son of Margaret Beaufort, was the kind of man who slept with a dagger under his pillow and would find himself stabbing a mouse creeping after a crumb on the bedchamber floor having mistaken it for an assassin, so paranoid he was as a man. Other intelligence suggested that the Infanta of Spain, Catalina, was afraid of him at first.

The bastard was SMILING. And his daughter had pricked her fingers on the thorns of a Tudor rose and a thistle.

Henry Sr. is telling him not to back out of his promise to marry Margaret, as she is still the Tudor's daughter; but she will not come unless James does something for her in return.

TO BE CONTINUED
 
Which de la Poles are we talking about? Hadn't Edmund already fled to the continent by this time (in 1501)? And as a consequence I think William was already imprisoned.
 
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