WI:Richard II of England is a girl

If John of Gaunt becomes John II in 1377 would his campaign in France in 1378 have a better outcome? And would he still launch his war for the Castilian throne in the 1380's?
 
If John of Gaunt becomes John II in 1377 would his campaign in France in 1378 have a better outcome? And would he still launch his war for the Castilian throne in the 1380's?

Going back to a book I read a few years ago, but I believe that John's campaign in France was done with him acting as personal representative of the King, so there's little reason to believe it would go any differently, unless he chose to appoint his own personal representative and a different general led the troops.

As for Castile, no. John went on that little skirmish as a way of passing time and enhancing his reputation and coffers. He never seriously wanted the throne (although if John of Castile had buckled and his authority had collapsed - highly unlikely - he would probably have accepted it), but at the time he was realising that his line was being frozen out from the throne unlike before when he had engineered Henry into position as Richard's heir, and he was growing short of cash too. He went to Castile to prove himself as a soldier and he accepted the first "I'll pay you to go away" offer her received - it supplemented his income nicely. If he were King he wouldn't have the issues over being frozen out and wouldn't need the extra money. It is however possible that Henry might try the same thing - probably, again, for money instead of the throne - at some point while his father was looking a long way from death, or perhaps the family might sit on the claim to the throne until a couple of generations later when the Kings of Castile were looking weak again, and there was a second son who had nothing to look forward to who would revive it.
 
Going back to a book I read a few years ago, but I believe that John's campaign in France was done with him acting as personal representative of the King, so there's little reason to believe it would go any differently, unless he chose to appoint his own personal representative and a different general led the troops.

As for Castile, no. John went on that little skirmish as a way of passing time and enhancing his reputation and coffers. He never seriously wanted the throne (although if John of Castile had buckled and his authority had collapsed - highly unlikely - he would probably have accepted it), but at the time he was realising that his line was being frozen out from the throne unlike before when he had engineered Henry into position as Richard's heir, and he was growing short of cash too. He went to Castile to prove himself as a soldier and he accepted the first "I'll pay you to go away" offer her received - it supplemented his income nicely. If he were King he wouldn't have the issues over being frozen out and wouldn't need the extra money. It is however possible that Henry might try the same thing - probably, again, for money instead of the throne - at some point while his father was looking a long way from death, or perhaps the family might sit on the claim to the throne until a couple of generations later when the Kings of Castile were looking weak again, and there was a second son who had nothing to look forward to who would revive it.
Juan had adopted scorched earth policies that really made life hard for John of Gaunt during the Galician invasion. Yes he got money, but he had a lot of incentive to end the attack which according to what I've read, was becoming a slow-motion disaster. Myself I think John of G will focus on France and leave Castile alone preventing any attack of Galicia. Juan still isn't going to be king of Portugal though.
 
John's claim to Castile was through his second wife, and Henry was the son of his first, so he would have had no basis for a personal claim. I too feel that had Richard been homogametic her uncle John II would have succeeded her grandfather Edward III, and it is of course very likely that she would have been betrothed to the future Henry IV (who was almost of an age with the real Richard II). Their being first cousins would only have been a theoretical barrier, as noted. Joan of Kent was a first cousin of the Black Prince, but of the half blood and once removed. This still required a dispensation, of course, but really any degree of kinship that didn't amount to actual incest could readily be dispensed.
 
Can't she be betrothed to Amadeus VII, so that there is a possibility of a Savoy France?

Even if the "Richard II" girl was bethroed to Amadeus VII, I think the Savoyard claim would have less chances compared to the English Kings (meaning John of Gaunt/John II of England and his chidlren here) or the Valois.

Plus there had already been one try made by someone who had a claim which can be argued to have more legitimacy than the English Kings or the Valois : Charles II the Bad, King of Navarra.
Charles II of Navarra was the son of Joan of Navarra, daughter of Louis X of France. Proclamation of Salic Law had forbidden Joan to claim the French throne, leading to the reigns of her Uncles Philip V and Charles IV and then to the HYW after the death of the two without male heirs.
Charles II was claiming the French crown as grandson of Louis X, considering his Uncles and the Valois as usurpers. He did several manipulations to weaken both Plantagenêts and Valois so that he could try his luck at taking the French throne. The result? Charles V of France vainquished him and completely isolated him politically.

Domenic said:
John's claim to Castile was through his second wife, and Henry was the son of his first, so he would have had no basis for a personal claim.

True. He could still try to claim it for his wife and the children he had from her, but that doesn't seem necessary given the OTL result.
He had two children from Constance of Castille : a son named John who died young and a daughter named Catherine, who later married Henry III of Castille, the latter being the son of John of Gaunt's rival, John I of Castille (or John of Trastamara).

John of Gaunt could still try to claim Castille for his young son John if the latter were to survive infancy, but the arrangement he had OTL wasn't so bad as his daughter married the next King of Castille.

Plus, I think a John of Gaunt who would have become John II of England would probably have focused on France rather than Castille. The Hundread Years' War still rages on at that point : the English do not really need another front in the southern Gascony with Castille.
 
Even if the "Richard II" girl was bethroed to Amadeus VII, I think the Savoyard claim would have less chances compared to the English Kings (meaning John of Gaunt/John II of England and his chidlren here) or the Valois.

Plus there had already been one try made by someone who had a claim which can be argued to have more legitimacy than the English Kings or the Valois : Charles II the Bad, King of Navarra.
Charles II of Navarra was the son of Joan of Navarra, daughter of Louis X of France. Proclamation of Salic Law had forbidden Joan to claim the French throne, leading to the reigns of her Uncles Philip V and Charles IV and then to the HYW after the death of the two without male heirs.

Actually, he got his wish when Henry of Navarre got the throne, I think the Savoyard claimant need to be a Napoleon like figure to claim the throne.
 
This is true. Henri IV of France was through his mother the heir of line of Jeanne II of Navarre and her son Charles II, Charles the Bad, and therefore of Louis X and the whole Direct Capetian line, Philippe V aside. However that was the mechanism by which he inherited Navarre, not France, which came to him through his paternal ancestry by operation of Salic law. Louis XIII combined the succession of Navarre with that of France, to guard against the two kingdoms being again separated.

The last French monarch or claimant to be the representative of Louis X and heir of Navarre under the old law was the titular Henri V. The present-day representative is the Infanta Alicia of Spain, and after her her son the Infante Carlos, who is also Duke of Calabria as head of the senior of the competing Bourbon-Sicily lines.
 
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