wel galician and catalan are seperate languages and considered such, so i doubt it
Yet Another Roman Empire: The Latin Empire of Constantinople
- Thread starter AltoRegnant
- Start date
I vote for Iberian Union, is a thing strange to see, because people usually balkanizes Spain or creates the Iberian Union only for later balkanizing.
While there may not be dialects. The Iberian languages will have a lot of Castilian influence, especially with Castile most likely being the more dominant partner. There could be population transfers of people from Portugal/Castile/Aragon living in some other part of the Kingdom.
Likely only in the thoughts of foreigners who didn't care about Iberian culture.
Practically all of the "population transfers" in OTL Spain were people voluntarily moving to the coastal regions and the capital because that was where the industry / work / business was. I see no reason why a hypothetical Iberian Union would go all the way to Stalin displacing entire peoples across the territory "because we can".
Wasn't thinking of forceful transfers if that's what you are implying. Was thinking as the Iberian Union solidifies and the years go by, you could see people from various kingdoms move to one place or another. The various languages could start to develop influences on one another.
Oh that. Yes, that phenomenon would probably happen. In fact, OTL happened, but a minor scale.
It is that the expression in English "population transfers" I have seen associated mainly to describe the forced population transfers made by Stalin.
Part Eightteen: Desolation and Discovery
Egypt was in chaos. After a grueling war with the Latins, they’d lost the Sinai peninsula and a foreign puppet had been installed on the throne and as Caliph of Islam. They’d gone from great power to puppet in less than two decades. This was naturally unacceptable, and the Nile valley was alight with protest and riots against the Caliphate. Indeed, with the loss of the Sinai peninsula, the desert and red sea made it very difficult actually to hold the Holy Cities, now. Soon enough, they would barely pay lip service to the Egyptian authority. And now that they were weakened, there were fears that Morocco would seek to conquer them, ending independent Egyptian rule in a way that would be hard to reverse.
In truth, the Moroccans had no interest in such matters, as it would only increase tensions with the Latins. Moreover, they saw a weak Egypt as advantageous, believing it would enable, and in some capacity force, the Latin Empire to look east, at Tartary. This allowed Morocco to look toward Iberia, as King Alejandro was a dying man, and his son, Henry was a much more zealous king than his father and intended to see the Reconquista through. As a result, the Moroccans were quickly building up fortifications in the province, turning Alhambra into a proper fortress once again. The Mediterranean navy also saw large investment, as many in the Marinid Sultanate were afraid that the Castilians would ally with Aragon or even the Latin Empire.
In truth, the Latins were in no shape to press into the western Mediterranean at the moment. They had faced an extremely expensive war for fifteen years, with a very short reprieve from the prior war before that slog. Syria, Jerusalem, and even Mesopotamia, historically some of the richest provinces of the near east, were intensely devastated. Mesopotamia now had a massive population of Kurdish people who were not friendly to the Latin Empire due to Charles IV wanting to forcibly convert or expel them from the region. The Sinai, while not densely populated and a natural border was also so close to Egypt that it required a larger garrison than it might otherwise need.
Upsettingly, there was not a lot the Latins could do to stabilize either province right now. The Kurds were now so numerous that any conversion attempt in northern Mesopotamia prior to their arrival had been seriously undermined, and starting that process over again was egregiously expensive. The Sinai would likely be difficult to assimilate largely because its territory was not appealing to settle. Worse, while the country now had access to the Red Sea, trade was still slow to resume, meaning that things were not improving economically in the area, which also limited how far trade could go into the Mediterranean.
Both Egypt and the Latins were struggling with semi-constant rebellions. Unfortunately, Charles IV’s chosen response was to crack down militarily and impose the hardest rule possible on the Kurds. However, given that they were already resisting the occupation, things did not really improve for the area. This resulted in the mass destruction of many major cities, including the regional capital of Bagdhad. Despite having recovered beautifully since the Mongols, even developing prominent fortifications due to becoming part of the Latin-Egyptian border, Charles IV saw the city with contempt and as a symbol of rebellion. As a result, his soldiers were ordered to treat the city as an enemy capital. Interestingly, however, Charles IV did have plans to make amends for its destruction.
“Bagdhad is not a city I destroy lightly,” wrote the Emperor, “but its potential to challenge Imperial control cannot be overstated. It is not my city, it is a threat. However, I intend to replace it with a truly great city, one that will be a jewel of the empire. I hope to use Bagdhad’s remains to build a new Constantinople, a great city of the south. This city shall be built to the south of old Bagdhad, and shall surpass the city by the end of the century. As for those who survive my desolation of Bagdhad proper, I am not cruel without merit. If they convert to Christianity and accept the Lord, they will be granted homes. Be it in the city or as serfs in the service of another noble, I do not yet know.”
The Latin Desolation of Bagdhad was nearly total in its scope and destruction, leaving a small ruin of a town in the shadow of what had once been the greatest city in the Muslim world. The construction of Charles’s new city began in 1460. Bringing in architects from Paris, Munich, and even Sarai, he sought to build a truly great city. Uniquely for the time, he designed it with a partial grid system, allowing for clear and conscience expansion as the city grew. The city was planned around a series of grand plazas, five in total, serving as landmarks and administrative centers. There were smaller plazas between the more preeminent ones that were to serve as neighborhoods. There were other streets connecting the plazas that ran between the grid, of course, but the core of the city was clearly built with the system in mind.
At the north side of the Central Plaza would be a grand temple, with a design hybridizing Greek and Arabic architecture. Dazzling triangular arches and pointed domes supported by hellenistic style columns would be accentuated by multiple floors of different sizes to prompt a dynamically shaped roof and almost perfectly circular arches. The cross would be mounted upon statues of Saint Paul and of Saint Peter, bowing to the Lord. The name that was chosen for this magnificent church? Megálo Kéntro; the Grand Center. The name was twofold: it was near or even at the center of the city Charles IV sought to build, and the city itself was near the center of the empire.
Of course, this building, and indeed especially the city itself, would be outrageously expensive to build, and the national economy still was not doing well. As a result, Charles IV had to find funding from somewhere. When he turned to his nobility, he was rebuked for the mere thought of raising taxes unless they had a say in where that money went. Similarly, many cities were appalled at raising taxes on their citizens so the Emperor could build some new city halfway across the country. Next, Charles turned to the Church, as he was attempting to build a great place of worship with the funds after all, but was similarly rebuked, as much of the clergy in the empire did not want to support what would surely be a powerful new rival. The Papacy offered some token support for the construction, but not nearly enough. And frankly, Charles was concerned what might happen if he tried to undermine the military’s access to funds- both from internal and external threats.
Thus Charles had a choice to make: relent to his nobility and cities and accept their input in the project- both the church and the city- or to slow, pause, or even cancel the project. Charles was convinced the city would be vital if he wanted to hold Mesopotamia. The central location within the Empire would provide an indispensable way to field soldiers to advance goals in the south and east. The church, as a large scale project and grand symbol, could easily become a pilgrimage site and would have the means to staff a large workforce for the conversion of the area, both potentially vital for the stability of the province. As a result, he ultimately figured that it would be better for the Empire and his Dynasty if he acquiesced to the wealth of the Empire. As a result, in 1465, he called for several leading nobles and cities to send representatives to the city of Constantinople. This was the beginning of the College of the Estates, or the Kolégio ton Ktimáton, in Charles IV’s favored Greek.
The College of the Estates would meet sporadically, typically whenever the Fassillios was in economic trouble. The general makeup and system of the College varied heavily throughout the centuries, but the 1465 meeting had a simple procedure. The Dukes of Ankara, Epirus, Trebizond, and about ten more Dukes were invited; in addition, the cities of Theodoro, Jerusalem, Antioch, Napoli, Belgrade, Athens, as well as Trebizond and Ankara (separate from the duchies) were allowed to send their own representatives. Finally, the Archbishops of Athens and Damascus were also invited- though only that of Damascus actually attended due to disease in Athens. Each of the chosen bodies would have one vote, bar Fassilios Charles who had three (one as a Noble, one as the leading figure of Constantinople- the city- and one as a religious leader.)
While Charles wanted to get to the matter of his cities as soon as possible, the other members of the College all pushed for other issues to be presented.
One of the most common points was the economy, but many cities claimed to have an answer for that. Bullionism as an economic theory had become a popular idea in other parts of Europe, specifically England, Italy, and France. The idea was simple: the Latin Empire should strive to hold as much of a trade surplus as possible, and hope to spend little. Importantly, bullionists also sought to hold as much gold and silver (called bullion in other parts, hence the name.) Indeed, much of the theory came from the fact that Britain, a country with little in the way of actual gold mining, had a potent amount of precious metals due to adept trade. Many in the cities wanted to emulate this and pass legislation that punished imports, insofar as was possible at the time. The most striking of these proposals was standardized dues on unloading ships based on their stated goods meant to be unloaded in addition ot preexisting dues and charges. These were of course nothing new, but a national one in an empire with so many magnificent ports was practically a dream come true for the Empire’s finances. Fasillios Charles IV practically rammed it through himself, the only reason he didn’t declare it an act without them being the origin of the act and wanting it to be seen more legitimately by the cities.
Other proposed plans, either to raise money or direct it, came up as well. Several nobles wanted assurance that any leftover funds for the church would go to their province fortifications and not just to the imperial treasury, though the leaders of Trebizond and Athens both wanted money to upscale their ports. In order to secure their pledged funding, Charles was forced to play politics and appease these leading nobility. While it was not seen as such at the time, the formation of the Imperial College was a large part of the weakening of the Fassilios relative to the nobility.
Regardless, with funding secured, construction resumed. Charles IV wanted this city to rival Constantinople and old Bagdhad in its splendor, and thus chose the name Fosipolus, meaning the City of Light, in Greek. Indeed, as construction progressed, the city quickly began attracting people from all over the Empire who heard of the Emperor’s pet project. With them, these people brought culture and often families that also expanded the city. While it would never surpass Constantinople in its population, it would quickly become one of the great cities of Christendom by the 1540s. As the city hall and the church were finished on November 30th, 1468, (in the Julian calendar,) Fasilios Charles IV and the Church’s first Bishop blessed the city with great splendor.
However, the 1540s were still decades away at the time of construction, and things do not happen in a vacuum. Charles’s harsh dues on almost all imported goods meant that trade goods on the mediterranean trade routes were incredibly expensive in the rest of Europe, encouraging further exploration by the Moors, Castilians, and Portugese. However, for the next several decades, there was little advancement in these industries, even as the maps steadily reached further south and west. The Castilian colonies in Vinlania were growing slowly, but disappointingly there had been little in the way of evidence for a northwest passage. Indeed, the colony had seen some level of neglect from the metropole due to this disappointing return. King Alejandro had died, and his successor, King Henry (Enrique) III was more focused on Europe and the reconquista than overseas adventures.
As a result, in 1470, he launched an attack into Marinid Grenada. However, this war was rife with stalemates and failures on both sides to get a total victory over the other. While the actual war would last from 1470 to 1477, skirmishes and conflict would last until the 1490s, with raids and violence on both sides despite the formal end of the war and Castilian reparations. As a result, the war did little but distract Castile and Morocco, creating opportunity for Portugal, their main competitor. This allowed them to weasel their way back into West Africa after being tossed out some decades prior. Likewise, while the Castilian-Marinid war was ultimately a stalemate, it would set the couse of their foreign policies for quite some time.
In Britain, Queen Anne had died in 1450, due to complications from a late childbirth. As a result, the crown passed to her son, Prince Philip, a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy. Specifically, King Philip was a member of the house Valois-Burgundy-Brabant, and in line to inherit the Duchy. However, largely due to the decline of the rest of the House of Burgundy shortly after the rise of the house to the British throne, he and his descendants are typically styled the Burgundian House (his family’s decline and the fact he didn’t own the land at the time of his ascension.) Regardless, during his reign, Britain was heavily focused on controlling the North Sea and English Channel, in part due to his eventual inheritance of Brabant. He waged a brief war with France to claim the area around Picardie, effectively putting Britain on the mainland of Europe.
However, as a result of this, the House of Burgundy would be in constant conflict with France, in a way that even the Plantagenets hadn’t had to contend with. This conflict also led to him exerting harsh control over the nobility with the wealth drawn from Picardie, in order to prevent them from contesting his power while he was possibly distracted in Europe. Under the wealth he controlled and the military power it allowd him to exert over his nobility, he rendered Parliament wholly subservient to the King throughout his reign. There were attempts to abolish the Scottish and Irish regional parliaments, but these ultimately failed.
Regardless, King Philip was a strong ally of Duke Charles I of Burgundy and of King Henry III of Castile. However, he chose to marry locally, favoring a British noblewoman to appease many in court, marrying Jane of York. Jane was a shrewed young lady, quite adept at manipulating people. Many suspect that she was the real reason that King Philip was able to control the nobility so well, as he was often seen as engrossed by foreign affairs during his reign. However, the influence that Jane exerted over him is hard to gauge, as later historians deliberately undermined her intelligence and influence so as to make the man look better.
On the issue of foreign relations, Duke Charles I of Burgundy, also known as The Bold, was in a precarious position. He himself was without a son, meaning he had two choices for his heir. His daughter, Mary, or his cousin, Philip of Britian. Eventually, in 1476, he declared that King Philip would inherit the low countries, while Mary would inherit his principle fiefdoms within the Kingdom of France, the dutchy of Burgundy itself. Both regions were quite valuable, but it was clear that Philip won out. As a result, he reached out to Mary, offering her Holland and most of the inheritance as long as he got Flanders to protect Brabant- which he was inheriting through his father rather than a more distant relative like Charles. In exchange, he wanted Mary to… marry his brother. The young woman accepted, dividing the territory in two.
Returning to the matter of Western exploration, as the 1480s approached, Portugal grew more ambitious in its exploration. Under Prince Henry the Navigator, they’d pushed the boundaries of the map quite heavily. After re-establishing outposts to the south of the Malian Empire, they reportedly reached the Kingdom of the Kongo. However, shortly after this encounter, Moorish sailors also reached central Africa. As a result, a power struggle began as both attempted to convert the pagans to court a regional ally and market for their goods. The Kongolese monarchy actively courted the two powers, seeing strong cases for both- and hoping to extract concessions if they played them off each other.
However, in 1482, the Portuguese crown under Afonso V received a proposition from Benito Ramano, an Italian. The Tuscan hypothesized that the Castilians had landed in Siberia with their colony of Vinlania, but that they were too far north to reach China, Japan or Korea. As such a straight shot would be much more profitable and able to actually reach the desired territory. Alfonso V, an ambitious explorer, was willing to give the proposal a shot, especially as many spies indicated that the Marinids had discovered… something on the west side of the Atlantic.
Like prior exploration, it took time to plan a route and the required supplies for any major advances. However, Ramon’s expeditions would be one of the most important in all of Iberian and even world history. Setting out from the Azores in 1486, he first found a series of islands. While originally believing them to be the Indies, Romano was a smart man, and rationalized that the islands he’d reached were not host to the large civilizations and monuments to pagan gods that he knew were common in the east. He subsequently named the archipelago Las Avisias, for the dynasty that was sponsoring him.
The Avisians- They call themselves the Taino- are primitive. They do not build large structures, and our ships enamor them. However, I believe they have the potential to be converted and to accept our Lord. While some might be worth enslavement, I do not believe it would be wise until the Portuguese Crown is more established in this region, and I do not believe it would help us in the conversion to make of these people slaves.
Regardless, when he returned to Portugal, King Afonso had died and been replaced by John II, who was interested in more expeditions. He was more cautious about them than his father, but the prospect of monopolizing the trade between Europe and China was too tantalizing to pass up. While he’d hoped to recover the Portuguese domination over the route around Africa, this had ultimately not yet panned out. As a result, John II was more willing to go west than he might otherwise be. He ordered the construction of a naval base on a larger island in the Avisias and a push to their west and south.
And what Benito Romano would find, would truly surpass almost all expectations any European could have for the area.
In truth, the Moroccans had no interest in such matters, as it would only increase tensions with the Latins. Moreover, they saw a weak Egypt as advantageous, believing it would enable, and in some capacity force, the Latin Empire to look east, at Tartary. This allowed Morocco to look toward Iberia, as King Alejandro was a dying man, and his son, Henry was a much more zealous king than his father and intended to see the Reconquista through. As a result, the Moroccans were quickly building up fortifications in the province, turning Alhambra into a proper fortress once again. The Mediterranean navy also saw large investment, as many in the Marinid Sultanate were afraid that the Castilians would ally with Aragon or even the Latin Empire.
In truth, the Latins were in no shape to press into the western Mediterranean at the moment. They had faced an extremely expensive war for fifteen years, with a very short reprieve from the prior war before that slog. Syria, Jerusalem, and even Mesopotamia, historically some of the richest provinces of the near east, were intensely devastated. Mesopotamia now had a massive population of Kurdish people who were not friendly to the Latin Empire due to Charles IV wanting to forcibly convert or expel them from the region. The Sinai, while not densely populated and a natural border was also so close to Egypt that it required a larger garrison than it might otherwise need.
Upsettingly, there was not a lot the Latins could do to stabilize either province right now. The Kurds were now so numerous that any conversion attempt in northern Mesopotamia prior to their arrival had been seriously undermined, and starting that process over again was egregiously expensive. The Sinai would likely be difficult to assimilate largely because its territory was not appealing to settle. Worse, while the country now had access to the Red Sea, trade was still slow to resume, meaning that things were not improving economically in the area, which also limited how far trade could go into the Mediterranean.
Both Egypt and the Latins were struggling with semi-constant rebellions. Unfortunately, Charles IV’s chosen response was to crack down militarily and impose the hardest rule possible on the Kurds. However, given that they were already resisting the occupation, things did not really improve for the area. This resulted in the mass destruction of many major cities, including the regional capital of Bagdhad. Despite having recovered beautifully since the Mongols, even developing prominent fortifications due to becoming part of the Latin-Egyptian border, Charles IV saw the city with contempt and as a symbol of rebellion. As a result, his soldiers were ordered to treat the city as an enemy capital. Interestingly, however, Charles IV did have plans to make amends for its destruction.
“Bagdhad is not a city I destroy lightly,” wrote the Emperor, “but its potential to challenge Imperial control cannot be overstated. It is not my city, it is a threat. However, I intend to replace it with a truly great city, one that will be a jewel of the empire. I hope to use Bagdhad’s remains to build a new Constantinople, a great city of the south. This city shall be built to the south of old Bagdhad, and shall surpass the city by the end of the century. As for those who survive my desolation of Bagdhad proper, I am not cruel without merit. If they convert to Christianity and accept the Lord, they will be granted homes. Be it in the city or as serfs in the service of another noble, I do not yet know.”
The Latin Desolation of Bagdhad was nearly total in its scope and destruction, leaving a small ruin of a town in the shadow of what had once been the greatest city in the Muslim world. The construction of Charles’s new city began in 1460. Bringing in architects from Paris, Munich, and even Sarai, he sought to build a truly great city. Uniquely for the time, he designed it with a partial grid system, allowing for clear and conscience expansion as the city grew. The city was planned around a series of grand plazas, five in total, serving as landmarks and administrative centers. There were smaller plazas between the more preeminent ones that were to serve as neighborhoods. There were other streets connecting the plazas that ran between the grid, of course, but the core of the city was clearly built with the system in mind.
At the north side of the Central Plaza would be a grand temple, with a design hybridizing Greek and Arabic architecture. Dazzling triangular arches and pointed domes supported by hellenistic style columns would be accentuated by multiple floors of different sizes to prompt a dynamically shaped roof and almost perfectly circular arches. The cross would be mounted upon statues of Saint Paul and of Saint Peter, bowing to the Lord. The name that was chosen for this magnificent church? Megálo Kéntro; the Grand Center. The name was twofold: it was near or even at the center of the city Charles IV sought to build, and the city itself was near the center of the empire.
Of course, this building, and indeed especially the city itself, would be outrageously expensive to build, and the national economy still was not doing well. As a result, Charles IV had to find funding from somewhere. When he turned to his nobility, he was rebuked for the mere thought of raising taxes unless they had a say in where that money went. Similarly, many cities were appalled at raising taxes on their citizens so the Emperor could build some new city halfway across the country. Next, Charles turned to the Church, as he was attempting to build a great place of worship with the funds after all, but was similarly rebuked, as much of the clergy in the empire did not want to support what would surely be a powerful new rival. The Papacy offered some token support for the construction, but not nearly enough. And frankly, Charles was concerned what might happen if he tried to undermine the military’s access to funds- both from internal and external threats.
Thus Charles had a choice to make: relent to his nobility and cities and accept their input in the project- both the church and the city- or to slow, pause, or even cancel the project. Charles was convinced the city would be vital if he wanted to hold Mesopotamia. The central location within the Empire would provide an indispensable way to field soldiers to advance goals in the south and east. The church, as a large scale project and grand symbol, could easily become a pilgrimage site and would have the means to staff a large workforce for the conversion of the area, both potentially vital for the stability of the province. As a result, he ultimately figured that it would be better for the Empire and his Dynasty if he acquiesced to the wealth of the Empire. As a result, in 1465, he called for several leading nobles and cities to send representatives to the city of Constantinople. This was the beginning of the College of the Estates, or the Kolégio ton Ktimáton, in Charles IV’s favored Greek.
The College of the Estates would meet sporadically, typically whenever the Fassillios was in economic trouble. The general makeup and system of the College varied heavily throughout the centuries, but the 1465 meeting had a simple procedure. The Dukes of Ankara, Epirus, Trebizond, and about ten more Dukes were invited; in addition, the cities of Theodoro, Jerusalem, Antioch, Napoli, Belgrade, Athens, as well as Trebizond and Ankara (separate from the duchies) were allowed to send their own representatives. Finally, the Archbishops of Athens and Damascus were also invited- though only that of Damascus actually attended due to disease in Athens. Each of the chosen bodies would have one vote, bar Fassilios Charles who had three (one as a Noble, one as the leading figure of Constantinople- the city- and one as a religious leader.)
While Charles wanted to get to the matter of his cities as soon as possible, the other members of the College all pushed for other issues to be presented.
One of the most common points was the economy, but many cities claimed to have an answer for that. Bullionism as an economic theory had become a popular idea in other parts of Europe, specifically England, Italy, and France. The idea was simple: the Latin Empire should strive to hold as much of a trade surplus as possible, and hope to spend little. Importantly, bullionists also sought to hold as much gold and silver (called bullion in other parts, hence the name.) Indeed, much of the theory came from the fact that Britain, a country with little in the way of actual gold mining, had a potent amount of precious metals due to adept trade. Many in the cities wanted to emulate this and pass legislation that punished imports, insofar as was possible at the time. The most striking of these proposals was standardized dues on unloading ships based on their stated goods meant to be unloaded in addition ot preexisting dues and charges. These were of course nothing new, but a national one in an empire with so many magnificent ports was practically a dream come true for the Empire’s finances. Fasillios Charles IV practically rammed it through himself, the only reason he didn’t declare it an act without them being the origin of the act and wanting it to be seen more legitimately by the cities.
Other proposed plans, either to raise money or direct it, came up as well. Several nobles wanted assurance that any leftover funds for the church would go to their province fortifications and not just to the imperial treasury, though the leaders of Trebizond and Athens both wanted money to upscale their ports. In order to secure their pledged funding, Charles was forced to play politics and appease these leading nobility. While it was not seen as such at the time, the formation of the Imperial College was a large part of the weakening of the Fassilios relative to the nobility.
Regardless, with funding secured, construction resumed. Charles IV wanted this city to rival Constantinople and old Bagdhad in its splendor, and thus chose the name Fosipolus, meaning the City of Light, in Greek. Indeed, as construction progressed, the city quickly began attracting people from all over the Empire who heard of the Emperor’s pet project. With them, these people brought culture and often families that also expanded the city. While it would never surpass Constantinople in its population, it would quickly become one of the great cities of Christendom by the 1540s. As the city hall and the church were finished on November 30th, 1468, (in the Julian calendar,) Fasilios Charles IV and the Church’s first Bishop blessed the city with great splendor.
However, the 1540s were still decades away at the time of construction, and things do not happen in a vacuum. Charles’s harsh dues on almost all imported goods meant that trade goods on the mediterranean trade routes were incredibly expensive in the rest of Europe, encouraging further exploration by the Moors, Castilians, and Portugese. However, for the next several decades, there was little advancement in these industries, even as the maps steadily reached further south and west. The Castilian colonies in Vinlania were growing slowly, but disappointingly there had been little in the way of evidence for a northwest passage. Indeed, the colony had seen some level of neglect from the metropole due to this disappointing return. King Alejandro had died, and his successor, King Henry (Enrique) III was more focused on Europe and the reconquista than overseas adventures.
As a result, in 1470, he launched an attack into Marinid Grenada. However, this war was rife with stalemates and failures on both sides to get a total victory over the other. While the actual war would last from 1470 to 1477, skirmishes and conflict would last until the 1490s, with raids and violence on both sides despite the formal end of the war and Castilian reparations. As a result, the war did little but distract Castile and Morocco, creating opportunity for Portugal, their main competitor. This allowed them to weasel their way back into West Africa after being tossed out some decades prior. Likewise, while the Castilian-Marinid war was ultimately a stalemate, it would set the couse of their foreign policies for quite some time.
In Britain, Queen Anne had died in 1450, due to complications from a late childbirth. As a result, the crown passed to her son, Prince Philip, a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy. Specifically, King Philip was a member of the house Valois-Burgundy-Brabant, and in line to inherit the Duchy. However, largely due to the decline of the rest of the House of Burgundy shortly after the rise of the house to the British throne, he and his descendants are typically styled the Burgundian House (his family’s decline and the fact he didn’t own the land at the time of his ascension.) Regardless, during his reign, Britain was heavily focused on controlling the North Sea and English Channel, in part due to his eventual inheritance of Brabant. He waged a brief war with France to claim the area around Picardie, effectively putting Britain on the mainland of Europe.
However, as a result of this, the House of Burgundy would be in constant conflict with France, in a way that even the Plantagenets hadn’t had to contend with. This conflict also led to him exerting harsh control over the nobility with the wealth drawn from Picardie, in order to prevent them from contesting his power while he was possibly distracted in Europe. Under the wealth he controlled and the military power it allowd him to exert over his nobility, he rendered Parliament wholly subservient to the King throughout his reign. There were attempts to abolish the Scottish and Irish regional parliaments, but these ultimately failed.
Regardless, King Philip was a strong ally of Duke Charles I of Burgundy and of King Henry III of Castile. However, he chose to marry locally, favoring a British noblewoman to appease many in court, marrying Jane of York. Jane was a shrewed young lady, quite adept at manipulating people. Many suspect that she was the real reason that King Philip was able to control the nobility so well, as he was often seen as engrossed by foreign affairs during his reign. However, the influence that Jane exerted over him is hard to gauge, as later historians deliberately undermined her intelligence and influence so as to make the man look better.
On the issue of foreign relations, Duke Charles I of Burgundy, also known as The Bold, was in a precarious position. He himself was without a son, meaning he had two choices for his heir. His daughter, Mary, or his cousin, Philip of Britian. Eventually, in 1476, he declared that King Philip would inherit the low countries, while Mary would inherit his principle fiefdoms within the Kingdom of France, the dutchy of Burgundy itself. Both regions were quite valuable, but it was clear that Philip won out. As a result, he reached out to Mary, offering her Holland and most of the inheritance as long as he got Flanders to protect Brabant- which he was inheriting through his father rather than a more distant relative like Charles. In exchange, he wanted Mary to… marry his brother. The young woman accepted, dividing the territory in two.
Returning to the matter of Western exploration, as the 1480s approached, Portugal grew more ambitious in its exploration. Under Prince Henry the Navigator, they’d pushed the boundaries of the map quite heavily. After re-establishing outposts to the south of the Malian Empire, they reportedly reached the Kingdom of the Kongo. However, shortly after this encounter, Moorish sailors also reached central Africa. As a result, a power struggle began as both attempted to convert the pagans to court a regional ally and market for their goods. The Kongolese monarchy actively courted the two powers, seeing strong cases for both- and hoping to extract concessions if they played them off each other.
However, in 1482, the Portuguese crown under Afonso V received a proposition from Benito Ramano, an Italian. The Tuscan hypothesized that the Castilians had landed in Siberia with their colony of Vinlania, but that they were too far north to reach China, Japan or Korea. As such a straight shot would be much more profitable and able to actually reach the desired territory. Alfonso V, an ambitious explorer, was willing to give the proposal a shot, especially as many spies indicated that the Marinids had discovered… something on the west side of the Atlantic.
Like prior exploration, it took time to plan a route and the required supplies for any major advances. However, Ramon’s expeditions would be one of the most important in all of Iberian and even world history. Setting out from the Azores in 1486, he first found a series of islands. While originally believing them to be the Indies, Romano was a smart man, and rationalized that the islands he’d reached were not host to the large civilizations and monuments to pagan gods that he knew were common in the east. He subsequently named the archipelago Las Avisias, for the dynasty that was sponsoring him.
The Avisians- They call themselves the Taino- are primitive. They do not build large structures, and our ships enamor them. However, I believe they have the potential to be converted and to accept our Lord. While some might be worth enslavement, I do not believe it would be wise until the Portuguese Crown is more established in this region, and I do not believe it would help us in the conversion to make of these people slaves.
Regardless, when he returned to Portugal, King Afonso had died and been replaced by John II, who was interested in more expeditions. He was more cautious about them than his father, but the prospect of monopolizing the trade between Europe and China was too tantalizing to pass up. While he’d hoped to recover the Portuguese domination over the route around Africa, this had ultimately not yet panned out. As a result, John II was more willing to go west than he might otherwise be. He ordered the construction of a naval base on a larger island in the Avisias and a push to their west and south.
And what Benito Romano would find, would truly surpass almost all expectations any European could have for the area.
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