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Henry is there to help no one but Henry. Both women should be very careful about how much they trust him. However, I am sure they are both still quite capable of getting what they want from him one way or the other. It will be interesting to see who gets the upper hand.
 
Brilliant. Getting Henry back as the bishop really spice up the story. Now you know why I hope the young Duke is less pious.
 
J. Passepartout: Well hopefully.

Draco Rexus: You have excellent instincts! :eek:

coz1: True, though I feel their schemes may be made obsolete by other events...

BBBD: Um, slightly extreme reaction. ;)

prussiablue: Thank you, and yeah...

Dhimmi: Damn straight!

Sorry about the delays in updating guys, I'll try and be more frequent this week. :)

Part 35: Final Destination...

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Above: The three Fates about to cut another lifeline.

Blathmac was relatively sheltered from the battles for control of him going on behind the scenes - though he was certainly not unaware of them. His own feelings on the matter were quite complicated and still forming, though when he eventually took control he would doubtless have something to say about it.

Or would have had anyway. In a bitter joke of fate the young Duke would prove to be like his father in one very unfortunate way.

It had been hoped that the summer plague outbreak of 1385 had been the last major outbreak Dublin would suffer and when there was no real upsurge in the death rate in June and July this expectation seemed to have been fufilled. But if there is one certainty to life it is this: sooner or later death will catch up to you. In August 1386 Blathmac began to show the first symptoms of the plague.

It was disastorous - not merely on a heartbreakingly personal level but for the FitzGeralds as a whole. There was no obvious heir, especially under the severe rules governing the Lord Deputyship: under which the only way to gain power was to be the strongest vassal in the duchy, and none of them were even close. Eurphrosine's other son (Phillipe) was barely a year old and it was beyond her emotionally exhausted abilities to force through this infant as Earl of Thomond. Henry, to his great frustration, was not as a diocese bishop eligible. He found any attempt at being granted the neccesary secular title quashed by Maud.

It seemed certain that Maud was set to win: with three sons from Maurice and another from Andrew and still under 25 she seemed utterly dominant in the family circles, and had she simply backed her young son Fulk - who though only three was an intelligent, healthy seeming child and promised 13 years of unchallenged regency then she would almost certainly have won.

But she got greedy - with unfortunate results. As tempting as being the power behind the throne was for Maud an even more tempting role was to actually be the Duchess again - by placing her husband Andrew (brother of Henry and Nicholas) in the ducal seat. Andrew was not very inspiring - alternately cruel and timid and possessed of a terrible stutter it was difficult to concieve of a worse choice. Yet Maud was sufficently arrogant and enamoured by the thoughts of decades in power with her creature that she considered these faults unimportant, after all Andrew had the blood.

Yet even her faction in court cared very little for Andrew, and though they where sufficently loyal not to hand power to Henry or Phillipe Andrew was voted down by the Council twice in consecutive votes in the February of 1387. Finally members of all three factions in secret meeting decided to endorse a compromise candidate in Fulk - with Eurphrosine and Henry as co-regents. This would be put to vote on the morning of the 8th.

Blathmac finally passed away on the evening of the 6th of March. The FitzGeralds of Thomond had feuded and dithered too long.

*​

The Earls of Ossory were FitzGeralds too, though their branch had not been linked to the Thomond branch in over four generations and contact was sparse. By pure coincidence (the Thomond FitzGeralds had certainly never favoured them) the father of the current Earl had been very successful in the French Wars winning control of the prosperous county of Angouleme, which more or less by default made them the most powerful peers in the duchy.

The current Earl, Richard FitzGerald had after a promising beginning slid into growing madness which his court had successfully hidden, something which would make a very unpleasant surprise for the Court in Dublin when Duke Richard 'The Mad' arrived...

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Above: Richard Duke of Meath, Lord Deputy of Ireland. The first of the Ossory line of FitzGeralds to hold power.
 
Well, that was unexpected.

Let's see what this branch of the Fitzgeralds can do... mayhap they will have a bit of an easier road to travel on the way to the crown? I doubt it, but we can always hope, right?
 
somthing tells me the intrigue is far from over with the new duke :cool:
 
Just what you need, a mad Duke to mix things up after all that has already happened. Life is sure to be interesting for the FitzGeralds now. :wacko:
 
God bless Ireland.....
 
Ah yes, the luck of the Irish. "Wouldn't exist if it weren't bad." Still, a mad duke might be fun to play with. Bwah-hah-hah!
 
Draco Rexus: Hmm, only time can tell. Who wouldn't fell optimistic with a Duke like that? ;)

Dhimmi: Something tells me you aren't wrong...

J. Passepartout: Probably. :(

coz1: Life was boring before? :eek: ;)

Cliffracer RIP: Alas he has several sons - all awful. :(

prussiablue: They could certainly do with his help!

BBBD: Heh! :D

King of Men: Hopefully. :)

Part 36: Exile

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Above: Maud de Courtenay befriends Duchess Phillipa

So shocking and sudden was the loss of power for the Desmond branch of the FitzGeralds that it took some time to sink in (and arguably never really did for some members). For the first time in a century the family held no titles - even the old Earldom itself had passed with the Duchy of Meath and the Lord Deputyship. An outside observer might have felt that this was the end for the family, and perhaps under other circumstances it would have been.

Suprisingly it was the warring court factions of 1386 who had lost the duchy who now enjoyed a shadowy afterlife of a sort under Duke Richard.

The full extent of Richard's madness had previously been hidden by his courtiers and wife Phillipa, but it very quickly became apparent in Dublin that save for a few brief moments of lucidity the new Duke was incapable of running the country. Which meant, in effect a regent. A role for which - with their pre-existing power bases and experience the previous administration was the obvious candidate, even and above the courtiers Richard had brought from Ossorry.

*​

Well whatever it meant for Henry and Maud, Eurphrosine was not willing to have another tilt at that particular windmill. In 18 months she had buried her father-in-law, her husband and her eldest son. Somehow the lure of the ducal seat no longer seemed to possess quite the same lustre. Though she half heartedly stayed on as Spymistress her primary concern was her surviving son Phillipe - who she now felt could only benefit from being as far away as possible from this cursed city.

When the chance eventually came it was with the unwitting help of her archenemy Maud de Courtenay.

Richard's family had done very well in the French Wars and he was Count of Angoulême in Aquitaine. The wealthy French territory had been a major factor in Richard becoming Duke, but at this point it's distance and (especially) Richard's condition made it a headache to administer directly. The council decided to appoint a vassal count to the territory. And Maud (reappointed Steward as the finest finacial mind in the duchy) suggested Eurphrosine.

"...After all she is an Angevien, which will go down well in Angoulême. No one else speaks quite such wonderful French, and after her years of experience running Desmond with her late husband, few else here are as familiar with governing a county." Maud sat down in her seat (next to the Duchess Phillipa, whom she had hurriedly befriended) and smiled at Eurphrosine, clearly delighted at such a convienent way of exiling a despised rival in a manner that actually improved her standing in court.

Eurphrosine with great difficulty supressed her joy and solemnly accepted becoming Countess of Angoulême. She was of course fully aware of Maud's reasons for promoting her, but realised that the Stewardess had made a fundamental mistake in judging Eurphrosine by her own standards. Eurphrosine had absolutely no desire to submit her young son to yet another attempt to gain control of the Duchy. Far better to get out all together.

So Eurphrosine and Phillipe left for France and hopefully an escape from the curse (and Maud de Courtenay).

Less than a month later her successor as spy mistress - a courtier from Ossorry caught the plague.

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Above: Eurphrosine in exile.
 
Great update... I'm glad to see that the arrival of the new Duke has not settled the natives (well, okay, I meant the native Fitzgeralds :eek:o ) down at all.

Originally Posted by RossN
Less than a month later her successor as spy mistress - a courtier from Ossorry caught the plague.

Gee, if that ain't an omen, I don't know what is! :eek:
 
something tells me that phillipe maybe still be duke after all...
 
Yes who is the next in line. With the riches of Angoulême I would assume that first of the Countess and then her son would be first cab off the rank.

Is France still plagued by the plague?
 
Yes, I was going to say this certainly sets up the chance that the young Phillippe may still find himself Duke when all the smoke clears. That madness of Richard's spells doom with a capital D!
 
Draco Rexus: It was pretty striking alright. :eek:

Dhimmi: Well he isn't quite out of the races yet...

BBBD: Currently the Butlers of Ormonde are first in line (despite Angoulême being rich and plague-free), but I'm hoping to see that change.

J. Passepartout: If only indeed... :D

coz1: Well the future is... unclear at the moment. Though I agree with you about Richard! :eek:

Part 37: Final Destination (2)

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Above: The return of the Black Death...

Though in restrospect it would appear obvious, at the time re-emergence of the plague amongst the Ossorry courtiers was an utterly unexpected and devestating bolt from the blue.

Ossorry had been amongst the earliest places in Ireland to recover from the plague, being long absent by the time Blathmac died. Therefore Richards old court found themselves much more vunerable than those who had survived Blathmac: no immunity and no experience. Between 1386 and 1389 a half dozen members of the court - all new arrivals - would die of the plague and quite radically alter the balance of power in the Duchy.

In theory the power in the Duchy (with Richard incapacitated) lay with Duchess Phillipa. A weak minded, paranoid woman she had become friends with her advisor in chief, the Steward (Maud de Courtenay) who clung to her like a barnacle.

Until that is she contracted the plague in November - at which point Maud abruptly abandoned her friend to take an extended retreat to her country estates, not returning until after the unfortunate woman died in February 1387.

In two years, the duchy had been ruled by four seperate dukes, co-regencies (twice) and a near constant athmosphere of political upheaval. Phillipa had at least been an identiable and legitimate figurehead - with her death the melancholy subjects might well have felt apprehensive about what the future might bring.

*​

Exactly two years to day after Maurice had died Maud and her family returned to a Dublin ripe with uncertainty. No one was entirely sure who was in charge - well expect for Richard and he was mad.

Mad but not feeble. Richard raged and wept and laughed and called down curses upon enemies dead or imaginary but behind his red rimmed and anxiously darting eyes lay a mind capable of moments of extreme lucidity in between panic attacks and arrogant pronouncements on how he intended to punish the shadowy men who plotted against him - and that frigtheningly only he seemed to see. Until that is he met Maud.

The Steward in lieu of anyone else to report to presented herself to the Duke in order to discuss minor matters of the finances of the duchy. What was actually said was another matter but the short meeting subsequently lasted most of the rest of the day and henceforth the Duke and his Steward were as inseperable as young lovers.

Wagging tongues noticed (often with some dismay) how closely the two seemed to seemed to interact, how Maud had rapidly become Richard's confidant and sole advisor. Still they reasoned: Maud's power over the Duke - though quite evident - was something that could be snatched away quite as easily as she had come by it. When all was said and done she was merely another courtier, right?

Andrew FitzGerald, her husband clearly took little enthusiasm in his wife becoming Richard's confidant and the loud and public quarrels between the two became public legend. He took to spending increasingly little time at home, instead going on long and boisterous hunting trips. It was on one such trip in the Dublin mountains that he took an arrow in the throat. A tragic hunting accident all agreed.

A week later it was announced that Duke Richard intended to remarry. His bride? None other than the grieving widow Maud de Courtenay.

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Above: Maud, Duchess of Meath
 
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