The Rebirth of England - Woodhouse Dynasty Part II

Kurt Yeah I've really got to give Burgundy a good kicking, you'll see the war in my next chapter

Cohort Well I've warned and insulting them, as well as Guarunteeing the indepence of their neighbours, I just have to sit and wait

Well I've spent all day playing until 1500, I just have to write it up, it should be here in a few days, I've got family coming down until Thursday so it'll probably Friday or so, see you then!

Hasforth9 Thanks very much for your kind comments and thanks for reading!

JimboIX Yeah, I really need to take them down, both to stop them expanding and to take my land back!

Storey Aye, its a pity, he was my Marshal in CK and had been with me for years.. Ah well

In efforts to reduce the Bureaucracy and the Royal workload Bevan IV worked on decentralising the state, giving back some power to the local landowning Aristocracy, whose powers had been greatly reduced by Richard II’s introduction of Royal Perogatory and centralisation of the Empire. On the 27th of December 1471, the law was officially passed by both Parliament and the Estates-General, the Royal courts which once handled every dispute would be split in two, the Royal Courts (handling legal matters of state) and the Civil Courts (handling “mundane” legal matters). Instituting the law over such an area was costly and laborious but within six months the first civil disputes were being brought to the new courts, presided over by locally elected Judges rather than Royally appointed.

Bevan IV did not have long to see these laws implemented, on the 19th of August 1472 Bevan IV, King of England and France died of a swift Cancer. His eldest son, Prince Bevan, Prince of Normandy was only twelves years old and a regency council was assigned to him led by Gwydion Woodhouse, Archduke of Wales. Prince Bevan was a pious boy, like his early ancestors and was heavily inspired by the tales of Bevan Epee de Dieu and the Crusades.

The Regency council was very capable and England’s fortunes rose, that and the combination of several years of peace stabilised the nation and the economy enabling English merchants to become the most wealthy in west Europe. The English centre of trade, Paris, became the most wealthy in Europe bar Lubeck in North Germany.

As part of a campaign for the reunification of Naples and England, the Archduke organised a marriage between the young King Bevan V and Princess Jane of Naples on the 13th of May 1473. Relations between the two countries were superb, The council hoped for an alliance between Naples and England but both had prior commitments to other countries.

On the 23rd of May an outbreak of plague in Almeria killed five hundred before doctors from Paris, despatched by the council at their expense arrived in Spain to help, this kind acts and the persuasive monologues of Cardinal Wolfe led to the conversion of the Moorish population to Christianity at last.

Years passed quietly, Bevan V was educated by the best the Empire could bring forward, like previous Kings he was taught to read, write and speak English, French and Latin, matters of the law were read to him by his tutors and the economics of the day filled his school books. But the Prince seemed almost incapable of learning, his tutors spent hours teaching him Greek classics and works of philosophy, but to no avail. The boy only managed to learn history, and event that was restricted to wars and crusades. But then again, much of Englands history had been dominated by wars. The council began to worry about the Prince, one weak King and the Empire would fall apart, again.

In 1476 General Uxbridge died, while not as skilled as de Hautville or Cornwallis he was still a veteran of the two wars against the French and had fought capably. His body was buried in England on his estate.


A year later on the 19th of November, Bevan V had reached his majority at the age of sixteen, the Regency council stepped down, nervous of what would happen if another Civil War broke out, the Archduke Gwydion stayed on as the Kings chief advisor. Bevan V ruled well enough, but the nobles were worried, Bevan V’s marriage was childless and his father had no other sons, only one daughter, Princess Anne who now was only four years old. The Woodhouse dynasty had yet to have a Queen and the current Salic law forbade such a succession. The Queen Consort Anne confirmed herself that the marriage had been consumated but she had yet to become pregnant. Parliament began to fret and discussions began regarding the Salic Law, many nobles had too much to lose if the crown passed out of the Woodhouse dynasties hands, another dynasty might mean a foreign ruler, the Woodhouse’s had been good Kings most of the time and knew the law of the land. Why not get rid of Queen Jane? One nobleman put forward, the idea was shouted down, Bevan V as pious as he was would never accept it, the marriage could not be annuled as it had been consumated, they had no other choice. Princess Anne would become heir apparent if no other children were born.

Meanwhile, as England talked amongst itself, Burgundy at war with the Italian cities once again, and annexed Mantua on the 11th of October. England was eager for a case to go to war with Burgundy yet they could not get one, the Italian cities had taken it upon themselves to expel the Burgundians, England could have no reason for war since it was the Italians who started it. England itself, its prestige mired by peace began to slide from the world stage now dominated by the likes of Saxony, Austria and the belligerent Burgundy.

In 1479, on the 2nd of June, in seeking to improve her standing amongst England’s peers and to take more land Bevan V declared war on France and her vassal Lorraine, starting the 3rd English-French war since 1453, the French lands consisted only of a few provinces in the south and the Province of Artois in the North. The French armies were restricted by treaty to the City of Arras and were attacked quickly. On the 27th of August the numerous English armies converged on Arras and its meagre defenders. The French were unable to meet the English on the field of battle, to do so would bring ruin, the only place they could hope to win was the Streets of Arras itself. The French took to the walls and fired missiles at the oncoming English who began to scale the walls. The Assault was bloody but within hours the English had scaled the city walls and poured into the streets. However, the French did not stop fighting, using each house as a fortress unto itself the French fought on against the English who made their way from house to house into the city. At early afternoon the Mayor of Arras ordered a surrender, the city gates were opened to the English but the French army refused to lay down their arms, instead they fled north hoping to fight again and maybe retake Arras, a noble but unrealistic goal. A month later while raiding the country side surrounding the English port of Calais the French army was caught by a larger English force. The French were cut off from the Arras road and had no choice but to fight. They made a last stand near the town of Outreau, surrounded and with the sea to their backs the French waited for the inevitable with steeled courage. Their artillery was lost at the battle of Arras and the English were left to bombard the French soldiers with impunity. The French were taking heavy losses and had no choice but to advance and bring the English to battle. As the French neared the English lines they were hit with volley after volley of deadly longbow fire. The French advance began to falter and soon broke, the English cavalry took hold of the moment and charged into the French army and chased it down. The French army was utterly destroyed, only the city walls of southern France stood against the English.

On the 3rd of December tragedy struck the French once again, their last remaining fleet, running from the defeats on the French fields were caught by the English Navy in the Cote D’Azur, the French fleet consisted only of four ships and was completely outnumbered by the English Navy which numbered eighteen ships. The French were separated by the English and one by one bombarded by Cannons mounted on English Carracks. The ships sank with all hands. The French had lost their navy of four ships, the English had lost none.

The war against France had ceased to be a mobile war, all that was left for England to do was lay siege to France’s undefended cities. By November in 1480 the City of Nancy had fallen to the English and on the 12th of November the Duchy of Lorraine surrendered to England. Lorraine would break its ties with France and become a vassal of England and cease its illegitimate claims of the provinces of Barrois and Metz. Months later on the 22nd of January 1481 France surrendered to Bevan V who demanded the provinces of Provence, Auvergne and Limousin, the peace settlement left France with only the province of Artois and subject to the whim of either England or Brabant in the north.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was an almagamation of Petty Crusaders states that had broken away from England over the centuries and had merged in 1453 to form the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ever since the 14th Century the Crusader States had slowly been eroded by the Muslim Emirates until all that was left was a thin strip of Coastal land. A few years ago the north of which had been lost to the Saracens leaving only Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside under Catholic control. Bevan V, enchanted of tales of the Crusader Kings of old, kept his eye on Jerusalem and in March 1481 proclaimed his personal guarantee of Jerusalems independence, promising to launch a Holy War to see it stay in Christian hands.

On the 4th of December 1482 Bevan V had his chance, the Saracens once again declared war on Jerusalem and Bevan V declared his intentions to go to war. Gathering his Italian army he sent for the English Navy to come to Italy and transport him to the Holy Land. But, Bevan V was never fated to go to Jerusalem and fulfill his dreams of crusading to the Holy Land as his forefathers had done, on the 14th of July 1483 he died of Cholera, heirless at the age of twenty three, his younger sister Anne, only twelve years old was crowned the first Regnant Queen of England, Anne I. A Regency council, once again headed by the Arch-Duke of Wales, Gwydion, was set up for Queen Anne I.

The Crusade went ahead and on the 2nd of October the English Crusaders landed at Jerusalem and within days engaged the Mamluks besieging Jerusalem. The Mamluks were ounumbered three to one and even though they had the advantage of home territory, the English were veterans of many wars. The Mamluk light cavaly were drawn in and shot by English Longbowmen, the Arabic infantry were bombarded by cannon and put to flight by heavily armoured Crusaders before being chased down by mounted Knights. With the city well under siege and the army adequatly supplied, Middletons ships left for Italy to bring more men to the Holy Land, Middleton never reached the Neapolitan port of Sicily, on the 9th of January 1484, Middleton died. The Navy was without a true Admiral, now only commanded by a confederacy of lesser officers.

Jerusalem fell after a bloody assault on the 10th of May, with the Christian Jerusalem liberated, the English moved on to attack Damascus and force an advantageous peace on the Mamluks. On the 20th of July the Crusaders met the Saracen armies at Damascus. The Crusaders with high morale and with veterans commanding towered over the broken saracens who put up an almost obligatory fight before fleeing towards the desert. The Crusaders lay siege to Damascus. On the 27th of February, the Commander of the Crusaders Llwelyn Ap Lloyd, with permission from the Arch-Duke of Wales attended a peace conference with the Mamluk Bey. After a few hours of negotiation the Mamluks accepted the English terms, The Christian Jerusalem would be handed back to England and reincorporated into the Empire, the English would withdraw from Jerusalem and both sides would sign a binding truce. England’s prestige soared and her standing among all Christian nations was elevated, Jerusalem, the Holy City, had been liberated from the heathen Muslims.


On the 18th of January, 1487, in an effort to bring the diverse peoples of the Empire into line with the Royal ideals, Parliament and the Estates-General approved the Church Attendance Duty law, stating that all citizens, barring the infirm must attend service at least once every Sunday. A month later on the 13th of February, Queen Anne reached her majority and was left to govern the Empire unrestricted by the Regency council. She was by all accounts a good Queen, well educated and with a strong enough will to rule a demanding Empire. The Citizens, perhaps enchanted by the novelty of a young Queen were proud to be her subjects.The Holy See after many years, was now comprised entirely of Cardinals native to the English Empire. The Catholic Church was almost an English institution.


On the 14th of April, Queen Anne, now fully versed in the rigours of Monarchy and decided on a course of action to truly unite England, declared war on Northumberland and York. Northumberland and York, unexpectant of such a war were ill-prepared and their cities swiftly put to siege. The lightening war ended on the 30th and 31st of January 1488, Northumberland was annexed and York ceded Lincoln.

For years England had waited for a chance to legitimatly declare war on Burgundy and halt its expansion, on thr 30th of November, messengers from the English ambassador in Burgundy brought news to Queen Anne I of Burgundy’s invasion of Dauphine and her new Case for War against Burgundy. Anne I sent the messengers back to Burgundy with a declaration of war against Burgundy. The English armies moved to attack the Burgundian army in Lyonnais and attack through the north. On the 30th of December English and Burgundian armies met outside Lyon. The battle was a disaster for England, the Burgundians were better equipped and had brought reinforcements into battle by mid-morning, the English depsite veteran soldiers and powerful longbows were outdone by quicker infantry and cavalry and more accurate cannons. At the end of the day the Burgundians counted around eight hundred killed, the English had lost five thousand men in one day, the most disastrous engagement in recent history. But it was not an isolated incident, after months of indecisive siege, the English attacked again at Lyonnais on the 22 june 1491, the result was tragically the same, even with superior numbers the English failed to gain any sort of advantage and were killed in droves, the English lost another five thousand (approx.). The two battles of Lyon demonstrated the need for a more efficient army and that an hasty war against a power such as Burgundy could not be won. The English southern armies began to retreat while the northern armies linked up with the armies from Baden and captured Bourgogne before defeating the Burgundians in a minor battle in Franche-Comte. But these were minor reverses, the Burgundians had won two mahor battles and captured the Province of Auvergne. No victory would be possible at this time. On the 11th of April 1492 Burgundy offered a white peace, and Anne I quickly accepted. For now, England would have to be content with peace and hope to catch up with Burgundy in terms of Military capability.

On the 11th of February 1499, seeking to alleviate the shame from a unsucessful war against Burgundy and reclaim her place as the Hegemon of west Europe, Anne I declared war on France after a minor boundary dispute in Vendee was brough to her attention by the Duke of Gascony. The meagre French army was defeated at Calais on the 23rd of May, Arras and Fontenay-le-Comte were put under siege and on the 27th of October the reborn French fleet was attacked and destroyed at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.

Sorry for the delay Ace!

Cohort Yeah Burgundy always becomes a powerful country in every single one of my games, hopefully England's next try will go better, and good luck with Saxony's war!

Kurt_Steiner Definately time to improve, hopefully I'll be able to put more money into military now that Stability will be cheaper.

JimboIX It should be very interesting, from what I'm guessing there would be even more religious minorities heading for the new world, no matter whether England heads for Protestantism or stays with Catholiscism there will be alot of people looking to leave for a new home.

RGB Yep, slowly but surely England is taking back the Empire.

It seems in my excitement a few days ago, I forgot to post up the updated map, so here it is, Europe 1500 Anno Domini

Terra Incognita, I really should've labelled that :wacko: