1195, thanks. Note all dates are given randomly according to what sounds both good and approximately right, within the timeperiod of session.
Normandy not Norman... Long story. Basically it is all the bastard Curthose's fault (with the exception of the expansion in Spain which was Geoffroy's decision, every single aspect of Norman politic so far has him as an ultimate cause).
This is probably going to change : the struggle between Lovell and Henry is going to have far-reaching consequences. If baseborn Lovell wins, and then every rich merchant will know he can get his grandson to a noble seat if he pimps his daughter to the actual tenant. If it is Henry, high nobility is going to have its day (and either way it will remember that at some point it had its say in who would get the throne).
Except that this struggle itself also has its roots in the old opposition between the Dutch and Norman at court, which itself is a result of... old Curthose who arranged the marriage of his son William to a Dutch heiress to garner the benevolent neutrality of Holland in his (contemplated) expansion in Northern France. Obviously history took another course.
Normandy not Norman... Long story. Basically it is all the bastard Curthose's fault (with the exception of the expansion in Spain which was Geoffroy's decision, every single aspect of Norman politic so far has him as an ultimate cause).
This is probably going to change : the struggle between Lovell and Henry is going to have far-reaching consequences. If baseborn Lovell wins, and then every rich merchant will know he can get his grandson to a noble seat if he pimps his daughter to the actual tenant. If it is Henry, high nobility is going to have its day (and either way it will remember that at some point it had its say in who would get the throne).
Except that this struggle itself also has its roots in the old opposition between the Dutch and Norman at court, which itself is a result of... old Curthose who arranged the marriage of his son William to a Dutch heiress to garner the benevolent neutrality of Holland in his (contemplated) expansion in Northern France. Obviously history took another course.