The Outrage (March 1427)
March 22nd, 1427
Endless figures and the sound of a quill scratching against parchment had been Jacqueline's companion for the last few hours. The ledgers recording the nation's trade were far too extensive and vast for her to hope to look over them all, but she insisted on checking the figures herself on a random sampling of the books. Only a few merchants had needed to have been put in jail for tax evasion before the rest learned the Queen meant business, and that she understood their trade well enough to uncover any trickery. She hadn't found even a single deception in the last two years, but that didn't stop her from doing her checks.
The feel of a small hand tugging on her dress commanded her attention. "Mother, I'm done."
The Queen didn't look away from her work. "Latin?"
Her daughter sighed. She was well versed in this game. "Mater, Ego perfeci."
"Geman?"
"Mutter, Ich bin fertig."
"French?"
"Mere, J'ai fini."
"Italian?"
"Madre, ho finito."
"Danish?"
"Mor, Jeg er faerdig."
"Arabic?"
The girl scrunched up her face in concentration. Arabic was her newest acquired language, and she had begun her studies only a few months ago. "Ummi, intihaitu."
The queen looked up and rubbed Zoe's head. "My little polyglot. Very good."
The girl puffed out her cheeks. "How would
you know? You don't even know Arabic!"
She laughed. "I'll have to check with Mahmood in the morning then."
Jacqueline looked over to where her daughter's books lay on the table. Her daughter was closer to six than five now, and was responding well to the intensive scholarship, just as Jacqueline herself had as a child. Languages came first, as a child's brain was best suited for them at a young age. Figures and histories could come later.
Again came the insistent tug. "Now can we play?"
Pushing away from her desk, Jacqueline yawned. The hour grew late, and the light through the windows had grown dim enough to necessitate candles more than an hour ago. "You need to be going to bed, little one," she said with a smile.
"No!" Zoe's voice was insistent. "I want to play!"
The queen could only sigh. "Just a few moves, then bed time."
Pacified, the girl ran over to the board and sat on her cushion in front of it. "Its your move," she insistently reminded.
Jacqueline knelt at the opposite end as well. Before her was a gift that she had received a few months back from the Sultan of the Mamluks. A grid of white and black lay before her, each square made of polished ivory or obsidian, with sixteen figures on each side, one set carved of jade, the other crystal. They called the game 'shatranj'.
When the first Dutch trader had departed Alexandria with its hull laden with an enormous load of pepper and other spices, the Mamluks had insisted on sending back with them a delegation of friendship, along with several expensive gifts including this board. Mahmood ibn Hajr al Asqalani, an elderly but wise scholar, been a part of the delegation, and Jacqueline had taken a liking to him and hired him as a tutor when his companions took their leave back to Egypt. It was he who had taught her daughter, and then later her, how to play this game.
Jacqueline pushed a pawn forward. Her daughter's tiny fingers immediately grasped her queen eagerly, and happily scooped up the jade pawn. She placed her piece down its place, completing the capture.
"Mahmood says the queen is the most powerful piece on the board..." the girl gushed, smiling happily. "You're so lucky to be a queen!"
The regent mother drummed her fingers against her lips thoughtfully, then slid her knight forward and to the left. "Perhaps, but a queen is also vulnerable to attack."
"No she's not... I..." Her daughter had nearly grasped her queen again when she made a theatrical exclamation of dismay, spotting her predicament. The advanced knight threatened not only the queen, but also a bishop. "No fair!" she pouted.
"You love to attack, but always remember, the queen's job is always first and foremost to protect the king," Jacqueline explained.
"Who's your king?" her daughter wondered.
"You are, dearest," Jacqueline replied without hesitation.
That earned her an outraged frown. "Nun uh. You have to be a boy to be a king. I'm not a boy."
"Maybe not, but I'll still always protect you." A hand ruffled her daughter's sandy blond hair, so much like her father's.
The game lasted far longer than Jacqueline had intended, leaving them both up when the moon was high in the sky. Both mother and daughter were still learning the game, but Jacqueline was almost frightened by the intensity her daughter showed when playing. The girl refused to give up and refused to go to bed, despite her frequent yawns and drooping eyelids, until Jacqueline had finally managed to pin the crystal king into a corner and earn a checkmate. She ended up carrying the exhausted girl to bed, doing so fully intent on going to sleep herself, when there was a knock at her door.
"Forgive me my Queen, but we have a situation." It was her Minister of Trade. "It requires your attention most urgently."
Jacqueline looked at him silently, then rubbed the sleep from her eyes. A queen's work was never done.
"... and they told us we were lucky to be leaving with our lives! As if they were considering murdering us just for having the audacity to try and trade in their city!"
Jacqueline leaned back in her throne, adjusting the crown where it sat heavily on her head. Before her for an audience stood five of the wealthiest merchants in the Netherlands. Or, men who had been the wealthiest. Now they were paupers. The Statthalter in Lubeck had manufactured some absurd complaint against the Dutch merchants and used it as an excuse to confiscate every Dutch ship at dock along with their contents. A full thirty percent of the Dutch merchant fleet had been captured in one fell swoop.
To make matters worse was the unique trade policies put in place by her father. A portion of the taxes and harbor fees paid by each merchant went into an insurance fund run by the state. Owners of ships lost at sea or raided by pirates would receive a portion of their investment returned to them out of the fund. Lowering the barrier of entry and the risk had helped spur many nobles to invest in such ventures, and the fund almost always ran an annual surplus, which went straight into government coffers. But it also exposed the treasury to great risk such as this.
"How much?"
"Your majesty?" one ventured.
"How much are you owed in compensation?"
"It's... difficult to say," he stalled. "We weren't the only ones to take losses by far, there were many others, and we still haven't had time to..."
She cut him off with a sharp wave of a hand. "Give me an estimate."
They whispered amongst themselves for nearly a full minute before replying. "A quick, nonbinding estimate, your majesty, for the lost ships and goods... seven million ducats."
That was a sum that could easily bankrupt nations. Her treasury could bear the expense, but not well. "I would ask that you accept deferred payment."
For some time, the only response was a stony silence. "Why... should we accept that?" one finally asked.
Paris, London and Lisbon had all been running embargoes against Dutch traders for years, primarily because the Dutch traders put their own out of business so effectively. Jacqueline had tolerated this because she had no choice but to do so. But if she allowed such brazen theft by a minor power to go unpunished, the economic prosperity that had built the Netherlands to what it was would collapse. A response of the strongest nature was in order.
"You should accept it because anyone who agrees will be considered shareholders in my military venture to punish this outrage, and be due full dividends from the plunder we gain when we sack Lubeck."
The look on the men's faces were priceless. They were traders by nature, not warriors, but their pride had been offended and they were eager for revenge. Less than an hour of negotiation later, and a contract had been signed. Holland once again was headed to war.
).Obv back up your save just in case, but you shouldn't have any trouble changing name or gender.
