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Well, maybe she felt embarrassed about writing about her ancestor's role in the episode and decided to "neglect" to mention her. Somehow though, I doubt that.
 
What is the truth? And, why is it being hidden from us all?
 
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It seems the Mendenhall women have little time for the idea that they should defer to the menfolk. Dictating terms to a king - even if only a king of France - is not the sort of thing anyone can do.
 
You know, Ashanti, you're going to make my three favourite story-telling themes seem boring and unoriginal. :)
 
Arakhor: What do you mean?
Quicksabre: You have to admit that it's a good plot for a game covering 400 years. My first AAR didn't work...so this is a replacement. We'll see what happens.
Dewirix: Indeed, a very forceful personality.
Range: Why, for dramatic reasons of course! Don't worry, only a few days before something big happens.
Arakhor: It's...possible.
Sethanon: Haha. :p This is why I don't include many pictures. As I've said before it's too hard to find ones that match what I want. So more often than not I've started putting none in. And not necessarily. Remember how few witness accounts there would be, and how few people could write.
Loki: It does indeed.

Thanks guys! :)

Chapter 17a – Caroline’s Accession

Summarised from Chapter 5 of ’Britannia Triumphant’ by Lady Mendenhall.

When Caroline de Vere ascended the throne at the age of 16 no one could have predicted what a tremendous impact she would have. In fifty-six years she would change the religion and the very destiny of the English state. Under her England would reach the highest peak upon which the institution of Great Britain would be built.

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Despite being only sixteen the Queen made an immediate impact. Fiercely intelligent and utterly charismatic she was also decisive and bold. In many ways therefore she was completely different from her grandfather.
Her first and most important factor was to move on issues in France. Religious and noble tensions had escalated to minor wars between leaders, and Caroline would not let this continue. Therefore she immediately placed a ban on the use of private noble armies and armed retainers. It was a move both unpopular yet practical. In a stroke she removed the threat of noble rebellion and created the basis for a workable French system.
As a carrot to the nobles of France she instituted a policy that basically remains in action today. That was the policy of breaking continental possession into five (today nine)’Duchies’. Hereditary nobles would run these areas, appointing Counts or Marquises under them with royal vetting. In return they would receive a cut of tariff and tax income, but would be responsible for raising troops and maintaining infrastructure. Since all of these except the Duke of Normandy have been French or Flemish from the start it cut down on some of the more dangerous aspects, and made the Kingdom truly integrated.

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FranceDivisions.jpg

(Modern arrangement of the Continental lands. Burgundy, Holland, Provence and Toulouse were later additions.)

When news came to the Queen that her cousin, the foolish Pieter van Taar, theoretically next in line for the now vanished Flanders throne, was plotting she was forced to take action. The foolish boy (though eight years older than her) had been caught talking with known agents of the Burgundian Duke, she had no choice but to arrest him. Though he denied wrongdoing his naivety was something that Caroline could not afford, and he went to the block in April 1530. This move more than slightly alarmed contemporary thought, but again showed that Caroline was not to be trifled with.

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In America English expansion, funded the crown, encountered the native civilisations already living there. The Queen went before parliament, and in a ringing speech she persuaded them to grand further money to drive back and defeat the savages.
A part of her speech was recorded:

“My Lords, good sirs, good people of England. You know why I have come before you. I come with tales of woe and disorder from the lands of America. Countrymen, Englishmen and their families struggle to control those distant, unforgiving shores, and are now faced by these savages. I carry here before you a message, written in haste from our colony named so graciously for myself. In it Lord Kershaw tells a harrowing tale of savage atrocities, of dark pacts and savage, un-Christian rites. It is for this reason I bid you request this not as a request for an army – but as a plea from husbands, fathers and brothers fighting these wicked savages. For I fear that if we do but delay then we will find nothing when we return but bones and ashes. My lords, good sirs, will you not stand with me on this, and do your Queen great honour?”

For an 18 year old girl standing before hundreds of the most powerful men in the realm it was an astonishing performance. Money was indeed immediately voted and sent, and the Iroquois tribes prevented from rampaging over the newly founded Carolina colony.

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And she had not even started yet. For just two years after this, and the foundation of the city of New London in South America she would make the biggest decision that any English monarch had done in centuries; she would officially break ties with the Pope and Roman Catholicism itself. It was indeed a brave new world.

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I meant that by leaving out her ancestor from her book, she seems to be showing excessive modesty towards her family achievements. Given that she still possesses the French crown that was broken (allegedly), I think it is highly unlikely that either modesty or humility played any part in this!
 
Very impressive progress! I'm also intrigued at how quickly you've colonized, although I haven't played a true colonial game in quite some time.

Great stuff, keep it up!
 
@Ashantai

Oh that bit wasn't important. When In posted the Thread had been spammed by a bot and I merely commeted that before making the post I wanted ;)
 
Dewirix: She does indeed, but we'll get to that next time. This ended up being a very successful Reformation even without me. I was surprised.
blsteen: The crisis will come...soon. As for a husband, she's like Maggie Thatcher there; far too strong for any man to eclipse her.
Sather: Ah! I've seen that happen a few times now. Seems this story is so popular even the spammers want to be in it! :p
Avindian: I will admit and confess that I did kinda use both NIs and the horde bonuses to quickly colonise along the coast. That was more for gameplay than story reasons...in the story it counts as 'claimed' land, but not necessarily settled. And you changed icon too! I is confused!
Loki: She is! Enough to deserve a brooch. :p
Arakhor: Very likely....

We're building up....

Chapter 18 – The Secret Chamber

24/1/1820


The stairs ended at another door, but it wasn’t locked. Rather, it opened at John’s push, and he entered in. He hadn’t known what to expect in a secret chamber owned by the most mysterious of women, but his mind had pictured some lurid things. Perhaps it would be a hidden dungeon where people her Ladyship disliked would be kept. Alternatively it might be a place where gold, gems and other treasure might be stashed. Perhaps, John thought, it might lead to some secret passage out of the palace in case danger threatened.
However, when John entered he was faced by a rather small, cramped chamber. Rather than a grim dungeon or a splendid vaulted room, it was rather simply a place below the walls near the moat. The whole room was rectangular, no more than ten by twenty feet. However, if the room’s design was unimpressive, its contents were certainly very special.
Paintings adorned the bare walls, artworks of all types and from all different eras. John could barely understand what he was seeing at first, but slowly his mind begun to comprehend. Every picture showed a woman with dark hair and eyes in different fashions and times. Some had men beside her, but in every case they were of subordinate status to the woman.
At first John thought that they were simply the Lady’s fancy for dressing up in the old styles, but when he looked closer he saw that the paintings were old. An ancient tapestry from the 15th century showed someone very much like her with Charles II, while a miniature statue showed someone like her kneeling before a Queen.

Further down in the room John saw a glass case locked and sealed shut. In it were several pieces of old parchment. John approached and read the first part of a page.

Her Majesty Queen Caroline, Lady Regnant of England and France, High Mistress of the Americas and Lady of the Indies to
Countess Mendenhall.


Dearest Sophia,
I write this message in haste, for I am eager to hear from you the news you bring. The Lord Chancellor tells me that the coronation will be in two weeks, and I pray that you have returned before that time. I have not forgotten the great service you did for me two years since, and I will gladly reward you further when you return. I attach a small token of my appreciation. May it serve you well. I pray you return from the quest unharmed.
Caroline, Regina.
28th April 1523


John stared at the letter, and then at the others. There were more like it, all of them written between ‘Sophia Mendenhall’ and Queen Caroline. He did not have time to read them properly though, or to comprehend much about them. Something was stirring in his mind, and as he looked at the paintings he knew what it was.
It was as though a light had come on. All the paintings were of the same person. Oh, the clothes, the hair, the makeup was different, but it was the same person. It was why she had hidden them down in this cellar.
John shook his head and backed for the stairs, and then panic took him and he fled up them, away from a crystallising truth. It was indeed fortunate that there were no guards outside as he ran out, closing the door behind him, then headed for his room.
He was beginning to understand the truth, even if he didn’t want to!
 
so ... does he now do the sensible thing and scuttle off before his discovery is realised ...

I kind of expect that at this point, any attempt to 'scuttle off', even if his discovery was not realized, would lead to some kind of, er... accident... on his way home.
 
Intruiging. Confusing. I'm trying to see the light but it's still quite dark in my head.
Whatever it is, he better leaves.