So much shade being thrown on the English, but what else can you expect from the French.
I'm so glad you liked it and caught it. Part of the joy of crafting this AAR is writing in the persona of the historian, who doesn't hide his prejudices, while also reworking OTL history and culture to fit the new timeline of the game. Hence Richard III (as king) having to become Richard IV since Richard, in killing his brothers in this timeline, inherits his father's duchy, becoming Duke Richard IV of York. And while praising Shakespeare (whom the real life volksmarschall really loves), this historian also throws shade at him at the same time because he is no Molière in the eyes of our partisan French historian!
It sounds like in this timeline the grand old rivalry across the Channel continues.
As an aside, 20+ years ago I had the great pleasure of watching Ian McKellan's Richard III as part of my A-Levels. A capital show.
I've always loved Richard III, play and re-imagined film. Great stuff. And McKellan played Richard superbly. But volksmarschall, and our historian, could therefore not resist praising McKellan, while also belittling "Americans" who haven't seen Richard III and know Ian only from playing Gandolf!
Oh, it was just because you seemed to assume Angers was not a suitable location to be a capital.
And if I now live in Paris, Angers is my city (thus my avatar with the Duchy of Anjou). So I'm a bit partisan !
No worries, it was just a (bad) joke.
I figured it as much. But also wanted to make clear how I'm writing and playing as if Provence is an extension of France. Which is hard to do given the dynamics of Eu4. But at the same time, like so many French noble families, the want for a kingdom is also there! But we can't have France, just yet at least. But we can have Barcelona! Plus, given how in-game I switched to Monarchy, it is fitting that a monarchy is a kingdom and not a duchy. And since Provence/Anjou is a duchy of France, well, I can't have the "capital" in a French territory. I have a fondness for the Capetian House of Anjou in real life. Hence my happiness with this surprising game I had as Provence. And just had to share it.
Partisanship is good. Because I find France to be a spiritual home. Both in literature, philosophy, and Gallican Catholicism; though I be a mutt with lineages from Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, Germany, and the Philippines. Such is a thing being "American." But the French, well, they we blessed by God to know how to make fine win, beautiful churches, and blessed with a language that is so aesthetically pleasing and wondrous in prose, and blessed with high-class intellectuals and writers of all stripes, from the likes of Raymond Aron, Daniel Tanguay (who teaches in Canada), Pierre Manent, Gilles Deleuze, and Alain Badiou -- though now the real life volksmarschall betrays his longstanding education in philosophy and political philosophy.