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((Letter to Henry Walpole))
Dear Earl Walpole
I have recently been made aware of your father's murder, I had much respect for the man. I of course, am writing this letter to express my sincerest condolences for the loss of this great man.
I hope you will prove to have as much a dedication to your country as your father.
Sincerly, Earl Daniel Hudson of Cornwall
I have recently been made aware of your father's murder, I had much respect for the man. I of course, am writing this letter to express my sincerest condolences for the loss of this great man.
I hope you will prove to have as much a dedication to your country as your father.
Sincerly, Earl Daniel Hudson of Cornwall
I agree to fund the foundation for a "Bank in England" should,the Queen allow it.Some stock would be nice.Even if Ximeno declines the offer,I am willing to front the cost.I am sorry that you lost your father to some gangs in London.Also,your fathers stock in the STC is now yours.
(@Istarsamu )
To James of Huntingdon
I am most glad that you are able to come to my new abode. I hope that we can meet and talk soon.
May God bless, and yours sincerely,
Ser James Bourchier
((sorry about not being there for IC, I forgot I was going to dads today, and thus by the time 5pm came round I was in the car, sorry.
((@Baron Tanks ))
To Renato Nogueira,
I am most grateful for your commendation of my new position. I hope that some time you could join me for tea at my new home in London. It would be most wonderful to discuss potential implementations of policy, as well as the current affairs of our nation.
I hope that I may see you soon,
From Ser James Bourchier
To James of Huntingdon
I am most glad that you are able to come to my new abode. I hope that we can meet and talk soon.
May God bless, and yours sincerely,
Ser James Bourchier
((sorry about not being there for IC, I forgot I was going to dads today, and thus by the time 5pm came round I was in the car, sorry.
((@Baron Tanks ))
To Renato Nogueira,
I am most grateful for your commendation of my new position. I hope that some time you could join me for tea at my new home in London. It would be most wonderful to discuss potential implementations of policy, as well as the current affairs of our nation.
I hope that I may see you soon,
From Ser James Bourchier
To James Bourchier,
I am leaving for London in ten days for a business trip. I have two days planned but after that there should be some time, I look forward to seeing your new home and we'll discuss whatever time permits.
Sincerely,
Renato
((I'll see if I have time this weekend to come on the IRC and maybe we can do a little chapter on this.))
I am leaving for London in ten days for a business trip. I have two days planned but after that there should be some time, I look forward to seeing your new home and we'll discuss whatever time permits.
Sincerely,
Renato
((I'll see if I have time this weekend to come on the IRC and maybe we can do a little chapter on this.))
Last edited:
((Somewhere tomorrow in the afternoon (I'm in the GMT+1 zone by the way, it's a quarter to two pm here now) Tomorrow somewhere between 2 and 5 should work))
((To Friar Bedford))
((To Renato Nogueira))
Dear Friar Bedford,
Your opinion and advice is as always deeply appreciated. However, this time I cannot follow it because I believe you do not know John Walpole as the man he was. When the late king has made Walpole Sr. count, he tortured the people of Meath, something which I still saddens me but we all know that Henry VI was not completely sane and so it was difficult for him to stop that.
Then when I rose the throne, Walpole Sr was eventually appointed as royal advisor for military matters by the Royal Assembly only so that he could provide me with ill-considered advice like mothballing the Royal Navy in times of war.
Walpole Sr. been given a high enough salary which should allow Henry Walpole, the heir to his titles and wealth, to pay for his father's funeral. My treasury on the other hand is not in the best state at the moment and the Crown simply cannot and does not want to pay for a funeral for a man whose actions have been questionable in the past.
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
Your opinion and advice is as always deeply appreciated. However, this time I cannot follow it because I believe you do not know John Walpole as the man he was. When the late king has made Walpole Sr. count, he tortured the people of Meath, something which I still saddens me but we all know that Henry VI was not completely sane and so it was difficult for him to stop that.
Then when I rose the throne, Walpole Sr was eventually appointed as royal advisor for military matters by the Royal Assembly only so that he could provide me with ill-considered advice like mothballing the Royal Navy in times of war.
Walpole Sr. been given a high enough salary which should allow Henry Walpole, the heir to his titles and wealth, to pay for his father's funeral. My treasury on the other hand is not in the best state at the moment and the Crown simply cannot and does not want to pay for a funeral for a man whose actions have been questionable in the past.
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
((To Renato Nogueira))
Senhor Nogueira,
In these times advice from a trusted man is scarce. It makes me happy that you see Walpoleas Sr. as the disgusting and horrible man he was. Friar Bedford had sent me a letter in which he failed at convincing me to pay for Walpole Sr.'s funeral. This is something the Crown cannot do. My legitimacy and the opinion of foreign rulers on England are more important than the funeral of a bloodthirsty warmonger who towards the end of his lifetime provided me with ill advice.
On a different matter. Are there any news to report from the Royal Merchants Corps? Has the war impacted you more than expected or is it still manageable?
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
In these times advice from a trusted man is scarce. It makes me happy that you see Walpoleas Sr. as the disgusting and horrible man he was. Friar Bedford had sent me a letter in which he failed at convincing me to pay for Walpole Sr.'s funeral. This is something the Crown cannot do. My legitimacy and the opinion of foreign rulers on England are more important than the funeral of a bloodthirsty warmonger who towards the end of his lifetime provided me with ill advice.
On a different matter. Are there any news to report from the Royal Merchants Corps? Has the war impacted you more than expected or is it still manageable?
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
(Letter to the pope)
Holy Father,
Recent events in England have been troubling to the faithful. The Bishop of Newcastle has been unmasked as a Heretic, a traitor and a madman; he was hanged. The clerics still inside this Bishopric are corrupt and greedy, feeling more greed than zeal and it is harming the authority of the church and your seat in Rome. I am a humble Friar but I beg of you to appoint me to replace the heretic I spent so long unmasking so I can cure what he has left behind and restore the church in Northumberland to its rightful purity.
Friar John Bedford.
Holy Father,
Recent events in England have been troubling to the faithful. The Bishop of Newcastle has been unmasked as a Heretic, a traitor and a madman; he was hanged. The clerics still inside this Bishopric are corrupt and greedy, feeling more greed than zeal and it is harming the authority of the church and your seat in Rome. I am a humble Friar but I beg of you to appoint me to replace the heretic I spent so long unmasking so I can cure what he has left behind and restore the church in Northumberland to its rightful purity.
Friar John Bedford.
((Letter to John Bedford))
Your request has been granted. You shall serve as Bishop of Northumberland.
~ Pope Hadrianus IV
Your request has been granted. You shall serve as Bishop of Northumberland.
~ Pope Hadrianus IV
))
Chapter 6 - Towards Exploration
In June 1459, the Austrian troops under General Friedrich Albers of Baden built a small camp outside of Aarhus from which the siege of the city was planned. Commander Lloyd joined with his regiment the siege a about a month later. Lloyd had developed into a fine man and was well-respected by the troops, despite being Welsh. He even taught a few Austrian infantrymen the song God Save The Queen while waiting for the province to fall. For unexplainable reasons, the Austrian suddenly abandoned the siege without enemy interference. Maybe they did not like the new song that Lloyd had taught them?
Meanwhile in the capital, the Royal Assembly had just ended, Queen Elizabeth announced the intention of expanding the Royal Navy but because the treasury was quite empty, no ships were being commissioned.
Despite the Austrians having abounded the siege of Aarhus, God Save the Queen became more and more popular among the military. Some said the song raised moral, others reported that more men were now willing to join the army. The song had been designated as an official military song by Her Majesty a few years ago and these were positive side effects of it. In Ireland and Scotland, however, the separatists did not approve of that. They despised the Queen. A revolt in Edinburgh was the consequence. Problematic was that the army in Edinburgh was caught off guard. With some luck, the rebels were defeated and their leader was executed in Edinburgh shortly after the victory.
At about the same time, James Huntingdon had finished his insult which Elizabeth had ordered him to write. It was sent to King Charles VII right away. France was deeply angered by this insult and their opinion of England dropped drastically.
Count Walpole, who had provided Her Majesty with some ill-considered advice back in June 1459, shortly later he died an unnatural death. The military made some significant improvements after he left office. New tactics were developed and existing weapons improved, especially the longbow was now deadlier than ever.
The Austrians refused to do anything useful in the war against Norway and Denmark. 14.000 Austrians were camping in Slesvig where they played cards and drank ale. This is why reinforcements from England were sent to Aarhus. Englishmen had to besiege the fort because the Austrians were too lazy. Shortly after the English reinforcements arrived, the the regency for Abel II von Wittelsbach ended. He was now the King of Denmark. When Elizabeth was informed about his coronation, she wondered if it was going to impact the on-going war. Most likely not.
Elizabeth had a complicated relationship with the clergy. She had to deal with the drunkard of Kent, better known as Cardinal Crawley. The Queen failed to see what His Holiness saw in Crawley that made him being appointed as cardinal. This was quite some madness but the Pope's will had been clear.
In February 1460 the situation with the clergy then escalated when Rome condemned one of England's leading philosophers as heretic. The Queen had no doubt that the philosopher was a following the true faith and so she offered him her support. Not everybody in the realm agreed with her decision. Some said that Pope Hadrianus VI was right about the philosopher.
The philosopher thanked Elizabeth for the support. This soon turned out to be the right decision as he developed some interesting new concepts. She did not have too much time for his ideas though because the country was still at war.
A report from Norway reached Westminster Palace a month after the dispute with the Pope, saying that General Talbot's mercenaries had at last occupied Trondelag. It was a difficult siege in hostile terrain with little supplies but after 318 days, the garrison surrendered.
The sell-swords and their general then sailed on ships of the Royal Navy to support the siege of Aarhus but before they arrived the province had fallen. Even before those sieges were over, the war had nominally been won but the defending parties had refused to accept English peace terms until these fortified provinces had fallen.
In September 1460, James Huntingdon and Aleck Morgan were sent together to Copenhagen to negotiate a treaty with Denmark. The Danes were tired of war and with General Talbot besieging the city, they were ready to surrender. Able II von Wittelsbach was humiliated and the Royal Treasury received 52 ducats.
With the victory of Denmark, the sell-swords were disbanded and General Talbot returned home to England.
About three weeks later, Morgan was given a new mission: This time had to negotiate peace with Norway and Elizabeth's demands were quite clear: The annexation of Iceland, the North Sea islands and the province of Bergenhus. Morgan turned out to be an excellent negotiator because he secured an even better deal which also included monthly war reparations and a few ducats. England was at peace again!
This allowed Elizabeth to concentrate on internal politics again. On the top of her agenda were the Irish. Leinster had been a vassal of the Crown for years but they have performed poorly in wars and the taxes they paid were not many either. This is why she came to the conclusion after some debate with members of the Royal Diplomatic Corps that integrating Leinster into the realm was the only option.
She also had one of the royal bankers negotiate a favorable loan with the Medici Bank of Florence over 191 ducats. The loan was needed for various projects that the Crown had to finance, among them was a Grand College in the capital. Friar John Bedford had proposed the construction of such a learning institution over a year ago in the Royal Assembly.
The construction of the college required lots of workers and many resources. It was estimated that it could take over 4 years to complete this project.
Later that month, Ser Bourchier invited the Queen and many nobles to the inauguration of his own palace which he had built in London. The inauguration was celebrated with lots of fresh-brwed ale and of course with tasty food. It was a good feast, Elizabeth had certainly enjoyed it.
Part of the reason of why the treasury was always empty were the many festivities that were paid by the Crown. On 3 May 1461, it was the betrothal between Crown Prince Matthew and Afonso V of Portugal's first born daughter: Andreia de Avis.
Andrea was a timid but beautiful young woman. She had long brown hair and dark eyes. Matthew could not believe that he was going to marry her in a year or two. In order for them to get to know each other better, Afonso V sent her to Westminster Palace where she was given a chamber. The two liked each other from the minute they met. Elizabeth was slightly jealous at her son because her own marriage with Franz von Thun was quite the disaster. Franz disliked England more the longer he lived here.
The bond between Afonso's daughter and Elizabeth's son further solidified the relationship between the two allies.
One of England's cartographers drew a map of the Russian countries. The merchant republic of Novgorod had been almost completely annexed by the Muscovites. This serve form of aggression by the Muscovites was unexpected. For how much longer was Novgorod going to withstand their attacks? Matthew studied the map carefully as he was most interested in foreign relations. He believed that ruling a successful kingdom one day would require extensive knowledge of diplomacy.
King Juan II of Castile sent word that his armies had pretty much defeated the Sultanate of Tlemcen in Northern Africa. Not even the mighty Ottoman Empire was able to support Tlemcen. Juan II bragged about his success, even though it were the Portuguese who had done all the dirty work for him. All of Tlemcen had been occupied by the two Iberian countries; the only thing that prohibited a peace treaty were the Ottomans who refused to leave the war for no apparent reason. There was nothing to be gained for the Ottomans anyways.
Even though realm was at peace, the English lived in dangerous times. After having made Calais the staple port for wool imports, tensions between English merchants and the people of Flanders slowly escalated to the point in which the Flemish people asked Charles I de Bourgogne to protect their trade interests. The so-called Calais Dispute could be the beginning of a trade war. Burgundy had allied three Imperial princes but the royal advisors to Queen Elizabeth were hopeful that Charles did not dare to declare war over trade.
The relatively newly founded Euskal Biscay Company, headquartered in Bordeaux, was not affected by the Calais Dispute as its traders were not involved in any trade in Northern France. Elizabeth wondered if the EBC would take advantage of the heated situation in Calais.
About one year after peace had been made with Denmark, King Abel II suffered another, more devastating, defeat. Pomerania seized four of their provinces, including their capital city Copenhagen. The Danish kingdom was split into two disconnected parts. In a matter of less than 20 years, the Danes not only lost control of the Kalmar Union but also a large portion of its country. Elizabeth considered this as a warning to what might happen if someone mismanages a country.
England was also looking into ways of exploring the Unknown. Portuguese ships were returning to Lisboa with from voyages into unmapped territory. Some in the realm believed that leaving this job to Portugal alone would be dangerous in the long run and there were rumors that Juan II of Castile was also looking into ways of joining Portugal as explorers. The English, however, were not ready yet.
Norway and Scotland were quite persistent in asking England for military access but every single request was turned down. The Crown had no interest in helping them out.
News of the crowning of Ludwig II of Hesse as emperor spread through Europe after the late emperor had passed away. The Holy Roman Empire continued to be ruled by an important, small country. How odd. The prince electors must have seen something in Hesse. The Crown was distracted by a different event though and could therefore not send anybody to congratulate Ludwig II. In Kent a severe plague broke out killing hundreds of men and women, children, too. There was a debate among the royal advisors whether the Crown should send some of the realm's most skilled doctors to Canterbury to treat the infected or not. Ultimately, it was decided that the treasury could not afford this expense.
The English borders stayed in turmoil. Brabant had declared war on Gelre and her allies Bremen and East Frisia. The new big blob in the Holy Roman Empire, however, was now Bohemia. They had annexed some of their neighbors and annexed Bamberg while the Bavarians incorporated Ansbach and Oberpfalz into their country. The Holy Roman Empire was still composed of as many as 50 princes though.
Burgundian aggression then reached one of the prince-electors: Trier. Charles I saw it fit to expand into the Holy Roman Empire without support from any of his allies. Ludwig II honored Trier's call to arms and a large war broke out as he called in his own allies, too.
In December 1462, Elizabeth signed a decree which stated that the Crown was to support any exploration missions undertaken by Englishmen. Hopefully, soon convoys would leave the ports of England to compete with Portugal. Of course, Elizabeth was looking only into a friendly competition. The Portuguese were after all England's closest ally.
Meanwhile in London, Matthew married Andreia de Avis. Matthew was now 16 years old and the marriage ceremony was conducted by the Archbishop of York.
Approximately three weeks later, Pope Hadrianus made Northumberland a cardinal seat. Why? Bishop Bedford had cleared any heretics from the bishopric and as reward His Holiness saw it fit to appoint him as cardinal.
((There currently is 1 open General/Admiral position and 1 open Diplomat position.))
Character Creation (Optional)
- Name: Alexander Chaffinch (known as the grandson of James of Huntingdon)
- Birth-Date: 01/01/1448
- Religion: Catholic
- Class: Noble
- Biography: Bastard son of a bastard heretic treasonous bishop and a russian whore Alexander is the decendent of many sins. He has been raised by James and Robert of Huntingdon as a favor for his disgraced father. Alexander has sworn revenge on those who caused his father's death
- Stats 5/3/4 Genius, Deceitful, Ruthless
- 1
(Letter to Her Majesty)
Your Majesty I am the Grandson of one of your trusted members of the diplomatic core and would like to follow in his footsteps by being in service of the crown. My ultimate aim is to join the army and become a lord but as I am of of an age too young for such responsibilities but I would like to serve you as best I can. As such I offer myslef for the great honour of becoming the crown prince's squire. I hope that my offer will be accepted but if not is there anything else I may do for your grace.
Sincerely Alexander of Huntingdon
Your Majesty I am the Grandson of one of your trusted members of the diplomatic core and would like to follow in his footsteps by being in service of the crown. My ultimate aim is to join the army and become a lord but as I am of of an age too young for such responsibilities but I would like to serve you as best I can. As such I offer myslef for the great honour of becoming the crown prince's squire. I hope that my offer will be accepted but if not is there anything else I may do for your grace.
Sincerely Alexander of Huntingdon
((To Alexander of Huntingdon))
Alexander,
Your grandfather has served the realm faithfully as a diplomat, that is beyond doubt. Matthew, having turned 16, could use a capable squire. However, what makes you capable squire? Do you possess any special talents or is somebody vouching for you?
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
Your grandfather has served the realm faithfully as a diplomat, that is beyond doubt. Matthew, having turned 16, could use a capable squire. However, what makes you capable squire? Do you possess any special talents or is somebody vouching for you?
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
(Letter to the Queen)
Firstly your majesty thank you for responding to my message. My key talents are those of a keen tactical mind and a near insane devotion to the removal of enemies. Hopefully these skills will help be protect Prince Matthew on the battlefield to unsure the safety of our nation.
((To Alexander of Huntingdon))
Then the position shall be yours then. Matthew is currently studying diplomatic treaties in his chamber and will later refine his skills with the bow. I suggest you see him right away.
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
~ Elizabeth Talbot, Queen of England, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Aquitaine and Duchess of Normandy
Your Majesty,
already during the war we benefitted strongly from the Danes not being able to uphold the Sound Toll. A lot of merchants sailed under guard of the English navy. Now that the Danes are wiped off the map, a lot of Baltic trade (mostly naval supplies) find their way to us untaxed. I look forward to starting an operation in Bergenshus, so that our merchants can pick up goods locally in stead of having to hire foreign ships.
Sincerely,
Renato Noguiera