- ARCHIVE - Royal Court of Aragón

[Txini]

the Royal Court of the Crown of Aragon

Crown of Aragon

Head of State
Alfons V "El Magnànim" (The Magnanimous), Count of Barcelona, King of Aragon, Mallorca, Valencia, the Two Sicilies, Corsica and Sardinia by the Grace of God

- Pere Miquel Carbonell. Chronicles of Spain

What is more unnatural and offensive, that like a father who does not take care of his son, a kingdom has to part without his King?

- Miquel Casadevall, Accounts of the Catalan Courts

King Alfons was crowned at the age of 22 after the sudden death of his father Fernando el d'Antequera, first king of the Trastámara line in Aragon. Fascinated by the spirit and the works of the Renaissance, his look has always been set on the lands of Italy, for the dismay of his abandoned wife, which carries the burden of ruling the Iberian Realms. He speaks five different languages, being those Castillian, Catalan, French, Latin and Italian, and he is even now learning Greek. His divise, and open book with the motto Vir sapiens dominabitur astris, "Wise men will dominate the stars".


Royal Family

Maria of Castilla, wife, Queen of Aragon, sister to the King of Castilla
Joan of Aragon, brother, Duke of Peñafiel, Gandia and Montblanc, Heir of Aragon, marry to Blanche Heiress to the Kingdom of Navarra
Blanche of Navarra, marry to Joan of Aragón, Heiress of Navarra
Joan of Castilla, cousin, King of Castilla
Elionor of Aragon, sister, Queen Consort of England
John of England, brother in law, King of England
Maria of Aragon, sister
Pere of Aragon, brother, Duke of Noto
Enric of Aragon, brother, Duke of Villena and Count of Empúries, Albuquerque and Ledesma
Giovanna II of Naples, Queen of Naples, adoptive mother of King Alfons

King Alfons Coat of Arms:

Prince Joan Coat of Arms:

Elionor of Aragon Coat of Arms

Other personalities

Alfons de Borja i Cabanilles
The very same fra Vicenç Ferrer once said to his parents that his voluntarious child would reach far in the love of God. Now, at 41 years old, he is the Archbishop of València and Cardinal of the Roman Church. He is held in much esteem by the gracious King, who has also nominated him vicechancellor of in regards to the Italian possessions of the Crown. His family was a noble one, and following the advice of the confessor of the Pope, he has studied and later taught as canon of Lleida until the King brought him under his service as personal secretary in 1416.

Ausiàs Marc
Well known is the taste of the King for the arts, and have no doubt that Ausiàs Marc is the greatest poet ever coming from the lands of the Crown since the glorious days where the pennant of Barcelona held high in the castles of la Provença. Descendant of a Valencian noble family, he holds the rank of knight, and has a small state near Valencia.

Joanot Martorell
One of the most valiant, yet some of his enemies would call him a violent fool, knights at service of the Crown. Long time brother in arms of King Alfons, he has now been gifted with the embassy of the Crown to England. Well known is the love of Joanot for these lands, and his mastery of the language which is there spoken, proof of that is that he always carries a copy of Guy of Warwick, his favorite novel, which he is trying to translate to Catalan vernacular. He keeps a close relationship with Ausiàs March with whom share a love for the written word, which is common to the monarch.


The General Courts

The Crown of Aragon is a parlamentarian monarchy. All laws adressing taxation are to be approved by the parliament, where Nobility, Clergy and Peasantry are equally represented. Currently, there are two political parties in Barcelona.

La Busca (The splinter): The party of the impoverished farmers and liberated serfs.
La Biga (The balk): The party of the rich merchants and great landowners of Barcelona.

Currently, La Biga controls the Parliament.


Important offices held inside the Crown.

Conseller en Cap (Head Counselor)
The Head Counselor is the head of the Council of Barcelona that rules the city. Its power is great, and his influence on the politics of the Crown not to be disregarded.

Galcerà de Requesens is the current Head Counselor of Barcelona.


Protonotari (Protonotary)
A charge often occupied by a man of the utmost trust of the King, he reads the petitions and proclamations of the King to the Courts. And he is the only one that can approach his throne during the celebration of the Courts.

Bernat Metge is the current Protonotary


Lloctinent General (General Lieutenant)
The General lieutenant is the king where the King is absent. He has power to legislate and negotiate in his name inside the boundaries of the Principate of Catalonia only. Traditionally, the heir to the throne is trusted this office.

Currently Joan de Navarra, brother to the king and Maria de Castella, wife to the King share the responsibilities when the King is not at Barcelona.


Royal Chancellery

- Ramon Muntaner Chronicles of the reign of Peter the Great

The Crown of Aragon is itself a commonwealth of kingdoms united to stand their common foes, and thus the Crown promotes friendship and union between the christian realms. The Royal Chancellery is the office where all the foreign policy is conducted.

Bernat Metge, and Pere de Floixà i Llúria are the current chancellors of the Crown of Aragon.

Foreign Ambassadors presently at Barcelona:
Agustin de Villars- France
Alfons d'Apulia- Naples
Retti Remini- Savoy
Valentinus Herzleid - Hungary

Ambassadors in Foreign Countries:
Enric d'Aragon- Castile/France & vassals
Françesc d'Guille- Papal States & Italy
Alfons de Borja- Papal States
Ferran Pujol- Knights of St John
Carles Platdevall- Hungary
Ferran D'Guille- Magdeburg

Thinking in not making this thread too long I have opened my cout of Aragon in Internet, there will be updates of Aragon policies, you can find the court Stats here

 

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A messeger arrive, covered with dust, showing the haste that hes as made for coming to Aragon.
"My Lord I send You the greating from My Lord Louis III of Anjou-Provence.
He Hope you Good Health and a long Prosprity to your realm.
He also gave me this scelled letter for you."

Then the messeger take a letter, Give it to the King and await for his answer

 

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a scelled note arrive from provence for the King

 

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Augustin de Villars, Comte de la Vallées enters
I am sent here by his majesty Charles VII to serve as ambassador in your great nation.
And to further strenghten the ties between Aragon and France.
His Majesty Charles VII will attend the meeting, when the pope has had his say

 

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a letter from Provence arrive
"From Louis III of Anjou-Provence
Dear King of arragon, as you know i am eager for peace and don't like war, for this, as soon as the Pope will spoke, if the King of France do the same, i will come to your court to settle this matter.
I will also be really pleased to speak with you, the lord of the Catalan and the son of My cousin, Giovanna of Naple.
I thank you for your attempt on the favor of Peace.
May god be at your side
Louis III of Anjou, King of Provence"

 

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Alfons d'Apulia entered the court, kneeling and speaking.

"Oh great King of Aragon, Valencia, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia,

I come as an emisarry from Her majesty, Queen Joanne the second of Naples. I have been sent to re-establish an embassy in Barcelona to represent Naples in your finest of courts. My credentials shall be handed over to you from one of the men in my service as diplomats.

My liegess, your mother, wishes for you to aid her family, the Anjous, against France, should they decide to attack Provence, thus, Naples as well. Do you support the Anjous, should the attack happen?

She also wishes to inform you that she can not come to Iberia anytime soon, as she is in Brittany, from where she will travel to London to wed, and then to Paris to speak with the King of France. May God be at your side."

Alfons kneeled and waited for a response.

 

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A savoyen diplomat arrives at the Aragonese court.

"Noble King of Aragon, I am Retti Remini, and I am here by my lord Amedee VIII. If it would please you I would like to establish embassy here in your honourable court. Amedee also wishes to inform you that he will be accompanying Louis III to your court. The 2 heads of state will be setting out from Provence shortly."

 

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At the city of Perpinyá 100 soldiers from the French lifeguard regiment appears, and in the in front of the troops riding on a white horse Charles VII followed by his chancellor Rigaud.

The Troops form a line and Charles dismount and walks up to the place of the meeting and waits for the other delegates to arrive.
But Charles leaves a note for the host of the meeting


We are here to discuss a peaceful resolution of the problem. But we do not see this happening when the only representatives are the House of Anjou, The House of Valois and the Host house himself. We therefore ask if your western Neighbour, Castillie could be asked to send a representative to serve as an impartial representative.

France offered a line of mediation to the duke of Provence but the duke did not even spend time to reply. The Duke, or King or whatever you feel like calling him, has not worked in any way for peace in the region.

The Kingdom of France however has not prepared for war, as the Duke claims. While our ambassadors where preparing discussions the coward duke of Provence ran to his family members asking for military aid.



After the note being handed over to the royal clerk Charles and Rigaud walked to their residence where they should prepare for the oncoming meeting.

 

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His majesty is here, his chancellor is here.
AND the king of aragon or Provence is not here to discuss peace.
clearly they want war.

 

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100 knights ridings horses arrived at the door of Perpignan. The flags of Provence and Savoy are floating in the air upon them.
A tall man approach the door and claim
"The King of Provence and the Duke of Savoy ask to enter the town. They are here to discuss Peace with the King of France."
the door opened in front of them and then they entered the city.
The King of Provence and the duke of Savoy are in perpignan

(OOC : i played the duke of savoy because he was supposed to travel with me, if it is wrong i will edit the post and remove it, sorry)
(ooc 2 : i didn't have time to prepare a long post, you've pressed me a bit too much Michael sorry )

 

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King Charles VII leaves another note to the clerc.

"We also demand that Provence will stop any attempts made by vassals of France to break vassalship or proclamation to higher noble rank"

 

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The Duke, weary from his travel, dismounts and then helps his sister Marquerite to do so. "Leo!" he exclaims to a servant. "Fetch something to drink for my sister, Louis, and I." The servant nods and produces 3 separate flasks of wine. He then presents the 3 flasks to Amedee, Louis, and Marquerite. The duke sips of the wine momentarily and then hands the flask back to his servant. He then leans against his horse, waiting anxiously for something to happen.

 

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A short man enters the court of Aragón, looking really tired.

He approaches the king.

"Your highness, i am Eliasaph Aia. I come all the way from holy land to bring you this message from our great King and Defender of the United Church, Charles Angevin"

Dear Alfons V

I greet you and your people in the kingdom of Aragon. I bring you a hopeful future that will last for all of your glorious rule. I hope you will consider the unification of the Holy Church of Christianity. I also propose you an alliance and a strengtheing of relations

Charles Angevin - King of Jerusalem and Defender of the Unified Church

 

[Txini]

In a Room in the Palace at Perpinyá, are meeting the King of France, he King of Provence, the Duke of Savoy and the King of Aragon:

King Alfons stands up and start to talk:
Dear friends we'll use turns, First King Carles of France will tell us his version of History, then Louis of Provence will, next turn Carles again will show us his demands for peace with provence, I hope no vassalization, then Louis will tell point by point his point of view, and then free turn.
LEt's start the meeting of Perpinyá.

 

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A messenger brings a letter to the King,

"To Alfons V, Count of Barcelona, King of Aragon, Mallorca, Valencia, the Two Sicilies, Corsica and Sardinia ,

from Karl Kuechenmeister von Sternburg, Hochmeister des Deutscher Orden von St.Maria, be greetheth (!)

The Order of The Teutonic Knights would be very happy if You would receive our envoy.

Our order have decided that it is about time to take the Cross again and clean some godforsaken province of its heretic scum, your participation in such an endeavour would be most welcome.

Our Grosskomtur have decided to let your envoy have his quarters by us in the castle of Fellin

by his own hand

Karl Kuechenmeister von Sternburg

 

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A messenger enters the court, hands a message over to the King and exits.

"Noble King of Aragon,

I write to you to request permission for my troops to move through the province of Samaria. As both of us know, Jerusalem has fallen to heretics and I will not allow the death of my soldiers to be in vain. The military access shall only be in Samaria and shall exist only if war exists between Genoa and Jerusalem, and only if Jerusalem continues down their path of heresy. Please, allow my troops access, for elsewise, we shall have to take the longer sea route.

Written by his own hand at Vienna,

 

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Chancellor Rigaud walks forward and speaks
His Majesty Charles VII has the following to present before you.

His Majesty Charles VII feels betrayed by the duchy of Provence.
The Duchy of Provence broke vassalage when France needed them the most. When time gets tough the duke of Provence abandoned France. He broke an oath of loyalty.

Secondly the anti-pope declared him King, and despite that the anti-pope was removed he still calls himself King of Provence, his holiness has granted him to temporarily call himself King, but for a long time he called himself King without proper approval. Seek forgiveness by his holiness.

Furthermore Provence did not even value correspondence from France with a reply that is indeed disgrace and not proper behaviour for majesty.

When France wanted a friendly solution of the problem the duke of Provence where planning war, asked all of his family members to prepare for war, instead of talking peace he was sharpening the swords of his armies.

France demands that Provence returns to vassalage and seek forgiveness for his actions!

 

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Eliasaph Aia once again enters the court, holding a letter in his hand. He hands it over to the king.

Dear Alfonso

I have heard of your agressions towards the unification, and though you have all the right to pester me for converting. After all, your soldiers died fighting for Jerusalem and i will repay you for it, i give you military access trough entire Jerusalem and support in any crusade you might enact. My only wish is for you to bury your hatred against the unified church.

Charles Angevin - King of Jerusalem and Defender of the Unified Church

 

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The Provencal Chancellor start to approach but the King of Provence stop him and advance himself.

It said that I, LouisIII of Anjou betrayed the King of France by breaking vasselage, but what i ask who is responsible for breaking the vasselage? the one who ignore his vassal and don't even answer to his letter, pleas and demand for help or the one who is forced for the sake of his land to break the vasselage because his liege doesn't protect him anymore as he should do? I on ly asked for a word, nothing more. It is said that the King was hill and could not answer, but do they think i am stupid, not knowing that? The king was hill like for a long time but a yaer before breaking the vasselage it was the dauphin who answerd, command in paris and was behind his poor father, could he not still do it? A few word would have been enought, but it seems that it was still too much for him. He said that he was at his father's side, but a king don't deserve to be a king if he cannot rule on difficult situations, it was one, and we were left on our own.
it is said that i broked a oath of loyalty but loyalty is to be on both side, for the vassal and for the liege, not only the vassal, as seems to have forgoten the King of France. He payd so few interest on Provence taht he think it was a duchy, as it was a county, even the minimum seems not known to him.
it is said that Provence left France on it's darkest hour, but when i broke vasselage i immediately send a message at paris to say that i still stay in alliance with france against all advercity. What could i have do more? Provence lost alf of his land for France on the war, isn't that a proof of loyalty above all?
It is said that the anti pope gave me my Title of King but at the time he gave it to me he was the pope, who else could i have ask? there was no one else to ask. And it is said that i should have drop the title when that pope left, but do you drop your title when the pope that gave it to you disepeard? I had the title, not for the time he was there but for all time. To make sure there are no problem i even asked The Holy Pope to confirm my title, and he did. It is temporarily but he only await for the end of the peace consil i think. Is this not enought that 2 Pope give me that title?
It is said that i did not answerd to the note of the King, but i wanted the approval of the pope before answering, to be in the law of Christiannity. and when the matter was settled the king of France let for aragon, it was too late for answering. But what the King complain for only one note, i experienced it during a hole year, who was the more rude, i ask you all?
It is said that i prepared for war but who send a note to Provence saying that if Provence don't obey immediately they will be absorbed? Isn't it normal to prepare my defense by searching for allyes? i am not thatstupid to think that i can stand alone against france on a battlefield.
If the King of France whant to see us back on the French crown then he should make an offer more respectfull and "intersting" than giving insulting order on the manner that he would use for a slave or a servant.
Louis III of Anjou then seat back on his seat waiting for the answer.

 

[Txini]

King alfons speaks:

Uhm, interesting versions of history, and I can see the start of an agreement, as Provence seems to accept to become again french vassal if conditions are good, so lets hear french offerthen Provence counteroffer if not accepted and if french rejects counteroffer, I'll try to make an offer for both mixing their demands