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It will indeed be interesting to see how the history of England will be in this timeline.
 
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Apologies to to @TheButterflyComposer and @DensleyBlair for not responding to their discussion on the last page - its given me food for thought though you be overestimating by historical nous for this period! I hope to make Yorkist England as flavourful and interesting as I can but ultimately the game events will guide my storytelling.

Hmm. Pretty good start. Except for the uprising, and even then fortuitous that it occurred before the invasion of Scotland. With the new expanded army bloodied, it should be more than capable of smashing the Scots and getting some dominance over them.

Arguably the success under Richard is a peace dividend, simply not facing a civil war does wonders. And fear not, Scotland (and Ireland) are still very much on the King's radar.

It will be interesting to see how Richard's successors navigate the Reformation--presumably without Henry VIII the evolution of English Christianity will be very different.

Indeed, we may have Catholicism or a more continental Protestantism take hold, but the unqiue events surrounding Henry VIII means the CofE (or CinE depending) will no doubt have a different history. Though its not a very successful revolt, Hood combined religious dissent with political dissent to great effect, which might colour how the Yorks and others look at the *Reformation.

There is a tragic story behind every rebellion.

Theres is. Originally the revolt was going to just be paragraph but it grew into half the chapter. I'm very interested in cults and charismatic leaders, so was happy to give Hood some background and how Lollardy -barely alive at the time- could evolve into a popular movement, coopting ex-Lancaster anger. Frankly, Hood was a bad Lollard (their pacificism got thrown out the window for a start) and the adulation he got as he became more political no doubt fed his ego.

It will indeed be interesting to see how the history of England will be in this timeline.

Richard's reforms will plant seeds for growing differences. Although not much of a thing in-game, the Yorks' victory means alot of people and families that rose to prominence in English history wont, either due to lack of connections or because their line is already dead. And vice-versa. I introduced Richard's inner circle because they and their children will be at the heart of the court and government well into the next century.

---

Thank you for all the comments guys and girls, and for sticking with this through the 'drier' stuff. Next update will be more exciting. I'm debating whether to do one big update to wrap up Richard III or two.

I'm conscious three chapters in I'm about ten years into a multi-century story, a level of detail (or navel gazing, take your pick) that I don't think will be sustainable. So post-Richard III I think I'll be aiming more for one or two chunky chapters to cover a single reign. Obviously the details will dictate how much I focus on a particular time period but I'm leaning towards @RossN 's highly entertaining, brisker model, even if my writing can't match.

If you've got any C&C (seriously, happy for negative criticism) please chip-in, I want to make this an entertaining read for you AARlanders.

EDIT: Oh and Chapter 4 by the end of the week! :D
 
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Very interesting picture of Richard the administrator. Starting to get an idea of who is really running the country is good. As you say, without all of the Tudor allies in power it will be interesting to watch the alternate state machinery evolve.

And gruesome to see the machinery used against the Lollards with such force, but a very well imagined rebellion nevertheless. Great stuff.

I hope to make Yorkist England as flavourful and interesting as I can but ultimately the game events will guide my storytelling.

Always a good idea. I probably won't be able to resist some idle speculation on unmentioned bits of flavour as we move ahead, but at the heart of it focusing on the game is usually worthwhile.

Though its not a very successful revolt, Hood combined religious dissent with political dissent to great effect, which might colour how the Yorks and others look at the *Reformation.

I could well imagine some scenario evolving like that which greeted the (final) downfall of the Stuarts, with 'Popery' a highly-charged signifier of dynastic political dissent broader than simple doctoral sectarianism.

I'm conscious three chapters in I'm about ten years into a multi-century story, a level of detail (or navel gazing, take your pick) that I don't think will be sustainable.

Personally, I'm all in favour of navel-gazing – but the key thing is to be manageable, so whatever rhythm lets us see as grand a sweep of Yorkist England as possible, I will greatly look forward to!
 
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My preference as a writer is for a brisker style, but as a reader I have to say that I've been enjoying the pacing of the story so far. There's a lot to be gained out of these little events.
 
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4. Richard III Part Four; Glenogle

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James III of Scotland (r. 1460-1499)

King James III of Scotland had a singular talent. Considered vain and rash by contemporary chroniclers, he was nonetheless adept at survival. He had become king at the age of eight, spending a lifetime in the thick of courtly politics. James had launched a coup against his overbearing regents, the Boyd family, in 1469, before suffering a coup at the hands of his brother Alexander, Duke of Albany in 1482. The latter had been supported by the English, with Richard III, then Duke of Gloucester, leading an army to the walls of Edinburgh Castle. This caused the Scottish nobles to imprison James, granting Albany the title of Lieutenant-General and control of the kingdom. Narrowly avoiding execution, James succeeded in deposing his brother from inside his cell, thanks to sustained bribery.

The affair had little effect on the King’s conduct as he continued to ruffle feathers and alienate Scotland’s friends on the continent. His victory in Ulster had earned him respect from his lords, only for the disastrous war with France to leave the kingdom destitute, its coffers stripped for reparations. In its wake, James narrowly defeated another coup, requiring a difficult Highland campaign to finally subdue the rebels in 1493. His continental pretensions decisively foiled, James turned his gaze back to Ireland. In the intervening years, his allies in Offaly, Ormond and Leinster had all fallen to the English and their viceroy, the Earl of Kildare, leaving the Scots without friends on the island. Sligo and Connacht were little interested in going against Dublin, their indirect relationship with the Lord Deputy acceptable and certainly preferable to the fate suffered by their neighbours. Instead, Tyrone would prove the focal point of Anglo-Scottish tensions.

The wealthiest and strongest of the Gaelic kingdoms, Tír Eoghain had dominated northern Ireland for centuries under the rule of the O’Neill clan. Her current king, Einri II had initially welcomed Scottish support as a counter to the English. The results of the French war weakened Einri’s confidence in James and he soon reconciled with Kildare and Richard. The King of Tyrone proved a diligent ally, sending troops to the siege of Wexford in 1493 and crushing a peasant revolt at Clonmel the following year. Einri repeatedly petitioned for a marriage between the houses of O’Neill and York. Richard III dismissed such entreaties, seeing the Irish clansman too far beneath the station of English royalty.



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Northern Ireland, 1495
Gaelic kingdoms of Sligo(1), Tyrconnell(2) and Tyrone(3); Scots Ulster(4); The English Pale(5); Earldom of Kildare(6)

Frustrated by Richard’s supposed ingratitude, Einri found his old friend happy to oblige. The Scottish king’s first wife Margaret of Denmark had died in 1489. An arranged marriage, it had been a cold, unhappy union; their son James had been much closer to his mother, something the King resented and her death saw the prince ostracised from court. Intent on reasserting his influence in Ireland, James accepted the hand of Liadain, sister of the Gaelic king in October 1495. The marriage took England completely by surprise, as Tyrone severed her ties with Dublin and entered into a full alliance with the Scots. The move infuriated Richard, made worse by a series of raids along the border that winter. James brazenly resurrected claims to Cumberland, territory that had not been held by a Scottish king in over three hundred years.

Come the spring thaw, Richard began preparing his armies. The Scots and O’Neills did likewise, war by now inevitable. The often disgruntled Scottish lords proved eager, and welcomed their king’s bullish approach to the English. James’ past efforts to reach an understanding with Edward IV had frustrated parliament and angered the nobility; England was the old enemy. There was similar enthusiasm south of the border. An English invasion of Scotland had been aborted several times in recent years, thanks to events like the 1491 Lollard Rebellion and 1494 Franco-Castilian war scare (which saw Richard spend much of the campaign season encamped near Dover). Northern marcher lords like Northumberland and Westmorland had already raised troops in response to the cross-border raids, the Prince-Bishop of Durham personally leading patrols against the Scottish interlopers. In April 1496, King Richard arrived at Berwick Castle at the head of 12,000 men. 7,000 men commanded by John de la Pole, now Duke of Suffolk, were mustering in Carlisle. Meanwhile the Duke of Norfolk had landed at Dublin with 4,000 men.



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Scottish troops retreating at the Battle of Middleton, 21 June 1496

After a perfunctory declaration of war, Richard III crossed the frontier on 3 May. He stormed the border town of Roxburgh, its once impressive defences demolished by the Scots in 1460. The English king advanced steadily northwards. On 21 June, near the village of Middleton, Richard finally met James III, blocking the Edinburgh road at the head of 6,000 men. James initially bested Northumberland’s vanguard before English numbers began to tell. After several hours the Scots withdrew, each side having suffered around a thousand casualties. Something of a tactical draw, the battle nonetheless cleared the way for Richard’s army. James fled Edinburgh only hours before the English reached the city, intending to join Lord Selkirk in Perth.

As Richard began the envelopment of Edinburgh in the east, to the west the Duke of Suffolk was already weeks into a protracted siege. His uncle had tasked him with seizing Ayr, Scotland’s key port in the Irish Sea, as a means of isolating their forces in Ulster. His advance quickly halted at Castle Caerlaverock, near Dumfries. Overlooking the River Nith and Solway Firth, the fortress had frustrated invaders since the days of Edward Longshanks, barring the western coastal road. It’s double moat made direct assault all but impossible while the surrounding marshland hindered the construction of siegeworks. Trenches quickly collapsed and filled with water. Living in sodden conditions, many soldiers became ill, with hundreds dying as disease spread through the camp. More than half of English casualties suffered during the campaign would be to the punishing attrition of the siege lines. Richard III had hoped by threatening James’ capital, he could force a decisive battle in the field. Instead the Scottish king gathered his army to the north, happy to let the defenders of Caerlaverock and Edinburgh wear down the invaders.

In Ireland, the war took on an altogether different pace. Low-level fighting had been ongoing since the new year, with cross-border raids primarily between the Gaelic kingdoms. Sligo, a regular victim of Einri II’s belligerence, sided with the English. So too did Aodh Ruadh, King of Tyrconnell and chief of the O’Donnell clan, who sought most of all to crush the rival O’Neills. Norfolk and his opposite the governor of Scots Ulster, Lord Dunbar, relied on Irish allies to supplement their relatively small forces.



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Gaelic warriors c.1500

The English were reinforced in June by the Earl of Kildare. In July, the now 8,000-strong army marched north. Dunbar’s own 8,000, more than half Tyrone Gaels, met them at the Battle of Iveagh on 15 July. Einri’s contingent was made up mostly of kerns, clan skirmishers. They proved initially effective, harassing the English flanks with hales of javelins. The Scottish centre however was slowly pushed back under sustained arrow fire. The buckling pikemen allowed the Duke to lead a decisive cavalry charge deep into the enemy lines. The lightly-armed and armoured kerns suffered the brunt of the onslaught, thousands falling.

Einri retreated to Dungannon. Now not only the English but the O’Donnells threatened his clan’s ancient seat. Iveagh had emboldened Aodh Ruadh to directly attack the now wounded Tyrone, uniting his forces with Kildare. Einri II could muster only 3,000 clansmen for a last stand at Tallyhogue on 10 August. Heavily outnumbered, they were soon encircled and slaughtered. Aodh Ruadh was not satisfied with Einri’s corpse and proceeded to sack Dungannon, before setting it alight. Norfolk meanwhile pursued Lord Dunbar. James III’s efforts to evacuate the survivors by sea were scuppered with the destruction of his rescue fleet at the Battle of Kilbrannan Sound, off the Ayrshire coast on 28 July. Completely cut off, Dunbar and his remaining Scottish troops surrendered at Downpatrick, leaving Ulster to English occupation.

Following the sudden conclusion of the Irish campaign, the English would not see further progress until October. By the autumn Suffolk had received artillery reinforcements, and after weeks of sustained bombardment, the beleaguered garrison of Castle Caerlaverock finally surrendered. The king’s nephew advanced north with speed, taking Dumfries and finally reaching Ayr in December. Edinburgh held out through a bitter winter. Both sides made extensive use of cannons, with the Scots’ 20-inch bombard Mons Meg becoming infamous amongst the English besiegers.



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Mons Meg

In the new year, their king still cautious of battle on land, the Scottish fleet was ordered out from Aberdeen to relieve and resupply the capital. Led by Logan Erskine, they attempted to break the English blockade in the Firth of Forth on 9 February 1497. Erskine’s flagship was Yellow Carvel, one of three heavy carracks, along with four barques, followed by a string of supply ships. The English were commanded by Charles Gilbert, victor of Kilbrannan Sound, at the head of a similar fleet. Rough seas hampered the attackers, with violent winds causing the Scottish line to break up, smashing several ships against the shore. Gilbert exploited and defeated his opponents piecemeal, sinking or seizing the bulk of Erskine’s force. Yellow Carvel succumbed to the broadsides of Sovereign and Loyal London, taking her captain and hundreds more with it.

The action on the Firth of Forth not only failed to relieve Edinburgh but the sight of the Royal Scots Navy being obliterated from the city’s walls no doubt helped hasten its surrender on 19 February. Richard marched out, joining up with Suffolk’s army near Stirling in March. Together they headed for Perth. Unable to delay any further, and with reports of Norfolk’s army preparing to cross the Irish Sea, James III too marched out, accompanied by Lord Selkirk. The Scottish king had mustered a force on par with Richard III, and hoped the exhaustion of the winter sieges would benefit his own untested troops. The two met on 1 April at the field of Glenogle. Fatefully, James had ordered the Duke of Montrose west into Ayrshire to delay Norfolk, taking 3,000 men with him.



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Battle of Glenogle, 1 April 1497

On the day, Richard’s 20,000 men would face 16,000 Scots, in the largest battle of the war. Heavy rains hampered archers and artillery on both sides, while turning the field to mud. It would be decided by a grinding, brutal melee, remembered by popular history as the battle of “bill and pike”. The famed Scottish schiltrons were most effective in tight, defensive formations and soon the poor terrain caused the advancing pikemen to loose cohesion. This allowed the English infantry, many armed with bills, a (comparatively) short polearm, to break the schiltrons, the pikes providing limited defence in close-quarter combat. Efforts by the Scottish centre to retreat were hampered only further by the muddy ground.

James ordered his substantial cavalry forward to attack the English infantry’s flanks. Hoping to smash the billmen with a decisive charge, the Scottish knights instead became literally bogged down, with many forced to advance on foot. The delay allowed Richard to reposition his superior numbers and the knights, hindered by heavy armour and struggling steeds, were cut down in their thousands as the battle turned into a rout. Only now were the English cavalry deployed, to harry the fleeing remnants of James’ army. The bloody Battle of Glenogle left 11,000 casualties, 8,000 of them Scottish.

The war would continue for six weeks before James finally relented. A peacy treaty was signed by the two kings at Drummond Castle in Perthshire on 17 May 1497. Scotland would concede the border shires of Dumfries and Roxburgh. The Pale was expanded to include Ulster and the former lands of the O’Neills, reasserting England’s primacy in Ireland. Richard was hailed a conquering hero on his return to London, his armies victorious across the British Isles. James would finally see his luck run out. In January 1499, battling his lords to disinherit Prince James for the infant son of Liadain, the king was poisoned. The assassination would lead to years of civil unrest in Scotland between supporters of the newly-crowned James IV and those of his half-brother Robert.



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Borders after the Treaty of Drummond, May 1497


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It's alive!

Sorry to all those you were kind enough to follow along last time. Part Four is quite chunky, any c&c is welcome. I'm terrible at taking enough screenshots particularly during battles, try to correct that.

I recently came across my notes and my saves for RTT and got back into playing some EU4 as well as writing about it. I can't promise a single full run, but I'll be wrapping up Richard III and getting into his successor at least, I've the next few chapters sketched out. Hopefully Richard III Part Five will be up within the week. Also nice to skulk around AARland once more...
 
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It lives! Glad to see this back. :) Poor James stood no chance at all. A tragic figure.
 
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It lives! Glad to see this back. :) Poor James stood no chance at all. A tragic figure.

Thank you Nikolai good to be back! James was his own worst enemy in many ways. The fact the Breton War only made him more hawkish in Ireland and the English Borders says everything I think. Abandoning the French alliance (and a decent chunk of his military with it!) will probably be his "greatest" legacy. His real greatest achievement however was surviving to 1499! Eleven years longer than in reality.


Work has taken up most of my time this past week. I should be able to get part five out this weekend. It does feel a little odd to be writing about the last days of Richard III given the recent news mind.
 
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Really glad to have this back! It was always among my top few on my wishlist of AARs I wished would have a resurrection.

Richard is really not messing about. First seeing off the Tudors and now seeing off the Scots is going to do a lot of good for his historical standing. He’s set England on the cusp of total supremacy of the British Isles, and with things reasonably stable at home (from memory – that’s going back a bit, mind!) it looks like the coming century could be a very good one for the House of York.

Of course, this being late medieval England there is absolutely no reason to assume anything could possibly be quite so simple. But it’s as good a position as the country’s been in for generations.
 
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It is good to see this return and for Richard III and the Yorkists to be in such fine form. All round excellent progress.

King James III of Scotland had a singular talent. Considered vain and rash by contemporary chroniclers,
I can only assume he never actually looked at his own portraits, being vain while looking anything like that portrait would indeed be an impressive talent!
 
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5. Richard III Part Five; The Boar in Winter
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Gloucester Palace, Surrey

Hurrahs for Good King Dickon!” cried the London crowds, as Richard III returned home from Scotland victorious in June 1497. He was at the height of his popularity and power. In November the marriage by proxy of Richard, Prince of Wales and Catherine of Aragon took place[1]. Ten and eleven respectively, their union had been agreed to as early as the Anglo-Spanish treaties of 1488. The Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro de Ayala, was present for the English side of the ceremony, held in the chapel of the newly completed Gloucester Palace. Built upstream from Westminster along the south bank of the Thames, it replaced the dilapidated Sheen Palace, destroyed by fire in 1495. On top of the medieval foundation was built a Renaissance manor, with the king overseeing the entire project. The new royal residence, built of brick with octagonal towers, had large bay windows throughout, many stained glass, depicting the glories of God, England and the House of York. It contained art galleries and gardens radiating out from a large courtyard. A private park containing deer, boars, swans and many other animals was created. Gloucester soon replaced Westminster Palace as primary seat of the royal court[2].

The move is marked by some historians as a symbolic break with the so-called “bastard feudalism” of late medieval England. The Wars of the Roses had seen the nobility gain substantial power and independence at the expense of the monarchy. Lower-class individuals, primarily from the gentry, flocked to support those who could pay in gold or political favour. The personal retinues of prominent lords grew to the size of private armies. Even at court, large bodies of retainers, more often mercenaries, were present, marked by the colours of rival lords. Richard III had slowly wrestled power back to the centre since 1483, through administrative reforms, the expansion of crown lands and cultivating support elsewhere, such as with the financiers of London. In 1494, Justices of the Peace had been officially established in every county and city to maintain the king’s law.

While unpopular with the lords, in practice many areas remained under the firm control of noble families. George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, went so far as to have his illegitimate son Henry FitzGeorge appointed the local Justice in 1496. Richard tolerated such behaviour on the understanding Shrewsbury and others maintained order, and above all, paid their taxes. Far more controversial was the 1497 royal decree on the “maintenance and livery” of personal retainers. The numbers and armament of such servants were drastically curtailed, as was the wearing of a liege’s colours at court. Several lords with particularly large retinues were immediately fined in the Star Chamber, as an example (and to help fill Treasury coffers after an expensive war). Most prominent was Henry Algernon Percy, Duke of Northumberland. Son of Richard’s saviour at Bosworth Field, tensions had existed between his family and the Yorks for decades, the Percys former supporters of the Lancastrian cause.



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Richard III's continuing reforms garnered power, but also enemies

The previous duke had demanded more political power, in London and the north, for his service. Compensation in gold soothed the elder Henry but left his successor frustrated. Richard, intentionally or not, had discriminated against the Percys in land and titles. Leadership of the Council of the North was denied to them once more in 1496, in favour of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. Little of the Scottish land gained at the Treaty of Drummond was rewarded to the duke, with the Nevilles and the increasingly influential Scrope family taking the lion’s share[3]. The stringent fines over retainers was seen as only the latest slight against the duke’s great house and soon Northumberland began to plot against the king.

In spring 1498, Richard III issued letters patent to the Genoese navigator John Cabot for a transatlantic expedition. Following Columbus’ historic voyage in 1492, England and many other European nations looked to the horizon and sought to emulate his discoveries. Cabot had heard stories of Cornish sailors travelling deep into the Atlantic as early as the 1470s, in search of the mythical Hy-Brasil. Cabot cajoled Venetian bankers in London, the Merchant Adventurers of Bristol and most importantly the crown to finance and supply an expedition. He proposed that by travelling at higher latitudes than their Spanish and Portuguese contemporaries, journeys across the Atlantic could be significantly shortened. The geography of the Western Hemisphere still all but a mystery, the navigator believed he could bypass the West Indies and soon reach China beyond. He set off on 3 May aboard the Matthew, accompanied by a crew of eighteen.

Cabot didn’t reach the Far East but instead North America. Surveying the coast of Newfoundland before returning home, Cabot became the first European to visit the continent in five hundred years. Save a small group of Italian associates, including his son Sebastian and the Augustinian friar Giovanni de Carbonariis, Cabot’s crews were composed primarily of experienced Cornish and Bristol sailors. Several merchants with maritime experience, all investors, joined the second voyage in 1499, which consisted of three ships and over one hundred crew. Amongst them was a young Edgar Drake, who would become a famed explorer in his own right in the next century. Cabot’s death before a planned third voyage in 1500 saw the Merchant Adventurers of Bristol take over the venture entirely. England’s greatest living sailor, Sir Charles Gilbert, made an admiral after the Battle of the Forth, took command and would lead multiple expeditions to the New World.



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John Cabot departs Bristol, May 1498

Despite remaining active in government, by 1498 the king’s health was in decline. His scoliosis, which garnered him the epithet “Crookback” amongst detractors, had limited impact on his daily life[4]. Instead arthetica; arthritis effecting both the upper and lower limbs, took its toll on the once athletic king[5]. Joint issues had plagued Richard since his early thirties and now approaching fifty were often debilitating. During his great victory at Glenogle the king was forced to command from the royal tent, unable to ride due to searing leg pains. Medicinal relief for arthritic pain was often provided by ingestion of common rue, the foul-tasting “sour herb of grace”. Richard used rue regularly in his later years, the long term side effects of liver and kidney damage being poorly understood by medieval apothecaries.

In April, Francis Lovell, Earl of Derby, died in a riding accident. Lovell had been the king’s closest confidante and a childhood friend. The news devastated Richard. He was known for maintaining a small inner circle, all having served him for years, if not decades. Lovell’s death was followed by that of the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Langton, in June. While his talented deputy William Warham assumed the role, Richard considered Langton and Lovell irreplaceable voices on the privy council.

Warham was to prove his worth in the new year, when his spies on the continent informed him of a conspiracy and planned invasion, led by a royal pretender. By 1499, such a proposition seemed ridiculous. The death of Henry Tudor, his own claim to the crown contentious, had ended the Lancastrian line in 1485. The only noteworthy effort to take Richard’s throne since had been the farcical adventure of the Flemish conman Perkin Warbeck in 1495. Warbeck’s claim to be “Henry of Pembroke”, an unknown son of the fallen Tudor, convinced few would-be backers and his 200 mercenaries were quickly routed after landing in Kent that autumn. Warbeck was found hiding in a barn and, after writing a confession to his ruse, hanged at Tyburn[6].



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Last of the Lancasters: Lady Margaret Beaufort

To the surprise of many, the new pretender was Edward Stafford. His father, the Duke of Buckingham, had been an ally of Richard, only to rebel against him in 1483. The duke was executed and his lands and titles made forfeit. The 5 year-old Edward was taken into hiding to avoid the king’s wrath, before later being smuggled across the Channel. The self-styled 3rd Duke of Buckingham had grown up primarily in Burgundy, under the protection of Lady Margaret Beaufort. Mother of Henry Tudor, Lady Margaret had remained in exile, matriarch of what little remained of the her family’s cause. Stafford was a matrilineal descendent of John of Gaunt and a cousin of Richard III, arguably a stronger claim than Tudor. However in the immediate aftermath of Bosworth Field, few wished to back a child pretender.

By the late 1490s, Stafford had reached adulthood and through Lady Margaret’s connections found tentative financial support from the Duke of Burgundy and King of France[7]. Albert Rodney, a dedicated Lancastrian turned condottiere, accepted command, gathering the few exiles still loyal to the cause and hiring several thousand German and Flemish mercenaries for the expedition. New exiles joined them in May 1499. Stafford had been in contact with the disgruntled Northumberland for over a year before Warham’s spies alerted Richard. Plans to raise a simultaneous rebellion in the north were aborted as Northumberland and his closest retainers fled for France[8].

Unwilling to wait any longer, Stafford launched his invasion, landing in Devon on 13 June. Traditionally an area of Lancastrian support, thousands rallied to the pretender’s flag as they advanced north through Salisbury, though not in the numbers hoped. After a decade of relative peace and prosperity, Stafford’s tenuous claim to the throne failed to stir the hearts of many, while some remembered his father simply as a traitor[9]. Richard III, recently bedridden, began mustering troops in London on word of Stafford’s landing. The speed of the invading army’s advance surprised the king, who hurried to meet them outside the capital on 14 July.



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Battle of Colnbrook Bridge, 14 July 1499
Fighting was focused around the small hamlet of Colnbrook and its bridge over the River Wraysbury. Richard took the initiative and attempted to force a crossing in the early hours of the morning. Rodney’s experienced Flemish companies were able to hold the western end of the bridge for several hours at great cost to the attackers. The tide of the battle turning, the rebels pushed Richard’s infantry back across the river. Stafford took his cavalry forward to lead the charge, hoping to roll up the demoralised royalist lines. However the bridge acted as a bottleneck, slowing the rebel advance. Mounting his horse in great pain, the king rallied his forces for a counter-attack. Stafford, Percy and nearly half of their army became pinned against the river, now heavily outnumbered. The pretender’s standard was taken and his vanguard destroyed as the bridge became choked with fleeing soldiers. Hundreds drowned, including the Duke of Northumberland, held under by a fallen horse. Rumour of Stafford’s death reached the rearguard, causing what remained of the rebel army to scatter. Albert Rodney escaped and returned to his profession on the continent, dying at the Battle of Ferrara in 1506.

Stafford had in fact been captured, though he would not live long. In August, the would-be Edward VI was beheaded at Tower Hill, along with his remaining co-conspirators, the Earl of Arundel and William Percy, brother of the dead duke. The Percy family’s lands and titles were forfeited and divided between the crown and the northern lords. The Nevilles took half of Cumberland and swathes of Northumbrian farmland. The biggest beneficiary would be the Baron Scrope of Bolton. A veteran marcher lord, he had been awarded much of the eastern Scottish Borders in 1497, including Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, a major point of contention for Northumberland. Scrope had refused to join his brother-in-law, Duke Henry, in rebellion. As reward, the baron was raised to Earl of Berwick, taking most of the remaining Percy lands, including their ancestral home, Alnwick Castle.

Victory would soon be followed again by mourning, with the death of Queen Joanna. The royal couple’s once close relationship had become increasingly strained, in part due to the queen’s ‘failure’ to produce more male heirs and, in Richard’s eyes, secure the House of York. Only two of their five offspring had lived past infancy, their first Prince Richard, born in 1487 and their last Princess Anne, born in 1492. Several sources claim the queen had been rendered infertile due to a miscarriage in 1493. Most point simply to the effects of ageing, Joanna having been 39 at the time of Anne’s birth. Dissident propaganda claimed the king sought to leave the “barryn” queen for a younger bride, though for as devout a Catholic as the king, divorce would have been unthinkable. Others claimed Joanna, increasingly drawn back to the piety of her youth, sought to escape dynastic politics for the tranquillity, and chastity, of a monastic life. This was not unheard of for royal widows of the period but was something else altogether for a reigning queen.



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"Get thee to a nunnery!"

While it is doubtful Joanna intended to take up the habit, she was a devoted patron and frequent visitor of Towcester Priory in Northamptonshire. It was home to a Cistercian nunnery, where the queen stayed on multiple occasions. The queen’s growing isolation in prayer angered the king. The queen in turn was angered by Richard’s treatment of his nephew, the Earl of Warwick. After the discovery of the Stafford-Percy conspiracy, the king’s agents had arrested dozens of suspected colluders. Controversially Warwick had been amongst them at express order of the king, despite no clear connection to the rebels. However as son of Richard’s older brother the Duke of Clarence, Warwick’s superior claim to the throne was held back only by an act of parliament. It is unclear if Richard was truly paranoid about another pretender or simply took the opportunity to pre-empt one. Nevertheless the king’s intention to execute Warwick horrified Joanna.

Tensions between the couple boiled over at the royal court, with Joanna publicly demanding Warwick’s release, to the fury of Richard. The king’s mocking command, “get thee to a nunnery!”, had echoed through Gloucester Palace as Joanna left London for Towcester once last time. Less than two weeks later, the queen died suddenly on 14 November 1499, victim of an outbreak of sweating sickness at the priory[10]. Her death caused intense feelings of grief and guilt in the king. Richard’s mood was darkened further by rumours spreading that he had ordered the murder of the “Blessed Joanna”. This is easily disproven but earned credence from the king’s blood-stained past. Some dared whisper of the Two Princes. If Richard had killed his young wards, could he not kill a belligerent wife? The affair effected the king’s international standing. Supposedly only the testimony of the Cistercians truly satisfied the Portuguese ambassador, Dom Henrique de Almada. He wrote to John II, assuring him that his sister had passed peacefully, with “Christ in her heart”.

The wretched affair, following on from the loss of Lovell and Langton, and combined with his waning health, saw Richard retirefrom day-to-day affairs. He spent his final summer at Middleham Castle, his childhood home. In 1501, the teenage Prince of Wales joined the privy council, overseen in practice by the Lord Chancellor. Then on 18th December 1502 the king, suffering from severe gout, died aged 49 at Gloucester Palace. His eighteen year reign had seen the nation re-emerge from the destructive Wars of the Roses as an economic, political and military power. The crown’s authority had been restored, often at the tip of a sword. His reforms, sponsorship of the navy and sea exploration, and dynastic alliances all set the stage for England’s rise in the 16th century. Yet the intrigue and death that surrounded Richard III haunt his legacy, most of all the lost "
Princes in the Tower". In the words of the 18th century historian Isaac Stepney, "there was a shadow cast upon his crown”.


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Deathbed of Richard III, December 1502


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[1] Owing to their similar ages and the Anglo-Spanish alliance, Catherine of Aragon remains the prime marriage candidate for an English prince, be he York or Tudor.
[2] OTL’s Richmond Palace. The design was in line with styles during Edward IV and Richard III’s reign plus some Renaissance flourishes. Sheen Palace that it replaced was a 200 year-old death trap, with fires and collapsing ceilings nearly killing Henry VII and others on several occasions.
[3] The Scropes were a minor noble family who always seemed to bet on a loser during the political unrest of 15th and 16th century England. They supported Richard in 1485 and ITTL they chose wisely. Also they have a funny name.
[4] Chroniclers who actually met Richard III claim his “deformity” was only apparent in his right shoulder being higher than his left, something he masked with specially tailored garments. The study of his remains seem to confirm this and while his scoliosis appears quite dramatic when viewing his skeleton, it’s impact on his day-to-day would have been minor.
[5] Far more surprising were signs of onset arthritis in many of Richard’s joints. He was only 32 when he died and a few more decades of active kingship, particularly being on campaign, wouldn’t have done his condition much good I imagine.
[6] If I’m writing about late medieval English pretenders I can’t leave out Perkin Warbeck, one of history’s great chancers.
[7] Even after France supported Henry Tudor in 1485, the various pretenders of his reign found ready backing on the continent.
[8] Percy’s OTL grandson Thomas made a similar flight from royal justice.
[9] Edward Stafford was eventually executed IOTL by Henry VIII due to his possible claim to the throne.
[10] The deadly “English sweats” was a mysterious, fast acting disease that almost exclusively effected the British Isles between the 1480s and 1550s.
 
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Really glad to have this back! It was always among my top few on my wishlist of AARs I wished would have a resurrection.

Richard is really not messing about. First seeing off the Tudors and now seeing off the Scots is going to do a lot of good for his historical standing. He’s set England on the cusp of total supremacy of the British Isles, and with things reasonably stable at home (from memory – that’s going back a bit, mind!) it looks like the coming century could be a very good one for the House of York.

Of course, this being late medieval England there is absolutely no reason to assume anything could possibly be quite so simple. But it’s as good a position as the country’s been in for generations.

Thank you! Richard has done a solid job and many of his reforms and innovations will be built on by his successors. As this update shows even at the height of his powers there are still threats everpresent.

Great writing. I am no fan of the Yorks and Richard III. Hopefully, the Princes will escape the tower. Maybe Count Clark of Kent and Baron Bruce of Wayne could help. Thank you for your work.

I'm afraid the Princes are probably buried under a staircase in the Tower, same as OTL. You get some pretty barmy "Ricardians" defending his legacy but I find him interesting because of the line between the reality and the supervillain portrayed in fiction. He did plenty of bad things but on balance given the times and his contemporaries, I think his sinister reputation is somewhat overblown. Meanwhile in his brief 2 year reign he made some highly successful reforms that lived on in some cases for well over a century.

It is good to see this return and for Richard III and the Yorkists to be in such fine form. All round excellent progress.


I can only assume he never actually looked at his own portraits, being vain while looking anything like that portrait would indeed be an impressive talent!

Thanks very much. When I was looking for portraits of James III, that was the first one I found and assumed it was just a crummy painting. Turns out its the most flattering one!

*

Right, a bumper installment to see off Ol' Crookback. Bigger than I intended (and probably in need of trimming) but I wanted to end his reign with a final chapter before we move into a new century with a new king. Hope you enjoy!
 
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Hmmm. England seems in a good place.

Strong monarchy.
Weakening nobility.
Good alliance with Spain who are about to become the greatest power in the world.
Discovered North amercia and have the chance to start building a colonial empire of their own, far away from Spain.
Little chance of random switching to protestantism, unless it becomes extremely advantageous.

Only thing England misses out on is the super strong and super good governance of the tudors (well, most of them). But the York line has a better claim, currently rhe only one. Which is good.

With Scotland on the run and empire potentially possible abroad, things are looking up.
 
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Richard, may you find heaven's backdoor and have five minutes before Archangel Michael locates you. The Princes in the Tower, for me, trumps all other actions of Richard. This Time Line gives him a better chance than OTL to do good things. At best, he failed to protect the princes. Probably he commissioned their deaths. Thank you for the update and now we can move away from the historical characters.
 
A surprisingly successful reign, not sure why I am surprised by things going so well for Richard III but I am. All that Tudor propaganda probably. ;)

And so the new King will have to grapple with the reformation and the upcoming religious strife. Assuming Richard IV and Catherine of Aragon have a decent marriage then we could be looking at an England that keeps the Spanish Alliance and stays Catholic, which would be a massive change. On the one hand this should be popular, the regular Hapsburg wars with France provide a perfect excuse for England to go to war with her ancestral foe (not that any excuse is needed of course), but on the other the Lollards may be taking things a bit far but they do have a point about the problems in the church, so staying Catholic may be tricky. Worse if England doesn't go C of E there is even less pressure on the Papacy to do anything so the counter-reformation may get delayed or watered down.

Challenges ahead, I look forward to seeing how they turn out. :)
 
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A surprisingly successful reign, not sure why I am surprised by things going so well for Richard III but I am. All that Tudor propaganda probably. ;)

And so the new King will have to grapple with the reformation and the upcoming religious strife. Assuming Richard IV and Catherine of Aragon have a decent marriage then we could be looking at an England that keeps the Spanish Alliance and stays Catholic, which would be a massive change. On the one hand this should be popular, the regular Hapsburg wars with France provide a perfect excuse for England to go to war with her ancestral foe (not that any excuse is needed of course), but on the other the Lollards may be taking things a bit far but they do have a point about the problems in the church, so staying Catholic may be tricky. Worse if England doesn't go C of E there is even less pressure on the Papacy to do anything so the counter-reformation may get delayed or watered down.

Challenges ahead, I look forward to seeing how they turn out. :)

Eh, given the Hapsburgs are about to inherit into the burgundian empire, the Spanish empire and the HRE...they seem like amazing allies to breed with.

And then, since they can't get their malformed jaws into France, they'll let the british have it and north amercia.
 
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[4] Chroniclers who actually met Richard III claim his “deformity” was only apparent in his right shoulder being higher than his left, something he masked with specially tailored garments. The study of his remains seem to confirm this and while his scoliosis appears quite dramatic when viewing his skeleton, it’s impact on his day-to-day would have been minor.
[5] Far more surprising were signs of onset arthritis in many of Richard’s joints. He was only 32 when he died and a few more decades of active kingship, particularly being on campaign, wouldn’t have done his condition much good I imagine.
Really the amount of pro- and anti-Ricardian propaganda that was confirmed/denied simply by finding his skeleton has been incredible. I once watched a Ricardian claim that Richard had no spinal problems - none at all - and the hunchback was dramatic license by Shakespeare to please the Tudors.
 
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