-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
surely the Low Countries will drive towards the Empire rather the centralized dual Monarchy
You know, at this moment in time Flanders is still officially a feudal vassal of the French crown....
Chapter 7: Decimation (1467-1472)
Chapter 7: Decimation (1467-1472)
With daggers pointed at their throats and with Burgundy brought upon their knees, the realm of Charles the Bold would be utterly transformed by the end of his kingdom’s war against the Dual Monarchy. It would be the headstrong actions of the Burgundian monarch and through careful diplomacy that would see Burgundy left almost in a state of ruin and forever tainted. The already incredible ascension of Margaret of Anjou and the union of crowns that she had established had already made her into the most powerful woman in Europe. And yet, the mother of the nation was about to further expand upon the glory of the Dual Monarchy, with her actions all but ultimately securing a hegemonic position within Western Europe.
With the decisive victory against the House of Bourgogne, Anjou supremacy within England and France was almost assured. While Burgundy still held important French territories that lay beyond the grasp of the Dual Monarchy, the union was sitting comfortably among Europe. Her economy was thriving and both French and English diplomats frequently engaged with political actions across Europe.
Within the Kingdom of Castile, a brief but violent civil war would commence over the succession of the throne. After just over a year of fighting, the Castilians would come to see a closer relationship to Portugal. With the deepening relationship between the two Iberian monarchies, the Dual Monarchy felt threatened about the ‘encroachment’ of Castilian influence towards Portugal out of fears that the Casilians would ultimately persuade their neighbor to abandon the almost century old alliance between them and England.
With instability gripping the Italian Peninsula, the Papal territories that made up Provence had launched a rebellion against the Holy See and ultimately won. The very moment that the Duchy of Provence would gain their independence once more, the Dual Monarchy would jump upon the offer to bring the wealthy region back into the fold, ultimately declaring war upon the newly restored Duchy before Provence could seek support.
With barely an army to defend themselves and having no diplomatic connections to the rest of Europe, Provence would be crushed in a matter of months and directly annexed into the Dual Monarchy. To further strengthen royal authority, Queen Margaret and the royal parliament would forcefully revoke claims that the duchy once had upon ‘core’ territories that her father once held, further reducing the new authority of the new territory.
Provence had long posed as a natural ally of France, yet they had opposed the legitimacy of the Dual Monarchy. The young nation would be brought into the fold, with their unique position near Genoa helping to supplement the income of the nation. At the same time, it would further legitimize the position of the Dual Monarchy as the legitimate France as well as England.
With newly independent Flanders sitting among the Low Countries, their freedom would soon be met with authority as the Dual Monarchy would come to flex her diplomatic might as a continental power. Flanders was forced to break the alliance between their nation and Scotland, something that Flanders would begrudgingly agree upon. This would be done discreetly between Flanders and the Dual Monarchy, ensuring that Scotland would not find out about the broken alliance until it was too late. With Flanders agreeing, they had ultimately sealed the fate of Scotland...
While the power of the Dual Monarchy had remained at an incredible high, they had made themselves many enemies among the crowns and republics of Europe. With tensions especially high, Margaret I would look away from aggressive expansion across Continental Europe and instead entered a period of peace. Any wars that the nation was to fight was to either defend their allies or, simply, send a message...
With the broken alliance between Flanders and Scotland, Queen Margaret I would task the Irish Lords to mobilize and prepare for war. The Irish Lords were tasked with remaining upon the offensive, serving as the armored spear for the conflict to come, while English troops would perform the heavy lifting themselves.
With preparations made, Queen Margaret I would launch the invasion of Scotland in the early months of 1471. English soldiers would cross into the defended southern territories while the Irish Lords would come to cross the sea and flank Scotland’s western lands. Scotland would be overwhelmed as the Dual Monarchy would invade from the south and west. The Queen did not look to simply declare a war of conquest, instead, she looked to bring England’s northern rival to her very knees.
In less than a month, the entirety of West March would be broken as English soldiers would simply break through the fortified Scottish Marches. With West March broken, the English advancement within the South had seemed virtually unstoppable. Edinburgh would be be threatened directly, while the Irish Lords would rapidly cross into the Scottish Highlands.
Scotland would be delt with a deathblow at the Battle of Argyll, which would see the Scots rapidly outnumbered by the Irish Lords in direct combat, who were soon reinforced by one of the main English armies. By the end of the day, over half of the Scottish army was dead, with little to no resistance emerging to seriously threaten the English invasion during the rest of the war.
With the defeat of Scottish army at Argyll, the Irish Lords would force the Irish Navy out from their ports at the Firth of Forth. The Scottish fleet, desperate to escape, would come to sail out of port and try to escape into the North Sea. The English Fleet would outmaneuver the panicked Scottish fleet and trap them into a bottleneck, upon which they would be completely destroyed to the very last ship. With Scotland virtually massacred upon the waters of the River Forth, all her remaining trade ships were trapped.
Upon crossing into the Highlands, England would unconventionally secure the loyalty of a surprising amount of the Highlander clans, all of whom were chafing under the rule of the House of Stuart in recent years. With the support of some of these clans, the Highlands would eventually fall under English occupation. Scoland was doomed, and only once the entirety of the Kingdom was brought under submission, would Queen Margaret impose the harshest of peaces to ensure that Scotland’s power would forever remain broken.
The resulting peace that was to come would become absolutely brutal for Scotland. In what would become known as the Treaty of Edinburgh, James II of Scotland would bear witness of the destruction of his kingdom. Scotland would be broken apart and retain a fraction of its power, with only the Scottish Lowlands remaining under the control of the Stuarts. Queen Margaret I would decimate Scotland, humiliating the traditional rival of the English crown and breaking their power upon the region. Within England itself, her prestige would absolutely skyrocket and further earn herself a place among the finest of English monarchs.
The Kingdom of Scotland and her new northern fragments, the Highlander Kingdom of Gaeldom and the Kingdom of the Isles, c.1472.
Broken into three, Scotland would become broken and left devastated. The Highlands would florish with their newfound independence, with the new Galedom feeling grateful towards the English who had helped them secure their independence. The Kingdom of the Isles, ruling among the Hebrides, would remain positive of England but retain strict neutrality. Margaret I would greatly increase English influence within the region, but despite this, felt as if she had made a grave mistake. The Queen had broken Scotland, but at the same time, left the region wide open to conquest….
Shortly after the war, a tragedy would befall the Dual Monarchy. William Beresford, known as the Hero who had won the Hundred Years War, would pass away from natural cases within an army camp in London. Soldiers under his command would mourn him as one of their own, and among the crown, the reaction was equally sombre. The captain would be buried with the highest of military honours, where the Queen personally attending the funeral herself.
Diplomatic affairs to extend an offer of friendship to the Highlanders would blossom among the Dual Monarchy and the northern realm, with Queen Margaret I guaranteeing the realm's independence due to their political weakness as a nation. This would originally be used as a political deterrent to prevent the defeated Scottish from reclaiming the Highlands.
Instead, reality would be far more sinister….
Ah, fighting the Kalmar Union... well, Europe only has room for one multinational monarchy after all.
It's a defensive war, so with any luck the navy is gonna do all the fighting and starving the Scandi's into submission
As I have a certain love affair with the Angevins, I will have to read this! Just dropping in to let you know. Best of luck.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Hopefully you'll be able to destroy the Danish navy before it manages to land too many troops in Scotland! By the way, is the Queen somehow related to the Plantagenet dynasty - also known as D'Anjou.
Interesting concept for an English game and an interesting position to find oneself in. Very well written, by the way.
I shall be following eagerly!
I shall be following eagerly!
Chapter 8: Master of the North Sea (1472-1478)
Chapter 8: Master of the North Sea (1472-1478)
Through completely breaking their power, the Scottish Lion would have their backs broken. England would no longer have to worry about any threats coming among their northern border due to the culling of their Scottish rival, and were now able to do as they pleased in engaging diplomatic ventures across the continent. Queen Margaret would, however, predict that her strategy in breaking apart Scotland would backfire. Her predictions would come true...
The Kalmar Union, dominating the Baltic Sea, would openly declare war over the protected realm of Gaeldom with the intention to invade the remainder of Scotland. The Dual Monarchy deeply opposed the Scandinavians, acting in defiance against tthe Kalmar Union. While they were now Christians, the prospect of a second Danelaw period was more than enough for the English to rally under the crown and take a stand.
Due to the distance of the two opposing sides, alongside with both powers knowing that attempting a land invasion would become incredibly costly and dangerous, the fate over Galedom would be determined on who had controlled the North Sea.
Coming to the aid of the Scandinavians, the small Duchy of Gelre would have an overwhelming military force lay siege to their borders. Only the French would lay siege to the area, while the English were focused on naval matters. In under a year, the small Duchy was forced out of the war.
While having an incredibly powerful fleet among the North Sea, the Kalmar Union would have the navy of their respective monarchies act independently from one another. The Dual Monarchy however would have their fleet organised, hunting down enemy ships within the North Sea and preventing any attempts of a coastal invasion. Just off from the land at the Helgoland Bight, the combined Anglo-French Fleet sunk one of many Kalmar fleets.
Already known as being an incredible naval power in their own might, the Dual Monarchy would humiliate the Kalmar Fleets. Nordic ships would be sunk to the bottom of the North Sea, where Norwegian and Danish fleets would be destroyed. Sweden, looking to protect themselves and not aid their brethren, only kept their fleet within the Baltic Sea. In six months, the Kalmar Union had lost almost all of their respective fleets.
While patrolling the North Sea itself, it would become clear that simply defeating the Scandinavians would not be enough along the ocean. A more direct and intimidating approach would be taken under the command of Humphrey Cumberland, which would see the Dual Monarchy sail out of the North Sea and into the Baltic. Danish ships would sail to defend Copenghagen, but the aid of the Swedish and Norwegian fleets would never appear, leaving the much smaller fleet to be sunk on the Oresund.
Within two years of naval battles and little to no conflict among the land, the Kalmar Union would throw in the towel and call it quits. Their invasion of Galedom would be stopped outright, and the Orkney Islands would be ceded as compensation. While the war had little political ramifications, it had considerable weight in terms of military might. It had further legitimized the Dual Monarchy as the dominant political, economic and military power within Western Europe. It’s naval might would send the formidable Kalmar fleet to the bottom of the North Sea, further leaving the Anglo-French union as masters of the northern seas.
With peace returning to the nation, Queen Margaret extended her diplomatic reach, replacing the gurantee of independence with an alliance with the Highlanders. Having saved their small kingdom, Galedom overwhelmingly agreed to the alliance, leaving an impression upon the natio.
With the teachings of the Renaissance entering into full-swing, it would become increasingly fashionable among the nobility to spend time on experimentation and philosophy. Some of these nobles would come to form regular discussion groups, while others used letters to share their knowledge with other intelligent minds. One of these groups had contacted the Queen, asking for patronage and support, promising that a royal endorsement would benefit the Dual Monarchy in the near future. Queen Margaret would endorse the fledgling Scientific Society, giving royal support to what was quickly becoming known as the English Renaissance.
The Duchy of Burgundy, never having reached their ambitions of becoming a mighty kingdom of their own, would suddenly collapse from internal pressure. Charles the Bold, once a feared enemy of the Dual Monarchy, had died in the years following the battle that had broken his kingdom. Burgundy was left under the far less capable leadership of his son, which had left a power vacuum that had seen what had taken generations to achieve simply break away in a matter of days.
As the ties between England and France would deepen, French influence would begin to be seen within the English Court. While such influence would be treated as unwanted, the influencers at hand mean no harm. The French, through careful political maneuvers, had begun to influence the royal court. Queen Margaret, of French blood herself, would also come to lead this influence herself. Due to the passive and benevolent nature of this influence, England would rest easy knowing that no harm would come of it.
The scale of the Dual Monarchy would see its influence stretch from the North Sea to the Mediterrean, ruling over a very powerful and wealthy realm. Queen Margaret would come to organise her realm upon decentralised bureaucracy, allowing local lords to maintain power within their respective regions and maintaining the balance between cultures. .
With a growing network of alliances stretching across different regions of Europe, the Dual Monarchy looked towards neighboring powers to foster a friendship and perhaps alliance with. One such nation that seemed interested would be the Swiss, who would agree to an alliance between the Cantons and the Dual Monarchy with enthusiasm. While normally allies with distant powers such as Austria and Portugal, the alliance and similar interests between the Angevin monarchy and the Swiss would close the gap.
With an evolving world, the military would come to adapt as the bronze cannon would make its entrance upon the battlefield. Already being used with terrifying efficiency, the materials needed to feed the growing cannon-making industries had led to an explosion in the demand for copper.
As the years would begin to pass by, both the English and French languages would begin to borrow grammer from one another. While the grammar between the two languages were similar in some ways, they were still radically different from one another. The similarities between the two would begin to shine through as grammer from one language would become substituted for the other.
With the explosion of economic and merchants within the two kingdoms, draperies from Maine would begin to succeed in the domestic market, so much so that it was leading to the birth of a new generation of entrepreneurs and economic speculation. Upon learning of this, the crown would intervene within the markets and tightened regulations, leaving it to benefit local french entrepenurs within the region in an unregulated economic growth.
Across the Pyrenees, domestic developments would take an interesting turn of events as the crowns of Castile and Aragon were unified by marriage in an Iberian Wedding. The newly wedded Queen of Castile, the young IsabelIa de Trastamaria, would prove to show her administrative and diplomatic genius by symbolically unifying two rival kingdoms and virtually doubling the size of her new dominion without a drop of blood. Isabella’s marriage to Ferdinand would come to see the basis of a powerful basis for a de-facto unification of Spain. The Dual Monarchy watched with interest at the rising Iberian power, looking with satisfaction and praise for the young monarch that reminded the Queen of herself at a younger age, and perhaps a little bit of fear for what could become a powerful rival. Once Castile had truly made their intentions clear, the faint relationship between the Angevin and Iberian monarchy would be severed, leading to a new rivalry between both sides of the Pyrenees.
The wedding portrait of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, c.1478.
As the Dual Monarchy was prepared to enter into a new generation, the union was about to once more climb to even greater heights under its Queen...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kalmar Union's attempt for a second Danelaw shall not succeed as long as Queen Margaret draws breath!
Disappointed the Scandinavians invaded, but certainly not surprised.
Almost zero land battles occurred during the entire war, the entire conflict was decided by naval might. Had the Kalmar Union decided to work together and combine their fleet, there was a very real chance that they could have defeated the Dual Monarchy in the North Sea.
Indeed. The almost complete destruction of Scandinavia's naval capacities is sure to hurt them quite badly, but it left a clear message about who ruled the North Sea
Thank you! Glad to have you on board
Thank you for the compliment, I hope you enjoy this story
Under more realistic circumstances, Margaret's claim upon the English throne in this sort of manner would have ruffled more than a few feathers. Didn't help that she was very unpopular historically and is largely responsible for the chaotic War of the Roses. In this timeline, things are naturally different. Desperate times called for desperate measures. And the foreign queen that was once thought to be nothing more than an enemy seductress managed to save the Lancastrian cause, lay the foundations of the Dual Monarchy, sire an entire dynasty almost on her own and become the Queen responsible for establishing and laying the foundation of an empire. Shgoing to be remembered as quite the monarch when she passes
A fruitful end to the war with the Scandinavians, and interesting to see the continued interdevelopment of English and French cultures. Will be intrigued to see where all of that hinting leads.
I think realistically an Angevin empire would slowly become culturally more French than English, since the French population is much much higher. Of course the French language as we know it today was mostly spoken only in and around Paris in those days. Interesting times are ahead.
Since 1066 the English court had spoken French anyway, so for those at the top of the tree little will change really. ‘Modern’ English doesn’t really appear until like the 16th century (I think—I’m remembering some very vague history here so bear with me) so yeah, absolutely scope for Middle English to lean even more into French. ITTL we end up with a sort of dual language where (Norman) French survives in a lot of legal and ecclesiastical terminology, and also in the dialect of the upper classes. Famously, the aristocrats used the word buef to describe their meat dinners, while the Anglo-Saxon farmers in the field continued to use the word cu, hence “beef” vs “cow”. There’s also a lot of surviving expressions which are etymological doubles, just in a different language: eg, “safe and sound” is first recorded as an expression in Middle English in the 14th century or so, but it’s just a case of the French and Anglo-Saxon terms combining. “Safe” comes from the French sauf, while “sound” is related to the German gesund.
It would be entirely plausible that increased contact and cultural mixing would result in an even more blended language, and I’d be fascinated to speculate on how this might be reflected along class lines. Does French retain its formality and aristocratic sheen? Is vernacular English more influenced by vernacular French, so we end up with like a working-class Franglais dialect? Does it hit the north of England as much as the south?
Frankly I’d love to see an update just devoted to exploring some of these questions. Over to you @Crimson Lionheart!
Last edited:
I didn't know the events about the French and English cultures becoming closer were in EUIV. What kind of ingame effect do they have?
It's certainly one heck of a question honestly. At this rate, something akin to Franglais would certainly not be surprising given the cultural and linguistic fusion between the two monarchies. I'm not sure that's the approach taken within the mod, but either way, the next generation or two is bound to see enormous changes.
Brittania rules the waves!
I'm using Missions Expanded for this AAR, which contains an Angevin path which is only accessible if England wins the Hundred Years War. Without spoiling anything, there is going to be a tremendous cultural shift in the next few decades.
I'm certainly considering doing some "Bonus" Chapters. Just as an example, an entire chapter talking about the Irish Lords. There can be quite a lot done around worldbuilding that would flesh out the story, along with answering any questions should they appear.