Chapter 1: The Mad King (1444-1448)
Faced with dire circumstances that had left his kingdom largely unprepared for renewed hostilities, the extreme pressures that had been forced upon Henry VI would lead his mental instability to grow worse with every passing week. Incapable of ruler-ship, his regime would come to be dominated by the actions of his advisers. A looming threat was on the horizon, and everyone within Parliament knew it.
With the King unable to act, his advisors would carry the mantle of leadership, cursed with the burden of having to carry the entire Kingdom upon their backs with every decision they made. Some choices would be easier than others, as a myriad of realms sought to share an alliance with England for pragmatic purposes. The Irish King of Leinster looked for safety for his own domain and his friendly attitude with England led him to agree upon an alliance with England.
England herself, should the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland be reinvigorated, looked to use a similar diplomatic maneuver with the Kingdom of Castile. English diplomats and advisors working on behalf of Henry VI believed the alliance was more of mutual value rather than a true military alliance, and served as more of a deterrent to French aggression.
With deep tension growing between France and England, soldiers were being exhausted on the battlefield as the nobility of the Kingdom abused their privileges and kept their serfs as mere jests. With an army already being mobilised to deal with another potential continuation of hostilities with France, a force would be created to rival their private levies to ensure the cooperation of the nobility and keep them in line.
The King's Advisors would make an astonishing discovery upon diplomacy with France. Charles VII of France and James II of Scotland had gone their separate ways and decided to not maintain the Auld Alliance between their nations, something that was received very well within Parliament and the royal council. Scotland’s alliance with France was disbanded due to James’s commitment to not get involved in another major conflict with the English, something that guaranteed England’s safety among the home isles and the full commitment for the Kingdom’s army among the continent.
Such preparations would take place over the next nine months, where the King’s council would work with the authority of the King. Within that time, Henry VI would become desperate to keep the peace between England and France. Henry would soon marry Charles's niece, Margaret of Anjou, with the hopes that it would achieve peace and end the tension between their kingdoms in the early months of 1445. While the marriage was a success, the desired peace failed. William de la Pole, one of Henry’s main advisers and having no mandate to make the decision to surrender Maine as dictated in the Treaty of Tours, was later murdered by French agents working under Charles VII.
With the prospect of war becoming unavoidable and an unfortunately reality for the King, Henry VI would soon suffer mentally from the sheer amount of stress surrounding him and his position of King. This would become the first series of mental breakdowns that the King would begin to suffer from, starting with bouts of anger towards his advisers and servants that slowly would become worse. Henry VI, known as a timid and shy young man but well-intentioned, was acting out of character as his growing anger and dormant insanity crept up inside of him.
Despite accepting the Treaty of Tours, no English governor was prepared to surrender Maine nor wanted to be remembered as the ones who surrendered it, leading to political deadlock between England and France. Charles VII would soon offer an ultimatum, honor the obligations of the treaty and surrender Maine, or war.
After much deliberation, the Kingdom of England refused to cede the province, much to Charles VII’s anger. War would be declared, and hostilities would commence yet again. Upon finding out that England was now openly at war with France, Henry VII would suddenly enter into what many today would call a panic attack.
With the latest stage of the Hundred Years War commencing, the conflict was set to change the very destiny of the two Kingdoms. Both sides were armed to the teeth and refused to back down. Within both nations, a growing sense would dawn upon their respective governments, whoever emerged victorious was set to become the final victor. This would become viewed by both France and England as the war to end all wars.
With the Treaty of Tours having brought a very brief period of truce between England and the French, both sides would have their forces mobilized at all times. It was obvious that the truce would not stand the test of time. With Scotland out of the picture, England could concentrate her full effort into dealing with Continental affairs.
In the opening stages of the war, France would capture Maine, and English loyalists would come to stay in hiding to avoid persecution. However, within a few weeks since the start of the conflict, Maine would be recaptured by English forces. These loyalists would come to welcome English forces into the city with open arms, with many of them wanting to commit to the war effort to reinforce the dwindling manpower reserves of the Kingdom’s army.
Bringing the collective might of England’s armies together, England would triumph against the French at the Battle of Chartres. While numerically superior than the French army, the leadership of William Beresford would lead to victory. During the battle, Bureau’s left flank would come to shatter under the pressure, soon leading England to break through their defenses and surround the French, soon defeating and cutting them down in detail. France would suffer from a hefty setback, while England celebrated its greatest victory since Agincourt.
The Kingdom of Burgundy, holding a dominant position around the Low Countries, would come to play a pivotal role in a series of events that were to follow. Philip III of Burgundy, also known as Philip the Good, Under his reign, he played an important role over the history of the Low Countries and was pivotal in political affairs between shifting alliances. Along with being responsible for the capture of Joan of Arc, Burgundy had reached her current apex of prestige and power. Despite this, Burgundy was separated from her lands, something that Philip III sought to correct
Coming to launch an invasion to connect his lands, Philip III’s expansion would come to target the lands around Lorraine and Provencal held lands in the region. These two small duchy’s were allied with France against the English, something that Burgundy took full opportunity upon. Charles VII would suddenly find himself stuck between an anvil and a hammer, his dominion split between the dual hammers of the English and now Burgundian menace.
With the success following the Battle of Chartres, England followed into dislodging Breton support and severely damaging their capabilities to fight against the English. On the battle and sea, the Kingdom of England would utterly demolish Brittany, where the might of England was focused upon the Battle of Caen and the naval battle of Cote D’Argent. William Bresford and Richard Plantagenet believed that England’s strength would be a collective series of decisive battle, where belief that should English forces operate as separate armies, they would be divided and destroyed
English success would soon come to be short lived, where England would be defeated by a narrow victory secured by France and her allies. The Battle of Touraine would leave a dent in the manpower reserves of the English army, where they couldn’t afford heavy losses. English armies marched to Calais for reinforcements and recovery, temporarily abandoning offensive campaigns.
During the retreat, France would formally join the fray to help protect her allies within Lorraine and declare war on the Kingdom of Burgundy. With her attention focused towards the north and east, England quietly retreated to lick their wounds and recover from the defeat. Charles VII and Philip III both took a heavy gamble with their kingdoms, throwing everything on the line. It would be a high risk, high reward conflict.
If Burgundy and her subjects in the Low Countries emerged victorious, they could seize upon the moment and take crucial provinces to strengthen their realm and cripple the power of France. France, simultaneously at war with England and Burgundy, had had potential to eliminate two birds with one stone should she ultimately emerge victorious. But as French manpower and morale was drained, Burgundy had a fresh army and zeal among her ranks.
With France and Burgundy fighting over the future of Northern France, England took the opportunity to march along the coastline while her enemy was distracted. With Brittany left defeated and unable to recover from the prior engagement with England, the Kingdom would throw everything they had to force the Duchy of Brittany out of the war. Francis I of Brittany would find his realm assaulted from land and sea, and with overwhelming force.
With the Duchy forced into submission following the successful Siege of Finistere and blockade of Brest, England forced Francis I of Brittany and his Duchy to surrender to English terms or risk having Namur sieged. With morale low and his Duchy devastated by the conflict, Brittany would sue for peace with England, signing a light peace of war reparations and allowing English soldiers military access for a period of ten years. With Brittany out of the war, England once more focused upon their French rival.
Already facing pressures from England and Burgundian invaders in almost every direction, the Kingdom of France would be left struggling to fend off against the invaders. Charles VII would fight for a noble cause against overwhelming odds, even managing to secure victories against Burgundy to defend Paris. Already overwhelmed within the north, France would suddenly find a third threat to fight against, the Kingdom of Aragon…
Aragon would come to suddenly cross the Pyrenees and march into Southern France, led personally by their king, Alfonso V of Aragon. With her manpower dwindling and now at war with three of her major rivals, France’s fate would come to be sealed. Despite overwhelming odds, Charles VII was prepared not to surrender easily, where him and whatever remained of his army were prepared to make a last stand.
Even despite the success of the war against England, Henry VI would still suffer from his insanity. His mental health would deteriorate sharply over the next three years and the monarch would become dangerously violent, unable to recognize his wife or the fact that he was even the king. With a decaying mind, this would severely trouble the minds and leadership of Parliament and the nobility, who feared the King’s capability to rule.
Perhaps fortunately within that time, within a moment of clarity within the King, Henry VI and Margaret de Anjou were able to conceive a child. With succession matters being lifted, things would take a tragic turn for the worst when Margaret’s water would break. During a long labor, the stress imposed upon the King would cause his mental illness to flare up to dangerous levels. In the winter of 1448, tragedy would strike the House of Lancaster. Margaret’s child would come to be stillborn and perished soon after birth, much to the deep sadness of the Queen.
Already faced with a dangerous mental state that made him aggressive and hostile to almost all of his advisers and servants, Henry was left in a panicked state during his wife’s pregnancy. Upon realizing the loss of his heir, Henry had lost his potential savior to his royal house, and promptly went mad. In an Initial frenzy of violence where he nearly killed physicians and advisers in the room, where he even at once held his stillborn son by the leg, he would finally suffer a mental breakdown. Henry could neither talk nor walk, was barely able to hold up his head, sitting slumped and silent like a rag doll in front of his horrified attendants, never being able to recover.
Margaret I de Anjou, Queen of England. A Champion of the Crown by virtue of personality and family example, her future reign would make her one of the most successful English monarchs of all time.
With zero signs of improvement, The crown would come to pass to a wildcard, the king’s wife Margaret de Anjou. Known for being beautiful and passionate, she was proud and had nerves of steel. Despite her foreign birth and French connections, her loyalties were fervently English. Known for her incredible skill in diplomacy in the brief three years that Margaret had been married to the king. Parliament and nobility would come to remove Henry VI by formally moving him to abdicate the throne on his behalf.
Margaret would be crowned in Westminster Abbey on January 26th 1448, crowned as Margaret I of England. Already having been a power behind the throne during the reign of her weak husband, Margaret’s ascension to the throne legitimized her in the eyes of the world. The ruling House of Lancaster would become deposed peacefully, much to the hostility of the Houses of York and Lancasterian relatives, as a new ruling dynasty would take root in England.
The House of d’Anjou would become triumphant, and while nobody knew it, Margaret’s reign would come to change the world...
