The Royal Court of the Neapolitan Kingdom

[HJ Tulp]

The two men entered Elizabeths throneroom. In front of the Queen of Slavonia they made a polite bow.

The speaker of the gate was again the one that spoke to the Queen.

"Your Highness, we are emmisaries of the Duke of Bavaria. You have send him a letter telling him of your situation and mentioning a possible marriage between yourself and the Duke's son to ensure the Polish Crown for you. We are here to discuss that matter with you."

 

[Velasco]

"Indeed. What does your master think of the matter?"

 

[HJ Tulp]

"Milady, our master's son is without a wife so that is no problem. On paper you Majesty have a good chance on taking the Polish Crown. On paper. However Poland is a quaqmire your majesty and with all due respect milady. Naples is very very far away from Poland with a hostile Hungary between it. Your Majesty, the Duke of Bavaria is willing to help you but he will not be able to sway his nobles without something.....in return..."

 

[Velasco]

"Indeed. Whilst Naples is distant, it is also rich, and I am confident in having at leat the financial backing of the King to make myself Queen in Poland. Also, as you will have heard, my late husband was the ally of the Golden Horde, and I am certain of their support in obtaining the crown of Poland.

What is it that your master desires?"

 

[HJ Tulp]

The man smiled, both sinistirly and kind.

"Milady, I fear that the support of the Horde will be more harmfull for your....our cause then it will be good for it. Milady, what I was thinking of was more in terms of.....what will the Bavarian Nobility gain from supporting you? What will they gain from fighting for your cause? After you have taken controll of Poland I assume you have fought and destroyed several factions. Will the Duke of Bavaria and his vassals be allowed to reside on the lands of those factions providing you with a loyal pool of vassals? Who will become King of Poland after? Alot of questions milady, questions we need an answer to...."

 

[Lord E]

A letter arrive from England

Unto John, King of Naples, Jerusalem, and Albania, Prince of Achaia, Durazzo and Taranto, et cetera

Your Majesty,

We offer Our best wishes upon Your Majesty’s coronation and accession to the throne.

We bring news of the young princess. We have received word from Castile that she has tried to take refuge with the bastard self proclaim King in Castile, and the he is sending her to the devil of Avignon. We fear that the devil will do acts of great evil to her. We have therefore taken it upon Our Royal Majesty to write to Castile and demand the girl not sent to Avignon, but she is to be returned to England and from there We should be able to agree with Your Majesty upon what should happen next to the princess.

As We said We are interested in such a marriage, and We feel that the original idea with a marriage between one of Your Majesty’s daughters and the young Edward. We would have liked to offer you the hand of Our son, but since he is already married that wouldn’t be looked good upon by the Church! We shall at once consult Our Brother and his son, Edward, upon the matter and We are confident that they shall agree.

We await your answer with joy.


Written in own hand at Windsor, in the year of Our Lord 1384 A.D

John of Gaunt

King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Richmond, Lancaster, Derby, Lincoln and Leicester,

 

[Velasco]

Elizabeth smiled. "Well, I would rule Poland, together with my consort. Of course, the Bavarian nobles would be rewarded...richly rewarded...for their support. Of course, there will be much land to be distributed, should the Poles prove as stubborn as I believe they might."

"As for my sons, the eldest will come with me; the younger can remain here in Naples and succeed to my lands here. As to who succeeds me, that will of course depend upon your master's wishes; whilst I believe I am yet young enough to bare a great many sons to your master's son, in the occassion that I do not, then the crown should most likely devolve upon my son Stephen, with a regency council, lead by your master or his son."

 

[Lord E]

A letter arrive from England

Unto John, King of Naples, Jerusalem, and Albania, Prince of Achaia, Durazzo and Taranto, et cetera

Your Majesty,

We can indeed agree with Your Majesty’s words, young Edward is still a boy, and therefore it would be good to have him marry one of your youngest girls. We would also agree that it would be good to wait some years before the marriage, and the year of our lord 1386 would be a good year.

We would like to send His Majesty’s ambassador to Italy, Sir John Hawkwood, to Your Majesty’s court at once to draft up the finale agreement, and discuss this matter with Your Majesty in person. We hope Your Majesty will agree to this?

We await your answer with joy.


Written in own hand at Windsor, in the year of Our Lord 1384 A.D

John of Gaunt

King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Richmond, Lancaster, Derby, Lincoln and Leicester,

 

[HJ Tulp]

Elizabeth smiled. "Well, I would rule Poland, together with my consort. Of course, the Bavarian nobles would be rewarded...richly rewarded...for their support. Of course, there will be much land to be distributed, should the Poles prove as stubborn as I believe they might."

"As for my sons, the eldest will come with me; the younger can remain here in Naples and succeed to my lands here. As to who succeeds me, that will of course depend upon your master's wishes; whilst I believe I am yet young enough to bare a great many sons to your master's son, in the occassion that I do not, then the crown should most likely devolve upon my son Stephen, with a regency council, lead by your master or his son."

The man smilled again.

"Milady, I assume you would like to have more....direct support from the House of Wittelsbach for your attempt to take the Polish Crown? Have you allready send agents to Poland? If milady would want for that I and my associate here can go to Poland to aid in your struggle. Would you want to send your own agents along in such a effort?"

 

[Velasco]

"Certainly. Well...I have sent no agents unto the Poles, as of yet. I hope that they will accept me, and your Master's son, as King and Queen peacefully, and that no blood, either of Pole, or Italian, or Bavarian, will have to be shed. However, we must be prepared for every eventuality.

Perhaps it would be most expedient if I and my sons were to go with you back to your Master's court, and converse with him face to face? From there, we could continue on to Poland, when the time comes."

 

[Jape]

A letter arrives from the Balkans via a Ragussan merchant vessel

To John, Rightful King of Naples, Jerusalem, and Albania, Prince of Achaia, Durazzo and Taranto, et cetera

Your Majesty,
We would first like to congratulate you on your accession to the throne over that bastard, Charles, it was his reign that kept this letter from being sent earlier.
We hope this letter will stimulate greater relations between our two kingdoms in the future but a question that must be answered first, more to reassure myself than anything. Charles made advances to the foul Golden Horde for an un-holy alliance and We must know, from your own person that this has been terminated upon your accession.
If it is so We request that an emissary be allowed to enter your court so a cordial relationship may be garnered.

I apologise for the shortness of this letter but as you no doubt know, running a nation is a busy task. I await your reply with trepidation.

written by my own hand,

Lord of the Serbs and the Danube, Stepjan Prince Lazar, Autocrat of all the Serbs

 

[HJ Tulp]

"Milady, my deepest apologies if I offend you but it's a bit naive to think that the Poles will just rollover and swear fealthy to you and your consort. The lower classes might but the high nobles will definantly not. What you need milady, is an army. An army which Bavaria might be able to provide if you can come up with the money to pay for it and preparations in the Polish lands.

About you comming to Bavaria....that would certainly be possible, however Duke Albrecht has been infected by an awfull virus that makes it impossible for anyone but his doctors to visit him. He rules by degree. However you would offcourse be able to meet with his son, Wilhelm von Wittelsbach and the Duke's Chancellor the Count of Bayreuth who will soon return from consulations in the Pfaltz. Unfortunantly I and my associate will not be able to escort you all the way to Bavaria as we have matters to attend to in Rome."

 

[Jape]

A man entered the court, ruddy faced, bulbous nosed and with an almost comical moustache who would seem a peasant drunk if not for his noble attire. He almost woddled through the archway and noticing men of the Duke of Bavaria having the floor, he quietly sat down and without a word got a servants attention, who brought him some ale in a tankard, this got some looks from the more snobbish courtiers, sipping their wine while he downed his drink in mere moments and gave a rather un-noble burp. He gave a playful nod to one of the nearby ladies, more for his own amusement than anything and laughed as she turned away in disgust.
He waited to be called and ordered another ale.

 

[Velasco]

Court of Spoleto

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, I understand that perfectly. I will away to Bavaria, with my sons, and we shall see what comes of that. Thank you for your kindness, perhaps someday I will be in a position to see you justly rewarded." She smiled, and signaled that the audience was over. The Bavarians were escorted out (not before receiving two full bags of gold coins) and the Princess retired to her chambers.

 

[Velasco]

Court of Naples

King John had the Serbian brought to him at once, eyeing him suspiciously. Smiling, he asked, "What is it that brings you to Naples?"

 

[Jape]

"I am Kyryl Kyrylovitch" the man bowed, only now did the King notice his almost dwarven like appearance "I am a humble emissary from Prizren, court of Prince Lazar, Autocrat of all the Serbs, your majesty" he removed his fur hat as he bowed again, revealing only whisps of hair on his barren skull, still when he stood up once more his face was a warm one.
"The Prince once again wishes to congratulate you on your accession and coronation. Even though he is Orthodox, my prince is glad to see a follower of the true Pope on this throne, he has great suspicion of the anti-papists. Excuse my lord, to my point. The Prince, he wishes friendship between us and as which, to show his good meaning, his true emissary will be the Princess, Dragona, she is 15 yet she has a keen mind and I think you shall find her most agreeable. I will also be here though business means I will be across Italy and further afield for some time. Until I see you again my lord..." with that he bowed and walked away, their conversation a little one-sided for the King's tastes.

 

[Txini]

A Sealed Letter was received by the Duchess of Spoletto:

Dear Elizabeth, we are worried because we have not know of you, nor your diplomats to arrange the weeding treaty between my Granddaughter Margarete and your son Stefan Peter, also we had to communicate we would be glad to negotiate a weeding treaty between ourselves, so you get a stronger possibility to claim Poland, we would be glad to meet you somewhere to pact the conditions of both weedings.
Yours Faithfully,
Rupprecht Heir and Count-Palatine of Rheinpfalz

 

[Lord E]

A letter arrive from England

Unto John, King of Naples, Jerusalem, and Albania, Prince of Achaia, Durazzo and Taranto, et cetera

Your Majesty,

Good that We were able to decided upon this. We shall send word to Sir John at once, and then We expect him to be able to reach Naples from Rome within the week after he received Our letter.

We agree Your Majesty, this matter is very dangerous, and We have now even more information about this case. It would seem like the usurper have not just taken the princess captured and is sending her to the devil of Avignon to practise his dark arts upon, but it has become clear that he has also captured His Holiness. This is clearly an act of treason against Our Lord, and We have taken steps to prepare to aid His Holiness. We are afraid that is might perhaps already be to late, and that His Holiness have already been handed over to the devil of Avignon, and that the devil is surly practicing dark, obscure acts upon His Holiness just now. We fear for His Holinesses’ faith, and We think that His Holiness might be lost to the devil of Avignon.
But as long as there is still hope We shall try to do our best to aid His Holiness against the usurper and the devil!


Written in own hand at Windsor, in the year of Our Lord 1384 A.D

John of Gaunt

King of Castile and Leon, Duke of Lancaster, Earl of Richmond, Lancaster, Derby, Lincoln and Leicester,

 

[HJ Tulp]

The men knew that the audience was over probably even before Elisabeth knew it. They made a short yet polite bow and shortly after they were outside the palace carrying two bags of gold.

They immediately mounted their horses and rode off. Not far outside the city they halted. There was noone on this quiet little road but even if there had been someone who could hear the two men then he wouldn't have understood what they said as the men spoke a weird and wicked language.

"Off to Rome, remember, half of the money for pension, half for operations."

The other man simply nodded and just moments later the men were off again towards the Holy City of Rome...

 

[unmerged(8054)]

From Northern Europe, far away, a letter arrives. Allthough unable to speak the local tongue, the messenger manages to convey that it should be delivered into the hands of Elizabeth of Slavonia.
The letter itself is written in latin, a language the duchess hopefully understands.

Onto Elsebeth af Slavonien.

Honoured Lady. I pray this letter finds you well and safe, as I pray for the health of your family and nation.

It has been brought to my attention that you are a worthy candidate for the throne of Poland, currently plagued by internal strife. As a nation close to the baltics, and thus to strong Danish interest, stability and peace in Poland is of great concern to the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, as is a good relation with the royal house ruling Poland. As such, my son, whom I serve as Guardian, have expressed his desire to enter into discussions concerning the validity of your claim, and whether or not my sons Kingdoms, those of Denmark and Norway, can be of assistance. To this end, it is the hope of my son that you will either accept his kind invitation to Vordingborg, there to meet him in person, or that you will extend an invitation to Henning Podebusk, serving my son as chancellor, that he may travel to you and discuss such topics as need discussion.

Dictated in Vordingborg by
Margrethe, Royal Mother of Oluf king of Denmark and Norway, Guardian of her Son, Lady of Denmark.