Un Sogno d'Italia --- A Modena AAR

[tnick0225]

Lol...what are the odds we both come back from a brief hiatus at the same time? Craziness. Looking forward to another update...think i need to read the last one or two as well

Been having a hard time staying up-to-date with everyone's AARs lately.

 

[GreatUberGeek]

Yay! Can't wait for some new chapters!

 

[oyf]

More please!

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Alright I know it's been a while, but here is the next chapter of Un Sogno d'Italia, hope you enjoy it. After this there are two more chapters of relatively minor stuff before things really heat up again.

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Chapter 33: Family Business, 1628-1633​

The string of Italian war victories boosted the morale of the armed forces and led to an increase in the number of men signing up. The Italian military academies swelled with eager young cadets looking to become officers in the army. The decree made by King Azzo IX in 1606, which opened the officer ranks to the bourgeoisie and merchant classes, meant that more men could seek advancement and prestige by taking up arms. With the army expanding there were more officers needed and many were quick to heed the call of duty. However, those eager to flock to the colors were not only to be found amongst those wanting to be officers. The enlisted ranks offered peasants and the increasing urban masses new opportunities as well. For a young man who grew restless with life on the farm, the army gave a chance to gain prestige, respect, and bonds of camaraderie. Additionally, the expanding frontiers of the Kingdom of Italy offered the opportunity for these men to travel and see new places, which they would never have the opportunity to do otherwise.

The opportunities offered by military service led to an increase in men seeking to join the army​

Despite its recent successes however, Italy still faced a major threat from the Ottoman Empire to its east. The Italian-Turkish relationship had yet to break out into open war but remained tense and contentious. The conquest of Alexandria only exacerbated the issue. Like Italy, the Ottoman Empire was also in a triumphant and confident mood following its dismantling of the rival Mamluk Empire. Seeking to flex his muscles against his potential Christian enemies, Sultan Suleyman I issued a new set of decrees which limited the rights of foreign traders and merchants within the empire. This led to an increase in the harassment of European merchants, of which the Italians were the most numerous and most targeted, by Ottoman customs agents and border security. On several occasions, Italian ships were stopped, boarded, and had some of their cargo confiscated by the powerful Turkish navy. The most flagrant incident of Ottoman harassment took place on 17 November 1630 when a squadron of Turkish ships stopped an Italian trade flotilla headed for Alexandria. The Turkish sailors who boarded the ships looted as much cargo as they could, claiming it to be contraband, and dumped everything else into the water. The Italian merchants protested to King Galeazzo Maria I, but the king, seeking to avoid conflict with the powerful Turks, could do little to stop it.

The Ottomans Empire sought to intimidate Italy by harassing its merchants and, occasionally, seizing their cargo​

Despite his timidity about direct confrontation with the Ottomans, King Galeazzo Maria was able to offer some boldness to the merchants. He arranged a marriage between his youngest sister, Princess Sofia, and Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, who had managed to hold on to an independent realm on the island of Rhodes despite decades of Mamluk and then Ottoman attempts to take it. However, by the late 1620’s, the Knights began to realize that their chances of holding out against the increasingly powerful Turks were getting slimmer. As a result, they sought to forge a bond with a powerful European kingdom with influence in their region. There was no better option than Italy. Of the Catholic kingdoms of Europe, Italy had the most interests and influence in the eastern Mediterranean, so an alliance seemed natural. Princess Sofia and Grand Master Lascaris were married on 30 September 1631, and a treaty that included a formal alliance as well as fleet basing rights for Italian merchant vessels was signed on 2 November.

The royal marriage between Princess Sofia d’Este of Italy and Grand Master Giovanni Paolo Lascaris of the Knights Hospitaller guaranteed Italian protection of Rhodes​

With everything going smoothly, the kingdom received a shock on 7 February 1632. That morning, the bells began to toll across the city of Rome. King Galeazzo Maria I died suddenly at the age of 36. The monarch’s sudden demise brought about the risk of a succession crisis and the danger of another major war and the potential breakup of the League of the Four Kings. Galeazzo Maria died with no male children, his only child being Princess Maria Giovanna who was just 8 years old. Therefore, by the succession laws, the crown was to pass to the king’s oldest brother: Prince Francesco Stefano.

However, Francesco was in Egypt, ruling as the Governor General of Alexandria. The third of the Este brothers, Alberto Carlo, had given up his claim to the throne of Italy when he married Queen Marie I of Bohemia. However, the youngest of the four brothers, Amedeo attempted to take the throne for himself. He was married to Princess Eugenie of France, sister of the recently deceased King Nicolas Henri II (died 17 April 1629). It is here where European dynastic politics made the situation complicated. Eugenie was the sister of both Nicolas Henri as well as their brother and predecessor, King Louis XV. Both of Eugenie’s brothers had died without male children, meaning that her son with Amedeo, Hughes, was now the heir apparent to the French throne. If Amedeo became King of Italy, then his son would become the heir to both the French and Italian thrones, raising the specter of a personal union between the two mighty kingdoms. This was something that no other European state could accept. A group of powers, including Italy and France’s traditional enemies like Austria and Spain but also its allies, Bohemia and Bavaria, protested strongly against the potential for this union. Additionally, powerful interests in both France and Italy were against it as well. Despite nearly two centuries of Franco-Italian alliance, neither side wanted to become subject to the other, and both sides feared the possibility that, in the case of a personal union, their state would become the junior partner.

As a result, Prince Amedeo had little backing for his attempt at the Italian throne and by 19 February, less than two weeks after his brother’s death, his chances of gaining the throne looked bleak. Marshal Francesco Stefano Sforza, acting in his capacity as the Protector of the Realm, ordered that Prince Amedeo, who was living in France, be arrested immediately should he cross into any part of the Kingdom of Italy. Sforza declared his support, and that of the armed forces, for the coronation of Prince Francesco Stefano as King of Italy. However, while all of this was happening, Francesco Stefano had not even gotten word yet of his brother’s death.

When he finally did hear about it four days later on 23 February, he was not even sure if that meant that he was now the king. This was not confirmed to him until two days later when a second message, sent from Sforza himself, urged him to return to Italy immediately to take the throne because his brother Amedeo was seeking to usurp it. However, Francesco Stefano had grown to love Alexandria and was undecided if he even wanted to return. His wife, Ariadne, had never even been to Europe before and was busy caring for their first son, the two year old Ferdinando, and was pregnant with their second child. Nevertheless, she convinced Francesco Stefano to return to Italy and send for her when things had calmed down. The prince, despite Sforza’s assurances of the army’s loyalty to him, brought three thousand men from the Armata d’Egitto with him in case things got bad.

Francesco Stefano d’Este and his men landed at the port of Ancona on 16 March where they were met by Marshal Sforza himself and a large contingent of troops from the Armata Reale which would escort them across the peninsula to Rome. They arrived in the capital on 29 March and Francesco was crowned King of Italy as King Francesco III Stefano the following day on 1 April 1632. The new king’s young son, Ferdinando, was declared the heir apparent and given the title of Crown Prince of Italy.

King Francesco III Stefano was crowned King of Italy on 1 March 1632​

Upon taking the throne, King Francesco III wanted to heal the divisions caused by Amedeo’s abortive attempt to take the throne and smooth over any potential rifts with the French. As a result, the new monarch headed north with a high level delegation which included Marshal Sforza and Doge Ignazio Vitelli of Pisa, recently elected head of the Italian Trade League. The group arrived in Paris to great fanfare on 5 May and Amedeo held a giant feast for King Francesco that evening. Francesco also met his 7 year old nephew Hughes, the Dauphin of France, for the first time. Amedeo’s wife Eugenie, ruling as Queen Regent in her son’s name, was welcoming of her brother in law and the two got along quite well. Francesco told her that he was eager to maintain the Franco-Italian alliance. On 12 May 1632 Queen Regent Eugenie and King Francesco III signed a new treaty of friendship to “reaffirm thesacred bonds of brotherhood between the French and Italian people.” The King of Italy also invited the French royal family to come to Rome later that year and repealed the order of arrest for Amedeo which had been issued by Marshal Sforza during the crisis.

Queen Regent Eugenie of France​

When Amedeo and his family did come to visit Italy, they stayed for over a month, arriving on 20 November and staying through the New Year. The visit was turned into an occasion for a grand family reunion. Along with Francesco and Amedeo, they were joined by their brother Alberto Carlo and his wife, Queen Marie I of Bohemia, their youngest sister Sofia and her husband Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, and their sister-in-law, Eleonore of Bohemia, the widow of their eldest brother Galeazzo Maria. Francesco also was reunited with his wife, Ariadne, who arrived from Alexandria at the end of the month with their oldest son Crown Prince Ferdinando and their newborn daughter, Theodora. For the Este family, this moment of reconciliation was important for the future, especially to ensure that the two branches of the Este family, the one that ruled in Italy and the new one that would one day rule in France, would remain allies. They all knew the history of their ancestors, Alfonso and Leonello d’Este, whose blood feud and war in 1445-46 led to the creation of an independent Modena and the founding of the current Este dynasty. With things going so well, all of the Estes wanted to avoid a repeat of that scenario.

The winter of 1632 saw Rome play host to a grand gathering of all of the Este clan​

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Chapter 34: The Livonian War, 1633-1634​

Following the Este family’s grand gathering in Rome over the Christmas Holidays in 1632, the Kingdom of Italy was called into war once again. On 13 January 1633, just a week after the foreign-dwelling members of the House of Este had departed Rome, an urgent message arrived from the Livonian Order, requesting Italian assistance against an attack by the Commonwealth of Denmark and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Livonian Order, and its leader Hochmeister Walter III, appealed to King Francesco III as the Defender of the Catholic Faith. This represented the first major test of the new monarch’s reign, coming less than a year after his coronation. This would mark the third time that Italy was called to war as the Defender of the Faith and the second time against Denmark. The last time it had happened was during the Danish-Lithuanian War in 1609-13. That conflict had ended inconclusively with a white peace, but Italy had managed to claim victory because they had prevented the Danes from making any territorial gains. Denmark was an ascendant power and, ever since the humiliating British defeat against France in the Franco-British War of 1590-94, had claimed the title as the strongest Protestant power. Denmark also had an efficient government in which the nobility shared power and could elect leaders from amongst an elite ruling council. The Danes were trying to unite all of Scandinavia under their rule and were rapidly moving toward acheiving that goal. They had recently annexed Sweden and held Norway as a vassal. However, the Commonwealth of Denmark also sought to consolidate its power around the Baltic Sea. That was why they had invaded Lithuania and it was why they were now attacking the Livonian Order.

Hochmeister Walter III of the Livonian Order

The Livonian Order enlisted the aid of King Francesco III Stefano in their fight against the Commonwealth of Denmark​

Italy was not the only one to see Denmark as a threat. The French also viewed the rise of a territorially enormous but also politically and militarily efficient Protestant power as an alarming danger. When Francesco III sent an emissary to France to ask for their support in the coming war, Queen Regent Eugenie was more than willing to assist her brother-in-law. The more interesting situation as far as Italian allies were concerned came with the Kingdom of Bohemia. The Bohemians were Protestant and Denmark had long been making overtures to Prague to join a Protestant League. The Danes already had a strong alliance with Hungary and were hoping to create a counterweight to the League of the Four Kings and the Austrian faction of the Holy Roman Empire by adding Bohemia and Great Britain to a Protestant alliance. Bohemia however had benefited greatly from its membership in the League of the Four Kings. Furthermore, Italy and France were battle tested kingdoms that had won successful campaigns against major European powers. The Danes on the other hand, though they were an ascendant power with a modern and well trained army and navy, had not won a war against a major European power since their defeat of Sweden and Muscovy over half a century earlier. Their last attempt, the invasion of Lithuania, had ended abortively after Italian intervention on Lithuania’s behalf had swung the tide of war against the Danes and their Hungarian allies. Had it not been for the collapse of Italian-Lithuanian relations in the middle of the conflict, it may have been possible that Italy would have stayed the course and actually forced a concession out of Denmark instead of settling for a white peace. As a result, Bohemia stayed loyal to the League of the Four Kings and took up arms against their Protestant brethren. The fear that Danish expansionism struck in the hearts of Europe’s Catholics was also shown by the alliance that Francesco III was able to assemble. Along with France and Bohemia, Bavaria, Cologne, Riga, and Saxony all threw in their lots with Italy and prepared to do battle with the Danes.

In the years since the Danish-Lithuanian War however, the Danish army had gone through a period of reform and modernization. Many military observers now considered them the most well armed and well trained army in Europe. They had achieved several technological and doctrinal advances that most other European powers, with the possible exception of France and Spain, had not yet achieved. The leader of the Danish Commonwealth Prince Oluf Hoegh, felt that now was the time to strike and expand his territory. Prince Hoegh and his military leaders knew that it was likely that the Livonian Order would call in Italy and other Catholic powers to assist. Therefore, they needed to secure Hungarian participation in the war to keep their southern foes busy. King Albert I of Hungary had been on the throne for a decade and, during that time, felt that he had thoroughly modernized the Hungarian army as well as the kingdom’s administration. Albert was openly disdainful of his father, King Zsigmond I, whose reign was characterized by a sharp decline in Hungarian power and prestige. Albert saw a chance to build Hungary back up into a major power by using his powerful Danish allies’ war to strike back at the Italians, who had been the main external reason for Hungary’s decline. Therefore, once Hoegh’s call to arms arrived in Budapest, Albert was quick to sign up.

The Danish war strategy hinged on a quick conquest of the Livonian Order’s territories before their allies could arrive, then a switch to a defensive posture to hold off the coalition’s forces. Their strategy also required that Hungary at least be able to put up respectable resistance against the Italians and, in a best case scenario, actually launch an offensive against Bohemia from the south to prevent them from contributing troops to the campaign in the north.

For Italy and its allies, the plan was simpler. The French would march across Germany, joining up with armies from Cologne, Bavaria, and Saxony along the way, and march up through the Jutland Pensinsula and threaten Copenhagen. Italy and Bohemia would take care of Hungary with some Bavarian troops contributing to that campaign as well. The Italians would also send an army directly north, bypassing hostilities, to provide support to the Livonian Order and Riga as they attempted to hold off the Danish invasion and another force to contribute to the Jutland Campaign as well. Each of the three Italian armies would be sent to a different part of Europe. The Armata del Nord under the command of General Ludovico Maria Pico, would march north to join with the French and the German allies, the Armata dei Balcani led by General Francesco della Rovere, would be the force sent north to support the Livonian Order, and the Armata Reale, commanded by King Francesco III himself, would invade Hungary.

The march of the Armata del Nord into Germany, winter of 1633​

The heaviest fighting for the Italian armies would occur in Hungary. King Francesco III marched quickly into his enemy’s territory and dispatched a border army in the province on Like in late May of 1633. The first major battle came outside the city of Zagreb on 4 September 1633. In the lead up to the clash it appeared as if the Italians would actually have to fight outnumbered. However, the last minute arrival of troops from Bavaria and Liege helped even out the numbers at roughly 22,000 men per side. The battle was bloody and lasted three days, but in the end, King Francesco outmaneuvered his rival commander, General Kelemen Csák, and turned the Hungarian right flank. However, General Csák was able to maintain an organized retreat and his army remained intact. Nevertheless, Csák’s withdrawal opened western Hungary to enemy occupation and King Albert was forced to flee Budapest, just like his father had had to do in 1609 in the face of an Italian onslaught.

Italy won its first major victory of the war at the Battle of Zagreb​

Meanwhile, the Italians were getting mixed results in the north. Pico’s Armata del Nord had made the march through Germany basically unscathed and joined armies from France and Cologne to defeat the Danes at the massive Battle of Hamburg in October of 1633, the biggest engagement of the war. The allied forces pursued the retreating Danish army north. However, the campaign was forced to halt when the Danish army retreated across the Little Belt to Funen and their navy prevented any pursuit. After that, the allied armies resorted to besieging the Danish territories on the European mainland. The Italians were put in charge of the sieges of Lauenburg and Hamburg, capturing the former on 28 December 1633 and the latter on 25 July 1634. The Danish retreat across the Little Belt marked the end of major hostilities on the German front of the war.

On the Livonian front however, things were not going as smoothly for the allies. To begin with, General della Rovere’s army had suffered heavy casualties from attrition during their winter march across Europe. To make matters worse, they encountered much larger Danish armies than they had expected. The Italian military planners had underestimated the manpower available to Denmark. To make matters worse, after the Danish defeat at Hamburg and their abandonment of the German front, they shifted the bulk of the troops fighting there to the east, to further increase their numerical advantage. Della Rovere’s only hope was to dodge the much larger Danish forces and harass any troops they left behind to lay siege to Livonian cities or to Riga. The Italian commander sent riders south through hostile Hungarian territory to ask King Francesco to send more troops north as soon as possible.

When the Italian king received word of the Italians’ troubles in the north, he devised a plan to finish off the Hungarians and then quickly move the Armata Reale up to support Della Rovere and his men. A joint Italian-Bavarian army caught the main Hungarian force outside of Sopron and inflicted heavy casualties on them. Then, as soon as General Csák’s forces retreated, Francesco sent his army in hot pursuit. They managed to catch up to their enemies in the province Muntenia, wiped them out, and managed to take General Csák and the rest of his commanders prisoner. From there, King Francesco left the Bavarians and a portion of the Italian troops in Hungary to conduct sieges while he marched the bulk of his force north.

King Francesco and the Armata Reale’s pursuit of the retreating Hungarian army

The Italian army routs the Hungarians in Muntenia​

The Danes, for their part, nearly managed to inflict a dramatic strategic disaster upon themselves. Frustrated with their inability to wipe out the Italian and Livonian armies, Danish general Henrik Stenbock decided to concentrate all of his forces on occupying and capturing the strategic island of Ösel. However, this nearly led to a disaster when King Francesco’s army arrived on the northern front. The king ordered Della Rovere to march his army to Kurland while Francesco took his troops north to Reval. If the Italians could hold these positions, they would force the Danish army to mount an amphibious attack to escape from the island, negating their numerical and technological advantages. However, General Stenbock got word in time and organized a hasty evacuation of Ösel. Della Rovere had already reached Kurland with the Armata dei Balcani but a heavy winter storm slowed down King Francesco’s march to Reval, thereby giving the Danish army time to land and establish a defensive position. With the armies only ten miles away from each other, the King of Italy ordered his army to halt.

The king sent emissaries under a flag of truce to speak to the Danish commander Stenbock and make overtures for peace negotiations. Francesco saw no reason to engage in a bloody battle which he had little chance to win when there was little to be gained from it for Italy. Stenbock agreed to at least a temporary ceasefire as he sent word back to Copenhagen. Prince Hoegh and the other nobles on the ruling council were willing to engage in peace negotiations as well. While Denmark had the upper hand in the east, they had been totally defeated on the German front, their ally Hungary was destroyed, and there was the looming arrival of French and other allied troops to definitively turn the tide even on the Livonian front. With all of these factors working against them, the Danes decided to accept the peace terms.

When the war participants met at Riga, everyone was eager to put an end to the war. Denmark gave the province of Viborg to the Livonian Order and Lauenberg to Holstein. They also paid a war indemnity of 148 ducats. For Denmark the defeat in the Livonian War was nothing but a minor setback. Despite the loss of two provinces, the Danish Commonwealth would remain an ascendant power. It was still on track to unify all of Scandinavia and remained the major power in northern Europe. Denmark still boasted an excellent military, which had suffered relatively few casualties through the conflict, and an administrative system that was the envy of Europe. Though they lost the war in the end, they had held their own while fighting basically alone against the League of the Four Kings, Europe’s strongest alliance. The Danes still had much to look forward to. Indeed, within three years, in 1637, Prince Hoegh would announce the formation of the Commonwealth of Scandinavia. This new state would continue to challenge Catholic supremacy in Europe and continue to rise as one of the most powerful states in Europe. Hoegh would go down as one of the greatest leaders in Danish history.

The Treaty of Riga ended the Livonian War

Prince Oluf Hoegh of Denmark: perhaps the greatest prince of the Danish-Scandinavian Commonwealth. Under his rule (1627-1643) Denmark’s military and civil administration improved by leaps and bounds. Though he could not defeat the League of the Four Kings in the Livonian War, he succeeded in unifying Scandinavia under Danish rule in 1637​

The Livonian Order was the main beneficiary of the war. Aside from their acquisition of the important province of Viborg, their victory solidified their position and proved them to still be a resilient force. Furthermore, the protection afforded to them by the Catholic powers guaranteed that their Scandinavian enemies would think twice before attacking them again.

For Italy the war provided little tangible gain. The war did show that despite the skill and tenacity of the Italian soldiers and their leaders, they were falling behind in terms of tactics and technology. The main benefit of the war for the armed forces of Italy was to trigger another round of reforms with greater emphasis on technological advancement. For the Kingdom of Italy overall, the war was nothing more than a prestige booster. It showed that Italy was steadfast to its commitments as Defender of the Faith and that they had the diplomatic clout to assemble a powerful group of states for war. King Francesco III Stefano had met his first great challenge as ruler and was equal to it. The next few years would offer a brief reprieve before a far more momentous conflict would engulf Europe.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Historical Vignette 13: Courtly Life, 1633​

Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome, Kingdom of Italy
12 March 1633

Queen Ariadne looked down over her elaborate gown one more time. She hated these billowing, foolish looking European clothes. She much preferred the simpler, more comfortable garments she wore back in Alexandria. On top of that, she was very nervous.

“Relax,” said her sister in law, Princess Sofia d’Este, “you’re the queen, no matter what you will be the most splendid woman in the room.”

“I still get nervous each time I go out there,” replied Ariadne. Sofia smiled at her kindly, “do not worry yourself sister, you will be wonderful.”

Portrait of Queen Ariadne, she insisted that her portraits be made with her wearing traditional Egyptian clothing​

Ariadne was still getting used to this court business. She had only been in Rome three months and had barely seen her husband, King Francesco III Stefano, before he went off to fight a war in Hungary, or Scandinavia, or some such foreign place she had only ever heard of. She wished he were here, to be at least one island of familiarity in this strange new land she was living in. Before arriving in Italy the furthest Ariadne had been from her hometown of Alexandria was Jerusalem, where she had gone on a pilgrimage to see the birthplace of Jesus Christ with her father and brothers. But Rome was an entirely different animal. Francesco had taught her some Italian but she was still struggling with the language. And the manners of the court were entirely alien to her.

She was at least happy that Princess Sofia was still in the city on one of her visits. Sofia lived on the Island of Rhodes with her husband, Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, who was the commander of the order of knights that ruled there. However, she visited Italy often and, thankfully, had stayed a few months after the Este family gathering. Though the two women had only recently met, they got along quite well. They had similar tastes and the shared experience of having moved to a new, strange land after marriage. Sofia was understanding and caring. She could not say the same for many of the other women at court, who seemed to shun her and treat her as beneath them, despite the fact that she was Queen of Italy.

Princess Sofia of Rhodes, sister of King Francesco III Stefano of Italy​

Sofia took Ariadne’s hand. “Let us make our splendid entrance,” she said. The two walked through the door and into the great hall of the Castel Sant’Angelo. One of the guards announced, “Her Majesty Ariadne, Queen of Italy and Sofia, Princess of Rhodes!” The assembled courtiers all bowed and curtsied. The two women went around the room greeting people. Sofia seemed a natural at this, seamlessly passing from person to person, smiling and making small talk. Ariadne, staying close to her, was quite nervous. She felt foolish and was extremely self-conscious about her accent. She also could never help but notice that she was the darkest skinned woman in the room. She did not know why this should make her feel self-conscious, but it did.

“I am the Queen of Italy,” she told herself, a title which she was still coming to grips with. Her husband had become king by chance, when his brother had died without any male sons. Now she was thrown into the maelstrom and he was not even here to protect her.

“Oh God,” whispered Sofia to her, “not these three witches, just follow my lead.” Ariadne looked up to see a group of three very beautiful women approaching them, one of whom had the brightest white skin and most dazzling blonde hair she had ever seen. Sofia switched instantly from a scowl to a dazzling smile. “My ladies,” she said sweetly, “a pleasure to see you.”

The three women curtsied. Ariadne was not sure if she was just imagining things but it appeared as though their curtsies were directed solely at Sofia and not at her. “Ladies,” said Sofia maintaining her sweet tone, “I believe you have not had the pleasure of meeting our esteemed Majesty, Queen Ariadne.”

“We have not,” said the woman with the shining blonde hair, “a pleasure.” The three women curtsied again, this time at Ariadne.

“My Queen,” said Sofia, “may I present Isabella Farnese, Lorenza Visconti, and Caterina Bentivoglio.” Queen Ariadne stood there staring at the blonde woman, whose name she now remembered: Isabella Farnese. She had heard of this woman, she was apparently considered the most beautiful woman in Rome. Then Ariadne realized that she was just standing there staring when Sofia very gently cleared her throat. “Oh…a pleasure,” said Ariadne, “forgive me, I am still getting used to your customs here.”

Isabella Farnese, daughter of Count Michele Farnese of Parma and future Duchess of Piedmont​

“Ah,” said Lorenza Visconti, “and how are you liking Rome so far?”

“It is a beautiful city,” replied the queen, “so much history, so many wonders.”

“How long have you been here?” asked Visconti with a follow-up question.

Lorenza Visconti, Duchess of Lombardy​

“I arrived three months ago but I have been wrapped up in the holiday festivities. I thought that my husband would be here to stay when I arrived, but then we learned about this terrible war and he had to leave.”

“Yes, King Francesco is very brave,” Said Caterina Bentivoglio, “we are all great admirers of him.” Ariadne saw Isabella Farnese and Lorenza Visconti smirk at Bentivoglio when she said this. But again, perhaps she was imagining things. Princess Sofia however seemed to have caught the smirks as well because she immediately said, “well my brother told me that he is completely in love with our beautiful queen here, and that he is eager to return to her.” Sofia smiled pleasantly.

Ariadne was unsure but she suddenly seemed to detect some tension between the princess and these three women. An awkward silence fell over the group as the women studied each other. Thankfully, the awkwardness was broken when a handsome man in a splendid army uniform arm in arm with an equally attractive woman approached the group. Ariadne noticed that he was moving awkwardly and looked down to see that the man was missing his left leg. “Ah,” said Sofia, “my Queen, may I present Giorgio Dalboni, son of Cesare, Duke of Dalmatia, and his lovely wife, Beatrice of Verona.” The man and woman both bowed deeply at Ariadne.

“My Queen,” said the man, “I have just returned from Hungary, where I fought alongside your husband at Zagreb. Unfortunately I was wounded and forced to come home, otherwise I would still be there at his side. He is truly a great man. I just wanted you to know that he sends you all of his love and affection. He told me to tell you that he cannot wait to see you and your children again. When I left him he was in good spirits and excellent health.”

“Thank you sir,” responded Ariadne, “and thank you for your service to my husband and to Italy. I hope that you will be well.”

“Thank you my Queen,” he replied, “while it would be an honor to still be fighting alongside your husband, I do not have too many complaints. My wound, though crippling, enabled me to return to see my beautiful Costanza and our wonderful children sooner. We will be praying for your husband and your family.” The couple bowed again and then moved away.

“Lord Dalboni comes from a long line of soldiers, the bond between his family and ours goes back a very long way,” said Sofia. Ariadne smiled, but did not know what to say. Despite the man’s kind words and assurances that Francesco was in good health, the queen was worried. What if he returned missing a limb? Or worse? Her thoughts were disturbed by Isabella Farnese, whom the queen had nearly forgotten about.

“What ashame,” said the blonde, “war has ruined another fine young man.”

“Yes,” replied Caterina Bentivoglio, “but he was already ruined when he married that harlot Costanza Gonazga.”

“Caterina,” said Lorenza Visconti, “we should not speak that way in front of Her Majesty.”

Caterina Bentivoglio, Countess of Rimini​

“Oh hush,” cut in Isabella Farnese, “I am sure our Queen is used to such talk, being that she comes from a less refined part of the world.” Ariadne was slightly taken aback by this statement but quickly recovered.

“Well my ladies, you should know that Alexandria was a great and cultured city long before Rome. It was founded by Alexander the Great and has been home to philosophers and mathematicians and artists for centuries.”

The three women looked at her. Another awkward silence fell over the five women. Isabella Farnese, who was beginning to grate on Ariadne’s nerves, broke the silence. “So my queen,” she said, “are you happy with your marriage?”

Ariadne thought the question was relatively pleasant and harmless and began to answer, “well—”

Princess Sofia cut her off however, “Lady Farnese, I think that question is far too familiar for you to be asking Her Majesty at this point. You have only just met.”

Farnese looked at Sofia coldly. “Well Princess of Rhodes,” she said icily, throwing a rather contemptuous tone behind the word “Rhodes”, “as someone who has known His Majesty the king quite intimately, I only ask as a friend. Her Majesty has more in common with me, as well as Lady Visconti and Lady Bentivoglio, than she might think.”

Ariadne was confused, what did she mean? Was her lack of mastery of Italian preventing her from catching on to something?

“Careful Isabella,” said Sofia menacingly, “I will not stand here and watch my sister in law, not to mention the Queen of Italy, be disrespected by the likes of you.”

“Disrespected?” said Farnese in feigned shock, “what is disrespectful about letting our queen know about her husband’s past? I would say we are doing her a service.”

“What are you saying?” asked Ariadne.

“No sister,” said Sofia, “do not listen to these women.”

“No, I want to know,” replied the queen.

“Well your Majesty,” said Farnese, you should know that your beloved husband, before marrying you, welcomed all three of us into his bed. Many times.”

Ariadne was shocked. She had heard that her husband had a past reputation as a bon vivant, and that he had known many women before his marriage. She had accepted this and did not care. So long as he was devoted to her, and she knew that he was, what did it matter what he had done before they met? But she never expected to be confronted by it in such an ugly manner. Nevertheless, Ariadne maintained her composure.

“Well my ladies,” she replied as clamly as she thought possible, though her voice was trembling with anger, “my husband loves me now, and chose to marry me. He has given me wonderful children and makes me very happy. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. My husband must have seen in me something worth keeping.” Ariadne smiled pleasantly at them, satisfied that she had won this little confrontation.

“Something worth keeping!?” shouted Isabella Farnese with a cruel laugh, causing people nearby to stop their conversations and look their way, “Francesco was supposed to marry me before he went off on his silly little African quest! And then what do I hear!? That he is marrying an Egyptian whore!” When Farnese shouted this last phrase, the entire court went stunningly silent.

Queen Ariadne stood there, shocked. She looked this blonde, pale woman up and down. Then, suddenly, she struck Isabella Farnese across the face. The latter let out a scream and clutched her check, where the queen’s blow had landed. She looked at Ariadne with burning hatred in her eyes. “Why how dare you!?” she screeched, “you worthless, seducing har—”

She did not finish her phrase. Queen Ariadne sprang at her and tackled Lady Farnese to the ground. Caterina Bentivoglio stood there watching in shock, but Lorenza Visconti made a move to help her friend. This attempt was short lived however as Princess Sofia’s fist crashed into the top of her head. What Farnese and her two friends did not know, was that they were hopelessly overmatched. While they may have picked a fight with the Queen of Italy and her sister-in-law, for practical purposes they had also picked a fight with two women who grew up as the only girls in families full of boys. As children they had learned to fight with their brothers, and now they were about to show these noblewomen what they were made of.

Princess Sofia jumped on top of Visconti and punched her repeatedly in the face. At the same time, Queen Ariadne had Isabelle Farnese in a head lock and was landing blow after blow into the latter’s mid section. The rest of the court stood in frozen, shocked amazement. They had never seen a sight like this. Fights occasionally broke out in court amongst men, but never amongst the women. Caterina Bentivoglio finally recovered from her initial shock and made a move to help her friend Lorenza Visconti, who was being beaten to a pulp by Princess Sofia. Bentivoglio grabbed Sofia’s hair and managed to drag her to the ground. Bentivoglio was the biggest of the three women and managed to get on top of her. She clawed at Sofia’s face, thinking she had gotten the upper hand.

However, to Bentivoglio’s shock, Princess Sofia deftly kicked her off, wriggled herself free, and reversed the situation to where she was now on top and held the noblewoman from Bologna in a flawless leg lock. Sofia had, as a young girl, executed the same move on her brother Amedeo, pinning him and forever winning the acclaim of her older brothers Galeazzo Maria, Francesco Stefano, and Alberto Carlo. Amedeo had yet to live down the moment when he was defeated in hand to hand fighting by his little sister. Now Caterina Bentivoglio found herself in the same position as Amedeo d’Este had all those years ago. “Please! Stop! You’re hurting me!” she screamed.

“Serves you right,” growled Sofia back, “I’ve been wanting to do this to you since we were little girls!”

“ENOUGH!” thundered a voice suddenly. All of them stopped and looked up. It was Marshal Francesco Stefano Sforza. “What is this madness?” he growled, “you should all be ashamed. This is no way for noblewomen to behave.”

“It was this African animal!” cried Isabella Farnese, blood gushing from her nose and a cut on her forehead, Queen Ariadne still straddling her.

“Shut up Farnese!” replied Sforza, “I will not have you refer to our Queen in such a disrespectful manner. Now, all of you, get up!”

Ariadne took one more look at the bleeding blonde beneath her, wishing to hit her with at least one more blow, and reluctantly stood up. Sofia released Caterina Bentivoglio, who let out a loud sob immediately. Four women stood up. Lorenza Visconti was still on the ground, knocked unconscious by Princess Sofia’s devastating punches. They were quite a sight to behold. The normally perfectly put together women, with their gorgeous dresses and meticulously assembled hair, were a complete mess. Their dresses were torn, their hair was wild and unkempt, and they had blood, either their own or their adversaries’ smeared all over them.

“Someone fetch the doctor,” said Sforza, “Lady Visconti will require his attention.”

Sforza looked over the four women who were standing. Whispers and giggles could be heard now in the court. Then the old soldier burst out suddenly in loud, roaring laughter. “Your majesty,” he said to Ariadne, “I have recently returned from the Hungarian front and I think I can say that you fight better than the Magyars. I could say the same for you Sofia.” The two women looked at each other and smiled.

“My father will hear of this!” yelled Farnese at Sforza.

“Let him,” replied the Marshal, “I am curious to know what Count Farnese intends to do. I’m not sure if he would do any better in a fight than you just did. Next time you go back to Parma and see him, ask him how he got that nice big scar across his chest and remind him that old Sforza took it easy on him.” Sforza paused before saying, “Lady Farnese, Lady Bentivoglio, I suggest you both go home, you are in no state to appear at court.”

The two ragged looking women let out a huff and hurried out of the courtroom. Sforza turned back to Ariadne and Sofia, “that goes for you two as well. The Queen of Italy and the Princess of Rhodes cannot be seen in such a state. Go clean yourselves up.” He turned back to the gawking courtiers and roared, “that goes for the rest of you too!” The assembled crowd quickly turned and made for the exits. Aside from the king himself, there was no man in all of Italy whose word carried more weight, and menace, than Marshal Sforza’s.

Ariadne and Sofia made for the exit of the courtroom, their ladies in waiting hurrying behind them and asking if they were okay. Once the two women were back in the queen’s apartments, Sofia burst out laughing. “That was wonderful,” she exclaimed, squealing like a little girl, “I have been wanting to beat on those women since I was a child. I have always hated them. Thank you your majesty.”

Ariadne smiled back at her, “it was my pleasure.”

“If today was any indication,” said the princess, “I think you will be a fine queen. I doubt any woman will make a disrespectful comment about you or Francesco in court from now on. I hope we can do this again some time.”

Ariadne laid down on a divan. As her adrenaline stopped pumping she began to feel her body getting sore, but it could not mask the feeling of satisfaction she now felt. That Farnese woman had insulted her to her face and gotten her due comeuppance. And at the end of the day, she, Ariadne Bassily, the unknown girl from Alexandria, was the Queen of Italy and there was nothing any of these haughty, arrogant Italian ladies could do about it. She could defend her honor, and her husband’s as she pleased. Perhaps this whole queen business would not be so bad after all.

 

[tnick0225]

Oh the drama queens of an Italian Court

Great update as always!

 

[Andre Massena]

Cotdayum, those are some babes

 

[oyf]

I need to know what happens! The suspense is killing me!

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Greetings everyone. I have been away for some time doing some training and I did not have access to a computer and, as a result, to these wonderful forums. However, I am back and looking forward to continuing work on Un Sogno d'Italia as well as catching up on all the AAR's I was reading and am now behind on not to mention the countless new ones that I'm sure have been started up since I've been gone. The current time period in this AAR finds us at a point of peace and prosperity for the Kingdom of Italy following their victory against Denmark in the Livonian War. However, storm clouds are on the horizon and, following the next chapter (coming up shortly), some pretty epic stuff is going to go down. I am still quite busy with my current schooling and training and may not have as much time to dedicate to this AAR as I did when I was working on it before, but I will do my best to update as often as possible. Anyway, I am glad to be back and active on these forums and look forward to reading a bunch of AAR's along with working on this one. As always thank you for reading.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Chapter 35: The Calm Before the Storm, 1634-1639​

The conclusion of the Livonian War gave King Francesco III Stefano a chance to return to Rome and rule his kingdom in a time of peace. He arrived in the Italian capital with the Armata Reale in March of 1635 to a hero’s welcome following the League of the Four Kings’ victory in the war against Denmark and Hungary. He was also reunited with his wife, Queen Ariadne, and his children, Ferdinando and Theodora. It was a happy time for the royal family and for the kingdom as a whole. The Livonian War had had little effect on Italy’s commerce and economy and the relatively low casualty rates of the conflict had not deprived the land of its manpower. The next four years would prove to be a prosperous time.

The year 1635 would prove to be exceptionally prosperous for Italy. The Italian merchants were consolidating their grip on the important trading ports of Genoa and Alexandria and fully integrating them and their profits. Italy was now the biggest trading power in the Mediterranean and its fleet second to none in that sea. In addition to money generated from trade, new technologies and business strategies helped even domestic merchants make more money. This resulted in an increase in the kingdom’s tax base, which allowed the royal administration to further its reforms, spend more money on improving infrastructure, and also on increasing access to education for more people, at least for those living in urban areas. In terms of infrastructure, some of the most important projects included the construction of new port facilities in Venice, new fortifications in the Balkans, and myriad projects designed to improve governance in Milan and Rome.

The years following the Livonian War were prosperous and beneficial for the Kingdom of Italy​

The printing press, whose use had been spreading widely in Europe over the last several centuries, continued to provide benefits for Italy. The kingdom already had some of the finest universities in Europe and the academic excellence of these institutions increased due to the increasing access to books and pamphlets made possible by new printing technologies. Important texts which previously could only be found in one or two libraries were increasingly reproduced, thereby expanding the catalogues in all of Italy’s universities and trickling down even to lower schools. Under the tutelage of Galeazzo Malaspina, the kingdom’s minister for education, Italy’s universities began sharing and exchanging important books with each other. Outside the universities, the expansion of access to printing presses allowed people throughout the kingdom greater access to texts and documents. It also heralded the birth of the printer and print shop as a growing part of the economy. King Francesco and Malaspina set aside funds to be spent on the production of important works on the history of Italy, philosophy, religion, science, and other subjects deemed important to the general population. This resulted in an increase in literacy, especially in the large cities like Rome, Milan, Modena, Bologna, and Venice.

Advances in printing technology were beneficial for the Kingdom of Italy’s universities and its general population​

In foreign policy, Italy struck an agreement with the Knights Hospitaller on Rhodes to bring them formally under Italian protection as a vassal. The Knights had managed to maintain an independent realm even in the face of Mamluk and Ottoman attempts to conquer them. However, they had begun to realize that even they could not hope to hold out against the increasingly powerful and assertive Turks forever and that their only hope to prevent conquest of their island by the Muslim superpower was to seek the protection of a strong and interested Catholic power. As a result, Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, had married King Francesco III’s younger sister, Sofia, in 1631, and followed that up with a formal alliance. King Francesco also pledged his support as the Defender of the Faith to ensuring the Rhodes would never fall into Muslim hands. Nevertheless, he still sought to bring the Knights even further into Italy’s sphere of influence. The Knights, for their part, were eager to ensure a lasting bond of protection and the guarantee of Italian support in case of an Ottoman invasion. However, they also wanted to maintain a semblance of autonomy from the Kingdom of Italy.

A large delegation from the Knights Hospitaller, led by Grand Master Lascaris, and accompanied by his wife Princess Sofia, arrived in Rome in late July of 1635. Lascaris and King Francesco sat down to hammer out an agreement whereby the Knights would formally be brought under Italian protection. They agreed that Rhodes would become a territory of the realm, that the Knights Hospitaller would pay taxes to the kingdom, and that the island could be annexed by Italy after a period of ten years. However, even after annexation, Rhodes would be given the status of a free republic, guaranteeing them a level of freedom greater than that of regular provinces of the kingdom. Additionally, the Knights Hospitaller would become a formal military order of the Kingdom of Italy. Grand Master Lascaris and his fellow knights found the arrangement acceptable and the “Treaty of Italian Protection of Rhodes” was signed on 5 August 1635. This agreement further increased Italian influence in the eastern Mediterranean and helped bridge the distance between their home territories and Alexandria. King Francesco, the architect of the Italian campaign in Egypt, was eager to strengthen his kingdom’s hand in the region and considered the addition of Rhodes to his sphere of influence as integral to that goals. The union with the Knights Hospitaller also represented a prestige boost for Italy, as the kingdom absorbed one of the most venerable and respected orders in Christendom.

Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller and husband of Princess Sofia d’Este

Antoine de Wignacourt, Grand Master Lascaris’s top military commander and advisor

The Knights Hospitaller agreed to become Italy’s vassal in exchange for guarantees of autonomy when the Island of Rhodes was eventually annexed

Medal and sash awarded to King Francesco III Stefano of Italy by the Knights Hospitaller, marking the king’s induction into the order as a Knight Commander​

The ensuing years offered advancements not just for Italy as a kingdom, but even for the average subject. The conditions of wealth and prosperity did not stay concentrated at the top, but found their way down through the layers of society. The primary beneficiaries were the growing class of urban shopkeepers and tradesmen, who now had greater access to official positions, were protected from extortion by nobles, and empowered by increasing levels of education. With the exception of Rome, by the 1630’s, the shopkeepers, artisans, and professionals had become the main powerbrokers and the cities. While this early bourgeoisie was not yet the power that it would one day become, and the urban population was still small relative to the rural one, the seed was planted for its future development. Even in the countryside, where the nobility still clung to their privileges despite the Estes’ decades-long efforts and centralization of power, the farmers and peasants saw increased material well being. While good crop output is largely dependant on the weather, the royal administrations’ efforts at farm reform and reorganization were paying off even for the little guys. The Kingdom of Italy saw surplus crop outputs for nearly the entire decade. This enabled the farmers and peasants to remain well fed and even to profit from sales of their goods at the market.

In the end however, this period of prosperity, peace, and happiness would not last. The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf V von Habsburg, was poised to strike at Italy once again. The Austrians, Italy’s greatest historical enemy, had almost become an afterthought in the minds of Italian military planners. Feeling secure with their strong alliances and powerful armies, Italy’s top commanders, to include the legendary Marshal Sforza, had come to believe that another attack from the north was unlikely. Their focus had turned east toward the ever increasing threat presented by the Ottoman Empire or north where Denmark remained an ascendant power. The Austrians, sensing this, felt that they had reached an optimal moment to attack their hated rivals. They did not, however, count on the determination, grit, and battlefield skills of the one man who counted most in the entire Kingdom of Italy: King Francesco III Stefano. The coming war between the League of the Four Kings and the Holy Roman Empire would elevate the man who had become known as “the Egyptian” to the highest levels of European political and military greatness.

 

[oyf]

Yes!!! Keep it coming

 

[Andre Massena]

It's back!