Philippe II, Électeur de Lorraine

Philippe II, Électeur de Lorraine (Philippe Valérien Marie; 23 July 1670 – 10 January 1717) was a Grandelumierian prince of the blood, civil and military officer, and courtier who served as Regent to Constantin XI & XXII. The son of the previous elector Philippe I and Marie-Marguerite Laurene de Rochechouart de Mortemart de Viennois, one of the famed Mortemarettes, he was known from birth as the Prince de Vaudémont and in his tenure as Monsieur le Prince. 
After a successful career in the Nine Year's War and the War of the Spanish Succession, in which he won many victories in the Low Countries and northern Italy, Philippe was made Archithesiarius in 1708 and Archicancellarius in 1709, with a number of other household distinctions, which culminated in his appointment as Regent to the Emperor Constantin XI & XXII after the death of his grandfather. Because of this, he is often referred to by his sobriquet, le Régent. Considered one of the finest generals of his time, he led Grandelumiere through the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Pichonnerie, and the Second Great Turkish War and saw its emersion as the dominant European power as he himself emerged as one of its most praised, criticized, and controversial leaders.
== Biography ==
=== Early Life ===
Philippe was born on the 23rd of July, 1670 in the Imperial court at the Grand Palace of Constantinoble in Paris to Philippe d'Anjou de Lorraine, himself the son of a prince du sang and Marie-Marguerite Laurene de Rochechourt de Mortemart de Viennois, one of the infamous Mortemarette nieces of l'Eminence Rouge. The marriage can be most effectively summarized in the words of the Cardinal de Viennois, "Le prince porte le pannier et elle, si grande, porte l'épée." (The prince wears the pannier and she, so grand, wears the sword.)
At his birth, he was given the style Monseigneur le Prince de Vaudémont, though shortly after he was given the designation Monsieur le Duc by Marie II as the heir to the most senior prince du sang, thanks to his mother, who held a prominent influence and position at court opposed to his father for whom she secured the rank of Monsieur le Prince (an honor which had eluded him most of his life). Largely confined himself to his own court at the Château de Saint-Cloud or the Palais des Électeurs de Lorraine, Philippe's father left charge of his family (besides the matter of siring) to his wife.
Philippe was baptized with the name Philippe Valérien Marie in the Imperial Chapel and was raised briefly at his grand uncle's house, the Palais-Cardinal, which his mother had turned into one of the most fashionable social centers in Paris. Following his early childhood, he was introduced by the Électrice to court as an enfant d'honneur to the young Justin Pétrone Auguste d'Anjou, son of the Archiduc Constantinoble under the charge of his preceptor, the Cardinal de Viennois, who was at the height of his court career. The Archiduc and Philippe fostered a strong relationship despite disagreements sprouted from Philippe's juvenile combative nature, which brought horror to his mother and preceptor. Alongside the Archiduc, Philippe was exposed to the finest modern education from the educational pride of the clerical schools of Paris. He was taught French in the courtly Tourangeau style, Latin in that of the Church, and Greek, which he insisted on being instructed on so that he could read the Iliad in its original text. Philippe also had a passing command of German.
Though their friendship survived until the Archiduc's untimely death, it was not near in measure to the bond between Philippe and his younger brother, the Duc d'Orléans, who was considered to be Philippe's only other friend in the world. It was said Philippe, always a dour child, saved his affection and smiles for Orléans. Since his birth in 1674, Philippe had immediately taken a protective stance over his little brother, which in time bred a powerful brotherly bond between the two which would ultimately lead Orléans into a military career similar to Philippe, and thus onto his own death.
=== Adolescence ===
Suggestions for Philippe to pursue a career in warfare began as early as nine years old, though became cemented at Philippe's declaration when he was thirteen after hearing of his cousin Eugene de Savoie's departure from Paris and following participation in the Austrian-led defense against the Ottoman Empire in the 1683 Siege of Vienna. The move did not impress nor particularly delight his mother, who despised Eugene's mother, the paternal great aunt of Philippe with a fierce passion that extended to all the aunt's offspring. Laurene herself had actually maneuvered to thwart any military possibilities for Eugene because of this spite.
Seeing Philippe's determination, Madame la Princesse arranged for him to be the pupil of the aged François de Créquy, a veteran Stratége of the Thirty Years' War and the Grandelumierian-Dutch War. The old commander delivered to Philippe a thorough education of his own exploits, as well as those of his contemporary, Turenne and the ancient strategies of Constantine I & XII, Caesar, Hannibal, and Alexander. While Philippe respected Créquy, he felt the man paled in comparison to Turenne, who Philippe studied far more vigorously. In Philippe's words, "To speak of the effects of Turenne is to speak of the world beneath the whip of the Romans."
The immediate result of Philippe's vigor in that course of study was the appointment to the post of Pursuivant of the Varangian Guard, an ancient establishment which dated back to the tenth century as a guard to the Byzantine emperors consisting of Rus and Norse Vikings though the ages had seen the French continuation reduced to mainly Germans and French guards. Philippe's only but major reform to the guard was the expansion of its cast to include Bretons, Swiss, Scots, Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Russians, making it once more an international force of men unburdened by local loyalties and indifferent to intrigues surrounding them. He also oversaw the replacement of many officers, posting those professing friendship to him to posts within the guard, as well as appointing his successor, the Chevalier d'Arenberg. 
=== Nine Year's War ===
While serving as head of the guard, Philippe simultaneously acted as a liaison to the exiled James II in Saint-German-en-Laye and Empress Marie in the first months of 1689. Despite being only nineteen years old, the young prince displayed excellence and sagacity in a diplomatic capacity. His own advocacy of James and his cause was a primary factor in the successes of the Williamite War in Ireland. Grandelumiere devoted thousands of men to the Stuart cause, leading to King James' victory at the Battle of the Boyne. 
Philippe's first opportunity to see service on the field came with the outbreak of the Nine Year's War in 1688. He was given the rank of Taxiarque in 1689 following his crawl out of the Varangian Guard and assigned to the Duc de Humières and his assembling army at the border of the Spanish Netherlands shortly after the death of his father, making Philippe entitled Monsieur le Prince. Under the Duc, Philippe was a part of the disappointing campaign of 1689 which culminated in the Grandelumierian defeat at the Battle of Walcourt, in which Philippe personally oversaw the attack on the town of Walcourt. While the battle was a failure for Humières, it brought Philippe recognition in the eyes of the empress, who gave Philippe the rank of Stratége and replaced the Duc de Humières with Philippe for the campaign in the Spanish Netherlands in 1690. 
In the campaign of 1690, Philippe, twenty years old, won what perhaps his greatest victory at Fleurus against the Prince of Waldeck. Though the battle, while tactically superb, was not decisive for the campaign due to intervening orders from the Empress with concern for the Archiduc nominally leading troops in Germany. Five days later, his brother, the Duc d'Orléans was killed leading a cavalry charge at the Battle of the Boyne. The news crippled Philippe emotionally for months to come; he was never so close to anyone as he was to his brother and the news was said to have shattered his desires to do anything but drink. To many, he was never considered to have recovered from the loss, any good spirits in him had since fled. Later that year in Paris, when one Baron de Saché questioned the valor of the late Duc, Philippe, in a drunken stupor, cited the motto of the Knights of the Garter, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," (May he be shamed who thinks badly of it) and challenged the Baron to a duel, who then apologized for the remark, insisting that he could not duel a Prince of the Blood.
The following campaign season, Philippe won a minor victory at Leuze on 18 September. His successes allowed him to maintain command of operations in the Spanish Netherlands for years to come. In 1692, he led the Siege of Namur, and later that year delivered a major defeat to the Dutch at the Battle of Steenkerque on 3 August. His last major victory of the war came in the campaign of 1693 when he defeated his old adversary, the Prince of Waldeck at the Battle of Landen on 29 July. Waldeck, after his third defeat by Philippe, was remarked to have said, "O, if only he [William of Orange] were here to do battle with this conquerer-prince."
 Following his victory at Landen, Philippe enjoyed the benefits of being the toast of Paris in the winter of 1693. In the streets, they toasted him as the "Vainqueur des Pays-Bas" while plays, operas, and parties were done in his honor. In January of 1694, Philippe took to wife the daughter of the Elector of the Palatinate, Constance-Emilie de Wittelsbach and the two conceived rather immediately and when the spring of 1694 came, Philippe conducted a quite mild and uneventful campaign in the Spanish Netherlands. At the end of campaign season in 1694, Philippe was recalled to Paris and replaced with the Duc de Villeroy by the manipulations of the Duc himself, who enabled the Allies to retake Namur the following year. 
=== Return to Paris ===
After his dismissal from command in the Netherlands, Philippe returned to court where his position was rather precarious; despite military successes, it had gained him little in the palace. Despite his oddly cordial ties with the Archiduc, he was alienated by the Marquis de Belle-Ile, on grounds of him being an “irritating little Cæsar”. This affront to the princeling not only alienated himself from his maternal kin but from his mother as well, who aligned herself with that faction of potentates more often than not. 
No great military feats or elaborate missions of statecraft could save him from his own shortcomings as a flatterer and courtier and so, in the summer of 1696, he moved to the Château de Saint-Cloud, a residence which has been his own since the death of his father in 1689. There, despite his station as the senior prince of the blood, his only visitors were the occasional officers whom he was acquainted with from his various commands and his wife who appeared occasionally so Philippe might perform his husbandly duties. Any others were quite few and their purpose was only to extract favors from Philippe. this brewed the beginnings of a courtly slander to come, “Le Régent n'aime personne et personne ne l'aime.” (The Regent loves none and none love him.)
At Saint-Cloud, Philippe soon fell into a marked period of depression which in time, limited him to the palatial grounds and more often than not it limited him to his bedchamber, where some days he would not rise at all. In time, Philippe attempted to mend this practice by indulging in drink quite excessively. This only served as further detriment to his reputation at court when he managed to appear at an event held at the infamous Chateau d’Houilles, at which he was remarked by his mother-in-law Madame du Palatin as being, “so intensely intoxicated his perspiration (which was in visual excess) no doubt was more potent than the contents of a common tavern entire.” Following further estrangement from his family, Philippe’s condition worsened to the point of danger. Servants recalled most uncomfortable details of nights where Philippe slept on the floor in his own vomit and urine and subtle tales of attempted suicides. This behavior, while little of it was publicly known, enough was circulated for Philippe to be branded a deplorable drunk. This standard lasted for more than three years in which time, Phillips made no effort to better himself. He was absent for the births of all three of his children, the death of the Empress, and countless other occasions.
After the coronation of Constantin X & XXI, an event which Philippe had nearly missed, (his attendance had been closely chaperoned by his own mother) the young emperor was quite enthused by the quickening diplomatic combat stirring in Europe and eager to see his reign begin well, he decided on putting the previously useful Philippe to good use, beginning with a diplomatic mission to London, where he was meant to secure the cooperation and friendship of James II, whose restoration was in part due to the efforts of Philippe, which the Emperor saw as eligibility enough for the task.
In London, Philippe was granted audiences with James on numerous occasions over the course of the early months of 1699. James was wary of Grandelumierian power and ambitions while being even more wary of the tenuous peace he sustained with his own Parliament. The sternly plain and honest diplomacy of Philippe did little to ease James’ concerns. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department, Robert Spencer, who was present for most of the exchanges, implied that Philippe continually bullied the King into abstention from acts of opposition to Grandelumieran continental affairs and on numerous occasions claimed his own brother had died to place James back on his throne.
Philippe was in Paris by June of that year and for the first time in years, present at court for a significant period of time, where he struggled to defeat his tenacious drinking habits, or at least disguise them publicly to the best of his ability. Over time, Philippe’s condition improved, though still isolated in the court, he had gained the confidence of the Emperor, and his status and wealth served to protect him from any sort of ruin and gradually, Philippe weened himself off of drink entirely. 
It was during the notably hot summer of 1700 that Philippe came into acquaintance of a particular Madame de Romainville, a celebrated salonist. Throughout the season the two had become to know each other due to Philippe's attendance to a number of her public events. What was not publicly known, however, was the fact that this seemingly wonted relationship was quite intimate, as the two had quite quickly begun to engage as lovers.
As political conditions worsened over the course of 1700 and the childless Charles II of Spain showed signs of fatal illness, Philippe was briefly considered for the Spanish succession by the Spanish court, though the choice resided with a closer relative in Charles’ will, Philippe, Duc d’Anjou, who was proclaimed in Constantinoble in November of 1700, through the Emperor decreed through the Diet, should the Duc d’Anjou’s elder brother, the Archiduc, die without an heir, Philippe would inherit the throne of Spain should Anjou die without issue himself.
=== War of the Spanish Succession ===
Shortly after the proclamation, the War of the Spanish Succession has erupted and Europe, freshly out of the Nine Years War, mobilized armies once again. Philippe was not trusted with any command in the opening months of the war, instead he was retained at court, occasionally invited to meetings held by the Emperor with his ministers and other military commanders to advise on strategy. 
Late in the winter of 1701, Philippe's mistress, the Baronne de Romainville, gave birth to his son, called Jean Alexis de Boyveau, after his supposed father, Alexandre de Boyveau, whom Philippe had arranged to marry Romainville to maintain her own public decency. Boyveau was the Governor of Les Invalides and a veteran of Philippe's campaigns, who was seen by Philippe as a fine candidate for his silence on the matter. It proved to be insignificant, however, when Boyveau died of a fever the following year and Romainville largely retreated from public life to the suburbs of Paris to her public husband's estate, the Château de Asnieres-sur-Seine, to see after the upbringing of her son, which was seen to financially by Philippe. 
It was not until after the unsuccessful campaign of 1701 in Italy under his old rival, the Duc de Villeroy that Philippe was given a command. With the Grandelumierian-Spanish army in Italy which he assumed command over in March of 1702, he faced off against his cousin, the legendary Eugene of Savoy, whom he fought a battle ending in a draw at Luzzara in August. Philippe regained losses from the previous years’ campaign and by August he had retired his army in a strong position in the Po Valley and returned to Paris for the coming winter. 
On the day of his arrival, the Archiduchesse was in labor with her most recent child, and with her history of failures of the womb, it was whispered the coming one would suffer a similar fate. Following the birth of the tiny, sickly Catépan de Champagne, Philippe was brought into the presence of the Archiduc, who was viewing the physical examination of his new son alongside his chevalier servant, the Comte de Limoges, who remarked of the newborn, "He's a sort of monster. Broken and bent like that, I don't see any kingly stuff in him." Though Limoges had earned a carte blanche when it came to words, Philippe retorted with, "That's hardly a monster... That is just a baby, and no king at that. He is to be an emperor." 
Upon Philippe's return to Italy the coming spring, he and his adversaries danced around Northern Italy in the following campaigns, until Philippe’s tactical victory over his cousin at Cassano in 1705 and his victory the next year at Calcinato, where Philippe secured the Italian theater in favor of the Anjou alliance, sending Eugene in retreat eastward. Philippe was then transferred to the Low Countries to repair the damage done by the armies of the Grand Alliance. Following this transfer of fronts, Austria retaliated in Italy and promptly defeated Grandelumiere at the Battle of Turin and secured Italy for Archduke Charles (the Austrian claimant) by the end of the year.
Despite intentions to mitigates losses in the north, Philippe was stationed around Hanover, where he had charge of the barrier fortresses built to the east of the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. By the winter of 1707, Philippe had retired from the post in disappointment and returned to Paris where he was rewarded by the Emperor with a seat on the Conseil as Archithesiaurius, a quite random appointment that came as a benefit of rank rather than a display of administrative merits.
=== Courtly Appointments ===
In his new position, Philippe began a tendency which would follow him for his entire administrative tenure, a massive expenditure. He collected massive amounts of funds to devote to war efforts, paying soldiers, raising new units, building ships and building forts were all priorities of his office. He introduced new intendants to monitor and collect in the empire, all of whom were of his selection on the presumption of ability and worthiness of his own trust.
Though Philippe was quite capable of spending the state’s money, he knew little in the way of finding it effectively and many of the taxes he introduced were ill-advised and ineffective, not to mention a hardship for the many millions of poor he drew from. His popularity in his post was only truly gained with the merchants of Marseille and other trading ports, who’s commerce Philippe protected by lowering tariffs in many of the ports and establishing new measures to defend from piracy, corruption, and wartime blockades.
Over the course of the following years, Philippe position at court prospered and he secured for himself positions in the household as Grand Chamberlain and as Preceptor to the young Archiduc of Constantinoble, a relationship which would endear him to the Emperor (who appointed him to the office of Archicancellarius) though Philippe had little fatherly material in him and overseeing the volatile child proved to make his treatment of the prince quite stern, in a fleeting attempt to mold a man which Philippe saw in himself, the only model Philippe knew of. 
The Emperor died in late 1710, leaving the eight-year-old Archiduc to become Constantin XII & XXI. In the Emperor’s will, Philippe was made the regent to the child emperor, left to rule in his stead until he came of age. Philippe inherited a myriad of issues with his office; the war dragged into its tenth year and debts were mounting. The harvest had been poor that year and much of the population was suffering from famine and the worst plague of smallpox in living memory was spread throughout Paris and its suburbs.
=== Early Regency ===
Submerged in problems and feeling paranoid and insecure in his position, Philippe alienated the Mortemart family and the broad web they had weaves throughout the court by expelling the Emperor’s former Maitresse-en-titre and the former governess of the imperial children, Madame de Rohan, due to a rising rivalry over control of the young Emperor. The explosion resulted in the flight of a number of prominent members of the court, including the Dauphin de Viennois, the Electeur de Brunswick, the Archeveque de Mayence, and even his own mother, who all fled to take up residence and plot at the Palais Cardinal.
The schism began the brief conflict which would be known as the Mortemart Rebellion. Intentions to remove Philippe from the Regency became quite clear and he made effort to suppress their cause, keeping them trapped at the Palais Cardinal, with agents crawling over the neighborhood to track those inside. Attempts to gather military support and publish anti-regency propaganda were suppressed as well. Philippe’s position seemed secure until the day of the late Emperor’s funeral when matters came to a boil.
The Mortemarts hand hired a number of men to incite riots amongst the anxious thralls of the city outside Notre Dame de Paris where the funeral was held. Much of the Mortemart ringleaders has departed before the service had ended and Philippe had threatened to arrest anyone not accompanying the procession back to court. The procession in mention made a slow crawl through the streets, alive with slanders and harassments verbal and physical, with Varangians keeping strategically created crowds at bay. At the Pont Neuf, violence erupted from an unknown source and the procession was mercilessly set upon by the crowd. The Emperor who was sympathetic to the cause of his former governess was abducted by the Mortemarts and the regent forced to retreat to the safety of the Palais de Justice.
Upon learning of the coup executed by the Mortemarts, Philippe forced his way from the Palais de Justice with ninety Varangians and a circle of loyal followers and fled to the Chateau de Saint Cloud, from where he published intentions to raise arms against the rebellion and fled east to Lorraine. Following an arrangement with the Dutch States General, negotiated by his cousin, the Duc de Valois, whom Philippe had made Secretary of Barbarians, twelve thousand men including horse and cannon made for Lorraine under Valois, while Philippe gathered over a thousand local militiamen and a few regiments loyal to him. The combined force marched against Paris while the Dauphin de Viennois marched westward with a force of household regiments and men from the Low Countries.
The resulting battle at Condé-sur-Marne saw Philippe restored to the Regency at the cost of payment in offices and posts to the Mortemart faction. Philippe returned to Paris and realizing the dire state of Grandelumierian finances, in an even worse state after paying the Dutch for his restoration, sued for peace with Spain and Austria. Philippe also secured a match between the sovereign Duchess of Brittany and the Emperor, so Brittany might finally be fully integrated into the Empire.
=== Pichonnerie ===
While peace conferences were being held and the war dragged on, another conflict broke out in Brittany, the sovereign duchy which had been under the close influence of Grandelumiere following numerous marraiges. Peasants had revolted in Upper Brittany with the support of a large portion of the nobility both great and small in response to the marriage pact between the courts in Rennes and in Paris.
In response to the revolt, Philippe, ever wanting battles to fight, departed Paris with an army of ten thousand to put the rebels down. After flexing his strength at the Breton court in Rennes, Philippe marched deeper into Breton country, establishing garrisons in the major ports where the welcoming and docile merchants welcomed Grandelumierian suzerainty for the boon of trade it brought. After months of marching about the country in the middle of winter securing towns and only facing nightly raids on his camp and harassment of his baggage, Philippe was confounded by this style of warfare the Bretons preferred. The first true action of the war came in March of 1711 when Philippe marched against the rebel-controlled town of Lannuon.
Supplemented by the army of the Duchess, Philippe and 14,000 men stormed and sacked the town, slaughtering a garrison of more than a thousand, though many more thousands of civilians were massacred in the attack, with nearly half of the town burning to the ground. A number of the rebellion's leaders were captured and hanged, most notably Marzin Armanz Douarnenez, Alan de Carnoët, and Gwennog Queinnec. When they were strung up, their executions imminent, Carnoët reportedly said in perfect French, words of the ancient historian Tacitus, "To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace." Their bodies were dismembered and pieces sent to major towns and cities of the country as a warning. After prominent action in Brittany, the rebels donned on Philippe the nickname, Kaoc'h Philip (Breton: Shitty Philip).
Lannuon only served to further inspire the Bretons to rebel, and a large makeshift force sizing around 8,000 men of dubious quality gathered and marched into lower Brittany, inciting more to join their ranks as they made their way to Rennes, feeding themselves on the land. When Philippe caught wind of this he marched east with his full strength and within a week he had scattered the force of peasants, leaving thousands dead with minimal casualties sustained. Though a victory, after he marched east, one of the leaders of the rebellion who had reached a near-mythical status, Loiz Pichon, seized Lorient with 5,000 men, many of them deserters from the Ducal Army of Brittany. They slaughtered the Grandelumierian garrison in a similar fashion as Lannuon and killed a number of prominent merchants and bureaucrats who were known sympathizers of the occupation. Their heads were displayed in the streets amidst great celebration.
The rebel victory at Lorient, surprising as it was, did not sustain the rebel army, and many of the men left to return home leaving the rebel army with less than three thousand men by June. In response to Lorient, Philippe dispatched a force of 7,000 men under the aged Seigneur de Thoiry, who met Pichon and the Breton nobles with their army at Pondi on June 29. The Bretons won a surprisingly decisive victory, killing Thoiry and scattering the Grandelumierian force. Enraged, Philippe took the remainder of his force into Upper Brittany, chasing the rebel force, burning and pillaging the countryside as he went. Philippe caught them at Lanball and promptly surrounded and defeated the Bretons, with Pichon and many of his men valiantly defending a hill that was renamed Pichon’s Hill (Torgenn Pichon) after the defeat.
Following the death of Pichon and much of the rebel leadership and the dissolution of their army, the rebellion faded in intensity. Philippe spent the remainder of the summer garrisoned in Brest, from where he had his men forcefully pacify the countryside. The last major event occurred in late July when a small flotilla of Breton privateers sailed into Brest’s harbor and raided the ships at port, burning a number of them and then fleeing. The Breton's resistance eventually dwindled to be no more effective than rural banditry, though much of the population was still fiercely opposed to the occupation. By November of 1711, Philippe retired to Paris with two thousand of his men, leaving the remaining seven thousand to garrison the country.
On his journey back east, Philippe passed through Rennes and visited the court of the Duchess at the Ducal Palace. While Philippe was touring the city on horseback, he was set upon by half a dozen men wielding daggers, swords, and pistols, shouting a warcry that had gained popularity throughout the conflict, "Mort ou dezenór!" (Gallo: Death or dishonor!) After the assault, during which all six of the assailants were slain, "These Bretons love their country so. It pains me to take it from them." For his efforts, he was granted the Order of the Hermine by the Duchess of Brittany before returning to Paris.
=== Peace & Economic Reforms ===
Philippe returned to court with good tidings from the Netherlands; peace had been settled and signed in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1711). Philippe d'Anjou was now Felipe V, though the Spanish holdings across Europe returned to Austria, save for the island of Minorca in the Mediterranean, which went to Grandelumiere. The next great war of Europe was thus concluded, and Grandelumiere was all the poorer. To counteract this, he first dismissed over 20,000 soldiers from the army, expanded the Taille, and lowered tariffs in the various ports.
Aside from these measures, Philippe insisted on spending more money in order to better the state, he loaned five million livres to Brittany, an action which he hoped would assist in restoring Grandelumiere's national credit, which had been tarnished by years of aggressive foreign policy. He began expending fixed annual sums to defeat interest on the national debt and loaned millions of livres to crown-chartered trading companies such as the Grandelumierian Company of the East Indies in hopes of expanding colonial commerce. In addition to those expenditures, he abused powers of corvée to repair damaged roads and build new ones, as well as new bridges and canals. In the city of Paris alone, he spent many hundreds of thousands of livres improving the facilities of the various hospitals and prisons in the city and he ordered the building of new fountains (many of which failed to work).
In addition, he introduced bread stamps to enforce quality amongst bakers, and reformed the police forces of Paris, which were notoriously ridden with corruption, and had failed in its duties during the riots of the Mortemart Rebellion. Philippe established a single Garde de Paris under the existing position of Lieutenant-General of Police, and sacked many of the officers under him and replaced them (including the Lieutenant-General himself) with men known to Philippe from their service in the army. On numerous occasions, Philippe was pressured to debase the gold and silver currencies of the crown, though he promptly refused every single time.
In the years following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, the state's monetary situation slowly improved, though still shackled with debts, Philippe once more began to express a desire for a more prominent stance in the affairs of Europe and was increasingly wary of the threat posed by Habsburg power, the long-time counter to that of the Anjou. This bloomed into more amiable diplomacy with Russia under the ambitious Peter the Great, as well as Bavaria and Saxony, a rising power since the beginning of their personal union with Poland.
During this time of peace, Philippe also sponsored new enterprises in the colonies, such as the Chemin de l'Empereur, a road stretching along the St. Lawrence River from Montréal to Québec. On the other side of Nouvelle Grandelumière in Basse-Marieiane, Philippe funded the Sieur de Bienville to establish a settlement at the mouth of the Mississipi River after word of his explorations of the area reached Philippe in Paris. The settlement was named La Nouvelle-Lorraine in honor of the Regent. Thus it was that Grandelumiere raised her flag on two ends of that massive continent and would begin to strengthen their rule along the Mississipi River.
In 1712, Philippe wed his only daughter Eudocie to the Duc de Montpipeau, the heir of the Dauphin de Viennois. With her came a dowry of a million livres and slathered the mortar of the bond between the Dauphin and the Regent, though quarreling in the past, had overcome their differences and the Dauphin rose to become a confidant and trusted adjutant of the Regent. The match was dismay to the Duc de Valois, another trusted companion of the Regent, who had aspired to gain the mademoiselle's hand for his own son.
That same year, the 74-gun ship of the line named Duc de Lorraine was laid down in Rochefort at the behest of Philippe, who also ordered the building of four more ships of the line throughout 1713, Orléans 64, Saint-Marie 50, and Pantocrator 60. Funding for Duc de Lorraine and Pantocrator came from the office of the Archtreasurer (held by Philippe), while Orléans was funded by the estate of Orléans, Saint-Marie by the clergy of Paris.
By 1714, with Philippe’s position at home and abroad secure, there were fears similar to those from the earliest days of the Regency at the time of the Mortemart Rebellion that Philippe was aspiring to further his own rights of succession. These fears were fed after the death of the Queen of Spain in February, after which Philippe quite immediately offered the Princess of the Porphyre to Felipe V, with the agreement that she forfeits her rights to any Grandelumierian claims in accordance with the provisions that came out of Amsterdam three years prior. Considering the number of purple-born princesses at the time, Philippe’s chances of inheritance were slight, though his strong position as the master of Western Europe raised questions about his future ambitions.
=== Second Great Turkish War ===
Philippe’s ambitions were revealed later that year, (though not entirely publicly) at the outbreak of war between the Turks and Venetians over the Venetian holdings in Greece. Eager to renew the war with Austria, Philippe discreetly exchanged correspondence with the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha, looking to make something of an ally out of the Turks, who in 1715 launched a successful campaign in Venetian Morea. Philippe’s terms were simple: open a front against Austria, and Philippe would ensure the Turks would not meet defeat and be treated very well in the peace dealings and guaranteeing any conquests they made. Following these clandestine dealings and a sweetener delivered in the form of no less than 40,000 bezants, an army of 60,000 men was raised by the Pasha of Bosnia, which the Grand Vizier retired from Morea to take command of.
Meanwhile, the Regent hastily prepared an army of 50,000 men around Ulm and ordered a force of 20,000 to act as an army of observation around the Austrian Netherlands. In order to protect the Italian front, Philippe dispatched a very menacing letter to the Duke of Savoy, demanding that the Duke back him against Austria, stating that, "Should you be lacking in any willingness to obey, I suggest you look to your wife for particular assurances." Thus, the support of Savoy was gained and Philippe waited in Germany with all his strength for word of a Turkish invasion into Habsburg domains. When he received word on June 20 that the Vizier had marched out of Banat and marched towards Buda, he began a march south towards the Alps, sending an armed envoy to Vienna carrying his declaration of war.
By August, Philippe had wound his way through the Alps and taken Innsbruck unopposed, while the Turks were joined by 40,000 Crimean Tatars and won a surprising victory on August 11 at Pest against János Pálffy and a motley Habsburg host of 60,000, which was trapped against the Danube river. Only half of the army made it safely back across the Danube and made a staggered retreat northwards while the Turks laid siege to Buda.
In another month, Philippe took Villach and Klagenfurt, still without major resistance. He turned south and crossed the Drava, marching into Habsburg Slovenia, where he laid siege to Ljubljana on September 20. On September 30, Prince Eugene of Savoy appeared before the city with more than 30,000 men, setting himself on Philippe. The ensuing battle was the first between the two in a decade and its ferocity was appropriate; both armies suffered nearly ten thousand casualties and though Eugene was forced to retreat at the end of the day, Philippe's plans of continuing on to seize Triest were dashed. He continued to encircle Ljubljana for another three days after the battle before receiving news of an Ottoman victory at Buda and vengeful massacre of the population for what was done in 1686 to the Muslims and Jews of Buda.
After the Turkish conquest of Buda, Philippe met with his generals and decided on marching against Vienna itself, seeing as the Austrians had been beaten in the field a number of times thus far and the war was still young, with no other belligerents as of yet, though Philippe anticipated he had begun Europe's next great conflict. The Turks too were in a difficult position, winter was near and the ambitious Vizier was yet unsatisfied with the gains of the campaign. Drunk with his previous successes, he ordered a march onto Vienna, bypassing the cities and fortresses along the way.
Philippe received an envoy from the Vizier, who informed him that the Vizier had marched on Vienna from Buda, leaving a small force to lay siege to Győr and had reached Vienna on October 10 with 75,000 men, while the King of Bohemia and his court along with 20,000 men had fled westward to join with Eugene of Savoy. Philippe took counsel with his generals, late into the night they debated their next move. In Austria, the Regent perhaps made his greatest gamble; launching a premature campaign, isolated diplomatically save for the Turks which made him no European friends. He had a knotted line of communication and was unable to draw on the nearest Grandelumierian magazine, forcing him to gorge his army on the countryside while they danced through Austria. It was concluded that staying where they were would begin a war they were not yet expecting. Storming Vienna with the Turks would result in a similar outcome. In this conundrum, Philippe forged a middle way: he would turn on the Turks.
No opposition from his generals could turn his mind from it after the decision was made. They retired from Ljubljana and made for Vienna with all their strength. The route north was immensely difficult with the speed Philippe demanded, after leaving Klagenfurt for the second time, Philippe pillaged his way to Graz, which was stormed and captured on November 5. Much of the same would follow all the way north to Vienna, a route which took three weeks to complete. Grandelumierian dragoons sighted Vienna in the early hours of December 1.
By the first day of December, the Ottoman siege was nearly finished. The campaigning season was over and the Turkish were poorly supplied, leaving the Vizier the choice of either taking the city by force before heavier snows sullied his army or retreat. The arrival of the Regent gave him a false hope that the city would surely fall. He rode with a grand entourage to greet the Regent atop the Kahlenberg Heights and discover his true intentions at Vienna. Philippe rode out to exchange pleasantries with the Vizier and give him assurances that he was indeed here to see Vienna fall.
With that, the Vizier retired and made preparations to attack Vienna the following day. Meanwhile, Philippe laid out his lines on Kahlenberg and during the night, he ordered battle lines to be drawn up and artillery batteries to be made overlooking the Turkish camp. In the early hours of December 2, he unleashed a barrage of cannon fire on the unsuspecting Turks, sending a frenzy through the camp while most of Philippe's 17,000 cavalrymen stormed down from the heights and rode down the Turkish encampment, with a dozen battalions of foot close behind them.
The betrayal was nothing short of a disaster for the Turks; of the 75,000 men that surrounded Vienna, only 30,000 escaped the slaughter. The only minor victory was the escape of some 25,000 Crimean Tatars, who had a separate camp from the rest of the Turks. 1,000 Janissaries and 4,000 others including many Yamaks and the Vizier himself escaped with the Tatars, who fell upon Philippe's position on Kahlenburg in the chaos and killed his horse and crippled Philippe's leg with arrow fire.
After seeing the Grandelumierians smash the Turks against the walls of Vienna, the defenders of the city opened the gates to Philippe and his army, hailing them as the saviours of Vienna and all Austria. Word was sent to the Austrian army some thirty miles away from the city of what had occurred and the royal force made for the city with haste.
In the aftermath of Vienna, Philippe laid injured in Hofburg while his army revelled in the plunder of the Turkish camp. Prince Eugene and King Karl II arrived days later to find him in effective control of Vienna with tens of thousands dead and thousands of captives. The Grandelumierian army was quartered in Vienna while King Karl gave pursuit of the Turks over to Eugene and the Austrian army.
As soon as the Regent was in a mobile state, the army departed from Vienna for Grandelumierian Germany, though the Regent left the Dauphin in Hofburg with a number of other officers to discuss a treaty between Austria and Grandelumiere. Austrian Luxembourg was given over to Grandelumiere in exchange for the fortresses seized and as payment for their relief of Vienna.
=== Philippe Triumphant ===
In the opening days of the new year, the Regent strode into Paris in all his finery, (though at a snail's pace due to his ruined leg), atop a white stallion while his army marched through the gates, their music blaring amidst the fanfare.
In the opening days of the new year, the Regent strode into Paris in all his finery, (though at a snail's pace due to his ruined leg), atop a white stallion while his army marched through the gates, their music blaring amidst the fanfare. Philippe saw this not only as a golden age for the Regency but as one for Grandelumiere, which he would certainly take advantage of. 
Still drunk on praises from the Vienna campaign, Philippe decided to prolong the Imperial festivity with a wedding between the Emperor and his Breton bride. In preparation for this, all matters of state were set subsidiary to the event, doles were distributed to the poor, plays and operas were held for the wealthy, and artisans set to work on the required extravagances of the Imperial celebration. In expectation for the wedding, the city of Paris swelled with people from the Empire and abroad coming to witness the matrimony. 
In anticipation of the event, the expenses were mounting for the crown, to the extent where it was decided a small entry tax would be raised on the city for the duration of time until the wedding was to be held and the loot gathered from the Vienna campaign was to be sold off at a grand carousel on the Champs-Élysées. The total cost of the Imperial wedding would exceed five million livres after the final street cleaning was complete. 
Not a month after the match was sealed, Philippe was prepared to embark on his next diplomatic escapade. Woven by the intrigues of the Electeur de Viennois in Hofburg and Rome, the aim was to reign in ambitions of war with the Turks under a unified cause, but most importantly, under Grandelumierian guide and suzerainty. The plan was popular with the Grandelumierian Pope, Clement XI, who sought to emulate the Holy League of 1684, which brought defeat to the Turks in the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. 
Philippe dispatched emissaries to the major German courts and beyond to Russia and when interest was displayed in having a form of a conference on the potential alliance between the numerous nations, it was decided the site would be in Grandelumierian Germany, in the Bishopric of Bamberg at a place called Königsfeld. Over the coming weeks, the obscure village grew into a town as structures rose on its meadows in preparation for the coming summit, which came to be known as the Grand Parley, for which the cream of European nobility would be present.
=== Holy League ===
When the time came in the late winter of 1715, the nobility of the Saxon-Polish union, the Habsburg Monarchy, the flowering elite of St. Petersburg, the Bavarian Junkers, the clerical potentates of Rome, and the Roman court entire filled the meadows of Königsfeld for an auspiciously warm week to debate the conditions of war with the Turks. Present was Augustus II, King of Saxony and Poland-Lithuania, Karl II of the Habsburg domains, Doge Giovanni Cornaro of Venice, the King of Bavaria, Maximilian II, Peter I, Tsar of the Rus, Pope Clemente XI, and the Regent along with the Empress and all their attendants and courtiers.
Throughout the week, various meetings were held between the rulers of the various powers and subjects of dubious importance were dwelled over to excess, to the point of filibustering. The obvious conflict of interest present in the proposed objectives of the summit was ever-present. Venice was at war with the Turks and saw the reconquest of Morea and the expansion of Venetian maritime in the Aegean and along the Balkans as a paramount matter, while the Austrians saw the reconquest of towns such as Buda and Gyor as rightfully primary goals. After one of the brief talks, Philippe confided to his secretary, the Baron d’Ardon, “If it were claimed that two and two make four, then we would spend the afternoon in debating the matter to only reach a conclusion of disagreement.”
As negotiations progressed, the chief objectives of war became centered around the subduing of the Danubian Principalities, at that point under the suzerainty of the Ottomans via Pharionite Greek vassals, and the reconquest of lost Habsburg territory and the capture of Belgrade. Philippe cast his lot in with the Venetian objective of neutering Ottoman naval power in the Mediterranean and reigning in the potential expansion of Austria, flaunting the precarious guarantee of the Austrian Netherlands and Italy in front of King Karl.
While there was much talk of the distribution of lands unconquered, these arrangements eventually fell flat, as the final proceedings of the week came together. In the end, a firm treaty of alliance was agreed upon, though Russia had increasingly been ostracized throughout the week due to the overtly ambitious manners of Tsar Peter, seething from the loss of the Pruth River Campaign. Provisions were made to form an army of the Holy League, as the alliance was referred to as, with each country contributing troops in various proportions, with the largest coming from Austria, followed by Saxony, then Grandelumiere, Bavaria, Russia, and Venice, while the Papacy granted money to furnish the logistical needs of the army.
In addition to the army, Grandelumiere pledged a number of ships to compliment the Venetian fleet and all the powers neighboring the Turks agreed to mobilize along their borders, while all independent conquests were considered the territory of those who conquered it, the conquests of the Holy League’s proper force was to be decided in a peace treaty with the Turks. 
In the midst of all the diplomatic air, Philippe had his hands in far more clandestine dealings. While observing the results of the summit between the gathered powers, Philippe was investing significant effort into the assassination of the Ottoman Sultan and his immediate heirs, which he predicted would eradicate Ottoman central authority and send the empire diving into full-blown civil war. Soon after he returned from Vienna, he had dispatched five Russians of the Varangian Guard to Marseille to take passage to Constantinople, whilst disguised as merchants and perform an assassination of Ahmed III and his nephew, Mahmoud, while making it appear to be a plot of the Janissary Corps.
After the Grand Parley was completed and the respective parties returned to where they came from, Philippe fell dangerously ill near Frankfurt and was halted in his travels for many days. When he was deemed healthy enough to travel, in his delirium, he demanded his retinue travel south with him to the coast, where he, ever diligent, was planning his next grand scheme. Abandoning the court, he sent letters of summons to necessary staff in Paris and made for Lyon, from where he mounted his grand barge and floated down the Rhone, all the while brooding over maps and reports, giving orders for an army to be mustered at Toulon.
The mustering in Toulon was not only a shock to Paris but to the other partners of the Holy League, who were at that point unaware of any plans Philippe had to sail with an army. Arriving in the city on March 4, Philippe had a token fleet dispatched to Venice while he retained a majority of the Mediterranean Fleet for his own devices, which was no less than the conquest of Egypt.
=== Campaign in Egypt and the Levant ===
==== Preparations ====
Philippe’s plan for an Egyptian campaign was theorized years before when he recognized the possibility of a double port on each coast of Suez in Egypt, which would give Grandelumiere an advantage in trade with the East over their European rivals. The idea seemed too ambitious at the time of its conception, though the war with the Turks revitalized Philippe’s interest in the matter. 
In Toulon, orders to draw ships of the Atlantic fleet to the Mediterranean were sent and arrangements to feed an army of around 40,000 men were made over the course of three months from March to May. During that time, regiments from across the Empire trickled into Toulon and Marseille, including a large detachment from Paris consisting of the Gardes Françaises and two companies of the Garde Varangienne, as well as the Jesuit brother, André de Charleval and the Electeur de Viennois, who was made second-in-command of the expedition. By the middle of May, Philippe’s orders were completed, 40,000 men of his selection were prepared on the Mediterranean ports, with an escort of fifteen ships-of-the-line and four hundred transports to embark men, horses, and supplies ready to depart. 
On May 19, word arrived in the port that the Ottoman Sultan, Ahmed III, and his nephew, Mahmud had been assassinated on their way to daily prayer at the Blue Mosque in Constantinople. A number of powder kegs were detonated by assailants unknown to all but Philippe and a select few to be the five Varangians dispatched to conduct the plot. 
The assassination had occurred two weeks before, by the time it reached Toulon, Ahmed’s successor, his nephew Osman was girded with the Sword of Osman as Osman III and as his first act, had his uncle’s five-year-old son Süleyman strangled. Very soon after Osman’s ascension, he received whispers from a number of sources that the Janissaries, slave-soldiers who numbered at some 30,000 men, were the perpetrators behind the assassination and were planning a revolt. When Osman prepared to act against the Janissaries, a force led by the Agha of the Janissaries seized control of Topkapi Palace in a coup and had the Sultan strangled, proclaiming an interregnum, though this quickly disintegrated as the city burned with a wave of betrayals, coups, and power-grabs.
When Philippe heard of the Turkish troubles, which had at that point begun to spill over into the provinces, with local governors raising men and snatching territory, preparing for the storm that was to come in the wake of the collapse of Ottoman authority, the decision was sent forth to set sail. On May 20, 40,000 men departed the ports of Marseille and Toulon, bound for Egypt, at that point, the destination was not known amongst the rank and file, let alone in Paris, where rumors flew about that the Regent was going to America, to the depths of Africa, India, or even China.
==== Egypt ====
On June 10 the fleet entered port on Malta, where they took on water and supplies, though due to the limitations of the port at Valletta, this took a number of days to complete and the fleet would not set out again until June 13. The fleet sailed in sight of Alexandria on July 1 and began landing men to the west of the city while other ships sailed into Aboukir Bay and landed men to the east. When it became clear the city was content on opposing the invaders, Viennois stormed the city’s fortifications with 8,000 men and seized its citadel before the afternoon was up. The rest of the day was spent unloading men, horses, cannons and supplies into Alexandria and consolidating the army’s position. Philippe himself landed in the city the following morning on July 2 and orders were distributed for the following operations.
Viennois was given command of fifteen thousand men and sent along the coast, with an escort of ships trailing him, to seize control of the mouth of the Nile River. Meanwhile, Philippe would take 22,500 men, leaving 2,500 to garrison Alexandria and march southeast in the direction of Cairo and the two forces would rendezvous at Shubrakhit on the left bank of the river. Cairo, which was currently distracted by internal affairs after receiving news of the demise of the Osmans, was unable to mount an effective defense against the invaders. Philippe took Damanhour on July 5 without significant resistance. Simultaneously, Viennois captured Rosetta and the mouth of the Nile and began his march south along the left bank of the river. At each village, town, and city they went through, Philippe had the Jesuit brother André de Charleval proclaim assurances to the locals that they were here to liberate the Egyptians from the punitive grasp of the Turks, which did not do much to win hearts or minds, rather it confused and even estranged the local populous.
Arriving at Shubrakhit on July 9, Philippe entrenched himself and awaited the arrival of Viennois. Meanwhile, in Cairo, the Ottoman governor, Dellak Ali Pasha, was drowned by the local Mamluk beys, the Shaykh al-Balad, Ismail Bey ibn Iwaz, and the Amir al-hajj, Alim Bey al-Zoubi. The two then quickly fell into dispute and used garrisoned Janissary power and local Egyptians to fight one other in and around Cairo. When Viennois arrived in Shubrakhit on July 11, the joined force moved south, expecting resistance, though days passed and no resistance was met. On July 15 they reached Al Tairyyah, now harassed by peasants and Arabs, though Philippe’s cavalry mitigated the harriers. Confused by the lack of resistance, Philippe dispatched scouts along the river to go as far south as Cairo and report back their findings. 
When the detachment of cavalry reached Cairo on July 17, it required the fully devoted efforts of Brother André to avoid hostilities between the Qasimites who backed Ismail and the scouts. When brought before the bey, the Jesuit promised that he would ask Philippe on the possibility of supporting Ismail against the local opposition in exchange for Ismail’s pledge of adherence to the unfolding occupation. Philippe saw an opportunity in establishing Ismail as a puppet to control foreign Egypt. Philippe and his army marched in sight of the Pyramids of Giza on July 27 and after a liaison with Ismail Bey, Philippe divided the army into three divisions, one under Philippe, marching south against the river, another approaching from the west under Viennois, and a third coming up from the southwest under the Comte Dillon.
When the to seize the city commenced the following morning of July 28, word reached Viennois in Giza that Alim Bey had sailed across the river and was fleeing north with a small force of Janissaries and Mamluks. The Grandelumiereians then pressed on to Cairo and after a morning of light skirmishes between the Mamluks, the chief imams and community leaders came forth to Philippe to surrender the city.
With that, two of the most important cities in Egypt had been conquered with hardly any combat, though the conquest was not yet fulfilled; Philippe had settled in Cairo and set about administering the city under the new office of Exarque d’Egypte, of which he was the first holder, along with maintaining a visage of control of the Shaykh al-Balad, Ismail ibn Iwaz, and the new Amir al-hajj, Badr al-Din Al-Harthi, though both were closely watched puppets of Philippe. Philippe then rounded up and imprisoned large numbers of Janissaries and other known Ottoman officials, though street fighting dragged on for days in order to do so, though it won the hearts of the population. On August 4, he sent Viennois south along the Nile with 10,000 men to subdue Upper Egypt and the ports along the Red Sea while Philippe himself took 20,000 men, leaving 7,500 to garrison Cairo, and marched north to wrestle Lower Egypt under his control and eliminate the greatest threat to the occupation, Alim Bey, who had reached Mansoura and was raising a rebellion about him. 
Philippe reached on Banha on August 10 and camped there for two days before continuing on to Daqados which was taken on August 13. By that point Alim Bey, now with 20,000 Mamluks on his side, had learned of Philippe’s movements and moved south to meet him, slowly trailing the Damietta branch of the Nile. The two armies met on August 15 along the river near a village named Tunnamil, where Philippe won a decisive victory against the Mamluks, trapping a majority of the force against the river and capturing Alim Bey himself. Following the battle, most of the prisoners captured were either shot, bayonetted, or drowned in the Nile, including Alim Bey.
Following the victory, Philippe’s army reached Mansoura on August 20 to barred gates and a hostile city. Mansoura was quickly surrounded on the right bank and Philippe ordered a bridge be built across the Nile west of the city to ferry men across. By August 25, 4,000 men were positioned north of Mansoura across the Nile and Talkha, the settlement adjacent to Mansoura, was stormed and sacked, whilst cannons fired on Mansoura from both sides of the river, Mansoura too was taken by force on the same day. The town then put to sack, including a number of its mosques, meanwhile, a fire destroyed nearly a third of the town. Three days later Philippe and his army marched in the direction of Damietta, leaving three thousand dead in their wake.
After Mansoura, the Nile Delta was open to Philippe, free from any opposition, Damietta welcomed him on September 4, and even the Arabs of the desert had retreated from facing him. From then on, all of Egypt, from the Delta to the Cataracts was under his control and he returned to Cairo a conqueror. Arriving back in the city on September 20, the most pressing concern was a plotted revolt amongst the locals, which required the capture of all the notable imams, muftis, and other scholars and community officials to eliminate the threat. Once under capture, they were forced to renounce all illicit plans or devices and in return would be given their freedom of prayer so long as they paid the new poll tax on Muslims.
Initially neglectful of his public perception in Egypt, Philippe went about turning Cairo into a European city, with a new Catholic Diocese of Cairo, a new court building, library, a public park fit with a menagerie, a new palace for the Exarque, along with more necessary elements of infrastructure such as fountains, drains, and hospitals. Meanwhile, many of his officers had taken to exchanging their tricorns for turbans and mounting camels when traveling to adapt to the difficult conditions of Egypt. Despite the new poll tax on Muslims, Philippe refrained from levying too many taxes immediately on the local population, instead, relying on money coming in from Europe to fund his projects and army, which proved to be quite expensive; in the months which he was in the Orient, over fifteen million livres was spent towards the war effort and construction throughout conquered territories.
In attempts to keep the peace with the locals, Philippe on a number of occasions hosted the same clerical notables which were complicit in the Cairo plot, as well as tribal sheiks and urban significants from other towns and cities, to feast with his own officers which made for confusing cultural conundrums and very limited conversations.
==== The Levant ====
North of Egypt in the Levant, the Al-Azm family had thrown off their ottoman shackles and assumed prominence in the region, using Janissary influence as well as local Arab power to establish a strong rule from Suez to their ancestral fortress of Maarrat al-Nu'man. When it became clear the Grandelumiere was to succeed in Egypt, Sulayman al-Azm, now the Emir of Damascus, prepared to defend his newly established sovereignty and raised an army of around 60,000 comprised of Mamluks, formerly Ottoman Sipahis and Janissaries, Bedouins, and many locals. In addition, he spent a great deal of resources ensuring the loyalty of previously Ottoman garrisons in the Levantine ports, as well as fortifying them in anticipation of sieges.
When Philippe heard of these developments in Syria, anticipating an offensive into Suez and Egypt, he summoned Viennois and his 10,000 men back to Cairo and set out northwards on October 14, with a complete force of 35,000 men, now with added local Mamluks. Reaching Damietta on October 28, Philippe camped his army and took counsel with his commanders to decide on futher action. It was eventually decided that a preemptive strike would be their best option in securing their new province, thus orders were dispatched to the anchored navy that they would blockade the Levantine ports and the army would march through Suez and up into Palestine to capture the ports and face the Damascene army in the field. Furthermore, guarantees of the territories of Tripoli and Mecca were dispatched to their respective rulers to gain a calm throughout the region whilst they subdued Palestine.
On November 1, Philippe and the army left Damietta, marching west across the desert, braving the heat atop their gargantuan camels. At the ruins of Pelusium, Philippe established Fort Lorraine, claiming it was to be the Mediterranean site of the new double port in Sinai. Three companies of soldiers and engineers were left to build and garrison the settlement, while the army continued across the desert. On November 15, he reached Gaza, where his army rested for three days before continuing onto the port of Jaffa, which was besieged on November 21. The fleet assigned to blockade the ports had already arrived by the time Philippe and the land army arrived and had exchanged fire with the gunners in the port. The town was quickly encircled and after an attempted sortie by the garrison, Jaffa fell to storm on November 23.
By this time, the Emir of Damascus had been informed of the invasion and personally led his army out of Damascus and marched south to Acre, entering the port on November 25. After a day of rest, he moved to secure Jerusalem. Simultaneously, Philippe, predicting his intentions, moved out of Jaffa, leaving a garrison of 500 men and marched quickly to seize the city. Upon seeing the army approaching Jerusalem, the garrison surrendered without a fight, worried about potential retribution or damaging of holy sites within the city. Thus, without firing a shot, Philippe gained the holiest site of Christianity for Grandelumiere. On November 27, Philippe rode into the Old City through the Jaffa gate atop his elephant, Goliath, which was given to him by the Mamluk Sultan in Baghdad. Philippe, his officers, and his guard then went in solemn procession to the Holy Sepulchre, where a grand mass was held in their honor. After he exchanged pleasantries with major clerics of the city, he said to the Electeur de Viennois, “In this year Jerusalem, perhaps next Constantinople.”
In the Holy Sepulchre, Philippe decreed that the Latin Patriarch in Rome would be installed in Jerusalem and that henceforth, the Emperor was to assume the titles ‘King of Jerusalem, of Egypt, and of all the Arabs’. Philippe and the army spent the next three days in celebration of their capture of Jerusalem. When he heard of Philippe’s capture of the holy city, the Emir then moved to recapture Jaffa on the coast. When Philippe’s scouts reported this, he ordered they move at once to block the Damascene’s path to the port. 
After a string of successful and masterful maneuvers, the Grandelumierians blocked the road to Jaffa at the biblical town of Lod. On December 1, the two armies fought at Lod, where the Damascene infantry briefly engaged with the Grandelumierans, though the decision was made to withdraw after experiencing the difficult approach to the Grandelumierian positions, which were well entrenched with artillery. A subsequent chase by cavalry left over 1,000 Damascenes dead on the field and a great portion of their supplies was seized as well.
The Emir then fled north to Haifa, with Philippe hot on his trail, though Bedouins and other skirmishers made his advance difficult, and the Emir eluded battle at Haifa, which was cleaned of all provisions, cannons, and supplies. The Emir and his army then fled back towards Damascus, while Philippe took Haifa on December 6 and dispatched Viennois with a force of 15,000 to keep the pressure on the Emir’s retreat at to take the castle at Nazareth while Philippe went further north along the coast to lay siege to Acre.
Upon seeing the fortifications of Acre, which were blocked from the sea by the Grandelumierian fleet, Philippe concluded that he would have no patience for a prolonged siege, so long as the Emir was still in the field. After a brief four days of camping at hastily raised fortifications, Philippe ordered a general assault on the walls, which proved to be quite costly in terms of men; of the first wave he dispatched consisting of Mamluks, over 300 were killed or wounded. It was not until men of the Régiment Impérial-Allemand raised the Imperial standard above the southern tower did the town’s defenses collapse. In all, Philippe suffered nearly a thousand casualties in the assault on Acre.
Undeterred, he arranged that Viennois rejoin his force at Safed, east of Acre, rather than move further north and take Tyre, Philippe wished to eliminate the Emir on the field, though he was outnumbered over 2:1. On December 22, the two armies rejoined at Safed, meanwhile, the Emir and his forces were still making their way out of Palestine into Syria. Now determined to defeat him as a whole, Philippe employed his speed which he was so well known for to make up for the lost distance between the two armies. At Sa’sa’, the Emir concluded that he had found favorable ground for a battle and positioned his men to the north of the town. When Philippe’s force arrived on January 2, they struck camp and positioned themselves for battle on the morning of January 3. Little did Philippe know this was to be his final battle.
=== Death ===
The battle opened favorably for the Grandelumierians, with their superior infantry drilling and weaponry, their
artillery was immediately more potent than that of the Damascenes. Before noon the town of Sa’sa’ was under Philippe’s control and an attempted cavalry charge at his left flank by the Emir’s Sipahis was broken. Under the command of Viennois, the Irish Brigade and other battalions had pushed the Emir’s forces on the right back to the hills north of Sa’sa’ throughout the afternoon, and on the left, the hills to the northeast of Sa’sa were seized after a brief, but brutal melée and the small village of Bait Saber in a small valley on the Emir’s immediate right flank was threatened by Grandelumierian infantry and artillery.
Around 2:00 in the afternoon, the Emir’s Sipahis reformed and attempted a charge against the heights on Philippe’s left, the forces there were attempting to seize control of Bait Saber. The attack sent a shock through the infantry and due to the immediate lack of cavalry, they retreated back up the heights. When the Emir dispatched what Janissaries he had left at his command to break Philippe’s left, Philippe himself rode out to the heights to take personal command over the defense. The sight of Philippe was a great lift of morale for the men, now hard pressed by the onslaught. The Sipahis, now nearly broken after facing the full brunt of Grandelumierian muskets for nearly an hour, formed up for one last charge against the heights, attempting to circle around and catch the infantry on their flank,  Philippe rushed to deploy the Cuirassiers de l’Empereur to counter the charge. In the chaos, he was caught in the midst of a cavalry charge and the following counter-charge and was mortally struck by a lance which threw him from his horse and broke his leg.
None were able to aid Philippe until the Sipahis broke and ran, but once word had spread that Philippe the Regent had fallen, many men, especially in the heat of battle on the left, began to lose heart. Within half an hour, word was spreading that the Regent was dead and the left flank was collapsing and the Damascenes were falling on the remainder of the army, surrounding them. Some men began to break, though the order was held by the commanders on a thread. Command fell to Viennois, who immediately took direct command of the Irish Brigade on the right and led them in a charge up the hills, which forced the Damascene infantry to turn heel and run. 
Despite the display of heroism, the army was still racked with dismay and central order began to collapse, with commanders following conflicting orders. Seeing his position become isolated, Viennois ordered a retreat back down the hills and gave the order for a general retreat, so to preserve order within the ranks and prevent a rout to be taken advantage of by the Emir. By evening the town of Sa’sa’ was back under the control of the Emir and the Grandelumierians had retreated in good order. Grandelumierian casualties were reported at 3,213 dead and 4,585 wounded. The Damascenes suffered far worse with 8,576 dead and 10,154 wounded.
As for Philippe, the lance had struck him the abdomen. While deep, it did not prove to be fatal. He was looked after by a number of physicians including the Jesuit Brother André and two physicians taken on in Cairo. There was not much to be done for him besides bandaging his wound and look after his pain, which was as many report it to have been very great, for he had sweat profusely and cried out at the slightest disturbance of his body. Following the battle, he was carried in his sedan chair while the army retreated back south. His physicians debated the time he had left to live, some claiming he would die within hours, others claimed he would linger on in pain for many days. Each day that Philippe lived prolonged their guesses.
He spoke very little in his sunset days, only calling out for water, though he refused opium or wine to soothe his pain. He carried on for five days until he proclaimed he could go no further. His guard occupied a farmhouse of a wheat farm adjacent to the road and placed him in the farmer’s bed. He was given his last rites on the evening January 9, though he lived on for another night in brutal agony until he finally passed at 9:10 on January 10.
Following his death, his body was carried to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where it was properly dressed and prepared for travel. For two days it was laid in state while all his officers and soldiers came to pay their respects. A number of men who had served under Philippe since the Nine Year’s War openly wept at the death of the long-time commander. On January 21, his body was transported to Jaffa where it was put on a ship bound for Marseille, along with an honor guard consisting of men from the Irish Brigade, the Gardes Françaises, the Chartres Dragoons, the Cuirassiers de l’Empereur, and his own Varangian Guard.
Several months after the untimely death of the Grandelumierian Regent, a collection of his works, particularly theoretical articles on the nature of war and various strategies employed throughout his various campaigns were compiled into a volume, given the full name of Principles or the Descriptions of the Many Victories, Maneuvers and Stratagems of His Highness Philippe de Lorraine. This would become one of the most important volumes in recent European warfare theory, widely published across the Empire and beyond its borders.
== Appearance and Character ==
=== Appearance ===
To those who met him in person, they were quite disappointed. Instead of a confident, commanding figure as his reputation would suggest, those who looked upon him were met with a small man, just over five feet, accustomed to slouching and hunching over. He was not particularly fat, but he was not scrawny either, though his weight did not impress any flowing appeal to his figure and he came off as rather disproportioned. His face was saturnine, made for frowns and stern glances, though powerful nonetheless. 
Two sunken eyes the color of soot affirmed this somber and ill-humored attitude and reflected well his lack of beauty; his hair was a deep brown, though greasy and curled and had thinned and grayed by the time he was only forty-five. His eyebrows bushy, nearly overpowering his dour eyes. His complexion was scarred and worn and dark of pigment like a Spaniard and prematurely aged like his graying hair. His Roman nose short and hooked, with a noticeable bend to it which ruined any aspect of symmetry to his face.
At the Battle of Vienna in 1715, Philippe was wounded by two arrows to his right leg, from which he never truly recovered and his leg pained immensely him for the remainder of his life, turning him bitter and irritable. He required the constant use of a cane and could no longer hunt ahorse, nor gallop long or even walk far distances, often getting carried around in a sedan chair, carriage, or in the final months of his life in Egypt, reclining under a canopy atop an Asian elephant named Goliath.
=== Character ===
Philippe is a notoriously grave soul. Smiles never come to him and the slightest hint or suggestion of any amusement or humor is considered a bountiful harvest of his distant soul. Diligent and determined, he never sets aside his work, rising early with a cup of tea and a pomegranate and settling late after hours of meetings and writing letters, a practice which perpetually fetters him with mockery and rejection. Though personal ambitions are not the root of his energy, rather it was a strange obsession with the success of his dynasty and an internal desire to prove himself to none other than himself. Those who claim there is no love or capacity for it within him are not entirely incorrect; while he does not profess any emotional bond to his children, or his wife, or the common people, there is a sense of duty in him that binds their needs and wants to him. The Dauphin de Viennois described him quite simply as, "A cross-bearer. He struggles. His existence is just so."
The only place where Philippe became an animated spirit was on the battlefield, where he was no doubt a master; on every campaign, he constantly poured over maps, quartermaster's reports, strategies, and reconnaissance. He routinely inspected his men, he knew his officers well and dined with them frequently. While he was not loved in a traditional sense by his army, he was respected and his presence on the battlefield was enough to inspire any lot of men to commit to amazing feats of war.
== Issue ==
By Constance-Émilie d'Anjou de Lorraine (née Wittelsbach);
* Philippe Alexandre Romain, Prince de Vaudémont (June 24, 1695 - Present)
* Anne Zoe Eudocie, Duchesse de Montpipeau (June 24, 1695 - Present)
* Jean Michel Théodose, Archevêque-Électeur de Cologne (January 19, 1697 - Present)
=== Illegitimate Children ===
By Marie Alexandrine d'Apyon de Romainville;
* Jean Alexis, Chevalier de Lorraine (December 1, 1701 - Present)
== Ancestry ==
== Styles and Honors ==
=== Styles ===
* 23 July, 1670 - 7 June, 1689 Son Altesse Sérénissime, Monseigneur le Prince de Vaudémont
* 7 June 1689 - 9 September 1709 Son Altesse Sérénissime, Monsieur le Prince
* 9 September 1709 - 10 January 1717 Son Altesse Sérénissime, Monseigneur le Régent
=== Honors ===
* Chevalier de l'Ordre Sacré Militaire Constantinien de Saint-Georges
* Chevalier de l'Ordre Suprême de la Très Sainte Assomption
* Chevalier de l'Ordre de l'Hermine
* Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Toison d'orCategory:17th Century Births
Category:Grandelumierian Dukes
Category:Grandelumierian Courtiers
Category:Regents of Grandelumiere
Category:Prince-electors
Category:Grandelumierian Nobility
Category:House Anjou de Lorraine
Category:Ministers of State
Category:Imperial Household
Category:Births at Constantinoble
Category:Princes du Sang
Category:Monsieur le Prince
Category:Enfants d'Honneur