England

England, officially the Kingdom of England, is a country in Western Europe, during Varna. A key rival of the French, they played an important role in the Protestant Reformation.
On the Tatsumaki score ranking, "English" is Level 6.
== The Hundred Years' War ==
This war against France had been going on since 1337 (so a bit more than a hundred years). In 1448, France called Scotland and Castile to help them. England overran Scotland in just two years, while Aragon, who had joined on England's side, was overrun by Castile. Aragon left the war in 1451, so England called upon Portugal, who swiftly reached Toledo and ousted Castile from the war. Portugal claimed Galicia in the concluding treaty, and hence formed the Union of Portugalicia.
France had almost pushed England off the continent, but an earthquake in Navarre killed the French troops which were returning from Castile, shattering French morale, and allowing England to reconquer a few territories. Then, a sudden Burgundian invasion of English-owned Calais prompted England to make peace on their own terms, as per the Treaty of Nantes.
== The War of English Succession ==
England did not enjoy much peace after the war with France, as the Wars of the Roses soon engulfed the country into civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York. The Lancastrians were in charge of England during the later stages of the Hundred Years' War, and had scored several victories, but the losses outlined in the concluding treaty sparked outrage among several nobles, who sided with the House of York. At first it was the Yorkists who saw victory, until Henry VII of the Lancastrians married Elizabeth of York, forming the new House of Tudor.
1484 began with the death of heirless king, Richard III (York). The Tudors suddenly gained the support of France in their succession campaign, and began advancing from Wales into western England. They also used their control over the English navy to invade Dumfries. The Yorkists sought the support of the Irish Gaelic kingdoms, who accepted and invaded the Tudor-controlled Lordship of Ireland in 1485. They made staggering progress, pushing the Tudors back to Wexford and Dublin, where they were besieged. Just as Wexford came under Irish control, the Tudors had begun invading northern Ireland, after taking over half of England. The summer of 1486 was the end for the Yorkists, when the Tudors captured London. The Irish kept fighting for another month before they surrendered as well, allowing the Tudors to meet with the French to sign a treaty in London. Continued uprisings would take place against the new king, who suspected that a foreign power had secretly supported the Yorkists, just as the French had openly supported him. Henry VII found his answer through a diplomat received from Savoy.
== War of Dutch Independence ==
In 1489 it was Burgundy's turn to experience a succession crisis. When the duke died, Brabant and Holland declared independence from Burgundy, and unified into the United Dutch Kingdom (UDK). England immediately joined the war, as revenge for the Burgundian invasion of Calais, and their support of the Yorkists. Then came two surprises; not only did France begin fighting beside England against the Burgundians, but several states in the Holy Roman Empire began aiding Burgundy, who was "a great threat to the Empire" according to the Dutch. These new frontiers could not turn the tide of the war, and with the French besieging Dijon (Burgundy's capital) for seven months in 1491, Burgundy agreed to negotiate. The war was won, and Calais was once again in English hands, as per the Treaty of Eindhoven.
== The Fifteenth Anglo-French War ==
(The Great Mediterranean War was happening at this time, but this is a completely separate conflict.)
In July 1513, England began another war against France. The latter had already been busy invading Iberia, so England prepared their plan. They quickly lost Normandy and Calais to the French, as expected, and then England landed in Brittany and took over most of the Duchy, but in 1514 were halted and routed less than 20 miles from the Franco-Breton border. The English were pushed back as far as Brest, where they endured a siege until April 1515.
On April 19th, France attacked a fleet of ships passing through the Dover Strait, believing them to be English, when they were in fact Dutch ships. The UDK spread the news of this unjustified assault across western Europe, and the Amsterdam Coalition was formed against France, consisting of the UDK, England, Castile, Savoy, Provence, and the other HRE states who had previously invaded France.
France eventually pushed England out of Brittany, but then the English landed in Caux to threaten Paris from the northwest, as the Dutch and Holy Roman armies invaded from the northeast. France pushed England out again, but then England invaded Brittany once more, and obtained the surrender of the Duchy. The north-eastern force got much closer to Paris than England had, so France decided it was over. The Amsterdam Coalition met the French in Zaragoza for a treaty, on November 2nd, 1515. England left the war having recovered Calais, Normandy and Caux. The French vassal state, the Duchy of Brittany, was also transferred to England.
== Embracing the Reformation ==
The king, Henry VIII, had been married to Catherine of Aragon since 1509. However, Catherine was the widow of Henry's elder brother Albert, who had died due to illness in 1502. Henry thus believed that the marriage was a sin, since the couple could not produce a male heir, so Henry went to Pope Gennarus I in 1533 to ask for his permission to divorce. Catholic doctrines of the time stated that marrying one's brother's widow was sinful, but that divorce was worse, hence Gennarus declined Henry's request.
In early January 1534, correspondence was exchanged between the two popes, Gennarus I, and his surviving predecessor Clement VII. When Gennarus excommunicated Clement, several states in the Holy Roman Empire abandoned Catholicism for Lutheran Protestantism. England followed suit, creating Anglican Protestantism as a religion, and justifying their cause by citing Henry VIII's divorce case.
{"Ruination" & "Heaven" TBA}
Category:Varna Countries