Records: the Edwardian Offensive

## **Beginning the March**

The English Navy was heavy in firepower, but surprisingly light in logistics ships. It didn't matter: the firepower alone was a spectacle that had residents of Brest lining the waters to see magnificent galleons and their gleaming steel cannons.

Landing in west Brittany, the port city was a traditional English stronghold since 1240. The rest of Brittany, however, had been contested. One of the stalwart defenders was at the Château de Brest, and even now, as the King prepared to hand Brittany over to Aquitaine, part of him didn't want to surrender Brest.

The logistics, as promised, were somewhere between a clown clar and a miracle. The Regiment of St George, some 1,800 soldiers, about 200 horses, 127 massive magically self-propelled War Wagons and 40 cannons... somehow all rolled out of one ship. It was comical at first, then simply mind-boggling, and how they did it was incredibly secret.

It was supposedly the same thing that had allowed the supplies of two men o' war to sail from Paris to Seville without stopping in England, how they seemed to have endless cannonballs and powder and so on. The logistics ships never even changed how high they rode in the water.

### **Inland and Away**

The army stayed in Brest three days, allowing the locals the chance to see the regiment for themselves. They'd heard rumors from Arundel to Calais, but it was something else to see this in person.

Included in the three-day staging was a local demonstration of cannons and projectors. This was largely a courtesy for an act that was still a little *sensitive*. The Breton War of Succession had technically ended in 1365, with the House of Montfort (backed by the Kingdom of England ) defeating the House of Blois (backed by France and Castile).

The complex Treaty of Guérande (1365) had set up Brittany as nominally English-leaning given the support, but technically, John IV, new Duke of Brittany, declared himself as a vassal, not to the English king who helped him, but to King Charles V of France. Further, the treaty set up a particular law of succession that reverted the area to the family of Penthièvre should the Montforts not produce a male heir.

It was a political reality of logistics and contiguous land. Understandable pramatism, but still a betrayal. Now, *King Edward IV of England*, in Brittany with an *Army that Defeated the Forces of Hell*, nullified the treaty.

Instead, Breton would give homage to England and Edward reserved the right to transfer titles and lands. Local security from France would be guaranteed his son Richard, Prince of Aquitaine. Given the Aquitaine demonstrations in Calais, and the recent certification of Le Mans, nobody wanted to argue (not even the Penthièvres).

It was considered a miracle that Brittany had survived *thunder* without any *blood*.

### **The March on Normandy**

The Duchy of Normandy had been a Plantagenet possession until King John lost it in 1214, depending on how one measured the territory. That loss itself set up the First Barons' War in England and eventually the creation of the Magna Carta itself (1215).

Now, King Edward entered the Duchy of Normandy in the southwest corner. Coming from Brittany, with the virtual collapse of French military projection, there was no force to meet him except isolated Valois garrisons. The smaller ones surrendered with barely a shot fired: the French were brave – *not stupid*.

The first garrison to defy King Edward was in Cherbourg, technically a fief of Charles II of Navarre. Since Prince Rick was already at war with the King of Navarre over stolen *Glow Stones*, the Cherbourg garrison had instructions to resist. They were equipped with one of the strongest castles in the world (according to Froissart) that had already successfully resisted a siege by Charles V – they refused the Edwards as well.

*King Edward IV made an example of them*.

While he spared burning the city, he definitely sacked it (at the decision of the garrison), *then breached the integrity of castle and utterly decimated the garrison within it*. The King of Blood and Thunder was definitely in France and the word quickly spread through Normandy, down to Navarre, back to Paris and deep into the Empire beyond.

Caen was the second town to resist, led by the Château de Caen. Edward III had once taken the town , but not the castle, and instead of pressing the siege, decided to ignore the castle and move on. Good move: *Edward won the Battle of Crécy just a few days later*. Edward IV had a different plan: repeating the events of the Battle of Arundel, he minimized damage to the castle but surgically breached it and "cleared it of defenders."

### **Brief Jaunt South**

After taking Caen, the King headed south to Le Mans to visit the Arms of Aquitaine. Technically, the Regiment Le Mans was beholden to the King of England, but there was no mistaking their loyalties were to Prince Rick.

Regardless, the king was impressed.

The Regiments traded mutual salutes and the English headed north, back into Normandy.

### **North to Normandy**

After Le Mans, Évreux was next on the tour. The Count of Évreux was, again, no less than Charles II. Word of Cherbourg had already rung through like a thousand alarm bells. The locals were informed that homage would be changing – not to the King of England, but rather to the Prince of Aquitaine There was no argument. News of the Navarrese conquests made its way back to Prince Rick.

The Edwards hit the city of Rouen next, arguably the coordination center and quasi-capital of the duchy. After the devastation of Cherbourg and Caen, the Rouen Castle had no illusions and surrendered on promise of sparing the city. Edward agreed and was good for his word.

Taking a few days to let the word spread, they were able set a new standard of polite as they traveled, taking Le Havre, and finally Dieppe before the end of the month. There, at the site of a prize they'd previously fought for, the army stopped for a maritime resupply.