Records: the Treaty of Paris (1379)

## **The Vow**

In the heat of the moment, under the stress and duiress of the unstoppable army, then the swarm of spirits, a person could say *anything*. That was a fear of King Edward, as Charles V didn't have a great track record on keeping his vows: case-in-point, the 1960 Treaty of Brétigny.

In all fairness, there was political expediency and a dozen other factors at stake. Would King Edward have done the same? Perhaps, but then King Edward would've probably been dead if it weren't for divine intervention, as channeled through his younger son.

The new King Edward wasn't *too* different from his old self, but there were things he'd been through that changed him. Just as the things Charles had been through had changed him, as well.

With the Dauphin – or *former* Dauphin – by his side, Charles ceded France to King Edward of England.

### **The Reception**

The audience for the act was no less than Philip of Burgundy and a dozen other French nobles, as well as military leaders, clergy and members of the third estate.

For *King Edward I of France*, it was a bittersweet moment. He'd spent so much time, blood and gold, trying to fulfill the wishes and desires and claim of his father, that to see it finally realized was an incredible burden lifted from his shoulders. It was a moment death had nearly deprived of him, and now he saw it.

The warrior Edward allowed himself the time to silently weep during the impromptu accession.

## **The French Audit and Rectification**

Just as Edward had done to England, he did now to France. As preparations were hurried through for a formal coronation, King Edward conducted speed hearings for every political position or appointment in the kingdom. This accounted for the entire First (clergy) and Second Estate (nobility, both of the sword and of the robe ).

One of the tools was the sceptre of Dagobert I, which was an otherwise key part of the French coronation regalia. The sceptre had been enchanted to *compel truth*. Similar to what had been done in England for their A&R, this made justice quick and accurate. Truth was still relative to the observer, so there were a dozen instances where testimony led to corroborating evidence, but most often, truth was in syncrony with intent.

Nobles of all levels were subject to Audit at the Royal Court in Paris or were immediately divested (and likely arrested or deported, if they were based elsewhere). It didn't matter how far they were from Paris, the SA or the RA was able to transport them *post haste* in horseless carriages.

Dirty laundry was aired out and it wasn't about the petty things, the King didn't care about who was sleeping with whom and the like, but who in the aristocracy were sociopaths and psychopaths (or "criminals and monsters" in the vernacular). The A&R alone won the new king the undying love of the Third Estate, which accounted for about 98% of France's population.

### **The Fulfillment of the Catholic Divestment**

Per the order of Rome, the temporal ecclesiastical duchies were folded into the Crown. In France specifically, this included the titles of the Duke of Reims, the Duke of Laon, and the Duke of Langres.

### **The Retention of House Valois**

For bravery in battle, for the willingness to sacrifice his crown to save the good people of Paris, King Edward elevated Charles of Valois to Duke. The Duchy was no less than the gem of the Île-de-France. *This was something of a surprise*.

Other divestitures included Philip the Bold, now relieved of Burgundy and associated. While he was borderline in the A&R, he was about average for noble behavior and ambition. The divestiture was as much about being in line for French succession, and that had to be put in check. After swearing a magically-enhanced oath, he was released to return to Dijon and begin the process of turning over the lands and titles.

Under Plantagenet rules, House Valois was allowed to "incorporate," adopting similar line-of-succession contingency control, as well as extended familial inclusion. Philip the Bold, and family, would be immediate members of this new-style noble house.

#### **The Plantagenet Connection**

The former Dauphin Charles, via his father now-Duke Charles, was technically the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandson of Henry II of England , son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, and technically eligible for inclusion into the modern, redfined House of Plantagenet.

### **The Consolidation of New Territories**

As the A&R progressed, this included the recently-annexed territories of the Holy Roman Empire, including Luxembourg and surrounding. These were officially rolled into the French Crown. This granted geographic contiguity and streamlined protection, response and management.

### **The Domain of Anjou**

After adding to France, King Edward subtracted: the province of Anjou, as set aside by Prince Rick, was recognized as an independent state. Comparable to a sovererign kingdom all its own, it was effectively a Parliamentary Monarchy, with the monarchy portion distributed as a Plantagent family democracy.

## **The Coronation of Édouard I**

About a week later, there was an official, if expedient Coronation performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at Notre-Dame de Reims (practially next door to the hospital where the Dauphin Charles had been de-haunted). The bishops weren't all present, there was some controversy about the Pope's temporal divestments and right now, some ostensible fear for their own safety.

Edward was much like his father – with a heart that beat as half-French. With his accession to the Crown of France, his name was localized as Édouard; specifically, Édouard the First.

The narrative spreading from Paris was that the Edwards had the chance to deliver a coup de gras against the Valois in Paris. Instead, the grief of the fathers dragged hostilities to a stop. It was a moment when compassion carried more weight than power, and humanity was defined by its decency.

Afterward, given The Haunting, King Édouard couldn't bear to remain where he'd very nearly seen his first son fall a third time (and seen his second son endure the brunt of the Soul Nova). With the bulk of the A&R complete, Édouard would appoint his regent and retire to England.

### **Regent in the Royal Absence**

Given proximity and momentum, Prince Rick would be Regent for the English Crown in the absence of the sovereign themself. Given King Édouard's post-*Soul Nova* state of mind, the absence from France was expected to be *most of the time*.

Prince Rick had wide latitude in his management of France, including who he sub-appointed as Viceroy of France in his own absence.

The Plantagenet Connection was the key to Edward's decisions, including the clearance to allow Regent Richard the freedom to appoint the *new* Duke of Paris as Steward of France in his own absence. This gave the duke a more graceful political transition, and given his own oath of fealty, helped ease the national shock of regime change.

## **The Re-Creation of the Kingom of Arelat**

The divestiture of Philip the Bold, and the decision to split Burgundy off from France entirely, was partly due to the power already Philip had already amassed. Burgundy had already been leaning north, marrying into areas that were nominally French (like Ghent). That would eventually lead to competing, valid claims for the area, and that would lead to civil war.

This timeline was laid out before the court, illustrated in magical floating pictures (akin to high-quality holograms), that more or less cheated: showing a variation on the France-Burgundy conflict. The magic just drove the point home.

At the moment, France possessed the Duchy of Burgundy and counties west, as well as Avignon (from the Pope) and Provence, from Joanna of Naples. She would retain the area as her duchy, but it would be under the Kingdom of Arelat. While France would lose Burgundy, it would definitively retain Artois, Flanders and Picardy and gain Luxembourg and proximate areas to the north.

### **Sending a Message East**

When coming to the aid of his nephew at Calais, Charles IV had enlisted arms from Luxembourg and the County of Burgundy (HRE), and had done so not only with the authority of the Emperor , but also with the leverage as the "King of Burgundy." He'd possessed that title nominally since 1365, when he'd visited Pope Urban V at Avignon (to escort him to Rome). On that trip, he was crowned King of (lower) Burgundy at Arles.

The Holy Roman Emperor had been using the title of "The King of Arelat" since 1032, but the kingdom itself had fractured since then and more or less drifted apart. The House Plantagenet now possessed elements in the north and south, so they were going to make a point to the rest of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Crown was going to do what the Empire could not: *re-unify lower and upper Burgundy back into the the Kingdom of Arelat*. House Plantagenet would lead that charge. While every rational person expected the Edwardian Force to seize the moment, the King instead nominated *Prince Rick*.

"It shall be done, Sire..."

## **The Creation of the Kingdom of Aquitaine**

Throughout France, everybody knew this was coming. This was the royal elephant in the room, and the reason treaties between France and England had broken: *the sovereignty of Aquitaine*.

The territories of Aquitaine, including former Plantagenet lands from Normandy, Maine, and Breton, south to Bayonne and as far east as the western half of Languedoc, were now transferred to the new *Kingdom of Aquitaine*.

This self-contained kingdom would pay homage *to none*.

*That was the reward of saving the lives of kings... and their subjects*.

After another week of preparation, giving key figures from both England and Aquitaine time to reach Paris, the Coronation was performed on the last day of April.

King Edward performed the coronation himself, and in a grand ceremony that used Richard's own magical sword, *Prince Richard* became *King Richard of Aquitaine*.

## **Charles V Declines Healing**

Charles was ill. He'd been sick for years, possibly poisoned, and he knew it. Everybody knew it. That he'd lived through carrying his son out and acting as a spiritual fence was itself a miracle.

The former king – and now duke – had no idea how much time left he had on earth, but he had already made peace with the future. Richard offered healing to the former king, but Charles declined.

Charles knew his son – and France – were in good hands. Otherwise, however, there was too much history in Paris, and too much pain without Joanna – whose ghost *he had seen*.

## **Charles VI's Vigorous Recuperation**

Charles of Valois, roughly Richard's age, had endured *the Haunting* and had been at the center of the *Soul Nova* with Rick. They were distant cousins already, and as Rick geared up to head east, Charles Sr was concerned about the potential of junior's relapse.

In Rick's mind, there was zero chance for relapse, including any inherited neurological issues (those had been healed in the wake of the ordeal). Still, the concern of the father was understood.

Instead of bedrest, Charles VI would recover with a strong dose of sunshine. Charles Jr became a fixture at the traveling Court of Rick. The one-time prince and now future duke was in constant, regular and vigorous field training, learning personal combat, tactics, strategy, politics and diplomacy... and magic.

The cousins were usually together, and Charles was always present for the diplomatic aspects of the consolidation of Arelat.

### **The Accompaniment of the Constable of France**

Notably, Louis de Sancerre, former Marshal of France, was appointed Constable of France after the death of Olivier IV de Clisson. His honor and strategic intelligence were known to the English, and he was retained by King Edward after his willing oath to continue service to France.

Sancerre also accompanied Rick and Chuck on the Arelat Consolidation Tour, as France would soon have her own Regiments – and Sancerre had to know these finely-tuned machines operated in contrast to the beast of a regular army.