Records: Allies of the Angevins

## **The Plantagenet Surge**

Across the courts of Europe, and in some cases farther, the definition of Angevin was already changing, returning to the Plantagenet family over the recent Valois occupiers. What did that really mean? "Plantagenet" was the nickname for a yellow spring of broom blossom, something Geoffrey wore in his hat. He was handsome, jovial and by the time he was fifteen, already had the reputation of being a great warrior.

A spring of broom blossom hardly the image of a rampaging conquerer, which was exactly what the Plantagenets were trying to project. They were *civilized*. They had *history*.

So much history that Geoffrey Plantagenet's wife had been no less than Empress Matilda, paternal granddaughter of William the Conquerer, maternal granddaughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, and last wife of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, before being crowned herself. She was herself a survivor, and after misadventures in Italy, was betrothed again to Geoffrey. The rest was history.

But it wasn't *buried* history. "By right of my wife..." was a common claim to power, as it had been similar ("By right of my mom...") for Edward III in France. With a resurgent Plantagenet presence in England and Aquitaine, people were digging up connections from history *for them*, in recognition of they'd been there before and would be welcome back.

### **The Italian Connection**

Matilda of England wasn't the only connection to Italy either, as Isabella of England (married to John) held the title of Italian queen from 1235 to 1241. While not exactly facts on the fingertips of Italians, they were plenty available from the court scholars.

Given success of the policies, and divine availability of gold, connections to the Plantagenets were bubbling up all over. For living, current connections, for instance, Joanna of Naples traced through the Valois of connection of her mother Marie of Valois not to House Valois, but as the conduit to the Plantagenets. Joanna was technically the great-great-great granddaughter of Henry III of England (a Plantagenet).

This was *exactly* the kind of thing the growing House of Plantagenet was looking to do – and she'd approached Prince Rick to do it herself. At the time, she'd been married to Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, who valiantly defended her rights in Piedmont. Closer to home, though, she was having serious issues with her first cousin Charles of Durazzo (and some lingering ill will with Louis I of Hungary).

At the time, she was Queen of Naples, Countess of Provence, Forcalquier and Piedmont, Princess of Achaea in her own right and claimant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (though that had been out of western hands since the Mamluk conquest in 1291). This was an extensive portfolio and with her own interest in good governing, wanted it going to the right person. Based on her great relations with the Church, she was looking to embrace House of Plantagenet and bring them across the Mediterranean.

### **The *Other* Italian Connection**

The English momentum in the west looked unstoppable. As Joanna publicly started negotiations with House Plantagenet, she wasn't the only one. Courtiers and emissaries had been courting England for years, not the least of which included throwing daughters at the sons in hopes of a favorable marriage.

Rising to the top, with the approval of Crown Prince Edward, was Caterina Visconti, daughter of Bernabò Visconti of Milan. Four years older than 13-year old Edward, she was well-read, had exotic looks and appealed to still-recovering Edward on several levels (enough to inspire him to learn Lombard).

Milan still dealt in slavery, and Bernabò was a sociopath – so this was Caterina's chance to escape. In the other direction, England no longer cared about the dowry. For the record, though, Milan was one of the richer states of Northern Italy, dominating the Lombardy region, though not quite the Duchy of Milan yet.

### **Internal connections**

Now two+ years after the Audit and Rectification, the baronage is evolving into a more refined peerage.

There have already been intimations of rewriting the Magna Carta to include political philosophy and organizing it into a basis of government rather than simply a list of grievances in a Royal-Noble peace treaty. While that talk hadn't congealed into formalities, other close noble houses were getting closer despite Edward's leanings toward federalization.

One example was the relationship between King Edward and the overall Plantagenets and the Scrope family. The Scropes were up towards Scotland and maintained close enough elations that Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton set up a contract with mason Johan Lewyn for the construction of Bolton Castle. What would've taken 21 years instead took 22 months with a minor CCC crew assisting construction.

### **Everywhere Else**

Ghent, and areas north of Burgundy, were traditional trading partners of England. That was refreshed now, with English wool now coming across the channel with the reinvigorated English merchant marine.

Portions of the Holy Roman Empire, scattered through Germany, were huge fans of the surge in English leadership regarding Natural Philosophies, and many more thought it miraculous what influence Lollardy had on the Church.

## **The European Schism**

While a Rome-Avignon schism in the Church had been avoided, there were other deep divisions that were turning into factions – and much of that was over magic.

There were rumors of miracles coming out of Rome (and England and Aquitaine), and they were directly associated with magic of the Holy Spirit. Healings in particular, but points that simply left people feeling good were enough to entrench support for the Church in spots – but if it wasn't in the right spots, at the right time, to the right people, then it only served to galvanize the other side that they simply weren't fighting hard enough.

### **A Printing Press Works Both Ways**

Charles V had gotten his hands on English Printing Presses sold abroad and employed their own technology against them. They discredited the Vernacular Bibles (at least to some). They promoted England's obvious connection to devil (despite being attacked by it).

These were arguments that were plenty in use before the timeline had diverged, and were largely taken with a grain of salt before – but the "Incidence of Incidents" had made the accusations carry considerable more weight. There were no fact-checking services available to the commons, so who won people's ears was usually determined by who spoke last.

### **The Convenience of Belief**

The one thing that was consistent was that people believed what they wanted to believe.

This opened up divisions toward magic and history that were suspiciously along pre-existing political lines. The splinter was similar to that of the Western Schism but not identical. Both sides claimed God, but England had the rebirth of both King Arthur and Merlin. In France, Charles was trying to pull off the rebirth of Charlemagne, but largely, it was just coming down to who already what alliances working for them.

One other thing... *slavery*. Charles was talking up talk out of the English court that had abolished even serfdom and was now taking a view that involved forcefully emancipating slaves. That sounded like it shouldn't even be an option to civilized cultures, but there were areas whose economy would collapse without unpaid labor.

This was significant for divisions in northern italy and it was enormous in Eastern Europe where there was huge traffic in slavic upaid labor (the very root of the word "slave"). Where northern Italian states came down for France were usually based on substantiated rumors of England becoming a crusader state against slavery (though this usually undercut arguments about England making everybody a slave under a satanic master). Again, agents of Charles worked whatever angle was locally convenient.

#### **Allies of the Kingdom of England**

* The Kingdom of Denmark

* The County of Flanders

* The Holy Roman Empire (splintering violently)

* The Kingdom of Naples (wholly embracing House Plantagenet)

* Ireland (a splintered English dominion, though it was coming together after repeal of the Statues of Kilkenny)

* The Kingdom of Norway (nominal ally)

* The Kingdom of Portugal (Treaty signatory)

* The Kingdom of Poland (later Poland-Lithuania) (nominal ally)

* The Kingdom of Sweden (nominal ally)

* The Republic of Venice, and certain other City-States of northern Italy (nominal ally due to slave differences)

#### **Allies of the Kingdom of France**

* The Holy Roman Empire (violently splintering)

* The Crown of Aragon (collection of kingdom that marginally leaned with France and Castile)

* The Crown of Castile and León (with Henry II already having cast his lot with France)

* The Kingdom of Cyprus (itself in turbulent transition with connections to Aragon)

* The Duchy of Burgundy (led by King Charles V only surviving brother)

* The County of Savoy (with family connections and trade with Burgundy and France)

* The Kingdom of Hungary (they were with Rome, but backing France mostly because Naples was joining the Plantagenets)

* The Kingdom of Scotland (though this caused internal divisions)

* Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion in Wales (internal division were already present)

There were others factions in a mix of allegiances or neutrality, each with their own complex formula behind their decisions, but none that were ready to commit arms or money in that moment.