[Death & Taxes] A Dream of Lotharingia

A Dream of Lotharingia

Country: Burgundy
Starting Point: 1399
Mod: Death & Taxes

I'm going to attempt this AAR lark with my favourite country in a brand-new mod (to me at least) - Lukew's Death & Taxes (version 3.3). All settings are normal, though the war aggression should be Low.

I plan to expand only through cores within the Empire and only hold Lotharingian provinces directly. I do not intend to become Emperor, given that I need Imperial support to claim the crown of Lotharingia, and seeing as Philippe II was the son, brother and uncle to three French kings, I do not plan to dismember France any more than is necessary to ensure Burgundian survival.

At time of writing, I'm nearly 300 years into the AAR, so I may ask for advice come the late 17th Century. Please bear with me if the placement or quality of the screenshots are crap, as there's only so much I can do with MS Paint and Photo-Resizer.


Contents

The House of Valois-Burgundy


Philippe II, the Bold (b. 15.01.1342, r. 01.01.1363 - 11.04.1402)

• Chapter I - An Internecine War

Jean II, the Fearless (b. 28.05.1371, r. 11.04.1402 - 22.04.1405)

• Chapter II - Blood and Tears in the Lowlands

Philippe III, or his Regents thereof (22.04.1405 - 11.04.1417)

• Chapter III - A Minor Succession Issue
• State of the Realm - 11th April, AD 1417

Philippe III, the Good (b. 31.07.1402, c. 22.04.1405, r. 11.04.1417 - )

• Chapter IV (1417-1429) - Once Upon a Time in the Netherlands
• Chapter V (1430-1436) - War is a Many-Splendoured Thing
• Chapter VI (1437-1445) - A Time for Independence?

Philip de Valois, later called the Bold, was born on 15th January 1342, as the fourth and youngest son of Jean II, King of France, and his wife, Bonne de Luxembourg. Having fought at the Battle of Poiters in 1356 and created Duke of Tourane by his father in 1360, he surrendered Tourane in 1363 and received the Duchy of Burgundy, becoming the first of the House of Valois-Bourgogne.

His 1369 marriage to Margaret of Dampierre, later Countess of Flanders, gained him rich territories in the Netherlands and reunited the Duchy and County-Palatine of Burgundy, whilst the strategic arrangement of marriages for his various children were to set up the future unification of the Burgundian Netherlands.


In the autumn of 1399, war broke out again between France and England and their various vassals and allies, as Charles VI of France attempted to retake Calais from the English.


After Margaret's death at the Chateau de Germolles, Philippe's gift to his wife in 1389, his second surviving son, Antoine, insisted on being invested with the Duchy of Brabant as per his mother's will. Philippe refused to allow him to inherit ahead of his eldest son, Jean, and when Antoine travelled to Brussels to raise his standard as the next Duke of Brabant, Philippe issued a declaration of war against the duchy of Brabant.


On 18th June next year, Philippe seized Brussels, forcibly annexed Brabant and made Adolf of Cleves swear fealty to him for his poor judgement in taking the field against him. This would be the end of the appanage system in Burgundy. With Antoine locked in the castle at Mechelen, Philippe began to focus his attention on the Netherlands to bury old divisions, show acceptance for his new Dutch subjects and promote the idea that one could be Burgundian, rather than merely Flemish, Dutch or French.


Although Philippe was content with his holdings so far, the Bishop of Dijon told him that it was God's will that some day the Kingdom of Lotharingia would be formed by his family and thus prove themselves to be true heirs of Charlemagne.


Soon afterwards, in early August, the first of the many Iberian Wars begin, as Castille attacks England over trade-rights. With France busy in Savoy and England now distracted by both France and Castille, Philippe also declares war on the English, intending to avenge his father's humiliation at Poitiers.


Philippe seized the strategic port of Calais just eight months later and Henry IV accepted peace by ceding the city and his claims on the Burgundian lands in Picardie. However, Philippe, now sixty years of age and still leading his troops in person, took a lance to the shoulder and, whilst recovering in bed, died of a heart attack a little over a week after retaking Calais.

Philippe's eldest son, Jean, later called the Fearless, succeeded him as Duke of Burgundy and Count of Charolais on 11th April 1402 and inherited all his mother's titles, holding all his titles by right, rather than by conquest or marriage. His father's political acumen and bravery on the battlefield, even into old age, convinced him that all of the Lowlands would soon come under Burgundian rule.

That very summer he began a fresh campaign against his neighbours and as the new year dawned, Jean VI, Prince-Bishop of Liege, pledged allegiance to the Burgundian throne and the rich lands of Gelre had been annexed outright.


Meanwhile, the Iberian Wars were still in full swing, as King Enrique III of Castille laid claim to the throne of Aragon in May 1402, and fifteen months later, was proclaimed King of Castille, Leon and Aragon.


Harmony in Germany, however, was very far from the truth. Only two electors supported Albrect von Habsburg as Emperor, but as four of the remaining five electors were busy extolling the virtues of their own claims to the Imperial throne, Albrecht V's control was effectively uncontested.


Back at home, three years of war were taking their toll on the Burgundian economy, but Philippe II's cultural reforms were playing their part in keeping the people peaceful.


War broke out with Lorraine when Jean demanded that Charles, Duke of Lorraine, recognise him as his superior, but Charles refused, having been a comrade-in-arms with Jean's father, Philippe the Bold, and Jean's pride could not accept this slight to his honour, even though Charles had also accompanied Jean eight years before at the Battle of Nicopolis.

Jean was not the diplomat his father was, by any means, for after an incident with his soldiers burning a Luxembourgian village (mistaking it for a village in Lorraine), he wrote a staggeringly condescending letter to the ambassador, apologising for his soldiers not being able to tell the people of one rural state apart from another.


Still, his military prowess was not in question and Charles of Lorraine was made to bend the knee to Jean of Burgundy on 3rd May 1404.


Jean's eyes turned next to the counties of Holland and Hainault. Duke William of Bavaria had married Jean's sister, Margaret, but with only a three-year-old daughter, his dynastic position was not secure. On 2nd Sept, 1404, Jean declared war on his brother-in-law under pretence of stabilising his sister's realm.


On 10th March, 1405, William of Bavaria was banished back to Germany, the County of Hainaut was ceded to Burgundy and Jean's sister Margaret was installed as Countess of Holland in her own right, though subordinate to her brother of course. As a show of clemency, Jean pardoned his brother Antoine and granted him the County of Rethel, making Philippe, his youngest surviving brother, Count of Nevers.


Unfortunately, just six weeks later, even as the Duke was making plans for a great cultural revival throughout all of Burgundy and the Netherlands, he was stabbed to death by a Bavarian assassin, presumably on the orders of William of Bavaria. His reign had lasted for three years and a matter of days.

Upon Jean II's sudden early death, his brothers, Antoine, Count of Rethel, and Philippe, Count of Nevers, swiftly formed a council of regents to govern for the young heir, who was not yet three years old.

The regents pressed ahead with the diplomatic negotiations necessary to add Burgundy's Dutch and Flemish provinces to the Empire and, by September next year, all but Picardie and the port of Calais, seized by Philippe the Bold, had been extended Imperial protection.


On the occasion of young Philippe's fifth birthday, he was betrothed to his second cousin, Michelle of Valois, fourth daughter of Charles VI of France and seven years his senior. The Burgundian marriage network continued undaunted, with Margaret, Countess of Holland, marrying the Count of Friesland, Antoine, Count of Rethel, marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Vaclav of Bohemia and of Luxembourg, and so on.


In early 1408, Castille invaded Navarra and requested Burgundy's intervention when England, Portugal and Austria declared war on Castille in retaliation. Navarra was nothing more than a stumbling block, however, and Navarra was annexed by the end of July.


During Christmas that year, the six-year-old Duke was instructed in the whys and wherefore of the current Valois-Burgundy royal marriages and their likely conclusions. He was also introduced to Karoly III, King of Hungary, a distant cousin through his great-aunt Agnes, when the King came to visit for the 1408 festivities.


On 7th Jan 1409, Count Antoine, always military-minded, if not the equal of his late brother, supervised the training and outfitting of the first Burgundian regiments of soldiers that would later become known as men-at-arms and Latin knights. Unfortunately, the new Burgundian army, under the command of Armande de Ferette, were ambushed in the mountains of Bern en route to an Austrian engagement and were almost annihilated before ever reaching Habsburg territory.

The Second Iberian Wars ended in Portugal in 1409 and England in 1410 with further territorial concessions to the rapacious Enrique III of Castille-Leon & Aragon and peace reigned once more in Burgundy.


On 30th Sept, 1409, the Diet of Dorpat passed the Reichsreform measure, as proposed by Albrecht V of Austria. This came as somewhat of surprise in Burgundy, as Austria's amassing of imperial authority had been extremely low-key.


In March of 1410, the entire of Burgundy was considered to be within the Holy Roman Empire, unlike ten years before when it had been a very much mixed affair.


Unfortunately, Count Philippe's attempts to reform the decentralised nature of Burgundian government and streamlining of bureaucracy led to the December riots in Gelre, as the people of Gelre did not see the need to pay increased taxes after having been so abruptly added to the Burgundian domain less than ten years before.


The next four years were a peaceful time, with extra building work taking place on the Palais des Ducs de Bourgogne and the Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne de Dijon. It is said that Count Philippe's interest in architecture is what inspired the young Duke to extensively expand the Ducal palace in later years and gave him a strong fondness for Dijon Cathedral.


There were some religious difficulties however, with the Abbot of St. Benignus and Bishop Jean VI of Liege, as they felt that the young Duke was being raised in a far too liberal and permissive environment, deprived of the proper religious backing to the cultural renaissance currently thriving in Burgundy. The regents agreed, if only for the sake of the boy, and the nearly twelve-year-old Philippe spent many long hours in Dijon Cathedral studying the Bible in Greek, Latin and Hebrew with the Abbot and his staff.


A year later, the Iberian Wars recommenced with King Enrique's desire to control all of the Iberian peninsula once more dragging Burgundy and its vassals into the fray against a variety of enemies.


Shortly thereafter, however, in the year that Philippe would become fifteen, his uncles decided that he was now old enough to rule in his own right and disbanded the council of regents.

Are you worried at all about fighting Austria?

Definitely! They're only going to get more powerful and they're the beast of Europe.

Subbed.

Kill France ASAP.

I could have sworn I saw this exact same thing over at the plaza...

SouthernKing said:

I could have sworn I saw this exact same thing over at the plaza...

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Arakhor said:

I can cross-post my Death & Taxes Burgundy AAR here if people like. It has plenty of pictures and I think it's quite interesting.

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Maniacal said:

Do it.

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Arakhor said:

Done!

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zzzzz

Dachs said:

zzzzz

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ah, I see

There are actually two people with the same user name and avatar posting AARs with the same country and rulers on two different websites. You've uncovered our deception at last!

Aged just 14 and three-quarters, Philippe de Valois-Bourgogne formally married his second cousin Michelle de Valois at noon on Saturday, 12th April 1417, in Dijon Cathedral, and they were crowned on the Monday after as Duke-regnant and Duchess-consort of Burgundy, Brabant & Lothier, Limburg, etc. The following weekend, Philippe issued his first writ by confirming his younger uncle, Count Philippe, as his heir presumptive, until such time as he and the Duchess could provide heirs of their own.

Unfortunately, whilst Michelle became pregnant in winter, for all to see by spring, not even a year after being confirmed as heir, Philippe, Count of Nevers, fell ill and died of a nasty spring fever in April 1418. Three months later, Michelle gave birth to a healthy young boy, whom they named Philippe in the late Count's honour.


Whilst Duke Philppe was agreeing a white peace with the English, concluding the last piece of unfinished business from the regency period, his sole remaining uncle, Antoine, Count of Rethel, married Elisabeth, Duchess of Luxembourg, on the understanding that Philippe would be named as her heir if she and Antoine remained childless.


After attending Christmas Mass at Liegè and receiving Bishop Jean VI's pledge of fealty anew, Philippe and Michelle returned to Dijon, where the Duke drew up documents formally incorporating the former bishopric into Lower Burgundy. News from Luxembourg was not so pleasant, as the Duchess had just recovered from a brief but near-fatal illness and it became well-known that she deeply regretted her marriage pledge, especially as the gossips whispered that the Devil had stripped away her fertility in return for her life.


Mindful of his father's conquests and his grandfather's political skill, he spent all of Spring 1419 building up Burgundy's military and defensive capabilities and planning how best to ensure Burgundian domination throughout the Netherlands, before declaring war on Luxembourg, citing a breach of marriage vows on her part. This was a clearly transparent excuse to secure the Luxembourgian legacy and avoid the gossips being proved wrong, and King Karoly of Hungary, the Duke of Modena and others declared war on Burgundy in response. Luxembourg Castle fell within the year and Elisabeth was forced to swear fealty to Philippe, confirm his right to her duchy and agree to administer her lands as he willed.


That same year, for their parts (amongst others) in the Luxembourgian war, Frederik III, Prince-Bishop of Utrecht, ceded his secular authority and his sovereignty to Philippe and the Swiss Confederacy repudiated their territorial claims on Upper Burgundy. Although the rest of Europe looked upon Burgundy with much greater suspicion than before due to the complications resulting from the war, it had been more or less a complete success.


That winter, his nobles clamoured for Holland to incorporated into Greater Burgundy as well, but if the Luxembourg experience had taught him anything, it was that no matter how righteous your cause or how slight the obstacle, sometimes patience was just as important as direct action. Besides, his aunt Margaret, Countess of Holland and Zeeland, was still in good health and Jacqueline, her daughter by William of Bavaria, was of eminently marriageable age.


The next two years passed without major incident, but Michelle had become increasingly withdrawn after the birth of her son and was now dangerously melancholic. Whilst convalescing in the castle at Bois-le-duc, in the province of Breda, news came that she had died suddenly in her sleep. The death of the Duchess-consort would have been bad enough by itself, as she was well-liked by the people and helped maintain vital relations with France, but it came at a time of relatively high taxation and further changes to the mediaeval privileges and codes of customs still prevalent in Flanders.

8,000 men arose under the command of Pascal de Lugny, the castellan at Bois-le-duc, who claimed that the Duchess had named him the true heir of Burgundy before her passing, but the rebellion was short-lived and de Lugny met an ignominous end, his head piked on the city walls and his body crushed beneath the wheels of a loaded cart and then tossed into a gibbet for crows to feast upon.


Another three years passed, mostly without incident, though in the third year, Pope Martin V declared that one of the Duke's most pious and religious ancestors, Agnes of Arles, was to be made a new saint. There was much rejoicing in Burgundy and three new churches were commissioned in her honour.


It was in April 1425 that Sir Philippe de Vellexon, Lord-Ambassador of Burgundy, died in his sleep. He had served all three Dukes of Burgundy, ever since joining Philip the Bold's service as a young man, and had performed incalculable service to the realm. In gratitude, Philippe gave the old man a state funeral and provided his grieving widow with a very generous pension for the rest of her days.


The scale of Philippe de Vellexon's legacy was all too obvious when a map of Burgundy's diplomatic and dynastic ties was prepared in the months after his passing.


The time-honoured legal principle of "a year and a day" was evoked coincidentally by the independent Kingdom of Sweden asking for Burgundy's partnership in a military alliance, Always eager to find new allies against France and England, Philippe accepts the Swedish ambassador's request.


In May 1427, Castille went to war with England once more and Burgundy once again came to their ally's assistance, even though this meant that Burgundy and Brittany, former comrades-in-arms, were now drawn on separate sides. At home, Philippe's Aunt Margaret, Countess of Holland, died and his cousin Jacqueline, now Countess of Holland and Zeeland herself, returned home from Brittany, bearing news that her husband, a Breton count, had taken the field with his duke against Castille and Burgundy.


Nine days later, the news came that Albrecht V, Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor, had died, leaving only an sickly infant heir (who soon died, ending the Habsburg dynasty in the male line) and whom the Imperial Electors deemed unfit to rule. In his place. Philippe III was declared Romanorum imperator electus - King of the Germans and elected Holy Roman Emperor. Finally, he had a royal title, like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him. It had been a close-run thing, with the King of Bohemia also in contention for the title, but Burgundy was seen as a strong, stabilising influence in the west, with strong dynastic links and a proven military power against France and England.


The next summer, Countess Jacqueline received the sad news that she was now a widow and that her husband lay dead on the fields of Aquitaine. Philippe sent soldiers to garrison his cousin's castle in case of Breton reprisals against her, and saw the chance to make further gains for the Burgundian silk purse even out of the sow's ear that was the latest Castillian war.

Throughout the remainder of 1428, his finest diplomats curried favour with His Holiness in Rome, deploying all the influence that their master's role as Emperor now provided, and that Christmas, Pope Martin agreed that an internal match would be best for the young Dutch widow and whom better than her liege and cousin? Papers were drawn up, granting the necessary dispensation for consanguinity between first cousins, and on the 3rd of February, 1429, Philippe and Jacqueline each married for the second time, with Holland passing under direct Burgundian rule.


There is an old proverb that says that there is no rest for the wicked, and this holds true for the great and the good, whether they are good, wicked or somewhere in between. Just four weeks later, Charles VII, King of France, declared war on Provence in an attempt to regain the provinces of Maine and Anjou for the House of Valois and Philippe, his second cousin, was compelled to do his Imperial duty and declared war in support of Ladislao Durazzo, King of Naples and Count of Provence.

The previous Christmas (AD 1429), Jean, Bishop of Utrecht, had come to the Duke, asking that the fiercely independent burghers of Friesland be brought under Burgundian control. The city of Groningen had long prided itself above Utrecht, Arnhem or Amsterdam, and it was the Bishop's opinion that God had brought Philippe to the point where the Fryslanders would obey his rule.


Philippe spent the following year recovering after the peace agreement at Maine and in the early spring of 1431, he declared his desire for Burgund-Dutch hegemony. The neighbouring powers Brunswick, Oldenburg and Hesse joined Friesland in the brief war with Burgundy, but by the next spring, all four powers had either conceded defeat or agreed a mutual cessation of hostilities. The lands of Friesland would now pay homage to Burgundy and a portion of Groningen's not inconsiderable revenues now flowed into Philippe's coffers in Dijon.


Almost immediately after the subjugation of Friesland, a group of nobles who were not happy to see the thinly concealed hand of the Church directing Burgundian policy suggested to the Duke that the Archbishop of Trier be next to pay homage to Philippe. After all, if the Church meddled in Burgundian politics, so should Burgundy meddle in Church politics.

Philippe, on the other hand, had other matters to attend to, namely concluding peace agreements with the other parties in the Battle of Friesland and dealing with reports that townsfolk living nearby the Abbey of St. Benignus in Dijon had been cured by the power of St. Agnes of Arles, despite the city of Arles being located in Provence, rather than Burgundy. It kept the people happy though and that was what mattered in a time of war.


That summer, a young but talented theologian came to the attention of Abbot Hugo de Saint-Benigne and soon Brother Thomas à Kempis entered Philippe's service with all manner of theories on modern religious practice, one of which was later passed into law as the 1432 Advancement of Religion Act, which ensured that the holy majesty of God's word, enshrined in each copy of the Bible, would not be contaminated or corrupted by granting mere commoners access to its inspired texts.


Barely a week later, news came that Felipe, King of Castille-Leon and Aragon, had declared the Kingdom of Iberia. After the death of his father Enrique III in 1417, King Felipe had completed his father's work, finally annexing the remaining provinces of Portugal in February 1431, and had now just decreed the unification of the five kingdoms of Iberia under one throne and one name. King Felipe had two sons, Alfonso and Fernando, and a formal betrothal was arranged between Fernando and his elder daughter Margaret (named in honour of his grandmother).


Just after Christmas 1433, young Philippe de Bourgogne came of age and was presented to the Yule Court as Philippe III, Count of Charolais and heir-apparent to the Duchy of Burgundy. Celebrations were held throughout Dijon to commemorate this momentous occasion, made all the happier by occurring during the Festival of Christ.


In the new year, Philippe made clear to his lords that he had no interest in overtly meddling in Church politics and indicated his desire to complete the unification of the Duchies of Burgundy and Lorraine and thus absolutely ensure his sole right to the ancient Carolingian country of Lotharingia.

Unfortunately, whilst he was formalising the roles of the various noble families and their responsibility within Greater Burgundy, in preparation for a successful integration of the Lorrainian lands and titles, a group of disgruntled Flemish merchants in the city of Ghent rose up in armed protest against the reforms. Due to a quick response from forces loyal to Duchess Jacqueline in the nearby province of Zeeland, the 7,000 Flemish mercenaries were defeated and the merchants either hanged or forced to pay crippling damages to the Crown.


Just four weeks later, a further blow struck deep at the heart of the House of Valois-Burgundy. Like his great-uncle before him, Philippe III, Count of Charolais, died of a strange fever, despite the best efforts of the Burgundian physicians to halt his swift decline. A national day of mourning was declared and Philippe was later to write, "April is the cruellest month. Its weather is fickle, the people expect great things for the milder times ahead and yet God has cursed my family most severely and most often at this time. All malice and evil can be attributed to this most meretricious of months, as no doubt the Great Serpent planned his most devious and successful of deceptions at this time."


Anton Leijonhufvud, the new Archduke of Austria, was a Dutch cousin of the extensive Habsburg dynasty and a mere boy of six to boot, so various allied lords and relatives had been called to serve as his regents. One of them, Franz Stefan, Landgrave of Sundgau (born François Stéphane de Bourgogne, bastard child of Philippe II), arranged for the Austrian lords to offer a military alliance to his nephew, which was readily accepted.


Shortly thereafter, Philippe was called to defend the island of Gotland against the armies of Frederick of Burgundy, King of Denmark and Norway and successor to the late King, Christian Gryf. The war had been going for four years already, but Danish naval superiority had been taking its toll with the Imperial defenders and the Emperor's help was requested. Once again, as elected King of the Germans, Philippe felt compelled to do his Imperial duty and take up arms against his relatives in defence of the Empire.


After the birth of his third daughter, Agnes, and the death of his only son, he and Jacqueline were blessed with another son in the new year of 1436 and they agreed immediately to name their child Philippe in memory of the baby's late brother.


That March, it became clear that the long-term emphasis on military prowess had inspired many young wealthy young men to sign up as junior officers, all the better during a climate of protracted military activity, and one of the great philosophical minds in Flanders took up service in Philippe's court, eager to serve in the cultural heart of Europe.


By summoer of that year, after several telling land battles, notably at Flensburg, Slesvig, Utrecht and Breda, Frederick Bourgogne ceded his claim on Gotland and returned the city and environs of Hamburg to the Empire, winning Philippe much acclaim for this victory.


Three months later, whilst Charles VII of France was on campaign in Aquitaine against England and the Western Isles, Philippe declared war on his cousin once more, this time to reclaim the Duchy of Savoy from French control.

Burgundy's technological achievements continue to impress, with developments in modern legal practice and the construction of the first Renaissance courthouse in October 1438.


After Hamburg had rejected Danish rule, Their perilous situation in the northern Empire precipitated their request seek to the Emperor's formal protection, which was duly granted and led to an exchange of advisers, diplomats and courtiers between the German city and the Burgundian state.


In March, Philippe heard of a young engineer in the province of Valenciennes who agreed to mastermind a series of local fortifications for the Duke, in lieu of coming to court. The Duke would continue to subsidise the man's career for a good many years to come.


The Holy Roman Reclamation of Nice ended with Charles VI formally agreeing that neither Burgundy nor northern Provence were any part of modern France and by his returning the independence of Bar and Savoy within the Empire. Unfortunately, France was still at war with the opportunistic King of Iberia, but at least Francophone relations had returned to an uneasy peace. René and Antoine Arbelot, the two brothers who had devised and implemented the key strategies of the conflict, were knighted personally by Philippe and were awarded several fine houses and accompanying land in the border provinces of Picardie and Cambray, the better to coordinate fresh insights into any further wars with France.


Flushed with success, Philippe attended the Diet at München that April and the Electors agreed to form the Reichsregiment, a unified legislative body with the aim of far less complexity and improved administrative capacity. Philippe sealed the decree, investing the new body with full Imperial power in his absence, and returned home to Dijon.


In August, General Robert de Chastellux, another veteran of Burgundy's many military campaigns, died in his sleep at his manor near Calais. His two greatest protégés, René and Antoine Arbelot, each gave a moving eulogy at his funeral it the Eglise Notre Dame in Calais.


That October, the war between an opportunistic Iberia and an exhausted France limped to an end. The Duchies of Normandy and Berry were released from the Royal demesne and it is generally recognised that it was here that the health of Charles VII, a mere 35 years old, began to steeply decline. Philippe quarrelled furiously with King Felipe over this matter, who finally settled the argument by cancelling Iberia's alliance with Burgundy.


In March 1439, the preparation for Lorraine's incorporation into Burgundy was complete and the two duchies were at last united. Now no one could be rightly claim the Kingdom of Lotharingia save Philippe alone. However, the new Pope, Paulus III, had other ideas and in an effort to distract the warring lords in Europe from beating each other senseless, he called for the recapture of Jerusalem and the recreation of the Kingdom of Outremer.


In February 1440, Edward IV of England finally seized the last of the Stuart lands and forced James II off his throne. All Scotland lay in English hands now, except for the Western Isles, ruled by Cathal Duff, Lord of the Isles, albeit as an English vassal.


By June 1441, the Duchy of Milan had fallen into the hands of the Genoese League and the Imperial Reichsregiment called for its return. Lord-Captain Philippe de Marle, a viscount from Franche-Comte, led an expeditionary force to the gates of Genoa and the merchant-princes were forced to capitulate a mere eight months later. Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the previous Duke, had fallen in the fighting with his family, so Rodolfo Senni, an elderly relative, was invited to take up the title instead.


Contemporary documents are not clear as to why Philippe flew into a mad rage with a mixed group of Breton and Iberian diplomats at court one fine day in March 1442. Some suggest that it was a slighting comment about Jacqueline's ill health and others report that one of the diplomats asked whether the Duke would also name a future heir Philippe if his six-year-old son died, but the palace was emptied of all foreigners immediately and remained closed for three full days, with the Duke refusing to grant any audiences during that time.


For four years, Karl VIII Leijonhufvud of Sweden had fought the Danish in an attempt to seize the province of Skåne and throughout 1442, Burgundy fought with Sweden, once again meeting the Danish in battle on the fields of Flensburg and Slesvig. Eventually, Sweden prevailed, taking large amounts of land on the mainland and forcing Denmark to grant the Count of Holstein his independence.


In April 1443, the Doge of Venice finally settled an old score with his rivals in Genoa and conquered the city for his own. As Emperor, Philippe now found himself fighting for the very city his troops had been beseiging not two years before! A scant five months later, the Venetians surrendered Genoa and lost their other Italian territories to Milan and Aquileia.


Some years before, Charles, Duke of Normandy, had gone on crusade against the Ottomans, but was captured and killed on campaign. Quite how an Ottoman fleet of any size avoided European notice and landed in Caux was anyone's business, but nonetheless, in January 1444, the duchy fell to the infidels. Philippe was not having this at all and sent Sir René Arbelot and a host of men (which included reinforcements sent by the 15-year-old Archduke of Austria) to retake the duchy for Christendom.


In October, Dmitriy VI Jagiellon ascended the throne of Muscowy and declared the Kingdom of Russia. This was a momentous occasion, certainly, if somewhat overshadowed by his grandson declaring himself to be the first Tsar of all the Russias some fifty years later.


By Christmas of that year, the key Norman castles at Caen and Rouen had fallen and the Ottomans were powerless to prevent Philippe installing Duke Charles's brother as Jean II of Normandy in the following February, albeit as a vassal of Burgundy.

In October, Dmitriy VI Jagiellon ascended the throne of Muscowy and declared the Kingdom of Russia.

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Jagellonians on Holy Russia's throne

Quite how an Ottoman fleet of any size avoided European notice and landed in Caux was anyone's business, but nonetheless, in January 1444, the duchy fell to the infidels.

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It's no one's business but the Turks.