The Grand Duchy of the West - A Valois-Burgundian TL
- Thread starter BlueFlowwer
- Start date
Enjoy it while it lasts. There will be a pretty fierce king of France in 1530.
Chapter 27 - France from 1506 to 1507
Chapter 27 – France from 1506 to 1507
The pretext for the invasion of Brabant was the invasion of Cleves. The prince-bishop of Munster had in secret sent a emissary to the court of Charles VIII of France while he had been encouraged by the emperor to make the Duke of Cleves give his duchy to Grand Duke Philip. In his court, Charles began to plan to attack his brother-in law, ostensibly as an ally of Cleves. The executions of the Kleves bastards were used as propaganda by Charles, making it seem like the ducal family had been attacked and slaughtered. Charles underplayed the brutal attack on the ambassadors by the so called “victims”, an episode that had horrified many rulers and left Cleves bereft of allies. Upon hearing of the invasion, Philip sent a fast messenger towards his third son, Arnold, still in the duchy of Julich-Berg. He was ordered to hold the north of Brabant, as well as Cleves, Mark and the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in his father’s stead. Arnold told Duke Wilhelm that he must depart to protect the new territories from an uprising, now that danger lurked at the French border. Wilhelm left him an additional force of 2,000 men to safeguard it all, knowing his own future laid with his son-in law to be. Before he left, Arnold gave Maria a golden ring with an emerald, a betrothal gift and the promise of a safe return.
The invasion began on the 17th of August as French troops burned the city of Amiens in Picardy. The troops were led by the dauphin, Charles and his forces. The king on the other hand attacked the Palatinate of Burgundy, accompanied by the Count of Nevers, who held a long grudge against Philip for imprisoning him and stealing Cleves from his brother. The city of Dóle that had been the place of the last French defeat in 1479 where the late king Richard, then only duke of Gloucester, had slain the Marshal of France himself, ended up as the first victim. Jean, Count of Rethel came under siege as French soldiers marched from Dijon across the border. Many of those soldiers came from the Duchy of Burgundy itself, and Charolais and Macon that had been part of Philip’s inheritance until 1480. A whole generation had grown up after the Treaty of Arras and while some considered themselves French subjects, in the past twenty-five years there were still many, many more whom still held a loyalty to their former liege. Charles VIII and his regent, Anne de Beaujue found the duchy hard to hold and their control were even weaker after the Mad War of 1488. Isabelle of Burgundy was the main reason why the place had not yet erupted in full scale rebellion, as she had been given the duchy as a dowry, but in 1506, the powder keg would find its match. The tariffs between the duchy and the Palatinate had been unpopular and so were the harsh taxations by the king and the lax hand regarding corruptions in royal officials in the area.
In a way there was a sense of tragedy of a disjointed people who had been neighbours a generation ago turning on each other like this.
However, the invasion of the Palatinate caused the allies of Brabant to react. One of the terms in the marriage between the House of Valois-Anjou and the Imperial Hapsburgs had been that Maximilian would be obligated to defend it if France attacked. Archduchess Anne quickly took up her brother’s cause with her husband and father-in law, urging them to remember their promise. Anne also reminded them both that if he wanted Archduke Frederick to become the next emperor, they needed money and Philip was one of the richest rulers of Christendom. Frederick himself drew his sword and proclaimed that if his father did not ride to Brabant’s aid he would go alone. That did the trick. Maximilian raised an army of 5,000 Landsknechte, the Germanic mercenaries that made up the backbone of the imperial armies.
Another ally came from Lorraine. Jean had been able to sneak a messenger up towards Nancy before Dóle ended up under siege. Charles III was the nephew of Philip, and the eldest son of Nicholas I and Mary of Burgundy. A tall and powerful man, who ruled Lorraine with a firm hand, he had grown up with stories of his grandfather, Charles the Bold who had been slain at Zurich in 1477 at the hands of the Swiss and France. France had proven to be an unreliable neighbour, and Charles saw the attack on his uncle as unprovoked. Moreover, the invasion caused border raiders near Luxeuil and the abbey of Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul, one of the oldest monasteries in near the old Burgundy. Duchess Elizabeth, the second daughter of Maximilian also wrote to her father and urged her husband to help beat France back.
In Boulogne, John gathered a force to repel the French pouring in from the northern border of France. Vermandois, Artois and Hainault were under heavy pressure. The Count of Namur rode hard to come to his aid, while more and more forces arrived every day. The Grand Duke ordered the levies of men while moving quickly from Breda down north-west towards Flanders. Grand duchess Philippa quickly established herself in Ghent, in the fortified Gravensteen castle, where she could oversee the chaos unfolding and organise support. The ducal children in Malines were put under heavy guard as well. Philip marched from Tournai with a force of 8,500 men to meet the enemy, while his brother and son launched counter-attacks from Arras and Mons, where the fighting was the thickest. It was also where the dauphin was.
A united army of Burgundians, germans and Lorraine men swept into the Palatinate as well, lead by Archduke Frederick and Charles of Lorraine. The siege of Dóle were broken up as pitched fighting ensued outside of the city. Jean joined them, as more men joined up, determined to chase the French king back to his side of the border. Marie remained in Dóle, organising medical aid and logistics. Fierce fighting started in Salins and Besancon, where Charles VIII led his forces. The swift moments cut of the French’s ability to retreat back to the duchy of Burgundy. Unbeknownst to Charles, his attempts to take the County of Burgundy had now been lost and Besancon were furiously resisting his attempts to take it.
It all came to an end outside of the city of Hériecourt, as Charles VIII had been corned. Brave to the end, the king decided to stand his ground and fight. It was here that Charles of Lorraine cemented his place in history, outshining his grandfather as the biggest headache for France in a long time. Both Charles faced each other down outside of the old medieval castle Grosse tour with the tower casting a shadow on the grounds. The king fought valiantly and the king fought nobly against the duke. And the king died. Eyewitnesses said that Charles drove his sword into the king’s upper chest at the end of the duel, as “his noble lifeblood poured out from beneath his armour, as the strap that held his chestplate in place had come undone, leaving a vulnerable small spot between the king’s gorget and the plate.”
Charles VIII’s death caused shockwaves to erupt all over Europe. The king of France had died in battle, the first to do so since Robert I of France in the year of 923. The Duke of Lorraine had slain the King of France in the battlefield. Not even Edward III of England or Henry V had managed that feat of arms during the Hundred Years war. And worse was to come for France, as the dauphin, now King Charles IX had ended up in trouble of his own. During the pitched battles in Boulogne, Picardy and Artois, he had initially enjoyed success, pushing as far as into Tornai and Mons before his uncle and cousin’s armies had steadily begun to beat him back. The english sent a supporting force from Calais, as the King of England himself entered the fray. Richard IV had answered the call from his Brabantian brother-in law and swept into Artois at the head of an army of 7,000 men. Shortly before he reached Tournai, the dauphin had managed his final victory; the death of the Count of Saint-Pol.
The loss of Saint-Pol had sent the defenders of Brabant into a state of fury. Both Philip and Philippe were enraged at the loss of their brother and uncle at the hand of the invading relatives. And King Richard smelled blood in the waters.
A mere week after the death of Charles VIII came another bombshell that rocked Europe. The king of France had been taken captive by the Grand Duke and the english. Charles IX, having been king for nine days, was now a prisoner in Brabant.
John of Burgundy, Count of Saint-Pol
Author's Note: Anyone else find it hilarious that both the two latest updates by both me and @pandizzy revolve around France invading the Low Countries?
So Charles of Lorraine enters the picture in a rather grand way. I hope it was worth the wait for his spectacular moment I promised you all. @Quinkana I hope this lived up to your expectations? Charles the Bold would be so proud of his grandson. And a farewell to Philip's brother and Margaret of York and Charles's second son.
The pretext for the invasion of Brabant was the invasion of Cleves. The prince-bishop of Munster had in secret sent a emissary to the court of Charles VIII of France while he had been encouraged by the emperor to make the Duke of Cleves give his duchy to Grand Duke Philip. In his court, Charles began to plan to attack his brother-in law, ostensibly as an ally of Cleves. The executions of the Kleves bastards were used as propaganda by Charles, making it seem like the ducal family had been attacked and slaughtered. Charles underplayed the brutal attack on the ambassadors by the so called “victims”, an episode that had horrified many rulers and left Cleves bereft of allies. Upon hearing of the invasion, Philip sent a fast messenger towards his third son, Arnold, still in the duchy of Julich-Berg. He was ordered to hold the north of Brabant, as well as Cleves, Mark and the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht in his father’s stead. Arnold told Duke Wilhelm that he must depart to protect the new territories from an uprising, now that danger lurked at the French border. Wilhelm left him an additional force of 2,000 men to safeguard it all, knowing his own future laid with his son-in law to be. Before he left, Arnold gave Maria a golden ring with an emerald, a betrothal gift and the promise of a safe return.
The invasion began on the 17th of August as French troops burned the city of Amiens in Picardy. The troops were led by the dauphin, Charles and his forces. The king on the other hand attacked the Palatinate of Burgundy, accompanied by the Count of Nevers, who held a long grudge against Philip for imprisoning him and stealing Cleves from his brother. The city of Dóle that had been the place of the last French defeat in 1479 where the late king Richard, then only duke of Gloucester, had slain the Marshal of France himself, ended up as the first victim. Jean, Count of Rethel came under siege as French soldiers marched from Dijon across the border. Many of those soldiers came from the Duchy of Burgundy itself, and Charolais and Macon that had been part of Philip’s inheritance until 1480. A whole generation had grown up after the Treaty of Arras and while some considered themselves French subjects, in the past twenty-five years there were still many, many more whom still held a loyalty to their former liege. Charles VIII and his regent, Anne de Beaujue found the duchy hard to hold and their control were even weaker after the Mad War of 1488. Isabelle of Burgundy was the main reason why the place had not yet erupted in full scale rebellion, as she had been given the duchy as a dowry, but in 1506, the powder keg would find its match. The tariffs between the duchy and the Palatinate had been unpopular and so were the harsh taxations by the king and the lax hand regarding corruptions in royal officials in the area.
In a way there was a sense of tragedy of a disjointed people who had been neighbours a generation ago turning on each other like this.
However, the invasion of the Palatinate caused the allies of Brabant to react. One of the terms in the marriage between the House of Valois-Anjou and the Imperial Hapsburgs had been that Maximilian would be obligated to defend it if France attacked. Archduchess Anne quickly took up her brother’s cause with her husband and father-in law, urging them to remember their promise. Anne also reminded them both that if he wanted Archduke Frederick to become the next emperor, they needed money and Philip was one of the richest rulers of Christendom. Frederick himself drew his sword and proclaimed that if his father did not ride to Brabant’s aid he would go alone. That did the trick. Maximilian raised an army of 5,000 Landsknechte, the Germanic mercenaries that made up the backbone of the imperial armies.
Another ally came from Lorraine. Jean had been able to sneak a messenger up towards Nancy before Dóle ended up under siege. Charles III was the nephew of Philip, and the eldest son of Nicholas I and Mary of Burgundy. A tall and powerful man, who ruled Lorraine with a firm hand, he had grown up with stories of his grandfather, Charles the Bold who had been slain at Zurich in 1477 at the hands of the Swiss and France. France had proven to be an unreliable neighbour, and Charles saw the attack on his uncle as unprovoked. Moreover, the invasion caused border raiders near Luxeuil and the abbey of Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul, one of the oldest monasteries in near the old Burgundy. Duchess Elizabeth, the second daughter of Maximilian also wrote to her father and urged her husband to help beat France back.
In Boulogne, John gathered a force to repel the French pouring in from the northern border of France. Vermandois, Artois and Hainault were under heavy pressure. The Count of Namur rode hard to come to his aid, while more and more forces arrived every day. The Grand Duke ordered the levies of men while moving quickly from Breda down north-west towards Flanders. Grand duchess Philippa quickly established herself in Ghent, in the fortified Gravensteen castle, where she could oversee the chaos unfolding and organise support. The ducal children in Malines were put under heavy guard as well. Philip marched from Tournai with a force of 8,500 men to meet the enemy, while his brother and son launched counter-attacks from Arras and Mons, where the fighting was the thickest. It was also where the dauphin was.
A united army of Burgundians, germans and Lorraine men swept into the Palatinate as well, lead by Archduke Frederick and Charles of Lorraine. The siege of Dóle were broken up as pitched fighting ensued outside of the city. Jean joined them, as more men joined up, determined to chase the French king back to his side of the border. Marie remained in Dóle, organising medical aid and logistics. Fierce fighting started in Salins and Besancon, where Charles VIII led his forces. The swift moments cut of the French’s ability to retreat back to the duchy of Burgundy. Unbeknownst to Charles, his attempts to take the County of Burgundy had now been lost and Besancon were furiously resisting his attempts to take it.
It all came to an end outside of the city of Hériecourt, as Charles VIII had been corned. Brave to the end, the king decided to stand his ground and fight. It was here that Charles of Lorraine cemented his place in history, outshining his grandfather as the biggest headache for France in a long time. Both Charles faced each other down outside of the old medieval castle Grosse tour with the tower casting a shadow on the grounds. The king fought valiantly and the king fought nobly against the duke. And the king died. Eyewitnesses said that Charles drove his sword into the king’s upper chest at the end of the duel, as “his noble lifeblood poured out from beneath his armour, as the strap that held his chestplate in place had come undone, leaving a vulnerable small spot between the king’s gorget and the plate.”
Charles VIII’s death caused shockwaves to erupt all over Europe. The king of France had died in battle, the first to do so since Robert I of France in the year of 923. The Duke of Lorraine had slain the King of France in the battlefield. Not even Edward III of England or Henry V had managed that feat of arms during the Hundred Years war. And worse was to come for France, as the dauphin, now King Charles IX had ended up in trouble of his own. During the pitched battles in Boulogne, Picardy and Artois, he had initially enjoyed success, pushing as far as into Tornai and Mons before his uncle and cousin’s armies had steadily begun to beat him back. The english sent a supporting force from Calais, as the King of England himself entered the fray. Richard IV had answered the call from his Brabantian brother-in law and swept into Artois at the head of an army of 7,000 men. Shortly before he reached Tournai, the dauphin had managed his final victory; the death of the Count of Saint-Pol.
The loss of Saint-Pol had sent the defenders of Brabant into a state of fury. Both Philip and Philippe were enraged at the loss of their brother and uncle at the hand of the invading relatives. And King Richard smelled blood in the waters.
A mere week after the death of Charles VIII came another bombshell that rocked Europe. The king of France had been taken captive by the Grand Duke and the english. Charles IX, having been king for nine days, was now a prisoner in Brabant.
John of Burgundy, Count of Saint-Pol
Author's Note: Anyone else find it hilarious that both the two latest updates by both me and @pandizzy revolve around France invading the Low Countries?
So Charles of Lorraine enters the picture in a rather grand way. I hope it was worth the wait for his spectacular moment I promised you all. @Quinkana I hope this lived up to your expectations? Charles the Bold would be so proud of his grandson. And a farewell to Philip's brother and Margaret of York and Charles's second son.
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Jeez Charles killing the French King is defo something that'll cement his place in history lol, I don't think anyone can one up him in fucking France over for a while.
I wonder what'll be the consequences of all this. Considering that France lost very divisively with one king dead and the other king captured I think Lorraine and Brabant would probably take some land from France and push back their borders.
How'll Charles of Lorraine do after the war though? Would he continue attempting to expand his state's power and such? Considering his recent war I see him wanting to expand his power.
I wonder what'll be the consequences of all this. Considering that France lost very divisively with one king dead and the other king captured I think Lorraine and Brabant would probably take some land from France and push back their borders.
How'll Charles of Lorraine do after the war though? Would he continue attempting to expand his state's power and such? Considering his recent war I see him wanting to expand his power.
I promised that his moment would be spectacular, didn't I?
I can say that the Duchy of Burgundy will become a point of interest for France and the Low Countries. And England wants something as well.
Charles is gonna aim for a part of France for himself.
Straight from GoT i love it girl!
And incredible chapter! France gets a good beating like it deserves! All Hail Charles of Lorraine! The Kingslayer!
I just love including little asoiaf references at times.
I'm kind of dealing them a loosing hand so far. But on the other hand there are different factors. France will strike back in 1530 and it won't be fun for their enemies.
His granddad would be so proud.
And we deeply appreciate it.
Us neither i'm sure.
Yep. Charles the Bold has been avanged and his Grandson shall go down in history as The Scourge of France.
Louis XI is rolling in his grave while Charles the Bold is cheering for his namesake.
It's just fun when you realise that the scenarios fit. I'm kind of gonna have fun writing it. Charles of Lorraine isn't gonna be fondly remembered in France, no. Perhaps he will be a scary figure to frighten french children with. "Behave well or the Duke of Lorraine will come and take you away" will be a story parents tell their kids in the renaissance and onwards.
Charles IX and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Its said that if you put your ears to Saint Denis cathedral you can hear howls of anguish coming from the catacombs.
Fully approveIt's just fun when you realise that the scenarios fit. I'm kind of gonna have fun writing it. Charles of Lorraine isn't gonna be fondly remembered in France, no. Perhaps he will be a scary figure to frighten french children with. "Behave well or the Duke of Lorraine will come and take you away" will be a story parents tell their kids in the renaissance and onwards.
Nice
Its nice to have a boogieman lurking around France. And Saint-Denis are a magnificent cathedral. I think I saw Louis XI's tomb when I was there.
Its actually more impressive then Notre-Dame.
France is in for a bumpy ride now with the king dead and the new king captive.
