THANKS FOR THE TREAT! What a humilliation foor georgie! Would have prefered the wine treatment but this works too.
And yay! Henry the Mad is finally dead!
Let's go hammer some french!
A Second White Rose - Edmund, Earl of Rutland Survives
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
- Start date
And yay! Henry the Mad is finally dead!
Let's go hammer some french!
Top 10 coldest moments of the 1400s...
in all seriousness, sick chapter! but a warning to ned, i have a feeling clarence isnt gonna be all too happy with him, but he also doesnt sound like hes in any position to fight back!
Good chapter, but hasn't Warwick not rebelled TTL? You still have Warwick's Rebellion still in the chapter:
A good point! Just a little mistake from when I was copying and pasting from the old TL, seems one bit slipped through the cracks!
Hahaha 🤣 I cackled at George getting exactly what he wanted as a punishment. That was genius 😂
Also loving the idea of Edward and Isabel and hello little Richard! Here's hoping you grow healthy and strong
And let's hope the war goes smoothly and as painlessly as possible ❤️
Looking forward to more!
Also loving the idea of Edward and Isabel and hello little Richard! Here's hoping you grow healthy and strong
And let's hope the war goes smoothly and as painlessly as possible ❤️
Looking forward to more!
I loved that line when I came up with it, I won't lie. It's a right punch in Clarence's face.
Thank you! I'm glad to hear itHahaha 🤣 I cackled at George getting exactly what he wanted as a punishment. That was genius 😂
Also loving the idea of Edward and Isabel and hello little Richard! Here's hoping you grow healthy and strong
And let's hope the war goes smoothly and as painlessly as possible ❤️
Looking forward to more!
I can't lie, I was proud of myself for coming up with his punishment. So simple, and yet so perfect...
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Chapter Ten: War, Part One
Chapter Ten: War, Part One
On 2nd March 1473, a force of 10,000 Burgundian soldiers - led by Charles the Bold, William Clugny and Louis de Gruuthuse - passed from Burgundy through northern France towards Brittany, where they would meet with the Breton army under Duke Francis II. The Burgundian army took France by surprise, and Louis XI was not able to muster a large army up in time to prevent the Burgundian march westwards - on 6th March in the Battle of Le Mans, a force of untrained French peasants confronted Charles’s forces, but after around ten minutes of battle, the peasant army scattered, and Charles’s march went completely unmatched. The Breton-Burgundian force, approximately 20,000 strong, now made a move towards the Cotentin Peninsula, where the English army intended on landing. The Battle of Valognes (18th March 1473) was another win for the Bruges Alliance, opening the way for the Alliance to take Cherbourg with ease, facing minimal resistance. On 21st March 1473, Cherbourg fell, and the next day 10,000 English soldiers landed.
The English force was led, of course, by Edward IV, backed by an array of nobles as his commanders, including John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Humphrey Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, and Lords Howard and Mountjoy as commanders. Edward had entrusted the governance of England to Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Once the main English force landed at Cherbourg, the Alliance forces moved south again, angled to attack the city of Caen. The Siege of Caen began on 30th March 1473 and lasted until 7th April, when the town mayor opened the gates and welcomed its new residents. After Caen, the English ships were sent past Caen towards Le Havre to besiege the port from the sea while the ground forces moved in. At the same time, from Dover, another 8,000 English soldiers - led by the Duke of Suffolk, the Earls of Warwick and Kent, and John Grey, now Baron Ferrers - departed for Calais, where they were greeted by William, Lord Hastings, who had another 2,000 soldiers raised from Calais and the region around Calais, which was controlled by the Duke of Burgundy. This brought the total Alliance army to 40,000 strong. Suffolk’s force was to sweep to the west while the main body moved east, intending for the two armies to meet near Amiens.
Caen, 6th April 1473
“Relief!” Someone shouted within the English camp, and Edward IV was on his feet immediately. His sleep had been light - it usually was, which was helpful when away at war - and so all it took was that one shout for the king to be up and ready to fight whatever relief force Louis XI had organised for Caen. He hurriedly strapped his breastplate on and picked up his sword and shield, then stepped outside.
So far, it was a sunny day. The sky was pockmarked with the occasional clouds, and although Edward could feel the Sun, its light was not particularly warming. The air was crisp, but rather still.
In the distance, Edward could see an army slowly marching towards Caen, towards Edward’s camp. Edward narrowed his eyes and looked over the army. He estimated around 3,000 men, maybe 4,000, were coming his way.
“Who is approaching us?” Edward asked William Blount, the son of Walter, Baron Mountjoy, who had volunteered for the expedition to France.
“I’m unsure, Your Highness. I can just about make out the standard.” William answered shakily. Edward squinted his eyes and put his hand over the top of his head, blocking the sunlight out of his eyes, and saw a lone horseman riding up to them.
“Prepare yourself, Blount.” Edward cautioned, putting his hand on his sword. As the horseman drew nearer, Edward was able to make out the heraldry on the horse’s armour - blue with golden fleurs-de-lis, and a red stripe from top left to bottom right. Edward recognised it immediately as the heraldry of Catherine of Bourbon’s family. And indeed, when the horseman stopped and took his helmet off in front of Edward, he knew the man as Catherine’s brother John II, Duke of Bourbon. He looked at Edward with thinned lips. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Your Highness.” John said.
“And you too, Your Grace.” Edward said. John disembarked his horse and walked over to Edward. “Has Louis XI sent you to destroy me?” Edward asked.
John shook his head. “He fears that Catherine, even though she is dead, will still bring us together. And he is correct.” John said, and knelt down in front of Edward. “I, Duke John of Bourbon, do pledge to render all my services unto you. In return, my liege, all I ask is that you allow me to retain my family’s lands, and to protect my family in the case of my life being given for your cause.”
Edward smiled. Even now, five years since her death, Catherine was still looking after him.
“I, King Edward of England, do accept your services in this war.” Edward said. John stood up, and he and Edward embraced.
John, Duke of Bourbon's defection to Edward IV was more than just the friendship of two brothers-in-law; it signified something much deeper and much more threatening to Louis XI. In swearing loyalty to Edward, Bourbon had essentially recognised him as the true and rightful King of France, as opposed to King Louis. It was a big risk for Bourbon - if it paid off, then he could expect to be showered with rewards from Edward as the first French nobleman to swear loyalty to him. If the war didn't go the Bruges Alliance's way, Bourbon could very easily end up being executed for treason. And both of those were just assuming that he survived the war...
It was at Rouen that the Bruges Alliance first encountered significant resistance from the French, with an army of approximately 15,000 soldiers led by the Dukes of Berry, Orleans and Lorraine, compared to 10,000 of the alliance’s soldiers, led by Edward IV and Francis II while Charles the Bold led the remainder of the soldiers to Le Havre to secure the town. Edward and Francis were repelled from Rouen this time (21st April) and retreated to Le Havre. Rouen was slowly reinforced under Berry’s watch, forcing the allies to follow the coast up to Dieppe (which fell on 3rd May), then pushed downwards to Amiens, where they grouped up with Suffolk, Warwick and Hastings, who arrived at Amiens on 12th May 1473. Amiens, part of Picardy, belonged to Charles the Bold, and the city opened its gates quickly to the leaders of the war effort. From then on, Amiens acted as the headquarters for the Bruges Alliance.
The next few months of the war saw very little change in either Allied or French strength, and the allies spent most of their time fortifying Amiens and setting up supply routes back to Burgundy and Calais. By the start of 1474, the alliance’s hold over Artois and Picardy were unshakeable, and they held a string of ports such as Cherbourg and Le Havre across the coast, each with garrisons posted to ensure that they remained in their hands. However, on 22nd March 1474, Louis, Duke of Orleans led an attack on the garrison posted at Le Havre and drove the occupiers out into the sea, killing an estimated 1,000 Bruges soldiers, including Thomas Grey, the son of John Grey, Baron Ferrers. This proved a serious setback, as it cut off supply routes between Cherbourg and Amiens, which had Le Havre roughly halfway in between the two. At the same time, Edward the Red Prince came north from Savoy, where his wife Bona of Savoy still lived, with an army of 6,000 soldiers of his own. He fought at the Battle of Compiegne (17th May 1474), which proved an emphatic French victory - it forced the alliance back out of Picardy and tragically cost the life of John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. The Duchy of Suffolk now passed to John’s son, also called John, who - only twelve years old - was back in England.
@Zestinobambino Amazing work! Hope the best for the alliance and hope Bourbon's gamble will pay off
Three chapters in quick succession?! You are spoiling us!
Here's hoping the Bruges alliance stays strong and Edward gets to call himself the new Henry V, even if only briefly.
A Bourbon cousin match for either Edmund or Cecily, perhaps?
Here's hoping the Bruges alliance stays strong and Edward gets to call himself the new Henry V, even if only briefly.
A Bourbon cousin match for either Edmund or Cecily, perhaps?
Chapter Eleven: War, Part Two
Chapter Eleven: War, Part Two
After the Battle of Compiegne, the Alliance was in a notably weaker position. With few options, Edward sent a letter to his brother Edmund, Duke of Rutland in Ireland, and asked him to come to France with an Irish army to help turn the tides. Edmund, of course, complied, and on 6th August 1474, a force of 8,000 Irish soldiers - 3,000 drawn from Edmund’s own estates in Cork and Ulster and 5,000 led by Conn O’Neill, King of Ulster and John Dempsey, Earl of Maliere - landed at Cherbourg, still held by a group of Breton soldiers. This proved a turning point in the war as the Gaelic soldiers of O’Neill and Maliere did not practice the chivalric form of warfare that most French soldiers were used to, but instead used guerrilla warfare against their enemies - burning farms, raiding convoys, and setting up ambushes, all the while avoiding pitched battles. The 5,000 Gaelic soldiers soon gained the epithet of the Banshees, after the terrifying creatures of Irish folklore. Louis, Duke of Orleans got his own first taste of guerrilla warfare at the hands of the Banshees at the Battle of Cergy, on 2nd September 1474, which resulted in 153 French soldiers being forced into a lake and drowning, as well as over two hundred more slain in combat. Orleans was captured by Rutland and taken back to Cherbourg as a prisoner. As the campaigning season ended, the Banshees took on another, more crucial role - stealing supplies from the French soldiers to give to the allies.
Once campaigning began again in 1475, the war was now on a new path. Edward IV and Edmund, Duke of Rutland led a combined army of 20,000 Englishmen against Rouen and began a siege on 1st June 1475. Rouen was chosen as a key target for two reasons - it was a symbolic place to the Yorkists, since Edward and Edmund had both been born there, and many of the French nobility were using the city as a headquarters to lead the war from. One of those nobles was the Red Prince, whose wife Bona of Savoy and Charlotte of Lancaster were within the city walls while the Red Prince waged war against Edward IV. However, midway through the siege, reports that the Red Prince had attacked Amiens reached the York brothers. Edward IV chose to leave Rouen to his brother while he travelled to Amiens to restore order, and potentially kill the Red Prince. The city surrendered soon enough on 14th June, and Edmund, Duke of Rutland strolled confidently into his birth town. He quickly took Charles, Duke of Berry prisoner, as well as Bona of Savoy and Charlotte of Lancaster. Both Bona and Charlotte were then sent towards the ports held by the English, where they were shipped to England - out of the way of the Red Prince, depriving him of the opportunity to make more heirs.
Unfortunately, while the English marched on Rouen, this weakened Amiens and allowed for Edward the Red Prince to attack the Burgundian force there. The Battle of Amiens (3rd June 1475) saw 4,000 Frenchmen fight 3,000 Burgundians, resulting in the tragic death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, one of the alliance’s principal leaders. Control of Burgundy now nominally passed to Charles’s son Philip, who succeeded him as Philip IV of Burgundy - but since Philip IV was only seven years old, his mother Anne of York was able to make herself regent, at least for the time being. Edward IV reached Amiens three days too late, and William Blount - who decided later to write an account of the events of the war [1] - recorded that Edward “wept at the destruction wrought upon the town, and shed many a tear for the death of the bold Duke of Burgundy.”
The uncertainty caused by Charles the Bold’s death gave the French leadership a renewed vigour in the war, just at the point at which Louis was contemplating surrender. Edward the Red Prince was given more control, and under him, French scored another victory at the Battle of Beauvais (24th March 1476) which ended the allied occupation of Picardy entirely – or at least, for now. But Edward IV, Francis II and their commanders met in Rouen in July 1476 and laid out a plan of attack to turn the war back in their favour. Shortly after the meeting, the Irish contingent under Conn O’Neill and the Duke of Rutland was sent south to disrupt supply lines by burning farms and stealing food, and the failed harvest of 1476 led to an economic slump in France. Meanwhile, as the French army suffered from such a terrible famine thanks to the Banshees, the Alliance’s main body of forces re-initiated an attempt to take Picardy. Louis XI ordered a fleet to attack the English port at Calais in order to cut off a major supply route, but the French fleet under Louis I de la Trémoille was intercepted by an English fleet commanded by Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg just near Boulogne. The Boulonnaise witnessed the naval Battle of Boulogne on 10th August 1476. In a stunning move of bravery, Thomas Neville boarded La Trémoille’s ship and challenged him to a duel. Thomas claimed that if La Trémoille won the duel, then he would order his fleet to let the French pass. In return, La Trémoille promised that if Thomas won, then La Trémoille would surrender his fleet to the Englishman. The duel began, and after six minutes, Thomas disarmed La Trémoille, thus claiming victory. As per their terms, the French fleet surrendered to Thomas Neville, and La Trémoille was taken as a prisoner.
Back on land, the war progressed well for the Alliance. The Battle of Ponthieu (25th August 1476) was yet another success for the Alliance, led by Richard, Earl of Warwick against an army led by Charles, Count of Angoulême. While Ponthieu fell to the invaders, Angoulême escaped with his life. The Battle of Saint-Quentin (3rd September 1476) consolidated their control of Picardy, and it proved easy to take Vermandois afterwards with most of the French force already annihilated. With Normandy and Picardy now in the alliance’s hands, they turned their attention to Champagne, one of the major goals of the campaign as set out by Charles the Bold in the Treaty of Bruges. Even though Charles had now fallen, Edward and Francis agreed to try and take the territory over anyway in honour of their fallen comrade and grant the land to Burgundy when successful.
The alliance continued to score victories in Champagne, pushing in through the region, culminating in the Battle of Reims on 3rd April 1477 – the last battle in the war. The English force here consisted of Edward IV, Warwick, Howard, Suffolk, Hastings, Norfolk and Ferrers, with altogether around 16,000 soldiers, coupled with a Breton force of around 6,000, against around 12,000 French soldiers under the command of Nicholas of Lorraine, who had been the Duke of Lorraine since his father John II’s death in 1470, and Charles V, Count of Maine. The two French commanders had been left to defend Reims since the Battle of Ponthieu and disagreed on tactics early on - Lorraine believed it would be better to force the attackers into a siege, whereas Maine planned on using the gates to the city as a chokepoint. Maine overruled Lorraine and chose to use the most southwestern gate. He picked this gate as it was the furthest gate from the allies' direction of approach, giving the defenders maximum time to pick off at the allies with ranged weapons from Reims's walls. Maine's defensive scheme - now known to history as Maine's Gamble, due to the risk he took in allowing any invaders into the city - was put to the test on 3rd April 1477.
Maine opened the southwestern gate to lure the English and Breton invaders in, and his strategy seemed initially to work. The first invaders through the gate were slaughtered by Maine’s defences, including Thomas Grey, son of John Grey, Baron Ferrers. However, eventually, the sheer numerical advantages held by the attackers won out, and Maine’s defence collapsed. Reims was sacked by the invaders, and Maine was killed in the battle while Lorraine was taken prisoner. With Reims now under allied control, Champagne was effectively secured and there was only one target left on the Alliance’s list of aims - Paris. The march to Paris began on 6th April 1477. With alliance troops in sight of Paris, Louis XI realised he had no choice but to surrender, which he did on 16th April 1477, ending the Franco-Alliance War.
A Medieval map of Reims. The blue circle highlights the gate that Maine opened as a chokepoint to the invaders in his gamble. For orientation, upwards on this map is roughly east in the world. This map can be found on this website.
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