Anno Obumbratio: A 16th Century Alternate History
- Thread starter DrakeRlugia
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Oh dear, things in Scotland are looking a bit tense. And who knows if that Florentine fellow will be even worse then Seton is? And George sure sounds like a very interesting character!
Thank you, Elia!
You are quite welcome! Thank you for giving it a read: things are certainly heating up in Scotland.
Aw, thanks Mickey! Alexander IV definitely has an interesting court, that's for sure. I can definitely see a lot of historical fiction / novels taking place there, with all the colorful characters hanging around. Scotland definitely has an interesting future ahead of it.
Ha! Thank you, Gonzaga! I'd definitely watch it, too.
No, thank you! You've added some much needed color for this chapter. I'm glad I was able to do it justice!
I was very influenced by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: the letter that opens the chapter is influenced by Joseph II's rather candid letters after his 1777 visit, but also James VI, and a shade of Gustav III of Sweden and the issues in his marriage with Sophia Magdalena and rumors regarding the Count Munck.
Yes! I suppose some could argue that the improvements are in luxury goods, but Charlotte is doing her part in funding native craftsmen, and the glassworks especially could prove important down the line. Since glass is used in all sorts of things, from the rich cups of the nobility to windows. The silk works are a bit of a blunder, but not unprecedented, as James VI/I attempted to build up a silk industry in England, too, through the planting of mulberry trees. The trees that give black fruit aren't favored by silk worms (they'll eat the leaves, but the silk ends up coarser) but the fruit can be eaten and also has medicinal properties.
Yep, the last of their property has been dispersed: their fortunes are firmly tied to France now.
At the very least, at least Alexander has proven himself capable, and any rumors of Charlotte's sterility can be banished to the grave. There's the worrying rumors that Queen Margaret loves to repeat, but I think it'll be obvious that this little princess takes after both of her royal parents.
Winton's days are numbered, that's for sure. Charlotte has more than just herself to defend now, she has her daughter.
Fixed!
Also realized I forgot musical accompaniment. That's been added too.
He very well could be! But in the queen's eyes, the devil she doesn't know is better than the devil she does know. At the very least, this new potential lover is one of her former valets and will owe any advancement to her. She's hoping this might temper any ambitions.... still, Charlotte will actually have to put the poor fellow before the king and see if it takes. It's totally possible Alexander might prove unwilling to part with his long time favorite, but if done at the right moment...
I'm obsessed with King Alexander and his drama-filled love life! Georges' visit has already spiced things up, and I look forward to seeing how Winton fares against Acciaioli. Charlotte also seems like a nice person who's carved out a niche for herself in her new home, and she's ensured that her luxurious lifestyle is productive for the kingdom's economy. It's good to see her and Alexander reconcile despite the difficulties of a mixed-orientation marriage and find a compromise that should benefit both of them (as well as show up Margaret for the rumors she spread). I always love seeing more gay history because you just know there's gonna be some legendary shade thrown in the Scottish court!
I do worry for the stability of Alexander's rule, let's pray this conflict due to favourites doesn't go the way of Edward II of England. Though at the moment I don't see anyone within Scotland who could be a rival capable of overthrowing the king himself. Unless Margaret orchestrates something, perhaps with the aid of her niece, in Queen Mary.
Speaking of Mary, I was happy to see mentions that she has given birth to a healthy son Henry (if I read it correctly), no doubt named in honour of her father. May he live long and prosper.
Speaking of Mary, I was happy to see mentions that she has given birth to a healthy son Henry (if I read it correctly), no doubt named in honour of her father. May he live long and prosper.
Shit, I missed that, but you're right! Mary and John have a son! The succession is secure! Huzzah! And yeah, her naming the kid Henry is the ideal name. It reminds the nobles of her English father, which shows that England won't be subservient to anyone. That being said, it's also a name that translates well into Danish (Henrik) and there were some old important viking nobles named Henrik in case the kid has to play on Danish credentials in the future
I can see a marriage between Henry and Anne of Scotland. A Scottish born princess might be good for the Danes as well as they married into Scotland from time to time.
That's a sensible idea yeah. In that case, I hope the Scottish princess won't be followed by brothers heh
Thank you Leonidas! I'd say Charlotte is doing splendidly, and the ground has been set for her and Alexander to have an amicable relationship. It won't be a passionate love for the ages, but I can see them being very good friends. I definitely appreciate that; as a gay man, I feel it's so important for stories like this to be told. Gay men and women didn't just crop up, they've existed throughout history. I'm very glad to be able to create a colorful court at Scotland, and I'm always excited to return there: it's perhaps my favorite, even above England and France!
She's trying her best. I can really see her becoming an important political figure, especially if she succeeds in supplanting Winton and playing a real political role.
There's no one who can really replace Alexander IV at this time. He's got no living brothers, and the Duke of Albany is dead. Albany has a daughter, Catherine, his daughter by the Comtesse de Boulogne, but she's more French than Scottish and has spent her life raised in France and has inherited her mother's French lands. Following her father's death, she's become a ward of the French king. Not that it would be a detriment, but she's got no political base of supporters in Scotland at this time. Little Catherine Stuart is likely to marry a French noble, especially since the death of the Duke of Orléans has taken that marriage off the table (for fun, I'm thinking a possible son of this man who IOTL died in Pavia: either an illegitimate scion, or perhaps a legitimate son if he married some minor French noblewoman).
I suppose Margaret could attempt to orchestrate a coup to replace her son with her granddaughter, but given her spreading the rumors that said granddaughter is possibly illegitimate, I don't see that happening. Plus, despite the courtly dysfunction, Alexander IV's reign hasn't yet proved detrimental to Scotland. Sure, the old guard are grumbling because he's decided to pretty up the court, but he's not pursuing any policies that put the crown at risk. Not saying that couldn't change... Edward II learned the hard way what happens when you favor people too highly and alienate your bases of support.
Yes, you are correct! Mary has given birth to her first son. He's healthy and happy.
Yes! The long awaited son is here. There was no doubt that Henry was going to be his name.
I suppose he could have a dual name like Henry Christian or Henry Frederick, but like you said, I feel like it's a name that translates well into Danish / Norwegian and isn't crazy off the charts. Plus, like you, I too wish to break the dreaded rotation of Christian and Frederick that made up the Danish kings. 😂I can definitely see both sides eager to pursue such an alliance. If Margaret can stop flapping her jaws, she may very well be instrumental in helping arrange such a marriage. England hasn't had a Scottish consort in quite some time... it would be one way to wean Scotland away from France. And it would be a good marriage for Denmark, too.
Oh, but that would be too easy!
We'll just have to wait and see.
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Oh God no, let the de la Poles die out. They were such a constant nuisance
Yeah, it's so goddamn uninspired. Throw in a Valdemar or an Erik you cowards! *Grumbles*Yes! The long awaited son is here. There was no doubt that Henry was going to be his name.
*Slides over a 500kr note* PlzOh, but that would be too easy!
Chapter 27. The Ormond Rebellion
Chapter 27. The Ormond Rebellion
1537-1541; England & Ireland.
“Alas, how I fear lest it be objected to us, as was to Tiberius by Bato: you, you it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks not to shepherds but to wolves!”
— Queen Mary of England
Music Accompaniment: Haec Dies
King John's Landing at Dover, 1537.
King John returned to England in the summer of 1537. At nineteen, he had spent nearly two years abroad campaigning in Denmark and Norway to restore his father, Christian II, to his rightful place on the throne. However, John succeeded on the battlefield and remained in Denmark for a time. “The Danes welcomed King John with a bevy of cheers as he entered Copenhagen, able to return to the ancestral castle where he had spent so many of his early years,” one historian wrote of the period. “While John’s reunion with his father was not warm—it was cordial enough.” During John’s stay in Denmark, Christian II recognized his son as heir to the Danish throne, naming him his co-ruler within the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. John’s position within the duchies was critical, as Christian II granted his son mortgages over Heligoland, Itzehoe, Gottorp, and Femern. “The King of Denmark saw the settlement of his son’s financial situation in the utmost importance—even more given his position as King of England,” one Danish courtier would write in their private annals. “King John's revenue was primarily from his English lands, worth some £3000, which he held only for life. He also had a pension from the Estates General of the Low Countries, granted to him upon the Empress Mary’s urging—worth £2000. King John’s income, some £5000, was pathetically small compared to the wealth held by his wife. Christian II believed that his son was being purposely kept in poverty to reduce his influence and wished to provide John with an independent income…” John’s new income would be a complex topic within England. While some English councilors were pleased that their young king had proved his worth and would reduce burdens upon the royal treasury, others were wary of the young sovereign gaining more considerable sums of money, which would be outside their control.
When John returned to England, he landed in Dover—saluted as the hero he had now become. “People cheered for their handsome king—returned from his grand adventure,” a bourgeois gentleman who lived in Dover wrote in his journal. “His Majesty resided that night at Dover Castle and dined in a right royal state—his lords and officers attended him beneath the royal canopy, which bore the arms of England with those of Denmark and Norway. King John had left England a boy—and returned a man.” Before embarking to London, John stopped briefly at the Priory of St. Mary the Virgin, where he would deposit his bloodied battle standard: a magnificent flag which included the cross of St. George, colored in Argent and Azure. The flag was decorated with Tudor Roses, Fleur-de-Lys, and Danish Hearts, crowned with the Danish Lion with Dieu et Mon Droit etched in gold. From Dover, John traveled up Watling Street, the old Roman road which connected Dover to London. From there, he took a barge down the Thames to Eltham Palace, where Queen Mary and Princess Mary spent the summer. “Queen Mary was pleased to see the king again,” Anne Parr—now Countess of Arundel following her marriage to Henry Fitzalan—wrote in her memoirs. “I cannot say that it was a tender reunion, but the queen was pleased to see John hale and healthy—and most of all, looking more like a man than he had on his departure.” Matters eased slightly in the royal marriage upon John’s return—perhaps made easier by the mutual attraction the king and queen shared. Even if they did not love much—quite yet, they had a little issue in the royal bed chambers.
During John’s time abroad, matters of government had been managed solely by Mary, who had handled herself superbly. Aside from ensuring that John’s troops were well-funded and well-supplied, the queen had devoted herself to sundry administrative matters. She ordered the Duke of Norfolk, Lord High Treasurer, to begin work on a list of imports into England and the tariffs and duties levied upon them. Parliament assembled during John’s absence in 1536, which was concerned primarily with minor matters—the Vagabond Act of 1536 sought to deal with the growth of beggars and vagabonds: the so-called impotent beggars, who were unable to work due to illness, disability, or age were for the first time licensed to beg for alms, with such licenses to be granted by the Justices of the Peace. The idle poor—those who could work—were banned from begging and were to be whipped as a punishment if caught doing so. The Calais Act also passed—which provided extra privileges to Merchants of the Staple by allowing them to levy a fee upon goods that passed through the port of Calais into England. “Queen Mary sought to reign in an even-handed manner during the period of the king’s sojourn,” one historian would write. “She sought to prove herself worthy—even if others forced her to share her powers when the king was in England; she hoped all would look upon her a queen who looked fondly after the interests of the people.”
Tournai Beggars, 1353.
As part of the queen coming into her own, she arranged for a shake-up of her Privy Council: Thomas More succeeded Bishop Fisher as Lord Chancellor in 1535, and Thomas Audley gained the office of Lord Privy Seal. Mary also divided the office of King’s Clerk into two roles—a clerk to serve herself and one to serve John. Stephen Gardinier, Bishop of Winchester (who had succeeded Thomas Wolsey following his death in 1534) was named Queen’s Clerk, while one of Gardinier’s associates, William Paget, was named King’s Clerk. An Act of Parliament in 1536 also created the role of Lord President of the Council. Queen Mary granted this new title to Thomas More and deputized him as head of the Privy Council in the absence of the sovereigns. “By the time King John returned to England, there had been a great change,” one councilor wrote in his private memoirs. “Not only had the king grown up during his time abroad, so had the queen, who had begun to realize her acumen for government.” John, pleased with the arrangements made during his absence, approved of Mary’s choices. He readily accepted William Paget as his clerk, and the pair would soon establish a harmonious working relationship—just as Mary would develop a good relationship with the Bishop of Winchester.
In matters of the royal family, young Princess Mary grew up quickly. “The little princess is as pretty as her mother,” Catherine Willoughby wrote in a letter to her mother, Maria de Salinas. “And just as bold. Her nurses cannot tame her, and she enjoys romping about the nursery and causing all sorts of trouble. Her first word indicates her station as she cries out, ‘Queen! Queen!’ to all that would listen to her…” Queen Mary doted upon her daughter; Princess Mary’s governess was Elizabeth Grey, the Countess of Devon and Viscountess of Lisle, with the queen often writing to the countess to ensure that the countess followed her orders to the letter. The young princess was also doted upon by her grandmother, with Queen Catherine often writing to the Countess of Devon seeking updates.
Though Catherine still made occasional treks to court, especially for major holidays such as Christmas, she began to spend more time at Hanworth Manor as her health declined. The queen dowager complained of headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath—to which her physicians were unable to offer any absolute comfort, prescribing bleedings, purges, and enemas that did little but worsen her condition. In 1537, Catherine arranged to make up her final will—before announcing that she would be retiring to Syon Abbey as a boarder to live out her last days. “I know that this news may be shocking to you, my darling,” Catherine wrote in a letter to Mary that defended her decision. “But you know, as do I… that I am not well. I do not know how long I will be in this world—if I shall be here another week, month, or year. But as the doctors are unable to cure me, I feel that I must seek my cure with God instead. I shall always be close and write to you often, but you are a queen, a wife, and a mother… I must allow you to live your life, and I shall live mine. Remember who you are, and that you shall always be my daughter, the granddaughter of the Great Isabella and Ferdinand… and the daughter of the Great Henry, your father.” As part of Catherine’s retirement, she returned most of her dower lands to the royal domain. Those she retained—worth some £2000 per annum—were pledged to Syon Abbey to care for her needs during her stay. Mary bore the news of her mother’s retirement stoically, but some of the queen’s closest ladies reported that the queen wept in her chambers the day her mother moved into Syon.
Seal of the Abbess of Syon.
The Anglo-Norman nobility, such as the Earls of Kildare and Ormond, largely dominated Ireland. The Earl of Essex’s tenure as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland had been brief, and he had been mainly ineffective in maintaining peace between the feuding noble houses. Mary needed a new tack within Ireland and named Sir John Rawson Lord-Lieutenant in 1535. Rawson was the Prior of Kilmainham, the Irish House of the Knights Hospitaller, but had served previously as Ireland’s Lord Treasurer and had occupied a vital role within the Irish Privy Council since the 1520s. Mary charged Rawson with maintaining peace within Ireland and increasing English control within the Pale. Rawson hosted Ireland's first Parliament during Mary’s reign at Drogheda in 1538, where the Parliament voted funds for the upkeep of Dublin’s fortifications. At Drogheda, Rawson sought to unify the Irish lords within the Pale by having them sign a pledge that would become known as the Eternal Peace. The Eternal Peace outlined that the lords should obey the queen’s majesty and refrain from feuding and fighting against each other. The peace stipulated that those who signed agreed to band together against those who might seek to broach it. Despite good intentions, Rawson could not gain proper support for his peace pledge, and the great Anglo-Irish magnates who maintained actual influence within Ireland ridiculed the agreement as useless. Rawson, in his late sixties and increasingly ill health, did not prove to be a robust choice for the office of Lord-Lieutenant; he retired in 1537—soon replaced by James Butler, the Earl of Ormond, who had recently succeeded his father. Mary and John charged the Earl of Ormond with maintaining peace within the Pale, extending English control further into Ireland, and reeling in the Gaelic raiders.
Queen Mary proved incredibly fecund following the return of John from Denmark and fell pregnant shortly after his return. In April 1538, Mary gave birth to her second child—a princess named Catherine in honor of her grandmother. “The queen is well pleased with her daughter, who is a bonny lass,” Catherine Blount wrote in a letter to her husband, Richard Devereaux. “Though, of course, there are those who may grumble because she is not a son, the queen has more than proved herself in this battlefield and has handled herself gloriously…” John and Mary’s relationship had improved immensely since his return from Denmark. While Mary remained jealous of her prerogatives, she was more willing to work with her husband than ever before, with the queen discovering that they worked very well together. While the queen was especially apt in administrative and financial matters, John proved his worth in minutiae and military concerns. “After breakfast, the king and queen typically retire to their privy chamber where they work, their desks on opposite ends of the chamber.” Stephen Gardinier, the Queen’s Clerk, would write in his memoirs. “While the queen might busy herself with reports of the royal household’s finances, the king would busy himself on other matters, such as refortification efforts in Dover or Berwick, or seeking progress on the paving a road from London to Dover…” Ireland remained a prime concern for both John and Mary in all these matters. However, although the Earl of Ormond proved to be a good administrator, he remained constrained by his conflicts with the Geraldines—other problems concerned the Earl of Desmond, with the title disputed between two rival claimants. The Gaelic chieftains on the outskirts of English authority continued to act with impunity—they continued to raid the Pale, with English authorities largely constrained from curtailing them.
Taking experience from his campaigns in Scandinavia, John recommended that Dublin host a garrison, like the troops that guarded Berwick, Portsmouth, and Dover—consisting of men from the Pale and England, too. The Dublin garrison would consist of some 2000 men, funded by the Irish Parliament. John recommended William Brabazon to head the Dublin garrison and appointed constable of Dublin Castle. This appointment was not looked upon fondly by the Earl of Ormond. “The great earls like Kildare and Ormond governed as they pleased within the island that was their home,” a historian would write in a treatise about Tudor control over Ireland. “Queen Catherine had been content to govern through these men if they caused no trouble. The earls began to increasingly conflict with King John and Queen Mary—both who wished to increase England’s authority over the Lordship of Ireland.” The introduction of a garrison into Dublin gave the government within the Pale another effective instrument for increasing its influence. However, Brabazon quickly came into conflict with the Earl of Ormond, who felt that Brabazon had been put in place to hinder his role as Lord Lieutenant. Ormond also sought to use Brabazon’s men to deal with his feuds with the Geraldines in Kildare; when Brabazon refused, Ormond retaliated by withholding funds from the garrison. “I cannot serve under these conditions,” Brabazon wrote in a fiery letter addressed to both of his sovereigns. “I must have the freedom to act according to your dictates—not those applied by the Earl of Ormond.” The king and queen formally reprimanded the Earl of Ormond, who reminded him sternly that the Dublin Garrison had been placed there for the protection of the Pale and not his private feuds.
James Butler, Earl of Ormond & Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, c. 1536.
Issues in Ireland continued throughout 1538 into 1539. The Earl of Ormond was now contending with William Brabazon and continuing friction with the Geraldines in Kildare. The issue of Desmond also remained paramount, as the Earl of Ormond had married Joan FitzGerald, the daughter and heiress of James FitzGerald, the late Earl of Desmond whose death had seen the title divided between two rival claimants. Having attained the office of Lord-Lieutenant, he now hoped to use his wife’s status to extend the influence of the Butler lands into Munster. Ormond's policies ran counter to the hopes of Mary and John in Ireland; rather than keeping the peace, the Earl of Ormond was stirring up more trouble. “A most naughty subject undeserving of our fondness,” Mary reportedly snapped when she received reports of Ormond’s continued bad behavior. The Earl of Kildare readily exploited Ormond's issues, Thomas FitzGerald, who agitated the king and queen to remove Butler from office and to return the Lord-Lieutenancy into the hands of the Geraldines. The Earl of Kildare promised to faithfully carry out the royal program for Ireland—even as he crossed his fingers and plotted for Butler’s destruction. William Brabazon readily threw his support behind Kildare—not only to bloody Ormond’s nose but to secure an ally and build up his influence in Dublin. Mary and John soon retaliated by stripping Ormond of his office of Lord Lieutenant and rewarding it to the Earl of Kildare. Despite being twenty-six, Kildare's young Earl had experience governing under his father, the previous Earl.
The queen stripped Ormond of his office; he reportedly uttered: “So, the little queen and her little king think they shall reign here as they do in England?” Retreating to his lands in Ormond, the earl made common cause with the Clanricardes in Western Ireland, recruiting them along with other Gaelic clans in the south and the west to raid Kildare. While Ormond hoped to build a common cause with the Earl of Desmond, Thomas FitzGerald refused to cooperate unless Ormond dropped his claims to Desmond territory. At the same time, the king and queen, along with the Earl of Kildare, championed the claims of James FitzGerald as Earl of Desmond. Kildare arrived in Dublin in the Summer of 1539, where Brabazon and the Irish Privy Council welcomed him. “We welcome you, sir,” Brabazon said to Kildare with great flourish. “For you are the only one who can banish Ireland’s misgovernment and restore it to glory.” Kildare had brought some 500 foot soldiers with him, including Scottish redshirts from the Hebrides—which he would augment into the Dublin garrison. Throughout the summer of 1539, Ormond’s raiders attacked Kildare and succeeded in seizing Wexford. In a fiery speech to his soldiers, the Earl of Ormond declared, “I renounce now, for all time, my allegiance to England—we ought to have no master here except for ourselves. Those who maintain their allegiance to the English forfeit their goods; I shall exile or put to the sword any Englishman that attempts to remain in our land.” Ormond intimated to the Earl of Kildare that he was willing to divide Ireland between them; when this failed, Ormond sought support from Pope Pius V, sending letters directly to Rome to appeal for his cause. Ormond received no answer for his letters, but his revolt caused ripples throughout Ireland that worried the Dublin administration.
The Ormond Rebellion, as it became known, was the first natural inflammation of Tudor Ireland since Henry VII's reign. Mary and John saw the benefits of increased control over Ireland and were prepared to deal harshly with those who did not support them. Brabazon, with the blessing of the Earl of Kildare, proceeded to evict the Gaelic chieftains around Uí Failghe and Leix who supported Ormond near Dublin, with the lands granted to soldiers from the Dublin Garrison with the proviso that they should settle the lands given and adhere to English laws and customs. Brabazon's eviction represented the first attempted displacement of the old Gaelic power structures in favor of the English and Anglicized Irish who lived within the Pale—Brabanzon gave out land to his English and Irish soldiers equally, and these settlements would lead to the founding of Maryborough and Johnstown within Queen’s County and King’s County. Mary and John reiterated their vision for Ireland through the Articles of Grace, which would be published in Dublin by the Earl of Kildare: this called for an end of division and disorder throughout the whole of Ireland, a restructuring of the Irish legal code, to deal with the division of Brehon Law in Gaelic territories and Irish March Law which prevailed in English controlled areas; settlement of land and tenancies; and the creation of fortifications in vital areas to maintain Ireland’s security. Old English landowners championed the articles, seeing them as a way to end Ireland's disorder. Still, such grand proclamations wearied the Gaelic chiefs, who feared further encroachment into their lands and territories but also an end to their way of life as they knew it.
Thomas FitzGerald, the 10th Earl of Kildare and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
He would become an important pillar of Tudor power in Ireland.
While Kildare dealt with troubles in Ireland, Queen Mary soon discovered she was pregnant for a third time. “It seems that this is my lot in this life,” Mary reportedly grumbled to the Countess of Arundel. “Queen and broodmare—paired together into one package.” Still, even if Mary was not wholly pleased with her condition, she knew that she must endure it—while all the court hoped and prayed that she might finally give England its long-awaited heir. Mary gave birth to her third child and eldest son in May 1539—the young boy was large and healthy and was christened Henry in honor of the queen’s late father. Henry immediately became Duke of Cornwall from the moment of his birth. “All the court was well pleased when the king announced that the queen had finally given birth to a son,” one courtier would write anonymously. “His Majesty was greatly overjoyed and had the young prince sumptuously baptized at the Priory of Sheen—a grand event that even the queen dowager attended, who had traveled in a litter from Syon to Sheen.” Prince Henry’s baptism would be Queen Catherine’s last public event: she would pass away in February 1540 after suffering from a kidney ailment in her previous months. Queen Mary attended her mother’s deathbed and stayed for several days at Syon while her mother’s condition deteriorated. Catherine’s will allotted most of her jewelry and prized possessions to her daughter—the jewel of Catherine’s life. Minor bequests were made to Charles V’s daughters by his late wife, Empress Mary, and Prince Ferdinand of Asturias's wife, Isabella of Portugal. Catherine’s funeral was a grand affair hosted at Westminster, with the Archbishop of Canterbury giving the eulogy. “A great woman…and an even greater queen, whose life shall always be remembered for her dedication to the faith, to England—and her husband, Henry VIII.” Catherine would be interned jointly with Henry VIII at Westminster Abbey—joining him in the tomb she had commissioned for them twenty-seven years after his death. Work on the tomb would be continued by Queen Mary, who would add effigies of both Henry VIII and Catherine to the tomb, along with an inscription in Latin: “Coniuncti in vita et morte, hic dormimus, Henricus et Catharina, vir et uxor in spe resurrectionis.”[1]
Ormond’s rebellion remained mainly centered around his hereditary lands and, by the summer of 1540, was beginning to run out of steam. Hopes of foreign support evaporated as Pope Pius V condemned Ormond’s rebellion, reaffirming through a Papal Bull that Mary and John continued to hold the Lordship of Ireland. Kildare had augmented Brabazon’s troops with his own and ordered siege guns from Dublin to pummel Ormond Castle in the Siege of Ormond. Brabazon would clash with the Earl of Ormond at the Battle of Carrick near his hereditary castle, where his well-trained troops succeeded in pummeling Ormond’s poorly trained Gaelic bands. Brabazon captured Ormond while attempting to flee the battlefield, gleefully placing the overly proud earl into chains. “All of Dublin shall see what a traitor looks like—and how a traitor is treated,” Brabazon reportedly sneered to his new prisoner. The Earl of Ormond was paraded through Dublin in July of 1540, with Mary and John passing an attainder upon Ormond for treason. His title was declared forfeit, and the crown seized his lands. Held in the gaol of Dublin Castle, Ormond’s wife, Joan FitzGerald, and his children were ordered closely confined at Dublin Castle until Kildare could send them to England, where the children could be reared and raised as Englishmen. Only in one matter did Mary herself relent—allowing the Countess of Ormond to maintain the lands she had brought to the Butlers as her dowry. The Ormond Rebellion was snuffed out by 1540, though Brabazon’s troops would continue to be active throughout 1540 and 1541 as they fought to secure control over the Earldom of Desmond for James FitzGerald.
[1] Roughly: United in Life and Death, here we sleep, Henry and Catherine in hope of Resurrection. Like Mary and Elizabeth’s tomb of OTL.
1537-1541; England & Ireland.
“Alas, how I fear lest it be objected to us, as was to Tiberius by Bato: you, you it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks not to shepherds but to wolves!”
— Queen Mary of England
Music Accompaniment: Haec Dies
King John's Landing at Dover, 1537.
King John returned to England in the summer of 1537. At nineteen, he had spent nearly two years abroad campaigning in Denmark and Norway to restore his father, Christian II, to his rightful place on the throne. However, John succeeded on the battlefield and remained in Denmark for a time. “The Danes welcomed King John with a bevy of cheers as he entered Copenhagen, able to return to the ancestral castle where he had spent so many of his early years,” one historian wrote of the period. “While John’s reunion with his father was not warm—it was cordial enough.” During John’s stay in Denmark, Christian II recognized his son as heir to the Danish throne, naming him his co-ruler within the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. John’s position within the duchies was critical, as Christian II granted his son mortgages over Heligoland, Itzehoe, Gottorp, and Femern. “The King of Denmark saw the settlement of his son’s financial situation in the utmost importance—even more given his position as King of England,” one Danish courtier would write in their private annals. “King John's revenue was primarily from his English lands, worth some £3000, which he held only for life. He also had a pension from the Estates General of the Low Countries, granted to him upon the Empress Mary’s urging—worth £2000. King John’s income, some £5000, was pathetically small compared to the wealth held by his wife. Christian II believed that his son was being purposely kept in poverty to reduce his influence and wished to provide John with an independent income…” John’s new income would be a complex topic within England. While some English councilors were pleased that their young king had proved his worth and would reduce burdens upon the royal treasury, others were wary of the young sovereign gaining more considerable sums of money, which would be outside their control.
When John returned to England, he landed in Dover—saluted as the hero he had now become. “People cheered for their handsome king—returned from his grand adventure,” a bourgeois gentleman who lived in Dover wrote in his journal. “His Majesty resided that night at Dover Castle and dined in a right royal state—his lords and officers attended him beneath the royal canopy, which bore the arms of England with those of Denmark and Norway. King John had left England a boy—and returned a man.” Before embarking to London, John stopped briefly at the Priory of St. Mary the Virgin, where he would deposit his bloodied battle standard: a magnificent flag which included the cross of St. George, colored in Argent and Azure. The flag was decorated with Tudor Roses, Fleur-de-Lys, and Danish Hearts, crowned with the Danish Lion with Dieu et Mon Droit etched in gold. From Dover, John traveled up Watling Street, the old Roman road which connected Dover to London. From there, he took a barge down the Thames to Eltham Palace, where Queen Mary and Princess Mary spent the summer. “Queen Mary was pleased to see the king again,” Anne Parr—now Countess of Arundel following her marriage to Henry Fitzalan—wrote in her memoirs. “I cannot say that it was a tender reunion, but the queen was pleased to see John hale and healthy—and most of all, looking more like a man than he had on his departure.” Matters eased slightly in the royal marriage upon John’s return—perhaps made easier by the mutual attraction the king and queen shared. Even if they did not love much—quite yet, they had a little issue in the royal bed chambers.
During John’s time abroad, matters of government had been managed solely by Mary, who had handled herself superbly. Aside from ensuring that John’s troops were well-funded and well-supplied, the queen had devoted herself to sundry administrative matters. She ordered the Duke of Norfolk, Lord High Treasurer, to begin work on a list of imports into England and the tariffs and duties levied upon them. Parliament assembled during John’s absence in 1536, which was concerned primarily with minor matters—the Vagabond Act of 1536 sought to deal with the growth of beggars and vagabonds: the so-called impotent beggars, who were unable to work due to illness, disability, or age were for the first time licensed to beg for alms, with such licenses to be granted by the Justices of the Peace. The idle poor—those who could work—were banned from begging and were to be whipped as a punishment if caught doing so. The Calais Act also passed—which provided extra privileges to Merchants of the Staple by allowing them to levy a fee upon goods that passed through the port of Calais into England. “Queen Mary sought to reign in an even-handed manner during the period of the king’s sojourn,” one historian would write. “She sought to prove herself worthy—even if others forced her to share her powers when the king was in England; she hoped all would look upon her a queen who looked fondly after the interests of the people.”
Tournai Beggars, 1353.
As part of the queen coming into her own, she arranged for a shake-up of her Privy Council: Thomas More succeeded Bishop Fisher as Lord Chancellor in 1535, and Thomas Audley gained the office of Lord Privy Seal. Mary also divided the office of King’s Clerk into two roles—a clerk to serve herself and one to serve John. Stephen Gardinier, Bishop of Winchester (who had succeeded Thomas Wolsey following his death in 1534) was named Queen’s Clerk, while one of Gardinier’s associates, William Paget, was named King’s Clerk. An Act of Parliament in 1536 also created the role of Lord President of the Council. Queen Mary granted this new title to Thomas More and deputized him as head of the Privy Council in the absence of the sovereigns. “By the time King John returned to England, there had been a great change,” one councilor wrote in his private memoirs. “Not only had the king grown up during his time abroad, so had the queen, who had begun to realize her acumen for government.” John, pleased with the arrangements made during his absence, approved of Mary’s choices. He readily accepted William Paget as his clerk, and the pair would soon establish a harmonious working relationship—just as Mary would develop a good relationship with the Bishop of Winchester.
In matters of the royal family, young Princess Mary grew up quickly. “The little princess is as pretty as her mother,” Catherine Willoughby wrote in a letter to her mother, Maria de Salinas. “And just as bold. Her nurses cannot tame her, and she enjoys romping about the nursery and causing all sorts of trouble. Her first word indicates her station as she cries out, ‘Queen! Queen!’ to all that would listen to her…” Queen Mary doted upon her daughter; Princess Mary’s governess was Elizabeth Grey, the Countess of Devon and Viscountess of Lisle, with the queen often writing to the countess to ensure that the countess followed her orders to the letter. The young princess was also doted upon by her grandmother, with Queen Catherine often writing to the Countess of Devon seeking updates.
Though Catherine still made occasional treks to court, especially for major holidays such as Christmas, she began to spend more time at Hanworth Manor as her health declined. The queen dowager complained of headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath—to which her physicians were unable to offer any absolute comfort, prescribing bleedings, purges, and enemas that did little but worsen her condition. In 1537, Catherine arranged to make up her final will—before announcing that she would be retiring to Syon Abbey as a boarder to live out her last days. “I know that this news may be shocking to you, my darling,” Catherine wrote in a letter to Mary that defended her decision. “But you know, as do I… that I am not well. I do not know how long I will be in this world—if I shall be here another week, month, or year. But as the doctors are unable to cure me, I feel that I must seek my cure with God instead. I shall always be close and write to you often, but you are a queen, a wife, and a mother… I must allow you to live your life, and I shall live mine. Remember who you are, and that you shall always be my daughter, the granddaughter of the Great Isabella and Ferdinand… and the daughter of the Great Henry, your father.” As part of Catherine’s retirement, she returned most of her dower lands to the royal domain. Those she retained—worth some £2000 per annum—were pledged to Syon Abbey to care for her needs during her stay. Mary bore the news of her mother’s retirement stoically, but some of the queen’s closest ladies reported that the queen wept in her chambers the day her mother moved into Syon.
Seal of the Abbess of Syon.
The Anglo-Norman nobility, such as the Earls of Kildare and Ormond, largely dominated Ireland. The Earl of Essex’s tenure as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland had been brief, and he had been mainly ineffective in maintaining peace between the feuding noble houses. Mary needed a new tack within Ireland and named Sir John Rawson Lord-Lieutenant in 1535. Rawson was the Prior of Kilmainham, the Irish House of the Knights Hospitaller, but had served previously as Ireland’s Lord Treasurer and had occupied a vital role within the Irish Privy Council since the 1520s. Mary charged Rawson with maintaining peace within Ireland and increasing English control within the Pale. Rawson hosted Ireland's first Parliament during Mary’s reign at Drogheda in 1538, where the Parliament voted funds for the upkeep of Dublin’s fortifications. At Drogheda, Rawson sought to unify the Irish lords within the Pale by having them sign a pledge that would become known as the Eternal Peace. The Eternal Peace outlined that the lords should obey the queen’s majesty and refrain from feuding and fighting against each other. The peace stipulated that those who signed agreed to band together against those who might seek to broach it. Despite good intentions, Rawson could not gain proper support for his peace pledge, and the great Anglo-Irish magnates who maintained actual influence within Ireland ridiculed the agreement as useless. Rawson, in his late sixties and increasingly ill health, did not prove to be a robust choice for the office of Lord-Lieutenant; he retired in 1537—soon replaced by James Butler, the Earl of Ormond, who had recently succeeded his father. Mary and John charged the Earl of Ormond with maintaining peace within the Pale, extending English control further into Ireland, and reeling in the Gaelic raiders.
Queen Mary proved incredibly fecund following the return of John from Denmark and fell pregnant shortly after his return. In April 1538, Mary gave birth to her second child—a princess named Catherine in honor of her grandmother. “The queen is well pleased with her daughter, who is a bonny lass,” Catherine Blount wrote in a letter to her husband, Richard Devereaux. “Though, of course, there are those who may grumble because she is not a son, the queen has more than proved herself in this battlefield and has handled herself gloriously…” John and Mary’s relationship had improved immensely since his return from Denmark. While Mary remained jealous of her prerogatives, she was more willing to work with her husband than ever before, with the queen discovering that they worked very well together. While the queen was especially apt in administrative and financial matters, John proved his worth in minutiae and military concerns. “After breakfast, the king and queen typically retire to their privy chamber where they work, their desks on opposite ends of the chamber.” Stephen Gardinier, the Queen’s Clerk, would write in his memoirs. “While the queen might busy herself with reports of the royal household’s finances, the king would busy himself on other matters, such as refortification efforts in Dover or Berwick, or seeking progress on the paving a road from London to Dover…” Ireland remained a prime concern for both John and Mary in all these matters. However, although the Earl of Ormond proved to be a good administrator, he remained constrained by his conflicts with the Geraldines—other problems concerned the Earl of Desmond, with the title disputed between two rival claimants. The Gaelic chieftains on the outskirts of English authority continued to act with impunity—they continued to raid the Pale, with English authorities largely constrained from curtailing them.
Taking experience from his campaigns in Scandinavia, John recommended that Dublin host a garrison, like the troops that guarded Berwick, Portsmouth, and Dover—consisting of men from the Pale and England, too. The Dublin garrison would consist of some 2000 men, funded by the Irish Parliament. John recommended William Brabazon to head the Dublin garrison and appointed constable of Dublin Castle. This appointment was not looked upon fondly by the Earl of Ormond. “The great earls like Kildare and Ormond governed as they pleased within the island that was their home,” a historian would write in a treatise about Tudor control over Ireland. “Queen Catherine had been content to govern through these men if they caused no trouble. The earls began to increasingly conflict with King John and Queen Mary—both who wished to increase England’s authority over the Lordship of Ireland.” The introduction of a garrison into Dublin gave the government within the Pale another effective instrument for increasing its influence. However, Brabazon quickly came into conflict with the Earl of Ormond, who felt that Brabazon had been put in place to hinder his role as Lord Lieutenant. Ormond also sought to use Brabazon’s men to deal with his feuds with the Geraldines in Kildare; when Brabazon refused, Ormond retaliated by withholding funds from the garrison. “I cannot serve under these conditions,” Brabazon wrote in a fiery letter addressed to both of his sovereigns. “I must have the freedom to act according to your dictates—not those applied by the Earl of Ormond.” The king and queen formally reprimanded the Earl of Ormond, who reminded him sternly that the Dublin Garrison had been placed there for the protection of the Pale and not his private feuds.
James Butler, Earl of Ormond & Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, c. 1536.
Issues in Ireland continued throughout 1538 into 1539. The Earl of Ormond was now contending with William Brabazon and continuing friction with the Geraldines in Kildare. The issue of Desmond also remained paramount, as the Earl of Ormond had married Joan FitzGerald, the daughter and heiress of James FitzGerald, the late Earl of Desmond whose death had seen the title divided between two rival claimants. Having attained the office of Lord-Lieutenant, he now hoped to use his wife’s status to extend the influence of the Butler lands into Munster. Ormond's policies ran counter to the hopes of Mary and John in Ireland; rather than keeping the peace, the Earl of Ormond was stirring up more trouble. “A most naughty subject undeserving of our fondness,” Mary reportedly snapped when she received reports of Ormond’s continued bad behavior. The Earl of Kildare readily exploited Ormond's issues, Thomas FitzGerald, who agitated the king and queen to remove Butler from office and to return the Lord-Lieutenancy into the hands of the Geraldines. The Earl of Kildare promised to faithfully carry out the royal program for Ireland—even as he crossed his fingers and plotted for Butler’s destruction. William Brabazon readily threw his support behind Kildare—not only to bloody Ormond’s nose but to secure an ally and build up his influence in Dublin. Mary and John soon retaliated by stripping Ormond of his office of Lord Lieutenant and rewarding it to the Earl of Kildare. Despite being twenty-six, Kildare's young Earl had experience governing under his father, the previous Earl.
The queen stripped Ormond of his office; he reportedly uttered: “So, the little queen and her little king think they shall reign here as they do in England?” Retreating to his lands in Ormond, the earl made common cause with the Clanricardes in Western Ireland, recruiting them along with other Gaelic clans in the south and the west to raid Kildare. While Ormond hoped to build a common cause with the Earl of Desmond, Thomas FitzGerald refused to cooperate unless Ormond dropped his claims to Desmond territory. At the same time, the king and queen, along with the Earl of Kildare, championed the claims of James FitzGerald as Earl of Desmond. Kildare arrived in Dublin in the Summer of 1539, where Brabazon and the Irish Privy Council welcomed him. “We welcome you, sir,” Brabazon said to Kildare with great flourish. “For you are the only one who can banish Ireland’s misgovernment and restore it to glory.” Kildare had brought some 500 foot soldiers with him, including Scottish redshirts from the Hebrides—which he would augment into the Dublin garrison. Throughout the summer of 1539, Ormond’s raiders attacked Kildare and succeeded in seizing Wexford. In a fiery speech to his soldiers, the Earl of Ormond declared, “I renounce now, for all time, my allegiance to England—we ought to have no master here except for ourselves. Those who maintain their allegiance to the English forfeit their goods; I shall exile or put to the sword any Englishman that attempts to remain in our land.” Ormond intimated to the Earl of Kildare that he was willing to divide Ireland between them; when this failed, Ormond sought support from Pope Pius V, sending letters directly to Rome to appeal for his cause. Ormond received no answer for his letters, but his revolt caused ripples throughout Ireland that worried the Dublin administration.
The Ormond Rebellion, as it became known, was the first natural inflammation of Tudor Ireland since Henry VII's reign. Mary and John saw the benefits of increased control over Ireland and were prepared to deal harshly with those who did not support them. Brabazon, with the blessing of the Earl of Kildare, proceeded to evict the Gaelic chieftains around Uí Failghe and Leix who supported Ormond near Dublin, with the lands granted to soldiers from the Dublin Garrison with the proviso that they should settle the lands given and adhere to English laws and customs. Brabazon's eviction represented the first attempted displacement of the old Gaelic power structures in favor of the English and Anglicized Irish who lived within the Pale—Brabanzon gave out land to his English and Irish soldiers equally, and these settlements would lead to the founding of Maryborough and Johnstown within Queen’s County and King’s County. Mary and John reiterated their vision for Ireland through the Articles of Grace, which would be published in Dublin by the Earl of Kildare: this called for an end of division and disorder throughout the whole of Ireland, a restructuring of the Irish legal code, to deal with the division of Brehon Law in Gaelic territories and Irish March Law which prevailed in English controlled areas; settlement of land and tenancies; and the creation of fortifications in vital areas to maintain Ireland’s security. Old English landowners championed the articles, seeing them as a way to end Ireland's disorder. Still, such grand proclamations wearied the Gaelic chiefs, who feared further encroachment into their lands and territories but also an end to their way of life as they knew it.
Thomas FitzGerald, the 10th Earl of Kildare and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
He would become an important pillar of Tudor power in Ireland.
While Kildare dealt with troubles in Ireland, Queen Mary soon discovered she was pregnant for a third time. “It seems that this is my lot in this life,” Mary reportedly grumbled to the Countess of Arundel. “Queen and broodmare—paired together into one package.” Still, even if Mary was not wholly pleased with her condition, she knew that she must endure it—while all the court hoped and prayed that she might finally give England its long-awaited heir. Mary gave birth to her third child and eldest son in May 1539—the young boy was large and healthy and was christened Henry in honor of the queen’s late father. Henry immediately became Duke of Cornwall from the moment of his birth. “All the court was well pleased when the king announced that the queen had finally given birth to a son,” one courtier would write anonymously. “His Majesty was greatly overjoyed and had the young prince sumptuously baptized at the Priory of Sheen—a grand event that even the queen dowager attended, who had traveled in a litter from Syon to Sheen.” Prince Henry’s baptism would be Queen Catherine’s last public event: she would pass away in February 1540 after suffering from a kidney ailment in her previous months. Queen Mary attended her mother’s deathbed and stayed for several days at Syon while her mother’s condition deteriorated. Catherine’s will allotted most of her jewelry and prized possessions to her daughter—the jewel of Catherine’s life. Minor bequests were made to Charles V’s daughters by his late wife, Empress Mary, and Prince Ferdinand of Asturias's wife, Isabella of Portugal. Catherine’s funeral was a grand affair hosted at Westminster, with the Archbishop of Canterbury giving the eulogy. “A great woman…and an even greater queen, whose life shall always be remembered for her dedication to the faith, to England—and her husband, Henry VIII.” Catherine would be interned jointly with Henry VIII at Westminster Abbey—joining him in the tomb she had commissioned for them twenty-seven years after his death. Work on the tomb would be continued by Queen Mary, who would add effigies of both Henry VIII and Catherine to the tomb, along with an inscription in Latin: “Coniuncti in vita et morte, hic dormimus, Henricus et Catharina, vir et uxor in spe resurrectionis.”[1]
Ormond’s rebellion remained mainly centered around his hereditary lands and, by the summer of 1540, was beginning to run out of steam. Hopes of foreign support evaporated as Pope Pius V condemned Ormond’s rebellion, reaffirming through a Papal Bull that Mary and John continued to hold the Lordship of Ireland. Kildare had augmented Brabazon’s troops with his own and ordered siege guns from Dublin to pummel Ormond Castle in the Siege of Ormond. Brabazon would clash with the Earl of Ormond at the Battle of Carrick near his hereditary castle, where his well-trained troops succeeded in pummeling Ormond’s poorly trained Gaelic bands. Brabazon captured Ormond while attempting to flee the battlefield, gleefully placing the overly proud earl into chains. “All of Dublin shall see what a traitor looks like—and how a traitor is treated,” Brabazon reportedly sneered to his new prisoner. The Earl of Ormond was paraded through Dublin in July of 1540, with Mary and John passing an attainder upon Ormond for treason. His title was declared forfeit, and the crown seized his lands. Held in the gaol of Dublin Castle, Ormond’s wife, Joan FitzGerald, and his children were ordered closely confined at Dublin Castle until Kildare could send them to England, where the children could be reared and raised as Englishmen. Only in one matter did Mary herself relent—allowing the Countess of Ormond to maintain the lands she had brought to the Butlers as her dowry. The Ormond Rebellion was snuffed out by 1540, though Brabazon’s troops would continue to be active throughout 1540 and 1541 as they fought to secure control over the Earldom of Desmond for James FitzGerald.
[1] Roughly: United in Life and Death, here we sleep, Henry and Catherine in hope of Resurrection. Like Mary and Elizabeth’s tomb of OTL.
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Great Update, always nice to see Ireland, though hopefully, We can get a split Ireland, Gaelic West/North/Deep South and English East/South, hegemonic England not annexing the Gaelic Chiefs would be cool too.
What possible reason would the rebel Ormond have to think the Pope would support him over Queen Mary? In OTL obviously, there was the religious difference, claiming to defend the Catholics from Henry's reaving, but there would appear to be nothing in TTL that would bring him to think that anything would cause the Pope to support a rebel against his legitimate sovereign. Interesting tidbit about the begging, does that apply to the mendicant orders? they would be able-bodied men who could work, but support themselves and their preaching through begging. Is that a thing Henry or Elizabeth did in OTL?
I love Catherine reaching her final reward, a well deserved send off for her, though deeply ironic epitaph considering OTL.
What possible reason would the rebel Ormond have to think the Pope would support him over Queen Mary? In OTL obviously, there was the religious difference, claiming to defend the Catholics from Henry's reaving, but there would appear to be nothing in TTL that would bring him to think that anything would cause the Pope to support a rebel against his legitimate sovereign. Interesting tidbit about the begging, does that apply to the mendicant orders? they would be able-bodied men who could work, but support themselves and their preaching through begging. Is that a thing Henry or Elizabeth did in OTL?
I love Catherine reaching her final reward, a well deserved send off for her, though deeply ironic epitaph considering OTL.
And so we return to England, where everything seemingly is going well! The royal dynasty grows, and they have crushed the Irish rebellion! I do hope, that eventually the Irish will get a better deal than what happened otl. With no Protestantism in Britain, that should be possible
“third child and eldest son” Good to see that another boy will follow!
“Damn, he lookin’ kinda fire now” -Mary I
Just a king and his queen supporting each other. We love to see it. Also, welcome to the world, Catherine! Cat of Aragon having a grandchild named after her is what she deserves <3
Welcome to Henry as well! Although we did know of him already heh
“third child and eldest son” Good to see that another boy will follow!Rip Catherine, you absolute icon. You’ve left a great legacy in your daughter here
Hmmm.
I feel.
Like there is more grief in store for Mary just yet.
The birth of Henry and hint at future sons especially has me thinking that not all of her kids- especially maybe future kids- will make it.
If England and Scotland stay rivals, it would be really cool to see either side engage in some Gaelic diplomacy- perhaps the English governors court in Ireland or the Scottish court decide to patronise Classical Gaelic poets from the whole area where that literary language is used, hoping that if the Scottish Gaelic clans see people linked to their clan gaining wealth and prestige under the English they’d be more likely to declare for the English in a future war, or vice versa if Irish Gaelic nobility see Irish poets in the Scottish court, it might allow Scotland a bridgehead into Ireland in the future. Even though the spoken languages have diverged, they’re both referred to at this point as Irish and share the same literary standard.
Either way, giving classical Gaelic a home in an official government court makes it more likely it ends up used as an administrative language eventually.
Also what I think is an important change here is that official Tudor sanctioning and recognition of Brehon law has occurred (even if only outside the pale of settlement) - compared to otl where i don’t think it ever received any sort of official recognition. it might lead to nothing obviously, but we’ll see.
The restoration of the earls of Kildare as the lords deputy of Ireland is also fun to see given that the great earl and his son had essentially acted as high kings of Ireland on the behalf of England for almost half a century- now they’re being invested as guarantors of the perpetual peace and further cementing their loyalty to the crown while also growing their own power in Ireland. They represent the key possibility for Irish culture to flourish under English rule- now that the English have acknowledged that Brehon law has some legitimate basis outside the english march, it’s up to a second great earl of Kildare to promote the idea that the crown should take control of the training and appointments of the brehons and force the Gaelic chiefs to submit their disputes to brehon judgement rather than feud. The main things that made the English feel their only option was plantation was brehon inability to fulfil their function of regulating the chiefs impositions on their tenants and the lack of death penalty- the solution that prevents plantation is therefore an empowerment of the brehons and imposition of death penalty instead of eraic into brehon law.
If plantations do continue though, perhaps they take an ecclesiastical counter reformation tenor- the Irish were often seen as essentially old world native Americans in the 16th century, so maybe instead of private plantations, the crown encourages Jesuit/other missionary orders to remodel irish society in reductions under their control- especially with regards to combatting clerical and secular concubinage and regulating divorce.
I feel.
Like there is more grief in store for Mary just yet.
The birth of Henry and hint at future sons especially has me thinking that not all of her kids- especially maybe future kids- will make it.
If England and Scotland stay rivals, it would be really cool to see either side engage in some Gaelic diplomacy- perhaps the English governors court in Ireland or the Scottish court decide to patronise Classical Gaelic poets from the whole area where that literary language is used, hoping that if the Scottish Gaelic clans see people linked to their clan gaining wealth and prestige under the English they’d be more likely to declare for the English in a future war, or vice versa if Irish Gaelic nobility see Irish poets in the Scottish court, it might allow Scotland a bridgehead into Ireland in the future. Even though the spoken languages have diverged, they’re both referred to at this point as Irish and share the same literary standard.
Either way, giving classical Gaelic a home in an official government court makes it more likely it ends up used as an administrative language eventually.
Also what I think is an important change here is that official Tudor sanctioning and recognition of Brehon law has occurred (even if only outside the pale of settlement) - compared to otl where i don’t think it ever received any sort of official recognition. it might lead to nothing obviously, but we’ll see.
The restoration of the earls of Kildare as the lords deputy of Ireland is also fun to see given that the great earl and his son had essentially acted as high kings of Ireland on the behalf of England for almost half a century- now they’re being invested as guarantors of the perpetual peace and further cementing their loyalty to the crown while also growing their own power in Ireland. They represent the key possibility for Irish culture to flourish under English rule- now that the English have acknowledged that Brehon law has some legitimate basis outside the english march, it’s up to a second great earl of Kildare to promote the idea that the crown should take control of the training and appointments of the brehons and force the Gaelic chiefs to submit their disputes to brehon judgement rather than feud. The main things that made the English feel their only option was plantation was brehon inability to fulfil their function of regulating the chiefs impositions on their tenants and the lack of death penalty- the solution that prevents plantation is therefore an empowerment of the brehons and imposition of death penalty instead of eraic into brehon law.
If plantations do continue though, perhaps they take an ecclesiastical counter reformation tenor- the Irish were often seen as essentially old world native Americans in the 16th century, so maybe instead of private plantations, the crown encourages Jesuit/other missionary orders to remodel irish society in reductions under their control- especially with regards to combatting clerical and secular concubinage and regulating divorce.
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