A Second White Rose - Edmund, Earl of Rutland Survives
- Thread starter Zestinobambino
- Start date
Amazing chapter. Edward and Bona sounds sweet though I wonder what does his wife think of all this. Hell is Isabel even alive? I've barely seen her.
Time to annex Scotland. King Edward I of Brittania sounds nice.
By this point, Edward IV will be immortalized as one of the greatest kings of England.
Time to annex Scotland. King Edward I of Brittania sounds nice.
By this point, Edward IV will be immortalized as one of the greatest kings of England.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDDY! If only you could have lived longer OTL...
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The final conversation: "As the king, I will be lenient and grant you your last words pretender to the throne." Edward IV spoke with no tone in his voice as the men grabbed and forced the Red Prince onto the execution block.
The Red Prince spoke grimly and dripped with vengeance. "Just as how you stole the throne from my father, some day your house will be ruined and another one will steal the throne from your descendants. God will force you to watch from hell as you dared to rebel against the rightful king."
Edward held his hand forward halting the execution and walked forward towards his ear, "It appears you lack as much sense as your parents. Why do you think one of them is dead and the other one is an unwelcome guest of our greatest rival the French? I can tell you it is not from their intelligence. Your family usurped the Plantagenets and it is only fair that I do the same but at the very least Henry V, your grandfather, the slayer of the French, can find comfort that his bloodline is now with my descendants, and I will find comfort with your wife. She did kiss me on the cheek before leaving." The Red prince shook with rage and screamed profanities at the king. "Gag him, this place will already be quite dirty by the time we're done here and I have no plans on making the air and sound be even dirtier." Edward ordered with the executor gagging him.
He smiled cruelly and waved mockingly at the red prince, as he watched the axe fall upon the head of the pretender. The red prince was no more, just as his head was removed from his shoulders. Edward felt a weight off of his.
The Red Prince spoke grimly and dripped with vengeance. "Just as how you stole the throne from my father, some day your house will be ruined and another one will steal the throne from your descendants. God will force you to watch from hell as you dared to rebel against the rightful king."
Edward held his hand forward halting the execution and walked forward towards his ear, "It appears you lack as much sense as your parents. Why do you think one of them is dead and the other one is an unwelcome guest of our greatest rival the French? I can tell you it is not from their intelligence. Your family usurped the Plantagenets and it is only fair that I do the same but at the very least Henry V, your grandfather, the slayer of the French, can find comfort that his bloodline is now with my descendants, and I will find comfort with your wife. She did kiss me on the cheek before leaving." The Red prince shook with rage and screamed profanities at the king. "Gag him, this place will already be quite dirty by the time we're done here and I have no plans on making the air and sound be even dirtier." Edward ordered with the executor gagging him.
He smiled cruelly and waved mockingly at the red prince, as he watched the axe fall upon the head of the pretender. The red prince was no more, just as his head was removed from his shoulders. Edward felt a weight off of his.
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I added the edit although I think slayer of the French sounds better than victor of Agincourt.
It was really good! I'm glad you used this as a chance to get back into writing
Chapter Twenty-One: Sun In Splendour
Chapter Twenty-One: Sun In Splendour
An example of the meteorological phenomenon known as a parhelion, or a sun dog. One of these occurred at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 2nd February 1461, and Edward IV - then, the Duke of York - claimed it proved the Yorkists would be successful as they had the Holy Trinity on their side. After becoming king, Edward adopted the parhelion onto his heraldry as the sun in splendour. Image from this website.
An example of the meteorological phenomenon known as a parhelion, or a sun dog. One of these occurred at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 2nd February 1461, and Edward IV - then, the Duke of York - claimed it proved the Yorkists would be successful as they had the Holy Trinity on their side. After becoming king, Edward adopted the parhelion onto his heraldry as the sun in splendour. Image from this website.
The Battle of Edinburgh left Edward in an interesting position. He had intended to put Albany on the throne of Scotland as Alexander IV, but now Albany was dead, as was James III. The Scottish crown now rightfully passed to James’s oldest son, who would now be James IV. Edward and Clarence stormed Edinburgh Castle and took custody of James IV and his younger brothers James and John. Edward then invited the remaining nobles of Scotland to Edinburgh to discuss the peace that was to follow, signing the Treaty of Edinburgh on 21st June 1480. The treaty specified that:
- The death of Alexander, Duke of Albany nullified the Treaty of Durham, and all terms in that treaty were to be waived.
- James IV would be allowed to rule Scotland, with a regency council appointed by Edward IV consisting of the major nobles of the North of England and a handful of trusted Scottish nobles.
- The king‘s brothers James and John would all be taken back to England as hostages to ensure that Scotland didn’t invade England.
- James IV would pay homage to Edward IV in turn for being granted the Scottish crown, effectively turning Scotland into a suzerain state of England.
- When they were old enough, James IV would marry Catherine of York, in order to link Scotland and England together in marriage.
- Scotland would cede the strategically important fortresses of Berwick, Roxburgh and Coldingham to England.
Many in England saw Richard, Duke of Gloucester’s actions against Margaret Stewart and William Crichton as just, and as such Edward IV refused to punish him for what had happened. First of all, he sent an envoy to Pope Sixtus IV asking for papal dispensation for divorce between Richard, Duke of Gloucester and Margaret Stewart on the grounds of adultery. Sixtus permitted the divorce in January 1481. Once Richard and Margaret’s divorce was permitted by Sixtus IV, Edward gave Richard permission to remarry Anne Neville, who had been widowed by the death of Thomas FitzAlan in the war with Scotland [1]. Anne brought the lands willed to her by Thomas and the Lordship of Glamorgan (which she had inherited from her father) as dowry, and they were married on 26th June 1481. However, Richard would not inherit Neville land since these lands had passed to Anne’s uncle John Neville. Likewise, he could not inherit any FitzAlan lands, since Anne already had a son by Thomas, a one-year-old named William for his paternal grandfather, keeping the FitAlan inheritance in FitzAlan hands. Richard was then made President of the Council of Scotland and was granted wardship over James IV and his brothers James, Duke of Rothesay and John, Earl of Mar, who were interned in Skipton Castle. Richard’s son James was also betrothed to Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus.
Shortly after the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed, the Yorkists returned to England victoriously. Edward and his brothers Rutland, Clarence and Gloucester presided over a ceremony in Lancaster that saw the execution of the Red Prince on 7th July 1480, and his head was placed on a pike overlooking Lancaster from the Castle in the same way that Richard, Duke of York’s head had been displayed overlooking York from Micklegate Bar in 1460. Finally, the Lancastrian threat was over, and the Yorkists ruled supreme. In celebration of their defeat of the Lancastrian threat, Edward IV organised the wedding of the fourteen-year-old Edmund, Prince of Wales and the eleven-year-old Charlotte, Duchess of Lancaster, to finally unite the Houses of York and Lancaster. In light of the marriage, Edmund began styling himself as the Duke of Lancaster. Their marriage was the start of an extravagant series of celebrations across London, taking place on 10th August 1480.
Lancaster, 7th July 1480
Edward IV couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the stage in Lancaster Castle, where his enemy Edward of Westminster, the infamous Red Prince, dwell, awaiting his fate. He was shackled to the executioner’s block, his neck exposed, while the executioner stood by him, dressed in black robes, holding his sword by the pommel.
Edward thought back to the last time he had seen the man in front of him... when had it been? The Loveday, most likely, back in 1458. By God, how times had changed since then. The Red Prince was only five years old back then, and Edward himself was sixteen. In 1458, the House of Lancaster ruled... and now here was Lancaster’s final male heir, held prisoner in his own castle.
The Red Prince glanced up and saw Edward looking at him. “Come to gloat, your Highness?” He sneered. “To mock?”
“I came to ask you if you had any last words, before you meet your fate.” Edward said.
The Red Prince scoffed. “My last words?” He repeated. “Let them be a warning; the House of York has doomed England. You and your bastard descendants will send this kingdom into ruin’s cold embrace.”
Edward burst out laughing. “You are clearly as delusional as your old man. My house has not doomed England, but saved it. Normandy is ours, and Scotland follows our command. Not even your grandfather could claim to have entirely subjugated the Scots as I have.”
“My grandfather was a far more worthy king than you could have dreamed of ever being.” The Red Prince snarled.
“And you are a pathetic excuse for Henry V’s heir.” Edward snapped. “The victor of Agincourt would wail in pity if he could see the vile creature his grandson has turned into. At least he can take comfort knowing his bloodline is safe in Charlotte and Edmund. And I will take special care to comfort your wife, seeing how she kissed me before I left for Scotland and bade me a safe and speedy return.” Edward said.
“How dare you!” The Red Prince shouted. Edward looked at the executioner and gave him a firm nod, stepping away as the executioner stepped towards the Red Prince. He raised his sword over the Red Prince’s neck. “You’ll rot in Hell for this! I swear it!” The Red Prince screamed desperately. The sword came swinging down through the air and passed cleanly through the Red Prince’s neck. His head dropped onto the wooden stage with a loud and dull thud. As the Red Prince’s head fell off his shoulders, Edward felt a weight being lifted off his own.
Somewhere in the crowd watching the ceremony, someone shouted: “The pretender is dead! Long live the king!”
The next two weeks were full of celebrations and tournaments in London, with the whole host of events finishing on 24th August. During this time, London became home to a great many nobles and royals from across Europe, including the twenty-one-year old Maximilian Habsburg and his wife Anne de Valois, King John I of Denmark, King Francis II of Brittany, Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy and García Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba as a representative of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The celebrations saw all of the children of Richard, Duke of York together for the first time in many years (in fact the last time had been in 1464, when Anne left for Burgundy), and would also be the last time they were all together. Awards and ennoblements were given out – Richard Grey, son of John Grey, was recognised as his successor as Earl of Leicester, George Neville was made Earl of Worcester as the eventual heir of John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester [2], and Henry Tudor was finally awarded the Beaufort lands and made the Duke of Somerset as thanks for capturing the Red Prince. James IV met his future bride Catherine of York at the celebrations, although Catherine was still too young to remember James later in life. Edmund, Prince of Wales and Charlotte of Lancaster were also present at the celebrations and were both adored by the crowds of commons gathered outside the castle, knowing they were looking upon their future king and queen.
Bona of Savoy was released from her imprisonment at Belleau Manor to attend the celebrations, and her presence there electrified the varied courts of Europe. Dukes and counts reported back to their sovereigns excitedly about the fact that King Edward IV had taken his enemy’s wife as his mistress. Bona’s brother Philip of Savoy had been sent in place of Duke Charles I, who was still young, and he was shocked beyond words to find out that his little sister had been seduced by Edward. However, the coming years made it clear that Bona held a significant amount of sway over Edward IV. William, Duke of Bedford, the last son of Edward IV and Isabel Neville, was born on 22nd January 1480, and during the celebrations Edward attempted to negotiate for William to marry Anne Mowbay (born in 1472), the daughter and only child of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk [3]. Since Norfolk’s death in the Franco-Alliance War, Anne had held the duchy of Norfolk in her own right, and Edward hoped to have those lands brought into the crown administration. Bona, though, had other ideas. She soon turned his attentions away from the Mowbray match to a Milanese one - in particular, her niece Bianca Maria Sforza [4]. Philip of Savoy left England with the offer for William of Bedford to marry Bianca, and after some negotiations between England and Milan the offer was accepted, and Anne Mowbray instead went on to marry Edward Hastings, heir of William, Count of Clermont, in 1484. Edward became the Duke of Norfolk jure uxoris, and was the first Hastings Duke of Norfolk. Bona’s power would only increase as time went on.
[1] - thank you @King of Danes for the suggestion of having Richard and Anne still get married. I like it.
[2] - likewise, thank you @Tyler96 for asking me about John Neville, Marquess of Montagu, because if you hadn’t then I probably wouldn’t have picked up on George’s potential to be a wealthy and important earl. If you look at the family tree you may notice I have plans for George, Earl of Worcester...
[3] - for ease, I’m butterflying Anne’s death away, so she and Edward can have kids.
[4] - this is a fun quirk of how different this TL already is to OTL. OTL, Bona was Bianca’s mother, not aunt, and she refused to consider an English match for any of her kids after the embarrassment she felt of Edward IV picking Elizabeth Woodville over her. ITTL, things are clearly very different.
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We'll see what's happening in France in the next chapter. It'll follow on from the chapters I did earlier about Burgundy, but I wanted to do the Scotland chapters before returning to France.
I'm currently planning for them to be married around 1490.
Not Charlotte marrying Edmund while her father’s rotting head is still on a pike 😬
Got it. Anjou would fall into a deep depresión and wait. Louis XI would curse that he Lost yet another point of leverage that he could have uses to cause trouble in England.
And got it.
Plus can't wait to See what Philip IV, Max and Ferdinand and isabella have been up to
Let’s hope Charlotte has similar logic to her mum - she hasn’t seen him since 1475 and might not remember him much, if at all...