Chapter Fifteen: More Than A Duke...
A map of the lands of the House of Valois-Burgundy. The red dotted line shows the French-Imperial border, so the lands to the west of the line are independent, while the lands to the east remain part of the Holy Roman Empire. The key is also not quite correct since this is a map of the OTL possessions, but the territories themselves are still mostly correct (with the exception that Champagne is not highlighted as a feudal holding).
Charles the Bold’s death at the Battle of Amiens, on 3rd June 1475, had been met with great public mourning. His body was transported back to Dijon after the battle had concluded, and was buried in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges. For the remainder of the war, Burgundy was nominally ruled by Charles’s seven-year-old son, who became Duke Philip IV. The regency for Philip was headed by Charles’s illegitimate half-brother Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy, who was chosen by Philip’s mother Anne of York and approved by the Burgundian Estates for the role. Once the war had come to an end, the Duchy of Burgundy became the Principality of Burgundy, ruled by Prince Philip IV. The Treaty of Meaux also came with a term organising the marriages of Philip’s half-sisters, the two daughters of Charles the Bold and Isabella of Bourbon, Marie and Emma. Marie was to marry Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, and Emma was to marry Lionel, Earl of Northampton. Lorraine travelled to Dijon immediately, where he married Marie in an opulent ceremony on 26th February 1478.
The Franco-Alliance War had made Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine a very rich man. His father had died in 1470, from whom he inherited the Duchy of Lorraine. But the deaths of Charles, Count of Maine in the Battle of Reims and the death of Nicholas’s grandfather René in captivity in 1476 meant that Nicholas inherited the Duchies of Bar and Anjou and the Counties of Maine and Provence, as well as a claim to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples. Lorraine’s presence in Burgundy was an essential part of Louis XI’s plan for maintaining power. Lorraine was to act as a French proxy, by which the Principality of Burgundy could yet remain shackled to France, even with its independence. With Louis’s backing, Lorraine contested the regency of Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy, and managed to install himself as the regent of Burgundy, on the pretext that only Lorraine could maintain peace with France. This was all a part of one of Louis XI's many schemes - he instructed Nicholas to appeal to the Burgundian nobles who wished to keep friendly relations with France after the Treaty of Meaux. Nicholas claimed that the only way to guarantee peace was with himself at the helm of Philip IV's regency, since his marriage with Marie unified the Houses of Lorraine and Valois-Burgundy. His campaign against Anthony managed to succeed, and Nicholas took the reins of the regency, earning him the undying enmity of Anthony. From then on, Lorraine only referred to Anthony as the Comte de la Roche, emphasising his position in the nobility and ignoring his familial connections to the Burgundian royals.
However, Lorraine soon made a drastic mistake that further irritated the allies of Anthony and alienated his own supporters - he granted sanctuary to his first cousin Edward the Red Prince and his wife Bona of Savoy. Once Edward had heard of the French defeat in the Franco-Alliance War he rapidly left France and fled first to Portugal, where he attempted to gain support from Afonso V and his son João as fellow descendants of John of Gaunt. Both Afonso and João were completely uninterested, though - but by this time, Lorraine was established in Burgundy as regent, and Edward immediately joined him. The Red Prince’s presence in Burgundy infuriated many of the Burgundian nobility. The Red Prince had led the army that had attacked the Burgundian army at the Battle of Amiens, and was thus responsible for Charles the Bold's death - and now the regent of Charles’s successor had allowed him free entry and was ensuring that he was comfortable in Burgundy. Then news broke that the Red Prince was using his position with Lorraine to damage the relationship between England and Burgundy - Lorraine had decided that he would not allow Emma of Burgundy to travel to England to marry her husband until Edward IV released Bona of Savoy from her imprisonment in Belleau Manor. To the Burgundians, this was too far, and Lorraine had stepped out of line. Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy raised an army from his lands, supported by John, Duke of Cleves, Adolf, Duke of Guelders and Louis of Bourbon, Prince-Bishop of Liege. Together, they raised an army of 10,000 men within the Archbishopric of Liege, near the town of Dinant, and from there marched swiftly south towards the Duchy of Lorraine. Lorraine in turn raised an army from his own estates and the County of Burgundy, and sent money to Swiss mercenaries to hire them for the war. He left Dijon on 7th July 1478 with around 8,000 men, marching northwards to do battle with Anthony’s army, alongside the Red Prince.
At the same time, Louis de Gruuthuse and William Clugny, two old friends of Duke Charles, broke into the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon, where Emma of Burgundy was being kept. This was the true aim of the rebellion that Anthony had mustered up - draw Nicholas out of the palace, allowing a few trusted men to infiltrate the place and free Emma, who was just weeks away from turning seventeen. Once they were in, Louis and William brought Emma out of the palace and fled northwards, with the aim of getting Emma to the Low Countries. On their journey, they passed through Brienne and Reims, before eventually reaching the English exclave of Calais. Here, they met William Hastings, Captain of Calais, and explained who Emma was - and who she was to marry. Hastings understood and immediately chartered a ship to take the Burgundians to Dublin, where the fourteen-year-old Lionel, Earl of Northampton was with his family. The voyage was slowed down by a harsh wind, but Emma of Burgundy disembarked at Dublin on 23rd July 1478, where she met Lionel. The two immediately developed a liking for each other, and were married in 1480.
Back in Burgundy, the rebellion spearheaded by Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy reached its zenith. After leaving Dinant, the rebel army of 10,000 men marched southwards at an incredible rate, reaching Luxembourg on 11th July. They paused here for a day, then heard a rumour that Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine was approaching the town of Longwy, in the Duchy of Bar. The rebel army then swerved westwards to intercept Nicholas at Longwy. They met him just to the east of the city of Aubange, itself to the north of Longwy, on 14th July. The Battle of Aubange began in the early hours of the next day. Thinly outnumbering Lorraine’s army, the rebel army took heavy losses, but managed to score a victory - Lorraine abandoned his men and fled to France to take shelter in the County of Provence. The Burgundian noblemen were split over how to deal with Lorraine. Anthony the Bastard wanted him imprisoned, but Adolf, Duke of Guelders [1] talked him out of this course of action. Instead, Lorraine received a letter from Anthony the Bastard, saying that he would be allowed to return to Burgundy as long as he had no pretenses on power and didn’t allow the Red Prince to stay with him any longer. He returned to the duchy of Lorraine and accepted his role as a nobleman - and with his loyalty, Charles I’s vision of a continuous Burgundian state became almost real.
Dublin, 23rd July 1478
The most nervous Lionel of Rutland, Earl of Northampton had been before this moment was when he and his family had had to move to Ireland. Lionel had heard tales of what the Irish were like, and he hadn’t liked the sound of it all that much. But it turned out those rumours had been wrong - the Irishmen that Lionel had met in the eight years of living here had all been truly gracious to Lionel and his family, and the country itself was a beautiful place. His parents had taken him riding from time to time into the countryside, and he had loved it.
Lionel had been nervous then, but Ireland had proved him wrong. Lionel hoped now that he would find out his nerves were misplaced, and there was no need to worry about the fact that he was about to meet the girl who would be his eventual wife.
The Burgundian ship - a small schooner - was just pulling into port now as Lionel and his father Edmund, Duke of Rutland strolled up the harbour. The schooner docked, and two men disembarked, followed closely by a teenaged girl. Edmund knew the men - they were Louis de Gruuthuse and William Clugny, two Burgundian nobleman that Edmund had met during the war against France. “Good afternoon, my friends.” Edmund smiled. “Welcome to Dublin.”
“Thank you.” Louis de Gruuthuse - if Lionel remembered correctly, he was the lord of a place called Steenhuis - said to Edmund and bowed slightly. “I see life after the war has treated you well.”
“And you too. I was very troubled to hear of the developments with Lorraine, though.” Edmund said.
“It is a troubling time.” William agreed and looked at the thirteen-year-old Lionel. “And you must be the young Earl of Northampton.” He said.
Lionel nodded and bowed his head slightly. “An honour to meet you both,” he said.
“And you too.” William said. “This is Emma of Burgundy, your fiancee.” He said and gestured at the girl stood behind him, who was taking in the sights of this new city. Red hair like fire, and eyes as blue as the summer sky. She was a few years older than Lionel, by the looks of it, but even so, she was still the most beautiful girl Lionel had ever seen.
Emma’s eyes now fixed themselves on Lionel, and she smiled. “Good afternoon, Mademoiselle Emma.” Lionel said to her, remembering the polite script that he and his father had composed together after Lionel had come to him in a panic, worrying what to say for when he met Emma. “I hope your journey was pleasant.”
“Having to be broken out of my father’s old palace was not the most pleasant experience,” Emma said with a tinkly laugh, “but other than that, the journey here was quite delightful.”
Lionel smiled. “I am relieved to hear it. I am Lionel of Rutland; this is my father. We have come to take you home.”
Emma nodded. “I look forward to it. Please, lead on.”
[1] - there's a butterfly with Adolf, Duke of Guelders; his OTL wife is a certain Catherine of Bourbon. Here, he has instead married one of Philip IV's various illegitimate aunts, Madeleine of Burgundy (the daughter of Duke Philip III and an unknown mistress). That link to the House of Valois-Burgundy is what stopped Charles the Bold from imprisoning Adolf. Adolf has also now sworn loyalty to the Dukes, then Princes, of Burgundy, making Guelders
technically a part of the Burgundian state.
