Shifting Tide: Universalism and Resistance, a 1596 GSRPG IC

John7755 يوحنا · Feb 21, 2023

Turn 1

Turn 1 will cover from the 1st of November of 1596 to the 1st of January 1598. Turn orders will be due on Sunday, the 5th of March!
Discord server link: Join the Shifting Tide GSRPG Discord Server! Still working on refining the Discord channel further, but it will be better as time goes on! The game can go ahead and get started, but remember to include me in on all actions and diplomacy. Nations and players will receive all of their modifiers soon through PMs!
Great Powers - 3 Civic Orders
Great Ming - Asia - The Wanli Emperor - GMNPC
Empire of Japan (Toyotomi Shogunate) - Asia - Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi - @adriankowaty
The Great Mughals - Asia - Padishah Akbar Shah e-Azam - @Redtape
Sublime Porte or the Ottoman Empire - Europe - Padishah Mehmed III - @baboushreturns
Kingdom of Spain - Europe - King Philip II - @Andre Massena
Kingdom of France - Europe - King Henry IV - @Sneakyflaps
Austria-Bohemia - Europe - Emperor Rudolf II - @Zorakov
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Kingdom of Sweden - Europe - King Sigismund III - @Tyrell
Tsardom of All Russia - Europe - Tsar Feodor I - @Fingon888

Major Powers - 2 Civic Orders
Holy See - Europe - Pope Clement VIII - GMNPC
United Provinces of the Netherlands - Europe - N/A - @Vitalian
Kingdom of England - Europe - Queen Elizabeth I - @Velasco
Kingdom of Denmark - Europe - King Christian IV - @Vald
Most Serene Republic of Venice - Europe - Doge Marino Grimani - @Theaxofwar
Sultanate of Morocco - Africa-Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur - ???
Great Safavid or the Splendid State of Persia - Asia - Shahanshah Abbas - @Qastiel
Uzbek Khanate - Asia - Abdallah Khan II - GMNPC
Joseon (Korea) - Asia - King Seonjo - @Texan

Minor Powers - 1 Civic Order
Duchy of Bavaria - Europe - William V - @Sarado
Electorate of Brandenburg - Europe - Elector John George - @Franzj(bear)
Grand Duchy of Tuscany - Europe - Ferdinand I - @ByzantineCaesar
Electorate of Saxony - Europe - Elector Christian II - @SubSequant
Jianzhou Manchu - Asia - Khan and 'Imperial Commissioner' Nurhaci - @Red Robyn
Empire of Ethiopia - Africa - Negusa Negast Sarsa Dengel - @mcclay
Principality of Transylvania - Europe - Prince Sigismund II - @Linbot

John7755 يوحنا · Feb 21, 2023

The Cudgel War Uprising

Lord High Constable of Sweden and Governor of Finland, Klaus Fleming

One of the most celebrated kings in Europe, both by the Church and the nobility in Eastern Europe, Sigismund III had since his victory against the Habsburg Prince Maximilian in 1588, ruled with relative prosperity. While internal Polish nobles such as Jan Zamoyski railed against the appeared pro-Habsburg stance of the king, the realms were otherwise in relative good order until an omen of future issues appeared on the horizon. Peasants in the Ostrobothnia region of Finland had suffered greatly under a series of high taxes on and contributions demanded of them by the Kingdom of Sweden in the wars against Russia and while tolerable in wartime, the continuation of high taxes in peace gave the peasants un unsatiable rage in the region. Spurred on by common rumors that the king Sigismund III had given up his domains in the north and had been wooed by the taint of the Polish lands, peasants on Ostrobothnia took up in a series of insurrections beginning on the second wseek of November. By the 25th of November, under the leadership of a wealthy cartel of gentry led by Jaako Ilkka, the peasants formed into a veritable army of 4,000 poorly armed peasants and defeated a small noble militia force. Klaus Fleming, Governor of Finland dispatched with an army of 1,200 to crush the peasant rebels in Ostrobothnia and in the first week of January, had dispersed the rebels in battle, driving them from the field and killing hundreds of peasant militants and executing leaders of the rebellion, including the gentry cartel.
More importantly, the rebellion shows a growing disunity in the Swedish section of the realms ruled by Sigismund III. In 1595, Duke Charles of Vasa was granted the position of Regent by the Riksdag and granted governing powers within the kingdom of Sweden without permission from the legitimate king Sigismund III. Making matters worse, continued bickering between Duke Charles of Vasa and Governor Klaus Fleming led to the former demanding that the Finnish governor submit to receiving direct orders from Stockholm has opposed to the royal suzerain in Warsaw. The brief Cudgel War while easily crushed, showed signs of foul play... Weapons and supplies the peasants received show origins in Sweden and the continued antagonisms between Klaus Fleming, arch royalist in Finland and Duke Charles of Vasa places the whole domains of the Vasa to enter into a greater level of instability.

-1 stability for Poland-Lithuania-Sweden for the feuding of Klaus Fleming and Duke-Regent Charles of Vasa

The Serb Uprising of December 1596

In 1594, the Serbs of Banat rebelled against the Ottoman Empire, spurned on by the successes of the Wallachian and Transylvanians to expel Ottoman forces from their lands. Ottoman authorities however swiftly crushed the Serbian rebels and slaughtered thousands of peasants across the Banat region and then deporting the relics of Saint-Sava, a Serbian saint that inspired warlike resistance to the Sublime Porte. Suppression of the rebellion swiftly by Grand Vizier Koca Sinan Pasha managed to frighten the Serbs from further rebellion for the entire year of 1595, giving the Sublime Porte reprieve in many areas. However, knowing that the Padishah Mehmed III was travelling in Hungary and far from the southern Balkans, Albanians and Serbs rebelled in Southern Albania, only to be crushed in the matter of a month by local Muslim militia.

The quick victories of the Sublime Porte to repress rebels while inspiring, were perhaps only momentary as the flames of war remained bright, even if the Padishah had thrashed the Habsburgs in battle and secured Hungary for some time. In the Sanjak of Herzegovina, inspired by Croatian preachers from Habsburg controlled Croatia, Serbian priests began to raise the call for rebellion. Croatian warriors of fortune, without approval from the Habsburg authorities, began to spread rumors that the 'Emperor and Pope of Rome were soon to be upon the land and that they have called for their subjects in Serbia to rise up and throw off the Turkish infidels from the lands.' The result was a series of furious risings in simultaneity across the Sanjak led by priests giving temporary commissions to chiefs of Serbian tribes.

Long subdued and at the mercy of Muslim inhabitants, Serbian bandits raided and launched lynchings of Muslim families in many areas of the Herzegovina Sanjak and by the later part of December a full uprising was upon the Sanjak. the rebels forming into haphazard armies of sorts began to attack the Wilayet of Montenegro and attempts began to be made to spread the rebellion eastward to rally more of the Serbian populace in rebellion. Fortunately for the Padishah, already seeking to return to a comfy pillow in Constantinople, Derviš-beg Alić Sarvanović, Serbian Muslim Bey of Montenegro launched successful counter attacks and stymied the spread of the rebellion and for the moment and has raised a force of militia both Serbian, Turkish, Bosniak and Albanian to suppress the rebellion.

More worrisome than the rebellion itself in its area however is the potential implications in the existing war between the Sublime Porte and the Holy Roman Empire. According to the reports reaching the capitol, the rebels claim to be 'receivers of the divine light from the Emperor' and that they are 'restoring his governance to the lands.' Such words give the Sublime Porte the fear that the rebels may in fact be under the support of the Holy Roman Empire and hence of utmost danger to the stability of the Porte and its rule in Hungary. Of similar danger, reports from friendly Venetian merchants in Constantinople indicate, a delegation of 30 Serbian monks dispatched by the rebels have arrived in the Papal States requesting an audience with Pope Clement VIII. Swift measures to crush the rebellion must be taken.

-Serbian uprising in Herzegovina has started and erupted across the area threatening to destabilize the empire in the Balkans or harm the war effort in Hungary

Patriarch Jovan II, spiritual leader of the rebellion in Herzegovina

@baboushreturns , @Tyrell , @Zorakov , @Linbot , @Theaxofwar

Tyrell · Feb 21, 2023

The House of Vasa

The Polish Branch of House Vasa

SIGISMUND III
By the Grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruler of Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, and also King of the Swedes, Goths, and Wends.

Table of Contents

THE RULE OF SIGISMUND III, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth & King of Sweden

1596-98

The Cudgel War Uprising

The Taming of a Realm
Part One
Part Two

The Great Northern War, 1596 until the 1st of January 1598

1598-1600

The Just Allotment

A Swedish Affair

Vald · Feb 22, 2023

THE MERMAID KING

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CHRISTIAN IV
REGNA FIRMAT PIETAS
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By the Grace of God
Lord Christian the Fourth, King of all Denmark and Norway, the Goths and the Wends, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn, and Ditmarsh, Count of Oldenburg and and Delmenhorst.

The Royal House of Oldenburg

Descendant from Christian I

(Bold and ALL CAPS are Kings of Denmark - Yellow is for the current direct royal line - - Italics is when the line diverts from House Oldenburg)

CHRISTIAN I (1426-1481), King of Denmark (1448-1481), Norway (1450-1481), and Sweden (1457-1464), Duke of Schleswig and Holstein (1460-1481): First son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg. Having grown up in the court of his maternal uncle Adolf of Schauenburg, Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein, Christian was elected in 1448 to succeed the childless Christopher of Bavaria as King of Denmark. After the likewise childless Duke Adolf refused the Danish Rigsraads offer of the Danish Crown, instead recommending they elect his nephew. Thus Christian became the first Oldenburg King of Denmark. However, in order to secure his crown Christian had greatly indebted himself to the Danish nobility, and was made to sign a haandfæstning notably limiting his powers as King. Similar promises were solicited first by the Norwegians, and then the Swedes, so that Christian might rule over the entirety of the Kalmar Union. Though soon after Sweden once again asserted its independence, with the King failing to reconquer Stockholm in 1470. After the death of his uncle, Duke Adolf, in 1459 the pennyless Christian was likewise elected as ruler of Schleswig and Holstein. Married to Dorothea of Brandenburg.

HANS I (1455-1513) King of Denmark (1481-1513), Norway (1483-1513), and Sweden (1497-1501): Following the death of his father, all three Kingdoms refused to recognise Hans as King, until he too would sign an even more extensive haandfæstning. With Norway and Sweden seeking to guarantee their autonomy within the Danish-led Union. Likewise in Schleswig and Holstein, Hans was made to partition the Duchies with his younger brother Frederik. Much of his reign would be spent breaking and upending these promises in a perpetual conflict with the nobility and estates of Denmark and Norway. As well as prolonged negotiations with the Swedes until he was elected as their King in 1497. Now nominally Lord of the largest realm in Europe, soon everything fell apart. Sweden revolted after a humiliating defeat to the Peasant Republic of Ditsmarchen in 1500, and the nobility of his remaining Kingdoms refused to fund further conflict. The remainder of his reign was spent in conflict with Sweden, and with persistent oathbreaking to reestablish royal authority. Married to Christina of Saxony.
- CHRISTIAN II (1481-1559) King of Denmark and Norway (1513-1523), and Sweden (1520-1521): Serving with bravery as a general in the conflict with Sweden, and as Statholder of Norway. During the reign of his father Christian may have seemed the perfect renaissance prince, only, Christian also embodied the darker sides of Machiavellis ideal. As King, Christian sought to reinvent and centralise his realm, by uplifting the cities and burghers while breaking the power of the nobility and clergy. Comitting to imprisonment and numerous executions of his political enemies. This, along with an expensive war against Lubeck and Sweden, culimating in the Stockholm bloodbath of 1520, led to revolt and him being overthrown by the nobility and his uncle, Duke Frederik of Holstein. Christian went into exile in the Habsburg Netherlands, the Realm of his brother-in-law Emperor Charles. But would return to Norway in 1531 at the head of an army to lead an ill-fated coup. Christian spent the rest of his days in imprisonment, outliving two of his "successors". Married to Elisabeth of Habsburg.
  
  Prince Hans (1518-1532): The only son of Christian II to survive infancy. Hans followed his father into exile, and was for a short while recognised by the Norwegian Rigsraad as the legitimate heir to Norway.
  
  Princess Dorothea of Denmark (1520-1580), Electress-Consort Palatine: Born only afew years before her fathers overthrow. She spent her youth in exile in the Habsburg Netherlands. On the death of her mother, in 1526, the young Dorothea was seperated from her father by Margaret of Austria. After the death of her brother, as the oldest living child of Christian II, she was considered by "loyalists" as the legitimate Queen of Denmark, and thus an important pawn of Habsburg policy. Though she was eventually forced to relinquish her claim to her sister, owing to her Protestant sympathies. Married to Frederick II of the Palatinate.
  
  Princess Christina of Denmark (1521-1590), Duchess-Consort of Milan (1534-1535), Duchess-Consort of Lorraine (1544-1545): Like her sister, Christina was born in Denmark but spent most of her youth in exile in the Habsburg Netherlands seperated from her father. She was thus also an important pawn of Habsburg policy, and received offers of marriage from numerous lords of Europe, both before and after widowhood. She used this to actively lobby for herself and eventually her son as being the rightful rulers of Denmark. Married to Francis II of Milan (1534-1535), and Francis I of Lorraine (1544-1545).
  
  Charles III (1543-): the Duke of Lorraine as of 1596.
  
  Renata of Lorraine (1544-): the Duchess-Consort of Bavaria as of 1596.
  
  Dorothea of Lorraine (1545-): the Duchess-Consort of Brunswick-Luneburg as of 1596.
- Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (1485-1555), Electress-Consort of Brandenburg: Married Joachim Nestor I of Brandenburg in 1502, in a double wedding with her uncle Frederik (I) who was marrying Joachim Nestor's sister. Elisabeth and Joachim's marriage was a happy one, until the reformation. Sympathetic to the plight of the Lutherans, Elisabeth publicly took communion, infuriating her husband who sought to imprison her. Elisabeth to escape to Saxony, only returning in 1545, 10 years after her husbands death.
  - Joachim II Hector (1505-1571), Elector of Brandenburg 1535-1571.
  - Anna of Brandenburg (1507-1567), Duchess-Consort of Mecklenburg 1524-1547.
  - Elisabeth of Brandenburg (1510-1558), Duchess-Consort of Brunswick-Callenberg-Gottingen 1525-1540.
  - Margaret of Brandenburg (1511-1577), Duchess-Consort of Pommerania 1530-1531, Princess-Consort of Anhalt-Zerbst 1534-1550.
  - John of Brandenburg (1513-1571), Margrave of Brandenburg-Kustrin 1535-1571.
Princess Margaret of Denmark (1456-1486), Queen-Consort of Scotland: Married to King James III in 1469, with the Orkney Islands as dowry.
- James IV (1473-1513): King of Scotland 1488-1513.
- Prince James (1476-1504): Duke of Ross.
- Prince John (1479-1503): Earl of Mar.
FREDERIK I(1471-1533) King of Denmark (1523-1533), and Elected-King of Norway (1524-1533), Duke of Schleswig and Holstein (1490-1533): As the second son of Christian I, Frederik spent the reign of his older brother, Hans I, as Duke of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been partitioned between the two on the death of their father. When Hans died, Frederik refused an offer by Jutish nobles to have him elected King in place of his nephew, Christian II. But later joined the nobility in ovethrowing Christian, and was thus elected as King Frederik I of Denmark in 1523, and Norway in 1524, though he was never crowned in the latter. He was however unable to reassert Danish control over Sweden, which had asserted its complete independence and elected a native King, and was now an ally against the pretender Christian II, who was captured and imprisoned after his invasion of Norway in 1532. As the last Roman-Catholic King of Denmark, Frederik walked a fine line and was able to manage the growing tensions between the Lutherans and the Catholics of his realm, using the reformation to increase his own power at the expense of the church, but without fully embracing Lutheranism nor antagonising the Catholic Rigsraad. Married to Anna of Brandenburg 1502-1514, and Sophia of Pommerania 1518-1533.
- CHRISTIAN III (1503-1553) King of Denmark (1534-1553), and Norway (1537-1553): As a young Prince, Christian was present at the Diet of Worms and heard Luther preach, an event which would have a profound impact on him for all his life. Unlike his father, Christian was militantly Protestant, much to the concern of the Catholic nobility and Rigsraad, who sought to prevent his election as King. For the first two years of Christians reign, from 1534-1536, Denmark was ravaged by a bloody religious civil war as the Catholics of Sjælland and Skåne sought to reinstate Christian II, with the support of Lubeck. Whereas Christian III had the support of the Protestants of Jutland, the Duchies, as well as Sweden and Prussia. Though Christian III was victorious, the war left Denmark desolate and bankrupt. Much of Christians reign was then spent rebuilding his Kingdom, a project complicated by the nobility once more demanding an extensive haandfæstning in exchange for their support during the war. However, with Christian setting out to establish a Lutheran Church and impliment the Reformation in Denmark and Norway, the confiscation of Church property and wealth did much to increase the power and property of the Danish Crown, as well as securalise the administration. Adding to this, Christian invaded Norway in 1537 for its Catholic sympathies, effectively annexing it as a province of Denmark by dissolving its Rigsraad and Elective Monarchy, as well as imposing the Reformation. Married to Dorothea of Brandenburg.
  - Princess Anne of Denmark (1532-1585), Electress-Consort of Saxony (1553-1585). Married to Augustus, Elector of Saxony.
    - Elisabeth of Saxony (1552-1590), Married to Count John Casimir of Palatinate-Simmern.
    - Christian I (1560-1591), Elector of Saxony (1586-1591).
    - Dorothea of Saxony (1563-1587), married to Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.
    - Anna of Saxony (1567-1613), married to Duke John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach.
  - FREDERIK II (1534-1588) King of Denmark and Norway (1559-1588): In spite of the extensive privileges that continued to be afforded the nobility in his haandfæstning, Frederik inherited a Kingdom stronger than it had been for more than a century. The Reformation was in full swing, and the Renaissance had finally wholly arrived and brought with it new ideas, markets, and architecture which would be pounced upon by the Danish Crown and nobility. Yet Frederiks interest were largely martial, not cultural. Already in the first year of his reign did he, together with his Uncle Duke Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, invade and conquer Ditsmarchen, thus avenging the defeat of Hans I. In times of peace he spent his time hunting on the recently consolidate Crownlands, and directing the foreign policy of his Kingdom. His belligerent attempts at enforcing Danish hegemony paved the way for the Northern Seven Years War of 1563-1570, resulting in a nominal stalemate, and though preserving Denmark as the preeminent northern power it was in effect a strategic defeat. Frederik was likewise concerned with developments to the south, fearing that the counter-reformation and violence taking place in the Netherlands might find its way north. Though he did mellow in his final years, developing an interest in architecture and the astronomy of Tuchy Brahe, he likewise built up the Danish to prepare for future conflicts. Married to Sophie of Mecklenburg-Gustrow.
    - Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (1573-), Princess-Consort of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Married to Prince Julius.
      
      Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1591-): Heir to the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.
      
      Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1592-).
      
      Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1593-.)
      
      Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1595-.)
    - Princess Anne of Denmark (1574-), Current Queen-Consort of Scotland. Married to King James VI.
      
      Henry Frederick of Scotland (1594-), Heir of James VI.
      
      Elizabeth of Scotland (1596-).
    - CHRISTIAN IV (1577-) King of Denmark and Norway (1588): Only eleven at the time of his fathers passing in 1588, a Council of the Realm has governed for the duration of the Prince-Elect's minority. After signing his haandfæstning, the now-nineteen year old King has just been coronated in one of the most expensive ceremonies of Danish history, with all the pomp and circumstance as affords a Renaissance prince, such that he is now ready to rule the Kingdom in his own name. And in accordance with the wishes of the Rigsraad, ofcourse. By all accounts an immensely educated and bright young man, Christian has a great interest in culture, music, and especially architecture. But there is also a desire for martial and political greatness, to assert Denmarks position as a great power and the defender of the Protestant faith. A Prince of great contradictions, only time can tell if the Danish Golden Age will continue under his reign, or if the dark clouds gathering over Europe will be his undoing. Unmarried.
    - Prince Ulrik of Denmark (1578): Younger brother of the new King. Ulrik has been educated in Mecklenburg, and its expected his older brother will acquire a Bishopric for him to administer. Expected heir if, God forbids, anything happens to the King.
    - Princess Augusta of Denmark (1580-): Duchess-Consort of Schleswig-Holstein Gottorp. Married to Duke Johann Adolf.
    - Princess Hedwig of Denmark (1581-): Unmarried.
    - Prince Hans of Denmark (1583-): Unmarried.
  - Prince Magnus of Osel (1540-1583) King of Livonia (1570-1578), Titular Duke of Holstein, Bishop of Osel-Wiek (1560-1572), and Bishop of Courland (1560-1583): Seeking to prevent further partition of the Duchies and Crownlands on the death of their father, Frederick II wished for a clerical career for his younger brother. In exchange for relinquishing any rights to Holstein and Schleswig, Magnus was duly appointed as the succesor of a number of Baltic Bishoprics. His tenure did not last long. Unhappy with his lot, and seeing a chance in the Livonian War, Magnus went to Moscow where he was crowned as "King of Livonia" by Tsar Ivan IV; in exchange for a Royal title he would carve out a vassal state for the Tsar. In spite of being supplied an army and local support, his attempts were not overly succesful, and in 1577 he was taken captive by the selfsame Russians lended to him, and forced to relinquish his "title". He died the Bishop of Courland, as a Polish vassal. Married to Maria Vladimirovna of Staritsa.
    
    Maria of Oldenburg (1580-)
  - Prince Hans the Younger (1545-), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1564-): Recipent of yet another partition of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig. Hans, due to circumstance and chance, stood strong against his brothers attempt at appointing him to a Bishopric. However, due to resistance by the local equestrian nobility, Hans lacks sovereignity and the influence enjoyed by the other, and former, partition-Dukes.
    
    Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1569-): Married to Duke Frederick IV of Liegnitz.
    
    Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1570-): Primary heir to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sunderburg.
    
    Alexander of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1573-): Heir to a portion of his fathers Duchy.
    
    Hans Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1576-): Heir to a portion of his fathers Duchy.
    
    Anna of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1577-):
    
    Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1579-):
    
    Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1580-):
    
    Frederik of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1581-): Heir to a portion of his fathers Duchy.
    
    Margaret of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1583-): Unmarried.
    
    Philip of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1584-): Heir to a portion of his fathers Duchy. .
    
    Anna-Sabine of Schleswig-Holstein Sonderburg (1593-).
    
    Joachim of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1595-). Heir to a portion of his fathers Duchy.
  - Princess Dorothea of Denmark (1546-), Duchess-Consort of Brunswick-Luneburg. Married to Duke William the Younger.
    
    Sophia of Brunswick-Luneburg(1563-): Married to Duke George Frederick I of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmach.
    
    Ernst II (1564-): Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, Prince of Luneburg.
    
    Christian of Brunswick-Luneburg (1566-).
    
    August of Brunswick-Luneburg (1568.
    
    Dorothea of Brunswick-Luneburg (1570-).
    
    Margaret of Brunswick-Luneburg (1573-).
    
    Frederick of Brunswick--Luneburg (1574-).
    
    George of Brunswick-Luneburg (1582-).
- Princess Dorothea of Denmark (1504-1548), Duchess Consort of Prussia 1526-1547. Considered as a bride for the English claimant Richard of Suffolk. Married Duke Albert I of Prussia.
  - Anna Sophia of Prussia (1527-1591), Duchess of Mecklenburg.
- Prince Hans the Elder (1521-1580), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev (1544-1580): As the second son of Frederik I, Hans inherited a portion of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein on the death of his father, partitioning them together with his brothers, King Christian III, and Duke Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp. Likewise on the death of his father, Hans was considered as an alternative to his Protestant elder brother as King of Denmark by the Catholic Rigsraad. He would later also embrace the Reformation. Lacking sovereignity, Hans was content with improving prosperity of his Duchy and people. Never marrying and without issue, his Duchy was again partitioned by the Dukes of Royal and Gottorp Schleswig-Holstein. Son of Sophia of Pommerania.
- Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (1524-1586), Duchess-Consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1543-1550, and Mecklenburg-Gustrow 1556-1586. Married to Magnus III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1543-1550 (no issue), and Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Gustrow 1556-1586.
  - Sophie of Mecklenburg-Gustrow (1557-) Queen-Consort of Denmark and Norway 1572-1588, current Queen Mother: The recently widowed Queen-Mother of Denmark and Norway, her marriage to her first half-cousin Frederick II was relatively short but happy. Well-read, cultural, and an excellent matchmaker for her children, she has secured a Ducal husband for her eldest daughter, and a Royal one for her second-eldest, and is unlikely to settle for anything less for the rest of her , especially the new King, Christian IV. Owning a vast number of estates, as well as running a lending business, she is likely the richest woman in Europe. Widowed from marriage to Frederick II of Denmark, see him for issue.
- Prince Adolf of Denmark (1526-1586), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1544-1586). As the third son of Frederik I, Adolf was entitled to first choice when it came to partitioning the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The choice fell on the part containing the castle of Gottorp, thus giving name to his Duchy, and his Cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg.After the death of his his elder brother, Hans the Elder, Adolf partitioned Hans Duchy together with his nephew Frederik II. Married Christine of Hesse.
  - Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp (1568-1587), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1586-1587). Eldest son of Duke Adolf, died a year after inheriting the Duchy. No issue.
  - Sophia of Holstein-Gottorp (1569-), Currently the Duchess-Consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . Married to Duke John VII since 1588. No issue, yet.
  - Philip of Holstein-Gottorp (1570-1590), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1587-1590). Second son of Duke Adolf, died three years after inheriting the Duchy. No issue.
  - Christine of Holstein-Gottorp (1573-), Duchess-Consort of Sodermanland. Married since 1592 to Duke Karl of Sodermanland, a member of the House of Vasa, Uncle to King Sigismund, the Champion of the Protestant cause in Sweden.
    - Gustav Adolf of Sodermanland (1594-): Cousin to King Sigismund. Surely nothing will come of him.
    - Maria Elisabeth of Sodermanland (1596-):
  - Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp (1575-1616), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1590-), Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Lubeck (1586-), and formerly of the Prince-Archbishop of Bremen (1589-1596). Married to Princess Augusta of Denmark. No issue, yet.
  - Anna of Holstein-Gottorp (1575-)
  - John Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp (1579-), Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (1596-).
- Princess Dorothea of Denmark (1528-1575), Duchess-Consort of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch. Married to Duke Christopher 1573-1575).
- Prince Frederik, (1532-1556), Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim and Schleswig (1551-1556) Youngest son of Frederik I.

ByzantineCaesar · Feb 22, 2023

MAGNUS DUCATUS
ETRURIAE

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FERDINANDO I
DE' MEDICI

By the Grace of God, Most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Florence and Siena, Prince of Capestrano, Lord of Portoferraio on the Isle of Elba, of Castiglione della Pescaia, and of the Island of Giglio, Grand Master of the Sacred Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr

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Table of Contents

THE REIGN OF FERDINANDO I
1587-

TBA

The House of Medici
Festina Lente

{COSIMO I DE' MEDICI} (1519-1574), second Duke of Florence, first Duke of Siena, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, the soldier-prince responsible for consolidating the Medici regime into a stable and legitimate monarchy, with hereditary rulership over Florence and Tuscany confirmed by imperial grant and pontifical investiture. Cosimo I was a highly efficient soldier and administrator, conquering the rival republic of Siena to found the Tuscan state, and purging the decadent republican government of Florence of all corruption and opposition to Medici rule. Cosimo I established the Order of Santo Stefano, which took part in the Battle of Lepanto, and was an avid patron of arts, having created the Uffizi Gallery and promoted Giorgio Vasari during his long reign over Tuscany. Perhaps the greatest ruler of the Medici, seconded only by his namesake Cosimo the Elder, Pater Patriae.

Cosimo I was the male line heir of the junior line of the House of Medici, descended from Lorenzo the Elder, the younger brother of Pater Patriae. He was a grandchild of Giovanni de' Medici, il Popolano, and his wife Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forli and Lady Imola Imola, the infamous Tigress of Forli. Their only child, the renowned condottiero Giovanni delle Bande Nere, married Maria Salviati, a granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, reuniting both branches and bloodlines of the House of Medici. Their son, Cosimo I, succeeded his cousin Alessandro de' Medici as Duke of Florence in 1537, at age eighteen, after putting down a republican uprising. In the last decade of his life, stricken by the death of his sons due to malaria, he stepped away from public life, leaving the government in the hands of his heir, Prince Francesco. Cosimo I married Eleanor of Toledo (1522-1562), a cousin of the Spanish monarchs and daughter of the Viceroy of Naples. After her death, he married his mistress, Camilla Martelli. He had the following issue:

{Maria de' Medici} (1540-1557), an elegant, highly-educated and decorous noblewoman, betrothed to Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. Died of malaria in Livorno, before she could marry, and was much mourned by her father until his death,
{FRANCESCO I DE' MEDICI} (1541-1587), 2nd Grand Duke of Tuscany, in whose reign his predecessor's despotism and patronage of arts remained unchanged. Nevertheless, Francesco was loathed by his subjects, decried as a wizard for his chemical experiments and denounced as a wastrel for his behavior. He married Archduchess Joanna of Austria, and after her death his mistress Bianca Capello. The unpopular Grand Duke and Duchess died of malarial fever in October 1587, one day apart, though some believe they were poisoned,
- Eleonora de' Medici (b. 1567), Duchess of Mantua, married to Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua,
  - Francesco Gonzaga (b. 1586), Heir Apparent to the Duchy of Mantua,
  - Ferdinando Gonzaga (b. 1587),
  - {Guglielmo Domenico Gonzaga} (1589-1591), Marquis of Monferrat,
  - Margherita Gonzaga (b. 1591),
  - Vincenzo Gonzaga (b. 1594),
- Romola, Anna, Isabella and Lucrezia, all died young,
- Maria de' Medici (b. 1575), Princess of Tuscany, the wealthiest heiress in Europe, a young devout maid interested in science, mathematics, philosophy and astronomy, as well as the arts, a talented illustrator and musician, trained in the Florentine milieu,
- {Flippo de' Medici} (1577-1582), Grand Prince of Tuscany, the long-anticipated male heir, died young,
{Isabella Romola de' Medici} (1542-1572), Duchess of Bracciano, a great beauty and lively spirit, talented at music and court politics, brutally murdered at the hands of her husband, Paolo Giordando I Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, with the complicity of her brother the Grand Duke Francesco,
- Francesca Eleonora Orsini (b. 1571), Duchess of Segni, a resident of Florence, married Alessandro Sforza (b. 1572), Duke of Segni,
  - Mario Sforza (b. 1594), heir to Segni,
- Virginio Orsini (b. 1572), Duke of Bracciano, Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, m. Flavia Damascene Peretti, a niece of Pope Sixtus V,
  - Paolo Giordano Orsini (b. 1591),
  - Alessandro Orsini (b. 1592),
  - Isabella Orsini (b. 1597),
{Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici} (1543-1562), Archbishop of Pisa and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, died of malaria alongside his mother and younger brother,
{Lucrezia de' Medici} (1545-1561), Duchess of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio by marriage to Alfonso II d'Este, a frail and sheltered young woman deeply in love with her husband, who neglected her. Died of putrid fever, though some believe she was poisoned,
{Pietro de' Medici} (1546-1547), died in infancy,
{Garzia de' Medici} (1547-1562), died in the malarial outbreak that claimed his mother and elder brother,
{Antonio de' Medici} (1548), died an infant,
FERDINANDO I DE' MEDICI (b. 1549), Most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany, a former Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, married Christina of Lorraine (b. 1565), a daughter of Charles III of Lorraine and Claude de Valois, granddaughter of Catherine de Medicis,
- Cosimo de' Medici (b. 1590), Grand Prince of Tuscany,
- Eleonora de' Medici (b. 1591), Princess of Tuscany,
- Caterina de' Medici (b. 1593), Princess of Tuscany,
- Francesco de' Medici (b. 1594), Prince of Tuscany,
- Carlo de' Medici (b. 1595), Prince of Tuscany,
Don Pietro de' Medici (b. 1554), a useless spendthrift courtier in Spain, drowning in debts. Married firstly his cousin, Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo, whom he strangled to death with a dog leash for infidelity. Married secondly D. Beatriz de Lara, daughter of the Duke of Vila Real. Father of six illegitimate children, five of them with his lover Antonia de Carvajal,
Don Giovanni de' Medici (b. 1567), Grandee of Spain, architect, soldier and Tuscan ambassador in Madrid, Cosimo I's illegitimate son by his mistress Eleonora degli Albizzi, later legitimized,
Virginia de' Medici (b. 1568), Duchess of Modena and Reggio, Cosimo I's only daughter by Camilla Martelli, his mistress and second wife, married to Cesare d'Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio, w. issue.

Tyrell · Feb 22, 2023

The House of Vasa

The Polish Branch of House Vasa

The Taming of a Realm

1596

The uprising that plagued Finland this year was just the latest in a long series of acts that had left Sigismund suspicious as to the motives of his uncle. There was no doubt in his mind that the rebellion, the suspicious financing, and the supply that these peasants had been discovered to have were all pointing to Duke Karl, just like the Uppsala Synod, the Riksdag of 1595, the demands on his Royal Declaration, the suspect ties of so many subversives in his father's rule, these and so much more were all the reasons for Sigismund's suspicions.

Sigismund was tired of it all, his uncle's potential support for rebels and actions against Sigismund's appointed governors was the end of it. He would thus swiftly begin making preparations. Beginning with a private dispatch that was set to circulate among all members of his Privy Council as well as Karl's Riksdag and the Church of Sweden. In it, he would attempt to lay down his attitude. While he had no love for the Lutheran faith, he was not about to try to impose change after the reactions the Uppsala Synod had drawn from just the fear that he might.

He stuck to a simpler message. The Duke, his uncle, was declared to be suspect in his governance. The Riksdag might have appointed him, but Sigismund believed that to be a lesser crime as they were just looking for a leader that was present and of royal birth in his eyes. Karl's actions after receiving this appointment were the problem, the crimes were his alone.

For all of this Sigismund would thus be returning to Sweden to convene a new Riksdag alongside requesting the Church of Sweden to send to him a council that could advise him. He hoped that by these actions he might split things between Karl, the Church and the Riksdag. It was not to be.

John7755 يوحنا said:
The attempt by king Sigismund III to discretely state his dissatisfaction with Charles of Vasa is flawed due to the act of sending the private correspondence to all members of the Riksdag, most of whom are supporters of Charles of Vasa. Therefore a series of panics erupt in Stockholm as to the arrival of the king, with all expectant that the king has come to depose Charles of Vasa, the appointed representative of the Riksdag.

Convening an emergency session, Charles of Vasa with his supporters read aloud a letter pertaining to the arrival of the king and his questioning of the authority of the Riskdag and its appointed representatives. Following this, the Duke issued in unison with other members in his supporting camp a polemic against the king, arguing that his evil Catholic and Polish courtiers had poisoned his mind and were directing him to folly. Royalists in the Riskdag protested the reading of a polemic against the king by exiting the establishment, but the damage was done and the Riskdag began proceedings to raise a Swedish army for the Duke Charles to command to both defend Sweden and to force Klaus Fleming to submit to the authority of the Riskdag over that of the king's direct orders.

When the news of how the Riksdag and his uncle had responded to his actions came back to Sigismund he would explode in anger. A few days later in a private meeting with Jan Zamoyski, the Great Hetman of the Crown of Poland, he would secure the funds and soldiers he needed to make his way back to Sweden. He was not about to allow his Uncle to seize what was rightfully his.

SubSequant · Feb 22, 2023

Von Wettin, Albertine Branch

Albert III 'the Brave', Duke of Saxony ---- Sidonie, Princess of Bohemia
Great Founder of the Albertine Wettins and capable warrior

Catherine of Saxony, second wife of Archduke Sigismund, b.1468 d.1524
George 'the Bearded', Successor b. 1471 d. 1539
Henry 'the Pious', Succeeds George 'the Bearded' b. 1473 d.1541
Frederick of Saxony, b. 1473 d. 1510

Succeeded by Son and Heir, George 'The Bearded'

George 'the Bearded', Duke of Saxony ---- Barbara Jagellion, Polish Princess
A fervent Catholic, learned, and educated man. Wise in the ways of Theology

Christof b. 1497 d. 1497
Johann b. 1498 d. 1537
Wolfgang b. 1499 d. 1500
Anna b. and d. 1500
Christof b. and d. 1501
Agnes b. and d. 1503
Frederick, Hereditary Duke of Saxony b. 1504 d. 1539
Christine, wife to Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse b. 1505 d. 1549
Magdalena, wife to Joachim Hector b. 1507 d. 1534
Margarete b. 1508 d. 1510

Succeeded by brother, Henry IV 'The Pious'

Henry IV 'the Pious', Duke of Saxony ---- Catherine of Mecklenburg
Though a short reign, he brought the Light of Lutheranism to Saxony

Sybille, Wife to Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg b. 1515 d. 1592
Emilie, Wife to George Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach b. 1516 d. 1591
Sidonie, Wife to Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg b. 1518 d. 1575
Maurice, Successor b. 1521 d. 1553
Severinus, b. 1522 d. 1533
Augustus, Succeeds Maurice b. and d. 1586

Succeeded by Son and Heir, Maurice

Maurice, Elector of Saxony ---- Agnes of Hesse
Cunning diplomat and politician as well as a battlefield commander, he earned much glory and power for the Albertine Wettins

Succeeded by his brother, Augustus

Augustus, Elector of Saxony ---- Anna, Princess of Denmark
Competent Steward and Loyal Lutheran

John Henry b. 1550 d. 1550
Eleonore, b. 1551 d. 1553
Elisabeth, wife to Count Palatine Johann Casimir of Simmern; they were later seperated b. 1552 d. 1590
Alexander, Hereditary Prince of Saxony b. 1554 d. 1565
Magnus, b. 1555 d. 1558
Joachim, b. 1557 d. 1557
Hector, b. 1558 d. 1560
Christian, Successor b. 1560 d. 1591
Marie b. 1562 d. 1566
Dorothea, wife to Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel b. 1563 d.1587
Amalie b. 1565 d. 1565
Anna, wife to Duke John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach; they later divorced b. 1567
Augustus b. 1569 d. 1570
Adolf b. 1571 d. 1572
Frederick b. 1575 d. 1577

Succeeded by Son and Heir, Christian I

Christian I, Elector of Saxony ---- Sophie of Brandenburg
Competent ruler of the Saxon Electorate, though he died before achieving anything truly great.

Christian II , Successor b. 1583
John George I b. 1585
Anna Sabine b. and d. 1586
Sophie b. 1587
Elisabeth b. 1588 d. 1589
Augustus b. 1589
Dorothea b. 1591

Succeeded by Son and Heir, Christian II

Christian II, Elector of Saxony

Electorate of Saxony

Elector: Christian II, 15

Regent: Sophie of Brandenburg, 31

John George, 13 (Brother)
Sophie, 11 (Sister)
Augustus, 9 (Brother)
Dorothea, 7 (Sister)

Anna, 31 (Aunt)

John George, Elector of Brandenburg (Grandfather)

No Treaties

Reigns from 1596 ~

Sophie of Brandenburg, Elector-Regent

SubSequant · Feb 22, 2023

1596

Sophie of Brandenburg, Regent of the Saxon Electorate has taken the reins in tumultuous times. Not only having to groom her son to be a competent ruler for when he is Elector of Saxony, but having to rule in his stead in a time of religious turmoil seemingly consuming the Empire.

The Albertine Wettins have been pious Lutherans since Henry IV 'the Pious' rejected the Catholic Church and made Lutheran the State Religion. This has led to hostilities in the past but dialogues with the Catholic Habsburgs have been fruitful in maintaining rapport despite the religious differences. Sophie knows that the problem Saxony must confront is the Calvinists. And confront them she will.

Saxony is a Lutheran Bastion within the Empire, and the longer the Calvinists and elusive Crypto-Calvinists are allowed to preach their Heresy the more it divides our people.

Sophie, being a fervent Orthodox Lutheran, will not stand for this.

Dresden - November, 1596.

The most renowned Lutheran Theologians and Saxon Ministers are summoned by Sophie, and when their meeting has adjourned, its result is the Religious Unity Act, and the formation of the Saxon Inquisition. Dedicated to rooting out the vile Crypto-Calvinists and protecting the sanctity of Luther's works.

RELIGIOUS UNITY ACT, 1596

To all good Christian people who should enter our blessed land does this Act henceforth apply.

All loyal subjects of Saxony shall accept any and all intrusions by Lawmen, the presence of these lawmen and nature of the intrusion is not to be disclosed to any other individuals.
The penalty for failing to comply with such conditions is to be hanged at the neck until dead.

All loyal subjects of Saxony are to reveal any and all information required by Lawmen, the interrogation that takes place and the presence of the Lawmen is not to be disclosed to any other individuals.
The penalty for failing to comply with such conditions is to be hanged at the neck until dead.

All loyal subjects of Saxony are to inform authorities of persons who display odd or otherwise suspicious behaviour, any persons who are found to be harbouring said suspicious individuals are to be hanged at the neck until dead, along with their conspirators.

Written and sealed in the name of the Elector Christian II of the House Von Wettin by the Mother and Elector-Regent Sophie, widow of the former Elector Christian I, this 14th Day of November in the Fifteenth Hundred and Ninety Sixth Year of our Lord.

Sneakyflaps · Feb 23, 2023

Royaume de France

The House of Bourbon

Henri IV
His Most Christian Majesty, the King of France and Navarre
R. 1589-

Felipe or Philippe
The Road to Peace
The March on Mercœur

Will fill later

Velasco · Feb 23, 2023

THE KINGDOMS OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND, A.D. 1596

Sovereign: Elizabeth Tudor, By the Grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith.
Heir: [Disputed, cf. family tree below]
Secretary of State: Sir William Cecil
Capital: London
Faith: Church of England (Anglican)
Allies: Scotland (Treaty of Berwick 1586; blood ties), France and the Dutch Republic (Tripple Alliance 1596)
Enemies: Spain (Anglo-Spanish War, since 1585), Irish rebels (Tyrone's Rebellion, since 1593)

Henry VII Tudor (1457-1509), King of England, etc. m. Princess Elizabeth of York (1466-1503), among others, parents of:

Prince Arthur Tudor (1486-1502), Prince of Wales, m. the Infanta Catherine of Aragon,
Henry VIII Tudor (1491-1547), King of England, m1. Catherine of Aragon, m2. Anne Boleyn, m3. Jane Seymour, m. three other times sans issue,
- [1m] Mary Tudor (1516--1558), "Bloody Mary", Queen of England, m. Philip II of Spain, sans issue,
- [Illeg.] Henry FitzRoy (1519-1536), Duke of Richmond and Somerset, m. Mary Howard, sans issue,
- [2m] HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH (1536-, a.60), "Gloriana", "the Virgin Queen", Queen of England,
- [3m] Edward VI Tudor (1537-1553), King of England, never wed, sans issue.
Margaret (1489-1541), m1. James IV, King of Scots, m2. Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, m3. Henry Stewart, Lord Methven,
- [1m] James V (1512-1542), King of Scots, m1. Madeleine de Valois, m2. Marie de Lorraine-Guise,
  
  [2m] Mary (1542-ex.1584), Queen of Scots, m1. Francis II of France, m2. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, m3. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell
  
  [2m] James VI Stuart (1566-, a.30), King of Scots, m. Anne of Denmark,
  
  Henry Frederick Stuart (1594-, a.2)
  
  Elizabeth Stuart (1596-, a.0),
  
  [Illeg.] Numerous, by whom descendants of Scottish nobility,
- [2m] Margaret Douglas (1515-1578), m1. Thomas Howard, m2. Charles Howard, m3. Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, by whom:
  
  Henry Stuart (1546-1567) Lord Darnley, m. Mary Queen of Scots (his 1st cousin, above), by whom issue;
  
  Charles Stuart (1557-1576), 5th Earl of Lennox, m. Elizabeth Cavendish,
  
  Arabella Stuart (1575-, a.21),
Mary (1496-1533) m1. Louis XII of France, m2. Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom:
- Frances Brandon (1517-1559) m. Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset,
  
  Jane Grey (1537-1554), the Nine Day Queen, m. Guildford Dudley,
  
  Katherine Grey (1540-1568), m. illegally Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford,
  
  Edward Seymour (1561-, a.35), Lord Beauchamp of Hache, m. Honora Rogers,
  
  Edward Seymour (1586-, a.10),
  
  William Seymour (1588-, a.8),
  
  Francis Seymour (1590-, a.6),
  
  Honora Seymour (1593-, a.3),
  
  Thomas Seymour (1563-, a.30)
  
  Mary Grey (1545-1578), m. Thomas Keyes
- Eleanor Brandon (1519-1547) m. Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
  
  Margaret Clifford (1540-1596) m. Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby,
  
  Ferdinando Stanley (1559-1594), 5th Earl of Derby, m. Alice Spencer,
  
  Anne Stanley (1580-, a.16),
  
  Frances Stanley (1583-, a.13),
  
  Elizabeth Stanley (1588-, a.10),
  
  William Stanley (1561-, a.35) 6th Earl of Derby, m. Elizabeth de Vere, of the Earls of Oxford.

Fingon888 · Feb 23, 2023

Dmitry of Uglich
The Slain Prince

The mighty Tsar Ivan the Terrible bore four sons. The first died young, the second fell by his father's hand, the third ruled in name alone, the fourth's fate would consume the realm of Russia. Dmitry Ivanovich was born from the seed of Ivan and the womb of Maria Nagaya, the final of the many wives of that dread monarch. His father died when Dmitry was only three years old and the new "reign" of his brother Feodor began. A council was appointed to assist Feodor as he took the throne, due to Feodor's disinterest in affairs of state and general inability. Of this council the boyar Boris Godunov, whose sister was the wife of the new Tsar, came to dominate the state. Godunov sent Dmitry and his mother to the village of Uglich 120 miles from Moscow.

Officially the lands of Uglich were his inheritance, where he was to be Prince, but neither he nor his mother had any influence over the affairs of his estates which were governed by clerks and retainers from Moscow under the command of Mikhail Bityagovsky. Little is known of the life of the Prince Dmitry and his mother in the village. Some said he bore a dark disposition in the manner of his late father, delighting in the slaughter of cows and livestock, though the truth of these rumors cannot be attested to. Efforts to cast him in the light of a saint in later days likely were not true either, but hit at least to the mark of the boy's innocence.

For Russia it was not important what the last male heir of the House of Rurik did in his life but only in his death. On May 15th, 1591 (O.S.) the young Prince Dmitry Uglich slipped off his mortal coil at the age of ten. What happened to cause such a tragedy none now can say. The report of the boyar Prince Vasili Shuisky, who had been sent by Boris Godunov to investigate the death of the Tsarevich, was that in the course of a pile game with young noble boys in the service of the Tsarevich a "black sickness" (epileptic seizure) came upon the Prince and he stabbed himself in the neck with the pile (a knife). Maria Nagaya, the boy's mother, and her loyal companions maintained a different story.

They claimed that the son of the boy's nurse Osip Volokhov, Nikita Kachalov the nephew of Mikhail Bityagovsky, and Danila Bityagovsky the son of the same clerk, stabbed the boy to death. This could only then have been done under the direct orders of Moscow and Boris Godunov. The alarm went up through the town and the church bells were ringing. The villagers came forth and seeing the dastardly crime fell upon the killers and tore them apart. Thus did the family of Bityagovsky fall. The Prince Vasili Shuisky then came in wrath upon the village and tore the "tongue" from the cathedral bells and sent the bell into exile in Siberia along with the rebellious townsfolk.

The young Prince was buried in the Church of the Transfiguration in Uglich with relics and icons. The commission sent by Godunov, headed by Shuisky, decreed unequivocally that the Prince's death had been an accident. The troublesome mother Maria Nagaya was soon forced to take the vows as a nun and was confined to the Beloozero Monastery in the north of Russia. Her brothers were imprisoned on charges of criminal negligence. Still, their efforts and imprisonment lent force to the rumor of assassination.

Following the death of the Prince there was no male heir of the Moscow Rurikids. Who would reign should Feodor die childless, as it seemed now ever more likely in 1596? The question of how Dmitry of Uglich had died, or indeed, if Dmitry of Uglich had died, would bedevil Russia as it entered into a period of factionalism, misrule, and social upheaval.

Vald · Feb 24, 2023

Long Live the King

1594 - The 17-year old Christian IV receives from the dying chancellor Niels Kaas the keys to the vault where the royal crown and sceptre are stored.

With the premature death of the 53-year old Frederick II in 1588, largely attributed to alcohol poisoning, the title as King of Denmark and Norway passed to his oldest son, Christian. Wholly cognizant of the scheming and instability as had occured on the ascendance of many of his predecessors, Frederick II had already in 1580 arranged for the-then 3-year old Christian to be elected and recognised as heir to the Kingdom. His position thus already secured, the transition from Prince-elect to King went unparalleled smoothly, a testament to the newfound strenght and wealth of the crown, expanded during the reigns of his father and grandfather. Yet, only 10 years old as of the death of his father, a council of the most prominent members of the Riksraad would govern for the duration of Christians minority. These men being: the Chancellor Niels Kaas, Master of the Rent Christoffer Valkendorf, Grand Admiral Peder Munk, and Riksraadsmember Jørgen Rosenkrantz.

Of these Niels Kaas was clearly the most prominent, and genuinely interested in ensuring a proper upbringing for the young King, thus preparing him for the task of ruling the Kingdom. Such was his investment in the Kings future that in 1594 when Kaas lay on his deathbed, weakened after years of governing, he summoned Christian and the other members of the Council, spending his final hours thoroughly instructing the King on how best to govern. The lesson ended with Kaas handing Christian the keys to the vault containing the royal crown, sceptre, and orb, symbol of his belief that Christian was now ready to bear the burdens of Kingship, and rule in his own name. And giving a final salute before his spirit departed: "God bless the king! Farewell king, farewell all kingdoms and all lands. Father of all the world has surely blessed us that such a prince should rule! Come, O Jesus, if you will, now I die happy".

With such a recommendation the Council and Riksraad could scarce deny Christian his lawful rights as sovereign. It was agreed that he should be crowned in the year of 1596, at the age of nineteen.

The Crown of Christian IV

Preparations were immediately underway to ensure the coronation would be a grand affair to steal the attention of all Europe. As part of this, from the Dutch goldsmith Dirich Fyring, assisted by Nuremberg goldsmith Corvinius Saur, were comissioned silver trumpets, coins, coronation medals, gold chains, numerous assorted jewelry, and finally a grand new renaissance crown. A beast made of gold and inlaid with enamel, finely cut precious stones, diamonds, and countless pearls, weighing almost 3kg on completion. Symbolism was abundant. To take only afew: In the center, above the Kings head: A gold-pearl Pelican hacks away at its own breast to feed its children, a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ, symbolising the Kings duty and willingness to shed his own blood in defence and for the betterment of his people. On the right: Fortitudo, a woman riding a lion, a symbol of the King as supreme warlord. Left: Justitia, woman with a sword in one hand and scales in the other, showing the King as supreme judge. And finally, centered on the back: a woman nursing a child, a motiff of the King as head of the church, as well as his love of God and his subjects. Going against the fashion of closed crowns, Christian decided to retain a connection to the open-crowns of the Kalmar Kings, promoting an image of himself as heir to their legacy, and a possible hint to his imperial ambitions for the future. Also as the Swedish Crown of 1561 was a closed one.

A Haandfæstning (quite literally translated as a "handbinding") stipulating the relationship between the King and his vassals: their respective rights, privileges, and, most importantly, in the case of the King: the limits of his authority

Thus it was, that on the 17th of of August 1596, Christian and the Rigsraad gathered at Copenhagen Castle, to sign his haandfæstning, the final requirenment by which his election as King would be recognised as legitimate, and by which his rule could begin. The 21 most important men of the realm (including the King himself) affixed their seals to a document of 48 paragraphs detailing subjects as varied as the collection of taxes, the state of the Vornedskab(serfdom), maintenaince of the royal castles and palaces, the inviolability of the Lutheran Church and the Kings position as its head, the appointment of councillors and titles (preferably not to foreigners), and the future but always inevitable succession. An almost exact copy of the haandfæstning of his father from 1559, the political acumen and strenght of Christian IV's two immediate predecessors in consolidating the crownlands and beating down political opponents, meant that the authority, privileges, and independent wealth now afforded the crown (though by no means absolute) would have been observed with jealousy by the first Oldenburg Kings. Still, the (landowning) nobility retained immense influence through the Rigsraad, with the haandfæstning continuing to guarantee an exemption to taxation, the enforcement of serfdom, and the Rigsraads right to be consulted on, and veto, decisions of foreign policy, war, and schemes of reform.

The coronation itself would take place twelve days later, on the 29th of August, at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen. Conducted by the Bishop of Sjælland, Peder Vinstrup, the ceremony would take the better part of four hours with prayer, mass, and speeches culminating in the King vowing to observe the terms of his haandfæstning, defend the Kingdom, and rule with piety. With form and procedure thus satisfied, the new crown could finally be placed on Christians head, and with sceptre in one hand and globus cruciger in the other, he received oaths of fealty from those Danes important enough to be present in the church itself. Christians mother, Sophie of Mecklenburg, (whose private fortune covered much of the expenses of the coronation) observing with pride. His part in the ceremony concluded, Bishop Vinstrup encouraged moderation in the coming celebrations from those present, but as cheers of "Long live the King" erupted from all around, it was soon made clear that the following weeks would be anything but moderate.

Christian IV and the adulation of Copenhagen

Emerging from the Church of Our Lady with the royal regalia and in his splendid coronation robes, the King mounted a white stallion, putting himself at the center of a procession of several hundred magnificently clothed notables, servants, and guards. Beneath a canopy carried by members of the Rigsraad, and with the chancellor carrying the orb of majesty in front, Christian thus began his ride through Copenhagen, his presence announced by silver trumpets. Foreigners and people both high and low from all the realm had been flocking to the city for weeks, such that for a time the city's population grew by several thousand. And a not-insignificant suburb of tents had emerged outside the walls to keep the visitors from the squalor of the city itself, likewise the King had conscripted homes of numerous inhabitants to house his guests. Those who had made the trip would be amply rewarded in spectacle and, for those close enough to the procession itself, coins thrown to the people by the Kings Drabant Guard, who carried sacks filled with commemorative silver adorned by Christians face. All of Copenhagen had come out to hail and catch a glimpse of their new King, the grandest Prince of northern Europe.

Though the King soon retreated to Copenhagen Castle, to celebrate in more exalted company, the commoners also continued their celebrations unabated. It had been arranged for numerous free food stalls to be set up on Amagertorv, Copenhagens central plaza, where oxen and all other manner of beasts were roasted over open fires. Likewise a fountain had been fashioned to discharge wine for public consumption. Entertainment had been arranged by troupes of musicians and actors, playing the comidies, odes celebrating the King and his ancestors, and ofcourse dropping the occasional derogatory comment about the papists. Fireworks and exotic animals were also on display. Periodically, throughout the weeks of celebration, Christian would return to remind the people just why they were celebrating, and who was sponsoring all the debauchery. But mostly the commoners celebrated on their own, seperated from the nobility, and under constant surveillance by the watchmen.

The celebrations inside Copenhagen Castle, and on fenced-off fields surrounding the city, were no less grand or debauched. In the presence of the King, his nobility, and all the foreign lords and dignitaries, only the finest foods and drink was served. The logistics were staggering: 35,000 glasses had been ordered to serve 230,000 bottles of wine, exotic spices, a grand numer of boar, oxen, cow, sheep, pigs, birds and fish, to say nothing of bread and cakes, 80,000 pieces of firework of varying size, and room for 3,000 horses had been arranged for the Kings court and his guests. Feasting, drinking and dancing occured every day, only interupted by the occasional trip to the countryside to hunt. One English gentleman described the celebrations: "I have been well-nigh overwhelmed with carousal and sports of all kinds. The sports began each day in such manner and such sort, as well nigh persuaded me of Mahomet's paradise. We had women, and indeed wine too, of such plenty, as would have astonished each sober beholder. Our feasts were magnificent. I think the Dane hath strangely wrought on our good English nobles; for those, whom I never could get to taste good liquor, now follow the fashion, and wallow in beastly delights. The ladies abandon their sobriety, and are seen to roll about in intoxication. I do often say (but not aloud.) that the Danes have again conquered the Britons, for I see no man, or woman either, that can now command himself or herself. My soul aches, I wish I was at home".

"Pope Serguis VI enters the tourney grounds"

But these were only the celebrations as took place in Copenhagen Castle, within the city itself. Just outside the walls, the fields had been prepared with pavilions and arenas for tourneys and other competitions. The King had instructed all his nobility to present themselves with their finest horses, livery, and armour, to show off the martial capability of his Kingdom. So that on the 3rd of September, after being delayed due to poor weather, the royal party arrived for 4 days of outdoor games. It began with thematic processions, known as "inventions", consisting of 27 fantastical wagon trains ladden with symbolism of a political, ideological, and theological nature; arranged by the wealthiest of the attendants, such as the King himself, a number of Danish nobles, aswell as the lords of Mecklenburg and Pommerania. The price for the most thorough invention went to the Elector of Brandenburg, whose invention was an allegorical depiction of the Mountain of Virtue: depicting first all the deadly sins, and then himself as the virtuous ruler who denied them, and seeking to pass his knowledge on to the youth.

The King himself arrived as the fictional Pope Serguis VI, modelled after Alexander VI, carried in an elaborate chair and accompanied by his courtiers dressed up as cardinals riding mules. Never one opposed to satire, and seeking to show off his benevolence and mercy, Christian (much to the embarassment of any nearby Catholics) engaged in a theatrical offer of "indulgences" to an assembled group of criminals, pardoning them in exchange for dropping a single coin into his purse. This would not be the only time he engaged in satirical dressup. Likewise, on the second day of the tourney, Christian arrived on horseback and sidesaddle in female attire dressed as a Queen, accompanied by young handsome male courtiers in pure virgin white dresses. These displays were meant to highlight the differences between those the King took to depict, and how he was in reality. Unlike a vain Catholic Pope, easily swayed by golden trinkets, Christian was a pious, just, and incorruptible Protestant lord. His dressing up as a Queen was meant as showing the confidence he, as a young man who had just become an adult, had in his own masculinity, and his soon-to-be (in)famous virility.

There could indeed soon be little doubt as to the Kings masculinity, exemplified by his martial ability. As the assembled nobility partook in the arranged games, and pranced around in all their livery to impress the ladies of court, over the course of 4 days Christian partook in no less than 110 contests, emerging as the winner in 95 of them. This opportunity to show off was pounced upon by all in attendance, particularly the Danish nobles whose martial ability would stand not just as testament to the strenght of Denmark to the other Princes of Europe, but also of their own strenght versus that of their new King. The nobility had not forgotten the attempts by Christians predecessors to curtail their authority, and they would be ready to defend that authority with violence against enemies both foreign and domestic. Lively melees, competitions of pistolier marksmanship, and equestrian games were all meant to hone their military skills. However, against much protest, the traditional joust was cancelled at the last minute: the death of King Henry II of France 37 years before was still within living memory, and the Riksraad would not tolerate the possibility of a similar fate befalling the new King. On the final night there was a grand display of fireworks, the centerpiece depicting a Turkish Castle, which Christian and other participants promptly charged at in full armour firing their pistols. Thus the games and celebrations came to an official end on September 7th.

Frederik II ordering the construction of Kronborg Castle

This was without a doubt the grandest, and most expensive, celebration ever held in Scandinavia. And by its purpose of showing off the wealth and strenght of the Danish Monarchy and its new King, amongst the Princes of Europe, it had been immensely succesful. But it was not entirely over yet. Thus, as the Danish nobility returned home, and the commoners returned to their daily misery, Christian rode north to Kronborg in Northern Sjælland, surrounding himself with the most exclusive company consisting of his foreign guests and most trusted advisors. This was by no means a random destination, in addition to being in the middle of the royal crownlands and hunting forests, Kronborg is also a mighty fortress overlooking the Sound, by which the King collects the epynemous toll. While the tourney had shown Denmarks might on land, Kronborg and the ships anchored off of it was a display of its equally, if not more formidable, might at sea. Viewing himself as the preeminent Protestant Prince of Europe, there is no doubt that Christian would make sure that this was not lost on his guests, as they continued to hunt and feast before returning home. Allowing Christian to focus on matters of state, finally ruling in his own name.

There was ofcourse also the matter of finding a suitable wife.

Sneakyflaps · Feb 24, 2023

Felipe or Philippe

As 1596 began to come to a close, His Majesty made his retreat to Paris, to the Louvre, where he would hold his winter court among the joys and gaieties of the greatest city in Europe. It was to be a Christmas celebration, much marred by setbacks in the North, and great feats against the Spanish in the south. Henri IV had risen to the call of the Crown, now holding court in the city that had so refused him until his conversion back to Catholicism. An act which had done much to heal the divisions within the Kingdom. Most importantly, it had allowed him to march from victory to victory. The Pope had lifted the excommunication, with Clement VIII finding accord together with the oldest daughter of the Church. His blessing taking much wind out of the sail of what was then the remainder of the Catholic League.

What little had remained following His Majesty's conversion, acceptance by the Pope and coronation, had continued their schemes as they plotted and resisted the authority of the King across France as they best they could manage. Yet they had become an annoyance in late 1594, rather than the existential threat that they had been during the early years of Henri's reign, and the later reign of the Valois. It had been a clear shift, with the assassinations of 1589 clearly having taken the breath away from all the various factions. Save the one led by the Bourbons. It had become most evident by the failure of the Guise faction to agree on a candidate to oppose the King. Along with the full opposition of Parlement to the Spanish Princess, along with that of Paris, which was otherwise the stronghold of the Catholic League.

Yet despite the lessened power of the League, and the refusal of the Spanish Infanta, it did not see the collapse of either the support of the latter's father or the formers final nail in the proverbial coffin. The remnants of the League, in their continued opposition and funded by the Spanish, used the pretext of opposition to the King's former Protestant leanings. It was to dispel such notions that Henri finally formally declared war upon Felipe II and all his domains in 1595, to show not just the French, but the world that any such claims by the Catholic League was nothing by a false cover for supporting a foreign state against the King. While His Majesty had secured the support of the wide margins of society, such as all the moderates and all but the most radicals, then said radicals remained. The former Protestants had now feared for their safety, and freedom of religion following Henri's conversion and coronation. As such, the declaration of war against the Spanish, was as much to show what had been his core base of support, that he had not merely become a Spanish or Catholic puppet upon his conversion.

From 1589 to 1595, there had been continuous conflict, sieges and battles between the royalists and the League. While this would continue during 1595 and 1596 on the larger scales, there remained two major differences, with one in both years. Both of which proved to be crucial for the path that France now on. The first and most important being the battle of Fontaine-Française. It was in the defense of France, as Don Velasco the Governor of Milan had brought an army into France, linking up with the Duke of Mayenne. They had hoped to move northwards, reaching for Dijon that they were to seize, thereby further securing the Spanish Road and proving a humiliating defeat for the King.

Charles of Lorraine, Duc de Mayenne, head of the house of Guise.

Between them they had an army of 12,000 men strong, only to fall in an ambush by the royalist forces led by King Henri himself, as he drove them back with a mere 3000 men. In which he lost about a third, while the Spanish and League forces lost near three fourths of their forces. A glorious victory which was only further cemented as it lead to the final negotiations to take place between the King and Mayenne, a Duke that had proven both a thorn and a blessing at times to the King, as he had been the leader of the Catholic League that had so opposed Henri.

The Duke of Mayenne was none other than Charles of Guise, the brother of the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Guise who had led the Catholic League until their assassinations on the orders of Henri III. As such Mayenne was the heir to one of the leading legacies of the civil war, and a leading politician in his own right. Yet despite all of it, he had never come close to the power or authority that his brother the Duke of Guise had held. Charles lacked the great charisma, as well as political acumen than his older brother possessed. Along with the passing of his younger brother the Cardinal, he had lost a leading voice within the Church. On the whole it had done much to reduce the power of the house of Guise, and this latest defeat had properly defanged and crippled them.

The peace agreement that His Majesty struck with Mayenne was not one of retribution. Mayenne was to be seen as incorporated once more back into the fold, to accept the claim of Henri. He was to serve as an example, that those who were former hardliners against the King, could find opportunity and a future in the France which was reforged by the Bourbons. It was thus that Mayenne came to accept, fully recognize and embrace Henri as his King. While Mayenne was given leave to keep the possession of Chalon-sur-Saone, Seurre and Soissons for another three years. Along with it, came the importance of Mayenne's young son, also named Henri, being made governor of Île-de-France along with an indemnity. An agreement struck which put an official end to the Catholic League, as others laid down their arms and without the name of Guise, it became harder to find support.

His Majesty would spend the rest of the year, along with most of 1596 subduing what remained against him, taking down one internal opponent after another until only one stood left; Philippe-Emmanuel, Duc de Mercœur. A man of Catholic belief who refused to lay down his arms, and hoped to carve out his own Crown from that of France. A man who had manage to rile up Brittany, leading the rebels of the region as the last bastion of internal opposition. All the while greater external forces had laid siege to the Kingdom.

Archduke Albert VII, commander of the armies of the Spanish Netherlands.

While the King had been busy laying the rest much of the enemies within France, the Tercios of Flanders had taken to the field of Northern France in vegence of the taking of Ham, which had seen the small Spanish garrison executed. Something the Spanish fully repaid when slaughtering the garrison and inhabitants of Doullens. The fall of Calais in 1596 had been particularly hurtful, as it was seen as vital for control over the Channel by the Triple Alliance, and a stronghold which helped prevent the Spanish from marching further south. Even though the sacking of Cadiz had done much to alleviate spirits, and did far more damage to the Spanish than the fall of Calais. The fact remained that the lack of French forces in said sack, ensured that it did not restore much to Henri IV.

As such, with Christmas celebrations underway, the King would met with the leading councilors of his government; Sully, Sillery, Neufville, Jeannin. Along with marshals; Brissac, Bouillon and Chârtre. The latter of whom, much like Mayenne had been a leading general of the Catholic League, who had joined the service of Henri IV in 94, following an indemnity and guarantees of his posts and positions. Together they would spend many hours pondering over maps of the Kingdom, moving about pieces representing the Spanish forces from Flanders, the rebels in Brittany and the royalist forces who were at the call of Henri. Their task was dreadfully simple, yet frightfully troublesome. Where would the focus of the coming years campaign be.

The decision that had to be made was which Philip to focus on, the Spanish or Mercœur. Both of which had great boons and detriments. The former, the King of the various Spanish Crowns, would be the greater challenge for the French Crown to overcome if battle was taken against them. An army could be gathered, yet the army of Flanders remained potent, well equipped and skilled in battle even if the sacking of Cadiz could reduce the financial abilities of the Spanish. Whereas Mercœur was the weaker of the two enemies, with his defeat meaning the end of internal division within the kingdom and the full focus on Felipe of Spain afterwards. Yet left the northeast at great risk to the Spanish armies, for even with defenders in place to contain them, and draw out any sieges they may attempt to muster, there was no denying that a great portion of France may be devastated before they would be dislodged.

Regardless of what choice would be made, victory in either would go a great way towards strengthening the position of the King, bringing an end to the religious wars.

Linbot · Feb 24, 2023

Báthory Zsigmond (b. 1573)
Prince of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldova, Count of the Székelys, and Lord of Part of the Kingdom of Hungary

Facing abusive impositions from his Turkish overlord, Prince Zsigmond brought Transylvania into the Holy League, an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire against the Turks, on 5 October 1594. Prince Zsigmond forced Wallachia and Moldova to submit to vassalage under him, and they joined the alliance as well.

Mihai, the ruler of Wallachia, and Zsigmond were able to defend Wallachia from a Turkish invasion in 1595 by winning the Battle of Giurgiu. However, Zsigmond and his Holy Roman allies have recently been decisively defeated in October 1596 by the Turks at Mezőkeresztes, putting the future of the struggle against the Turks in doubt. Although he considered abdicating, Zsigmond has decided to remain in the war against the Turkish menace.

John7755 يوحنا · Feb 25, 2023

Affairs of the Most Holy See - 1596-1597

The Counter Reform Presses into 1597

The Pontificate of Clement VIII reached its fifth year of auspicious rule in a divided Europe that the Holy See desperately sought to restore wholly into the fold of the Singular Catholic Church. Counter-Reform initiatives had been enacted in many lands, with the Holy See viewing with gladness the advance of the Counter-Reform in Bavaria and lands of the Catholic League within Germany and the continued sustaining of the Counter-Reform in Spain. As the Church entered into the year 1597, the regime of Clement VIII pressed the Counter Reformation for the continued reorganization and reclamation of Europe's religious identity.

In the Middle Ages, Catholic religiosity at local levels varied and manifold expressions of the religion existed. Common was the local saints and the local familial traditions surrounding small parishes, where rural agrarian saints, often unknown outside of that parish, held sway and the more fine "universal" saints were less known. Saints such as Rumwald of Buckingham, a baby saint who supposedly when born, spoke on the first day and gave a sermon and several miracles before dying on the third day and whose altars prior to Henry VIII were monumental, important and vast. While the Plague had done major damage to the religious life of rural Western Europe, a devastation that could be argued was never recovered from, rural religious devotion remained strong and peculiar to various regions. Key likewise in popular Catholic religion was the familial aspect of parishioner religion. Family cliques dominated the Church at local levels, with wealthy gentry clans controlling local appointments by having familial connections in monasteries and in the chapels that nominated candidates. With the local religiosity centered around localized saints and familial connections dominating church affairs, religious life in rural areas across the continent acted in parallels to the theologizing of the universities that had been created by Papal charter. Popular European peasantry lacked firm knowledge of religious topics, both for a lack of literacy, but also for the institution existing as a form of ritualized festivity for which the community communed in, as opposed to a distinct ideological framework imposed on the population at large.

Medieval Catholic dogma accepted this localized religious diversion as a reality and not negative per se. Focusing on the power of the Papal personae, the Church hierarchy stressed submission to the singular head of the Church as the primary and indeed the most important aspect to the Catholic religion. Everything else as part of the Catholic theology would be solved by submission to the Pope and then acceptance of the ritual symbolism of the Mass with annual confession. The preeminent canonists of the Middle Ages asserted that while theology was necessary, the most important part of religious observation was accepting a hierarchy of belief, wherein a person submitted to the knowledge of the superior and contented themselves with different castes of religiosity, expressed in different ways with different outcomes. Famed Pontiffs such as Innocent III described the nature of the Pope as 'mediator between man and god' and that the Pope was 'god unto Pharaoh' and hence submission or observation of the Papal sanctioned rituals was, in effect, the religion and that the Pope had become the 'sun' or god for the whole of Europe. Aquinas and Hostiensis described this fully when they both argued that the Pope held 'two natures' and 'two powers' that of human power that was 'ordinary' and a 'divine power' to alter reality with complete infallibility often summarized under the term 'ex cathedra' or 'from the throne.' Throne in that case referencing not only the seat of the Bishop, but the throne of the divine himself in heaven, for which the Pope sits as earthly representation or magistrate. Thus, the Catholic religion of the Middle Ages was a sort of loosely connected series of localized parishes of immense mass surrounding a small core held by a highly educated literate class and a so-called divine priest-king (Pope).

The old system of the Middle Ages however had long declined and decayed primarily due to the influence of the plague and political setbacks of the Papacy related to the Western Schism (1378-1415). Protestant religious expression challenged the old system already dying and caused its destruction and forced change within the Catholic Church. While the Protestant missionaries and thinkers had hoped to fully sweep Europe into a tide of religious reform, they had inadvertently awakened the Papacy and the Catholic universities into reactive reform of their own. Protestant ideology relied upon the notion that the common people must be educated in religion, that 'pagan' or non-Christian customs of the peasantry must be erased and replaced with a firmly Christian dogma alongside a rejection of Papal dominion over the lives of religion across Europe. Finally, Protestant asserted doctrines focused upon either 'faith alone' or 'total depravity' depending on the flavor of Protestant (Calvinist or Lutheran related). The Catholic Church asserted that agreement to the doctrine of 'faith alone' was impossible and hence, a reconciliation with Protestants at large was impossible, but the Catholic Church implicitly agreed or at least accepted the necessity to reform the Church in manners not dissimilar to the Protestant urges. Purging of the non-Christian elements in religiosity in Europe and in developing uniformity across Europe and the wider Catholic world.

Uniformity of the Catholic Church would emerge not from the Apostolic Seat in Rome, which originally had haphazard methods to deal with Protestantism such as 'ignoring its existence,' but from universities where educated minds developed new notions of the Catholic Church. Envisioning a Catholic religion not as a vast sea of localized expressions of Catholic faith surrounding a central core in Rome, they saw the Church as a uniform organ whose emanation emerged from Rome and spread uniformly across all of Europe, touching all and granting all Europeans a singular religion. A singular religion in turn would provide a solid base for a single moral framework that both empowered the priestly classes and also reform the 'poor morals' of the population at large which in the view of this new variety of canonists, had caused the corruption of Protestantism. One way that the uniformity was argued by new canonists was that the submission to the Pope was expanded not only to acceptance of his rituals and political submission (gradually weakened), but instead submission was expressed by ideological acceptance and the fulfillment of a broad set of new objectives which had to be fulfilled. Objectives such as the regular attendance of Mass, acceptance of baptism immediately upon birth, adoption of more 'correct' urban Christian morals, marriage shifts and the reversal of local folkways that had maintained their existence in European rural settings (such as practice of 'magic' by peasants or other folk customs such as adopting local saints without clerical approval).

Counter Reform thus engaged with the local ways of Europe and had in its first 6 decades combatted local customs and sought to the reform of the Church, towards greater clerical control. One of the most important objectives of the Counter Reform outside of educating the Catholic practitioner in correct faith and morality, was the shifting of marriage rites. Traditional marriages in Medieval Europe and into the 16th and 17th century remained affairs of arrangement, with clans marrying into each other for purposes of local alliance and or men marrying into clans for various purposes. These arrangement marriages were a major threat to the new sort of Reformed Catholic mindset in that these clans promoted a 'loyalty to the family' over 'loyalty to the Church.' Members of clans in local European areas remained loyal to their families over bureaucratic institutions, and thus priests, monks and so forth would act as aides for those outside of the Church, providing support to them. In order to break up the power of local clans and to enforce a more bureaucratic control of the Church and to conform the populace more fully to Catholic theology, a policy of breaking the clans was applied across Catholic Europe at local levels with vast action and huge effort. Most important for the Church was the enforcement of families to attend the Church more frequently for various rituals that previously were not attended to as regularly. Births were forced to be recorded and with the record, the Church would enforce baptism within the first three days; previously custom in Europe was to baptize whenever and was not a specified ritual that was forced upon the populace. Marriage recording were made a necessary requirement, as the Church forced marriages to occur in Churches officiated by clerics. Traditionally, arranged marriage protocol did not require or utilize priests in the officiating and rituals surrounding marriage related to the transfer of one spouse to a different house and the payment of dowries and swearing of oaths between then families of both parties. Imposing the notion that marriages were only 'true' when accepted and recorded by the Church, weakened the marriage customs of the rural populations and developed a more individualistic marriage arrangement that appealed to the new mentalities of Church officials (due to their new views relating the idea that each person enters the Cathedral as an individual instead of as a group as it was previously in popular Catholicism in the Middle Ages). Now, a person could in theory marry without familial consent through the Church authorities; such a reality however was not fully realized, but the seed of a firmly individualized and nuclear romantic and familial arrangements were being built by the Catholic Church.

Aside for the reform of the Catholic population that the Church focused upon in Europe, the Catholic Counter Reformation held as its key component the suppression of heresy, most notably the Protestant heresy and the spread of the Catholic faith beyond its current boundaries. For that matter, the Papacy took an active role through its many monastic or clerical institutions to both spread the religion, infiltrate other countries and to impose through governmental institutions the Catholic faith on heretical of infidel populations. Greatly affected by the experience of Catholic polities in Iberia, which expelled or forcibly converted Muslim and Jewish communities once in majority, the Church sought to establish a similar model.

Where the Catholic faith was concerned, the spread of the religion varied by the situation. While the goal of the Counter Reform was indeed the spread of the Catholic faith, the forms that took varied by region and circumstance. When the Church was weak in a region or especially if the monarch of that area was heretical, a policy of appeasement was often taken or otherwise observed. For instance, the government of Clement VIII asserts the necessity, not of the rise of a Catholic monarch to England, but at the least a 'freedom of religion' within Protestant England. When the religion of the region is diverse and or Catholicism is in a minority, a policy of free conversion is adopted where Catholic missionary orders such as the Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuit combat the local religious tradition in debate and convert the population through a concerted and bureaucratic approach at many different levels. Finally, when the Catholic faith is completely dominant (such as the Kingdom of Spain), the inquisition is imposed that seeks too crush local heresy wherever it emerges and quarantining dangerous information that may harm the Church. Key in all of these approaches is that the Catholic Church must have the alliance with the ruling government.

In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was often at odds with the monarchs of Europe for various reasons, that rarely amounted to theological or moral concerns. When the chief concern of religious framing was that all Catholics must submit to total Papal political absolutism, the institution of monarchy and the nobility in Europe often was at odds with Papal universal empire. However, as the Counter Reform emerged, the focus became the uniformity of belief and ideology, as opposed to political submission to the central Papal Court. The shift in Papal and Clerical goals allowed a newfound partnership between Church and state that did not truly exist in the Middle Ages, where both institutions battled each other or subverted the other where possible. Monarchical power benefitted from the new partnership by contracting tasks to the Church for creating uniformity in the populace, as well as imposing loyalty to the monarch and in the precise recording of information to better account for taxes and the raising of armies.

Therefore, through the growing alliance of Church and state, a growing trend in the Counter Reformation was the support of monarchy and of monarchical absolutism that the Church had previously awarded only to the Pope. Kings were suddenly conceded by the Church a level of infallibility that was previously unique to clerical positions or, in Imperialist circles, only to the Holy Roman Emperor. Reality of the Church re-sacralizing monarchy provided immense benefits to the kingdoms of France, Spain, and Poland-Lithuania, with the respective monarchies being emboldened by Church polemic that allowed them the support of clerical authorities to not only impose greater centralization in their countries, but also to enforce their power upon the landed nobility. Hence the rush by the Holy See to sanctify and support king Henry IV of France in 1595 and their continued support of the French king, even against the Catholic League.

Therefore, we come to a last plank of the growing Counter Reformation in Europe, the admission of a form of Clerical Universalism (ostensibly described as Catholic) and rejection of universal monarchy in Europe that is differentiated from the Church itself. Partnership with monarchy was indeed an agenda, but when monarchy became too great, not too great in its internal power within a country, but in its universal dominion across Europe as a whole, the partnership of Church and State declined. Universal monarchies outside of the Pope often implied or actively asserted the replacement of Catholic universalism with that of an 'Imperial Universalism' that to the clerical establishment in many universities and in Rome, amounted to a replacement of the Pope with a secular monarch, an arrangement worse than even the situation in England for the Church (which still understood the Pope as not simply the leader of the church, but the central figure emanating religion and correct rituals, without him Catholicism was abolished). Therefore, the Papacy had great issues with the major three universal empires within Western and Central Europe of the period, namely the Ottoman Empire, and the two Habsburgs in Spain or Austria.

While the Ottoman problem was related to the normal hatred of the 'other' and of the Mohammedan religion, the particular vitriol between the Holy See and the Ottoman Empire was related greatly to the competing notions of universal power. In the past, the Papacy had neutral or positive relations with Muslim polities, and promoted policies of 'appeasement.' However, the Ottoman Empire acted not only as a Muslim polity with its peculiar religion, but promoted a wholesale imperial project that claimed to subsume all religions, cultures, ethnicities and countries under a single 'Sublime Porte.' Papal resistance to the Ottoman Empire lied not in religious quarrel only, but in the battle of universal empire of the Sublime Porte and the Catholic Church itself.

Pope Pius V officiating the Coalition victory against the Ottomans at Lepanto

Of similar nature, the Holy See saw the danger of the Christian universal empires emerging on either side of the Papal Seat, one in Austria-Bohemia and the other in Spain. Habsburg universalism as a concept emerged not uniquely from their household, but from their predecessors, the Hohenstaufen and those before them. Through maternal lineages, the Habsburg derived their lineage from the Hohenstaufen who likewise held maternal lineage to the Salian, all of whom asserted the notion that the Emperor was 'god on earth' or a similar formulation. Key in all respects was that the Imperialist view of the world developed by the Hohenstaufen, was that loyalty to the Emperor, as opposed to any moral or religious conformity, was the critical organization for the state of affairs in Europe.

According Emperor Frederick II, the Emperor is bestowed with a 'light (or aura) from Heaven' to 'rule all the world' and that while the monarchy originated from a time prior to Christianity, it was bestowed a primordial power to rule over all the world and to order it. Key was that the Empire to Frederick II was something that existed prior to the establishment of the Christian Church and received a unique mandate to rule over the universe wholly. While Frederick II was ultimately defeated by the Papacy and the male lineage of the Hohenstaufen extinct, their deeds and bloodline remained strong in the veins of the Habsburg household which remains fully cognizant of their Hohenstaufen predecessors. Charles V attempted to bring forth a unification of Europe and with it the realization of a singular Empire over the 'whole world.' Spanish Habsburg gains in America and in Asia gave the basis for an even larger and more expansive universal monarchy of 'planet rule' that layered upon the existing Holy Roman Imperialist conceptions of a single empire over all of Europe. Dreams of the Habsburg household not only ruling the Empire, but the entire world. Papal and Church authorities could not countenance the victory of Universal Empire in Europe, whether Christian or Muslim that differentiated or existing independently of the Papal figure; indeed according to the Counter Reform, only one figure could be universal, the Pope and he alone.

Such a background will form the future of Europe, whether this will continue and or be changed is question for all in the Western World.

John7755 يوحنا · Feb 26, 2023

Ahmad Sirhinid, the great reformer of Islam in Central Asia and India

As Islam reached its first millennium in the year of 1592, the whole of the Islamic world was expectant of the Mahdi, an Islamic eschatological figure who would conquer and subdue the world alongside Jesus (Yahya al-Masih) and establish the coming of the 'End Times.' Prior to the establishment of the Millennium, Islamic movements emerged across the Islamic world stating in clear terms that the End Times was nearing and with it, the arrival of the Mahdi, whose appearance was taken up by many new movements that emerged in the 16th century. Likewise, powerful monarchs, impassioned and expectant of the coming Mahdi, decreed themselves 'World Poles' and or 'Physical Kaabas' that is beings for whom the world would revolve around and whose rulership was required for salvation to occur in the Islamic world.

First of the most prominent Mahdi claimants came in the form of the ecstatic Shi'ite movements of the Turkmen peoples of Azerbaijan, eastern Anatolia and the Zanjani hill country of Iran. Haidar Dervish Safavi, a Sufi mystic commander and religious leader in Azerbaijan, expectant of the coming millennium and inspired by a conversion to a form of radical Shi'ism, declared himself the Dervish and Leader of the Safavid Order which rapidly spread as an expanding power in the region of Azerbaijan. Under the reign of Haidar's son, Ismail Shah Safavi, the Safavid came to not only rule Azerbaijan, but to conquer Mesopotamia, Persia, Khursan and push deeply into Afghanistan. The rise of Is'mail was cut short by the victory of Selim I at Chaldiran in 1514, but the Safavid movements conquest of Iran had profound effects on the entire Islamic world.

Since the destruction of the Fatimid movement and the suppression of the Nizari Imamate by the Ilkhanate during the 14th century, Shi'ia Islam had seen a precipitous decline and a general Sunni hegemony lingered about in the halls of power. Shi'ite Turkmen, Persians, Arabs and so forth remained in Taqqiyyah (a state of defensive deception wherein you do not state your true religious beliefs for safety). Even with the brief period of Ilkhan and Qara Qoyunlyu Shi'ite belief, Shi'a Islam remained on the fringes and weakened in the halls of power and outpaced. All of this changed with the Safavid movement and its 'Universal World Dervish' Ismail Shah Safavi, who refused to hide his beliefs and instead launched an offensive war of vengeance against Sunni Muslims and in ecstasy, his movement declared the 'Qiyama' (period when Islamic laws no longer apply) and that he would usher in a new age as the Mahdi. A new age was indeed upon Islam, however, the actions of the Safavid would instead awaken the lingering sectarianism that had long existed in the Islamic world.

While the 'Mahdi' and 'Universal Dervish' was appearing in Iran, Sufi mystics of a broadly Sunni character countered the claims of the Safavid, which had with so much vigor, established an empire seemingly from nothing. To combat the return of a vibrant Shi'ite movement and Islamic culture separated from Sunni Islamic authority, a revival of Sunni Islam in different forms occurred in the Ottoman Empire and in Central Asia-South Asia.

In the Ottoman Empire, beginning with Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) the powerful Sufi movement of the Khalwati bestowed upon the Padishah titles of universal rule over the entire world. Claiming that the Padishah was the 'Representation of the Kaaba' they asserted that the monarch was the 'Pole of the World' for whom all beings must be united under. Ecstatic Sufi mystics across the Balkans and Anatolia proclaimed the 'Age of Universality' in which the Padishah would reorder all things and bring it all under a single Islamic rule and hence, end all chaos in preparation for the Qiyama and thus the end of the world. The Khalwati movement had been handsomely supported by Ottoman monarchs since the reign of Bayezid II (1481-1511) and after 1566, the movement acted as nearly the official ideology of the Ottoman palace. However, while the Khalwati movement advocated adherence to Sharia and resistance to the Shi'ite resurgence across the Middle East, the form of resistance and countering that the Sublime Porte would officially offer against the Shi'ite movement of the Safavid would become focused around the Padishah himself.

Unable to divorce the concept of Padishah from al-Din (religion), the Ottoman monarchy asserted during the reign of Suleiman the concept of universal monarchy beyond simply the Byzantine or Persianate conception and created a unique blend of Sufi mysticism, Roman Imperialism and Persianate sacerdotal kingship to create a comprehensive ideology of world rule. Within such a system, the religious ideology of a person increasingly was of less concern, as much as submission and 'orbit' around the Padishah. Sunni Sufi movements such ash Khalwati proclaimed the Padishah to be the 'World Pole' and 'Padishah' (enslaver of kings); Jewish movements referred to the Padishah as a form of 'Messiah;' Orthodox Christians in the empire referred to the Padishah as 'God on Earth' and the 'Divinely Appointed Emperor;' and the Shi'ite Bektashi Order (for which all Janissary were part of) referred to the Padishah as their 'Imam of Perfection.' All of these otherwise contradictory religious claims coalesced and molded to the already diverse assortment of titles that the Padishah held, Great Khan (title of Genghis Khan), King of Kings, Emperor of Rome, Padishah and Caliph, into a monarchy that quite literally had not the capability in ideological terms to rule all humans within the Western World.

Padishah Suleiman the Magnificent

Perhaps of equal importance, both for the Ottoman Empire and in the Safavid Empire, was the development of the Islamic revival in Central Asia and in India. Within this world, two separate orders of Sufi mysticism would come to dominate and paint the image of Islamic thought in the region, namely the Naqshbandi and the Chishti Movements, each holding origins in the previously eastern fringes of the Islamic world. The older of the two, the Chishti Movement understood the coming of the Islamic Millennium in much the same way as the Khalwati in the Ottoman Empire, namely, that a world restorer would appear to establish a universal empire over the whole world. Chishti as a movement held firmly to the belief that understanding Allah required one to 'lose oneself' within the 'Oneness of Being' and that open tolerance, love and compassion to all beings would lead towards a renewal of the soul and thus, a person could 'commune with Allah' directly. Members of the Chishti promoted tolerance of all peoples, universal love and service to the people as well as the losing of all possessions. For five centuries, the movement had become a staple in South Asia, spreading amongst the lower classes of India and becoming the predominant form of Sufi mysticism amongst native Muslims not of Persian or Turkic extraction and especially dominant in the Bengal region but as the Millennium approached, the order's statements began to shift.

The shift came in the form of the rise of the Great Moghuls in Hindustan. A meteoric rise of the Great Moghul ruler Akbar Shah e-Azam, had taken the formerly unstable and 'small' Mughal domain to being the largest realm in South Asia since the decline of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century. Akbar Shah e-Azam, inspired by an inquisitive mind and the adoption of a peculiarly archaic form of Persianate sacred kingship (given to him by Abdul Fazl, the likely formerly Zoroastrian Persian Grand Vizier of the Mughal empire during the the reign of Akbar Shah e-Azam), took on the role of universal monarch in India. Originally, the Mughal monarch took toward the promotion of himself as simply a sacred ruler in the 'Sassanian' tradition, whose legitimacy was determined by the presence of an 'aura' or 'light' from Heaven that ordained the ruler as king of all, but as the Millennium approached, Chishti mystics began to whisper and call outwards and the inquisitive Akbar Shah e-Azam listened intently. The Padishah increasingly came to adopt the ideals of the Chishti Order, portraying himself as a 'saint' in addition to his role as a sacred king and promoted the order across India. However, in promotion of the Chishti Order, the Mughal Padishah crossed a threshold in the coming of the Millennium when he declared the formation of a vision of Islam within his 'Din-i Allahi (Divine Religion) that synthesized the Persianate sacerdotal kingship focused on 'light from Heaven' and the Sufi mysticism of the Chishti Order.

Resulting from the religious reform and synthesis of Akbar Shah e-Azam was the forming of a peculiar worship of the sun as a radiant source of divine energy that will later be termed 'a cult of the sun' and the assertion of a universality of both empire and religion. All paths would inevitably lead to unity with God under the divine rule of the 'Divine Padishah' who was conveniently, the Great Moghul Padishah Akbar Shah e-Azam. The form of monarchy that Akbar Shah e-Azam asserted not only pertained to the universality of his realm however, but also applied to the implicitly elitist structure of the world to the Padishah. Akbar Shah e-Azam's court of zealous supporters upheld the notion that the religiosity of the monarch, his saintly existence and universal compassion was applied to all of the subjects, regardless of their religion and in this sense, the Mughals adopted the European monarchist conception of the 'body politick.' Inspired by Jesuits who described the suffering of Jesus and the imposition of the sins of mankind upon Jesus on the Cross and then the breaking of these sins through salvation, Akbar envisioned himself as a literal Christ, a Savior of the World and a being whose perfection would only take on & nullify the sins of his subjects, but also act as the metaphorical religion for all of the world.

Akbar Shah-Azam in 1597

In contrast to the emergence of this new religion and mode of syncretic thought found in the court of Agra, a revival of Sunni Islamic mysticism emerged in the Punjab. Ahmad Sirhindi, a prominent Sufi of the Naqshbandi movement began a series of preaching and activism starting in the 1580s critiquing the religious reforms of Akbar Shah e-Azam and condemning Shi'ites. The Naqshbandi Sufi movement began in the 14ht century within Central Asia amongst the Tajik and became rapidly an official ideology for much of the Turkic Muslim of Central Asia, especially Timur the Great (1370-1405) and the Uzbek Great Khan Muhammad Shaybani (1488-1510). While the Chishti implicitly asserted that Allah emanted through the monarch and hence the laws of the king were essentially Sharia, the Naqshbandi asserted the need for the imposition of a legitimate Sharia law system and the adherence to traditional Islamic mores relating to legalism. As such, the Naqshbandi held distinction as the 'orthodox' Sufi movement in the region, whereas the Chishti were too innovative and the Qadriyya were too conservative or restrictive.

Ahmad Sirhindi's tracts against the Padishah exploded in the 1580s, noting that as the Islamic Millennium passed, there was a need to 'return' to correct Islam and to most importantly, wage jihad and become 'ghazi' for the sake of Islam. The ideas of Sirhindi, independently of the direct orders of the Mughal Padishah, have inspired massive outpouring of religious revival across Afghanistan, the Indus Valley, Kashmir and Central Asia. No better example of this is seen in the start of a series of state and private jihads waged across the region against Shi'ite Muslim and heterodox movements. In Kashmir alone, thousands of Shi'ite have been murdered in mass lynching under the influence of the growing influence of the revivalist Naqshbandi and in Afghanistan, low scale wars between tribes have taken on religious nature as Sunni Pashtun attempt to purge Hazarat Shi'ites with violence and genocide. Equally so, the greatest adherent of the ideas of Ahmad Sirhindi, Abdallah Khan Shaybani, the Khan of the Uzbek, the strongest power in Western Central Asia maintains a systematic imposition of Sunni Islam across his large and populous realm.

Abdallah Khan Shaybani especially has taken upon himself the role of 'Muhjahid' (jihadist) and waged a continual religious war against the Safavid empire. Since the inception of the religious war in 1587, at the behest of a fatwa of jihad against the Safavid by Ahamad Sirhindi, the Ubzek have slain thousands upon thousands of Shi'ite in Iran and in neighboring areas and gone onto force the Khiva Khanate into vassalage, conquer Khorasan and many other lands from the Safavid and most importantly, the Uzbek have destroyed the city of Mashdad in Iran in 1595. The holy city of Mashdad, the resting place of Imam Rezza, a holy figure of Twelver Shi'ism was destroyed by the Uzbek, with the tombs and shrines defaced and defecated upon. Meanwhile, the entire city of Mashdad was destroyed, with 2,000 killed for refusal to convert, 4,000 taken as slaves and 2,000 converted Sunni Muslims abandoned to die in the desert by the Uzbek, alongside the wholsale burning of the rest of the city, leaving a hollow husk. The continued success of the Uzbek under the mantle of jihad aggrandizes the fame of Ahmad Sirhindi and the Naqshbandi grows monthly in its conversions across the region. Likewise, Muslim nobles, courtiers and scholars increasingly find greater commonality with Ahmad Sirhindi and his program of religious revival than they do with their 'god king' Akbar Shah e-Azam, the Great Moghul, with some saying that even the crown prince Selim Mirza Moghul having adopted the ideas of Ahmad Sirhindi.

Few know the outcome as Islam enters into a new age and era within the second millennium; will Islam be renewed in zealous jihad (Naqshbandi), renewed through a universal dervish bringing forth the Qiyyama (Safavid), a supreme universal Padishah as the world conqueror (Ottoman) or under the reformation of religion in the form of a saint-divine king representative of a divine light (Great Mughal).

Abdallah Khan Shaybani year 1596

@baboushreturns , @Redtape , @Qastiel

Tyrell · Feb 27, 2023

The House of Vasa

The Polish Branch of House Vasa

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Taming of a Realm

PART TWO

1596

Sigismund's reply to the events in Sweden was swift. It was a shocking sight to many courtiers, the quiet and introverted nature of Sigismund and his preference for acting via his councilors had left many with the wrong impression of the man who wore the crown. They thought him weak, he proved them wrong.

In just a short week the King would have his reply dispatched to all officials in all the realms he held.
The title of Duke was stripped from Karl, he was branded as a rebel, his holdings were no longer his, and Sigismund had begun gathering a Sejm in Warsaw. The Sejm would accept the King's request to them and the Hussar Banners would be called up. These forces would amount to around 5,000 strong and they were placed by the Grand Hetman of the Crown under the command of the King and his officers.

While the Sejm would provide their support, the Papal advisors of Sigismund would dispatch their own aid. German mercenaries with experience from the conflict between Spain and the Dutch cities would find themselves employed by the Expedition from the Papacy's coin. While a small core of hardened officers was all this initially amounted to, more mercenaries were on their way and a small army was forming. A notable officer among these men was Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. A junior officer but one with talent and connections.

This Polish force would be augmented by the loyal supporters that still rallied to Sigismund within Finland. Led by Admiral Klaus Fleming, these men would provide an additional pillar of strength to Sigismund's plans, lurking within a few days' sailing distance to Stockholm, they provided a dangerous threat to Karl's fledgling reign as King of Sweden. To make matters worse for Karl and his rebels, Sigismund did not delay himself, leaving the German mercenaries who were still forming themselves up properly, he would sail with his Polish soldiers at once with just a few of the German officers joining him.

Karl would be left stunned as his own slowly forming army was ill-prepared for the arrival of Sigismund just a two days march to the gates of Stockhom. Karl would abandon the city that night, retreating with two-thirds of the Riksdag southwards. Sigismund would enter the city of Stockholm unopposed, the Burghers of the city throwing a grand festival in his honor where he was granted the keys to the city. Sigismund's army would swell from these successes, a third of the Riksdag staying behind to proclaim their loyalty to him alongside Stockholm's burghers.

Unfortunately, all of this good news did not mean an end to Karl's rebellion. Karl would still continue to field an army, withdrawing to his lands in the south where he would begin drilling his troops for the inevitable clash. Worse news was still to come however from Finland. While the Kingdom of Sweden was wracked with civil strife, the Tsar and his master, Godunov, had acted against them. An army had crossed into Finland and now Sigismund had to deal with not just a rebellious Duke and kinsman, but also a foreign invader.

Vald · Feb 28, 2023

The Grandest Bachelor in Christendom

Coat of Arms of Christian IV

Celebrations following the coronation have only just started to die down, as couriers are dispatched from Copenhagen to the courts of Europe, in search of a wife for His Majesty, Christian IV. The life of a King without an heir is a risky one, and with conflict and civil strife going on in nearby Sweden, Christian seeks to secure the stability and future succession of his Kingdom. As one of the grandest princes of Europe, there are sure to be many suitors, but owing to his position the King is allowed to entertain equally grand standards. A potential lady-wife must thus be pious, of childbearing age, and capable of entertaining both the King and his court with an educated wit. Any Queen of Denmark must naturally be an adherent of Evangelicalism, such that if they do not already subscribe to the tenets of an Evangelical Church, they must convert and be inducted into the Church of Denmark. And then ofcourse there is always the matter of her bringing along a fitting dowry...

John7755 يوحنا · Feb 28, 2023

The Spanish Armada buckles in England on the 1st of November 1596

The Sacred Conflict

The Planet King Philip II of Spain had ruled a vast imperial domain succeeding the successions of his father Emperor Charles V and successfully subdued further gains in the New World. While Philip had succeeded in much lands, his grip frayed over many lands and the state of Spain, once solidly the strongest power in Christendom, was declining visibly. Philip II had oversaw a pivot of the Madrid court from a more tolerant and or ambivalent form of monarchy towards religious issues of his father and towards an increasingly radically Catholic position. Asserting the full truth of the Council of Trent, Philip II made his court the spreader of 'true Christianity' and as 'warriors of the faith' regardless of what the Papacy wished. Claiming the title of Protector of the Faith in addition to his Planet King motif, Philip II saw himself as the temporal master of Christendom, a status envied by many.

While the Court of Madrid promoted a harder and harder line of Catholicism, the various territories of the Habsburg fell to Protestantism or resisted efforts by Philip's court to centralize his Burgundian Succession territories. Netherlands was the prime center for the rebellion against both the centralization of Philip's court and also of hardline resistance to Catholic ideology. Over the course of Philip's reign, war was waged to subdue the Netherlands and likewise to wage furious campaigns against the English queen Elizabeth, two of which had failed utterly by the year 1596. The battle against the two intrepid realms, the Netherlands and England, another kingdom was embroiled in chaos.

The Kingdom of France had saw its own chaos begin in the year 1562 over the dispute of the Catholic monarch and peasantry, arrayed against the heavily Calvinist nobility, especially in the southern part of the kingdom. Since 1576 with the death of Charles IX, the French kingdom became increasingly brutal as the monarchy attempted to balance the affairs of the divergent religious views to no avail. Failure of king Henry III to oversee a policy of balance and neutral royalism was resisted by the creation of the Catholic League by the Guise Family, which arrayed a large following of clergy, peasants and nobles with foreign backing from Philip II to force Henry III to restore the power of the Church and to impose the 'correct faith' upon the Calvinists.

Scheming and lack of an heir by Henry III worsened the situation in France and led to the collapse of the Valois Dynasty in 1589 when Henry III perished without an heir. Henry III declared, despite the chaos in the country, Henry of Bourbon, a Calvinist to be the new king of France, outwardly displaying his sympathy for Calvinism on his deathbed. Henry of Bourbon received the crown and with his support in Southern France and the majority of the nobility, launched a war of counterattack against the Catholic League with support from England and the Netherlands. Disunity in the Catholic League over who was the legitimate king stalled their process and ultimately weakened their cause, whilst the secession attempts by Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercoeur for a 'kingdom of Brittany' sponsored hatred in royalist circles that may have otherwise supported the Catholic League. Therefore, Henry of Bourbon made considerable gains as the Catholic League relied heavily on its Spanish sponsor, both monetarily and materially.

Nevertheless, Henry of Bourbon despite victories, failed to capture Paris and vast unpopularity for his reign in the north stymied his otherwise successful campaigns. Catholic populations in the north, neither supporting Henry of Bourbon or the Catholic League, rejected Henry of Bourbon and continually halted stable accession for Henry of Bourbon. Realizing the inevitability of the situation and impossibility of the accession of a Calvinist king in Paris, Henry of Bourbon converted to Catholicism in 1594 and was accepted by the city of Paris as king and officially was recognized by Paris as Henry IV. Of equal importance, Pope Clement VIII rescinded the excommunication of Henry IV and gave his official approval for Henry IV alongside providing offers to mediate the end of conflict in Spain in 1595. After ascending in 1594 and receiving Papal support, the French king declared war on Spain officially in recognition of Spain's vast support to the Catholic League, leading to panic in Madrid.

Despite the efforts of Philip II, the French kingdom had managed to squirm out of its grasp and denied it a victory in France. Increasingly problematic was that Spain faced an alliance of England, France and Netherlands (Triple Alliance) which swore to break the Spanish empire if the Spanish continued war. Desperately, on the 24th of October, Philip II dispatched another invasion of England with the Armada, hoping that the Irish rebellion had distracted the English enough to cause a victory where prior invasions failed. Much to the tragedy of the Madrid court, the Spanish Armada was driven off course by a storm once more and failed to gain any victories. Spanish situation was one of immeasurable debt and defeatism; while they failed in many fronts a small victory was needed in other areas.

Despite having swore in treaty to never make peace without the other members of the Triple Alliance, Henry IV desired peace over anything else. Spurned on by the Holy See and the French nobility, the French king entered into secret negotiations for peace with Spain. Philip II quickly accepted the terms of the French in the following:

1. Return to the 1559 borders between France and Spain-Habsburg domains
2. Ending Spanish support for the Catholic League
3. Philip II recognizes Henry IV as king of France
4. Spanish soldiers withdraw from the French kingdom, returning all captured or occupied forts, towns, cities and locales.

The peace treaty would provide the Spanish greater dynamism to act against England and Netherlands, while also providing its creditors a good omen. Meanwhile, France gained enormously, as France could begin the arduous process of rebuilding the country after over 4 million were killed in the chaos since 1562 with the population of France significantly declined. Those who suffer are the English and Netherlands, who have been betrayed by their ally for whom they had given much support to....

@Andre Massena , @Sneakyflaps , @Vitalian , @Velasco

King Philip II of Spain and King Henry IV of France

Sneakyflaps · Mar 1, 2023

The Road to Peace

As the French diplomats were eagerly engaged with their allies, the Dutch Republic and the English Crown, the French eagerly pushing for the continuation of the conflict, a different envoy made it underway towards the South. One that was intended to the very target which the French, while discussing matters with their allies, had been eager to fight. The truth of the matter was, France was by and large spent, the war against the Spanish not to mention the decades of civil war having left it ravaged. The fight against the Spanish was well worth it, for His Majesty did not regret the choices he had made. It had made it clear to his subjects that he was not a Catholic puppet, and he had ensured that the Catholic League could no longer hide their connection to Spain.

Though while the reluctance of the English, especially the Queen of England, played a part in the decision of Henry IV to negotiate. This especially came about as she became a less, if not faithful, then reliable partner in the fight against the Spanish should her view remain the same. While her courtiers, especially the Essex faction was desirous of continued war, then the anger of the sovereign and her opposition to the continued conflict, would only in the eyes of the French leave it a matter of time before supplies would be cut. Even if the Dutch had coin and men to spare, then they would desperately need it themselves.

Though while the actions of the allies of Henry IV played a role, neither were decisive in the decision making of the King. The simple matter was that France herself needed peace and quiet. It needed rest from the many decades of conflict that had laid the country low. The King in particular needed peace and quiet so that he may have the chance to rebuild what was lost, and restore France to the prosperity that it had known in the past. It could not sustain extended wars against Spain. While the Dutch stood to extend their territory, while they stood to fight the Spanish and win conquests, that was not an option for France. While the Spanish could not strike into the heart of France, France could not strike against the Spanish. There was no question that France would stand to gain land, to secure new towns, and as such continued war of conquest, and fights against the Spanish army would inevitably turn into fighting for other powers.

As such when negotiations begun to unfold, and the terms being favourable to the French Crown, there was little doubt. The recognition of Henry IV, the withdrawal of the Spanish forces and the end of support to the Catholic League ensured that France had achieved all that it could from forces of arms. Regardless of how long France may fight to continue the conflict, no more would be able to be achieved. The cost by peace now would be far lesser, than the many lives lost, and by achieving peace alone, the King showed to the Catholics what he had earlier proven to the Protestants. The King was no puppet of the Protestants. As such, the ultimate peace being secured, the King was left with no option but to accept, as the King's eyes turned their attention towards the West and the question of Brittany.

Henri IV as Hercules, vanquishing the Hydra (The Spanish, Catholic and Protestant Leagues that so plagued France).

Korona · Mar 2, 2023

الامر
A Poem by the Sultan of Morocco

O my beloved, O Muhammad
May prayers and blessings be upon Muhammad
O Lord, Compassionate and Merciful
We hear your command loudly
May prayers and blessings be widespread
And heard in the Heavens and Earth
So that we may surpass the rain and sands of the sea
For the love of Muhammad is greater
May prayers and blessings be upon Muhammad
Prayers that cannot be enumerated
For they are more than the dust and rage of the desert
In supplication of Muhammad
All hearts cannot
Name all the benedictions
Nor count the gifts
That were bestowed upon Muhammad
May prayers and blessings be upon Muhammad
The Lord of Greatness said
That He would not create a world across the sea
Nor darkness or light
Had it not been for the great love of Muhammad
O my beloved, O Muhammad
There would be neither New World nor Old
No Realm of Islam nor War
Had it not been for the honor of Muhammad
O my beloved, O Muhammad
May prayers and blessings be upon Muhammad

Sneakyflaps · Mar 4, 2023

The March on Mercœur

As the winter months turned into spring, the leaves once again in bloom, would see the French Crown spur into action, blooming over the realm as the questions of the winter months had been answered. The peace with Felipe, ensured that the only course of action was one that went west, against he would be ruler of Brittany that so sought to carve away a portion of Henry IV's Kingdom. There could be no question of the urgency, need or desire of the King to put down the duke of Mercœur who had so held his vile sway over Brittany and put the entire region into disorder in his own of sovereignty.

As the army gathered, being made ready for the march, other orders would likewise be issued, overseen by Rosny. It would be he that would be placed in charge of restoring royal order to the lands that he been vacated by the Spanish following the peace, to restore good order and governance to the frontiers. Tax men would once again be allowed freedom to travel, garrisons would have to be restored and the general justice of the King could no longer be sidestepped by the common man. It was seen as vital to the administration that the frontiers were quickly secured as the King would campaign. It would be to form the shield from which further disorder could arise, and prevent what could be a protracted issue along the battle against bandits and other cretins that preyed on the weak following times of unrest.

While no doubt protecting the weak was a concern, for the subjects of the king needed rest. The far greater motivation, at least in the eyes of Rosny, was the restoration of the taxman, so that revenue could once again be brought back. Most importantly when it came to the frontiers of the Kingdom, the tranquil stability was more dire so that trade may once again flow freely within France, as well as to the neighboring realms were carts were relied upon, moreso than the ocean. It was in good part why Rosny personally ensured many of the transfers of towns, castles, fortifications and so forth, to ensure that it was done in orderly manner.

As Rosny busied himself with the business of tranquility, the question had arisen within the court of how to deal properly with Mercœur, and those that supported him in the wake of what was assured in the Court to be their final hours. There was the path of absolute condemnation for the suffering which Mercœur had inflicted upon the French Crown. Traitors could not be forgiven, yet it was a Kingdom which one half consistently considered the other traitors, and many extremes on either side considering the King himself a traitor to their faiths or something more akin to an imposter.

It was not the desire of the King to ride down his subjects within Brittany, to leave lingering resentment or further cause more discord that would risk the extension of the civil strife that had so gripped the region since his ascension. As such word would be sent ahead of the army, to leave no in doubt of the peace that had been proclaimed between Felipe of Spain and Henri of France, so that all subjects may known of what had occurred. So that the rebels may know about the futility of their situation and the coming end to their rebellion so that they may still seek the King's forgiveness, the King's mercy and pardon.

Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur.

For that would be the approach given, those that surrendered to the King, accepted his authority, just judgment and submitted themselves at his feet, would be given the mercy that they craved so that peace could once again be restored. Enough French peasants had died during the civil war for such bloodshed to need continue, especially with the Catholic League done, and all of Christendom now recognizing Henri as the rightful king. Far better that the region remembers the king's mercy for the coming years, so that any notions of rebellion could be snuffed out, and an actual rebellion punished as harshly as able.

Agents would even be sent towards Mercœur, though with terms not nearly as generous as those given to the peasants and minor lords of the region who could plead abuse by Mercœur as to why they joined his cause. Mercœur har far superceded the matter of religion and hte questions of the days which the others who had opposed the King were able to plead, which the King could forgive. Mercœur had persisted in his opposition despite the end of the League, he had refused the King, and he had done it on a matter not of the religion or its question, but rather to break the integrity of the Crown and crown himself a sovereign Prince. It was treason of such a degree that it could not be overlooked, it could not be forgiven and most certainly Mercœur could not just be welcomed back to court. He had overstepped the line by far too wide a margin in his ambitions.

The price Mercœur would have to pay, was that of exile, to forever be banished from France. Where he may go, was another matter, but he would be forbidden from France for his crimes. His wife may stay, while his daughter would be declared the heir of his estates in the eyes of the Crown and law. As he only had the one daughter, and his marriage otherwise childless, the solution to that was simple. The daughter, the heiress to both Mercœur and his wife's lands, would be engaged and married at a later date to César, illigitmate born son of King Henri, who in turn would be created Duc de Vendóme. It would secure Mercœur's family, along with their statition and rehabilitation within French society, even if it would come at the cost of his.

Of course, these terms stood should Mercœur and his family surrender and submit themselves to the King. The chance that they may not persisted, and should Mercœur keep up his rebellion, the King would have far less kindness for the noble family. Instead, they would be stripped of their lands, their properties fully forfeited and returned to the Crown rather than allowing the daughter to inherit what was rightfully hers. Mercœur would meet the headsman, while the towns and villages of Brittany that stayed true to him, rather than give up at the arrival of the royal forces, would be met with a similarly gruesome fate.

John7755 يوحنا · Mar 4, 2023

Turn 1: East Asia and Southeast Asia Report

Toyotomi Hideyoshi organizing samurai for war

The Great Imjin War

Since the decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate at the onset of the Onin War (1467-1477), the Empire of Japan has been rocked by chaos and internal warfare over who controls the Shogunal Court in Kyoto. Within the chaotic scene, old ancient clans fell and new clans emerged from the ashes of dying and or weakening clans in the process of 'lower defeating upper' as the period of the Warring States allowed the emergence of new powerbases and the abolition of established systems of strength. Whilst the initial powers in Japan stood to be the Hosokawa the 'handlers' of the Ashikaga, their power quickly dissipated due to internal feuding and the process of the 'lower defeating the upper' and great clans emerges both in the east and west of the Island of Japan. Clans such as the Shimazu, Mori, Hojo, arose from the ashes of once mighty clans and made their mark. Meanwhile established houses in the center and east made their presence upon the chaos, such as the Oda, Uesugi, Maeda, and so forth.

Of all the clans to dominate the region, the greatest would come to be the rising Oda clan under Oda Nobunaga (1551-1582) whose support of technological reforms in the army, promotion of lower retainers, standardization of measures, brutal assertion of authority and skilled strategic planning, led a unification of central Japan in defiance of both western and eastern factions within the empire. Forming an alliance in 1561 with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Oda Nobunaga expanded rapidly defeating the declining Ashikaga Shogunate and subduing Kyoto by the year 1570 when the Oda-Tokugawa entered into a prolonged conflict with the Takeda, eventually ending in an Oda victory in the year 1573 and the subjugation of the Takeda. Briefly, the central section of Japan and much of the east was united by Oda Nobunaga before his untimely assassination in 1582. While Oda Nobunaga had been brutal, his supporters were devoted to his legacy and one of his lowly retainers, yet arguably his most skilled administrator, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ascended to the ultimate power in the remnants of the Oda clan by waging a crusade of purge against the conspirators who slew his former master. Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded in doing what his master was unable to in the subsequent years between 1582-1592, by uniting the majority of Japan under his command through military force and decisive action, defeating the Tokugawa, Uesugi, Sanada, Mori and Shimazu clans and subordinating them to the new order with Hideyoshi as the 'Dajjo-Daijin' meaning Chancellor of the Realm, which amounted to a position of puppetmaster of both the Shogunal court of the Ashikaga and the more prestigious Imperial Court (both at Kyoto).

As the Japanese realm settled under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a number of problems emerged for the now unified domain of Japan. Notably, the huge numbers of Samurai warriors that inundated the land with fearsome military prowess made governing potentially dangerous. Whislt the Chancellor may have possessed many governing policies to return order to Japan or to centralize his control, the intransigence of local warlords remained a persistent threat, for the power of the military may not always hold authoritative power if new lords arose from the demise of other clans. Likewise, the scheming of powerful clans such as the Mori, Tokugawa, Uesugi and so forth made the position of the Chancellor tenuous at best. If his powerbase were to weaken, or indeed he weakens due to illness, then the other clans could conspire to bring him down and resume the Warring States period that preceded the unification in 1590. Finally, Toyotomi Hideyoshi knew more than any other Samurai that the new clans overtake the old and that without a change in policy, his new clan, so hard fought in creation/recognition, could be deposed and replaced with a new clan. Devising ways to fix his situation, Toyotomi Hideyoshi devised an unorthodox strategy to deal with all of his manifold problems.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Shizugatake, 1583

Toyotomi Hideyoshi saw in the kingdom of Joseon in Korea and the Great Ming of China an interesting target for all of his problems. Joseon was a divided kingdom, woefully weakened by an indecisive king, decentralized government with little effectvie control, poor military leadership, demoralized army corps and a court fraught with meaningless division. Great Ming for their part was a massive hegemonic 'paper tiger' with immense division of the court and a terribly managed army paid essentially in food, little more than a slave army of forced laborers. Both powers seemingly mighty in population and size, were incomparable to the dynamic and warlike Japanese, who fresh from 120 years of continual warfare, had not only a massive manpower of ready soldiers, also had a forward thinking military leadership prepared for aggressive combat. Viewing the weakness of his western neighbors (and their wealth) and with the support of Portuguese merchants, the Japanese initiated a war against Joseon.

The war successfully eliminated internal dissent in Japan as most of the Samurai within the country readily bayed for expansion in Korea and the establishment of new domains in Korea and eventually, as they dreamed, in China. Expanding the empire would allow Hideyoshi to distribute fiefs to war hungry Samurai and hence send his political enemies further away from his powerbase and also exhaust their political or military power as they drained away their strength against new foreign enemies while Hideyoshi theoretically strengthened his own position in Japan. A solid plan and the initial phases of the Imjin War in 1592 saw enormous Japanese success. Poor management and terrible strategy by the Joseon land forces led to rapid Japanese conquest of most of the Korean peninsula before the Japanese power began to dissipate just south of the Yalu River.

Originally, Joseon had refused to request aid from the Great Ming for many reasons. Firstly, the Joseon court was unable to really decipher whether the Japanese threat was credible in the year 1590-1591. Eastern and Western Factions in the Joseon court differed on whether the Japanese were a threat, with the Western Faction in the Court believing that the Japanese threat was minor and that the Eastern Faction simply were seeking to appropriate court funds for their own corrupt purposes. Meanwhile, the Eastern Faction saw the Japanese threat as credible but offered little substantial evidence. Joseon officials further believed that according to Confucian doctrine, it was not sightly for the Great Ming, the most righteous state in the universe, to be informed of the Japanese threat otherwise it would cause disharmony. Finally, the Joseon court did not wish to make themselves become subordinate in any war effort under Chinese military officials. Once the Great Ming did become involved in the war, the situation slowly turned in the favor of the Joseon as the Ming and a newly reformed Joseon force began to turn the tide against the poorly supplies Japanese forces. Further aiding the Joseon was that between 1594-1596, the skilled admiral Yi Sun-Sin achieved Korean naval dominance, holding a blockade of the southern Japanese coast, hence limiting the transfer of supplies to Japanese occupied zones, disrupting the feasibility of long term occupation of Korea.

Admiral Yi Sun-Sin of Joseon

Success by the Great Ming and Joseon by late 1596 had reconquered all of Korea except for Busan and the outlying country, which acted as the final anchor of Japanese power in Korea. However, with high levels of victory, confidence and court factionalism reemerged. Yi Sun-Sin, the true victor of the recent gains in the war was despised by his rivals in the court, most notably Won Gyun, a member of the Eastern Faction who despised Yi Sun-Sin. While the two had previously cooperated in the 1589 Joseon victory against the Wild Jurchen to the northeast, the two had disagreements on the war against Japan. Won Gyun advocated an aggressive strike with naval forces against Japan, while Yi Sun-Sin promoted a more cautious and balanced approach. Regardless of differing views, Won Gyun's hatred for Yi Sun-Sin and the court's intrigue were all known to the Japanese expedition in Busan, which utilized feigned maneuvers and false bribes to create confusion in Seoul regarding the status of Yi Sun-Sin's loyalty. Expectedly, Won Gyun and his allies pounced on Yi Sun-Sin in December of 1596 and with support from the Crown Prince Gwanghae, whose mission to support the Eastern Faction bore fruit in the imprisonment of Yi Sun-Sin under charges of treason.

Derailing Yi Sun-Sin, Won Gyun took control of the Joseon navy and with 200 ships, launched a comprehensive strike against the Japanese forces at Busan alongside an advance by Crown Prince Gwanghae under the overall command of Great Ming Inspector Chen Lin. In total, 100 Joseon ships, 20,000 Ming soldiers and 45,000 Joseon soldiers assailed a defensive force at Busan of around 15,000 under Konishi Yukinaga.

As the 65,000 strong army marched upon Busan, news arrived in Joseon that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had resolved to break the enemy and conquer Korea with a new army. Raising a total of 125,000 soldiers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered over manifold ships to carry an enormous number of soldiers broken into two distinct armies made up of different clans to attack Korea and expel the Chinese from the peninsula. Before such a matter could occur however, the Japanese dispatched a fleet to defeat Won Gyun and restore Japanese control of the sea and thus project power back into Korea. Won Gyun foolishly engaged with the dispatched Japanese fleet on the 28th of August 1597 at the Battle of Chilcheollyang. Engaging the larger Japanese fleet in combat, the Joseon force of 200 ships, the entire Joseon fleet, engaged with around 600 smaller Japanese vessels carrying over 100,000 sailors and Samurai.

Tragedy emerged at the Battle of Chilcheollyang for the Joseon as the Japanese fleet, larger in number and smaller in size and nimbly avoiding Joseon ships, devastated the outmaneuvered Joseon fleet. In a massive failure, Won Gyun had been decisively defeated and lost over 190 ships to the Japanese. Won Gyun managed to flee to the Busan province where he fled with some of his men before being captured and beheaded by Samurai scouts. The head of Won Gyun was thence paraded in Busan much to the glee of the Japanese forces in the city.

A morbid reality thus came upon the Field Inspector Chen Lin, the general strike on Busan would not have naval support and rather, Japan had regained a naval dominance. Chen Lin understanding the danger halted the advance on Busan for Chinese soldiers and instead dispatched Prince Gwanghae and his forces to strike and raid Busan, where they failed to make any gains, but the strike successfully saw many leader of the rapidly weakening Western Faction to be purged, oddly by forcible leading from the frontline.

Inspector Chen Lin expected a wide attack by the Japanese forces and made the correct assumption that the Japanese advance would be in two fronts, as opposed to landing all 125,000 in one place. 65,000 Japanese forces arrived on the western coast of Japan and pushed eastward, meanwhile 60,000 Japanese arrived at Busan and pushed northward. The Left Army of Japan (on the western front) struck at Namwon and set siege to the fort protected by 1,500 Koreans and 3,000 Chinese commanded by Yang Yuan. The Left Army managed to set charged under the wall of the city after 2 days of siege and managed to take the fort after only three days, but advances afterwards slowed considerably. The month of September for Japan acted as a grim prelude to the reality of further wars in Korea. While in 1593, the Joseon defense was haphazard and weak, the new situation was anything but haphazard. Joseon forces on the ground were united against the threat, militia and monk soldiers were in large supply resisting Japanese advance and the Joseon army was well supplied and capable of halting the advance of the Japanese forces, whilst the Great Ming acted as the organizer of the overall campaign.

Joseon forces holding a mountain ridge against the Japanese Left Army advance in October of 1597

The Japanese Left and Right advances were much slower than the first year of the war, and the Japanese commanders became worried when news arrived that Yi Sun-Sin had been released. Defeat of Won Gyun and the death of many Eastern Faction officials/nobles in battles in the months of August-September 1597 allowed the Western Faction to secure greater power and gain the release of the famed admiral who immediately rallied a number of ships for which to resume war at the sea and contest Japanese control of the waves. Yi Sun-Sin was given order by king Seonju to reclaim the western coast of Korea from Japanese blockade. If the victory was gained, King Seonju was promised by the Inspector Chen Lin that Ming naval forces would be dispatched to aid Yi Sun-Sin and help him regain hold on the western coast and thus, drive the Japanese supply lines into the ground. Yi Sun-Sin dispatched a plan using 35 ships hastily gathered to oppose the Japanese Left Fleet that numbered around 180 ships; the strategy implemented, was one of trickery and diversion.

At the Myeongnyang Strait on the 26th of October, Yi Sun-Sin gathered a plan of ambush for the large Japanese fleet that involved tricking the Japanese fleet into chasing a number of quick moving scout ships numbering 32 into the tight strait of Myeongnyang. Using skillful canons purchased and gifted by the Ming Imperial court to the Joseon produced in Spain, Joseon mounted large numbers of canons, firecrackers and other inflammatory firearms on their ships and on the nearby shore in expectation of luring the Japanese into concentrated fire. Due to hastiness to gain quick victory and eagerness to gather heads, Todo Takatora, admiral of the Left Fleet, pushed into the strait with 133 ships and left 47 outside the strait to conduct reconnaissance. The tight waters in the strait forced the large Japanese fleet into tighter formation and their large size made the fleet slow and thus far from their distance, a large number of canons and other firearms released barrages on their tight formationscausing massive damage. Fires spread rapidly and the Japanese fleet began to falter when Yi Sun-Sin's force of 13 war ships boldly attacked the inflamed Japanese fleet, inflicting massive casualties. Over 40 ships were rammed open, 31 ships sunk by fire and over 26,000 Japanese Samurai were either died in battle or were captured by the victorious Joseon forces. The loss of a large number of Samurai devastated the Japanese war effoert on the Left Flank and caused a massive rallying on the part of the Ming-Joseon forces on land, whilst also providing a sense of terror in the forces occupying Korea on behalf of Japan. Yi Sun-Sin's fame rose higher than ever and the Western Faction gained greater power in the victory, with calls to grant him greater titles to award his victroy. More importantly, Korean captains who had been in hiding with their ships across the southern coast returned, augmenting Yi Sun-Sin's fleet and 30 Ming warships arrived from Tianjin to accompany Yi Sun-Sin in his campaign at sea to now relieve the Eastern Coast or the Right Flank from blockade.

Battle of Myeongnyang, 1597

Victory at sea gave the Inspector Chen Lin opportunity to declare a general counterattack against the Japanese Left Flank and Right Flank armies. Initiatives by Crown Prince Gwanghae to develop a large army by ordering all nobles to raise 20 men for war, provided a growth of official soldiers in the Joseon army, while warrior monks and peasant militias provided a stalwart defense against Japanese forces or uprising behind enemy lines. A Joseon force of 32,000 called the 'Righteous Army' advanced south and disrupted the Left Flank force, which, already diminished in number, fled southward and created defensive positions on the southwestern provinces, driven from northern Jeolla. From November through December, concentrated attacks on all fronts wore down the Japanese, who quickly were running out of supplies as Japanese admirals fled from Yi Sun-Sin, simply due to his reputation of invincibility; the once intrepid Japanese forces were giving way to cowardness.

Cowardly retreats by the Japanese fleet from the Joseon-Ming fleet allowed unprecedented military reaction by Inspector Chen Lin, who separated his forces to suppress the Japanese menace once and for all. Field commander Ma Gui was placed in control of the Joseon Righteous Army and consolidated it with 20,000 Ming soldiers, all of which were given the name 'Expedition to Subdue the Jeolla.' Meanwhile, Inspector Chen Lin gathered 40,000 Ming forces and 20,000 Joseon soldiers and gave it the name 'Expedition to Eradicate the Eastern Barbarians' and marched to strike Ulsan, the nexus of Japanese power in the Korean peninsula. The 'Expedition to Subdue Jeolla' was met with great success as the Japanese forces fled and or were defeated across the province, with Japanese forces conglomerating in the southeast of the peninsula in an effort to uphold a bridgehead for future Japanese invasions, which had already cost the Japanese over 100,000 military casualties and over 1,000,000 total Korean casualties. As 1598 begins, the Japanese situation is worsening fast in the peninsula and worse matters exist at home.

Great Ming cavalry of the 'Expedition to Subdue Jeolla' charging and defeating Japanese forces at Ipsan

The war raging in Korea, the Chancellor of the Realm, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began to deteriorate both mentally and physically. For the entire later part of 1596 and most of 1597, the Chancellor had given most governing authority to Ishida Mitsunari and to other orderlies of his. The Chancellor instead of governing took to beginning a journey towards becoming the greatest actor in the world. Dressing as a merchant, the Chancellor would walk around the court and in the city, selling watermelon and or dressing as a lowly beggar and walking the streets seeking coin. Some say that the Chancellor sought to find enlightenment, yet the reality was that the Chancellor was entering a phase of mental instability that would harm the war effort in Korea and also allow his opponents to gain greater authority at his expense. Nevertheless, the once stalwart leader's nerves in war began to rapidly falter and he started to discuss ending the war at the end of a long day in the theatre playing his role as a melon salesman.

Ieyasu Tokugawa especially sought to expand his power. Wisely, the Tokugawa and their retainers remained out of the war in Korea and due to factional issues, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had failed to impel Tokugawa participation and instead gave the Tokugawa patriarch meaningless positions of 'Subduing the Ainu.' Certainly, the Tokugawa seemed to be seeking to take greater power in Japan at the expense of the declining Toyotomi patriarch. By the end of 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not only losing control of his mindset, but also of his health and by the first of January, news was that the Chancellor no longer even had the energy to attend his famous theaters in Kyoto; most dire.

Theater in the Court of the Chancellor of the Palace in Kyoto

@Texan , @adriankowaty , @Red Robyn

The Rise of the Manchu

While the Great Ming were engaged in intense war that forced the Palace to dispatch 55,000 more soldiers in November of 1597, a momentous event was unraveling in Manchuria. Long divided since the fall of the Great Jin dynasty in the 13th century, the Jurchen people had been weak and under various levels of vassalage to the Great Ming or to the Northern Yuan (the titular Mongolian dynasty ruling Mongolia and nearby regions in the steppe). In 1583 an ambitious chief called Nurhaci assumed power over the Giohoro clan ruling the southern section of the Jianzhou Jurchen federation, his rise was seen as auspicious when oracles stated that he would one day rule the whole world and unite the Jurchen once again. Nurhaci understood the oracles and began an intense campaign of expanding his power within the federation through war, marriage and diplomacy. By 1590, he had assumed direct control over the whole of the southern and eastern sections of the federation, leading to animosity from the other clans in the federation which formed a coalition against him in late 1590. In 1591, the anti-Giohoro coalition invaded the southern federation with 30,000 soldiers, 16,000 of whom were from the rival Jurchen federation called the Haixi Federation, to the northwest of the Jianzhou.

Nurhaci met the contest of the coalition by creating the Banner System, officially creating a standing army made up of the foremost clans under his domain made up of their retainers that all owed loyalty to the Giohoro. With the Banners, Nurhaci engaged the Coalition in battle and scattered their forces in 1591. Nurhaci proceeded then to subdue all of the Jianzhou Federation by 1593 and organized their Jurchen into the Banner System.

In 1596 however, Nurhaci having successfully subdued all of the Jianzhou Federation under his rule, began to look towards his rivals, the Hiaxi Jurchen. The Haixi Federation had weakened in the recent years since 1586 due to infighting between the clans and the foremost clan in the Federation, the Hada. Taking advantage of the division and also of the distraction of the Great Ming, Nurhaci invaded the Haixi Federation with 37,000 horsemen. Many clans on the frontline surrendered immediately to the conquering master of the Jianzhou and showed utmost submission as soon as his sword was held aloft. Lighting fast attacks by the Jurchen of the Jianzhou was aided by the Banner System which allowed warriors to be on campaign longer than usual, as the state was heavily militarized to allow the creation of the standing Banner Armies.

Despite the initial success in the early months of 1597, the Hada rallied defense and received support from the Khalka Mongols and from Mongol warlords to the west, which in a concerted effort dispatched 15,000 horsemen to oppose Nurhaci and his advance. Despite the potential utility of defense against Nurhaci from the fortress that the Hada commanded, the Hada elected with their Mongol allies to meet the Banners in battle.

The subsequent engagement called the Battle of Dolumedun saw a force of 34,000 Hada-Mongols arrayed against 36,000 Bannermen of the Jianzhou. Both armies engaged each other with horse archers and a bloody skirmish approached as the most fearsome warriors in the region engaged in a heated contest. Charges with the intent to induce feigned retreats failed for both sides and the two forces decided to engage in a bloody charge with consequences of total victory to either side. Confronting the enemy from the front, Nurhaci rammed into the enemy forces with a charge, targeting the Mongol Khan also leading from the vanguard Erkhi Mergen Khan, with the two engaging in mortal combat on the frontlines with the shout of battle. Nurhaci in a brilliant display of combat and horsemanship slew the Mongol Khan of Tusheet, Erkhi Mergen Khan to the applause of his warriors who thence drove back the enemy forces. Mongol forces who had been led by the Khan of Tusheet lost morale and rapidly fled from the battle, leaving the tenacious Hada to continue the battle, who would fight on in a series of alternating charges against the rival Jurchens for the next hour after which the Hada fell back in defeat.

Hada loss at the Battle of Dolumendun was not however the end of their struggle. Fleeing to the walled city of Wadu, a Hada notable rose up and declared himself ruler of the Hada and launched a brutal repression of his enemies in November of 1597, thus proceeding to take total control. This notable took the name Abiguda and unified a renewed resistance. Banner scouting forces approaching Wadu were struck in ambushes by the Hada and forced to retreat while Abiguda asserted his rule over the area around Wuda. During December, however, Nurhaci ignored the Hada Clan and began atttacking other clans to the north and south of the Haixi Federation subduing many and organizing them into his ruling system, gaining submission from them. In desperation, Abiguda begins to measure his goals, none knowing what hsi next move will be against this seemingly unstoppable tide from the east.

Jurchen Warrior, 1598

Perhaps of equal importance as the war by Nurhaci to conquer the Haixi Federation was the creation of a new 'Manchu' identity and language. Conscious of the divisions within the Jurchen peoples, Nurhaci sought unification and categorization of peoples based both on loyalty, language and custom. The Eight Banners had been a standard standing army against enemies organized into tribal armies, but the Eight Banners had also became part of an overall process of Manchurization. The Manchu was the Jurchen who had been subdued and integrated into the Eight Banners, therefore, the Manchu was the 'loyal and filial' Jurchen. For such a loyal caste and grouping, a language of loyalty must be constructed for the peoples gathering under Nurhaci, a Manchu language.

Nurhaci gathered scholars from Mongolia and China who arrived and were given decree to create a Manchurian written language using the Mongolian script. The script creation would reach several important breakthroughs during the course of 1597, but would not be finished by 1598 as the excessive perfectionists assembled sought to develop a 'perfect language of harmonious intent.' Statements of perfection would slow the process of the linguistic creation, but the situation displayed a growing sophistication and indirect universalizing that was occurring within the realm of Nurhaci. While the Eight Banners started as a form of standing army, the force became by 1597 a completely comprehensive socio-political unit with almost all the population in the Jianzhou territory being, to some degree, associated with the Eight Banners by the large web of obligations within the system. Thus, the Eight Banners was rapidly becoming an institution wherein all officials of the court were within it and the Eight Banners, acting as a cultural force, Manchurized conquered or interested peoples, both Chinese, Mongol and Jurchen. The situation was evolving the Eight Banners into a force of loyal armies to Nurhaci, but also a cultural force of its own that served the new Manchu realm in integrating the once divided and fractured Jurchen people into a singular Manchu culture and a realm made up of a coherent state with a singular head as opposed to many clans in federation.

@Red Robyn , @Texan

Southeast Asia 1597

Since 1579, the Taungoo dynasty of Burma had been in steep decline after a zenith of power ruling most of mainland southeast Asia. Nanda Baying, the king of Burma had inherited a massive series of conquests by his predecessor Bayinnaung (1551-1581) which saw Burma acquiring Lan Na, Lan Xang, and Siam as vassals, with Nanda Baying holding the title of 'Suzerain' and assuming a title of 'Maharaja' or Great King. Suzerainty of these far flung realms made the Burmese hegemony appear strong and mighty, but in reality, the Burmese realm walked a tight balance of commanding respect from a slew of far more populous powers that were its bitter subordinates and a collection of hungry wolves to its north, namely the Cham peoples who continued to be a lingering menace even when subdued in territorial connections.

Nanda Baying was not only in a terrible balance, but was also a ruler with immense energy and an aggressive outlook. Siamese king Narusen had started in 1583 ceasing tribute to Burma with the intent of rebellion. Nanda Baying responded by launching five disastrous attacks upon the Siamese, all of which led to disasters. By 1593, the Burmese defeats led to the fracturing of its hegemony in other areas and the start of an aggressive series of campaigns by Narusen in 1594-1595 that laid waste to the Pegu countryside. However, the capture of the city of Pegu failed as Nanda Baying relieved the city with a vast host numbering over 70,000 soldiers.

Internally within Burma, the rebellion of the more close vassals provided further ailment to the Burmese kingdom, most notably the breaking free of the Arakan kingdom under Min Razagyi (also known as Salim Shah Min Bin) which began supporting internal factions in the court at Taungoo against the aggressive militarism of Nanda Baying. Principally this threat of internal opposition to Nanda Baying intensified when in the Spring of 1597, the Siamese Narusen launched an invasion of Burma, Nanda Baying was entering his last legs of power.

Discontented with his resolve to reconquer all lost territories, supporters of a more pacific Burmese realm and resistant to the actions of Nanda Baying, Minye Thihathu II, the first cousin of Nanda Baying, launched a vicious rebellion with the support of the heir apparent Minye Kyawswa, the Viceroy of Ava. However, the situation was turning in unexpected ways; instead of marching on Pegu as expected to depose the Burmese monarch, the Siamese invaded Burma proper, marching towards Ava, to attack the Viceroy and heir apparent Minye Kyawaswa. After having appointed a subordinate named Phraya Ram to the throne of Lan Na (now a vassal of Siam), the Siamese army of 70,000 marched against Ava, causing a general panic all across the region.

Narusen's choice to atatck Ava was unorthodox and oddly, paid off. Nanda Baying securing his own position in southern Burma from the capitol, ignored the attack on his son and appointed a new heir, meanwhile Arakan was slow to send an army to defend its erstwhile ally. The strike by the Siamese smashed into Ava and and after a siege that lasted only a few weeks, the city of Ava fell and the viceroy of Ava was captured and summarily executed by the Siamese army. Ava in turn was sacked and put to the torch and the Siamese army dispersed into the countryside to devastate the population with the intentional goal of terrorizing the Burmese population, to great agony to the locals. Instead of continuing the conquest of the Burmese realm, whether in Pegu or to the north, the Siamese army proceeds to spend the summer launching campaigns of terror and devastation, alongside launching raids into the north of Burma.

Arakan under Razi II (Min Razagyi) launched a defensive campaign along its borders securing it and then into northern Burma, solidifying Minye Thihathu in Toungoo. Pegu meanwhile solidified its defense and Nanda Baying began a process of declaring his intent to drive out the demonic foreigners and to issue reprisals immediately upon the Siamese in December of 1597. Rebellions of the Burmese peasantry also began to emerge ever slowly throughout the winter of 1597 as the Siamese army began to import Thai settlers into Burma, causing ethnic tension as Burmese guerilla forces emerged under peasant leadership or under the command of monks.

King Narusen of Siam, Victor of Ava

Outcomes of the Cambodian Crisis

In 1593, the Cambodian kingdom, once a foremost power in the region had fallen on dire times as the ascending Siamese power invaded it and looted across the region, appointing a vassal king named Preah Ram I who in 1596 was succeeded by Preah Ram II. The king of Cambodia, Satha was decisively defeated and driven from Cambodia into refugee communities on the coast of the Champa lands where he sought the aid of the Spanish-Portuguese based from Malacca. Satha however perished in 1596 and was succeeded by Barom Reachea II, who with 300 Spanish-Portuguese soldiers and 700 Japanese mercenary returned to Cambodia to restore the legitimist government.

Barom Reachea II successfully with his allies prosecuted a campaign, gathering, 7,000 loyalists and marched on the palace and drove the Siamese puppet from the country, restoring the legitimate heir to the throne in May of 1597. However, tensions grew as the Cambodian kingdom gave massive concessions to the Spanish and Portuguese, with whom the Cambodian king granted privileged status. Enraged by the situation, the Muslim Champa kingdom to the east of the Cambodian kingdom launched an invasion of Cambodia in the Fall of 1597, defeating the king Barom Reachea II and capturing the capitol Phnom Penh and sacking it, before returning to their coastal kingdom. Suffering defeat in war, the Cambodian king felt his kingdom disintegrating and the recent victory of Siam in Burma, gave the Cambodian king fear enough to send an envoy in October of 1597 to King of Spain, Philip II to request submission as a vassal state of the Spanish kingdom, offering to permit the entry of Jesuit into Cambodia and submit as a subordinate of the Spanish monarch.

@Andre Massena , @Redtape , @Vitalian

Zorakov · Mar 5, 2023

The Austrian Branch of the House of Habsburg

THE ASCENSION OF FERDINAND OF STYRIA

Portrait of Ferdinand II (undated), by Peter Paul Rubens

In 1597 Ferdinand, who was already acting as his own regent under the supervision of Archduke Maximilian, finally achieved the age of majority. Such news has been received with great concern by the protestant states of Inner Austria, as Ferdinand is known for his close association to the Jesuit order, being educated at the Jesuit University of Ingolstadt, there is widely held belief that he will return the policy of Counter-reformation initiated by his father. These fears are generally correct, for not only Ferdinand has a deep personal conviction towards the cause of Counter-reformation, he is contractually obliged to do so by his father's will. These concerns are further compounded by the interpretations, shared by pro-Court partisans, that the Pacification of Bruck, enforced unto his father in 1573 to restrict his Counter-reformation measures, does not extend to Ferdinand. The true question is, therefore, not if Ferdinand is going to enforce re-Catholicization policies in domains, but when and to what degree will he implement his policies.

The young Archduke, for his part, skillfully avoided any question by the estate on his religious policy during his coronation ceremonies. So far these fears and the natural intransigence of the Protestant Estates was abated by the war and the threat posed by the turks, with many hoping that Ferdinand's military responsibilities will take him away from his religious policy plans on the short term.

Andre Massena · Mar 6, 2023

The Universal Empire and the Dying King

After the abdication of Charles V and partition of Habsburg domains, the "Universal Empire" of the Habsburgs did not diminish. Phillip II of Spain, inheriting the jewel of Habsburg lands, ruled an empire that spanned the globe. Rich new lands teeming with gold and exotic goods in the Americas and Asia were added to his empire, along with the extensive inheritance of Portugal and her empire. He was the defender of the Catholic Church and European Christendom, leader of the Counter Reformation, and emissary for God who had brought Christianity to countless heathen lands. He was esteemed above all Christian rulers, and his word was law over much of the globe.

But with this power and ambition came many enemies and problems. The Counter Reformation helped invigorate the Church against the rising tide of Protestantism, but he was no more successful than his father in stamping this heresy out, and his kin in Vienna seemed doomed to oversee a diminished empire beset by religious factionalism. The king may have inherited Portugal, but the English and French crowns that were owed to him were out of his grasp. Spain was surrounded by many powerful rivals, including the French, English, and the only true rival to Spanish power in the hemisphere: the Sublime Porte. Wars with these powers over religion, inheritances, the extension of Spanish power, the defense of Christendom from enemies within and without, and an interminable rebellion by the Dutch encouraged by these rivals had depleted Spain's treasury, despite the immense wealth the empire provided and considerable victories of the mighty Spanish tercios. Perhaps worst of all, the Spanish court was divided by bitter rivalries, and the Infante Prince Phillip seemed unprepared to rule.

Phillip II might be the mightiest monarch in Christendom, but he was in poor health, and it only seemed a matter of time before he would meet his Maker. The king felt prepared for the occurrence and was certain he would be welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven for all he had done for God, perhaps more than anyone in history, but he still felt that his work was incomplete and his son's inheritance more fragile than he would like. The peace with France, made possible by the conversion of King Henri IV to the rightful Church and the declining military fortunes of the Spanish-supported Catholic League, would help stabilize the financial and military situation. But there was still the ongoing war with England, the revolt of the Dutch, the ongoing issues of the Counter Reformation, court rivalries, the tenuous position of Portugal, the ever-present threat of the Ottomans, and the increasingly perilous financial situation of Spain that kept the king up at night in his last days. Despite all his power, Phillip II could only pray and help prepare his son the best he could.

Phillip II, as portrayed by Titian, in his younger days

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