'T has been a turbulent and stormy night
The Lords Regent of England, presiding over a meeting with some other Lords Temporal and Spiritual.
The nation had been in a state of high preparation for war on the continent; the entire army was abroad, tightly coiled and ready to spring upon the enemy; the navy had already begun loitering outside major French ports, looking for battle (and merchantman prizes). Henry VI's sudden death changed all of that. Invasion plans fell by the wayside as administrative chaos reigned.
Jane, Henry's sister and heir, was just 12 years old, not yet ready to rule on her own. After long debate, Parliament appointed her uncles Bedford and Gloucester as protectors, and they along with several others would act as the Lords Regent for the whole nation.
Rule by a turbulent regency council was often frustrating for lords and commoners alike.
But not all the magnates and barons of England were content with this arrangement. Eighteen-year-old Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, has lately inherited the Earldom of March, and with it comes Edmund Mortimer's claim to the throne. During Henry IV's usurpation, opponents had pointed out (with some justification) that Mortimer's claim was stronger than that of the king; but despite his own potential, Mortimer was a Lancastrian loyalist until his untimely early death.
Now, with weak Henry VI dead and heir Jane too young and inexperienced to interfere, the inheritor of that royal claim has determined to make good on it.
In the spring of 1429, York manages to secure the backing of northern magnates like the Earl of Northumberland. The rebels have the run of northern England until some English armies arrive home from Gascony.
Soon after, Richard's own men rise up to support their liege's claim to the throne, although York himself does not lead them. While Bedford and Gloucester are rushing their men home from France to deal with the rebellion, Richard steals into London and appears before a shocked Parliament. Bearing his sword upright—as if a king—the Duke of York strides for the throne and places his hand upon it. Expecting his peers to proclaim him king, as they did for Bolingbroke in 1399, he is met by hard stares and stony silence.
York departs London soon after getting word that Bedford is about to return in force. He makes for East Anglia, where there are rumours of sympathetic retainers fomenting yet another revolt. Parliament, in turn, formally attaints York as a traitor and a rebel; if he is captured now, he will surely be put to death.
In the summer of 1429, the King of Denmark casts an envious eye on his rich neighbours in Lübeck. In order to crush them by force of arms and make them a vassal, he bribes the Roman curia into excommunicating the tiny German principality. When a copy of the papal bull arrives in London, the Council doesn't even pretend to obey it. English merchants dominate Lübeck's market, and their trade funnels a small river of gold ducats back to the royal coffers. No regent would dare interfere with that, even on the word of the Pope.
In turn, Lübeck's governors are grateful, and their gratitude sways the opinion of the wealthy upper classes throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Valois king in Paris celebrates. In spite of the intervention of the Emperor, large French armies have rampaged through Brittany and Provence, leaving a trail of devastation and tears. The Breton navy has been forced out of their ports, compelled by circumstance to anchor offshore and watch forlornly as their captured cities burn.
By November of 1429 the Duke of Brittany is out of land, men, and ideas. Waging a spirited but hopeless war against France and its vassals has left his country a burning, desolate ruin. He has no option but to accept French demands to surrender territory and split his domain in half.
Despite the tumult of rebellion and Papal displeasure, English commerce benefits from the introduction of more precise methods of bookkeeping and moneylending.
Ireland is one area of the realm that has been blessedly free of revolt ever since Henry IV's reign, when most of the Irish magnates reaffirmed their fealty to the crown. While on a visit to Ulster in 1430, the Duke of Bedford casually makes a tantalising proposal to the Irish lords. If they are willing to surrender their lands to the English crown, the lands will then be regranted (or returned) as freeholds, with the lords obligated only to pay the usual feudal levy. In return they will receive the protection of the English army and navy, be formally recognised in the peerage of the realm, and also gain a seat in Parliament.
The Regents call this proposal "surrender and regrant", and for the lords of Tyrone and Connacht, it it irresistible.
The integration of the Irish counties is not without friction, though.
In concert with the "surrender and regrant" program, Parliament establishes a royal commission to try and reconcile traditional Irish Brehon law with English common law. The expansion of Anglo-Irish territories causes great happiness amongst English courtiers and lesser nobles (Monarchist faction gets National Pride, +1 prestige).
In the same year, the Regents' persuasive diplomacy scores another coup. The last free Irish lord accepts the inevitable and swears allegiance to the crown—though he is not yet willing to participate in the "surrender and regrant" initiative.
By the spring of 1430, Provence decides it has had enough of war and privation, surrendering Anjou to the victorious French. Only the Bohemian Holy Roman Emperor fights on, undaunted.
As is their custom, the Castilians once again try to wrest Gibraltar from the English by fomenting a bloody revolt. On two separate occasions, revolts of up to nine thousand people nearly overpower the outnumbered defenders. These sizeable rebellions compel the Regents to expand the size of the army, and double the size of Gibraltar's small constabulary force.
In 1431, the King of Aragon starts a war against Sardinia and the Papal States. It is not long before the Pope responds in kind. Though Aragon is something of a neighbour (owing to its nearness to Gascony), the Aragonese find no sympathy in the English court.
Unstoppable waves of Turks continue to roll over Greece, sealing the fate of vastly outnumbered and poorly-equipped Venetian outposts.
By the spring of 1431, the writing is on the wall for Richard, Duke of York. After his attainder, his Northumbrian allies abandon him and—in a cynical move to save their own fiefdoms and titles—throw themselves on the mercy of the Lords Regent.
In a last-ditch effort to avert disaster, Richard rallies support in Cambridge, a territory formerly belonging to his father (who was also attainted). In a matter of weeks, sympathetic peasants flock to his banner; managing to capture and hold all the major castles and fortifications of East Anglia—the pretender's first significant territorial gain.
But it may all be for naught, in the end. In June 1431, Richard's nemesis Jane finally celebrates her fifteenth birthday. The loyal Lords Regent gladly set aside their regnal duties when the young Queen is coronated in Westminster Abbey; afterward, adoring throngs line the streets of London.
ENGLAND c. 1431
Jane I Lancaster
By the Grace of God, Queen of England and France and Lady of Ireland
~ Burgundy (Duke Philippe III Lancaster-Valois-Bourgogne)
~ Cyprus (Basileus Jacques II Lancaster-Lusignan)
~ Lüneburg (Duke August I Lancaster-Brunswick-Lüneburg)
Treasury: £4.7 million (47m ducats)
GDP (estimated): £44.85 million (448.5m ducats)
Domestic CoTs: London £38.56 million (385.67m ducats)
Army: 8,000 Knights (Chevauchée), 16,000 Footsoldiers
Reserves (potential levies): 10,834
Navy: 13 Carracks, 13 Pinnaces, 18 Cogs
Tradition: Army 18.50% Navy 21.60%
Prestige: First (77)
Reputation: Respectable (0.92/24.00)