Richard III of England (Chaos)
From Alternative History
Richard III Plantagenet of England was born in 1390 as the son of Richard II and his wife.
While his father hadn't worked on getting revenge for the lost first Aquitainian War, Richard III did so, and planned accordingly.
In 1414, England made alliances with Castille and the Netherlands, attacked France again. The second Aquitainian War had begun.
While it went promising at the beginning, in 1421 France broke the coalition by making a seperate peace with the Netherlands, giving emperor Gerhard II Flanders, which was incorporated into the Netherlands. Now, the tides turned again: Storming the conquered cities with cannons and relying on their greater manpower, the French slowly drove the allied English and Castillians back.
In 1424, the Cortes, the Castillian estates, protested the high costs and low results of the war. King Pedro III was sorry about it, but had to leave the war too. He had better things to do, in fact: Interfering in the Portuguese Civil War.
The war ended unexpectedly in 1426 when the pope and the Anjou king Roberto III of Naples asked the French king for a crusade against the Rum-Seljuks, king Charles IV agreed to fight the Great Napolitan War instead. He made peace with the English, leaving Guyenne in their hands; king Richard III had to accept it as a fief, though.
After the war, the king' attention was caught by internal problems. During the 1430s, unrest broke out among the peasants in England, which kept the king and the nobles busy. The unrest was also religiously motivated - a William Aston had translated the bible into English.
Later in his life, the king was again dragged into French affairs. In 1455, king Louis XII of France had his completely mad younger brother Philippe (also duke of Bourbon) killed. The nobles (including the royal sidelines, and old king Richard III, who was talked by his advisors into it) who were already concerned with the growing power of the king, used this accident to rebel against him. 1460, the first French Civil War ended, Louis' other brother Charles V became king. He had to grant the other dukes a lot of power, however, which made them practically independent.
In the same year, Richard III died and was succeeded by his son.
| Predecessor: | Richard III Plantagenet (Chaos) | Successor: |
|---|---|---|
| Richard II | Richard III | Richard IV |
