Elegy for Francis, Duke of Dukes | An Alternate History

Coming to Terms

SECOND STANZA, VERSE VI

London, 1516. "Who are you to make such demands?" Henry glared at me through the doorway. "I will not bow to a mere duke. You aren't even English."

"My heritage has nothing to do with this conflict." replied Francis, leaning forward. The table was ancient, ornate, and covered in all manners of half-finished food. Henry produced a hearty laugh.

"I believe it has everything to do with it. You think it's best our lineages part ways. What you don't realize is that England put you on the map, molded you into what you are now. You need me. You are part of me, and always will be. Like a son abandoning his father, you have disrespected me so."

"Don't lose your head. This is about power plain and simple and you know it. You hold onto power for power's sake. I seek it for the prosperity it brings. Lineages mean nothing to me. My bloodline lives and dies with me. While you hide behind your hoards of gold I enrich the entirety of the continent's northwest coast!

In centuries past we have benefited from your overlordship but there is no longer any need. We are self-sufficient, a power in our own right. I will respect your rule only if you respect mine."

"Never!" The king of England looked more like a rabid dog than a man then, foaming white at the mouth with sheer malice. "As long as I live, you will answer to me alone! Do you not know who I am? I am done with this madness."

I barged into the room to the annoyance of my chaperone. "What about the north?"

"What of it, you insolent child? I'll retake the land like my predecessors always have." At that the Scottish delegate stood up and spoke for the first time in the entire meeting.

"If you value peace, you'd do well to listen to what I have to say." Henry tilted his head, curious as a puppy. "The king of Scotland is willing to enter an alliance with your majesty on the conditions that Brittany-Normandy is released as a sovereign nation and Northumbria and York are ceded to us."

"To sweeten the deal," added Francis, "I will also propose an alliance under the same conditions. Think of it as a gesture of good will between our nations." That day, a new bloc formed that would shape the next century of European politics.