Elegy for Francis, Duke of Dukes | An Alternate History

Inheriting the Earth

THIRD STANZA, VERSE II

I've always found it funny that the king of Germany fashioned himself as Emperor of the Romans when it was his ancestors who had aided in their destruction. Through a single dynasty the conquerors and the conquered (representing the Italians) had been unified in peace and in war. The Netherlands, Burgundy, Spain, Austria, Germany, and Italy all stood together as one at one point in my lifetime.

It started with a humble birth between two remarkable members of the Habsburg dynasty. Born in a bathroom in Ghent in 1500, Charles was touched by destiny. At the age of six the boy was crowned lord of Burgundy and the Low Countries. Until his 16th birthday a regent ruled both realms, who would deal with internal and foreign affairs. Mostly this meant allotting a paltry force to Normandy to keep up relations with western trade partners.

Within a month of the Treaty of London, the old king of Spain died, sending the Regent Governor of Malta into a frenzy. In a bout of paranoid rage he declared the new king (who was none other than Charles of Ghent) to be illegitimate. For that treason he was exiled. He wandered from town to town in search of someone to blame for his suffering. Francis and myself ended up being his scapegoats.

Three years later, he became archduke of Austria. In the span of a few months he was also Emperor as well as king of Germany and Italy. He believed in a universal monarchy on which the sun never sets. One of the things that led to the most dreadful conflict I'd ever seen was the fact that Francis wanted a place in which he could bask in at least a portion of that glory, and perhaps share it to make the lives of his people a little bit brighter.