#count of artois

[dreamconsumer]

Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1342-1404). Unknown artist.

[roehenstart]

Philip the Fair (Philip the Handsome), Lord of the Netherlands. By Louis Gallait.

[wild-icarus]

Charles X of France, Count of Artois/アルトワ, Act 1 Costume (吉野圭吾/Yoshino Keigo) 1789 Les Amants de la Bastille Jp Toho 2016-18 (1/2)

The whole second row and the third row right photos are from 2016.

Costume Notes: I believe the costumes stays pretty consistent from one year to the next except for his makeup. He gains a beauty mark under his eye in 2018.

Part: 2

[aiza-luna]

W.I.P AC: SYNDICATE - FAMILY TREE AND HERITAGES

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A little WIP of a project I'm cooking! Basically, is the family tree of my OCs!! :3

I'll do one for my Watch Dogs OCs and my StS OCs, but so far, I'll start with my beloved Sol's heritage! 🥰💛

Since Sol doesn't come from any canon family in the AC universe, I had to create her while family line... Up until her, and later on, her grandchildren! 😭

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Is taking a while but is being worth it, soon I'll post the complete Family Tree here! In the meantime, tell me what you guys think about it :3

[ltwilliammowett]

Royal Dockyard model of the frigate Artois, 1794

The Count of Artois, a French royalist, fled France during the Revolution and settled in London. He was very rich and had only one idea: to fight the new regime. So he financed the construction of a frigate to join the Royal Navy. In return, the frigate was named after him. According to the law of the time, the royal dockyards were obliged to build an exact model of each ship or series of ships launched. In this case, it was decided to give the model to the generous donor, using fine woods, so that he could display it in his residence.

For this reason, the model was taken out of the usual naval and museum cycle.

The ship, a frigate, was designed for speed, which resulted in incomparable elegance of line. She was armed as follows: 28 14-pounder guns, 2 9-pounder guns at the bow, 8 9-pounder guns aft.

[goodqueenaly]

Hi there, I hope you don't mind me asking this but is the likely fate of Daeron and Aerion's children Maegor and Vaella?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I think Maekar’s sons are going to replay some of the dynamics of the Iron King’s sons in The Accursed Kings, including potentially with respect to baby Maegor. The infant King Jean, the posthumous son of King Louis X, proved sufficiently dynastically irritating to his uncle Philip and Philip’s ambitious mother-in-law, Mahaut of Artois, for Mahaut to murder (the child she believed to be) the baby king - a murder never proved against Philip, but which was known or suspected by at least a few and which seemed to haunt Philip’s reign nevertheless. Perhaps GRRM will add his own twist to this tale: to have baby Maegor, similarly positioned to have a better claim than that of his uncle Aegon, die, not murdered but nevertheless assumed so by those who might wish to see Aegon V’s reign as cursed in turn.

However, I feel less confident looking to Vaella’s parallel in The Accursed Kings to predict her future in ASOIAF. While Vaella bears some similarities to Jeanne, daughter of the future King Louis X and his first wife, Marguerite of Burgundy - each the daughter and would-be heiress of a king’s schlubby and unimpressive eldest son - GRRM seems to have swapped the charge of illegitimacy against Jeanne for “simple-mindedness” in Vaella in terms of undermining her claim. Given both that “simple-mindedness”, especially in the highly ableist world of aristocratic Westeros, and her lack of either husband or children in TWOIAF’s Targaryen family tree, I tend to think Vaella never married - a distinction from Jeanne, who despite the uncertainty over her paternity does in fact marry (her cousin Philip, count of Evreux) and have children (notably the notorious Charles “the Bad” of Navarre); likewise, and for the same reasons, I doubt Vaella was carved off her own holding, as Jeanne was given her paternal grandmother’s kingdom of Navarre in a legally questionable but politically expedient settlement.

The most I can speculate for Vaella is that she was more or less kept apart from the activity of Aegon V’s court. It’s possible, perhaps highly possible, that Vaella’s end came at Summerhall, as part of “the blood of the dragon, gathered in one” - a horrible fate, if so, for the princess.

[amateurvoltaire]

Wait a minute, Napoleon praised the Vendée resistance?... Why....?

Hi! Thanks so much for your question!

Yes, Napoleon did show a certain admiration for the Vendée resistance, though this was mostly for practical reasons: he wanted them to like him. Why? Because they were a semi-metaphorical powder keg! Throughout his reign, he approached the Vendée with extreme caution, often using a carrot-and-stick method to keep the region in check. The flattery was part of the "carrot."

Unsurprisingly, this cautionary attitude existed long before he was in power. Napoleon’s initial stance towards the West (1) was one of deliberate neutrality. Essentially, he avoided it like the plague. Since 1795, when he refused his appointment to the Army of the West, he consistently steered clear of the region’s affairs despite repeatedly stating that peace there was essential.

Why so passive? My guess is that he saw it as career suicide. Nothing good ever came to generals who tangled with the West...

By the time Napoleon became First Consul in 1799, the West was still a problem—a hotbed of rebellion, in fact. The Law of Hostages (2), the deportation of refractory priests, and conscription had stirred things up enough that Charles d’Autichamp and others were raising armies. Although this uprising fizzled out by November, it was a reminder that the region was still volatile.

From a strategic viewpoint, the West also represented a vulnerable border for France, especially with the ever-looming threat of English intervention. Controlling it was necessary to prevent foreign interference, whether driven by émigrés or other factions.

Politically, the Vendée was a glaring reminder of the revolutionary regimes’ failures (3) and became an emotional anchor for both royalists and revolutionaries. The French, weary of war, had seen two failed peace efforts in the region. The first attempt, from December 1794 to June 1795, collapsed over fundamental disagreements about religion and loyalty to the Republic. By May 1795, Vendéen leaders, bolstered by the Anglo-émigré alliance and promises from the Count of Artois, reignited conflict. The second peace attempt, led by General Hoche from 1796 to 1799, initially showed promise, but the coup of 18 Fructidor sabotaged his efforts, and by the summer of 1799, things were back to square one.

In short, achieving peace in the Vendée was important but elusive. Successfully doing so would be a huge PR win for the young First Consul. And Napoleon definitely loved his wins.

His immediate dilemma was how to secure lasting peace. Six years of repression had proven useless. As such, he turned to diplomacy, carefully crafted laws, a hefty dose of charm, and a focus on economic recovery.

Napoleon’s previous neutrality paid off by earning him a decent amount of public trust in the region. And, whether he genuinely believed it or not, flattering the Vendéens by praising their military prowess and describing the conflict as "le Combat des Géants” helped. This, along with his correct understanding that religion, not royalism, was the crux of the rebellion, earned him the support of key figures like Abbé Bernier.

Economically, Napoleon took a "throw-money-at-the-problem" approach. He launched an ambitious reconstruction programme, allocating millions of francs to rebuild roads (4) and houses and even create a new city (5). Alongside this, he doled out aid to the needy, offered grants for rebuilding, prioritised education, gave tax exemptions, and moderated military conscription. He was focused on rebuilding the region and erasing as many of the markings of war as he could. His propaganda visit to the area in 1808 basically sought to ingratiate him further with the locals by showing interest in their history and the war.

But despite these gestures, Napoleon remained cautious. His reconciliatory actions were paired with close surveillance of former Vendéen leaders and potential troublemakers. For better control, he also attempted to co-opt the families of former Vendéen commanders into his army, though with mixed results. For example, Louis de La Rochejaquelein (6) dodged service by pleading poor health and a large family. At the same time, his brother Auguste wasn’t so lucky, ending up as a sub-lieutenant under threat of imprisonment. Meanwhile, Charette’s nephew Louis joined Napoleon’s honour guard, only to later be arrested on suspicion of plotting. Talmont’s son was also a sub-lieutenant. Others, like Guillaume Faugaret (7)  and the Viscount of Scépeau (8),  were allowed to retreat into public life, becoming mayors and avoiding overt political involvement.

In short, Napoleon was trying really hard to win these people over—for entirely pragmatic reasons. Despite his flattery and attempts at charm, the region remained difficult to control. Don’t get me wrong, he arguably did better than the regimes before him, but incidents like the Lead Affair, the rise of Le Petit Église, and various plots showed that the West was still a risky and volatile region.

Notes

(1) The conflict went beyond the department of the Vendee and encompassed most of the north-west of France.

(2) The Law of Hostages, passed by the Directory in 1799, allowed for the detention of relatives of émigrés or rebels as "hostages" to ensure their good behaviour. If any anti-revolutionary actions occurred, these hostages could be fined, imprisoned, or even deported, effectively using them as leverage to maintain order.

(3) Fun-fact: since 1793, every year , one government or another would announce the end of the war in the Vendee, only for it to start again…

(4) One of the main reasons why the various insurgencies were so successful were because the whole region was mostly forests/marshes and had very few roads, and those roads were bordered by bushes in which the insurgents would hide and wait for the republican armies.

(5) In 1804, Napoleon decreed the creation of a new city of 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants at La Roche-sur-Yon, which was named Napoléon. This wasn’t a vanity project but  was part of his strategy to establish regional administrative control���.

(6) Louis and Auguste de la Rochejaquelein were the brothers of the late Henri de la Rochejaquelein. Louis was married to Lescure’s widow, of Memoirs fame.

(7) Guillaume Faugaret was one of Charette’s former leuterrants

(8) He was the brother-in-law of Bonchamps

[royalty-nobility]

The Family of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry (1778-1820) in the Grounds of the Château of Bagatelle

Artist: François Edmé Ricois (French, 1795-1881)

Date: Signed and dated 1825

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Royal Collection Trust, United Kingdom

Description

François Edmé Ricois (1795-1881) studied under Jean Victoire Bertin, and Anne Louis Girodet. He made his Salon debut in 1819, and went on to exhibit widely in the French provinces, obtaining medals at Douai, Lille, Toulouse, and Cambrai. He was noted for his watercolour views of French landscapes, which in their atmospheric conviction and breadth of handling, owe a debt to the English romantic painter, Richard Parkes Bonington.

Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke of Berry (1778–1820) was the son of the future king, Charles X of France and Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy. During the French Revolution he left France with his father, then Count of Artois, serving in the émigré army of his cousin, the Prince of Condé, and then with the Russian army. In 1801 he moved to England where he stayed for thirteen years. In 1814 he returned to France, and Louis XVIII appointed him commander-in-chief of the army at Paris on Napoleon's return from Elba. In 1816 he married Princess Caroline of Naples (1798–1870) to whom three children were born before the duke's death. He died in February 1820, as a result of being stabbed whilst leaving the opera house. Seven months later, the duchess gave birth to a son, Henri, duc de Bordeaux, better known to history as the comte de Chambord. After July 1830 the Duchess of Berry spent some time at Holyroodhouse Palace with Charles X, but had resolved to quickly return to France in an ill-fated attempt to secure the throne for her son.

With the Château de Bagatelle dominant in the middle ground, the figures of Charles Ferdinand and Marie Caroline, Duke and Duchess of Berry enjoy the gardens. A nurse looks after their playing children, Princess Louise (1819-64) and Henry (V), Duke of Bordeaux (1820-83). The artist has created an imagined family group, the Duke having died several months before the birth of his son, and five years before the painting was executed. A lithograph after this painting was made by Louis Julien Jacottet.

[buffdaddyphoenix]

I wanted to participate in klema week toooo, so here's me just randomly picking one of the prompts and just publishing this on a random day even if it doesn't quite correspond LOL

Title: A First Encounter

Pairing: Klema

Rating: T (for teenage drinking--tho not necessarily underage according to European laws)

Word count: 1,193

Summary: Ema and Klavier as teenagers briefly meet for the first time in a bar in Europe. [for Klema Week 2025 - Day 3: Youth]

Read on AO3

When the four girls walked into the local bar, they were met with a pretty full crowd and some loud rock music.

“Is it always like this?” Ema yelled towards her friends.

“No,” one of them, Emilie, shouted back. “I don’t know what’s going on right now but let’s just go to the bar. Follow my lead!”

The girls held hands and made their way towards the bar.

Today was Ema’s 17th birthday and her new European friends decided that they should all go out to a bar that night. She relented because she couldn’t deny she’d been curious about how she would react to alcohol. Just for her birthday, she thought the night before, she would let herself try out as much alcohol as she liked. For science. But now that she’s here, she was feeling as nervous as ever.

“4 Stella’s, please,” Emilie told the bartender.

The bartender eyed them and asked for their ID’s. The other 3 pulled theirs out quickly and effortlessly, while Ema fumbled around in her bag for it before finally showing the bartender.

“It’s her first time at a bar and trying a beer!” another friend, Stefanie, playfully pointed at Ema.

Ema was horrified, but the bartender just greeted her happy birthday as he handed back her ID. The bartender expertly opened 4 bottles of Stella Artois and handed it to the girls.

“Cheers and happy birthday!” the girls yelled and held their bottles high.

Ema took a pretty big swig out of her beer. She coughed a little and made a face. “This doesn’t really taste good, does it?”

Lien, Ema’s prettiest friend who always made Ema stutter when she stood too close, laughed and shrugged. “You learn to like it. Plus this tastes better than any American beer.”

Ema nodded and took another drink. If Lien liked this, then she’ll like it, too. “What’s going on right now, anyway?” Ema asked, gesturing to the stage in the back of the bar.

Arrest me, baby

Lock me up, baby

13 years of hard time… for love

Ema and the girls could see a band playing a rock song. A blonde man was scream-singing into the mic and playing guitar. She didn’t like what she was hearing at all.

“This sucks,” she said to Lien simply.

Lien laughed. “I agree.”

Stefanie and Emilie’s faces lit up in recognition. “Holy shit this is that hot new song right now!”

Ema was confused. “What song?”

Either she was too quiet or the two didn’t care about her question, but now Stefanie and Emilie were screaming. “Oh my god, they’re as hot as everyone says! Okay, you two stay here, we’re going to the front!”

And they ran off, leaving Lien and Ema alone.

“Who the fuck?” Ema asked Lien.

Lien stared at the blonde guy and the band a little longer as they finished the song. She seemed to be remembering who these people are.

The crowd cheered loudest at that. The five boys climbed off the stage and instantly a good chunk of them swarmed one of the guys, presumably the one named Valentijn.

Before she could say anything, the blonde dude said, “I’m Klavier Gavin and we’re the Gavinners! Danke so much for your support on our single, ‘13 Years Hard Time For Love.’ And shoutout to Valentijn, our bassist and native to this little town in Belgium.”

“Ah, right, it’s this new band from Germany that released a song and it went viral overnight for some reason. Apparently because they’re cute or something,” Lien said. She then put on a wicked smile. “Take a drink for every guy you find ugly.”

Ema, on an impulse, chugged her entire beer. “And that’s that.” She then let out an enormous burp. She covered her mouth shamefully.

Lien laughed and chugged her whole beer, too. She also let out an enormous burp. The two girls giggled mischievously.

“No way that you find all of us ugly,” a voice said behind them.

They whipped around to find the lead singer himself leaning against the bar. Klavier Gavin. He had some dark sunglasses on and had an easy smile on his face.

For some reason, the beer was now starting to hit. Ema was feeling fuzzy as she stared at this strange blonde boy. He was tall and his tight-fitting clothes were attractive to her, somehow. He seemed like he was about the same age as her or maybe a year younger. Klavier pushed his sunglasses down and peered at her over them. His blue eyes made her feel fuzzy. Or maybe it was the beer?

“Impressive that you chugged that Stella, though. Can I buy you another drink, fraulein?” Klavier asked.

Ema looked over at Lien uncertainly. Lien nodded and nudged Ema a little closer to Klavier.

“Yeah, sure. Just get me whatever you’re drinking,” Ema said, pointing at the bottle of Beck’s he was drinking.

Klavier nodded and waited for the bartender to come to him. As the two stood next to each other waiting for that beer, Ema felt a stronger wave of fuzziness overtake her—it must be the rest of the beer that she chugged. So the amount of alcohol you consume in a given moment correlates to how quickly and how much you feel drunk. She found that she quite liked it.

The bartender gave her the Beck’s bottle and she took a drink.

“Oh god this tastes worse than Stella,” Ema exclaimed.

Klavier just laughed.

“It’s my birthday today and this is my first time drinking,” Ema said. She didn’t know why she just admitted that. This must be the effect of alcohol.

“Oh, ja? Well happy birthday, fraulein,” he said coolly.

Ema suddenly noticed that he seemed a little too cool, like he was trying really hard to put on an act right now. It annoyed her a little.

With the beer blocking her overthinking, she suddenly pulled at his dumb “G” necklace to get his face down to her level. She said into his ear, “By the way, you’re really cute actually.”

Klavier shot back up, turned red, and ran out of the bar.

Ema stared dumbly at the entrance of the bar. What happened? Why did she do that? Why did he run out?

Lien walked over to Ema and asked, “What the fuck happened? I thought you guys were vibing.”

Ema continued to stare at the entrance. “I told him he was cute. And then he literally ran away.”

Ema wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have pulled at his necklace.

~

Klavier was standing outside covering his mouth and blushing like mad. He then started frantically searching his pockets for a cigarette.

One of his bandmates, Daryan, stepped outside.

“There you are, dude, where did you—” Daryan stopped talking when he saw Klavier’s face properly.

“Dude, you’re red as a tomato. What happened to that girl you were talking to inside?”

“Don’t… don’t worry about it.”

Even though the girl may have been tipsy and probably was bolder than she usually is, that was the first time a girl ever did that to him. He would never be able to forget her.

[wonder-worker]

[Events in the early thirteenth century disrupted Ida and Renaud's partnership.] Between spring 1210 and autumn 1211, the relationship between Renaud and the king [Philip Augustus] unraveled in the face of King John’s efforts to regain the allegiance of the northern French lords and the revived fortunes of Otto of Brunswick, once again king of Germany (and nephew of John and Ida). Philip’s suspicions, aroused by the presence of Eustace the monk in Boulogne (formerly seneschal of Boulogne and now John’s spy), led him to renegotiate the terms of the marriage agreement between Matilda of Boulogne and his son Philippe in 1209 and again in 1210. The documents only refer to Renaud, but it seems likely that Ida was part of the discussions.

Shortly after the second revision, the ten-year-old pair were wed in May 1210. This triggered the stipulation that Matilda’s dowry (all the family’s Norman lands, excluding Mortain, Lillebonne, and Alisay) were to be turned over to royal control on October 1, 1211. Renaud began refortifying Mortain Castle, in part a response to his support of his cousin Catherine, countess of Clermont’s, conflict with Philip, bishop of Beauvais (a royal cousin). Philip accused Renaud of disloyalty and demanded that the castle be surrendered by September 8, 1211, as security for his fidelity or be judged in default.

What advice Ida gave Renaud in the autumn of 1211 before the break with Philip II is unknown. None of the chronicles relate Ida’s role in the swift dissolution of the ties between the king and her husband. All Renaud’s efforts to negotiate matters with Philip were rebuffed. She, Renaud, and her brother-in-law, Simon, fled to safety, first to the county of Bar and then to England. Renaud swore allegiance to John, and Ida served as a hostage for Renaud’s good faith. Philip reacted swiftly by confiscating their lands and appointing his son Louis the ruler of Boulogne. Renaud, with the aid of William Longsword and Hugh de Boves, served as John’s emissaries and commanders in the region between 1212 and 1214. They were joined by Ferrand, count of Flanders, and Louis and Philip were hard pressed in the region.

At the battle of Bouvines (July 27, 1214), Renaud fought valiantly until the end, but he and Ferrand were captured. Ferrand was imprisoned at the Louvre for his defiance, but Countess Jeanne was allowed to rule Flanders, albeit under tight royal supervision, until he was released in 1231. Renaud was chained up at Péronne Castle and never released.

Afterwards, Ida sought to ransom Renaud from Philip II, both directly and with the aid of Countess Jeanne of Flanders, but her efforts failed. She retired to the Augustinian house of Zonnebeke, where she died in 1216. Renaud died in captivity in 1227. Between 1212 and 1223, Prince Louis governed Boulogne, and, to a lesser degree, Artois. Boulogne served as his supply base during his English campaigns from the winter of 1216 until the fall of 1217; consequentially, the Honour of Boulogne escheated to the crown.

— Heather J. Tanner, Lordship and Governance by the Inheriting Countesses of Boulogne, 1160-1260

[pedanther]

Dumas gives several different answers to the question of what Madame Danglars’ maiden name was. In Chapter 27, Caderousse tells Abbé Busoni that her father was “Monsieur Servieux, the present king’s chamberlain”, but in Chapter 46, Danglars tells the Count of Monte Cristo that she was “Mademoiselle de Servières”; the lady herself gets the casting vote in Chapter 54, signing a letter “Baroness Danglars, née Hermine de Servieux”.

It doesn’t end there, however: In Chapter 67, Villefort implies that she was a guest at the celebration of his betrothal to his first wife, Renée de Saint-Méran. The descriptions of that event in Chapter 6 and Chapter 9 do not mention anybody named Servieux or Servières… but there is a Count de Salvieux, who is said to be the chamberlain of the King’s brother, the Count of Artois – that is to say, of the person who, by the time of Caderousse’s conversation with Abbé Busoni, had himself become the King. And the Count de Salvieux’s daughter is also there, as a friend of the bride-to-be.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea that young, pretty Mlle. de Salvieux, who shows such a flattering interest in Villefort’s professional skill, is meant to be the same person as the future Madame Danglars. It adds some interesting depths to her backstory, and answers the otherwise unanswered question of how she and Villefort first met, providing a beginning to a story that otherwise only has a middle and an end.

And, knowing how it ends, how poetic that the first time we see her should be when she’s imploring Villefort for an opportunity to watch him at work at the assizes…

[wild-icarus]

Charles X of France, Count of Artois/アルトワ, Act 2 Costume (吉野圭吾/Yoshino Keigo) 1789 Les Amants de la Bastille Jp Toho 2016-18 (2/2)

The first row left and right photos along with the third row right photo are from 2016.

Part: 1

[aiza-luna]

☀️~{AC SYNDICATE: AN ASSASSIN'S PORTRAIT}~☀️

★・・・・・・★★・・・・・・★

★・・・・・・★★・・・・・・★★・

- Portrait of Solange Cotoner at the Headquarters of the Spanish Brotherhood in Barcelona, 1867 -

Lady Solange Teresa Vivianne Cotoner-Artois (1848 - 1926) also known as Lady Solange Teresa Vivianne Cotoner-Frye and Dame Solange Teresa Vivianne Cotoner-Artois, as well as by her nickname "Noble Assassin of Tarragona" and her noble title as "Condesa de Tortosa" (Countess of Tortosa), was an Spanish Philantropist, Naturalist, Paleotologist Noblewoman and Master Assassin of the Spanish and British Brotherhoods of Assassins active during the 19th Century. Born in Tortosa, in the Provice of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Crown of Aragon, Solange was the oldest daughter of Carlos Rafael Cotoner y Moncada, Count of Tortosa and his wife, Aimée Isabelle Henriette Artois and older sister of the famous swordwoman Serena Hélène Josefina Cotoner-Artois. Rightful Heiress to her father's maritime business and noble title, she was raised into the Assassins Ways by Carlos and his sibilings, all members of the Spanish Council of Assassins, much to her mother's worry. She becamed a Master Assassin in 1866, after sucessfully killing her target, the Templar Raúl de La Cruz. In 1867, she was send to England to aid the British Brotherhood, as a spy along her aunt Desirée Charlotte Madeleine Pleydell-Bouviere to Henry Green, also known as "The Ghost". Solange played a important role in the Liberation of London in 1868, and later, she was of vital importance to track down the Piece of Eden known as The Holy Grail, along with avoiding the rise of power of the Neo British Templar Rite in the years of 1870 and 1874. After the Liberation of London, she married her fellow Brother-in-Creed, the British Master Assassin and Gang Leader Sir Jacob Frye. She was the one responsible for the truce and diplomatic missions to Morocco in 1887-1888 in amids of the Spanish-Moroccan political tensions, she was also responsible of the rift and tension between the Spanish Council and British Council, after she stood for their lack of action in regards to the Autumn of Terror. Solange was a direct descendent of the legendary Spanish Mentor Renato Valentino Cotoner, the one responsible to modernize the Spanish Creed in the 17th Century. Solange is a Franco-Spanish Assassin of Moroccan-Moorish, Greek, Russian and German Ancestry. Her family comes from Assassins and Knights at the service of the Spanish Crown.

Solange Cotoner's Wiki / Helix Data Base.

★・・・・・・★★・・・・・・★★・

Comission done by I_Am_The_Vigilante (on Instagram) 🩵

Solange's information and design by yours truly 🩵

[catherinetheprincessofwales]

William, The Conqueror to Catherine, The Princess of Wales ⤜ The Princess of Wales is William I's 27th Great-Granddaughter  via her paternal grandfather’s line.

William the Conqueror (m. Matilda of Flanders)

Henry I, King of England (m. Matilda of Scotland)

Empress Matilda (m. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou)

Henry II, King of England (m. Eleanor of Aquitaine)

John I, King of England (m. Isabella of Angoulême)

Henry III, King of England (m. Eleanor of Provence)

Edmund, Earl of Lancaster (m. Blanche of Artois)

Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster (m. Matilda de Chaworth)

Mary of Lancaster, Baroness Percy (m. Henry de Percy, 3rd Lord Percy) - Coat of Arms

Sir Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland (m. Margaret de Neville)

Sir Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy (m. Elizabeth Mortimer)

Sir Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (m. Lady Eleanor Neville) - Coat of Arms

Sir Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (m. Eleanor, Baroness Poynings) - Coat of Arms

Lady Margaret Percy (m. Sir William Gascoigne)

Agnes Gascoigne (m. Sir Thomas Fairfax) - Gawthorpe Hall, family seat.

William Fairfax (m. Anne Baker) - Gilling Castle, family seat. 

John Fairfax (m. Mary Birch) Master of the Great Hospital at Norwich, Norfolk

Rev. Benjamin Fairfax (m. Sarah Galliard), Preacher at Rumburgh, Suffolk.

Benjamin Fairfax (m. Bridget Stringer) died in Halesworth, Suffolk.

Sarah Fairfax (m. Rev. John Meadows) died in Ousedon, Suffolk.

Philip Meadows (m. Margaret Hall)

Sarah Meadows (m. Dr. David Martineau)

Thomas Martineau (m. Elizabeth Rankin) buried at Rosary Cemetery, Norwich.

Elizabeth Martineau (m. Dr. Thomas Michael Greenhow) died in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland.

Frances Elizabeth Greenhow (m. Francis Lupton)

Francis Martineau Lupton (m. Harriet Albina Davis)

Olive Christina Lupton (m. Richard Noel Middleton)

Peter Francis Middleton (m. Valerie Glassborow)

Michael Francis Middleton (m. Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith)

The Princess of Wales m. The Prince of Wales

[goodqueenaly]

Do you see a similarity between Margery Tyrell (as well as Elinor Tyrell, Megga Tyrell, and Alla Tyrell) being put on trail and the trail of the daughter's in law of King Philip the Fair of France (specifically as described in The Accursed Kings), I was reading the Iron King a few weeks ago and it made me wonder if there was a connection as GRRM is a fan of the The Accursed Kings.

Me, think about a connection between ASOIAF and The Accursed Kings? Now when have I ever done that before?

(It me, it always me. Also long, more under the cut.)

Absolutely, I 100% believe that GRRM partially (emphasis on partially) based the supposed love affairs of Margaery and her cousins on the Tour de Nesle Affair as depicted in The Accursed Kings - specifically the first novel of the series, The Iron King. To very briefly summarize, the Tour de Nesle affair centers on the three daughters-in-law of King Philip IV of France: Marguerite of Burgundy, wife of Philip’s eldest son, Louis (and Queen of Navarre, since Louis is King of Navarre in his own right); Marguerite’s cousin Jeanne of Burgundy, wife of the king’s second son, Philip; and Jeanne’s sister (and, naturally, Marguerite’s cousin) Blanche, wife of the king’s third son, Charles. Marguerite and Blanche engage in extramarital sexual affairs with two courtiers, the brothers Philippe and Gautier d’Aunay, with Jeanne acting as facilitator and messenger for their trysts; the affair takes its name from the tower of the Hôtel-de-Nesle, the manor of the King of Navarre, where Marguerite and Blanche entertain their lovers. The affair is discovered by another French prince, Robert of Artois, and he and Philip IV’s daughter, Isabella, engineer a scheme to trap the princesses and expose them. Marguerite, Blanche, and Jeanne are subsequently caught and found guilty, the former two of adultery, the latter of aiding and abetting them; Marguerite and Blanche are imprisoned (the former until she is murdered, the latter until she dies, prematurely young and apparently insane), while Jeanne is likewise initially imprisoned but eventually freed by and reunited with her husband.

With respect to parallels between this story and the plot of AFFC, the Tour de Nesle affair and the affair Cersei invents for Margaery both involve several interrelated royal (or semi-royal) ladies. I mentioned above the princesses in The Iron King, who are called the “Princesses of Burgundy”: Marguerite is the daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, while her cousins Jeanne and Blanche are referred to as the “sisters of Burgundy”, daughters of the late Count of Burgundy. (Yes, the Duchy of Burgundy and County of Burgundy were at this time two separate political entities despite sharing a name). Likewise, the sexual scandal dreamed up by Cersei centers on four Tyrell girls at court, with one a queen: Queen Margaery, of course and three of her cousins, Megga, Elinor, and Alla. None of the Tyrell girls are sisters to any of the others, but all four are part of an extended Tyrell family, grouped together as “Tyrells” much as the three princesses of The Iron King are counted together by Robert of Artois as part of the “family of Burgundy”. In turn, just as Robert of Artois seeks to reveal the scandal specifically so that “[t]he whole family of Burgundy will be plunged up to the neck in the midden … [and] their inheritance will no longer be within reach of the Crown” - leaving that disputed inheritance open to Robert himself - so Cersei, furious at being “awash in roses”, dreams of framing Margaery for a crime of treason so serious that “even her own lord father must condemn her, or her shame becomes his own”.

Moreover, the parallel between these plots in The Iron King and AFFC is strengthened by the identities of the respective plotters. As I noted, one of the two chief architects of the plot against the princesses of Burgundy is Queen Isabella - daughter of King Philip IV of France, sister-in-law to the three princesses, and Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II. Just as Cersei is considered one of the most beautiful women in the Seven Kingdoms, inheriting the golden good looks of any number of Lannister antecedents, Isabella is often compared to her famously handsome father, Philip the Fair, sharing what Druon calls the king’s “legendary personal beauty”; a courtier of her father’s, Hughes de Bouville, even goes on to compliment Isabella in a later novel, The She-Wolf of France, by saying that Isabella had inherited “all [King Philip’s] beauty which was so impervious to time”. Yet The Iron King opens on Isabella by calling her “the loveless queen”, and it’s a description as fitting to Cersei as it is to the daughter of Philip IV.  Just as Isabella is trapped in a miserable marriage to Edward II, so Cersei was trapped in a terrible marriage to King Robert Baratheon - marriages made by their respective fathers, for the political gains of their paternal families. Indeed, King Philip’s retort to Isabella’s complaints about her bad treatment at the hands of her husband - “I did not marry you to a man … but to a King. I did not sacrifice you by mistake” - seems like the sort of reply Tywin would have given to Cersei, having chosen to make his daughter queen and secure a future royal grandson despite privately dismissing Robert as a stupid oaf (to say nothing of Robert's years of abusing Cersei). 

Likewise, both queens seek solace in their eldest sons, as well as their birth dynasties. Isabella is first shown approving that her baby son Edward’s first word was “want”, which Isabella calls “the speech of a king”; she also teaches her son that “he belongs to France as much as to England” and insists that he “get accustomed to the names of his relatives” and learn “that his grandfather, Philip the Fair, is King of France”. Isabella also surrounds herself with reminders of her French past: The Iron King opens with Isabella listening to a French poem, her most trusted lady-in-waiting is the French Jeanne de Joinville, and in a later novel, The She-Wolf of France, Isabella loses to her husband’s favorite a book of poetry by Marie of France. For her part, Cersei has made sure - or at least tried to make sure - that Joffrey was raised as a Lannister with no love for his Baratheon “father”; indeed, Cersei even likes to think of conceiving Joffrey with Jaime as an act of revenge against Robert while trapped at the home of Robert’s maternal family. Joffrey’s surcoat when he duels Robb at Winterfell shows the Lannister lion equal to the Baratheon stag, imagery he later makes his official standard when he becomes king, and he famously has in the first book a sword he proudly calls Lion’s Tooth; too, when he is married, the Lannister banners are displayed as equal to the Baratheon and Tyrell banners, underlining the Lannister importance in Joffrey’s reign. 

Too, neither queen has much love for the eventual objects of their respective plotting. When Robert of Artois informs Isabella that the princesses of Burgundy “hate you”, Isabella replies that “[t]hough I don’t know why, it is true that as far as I am concerned, I never liked them from the start”; Robert then adds his opinion, that Isabella “didn’t like them because they’re false, because they think of nothing but pleasure and have no sense of duty”. Indeed, Isabella’s longstanding dislike and distrust of her sisters-in-law seems reflected in her suspicions, apparently established before the beginning of The Iron King, that the princesses were already deceiving their husbands with extramarital lovers, seemingly heightened by the contrast to her own faithful (for her part) but loveless marriage - Isabella later tells Robert that “when I think of what I am denying myself, what I am giving up, then I know how lucky they are to have husbands who love them”, declaring “[t]hey must be punished, properly punished!”. Cersei’s distrust of Margaery, of course, can hardly be overstated, though in her case the origins of her hatred stem not from Margaery herself but rather Cersei’s paranoia about her, Cersei’s, own prophesied downfall at the hands of a younger and more beautiful queen. Convinced - probably at her ultimate cost - that her son’s (or sons’) eventual wife would fulfill the prophecy Maggy gave so many years prior, Cersei was predisposed to dislike, distrust, and deeply fear such a woman from the first 

So both queens set out to denounce and bring down their royal in-laws through the revelation of a sexual scandal - the bombshell news that a queen and her aristocratic cousins have taken lovers in the persons of a few highborn courtiers. Both plots begin at their outset with the queens appointing spies in the households of the targets of the plots. Robert of Artois advises Isabella to request one of his allies be placed in Marguerite’s household as what he terms “a spy within the walls” - a successful move for Robert and Isabella's conspiracy, as not only does Marguerite (correctly) suspect Madame de Comminges for “always trailing about in her widow’s weeds”, but Robert also reveals that “[s]ince entering Marguerite’s service, Madame de Comminges sent him a report every day”. Cersei herself recruits Taena Merryweather from Margaery’s own household, blithely confirming Jaime’s suspicion that “[s]he’s informing on you to the little queen by saying that “Taena tells me everything Maid Margaery is doing”. Taena, for her part, tells Cersei what Cersei wants to hear, often dropping sexually suggestive hints supposedly about Margaery and her court, which encourage Cersei in her plot against Margaery. 

Additionally, each queen faces the difficulty in singling out the rival queen in question given the presence of those rivals’ respective ladies. Robert of Artois complains that the princesses of Burgundy are “[c]lever wenches” because while Jeanne or Blanche often go to “pray” with Marguerite at the Tour de Nesle, each acts as an alibi for the other; as Robert concludes, “[o]ne woman at fault finds it difficult to defend herself”, but “[t]hree wicked harlots are a fortress”. Indeed, Taena Merryweather borrows almost the exact same castellated metaphor from Robert, claiming that Margaery’s “women are her castle walls”, as “[w]henever men are about, her septa will be with her, or her cousins”. This commentary from Taena inspires Cersei to ponder whether “[Margaery’s] ladies are part of it as well … [sic] not all of them, perhaps, but some” and then manipulate the confession of the Blue Bard to implicate Elinor, Megga, and Alla in the invented affair.

So in both cases, the groups of royal ladies are accused of fornication, with one lady from each excepted for a charge of what we might call criminal knowledge instead. In the case of the princesses of Burgundy, it is Jeanne who is deemed “guilty of complicity and culpable complacence”, while in the case of the Tyrells it is young Alla who is “charged with witnessing their shame [i.e. the supposed sexual relationships of Megga, Elinor, and Margaery] and helping them conceal it”. The distinction in charges notwithstanding, all the ladies are thereafter imprisoned, with both the Burgundy princesses and the Tyrell ladies stripped of their finery: at their judgment, the princesses of Burgundy kneel before the king “shaven and clothed in rough fustian” (so humbled that Jeanne and Blanche’s mother mistakes them for “three young monks”), and when Cersei visits the imprisoned Margaery, the young queen is dressed in “the roughspun shift of a novice sister”, with “[h]er locks … all a tangle”.

(It’s probably going too far to suggest that the planned roles for two courtier brothers in Cersei’s plot echoes the involvement of the d’Aunay brothers in the Tour de Nesle affair. After all, only Osney of the three Kettleblacks was supposed to have had sex with Margaery, and only Osney did have sex with Cersei, whatever Cersei would later claim to the High Septon.)

(I would be amused if GRRM named Margaery after Marguerite of Burgundy, knowing perhaps he would use her in an Accursed Kings-like plot in the future. However, I’m not saying this was necessarily or even likely the case: Margaery had been named since AGOT, after all long before the writing and publication of AFFC, and while GRRM’s affection for Maurice Druon and The Accursed Kings predates ASOIAF, there is no evidence that he planned this sort of parallel all the way back in 1996. The similarity of names may be simply an amusing coincidence, or even a retroactive realization by GRRM that he could use a similarly named character to star in a plot directly inspired by Marguerite of Burgundy’s story.)

Now, does this mean GRRM limited himself to The Iron King in creating this plot point for AFFC? Absolutely not, I would say. Indeed, I think it is very clear that GRRM also looked to the popular conception of the downfall of, and all but certainly false accusations leveled against, Anne Boleyn for further inspiration. Here, as in the popular imagination of Anne’s undoing, is a queen accused of sexual affairs with several male courtiers, who are imprisoned along with her (though note that according); here, as in the trial of Anne Boleyn, is a singer, supposedly among those accused lovers, tortured into a presumably false confession (and being the only accused lover to confess); here, as with Anne and George Boleyn, is a charge of incest against a queen and her brother, so obviously ludicrous in both cases that no contemporary takes it seriously; here, as with the arrests and subsequent release of Thomas Wyatt and Richard Page, are two courtiers seemingly accused of the same crime, but expected to be freed in order to demonstrate the guilt of the others. It’s an obvious but important point that GRRM does not need to borrow only to one point of inspiration, fictional or historical (or, rather, what he imagines as historical), for any given narrative he wants to write. Drawing connections between The Iron King and the plot against Margaery and her cousins no more invalidates connections between that same plot and the popular conception of Anne Boleyn’s downfall than comparing, say, Baelor to Louis IX of France (including the latter’s depiction in The Accursed Kings) invalidates comparisons between Baelor and Henry VI of England. 

This last point extends to Cersei herself as well. While I definitely believe GRRM borrowed elements from Isabella of France for Cersei, I have also argued, and still believe, that Cersei also shared elements of her character and story with Marguerite of Burgundy herself. Parallels between Cersei and Marguerite should not nullify or undermine parallels between Margaery and Marguerite (specifically in this context of affairs/supposed affairs), any more than parallels between, say, Edward IV of England and Robert Baratheon should nullify or undermine parallels between that same King Edward and Robb Stark (specifically in the context of a secret marriage with no apparent political benefit). GRRM is not required to neatly match one for one a character in his universe to a historical or fictional figure, nor would I think we as readers would want him to; it would be a pretty boring story if he simply copy pasted figures from extant works or history and swapped their names for those he created. 

Plus, I think Margaery and her cousins are pretty likely to come out of their trials much better than the princesses of Burgundy did with theirs. Most obviously, as even the High Septon admitted, the case against the queen and her cousins is weak - as indeed it might be, given that Cersei invented the affair in the first place. Far from the d’Aunay boasting about their royal lovers by wearing the infamous purses given them by the princesses (and gifted to them by Queen Isabella, to catch the lovers with them), all of the supposed lovers of the Tyrell girls save the Blue Bard have denied the affair, and his testimony is denounced as “half-mad”. On a practical level, the High Septon surely knows the danger for him, and his position, of convicting Margaery, given that Osney reported on the crown of sparrows demanding Margaery’s release (news Cersei regards ruefully, since as she thinks “Margaery has been their little pet”). Add to that threat the presence of Mace at the head of his army, returned to the capital explicitly to see through his daughter’s trial, and the High Sparrow is playing with fire in truly trying to convict Margaery and her cousins. 

[nouketou]

The crown prince and his childhood friends, the sons of the count of Flandres and Artois, in their ceremonial clothes.

To whom will he gives his favours? The second son of the pious count of Flandres, who’s father so wish he take cloth, despite his fighting abilities or, the flamboyant heir of the County of Artois, one if not the first gossiper of the realm? Wandering hands, blushing cheeks and secrets behind closed doors…