History of Mythic France

The mundane history of this region is remembered in songs and stories, and much is recorded in books, notably those by Julius Caesar and Gregory of Tours. Mostly it concerns the doings of kings. In most Tribunals, Hermetic historians are regarded with great esteem, yet here in Normandy many look askance at magi who pry into the past. The terrible secrets of the Schism War lie in the Tribunal's history (see Chapter 3: Hermetic History and Culture, Drawn in Bloodshed), and the Quaesitores watch closely those who would inquire too deeply into the ancient conflicts.

The lands that today comprise the Normandy Tribunal were once home to the savage Gauls who made pagan sacrifices to the powerful spirits and faeries of the land. The Gauls held the boar, a symbol of their tribal kings, in particular reverence. The druids, who may have been precursors to House Diedne, led their faith.

Between 58 and 50 BC Julius Caesar successfully fought the Gauls, defeating King Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia. Roman rule was to reach all the way to Brittany, and even to this day Roman ruins can be found scattered throughout the region. Many druids fled to the wilder areas, and continued to exert their influence. The Gauls never wholeheartedly adopted the Roman pantheon, and continued to worship their own deities also. A Gallo-Roman culture flourished, and the region knew prosperity under the great Roman capital at Lugdunum (Lyon, in the Provençal Tribunal).

In the fifth and sixth centuries, a wave of British Celts, fleeing the collapse of King Arthur's kingdom and the incursions of Pictish, Irish and, above all, Saxon raiders, fled to the Roman province of Armorica, which became known as Brittany. From that time onwards, Brittany has had its own language (Breton) and culture, and it has many times been independent, though often owing fealty to the French king.

In the middle of the third century, Christian missionaries first reached Paris, headed by one Denis, with his assistants Eleutherius and Rusticus. The three Romans entered the pagan city and preached the gospel, to great acclaim. The leading Roman citizens were, however, dismayed, and the Roman governor had the three chief missionaries thrown into a dark dungeon to rot. There they languished for many years, resolutely praising God, and making converts by their steadfast faith, until finally they were taken out to the Hill of Martyrs, Montmartre. There they were beheaded in 275, and their bodies flung into the River Seine. By their example they had brought the light of Christianity to the city, and the abbey church of Saint-Denis was built to honor these saints and martyrs. Their feast day is October 9th, and St. Denis is today one of the patron saints of France, especially invoked by the royal family. He is personal patron to the king, but also patron of Parisians and called upon by many others in times of need.

In the fifth century, Roman Gaul came under a new threat. For many decades the Franks, a grouping of fierce Germanic tribes, had been settling in the region. They were originally welcomed as foederati, that is barbarians bound by treaty to the Empire. Their king, Childeric, assisted the Roman defeat of the Visigoths. His successor, King Clovis, fought and defeated the Roman Governor Syagrius in battle in 486 and, having made a peace treaty with the Ostrogoths, came to rule a great empire, freed from Roman rule. His dynasty flourished and fourteen great Merovingian kings ruled over all the Franks.

Clovis ruled from 481 to 511. He extended his kingdom by war, treachery, and marriage. His wife, Clotilde of Burgundy, was a Christian and changed the course of Clovis's life. His first son died and the second fell gravely ill as a baby, but Clovis saw his wife's prayers to her God cure the boy. He was further swayed when, at the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours, he was witness to a miracle when the bishop of Arras, Vedast, gave a blind man back his sight. In 496, when facing the Alemanni in battle, Clovis vowed that he would convert from his worship of Mercury and Jupiter if the victory was his. He defeated them soundly and was baptized by Saint Rémi, archbishop of Reims (see the Holy Oil of Consecration).

Following the death of Clovis, the Frankish lands were divided among his four sons; further division and frequent civil wars marked the Merovingian period. The mayors of the palaces became increasingly important, and while there were periods of military glory such as the ascendancy of Dagobert I (603-639), which saw unification and foreign conquests, these were soon lost again. The period is well known in 1220 through the Decem Libri Historiarum of Gregory of Tours, which outlines the story of the Frankish kings (see Chapter 6: Anjou and Aquitaine, Famous Men of Tours for details of this book).

In 732 a great Muslim army marched into Christendom from the Iberian peninsula. Charles Martel, a Frankish hero, led an army to meet them at the Battle of Poitiers, where a great victory was won. In 754, Charles Martel's son, Pépin, seized the throne from a weak Merovingian heir, whose hair was shaved off to strip him of his magic powers before he was forced into a monastery (see insert: The Blood of Merovech). Legends persist, however, of other Merovingian heirs who carry the royal blood and escaped Pépin's usurpation of the throne.

The Quinotaur is a supernatural creature with the fore parts of a bull and the hind parts of a great fish. Some maintain it is related to the bull-form in which Zeus carried off Europa, a Phoenician princess. It is said by some to be a form assumed by Poseidon and associated with Atlantis, and by others to be linked to Leviathan. The ancestor of the Merovingians is also said to be a creature of the Magic realm that lives in the Atlantic. A quest to discover the creature will probably settle the arguments concerning its nature. News of the sighting of a creature like this might reach the covenant through seafarers, or a book may turn up containing clues to its home.

After the great battle, as King Clovis knelt in humility before the archbishop. In sight of thousands of his warlike followers, a pure white dove descended from Heaven and placed an ampoule of oil on the altar. Clovis had obviously earned divine favor. Saint Rémi used the holy oil to anoint the king as part of the baptismal rite. From that time onwards, it has been used at the coronation of every Frankish, and later French, king, and the sacred ampoule of oil, France's holiest treasure, is kept in Reims Cathedral. The oil never runs out.

The effects of coronation and anointing are described in Realms of Power: The Divine, pages 42-43, giving the king a Magic Resistance of 10, a Soak bonus of 2, and a Commanding Aura to Voice range with an effect equivalent to Aura of Rightful Authority with Penetration 0. Any additional benefits deriving from the divine origin of the holy oil are unclear because no one has been able to investigate it. Some believe, correctly, that it is the source of the Royal Touch (see insert The Blood of Merovech) and, incorrectly, that it bestows a permanent enchantment with the effect of Aura of Enobled Presence. If a maga could obtain some of the oil, she might be able to learn more of its powers. The ampoule is a 3-point relic, and kept very safely under lock and key, but if it were stolen and passed to a rival claimant to the throne of France, such as the English boy King Henry III, this would have huge consequences for the nation, and for Mythic Europe.

The Blood of Merovech

The line of kings of the Franks traces its origins back to Duke Francio who fought alongside King Priam at Troy. The first of this line about whom anything is recorded is Merovech. He was born in the first half of the fifth century; the offspring of the wife of King Clodio of the Franks and of a beast like the Quinotaur (see the main text).

The early Merovingian kings were sorcerers whose magical powers were said to be vested in their long hair, which they never cut. As a consequence of their ancestry, most of the descendants of Merovech have a Supernatural Virtue. This is most commonly the Major Supernatural Virtue Greater Immunity: Drowning, and quite often goes undetected. All of the Merovingians bear a curious birthmark in the form of a red cross. Philip II, like many of the former kings of the Franks, has the Royal Touch, which cures the King's Evil (scrofula, see text). Many believe this is a Purifying Touch Virtue inherited from Merovech despite the fact that Philip's blood links to Merovech are apparently very tenuous. Another popular theory is that the Royal Touch was a gift from Saint Rémi to Clovis and his descendents. It is a gift from God bestowed on all Frankish kings by the anointing with the holy oil.

For saga story ideas based on this, see Chapter 10: Normandy Sagas, The Tradition of Kings.

The Capetian Blood*

Blessed by the Divine and strong supporters of the Dominion, if not always of the Church Militant, the Capetians are noted for their outstanding piety. Some members of the bloodline manifest this as the Virtue True Faith, and all show a proper reverence for things of the faith. The court demonstrates strong piety, and eschews the etiquette and more genteel manners of the southern lords (including Aquitaine) for piety, pragmatism, and strong links with the clergy.

Scrofula, also known as the King's Evil, results from an excessive retention of phlegmatic and melancholic humors caused by bad air, particularly that found in denselypopulated urban areas during hot weather. The main symptom is growths on the neck, which develop a bluish-purple coloration. Fever, chills, and malaise are evident in more advanced cases and the growths swell so that sufferers acquire the Disfigured Flaw.

It requires a Stamina roll against an Ease Factor of 6 or 9 (depending upon the time of year) to avoid catching the disease, which inflicts a Medium wound. This heals as normal and may be treated by use of the Medicine Ability (ArM5, page 66, 179, 180) or by magic using suitable Creo Corpus spells (ArM5, page 130). It is entirely cured by the touch of the King of France.

See Chapter 10: Normandy Sagas, The Tradition of Kings for story seeds based on the history of the Frankish kings.

The new rulers, known as the Carolingian dynasty, made great efforts to bolster their legitimacy, most particularly by seeking the support of the Church. They used the name of Louis, derived from Clovis, for their sons and claimed that princess Blitild, daughter of King Clothar, was their ancestor. The abbot of the monastery of Saint Denis saw his opportunity and supported the new kings. In 754, Pope Stephen II pronounced that anyone who made a king for the Franks from any line other than the Carolingians would be excommunicated. (For details of excommunication, see Realms of Power: The Divine page 73). The Carolingian dynasty is named after Charlemagne, one of the outstanding mundane leaders in the history of Western Europe. His adviser, the British priest Alcuin, was an outstanding scholar, and under Charlemagne there was a great growth in scholarship and a flowering of culture.

Charlemagne ruled over a mighty empire, and was also the King of France. The minstrels and trouverts of 1220 sing tales based on the Epic of Charlemagne, a collection of stories of chivalry, romance, and passion analogous in their hold on the popular imagination to those of King Arthur, and including the famous tragic tale of Roland, slain at the Pass of Roncesvalles. From the humblest peasant to the king himself, all know the adventures of Charlemagne and his paladins, and his heroism and customs have done much to shape contemporary culture.

The Carolingian Empire did not long survive the death of Charlemagne, as his grandsons split the inheritance, according to custom.

Hugh Capet became King of the Franks in 987. He was a descendant of Robert the Strong, a ninth-century King of Brittany, and Hugh the Great, effective ruler of France under the weak Carolingian kings Louis IV and Lothair. Hugh Capet received valuable aid from Gerbert of Aurilliac, whom he helped to the position of archbishop of Reims in 991. It seems certain that Gerbert, a renowned scholar reputed to have some minor magical talent, was a significant factor in Hugh's success. However, Pope Stephen's ruling against non-Carolingian monarchs was still in effect and excommunication seemed inevitable. Hugh won back divine favor by recovering the bodies of Saint Valéry and Saint Riquier. His reward was that his line would sit on the throne for seven generations. Philip Augustus is the seventh in line. It is therefore highly probable that the Capetian dynasty will end on Philip's death, despite the healthy heir apparent, Prince Louis. Some tragedy doubtless awaits, and a change of dynasty is due.

The Carolingian Blood

There still remain nobles in Mythic Europe who are of the Carolingian blood or, like the Capetians, are related by marriage. The strong claim they have to the imperial title is why the Holy Roman Emperor treats the King of France to this day as an equal, not a vassal. It is entirely possible that a maga may be descended from this noble dynasty, and therefore be of potentially great political importance, as the line has fragmented over the generations and many of the Carolingians are no longer great landholders. Some of those who lay claim to the blood of Charlemagne are doubtless false claimants, but Hermetic magic may well allow to the truth to be discerned, with potentially explosive repercussions. Those of Carolingian blood often have the Virtue Mythic Presence.

In 845, 120 Viking longships made their way up the Seine river to Paris, sacking monasteries and towns en route. By the winter, the raiders had extracted tributes and ransoms from the city of Paris totaling 7,000 pounds. This was no unique event: from the late 700s monasteries in Brittany were raided, and as early as 800 Charlemagne organized coastal defenses against pirates in the Seine estuary. Indeed, Aquitaine was almost devastated in the mid-ninth century by Vikings. Many raids may have been guided by the divine hand; certainly monastic historians record that those towns and monasteries raided had often previously sinned. For example, the 845 Parisian raid was divine retribution for the years of Frankish civil war following the death of Louis the Pious in 840 — a war in which Christian slew Christian, and the Church shared in the spoils.

By the mid-ninth century, the Vikings had established semi-permanent bases — winter encampments — in Neustria (the earlier Frankish name for the geographic area roughly corresponding to the duchy of Normandy). These colonization attempts forced the French king, Charles III, to reach an accord with a Viking leader, Rollo, in 911. The king intended for Rollo to act as a buffer between the French heartland and his Scandinavian brethren, and as agreed, Rollo converted to Christianity, married the king's daughter, and was granted the counties of Rouen, Lisieux, and Evreux in the Seine basin. However, Rollo and his immediate descendants — who called themselves the earls of Ruda — encouraged immigration and reinforcement from Scandinavia and over the next decades they hungrily enlarged their territory, capturing several neighboring areas. The Franks began to refer to the area controlled by these dubious barbarians as the Land of the Northmen, and by 1000 the Norman pirates were a permanent presence in northern France.

Rollo's successors included William II, the bastard, who in 1066 conquered England. A later heir, Henry II, controlled almost half of France — he was Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou — and was King of England, too. Henry's son, Richard the Lion-heart, inherited this territory in 1189, which passed to Richard's brother, John, in 1199 (see below). The present Norman claimant to the duchy is Henry III.

Hermetic covenants were raided too, and many in the Order assume that the Vikings mistook the covenants for vulnerable monasteries. Sometimes, however, raids were led by Gifted shape-changers who employed runic magic (see Ancient Magic, page 133). This created a fear in the young Order of Hermes of a parallel, Scandinavian-based, "Order of Odin." Little definitive evidence for the Order of Odin exists, but the idea is still a cause of paranoia for some today.

Baiocassium: This Diedne-dominated covenant, near the town of Bayeux, was raided several times, prompting some of the magi to establish a spring sanctuary in a regio within the town. The spring sanctuary became a covenant in its own right, but the Schism War claimed both covenants.

Dragon's Rest: At the mouth of Seine River, this site was raided a dozen times over a hundred-year period, and the magi of the time became adept at battle magic. Much of the Order's early speculation about the Order of Odin arose from contacts at Dragon's Rest. At the time Dragon's Rest was the site of the Confluensis covenant.

Fudarus: Apart from the occasional skirmish with scouting parties, the island Tytalus domus magna did not suffer a significant Viking raid.

Kerguntuil: This Diedne covenant on the Brittany coast was raided several times.

Montverte: Not a raid site, but it was established by Scandinavian converts to the Order of Hermes.

Pagus: Located near Cherbourg, this covenant was heavily raided, and lost many vis sources. The covenant never really recovered and was eventually destroyed by the magi of Baiocassium during the Schism War.

Rotomagus: This young covenant, near Rouen, was destroyed in Viking raids.

Spider's Palace: This covenant was raided several times; at the time it was the site of the newly founded Florum covenant.

Story Seed: Sanctuary of Saints

In the ninth and 10th centuries, monks and townsmen housed near the coast or along river courses lived in terror that the summer months would bring hordes of rapacious, pagan, Scandinavian raiders, and the on-going fear led many monasteries to evacuate every spring. Relics, treasures, and books were all carried to an inland place of safety, to triumphantly return when the raiding season passed. However, such tactics were not always successful, as the Vikings often left their ships and traveled for long distances overland, frequently confusing and outflanking defensive forces. Some inland monastic sanctuaries have since become chapter houses or monasteries in their own right, but a forgotten cave complex near the covenant was once such a sanctuary. It still contains a powerful Divine aura, engendered by the repeated presence of the saintly relics, and some covenfolk claim to have seen the saint manifest in the caves.

Story Seed: Lost Treasures

Last year a merchant arrived at Jumieges Abbey, in Normandy, carrying books that were thought lost during Viking raids more than 300 years ago. He claimed to have recovered the books from an ancient Viking wreck. The monks were skeptical of the books' authenticity — surely books could not survive such a wreck — but close inspection revealed that, miraculously, the books were genuine! News of the abbey's acquisitions reaches the covenant and it may occur to the magi that there is a regio, in the English Channel, filled with the magically preserved wrecks of Viking raiding ships. The ships could contain magical artifacts captured by raiders or even relics of the Order of Odin. English and French military ships are a possible threat to expeditions exploring the channel, though.

In the late 12th century a new problem arose for the kings of France. On Good Friday, 1137, Duke William of Aquitaine died while on pilgrimage. His daughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, inherited a vast territory including Aquitaine, Gascony, and Poitou. She was married swiftly to the sixteen-year-old heir to the French throne. The French royal demesne suddenly became much larger. When the king, Louis VI, died later that year, the young Louis VII became king.

The marriage started out very well, but soon ran in to problems. Eleanor is widely believed to have been highly promiscuous, and was accused of many affairs. The king was said by contemporaries to be more like a monk than a knight, and may have been scandalized by the troubadours and the more relaxed Aquitanian culture that his wife brought to the court. When Louis set off on the Second Crusade, Eleanor and a group of noble ladies accompanied the French knights, and scandalous rumors broke out. Many say that Eleanor and her ladies dressed like Amazons, and rode equipped for war.

The military defeat of the French during the Second Crusade was blamed on Eleanor having countermanded Louis' orders — her critics in France had long accused her of having too much influence over the king, who was known to be passionately in love with her. She was then accused of having had an affair with her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers, ruler of Antioch. Whatever the truth, the marriage broke down, and Eleanor had to be abducted by her husband as he pressed on towards Jerusalem and ultimate failure.

On their return from the crusade, Eleanor sought a divorce on the grounds of consanguinity, and the lack of a male heir eventually forced Louis to agree to an annulment. Eleanor already had other plans however, and on Whit Sunday she married again — this time Henry of Anjou. Henry was the descendant of Rollo, ruler of Normandy and Brittany, and heir to the throne of England.

When, in 1154, Henry inherited the English throne, the French kings faced a new and terrible danger — the King of England, already Duke of Normandy, and later to inherit Brittany, was now also the Duke of Aquitaine, and ruler of a huge area of France. The Angevin family now had an Empire with vast possessions, which threatened to permanently eclipse French royal power. The very marriage itself, without permission from Louis (as the liege lord of both Eleanor and of Henry for his French possessions), was effectively an act of rebellion, and the resulting struggle between the Angevins and the French kings has shaped the last seven decades in the Tribunal.

The furious Louis was unable to respond effectively to the new threat, and the years that followed the wedding saw the Church attempt to impose a series of truces. Henry undertook a careful fortification of the borders, and both sides entered in to political alliances with the other European dynasties. The Angevin Lion appeared ready to savage the Capetian Lily, the fleur d' lys.

Luckily for Louis, the sons of Henry II of England proved to be just as rebellious and scheming as their father, and their revolts against their father's rule, aided and abetted by their mother Eleanor, led to his being tied up in these struggles. Eleanor was imprisoned, albeit in some comfort, for the rest of Henry's reign. The infighting and treachery of the young lions, Henry's sons, greatly reduced the pressure on the French king, as they frequently turned to the French royal court for support against their father. This was support Louis was glad to give. Also, as the royal advisers had warned, the vassals of Aquitaine proved almost unmanageable, frequently rising in open revolt and playing the two warring factions off against each other.

The Angevin Blood

The lords of Anjou have a family legend that is well known throughout Mythic Europe. Many centuries ago a lord of Anjou met a beautiful maiden called Melusine (a name shared by other supernatural maidens: see Chapter 6: Anjou and Aquitaine, Lusignan). He wooed and married her, and was happy in every way with his wife, who bore him many sons, the ancestors of the Angevin dynasty. But he noticed one fault in her — she would never stay through Mass, but always left before the elevation and blessing of the host. One day he asked four of his knights to prevent her, and they jumped on the hem of her gown as she tried to leave. Screaming, she tore off her dress and flew out of the window, and her husband never saw her again. It became clear that she was a faerie, or some say a demon, and that she could never face the Body and Blood of Christ. This tainted blood runs in the Angevin veins till this day, and may manifest in unpredictable ways. Henry II and Richard often joked about it, and took pride in their supposedly diabolical or faerie heritage, in a most disconcerting manner. The truth of their ancestry has yet to be settled — who or what was Melusine, and what Virtues did she grant to her descendants?

In 1180 Louis VII died, and Philip Augustus (his son by his third marriage, to Adèle of Champagne) came to the French throne. Intelligent, belligerent, and able, he sought to consolidate French royal power and to undermine the Angevins.

Philip's own kingship clearly met with divine approval. When Philip was fourteen years old, his father, Louis, suffered a stroke and decided it was time he had Philip crowned as his successor. Before the ceremony was held, Philip fell seriously ill. Louis, himself in ill health, made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury to pray for his son's recovery and his prayer was answered. Philip's coronation took place in November 1179 and he assumed the throne when Louis VII died the following year.

There are those who claim that Philip's children are descended from the Carolingian dynasty through their mother, Isabella of Hainault, while others claim a blood link to the Carolingians through Philip's mother, Adèle of Champagne, and Hugh Capet's mother, Hedwig, the sister of Emperor Otto of Germany. Hermetic resources can probably sort out the truth of these claims and magi may choose to exploit their findings to the benefit of themselves and their mundane associates.

As a means of strengthening the succession, Capetian monarchs adopted the Carolingian and Byzantine practice of anointing the heir apparent as king early in their reign. In 1220 Philip has yet to anoint his heir, Louis, who was born in 1187 of his first wife, Isabelle of Hainault. He also has a daughter, Mary, born in 1198, and a son, Philip, born in 1200, both children of his third marriage, to Agnès of Méranie. Philip may be delaying the anointing under pressure from enemies, perhaps supporters of the King of England, in which case the magi may have to take sides. Or he may be prompted to delay by a demon, eager to break the link between the French throne and the Divine, and the magi may be called upon to intervene.

Philip Augustus, King of France

Philip lacks grace and charm, which for some people is sign enough that he is not properly royal. He displays great enthusiasm for diplomacy and administration, pushing aside some of the aristocrats who have acted as aides and advisers to the monarchy for generations in favor of educated members of the lower orders. By employing clerks and lawyers, he is building up an army of bureaucrats. Some see this as a sign that he is not truly kingly and he has gained a number of enemies among the old noble families. While he was keen enough to go to war when fighting to expand his own wealth and power, he has twice demonstrated reluctance to fight for God. He set out on the Third Crusade in 1190 but returned home after taking Acre, leaving King Richard of England, and many others, to question whether it was the claimed ill health or cowardice that drove him back. Then, in 1209, he allowed his nobles to follow the pope's command to mount a crusade against the Albigensian heretics in southern France, but did not personally participate. There are many among the traditionally minded nobility who consider that this is not the behavior of a real king.

The last thirty years have been turbulent times in the Tribunal. King Henry of England had his eldest son, also called Henry, crowned during his lifetime. His refusal to cede any real power to him and his other sons, Richard, John, and Geoffrey, led to rebellion, and the sons frequently came to King Philip for support. Henry the Young King died in June 1183, and Geoffrey of Brittany died in 1186. This left Henry II's two sons, Richard and John, to divide the Angevin inheritance. When Henry died in 1189, Richard was acclaimed King of England, and King Philip Augustus faced his most dangerous opponent yet.

King Richard had already made his mark in the brilliant campaigns that conquered and subdued his rebellious Aquitanian vassals. A brave yet ruthless knight, he was to enter popular tales through his crusade against Saladin, and his undoubted personal heroism. He waged constant and brilliant war on the French king, building impressive castles, and swiftly gaining the upper hand by his military genius. Philip was now under great pressure, but events played into his hands.

While on crusade, Richard insulted Duke Leopold of Austria, striking down his banner when the duke had claimed some of the glory of a successful siege. On his return from the crusade, repeatedly shipwrecked, Richard was forced to travel in disguise through the duke's lands, but was recognized and thrown into prison. He was then passed to the custody of the emperor, who extorted a vast ransom, raised from the Angevin possessions. While Richard was in prison, his brother John treacherously plotted to seize the English throne. When Richard was eventually released, he made peace with his brother, and returned to his campaigns to secure the Angevin lands in France. But tragedy cut his life short, and he was killed by a crossbow bolt in 1199.

With Richard's death the succession passed to John, who became King of England. This was by no means a clear succession. Richard on his deathbed decided in favor of John, at the urging of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who had rushed to her beloved son's side. During his life he had repeatedly stated his intention to leave the throne of England and Angevin lands to Arthur of Brittany, the son of Geoffrey and strongest candidate to be the rightful heir. However, three things conspired to prevent this. Arthur was still a child, and unlikely to be able to hold the Empire together, and Richard saw that a regency, even under his trusted friend William the Marshall, could be disastrous. Secondly, Eleanor of Aquitaine had a great dislike for Geoffrey's widow and Arthur's mother, Constance of Brittany. Finally, Arthur was under the influence of King Philip Augustus. Therefore on his deathbed, Richard nominated John as his successor, and he became King John. His reign was to prove disastrous for the Angevin empire in France.

John, despite early promise, succeeded only in losing much of his inheritance, and greatly increasing the power of the kings of France. He began by ignoring diplomatic advice and, enchanted by the beauty of Isabella of Angouleme, seized her and married her. She was already betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan, a major vassal and powerful supporter of the Angevins. Many suspected Isabella of bewitching the king, and it was said he appeared chained to her bed, ignoring all royal duties. His outraged vassals rebelled, and sided with Philip Augustus, yet John seemed incapable of any meaningful action. Was a love philtre used? Or witchcraft? No one knows.

King Philip summoned John, as his vassal, to his court to answer charges against him. John declined to respond, and in 1202 war broke out. Constance of Brittany had died, and Arthur, the Duke of Brittany, still with a strong claim to the English throne, had fled to the court of Philip Augustus taking many vassals with him. While John continued to be entranced by Isabella, Arthur and Philip marched against the English king.

Eleanor, who had resided at the famous and fashionable convent of Fontevraud a great deal since her release from imprisonment following Henry II's death, reacted. She marched with a small retinue towards Poitou, planning to take up residence in Poitiers and discourage further revolt. Arthur, hearing she was at the small castle of Mirebeau, set out immediately with Hugh de Lusignan to capture her, planning to use her as a pawn in the ongoing struggle. John heard of this and, finally roused from his lethargy, led a brilliant forced march with a relieving force, which fell upon the besiegers, captured them, and rescued his mother. Arthur of Brittany was now John's closely guarded prisoner.

Despite this success, Philip Augustus' military skill was clearly paying off. He drove deep into Normandy, and even besieged the great Angevin castle of Chateau Galliard. Eleanor of Aquitaine finally died, and after her death many of John's vassals, seeing clearly which way things were going, had defected to Philip. In 1204 Chateau Galliard fell; one of the finest fortifications in Mythic Europe had been captured. Normandy was lost, and in 1205 Philip Augustus captured the county of Poitou.

John was forced back to England, where a dispute over ecclesiastical matters led the pope to place the nation under interdict in 1214, and John was eventually forced to do homage to the pope to prevent the possibility of a French invasion. In 1214 he made common cause with the emperor to attack France, but Philip Augustus decisively defeated the Anglo-imperial alliance at the Battle of Bouvines. John's constant attempts to raise revenues to try and recapture Normandy proved a major factor in the outbreak of the English barons' revolt in 1215, which led to the humiliating signing of the Magna Carta, restricting royal authority in England. When a baronial revolt broke out in 1216, Philip Augustus could not act, as he was unable to attack a papal fief, but he allowed his heir, Louis, to invade England.

The death of John in 1216 ended the invasion, as the English barons rallied behind the current English king, Henry III, who is still a minor. A regency council currently rules England, and the Angevins are not considered a threat to France and the Capetians, who have continued to greatly extend their royal authority over the realm. In 1220 the Normandy Tribunal, while still split between Angevin and French lands, is once again at peace.

In 1220, France is involved in another great war. Parts of the neighboring Provençal Tribunal have recently been wracked by a terrible crusade, declared not against heathens in a foreign land, but against the Cathar heretics who are most prevalent in the Langue d'oc. While the traumatic events of that ongoing struggle are taking place in the Provençal Tribunal, many knights and mercenaries from the northern regions have served in the armies that have attempted to extirpate the heretics, and may have seen the great massacre at Beziers or the siege of Carcassonne, just eleven years ago. It is entirely possible player characters may have seen action in this terrible conflict.

The Golden Treasure

In March 1199 a ploughman discovered a pot of golden coins at Chalus, near Limoges, in the Limousin. By the time Richard heard of the treasure it had grown in the telling to a great golden statue of an emperor, and Richard set off to Chalus to seize it. While besieging the castle, Richard and companions went out one evening to survey the walls and, as things were quiet, he did not bother to don his armor, but merely picked up his shield and put on his helm. As he stood looking at the walls, a crossbowman, Bertram de Gurdun, loosed a bolt and struck Richard in his arm.

The king's companion, the mercenary knight and trusted friend of the Angevins Mercadier, immediately helped Richard back to the camp. Mercadier attempted to remove the bolt, but his skill at chirurgy proved poor and instead he mangled the wound horribly. While he finally succeeded in drawing out the metal tip, the wound soon became infected, and it became clear Richard was dying of blood poisoning.

The castle was taken, and all the defenders hanged save Bertram de Gurdun, who was brought before the king. "What have I done to you, that you have killed me?" Richard inquired, but the crossbowman stood firm and answered "You slew my father and my two brothers by your own hand, and would have killed me if you could. Therefore, take any revenge on me you see fit, for I will gladly endure any torments you can devise, so long as you have met your end, having inflicted evils, so many and so great, on the world." Richard admired his courage, and had him released with a sum of silver. However, that evening when Richard died, Mercadier had the man seized, flayed alive, and hanged anyway.

Of the treasure of Chalus there was no sign. Those who are wise in the lore of the Infernal say it may well have been a diabolical treasure designed to lure men to a terrible fate. Some, however, suspect Hermetic involvement in the whole matter — was the crossbow bolt magical? Did a covenant engineer Richard's demise?

Arthur of Brittany arguably had a stronger claim to the throne of England than John, and was a capable young man, happy to do homage to Philip Augustus as a vassal if it allowed him to take up the struggle for his rightful inheritance against his uncle, King John. When he was captured at Mirebeau in 1202, he was fifteen years old. The king could have had him executed for treason, but knew this would cause a scandal, so instead he was imprisoned in a number of castles held by loyal vassals. John tried to win him over by promises and threats, but Arthur remained defiant. On one occasion, John sent three knights to blind the boy and castrate him, but when the boy learnt his fate he broke down and the knights were unable to bring themselves to do the deed. In April 1203, William de Braose, who had acted as Arthur's jailer, relinquished his duties, and the boy was moved to Rouen. There, after Easter, the boy simply vanished. Later accounts suggest John himself collected him from the castle, and took him, pleading for mercy, out alone on the Seine. There he slew him with a sword, and weighted his body down with a stone; a body believed to be Arthur's was later found and buried. The murder, if murder it was, had terrible repercussions for John, as many vassals found in this vile act a reason to desert the Angevin cause and go over to Philip Augustus.

Yet many rumors persist. While most of the discussion concerns who committed the murder, and many suspects and assassins have been named, the most popular rumor remains that John slew the boy with his own hand. Yet, others wonder, could he still be alive? John was a bookish man, and despite his terrible temper not personally sadistic. Could Arthur have been forced into a monastery? Or more intriguingly, what if he was instead placed in an Hermetic apprenticeship? A strange and willful lad, did he display The Gift, and entering a late apprenticeship at fifteen, was he instead placed somewhere in the Order of Hermes? If so, Arthur, his mind changed by Mentem magics, will have just undertaken his Gauntlet. Unaware of his true inheritance, may yet live on, and may one day come to understand who he once was …