The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 36

[John’s Sisters]

The Angevin-Plantagenet family was the leading power in Europe at this time.

Everyone knew that.

The Angevin-Plantagenet dynasty was born from the union of the Angevin family of France and the Norman dynasty of England.

Initially, they were known for all sorts of scandalous behavior, including major rebellions.

People were appalled by the family.

‘Ugh! What a ridiculous and cursed family.’

‘Can you believe families could do such things to each other?’

‘Not only do the husband and wife hate each other, but the children even rebel against their father to overthrow him.’

‘Wow, that’s impressive.’

‘And the daughters are said to be quite something too, right?’

‘They’re a truly remarkable family.’

While saying such things.

People now look at the Angevin-Plantagenets, who are steadily gaining prominence, and admire them.

‘Ah, it turns out those dysfunctional family members were actually amazing people.’

Even though Prince John was the catalyst for the Crusades.

It was Henry II who actually moved the Third Crusade.

He persuaded the Holy Roman Empire and elevated his vassal Thomas Becket to a position of influence, paving the way for his eventual sainthood. And with clever words of ‘a sacred mission for Christians,’ he turned his rebellious sons Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey into Crusader knights.

And what about the princes?

Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey, the unfilial sons whom Henry II didn’t even treat as sons.

They had already become powerful figures with strength, authority, and ability, like the young rulers of other countries.

If their father hadn’t been Henry II, who possessed both luck and ability.

Just like the Frankish Empire founded by Charlemagne had split, the great England would have been divided.

Moreover, even John, who was considered the most ordinary among the brothers except for his talent in minnesang [troubadour tradition of songwriting and performance].

He is now gaining fame for his various achievements.

And it’s not just the sons.

The ‘princesses’ born between Henry II and Eleanor were also formidable.

Matilda (named after her grandmother), Eleanor (named after her mother), and Joan inherited their father and mother’s temperaments, just like their brothers.

Some people are mistaken by Matilda’s calm demeanor when she recently visited John’s territory.

But the Angevin-Plantagenet princesses, who inherited the temperaments of Henry II and Eleanor, are nicknamed the ‘Iron Women.’

Of course, perhaps because they also received the blood of the Angevin-Plantagenet family.

Unlike John or Richard, who eventually lifted their mother’s house arrest, no matter how the process went.

They are fiery daughters who don’t even care about saving their mother, Eleanor.

**

-Kingdom of Castile-

This is the Kingdom of Castile, which can be said to be the direct ancestor of Spain.

Here, Queen Eleanor, a beautiful woman called Little Eleanor to distinguish her from her namesake mother.

Born to the handsome father Henry II and the greatest beauty of the time, Queen Eleanor the Great.

‘Little Eleanor’ has a very beautiful appearance.

But unlike her gentle and kind appearance, her heart was full of ambition.

And that ambition was a desire to make her husband the ‘best’ in Iberia [the peninsula comprising Spain and Portugal].

‘And the husband who becomes the best will be controlled by me.’

Little Eleanor.

She may not have been born with the appendage like her male siblings.

But her desire for power burned as fiercely as her brothers and younger brother.

First, her desire is to establish Iberian hegemony!

Fortunately, her husband, Alfonso VIII, was a capable man.

And he was a monarch with a loud voice in the seemingly large but ‘cramped’ Iberian neighborhood.

But Little Eleanor was still hungry.

‘I am not a princess who properly inherited territory, and I haven’t surpassed the limitations of a woman like my mother.’

Because she had not surpassed her true goal, her mother.

Queen Eleanor the Great, who made Henry II, who was only the Count of Anjou, the strongest ruler in Western Europe.

At least, if she was born as a daughter with the same name as her.

Shouldn’t she achieve even greater accomplishments than her mother?

So Little Eleanor tried in various ways.

But today, she was extremely disappointed in her husband.

‘Honey, you’re really below expectations, aren’t you?’

‘I’m sorry, Queen.’

‘What are you sorry about?’

‘Everything, I’m sorry for everything.’

The Iberian Crusade.

It was a good opportunity that the youngest, John, had provided.

No matter how powerful the Islamic empires and sultanates were,

Now that the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire have joined forces and are causing chaos near Eastern Rome and Jerusalem.

If they launched a surprise attack when all the eyes of the Islamic infidels were turned there.

They could recover the southern territories occupied by the descendants of the Umayyad dynasty.

In that sense, she had high expectations for the Iberian Crusade.

But the first offensive failed miserably.

‘Wow… you failed at this?’

‘…’

Her husband, Alfonso VIII, was silent.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t thinking, but he was ashamed.

‘Honey! What you wanted when you married me was a piece of meat from the Angevin-Plantagenet family, right?’

‘That’s right…’

‘Sigh…’

Then Little Eleanor sighed for a moment.

‘If the shameful defeat created by the Iberian Crusade we led becomes known, how will our father react?’

‘…’

Alfonso VIII was scared.

Because he anticipated his wife’s unspoken words with his wisdom.

‘Our brilliant father, Henry II, even turned away from his most beloved daughter, Matilda, and his son-in-law, Duke Henry the Lion.’

‘I’m sorry, Queen.’

‘Do you even know what you’re sorry for?’

‘I’m sorry for everything.’

‘…’

Little Eleanor was silent for a moment at her husband’s apologetic appearance.

Then, she raised the corners of her lips and said with a smile.

‘The Crusade is an opportunity that our youngest, John, created for us. Are you going to waste this opportunity like this? If you keep doing this, I might have to wear armor like our mother. I think my cute younger sister Joan will laugh at my failure… It would be a real disgrace as a sister, right, right?’

The monarch of the Kingdom of Castile, Alfonso VIII, begged her with his hands and feet.

**

-Kingdom of Sicily-

‘Hahaha, my sister is getting water thrown on her. She should have seized Iberian hegemony with such an opportunity. To be defeated by the Islamic guys. Our smart brother-in-law Alfonso is not very reliable at times like this.’

The dysfunctional Angevin-Plantagenet royal family.

The specialty of people born in this family.

It is to enjoy seeing siblings become precious.

‘Hahaha, I’m glad to see the Queen is happy.’

The husband, who interpreted his wife’s laughter that way, also laughed awkwardly.

‘You!’

‘Why, my beloved Queen.’

‘Are you laughing right now?’

‘I was wrong.’

‘You were wrong, right? My sister at least played a role in starting the Crusade. What on earth has our Kingdom of Sicily done? The last time with John’s incident, and this time with the Acre incident.’

‘I have no excuse.’

‘No matter how sudden it was, Acre, the key point that was taken from Saphadin (Saladin’s brother) with your eyes open? Are you going to blame the Kingdom of Jerusalem for this too?’

‘Uncle (Baldwin IV) asked you to be careful because you never know when the Islamic guys might attack. But a while ago, when that damn Joscelin caused a rebellion in Acre. You were having fun with your Naples government (lover), you bastard.’

‘I have no excuse.’

Queen Joan of the Kingdom of Sicily heard her husband’s answer.

‘Haha…:’

She let out a hollow laugh.

‘It’s embarrassing. John, that guy is being recognized. I, the sister with the same name as that guy (Joan is the feminine form of John). I’m living so incompetently.’

Compared to her one-year-younger brother John, she hadn’t done anything.

But considering that she was born as a woman, it was inevitable.

Because in those days, royal women were mostly sacrificed for diplomacy.

But she couldn’t just make excuses. It’s because of her birth.

Who is the mother who gave birth to her?

It was Eleanor, known as the Iron Duchess.

Joan, the fiery daughter who didn’t even send a letter when her mother, Queen Eleanor the Great, was exiled.

Like her sisters, she envied her mother’s achievements.

And her mother in her youth had done more than she thought.

But what is this now?

Although the area is larger than John’s territory, Ireland.

She laughed at the sight of her sister ‘Little Eleanor,’ who ambitiously launched the Iberian Crusade but failed in the offensive, as the Queen of Sicily, who has less authority than John, who is practically acting as king by joining forces with his in-laws.

Yes, Joan herself was not in a position to talk about others.

But there was an opportunity.

Although he is a person whose lust precedes reason like her father Henry II, her husband was quite a useful person.

So she thought for a moment.

Unlike before, she spoke to her husband with a soft and affectionate expression.

‘Honey, I heard that John, that guy, has become the admiral of the Christian First Fleet this time… So, coax the Genoese guys and save my brother’s face. Okay?’

It was practically an order.

‘Okay.’

As her husband left, accepting the request like an order.

Queen Joan of Sicily took out a letter from the empty bedroom.

After reading the letter sent by her ‘uncle,’ she burned it.

Then, she muttered in a very small voice.

‘Anyway, our loyal ‘Count’ uncle. I thought he was staying quiet for a while, but that’s not the case again. He will pledge eternal loyalty to his half-brother, King Henry the Great, but the problems of his nephews are none of his business. Anyway, our family is really a dysfunctional family…’

Joan, who read her uncle’s letter, realized that her family, the Angevin-Plantagenets, was the world’s most famous dysfunctional family.

Well, it wasn’t anything new.

By the way.

I heard that an anomaly occurred in the Middle East.

Joan thought it would be nice if her brothers worked hard.

**

-Somewhere in the Middle East-

A fierce war had just ended here.

The loser was hoping for death.

‘Come on… kill me quickly.’

This person.

Although he is a remnant, he is a glorious descendant of the old Seljuk Empire.

Death was before his eyes.

But there was no fear in his eyes.

However, his eyes were filled with deep regret.

‘This is it. My long-cherished desire.’

He tried to quell the chaos that began with the rebellion of the Oghuz tribe.

But he never expected it.

That the Caliph in Abbas would interfere in this Seljuk chaos.

Of course, he did everything he could and struggled.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t win.

Even if he was lucky enough to win this time, there would be no future.

Only the great prophet Muhammad (Mahomet) can deal with internal and external enemies at the same time.

Then the winner’s commander asked his lord.

‘Caliph, how should we deal with him?’

‘He was an excellent warrior. Let him go peacefully.’

Caliph Al-Nasir said plainly.

‘Yes, I understand.’

‘May you find peace in the arms of Allah.’

‘Thank you for your grace.’

-Swish.

Thus, Muhammad Shah, the last remaining descendant of Seljuk, died.

The Caliph looked at the traces of the fallen Seljuk.

Burned palaces.

And corpses that smelled rotten.

It is the scene where the history of an era is being incinerated.

The collapse of Seljuk, which formed the two major axes with the Abbasid dynasty Islamic Empire.

If he had been unlucky, his country, the Islamic Empire, would have seen such a sight as well.

‘Caliph. I heard that there is a commotion near the Holy Land.’

‘I know. That’s why I sent the advance team to the Middle East first, right?’

‘But that’s not enough.’

‘We’ll have to organize a new unit again.’

The Caliph [the secular ruler of Islam], the emperor of the Islamic Empire, also knows well.

Just as the Western Empire is watching to check the Islamic Empire.

The Islamic Empire also had many eyes and ears to check the Western Empire.

This Crusade is different in scale and meaning. If the Islamic forces are caught unawares, not only the Jerusalem Holy Land but also ‘Mecca’ and ‘Medina’ could be in danger.

So the people of Islam made a decision.

Now that the old-fashioned obstacle of the remnants of the Seljuk Empire has been removed,

The time has come for ‘forgiveness and reconciliation.’

The Western Christian guys also join forces when necessary.

They can’t keep fighting each other forever.

Calaph, who called in influential Islamic leaders in the vicinity, gave them the letter sent by Saladin.

‘…’

As they looked at him with surprised expressions, he said in a calm voice.

‘Forget your past conflicts. The current ‘situation’ is not the time for us to fight each other.’

The Islamic rulers who realized the meaning of those words said with an unavoidable expression.

‘The Caliph is right.’

‘Even if we seek profit later, it cannot be now.’

The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire have also joined hands.

Fighting among themselves would only do good for the Christians and pagans.

‘Now, I will declare a large-scale jihad to stop the pagans. Let’s call our alliance the Sword of Ishmael.’

Sultan Giyas-ud-din Muhammad of the Ghurid dynasty. Sultan Tekish of the Khwarazm dynasty.

And Caliph Al-Nasir of the Islamic Empire Abbasid dynasty shook hands like that.

To counter the Christian forces.

The alliance called the Sword of Ishmael was created.

Ishmael is the eldest son of Abraham.

Unlike the description in the Christian-Jewish Bible that he was chased away with his concubine mother Hagar for the legitimate heir Isaac, the Islamic scripture Quran says that he was the legitimate heir of Abraham.

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