The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 77

77. The Rejoining of the Anjou Family

—1187, Westminster Palace, England—

England, having greatly benefited from the Crusades, now possessed a national power that, while not quite on par with Western nations bearing the title of ‘Empire,’ was still considerably elevated.

In the noble Westminster Palace, the royal residence of England, two men were engaged in a game of chess.

Each move was as fierce as stepping onto a battlefield.

It is said that chess encompasses both war and political strife.

The two men, father and son, did not make a single move carelessly, as if they were truly fighting.

During their silent match, it was the father who spoke first.

“If you were to harm John this time, I would have used everything in my power to destroy you.”

Richard responded to his royal father’s words, made as he moved his knight, by moving his bishop.

“Wouldn’t it have been difficult anyway, with my elder brother around? And since John and I have allied as a result, that would never have happened. Check.”

“Considering the dynamics of power and ambition, I would have preferred the kinder John over Henry and Geoffrey. Checkmate.”

In an instant, Richard’s king was surrounded.

‘He’s still going strong.’

Richard paused for a moment, looking at his royal father. The eyes of the aging King Henry II were lined with wrinkles, but his gaze was as sharp as ever.

No matter how many moves he considered, there was no way to save his cornered king. His royal father’s chess skills, honed through many real battles, were formidable.

However.

‘I need to learn from this too.’

Richard did not just admire; he re-absorbed his father’s ‘move’.

“I’ve lost this time. Only this time.”

The setup for this chess match was the ‘Great Revolt’ [a rebellion against King Henry II by his sons].

Richard recreated ‘that time’ when he surrounded his royal father during the Great Revolt. Similarly, Henry II started the game recreating ‘that tragedy’ when he was surrounded by his sons during the Great Revolt.

But even in the re-enacted Great Revolt, Prince Richard was defeated.

“There was a reason we failed in the Great Revolt. We should have been more political.”

“Richard, as long as the Seven Earls are in my grasp, your defeat was inevitable.”

“But as time passes, the Seven Earls will age, and the next generation will inherit their titles. Then, Royal Father, you will not be able to hope for the same miracle as before.”

“You rascal.”

He was pointing out that the members of the Seven Earls, who formed the foundation of his father’s political power, were all aging.

Naturally, Henry II was annoyed by his son Richard’s blatant words, but Prince Richard continued to say what he had to say without paying any attention.

“Moreover, I have William, the Count of Salisbury, or rather, the young noble who has now become William I, on my side.”

“Yes, many talented individuals, like the Count of Champagne, who has not long inherited his father’s title, have gone to your side. But isn’t that the same for your other brothers?”

“Henry and Geoffrey… they were thinking of talents to use in the civil war, but I was thinking of after the civil war. That is the difference.”

“Is that civil war a fight between father and you, or a fight between your brothers?”

“That will be determined by the fate that Christ has wrought.”

“You damned fellow.”

“I am well aware of your resentment towards us. But don’t you know that it’s all because we brothers resemble you more than anyone else, Royal Father?”

“……”

Henry II, the greatest alchemist of England, who turned rebellion into civil war, was concerned whether this fellow and Prince John would really be okay, given his son’s ardent filial piety that mocked him.

Henry II, staring silently at Richard with a dazed expression, asked again.

“Then what kind of talents is John gathering?”

John.

When he mentioned the prince whom Henry II loved the most, who did not directly aim for the crown and knew how to behave as a great noble, Richard said.

“That child is gathering talents while thinking about the future that will come later.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is preparing for the time when our England completely seizes hegemony in Western Europe and completely escapes the position of challenger.”

“Hahaha. He is indeed my son, John!”

Prince Richard glanced at Henry II, who was finally showing emotion at the praise of John.

And said again.

“Richard, I am somewhat proud of you for giving up Navarre and choosing love.”

“Didn’t Royal Father gain a lot thanks to me pretending to give up Navarre and choosing Sibylla?”

Truly a heartwarming father and son.

* * *

—Ireland—

Here, in Ireland, the only safe island in Europe, where all sorts of machinations run rampant.

I was spending time with the children I had met after a long time.

“So… Jacob ended up wrestling with an angel of unknown origin.”

After carving a pseudo-figure out of wood, I am telling them exciting and fun stories.

‘Fun Bible stories,’ that is.

“Father, what happened to the wrestling?”

“Abu.”

“Bubu!”

“It’s hard for a human to beat an angel of the heavenly host. Of course, Jacob couldn’t beat the angel with strength……”

My story had to stop. Mary, grinning, came in.

“It’s time for the children to sleep, John.”

She was telling me that the time was up.

“Then, new children of a new country must sleep early.”

“More. More!”

“James, look forward to the next time.”

It’s a shame, but children should sleep on time in their childhood so that they can grow taller.

After putting the children to sleep, my wife and I started talking in front of the lamp.

“Seriously. Why is Richard having his wedding mass in Ireland?”

“John, you know very well. Prince Richard is saying that the Irish territory is as important to him as his own territory, the Normandy territory.”

“I know that, but I’m a little concerned that he’s holding his once-in-a-lifetime wedding in my territory, the youngest of the royal family.”

No matter how hard I try to make it a livable neighborhood, Ireland itself is a backward territory belonging to the countryside in the West.

For our brother to have a wedding mass in Ireland, of all places. I feel sorry for my new sister-in-law.

“By the way, I will be serving Sibylla as my sister-in-law. I heard that she is wise, but also quite merciful.”

“Do you know the person who will be my sister-in-law well?”

When I asked that, my wife smiled and said.

“Of course, I know her very well. How many eyes and ears do I have!”

Well done. My wife!

And a few days later.

Our territory, which was busy preparing for the wedding mass, received a welcome guest. It was Heinrich and his wife.

“Brother-in-law Heinrich, did you have a good trip?”

“Of course, I had a good trip. John, thanks to you, the old emperor has regained his mind a little bit!”

The old emperor that my brother-in-law is talking about is, of course, Friedrich [Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor].

Unlike the original history in which he drowned in the river, Friedrich I, who met the safe John and safely returned alive from the expedition.

He overcame death and made enormous profits in Egypt.

However.

“He seemed to have a lot of worries because of the German king.”

His father has already made great history, but his son is very uneasy.

“Then isn’t my brother-in-law the most dangerous?”

My words mean that he should be careful not to be purged by Friedrich again.

“Listen, brother-in-law, I was an elector, and I will soon regain that position. Anyway, the more the old emperor threatens me, the more the other electors will see the German king, right?”

It’s not the modern era of Europe, where the Habsburg royal family fixed the position of Holy Roman Emperor. The position of the Holy Roman Empire is not determined by one family. An era where you can gauge it by ‘voting’ if you don’t like it.

Even though Emperor Friedrich is showing moves to ‘inherit’ the position of Holy Roman Emperor to his son, if he touches his brother-in-law using that as an excuse, he won’t look good.

“That side of town is also chaotic.”

Well, is it the medieval average? In fact, I wondered if I was too peaceful a lord.

At that time, brother-in-law Heinrich, who was sipping wine, said.

“John. What you can get is limited everywhere, and politics is about taking more of it. By the way, isn’t it quite interesting? Coincidentally, the German king’s title and my title are the same, Heinrich?”

It seems that there are only people burning with ‘ambition’ around me. Dangerously.

* * *

—St. Patrick’s Cathedral—

The only person in our Anjou-Plantagenet royal family who didn’t have a wife. The day has finally come for him to get married.

The bride was Sibylla, the princess of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Born in 1159. She was a beauty two years younger than Richard, and she was a woman who lived as turbulent a life as our mother, Eleanor.

Her first husband, Guglielmo del Monferrato, died of illness, and the son she had with Guglielmo also died mysteriously. Her second husband, Guy de Lusignan, was executed by order of William I, the new king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, who had recently gained legitimacy with the consent of several lords.

Sibylla, who had already cut ties with Guy de Lusignan, did not care that her second husband had died. As a result, Sibylla, an unfortunate woman who lost three men close to her.

Once again, her marriage to Prince Richard made her name known to people.

Some say she is a femme fatale who devours men, while others say she is the incarnation of a true Madonna who has experienced misfortune but lives on steadfastly.

Like the tradition of the Anjou-Plantagenet family, which only targets beauties. Sibylla was also a truly stunning beauty, though not as much as Mary.

Anyway, this wedding mass was amazing.

“So many people came.”

“It can’t be helped. Brother Richard is a great person in many ways.”

‘All sorts of people have come. Like Philip [King Philip II of France].’

Of course, as with any wedding venue, not only people who are friendly to us came. Uncomfortable people also came to us with sinister intentions, using the wedding mass as an excuse.

Anyway, more people came than to my wedding mass last time. The reason is that the situation was very different when I married Mary.

The first is that England has become much stronger.

In the past, we were still mindful of other countries and were sometimes afraid of France.

Now, in fact, our England, which has merged the British Isles and Ireland and still has territories in Western France, is in Rome in the West (Holy Roman Empire) and the East (Eastern Roman Empire).

‘Hehe, we are a country with some power!’ It is a country that has grown to the point where it can be said.

And the second is the combination of the groom Richard and the bride Sibylla.

This symbolizes the integration of the English Anjou family and the Jerusalem Anjou family. Each established the royal family of England and Jerusalem, but in the end, the Jerusalem-Anjou royal family and the England-Anjou royal family were one family.

With this marriage, the Anjou family, which felt close and ‘distant,’ was reunited.

In addition, Richard joined forces with Baldwin IV in the Crusades to break the military ties between Saladin, the master of Syria and Egypt, and his brother Saphadin, and conquered the Syrian region. Isn’t he a great knight and a rising star among the great lords?

Baldwin de Anjou, the former monarch of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, who retired and began convalescing in Normandy, naturally attended his sister’s wedding. He seems to have been quite close to Richard since he became a comrade in all of Syria.

After that, Philip II and other ‘brothers-in-law’ and ‘sisters’ came, and scary brothers and cousins, and bastard brothers arrived.

Mary and I greeted our relatives politely. Well, I had no choice but to do so as the youngest prince.

Looking at it this way, the Anjou family seems to be a family with strong relatives. Of course, it is a bean flour family [a dysfunctional family], so I don’t know when they will turn their swords, but it is a secret.

The priest who presides over this wedding mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral is my close aide, Bishop Lothair.

Even though the presiding priest of this sacred wedding mass was a young clergyman, there were no nobles who protested.

Apart from the fact that Bishop Lothair was the power broker of the Irish diocese, he had tremendous influence within the Vatican forces and had countless connections from the Irish countryside to the Papal States.

Anyway, as time passed, the wedding mass began.

“The Lord be with you.”

—And with your spirit.

“Almighty God! Cleanse my heart and lips. Just as you cleansed the lips of the prophet Isaiah with burning coals, cleanse me with your generous mercy, so that I may worthily proclaim your holy gospel. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The ‘Isaiah’ passage, like the rice soup of the wedding mass, came out of Bishop Lothair’s mouth.

—We believe that it will be fulfilled through Christ our Lord. Amen.

‘It’s boring.’

Last time, at my wedding mass, I was the main character, so the long and long order didn’t matter. But even though he is my brother, it became boring because it was ‘someone else’s’ wedding mass.

Of course, as a proud prince of England, I had to manage my expression, so I focused on my brother’s long and long wedding mass with a ‘very serious’ expression.

Still. I felt a lump in my throat at the scene where Richard exchanged rings with his sister-in-law Sibylla.

‘My brother is getting married.’

Combining it with my past life, I am quite old, so in a sense, it feels like I am marrying off my son or nephew.

As I had such a kind heart, time passed quickly.

“Now that the mass is over, let us go and spread the word of the Lord.”

—The Gospel of God to the ends of Samaria.

With that, the boring wedding mass ended, and a banquet was held.

Like the wedding feast at Cana where Jesus Christ turned water into wine in the New Testament. Isn’t the after-party of a sacred wedding mass naturally a drinking party?

And I could see the King of France pretending to be drunk.

“Oh, my beloved brother John.”

Such a friendly face, Philip is a really great guy.