[Henry VIII] Tudor Crown

Judging from the current situation, even with Princess Renee, General Coligny, and Prince Condé leading the way, the Huguenots are still a minority in France.Especially when Philip II supported the Duke of Guise to eliminate the Huguenots, the religious contradictions in France had reached an irreconcilable level.

It's just...is it time for a civil war?

Catherine de' Medici dared not gamble with Spain, nor with England's ambitions.

If these two invade France on a large scale while taking advantage of the French Civil War, the rule of the Valois dynasty will be in jeopardy.Besides, even if England and Spain had no intention of invading France, they would encourage Huguenots or Catholics to carry out religious purges in France.

Refer to the War of the Roses in England, which took 30 years. A total of 65 nobles, thousands of small and medium lords, and [-] soldiers were killed.

This is a conservative estimate of the number of casualties when no other forces have intervened in England's political situation.

And if you really want to elaborate, the War of the Roses can also be regarded as England's black swan event.After all, at that time, France, which had a feud with England in the Hundred Years War, and Castile, which competed with England for the title of Naples, had no time to care about it.

Because the former has to deal with the increasingly ambitious Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, who are trying to establish a country and become kings, while the latter has to deal with the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula and neighboring small countries that have territorial disputes with them, so England has no Divided or collapsed by civil war.

But here in France... Catherine de Medici never believed that William III, who took the opportunity to annex Normandy and other places, or Philip II, who wanted to regain his great-grandmother's territory, would let France go lightly.

Perhaps they should pay more attention to the movements in England and Spain than to immediately extinguish the domestic rebels.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Seeing that Catherine de' Medici was unable to speak for a long time, she carefully asked, "Do you need to talk to Prince Condé or Guise?" Will the Duke have a conversation? After all, Bouwen's place..."

"Can I manage the Duke of Guise?" Catherine de' Medici interrupted impatiently: "Why do I always have to solve these terrible messes..."

Catherine de Medici, who broke out suddenly, swept everything on the coffee table to the ground, and said hoarsely, "Why are all these problems my problem, and I have to solve them..."

"Over there... the Duke of Guise didn't take me seriously at all, and asked me to persuade the Duke of Montmorency to support his purge of the Huguenots."

"But here, the Duke of Montmorency used me to resist the aggressiveness of the Duke of Guise, trying to use me to weaken the Duke of Guise's power."

"Are you co-authoring and using me as a weapon?"

In anger, Catherine de Medici completely put herself in the position of the victim, as if all the people in the world were hurting her except those who wanted to use her.

Isabelle de Limoy really wanted to remind Catherine de Medici not to lose her mind at critical moments, but after thinking about how the Queen Mother had been angered, she couldn't say anything to criticize, so she could only give it to the sidelines. Catherine de' Medici got angry.

After a period of turmoil, Catherine de' Medici leaned on the coffee table and panted heavily, her chest trembling as if she would stop breathing in the next second.

"You ask the Spanish ambassador to meet me in the afternoon." Catherine de' Medici, who had lost her temper, also knew that escaping was not the way to go, so she had to find a way to hold Philip II and William III, so that they could not suddenly clean up the internal affairs of France. Palace, directly take the only remaining western coastline or the Principality of Burgundy.

"In addition, send a letter to the Holy See, imploring His Majesty the Pope to persuade the King of Spain not to intervene in the internal affairs of France, and help us fight against those Huguenot patrons at a critical moment." Catherine de Medici decided to take a gamble Li II's piety, and his hatred of the Huguenots.

Although Calvinism and Lutheranism cannot be generalized, in the eyes of Catholics, especially fanatical Catholics, both are heresies that need to be burned at the stake.

Presumably Philip II still remembered the rebellion of the German princes, and also remembered that Charles V passed on the Roman throne he was thinking of to the Archduke Ferdinand because of the belief of the German princes, so he would not tolerate the Huguenots occupying Highest place of faith in France.

"The throne of Rome... the highest honor of the Habsburg family." Catherine de' Medici showed a malicious smile, her eyes rolled like a demon on a mural: "Since Frederick III of Austria , the Habsburg family intended to monopolize the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, and they did, didn’t they?”

Catherine de' Medici asked rhetorically: "It's just that the crown belongs to the Archduke of Austria, not the King of Spain."

"I'll ask the Pope to persuade the King of Spain not to interfere in France's internal affairs, and not to take the opportunity to invade French territories. You can tell Prince Condé to find a way to restart marriage negotiations with the Austrian Habsburg family."

"Why is this?" Isabelle de Limoy was puzzled: "We just returned Princess Anna of Austria, and the Emperor of Rome and the Duke of Milan (Maximilian) are still willing to marry us?"

"Why don't you want to?" Catherine de' Medici asked back: "There are only a few royal families in Europe. Without France, could they find a better place? Or would they be willing to marry their youngest daughter? To a petty lord? Isn't that shameful?"

Catherine de' Medici looked out the window, as if thinking of her eldest son who had just passed away, and her tone became a bit lower: "If they love their children, they won't refuse to remarry with France, and Spain also needs a A chance to mend relations with Austria..."

"What do you mean..."

"Austria expelled the Spanish ambassador, but Spain did not expel the Austrian ambassador. It was because Spain had a guilty conscience and urgently needed to make amends with Austria, so it silently took this slap." Catherine de Medici was comparable to her ignorant husband Know how to communicate better, otherwise Princess Mary would not get along with her as a best friend.

"Let's talk about cooperation with the Spanish ambassador first, and then make it easier for Philip II to nod on the grounds of helping to repair the relationship between Spain and Austria." Catherine de Medici said very tiredly: "And wait for Prince Condé When in contact with the Austrian ambassador, it can be said that this marriage was led by the King of Spain, giving the three parties a step down."

"I only hope that the Roman emperor can let the German princes hold William III." Catherine de' Medici had never seen through the English king, so she was not sure whether there was William III behind the Huguenots.

…………… I am the dividing line……………

"Juana is already on the line with the Huguenots?" William III was only slightly surprised when he learned that his wife was cheering for the Huguenots, and then said as usual: "It's as long as she is happy."

Sir Cecil, who felt that the king's reaction was a bit unreasonable, said cautiously: "Aren't you... don't plan to support the Huguenots in France?"

"How can I support them?" William III asked back: "You can ask for money, but you need soldiers..."

William III thought about the population of England, and resolutely refused: "I don't have enough people of my own! I don't have time to take care of them. Besides, if England sends troops to support the Huguenots in France, they will definitely be killed by the Duke of Guise." Or Catherine de' Medici slandered England's invasion of France. At that time, neither the Archduke of Austria nor Spain would sit idly by, and even the Duke of Florence would persuade me to retreat quickly under the instructions of the Pope."

"But why should the Duke of Florence interfere with your decision?"

"If you were given a chance to improve your prestige by using your words, would you refuse?" William III retorted: "The Pope needs France to contain Spain, and he doesn't want to see the Huguenots replace their influence in France."

"So in this game, England cannot directly intervene, nor can Spain directly intervene. Only France can decide the outcome."

Sir Cecil could not deny that William III's words were very reasonable and in line with the actual interests of England, but as a Protestant, he could not just watch those people with lofty ideals die in vain.

You must know that the Catholic forces in France occupy most of the upper class population.

On the England side, if Henry VIII hadn't urgently needed money and asked the Holy See to restrain him, Thomas Cromwell would not have had an opportunity.

"If you want to help those Huguenots in France, go to Flanders or Belgium to help Juana!" William III also saw Sir Cecil's hesitation, so he tactfully persuaded: "I just say no." Send troops to the Huguenots in France, but don't say you won't lend them money."

William III made eye contact with Sir Cecil, and the two reached a consensus in silence.

"I understand." Sir Cecil saluted William III very solemnly, his tone full of gratitude: "Please allow me to leave London temporarily, and go to Belgium to assist the Duke of Richmond for the benefit of England. "

Sir Cecil is still sensible and understands that he is an Englishman, so don't get close to Queen Juana at this time.

"Mercenaries can be recruited in both France and the Netherlands. In addition, remember to pay close attention to the Duke of Guise." William III remembered that the Duke of Guise led the tragedy in the town of Vassi in history.

Just because he heard Protestants praying in the warehouse of Vasi Town, the Duke of Guise led his men to set fire to Vasi Town, killing 23 people and injuring thousands.Even the ensuing Battle of Dreux led to the capture of the Duke of Montmorency, and the death of Marshal Saint-André from his injuries.Directly let Henry II lose the second of the three generals, and opened the second stage of the French War of Religion.