Re: Mercs for Hire! (fwd)

[clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)]

Poster: clevin@ripco.com (Craig Levin)

Tristan de Roquelaure:

> >>Um in my view, Atlantia stands in a spot far closer to Burgundy in the
> hundred years war, a political entity that was not client to either
> principle side that fought for its own advantage on whichever side was
> not trying to conquer it.  Mere semantics?  You be the judge, but there
> are many, myself included, for whom that is an important distinction.
> 
> Badouin<<
> 
> NOW we get into my persona!
> I've been studying Burgandy at this time, as well as other
> "colourful" history (couldn't pass up Blue Beard there!), 
> and The way I've seen it, it was used more as a poker chip
> between the 2 sides through the entire war.
> THe area was perfect for eitehr side!

I'd differ with you there. The fourteenth and fifteenth century
dukes of Burgundy were people one would not do well to meddle
with. One notes that the English lost their hold on northern
France after the Burgundians pulled out of their old alliance
after the failure at Arras in the 1430's-everything else was a
holding action until the fall of Gascony in 1453. They were the
overlords of the cities of Ghent and Liege and the other wool
towns of the Low Countries, which poured torrents of cash into
the dukes' coffers; they may have had more money to throw around
than the kings of England at the same time (especially Henry VI).

Until Louis XI came to the throne, the French provinces often
acted a lot more like independent countries than like parts of
one country. Although Burgundy is the case most often alluded to,
Brittany, Anjou, and Foix are also good examples. Gascony I
naturally exclude, inasmuch as it was held by one who was a
monarch in his own right.

In Service,

Dom Pedro de Alcazar
Barony of Storvik, Atlantia
Drakkar Pursuivant
Argent, a tower purpure between 3 bunches of grapes proper
-- 
http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~clevin/index.html 
clevin@ripco.com
Craig Levin
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