Chapter I: Preparations for the war.
One Thousand years ago, with the fall of the Roman Empire, when the Angles and the Saxons invaded our homeland, our tribe came from Britain to settle a village here... Bravely, we fought against foreign invaders, such as the Vikings but our neighbour, France has always been our friend. When the Franks invaded our country, around the year 800, we had lost all of our sovereignity. But when France became independent from the Carolingian Empire, they did gave us freedom. Though we still have to pay a small tax to the French Crown, and we are, in theory, part of France, we are largely independent. Hmm... where was I, oh yes, I was explaining how our nation came into existence. Well, Charlemagne invaded Brittany and we lost our independence. But, his Empire fell apart and it was divided into Germany, France and Lorraine (which later fell apart in Burgundy, Italy and Lorraine, which Germany all conquered). but in 846 the Bretons gained independence from Charlemagne's grandson, Charles the Bald, under their leader Nomenöe. In 922 the Count of Rennes proclaimed himself Duke of Brittany. The dukedom became, through marriage, a possession of Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Henry II, in 1171. It reverted to a line of French dukes at Rennes early in the 13th century. But last year, our great Duchess, Anne de Bretagne, married His Majesty Charles III of France, uniting France with Brittany. I don't like that imperialist, to be honest, and I will do anything to get full independence!
But I have not yet introduced myself. I am Duke Henry de Nantes, and First Advisor of Her Majesty the Duchess.
The Castle of Bretagne, January 2, 1492
"Bienvenue, monsier le Duc."
"Merci beaucoup, Armand."
The Guard knew that Henry de Nantes was a privileged guest at the Dukal Court, and he let him pass.
"Ah! Ma chère Duchesse!"
"Bonjour Henri!"
"Comme c'est possible! Ce fou!"
"Mais, quel fou, Henri?"
"Ah, votre mari, madamme!"
"What has he done now?"
"Well, madamme, he went on a holiday to Savoy!"
"He did?? Without even consulting me?? He always visits me! When he wants to go on a holiday he always comes to Bretagne!"
"He is getting less and less loyal to Your Majesty, madamme.
"I can't stand him! He told me we would be together all the time but I haven't seen him since 6 months! He didn't even invite me to the New Year Party!"
"...but still he claims Bretagne to be his property..."
"Henri, I want a divorce. I want to marry you!"
"But Your Majesty, we cannot do that, the Catholic Church would turn against us if you divorced! That is illegal!"
"Then what do we do?? You said you wanted independence!"
"Well, we could just kill Charles..."
"Excellent idea! Invite an assasin to my palace at once!"
"Mais madamme, c'est impossible! We cannot do that yet! First we need to prepare our forces and increase our treasury."
"Why?"
"Because the French will invade if we kill the King... we need armies to stop them... Then we also need money, to buy peace. We can never win from France, never! Therefore, we need 500 ducats to give them.
That will calm them down."
"Good! Raise an army at once!"
"Oui, madamme. Mais d'abbord..." *He starts whispering.*
"Excellent!"
Armies were recruited as an adition to the pathetic 1,000 cavalry-6,000 infantry army that currently was in Bretagne.
Also, ships were built in all cities of the Dukedom...
