English History since 1585

When the Christian supernaturals appeared in September 1583, Queen Elizabeth treated their ambassadors as befitting of a monarch. Like other Christian rulers in Europe she sent envoys to participate in their grand scheme to unite Christendom and spread the good word to the rest of the world, by force if necessary. The scheme collapsed in April of 1585 over unreconcilable differences between the Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity, as well as the Dutch War of Independence and other, more minor issues.

After their initial scheme collapsed, the Christian supernaturals offered assistance to the rulers to gain influence over them. Queen Elizabeth accepted their support, particularly to assist in repelling the Spanish Armada, and her successor James continued the same policies after his ascension to the throne. Despite this assistance, England remained largely aloof from the politics and events of the mainland. While during the Twenty Years War English volunteers and funds were raised to assist the Protestant League, these were raised on their own initiative and without royal support.

During the Times of Troubles, England did not suffer from the peasants’ revolts that wracked France and Spain, nor the collapse of law and order that afflicted Germany. The passage of the ‘Royal Act of Relief’ supported the movement of many smallholders, whose livelihoods vanished when food prices catastrophically plummeted, to English colonies abroad. Additionally the English Army was greatly expanded to deal with incursions of supernatural creatures and bring stability during this time of chaos and uncertainty.

Unfortunately such measures cost money, heightening tensions between the English Parliament and King Charles I and the struggle of the English monarchy to achieve absolute control over the government. In 1635, Charles I attempted to imprison several members of the Long Parliament, sparking off a 25 year conflict known as the English Civil War.

As the civil war raged between royalist and parliamentary factions, the Times of Troubles slowly ended in the rest of the world. King Louis the Eternal of France, seeing weakness across the channel, capitalized on the chaos in England. His support of the Irish Rebellion helped that Kingdom regain its sovereignty in 1642 and during the brief English Commonwealth, French and Spanish forces systematically seized English colonies throughout in the New World. The Restoration of 1660 was complicated by Louis as he supported the ascension of King James VII to the thrones of England and Scotland. However the Convocation Parliament viewed James as a French and Catholic stooge and so instead crowned his younger brother, King Henry IX, due to his Protestantism and English patriotism. The Scots rejected Henry’s claims and crowned James, breaking the union of the two kingdoms which began with his grandfather.

The 1700s was a time of recovery and growth for England. Having lost much during the civil war, Anglican support for the Northern Protestant League was both unofficial and sporadic. While English envoys were sent to Salzburg during the discussions of 1705, the nation did not join the Alliance for fear of being dragged into an European war. Being unable and unwilling to join the Holy Union of Greater Christiandom either, England found itself poised between the two great coalitions in Europe. English merchants exploited this position, earning sizable profits by circumnavigating tariffs between the Union and Alliance. The Hudson’s Bay Company, originally founded in 1663 to both seek a Northwest Passage and break the French monopoly on the fur trade, similarly boomed through trade with the Inuit and tribes in the Hudson Bay area.

The reign of King Edward VII, from 1794 to 1819, became known as a golden age for the Kingdom of England. Initially called the Boy King due to his ascension to the throne at the age of 16, he presided over an unprecedented level of economic growth and artistic output. The reasons are numerous, from war in Europe increasing demand for English products and to increased investment in steam engines, as well as the growth of universities across the nation. King Edward supported local artists and industry through such efforts as opening the Royal Gallery and funding the expansion of Scarborough Port. He also extended rights to many kinds of hybrids and reformed the Anglican church. As a result, his subjects were proud to be Englishmen and fiercely loyal to Parliament and King.

Edward’s reign ended disastrously. On March 4th, 1819, barely two weeks before the anniversary of his coronation, the Kingdom of Scotland declared war, seeking to once more reunite the two nations under one King. The Scots were heavily supported by the French, many of whom were veterans of the Rationalist Revolutionary War, and so the English army could do little but retreat in the face of superior tactics, numbers and firepower. On September 20th, 1819, what remained of Parliament in London offered unconditional surrender to French and Scottish forces besieging the city after King Edward was lost during the assault on Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Since then England has been turned into a junior partner of Scotland, its economy broken once more by the short yet brutal fighting. Because of local resistance and numerous uprisings, French soldiers have remained in the country for years to assist Scotland in maintaining control over their new subjects.