I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 484 The Wedding of the French Dauphin (Part 1)

The enmity between Britain and France has lasted for hundreds of years, and there are orthodox disputes between them. Whether it is the British fleet that defeated the French fleet, or the French fleet that defeated the British fleet, it will cause a huge celebration or a trial, as As Louis XIV speculated, after the end of the naval battle known as the Battle of Double Bay, the British fell into the gloom and irritability of the London weather, and Charles II did not have the courage of Louis XIV. -The royal family's property and palaces were used to make up for the loss of the war. The war bonds he issued plummeted. Countless small and medium aristocrats and property owners went bankrupt. There was a lot of grief in the UK, even if there were not many soldiers who died in the Battle of Shuangwan. People in London are still wearing black in anger.

   Who are they mourning for?

   is the king. When people asked each other, of course they did not dare to say so under the watch of the king's agents, but they could say aloud that they were mourning the British fleet, and Charles II was annoyed and helpless, but fortunately he was always the general The power is firmly in his hands, especially the Guards, which he refers to the guards of the French king, not only has been living under their surrounds, but also gave them the best equipment, the best treatment, and A lofty honor, they were loyal to him, no doubt about it.

   But speaking, the dissatisfaction of the British is also justifiable. Although Great Britain is far from Europa, it is still descended from the barbarians. The kings of the barbarians are almost equivalent to the leaders of the tribes. Any leader who cannot bring victory to the tribe is a waste.

   In addition to this, there is another, inherited from the three barbarian tribes that destroyed ancient Rome, shameless but let the kings of Europa regard it as a normal thing-probably a violation of the covenant, and the rudder of the wind.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we look at history, please don't just believe the words in books and tongues, but also look at what these people really did. For example, the crusades and jihad were more to loot those because of business and trade. There is no difference between pagan and Catholic cities compared with the rich and rich cities of handicrafts. In the holy war for nearly a thousand years, Catholics and pagans were robbed and extorted by knights holding crosses and images of saints; priests even In the last so-called "juvenile jihad", under the pretext that only "pure children" could take down the holy city of Jerusalem, a large number of children were recruited and deceived to board the ships, saying that they wanted to sacrifice their lives for God, but in fact they sacrificed their lives for the purse of the priest .

These children were sold to pagans as slaves and eunuchs; knights as virtuous as in the novels of chivalry were not absent, but rare enough to be remembered by a king or pope, of course, this noble The virtues of knights may not be displayed when no one is around or to pagans. Although knights are elegant, humble, honest and trustworthy to ladies, priests and lords, they may not be able to show kindness to the humble commoners. —Maybe they are not bad people, but in their education, people of low status must be corrupt, this is a rule that everyone admits (even the commoners themselves think so), they use the sword in their hands to be judges and executioners, And their judgments must be biased towards those who are high above, even if they know that the latter may not be as glamorous as they appear.

And the kings above the lords, let alone have any hope of their morals, as one ancient Roman scholar complained in an article, when a tyrant is alive, no matter how cruel, stupid or It's incompetence, every will he makes will be obeyed, until an unbearable person finally turns it into a dead man, and when he is dead, anyone can run up and step on them - this kind of situation Continuing to this day, ministers and nobles will only confront the king when his interests are touched, but if the king or the emperor only ravages the commoners, they will be like parents who dote on their children, laughing at it, or even not. Will be more obstruction or even connivance.

With such ministers, relatives and close attendants, a king is more likely to become a terrible monster like Machiavelli's "Theory of Kings" than the legendary "Holy King". Everything they do is for themselves ( Even for the country and the people, it must be "his country and the people"), so are their morals, conduct and feelings.

Therefore, there is a big difference between this era and later generations, that is, in all alliances, allies may change their positions at any time. To give a simple example, it is like in the closest world war to us, the Allies and the Allies The members of the group can change their identities as they please... In the war of Spanish succession, which has been involved in the entire Europa, except for countries such as Austria and France that are destined to be unshakable, even Spain, Portugal, or It is the United Kingdom, and everyone can determine where they should stand according to the situation.

Just like the king of Prussia who brazenly pleaded (semi-coercive) to the neutral position of Louis XIV and Leopold I, although he nominally obeyed Leopold I, he could at any time be obliged to the divine The other electors of the Roman Empire fought back—as long as France remained strong; and Louis XIV's other in-law, King Pedro II of Portugal, had always been a ruthless man, otherwise he could not have been so determined. Taking away his brother's kingdom and wife, and being so indifferent to his eldest daughter, you must know that the birth of this child may be a sin, but he and his concubine must bear most of it, after all, a baby can't do anything about it Decide whether you should be born or not.

Such a man, although he stood on the side of France in this battle - because if he stood on the side of the Habsburgs, he would not gain anything, and if he was the son of Leopold I Inheriting the Spanish throne, the Habsburgs will definitely try to recapture the soon-to-be-independent Portugal - as you can see from the map, Portugal is located on the left side of Spain, occupying nearly a quarter of the territory of the original Spain With nearly half of the coastline...

But Pedro II is like a businessman who pays close attention to money, constantly considering the price that Portugal will pay for this covenant. He does not like the eldest daughter Isabella, because her birth is "questionable", She was indeed born to him and his brother's wife - Henry VIII once said in a petition to the Pope, the Bible says that a man married to his brother's wife cannot have a son, Pedro II and Savoy's marriage The woman had been married for several years and had no son, so he was a little worried.

Before   , he was reluctant to admit Isabella, and it was hard to say whether he had imitated Henry VIII, and after extracting the available value of his sister-in-law and wife, he applied to the Pope for the intention of invalidating the marriage. Louis XIV's choice shattered his ambitions, and it is hard to say whether he secretly complained about the willfulness of the French king.

In addition to these, in the marriage negotiation between the French crown prince and the Portuguese princess, in addition to the agreed content, according to the requirements of the French ministers, Princess Isabella should have a considerable dowry - because according to the inheritance law, if the If Dero II wanted the princess to renounce her right to inherit the Portuguese throne, he should give a corresponding ransom.

Of course, Pedro II could not repeat the mistakes of Philip IV. If the king of Spain gave Princess Teresa's dowry of 500,000 livres, there would be nothing to do now, but this dowry would be nothing. Like a piece of meat was cut from him, how could he make the investment worthwhile - he probably paid more attention to the Anglo-French battles at sea than Leopold I, Portugal was just below the left of the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal The trade routes of the merchants overlapped with those of Britain and France, and they also fought against the British for the colony of India - the Portuguese lost.

The result of the   Shuangwan naval battle undoubtedly made Pedro II finally make up his mind. Compared with the signature and seal on the covenant document, the dowry was equal to Queen Teresa's original dowry, which was 500,000 livres of silver and gold.

This dowry was nothing in Portugal before 1580. One of the maritime hegemons who used to keep pace with Spain in the era of great voyages - the Portuguese who monopolized almost all the spice, sugar and slave trade, because of their great voyages. And achievements in the exploration of the New World, even proclaiming: "We give the world a new world." Their colonies covered the Atlantic East Islands and Africa, and India, gold, silver and spices more valuable than the first two were continuously shipped to Ports like Lisbon - what is half a million livres! ? Even five million livres would not feel exhausted.

It is a pity that, from its annexation by Spain in 1580 until its independence in 1640, just like every new occupation, Portugal has been extremely severely and cruelly exploited, its blood has almost been drained, and its economy has rapidly retreated, even if Joao It is an undeniable fact that Portugal is still very weak, although King IV (the first king of Portugal after independence) to Pedro II are doing their best to improve and restore.

This dowry can be seen as Pedro II's submission to Louis XIV. It is not an exaggeration to say surrender. Even Louis XIV proposed to advance the wedding of the Crown Prince and Princess Isabella. agreed.

  Princess Isabella's date of birth was in fact wrong, intentionally wrong. It is well known that Pedro II exiled his brother and the king to the outside of the palace in 67, usurping his power and throne, and his wife, and with a few days left in 67, he suddenly hurried Bought the priest and announced that the previous marriage was invalid because the elder brother did not have the ability that a man must have to get his wife pregnant. In 1968, he married his former sister-in-law.

The audience at the time said that the daughter of Savoy looked very haggard and bloated at the wedding, and she did not look like a bride should be in high spirits, and she did not follow the tradition. In the following months, in the palace It is completely different from when she was the queen of Alfonso VI. She lived in seclusion early to give birth. After giving birth, the princess did not return to the palace and was raised outside for a period of time.

A newborn baby is definitely different from a child who is a few months old, but a two- or three-year-old child is not much different from a child three or four months older. Therefore, although Princess Isabella said that she was born in 1969 Yes, but she was more likely born in 1968. If she was a son, Pedro II would surely admit her with joy, but if she was a daughter, Pedro II thought she didn't exist.

The princess was only five years old when the marriage contract was confirmed. For this marriage, even though she was an ignorant child at that time, she still knew that she might have done something very vicious, which made her feel pain and confusion. Even though she later returned to her parents and regained her noble status, she was still more gloomy and introverted than other children of the same age.

   For her, the only light in the Sintra Palace (Portugal Palace) was a letter from the Prince of France to her.

Louis XIV always encouraged his son to write to his fiancée, just as he wrote to Queen Teresa, and Queen Teresa also agreed. Compared with Louis XIV's naive idea, this Habu When the princess of Fortress came to think of her former self, Queen Teresa was also unhappy with her father when she was still a Spanish princess. Although Princess Isabella's mother was still her biological mother, it was said that she was also very kind to her. Indifferent; secondly, she also wanted her son to have a single-hearted wife for him. She deeply remembered the secret movement of her heart when she received the letter. No one could ignore a king, or a future king, so attentive, Gentle and considerate, this made her spend the most difficult time when she was newly married to France.

And over the years, she can also feel how much trouble a wife who works with her husband can save him. When women are still regarded as mentally retarded babies who need constant care, Louis XIV's trust in her is like a A small tree is planted, and when the small tree grows up, it can give back shade and fruit to her master - this is a virtuous circle, as the father Louis XIV got it, and of course she also hopes that her son can get it.

Although the correspondence between Isabella and Little Louis has to be checked, Pedro II has not yet tampered with it or pressed it to the point of not giving it to his daughter, so Princess Isabella is not so traditional... He knew the news that his marriage was about to be announced earlier than most people.

Isabella certainly would not be reluctant to be able to leave the palace of Sintra, from her gloomy father and her mother who was bent on having a son, and the whispers and strange eyes of the people in the palace. Under the teaching, she has been able to read and write in Portuguese, French and Latin as she likes. She has also read a lot of books, not only the Bible, but books are good things that can open up your eyes and mind. The more clearly you can see your situation.

   also made her feel miserable—because it was always a hard thing to admit to being superfluous and unloved.

   This was also Louis XIV's expectation - he needed a French dauphin, not a Portuguese princess.

   (end of this chapter)