I Am Louis XIV - Chapter 564

  Chapter 564 The King of England bids us farewell (Part 1)

Jean Bart only drove a pocket fleet in this operation. Simply put, there was only one battleship, three frigates and a few small ships. The place where the incident happened was very close to the French port of Calais, and even more so. In the middle of the night with only moonlight and starlight, the whole operation is very fast, and the crew on the ship are also trusted subordinates – that is, the former privateer crew, most of them do not know very well what earth-shattering events they have done – pirates They not only looted merchant ships, but also sometimes acted as mercenaries at sea to remove their opponents on behalf of their employers. For regular soldiers, they would regret their actions for a lifetime, but they didn’t take it seriously. When they returned to the port, they took the bounty and On vacation, they giggled hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, happily looking for fun.

This matter, it was not until a long time later that the chapel of St. Nicholas’s monastery built by the king on the sand island collapsed. When the workers came to repair and rebuild the foundation, they found that there was a sarcophagus underground. Inside the sarcophagus is a skeleton. The skeleton had its hands crossed on its chest, a silver coat of arms of the Orange family, and a sharp sword. It can thus be proved that it is not the victims of the pirates who rest here—for the pirates do not leave the dead with anything of value, gold, silver, and weapons. So people followed the clues of the silver badge to find out – although the direct line of William Orange has been cut off, the blood line of the Earl of Nassau has been successfully passed down. After identification, he is indeed an Orange.

Although it is not certain that he was the last of the Orange family, who suddenly disappeared at the end of the Spanish War of Succession and never appeared again, most people believe that he was – some MPs, clergymen and even clergymen of the era Members of the royal family all vaguely mentioned in their memoirs, letters to friends, or conversations with their descendants that the Congress at that time had made a resolution that they not only wanted to impeach the crazy Charles II. , but also to curb the ambitions of the Duke of York-James II, who may have become a Catholic, simply put, they did not want to pick one of the two rotten apples, they turned their eyes to the other side of the channel, who had been imprisoned by Charles II for many years , but unexpectedly, William III, who met many British ministers and parliamentarians, entered their eyes like this.

For the sake of Britain, and for their own power, these MPs boldly decided to welcome William III back to London, let him marry the eldest daughter of James II, and then elect him as King of England. As for the other two, who knows there will be What kind of accident?

But they failed to see William III at the agreed place, even if they were sure that William III and the messenger boarded the ship in Rotterdam, but when the ship was far away from the port, it did not appear in people’s sight again, so they even took the ship with people Disappeared without a sound, as if it had never existed in this world – the conspiracy of Congress had to come to an abrupt end…

After the body of William III was unearthed, some people said that it may have been done by the then French King Louis XIV, but some people immediately retorted that the Sun King did not need to do such a thing that would damage his reputation at all, If he feared that William III would resent the loss of the Netherlands, which would directly affect British policy toward France—let alone whether the Parliament, which had already written the Bill of Rights, would allow him to put personal grievances ahead of state affairs, say His power at that time was also divided between his wife, the stillborn Queen Mary, who would not necessarily support such stupidity.

Some people even say that Louis XIV has always respected the power and prestige of the king over the country. When Charles II was still the Duke of Cornwall, only Louis XIV in France was willing to lend a helping hand. France, having ended its brief alliance in the Thirty Years’ War, had returned to enemy relations, and Louis XIV did so only because the Duke of Cornwall was the unquestioned heir to the throne of England, and he was helping a monarch, and Not Charles II – these were written by Bishop Mazarin in his memoirs, without error.

At the end of the debate, a conclusion was accepted by most people – that is, William III at that time may have been completely tired of the strife and calculation in the world, and managed to get rid of the control of the British, prayed to Louis XIV for asylum, and the merciful sun. Wang generously forgave the sinner, allowing him to spend the rest of his life as an ordinary priest in an obscure monastery.

  This is not surprising. It is very common in Europa for monarchs or dukes to escape into monasteries after losing power. It is shocking to be beheaded like Charles I.

   Well, let’s not consider for now whether William III will say something underground, he died, but many people in London were tossed and slept.

   Among them is Mary, the eldest daughter of James II.

To talk about Mary, let’s talk about her mother, and her grandfather, who, as we said before, was the Earl of Clarendon, who was originally a commoner lawyer, who was promoted to Parliament for his outstanding talents, and later became King Lord Chancellor of Charles I, and Lord of the Admiralty of Charles II. But going back to the source, he is a new noble among the new nobles. Even if he is canonized as an earl, after three generations, he will still not be included in the scope of marriage by his class.

But his eldest daughter, Anne Hyde, became the wife of the Duke of York, the second in line to the throne, and the calculations, transactions and some of the content were so obscure that they should not be mentioned, even if Charles II later claimed, That’s because they were in exile at the time, and as the most loyal of the courtiers (Hyde left England with his family at that time, and the Duke of Cornwall traveled many places), the Earl of Clarendon should have received this Commendation.

Look, folks, the compliment – obviously not to the Duke of York, who finally reluctantly accepted the wife because Hyde was already the Lord of the Admiralty at the time, and he longed to take over the powers of his father-in-law, and he did it, but then Anne Hyde has died painfully because of the non-stop production and her husband’s indifference, and the Earl of Clarendon is full of hatred for this son-in-law, so that when Charles II repeatedly wanted to deal with the Duke of York, he did not stop him. .

Growing up in such a family, you can imagine how hard it was for Mary to protect not only herself but her sister, no one seemed to remember that she was just a teenage – her father hated her mother and hated seeing her She and her sister, like Charles I, hoped to have a son as soon as possible. He ignored the two daughters, except when he forced them to go to mass (Protestants don’t do mass), he didn’t even want to look at them, Mary was only one year younger than the Dauphin of France, born in 62, Her peers have already given birth to several children, and she and her sister are still waiting in the boudoir. It seems that the final outcome is a monastery.

With such heavy sadness and hatred in her arms, it is not surprising that she finally betrayed her father under the pressure of a congressman. To be on the safe side, she did not tell her sister or anyone around her about it, but she really wouldn’t. Does anyone know? She is not sure.

In particular, although people don’t know what happened to William III, he disappeared abruptly for everyone to see, the Dutch rebels were ledless, the ministers and generals of Utrecht were at a loss, even The governors of the British provinces of South Holland and Zeeland also urgently sent a secret letter to London, seeking a way to deal with this matter – this matter cannot be concealed in any way, because the Duke of Utrecht is recognized The puppet of the British, some people think that this is the British intention to invade Utrecht.

   This crime made Charles II and even James II look ridiculous. Why did they destroy such a useful puppet by themselves? William III can not only appease the hearts of the Dutch people for them, but also be hated and cursed by the Dutch on their behalf. When necessary, he is a perfect scapegoat – so they must find him, so as not to always be rebellious. Tame’s nephew did something unexpected.

And if you really want to investigate, there is no way to hide the conspiracy of Congress – they were even known by the king of France in advance, and Charles II and James II didn’t notice it before because their war had been transferred to London In the center, that is, in the triangular area formed by Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and St. James’s Palace, James II is in St. James’s Palace, and Charles II is in Buckingham Palace. The distance between them is even walking. It only took ten minutes, not to mention riding a horse, they and their supporters had already killed their eyes, and the Thames was full of corpses.

In this case, James II of course couldn’t tell the heart to care about a nephew thousands of miles away, but he didn’t expect that he didn’t care, someone cared, and after reading the information sent by his subordinates, the former Duke of York, The current James II let out a grim laugh: “My God,” he said, “I’m not on the throne yet.”

He stood up and looked at Buckingham Palace not far away. Buckingham Palace was much more splendid and expansive than St. James’s Palace, but James II firmly believed that this palace with the same name should be able to bring him good omens – the lights and holy lights of Buckingham Palace. Like James Palace, it has not been extinguished for several days and nights. Presumably Charles II, his brother, has been up all night for a long time like him.

He ripped the information, tore it to shreds, and stomped it under his feet with the newspaper, which featured a picture of King Charles II and the queen, and a cradle, which said that while the queen lost a child, she also Having a child, at this time, is undoubtedly a blessing bestowed by God on the British people, representing that Charles II was chosen – just like Job, he received God’s promise to bless his bloodline.

James II took a sip, as if he couldn’t express his hatred without this rude behavior. Charles II’s son from the devil must be dead, because at this time, he didn’t want to hide it, It can only be claimed that the queen is pregnant again, a pregnant woman can hardly see it four or five months ago, and his war with James II is just a few days.

   “Don’t try to beat me with this.” James II said, “Is it only your wife who can get pregnant?” He immediately ordered his subordinates to say in their newspapers that his wife was pregnant too.

When he didn’t notice, the musketeers outside the window, the sound of gunfire was becoming sparse, and the battle was fierce for days. Even if the officers were shaking with their money bags, the soldiers couldn’t hold on anymore. This civil war in London is going on. Evolving in the direction of the Spanish throne, that is, from tactics, combat power and combat readiness to perseverance that determines everything.

   James II once again looked at London under the shroud of darkness, then turned and walked towards the bedrooms of his two daughters.

   None of them were there, and James II was not surprised, “So where did they go?”

One of the maids tried to speak, but was stunned by the princess’ wet nurse. She winced for a few seconds, but then stood up trembling: “They are in the chapel, Your Majesty.” The older wet nurse let out a cry Howling, pounced on her, and they scuffled together, the maid was young, but the wet nurse was a heavy body, and they were on top of each other, until James II impatiently ordered the maid to pull them away.

   “I remember you,” “That’s all?”

   “Someone else… Your Majesty, went to St. George’s Cathedral…” the maid stammered.

James II’s face sank. His second wife, the daughter of the Duke of Modena, was associated with the support of the Duke of Modena, so he left her in St. George’s Cathedral to avoid any accidents. It seems that this The two daughters, who are usually lukewarm to their stepmother, also know how powerful they are, and are willing to bow their heads to “the Pope’s woman” (as they call their stepmother).

If such a thing had happened before he learned of his eldest daughter’s betrayal, James II would have been content, thinking that his two stubborn daughters had finally begun to understand how to obey their father, and now he could only laugh angrily, Mary and her sister apparently wanted to use their stepmother’s reputation to beg his forgiveness – after all, if the daughter of the Duchess of Modena were not their biological mother, she would be suspected of being a stepmother if they were severely punished. The villain who instigated the murder of James II.

It’s a pity that they were wrong. James II was obviously not the kind of person who would be threatened. He took his attendants and rushed straight into the chapel, pulling out the two daughters who were curled up at the feet of the Virgin Mary seeking refuge. Pull all the way to the square of St James’s Palace.

   (end of this chapter)