Henry VII of Anglia (The Kalmar Union)

Henry VII
Henry VII, aged 15
King of Anglia
Reign	3rd February, 1718 - 4th August, 1763
Predecessor	Henry VI
Successor	Charles V
Born	27th October, 1717 Lincoln, Anglia
Died	4th August, 1763 Anglia
Spouse	Hannah of Brunswick
Issue	Henry Charles V Alexandria John Augusta Anissa Theodore John
Full name
Henry Augustus
House	Battenberg
Father	Henry VI
Mother	Charlotte of Denmark

Henry VII was King of Anglia for much of the mid-18th century. His long regency largely allowed Anglia to become a parliamentary monarchy whilst his majority was haphazardly dedicated to dismantling it, with mixed results.

Henry was the only child of Henry VI and Charlotte of Denmark, and would succeed his frequently unwell father at the age of only 3 months. The Witenage quickly authorised Charlotte to be his regent. Free of her 'obese and boring' husband, Queen Charlotte relaxed her previous standoffish attitude to Anglia and its nobles, perhaps, as the uncensored press would gleefully note, a little too eagerly. She soon acquired a reputation for sexual proclivity and many scions of noble houses would be scandalously attached to her. It is apparent she neglected Henry; he supposedly reminded her too much of his father. Her reign as regent, though debated in the Witenage, continued, mainly as she did not interfere with its workings; a situation which they liked. They finally had to put their foot down when she announced her intention to remarry, to Stephen Bennett, the 6th Earl of Craikshire, a 'reformed rake and dissolute'. The Witenage forbade the marriage which enraged the Queen. She stopped co-operating with the elected assembly and attempted to dismiss it. She was almost successful. And then war broke out.

Queen Charlotte of Denmark, Regent of Anglia 1718-1723

The Luxembourg-Anglian War

In an attempt to soften the rebellious port cities in Holland and Brabant, Henry XI of Luxembourg passed the Navigation Act in 1715, which mandated that all imports into Luxembourg ports must be carried by Dutch or Flemish ships (or a few favoured nations). This effectively barred Anglian ships from the lucrative cross-channel textile trade, or from acting as middle-men between foreign ports and Luxembourg. With some parties urging for war, the Witenage objected to Antwerp but their complaints were dismissed; Luxembourg had the largest fleet, both by number of guns and cargo tonnage, in Europe and had begun cultivating the myth that the sea was theirs to rule as they saw fit, even going so far as to demand other nations lower their flags in respect when passing Luxemburger fleets. When in February 1723 an Anglian squadron 'showed disrespect' by not lowering their flags fast enough they were fired upon. And so began the Luxembourg-Anglian War (1723-1738).

With the Queen Regent essentially hampering the conduct of government with her intransigence, a clique of nobles arranged for her removal as Henry's guardian. The chief ministers of state quickly placed him under the guardianship of his grandmother Elizabeth of Kesteven who was more inclined to support the Witenage during wartime. Charlotte would be pensioned off and grumpily took up residence in Grantbridge away from the royal court. On her father's death in 1726 she would return to Denmark.

Anglia had undertaken a considerable ship-building programme in the preceding decades and by 1720 had more heavily-gunned ship-of-the-line than Luxembourg but lacked mid-range ships, at least for now. But that meant its admirals were cautious in committing the fleet to any engagements and also meant that Anglia was unable to deploy its army on the continent. However it did have allies; France was generally opposed to Luxembourg whatever the cause and Catherine II of France happily signed a treaty of cooperation. Even Wessex, never normally aligned to Anglia's policy, quietly supported them here; Wessex merchants were being hurt by the Navigation Act too.

The initial conflict dovetailed with another Kalmar cause: the War of Luxembourg Succession. On April 4th, 1723 Henry XI of Luxembourg died. His closest male relative was Sigismund, grandson of Charles III and step-son of Queen Eyfinna I of Vinland, except he was in Leifia when Henry XI died whilst another cousin, William of Nassau, was a well-established face at court. The Luxembourg nobles inevitably favoured William, the Dutch cities meanwhile appeared to side with Sigismund. Sigismund arrived in Europe then promptly died leaving his claim to his half-brother Jóhannes. Jóhannes was in Anglia, indeed he was married to minor Anglian royalty and was Earl of Teesmark, and he appealed to the Witenage where found eager allies. He promised the return of Fryslân, once an Anglian province but lost in the 1650s, and promised to make both Anglia and Vinland favoured trading nations. Vinland had a considerable navy too and with used it to move a small army across the Atlantic to join up with French allies. With the Danish army on the move in the north and the Dutch cities edging closer to revolt it seemed for a year or so William may have been fatally squeezed. But the Danes soon ran into trouble and the French-Vinlandic army got bogged down besieging the formidable Walloon fortresses. By mid-1726 the Danes were in full retreat and the French-Vinlandic army was fighting its way back to French soil.

However whilst the allies fared poorly on land at sea the Vinlandic fleet had sailed around Britannia to link up with the Danish fleet. The combined fleets engaged the Luxembourg force at the Battle of Texel but it didn't produce a definitive result. However it was enough to allow the Anglian army to finally cross the North Sea and they would take over occupation of Fryslân from the retreating Danes. It was at this point the Dutch cities went into full revolt. William II already having offered generous terms to France and Vinland, sued for peace, he couldn't put down the revolt and maintain a full offensive against Anglia. Fryslân, a sort of semi-independent protectorate of Luxembourg, was given to Anglia and the Navigation Act relaxed. Stymied from securing the Luxembourg throne, Jóhannes, Earl of Teesmark, was given the province to govern by the Witenage. A job he threw himself into.

The war would resume in 1730, William II had pacified the Dutch cities with a mixture of bribes and violence and was eager to retake Fryslân without the distraction of revolt. By now the Anglian fleet was more or less on parity with Luxembourg but Denmark was in civil war. Half the Anglian army was on the continent now however and France and several Rhineland states pledged their armies too. The war was conducted mainly on the Rhineland which had long been an area of conflict between France and Luxembourg and Anglian forces under Earl Jóhannes acquitted themselves well. Four days after the Anglian fleet triumphed over Luxembourg off the Kent coast in the Battle of Thanet, the massive Battle of Metz on 6th June 1733 secured a French victory. Soon after which William II was advised to concede lest he lose more 'than a few German counties'.

The final phase of the war from August 1735 to October 1738 was a complete reversal of fortune. Catherine II had died, succeeded by her more pro-Luxembourg (though that did not last long) nephew Charles IX, Denmark was in no state to help and, despite entreaties, Wessex was once again happy to merely sit on the sidelines, meaning Anglia faced the full weight of Luxembourg almost alone. Once again Earl Jóhannes and the few Rhineland allies that could be mustered did well but were eventually overwhelmed. Meanwhile the navy suffered several setbacks. Eventually the Witenage signed the Treaty of Rennes which gave Fryslân its independence whilst William II tore up the Navigation Act.

Witenage as Sovereign

Chancellor Jan Whiting, Anglia's first 'Prime Minister'.

Having seen off Charlotte the Witenage had sat uninterrupted throughout the struggle with Luxembourg. Henry VII was still a minor until October 1735 and Elizabeth increasingly frail with age. She relied on the capable Chancellor Jan Whiting for advice and he effectively governed the country for her, carefully balancing the Witenage factions to raise funds, direct the war and generally keep the country running. He is generally recognised as Anglia's first 'Prime Minister', originally a derogatory title but one that gradually stuck.

What began to creep into law was a sense that the Witenage was an essential part of the fabric of Anglia and not just a body that could or should be subject to the monarch's whims. The four Witenage factions of Henry V's reign: Merjar, Bywiifer, Venner's and Rioolar, had coalesced into three 'parties'; Merjar became the Reformists, Bywiifer and Venner's merged to become the Royalists, Rioolar took up the mantle of Liberals. There was a growing sense amongst all three parties, even the Royalists who tended to be very conservative, that the demands of the country could no longer be adequately met by the monarch and their small clique of advisors when what was actually required was a 'broad church' of talents and skills from across the country. Instead of a Witenage which was a brake on the monarch perhaps, argued numerous reformist thinkers, it should be the other way around. As the contemporary philosopher Frederick Constable succinctly put it: "the monarch can be at the heart of government but cannot act as brain, legs and arms without a great many others to assist."

Majority

Henry gained his majority in October 1735 and the same week he would marry Hannah of Brunswick. Initially he went along with the Witenage's line but he felt aggrieved when the war was wound up with so little to show for it. Influenced by neighbouring states, and his wife, he began to cultivate an image for himself of an enlightened monarch who had the country's best interests at heart, and one who did not have to make knee-jerk laws just to get re-elected. The Bywiifer/Venner party would form a government in the 1739 elections and with their tacit acceptance Henry began pushing back with growing confidence. Laws from the commons which came to him for assent were sent back with their texts crossed out, scrawled upon, and fired back in no particular order, often with months between their original drafting and second readings, causing the Witenage great confusion. Laws which originated from the Royal chamber however were confirmed instantly however. By the mid-1740s it looked as if his plan was working, more and more laws would flow through the Royal chamber before their reading in the Witenage. He soon found public opinion was against him however.

By 1747 Henry was itching for a war to prove his and the country's worth. A flimsy causus belli was eventually found against Castile which had boarded an Anglian vessel and arrested its crew in Santander on suspicions of piracy and smuggling. Castile was just as diplomatically isolated as Anglia so there was little chance of the war escalating, but even so, several other Kalmar nations not so private called it an exercise in futility. Henry's posturing and sabre-rattling got nowhere with the Witenage which had other things to worry about; the country was in a recession mostly stemming from the collapse of the 'Kerguelen Company' which had promised fantastic profits from whaling in the Indian Ocean and had much of the country gripped by speculation fever. With funds tight the Witenage denied Henry funds for a poorly planned war with no clear aim.

At a stroke Henry's leverage over the assembly dissolved. He would go back to grudgingly giving assent to Witenage-led laws. The initial embarrassment would fade and Henry eventually became well-respected through his patronage of various institutions and his deft embrace and support of Protestant refugees from crackdowns in Wessex. These 'Poor Saxons' would go on to drive much of Anglia's later industrial growth.

Great Baltic War

In 1761 Novgorod declared war on Svealand beginning what would be later called the Great Baltic War. Henry would urge the Witenage to support Svealand and Louise. They rejected the suggestion, there was no treaty of alliance, and nothing to be gained from the war. Anglia would indeed join the war but only in 1768 and on Novgorod's side after Olaf IV abused his dominance over the Baltic.

Henry died of apoplexy in August 1763. He was succeeded by his son Charles and then his daughter Alexandria.