*Henri returns from the siege of Hamburg, he is clean and calm in demeanour*

My lords,

I ask the Seneschal clarify some aspects of his latest report. Firstly my assumption is that we have been rejected again by both the English and the Germans. Whilst the Germans are certainly still a very great threat the English have been dealt with..completely.

Whilst I applaud the Seneschal’s efforts to attain a formal peace..can we not just abandon Albion to its native peoples? Let us keep the channel as our buffer and allow time and space become our peace…I believe that we should now walk out of York, Nottingham and London and recall our men of arms completely (OOC: empty the settlements, up the tax and let them go “rebel”). Leave the English and their new King to stabilise his kingdom as he see’s fit.

As to the Germans…again, I applaud the Seneschal’s efforts towards peace but I baulk at the sums being offered here! We complain we lack coin and yet 8,000 florins are offered? I ask that the Seneschal await further consolidation of our position in the East and we may yet be able to offer a better deal in land than being offered now.

Again though, should the Germans wish to remain formally at war then why do we have to remain so? If we offer multiple lands to them…and coin..and trade rights and other incentives and they are still rejected again I say we build our borders, patrol them often and build peace though passive action.

The Germans do not have the stomach to fight me at Hamburg even though they outnumber me still 2:1…I do not believe they will have the will to continue the fight when it becomes clear we have no more aggressive intent.