Conseil du Royaume

[Vladimir]

As it appears my suggestion has some support, I will propose it as law in the form I believe best.

Edict 3.3: All settlements in the British Isles will be given to Scotland. The Seneschal must attempt to obtain an alliance with Scotland in return for these settlements. However, if the Seneshal determines that the Scots will not agree to an alliance, no matter how favorable the deal, the Seneshal shall give the provinces to Scotland for whatever deal benefits France the most.

Perhaps we should reword the edict as such:

All settlements in the British Isles currently controlled by France will be given to Scotland. The Seneschal must attempt to obtain an alliance with Scotland in return for these settlements. However, if the Seneshal determines that the Scots will not agree to an alliance, no matter how favorable the deal, the Seneshal shall give the provinces to Scotland for whatever deal benefits France the most.

Were the original wording to stand, we would need to conquer all English settlements and destroy the faction entirely. Then we would turn all of these settlements over to someone who may not even wish to ally with us.

I agree, in spirit, of course, and will contribute whatever influence I can muster toward its end.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A lawyer? C'mon man.

[deguerra]

I am happy with either solution. Scots, England or otherwise. What I wish to avoid is permanent French holdings in Britain. Let us not meet the injustice of Guillaume with an injustice of our own.

[econ21]

My Lords, I thank the Duke of Lorraine for his service to the nation as Seneschal. And I wonder, do we have any among us who would stand for Seneschal? If so, I urge them to declare themselves and their manifestoes, so that they may be open to questions, debate with their rivals and set the agenda for this Conseil.

[KnightnDay]

Despite the obvious toll the Seneschal's position has taken on my good Duke of Lorraine, I shall offer to take up the mantle. Hence I declare my candidacy for the office.

If our good Prince Louis will allow, I shall state my platform based on the three positions he has taken.

First, I shall do more than limit the hiring of mercenaries, I will do what is in my power to eliminate them from the ranks so that we may depend on the good deeds of our own brave men. We have now several fine castles and I have no doubt that what men can be raised from them will make for adequate replacements for these expensive soldiers of dubious loyalties.

Second, I shall be aggressive in the pursuit of peace, but will be equally prepared to prosecute these wars to the fullest if our enemies refuse to see reason. Like all of you, I too mourn the loss of two noble men of the conseil. But my own recent victory near Magdeburg was won at a cost of men nearly a hundred-fold. Who grieves for them? You may not know their names as you do Lacaze and Bouchart, but their families do. Their friends do. Will you have me tell them their sons died to extract peace at any cost? I should hope not, and I would in turn not ask that of any man here.
And so, I say again, I shall offer to promote peace, but an honorable peace. A peace we will have if our foes will bargain in good faith.

Finally on the subject of a crusade against the Moors, if it is the will of the conseil this be done, then I shall furnish an army with the means to liberate the Iberian peninsula. But, any conquered lands of Iberia I shall urge be turned over to our Spanish allies. Since our honorable prince took his bride, we have forged a relationship by blood. We have the opportunity to do more and to demonstrate our good intentions through charity and demonstrate our bond with our Christian neighbor to the west.

With that, I stand ready to answer any questions that should be asked of me.

[Ramses II CP]

Firstly I would discourage Sir Mauvoisin from any additional napping during this session of the Council. My declaration of candidacy preceded his request by a fair amount of time.

Secondly I would encourage Sir de Saint-Amand to expand on his positions somewhat. Do you mean to ask current field armies to release their mercenaries from service? I intend, perhaps more circumspectly, to do the same. Indeed I volunteer to have all mercenaries in House Aquitaine forces disbanded at the end of the current session should I be elected Seneschal, as an example to the other Houses. Other Houses who volunteer similarly shall recieve priority in their requests for replacement recruits from our castles.

Thirdly I am curious to what further extent my opponent would have us prosecute the English war? Shall we conquer all of Albion and set up our own far flung kingdom there, as William attempted to do here? I do not favor such a course. The war with England is over. If they have the temerity to attack we should crush them, but if they merely sit back and fume then what purpose funding further armies and expeditions into their broken and destitute lands?

I believe there is an honorable peace to be hand with the German people. We have whittled away their Kaisers and the will of their nobles to fight as we have whittled away their nation. There must come a time when peace is preferrable to extermination. If the King wishes peace, if he trusts we have repaid their treachery, then peace can be found, I am certain of it.

The Council has spoken their will on the matter of a Moorish crusade already. I suggest that we put the matter of what to do with taken territory up to a vote. I vow to follow the results of such a vote no matter what they are; it is not the intent of my House to profit above others from a crusade as I believe we have repeatedly made abundantly clear.

For all the men lost in our campaigns I say a prayer, as I always have, but is it not also true that God granted us our positions for a purpose? The loss of a noble life is a matter of some weight, and it is fitting that we mourn our own friends, our own sort, even as the friends and kind of our soldiers mourn theirs. All these lives are given freely for France. We are the descendants of warriors and we follow a King who wears a lion's heart in battle! Some blood must fall so that the glory of God and Franks surpasses all others. Weep, yes, but do not turn aside from battles. Peace at any cost has not passed the lips of any man here.

I mean to bring peace to our enemies at the point of our sword, and to maintain us in such strength that it would be folly for them to come against us. Surely the world itself trembles at the thought of France whole and enraged. If they do not, they will, most especially the heathens and infidels, cowering filth that they are.

Louis voice rings with passion as he finishes his speech, and still he casts a wry glance in the direction of the founder of the Order at the end.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I have listened and thought about what has been said here..

Firstly, Louis, good luck with your candidacy.

Secondly, I do not support the idea of leaving territories we conquered in England to English or Scots. Like Louis said .. "Shall we conquer all of Albion and set up our own far flung kingdom there, as William attempted to do here?" .. Perhaps not a kingdom but Duchy instead? To the commoners in England it shouldn't matter whether we rule them or successors of William.

Thirdly, I do not support calling a crusade against the Moors. Crusades shouldn't be called so easily. If we should call against every enemy we have .. Well.. That's just stupid. If people want Crusade then call one against those heathens who control Jerusalem! Instead calling crusade we should help our Allies, Spanish, there with our money. If we take more and more land there this will most certainly upset our Christian brothers there.

Fourthly, I hate Germans! .. Just so that everyone knows that.. However, it's time to end this war with them.

[KnightnDay]

On the question of mercenaries, I did indeed intend that our armies should replace them with men of our own. It is good that we find common ground in this matter.

On the question of the prosecution of the English war, you say it is over. And when did it end? Ah yes, I had forgotten, it ended after the last English soldier was hurled from the cliffs in your last battle. But highness, I must be the one to tell you their friends have picked up the sword and cry out for vengeance in light of such acts. Will the English king look to an earnest settlement with a people represented by one whose reputation is tarnished by a certain degree of…dare I say it, brutality?

As to my own conduct, my acts on the battlefield speak of a respect for my adversaries. I believe that they in turn respect that and would be more inclined to treat with us.

Regarding the Germans, I have come to know them quite well now, in the course of my rule in Frankfurt and on the battlefields to our east. It may come as a surprise for some to know that they blame us for initiating this war. Now do not mistake what I say as questioning how this dispute began, I simply point out what they believe to be true. And revenge is what is on their minds at the moment, not peace for a province and several thousand florins. These people are not broken, nor deterred. No matter how many of the men who call themselves Kaiser perish, they are determined to come at us. Forget not, these are the descendants of Attila, the man who brought down the greatest empire of its day. It is why a pope now sits on the throne in Rome rather than a man with the title of Caesar.

Naturally the decision of the disposition of Moorish lands and indeed ones in England are best discussed within these walls. I have stated what I would favor in Iberia, but it is a decision which quite naturally must be one that has support of our greater body.

Men of the conseil, you have heard the voices of but two men who ask to serve you in our good name. One day, the voice of one of them will most likely be heard from the very throne upon which his majesty Philippe now sits. But it is not this day. I ask in this moment, consider our respective nature as you have had the opportunity to observe it and ask yourselves which is closer to the virtues necessary for guiding this body should be.