MacDidz: The Scottish Blog

[Didz]

Summer 1108:

We cannot trust the Portugeuse
Patrick MacDougall our ambassador to Rome reports that he has met with his opposite number from the Kingdom of Portugal.

MacDougall was successful in negotiating rights of trade with the Portuguese but was unable to gain agreement for anything more. In his opinion the Portuguese are not to be trusted, they are allied with Spain and thus by association friends with the English and enemies of our allies the French. Their armies are said to be strong but their treasury is meagre and currently they only govern four cities.

What God Provides
A papal messenger arrives in London bearing word of his Holiness' distress at the continued hostility between the Scots and their English brothers in Christ. The messenger expressed the Popes urgent desire that all hostilities should cease immediately. Edward expressed his own desire for peace, stating that whilst the war against the English had been a holy one led by God himself and aided by Saint Andrew, that war had acheived its aims, and he had no reason to continue it now that Scotland had freed the English from their Norman oppressors.

However, he went on to point out that the Robert the King of the Normans seemed unwilling to accept the will of God. Even now his ships were stalking innocent Scottish tradesmen going about their lawful business on the high sea's. Such actions were not those of a Christian King, but of a pagan pirate and if peace was to be sustained these pirates must first be scourged from the sea.

As a dutifull Christian he would do nothing to seek further quarrel with King Robert, but if God were to provide him with an opportunity to rid the world of the pirates sailing under his banner then who could claim that he was wrong to carry out God's will.

And God did provide. A few days later Petair reported that 22 ships commanded by the English Admiral Simon were boarding an English Army of 1,300 men from the coast of Normandy.

A detachment from the Channel fleet caught Admiral Simon trying to put to sea and completely destroyed his fleet drowning the entire English Army in the channel, whilst the remainder of the fleet closed with the remants of Admiral Humphreys fleet and destoyed it off the coast of Cornwall.


Edward sent word to the Pope. "God offerred me a chance to acheive peace, and I accepted it as a grateful servant of the Lord."

With every known English Fleet destroyed and their military strength greatly reduced Edward truly beleives that there is now a chance for peace with the English. [Pope-o-Meter rating dropped from 8/10 to 6/10] What Edward did not realise as he sealed his message to the Pope was that God and the Pope were about to conspire together to deal him a joker from the bottom of the pack which could make war with the English seem like a blessing by comparison.