G7 - The War of the English Succession & the breaking of the Pirate Brotherhood

May 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and apart from some stuff about Sweden & Russian Diplomacy and The Holy Roman Emperor's daughter marrying the Elector of Bavaria the Glori du Roi should really be called the Bristol Evening Post or perhaps the Kingston Times since with the Hapsburg's & Bourbons at truce and getting ready for round ?! the paper seems to dominated by the struggle for the English Throne but reported via the prism of the colonies and the breaking of the brotherhood.

If anyone is thinking about taking on one of the English, French or Jacobite positions in G7 and can not figure out why the triangle Bristol, West Africa, South Carolina seems to dominate the paper here is a briefing which may help (or perhaps not):

1) - Back in the dim and distant past of 1700 a weak and worried Spanish Government made two important decisions......a) It crowned Charles Hapsburg King of Spain and b) In a effort to win friends and influence people to support for the new King it declared free trade and openned up the Ports of the Spanish Empire.

2) - One indirect effect of this decision was to cystalize the split in the Brotherhood of the Coast into two rival and hostile factions.

3) - The HWIC faction embraced the change and were signed up to the Portobello Chamber of Commerce faster than one can say "pieces of eight"...........or should that be 30 pieces of silver?

4) - Meanwhile Edward Teach our hero from Bristol and his faction stayed loyal to the old policy and sacked Havana etc

So far its all fairly clear but then things started to get mixed up:

5) Martel one of the HWIC leaders claims to be a son of Charles II of England and a Catholic - which should make him a natural Jacobite.  But when the Jacobites snubbed his claims and snubbed his choice to be Queen if England (The Queen of Spain's sister) he decided that James III AKA the warming pan baby was not a real Stuart and returned to backing William of Orange as the legitinate King.

6) One reason why the HWIC and Martel got snubbed was that Blackbeard and his "Sons of Liberty" had almost taken over the American Colonies and the French installed Jacobite London Govt viewed them as more important than their rivals.  And in a major turn up for the books appointed the formerly "Williamite" son of Liberty John Henry Prime Minister of England in an effort to re-unite England and its colonies.

7) The appointment of a Pirate and a Son of Liberty to the Post of Prime Minister to a Catholic King may have thrown the sons of liberty into confusion but its not worked in other ways since its outraged the HWIC and William of Orange's key follower the Grand Pensionary of the UDP has dedected weakness and piled in.

As of May 1708 we now have a Dutch Invasion force in the Humber and Protestant revolt's breaking out all over esp in New York.

These leaves us with the following problems:

A) Can the Jacobite Govt in London save itself?

B) How will big Lou react if the very Pro French King James is overthrown? (Will the French risk breaking the Treaty of Yorktown to save King James?????)

C) Will any of the other Catholic Powers get involved?  Apart from France the closest Catholic powers are Portugal, Spain and Flanders.  Unfortunately, Portugal is sulking over Blackbeard attacking its slave ports while it would take a very brave Pope to suggest that Spain should help a Pro French Pirate (Last Man who said this at the Spanish Court did get a job out of it.......Envoy to Napel or some such place about as far away as King Carlos can send him) Perhaps its a job for Venice?

D) Will any of the Protestant Powers get involved? Probably not unless Charles of Sweden can make peace with the Russian Heretic's and lead his battle hardened hero's West (for the sake of True Religion and to establish himself as the great Protestant Hero)

Actually the the back stabbing, bribery, piracy, propaganda wars and general anarchy is more suited offering up the background to a Swashbuckler Character. We already have one Catholic English Veteran of the French Navy involved all we need now is a Huguenot Exile fighting for the other side and it could be........Swords for two, breakfast for one!

A good summary...I think you'd need to either be madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year's Mr Madman competition, to take on any English role in G7...

or...as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University...

Jason wrote:A good summary...I think you'd need to either be madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year's Mr Madman competition, to take on any English role in G7...

or...as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University...

Think the above from Jason is a bit hard on Thomas Blakney. All the poor chap really needs is a coat and people to stop beating him up because he is a Catholic deserter with a gambling problem. 

Also a bit hard on the Williamite Leader and Honourary Englishman the Grand Pensionary who seems to be fighting purely for the Protestant Faith and out of loyalty to his boss (Three Cheers for High level Role Playing)  

The Mad Jack McMad comment is probably fair comment on Blackbeard and his merry Sons of Liberty crew who at different times have upset most of the major powers in Western Europe.

With Martel the Fox of the HWIC does seem to have managed to keep on good terms with France, Spain and the UDP even when these powers have fallen out with London and each other.

If Thomas stopped betting his shirt off his back, he might have his coat

June 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and its official:

King James the lead Jacobite is madder than Mad Jack MacMad after his wife left him for his brother and used his 15 year old malt as drain cleaner.

In one turn the Jacobites have -

1) Closed Parliament for "redecoration"
2) Removed Foxe's Book of Martyrs (The book sometimes known as the third Testiment of the Anglican Church) from the House of Lords and ordered the Royal Navy to throw its copies over the side......tricky since its often bound with the Ship's Bible.

Cries of Catholic Oppression will no doubt ring out from the Protestant backers of King William and the HWIC but just to prove King James is willing to upset people of any faith or creed he also:

3) Closed all Embassies to England for yet more "redecoration".......not sure if Embassies are classed as the home territory of the Envoy in 1708 but if it is what will Big Lou and the French make of being invaded by English painters ?

& 4) Ordered the expulsion of the Jesuit Order and locked up 300 Irish Jesuit's in Dublin.  Ok so the Jacobite leaders may have been a bit upset about the Jesuit's finding out about Jacobite Piracy in Africa but to fall out with the Pope and gut the Catholic Church in Ireland of many of its best and most educated Priests & teachers while fighting for the "Catholic" cause is roughly equal to the Emperor Frederick getting excomunicated while on Crusade in the Holy Land.

If Sierre D'Espaenar uses some of his influence in Rome & gets James excomunicated for locking up Priests wonder if James honour will go up or Down?

Meanwhile from their HQ (or should that be its Den?) on the French Island of Jamacia the cunning heads of HWIC are busy trying to brand Blackbeard and their Son's of Liberty rivals as both Pirates & Jacobites.  Meanwhile other's are trying to brand the HWIC as a bunch of Pirates who pretend to be honest merchants (well Slavers).  I dont surpose both of these vile slanders could both be correct       ?????

In theory things should be going well for the Dutch would be savour's of the Protestant cause in England.  On the plus side New York, Lincoln, Whitby and Penzance has declared for King William but Edward Teach home port of Bristol & in new home in the Carolonia's remain solid for King James.  Plus in Hull they have been welcomed with cannon balls rather a red carpet and its now two months and still the Dutch Army is not off its transports.  Perhaps they should try Whitby or a port which is not semi blocked with sunk ships and occupied by Jacobite Dragoons.

The other good news for the Dutch is that that the French seem to have taken a very relaxed view of being bombarded by a Dutch (?) frigate in favour of suffering total memory failure and demanding territory back from Spain which they have ceded to Spain in recent years.  Does this mean that Big Lou has decided that England is too miuch trouble and he is going to allow the Dutch a free run?

Well, I guess somebody is playing King James, cause that's far too crazy for a non-player position!  

Deacon wrote:
Well, I guess somebody is playing King James, cause that's far too crazy for a non-player position!  

I think you are right and its possible that G7 has a new French player as well which could make life very interesting for the Dutch & the other "English" players.

Too be fair to a new Jacobite player (Which is more than Protestant foes are likely to be) my account did include a degree of poetic spin and it can be said:

1) If you are running a unpopular Catholic Monarchy why allow your opponents a platform in the Lords/Commons and to distribute hard core Protestant Propaganda on your own ships?

2) Many players also wonder why they are paying for unused envoys.......why not close the lot and if anyone wants to talk to you they can open a new one.

3) Ref the expulsion of the Jusuit Order I guess some people just do not like other players doing things on their territory and getting rid of "extreme" Catholics may help to keep moderate Protestants loyal to King James. I still think upsetting your most loyal territory is an error.

As for the French player I suspect he has been given a briefing by Richard designed to say........"Do not take eyes off Spain" even if it spends most of its time on farming and weddings......and has the added advantage of winding up the King of Spain.

Basically, if the French do not go in heavy in the British Isles it will not spoil things for the "English" players and also Richard does not risk the loss of a French player when the House of Hapsburg goes oh good the main French Army is in Northampton SL 3/4........ATTACK! Which is roughly what happened the last time.

On point 2 Stuart, I wonder if a recent-ish change in how Richard 'introduces' new players doesn't help? I am sure in the 'old days' he used to include a write a short piece in the paper about a character when a new player joined in and added the byline "(XX has a new player)". I think that encouraged people to write, esp those with embassies. The thing is, if you write letters to nations and don't get responses, after a bit you give up writing...so unless a new player writes to you, you can't tell if they are playing. I have also noticed that when you get a position, you don't get told which nations have an embassy at your court unless you ask for it-for me if I know who has an embassy it can be an indication that in the past we have had some sort of relationship that justified an embassy and I'll write to them.

Perhaps if Richard did put the reference to new players back in the papers, it might mean less unused envoys and might even up the amount of correspondence in game as we'll have a better idea who was active?

Well, I can see why a player might want to take those actions, but I think as James you must find some accommodation with the protestant population.

You certainly aren't in a position of strength where you can just dictate and expect to be listened to in England. I imagine managing parliament is part of the difficulty of doing England successfully.

If you feed the protestant fears of how a catholic king will take away their religion, I don't think England is governable.

After you have got rid of the "usurper" and restored legitimate rule of James Stuart to England, Ireland & Scotland plus colonies I guess that as the new Jacobite Govt you have two options:

1) To run a very, very moderate Tory Government which stresses legitimate rule as the basis of all laws/property rights and allows private religious freedom to Catholic's, Non Conformists etc.

or

2) Decide that it is your duty to win back the British Isles for the Catholic Faith and if for a generation this means the abolishment of the Houses of Parliament and rule by Royal Decree, handing over all the schools to the Jusuits and filling your Army with Irish Troops well its for their own Good in the long run.

A case can be made that both or even a mix are historic policies for the Jacobites. The problem for the Jacobite Govt in G7 is that the restoration was via the agency of the French Military & Pirates and at least two players have spent the time since the restoration trying to overturn it and do not seem to be in a mood to be won over with honeyed words. Looks like this one will need cold steel and hot lead  

I too recall the days when you used to get the message like Louis XIV is dead Louis XV is now King of France (France has a new player, all treaties are null and void). I think Richard has tended to fudge the issue for two reasons a) To avoid the situation were we had Louis XX on the throne by 1708 and b) People got niggled by when their treaties were suddenly not worth the paper they were written on.

Staurt Bailey wrote:I too recall the days when you used to get the message like Louis XIV is dead Louis XV is now King of France (France has a new player, all treaties are null and void). I think Richard has tended to fudge the issue for two reasons a) To avoid the situation were we had Louis XX on the throne by 1708 and b) People got niggled by when their treaties were suddenly not worth the paper they were written on.

That is correct he said a long time ago he wanted to move away from that

Winning back england by force is all well and good... if you have the force. James doesn't, I don't think.

But more power to the player if he wants to test that course. I think it's a loser, but the pot at the end of the rainbow is certainly a lot larger than the course I was on when I dropped.

Civil war can't be good for the economy, either....

I have only seen the player in Game 2 win as a Jacobite and unite England and he is still there as far as I am aware

Do you mean game 3? He was there when I played in 1737. Though he agreed to let his son be raised protestant ensuring he was the last catholic king of england, so I am not sure I'd count that as "winning" as the catholic.

He did, however, otherwise pursue a course of reconciliation which given enough time apparently worked well.

yes Game 3 sorry

Kingmaker wrote:I have only seen the player in Game 2 win as a Jacobite and unite England and he is still there as far as I am aware

I suspect that Jacobite "wins" in Gloire du Roi can come in two ways:

1) From accounts of G3 a series of weak and short term or NPC English Governments were faced with a single able and determined Jacobite leader who battered them for year after year slowly winning back Ireland, Scotland & then England with a mix of Military victories, Propaganda & Diplomacy which left the English Govt riddled with Jacobites. Winning foriegn support for his claim due to the fact that the Jacobites wrote to people and acted like a proper Govt unlike the Williamites.

2) In G7 and in G2 (Ireland only) a Jacobite victory came via a mixture of weak English Govts running up against strong foreign powers who "restored" the Jacobites in the hope that this form of English Government would suit their needs better.

Clearly from a player point of view the first option looks a lot better than being restored as French Baggage but option 2 is probably a lot easier to achieve.

When you have got your throne(s) back the real problems start.......do you basically take the view "That London is worth missing the odd mass for" grant toleration to your loyal Catholic Regts and generally act like Charles II but dont try to upset Parliament or the Anglican Church......Or do you go for total victory and the establishment of full Catholic Absolutism on the French Model?

In many ways G7 (England) is now back in the 1670/1680's. King James may pull it off but a lot is going to depend on the actions of the Dutch and the French as well as the pirates/merchant types who sort of represent Public Opinion.

In terms of pure force Louis should be able to keep James on the throne provided he is not distracted. In G7 the big distraction for the French fights under a double headed Eagle and wants its lands back. Where the hell is a Ottoman Warlord when you need one?

I think people often underestimate the value of large armies of agents to move public opinion. If I were James, I would be investing in a large secret police force to talk me up and to discredit william.

Deacon wrote:
I think people often underestimate the value of large armies of agents to move public opinion.  If I were James, I would be investing in a large secret police force to talk me up and to discredit william.

To judge from most issue's of the Gloire du Roi I dont think lack of agents/propaganda is an issue with the "English" players in G7 since at least half the stories in the paper seem to be planted by the HWIC press office or their opponents!

In fact I would say they spend more time & effort on attacking their foes with ink than they do with pistol and Cutlass.

Writing for the paper is all well and good, but I think in the end you need a lot of "agents" on the ground.

July 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and it seems to have been a bad month for "agents" in England as it looks like King James is going for all out Catholic Absolutism and cracking down hard on "trouble makers":

- Lester Blackfriar and members of London Mob beaten black and blue by James Irish Town Watch bully boys and taken captive.
- Nick Nicholson Mayor of Portsmouth arrested by James III's soldiers.
- Lord Blackwood has been executed in Hull without trial by James III troops.
- Lady Anne Hardwyke in Yorkshire detained by Jacobite Dragoons and her three young sons brutally slaughtered before their mother's eyes. (Gosh, James III in G7 makes Ottoman Sultans look kind and fluffy)

Also a very bad month for the HWIC as King James as issued a Royal Warrent to seize all their assets for the Crown!! Shock, horror.......the English may put up a Catholic King, Royal Rule without Parliament and with the Jacobites slaughtering young sons before their mother's but attacks on Private Property   

Also a bad month for Puritans and non-conformist Protestant dissenters as Royal Warrant 3/1707 orders them to leave England and re-settle in America within the next two months. They also need to be very carefull about were they re-settle since Brigadier Sir John Stark in Yorktown has been appointed James III Military Governor in America and has issued a warning that all Orangist Traitors will be shot on sight!

With New York, Boston & Williamsburg declareing for William. Virginia and points north would seem to be safe for Protestants dissenters fleeing England for America but Blackbeard and Starks Carolonia would seem down right unhealthy.

One would have though that the Dutch, Scots and other Protestants would be doing something but to date very little action. After finding Hull harbour blocked and Hull held by Jacobite Dragoons one would have thought that the Dutch Army would have landed on the south bank of the Humber (Goole, Grimsby etc) and headed off to relieve the Puritan Troops holding Lincoln. The Jacobites certainly expected a landing with a thin screen of horse rideing from Lincoln to observe events.

But instead Admiral Cullenburgh headed out to sea., to find his passage blocked by a anchored and shockingly badly positioned English Fleet.

Probably reflecting the terrible morale and unwillingness to fight for the Jacobites the English Warships had their sails stowed and were anchored 160 yards apart!! Talk about being given victory on a plate by a force which had given up all initiative and ability to react. All the the Dutch Admiral had to do was attack sections of the line (starting with English Flagships) to achieve odds of three or four to one against individual ships plus easy stern and fore rakes and the ability to clamp on fireships (if he has any) to static sitting duck targets. Hell, outnumbered and about to be stern raked and borded or set on fire one suspects a lot of English Ships would have just abandoned the Jacobites and struck their colours. (joining Williams fleet next month).

But with victory his on a plate what did Callenburgh the plodder do? Nothing !! How can you not use a 160 yard barn door to sturn rake a sitting duck? The spirits of Tromp & De Ruyter must be spinning in their graves.

The Scots Government of King William are in anything taking even less action than the Stadtholder Williams in the UDP. Vice-Chancellor Murray has offered to take colonies loyal to King William under the wing of Edinburgh. Not sure if this means only American colonies or all colonies loyal to King William in India, Africa, Irish Plantations etc.

On the subject of Ireland the Austrians attempted to arrange "bail" for the Jusuits held by the Jacobites in Dublin and their agent in this matter Graf von Heide got arrested for attempted bribery!

And in a strange twist to the odd story of the arrest of the Jusuit Order in Ireland by the Jacobites it seems that James III Government has convinced the Irish Priests to resign from the Jesuit Order and join a new order of "St King James the Martyr". This ignores the fact the King James II is not a Saint, Not a Martyr and the Pope has not given his permission for this order to form.

Thus it would seem that James III is actually a Anglo-Catholic ie a wants England & Ireland to be Catholic Counties but with the head of the Church being the King not the Pope.

Its all very, very odd in England but at least things are getting clearer. On on side we now have a minority but driven and very violent Jacobite government dominated by ex pirate leaders which wants to drive out Protestants and restore the Catholic Faith (minus Papal control since the Pope is too soft and under too much Hapsburg influence). Against them we have a mis-match of various anti Jacobite interests seemingly frozen and cowering in fear like Lady Hardwkye before the violent Jacobite attacks.

Can they pull it out of the fire? Or is Merry England about to fall under violent Absolutist rule?        

You forget James father was the original king, who was murdered. So the James the Martyr is the King's father.

Calling him saint without beautification is a stretch, but by canon law his being martyred does make him blessed.

The Jaobite approach in England seems to be taking a truely absolutists approach, which historically was always the problem with the Jacobites. Interestingly the Sons of Liberty in the American colonies appear to have retained their orriginal affiliation to the Orangist cause even if their leadership is now Jacobite and Catholic. If there was an election in England today I would imagine there would be a landslide against any Jacobite party.
The involvement with the Jesuits in Ireland was not actually Austrian activity. Rather it must have been someone pretending to be Austrian, or freelance Austrian activity, perhaps someone in the game within the game, but not Austrian government activity.

Deacon wrote:
You forget James father was the original king, who was murdered.  So the James the Martyr is the King's father.

Calling him saint without beautification is a stretch, but by canon law his being martyred does make him blessed.

James II got murdered by one of his own ministers but I dont think the Pope ever agreed to him being made a Saint or a Martyr or agreed to the formation of a new Catholic Religious order.

So it would seem that James III has locked up the Irish Jesuits and usurped Papal Authority. I thought he had completed a full house by locking up an Agent of the HRE/Hapsburgs for trying to get the Jesuits set free, but it seems this is not the case.

Mind you with the HRE all friendly with Protestant Dutch, Germans & Swedes and that son of his busy helping to rebuild the Persian Army and turn the Inquesition into the Spanish Education Department a real old style hard line Catholic fanatic like James III must have the Emperor and the rest of the farret fanciers crying into their beer.

The pope acknowledged him a martyr when I was playing the position, so I know that part is true at least. I'm pretty sure it is in the papers. Canonization is, of course, another matter.

Deacon wrote:
The pope acknowledged him a martyr when I was playing the position, so I know that part is true at least.  I'm pretty sure it is in the papers.  Canonization is, of course, another matter.

Gloire du Roi August 1708 is now out and it seems that the canonization of James II may be on hold since his son James III would seem to be heading towards an excommunication if Sierre D'Espaenar Vicar General of the Society of Jesus does not get his Priests back &
James III does not stop usurping Papal perrogatives.

An Papal excommunication will probably not bother James III Pirate & Anglican support but it may it may cause problems in Ireland.

James reason for acting against the Society of Jesus............is that the order may have been infilrated by agents of the Spanish Government. Most people think its actually the other way round and the Spanish Crown/Govt is under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church & the Vicar General.

One really has to feel sorry for poor old Charles Hapsburg of Spain. The poor bloke has to somehow keep his family happy, keep his Church happy, and keep the American, Italian & Flanders lobbies happy as well. All the time being abused by Jacobites, Pirates and the French who this month ordered his envoy to "leave" France. This after said envoy told French Ministers a few unadorned home truth's last month.

It seems that France & the Jacobites may both be looking to push the Emperor's youngest son into taking rash action. While James III risking excommunication and poking Habsburgs with a sharp stick may not be directly linked to the theme of this thread which about the struggle for the British Thrones and the split in the Pirate Brotherhood sometimes it wider issues intrude.

Turning away from upset Jesuit's & Hapsburgs and returning to the action -

1) The Propaganda war goes on with King William, Puritans, Calvinists etc being branded as agents of the Devil...........while if you believe the other side James is busy doing deals with the Moors and is going to pay them in English Slave Girls.

2) James III has decided that having a French ex pirate as his Prime Minister is a bit of a liability and his sacked (roughly) John Henry AKA Olivier Levasseur from the post. The man has now been sent back to the America's to do his bit with Stark & Blackbeard in upholding the Jacobite cause.

3) King James III order that all Puritans either convert to Anglicanism or leave the country seems to have caused confusion and not been acted upon since the Puritans are a wing of the Anglican faith. People are wondering if he actually means Independents & dissenter's?

4) In the Humber the Dutch sunk two English ships and damaged another before making their way out of the Humber to the open sea but failed to take full advantage of the anchored and widely seperated "sitting duck" status of the English. In particular they used their fire ships as a smoke screen rather than holding them back ready to "clap them onto" and so finish off already engaged and damaged English Ships. One suspects that either the Dutch a) Did not want to kill English Protestant Sailors by fire.......Military Victory/Diplomatic disaster or b) After months at sea they were short of supplies etc and wanted to avoid a major action.

One wonders what will happen next?

a) Can the Protestant Hero Antonie Heinsius the Junior and the Williamites save England from the Wee Jimie & his Jacobites?
b) Will James III triumph over his many foes? Rid England of Protestant troublemakers? And avoid being excommunicated?
c) Will John Henry, Stark & Blackbeard save the America's for the Jacobites or are they expendable?
d) Why did a mortally offended Hapsburg mutter "November 1709"?
e) What are the French planning?

Tune in for next month's thrilling issue of G7 and the saga of the Pirate Brotherhood & Wee Jimmy Stuart the maddest man in olde London Town