Chambers of the Parliament

[General Brewster]

The Duke of York made an appearance after this severe illness.

[Oznerol]

"Lords of the realm, People of England. We want to address you with a single purpose today, to settle succession"

Said the king, sitting on the golden throne, the great crown on his temples and the sceptre on his hand. The king was wearing shimmering, glittering golden clothes and a heavily embroidered mantle with leopards, lined with ermine. A jewelled, enamelled white hart badge over his chest.

"Hear us, for our word if Law made flesh. The crown, after our death, shall be inherited by our heirs lawfully begotten, either by our marriage to sweet Anne or whosoever we marry, God wills not, shall our beloved and steemed lady yield her gentle soul to Heaven before it's due. Shall we fail to have any offspring on our own, we wish to settle succession in the following way"

The king made a dramatic pause. His face was motionless, even if a bit agitated he had avoided any stammering, maybe through a large degree of self-control or simply he was overconfident this time. His very image, clad in the full regalia inherited from his forebears, was majestic. The wispy beard, the auburn locks falling below the ears, everything was carefully arranged, perfumed, oiled: the king again resembled more a statuesque deity than a mortal man.

"Our heir shall be Richard de Holland, our beloved and dearest nephew, borne by our brother John de Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, and his lady wife, Lady Elizabeth of Lancaster, our steemed cousin and our grandfather's grandaughter. Shall he die before he comes of age, any other son lawfully begotten by our said brother of Huntingdon and our Lady of Lancaster shall inherit the crown of England and that of France. Shall any of those die before their time without offspring on their own, our heir shall be our steemed and noble cousin, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and his heirs lawfully begotten from his lady wife, Lady Eleanor de Holland; shall they die without male legitimate offspring the next in line would be our noble and steemed uncle of Lancaster and his heirs male lawfully begotten"

He made another pause.

"In case, God wills not, our cousin of Hereford and his offspring died out, we declare the heir of the throne shall be Edward of Norwich, our beloved cousin, or after him, his brother Richard, and their heirs male lawfully begotten. Then, our cousin Humphrey of Gloucester would be king, shall they both fail to provide a heir male to our mighty crowns and titles. Lastly, shall succession be broken, the heirs of our aunts, or those heirs general of the said dukes, earls and princes, shall be named heirs of this crown at the discretion of the Parliament of England"

[Gandalfus]

Gaunt seated himself, convinced that this was the moment of his triumph. Why else would the King call the Parliament to name an heir if it was not himself or his son? Had he not served loyally to the benefit of his brother's heir in banishing the Appellants and, God forgive him, sentencing his own brother to death for treason? In the mind of Lancaster, there would be no other rightful candidate, with Mortimer being, by all accounts, some petulant child still in Kent's grasp. His own father had declared that only heirs male could hold the crown, and was he not the eldest surviving son of Edward?

Then, the accursed name of Holland rung out in his ears. Hereford, like his father, simply looked stunned. Richard had dared to use Lancaster's own blood to circumvent him and instead name... a Holland. His own grandson, which made the wound ever more gaping. And even after all that, Mortimer was still placed before him in the succession. A great insult.

"How is it that everywhere I turn there is a Holland standing before me?" Gaunt grumbled, his voice raised to directly address his nephew and fellow peers. "Mine own royal blood is used to justify naming Richard Holland as Your Majesty's lawful heir and yet I am dishonoured, placed after all others save my noble brother York's sons as the successor to my father's throne, should, God forbid, Your Majesty depart without heirs of the body."

[Oznerol]

"Are not thou content? Is not him thee grandson lawfully begotten? Blood of thee blood, born from thine royal loins. And by proximity of blood he is close to us as none other"

Replied the king.

"Shall we fail to father a son, thee own grandson shall be king of these realms. Our sole heir"

[Gandalfus]

"Then why not my son Hereford, who is of my blood as well as that of Crouchback? Twice over is his blood derived from Kings, and an heir male of my noble father, who declared only they could inherit thy crown." Lancaster protested indignantly. The Duke was growing quite red in the face. "Nay, I am not content!"

Proximity of blood would mean the crown would grace my brow, and not yours, he thought darkly, though stilled his tongue as his son Hereford intervened.

"Father, calm yourself." Lancaster's son placed a hand upon his father's shoulder, a polite restraint against a wild dog. He himself was angered greatly that he would be forced to pay homage to his own nephew, but was better at hiding it than old Gaunt.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Henry Percy wasn't entirely sure how to take this news. It was disturbing to see Lancaster and the King bicker, just as the Duke of Gloucester had done before. Yet there was something disturbing in this proclamation; it was the fact that a Holland had been named. Percy could see where the Duke of Lancaster was coming from. Everywhere one would turn, you would see a Holland. It was a Holland that tried to have Gloucester and Warwick's heirs removed of their inheritance. It was Holland who gained much from the death of Lord Arundel. It was Holland who commanded the Tower and sat upon the Privy Council. If his son were here, certainly Hotspur would bellow just as much as the impulsive Lancaster was.

Percy, however, still owed much to the King. His Earldom of Northumberland and a continued seat upon the Privy Council. For now, Henry remained quiet and would continue to support the King. Yet if a wrong move was made, Northumberland wasn't where he would find himself. Yet this spark of conflict between the King and Lancaster would certainly not be the end... the worst thing anyone could do was throw an insult at the feet of Lancaster.

Your Grace, certainly the King has the best interests of the realm by appointing Holland his heir. The Hollands are, after all, half-brothers to His Majesty and have long been loyalists to his person. They have served him diligently and without any blemish upon their career. If the King decrees it as such, the realm should abide by it.

Yet, thought Percy, shouldn't a Plantagenet sit upon the throne? Not a Holland nor Mortimer?

[Gandalfus]

Lancaster snorted in derision at that notion. "Should one of His Majesty's hunting dogs be appointed heir then, for his long and diligent service? He has as much right to England's crown as any Holland, in that case!"

Gaunt then shook his head. "I shall accept His Majesty's wish, but that does not mean I shall not protest it and disapprove of it, Lord Percy."

[Jokern]

Thomas Mowbray sat in shock at the King's proclamation of his official heir. Less surprised was he by the Duke of Lancaster's outburst, who now had slipped down a few pegs on the ladder. While Mowbray's own position in the line of succession, he could sympathize with both Lancaster and Mortimer. It seemed that the Hollands were rising in prominence, a worrisome trend considering the King's way of handling favorites. The Hollands would surely rise higher now, and others would most likely fall to the wayside. Thomas stayed silence deep in thought, his wrinkled brow showing his discontent outward.

[Oznerol]

"We are God's annointed ruler. We deemed our nephew worth being our heir, if Parliament agrees that shall be enshrined by the realm's laws. That in case we do not father a son from our beloved wife"

Said the king.

"Thus said, the order of succession might be altered, as it depends in our whim and God's will, to whom we defer to judge the righteousness of our words"

---------------------

Kent doesn't know if he's pleased or disgusted. In fact, he looked like smelling a huge pile of feces, just under his nose. He nervously played with his rings and looked seriously conflicted, he stood more to gain with March as the king's heir than having his own nephew on the throne: you can trust a grandson, but a nephew could always send you to the gallows, more so if he the said nephew has John Holland as his father. He remained silent, brooding, and trying to metaphorically dig a hole for himself and avoid any quarell.

-----------------------

Huntingdon looked pretty pleased with himself and his cronies were already flattering him. He had a smirk on his face, if his son was to rule, he'll need a strong regent. He could potentially rule as king in everything but name. He didn't know what would Elizabeth think, but that was the last of his concerns, as he was anxious to get the succession aproved by the Parliament. Thinking about his son on Richard's throne was a ecstatic experience.

[Gandalfus]

"Who speaks in acceptance of this, then? Come on, say your piece." Lancaster challenged those who were sat in the chamber, daring one of them to speak out in favour of this royally appointed successor.

[Oznerol]

"I do, father mine"

Said John Holland.

"However, we do think our Lord of Lancaster should be second in line, before Mortimer"

Added the earl of Huntingdon.

-----------------

The earl of Kent erupted:

"This is quite irregular, I cannot support this act of succession, the Earl of March is His Majesty's sole heir! To think otherwise twists the purpose of succession in this realm"

Thomas Holland had clenched fists. He looked at his brother with a mix of rage and disbelief.

"My nephew, Richard, should never come before Lady Philippa's offspring, Roger Mortimer must be acknowledged as these realms' sole heir!"

[General Brewster]

"My Good King." York said while rising from his seat and joining his brother Gaunt on the floor.

"I agree with the words the Duke of Lancaster speaks. However as a loyal vassal I shall agree with your ultimate decision your Grace."

[Mary The Quene]

Aye, i do support this proposal on the condition that Gaunt and his heirs are placed before Mortimer. Neville said, if God is good then his sister's marriage to the Holland dynasty could pay off very well, improving the standing off the Neville dynasty, so there is o particularly objection from the point of Neville.

-------------------------

Lord Salisbury remained silent all the time, the succession left him cold, rather he has himself to settle a succession for his own familiy's future.

[Gandalfus]

"Mortimer has more right to the throne than any Holland." Gaunt retorted to Neville, who in his eyes was nothing but a sycophant. "But this is not about rights. This is merely favouritism. It denies all rights of primogeniture, favouring heirs male or otherwise."

[Mary The Quene]

Neville decided to shut up for once, he ofcourse favored Holland but he didn't want to invoke the wrath of Gaunt either, and in honesty Neville wants this whole things to be dealt with so that he can return to his mistress at home.

[Jokern]

Thomas Mowbray rose to speak his mind.

"It is highly irregular that the rights of primogeniture set down by King Edward III be ignored completely in such a fashion. The line of the late Duke of Clarence should be first, followed the by the line of our most noble Duke of Lancaster, and so forth. Should His Majesty not set a good example for the realm and follow the common rights of inheritance? Should our cousins and nephews be put before our own sons for our lands and titles?"

He made a quick bow to the King before continuing.

"Of course, His Majesty is anointed to rule by the highest of authorities, our Lord Above, and it is within his right to select his own heir should not, heaven forbid, father a son by his wife and queen. We are merely here to give our opinions and offer words of wisdom, so that His Majesty may listen to the voice of his people and most loyal subjects."

[General Brewster]

"Hear hear, Mowbray speaks truthful."

[The Mad Skylord]

"Indeed!" the colorful voice of Baron Arundel called out. "Why is a mad dog being placed above the most honourable Duke of Lancaster? Why is he being placed above the Earl of March - the current heir presumptive?"

Maltrevers paused. "Perhaps you should reconsider, Majesty, unless you want to give the Court pause to joke about your half brother being your in heat, as they joke about your 'friendship' with the Duke of Ireland."

[Mary The Quene]

Oh my .... Lord Salisbury replied in disbelief and shock not expecting such fool language coming from a lord within these walls, especially not from a FitzAlan at that, although being entirely neutral in this dispute Salisbury expected these lords to behave correctly and appropriate, this won't end well Salisbury knew.

[General Brewster]

The Duke of York raised an eyebrow for the fool language Baron Arundel dared say against none else than the King.