A History

 

This was written in 1966 apparently, and as I have been rewiriting the early parts of The Story, I had forgotten all of this and that this history existed... so I will make some notes on what we decided to do with the discrepancies.


What was written then What is being written now
In May of 762., Lawrence and his father and elder brother set out to war. They stopped in the Kingdom of Affynshire at the castle of the king. There Prince Lawrence met Josephine, the king of Affynshire's daughter. They fell immediately in love, tho' the princess had been promised as a child to Lawrence's elder brother Arneth. Lawrence was then but 16, Josephine 14. Well... in the rewrite none of this happens.  Instead Lawrence and Josephine were betrothed in 756 when he was 8 and she 6.  They do not see each other again until just before their wedding in June 766 but fall in love immediately.
That summer Lawrence's father was killed in battle. On the return home, after a peace was declared, they learned that the dead king's brother had usurped the throne. In a battle Arneth, now king, was killed by his uncle, but in revenge, Lawrence killed him. OK, more changes...  in the rewrite the usurping was only attempted and Arneth Sr. and Jr. are both killed in a battle with the uncle, whom Lawrence  kills.
It was now 764, and Lawrence was crowned. He sent immediately for Josephine, and they were married. About that time Lawrence's sister Lorelee died. Their mother had been dead for 11 years. In the rewrite I had Lorelei/Laurel die just after the new King gets back from the war.  The mother had died while her husband and two eldest sons were at war.
Not long after their marriage, the Queen's father died and Lawrence rode to Affynshire to inspect his inheritance. Along the way he was ambushed and barely made it to safety. He was given refuge by a group of outlaw men.  Ok, OK, in the rewrite I say that the King and Queen of Affynshire were both murdered... I'll figure this out somehow... And Peter has to fit in here somewhere.  Maybe that's how Roland got Josephine to submit to his advances, by threatening to kill Peter in infancy.  My head hurts.
The usurper was his brother Roland, one year his junior. Roland a man nearly mad, took not only his lands, but his wife as well. In the summer of 765, she bore his son, and named him Rolance.  In the new version Roland rapes her once,  but he dies before she gives birth to his child.  His bame will be Breoghan,  not Rolance.
Not long before the child was born, Roland was caught by Lawrence's fellows, and imprisoned. He escaped, but after a battle in which he was nearly the victor, he was killed. Others held the throne, until that winter, when Lawrence regained it. He turned to his capital to find that the Queen had taken refuge in France.  In the newer version, Roland is deserted by his supporters and Lawrence kills him in a sword battle.  There are no "others" who held the throne.
He set about building a new capital, moving from central Christenlande to a seaport on the southeast coast. His people named it Lawrencium, in his honor, since the money for homes and businesses for the commons came out of his pocket and the kindness of his heart. I have him doing this as a way to reward those, especially the outlaws, for supporting him and also to have a better defensible capital.
In December of 765, the King and Queen were finally reunited. He had had a chance to visit her a year before, but it had been in secret. Now he was able to present her his new capital. But, as fate would have it, a war sprang up between Avon and Christenlande, and Lawrence was off to lead his armies. The Queen was sent up to Sheffield, her birthplace, for safety. She learned at this time that she was pregnant. Lawrence was wounded badly and the at the war's end, he went to the manor of Asec-dene to recuperate. The Queen went back to Lawrencium.  No way they visited in secret.  

 

At Aesc-dene, Lawrence's senses were beguiled by a sorceress named Aelflynn and finally, he disappeared for a week or two. He was found groggy at a peasant's cottage, Aelflynn was found murdered. Nobody knew who ad done it, but it was generally thought that the King did. Rehabilitated Aelflynn.. in the new version she is a healer who saves the King's life or at least his leg.  Her brother kills her when she warns the King he plans to try to extort something from him.  The King just had an argument with her and is seen coming out the woods where her body is found.  Rumors fly that the King killed her becuase she was threatening to tell the Queen he had bedded her.  Which he had not.
The Queen, fearing that the King was not only faithless, but dead, despaired and took up the veil at Petersborough Nunnery. When he did return, she refused his pleas in anger. There in August of 766, their first child was born, Prince Peter Maurice. The KIng arrives at what is now the Convent of St. Helen's not too fart from Lincln, now the capital, just in time to be there for the birth of Peter.  He and Jo eventually iron things out about Aelflynn.
An important character who enters now is Sean Of Connery, a Scottish minstrel. He at the time was quite a ladies man, but a year hence he marries Emily, a peasant girl and settles down. He is one of the King's dearest friends and helps him through this crisis. "this crisis."???  Aelflynn?  This one is still being discussed.
Finally (argghh!) the Queen relents and they are almost happy again; she was allowed to return to worldly life by the nunnery, and they are reunited in Lawrencium. See two sections above.
Of course, they are separated again. When the Queen learns that Rolance is dying, she takes him to Sheffield to be with him until he dies, in October 766. Rolance/Dreoghan is already dead in the new version, so this just does not happen.
This is where the earlier history file ends. So I am left to find the Robert story somewhere else.. or?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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Last updated  April 03, 2006