Absolute Monarchies

Fictional Biography Project

In the dead of night the youth awakens from his slumber. As the last dregs of weariness drain from his mind a haunting memory erupts into the forefront of consciousness: he has had the dream again. In its first occurrence the dream was only a cacophonous swirl of images and noise, hardly

anything worth worrying about; but with each passing night since, the dream gradually took form, with every single one being clearer and more convincing than the last. But what the youth has just witnessed was no mere dream; no it was too convincing, too substantial… too real to be any fictitious figment devised by his mind. No there was definitely something to it, the youth figures.

And with that thought in mind, he climbs out of bed and walks over to his desk across the room. With a flick of his index finger he flips on the small lamp that sits upon the desk. As he regains his vision from the sudden shift from darkness to light, an all-too familiar sight comes to sight: an old and slightly ragged history textbook the youth had borrowed from his professor at his school. When the reoccurring dream first began to concern him, the youth began to try to find out more about them by analyzing what he saw and comparing it to the events presented in the book; from what he could tell, it was directly related to three separate events that had happened under the rule of three separate absolute monarchs in Europe at around the time of the Elizabethan Era. The reason why his dream is centered upon such events still remains a mystery to the youth. What does the reign of three monarchs with complete control of Spain, England, and France have to do with me? The youth thinks to himself, but like all the other times before he cannot come up with an answer; so with a sigh the youth searches around the hopeless clutter of his desk to find the notes he has been saving that he uses to document the progression of his dream and any new insights he finds. Upon finding said documents, the youth does as he always has done, and begins to recount the clearer version of the dream that has come to him. And he writes…

As it always begins, the image of a great fleet of ships takes form. Those in the forefront fly the Spanish Flag. Suddenly a voice speaks; it speaks in Spanish, and yet strangely, I am able to understand everything being said. The voice says:

October 7, 1571:

Today was a great day in history for all of Christian Europe. For a long day prior to today tensions have been building between the faithful of Europe and those heathens of the Ottoman Empire have been stirring up. Today is when our men, as directed by our great king Philip II, along with the Italian and Papal forces met with the Ottomans on the vast Mediterranean. The battle raged on for many a bloody hour, until there came a major turning point; we were able too reach the admiral of the opposition’s fleet, and so as to turn the tide of battle we had him beheaded and had his head displayed upon the mast of the flagship. Needless to say the Ottomans were quite demoralized by the show and soon after fell to pieces. By the end of the day we stood victorious for the first time in naval combat against the Ottomans. This will surely please our king greatly, for it is well known that he would like nothing better than keeping the Ottomans from destroying the pure Christianity of Europe. Anyways the day is ours today, and if this is a sign for the future, then maybe we will someday be rid of the Ottomans once and for all.

As the voice concludes its story the images of the ships upon the Mediterranean dissolves away and in its stead a similar scene takes form, only this time there are only two forces at battle here: the Spanish and the English. A second, deeper voice wells up and speaks in perfect Engilsh:

August 8, 1588

I say that was quite the show that was put on today! We sure sent those Spanish dogs a good thrashing. Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself; let me explain how it came to happen. When my men and I first heard about the imminent attack from the Spanish Armada worry soon set in. From the rumors we had heard, we were vastly outnumbered with little hope of holding out, but we all knew our duty; we would be damned before we let Queen Elizabeth I down. So it was that we soon thereafter set out to protect our homeland from these scoundrels. It wasn’t until the following Monday that the action first occurred. In the wee hours of the morning our admiral ordered for a number of fire ships to be readied and steered by a man a piece. When the ships neared the Spanish fleet they were set ablaze, and boy were they alarmed! They were so terrified that they had to cut anchor just to get out of the way. After that they tried to flee, but our men were in the mood for spilling a little blood and we gave chase right away. By Thursday the opposition was in shambles, but by some act of cosmic mercy we were just about out of ammunition, so we let them flee with their tails between their legs. We had done the impossible, we had repelled the menace that haunted our shores. This surely shows that God has given his protection to our great land, and that any foolish enough not to see that will meet a similar end as that the Spanish Armada received.

As the flames on the Spanish ships rise higher and higher the light produced from the fire grows increasingly brighter and brighter, until all that can be seen is an orange-white glow. Seconds turn into minutes as the glow slowly dulls back to the distinct flicker of flame, only they leap not at the masts and hulls of Spanish ships, but rather at the houses of a small village in the middle of France. Townspeople can be seen fleeing in terror as dark figures strike them down with bloodied swords and crossbows that fling hateful bolts into the screaming villagers. A voice brimming with dread pipes up; it is barely a

whisper, yet it easily pierces the blood-soaked silence that has followed the initial slaughter. It speaks French, but like the first voice, I can comprehend the message. It murmurs:

August 29, 1572

It’s an absolute bloodbath here, and from what I have heard it is the same all over France as well. It is no big secret that the Catholics hold disdain for us, but now it seems that they have declared total war upon us Hugonauts. It all started almost a week ago, when the noble man Henry of Navarre was having his wedding. It was a happy endeavor until a large force of Catholics came and started killing. Most in attendance were slain, but Henry was able to save himself at the last moment by converting to Catholicism. That initial slaughter sparked the massive massacre that is still going on now all over France. As of yet I have no idea how many have died, but from what I have heard it is well into the hundreds if not thousands. Why is this happening to us? Why doesn’t Charles IX do something to try to stop it? Surely the Politiques will help us, after all, the state will suffer if these killings continue. Yes, surely they will do something, they are our only hope.

The voice stops suddenly, as if the speaker has heard something, or someone, that he wishes not to be noticed by. Seconds pass by, marked merely by the shallow, horrified breathing of the speaker, only for the pregnant moment to be burst apart at the sound of the scream of one who knows that their end has come. The sound of a shuffle ensues, but is cut short by the sound of an ax finding its mark and shortly

thereafter the sound of a body, now extinguished of its once vibrant lifeforce, splattering into a pool of the blood it once contained. The blood pours freely now and obscures the vision of the dreamer. In the red haze consciousness rushes back to the dreamer, thusly ending the dream.

The youth puts down his pencil, his job complete. He turns and looks out the nearby window and notices the first rays of dawn have crept up. Looking back at the paper the youth scrutinizes the new details thoroughly, trying to solve the enigma of the dream, but after a few minutes of intense concentration he finds no definitive answers. With a frustrated sigh the youth sits there and opens the textbook that sits on his desk and begins to research more about these monarchs of old, for there must be something there that will shed some light on this subject. It just has to be.

Works Cited

Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Philip C. Naylor, and Dahia I. Shabaka.

“Absolute Monarchies in Europe.” Modern History Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Little, 2007. 137-41. Print.

"Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/saint-bartholomews-day-massacre>.

BBC News. BBC. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/adams_armada_01.shtml>.

"Ottoman-Habsburg Wars: Battle of Lepanto." About.com Military History. Web. 06 May 2012. <http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/navalbattles14011600/p/lepanto.htm>.