Fall 1616-1620

Life as miller's wife, working almost all day near hot ovens while raising children has never been an easy one, but the hard-work wasn't exactly what Jenne expected from her life.Even so, she was happy to spend most of her days baking in the kitchen or taking care of the children because she knew that was the only way to stay away from her husband.

Junien wasn't so bad after all ... at least on daylight.The two fears even managed to politely adress to each other while working, ignoring, of course, Junien's not so politely shouted commands.

But the young woman's nightmare started after dark, as the windmill closed, cutomers left and children fell asleep.

Once the night settled, Junien simply became a different man and everyone got used to see Jenne with a new bruise or a different scar every morning.Not even the birth of their first son seemed to calm her husband.

In their first years of marriage, Jenne gave birth to one son and two daughters, but unfortunately Junien's daughter from his first marriage, Emme and their son, Durant, died of measles.

Emme Dupuis, a couple of months before her tragic death.

In spite of his father's violent nature, Junien, the oldest son, became a gentle man, often trying to stand for his step-mother and sisters when his father was all abroad.

Fall 1616-1620

With her heart beating so strong to almost break her chest and her hands cold, Princess Blanche de Croy stepped into her husband.Only a couple of days ago this moment seemed so far ... And now, after only exchanging a couple of short and formal phrases the two of them were getting married.

Not that she was displeased with her husband's persona.He was actually a very young and handsome gentleman, but she simply felt like they needed to spend more time together before getting married to each other.But that wasn't exactly her choice, so Blanche bit her lower lip and accepted her destiny.

After the wedlock, the the two newlyweds along with their guests headed to their new residence, the castle which represented the King's gift for the new pair.

Intoxicated with the sweet French whine, strong perfumes and staggering dancing, Blanche and Maximilian barely managed to see each other the whole evening.

Only before the sunrise, after the bacchanals seemed to temper, Blanche took refuge on the balcony, letting the autumn wind cool her and dry her sweaty forehead.Her husband followed her and, for the first time in that night, the two of them shared a dance and then retreated in their bedchamber.

With their families' constant visits the couple's first two years of marriage flew quickly, without major events.

In 1617 Blanche gave birth to twin girls, whom they named Isabelle, after Blanche's mother, the Queen, and Marie.Although Blanche was relieved that after such an exhausting birth her daughters were healthy, Maximilian couldn't guise his disappointment that his wife didn't manage to give him a son.

The whole pregnancy and especially the birth of her daughters left Blanche very reluctant about her husband's plans for a heir.They already had two beautiful daughters, so there was no reason to rush.Even months after she gave birth, she refused Maximilian's pashes, making a good hand in enraging her husband and tickling up the servants' inquisitiveness.

Unfortunately, in 1619, Marie and Isabelle fell ill with smallpox and one of the sisters died after a week of high fever.Blanche spent all of her nights beside her daughters' beds, not caring that she might fell ill too and ignoring all the servant's warnings.When Marie died, the poor young mother got off into a dead faint and woke up only two weeks later.

Maximilian de Valois

Name: Maximilian de Valois

Born: 1599

Traits: Idealistic, Sociable, Passionate, Possessive, Jealous, Intelligent

Romantic History:  Princess Blanche de Croy (marriage nullified)  

Wife: Kawa (by Indian law)

Parents: Maximilian de Valois and Françoise de Valois

Aspiration: Knowledge

Character Alignment: Evil

Rang: Duke of Angoulême (disgraced)

Maximilian was the family's heir, so everyone could see that there has always been a great responsibility on his shoulders.He loves his mother very much and at the same time has a deep respect for his father, but those things just didn't seem to be enough, because the young heir is nothing like his father.

Unlike the Baron, young Maximilian is impulsive, arrogant and willing to serve his King on the seas.He dreams of leaving his family's old castle and crossing the seas, exploring the New World.

His marriage to the young Madame Royale, the title of Duke of Angoulême and the birth of his daughters was just a set-back for his plans, because Maximilian is just too determined to give up his ambitious dreams.Only time will tell what will happen to the young adventurer.

Children

Isabelle de Valois (1617)

Marie de Valois (1617-1619)

Philibert de Valois (1621)
Jérôme de Valois (1624)
Rébecca de Valois (1629)  

Medieval Custom Content

As I kept promising that I will make this post, it is finally here.

Here are some links where you can find (almost) everything that you see in my stories (excepting, of course, the characters, which don't belong to me).

Medieval Hair at TS2Creations

Medieval Gowns as TS2Creations

Medieval clothes at AllAboutStyle

Tudor clothes at AllAboutStyle

Historical undies at AllAboutStyle

Jewlery at AllAboutStyle (just search through the pages and you will find what you like)

Wonderful hairstyles at HypnotizedSims (not exactly Medieval, but you can adapt)

Tudor clothing at TaroxforSims2

Lots of Medieval CC at MedievalSims

Medieval CC at TheMedievalSmithy

Historical and Ethnic/Medieval and Renaissance at Sims Wiki (in case I forgot to list some of the adresses)

And, of course, MTS

I'm almost sure there are other places where I downloaded some of the things that appear here.I will add them later, if I find the links.

Fall 1616-1620

A trouble shared is a trouble halved, tried to think Marcelet as the sorrow seemed endless.

In 1616, when his youngest son was born Marcelet had the courage to hope that God was finally merciful to his family.Margot, his second wife, gave birth without complications to a healthy baby boy and Haiete, his youngest daughter, along with Guillaume, Margot's son, were getting along very well, practically raising each other and helping their parents.

Guillaume and his step-sister, Haiete, resting after a tiring day of work with their parents.

Two years passes by without other major events.The crop looked well and with Margot's money from her first deceased husband they were able to buy and cultivate some more acres of land, so everyone was sure that they will have a lot of work to do in the fall.

Unfortunately, in 1618 little Marcelet, their youngest son, started showing signs of pneumonia and died in just a couple of months, cut down by the high fever.His sister Haiete and his mother, Margot were devastated by his death.Marcelet and Guillaume tried to be strong for their family, but poor Marcelet couldn't stop murmuring curse words.

Blinded by rage and sorrow, he blamed God for all his griefs and even refused his son to be laid in the ground by a Catholic priest.

Seeing her father so weak, Haiete couldn't stop her tears from falling down her cheeks and burning her skin.She couldn't recall feeling so lonely and so helpless ever in her short life until now.

Of course, their mother's death, only one year later nearly lead the way to Marcelet's suicide.

In 1919 Margot died few weeks after giving birth to another son, Clement.Unable to feed her son because of her illness, the baby didn't seem to have too many survival chances, especially now, that the winter was closer.

After carrying out his second wife, Marcelet would never be the same man.He started keeping away from his children, letting Haiete and Guillaume to take care of the feeble baby who wasn't even strong enough to cry from his cradle, where he spent most of his days.

In this time, all Haiete and Guillaume could do was simply watch their father turning in on himself, getting isolated in his own world.He left home early in the morning, long before the sunrise and simply took to the roads, often to come back home some days later.

But when they heard him talking to himself like he would have been talking to his first wife, Cherestienne, the two children knew something was very wrong to him and started fearing that he might do something to take his own life.

Because there was no way Marcelet would ever marry another woman and also because Haiete was still too young and especially too poor to get married, Guillaume decided that he had to find a wife for himself, because only he and his step-sister couldn't care for a baby and a madman by themselves, while working to survive.

de la Mer Family

Name: Melusine de la Mer

Born: Unknown

Traits: Enigmatic, Candid, Elegant, Revengeful, Curious, Impatient, Arrogant, Cold-hearted

Romantic History: Unknown

Husband: None

Aspiration: Pleasure

Character Alignment: Evil

Class: Spirit of Fresh Waters

Melusine is able to become human by taking of her scaly skin, while she can also regain her true form by putting it back.Legends say that if a human finds her skin and hides it from her, preventing Melusine from finding it, she is in his power and she is forced to become his wife and bear his children.

People use to say that Melusine, if caught, would make an excellent wife, but she would never be truly happy on the land, because her true home is somewhere in the water.

So, considering those stories that circulate among mortals, there is no surprise that Melusine almost never takes her human form.Even so, she is fascinated by humans and many voyagers claim that they have seen her somewhere deep into the woods, close to a stream of water.But the rest of the story remains unknown.Some of them recount that they came close to her, attracted by her charming voice, some say that she comes to them, but all of them admit that they can't truly remember too much about the encounter.

Melusine is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.While some informations I used here can be found in her legends, I also combined her story with the one about Selkies, adding some personal ideas.