The chapter "Chaos in Great Britain" details the internal struggles and foreign interventions that engulfed the Kingdom of England during the 17th century. England was initially unable to launch significant expeditions to the New World, or Mornaea, because of ongoing financial difficulties and extreme conflicts between the crown and parliament over coordination and funding. English navigators and merchantmen were often forced to serve under foreign flags, such as French, Dutch, or Danish ones, though this experience did allow them to gather considerable knowledge that they eventually brought back home.
A greater crisis struck England in 1634 when Charles IX, the grandson of Charles VIII, died without an heir, ending the Tudor line. This dynastic collapse led to the "War of the English Succession", with three major houses vying for the throne:
The House of Brandon: These descendants of Charles VIII's younger sister, Joan Tudor, through her marriage to Henry Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, had the strongest claim based on direct royal blood. Their claim was somewhat precarious because it passed through a female line and the family had historically focused on their ducal holdings rather than royal ambitions.
The House of Stafford: This house traced its lineage back to ancient Plantagenet blood from the ‘Poppy Wars’ (this timeline's name for the War of the Roses). They argued that the Tudors were "usurpers" and that their blood represented the "true" royal line of England.
The House of Bourbon: The French used a tenuous claim, citing Mary of Valois (Queen consort of England from 1396 to 1399) and the child bride of the deposed King James II, to profess that the Bourbon dynasty held the "true" royal blood of England. Most recognized this claim as an excuse for France to intervene in the ensuing civil strife.
With Parliament unable to settle the succession dispute, England descended into warfare and chaos. Throughout the 1630s and 1640s, the English countryside was devastated. For the first time since William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066, England was invaded by a foreign power—the French. The French, determined to see their goals realized quickly, invaded, and by August 4th, 1637, they reached London. Meanwhile, Scotland used England’s instability to encroach on the north, and the Irish broke free from English subjugation, leaving only the area around the Pale under London's control by the late 1630s.
However, the tide turned in the Autumn of 1637 during the siege and battle of London. An English army loyal to the House of Brandon successfully defeated the French, pushing them back to the coast. An immense failure of an evacuation attempt in January 1638 near Plymouth saw France lose 34,000 men, effectively forcing them out of the war.
The conflict then became a domestic affair, culminating in the brutal "Battle of Grantham" in 1641, where the House of Brandon dealt a major setback to the Stafford house. The Stafford faction sought assistance from Scotland, resulting in the final years of the war being fought primarily between Brandon's English forces and Scottish armies. The English eventually won the decisive "Battle of Dumfries" in 1644 and systematically occupied most of Scotland over the next two years. In May 1646, Scotland signed peace terms, entering a personal union with England as the junior partner.
The War of the English Succession ended in 1646 with the victory of the House of Brandon. The realm was left with severe problems: lands were spoiled, the navy was battered, the population was sickly and hurt, and the economy was in tatters. Consequently, any colonial or continental aspirations had to be put on hold indefinitely as England focused on recovery.