Chapter 19

There are a lot of silent moves behind the scenes and overt moves by Eli in this chapter with his forces. Despite not being in the stronger position with superior firepower or superior technology like Mary had with her allies, Eli had his unique advantages. His focus was directed towards information warfare from the beginning rather than a head-on conflict with Mary and her allies. The mimeograph may be an antiquated technology to many people in modern times, but it represented a quantum leap in printing technology from the era of the large-scale printing presses. Mimeographs were a famous tool used during WWII by the French resistance to create counter-propaganda against Nazi occupiers. In later decades, they were used by Civil Rights movement to organize protests and marches. The mimeograph was also used by Gay publications to produce materials (including some pornographic materials  ). Some older members might remember the primitive copying tool.

Royal authority and a rising title for Eli is useful to strengthen his hold on territories that he already had nominal control over through trade and local military forces, administratively controlling these territories allows him to reform several things, including more covert industrialization and a new education reform program to improve learning level of the population. In contrast to the trend of the era, where religious education and classical education were focused, Eli is skipping those areas and pushing for practical education based on material creation. In this way, you can see his reforms as an extension of Eli's realist and secular worldview in practice, rather than valuing classical notions of wealth or power. I made hints in my short story Qui Tam, concerning how Eli is treating his territory and what he had his people prepare to do during his absence. 

In historical terms, I have pushed the marriage of Mary Tudor away from Philip II of Spain, instead she is marrying Reginald Pole, a York descendant with claims to the throne as well and historic Catholic loyalties as a Cardinal. I did this to hasten the marriage alliance of Phillip II to Elizabeth of Valois, a daughter of Catherine de Medici of France, who he would have married in 1560 after Mary's death, unifying France, Spain, and pieces of the Holy Roman Empire (Charles V would no longer be in the picture at that point in history). However, the earlier marriage in 1553 opens up a large amount of possibilities, including bringing the forces of France into the expanding war of religion in Holy Roman Empire (Germany). Suffice to say, the Peace of Augsburg will not happen the way history had entailed.

As for the journeys of Francis Walsingham to Navarre, he is supposed to be in Contintental Europe during these years to develop his network of spies and aid protestant causes in Switzerland. However, with the occupation of Switzerland, the best place for him to go would be to the small nation of Navarre. Henry IV of France will need assistance and it is true that historically Francis Walsingham would be present in France and by Henry's side later on, including writing a famous reporting about the Saint Bartholomew massacre to Elizabeth I. 

This week's law of power is 22nd, “Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power”, is an astute observation about power politics. Most people out of pride will never accept surrender or submission to someone else out of pride. However, real power is not based on strength alone. Weakness can also be used to improve your position, just like Eli having planted the seeds forcing Mary to accept a promotion for him, while he supplicated himself to her. Giving up nominal obedience for absolute position is an overall net gain.

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Some fun historical notes:

1. Yes, the mimeograph was heavily featured in this chapter. It is an interesting anachronistic tool that we in the age of information technology with social media platforms cannot fathom its earlier importance. With these small early copying machines and ink cartridges, major historical battles were won for nation and human dignity.

2. A minor note that few people knew about, France, England, and Dutch Republic formed a "Triple Alliance" in 1596 against the forces of Catholic Europe. It is one of the earliest examples of the alliance that would be preeminent in WWI. Being a fan of history, I thought it was a fun foreign policy goal to recreate a triple alliance earlier in this era against such a dominant Habsburg-Medici Catholic alliance in Europe.