Peace in the realm...but for how long?
On the very first day of January 1140, I decided to respect and prestige my steward for his faithful service. By the next week, Thibault and his men had arrived in Berwick to engage Galloway's army in battle. It wouldn't be until the eighteenth before my Fife regiment arrived in Carrick to do the same.
After almost a fortnight of battle, Thibault's army was victorious at the battle of Berwick. His army continued onto Galloway. The tide was turning against Galloway's forces, and he offered a truce as the month came to a head. He would yield his claim on Angus county, and hand over a whole ten ducats. As his messengers read out the truce arrangements, I could not help myself from breaking into a bout of laughter. After calming myself down a tad, I said to the messenger,
You tell your master that as long as he claims to be a noble, war will prevail between us.
and sent him packing.
Three days later, the Fife regiment had won the battle of Carrick, and continued onto Galloway. With the Duke of Galloway's vassal armies defeated we only had his own army to fight. On February 6, my army made landfall in Shetland and thus began the first battle of Shetland.
Within ten days, we had defeated the Duke of Orkney's men and now the siege had begun. Little did we know that the Duke had organized another army to make landfall in a matter of days. We now had to defend our position in Shetland.
Finally, on February 28, the second battle of Shetland was over and we were victorious. That same day, the Duke of Orkney had granted to his son Ruprecht the county of Shetland. Now I was in complete control of all of Orkney's lands, namely just Orkney...and had no business needing my army in Shetland. I still felt however, that Shetland should be part of the realm...and declared war on the new Count of Shetland. The siege of Shetland had begun.
Finally, on the tenth of march, the combined forces of both the Fife regiment and Thibault's army had achieved victory in the battle of Galloway, and began the siege on his fort.
Just a week later, my army had liberated Shetland and it was now under Scottish control.
Four days after that, on March 22, Galloway was now also under Scottish control. I was now in a position to push the best peace deal for the kingdom in all three war fronts. After letting my adversaries sweat out another three days, I handed them the terms of peace. One by one, all three nobles signed away their nobility.
The disloyal Duke of Galloway would lose all his titles and claims, with the Duchy and Count of Galloway becoming part of Scotland proper.
The newly appointed Count of Shetland would lose his title and claims, Shetland becoming part of the realm.
The deceitful Duke of Orkney would also lose all his titles and claims, the Duchy and Count of Orkney also becoming part of Scotland proper.
As the month came to a close, my victorious armies went home. It was also brought to my attention that both Archbishops of Canterbury and Lothian seemed to be unhappy with the way the kingdom was being managed.
On April 2, I granted the county of Galloway to Duncan Loarn, my younger brother. NB: Duncan Loarn (1117- ), is the son of Maelsnechtan Loarn (1048-1122) and Aleta Av Munso (1095 – 1127).
Two days later, I granted Centule Loarn, the Count of Faereyar the newly acquired county of Shetland.
A week later, to improve the horrible world wide reputation of my realm, I eventually relinquished my claim on the Western Isles. To further enhance my worldly reputation, I decided to parcel out some of Scotland proper. The Count of Orkney was granted to Centule, himself now having the title Grand Count of Faereyar, Shetland and Orkney. Donald, the Count of Mar became the new Count of Angus.
As we headed towards May, I appointed two new dukes of the realm. From April 29, Centule Loarn the Grand Count of Faereyar, Shetland and Orkney would now be known as the Duke of Orkney. Donald Loarn, Count of Mar and Angus would known as the Duke of Albany.
On April 30, I appointed Andrew of Atholl to the position of the new marshall of Scotland. I decided to reward Thibault for his sterling work as marshall during the past wars and made him the new Count of Aland.
These small moves seemed to improve my world reputation a little, but not enough. So, on the ninth of May, Drago the Bishop of Berwick was appointed Archbishop of Argyll. Not only that, the new Count of Galloway, Duncan Loarn I made the new Duke of Galloway. To hopefully also increase the loyalty of my church vassals – the archbishops of Lothian, Argyll and Canterbury, I've increased the donations to the church to seven ducats per month, which is a sixth of revenue.
Unfortunately, my southern archbishopric was still unhappy being a vassal to a king frowned upon in Rome, and on June 11 declared war. I rallied my men in Lothian, gaining almost two and a half thousand loyal countryman who would be led by my new marshall, Andrew into battle. But first, they would have to set sail for the shores of Kent, with it costing fifty ducats to send them south. According to the chancellor, the maintenance of our Canterbury expedition would completely blow the monthly budget, but not overly put the kingdom into debt. In fact, the war would only make the realm lose about the same amount that was being donated to the church every month.
On July 10, I received some exciting and somewhat expected news that my beautiful wife Kristina was again with child.
Although I was still at war with the Archbishop of Canterbury, it did not seem to effect the relations I enjoyed with my northern archbishoprics. Messengers from Lothian informed me that the archbishop was pleased with the laws I had enacted.
Disaster strikes in October, with a huge fire destroying the fishery in Moray, which provided much needed tax revenue. At the beginning of the next month, I immediately signed the decree that a new fishing wharf be built post-haste so that the taxes could keep coming in.
On November 11, Andrew and his men made landfall in Kent. There was no battle to be fought, as Canterbury's men had already left on ships to attack Scotland proper and were still at sea. Andrew and his men began the siege of Kent.
A few days later, a friend of mine nicely decided to help me out with the war effort, discreetly leaving a hundred ducats as they left the court.
On November 21, the traitorous archbishop of Canterbury offered a white peace of sorts. We would no longer be at war, but he would no longer be a vassal of Scotland. I was not willing to make that sort of a deal – those ducal lands had become part of my realm a mere eight years ago and I wanted them to be part of my kingdom for the foreseeable future.
Sixteen days into December and Kent was now completely overrun by Scottish forces. Andrew had made a suitable addition to the court as our new marshall.
The next day I offered peace to Pancrazio Loarn, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since he was still family I decided to let him keep his titles as the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Kent, however he would have to relinquish his claims on the titles that I held. Not only that, he would also have to re-swear his fealty to my crown. Archbishop Pancrazio thanked the Lord that clearer heads had prevailed and accepted the peace arrangement.
I could only hope that perhaps the new year would be a little quieter.
), so the "venetian" sounding ducats does the job fine.
