If you have the prestige, I would take this opportunity to claim the Polish throne. If not, as I suspect you don't quite, I would suggest Finland, Lappland, and Karelia as obvious targets.
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Personguyfellow said:
You're right, I don't have the prestige to claim the Polish throne. It would take about 8000 and I only have 1300. However Dietrich is not looking north; he's looking to much richer and significantly warmer provinces for his next target.
Doing well so far. 
Seeing as Germany has fragmented (as usual), any short-term plans to start grabbing large chunks of it, and become King of your original country?
Though I think your next target is Spain...
Seeing as Germany has fragmented (as usual), any short-term plans to start grabbing large chunks of it, and become King of your original country?
Though I think your next target is Spain...
Azugal said:Doing well so far.
Seeing as Germany has fragmented (as usual), any short-term plans to start grabbing large chunks of it, and become King of your original country?
Though I think your next target is Spain...
There are no plans to conquer significant areas of Germany in the foreseeable future. It's just not practical for reasons of prestige. A duchy of 2 to 5 provinces costs 2000 to 5000 prestige to claim the title, unless you happen to become the papal controller. I plan to avoid becoming the papal controller during this during the AAR as it would make it much too easy to conquer Christian Europe (or if by chance I do, I will not be excommunicating anyone so I can grab their titles). In my conquests so far I think I've only managed to generate about 1300 prestige, and most of that is from creating duchies and my one kingdom.
With respect to where Dietrich is going next, you may well be correct
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I have reorganized my website because my website will only allow a limited number of webpages on my account. As a result all links in any one chapter will lead to the same page, which will contain all the screenshots for that chapter. In future I may have to combine the screenshots for several chapters on one page, but I'll post a message before I do this.
Chapter 3
Dietrich remembered a plea for help that Sancho Jimenez, the King of Aragon, had sent out a few years ago to the Christian kingdoms as he was been attacked by the combined armies of the Emirate of Zaragoza and the Kingdom of Navarre. Dietrich had been too busy with his current wars to pay attention, but a map of the Iberian penninsula he had gotten as a coronation gift showed the Kingdom of Aragon no longer existed. How could the Christian world have let this happen?? In any case, Dietrich was determined to avenge this terrible wrong. He set sail for Iberia.
Dietrich arrived at the court of Domingo Jimenez, the King of Castille, in the summer of 1116. After a great feast to celebrate Dietrich crusade’s, Domingo and Dietrich made a vow to avenge Sancho, the former King of Aragon, together. Dietrich moved his troops to the border of the Emirate of Zaragoza, which had been weakened by it's recent conquest of Aragon, and was able to muster only 4000 fighting men in the entire Emirate. Dietrich declared war on the infidel. He invaded Catataynd, destroyed the local regiment and set siege to the fortress. To his utter surprise there was no sign of the armies of Castille anywhere in Zaragoza. He had been betrayed by the cowardly King of Castille. Fortunately the Emirate of Zaragoza was weak. Dietrich took Calataynd, and followed this up by conquering the provinces of Zaragoza, Albarracin, Tarragona, Barcelona and Lleida. The Emirate showed little will to fight and the occasional battle was more of a rout as Dietrich’s six thousand troops greatly outnumbered anything the Zaragozans could muster. Dietrich advance was slowed only by temporary peace treaties granted in exchange for several thousand gold each. The treaties were only temporary because the infidels were not to be trusted. Finally the Emirate was snuffed out of existence in 1119 with taking of Jaca and Empuries. After the war Dietrich kept Calataynd and Barcelona for himself and gave the remainder of the newly conquered lands to his loyal men. The duchies of Catalonia and Barcelona were formed increasing Dietrich's prestige.
Dietrich was not yet satisfied. He moved his troops to the Turkish province of Toledo to give himself a good strategic position and declared war on the Emirate of Cordoba. They proved to be more of a challenge as they had a manpower of 12600, but Dietrich's better understanding of tactics and ability to concentrate his troops at the point of attack meant the destruction of the Emirate was inevitable. Dietrich had taken the provinces of Cordoba, Molina, La Mancha and Calatrava when the Emirate of Badajoz, which had a manpower of 10300, unexpectedly attacked in 1121. This would have been a serious problem had the Emirate of Cordoba had any will left to fight, but they offered several thousand gold in exchange for peace, which Dietrich accepted thereby isolating the Emirate of Badajoz. The provinces of Badajoz, Caceres, Alcantara and Evora had fallen to Dietrich by the time he accepted peace in the summer of 1122. Dietrich formed the duchies of Cordoba and Badajoz, and gave away land to this loyal followers. The Count of Coimbra, seeing a true leader against the infidels had finally arrived, joined the Kingdom of Lithuanua with a pledge of fealty to his new liege im the summer of 1122.
Dietrich had had enough of the fight against the infidel for now. He had been stewing about the King of Castile's betrayal for six years and it was time for revenge. The King of Castile, Domingo Jimenez, only owned one province, the County of Burgos. Dietrich grabbed the title of Count of Burgos at significant cost to his own reputation (1350 prestige), as well as that of the Count of Soria (600 prestige). The Count of Soria was Fernando, son of the King of Castille. Dietrich moved his troops into position and declared war. It was a rout. The counties of Soria and Burgos were added to the Kingdom of Lithuania. Domingo’s vassals had no interest in giving up their land to Domingo, and Kingdom of Castille ceased to exist. The Counts of Valladolid and Viscaya saw promise of a brighter future (and more importantly the possibility of more land and power in an expanding kingdom) and pledged their allegiance to Dietrich. They were not to be disappointed.
Dietrich went back to war against the infidel. The conquests of the Emirate of Badajoz and Cordoba were incomplete. Dietrich renewed hostilities and the Emirates of Badajoz and Cordoba were destroyed by 1125. As a result Dietrich had enough provinces to recreate the Kingdom of Castille, adding it to his list of titles. Unfortunately, as occasionally happens, the new Count of Mertola was found to be independant at the end of these wars. This was not acceptable. Who knows what other vassals would try if this behavior was tolerated? A considerable amount of Dietrich’s hard earned prestige (859) was used to create a claim on the Count of Mertola. Once war was declared the Count’s few men were quickly overwhelmed. The Count of Mertola gave a public confession of treason after sufficient preparation in the torture chambers. He was granted a public hanging as a reward.
Internal matters having been dealt with Dietrich returned to his crusading. The Emirate of Almeria was dispatched with in 1126 and the Emirate of Sevilla was conquered in 1127-8. Unfortunately another independant county, the County of Aracena, appeared following the war with the Emirate fo Sevilla. Dietrich did not have enough prestige to deal with this county yet, so it was left for now.
Dietrich paused to survey his kingdom. At age 61 he was old and did not know how many years he would have left. His son Berhard was a reasonable heir, but his oldest grandson, Guntram (7,6,8,3) was a nightmare. He was insolent, cruel and self-centered, but even worse he had little stewardship talent. His younger brother, the 15 year old, Gozelo (7,10,10,8) showed much more promise. After another of Guntram’s tantrum, Dietrich had had enough. He arranged for Guntram to “fall” off the castle walls while on an assigned patrol. The fall was fatal, but unfortunately rumours of the a plot started to swirl (Assasination successful, but we were discovered). Gozelo was now Berhard’s (and ultimately Dietrich’s) heir.
Gozelo turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. He became an amateur pettifogger. On top of that when he was granted the title Count of Sudovia at age 16, he fell “in love” with a 21 year relatively untalented (6,6,5,6) woman, Emma von Falkenstein, and married her without the von Mansfeld family’s permission. Dietrich’s reputation had been slightly tarnished by the discovery of the assasination of Guntram, and he decided he would let Emma live for now.
His family issues under some semblance of control Dietrich returned to his crusading ways. The province of Niebla was taken from the Emirate of Cyrenica in early 1129. Al Djazair, Beni Yanni and Mzab were taken from the Kingdom of Hammadid in the summer of 1129. 1130 saw the addition of Tell Atlas, Biskra and Medjerda from the Emirate of Tunisia. Infa was added from the Kingdom of al-Murabitids in 1131.
By 1132 Dietrich had amassed enough prestige to grab the title of Count of Leon. Dietrich declared war on Domingo Jimenez, his fellow Christian king, in the summer of 1132. By fall the province of Leon was part of Dietrich’s kingdom, and the Kingdom of Leon was no more as Domingo’s vassals had no interest in giving up their land. Several of them, the Counts of Asturias de Oveido, El Bierzo and Zamora, even joined our kingdom (offers of vassalization accepted).
Dietrich went on his last crusade at the advanced age of 66 in 1134-1135. The provinces of Orania, Figuig, Hanyan, Tlecen, Lemdiyya and Mzab were obtained from the Emirate of Alger.
Dietrich recreated the Kingdom of Leon in 1135 to give him enough prestige to claim the title of Count of Aracena, the county which had mysteriously become independant in the war against the Emirate of Badajoz 10 years ago. The county was taken in the fall of 1135, and the traitorous countess and her advisors were executed.
Dietrich retired to an estate in the Spanish countryside at the end of 1136. He cleansed his reputation and created an immense amount of prestige (about 10000 prestige) for his son Bernhard by granting him several more counties, as well as all 20 of his duchy titles (the creation of this amount of prestige by the granting of duchy titles was a pleasant surprise to me at the time, but certainly will prove to be useful in the future). Dietrich passed away in the spring of 1138.
Dietrich remembered a plea for help that Sancho Jimenez, the King of Aragon, had sent out a few years ago to the Christian kingdoms as he was been attacked by the combined armies of the Emirate of Zaragoza and the Kingdom of Navarre. Dietrich had been too busy with his current wars to pay attention, but a map of the Iberian penninsula he had gotten as a coronation gift showed the Kingdom of Aragon no longer existed. How could the Christian world have let this happen?? In any case, Dietrich was determined to avenge this terrible wrong. He set sail for Iberia.
Dietrich arrived at the court of Domingo Jimenez, the King of Castille, in the summer of 1116. After a great feast to celebrate Dietrich crusade’s, Domingo and Dietrich made a vow to avenge Sancho, the former King of Aragon, together. Dietrich moved his troops to the border of the Emirate of Zaragoza, which had been weakened by it's recent conquest of Aragon, and was able to muster only 4000 fighting men in the entire Emirate. Dietrich declared war on the infidel. He invaded Catataynd, destroyed the local regiment and set siege to the fortress. To his utter surprise there was no sign of the armies of Castille anywhere in Zaragoza. He had been betrayed by the cowardly King of Castille. Fortunately the Emirate of Zaragoza was weak. Dietrich took Calataynd, and followed this up by conquering the provinces of Zaragoza, Albarracin, Tarragona, Barcelona and Lleida. The Emirate showed little will to fight and the occasional battle was more of a rout as Dietrich’s six thousand troops greatly outnumbered anything the Zaragozans could muster. Dietrich advance was slowed only by temporary peace treaties granted in exchange for several thousand gold each. The treaties were only temporary because the infidels were not to be trusted. Finally the Emirate was snuffed out of existence in 1119 with taking of Jaca and Empuries. After the war Dietrich kept Calataynd and Barcelona for himself and gave the remainder of the newly conquered lands to his loyal men. The duchies of Catalonia and Barcelona were formed increasing Dietrich's prestige.
Dietrich was not yet satisfied. He moved his troops to the Turkish province of Toledo to give himself a good strategic position and declared war on the Emirate of Cordoba. They proved to be more of a challenge as they had a manpower of 12600, but Dietrich's better understanding of tactics and ability to concentrate his troops at the point of attack meant the destruction of the Emirate was inevitable. Dietrich had taken the provinces of Cordoba, Molina, La Mancha and Calatrava when the Emirate of Badajoz, which had a manpower of 10300, unexpectedly attacked in 1121. This would have been a serious problem had the Emirate of Cordoba had any will left to fight, but they offered several thousand gold in exchange for peace, which Dietrich accepted thereby isolating the Emirate of Badajoz. The provinces of Badajoz, Caceres, Alcantara and Evora had fallen to Dietrich by the time he accepted peace in the summer of 1122. Dietrich formed the duchies of Cordoba and Badajoz, and gave away land to this loyal followers. The Count of Coimbra, seeing a true leader against the infidels had finally arrived, joined the Kingdom of Lithuanua with a pledge of fealty to his new liege im the summer of 1122.
Dietrich had had enough of the fight against the infidel for now. He had been stewing about the King of Castile's betrayal for six years and it was time for revenge. The King of Castile, Domingo Jimenez, only owned one province, the County of Burgos. Dietrich grabbed the title of Count of Burgos at significant cost to his own reputation (1350 prestige), as well as that of the Count of Soria (600 prestige). The Count of Soria was Fernando, son of the King of Castille. Dietrich moved his troops into position and declared war. It was a rout. The counties of Soria and Burgos were added to the Kingdom of Lithuania. Domingo’s vassals had no interest in giving up their land to Domingo, and Kingdom of Castille ceased to exist. The Counts of Valladolid and Viscaya saw promise of a brighter future (and more importantly the possibility of more land and power in an expanding kingdom) and pledged their allegiance to Dietrich. They were not to be disappointed.
Dietrich went back to war against the infidel. The conquests of the Emirate of Badajoz and Cordoba were incomplete. Dietrich renewed hostilities and the Emirates of Badajoz and Cordoba were destroyed by 1125. As a result Dietrich had enough provinces to recreate the Kingdom of Castille, adding it to his list of titles. Unfortunately, as occasionally happens, the new Count of Mertola was found to be independant at the end of these wars. This was not acceptable. Who knows what other vassals would try if this behavior was tolerated? A considerable amount of Dietrich’s hard earned prestige (859) was used to create a claim on the Count of Mertola. Once war was declared the Count’s few men were quickly overwhelmed. The Count of Mertola gave a public confession of treason after sufficient preparation in the torture chambers. He was granted a public hanging as a reward.
Internal matters having been dealt with Dietrich returned to his crusading. The Emirate of Almeria was dispatched with in 1126 and the Emirate of Sevilla was conquered in 1127-8. Unfortunately another independant county, the County of Aracena, appeared following the war with the Emirate fo Sevilla. Dietrich did not have enough prestige to deal with this county yet, so it was left for now.
Dietrich paused to survey his kingdom. At age 61 he was old and did not know how many years he would have left. His son Berhard was a reasonable heir, but his oldest grandson, Guntram (7,6,8,3) was a nightmare. He was insolent, cruel and self-centered, but even worse he had little stewardship talent. His younger brother, the 15 year old, Gozelo (7,10,10,8) showed much more promise. After another of Guntram’s tantrum, Dietrich had had enough. He arranged for Guntram to “fall” off the castle walls while on an assigned patrol. The fall was fatal, but unfortunately rumours of the a plot started to swirl (Assasination successful, but we were discovered). Gozelo was now Berhard’s (and ultimately Dietrich’s) heir.
Gozelo turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. He became an amateur pettifogger. On top of that when he was granted the title Count of Sudovia at age 16, he fell “in love” with a 21 year relatively untalented (6,6,5,6) woman, Emma von Falkenstein, and married her without the von Mansfeld family’s permission. Dietrich’s reputation had been slightly tarnished by the discovery of the assasination of Guntram, and he decided he would let Emma live for now.
His family issues under some semblance of control Dietrich returned to his crusading ways. The province of Niebla was taken from the Emirate of Cyrenica in early 1129. Al Djazair, Beni Yanni and Mzab were taken from the Kingdom of Hammadid in the summer of 1129. 1130 saw the addition of Tell Atlas, Biskra and Medjerda from the Emirate of Tunisia. Infa was added from the Kingdom of al-Murabitids in 1131.
By 1132 Dietrich had amassed enough prestige to grab the title of Count of Leon. Dietrich declared war on Domingo Jimenez, his fellow Christian king, in the summer of 1132. By fall the province of Leon was part of Dietrich’s kingdom, and the Kingdom of Leon was no more as Domingo’s vassals had no interest in giving up their land. Several of them, the Counts of Asturias de Oveido, El Bierzo and Zamora, even joined our kingdom (offers of vassalization accepted).
Dietrich went on his last crusade at the advanced age of 66 in 1134-1135. The provinces of Orania, Figuig, Hanyan, Tlecen, Lemdiyya and Mzab were obtained from the Emirate of Alger.
Dietrich recreated the Kingdom of Leon in 1135 to give him enough prestige to claim the title of Count of Aracena, the county which had mysteriously become independant in the war against the Emirate of Badajoz 10 years ago. The county was taken in the fall of 1135, and the traitorous countess and her advisors were executed.
Dietrich retired to an estate in the Spanish countryside at the end of 1136. He cleansed his reputation and created an immense amount of prestige (about 10000 prestige) for his son Bernhard by granting him several more counties, as well as all 20 of his duchy titles (the creation of this amount of prestige by the granting of duchy titles was a pleasant surprise to me at the time, but certainly will prove to be useful in the future
). Dietrich passed away in the spring of 1138.
You may eventually be interested in requesting the vassalization of princes, dukes, bishosp, grandmasters, counts, and will only need to personally claim royal, consular, and imperial titles. For now though, I eagerly await the Lithuanian jihad against the Mohammedans.
Very nice, I always love a good conquesting spree. You should teach the Seljuks a lesson, they should not be in Iberia! Push them back to the sea!
For shame!Florian said:He cleansed his reputation and created an immense amount of prestige (about 10000 prestige) for his son Bernhard by granting him several more counties, as well as all 20 of his duchy titles (the creation of this amount of prestige by the granting of duchy titles was a pleasant surprise to me at the time, but certainly will prove to be useful in the future
Not only does your heir get 10,000 prestige, but he will make his own claims with it at no badboy reputation loss to your king! 
Just saw this one. I remember your EU 2 AAR (Mecklenburg) and will try to follow this one too to see if you achieve your goals (seem tough)
Quite a fast start there for what was a precarious position at first.
But I do agree with everyone else about Poland: claim their throne, form Poland-Lithuania, and see if you can hold back the coming Mongol hordes. Then go crusading in the Holy Land...
But I do agree with everyone else about Poland: claim their throne, form Poland-Lithuania, and see if you can hold back the coming Mongol hordes. Then go crusading in the Holy Land...
Ah yes, the mongols... you'd better hope you're strong enough by the time they come screaming in
Morpheus506 said:Ah yes, the mongols... you'd better hope you're strong enough by the time they come screaming in
Or have some nice land far to the west that you can hide in.
Personguyfellow said:
Your strategy suggestion is excellent. I generally been following this strategy in the upcoming chapter. I've encountered two problems with the strategy. Firstly claiming the royal title (ie.Consul of Venice) doesn't always give you control of the province (ie.Magistrate of Venice stayed independant). Secondly getting anyone to agree to be your vassal is extremely difficult (I obviously got lucky with my successful vassalizations of parts of Leon and Castille).
Zeno of Cyprus said:
No. I've currently been focusing on building up my kingdom in western Europe. When the Mongols come they probably conquer Poland, as well as the rest of eastern Europe and I'll be able to take Poland without any prestige cost. If I do extremely well taking over western Europe in the next thirty to fifty years this strategy may change.
Morpheus506 said:Very nice, I always love a good conquesting spree. You should teach the Seljuks a lesson, they should not be in Iberia! Push them back to the sea!
I completely agree! I've actually thought about declaring war on the Seljuks a number of times, but I always get a nasty message saying something to the effect of, "You have x number of men, the Seljuks can raise 120000 men. Are you sure you want to declare war?" And I think maybe I'll leave them for now and go find an easier target to pick on.
Wyvern said:For shame!
And the amount of prestige my heir will get will only get higher as the number of duchies I control increases. The only problem is the heir (ie.controlled by the AI) tends to claim silly titles, like King of Lithuania and other titles which he'll inherit anyways. But usually there's a fair amount of prestige left to claim useful titles when the current king dies.
Judge said:Just saw this one. I remember your EU 2 AAR (Mecklenburg) and will try to follow this one too to see if you achieve your goals (seem tough)
Thanks. It's going well so far. We'll see if it works out as planned.
King Of Nines said:
Plan to do all of the above, just not in the order listed.
Morpheus506 said:Ah yes, the mongols... you'd better hope you're strong enough by the time they come screaming in
Hopefully the kingdom of Lithuania will be able to hold off the hordes. Fortunately the Mongols are another century away, which gives us lots of time to prepare.
King Of Nines said:Or have some nice land far to the west that you can hide in.
That's part of my strategy.
Chapter 4
In the spring of 1138 Bernhard was finally King of Lithuania. At the age of 51 he had been waiting to become king since the kingdom was created by his father 23 years ago. Now the question of succession was paramount. He had only one legitimate remaining son, Gozelo. Guntram, his oldest son, had been assassinated and Gozelo’s three younger brothers had succumbed to disease. Even worse Gozelo’s wife, 28 year old Emma, had failed to produce any sons. She had produced four daughters, who unfortunately took after their mother in that they were not very talented. Bernhard first action as the new King of Lithuania was to ask Gozelo, who was forgiving, lustful and an amateur pettifogger, to revoke his title as Count of Sudovia. Gozelo agreed to give up his title and made the necessary preparations to move to his father’s court. While traveling to Bernhard’s court Gozelo, Emma and their entourage were waylaid by bandits. Gozelo and his armed guard managed to drive them off, but not before Emma received a fatal wound. One of the bandits was caught and claimed that they were acting under orders from the King of Lithuania (target assassinated, but we were discovered).
When Gozelo reached the Bernhard’s court several days later, he was immediately taken to Bernhard’s chambers (after being stripped of his weapons). Bernhard was able to convince Gozelo that while he had mentioned to spymaster that the kingdom would be better off if Gozelo had a new wife (who was able to produce male heirs), he had never intended for anyone to act on this thought. In addition told Gozelo that he had found several attractive candidates for a new wife and intended to grant him significant counties in southern Spain, as well as all of his duchy titles if Gozelo forgave him. Gozelo was his father. A grand wedding between Gozelo and Hildegard of Bar (8,8,8,10) was arranged for the summer of 1138. The wedding allowed Bernhard to cement his relationship with his vassals, who were not yet devotedly loyal to their new leader.
Bernhard’s vassals’ loyalty increased over the summer months of 1138. When Bernhard felt most of his vassals were loyal, he used two thousand prestige to claim the throne of Navarre and six thousand prestige to claim the throne of France. In an attempt to help improve Bernhard’s reputation and Gozelo’s prestige following these new claims, Gozelo was granted six counties in southern Spain as well all Bernhard’s duchy titles.
By the fall of 1138 most of Bernhard’s vassals were devotedly loyal. Bernhard raised fifteen thousand troops near the border with Navarre and declared war. Bernhard died of old age several weeks later as his troops were marching on Navarre. Gozelo became King of Lithuania in December of 1138. He finished the conquest of Navarre (two provinces) and in January 1139 sent all his troops home. The remainder of 1139 was peaceful as Gozelo built up the loyalty of his vassals.
The spring of 1140 saw a declaration of war on the King of France. France, consisting of only eight provinces, was added to the realm by the spring of 1141. The Count of Macon agreed to join our realm (vassalization offer accepted) when he received this news. Gozelo claimed the title of Duke of Provence for three thousand five hundred prestige in the early summer of 1141. The remainder of the summer of 1141 was spent conquering the Duchy of Provence (five province).
By this time the Kingdom of Lithuania’s reputation was tarnished. Gozelo decided to focus on conquering pagans to rehabilitate his reputation. The summer of 1142 was spent conquering the Emirate of Alger (two provinces). The remainder of 1142 and 1143 were spent conquering the Kingdom of al-Murabitids (six provinces). This allowed Gozelo to become King of North Africa. The granting of the newly conquered territories to Gozelo’s vassals improved Gozelo’s reputation to respectable.
Gozelo’s first son, named Guntram (6,9,5,9) in honour of Gozelo’s assassinated older brother, was born in the spring of 1142. This was followed by the births of Ruprecht (6,9,0,8) in 1143 and Ernst (6,8,10,8) in 1144. The von Mansfeld dynasty was finally secure.
Gozelo claimed the title of King of Spanish Galicia (four thousand prestige) in 1144 and spent the summer destroying the regiments of the current king of Spanish Galicia. The King of Spanish Galicia agreed to give up his title to Gozelo in the fall of 1144 (gain of six provinces). Gozelo’s reputation was slightly tarnished by his recent acquisitions, so he declared war on the Kingdom of Zirid. The kingdom was overrun in the campaign of 1144-1145 (eight provinces). Gozelo created two bishoprics in an attempt to increase his negative piety (+500 piety to total of 242). He gave away the rest of the newly acquired land managing to regain a honourable reputation in the process.
Gozelo felt it was time to drive the Seljuk Turks (manpower 121000) out of Iberia. He declared war in the spring of 1146. After a two and a half year campaign with heavy casualties on both sides, Gozelo obtained his goals. The Turks no longer owned any land in the Mediterranean and he was at peace with a remaining piety of 12 (25 piety being the minimum needed to make peace with a pagan).
During the war with the Seljuk Turks, Gozelo had made claims on the provinces of Dyfed (independent county), Perfeddwlad (owned by Duchy of Gwynedd), Powys (owned by Duchy of Gwynedd) and Glamorgan (owned by the Kingdom of England). Gozelo wanted to create a foothold in England. Gozelo annexed the county of Dyfed in the spring of 1149. The counties of Perfeddwlad and Powys were obtained from the Duchy of Gwynedd in the summer of 1149. In the fall of 1149 Gozelo declared war on the county of Glamorgan. The King of England, the liege of Count of Glamorgan, declared war on the Kingdom of Lithuania. It was not a wise decision. The county of Glamorgan was obtained in the winter of 1149-1150.
The war with the King of England ended in the summer of 1150 with the King of England, Sivard Estridson, giving us 26000 gold in exchange for peace. Gozelo was able to form the Kingdom of Wales with the four newly acquired provinces. He granted the new provinces to his vassals, but still had a slightly tarnished reputation.
Gozelo spent the rest of 1150 and most of 1151 conquering the remaining pagans in the northeast Baltic. He unfortunately received the trait of coward during this campaign. It is unclear why he received this trait as he did not lose any battles or even consider retreating. By the end of 1151 there were no pagans left to conquer in this area, so Gozelo turned his attention to the counties of Oldenburg, Marienburg (the Teutonic Order) and Beresty. All three were conquered in 1152-1153. This gave Gozelo enough prestige to claim the throne of Denmark, which he did in the summer of 1153. He declared war in August of 1153 and became King of Denmark (gain of six provinces) in the December 1153 increasing size of the Kingdom of Lithuania’s in northeastern Europe.
After his coronation as King of Denmark, he received an opportunity to become a crusader. He examined a map of the Holy Land while he pondered his decision....
In the spring of 1138 Bernhard was finally King of Lithuania. At the age of 51 he had been waiting to become king since the kingdom was created by his father 23 years ago. Now the question of succession was paramount. He had only one legitimate remaining son, Gozelo. Guntram, his oldest son, had been assassinated and Gozelo’s three younger brothers had succumbed to disease. Even worse Gozelo’s wife, 28 year old Emma, had failed to produce any sons. She had produced four daughters, who unfortunately took after their mother in that they were not very talented. Bernhard first action as the new King of Lithuania was to ask Gozelo, who was forgiving, lustful and an amateur pettifogger, to revoke his title as Count of Sudovia. Gozelo agreed to give up his title and made the necessary preparations to move to his father’s court. While traveling to Bernhard’s court Gozelo, Emma and their entourage were waylaid by bandits. Gozelo and his armed guard managed to drive them off, but not before Emma received a fatal wound. One of the bandits was caught and claimed that they were acting under orders from the King of Lithuania (target assassinated, but we were discovered).
When Gozelo reached the Bernhard’s court several days later, he was immediately taken to Bernhard’s chambers (after being stripped of his weapons). Bernhard was able to convince Gozelo that while he had mentioned to spymaster that the kingdom would be better off if Gozelo had a new wife (who was able to produce male heirs), he had never intended for anyone to act on this thought. In addition told Gozelo that he had found several attractive candidates for a new wife and intended to grant him significant counties in southern Spain, as well as all of his duchy titles if Gozelo forgave him. Gozelo was his father. A grand wedding between Gozelo and Hildegard of Bar (8,8,8,10) was arranged for the summer of 1138. The wedding allowed Bernhard to cement his relationship with his vassals, who were not yet devotedly loyal to their new leader.
Bernhard’s vassals’ loyalty increased over the summer months of 1138. When Bernhard felt most of his vassals were loyal, he used two thousand prestige to claim the throne of Navarre and six thousand prestige to claim the throne of France. In an attempt to help improve Bernhard’s reputation and Gozelo’s prestige following these new claims, Gozelo was granted six counties in southern Spain as well all Bernhard’s duchy titles.
By the fall of 1138 most of Bernhard’s vassals were devotedly loyal. Bernhard raised fifteen thousand troops near the border with Navarre and declared war. Bernhard died of old age several weeks later as his troops were marching on Navarre. Gozelo became King of Lithuania in December of 1138. He finished the conquest of Navarre (two provinces) and in January 1139 sent all his troops home. The remainder of 1139 was peaceful as Gozelo built up the loyalty of his vassals.
The spring of 1140 saw a declaration of war on the King of France. France, consisting of only eight provinces, was added to the realm by the spring of 1141. The Count of Macon agreed to join our realm (vassalization offer accepted) when he received this news. Gozelo claimed the title of Duke of Provence for three thousand five hundred prestige in the early summer of 1141. The remainder of the summer of 1141 was spent conquering the Duchy of Provence (five province).
By this time the Kingdom of Lithuania’s reputation was tarnished. Gozelo decided to focus on conquering pagans to rehabilitate his reputation. The summer of 1142 was spent conquering the Emirate of Alger (two provinces). The remainder of 1142 and 1143 were spent conquering the Kingdom of al-Murabitids (six provinces). This allowed Gozelo to become King of North Africa. The granting of the newly conquered territories to Gozelo’s vassals improved Gozelo’s reputation to respectable.
Gozelo’s first son, named Guntram (6,9,5,9) in honour of Gozelo’s assassinated older brother, was born in the spring of 1142. This was followed by the births of Ruprecht (6,9,0,8) in 1143 and Ernst (6,8,10,8) in 1144. The von Mansfeld dynasty was finally secure.
Gozelo claimed the title of King of Spanish Galicia (four thousand prestige) in 1144 and spent the summer destroying the regiments of the current king of Spanish Galicia. The King of Spanish Galicia agreed to give up his title to Gozelo in the fall of 1144 (gain of six provinces). Gozelo’s reputation was slightly tarnished by his recent acquisitions, so he declared war on the Kingdom of Zirid. The kingdom was overrun in the campaign of 1144-1145 (eight provinces). Gozelo created two bishoprics in an attempt to increase his negative piety (+500 piety to total of 242). He gave away the rest of the newly acquired land managing to regain a honourable reputation in the process.
Gozelo felt it was time to drive the Seljuk Turks (manpower 121000) out of Iberia. He declared war in the spring of 1146. After a two and a half year campaign with heavy casualties on both sides, Gozelo obtained his goals. The Turks no longer owned any land in the Mediterranean and he was at peace with a remaining piety of 12 (25 piety being the minimum needed to make peace with a pagan).
During the war with the Seljuk Turks, Gozelo had made claims on the provinces of Dyfed (independent county), Perfeddwlad (owned by Duchy of Gwynedd), Powys (owned by Duchy of Gwynedd) and Glamorgan (owned by the Kingdom of England). Gozelo wanted to create a foothold in England. Gozelo annexed the county of Dyfed in the spring of 1149. The counties of Perfeddwlad and Powys were obtained from the Duchy of Gwynedd in the summer of 1149. In the fall of 1149 Gozelo declared war on the county of Glamorgan. The King of England, the liege of Count of Glamorgan, declared war on the Kingdom of Lithuania. It was not a wise decision. The county of Glamorgan was obtained in the winter of 1149-1150.
The war with the King of England ended in the summer of 1150 with the King of England, Sivard Estridson, giving us 26000 gold in exchange for peace. Gozelo was able to form the Kingdom of Wales with the four newly acquired provinces. He granted the new provinces to his vassals, but still had a slightly tarnished reputation.
Gozelo spent the rest of 1150 and most of 1151 conquering the remaining pagans in the northeast Baltic. He unfortunately received the trait of coward during this campaign. It is unclear why he received this trait as he did not lose any battles or even consider retreating. By the end of 1151 there were no pagans left to conquer in this area, so Gozelo turned his attention to the counties of Oldenburg, Marienburg (the Teutonic Order) and Beresty. All three were conquered in 1152-1153. This gave Gozelo enough prestige to claim the throne of Denmark, which he did in the summer of 1153. He declared war in August of 1153 and became King of Denmark (gain of six provinces) in the December 1153 increasing size of the Kingdom of Lithuania’s in northeastern Europe.
After his coronation as King of Denmark, he received an opportunity to become a crusader. He examined a map of the Holy Land while he pondered his decision....
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would you list all your king titles and ducal titals please? There must have been about 10 King and 20 Duke titles when I read that!
Zeno of Cyprus said:
Kingdom Titles and year obtained:
Lithuania 1115
Castille 1125
Portugal 1129
Leon 1135
Navarre 1139
France 1140
North Africa 1143
Spanish Galicia 1144
Aragon 1148
Wales 1149
Denmark 1153
Ducal Titles in 1153: Alger, Almeria, Asturias, Badajoz, Catalonia, Constantine, Cordoba, Courland, Deheuberth, El Rif, Esthonia, Fes, Finland, Karelia, Livonia, Mallorca, Marrakech, Mecklemburg, Podlasia, Polotsk, Pommerania, Provence, Prussia, Salamanca, Samotigia, Sevilla, Siciliy, Tangiers, Tunis, Turov, Viseu, Zaragoza
Impressive list of titles, but when will you become Emperor of Byzantium? That Byzantine demesne bonus should help immensely....not that by now there should be any problems with expansion.
Sorry for short changeing you 11 Kingdom titles and 32 Ducal titles unless I miscounted :wacko: