Children of the
Plains-Hungary AARHello, after getting my butt kicked in my Eu III Denmark AAR i am returning
to Crusader Kings for a while. I dont know if this AAR is going to be a sucess
But i certainly hope so.
My current goals are
-To keep Europe Christian and eventually to do crusades
-To enlight the eastern pagans, and convert them to christianity
-To become king of Hungary (Currently duke of Slovakia)
I will update soon
Part I brief history of Magyars/Hungarians
Origin of the magyars
In 895/896, probably under the leadership of Árpád, some Magyars crossed the Carpathians and entered the Carpathian Basin. The tribe called Magyars was the leading tribe of the Magyar alliance that conquered the Hungarian Basin.The nomadic peoples known as Magyars to the Western part of Europe came from the Eurasian plains, to settle in the Hungarian Plains in 896 ad,where they raided large parts of Europe, including Germany Italy and even parts of France. The reason why these sometimes unorganized tribes just could pillage as they wanted was their expertice in horseriding. The Magyars did also "sell" themselves as merceneries to the Bohemian crown. Eventually the Magyars was defeated at Lechfeld in 955 wich made the Magyar tribe leaders hungry for land to settle in and call their own. In 977 missionaries from Regensburg Converted the Magyar people, know known as Hungarians, to the catholic faith, and the first Hungarian christian king, Stephan the first, was crowned king of the Hungarian Kingdom.
Prince Árpád crossing the Carpathians.
Assembly of the Magyar tribes
Medieval Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by King Saint Stephen. Originally named Vajk, Stephen was a direct descendant of Árpád, and was baptised as a child.St. Stephen I received his crown from Pope Silvester II in 1000. As a Christian king, he established the Hungarian Church with ten dioceses and the royal administration of the country that was divided into counties
Crown of St. Stephen first christian ruler of Hungary
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THE EASTERN CRUSADES
Geza Arpad Duke of Slovakia and heir to the Hungarian throne
Geza Arpad, 26 years old Duke of Slovakia and count of Trencin, One of the most powerful in the kingdom of Hungary, at least the Northern parts. He was nr 1 in line of sucession of the Hungarian throne, and of course he wanted it badly but he was a chivalric man, even as he was descendant of the fierce magyar tribes, he was extremely loyal to his liege.
The first deeds of Geza was to form the Magyar wild riders into heavy cavalry known as knights. Instead of their ability to move quickly, the knight would instead be able to punch a whole in the enemy's lines with a massive charge.
The first deeds of Geza was to form the Magyar wild riders into heavy cavalry known as knights. Instead of their ability to move quickly, the knight would instead be able to punch a whole in the enemy's lines with a massive charge.
In 1068 the Hungarian child king Salamon Árpad wanted to gain more land for the poor Hungarian kingdom, he turned his eyes againstn the Pechenegs, a fierce warrior tribe, whic had settled i Bularia. in 1069 the war broke out, with early hungarian victories over the unorganized barbarians. Geza Árpad travelled swiftly to the eas of the kingdom, to take early gains i Bulgaria. This lead to minor skrimishes where the Hungarian knights, proved more than able for the first time. later that year Geza, together with hus loyal soldiers laid siege to the province of Severin, The barbarian hordes chose to attack the Hungarian duke from behind, but the Hungarian light cavalry rushed against the slow moving barbarians and slew them with arrows and javelins. This was a major victory of the war, were about 2000 barbarians lost their lives, against 900 Hungarian lives.
Hungarian nobility backed by traditional Magyar horse archers
Meanwhile the county of Bihar was under siege by foul hearted infidels, the Duke of Slovakia marched together with his armies southward, to relieve the trapped Hungarians, the battle was won without major casualties on either side. The armies of Geza went north, to help their king in Szekelyföld, where he battled the leader of the Pechenegs and his barbarian soldiers. The battle was eventually won, and Geza was made a national hero, the Pechenegs was defeated once and for all, but with hard losses to, Geza was badly wounded and died after 6 months with several disseases
-Deeds of Geza Àrpad: Forming Hungarian army from Magyar to Feudal night order, Gain of southern land through conquest
A new Duke was announced, Kalman Árpad, only 10 years old and new grand duke of Slovakia. The Hungarian king wanted more land, after his victory against the Pechenegs. In 1071 the kingdom of Hungary attacked the Cuman horde, a wise decision the king thought, but this war would have dire consequences for Hungary. The first part of the war wnt good, the kingdom of Hungary won many great battles against the Hordes, but the longer the war took, the less soldiers the king had to fight for him. The war escalated when a major Hungarian troop consentration was ambushed by hordes of Cumans, at least 3000 Hungarian soldiers lost their lives in the woods of Marmaros.
The situation in the Cuman crusade
The crusade itself had halted, it was now turned into a state of survival for the Hungarian kingdom. The hordes of the Cuman kept invading the crown lands of Hungary. The war was looking grim, especially for the Grand duchy of Slovakia. All of the duchies southern pagan provinces was conquered by the Cumans and after that the greedy bishop of Pressburg took them and made them his personal domain. The only 11 year old Grand duke, Kalman Árpàd had some serious troubles, such as untrustworthy vassals and unhappy peasants. The Duchy of Slovakias position was getting even worse, when the dukes vassal armies lost in a embarrasing skirmish, where 2000 hungarian noble knights fought 1200 Cuman Cavalry, the battle ended as a massacre with over 1700 hungarians slain, and only 600 Cumans slain. The Duke thought About returning to the old way Magyar mounted cavalry instead of heavy knights, but his vassals would not hear any of it. But somehow, maybe with the help of god, the Hungarian king fought back the infidels, winning only few territories from the, the Polish kingdom though, won large areas in southern Russia. Actually some Hungarian nobles saw the Polish kingdom as their mutual enemy, as the polish had got large gains, at the expensce of Hungarian lives, this would affect the future in a large grade.
Regional powers after the great crusade ended, note that the polish has gotten two northern former hungarian provinces
After the great crusade ended the Grand duke of Slovakia was in a large debt: he owed 260 ducats away which is much for such small duchy, and because of the uncessfull crusade, the Duke had lost all of his southern provinces to, as mentioned above.
In the year of 1086 the Hungarian king Salamon wanted to extend his Kingdom further south, it was agreed with the Duke og Slovakia, that he was to receive large gains of land, to comepnsate for the territory lost during the Eastern crusade. Money was gathered to found the armies, and vassals was told of the riches awating them. The fist of the Hungarian-Magyar army was to be thrown in the face of the principiality of Kiev this time, a large and rich principiality, sometimes seen as true home of the Magyars, as it was originaly here their roots was.
The rich and vast steppes of the Rus lands
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