CHAPTER 5: The Marshall of Northumbria
Bleddyn was by now desperate to unite Wales as a single entity as he looked North to his ally, Scotland. Despite an Alliance with Scotland The Duke of Gwynedd had refused his aid leaving Scotland a sprawling mass of warfare as the King Maelcoluim fought off his counts at all angles.
The Dukes Catholic faith was tested but he came out following a dream that showed him the way to perhaps not only the throne of Wales but perhaps even the throne of England ! He was also blessed with another child via his new wife Agnes of Barcelona !
The dream warned the Duke of Glynedd of the Duke of Glouscester. The Duke had claims on Welsh land as well as harbouring a feirce hatred for his father. The Heretic was also rumored to practice in pagan or satanic rituals. God had warned Duke Bleddyn not to trust the Edwin "The Heretic".
God also told Duke Bleddyn that Cornwall would be a cornerstone in English future, it also pictured the beautyfull eldest daughter of Cadoc Cerniw of Cornwall. Duke Cadoc had no male offspring leaving room for his daughters son to inherit Cornwall. Bledyyn considered her as his own but his new bride Agnes was carrying thier second child. He looked instead to his bastard son Rhirid and disposed of his moody wife Zofie. Within a week of her death the marriage between Rhirid ap Bleddyn and Aelwyd Cerniw was announced !
God told Count Bleddyn that the English future would be tied to the Duke of Lancaster, his old enemy. Duke Bleddyn ap Cynfyn sat back and waited for his oppertunity. He still also had the problems developing in Perfeddweladd. His son was getting to close to Cadwagan 'The Worm' ap Meurig and had even developed a stutter which had come on because of the stress and a disagreement with the son of the Duke of Lancaster. To futher anger the situation Cadwagan 'The Worm' claimed to have found evideince that his brother Rhys ap Meurig was infact his bastard brother ! 'The worm' continued to twist his knife and his closeness to Maredudd ap Bledyyn made him somewhat untouchable for now.
Bleddyn remembered the message from god and waited for his oppertunity, soon a message arrived from the Marshall of Westermore, Bergred Grey.
Grey's leige, Morcar Duke of Northumbria was the brother of Edwin Duke of Lancaster. He had also just fallen out with the King of England Harold Godwinson. King Harold had been so angry that he had declared war on Morcar who in turn split away from the English king. This left an oppertunity for expansion into England.
Bergred Grey had assured Duke Bleddyn that he would not attack Welsh forces occupying English land under the promise of a title following conquest.
Ever the oppertunist Count Bleddyn sent his forces into Westermore, one of Englands most Northernly provinces. The idea behind this was to grab land close enough to lay an assualt on Lancaster as well as seperating Scotland and England with Welsh purchase.
The Armys of England and Morcar Duke of Northumberland fought furiously, as this went on Bleddyn's forces led by Marshall Maelog crept in through the back door and laid seige to Westermore. As promised his forces were not contested and without a fight Westermore fell to the Welsh seige.
Within a month of Westermore's fall King Harolds forces smashed Morcar who was forced to flee leaving his lands and titles to King Harold.
Harold then turned to his brother in law, Count Bledyyn requesting the return of Westermore. Madog ap Bledyyn spoke to his father in law on behalf of Count Bleddyn and a deal was struck.
Bergred Grey was to become Count of Westermore keeping Anglo Saxon power in England, he would also solidify this by marrying King Harolds youngest daughter Gytha. Bergred however was not to forget the alliance with Wales and stayed fiercely loyal to Bleddyn 'Loin Hammer' ap Cynfyn.
Morcar however settled back and found a place in his brothers court leaving all the rotten apples in one basket, Lancashire.
A few months passed before word suddenly spread, the Duke of Lancashire had declared War on King Harold. Probably influenced by his brother Morcar. However Edwin Duke of Lancashire had made a powerfull ally. Following the declaration the duke of Normandy William 'The Bastard' claimed the English Throne and declared war on England.
The Normans were comming and they were only 5 years behind schedule !!!
To futher add to the intreague Edmund the Heretic had also laid a claim to the English throne.
Bleddyn's dream echoed in his memory as he prepared his forces to discover his role in English and Welsh destiny.
(Notes: Ok so i was going to update this sooner but had a lot of trouble with the Norman invasion. Harold was allied to the Germans who in my game spanked the living bejesus out of France upon the war declaration. This resulted in No invasion the fall of 30 % of French titles AND Harold removing the bad apples. This kinda was a bit dull as old Harold only now had opposition from the Scandinavians and the Germans were probably set up to now dominate and control Europe by about 1100. My main issues with this were the fact that the game lost a bit of its interest and the Germans looked pretty much unstopable. The games focus had moved from England to Europe and I wanted England to be the focus with my Welsh Duke weathering the storm rather than having to seek conquest. Yeh sure the game will change with a weak king but i thought the story would become pretty damn boring as I waited for some intreague !
I added some duress to the realm and forced the young German king to drop his alliance and sort out his own empire.
Also (Thanks to Llewellyn for this ) sometimes the naming can become hard to follow and Bleddyn has one hell of a family.
In Welsh "ap" means son of and "ferch" means daugher of.
So I will often include this so it can be read more easily.... ie Dave son of Jim, this way you can trace the action a bit or just read ap / ferch Bleddyn to know im talking about a son / daughter of my main character.
Ive edited the entire family to show this now so all Welsh characters of my line have ap / ferch in thier name. This has however borke the games naming AI so i keep getting son's / daughters with the same name as thier elder brother / sister. This has been a blessing and a curse as ive been able to throw a few cool names into the mix. The game was nice however and gave me a couple of out of culture sons / daughters who will be spoken about shortly. I do not want to take the story away from Bleddyn for now or it would get complex but ive got a couple of bombshell dropping Grandkids.
UP THE LOIN HAMMER !!!!!
