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“Frisian freedom (West Frisian: Fryske frijheid) was the absence of feudalism and serfdom in Frisia, the area that was originally inhabited by the Frisians. Historical Frisia included the modern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, and the area of West Friesland, in the Netherlands, and East Friesland in Germany. During the period of Frisian freedom the area did not have a sovereign lord who owned and administered the land. The freedom of the Frisians developed in the context of ongoing disputes over the rights of local nobility.” FromWikipedia.
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Historical Context
When, around 800, the Scandinavian Vikings first attacked Frisia, which was still under Carolingian rule, the Frisians were released from military service on foreign territory in order to be able to defend themselves against the Vikings. With their victory in the Battle of Norditi in 884 they were able to drive the Vikings permanently out of East Frisia, although it remained under constant threat. Over the centuries, whilst feudal lords reigned in the rest of Europe, no aristocratic structures emerged in Frisia.
This freedom was recognised by the German King William II on November 3, 1248. He did this after the Frisians aided in the siege of the city of Aachen. Later, Emperor Louis IV repealed these rights and granted Friesland to the County of Holland. In 1417 the status of the Frisians was reaffirmed by Emperor Sigismund.
Regardless of the origins of the Frisian freedom, from the ninth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century Frisia went through a unique period of development, almost entirely lacking the feudal structure introduced by Charlemagne. All Frisians were granted the title of 'freemen', and given the right to elect their own potestaat (magistrate-governor), a person that acted as a representative of the emperor who could organise the defence of Frisia, but held no executive power of their own. Magnus Forteman was elected as the first potestaat, but was killed while fighting the Abbasids in Anatolia.
Magnus Forteman, the legendary first potestaat [styled 'Syndic' in game] of Frisia, on a seal from 1270.
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Friesland’s Place in the World in 1444
Friesland was one of many small realms in the Low Countries and western Germany in the mid-15th century. Apart from the over-arching influence of the Empire, France and Burgundy were the main players in the region to the south. All would likely prove either aids or obstacles in the Frisian ambition to perhaps one day unite the Low Countries in a bid to expand and ensure their continuing freedom from foreign domination in the years, decades and centuries to come.
Friesland’s ‘known world’ at this time was limited to specific knowledge of Europe, the Mediterranean coast and parts of the steppe and Middle East. While of course there was vague knowledge of the rest of the world, Frisian cartographers had no accurate maps of it.
Of the eight acknowledged Great Powers of the World, six were in Europe. The greatest, the Chinese Ming empire was in the fabled Far East, while a great Timurid realm was known to exist in Central Asia. Friesland ranked enormously far below these in terms of their administrative, diplomatic and military achievements.
Western Europe was at that time a politically fractured landscape. England was powerful, France something of a mess and most of Germany and the Low Countries a patchwork of small realms. Austria, as leader of the HRE, wielded considerable power and influence both by itself and politically through the Empire.
Friesland itself was composed of the two provinces of Friesland (its capital) and Groningen.
Like most surrounding European realms, its standard regiments were composed of Latin medieval infantry and Latin knights. It fielded a small army of 6,000 men and a fleet of eight barques and four cogs.
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Religion and the Estates
Catholicism reigned supreme in Western and Central Europe, including in Friesland.
As a free realm, there was no nobility in Friesland: just the two estates of the clergy and the burghers, the latter occupying the strongest position of influence. Just under a third of the land was under the control of the realm’s leader … known [in game, anyway] as the Syndic.
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The Frisian Government
In Frisia, an oligarchy controlled the selection of the Republic’s ruler, at this time for a term of four years.
In November 1444, the Syndic of Friesland was one Fedde Kooistra. He was apparently well advised and otherwise was considered to havedecent administrative and diplomatic skills, though was not strong in military matters. Over time, he and his successors would seek advisers to assist with the governing of the realm and the development of its technology, but for now funds were limited and it would take time to develop this aspect.
Trade would be a great preoccupation and its enhancement a major priority for the Frisian nation. In 1444, Frisia was locked into the English Channel trade node, or which it controlled only a very modest share (around 3% of a total monthly trade value of 13.5 ducats).
The country’s technology was basic and it had as yet developed no national ideas that distinguished it from its neighbours.
Friesland was its most developed city, but the Frisians had hardly any knowledge of the modern infrastructure of the time.
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Diplomatic Environment
The HRE would figure greatly in the quest for (Greater) Frisian Freedom, given the Emperor (usually from Austria) would either threaten to enter a war to defend Imperial territory or, failing that, issue a challenge afterwards every time an Imperial province was conquered by Frisia. This would either restrict Frisian options or have additional diplomatic consequences if one was successfully exercised.
The Holy Roman Empire in November 1444.
Of the countries that directly bordered Friesland, Ostfriesland was not a member of the Empire. Hmmm ….
[OOC: ‘Quit screen’ as at game start, showing where we compared with other nations and historical achievements in various indices.]
So stood Friesland on 11 November 1444.
This AAR is a retrospective one, reconstructed from game saves, of my first ever experimental game of EU IV. I picked Friesland as a Two Province Minor that would be easy to have a span of control over as I had little idea what I was doing. It was never intended to be an AAR game, but those familiar with my history of these things know how hard I find it to resist writing these games up if the story seems to offer some potential.
Therefore, no screenshots were taken along the way, so much of what might often be shown, even in a broader summary form, will be absent. It will instead conform with when the games were saved and whatever I can recreate or reconstruct from around each one. But that also means I can sweep through the events more broadly and quickly. And there will be a twist in the tail of this story that I won’t spoil …
I hope you enjoy my first foray into EU IV! Comments are the life blood for any authAAR, so please offer them if you can, even if they might be brief and/or irregular. Otherwise, the odd ‘like’ reaction for a read chapter would be greatly appreciated too.
Mostly correct. As Emperor you can seek to pass reforms and down one path of reforms you can unite the HRE into a single state. But to do so requires concentrated effort and time.
Potestaat (Syndic) Gerulf Van Schellinkhout had presided as the Frisian leader from November 1448 to November 1452, having taken over from Fedde Kooistra not long after the latter’s conquest of Ostfriesland and its absorption into United Friesland. Known as a cautious ruler, little of great note had occurred during his term as Friesland gradually built up its fleet and sought to become a trading power.
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July 1453 – Time is Marked
Schellinkhout was duly succeeded by Willem Lodewilk Donia on 11 November 1452. Donia awoke from a restful and dreamless night's sleep on 19 July 1453 and contemplated the state of the Frisian nation.
The administrator Popetet Gauma remained the only minister in the Frisian court for now, as would be the case for some years yet. The economy was slowly growing, at that time outstripping the recent growth in expenses. The burghers now heavily dominated the clergy, while State landholdings had also increased in proportion.
Friesland had completed its first national objective in the years since 1448, becoming acknowledged as a high income country with long term benefits for future construction projects.
A year or so before, Friesland had generated a territorial claim on Utrecht for Oversticht but had yet to act on it. “Plenty of time for that, no need to be hasty,” was Donia’s view. Though to be fair, that was his view on most things!
Local unrest in Ostfriesland, which remained significantly under-developed compared to Friesland and Groningen, continued; it seemed to be lessening overall, but those who did object to Frisian rule also seemed more militant as time went by. Still, nothing for Donia to worry about – perhaps a successor may have to deal with such troublemakers. In due course and the fullness of time. Not him, not now.
Friesland’s diplomats remained focused on Utrecht, working diligently on both espionage and counter-espionage missions. In regional diplomacy Bremen, Utrecht and Oldenburg were the main opponents, with Verden and Dithmarschen lining up as Friesland’s allies.
For now, Potestaat Donia’s focus remained on trade and the increased generation of wealth. Frisian barques attempted to promote trade in the English Channel (where Frisian traders now ranked third) and Lübeck.
The army had neither grown nor advanced over the last five years, but two new barques (now working off Lübeck) had been built. However, the republican virtue of meritocratic rule had been made – boosting the loyalty and influence of the burghers as well as promoting female advancement.
In the wider region, France was embroiled in a major war, including against Burgundy, Nevers and the Papal State, to take Nantais from Brittany.
In the ‘known world’, the Ottomans had consolidated and expanded their empire in the last few years, especially in the Balkans. Friesland remained an insignificant power by world standards.
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September-December 1459 – Dreaming of a Greater Friesland
Donia’s term had expired with little fanfare, with Koenraad Kiestra taking the helm on 11 November 1456. And Kiestra’s dreams were far grander – and bloodier – than those of his two most recent predecessors. In the third year of his term he launched a war to enforce Friesland’s claim on Oversticht, drawing in allies on both sides into a wider sub-regional conflict.
Verden fought with Friesland, while Bremen and more distant Regensburg had sides with Utrecht, giving them an edge in total army numbers fielded. But between them, Friesland and Bremen dominated the naval campaign. So far, the war was going in Friesland’s favour.
On 27 September 1459, he was woken from a rather restless slumber by an orderly, bearing a report from his brother, General Wilbrand Kiestra. The target of the current conquest had now been fully occupied, while Verden had won an earlier (and evenly matched) battle against Bremen in Oldenburg.
Friesland and Verden had the enemies’ fleets bottled up and their ports blockaded. The remainder of Verden’s army under General Johann Köhne was trying to besiege Bremen, but did not have the numbers to effectively do so. The main army of Utrecht remained in its capital, along with the previously defeated army of Bremen. There had as yet been no appearance of Regenburg’s army – presumably still off to the south-east somewhere.
The last six years had seen considerable growth in the Frisian navy, which had added another five barques and an early carrack, to add some additional gun power to the fleet. The first recent advance in military technology had been made, adding a little to the army’s shock and firepower, though it remained the same size and its tactics were still dominated by old-style regiments of Latin infantry and knights.
The diversion of the Frisian navy from trade protection to wartime blockade tasks had seen a temporary downturn in trade power and income, especially in the major trade node of the English Channel. Despite this, the economy remained strong enough overall with taxation, production and some looting holding the balance positive.
The stability of the realm had also improved in recent years , while East Frisian separatism festered but had not yet demanded immediate attention.
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By early December, the Frisian election system had been reformed, with fixed terms being dispensed with. Henceforth, the Potestaat would rule for the rest of his life, allowing a single ruler to better improve his skills with time and – for better or worse – govern for longer.
This meant Koenraad Kiestra’s reign was secured. He was still only 40 years old and regarded as a strict disciplinarian, which helped keep the military in line, at least. Gauma remained the sole minister, his main role as an administrative specialist being to oversee the efficient collection of taxes.
In the field, Utrecht’s army had slipped away out of sight, appearing in Bremen to attack the far smaller Verdner army of Johann Köhne, which was now close to breaking. With Regenburg and the remnants of the Bremian armies due to appear there in the next few days, Köhne’s siege of Bremen and his army’s fate were sealed.
Perhaps a little too late, Kiestra’s Leger van Friesland had now been on the march for a few days, heading east to Ostfriesland to see if any targets of opportunity might be found should the enemy fail to keep their numerically superior forces united. The blockades remained in place.
France had in the meantime won its war for Nantais and thus expanded further into Brittany.
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January 1461 – Wins and Losses
After another year of war, a series of eight battles had been resolved. The first had been the predictable loss by Verden in Bremen, followed by another at the hands of Regensburg in Verden itself. This had been followed by three major Frisian victories, as they managed to pick off each of the enemy armies one by one, each time in Oldenburg. Regensburg managed to defeat Verden one more time in Bremen, but Frisian had then defeated them after the Regensburger's sorties across to Oversticht. On balance, Frisia had improved its bargaining position but the war continued.
At this time, Verden was attempting to besiege Utrecht but once more did not have enough troops to do it properly. Having secured Oversticht, Kiestra was now marching the Leger back east, where he hoped to rescue Verden from enemy occupation and siege at the hands of the Regensburgers, who had returned there following their earlier defeat in Oversticht. Utrecht and Bremen had been driven from the field for now, while an uprising in Hamburg was not expected to spread into Verden.
Friesland, while independent, remained one of the many principalities within the Holy Roman Empire. After controversies over the place of Burgundy in the Empire in previous years, now a crisis was brewing in northern Italy, dubbed ‘the Shadow Kingdom’ at the time. Frisia cast its vote for what was already a majority, with even the support of the Emperor: Brescia and Bergamo would leave the Empire, but the rest would remain.
Diplomatic research had recently advanced, though Frisian technology still lagged most countries somewhat across the board, especially now administration.
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October 1462 – Greater Friesland
Kiestra’s dream of a Greater Friesland had been realised in November 1461, with the Dutch speaking Oversticht added to the realm.
The Frisian fleet was now again devoted to trade protection, concentrating its efforts on building trade power in the crucial English Channel zone. But taxation still remained the largest source of income.
The conquest of Oversticht had seen two Frisian missions achieved simultaneously: the assertion of sovereignty had seen military power increased, which had then led to a successful challenge of Spanish naval power given the previous big expansion of the Frisian fleet.
This sparked another advance in military technology, which would soon lead to the adoption of superior infantry formations and Frisia finally getting ‘ahead of the curve’ in a branch of research.
Frisian prestige and power projection had increased after their recent exploits, while the strength of republican tradition remained fair, if not outstanding.
The HRE’s recent retreat in northern Italy had left Genoa and Ferrara still within it, but now somewhat isolated.
Catholicism remained dominant in Western and central Europe. In Russia, principally Muscovy, Orthodoxy reined, while it remained in dispute in Eastern Europe, especially with Catholic Lithuania controlling much Orthodox territory. Sunni Islam dominated the Ottoman Empire, the Mamluk realm and North Africa.
Frisia’s recent gains had seen it rise in its relative place in the world, especially in naval and trade power, but it remained very much a third-rate power.
A portrait of Frisian Potestaat Koenraad Kiestra painted by Dutch artist Petrus Christus, c. 1465. At that time, Kiestra was in his mid-40s.
Potestaat (Syndic) Koenraad Kiestra had almost finished the seventh year of what was now, thanks to Friesland’s adoption of selection by sortition, a life term. One 1 October, he woke from a vivid dream of Friesland’s burgeoning glory. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he was reminded of the war he had begun with Holland few months before.
Popetet Gauma still served as Frisia’s Treasurer, Kiestra’s only minister of state in the small country’s government. The republican government remained relatively stable, though the two recently conquered territories of East Frisia and Utrecht harboured separatist sentiments.
Frisia had in the last year finally advanced its administration and could now build large temples, though had not yet started any new ones. The previous advance in military technology had seen longbowmen introduced to improve the infantry regiments. These had been integrated and then deployed in the new war against Holland. Otherwise, Frisia still fielded the same number of regiments and ships it had a year ago after the annexation of Oversticht.
Frisia’s war goal was to enforce its claim on Amsterdam but its initial challenge had been to defeat Holland’s ally Oldenburg. After destroying their field army in battle, they stayed to besiege Oldenburg, while Frisia’s allies Verden had gone to Amsterdam to attack the Dutch.
Overall, the war was progressing well, but Verden had been narrowly defeated in Amsterdam before retreating all the way back to their capital to recover by October 1463.
So by 1 October 1461, Frisia stood with Verden and Dithmarschen against Holland and Oldenburg, with another claim on Meppen secured but not yet pursued. Of interest, Brabant was launching its own war of conquest against the unfortunate Dutch at that time.
The small Dutch army was defending Amsterdam, with a Dithmarschen force in transit through Friesland while the Frisian and Verdner fleets conducted blockades of all enemy ports.
Once more, trade had been impeded in the English Channel by the diversion of the fleet to blockade work, though Frisian trade power was generally progressing in that key trade node, while the lack of attention in Lübeck saw that hub’s income continue to languish.
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June 1464
Warfare at this time was still basically a matter of medieval forces doing melee battle with each other. Gunpowder weaponry so far had made little to no meaningful impact.
Almost nine months later, Kiestra’s dreams remained largely untroubled. By the end of June 1464 all the enemies’ armies had been destroyed after a major battle in Amsterdam, which had since been occupied. At sea, the Verdners had defeated Oldenburg’s fleet as its ran the blockade when Oldenburg had fallen to Frisia a few month before.
Unfortunately, despite this overwhelmingly dominant position, Frisia could not enforce its claim on Amsterdam until the fortress of Den Haag had been overcome: the Dutch would simply refuse to countenance any territorial concession.
The combined Frisian and Verdner fleets had those of Holland and Oldenburg holed up in Den Haag, while Brabant ranged across southern Holland at will.
In the region, Burgundy had been attacked by Provence and Lorraine and was in big trouble – in fact they appeared doomed to a major defeat, with most of Burgundy now occupied.
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July 1066
The conquest of Amsterdam had been duly completed by July 1466 the process of making it a core part of Greater Friesland had almost been completed. Following its defeat by both Frisia and Brabant, the vulnerable Dutch had then been attacked by Utrecht, who had recently annexed Den Haag, thus completing the partition and elimination of Holland as an independent country by 25 July 1466.
The now increased Frisian army was being billeted in Oversticht – in anticipation of a local revolt by Utrechtian separatists.
The Frisian economy could now support the recruitment of a second minister to assist Potestaat Kiestra: Grand Captain Klaes Riemersma would help to increase the rate of military innovation and decrease maintenance costs.
In the region, Frisia now counted Brabant as an ally after a period of diplomatic influence, which continued. In France, the King seemed to be steadily re-uniting his realm. France had enlisted allies to take on Provence and its supporters after Provence had successfully conquered most of Burgundy in its recent war.
By now, most of Provence had been occupied and it too seemed doomed: ‘there is always a bigger fish’!
With peace, the Frisian fleet was once again busy protecting trade in the English Channel, was growing in wealth, as was Friesland’s share of trade income and its proportion of national income.
Frisian traders were just as significant a part of Koenraad Kiestra’s dreams for Frisian freedom and power as was military expansion in the 1460s.
By mid-1466, little had been done as yet to further develop Friesland’s principal cities and towns, of which the recently annexed Amsterdam now ranked third. [I think at this point, I hadn’t really discovered or at least found the time to do this, though I’ve subsequently become keen on such development.]
At this time, Friesland was still a long way off being able pursue national ideas and there had been no more technological breakthroughs since 1463, though work on basic financial instruments was well progressed. Overall, Frisian advancement and innovativeness were now seen to be lagging its peers.
While Friesland had fully embraced the Renaissance by this time, it had yet to develop a large city and national splendour had grown but was not yet enough to adopt any new concepts during the Age of Discovery.
A second cavalry regiment had been added to the army in recent years but otherwise it was powerful compared to most of its neighbours individually but would be dwarfed by any of the larger regional powers: especially the nearby great powers of England, France and Denmark. Friesland’s most notable strengths were its navy and trade income.
Friesland was now a budding sub-regional power and Kiestra had dreams of making its greater – of course.
One of Potestaat Kiestra’s advisers had mentioned the dream of a united realm embracing all the low countries. Friesland was a long way from achieving that but Kiestra thought it would be useful to know what the term ‘Low Countries’ could be said to mean. His diplomats got together with his chief map maker to illustrate the commonly accepted breadth of the region.
The Low Countries were generally held to be the wedge of land bounded by France to the south and Germany to the east, stretching down to Luxembourg in its far south-eastern corner. In July 1466, after the recent partition of Holland by Friesland, Utrecht and Brabant, this area now contained eight independent realms, including Friesland itself.
Kiestra contemplated these maps as he drifted off to a satisfied slumber that night. Sweet dreams of a United Netherlands under Frisian leadership would follow.
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August 1467
Just over a year later, Kiestra remained Potestaat of Friesland and he was still trying to turn his dream of expansion into a reality. After a short period of consolidation, a few months before he had launched a new war – against the old enemy Utrecht, who had presumed to take over the Dutch province of Den Haag in the Partition of Holland. This would not stand, he vowed.
By 6 August 1467, Friesland was well on the way to subduing Frisia’s traditional rivals. Verden had been called into the war and Utrecht had been supported by Bremen and Regensburg. Verden had suffered an early defeat in Stade to Bremen, then Friesland had soundly defeated the main Utrechtian army in Den Haag and later in Utrecht itself.
Technically, the enemy alliance still outweighed Friesland and Verden in troop numbers, but the majority of these were the army of Regensburg, which had not yet engaged given they had a long approach.
The ‘usual’ blockades had been put in place of Utrecht and Bremen (and the now occupied Stade in Verden). Den Haag had been quickly occupied after the battle there. General Riemersma had gone on to invest Utrecht itself after his second victory there, but the imposing fortress was too large for his currently battle-depleted army to effectively besiege. Though it would be once they were back up to near full strength again. Bremen was besieging Verden in the east.
Kiestra had in recent times been labelled as a ‘sinner’ to whom the Church hierarchy had taken something of a dislike. Not that he seemed to care too much. No special privileges had yet been granted either to them or the Burghers, nor had any sales of state land been made or a Diet summoned.
I hadn’t really taken any notice of these at the time and have not really done so since. From a glance at another AAR, I’m probably missing out on some opportunities and threats. Are they generally worth doing?
The army still consisted of 8 infantry and 2 cavalry regiments. The fleet had 1 heavy, 12 light and 5 transport ships.
Technology had not advanced over the last year but advisors were confident that basic financial instruments would be introduced before the end of the year.
The Republic remained fairly stable and the separatist threats under control after a brief uprising in Oversticht had been brutally repressed at the start of the year.
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June 1471
It took almost another four years for Friesland to prevail in its war of expansion against Utrecht. Utrecht had finally fallen after a long siege and the armies of Bremen and Regensburg had been defeated in detail, followed by the liberation of Verden. The victory had been so overwhelming that Utrecht had surrendered unconditionally and been completely annexed.
Koenraad Kiestra’s dream of a Friesland whose freedom would expand to fill the whole of the Low Countries had taken a big step forward. But Kiestra himself had not survived to see it realised: he now dreamed the Endless Dream. Whether in Heaven for his achievements on behalf of the Republic, or Hell on account of his many sins is of course unknown and un-knowable.
Kiestra had died on 4 May 1469 after ruling for over 12 years and aged just 49. His replacement was Lubbert Gauma, an older but rather talented man and something of an administrative genius. And also with a reputation for corruption.
In the intervening years, old Treasurer Popetet Gauma (no doubt a relation, but this cannot be confirmed) had also died and had not yet been replaced.
The new Potestaat had recently enacted religious reform in the Republic and had opted for the ‘safe middle course’ of maintaining the balance of power, hoping to earn a degree of loyalty to the state from both the Clerics and the Burgher estates for many years to come.
Friesland was now a meritocratic peasant’s republic, with its leaders serving for life under a relative balance of power between the two estates – though with an economic system that generally favoured the merchants.
The economy was indeed starting to perform quite well, with trade becoming the leading source of income, almost all of which emanated from the English Channel trade node.
After the introduction of basic financial instruments in late 1467, the arquebus had been integrated into the Frisian army. Though longbowmen still formed the most important part of the army’s firepower, work on acquiring the first basic canon had begun. Recent work to consolidate the expanded Republic had seen administrative development continue to languish somewhat, meaning new national ideas could not yet be exploited.
Dutch separatism was on the rise, while the recent gains had overextended the realm, which would be a problem until the newly acquired Dutch provinces could be properly integrated.
Friesland now controlled seven provinces, but the need to absorb progressive gains and the thirst for technological advancement had seen them remain largely undeveloped.
Europe in 1471 had seen some larger powers beginning to expand and Brabant, Friesland’s ally to the south, grow almost as quickly. England remained powerful and retained its French territories but France itself continued to gain power and border integrity with the passing years.
In central and eastern Europe, a number of major powers also seemed to be growing in size. Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire and Muscovy chief among them. In Scandinavia, Denmark was also strong and controlled a significant chunk of territory in northern Russia, while Sweden also rule the whole of Finland.
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January 1474
“Potestaat Gauma - Potestaat Gauma!”
An increasingly insistent female voice finally roused the Frisian leader from what had become a gently snoring slumber, dreaming pleasant dreams of Frisian glory. He took a moment to regain his bearings, finding himself seated at the table of state in the capital’s Stedhûs.
“Er, yes, I was just contemplating the infinite,” he ventured, very unconvincingly. “Remind me of where we were up to, if you would, Mefrou Van Hessling.” Celine Van Hessling was a product of Friesland's adoption of meritocratic principles; the first female Minister of State in the Republic of Friesland. The Dutchwoman was a philosopher of note and the current chief administrator.
Female and Dutch: a bold choice indeed, given Dutch culture was not yet generally accepted in the recently expanded Republic. Despite the fact a slight majority of the country’s inhabitants were now Dutch.
“We were discussing the impact of our recent conquest and annexation of Geldern following our support of Brabant in their war against Gelre for Upper Guelders,” Van Hessling responded, with studied patience. It was not the first time the old man had dozed off at the council table.
“Their absorption as a core part of Friesland is now completed and our borders are nicely rounded out, but this has stirred a degree of suspicion and jealousy among our neighbours,” she continued.
“And our army is still recovering from the war and putting down recent rebellions,” added Captain General Riemersma. “As is that of Brabant. Our army outnumbers that of each of our other neighbours, bar the Brabantians. But a combination of three or more of them could cause us difficulties. I advocate a further expansion of our army.” He always did.
“But our economy and merchants thrive,” noted the Potestaat smugly. He himself had benefited, legally and illegally, from that prosperity. Especially that through the English Channel trade.
“Truly, Herr Gauma,” was Van Hessling’s wry reply. She then provided reports on the recently reformed state structure of Frisia, into which the still restive Geldern had been integrated.
And of Holland, which had recently been elevated from territorial to full State status, though Zeeland still remained under Brabantian rule following the earlier Partition of Holland (the country).
“And here we come to the crux of it, Hear Potestaat,” said Van Hessling. “Despite our support of them in the Gelren War, Brabant was alienated by our own conquest of Geldern ...”
“Snivelling hypocrites,” a sour-faced Riemersma interjected.
“… and due to their general objections to our ‘unlawful annexation of territory’ and ‘aggressive expansion’, according to their latest missive,” continued Celine, without missing a beat. “I might also add they are motivated by their desire to seize Den Haag, Utrecht and Geldern for themselves.”
There was clearly another regional player keen on uniting the Low Countries under their own hegemony. And they had just become Friesland’s rival.
“Not only that, but our recent expansion has created a coalition of smaller countries against us, though thankfully Brabant is not among them. Yet, anyway,” added Riemersma. “Our neighbour Münster is the leader of this cabal and their reasons are clear enough. They are even more worried than Brabant about our expansion and then there was that incident with the religious exiles last year.”
“And your advice?” asked Gauma of his chief advisers after this litany of sobering analysis.
“We must not provoke any more trouble with our neighbours, perhaps for some years to come, Potestaat Gauma,” was Van Hessling’s firm advice. Riemersma nodded his vigorous agreement. “We must put any future expansion plans on hold and consolidate what we have.”
“And while we have our faithful allies of Verden and Dithmarschen left to us, together it would not be enough to resist the coalition ranged against us, now Brabant has moved from ally to rival. Even if we are able to expand our army further,” the Captain General added. “And another, larger ally would be nice to replace Brabant.”
“Very well, we will concentrate on commercial and domestic matters for the foreseeable future,” Gauma concluded. Much as he yearned for the greater Frisian glory his dreams hinted at, he knew the time for that was not now. Nor probably within his lifetime.
Friesland would have to be satisfied with its modestly increased status as a burgeoning minor power and influential trader in north-western Europe. For now.
To recap, in January 1474, almost 30 years after the beginning of this chronicle, Friesland had just completed another successful war to annex Geldern from Gelre, thus linking all Frisian provinces directly by land.
But this and other tensions had caused a break in the alliance with Brabant and also caused many small neighbouring countries to band together in a coalition against Frisian expansionism.
Potestaat Lubbert Gauma and his advisers had agreed that a period of consolidation and caution should follow and Friesland do nothing to provoke or further antagonise its neighbours.
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January 1475
Gauma and his advisers remained the same a year later. The Potestaat’s sleep remained troubled, as were his dreams – when he could remember them. He felt he was walking on the thin ice of a lake as spring approached, even though it was still the depths of winter.
A focus on developing administrative power [yes, I discovered that was possible around then] was seeing that area of Frisian endeavour trying to catch up ground lost to the other two disciplines.
Diplomatically, Gauma had not been able to replace the Brabantian alliance with a new one of similar or larger power and the anti-Frisian coalition remained.
Frisian manpower was still recovering from past losses. The army remained the same strength in regiments and the manpower deficit had almost, but not yet been eliminated: it would take almost a year to just eliminate the shortfalls, before a reserve could be built again. This would leave Friesland vulnerable some time to come should another war break out.
Both Friesland and Groningen had grown a little in the last year, but the general level of development in Friesland remained fairly low.
Five out of the eight Frisian provinces retained Dutch culture, which was still not officially accepted.
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January 1476
Unfortunately for Friesland, the coalition did not wait for another Frisian power play: later in 1475 they had launched a pre-emptive punitive war and Burgundy (though no longer the middle-sized regional power it had once been) had joined the original eight coalition members.
Trier had led the way and, other than an initial Frisian victory over Cleves in Cleve early on, the rest of the war had proven to be a disaster of escalating proportions. Next came the huge Second Battle of Cleve in which a huge Coalition army of over 50,000 men, led by Trier, had smashed the main Frisian army, which had been outnumbered by more that 4-1. Estimates were that over 4,000 Frisians had been killed in that battle.
Another even more catastrophic defeat by a force of around 18,000 led by Münster had followed in which the rest of the demoralised Frisian army had been completely destroyed. Verden had led a hopeless fight after that, but by now all their forces had also been destroyed, with just the small army of Dithmarschen left in the field against an estimated 55,000 Coalition troops.
“The Second Battle of Cleve”, a later Dutch painting of the disaster that ended Frisian hopes in the Trierian-Frisian Punitive War of 1475.
Groningen and Oversticht had been occupied by that time, while the Coalition maintained unopposed sieges on the capital Friesland, Utrecht and allied Verden and Dithmarschen.
In other words, with no means of resistance left other than at sea and no hope of resurgence or rescue, Frisia had no hope of retrieving the situation. Gauma knew that if they continued to resist, the position would only get worse.
In the region, France was becoming the dominant great power, but had no interest in supporting Friesland, nor did Denmark, embroiled as it was in an independence war against Sweden.
In the wider world, familiar great powers topped the list of the most powerful or advanced realms. But Friesland was as far as ever from joining them and now had a significant debt, no army, few men in reserve and was being occupied by a numerically overpowering coalition.
So Gauma sought terms … and they were harsh.
But Friesland had been resoundingly defeated and had no choice but to accept a crippling settlement. Their own casualties had been total on land, but neither side had lost a ship.
The dream of Frisian Freedom was back to where it had started just over 30 years before. Except now the debt had ballooned, the army was destroyed and they had little means to maintain the fleet they had built.
“The humbling of Frisia”, commissioned by the Bishop of Köln after the Coalition's thumping victory. “God has punished them for their hubris” he asserted as the painting was hung in his personal chambers.
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2 January 1476: De Miserabelen
And so it was not a dream from which Gauma and the rest of Friesland awoke the following day, but a dream turned sour – indeed, a nightmare. Gauma had dreamed strangely, of a haunting, sad and despairing song sung by a miserable Celine Van Hessling:
There was a time when we were strong
When our voices were hard
And our words inspiring
There was a time when freedom reigned
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong.
I dreamed a dream in times gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed, freedom would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then we were young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no tribute to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame
And still I dream of victory
That we will rule the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream Friesland would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream
I dreamed.
It was all over. There was no point carrying on.
And so this first part of the chronicle ends: a brief flame of Frisian Freedom, the Republic snuffed out by a typhoon of reaction.
But was it the end? Really …?
“Husband, wake up, wake up!”
The Potestaat did indeed awake, to the voice of his wife. “My good wife, I have had the most awful of dreams!” he replied groggily. It was the first day of his new term and the tension and anxiety must have got to him, he thought to himself.
“I had a nightmare, that our dream of Frisian freedom had briefly blazed and then been snuffed out in the cruellest way. It was terrible. But I take it as a message from the Good Lord God that we must mix prudence with ambition as we take Friesland forward. I will do better than de miserabelen I have just dreamed of.”
“I’m certain you will do well, husband. The inauguration ceremony awaits you today. Here, let us start the with a hearty Frisian breakfast …”
“And then I had best repent of my sins, lest they come to visit me,” concluded a chastened Potestaat as he surrendered gratefully to his wife’s ministrations.”
And so Raeddeg Stellingwerf embarked on his term as Potestaat of Friesland. It was 11 November 1444, and destiny awaited the quest for Frisian Freedom.
Note: So yes, remembering that was simply my first ever learning run at EU IV, and certainly not envisaged as an AAR at the time, I thought it more productive to restart completely at that point, having learned a few initial basics and made some big mistakes in my ignorance.
I can assure my dear readers that the AAR has a long way to go yet. I have paused my game in the 1690s to begin using the game saves to write the second phase of this story. I won’t spoil by saying whether it is this same restarted game or not, though!
As we saw in the last episode, Potestaat Raeddeg Stelligwerf had recovered from his disturbing dream of Frisian disappointment to be sworn in as the new leader of the Frisian Republic on 11 November 1444. A sinful man by nature, his dreams were tempered by the sobering vision he had been granted by God Almighty (or alternatively by the Prince of Lies). He was now alert to what may befall an incautious and overly ambitious leader of a small Republic on the fringes of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1440s.
All the starting info for Friesland as at the first post of the AAR in Chapter 1 of course applies equally to this restart, so won’t be reiterated here. This was still intended as a learning game and not as an AAR at the time, so it’s the same approach, with snapshots from periodic game saves used to reconstruct major events and developments.
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May 1447
Two and a half years into his first term, Stellingwerf’s dreams of Frisian glory remained modest and practical. The Peasant’s Republic had been adopted to keep the idea of Frisian Freedom alive for the people of the small realm on Western Europe’s margins. Otherwise, there no changes to the court with no ministers appointed yet.
Regional enmity’s between Friesland and its neighbours had been firmly established and were mutually felt. Friesland was attempting to build relations with the regionally powerful Burgundians in the hope of establishing an alliance in the longer term, with pacts existing with three minor local players. And Frisian spies were targeting the hostile Utrecht, upon whom there were expansionist designs.
Unfortunately, East Frisia’s alliance with Denmark made it too dangerous a target for little Friesland: reuniting the Frisian heartland would have to wait for more auspicious times.
The economy was still mainly reliant on taxes compared to trade, but the latter was growing. With the army not expected for duty any time soon, it had been put on to partial readiness to save money in the interim. [Something I’d only recently started using].
The fleet of barques was protecting Frisian trade in the key English Channel node, while an experiment with inland trade with France had been initiated, though the income derived so far was minimal.
Frisian technology was still some way from progressing.
The Frisian burghers were maintaining their customary dominant position of influence in the estates, while Friesland and Groningen remained relatively undeveloped.
Friesland’s military was yet to grow much, with the effort so far going largely to the navy, where light ships to protect trade and conduct blockades was getting the most early attention and just the one military leader, Admiral Gerrit Friso, was on the payroll.
Across Europe, the Hundred Years War between England and France and its allies had shifted heavily in France’s favour, with all of England’s continental holdings under occupation by April 1447. In England, the useless King Henry VI was clearly contributing nothing to their efforts to hold onto their continental possessions.
Denmark headed the Kalmar Union, had Holstein as a vassal and as mentioned earlier was allied with East Frisia, which had deterred Friesland from launching any reunification bid as yet. In northern Russia, the Danes and Muscovy were both occupying large parts of the beleaguered Novgorod in separate wars.
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August 1449
A few years on, Potestaat Stellingwerf’s dreams of glory had been partly fulfilled. He had won re-election to another four-year term in November 1448 and still ran the government on his own, with Frisia 30 gold in debt at the time.
In April 1449, Frisia had prevailed against Utrecht in a short and successful war to claim Oversticht, which was currently being absorbed as a core part of Friesland. The main battle of the campaign had actually been at sea, where Admiral Friso had triumphed over his Utrechtian counterpart in the Battle of the Coast of Holland, capturing to enemy barques as prizes in the process. They were currently being repaired in Friesland.
A military access agreement had been concluded with Holland to allow a safe land route for Frisian troops to besiege the capital of Utrecht to hasten the end of the war. East Frisia remained allied with Denmark, so had still not been touched.
By this time, the army had been expanded enough to be able to fight and with the war against Utrecht, including having enough troops to besiege a major fortified city. One barque had been built and two captured since 1447.
Friesland and Groningen had been expanded a little in the last couple of years, while Oversticht would take some time to bring to anything like the same level of development.
The trading experiments in Champagne and Genoa had no proven fruitful, so Frisian merchants concentrated on the Lübeck once more. Trade in the English Channel had suffered while the navy was diverted during the war with Utrecht but would soon recover.
In the wider world, England had fallen further behind in the Hundred Years War, but still fought on. Denmark and Muscovy had both won their wars against Novgorod, seizing large swathes of its lands and reducing it to a rump state.
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May 1453
The Hundred Years War came to an end in May 1453 with English defeat and the loss of all their continental possessions, including Calais.
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April 1455
With more than 10 years in charge of Friesland after again winning re-election in November 1452, Potestaat Raeddaeg Stellingwelf was older and also a little wiser. He dreamed now increasingly of Frisian prosperity through greater and more efficient trade.
This increased wealth had allowed a minister to be hired to help with administration. Reginhard Donia was also a renowned patron of the arts who had attracted some accomplished Dutch artists to the court of Friesland. Donia’s steady efforts would assist Frisian long-term stability.
There had been no further wars of Frisian expansion in the years since the conquest of Oversticht in 1449. The military remained at the same strength in had in 1449, though the army was back up to full readiness again with improved national cash flow.
Stellingwerf had pushed through further governmental reforms a few years previously, strengthening the Republic for the years ahead, given the benefits that strong republican traditions brought to Free Frisia.
The last few years had also seen advances in Frisian technology in all three main areas of research, though the funds to initiate new major building projects such as churches and marketplaces were still scarce. Hence Frisian efforts to build their economy before risking strategic over-reach.
Trade income had not only rebounded to pre-Utrechtian War levels but had exceeded them. Lübeck as yet produced little income, with no ships yet sent there to promote trade. The English Channel however was becoming increasingly profitable for Frisian merchants, who were now the third largest presence in the trade node.
Since December 1450, the Frisian economy had been growing strongly and it was hoped this would continue for the next few decades, with benefits for construction (once such large building projects could be afforded).
One fifth of the population had Dutch culture after the conquest of now-integrated Oversticht.
On the diplomatic front, Utrecht remained the main rival in April 1455, with Münster now added. But Stellingwerf did not want to go to war with them and had no ambitions of expanding into their territory, so had begun to see if the hostility of Bishop Heinrich II could cooled down. Gelre had been nominated as the next object of Frisian expansion.
Frisia remained a comparative minnow in the wider world but had a stronger navy and higher trade income than many countries larger than it. France was now one of the top-ranked great powers with England no longer considered in that league after its damaging loss to France.
Potestaat Raeddeg Stellingwerf had begun the next phase of careful Frisian expansion in late 1455 with a war to conquer Gelre. But Stellingwerf dreamed his dreams no more: he died in his sleep in November 1455, during his third term as Potestaat.
His replacement was Willem Van Schellinkhout, a senior Frisian magnate known as an effective administrator and renowned Catholic zealot. His dreams were of Frisian expansion in God’s name and the promotion of His One True Church.
Reginhard Donia still served as chief administrator of the Frisian government.
November 1456 saw Friesland having subdued their main enemy, who had enlisted Brunswick as their sole ally. Bremen and Stettin supported Friesland as allies, the latter currently under an ineffective Brunswickian siege. Friesland’s rival Utrecht had come late to their own war against Gelre, but that looked to be going nowhere as Frisian forces already occupied the main objective.
Since the war began the year before, the new Potestaat’s brother Gelduf had led the Leger van Friesland to two successful battles against Gelre, followed by a successful siege of Geldern’s substantial castle at Arnhem. The first main engagement had been fought in Gelre in 1455, followed by a final decisive battle at Oversticht which had ended effective Gelren resistance in the field.
More friendly troops had been lost to attrition than in battle by November 1456, while it was (given the largely defensive nature for them) the reverse for the enemy. Bremen had also managed to occupy Hoya in Brunswick. The war was all but over, now Friesland just needed to recall one of their diplomats to conduct the negotiations.
“The Battle of Gelre”, unknown Frisian artist, painted c. 1460.
A map of the dispositions at the start of November 1456 is shown in the map below. The four cogs owned by Frisia had been mothballed in the port of the capital Leeuwarden in Friesland for some time, held against the day they may one day be needed.
Frisian diplomacy was being actively pursued on two fronts: trying to keep the rival Münster from deciding to attack and expanding the spy network against Gelre in support of the war effort.
The Frisian fleet was no longer needed for any blockade duties and had since returned to trade protection in the English Channel, which provided most of the trade income being generated by Frisian merchants.
The economy was operating at a deficit and the treasury was slightly in debt due to wartime costs, exacerbated by being over the supportable force limits, especially in the army. But the troop numbers had been needed in order to effectively besiege the Arnhem Castle.
The government’s stability had improved, with benefits in a number of areas. And the Burghers were becoming ever more dominant within the estates, due to small events and (it seemed) general momentum.
But no new technologies had been researched, national missions fulfilled or government reforms enacted since the last report. Most administrative effort was currently being directed into research, with the hope of eventually triggering the emergence of national ideas to boost progress in chosen areas.
Nor had any of the three Frisian provinces been improved recently and no major buildings had been constructed yet in any of them.
In international developments, Denmark had won their war against the Livonian Order and had added a sizeable Baltic enclave to their overseas territories.
By November 1456, Friesland remained a small regional power with an above average navy for its size, in keeping with its aspirations of becoming a significant trading power.
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July 1460
The Potestaat awoke from a satisfying sleep on 23 July 1460, with faint memories of a pleasant dream he had just had, in which he recounted his own part in the governance of Friesland since the death of his predecessor Willem Van Schellinkhout less than a year before. The cantankerous zealot had seen the war won but had not even lived to serve out what would have been his first term in full!
Friso Barents was even older than Van Schellinkhout had been at his death but hoped (as he would tell all and sundry) to serve longer and continue the expansion of Frisian Freedom on land and in the trading networks of Europe. Especially now that he no longer had to face those pesky quadrennial elections!
The Conquest of Gelre had been wrapped up and the new province integrated into Greater Friesland; along with the Dutch population that now made up a substantial proportion of the country.
Friso Barents, elected Potestaat of Friesland on 22 August 1459.
Friesland had adopted the Sortition process for its elections in May 1458 but Van Schellinkhout had not seen the personal benefit, passing before his old four-year term would have elapsed anyway. Barents had been the first beneficiary of the new process.
Frisian diplomacy currently focused on building its spy network against traditional rival Utrecht and working on improving relations with Brabant, having since added Brunswick, a foe in the last war, as an ally since the defeat of Gelre. East Frisia remained essentially ‘off limits’ for prudent Frisian expansion, as it had reinforced its long-term alliance with Denmark through a royal marriage.
Any hoped-for alliance with Burgundy was currently on hold, as in mid-1460 they were heading an alliance to defend Anjou from French conquest. For now, the Burgundian alliance was marginally on top, but only through a series of blockades. And the French were currently winning a naval battle against Burgundy in the English Channel.
The Frisian economy had bounced back to surplus following the successful war against Gelre and the treasury was well filled. But while trade was building, tax remained the single largest source of state income. With peace, army maintenance had again been scaled back to save money in the expectation of no immediate perceived threat or plans for further conquests.
One positive outcome from the absorption of the new province of Geldern into Friesland had been the boost to military power gained from this latest assertion of Frisian sovereignty. The next challenge in that area would be to rival Spanish naval power: something the leaders of Frisia were already pursuing as much as they could.
The taking of Geldern had also boosted Frisian military support capacity to match the increased army size and brought that of the navy closer to equilibrium as well.
Effort had also been sunk into developing Friesland and Groningen, while Geldern had proven a significant addition, Arnhem only just behind Leeuwarden and Groningen in development and already possessing a fully developed castle.
At this time, Frisia was but a small player in the religious establishment of the Catholic Church. They had limited influence within the Holy See, which in 1460 was politically controlled by France. There was also a growing desire for reform within the Church but it was not yet at the point where the future Reformation was imminent.
The great powers of the time were led by the Ming Dynasty of China. In Europe, aside from the Ottomans, France, Denmark and Poland were among top five in terms of their influence, including through vassals and junior union partners.
The known world of the time saw some of the larger powers growing in size and strength, while Friesland was now one of the larger small powers in the Low Countries and northern Germany.
When we last left Potestaat Friso Barents in July 1460, he was 62 years old and had been selected for the leadership the year before, in what was now a life term following the adoption by Friesland of the sortition method in late 1459. In 1464 he was now 66 and still dreaming the dream and supported by the one ministerial advisor, the administrator Reginhard Donia.
The big news at this time was the long-awaited final war of conquest against Utrecht, which had begun the year before, in early 1463. Utrecht had at first been supported by their ally Oldenburg, but they had been decisively defeated at the Battle of Oldenburg by a Bremen-led army and they were subsequently knocked out of the war.
The Frisians had then defeated the army of Utrecht in Utrecht and gone on to subdue the enemy’s capital. By January 1464 the short war was essentially over, as Utrecht prepared for an unconditional surrender.
In 1460, France had been winning their war against Brittany, supported by Burgundy, for Anjou. That war continued, with France having occupied all of Brittany and large parts of Burgundy, including much of their lands in Flanders.
Friesland had since concluded an alliance with their brothers in neighbouring East Frisia and, judging the rising tide of French hegemony to be irresistible in the mid-term, had begun to improve relations with the great kingdom. This also made sense to the Frisians if they were ever to expand further south in the Low Countries, given many of the smaller countries their were junior partners of the Burgundians.
The Frisian budget was at a break-even point, with lowered trade income during the war, army and other maintenance balanced by increased tax income and the spoils of war (presumably from the previous capitulation of Oldenburg).
The last few years had brought two welcome advances in research. Around August 1461, a major advance in infantry theory and practices had been welcomed with the introduction of standardised pikes and other innovations. Then in February 1463, national ideas were first embraced in Friesland.
And with the recent devotion to increased learning across the board and the adoption of technologies ahead of the benchmark time, Friesland was beginning to earn a reputation for innovation.
Barents had, influenced by the Burghers and merchant lobbyists, taken on the development of economic ideas to propel Frisian Freedom forward into a hoped-for age of expansion. The first task was to create a professional bureaucratic system. Developing these ideas would soak up a significant proportion of administrative power in coming years.
No new missions nor government reforms had been completed since 1460. But the government had achieved new heights of stability, which the Frisian leadership had seen as key to promoting its economic development and the spread of new institutions – as well as keeping newly won lands more content.
The Frisian army had decided to adopt men at arms as their standard infantry formation. Enhard Kamminga had been hired in February 1463 to command the army in the war against Utrecht, then Willem Roorda had taken command of the navy in September. Army tradition was beginning to grow a little.
By early 1464, the influence of the Clergy had fallen to a very low level, as had their land holdings as the Burghers continued their political leadership of the Estates.
The two leading provinces of Friesland and Groningen had developed a little over the last four years and the first major new Frisian building project of the era, a marketplace in the capital of Leeuwarden, had been completed.
With a nearby diplomat recalled, Utrecht surrendered and was annexed on 24 January in a war that had lasted just on a year. The Empire was not happy about one of its members annexing the territory of another, but the Emperor took no immediate action in response. Utrecht came as a well-developed province, with a castle and cathedral already having been built.
I simply processed the surrender from where the save had been taken just before doing so when the game was being played, to simulate the treaty that would have been struck so I could depict it here.
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June 1473
The next nine years passed in peace for Friesland as it developed its provinces, economy and diplomatic connections. And ensured it did not expand so quickly that neighbours banded together to destroy the dream of Frisian Freedom.
Defying the years, Friso Barents still ruled as Potestaat, at the venerable age of 75. Approaching 14 years in the role, he was now a well-connected player in the Frisian political game and a master of both administrative and military matters. And still supported by the long-serving Reginhard Donia.
The Low Countries remained a patchwork of small countries, with Friesland being one of the larger ones after its smooth absorption and integration of Utrecht.
France had not only won its war for Anjou some years before but had also taken a swathe of Burgundian lands in Flanders, making them a direct player now in the affairs of the Low Countries. Their combined armies would dwarf those of any other power in Western Europe.
Which had made Barents happy that Friesland had been successful enough in its wooing of the French that a formal alliance had been concluded. The diplomat Ernst Casimir Kiestra was now at the French court currying favours with the recently crowned King Louis XI.
The other diplomat, Gerulf Galama, was busy establishing a spy network in Burgundy, while all pretence of possible friendly relations with Münster had been abandoned as one of Burgundy’s puppets, Flanders, sought to do the same to Friesland.
Louis XI of France (b. 3 July 1423), called "Louis the Prudent" was King of France in OTL from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII and had to wait another ten years in the ATL to take the reins.
Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440. The king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné, then a province in south-eastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, however, led his father to banish him from court.
When Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left his self-exile in the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames "the Cunning" (Middle French: le rusé) and "the Universal Spider" (Middle French: l'universelle aragne), as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies.
As Friesland coped with a bout of inflation, the economy continued to build, with tax revenue booming and trade also taking off again. Friesland had taken to splitting its fleet of light ships, with a smaller detachment sent to protect trade in the Lübeck trade zone.
Friesland was back to being the third largest trading power in the English Channel node. And both army and (to a lesser extent) navy maintenance had been decreased to save money during the long peace.
In the last nine years, advances had been made in diplomatic and military technology, but administrative research had slowed while Friesland focused more effort on exploring new national ideas to boost its economy. And Frisian innovativeness continued to increase.
Since 1464, Friesland had introduced both its new bureaucracy, providing a significant boost to tax income, and better organised construction practices to aid future infrastructure projects. The next priority was to establish a national bank to help control inflation.
No further Frisian national missions were completed, while the government remained highly stable and there were no rebel factions active. But there had been a change in the position of the Clergy. With reform desire in the wider Church climbing rapidly in recent years, the influence of Friesland in the Holy See had been increasing gradually. And the influence of the Clergy in the Estates had seen significant growth (from 7 to 27%).
This was largely explained by the latest round of government reforms: around February 1473, the Frisian state had swung back towards the Church in the face of the increasing threat of schism. More lands would be assigned for Church use, boosting the Papal State’s opinion of Friesland and the Republic’s influence in the Holy See, while also boosting the loyalty and influence of the Clergy in the Estates.
Painting: The Death of the Virgin, c. 1472, oil on oak panel, by Hugo van der Goes.
Since the annexation of Utrecht in 1464, the maximum maintenance capacities of the army and navy had increased. The army now had room for and increase of two regiments, while the navy’s capacity had finally caught up with its establishment of 18 vessels; and they also had a new admiral.
In the five Frisian provinces, no new buildings had been completed in the last nine years and Friesland had developed slightly as the small country still sought to boost its economy to a higher level that could sustain the competing priorities of more government advisors, expanding the army and starting new building projects.
In terms of Friesland’s next steps, the indicators were fairly clear: two claims had been formulated on provinces currently held by Holland which, as a junior partner of Burgundy meant war with the Burgundians and their other allies if Friesland wanted to claim one or both.
But it seemed the recent losing war with France had left Duke Charles de Bourgogne of Burgundy with a smaller army than the Frisians, a small fleet that no longer had a home port to house it and no manpower reserve.
In the Great Power contest, the European powers of France, the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the Danish-led Kalmar Union were the largest major players in Friesland’s closer to mid-range orbit, while Ottomans continued to expand in the Balkans.
Friesland, while gradually growing over the previous 30 years, remained a minor power in its own small region, with its navy and trading network its largest claims to fame.
Friso Barents’ surprisingly long term as Potestaat of Friesland had begun in August 1459 and finally ended with the dreamless sleep in August 1475, just a few days short of 16 years in office and at the ripe age of 77. His place was taken by Maurits Stijl, known for his espionage skills and being a brilliant administrator and diplomat. Reginhard Donia served on as the sole minister.
The Clergy continued to languish in influence as the Burghers dominated, though both remain loyal enough during this period of Frisian history.
The French alliance continued as Friesland continued to curry favours with them and gradually earned the trust of the great power to the south. And the spy network in Burgundy increased under Stijl’s expert direction.
In the five years since 1473, the Frisian National Bank had been established to help manage inflation, while Frisian financiers worked on developing a more organised debt market.
The big innovation in the last few years had been the development of the limber and an associated introduction of the first fully organised and independent Frisian artillery regiments, with large cast bronze mortars being chosen as the standard piece.
The army had expanded in all three arms since the last war against Utrecht to its maximum sustainable force level but had not yet been unleashed again against a neighbour. The navy now had room for a modest expansion – funds permitting.
A replica of an early modern mortar, similar to those first adopted by the Frisian army in the late 1470s.
Frisian influence in the Holy See gradually increased with the years but had still not approached a level that would allow it to seek meaningful assistance from the Vatican, as the desire for church reform gained pace (whilst generally being discouraged by the traditional pro-Catholic leaders of Frisia).
The mid-late 1470s had seen the biggest leap yet in provincial development, with increases everywhere except in Oversticht and especially a boom in infrastructure in Utrecht, though no new major buildings were constructed.
Of wider interest, the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire had decided to conquer Içel in the small realm of Karaman in southern Anatolia. This had brought the Mamluks into the war in aid of Karaman, but the Ottomans were well on the way to victory by this time.
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July 1480
Maurits Stijl died after a term of just five years, with the Frisian dream being taken over by another member of the Van Schellinkhout family, Joris. Another man known mainly for his bragging indiscretion, though a competent administrator, diplomat and a very highly regarded soldier. As always, he was served by the ubiquitous Reginhard Donia.
The main change in Friesland’s situation from two years before was France’s doing: they had declared a conquest war on Brittany a few months before, nominally for Nantais but with wider ambitions than that. July 1480 found Frisia taking a defensive and evasive posture. France and the rest of its allies concentrated initially on Brittany and southern Burgundy.
But the Burgundian coalition had decided to invade Friesland! In the face of some large Burgundian, and Dutch armies in particular, and having been roped into the war as a bystander with not too much to gain for itself, General Enhard Kamminga held the Leger back in Oversticht while the Burgundians tried to reduce the great castle in Utrecht.
As the French fleet was more than sufficient to conduct local blockade duties, the Frisian navy remained at sea to protect trade. And on land, Friesland would wait for the far greater numbers of the French coalition to eventually come to their aid. And hope not to much of the country was ravaged in the meantime.
Early on, Friesland had beaten the Dutch in a small naval skirmish and since then the two main land battles had seen the large French army in Brittany defeat its opponent there twice. Otherwise, most of the land action had involved occupations and sieges. As part of which, Utrecht had suffered some bad looting.
This meant of the light French Coalition casualties on land, none had been suffered by Friesland as yet. For the enemy, Brittany’s whole main army seems to have been destroyed in the Battles of Vannetais and Rennais.
The army remained at the same strength as in 1478, but the navy had added one light ship since then (making 15 barques). As a result, trade in the English Channel in particular remained strong, but the budget had fallen slightly into the red and the treasury had a significant deficit, while inflation still affected the economy.
That one extra ship added had resulted in Frisia successfully challenging Spanish power by surpassing 50% of Castile’s naval strength (which seemed to be measured by aggregate hull size or guns rather than ship numbers, as Castile maintained a number of carracks and Frisia had none as yet).
As a result, the navy was going from strength to strength.
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February 1481
Seven months later, there had been no change in the make up off the government, but Joris Van Schellinkhout’s dreams were much easier – as he was happy to tell anyone listening, whether they could be trusted or not.
France had now occupied Nantais and only a few thousand of Brittany’s troops still resisted. In southern Burgundy, Savoy had joined France in occupying territory, while the French had begun occupying Burgundian and Flanders lands in the south of the Low Countries.
The strategy of patience had paid off for Friesland: Utrecht still held out, while large French and allied armies had approached from the south, emboldening Friesland to strike from the north despite the continuing presence of larger enemy armies nearby, taking the undefended Amsterdam and besieging Den Haag. Overall war casualties were roughly even now on both sides, with those for Friesland coming purely from siege attrition.
Other than one more skirmish between the Portuguese and Brittany, no more land battles had been recorded, all the action being sieges or an ambush by France of Flanders’ fleet as it escaped port. The war was now well in France’s favour and Friesland had recouped their materiel losses through looting of their own in Holland.
The army had added another artillery regiment in the last few months, bringing it to over full establishment strength at additional maintenance expense.
Though trade had grown further to now exceed tax income, the previous deficit had not been paid off in time to avoid having to take out a loan, due for repayment in August 1485.
Though at least the repayments were not as large as they might have been due to the recently completed reform of Friesland’s debt market.
And advances in diplomatic technology now allowed the construction of docks – and stealing of maps, if the desire and opportunity arose. Friesland was now well ahead of many nations in their research of military technology, but a little behind in diplomatic and administrative advancements.
The Ottomans had made gains after the successful war against Karaman and the Mamluks, annexing the former and taking significant lands in the Levant from the latter.
By that time, Frisian trade income was ranked at the 19th highest in the world, their navy the 21st largest.
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June 1482
Joris Van Schellinkhout did not live to enjoy the peace that came with the inevitable French victory over Brittany and Burgundy. Another member of the Donia clan, Menfrid, now dreamed the dream, still supported by his relative (their exact relationship is lost to history) Reginhard, who continued his long service to Friesland. Menfrid was a master administrator and diplomat, which should serve Friesland well if he stayed in office for a reasonable time.
France had fully annexed Brittany and taken Cambrésis from Burgundy, to the south of Flanders. The French and their allies had concentrated a massive force to defeat the Burgundians and their coalition at Utrecht a short time before, forcing the surrender. And meaning Friesland was forced into a truce with Holland, among other potential targets, for another five years.
In the Estates, the Clergy had recovered both influence and loyalty, at the expense of the same for the Burghers. In March, Friesland had defended the Church’s tithes, which had a corresponding negative effect of the influence of the Burghers, though they remained the predominant political grouping in the Republic.
There had been no new reforms of the Republic, though a decision would have to be taken in 1484 on Friesland’s approach to regionalism. Similarly, no research breakthroughs had been made or new national ideas unlocked in the last 16 months. The army and navy strengths remained unchanged, with the army was garrisoned in Utrecht again.
The treasury remained in significant debt and the budget not quite balanced, meaning more borrowing would be needed. Trade had declined somewhat over the last years as well, though the cause of that had been lost to history.
Only Oversticht had been developed at all in the last year, but the reason for the new debt was plain: recent public works in the capital of Leeuwarden had been completed, financed in part by debt.
In the known world, it seemed the recent defeat at the hands of the Ottomans may see the Mamluks slip from the ranks of the great powers, while Hungary remained a bulwark against Ottoman expansion in central Europe.
Friesland had not really been able to improve its ranking in the world’s reckoning of nations since the year before and had slipped a little in terms of its trade and general income.
But Menfrid Dornia went to bed on a balmy early June day in 1482 with ambitious thoughts of greater Frisian prosperity, expansion and freedom easing his drift to sleep. Perchance to dream.
March 1490 – Politics, the Military and the Region
In 1482, Menfrid Donia had been Potestaat since September 1481. His term would be cut short by his death in December 1488. He had seen no further expansion of the nation’s borders following the conclusion of the French-Burgundian war in after which Friesland had been bound by a peace treaty from enforcing its claims on Holland.
The Frisian dream now passed to Koenraad Barents, who in March 1490 had been the Frisian leader for just 15 months. The claims on Holland would last until 1497, so for now the careful but ambitious Barents bided his time.
The long serving administrator Reginhard Donia had finally passed away, with a new Captain General being appointed as the Potestaat’s lieutenant, giving an indication of Friesland’s dual and complementary priorities of increasing military and economic strength.
With increased security on the seas from the 1480s onwards the morale and the durability of the navy had been strengthened. More recently, the withholding of tithes from the Church had boosted tax takings for the medium term. Taxation revenue had been further boosted permanently by the passing of the De Heretico Comburendo Act.
The reform of the Republic had continued, with the regional policy of the Union of States being adopted in 1489, boosting Friesland’s global trade power and moving the Friesland along the path of becoming a merchant republic.
The estates remained loyal enough, the Clergy maintaining their moderate increase in influence but still outshone by the Burghers. Both sides had seen ups and downs in recent events and policy decisions by the government that had tended to balance out.
One of Friesland’s surplus cogs had been taken out of mothballs and enlisted to do some exploring along the west coast of Africa in recent years. Unfortunately, its captain had miscalculated the ship’s endurance and it had foundered on the return voyage, leading to the negotiation of a fleet access agreement with France to try to extend the range of these early explorations.
France remained firmly established as the region’s premier power, with Burgundy in a distant second place and England having seemingly given up on its Continental ambitions.
The army still fielded 14 regiments, the navy 16 barques (an increase of one), having lost a cog off the coast of Africa, leaving three in mothballs.
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March 1490 – Technology, Economy, Religion and Culture
The last eight years had seen the introduction of technology to support the building of workshops, farm estate and ramparts, while Frisian naval ambitions had also progressed. Meanwhile, the army was poised to introduce innovations in pike and shot.
Blacksmiths at work.
The economy was thriving, with trade on the up again, army maintenance reduced during the period of peace, inflation defeated, the national debt paid off and a monthly surplus being banked.
No new economic ideas had been introduced since 1482, though earlier advancements had seen coastal industry (and thus ship trade power) boosted. Administrative power had been applied more to research and other pursuits in recent years.
There had been some modest development in the provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Utrecht and a marketplace had been built in Groningen as more money became available for major building works.
The desire to reform Catholicism had again grown significantly in the last decade [now at 62%], with some theologians predicting the possibility of schism in coming years.
It was in the mid-1480s that Friesland decided to embark on a deliberate program of converting the culture in its core provinces to that of the Frisian founders. This would become an increasingly entrenched policy in coming decades.
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December 1503 – Government, Expansion and Diplomacy
The 13 years from 1490 to 1503 had seen considerable turnover at the top of the Frisian government. Koenraad Barents died in December 1493, replaced by Floris Halbertsma (December 1493-October 1501), then Hendrik Casimir Elsinga (October 1501- 30 November 1503), with the latest Potestaat of Friesland Johan Ernst Riemersma therefore just three days into his life term on 3 December 1503. His indulgent attitude would see a decrease in Frisian trade efficiency during his term, but otherwise he was recognised as a great diplomatic mind and a decent supervisor of military affairs.
Riemersma now presided over a full cabinet government with three principal advisers, with a young and very effective new Captain General in charge of the military. Recent chauvinistic efforts by the Frisians had seen their culture again at a comfortable majority within the nation and Republican tradition at near all-time highs.
More governmental reform had been enforced in recent years, with the supremacy of the Diet affirmed. This would boost the loyalty of the estates for the long term and ensured absolutism was kept well off the agenda. But in future years, the Frisian government would not take much advantage of the legislature [Note: an omission on my part – I just wasn’t familiar with it and never got around to using the Diet. Maybe I will when I catch the AAR up to gameplay again.]
With the Diet assured, both the active estates were quite loyal to the Republic in these years. Clergy influence remained steady, with no recent factors impinging on their standing. For the Burghers, some short-term misfortunes were more than balanced by other longer acting bonuses – including the rapid development of the capital, which will be touched on in more detail later.
The big news of the last few years had been the conquest of Amsterdam during the term of Floris Halbertsma, fulfilling one of Friesland’s long standing territorial claims. The exact dates for the war against Holland and its ally Cleves are not recorded, but it is assumed it ended around mid-1498.
In any case, the rich and well-developed city of Amsterdam now fell under Frisian control, along with its famous polders and harbour. Utrecht was now being actively converted to Frisian culture, a castle to protect Oversticht (which had proven a popular entry point for enemy armies when at war) and delay enemy approaches to the Frisian heartland was being constructed.
The military had since been expanded to 16 regiments, with another being raised in Friesland. The navy’s light ship fleet, almost exclusively tasked with trade promotion in the English Channel, had also been expanded to 21 barques.
The same truces still applied in 1503 as they had 20 years before, with Holland (specifically Den Haag) off-limits as a conquest target until 1507. If this involved Friesland in any more ‘bystander wars’ in the interim, their details were not recorded for posterity and they had little effect on Frisian development. And East Frisia was till firmly tied to Denmark.
But to the far south-east, the Ottomans had been on the march. They had expanded further into Mamluk territory in the intervening years and were now allied with Hungary and winning a war against Venice and its coalition of allies for Negroponte.
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December 1503 – The Economy, Research, Ideas, Missions and Religion
The Frisian economy was now growing strongly. This had not only funded an expanded bureaucracy and military forces but had also funded the beginning of a development and infrastructure boom, which we will focus on later. Trade had rocketed ahead to become the largest source of recurrent income, with the expanded small ships fleet promoting Friesland into a major player in the English Channel trade node.
The last 13 years had seen two advances in administrative technology and one each in diplomatic and military research. Friesland was now leading many countries in each of these disciples and becoming recognised as a regional centre of innovation.
The introduction of Renaissance thought had seen more new ideas adopted. Given past experiences and future plans, defensive ideas for the military had been adopted. If Friesland was to become a trade and perhaps later colonial power with a relatively small domestic territorial base, hemmed in by a powerful France to the south and the highly disparate Holy Roman Empire to the east, it would have to be able to defend itself.
And the revival of the Upstalsboom League saw the costs of state maintenance significantly decreased as the freedoms of the Frisian Republic became formalised in a new constitution.
The recent expansion of the Frisian Navy had also seen another national mission achieved, their light ship fleet becoming known as the ‘Sea Beggars’, boosting their combat ability and blockade efficiency.
The intervening years had, in spite of Frisia’s limited efforts to thwart it, seen an acceleration in reformist tendencies in the Catholic Church. Frisia now held considerable influence with the current Pope, but had not yet sought to use it [Note: I did become more familiar with those Papal benefits and started using them subsequently.]
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December 1503 – Development, Infrastructure and Discovery
Friesland had seen a large program of development since 1490, bringing the capital Leeuwarden it to the status of a major city, pre-eminent in Friesland and the wider Low Countries. Groningen and Utrecht had seen more gradual growth, while Amsterdam had joined in as the sixth province, ranking above Geldern and Oversticht in its development.
Leeuwarden had also seen a major construction boom over the last decade or more, now boasting five major urban buildings.
Groningen had also seen some major building works, while the long-neglected Oversticht had also seen some love, including the aforementioned new castle construction to hopefully protect it more from quick occupation and sacking by marauders during the periodic wars that interrupted Friesland’s long years of peace and growth.
Some other countries may have been better placed to lead exploration in the Age of Discovery, but Friesland had been able to reach a few milestones too. Its ‘national splendour’ had allowed it to support its twin objectives of territorial and economic expansion.
And after previous lessons, old steps had been retraced along the West African coast to expand Friesland’s scant knowledge of the wider world. Frisian trade and naval strength were now becoming quite well renowned in the world.
But could this be sustained and would it start to attract any undue attention from greedy opponents? Could Friesland expand its dream of freedom further into the Low Countries without provoking a devastating backlash? Only time would tell.
Less than a year since our last report, in December 1503, much had changed, though not the government of Frisia. Potestaat of Friesland Johan Ernst Riemersma had finally had enough of the impudence, vile insults and general dastardliness of neighbouring Münster. Unable to go conquering in Holland for now, he dreamed instead of humiliating the hated rival to demonstrate Friesland’s ability to project power within the region. And having a massively powerful ally such as France also helped.
This meant much in terms of Frisian power projection … but in the meantime, France had expanded far further into the Low Countries at the expense of Burgundy. Which no longer existed as a separate entity! While it may be safe having France as an ally, it seemed to be drastically limiting options for later Frisian expansion.
Meanwhile, one Frisian and three French armies were on their way back home after completion a successful and quick campaign. Utrecht was now being assimilated into Frisian culture and the new castle in Oversticht was well on its way to completion.
The Frisian concentration on maritime trade in the English Channel node was now literally paying off. Friesland was by 1504 the largest trading power in the zone, with only the English themselves anywhere near them. Trade income began to outstrip tax as the largest source of revenue.
The Ottomans had pressed their war against Venice and its allies further ahead, with a large fleet off the coast of Savoy where a land campaign was being fought.
France was now considered to be the pre-eminent power in the world, the rest of the list being familiar from recent years. Friesland’s comparative naval and trade power continued to rise, both now ranked within the top 20.
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November 1512 – Government, Diplomatic, Economic and Military Developments
The next nine years proved that having a life term as Potestaat did not guarantee a long term! Riemersma lasted until 1508, followed by Fedde de Vries (1508-11), Wilbrand Sems (1511-12) and now Anne (male) Roorda, who had only been in power for two months. Roorda fancied himself as a ‘bold fighter’ and was a highly respected administrator and general, maintaining the same full cabinet of advisers dating back to 1503.
Government reform on economical matters was due to be introduced in another year, but the constitutional framework had not changed since 1503.
The big change for Friesland on the ground had come with the annexation of Den Haag, during the term of Fedde de Vries (probably in 1510), after a short and relatively uneventful war against the Dutch. This had led to building unrest in the recently occupied Dutch territory, but the cultural absorption of Utrecht would be completed within a few more years.
The same alliances still applied (France, Bremen, Brunswick and Savoy) and seven regional truces (Liege, Dortmund, Goslar, Hesse, Holland, Münster and Cleves) would extend to between February 1514 and October 1515.
The other main Frisian strategic preoccupation, its economy, also continued to gather strength. In November 1512 peace was in prospect for some time, so army maintenance had been dialled back again, but naval readiness was always kept at maximum efficiency, except for mothballed transport ships.
Administrative and diplomatic technology had advanced since 1504, where Friesland was now significantly more advanced than most of its contemporaries. A key development for the navy was the development of indigenous designs for both its heavy and light ships, with a new carrack design and caravels replacing barques.
Both the army and navy had grown in the last nine years and both still had a little room for further growth to their maximum establishments. A new carrack, Friesland’s first heavy ship, the Grut Fryslân, had been built to help lend its large fleet of light ships and serve as the de facto flagship of the Frisian Navy.
Friesland had, given its increasing income and desire for the best navy possible for both combat and trade, decided to progressively upgrade its existing fleet, replacing old barques with new caravels of the same name. By this time, 5 caravels were at sea with the English Channel trade fleet, while two more were finishing their upgrades in Leeuwarden.
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November 1512 – National Ideas, Missions, the Estates, Religion and Development
New military ideas had also been introduced as Friesland sought to make itself as hard a target to subdue as it could: the advancing ‘blue tide’ of French encroachment into the south of the Low Countries and the difficulty of Imperial entanglement when trying to expand east limited the scope for many more regional wars of conquest.
This also suited the strategy of relying on forts to delay any larger enemy that attacked until the big allies (at that time France and, secondarily, Savoy) might be able to come to Frisian assistance, while maintaining the army in being at a level that could defeat most single regional armies one by one.
This strategy was further reinforced by the development of a national fixed garrison system within Friesland, increasing the defensive power of all fortifications.
The resurgence of the Clergy within the Frisian Estates also continued as successive Potestaat’s defended the gathering of tithes. The loyalty of the Clergy to the Republic was then at an all-time high.
More widely though, the winds of religious change were blowing hot through the Catholic West, while at the same time putting a chill up the spines of the Pope and religious traditionalists.
Den Haag, recently added as the seventh Frisian province, ranked after Friesland as the second most developed in the Republic. Leeuwarden now boasted six major buildings, ‘s-Gravenhage in Den Haagen had four, while a fourth was under construction in Groningen.
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November 1512 –The Wider World
France was now a true behemoth to the south of Friesland: good to have as a friend, but potentially stifling too. The Ottomans had apparently successfully completed their war against Venice some years before and they too were the big growing power coming to dominate the south-east of Europe, as well as Asia Minor and the Levant.
In fact, by reckoning of the time the Ottomans had climbed marginally above France to be considered the premier great power, but there was very little in it. Though distant, the fame of the Ming dynasty still ranked it third and not far behind the other two in its power and majesty.
Hungary was on its way out from this list of great powers, replaced by the new (and largely mysterious to Friesland) Central Asian nation of Qara Qoyunlu, to be found on the eastern borders of the Ottoman Empire, south of the Caucasus and probably stretching into modern Iran.
Friesland could still not be ranked among these great nations [nor score any points yet in the game, which I had made a point of pride to start accruing, as well as gaining the rank of a Great Power one day], but its advancement was beginning to edge it closer to these rarefied ranks.
The map of Europe more generally was one of contrasts. In the West, North and East, a few large unitary kingdoms, empires, unions and commonwealths dominated the map. In the centre – Germany and Italy – while the Holy Roman Empire notionally held sway as well, it was politically fragmented into many small sovereign states under only loose Imperial control.
Frisian explorers and map-gatherers had not expanded their knowledge much in recent years, although some of the more widely travelled cartographers of the Italian trading city-states had wider knowledge of the wider world by that time. Frisian traders were now among the most powerful in the world and the navy stronger than most, while the army was not to be sneezed at either.
Unrecognised at the time, Friesland is now asserted to have entered a Golden Era in 1510, when it’s war to humiliate Münster had been won. It would last for another 50 years.
But not so the Age of Discovery, which in historical retrospect was seen to be coming to an end as the upheaval of the Reformation began.
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June 1516 – War, Government, Diplomacy and the Economy
Three and half years on from our last periodic report, the leadership and administration of Friesland had not changed. But a new dream had been rekindled: the southward expansion in the Low Countries – before France could absorb the rest from the south. Anne Roorda had set his sights on the conquest of Zeeland, Holland’s last province.
Whether it was this decision or a previous event, the stability of the Friesland had decline a little in recent years, but remained strong [down to +2]. But by 1 June 1516 a war against Holland and its allies, begun the year before, had spread across the region. Zeeland itself was blockaded and its castle had been besieged for almost 8 months and well progressed to surrender.
Another Frisian army was investing Cleve, with allies Bremen asked to attack Münster and Brunswick to relieve its own province of Hoya from Münster’s occupation. Münster’s own army was trying to besiege Bremen, but did not quite have the numbers and was making no progress. Meanwhile, Frisian ship construction continued to build its formidable navy, with a new flagship recently laid down.
The war itself was assessed to be going slightly in Friesland’s favour, but Roorda was confident of longer-term victory. There had been no pitched battles, with the small number of casualties on either side so far coming purely from attrition in foreign lands.
On the diplomatic front, France, even if Friesland had wanted it to join the war, was at that time distracted by its support of Mantua against Padua and Trent. King Louis XIII now ruled there and the Frisian-French relationship remained strong.
The Frisian governing structures had also been recently reformed and it was no real surprise that free trade had been embraced, along with new institutions.
The economy was holding up well, with a monthly balance of almost +7 gold and a small reserve in the treasury (17 gold). Frisian traders had increased their market share in the English Channel to 32% of trade.
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June 1516 – New Ideas, Exploration, Religion and the Estates
Frisian administrative research in particular was now far ahead of most of its contemporaries, with modern theocratic thought having ushered in a new group of national ideas.
As many had expected, this had been devoted to turning Friesland into one of Europe’s explorer nations. Already, a quest for the New World had been launched with new colonial ventures being the next objective.
Frisia’s defensive ideas had already been rounded out to assist it to hold its ground at home while exploring overseas in the future. And the development of these new ideas had sparked a national project: the building of the Zuider Embankments to help stave off flooding and make construction faster and more cost-effective.
The recent embracing of exploration had already seen Friesland’s first explorer recruited. Albrecht Jousma had been assigned a fleet of three caravels and would soon be embarking from Den Haag on Friesland’s first true exploration: a trans-Atlantic voyage to the west, even as the war continued.
But the earth-shaking news for Western Christendom that had broken was the beginning of the Reformation. Protestant centres of reformation had sprung up in Ratibor, Dresden and – closer to home – Münster. The Frisian conflict with them may now begin to take on religious overtones, as well, as Protestantism spread like a mould (from Friesland’s perspective) across the map.
Cleve, another of Friesland’s current neighbours and enemies, was also in the process of being converted to the new heretical belief system as the contagion nibbled around Friesland’s borders.
The Estates in Friesland remained remarkably loyal, with a natural equilibrium of over 55% for both the Clergy and the Burghers at that time.
The wealth of Friesland’s trade income, the power of its navy and a well-equipped army continued to command respect beyond its small size might have indicated.
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February 1517
Just 8 months later, the war with Holland and its allies had reached its end stages. The only battle since it began in late 1515 was one-sided engagement at sea, where Holland’s small fleet had been destroyed (3 sunk, one captured) when it was forced out of port on the fall of Zeeland.
But the main blows had been the occupation of all three of the enemies’ major provinces. By this time, France could have been called into the war by Potestaat Roorda, but had never been even close to necessary. And a new caravel had finished construction in Groningen
More construction in the nation’s cities had led to the achievement of a another national mission, leading to a leap in administrative power and kicking off a lucrative 25-year building spree.
Meanwhile, Admiral Jousma had sailed out past Iceland and was passing the southern tip of Greenland in his great voyage of exploration.
At that time, the bulk of the Frisian navy remained protecting the English Channel trade node, but a modest attempt to see how much income could be boosted in the Lübeck trade zone saw 4 caravels plying their trade there.
In foreign news, the Ottomans were again running rampant in a war of conquest against the hapless Mamluks as they looked to extend their influence deeper into Egypt.
But at home, it was time to force the issue with Holland, Cleve and Münster. With the principal objective of Zeeland and extant claims on Cleve and Meppen, Friesland’s dominance could be converted into an expansive settlement. [Note: without screen captures of the actual agreements made at the time, I can’t recall whether by this stage I’d discovered being able to pump up the settlements with reparations and such, though I did eventually.]
Counsellor’s warned Roorda of the dangers such rampant expansionism in terms of the attitude of neighbours and the Emperor to trying to take all three. Some even referred to the legend dating back to the days of Potestaat Raeddeg Stellingwerf way back in 1444 about ‘the existential dangers of territorial over-reach’ and of ‘diabolical coalitions’ who may turn the Frisian Dream of Freedom into a nightmare.
But Roorda would not be dissuaded by such "lily-livered counsel of timidity and parsimonious gain-saying". The relationship and alliance with the hugely powerful France remained intact: “Those pimples on the arse of Frisian progress wouldn’t dare!” Roorda thundered. And a long-term charm campaign may be just enough to persuade the Emperor not to intervene.
It was an opportunity for rapid gains that may not come again for years. With three provinces gained for the loss of fewer than 3,500 men for the whole alliance, Roorda considered it a bargain. But had he over-reached? Would the dream turn into another nightmare? A tense wait ensued as Friesland now concentrated on keeping its head down locally, its friends well reassured and its potential enemies gradually placated over time.
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July 1517
Five months later, Potestaat Anne Roorda and his ministers had ordered the integration of Meppen and Cleve into Friesland as core holdings. Zeeland would have to wait a little longer. The army was concentrated in Geldern, ready to repel any attack or rebellion that may arise – none had as yet. The new flagship – the appropriately named Frijheid – was due to be completed in less than a month.
The diplomats had been concentrating on influencing France and more recently Portugal – as they were hoping gaining forward ports may assist in exploration and colonisation [although didn’t seem to make any difference in the end], as Friesland had found any colonisation target were currently out of its range to settle. Bremen had dropped out of Friesland’s alliance network. And the mooted coalition had indeed formed, though had not yet launched any punitive war.
A survey of relations with Münster, Austria and East Frisia showed the damage recent Frisian aggression had done to regional and Imperial relationships. This would all take some time to repair – if it didn’t boil over into conflict. But previous lobbying of Austria had at least keep relations with them neutral even after the unlawful occupation of so much Imperial territory – all of which Friesland had refused to hand back.
Jousma’s latest voyage had taken him further south. In July 1514 he was in the Bay of Fundy on his return voyage home. It would be a few more months yet before Friesland’s first colonial venture could be attempted. But calculations at the Admiralty indicated even then, likely colonisation targets would be out of range, using some known points and other nations’ colonies as examples.
Although a loan had been forced during the recent war, the economy continued to do well and almost enough had been saved to pay it back early if desired. Although the monthly interest payments weren’t too high. Inflation and corruption were present but very low.
The two trade protection naval missions continued, gradually reinforced as new ships became available.
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January 1518
Roorda and his ministerial team all remained in power at the start of 1518 – and Friesland remained at peace. Zeeland had begun its absorption into core Frisian territory, while unrest in Meppen and Cleve continued to be understandably high.
The Frijheid had been launched and now provided protection and assistance for the smaller Lübeck trade zone fleet – although looking back, its ability to boost naval trade power may have been better used in the English Channel.
More widely, no viable colonisation targets had been identified as yet, while the Ottomans had grabbed much of the Egyptian and Libyan coast after winning their war against the Mamluks.
Jousma was resting his small exploring fleet in Amsterdam, where he had been joined by a cog and an infantry regiment, ready to be embarked in a colonial venture. Because at that time, Friesland was on the cusp of being able to mount such an expedition – in theory, anyway – for the first time.
Three more countries had joined the anti-Frisian coalition, but despite this it had not been game to attack. The reasons for Bremen’s earlier estrangement were clear, but at least they had not joined the Coalition.
The relationship with France was strong, while Austria remained basically of a neutral opinion of the troublesome Frisians. Which was just as well, as they would retain a casus belli on Friesland for their recent annexations for the best part of another ten years.
The economy remained strong, trade good and the loan as yet not repaid, but no great imposition.
Holland had been established as a separate state within the Republic, with centralisation of power the current local edict as its more recently integrated provinces were assimilated. Of course, trade power was the rule in the capital state of Frisia. Meppen and Cleve were administered as territories.
The three new provinces were among the least developed in Friesland for now and very little had been done over the last six or so years to further develop the others.
The growing Frisian naval tradition had sparked the creation of Admiralty Colleges within the last few months, with a new and well qualified admiral being made available for service.
The heretical forces of the Reformation were creeping ever closer to the Frisian national heartland, having taken root already in the peripheral provinces of Cleve and now Meppen. For now, Friesland seemed poorly placed to resist it. Though at least they did now have one active cardinal to support them in the Holy See.
Question: this is the first time I’ve noticed the ‘Resistance to Reformation’ icon. Is it possible to deliberately raise the value via actions, ideas etc?
As the tense period of alert peace continued into 1518, Friesland dreamed of a new freedom – to explore and settle overseas, as the opportunities for expansion at home became inevitably more limited. While still very far from being considered a candidate for Great Power status, the Frisians were edging closer to making a discernible impact in world rankings that did not relate so directly to sheer size and power [ie the score metric, where the military rank was close to earning a small monthly increment].
The tradition of Republicanism in Friesland was at its maximum and the government remained stable, while its prestige and ability to project force were also as well regarded as they had ever been. Even it had generated much fear and suspicion among its smaller neighbours of the Coalition.
The navy and army remained strong, with ample manpower reserves. Would these be needed soon and, if challenged by the Coalition, would France come to Friesland’s aid? Or would the mere threat of such aid be enough to deter such an attack? Certainly, Roorda had no intention of giving them a new pretext any time soon.
Almost six months on from our last report, Friesland still remained at peace with the neighbouring anti-Frisian coalition. Anne Roorda remained in power in the sixth year of his life term, along with his three-man ministry. Meppen and Cleve were now considered core provinces politically but not culturally, while Zeeland was now being incorporated properly into the Frisian state.
The trade protection fleets remained split between the English Channel and secondary Lübeck trade zones.
Diplomatically, the French alliance remained as Friesland’s bulwark against Coalition intervention, which now included 15 small mainly German regional states. Relations with the rising Portugal were very cordial and being improved.
A new explorer, Reginhard Martena, had been recruited in late 1517 and his most recent voyage had allowed Friesland to map more coastal land in North America. But even the nearest of this territory was still just beyond the current range of Frisian colonial expeditions, now that they were possible. A native policy would be chosen once the first Frisian venture was ready to be sent.
For now at least, no European colonies had been detected in the north of the New World, though rumours from Portugal indicated they may have established settlements well to the south by this time. But the first Frisian contact with native civilisations in the New World was made.
While recent events had seen Frisian stability reduced again, it still remained positive during these tense times. Over-extension was being decreased and would hopefully be eliminated the following year when Zeeland was politically integrated. The early stages of separatist unrest persisted in Meppen and Cleves but did not demand any immediate action to contain them.
The national loan had just been discharged while the economy was somewhat stagnant, with trade income dipping below that of domestic taxation.
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April 1522
Four years later and Potestaat Roorda’s dreams of peace and colonial expansion remained undisturbed. While the so-called ‘Age of Discovery’ was deemed by later historians to be coming to and end, new discoveries were constantly being made. All of the American east coast, much of the Caribbean and the northern coast of what would become known as South America had been mapped by Frisian explorers.
In the last four years, the French had established the first and so far only European colony in the very north-east of the known New World. Portugal had established colonies in Bermuda and the Caribbean.
In late 1518 Johan Ernst Stijl had been hired as Friesland’s chief explorer and it was him who had done the mapping since then. He was currently on assignment in the South Atlantic, having recently set off west after skirting the West African coast past the Portuguese and Castilian colonies there.
Plenty more potential coastline that might be colonised had been identified but as yet still remained out of range. Reginhard Martena, now styled as a ‘Conquistador’, waited back in Friesland as commander of a regiment designed to accompany the first Frisian colonial venture.
The menace of Protestantism had spread further into Friesland in 1519, afflicting Oversticht and Geldern. Unrest and the rebel threat had grown in Meppen and Cleves, while the Protestant insurgency had lowered Frisian religious unity to below the critical 75% threshold. Friesland did not yet have the funds to spend on missionary work in the newly Protestant provinces.
The Frisian alliance arrangements remained in place, with the addition of a military access arrangement with Portugal: alas, it had failed to give Frisian colonists the range Roorda had [in his ignorance of the game mechanics] hoped might be boosted as a result.
A new and more effective minister had been hired to conduct Frisian diplomacy (and spying efforts) And a couple of countries had at least dropped out of the anti-Frisian Coalition.
Trade continued to lag somewhat, with only a small monthly surplus being generated, despite another peacetime cut-back in army maintenance.
While the next extension to Frisian colonial range remained a way off [later attainment of Level 11 tech, as made evident by this little mouse-over I only just discovered as I looked for info to flesh out the AAR, would also help], military technology had progress since 1518, with Frisian infantry formations being upgraded to the Landsknecht model.
While Friesland also waited for the next level of exploration ideas to expand their colonial range, the development of economic ideas was resumed with increased centralisation having been adopted in recent years.
In the Balkans, the unlikely alliance between Hungary and the Ottomans have proved short-lived. Hungary was attempting to help Montenegro defend itself against annexation by the powerful Ottoman war machine. Despite a small initial success by Montenegro, the Ottomans were gaining the upper hand in the early stages of the war.
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November 1523
A year and a half later, the new Age of Reformation had begun in earnest.
The deterioration of religious unity in Friesland had triggered warnings of a looming disaster of religious turmoil for the small nation. It may still be years away and may not happen but started to cause disquiet and invade Potestaat Roorda’s dreams on many a night.
The economy middled along, with the incipient religious turmoil starting to result in corruption, which the government was trying to stamp out.
Friesland was very nearly ready to launch their first colonial venture in a few more months, predicted to be around February the following year.
National stability had been increased again [probably bought, but possibly an event, can’t recall now] and a new policy of coexistence with native populations selected in anticipation of the first Frisian venture. Even if its explorers sometimes disgraced the nation through their excesses!
Roorda’s advisers said, short of embarking on the development of humanist ideas (not likely given Friesland’s other priorities), only the increase of national religious unity would avoid the coming religious crisis. The separatist threat remained on the boil, though Friesland remained confident it would be able to destroy any outbreak without other more conciliatory or hard-line measures being implemented for now.
The main Frisian military expansion had been in light ships, principally for trade protection duties. There had been no recent provincial development and the loyalty and power balance in the estates remained similar.
The latest exploration by Admiral Stijl had revealed an extensive Portuguese colony in Brazil. Otherwise, Friesland’s greatest attainments remained the fleet and trading strength.
The Ottomans had won their war against Hungary and the small country of Montenegro was no more. Of interest, Genoa had established a significant realm in Crimea.
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April 1525
April 1525 saw Frisia still at peace and Roorda still championing the dream of Frisian Freedom.
National ideas in Friesland had progressed in the last year and a half. Overseas exploration had finally been brought to the point where colonial range had been considerably expanded. For the economy, nationalistic enthusiasm had been embraced to decrease land maintenance costs.
And the combination of this progress had seen the concept of flooding the polders introduced, which would aid the defence of Frisian freedom should war come to it again.
But the big news was the establishment of Friesland first overseas colony on 19 March 1525! Ernst Casimir Wynja had led the first venture into Wiscontiss, though only 11 settlers had landed thus far. They were getting along amicably with the local population of 1,000 natives.
The settlement had been established at the extreme limit of Frisian colonisation range.
On the diplomatic front, the big development had been the abandonment of the ultimately useless Portuguese basing agreement, replaced by a new alliance with the other local great power – Denmark. Frisian spies were now at work building networks in Munster and East Frisia under Kai Jousma’s watchful eye, though the latter may never come to fruition if their alliance with Denmark persisted.
Protestantism was on the march to the east but had so far spread no further in Friesland from its nest of heretical vipers in Münster.
Portugal had replaced the fading Hungary in the pecking order of acknowledged Great Powers. While Friesland’s dreams of recognition in the world remained further out of reach.
Nonetheless, for a small country, Friesland was well enough respected in the wider known world of 1525.
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Chapter 15: Colonies and the Wealth of Nations (1526-34)
Chapter 15: Colonies and the Wealth of Nations (1526-34)
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July 1526
Potestaat Anne Roorda awoke from a pleasant slumber on 7 July 1526 and dreams of Frisian freedom, wealth and glory. Nearing the end of his fourteenth year as leader of Friesland, he could survey all that had been achieved under him and his predecessors with some pride.
In the years of peace that had followed Friesland’s war of expansion in 1517, Roorda had become a well-liked figure in his own country, especially among the common folk. His cabinet of ministers was unchanged from the year before.
So too was both the Frisian network of allies and the regional coalition ranged against them. But no punitive war had been declared.
The economy was doing well enough, though army maintenance had been reduced to allow for the added expense of maintaining Friesland’s colony in the New World, to allow for a small monthly budget surplus.
The last year had seen the introduction of some important military reforms, bringing welcome upgrades to the cavalry and artillery arms of the Frisian Leger. And their military leadership remained largely devoted to exploration, on land and at sea.
Protestantism continued to consolidate its hold as a state religion in eastern Germany and Bohemia, but was spreading more slowly from its centre in Münster, where it was not yet the state religion. No further spread into Frisian territory had been recorded, though the rise of religious turmoil caused by it still approached.
Clevian separatists also threatened the peace in that province, so the whole Leger, though on a reduced peacetime readiness, was stationed there in case violence erupted.
The colony of Wicontiss continued to develop slowly but steadily. The explorer Reginhard Martena had been sent across with an escort of a regiment of infantry to start exploring the hinterland. Native nations often rose and fell near the colony, while others seemed to endure more strongly. None seemed to threaten the settlers as yet, who still had no garrison to defend them.
Aragon had burst into the list of leading nations, with both Portugal and Hungary considered legacy members’ of the Great Powers club. France was now entrenched as the top power in the world, well ahead of their nearest competitor.
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The Building of Friesland – 1444 to 1526
Roorda conducted a stock-take of major buildings throughout the country at this time. [ie I just discovered the ‘history’ tab on the city screen, very useful when you’re reconstructing an AAR from game saves!] Starting in the capital State of Frisia, Leeuwarden remained by far the most developed and built-up city in the Republic and a significant regional centre. It contained six major buildings, constructed from 1462 (its central marketplace) to the most recent, a shipyard completed in 1507.
The second Frisian city of Groningen was also well developed now, with five major buildings, the first being the town marketplace (pictured below), as it had been with Leeuwarden.
Oversticht, for quite a time the under-developed province of Frisia after its conquest in 1449, had finally seen a period of building in its capital Zwolle from 1497 to 1513, though it had fallen under heretical influence in 1519.
The capital of the fourth Frisian province of Geldern, Arnhem, was brought into the Republic in 1456. It already had a castle by the, with a major church added in 1503 – though this had not stopped the infiltration of Protestantism in 1519.
The second state of Frisia was Holland, where Amsterdam had been annexed in 1486. It already had its famed Dutch Polders and three major buildings by then and none had been added since.
The next Dutch addition to Friesland was the major centre of Utrecht, in 1464. Its church and cathedral had both been built in 1459, while a marketplace had been added by the Frisians in 1490.
Den Haag, with its major city ‘s-Gravenhage, had not been annexed into Friesland until 1508. A courthouse had been added by the Republic just a few years before in 1522, giving it five major buildings, including a cathedral finished back in 1453.
Middleburg in Zeeland rounded out the State of Holland, acquired by Friesland just nine years before, in 1517. No new buildings had been added to its two existing ones since.
Of the two ‘outlying’ provinces also occupied in 1517, Meppen - also a hotbed of Protestant dissent from the same year – had not had its two existing buildings added to.
And finally, Cleve and its main city Kleves had turned to Protestantism just before being annexed in 1517 and boasted three major buildings – and simmering local unrest against Frisian rule.
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The Danish War against Scotland begins - 1529
Friesland’s allies the Danes and their Kalmar Union allies Sweden, attacked Scotland in 1529 with the aim of conquering the Shetland Islands. Friesland was not called into the conflict, which by 1530 had seen just the one naval battle fought, which the Danes had one, apparently sinking two Scottish (or allied) ships.
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January 1530
Anne Roorda’s nearly sixteen successful years as Potestaat had ended in April 1528. His successor was the relatively young Popetet Van Uylenburgh, who by January 1530 presided over the same ministerial line up. Whose upkeep was reduced by way of Van Uylenburgh’s wide network of influential contacts.
Friesland remained at peace, its allies and opposing coalition still the same as it had been four years previously. Despite a bout of mild inflation that was now ebbing, the budget remained in balance as income grew to meet the increased cost of Frisian colonial ambitions – of which we shall learn more shortly.
The market-based economic theories later elucidated by Adam Smith many years in the future had been adopted, improving production efficiency and completing the wave of new economic ideas in Friesland, which also brought benefits for the cost of later development. Which was not a priority at that time but would be later.
Exploration was now being sold to the Frisian populace as presenting a ‘land of opportunity’ to be had in the New World, increasing the flow of settlers to the New World. In Friesland, despite the religious turmoil of the time, efforts to promote free debate and tolerance had also been made.
In administrative matters, the first new major nationwide policy had been adopted. The Public Welfare Act, enacted on 8 December 1526, sought to alleviate the plight of the poor, to help quell unrest promote national stability.
With growing religious turmoil and a crisis imminent, the government felt such a measure to be prudent.
The development of Friesland’s provinces and building projects in its cities remained largely static at this time. The intervening years had however seen the colony in Wicontiss grow (it was now considered more developed than Meppen in Germany) and new one begun nearby.
If I can dimly recall correctly, I think the new colony came about via an event that offered the choice of gaining it. Which of course I took, later learning the increased cost of having an ‘extra’ colony at the same time the old one was still not finished. But even so, this complemented the policy of expanding in ‘New Frisia’ as quickly as possible.
The natives of Sakimauchheening had applied to come under Frisian jurisdiction on 25 October 1528. The leader of the settlers would remain in Wicontiss but the new settlement had received a head-start in immigrants and already had 362 colonists less than two years after its settlement.
By that time, the ‘Great Power Club’ still recorded Portugal and Poland-Lithuania as members, but their positions were ‘under review’; in Poland’s case, largely due to it being behind in the adoption of modern institutions.
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December 1530
As the same year of 1530 was coming to an end, the Frisian government and key diplomatic arrangements remained unchanged and the economy remained on a similar track. But another advance in military technology had been made, with the introduction of the matchlock musket into the Frisian Leger.
The introduction of Viceroys would increase tariff income and ease the movement of Frisian envoys. But religious turmoil was reaching boiling point and rebels in Utrecht were upset that Friesland’s ruler was not of the Dutch culture! This kind of sentiment would contribute to a future drive towards the “Frisianisation” policy of successive Potestaats.
Also, with the spectre of religious turmoil approaching quickly, Friesland had enacted a series of religious acts that would increase the strength of missionary work (none of which had begun yet, due largely to the cost and other priorities), though at the cost in the Act of Uniformity of 1530 putting a dampener on the adoption of new institutions.
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July 1534
Three and a half years later, Potestaat Van Uylenburgh still dreamed the dream of Frisian Freedom. But Friesland had just been asked to join the unresolved Danish war against Scotland (a bitter rival of both nations for many years) and the Potestaat had seen no real option but to accede. However, so far Friesland had done little to actually intervene.
The Leger was still under a peacetime maintenance regime and the Navy patrolled in support of commerce as it usually did. A new Grand Captain had been appointed after the death of Brunhard Jousma, though less capable than his predecessor – due either to a better choice being unavailable, to cut costs, or both.
As had been predicted for years now, serious religious turmoil broke out in the Republic of Friesland from around February 1532. Within the next couple of years, the Potestaat had responded to this domestic disaster by following the general path of tolerance, though it was unclear what positive effect this may have.
It balanced the earlier introduction of the Religious Acts of 1530, which many hoped would be sufficient to boost later missionary work within the Protestant provinces and might forestall immediate religious uprisings – at a cost. The last few years had also seen events allow for the increased assimilation of natives in the colonies and improved military research.
A more detailed look at the Shetland War showed Denmark was now on top, having sent a large Danish-Swedish army to take Shetland, which had now been occupied. The main Frisian fleet (those three light ships not off exploring) had concentrated and continued to protect trade in the English Channel node.
This benefited trade income from that zone, which underpinned a healthy budget surplus, with colonial costs having decreased due to progress in Wicontiss.
Advances in administrative research now permitted textile manufactories to be built, though none had yet been commenced.
More of Africa’s coastline had been explored and the Frisian fleet was now passing Portuguese Brazil again, endeavouring to map the coast further to the south.
By this time, Wicontiss was being rapidly improved, with a church completed after it became a fully fledged colony in 1531 and it reaching official city status on 1 May 1534. Sakimauchheening now had approaching 600 settlers (aided by the colonial boom then in progress), while the chief Frisian colonist, Ernst Casimir Wynja, had assembled another venture aiming to settle Raritan, to the east.
The Chesapeake Bay trade zone was currently dominated by Friesland, though no income was being collected from it as yet. Frisian land and sea explorers had filled in more of the map of North America’s interior and the Gulf of Mexico coastline.
Of note in the Great Power Game, Muscovy was now known as the Russian Tsardom, an empire ruled by Tsar Vasiliy IV Rurkovich and now ranked third among the powers of the world. Hungary and Portugal were right back in the forefront of the great nations, while Austria (after a brief appearance), Poland-Lithuania and Qara Qoyunlu seemed to be fading in influence.
Of interest, it seemed Friesland’s recent expansion into America had noticeably boosted its standing among other nations.
In an event that was missed in the previous update but that registered with Frisian statesmen in 1540, Galicia-Volhynia had broken away from Poland and been reinstated as a sovereign Principality back at the end of 1529. It remained independent in 1540 under its Kniaz, Yaroslav III Gorchakov. Hungary guaranteed its independence and had truces with Poland and the Ottomans until 1545.
And the long Danish War against Scotland, in which Friesland had been a rather passive ally of the Danes, had finally ended on 2 September 1538. Shetland had been annexed by Denmark, plus Sutherland and Ørkenoerne in a blow to the Scots.
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July 1540
Popetet Van Uylenburgh remained in charge of the Frisian Dream in July 1540, more than 12 years into a very successful term, in which he had more recently demonstrated excellent entrepreneurial skills. A Dutch artist, Johan Poszt, was now his leading consultant on administrative matters.
Scotland had turned south after their loss to Denmark, invading England in 1539. By July 1540, they had overrun all of northern England and seemed to be well on top.
Ignoring this conflict, the bulk of Friesland’s light ships were again protecting trade in the English Channel node, after returning from a series of battles in the first year of the religious war Friesland had found itself dragged into in Germany, through its alliance with Brunswick. A war to “purge heresy” in Verden was well on its way to being won. Oldenburg had been defeated and annexed by Brunswick in a separate peace just four days earlier.
Although it had the largest army in the allied group, the Leger had stayed out of the fighting. But the Frisian Navy had been heavily involved, sinking or capturing nine Verdner ships during five naval battles against them and Oldenburg (whose own likely losses were no longer recorded at the Frisian Admiralty).
The Frisian Navy had won a series of victories during 1539-40, losing no ships but having some damaged and other captured prizes that needed subsequent repair.
A mix of Frisian and captured barques, one caravel and one flute were currently being repaired in Friesland, where the ‘Holland’ transport fleet had all been upgraded from cogs to flutes.
Frisian explorers had mapped much of the eastern American hinterland by this time, adding to the knowledge of its mariners.
And the colony in New Frisia had expanded further, with the establishment of a settlement in Unami on 30 October 1534 after the Lenape tribe had occupied Raritan before the colonist Ernst Casimir Wynja could arrive. Since February 1535 its population was being augmented by the Dutch minority expelled from Amsterdam.
A market place had been completed in Wicontiss in August 1536 and a castle was now almost finished there as it was developed as the de facto capital of the New Frisian venture. And the settlement in Sakimauchheening had almost reached the level that would allow a new city to be formed there.
Around this time, one of Friesland’s two merchant syndicates switched its efforts from the unproductive Lübeck trade zone to the growing Chesapeake Bay. However, their knowledge of the finer points of inter-continental trade [ie. EU IV trade mechanisms ] meant they were not yet harvesting all they could from this investment, by sending goods forward to the English Channel rather than collecting directly.
There were now two light ships protecting this new trade enterprise, where a trading post in Wicontiss and the Delaware Estuary in Sakimauchheening boosted Friesland’s trade share in the zone.
Frisian administrative and military technology was now well ahead of the benchmark, while diplomatic advancements were catching up, though still a bit behind. But the latest advance to introduce the flute provided a welcome boost to Frisian trade and colonial expansion. And the defensive power of the Spanish-inspired tercio was adopted over the more offensively suited free shooter infantry formation.
Colonial expansion was also aided by the adoption of free colonies as Frisia looked to complete a third branch of new ideas.
The Frisian treasury and budget had recently taken some hits, sending it into a 60 gold debt and a small monthly deficit, with inflation having taken hold in the last year or two. The diversion of the main fleet from trade protection to naval engagements in the first year of the war against Verden had depressed income from the English Channel trade somewhat.
It was hoped the re-tasking of the fleet back to trade might quickly turn this around again. Also, the brief ‘double up’ of colonial ventures should be alleviated once Sakimauchheening and Unami, both now well progressed, matured into self-sufficient cities.
As noted above, military improvement had led to the adoption of the tercio formation by the Frisian Leger, the flute as the Navy’s most modern transport ship and, if ever built, improved war galley designs. Building and seizing of prizes had increased the Navy’s size to beyond its most administratively efficient size. The army still had room to grow.
It had also been possible to reform government administration in the last few years, with power being devolved to increase provincial autonomy and improve the range of advice available to the Potestaat.
Due to Friesland’s other governmental settings, neither consolidated power nor the bringing of more ‘New Men’ had been available paths, while the broadening of executive powers had been passed over as an option at this stage.
The Iberian peninsula was now a major presence in the Great Power leader board, while Ming China had suddenly dropped away, for reasons unknown in Europe at the time. Poland-Lithuania (perhaps partly due to the earlier loss of Galicia-Volhynia, mentioned previously) and Austria had dropped away in recent years.
Frisian explorers continued to expand Friesland’s knowledge of the wider world, both in the east of North America, but also along both coasts of the Southern Atlantic, as they reached the limits of their current sailing range.
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International and Religious Developments 1542-44
From July 1542, the Shahdom of Qara Qoyunlu became known once more as the Persian Empire. Little was known of their wider territories, but they maintained quite a large army and by September 1544 were winning a war of conquest against Kars. They also had a truce with the Ottomans until the end of 1549.
Scotland had comprehensively won their war with England, with large swathes of northern England and Wales being annexed by their Reformed (Protestant) Queen Mary Stuart on 25 July 1543.
And most recently, on 12 March 1544 much of southern Hungary was annexed into the Ottoman Empire after a devastating Hungarian defeat. This would clearly have a serious impact on Hungary’s standing as a European power.
The scene is the sortie of Count Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Ban (Viceroy) of Croatia, and his men, the heroic defenders of the castle of Szigetvár, against the besieging Turks [1566 in OTL], in which Zrinski lost his life.
At home amid the continuing religious turmoil, shocking news saw the capital province of Friesland and the city of Leeuwarden convert to the Reformed branch of Protestantism on 9 April 1544. But The leadership and majority of the clergy in the wider country remained Catholic, albeit now only around 60% of the populace adhered to the Old Faith.
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September 1544
Now into his 17th year as leader of Friesland, the all-round brilliant Potestaat Van Uylenburgh still presided over the nation’s fortunes. His focus was now on the development of diplomatic power, which had been lagging the other two disciplines in recent years as exploration ideas had been developed.
After a brief dip during the war with Verden, the economy had roared back into surplus, with trade volumes reaching record heights, helped by reduced colonial costs and despite maintaining an increased army and navy both at full maintenance levels and residual inflation.
The war with Verden had ended in August 1540, with Verden itself also annexed by Brunswick. Friesland had then been drawn into another short ‘Purge War’ against Magdeburg in 1543, ending in Brunswick’s annexation of Lüneburg in July 1544: another with for the Reformed Church.
A new marketplace had been built in Geldern in December 1543 and by September 1544, the main Frisian Leger numbered 21 regiments and was poised in Zeeland – on the border with Flanders.
In New Frisia, Unami had beaten Sakimauchheening to full city-hood in June 1541, the latter following in January 1542. The castle in Wicontiss had been completed in February 1541 and an army of three regiments now guarded it, with another being recruited. The economy of Unami was also being rapidly rapidly built up, with a marketplace in 1542 and a church added the following year.
Ernst Casimir Wynja had then led a new venture to Nentego, establishing a new colony there in November 1542, where tobacco was the local crop. This time, minority Dutch settlers expelled from Den Haag were being shipped in to boost numbers.
This period also saw Friesland finish its development of exploration ideas, with colonial administration now seen as a respectable career for the best and brightest, expanding the acceptable size of the navy and boosting any treasure fleet income received [Note: I do recall those started to arrive at some point, but have no screenshots of them of course. They may explain some of the boosts to the treasury that started to come in.]
Frisian national ideas also saw development, with ‘Low Country Solidarity’ becoming an accepted part of the political landscape.
These new ideas also made it possible for a new policy to be implemented in the diplomatic and commercial sphere, with the Stamp Act of 1541 being passed to boost tariff incomes – should they be levied.
The Frisian Leger had expanded to 25 regiments; most kept back in the homeland, one still off exploring the American hinterland and three, as we have noted, forming a growing colonial army in Wicontiss.
And despite another light ship being added, the Navy now had further room to expand, thanks to the adoption of ideas of global empire.
In the Estates, their increased involvement in public schooling had increased their influence, while the worsening health conditions in the cities decreased that of the Burghers. This was as close as they had been in decades. Both Estates remained loyal enough to the government.
Aragon and Hungary (no doubt due to its recent heavy loss of land to the Ottomans) had been eclipsed by a booming Morocco and Bohemia as acknowledged Great Powers. The addition of more colonies seemed to be adding to Friesland’s reputation, though it remained well away from being seen as a major power.
Central Europe was becoming a little more polarised as Poland and Hungary waned, while Russia and the Ottomans became increasingly influential as they threatened from the east and south. France and Denmark and the Kalmar Union remained the dominant powers in the west and north. In Germany, Bohemia and Brunswick were the rising regional powers as the religious wars sparked by the Reformation continued.
In the wider world, Frisian explorers and merchants pushed the mapped boundaries of Friesland’s known world ever further. The small country now boasted one of the largest navies in the world and an extraordinary fifth place in world trading income.
June 1545: Foreign Wars and Expansion in the Low Countries
By June 1545, the severely weakened Hungary was beset by two large invasions by their northern neighbours which had begun the year before. Almost simultaneously, in late September 1544, both Poland-Lithuania and Bohemia had attacked and Hungary had not been able to effectively resist either.
From 11 October 1544 to 14 April 1545, Poland-Lithuania had occupied most of eastern Hungary and parts its east as well, stretching to Rijeka on the Adriatic coast. And Bohemia had divided Hungary in two down the middle, from Varasd on 19 October 1544 to Bács in the south in December, up to Sopron on 20 March 1545.
By June 1545, the Hungarians and their Bolognan allies were fighting a slightly larger Lithuanian army in Bologna with their last combined army of any size. The rest of the country was thoroughly occupied or being overrun. While battles and attrition had seen the attackers lose significantly more troops than the Hungarian, they were so hopelessly outnumbered that they now had no prospect of staving off a heavy defeat.
Potestaat Popetet Van Uylenburgh, now aged 66, remained in charge of the Frisian Republic. A new advisor, the celebrated navigator Jan Valkenswaard, had been retained, his knowledge and abilities allowing the range of Frisian colonial expeditions to be significantly increased.
The same Frisian alliance network persisted as it had done for some years now. But Flanders, to the south, had no allies of note to protect them. So in late 1544, Friesland had launched a war of conquest with the assistance of Brunswick, at last seeking to occupy Flanders – before the French did the same.
Just one battle had been fought and it had been totally decisive. 21,000 Frisian troops had stormed in Brugge to destroy Flanders 5,000-man army, wiping them out to a man while only losing a little over 500 themselves. A few hundred more had been lost in subsequent siege work and the major centre of Brugge itself remained under siege, after Gent fell soon after the start of the war.
To decrease attrition, only around half the Frisian Leger remained in Brugge for the siege, with the rest holding back in Zeeland. Brunswick was providing a garrison in Gent, which had been taken on 3 November 1544.
Elsewhere, Friesland continued to expand its navy with two more caravels under construction in the shipyards of Leeuwarden (Friesland Province) and Groningen. The policy of’ cultural Frisianisation’ was being pursued in Amsterdam by active conversion and in Den Haag by the expulsion of the Dutch minority to the new colony in Nentego.
The main Frisian fleet of 27 ships continued to protect trade in the English Channel, while five did the same in the Lübeck zone (the Frisian Admiralty not yet having learned the full subtleties of trade promotion at that time).
Three ships had remained in New Frisia to protect and promote Frisian trade in the Chesapeake Bay area. The colony in Nentego was still in the comparatively early days of its establishment, while a small colonial army was building in Wicontiss.
The introduction of new wharf designs in the last year had further expanded Frisian colonial range and enabled the construction of naval equipment manufactories, should they wish to build them – none had been commenced to date.
The failure of Friesland to so far embrace the printing press was hampering administrative and military research, though both those areas remained well ahead of many comparable countries.
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1546-49: Foreign Developments
Hungary, after capitulating to Poland in April 1546 and Bohemia in September 1547, had been forced to give up huge parts of its country, which was now broken into two halves, rendering them no more than a relatively minor regional duchy.
By August 1549, Hungary had sought protection by entering into a personal union with Austria, now falling under the sway of the Habsburg Emperors. By December 1550, Hungary had descended from great power status into obscurity.
On 1 July 1548, Frisian chroniclers noted that the Kalmar Union had been dissolved: Denmark had absorbed Sweden as an integral part of its country, rather than a junior partner of a union. Denmark now directly controlled the entirety of Scandinavia – and other lands in Russia and on the Baltic Coast as well.
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December 1550: Political, Diplomatic and Military Matters
Potestaat Van Uylenburgh had ended his distinguished 18-year tenure in May 1546, the dream being taken up by Johan Ernst Riemersma. The latter had supervised the Republic for four largely unremarked years, until his death on 27 July 1550.
His replacement was Wiebe Japisk, already old and regarded as an obsessive perfectionist (ie a micro-managing nuisance). His dreams were of details, not the grand sweep of Frisian Freedom. Still, he was an accomplished administrator and diplomat, despite his unfortunate obsession with architectural matters.
During Riemersma’s tenure, in 1547 Friesland had been dragged into another Danish war against Scotland and its allies. By the end of 1550, this conflict continued: Friesland’s main contribution had been at sea, where three of their own ships had been lost, while inflicting some heaving defeats on the enemy.
At some point, the Frisian Leger must have engaged in a skirmish or had to combat a Scottish raid, but no record of it could be found. But Denmark had lost a tremendous amount of men so far: almost 60,000, more than half of them in land battles, the rest siege attrition. The Scots and their allies had lost around 41,000, almost all in battle.
Of note, the English – who had by now adopted Anglicanism as its state religion – was suffering from a major Catholic uprising around Oxford, while eight Scottish provinces had been occupied – at a high price – by the Danes, who dominated the Scots with two large armies in the centre of the island.
Back in Friesland, the brief war against Flanders had been won after the siege of Brugge ended in victory in July 1545, the whole country being annexed and made core possessions the following year. A castle had almost been completed in Gent, with Friesland wary of a possible confrontation with France at some point in the future.
The Frisian Leger was resting in Gelre and Cleve, ever on the alert for religious unrest. Frisianisation was now being implemented in Zeeland and Den Haag as well as Amsterdam, as successive Potestaats – whether misguided or not – pursued a Frisian monoculture within the borders of the Republic. A religious conversion had also begun for the first time in recent Frisian history in recent years, currently in Oversticht after earlier work in Meppen, more of which will be dealt with below.
By this time, the whole Frisian warship fleet in Europe had relocated to the Lübeck trade route (one carrack and 33 light ships, mainly caravels). Other than perhaps evading more chance encounters with Scottish and allied ships, it is no longer clear why they were sent there, rather than home to port, as in was not performing any immediately useful function for any Frisian merchants.
The Frisian Leger was now at its full sustainable strength and the navy just one ship short of its. And the Leger had chosen to upgrade their artillery to large cast iron cannon.
One larger foreign war was being conducted by the Ottomans against their other traditional victims, the Mamluks, who were defending Dawasir (of which little was known in Leeuwarden). As usual, the Mamluks were in big trouble.
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December 1550: Religion
Protestant and Reformed heresies were now spread widely in Europe. Ireland was a large focus of the Reformed denomination, with another centre in Bern. Munster was no longer spreading the Protestant denomination, whose main strength was in central Europe.
In Friesland, the heretical onslaught had spread, with Reformists taking over in Den Haag in November 1547 and Protestants a year later in Groningen. But Friesland had made its decision: it would be siding with the counter-reformation against the evil heresies of Luther, Calvin and their demonic cohorts. Meppen had been successfully converted back to the One True Church just a few months before and the missionary Fokke Van Uylenburgh’s effort had just been switched to Oversticht.
A problem in resisting the Reformation was Friesland’s current lack of an active cardinal who could adopt a position at the Council of Trent. This neutrality would make Friesland a more likely target for reformist proselytisers. But missionary power was boosted by the series of acts that had been adopted in recent years.
A new colony in Africa (more below) with Fetishist beliefs did not have any material effect of Frisian religious unity, with the picture at the moment being ‘you win some, you lose some’.
I had to look this up to get a better idea of what the Council of Trent was all about, as any explanatory event screens that may have come up at the time are long forgotten. We needed a cardinal, and didn’t have one. And I can’t recall now whether I was even aware of this at the time. Anyway, from the Wiki, here is the Trent piece.
The Council of Trent currently had the narrowest of majorities in favour of the conciliatory approach and had implemented three concessions that promoted the opinion of heretics, which promoted some benefits. But if Friesland got the chance, they would have adopted a harsher approach.
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December 1550: The Economy, Research, Culture, Stability and the Estates
The Republic’s treasury was in a very healthy position and trade remained at historic highs, despite the diversion of the fleet from the English Channel during the war with Scotland. Inflation, missionary and colonial maintenance barely made a dent in the monthly budget surplus.
As noted above, the introduction of trunnions had led to cast iron cannon becoming available to the Frisian Leger. Additionally, the introduction of the Man of War concept had allowed for the introduction of naval batteries and other benefits.
Even with the Frisianisation policy, the dominance of Frisian culture was still being diluted as the Republic expanded. In the last five years, four events had led to benefits in a number of areas but, unfortunately, the mocking of the Catholic establishment in Friesland by a natural philosopher had decreased tolerance of the True Faith.
National stability had decreased again [can’t remember why now, no doubt some unwelcome event] as the period of religious turmoil continued. Both Protestant and Reformed zealots were trying to stir up trouble.
In the Estates, the Burghers had expanded their influence again through the advancement of the merchant classes in Frisian society.
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December 1550: Colonial Issues
A French war against the native Abenaki tribe had seen France assemble a massive army of over 30,000 men to conquer Piktuk and led to a review of the development of New France by their Frisian allies and competitors. After the first French settlement in 1519 at Baye Sainte-Claire (all the province names seem to have since been given French names at some point) there had been a gap of almost 11 years before the next was settled at Belle Isle.
Expansion since then had been steady with new colonies founded roughly every five years. Then, just a few month before France had established the autonomous Colony of French Canada, which had taken over administration of all the settlements on France’s behalf. Other than the current one-sided war against the Abenaki (who had no allies to help them), both France and French Canada were colonising separate locations.
Nentego had been first settled in November 1542, taking on Dutch culture after the immigration of minorities from the homeland and becoming a full city a year and a half before, in June 1549. A new workshop had been finished in the colonial capital of Wicontiss in July 1546.
Through some troops shipped across from Europe, but mainly acquired through local recruiting, the Leger van Wicontiss was now a compact small army, with a cavalry and artillery regiment. Four caravels now supported the Frisian traders in Chesapeake Bay.
But as hinted at before, the interesting news was of the settlement of a now colonial venture a little over a year ago in Gabon, in November 1549.
First discovered by Portugal in 1494, then France and Friesland in the 1530s, it had been settled now to provide an outpost on the West African coast and also, it was hoped, a forward way-station for Frisian explorers who hoped to keep voyaging further south and then beyond the rumoured southern tip of Africa to the Indian Ocean.
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December 1550: The World
Friesland’s relative standing as a power in the world and that of Portugal and Bohemia had been damaged in the ‘world rankings’ by their slowness to embrace a fourth major institution (the printing press, presumably). Morocco continued to figure in the acknowledged great powers, while Austria had joined the list as a result of their subjection of Hungary.
No dramatic advances of knowledge had been made by Frisia’s explorers over the last four or five years, especially at sea, as they simply did not have the naval range to go much further. Trade income remained a great strength and the navy was still formidable in terms of the quantity of its ships, though they were almost all light vessels aimed at trade boosting.
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May 1551: A Brief Interlude
Just five months later, the Danish-Scottish war continued though some more progress had been made by the Danes: the Scots once more were putting up a stubborn fight, with the losses mounting on both sides after four years of nasty fighting – which Friesland was successfully avoiding.
Little had changed at home, with a new caravel commissioned in Leeuwarden while cultural and religious conversions continued. The main fleet was still hovering in the Lübeck trade node, though this had not yet much affected trade income in the English Channel. And careful political management enduring Republican Tradition in Friesland was at its maximum (100%).
The Ottoman war against Dawasir and their unfortunate Mamluk allies continued to grind down the defenders as more Mamluk territory was occupied.
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September 1551: More War
Another four months had not seen the Danish war on Scotland end yet but it should not be too far off as the Danes slowly spread west and south.
The spiritual battlefield in Europe was by now as fierce or fiercer than the military one. While Anglicanism was the state religion in England, none of its provinces seemed to have adopted it! In the British Isles, Reformed was the predominant creed, with Catholicism holding out in the south-east.
In Friesland, Gent had recently succumbed to Reformed preachers infiltrating from Bern and Brügge was now being targeted as heresy still threatened to overwhelm the True Church in the land of Frisian Freedom.
The Misery of the Mamluks dragged on either side of the Red Sea as the Ottomans approached total victory in their latest war of conquest.
Interestingly, the shadowy (to Frisian cartographers) native West African realm of Kong had gained the upper hand in an apparently ill-conceived Castilian attempt to conquer Denkyira, occupying their whole strip of Ivory-Gold Coast colonies. Friesland quietly continued to build its outpost in Gabon.
The French had predictably won its was war in in north-west America, with Diktuk being annexed a few months before. There was no change in the circumstances of what was currently being called the Frisian Delaware Valley.
France brought Friesland into another colonial war in 1561, aimed at the annexation of Mahican lands. This war was still in progress but almost won by April 1563, by which time New Friesland had been established as a separate colonial administration (see below).
The Frisian colony in Gabon reached self-sustaining status on 8 March 1562, providing a useful source of naval supplies. A Frisian Catholic missionary would soon be sent to convert the locals from their Fetishist ways.
Later that year, New Friesland was established as a self-administered colony as a private enterprise.They would soon be seeing to their own expansion goals, in addition to further Frisian efforts to gain American territory before France (who received the ‘Papal License’ for the whole region) took all the nearby land for themselves.
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April 1563
Potestaat Maurits Kiestra was still in power in April 1563 at the ripe old age of 79. France and Denmark remained Friesland’s primary allies, with the same arrangements in place as had applied in 1560, after the First Frisian-Indian War. New Friesland was now being administered as a subject state and contributed trade power to the homeland.
Money had been spent in the last couple of years to raise the stability of the nation back to its maximum level [+3]. At home, ‘Frisianisation’ was being applied in Meppen and Den Haag while on the religious front, Cleve had been brought back into the Catholic fold through missionary work.
In America, recent mapping had shown Portuguese Mexico to be expanding inland, augmenting their island colonies of Bermuda and the self-administering Carabais.
Meanwhile, France had spawned in new colony at Caloucha, in modern-day Florida. No Castilian colonies or those of any other European power had been identified as yet within the region.
On the economic front, New Friesland had begun to render some very modest tariff income, while war reparations were still being paid by one of the previously defeated native American tribes. Most of the treasury surplus had been spent on bolstering national unity during the troubled times of religious factionalism in Friesland.
An advance in military technology, in which Friesland was now a world leader, had seen the Leger’s cavalry arm upgraded to employ caracole formations.
The separation of New Friesland had seen a reduction in the maximum establishments for the army and navy, meaning both now incurred additional sustainment costs until these could be raised again.
With none of the remaining metropolitan Frisian provinces yet able to be converted back the true faith, Catholic missionaries had been sent to Gabon instead. With New Friesland now separated, this also meant Catholicism was the religion of only 23% of the Frisian population.
Friesland’s brief period as an acknowledged great power was over, in large part because of the separation of New Friesland as a subject rather than integral colony had diffused its absolute power. Of note, Frisian cartographers now recorded the Ottoman expansion into much of Mesopotamia.
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1563-69: Colonial Developments and an Allied War
France had finalised its victory over Mahican in January 1564, also annexing Ambois at the same time: right in the middle of New Friesland’s own ‘expansion zone’. In reaction to this, Friesland had begun colonising Espachomy in May 1566, while New Friesland had been very busy since gaining its autonomy, annexing Piscatawny back in May 1563.
By 1569 New Friesland would have colonists busy in both Quiripi and Rappahannock, its own army of 5 regiments and a navy of 10 caravels, with another being built in Wicontiss.
Following the establishment of Gabon, a new settlement had been made on the tip of southern Africa at Swellendam in September 1564. It was already hemmed in by the Portuguese to the west and Castile to the east but was designed to provide another small way-station to facilitate Frisian penetration of the Indian Ocean region.
Another short Danish-Scvottish war had briefly involved Friesland in a very incidental manner from 1558-59, with Ayrshire and the Isle on Mann taken by the acquisitive Danes.
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1566-69: The War of the Protestant League
The somewhat misleadingly named War of the Protestant League had been started in 1566 By Protestant Bohemia against Catholic Austria. Despite its title, the realpolitik of the time saw Catholic France and Orthodox Russia side with Bohemia against their old enemy Austria, while the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire would side with Habsburgs of Austria and Hungary.
In OTL, the Defenestrations of Prague were three incidents in the history of Bohemia in which people were defenestrated (thrown out of a window). Though already existing in Middle French, the word defenestrate ("out of the window") is believed to have first been used in English in reference to the episodes in Prague in 1618 when the disgruntled Protestant estates threw two royal governors and their secretary out of a window of the Hradčany Castle and wrote an extensive apologia explaining their action. [Alas, still a method of purging victims employed in some places four hundred and fifty years later.]
By the end of February 1569, the Austrian-led coalition – thanks substantially to Ottoman support – was well ahead as fighting had raged from battlefields stretching all the way from France to Russia over the last three years.
Much of southern Bohemia had been occupied by Austria and Hungary, though a large Franco-Bohemian army was currently trying to reclaim some of that lost land in Bohemia. Poland-Lithuania had, rather wisely, stayed neutral in this conflict so far, as had Denmark – and Friesland.
The Battle of Köln, 1568. An massive Ottoman-led Coalition army of over 220,00 had defeated a French-led League army of just under 32,000, capping off a series of League losses in western Germany leading up to it.
After a series of defeats on land and at sea leading up to Köln, the League had only recently managed to claw back a little momentum, with a Russian victory at the gates of Moskva and a French victory over Strasbourg at Valais in the winter of 1568-69.
The forces involved and lost on both sides had been huge. To date, the League had lost 228,000 troops and 25 ships, with France bearing the brunt of these, followed by Switzerland, Bohemia and Saxony. For the Coalition, the Ottomans had suffered the lion’s share of the casualties, followed by Austria, Milan and Naples.
Of the troops remaining in the field for both sides in February 1569, the Coalition (thanks to the Ottomans) had a reasonable advantage in infantry and artillery numbers and a massive preponderance of cavalry. Of interest, since it had last been reviewed, Russia seemed to have greatly increased its artillery holdings as a proportion of its total force.
The sack of Nürnberg by the Austrian Coalition, 1568.
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February 1569
Old Maurits Kiestra had shuffled off his mortal coil in September 1563, to be succeeded by the elderly and notably cruel Sikke Jousma, who nonetheless was known as a very able administrator and diplomat. His contribution to maintaining the dream of Frisian freedom alive was to keep its religious ferment internal and relatively peaceful, expanding overseas while staying out of the massively destructive War of the Protestant Coalition.
Intervening events had seen national stability decrease again [back down to +2] but, given the turmoil and death consuming central Europe at that time, this was a benign period for Frisian development.
Frisian culture remained strong and expanding, innovation was booming even if it slightly hindered missionary work. The Estates remained stable, while the Catholic clergy had virtually no significant influence as their ‘brand’ continued to suffer at the hands of heretical ascendancy.
Meppen in 1566 and Den Haag the following year had been successfully ‘Frisianised’, while a second heavy carrack was under construction on Leeuwarden. The League War was observed on Friesland’s southern border with the occupation of French Bois-de-Duc by Austria in September 1568. Though France remained an important Frisian ally, there were also many who did not mind seeing them taken down by more than a peg or two.
More advances in Frisian research saw the concept of plantations and a new set of national ideas become available, while the galleass class of oared warships could now be built if Friesland wished to. And Friesland was one of the more technologically advanced countries in the world.
As mentioned, new ideas of expansionism had begun to permeate Frisian society at this time, as its colonial age burgeoned. Even if, by modern standards, many of the ideas that underpinned it were morally dubious or outright exploitative. As far as the Frisians were concerned, it was a race; one that France and Portugal were winning.
Another race, which went hand in hand, was that of exploration. Further voyages had mapped most of the western coast of South America, where Portuguese settlements and the mysterious Inca people had been noted.
On the eastern coast of North America, French expansion continued apace, while the Huron Confederacy was the largest native power in the north-east. For now, the Hathawekela remained Frisian allies.
Friesland’s temporary appearance in the list of great powers had ended a few years before [as had the scoring of victory points and the various rankings fell back to the field again]. But it was not ravaged by the terrible religious conflict sweeping much of Europe and still boasted a large navy and healthy trade income.
By late 1551 the Council of Trent had been meeting for some time as the True Faith tried to settle on measures to counter the Reformation which was sweeping Europe in general and Friesland in particular. It sat sandwiched between Reformist and Protestant heresies as its political and religious leaders tried to fight back – with increasing desperation.
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1551-53: Key Events
The latest war between the Ottomans and their Mamluk and Dawasir victims ended soon after our last report, on 20 November 1551. More Mamluk territory was lost to the Ottomans on the Red Sea, but not in the same quantities as some of the previous peace settlements.
And just five days later, Denmark’s war against Scotland was won, in which Friesland had been active at sea early on, though not on the land. Begun in 1547, it ended with Denmark annexing the Inner and Outer Hebrides and Argyll on the Scottish mainland. It was a reprise of the depredations of the Vikings in the north some seven or eight centuries before.
Despite the expense, Friesland had decided to take on another American colony in February 1552, in part due to concerns about their powerful ally France’s rapid colonial expansion in the north-east. By 1554, the colony was about a quarter of its way to becoming an established settlement.
In central Europe, the big news was a Polish-Lithuanian led coalition to eradicate the ‘upstart’ principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Starting in July 1553, Poland and Lithuania had begun occupying Galicia’s northern provinces. But the huge disparity in numbers was largely offset by Russia entering the war on Galicia’s side. By March 1554 the Commonwealth was ahead on balance, with both sides losing roughly the same amount of men, most for the Polish coalition being lost through siege attrition.
While Russia had managed to occupy two of Lithuania’s eastern provinces between September-November 1553, their big problem was going to be their heavy reliance on infantry, while the more advanced forces of the Commonwealth could bring large amounts of cavalry and artillery to bear. After Galicia was subdued, that greater weight of firepower would likely be sent east to counter the Russian encroachment.
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March 1554: Religion
The previous Potestaat Wiebe Japisk had died just a few weeks before, his successor the already elderly Maurits Kiestra. Kiestra was considered to be naïve and indiscreet but a strong military man. His dreams would be of glory and braggadocio in equal measures! The same Frisian alliances of recent years continued.
With military peace at home, the real war in these years was religious. In the last three years, Reformist and Protestant encroachment had seen Brügge and Amsterdam fall to heresy, while Reformist proselytisers were now hard at work in Zeeland. But Oversticht had been returned to Catholicism by Frisian missionaries, who were now at work in Geldern.
The Frisian ‘culture war’ continued in parallel in Amsterdam, Den Haag and Zeeland, while construction of a state house had been started in the commercial centre of Utrecht.
More broadly, Catholicism was now the local and state religion in much of south-east England, where Anglicanism had only a minor presence. It was Reformed that was the growing influence, fuelled from twin centres in Ireland. The Protestants held sway in Bohemia, central Germany and an area just to the south of Friesland.
The Council of Trent had completed its sittings, with the final policy emerging from the hard-line side of the Council, which had pushed Catholic Mysticism. While the completion of the Council had restored Friesland’s resistance to the Reformation to a neutral setting, Catholic unity in the country was now only 54%. A good deal of that was due to overseas territories remaining true to the faith.
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March 1554: Colonialism and Exploration
So far, the only identified colonial presences in North America and the Caribbean belonged to France in the north-east, Friesland on the central eastern coast and Portugal, which had established a large colony on the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico, while Caraibas was now a semi-autonomous Portuguese colonial administration.
Frisian explorers had managed to travel west past Cape Horn and a good way up the western coast of South America. The Frisian colony in Gabon also continued to make slow progress.
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March 1554: Economy, Research and Military
While the Frisian treasury was flush with funds, poor trade management [I’d left the fleet in the wrong place, rather than in the English Channel, due to an oversight at the end of the Danish-Scottish war. Doh.] plus increased costs from the second colony, missionary work and corruption meant there was now only a small monthly surplus.
The printing press had still not been fully adopted in Friesland, but improved drainage systems had still been introduced recently to improve productivity.
Frisian military strength was currently at its maximum sustainable limit for both the army and the navy, which was still dominated in numbers by its light ships, plus an increase in transport ship numbers to aid trans-Atlantic troop movements, if needed for colonial enterprises. And indeed, the Potestaat had taken personal command of the colonial army in New Frisia.
The long Frisian Golden Age, started back in the Age of Exploration, was nearing its end in 1554. One of their objectives for the Age of Reformation was in the early stages of achievement, with two provinces converted back to the True Faith so far.
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1555-58: Key Events
Friesland had been obliged to support France during their big Indian War of 1556-58 against a Huron-led native-American coalition. France and French Canada had ended up winning a big victory, annexing large amounts of land in February 1558 and in the process of settling more. This had massively boosted France’s colonial presence in north-east America.
Soon after that, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had triumphed in their war against Galicia-Volhynia and their Russian allies (1553-58). As many pundits had predicted, the Principality’s independence had been short-lived. Not only had it been partitioned between the two partners, but Lithuania had retaken its lost territory in the east, and together with their coalition partners had taken the war deep into Russia itself before forcing the Tsar into a disadvantageous peace.
This had resulted in a new Polish enclave being carved out of Russian territory to the north-east of Lithuania.
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1558-60: Friesland’s First Indian War
Lenape had established a local town in Conestoga in the late 1550s that Friesland was not prepared to let stand. Following their support of France against the Huron, Friesland had sought similar support from them in this endeavour against Lenape’s native coalition. In preparation for this venture, Friesland had broken its long alliance with Brunswick, replacing it with a pact with the supposedly powerful local Hathawekela tribe.
France had soon sent an army to besiege Conestoga on Friesland’s behalf. This had been useful, as the Hathawekela had been beset by a large rebellion and then an invasion by the Lenape. The Potestaat had brought over 3-4,000 reinforcements by ship from the homeland, who combined with the locally trained Frisian colonial army to campaign from Patawomac with two armies. First, the rebels were cleared out of Calicula in December 1559 and Mohetan in January 1560.
Then Lenape was cleared out of Kanawha and Tatteroa from 5-10 March, with the diplomat Ernst Casimir Kiestra concluding a peace treaty with the Lenape at Munsee on 13 March 1560. Up in Manahahttan, the colony continued to grow steadily.
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March 1560: Home Affairs
Potestaat Maurits Kiestra’s dreams of glory had come true in America, leading Frisian troops to victory in their first colonial war of conquest. Six years into his life term, the hardy old warrior had defied many predictions to remain in charge at the ripe old age of 75.
Missionary work at home was currently on hold, but colonial and anti-corruption costs were still soaking up much of the monthly surplus, while poor trade execution continued to plague Frisian merchants in the English Channel. However, prior savings and some war plunder had boosted the treasury to new heights.
At home, Friesland’s Catholic establishment seemed to be losing their own religious war against the encroachment of the Reformation. Most of the recently converted provinces could not yet be reclaimed, with the conversion of Zeeland to Reformed Church in 1555 and Den Haag to Protestantism in 1557 making only the three re-converted provinces of Meppen, Oversticht and Geldern their only Catholic outposts in European Friesland.
With Catholicism now the religion of less than a third of the Frisian population, there were many calls for Friesland to ‘get with the strength’ and convert to one of the two heresies now prevalent in the homeland. But so far, Friesland’s leadership remained committed to the counter-reformation, despite this grim position. And meanwhile, they pushed Frisian culture even if religious unity slipped away.
In the rest of Europe, the march of the Reformed Church through Britain had continued since 1554. Though Catholicism remained the state religion of England and Denmark, only a few provinces now held onto the True Faith – and one of them was in the process of being converted. France remained a firm bulwark against the Reformation, as did Denmark and Austria.
Both sides of the Reformation had become increasingly militant as ‘De Heretico Comburendo’ had unfortunately become a by-word across much of western and central Europe by 1560, for all sides.
Despite the distraction of this religious competition, Friesland still managed to enact some more governmental reform of the political apparatus and ideals.
With plenty of money available to spend on the citizenry in these religiously troubled times, the Potestaat had chosen to boost the stability of the state. And while the competition for free Frisian hearts and souls went on, the period of disastrous internal religious turmoil had at least ended. Republican tradition remained strong and manpower reserves abundant.
But in the Estates, the influence of the establishment Clergy had very nearly hit rock bottom, with the collapse of Catholic unity in the wider populace, combined with a rejection of a funding grant a few years before. The Burghers went on untroubled, as before. The loyalty of both Estates was sufficient.
By this time, Friesland had four state administrations established, with the Delaware Valley in New Frisia now approaching European; levels of development and the two annexed provinces of Flanders being granted similar status. The rest, at home and abroad, were administered as territories.
Recent expansion had seen the army grow two regiments to 31, with the navy able to sustainably expand up to a total of 49 ships, from 47 in 1554. The two colonial armies had 13,000 men between them, with the other 18,000 held back in the homeland – just in case, though peace had reigned in the immediate neighbourhood now for many years.
The printing press had been adopted in Friesland by 1560, boosting research which remained ahead of many of the country’s contemporaries. The innovation of chartered companies had been introduced a few years previously, boosting trade efficiency further and allowing newer and better transport ships to be introduced.
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March 1560: Friesland and the World
After approaching 116 years of the Fryske Frijheid, the Republic had been served by 17 Potestaats (Syndics) including the current incumbent. For the main part, they had been generally effective in at least one, often two and sometimes all three of the main areas of governance.
The country was now almost evenly split between the Catholic, Protestant and Reformed churches. Cloth remained the primary product, with colonial settlements making tobacco the second largest. [Question: is there something more specific I should have been doing to exploit these at this stage? I’ve really paid no attention at all to the subtleties of trade goods but suspect I should have been.]
‘Frisianisation’ had kept the culture firmly expanding at the expense of the Dutch and Flemish minorities.
More exploration had been possible, with Frisian mariners rounding the southern tip of Africa and continuing just past the southern end of Madagascar before having to turn back. Along the way, they had confirmed the presence of Castilian and Portuguese colonies – and plenty of unsettled land that Frisian colonists may be able to take advantage of in due course.
The colonial outpost of Gabon was nearing city status and it was hoped it would make a good transit out post for the continued Frisian penetration of southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
The political situation in Europe was not greatly different to what it had been ten years before, with larger and more powerful states in the east and west, while central and western Germany remained diplomatically fragmented, even while remaining under the loose political hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire, still ruled by the Austrians.
But in exciting news for the dreamers of Frisian Freedom, the country had briefly entered the ranks of the Great Powers in the latter half of the 1550s! This had been possible due to the adoption of the printing press, colonial expansion, development and scientific advancement. Even though it might lose that nominal status in late 1564 and was still ranked the tenth most ‘powerful’ country in the world. A remarkable achievement for those generations of Frisian dreamers.
With administrative, diplomatic and military rankings all in the top ten, Friesland was also finally being recognised in the pantheon of international achievement over the sweep of time [ie VPs accumulated since 1444].
The Ottomans were now well and truly acknowledged as the number one power in the world, followed by France and Russia. Poland’s recent successes had also restored its standing, while the Iberian peninsula remained well represented with three powers in the top eight.
Frisian cartographers had worked hard to extend the reach of its maps, not just from curiosity of course, but also to serve its longer-term trade and colonial interests.
All in all, by 13 March 1560 the Frisian people were well pleased with where their dreams had taken them so far, with some ambitions that had seemed well out of reach having begun to be fulfilled.
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Chapter 20: War Against the Bremer Coalition (1569-73)
Chapter 20: War Against the Bremer Coalition (1569-73)
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1569: War with Bremen
With Austria and France and their respective alliances still heavily embroiled in the War of the Protestant League begun by Bohemia in 1566, in early 1569 Friesland decided to make war to enforce its conquest claim on Bremen. Their great ally Denmark, another neutral from the League War, was called in to assist. In turn, Bremen assembled a coalition of seven other smaller German states to assist with its defence. The Frisian-Danish Alliance would fight the Bremer Coalition for the next four years, as the League War continued near to and sometimes across the same battlefields of northern Germany and the Low Countries.
After two years of war, by March 1571 the Alliance had only a marginal lead, thanks mainly to Danish blockades of Coalition ports. Three sea battles (all comfortably won by the greatly superior Frisian and Danish fleets) and one land battle – a non-catastrophic defeat in Meppen of the Frisian Leger by a massed Coalition army almost twice its size – had been fought, the results balancing themselves out. The Danish blockades were largely balanced out by the seizure of six Danish provinces in the east.
Apart from a massive Alliance superiority at sea, improved since the start of the war by the sinking of 18 Coalition ships, thanks to the Danish contribution the Alliance had a clear numerical advantage in infantry and cavalry and a massive artillery advantage. But, as always, it was the specific application of force that mattered. And so far, thanks to both battle losses and siege attrition, the Coalition had lost considerably fewer troops than their opponents, with Friesland alone losing more men so far than the entire Coalition combined.
In terms of quality, Friesland’s Leger had the best morale and military tradition of any combatant on either side (just ahead of Denmark). Their weakest comparative ability was in siege warfare.
We have seen the huge overall numerical advantage the Alliance held at sea. As an indication of Friesland’s greatest military strength, its naval tradition far outstripped its nearest friendly (Danish) and enemy (Lübeck) comparators, though Danish naval morale (as well as numbers) surpassed Frisian Navy.
Denmark had by far the largest navy, though a large proportion of their ships were either war galleys suited to operating in the Baltic or transports that facilitated the movement of its armies on its coastline. Of the combatants, on Denmark and Friesland operated heavy carracks by March 1571. Friesland’s light ship fleet now contained 42 vessels, with New Friesland deploying another 11 of their own.
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March 1571: The Frisian-Bremer War
In the main theatre of the Frisian-Bremer War, the Frisian Leger had withdrawn largely intact from its initial loss in Meppen to hold in Oversticht, where by this time it had been fully reinforced. An Anhalt-Brandenburger army was besieging Groningen while the main Coalition army waited in East Friesland.
Danish Holsteen had changed hands briefly in 1570, the Coalition occupying it in February but the Danes reclaiming it in May. Since then, a Danish army of 24,000 had moved into Hamburg, where they laid siege. Of interest large French and Austrian armies were also in the vicinity, conducting their own vicious war in parallel.
In the eastern theatre, the Coalition (nominally Bremen, but actually the Rigans) had taken advantage of Denmark’s need to cover such a wide territory by occupying a number of Danish provinces in Livonia and Finland, while two large Danish armies were in Curonia and Prussia.
Potestaat Sikke Jousma still ruled the Frisian Republic. He had stretched Friesland’s diplomatic capacity by adding a military access agreement with Oldenburg to allow direct overland movement to Bremen, though the initial defeat at Meppen had frustrated that objective so far.
With 33 regiments, the Frisian Leger remained three over its sustainable establishment, the while the Navy was one over its establishment with 51 ships.
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March 1571: The League War Continues
By this time, the Bohemian-led (and rather inaccurately named, given French and Russian membership) Protestant League was well behind in its war to demonstrate superiority over the Austrian-led Catholic coalition (which also included the Ottomans).
The combined losses for both sides now exceeded 840,000 troops and 57 ships and the Austrian Coalition’s preponderance, bolstered by the massive Ottoman armies and fleets, had increased.
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March 1571: Exploration and Colonies
By the end of March 1571, Frisian explorers had charted further to the east in the southern Indian Ocean.
And they had also explored much of the southern Pacific Ocean, including a number of island chains far to the west of South America.
New Friesland continued its own expansion into Machkantowoon (September 1569), Quiripi, Senedo and Rappahannock, aided by the Frisian colonist who remained in Espachomy.
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April 1571
A month later and the League War was slipping ever further from the Protestant League’s grasp. Austria and the Coalition had now begun to make inroads in southern Russia from the direction of both the Crimea and Caucasus, while much of Bohemia itself had been occupied.
The discontinuation of the Danish blockades had seen the war calculus swing slightly in favour of the Bremer Coalition, though no more battles had been fought on land or at sea since March. Siege warfare remained the primary endeavour on the Western Front, as Friesland continued to hold back, letting attrition and Denmark take the rest of the running while looking for opportunities if the Coalition relaxed its guard in Groningen.
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May 1571
Denmark still had the bulk of its army in the east, in Danish East Prussia, while smaller Coalition forces caused problems in depth.
A month later, the Frisian Leger had managed to defeat the besieging Anhalt-Brandenburger army in Groningen then fall back to Oversticht again, out of range of a larger Coalition riposte from East Frisia. The Bremer army was now conducting the siege but had been forced to recommence it. The Danes continued to reduce heavily fortified Hamburg. Despite this, the Coalition was still deemed to be slightly ahead in the war, due to those eastern occupations of Danish territories.
The economy remained in a monthly budget surplus of 3 ducats, with 61 ducats in the treasury. The Leger still had 13 regiments deployed in New Friesland, with the New Frisian Leger now fielding 6 of its own.
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March 1572
With Gabon settled and a new colonist now available due to the recent adoption of more expansionist ideas, the new colonist Johan Ernst Kooistra was sent to Cameroon, where it had been decided that the Frisian Gulf of Guinea should be grown – before some other colonial power hemmed Gabon in. The new colony was founded on 11 March 1572.
By 19 March 1572, the conquest of Bremen continued but the Alliance had made some useful progress. Another Frisian strike at Groningen had apparently wiped out the entire Bremer army that had been encamped there, with total Coalition losses now outnumbering those of the Alliance. Apart from a few easy naval victories by both Friesland and Denmark, the Danes had caught and defeated one of Saxe-Lauenburg’s small armies in Sweden.
But the biggest single change in fortunes was the occupation of Hamburg by Denmark in July the previous year, generously handing possession over to Friesland after completion of the siege. Smaller Coalition armies still pestered the Danes in the east, but Sweden had been well and truly secured.
In the west, Lübeck (an assigned objective request from Friesland) had been put under siege, while a Brandenburg-led Coalition army of 8,000 was trying to retake Hamburg but did not have enough men for an effective siege. The main Coalition army had moved into Groningen after the two Frisian strikes there but still had a way to go before they could reduce it.
The seizure of Hamburg had made a big impression on Frisian trade income with its world-class port, providing both local and global benefits. And the Leger had taken advantage of the Coalition’s long attempt to take Groningen by striking through to the key objective of Bremen itself, finally able to take advantage of that military access agreement through neutral Oldenburg.
The War of the Protestant League was falling to what seemed an inevitable defeat for Bohemia, France Russia and the other surviving League members. Vast swathes of southern Russia had been overrun and little of Bohemia itself remained unoccupied by Austria or Hungary.
And what had seemed like an inexplicable Frisian preoccupation with achieving trade power in the Lübeck trade zone was finally explained. A national mission to support the bulk trades. From 26% trade power in March 1571, the necessary threshold was reached within the next year, boosting Friesland’s further exploring capacity and opening up the possibility of new trading opportunities (from bulk to rich trades).
Note: I had completely forgotten about that mission by the time I came to write this up, having wondered as I reviewed the saves why on earth I had been investing so much trade protection in Lübeck. Doh! Not sure if, on balance, it was worth the diversion of effort, but achieving missions was a bit of a novelty for me and I was just playing around with the game system as I slowly learned them.
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May 1572
A few month later the Frisian siege of Bremen had made no further material progress, while the Coalition had broken up its main army in Groningen, which still held out, sending it eastward in smaller groups. The Danes had occupied another key Coalition city (Lübeck) on 2 April, then defeated Brandenburg in Hamburg to relieve the siege there, then another smaller Saxe-Lauenburg army in Lauenberg before heading north again through Holsteen. The war had turned firmly in the Frisian-Danish Alliance’s favour and Frisian casualties remained low and easily replaced.
Frisian explorers had ventured further into the South Pacific, discovering Aotearoa (OTL AKA New Zeeland) in in April 1572.
The three colonies (Swellendam, Espachomy and now Cameroon) were costing a total of 8 ducats a month to maintain but Friesland felt it was in a desperate race with the French and Portuguese in particular to stake their overseas claims while opportunities still existed – despite continuing papal disapproval, having supposedly allocated the areas to the two Catholic colonial superpowers. This now left the budget in a monthly deficit of 2.17 ducats and the treasury in 66 ducats in debt.
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January 1573
New Friesland added the settlement of Chesapeake to its territory at the start of 1573. The Frisian military presence was now only 6 regiments, stationed in Unami: the other 7 had since taken ship to head back to the homeland.
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February 1573
Early 1573 saw the League War entering its final stages. Not only had more of Russia been overrun, but the Austrian Alliance had broken into France and occupied a large part of its central provinces, from the north-east border almost all the way to Bordeaux. A number of League countries had already fallen by the wayside.
The Frisian-Bremer War had reached its last stages. Friesland had completed its siege of Bremen on 3 November 1572, later marching west to engage and destroy an army led by Hamburg in Ostfriesland. On 18 January 1573, Denmark had annexed Lübeck in a separate peace deal. Friesland followed suit by annexing Hamburg on 31 January: the temptation of holding this massive trade centre, irrespective of its isolation by land from the rest of the country, had proven too tempting.
The 7 regiments of the Leger van Kanahwa, shipped over from New Friesland in late 1572, had suffered heavy attrition during its voyage and was recovering on the march through Holsteen by early February 1573, while the main Leger was already well into its siege of Ostfriesland. The Danes were besieging Lauenburg, having earlier defeated the East Frisian army in Hamburg.
Ernst Casimir Kiestra was soon despatched to enforce peace terms on Bremen: the war had gone on for long enough, it was decided.
I determined from the province histories that the war had ended on 8 Feb 1573 and I must have saved here just before concluding the deal. So this may not be exactly the peace deal extracted, but it would have been something similar and the final casualty figures would be accurate. It also explains why the conquest of Bremen became the conquest of Hamburg – both of which I had claims for when the war began.
With Lübeck and Hamburg both having been recently annexed, this did not leave enough residual advantage for Bremen to be persuaded to allow itself to be annexed as well. This would have taken more tedious siege work and time – and probably engendered further regional animosity towards Friesland. Hamburg was deemed a sufficiently large prize to bank.
Instead, a monetary settlement was extracted. Friesland had absorbed the vast bulk of the Alliance’s battle casualties and Denmark most of the siege attrition losses. It was now time to consolidate again in Europe and continue to reach out into the wider world.
Sikke Jousma, though now nearing 70, had see through his dream of Frisian Freedom reaching out to one of the richest ports in the world – albeit by force. By this time, the previous military advisor had passe don, to be replaced by (a less expensive) Quartermaster, Brunhard Kamstra.
Due to high colonial and other maintenance costs [yes, including even more for forts now due to the occupation of Hamburg], there was still a small monthly budget deficit, though the treasury had been boosted by recent war gains. And of note, gold had been discovered in Swellendam.
Also of note, a third merchant company had formed due to the recent expansion of New Friesland. With the as-yet rudimentary Frisian understanding of trade mechanics at this point, the new merchant was sent to Lübeck to gather coin, taking advantage of the recent trade protection work of the navy.
Catholicism in Friesland still only counted 22% of the population among its true believers, but the government was still firmly supportive of the Mother Church as the official state religion. It was still too early for its Catholic missionaries to be able to start converting the next mainland province away from one of the two dissenting religions.
The army remained over its nominal force limit, the navy one ship below its. And its new explorer was ready to set out on his next voyage.
Castile was in the process of slipping out of the first rank of world powers, Austria and Morocco were in and France, despite its troubles in the Protestant League War, was just ahead of the Ottomans, on the basis of its embracing of all four major institutions. Friesland remained well out of the great power ranking (nor was it accruing new victory points).
But in world rankings, the acquisition of Hamburg and addition of a third merchant had contributed to the elevation of Friesland to have the third highest national income in the world, with their naval strength and trade income also still in the top ten.
