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For Gwynedd and Wales, the story of the Cynfyn family

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1066, the year when the usurper William siezes the throne of England by force and destroys the old Saxon elite, subjegating England under the rule of his Norman barons and Counts. The shockwaves of this event revervarate throughout the British Isles.
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The Duchy of Gwynedd controls most of Wales. The current duke of Gwynedd is Bleddyn Cynfyn. But he surrounded by courtiers from another dynasty, the Meriadoc family and one of them Cadwgon Meriadoc is set to become Duke upon his death. At 42 Bleddyn is not as young as he once was and that day may not be far away.

In order to ofset the dominance of the Meriadoc dynasty, Bleddyn hatched an ambitious plan. He would marry Judith de Flanders, the 34 year old widow of Tostig, who invaded England himself and was slain shortly before the battle of Hastings. By this act Bledynn gains two step-sons, the elder Skulli Tostison and his hunchback younger brother Skuli, who will hopefully prove to be valuable members of his court.
(Can you play on a step-sons if they inherit?)

The rest of 1070 was spent developing the wood industry of Gwynedd itself and forming an alliance with two other independant dukes.
Murchaid mac Diarmait- Duke of the Western Isles
Hoel de Carnouaille- Duke of Brittany
Much to my dissapointment I failed to get any children out of Bleddyn and Judith :(

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The Court of Bledynn Cynfyn

Key of Important People.

The Cynfyn Family
A- Judith, 34 years old- Flamboyant Schemer
B- Chanceller Maradudd, 24 years old, Generous and trusting-Flamboyant Schemer
C- Cadwgyn - 7 years old- Court Education

The Meriadoc Family
D- Marshall Cadwgon, 24 years old, Merciful- Tough Soldier
E- Spymaster Maredudd, 26 years old, Suspicious- Gruff Diplomat
G- Jestin- 16 years old- Coward- Naive Puppet Master
I- Steward Rhys (Senior) 21 years old- Tough Soldier
H- Rhys (junior) - 13 years old- Energetic and Zealous- Eccelarsial Education

Other Families
Trahearn Caradoc, 30 years old , Lazy, Selfish and Wise- Charismatic Negotiator

Stepsons (Arrived a few days after shot was taken)
Skuli Tostison, Forgiving, 13 years old- Court Education
Ketil Tostison, Hunchback, 7 years old- Court Education
 
Sounds interesting with some AAR from Wales!
I will look forward to see what happens next... :)
By the Way, stepsons... I actually don't think they can inherrit!!!
And if they could it would not be good for you, as if you want to live on and play new generations, it's important that the one who inherrit, has the same lastname as the current ruler! If not... You lose and the game ends... :(
 
Skuli Tostison grows up

Bleddyn's stepson, Skuli Tostison, now 16 showed a great ability with money, a Midas Touch as it were. In order to take advantage of this the duke dismissed the Meriadoc Rhys and appointed Skuli Steward of Gwynedd. Now Gwynedd looked forward to a prosperous future.

However to the north in the province of Perfeddwad a crisis beckoned. A shortage of manure, hurt the fertility of the fields and therefore agricultural yield. This predictably led to a food crisis and migration to the south by landless hungry peasants. Not a good development.

Rhys Meriadoc finished his education as a priest and became Diocese Bishop of Gwynedd next year in 1069.

Rhys becomes Bishop

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Maredudd was worried about his younger brother Cadwgon beacause he was according to his tutors developing some worrying traits, traits which were proving difficult to eliminate. He was torturing and killing pets, his own and other people's and seemed to be showing a contempt for humanity delighting in others misery. He was in other words, cruel.

Such traits were hardely befitting for the son of the Duke of the largest Duchy in Wales. In fact they were hardely befitting for even the smallest and least significant peasant family for that matter. The real question was, could anything be done about it?
 
When you've got someone torturing pets the usual solution is to get them to graduate to torturing and killing "traitors" in your lands. :D That or get someone else as a successor, of course.

Is Cadwgon part of the Cynfyn (all those missing vowels look so wrong!) line or just the elective law successor?

I'm liking this AAR. I'm curious what your long term plans for Wales are. Taking on England is probably suicide, but where else can you expand?
 
If England is in a lot of trouble I might take it on but this would be sort of opportunism. Ireland is a likely alternative, expecially when I make my character king of Wales and can potentially get the irish duchies as vassals. On a point, does gifting money help your chances of getting independant countries of lower rank to become your vassals.

There are two Cadwgon's. Cadwgons Cynfyn is Maredudd Cynfyn (the Maredudd mentioned above's) younger brother and Cadwgon Mariadoc is the succesor for the throne under elective law.
 
The day had come, Duke Bledden of Gwynedd had summoned his son to his court.

"Prince Maredudd Cynfyn, I hereby pronounce you, Maredudd, Count of Perfeddwad, which you will rule in my name until such a time as I should choose to withdraw it,"
With these words Maredudd Cynfyn was now Count of Perfeddwad. As a result of this he shot up to first in the succesion order. The succesion was secure.

Together with a small army of friends and retainers, Maredudd travelled to Perfeddwad and found the entire county in the grip of a famine and income virtually nothing as the population spent it's money on trying to getting enough to eat and most economic activity had ground to a halt. It was going to take years to recover fully from this crisis, but the infamously charitable Maredudd was proving more than capable of "squandering" money on it.

A month later Maredudd set about getting married to a certain 19 year old called Siobhan O'Catharsaigh a courtier from the county of Galway in Connought and they tied the knot on February 23rd.
See Maredudd's Court and admire Siobhan's wonderful and amazing stats for yourself ;) )

Four days later :D Siobhan fell pregnant, but unfortunatly (?) she miscarried (I only noticed this when I was told that she had fallen pregnant again in 1071.

Gwynedd saw great development during the year as a chain of orginised sawmills was established in Gwynedd itself to speed up the processing of timber and the longbow was widely adopted as a weapon by the welsh army also in this year. Development then went into improving Gwynedd's fishing industry a process that lasted until June 4th 1071.

Soibhan and Maredudd had better luck with their second pregnancy and a daughter baptised as Bronwyn Cynfyn was born. As would be expected her stats were much like her mother's (just worse). I'll leave you to picture it.
 
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Spymaster Maredudd Meridiac enters the room as Bleddyn and his Steward Skuli Tostison were busy orginising an improvement of Gwynedd province's legal system (Courts of Justice).

"Your daughter in law Siobhan is pregnant" he informed him.
"Great, send him my congratulations"

On July 7th the last of the courts of justice were completed as the lump in Siobhan's tummy grows ever larger.

On December 11th the lump in Siobhans tummy came out into the outside world. At that point it was decided the lump was a boy and they promtly named it Cadfan Cynfyn.

In 1073 little of concern to Wales happened except for the constuction of training grounds where the welsh archers played with their new toy, the longbow.

In October 1074 Bleddyn called parliament and squeezed some money out of them and Cadwgon, the bane of all cute and furry animals finished his education and was rated as a amatourish pettifogger **groan**.
 
1075

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Tremble in fear all ye fluffy members of the animal kingdom, Cadwgon has grown up

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Cadwgon Cynfyn, second son of Bleddyn duke of Gwynedd marked his 16th birthday by drowning his step-mother Judith's favourite lap-dog in the river. Returning from indulging his passion for cruelty, he was waylaid by his 50 year old father.

"You're going to marry Amice ap Deheuhwynt of Warwick, it's Duke Fitz Osburn has been approached to arrange it"
"This Amice, how old is she?"
"23, why do you ask?"
"Never mind father"
"She's a spymaster too you know?"

However the entire thing came to nothing, William Fitz Osbern wasn't going to part with his spymaster expecially if she was to be married to a sadistic pet killer. Informed of the news Cadwgon couldn't care less.

A second attempt didn't change his mind either.

In March Training Grounds were completed in Powys.

In April a dispute over the inheritance of a small fief near the English Border in the County of Shrewsbury was resolved with minimal difficulty and Bleddyn become wise.

That month the welsh clergy started to adopt Clerical Celibacy :), in May the peasants in Gwynedd introduced new agricultural techniches and in October the nobility started to believe in Divine Rights (whether anyone else does in questionable).

In August Pope Anselm passed away and a polish man living in France called Bogimil became Pope.
 
Cadwgon the Petkiller, eh?? :p
The future might be quite interesting...

Good updates! :)
 
Cadwgon the unmarriagable pet-killer :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

His main role for the now is to get him married to one of the lovely high-stat girls who are growing up at the moment as to make an alternative and preferably better statline to promote when Maredudd Cynfyn dies.
 
Hey! Glad to see Wales being represented. I don't live there, but one of my Grandfather's was from there so it's holds a soft-spot in my heart.

Hope you won't be offended, I ordered Crusader Kings the day after Boxing Day and since then had been dreaming up an AAR surrounding the rise of Wales. I was going to try as Glamorgan, but after repeatedly getting my but kicked by William the Conqueror, I'd decided to try a Welsh land with a little more back-bone.... and then you beat me to it.... So I hope you won't mind if I start my Welsh one, it'll be a little different in tone I think... and I might well get conquered quickly. But if it's a problem, let me know in my AAR thread, and then I'll jump over to Ireland or something.

Best of luck to you! And watch out for the English!
 
Cadwgon staggered out of his latest wild party, drunk and was dragged back to court by a handful of dutiful burghers.
Bleddyn Cynfyn frankly couldn't care less what his son was up to in his plentiful spare time and chose to ignore it and no far reaching effects occured.

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After three attemts Willam de Normadie agrees to Cadwgon marrying his 16 year oldsecond daughter Constance in. On June 11th 1077 she falls pregnant.

Meanwhile in Powys investment was finally reaching the undeveloped forestry industry and as a result income increased in August.

******************************************************
A daughter is born to the happy couple on April 2nd

"She's beutiful, isn't she" Constance said holding her new-born daughter out to Cadwgon.
"She just looks like a scrawny beetroot to me?" Cadwgon growls.
"But she's your daughter too Cadwgon"
"I suppose"
"What should we call her?"
"Gwyneth" Cadwgon says the first name that comes into his head.

On June 11th Constance falls pregnant again and in December she gives birth to a son. He is named Llywellyn.
 
Cadwgon is just a mess, but maybe having children will even him out a bit. Unless he starts torturing those, too.

I'm liking this AAR and looking forward to seeing Wales become a major power!
 
At the end of June, Bleddyn Cynfyn, now 53 called a secret meeting with his four head advisors. Present were his sister-in law and Chanceller, Constance, his step-son and Steward, Skuli Tostison, his Spymaster, Maredudd Meriadoc and his Marshall, Rhys Meriadoc.

"When I die I wish to die as king of Wales" he announced thumping the table and grasping the air greedily.
The advisors glance at eachother worried by their duke's apparant meglamania.

"We could have you crowned as king right now mi'lord, but to be taken seriously you are going to require, at least 250 in order to orginise a sufficiantly grand coronation ceremany to press upon your subjects and the world your status" Skuli Tostison reminds him.
"And even if we had the money you would still need to control something more than we do at the moment in order for your title to be taken seriously" Constance butts in.
"Then we must sieze some more land by force!" the duke insists loudly.
"There are two other welsh states that could be the target of agressive action, the Duchy of Deheubarth and the County of Glamorgan, both are ruled by the of Laigon family" Constance says.
"What is known about the of Laigons Maredudd?" the king says turning to his spymaster.

"Deheubarth and Glamorgan are ruled by Duke Diarmait and Count Donnchad respectively, they are children, thus their father Donal of Laigon is the effective ruler of both countries ruling in their name until such a time as they come of age" Maradudd replies.
"They are weak militerily I presume?" the king asks.
"Yes they are weak, their forces could only be counted in hundreds," he replies
"Then should crush them immediatly before they grow stronger mi'lord " Marshall Rhys insists.
"Constance, think of some feeble diplomatic excuse for the invasion, Rhys summon every available warrior in Gwynedd and get them ready within a week, this meeting is dismissed"
"Which of these states are you talking about sire, Deheubarth or Glamorgan?" Constance asks.
"The Deheubarth are richer and since it's a duchy, make sure you dispute only the county of Dyfed itself, not the duchy, claiming a duchy title itself is to expensive in prestiege, is that all?"
The advisors nod.
"Then for a final time this meeting is dismissed" he announces loudly.
The advisors depart.
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Donchad mac Diarmait, marshall of Deheubarth and commander of it's forces inspected meager forces under his command. A mere 200 men were all that was between Deheubarth and total defeat at the hands of it's aggresive northern neighbor.

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The vastly outnumbered forces of Deheubarth are surrounded and wiped out.

"So your Marshall Donchad, the commander of that sorry band that we just massacred"
"Marshall Donchad mac Diarmait," Donchad corrects him empathising his surname.
"The Donchad mac Diarmait, eldest son of Murchaid mac Diarmait, Duke of the Western Isles and my closest aly?"
"The very same Donchad"
"Okay then, I guess I'll have to let you live for 'diplomatic reasons then '"

The remnants of the Deheubarth resistance held out in several hillforts throughout the county of Dyfed well into the next year but with no allies willing to help them, they could not hold out forever.
 
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It was the beggining of March 1080 and the last Dehuebarthian hillfort surrenders to the Gwyneddian forces. The Gwyneddian army found the fort in a terrible state, half ruined by ceaseless barrages of catapults and defended only by a ragged skeleton garrison (in both senses of the words).

"If you tell us where, Diarmait of Laigon and his father are, I'll spare all your miserable lives!" Bleddyn addressed the captain of the garrison.
"Since we have little choice dread majesty, I'll tell you, the entire court of Deheubarth evacuated Dyfed by sea months ago when you arrived, they've gone to various irish principalities that's all I know"
"Tempted as I am to have you sent off to my son Cadwgon as a novelty pet, I guess I did give you my word and that's not worth breaking for skum like you"
The captain gathers up his remaining half-dozen warriers and grimly prepares to depart.
Thus ended the invasion of the Duchy of Deheubarth.

What happened to the of Laigons and co.
As the guard had said, the various courtiers had fled to various irish realms, which ironicly actually improved many of their positions.
Marshall Donchadd mac Diarmait went back to his father's Realm the Duchy of Western Isles and became Count of the Western Isles (his fathers holds court on the Isle of Man), where he would shelter his former overlords and even employ them as his advisors.
His 48 year old Uncle Enna mac Diarmait went to Leinster and his father promtly made him Bishop of Osraige (the west half of Leinster).
Mael Morda ap Cydifor went from bieng an minor courtier to bieng Western Isles's (county) Marshall.
Spymaster Cristina ap Ynyr went to Munster in Connought and became Chanceller there.
Ronan ap Llyad went from bieng a minor courtier to bieng Steward of Western Isles.
Stepmum Ermengarm and her daughter BenMumen went to Western Isles with her husband Donal (also Diarmait's father) where she gave birth to another daughter Grainne (it seems not only have the of Laigons the cheek to survive, but they have the cheek to carry on breeding).

In 1080 I was informed that Cadwgon was getting stressed out and beccoming erratic and bad tempered (even more than usual), the court scribes descovered the joys of chronicle writing and Gwynedd suffered from a lack of manure in and agricultural production slumped (does lack of manure have something to do with not having researched farm animals?).
 
Things were looking up, Dyfed had been conquered and Bleddyn Cynfyn had 6 granchildren already, with more on the way. But then there was the question of his immortal soul, fortunately he had a solution to that, make Rhys Meriadoc Bishop/Count of the newly conquered Dyfed.

On January 3rd Bleddyn grants Rhys the title and he departs, setting up court sorrounded by the three adoring female admirers that made up his court:D.

With Dyfed ruled by bishop Rhys, things turned to the subject of.... reproduction.

On March 13rd Cadwgon and Constance had a baby girl who they named Hawice and a month later on April 3rd Maradudd and Siobhan too had a baby, a boy called Adda.
On June 24th, two Months after having Hawice, Cadwgon had once again got Constance pregnant.

1082

Bleddyn Cynfyn becomes king of Wales
With Dyfed under his control and having saved up enough money, Bleddyn, now 57 has himself crowned king of all Wales. After the coronation there is a great feast and everyone in the kingdom who is anyone gets very drunk and puts on a lot of weight.

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Bleddyn Cynfyn is crowned King of Wales.
 
That sounds like a proper kind of feast! Cadwagon certainly seem to enjoy spending time with his wife as well.
 
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