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Charles the Sage for sure. 
Did Catalonia break off?
And what happened afterwards in Algeria?
Did Catalonia break off?
And what happened afterwards in Algeria?
General_Hoth: Actually, in 1453, I think I will make as many EUIII Games as it is independent countries ruled by Capetian kings. For instance, if Sicily is ruled by a Capetian, then there will be both a French and a Sicilian AAR. And so on with Victoria and HoI...
humancalculator: Nothing, it's just simple Deus Vult, with some graphic changes.
Enewald: Catalonia has a tendancy to declare its independence, then to recognize the King of France as its liege, then to break off...It's independant of Spain, though. Algeria has quickly broken off in many independant counties, some of them overwhelmed by Muslims, but after reconquered by other Christian lords.
humancalculator: Nothing, it's just simple Deus Vult, with some graphic changes.
Enewald: Catalonia has a tendancy to declare its independence, then to recognize the King of France as its liege, then to break off...It's independant of Spain, though. Algeria has quickly broken off in many independant counties, some of them overwhelmed by Muslims, but after reconquered by other Christian lords.
That's what i was asking about. Where did you get those graphics? (Or did you make them yourself?)
Louis VI l’Enfant, le Cruel (the Child-King, the Cruel)
1144-... (Chancellor Hugues de Montbéliard acts from 1144 to 1160 as regent)
King of France, Britanny, Aquitaine, Navarra and Burgundy 1144-..., Holy Roman Emperor 1144-... (claimed), King of Aragon 1144-...
Lived 1143-1201
Son of Charles V, King of France and Jelena Draskovic
Married:
Anne of Montbéliard, daughter of Chancellor Hugues de Montbéliard
Brother of:
1) Bertrand the Bastard
2) Léon the Mad, Duke of Algiers
3) Etiennette, Duchess of Leon
4) Radica, Queen of Sicily
Father of
Agnès
Louis VI owed his first nickname of “the Child-King” by the fact he was barely one-year-old when his father Charles V died of the wounds he took at the battle of Eu, that coincided with his birth. Showing a strong health, the newborn didn’t seem to be as ill-fated as the early Capetians. But his mother proved to be: after a long illness, Queen Hélène of Macedon died in 1146, when her child was only 3. The Regency was immediately overtaken by the Chancellor, Hugues de Montbéliard, who put his brothers and cousins in many charges throughout the court, as Spy Master or Archbishop of Paris. As devout Christians, proponents of a rapprochement with the Holy See, the Montbéliards were credited with a handling of the Barons’ revolt, who once again petitioned for putting the French throne under Elective Law, the search for heresy (such as the trial and later execution of Steward Blanche de Menou in 1149) and the alliance concluded with Alfonso VII of Castile in 1158, who was then expanding in Andalusia. Hugues had a deep influence on the young Louis VI, who would interpret the burning of the church of Saint-Germain as a divine sign calling for the reconquest of the Holy Land, swearing to Pope Gregory IX in 1155 to take the Cross as soon as he could.
When he finally reached his majority in 1160, Louis VI would keep the Montbéliards as his advisors, and also support his neighbor the King of Castile: his first military decision was to send mercenaries and money to Alfonso, who was ending the Reconquista that had begun four centuries ago. The Queen of France was crowned in the same time than the King, and her name was Anne, the daughter of one…Hugues de Montbéliard. Louis’ great piety convinced the Papal Conclave to elect Charles de Montbéliard, his closest friend, as Pope Roman II in 1166, thus making the King of France the virtual controller of the Holy See.
However, one day, the trust of King Louis towards the Montbéliards deeply changed. In June 1168, the King was called to a bear hunt in the forest of Fontainebleau, south of Paris: the terrible wound of Philippe I wasn’t remembered by his descent, and Louis happily came to Fontainebleau. While he was about to blow the mort to the giant bear, a member of his procession, armed with a bow, targeted the King and threw an arrow on him. The arrow instead hit the King’s venerer, and Louis VI proceeded to fight back, immediately killing his would-be assassin with his sword. Even if nothing could be proved, Louis suspected the Montbéliards of plotting against his own life: indeed, if Louis had been killed, the throne would have been given to his cousin Robert, who was barely 26, and the Regency would have been assumed by Queen Anne and her father. Taking advantage of the latter’s old age, Louis dismissed Hugues shortly after: but he refused to repudiate his wife, already committed to his faith, and she had already given him a daughter, Agnès.
The King’s faith was to be tested in 1171 by Pope Clement III, who sent another embassy to the French Court in order to urge Louis VI to take the Cross. Indeed, the Holy Land had fallen in 1123 to the resurgent Fatimids and the Emirate of Medina, helped by many Moslem Lords. Even if the pressure made to the Dar Al-Islam by the Byzantines and the Russians was real, the Papacy would never allow the Eastern Christians to claim Jerusalem for themselves. By the way, Castile and Scandinavian kingdoms were both committed to the evangelism of Iberian Peninsula and Baltic lands respectively, England was busy fighting its rebellious barons and the Holy Roman Empire had totally fallen, the only strong part being Italy, busy expanding itself and threatening the Papal States. Shouting the famous battle cry of the Crusaders, “Deus vult” (God wills it), Louis VI became the second French Crusader King.
A road was quickly convened in early 1172 with the French dukes and counts, who happily and hastily gave their forces to the pious venture: by earth, passing by Constantinople and Anatolia. Louis VI’s Crusade also incorporated a rather Machiavellian approach (even if this term is rather anachronistic, as “the Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli was to be published in 1515 under patronage of the King of Italy): aware of the inner dissensions between the Arab landlords, Louis VI would each time propose to the defeated heathen lords to submit to his authority, adopting European feudal system and converting, him and his heirs, to the Christian faith. Reaching Constantinople on September, 28 1172, Louis VI convinced his peers to pass this scheme, reminding them that it was the inner rivalries, and not the Islamic strength, that destroyed the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He also befriended Emperor Nestor II Diogenes, who recognized him in his claims as Holy Roman Emperor (which were confirmed neither by the Holy See nor by his rival Friedrich of Germany).
Entering the Holy Land in early 1173, French Crusaders enjoyed an early surge, receiving the submission of many Arab lords, but the troops were exhausted by almost one year of uninterrupted march through Europe, and far from the Byzantine lands, supplying issues were deeply felt in the Syrian desert. Engagements against the experimented armies of Sultan Nasraddin were quick and violent, and finally the tragedy happened: during the siege of Tyre, King Louis VI was hit by a Muslim arrow, the very same kind of weapon he had managed to dodge five years before. The wounded King was confined to bed and quickly caught dysentery.
The King was under the walls of Tyre, sick and seriously injured. He has only one daughter, and his heir apparent, Robert de Valois, his second cousin, is inexperienced and couldn’t handle the powerful and overstretched kingdom of France. What would happen?
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When looking at the map of the crusade, I couldn't help but thinking that the Paris Dakar rally wasn't invented so soon...
Your armies' paths look like a million rivulets from Europe all flowing into the Jordan, inundating the middle east with Franks and Crusaders.
And your advisors are awesome amazing.
And your advisors are awesome amazing.
Louis VI l’Enfant, le Cruel (the Child-King, the Cruel)
1144-1201 (Chancellor Hugues de Montbéliard acts from 1144 to 1160 as regent)
King of France, Britanny, Aquitaine, Navarra and Burgundy 1144-1201, Holy Roman Emperor 1144-1201 (claimed), King of Aragon 1144-1194, King of Jérusalem 1175-1201
Lived 1143-1201
Son of Charles V, King of France and Jelena Draskovic
Married:
1) Anne of Montbéliard, daughter of Chancellor Hugues de Montbéliard
2) Jorunn Yngling, daughter of Erling, King of Norway
Brother of:
1) Bertrand the Bastard
2) Léon the Mad, Duke of Algiers
3) Etiennette, Duchess of Leon
4) Radica, Queen of Sicily
Father of
1) Agnès, who married Nestor II, Byzantine Emperor
2) Pierre the Bastard
But no, the Kingdom of France couldn’t lost his liege, not so close to the Holy Land, and when the Infidels were fleeing in front of the pious French Crusaders. The Count of Evreux, friend to the King, immediately took responsibility of the Crusade: while watching over Louis at his bed, he also gave directives to ensure reinforcements. In 1174, more troops were sent to Egypt and the Holy Land from Andalusia and Flanders in order to help the Crusaders, who were continuing their advance. The royal inner circle made everything that was possible in order to conceal the King’s wounds, so Duke Robert, heir apparent, wouldn’t start a rebellion in order to advance his rights upon the Crown.
And then, before Christmas 1174, when the French were at the gates of Jerusalem, a miracle happened.
A mysterious healer (the legend attributes him the name “Elisah”, identifying him as a Jewish doctor, in some versions the Wandering Jew himself) came to the Christian camp and asked to meet the King. An ill-tempered baron wanted to kill the mysterious individual, but the Count of Evreux arrived just in time to prevent the killing, and allowed the healer to enter the royal tent. No one ever knew what happened on that faithful night, but the following day, the healer had vanished, and Louis, who had difficulty to breathe due to the arrow, was completely healed, just coughing a bit. He had just taken again the management of his army for the year 1175 that news reached his ear: the Duke of Dauphiné, Guillaume, had just entered Egypt, defeating Caliph Nasraddin in Alexandria; and a few days later, he entered Jerusalem, that had been abandoned by the Muslim defenders. Wanting to preserve his kingdom, Nasraddin accepted to surrender all of Palestine to the French King, who was proclaimed as King of Jerusalem.
When he came back in France, Louis had changed a lot: was it because of the healer who saved his life? A result of having been so close to the Afterlife? A self-confidence enhanced by his victory in the Holy Land? Whatever, it was in these years that he gained the infamous nickname of “the Cruel”, a title that would be confirmed by his actions against the rebellious counts (in Poitiers for instance, where he ordered the burning of all the churches) or his later enemies. With his prestige as King of Jerusalem and his claimed title of Western Roman Emperor, Louis VI married his only daughter Agnès to Byzantine Emperor Nestor II; and due to the same reasons, the highly successful King of Italy, Friedrich von Franken (who would be known as Federico il Conquistatore), vowing to reestablish the Holy Roman Empire under his head, declared war over France in 1183, claiming the Crown of Burgundy and wanting to unite his possessions in Northern Germany and Italy. Unfortunately for him, French royal troops immediately spread terror in his possessions, forcing him to abandon Savoy to France in 1186.
After convincing Pope Linus II not to proclaim another Crusade targeted towards Alexandria, Louis VI forced him to canonize Charles V in 1187, who would become the protector Saint of the Capetian dynasty; the same year, he confirmed the new Duke of Valois, Guillaume, the more malleable son of Robert, as his rightful heir; he would never change his possessions, despite the birth of his bastard son, Pierre, in 1197, when he was 53.
But other problems would come from the Papacy: during his hard repression, and despite his personal prestige as the Crusader King, Louis VI would experience great troubles from his ecclesiastical vassals, who were rebellious and insisted on the superiority of the spiritual power (the Church) on the temporal one (the Throne): when one of them, the Archbishop of Brugges Louis, was elected as the Pope John XXI in 1188 and began to issue bulls against him, war was declared against the Papal States in 1190: with the authorization of defeated King Federico, the invasion of Rome was quick, and John‘s successor, Pelagius III, was even present at the second marriage of Louis VI with Johunn of Norway, formally signing a peace treaty at the same occasion.
Then, Louis affirmed his will to disengage from the Spanish affairs, following the end of the Reconquista and in order to please his great ally, Alfonso VIII of Castile: already aging, he gave away his title of King of Aragon to the true ruler of Eastern Iberic Peninsula, Paulo of Armagnac, who had adopted the Catalan culture, giving up his Occitan descent, in 1194.
He eventually experienced terrible problems with the Papacy: after the election in 1193 of Pope Pelagius III, a candidate that he disliked personally for his support of Italy during the late war and whom the Papal Conclave had elected just in order to prove its independence from the French throne, he committed terrible blasphemy by sending his killers into the Church in which the Pope was celebrating the Mass. Pelagius was stabbed in front of the altar, but survived his wounds for two months, dying while he was preparing to place the Kingdom of France under interdict; the following election was filled with frauds made by French cardinals, who elected a blind bishop, who took the regnal name of Valentin II and ruled for a year, from 1195 to 1196. While preparing the next Pope, Nicholas II, then Bishop of Lleida, to take the succession, Louis also sent mercenaries to ambush and kill Louis Parentucuelli, the Archbishop of Champagne, a rebellious clerk who was young and seen as a frontrunner for the Holy See.
The assassination attempt on Pelagius III.
After his many acts of cruelty, that resulted by heavy successes (from the recognition of France as the main power in Europe and the Holy Land, and ending the Investiture Controversy, that had previously destroyed the Holy Roman Empire, with a clear victory of the temporal power), Louis VI quietfully passed away in his sleep in November 1201, at the beginning of the XIIIth Century, at 57, and almost as many years of reign. Even if he is widely recognized as one of the greatest kings France ever had, he is sometimes pointed as the Child-King who successfully managed France for more than a half of century and freed the Holy Land, or the Cruel who persecuted the Holy See. Without any legitimate male heir, Louis VI was succeeded by his second cousin once removed, Guillaume I, then Duke of Valois and Aquitaine. Thus ended the Poissy Capetian branch.
On the left, the Kingdom of France in 1144, on the beginning of Louis VI's reign; on the right, on the end, in 1201. Royal demesne in is dark blue, French vassals in lighter blue.
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Thus ended the Poissy branch; all hail the Valois! Incoming update on the world in 1200.
Kurt_Steiner: Yeah, but this kind of Paris Dakar had far much more casualties... Huuuuh...
Karaiskandar/Enewald: Not at all, dear fellows! Now the Kingdom of Jerusalem is kept for a while under the French banner, to avoid the incompetence of Hugues II that lost the Holy Land to the Heathens...
RGB: Yes, but my monarchs' skills aren't at all that good...Well, a good king is the one who gets good advisors.
Kurt_Steiner: Yeah, but this kind of Paris Dakar had far much more casualties... Huuuuh...
Karaiskandar/Enewald: Not at all, dear fellows! Now the Kingdom of Jerusalem is kept for a while under the French banner, to avoid the incompetence of Hugues II that lost the Holy Land to the Heathens...
RGB: Yes, but my monarchs' skills aren't at all that good...Well, a good king is the one who gets good advisors.
Indeed.
Louis l'Enfant had been an interesting character, some kind of a mix between Philippe le Bel and Louis XI.
May I be the first to say that "Emperor Xenophon" is the most awesome Byzantine name ever.
Also, was the Occitan/Catalan split very pronounced back then?
Also, was the Occitan/Catalan split very pronounced back then?
World situation - 1200:
France and British Isles :
Under the guidance of her long-reigning kings Charles V and Louis VI, France has become the strongest power in western Europe, driving out the Moors from the Iberic Peninsula and even receiving the submission of some German duchies who refused to submit to either Germany or Italy. In England, the policies of Alan and his successor, Lothaire, had proven ill-inspired, his efforts to go into Crusade leading to a Fatimid fantastic expeditions in the British Isles, leading to the Muslim submission of Wales and Eastern Ireland. The Duchy of Munster has emerged as the strongest independent Irish state, but internal dissent and rule from the Scot adventurers encouraged by the late King Tuathal (reigned 1123-1191!) impeached any attempt to unite the Emerald Island.
Iberian Peninsula:
With France and God’s help, Iberia is now firmly united under the Church’s rule. King Alfonso VIII has concentrated all his efforts on the expelling of Moorish inhabitants and conversion by the zealous services of the Inquisition. However, the highly division of his demesne under various rebellious and powerful landlords continue to shake the Jimenez dynasty’s powerbase, and France, this inconvenient ally, has just finished to withdraw from Spain. Christian adventurers are now trying to expand the Reconquista to North Africa: if the efforts of Charles V in Algeria proved short-lived, the inner dissent in Morocco could prove helpful to the Crusaders…
Italy:
Under the Franconians’ rule, most notably Federico il Conquistatore (Frederick the Conqueror), Italy (or northern Italy) has emerged as another great power, stretching on both parts of the Alps and firmly reigning upon this part of the world, even taking the Crown of Wales in 1177: however, the defeat of Federico at the hands of France have lead to the Italian withdrawal from Northern Germany, where the King was pretending to restore the Holy Roman Empire; his son Lotario III is now more concentrated on his Italian powerbase. In the meantime, the Hautevilles in the Kingdom of Sicily (also called Kingdom of Naples) are experiencing heavy trouble from their powerful vassals and are on the eve of a terrible succession crisis: following the death of King Lancelin in 1199, the last Hauteville and queen regnant is now a little girl, Valdrade.
Germany and Central Europe:
While the Eastern European kingdoms of Poland, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia have strengthened and grew under the guidance of their kings (in 1200, respectively Boleslas III, Angela, Jozsef II and Henrik), Germany had totally fallen apart. The attempts from the King of Italy to expand and restore the Holy Roman Empire were destroyed following his defeat with France, and German duchies have imposed their rule on their own fiefdoms, and didn’t do anything when Arab adventurers managed to overwhelm Brandenburg. The title of King of Germany is now claimed, after various developments, by a petty lord, Stefan von Provence.
Scandinavia and Baltic Countries:
In spite of dynastic changes, Denmark is now the kingdom in charge of the entire Baltic sea, expanding on both Scandinavia and Baltic lands, where the Crusades found another stage: the pagan Kingdom of Finland felt under the strength of the Norwegian and Swedish crusaders, while the Baltic lands remain in control of Polish, Hungarian and Russian Crusaders; the Duchy of Karelia, that had managed to claim its independence, is now going to the Russian sphere of influence, now tending to the Orthodox faith. Following a hard war with Sweden, the Norway of Erling Yngling is now the greatest Scandinavian kingdom, while Sweden remains in a state of feudalism.
Russia:
Proclaimed in 1125 by Alans converted to the Russian faith, led by their leader Rosmag, the Russian Empire is now firmly established in Eastern Europe, in spite of the stubborn rebelliousness of some lords; after some years of elective monarchy that mostly turned in favor of the Alani founders, the crown finally felt to a Rurikid, Dmitrii, in 1185, who proclaimed the passage to a hereditary succession. Russia is now trying to expand in the Caucasus and to expand the Orthodox faith to the Middle East, undertaking the role of another Empire, the Byzantine One…
Middle East:
The victory of Louis VI threw the old Islamic empires into great despair: the Fatimids are now dealing with the emergence of some Crusader counties on their Egyptian homeland, and the Seljuks are now experiencing a terrible revolt from their vassals. It proved to be quite a springtime for Christian adventurers from both faiths: if the kingdom of France has only a nominal authority on the Crusaders, holding the Holy City itself, Crusaders have claimed their independence throughout Palestine and Syria, even in Italy and Greece; the few ones who have kept their allegiance to their king remain the Polish barons. And the Byzantine Empire, still ruled by the Diogenes (in 1200, Isaac II), could do nothing to stop it: it has difficulties to maintain towards its own princes, and is concurrenced in the Orthodox faith by Russia, even in Greece itself…
France and British Isles :
Under the guidance of her long-reigning kings Charles V and Louis VI, France has become the strongest power in western Europe, driving out the Moors from the Iberic Peninsula and even receiving the submission of some German duchies who refused to submit to either Germany or Italy. In England, the policies of Alan and his successor, Lothaire, had proven ill-inspired, his efforts to go into Crusade leading to a Fatimid fantastic expeditions in the British Isles, leading to the Muslim submission of Wales and Eastern Ireland. The Duchy of Munster has emerged as the strongest independent Irish state, but internal dissent and rule from the Scot adventurers encouraged by the late King Tuathal (reigned 1123-1191!) impeached any attempt to unite the Emerald Island.
Iberian Peninsula:
With France and God’s help, Iberia is now firmly united under the Church’s rule. King Alfonso VIII has concentrated all his efforts on the expelling of Moorish inhabitants and conversion by the zealous services of the Inquisition. However, the highly division of his demesne under various rebellious and powerful landlords continue to shake the Jimenez dynasty’s powerbase, and France, this inconvenient ally, has just finished to withdraw from Spain. Christian adventurers are now trying to expand the Reconquista to North Africa: if the efforts of Charles V in Algeria proved short-lived, the inner dissent in Morocco could prove helpful to the Crusaders…
Italy:
Under the Franconians’ rule, most notably Federico il Conquistatore (Frederick the Conqueror), Italy (or northern Italy) has emerged as another great power, stretching on both parts of the Alps and firmly reigning upon this part of the world, even taking the Crown of Wales in 1177: however, the defeat of Federico at the hands of France have lead to the Italian withdrawal from Northern Germany, where the King was pretending to restore the Holy Roman Empire; his son Lotario III is now more concentrated on his Italian powerbase. In the meantime, the Hautevilles in the Kingdom of Sicily (also called Kingdom of Naples) are experiencing heavy trouble from their powerful vassals and are on the eve of a terrible succession crisis: following the death of King Lancelin in 1199, the last Hauteville and queen regnant is now a little girl, Valdrade.
Germany and Central Europe:
While the Eastern European kingdoms of Poland, Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia have strengthened and grew under the guidance of their kings (in 1200, respectively Boleslas III, Angela, Jozsef II and Henrik), Germany had totally fallen apart. The attempts from the King of Italy to expand and restore the Holy Roman Empire were destroyed following his defeat with France, and German duchies have imposed their rule on their own fiefdoms, and didn’t do anything when Arab adventurers managed to overwhelm Brandenburg. The title of King of Germany is now claimed, after various developments, by a petty lord, Stefan von Provence.
Scandinavia and Baltic Countries:
In spite of dynastic changes, Denmark is now the kingdom in charge of the entire Baltic sea, expanding on both Scandinavia and Baltic lands, where the Crusades found another stage: the pagan Kingdom of Finland felt under the strength of the Norwegian and Swedish crusaders, while the Baltic lands remain in control of Polish, Hungarian and Russian Crusaders; the Duchy of Karelia, that had managed to claim its independence, is now going to the Russian sphere of influence, now tending to the Orthodox faith. Following a hard war with Sweden, the Norway of Erling Yngling is now the greatest Scandinavian kingdom, while Sweden remains in a state of feudalism.
Russia:
Proclaimed in 1125 by Alans converted to the Russian faith, led by their leader Rosmag, the Russian Empire is now firmly established in Eastern Europe, in spite of the stubborn rebelliousness of some lords; after some years of elective monarchy that mostly turned in favor of the Alani founders, the crown finally felt to a Rurikid, Dmitrii, in 1185, who proclaimed the passage to a hereditary succession. Russia is now trying to expand in the Caucasus and to expand the Orthodox faith to the Middle East, undertaking the role of another Empire, the Byzantine One…
Middle East:
The victory of Louis VI threw the old Islamic empires into great despair: the Fatimids are now dealing with the emergence of some Crusader counties on their Egyptian homeland, and the Seljuks are now experiencing a terrible revolt from their vassals. It proved to be quite a springtime for Christian adventurers from both faiths: if the kingdom of France has only a nominal authority on the Crusaders, holding the Holy City itself, Crusaders have claimed their independence throughout Palestine and Syria, even in Italy and Greece; the few ones who have kept their allegiance to their king remain the Polish barons. And the Byzantine Empire, still ruled by the Diogenes (in 1200, Isaac II), could do nothing to stop it: it has difficulties to maintain towards its own princes, and is concurrenced in the Orthodox faith by Russia, even in Greece itself…
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Enewald: I have a policy of taking my rebellious vassals' fiefdoms when I conquer them, but it's becoming quite difficult to handle, even if my personal takings allow me such a thing.
Karaiskandar: As Louis XI is far more modern, I would prefer Philippe le Bel, for his "I'm beating the sh*t out of the Papacy" aspect.
RGB: As it is two different cultures in this game, I understand it so... But for Xenophon, I changed his name into Nestor as it was far more too awesome. The King of Bohemia's name is Xenophon too (he's a Greek Prmesylid): I changed it into Jozsef.
Karaiskandar: As Louis XI is far more modern, I would prefer Philippe le Bel, for his "I'm beating the sh*t out of the Papacy" aspect.
RGB: As it is two different cultures in this game, I understand it so... But for Xenophon, I changed his name into Nestor as it was far more too awesome. The King of Bohemia's name is Xenophon too (he's a Greek Prmesylid): I changed it into Jozsef.
Fatimid Wales, Russian Greece.
Ah, CK.
Nestor is pretty cool too. I also like Pope Pelagius. But I think Xenophon is a badass name, even badder on a Bohemian.
Ah, CK.
Nestor is pretty cool too. I also like Pope Pelagius. But I think Xenophon is a badass name, even badder on a Bohemian.