Great Scots! 900 Years of Scottish HistAARy

[Manstein16]

Welcome. This is my first true AAR (I have written two chapters for the succession games found below, but this is my first large project). I'm afraid that RL prevents me from devoting to this project the amount of time that I would like and that any readers would deserve. I hope to compensate for this unfortunate lack of detail by greatly increasing the breadth to expand from CK to EU2 to Ricky to HOI2. Much of the gameplay was completed over the summer when leisure time was in abundance and I hope to make this my new hobby until gameplay can be completed (I expect sometime in January). This AAR shall be presented in the style of a grand history (Will Durant's The Story of Civilization comes to mind as the inspiration) with major events and the different facets of Scottish life (political, social, commercial, scientific and religious) being explored for each reign. As the campaign will likely follow an ahistorical path, I shall not attempt to intertwine actual Scottish history with in-game history. Now for the technical specifications:

King of Scotland
1066 Campaign
Hard/Furious
Unmodded, most recent patch

And so, without further ado, I present to you The Story of Scotland.
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King Malcolm I of Scotland

Our story begins in 1066 with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror. William's new neighbors to the north, the Scots, viewed the scene disinterestedly. After all, from the moment Gaius Julius Caesar had disembarked near the cliffs of Dover, the English tribes had been in an almost constant state of flux. The Romans, Saxons, Irish, and Norsemen had all attempted to reign over England at different points in history and had experienced various degrees of success. Those who did manage to successfully subdue the English lowlands still feared the Pictish tribes in the highlands to the north. Even the fearless Romans had resorted to building a stone wall across the length of the island to hold back those fearsome Pictish highlanders, establishing a tradition lasting the next 1000 years of holding the Highlanders at bay rather than attempting to subdue them. By 1066 a leader had managed to unite the descendants of the Picts under the crown of Scotland. It was only natural that they focused more on their own affairs rather than the developments to the south.

Malcolm Dunkeld had managed to unite the Scottish tribes under his rule but was in no way a man of extraordinary means. He mainly kept his realm under control through the use of intrigue and manipulation, resorting to violence only when absolutely necessary. With no claims on any lands either within or outside of his kingdom, however, he had little need for military might other than to act as a police force to quell the odd rebellious count. Peace reigned throughout Scotland for the first 15 years of his rule.

To the south, William the Conquerer lived up to his name and was quick to expand his newly attained kingdom. Within five years of Hastings he had marched west, taking the Welsh lands with ease. Malcolm watched this development warily, as there was little else he could do. A besieged Duchy of Gwynedd had attempted to forge an alliance with the Dunkelds but Malcolm had wisely refused; the English were far too strong and far too many for even the Welsh and Scottish combined. He did maintain friendly relations with the defeated Duke of Gwynedd, however, which was to result in the Duke's swearing of allegiance to the Scottish crown.

The English were naturally upset to discover the Scottish intrusion into their sphere of influence but were bogged down in a war with France and unable to do more than make empty threats and demands. This, combined with the discovery of claims by the Dunkelds on Kent and Northcumberland, along with the Duke of Gwynedd's claim on his land taken by the English, caused Malcolm to watch the Anglo-Franco war carefully. As it turned into a prolonged affair Malcolm saw his opportunity and struck. The majority of his armies tied down in France, William the Conquerer was forced to watch helplessly as the Highlanders swarmed south, quickly taking Northcumberland and Gwynedd before laying siege to London and the other crown holdings.

William unwisely transferred a portion of his army back to England with the result that his divided forces met defeat in both England and France. Indeed, it was on the fields outside of London that William met his untimely death. Malcolm realized that it was only a matter of time before William's son Robert transferred the bulk of his force back to England, however, and was quick to accept a peace on Robert's terms in which Northcumberland and Gwynedd were transferred to Scottish control in exchange for 100 gold. Malcolm kept direct control over Northcumberland while the Duke of Gwynedd was allowed to regain control over Gwynedd proper. With peace now reestablished throughout his land and his coffers full as a result of the 15 years of peace that preceded his brief expedition against the English, Malcolm decided it was time to focus on improving his lands and the plight of his people.

Lowland Scottish holdings after the war for Gwynedd

 

[unmerged(60841)]

Good job against England, thinking about uniting Scotland, Wales, maybe Ireland in a Gaelic kingdom?

 

[VILenin]

Looks interesting Manstein16. Jumping the English when their tied down on the Continent could be a good strategy in the early game, at least until you're the one who dominates the British Isles.

 

[Manstein16]

Politics

Scotland as a political entity was a relatively new concept. As mentioned previously, the Scottish political scene was largely run by the extended families that comprised the clans. Traditionally the peasants and lower nobility dominated the impoverished Highlands while the nobility and merchants inhabited the more hospitable Lowlands. The clan system remained largely intact during the early years of Malcolm's reign as the individual duchies were each controlled by a different family.

Largely a result of this intertwining of politics and family, salic primogeniture was well-established in Scotland at this time and was practiced by the Dunkeld clan. This policy would remain firmly entrenched until several decades after Malcolm's death durig the Succession Crisis. It ensured the continuance of the Dunkeld dynasty, especially after the proliferation of the Dunkeld's throughout Europe during the turn of the century, and allowed the king to groom his eldest son safe in the knowledge that this would be his successor.

One of Malcolm's first act as king was to introduce the feudal system throughout his realm. The Scottish clans, especially the Highlanders, had a very strong sense of honor and were quick to do battle with another clan over an alleged insult or theft (cattle-raiding was quite common in Scotland at the time and was even encouraged as a means of training youngsters for battle). Realizing that his kingdom would only hold together as long as the different clan leaders placed their loyalty towards him above their animosity towards one another, Malcolm did everything possible to cultivate their loyalty. The introduction of feudalism was a means to this end.


Society

The traditional primacy of the clan leader made a smooth transition to Scotland's feudal era. Now a title duke or count rather than simple warlord, the clan leadership continued to exercise complete authority over its offspring and extended family. In the Dunkeld clan, for instance, Malcolm decided every aspect of a family member's life, from early upbringing to education to marriage to endowment of titles. Traditionally marriage had stayed inside of a clan, although marriages between the different clans weren't unheard of, especially for diplomatic purposes. Malcolm was quick to expand this policy of diplomatic marriages. For starters, marrying a Dunkeld to another royal family increased his prestige in the eyes of the other kingdoms. Most importantly, however, it enabled him to amass the most talented courtiers at his court while establishing the Dunkeld family in other courts. In a reverse form of prima nocta, Malcolm flooded the court of the English king with marriage proposals betweeen Dunkeld females and English males. This effort was successful on every level, but especially between royal families. Malcolm's two eldest sons both married daughters of King Robert, the English monarch.

Malcolm himself proved the exception to this rule upon the event of the death of his first wife. Desiring to increase the size of his brood, he married the 18 year old daughter and steward of the Norwegian king, arranging for the first introduction of the Yngling dynasty into his court.

Indeed, Malcolm's second son, Malcolm II, was to go to great lengths to integrate the English and Scottish royal families. Disease was rife in the Scottish court and seemed to strike young Malcolm's wives down with great frequency; the result was his subsequent marriages to the English king's sister, followed by two of his daughters. Needless to say, this created extraordinarily tight bonds between the Dunkelds and Normandies.

Malcolm II after his THIRD marriage into the English royal family.

It did not take long for the effects of this mass infusion of Dunkeld blood into the English royal family to surface. Within a decade of the first Dunkeld-Normandie marriage, the close ties between the two families manifested itself as a Dunkeld child was found to be 2nd in the line of succession to the English crown.

The English king's eldest son was of a sickly nature and suffered from pneumonia; thus, it was not long after Malcolm's death that a member of the Dunkeld clan rose to the throne of England. While this did not combine the crowns, it did go further improving relations between the two kingdoms.

Technology

Malcolm was to institute a long era of peace and development throughout the rest of his reign following the war for Gwynned, interrupted briefly only by a war between Sweden and their Scots allies against Norway, a war in which Scotland contributed only public support. With that brief exception, Malcolm focused the kingdom's entire fiscal budget to improving his dmense's infrastructure. Malcolm's agents were sent throughout to learn of agricultural improvements and their discoveries were brought back to Scotland and implemented on a wide scale. The income from Malcolm's dmense doubled during his reign as a result of these investments. Additional improvements were made in the military sector and a basic transportation network was established to replace the footpaths that had been the basis of the kingdom's commercial system up until then. More power was also established in the hands of the merchants at the expense of the clergy, thus further increasing the dmense's income.

Near the end of Malcolm's reign the Irish Duchy of Leinster declared war upon one of Malcolm's vassals. Quickly mobilizing his forces, Malcolm led his army to a bloodless conquest of the Isle of Man. Reconsidering their original intentions in the face of such an immense show of force, the Duke of Leinster was quick to make peace and ceded control of the Isle of Man to Malcolm. Malcolm had been awarded the Western Isles as part of the peace agreement resulting from the First Norwegian War and now established the Duchy of the Western Isles, endowing his son Malcolm II with the title as a reward for his efforts to place a Dunkeld on the English throne. It was to be one of Malcolm's last acts as king. Three decades of rule finally took their toll on the king and he succumbed to old age after 63 years as a son of Scotland, in the year 1098. His eldest son Duncan, Duke of Lothian, succeeded him as King od Scotland.

 

[unmerged(41688)]

This is very good so far.

 

[unmerged(48100)]

Well done against the English and later the marriage politics. What are you going to do now? Try to conquer Ireland?

 

[Manstein16]

Thanks for the comments. It's always nice to know that one has an audience

I realized from previous experience that if I played a standard "divide and conquer" game I would have conquered the whole world by the time I hit HOI2, which would sort of defeat the purpose. So I've initiated a new rule: never let badboy fall below the "respectable" level. This oughta put a major brake on expansion. I'm looking to expand west and south with a Gaelic empire being the ultimate idea (sort of a Scottish UK, if you will). Given the rather disjointed nature of expanding without grabbing claims, however, this will be progressing in both directions simultaneously over a long period of time. I'm hoping that I can set up a nice little Scottish realm of influence without being a superpower by the time I export to EU2. Gotta keep things interesting for another 850 years, after all

 

[unmerged(48100)]

I'm hoping that I can set up a nice little Scottish realm of influence without being a superpower by the time I export to EU2.

Well, good luck. That's probably the hardest thing in CK.

 

[Manstein16]

King Duncan I of Scotland

Duncan took over Scotland's crown immediately following his father's death. He was already well established in the kingdom as his father had made him Duke of Lothian upon his 16th birthday. Unlike his father, Duncan was a very skilled general. Also unlike his father, however, Duncan was a miserable steward and only a mediocre diplomat. It was whispered early on that his reign would be full of warfare and bloodshed.

Thus it was unexpected when, soon after his coronation, Duncan arranged for the Swedish chancellor to marry a male member of Duncan family. It was a prudent marriage, as the new arrival was one of the most skilled diplomats in the land. With her help, Duncan launched a program of expanding his kingdom through aggressive diplomatic means. He would alternatively bribe the disloyal vassals of the English king and offer them vassalization. It did not take long for his efforts to bear fruit.

Within a few years, another unhappy English vassal broke ranks and joined the Scots.

Encourage by his success, Duncan focused all of his energy and coin on the sole remaining Welsh duchy. After five years of resistance, the Duchy of Deheubarth yielded and swore allegiance to the Scottish crown.

In only 10 years Duncan had managed to add two duchies and county to his kingdom without spilling a single drop of blood. This unprecedented achievement yielded an even richer prize: the Welsh crown.

Before Duncan could fulfill this dream, however, he was thwarted by the County of Gwent, which rebelled against its liege. Whether bribed by an English court that feared the implications of the Welsh crown landing in Scottish lands, or merely to attain its independence, Gwent refused to yield diplomaticaly. Duncan was ultimately forced to mobilize his armies and march the length of the island before laying siege to the fort at Gwent. Following the inevitable result and angered at having to postpone his attainment of the Welsh crown, Duncan annexed the county directly into his demense. This was ultimately granted to one of Duncan's brothers, but only after the Welsh crown was safely in Scottish hands.

Having united the Scottish and Welsh crowns, Duncan proceeded to continue his father's job of improving the realm. Peace was the watchword of the day and development continued at a rapid pace. In addition to improving the kingdom, Duncan also continued his father's habit of spreading the Dunkerd name throughout neighboring kingdoms, even managing to marry one of his brother's to a Swedish duchess.

Relatively little of note happened until 1111, when Duncan's wife died of old age. After a period of mourning he married a 17 year old Swedish princess.

Duncan could not escape his age, however. The excitement of a royal wedding proved too much for him, and he died a mere month after his second marriage. And so ended the reign of King Duncan I of Scotland, uniter of the two crowns and bloodless conqueror.

 

[Manstein16]

Well, good luck. That's probably the hardest thing in CK.

Many thanks. If worst comes to worst and I'm unable to restrain conquests, I'll just start giving away crowns before I export and try to keep gameplay fairly balanced in this way. Hopefully it won't come to that, but if I must, I will.

 

[unmerged(60276)]

Very nice playing until now. And although the AAR writing style is, as you said it would be, brief, you do get all the important facts in, with a good ammount of pictures, so it is an enjoyment to read. Keep up the good work! Will be following closely.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Scotland, a very popular AAR area

You are doing good so far

 

[stnylan]

An excellent AAR so far. The first two Kings have certainly put Scotland into a grand position.

 

[VILenin]

Good progress, taking some more duchies and the Welsh crown. I think you're right that the hardest part of playing a mega-campaign is going to be keeping it interesting for all 900 years and not dominating the world by EU2.

 

[Okawoa]

very good luck! Will you inherit the victoria/EU events of britain?

 

[LlywelynII]

very good luck! Will you inherit the victoria/EU events of britain?

Or more importantly, Wales?

(btw: Wonderful gameplay, solid style! Good luck! )
j.

 

[Manstein16]

very good luck! Will you inherit the victoria/EU events of britain?

I have been debating that with myself. Obviously it would make the game much more interesting; the only dilemma is that I have some sort of obsession with seeing the historical British posessions painted a Scots blue One alternative (provided I obtain the English crown and survive into the Vicky era, two very uncertain provisions) is to mod the game so that the applicable British events are placed under the Scottish flag (after all, Great Britain historically was the combination of the Welsh, Scottish and English crowns). We'll see. I have a hunch it will be some time before I get that far

Again, thanks to everyone for the comments. It may be a few days before I have a chance to update the AAR, but rest assured that I have the screenshots and notes needed to do so.

 

[VILenin]

Conversly you could mod the British flag and map color for your game to the scottish ones and that way keep all of the events.

 

[Manstein16]

King Maelsnechta I of Scotland (1076 - 1119)

Maelsnechta came to power in the year 1113 AD following the death of his father, King Duncan I.

His father's uncommonly long reign meant that Maelsnechta took the crown at the advanced age of 36. This, combined with the fact that Maelsnechta was his father's only surviving male heir (the old king had lost two sons and a daughter to illness) was to have dire implications for the Dunkeld lineage in the future.

Surviving documents from the era tell us that Maelsnechta was a peace-loving soul, adverse to violence and preferring to resolve unpleasant matters discretely. He also represented an astounding paradox: while generally considered to be untrustworthy, he was at the same time quite trusting of others. As a result he was a character of rather unexceptional abilities. He was fortunate enough to be aided by the cream of the Scottish and Welsh crop. Unaided, however, he was incapable of producing any lasting achievements.

Maelsnechta's first act as king was to marry his eldest daughter, Donada, to a courtier of the English king in an effort strengthen relations between the two branches of the Dunkeld family and fill is own coffers.

Hardly had the marriage celebrations ended when news came from the northern boundary with Norway that the Norse were on the march. Soon afterwards a formal declaration of war was delivered by a courtier to the Norwegian king.

The war was brief as Scotland's Swedish allies, eager as always to expand their holdings at the expense of their Norse neighbors, honored their alliance and declared war upon Norway. Maelsnechta only had a claim on the Count of Orkney and thus was satisfied when Norway offered the barren islands in exchange for peace two months later.

Politics

The vassals to the crown of Scotland were unimpressed with their new liege, especially following the epic expansion of the realm under King Duncan I. Maelsnechta had spent much of his early life in a monestary, leaving only to govern the Duchy of Lothian at his father's insistance. He continued his monastic habits following his acquisition of the throne and his vassals feared that his focus on entering the kingdom of Heaven came at the expense of the kingdom of Scotland. One particular powerful vassal, the Duke of Mar, decided to take matters into his own hands. The Pope had declared a Crusade to liberate Alexandria and the Duke of Mar sensed an opportunity to expand his realm while gathering great power and prestige, possibly enough to gain control of the Scottish crown. After several months of bitter fighting the Duke's highlanders entered the ancient city and announced that they had fulfilled the Crusade.

Thus it came as no surprise when, following the death of the current pope, the Duke of Mar used his vast influence with the Vatican to have his personal bishop elected to the pontificate.

Emboldened by his success, the Duke of Mar led an effort by the nobles to have the law of succession changed to election. By this point Maelsnechta had had enough and responded violently.

Realizing that they could push their liege only so far, the nobles wisely backed down. The Duke of Mar decided to bide his time.

He did not have to wait long. Maelsnechta, unused to such strain, fell ill soon after the face-off with his nobles. The winter bitterness only aggravated his plight and he succumbed to his illness that February, a mere two months after successfully securing the throne for his son.

And thus ended the reign of King Maelsnectha I of Scotland and Wales after only 6 years of rule.

 

[Jestor]

Beautifully played so far. I always delight in seeing England taken down, especially after William's death.