May 1082-July 1083. The Controversy of Provence (or, allies are for sissies)
Hello, hello, yes, one second. No, lift the right side. The right side. My right side. More. There. Now it’s straight. It’s not so hard to hang a map, see?
Sorry about that, but we’re having to make changes in the decoration. You know how I like maps and souvenirs, and these months have landed me with new pieces of both.
But let’s start at the beginning for a change. The last time you were in Burgos I remember I had one of my blue spells. Everything seemed to be going well, which was strange and unnerving in itself, but the people I used to share things with were not there, and I just couldn’t enjoy it. I was growing quite testy and impatient, and running quite a hospital bill with the house service. They don’t make those seneschals as solid as they used to. Either that, or it’s the softer, plains material. I never had that trouble when I only employed Navarran folk from the Baztán valley or Lesaca. You could hit them with a war hammer and they only saluted. Almost as hard as García’s chin.
Ah, García… That’s another one I miss. He never lacked the unexpected insight, the blind faith, the instant readiness to jump into whatever fray I wanted, or he thought I wanted. He invented such tactical wonders as the “Preemptive Attack”, the “Surgical Strike”, the “Jimenez Breakfast”, the “Low Intensity Warfare”, and even the “Unauthorized Foray”. Books are written about them, albeit mostly full of mistakes like that sycophantic tract, De Bello Iberico. And the Crown of Navarra is larger for them.
Well, to cut a long story short, I have missed him most because we’ve been at war like never before, and I could have used his qualities.
It all started in the late spring of 1082, while I was out hunting (falconry, of course) with my friend the Duke of Castille (not to be confused with cousin Sancho). Our armies were sparring with the Duke of Savoie to close an unsightly loop in our map, and also to keep the sword arms in shape,but beyond that all was peace; another task force was sailing to Pisa to put an end to their preying on my ships. Then news reached us of French armies travelling through our lands, and soon later, of strange happenings in the lands of Provence. By the summer it was clear that those armies were an occupation force, and the King of the French intended to occupy and vassalize the duchy using the same excuse that King Alfonso had tried in Plasencia. Having declared war on them months ago (as he could do, being my ally) he now intended to siege the Duke and extract a vassalization from him.
That would never do. If the French started playing this way, our expansion strategy in Europe was doomed. And our lands east of Provence would be in trouble.
So in August the 7th, having taken counsel with the Duke of Castille and with my council, I started a general mobilization. This council is, I think, mostly new to you, so may merit a few introductions.
The new Chancellor is Raimundo de Luna, who is a close friend of many ladies in the court, including some in the royal family, but also a very able manager of embassies and ambassadors. The Steward, Marie, is a gifted manager with a shady past, so shady she has no surname and allegedly wears a wig. The new Marshall, just in for this campaign, is the young Amat Shaheen, a product of the Navarran melting pot and a direct disciple of García. Indeed, he manages to look actively dangerous where old García only looked rugged and brutal. I think it’s the spiky haircut and the predatory eyes. Last but not least, my faithful Laura is still piloting the spies, or as she calls it, the Intelligence. Oh, and let’s not forget the almost secret but expensively staffed Ministry of Truth, run by Ingeborg from the Madinat al-Zahara government complex in Córdoba. While I keep court in Burgos, the Queen and many of our people have set up in the kinder climate of the old caliphal city. We were short one court bishop, since they all seem to grab at the first county seat that I happen to have available.
Well, while the mobilization was going on, I picked a quarrel with the Duke of Anjou, who is quite close to the French King, and eventually his liege was forced to step up to his defense and declare war on us. This was done to be able to fight the French troops in Provence and help the besieged as soon as possible, but it also meant that we could not strike first nor deep into French territory.
Indeed, while our own mobilization was still going on, the French King was already besieging my fortress in Ille de France with a far superior force.
The mobilization of the Franks and their attack on Paris were disquieting. But worse yet were the news that my faithful Marshall was not going to come back to lead the armies anytime soon. Well, OK, never.
Indeed, my garrison upon the Seine was doomed. For my new Marshall’s strategy, which I approved, called for different targets. We would let Paris fight, and fall if it should, on its own.
This wasn’t appreciated by our generals, who thought we were picking random fights with every French vassal, and at first we had more than one serious discussion. As news arrived of the French behavior in Ille de France, the clamour to help the besieged grew.
For those men, the news of the fall of our bastion in November were a bitter cup to swallow. Indeed, I suspect this feeling made it easier for the French spies to do their work among our armies, and weaken us.
But the onslaught was coming, and once our troops were ready, we unveiled it to the generals. It lifted the mood like a charm. The first half of Amat’s strategy had a name, too, and it was called “Dismemberment”. I tried to change it to “Divide and rule”, but the council said it just didn’t sound as impressive. Indeed I had a hard time convincing them it should not be “Death by a thousand cuts”.
But it was. The core idea was that since Philippe had drafted every soldier in the land, his nobles were defenceless. That would not matter if the Ministry of Truth were not so able to exploit my prestige to win the acceptance of newly-crafted historical documents of claim. As things were, we could pick quarrels with each of them, occupy their undefended lands, and force vassalizations that would, in turn, slowly deplete the powerful royal French armies. This should enable us to win without large bloodshed, but it would be a long slog. And meanwhile, those powerful royal French armies were dangerous for ours and our vassals, as well. Not least because most of our forces in the east were already engaged in Pisa and Savoie, and our divisions had to gather before they could reach the strength to face Philippe and his Dukes.
Thus the situation was very messy at first, with armies coming and going and apparently random sieges, but without relevant battles. Things started to change, not coincidentally, after Pisa capitulated in early November 1082 (by the way, did I mention that the Duchy of Pisa owned Venice? And that thus we settled Christian side of the piratical issue?). At the end of the month, the Duke’s returning forces joined with other battalions to break the French siege of Provence.
By December we could try the first cut of the Dismemberment: we managed to occupy the main province in the domain of the Duke of Britanny, and offered him to renounce my claims in return for vassalization. He accepted.
The next target was Champagne, whose vassals and allies were foolish enough to declare war on us when we sent the insult and the claim.
More importantly, the second half of our strategy was working too, and by mid-December we stormed the walls of Orleans, Philippe’s capital, and hoisted the red flag from the highest tower of his palace. Also in December, we made our first attempt to retake Ille de France.
Shortly later we captured another province from the Duke of Anjou (the one we had challenged to provoke the war).
Vendome was the province I had got a claim upon, so the negotiations with the Duke, who was still riding under Philippe’s banner, were short and painful. For him.
Well, to cut a long story short, the Dismemberment strategy worked. Our drive to occupy all the royal domain (the second part of the strategy) was slowly working too. The French didn’t stand still, but counterattacked often, even winning back Orleans twice. Their Irish troops performed especially well, for their low numbers.
But in March 25th 1083 Savoie folded, and our southern divisions were freed to join the main battle.
The Duchy of Bourgogne fell very shortly later. In April, the powerful Duchy of Flanders capitulated.
In May, we captured Auxerre and Eu, thus occupying the royal demesne of France. Before the end of the month we also held Troyes, the last seat of the Duchy of Champagne. The surrender of that Duchy was so complete that the fame of Navarra reached new heights, and the remaining armies of France were demoralized.
… and it reached the Pope’s ears, reminding him of us. So on May 27th I received a Papal bull, promising forgiveness of my sins if I joined his Crusade. I could not risk any conflict with the church at that moment, so I complied and had the red Crusader cross sewn on my cape. OK, so my cape was red too and the cross hardly showed, but then I don’t believe in flaunting these things. Half my realm is Muslim, after all…
By early June Valois surrendered and was vassalized. The Kingdom of France was down to three minor counts, the Irish vassals, and the royal demesne, which was fully occupied. It didn’t take much effort to get the chanceries of Christendom to recognize the latest creature of the Borg’s factory. Yes, you guessed it. A claim on the crown of France.
On June the 9th an emissary from Philippe’s wandering army arrived with an offer of peace. My rival offered to recognize my claims on the crown of France, and also to renounce his own claims on Ille de France, and the duchy and county of Barcelona. And I, happy to see the end of the war, unwisely accepted.
Unwise, you ask? Why, yes. If I had done things right, he would have become a count within my new realm, as Sancho and Alfonso were in Iberia. By accepting them thus from him, the fast-thinking Philippe had got the better of me. He lost his last vassals, but wriggled out of the trap. He was a count, but he was independent.
I took a time to rest, and to marry my firstborn Felipe, the bastard, with a young Polish countess (of Sacz, I believe). He would make a fine consort, as he is able and warlike, and having him that far would doubtlessly be healthy for the succession. Indeed he is so able that I was almost sorry to see him ride away. But I have learned the lesson of Sancho the Great and his brood, oh yes. The Visigoth traditions of partitioning and feuding are over for Navarra.
And after the rest, at the end of June of 1083 I turned on to Philippe, decided to squash his Orleans duchy… and was surprised to see that he had wriggled out again. I don’t know how, but he was no longer Duke of Orleans, just count of Eu (while keeping his three provinces)… and a vassal of the English Duke of Normandy.
Thus was the end of France and the Capet dynasty, and thus was another crown added to mine. And we were in time to attend the Sanfermines, at which I pardoned the last French prisoners and let them go free in the Estafeta street. They were especially applauded. Almost as much as the bulls that ran them over hardly a minute later.
On the good side, it’s nice to add provinces to the Crown, even if the wine is overrated and the cheese can’t stand up to the Roncal. And it’s especially nice to clear the menace of an untrustworthy, and powerful, ally. Now our policy of quiet expansion to the East can continue without having to watch our backs. Not that we can expand much farther without banging into Poland, these days.
On the bad side, we’ve run up an enormous debt, and I’m not confident that the Estates General will be ready to foot another bill of this size. The risks to stability are serious.
But… you see, it was
fun. We fought a large enemy, without surprises or advantages, and we
won. I got rid of Felipe, which is important, and did so in a way that won’t demean him. And I found a fitting successor to Marshall García, something I never believed was possible. Amat coordinated, at one point, seven different conflicts that needed winning. With such an able, tenacious and inventive Marshall, I’m not even worried about having to go on crusade.
.
