One Nation Under God

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My first attempt at this so:

Kingdom of Jerusalem
Part I

Introduction
The Kingdom of Jerusalem came into being with the capture of the City in 1099 by European crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon. Godfrey refused to take the throne and instead became “Defender of the Holy Sepulcher”. Upon his death the next year his brother Baldwin I became the first King.
Baldwin expanded the Kingdom by capturing the cities of Acre, Sidon, and Beirut as well as gaining suzerainty over several other Crusader fiefdoms. He also arranged for support from the Italian city states such as Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, whose trading fleets brought both military aid and Latin immigrants. Baldwin also arranged to receive a Latin Patriarch for Jerusalem from Rome. He died without heirs and was succeeded by his cousin Baldwin of Edessa who became Baldwin II and also continued to expand the Kingdom, most notable with the capture of Tyre in 1124.
His son-in-law Count Fulk of Anjou succeeded Baldwin II. Fulk faced a competent and powerful enemy in Ataberg Zengi of Mosul. Though he fended him off, Fulk’s death in 1144 led to the uncertain leadership of his young son Baldwin III for whom his mother Melisende acted as regent. Zengi captured Edessa sparking a crisis that led to the Second Crusade. Rather then face Zengi the French and German Crusaders made war on Damascus and suffered a humiliating defeat.
Shortly after the Crusader defeat Baldwin III assumed full control of the Kingdom. He was an able King who expelled the Fatimid Egyptians from Palestine by taking Ascalon. However Nur ad-Din retook Damascus from the Crusaders and unified all of Syria under him. In 1162 Baldwin III was found dead in his personal chapel in the Tower of David. Publicly his death was a mystery, but the Church obtained evidence (a poisoned dart) the implicated the Assassins, a mysterious order of fanatical Muslim extremists. His brother Amalric became king and fought a long bitter struggle with Nur ad-Din and Saladin for control of Egypt. Both he and Nur ad-Din died in 1174 leaving Egypt to Saladin.
Amalric was succeeded by his leprous son Baldwin IV. His health problems contributed to the political decline of the Kingdom. Faction formed around Duke Raymond of Tripoli and Count Guy of Lusignan and political disputes within the government became more common. Baldwin died in 1185 and was succeeded his infant son Baldwin V. Initially Duke Raymond was the regent, but Guy married Sybilla, Baldwin IV’s sister. In 1186 Baldwin V died of the measles. The High Court met to choose a successor and after much political infighting chose Guy de Lusignan as the new king.

Guy I: A New Vision (1186- )
“I have said that the Count took this burden upon himself rashly, for this reason: that he did not carefully appraise his own strength in comparison to the obligation that he assumed. However, his strength and his prudence proved equal to the intolerable burden which he placed upon his shoulders He was familiar with the gospel saying in which it is suggested that the man who wishes to build a tower should first sit down and count the cost to see if he has sufficient strength to complete it, lest lie fail and hear it said, ‘Here is a man who began to build and could not finish his building.’ The Count may not have been up to the task, but the King proved more then able”- William of Tyre, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum, XXII, 25, Patrologia Latina 201, 879-80, translated by John E. Chapman, Jerusalem: One Nation Under God, (Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University Press, 2004), 146-48

King Guy’s first days were filled with crisis as Raynald, the Duke of Jordan provoked Saladin into war with raids of his caravans. As Saladin gathered a great host to sweep into the Kingdom, Guy entered the Holy Sepulcher on the eve of his coronation. There he had a vision of Saladin’s armies sweeping aside the smaller Christian forces and forever expelling his people from the Holy Land and condemning that land to a never-ending cycle of death and violence. He emerged the next morning determined to preserve and strengthen then Kingdom.
His first act was to make peace with Saladin. In a carefully worded missive he invited Saladin to hold off the war and give the new King time to make justice in his own land. Saladin, impressed by the request agreed.
The external war averted Guy turned his attention to his internal problems. The weakness of the previous kings had led to the existing Dukes achieving too much power. King Guy first addressed this by inviting the Order of Solomon to take land in the Duchy of Tripoli. The Order was friendly to the Kingdom’s cause (protecting the Holy Land), but independent of the King and the Duke of Tripoli. He repeated this move with the Order of Saint John in the Duchy of Jordan. Guy also began constructing an extensive road network throughout the Kingdom to facilitate commerce and the movement of soldiers. Finally he began gathering able and loyal nobles to his court from inside the Kingdom and from Europe.
By 1189 he was ready for action. He demanded that Duke Raynald of Jordan give up his title. Raynald refused and open rebellion ensued. Duke Raynald controlled nearly a third of the Kingdom, but Guy swiftly moved to crush his forces before they could join together. By 1191 King Guy had subdued the rebellious Duchy. Installing many of his loyal nobles as counts, King Guy found many distrusted him because he had made war upon his own vassal. Rather then watch these new counts slowly drift towards rebellion he transferred their loyalty to his 9-year-old daughter Alix whom he installed as the new Duchess of Jordan. He was successful and the new counts rallied to support the lovely and charming young girl in her new role.
Upset with the King, the Duke of Tripoli rebelled. King Guy marched north and quickly subdued the Duke. On his return the Duke of Galilee attempted to attack him and was likewise defeated. King Guy again drew from his court for both counts and his most loyal vassals to be Dukes. For himself he added the title Duke of Palestine.
While the Kingdom was weak from the civil war, it was secure under a strong leader. King Guy next reorganized the tax structure and put the Kingdom’s finances in order. Using his wealth he embarked on an extensive development plan. He built mines, sawmills, glassworks, breweries, and tile manufactories. He founded schools and libraries. He also expanded the ports and funded moneylenders to promote investment and commerce.
As the Kingdom grew wealthy it grew strong, and by 1210 it was a formidable power, if not so strong as Saladin’s Fatimads. In 1212 Armenian Turks attacked the Duke of Antioch, a powerful and independent Duchy north of the Kingdom. While Antioch’s army was away fighting the Turks, the Assassin’s struck from their fortress in Alamut which bordered both the Kingdom and Antioch. King Guy, realizing the danger of allowing Antioch to fall, led an army north and defeated the Assassin army as it lay siege to Antioch. He followed the fleeing assassins back to their mountain fortress and lay siege.
The Fortress of the Assassins was among the finest, most defensible fortresses in the world. King Guy spent months taking notes and observations as his forces tried in vain to breach its walls. Finally 3 years after the siege began, the fortress succumbed. When the Christian army entered they found not one survivor, all had died by their own hands rather then be captured. The library had been burned, taking most of their secrets with them.
As the King was touring the fortress, again taking extensive notes, he was attacked. A poison arrow, shot by the last surviving assassin, streaked towards the king. Sir James de Anjou, a Templar Knight, threw himself in front of the King and was the last victim of the assassins. King Guy, moved by the knight’s devotion, gave the fortress into the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem who would make it a haven of Christian might.
The King returned to Jerusalem and set himself to organizing what he had learned. In 1216 he published Fortress of God, a book on engineering and fortification. That same year he began making drastic improvements to Jerusalem’s walls, the Citadel and the Tower of David. Pleased with the progress he also began making similar improvements in Ascalon and Acre. Though they were expensive, such military improvements would vastly increase the Kingdom’s power.

 

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Nice start. It sounds like surviving is not easy for you in this part of the world. At least you destroyed the Assassins!

One request - could you add a bland line after every paragraph. It makes it much easier to read.

 

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Good work, I like how you described what happened. I also found it funny how you described how the king stole thoughts from the assassins and made them into his own book.

 

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This is alot of work, but here you go... :wacko:

Kingdom of Jerusalem
Part 2


Having established the Kingdom as a military and economic power, King Guy was content to wait and allow events to unfold around him. He was aware of his advancing years and inability to sire a son and heir to his throne. In 1220 he took his third and last wife. While she was an able Steward she was too old and proved barren, no more children would be coming.

That same year the Emir of Kirkuk, flush with his triumph over the Kingdom of Georgia turned his attention to Jerusalem. The Emir thought that the internal disputes had paralyzed the Kingdom and that the old King would be loath to engage in a long war. With that in mind he attacked the Duchy of Galilee.

Guy was enraged. He immediately summoned his forces from around the Kingdom and marched to relieve the besieged Duke. Moving with a speed uncharacteristic of a man his age he force marched his army and surprised the Emir outside the City of Beirut. Battered, but not broken, the Emir retreated into Syria.

King Guy determined to take the war to Kirkuk and end the threat once and for all. Marching into Syria, Guy sought and received safe passage from the local Arab lords. Arriving in Kirkuk Guy again defeated the Emir’s army. This time the Emir retreated north heading for his newly conquered lands in Georgia. After subduing Kirkuk, King Guy followed. In Georgia he found many atrocities committed against the local people. In a long campaign Guy harried the Emir from one province to the next until at last the Emir was captured along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Face to face with the Christian King the Emir fell to his knees and accepted Christ. King Guy granted him absolution for his sins. Relieved the Emir rose to his feet only to fall once more as the King drove his sword into the Emir’s belly. Looking down in pity King Guy remarked, “The King of Heaven can forgive your sins, but I am merely a King of Earth and I will not forgive your crimes.”

The people of Georgia welcomed King Guy as a hero and urged him to continue his crusade and liberate the rest of the Kingdom. Guy declined saying one crown should be enough for any man. He took the title Duke of Georgia and rewarded his loyal nobles with lands in the liberated region. Then he returned home for a much needed rest.

In 1230 word reached Jerusalem from a vassal along the Caspian Sea that a great host calling itself the Golden Horde had appeared from the north and west. The letter described them as “the blow like the wind across the steppes, endless and unstoppable..” Nothing further was ever heard. King Guy immediately sent messengers to Byzantium and Rome to warn of the coming danger. As winter approached the King grew ill once more. Knowing his time was near the King sought to set his Kingdom to order. He named Rafael Abdullah, his loyal Marshal, as Duke of Georgia. He began seeking yet another wife, someone young and fertile to quickly get with child so as to secure the succession, but in January 1231 King Guy passed away ending his 45 long years on the throne.


King Crispin: Those Whom the Gods Destroy...(1231-1237 )

The death of the King was not unexpected. The High Court had been called and by the end of January the last of the nobles had arrived. Immediately two factions formed. The “Noble” faction, led by Duke Eliseu of Tripoli and Duke Da’ud Hassan, of Galilee, comprised those nobles who felt that a capable leader should be chosen from among those born and raised in the Holy Land. Most championed Duchess Alix de Lusignan of Jordan, King Guy’s daughter. The “Prelate” faction, led by Tacsony of Marmaros, Prelate of Jerusalem and Bishop of Alamut, wanted strict adherence to the law by which Count Crispina de Lusignan, the eldest son of the King’s eldest brother, would inherit. Count Crispina ruled Lusignan county in the Poitou region of France. In the end Duchess Alix, who had remained aloof during the deliberations asked to speak. In a moving speech she explained that the nature of her illness would leave her childless and that she had no wish for her father’s crown. She then gave her support to the will of the Court. The “Noble” faction then asked Bourgogne de Lusignan to step forward. He was also the King’s nephew and Count of Eilat in the Sinai region of the Kingdom. Bourgogne also declined claiming that he could barely manage his own affairs, much less fill his uncle’s shoes. Defeated again, the “Noble” faction splintered and Crispina de Lusignan was crowned King on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1231.

Crispina de Lusignan was born in 1211. He grew up educated in matters of diplomacy, politics, and statecraft. He proved to be a capable student and soon surpassed his own teachers. Shortly after his 21st birthday he began to act strangely. Crispin was seen talking to himself and could be easily startled. His wife, Ausonia Enzio helped cover for these moments and few outside the trusted servants in Lusignan knew anything about it. His behavior was odd, but through the watchful efforts of his wife he was more then capable.

Arriving in Jerusalem marked a great change for Crispin. Almost immediately he began to create scandalous scenes in public. At times he was lucid and engaged and at others he was raving and inconsolable. His wife scrambled to manage her husband’s untended affairs and his young daughter, Adeltradis lashed out at anyone she caught mocking or laughing at their predicament.

By summer the situation had become unbearable. The King’s poor management sent Jaffa into a popular revolt and tension spread quickly throughout the Kingdom. In July Duchess Alix met with the Queen and together they convinced the King to create a High Council to assist in running the Kingdom. Together, along with Adrianna de Foix, the Steward, the new High Council was able to curb the worst of the King’s diminished judgement.

In December of that first year the Prince of Attaleia visited Jerusalem on behalf of the Byzantine Emperor. Queen Ausonia had become particularly distraught over her husband’s illness and allowed herself to be seduced. They were discovered by Adeltudis, her and the King’s only child. The King was enraged and ordered his wife executed. The Prince was able to escape unharmed. King Crispin immediately declared war on Attaleia and set sail with several thousand soldiers to besiege Attaleia.

Emperor Theodoros initially rallied to the defense of his vassal, but upon learning the details of the affair quickly made peace. However several other Byzantine Princes banded together to invade the Holy Land while its King was away. Prince Ioannes of Cherson and Prince Rossos of Thessalonika marched into the Holy Land taking Tiberious and laying siege to Jerusalem.

Prince Konstantinos of Laodikea sought to push King Crispin out of Asia Minor but was defeated in battle. King Crispin, victorious in Attaleia, sailed back to Acre where he met levies from throughout the Kingdom. He immediately marched on Jerusalem. Prince Ioannes, despite his reputation as a brilliant strategist, had been unable to breach Jerusalem’s formidable defenses. He met Crispin’s relief army of 5,000 men with 4,000 of his own. Drawing himself up on the high ground west of the city he awaited Crispin’s attack. Crispin had little military skill and was hampered by his condition. Likewise his Marshal was bedridden with pneumonia. Victory for the Byzantine Prince seemed certain.

Kin Crispin sitting at the head of army began to loudly argue with himself. His soldiers watched in amazement as the King shouted in one direction and then another, speaking latin, french, and even arabic. Finally he stopped in surprise and began listening intently. Nodding his head the King drew his sword and crying “TO THE HOLY CITY!” At that a lightening bolt struck an olive tree in the center of the Byzantine lines. As the thunder crashed across the field Crispin’s army charged behind their screaming King. Crashing into the front ranks of Ioannes’ equally stunned army, the King was soon joined by his Knights and well drilled infantry. AS Ioannes tried to rally his formations trumpets blared announcing the arrival of Count Louis de Toron and a second, smaller Jerusalem army.

Prince Ioannes signaled a retreat and leading his army across the Jordan River before turning north towards Tiberious. King Crispin was waiting for him when he arrived, scattering the Byzantines as they tried to recross the river. By September Prince Rossos and Prince Konstantinos had both accepted peace with King Crispin and his control of Attaleia. They secretly informed him that they and Ioannes and the late Prince of Attaleia had planned the entire affair in order to seize control of the Kingdom. Duke Rafael of Georgia began pillaging Ioannes’ holdings along the Black Sea. In October of 1234 Prince Ioannes had humbly made his peace and returned to his lands.

With the war over the Kingdom was once again feeling the effects of the King’s inability to manage the day to day affairs of the Kingdom. Initially he refused to heed the advice of the High Council. Soon, however, new advisors emerged to regain the King’s confidence. His daughter and only child, Adeltudis, had blossomed into a capable young woman skilled in stewardship, statecraft, and diplomacy. He took her as his Chancellor. Also at court where the two sons of Alexis de Foix. Afrodisi de Lusignan, the elder son, was legal heir to the throne and had surpassed even his mother ample skills in stewardship and diplomacy. Nicolau, the younger son, had served as the King’s own squire during the war and was developing into a strong warrior. Afrodisi and Adeltudis were a fine pair. Nearly the same age they shared many skills, interests, and talents and had fallen in love. In 1236 they together approached the King and asked to be married. Crispin grew distant and after a few moments told them that he and her mother both approved.

With his daughter and son-in-law firmly in control of the Kingdom, Crispin drew further and further away. By winter he never left the Tower of David, often spending hours deep in conversation with his dead wife or past Kings. In January or 1237 he was found dead by his own hand.


King Afrodisi: That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity; (1237- )

By the time the High Court convened at the end of January the controversy over succession was again raging. Once more Tacsony, the Prelate of Jerusalem was calling for strict adherence to the law and that Afrodisi be named King. Da’vd Hassan, Duke of Galilee and Eliseu, Duke of Tripoli, bullied young Teofil Abdullah, the 12-year-old new Duke of Georgia into supporting the notion that after King Crispin’s madness the Kingdom needed new blood and new leadership. Duchess Alix and the rest of the nobles were also leery of choosing another foreign born King.

Afrodisi presided over the Court as Seneschal with Adeltudi sitting by his side. For days the debate raged as the nobles quibbled over whether Afrodisi should be given the throne or, if not, who among them could be a better choice. Finally Da’vd Hassan was chosen as the alternative. He addressed the Court lashing out at the Court for its poor judgement in proving and unknown foreigner as king, a man who turned out to be mad. He demanded they not make the same mistake. Finally it was Afrodisi’s turn. In his quiet and elegant style he asked them why King Crispin was a bad choice. Crispin had defeated the plots and armies of the Byzantines, preserved and expanded his kingdom, provided for the future by marrying his only daughter to the man with the strongest claim to the throne, and even chosen to die at time best suited to the needs of the kingdom. What more could they ask of a King? He then vowed by God’s grace to do no less.

Adeltrois came to stand with him and a moment later he was joined by his younger brother, Nicolau, a towering youth who at 15 was already a head taller then Afrodisi and most of the Court. When the High Court voted young Duke Teofil, who had become enamored by Nicolau’s fighting prowess, switched his support to Afrodisi allowing him to claim the throne. On Easter he was crowned in the Holy Sepulcher and the nobles departed, many grumbling over the Court’s decision.

King Afrodisi, familiar with the needs of the Kingdom, took immediate steps the assist the Kingdom in its recovery from the Byzantine War. He started expanding and improving roads throughout the Kingdom. He created an extensive network of wide, paved King’s Roads between Jerusalem, Tiberious and the ports of Acre, Jaffa, and Beirut. These roads provided safe, well patrolled routes for eastern caravans as well as tolls and duties from the increased trade. The effort was so successful that in 1241 the King began construction of a new center of government in the bustling port of Acre so that the Kingdom’s political and financial centers could be more effectively joined.

But by 1242 the stress of managing the Kingdom had begun to eat away at the King. Queen Adeltudis, familiar with the mental instability of her father quietly wondered if the throne was too much for any man to handle. With Marshal Nicolau’s help she shielded the King from prying eyes and court gossip. Never the less the King worsened, become consumed with one obsession after another. From ancient military arts to and expensive study to design a new Tower of Babel, the King’s obsessions grew more and more extravagant.

The King’s children, however, showed great talent. Even at a young age the King’s son Frederic showed a natural talent for war. By the age of 5 he was drilling his playmates around the Citadel courtyard in Jerusalem and had mastered riding and archery. The daughters took after both of their parents, excelling in math, history, and statecraft. Most important to the Queen, they showed none of their father’s madness. She kept them in Jerusalem while work continued in Acre to isolate them from their father’s influence as much as possible.

In 1246 the Grand Palace, as it came to be called, was completed in Acre. Conceived by the King before the onset of his madness, the Grand Palace overlooked the city and its bustling harbor. The Palace had an area of 218,400 square feet and was surrounded by white stone walls. Within these walls were situated the government offices and the Royal Chapel of the Holy Spear alongside the royal residences. At the center stood the Tower of Solomon, identical in every detail to the Tower of David in Jerusalem. By Royal Decree the banner of the Crusaders flew alongside that of the Kingdom as a pledge to the duty of King and the people to their higher duty to God to protect and defend the Holy Land.

<Scene: King Afrodisi in Acre speaks to his young son Frederic>
Afrodisi: The world in changing. Who now has the strength to stand against Jerusalem and Acre?
(Scene flashes to the bustling harbor in Acre and pans through the crowded markets, past the wall to the King’s road filled with merchants and exotic caravans following all the way to Jerusalem and the Tower of David.)
Afrodisi: To stand against the wealth of our Kingdom and the might of God’s city, and the Union of the Two Towers? Together, my son, we shall rule this middle east.
-From the film The Lord of the Cross: The Two Towers (2002) Old Line Cinema, Directed by Jack Peterson.

H

 

[Deaghaidh]

Darn! I was going to do this scenario and country for an AAR

Good luck, KoJ is a lot of fun but things can get pretty harry. Don't underestimate the Ilkhanate when they show up, I learned that the hard way

 

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"This is alot of work, but here you go... "

I'm glad you went through the work to write it, how about a part3?

 

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Part 3?

This one has a cliffhanger ending :rofl:

Kingdom of Jerusalem, part 3

As the prosperity of the Kingdom increased so did the influx of Christian settlers. By 1246 Latin settlers had displaced local Arabs throughout much of the Holy Land and Christianity ad become the dominant religion. The Kingdom also proved a safe haven for Hungarian Christians fleeing the advance of the Golden Horde. Although the Kingdom had been among the first to sound the warnings about the coming Mongols, but as the Golden Horde turned north and west the alarm had faded. Now in addition to the refugees from the west, word reached Acre from Kirkuk and eastern trade caravans that another Horde known as the Il-Khanate was fighting its way through Persia along the Caspian Sea.

The King’s mad compulsions and the influx of so many foreigners spread much disorder around the Kingdom. For the first time the nobles, led by Duke Da’vd Hassan, considered calling for the High Court to assemble and consider replacing the King or limiting his authority. The Queen and Marshal Nicolau were able to suppress both the popular unrest and keep the majority of the nobles in line, but the King continued to alienate those he meant to rule.

In 1248 events began to spin out of control. The Il-Khanate bypassed Azerbaijan and sailed across the Caspian Sea to invade Georgia. Marshal Nicolau, fearful of the Khan’s strength, persuaded the High Court to deny support to Duke Abdullah. Without aid Georgia fell in a few months.

Late that summer Duke Hassan called for a meeting of the High Court to review the King’s failure to send aid to the Duke of Georgia. As the King entered the great hall in the Citadel of Jerusalem, Thracian mercenaries in Hassan’s employ attacked the King and his High Councilors. Marshal Nicolau and the King’s Guard tried to defend the King but were surrounded and outnumbered. As swords and shouts echoed from the hall young Prince Frederic was in the yard for his daily lessons in the military arts. Knowing his parents were inside for the special gathering of the High Court, Frederic immediately realized what was happening. Gathering a handful of squires, instructors, and off duty guardsmen, the 10-year-old prince rushed to the sound of the fighting. Taken by surprise the attackers faltered and Nicolau was able to get the King to safety. Hassan fled the City followed by Nicolau and 1500 soldiers. They captured Hassan before he could reach his castle. The Duke was stripped of his lands and title and exiled from the Kingdom.

The crisis brought a change in King Afrodisi. He put aside his obsession to rebuild the Tower of Babel and began to obsess about restoring order to his Kingdom. On the advice of his High Council he named Benigne Abba, a loyal vassal from Lusignan province to be the new Duke of Galilee and awarded him the province of Tiberious. The King also arranged for the completion of the long-delayed improvements to Acre’s fortifications that he had planned at the beginning of his reign. Also, with the immigration of so many diverse European cultures and nationalities, the King conceived of a series of schools to teach the children of the nobility and the wealthier families a common language (latin), as well as mathematics and religion. He even laid out plans for a great center of learning to provide advanced education and study in the art of war, philosophy, engineering, and natural science.

In 1253 the Il-Khanate reached Kirkuk and again the High Council declined to send aid. Marshal Nicolau was a fine soldier, but could conceive of no way or the Kingdom to fight such a powerful foe. Prince Frederic, who had been attending the Council meetings when his studies allowed agreed. But from that day on he set his mind to finding a way to expand the Kingdom so that it would have nothing to fear from anyone be they Mongol, Arab, Turk, or even Christian.

Frederic poured himself into studying the Mongols. He spoke to refugees and the few soldiers who had escaped Georgia and Kirkuk. In 1254, as the King plunged into a deep depression, Frederic journeyed to Hebron to visit the Grandmaster of the Knights Templar. He spent many months with the Templars honing his knowledge of war and discussing the Mongol threat.

In the fall he returned to Jerusalem to find word that the King had rashly dismissed his High Council and had fallen under the influence of Kuddana Shaheen, the new Prelate of Jerusalem. Using his sister to gather information Frederic learned that the Prelate was soliciting support from the nobles to use the High Court to strip the King of his power and place the Kingdom under the direct authority of the Pope in Rome, with Kuddana as Governor.

In December Frederic traveled to Acre for his 16th birthday, an occasion that would mark his becoming fully invested as the legal heir to the throne. Speaking to his uncle Nicolau, his mother, and his sisters Frederic set in motion plans of his own. After the ceremony Frederic retired to the Royal Chapel to pray for God’s forgiveness. Queen Adeltudis escorted her beloved husband back to their chambers were they made love one last time. Afterwards as the King lay sleeping she placed a pillow over his face and ended his life. Prelate Kuddana, his normal guards disposed of, was set upon by robbers on the street as Joana, Frederic’s older sister looked on from the shadows. In the Palace Silvana, Loisa, and Roberta, the younger sisters each summoned Kuddana’s supporters to meet with the King on an urgent matter. Waiting for them was Nicolau and a dozen Knights Templar who had accompanied the Prince since his visit to their order.

King Frederic: The Crusader King (1254- )


The High Court met on Christmas Day of 1254. Duke Eliseu of Tripoli, now 62 and much weakened by illness again rose to oppose the selection of yet another Lusignan king. He instead put foreword Count Louis d’Anjou’s valid, if somewhat dated claim. His words were ill tempered and offended Duke Joan de Lusignan of Jordan, Frederic’s cousin, who had replaced the much loved Duchess Alix after her death. Duke Abba was disinterested, seeing the Court’s choice as a mere formality. Never the less most nobles feared supporting yet another weak Lusignan king and were disposed to vote for Anjou’s claim.

As the Council prepared to vote Prince Frederic entered the hall for the first time. He approached the throne with the crown in one hand and his sword in the other. Placing the crown on the throne he turned to address the assembled nobles. He said that if any man had a claim to the crown before him, then he was welcome to come and take it. Nicolau rose and came foreword drawing his own sword. He stopped and faced his nephew, then after a few moments he turned placing himself between the Court and the Prince. One by one members of House Lusignan stepped foreword to place themselves in front of the Prince. In the end not even Eliseu could deny the power of moment and the Council voted unanimously to endorse Frederic’s claim.

Frederic’s first act was to take for a wife the eldest daughter of Count Aimery de Bourdeaux. The old Count had no sons and Frederic hoped that a future son of his own would inherit the Count’s lands that adjoined Lusignan in the Poitau region of France. This would give his family a refuge should the Kingdom fail to stand before the coming storm. He likewise planned to marry his sisters into a variety of western European houses creating a network of support should the Kingdom or the family need aid in the coming years.

Moving swiftly he appointed new High Council to aid his administration of the Kingdom. That done he launched an invasion of Armenia. The region had fallen under the control of the Emir of Azerbaijan who in turn was locked in a life and death struggle with the Il-Khanate along the Caspian Sea. The King hoped that the additional resources of Armenia would help win victory over the Mongols.

By the summer of 1255 King Frederic had taken the cities of Adana, Tarsus, Teluch, and Lykandos and claimed the title Duke of Armenia. Pleased with his success he continued to Galatia and named his uncle Nicolau as the Duke of Galatia. By winter he was marching against Ikonion also taking Selukeia to link up his conquests with his lands in Attaleia.

As he was concluding his campaign in Asia Minor word reached him that the Il-Khanate had reached Syria. Now the less then capable Isa, King of the Ayyubids was leading his armies against the Mongols. The Ayyubids, with a Kingdom stretching from North Africa through Egypt around Jerusalem and into Syria were a formidable foe. King Frederic pondered the marvel of God’s plan that had transformed the Ayyubids from Jerusalem’s oppressor and mortal foe to her last shield against the coming war.

In the fall of 1256 the Il-Khanate reached Al Mafraq on the Kingdom’s eastern border. King Frederic recalled his armies from Asia Minor and began preparing in earnest for the coming fight. While the Ayyubids still held much of Syria, the Khanate had driven a wedge through them all the way to Jerusalem’s border, splitting the mighty Arab kingdom in two. On December 7, 1256 Damascus fell to the Mongols. Word reached Acre that evening by swift horse and Frederic entered the Chapel of the Holy Spear to pray for a sign. Should he fight now when the Ayyubids could still help him, he prayed, or wait and gather strength to face the enemy later when they would be weaker but able to turn their full might upon his kingdom?

 

[Morpheus506]

Ahh, those damn cliffhangers! They get me every time!

The question is: how much more strength do the Ayyubids have in them? You could go to war now, and then have the Ayyubids capitulate and ruin all your planning. But if they are still quite strong it would be wise to go to war with the Ilkhanate now, because even if their armies are weakened later by conquest, they will probably have more territory to draw off of and offset their losses.

 

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Won the war, but I can't share, cause I then lost the war.

I'm working on a new part. Had one with a happy ending and great storyline, till I realized that when peace broke out one of my Dukes decided that his 65 surving soldiers could take on all 70,000 Mongols and in the space of a year he's lost about 5 of my newly won provinces.

Don't know who came up with the peace that doesn't stop the fighting. I think when a King makes peace, it should include his kingdom. If a Duke makes peace, then it should not be binding. That makes sense. Dukes obey Kings, so when I say sign the paper, they sign the paper and like it... Peace. Hah. Not in this game. In this game its beat the enemy into submission then lose the war cause some stupid Duke does not know when to stop fighting.

 

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Use betapatches, in them dukes and counts are forced to peace, when their liege peaces out.

 

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Part 4

Ok, Part 4 is the wrap up because of the fatal flaw discussed above. Doing the Beta patch didn't work, so I removed everything and started over. No save game. So, for want of a patch a Kingdom was lost:

Frederic won his war with the the Il-Khannate. He took much of western Syria. Once peace broke out he noted that the Ayyubids were disintgrating, so he took Edessa and Sinai. He also finished driving the Turks from central Asia Minor, and vassalized Antioch. A few years later he fought another war with the Mongols and took Eastern Syria as far as Mesopotamia. Shortly afterwards he was crowned King of Syria.

This led to a Crusade to liberate Egypt, taking Alexandria.

Frederic had a son named Aulfred who was as good an administrator as his father was a warrior.

King Aulfred of Jerusalem and Syria ruled well for years and the House of Lusignan preserved the Kingdom through the decades to come.

The Kingdom became a refuge for peoples fleeing the turmoil of the Hundred Years War. The mixing of eastern and western culture began a renaissance that spread from Jerusalem to Italy and then into Europe.

The Kingdom thrived and prospered until the 1800s when it began to decline. After WWI the Kingdom lost its possessions in Asia Minor to Turkey and Eqypt went to Britain. WW2 saw the Kingdom heavily engaged fighting the Nazis in Africa. They formed the core of the allied liberation armies fighting in the Balkans and contributed to campaigns in Italy as well as to fighting on the western front.

In 1946 the Lusignans were overthrown and the Kingdom split into the Federal Republic of Palestine and the People's Republic of Syria. A brief civil war ended as the superpowers mediated. In 1947 the UN awarded land in Gaza and the West Bank to displaced Jews from Europe and Russia. The Jews wanted autonomy but the Palestinians refused to give up control. By the '90s Jewish terrorist attacks on Palestinian Christians were an almost weekly occurance. In 2004 President Jeb Bush of the United American States (the sole surviving superpower) negotiated a peace agreement at Camp Soloman in Maryland. Jon D'Lusignan a humanitarian respected by both sides, was restored to the throne as King of Jerusalem and Jerusalem was proclaimed an open and autonomous city. Free access to Jerusalem and the creation of an independent Jewish state led to an end to violence.

In 2005 Mongol fanatics crashed airplanes into the Tower of David in Jerusalem and Tower of Soloman in Acre plunging the world into a new age of terror.

The end...