Saxon Resurgence

[unmerged(140901)]

I recently fired up a new 1066 campaign as the King of Norway (I think that was it). I did so because I noticed that Harold II Godwinson (the one who lost to William of Normandy) has 2 surviving sons as courtiers in the Kingdom of Norway. I focused on raising his son Harold and immediately married him off and gave him a Dukedom. I saved and reloaded as Harold.

The first step in my goal to reclaim England from the nasty Normans was to have a few kids and then invade Scotland with the help of the King of Norway. 15 years in to this new character I personally held southern Scotland, gave away my holdings in Norway and had built up some minor infrastructure. I also improved relations with the two remaining Saxon nobles in England: the Duke of Lancaster and Northumberland.

By this time Robert of Normandie had ascended the English throne, but I had some luck on my side. He was a terrible ruler and excommunicated to boot. Within 5 years of coming to the throne and getting into a war with the French Robert had major rebellion problems. He was abandoned by a handful of vassals while off fighting in France and I sprung into action. I declared war (claim oh his primary title came in handy) and grabbed a few cheap count titles. Long story short Robert lost the war and Harold became Harold III "The Redeemer". Soon after the victory Robert of Normandy rebelled in the north of France and I let him go. He subsequently pledged allegiance to the King of France.

The next 20 years was spent reorganizing the kingdom and invading Wales. I'm proud to say that when Harold IV Godwinson ascended the throne all the Norman nobles had been purged. England is once again Anglo-Saxon! Such a fun game thusfar.

kilarious

 

[Snaake]

I believe that with Anglo-Saxon rulers, you don't get the melting pot event either?

I've been wanting to do something similar, that is to say get Harold Godwinson or his descendants on the English throne and drive the Normans out in my AAR game. Mainly because William the Bastard, and then Robert were more or less my archnemesises (nemesies? how is that pluralised). I started as an independent Count in Wales, and after my first conquest I neighboured William, who proceeded to excommunicate and conquer me, just because he could. Hence a hate of Normans for my dynasty, except my neighbours the de Breteuils in Gloucester and Hereford, who I've been friends with for 4 generations (of them, 2 for me) now. But the senior child of the youngest generation got the 15% chance to get the culture of the province and became Anglo-Saxon.

Anyway, the aim is to get the Anglo-Saxon line back on the throne. The problem is Harold was just the diocese bishop of the kingdom of Denmark. I married a dynasty girl to him and he now at least has kids, so the line won't die out. The problem is how can I get him on the throne?

I've been thinking of allying with Denmark (maybe use the byzantine code if I have to), waging war on England, and try to get the Danish king to install Harold on the English throne (since he won't have any claims on "King of England" himself), but that's something of a long shot to be honest. Of course, there is the option of doing just this, then when the Norman King of Englands demesne is conquered, save and load as Denmark and do that.

I think I've actually just found my answer. If I can't get that to work or the Godwinson line dies out or loses its claim before then, I'll just have to install some Anglo-Saxon de Breteuil on the throne.

 

[Drachenfire]

Merriam Webster dictionary:


Main Entry: nem·e·sis
Pronunciation: \ˈne-mə-səs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from Greek
Date: 1561
1capitalized : the Greek goddess of retributive justice
2plural nem·e·ses \-ˌsēz\ a: one that inflicts retribution or vengeance b: a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent
3plural nem·eses a: an act or effect of retribution

So to pluralize nemesis, it is nemeses. The i is replaced by an e.

Both of these scenarios sounds great. It is amazing how many folks wish to reverse the Noman conquest, lol. It is interesting to ponder had the conquest proved unsuccessful, how much of French culture would have been absorbed into Anglo-Saxon England. We know that Edward the Confessor was a Francophile.

What I do know of Welsh history is that continental concepts reached Wales before England's conquest to the Normans- so clearly England would have been influenced by French culture. Undoubtedly in part through a sea route from Brittany. Clearly the Norman conquest of England had a profound impact on Wales, for dispite the historic rivalry between the Welsh Brythons and the Anglo-Saxon Teutons, by the 11th century there was more or less amity between the two peoples south of Hadrian's Wall, and there was no imputus on the part of English kings to invade and conqure Wales. The Norman's followed their invasion of England with an invasion of Wales.

 

[unmerged(80455)]

I tend to play as the House of Wessex quite often, and I've done quite well (much of the same, actually) with Edgar the Aetheling, who has even more of a claim than any of Harold's children .


note, I'm just playing to any admirer of Harold's kin.

 

[unmerged(140901)]

I believe that with Anglo-Saxon rulers, you don't get the melting pot event either?

You do unfortunately. I've gotten two thusfar or maybe 3. Ticked me right.

 

[Anthropoid]

Interesting stuff. Almost enough to make me stop playing Vicky Rev and go back to my "Valois Dynasty Forever!" game as King of France

 

[Galliun]

Hmm... What is a melting pot event? Never played as England, so I've never seen one of those.

 

[DarthJF]

Hmm... What is a melting pot event? Never played as England, so I've never seen one of those.

It's an event that changes province cultures in England from "Saxon" and "Norman" to English if you're having Norman rulers.

 

[Snaake]

Well, Norman, English, or Anglo-Saxon rulers, and there's an if-clause for the culture of the province too. This in 2.1b, the MTTH modifiers for the 3 ruler cultures are 0.8, 0.4 and 1.5 respectively though, so Anglo-Saxon rulers won't convert the provinces very fast. AFAIK, this and Norwegian to Scottish conversion for Scotland are the only melting pot events in an unmodded game.

The culture of the province pre-conversion has to be Norman (in case someone mods Norman culture provinces into the scenario), Norwegian, Danish, or Welsh in order for the melting pot event to fire. At least DVIP starts with some Norwegian and Danish rulers in England, and provinces at least in the British Isles, in case you're wondering about the need for Danish/Norwegian to be included.

In DVIP, Anglo-Saxon rulers no longer get the melting pot event at all, and it adds similar events for half a dozen other cultures too.