Tale of the Serbian Noble Family

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This is my first AAR ever. I hope I don't mess it up too badly. I am playing as the Prince of Serbia starting in 1066, Normal/Normal.

My primary goal is to attain the title of King of Serbia.

I want to post screenies, but for some reason I can't seem to remember how to take screenies of CK. I have a PC and I have tried Print Screen, and Alt+Print Screen, but neither one works. When I go to the document the computer won't allow me to paste. Can anyone enlighten me?

Update coming soon.

Cheers,
Porter

 

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Part I

Philippos Tarchaneiotes (M:10,D:10,I:7,S:6, Tough Soldier, Forgiving), Prince of Serbia and Count of Rashka, was born in 1039. He had two vassals, the Bishop of Ragusa, and the Count of Zeta. Prince Philippos was a vassal of the Emperor of Byzantium, although Constantinople was distant from the lands of Serbia. The religion of his lands was Orthodox Christian. The people of his lands were Southern Slavs except in Zeta where the people were predominantly of Greek origin.

Above: Prince Philippos Tarchaneiotes of Serbia

In the last days of 1066, Prince Philippos married a distant cousin from his court, Stammatike Tarchaneiotes who was eighteen years old at the time.

Above: Princess Stammatike Tarchaneiotes

Unfortunately for Prince Philippos, his demense, Rashka, was a poor county that could support few soldiers and gave him only a meagre income. There was also another problem; the law of the land was Elective Law, and the the Count of Zeta, his vassal, was much richer and more powerful then himself. Prince Philippos decided to wait a few years for his regiment to grow so that he could entertain the idea of changing the law.

Meanwhile family life was going well. In 1068, Prince Philippos' first child was born: a son named Patrikios Tarchaneiotes. The following year another son was born named Teodor Tarchaneiotes. Prince Philippos was also very lucky to have an excellent privy council to assist him with decision making.

Finally, in April of 1070, Prince Philippos decided it was time to change the laws of the land to ensure that his prodigy would inherit his titles and lands. Prince Philippos changed the laws from Elective Law to Semisalic Consanguinity. He wanted to ensure that the best of his children would be the one selected as his inheritor. Prince Philippos braced for the wrath of his vassals which he expected to be forthcoming. Month after month passed and his vassals did not rebel, although there were many angry words exchanged before they were fully reconciled.

In 1070, Prince Philippos' third son was born, Pelekanos Tarchaneiotes. From birth this child showed more ability at learning and intelligence than his older brothers. Prince Philippos began to think that the rightful heir to his titles was his youngest son, Pelekanos. He did not worry about it so much yet since his children were so small. In 1072, the first daughter was born, Arete Tarchaneiotes, and Prince Philippos was overjoyed (he was fearful of having more sons since he did not have any land to give to the ones he had already).

On August 11, 1072, an important Knight under the service of the Count of Naissus (Vassal of the Prince of Vidin), died and left his fief and his claim to the Count of Naissus to Prince Philippos. Since the Prince of Vidin and his vassal the Count of Naissus were also vassals of the Emperor of Byzantium, Prince Philippos spent a long time contemplating exactly how to pursue his claims without inciting undue attention. Meanwhile, a second daughter was born to Prince Philippos and Princess Stammatike in early 1073 named, Simonis Tarchaneiotes.

Prince Philippos decided to make his move on his claim on May 1, 1073. He had held special meetings with his holy liege the Emperor of Byzantium and had assured the Emperor of his devout loyalty. With this assurance, Prince Philippos issued a proclamation of war against the Count of Naissus along with requests to the Bishop of Ragusa and the Count of Zeta for their assistance in the war. The Prince of Vidin joined the war to defend his vassal the Count of Naissus. The Emperor of Byzantium joined sides with Prince Philippos in the war to accomplish his war to achieve his rightful claim.

Prince Philippos' army took some time to gather, and finally formed on June 3, 1073, a fine host of 1,329 stalwart Serbians. The Prince of Vidin made the first move and attacked Prince Philippos' army with 683 men on June 5, 1073. After a series of engagments the Prince of Vidin retreated with a third of his army dead.

It was time for Prince Philippos to take the initiative, and he invaded the lands of the Count of Naissus. The Count of Naissus only had 390 men, while Prince Philippos still had 1,150 men. The battle was short and the last of the Count of Naissus' men was hunted down and killed on August 13, 1073. Prince Philippos set siege to the Count's castle and had nearly crushed the spirit of the defenders when the Emperor of Byzantium showed up with an army of nearly 5,000.

On December 10, 1073, the Count of Naissus came out of his castle under a white flag. Prince Philippos recieved the title of Count of Naissus, and the ex-Count recieved a healthy sum of money to go into early retirement. The Emperor's huge army continued on with the war by marching on to Prince Vidin's lands. Prince Philippos knew that he could not accomplish anything to his advantage now that the Emperor was involved, so he set about making a quick peace with the Prince of Vidin. The Prince of Vidin agreed to peace on December 29, 1073, and paid Prince Philippos a mighty sum for the agreement. It was well that Prince Philippos made this beneficial peace because shortly afterward the Emperor took the title of Prince of Vidin along with all the lands of that Prince.

Above: Serb lands after the war with the Count of Naissus and Prince of Vidin

With all this warfare, Prince Philippos had not managed to save much money to improve his lot. During the time preceding the war with the Count of Naissus, Prince Philippos had only managed to build a Training Grounds for his regiment, and a Forestry to supplement his meagre income.

Now that the war was over, it was now time for the Prince of Serbia to consolidate his gains, and prepare for the next expansion.

 

[frogbeastegg]

I want to post screenies, but for some reason I can't seem to remember how to take screenies of CK. I have a PC and I have tried Print Screen, and Alt+Print Screen, but neither one works. When I go to the document the computer won't allow me to paste. Can anyone enlighten me?

Hit F11 and the screenshot will end up in your CK root directory as a .bmp file. It is best to edit the .bmp into a .jpg or .gif as they are much smaller in file size. I use paint shop pro to edit screenshots, you can find a free trial version
here

Hope that helps, keep writing.

 

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Thanks Frogbeastegg! I'll write some more later and post some screenies this time.

Thanks!

 

[Personguyfellow]

A Greek Kigdom of Serbia? This should be interesting. Maybe you can unite Yugoslavia very early. I know Croatia is in game. Are there Bosnia and Albania? Guess you'll find out soon.

 

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A Greek Kigdom of Serbia? This should be interesting. Maybe you can unite Yugoslavia very early. I know Croatia is in game. Are there Bosnia and Albania? Guess you'll find out soon.

Most of the nobles around are Greeks.....I guess they still had a monopoly on leadership at that time. You are right, I am trying to unite Yugoslavia. The title I am trying to unite it under is the Kingdom of Serbia. As you can see from the new screenies above there is a Principality of Bosnia, and I believe that part of the Principality of Serbia IS Albania (hard to tell though).

 

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Part II

Prince Philippos began to look toward further expansion of his empire after his initial gains against the Prince of Vidin. The Principality of Bosnia was his prime target. If Prince Philippos could control the territories of Bosnia and Belgrade, he could proclaim himself King of Serbia. Unfortunately for him he was still not prestigeous enough to take on the Bosnians.

At home, another son was born who was named Konstantinos Tarchaneiotes. Unfortunately less than two months after he was born, the poor child died on July 6, 1074. Prince Philippos and Princess Stammatike were both extremely grieved.

Prince Philippos spent the next few years building improvements on his lands in Rashka and Naissus. In Naissus he built a Forestry in 1077, and a Training Grounds in 1083. In Rashka he built a tile factory in 1075, a library for his monks in 1078, a mine in 1080, a court of justice to deal with the abundant thieves in 1081, a sawmill in 1085, and finally he improved the roads for travel in 1087. These improvements saw some increase in Prince Philippos funds, however, both counties remained very poor during these years.

The Principality of Bosnia remained far too strong an opponent for Prince Philippos to gain any claims on their territory. Prince Philippos began to try to gain more power through diplomatic channels so that he could lay claim to some titles in Bosnia. On September 24, 1084, Prince Philippos married his son Patrikios to Theodora Tzykandeles, who was the daughter of Dauid Tzykandeles, Prince of Bosnia.

Patrikios on the eve of his marriage

Marrying his son to his enemy was a clear way to legitimize Prince Philippos aim to gain lands in the Principality of Bosnia. In 1085, Prince Philippos revealed some plotters to the Emperor of Byzantium to gain more favor in the eyes of the Emperor. On September 16, 1085, Prince Philippos married his son Teodor to Sidernia Zarides, who was the daughter of the Count of Rama, a vassal of the Prince of Bosnia. Prince Philippos had arranged the situation perfectly.

On November 12, 1085, Prince Philippos felt strong enough to finally lay claim to the title of the Count of Hum, which was one of the titles held by the Prince of Bosnia. Unfortunately, the Emperor passed away at this same time and was replaced by a new Emperor who was not interested in supporting Prince Philippos' claims on the Prince of Bosnia. Prince Philippos would have to wait for a better time.

Pelekanos Tarchaneiotes was shaping up to be Prince Philippos' best son even though he was the youngest. Prince Philippos had sent his son to learn from the military experts in Constantinople and Pelekanos had returned to Rashka a brilliant strategist. Upon his return, Prince Philippos began searching for a bride for his excellent son. On September 22, Pelekanos was married to Sofia Segouropoulos who was the young sister of the Count of Constantia.

Pelekanos on the eve of his marriage

To support his son in learning the ways of rulership, Prince Philippos had Pelekanos named Count of Naissus, and let him rule in his own manner under the tutelage of his aged father. Prince Philippos was becoming old and he needed good advisors in his advanced age. He began to search for able advisors to replace the ones who were dying off.

On March 6, 1090, Prince Philippos married his daughter Arete to Ioannes Prasomales who was the son of Devlitzenos Prasomales, the Prince of Thessalonika. He did this because his daughter Arete was a simpleton and Ioannes was well known for his stewardship abilities which were in high demand in the Principality of Serbia.

In the early winter of 1093, Prince Philippos became extremely sick. It was a particularly cold winter and Prince Philippos insisted on attending all Orthodox services. Thus he became sicker and sicker. In the first days of February, he called for his son Pelekanos to ride from Naissus to Rashka with all expediency. Pelekanos arrived just in time to be proclaimed as the inheritor to the the titles of Prince of Serbia, Count of Rashka, and Count of Naissus. On February 14, 1093, Philippos Tarchaneiotes, Prince of Serbia, Count of Rashka, died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 54.

Death comes to the Prince of Serbia!

 

[VPeric]

Bah, did you have to beat me to making the first serbian AAR?

Just kidding, yours is fine. And I was thinking of starting in 1187, because thats when some serbs rule Serbia, and not Greeks. Also, it is a much harder starting position, as you cannot attack Naissus or Vidin or Belgrade, because they are all vassals of Byzantium. =\ Still, its a fun game.

 

[Boshko]

So far so good. Its nice watching AARs of people with a leige to watch out for. Please please don't get yourself elected Emperor, that'd ruin it

 

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I know very little of the history of this region so I am curious how this will go...

Good luck!

 

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Bah, did you have to beat me to making the first serbian AAR?

Just kidding, yours is fine. And I was thinking of starting in 1187, because thats when some serbs rule Serbia, and not Greeks. Also, it is a much harder starting position, as you cannot attack Naissus or Vidin or Belgrade, because they are all vassals of Byzantium. =\ Still, its a fun game.

They are vassals in this game too as am I. I would attack them except that my personal regiment from Rashka is very small. The strongest army in the Principality is the Count of Zeta. It also is taking a very long time to accrue enough prestige to attack ANY of my neighbors.

 

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So far so good. Its nice watching AARs of people with a leige to watch out for. Please please don't get yourself elected Emperor, that'd ruin it

I'll try not to get elected Emperor. It will be very hard as you will see in the next installment.

 

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I know very little of the history of this region so I am curious how this will go...

Good luck!

Thanks! I'm not sure if I'm going to follow along strict historical lines, but we'll see.

 

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Part III

Pelekanos Tarchaneiotes assumed control of the Principality of Serbia when his father, Prince Philippos Tarchaneiotes, died on February 14, 1093. Pelekanos declared a time of mourning in the Principality in respect to his father and did not officially accept the title of Prince of Serbia for some time. On June 4, 1093, Pelekanos officially accepted the titles of Prince of Serbia, Count of Rashka, and Count of Naissus. A great celebration was held on this momentous occasion which also marked the completion of a small castle in the Serbian capital at Rashka.

Prince Pelekanos and Family on the Eve of his acceptance of Titles

At the time of his father's death, Prince Pelekanos had already started a large family. He had two sons, Eleutherios age five, and Ioannes age five who was a bastard. Prince Pelekanos had three daughters, Zoe age five, Sofia age four, and Arete age two. Prince Pelekanos' wife, Sofia, had become rather stressed and upset over her husband's debauchery with other women which was a well known fact in the Principality.

The lands of the Principality of Serbia had not changed much since the war with the Prince of Vidin, however, Prince Pelekanos had big plans for his Principality.

The Principality of Serbia in 1093

Since Prince Pelekanos was a fresh nobleman among his peers, it would take some time before he could realize any of his big dreams for Serbia. He set about the education of his family and continued the work that his father had been occupied with prior to his death in respect to building better infrastructure in the provinces of Serbia.

On September 6, 1094, Prince Pelekanos sired another bastard son named, Michael. His wife, Sofia, was pregnant at the time and a few days later on September 28, 1094, she gave birth to a daughter named Helena. Sofia was so distraught with her husband over the matter that she became very ill shortly after her daughter was born was unable to recover.

Prince Pelekanos realized the error of his ways, and spent the next few years tending to the needs of his frail and sickly wife. He sent his agents out to insure that building projects were completed to his liking while he stayed in the castle in Rashka never leaving the side of his wife.

During this time many improvements were completed in Prince Pelekanos' demense. In Rashka an extensive road network was constructed, and a church built during Sofia's illness; while in Naissus a road network, tile factory, and a sawmill were all built. These improvements augmented the treasury of the Principality, and Prince Pelekanos began to save money for his future plans.

On October 8, 1100, Sofia Segouropoulos, wife of Prince Pelekanos, died in a state of high fever and in high dillusion. Prince Pelekanos was deeply grieved and stayed locked in his suites for days. He swore that as long as he lived he would never enjoy the company of another woman. He remained in a state of depression until the Pope sent out a call to arms on January 1, 1101, and Prince Pelekanos turned his attention back to his Principality.

As Prince Pelekanos' children came of age, his nobles began to fear that their fiefs would be revoked in order to insure that Prince Pelekanos' children would have land. On November 11, 1102, Prince Pelekanos issued an edict to his nobleman declaring their titles and lands would remain in their hands as long as they served their liege. The noblemen were overjoyed by this edict and Prince Pelekanos gained much prestige for his actions.

The concession to the noblemen still left Prince Pelekanos a problem of finding apropriate titles for his only legitimate son, Eleutherios. On February 26, 1104, Prince Pelekanos arranged a marriage between his son, Eleutherios, and Arete Machoneos, daughter of the Prince of Ikonion. A few months after the wedding on June 1, 1104, Prince Pelekanos gave Eleutherios the title of Count of Naissus, and proclaimed him the inheritor of the titles of the Prince of Serbia, and Count of Rashka.

On January 1, 1106, a secret rider arrived at the castle in Rashka. The rider carried a confidential letter with the seal of the Emperor of Byzantium and was addressed to Prince Pelekanos. The letter stated that Prince Pelekanos was to be the inheritor of the titles held by the Emperor of Byzantium should he die.

Prince Pelekanos is the heir to the Emperor of Byzantium!

Rather than being happy with the secret letter, Prince Pelekanos was fearful and angry. He did not want to become the Emperor of Byzantium, he wished to be the King of Serbia and have nothing to do with Constantinople. He decided it was time to began to try to accomplish his goals before he could be trapped behind the walls of Constantinople.

On May 13, 1106, Prince Pelekanos announced that because of his brother's marriage to the daughter of the Count of Ramas, he now had a claim on the title of Count of Ramas. Prince Pelekanos had inherited his father's claim on the Count of Hum, and now he was nearly ready to take on the Principality of Bosnia.

Before he could begin a war with any of his neighbors, Prince Pelekanos decided he needed to become more friendly with the King of Croatia. On March 5, 1107, Prince Pelekanos arranged a marriage between his daughter, Sofia, and Dmitar Trpimirovic, son of the King of Croatia and heir to the throne. To celebrate the friendly relations, Prince Pelekanos sponsored a royal feast at great expense with the Croat Royal family as his guests on December 11, 1108. Unfortunately, his recently married daughter died on January 9, 1109, as a result of eating too much rich food at the feast a month earlier. Prince Pelekanos was very grieved by the loss of his daughter, but realized the gravity of the political situation. Prince Pelekanos quickly arranged for Dmitar to marry his other daughter, Arete, and the ceremony was concluded on February 1, 1109.

With his daughter married to the crown prince of Croatia, and claims on the counties of the Principality of Bosnia, it was time for Prince Pelekanos to make a decision. Should he act now, or wait for a more opportune moment?

 

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How do you become emperor?

 

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How do you become emperor?

Byzantium has Elective Law, so the strongest vassal inherits the title of Emperor. Strength is measured in Military attribute, number of provinces, and prestige I think. The reason Pelekanos is the inheritor is because he has a military attribute of 14! and 2 demense with 2 other vassals (more than the other Princes of Byzantium).

 

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Part IV

Prince Pelekanos had decided it was finally time to act. He had married his daughter to the heir of the throne of Croatia, he had laid claim to the title of Count of Rama, and he was heir apparent to the Emperor of Byzantium. With his position thus set, Prince Pelekanos decided it was time to widen the borders of his Principality for the generations to come.

On April 1, 1109, Prince Pelekanos declared war on the Count of Rama. The Prince of Bosnia came to the assistance of his vassal, and declared war on the Principality of Serbia. The Emperor of Byzantium could not stand idly by, and declared war on the Prince of Bosnia in support of Prince Pelekanos' legitimate claims on the Count of Rama.

War!

Prince Pelekanos called up his men-at-arms and sent out the call for his vassals to bring their regiments to do battle against the Bosnian foe. The legions of Serbia consisted of Prince Pelekanos' Regiment of 693 warriors, Count Eleutherios' Regiment of 975 warriors, Count Georgios' Regiment of 2,183 warriors, and Bishop Isaakios' Regiment of 632 warriors. The Emperor of Byzantium called up a large host somewhere in excess of 10,000 men-at-arms to combat the Bosnians.

As the various regiments on both sides were marching to rally points, the Emperor of Byzantium sent a message to Prince Pelekanos. The message reached the Prince's field camp on May 8, 1109, just as the Bosnians were invading the Principality of Serbia. The message called for Prince Pelekanos to give up his title of Prince of Serbia in exchange for the assistance that the Emperor was rendering. Prince Pelekanos angrily refused and sent a simple note of decline to the Emperor. Amazingly the Emperor did not react to Prince Pelekanos glaring insubordination.

On May 9, 1109, the Prince of Bosnia met Prince Pelekanos in battle at Rashka. The Prince of Bosnia had a fine host of 2,226 men-at-arms while Prince Pelekanos had a force of 3,851 Serbian warriors. Prince Pelekanos easily defeated the Bosnian onslaught and the Prince of Bosnia withdrew with the remainder of his force back to his home in Hum while the Serbs were in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Byzantium troops had already reached the Prince of Bosnia's castle in Hum and had initiated a siege. The Prince of Bosnia had failed to build anything stronger than a wooden stockade around his home, and the siege was quickly over with the small number of defenders easily slain.

On June 29, 1109, a combined force of Serbs and Byzantium troops under the command of Prince Pelekanos caught up with the forces of the Prince of Bosnia at Hum. The Count of Rama was a coward and decided that he would rather live than die for his honor. He secretly parleyed with Prince Pelekanos and offered his title to the Count of Rama and 501 gold coins. Prince Pelekanos agreed and the Regiment from Rama disbanded while the ex-Count of Rama went into hiding. Thus the Prince of Bosnia was forced to face his enemies with only 1,236 men, while Prince Pelekanos fielded a mighty force of 5,265 men.

The Battle at Hum

The battle was quick and the Bosnian loss complete. The Prince of Bosnia was discovered hiding in a gully with his family and courtiers on July 4, 1109. Faced with imminant death, the Prince of Bosnia quickly came to terms. He surrendered his titles and seals to the Count of Hum and Prince of Bosnia, he recognized that his own claims on the titles of Count of Rama and Count of Rashka were illegitimate, and he handed over his treasury of 1,400 gold to Prince Pelekanos. Prince Pelekanos immediately proclaimed himself the new Prince of Bosnia, Count of Hum, and Count of Rama.

The Emperor was very unhappy that he had not gotten anything out of the war with the Prince of Bosnia, and his vassal, Prince Pelekanos, had been so insubordinate. He demanded that Prince Pelekanos behave in accordance with his prior claims on the Count of Rama. Prince Pelekanos complied on August 1, 1109, and gave the title of Count of Rama to his brother, Teodor Tarchaneiotes who had been married to the daughter of the previous Count of Rama, and thus was the reason for legitimacy of Prince Pelekanos' claim on the Count of Rama.

Prince Pelekanos was not finished with spreading his influence. The Emperor of Byzantium had recently removed the Prince of Belgrade and replaced him with a loyal child ruler. Prince Pelekanos believed that this move was completely wrong, and on February 1, 1110, he declared that he had a legitimate claim to the title of Prince of Belgrade. Prince Pelekanos was content for the moment, and decided to let things cool down for a while especially since he was beginning to develop a bad reputation.

The Principality of Serbia after the war with Bosnia

 

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Why is it a bad thing that your being elected emperor?

 

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Why is it a bad thing that your being elected emperor?

Well, my goal in this game is to become King of Serbia, and not Emperor of Byzantium. I could use my position as Emperor of Byzantium to set myself up as King of Serbia, so that part is not bad. The bad part is that my laws are different than the laws of Byzantium, and if I get elected emperor my laws will follow me. If that happens I think the Empire will almost instantly disintegrate. I might still outlive the emperor and not have to worry about any of that though .

 

[Morpheus506]

You know what would be an easy way to not have to worry about inheriting Byzantium? Just declare war on them. That'd work like gangbusters.