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The Book of Saint John: Volume 1

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Castile united Portugal and Aragon, it seems the AI has a plan in EU2, something I wished it had in EU3.

I found it hilarious with your army roaming the french countryside and then you were able to come back to savory.

and nice peace deal, I never thought you were going to hold all your provinces.
 
Castille and France seems to be balancing each other pretty well, perhaps an alliance with the Castillians will work in favor for the Knights in future wars versus the beast? Excellent writing as usual, keep it up!

//Saulta
 
This is really a good read. That France seems like a monster, good job holding them off.
 
comogoosie - I'm quite experienced a surviving as a minor and one thing you need to do is avoid casualties. Meandering through France is one of my best skills :cool:

Saulta - Castile and the Knights together? Indeed, that's what I was hoping for. But you'll need to read on.

Peleus - Thanks for reading. Indeed, this France is a monster, they didn't need to wait for to inherit Burgundy or anything. If we don't make a stand soon they'll soon be Napoleonic in size.

Update coming.
 
Chapter 4: Calm before the Storm​


As the French and Castilians continued to fight in the war that had saved the Knights’ Savoy lands, the Knights had got themselves involved in another war. It was really the last thing they needed as the French war had shown they needed to regroup if they were to stand a chance against France in the future but the Knights were compelled to fight. The war was declared by their ally Bologna and was against Florence and Ancona. The Knights did not really participate in this war; all they had to do was guard the Capatanata front. Bologna was successful in defeating the Florentines and after two years they were able to capture Florence. The Knights, as alliance leader, saw this as a good chance to gain some funds for recuperation of the army since they knew Florence was a rich centre who negotiated in terms of cash. The Florentines offered a whopping $524 to the Knights in January 1421 for peace and the Knights accepted. The Knights started recruiting.

In 1422 the war between France and Castile ended. The war would be an important precursor for what was to come but not just because it showed that France would be physical in their claims on Provence and not because it created a new friendship between the Knights and the Castilians. In fact one of the most important outcomes of the war had been how it had affected relationships between France and the Papal State. The French had left the Savoy front for the Pyrenees handing over the responsibility of the front to the Pope. However the Pope then allowed the Knights to return to Turin whilst the Papal forces just stayed put in Provence. It might have been a minor misunderstanding but things soon escalated between what had a seemed an ironclad alliance. Soon after peace was declared the French renounced the military access they had through Avignon. The Pope took this as an insult as this was the sort of action that the Pope knew led to another of France’s aggressive invasions.

In January 1423, as result of the excessive war exhaustion experienced by France during the previous war but probably more so due to Majorcan nationalist sentiments that still existed through the island, Sardinia declared independence from France. Perhaps this suggested a changing of the times for France; it was the first time that a state had managed to break away from France despite the many national factions that the French had acquired. Sardinia declared war on France who called on their formerly ironclad allies of the Papal State to help them. However the rift had grown too wide, the Pope failed to honour the alliance and as quick as a flash the Knights offered the Papal State in on its alliance. The Pope knew he was now as vulnerable to a French invasion as the Knights were and since they needed protection, and needed it quickly, the Pope agreed to the alliance for safety in numbers.

popemartinwy5.jpg

Pope Martin V making his decision not to follow France to war against Sardinia which marked a change in Papal politics.

Meanwhile Castile had also suffered from a spout of war exhaustion which had allowed the declaration of independence of a small Portugal state in 1422. However since the war with France was over by this time they made light work of defeating this Portuguese revolution and by 1424 Algarve had been retaken and the government in Lisbon had been vassalised.

The French, during their ongoing war with Sardinia then asked the Knights for military access once more. It was a strange request most contradictory to recent events but nonetheless the Knights were more than happy to ensure the French would not invade. The Knights however stayed on high alert; it might have been some kind of cunning ploy to give the Knights a false sense of security before they invaded Avignon. Over the next year the Knights attempted to enlarge their alliance. They really wanted Castile to join their alliance but the Castilians had gone ahead and joined an alliance with Gelre, Würzburg, Brabant and Mainz. Finally in September 1425 the Knights managed to talk Siena into joining, at least they offered a border with the Knights and might be able to support them somewhat, especially if another war broke out in Italy.

By this time France had defeated Sardinia and annexed the island once more. Two months later the French decided to about face on their decision and rescinded their access through the Knights lands once more. This could only mean one thing. With Sardinia now out of the way and the French having cancelled their access through both the Papal State and the Knights it was clear that they were planning another assault on either Provence or Avignon or both. This time though, the Knights were much better prepared and in the final few months they ensured that their armies in the Savoy provinces were at full strength. The war was about to begin.

screensave18old2smallgy7.jpg

The regional situation in 1423, three years before the war begins. (note the shortlived Sardinia and Portugal)

Come and gone have a hundred years,
The epic struggle finally nears,
The Knights of the Mediterranean Sea,
And Jerusalem, whom they set free,
Are ready for battle, set to deploy,
Mounting their armies in the hills of Savoy.
The French king waits across the border,
Taking Provence is on the order,
Previously they’ve proven their power,
And in every war they’ve won the hour.

Across the mountains the Castilians lie,
Would they be involved in the war so nigh?
Previously they came off second best,
Would they dare challenge the Beast of the West?
And what of the Pope in Avignon
The iron alliance with France has gone,
With the Knights now their allegiances lie
Surely the French will want to see the Pope cry.

The Knights and the French go at it again,
There’s much to lose and much to gain,
The French have the odds with them so well,
Their numbers, skills, technology excel,
But the Knights have the will of St John on their side,
They’ll fight till the last of their Knights has died.
Let the victor cry out and let them be known,
As we move on now to the War of the Rhone.
 
Nice to see the Most Christian King battling it out with a crusading order. Well, Deus Vult, I guess. :) Hopefully, the French will resort to their traditional headlong charge tactic, be it snow, mountain, ditch, pitchfork or worse that stands in the way.
 
Usually dont read much, just quickly browse the occassional writaars... then caught the last poem (it was really very good), then read the lot before commenting.

Nice story, but your poems are what really stand out for me, delightful. Looking forward to more of these gems and of course the upcomming war also :)
 
Props on the poem. ;)
 
Part Two: The War of the Rhone

Chapter 1: The Defence of Avignon​


Grandmaster of the Knights of St John, Anton Flavian de Ripa, received news that the French were declaring war on the evening of the 5th of July 1426. Anton Flavian was well prepared for the war, in the years preceding he had strengthened the Knights military presence in Savoy and repaired many forts. At the outbreak of the war the Knights had two armies positioned in the Savoy region. In Provence laid the Army of St Raphael which was a complement of 10,950 knights who were led by Master Pellefort. In Savoy proper laid the Army of St Michael whose numbers reached 13,000 knights and they were led by Master Roquemaure. The entirety of both of these armies was infantry, as was the Knights’ tactics at the time; they saved costs on horses and cavalry training and instead developed impeccable hand to hand skills in mountainous combat. This would be handy in the war as the terrain in South Eastern France was most unfriendly towards cavalry. The Knights also had a third major army, the Army of St John which was the oldest and most prestigious of the three. It was stationed in Jerusalem and was the Knights’ garrison in the East. The reluctance to move the Pride of the Knights to Savoy showed that the Knights knew that, in spite of the importance of the war, the Knights as an entity were not in mortal danger and that the war was just a part of a campaign. The Army of St John would act as reserves only to be called upon if Rhodes itself was threatened. Finally, a garrison of 4000 men were positioned in Messina prepared for any naval assault the French attempt to make on Sicily, as they tried in the last war.

deripaic6.jpg

Grandmaster De Ripa

French forces were not precisely known, as the Knights were unable to gather military information from the French since they retracted their military access some four years earlier. The last reliable figures from before the war indicated that the French had a major army in Languedoc consisting of up to 45,000 infantry and about 1,250 cavalry. They also had a secondary force along the border in Franche Comte comprising 14,200 infantry. It was assumed that this was not the total sum of their available forces but only those positioned in the South East; estimates were made of about the same number of troops stationed in the rest of France that could be called for during the war.

As war broke out on that summer’s day Pellefort moved his men northward towards Manosque with the intentions of meeting up with Roquemaure’s forces who were already steaming down towards the Isere Valley. Roquemaure’s Army crossed the border and captured the fort at Barraux but waited there as his scouts reported signs of an enemy presence in Grenoble. Roquemaure decided to wait in Barraux until Pellefort could arrive so that they could approach Grenoble from both sides. On the 1st of August the two armies attacked Grenoble, Pellefort from the south, Roquemaure from the east. Indeed there was an enemy army present in Grenoble, contrary to the pre-war intelligence, and they came out to meet the Knights in the valley below the Fort de la Bastille. The first battle of the war was no simple one; the Knights had the numbers and positioning but the French still held out for 15 days before being forced to retreat down the Isere. The Knights forces then combined with the senior Master Pellefort taking command of the 27,000 men of the Army of St Raphael. Pellefort would have liked to have stayed there in the valley to lay siege on the hillside Fort de la Bastille but there were more pressing matters. His orders from Grandmaster De Ripa were to support the Pope in Avignon; he told his army to move off. The Army of St Raphael followed the Isere down to Valence and then marched southwards along the east bank of the Rhone keeping watchful of the organisation occurring on the other side. The army arrived in Avignon late in January of 1427 where met Pellefort met with the nervous Pope. It was then reported that the French had massed around 50,000 men in Nimes, only a few days march away.

As Pellefort himself was becoming nervous, De Ripa had acted. He had funded a recruitment operation in Savoy and 6,000 new men were being trained and would be ready in March. Pellefort hoped the French didn’t attack in the meantime.

The French must have heard his prayers because the first troops to cross the Rhone waited until April 5th but as Pellefort rode out to face them he couldn’t help but look behind him as to when the reinforcements would arrive. When he saw the French Army he was puzzled by the lack of presence. The army was comparable in size to his but he had envisioned thousands more men, he soon wondered if this was a diversion and sent scouts out the check the other side of Avignon for the rest. It was not to be and so on the field of Le Pontet the Battle of Avignon ensued. Pellefort’s mind was still overanalysing his situation and as a result he failed to respond to a French attack that punctured through his right. That wasn’t the only problem in the battle, Pellefort’s indecision saw the leader of the Pope’s forces as well as Master Roquemaure rashly taking autonomy of their own forces and undermined the whole operation. The Knights were on the brink of defeat when on April 28th the reinforcements finally arrived and this brought Pellefort back to his senses and strengthened the army’s morale. Within 24 hours the French army had been defeated and Avignon had been saved, for now.

savoy1smallqi9.gif

Troops movements from Jul 1426 to April 1427.
 
nice gif. but I would have liked the dots to be a bit bigger, as they are a little hard to see. But I commend you nontheless.

Also great campaign discription and it must of have been a cloes battle :eek:

Is there no army defending rhodes itself? And I assume that your only have the 3 armies that you described.
 
comagoosie said:
nice gif. but I would have liked the dots to be a bit bigger, as they are a little hard to see. But I commend you nontheless.

Also great campaign discription and it must of have been a cloes battle :eek:

Is there no army defending rhodes itself? And I assume that your only have the 3 armies that you described.
Click to expand...

Well i actually shrank the gif so it would fit better in the forum. I'll be using more gifs, I had to utilize that awesome map I found, so i'll probably try to remake them with larger dots.

That battle was close, I didn't believe I could lose against such a relatively small force in the first battle and go on the backfoot so soon. I was lucky they held out until the reinforcements. But the true challenge is yet to come.

Nope no army in Rhodes. In most of my games as the Knights I rarely keep an army in Rhodes. Although this time it was probably a mistake. During the war, but outside the scope of this AAR, the Army of St John was actually involved in peacekeeping efforts against rebels in Capatanata when a random rebellion broke out in Rhodes. And then Palestina revolted too, so the reserve army was kept quite busy, but this AAR focuses on the events in France.

There is one other garrison of 1700 men guarding Ferrara which I did not mention, mainly because it does nothing for the duration of the war. There's also a single fleet consisting of 1 warship, 10 galleys and 4 transports, its supremacy in the Mediterranean is not challenged at all throughout the war.

Interestingly, I've just found this war took me about 1.5 hours to play in one session.
 
really good stuff there Swert - Enjoying it a lot.
That map - is it a large one of europe or just the latin/med area? if its a map of europe....you wouldnt happen to have a link would you? :D
 
Simon-1979 said:
really good stuff there Swert - Enjoying it a lot.
That map - is it a large one of europe or just the latin/med area? if its a map of europe....you wouldnt happen to have a link would you? :D
Click to expand...

It's just Savoy unfortunately. Not even enough to cover the extent of this war. Although the same site has variety of maps from the same atlas: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/ward_1912.html
 
many very good maps and they even have a wagonload of links to other sites....very good find - thanx man! bookmarking that at once!

been looking in many places for good maps.....and then the university of Texas...who would have thought that I would have a reason so say this....thank you Bush :D
 
Same as shortynds, vacations procrastinated both my reading and the commenting. Great read, great deeds by the Knights, very nice graphics all the way. And I'll be the enxt one to compliment on your poems - they're nice and surely needed quite some time to prepare - I would've never been able to write something similar :).
Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks for the kind words Shortynds and Emperor_krk. I actually work on the poems a little at work and then use a rhyming website to help. I'm glad they turned out well. Nevermind about the lateness, i myself haven't had much time lately either but not due to vacations, due to work. :(


Chapter 1: The Defence of Avignon ...continued​


Master Pellefort had been lucky in the Battle of Avignon and was relieved, more for his reputation's sake than anything else, that the reinforcements had arrived in just time to turn to battle around and save the day. The French would not been put off for long though and their king insisted on more progress being made. In June the French forces returned. This time they brought their whole army and were led by their charismatic and experienced General La Hire. They crossed the river further north this time and the battle took place nearer the town of Orange than Avignon. Pellefort was better prepared this time as he had no need to worry about any other French force; the one before him was about twice his strength. The battle that ensued was long and messy. Despite being outnumbered the Knights’ and Papal Armies fought on gallantly and drew the battle out into July. Eventually though the numbers got the upper hand and on the 11th of July Pellefort personally launched a final assault which failed miserably and saw Pellefort fatally wounded. Roquemaure took command and quickly ordered a retreat and given the grimness of the situation even the papal leaders didn’t protest.

As the remnants of the Army of St Raphael retreated down the Durance towards Manosque, Roquemaure had time to reflect on what had just happened. Grandmaster De Ripa’s orders had been to protect Avignon at all costs but the Knights had failed to do so. The Battle of Orange had seen the loss of the whole province around Avignon, only the small city walls and strong palace walls could now protect the city from capitulation. The papal leaders found it hardest to abandon their country and homes but defeat was defeat and there was nothing that could be done until the army reached Manosque and regrouped. Roquemaure assured the papal leaders that he would organise a plan to liberate the siege of Avignon once they reached safety and regrouped.

Unfortunately, before the army even reached Manosque a messenger arrived reporting that Avignon had already fallen. Roquemaure could not believe it and sent out his own riders to confirm the reports. The next day they returned with confirmation; apparently the French had already managed to breach the city walls and break down the palace walls which were some of the strongest in Europe. The Knights never learned exactly how the French were able to accomplish this feat in such a short time but it was clear that General La Hire was a more than adept man. The Papal leaders claimed it must have been done with the help of insiders, a prospect that greatly disheartened them. By the time the army did arrive in Manosque there was no longer anything to say about liberating Avignon. Now that the French had control of the city they had access to the supplies they needed, a well fortified position, and a superior force. To march on Avignon now would be nothing more than suicidal.

The Assault of Avignon was recorded in the following poem by one of the Pope’s men who was able to escape to Rome.

After Orange, the French marched down
And surrounded old Avignon town.
The Pope was trapped inside the siege
And considered becoming the French’s liege
After two short days General La Hire
Abandoned the siege and opened fire
The main gate was breached before sunset
And the French army advanced without regret
Through the narrow passage came thousands of foe
Whilst the Pope fell back to his mighty chateau

As the next day dawned the French held the power
But the Pope was confident in his massive tower
Walls one fifty feet high and eighteen feet wide
The French would fail whatever they tried
Until La Hire plotted a ploy
That would go down in history as a rival of Troy
He assaulted the north tower with ladder and bow
And with such ease the defenders let go
The French stormed in and the Pope emerged
Announced his surrender and for mercy urged
La Hire accepted and the Pope left for his lands Roman
And Avignon was lost in the year fourteen twenty seven

avignongo6.png

The 'iimpenetrable' Papal Palace in Avignon; North Tower in centre

Since the Grandmaster’s orders were now obsolete it was up to Roquemaure to decide the Army of St Raphael’s next actions. La Hire now held Avignon and it was a natural assumption that Provence was his next target. The Army of St Raphael was now weak and only about 15,000 strong. Roquemaure was sure that if La Hire wanted to he would be able to march into Provence without himself being able to put up much resistance. The other threat to the Knight’s provinces was the, so far idle, French army that lay near Besancon. Roquemaure thought that if he was able to get up north before they crossed into Savoy he might be able to defend any incoming assault by claiming the defendable terrain. And so it was that the Army of St Raphael left Manosque and headed north east towards the pass into Piemonte.

By October 1427 the Army of St Raphael was entering Savoy and they soon realised that they were too late; the French were already there. Roquemaure took care as his men approached Annecy where the French had mounted their defence. He realised that the French were protecting the bridge across the Thiou River so Roquemaure decided to ford the river further upstream and was able to surprise the French force from their flank. The Army of St Raphael was able to defeat the similarly numbered French but whilst the army was recovering from the forced march and Roquemaure was planning his next move, the French were once again on the march. La Hire’s men had left Avignon; about half had retreated into France whilst the other half had marched through Dauphine and were now crossing the Mont Genevre pass into Piemonte.

Roquemaure had another tough decision to make. The French army steaming towards Turin was much larger than his own and was fitted with cavalry that would romp his infantry in the Po Valley. However this was the first time the French were entering the Knights’ land and there was pressure not to disappoint the Grandmaster by allowing the French in without any resistance. Roquemaure chose the safer option of launching his own offensive into Dauphine. This lost him much esteem with the Grandmaster but Roquemaure was not wishing to see his Army being diminished and his life endangered in the same way that Pellefort had paid the ultimate sacrifice. On Christmas Day the Army of St Raphael arrived in Grenoble to besiege the Fort de La Bastille as it did over a year before. For the next few months both the French army in Piemonte and the Knights’ army in Dauphine waited for their respective enemies to falter.

It was then in February 1428 that the news that the Castillians had declared war on France filtered through to the front. Sure, Norway along with Oldenburg, Poland and Holland-Hainaut had declared war the previous year but their effect could only be minimal. This was a far greater announcement. The Army of St Raphael rejoiced although they knew that it would still be many months before they could expect any relief. In fact the first relief might have come from the Castillians allies, one of Gelre, Brabant, Mainz and Wurzburg all of whom would be willing to fight the French. Roquemaure was rejuvenated with confidence and boosted his efforts to capture the Fort de La Bastille. However in April he was much surprised to see a mighty French Army come over the mountains from the East towards Grenoble. It did not take long to realise this was the army that had been in Piemonte, Roquemaure had heard nothing of Turin’s fall so he could only assume the French were retreating on their own merit. The Army of St Raphael were not prepared for a fight and soon found themselves between a rock, a river and an army. Roquemaure struggled to mount a defensive line as the garrison in the fort were now harassing his rear as the army assaulted his front. His only option was to cross the river in defeat and head up its valley towards safety. The French army didn’t stay in Grenoble much longer than the Knights, whilst the Knights had retreated up the Drac towards Provence; the French followed the Isere towards Lyon.

Roquemaure arrived back in Manosque in May and there he realised that the war was entering a new phase. The defence of Avignon had failed and now the French had withdrawn from Piemonte to defend Grenoble; something which flattered the Knights leaders. But there must have been a greater reason behind it, perhaps it was the Castillians entering the war, Roquemaure had thought it would take months for the impact to be felt in the Alps but it seemed things were changing already. A new phase of the war was upon them which, after what had frankly been a disappointing opening for the Knights, would be exactly what they could wish for.

savoy2newsmallme9.gif

Troop movements Jul 1427 - Apr 1428
 
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