The Norman Conquest of the World

[Nick B II]

November 10, 1226;

On the eve of being crowned King of the Romans and his Domain Cassian, Emperor of Byzantium has asked his kinsman Marshal Sali and Bishop Arei to prepare a short history of his family's rise. The story of the family’s arrival in France, and Rollo’s rise to Duke are well known and will not be covered here. This history will concentrate on royal de Normandies.

The first (and only) royal in our family tree was William de Normandie, King of England. William the Conquerer beget approximately 30 children -- including a series of six bastards named Reginald between 1081-82. Your Majesty, as well as your humble cousin Marshal Sali and Uncle Arei; are descended from William’s bastard son Reginald the Youngest.

William’s accomplishments were legendary. His gigantic empire included 14 full Kingdoms, and large parts of Germany, Lithuania, and several other countries:

William was so successful that each of his many sons became a Duke. Our own illustrious ancestor, Reginald the Youngest was Duke of Murcia. By the time of William’s retirement to a monastery in 1168 Reginald’s son Davi had inherited:

Davi was your Great-great-grandfather. However, as you know, he was only a minor Duke in the de Normandie universe. It is only due to years of being in the right place at the right time, and your predecessor's troubles, that allowed the Murcian line to become the leading line of de Normandie.

The next royal de Normandie’s would be William’s two of William’s legitimate sons from his first marriage:
Robert the Traitor, briefly King of Navarra
Richard, First Norman Emperor

Unfortunately such a huge undertaking as your majesty has requested will take more than a few days. We will tell the stories of Robert, who betrayed his Father several times, his brother once, and still plagues our existence as independent Duke of Navarra and Count of Rioja; and de Normandie rise to global dominion through Emperors Richard, Edward, William, and yourself. We shall also endeavor to tell some stories of William the Conquerer’s expansion from England to his powerful position.

 

[Nick B II]

This AAR has no point whatsoever.

I started a game as England, decided to write an AAR, and so I did. Fortuneately I'm a pack-rat with dozens of saves from 1073 on so I should actually ne able to remind myself what happened.

First: I'm using 1.04a. I'm a Macuser and the patch hasn't been ported yet.

Second: I'm using elective law. I'm conquering the world, so finding enough land to put my heirs on top has not been a problem until now. It also leads to some nice dicey situations where I have to frantically dump titles on people; and/or DoW my most prominent vassals and aquire all their titles.

Third: I'm using 1.04a, so some people just never die. Willaim the Conquerer's first son Robert is still around -- he appears above as "Robert the traitor," as are William's brothers Odo (the eternal Pope) and Robert. In 1226. William might still be around but I F12-died him in 1068 -- I figured 102 years of rule was enough for anybody. I had to F12-die Emperor Richard, too.

Oh, my basic plan is to unite the world, contain the Mongols, go over to Gavelkind in 1270 when Mongols can't re-appear. I may also mod the de Normandie's into several dynasties at that point. That's why I'm adding so many King titles to myself. More Kings=more fun. In theory at least.

Nick

 

[stnylan]

Hello methuselah! (or something similar) A mighty realm indeed.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

When I saw the screenshot I asked myself, how did William do that ? But then saw his age

Interesting an AAR built around 'bugs' or 'features' as some of us call them.

 

[Revan86]

Huzzah, fellow Mac man!

This looks like fun! I'd definitely like to see more.

 

[vertinox]

William de Normandie 1027- Age 140? :wacko:

Whoah! Thats one old guy! :rofl:

It looks like he's outlived most of his kids too.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Nick, maybe you should ask one of the moderators to fix the typo in the threadtitle.

Conuest of the world

 

[Nick B II]

William de Normandie 1027- Age 140? :wacko:

Whoah! Thats one old guy! :rofl:

It looks like he's outlived most of his kids too.

And I had to cheat him dead at 140. The first few generations of his family are incredibly long-lived in this game. William's brother Odo is 196. Odo's also Pope. William's other brother Robert is 197 -- he's not anything, I dukified him once but he rebelled. His first son Robert the Traitor is 172. His third son William is 166. Agathe is 162, and Constanc is 165. William's neice is 172. None of these people has any surviving children, BTW.

William's second son lived to 133, but I F12-died him so my inheritance scheme would actually happen before the heir apparent died of old age.

Nick

 

[unmerged(21937)]

I still think there's some odd stuff in the death events in Mac version. :wacko:

 

[Nick B II]

I still think there's some odd stuff in the death events in Mac version. :wacko:

According to Virtual Programming all will be fixed in a few weeks. Which is exactly what they said precisely a month ago. Yippee.

Nick

 

[Nick B II]

William the Conquerer’s early conquests are fascinating subjects. Unfortunately many are poorly documented. We know he conquered Wales early in his reign, but have no knowledge of exactly how he went about this conquest. We know he allowed the Prince of Gwynedd to keep Powys; and that Powys was subsequently conquered by William’s Ally, Erick Stenkilson of Sweden.

Wales in 1074:

Ireland is slightly less difficult. We know that sometime in the early 1070s a delegation of peasants from Meath arrived in London, demanding an end to the ‘tyranny’ of King Conchbar. William very publicly refused to interfere in an Irish matter. A few years later Monks from Mide came to London, asking for protection from Viking raids that King Conchbar had failed to provide. William offered Conchbar 100 knights led by the Baron of Mowbray, but was turned down.

King Conchbar’s partisans claimed that the party of peasants was financed by a prominent London banker, and pointed out that none of the ‘peasants’ spoke more than rudimentary Gaelic. And that their spokeman resembled the Baron of Mowbray; brother of William’s son-in-law, Chaplain, and close friend Robert de Mowbray. The second party was even stranger -- both Monks were actually Irish Monks from Mide, but the Vikings they complained of spoke Norman French, and wore the arms of the Baron of Mowbray. The Monks were given valuable land ‘in safer territory’ by the prominent London banker within a week.

Later Pierre de Mowbray, a bard of some repute, as well as the Bishop de Mowbray’s other brother, remembered a lost verse of the Dublin King-lists. Duke Rollo’s Father was once designated heir to the Kingdom of Dublin. King Conchbar felt that this verse was especially ingenious of the author of the King-lists, as it was sung in Norman French; which did not actually exist when the alleged King-list was created.

Unfortunately for the King of Meath the damage was done. His people could count, and they counted a lot more English troops than people living in Meath. His nobles immediately declared their undying loyalty to William of England. His burghers weren’t quite as united. There was a spirited discussion in the Dublin City Council, which was not resolved the leading loyalist experienced ‘heart trouble’ in the form of a dirk.

When the dust settled Meath and Leinster were in foreign hands; and Munster was William’s vassal.

 

[Nick B II]

On the map of Ireland Mide is German and Laigin is Scottish. They were my allies, and they seem to have gotten into the wole conquest thing, too.

Nick

 

[stnylan]

Wars in Ireland are always fun.

 

[Nick B II]

This war hurt William’s reputation for fair-dealing no end. Even his on first-born son, Robert de Normandie, rebeled. William took his Duchy imn 1086, but left him alone otherwise. This and Robert’s subsequent rebellions are the reason Robert was named “Robert the Traitor.” Within a defcade the fool would pledge allegiance to France, only to lose his County when the French King’s second son needed some land.

In an effort to improve his battered reputation William embarked on a series of small Crusades. Salamanca and Viscaya were independant Moslem Sheikdoms, so William conquered them in 1087. His reputation was further improved when he liberated Courland from the pagans in 1090-1091.

It was time for William to return his attention to Ireland. His first goal was the conquest of Ulster, after that he wanted to seize a 9th County -- allowing him to declare himself King of Ireland. He did not bother with the intricate ploys that had started the first Irish war in the 1070s, he announced that Ireland needed to unite againstt the foreign domination of Scotland and Germany, so Ulster was screwed. That settled he set to work on the 9th County.

The Sligo conquest was actually quite complicated -- Germany had not stopped with Mide, it insisted on conquering all of Connacht as well. Therefore Sligo was a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. Germany had other problems than Sligo, so the Germans allowed their vassal to be conquered in 1093.

However, William could not afford an expensive coronation in Dublin, gifts to the Pope, and all the other things adding a third crown to his head entailed until the end of 1102. Nor could he create himself Duke of Courland until 1108.

 

[Nick B II]

By the early 1100s William’s conquests were starting to worry his vassals. If the de Mowbrays could engineer the conquest of Ireland, what could they do to one of William’s vassals? Alphons de Gael, Duke of Norfolk; and Aethulwul Leofricson, Duke of Lancaster had particular reason to worry. Respectively the second and fourth most powerful men in the realm; they feared their King would seize their lands. They asked William FitzOsbern, Duke of Warwick and third most influential man, to take their concerns to the King. The two Dukes would have relayed their concerns themselves -- except that Alphons was schizophrenic, and Aethulwul feared his Great-Uncle Morcar’s betrayal of the King had not been forgotten. Warwick feared no man, and shared the King’s keen interest in the fairer sex.

William himself was worried that his vassals had begun to fear him. His last visit to the Duke of Norfolk’s castle had ended in farce when the schizophrenic Duke decided the visit was actually a clever attempt to murder his entire family, and fled to his root cellar halfway through the feast. For reasons as yet unclear, Alphons insisted his wife young wife Heri Hastings was in on the plot, and would have personally executed her on the spot if only William had not poisoned his sword’s hilt. The Duke’s 9-year-old daughter was forced to mediate, and two weeks after William left Norfolk Duke Alphons agreed that the entire episode had been a plot by the mice in the root cellar. All humans involved were to be forgiven, the cats beaten for not keeping the mice down, the dogs whipped for interfering with the cats, and the entire castle taken apart stone-by-stone until the mysterious white mouse who led the plot was found and ceremoniously executed. The Duke himself oversaw the entire process from his bropther’s castle in Leicester, so strictly speaking none of these plans were ever carried out.

Clearly William had a problem. A major problem that could only be solved by immediate, direct, action. William FitzOsbern had a perfect solution: finish conquering Lithuania from the pagans. He had controlled Courland for some time, so he already had an established base to work from.

By 1104 William ended the Tribe of the Lithuanians. He was marching for Norrland, in Sweden where more pagan prey existed -- most Lithuanian Pagans were conquered by William or the Fatimids at this point, and William did not want to tangle with the Fatimids. Not only would a Lithuanian war keep William's troops away from his vassal's homes, his victories would give him other lands to grant his many sons. Besides a King who was giving land away had a much better reputation than a King taking land from his fellow Christians.

 

[Nick B II]

William was still resolved to increase his dopmain at the expense of the enemies of Christ. Soon he took Finland, Karelia, and Norrland from the pagans. By 1127 William’s attempts to reconquer Iberia from the Moslems was proceeding quite well:

Unfortuneately his ally Scotland’s attempts to not be conquered by those same Iberian Moslems was not going quite so well. The Emir of Seville had cut the counbtry in half and driven the King to the Isle of Man:

France was in much worse shape. The King was liege-lord to two counties, and nothing else. He was consequently pathetically weak:

William had no choice. So many Christian nobles had fled to his Court, and demanded he become King of France that he simply could not refuse them. The de Normandies could live with an Islamic southern Spain, or Egypt; but William simply could not tolerate an Islamic Brittany. He had to take the French crown by force. By 1129 it was his.

With it came a strange vassal -- the Count of Toulouse and Anjou was a vassal to the Emir of Cordoba. But this Count was so entrenched that our own ancestor Reginald the Youngest married his daughter Avelin to the Count, who promptly gave her one of his Countis in Brittany. When William finnally seized the French throne Toulouse pledged allegiance to his Grandfather-in-law -- although Countess Avelin herself retained her allegiance to Cordoba. Eventually the Countess’s first son inherited the County, freeing it from the Moslems.

This family is currently one of the strongest familys in the realm. The Lukomorie dynasty of Anjou, Brittany, and Artois nearly came in second to your majesty in the most recent election to the Imperial Crown. If something is not done about the power of familys like this it will bode ill for the dynasty.

 

[stnylan]

Nothing like a Crusade to keep people happier.

 

[Nick B II]

Nothing like a Crusade to keep people happier.

It'll be time to crusade again soon. I've played until 1245, through Cassian William III and into the reign of William IV and the Il-Khan just appeared. 150,000 men in 10 regiments. And they stole land from a loyal Count.

I'm pretty sure my 500,000 manpower can contain them, tho.

Niçk

 

[Nick B II]

Cousin,

You have requested information on the position of several important dynasties by the 1130s.

Your three most powerful Dukes are de Normandies. Fourth is Abelar de Gael, descended from the Dukes of Norfolk, who is influential with the Pope. Maisemim de Lukomorie, Duke of Anjou, is fifth; the Duke of Koppedokia sixth; and also of interest are the de Mowbrays of Cornwall and Leofricsons of Lancaster. The de Normandies have tried to aquire all of these titles through inheritance, but have recently found outright conquest to be a more effective means of culling other houses from the ranks of our strong vassals. In all these cases war may be necessary as war humbled the Princes of Serbia after Richard I foolishly granted them many titles. Alternately assassination may be an option -- the de Normandie Dukes of Tabriz took power only after several well-placed daggers and a poisoning.

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de Gaels of Tripoli, Norfolk, and Morocco

De Gael's fifth heir is a de Normandie. His first four heirs are his sons, none of whom is of age. The de Gaels started as Dukes of Norfolk, and men to be reckoned with. Indeed they were the most powerful Dukes in England until Robert the Traitor’s first rebellion, and subsequent disinheritance in favor of elective law. William granted his second son Richard so many titles that the de Gaels were not elected to the crown, but that does not imply they were not men to be reckoned with:

Currently the de Gaels control much more than simply Norfolk. They gained Tripoli in 1196 -- a de Gael sister was granted the title after she married Edward de Normandie, duc d’Dauphine. Unfortunately she died with no sons, or grandsons so her brother inherited the title. After the Princes of Serbia were crushed in mid 1193 de Gael loyalty was rewarded with the title Duke of Morocco.

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Lukomories of Anjou, Artois, and Brittany

The Lukomorie story has already been started. In 1116, Mathie of Lukomorie was created Count of Anjou by the Emirs of Cordoba. Our illustrious ancestor, Reginald the Youngest, married his daughter Avelin to the new Count.

When our royal ancestor, William the Conquerer, formally became King of France Mathie switched allegiance to William. By that time Mathie of Lukomorie was also Count of Vendomme, and had granted his wife Cornoualle. He was made Duke of Anjou for his loyalty, and later also rewarded with Brittany (1135) and Artois (1173). Since then we have extensively married within the family -- Walter and Matthew de Normandie married the second Duke’s only daughters -- but have been unable to get close enough to the throne of Anjou for an assassination campaign to be worthwhile.

 

[Nick B II]

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Komnenus of Kappodokia

The Komenus are a distinguished Anatolian family who also controlled the Principality of Sinope and other lands. The Kappodokia line has come to prominence primarily because of their success Crusading -- they conquered many counties from the Turks in particular.

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de Mowbrays of Cornwall
The de Mowbrays were (and are) an important family in England. They were also major landholders in Normandy and Dublin, although only lower nobility in those areas. The Baron de Mowbray’s contributions to William’s conquest of Ireland were amply rewarded with lands around Dublin. Bishop de Mowbray himself married William’s daughter Cecilia and was created Duke of Cornwall.

Unfortuneately for the de Mowbray’s the Bishop’s two-year-old grandson, Phillip, rebelled against paying taxes to King William. His regent and mother Péronnel de Blois felt that her son’s money should stay oin his own pocket. On October 14, 1114 William interpreted these actions as acts of war, and invaded. Poor little Phillip had 133 men to face William the Conquerer.

The Baron de Mowbray was still alive, and publically stated William had over-reacted to the Baron’s grand-nephew’s foolishness. The baron’s Irish liege-lords promptly confiscated all the de Mowbray families Irish lands. The Baron had lost his previous estates in Robert the Traitor’s first rebellion, so he was now landless except for a single farm in Cornwall.

William saw an opportunity to be magniminous. He promptly granted the Baron significant lands in Essex, as well as several formerly royal estates in Cornwall ‘in gratitutde for the Baron’s previous services to the crown’. The Irish did not like this, but that did not matter to William. The Irish needed solely to be loyal to a handful of William’s vassals, who had improved their relationships with the native Irish greatly by evicting the family directly responsible for Ireland’s conquest. William’s direct subjects took a very different view of the Baron de Mowbray’s actions in Ireland, and respected William greatly for ensuring the good Baron was rewarded.

Predictably, Phillip lost the battle. Toddlers leading 133 men against the might of England fare badly. William was merciful. In exchange for every penny the baby owned, the exile of Phillip’s mother, and granting of supreme executive power to the Baron de Mowbray little Phillip was allowed to keep both Counties, his Duchy, and his head. As long as he promised to never ally without William’s consent. And consider rejoining England every five years. And recognize the Baron’s claims on those fofrmerly royal estates in Cornwall. And grant William’s friend Timothy a 99-year lease on a Cornish castle for a single ducat. And including that single Ducat in the tribute the toddler pauid William. And several other, minor, provisions.