The Rise of the Dragon

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The late 1060s A.D. is considered the most pivotal few years in the history of the British Islands. The events of the second half of that decade compete to overshadow each other in terms of importance but it is often referred to as the time of Autumn conquerors and Winter kings.

The first Autumn conqueror and Winter king was William I, King of England. With his late autumn invasion of England he deposed Harold II and crowned himself king on Christmas Day 1066. His moment of greatest glory was the mid October Battle of Hastings. By that battle's end Harold II was dead and his nation fell soon after. However this is not the story of William and his de Normandie dynasty, this is the story of his neighbor the second Autumn conqueror and Winter king, King Bleddyn Cynfyn.

 

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1066 was a tense worrisome year for Gwynedd. When the Norman invaded England no one was sure where he would stop. The Pope had allowed him to take only England, but the nobility of the surrounding countries knew how William had gotten that blessing. As 1066 come to a close however, it seemed that the barbarous horde had stopped at the edges of Harold's Kingdom, at least for the moment.

1067 dawned a cold year for the British Islands, but coldest perhaps for the Welsh. England was done with their war, the Norman having crowned himself king on Christmas Day 1066, and with the exception of the Leofricson brothers all of the Saxons were replaced with loyal Norman nobles. The Scottish were united under a king and could form real resistance to any attempt by the Norman to attack. The Irish were protected by the Irish Sea, which seemed to be a good thing at the moment. The Welsh, however, were two Dutchies and a County. The easiest target in the area for the Norman was clearly Count Meriadoc of Gamorgan and Gwent.

One of the first things Gwynedd did that year was to give his eldest son the title to his poorest county. In Welsh culture to have an adult heir without title reflected poorly on both the father and the son. He was given the worst county for two reasons, the first one was the hope that he would learn to become an effective ruler when he had very little money coming into his treasury. The second reason was much more pragmatic, Gwynedd realized he would need all the power and force he could muster marshaled directly under him for the coming actions he would have to take.

And action he did take. As the grass started shooting up in Wales that year, Gwynedd started a campaign of bullying and harassing Meriadoc to give Gwynedd an oath of vassalage. For months there were no results but in early July Gwynedd convinced Meriadoc's Chancellor to write up an oath of vassalage and get the illiterate Count to sign it. This was finally signed in early August 1067. With that Gwynedd became the ruler of most of Wales, and through words became a conqueror of sorts.

 

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This AAR is of the Dutchy of Gwynedd in Wales if that is not already apparent. These first two posts were mainly meant for background and hopefully came off as something modern people in this alternate reality would read about as their history. The next posts will have me trying to push my writing abilities and giving a wonderful narrative. I hope the style that will be apparent will be a mix between Fueror Normanicus (a wonderful AAR that was written here) and the content of Shakespeare's works. A little clarification of the style and Shakespeare reference, I mean how I imagine he would write if he wrote books rather than plays.

I have not been here on Paradox much in quite a long time. My sig links to both Correspondance and the Second Rise of the Sixteen Pointed Star both speak to that, both of those AARs are long dead.

 

[Hastu Neon]

So, welcome back in AARland and continue your good work. Are you going to post also some screenshots?

 

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So, welcome back in AARland and continue your good work. Are you going to post also some screenshots?

Thank you Hastu, I must say your AAR is an interesting read. I may post screenshots I am not sure yet, though if I do they will probably not be part of the narrative. By the way what program do you use for your maps in the start of your AAR?

 

[Hastu Neon]

A simple photoeditor bundled in the Office package.

 

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Chapter One: King of Wales
Act I
Scene I

Snow swirled into the banquet hall from time to time during the proceedings. People watched as Bishop Cynan ap Cynwrig presented the old Duke with the crown. The affair was rather modest, as befitted a large wooden fort such as this one. The coronation had started at noon and by the time they had finished the fires in the hall were providing light as much as heat. "And now by the Grace of God I do proclaim you Bleddyn the first, King of Wales."

When the applause finally died down, Bleddyn stood up. "Friends, countrymen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here today and witnessing the revival of our kingdom. Most of you have been my friends for very long and although some of you are new faces, it is my dear hope that all will consider me standing surrounded by friends. We need friends at a time such as this. We are beset by enemies in the form of the Norman and his horde who has replaced the Saxons we had counted on before. We are at peace today but tomorrow gone from our faces may be the joy and mirth of tonight and replaced by the grim vestiges of war. We must be ready for whatever may occur. The Norman stands poised to invade, Maredudd retains the title of Duke of Deheubarth and independence, either may be a force arrayed against us in the near future. But enough of dark matters, it is now time to celebrate. I picked this day, the shortest of the year, in order to give us the time to drink enough for such a grand occasion. May the ale continue to flow, no time for depressing thoughts, drink and drink well."

Moving back to his wooden throne, the throne he had been sitting on for the last four years he had held this title, he started drinking along with the rest. Bleddyn was very quickly outpaced but just about everyone in the hall as he thought dark brooding thoughts. Deheubarth could not continue to stand as a free Dutchy, if he wanted to truly be the King of Wales he had to reign over a united Wales, something that had not been done for a long time. He picked out his members of court, men and women he would have to meet with the next day to plan. Time started sliding by for the King, soon it was hours that seemed to slip away as the revelers either passed out on their benches or went to their beds in other parts of the complex.

***

Looking around the small table at the people assembled there Bleddyn began the meeting. "Good morning I hope you slept well because it is time to get down to business. What are we going to do about Deheubarth?"

"My lord, I am not sure there is much we can do at the moment..." Edwyn started to say.

"Of course there is, we can invade them." Owain interjected.

"I am glad I have such a hot blooded son, a man who should be proud to be the nephew of our king, but we can't just invade them for no reason." Edwyn shot back. "We would have to come up with some reason and I fear it would very much hurt your prestige to do that so soon after being coronated, my lord."

"Thank you, Edwyn. As much as it pains me to say so I do believe you may be correct. What other options are there?"

"Well we can try offering vassalization to them, it may work."

"Why don't we try another campaign of harassing and maybe another trick like we did with Gwent?" Blodwen asked.

"I fear we didn't make any friends doing that. That was more of a one time thing." Edwyn responded to the spy master.

"Can I make a modest suggestion?" Cynan intoned softly.

"Of course you can, you may be a new comer to my court but you are here to bring the Word of Christ when we are lost."

"I do believe that of all the options presented, Edwyn speaks the best. We can not afford an invasion, you were just crowned as a King under Christ not a heathen. Also Cadygan shows himself a devoted vassal but it is no secret that he resents what you did to him. I fear that if you do that again you will have a duke and a count under that duke who are both opposed to you and having ample time together they will revolt against your rule. I believe that no matter what you do, make sure you gain the friendship of the Duke of Deheubarth, be it a new or old duke."

At this point Haer spoke up "My husband, my lord, I suggest you wait to do anything. Our treasury is almost empty from both the marriage of Owain to your niece and the coronation. We should rebuilt our treasury and maybe bring economic advance to Wales before we do anything."

Bleddyn held up his hand "Enough, you have given me much to think about. I shall decide what to do and we will go from there."

 

[Enewald]

In Paint We Trust!