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1173-1174

Throughout history certain men have created golden ages for their nations or dynasties. Their names live on immortalized in books and in the minds of people who would give anything to be like them. However, these men do not work alone. Behind every great man there are friends and lieutenants who aid and assist them. When their masters die these people are often forgotten by the majority of people and the work they did is credited to the man they served. The lieutenants of King Donat were no exception to this. Aptoni the Duke of Tunis died of natural causes on May 16, 1173. Coming from a minor noble family in Languedoc he originally met Donat during the first Iberian Crusade. He became friends with his overlord and was rewarded with Tunis for his friendship after spending years as Donat's marshal. He had been a great friend and loyal supporter to his king. After the death of Donat, much to the chagrin of the Priory he had remained loyal to Vianc. Few people outside of the nobility and court knew of him. Few people knew that his support of Vianc probably saved the man's life and throne. As for his own subjects they were indifferent to him. His policies favored the towns which is where his support came from. The land was home to countless nomad bands who were not affected at all. The nobility cared little for their lands and lived in the towns and cities leaving the peasants to their own devices. Most people who had no contact with the "urban" areas weren't even aware they had a duke and those who were, their descendants didn't even know Aptoni had died until a later century. As his son had died fighting insurrections his grandson,Bardos, took over as duke.

The Kingdom had defeated many enemies and given itself breathing space. However, these enemies were not done with Jerusalem. On September 4, Tunisia declared war upon the County of Biskra. Even though they had already been defeated in a war they were not completely subjugated. Several of their lands had been taken from them but not all. The County of Biskra was a small land and a direct vassal to the King himself. Of course Vianc saw this as and attack not just on his vassal but on him and demanded that no mercy be shown to Tunisia this time. The King demanded full conquest of the small North African Kingdom and the army, who finally did not have any revolts to put down, obeyed and marched straight for Tunisia. The new Duke of Tunis, Bardos, realized the enemy would either have to sail by boat or go through his lands to reach Egypt and Biskra and thus he declared war himself and mobilized his armies. By the time the crown's own armies arrived Bardos was personally leading the siege of a Tunisian province that was also considered part of Tunis. The kings generals learned this and did not interfer but marched straight for Tunisia's main lands defeating small bands of raiders along the way.

The simple fact was Tunisia was broken before the war started and they were facing a very powerful foe. Their ruler's own court betrayed him and handed him to the army in exchange for their lives and minor titles. On February 8 word spread through the Jerusalem that Tunisia was no more and that the former king was now on display in the capital being humiliated by the peasants before he was finally executed. The peasants did many things to him. They threw rotten food at him, urinated on him and even allowed their animals to do the same. The only time the peasants were restrained by the guards was when they tried to use the former king as a punching bag. They were just happy to see someone having a worse life than them. Vianc only met with the man once, in the dungeons, but left soon after because he could not handle the smell. Finally after several days of this the king was executed by simple hanging, an indignity to a former monarch. Fours days later Vianc was named King of Tunisia.
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My post describing the first war with Tunisia was very badly worded. To clarify things I didn't take them over completely, just grabbed a few places and some money. Basically they had some crap lands spread all over North Africa that I didn't want to waste my time going after. Of course when they attacked my vassal I just decided to wipe them out completely.
 
The final years of King Vianc, from 1174-1176, were spent in peace except for a revolt in Syria which was lead by a muslim religious leader. The revolt was easily put down and the lunatic preacher, who was under the false impression that the Muslim majority would rise up to overthrow their foreign rulers, was exiled instead of executed so that same Muslim majority would be content. The aging King turned his attention toward generating the goodwill of his people. He undertook many projects to build up the infrastructure of his sometimes barren lands. He encouraged growth and the sciences and the people gained a newfound respect for him. However, on February 28, 1176 the King retired from a meeting of his advisors to take a nap, but he never woke up. People were dispatched to bring back Vianc's eldest son, Aigolt, the Duke of Toscana.

Aigolt arrived in Jerusalem with his heir, Quintian, and his pregnant wife, Liveta d'Auvergne. They witnessed the same funeral rites his father had also witnessed almost 19 years earlier. Aigolt was only 20 years and unlike his predecessors he was not trained with the army, but at a monastary. He had still learned to wield a sword and he considered himself as much a warrior as a scholar. He had gained a reputation in Toscana for his fair and just rulings and was very trusting of the people who served him. He was very honest and detested liars but being a member of the royal family he was spoiled and use to getting his way which would later cause some problems. However, he was more capable with economics than his own steward, a superb diplomat and a well regarded soldier. He had very little penchant for schemes and was very straight forward with things.

Like his father Vianc was interred in the Holy Sepulchre. While his tomb was not as grand as Donat's it was more than fitting for a monarch. The majority of the mourners were the peasants and burghers and to show just how kind his reign would be, Aigolt ordered that his fathers coffin displayed outside so all could see their former king. Vianc had alienated many nobles who were also members of the Priory of Sion and they refused to go to his funeral. Some even protested Vianc being buried beside Donat. Many were worried about the safety of the young Prince who would be crowned very soon. Nothing was attempted and everything from the burial to the coronation went without any problems. The coronation was grand and no expense was spared. Many prestigious foreigners were there, including Jerusalem's ally the Emperor of Byzantium. The Priory was there taking stock of their new king to see if he would bend to their will. Once that crown was placed on his head it was said a bolt of lightening hit a wooden cross nearby splitting it in half signify that his reign would be marked by religious turmoil.

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The new king
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Specialist: Thank ya kindly sir. I've done my best to make sure this is as historical as I can make it, but at the same time still have some interesting stuff going on with the Priory and all that. We should see the Cathars again soon, but I haven't decided if it will be the next update or not.
 
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Jesus and the Moneylenders​

Barely a year into King Aigolt's reign did his first test as monarch come. The Catholic Church had been watching the Treancavel lands for quite some time. They viewed those lands as the realm of heresy. Cathars, Moslems, Jews and even Pagans lived together in harmony. Yet the Kingdom of Jerusalem was considered the Kingdom of Heaven by Christendom. In fact many believed the city of Jerusalem was the center of the Earth. As the rumors of secret cults in the royal court reached the ears of the Pope, it was evident Jerusalem had instead become a den of heretics under the current dynasty. Religious tolerance was greater in the supposed Kingdom of Heaven than anywhere else in the world. Even the Templars, who swore allegiance only to the Pope, boasted of mystical secrets they had learned from cabbalists and Moslem mystics. This was viewed as a complete travesty to Christian Europe. Even the Kingdom's nobles back in Western Europe were getting worried. They were much closer to people who felt the lands they ruled needed a cleansing than they would've liked.

In March of 1178 the Pope could take no more. A courier was dispatched to the royal court of King Aigolt to demand of him that he submit to church supremecy since his "ecclesiastical balance" was obviously ineffective. The Pope guarenteed Aigolt that if he did not submit to the Pope's authority he would surely face a crusade. Aigolt was warned that all the Templars and Muslim fanatics in Europe would not be enough to stop this. Knowing that the Pope had the support of Germany and France, Aigolt did the only thing he could. The courier who delivered these terms was a reasonably high ranking cardinal in the Church. Aigolt got off of his throne, knelt and kissed the man's signet ring showing that he recognized the Pope as his master. The terms ordered a persecution of inferior religious sects(primarily the heretics) and he was to first show his loyalty by expelling all moneylenders from his kingdom as this practice was considered sinful.

There was an outcry in Outremer of course. Most people lived side by side regardless of relgion. Even several of the Treancavel overlords had converted to Islam. This was viewed as yet another insult by a Pope who was just a puppet of the Kingdom's enemies. Many of the nobles openly supported breaking from the Church and submitting to the Patriarch in Constantinople. The Orthodox form of Christianity had become very popular with the ruling elite over time thanks to all the problems the Kingdom was already having with the Chruch. This had been one reason for the alliance with Byzantium. Of course the Orthodox Church was thrilled and began a relatively big propaganda campaign. The King, however, was not ready to break with the Church. Byzantium was having internal problems and with his next door neighbors, the Seljuk Turks, waiting for him to become embroiled in a large scale war Jerusalem would not be able to withstand a war with two large Christian powers. Aigolt was openly criticized in his city. One popular play involved a man dressed as the King of France controlling a puppet made to represent his holiness the Pope. A man dressed as Aigolt would be on his knees in front of the puppet begging for its mercy and the French King would make the puppet slap his face instead. This was quite embaressing for a man who wanted to expel the Muslims from Iberia.

The expulsion of the moneylenders was another matter. The Knights Templar had made quite a fortune loaning money to various people that included kings(One reason the King Phillip of France would be itching to get rid of them later). Of course they got around the "sinful" nature of charging interest by instead charging rent. There was no difference between the two, but they were allowed to get away with it. They protested the moneylenders expulsion very little because of this. Of course others had mixed feelings. The people that owed quite a bit of money were happy while people who were making good money off this practice were very unhappy. Of course everyone was continuously reminded of Jesus and the moneylenders, but the Papacy's brutal methods were far off. The moneylenders that refused to leave were burnt at the stake as heretics. Some were just slaughtered where they stood to save the trouble of gathering firewood.

A few local nobles in Egypt banded together to fight off the Pope's men. They boarded themselves inside one of the businesses and completely armed themselves. They successfully fought off the Pope's enforcers and managed to escape to Alexandria. There they were able to buy passage to Byzantium where it was legal to be a moneylender. By this time the Pope's man in the city had already been warned about them and had gathered his own band to arrest them. By the time they arrived at the harbor the fleeing moneylenders had already boarded a ship sailing under the flag of Byzantium. When the Pope's men tried to board they were stopped by knights flying the standard of Jerusalem. Of course this surprised them and they demanded that the knights get out of their way. The leader calmly informed them that the moneylenders were on a ship flying a foreign flag and were thus out of the country. The leader of the Pope's men rebuked them saying that the moneylenders had murdered innocent Catholics and they had arrest warrants for them. They tried to push on but were still prevented, so they drew their swords. After several of the Pope's men had fell the rest gave up and were eventually led to Jerusalem where the Duke of the area himself had them thrown in the dungeons. This was how little the Pope's laws were thought of.
 
Over a year after the moneylenders in the Kingdom of Jerusalem were expelled the Kingdom's fortune suddenly changed. At the end of October the old Pope, who had put pressure on King Aigolt to submit to his authority, finally passed away. The Curia debated and debated on who would succeed. In the running was Jerusalem's own Paolo, Archibishop of Sicily. It was a long debate but the Curia finally decided in favor of the Archbishop of Sicily. The old Pope's actions had pulled Jerusalem further away from the Vatican and Jerusalem was already friendly with the Orthodox faith of Constantinople. Losing Jerusalem would have been a huge blow. That would mean in effect losing the Middle East, Egypt, Eastern Spain, the Languedoc, part of Italy and the Mediterranean. Not to mention the capture of Jerusalem was one of Catholicism's greatest achievements and its loss would be an even greater failure. Therefore the Curia decided the only way to bring the Kingom of Jerusalem back was to put one of their own on the throne of St. Peter. King Aigolt of course assumed that he now had some control over the Catholic Church. He was very surprised when the new Pope did not fall in line with his plans. In fact Paolo declared he was the vassal of God and no other man now. King Aigolt threatened to invade Rome several times to make the Pope see things his way, but his advisors were able to keep his plans from coming to fruition. If anything the election of Paolo only drove Jerusalem even further away. Prince African, Aigolt's brother, was made the Duke of Sicily as Aigolt decided that he'd rather have family ruling the island than another Paolo.

However, there was good news. The day before Paolo was made Pope, Byzantium asked for an official renewal of the two nations ancient alliance. The two powerful nations were very good friends watching each other's backs in a land of Moslems. This alliance as cemented by a marriage of nobles from both nations. The other empire in Europe was not doing so well. Several counties in the Holy Roman Empire rose in revolt. The Emperor was dealing with these revolters ably until the Duke of Bavaria seceeded from the Empire. After Bavaria even more counties and one other duke left. This would come in handy for Jerusalem as Aymar the Count of Sudan also left the Empire in August of 1181. The Holy Roman Emperor had several lands in North Africa and had an army in the area bringing them back into the fold. When Aigolt offered Aymar protection in exchange for his fealty Aymar readily agreed. The only other event of any importance was the Crown Prince Quintian beginning his training with the army.
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Well looks like my summer is busier than I thought it would be. I've been thinking about the direction I want this story to go in. No it isn't going to be a world conquest or anything like that. I even thought about taking this to EUII but I'm not so sure about that anymore. I'm going to try to put the Priory in this story more but I've just had some serious writers block. It's going to be interesting to see how this story develops.
 
At the beginning of 1182 King Aigolt finally felt it was time to drive the infidels from Iberia once and for all. More than that it was also political now. He needed to do something to regain some popularity among his people. A crusade to Iberia would finish the work King Donat had begun over a century ago and he hoped people would then make a comparison between the two rulers. A council of nobles was convened to discuss the possibility of war. Bertrand de Blanchefort the new leader of the Priory and the Templars enthusiastically supported the war. He had succeeded Everard and wanted to make up for his predecessors actions against the throne. Of course the Priory branch was not to fond of this but they did nothing for now. The other nobles saw a chance for more lands, titles, money and glory and with very little dissent it was agreed that there should be a new crusade to Iberia. However, Jerusalem's lands in Iberia were to weak to defend themselves until the main armies arrived. It was decided by the Marshal of Jerusalem that a secret mobilization would occur. To make sure that the Moslems would learn nothing of this it was decided that the armies in Outremer and Egypt would be sent first with the others coming after a declaration of war was sent.

Preparations went underway and into April the secret mobilization was successful but it had to be stalled. The Queen, Liveta, died in labor along with the child. Aigolt was so stunned by this news. He knew it was common for women to die in childbirth but with the best doctors he never even considered it possible that his Queen could also die. While Aigolt mourned his advisors knew life had to go on and began searching for possible brides. Later that month King Richard of England agreed to give his niece, Sybilla, to King Aigolt in marriage. Aigolt and Sybilla were very distant cousins. They married very quickly and Jerusalem's mobilization continued until it was completed in late July at which point the men were given a week to rest. The war began on August 7.

Both sides were evenly matched with Jerusalem having a slight edge in numbers and heavy cavalry and the Moslems having the edge in technology. However, Jerusalem had another disadvantage. Part of its lands were isolated and in the County of Toledo's case surrounded by the Emirate of Badajoz. The Emir of Badajoz, himself noticed this and personally led 10,000 of his best men to overrun Toledo in a battle that began on September 21. Count Luc would meet the Emir but with no knights of his own and 1/4 of his army comprising of peasants the battle was not in question.

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The battle for Toledo which began on Sept. 21 was more a bloodbath than a battle. The defenders had no hope of defeating their enemies in open battle and so they retreated to their castle in hope that they could hold out until help arrived. Emir Sulayman beseiged Toledo for 3 days and could not break through. He realized the problem was that from their gates the Christians could successfully counterattack so he ordered the assualt of a section without a gate. When the walls came down the Christians did what they could. Archers shot down from concealed spots on walls and in buildings while the infantry set up ambushes all through the city. While they inflicted about 1,000 casualties it was in vain. Those who were not killed were ransomed or sold into slavery if they were to poor to pay a ransom. After Count Luc payed his ransom he went bankrupt paying the ransoms of as many men as he could.

For the rest of the year skirmishes and minor battles were fought as the Muslims prepared defenses and planned counterattacks and the Christians formulated a strategy. The strategy didn't go as well as they had hoped. On June 13, Duke Robert de Barcelona attacked the army that had taken Toledo at a place called Caceres. The Duke had a 2-1 advantage over his enemy. A big part of the Duke's army was the feared heavy cavalry. With these odds and troops the Duke became arrogant. He rejected all ideas for a plan and called for a direct attack by his knights without infantry support. They rode into the battle with their armor gleaming and at first pushed the Muslims back but by the end the only thing that was gleaming was the pools of blood from the dead knights. Witnessing your best troops completely destroyed usually scares the hell out of everyone else as it did in this case. The Duke made one last attempt to salvage his reputation but his infantry was no match for the enemy. He had come in with a 2-1 advantage but by the end 55% of his army including all his heavy cavalry had been destroyed. This was not a good way to start off a strategy and when the word of this reached the parts of Iberia under Jerusalem's control people began to panic.

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Can the passion of the reconquista keep burning?
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Can't believe it's been so long. I've just been having a crazy month, but maybe I'll be on a little more regularly. Course I always say that so who knows? Anyway I hope someone still remembers this aar.