The House of Burgundy: An epic tale

[Rhodz]

Hi guys, after my failed Aragon AAR for the MES, I kinda lost my zeal for such things, but I'm back, with a new idea.

I plan to play Burgundy in the MES, become a trading power and generally keep the peace of Europe until I get to 1419. Then I will begin playing Burgundy in AGCEEP, with an aim to make the House of Burgundy heir to as many European kingdoms as possible(this means diplo-annexing).

This means that in the AGCEEP I'm going to try and obtain the thrones of Lotharingen, France, and I'll edit some events in so that if Milan becomes Italy and the Visconti die out, France's claim to Milan gives them a cb on Italy.

Anyway, you may see some familiar characters in here, perhaps with some new ones. We'll see how this tale goes

[Singleton Mosby]

I wish you good luck on the quest. And wacth out for France and The GErmans.

Are yuo going to edit the GC when you arrive there?

[Rhodz]

The reign of Eudes II (1150-1161)

In 1150 the state of the Duchy of Burgundy was not great. Comprised of two taxable provinces, Bourgogne itself and Lyonais, with the main cities of Dijon and Lyons, the Duke of Burgundy did not wield great power. Situated on the border with the Empire, Burgundy had a chance to take the place of Arles(The Kingdom of Burgundy, hereafter referred to as the Kingdom of Arles to avoid confusion) as arbiter in this region.

Eudes II was the last of the old style dukes of Burgundy. Strongly feudal in theory, he still attempted to centralise his own power in his duchy, while at the same time reducing the role of the knights of the realm in politics by leaving all maintenance to the under-nobles of his duchy. This had the side effect of basically halving the amount of maintenance available to the forces Eudes himself would need to call on in war.

Duke Eudes II immediately began to build a power base for himself. By September he had arranged an alliance with the King of France and the Count of Toulouse. Soon after this alliance had been ratified, the King of France, Louis VII, began to war with the Count of Flandern, who was supported by the Count of Champagne and Blois, as well as the principality of Zeeland.

In December 1150, the King's forces beseiged Blois. Duke Eudes decided not to engage in this war, and by the end of the year had convinced the nobles of it.

Nevertheless, a daughter of the Capetian house was married into the house of Burgundy, soon followed by a similar royal marriage with the Count of Toulouse's niece.

After such diplomatic feats, Eudes turned his eye to the economy, appointing a tax collector in the region of Bourgogne and planning for a similar decision in Lyonais. Over the next few months he worked hard to wring cash from his lands, without minting any new money, and listened for news from the King.

In June he learned terrible news. The scandalous Eleanor of Acquitane had renounced any claim by the king on her. Along with the news was the rather old message that the king's forces had captured Blois. It was many more months before the news of Eleanor's marriage to Henri Plantagenet, new duke of Anjou.

Meanwhile, Eudes' efforts to tax peasants further and further led to a small revolt, which was crushed almost immediately. Just as the situation was becoming settled again, the news that Amiens had been captured by the Count of Flandern from the king inspired the nobles to attempt to force the Duke to assist. However he held firm, and maintained that his alliance would only count for a new war.

The years continued to pass, and Henri Plantagenet became King of England, creating a huge empire in France and across the channel. His power was the greatest threat to the Burgundian alliance, and Eudes kept his duchy in a state of readiness for war for many months before relaxing his conditions again.

1155 was an exceptional year, with more money coming into the duchy's coffers than ever before, prompting Eudes to introduce a tax collector in Lyons to increase revenues even more. Money was also used to outfit several thousand more horse and foot of the Duke's own forces.

Now for quite some time the King's war with Flandern and Champagne had been quiet, with the king maintaining control of Blois and Flandern controlling Amiens. in December of 1155 Louis took his forces of some 15,000 men and began skirmishes in Champagne, resulting in the crushing of the Champagne armee and the seige of Reims in February of 1156.

This year would be a great one for Louis VII, as Henri Plantagenet was forced to pay homage to him as a French lord, and Champagne was forced to ceded Blois to the king and lose almost all it's autonomy after the fall of Reims in May. Louis would turn his eye north, capturing Amiens and Arras in 1157 before finally capturing Flandern itself and forcing the count to pay heavy indemnities and cede Artois to Louis in 1158.

Louis then ran through his "ordonnances" in an attempt to centralise his control over his fragmented kingdom. While this hurt relations with the duke of burgundy, Eudes decided to ignore the diplomatic ramifications of these rules.

Crisis occured in Toulouse as Henri Plantagenet tried to force Count Raymond into vassalage, but was forced out of the county by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy and the King of France himself.

It was after this victory that Eudes decided to abdicate in favour of his son, Hugh III, who would be the first of the Burgundian Dukes to steer his duchy into a new direction, one of great power.

(OOC: Ok guys, I know that initial one was dry and boring there, but I had to wait til Eudes II died before I could start introducing great characters with the benevolent rule of Hugh III. The fun begins soon )

[Rhodz]

Are yuo going to edit the GC when you arrive there?

Naw, as I said, I merely plan to be a peacekeeping power. I do plan to have the provinces of Flanders, Franche Comte and Bourgogne by 1419 of course, to insure a smooth transition into the agceep. The whole MES aspect is merely a precursor to the main story

[Obelixeke]

Nice idea and cool start, Rhodz! I'll be following this one for sure

[Machiavellian]

Interesting start, though I am curious as to how long you will be able to maintain the 'peace keeping, low expansion policy.'

[Rhodz]

Until 1419, then it's expansion ahoy, but only by dynastical inheritance (secured by force-vassalisation at first )

[TheBee]

You've made me curious.

I'll be following you.