Petar Kresimir's legacy - A Croatian AAR

[kramari]

Hi all! This is my first CK AAR. I'm really not good at this game so be prepared for a short game. I'm playing Croatia on N/N. I will attempt to be better than Croatian kings historically did (altough Petar Kresimir did make Croatia really big but his successors screwed it up).

UPDATE COMING SOON

[kramari]

December 26, 1066

Petar Kresimir was outside riding his faithful pony Bill, enjoying the view of his big kingdom. His wife Miroslava who was 41 was yelling at him to come inside because he will catch a cold. Petar left his pony Bill in the little stables which were next to the big stables and came inside the palace.

Nothing interesting happening in Croatia. Petar appointed a steward, a marshal, a spy master and chancellor.

Serbia offered an alliance. Petar rejected. Who knows when will Serbia attack someone and drag Croatia into it. Also it was really to cold to fight. One of the coldest winters as one of the peasants said.

Duke of Apulia wanted an alliance too. But Croatia isn't allying with anyone.

Stjepan, Petar's heir married a chancellor from Vidin. Better chancellor than Petar had already.

Petar was still not prestigious enough to grab any titles. Apparently someone saw him riding his pony and he is a laughing stock of all Europe.

Petar just found out that his wife is ill. Still Petar didn't have a son. Steward Boris also caught the same illness. Petar became suspicous...his wife and his steward...this is really getting serious chancellor Zoe too became ill. Petar wondered what was going on in the palace while he was riding his pony.

It was getting really dull in the palace all the time and Petar was itching for some kind of war, when Mihajlo the duke of Serbia came in and offered the alliance again. This time Petar accepted.

After visiting Serbia, Petar visited Ragusa. He met with the magistrate and offered them to become vassals of Croatia. Seeing how a new alliance between Serbia and Croatia was created the magistrate had no other choice if he wanted to survive in the region.


Some Ragusan peasants moved to Split and settled there making Split a prosperous area.
Ragusans are moving all over the place making Rama prosperous.

Slowly everyone was getting better. The misterous illness was retreating. With the rediscovery of an old Greek medicine everyone was healed.

Croatia entered an alliance with the Kingdom of Germany. This immediately drew Croatia into a war with the Tribe of Pommerania. But that was very far from Croatia so Petar didn't bother to raise an army.


Now Petar got an illness and there was no more Greek medicine.

Petar's decision not to send an army all the way to Germany didn't bother his vassals Slavonia who sent their army.

God praise the miracle-worker who healed Petar.

Well who would thought that a pagan army would come all the way from Danzing to seige Rama.



Quickly Petar and his marshal Ninoslav saddled their ponies. They were on their way to raise an army in Rama. They gathered a thousand men to fight the pagans. Croatian army was victorious loosing 200 men while the pagans lost 500. Pagans couldn't believe the pony cavalry.

After this defeat Danzig offers white peace. But Petar rejected.

Petar was getting frustrated because it has been a long time since he got laid. So as he was passing through his realm he spotted a beatiful girl and just got down to business. He soon had a bastard son named Slavich. He would be an heor to the throne.

Danzing pagans were restless this time they attacked Senj. They had 485 men while Petar himself led an army of 1100 men. After Petar's encouraging speech. Two armies met on the battlefield. Leaving 39 Croats and 340 pagans dead. Peace was accepted between pagans and Croats. Petar turned his head towards Venice. Croatia owned them long ago making them pay tribute for sailing close to the Croatian shores. Petar wanted to do it again. The only thing needed for this is prestige.

Pope called to arms.

After marrying his only daughter to a Serbian courtier and after some persuasion. Serbia accepted to become a vassal of Croatia.



This act greatly increased Petar's prestige and a claim on Venetian titles could begin.

One question: Should I claim Consul, Governer or Magistrate?

[Fiftypence]

Good start, Croatia is fun.

One question: Should I claim Consul, Governer or Magistrate?

Depends. If it is a case of only one, then I would claim the county level (magistrate) above the others, as ownership of Venice province is much more valuable than any titles.

[CSK]

If you can, claim both the Consul and Magistrate title to get another Kingdom title. If not, only the Magistrate (which is count in feudal realms btw). The amount of money and troops you get from there is most important for your future realm.

Good to see you could convince Serbia to become your vassal. Now what are your plans? Will fight the Byzantines for the Serbian Kingdom?

And bastards can't be heirs to the throne except they get legitimate.

[Shuma]

Love the pony cavalry. Ride for the glory of Croatia!

And good luck with getting a legitimate heir, that nephew Stjepan is almost infertile and you don't want to rely on him doing the job.

[Veldmaarschalk]

Good luck with your first AAR

The start for Croatia is a good one

I never claim the 'higher' titles of Venice, being named King of Venice sounds so silly

[kramari]

Fiftypence: Thanks!
CSK: Byzantium is still to strong...maybe later.
Shuma: Yeah the pony cavalry rules, Stjepan did the job alright he has a son.
Veldmaarschalk: Thanks!

[kramari]

Petar Kresimir grabbed the title Magistrate of Venice from Domenico Silvo and soon declared war.

Croatia won the fight. Venice is under siege.


The peace offer came soon and Venice offered 1100 gold for peace...altough the offer was really good, Petar refused because Venice was too valuable.

Venice is "liberated"


Venice accepted peace and Croatia got Venice (Petar became a count of Venice)


Petar's army soon fled after securing Venice as there was a small pox epidemy.
Soon small pox have retreated and Petar could ride his pony to Venice.


January 28, 1083. King Petar Kresimir Trpimirovic died. This was a sad day in all of Croatia. Thousands of people attended the funeral. Stjepan was the heir and was named a new king of the Kingdom of Croatia.


Petar's death lead to county of Usora uprising. Stjepan's didn't have much time to get used to the title. He soon formed an army and won. He lost 1100 men while Usora lost 2000 men. Usora offered peace paying 380 gold Stjepan refused as he had inherited a claim to the county of Usora and wanted to offer peace in his own terms. Usora was liberated and Stjepan pressed the claim. He soon gace the title of the count of Usora to his son Mikica as he couldn't handle all this land by himself.

Stjepan had to stop making wars because his reputation was slighty tarnished. He just rode his pony around Senj.


Typhoid fever arrived to Senj. Stjepan and his family quickly moved to Venice. After some time there, Venetians were frequently seen riding ponies. Europe will soon embrace the new style.It didn't take long and fever went away. Stjepan returned to Senj.


April 13, 1092, Stjepan died. His son Mikica inherited the realm. He wasn't a good leader. He could handle even less territories than his father. But he had lots of children to marry away.




Finally after two marriages to the court of Karnten, Mikica finally persuaded Duchy of Karnten to become vassals.


That's it for now.

[Veldmaarschalk]

How do you get all those people to accept your vassalisation offers ?

[kramari]

I really don't know. I'm just persistent...I asked them around 30 times and I grabbed a title of count of Karnten before I married the second daughter to someone in the Karnten court. After that they accepted.

[CSK]

The AI tends to accept when they are at war though. For example if someone rebels to a realm you can offer the rebel to become your vassal and thus get more land. It is even easier should his lands already be taken.

[Fiftypence]

Just out of interest, what stats does Mikica have? I assume he has fairly low intrigue, but what of the others?

[stnylan]

Well a great first reign. Can the successor live up to it?

[kramari]

[kramari]

Mikica went to Venice where he ordered a grand palace to be built. The news really saddened the Croats in Senj and in other parts as well. Their king was to live in a foreign land, but they knew that this step was really necessary as it will bring prestige to the king.

Mikica's son Radoslav is really itching for a place in the court. The problem was that he wasn't better then people Mikica had. So instead Mikica would give Radoslav control of Usora just after the new roads are finished. He wanted it to be a surprise.

Croatia was now surrounded by 3 big nations and one not so big. Kingdom of Germany in the north, Kingdom of Hungary in the east, Empire of Byzantium in the south and Duchy of Toscana in the west (what should I claim from them? They have vassals. I want the whole Duchy with vassals in one war. Is that possible. Or maybe grab one small title and usurp the rest. Is that cheaper).



In the south also was a small province of Dyrrachion which was owned by the County of Vaspurakan which was far away. Mikica soon grabbed the title of count of Dyrrachion from them and started the war.

Croatia attacked at the same time the Arabs took Vaspurakan. Siege was an easy one and the Split army led by Ninoslav (marshal) would soon conquer Dyrrachion. It wasn't to be like that. Ninoslav who was an old man died during the siege.



Altough Dyrrachion pledged allegiance to the Byzantium emperor, Croatia conquered them and added to their own. Rebuilding of the province began. Mikica was sad that Ninoslav died. He put Petar Kresimir's bastard son Slavich in the position of marshal.

Mikica created himself a few titles. Duke of Venice and Duke of Bosnia. Perhaps this and naming Slavich not Radoslav pushed Radoslav over the edge. Radoslav was long before that stressed. He commited suicide. Mikica saw him hanging first. Mikica was devastated if only he gave Usora to Radoslav sooner or maybe making him marshal.



Mikica's son Emerik who was 4, was now his heir. Mikica promised himself that he will watch him all the time.

Mikica continued the war even further and declared war on Butrinto after grabbing the title of prince. He already had one claim.



The war was finished soon and Croatia got Epieros and Mikica was proclaimed duke of Butrinto. With this Croatia stopped making wars and tried to build up their reputation.



Something I don't get. I spent 500 prestige to grab the title of prince and after that I only got one province while I had two under my control Epireos and Arfa. Now the former prince of Butrinto is the count of Arfa. I don't get this claim grabbing. Can someone explain?

[CSK]

If you claim a count title you get the province. If you claim all the Duke titles from an enemy you get his vassals. For example he is Duke of x, has one province y and five vassals. If you claim y, you get only the province. If you claim x, you get his vassals, but not y. The Duke then will be count of y.

In your case this means, as your enemy had no vassals (I guess), you wasted only prestige and BB. In this cases you should only claim the countries and create the Duchy.

Also I think you should give away titles soon. Your reputation can't be good (if you go to one of your vassals and hover over his loyalty you'll see how high your BB is).

As to Tuscany, should they stay independent, rather try to claim all Duchy titles and only the counties under personal control of Tuscany, thus you annex it if you take that in war and the vassals will get yours.

[kramari]

Nice, thanks!

[stnylan]

Ahh, an update showing some of the run of the mill, yet quite important, little goings on.

[Shuma]

Too bad about your first heir, but I see you have others lined up. They do tend to get annoying when they start asking for jobs though.

[kramari]

In the previous update I made a mistake. Emerik is not the heir nor a son, Dragomir is the heir and a son. Emerik is in the list of successors.

Mikica gave Epireos to Dragomir, rest he will give out when the rest of his sons get older. One of Croatia's vassals. County of Corfu declared independance. This vassal Croatia got when attacking Arfa. Mikica let them be for now. One day he said to himself they will pay.

Chancellor Ioakim Kramar (dynasty I created, just so my last name appears in the game) was hunting in the woods when he encountered a great boar. Ioakim was a valuable part of Mikica's court. He always felt he should prove his valor and he wasn't the one to run from a fight. Rest of the hunting party was not far away and he could've waited, but he decided to fight. First he steadied his bow and hit the boar in the back. The boar saw him. Ioakim pulled out his hunting knife. The boar started running towards him, altough the boar was hurt it could still kill Ioakim. Ioakim jumped away right in the last second and while the boar was passing by he managed to put a knife into him. Now Ioakim pulled out his sword and ran towards the boar, which stumbled when it was stabbed with a knife. But the boar didn't give up and tried to attack Ioakim with his tusks. Ioakim evaded the tusks and ran his sword right through the boars heart.

Croatia's diocese bishop died from old age. Now the land was without religious guidance. Mikica didn't have anyone to put in that position yet.

Mikica got a letter from his son saying that Mikica will soon become a grandfather. Mikica was very happy.

Dyrrachion was looted and revolted against the king all because of religion. Hopefully it will all calm down soon.

Emerik finally recovered from his serious illness after four years.

Duchy of Slavonia revolted against Mikica and even declared war. Mikica soon raised an army. Slavich who was leading a 10000 men army died of old age during the siege of Zagreb. The war was won. Mikica quickly gave land to his successors.
In the fear of more revolts Mikica set the scutage to 0. This was a double edged sword. In one hand his vassals would be more loyal but in the other hand they now could have larger armies and if the revolt happens it would be a tough fight.

Pope sent a bishop to Croatiam he soon was put in the position of dioecese bishop.

Mikica and his courtiers moved to Venice into their new palace.

Diocese bishop died 10 days after he appointed a bishop.

Mikica is not only a grandfather of one child, his son Dragomir has 5 children already and his 22 and his wife 21.

There is a real problem with the vassals. Some of them are really disloyal.

What will happen next? Will the vassals revolt? Find out in the next episode of "Really disloyal Vassals"