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Deamon said:
Almost 7,000 views with just 3 updates!..

I hope the fourth one comes soon
 
I do too... its been too long since an update... *nudge nudge* :)
 
Capibara said:
I hope the fourth one comes soon
And fifth....sixth... and more.
 
The World in 1393 and How it Got There

France and the British Isles

1393West.png

England:

The King and the nobles of England are for the most part French-speaking, although ruling their domains from London, an arrangement that has persisted since the Norman conquest in 1066, with an interruption for a period of civil strife and Norse-influenced rule in the early 1200s. Having regained control of the country, the Normano-English have expanded both on the Island and on the Continent (in Guyenne, Maine and Normandy), where they vie with Burgundy for the French crown. The Kingdom is once again one of the most powerful countries in Europe, but its greatest moments still lie ahead…

Scotland:

Scotland has barely survived as an independent nation; almost completely occupied by the English in the mid-1100s, the Scots nonetheless seized their chance at independence when English royal authority collapsed. Soon after the restoration of the Scottish Crown, the dynasty of the Earls of Caithness died out and Charles, Duke of Blois, was invited to rule. Through several fortunate accidents of inheritance, the new de Blois dynasty found itself in control of the immensely rich Flandres and Artois, and has used the money to expand on the Island whenever possible, while investing in a vast merchant fleet…

Ireland:

Since Irish unification seemed as unlikely a goal as a Russian Emperor in Constantinople, it likewise came about. The Red Branch of the O’Neills unified the country by 1140, and has largely held it intact despite somewhat frequent rebellions. The country has prospered under their rule, so much so that far from fearing English invasions, they had conquered the domains of the Manx kings, repeatedly warred with Scotland and Brittany, and even sponsored several crusades into Portugal and the African Coast, a few of which helped local Christians through off the Muslim yoke…

Wales:

Although small and poor, Wales arose to prominence in Europe when Alastair ap Seisyll enrolled as a knight in the service of the German Emperor. The wide adventures of the dynasty are well-known; not only were his descendants briefly Kings of Naples, they also fought under German banners in Egypt, Tripoli and Carinthia. The accumulated prestige and backing from the Emperor allowed them to finally unify their country into a single Kingdom that has survived precariously, and, if it plays its diplomatic connections right, could still stand unbowed by any of its neighbours…

Cornwall:

The Cornish haven’t been a great nation for centuries, and were under the Saxon and the Norman lords; however, the collapse of the English Kingdom in the 1200s gave the local prominent men a chance to assert their power, so when the new Duchy of Cornwall was re-established, it pursued a course independent of London, falling at long last into the orbit of Wales. How long they stay independent will also largely depend on their larger ally…

Poitou:

After liberation from the Muslims, the Dukes of Poitou were vassals to the Grand Duchy of Holstein, Grand Duchy of Lower Lorraine, and finally England. This part of the country was a major battleground and is not one of the richer parts of France anymore, dependent on the English to defend their interests.

Orleans:

Orleans is the last Duchy not dependent on England or Burgundy; the Orleannais think of themselves as the last True Frenchmen, and pursue a stubbornly independent course. Like most of France, Orleans fell to the forces of Seville in the early 1200s, but avoided the tragic misfortunes of fire, pillage, famine and disease that befell Paris. Can the Orleannais form the nucleus of a new, Free France, or will they be absorbed by their neighbours?

Brittany:

The Bretons are a people apart, who, like the Scots, have taken advantage of the collapse of English, French and Sevillan might to arise as a regional power. The Duchy is home to many famed sailors and pirates. It depends on the control of the seas to keep the wealth flowing, and on English weakness to stay independent.

Burgundy:

It is almost impossible to quickly summarise Burgundy; in its history it has progressed through numerous highs and lows. Beginning as the Kingdom of Arles, the state sometimes grew to include both the kingdoms of Germany and Italy, only to lose it all to violent upheavals in Imperial politics. Since the collapse of France, it has expanded ever Westward, first into French and then into Spanish territory. By contrast, it could not keep the pressure on a strengthening Bavaria to remain the hegemon among the Germans, nor could it retain a tight grip on the rebellious, unruly Italian cities…

Auvergne:

The largest of the Burgundian Marches, Auvergne is a mountainous region sparsely populated by hardy men who fought for generations against both Muslim raids and English cheuvachee. Although proud of their freedom, the Auvergnais fall firmly within the Burgund sphere of influence.

Lorraine:

The dukes of Upper Lorraine have benefited greatly from their alliance with Burgundy, going as far as getting elected to be Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. However, Lorraine’s main focus seems on expanding North, towards the trade-rich Low Countries.

Luxembourg:

The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg was once far larger than it is now; while its line may be a proud one and its riches considerable, its loose control over the Dutch will probably force it to seek help of its neighbours, and then it’s but a short step to de-facto vassalage.

Bearn:

One of the smaller French states, Bearn lies in the Pyrinees and was one of the Burgundian Marcher duchies on the border with Muslim Spain. Over the course of several Anglo-Burgund wars, it has increasingly fallen under the sway of England.

Provence:

Conquered by the Muslims in the 12th cenury, the valleys and the coasts were conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire under Vsevolod II and III. The sizeable orthodox and muslim communities make this one of the most religiously diverse parts of France. The Elegemitoi, Emperors of the East, sold the entire territory to Burgundy in order to pay for troops. Since then, the Dukes – descended from the last ruling Orthodox prince-bishop - have recognized the Pope, but kept the Eastern rite.
 
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English Patriot: Glad to have you on board. I'm also interested to see how it pans out, believe me.

Alfred Packer: I'm waiting for the wonderful NI and MM Diamond to finish the conversion. In the meanwhile I'll promise to update a little more regularly.

rcduggan, Fijj: and it did! Weeks later!

thrashing mad: Western Europe, as per request. There's going to be more detail following in the next few updates.

Deamon, Emperor_krk: I love EU3, just for that.

Capibara, General_BT: See? I'm not dead! It's an update! With a map, no less!

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Thanks for all the attention guys. I really couldn't hope for better readers given how infrequently I update.
 
EU3 with no France? Who will stop the Austrian blob? Fascinating... hopefully these keep coming at a steady clip! I'm eager to see how the Germanies have developed in this timeframe...
 
finally we're under way XD
 
Burgundy looks like the one to watch, I could forsee a Burgundian Empire straddling Europe..
 
Nice summary, RGB, even more fun to read than some AARs out there.

Great map, although I would have recommended a different color for Scotland, it almost blends with water on my monitor.
 
My money is definitely on Bearn. Yep. I just played a game in which the Rurikovich's ascended to the thone of Byzantium and are now conquering the Seljuks. Which is a problem for my crusader Kings in Egypt, thought about thiis.
 
* Happy dance *

Update! :D

It's interesting how the British Isles developed through the centuries and no France?! :D It'll be a fun game in that side of the map ;)
 
The World in 1393 and How it Got There

A Brief History of a Cultural Divide

EnlgishCulture.png

The North and South English, despite being under the same rulers for hundreds of years, retain distinct dialects and arguably cultural identities that are in opposition to each other. This brief explanatory note does not attempt to break new ground on the nature of identity formation and regional nationalism, but will simply repeat the highlights of antagonistic encounters between “North” and “South” as recorded by mainstream narrative historiography.

The first conventional landmark is the Kingdom of Northumbria, a political entity that (along with the long-diminished Celtic Church) was often used as a symbolic precedent by Northern regionalists of the Romantic era; at its greatest, the Kingdom occupied all the lands North of the line that is said to divide the Northern English from Southern English, but it can be safely said that it is later events that had more import upon the location of the dividing line than ancient Northumbria.

The second milestone is the Kingdom of Jorvik and the Danelaw, which existed when Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless defeated the English of the North and ruled from York by means of an English puppet King. The ties with the lands of the Vikings were strengthened during the period; the southern Saxon Kingdom of Wessex eventually conquered the area, while the Northernmost parts of it fell to the emergent Scottish state.

The North, however, remained largely independent of the Kings in London; to rectify the situation, the new Norman King, William, launched a brutal campaign of terror and bloodshed, known as the Harrying of the North; in response to stubborn resistance, several punitive expeditions were also organized under his son William Rufus, and the power of the Earldom was severely limited as the territory was partitioned into smaller entities. The Anglo-Norman Kingdom continued to push North, largely subduing Scotland by the mid-1100s, until its dramatic collapse in 1182 with the death of the last Norman King. A massive civil war over the rights to the Crown followed, during the course of which vast territories were relinquished to the Scots, the Welsh and (on the French mainland) to the Muslims.

AnimatedBritain.gif

It was also at the same time that Danes were leaving their homeland in great numbers as it became a battlefield between the Spanish Muslims (who briefly occupied the country while operating from Flandres); the Novgorodians (who, backed by the Eastern Emperors, wanted control of the Danish sound for the Baltic Toll); and the Norwegians. Many headed to Eastern England, and fought for the various lords. Some Danish warleaders became very prominent and attained fiefdoms of their own. Eventually, the North English decided to choose a King of their own, and Harald Sigurdsson, a second-generation Danish migrant, became King. Under the Haraldssons, the new “English” kingdom expanded continually South until it reached a high point with the capture of London in 1204. Throughout the 13th century heavy immigration from the Scandinavian lands, and Denmark in particular continued and England was once again oriented towards the East rather than towards France.

Around 1280, however, the Norman lords of Southern and Western England finally decided who was going to be King among themselves. This coincided with the total collapse of the last vestiges of Muslim power in France and the subsequent expansion of Normandy. A united Anglo-Norman faction subsequently fought the descendants of King Harald, delivering a crushing defeat to Edgar Break-Sword at Dartford, and finally cornered him at Hexham. The castle surrendered after Edgar killed himself, and Simon I became King in 1291. By the mid-1300s, England formally re-annexed Normandy and obtained significant possessions in mainland France. French influence was great and the prestige of English tongue and custom was on the decline everywhere in southern England, until the Jehanniste wars and perhaps even until as late as the Settlement with Burgundy, when the ruling dynasty assumed a nationalist English-first stance. In the North, however, English (with some Danish influence and borrowings) remained dominant right through the period. The contrast between a Normanised South and the traditionalist North was a factor in numerous revolts in the North since, but it is safe to say that the linguistic and cultural differences were already firmly established by the end of the 14th century.
 
comagoosie: well, this is perhaps the most radical of all changes although a few other come pretty close. And you'll hear about them soon.

General_BT: Stopping the Great White Blob sounds like a job for Poland, or maybe Burgundy. But we'll see.

canonized: we've been under way for a while, just Very. Slowly.

English Patriot: Burgundy could easily become a superpower in this game, but it's ultimately up to the game engine.

nalivayko: well, I'm glad there's someone out there worse than me :p

Yeah, those overview maps aren't my best idea in terms of graphics but I'm too lazy to change them now. What do I look like to you, Thrashing Mad? :D

JimboIX: :eek: :eek:

Now that's unexpected. Those damn Rurikoviches, they get around a lot, don't they?

Fijj: Well, Burgundy disagrees about that one. Hence Hundreds of Years of War, probably :D

Capibara: I'm sure France will emerge eventually, the question is how long it's going to take.

rcduggan: well, Wales is important, Cornwall, not so much. Still, the culture never changed and they were independent in 1393 so...

Enewald: thank you. Welcome aboard!

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I'm missing some of my more regular commentators. If you are reading this, please let me know. It's good for my ego.

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So an update about a relatively small change in the game set-up, but one reflective of CK history for those who haven't followed Part I (or simply want more detail).

Cheers.
 
Interesting developments, particularly the relatively sustained scandinavian influence, and I love to see the havoc the Sevillan invasions wreaked on everywhere. Actually I'vehad the Rurikovich thing happen multiple times in DV- for some odd reason they'll pledge Byzantium, become Emperors inevitably, and then change the law from electoral. I think it's part of the DV pledge bug.