Part 4 - 1172 to Present
Frederi’s reign was short and painful. In the five years he was in power he face a civil war as his vassals in France tried to break free and was shunned by the church for his heretical ways. In an attempt to atone for his heresy Frederi took up the practice of self-flagellation and ended up dying of self inflicted wounds shortly after.
Joan, Frederi’s brother, became King but while campaigning in France to assert his right to rule he was killed in an ambush only two years after his coronation. His eldest living son, Guigues rose to power at the age of five, left with a civil war unresolved and power hungry relatives trying to wrest control of the kingdom from him.
With the help of his mother and her consort, who was made marshal of the armies, Guigues managed to keep his Kingdom intact. By the age of twelve the civil war had been crushed and the worst of his cousins and uncles exiled. When Guigues turned sixteen he wanted to prove his worth and ability to rule on his own and went crusading in Iberia. Four years and several successful campaigns saw Guigues claiming the crowns of Aragon and Navarra and most of Iberia was in Christian hands thanks to help by the King of Lotharingia and the Duchy of Galicia.
Upon returning Guigues sent an appeal to the Pope asking for the long vacant seat of Emperor to be filled. With the amount of power Guigues now held the Pope could not deny him and on his twenty-first birthday he was made Holy Roman Emperor. The rest of Guigues’s reign was spent organizing his realm to his liking, taking power away from his duke’s to ensure that there would never again be a threat to the de Provence family’s right to rule. His power and prestige brought many of the Italian dukes to his court to pledge allegiance and only the duchy of Toscana remained outside of his control under the King of Sicily. After forty-five years in power Guigues died at the age of 50 leaving the Empire in the hands of his third son Milo.
Milo’s reign was never blessed by the Pope but that never stopped him from calling himself an emperor. Determined to be seen as a great ruler he set about conquering southern Iberia. Most saw it as foolish though and he got little support from his vassals with several breaking free while Milo led his armies. Milo did succeed in bringing all of southern Iberia under his control but when he returned to deal with the few vassals that had thought to declare independence he took a sword in the side. He managed to linger for several years but spent the rest of his reign ruling from a bed. In 1239 he succumbed to the wound and was succeeded by his only son Sanche.
Sanche recognized the importance of improving the kingdoms reputation and made a bargain with the Pope for the title of emperor he would release Andalusia as an independent nation. He then spent most of his reign as emperor helping neighbours gain control of their realms. He also assisted the King of Leon in returning to his rightful place in England. Most of Sanche’s realm was spent peacefully though and after 33 years of rule Sanche passed away at the age of 54.
His son Rogier ruled for only 15 years and died when the black plague swept through Burgundy. Gautier, Roger’s third son, took control of the realm at the age of 17 in 1287 and was made Emperor of Rome when he agreed to free Jerusalem from the Muslims for the Pope. He met with success and freed Jerusalem, giving control of the city and surrounding area to one of his generals. Gautier suffered an arrow wound though in one of the battles that would plague him for many years until at the age of thirty-two he died of an illness caused by his wound.
Gautier would leave the Empire in the hands of his five year old son Gaston in 1302 and the Duke’s of the realm took this opportunity to strike. The empire was thrown into civil war but because of the restructuring Guigues had made the realm undergo none of the Dukes could really threaten Gaston’s right to rule and the rebellions were quickly crushed. Once the realm was stable again the Pope had Gaston crowned as emperor and the title would be held in the family up to present time (1399). Gaston became obsessed with stabilizing Sicily and went about getting the claims necessary to wage war. By the end of his reign he had crushed the Sicilian kingdom and brought it under the Burgundian crown.
Ferrand his eldest son came to power in 1344 and spent most of his time dealing with his Duke’s attempts to gain more power. The Dukes in northern France made repeated attempts to attack the Normans in England but each time they were forced to make peace and humiliated by the Emperor. In 1363 Ferrand died of old age after a very uneventful reign and his fourth son Tierri was granted the title of Emperor.
Tierri spent his reign trying to bring more power into a central government. To help in this he released Sicily as an independent kingdom and began reducing the power of the Dukes in France. In exchange they were granted positions in the changing government and to recognize the dominance of French culture in the Empire the ground work was laid to become the new Empire of France. The Duke of Flanders would not agree to these new changes though and in January of 1399 declared war on Burgundy in an attempt to become independent, claiming that the predominantly Dutch culture would not fit in to the new Empire and so should be given the same rights that the Sicilians had been given.
To be continued....
EU3