900 yeAARs of AARs.

[Blackmist]

The de Provence family and the history of Burgundy

Part 1 - Rulers from 1063 to Present

Bertrand the Crazed, Duke of Provence (1006-1063-1090)

Martin, Duke of Provence (1071-1090-1119)

Peirre, Duke of Provence (1095-1119-1145)

Lois, King of Burgundy (1120-1145-1172)

Frederi, King of Burgundy (1146-1172-1177)

Joan, King of Burgundy (1151-1177-1179)

Guigues, Emperor of Burgundy (1174-1179-1224)

Milo, King of Burgundy (1197-1224-1239)

Sanche, Emperor of Burgundy (1218-1239-1272)

Rogier, King of Burgundy (1239-1272-1287)

Gautier, Emperor of Burgundy (1270-1287-1302)

Gaston, Emperor of Burgundy (1297-1302-1344)

Ferrand, Emperor of Burgundy (1316-1344-1363)

Tierri, Emperor of Burgundy (1337-1363-Present)

[Blackmist]

Part 2 - 1063 - 1145

The de Provence family faced a sharp decline in prestige and power in the 1070s when the then Duke of Provence, Bertrand, went insane and murdered his eldest daughter. Despite the Emperor taking his vassals and most of his court abandoning him Bertrand remained in power until 1090 dying shortly after his 84th birthday.

Thankfully for the family Bertrand had no sons and his second cousin Martin took power upon Bertrand’s death. The new Duke would spend most of his time in power reclaiming lands lost to the Emperor and re-establishing diplomatic ties with the various lords in the lands of Burgundy. Martin is credited with building the foundation that his son would expand upon and put the de Provence family back into a position of power in the Roman Empire.

Peirre took over from his father in 1119 and his zealousness would drive the duchy to new heights. He was in power for less than a year when he summoned his armies and marched into Catalonia to free the Christians there from the Emir of Zaragoza. Peirre’s campaign was a huge success and he was granted the title Duke of Barcelona for his efforts. Peirre wasn’t content to sit on his new conquests though and turned his attention north. Various counts in Savoie and Upper Burgundy were declaring independence from the Empire and Peirre was able to coax them back under his protection from the Emperor’s greed. Through his diplomatic efforts Peirre added to his titles that of the Duke of Savoie. Peirre ruled peacefully until 1145 when at the age of 50 he passed away from illness and the Pope recognized his contribution to the Christian kingdoms by having him beautified.

[Blackmist]

Part 3 - The reign of Lois 1145 - 1172

Lois de Provence assumed control of the realm and was determined to become free of the corrupt von Frankens and the influences of the Roman Empire. He continued his father’s efforts in wooing counts unhappy with the Emperor’s rule and soon controlled most of Upper Burgundy. An alliance was formed with the Duke of Holland and feeling he had enough power to declare his independence Lois left the Roman Empire. Other Dukes quickly followed Lois’s lead and the Roman Empire became embroiled in a civil war. Lois made it known that he was the rightful king of Burgundy and when the time was right declares war on the Empire to press his claim. The Duke of Holland recognized Lois’s claim and joined his war against the von Franken family, and with most of the realm in chaos the Emperor was forced to recognize Lois’s claim.

The Kingdom of Zirid also decided to take advantage of the chaos in the Empire and took large portions of northern Italy and then southern France. Once Lois had his coronation ceremony he turned his attention to the invading Muslims and sent his armies to free the lands of their influence. He first turned his attention to the lands in the duchy of Toulouse to establish a connection with the duchy of Barcelona and once the local Sheiks had been forced to give up their lands there he turned west into Genoa. The King of Zirid could not put up an effective defence of his new lands and was forced to cede it into Lois’s control.

With the Muslims subdued on his borders Lois again turned his attention to the Empire and in hopes of resting the title king of Italy from the von Franken family he declared war. Still fractured from the civil war the Emperor could not stand up to the armies of Burgundy and when the Duchy of Holland declared war to contest the title of Lotharingia and the French king declared war for the title of king of the germans and also the title of king of Lotharingia the Emperor’s fate was sealed. In less than two years the von Franken family was removed from power and the title of Emperor was left vacant.

Lois would have liked time to rest but the French, fresh off their success in Germany, looked south and decided it was time to reclaim the lands from Burgundy that had been lost. Outnumbered almost two to one Lois worried that all he had worked for in the last decade would be lost but the King of France had made an enemy of the Duke of Holland by denying him his rightful claim to the title king of Lotharingia and when the armies of France moved south the Duke’s men marched catching the French by surprise. The armies of France fell into disarray as the king was unsure of what threat to face first and the Burgundian armies took advantage of the confusion quickly liberating counties along the border and sparing the counts in exchange for pledges of loyalty to the Lois. By the time the first war of French aggression had ended Lois had gained control of the duchy of Dauphine and Toulouse and the French king lost his claim to the title king of Lotharingia to the Duke of Holland.

The death of the French king brought his brash son into power though and again Burgundy found itself at war. Tired of the French aggression Lois decided to put an end to the threat once and for all and pressed claims all over southern France. No count or duke in Aquitania was left out of the war and one by one they fell to the Burgundian armies. By the time Lois turned his attention to the King of France’s personal demense he had built up enough support in Aquitania to claim the title as his own. The fighting became bitter between the two rivals and Lois swore not to rest until he had stripped the French king of all his titles. It took over five years to resolve the war but finally the Burgundian army was triumphant and the french king was forced to recognize Lois as king of Aquitaine and France and was sent into exile in Germany. The rest of Lois’s reign was quiet and he passed away in 1172 leaving the kingdom to his eldest son Frederi.

[Blackmist]

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

[Blackmist]

Well its rough and probably a little inaccurate but I figured I would finally get a brief history up here . Hopefully I will be able to do a session by session thing for EU3 like you have here Kuipy - and make it more a story rather than a summary.

[Enewald]

That was fast.
But enough for me!
Burgundian map coming soon?

[Kuipy]

Nice summary, it's also (mostly ?) the purpose of an AAR thread to see the big picture. Although I guess what exactly happened to Eastern Europe will remain forever shrouded in mystery.

I cannot remember which emperor is the one mentioned in Writing a sonnet. It must be either Gautier or Gaston but neither one fits the dates very well. Possibly I will check it up and edit to make the character consistent with your update.

I would also like to state my disappointment that your eldest son named
never got to be king which would have been awesome.

[Blackmist]

that session was half Gautier and then Gaston. From what I have read Gautier seems to fit best. My ruler dates are the only thing I'm sure of at this point as most of what happened is muddled trying to remember back . Oh well the Victors write history so I guess we can make it fit however we want right .

I will see if I can find some old maps for my dynastic progression but I doubt they are still around.

[Kuipy]

It was definitely Gautier. Poor Mauger was killed in 1287, and the scene takes place two years later. So Gautier was still young, just not that young.

It turns out several of my chapters were put in the wrong section, that's what you get for slacking off with updates.

Also check the new second post (the game at a glance), I'm quite happy with it.

[Blackmist]

That is a nice map progression thing. Might have to edit my story as I think it shows the lies I told .