The Atheling Chronicle - A King without a Crown

Devin Perry - Thanks for picking me up on that, I guess I should cut the new emperor some slack! o I'll edit that in.
I don't want to give too much away, but the orthodox/catholic mixture is going to be a major problem for Aethelred's reign.

Vesimir - Again, thanks for noticing my slip-ups. Gillemichael might be a strange name, but he is indeed definitely a son!

Regarding the 'Holy Ghost', I have definitely heard it referred to as such. I think both Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are used in English versions of the liturgy, with 'Ghost' being the more archaic, as used in the King James Bible. I also think that Halgan Gast is the Anglo-Saxon for Spiritus Sanctus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_ghost#.22Holy_Spirit.22_or_.22Holy_Ghost.22

A new era of independence dawns, but Aethelred is about to learn that it ain't easy being King....

Enewald - I like those ideas; no doubt Vladimir would have brought his own Rus' warriors to Constantinople, and perhaps some of the old guards could find a haven in the new kingdom. In my mind there are already some Saxon nobility in Jerusalem, but in the game, Aethelred is surprisingly lacking in Saxon courtiers. Instead he's swamped with Arab and Turkish refugees from the Sejuks and Fatamids.

I'll try and give some information on the state of Old England soon. There are definately a few Saxon nobles hanging around though (including a special surprise), and not all the provinces are English or Norman culture yet.

One last note to add to my last update - some of you will undoubtedly have noticed that Aethelred's COA are those attributed to Edward the Confessor, but not until many years (centuries?) after his death. I wanted to use something different than the usual Kingdom of Jerusalem COA, and settled on this. I suppose I could have had a Wessex Dragon, but this seemed to fit better (and the use of the dragon for Wessex isn't all that certain). The martlet is a medieval word for a swift, a bird with very short legs. For some reason, some Medieval heralds took this to mean no legs, and thus a bird which never lands. In Edward the Confessor's case, the birds denoted a quest for wisdom, but they also symbolise the exile of the Aethelings quite well.

Chapter 16 – The Reign of King Aethelred III, part 3

Chapter 16 – The Reign of King Aethelred III, part 3
1115 – 1118​

From Edgar of Tripoli’s Secret History:

In the Year of Our Lord 1115, Aethelred, Prince of Tripoli, and descendent of the English kings of old, declared himself to be King of the English, and this was the beginning of many miseries in the Holy Land. For this prince proved himself to be both wicked and cruel, and he made enemies of many people throughout the world.


The King had been anointed in Bethlehem, in the Church of the Nativity, by Harold, Bishop of Tripoli, and though he pretended otherwise, it was known to all right-thinking people that this was neither just nor proper. For the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Raoul by name, had refused to crown the Prince, on instruction from Paschal, the Holy Father, who had not permitted the creation of a new kingdom, much less one occupying the lands promised to God’s church. Yet the Prince had persisted in his desires, headless of the word of the Lord. And in this manner he continued throughout his life, disregarding the words of God’s clergy for his own selfish ends.

In order to hide his wickedness, and disguise his pride, the King made gestures of atonement at various churches, but neither the clergy nor the people were deceived by his empty shows of piety.

And all the people of the lands of Jerusalem were displeased at their ruler’s behaviour, for they rightly feared the judgement of the Lord which would be visited upon the ungodly king. Thus there were great disturbances throughout the land, as the people rose up against their ruler.


Raoul, the brave and valiant Patriarch of Jeruslaem, who had refused to crown Aethelred as King, continued to admonish and upbraid the King, even in public, and the people listened to his words. Though the King dearly wished to silence the Bishop, he was powerless to do so.
As if a sign of God’s displeasure, the year 1115 of Our Lord’s incarnation was a barren one. Crops failed, and the people starved, while the wicked King remained on the throne.


And when the heathens of the south attacked these lands in the same year, the King made no move to quell their heresies, but made treaty with them.


The King’s half-brother Baldred, despite being a son of the schismatic Lady Maria, was the antithesis of his arrogant and unholy relative. Baldred was a quiet and gentle man, greatly versed under the tutelage of his mother as a speaker of many languages, including the Greek tongue, and able to scribe for himself in English and Latin.


And he was, furthermore, a devoted servant of God. Most upset with his brother’s heretical ways, and departure from the church, he desired nothing more than to enter a monastery and serve the Lord in quiet study.


But the King had other plans for the noble Baldred. Though their manners were quite different, the King was without living issue, and thus without an heir to his ill-gotten lands, save for Baldred, the last of the line of Alfred. Moreover, Baldred was popular with many of the English nobility, for they saw in him a wise and just prince, and among the clergy. Thus the King sought to appease the earls by appointing Baldred as ruler of all the lands south of the city of Jerusalem, in the Year of Our Lord 1116. And in that same year, Baldred was engaged to be married to Aethelswyth, a grandson of Harold who was slain at Hastings, and thus of royal Saxon blood.


The Lord King’s own marriage fared poorly, by contrast, and his treatment of his wife, a schismatic, did cause the displease of her father, who was Prince on the isle of Cyrus



Meantime, in foreign lands, there were changes among kings and kingdoms; in Egypt, the Norman kings of England succeeded in liberating Alexandria from the unbelievers. And this was a sure sign of the wrath of the Lord at Aethelred’s hubris, for he lifted up the enemies of the English at the expense of the successors of Alfred.


Thus did Roger the King in England pass contented into the next life after 8 years upon his stolen throne. And he was succeeded by Tancred, his son, and but a youth at the time.

In the Year of Our Lord 1118, therefore, Pope Gelasius decreed the Second Crusade to be at an end, and there was rejoicing among all the Princes of Christendom, for Alexandria was now in the hands of the believers.
In the Jubilee Year that followed the success of the great men of Christendom, that debased King Aethelred was able to pay indulgences unto the Holy Church for his sins, and thus purchase with money the crown which he had granted improperly unto himself.

Chapter 17 - The Realm of England


From Wilfred of Bristol’s Geographie


Of the Islands:

These are the islands of Britain in the Year of Our Lord 1119. Three Kingdoms dominate the isles. England (orange), Scotland (light blue) and Wales (grey). England and Scotland are fairly evenly matched in size, while Wales has been reduced to a single county in Western Ireland. The Duchies of Meath (dark green), Connaught (brown) and Bedford (green) are independent. The County of Kent is part of the Duchy of Flanders (blue), and Strathclyde is the personal demesne of the Pope (white).


The King of England also holds the Normans of Southern Italy in vassalage.

Roughly half the people of England cling to the old Saxon traditions (yellow), in the north of Northumbria, in Derbyshire, in East Anglia, Essex, Kent and parts of Wessex; while the rest have adopted some of the new Norman ways, and consider themselves simply ‘English’ (red). Cumberland retains a strong Scots culture (blue).

Of Kings:

The King of England is Tancred I (he has been king since 1116), son of Roger I (1101-1116), grandson of Robert I (1071-1101), son of William I (1066-74).


The King of Wales is Seisyll I. He is of little importance.


The King of Scotland is Malcolm IV (he has been king since 1101), son of Malcolm III (1058-1101).


Of the Lords of the Realm:

England is ruled by a Norman King, but has many earls and dukes of different cultures, and the people are not yet completely reconciled with their foreign overlords.

There are 8 great lords of the realm (excluding the Italian vassals of the King). They are:


In addition, there are 10 minor lords (excluding those in Italy) who call Tancred of England liege. They are:


Several Counties pledge allegiance to the Scottish crown. Their rulers are:

Therefore, in England, of the 23 lords of significance, 12 consider themselves Normans, 4 to be Scots, 3 Franks, 2 Saxons, 1 Italian and 1 Dane.
The Saxon traditions in England are kept alive by many of the common people, but their supporters among the nobility are few, save for Waltheof, Earl of Leicester and Ulf, Earl of Bristol. In addition to Ulf, Canute, Earl of Derby, and Gillemichael, Duke of Oxford are related to the English Kings of Old, yet are powerless to pursue their claims.

Chapter 18 - The King is Reconciled with the Earls


From Edgar of Tripoli’s Secret History

By the Year of Our Lord 1118, King Aethelred had succeeded in purchasing his crown, greed succeeding where the laws and word of God had not. He nonetheless maintained his style as ‘King of the English in Jerusalem’, though the Holy Father was most insistent that there could only be one King of the English, and that was the Norman Tancred.

At peace with the Pope in Rome, the King was able to effect a reconciliation with his own Patriarch, the Bishop Raoul, in an attempt to portray himself as a pious ruler (though the wicked king’s views towards the church remained unchanged). Thus he convinced his wife, Anna, a schismatic, to worship according to the Latin rites.


The good bishop encouraged the King to establishment of Latinate churches and monasteries in the heathen lands, in place of the policies of his father, who had preferred to encourage the local Greek and Syrian clerics in their existing work.


And he decreed furthermore that churches and schools be built throughout the land to train more priests in the Latin rites.


But all these good acts on behalf of the King lasted only momentarily. For in the Year of Our Lord 1120, the King shut himself away from the world, and his moods changed dramatically from one day to the next. It proved impossible oftentimes to alter his opinion on any subject. In his stead, Prince Baldred and many earls of the realm attempted to maintain the realm by their own hands.



The Bishop Raoul, Patriarch of Jerusalem, attempted to reason with the King, and induce him to allow clergymen to advise Prince Baldred and the Earls, but the King was filled with wroth at his suggestions, for he feared the authority of the church might outweigh his own.
And though Prince Baldred and the earls were dismayed, the King dismissed the Patriarch from his post, and removed him forcibly from the realm. Thus the seat of the Patriarch in Jerusalem fell empty once more, 17 years since Raoul had taken up the position. Neither entreaties from the Holy Father nor the nobility of the land could persuade the King to alter his mind, for he was determined that the church be deprived of its ancient and natural rights.


Events Abroad

While these events had come to pass in Jerusalem, abroad there were many turbulences and successions of Emperors, Kings and Bishops.
In the Kingdom of Georgia, the Christian people there were overcome by the heathen Turks, and their sultan was crowned as King of the Georgians, the beginning of many miserable days for the Georgian people.


In the west, the much-beset Emperor Henry finally passed from the world, having seen his empire disintegrate into many parts. Near all his vassals had waged war against him, and his authority was terribly weakened. He died without a son of his own, and was thus succeeded by a distant cousin, by the name of Hugo.


In Constantinople also, the Emperor Vladimir perished only after four summers wearing the purple. And his successor was Greek prince, by the name of Ioannes Dukas, a relation of Michael who had been Emperor before Alexios the Greek.

In this same year God chose to sweep away not only temporal authorities, but also spiritual. The Holy Father Gelasius passed away after seven years in the Holy See, and was succeeded by Dietmar, Archbishop of Alsace. The bishop, disregarding all custom, travelled not unto the Eternal City, and instead chose to remain in his lands along the Rhine.


And the brother-in-law to the King, Andronicus who was married to Aethelred’s sister, found himself dispossessed of his lands. And he sought refuge with the King, who appointed him to command the armies of the Realm.

Enewald said:

Have you thought of trying to assassinate all the Norman blood that occupier England?

Click to expand...

Normans are like rats - no matter how many you kill, there are always more.

Chapter 19 - The Growing Autocracy of the King


From Edgar of Tripoli's Secret History:

Once Bishop Raoul had been sent into exile, restraints upon the King’s authority were removed, and the cruelty of his nature was left unchecked by conscience and reason. Though the council of the earls, headed by the noble Prince Baldred, were engaged in many everday decisions, the hand of the King could be witnessed in the most terrible of ways.
The dowager Princess Maria, who had been wife unto the King’s father, had for some years assumed the role of chief advisor to Aethelred and to her own son Baldred. But upon the departure of the Patriarch, the King found reason to fear her influence with her son, and she too was forced to leave, as the King grew resentful of her assistance.



Thus it was that by the Year of Our Lord 1121, there were none left in the court of Jerusalem who had any influence over the rash and reckless king. Even Prince Baldred was often compelled to remain in his own demesne in the south of the Kingdom, for fear of the King’s anger.

The King, ever worried about his own security and authority, fretted about his lack of an heir, and blamed the state of affairs upon his wife. For he could not accept this as God’s punishment for his sinful pride, and instead sought to solve the problem by perpetrating further crimes against the Lord.
In the fifth year of his reign, a chambermaid was found dead in the royal apartments, and though many suspected the hand of Aethelred himself in the killing, the King was adamant that the culprit was none other than his own wife, Queen Anna, and had her sentenced to death. The good men of the Kingdom were horrified and dismayed at such actions, and even more so when the King took for his wife Arevig, a schismatic of Armenian descent.
Wife accused of murder, executed
Pope Calixtus and the Third Crusade

In his relations with other rulers, the King was as unpopular as at home. The new Pope Calixuts had called for a third crusade, to liberate the city of Burgos from the heathens. For the Spanish kingdoms had fallen prey to those same Moorish infidels the King had defeated many years previously. And though it was his patriotic duty to do otherwise, the King refused any attempt to induce him to travel overseas to Spain, maintaining that the defence of his own realm was more important.

The Holy Father, however, had greater problems on his mind than the scepticism of one earthly monarch. For Bishop Calixtus was not content with merely calling a crusade against the moors in Iberia; when the Emperor Hugo failed to take up the cross, the Holy Father declared his crown forfeit, and instead he set out personally for the lands of the heathens, leading the princes of the West by example.


The King’s Foreign Adventures


The King, meantime saw fit to even meddle in the affairs of the Emperor in Constantinople. Though he was well aware of the conflict between Emperor John and his vassal, the Prince of Antioch, Aethelred offered to protect rebellious Prince against his master. Through King Aethelred’s inaction, however, the Principality was easily overcome by the Emperor.

In the County of Safed also, the King was more successful, and when the county rebelled against the Emperor, he took the opportunity to seize it for his own.


The King's Continued Abuses of Power at Home, tolerance of Heathens.

For the next several years, the King continued to rule the realm in his own manner, disregarding the advice of men more experienced than himself when they disagreed with him, yet unwilling to devote all his energies to the business of ruling justly and wisely.


Even the King’s second marriage was a disappointment to him; and it was little surprise to everyone else – for what woman could stand to lie with such a heartless and cruel ruler?


In fact, in his later years, the King showed himself to be a sympathiser of heathens, for he welcomed many of them into his lands, appointing them to positions of power. And though none dared to object, many found this practice to be improper.


The King’s tolerance of heathens even extended to the Jews, of whom there were many living in this region, for it had been the policy of the Mohammodeans also to tolerate such people. And they brought with them their practices of usury, which are abhorrent to all right-thinking Christians.


When the clerics of the realm pointed out that the Law of God prohibited the employment of such people, the King appeared exasperated. For he could not accept such injunctions of the Lord as binding upon himself. Nonetheless, he made pretenses at enforcing the Lord’s word, by insisting that all priests within the city of Jerusalem conduct the mass in Latin, and that all members of the Royal Household attend.

Vesimir said:

24!!! And he exiled him! This guys days must end before he will destroy the kingdom.

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Yes, Aethelred is proving to be very unpopular. The Kingdom of Heaven, this isn't!

Chapter 20 - The Downfall of King Aethelred


From Edgar of Tripoli's Secret History

By the tenth year of his reign, the King’s unjust and despotic rule was proving to be greatly unpopular. And so he made efforts to entrust more of the realm into the care of the earls, and especially Prince Baldred. For the King’s brother proved to be ever well-liked as the King’s own popularity declined. The King both feared his brother’s influence with the realm’s nobility, but also needed to maintain his support. Thus the King married his sister Ecfriga to her second husband, Sigbert, to whom he granted the Earldom of Galilee, in an attempt to balance the growing power of Baldred.


In the Year of Our Lord 1126, the Queen passed from this world, and King Aethelred married for the third time, to Agatha, daughter of the Duke of Ragusa. In the same year Prince Baldred’s wife Aethelswyth perished without issue, and the Prince re-married to a Norweigen maiden by the name of Gertrude.


That neither the King nor his brother Baldred had produced a son seemed to many to indicate the displeasure of the Almighty. And within two years of his third marriage, it was known throughout the court that Queen Agatha was less than faithful to her husband. The King, filled with rage, ordered her immediate execution, and immediately sought her replacement in Eugenia, the sister of a Greek prince. That the King had ordered the death of a second wife and was embarking upon his fourth marriage, yet was still without issue confirmed to many that the King was cursed in the eyes of the Lord.


Further confirmation of the same suspicion came when the King fell ill with a malady, and his body was covered with pustulous sores.


In the Year of Our Lord 1128, the King’s impieties and continued disregard for the word of the Holy Father finally proved to be his undoing. For the King had continued, dispite the many warnings, to employ heathens and heretics as advisors or in important positions. In this year the Pope Calixtus issued the King and ultimatum, demanding that he cease all such activities, or face being excluded from the church. When the King protested that his own court was his business, and many clergy informed the Blessed Calixtus that the King had indeed been conducting his affairs in these ways for some years, the Pope was filled with wroth, and declared the King’s crown to be forfeit.


This sign of displeasure from Rome was to be the end for the King. Now nearly all the nobles of the realm leant their support to Prince Baldred. That Baldred had conceived a son only confirmed to the earls and bishops that the King’s family had been abandoned by God.


Fearing his brother’s power, the King attempted a final measure of autocracy, by ordering the Prince’s lands forfeit. But it was too late for such measures, and the wicked King was bereft of any allies, even his own brother now openly defied him.

Sigred, the King’s brother-in-law, and Earl of Galilee, rose up against King Aethelred in 1129, and though the King was able to quash the rebellion in a matter of months, this was enough to spur Prince Baldred into action, and he too rose up against the wicked tyrant in the same year.

A war between brothers is a terrible thing, as is a war against one’s liege. But in this endeavour, Prince Baldred’s actions were inspired by the Lord God himself. For Aethelred was a wicked and tyrannical king, and Pope Calixtus himself blessed the enterprise. The war was set to tear the country in twain, and many feared that the heathens would take advantage of the chaos throughout the land. The war lasted for an entire year, with neither side gaining a great advantage.

Until finally the intervention of the almighty prevented the destruction of the kingdom. For on All Hallow’s Eve, in the Year of Our Lord 1130, King Aethelred the Wicked was found dead in his encampment. There was no sign of harm against him, as if the Lord had simply withdrawn the breath of life from the King while he slept.


With the perishing of King Aethelred, there was peace within the land, for even those who had fought on the side of the king, either through fear, loyalty to his father, or greed, now pledged themselves to Prince Baldred. And even in victory the noble Prince proved himself to be magnanimous, for he granted his brother a burial, though he had been forbidden to take Holy Communion. He was interred in a chapel attached to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with this simple inscription: