Britannia: A Saga of Albion

[Vesimir]

Enewald - For storytelling purposes I of course ignore the single bavarian or so counties in the middle of France unless they are important to the story.

Devin Perry - Gratz! Indeed, in the future I will just show the major duchies that will rise to power on the map. (You will, of course, receive a reward in the future.)

Iain Wilson - The HRE is still alive! The german empire isn't. In the next update I will describe the new way the HRE will work. And after that we'll be back to good old England. This time for a long time.

[Vesimir]

Before the fall, the HRE was united under a single banner, but after von Frankens were destroyed by France, the HRE became a more democratic institution. The remaining terrains of the empire were divided into 7 parts.

The imperial circuits

1.Hannoverian - Demesne of the emperor and the capital circuit/ Hannover
2.Hessian - Normal circuit / Cologne
3.Saxon - This circuit was given minor annual fundings as it was the only barrier between Poland and the german heartland / Dresden
4.Bavarian - The second, after Hannover, strongest circuit in the empire / Munich
5.Renian - Given major annual fundings as it was basically a buffer between France and Germany / Various cities
6.Austrian - Third strongest circuit / Vienna
7.Hungarian - The poorest circuit, it was ravaged by war for many years and now it played a minor part in the imperial politics / Twin cities of Buda and Pest

Each part was divided between lesser dukes and counts that answered to the strongest duke in the circuit. This duke was called an elector and he answered to the emperor.

Every time an emperor died, the electors would gather and elect a new one from among themselves. The elected emperor would give up his circuit to the new strongest duke and would himself move on to the capital circuit.

In the meantime a most curious thing happened in Italy. The duke of Venice acted as he just waked up from a long sleep. In a few months Venetian armies were mobilised and the Doge marched to the official capital of north Italy, Milan. They only managed to capture the border provinces, but the grand city was completely looted and almost every valuable thing was taken to Venice to enrich the Doge's Palace. Venice became the most important city in Italy after Rome, also on paper.

[AllmyJames]

I like your focus on international politics and the rise and fall of kingdoms. Keep up the good work!

I too am always surprised at Germany's lack of longevity in CK. I am tempted to run an AAR as them to see whether survival can be achieved. Anyone know why Germany does not begin with elective law? That would probably help...

Venice is another mystery. I'm glad to see something is happening in this AAR. Usually the Doge sleeps through the whole 400 years (even though they begin with cores on Dalmatia)!

[Enewald]

Hannoverian?
Sachsen it was called at those times.
Or if you wish to keep Saxony as Sachsen, divide them into Ober-Sachsen and Niedersachsen?
Or name them after their Dukes?
Number 3 is the province of Sachsen in Victoria.

But whatever, it is all up to you.

[Iain Wilson]

Good job on giving us an overview on what's happening on the bigger stage. Always an interesting read!

[gja102]

Anyone know why Germany does not begin with elective law?

I seem to remember that in the original CK, they did start with elective law. If memory serves, they were changed to hereditary rule, in order to mimic the attempts of the emperors to keep their families in power (a shame, really, as I thought elective law was a defining feature of the HRE, however it was used).

But I digress; what I wanted to say was, I really like this AAR. The overview of European politics it provides is expertly succinct, helping to create an engaging alternate history with its own compelling narrative. Which is good.

[Vesimir]

It was 1099 A.D. that Christian Asketilson, founder of the English kingdom died. He wasn't a bad king, but he wasn't a very good king either. While he managed to make England the dominant power of Britannia and unite the nation under his rule, the years that passed with him as king had no sure decisions made. The most important matters he said he would resolve in the future, the smaller ones he would ignore. He also isolated himself from the world more and more, finally giving up even hunting. His last days he spent on sitting in his throne room, thinking. He wouldn't speek with anyone and just sit on the throne, staring at the space in front of him.

But as Christian grew numb and weak, his son Bård grew more and more energetic and proud. At the age of 14 he bested the best warrior of the british isles, knight Conan O'Brien of Ireland at the joust held in London 1098 A.D. . When he reached 12 years, his father sent him away to Essex, London were he was to learn to govern. The city was struggling like before untill the mentioned tournament. After the crushing victory of Bård, people of Europe started to take notice. Scholars, monks and even lowly peasant flocked to London in hopes of serving the duke, either spiritually or on the fields. The death of Christian didn't come as a suprise to anyone, Bård quickly established himself as king, even though he was a few months short of maturity. The council of York that served Christian was to rule for those months while Bård would start his journey to York. The journey was never made however. Bård stalled it for months, while at the same time a grand cathedral was being finished in London. Commisioned first by Christian at the start of his rule, now after about 40 years it was nearing completion.

On 1 January 1100 A.D. by the Julian calendar, Bård reached maturity and was king in all means. He suprised everyone by sacking the council of his father, replacing it with his own. He also moved the seet of power from York to London. He was also crowned by the newly apointed Archbishop of London at the freshly finished Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. All of those events took place on a symbolical year. A century started with such great changes would surely prove to be a great one to England, or so the people believed. It was however the last year of the Xth century, but the romantism took control of those events, and the date is known as a beggining of a new century for England. The people of Britannia would soon find out that the king was indeed made for greatness.

"Battlefield" - A painting by Richard Mac Tir showing king Bård overlooking a battlefield

[Vesimir]

The updates should be more frequent now that I've finished Dragon Age (Third time) and Modern Warfare2...

[Enewald]

999 would be the last year of the 10th century, and 1099 is the last year of the 11th century and so on.

[Rabid Bogling]

Boooo!

Stay in York, y'cretins!

[AllmyJames]

999 would be the last year of the 10th century, and 1099 is the last year of the 11th century and so on.

I think Vesimir is technically correct. If each century has 100 years, and the first century began with the year 1, the last (100th) year of the first century must be AD 100. Thus the first year of the 2nd century is 101, and the last (100th) year of the 2nd century is AD 200 - and so on.

It has become common to think of the big years as the start of the new century/millennium (e.g year 2000), but if we're going to be pedantic, the first year of the 21st century was 2001.

[Vesimir]

Exactly. And as that part was a history book, it used the technically correct form.

[Devin Perry]

England has languished for too long. I'd love to see England turn the tables and conquer Normandy. A nice crusade would be good too, I don't think we've heard much from the pope though it would be funny if he decided to change the calendar to Gregorian (a few centuries early) to upset the whole 1st day of the century deal.

[Vesimir]

Bård Asketilson grew to become what every european imagined as a viking. Tall, loud, short-tempered and strong, he could intimidate others just by his looks. This and his fame as a great warrior he would later gain made him respected by all nobles of Europe. Even at the beggining of his rule, when he was little more than a child, he looked more intimidating than some of Europes generals.


His rule, as previously mentioned, started with big changes. Moving the capital to London and changing the whole council, he also established himself as more of a despotic king, moving the count and dukes aside as no ones. The nobles were of course enraged but they couldn't do anything as the king controlled half of England as his personal demesne.

The first 2 years of his rule passed peacefully, with him stabilising his realm after the changes. It was also in those years that London laid fundaments for itself being one of the most important cities of Europe. The centre of trade established by Christian Asketilson flourished as people from all over Britain arrived looking for a better future. This also brought something that wasn't so well received by the nobility. This influx of people made London a "melting pot" in which the saxons and the normans soon merged into a whole new culture. They called themselves "English" and they soon took control of the trade in London. Although they could only be met in London, the culture soon spread as traders spoke it and it soon was that any trader that wanted to make profit in London, had to speak "english". Bård accepted them, but never liked them. To him they were enemies but to England they were the future and he saw that. Soon the english spread across the south coast. And as the south coast was, apart from York, the richest area of England, to Europe England stopped being saxon and became english.

Cultures of Great Britain and Ireland
Red-English
Brown-Anglo-Saxon
Gray-Welsh
Blue-Scottish
Yellow-Cornish
Green-Irish

And it was after those 2 years that the first political change in Britain since 1071 happened. For 31 years the British isles flourished in peace and stability. Now a change came.

The Duke of Gwynedd died without leaving a heir to his throne. The welsh nobles wanted to resolve the succesion peacefully, by choosing one from among themselves to rule. Their plans were destroyed when the king of England arrived at the border with his armies, claiming Wales as his. He claimed that because his mother was the sister of the dead duke, he was to protect Wales. Wales was at that time under salic primogeniture so inhereting through women was not allowed. The nobles said no. What followed was one of the shortest wars in history of the dark ages.

Bård moved into Wales with 7000 troops including cavalry. It was more than enought against welsh light spearmen and archers. King Bård won battle after battle releasing prisoners without even asking them to swear not taking arms upon him again. Not even one town or village was pillaged during his attack. He said that he was liberating Wales from the vile nobles and wanted nothing more than to protect it. After facing nothing but defeat the welsh armies surrendered and joined the english. The few nobles were alone and when Bård approached Caernarvon where they were hiding, the people simply opened the gates for english forces. After 2 months, all of Wales was english.

Britain after the Welsh succesion war

T young king didn't waste any more time and after coming back to London created a new title and crowned himself "King of Wales". By Wales this was seen as Bård elevating them onto the same level as England or Scotland, by England it was seen as a brilliant military campaign and making England even more dominant in the british politics. England to calm down Scotland which was becoming scared that England might turn on it next, helped Scotland in fighting Norway which resulted in Norway loosing all its territories away from the mainland. The war also took Iceland from its norse overlords. The small island became a republic and a protectorate of Scotland.

While all this happened, Europe as always was full of wars and changes. Poland pushed the swedes out of their colonies reducing them to Sweden and Finland. The Jimenez family continued the Reconquista. The Byzantine empire was starting to fall apart after the death of Demetrios "Megos" Komnenos. Venice was taking control of the Adriatic and the Seljuks were starting to take the border provinces of Byzantium. Europe was engulfed in war, but a nation everyone forgot about, was going to set it ablaze.

Europe 1103 Anno Domini

[Iain Wilson]

Poor old Welsh. They always get it in the neck...

[Enewald]

No, Byzantium must not fall!

[Issac Wolfe]

Vesimir, I think you should check this out.

[Vesimir]

Iain Wilson - Don't worry, the welsh will have their shot at glory.

Enewald - Romanion will fall. It will fall with a Biiig bang.

Issac Wolfe - I am speechless! Vievs just above 2000 and WritAAR of the week. And both of those things I find out just now. Wow.... Just wow.


I'd like to thank everyone that was with me during those days, etc., etc.... How about I skip this at get working on another update, huh?
But seriously big thanks to everyone reading. It feels nice to know that people like what you make.

[Vesimir]

Bård took another bite of bread and chewed it slowly. What he was doing could only be described as crazy. Counting no more than 24 years, having just recently grown a beard, he was about to do something no one before him and no one after him would attempt. He and his whole army, 30 000 men, were sailing through the Mediterranean with one "simple" goal on their minds. Sack, pillage and burn the Queen of cities. Constantinople, a city that never fell to foreign armies, capital of the Roman empire. And he wanted to conquer it. Even he admited that was crazy. But that didn't change the fact that he would enrich England and himself immensely... If he succeded.

He stood up grimaced. The heat was a immense nuisance. He spat on the deck of the ship and walked over to Sægrim, his friend and the commander of the english fleet. Sægrim was one of the slowly diminishing anglo-danish nobility. Damned half normans were taking away their realm.

"How long?" Bårds annoyance grew even bigger as some damn mosquitos were trying to leech of him.

"Till we arive?" Sægrim wasn't as big as Bård, neither in posture and pride, but that didn't mean that he looked less menacing and stroke less fear into hearts of mainland europeans. His face was decorated with more scars that one could count, and on his chest a great sea serpent was tattooed. In this weather that made everyone angry, he wore nothing over his back, with only legwear out of skinned leather and fur boots on his legs. "If the winds favor us, a few days from now."

Bård thanked Christ that at least there were no other nuisances than the weather in this expedition. "Good. I can't wait to get out from under this damned sun." He moved back towards his throne. Maybe the bugs would leave him so that he could sleep for at least a few hours.

The sight before him was amazing. They arrived at night, and the lights of the city could be seen from a great distance. But it was now that they were close enough to see the dome of Hagia Sophia that they could see the splendor of the city. Palaces were scattered about, the smallest churches as big as the cathedral of John the Baptist back in London. The shine that came from the city made one think if the streets werent paved in gold. Bård smiled. Soon those riches would be in London.

The route of english armies

On the way to the city they took a few islands and then marched on land itself. The riches they took from the minor counts were big, but the sight of the city made them realise that those were just counts, and this was the capital. The city of the emperors. The Queen of cities.

Bård smiled. It was even easier than he imagined. His contacts told him that the imperial armies were in the east fighting the Turk. They didn't tell him all imperial armies were there. He took about 3 counties on his way to Constantinople, all of them were defended by nothing more than mercenaries and small guard regiments. Now that he was on the borders of the city, suprise wasn't on his side anymore. And yet, the only thing that met him was about 15 000 soldiers. Half of them not even being real soldiers. Peasant levies, mercenaries and criminals forced in the army. The only real challenge was the 5 000 elite guards of Constantinople. And even they failed.

He took a bite of the apple he was holding and looked at the massacre before him. Blood was everywhere, as were mutilated bodies. He cut down many of those people himself. Man after man fell down under his sword. Another bite. He saw fear in their eyes. And he cut them down without mercy, Hell!, he smiled while doing so. His wicked smile, his blood covered beard. The ones that survived would spread the tales. No doubt he would become the Barbarian or some other fancy title. As long as he got the respect he deserved, he didn't care about anything. He took another bite and threw the apple away. He still had a siege to win.... And a city to rob. One last wicked smile covered his face as he turned around and walked towards his camp.

The apple landed on one of the bodies scaring a raven away. The raven flew high with a screech. It had to tell it's brothers. They would feast tonight.

[AllmyJames]

Hmm. Bård certainly has grand ambitions. Not sure I approve, but I suppose his Norse blood is coming out. I hope he's ready for the Turks at the gates of London in 50 years time if he succeeds.