Porta Atlanticum, Portus Classis / An England MMU AAR

[Dewirix]

No! You were so close to giving the French their just desserts. Judging by what you've showed us, Jane must be around 11-12, meaning that you won't be able to declare war for another 4-5 years.

Queen Jane has a big job ahead of her when she comes of age.

[Chris Taylor]

Yup, Jane is twelve, so the Regency is thankfully not a long and dreary prospect. But long enough for the average French king to digest Provence and Brittany, sadly.

Henry kicking the bucket really ticked me off at first, but after some consideration I realised it was a blessing in disguise. As gabor mentions a few posts back, I could easily have been saddled with Henry's mediocre stats for a couple of decades.

[gabor]

I take you're not at war with France after all? The opportunity might slip away before Jane, as able as she seems, takes the reins of the nation. Another worrying thing about France, save it consolidating dangerously, is the fact that Breton lands, if gained, will open up colonisation opportunities for the French.

Ah, and great read as always!

[Urza]

I have to agree, this AAR continues to be a very good read.

[Chris Taylor]

Just an FYI to the gang—

I am leaving for a week-long vacation tomorrow, and will likely not have a chance to post during that time. I will have one update posted later tonight, and then the next scheduled update will be around November 8th.

And thank you all for the kind comments, I appreciate them! It's good to know I'm not putting anybody to sleep.

[blsteen]

Queen Jane is going to have to kick some French around sooner rather than later...if she survives more than a couple years as queen.

[Chris Taylor]

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Capitulum VI.
'T has been a turbulent and stormy night
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The Lords Regent of England, presiding over a meeting with some other Lords Temporal and Spiritual.

The nation had been in a state of high preparation for war on the continent; the entire army was abroad, tightly coiled and ready to spring upon the enemy; the navy had already begun loitering outside major French ports, looking for battle (and merchantman prizes). Henry VI's sudden death changed all of that. Invasion plans fell by the wayside as administrative chaos reigned.

Jane, Henry's sister and heir, was just 12 years old, not yet ready to rule on her own. After long debate, Parliament appointed her uncles Bedford and Gloucester as protectors, and they along with several others would act as the Lords Regent for the whole nation.

Rule by a turbulent regency council was often frustrating for lords and commoners alike.

But not all the magnates and barons of England were content with this arrangement. Eighteen-year-old Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, has lately inherited the Earldom of March, and with it comes Edmund Mortimer's claim to the throne. During Henry IV's usurpation, opponents had pointed out (with some justification) that Mortimer's claim was stronger than that of the king; but despite his own potential, Mortimer was a Lancastrian loyalist until his untimely early death.

Now, with weak Henry VI dead and heir Jane too young and inexperienced to interfere, the inheritor of that royal claim has determined to make good on it.

In the spring of 1429, York manages to secure the backing of northern magnates like the Earl of Northumberland. The rebels have the run of northern England until some English armies arrive home from Gascony.

Soon after, Richard's own men rise up to support their liege's claim to the throne, although York himself does not lead them. While Bedford and Gloucester are rushing their men home from France to deal with the rebellion, Richard steals into London and appears before a shocked Parliament. Bearing his sword upright—as if a king—the Duke of York strides for the throne and places his hand upon it. Expecting his peers to proclaim him king, as they did for Bolingbroke in 1399, he is met by hard stares and stony silence.

York departs London soon after getting word that Bedford is about to return in force. He makes for East Anglia, where there are rumours of sympathetic retainers fomenting yet another revolt. Parliament, in turn, formally attaints York as a traitor and a rebel; if he is captured now, he will surely be put to death.

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In the summer of 1429, the King of Denmark casts an envious eye on his rich neighbours in Lübeck. In order to crush them by force of arms and make them a vassal, he bribes the Roman curia into excommunicating the tiny German principality. When a copy of the papal bull arrives in London, the Council doesn't even pretend to obey it. English merchants dominate Lübeck's market, and their trade funnels a small river of gold ducats back to the royal coffers. No regent would dare interfere with that, even on the word of the Pope.

In turn, Lübeck's governors are grateful, and their gratitude sways the opinion of the wealthy upper classes throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

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Meanwhile, the Valois king in Paris celebrates. In spite of the intervention of the Emperor, large French armies have rampaged through Brittany and Provence, leaving a trail of devastation and tears. The Breton navy has been forced out of their ports, compelled by circumstance to anchor offshore and watch forlornly as their captured cities burn.

By November of 1429 the Duke of Brittany is out of land, men, and ideas. Waging a spirited but hopeless war against France and its vassals has left his country a burning, desolate ruin. He has no option but to accept French demands to surrender territory and split his domain in half.

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Despite the tumult of rebellion and Papal displeasure, English commerce benefits from the introduction of more precise methods of bookkeeping and moneylending.

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Ireland is one area of the realm that has been blessedly free of revolt ever since Henry IV's reign, when most of the Irish magnates reaffirmed their fealty to the crown. While on a visit to Ulster in 1430, the Duke of Bedford casually makes a tantalising proposal to the Irish lords. If they are willing to surrender their lands to the English crown, the lands will then be regranted (or returned) as freeholds, with the lords obligated only to pay the usual feudal levy. In return they will receive the protection of the English army and navy, be formally recognised in the peerage of the realm, and also gain a seat in Parliament.

The Regents call this proposal "surrender and regrant", and for the lords of Tyrone and Connacht, it it irresistible.

The integration of the Irish counties is not without friction, though.

In concert with the "surrender and regrant" program, Parliament establishes a royal commission to try and reconcile traditional Irish Brehon law with English common law. The expansion of Anglo-Irish territories causes great happiness amongst English courtiers and lesser nobles (Monarchist faction gets National Pride, +1 prestige).

In the same year, the Regents' persuasive diplomacy scores another coup. The last free Irish lord accepts the inevitable and swears allegiance to the crown—though he is not yet willing to participate in the "surrender and regrant" initiative.

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By the spring of 1430, Provence decides it has had enough of war and privation, surrendering Anjou to the victorious French. Only the Bohemian Holy Roman Emperor fights on, undaunted.

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As is their custom, the Castilians once again try to wrest Gibraltar from the English by fomenting a bloody revolt. On two separate occasions, revolts of up to nine thousand people nearly overpower the outnumbered defenders. These sizeable rebellions compel the Regents to expand the size of the army, and double the size of Gibraltar's small constabulary force.

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In 1431, the King of Aragon starts a war against Sardinia and the Papal States. It is not long before the Pope responds in kind. Though Aragon is something of a neighbour (owing to its nearness to Gascony), the Aragonese find no sympathy in the English court.

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Unstoppable waves of Turks continue to roll over Greece, sealing the fate of vastly outnumbered and poorly-equipped Venetian outposts.

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By the spring of 1431, the writing is on the wall for Richard, Duke of York. After his attainder, his Northumbrian allies abandon him and—in a cynical move to save their own fiefdoms and titles—throw themselves on the mercy of the Lords Regent.

In a last-ditch effort to avert disaster, Richard rallies support in Cambridge, a territory formerly belonging to his father (who was also attainted). In a matter of weeks, sympathetic peasants flock to his banner; managing to capture and hold all the major castles and fortifications of East Anglia—the pretender's first significant territorial gain.

But it may all be for naught, in the end. In June 1431, Richard's nemesis Jane finally celebrates her fifteenth birthday. The loyal Lords Regent gladly set aside their regnal duties when the young Queen is coronated in Westminster Abbey; afterward, adoring throngs line the streets of London.

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ENGLAND c. 1431

Jane I Lancaster (ADM 7/DIP 7/MIL 8)
By the Grace of God, Queen of England and France and Lady of Ireland

Dynastic Links:
~ Burgundy (Duke Philippe III Lancaster-Valois-Bourgogne)
~ Cyprus (Basileus Jacques II Lancaster-Lusignan)
~ Lüneburg (Duke August I Lancaster-Brunswick-Lüneburg)

Treasury: £4.7 million (47m ducats)
GDP (estimated): £44.85 million (448.5m ducats)
Domestic CoTs: London £38.56 million (385.67m ducats)

Army: 8,000 Knights (Chevauchée), 16,000 Footsoldiers
Reserves (potential levies): 10,834
Navy: 13 Carracks, 13 Pinnaces, 18 Cogs
Discipline: 123.70%
Tradition: Army 18.50% Navy 21.60%

Prestige: First (77)
Reputation: Respectable (0.92/24.00)
Legitimacy: 100

[Ashantai]

Some nasty trouble with Rebels there, but overall nice progress! I'm looking forward to the reign of Jane, and hope it's better then the historical Lady Jane!

[blsteen]

Time to settle some scores at home and then abroad...quickly before the French grow much stronger

[Dewirix]

Is France still a viable target after the regency? Nice work annexing the Irish minors too.

[Urza]

Very elegant solution with Ireland. How fortunate these two accepted the annexation on the same day.

[Chris Taylor]

They had the same lousy DIP 3 rulers they had for vassalising and chances were "Maybe" with the DIP 7 Regency. Leinster was eligible for annexation too but I figured that would really be pushing my luck. I have tried triple annexations in the past but never achieved more than two at one time.

[Tommy4ever]

This is a very good AAR. Its a shame that in the last days of the Medieval era you have Queens who cannot lead your men into battle but perhaps this will help your transition of England from a Medieval Kingdom to a more modern state.

[gabor]

As I predicted: France gets stronger and with Breton ladns is closer to colonisation possibilities in the future; Gibraltar is a liability; and you adopt sort of exploitish diplomatic pressure in Ireland.

Me, I usually negotiate with minor oppositions. It seems cheaper than fighting rebelts and you never know how long the opposition will last. The penalties you get are sort of for keeps but they're not harsh. But I think it played out really nicely here, role-play-wise.

I hope Jane will be soething more than a nine-day Queen.

Can you tell us how conversions play? Especially do OE and Lith spread their faith all over their lands? (A feature of MMU I find really disturbing.)

[Hastu Neon]

I like this because it's not the usual "stam-all" game, where every couple of years several kingdoms are blobbed.
Here situations are tricky, enemies beyond the corner and plans get screwed by Fate (or God) ...

In the meantime, France is growing stronger, you should dare to attack them now, or you will lose your French possessions! Wait for a moment of French crisis, my friend.

[Chris Taylor]

Ashantai: Jane does reign longer than the historical Jane Grey, thankfully.

blsteen: The head-on clash with France is coming. This is probably the longest I have gone in an England start without a French war occurring.

Dewirix: Nobody's a viable target during a regency. I think that's an "enhancement" of HTTT (or beta patch). But in general the best time to paste France is when she wars with the Emperor and one or two neighbours.

Tommy4ever: I like to think that the queens can at least accompany the armies into the field, even if the game prevents them from leading troops directly. I think Margaret of Anjou (historical queen consort to Henry VI) did actually command troops in combat.

gabor: Gibraltar was much more painful in the Regency since the rebellion sizes were more than twice as large as before.

The decision about whether I negotiate or fight rebels depends largely on the monarch I have at the time. With a sturdier monarch I would negotiate; but in RP terms I imagined that good short-term regents would want to crush opposition quickly in order to leave the succeeding monarch a more stable country.

As far as conversions go, I can only speak for Gibraltar. It started as Sunni and has had one successful conversion to Catholic. It reverted to Sunni (after adjusting the sizes of the religious minorities in the province) and will need one more conversion for a majority of residents to become Catholic. I haven't paid any attention to the OE or Lithuania yet but I can have a look at the religions map when I get back from vacation.

Hastu Neon: I try to maintain a balance of power in Europe, which is partly why I guaranteed Lubeck in the face of Danish aggression (I also did not want my trade league to disappear!). Some consolidation does occur later, but nothing on the scale of vanilla blobs.

[OutsiderSubtype]

Catherine of Aragon pretty much ran a war against Scotland at one point while Henry VIII was in France.

[Chris Taylor]

Can you tell us how conversions play? Especially do OE and Lith spread their faith all over their lands? (A feature of MMU I find really disturbing.)

Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire have had some success in encouraging conversions. On the whole, it's probably faster than it should be, but there's still a significant chunk of provinces that retain their starting religions.

I'm not really sure what Lithuania usually looks like in MMU in this particular decade, but the Lithuania in my game has experienced significant territorial loss due to rebels and wars. They managed to convert 3 provinces (but later lost one of those in a war). Conversion date is indicated by red text, transfer of ownership date is indicated by white text.

The Ottomans have been more successful in hanging on to provinces (and gaining new ones!), but less successful in conversions. They have gained 6 new provinces, but only managed to convert two of their wrong-religion territories. As before, conversion date is indicated by red text, transfer of ownership date is indicated by white text.

For my own turf, Gibraltar was acquired in 1402, a missionary was sent in August 1426 (with 3.3% annual chance of conversion), it converted to Catholic in October or November 1426, but reverted to Sunni per the MMU conversion procedure—where it takes a minimum of two (if not more) successful conversion attempts. I don't mind telling you that this was the absolute fastest I have ever seen a conversion attempt succeed (just 3-4 months from sending of the missionary!); but I'm sure that was more luck than defect in MMU. Normally in my MMU experience it takes at least a decade or three to convert a province, unless you have a good theologian and province modifiers.

But on the whole I wouldn't mind seeing it slow down a little, especially for the AI who can usually obliterate the original religion in 50-75 years, if it concentrates on it.

[gabor]

Thank you for your report, I do fear in 70 years the Balkans will turn green. I'm afraid I do mind this turbo-fast conversion issue. I even suspect this might mess around with wars of religion; after some time you hardly ever see countries with wrong religion provs. And there seems to be no absolutely no religious strife in England or France. Well, we shall se about your England in due time

You know CJL78 is using his sub-mod with a view to slowing down the conversion, it works sort of, if you check his aar you'll also see he's working on some improvements to it.

Update?

[Chris Taylor]

I have been lurking in CJL78's submod AAR thread (I'm pretty well guaranteed to follow any MMU AAR, really) and I like the basic concept. I think it is a good idea to slow down religious conversions for "tolerant" states. I'm on the fence about implementing it in this AAR, though.

In the main his changes look good, but from what I recall—and maybe I am woefully mistaken—but any changes to static_modifiers will only take effect at initial game start. Thereafter the settings are written in the individual savegame files, so even if you change the static_modifiers mid-game, they will obey the original settings from the game's original start. Since CJL78 has made changes to those settings, and since my game is already started, I'd have to try to figure out where in the savegame those modifiers are stored, and change them there.

Or maybe I've got it ass-backward. But I seem to recall that limitation from very early EU3 days (pre-NA?) when I futzed around with the cultural acceptance limits.

I was hoping to get an update posted this afternoon, but got caught up in post-vacation tasks (laundry, groceries). I might not have the update posted until late tonight or early tomorrow.