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The chains of Navarra (or, The monk's story)

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I, Ambrosius, monk benedictine, confessor palatine of our late good King Sancho of Navarra, Aragón, Castilla, León, Portugal and France, defender of the Christian faith and inspirer of his vassals, undertake by his instructions this history of recent events.

On November of the year of our Lord 1087 it came to pass that the Count of Tangiers came to Burgos with his retinue and would see the King. The Tangerines, being at most half converted to the true Faith and not used to Christian customs, were highly noted at the Court, and the King found an early occasion to call the count to his rooms by the throne and bid him speak.

And the Count told the King of the rising peril of the Almoravids, or al-Murabitids as he, being raised a moor, still called them. These heathen, he said, were building a huge army in the desert and the mountains, reaching south into black Mali and raiding the African commerce routes, and harassing our border towns, and razing the villages. Moreover, they had been grabbed by a new and fiery brand of the wrong faith of Muhammadism, and where the civilized heathen tolerated christians in their midst, albeit on sufferance, these al-Murabitids were cruelly persecuting them.

Let it be remembered that, although for some centuries under the Muslim yoke, the North of Africa had been for many more centuries a Christian realm, first Roman, and then Vandal; indeed, until recently there were Byzantine strongholds in those lands. Many christians still lived there, and monasteries, and priests.

Now, the al-Murabitids were raking the land and burning the mark of the true faith from its long-time home, culling the Christians or driving them out. The persecutions had been terrible, and the flood of refugees into Tangiers had only stopped when the al-Murabitid zealots had set themselves on our borders, to harass us as aforetold. Even now, lamented the count, the fires burned that consumed the martyrs.

And the al-Murabitid armies were led by muslim warrior-monks, who inhabited fortified monasteries and lived for war against the infidels, in a perpetual unholy crusade. Those warriors trained and fought continuously, and were thus much to be feared in the field, and much more after their victory.

And thus it came to pass that the King gathered his counsellors and sent informers into North Africa, to measure the enemy. And he received tidings that the enemy was fierce, but not large, with small garrisons and no heavy troops; also, that it had allies in the East, but none large that could help it. And the King and his council decided to set up an expedition into the kingdom of the al-Murabitids, to punish them and lead them into the true faith of our Lord.

But the King had decided to send his Marshall and most veteran troops to the lands of Sicily and Outremer, so now he gathered divisions from his own domain and the southern provinces, and crossed the straits. First he pursued the enemy's northernmost vassals, and then he planned to launch on the al-Murabitid domain. And it came to pass that many vassals of the King joined in his war, and launched their own invasions.

The red flag of King Sancho marched triumphantly into Massat on the coast, and then into the Atlas mounts to besiege Fes. But soon the King of the al-Murabitids made his presence felt, and his warrior-monks too. He was a great and skilled warrior, and his warcraft was close to the land. His skirmishers would follow our columns in the valleys and kill the rearmost. His patrols would hound our foragers and shoot arrows into our camps. And when the terrain was propitious, his heavy infantry phalanxes dared to face the troops of Navarra, and not infrequently they won.

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For our troops were not as adequate as our King would have liked. Our heavy horse were useless in the deep sands, and in the mountains. Our armour was a hindrance in the sun. And our intendance had been designed for other climates, where now we often marched for league upon league of sand, and lost many men to thirst and sunstrokes. And worst of all, our generals were not as good as the daring King of the al-Murabitids.

And the vassals' armies were lukewarm. They helped our King in several defensive battles, but mostly they stood on conquered land, or close by the fertile coast valleys where their heavy armies could trample the al-Murabitid phalanxes.

The war was going very badly. But the good King Sancho would not allow the Cross to retreat in the face of the infidels. He decided to try one last option.

He sent to Iberia for reinforcements, calling the Prince of Viana with troops from his Andalusian lands, but he didn't wait for their arrival. He embarked on an expedition to wrest the south of the enemy domain from their hands. For in those areas, the enemy armies were few, and the news of their victories against our forces seemed to him to be exaggeration. How, he asked, could a camel-bound army of less than 300 beat back a whole division of over two thousand? The general must have been ambushed, he maintained, or otherwise ensnared in the desert, for never could so few savages kill as many of our armies as had been reported.

And thus a march began that could be told as that of the Greeks that returned with Xenofon. For King Sancho set south with many, intending to surround the al-Murabitids by taking their southern provinces, and then ride north again, hammering the enemy against his armies in the north.

He arrived in the deep south, and won several battles. He occupied Tharasset on the Sahara, and defeated the Sheik of Ifni, who would soon be vassalized. He triumphed, and he returned north to break the al-Murabitid army.

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But on the bleak deserts of Infa he was finally ambushed.

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An unexpected sand storm had forced the army of Navarra to set camp hastily in unprotected country. When the storm was raging, an al-Murabitid army overran the camp, and killed as many as were lost in the dunes and never returned. The King rallied the troops and repelled the raiders, for they were few, but had to lift camp and retreat across the wastes, almost without water, supplies or even tents, lost in a storm that lasted three days.

The army retreated into the higher lands, and foraged on the small towns and oases of the lower Atlas, but even so found little, for the al-Murabitids razed the land around them so they would starve, and even poisoned the wells with corpses of animals and Christian prisoners.

And thus the King rode at the head of his army, changing course often to shake the deadly pursuit, as much southward as northward, and riders were sent to the coast, west and north, for help, but none returned, and none arrived, for the al-Murabitids were vigilant and fast on their camels. And the host diminished daily, and every copse found was fast turned into crosses for the tombs of the brave. Most of the survivors were wounded, sick, and half starved, but the King held them fast with example and address, and they managed to inch their way out of the trap. Also, they kept up hope for a relief force, and thus they fortified every hamlet and every camp they made, and drove off the al-Murabitids once and again and again. When they ran out of arrows, they did like the Greek before them and became slingers. The unhorsed knights became spearmen and fought on foot. They learned to find and dig wells, for they could not trust those that were already opened.

Day by day, the little army hardened as they rode north (or walked, as most horses were soon fodder for their riders, leaving only those of the scouts, skirmishers and royal guard) and the rabid al-Murabitids pursuers weakened and dropped away from their flanks, like dogs bloodied by the hunted stag.

And then it came to pass that the army arrived within sight of the town of Infa, and from a height found out the reason that had driven their moorish scourges away. Closer to the city, between it and the King's army, was the King of al-Murabitid with three or four times their force in fresh fighters, lying in wait while they harried the city, which was at the time in Navarran hands (the sieges and counter-sieges had been many, but the King had been away south during most of them). The hounds had driven them to the hunter, indeed, and the kill seemed very near.

King Sancho took counsel with his followers and they decided to set up camp where they could be seen from the city, so as to make it known that they were making a stand, and to have a chance of help. The scarred, burned faces around the table were very sober, for they thought that the al-Murabitids, in those numbers, could not be resisted for long, and many a prayer was muttered by lips more used to harsher words. But they refused to despair within sight of the walls of the city, and thus chose a knoll that had water and was protected on three sides by falls of sheer rocks. And the troops that could still work fortified the knoll with ramparts of stones and branches, and dug spiked trenches to stop the horses, and those that knew how started work making arrows and sling-bullets. And then they built a small tower in the highest point of the knoll, and put a large red flag on it, hoping that the Navarran forces in the city would see it and come.

When the al-Murabitids saw that King Sancho would not march against them to battle, but was fortifying himself in the hills near the city, they laughed and set forth to surround him and his army. For they knew that no Navarran host could arrive soon enough to help them, and the troops garrisoning the city walls were few and had no horses. And indeed the soldiers in Infa could do little, beyond sending riders to Massat and Algiers for help, which they had already done when they thought the al-Murabitids were come to besiege them again.

And thus it came to pass that the King Sancho and his little army were surrounded and besieged, but the moors could hardly touch them, for the knoll was well chosen and the defences were crude but well thought. In the first day of the siege, the moors tried a tentative assault and sent a phalanx against the ramparts of the King. As all al-Murabitid army, they didn't retreat until they could no longer fight, and so very few came back, for the Navarrans harried them with stones and then cut them down from their ramparts and palisade. The Navarrans took heart, and one humble monk, who battled along the King with a war hammer, was heard to say that the Romans of Mario had once killed many more barbarians with the same method at Aquae Sextiae. So the King took the monk aside and asked for the story, and he had it, and the remaining captains were called and heard it too, and were heartened further, until they came to believe that they might yet survive and reach the city.

And indeed, for a few days it seemed as if it would happen that way, for the King of the al-Murabitids sent wave after wave of fighters along the narrow and steep neck of the knoll, to be slaughtered by the King of Navarra and his faithful. And the red flag grew larger every night, and flamed every day to call for help and shout defiance.

But the King of the al-Murabitids knew the classics too, or had good sense enough to pause. And seeing that his men were being decimated without use, and that the enemy was cooped but could not be overcome, he decided to give a final try with his hardest troops, and if it failed, to settle the matter through thirst and hunger. For even if the Navarrans had water, which he doubted, they could not have much food.

This it was that at dusk on the eight day of the siege, the tabor of the King of al-Murabitids, his personal regiment, marched up the knoll, having sworn to return with the red flag or not at all. It was a desperate, gallant attempt, and the moors were close to winning. But at the height of the fight, when the second wave of the tabor was breaking the defences on the right of the ramparts, the King flung himself into the battle with his bodyguard, and turned the tide, and after that no further waves could breach the Navarran defences.

And so the al-Murabitids retired to the feet of the knoll to strengthen their camp, and attempt to break the Christians by hunger.

They did not yet know that the King Sancho had been seriously wounded, taking a lance head below the arm while using his sword on the attackers, for he always was more brave than skilled with weapons. He had lost much blood during the fight, for he had refused to lay down until the attack was repealed, and he was not strong to begin with, due to the hardships of the travel.

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The wound might have been cured had a physician been present, but only the battle monk was in the knoll, and he could do little. So the King was fast seized with fever, the nights being so cold and he being so exhausted, and it was clear to those that saw him that he would not live out the siege even if the rest of the army could.

It was then that the captains and the battle monk (for he had grown close to the commanders during the last weeks) gathered by the royal tent and debated what to do. For the resistance was desperate. Food would run out soon, except in the shape of horses, who would only keep them for less than a week. Water was not a problem. But debilitated arms could not hold the moorish attack at bay. And there was no sign of help from the city.

Thus the captains debated back and forth whether it would be worse to stand the siege to death, and save the honour of the Kingdom, or to parley with the moors and attempt to save the King Sancho, even if he had to be ransomed.

But neither was to be. For a guard came out from the tent, and bid them come in. The King was seated in his cot, pale and sweaty and with bright eyes.

"My vassals, and my friends, I have heard your words", he said. "Hear now what your King says".

Then the battle monk tried to make the King rest, but he wouldn't, and he spake on.

"The heathen are building their own ramparts and defences around their camp so as to fence us in with stones like they now fence us with swords. In one more day, maybe two, we will be locked in. And then it will really be a matter of time, for know that while I live, the red flag will not surrender..."

And he broke in a fit of coughing.

"If we stay here, we will eat our horses and be no better off in the end. If we stay here, our only hope is the arrival of help which must now be really far off, since we cannot see it from up here. It is death or capture either way. So my decision is this. We shall start work right now to open a way through our defenses up to our frontmost rampart, in a way that the moors can't see. This very night, at dusk, we will pull down those stones and open the way. Then I will ride with my guard or whoever may join me, and we will break the lines of the moors, for they don’t believe we can sortie, and the remains of the army will pour out, and attack their camp if they can, or dissolve in the night and run for the city if they can't".

"But my Lord!", cried a dozen voices. "You can't ride! You will die on the way!"

"I can't, but I will, for you will tie me to my horse, and a red flag with me. It doesn't matter if they bring me down or not, for I know that I will be dead by tomorrow whether I rest or I ride. But if you don't take the men out of this trap and make them run for the city walls and save their lives, I swear I will drag you to hell myself!", and he broke coughing again and sent them out of the tent, calling for the monk to shrive him.

And so that day the Navarran camp laboured hidden, tearing down the defences they had built, while the al-Murabitids leisurely started to build up their own some hundred paces down the slope. For they had not bothered to fortify their camp, seeing that the Navarrans had blocked their own exits of the knoll, and being themselves many.

As soon as the sun was touching the mountains on the horizon, the whole army gathered. The King, who could hardly move nor speak, was tied to his horse with a length of wood behind him and another in front, to keep him upright, and the lance arm tied to a lance with a plain red flag. The remaining handful of horses had been quarrelled over until they carried a selection of the best and most faithful warriors, all looking fierce and sad, for they knew this was to be the last charge of the good King who had led so many.

And then the soldiers drove the stones down, with a crash, the face of the rampart crumbled, and the horsemen surged forth. The sun had not yet sunk, and there was an eerie red light upon the hill when they followed the King's stallion in a wild charge down the slope and onto the surprised foe. Someone started yelling "The King! Long live the King!", and suddenly all the hundred survivors were shouting it, and the moors thought that a new army was upon them, and ran disorganised.

The King was upon them indeed, and if he did not use his sword, his armored horse tore through them just as well. Arrows were shot seeking the carrier of the flag, and many went home. Sancho didn't fall from his seat, but continued rampaging almost straight across the al-Murabitid camp, and his guard behind him crying "The King! The King!" in a terrible voice and striking left and right. And the al-Murabitids, scared witless at this iron King that could not be killed by arrows or swayed by lances, scattered before them while their camp started to burn.

And it came to pass that the wedge of the King’s riders came to the center of the heathen camp, where the tent of the al-Murabitid leader rose. And it was the custom of berber chiefs at the time to surround their royal tents with a guard of eight slave warriors, chained to it and among themselves, and those now rose and tried to stop the ghostly charge. One of them, a black giant, stood in front of the horse of the King and tried to thrust a lance at his chest. But he lance hit the shield and the King did not fall, but rode down the slave, which was caught in the harness. At this, the rest of the chained warriors turned and ran terrified, and their chain became entangled in the tent, and their flight and the King’s horse started to pull it down.

Then the monk, who rode by the King, took heed of this, and shouted to his fellows, and the King’s guard strove to smite and grab the chained and terrified slaves, and they did so, and killing the slaves either rode with them or chopped off the limbs that held the chain and fastened it to the pommel of their riding chairs.

And thus the Murabitid saw their King’s tent pulled down in fire and chaos, and the seven riders that were left followed the awesome shape of King Sancho in the falling dusk, through the tents, past the wagons, down the hills and towards the city, and the moors that faced them were either run down or smitten by the invisible strands of the chain, and many of the rest fought each other in the dark. While behind them, without noise, the few hundred Navarran soldiers, most wounded and all weak, slipped from their trap and into the confusion of the darkness, there to run all night toward the lights of the city.

Thus it was that Infa awoke to the blazes in the enemy camp, the shouts, and the eight riders who came noisily to her walls in the middle of the night. When the guards challenged them, one of their number answered in a voice that didn't seem human, so loud and bitter it was:

"The King is here! The King is dead! Long live the King!"

Thus the good King Sancho rode to his death to save his army and the honour of Navarra, and thus was the spirit of the al-Murabitids broken.

So I attest, and so I can witness, for I, a humble battle monk and the King's confessor, was there.


On the evening of the next week, the banners of Luis the Prince of Viana were sighted from the towers of Infa. Like his father before him, he is to take the crown of Navarra from the ground of a field of battle after a grievous defeat. Is armies are scattered, his allies far away, and his realm unsecured. May the Lord have mercy of him and guide his way.

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This is probably my favourite chapter yet. Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to see how Luis will turn out.
 
Glad you liked it :), Khaelyn. I had to change the register and I wasn't sure if it would fit with the rest.

The first Luis chapter is sketched (pictures still not gathered yet)... and after some time running the experiment, I think Doctor Zoviet's solution to shifting the Papacy would work and make sense in-game. The Pope does seem to ask for, and settle at, peculiar places, so I guess forcing a place on him is not that unlikely. Especially the place I'm thinking of :D. And we don't need even to accept his payment.

Should do it before going on too, since I've played up to 1104 now and he's almost achieved his goals, except that one.

Still no title suggestions for Sancho :)?
 
Oh dear. Sancho's gone...
 
Grandson Juan is 16 in-game now, and a serious warrior. If he keeps things up... :).

Here's the Nov 1105 save file (.eug) for editing in case the Doctor Z can make it :). http://www.macuarium.com/aarsis/ExperimentoKingdom of Navarra_1105_November_15ZZ.eug . Warning: 18.5 MB file. To save to disk, right-click and save, else it opens on the browser.

Jan 1104 made more sense, but then it had no serious Finland :D.

About the details of the edit, it's probably better not to spoil the story and use private messages, isn't it :)?

UPDATE: Please don't do the edit on that file :). I've played six years on and things are very different.
 
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@ Khaelyn, Luis is turning out... ahem. Very dynamic :). The grandson Juan, now, he's a real disappointment. May be heading for an accident.

@ Kurt, he's gone but he will be very close to the story :D.

@ Enewald, no, he was just a very driven, slightly dumb boy from the Navarre mountains who believed in striking first :) but didn't plan too much ahead.

@ enf91, thanks for the title proposal :). Yes, he did get far before becoming lost in the end.

Well, it's taken me a while (and I had to play a bit ahead) but I think I have got to know what makes Luis tick. So, in the next few minutes, we should have a first instalment. After that... there will be changes :D. He's got his own style.
 
August 1089. Payback time

Oh, it's you. Dad spoke so much of you, but he never allowed me to sit in when he spoke with "his visitors". Got him into a bit of trouble, that habit of shutting himself in with people nobody else could see.

Well, not trouble as such, but it was talked about it the court. Briefly. Before he kicked my aunts out of the palace.

What did you use to do when visiting? Was there any special protocol, or...? Nothing? Well, then I guess you can just sit around the tent and make yourselves at home. It's all a bit upset since we're packing out of Infa, but...

What? Didn't you hear?

Well, then, let's start at the very beginning. You must have heard about my father's death at the last Battle of Infa. I was already in Africa at the time but was not aware of the siege, and I arrived at the city after the disaster.

It was... a hard time. Dad, I mean the King my father had always been a very near, kindly person for me. He had taught me himself often about life, God, the infidels... he would talk about campaigns and dreams and friends for hours, while Pons and I listened. Pons would rather listen to songs and music, actually, but the story of how Navarra was brought from a two-province principality to the largest kingdom in Christendom was always so much more interesting to me.

And he was so humble. He always spoke as if his plans and dreams and strategies were someone else's, or plain luck, or divine intervention. He never seemed to think he had done something important. It was always his people, his friends, or God. Yes, or even that legendary Visigoth witch, the old Doña Muña Mayor, whom nobody has seen for decades. I remember he used to laugh when I read those two tracts, the “De Bello Iberico” and “De Bello Franco”. Said the monk who wrote them had everything wrong.

But I knew it was him. He picked the people. He took the risks. He paid the costs. He spoke up at Nájera, he stood up for his vassals at Burgos, and he charged the al-Murabitid king at Infa.

When I arrived at the city with my people, the moors had already left the area. I was led to the main hall of the city castle, where the remains of King Sancho were watched over by his council, his last brothers in arms, and his confessor. On the way, someone explained me that the veterans refused to leave the body: apparently they were half crazy with grief and with their promise of defending "the honour of the red flag" to the death.

I was more than a bit dazed myself when I reached the hall. It was lighted by torches and windows, bright as day. The walls were covered in strange green pennants, and the center of the room was occupied by two raised biers clothed in red. On one was a pile of golden metal, the links of a monstrous chain. On the other was a mailed, crowned body.

They had cleaned it. But they had left his battered chain mail and armor on, and his sword was still in its sheath. They could not possibly have removed it, for it was pinned in by more than a dozen arrows, dented and torn by more than one sword or lance blow. His battle crown, a crested helmet, was heavily dented in too. He had been killed over and over. And yet, as I had heard, he arrived at Infa still on his horse.

His face was the strangest part of all. For it was untouched, and he was smiling.

I looked at my father's remains, at the strange chapel, the mass of metal at his feet, the battered, ragged, fey men that guarded him. It felt like a horrible dream. I turned toward the monk. I turned at my father’s Council. I pointed at the King’s corpse and tried to speak, but I couldn’t.

Then I heard a whisper. The charm was broken.

“Speak up, Spymistress. What do you want?”

Laura, the soft-spoken, sharp iron lady that held my father’s vassals in awe, raised her face toward me, and I was shocked again. It was as fey as those of the soldiers, her eyes shone, and she was crying.

“I said ‘revenge’, my lord. And I want revenge!”

“Revenge!”, I repeated without thinking.

“Revenge!”, came from a hundred throats with one terrible voice. And something changed in the air of the room. It became electric, alive, like a whirlwind spreading from the bier of the late King. Faces rose, backs stiffened, and I could see how it sparked across the room. Mourning would last, but desperation was broken, and these people were looking at me for the next step. I felt it hit me, and I was no longer lost. Something like a savage happiness made me step to my father’s side.

I took his battle sword and turned on the assembly. Now I knew what he would have done.

“Let me hear it once more, my father’s friends, my vassals. Standing by our dead King, wounded, beaten, in the middle of the desert… what do we want?”, and I raised the sword.

Revenge!”, thundered again. Strong, powerful, decided, proud.

“And when do we want it?”

NOW!”


Like a beating heart, the chant spread through the castle and into the camp. It lighted faces with a savage glow, it gave muscles purpose, and it kicked the army and the council into motion. Within hours, so many things happened that I really have no time to tell you now. And the beat kept sounding through the night and next morning, at every public space, every gathering, every ale-house. It was the war cry in the city and the greeting among the soldiers.

I hope you heard it too, Ali bin Taushufin, King of al-Murabitids. Because you’re first in line.



Ahem. Well, yes, that is all. Will you kindly leave me now. Go see the burning chapel or something. I have a couple of letters to write before we leave in very few hours.

And, by the way… I think we should keep these meeting discreet. I mean, once a year or so is enough. And if you absolutely must bring talking dogs and little yellow familiars, please don’t let them go chasing the household cats. It gets about, you know.
 
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17 August 1089
Given at the Royal Tent, before the walls of Infa


Hello, my Queen.

Just a few lines dictated before we leave. We’re marching into the desert again today. Got the boys all worked up and rarin’ to go and it wouldn’t do to let the anger cool down. This heir-picks-up-bloodied-sword-cries-vengeance idea is working wonders. Even the arabs are impressed.

Besides, this trip will give me some room to think of the next steps. I’ve been looking into things and papers with the Council and I don’t quite understand Dad’s plan (even his own team are not sure of what he was trying to do), but I think I get a glimmer… and, Cris, it was huge. I can’t yet believe what I’m piecing together. The old man was a genius.

But first things first. I promised revenge to the boys, and I need to deliver if I’m to keep them in line. First the al-Murabitids, then everyone else who had crossed Dad in the last few years. I’ll have them ground to pieces, burned and thrown to the dogs, then sow salt on them. I don’t know what’s the use of the salt business, but the Romans did it when razing Carthage, so it’s probably useful. Possibly for the smell.

Anyhow, we have to make a hit list. Send your ideas.

Do give my love to the kids, and please send word to Mum at the nunnery. I’ll be traveling around and it would be hard on her if Dad’s coffin arrives there before the news.

Best,

Luis
 
A great selection of past updates. The monk's tale was a nice change of pace, and appropriately somber for such an heroic death.

Is it me, or does Luis look exactly like his father? I do hope he doesn't get too carried away with all this 'revenge'.
 
@ Enewald, nah, he's a softie in the end. He'll just sprinkle a sackful or two. I think :D.

@ AllmyJames, glad you like it. He's like a fleshed-out version of Sancho, bulky where his father was lanky, looking more placid and self-confident. Probably the Italian food agreed with him while he was duke of Pisa :). You can't see it in the pictures, but he never really gets a chance of putting on weight.

About the revenge... well, all I can say is,

1. look at his character :D.
2. he'll forget it as soon as he understands his dead father's secret, awful Master Plan.
3. either that, or his wife will set him straight. Have you had a look at her yet :)? All I can tell you is, in ten years she has more ranking than him...
 
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August 28, 1098
Given at the Royal Monastery of Santa María of Nájera, Rioja


Hello, my King.

I’m enclosing a sample of our new flag. I’ve made a few changes to the old, plain blood red design. Now it shows some golden chains, inspired on the Chains of Infa. And some Irish green in the center. Now, don’t protest. I’ve already had it hoisted on every royal castle and ordered the new liveries for the guard, so it’s done.

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By the way, the English came calling while you were away. This old pirate prince of them, William the Conqueror, wanted to renew his alliance with Navarra. I told them it was OK. So now you know.

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Your mother took the bad news quite well. Went back to praying immediately. She didn’t even offer me congratulations or a bite to eat. Oh, and your father was buried at Nájera as he’d instructed. Very moving affair, popular grief, cartloads of noble vassals and foreign dignataries, modern Gregorian music, people fainting in the aisles. Ingeborg may be getting old but she has a hand for public events. Did wonders for the public image of the Navarra monarchy.

Which reminds me. If you’re really into this vengeance thing, you should look into al-Murabitids and Emirate of Jerusalem, or course, but also into Wales and Scotland. They’ve been picking loose counties that broke away from your father’s vassals. And (just an idea, mind you) if you can spare some knights, get rid of our old neighbors at Toscana. Can’t stand their parties. And I remember the duchess' jokes about our little tower at Pisa.

Anyhow. Remember to wear your nightcap. I hear desert nights are very cold, and that haircut of yours is sensitive to draughts.

Yours,

Cristina
 
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October 1098
Given on the road to Burgos


Hello, my Queen.

Your new flag idea caught on very well. The real Infa chains were completely different, but that doesn’t matter. You could have asked, anyway.

We’re coming home earlier than I expected, so I thought I’d write ahead and warn you. We’re not finished yet, of course, but I’m done with Africa for a while.

The al-Murabitids didn’t last long. It seems they had some Berber prophecy or other of an iron King, and Dad’s last charge broke their spirit. And then our armies broke the rest of them. Twice.

But let me tell the story properly. On August 29th we finally broke Anti Atlas and held all the enemy royal domain. I was about to start negotiations when up comes Laura and tells me that she thinks Dad had different plans.

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It seems he didn’t invade the al-Murabitid just to be preemptive. He was deeper. He wanted their vassals in Outremer, where they ran three provinces. As a beachhead?, I asked. And as bait, she said, looking mysterious. I nodded as if I understood, and instead of writing to King Ali, I wrote to his remaining vassals.

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It seems they were so dispirited that they were willing to submit.

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And they are strategically placed next to Jerusalem, whose Emir keeps sending funny messages. It seems some remnants of the punishment expedition Dad sent there were still doggedly trying to reach the Holy City, but weren’t getting much respect:

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The al-Murabitid vassals bowed their neck fast. Before the end of September we had the vassalage of Hama, Amman and Irbid.

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Which was good for my reputation, and that in turn saved a lot of money (which we don’t have) for buying the goodwill of the less enthusiastic vassals after the death of Dad and the field coronation.

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In September 13th, while the al-Murabitids were trying to retake Anti Atlas (again), I sent a truce banner to them. And so I finally met Ali, the King of the al-Murabitids, in person.

You would have liked him. He’s almost Irish, except for the looks and the religion. Anyhow, we got down to business fast. I had him down and he knew it, and we both knew it was just a matter of stopping the bloodshed, collecting his provinces and sending him back to driving camel caravans in the desert.

But… well, I couldn’t do it. I liked the rugged, unbending fellow. He was signing his own death sentence at the hands of the desert tribes, and he was doing it only to spare those same tribes, his tribes, more killing.

And I’d rather take a load of prestige than a load of sand. So I left him Tharasset, which is about as much sand as you can get, and walked with the rest… and the grudging respect of a very hard man. Which is kind of uplifting.

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He did say something strange. While we were shaking hands after signing the treaty, he said: "We will meet again, O King, when the sands have run their course".

Don't know if he was being metaphysical, making threats, or prophethyzing. So I nodded politely, and there he went into the heart of Africa, bloodied but unbowed.

On the way to the Strait I wrote charters to most of those lands to the nobles that had helped in the war and a few bishops, gathering some more goodwill and a name of piety.

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All of which went a long way toward pacifying those pesky vassals and saving a lot of money. Which is why I feel confident in going North to Burgos.

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I look forward to seeing you and the kids. And maybe having a proper coronation.

Best,

Luis
 
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@ Enewald, can that be done :)? I thought that kingdom was muslim-only, and the christian equivalent is the Kingdom of Mauretania.

Re the Normans, 'tis an idea :).
 
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January 1099
Given at the Royal Palace, Burgos


My King,

I’m sending this message to Cadiz in the hope that you receive it before your ship leaves.

I know you love your sister Garcenda, but either you have a word with her and make her behave, or I’ll just have a word with the Keeper of the North Tower and lock her in.

I don’t mind her bustling energy, but I really object to her pranks. The episode of the crawling lackeys was bad enough, especially as we had visitors that day. But yesterday she’s been playing pirates in the children’s rooms, and by the time we got to her, she had already forced two of the maids to walk the plank. Off the window.

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Yes. And the moat is frozen in this season, so we couldn’t even hush it up. So you take the matter in hand, or I will.

Yours,

Cristina