The Crusader Princes - A Megacampaign

[Masked Pickle]

Hail to all Paradox board members, and welcome to my new Megacampaign, taking place in an historical Crusader State, the Principality of Antioch, telling the histories of its princes and their deeds from the foundation of the Principality in 1098 to, hopefully, 1453 and other Paradox games. This is my third, and I hope decisive, take on a Megacampaign, and I hope I will entertain you. In spite of my poor English, I will try to adopt an historybook style in the likes of RossN and trashing mad, even if the Paradox games are not really known for their historicity.

The game will begin with the 1187 scenario, on Crusader Kings: Deus Vult, on normal AI and difficulty, and the game enhanced by the latest patch, the DVIP, the Bopack events and Sarmatia1871's wonderful pictures.

See you soon!

Summary:

Bohemond I (1098-1111)
Bohemond II (1111-1130)
Constance (1130-1163)
Bohemond III (1163-1206)
Geoffroy (1206-)

Special update - 1200

[Masked Pickle]

Bohemond I the Great
House of Hauteville
1054-1111

Prince of Tarento 1085-1111, Prince of Antioch 1098-1111
Son of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily and Alberada of Buonalbergo
Married Constance, daughter of Philippe I, King of France
Father of Bohemond II, who follows

Although he was christened under the name of Mark, the future Prince of Antioch earned his name Bohemond after the legendary giant Buamundus, due to his distinct height (« He (Bohemond) was so tall in stature that he overtopped the tallest by nearly one cubit, narrow in the waist and loins, with broad shoulders and a deep chest and powerful arms » would write Anna Comnena in her Alexiad), and later to his own glory. A product of his times, son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of southern Italy, and coming from the Norman race, which conquered the throne of England when he was twelve.

Bohemond of Tarento (XIXth Century painting)

Taking his first command in the Norman army at 25, Bohemond participated to his father’s attack on the Byzantine Empire, assuring the command when Robert Guiscard was absent, and pushing through as far as Larissa until the Basileus Alexios I repulsed him and the reinforcements led by Robert Guiscard arrived ; during the expedition, he had promised the throne of Constantinople to Bohemond. Alas, Robert would breathe his last while he was in campaign, in 1085 : Bohemond inherited his father’s positions on the Adriatic Sea, which were immediately overwhelmed by the Byzantines, and he would lost his claims on the ducal titles to his half-brother Roger Borsa and the latter’s mother, Sigelgaita ; thanks to a sympathetic revolt, Bohemond seized the cities of Oria, Otranto and Tarento, which were recognized as his property by the Pope.

Bohemond’s life would change in 1096, when he saw the troops of the First Crusade passing nearby the city of Amalfi, which he was besieging along with his uncle, Count Roger of Sicily : overwhelmed by the piety of the Crusaders or ambitiong to carve himself a demesne in the lands of his archenemy, Alexios. Along with his nephew Tancred, he gathered a large and fine Norman Army and participated to the Crusade, proving himself respectful to Alexios during an audience at Constantinople : if the First Crusade had no clear leader and if the tradition mostly remembered Godefroi de Bouillon or Raymond de Saint-Gilles, Bohemond was maybe among the most able, if not the finest baron of the Crusade.

The Siege of Antioch (medieval miniature painting, date unknown)

Bribing one of the defenders of Antioch during the 1097 siege, Bohemond decided to settle there, having previously considered Cilicia as his principality : due to his role and later his successful resistance to the army of relief led by Atabeg Kerbogah, his rights on Antioch finally privaled on Raymond de Saint-Gilles’, and he stayed in the eastern city in order to consolidate his hold. Hoping to make of the Principality of Antioch a strong land that would dwarf the future kingdom of Jerusalem, he had to cope with the Byzantines and the Turks. Bohemond was captured in 1100 by the Turks, during a relief operation of the Armenian city of Malatia, and was to be detained until 1103, after much delaying by the Basileus. When he was back, Tancred had expanded the Principality, but all expansion was stopped : in the south by the newly established county of Tripoli, in the east by a defeat at Harran and in the north by a Greek breakthrough in Cilicia. In 1104, Bohemond had to go back to Europe in order to find help to his cause.

Tancred of Hauteville (XIXth Century painting)

He managed to gather a large army and to marry the king of France’s daughter, Constance, but decided to use his army to attack Alexios : the attack was a terrible failure, and had to sign a humiliating peace in 1108 where he recognized himself as the Basileus’ vassal, installing a Greek Patriarch of Antioch and abandoning the disputed territories. He would die without returning to his principality, at 57, a broken man.

If the principality of Antioch was born in great pain, Bohemond had managed to enhance a new part of history…

-From the Beginner’s Guide to the Crusader States, Charles Atkinson, Resurrection Press, 1998

[thrashing mad]

Great stuff. I really enjoy writing and images, plus my knowledge on crusades is weak so it`s nice to learn something. One suggestion though - please increase font size.

[AlexanderPrimus]

Well, I'm on board. It's good to see an Antiochene AAR. It's a nice change.

[humancalculator]

Subscribed!

[RGB]

Nice to see your new project start up!

[Masked Pickle]

Bohemond II
House of Hauteville
1108-1130

Prince of Tarento 1111-1128, Prince of Antioch 1111-1130 (regency in Antioch by his cousin Tancred of Galilee 1111-1112, his cousin Roger of Salerno 1112-1119, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem 1119-1126)
Son of Bohemond I, Prince of Antioch and Constance of France
Married Alice, daughter of Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem
Father of Constance of Antioch, who follows

When Bohemond II ascended to the throne of Antioch at 3, at the death of his father in Apulia, he was also being raised in Italy. It was not until his eighteenth birthday that he would give finally go to the Levant to rule of his own, leaving his Italian inheritage to a relative ; Duke William II of Apulia or Count Alexander of Conversano, the sources contradict each other on this point. In the same time, the regency in Antioch was first assured by Tancred, who refused the vassality pact forced by the Byzantines but died about a year later of typhoid fever, and later Roger of Salerno, who was killed in the battle of Ager Sanguinis against the Aleppines ; when Bohemond arrived at Antioch, the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, had ruled the Principality for seven years, having been called in by the local nobles.

Baldwin II of Jerusalem (from Guillaume of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer)

Upon receiving the Principality from the King of Jerusalem, Bohemond married his daughter Alice, following the matrimonial policies Baldwin was pursuing, after marrying his first daughter Melisende to his would-be successor, Fulk of Anjou. The new reigning Prince engaged in a series of campaigns against the Arabs, eventually reaching Aleppo, but his disagreements with Count Joscelin of Edessa led to the defeat of the Crusaders ; the two Crusader barons conflicted each other on territorial disputes that had been settled by Roger of Salerno but contested by Bohemond II. Joscelin would eventually ally with the Muslims against Bohemond : Baldwin II finally settled the matter by 1128, but by that time, the Atabeg Zengi fortified and consolidated Aleppo so the Crusader couldn’t threaten it for some time.

The same year, his cousin, Duke Roger II of Apulia, who would soon become King of Sicily, invaded Tarento, and Bohemond II couldn’t do anything from Antioch. He accompanied Baldwin II in his campaign against Damascus, but were eventually defeated by the Seljuks. He lated turned against the northern territories that had been conquered by King Leo I of Armenia, allied by the Danishmend Emirs : Bohemond II would find himself ambushed with his army near Mamistra in February 1130. He was killed and beheaded, his embalmed head sent to Caliph Al-Mustarshid in a silver box. He was 22-two-years-old, and had ruled on his own for less than four years. He was succeeded by his only daughter Constance, who was the same age than him when he inherited the Principality, at 3.

-From the Beginner’s Guide to the Crusader States, Charles Atkinson, Resurrection Press, 1998

[Masked Pickle]

thrashing mad - Ask and ye shall receive, my master.

Alexander Primus - I can't pretend to have the level of your Hierusalemite AAR, but I'll try to.

humancalculator + RGB - Welcome aboard!

[Enewald]

I shall follow thy attempt.

[SplendidTuesday]

This looks awesome; I always liked the non-English Normans, and while I've seen the Apulian Normans AAR'd a few times, I've never seen an Antioch AAR. I'll be sure to follow this.

[AlexanderPrimus]

Alexander Primus - I can't pretend to have the level of your Hierusalemite AAR, but I'll try to.

You flatter me. I didn't think anbody even remembered that one.

[Magmaniac]

Ahh so it's Norman Antioch, I was expecting Greeks breaking away from Byzantium but this is much better.

[RGB]

A very short reign...and another regency upcoming! A rocky start to be sure.

[thrashing mad]

I like this setup more and more.

[Masked Pickle]

Constance
House of Hauteville
1127-1163

Princess Regnant of Antioch 1130-1160 (regency by her grandfather King Baldwin II of Jerusalem 1130-1131, then her uncle King Fulk of Jerusalem 1131-1136)
Daughter of Bohemond II, Prince of Antioch and Alice of Jerusalem
Married :
-Raymond de Poitiers, son of William IX of Aquitaine
-Renaud de Châtillon
Issue :
-From Raymond de Poitiers :
-Bohemond III, who follows
-Marie, who married Basileus Manuel I Comnenus
-Philippa, who married Lord Onfroi II of Toron
-Baldwin
-Raymond
-From Renaud de Châtillon :
-Agnes, who married King Bela III of Hungary
-Jeanne, who married Marquess Boniface of Montferrat

Beginning her reign at age 3, Constance would have a rather tragic reign. First, in a time and a region where women, either daughters, wives or mothers, would succeed to a man, Princess Dowager Alice would try to retain the throne for herself, overpassing her father Baldwin II’s regency ; she tried to ally with Mosul Atabeg Zengi (who would later conquer Edessa), but she was stopped and exiled by the King of Jerusalem, who would die shortly after. A second attempt in 1135, seeking the support of the Byzantine Empire by offering Constance to Manuel Comnenus, was a terrible snub for Alice : French barons were wanting as Prince consort Raymond of Poitiers, an able knight, who had to come to Antioch disguised as a pilgrim ; the Patriarch of Antioch tricked Alice into believing the 20-years-old Raymond was coming to marry her, but he wed instead him and the 8-years-old Constance. Alice would leave humiliated and die the following year.

Raymond I of Antioch

The joint rule of Raymond and Constance was plagued by the strained relations with the Byzantine Empire, which was claiming suzerainty over Antioch and disputed territories in Armenian Cilicia : to John II Comnenus, Raymond was forced to accept to relinquish Antioch as soon as he would find a new fief, joined him in a failed 1138 expedition into Cilicia : Raymond wasn’t too enthusiastic about purchasing new territories, as he would mean his retreat from the Crusader State. After deposing the pro-Byzantine Patriarch, Raymond successfully overcame the siege of Antioch made by John II. From the following Basileus, Manuel, Raymond obtained some Cilician cities, but only to renew his oath of homage to the Emperor. In 1149, Raymond was visited by King of France Louis VII, en route to Damascus, during the Second Crusade. Trying to obtain the King’s help against Aleppo and Caesarea, Raymond engaged into lengthy conversations and closeness to his niece, Alienor of Aquitaine, Queen of France (and later Queen of England) : some chroniclers rumored of an incest between Raymond and Alienor, but it was mostly due to Louis’ jealousy towards the effulgent manners of Raymond. The latter would die in the battle of Inab against Nur ed-Din Zangi : his head was sent to the Caliph.

Renaud I of Antioch

Their son Bohemond being only five-years-old, Baldwin III of Jerusalem assumed the regency over Antioch, he and the Basileus proposing various husbands to Constance, who rebutted all of them, in the light of keeping Antioch’s independance from both Jerusalem and Constantinople. She finally decided to marry in 1153 Renaud de Châtillon, an obscure and upstart adventurer who proved to be rather unpopular. A fiery man (to use an euphemism), he invaded Cyprus in 1155 in order to claim a payment the Basileus hadn’t made to him, and after stripping and burning the Patriarch of Antioch. Then confronted to the huge army Manuel assembled, Renaud was forced to beg the Basileus’ forgiveness, barefoot and shabby, and to pay homage to him. He was to be captured in 1160 by the Muslims during a plundering raid against Syrian and Armenian peasents. He was to be confined for seventeen years, until Manuel paid his ransom, him being stepfather to her wife Maria.

Due to the marriage of her daughter Marie with the Basileus, Constance was widely accepted as regent of Antioch, even if she wasn’t gaining anymore her subjects’ approval, due to the furious rule of Renaud. In 1163, after asking the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia support for her rule, she was deposed by a riot from the citizens of Antioch. She died later that year in exile, after being succeeded by her son Bohemond III.

-From the Beginner’s Guide to the Crusader States, Charles Atkinson, Resurrection Press, 1998

[Masked Pickle]

Real game - and alternate history - is to occur soon...

Enewald - Welcome aboard!

SplendidTuesday - It's sure that not much is said about the Antiochene Normans, even if they outlived Norman England and Norman Sicily...

AlexanderPrimus - Well, I do remember; it would be a pity not to.

Magmaniac - Nooo, it's the actual Principality of Antioch that existed IOTL.

RGB - Well, it's quite interesting to see that unsteady kingdoms due to child-kings isn't a CK invention, but a rather historical point.

thrashing mad - Thanks, companion of megacampaigns!

[Enewald]

Lovely politics and stupid arrogance. Just what makes CK so perfect.

[Andrzej I]

Greatly looking forward to this AAR. Pity about your French Megacampaign, I enjoyed reading it.

[Hastu Neon]

I'm following you as well. Keen to see action firing up.
You have not stated any goals so far - at least for the CK section of the megacampaign - any anticipations?

[RGB]

de Chatillon is as terrible here as in real history, and Constance was seemingly lucky to last as long as she did.

The Crusaders lost Edessa? Any plans on getting it back?