Capetan Glory - A France (SRI) AAR

December 5, 1476:

Ernst Schulz, Grand Captain of Louis XI de Valois, King of France, sits behind a desk. He is wearing a surcoat armor with the French Coat of Arms on it. Some steps away from him is the French Monarch, his gaze lost while following a bird that took leave of his nest when some peasant kids threw rocks at the tree where it made his home.

>> "And to think that so much blood has been shed, too many lives wasted, too many families left bereft, torn utterly asunder just to preserve the likes of these... but who am I to judge them? They who now hurl so arrogantly and selfishly those rocks at the little creature may very well be in the not so distant future part of the very Armée Royale that I so proudly command, in fact I should not find it that surprising that showing such display for violence since so early an age that they would evolve to become fierce and dreaded foes, that these very brats that now threaten the life of an innocent being may perhaps in a twenty years' time crush the skull of a Bohemian, or man a Galley that will deliver the killing blow to an English Caravel..."

As he meditated on this, one of the children - a seemingly gifted one - managed to hit the bird on flight... the animal flew in circles, its left wing wounded, before plummeting to the ground. There the kids surrounded the unfortunate soul, that lied on the ground, as life slowly - yet unwillingly - left the fragile body. One of them walked to the front, and the king noticed that it was the one who had landed the hit: with a complete show of disdain, or mercy some may claim, he lifted his left leg and crashed the animal's skull under his barefoot.

The laughter that succeeded the event filled the King with disgust, and despite being visibly unaffected - for he was exceptionally proficient at masking his thoughts and emotions, a trait that had served him well in the past, and would do so again in the future - he could not help but feel completely detached from such ill-begotten ilk. With a sigh he turned his back to the window and faced his Grand Captain.

- So, Ernst, you were telling me that if you were to continue serving me you would like to know more about my family, is that right?

- Yes, my lord, being from Magdeburg and having been for six months already in your court I would like to know more about your family, as well of the realm in which - god willing - I will spend the rest of my life.

- And I trust you have read the books we have at your disposal on the library in this very Palace?

- I must say no, I did not, for I would rather hear it from him whom I so vehemently serve, for your talents my lord, go far beyond those of the battlefield, and your conquests range indeed from those of the likes of the Battle of Caux, when you routed the great English Army and the Battle of Aragón, when you managed to defeat a superior Castillian force and succeeded at taking the Castilian fortress by assault afterwards, up to those of the pen and the oratory: for your renown as a story teller is known and hailed by all!

And this was true, for Louis XI had quite a talent for writing, one could say that had he not been born in the middle of the French royal family, he would have made a fine novelist of the Middle Ages.

Appreciating the charming words the king aquiesced, and with a smile procceeeded:

- Well, I shall tell you what I know the best, that would be much of my grandfather Charles' reign, my father's and obviously my own: let me begin with my grandfather's...

Chapter I: Charles VI de Valois - The Mad.​

- I know not much about my grandfather's early exploits.... before the dawn of this century there are areas in which my memory very easily falters, and since I would rather not state that which I know not its veracity I will stay to those areas which I command with ease.

Back then our dynasty, the de Valois were ruling many feuds in France, and were also the ruling family in the Kingdom of Naples. My grandfather saw to it that our relatives' power would not be curtailed, and lent them assistance during the Neapolitan - Sicilian War. Sicily's ally, the King of Aragon tried to impede the enterprise, but my grandfather rushed to intercept the army that had crossed the Pyrenées and was marching through Auvergne, under the command of the King of Aragon, Martí I: At the head of 20000 soldiers collided with the 14000 strong Aragonese army. The battle of Auvergne saw more than three thousand French soldiers die at the hand of the Aragonese, but they paid their sin dearly: for their army was reduced to a meagre fighting force of more than 5 thousand... easily vanquished days later by the French forces.

This enabled our relative, the King of Naples to secure a favorable peace and gain Malta and Messina for them, it was quite a glorious day for the de Valois. -

The king stopped his tale for a moment, walked up to a wooden cabinet and after opening its lavishly decorated doors and taking out a bottle of Burgundian wine and two silver cups sat on a chair, in front of his protegé.

- I trust you are already acquainted with the finest wine from all of Europe... - said the Monarch, while pouring a generous dose of the purple nectar in one of the silver cups - the Burgundian wine is renowned throughout all of Europe for its most unique flavor. -

- Indeed, my lord. - replied the Grand Captain, while taking the cup the king tended to him - I must say this fine brew is even highly acclaimed kilometres from here, in Magdeburg my home town this is regarded as the most exquisite gift for the table of any Bishop or landlord with whom one seeks to congratiate. -

- Then I am sure it will be a fine partner for the remainder of my grandfather's tale. - stated the king, while taking a sip from the cup - So... as I was saying:

Five years after the end of Neapolitan - Sicilian hostilities Charles the Sixth decided that it would be unwise not to pursue a more centralising policy with the French feuds. 'The existence of these principalities - he reasoned -may very well mean France's undoing in the long run': and so he sought to incorporate the duchy of Bourbonnais directly into the realm, which he accomplished the 29th of May in1409.

Sadly we now reach the not so likable part of this tale: as you know my grandfather Charles suffered from periods of.... hallucinations that curtailed his proper reasoning. This unfortunate disease earned him the sobriquet "The Mad". - the Monarch gulped down sonorously, showing his disapproving of such epithet, and procceeded - one certain day of July he exhibited the typical symptoms that preceded his feats of madness: hallucinations, lone talking... - He made a gesture with his right hand, as if this would be enough to make that turbulent past of his ancestor vanish into Oblivion - Now, a day came when he decided that the English had to relinquish their posession of Calais, and so without hesitation declared war on the Kingdom of the Normans: a decision that would cost dearly to France.

From 1409 to 1424 our armies collided with the Lancaster troops, pursuing any remnants still alive on French soil and occupying every English posession on the mainland. On 1420, at the height of the war the Neapolitan branch of our Royal house became extinct, and so Provence became independent from the Neapolitan crown. The wretched swines provided asylum for English troops that came to the mainland for pillaging and various other nefarious deeds; and so Anjou and Maine became a safe haven for the English troops... something my grandfather was not planning to allow, but how could he declare war on a Palatine Prince without invoking the rage of the Emperor himself? Well - and he smirked with evident irony, his eyes lost somewhere amidst the various dots that covered the wooden table - grandpa wasn't one for giving things their due thought.

And so he declared war on Provence, invoking the wrath of Bohemia, Austria and Poland... and the next three years he would spend vanquishing the Habsburg troops and ensuring the safety of the realm. What he lacked in sanity he had in military prowess for his campaigns ushered in victory: Anjou and Maine were integrated into the Royal demesne, the Austrians were forced to return to the statu quo, and so did the rest of the Imperial alliance.

As for the English, well... after so many years of fighting they acquiesced and surrendered Calais to us, Munster, their ally that occupied by Naples was, he managed to force into vassalage with the realm and so ended that phase of the great war with the English.

But as I said previously, this war cost dearly to France: the currency was devalued, for heavy use of minting was needed to provide for improvements to the various provinces so as to use the profit taken to subsidize the troops needed to fend off the numerous enemies Charles had... He died two years later, leaving the state larger and more powerful than it was when he inherited the throne... but power comes not without a price, and many European princes that previously had cordial relationships with Paris publicly denounced the de Valois and our name was a synonym of heresy in some places, especially in the Habsburg lands, where the Austrians hated us deeply.

And so concludes the tale of my grandfather's reign, let us proceed onwards, with my inept father's rule! - added the king, with a jovial laughter -

He did not try hard to quell his feelings for his late father, but who could blame him? His father had reigned for twelve years and was unsuccesful at almost everything he tried to accomplish, his diplomatical ineptitude led to France's involvement in the second war against the Empire, and he blatantly failed at supressing the unrest that plagued France... this, coupled with his first two sons death as well as his own untimely death led to the first Regency in years before finally Louis XI ascended to the throne.

Range said:

Excellent start...keep it up. I'll be following. And, please don't let anyone discourage you. Write the journey as you see fit. Stay the course and you'll do just fine.

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Glad you liked it! I'll try and do things the best I can, up until I reach the end of the 1400s, where I left the game, so that the narrative would be all the more interesting!

morningSIDEr said:

It seems as if you have had a very eventful game thus far, excellently detailed here. Louis' grandfather, mad or not, appears to have achieved considerable military success in managing to overcome a coalition of Bohemia, Austria and Poland alongside his other triumphs. However whilst his reign was successful, I am rather intrigued by the fact that Louis' father struggled so greatly, it certainly seems as if he had a bad time of things, to put it mildly. Therefore I look forward to reading of his unfortunate reign next.

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Indeed, and Charles VI's reign was nothing compared to his successor's: I must say that the sheer amount of events that plagued Charles VII's reign was staggering, I almost thought that a new dynasty would have arised during those turbulent years... coupled with SRI's healthy dose of societal quarrels and some other mishaps, you'll se his reign was quite a troubled one.

However, I must admit that I like to imbue each and every king of my games with a 'personality' of sorts. Charles VI, as you noticed, was quite a warmonger: he was devoted to warfare and to exapnding France's borders, no matter the cost. And Charles VII I chose to be the 'compromiser' ; he who would try to accomodate to the wills of his vassals and various subordinates, eroding the central authority in the process, whilst his son, Louis XI, I wanted him to be a cunning schemer. That not only helps for storytelling, but also makes the game all the funnier! When I have a narrowminded King on the throne and he is succeeded by his liberalesque son, and the Feudal system gets vapulated... only to be restored to its glory upon his untimely death when a reactionary Regency Council rules the Kingdom on the heir's name... it's mighty fun!

I must say roleplaying is what makes this game become never boring to me: I shun the very idea of World Conquest: even the thought of playing without SRI, and having an unstable vanilla Europe makes me shiver. Note that I usually choose the monarch's aptitudes depending on their skill on the three areas of Administration, Diplomacy and Military, but sometimes I take the liberty to change them... or at least to confer them some 'peculiar' traits that make each and every monarch unique.

Anyway, glad to see you liked it! Chapter II will follow shortly, and then shall we embark on Louis XI's epic - or not so - journey... we shall see, for even I know not what fate has in store for the monarch.