The Red Lioness of Holland

SplendidTuesday said:

I'm liking this AAR; narrative/historical AARs are fun to read, and this one is especially well-written. I love Jacqueline as a character; she seems to be a fiery type. Hope she can smash the Austrians and the Brabantians!

Also, you should give Archbishop Henrick some screen time; he seems like a cunning character.

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Your wish is my command. Stay tuned for the the update after this next one

Viking_Manstein said:

Epic narrative, one of the best I have read for a long time, I will be following with great exitement. Subscribed !

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Why thank you for the high praise!

Rifal said:

I must say i really enjoy this aar. Jacqueline is a really interesting charachter. What is her age in game

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She's 15.

Countess Jacqueline sat with her hands steepled, pressing them against her forehead as she closed her eyes in thought. A casual observer might have thought her in prayer, but Jacqueline's mind rarely strayed to the divine, especially concerning matters of state. God helps those who help themselves, after all. No, her thoughts were fully engaged in finding a solution.

"We must negotiate, my lady. We cannot fight the full strength of Austria."

She wasn't sure which of her councilors had said that, and she didn't actually care. The comment was a useless banality... obvious, unconstructive and unhelpful. She ignored the rest of their chatter and bickering, trying to think.

Several reports had come in from various agents that told her Austria was losing ground to both the Hungarians and the Swiss. It made no sense for the Emperor to detach a significant portion of his forces and march them all the way north to Aachen, then leave them encamped there. Dokkum had pulled all of the sieging parties back to Limburg, to concentrate the army's force. Only with all their strength did he estimate they had a chance of repelling the Austrians' current forces, and that did not account for possible reinforcements.

And while their army lingered in Limburg, Antoine was raising new levies all across Brabant. Already there were reports of enemy infantry in Zeeland, pillaging the countryside there. She dared not draw back sufficient forces to secure the homeland without losing the main body of her army to an Austrian attack.

Her eyes flashed opened. "Let us play a game."

The various councilmen fell silent immediately and stared at her. "My lady?" one ventured.

"This is a game my father taught me as a way of analyzing affairs of diplomacy. Often we get too caught up in our own perspective and fail to consider matters from that of our enemy's." Memorizing dates and names from a few hundred years of history books was a pointless enterprise unless you understood why the wars had been fought, why some of the alliances had succeeded while others had failed. He had forced her to analyze why the rulers in her dusty tomes had chosen the way they had, and when she finally found the answers, it gave her a much deeper understanding of history.

"Let us consider Emperor Albrecht’s position. He threatens us with a significant portion of his forces while Vienna sits besieged. The question is why."

Her foreign minister shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you did declare war on a fellow Imperial territory, my lady."

"Yes..." she conceded.”But he could have come to liberate Brabant from us at his leisure, once he had finished his war with the Hungarians and Swiss."

"Perhaps..." the spy minister ventured, "Perhaps his situation is dire enough that this army would not be enough to make a difference back on the home front."

She brooded over that comment silently for a moment, letting the seed of an idea blossom in her mind. A smile grew on her face as the realization dawned. "Indeed. If Emperor Albrecht is as badly outnumbered as the reports suggest, then his only hope is for a foreign intervention. He hopes to bring Burgundy into the war."

The finance minister was lost. "How does that have anything to do with us?"

"The Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, is Antoine's brother. There's little love lost between them, otherwise Antoine would have managed to bring Burgundy into the war against us and we'd be doomed for certain. But if Burgundy and Austria were to both war against us, then they would need to sign articles of alliance and through that, the Emperor could drag Burgundy into the conflict against the Swiss."

There was a short silence. "A long line of conjecture, my lady. And yet it does make sense." Ser Jan was the one who spoke up now. He sat uncomfortably in his seat, preferring to stand behind her as a bodyguard, as he had in the earlier days. "We know there is little fear of Burgundy intervening, since Jean himself sent that apology for his brother's heinous behavior. But perhaps the Emperor does not know that. Should we send him a message informing him as such?"

"No. The Emperor wouldn't have arrived at such an incorrect conclusion alone." Her voice was determined, now that she suspected she had figured out Antoine's game. "If Antoine has managed to deceive the Emperor with promises of Burgundian intervention, any rebuttals we put out will only sound like desperation." She considered for a moment. "The scouts said the Austrian army was transporting large amounts of wounded, did they not?" The young Countess saw several of them nodding in agreement. "Likely Albrecht intends to winter his army in Aachen. He can fulfill his commitment to Antoine by keeping us pinned in Limburg, while refreshing his troop numbers with conscripts provided by the local German princes. In spring, when the passes are clear, he can cross the Alps once more and renew the campaign against the Swiss, whether Antoine had lived up to his promise or not."

"If that is indeed his plan, I fear it is a good one," sighed the foreign minister. "How best then to disrupt it?"

"It is a plan made in weakness," replied Jacqueline. "It leaves him with his options and hopes for the best, rather than forging his own victory. He chooses thusly because he has no better options. If we strike hard now, he will likely see the cost as too high and pull his army back."

Ser Jan blanched. "My lady, the Austrians outnumber us and have a significant advantage in cavalry. This may not be a fight we can win."

"We don't need to win it," she argued. "We only need to make it too costly for him to stay in Aachen. Then afterwards, win or lose, we'll send him a message vowing to pursue his army all the way back to Austria and destroy it."

"Madness," the foreign minister objected. "How could we send our forces in pursuit across Europe while our villages and homes burn?"

"We wouldn't," she observed pussiantly, "but he need only think we will. If I were to prepare a furious and raving dispatch vowing mutual destruction, while my foreign minister were to send a secret message a few days later explaining how he begged me not to commit to this path, yet I were unable to see reason..."

"A devious plan," Ser Jan intoned, his voice not entirely approving. "If you convince him that you are committed to this insanity, he would likely withdraw entirely and give us the time we need to deal with Brabant. Yet there is a danger that this reputation might spread and poison your ability to make alliances in the future."

"Let us survive this first conflict, Ser Jan," she said with a tired smile.


"You look dreadful, my lady."

Ser Jan was always blunt, and Jacqueline appreciated that about him. She glanced up in the flickering candlelight, slouching with her head propped up on a hand. Her mother would have had a fit to see her in such an unregal pose. "No one told me being a Countess would be this hard." It sounded laughably childish, but the sentiment was true.

She could feel the bags under her eyes. They had received word of the battle having been joined against the Austrians early this morning, but no messengers came to report the results for some time. She had been unable to sleep, and now sat in the dark council chamber alone with Ser Jan. Luckily, they were results worth waiting for.


"After the battle, the messengers handed your note to Emperor Albrecht himself. They said he turned purple with rage, and they consider themselves lucky to return with their lives."

It was a better outcome that she could have hoped for. "Ensure that they are properly rewarded," she said quietly.

"I shall. And you need sleep, my lady."

"How many men did we lose?" she asked, ignoring him.

"Some thousands. And there is no one to take their places. All of our men of fighting age are committed in the field."

She wondered if she could imagine thousands of corpses, strewn about the battlefield. It seemed to defy the imagination. "And the mercenaries?"

"They are still getting organized." Norman cavalry, Genoese crossbowmen, and the last few Hollander recruits they had managed to round up, all training in the fields outside the capital. "There are some discipline and organizational problems, but... perhaps with another week..."

The young Countess rubbed her temples. "No. Ser Dokkum's men have orders to shadow the Emperor's forces as he travels south out of Aachen. Even once we've confirmed he withdraws, the men are exhausted and injured, and it will take them time to get back. We need to lead the forces here in Amsterdam into Brabant. We can smash the levies that Antoine is raising piecemeal before they join with those already in Zeeland, which should buy us enough time for the main army to return and begin the sieges."

Her use of the word 'we' disturbed Jan. "Surely you do not intend to join them."

"I do, and you will be coming too. I'll need your tactical advice." She gave a thin smile at his outraged expression. "Peace, Ser Jan. I'll stay with the baggage train and away from any fighting. God willing, the mustering regiments will scatter without a fight. I doubt there will be any pitched battles."

"Still, the danger, my lady..."

"I need to negotiate with the Brabantian nobility myself. A representative won't command the same respect, nor would they be authorized to make the decisions needed to sway the nobles to my cause." She rose, her feet unsteady. "Please do not fight me in this, Ser Jan. I fear you are one of the few people who still have faith in me. We leave at first light."

The old knight's expression was pained but he eventually bowed his head. "I'll tell them to make ready to leave at noon. They need time to break camp, and you need time to sleep."

That was a compromise she was willing to make.


Life on the campaign trail was an easier adjustment than she had feared. It wasn't so much different than some of the hunting trips her father had brought her on, but the baggage train moved slower than she was used to.

They had received word through an intermediary that one of the prominent noble families in Breda wanted to throw in their support with her, and had requested a meeting here. She had ridden forward, along with her guards, to where the main body of her army was gathering. Ser Jan had been strongly opposed to the meeting, and she had understood his concern, but felt the risk was worthwhile. If such a prominent noble family could be convinced to turn to her side...

The messenger had informed her the meeting was to be at a large open field on the north bank of the Mark river, not far from the city of Breda. The crops were mostly harvested and the field fallow, leaving them an unrestricted view. She surveyed it, not seeing her counterparts. Unfortunately there was only one bridge, and bringing her forces across was a slow process.

Suddenly, a great cry arose across the field, and a large force emerged from the tree line. They were a good distance away, but the mass of humanity continued to pour out of the forest, running at full tilt towards her forces. Shouts of alarm and fear rose up on all sides of her. She could see the waving insignias of Brabant, as well as the personal colors of Antoine de Valois in the banners, sending a chill of fear through her. He's here.

Ser Jan grabbed her horse by the reigns, shouting over the clamor of her army's dismay. "Countess, the battle is lost! We must go back! I will see you clear to the other side of the river!"

"No!" She could already see the Genoese mercenary crossbowmen beginning to rout, those with her on the north bank trampling those on the bridge in their haste to get back to the southern side. "Release me, Ser!"

She yanked the reigns from his grip and rode out in front of the forces, pulling her father's sword from the scabbard where it lay on the rear of her mount, holding it aloft. "Men of Holland, and esteemed allies!" she shouted, wishing her voice didn't sound so shrill. She took a deep breath until her lungs were full to bursting, yelling as loud as thunder. "Retreat if you wish, but your Countess rides into battle!" Her voice only carried to the few hundred closest to her, but they were the majority of Hollanders and Norman cavalry that had made it across. They looked at her a variety of expressions... some fearful, some confused, most in open shock. But when she turned her mount towards the enemy, a thunderous roar was taken up by those nearest, and the roar extended up and down their lines, even to those who were too far to hear, and they charged forward along with her.

Ashantai said:

I can't believe I haven't posted to this before!

A masterful narrative exchange. Well written, good characterisation and very dramatic too!

Well done.

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*take a bow*

Arakhor said:

Ooohh, I wonder if Antoine will die here, rather than at Agincourt, though I'm won't be surprised if Jean the Fearless takes the field, either for or against Jacqueline!

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For better or for worse, Antoine yet has another role to play in our story. As for Jean... well... you shall see soon.

Amadeus said:

Magnifique, magnifique !!!!

What an intense master-piece you wrote.
One of the best narrative AAR I've read in years !




For a moment I was there, charging forward along with her :O

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Ah you do me far too much credit.

After writing my first post, I grew exceedingly worried that no one was interested in this type of AAR (note the four days between my first and second post, and the fact that no one commented in between them!) But with each flowery post like yours, I become more convinced this is an endevour worth my time that people are enjoying

When historians analyzed the battle later, they would claim the Battle of Mark River was one of the more remarkable in medieval records. On one hand, nearly everything seemed against the Hollanders. They were outnumbered nearly two to one, ambushed, and their forces were divided by the banks of the Mark river. On the other hand, Antoine's forces were of a significantly lower quality. While the Hollander infantry wielded pikes or sword and shield, his peasant levies carried scythes or spears or whatever they had available. His cavalry were also poorer and in fewer number. Perhaps most importantly, Antoine's forces fielded virtually no missile weapons at all. Had he managed to bring with him even a small group of archers, the future Queen Jacqueline's story would have almost certainly ended here, for she rode into battle on an unbarded horse in only her finest riding clothes. Without armor, even one arrow would have likely been fatal.

As it stands, historians are divided on how much she actually contributed to the battle. Some contemporary accounts have her wading into the battle, laying about slashing with her sword, but later historians find such a premise highly unlikely. They attribute such writings to the cult of personality that would later surround Queen Jacqueline, rather than to historical fact. Still, it’s undeniable that she accompanied her knights on at least that initial single charge during the first moments of the battle. The Hollander nobles and Norman mercenary cavalry are thought to have formed a tight wedge around her as they smashed into Antoine's forces, severely blunting the initial charge by the Brabantians.

While Jacqueline's participation in the battle after that is unclear, all accounts agree that the Hollander situation was dire. The left flank, mainly supported by the unreliable Genoese crossbowmen, collapsed entirely, and some hundreds drowned as they tried to flee and were driven into the river. The right flank held, though the fighting was bloody and inconclusive. The strong middle, containing a majority of the cavalry, repulsed repeated attacks from the front and from the shattered left flank, all the way up until force of infantry under the banner of Utrecht crested the hill and took the Brabantians in the rear.


A gathering had formed after the battle... a knot of mounted men in a riot of liveries, and one mounted young woman in fine garb. The nobles of both armies were reveling in their victories together, swapping stories and boasts. The leaders of the two factions spoke in a more subdued tone together off to the side.

"Archbishop," she said, unable to keep a smile of her face. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Nonsense," the Archbishop of Utrecht, Hendrick the Third, casually replied. He shifted his mount up closer to her, the animal snorting and prancing, uncomfortable with the smell of blood that wafted over the battlefield. "We had an agreement, you and I. I'd hate to see you get killed before we can carry it out."

"Indeed." The excitement of the battle was fading, and a powerful lethargy replaced it. She turned away from the bloody field to look at the river. Downstream was strewn with corpses, but the view upstream was peaceful and clean. "Dare I ask how you arrived at such an opportune time?"

"Your once husband to be offered me an opportunity to fight with him. I expressed interest, and he informed me of the location where he planned to lure you." The archbishop smiled. "Technically, I did not specify which side I would fight on."

Jacqueline knew she was right to be wary of him, but she had little room to complain at the moment. "Well, you've earned your part of our bargain twice over, today. I'm afraid I'm not yet in a position to fulfill my end just yet, but..."

He waved her off. "I've already detached the rest of the Archbishopric's forces to besiege Arnhem as we speak."

She eyed him. "If you didn't need my help taking Gelre..."

"Well... as far as that goes, you've helped immensely. My claims on the land have long been recognized by the Pope and Austria as well, but Antoine would not hear a word of it. I needed something to distract him, and you've been quite helpful in that regard." He nodded to her gratefully. "I do hope that you don't mind that I helped myself to my half of the bargain while you were doing all the work." He smiled, then spotted someone behind her approaching, and motioned them to approach. "Speaking of which, I have a gift for you."

"Your /gifts/ are never free," she grumbled.

"You're learning quickly, my child." His smile was dangerous. "But in this case, I gain as much from the gift as you do. Both of us have grave need of ridding ourselves of this man."

Soldiers in the livery of Utrecht approached, and the gathered nobles from both armies parted to let them through. A figure was haphazardly deposited into the dirt before her. He hit the ground hard with a grunt, unable to break his fall as his hands bound behind his back. She swallowed with difficulty as she recognized him. Before her was her betrothed, Antoine de Valois.

"Harlot! Spawn of the Devil Himself!" Antoine got up to his knees and tried to spit at her, but the bloody saliva merely caught on his lip, running down his chin. A terrible wound was torn down half his face, matting his hair with blood and running down into his eye.

She dismounted swiftly, displeasure clear on her face. "Why were his wound not tended?" Receiving only a shrug from the two men who had delivered him, she gripped her cloak, struggling for a second with the thick fabric, before managing to rip a long strip off from the base. As she approached the man once destined to wed her, he lunged at her, but fell awkwardly at her feet. Ser Jan was at her side in a flash, his sword drawn. "Put that away Ser. He is bound and no threat." Antoine was thrashing about as she approached. "Hold him down."

Wrapping once against his unwilling head, then tearing a second strip from her cloak, she wrapped him a second time laterally, holding the first in place. When he was released, the blood had already half soaked through the cloth, but the wrappings were tight. He sat up, sullen.

"He is yours to ransom," Hendrick said graciously.

"Who would pay for him?" came her retort. "His brother? His uncle?"

Both suggestions brought chuckles from the surrounding soldiers and nobles. King Charles was insane, and cared not a whit for the cadet branch of the de Valois line. And Jean...

"Duke Jean might pay for him... to use him as a latrine cleaner!" one suggested.

"Or as a quintain!" another chimed in, to gales of laughter.

"I will pay my ransom myself!" Antoine bellowed angrily.

"And how do you intend to do that?" Jacqueline said, her voice neutral and crisp.

He looked at her as if she were a lackwit. "We'll arrive at a sum of money to be paid, and I'll sign it away in a treaty. Did your councilors never explain how to set terms to a peace agreement to you?"

She cleared her throat. "What I mean is, how do you intend to pay a ransom when I've seized all of your lands and assets?"

"On what grounds?" he gaped, incredulous.

"On the grounds that I will soon control them, and that gives me the right."

The battlefield was deadly quiet, except for the faint moans of the wounded, far off. Jacqueline's threat was a major breach of diplomatic protocol, and all of Europe would resent her claiming lands to which she had no legitimate claim. And for the first time in his life, Antoine seemed to honestly have nothing to say.

Without awaiting a reply, Jacqueline swung up onto her charger, looking down at him from her mount. "Tell me, Antoine," she began, her voice icy cold. "Did you kill my parents?"

He hesitated for a moment, then his lip drew up in a snarl. "Yes, you harpy thief. I killed your damnable parents. I'd do it again in a second if I could."

The men on horseback around them exploded into a fury of shouts and threats, calling for Antoine's head. William and Margaret had been well loved, even in Utrecht. She held her hand for silence, getting it after a few moments. Then she passed his sentence. "Get him proper treatment for his wounds, then put him on a carriage. Escort him to a European court of his choice."

She rode away deep in thought, ignoring the sounds of dismay behind her. Ser Jan fell in stride on one side of her, and Archbishop Hendrick on the other. "I am not sure it wise to let him go, my lady," the man of the cloth urged her. "He will spread slanderous lies against you, and cause you no end of trouble." When she didn't respond, he pressed his point. "I did not give him to you to free."

"No, but give him to you me you did," she retorted quietly.

"He confessed to having killed the late Count and Countess!" Ser Jan insisted.

"Yes, in front of a dozen nobles no less. The authenticity of his confession would not be doubted." She pondered as she rode along the upstream of the river, trying to clear her head. Something about the way he had hesitated, about the flash of decision, and the burning hate in his eyes as he confessed. Until this moment, she had been convinced of his guilt, but ironically, now that she had it, doubts filled her. Every instinct in her body told her that his confession was that of a broken man, who wished for only one last way to hurt the girl that had spurned him before he was put to death. No, Antoine was not guilty.

But if Antoine had not killed her parents, who had?


The next few attempts at negotiating surrenders went much more smoothly. The various Brabantian nobles opened their gates in exchange for a pledge from her not to remove any of them from power or strip anyone of their lands. Anyone besides Antoine, anyway.


Within a few months, the transition of authority went smoothly. Jacqueline honored her promise to ensure Gelre passed into Hendrick's hands, and then proceeded to annex the entirety of Brabant into Holland. There was one small step that she had to take before that was possible though, and it provoked great dismay from her advisors.


Holland's departure from the Holy Roman Empire was abrupt, but in retrospect, perhaps not too surprising. She was far from the core of German territory, the Emperors of late had done nothing for Holland but war against her, both in 1400 and now again in 1416. It took some diplomatic wrangling, but all of Brabant was also removed from the Empire as well, and the Emperor, crippled by the devastating war against Hungary, could do little but extract a laughably small monetary concession out of Jacqueline.


By April, the paperwork was signed, and Holland was at peace once more. Jacqueline had more than doubled the size of her birthright territory in less than a year. A remarkable start, by any standard. But the remarkable aspects to Jacqueline's rule were just beginning, as we shall see.

After a weekend of frustration, I'm finally giving up and reformatting my whole desktop. The problems it was having made no sense to me. It could boot up, but would quickly grind to a halt, quickly enough that I couldn't even get to the EU3 saved games folder and get the files to an external drive!

So, I'm going to try to look at this as a mixed blessing. I'll do my best to recreate the game in my new favorite mod, Death and Taxes. I still have all my image files from my play through until 1500 backed up here on my netbook (but not the saves themselves... stupid!). So please bear with me if there are any inconsistencies. Screenshots will likely end up being a mix of old and new material, but I'll try and keep the narrative coherent.

Sorry for the lack of a real update! We'll see what I can do during the week...

It took a lot of effort, but I've managed to get a game that's more or less the same as my old save file. Brabant was annexed at the same time and Utrecht got Gelre... those are the two most important facts for the immediate narrative.

Still, the larger diplomatic picture is vastly changed. I had played my old game through to 1620, and there was a HUGE Prussia, which I thought was a cool development, as well as a powerful Russia and Persia, the Ottomans were gone, and the British Isles were split between Denmark, Ireland and Scotland.

In this game, its still quite early, but England is faring much better, Burgundy is expanding into Italy, and the Ottomans are gobbling up the Balkans. Too early to tell what impact that will have on my long term narrative, but the stronger England is definitely going to make things harder...

I also changed the settings on this game to make colonization easier for the AI (bumping colonists up to 400), since I noticed the AI was fairly slow to colonize last time. Since I won't be colonizing until much later (for various plot related reasons), this should make things more interesting.

Next post will be more story, I promise!