Brief Years of Silence
A brief period of rather uneventful peace followed Lindschold's return to power, although he did return to his slow renovations and modernization of Norway's infrastructure, building fortresses and beating out roads in the still-wild northern regions of Lappland and Finnmark. Money was scarce coming in to the Norwegian treasury, but her small navy and army made this bearable. Even so, the count found himself surreptitiously introducing coins to the Norwegian economy. Nonetheless, it was in quantities that would disturb only the most acutely aware merchants and clergymen.
Even so, this seemed to provoke a debate amongst some of the country's more prominent figures in trading and those in offices for profit under the crown. Days wore by without word from the regent until eventually he stepped in to settle the debate with a speech about the Argosies of old, and Norway's tradition as a trading nation within the Hanseatic league.
The remains of Finland were annexed by Novgorod once were more, whilst the Lithuanians and Poles started to drive the Tatars back out of Europe. Peace in Norway came to end on 12th April, 1421, when the Scots, flushed with success in their war against England, declared war upon Norway, claiming some obscene right to the islands north of Caledonia.
An Auld Alliance Divided
With diplomatic relations between Scotland and France strained, with Norway and Scotland at war, and with France and Norway both having a vested interest in defying further Scottish gains, it was safe to say that the days of the Auld Alliance were long past. Now there was simply a war to contend with - which it seemed Scotland was destined to throw away, committing a portion of her fleet to the Kattegat within days of their declaration arriving in Oslo. It was quickly intercepted by Norwegian and Swedish ships, and over several weeks ships were back and forth across the North sea, ships disengaging, more arriving, in a constant whirl of frenetic activity. The Scots took the opportunity to march on Orkney, seizing it while the Norwegian fleet was busied, and afterwards, in port taking on repairs after a solid victory, and a Swedish capture of a Scottish vessel.
The Irish kingdom of Munster - an ally of the Scots, deployed a small army to Iceland, which became the first focus for Norwegian retaliation. The fleet took up 5,000 men, and began to ferry them across the North Sea to the Faroe isles - which was to become the heavily burdened center of operations for the war. From the Faroes, the fleet took the troops to Iceland. The Irish army there - outnumbered almost 2-1 were caught by surprised, and were easily driven inland, where they were left to freeze in the Icelandic hinterland as December came around. The Scots made no further advances on Norwegian isles in this time, an assurance of her naval failings, and the fleet wasted no time moving the troops back to the Faroes, and with little intermission, on to Orkney, to dispatch the Scottish garrison there. The Scots made another attempt to break through the Kattegat, and were again met by Swedish and Norwegian ships barring her path.
War time seemed to make a good excuse for some folk to dodge their taxes, and there was some minor instability at home, whilst the count - noticeably absent from the war - continued his old policy of removing local administrative roles and merging provinces and districts in to larger regions for more efficient management. The fleet made it back to Orkney just in time to seek a flotilla of smaller vessels that was about to move the entire Scottish army to crush the Norwegians there. Instead, the Scots had to content themselves with lewd comments and blasphemies hurled from the shoreline. Torsson was illustrating his value to the country day by day.
The Swedes played their part - dispatching troops to Ireland to remove Munster from playing any important role in the war, quickly occupying the capital. Peace however, would have to come at the count's leisure. The Scottish garrison in Orkney surrendered in the October of 1422, threatened by the prospect of another winter without supplies in so remote a location. Seizing upon the continued dominance of the Norwegian fleet, the troops were then smuggled throughout the undefended Western Isles of Scotland. The count eventually came to terms with the fact that Munster had no money he could extract from them in a peace deal, instead opting them to free the occupied lands of Tyrone, and to annul their alliance with Scotland. More importantly, this freed the Swedes for a potential invasion of Scotland.
The death of a wealthy Norwegian Hanseatic trader made possible a sporadic continuation of Norway's long-term ongoing infrastructural development, in spite of the ongoing war, and as January came around, new constructions in Lappland were begun, named in his honor.
Meanwhile, the Scots attempted to break the blockade dividing the Highlands and Orkney, sending their finest admiral to face Rikard Torsson in pitched battle, 9 Scottish ships against 5 Norwegian ships, albeit quickly reinforced by 5 more from around the western isles. For weeks, the fleets exchanged blows around the coastal regions of Caledonia. But eventually, as spring began to creep up from the south, the Scots fled the battle, outmatched by Rikard Torsson, outclassed by the superior Norwegian ships, and overpowered by the superior seamanship of true Norwegian sailors. The fleet was now forced to juggle ships in and out of port to maintain the deterrent to the Scots, whilst rapidly building up much needed repairs - something the Scots could undertake at their leisure.
It seemed that the Scottish admiralty had given up on breaking the Norwegian fleet now, and made yet another attempt to break through the Kattegat - and this time they went unimpeded - until they reached København, where they were intercepted. But not by Danish fleets - the duchy of Cleves committed her 4 ships to the seas to fight to the Scottish fleet, now battered and bruised. And, in a blow to the pride of any true Scot, the duchy sank two of the Scottish ships, including her flagship.
The war took a sudden turn for the worse, however, when the king of England - presumably trying to curry favor with the Scots - declared war on Denmark. Torsson wasn't willing to commit ships to England to learn more of their fleets, and confidence in the blockade was shaken - but it continued, albeit paranoia now hung around the fleet. The English had put many ships to sea in the past, and it was quite possible they would do so now. Indeed, 40 ships sailed from London to break the Norwegian blockade. Little could be done to defy them, although the core of the fleet managed to go to port before it was caught. The English landed troops in Ireland to fight the newest Danish allies in Ulster - it was just a matter of time before it fell, and those troops were then moved on to fight the Norwegians stranded in the Western Isles.
English squadrons quickly dispatched Danish and Swedish fleets, sending them back to port, and creating a very difficult situation for the union. As one English Squadron passed Orkney by on its way in to the North Sea, Torsson took a gamble, sallying forth from the isles to engage the English, hoping to sink or damage as many English vessels as possible before they were reinforced. As 11 Norwegian ships sought to annihilate 7 English, the war reached a stage of frenetic activity, as the Swedes managed to outmaneuver the English and land an army to right theirs in Ireland. The Scots broke through the Kattegat, finally, and began a blockade of the Danish straits in earnest, whilst the Clevian and Danish fleets sunk a Scottish ship - and began to fight an English squadron along the eastern English coast.
Unfortunately, the English Squadron survived intact, if rather battered, when reinforcements arrived, forcing Torsson to disengage and return to port before ships could be lost. The English then deployed a small occupation force in Orkney, which could prematurely force Torsson out of port if it was quickly successful. It also freed the way for the Scots to march across - they seemed reluctant, however - perhaps still wary of the wily Norwegian navy, even if it was now heavily outnumbered. English troops started to arrive in the Norwegian mainland - quickly outnumbering those Norwegian troops in the capital, who were forced to stand fast and wait for reinforcements from Sweden, whilst the Danish army stood idle in their capital. If only to cement their naval superiority, England then summoned their long standing allies of Portugal in to the war.
The surrender of the Scots in the western isles freed up Norwegian troops, and Torsson decided to take the risk of ferrying them to Orkney to ward away English advances there. The garrison surrendered as he made his return trip, forcing a more difficult landing, and paranoia set in once more. Rightly so. The English fleet forced Torsson to port in the Faroes, abandoning Norwegian troops - just victorious over the English occupation force - stranded as the Scottish army marched in. It was here that the duchy of Cleves did something both insane and incredibly valiant - sacrificing her fleet to halt the armies of Scotland - losing 4 of her 6 ships to the English to save Norwegian lives. With a foothold in Agder, the English marched on Oslo, and finally, the Danish began to march. But with her fleets sunk, she could not reach the mainland. She had waited too long, and was at the mercy of the English fleet.
As much as Torsson wished to continue his constant pin pricking of England's fleet, the orders came through to return the army to Sweden, so as to be able to fight the English at home. It was the Portuguese who took advantage of this, curiously. Landing troops in the Faroes, it seemed they were more dedicated to their alliance than was expected. Oslo fell within months, leaving the high command to fleet to Stockholm, to conduct their war from there, whilst the fleet was trapped outside of the baltic, with the Oresund blockaded by the English and Portuguese.
As the English fleet returned to port after several months of operating in the Baltic, Torsson spotted an opening. He sailed the fleet out from Bergen and in to the straits, engaging the one English squadron now blockaded Denmark, and quickly sent it trailing back to port. This freed the Danish army to march on to Sweden - and in turn, Norway, to fight the English back. Oslo fell as they marched, and the English did they best to drive the Norwegian army northwards, whilst Swedish and Danish troops began to pursue from the south. But as the English reached Lappland, the lack of infrastructure ironically saved the day. The Norwegian army was bested there, but as it retreated through familiar terrain, the English were trapped by blizzards. The rest of the union's armies simply waited for the shattered remnants of the English to emerge from the icy wasteland in spring, whereupon they set upon them, annihilating the army.
The Scottish by now, had lost faith in their war - and were desperate to bring a peace to deal with internal issues, freeing the English province of Northumberland as an entirely independent kingdom - under the protection of the Union, of course.
This was of course, a blunder by the regent, as England immediately declared war upon the newly formed kingdom, and within a couple of months, had annexed it. Some small reassurance for the war came however, when Castille declared war on Portugal, which would hopefully see a reasonable share of England's naval power dismissed. Orkney was once again turned over to English occupation, but with Torsson operating out of the Danish capital now, the isles would simply have to stay under foreign occupation for the time being. A white peace with Portugal saved Norway some heartache, as occupying troops left Iceland and the Faroes, but it was only a matter of time before the English replaced them. And indeed they did. With the Union's fleets trapped in port, the war continued with England being able to pluck the isles away at its leisure, leaving the Norwegians at home ever resentful of the Danes whose war they were suffering for.
The English blockade of the Oresund allowed it to seize the Count's own lands, too - Gotland was unreachable so long as the blockade continued. But, it wasn't long before the English squadrons sought repairs, and again, Torsson emerged from hiding to try and sink as many English ships as he could as entrap. The Danes, and their remaining 3 galleys made a bid to assist, but as the English squadrons returned from London, the ongoing skirmishes saw the Danes pay, while Torsson's foresight enabled his escape. Torsson continued to sail in and out of port, essentially acting as a privateer, despite his pedigree. His success was the only way England could be fought, and that entailed gambling with Norwegian ships. But of course, the bulk of the English fleet returned to the Kattegat and Oresund, and Torsson was forced to port once more.
With English naval superiority confirmed, but unable to make further gains, Landschold was forced to agree to the most humiliation peace agreement possible under the conditions.
Now it was Norway's work to recover from the war, and the work of the dynasty to remind Sweden and Norway that Denmark was not the enemy.