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John Forseti

Northumbrian Nationalist
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Jan 13, 2008
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  • Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
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Hello, I have decided to have another go at doing an AAR. Hopefully it will go a lot better than my last and only two(my Belgian V2 AAR killed by save corruption and England EU3 AAR by too much modding) so I'm still rather new to the AAR thing, please be forgiving :)


Set Up
Tag: NOL - Northumbria(Northumberland)
Version: Europa Universalis: DW 5.1
Settings: Default except Aggresion: Low | Lucky Nations : Off
Start Date: 12 August 1414

Mods
Customised DAO lite map
ATAGE 3
Modestus Modified Map
Customised National Ideas (more powerful)
Several other minor adjustments

Setting
The first years of the fifteenth century saw huge numbers of rebellions in England agaisnt King Henry IV with three uprisings in Northumberland alone, in real life all of these were successfully put down but in my game I have created a divergence where a fourth and final northern rebellion sees Northumbria break away from England. Northumbria is based on the vanilla country of Northumberland(tag NOL) but I have modded it heavily and based it a little on the ancient Anglo-Saxon Kingdom that once ruled from the Humber to the Forth. I gave Northumbria cores on Cumbria and Yorkshire aswell as Northumberland, gave it ownership of them and removed England's cores, and also gave it a core on Lothian in Scotland(I moved Scotland's capital from Lothian to Fife since a-I wanted to be able to take the province without conquering the whole country and b-Scotland's capital actualy wasn't Edinburgh until atleast the late 1430s). Northumbria and Cumbria also start with custom Northumbrian rather than English culture.

Cheats
My story is heavily based on the events that occur in game, but is not bound by them. I reserve the right to correct for the occaisionally erratic, implausible and downright suicidal behaviour the AI sometimes exhibits aswell as give it(very rarely) the odd push now and then.


Other Notes
I'm a terrible proof reader, I usually see what I intended to write rather than what is actually written, so I won't be offended if anyone points out any spelling, grammar or other errors they notice.
 
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Prologue: The Birth of a Kingdom

Prologue: The Birth of a Kingdom

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The dawn of the fifteenth century was a turbulent time for England, with the King, Henry IV trying to secure himself abroad for the throne of France and warring at home against rebellion, uprisings and plots, himself having seized the throne in dubious circumstances from Richard II just before the turn of the century. In the south powerful lords plotted his downfall. In the west Owain Glyndŵr declared himself the Prince of Wales and led an uprising for independence. In the north the influential Percy family, Earls of Northumberland and previously allies of the King, rise in rebellion time after time. And across the border in Scotland, attempts to ferment further unrest and outright civil war were in full swing. Without the aid of the King’s highly gifted son, Henry of Monmouth(later King Henry V) it is likely England may have collapsed completely. However, with such aid by 1410 King Henry and his son had satisfactorily restored order in the south and were managing the Glyndŵr rebellion and putting down his supporters. The Scottish Richard II impersonator had been foiled and the plotters captured and imprisoned or executed. In the north of the country, with the shattering of Henry Percy and his family at the Battle of Bramham Moor and the promotion of the more acquiescent de Neville family, it was believed that the region was finally secure. This belief proved to be mistaken.

The Percys had long ruled over the area almost as their own private domain and taxes and payments to the royals far away in London often fell behind and with the rebellion, stopped all together, as a result the peasants and burghers of the land were a slight more prosperous and enjoyed a few minor privileges not quite shared across the whole realm. When the de Nevilles arrived and tried to bring the region into line there was great resistance which increasingly lead to violence. Ralph de Neville found so few loyal men in Northumberland and was refused so many payments he was forced to increasingly draw on the resources of his other possessions in Yorkshire, Westmoreland and Cumbria, spreading the dissatisfaction there, which clever rebellious agents fermented into further resistance, which in turn was met by ever harsher demands and reprisals from de Neville. In the autumn of 1411 unrest had reached such a fever pitch that while out on a hunt from Bamburgh, the seat of Northumberland, Ralph de Neville’s party was ambushed, captured and put to death. Ralph, his three eldest sons and many of his key advisors, vassals and allies died that day leaving a one year old boy as heir to the de Neville line and the region in chaos. It also attracted the full attention of London.

When Henry Monmouth learned of the news, for he was now ruler of England in all but name having successfully marginalised his own weak father, he set about a terrible vengeance declaring he would finally end the ‘Northern Distraction’ once and for all. His skill was undeniable as he sliced and destroyed the hosts in the north until they were mobs and then destroyed the mobs as well before setting about the towns and villages, waging a campaign of purging and terror not seen since the Harrying of the North orchestrated by William the Conqueror. However, while his predecessor managed to break the North, this time the peoples only became more resolved. Tales of the previous purge spread like wildfire and with them romanticised legends of the old Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, the foremost power of the British Isles during much of the dark ages. From noble to peasant the people rallied around these stories were inspired to ever greater resistance, and a guerilla campaign was waged. Peasants poisoned wells, servants poisoned meals and daggers flashed in the dark, exacting a terrible attrition on the King’s men.

In Scotland the Northern uprising was greeted with glee and King James II used the opportunity to strengthen his hold on Edinburgh, Lothian and the Berwick/Tweed area which had been in dispute with England and held by that country on and off for a great many years. In 1413, not long after Henry Monmouth finally succeeded his father to the throne of England, King James supplied and funded the grandson of Henry Percy, also called Henry, and sent him south to wreak further havoc. However the increased consciousness of the northerners proved the Percy family’s final undoing for the Percys were originally from Normandy and had been loyal supports of William the Conquerer during his conquest and the purge and had gained their position in the North thusly. When Henry presented himself in the city of Newcastle and attempted to claim his ‘rightful’ lands and peoples the crowd turned hostile and began to throw fruit, vegetables and stones. A fluke cobble struck Percy in the temple cracking his head open. Though rescued by his guards the infection and corruption did not spare him and he died within the week, clearing all the great houses from Northumberland’s succession.

In 1414 it became clear that King Henry V had completely lost control of the North, with the loss of the great houses the minor Lords and nobles and banded together in the Pact of the North led by a man named Edmund Blackadder and now demanded nothing less than complete independence from England and the restoration of the old Kingdom of Northumbria. The Blackadders were seen as little better than burghers and such peoples in the rankings of aristocrats and were opportunists in the wars between England and Scotland over their native lands around Berwick, supporting one side and raiding the other and then switching as the tides turned. However, with the removal of his ‘betters’ Blackadder was free to apply his cunning and genius to the fullest extent. After assuming leadership of the rebellion his insistence of the importance of training and drill made his men some of the best prepared since the days of Rome. His knowledge of strategy was unparalleled and Henry V was never able to force him into a ‘stand-up’ fight, the Northumbrians melted into the countryside to return at night poisoning water, setting tents alight, spooking horses and other such mischief. Blackadder did give battle when it suited him however, and despite his taste for avoiding getting to the thick of battle(contemporaries disagreed on whether this was prudence or cowardice) the unique discipline and training of even his lowliest peasant militia soon had Henry V’s armies routed.

By the summer of that year Henry V’s presence in the North had been eradicated, the Pact had taken all of Northumberland and had the lands of Cumbria and Yorkshire that had risen with it against the de Nevilles and the King’s Harrying, it also occupied the King’s familial lands of Lancaster and was launching raids with impunity into Mercia and Lincoln. With the King distracted in the North the Glyndŵr rising had resurfaced and now had taken control of the Welsh provinces and worst of all the King’s holdings in France began to show increasing disloyalty and the French King and his vassals renewed their interesting in restoring them to their ‘rightful’ rulers. Henry V was now forced to make a choice, if he abandoned France and his claim there he just might be able to turn the tide against Blackadder and the Pact, or he could abandon the North and he just might be able to hold his lands and claims in France. He chose France.

Blackadder and Henry V met in Parley in the city of York and there Henry declared he would cede to the Pact the lands of Northumberland, Cumbria and Yorkshire, revoke England’s patrimony and titles in those lands. He refused to give Northumbria his family lands and titles in Lancaster but in exchange would recognise Northumbria as the rightful holder of the claims England had made in the Scottish lowlands, also once part of ancient Northumbria, and the compromise was accepted. The pact agreed to recognise Henry as rightful King of England and respect in perpetuity the remaining territory of the country. The treaty was signed on the 1st of August after which Henry V promptly retired back to England and the lords and nobles of the pact met together to decide on who would be crowned King of the new country, but there was only really one possible choice. Edmund Blackadder accepted the crown on the 4th of August, the coronation taking place in Durham Cathedral on the 12th. And so was born, or perhaps reborn, the Kingdom of Northumbria.

- Summarised from “The Complete History of Northumbria” Prof K. Birkett, Durham University Press, 1983

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- Political Map of Europe circa 1415
 
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Thanks very much. So far I've played about thirty or so years in so I haven't decided very much yet, I do want to see England and Scotland remain though and keep a sort of balance of power. I'd also quite like to see Ireland as its own independant kingdom. As for expansion, colonialism is good bet, I also wouldn't mind inheriting a some of those rich netherlands minors. :)
 
Beware the deadly flashing blade, unless you want to end up shorter... You find yourself between a rock and a hard place there.
 
Very interesting start! I shall follow.
 
Chapter 1: The First Steps

Thanks for the support so far. :)

Chapter One: The First Steps

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(OOC note: I guess it's a bit cheaty to have a 9/9/9 monarch, but it's Edmund Blackadder, how could I resist?)

King Edmund had won the independence of his country and accepted it’s crown, his coronation is remarked by contemporaries to have been a somewhat simpler affair as compared to the coronations of the English and other monarchs. Though widely attended, the great variety of robes and garments used in those countries were dispensed with and Edmund entered the cathedral in comparatively plain dress, setting the tradition for centuries, before being anointed and blessed by the now Archbishop of Durham. Edmund was then invested with the robe of the realm, a heavy white robe with a crimson lining and then presented with the ceremonial objects, a great sword, a sceptre of state and a holy orb, representing respectively the power, rightousness, and divinity of the monarch’s rule, before finally being crowned. Little is known of the particulars of the crown created for Edmund, known as St. Oswald’s Crown(St. Oswald was also an ancient Northumbrian King, who died fighting the pagan kingdom of Mercia), as it was lost to history however the oldest surviving crown, known as St. Ceolwulf’s Crown, is said to have been a recreation of it, though it is unlikely they share much in common other than being partly silver.

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- Views of Durham Cathedral

After the coronation Edmund set about ruling his young country and was left to do so in relative peace for many years and so for the earliest part of his reign little of much historical note occurred though the foundations for many later events were laid. Edmund spent the summer and autumn of 1414 touring the realm and encouraging the people before wintering at Bamburgh Castle. During his court at Bambrugh Edmund is known to have a forged a strong and long lasting friendship with the statesman David Lambton and the Gilbert brothers, the elder William the Sheriff of Bamburgh and the younger Nathan who had a logistical talent and was later taken on as organiser of the King’s army. The quartet largely created the Northumbrian arms, basing it on the description of a banner hung over St. Oswald’s shrine. The description had the banner being of red and gold, which they interpreted as a series of vertical stripes, they changed the colours to white and black. White representing the innocence and goodness of the Northumbrian people, black representing the great crimes committed against them at the hands of the Normans and English Kings and the determination and will that it never be allowed to happen again. The lines were also staggered or broken to represent the symbolic rebirth of the ancient kingdom as the new. When gathered they were remarked to have been most jovial and inseparable and despite the King’s considerable talents he would often if possible consult at least one of them before making many decisions of state. Nathan would unfortunately die before his time in a hunting accident in 1428 at the age of 34, and for some years afterward the King’s meetings with his chief advisers would often be given over to melancholy. Nathan was replaced by his ‘apprentice’ Morcar Drake.

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When the new year of 1415 and the winter receded Northumbria flourished diplomatically, both Henry V of England and James II of Scotland declared their everlasting friendship and support for the new Kingdom and each promised to aid it were it attacked by the other. In his private writings Edmund declared he knew these offers to be insincere and that guarantees and pledges were merely gambits to try and prevent their rivals from strengthening their position by annexing the new buffer between them and so never reciprocated or made offer of mutual guarantee or alliance. However Edmund did forge strong ties with other realms, Scandinavia and Northumbria became allies and tied their royal lines together when Edmund’s daughter was betrothed to King Eric VII’s younger son. The King’s niece also married into the Count of Friesland’s family and Edmund and Righ(King) Turlough IV of Connacht became friends and allies, and later a Blackadder did also marry into the O’Connor Don family. In march of that year Northumbria also entered into the Hanseatic trading league, a decision that would later prove to be a boon in the coming war with Scotland though Northumbria would leave the league due to the Danish war not long afterwards.

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(OOC note: you can see the difference between default NOL flag, based on one of the Percy arms, here as i had to go back to get a couple of screenshots after i'd created the new one)

Abroad many other incidents did occur however, King Juan II Castille persuaded the pope to call for a crusade against the moslem realm of Granada, the penultimate step in the reconquista of Iberia. No realm other than Castille took up the crusade though, yet some sent small measures of support such as money, materials and the like. Northumbria being small and not at all wealthy, Edmund instead commissioned a fine cavalry sword and gifted it to Juan II, thereby currying some favour small favour with a powerful country and the Church in Rome. In England Henry V finally crushed the Welsh rebellion, restoring order to England proper and restoring a small measure of lost prestige. This lead King Charles VI of France, not wanting yet to face an undistracted Henry to instead target Count Louis of Province for while he held possessions in France proper, he refused to recognise Charles as his overlord. When France declared war Louis called upon aid and this lead to involvement of the Holy Roman Emperor, King Vaclav IV of Bohemia who himself called on his own allies and in particular, Henry V. That war lasted until 1418 and despite France having to eventually fight the Bohemia and Burgundy from the east, Aragon from the south and England to the north and west Charles performed extremely well, while losing Armagnac to Henry his armies managed to force the Imperial armies into stalemate just long enough to punish Louis by annexing his homeland of Provence. This infuriated the Emperor enough to demand in peace talks that Charles release some of his vassals from their duties, unfortunately for them Vaclav never guaranteed or protected the newly freed countries, so it was not long before Charles returned.

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Back in Northumbria during this time Edmund’s second son and heir was born on the 7th of December 1415, his first son having been tragically born too weak to survive to his first birthday, he named his new son Samuel after the old testament prophet who lead the Israelites in their conquest of the Philistines. In the following year the famous Durham Tapestry depicting the war that liberated the country was commissioned from the monks of Durham Cathedral Priory by Queen Jeyne, it is an interesting fact that the Durham Tapestry that is currently exhibited in Bamburgh Castle is actually the second tapestry(not counting restorations and such), the first one having been destroyed during it’s construction when a young monk accidentally set it alight after being startled during the comet sighting of 1416. In 1418 with the wars in France over for the time being King Edmund held a small tournament and exhibition, while few Kings attended some of their sons and vassals did and Edmund was delighted to show off the quality and discipline of the men he commanded, which became a talking point around the courts of Christendom. However the soldiers were considered not much more than a spectacle being commoners, the aristocratic nature of the time saw very few nations follow Edmund’s example much to his advantage in later campaigns.

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Military advancements continued into 1420 when the King standardised the formations and equipment for his army with infantry regiments being based around crack units of longbowmen. The effectiveness of the Kings reforms were first shown in a minor revolt in Cumbria three years later. A local lord angered at the loss of some privileges to the Crown rallied many of the peasants into a frenzy and killed a tax collection party, by the time the King’s army arrived the particularlist mob rivalled it for size at four thousand men, but at the end of the day estimates gave that more than half of them died in the battle with the rest being thoroughly routed and the army’s losses at less than two hundred. Emboldened at the prowess of the army many of the nobles of the old Pact petitioned the King to press his claim to the lands of Berwick, Roxburgh and Lothian in southern Scotland and thereby expand the territory and wealth of the realm and reclaim all of the old Kingdom. War with Scotland would eventually come but Edmund would have it on his own terms and no others, his writings reveal he did not doubt that his army could defeat a Scottish one with little trouble his problem was that there was more than one Scottish army. Even if Edmund destroyed one of them, the others could hold him off while more levies were raised, whereas if Northumbria lost it’s army it would leave the field clear of opposition for it’s enemies. However the events of 1429 gave Edmund the opportunity he needed.

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Great update, I always like reading about the develepmont and modernization of a small country instead of the frenzy of wars most AARS fall into. Of course this being said you could very well go to war the next update and not have peace for a few years.

Also....no Baldrick?
 
Great update, I always like reading about the develepmont and modernization of a small country instead of the frenzy of wars most AARS fall into. Of course this being said you could very well go to war the next update and not have peace for a few years.

Also....no Baldrick?

Thanks again. Yeah it is going to heat up a bit for the next update or two and after that we'll see what the future brings. Also I did add Baldrick to the leader names hoping he'd pop up as an advisor or something but so far he hasn't, thought I've expanded it quite a bit trying to make sure there is a good variety so it might be a while until he does.
 
Very well thought out! This is very well written, and having loved Blackadder on TV I can't fail to give this top marks!
 
Good start. I look forward to Lothian being return to its rightful rulers.
 
Chapter 2: Trampling the Thistle

Thanks again for the support, this update is probably the biggest so far at a bit under two thousand words, so it's probably going to be the one with most spelling, grammar and other errors so if you see any egregious ones please point them out. :)


Chapter Two: Trampling the Thistle

Across the border in Scotland in June of 1428 King James of Scotland was said to have fallen on his own sword during a training accident and received a mortal injury, his eldest son and heir, Alexander (IV)was deemed still too young to take the full burden of the throne being only twelve years old and so a regency began. It was not a good time for Scotland, the lords regent fought bitterly for power and influence and while the boy King was known to be very gifted in academic matters he was rumoured to be cowardly even in training and his interpersonal skills left a lot to be desired with frequent temper problems and a streak of pomposity unbefitting even for royalty. Combined with the dubious circumstances of James death the instability became such that only a year later a band of high nobles banded around a pretender for the throne and rose in rebellion against the Regency and the King. This was the opportunity Edmund had been waiting for. While the hosts of Scotland destroyed themselves in a bloody civil war Edmund began the raising and training of two new regiments and used connections among the Hanseatic league to take out a loan at favourable rates, which was then used to hire a number of mercenary companies.

When his preparations were complete Edmund didn’t have long to wait for his moment to strike, the final pitched battle of the Pretender’s rebellion in December 1429 saw that army destroyed and Lord Henry Randolph’s Regency army reduced to a demoralised rabble of a lowly seven thousand men. No match at all for six thousand professional troops and two thousand mercenaries at Edmund’s command. Thus on the 28th of December 1429 Northumbria went to war with Scotland.

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According to records, the army’s first action was to be to force the recovering Scottish one into a battle and try to destroy it before it could reform and reinforce, at which point it would then head to Dunfermline and attempt to capture the King and as much of the high aristocracy in the Regency as possible. Not completely trusting the mercenaries to fight loyally and well Edmund sent them to occupy Lothian and besiege the city of Edinburgh, being the softer of the tasks they were only too happy to comply. Lord Randolph was not a great general, but be knew enough to see he was at a disadvantage and tried to flee before north before Edmund’s advance, however Edmund’s superior skills and the discipline of his men allowed him to force the Scots into a series of skirmishes between Ayrshire and Stirling, before finally outmaneuvering them completely, getting ahead of the army at Clackmannan and destroying it in a decisive battle. At that point King Edmund knew he had won the war after only seven weeks on campaign, Scotland had no army to field and so the questions was no longer if young King Alexander and his Regents would surrender, but when.

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The question of when would prove difficult to answer however as on the march to the capital Dunfermline Edmund’s spies and scouts learned that the regency council and the King had evacuated the city, taking the boy into hiding and desperately trying to raise new levies. Rather than allow any resistance to form Edmund split his forces, with the mercenaries in Lothian able to deal with the threat there the King took three regiments north to Aberdeen and sent the rest of his forces, managed by a trusty captain, back south-west to Ayr. All three new levies were successfully disrupted and captured some weeks later although none of the council nor the King were among them, having fled even further out to attempt to stir more resistance. Edmund pursued relentlessly but often had to split his forces further and further to capture towns and besiege the cities and castles, thereby preventing the enemy sneaking back around his lines. In fact more than nine months after the Battle at Clackmannan the King was still on campaign putting down the few levies Scotland was still capable of raising and his absence from home was beginning to cause some issues. Without the imposing presence of Edmund some of old pact members had taken some liberties with their dues and taxes, one particular member even embezzling crown funds, which lead to a swift execution when William Gilbert brought it to the attention of the Queen and David Lambton, who were managing the day to day affairs of the realm while the King was on campaign.

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Abroad several incidents of note occurred during this time, Edmund's friend Juan II of Castille and his old enemy Henry V of England went to war over a personal dispute involving Navarra, Henry got the better of the matter and forced Juan to cede the crown of old Galicia from the Castillian union. In the east the Greek Roman Empire, having restored several of Venice’s Greek satellites to it, struck a vicious blow against the Turkish invaders and recaptured much of Rumeliya. Most importantly for Northumbria and it’s immediate future though, the Hanseatic league had reached it’s absolute zenith of power and wealth with Lubeck, the seat of the league now reckoned to be the richest city in Europe, the fruits of which funded the war in Scotland via Northumbria’s association. However it was that wealth and influence that would soon bring the league down. When the Duke of Brunswick had some financial difficulties after a few failed ventures the merchants of the league refused relief and began calling in their debts, incensed at this ungentlemanly behaviour the Duke wrote to Pope Gregorius XII himself decrying the usury and avarice the of the Hansa declaring it to be a stain on the reputation of Christianity itself. Moved by the words of his friend the Pope promptly had the league master excommunicated and declared any debts owed to be null and void to such an enemy of Christ. While this was a terrible blow to them, their influence and wealth protacted them and enabled the league to carry on operating somewhat as before, however to their north the Kalmar Kings had long looked on enviously for decades at such power a wealth right on their doorstep and for the newly crowned Frederick I of Denmark, Sweden and Norway this presented an excellent opportunity.

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Before that though, back on campaign, as 1430 passed into 1431 the teenaged King Alexander of Scotland finally ended his regency being deemed old enough to rule in his own right. Unfortunately for him though there was no ceremony or celebration being on the run from Edmund who had spread his armies across the whole country and despite being unable to raise any more levies and his advisers counseling a surrender, Alexander refused to negotiate with Edmund, labelling him an ‘upjumped bandit king’. Correctly believing that with the Northumbrian forces spread so thinly they would be unable to launch an assault and take cities and fortress of Scotland by force he hoped to outlast his enemies, his naivety on political intrigue, military matters and the supreme over confidence he had in his royalty guaranteeing the dedication and loyalty of his people didn’t allow him to really consider the prospect of his countrymen surrendering without him. Even when Edmund’s agents bribed the Guard in Dunfermline to desert allowing the army in, Alexander still refused to negotiate and offered only that Scotland and Northumbria return to their previous status antebellum. Edmund is known to have remarked that Alexander displayed the knowing and cunning of a fox, if that fox had been trampled by a horse, and then driven over by the carriage.

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Throughout 1431 and well into 1432, as events abroad transpired as described earlier, the Northumbrians settled into a long and calm period maintaining the cordons around Scotland’s centres of power and population, allowing Edmund to take breaks from his campaign to return home and manage the realm in person as well as attend to his family. Young Samuel was now an impressive young man, displaying competence in his studies and training and now rivalled his father’s wit and charisma, able to attend counsels and meetings of state and it was decided it was about time to find him a wife. To that end the estates of the rich nation of Holland had recently brought an end to the union between that country and the county of Hainaut when their ruler died with only surviving daughters rather than sons, and the ambitious new count of Holland Jan van Egmont looked for friends and allies to secure his new throne. With no children of his own Samuel was wed to the younger sister, Caroline two years his elder, a quiet and studious though charming girl whose appearance had sadly been marred by a survived childhood ailment, perhaps not the young Samuel’s ideal spouse but the insistence of his father and the large wealth of the family sealed the deal with little complaint.

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Back in Scotland the rest of the cities finally began to fall, after Dunfermline and central Scotland surrendered in the spring of 1431, Edinburgh surrendered before Christmas and most of the rest came in before the end of spring 1432. The last Scottish refuge in Ayrshire finally surrendered after over two years of resistance, walking out during the summer of that year. With all hope finally extinguished Alexander was finally persuaded to parley.

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Edmund was tempted to make the boy pay for his stubbornness by annexing the whole of his Kingdom, or force him into becoming a vassal and teased him with such prospects but in the end decided that while Scotland was broken for now, it may not be forever and so such actions would not only be terribly damaging to the reputation of Northumbria but also could result in problems down the line. He settled for taking Northumbria’s rightful lands as well as significant income in compensation and ransoms, signing the treaty in July 1432.

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King Alexander was devastated and highly embarrassed by the loss to the little ‘English breakway’ his temper problems only grew worse and were not helped at all by his taking to drink, feeling betrayed by his nobles, soldiers, advisers and people he grew ever colder, more distant, paranoid and drunk until eventually after a particularly hard night hitting the bottle in 1436 the he fell into a river contracting pneumonia, dieing childless at the age of 21 and leaving his altogether more stable and able younger brother Henry as King of Scotland. For Edmund's part the war was hailed as a great success at home and in the courts of his friends and allies abroad, however he had very little time to enjoy it before being back on campaign in Ireland assisting Tadhg V of Connacht, and of course would soon be in Germany facing in battle the merchants who’d payed for his war and even the Holy Roman Emperor himself.

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- The political situation in the British Isles after Scottish surrender
 
Excellent victory! Now to expand your influence in Ireland. I hear it's shores, which I have never seen, are greener than the green stone of Galveston, which is somethng else I've never seen.
 
A fantastic update! :)

Only question is how you nabbed Lothian since it's usually the Scots capital.

Your writing was most clear and concise and I enjoyed it a lot!
 
Excellent victory! Now to expand your influence in Ireland. I hear it's shores, which I have never seen, are greener than the green stone of Galveston, which is somethng else I've never seen.

Thanks, as I said earlier it would be nice to see an independent united Ireland and Connacht seems awfully keen to comply :)


A fantastic update! :)

Only question is how you nabbed Lothian since it's usually the Scots capital.

Your writing was most clear and concise and I enjoyed it a lot!

Thankyou very much!

After I saw some of the CKII screenshots and videos I noticed the seat of the Scottish King wasn't in Edinburgh so when I came to do this game I did a little bit of research and found out Edinburgh didn't become the capital until 1437, before then it was Dunfermline, on the oppostire shore of the Firth of Forth and before that it was Perth further north, so I moved Scotland's capital to the province of Fife. I guess Paradox forgot to reflect this change when they extended the timeline back from 1453. I realised I'd forgot to mention this when I posted the episode so I've updated and clean-ed up the first post to try and make more clear exactly what I've done.
 
I didn't know that! Thanks for the info! :)