The Rules of Sword and Crown - First song of the Capetians

The City of Paris – Late October, 1066

He awoke with a splitting headache. The room around him was richly draped in tapestries depicting hunting scenes and victories of frankish kings of old. At first Raoul could not remember how he had gotten to be here, neither why his head was hurting, but soon flashes of the street fight returned. Baldwin. What has he done to Baldwin? He sat up and looked around. The room was not empty. In a chair by the window sat the bent figure of Robert de Bourgogne. The old duke looked like he had aged well past a hundred over the few weeks Raoul had been out of the capital and he did not rise when he saw Raoul stir from the bed.

"I am sorry, old friend. So, so very sorry. You must forgive me but I knew nothing of his plans. He is... well we always knew he was not a man of honor but to do this, and to a man who was under all laws under his protection," the duke sighed. "I believe that Philippe is mad. Not merely unstable but thoroughly crazed."

Raoul but his feet down on the thick andalusian carpet which covered the cold stone floor.

"Where is Baldwin? Has he... Is he still alive?"

"The Duke of Flanders lives. I do not believe that Philippe intends to kill him, yet in the coming days Baldwin might come to wish that he would have been shown that mercy," Robert saw Raoul's sharp glance and shook his head. "No, he isn't being tortured. Philippe will not stupe to that. At least not yet," Robert rose from his chair. It looked like the effort pained him. "Baldwin will most likely live out the remainder of his life in a tower cell, except for when Philippe wishes to have him paraded about as a warning to the rest of us."

Raoul got up from the bed and looked about. When Robert saw that he was searching for something he motioned to a stack of fine clothes on a table at the end of the bed.

"He had servants sent with fresh clothes for you this morning. He also sent me here to... to give his apologies. He says he did not wish for you to get caught in the middle of that fight, but that he could not alow you to bring a traitor before him whilst he was still standing tall."

Raoul started getting dressed. He sends his apologies, you say? Apologies for throwing my honor in the dust? Apologies for assaulting a man who came to kneel? The fury that was building up within him was not an entirely new one and at that instant Raoul realised that he hated Philippe with all his heart. He loathed him and having spent the fall of his life preparing that beast of a man for a throne he never deserved – never would deserve – made him sick to his stomach. It was time for this farce to end.

"Where is he?" It was clear that Robert had caught a hint of something dangerous in Raoul's tone. Raoul had never had the ability to disguise his intensions as well as the much more refined duke or the other nobles at court. He was, after all, a sword, rather than anything else and swords did not hide their intent.

"Raoul. Friend. Calm down. You shouldn't do anything rash. Now is not the..." the last of the dukes words caught in his throat as Raoul slammed the old man against the wall.

"Where is he, Robert?" Raoul's voice sounded more like the growl of a wounded animal. He threw the old man to the floor. "I don't wish to hurt you, Robert, but you will tell me where the king is."

"The throne room. He is recieving a nobleman from England, coming to plead with him to help in the war against the Normans."

Raoul ran from the room. Later in his life he would never be able to remember those few moments, raging through the halls of the castle, and he would in all honesty only remember that day clearly after he had been told of his actions by a friend, many years later. What he would remember himself was the blinding white flash of rage and the blood surging through his veins. The anger, the dissapointment and the shame was boiling inside of him, threatening to engulf him. He slammed open the doors to the throne room, making the nobles around the throne jump in surprise. Philippe rose from his seat, his face red as a ripe plum from outrage.

"PHILIPPE! GET DOWN FROM THAT SEAT YOU WHELP!"

The king turned to the two men flanking the throne. Aumery and Jean stood guard this day.

"Seize him. Bring him to me!" The boy king said, making an attempt to sound threatening, but his voice broke. "Seize him!"

Aumery was the first to move, smiling disdainfully at Raoul he walked towards him and drew his blade. Raoul moved, faster than he could believe he would have been able to even in his prime. He gripped Aumery's swordhand before the blade had left its sheath and with his other hand he smashed the young man over the face, breaking the nobleman's fine nose. In the same fluid movement he drew the man's sword, and within an instant he struck the mans hand with the broad of the sword. He could hear the bone break as Aumery screamed in agony.

Jean came at him, sword drawn, unsmiling. He had seen the fate of his friend and knew better than to approach carelessly. Behind him the king was standing screeching for his guards in front of the throne, guards who no doubt would file into the room in mere seconds. Jean made a thrust with his weapon, but the young man's attack was long and more that of the showman than the warriors. Raoul deflected it easily and with another strike with his sword he severed Jean's hand from his arm, his sword falling with a loud clank to the floor and Jean's screams joined those of Aumery's.

The king had watched the scene unravel before him, backing towards the throne, face pale as winter's snow. He was no longer screaming for his guards, but instead was blubbering pleads of mercy together with curses and insults. Raoul approached him slowly. As he neared Philippe he could smell the rancid stench of fresh urine and the kings breaches was dark and wet. When he was within reach of the king he could see the madness in the boy's eyes – he couldn't understand how he had not seen it for all those years for it had always been there.

"Get away from that chair, boy. You do not deserve even to share your father's privy, let alone his throne." Philippe fell to his knees before him as the doors to the room opened and a dozen or so guards ran in, wielding spears and swords. Seeing their king at the edge of a sword made them halt in their steps, uncertain of how to proceed. The king looked at them, madness flaring.

"KILL HIM! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KILL HIM!" The guards, as if breaking away from a spell, moved towards them slowly. Suddenly one in the back of their ranks called out to Raoul.

"Remember your daughters Raoul!" It was Robert. "Remember your house and your honor!"




The realisation of what would happen to his family if he killed Philippe struck like lightning, and he threw his sword to the ground. The king looked triumphant, laughter in his eyes. He might have been about to open his mouth when Raoul punshed out three of his teeth. The king fell to the floor with a thump and then the guards was on Raoul, striking him to the ground with the buts of their spears. The king scrambled to rise with the aid of a guard and was shouting for a sword to cut of Raoul's head.

Suddenly Robert was there, standing at the side of Philippe, the old man providing support for the youth with blood trickling down his cheek. Then the duke whispered something in the king's ear and Philippe looked like he had been hit in the face again. He looked at his uncle for a long moment, dumbfounded, and then he nodded slowly like a child nods to his father. The dukes eyes was cold as ice when they stared into those of his king and then those eyes turned to Raoul and softened with a deep sadness as Robert began to speak.

"Raoul de Valois, Count of Amiens and of The Vexin, Lord Marshal of the Kingdom of France, I, Duke Robert de Bourgogne hereby sentences you to life in exile in name of Philippe, King of France. All of the priveliges granted to you are hereby void, and all of your titles shall be passed to your eldest child. Leave the realm, and never return!"


Somewhere in England – Mid January, 1067

The camp was enormous, one of the greatest he had ever seen. The stench and sound of men at arms was everywhere and seemed to file into the pores of his body. He was led by two guardsmen, tall fellows clad in chainmail and red cloth towards a large tent in the middle of the camp. The tent was surrounded by others such as themselves.

As they entered the tent a giant of a man stood talking to a group of noblemen surrounding a large table covered in maps. The giant stopped in the middle of a sentence as he saw the face of the man the guards led in and the red face the giant had broke in a wide smile.

"So why does Raoul de Valois honor us with his presence here? Does the King of France send you to congratulate us on our mighty deeds?"

Raoul spat.

"I know no king of France. I come here to seek a worthy king to die for. I believe you could be that man, Bastard."

Sematary said:

Next to see if the king is cruel.

Click to expand...

Well cruel he is, in a sense, but not really mad enough yet to go killing dukes. It might get the other high lords panties in a twist.

Saithis said:

And happy to see you've started a new AAR, I quite enjoyed Sons of the North!

That was quite a street battle, Raoul may be growing older but he's clearly no weakling. He's too good a man to be serving Philippe, methinks.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the death of that one was a sad one. The gameplay was actually much more interesting during the short period I got to play through, event though it was on CK I with all it's flaws. But I get by the boring years with a touch of authorial freedom (read; making up stuff).

By the way, I was thinking of doing a history book introduction to the war in England as it differs quite a bit from the historical events. Are you guys interested in such an update or should I just get on with the story?

Sematary said:

I would be. I would enjoy hearing about how your world is differing especially because it might help explain future events.

Click to expand...

Tapscott said:

Just leaving a comment to say I enjoy your AAR, and have been following it for quite some time. I would like a historical update to be thrown in as you suggested. Also is Phillipe a lunatic, trait wise?

Click to expand...

Then I will go for one. Will be up tonight or tomorrow most likely, depending on how much trouble I have with the map making. Not really my strongest side. On Philippe's traits he actually only ever had one - Lustful - and my intention at start was to go on that but somehow he got crazier and crazier the more I wrote and after planning a few chapters ahead I built up a few plot twists (such as Raoul's exile) which seemed to require something more than him being a amorous, amoral fool.

Saithis said:

Raoul's got guts, but I suppose he's old enough to not care about his life anymore. It's a good thing for his family's sake that he didn't kill Philippe, but was it good for the Kingdom?

Click to expand...

No, I think Raoul, once he comes to his senses again, will spend the rest of his life regretting those actions for his goal is more than any other to protect the kingdom he has lived to serve.

JuvenalianSatyr said:

I'm interested in seeing just what Philippe has up his sleeve with this whole thing. This is a song of the Capetians, after all. If he can weather the storm and perhaps gain the support of more than sycophants, he could centralize royal power and make the Franks a kingdom worth fearing again. And I can't help sometimes but want to see the "worse" options succeed sometimes, if only because corrupt dynasties and tyrants are just so much more interesting to read about sometimes.

Click to expand...

I do not believe that Philippe is all that capable of keeping things up his sleeves. He is attempting to rule through fear, however he does not quite realise that he doesn't have the power to back up his threats in the long run and thus he throws himself against those within his grasp, whom sadly are also those who actually aims to help if not him then at least France itself. However his reign is far from over, and far from either its zenith or its nadir as of yet so I believe that you will have your fill. The main problem with these early chapters have however been a near total lack of interesting events taking place in France, so I felt the need of expanding my scope to England, where current events will have great importance for the Capetians in but a few few years.

---

Going for a historical draft on the Norman invasion of England. Should, as I've said, be up tonight or tomorrow!

On the Norman Invasion

Modern historians generally agree that the Norman invasion of England in 1066 remains, to this day, one of the defining periods of the medieval history of our country. Until the landing of William of Normandy's forces at the Isle of Wight the Isles of Britain had been considered mainly a playground of petty kings and the warlords of Scandinavia. The Normans has often been viewed as heirs to the northerners and this, in a way, is of course true. The Norman nobility was in large the scions of those northerners who had settled at the mouth of the Seine with permission from the Frankish kings yet during the brief period between the Siege of Paris and the Battle of Winchester the Normans had been thorougly francophied. The Normans did no longer speak Old Norse, neither were they seafaerers. They had traded the axe and round shield for the heavy destrier and their society was in many ways further developed into feudalism than even that of the french nobility to the south.



As Harold I Godwinson took the throne in the beginning of 1066 his claim was at best uncertain, though this notion may seem controversial to many as it only in recent years have become commonly accepted among historians, and only then outside the nationalist circles that have dominated british history during most of the 20th century. Harold's claim would in most circumstance mainly have been questioned as the late king Edward, known as 'The Holy', had a living male heir in Edgar the Atheling, son of Edmund the Exile, however no documents remain to explain why Edgar was passed over by the Wizengamot. The nationalists have most often attributed this to the proclamation of Edward where he supposedly entrusted Harold with "the protection of my crown and my legacy" though this seems dubious at best. Other historians have claimed that the earls wished for a strong king as England was under near immediate threat of invasion from both the Normans and the Norse king Harald 'Hardraada', and thus the young and unproven Edgar was deemed unfit for rulership in such troubled times. More radical researchers have claimed that Harold life, as well of that of his father, had been a long struggle to build up a powerbase and with it aiming to take the throne.

The other main pretenders was, as mentioned, Harald of Norway and William of Normandy, and in the first year of Harold's rule these two brought great hosts to English soil who would start a long conflict commonly known as "The Norman Wars" and the Norse participation in this conflict have often been downplayed, though this issue is not at hand at this moment.


The Landing and the Battle of Winchester

William of Normandy was at the time of his invasion, at least nominally, a vassal of the french king Philippe I however the authority of the early Capetians is now under debate among french historians and growing number of our collegues in France consider William to have been all but an independent ruler. In any matter there is no indications that the king in Paris attempted to hinder William's invasion in any way and among the Norman nobility that later settled East Anglia, Kent and southern Mercia there was also several minor french houses as well as a large number of dutch barons (the term dutch is generally used to depict a nationality rather than the more commonly known religous sect when we look at the early-to-mid medieval period). This seemingly wide collection of mercenaries, younger sons and lesser nobility seems to provide some evidence to at least a tolerance of William's endeavour though this could also be interpreted as an inability of Philippe's to force his vassals in line.

The Norman invasion force landed south of the modern city of Winchester and contemporary estimates often cites the force of being some thirty thousand strong though this is considered a large overstatement common to the period. William then proceded north to lay siege to Harold's hereditary seat of Winchester Castle, burning the countryside and hoping to draw the English king out for an open battle. Harold, in the mean time, was gathering his full force at London and seems to have been delayed for almost a fortnight whilst waiting for the Hwicce earls Morcar and Edwin who most likely was concerned to leave their land's as rumours were spreading that Harald of Norway had set sail with an host of Norsemen. Finally having gathered his full strength Harold marched on Winchester and on the 15th of October he reached the besieged castle.



The battle that commenced have been largely forgotten by historians, and widely disregarded as a minor skirmish even though contemporary sources estimates Harold's force to have been some fifteen thousand strong against the claimed thirty thousand Normans, however this is most likely because it did not fit later researchers notions of Harold nor that of the conflict itself. Thanks to recent discoveries of Norman sources in Sicily we now have a wider source material and it seems that the Normans at least considered this battle a monumental victory, apparently nearly succeding in breaking Saxon resistance there and then. The battle is now beginning to be considered a turning point in military doctrine as the Norman knights succeded in breaking the Saxon shield wall and routing the heavy foot under Harold, as well as chasing most of his forces down. A scribe whom accompanied William during his campaign, the author of said Sicilian document, claims that the Normans nearly succeded in capturing Harold as well as most of the Saxon nobility and that these only managed to escape thanks to a heroic stand by a large part of their huscarls. Even though the battle has been downplayed it has, paradoxically, been remembered as one of the greatest defeats in English history, and only later triumphs against the Normans would manage to relegate this battle to the darker corners of our nations collective memory. After routing Harold's army William managed to take Winchester, although with heavy losses, something that most likely served to hinder his pacification of England in later years.


The Fall of London and the Norse Invasion

Following the fall of Winchester William marched on London, taking with him a great number of Saxon earls as captives most likely to strengthen his claim to the throne by having a mock Wizengamot crown him king in the capital city. The Londoners was well aware of Harold's defeat and his retreat into the forests of Mercia and the Lord Mayor chose to simply open the gates of the city as William approached. This would later cause the downfall of his house, the Aelfricsons, as they never managed to recover the loss of face this surrender would cause them and they seemed to have been nearly frozen out by their peers in later years. However at this, maybe the darkest moment in England's history for several centuries to come, another blow fell as Harald 'Hardraada' landed close to York and laid siege to the largest city of northern England...

There you have it. However I decided to save the maps for future narrative updates as I didn't really have the energy to work on them tonight.

And over ten thousand words now. Woop woop!

Saithis said:

A nice account of the Norman Invasion, and even if Raoul regrets what he did, at least he could take part in such a momentous event.

Click to expand...

Yes, and I believe even old dogs can learn some tricks to aid them in the future. Especially if said old dog gets thrown into the company of Normans

Tapscott said:

Good update! Just one nitpick though, King Edward was known as 'the Confessor', not 'the Holy'. Keep up the good work!

Click to expand...

Oh, I know, but thank you anyway. Old Eddie has a much more prominent position in this timeline's English national myth - hence the slightly heavier 'The Holy'.

Oh, you will. I've still just played through half of the game but I'm considering of porting it to EU3 once I'm done, and once I buy a new copy of that game. I gave my old hard-copy to a friend some years back and then switched computer as my old one was getting... well old and haven't played the game since but the style of this AAR (and because of the style, the length it will take) will give me lots and lots of time to learn modding. And even if I do not go down that road things have changed quite a lot in Europe from real history by the late 13th century where I'm at now, so there will be more history updates in the future.

Might be a new update today. If not it will probably have to wait a week or so, since I have quite a lot of studying to get done and a girlfriend who insists upon hanging out with me.