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unmerged(37485)

First Lieutenant
Jan 5, 2005
246
0
Hello all

playing byzantine empire around 1085. very old emperor died, his grandson age 15 is new ruler. am fighting a war against azerbeijan, the sunny caliphate and the arabs
that is going well and under control

but i have an explosive number of vassal about to revolt truckloads of them and powerful too .... what do you recommend i do?

i will give away the excess duchies and counties i have
i will dish out some honorary titles if i have any
that is the obvious thing to do

should i raise already the totality of the realms armies? these armies stay with me even if the local lord rebels, right? in any case, makes sense to finish my war with the infidel faster, right?

Also, have several uncles. they hold land, almost all of them. does it make sense to continue to give them land? how likely is it they would actually come back and bite me in the ass if i give them more land?

Also, if i do have rebelion, what is the best way to dismantle big opposition ... i.e. upon emprisionment, which title to revoke and how?

Advice welcome
 
Heheheh, Sunny Caliphate.

Raising your vassals' armies won't keep them from rebelling. From observation, it also doesn't appear that you get to "keep" them if their lord decides to make a break for it. Doesn't mean it might not be advantageous to raise them, of course, just be aware of it.

Personally, I wouldn't give your uncles land unless they have no claims on the throne personally and they like you and they are not Ambitious or Paranoid.

Massive rebellion upon succession seems to be pretty standard operating procedure for the Byzantine Empire. I'm experiencing it in my current game as the Doux of Athens, as well, and in my last game (Ireland) I saw the empire completely fall apart and reassemble on a pretty regular basis. Remember that even if half of your vassals revolt, they'll do so individually rather than as a cohesive unit. This means you can raise your armies and beat them down one by one, which is reasonably simple (but time-consuming).

If your imprisoned adversary is a Doux (which he is) and holds more than one county, I'd probably revoke a county instead of the duchy and then just let him rot in prison for the rest of his life. That way he can't rebel again, and his heir will inherit a smaller power base. If he only has one county, revoke the duchy and give it to a count who is, preferably, Content. Title revocation can be done in the diplomacy screen.

Regardless of what happens, wrapping up the war with the Sunni Caliphate and Azerbaijan is probably going to be high on the to-do list. Don't be afraid of taking a White Peace, either. You'll lose prestige, but it'll buy you the chance to get your internal affairs in order, and by the time you finish with that the truce should have expired and you can go back to your holy wars.
 
As a rule i wouldn't give more than one county to any individual. When i make dukes i usually only allow them one county in their duchy. This strikes a balance between unhappiness due to wanting the rest of their duchy and minimizing their power. It also means when they do rebel, that you can easily remove their ducal title and give it to another count in the duchy.

So try to keep your uncles poor, if they aren't claiments then giving them duchies can be good due to the 'same dynasty bonus'. If you are short on people to give counties to, then check your court and the courts of your vassals for males without any bad vassal traits (envious, greedy, ambitious etc.). These have effects that don't appear in the tool tip which makes them much more likely to rebel or demand territory. Look for candidates with good traits like 'content' and make sure they are of the same culture (i assume its still greek) and religion.

After rebellions revoke their duchy title and give it to your least ambitious and most friendly count in the duchy. That is likley to keep the duchy safe from rebellion until the next emperor. Just leave the offending party in your dungeon until he likes you or dies. Luckily their heirs never hold a grudge.
 
have had success in putting down all the rebellions. two of my uncles died in prison, their heirs one county short of inheritance ... serves them right

have put down the very last rebellion, the duke of antioch. on this case i do not know what i should do, remove him as duke, or just take one land, he has 7 vassals ... i am thinking of keepin that duchy for myself and leeting go of another duchy i have that just has 2 counties

what do you think?