A treatise on the medieval history of Iberia: A Leon AAR

Chapter 2: Early 12th century Iberia
In Iberia, the early 12th century would be dominated by a rapidly expanding Leon, during the continued and exceedingly long reign (1084-1133) of King Fernando II “The Bold”. During the latter half of his reign, his aggressive defence policy lead to a shift in power, bringing the Muslim rulers decisively into a defensive posture. This trend was not limited to just Iberia, as the successful Second Crusade would prove.

The continuation of King Fernando's “Aggressive defense” strategy
Leon's streak of conquests continued almost immediately after the Purge. In 1101, Mallorca and Murcia were forced to cede Almansa to Leon, creating a Christian enclave in the middle of Muslim Iberia, followed by Murcia itself in 1104. The few remaining independent West Mediterranean Island Lords were hard pressed by both France, the newfangled Italian Republics and the Muslims of North Africa, all seeking to establish their dominance.


Borders of Leon in 1104

It is worth noting that even though Leon at this time had more than the required power to conquer what remained of Aragon, Navarra and Barcelona. The fulminating Prince Erramun of Navarra in his advanced age also inexplicably threatened to invade Leon, providing ample opportunity and just cause. After briefly treating with his councillors, however, King Fernando found no reason to act on the threat. Where other Christian rulers had few qualms with absorbing smaller, independent provinces situated near their borders, King Fernando had instead taken a solemn oath upon his ascension to the throne not to make war on any Christian for as long as there were Muslims in Iberia. It is unlikely that this oath would have prevented him from responding to a potential Christian threat, should that have come to pass, but from our perspective – and likely his own – it seems exceedingly unlikely that the ramblings of Prince Erramun constituted any kind of threat, let alone a serious one.

In 1107, Barcelona was yet again under Muslim attack. After seizing Faro earlier that year, King Fernando repeated his strategy of making a detour through Barcelona, managing to surprise the Muslim armies a second time with the exact same strategy, before marching into the Cordoban hinterland. Almost immediately, the Emir offered Fernando the large province of Cuenca in return for peace, leaving the county of Molina isolated as a Muslim enclave. Then began a series of rapid, small-scale conquests that lasted until 1115, the result of which was that both Beja and Cordoba not only saw their territories shrink precariously, but also being split down the middle by Christian holdings, effectively containing the Muslims in small, fractured demi-emirates.

The First Great Iberian War, 1115 - 1122
When King Fernando attacked Cordoba again in 1115, he was counting on their armies being locked in the ongoing conflict with France, who had gone to war over the Island of Sardinia. One can assume that a significant portion of them indeed were, and had Cordoba been defending alone, the war would have been over within the year. Instead, the Emir of Beja as well as the Sultans of Mauretania and Tunis rallied to the defence of their embattled brothers of the faith.

The ensuing war has since been known as the First Great Iberian War, and raged for seven years, playing host to some of the largest and bloodiest battles ever fought on Iberian soil. Outnumbered, King Fernando found himself relying again on the healthy treasury of Leon and his reputation as a defender of Christendom, enlisting in turn both The Knights of Saint John and the Knights Templar to fight alongside his armies. The contributions of these holy orders and their numerous soldiers is held to have been absolutely critical in ensuring Christian victory, and their Iberian campaign is often thought to be the starting point of their rise to infamy, catapulting them to fame within just a few years.

At the end of the war, the dead numbered in the tens of thousands. Peace was finally achieved in 1122, when the Emir of Cordoba, his entire empire near buckling under the pressure of the lengthy war, ceded the Duchy of Valencia, essentially the entire, non-Barceloniuan eastern seaboard of Iberia, to Leon.
In the wake of this war, a brief negotiation with a severely weakened Aragon lead to Fernando being crowned King of what remained their, essentially absorbing the tiny kingdom.


Borders of Leon 1122

Outside of Iberia, however, greater things were afoot. In 1224, Pope Sisinnius II called The Second Crusade, this time with a much more ambitious goal: The Holy City of Jerusalem itself. Fernando, however, faced internal matters that required his immediate attention.

The Civil wars of Prince Galindo and Duke Sebastiaen, 1127 - 1331
After the First Great War, King Fernando instituted the law of primogeniture. Presumably this was intended to be a safeguard against the kind of fracturing the once-united northern Kingdom had experienced upon the death of Fernando's grandfather. Primogeniture, for obvious reasons, is significantly less popular with the younger sons than the eldest – particularly Prince Galindo, Fernando's second son, was galled by the change. Parts of the nobility sought to take advantage of the icy relations between father and son to further their own positions, and are thought to have egged the otherwise level-headed Galindo into instigating a civil war. Knowing he would be outnumbered in the field, Galindo sought to minimize any advantage King Fernando would have., including his alliance with the French. The more powerful Duke Sebastiaen of Flanders was unhappy with French rule, and was easily convinced by Prince Galindo to join him in a simultaneous rebellion. Ostensibly, their common goal were to unseat their respective monarchs. The Duke of Flanders, however, is thought to have been more concerned with independence than actually deposing anyone, as the vassal status of Flanders within France would continue to be a point of contention for generations to come.

When the wars began in earnest, it quickly became apparent that while the Duke of Flanders may have had a realistic chance of defending his claim to independence before the involvement of Leon, Prince Galindo had overestimated his own forces – or perhaps underestimated precisely how much the might of Leon had grown during his father's reign – and found himself vastly outmatched. As early as 1128, Prince Galindo was essentially defeated. Not wanting to cultivate resentment within the kingdom, King Fernando offered clemency to all of Galindo's men if Galindo surrendered and agreed to be imprisoned until the Duke of Flanders had been dealt with.

Duke Sebastiaen's early successes against a depleted France – the majority of the French nobility and their army had been Crusading since 1124 – were then summarily undone by King Fernando's armies. The Duke refused to surrender, and through a series of protracted sieges, the war dragged on until 1331, when the Duke Sebastiaen finally threw down his banners in surrender. With their respective thrones secure, successfully ending the rebellion spelled even tighter bonds between the rulers of France and Leon. Ironically, if Galindo had stayed his hand, he would later have inherited the throne. Instead, he died, ill and deprived, during the final years of the civil war, never living to see the Throne pass not to his young nephew.

The end of an era
Leon's constant warfare combined with the scions of the Jimenez family's penchant for leading troops themselves, their life expectancies tended to be short. During his reign, King Fernando saw all three of his brothers die either during battle or from wounds sustained during one. This unfortunate tradition is carried on through the next generation: Designated heir and eldest son Prince Fernando dies in 1331 at the age 44, having contracted pneumonia while campaigning in France, while Galindo had died years before in the dungeons. Bereft of sons, Prince Fernando's heir and the King's grandon – Felipe – is named the principal heir.

The latter years of King Fernando's reign saw further conquests in Iberia, as well as a brief campaign in northern Europa at the behest of a relative. With stability secured inside his realm, in 1133 King Fernando declares in front of a thunderous crowd that Leon will, at last, join the Crusade for Jerusalem. Revanchism and anti-muslim sentiments were still strong inside Leon, and popular support for the Crusade was immense. Gathering what was now supremely the largest army on the Iberian Peninsula, the King prepared to set sail with an immense fleet – only to abruptly fall dead virtually as he was boarding his flagship. The myth of his death is filled with a series of supposed quotations (“Men! It appears you must destroy the Abode of Islam without your King!”, “Death? But I am not yet finished!” and so on) While the veracity of these is at best contested, they remain a testament to how well regarded King Fernando the Great was, both in his own time and ours. Today, his likeness can be found all across Greater Iberia in the form of statues.

With Fernando dead, the Throne of Leon passed to his grandson Felipe.


Pictured: Felipe, thought to be shortly after his ascension


The realm inherited by Felipe in 1134

In summation
The long reign of Fernando II allowed for a great deal of stability within the realm, despite the civil war. In the larger scheme of things, however, the civil war did very little to change the direction of Iberia or Leon, even when the royal succession essentially skipped an entire generation. The erosion of Muslim power continued in Iberia, while the strong support for the Second Crusade saw even the eastern Muslim powers forced into a defensive posture. As Leon slowly encircled the remaining Muslim powers, Barcelona managed to stay independent through the entirety of Fernando's reign. Aragon, meanwhile, was peacefully absorbed in its entirety by Leon. Navarra, too, remained independent, but would soon have to make concessions to an increasingly aggressive French throne.

Thanks for pointing that out, it was supposed to say 1134, we're still way off the 1300s even in the game.

Chapter 3: The middle years of the 12th century
The middle years of the 12th century saw the ascension of King Felipe I, later known as “The Blessed”. Both during his reign and by most historical accounts he was considered a great reformer, builder and administrator – but an exceedingly poor commander. As the chapter will show, his personal skills in battle may well have been dubious at best, but his talent for management and overall aggressiveness still allowed him to make substantial territorial gains during his reign.

King Felipe's Crusades, 1334-1142
Immediately confirming the suspicions of many vassals, King Felipe went ahead with the Crusade, leading his armies to several spectacular defeats at the hands of Caliph Salim during the brief campaign of 1134. While gifted in the arts of statesmanship and administration, King Felipe is said to have been more or less completely bereft the military acumen of his predecessors. Upon his ascension to the throne, his two late wives – he was now twice a widower – had failed to produce any heirs. In 1135, however, he married the 16-year old Sybille of Asperger, by many thought to have been a significant part of the power behind the throne over the course of Felipe's reign. A purported genius, she was immensely talented in every field – a likely reason why Felipe, who himself held three – soon to be four - Royal Crowns, insisted on marrying the daughter of a virtually unknown German Baron.


Pictured: Sybille von Asperger, aged 17

The early years of Felipe's reign thus marked an uncharacteristically peaceful period for Leon, as the armies needed to be restored and restocked after the disaster outside Jerusalem. Simultanously with this restoration of might, the economy and infrastructure of Leon underwent what can only be characterized as a boom, likely attributable to the joint minds of Felipe and Sybille. Alongside a vastly increased amount of traded goods, the inhabitants of Leon saw numerous roads paved, reparations made to old castles and fortifications, and expertly engineered sewage systems making the great cities infinitely more habitable. Furthermore, the great castle of Leon attained much of its current proportions during this period. The greatest domestic project of the era, however, would only commence much later: Work on the University of Villablino finally began as late as in 1157.


Pictured: Castle of Leon, inner keep – as seen today

In 1136, pressure from the Pope coerced Felipe to again commit forces to the Crusade. This time, he brought a much smaller contingent – and, knowing his limitations, passed de facto command to men more capable. He remained with the army as an observer, hoping perhaps to learn how to avert future disasters should be required to command again. While besieging Jerusalem itself, a much larger Muslim army fell upon the Iberians, who were again defeated, but not broken. The small Iberian army then spent several years roaming the Levant, destroying scattered Muslim forces and aiding in formidable combined sieges. In 1138, deciding their military had recovered sufficiently, King Felipe raised the remainder of his – now gargantuan – army and sailed yet again for the Near East.

At the Battle of Ascalon, 12000 Iberians aided by some 1200 additional Christian troops, clashed with a similarly-sized Muslim force. The resulting Christian victory sealed the fate of the Second Crusade. In 1141 the Muslim armies were spent, and the joint siege of King Orthon I of France and King Felipe finally meant Christians controlled the principality of Jerusalem. The fact that Pope Callixtus then gave the French King mandate of the newly founded Kingdom of Jerusalem, was seen as a slight by the nobles of Leon. They were keen to remind any who would listen that without their contribution at Ascalon and during the siege of Jerusalem itself, the Christian armies likely would have lost. Vassal relations between Leon and France cooled considerably following this. The gentle Felipe, however, seemed to hold no such grudge, instead publicly congratulating and praising King Otho I for his successful defence of Christendom.

Second Great Iberian War 1142 – 1157
In the aftermath of the Second Crusade, Felipe assumed – for the most part correctly – that the armies of the Iberian Muslims were at an all-time low after having committed to continuation of Muslim rule in Jerusalem, and then losing large numbers of men during the closing months. Furthermore, the Moors in particular were militarily strained due to a long-winded conflict with the Holy Roman Empire over Sardinia.

In 1142, Felipe launched a lightning invasion, rapidly securing the entirety of Sevilla, leaving Beja Mauretania and Cordoba isolated from one another. Ending moorish control of the Strait of Gibraltar was also a priority, and the northern part of the Strait was secured shortly after, extending the reach of the eastern provinces.



Approximate de facto borders during the early years of the war, 1142-43

In 1143, Felipe knowingly escalates the war, invading what remains of The Cordoban Emirate. As with the previous Great Iberian War, the surrounding Muslim powers – Beja, Mauretania, Mallorca and Tunis – all rush to preserve Cordoba. This time, however, it is safe to assume that the Leonnese monarch had counted on their involvement. Posting armies both on the eastern seaboard, and the newly conquered Strait of Gibraltar, Felipe was able to deny the majority of the Moorish as well as the entire Mallorcan and Tunisian armies the ease of access they were used to. In the previous war, they had used this to combine their forces – now, they were unable to rendezvous with the embattled Bejan and Cordobans. Instead of facing a combined, enormous Muslim army, the always slightly larger Iberian armies systematically trapped, engaged and destroyed Muslim forces, both in Iberia proper and as they attempted to land on the beaches.

By 1148, the Emirate of Cordoba for all purposes ceases to exist, as the last of its strongholds are beset by Christians, and the Emir and his remaining subjects flee westward. This had something of a floodgate-effect on the Muslim rulers still in the field. The Mallorcan Emir ceded half his lands – the entire Island of Mallorca, leaving him only with Menorca – in return for peace the same year, while the armies of Tunis simply pulled out and left the Moors and Beja, now vastly outnumbered, to their own devices.



The approximate borders of Leon during 1148

The result, perhaps, was a predictable one: After a protracted period that saw few battles but many lengthy sieges, Mauretania brokered a peace in 1154, where they were forced to leave Iberia behind entirely. While the Moors would continue to exert a certain influence over Iberia by virtue of their strong, North-African position, this marked the end of Moorish territory in Iberia. Finally, in 1157 the war ended as the Beja emirate surrendered on extremely unfavourable terms. Their military utterly broken, they were left with no choice but to accept being split into merely two severely isolated Sheikdoms.


Final borders of Leon at the end of the war, 1157

The end of Muslim Iberia, 1157 – 1173
With Muslim rule all but ended in Iberia, it is surprising that Felipe's reputation as a “El Rey Tierno” - “The Gentle King” – builder and administrator first, warrior second if at all – continued to live on. It is arguable that his successes in war came about chiefly as a result of the foundations laid by his father and grandfather. The economic and military power of Leon was at an all-time high by the time Felipe ascended the throne 1133. However, after emerging victorious from a major a war lasting for a total of 15 years, resulting in some of the most significant territorial gains yet for Leon, the great myth of King Felipe's supposed lack of military talent must be seen as precisely that: A myth. Despite his brilliant outmanoeuvring of Tunis and Mauretania during the war, his disastrous first Crusade seems to forever have seale his reputation as a middling commander – and by extension, not a “true” warrior King. A middling commander he may well have been, but his talent for strategy was decidedly not wasted in the large-scale conflicts of the Second Great War, despite his rarely taking the field himself. Precisely how much of the overarching strategy that can be attributed to his Queen, remains near unanswerable – she is not known to have kept a journal, preferring instead to memorize anything of note.

After the Second Great War, Leon again underwent a period of peace and growing prosperity, and it is assumed that it is during this time King Felipe began to concern himself with the matter of his succession. It were not only in mind and spirit that Felipe and Sybille had found another one – over the course of their marriage, they produced no fewer than eight children, five of which were male. Wanting to avoid a disruptive succession war, it is assumed that Felipe – under advisement from his wife – took several measures to ascertain the succession of his choice.

By the 1170s, Leon still practised free investiture. To remove them from the line of succession, Felipe proceeded to install two of his younger sons as bishops in the bishoprics of the newly conquered western reaches. His eldest – and possibly least capable – son died at the age of 27, shortly followed by his infant sons, leaving two possible heirs: The martially capable Felipe, and the scholarly Álvar. To ensure that neither could easily usurp the other, Felipe carefully apportioned power within the realm when dividing newly conquered lands, seeking to maintain an even balance amongst the internal powers. Felipe remained the appointed heir and established intimate ties with the army, with Álvar was intended for an administrative role. A struggle was perhaps inevitable, but would not become political reality for years yet – the rule under Felipe I remained stable, even as he tightened control with his vassals' individual freedoms.

A brief French incursion resulted in half of Navarra being ceded to France, rendering the actual Kingdom of Navarra little more than a glorified principality.

In 1173 the definitive end of Muslim rule in Iberia arrives, as the two remaining Beja sheikdoms seemingly accept the inevitable, and are absorbed into Leon after only minor military posturing from Leon. With the Muslims gone from Iberia, the Pope himself – despite being displeased with the state of Investiture across Leon – graced King Felipe with a visit, personally blessing him for his service to the Cross, earning him his most common epithet: “The Blessed”.



Iberia, as it stood after the annexations of 1173


The internal power blocs of united Leon, approximately 1173

In summation
King Felipe I's continuing reputation as a “gentle” king is almost certainly undeserved, given his decidedly ungentle approach to the Muslim presence in Iberia, and his Crusading fervour. Yet he remains in the eyes of many a King whose foremost work was the robust internal reforms and projects, which formed a remarkably solid economic foundation, allowing Leon to prosper rapidly. His work completed that of his father and grandfather, and meant that Iberia approached the end of the 12th century wholly united, as a major European power, every part the rival of – amongst others – France.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Glad you like it!

I need to play the game a little more before I can publish chapter four, but we're getting there.

It looks like I might have to put this on hiatus until the next patch, because every time the save game reaches the date June 21 1189, I get a CTD. I've even tried to start as another character from that save to see if I could pass the magical date, but, eh, no cigar.

They know about the issue, so I guess I just have to wait for the next patch. I bought the game on Steam, so I can't just roll back to 1.05d: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...ific-dates&p=13784917&viewfull=1#post13784917

Now I just have to hope it doesn't mess up my other AAR too. ;_;