Are there no more Crusader Kings? (PB+VIET)

tnick0225 said:

Oh the Timurids are coming I've only had one playthrough ever make it to them showing up.

Anyways interesting updates wonder if Gauthier will be able to get his Crown.

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Yeah, and Timur is just getting going.
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Part XXXIII: The War in Italy

Now that he had finally turned his attention to the war against King Robert, the young Duke hired the Bulgarian band and sailed to Italy. A slight detour saw him travel to an outlying English territory in Aquitaine and wed Queen Edith. When he did deign to land in Italy he found Duke Giovanni III of Calabria defeated and Count Antoine of Messina beset with the Trinacrians. He would have to carry the war himself.



Gauthier moved to relieve Lecce, and there met the enemy army. In Outremer he had remained in the rear, for fear of his personal safety, but now he put himself front and centre, astride his ex-regent Baron Boson.

Despite his craven feelings, Gauthier was an accomplished swordsman, and those who opposed him soon found this out. The enemy skirmishers had little impact on the mass of armoured men charging them. The initial melee saw the young duke hurl himself through the enemy’s ranks, bowling over two knights, one of who was summarily dispatched by a stab under his loosened helmet.

Gauthier screamed, the battle rage upon him, and brought down another armoured troop, parrying a halberd strike before forcing him back with his shield, when the enemy lost his footing on someone’s entrails his fight was done. The man struggled desperately to lever himself up with his halberd, embedding it in the mud, Gauthier brought his sword upon the man’s hands, fingers broke and wrists shattered as the soldier fell to the ground face-first screaming. Drawing a dagger, Gauthier used the palm of his hand to force into the brain, which consequently gurgled from the wound.

Then a flood of peasant levies tried to plug the gap. A spear was impaled in his shield, but another was fractured into shards by his sword, and the peasant’s armour was wholly insufficient. Mayor Gelduin of Tramonti, seeing a madman hack through his lines, lost heart and fled. Baron Frédéric of Minori, Robert’s captain, also turned tail; but was subsequently captured in the utter rout of his army.


Coward!

Soon after Robert offered terms, fearful of the storm approaching from Lecce, so elective succession was established in Naples. Gauthier, overconfident, soon reignited the war with demands that Jerusalem too, be made elective, here his allies were reticent and refused to join him.



It seemed not to matter, as the Briennist fleet rushed the Bulgar mercenaries around the Mediterranean, smashing the small forces Robert could muster, and investing the capitol in Amalfi. Robert sought to escape, but was been ambushed by Gauthier’s troops, a mace shattered his left hand and his helmet was violently torn off, a glancing blow from a sword caught the king above the ear before one of his bannermen swooped in and whisked him to safety. Left behind, Robert’s wife Yolande and son Jacques were captured, whilst the man himself was comatose somewhere in the wilderness. It is was at this moment of triumph, however, that Gauthier's coffers began to run out...

tnick0225 said:

Oh no running out of moneys! Will the Bulgarian Band decide to come after Gauthier I wonder.

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Fortunately I tend to disband before they fight you.

I'm back at school now, and its mildly serious, this being my final year, so updates may be a bit sparser, but I'll still aim for an update/week. This update kinda went off and got a little (very) dark when we paired dying in sieges and Timur's traits.

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Part XXIV: Byzantine Gone​

The months dragged by interminably as Gauthier’s ever-dwindling host besieged Italy, piece by piece. It was after three years of this boredom-inducing routine that the Angevins, under Regent André count of Sinai, hired their own band of mercenaries. Gauthier, forced to act quickly, cobbled together gold by ransoming a slew of prisoners, and soon engaged the Turkish band. Severely outnumbered, the Briennist troops charged into Salerno before André could consolidate his troops. They trudged through and won, but it was a pyrrhic victory, and funds were low.

When Karl III of Hungary-Croatia, a realm experiencing a brief patch of stability despite Karl’s Danish culture (his great-niece Maren d’Anjou ruling that kingdom), declared his attention to aid his kinsman Gauthier’s efforts flagged. When Venice opportunistically attempted to regain Chandax the Duke, with a deep sigh, accepted a white peace with the age-ravaged Robert- the negotiations undertaken under the authority of Crown Prince Étienne.

Despite his ultimate failure Gauthier took smug satisfaction in the difficulties he had caused the kingdom- Napoli having fallen to Papacy and Vienne to France whilst his war dragged on. When he was brought into the fold he discovered the Greeks were fighting an ill-advised war for the kingdom of Jerusalem. They did this through Basilissa Eugenia, daughter of Ida de Brienne- who had deposed her nephew Adrianos III, who had only inherited by the murder of his parricidal brother Kyros. In addition to this, the kingdom was split between the Orthodox and the Bogomilists, of which Kyros was a follower.

All these efforts occurred whilst the Timurid host ravaged the countryside; they ultimately seized the capitol of Adrianopolis in 1380 and slaughtered all those inside- the Khagan himself personally watching the impalement of 10-year old Imperial princess Thekla, even going so far as to commission a smaller stake so as to ensure she didn’t die too quickly.

His attention was turned when another woman was dragged into the courtyard, screaming. She sobbed quietly, her clothes torn to reveal she was with child, and bruises covering her body, which she acquired trying to resist her rapists.


A non-Mongol looking Timur

When she deigned to lift her eyes she met the morbid spectacle of her sister-in-law, whose insides trailed from the abdomen. When her guard made a gesture through the doorway the woman let forth a howl of indescribable pain, Timur clasped his hands in pure amusement when a maid, carrying two young twins straggled into the courtyard.

The poor, bedraggled woman, Zvenislava Yuriev, wife of ex-Basileus Adrianos, threw herself upon one of the soldiers, but her strength was gone, and she was slapped into the dirt. The Tartar soldiers eagerly conversed on the mechanics of baby-impaling. With disappointment, they decided it was unfeasible on children so young. Instead, with some wild gesticulations by the Khagan, an attendant fetched a jagged piece of stone from the palace wall, and handed it to Timur’s chief torturer. The man was huge, well over six feet tall and hulking with muscle, one blow disintegrated the skull of Prince Pankratios. His cries cut out eerily whilst his sister Aikaterine, laid next to him, continued unabated, or were even exacerbated- the brains of her brother hardly helped calm her. In any case, her tears redoubled when the executioner grasped her, and she was dispatched as well.



The limp bodies were then hurled over the palace walls, spattering blood, brain and skull over the flight path. Their mother, who had been clutched by the jaw and forced to watch, retrieved a piece of skull that landed in the mud at her feet, and was numbed by the complete collapse of her heart, and her soul. Her sadistic keepers refused her even this small consolation, and wretched this last piece of her children from her hands, it too was hurled over the wall, to join the indeterminate mass of human entrails and blood that is synonymous with a sack- looting soldiers undoubtedly trampled the corpses of the baby imperials. They were 15 days past their first birthday.

Part XXXV: The Christian Resolve​

Not sated by their destruction of the Greek empire, the Tartars poured forth into the duchy of Athens. Thanks to regent André de Avaugour, elevated to the counties of Taranto and Provence following the king’s injury, royal Neapolitan arms were raised to defend Gauthier’s lands, with the zealous spirit of Prince Étienne also aiding in this regard.


No, I can't explain the name

There was also a substantial Christian host to assist in the fight- whilst Naples engaged in a civil war a crusade had been called, culminating in Kaiser Heinrich IX installing his cousin as king of Andalusia. Whilst the Imperials marched home King Nunó “the Wise” of Aragon; Serene Doge Obizzo “the Just” of Genoa; Pope Leo X himself; and Signore Antonio of Pisa sailed to our aid, as did the Angevin kings Fredrik of Denmark and Karl III of Hungary-Croatia. Gauthier himself engaged the Knights Hospitaller.

These men congregated in Genoese-held Constantinople, and 20 000 marched out to rout a small force of 6000 Timurids. However, when the enemy host re-congregated and marched back, blotting out the countryside for miles on end, stripping bare everything in their path like a plague of ravenous locusts, the Christian resolve was tested.

“We must fall back, we can join the Danes in Armenia minor and occupy much of the land before that massive host arrives, perhaps with this we can force a negotiation” argued Obizzo Embriaco, Doge of Venice whilst gesturing to his considerable fleet, and nervously running his hands through rapidly thinning hair- stress, and 67 years, had taken their toll on him.


The Christian coalition, and army based out of Genoese Constantinople

Gauthier was indignant, “you want to run away? To abandon Greece? What happens if we withdraw and the Mohammedans simply turn around and torch Athens?”

“It can’t be done, Greek refugees say they number 150 000!” observed Giovanni Orsini count of Cephalonia, from the chair where he engorged himself in mutton, crumbs of which featured prominently in his red beard.

The food, and a glass of ale, went flying as Giovanni dived underneath the helmet Gauthier hurled at him, his explanation for the violent action a curtly delivered “I shall not take counsel from the man whose father killed mine” and a look of complete contempt at Orsini’s attempts to collect himself from the floor.

Regent André, with a sigh, explained calmly that if they continued to bicker they’d surely be trapped in Constantinople, for that city to experience its fourth devastating siege in 200 years.

When the Hospitaller grandmaster, a man he was paying, agreed with the others Gauthier withdrew in disgust, uttering all manner of curses.

“Friend, they are right, you know that”, a hand clasped Brienne’s shoulder

“Ah, my dear Bertrand, it is wonderful to see you. What are you doing here? Why weren't you in the council meeting?” was Prince (as he now titled himself) Gauthier’s response on turning to see his childhood friend for the first time in over a decade.

The strapping youth, at 22 six years Gauthier’s junior, returned the beaming smile with which he had been greeted and added casually, “Come now, you know that such a gathering has always been distinctly uncomfortable for me, especially with you in such a mood”- at this a laugh- “but I am here in command of my brother’s contingent”

At this the Prince’s smile faded and brow furrowed, “My deepest sympathies for the death of your father, and my mentor, the Count of Monreal. They say he died of a debilitating illness, such an ignoble end for a great man”

Both men bowed their heads, with Bertrand infinitely grateful that his friend didn’t go into detail on his father’s illness- elderly Henri had died an extremely painful death by Gonorrhea, which had affected him for many years and been the cause of his second wife’s death, spending his last years immobile for joint inflammation, and experiencing excruciating pain when relieving himself.

So, whilst the two friends caught up, the other commanders loaded their troops onto Obizzo’s ships and readied to sail across the Aegean Sea so that they might join up with the Danes and seek a position of strength for negotiation.

Part XXXVI: To Blot Out the Sun​

Timur stalked the Christian fleet along the Aegean coast, with some 100 000 horse. Amongst these marched a bevy of prisoners- ex-Basileus Adrianos III, progressively stripped down to the county of Thessalonike, whose wife, baby twins and sister had been slaughtered in the siege of Adrianople, was dragged along for propaganda value. His aunt, the usurper Eugenia, was holed up in Epirus.

They were guarded over by a brood of Timur’s fearsome sons, Toghtoga of Thrace, Bugunutei of Thessalonika and Kadan, all were afflicted by their father’s clubfoot, and as a result of this they rarely left the saddle. They now pulled up astride the walls of Smyrna, and Adrianos was prodded forward to the gate.

“Come now, Konstantinos, join them- or, us”, this admission evoked a pained expression, “on the march south and they won’t kill you”

Konstantinos, former doux of Samos, glared down and his bedraggled former imperial master- “Will they reduce me to your pathetic state?” he mocked, “In any case, I don’t side with heretics”. He was a devout Bogolomist.


Queen Razmouhi, who worked herself to death resisting Timur. Her son would instantly defect to the Muslim faith

“There are no sides you cantankerous old fool! We are all subjects now, religion is nothing. King Vahram of Armenian Cilicia, whose noble mother Razmouhi worked herself to death resisting these barbarians, has embraced the Moslem faith and calls himself khan. The rest of us would do good to follow his example if we want to survive” Adrianos moaned. Then, getting a little theatrical, he fell to the ground and shouted “please, you don’t want to experience the same thing I have!”

Konstantinos conceded, and joined the march south, his son, Count Romanos of Ephesos, followed suite. He, unlike his father, was a yellow-bellied, paranoid coward, and it took the best efforts of his father and Adrianos to drag him out.

An auxiliary force smashed through Lykia, held by Doux Kaisarios II of Ancona-Achaia-Cyprus, whose father, one-time ally of Gauthier, had died a maimed cripple at the tender age of 23. The barebones Hospitaller force holding Rhodes watched on impotently- the vast majority of their strength marched with the Neapolitans.

Further Timurid detachments ravaged through Outremer, especially targeting Gauthier’s demesne. This drew him, his levies and the Hospitaller away from the main force to make landfall in Jaffa.


First of all, it's hard to draw neat arrows with a fingerpad thing. Gauthier took his troops in a forlorn attempt to confront the enemy ravaging the Holy Land (Green), whilst the main Christian force sailed to Cilicia to join up with reinforcements (Blue). The Timurids charged down the coast, imposing their authority along the way, before hitting the Christians in Lykandos (Red)

Upon arrival he was immediately beset by Bertrand’s brother Érrard, who wailed about “the innumerable host that had lain waste to his lands”, this tantrum was brushed off, whilst Duke Philippe of Galilee, a friend and co-rebel, exclaimed “good lord man, where’s the rest of them?” upon seeing the size Gauthier’s army. Brienne’s kinsman Count Aymar proved equally pessimistic, if more composed, in reporting that over thirty-thousand Timurids besieged Darum and Hebron.

With heavy heart, the duke withdrew to rejoin the main force, unfortunately it proved not so simple. Prince Étienne, upon arrival in Cilicia, found himself reinforced by some 20 000 troops from the Papacy and Aragon. Such a large force could not be fed in the confines of Adana alone.

Flavio, Papal envoy and marshal, took half the men inland to Lykandos. They emerged onto a plain near the city of Germanikeia and were met with a mass of horsemen that covered the land all the way to the horizon. Kadan, Timur’s youngest son, and “Khan” Vahram, orchestrator of this battle, swooped in and blocked any possible escape through the mountains to the Christian rear.

Then it began. Hail upon hail of arrows, poorly armed levies went down in droves. Some of the braver soldiers attempted to fight off the horse archers, but as has always been the case, they were unable to come to grips with the enemy. Flavio gathered his professional knights and hopelessly forayed at Kadan and Vahram, a slew of arrows was liable to bring down horse and knock knights clean off their feet. Those few fortunate enough to engage the enemy were cut down in the bloodlust of the turncoat Vahram, eager to prove his loyalty to the new order, or the energetic Kadan, who manoeuvred swiftly despite his clubfoot, eager to lay claim to the spoils of this war, and perhaps upstage his elder brothers.

When this desperate charge was blunted Flavio’s heart sank, and his army descended into pandemonium- grown men, some of them experienced campaigners, broke down and sobbed or prayed. It was scarcely an hour before the Christian army was no more, but it took substantially longer to rob the dead and dispatch the wounded. Some 25 000 Christians had been killed, the Mohammedans lost five-hundred.
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Sorry for the dearth of screenshots, we're dealing with a relatively short time period and photobucket's being finicky. Comments welcome!

Part XXXVII: Sojourns and Stabbings​

Reasonably, Étienne gave up soon thereafter. Gauthier was furious, despite the obvious hopelessness of the fight, and stalked off to his wife’s realm in England, leaving his significantly reduced demesne to the regency of Count Aymar and Bertrand, though the latter left when he was invested Count of Monreal by Érrard, thanks to the coercion on Bertrand’s behalf by his father-in-law Duke Philippe.

Gauthier’s travel took him through Aquitaine; where he thankfully avoided being caught up in the independence movement of the Catalan independence fighter Bérard the Liberator. Bérard having seized upon France’s internal troubles- the upstart de Lomage dynasty, third generation counts of Armagnac, having seized the throne from Frédéric de Blois in 1378, only for the latter to regain the throne for two months in 1380 before being forced to abdicate in favour of his son, the three-year old Centule.

Fortunately England experienced no such disorder, Gauthier’s spouse Queen Edith having made peace with her Plantagenet cousins, who were in any case set to go extinct in the male line when Edward IV duke of Kent-Gloucester-Lancaster-York and his brothers died. She did however persistently refuse to take advantage of Scotland’s chaos, where the two previous Reginar kings, Arnulf the Cruel and Stewart the Bold, had been forced to abdicate in favour of their offspring, which had resulted in the reign of the five-year old Donada. This having occurred whilst they exterminated their Stewart cousins.

In any case, Gauthier’s sojourn in England produced what was necessary, with Edith conceiving and eventually giving birth to Prince Gauthier V. Following the birth, Gauthier plunged straight back into Jerusalem- the death of the long comatose King Robert encouraging this action. He was made steward by King Étienne, despite his far greater talent lying in warfare, and immediately began seeking to gain new lands to offset the loss of Greece.



He set his sights on the independent Emirates in Syria, seeking to conquer them before Timur did. Tripoli was seized without incident in 1385 from the underage Hamdan II Baalbekid. Then Étienne, ever zealous, declared an excommunication war on the Company of the Rose, smashing the mercenaries, Gauthier took advantage of the situation by claiming Kaneia de jure as Duke of Crete. The Angevin force, commanded by Karl III of Hungary-Croatia, smashed the mercenaries, who had grown lazy and corpulent in their 20-year rule. Their captain Aldobrandino Traversari, was no great warrior, and the entire mercenary force was extinguished in a single battle, having secured Aldobrandino’s abdication, the king departed, leaving Gauthier to mop up.



So Étienne returned to Naples in triumph. To put a stamp on this fact he put on lavish celebrations for the dual wedding of his two young siblings to the kingdom of Trinacria- Prince Jacques d’Anjou wed King Durante’s bastard daughter Ermengilda whilst Béatrice d’Embrun, Robert’s bastard, wed Prince Rafaello. This was intended to finally put the century of bad-blood between the two kingdoms to a close.

So the newlyweds’ procession went through the city, Étienne, Jacques and Ermengilda in the first carriage; Durante, Béatrice and Rafaello in the second. Said carriages were equally bedecked in gold and splendour, with the sun itself glistening from its jewels. Étienne, on a whim, decided to dismount and distribute alms to a group of onlookers- raggy, dishevelled peasants, with wild unkempt beards.

They knelt and gave thanks, smiling in gratitude, until one of their number, a truly huge man, hurled aside shoved aside the king’s bodyguard and seized Étienne, and then his friends drew daggers. The king’s eyes widened in fear, and he desperately tried to squirm free. Alas, he failed, and his assailants closed in, he landed a few kicks on them but it wasn’t long until the first knife pierced his chest. As he fell to the ground they closed in, hacking away his flailing hands and stabbing brutally downwards.

Brave Jacques, wielding the royal sword no less, rushed to his brother’s aid, as did Prince Halvor of Hungary-Croatia, marshal and wife of Princess Charlotte, another royal sister. Jacques slew the unarmoured men, and his sword easily outreached their daggers, allowing him to devastate their forearms before going in for the kill. Halvor landed a blow on the head of the giant who had seized the king, and gleefully smashed his skull in, swearing all the while.

Despite their noble actions, the king was dead, his arms sliced to a bloody pulp and dozens of wounds pouring blood from his torso. So, who be elected as the new king of Naples, noble Prince Jacques, who would hereditarily receive Jerusalem? Or an experienced and powerful peer of the realm, like Duke Gauthier IV de Brienne?

Frequency has obviously dropped off a bit- school. I will have the next update over the weekend and then hopefully get back to something of a regular schedule.

Comments & critiques welcome!

Part XXXVIII: King Gauthier​

Gauthier was elected King of Naples over the 17-year old Angevin candidate, Étienne’s brother Jacques. Without remorse, he immediately declared himself King of Jerusalem as well. A magnificent coronation was then held in Jerusalem, with Bishops Ebbon of Otranto and Ogier of Jerusalem crowning Gauthier on behalf of their respective kingdoms. The nobles of Outrejourdain submitted without incident, and Gauthier’s lieutenant Bertrand was made duke there, but Duke Enguerrand of Galilee, and Prince Jacques himself, duke of Sinai, Provence, Salerno and Apulia, refused to submit.

This saw Gauthier fly into a rage, and he immediately claimed Tiberias, whilst instructing his spymaster to dispose of Prince Jacques. Outnumbered three-to-one, the Galileans never stood a chance, but when Gauthier slogged his way to their captain Francois de Sarno, a renowned hunter and warrior, only for Francois to flee, the whole army collapsed and Enguerrand, watching from the castle of Scandalon, surrendered.


Coward!

Jacques meanwhile, was killed in Amalfi by a hail of arrows just eight months after his brother’s death, he was the last of the male-line Neapolitan Angevins (excluding their Hungarian branch). Whilst no complicity was proven, fingers were pointed at the king, especially by Jacques’ sisters, Charlotte duchess of Apulia and Yolande duchess of Sinai, Provence and Salerno. Both proved equally unwilling to bend the knee. Furthermore, Gauthier’s unilateral actions had unsettled many of his vassals, and they began to stir trouble.


JFKed

This was especially the case in Italy, far from the king’s base in Jerusalem, where Giovanni IV of Calabria and Giovanni II of Cephalonia were dissuaded from revolt with the titles Master of the Hunt and Duke of Athens respectively. Unfortunately, however, he was compelled to reduce crown levies, and Pope Leo X expressed displeasure at the amount of heathens in the country. The employment of stewardess Aléarde de Baux was also reproached. Aléarde, despite being a niece to the then count of Foggia, had somehow wed Emir Umur Umurid of Nikaea, and took up her husband’s religion before his death, she then took up a position at Gauthier’s court with her father Raymond and her genius had been noted.



Despite the Pope’s criticisms, and their recent hostility, the King leapt to the defence of Duke Enguerrand when Emir Ahmad of Arabia declared war. Unfortunately in rushing to Galilee’s defence his force was rather disorganised, and consequently was blunted harshly at its first attempt. However, this defeat didn’t prevent the king from charging into battle and outclassing Ashraf Khuraquayad in personal combat. Ashraf yielded, and the King personally dragged him back as a prisoner, even as the Frankish line disintegrated around him, the defence provided by his lieutenant Bertrand mostly responsible for his success in this endeavour.



Retiring briefly to lick his wounds, Gauthier engaged the Teutonic Knights and smashed a still-exhausted Arab force. With a detachment of knights he and Bertrand battled their way to Emir Ahmad; Bertrand wrenched the Mohammedan’s standard bearer from his saddle and hurled him headlong at the Emir. Ahmad’s horse spooked and threw him; an attendant rushed to help his chief but was sliced down by Gauthier. Bertrand headed off a rescue attempt by Ahmad’s son Emir Ridwan of Damascus and personally slew three Bedouins as they tried to wheel around him, Ridwan himself was disarmed by the force of Bertrand’s mighty strike and knocked unconscious by an almighty blow from his shield. Unfortunately one of his attendants intervened and assisted the Emir of Damascus, his father was conveyed to a gaol, and gave up the war. The slew of close-combat experience also freed Gauthier from his fear of battle, making him an even greater accomplished warrior.



This would prove a fleeting respite for Ridwan, nursing wounded pride and a throbbing bruise on his forehead, appealed to Sultan Suhail, to whom he was marshal. Suhail, who remembered the death of his brother Hisham at Gauthier II’s hands some 44 years worked himself into a frenzy- age had made him erratic. He virtually howled war instructions to his followers and then calmed himself by impaling some unfortunate Frankish prisoners.



The Bahri state, however, was not what it used to be- it now held only the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, the emirate of Arabia and Damascus. Even these reduced lands were separated by the kingdom of Jerusalem and duchy of Sinai. As such, the enemy were defeated in detail, with the martial prowess of Gauthier and Bertrand defeating the numerically superior Saracens, though the Teutonic grandmaster fell in battle. In the midst of this, Duke Enguerrand died of illness, and his brother, the 9-year old Philippe III, swore fealty and was taken in as a ward. His submission saw the territorial integrity of the kingdom of Jerusalem restored, though Naples was another matter.

verdas said:

Just caught up on this; the world that has developed is awesome - late start dates are really under appreciated.

You have probably the best handle on the relations between characters that I've seen in an AAR, and it makes for a really vibrant narrative. Keep it up - not much time left.

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Thanks for the kind words!

Part XXXIX: Feud​

“Dark news, my liege, the last of the Greek outposts have fallen, and the Genoans have been forced out of Constantinople”, this came from Baron Ebbon de Bethsan, Chancellor of the Realm.


Scheming bastards

The king exhaled slowly, now his realm was truly the last thing defending Christendom from Europe, bordering the Timurids in a frontier that stretched from the Strait of Otranto, through the Peloponnese, and thence to Tripoli. “And what of my vassals?” he finally asked- the Giovannis, one a Duke of Calabria and the other Count of Cephalonia, had lapsed into ill-advised scheming for independence and reduced royal power.

Despite the deteriorating situation Gauthier remained committed to firming up his borders by absorbing Muslim stateletes, and in January 1391 he marched on Tortosa. Its ruler, Hamdan, from whom Gauthier had already seized Tripoli, was still a child, but nevertheless the Ottomans marched to his aid. And so, for some unknown reason, Sultan Kaytun II Ottoman, surrounded by hostile Tartars, marched his army through Anatolia defend his co-religionists, support was also offered by Emir Salim II of Antioch.



However, once again the Mohammedans failed to hold up against 1000 Christian knights, as Bertrand and Gauthier, supplemented by the Knights Hospitaller, ran them down and sliced them apart. Then the king turned his attention back to Europe- the Catholic, Latin-speaking Palaiologian realm of Cyprus-Achaia-Ancona was an easy target. Gauthier’s friend, Duke Kaisarios, was long dead, and the king felt no pity for his young son, Kaisarios II.


Kaisarios' forces are destroyed by Gauthier's band of martial men

Giovanni of Cephalonia had manufactured a claim on Achaia, and Brienne hoped by pressing it he would bring to an end the connivings of this vassal. Once again, the merry combination of Gauthier and Bertrand, joined by the king’s kinsman Count Aymar of Beersheb, routed the thoroughly outnumbered enemy, winning the war in a single day’s battle.

Next he skipped over to Italy, and sought to placate the other Giovanni by pressing his brother’s claim on Taranto. It was held by the elder of the Angevin heiresses- Duchess Yolande of Provence-Salerno-Sinai, and her extensive dynastic alliances made the move a gamble for King Gauthier. It was the first time he had fought the house of Anjou outright since he had usurped the throne of Jerusalem and murdered Prince Jacques in cold blood. The family rallied, Yolande’s sister Charlotte duchess of Apulia, and the latter’s father-in-law King Karl III of Hungary-Croatia joined the fray. King Durante of Trinacria, Gauthier’s cousin and one-time heir, who had been father-in-law to the slain Prince Jacques, also entered the war, doubtless hoping to curb Neapolitan expansion. Faced by a mighty coalition, had Gauthier bitten off more than he could chew?

I'm on holiday, don't expect an update in the next two weeks.

Yeah, so this has been comatose for a while, but, having just finished my high school exams (!), I plan to return to it.