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Another good update and nice to see you plugging away again after a two month break.

Of course, I have to imagine even if you're going to war with Wales, they will be a bit of pushover just looking at size of territory unless they have some friends who'd like to also get back at you! :eek:
 
Chapter VII: The Turn of the Tide

On December 12th, 1205, King John of England and Aquitaine, declared war against Brenin Owain of Gwynedd. It was barely noticed outside of the Isles themselves but within them, it was a great controversy. Marital ties between the two crowns made the high-kings of Ireland and the king of Scotland begin to look at England as a traitor to its allies and as a major threat to their sovereignty. It also caused murmurs within Aquitaine, but those were mostly kept quiet. In addition, despite having the confidence of his English vassals, John's claim on Gwynedd was flimsy at best. His declaration that he was reunifying the Kingdom of Arthur was laughed at by the Scots and the Irish and frowned upon by the Pope. John needed to legitimize his war. Fortunately, he had just the tool sitting next to him on the throne. With the death of Llywelyn, the Gwyneddian throne fell empty with no direct heirs. Digging through the tomes of ancestry and the long charts of family pedigree, they found an heir in Owain, a distant cousin to Llywelyn. Owain was promptly declared the new high-king of Gwynedd, with one just one small catch. A catch that John was only too happy to exploit and make public. If Owain was Llywelyn's legitimate heir, then his sister, Gwenllian, was by all rights a claimant on the throne. And since Gwenllian was married to John, placing her on the Gwenneddian throne would tie the two kingdoms together by marriage, making them one. It was a crafty move and one that worried both those outside the country as well as in. If John was willing to claim Gwynedd for his wife, then, many of the Irish lords and the Scottish king worried, what far distant relatives would he summon from forgotten lands to take theirs. Within England, many of the lords worried that John was gaining too much power. Lancaster was already strong enough and deadly loyal to the king, adding another powerful player to the mix was too much for some. Why the kingdom marched to war, those outside it and within it quickly moved to secure their power.

John, however, was too excited to even notice the worry outside and within his kingdoms. His preparations for war were all that he could think about but there was still cause for worry there. Although he had many volunteers amongst the nobles for troops and commanders, John was weary to burden his lords with another war. He knew all too well the wrath he would face if this war became over long. As such, he relied heavily on Duke Roger de Lacy, lord of the ever-growing duchy of Lancaster, to provide most of the men. Joining his seventeen hundred personal levies with that of de Lacy's seventy two hundred troops in Hereford, John parceled out commandership positions to barons from across England. Primary leadership was split three ways between John himself, Duke Roger and Duke William Marshal. Originally, Marshal's position was given to the newly proclaimed Duke Gui, however Gui made a fuss about getting from Auvèrnhe to Hereford. Being so close to Hereford and nearly equal to Gui in military tactics, Marshal was called to replace Gui and a terse letter was sent to him to inform him that his services were no longer needed. Gui, by all accounts, was furious but John was far too preoccupied with war preparations to care. One stand out commander, in charge of John's bow divisions, was Duke Richard of Normandy, the king's son. Now sixteen, he was finally old enough to take a direct part in wars. While hardly a tactician for the ages, Richard had grown into his own man and had learned how to avoid many of his father's failings. He was brave where his father had a tendency, still, towards cowardice, he was humble where his father was overly proud and he was filled with religious zeal instead of his father's cynicism. He had inherited his father's envious nature, but it manifested itself differently and, sometimes, particularly helpfully.

By January 13th, 1206, the army began its march on the north western province of Gwynedd ,Powys Fadog, as it was called in those days. They arrived seven days later and, after crushing what little resistance there was, began to lay siege to the castle at Wrecsam that acted as a gateway into the rest of Gwynedd. It was an uneventful siege and faced little resistance due to Owain's lack of a ready army and general unpreparedness. Despite a few raiding bands attacking the siege camp, the castle fell by late May. John then moved onto Llangollen to secure the province and ensure that English supply lines would have a straight rode to the army as they moved further in and towards the Irish Sea. Spring turned into summer and the small town still held strong against the king's army. While they knew it was only a matter of time, the defense was strong to give Owain enough time to gather men from his allies amongst the Irish lords. It took until August 2nd for the city to finally fall. The king's slow progress was of little note, as he still held his vassal's confidence and the kingdom's heart, but it gave Duke Gui a sound box to state that the war would be going faster if he were leading it. This was most likely true, as the only real competent commander amongst the three army leaders, Duke William Marshal, was a dour and depressed man who had little desire to be away from the comforts of home and had to be dragged to the planning table. Jokes flew around the two kingdoms that the English army was being lead by two blind men and a corpse. Gui managed to gain some more prestige for the rapid conquest of Mann, despite that war being considerably smaller in goal. The king's own horn tooting had started to come back to haunt him.

Never the less, the war raged on. By August 18th, the king had pushed all the way into Gwynedd and begun the siege of Caernarfon Castle. The siege was tediously slow and, both the city and castle, had been well prepared for it. On August 28th, Owain's men from Ireland landed in Cardigan to the south and began the march up to Powys Fadog. Despite Marshal's insistence, John wanted to take the castle and secure the capital before fighting Owain head on. It was a good plan too and would have been more successful under more competent commanders, however Marshal couldn't do everything on his own and Caernarfon stood stubbornly against John's best efforts. On Feburary 5th, with sleet and ice covering the ground, the castle finally fell. John had lost over eight hundred men in the siege due to disease, raiding parties, hunger and the environment. Worse still, Owain's armies were just days away from liberating Wrecsam and shutting off John's western road. Leaving behind a small contingent of two hundred men to secure the castle, John hastily marched to Powys Fadog. He arrived on February 13th, just in time to save Wrecsam from falling. Owain had beaten a hasty retreat north upon hearing of John's march to the castle and had spun around to march Caernarfon. Instead of marching after Owain, John decided to let his men rest from the march and reinforce Wrecsam. He also managed to get news from the capital that his wife had become pregnant in March of the previous year and had given birth to a beautiful, baby girl named Edith. John was overjoyed by the news and decided to give his men an extra day of rest in celebration.

One would think that Owain would have marched on and recaptured Caernarfon by the time John finally got his men marching again, however the opposite had happened. When John's men arrived in Caernarfon to fight the Welsh, they found that Owain's army had never left its northern hideaway. Bewildered by John's lack of movement, Owain presumed himself to be walking right into a trap. So, letting his men rest from the forced march, he bided his time for John to leave Wrecsam and, when the moment came, began the march back down to where he had left. John was caught by surprise at the lack of the Welsh in Caernarfon and marched straight up Rhyl, where he had learned Owain's army were waiting. However, upon arriving in Rhyl, John was informed that Owain was besieging Wrecsam once again and the castle, still rebuilding after the last close encounter, would not last long. A forced march back to Wrecsam was ordered and, on March 1st, 1207, the English army met the Welsh army they hunted across the river Gwenfro. On March 2nd, the two armies came to blows. At first the Welsh stood strong against the English one. They used the surrounding countryside to their advantage and pelted the English as they crossed the river. However, the Gwenfro is not a wide river, and the Welsh horsemen at the flanks were destroyed by the English bowmen. Only Owain's center contingent of men at arms stood against the English, where they were flanked by Marshal's own, veteran heavy infantry. The battle was so disastrous for the high-king, that as he attempted to retreat, his men were routed by de Lacy and he was captured. John, being the man he was, dragged Owain back to London with him where he was forced to recognize, and humiliate himself before, Gwenllian as the true high-queen of Gwynedd. He was allowed to keep the Isle of Ynys Môn, or Anglesey as we know it today, and all prisoners captured by John were released and pardoned of any crimes against the crown. The war was over. The Kingdom of Arthur and all its Brythonic counterparts had been reunited into one nation. John declared himself King of Wales and a new tournament was announced to be held in Caernarfon, set to be even grander than the previous one.

This unification was a great victory for John, but it came at great cost. With even more power granted to himself and his allies, John's enemies grew and those that sat on the fence started to climb off and decide their place in the events to come. More of the baronial lords started to assert their authority of their respective lands and began to ascend the social ladder and declare themselves dukes and duchesses, mimicking their French neighbor's, more imperial feudal structure. No longer would John be able to pit hundreds of different lords against each other to maintain stability. Each new day brought a more unified, powerful and elite vassal class and it didn't seem too far off an idea that they might want a hand in the governance of the Three United Kingdoms too.

This war was it ladies and gents. It may not seem like much from the onset, but from here on out the game really turns into a King Johnesque power struggle between lords and liege. Sadly, this one was a bit rushed but work and my book have taken up time that I would have liked to allocated elsewhere. Never the less, I'll be doing another one of these on either Thursday or Friday, depending on how much free time I can steal.
 
Another good update and nice to see you plugging away again after a two month break.

Of course, I have to imagine even if you're going to war with Wales, they will be a bit of pushover just looking at size of territory unless they have some friends who'd like to also get back at you! :eek:

I imagine some of his barons may cause some problems also.

WALES IS NEVER A PUSHOVER! WALES IS ALL MIGHTY AND OMNIPOTENT! Yea, Wales was sorta a pushover but Forster is right, it's the barons that are the problem and adding Wales to the nation only added more of them. Vassals are a fickle bunch.

Also, it's good to be back. I see you're all over these forums, with another AwAARd to add to your belt. Good on you!
 
All caught up now! John has been doing some great things, and expanding the realm, but in a way it seems he's destined to follow the route as the John of history. All those lords whispering and plotting behind his back and seems he's largely ignored it all in the name of conquering Wales.

I remember back when I first bought CKII and pretty much only playing in England for the first few months, and it seems vassals in England have a weird propensity for being traitorous no matter how nice you are to them! But that was ages ago not sure what an England game these days is like. Although I do see the AI always having issues in England as well.

Anyways I enjoy how you are writing this, its quite entertaining! And definitely looking forward to the next update.
 
Yup-great update Orjasmo. The Machiavellian machinations of John methinks will be his undoing-I have always been tempted to play England since from what I can see in my Scotland game, trying to keep the Barons there onside is a near impossible task...
 
Chapter VIII: Death of the Baronial Class

For centuries, the elected title of the Kingdom of Wales was the last vestige of the ancient Brythonic peoples rule over Britain until its destruction with the Norman conquest of Wales. On the 22nd of July, 1207, the title was reformed and its crown reforged to be placed on a head, both English, French, Saxon and, now, Briton. A new, tri-layered crown was forged from gold, silver and bronze, laid with jewels of all kinds. It was presented to the lords of England, Aquitaine and Wales at a meeting in London to renew their oath of vassalage to John and to the people at the Tournament of Arthur, the victory tournament to showcase the wealth and splendor of one of the most expansive kingdoms in the world.

The tournament would last over a month. After innumerable bouts and butting of heads amongst the lords, the winners were crowned. Baron Godfrey of Arundel, in first place, earned treasures worth over £2 million by modern standards. He was also bestowed several new titles, knighted and inducted into the Order of King Arthur, a new knights order led by John himself. Baron Gerard of Bellême and Gilbert of Caerphilly took second and third, earning another £2 million that was split between them accordingly and John's daughter, Joan, was crowned 'Queen of Love and Beauty'. It was a title that was meant to emphasize her chastity and womanly qualities but, as the girl had grown to be a stunning and promiscuous young lady, it was taken to mean something entirely different in some circles. Still, the lords and the people were pleased with the tourney and its grandiose splendor of gold inlaid banners, endless jellies and constantly flowing fountains of wine. Even happier was John himself. It seemed to be a time to finally relax and simply soak up the warm rays of victory.

This, however, was not to be the case. The lords were moving to extend their powers to their absolute maximum. In East Anglia, the count of Norfolk declared his power greater than his title and announced himself to be the Duke of Norfolk. To the north, in Lincoln, a local lord had gained enormous local clout amongst the barons and mayors of the region and was pronounced the Lord Protector of the Five Boroughs. To the south, the lord of Kent and Sussex, made a move to expand his rule and announced himself to be Duke of Surrey, forcing his neighbor, the lord of Surrey, to declare the Duke as his true liege. To the west, ruling from the borders of Gloucester to the tip of Land's End, the regent lord under the child earl, pronounced that, with the reunification of the Brythonic kingdoms, there would need to be a new lord of Dumonia and declared the child lord of Cornwall. John sat in the sidelines and watched, carefully, as allegiances shifted. He decided that he could not simply let the lords choose what the Tri-Kingdom's internal borders would look like, so he took matters into his own hands and, officially, took a tour of the kingdom. Unofficially, the tour allowed John to move land and shift power to his own advantage and that was something he was going to do to the best of his ability.

Duchess Isabelle of Glamorgan had always been at odds with the king. Ruling Gloucester and a small part of southern Wales, she had expected the title Deheubarth to be rightfully hers and felt betrayed when John had passed it on to William Marshal. While her and John had never seen eye to eye, in this new political climate that demanded the removal of all baronial lords under the kings vassalage and transfer of power to the ducal class, it was in the king's favor to transfer his local vassals in exchange for an alliance of gratitude with the duchess. Worcester, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Stafford and Warwick were given to her to rule. In the blink of an eye, Duchess Isabelle had gone from a second rate power to a force to be reckoned with. Her gratitude to the king was, however, debatable. She saw the transfer of power as something, not granted, but deserved and, while she did appreciate the king's efforts, she still held a grudge over Deheubarth. Her alliegance was questionable, but that was better than nothing for now.

John then approached Duke Hugh, the lord of Norfolk, in an attempt to smooth things over. Norfolk had always been an area of England long abused by John's predecessors and, too a point, by John himself. Since childhood, Hugh had had the injustices of the king ingrained into his psyche to the point that he could not go a moment without fuming with hatred for the king. More than anything and anyone, he wanted to see John overthrown. In an attempt to show goodwill to this newly powerful duke, John granted the county of Essex to Hugh from his own estate. The gesture was in kindness, but it was small and that only infuriated Hugh more. “After so many years, the king deigns to offer tribute to Norfolk and what does he give? A pitiful and shambling waste of a county? His arrogance is almost as great as his buffoonary!”, the duke wrote in his journal. Hugh would have to be watched, but for now his plots and planning could make no headway.

John moved on from Norfolk to the midlands and the trading towns of the Five Boroughs. The de Beaumont family had had strong connections in these lands dating back to the Norman conquest and, while it was startling to see the cities unite behind a common cause, it was less of a surprise that it was the head of that family, Robert de Beaumont, that was elected Lord Protector of the Five Boroughs. Make no mistake, his title was that of a duke, just like his neighbors, but he held more responsibility to his vassals and had to ensure at all times that they would be granted leeway to maximize their trading profits. John knew that these rich and profitable lands were crucial in keeping Norfolk in check and wanted to cull as much favor from Duke Robert as possible. He arrived in the Boroughs in early January of 1208, according to town records. Two days later, by royal seal, he transferred the town of Northampton into the Boroughs. This was a powerful move as Northampton was a rich county itself and its addition to the Boroughs would both expand their land and their trade. With Robert and the merchants of the Boroughs, very pleased, John moved on.

Wintering in Lancaster, and enjoying some quality time with the ever-faithful Roger, John went south to the disputed land of Winchester. Both Duke William of Surrey and Duke Baldwin of Cornwall, under guidance of his regent, claimed the county as their land. Duke William stated that the lands were ancestrally his as he had documents dating back to the Saxon kingdom of Kent, saying that their lands stretched all the way to the borders of Dumonia. Duke Baldwin claimed that those documents were a forgery (modern evidence tends to side with Baldwin on that point) and that, as ruler of the Isle of Wight, the lands were rightfully Cornwall's. The local lord, Prince-Bishop Paul of Winchester claimed sovereignty under God and that he should answer to no one but the King and the Church. After five long days of hearing arguments from all sides, including peasants who came from across Winchester to have their voices heard too, and reading census documents and tax records, John came up with a simple solution. He claimed that the town of Wiltshire, to the northwest of Winchester, was large enough and profitable enough to be its own county with its own lord. He then, based on rivers and farmland, drew a line in the middle of the county and split the one into two. He declared the local lord of Wiltshire, Baroness Ela, to be lord of the county and transferred her under Baldwin, with Winchester, and its furious Prince-Bishop, going to William. Many were angry with this decision, but both William and Baldwin were pleased with the outcome and, to John, that was all that mattered.

John returned home worn out and exhausted. His desk was filled with messages that had never made it to him, waiting to be read, and with work that he had not finished, desperately needing to be done. On July 7th, after a late night of work, John finally collapsed to bed. What happened next would be a bizarre entry into his journals but one that troubled him greatly. “I dreamt a dream most foul last night. I was in a mist, an opaque fog so thick that one could thrust out their own arm and not see the hand from only a few feet away. I was wandering, lost and confused, calling out for anyone to help me find my way when, far into the distance, a bright light ripped forth from the mist. As it came closer, I could start to make out its features. It was enormously bright, clothed in robes as white as a summer's cloud. Its hands and feet were hidden from site and on its face was a mask made of gold. It was giantesque, towering above me, even from a far distance. It came closer, without sound, and acted as if it could not hear or understand my pleas. As it got very close, I woke up with a fright, cold sweat on my brow and my household surrounding me in worry. My dream has truly vexed me. Was it a message from the heavens, sight into things to come or simply a reflection of things passed? I may never know but I will never forget the sight of that being.”

The dream worried John profusely and, even though the rest of the year went by quietly, his paranoia and fears as to his vision's meaning racked his mind. Eventually, as spring of 1209 rolled around, the dream seems to have fallen by the wayside in John's notes. He never stops mentioning it, for the rest of his life, but it never quite bothers him as much as it did again. After all, France had a new king, an odd king, for Boudewijn de Flanders was no Roi but a Koning. What's more, he had made a move, with the assistance of the Pope, to lead a war against the Empire in an Antipapal war over the German Schism. With two great powers butting heads, John decided that now was the time to move against this new German king of France and unite Normandy by taking back Évreux.

Join us next time for the fight over France.
 
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All caught up now! John has been doing some great things, and expanding the realm, but in a way it seems he's destined to follow the route as the John of history. All those lords whispering and plotting behind his back and seems he's largely ignored it all in the name of conquering Wales.

I remember back when I first bought CKII and pretty much only playing in England for the first few months, and it seems vassals in England have a weird propensity for being traitorous no matter how nice you are to them! But that was ages ago not sure what an England game these days is like. Although I do see the AI always having issues in England as well.

Anyways I enjoy how you are writing this, its quite entertaining! And definitely looking forward to the next update.

England always has and always will be a disaster set piece in CK2. I have never played a kingdom, besides Byzantium, where the local lords are more self destructive and cannibalistic despite a litany of outside forces just waiting to pounce. Then again, England was sort of like that IRL, so I guess Paradox did a good job there.

Glad to see you're enjoying it. I'll keep at!


Yup-great update Orjasmo. The Machiavellian machinations of John methinks will be his undoing-I have always been tempted to play England since from what I can see in my Scotland game, trying to keep the Barons there onside is a near impossible task...

Yea, you have to either divide them up so you have tons of vassals and the hatred of a few is worthless or split them up into a few, huge duchies and just power please those guys.
 
Yea, you have to either divide them up so you have tons of vassals and the hatred of a few is worthless or split them up into a few, huge duchies and just power please those guys.

I will bear this in mind Orjasmo. Look forward to the next update
 
Just a quick update. I'm still alive. Sorry for the hiatus, life and my writing "career" intervened. I have a break now, and I'm back.

Next story update, Friday.

Again, sorry for the false bump, just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here!
 
Just a quick update. I'm still alive. Sorry for the hiatus, life and my writing "career" intervened. I have a break now, and I'm back.

Next story update, Friday.

Again, sorry for the false bump, just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here!

Ah good to have you back Orjasmo. You've been missed
 
Chapter IX: The War to Start All Wars

May 26th, 1209, a call to arms was sent out across the Three Kingdoms. Across the border, France has spent the years since their last war with England in the throes of civil war. Desperate for a strong king, the French lords accepted a German to take their throne. A free German monarch, however, directly competed against the authority of the Emperor and soon the war tired French were dragged back into the battlefield. Now, above all else, was the time for John to strike back. For too long had Norman land been out of John's control. With the French armies distracted on the eastern front, John would strike from the west and have the lands back under his son's control before Christmas. Or, at least that's what he hoped. In reality, things would turn out far differently than John could have imagined. For, this war was the war that laid down the groundwork for what was to become a defining rule in how English kings ruled from then onwards.

By the beginning of June, over twenty three thousand men had responded to John's call. His success in the past few wars had made John popular with the people and few wanted to be left out of the spoils of this one. His support, however, was still primarily English and it showed. Of those twenty three thousand men, only five thousand were Aquitainian. A fleet could easily be raised to gather the remaining seventeen thousand and take them to the battlefields, but his surprise attack was lost and John could do nothing to protect the five thousand already in French lands against their wrath.

This worked to John's advantage, however. The lords and people of Aquitaine also, quite obviously, realized their impending doom. On the 30th of June, the French army arrived in Bayeux expecting to encounter the bulk of the five thousand man army of Aquitaine. Upon arrival in the province, they found nothing but burnt up camps and flattened grassland. When they asked the locals where the army was, the response they got back was there was no army, it had dissolved. The French were so stunned that they packed up and moved on without pillaging for supplies. They had headed further south when they finally settled down for siege and this gave John his naval opening.

John gathered his seventeen thousand strong for the invasion of France in Kent. Commanding positions were given to men of title that came. In a controversial decision, Duke Hugh de Bigod, Lord of Norfolk, was chosen to lead the force beside the king. John's choice was more than simple placation, however. The duke was known to be a formidable general, with an aptitude for flanking an opponent in their retreat and John was going to need every competent commander he could get a hold of. Many of the king's supporters questions Norfolk's faith, but, even in his journals, John seemed to genuinely trust the Duke.

On July 30th, the fleet set sail for Bayeux. The French army was split. The bulk of the fighting force was holding Alençon under siege. Another two thousand assaulting a small English castle in French lands after they realized that Alençon would not have large enough food stores for the entire army. Storms held back the English and it wasn't until August 20th that the French and English armies met face to face. The ensuing battle was seven days of slogging through muddy fields as the French army was held in place by Norfolk's maneuvering. Little advancement was made by either side until, on August 27th, the French morale broke along with their lines. Only a thousand of the original eight managed to retreat.

On the chase, John marched his armies to Évreux. It is at this point that the English leaders butt heads. Norfolk had no desire to be in France, fighting the king's battles and enriching the king's son. He still felt betrayed by John and saw his appointment to army leader as being kept on a close leash. To make matters worse, Norfolk had become disgusted by John's continuously cowardly tendencies on the battlefield. He decided to put him to the test.

After the Germano-French king's remaining army was destroyed at Lisieux in Évreux, Norfolk urged John to continue marching and wipe out the two thousand men besieging an English town of Bellême, to the south. It was mid September and John had started to feel the cold creep down from the mountains and into the castle walls. He decided instead to winter in Évreux and break the southern siege in the spring. Norfolk was furious and abandoned the king to return to England. John, surprisingly, paid him no mind. His journals show him to be in good spirits, believing that the war with France was almost over and that soon England's power would rival that of the Emperor's.

The next serious of events was rapid and deadly. On December 19th, one of Norfolk's spies in Bellême fled the town to England. Within two days he had returned to Norfolk to report that the king had done nothing to halt the town's surrender or come to its aid at all. Tired of the king's complacency, Norfolk moved to send a demand to the king. On Christmas Day, John received the demands of Norfolk, that he should abdicate his crown and establish an electoral monarch in the fashion of the German Empire. John was livid, so much so that he destroyed nearly everything he could get his hands on in the famous Christmas Rage.

With great haste, both parties moved to ensure their success in the war to come. John signed an empty peace with the Germano-Frank that pretended the war never happened at all and sailed back to London to gather allies. Norfolk sent out a call to arms across the Three Kingdoms to fight against the tyranny of King John. By January 16th, the stage was set and Norfolk was highly pleased for the war was already, seemingly, his. Ireland had responded to his call, all of Aquitaine (besides John's lands of course) had responded to his call and most of England had responded to his call. The Second Dukes' War looked bad for the loyalists but John was not a man to be made a fool of twice.

Join use next time for 'The Second Dukes' War'!

I am tired. Not much to say other than, the next one will be long. So be ready for that. Release date: August 8th
 
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Oh dear-how did John trust this man? Sounds like a major revolt on his hands

Just a couple minor points it's 'throes' not throws and its 'paid' not payed

Nice little filler update though-bravo!
 
Oh dear-how did John trust this man? Sounds like a major revolt on his hands

Just a couple minor points it's 'throes' not throws and its 'paid' not payed

Nice little filler update though-bravo!

Pride can cause blindness in even an overly observant eye.

Thanks, I appreciate the watchful eye. My brain at 4am cares not for homophones and grammar.
 
A grand struggle for the fate of the monarchy! :eek:
 
Chapter X: The Second Ducal War

The fields of Cholet have seen much blood spilled on them over the years. When the Franks came from the north and sacked the remaining Roman kingdoms, blood covered their rolling hills. During the endless civil wars that France endured, they were painted red. And when John's father, Henry, moved to secure his right to the west of France, blood spilled forth on these scenic lands.

On January, 29th, 1210, blood was spilled to mark the start of 'The Second Ducal War' of the Duke of Norfolk against the supposed tyranny of King John. Behind him were some of the most prominent members of royalty, along with all the lords of France save John's own son, Richard. It wasn't a very ceremonious battle. John's army numbered 18,000 men and were battle ready. The opposing force only numbered a thousand and were almost all fresh recruits. John lost approximately twenty men, while, the Anjouans were either massacred or fled.

It scarcely seems to count as a battle, but it's marked as the first battle in the war as it was because of France, that this war was taking place. The French lords were the most rebellious and John valued it as the prize crown in his growing empire. The way he saw it, the French lords needed to be shown their king was a capable man and that crushing a civil war like this would do just that. Everything was at stake.

His armies moved on into Aquitaine, the festering wound that continuously spawned these bouts of sickness. He won a few battles in the south but ended up following a retreating army too far into France and found himself going back north again. Letting his prey go, he moved onwards to his estates in Bordeaux, where a large contingent of Aquitainian men were besieging his castles. On April 1st, at Royan, John clashed with 4,300 rebels. They were wiped out with ease but John was losing men. The longer the war continued, the more homesick his men got and desertion was rampant.

John moved back north, to push towards Normandy. He cut a swath through small groups here and there, but his enemies had abandoned France for England. They had known his armies would be ready and had distracted him in the south while they moved across the Channel. At Bayeux, John managed to stop a large army of just under 5,000 men from ever getting on their boats. Things were going well, but John knew that to win, he would have to find away to get his 16,000 strong across to the Isle.

In England, Norfolk, the Duchess of Glamorgan and the Duke of Deheubarth were pillaging the south, taking loyalist land by the day. His personal dealings with Cornwall and Kent held them to the crown for the time being, but there were fast losing hope that the king would ever make it back to save them. In the north, the rebels knew they'd have to face a formidable foe from Duke Roger of Lancaster, but just like in Norman times, they knew that if the south fell, the rest of England would quickly capitulate. John knew this too. While he was in Aquitaine, he had sent out a call to all the merchants of the North and Baltic seas that were willing to rent out their ships, that he would be paying a hefty sum for transport.

Now that he was in Normandy, that call came to count. Over a hundred ships had been gathered by the smell of gold and John had the transport he needed to move freely across the Channel. On November 25th, 1210, the king landed in Kent and began his march to London. The rebels had heard of the king's leaving France and had pushed farther north only to be caught in a maelstrom of bad luck. A wave of pox had come down from Scotland and was pushing into Lincoln. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

The king moved through the south with ease, mopping up rebels when he ran into them, but his enormous army was a slow and cumbersome beast and the rebels continued to take more and more land. Despite the victories, the war was not on John's side. To make matters worse, in Gwynedd, the ousted king, Owain, had risen up in revolt against John's wife. She called for aid but John could provide none. The Aquitainian dukes had pooled their resources and mustered even more men, John would have to finish up in England fast and once again, move back across the Channel.

Then, on January 23rd, as John got ready to move sail his army back to Bordeaux, he got word of a stroke of luck that ensured his victory. Norfolk was dead. We are not exactly sure as to what happened that day, but the story gathered from the notes and journals of those who were close to him lines up with the official one. The Duke of Gwynedd tells it best.
“We were in his study, planning our next move in the war when one of the Frenchmen suggested a white peace. He looked up, furious and shouted, 'Have you no spine man? I will fight this war to its bitter end. I will kill King John or may God Himself strike me dead.'
Then, his eyes went dark and he fell face first into the maps. He was stone cold dead, smote by the Lord Himself, Hallowed be Thy Name. It seems that God truly was on the King's side.”
Modern science suggests that years of stress, anger and poor diet had finally caught up with the Duke and he had given out to a stroke at a very inopportune time. His last words proved to be a death knoll for the rebel faction as support for the war rapidly disintegrated. John showed himself to be mournful of the Duke's death and willing to absolve all those who would give up the war effort of their crimes. Whether pragmatic, truly sympathetic or a mix of both, the strategy worked. By early June, 1211, the last Aquitainian dukes gave up the cause. The war was over.

All of John's vassals were forced to sign the 'Parum Carta', an updated oath of vassalage to the King of England, no matter who he might be. It granted the king absolute authority over the lords and the final say in all matters within his kingdoms. It did, however, acquiesce to the lords the Right of Abdication, whereupon, if by unanimous vote, it was decided that the King was no longer fit to rule, he would abdicate to his heir or face abandonment by his vassals. John also ensured that he would have an advantage, should war come again. The Parum Carta updated an ancient Saxon list of the rights of all men that were protected by the king and his government and no one else. If the lords of England were to go to war with John again, they would have a harder time convincing the people onto their side.

From this point on, we notice a change in public perception towards John. The people loved him, from common man to merchant prince. He was seen as a protector of the Englishman and all that it was to be English. They through celebrations in the king's honor and started to give him pet titles ranging from 'The Most Wonderful King' to 'His Exalted Majesty on High'. One that stuck out the most, however, was 'King John, the Great'. It's one that he never took himself but it's one that he would be called for the rest of his life and forever on wards.

Join us next week for the last episode of 'King John the Great', detailing the last years of his reign and the decision that would turn England into the foremost monarchy in all the world for centuries to come.




This took far too long to get out. Sorry about that, but things haven't been getting much better in my neck of the woods so I've been too busy for life and writing something like this became a chore. Thankfully, I've been able to carve out the time to do what I love and here it is. This is the second last one, so I've taken the liberty of writing both in the intermediate time and I’ll post the second a few days after this, unless you want it immediately.
 
Subbed! This is some great writing, and I like how you took King John and made him great. :)
 
I can't remember how this ended up on my 'ones to read' list, but I'm glad it did. I like your John and the balance of triumph and problems.

I wouldn't dream of being so hypocritical as to ask what happened to the 'in a few days' update, but I think I can risk asking if things are looking up in real life?
 
Yes good point! Where's the other post you promised Orjasmo?