Chronicle of an Exile

ComradeOm, your ability to get it right astounds me. You win... eh... err... a, um...

...what'd you like? We could work it out.

And now, since I already have four more chapters written up and really do need to let you read some of them... Here's some more readable goodness, Exile-Style. That sounded better in my head than it does here. Well, without that much further ado...

Wherein We Find Out Who Our Protagonist Is And He Gets Married

The hall of the Prince's castle, the 15th of August in the Year of Our Lord 1072

The prince glanced across the dining table, lined with humble meals - much humbler than he would have had at home, the prince thought bitterly - to his dining guest, indeed the only other person present apart from a servant in the corner of the room who served some minor auxillary purpose or another. The ship that had moored on the humble island earlier that day had brought but one refugee - but what a refugee, indeed! The ship had brought to the prince's island a noblewoman, and a rather beautiful one at that. She was some three years younger than he, barely in adulthood, and had short, curly brown hair and a plentiful yet graceful figure. The prince mentally scolded himself for taking this level of interest in her appearance. It was unbecoming of him.

His guest had told him she was forced to fled after the invaders, who had killed her father, took control of her fief in the north of the kingdom and brutally opressed her people. Though this was the same story of those other nobles who had fled to his lands and now made up his court, the prince found himself being particulary moved by the poor lady's plight. As the noblewoman finished her tale, she gazed pleadingly at the prince, who in sharp contrast with his usual calm and thoughtful manner proclaimed: "My lady, tell me what I can do to aid you, and I swear to God that I shall!"

This caused the lady to smile, though unbeknownst to the prince it was not for the reasons he believed it was. "My lord, there is only one thing you can do for me now..."

The prince tensely awaited for her to continue, which after stretching the pause for a few more seconds, she did.

"Prince Harold, rightful son and heir of the last true king of England... marry me."

Harold slowly raised a brow, trying to gather his thoughts and find a reply somewhere.

"Er, erm."

That was far too uneloquent. Curse these situations for which one could not prepare ahead of time! Finally, Harold managed to come up with a more or less suitable reply, and said:

"Pardon?"

"My prince... I have been forced into a betrothal to a Norman knight, a cruel and vile man, who is thirty years my senior. He has already claimed my lands and now he would have me as well. There is no way to reclaim the lands... but if I am already married, he will not be able to force me to enter marriage with him... please, my lord... I know that I may not have land to bring to you, or a famous name...but please..."

"My lady Aethelhild..." , the prince began, still uncertain.

Aethelhild, for this was the given name of the noblewoman, looked up at Harold, her eyes large and pleading. Harold found the words he had prepared seconds ago fading away from his mind and instead he said; "I will."

After all, why not? It had been his intention to marry a woman of Saxon descent - but there were few left of marriable age who came from a powerful family, and he doubted that any lord of England would marry his daughter to the son of his liege's enemy. Furthermore, those noblewomen that had arrived with other refugees were mostly well into their middle years, and married besides.

The pair were married, exactly a week later, in the chapel of the humble wooden fort that served as Harold's castle. It was not the cathedral of London or Canterbury, or any other great city in England, but for once, Harold found he did not really care about the low quality of mostly everything about his lands in comparison to what he could have had back in the kingdom. The people, Saxon refugees and resident pagans both, rejoiced. And it seemed that all was well in the not-that-large, impoverished island county.

But appearances can be deceptive, and so can people.

ComradeOm, I'm not sure about the excellent part, but I do try.

Shuma, like Om, have a 'fill in whatever you want that costs less than $0.01 here' coupon. You are right as will be shown in the next chapter that is posted after this feedback to feedback.

JimboIX, Auntie Edith did have a title - she was Countess of Chester and Duchess of Lancaster - but I thought it odd ole' Willie would let a sibling of the one he fought to get his title, and a woman at that, hold lands in his realm so I logged in as England on a savegame and stripped her of her titles. She then went to my county, served for a few years as something or another - I think Steward - then died and left me with claims on those places and some 50 ducats.

Now, part the next.

Wherein a secret is revealed shortly after we get to know it

Harold's Castle, Rugen, the 23th of September in the Year of Our Lord 1072

The woman's quill raced quickly over the parchment, its wielder occasionally glancing around the empty room nervously. She was not to be seen, for the words she put down on this parchment would end her plans as soon as the wrong person read them.

My lady,

I have arrived in the lands of the Saxon 'prince-in-exile' as he styles himself. In truth, the position of Harold's son is little more than that of a third-rate count. The island he rules over, Rugen, is small, windswept, barren, and poor, and its population mainly consists of pagan, inbred peasants. His court is made up of a handful of Saxon expatriates and a few locals of some influence amongst their people. The plan you and I have concocted worked, as had been predicted. He believes himself so intelligent, but was quite easily fooled. Of course he harbors some plans for revenge, though he is unlikely to get the means to act on these. As for the rest of his family, Harold (the younger)'s mother and brother reside at the court of Denmark, his sister has married the son of the count of Bornholm, another island in the area, and his many bastard siblings are still in Ireland as far as he knows. I will, of course, write a missive once I have gained any more information of interest.

Your Servant,
A.

The woman looked over the words she had written. She wondered if she'd really meant the way she'd diminished Harold's lands and accomplishments. Suddenly, the woman felt a wave of sickness, and she hurried over to the corner of the room, opening her mouth just in time to release the contents of her stomach. Curse these meager meals of herring! , she thought, for surely this was the cause of her nausea?

Harold's Castle, Rugen, the 27th of May in the Year of Our Lord 1073

Harold's first child was born in the spring of 1073. She was a beautiful and apparently healthy girl-child, named Elfrida. Harold smiled as he entered the room where his wife stood by their child's cradle.

"The first of many, I hope." , he said as he put his hands around his wife's waist. She turned her head slightly to look at her husband.

"Are you going to give me some rest for now, though?"

"Only if you ask me to..." , Harold said flirtatiously. His wife smiled, though he could tell he wasn't sincere.

"Is there something on your mind?" , he said.

"Harold, I have a confession to make. I have been lying to you."

Here we go, the prince thought.

"...My real name is Alberande de Ros. I have been sent here to..spy on you, on the orders of Cecilia...countess of Durham and daughter of king William."

"But my dear...I already know." , Harold said calmly, still smiling.

"You know? How? When?"

"Well, I started to have my doubts when during the consummation of our marriage you cried out in Norman.."

Alberande blushed furiously.

"...and when my spymaster intercepted the courier tasked with relaying a message to your employer, my doubts were confirmed." Harold's smile took a decidedly smug turn.

"Why haven't you acted on that, yet?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were going to tell me personally, and when."

"Well...what happens now?" , Alberande asked uncertainly.

"Ah, I have thought of that too. All further missives sent to the countess will be detailing minor unimportant details of life here on Rugen. How I would love to see the look on her face..."

"so... I am not to be..."

"Executed? Of course not. We do happen to be married, you know."


Thus it was that prince Harold came to know of his wife's true identity. And though he was quite willing to accept it - despite his strong hatred of the Normans - some of his Anglosaxon nobles were not. But they knew better than to mention it to their lord.

((I'm not completely satisfied with this, but eh, who cares, it gets the point across. I married a Norman because I couldn't find any Saxon girls of the right age, she was just 16 and had good stats. Next few updates will be in a more history book writing style.))

Wherein Harold has many reasons for worrying

((Because I am nice and really do need to keep the written update-to-posted update ratio constant I will gift thee with another chapter. Let the naked dances of the fat hairy men begin.))

The next few years passed quickly for the county of Rugen. Harold was busy accumulating money, with the intention of constructing facilities to help the economy of the island as soon as he had enough. In the meantime, however, the peasants (a great amount of whom still held to the old pagan beliefs they'd adhered to before the county became Harold's) were slowly growing discontent with the rather high taxes Harold levied to accomplish this. However, on the whole, Harold was a better ruler than many, as those who held to 'the old ways' were not quite fervently persecuted for their beliefs. This was likely due to the fact the county still lacked a diocese bishop, only having a few rather unskilled priests available to bring the message of God to the people. Though he had kept dwelling on the injustice that had been done to him and his family, which fueled his hatred for the Normans and the De Normandie family in particular, Harold had also become intent on getting the best out of what he currently had at hand. In the first three years of their marriage, Alberande had given him three children: two daughters, Elfrida and Eadburh, and finally, in the summer of 1075, she gave birth to Harold's son, grandson of the last Saxon king of England. The child was named Burgred, and Harold was overjoyed at having a son. The child's uncle, Ulf, Harold's younger brother, who had become a mastermind theologian and diocese bishop of the Kingdom of Denmark came to the island in person to baptize the child. Afterwards, Ulf and Harold talked in the latter's private chambers.

"I have noticed, brother, that your people still uphold the old pagan customs. Is it not time to start to do something about this?"

"Yes, but I have nobody who is suited for the position of bishop. And, well, you know..."

"I am well aware, brother, of how you view spiritual affairs to be of far less importance than worldly ones." Ulf sneered. "However, consider this... If your peasants continue to follow their heathen ways, they may rise up to oust their christian rulers. I doubt the group of exiles you have gathered to you would be enough to defend this quaint wooden fort should that occasion arise."

"The problem is that I don't have anyone who is suitable to deal with the conversion of the masses. A forced conversion at sword's end would only cause the pagans to perform their heathen rites in secret instead of openly."

"Well, my brother... As the bishop of the diocese of Denmark and spiritual advisor of our noble king Svend, I am within the position to rectify that. As soon as I find someone suitable, I shall send them to you." Ulf smirked, realizing that his elder brother had rather mixed feelings about this.

Some time later, an aged cleric named Oshere - an Anglosaxon exile much like the other members of Harold's court - arrived on the island. Though this man adhered to the Christian ideal of chastity, he did not have a strong belief in God, which Harold soon came to know. This caused the Prince's own faith to waver - after all, if even those who have devoted their life to him did not believe in his teachings, how true could it be? Harold's fate continued to tatter when in the autumn of the year 1075 Harold's daughter Eadburh caught a cold and died after a week. And while Harold ensured that his wife was soon pregnant again, in the early months of 1076 his other daughter, Elfrida, also died of poor health. This caused Harold to be even more watchful for his son and only remaining child, Burgred. Harold's loyalty to his liege, King Svend of Denmark, was somewhat shaken when Ragnar, the count of Bornholm, and father-in-law to Harold's sister Gytha, was forced to relinquish his county, which was given to one of Svend's sons, Knud Magnus. Along with the count of Jylland and the duke of Sjaelland Harold was now one of the only counts of Denmark who was not directly related to king Svend. And Svend's rather lustful lifestyle had ensured he still had a few landless sons. This gave Harold reason to worry. And when the king of Denmark demanded that his vassals mobilize their forces to aid in a war against the pagan Pommeranians, Harold did not comply, citing that he needed them to protect his lands in case of a counterattack by the heathens. In the last days of winter Alberande gave birth to another daughter, called Elgiva. The people of Rugen - even a good amount of the pagan ones - prayed that this daughter would not be so cruelly taken away as the others had been.

Later on, Harold's spymaster - a pagan called Bogeslaw of Mecklemburg - was forced into exile after bishop Oshere had recieved a reprimand from his superior - in this case, bishop Ulf, the king's spiritual advisor - regarding how Harold let pagans remain at his court. As many other lords would have had Bogeslaw forced to convert or killed, this move caused Harold to be seen as rather merciful by his pagan subjects, though his fellow Christians caused him to look a bit more dubiously upon him. Soon after, Harold's other pagan retainers were escorted from his court and back to their lands, to prevent further problems of this kind from arising. In the summer of 1078, another daughter, Elfleda, was born to Harold. Unfortunately for the countal pair, she died two months later, giving Harold a great grief. Two years later, in 1080, Harold's second son was born and named Henry, a Norman name, at the insistance of his wife. However, Henry had rather poor health, and this caused his mother to worry greatly, which resulted in stress that impaired her abilities somewhat, and led to a strong depression. The pair had another daughter, whom they gave a local name, Smiechna, and Henry was cured of his illness by a mysterious pagan healer who lived on the island, but Alberande's depression stayed on.

((A more historybookstyle update about various random events I got, mostly. Next update will feature a war. Finally, violence!))

Wherein Harold goes on the war-path, and brings with him some Irishmen.

In the year 1086 religious tensions abounded on the island of Rugen. A series of skirmishes had broken out between Saxon, christian exiles and Wendish, pagan natives and the pagans had started to organize themselves, rallying to take back what was once rightfully theirs. They attacked the main settlement on the island during the night and though Harold was able to rally his huskarls in time to beat off the attackers, a large part of the settlement was destroyed and as such the economy took a large blow. In 1091, the county had well recovered and it looked as if things were again taking a turn for the better. Harold's son Burgred had come of age and all who saw him agreed that he was the spitting image of his father. He soon married Cecilia, daughter of the duke of Pommerania, Svend Knytling. This marriage was important because Svend had no sons nor any other daughters, so a child born from the union would stand to inherit the duchy. Even though duke Svend only had control of the county of Wolgast, with the other parts of Pommerania being directly ruled by King Malthe, the grandson of King Svend, this was still seen as rather prestigious and both Harold and Burgred were satisfied.

Soon after Burgred finished his training; he had gained such a grasp of matters of intrigue that he became an elusive shadow, constantly scheming, though his grasp of martial matters was extremely lacking. Burgred was named spymaster for the county. In the next year, his son Aethelbert was born; heir to Rugen and Pommerania and Harold's first grandson. Soon after, Harold gained an illness, though this did not stop him from managing the affairs of his lands, though with a little more help from his courtiers. Elvira, the Prince's oldest surviving daughter, married the eldest son of the count of Oland, though she did not look forward to this as Sigtryg, her bethrothed, was of a cruel character and ugly besides. Fortunately for her, her husband was soon struck down with pneumonia. Burgred's wife gave birth to another son, Edmund, and a daughter called Aelfwyn in the last days of 1094. It was also in these days that a group of pagans attacked a mostly Saxon settlement, setting fire to the wooden church in which the villagers were gathered to celebrate Christmas. The population was slain to the last man, and this caused a violent series of skirmishes between the two groups of the population, with the Saxon-Wendish halfblood children caused by the mixed cultures on the island, who were coming of age around this time, being distrusted by either group. This revolt continued for several years.

When Henry, the second son of Harold, came of age, he was made Marshal, for he was a brilliant strategist, and took over the task of putting down the revolt. Though he was very energetic in carrying out this task, his rather cruel and careless treatment of the rebels, or anyone he deemed to be part of them, made him much less beloved by the natives than his father, and neither did the Saxon populace like him because of his decidedly Norman traits. However, there were still many who considered him a hero. Because the troops were needed to deal with the revolt, Harold could not supply his troops to king Malthe when war broke out between him and his ally Sweden and the kingdom of Norway. Some, however, doubted if he would have sent his men had there not been a revolt. During these days Aelfwyn, Burgred's daughter, died of poor health, and Harold was reminded of the many infant daughters he had to carry to the grave. However, another daughter, named Aethelflaed, was soon born to the pair.

Harold took his time in arranging a marriage for Henry; his second son was busy putting down the rebellion, and he wanted him to marry someone of Anglosaxon descent, but had many difficulties finding someone suitable. Harold was displeased to learn that his daughter Smiechna, whom he had raised by a local Wendish lord who had converted to Christianity, had become a pawn of the local barons; though this would no longer be a problem once she was married off to some lord or another. In 1098 king Malthe asked for Harold's regiments; while the war with Norway was over - resulting in half of the country being passed to Denmark - the king had decided to heed the call of the pope to liberate the people of Iberia who were suffering under the scourge of Muslim rulers. As the revolt was still raging, Harold again refused to send his soldiers with the king. It may be worth noting that because of the increase in land that followed the war with Norway, king Malthe divided some of his lands, resulting among other things in Harold's brother Ulf being appointed bishop of Holstein. In 1100, in the earliest days of the new century, news arrived at Rugen that William the Conqueror had passed away at the ripe old age of 72, leaving his kingdom to his eldest son Robert Curthose. While Harold was relieved to hear of the death of his enemy's father, he felt that it was not nearly painful enough, and the new king, Robert, was reputed to be even worse than his father. In this year Burgred and Cecilia got a third son, Sigehelm, while Henry was still unmarried.

In the last days of 1100, the Green Harpers, an Irish mercenary company numbering some 1000 warriors, offered their services to Prince Harold, who sailed across the Baltic with them and some 150 men from Rugen, with the rest remaining on the island to deal with the revolt which was still present. Burgred was left to reign over the island in his father's absence, and Henry came with his father on the campaign, as his martial skills would be sorely needed. Harold entasked Burgred with finding a good marriage for his sister Smiechna, who had just come of age. Because Smiechna was not very skilled and came from a minor family which had no short supply of sons not many men wanted to marry her, but eventually Burgred was able to marry her to the grandson of the count of Oldenburg. The troops set sail for Danzig, from which the plan was to attack and conquer the province of Marienburg. The defending Pagans were overwhelmed quickly, and the province was added to Harold's realm. While it would likely be a great source of income in the future, Harold's grip on it was still very weak. To counter this, he offered to give land in the province to any of his Irish warriors that wanted to quit his dangerous life. Many of them took this offer, and it was with a hundred men - and a promise of being paid as soon as Harold was able - that their commander sailed back to Eire. Soon thereafter Harold decided to make the better-developed and richer province of Marienburg his seat of power, though Count of Rugen remained his primary title. In April 1102, Burgred's third son Sigehelm died because of his poor health. A few months later king Malthe once again wanted to go on crusade, and Harold again neglected to send his levies, citing that he still needed them to keep his realm safe.

However, the king kept sending messages asking for Harold's levies, and Harold kept refusing, causing relations between the two to become even more sour. Harold was seriously considering declaring independence, and formed an alliance with Rudolf Megyyesi, the count of Sambia, who had just broken free of his liege, king Heinrich of Germany. Some time later, Harold's son Henry, often nicknamed 'The Norman' to his great displeasure, fell ill, though this did not stop him from carrying out his duties. When the aged count of Sambia died, his six year old son Sigfried inherited the county, and Harold renewed alliance he had with the county. When news arrived that war had broken out between the kingdom of Denmark and some Muslim emirate on the other side of the world, Harold wasn't that concerned.

Most posts will now be in that format - they won't be many but they'll be long. Also, in the game I'm now around 1150 and slightly close to being the king of something. That rhymed!