PART XVI: The Devil's Horsemen
Vencel decided not to wait until the enemy came and attacked his lands. The Emperor quickly called the muster of royal troops. In April 1221, he conducted an agreement with the Hospitaller Order of St.John, giving them Acre in the Holy Land as their new base. At the same time he directed his armies to march east, and in September they were gathered in the Rus city of Pereyaslavl. Vencel spent one last night with his wife Maria, who accompanied him there, and in the morning gave the order to advance on the steppes against the pagan tribes living there.
The first blitzkrieg saw the conquest of Oleshye, Sharukan, Sugrov, and Khopyor between December 1221 and May 1222. Sarkel and Don Portage were taken in the second half of summer, with German conquests now looking like a sword extending into the steppes between Rus and the Cuman holdings. In August, Vencel invaded the lands of the Cuman Khan himself. The Cuman crusade took almost a year, as Imperial armies had to chase fast-moving Cuman parties around the steppe. But by June 1223, Tana, Sarpa, Lower Don, Desht-i-Kipchak, Chortitza, Lukomorie, Lower Dniepr, and Crimea were secured, and the Cumans submitted.
Vencel next turned further east, striking at the scattered chiefs east of the Black Sea. From September 1223 to April 1224, Yegorlyk, Kuban, Kasogs, Imeretia, and Alania were taken. Finally in May, the Imperial army invaded the pagan kingdom of Abkhazia. From July to September, the east coast of the Black Sea was conquered, then Vencel turned back west, attacking the Moldavian chiefs who pledged fealty to the Abkhazian king. By January 1225, the last resistance was crushed.
Inspired by the successes granted to him by God, Vencel continued his crusade. Next he attacked the pagans who had conquered southeastern Hungary. From February to October 1225, the Imperial armies took Olvia, Belgorod, Szekelyföld, and Feher. Vencel paused only to have himself crowned King of Cuman on October 13th, then continued, taking Bihar and Temes by February 1226. Only then did the Emperor stop and end his crusade, having dealt crushing blows to pagans all over the western steppe.
Vencel's conquests on the steppes
Meanwhile, the Hohenstaufen family life back home was going with mixed fortunes. Miroslava, wife of Vencel's son Almos, died in labor in March 1222, but Almos then received the hand of Busilla, sister of King Mauger of England. In July 1222, Vencel's wife Maria gave birth to another son, Laszlo, who was later sent to study in a monastery. Meanwhile Vencel's son Leopold had several children born to his wife: Vseslava (named for her mother) in 1221, Rupprecht in 1222, Ursula in 1223, Anna in 1225, and Wilhelm in 1226. Almos, also, had children by his new wife Busilla, though sadly only daughters: Agnes in 1223 and Maria in 1224.
Upon Vencel's return to Germany in May 1226, he named new counts in Tirgoviste, Bihar, Feher, and Szekelyföld, but kept the other steppe conquests within the royal demesne. His son Marton was given Temes and made its Duke, after receiving the hand of Irmgard of Brittany. The next couple of years went in relative peace.
In early 1228, Vencel decided to deal with Ernst d'Ardennes once and for all. Callin up his armies, he delivered a declaration of war to Norway in April, and struck at once. His relative Heinrich took Aquileia in a lightning maneuver, while Prince Karoly conquered Passau in May. The Emperor himself took Baden in June, while Engelbrecht, another relative, took Innsbruck later the same month. For the rest of the summer, there was fighting around Germany as the Ardene armies marched from the north; nonetheless, Prince Karoly took Lubusz in August. Meanwhile the Emperor marched north, crossing the Skagerrak into Norway. There he took Värmland in late December and marched north to Hedmark, which fell in March of 1229. In May, he fought Ernst's army to a standstill in Jämtland, and in June Ernst was forced to accept a peace treaty giving up all his lands in Germany and dropping all claims on Imperial possessions.
New counts were appointed in the newly conquered provinces, the count of Krain was raised to ducal rank, and a new Duke of Moldau was appointed in the east. The next couple of years again went by in relative peace, with Hungarian culture and Catholic religion spreading east across the steppes, even though many there took to heretical sects and beliefs not sanctioned by Rome. Nonetheless, in October 1231, the Hospitaller Order recognized Vencel's long service for the good of the faith, and the Grandmaster agreed to become Vencel's vassal and a Prince of the Empire. January 1233 saw one more blow to the waning power of the Ardenes, as Ernst's son Adolf, who had come to rule Upper Lorraine, was stripped from his ducal title and left only with the county of Saintois.
In early 1233, Vencel decided to press another old claim of his family. The Kings of England had held the duchy of Luxembourg for several decades now, and never offered fealty to the Empire for it. In February, Vencel declared war on England, marching on Luxembourg, which was quickly taken next month. Sailing from Yperen, the German armies then invaded England itself, seeking to defeat the King decisively to force him to give up his claims. The English war lasted for two years, with fierce fighting in southern England, Normandy, and Brittany, but in the end Mauger of England was beaten. In April 1235, he agreed to give up all claims to Luxembourg, which was thus incorporated back into the Empire under a new Duke.
The English war ended none too soon. News were coming from the east that a great horde of horsemen arrived on the western steppes and established themselves in Yaik, east of the Volga. The Emperor immediately ordered his armies to march to the western bank of the Volga where they would base their campaign against the horde. He divided his force into several armies of about twenty thousand men each, positioning them at strategic points along the Volga.
Between the lands of the Horde and the Imperial steppes lay the lands of the Turkmens. It was them that Vencel attacked first, trying to block the Horde's avenues of expansion. Crossing Turkmen border in several points, the Germans scored several local victories against the Emirate's forces. In August, Imperial armies secured Lower Volga, in September Saray was taken, in October Manych fell, and in November Itil was conquered. In the north, Novgorod Seversky was taken in December. Approaches to the Horde lands secured, Vencel agreed to a peace treaty with the Turkmens.
In February 1236, the Imperial army advanced upon Yaik and the lands of the Horde. Immediately, the horsemen poured out of their camps, attacking also the neighboring Turkmens and Papal holdings along the upper Volga. At this critical moment, news came from the west: the Duke of Provence, sensing an opportunity for profit, had turned to treachery and rebellion, declaring independence from the Empire. The Emperor sent word to his relative, the Duke of Schweiz, to take command against the rebellion, while he devoted his full attention to the campaign against the Horde.
In March, an advance force of the Horde was defeated in Saray, though the army there also suffered bad losses. Fortunately, fresh armies were on the way to strengthen the defenses, while the Emperor himself had withdrawn to Itil to wait for an opportune moment. That moment came in April, and Vencel marched north through the Ryn Desert, defeating another Mongol force there, while Saray also saw another battle where the Mongols were defeated. Ryn Desert was mostly secured by May, though attacks on Saray and across the desert continued until June. Finally Vencel arrived in Saray, joining with the battered army there.
This army marched on the main Horde camp in Yaik, arriving there in July. At the same time fresh armies were pulled forward from across the Volga, establishing a rearguard in Saray and Lower Volga. In Yaik, Vencel led his army, outnumbered by more than three to one, against the great Horde. The battle was hard and long, the air reverberating with the deafening sound of hoofbeats and the sky darkened by the clouds of arrows. But in the end, with the grace of God, the German and Hungarian knights held their ground against the Devil's horsemen, finally breaking and scattering them to the four winds. In late August, the main Horde camp was taken and the Mongol Khan killed.
Battle against the Mongol hordes
After the death of their Khan, it was only a matter of time to mop up the remaining Mongol bands and to drive them out of the western steppes. By January 1237 the last scattered Mongols fled back to their eastern homelands. Back home, seeing Vencel's power, the rebel Duke of Provence surrendered in May, and was stripped of his titles and lands in the Empire. The Emperor was hailed as savior of Christendom, and the Hohenstaufen were now truly Stupor Mundi, Wonder of the World.
Steppe after the "Mongol cleanup"
Having won all his wars, the 69-years old Vencel now wanted to enjoy the peace, to live the final years of his life in the company of his wife and sons, doing what he could to ensure their future. He made his son Almos the Lisp bishop of Viviers. For Sandor, he got the hand of Nest, only daughter of King Idwal of Scotland; their children would become heirs to that kingdom. Though his youngest son Laszlo lost his sanity in November 1237, Vencel did not abandon him, but cared for him as best as he could.
Laszlo the Mad Theologian
In May 1238, the Teutonic Order also pledged fealty to the Emperor, recognizing his great work in the name of God. Indeed, Vencel was renowned as perhaps the most pious man in Christendom, though he was not a particularly zealous one. With Rome still under the control of the corrupt Papal bureaucracy, the Orders saw the Emperor as the natural leader of the Church. In April 1239, the last supporters of the Papal faction in Germany were dispersed after Adolf d'Ardennes was exiled from Saintois and sent to his father in Norway, eventually inheriting that kingdom's throne.
Adolf d'Ardennes, deprived of his German lands
In August 1239, Vencel's mad son Laszlo nonetheless finished his education, becoming renown as a knowledgeable scholar and theologian, even if his arguments sometimes sidelined sense and reason. Next spring, he was given the hand of Wulfhilde z Teczyna, a noble lady from the Imperial court.
On October 3rd, 1240, the old Emperor was dealt a harsh blow, as his eldest son and heir, Prince Karoly, died of illness. Karoly, a vain and selfish man, had refused to marry and had no children. His younger brother Leopold, the realm's marshal, was now the heir apparent. Nonetheless, Vencel loved Karoly very much, and his death broke the Emperor with sorrow. From that time, he barely took part in the affairs of state. The Empire was now practically run by Prince Leopold, the marshal; Leopold's wife Vseslava, the steward; the realm's chancellor Wulfhilde, wife of Prince Laszlo; and Princes Almos and Sandor.
Prince Sandor's wife, Nest of Scotland, died in late 1241, having given him three healthy sons. Sandor now married Margaret O'Flynn, the daughter of Duke Gartnait of the Western Isles. In February 1242, Prince Leopold's older son Rupprecht was also married, to Princess Agata of Croatia.
Vencel's sons were much more ruthless in their methods, seemingly taking after the Old Wolf himself. In September 1242, they engineered the death of Friedrich, Duke of Champagne and son of the count of Ösel. The count had little choice but to reaffirm fealty to the Empire, and thus all of northeastern France save Paris itself now became Imperial domain. The King of France, naturally, resented this change, but being in a tenuous position himself (being an Italian and thus not recognized by half the French nobles), could do nothing about it.
In September, Vencel's gay son Ödön was given the county of Saintois, to prevent him from attempting to claim succession rights after Vencel's death. The next power play came in March 1245, when Jitey, the only son of King Balin of Croatia, was assassinated in Split. The heir to the Croatian throne was now Konrad, Prince Leopold's grandson. In September 1245, Leopold's second son Wilhelm was married to Margareta, daughter of King Laszlo of Poland.
In 1246, the Princes turned their attention to a new threat to their power - the Nordgau family, which their own mother Maria was from. The family was headed by Friedrich von Nordgau, who held several ducal titles and many counties around the Empire, having in many cases inherited them from extinct Hohenstaufen lines due to his descent from Ermengard, granddaughter of Konrad the Crazy Bastard. In March, the Princes successfully managed to take the ducal title of Prussia from Friedrich, though he still remained powerful. Prussia was given to the count of Danzig, a supporter of the Hohenstaufen.
Friedrich von Nordgau, the most dangerously powerful Imperial vassal
In summer, Prince Leopold convinced his brothers to go after bigger prey. For some time, the Emperors had claims on the city of Venice, which was considered a legitimate part of the Roman legacy. Naturally, the Doges disagreed, but did not do so in an overly bellicose manner, and the situation usually remained at a standoff. But Leopold was determined to put an end to that. The fact that the Doge was related to both the Duke of Lombardy and the King of France only added to the urgency of subjugating Venice, lest the three powers unite against the Empire.
In September, Leopold led an army against Venice, while another force marched on Grisons, also held by the Venetians. Utterly defeating the Doge's army, Leopold took the city in late November, while Grisons fell at almost the same time. The Doge was forced to pay homage to the Empire and to relinquish all republican pretensions before going into exile. Grisons was given to Erno z Teczyna, father of chancellor Wulfhilde, while Venice itself became an Imperial city, with a force stationed there to crush any republican dissent.
On April 30th, 1247, the 79-years old Emperor Vencel died peacefully in his sleep, his long life clearly a sign of God's favor. He was laid to rest in the Imperial tombs in Mainz alongside the earlier Hohenstaufen Emperors, and it is said that he was mourned all across the Empire by nobles and peasants alike, weeping for their beloved ruler. Vencel's harsh, military-mannered son Leopold now was the King.
Leopold I the Harsh
Imperial core in April 1247
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Hohenstaufen genealogy updated to April 1247, and some color coding added.
Leopold seems to be a model of German military efficiency.
Plus, he finally has a hairstyle (not to mention a nose) different from all his predecessors.
