Chapter 12: The rise and fall of Ordulf the Mad
31 May 1261, outside the dungeon, München
Friedrich III squinted as the bright spring sun flooded his vision. He'd been the "guest" of Herzog Ludwig II for just under ten days. Although he'd been treated as gentlemanly as circumstances allowed, the fact was that Ludwig II had actually nearly executed the Graf von Nürnberg. Friedrich III had feared the worst when Ludwig refused to accept a very generous ransom for his release.
While he was imprisoned, his Uncle Ordulf served as Regent. While he did an acceptable job in the proper liege's absence, Friedrich had already received letters warning of very odd behavior from the heir-presumptive. Ordulf had even threatened to hang a loyal servant for "looking at him the wrong way." Fortunately, nine days was too short a time to do too much damage.
Earlier that morning, Friedrich III had met with Ludwig II. Apparently, some of Ludwig's vassals thought he'd been too harsh on Friedrich, and so the Herzog was going to parole Friedrich, lest he lose his own power base.
Ludwig II looked incredibly unhappy, but didn't even demand that Friedrich never rise against his liege lord again; he merely warned the Graf that "the consequences of a second rising would be dire." In any case, Friedrich mounted the horse provided for him, grabbed Gotteszorn, and prepared to return home.
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14 June 1262, Schloss von Hohenzollern, Nürnberg
Not all of Friedrich's time in prison was wasted. In fact, his Steward and Chancellor had done a marvelous job keeping the Counties running while Ordulf was off doing this or that. Friedrich began to trust his subordinates more and more for the daily operations of his fiefs. [1]
Deep in discussions with his father, who was still Spymaster, Friedrich tried to convince enough individuals to support a Hohenzollern claim for the Duchy of Bavaria; alas, most of Ludwig's retainers remained loyal, either out of fear or love. Of course, Friedrich also found other ways to pass the time as he prepared his next move.
Xavier was Friedrich's first son (not counting Christine's boy Gottfried), and the apple of his father's eye. Ordulf would remain heir for now, but only until young Xavier was old enough to claim the position. This, naturally enough, put Ordulf in a difficult position, but that didn't affect Friedrich in the least.
At least, not yet.
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24 August 1263, the Drunken Squire, Nürnberg
Friedrich III made an important realization as time passed and his realm grew ever stronger: he would simply have to get better at managing money. When his grandfather's dilapidated tavern went up for sale -- the wild ass came back, it seemed, and wreaked further havoc, including kicking over a lantern and burning most of it down -- Friedrich decided he would learn from his predecessor's mistakes.
In addition, he received 30 thalers in interest from his new investors. [2] 95 thalers for a broken down old inn was a wonderful return, and he used part of this money to reward his loving wife for her fidelity and fertility. [3]
Christine fell even more madly in love with her husband, and everything was, for a brief shimmering moment, absolutely perfect. The Hohenzollern name was still a bit tarnished, that much was true, but the first step to erasing that was self-improvement.
Then Ordulf demanded a title. A demand that Friedrich would have to eventually honor.
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15 July 1265, Passau
Friedrich III had greatly underestimated his uncle's drive for glory and eliminating his rivals. In the beginning of 1265, Ordulf presented his nephew and liege with an ultimatum: give him the County of Passau or suffer the consequences.
Ordulf had no children, so the fief would almost certainly revert to Friedrich on Ordulf's death. Passau was a powerful county in its own right, but not so powerful that Ordulf could challenge Friedrich's claim to Salzburg or Ulm. It was making the best of a bad situation, an important task for leaders everywhere.
Friedrich briefly turned his attention to his cousin Peter, who'd just matured. Peter was Kassandra's son, and as virtuous as his mother was a bit unsettled; he was also a complete dullard. However, he seemed to have inherited his mother's looks, and a very fruitful match was made between Peter and Princess Violante of Castille. Unfortunately, that meant Friedrich was distracted when Ordulf unleashed his master plan.
Ordulf intended to put a drinking buddy, Stefan, on the Ducal Throne of Bayern. Friedrich humored his uncle and joined Ordulf's faction, as for Friedrich, anybody was better than Ludwig II. The Graf von Nürnberg wasn't stupid enough to think that Ordulf would actually succeed, and in any case, Friedrich was still in a truce with Bayern. [4] Completely unaware of Ordulf's plans, who was actually Ludwig II's Chancellor, the Herzog von Bayern named Friedrich III High Almoner, a great honor, as a way of mending fences.
So, of course, Ordulf decided to declare war on Bayern. Friedrich couldn't honor Ordulf's request, even if he'd wanted to.
What on earth is Ordulf thinking? thought Friedrich III.
How can he do with one county what I couldn't with four?
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27 January 1266, Passau
The short answer? Ordulf couldn't. It was a particularly cruel irony that Ludwig ordered Friedrich to lead the final siege on Passau himself. Friedrich had become well renowned as a leader of Cavalry, which proved Ludwig had appointed Friedrich purely out of spite, not even out of military necessity.
Friedrich had enough troubles at home to deal with without being forced to betray his family. Ordulf's insane actions eroded the support of the electors of Nürnberg, with Mayor Leopold of Dürmberg the new favorite. Only Friedrich's own vote kept Ordulf as the favored heir; that would not last if Ludwig were to declare Ordulf a traitor and execute him. Ludwig could even seize the County of Passau for himself, a nightmare scenario for Friedrich. The Graf von Nürnberg had finally married off his aunt Kassandra to a d'Hauteville, of all people, after her ex-husband met with another unexplained accident. Prince Simon was young and handsome, so perhaps this marriage would last for a while. Now, part of Friedrich wished he could convince Kassandra to deal with Ordulf.
Friedrich had to consider his personal situation first, though. He paid 10 thalers to release a very skilled General, Poppo, from Count Nicholas of Chester and proceeded to name Poppo to his personal bodyguard. Poppo would play a large role in events to come, but for the moment, Friedrich just wanted an actual engineer to assist him with the plans to take Passau.
If Ordulf survived this idiotic war, Friedrich swore he would cut his uncle out of the Hohenzollern family.
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6 April 1266, the dungeons of Bayern, München
A guard sneered as Friedrich III approached the gates of Ludwig's castle. "What's the matter, Hohenzollern? Miss your old friends? I'm sure we can find you a warm place to sleep if you're homesick." The other guards barked with laughter.
Friedrich gritted his teeth and bore the humiliation with as much grace as he could. "I'm here for Ordulf."
"Oh, Ordulf the Mad? What do you want him for?"
"I'm sure I don't know, but he is still my uncle."
The guards, after they saw Friedrich wouldn't rise to the bait, motioned for Ordulf to be brought out.
Ordulf had a huge smile on his face. "Ah, nephew! Ready to strike at the Wittelsbachs again?"
Friedrich urgently waved his uncle out of earshot of the guards. "Ordulf, are you completely insane?"
A worried look crossed Ordulf's face. "I'm not sure. Am I? I hope not."
Friedrich, with no conceivable response to that, simply continued. "Anyway, war is the last thing on my mind. Let's get you back to Passau."
Ordulf nodded vigorously. "A fine plan, Friedrich! There, we shall hatch a new plot to overthrow our hated foe!"
"No, we won't."
Ordulf was aghast at his nephew's bald-faced denial. "But our enemies remain in position of that which is rightfully ours! One defeat is surely no significant obstacle!"
"Ordulf, you buffoon, we can't win right now. Thanks to your insane idea that I give you a county, I don't even have the manpower myself to unseat Ludwig. To make matters worse, now we both have a truce with the scum!"
"Friedrich, have you gone soft? I tell you this much, when I'm Graf von Nürn-"
"You won't be. I've named my son heir while you were... indisposed."
"But nobody will support you?"
"Right now, the electors all want that idiot Mayor to inherit the throne, because they all think you're a nut. The Hohenzollerns are my first priority, not your bizarre vendetta over a man who's barely even talked to you."
Ordulf, now beside himself with rage, drew his sword. "You leave me no choice; I challenge you a duel, you betrayer!"
"Oh, grow up. You're my damned uncle, but I'll kill you on the spot, and you know I can. Put it away."
Ordulf made as if to attack Friedrich, then sheathed his weapon, mounted his horse, and rode off for Passau. Friedrich III simply shook his head and made his own way back to Nürnberg.
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8 April 1268, Jerusalem
Friedrich III was awed by the splendor before him. He'd never been to the Holy Land, or indeed out of the Holy Roman Empire, his entire life. He'd ridden ahead of his men to speak with the Papal Commanders in Jerusalem. Pope Marinus I wanted all Christians to seize the remainder of the Holy Land for the Cross.
While Friedrich III waited for Ordulf to die and/or his truce with Bayern to expire, the Graf von Nürnberg devoted himself to domestic affairs. He was forced to arrest Bishop Martin of Zweifalten for his... obsession with the Waldensians. The idiot had even asked Friedrich to convert, which he naturally rejected immediately. Friedrich named his cousin Baldemar, the Baron of Zollern, Cupbearer to the Graf von Nürnberg. With that action, he secured the election of his son, Xavier, to the offices Friedrich possessed if Friedrich should happen to fall in battle. With his lands secured, Friedrich grew restless, and the Pope's call for a Crusade came at the perfect time.
Friedrich vowed to lead his troops into battle, to smite the infidels, and to return with the Hohenzollern name shouted on the lips of every bard, every historian, and every commander for years to come. To, in other words, earn the respect that Friedrich's family deserved.
It is no wonder that Friedrich III, apart from his many other accomplishments, would be known to history as Friedrich the Crusader.
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[1] This event fires twice during the course of this update.
[2] I chose the bard and 10% salt this time; I got 15 gold for each, in addition to what you see in the picture.
[3] These two events actually happened in reverse order; grant me a little poetic license, please.
[4] I wonder if this might not be a bug; in any case, my hope was that, if war did come to pass (and I was still in a truce with Bavaria), he'd focus on Ordulf. I was unable to participate, sadly.
The next update should come next week; this semester is just about over, and I'll have lots more time to update soon, or so I hope.