Aragon and Castile
Administrative affairs
After the war, Adelise did some house-cleaning of vassals. During times of previous rulers, some of the vassals of vassals had arguments with their lieges and as result, they became direct vassals of the Emperor, worsening relations between Empire and his vassals. Adelise did get rid most of them. For example, Count Anquetuil of Syrte was given back to Duke Randolf III of Tripolitania, Doge Walter of Modena got back the city of Noceto, Duke Rolland II of Spoleto got back his Barony of Tivoli. and so on. Overall, number of personal vassals of Adelise decreased a bit, but those who remained were bigger, stronger and liked her a bit more.
The other administrative affair was Doge Mukhtar I. Despite receiving generous bribes from both Robert I and Adelise, he still had the nerve to establish the Independence faction in the Empire. Adelise decided that the best way to counter that threat is... knife in the dark. So, she begun plotting. To her surprise, most of the court of Mukhtar shared her views on the man and finding co-conspirators was no trouble at all. Soon, Elise from Fez sent out word that she had sabotaged carriage of Mukhtar- and soon, the carriage, carrying the Doge, was sent over the cliff. The whole world knew Adelise had done it, but at best, it increased her prestige as a strong ruler. Mukhtar was not missed and one of the co-conspirators and son of the Doge before Mukhtar, Raymond II, rose to throne. With much better attitude towards Adelise.
The sad end of Mukhtar
Finally, Adelise recruited first standing units, or retinues. They were a mix between heavy cavalry, light cavalry, heavy infantry and archers, with some pikeman added to the mix. They were the personal troops of Empress, her loyal guard. First 20 units started their recruitment slowly.
Holy War for Aragon
With the stability restored within realm, it was time to look outside. Duchess Aragonata II, daugher of Aragonata from whom Turquetil grabbed Duchy of Barcelona, was ruling over Aragon, most of Navarra, one county from Castille and one down south in Murcia. Aragon had been independent since Aragonata fought her independence from Queen Eulalia of Castile in about 30 years ago. Turquetil had other targets, so both Castile and Aragon were left alone. But not anymore.
First to fall was Aragon. In January 1247, Adelise declared war on Aragonata II, claiming Duchy of Aragon. Sicilian Normans gathered in Palermo, making an army of over 30 000 soldiers, while smaller Iberian vassals went to siege Murcia, a province so alone and undefended from the rest of Aragon lands.
Normans swarming defenseless Aragon
In Iberia, Norman army was split into two, 18 000 and 12 000. Bigger army defeated the Aragonese troops outside Lleida. There is nothing to write about, 18 000 vs 3500 soldiers. Aragonese were annihilated and from there, it was siege and assault, siege and assault. In December 1247, the war ended with Norman victory- and Aragonata was forced to give up her titles of Duchess of Aragon, leaving her a 4-province ruler, Duchess of Navarre.
... and Aragonata giving up
Meanwhile, Adelise had once again usurped the title of Kingdom of Galicia and also usurped title of Duchy of Thrace- and gave the latter one to her uncle, Turquetil I of Thrace.
Holy War for Castile
Next target was logically Castile. The war was declared in January 1249- but Eulalia I, Queen of Castile was a different breed then Aragona. At first, Adelise thought to use only her personal retinue, almost 10 000 men at the time, for the war. But the Queen knew Normans would take her next, so she made preparations. She had contacts with all three Holy Orders and when Normans arrived near her borders, they found out that enemy had gathered an army of Templars and Hospitallers, while the Teutons stayed to protect the northern borders of the Kingdom.
Adelise quickly reinforced her 10 000 men, so when Castilian army crossed the border and attacked Normans outside Calatayud, the 16 000 of enemies were already facing 19 000 Normans. As soon as the enemy attacked, another army of 17 000 Normans started their march to reinforce the main army. In the end, it was 37 000 Normans against 16 000 Castilians- and Normans were superior. Their knights fought the Templar and Hospitaller knights, defeating them, crushing them, proving the superiority of Norman warfare- and then, slaughtered everyone else. Over 15 000 Castilians and their allies were lost in the field and the shock of defeat was so high that the enemy was half-won.
Castlians swarming the Normans- only to be in for a surprise. Check the addition to the war score! Whoa!
Norman mass, in hot pursuit of remaining Castilians, marched to Soria, defeated the remnants, assaulted the province and in December 1249, Queen Eulalia I gave up, leaving her ancestral lands, moving to England to get away from evil Normans. Normans, on the other hand, created the Duchy of Castile and celebrated their newly found conquests.
Death of Kaiser
Kaiser Otto V died at November 1249. He had ruled for mere 8 years. Just enough time to get the realm back in order, defeat all the rebels (apart from some small ones who remained independent). Since Otto had no male heirs, Leopold III von Nordheim, his nephew and grandson of Kaiser Leopold II, took the throne.
As soon as the new Kaiser was coronated, he met with resistance. Count Peranuded de Foix, ruling in province of Castelo Branco- and a Cathar count, no less, started plotting. He soon recruited King Renauld I of France (the France won by war by King Mathieu, Renaulds father) and King Bretislav IV of Bohemia to his cause and together, they started war of independence against the new Kaiser. Of course, France was considerably weakened and Bohemians still exhausted from the last war, so the Kaiser had the upper edge.
The new Kaiser and the leader of Independence faction
As for Adelise- start good enough?
