1487-1492 – An Easy Victory
It was clear as 1487 began that religion was not King Ferran II’s primary concern. Three policies were presented to the King to strengthen the true faith and cast out heretics. Out of those three, only the De Heretico Comburendo Act, which required the bible to only be written in Latin, was passed. Cardinal Fernando de Vascona was quite irate when his proposal, the Alhambra Decree, was turned down. The King did not feel that the Jews within Aragon were a threat and he appreciated that they continued to contribute to the prosperity of the kingdom. He would not expel them. This won him much support from the Jewish population and greatly improved his reputation.
While King Ferran II was quite generous to the Jewish population, he was not as forgiving of slights from foreigners. When the Knights on Rhodes were caught making claims to Athens, the King decided to return the favour. A spy was sent to infiltrate their order and find a suitable reason for Aragon to declare war, if need be.
The primary focus for Aragon, and what it would be for a few years, was the war France had declared on Brittany. As expected, Aragon answered the call. Brittany, Burgundy, and Savoy were not considered a serious threat. France could easily handle Brittany and Burgundy on their own, and Savoy was fighting off rebels. Ferran intended to only provide what support was needed.
The first order of business was garrisoning the forts on France’s border. Ferran would not let another debacle occur like when the Hungarians marched right through Aragon. Once that was done, the main army in Valencia led by General Luigi Castelozzi moved up into France and headed for Savoy’s capital. The first battle though was between France and Burgundy’s vassals. Unlike the last war that France had fought against Burgundy and their vassals, France was no pushover.
Even while the war raged on, Aragonese troops were still trying to retake Constantinople from Orthodox rebels. The city was close to falling, but the rebel garrison was stubborn. During a minor skirmish, General Stefano von Thun was injured, although his wounds were not severe and he’d recover in no time. This did mean he missed out on reclaiming the great city a month later.
General Castelozzi faced a minor setback when he found Savoie’s fort too well defended to take alone, so instead he headed for Cuneo, where a smaller fort lay. When he arrived, he found a demoralized army of Burgundy’s vassals next door in Montferrat. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, he ordered an attack before they could recover. The enemy wasn’t crushed like he had hoped, but they were forced on the run again. In the meantime he could return to Cuneo to siege.
The spy in Rhodes was caught in May of 1487, but Ferran didn’t back down. He admitted to sending the spy. The Knights had done the same, so why should he be ashamed?
With Constantinople liberated, General Sebastián de Loarre was free to return to North Africa. However, orders from the King changed that plan. He was to sail to Roussillon with his army and serve as backup for General Castelozzi and aid the French. When he arrived, he was sent north to pester Burgundy and try to take their capital. He lacked the men to take the city though and was instead ordered down to Savoy. Savoy was easy pickings, especially once a massive combined force took out Savoy’s rebels for them. It also alerted King Ferran to the fact that Brittany and its allies were at war with Provence and its allies, which included Austria. It seemed that this war would be even easier than thought. Tuscany, France’s ally, even managed to defeat Brittany’s army and send it on the run.
Tuscany continued its contributions as it caught Brittany’s army after a defeat against Provence. They didn’t stand a chance, forced to flee yet again, right into Provence’s army. Brittany wasn’t a major threat now, so it was all up to Burgundy. After seeing such success, Ferran ordered a diplomat sent to Tuscany to improve relations. As allies of France, they had both cooperated together before and he saw no reason not to keep things on good terms with them.
Savoy’s fate turned worse as Switzerland decided it would jump on the bandwagon and take advantage of its weakened neighbour. Savoy was already in a terrible position, especially once France took Savoie. With their capital occupied, Savoy was ready to make peace with at least one enemy. France forced them to pay war reparations.
With Savoy out of the war and all of Brittany either occupied or under siege by someone, the order was given for the Aragonese armies to return home. General de Loarre returned to Roussillon and sailed from there back to North Africa. General Castelozzi was stationed in Pirineo to ensure no enemy army marched into Aragon.
With the treasury filling up, a temple was constructed in Palermo. King Ferran had given nominal consent to the project, not that he could do much else since the law required the construction of temples in bishoprics, but he expressed his opinion that a marketplace or more profitable project would be more worthwhile.
In October of 1488, Austria and France worked together against a mutual enemy to attempt to take out Burgundy’s army. Their success was minimal, especially when that same army snuck south and attacked a Tuscan army. Reinforcements for Burgundy arrived first before anyone could intervene for Tuscany. Tuscany’s army was forced to flee, but they did leave Burgundy’s forces open to attack from Provence. At some point the enemy army was eradicated, but information on who accomplished it was unclear. What was clear was that the enemy forces had been reduced down to a single regiment.
As with Alfons VI before, rulers across Europe wanted to pray with the king of such a holy kingdom every time they visited. Every time Ferran II would bluntly turn them down, telling them to visit a local church if they had the urge to pray. He never agreed to any of the requests and preferred to do his praying in private, at least that was what everyone assumed.
With Savoy in disarray and having already been dragged into war with them on several occasions, Ferran had a spy sent to the kingdom to fabricate a claim on Nice. If they ever went to war again, Ferran wanted something out of it at least.
By June of 1489, Ferran had gotten tired of waiting for France to settle a peace. The army under General Castelozzi was ordered up to Burgundy to help the siege process along. The general managed to capture Charolais. Once the province had fallen, he went in pursuit of a stray Burgundian army. They were outmatched and stood no chance. In an outstanding victory, the entire enemy force was eliminated without a single Aragonese casualty. With that done, he was ordered home with his army. Aragon had done its part.
It was also around this time Ferran ordered a celebration of the navy. It had protected Aragon from threats for decades and was responsible for many victories. If Aragon wanted to flourish, the navy had to be at its best.
By 1490, Italy was going through a change. The Italian states possessed little respect for the Emperor and frequently ignored his authority. They had been acting independent of the Empire and it was becoming clear that the Empire’s authority in the area was minimal at best. The Emperor would not be as watchful of the area as he once had.
Another construction project began in March of 1490, this time a temple in Cagliari. The bishopric had not found a holy man to assume the role of bishop yet, but hopefully a temple would lure one in.
There was a bit of confusion at court as word arrived that Denmark had attacked Sweden to restore the union of their two countries. King Ferran, as far as he was aware, had thought the two were still under the union. Apparently after accepting Danish domination twice after declaring independence wars, Sweden must have found a way to break free and stay that way. Clearly the Scandinavians needed to work out their issues.
By the end of May in 1490, all of Brittany and their allies had fallen under occupation. However, France seemed unwilling to settle a peace. Soon it became clear why. Both Brittany and Burgundy were almost evenly split by France and Provence in separate wars. With neither able to completely occupy their enemies, they could not settle what they thought was a suitable peace. Ferran attempted to encourage the two separate parties to negotiate and perhaps settle a mutual peace with Brittany, but neither France nor Provence was willing to do that. In the hopes of spurring France into settling a peace, Ferran ordered that Charolais be handed over to the French to control for now.
With interest in claiming Negroponte from Venice years ago, King Ferran decided it was time to prepare for such an eventuality. He had his spies sent to Albania to fabricate claims on the province. If he could kick Venice out of Greece, it could only benefit Aragon and Byzantium.
An attack was arranged on General Jean Charles de Fidèlle’s life as he led the army garrisoned in Granada. Some supporters of the Inquisition were displeased with its recent lack of progress. King Ferran had cut the funding on missionary efforts and now had turned down two acts that would have aided efforts to strengthen the true faith. These disgruntled fanatics lashed out and attacked the highest authority figure they could find. General de Fidèlle was not seriously harmed in the attack, but the assailant was killed before he could be questioned further. King Ferran was not pleased with the attack and did his best to support the efforts of the wounded general in Granada. Recruitment efforts were even conducted in Alicante to ensure the army remained capable of defeating potential threats. Two artillery units were recruited in Fez and Valencia, bringing the army to a total of 30 regiments as planned.
In a surprising twist, despite being entirely occupied by Provence, Savoy managed to win their war versus Switzerland, forcing them to cut ties with the Pope and pay a small indemnity. It could only be assumed that the occupation by Provence kept Switzerland from making any gains while Savoy’s allies dealt with them. Despite that small victory, Provence enforced its demands shortly after. Provence took a province and even returned some cores to Switzerland. Savoy was a shadow of its former self.
The attack in Granada was not the last. In May of 1491, an attempt was made on General Sebastián de Loarre’s life. Like the earlier attack, it was unsuccessful. The general was only mildly injured, but this time the assailant was taken alive. After an extensive interrogation, it was revealed that the man was yet another fanatic. Many were surprised, expecting a Muslim to have conducted the attack. The fact that Catholics were targeting members of the army was alarming. Not everyone was pleased with King Ferran’s lax policy on religion. People were clearly displeased with the direction Aragon was going.
Despite all this, Ferran kept his focus elsewhere. The spy had been successful in Albania and was immediately sent on to Corfu. He wanted to ensure Venice would be crippled in the region if war came. He also turned his eye to Provence. A claim was fabricated on Dragaignan, just in case a war came there. One could never be too prepared.
The arquebus was a revolutionary weapon for the army, but it did have its downside. Its inaccuracy and slow-firing rate left anyone using it vulnerable to attack. However, suggestions from within the army pointed to having men use them alongside pikeman, who could defend these men. This tactic could allow for effective use of the weapon without leaving them vulnerable.
In January of 1492, France finally started to settle peaces with its enemies. Burgundy was the first to be dealt with. France took Charolais and forced them to pay a hefty indemnity. A few weeks later, Brittany agreed to a peace too, ending the war. Brittany gave up Normandie and Nantes, as well as agreeing to pay a hefty indemnity. Relations with Burgundy were severed as well. With that, peace was finally achieved. France had done well for itself, and hopefully they would pay Aragon back in kind for their help in the future.
((Spam!))
Presenting His Majesty, Ferran II de Trastámara, King of Aragon and Naples, and Protector of the Greeks.
We have done our duty and aided France as any good ally would do. I can only hope that France will return the favour in time. For now, maybe we shall actually see some peace for a time, unless Portugal suddenly has the urge to start a war. I certainly hope not. We must give Aragon time to recover. Our manpower is low and our army cannot serve as well in war if we do not have enough men. We should consider that.
I also wish to celebrate with you, for it has been fifty glorious years with Naples under our rule. Our Neapolitan brethren have flourished under our rule and served us as faithfully as any Aragonese man could. Perhaps one day they shall benefit from direct rule from Valencia. ((We should be able to inherit/integrate them starting some time this year.))
On a more serious note, I will not tolerate these fanatics that have the audacity to attack my generals. Perhaps there are those of you who believe my support of the Inquisition is lacking, but that does not make such acts of violence necessary. The Inquisition will receive what supports it needs, but at the moment there are more pressing matters to be dealt with.
((As usual, ministers have until
Monday at 12pm PST to propose their plans. Everyone else is free to propose new laws. It should be noted that as long as we have our theologian, the Advancement of Religion Act may be proposed again. I’ve also gone ahead and added back in all the “dead” generals, even though it doesn’t show up in the last military screenshot.
Time for some of you to start collecting your pensions. Here is a list of those of you who have reached 80 and should consider sending your characters off to a better place.
@LatinKaiser
@Tzuf23
@Attalus, your character is over 100, so I’m forced to kill him off. If you still want to maintain your title, you’ll need to make a new character before the next update.))