A Saxon Imperial Dream

[Dhimmi]

nice update again

in my own expirience i have some problems dealing with my finances in the early scenario


anyway i liked the way you played out the rebellion

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Thanks, sadly enough vassals always rebel on their own. Would be nice ot have an event, that when one vassal rebels, all the vassal with f.e. a loyalty below 50% also rebell at the same time.

Or, maybe make it unallowed to use your other vassals troops against a rebel vassal.

That would make those rebellion really hurting.

 

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There is the civil war event and that can be very damaging especially when you have a far flung realm

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

1230
In january, marshall Guiguis was approached by a young priest.
‘Lord Guigues, a moment of your time, please’
‘What do you want, priest ? I am busy, and I have no money with me for gifts to the poor.’
‘Lord Guigues, don’t you recognize me ?’
Marshall Guigues, closely looked at the face of the young man, standing in front of him.
‘Mmm, you look familiar, but no, I don’t recognize you. But I can see you are a Frenchmen, so where have we met ? In Amiens or Viviers ?’
‘I am not surprised you don’t recognize me, sir. I was a child back then, but I have to speak to the queen-mother, my lord.’
‘The queen-mother, doesn’t have time to chat with every priest or peasant that comes along, young friend. So you will have to with me. Damn, you look familiar ....’
The young man smiled.
‘What I have to say, is not some chit-chat, mylord, but it is of the utmost importance to the kingdom. If this news comes out, it might well be the end of the Billungs’
‘So, and how does a young priest like you get hold of such important information ? Did some poor dead guy, confess anything to you ? Tell me, what it is. Or I will throw you out of the palace.’
‘What I have to tell, is for the queen-mother, my lord’
‘I have told you already, the queen-mother is to busy to hear nonsense’
‘When I tell you who I am, will you then bring me to the queen-mother ?’
‘Why would I then suddenly, change my mind. First tell me who you are and then I will throw you out the palace. GUARDS !!’
‘No, mylord, wait. I am Renaud Capet, son of Baudouin Capet, the former duke of Valois.’
‘Do you think I am a fool, boy. Duke Baudouin had only one son, Charles and only one daughter, Raymonde ‘the Killer-Queen. GUARDS, TAKE THIS.....’
The guards approached the two men.
‘NO, SIRE, NO, wait. Don’t you remember, some ten years ago, my father introduced me to you. I was working in the stables of my father back then’
‘You must be crazy. The son of a duke, working in the stables, you must take me for an old fool’
‘Yes, if I was a legitimate son, that would be crazy, but I am his bastardson. Please, you must remember me.’
‘Shall we throw him in the dungeons, my lord ?’ asked one of the guards.
‘No, wait. Mmm, yes now I remember you. But still that isn’t a reason to be allowed to speak to the queen-mother, young man. I would even say, that it is dangerous for you to be here, the Capets, and specially a brother of Raymonde, are not very popular at the court, she was the murderer of king Adalwin and many other people, maybe even her of own brother Charles, who knows’
‘That is what I have to discuss, with her majesty, mylord. It is about the death of king Adalwin and duke Charles, I know who murdered duke Charles Capet.’
‘Mmm, if so then that is indeed important news. Come back this afternoon, then the queen-mother and I will have some time for you.’
‘Thank you mylord, thank you.’
‘And Renaud, don’t mention your name to anyone here. That might lead to an early death.’
‘I won’t speak with anyone, my lord.’

A few hours later that day, Renaud Capet again came to the royal palace. He was quickly brought to the queen-mother and marshall Guigues. As he approached the queen-mother, Renaud fell on his knees.

'Your majesty, thank you for allowing me to tell my story, but I believe it would be better if we can speak about this in a more private place'
'Do you think, we discuss important matters, in public, you fool. We will go my chambers' said marshall Guigues.
After they arrived there, the queen-mother started to speak.
‘So, young man. You say that you can tell me more about the death of duke Charles and my husband’ the queen-mother spoke rather icely.
‘Yes, your highness I have. It is very important news and it is better that no one else besides you, your majesty, hears about it.’
‘Do you think I will leave the queen-mother alone with a Capet in one room, young fool’ said marshall Guigues.’
‘Marshall Guigues is hunderd percent reliable and everything I know he is allowed to know. So speak up, young man. Or you will be thrown into the dungeons after all’
‘Yes, yes, of course your highness. Like I told lord Guigues, I know who killed duke Charles or to be more precise I know who ordered his killing.’
‘Was it his sister, Raymonde ? Speak up man.’
‘No, your majesty it wasn’t my half-sister, it was someone else’
‘Are you going to tell us who did it or .....’
‘Well, my lady, my lord, it is rather difficult. You see what I have to tell you is very dangerous, not just for me, but also for the kingdom of Poland. And you know that ....’
‘Enough, stop this. Now tell me who ordered the killing of duke Charles ? I want a straight answer. No more long stories !’
‘Ahh, yes, uh well, you see..... it was king Adalwin’
‘WHAT ? You mean little man, how can you come here to tell me that my beloved husband was the murderer. Marshall, throw this man in the dungeons’
Marshall Guigues stepped forward to grab Renaud.
‘No wait, please, your majesty hear my story. It is true. I was a witness. I was there in the chapel when it happend’
Guigues, looked back to the queen-mother.
‘Shall I call the guards, your majesty. I am sorry to have brought this man before you.’
‘It is allright lord Guigues. Young man, now tell us the whole story and if you lie to me your punishment will be severe.’
‘Thank you, your majesty, what I have to tell you is the thruth, I would never lie to anyone, please believe me.’
‘TELL YOUR STORY !!’
‘Allright, as I have told you I was in the chapel when duke Charles was murdered. My halfbrother had been ill for quit some time and he often went to pray there for his health. Since I was his responsible for looking after his horse, he often took me with him.’
‘That evening, my halfbrother again went to visit the chapel, since it was very cold, I sneaked into to chapel also. It was our familychapel afterall and I was and am a Capet also, alltough both my halfbrother and sister never saw me as such’
‘Get on with the story or .....’
‘Yes, yes, in the chapell I saw my brother kneeling before the altar. Then suddenly two men approached him from one of the side-entrances. My brother asked who they were, they said that they were here to bring him justice, my brother didn’t know what they ment by that, but when he saw them taking out their swords and daggers he knew. My halfbrother was unarmed and was not able to defend himself. He tried to offer them money, if they would keep him alive. He would double the amount that their master had offered them. The man laughed about this, they said that such a small duke could never pay more then a king. My brother then asked, why does the king of France want me dead. The men then said, not the king of France, you fool, the king of Poland, king Adalwin. We are here to seek revenge, because your sister has killed his Billung relatives, Magnus ‘the Bastard’ and marshall Ricgozi.’
‘But I have nothing to do with that, said my brother. The men then said that a Capet is a Capet, then they stabbed him several times, shouting, ‘This is for Magnus, this is for Ricgozi’, when they saw that my brother was dead, the quickly left the chapel. That is the story, your majesty’ said Renaud.
Now a moment of silence followed, as the queen-mother sat back and started to think about what had been told to her.
‘Why do we only now hear about this, young man. Why haven’t you told that to your halfsister and your other relatives, 4 years ago ? If the people had known about it back then, then my husband would never have been allowed to inherit duke Charles’s titles.’
‘I was afraid back then, your majesty, I was only 12 years old then. And as I told you, my sister and brother didn’t really considere me a member of the family. My sister even hated me because I was a bastard, she even said a few time that it would have been better if our father had killed me as a baby. I now was afraid, that I would be the one whom they would blame for the death of my brother. And Raymonde would use that to kill me’
‘So what did you do, after you had seen the murder ?’
‘I ran away, your majesty. I fled to a nearby village, there a local priest took me in. He gave me an education and now I am a priest myself I have heard many good things about you, your majesty, that is why I came to you with this story.’
‘Thank you, Renaud’ said queen Adela.
‘Marshall Guigues, this news must never come out. No one may ever hear, what my late husband has done.’
‘I agree your majesty. With the Piast revolt just crushed such news might lead to another, more dangerous revolt. But what about young Renaud here ?’
‘I will never tell anyone else, your majesty, my lord, please believe me. I will just go away and you will never hear of me again’
‘Hhmm, it is better if we keep him here, in the palace so we can keep an eye on him’ said Guigues.
‘Yes, I believe so to, but in order to explain his stay, we should give him a occupation. As a priest he could be the new royal chaplain. What do you think, Guigues ?’
‘Chaplain Przemyslaw Yaroslavich and his family won’t like that I think, your majesty’
‘No, you are right, the Yaroslavich are very easily insulted. And Przemyslaw has behaved bravely during teh Piast-revolt. I will have to give him something as an reward.’
‘What do you have in mind your majesty ?’
‘I will grant Przemyslaw a county of his own, that of Wolgast, that will please him and his family'.

And I then will announce that Renaud will be the new chaplain. People of course me start to talk about a Capet chaplain. But I will make sure that people, know that Renaud, here, has a great hatred for the Capet’s’
Renaud, who was surprised by all of this said ‘Yes, your majesty, I hate the Capet’s very, very much.’

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

After this meeting the queen-mother retired to her own quarters. The story that had been told to her was very shocking, if it was true. The young man’s story sounded believable, but he was a Capet after all. Only one man in the kingdom would be able to confirm this story, her husbands spymaster, Albrecht von Helffenstein. The next day she ordered him to come to her.

Albrecht, whose health was very precarious and knew his death was near, so when the queen-mother asked him about what had happend he confessed it all. Queen Adela felt betrayed by Albrecht and even by her late husband. But the confession again brought back so many bad memories to Albrecht that he died a few days later.

Meanwhile, Renaud Capet was thinking about what had happend to him. Here he was a bastard son and lowly educated priest, now chaplain in the royal court of Poland. The lord must have big plans with me, Renaud thought.

Young king Wulfbald was growing up without a father and, alltough she was still alive, without a mother to. Wulfbald wasn’t a nice kid, he was cruel, deceitfull, suspicious and also like most Billungs a bit lazy. He knew that as a king he had great powers even if he was still a child in age. He also knew that he could make his mother believe everything he told her. So when his tutors told her stories about his bad behaviour he just had to tell her, that those men just made that up to hide their incompetence or tell some other story and his mother would believe him.

Wulfbald could get along very well with the new chaplain, because Renaud with his age and humble upbringing was in some ways still a child. The queen-mother hoped that Renaud would have good influence on her son, so he was made the official tutor of the king.

And she also planned on spending more time with the two young princes. That why she decided that her second son, prince Eckhard should receive his education at the court.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

1231
But the ruling of the kingdom took more time then she expected, queen Adela wanted to be good to all of her people, from the wealthy and rich noblemen to the must humble and poor peasant. So everytime when the church asked for her help, she gladly donated the money to help the poor.

She also founded a monastery in Danzig, which was opened in june 1231. And she also started a lot of other big buildingprograms.

What kind of bothered her was the fact the the income of the kingdom seemed so low, but each time she asked steward Malgorzata about it, Malgorzata came up with dozens of reasons why the tax income wasn’t as high as queen Adela had thought it would be.

In september there was again a meeting between the two women. Queen Adela, wanted to know how it came that from such a rich province as Stettin only a very small amount of gold was received that year. Steward Malgorzata told her that if she was given a free hand in the tax-policy she would be able to gather more gold from Stettin. Adela, who because of the many good deeds she did, was always in need of money, told Malgorzata that she could do what she saw fit, the only restriction was that the taxing should be fair.

1232
In march, disturbing news from Stettin reached the the royal court in Danzig. Steward Malgorzata had demanded such high and unfair taxes that the province was on the brink of a revolt.

After hearing this news, queen Adela, immediately went to the office of her steward. But Malgorzata wasn’t there, in fact Malgorzata wasn’t in the palace at all. When queen Adela, gave order to search for her in the town of Danzig, the servants came back with the news that people had seen steward Malgorzata leave the town, together with her entire family and a lot of baggage in a ship to an unknown destination.

It took queen Adela and her marshall Guigues, only a few hours to find out that Malgorzata had been stealing from the treasury for years. Putting the taxmoney in her own pockets and paying the bills with money she loaned. The kingdom now had a debt of more then 2,000 gold ducats.

This was again an enormous shock for queen Adela, she had again been betrayed by someone she trusted. Only one man in the kingdom seem totally loyal to her, marshall Guigues, he also came up with a good person to serve as the new steward. A woman from his homecounty in France, Beatrix de Sabran.

Beatrix immediately went to work to put the finances of the kingdom in order, but this task was beyond everyones capabilities so also beyond hers. She therefor called for a meeting with her queen in october 1232.

‘Your highness, the situation is very serious’ said Beatrix
‘Yes, I know. But what can you do about that’ queen Adela said.
‘Not much, your highness. If I raise the taxes the loyalty of your vassals and the people in the royal demesne, will decline rapidly and even if I do raise them to the maximun, it will still take more then a year before we have paid back the debt. And if we do that it would also mean that we can’t spent any money in the maintenance of the defences, the roads, the churches, mills, schools and so on in the kingdom.’
‘I don’t want high and unfair taxes, lady Beatrix, and I also don’t want to lose all those things because I can’t afford to pay for their upkeep.’
‘Well, that means that the kingdom will be in debt for more many years to come, your highness. But there is one other option.’
‘What is it ?’
‘You could call the Estates General, your highness, and ask them for a one-time levy with which you can pay of the debt’
‘The Estates-General ? No, there hasn’t been one called in almost 200 years. It would be devastating to the prestige of the king, if he has to beg his people for money. No, that is not an option.’
‘If people find out that the kingdom can’t pay its bills, would be even more devastating to for the prestige of the king, your highness. Because of your good work, people have much respect for the king, so calling the Estates-General wouldn’t do him that much harm.’
‘You may leave now, lady Beatrix. I will think about your options.’

But there wasn’t much to think about. With no money in the treasury and a huge debt, the Estates-General had to be called. It wat to be held in Danzig in the second week of december. Queen Adela, because of her great diplomatic skills and her good deeds was very popular in the entire kingdom so the Estates-General granted her a one-time donation of almost 3,000 gold ducats.

 

[Dhimmi]

nce update, i really feel sorry for the queen-mother

where did you find that last pic btw?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

nce update, i really feel sorry for the queen-mother

where did you find that last pic btw?

On as dutch history site, .

It is a meeting of the Staten-Generaal (Estates-General) in the 'Ridderzaal' (Hall of knights) in the Hague. It is not a picture from the middle ages, but from the 16th or 17th century I guess.

EDIT
16th century I would say, looking at the flags that hang from the ceiling, I see the Burgundian and Spanish royal flag.

 

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Top stuff Veld, the queen-mother better be careful that her son doesn't see her as a threat!

You are an updating machine.

 

[Pirate Z]

That looks like the Great Meeting of 1651 of the Generality of the Republic of the United Provinces in The Hague. That time 'round all members chosen to lead/represent all of the United Provinces came to The Hague to give shape to the first period without a Stadtholder.

Anyways, on to your AAR. Great stuff, I'm really enjoying this. Is it me, or are the French gaining influence in your court? o

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

That looks like the Great Meeting of 1651 of the Generality of the Republic of the United Provinces in The Hague. That time 'round all members chosen to lead/represent all of the United Provinces came to The Hague to give shape to the first period without a Stadtholder.

Anyways, on to your AAR. Great stuff, I'm really enjoying this. Is it me, or are the French gaining influence in your court? o

Thanks for the information

Only the good French Friends of the Billungs.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

1232
After the great succes of the Estates-General, queen-mother Adela and her closest advisor and friend marschall Guiguis now considered it time to start a diplomatic offensive to expell all foreigner rulers out of the kingdom of Poland. One of them was King Hynek Premyslid of Bohemia, king Hynek was already in big trouble, because of differences with the catholic church he had been excommunicated by the Pope.

And this ment that everywar against him was a ‘just’ war, but Adela who always wanted to do things by the book, still thought it necessary that the kingdom of Poland first should have a claim of some sort on one of the lands of the kingdom of Poland. Together with Guigues she went through the archives and there found an ancient claim on the county of Usti nad Labem.

The county was currently held by a relative of Hynek. Therefor it was decided that a Polish delegation was to be sent to Hynek and ask him to revoke the title of his vassal and then hand it over to the Polish kingdom. If Hynek wouldn’t agree, then the Polish kingdom had the right to claim the crown of Bohemia.

The delegation left in april that year, and already returned a few weeks later. King Hynek had refused to even listen to the Polish delegation, as both Adela and Guigues knew beforehand, so on behalve of young King Wulfbald, they now announced that the title king of Bohemia was rightfully his and that the ‘usurper’ Hynek should give up his title or face the consequences.

Marshall Guigues was now ready to march with the Polish army to Bohemia and he was just waiting for the queen-mother to give the final orders. But Adela then started to have doubts about it. Was the ‘casus belli’ really a legitimate one ? And was it save to sent the Polish army against the Bohemians ? The Piast family, supported by the Kazimierz Piast, duke of Asturias-Navarra, was still unresty and might use this oppurtunity to start a revolt ?

After having thought the things through, Adela decided that it was better for the kingdom that the Piast-question was first resolved, before anything else. She therefor ordered spymaster Swietoslawa Yaroslavich to find proof of the rumours that Kazimierz was funding possible rebels in the kingdom of Poland.

Marshall Guigues who was disappointed since he had been longing for a good fight, had to admit that it was indeed wiser to first deal with this matter and ordered his troops to step down.

1233
In Danzig, steward Beatrix had introduced windmills, and the first of those new ‘mills’ were finished in may 1233.

At the end of the summer, news reached Danzig, that the great-grandmother of the king, Richwara von Franken had died. Leaving her lands and titles to young Wulfbald.

Former queen Richwara, had lived a rather tragic life, both the von Franken and the Billungs had acused her at some moment of being a traitor to their family. Furthermore her husband and son hadn’t been the greatest kings. One was known as king Bodo ‘the Bad’ and the other as king Gerbrand ‘the Puppet’. Only in her final years she had some peace and comfort as the duchess of Holstein.

1234
Spymaster Swietoslava, had finally found the proof that the queen-mother was waiting for.

Jerzy Piast, prince-bishop of Lubusz and brother of duke Kazimierz, was the man who was responsible for the funding of the revolts in Poland. Both Kazimierz and Jerzy thought that with a woman and child on the throne of the kingdom that the time was now almost rife for them to start a new revolt. The ‘failure’ to enforce the claim on king Hynek of Bohemia, was seen by both brothers as a sign of weakness, but they were now going to find out that they had underestimated Adela.

In almost complete secrecy, marshall Guigues gathered the royal regiments of Danzig and Stettin on the borders with the prince-bishopric of Lubusz. And on august the 8th the Polish kingdom officially declared war on Lubusz and Asturias-Navarra.

Jerzy who was completely taking by surprise, wasn’t able to gather his troops nore sent out messages for help to his relatives inside the kingdom. His small force was defeated in a battle on august the 20th and the Polish troops then started to siege his castle. The defences of Lubusz were rather strong and Jerzy was hoping that he could hold out untill either Kazimierz or the other vassal of Kasimierz in the region, count Sobeslav Piast of Jacwiecz, came to his aid. And of course he was hoping that the money he had been sending to his relatives would now pay off.

But in this, he was disappointed. Queen-mother Adela was immensly popular, even among some of the Piasts, they had taken the money, but would not start a revolt against their legitimate ruler they said.

The army of the count of Jacwiecz was defeated by an army led by Guigues in person, who had left the troops besieging Lubusz under the command of one of his subordinates, Erik of Stettin.

But Jerzy refused to capitulate, his brother would come sooner or later. But his men, who knew that it might thake months before that army came thought differently and with their morale lowering everyday, Jerzy was forced to surrender his castle on the 3rd of october. The county of Lubusz became now part of the royal demesne.

Now marshall Guigues waited for Kazimierz to arrive from distant Spain.

 

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A bit dissapointing that you only fought some rebelious vassals and not the Bohemians. I hoped to see you crush them.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

A bit dissapointing that you only fought some rebelious vassals and not the Bohemians. I hoped to see you crush them.

Kazimierz and Jerzy are not vassals.

The Bohemians will have to wait, queen-mother Adela is a woman of peace only when you make her angry she will come after you.

 

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Kazimierz and Jerzy are not vassals.

The Bohemians will have to wait, queen-mother Adela is a woman of peace only when you make her angry she will come after you.

Then they are only evil Piasts? Excellent.

Then one should make her angry. I think she needs another person like her husband was.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Then they are only evil Piasts? Excellent.

Then one should make her angry. I think she needs another person like her husband was.

Kazimierz Piast is an independent duke, he was never a vassal of the Billungs. Alltough The duke Asturias was a vassal once, but broke away during the minority of king Henryk but that is almost 40 years ago in my AAR. Somehow the Piasts gained that title. Don't know how

Kazimierz has two vassals in the default kingdom of Poland, the counties of Lubusz and Jacwiecz.

 

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Kazimierz Piast is an independent duke, he was never a vassal of the Billungs. Alltough The duke Asturias was a vassal once, but broke away during the minority of king Henryk but that is almost 40 years ago in my AAR. Somehow the Piasts gained that title. Don't know how

Kazimierz has two vassals in the default kingdom of Poland, the counties of Lubusz and Jacwiecz.

Those Piasts are evil I tell you. They should be part of your realm or be wiped out.

 

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All the Piasts are evil, kill them all, drive stakes through thier hearts.

Screenie of your empire?

 

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Nice story you got going on, but yeah you gotta take care of those Piasts.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

@BBBD
I will see if I have some, I always forget to make screenies of that. o

@Bigdan
Thanks