“Cautionary Tales: Abuse of the Son, Sins of the Father and the Breaking of the Land” by Professor Augustus Galoop 1875.
With the accession of Shamus to the position held by his father, the future of Brandenburg looked, not dark, but unpleasantly mild with cutting winds from the East. Being a far less able man than his father, Shamus’ reliance on drugs and alcohol left him an unwilling leader and politically null. An untenable position for perhaps the most important noble in the country.
But during his adult life, or second childhood dependant on records, a number of men from different walks of life, with differing goals and dreams, surround Shamus and his descendants. Using guile, cunning, brute force and on one occasion a goat, they moved controlled the destiny of the land and the souls that inhabited it.
Was this for love of country or love of service, no it was through greed and avarice, the desire to take what they could for themselves. It lead to brutal fighting and conflict within and without Brandenburg.
The first of these advisors was
DRACO REXUS: The Bandit King
The history of Draco Rexus family can be traced to the Carpathian Mountains around the turn of the 12th century, an outlaw and brigand leader took up residence in a hill fort with his band of bravos and thieves. Within 10 years he was ensconced in a heavily fortified castle and held dominion over the 10,000 souls in villages and towns in the area.
The power of this man grew and eventually he became the original Draco Rexus, named as his men fought with shields emblazoned with dragons and he was their king. So much so that the Emperor of Byzantium was said to have ordered a new road built to allow travelers to detour around his lands.
For almost 100 years the Kings sat on their throne, each King and the heir was known as Draco Rexus, a huge fortune was amassed and hundreds of blackguards hired to control the roads and lands around, however this was not too last. In a daring raid Draco’s men captured Vassilus, son of the Emperor and Berthidus Piast, daughter of the King of Hungary. Despite asking for an enormous ransom, Draco allowed his prisoners to be raped repeatedly and tortured on and off for 30 days, before receiving his ransom.
Once the prisoners were returned in such a sorry state, the Emperor finally decided to be rid of the menace of the Dragon Kings once and for all. 10,000 troops were raised in Byzantium and 8,000 in Buda, they march out in July 1195, with such a force arrayed against him Draco Maximus, as he was known, found his men fleeing and 2 days before the arrival of Imperial forces he too fled with his family.
Disguised as geese herders they made their way to the coast and fled to Sicily, originally they had wanted to land on Italy proper but were forced to flee Venetian and Imperial warships on several occasions. Needing to establish themselves in Italian society they joined the march against the remaining Muslims in Sicily. Both the Grand Dragon and his son Bold Dragon fought valiantly for the Christian forces and were rewarded with estates by the Rome-Naples road by the Pope.
Till the death of Draco Rexus Maximus in 1223 the family were on their best behaviour, they gave alms to the poor, sheltered victims of the plague of 1212 and provided men to the Pope for his wars of aggression. It became so much so that Maximus was cannonised shortly after his death.
But as soon as Boldueim become the head of the family things changed very
quickly, the area around their estates were a haven for brigands and bravos.
St Draco: Patron saint of highwaymen
Terror spread across the land, but the authorities did nothing while Draco provided such large amounts of cash to the papal coffers. No action was taken and the family grew rich and bold, helping the Pope on numerous occasions against the Holy Roman Emperors forces in the battle for Italy. The family was untouchable and the Dracos became accustomed to wealth and power.
This situation remained until the birth of Rouge Draco Rexus, born 1403, he was sent to the court of Naples as a boy to squire for the King. Such an important post was an honour even for this family, Draco was outstanding, winning the praises of the King and court by his bravery, loyalty and courage. It was little known that in the Saracen invasion of 1418, despite showing great courage in defending the King from a surprise attack, it was Draco himself who killed the King on the orders of the King of Spain.
Draco fights the heathen
For at different times Draco was in the pay of the Queen, the Pope, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Doges of Milan and Venice, the Duke of Savoy and the King of Spain. Despite the King dying, Draco was knighted shortly after and rose to be commander of the city of Naples. His sights fell on marrying the daughter of the Queen Isabella and becoming the new king. When he heard that Alfonso Duke of Majorca was engaged to his princess, he went into a fury and ordered the deaths of first 50 men he saw. Three days later the Duke was dead, in a rather compromising position with the Duke of Pisa, a Swiss milkmaid and 50 litres of chocolate.
Unfortunately he was passed over again as the Queen chose Rene D’Anjou of Savoy and though a plan was being thought up by Draco, involving a slave girl, a rabid ferret and a man named Stan, it was too late.
The Pope had found out that the Draco’s had been supporting not just the Emperor, but all the petty duchies against the papacy, they were excommunicated and Rouge fled Naples. The remaining family were not so lucky, all geese herders were being searched and they were discovered trying to enter Pisa and sent to Rome, they were all executed.
So Draco fled and fled, the long arm of the Pope followed him to Madrid, Paris and even Skane.
Eventually he settled in a commander of the Novgorod cavalry, but even then he was forced to flee in 1437 when the Muscowites invaded and put the army to flight.
He quickly moved through the various Orders lands, fear of the cross now pushing him on, he decided that there was no reason to go on soon after arriving at the Brandenburg/Polish border. Entering the first tavern he saw, Draco decided to go on the bender of a lifetime. Just as he was starting to drink a Brandenburg cavalry patrol arrived, the head of the unit entered the bar and seeing the row of shots in front of Draco, challenged him to a drinking contest. Eventually both me had to be helped to a room by the innkeeper, the soon formed a fast friendship, especially after Draco found out who his drinking partner was, Shamus.
So Draco quickly rose again and as we come back to the death bed of Stephen, Draco waits patiently in Berlin as the new Commander of South Brandenburg.
(since I read the tales of Sir Stephen I know at least why I couldn't find this type of Blondes when I was in Brandeburg last time).
