Confused about factions and retinues

[Umbella]

So here is the situation. I was a duke with direct control of 2/3 de jure counties, with the third county as a vassal. I also had direct control of another county, which was recently conquered, so I was getting the heavy penalty to levies. It was part of a de jure duchy with only two counties. The earl controlling the other county had me excommunicated. Pretty soon, I had a large kingdom declaring war on me, and I knew I was in trouble. So far, everything makes sense.

I didn't like my leader that much, so I surrendered pretty quickly. I had agnatic-cognatic primogeniture succession, and only one daughter, so my very young daughter took over. At this point, my vassal earl declared independence. There was nobody supporting his faction, so I thought I was still in pretty good shape.

However, when his tiny army of 200+ men was raised, I went to my military window, and saw that I could raise 0 men from my demense. I looked under the retinues tab, and I still couldn't see how to raise armies. I could only raise 4 men from my vassals.

Does anyone know why this is the case? I'm thinking I am missing something with the retinues, which I admit I don't fully understand. I thought I remembered someone saying if you have over 500 raisable men in your demense, retinues come into play, and I think I was at about 480 men. Also, I have noticed that if your bishop likes the pope more than you, he won't supply any armies, as well as money. I don't remember that being the case pre-patch.

EDIT: Also, I forgot to add that when I surrendered to the earl declaring independence, he gained my original two counties as well as my Duchess title, leaving me only with my recently conquered county. I'm not sure why that happened either.

 

[Lamprey]

If all you have to work with is a single recently conquered county, it'll have no levies until the 'recently conquered' penalties expire. Look at the county picture - if it has an icon with 2 red crossed swords, a red book or a red cross/crescent, you're under those penalties. Hovering over the icons will give more details.

Once these penalties expire, your levies will start building to their max size, starting at 0.

Hope that explains things. For now, just hire mercenaries if you have the money. If you don't, restart in Ireland, it's a great "sandbox" area for learning game mechanics.

 

[Umbella]

No, I meant I should be able to raise troops from the other two counties I controlled. Those were not recently conquered. Before the independence war, I was able to raise about 480 men to conquer my now recently conquered territory.

I am wondering if surrendering quickly in the excommunication war did something that I don't understand, or if it has anything to do with an underaged female ruler.

 

[Ness_Uno]

The levies you are able to call is dependent on your vassal's opinion of you, with your crown laws mixed in. The crown authority will set a minimum percentage that your vassals must give up. So if it is low, it's a measly 10%. If it's at autonomous vassals--which it very well may be--then they don't have to give any up. If they like you, they will give up some levies based on how much they like you.

If you are a new, underage, female ruler then that is like three strikes. No one will like you much, at least at first, so you're stuck with the absolute minimum, which, as I mentioned above, might be 0.

Also, if your personal levies are depleted from having been wiped out, then they take time to replenish.

 

[Umbella]

I am talking about my personal levies that are 0. They shouldn't have been full strength, but they should still have been much higher than 0. I understand why I couldn't raise any from my bishops and mayors, because they all hated my brand new infant female ruler, but I don't see why I couldn't raise my own.

I was an independent Duke, so I don't know what the crown authority is in that case. I am assuming it is the same as autonomous.