1448-1451 – A Needy Ally
The recent war with Castile had taken the lives of many young men in Aragon. One of the first things King Joan II did after convening a meeting with his court was to lower the recruitment for the army to help alleviate the burden on the population. He had a long way to go. 11,000 men were still needed to fill the ranks of the army and he’d need twice that many in reserve. At least Joan II had help with these matters. The passing of the Military Provision Act meant that more focus was placed on military matters amongst the Council, who would handle such issues. ((National focus has been placed on military))
In economic matters, Joan II made several efforts to revitalize trade and get more ducats flowing into the treasury. Plenty of time and energy was expended into building up production of copper in Cagliari and silk in Teruel as part of the Artisan Support Act. ((All our 3+ trade goods are now at 5 production)) Joan had also sent word to Navarra that they were not expected to contribute any troops to future war efforts in exchange for increased taxation, which the new vassal agreed to. ((Scutage has been enabled))
Not everything was going so smoothly though. Many families were hit hard by the loss of loved ones in the Castilian War. The king did not want them to continue suffering. He lowered the tax rate for the next five years to help give people time to recover their livelihood, an act that won him much favour. This was quickly offset by his treatment towards the peasants who complained about abuse from their lords. Some even dared to suggest the formation of a peasants’ guild. Joan II, not wanting to lose the support of his nobles, decided it was best to ignore the peasant rabble. This led to rebellion instead.
The three Aragonese armies were each dispatched to the rebellious provinces to handle the peasant armies. The peasants in Girona were dispersed first by General Jaume Cristòfor. General Lino Adrià María de Agramunt next freed up the capital. The two went to converge on Barcelona where the final battle was occurring. Before they arrived, General Felipé de Alvaro was forced to retreat after his cavalry force was ambushed and slaughtered. This was a great embarrassment to the once proud general. Only the interference of the former Marshal and Navarran forces put down the rebellion for good. The bad news was that now the army needed a good 15,000 men to replenish its ranks.
The new Treasurer, John Kendall, had suggested searching for some advisors, but the type he would have liked could not be found in Aragon or the nearby countries. The king, however, approved the hiring of a diplomatic advisor named Hug Ametller from Barcelona, who was an exceptionally affectionate man, to help handle diplomatic affairs.
After the recent rebellions, King Joan II took more interest in local government. He usually relied on his trusted nobles to govern provinces for him, but he was finding that not always were they doing things the way he liked. He conducted a thorough investigation and rooted out all the problem areas.
As promised, Joan II also focused attention on the Papal State. A diplomat was dispatched to smooth over relations with the Pope. There were rumours that Cardinal de Vascona desired the Papacy and Joan II certainly wanted to improve his odds. Positive relations with the Pope also seemed even more important with the heathens growing stronger. The Ottomans annexed Albania in the Balkans, a sad day for Christians everywhere.
In October of 1448, war broke out in Italy as Milan declared war on Switzerland. Ferran de Trastámara had joined the Condottieri in Italy by then and joined the war for Milan. He was accompanied by Ferran Perez de Cabrera, a noble from Aragan. Both men were looking for fame and fortune. Ferran hoped more than anything to make a name for himself. Being labelled a bastard his whole life put a major chip on his shoulder and a need to prove himself. Collecting a lot of loot in the process was a big plus too.
The Muslim world was stirred up a bit as the Mamluks declared the tiny state of Ramazan a vassal, securing a position in Anatolia.
Marshal Carlos de Leon ordered a reordering of the army to help alleviate manpower problems. Seven regiments of infantry were disbanded in total, leaving only 6,000 more men needed to replace the lost cavalry. The army was now undersized at 20 regiments of the recommended 25, but it’d need time to recover first before it could be brought back up to size.
King Joan II also wanted to tie up some loose ends after the peasant rebellions the previous year. An investigation was conducted into the loss to the rebels by General Felipé de Alvaro. Nothing came up that revealed any fault of Felipé’s for the loss, but the man’s reputation was damaged. He retired from the army shortly after. ((Sorry Robban204, the game killed off your general, but since it wasn’t in battle he has retired instead. That means there’s an open slot for a general if anyone is interested.))
Oddly enough the king’s son as Spymaster was not present to participate in the investigation. In fact, the Prince had not been seen for a year, and many questioned where he had gone. Speculation was that the king had finally had enough and sent the boy away until he had grown up. That was partly true, for Diplomat Joseph von Thun was training the boy in the ways of diplomacy by having the Prince accompany him on diplomatic missions across the kingdom and to foreign powers. Alfons showed promise. He had kept his more violent tendencies in check and seemed to be willing to learn from the diplomat. Von Thun sent a letter to the king recording his progress. He believed that the boy, while perhaps having a rough exterior, was actually quite bright and easily grasped concepts of government. If Alfons could be reined in, he could prove to be a capable king.
Joan II had not forgotten his plans for a potential war with Tunis. He met with several advisors and started drafting up a plan for a possible invasion to be held at an undisclosed time. They needed to be prepared for taking on the heathens, ideally in the next 25 years. Since Tunis was losing a war with Touggourt, it seemed like it should be earlier rather than later.
Continuing with the plans to hire more help, an administrative advisor was hired from Valencia. Joan II wanted a full court to assist his rule to ensure Aragon flourished. This of course was also costly, but Aragon could handle the increased costs for now.
In the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria annexed Ansbach. This would come back to bite them in the backside when Austria decided to restore Ansbach several months later. Farther north, Sweden decided it was okay to be ruled from Denmark if they could have some Norwegian land.
Rumours starting circulating in August of 1450 that Cardinal de Vascona was in a good position to succeed the current Pope if he passed away. About a quarter of the Holy See supported his possible appointment.
Milan’s war against Switzerland ended in failure. Despite that, Ferran de Trastámara did well for himself. He had helped fight off a Swiss offensive, although it was only a minor battle. He’d also taken part in a raid on Swiss land, plundering a small town and taking off with the people’s wealth. Some looked down on this behaviour, but such was the life of a mercenary, especially one who loved his fair share of gold.
On 6 March 1450, Venice declared war on Byzantium. While many considered Joan II a bit of a coward, he looked forward to this war. In fact, he did not even consult the court on the matter. Invoking his kingly right ((aka the veto)), Joan II accepted the call to arms. In his mind, this fit Aragonese interests. This war could prove a chance to force Byzantium under Aragon’s guidance. Despite that, Ioannes Kontostephanos, the Byzantine refugee and nobleman, refused to speak with the king while the war was ongoing. This was a Venetian land grab, not some noble war to save Byzantium from itself. This war also had the negative effect of ruining the plans to restore the army, which could not be implemented in a state of war. ((The mission to replenish our manpower automatically failed, so we need a new one.))
A new mercenary regiment of infantry was hired in Valencia to even out the three armies so they had four infantry to three cavalry each. Unfortunately these armies could not fit on the transports possessed by the navy, so a cavalry unit was left behind. With that figured out, General Lino Adrià María de Agramunt set sail with four infantry and two cavalry regiments for Morea, where it was reported that Venetian and Neapolitan troops were already landing. It would take a few weeks to reach Greece.
The war did encourage the nobility to be a bit more generous with their wealth. Several nobles offered to help fund the war effort out of their own pockets. The money immediately went towards paying off Aragon’s last remaining loan.
In August, a Tunisian spy was caught in the Baleares attempting to forge several documents that would claim that the Sultan possessed ties to the islands. The heathen spy was immediately executed.
By the time General de Agramunt reached Greece, the Venetians had already taken Morea and Achaea. Apparently the Byzantines had made the mistake of not manning the fort in Morea in time. The general moved onto Athens instead, while Admiral Leonardo de Abruzzi helped Aragon’s allies dispatch the Byzantine navy. The war also gave Aragon the opportunity to test out the use of pikemen, something that had been contemplated against Castile but was not implemented until now.
Worrying news reached court when a Castilian spy was caught in Barcelona, practically committing the same act Joseph von Thun had been caught doing before in Murcia. The spy was tossed out, although not executed so as to prevent angering Castile. The greater fear was that this meant Aragon’s neighbour was preparing for war. Perhaps a defensive alliance with Portugal wouldn’t be so bad after all.
In December of 1450, Venice decided that it did not have the patience to siege Constantinople and instead forced Byzantium to pay a war reparation and end their overlordship of Athens. Joan II was displeased by this outcome, since Aragon got nothing out of it. If they wanted to bring the Byzantines in under their rule, they’d need to start another war at a later date themselves.
Word from England arrived that the House of York had won the War of the Roses. That news seemed unimportant with the country losing the war with Scotland and France. France had taken all but Calais on the continent and was working on that last province. Scotland had lost Fife, but was still holding out.
Tunis managed to pull off a victory against Tlemcen, but it seemed minor with Touggourt occupying parts of their country. Joan II hoped that Tunis’s neighbour crushed them so that Aragon could go in and conquer the heathens. Speaking of heathens, the Mamluks added Fezzan to their list of vassals. The eastern heathens were clearly growing stronger.
In early December of 1451, Venice sent another call to arms to Aragon. Instead of fighting some small power like the Byzantines, this time they planned to take on the Ottomans. The idea admittedly frightened Joan II. The Ottomans were a major threat. The point of the Venetian alliance had been to potentially use their combined naval might to take on the heathen Ottomans together, so perhaps this was the chance to do that. Joan II did not particularly like that Venice led the war effort. They could forget Aragon again in the peace. Then again, Tunis was allied to the Ottomans and this could prove an opportunity to take land from them. If Venice recognized Aragon’s claim forged on Tunis’s land, perhaps they could get a province out of them. There was much to consider and the court had to be consulted on the matter.
((Diligent, Content, Craven))
We wish to bring before you an urgent matter. The Venetians, our allies, have declared war on the heathen Ottomans. This is both a war of great danger and possibility. Aragon may not be ready for this war, but this could also be a chance to crush the heathens before they grow too strong. We wish to consult the court on whether we should join our allies against our hated enemy.
We also realize that our plans to restore the army have failed and we must consider a new plan. Perhaps we should focus on improving our international reputation. We could always try to influence papal politics to further the Aragonese agenda in the Holy See. Or maybe just trying to fill up the treasury would do for now. We will leave it up to all of you to help us decide our next course of action.
((Okay, we’ll be holding two votes: one on whether or not to honour the call to arms from Venice against the Ottomans and Tunis and what our new mission should be. Ministers may present any wartime plans in case of war, which do not require a vote. If we choose to not go to war, I will continue on using existing plans, since I only made it less than 4 years before I was forced to stop, although ministers can propose changes if they like. Not much has changed anyway. Also sorry for not putting the Byzantine war up for the vote. I just felt that the war did fit the foreign agenda I had made and I didn’t want to stop so soon after starting. Good thing I had that veto since stopping for that useless war would have been a time-waster.
We need to make some progress or this iAAR will never get anywhere. Anyway, here is the vote format:
Honour Venetian call-to-arms:
Yes/No/Abstain
Mission:
Prestige/Papal Controller/Money
The vote will be open until
12pm PST on Monday. Please bold your votes and state your character name and role in your post. If changing your vote, please make a new post. Also with Abruzzi’s early retirement, we have an opening for a general, so feel free to suggest yourself for the position. We still have a position for another diplomat if a courtier wants it. If anyone needs any more information from the game, feel free to ask.))
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