1082 (part 5): Without Oleg to stand on.
Even though my brother Oleg's departure from the court troubled me, at least the war seemed to be going well. The Cumans may have had more troops than we did, but thanks to our victories, they were a disorganized lot, and as long as we struck quickly and surely, we should prevail, I hoped.
So Grigorii returned to Pereyaslavl (accompanied by Vsevelodovich's Scalovians) to chase off the latest Cuman attempt at a siege.
When they arrived, the Cumans promptly fled. Meantime, Rostislav Hussain was about to take Sarkel.
However, as he already had a county, I had him leave separately, and let Mikhail Abdel become the Count of Sarkel. (Another Russian Arab? I never knew we had so many of them. Or is he a Russian Turk, because it's Abdel, rather than Abdul? I confess I'm confused.)
Also, the Cumans were attacking Sugrov again, as Itlar of Sugrov tried to reclaim his home province.
While Count Mikhail stayed behind to administer his new realm, the rest of the army (led by Alexei of Mozhaysk, but with Roman's Smolensk regiment making up the bulk of the troops) went to save Sugrov.
Mission accomplished. As at Pereyaslavl, the Cumans were now fleeing at the mere sight of our armies. This certainly made the battles easier. I celebrated the news with a nice warm bath in a local hot spring.
Pope Crazypants, on the other hand, was not having such a good time of things. His "crusade" continued to founder, as the Genoese lost their home province. (Still better than the other realm to join the "crusade" was doing, though, as the Nubians had been wiped entirely off of the map.)
And yet…this was actually the turning point for the Pope, as this was the event that led Germany and almost all of its Duchies (save Flanders, I think) to join the crusade. Perhaps they reconsidered how important it was to liberate the Holy Land from the Mohammedians. Or perhaps seeing Genoa fall made them aware of what a dangerous threat the Fatimid kingdom could be.
Or perhaps…they realized that Genoa was now possibly theirs for the taking. It is a lovely province; if I was closer and not in the middle of an endless war myself, I would have been interested.
Also, sometime around now, I learned that Irina was pregnant again, a going-away present from Oleg, it would seem. I guess there's nothing like inheriting your dead daughter's county to fire up the old drive! (Really? Bizarre.)
But what of Rostislav Hussain? I had sent him and his Kama regiment to join up with Grigorii and Vseslav Vsevolodovich in the capital. However, he encountered a small problem en route…
Okay, a not-so-small problem. Rostislav had won at 3-1 odds against before, but could he possibly win at 30-1 odds??
Or even worse? Could Rostislav and the brave men of Kama, these hardy warriors who subsisted on a diet of asterisks and ampersands, somehow prevail against a foe more than
fifty times their size? Could they?
Of course not. But almost half the regiment did escape with their lives, and Rostislav was in the lucky half, so I counted that as a win.
All of this fighting, with three of my demesne regiments constantly under arms, had put me more than 500 ducats in debt. (And the only reason why the Polotsk regiment had been left at home was that the looting in the province had made recruiting difficult.) So when the suggestion of calling the Estates General was made again, I agreed to at least a small contribution. After all, I was already thought of as Arbitrary, and I was willing to risk being called Reckless, as well. (Which is perhaps an example of reckless behavior, so fair point, that.)
As it turned out, I was not thought to be Reckless, and the funds raised not only repaid our debt, but allowed for something else, too.
I now had the funds to hold a proper ceremony, and be proclaimed the Prince of Prussia! At last.
Not only was the title prestigious, but it meant that I was free to give the county to little Fedor, the son of my late friend Simeon of Tmutarakan. Even though Vseslav Vsevolodovich thus became Fedor's vassal, not my own, it didn't matter, because I was both Prince of Prussia and Prince of Podlasia now, despite not being Vsevolodovich's direct liege.
(By the way, I've been reading the Feudal Handbook, and I think I discovered how a Count can become the vassal of a fellow Count. Recall that Stepan became Count of Marienburg while leading the Mountain Cheremisa regiment. But my father kept the Mountain[less] Cheremisa regiment in battle, prohibiting Stepan from taking up the leadership of the Marienburgers, and had that regiment, under Vsevolodovich, conquer Scalovia [and, later, Galindia]. As Marienburg was Stepan's sole demesne, its conquests were considered Stepan's, regardless of the fact that Vsevolodovich had carried them out in his absence. [If the Count had been a child, or a Countess, a marshal would be allowed to take lands for himself, but the principle is that an adult Count should always be allowed to consider his own regiment an extension of his power.] So Vsevolodovich would always be a vassal of Marienburg, whether Stepan or I or Fedor ruled there. I was not sure if this situation will survive Vsevolodovich's death, but as it is no longer impeding my attaining the relevant Prince titles, I hardly care.)
(Now that I think on it, I wonder what would have happened if I had given Marienburg to Vsevolodovich? Would the other counties remain his vassals, if he gave them to someone else? Interesting to consider.)
Another long-standing issue was resolved when the Emperor Alexios finally annexed the Principality of Sinope from his rebellious brother, Manuel. (The breakaway Metropolitanate of Armenia had also been reclaimed.) As my father had speculated, perhaps the Emperor had let his brother remain at large for so many years to give impetus for his change to a dynastic succession. And now, after a decent interval, with the dynasty in place, he could retake the lands.
Apparently, Pope Crazypants felt that it had been too long since he'd justified his nickname, so he excommunicated the King of Hungary. So that's the kings of Scotland, France, Poland, and Hungary, as well as a powerful Dutch count. I've never been much for religion, but I am glad to not be subject to this "pope" and his bizarre whims.
By the way, it seems Pope Crazypants used to be thought of as being Modest. That's crazy talk! In any event, no one calls him that, any more.
The latest Cuman attack on the capital led to an actual battle, with both sides fighting hard. But we won, so that was good.
Alexei's army had reached Saray, so possibly we could finish the siege at last. However, the Cumans had just levied a large regiment in Manych (their new capital), so we wouldn't be heading there next. (Oh, and Roman's daughter was sick.)
As we reached late November, I found myself giving thanks that Saray had finally been retaken.
Hugo von Franken was stressed? He's twelve years old, for St. Peter's sake! What does he have to be stressed about??? Guh, now I needed a nap.
So Alexei had moved to Sarpa rather than face the Cumans in Manych. Unfortunately, the Cumans had also moved into Sarpa.
This did not end well. Damn horse archers.
At the end of the year, we had taken Desht-I-Kipchak, Lower Don, and Sarkel, and re-captured Saray. And we'd won four battles for Tmutarakan, and at least that many in Pereyaslavl.
But still it was a long and grinding year, and as I look to the future, I wish to wrap up the war as soon as possible. Questions abound:
I see that the Cumans are attacking Tmutarakan again…can I finish my siege in Kasogs before I must return home to defend it? Or can some other units be brought down to save Tmutarakan in my place?
The Mstislavs had almost taken Zyriane; could they return to play any part in the coming battles?
And I also see that another offensive has been launched against Sugrov. Could I beat them back? Should I? Losing the county would be the best chance I have of bringing Oleg (and Mikhail) back into my court.
Questions, questions and more questions…you can see why I hope to spend most of 1083 in bed. Taking a very long nap.
A couple of notes from the map, above. Cousin Vseslav is at war with both the Tribe of Sames and the Tribe of Ural. It isn't going well, with the Sames having taken Orsha (and sieging Jacwiez) and the Ural having acquired Minsk. But Vseslav has taken Veliky Usitg and is sieging Hlynov and Syrj, so it's probably too soon to tell.
Also the Turkmen are at war with the Pechenegs, and have snuck in and grabbed Belgorod, forcing the Pechenegs to move their capital to Pereschen.
In International News not already mentioned, Sevilla conquered Cordoba. Castille went to war with Mallorca, taking Almansa, Denia, and Zaragoza before signing a peace treaty. And Poland and Kiev had been at war, a consequence of Uncle Izyaslav having backed the rebellious province of Vladimir Volynsky when it briefly declared independence from the Poles. That didn't last, and it cost Uncle Izyaslav a fair amount of ducats in peace agreements. And I apparently missed where Ragusa became independent again last year. They were able to make peace with Croatia, but then Serbia reabsorbed them.
So ends the longest and most grueling year of my life. To those who read this, I wish you peace, blessed peace.
31st December 1082
Gleb Svyatoslavich, of the House of Rurikovich
Prince of Pronsk, Ryazan, Cheremisa, Smolensk, Podlasia, and Prussia (finally!)
Count of Pereyaslavl, Tmutarakan, Polotsk, and Smolensk. (And NOT Marienburg, praise Heaven.)
), Vsevelies (
