House Canossa - How far can it rise?

[BigKaliFan]

Duchess Matilda di Canossa of the Duchies of Tuscany and Spoleto readied herself for the council meeting. She had finally decided what she planned to do. It had been nearly 11 years since she had inherited her titles at the tender age of 9 after the unexpected deaths of her older brothers. Since then she had endured a regency and for the last couple of years listened, learnt from her council members while slowly increasing her influence until they did what she wanted.

It hadn't been helped by her deep faith, where she had debated whether she should take the vows and serve the Church herself, she would have made Mother Superior in a very short time due to her birth but as Count Arduino of Parma, her Marshall and one of the few living members of her Dynasty, had explained to her in private "Duchess Matilda you're the last of House Canossa and the Head of the Lucca Dynasty, will you let the Dog end his bone or will you show the world what you are capable of. I look upon you as the daughter I never had and I am proud to have served as your regent but it is time for you to lead us to glory. Show those fat northerners what Tuscany is made off and teach those Norman curs a lesson in manners. Please forgive me for my bluntness but I only desire the best for you and Tuscany."

I very nearly had the Count whipped for his outburst but upon reflection the Good Lord had taken my brothers and if he spared me then it was for surely greater things than joining a convent. Of course we had been at peace for a long time, the Northern Dukes of the Holy Roman Empire were more interested in their own schemes for power in the interior than taking notice than taking notice of the southern most Duchies of the Empire and any other nation would face the full forces of the Empire if they decided to invade our lands. It meant a very quiet time for a Marshall.

Taking Arduino's words to heart, I decided my fate. Fortunately I also encountered a merchant from the Kingdom of Croatia in the local market. Mara was of a similar age to myself and proved to have a surprising amount of knowledge about the lands and movements of the high nobility. If my plans are successful Mara could very well be an asset for Tuscany in the future.

Entering the council chamber I seated myself and bade the others already waiting for me to sit as well. Looking at each of my council members my Marshall Count Arduino of Parma, 58 years old but still one of the most formidable warriors in the Duchy, Count Anselmo of Lucca, 46 and my Chancellor, my Steward Count Vitale of Fermo a young 28 and last but not least the youngest member of my council my Spymaster Countess Marianna of Arezzo who had just reached her majority of 16.

"My friends I have decided it time for me to wed and then we will war."

The room burst into excited conversation, Count Anselmo was was so excited that he forget to keep his thoughts only a man could lead to himself, as if he knew which end of a sword to hold.

"Duchess we believe that Guy de Ponthieu would be a good match, he is only 16 himself but his uncle has over 5000 troops that we could draw upon in our future expansion.

"Are you talking about the nephew of the Bastard of Normandy?"

There was stunned silence at my use of the word "bastard"

"That is what he is born out of wedlock and surely you are all aware that the Duke has set his sights on England. If I married Guy, the very next pigeon we received will be a summons to war in the frozen North."

"Perhaps Duchess but you could refuse to send troops and once the Duke had won then call upon the alliance" was the wise sproutings of Vitale.

Arching an eyebrow I waited for him to redden in the face before continuing

"My word is my bond and I would not fail to answer a call, so Count Vitale would you be happy to lead our soldiers in the snow. No i though not lets consider other options."

"No I will not wed a 4 year old and no I will not take a lover until he comes of age, no alliance is worth that."

"A 70 year old who would be older than my great grandfather I think not."

Finally Countess Marianna asked me directly "Duchess Matilda, you have thought about this who did you have in mind?"

Smiling I told them

"Preposterous they are barbarians, did you see when they visited 5 years ago that none of them even knew which fork or knife to use at the banquet table ... surely there are better choices.."

"No I think not I will approach Duke Mihajlo of Duklja for the hand of his son Gavril. Gavril is the 5th of 8 brothers and Duklja is just across the water from us and his men are harden warriors."

I did not mention that the other reason I had set my eyes on Gavril was the keen intellect he showed, he had encountered me in the castle library and to my surprise was able to read the sayings of Plato written in latin with no trouble and even debated briefly with me their meanings before his older brother called him to watch a display of swrdmanship.

A rare image of Duke Gavril circa 1071

Initially Duke Mihajlo thought Gavril was to be Duke and he couldn't hide his joy exclaiming in his missive that it wasn't unexpected that as a woman I would seek a man to protect and rule Tuscany.

My next message stated in no uncertain terms that the marriage was matrilineal. After some more back and forth the marriage was agreed and I was to marry a man 12 years my senior. I suspect Duke Mihajlo did not what to do with his genius of a son and in the end Tuscany wasn't the worst option for him.

Perhaps I made a mistake after my wedding night insisting that Gavril convert to Catholic, he has been very polite but very cold to me since then. With the way the castle gossips I know he is honouring our vows but still I hadn't expected him to be so prideful.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Now it was time for war, the Hautevilles had established themselves at the southern end of Italy and taken control of the Duchy of Apulia and through base trickery had somehow claimed the county of Lanciano from the Bryzantine Empire in 1053, yet according to the very accurate and true records maintained in the Holy Church the County of Lanciano was truly part of the ancestral lands of the Duchy of Spoleto and rightly belonged to my humble self.

Count Robert of Foggia and Lanciano was a vassal to Duke Robert "the Fox" Hauteville of Apulia and according to the reports of my Spymaster and Marshall only had a force of 1100 levies compared to the 2700 levies I could raise from my lands.

Before raising the banners of war I took my husband's advice and sought new Knights for the court by arranging matrilineal marriages for some of the unmarried woman in my court as well as sending the heralds out to search for other Knights who may not be attracted by marriage. One of the knights who came to court was Flavio nicknamed "the Virgin" as he had taken a vow of celibacy not that it distracted from his prowess in combat (rank 15) and I found him good company while my husband sulked.

Informing the Fox that Lanciano was rightly part of Tuscany and if he chose to disagree then we would settle it on the battlefield, I led my armies into the field. Well Gavril along with the council all objected but I was determined in my actions.

I quickly learnt that war was not an easy task and it wasn't until April 1069 that we were victorious. The soldiers of the Fox were a lot more harden than ours and even though we outnumbered them 2 to 1, every battle we fought they would actually slay more of my troops than they lost. During a visit back to Florence, Gavril suggested that the Tuscany soldiers were too soft and delicate (I did not speak to him for a week after that insult although he was actually correct in his assessment) and it would be wise to hire some professionals to add some substance to my forces.

After the war ended I went out and hired a squad of archers, footmen and mangonels. It made a dent in the treasury but I could see the wisdom in this investment.

Now with a taste for war we had to decide on our next target. The Papacy was untouchable and we had a truce with the Fox for 5 years, there were a couple of other southern territories we could have targeted or we could start picking off the city states on the east coast of Italy. With the confidence from a hard fought victory I declared war on the city state of Ancona.

During the war with Ancona my kinsman and Marshall Count Arduino died (July 1069) from wounds suffered in battle, he was succeeded by his son Oberto di Parma and I quickly judged that Oberto was better served as looking after his counties of Parma and Bastia than serving on the council (he is a powerful vassal, well they all are at the moment but Oberto could be best described as poor if not terrible at anything he attempted). It was an easy decision to select my strongest knight Gerhard Rangoni (martial 16 & prowess 21) as my new Marshall, he was originally from England and informed us that the Duke William was still battling to claim England from the other claimants but he was starting to gain the upper hand.

The battle for Ancona was alot faster than my previous war and in November 1069 we were victorious, the mangonels made short work of the stone walls protecting Ancona. With this success I was now directly controlling 8 counties and even with my husbands assistance it was challenging so to give me more time (and hopefully some children to grant the titles to) I granted both Lanciano and Ancona to Flavio "the Virgin" as if he passed away then the counties would revert backto myself.

I also convinced Count Flavio that he needed a wife to assist his rule and a crazy Norwegian genius called Huld was the perfect choice.

I also realised that my Mother had remarried the Duke of Lower Lorraine and that I could form an alliance with Duke Gottfied IV (this really wasn't a case where I hadn't noticed or realised that I could form an alliance at all)

My husband's distance irked me a lot so I decided that if he wasn't going to do anything then I would have to seduce him, somehow the ballards and stories never mention this.

 

[BigKaliFan]

And just some background I had purchased a copy of Medieval Total War II a number of years ago but never got round to playing it so during lockdown I finally installed it and enjoyed the game a lot. At Christmas I used a steam voucher to purchase CK3 as I had been hearing good things about it and have been playing it off and on ever since and MTWII has been gathering dust again.

I have had frustrations with trying to work out how succession works with conference partition and partition and the other options and quite a few false starts where I build things up and then the realm splits into 3 or 4 chunks and i spend years trying to bring it all back together again or my vassals turn on me.

My Canossa game is my latest attempt and the first one where I have jotted down notes and stuff originally to recall what had had happen during the game if I wanted to look back. I then came across these forums and have read a lot of the AARs including hjarg's "Story of de Hautevilles", Nikolai's "What a Guy" and Cora's "Al-Rus Caliphate" which are all amazing.

So I thought I would try writing a story about my game and I do admit I have borrowed ideas from a number of the different threads in how my game has turned out.

 

[BigKaliFan]

To my surprise the Kaiser Heinrich IV asked if I would join his council as Chancellor, I accepted without hesitation and found myself seated amongst the high and mighty of the Empire at the tender age of 24.

I still am not certain whether the reason I was invited onto the council was because I had hosted a feast which surprisingly both the Kaiser and Pope Alexander attended. After attending a couple of council meetings I could tell that both Patriarch Hupold and the Kaiserin had a low opinion of the Kaiser due to a past sinful transgression. Could I in good conscience continue to serve such a man, members of my own council encouraged me to remain on the Kaiser's council as it gave me the opportunity to establish and improve relations with the more important members of the Empire.

My plans to seduce my husband progressed very well and I was pleased that he did not want me to slay a wolf and present him with the pelt as a winter cloak but a heart felt song instead melted the ice between us and we became lovers.

In October 1070 my spymaster Countess Marianna of Arezzo died under mysterious circumstances and her older brother Giovanni ( a deceitful and ambitous man) inherited the titles. Similar to Count Oberto before him, Giovanni expected to be a member of my council by right and was offended when i offered the role of Spymaster to the former merchant Mara (intrigue 22) who was now married to my kinsman Oberto de Ghiberti. The first task I assigned Mara was to see if Count Giovanni had any secrets (sadly nothing was found although I always had my suspicions).

Not long after the death of Countess Marianna I discovered that I was pregnant, not wanting to risk my child I did not declare any further wars although my Bishop was hard at work establishing my claims on the neighbouring territories, sometimes on a very flimsy premise.

In May 1071 my Mother returned to court after the death of her husband the Duke of Lower Lorriane and I know my Marshall was frustrated at not having the opportunity of fighting alongside the forces of Lower Lorraine.

July 1071, I gave birth to twin daughters Matilda (who has her father's eyes and is a genius) and Neda who was named after my mother-in-law. In one day the number of members of House Canossa tripled and marked the start of the rise of House Canossa.

Not long after the birth of my daughters I declared war on the city state of Urbino after my good Bishop established that Urbino had been gifted to my great grandfather Count Alberto Atto of Modena in 938, sadly he died the following year of unknown causes and the gift was forgotten until rediscovered through the scholarly efforts of Bishop Magnus.

Enjoying my daughters I did not object when Gavril forbade me from riding to war and instead my knight Ettore di Campiglia a specialist in siege warfare took the opportunity offered him, first slaughtering the opposing forces in a very onesided battle then perfecting the art of smashing the opposing stone walls as fast as possible.

The battle at Urbino was the first for my newest knight Berard "the Giant" who towered over all and sundry (has giant trait). A generous but lazy man I took it upon myself to find him a wife Ildiko who just also happen to be a giant and lazy as well.

The siege took longer than expected and it wasn't until February 1072 that Urbino surrendered to my forces. To reaffirm my faith I made a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Rome where I feel ill praying with a priest in the rain although my fellow pilgrims commended my strong faith. I was able to have a private audience with the Pope where I confessed my concerns about the piety of the Kaiser to him before returning home.

In the month of May the Pope sent me a gift of 213 florences to continue the good works of my reign and I took the gift as a sign that the Pope did not disagree with my concerns of the Kaiser.

My bishop continued his work on establishing a claim on the Bishoperic of Casentino on the East coast and after consultation with my council we decided that he needed to investigate any claims Tuscany may have on the Grand City of Pisa as we needed access to a port to the Mediterranean on the western coast of Italy.

In September I had recovered from my illness and was fighting fit again.

 

[HistoryDude]

Matilda is doing well so far. In time, the di Canossas might become rulers of Italy... and, then, well, who knows? Emperors of Italia? Holy Roman Emperors?

 

[BigKaliFan]

Matilda is doing well so far. In time, the di Canossas might become rulers of Italy... and, then, well, who knows? Emperors of Italia? Holy Roman Emperors?

Thanks yes Matilda did far better than I was expecting and in the end and left a good foundation as to Italia or the HRE who knows

 

[BigKaliFan]

Excerpt from "The Duchess of Tuscany, Matilda Canossa, The First and the Last" first published June 2021

" ... as with many famous individuals it is difficult to separate the reality from the myth especially when the person lived and died nearly 1000 years ago. Even with such a famous and influential person such as the Duchess of Tuscany actual details about her life are difficult to verify. We can say with certainty that the stories of the Duchess walking on the surface of the lake by the Leisure Palace(xxxiii) in Florence are false however all records over the centuries since are consistent that the love between Duchess Matilda and her spouse Gavril Mihajlic was unequivocal and the numerous tales of their love story since is based on truth.

While the famous tale of the Duchess and Gavril throwing daggers at each other over a banquet table has been proven to be an embellishment added in a 16th century play to spice up the story for those times and still a popular scene in any retelling of their story, the facts are that both the Duchess and Gavril loved each other unconditionally and never tried to harm each other.

For many noble marriages in that age It was not uncommon for one or the other to stray, more commonly the husband as the punishment for a wife committing adultery could be imprisonment and in some cases death while the husband was often commended by his peers. In the case of the Duchess and Gavril there has been no evidence to suggest either of them forsake their vows.

Even during the years spent apart when Gavril inherited the County of Podrinje in November 1081, there was no hint of any untoward behaviour and records show that they would travel to see each other once or twice a year. After the death of the Duchess, Gavril remained true to his marriage vows as the following from a letter (xxxiv) written by Gavril to one of his daughters shows.

... I thank you for your concern but I am not lonely and do not need to seek any company for the night, my love for your mother still keeps me warm during the cold like the eternal flame and I just need to gaze upon her portrait in my chamber to feel young and hale again. I plan to visit Florence in the Summer and suspect it will be my last trip home ....

Footnote xxxiii: The Leisure Palace was eventually replaced by the Winter Palace in the late 1200s and today has limited access for the general public for one month of the year. In 2020 the waiting time for a ticket was 2 years.

Footnote xxxiv: This letter written by Gavril Mihajlic is suspected to be his last before his death in December 1105 and is currently on display in the Imperial Museum of Florence.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Excerpt from "The Duchess of Tuscany, Matilda Canossa, The First and the Last" first published June 2021

In the time of the Duchess of Tuscany, it was a male dominated society and unless a female was a ruler in her own right the only way they could serve on a council was either being the spouse of a ruler or serving as the Spymaster. The Duchess was an exceptional woman and one of the rare individuals to serve on her leige's council in multiple positions over her life filling the roles of chancellor and spymaster for Kaiser Heinrich IV and later the roles of steward and finally marshall on the regency council for Kaiser Heinrich V "the Mad".

It was during her tenure as the Spymaster for Kaiser Heinrich IV that Duchess Matilda had her only failure of note of her life when Kaiser Heinrich IV went missing and probably murdered. As the Duchess was unaware of this scheme it was not surprising that she was removed as spymaster after the regency council was established although she was quickly appointed as steward.

It is widely accepted that Kaiser Henrich IV was murdered by unknown parties with either the Kingdom of France or the Kingdom of Poland the favoured suspects. Reports of sightings of the Kaiser after his disappearance led credence to another theory that Kaiser Heinrich IV ran away from the throne after his excommunication nearly a year earlier by the Pope becoming a hermit or joining a reclusive monastery to cleanse his sins.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Excerpt from "The Duchess of Tuscany, Matilda Canossa, The First and the Last" first published June 2021

Chapter IX "The Warrior Queen"

.... there is no argument and as verified by the numerous accounts from so many different sources that Duchess Matilda was one of the rulers of her time that led their armies into battle (albeit much rarer for a female ruler to do so). It is possible that the stories of the Duchess actually partaking in battle and suffering injury are possible it was much more likely that the Duchess acted as a general commanding from the rear and was protected by an elite guard of Knights personally selected by her spouse.

While these images of the Duchess charging into battle are very popular in both televised and narrative retellings of her life, we believe they are at most embellishments added after her life and even if those were true we can say unequivocally that the famous story of the Duchess 7 months pregnant fighting in battle is without a doubt completely false. It is unconceivable that the Duchess or her court would allow her to be risked in battle in such a state nor to mention the risk to a potential male heir ....

 

[BigKaliFan]

Feeling better I once again attended the High Council meeting in Klingenberg where the Kaiser was very attentive to me, in fact offering to tutor me in the arts of intrigue which as he explained all rulers needed an understanding of. Unable to say no I accepted his offer and while he was very respectful I could feel his eyes following my every movement. And to make things even "better" the Kaiseren grew colder every time I tried to to speak to her, now I feel she dislikes me more than her husband. I do not know whether it had anything to do with the mischievous rumours swirling in the capital that the Kaiser was planning to divorce his wife as she has only given birth to one daughter in 1069 and had not fallen pregnant since. The sooner I am back in Florence the better.

After the Kaiser was satisfied with my understanding of his lessons I returned to Florence still not sure what the kaiser meant by his parting comment that i now owed him a favour.

Pleased to be home I spent the first 2 days reacquainting myself with my daughters and my darling husband before convening my own council meeting.

Some good news from Marshall Rangoni was the recruitment for more men-at-arms had been successful and Tuscany could now field 200 archers and armoured swordsmen as well 20 mangonels in the field. I suspected they would see action in the near future as Bishop Magnus continued his research for any Tuscanirian claim on the Bishopic of Casentino, The Price-Bishop Giovanni-Enrico was elderly and his control over his subjects was starting to wane and if my spymaster Mara was correct this could explain some of the unrest amongst my subjects, agitators from Casentino were stirring up trouble for some reason. I still intended to have quiet words with Bishop Magnus about his clumsy research.

Then the topic of discussion moved to an area that I had been thinking a lot about over the last year, succession.

As I expected at the moment my realm would be split between my daughters with Matilda inheriting the Duchy of Tuscany and Neda the Duchy of Spoleto and each Duchy being independent, well still part of the Holy Roman Empire. If I had a son then he would inherit everything and if I had 2 or more sons then there would be the same issue.

Count Anselmo my chancellor rightly pointed out that one way to keep the realm together was by forming a Kingdom and there were several options. If I continued to claim territories down south then I may be able to form the Kingdom of Sicily, although this would mean more conflict with the Hautevilles, something I was not looking too forward to.

"Another option is the islands of Corsica and Sardinia my leige, Tuscany already has a presence on Corsica with the county of Parma and we could go from there very quickly. " offered Count Vitale.

"While the island of Sardinia is split between a number of independent counties, the rest of Corsica is held by Duke Alberto IV of Lombardy but his forces are weaker than ours." Mara added.

"And what would happen to Florence if I found the Kingdom of Sardinia?" I asked.

"Florence could remain the capital however the other counties in the Duchy would take time to fully accept being under the rule of the Kingdom of Sardinia and I suspect there would be reduced levies and taxes from them. Of course you could move the capital to Corsica."

The expression on my face said in no uncertain terms that was not an option and Vitale never raised the subject again, ever.

"So the other option is to form the Kingdom of Italy which if my history lessons are correct was lost by House Bosonid 120 or so years ago and fell into the hands of the Empire in 960 before being destroyed 60 years later by Kaiser Konrad."

"Correct." Bishop Magnus confirmed looking very pleased with himself ( he had taught me as a young girl).

"And Tuscany will need twice as many counties that are de jure Kingdom of Italy than what we have to reform the Kingdom." Anselmo added "It would be easier to form another Kingdom as the requirements are easier."

"The Duchy of Tuscany was the heart of the Kingdom of Italy and will be again." I declared before adding "Now the other challenge is to ensure that my heir will have a strong base for their rule. If I am not mistaken I have full claims on most of the counties currently in the Duchy of Tuscany and Spoleto through my father and brothers. "

(from left to right: pressed claims on Parma, Arezzo, Fermo, Spoleto, Teramo, Abruzzi and unpressed claims on Bastia and Casentino [established May 1073])

"With pressed claims on the counties of Parma, Arezzo, Spoleto and others I could revoke the titles from the existing holders and keep to myself." I couldn't help but notice that Count Vitale's face lost all colour and he looked like a corpse "Do not worry Vitale, you are doing a good job and I have no interest in your lands, and Anselmo, Lucca is not at risk."

"Let me be clear if I intended to move against any of you I would not be stupid enough to raise this subject in our meeting here, I am far more interested in Arezzo, Giovanni is a disappointment and not worthy to hold those lands her inherited from his sister, god rest her soul."

The council lasted until the sun started to die and I accepted that revoking any titles now would cause more problems that it would solve.

In March 1073 I recognised the signs that I was pregnant again and hopefully I will have a son.

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

Interesting so far. I like the first person style - so hard to pull off, so satisfying when done well.

Since you appear to be a new AAR writer, I have a bit of advice on presentation

• I suggest you to find some reason to include one screenshot of your regional map including all your possessions and your neighbours in every major update, whether it is to show an ongoing troop movement, developments of interest in neighbouring countries, council-activities on the map, or just an updated state of affairs of your own realm; We all like maps, and it not only helps ground the action, thus being of use to any reader, it is of particular help to somebody either a) speed-reading the AAR, or b) returning to the AAR after some time away. You don't need to do it in every minor update such as your excerpts (unless they deal with border changes, in which case you probably should), but for the major updates this will help your readers a lot as they can immediately get an overview of your situation when looking at a major update.
• I suggest giving every major update a chapter name, ideally bolded, a different colour or size, or just a big fat header - something that visually distinguishes it from other posts in the thread such that somebody scrolling through the AAR has a clear indication that here comes a post of importance; I'll provide some examples below. Not every AAR does this, but I definitely prefer reading those that do as they impose structure (also on the writer!) and make it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff for the reader, especially if an AAR starts attracting more than a minimum of readers commenting
• The forum has a "threadmark" feature you can use to create an effective index of your AAR, linking every substantial entry with a neat title for easy navigation. This is very convenient for readers and can be done retroactively by editing your posts and adding threadmarks to them, should you so desire. You can also rearrange their order in the threadmark index at will. For an example of how this works nicely in practice as a reader, look at e.g. Nikolai's Norgesveldet 2.0 AAR here and click the "threadmarks=>view all 22 threadmarks" buttons, and you've got an index to his entire AAR. It'll take you a few minutes to get the hang of using it for your own posts, but assuming your AAR is going to be long it is definitely worthwhile

A few examples of update header styles

Spoiler

The first chapter based:

Chapter I: Matilda has the whipping hand​

Ruler + interval based:

Matilda: February 1067 - April 1067​

Ruler + interval, more details:

Duchess Matilda of Tuscany and Spoleto
February 2, 1067 - April 7, 1067​

Time based with added contextual information of what goes on in the segment, if you like that style:

March 1037: Of Councils and Claims
dangers of the imperial court; my wonderful mangonels; the importance of succession;
my dreams of queenship and pressing claims; pregnant again!
​

I made them all gold colour because that's what I used in my current AAR. Plain white also works well, as does choosing a colour that corresponds to your map colour, so long as it is one that doesn't make the text look bad on either black or blue (the two default themes)

EDIT: Updated examples

 

[Idhrendur]

Interesting so far. I like the first person style - so hard to pull off, so satisfying when done well.

Since you appear to be a new AAR writer, I have a bit of advice on presentation

• I suggest you to find some reason to include one screenshot of your regional map including all your possessions and your neighbours in every major update, whether it is to show an ongoing troop movement, developments of interest in neighbouring countries, council-activities on the map, or just an updated state of affairs of your own realm; We all like maps, and it not only helps ground the action, thus being of use to any reader, it is of particular help to somebody either a) speed-reading the AAR, or b) returning to the AAR after some time away. You don't need to do it in every minor update such as your excerpts (unless they deal with border changes, in which case you probably should), but for the major updates this will help your readers a lot as the can immediately get an overview of your situation when looking at a major update.
• I suggest giving every major update a chapter name, ideally bolded, a different colour or size, or just a big fat header - something that visually distinguishes it from other posts in the thread such that somebody scrolling through the AAR has a clear indication that here comes a post of importance; I'll provide some examples below. Not every AAR does this, but I definitely prefer reading those that do as they impose structure (also on the writer!) and make it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff for the reader, especially if an AAR starts attracting more than a minimum of readers commenting
• The forum has a "threadmark" feature you can use to create an effective index of your AAR, linking every substantial entry with a neat title for easy navigation. This is very convenient for readers and can be done retroactively by editing your posts and adding threadmarks to them, should you so desire. You can also rearrange their order in the threadmark index at will. For an example of how this works nicely in practice as a reader, look at e.g. Nikolai's Norgesveldet 2.0 AAR here and click the "threadmarks=>view all 22 threadmarks" buttons, and you've got an index to his entire. It'll take you a few minutes to get the hang of using it for your own posts, but assuming your AAR is going to be long it is definitely worthwhile

A few examples of update header styles

Spoiler

The first chapter based:

Chapter I: Matilda has the whipping hand​

Ruler + interval based:

Matilda: February 1067 - April 1067​

Ruler + interval, more details:

Duchess Matilda of Tuscany and Spoleto
February 2, 1067 - April 7, 1067​

Time based with added contextual information of what goes on in the segment, if you like that style:

March 1037: Of Councils and Claims
dangers of the imperial court; my wonderful mangonels; the importance of succession;
my dreams of queenship and pressing claims; pregnant again!
​

I made them all gold colour because that's what I used in my current AAR. Plain white also works well, as does choosing a colour that corresponds to your map colour, so long as it is one that doesn't make the text look bad on either black or blue (the two default themes)

EDIT: Updated examples

I'll second these. They're habits I more fell into instead of deliberately choosing, but they're helpful both for the writer and the readers.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Interesting so far. I like the first person style - so hard to pull off, so satisfying when done well.

Since you appear to be a new AAR writer, I have a bit of advice on presentation

• I suggest you to find some reason to include one screenshot of your regional map including all your possessions and your neighbours in every major update, whether it is to show an ongoing troop movement, developments of interest in neighbouring countries, council-activities on the map, or just an updated state of affairs of your own realm; We all like maps, and it not only helps ground the action, thus being of use to any reader, it is of particular help to somebody either a) speed-reading the AAR, or b) returning to the AAR after some time away. You don't need to do it in every minor update such as your excerpts (unless they deal with border changes, in which case you probably should), but for the major updates this will help your readers a lot as they can immediately get an overview of your situation when looking at a major update.
• I suggest giving every major update a chapter name, ideally bolded, a different colour or size, or just a big fat header - something that visually distinguishes it from other posts in the thread such that somebody scrolling through the AAR has a clear indication that here comes a post of importance; I'll provide some examples below. Not every AAR does this, but I definitely prefer reading those that do as they impose structure (also on the writer!) and make it easier to separate the wheat from the chaff for the reader, especially if an AAR starts attracting more than a minimum of readers commenting
• The forum has a "threadmark" feature you can use to create an effective index of your AAR, linking every substantial entry with a neat title for easy navigation. This is very convenient for readers and can be done retroactively by editing your posts and adding threadmarks to them, should you so desire. You can also rearrange their order in the threadmark index at will. For an example of how this works nicely in practice as a reader, look at e.g. Nikolai's Norgesveldet 2.0 AAR here and click the "threadmarks=>view all 22 threadmarks" buttons, and you've got an index to his entire AAR. It'll take you a few minutes to get the hang of using it for your own posts, but assuming your AAR is going to be long it is definitely worthwhile

A few examples of update header styles

Spoiler

The first chapter based:

Chapter I: Matilda has the whipping hand​

Ruler + interval based:

Matilda: February 1067 - April 1067​

Ruler + interval, more details:

Duchess Matilda of Tuscany and Spoleto
February 2, 1067 - April 7, 1067​

Time based with added contextual information of what goes on in the segment, if you like that style:

March 1037: Of Councils and Claims
dangers of the imperial court; my wonderful mangonels; the importance of succession;
my dreams of queenship and pressing claims; pregnant again!
​

I made them all gold colour because that's what I used in my current AAR. Plain white also works well, as does choosing a colour that corresponds to your map colour, so long as it is one that doesn't make the text look bad on either black or blue (the two default themes)

EDIT: Updated examples

Thanks for the feedback, to be honest I had no idea about the threadmark feature and I really like the look of it. Yes I do like looking at maps as well and can't believe I never thought of adding them into my story.

Writing this thread isn't something I have ever done before and I wanted to see if I could do it and keep it interesting for myself and other readers. I have to agree writing in a first person style was harder than I expected as I keep wanting to swap to third person often in the following paragraph

Currently in my Matilda game it is almost the year 1300 and there have been quite a few changes since the early days, hopefully I won't run out of steam and will be able to keep writing.

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

Writing this thread isn't something I have ever done before and I wanted to see if I could do it and keep it interesting for myself and other readers. I have to agree writing in a first person style was harder than I expected as I keep wanting to swap to third person often in the following paragraph

I have written a few in my time, and the best advice I can give - and something you may already have thought of - is to give the first person narrator a strong personality, some catchphrases, some clear likes and dislikes, and some very personal quirks, and to exaggerate these at the beginning of the AAR or when a new first person viewpoint character is introduced. This approach readliy lends itself to hyperbole, but it becomes hard to swap to third person by accident as it feels completely jarring and, frankly, it is so very fun to find ways for your interesting narrator to explain (or gloss over) what is going on. I'm not suggesting you go all the way in writing up a character the way you'd do were you to write a novel, but enough to make them feel from the moment they enter the page a person whose personality the reader will be interested in uncovering.

Not that your Matilda isn't interesting, but that is, to me, mostly a result of repetition of motives rather than painting a vivid image upon first read. A very gradual imprinting. This is something you might want to improve on once you introduce your next narrator (whether due to succession or otherwise), both for the sake of yourself as a writer falling into the groove of writing that person, and for the reader.

As a rather extreme example of what I mean by this (and for the love of God, don't do anything like this in your AAR), I suggest reading the very first introductory post of My Inevitable Greatness, an amusing AAR I wrote a decade back for Mount and Blade but had to abandon when the writing became too puerile to sustain even for me. Read just that opening post and you've got a really good feeling for the protagonist's character - and can probably see how it is almost impossible to shift from one of those first person paragraphs to a third person one, except when doing a complete context shift (such as editor's note or excerpt from this or that other source).

Currently in my Matilda game it is almost the year 1300 and there have been quite a few changes since the early days, hopefully I won't run out of steam and will be able to keep writing.

Good luck. I'm afraid I don't have time to check in regularly on AARs these days so I won't be around much to cheer you on, but at least half the fun is in the writing and you've embarked on a writing challenge that most AAR writers shy, so the more power to you.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Chapter 5: Duchess Matilda 1073 - 1074

It was cold in the chapel as I spent the night in prayer, was I doing the Lords work, was this a step too far were the questions I needed to answer. My Bishop had come to me the previous day with a set of claims that proved that the Duchy of Tuscany had the rightful claims to the Bishoperic of Casentino and my treasury just happen to nearly empty after being overflowing a week previously.

The Papacy was untouchable but what about the other territories held by the ordained men of God, was it right for me as a woman to claim these lands in my own name, what does the good Lord want of me?

In the cold light of dawn I arose from my kneeling position my joints protesting and my stomach telling me i will not be partaking of breakfast, the twins were much more well mannered. Outside the Chapel doors my council waited looking as though they had also spent the night without sleep yet not disturbing my prayer during the long night.

Smiling I simply stated "We ride to war."

"Yes my lady." was the reply from them

"And I will lead once again."

"Duchess? Matilda ... Duchess."

Facing them all I only looked at my husband "I am a Cassona not a wilting violet, I will see Casentino reunified to the Duchy and the Bishop brought to judgment for his actions."

My husband bowed his head but from the look in his eyes I knew the coming night would not be restful as he could express himself fully in private without worrying about how the the ears and eyes of the court would judge him and my position as Duchess.

Raising our armies i once again did not call upon the forces of my father-in-law even though my Husband did suggest it in private and I know my Marshall was thinking it but the letters suggesting a woman could not fight still rankled and I would mean to prove him and anyone else whom thought the same wrong.

The Bishops forces seemed to be missing in action so we lay siege to the Bishoperic of Ravenna. The siege progressed quickly and fell into our hands then I learnt the most disquieting news, peasants had decided to rebel and were attacking my home.

Leaving half my forces to start the siege of Cassentino I led the other half in search of the rebels.

At Brescia the rebels were slaughtered to a man and their leader Lorenzo captured, a true zealot but a skilled leader of men I decided to think about what to do with him rather than beheading him on the spot. Of course the news that the Bishops army had appeared and was now attacking my home of Florence, all I could think of was that my babies were there and I was not there to protect them.

Even though I was now noticably pregnant I spoke to my army and told them we were marching for Firenze double time and we will teach the Bishop's forces what it meant to fight the men of Tuscany.

We fell upon the Bishop's forces in early October slaughtering them, I strongly suspected that there wasn't a man in my army who did not want to be shamed in battle by a woman 9 months pregnant.

Barely a couple of days after the battle I gave birth to my third daughter Paola di Canossa

While recovering back at home my armies returned to Ravenna where we lay siege once again. and by December we were hard at work.

Our forces were now superior in both numbers and quality and it would only be a matter of time before we succeeded.

While recovering both my Chancellor Count Anselmo and Spymaster Mara updated me on some of the changes in Europe.

The island of Corsica was split between Tuscany and Lombardy whilst Sardinia was a collection of independent counties ripe for unification (my Husband thinks I may be getting a tad ambitious).

Northern Italy was becoming Tuscany whilst the Hautevilles were taking control of the South with the Papacy acting as a buffer between us and them. Of more concern was the expansion of Muslims on the boot.

Further afield William the Bastard was now the ruler of England having sent the Danes fleeing

Iberia was a mess with the Muslims claiming more and more land.

The Empire remains strong and is keeping France in its place while the Northern Kingdoms nurse their wounds as they feud amongst themselves.

However in my own opinion the Byzantine Empire is the greatest threat to us and the HRE and I know my husband agrees fearing for the fate of his homeland.

The sieges took longer than expected and it wasn't until April 1074 that Prince-Bishop Giovanni-Enrico finally surrendered Casentino to me.

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

Nice going.

One spelling error of note to fix: Bryzantine => Byzantine.

 

[BigKaliFan]

Nice going.

One spelling error of note to fix: Bryzantine => Byzantine.

Opps I blame fat fingers

 

[BigKaliFan]

Chapter VI: Duchess Matilda 1074 - 1076

The cool breeze from the windows to the gardens helped to reduce the heat of the day as Duchess Matilda and Duke Gavril entered their private chambers after another long day dealing with the joys of ruling a Duchy.

"So Gavril what did you think of today?"

"My honest answer dear is that Oberto is trying to provoke you, he continues to dane with faint praise while thinking he is being witty. Most of the court sees him for what he is though Giovanni is a willing bootlicker."

"And does he truly expect this behaviour will make me change my mind and appoint him to the council?"

"Matilda no one who knows you would ever think a scheme like that will work. If you desire I might suggest to him on the morrow a sparring session to work on our swordwork, it would be unfortunate if Oberto was injured when he should have fainted instead of feinted."

"No I have something more interesting in mind dear husband and you know that Oberto is not that foolish to play with swords with you, why I have heard from very good authority that he only knows what end to hold after he cut open his hand when he was younger."

"My dear that smile on your face is going to add more grey to my hair."

"You mean silver darling, grey is for the common folk and Magnus is taking longer than expected with establishing a claim on Piza and the men need to be kept busy."

"Ah Matilda you don't mean ... oh let me help you with the lacing ... now this is much more to my liking."

In mid May 1074 the proclamation was issued

"By the order of Matilda Duchess of Tuscany, Holy Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire and the See of Peter and other titles

We deem the Count Oberto di Parma is unfit by bahaviours not fit to describe in the presence of God and Man to rule the counties of Parma and Bastia. And for the wellbeing of the livestock in said counties we hereby revoke Oberto's titles forewith and cast him out."

Several days later Count Oberto responded by declaring war and he was quickly aided in his revolt by Count Giovanni of Arezzo and Spoleto. Their combined forces were just over 1200 compared to my forces of just under 2000.

The first Tuscany Civil War had begun

Raising my forces we started the hunt for the rebels, foolishly I decided to split my forces.

In July the Kaiser sent a perfumed missive written in his own hand that my taxes to him were now increased after the aid he had provided to me back in the capital.

At the battle of Savona near Genova (August 1074) I was wounded as the fleeing forces of Oberto turned out to have more fight in them when their backs were to a wall. My husband did not say anything but I could tell he was furious with me.

While recovering back in Florence I recognised the signs that I was pregnant with my fourth child, hopefully a boy this time.

The war continued to take time as the rebel forces would flee rather than battle and their castles were taking time to siege.

In February 1075 Bishop Magnus finally completed his claim on the Republic of Piza, once this war was over Tuscany will have a port on the western coast of Italia.

My fourth daughter Silvana was born healthy in June 1075

(Matilda age 4, Neda age 4, Paola age 2 and Silvana age 0)

Finally in August 1075 I once again led my armies against the remnants of the rebels outside the walls of Florence winning a decisive victory and imprisoning Counts Oberto and Giovanni in my very well maintained cells.

I accepted a ransom from Giovanni but stripped Oberto of both counties giving Parma to my knight Berard the Giant whilst keeping Bastia for myself (I now had 9 counties under my direct control).

Although the men had barely a brief rest I declared war on Piza expecting a much quicker victory. To my surprise the Serene Dogo was willing to reach into his own very deep pockets and buy mercenaries, the Wayfarers of Modrus, to bolster his own meager forces.

Even with the extra men my own battle harden warriors easily disposed of them and we settled in for the long siege of Pisa. To my surprise I was pregnant once again in early January, there must be something with warfare and babies.

Pisa finally succumbed in April 1076 and Tuscany now has a western port.

Holding a feast to celebrate I was pleased that the Kaiser himself attended my feast and I took the opportunity to divert some of the guests to another table as the Kaiser looked like he did not want to engage with them. I later learnt that my spymaster Mara had used her initiative to investigate the court of Pope Alexander.

Tuscany in June 1076.

 

[Cromwell]

Tuscany is looking mighty! All that remains is a male heir to ensure all Matilda's good work does not go to waste...

Berard the Giant seems like an interesting chap. I'd like to see more of him!

 

[BigKaliFan]

Tuscany is looking mighty! All that remains is a male heir to ensure all Matilda's good work does not go to waste...

Berard the Giant seems like an interesting chap. I'd like to see more of him!

Thanks, Tuscany is slowly becoming strong enough to survive and I had hoped by now to have at least one son and not four daughters. But maybe lucky number 5 will be a son.

I do like Berard as well and my attempt at breeding a family of giants did work for a generation or 2