• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Jaspac

Corporal
21 Badges
Aug 14, 2012
32
0
  • Cities: Skylines - After Dark
  • Crusader Kings III: Royal Edition
  • Crusader Kings III
  • Prison Architect
  • Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury
  • Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics
  • Cities: Skylines - Natural Disasters
  • Crusader Kings II: Reapers Due
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Cities: Skylines - Snowfall
  • Crusader Kings II: Conclave
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Cities: Skylines
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
  • Crusader Kings II: The Republic
  • Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
Hello and welcome to my very first AAR. A little background on me before we get started, seeing that this is my first post and all. So I've been playing EU3 for quite some time now but my "Paradox-days" really began with Supreme Ruler 2020. A friend of mine gave me the game after he got bored with it and so I tried it out. I was amazed with the complexity of it that I tracked down the creators and landed in the Paradox website. There I found Europa Universalis 3 just when Divine Wind was just released. I tried it out and I totally fell in love with the game. Now, I expanded my EU3 a bit with a few mods (Just like the one I'm using right now). Okay, enough about me. Let's jump into the game.

I will be writing this AAR in the "history-book" style, meaning there will be little to no dialogue seeing as that will be a bit tedious (I do have a little history of giving up on an AAR due to its tediousness). Also, please bear with my English as I'm not from any of the major English speaking nations like the US or UK and expect some pauses every now and then as I give way to real life. But to keep you into this AAR, I promise to post at least one update every week unless I advise you guys that I won't be able to do that due to some real life issues. I hope you enjoy IMPERIUM DEI!


Emblem_of_the_Papacy_SE.svg

HOUSE RULES

1. Infamy levels will be limited to just below whatever my BB-Limit is.
2. Conquest will remain realistic. Meaning there will be no major conquests unless something happens that is out of my control.
3. Being the Pope, wars with Catholics will be very limited unless the ruler is excommunicated.
4. No reloads unless due to crashes or glitches.
5. Lucky nations: None
6. All other settings set to normal/default.
7. VERSION: Divine Wind 5.2 beta; MOD: Death and Taxes v9.2 (may change if a new save-compatible update is released)
8. For all readers: Have fun! No flaming! Don't take anything I say here personally, I will try to be as respectful for each religion as I can but for the sake of a little Role-play, I might RP a pope who is fully against the so-called "heathens" and "heretics" :happy:


GOALS

1. Stabilize Papal Power in Italy
2. End the Great Schism by conquering Constantinople (religious center of the Orthodox Christians)
3. Conquer Jerusalem and the Holy Land
4. Conquer Mecca (religious center of the heathen Muslims)
5. Reconquer Byzantine lands
6. After 6 and once the Papal States have grown in power and wealth, reconquer the Roman Empire
7. Spread Christianity around the world, specifically the Catholic branch
8. Once the Reformation arrives, try to keep as many countries Catholic as possible

I will not limit this AAR to the goals. Due to the complexity of EU3, this will change depending on what happens in-game but basically I will lean towards achieving these goals.


Thank you for reading! And don't hesitate to ask questions or give comments or suggestions. Deus Vult!
 
Last edited:
Yay, Papal States AAR! I've always wanted to play a game as them but never actually got around to it yet. Mainly because of the following:

3. Being the Pope, wars with Catholics will be very limited unless the ruler is excommunicated.

Step 1 - Excommunicate the ruler.

Also, are you planning to form the Kingdom of God/Roman Empire proper, or just stay as the regular Papal States?

Otherwise, good luck and have fun =)
 
Yay, Papal States AAR! I've always wanted to play a game as them but never actually got around to it yet. Mainly because of the following:



Step 1 - Excommunicate the ruler.

Also, are you planning to form the Kingdom of God/Roman Empire proper, or just stay as the regular Papal States?

Otherwise, good luck and have fun =)

Wow, thanks for the early support! Really appreciate it!

Well, the number 3 House Rule isn't really part of the game. It would just be more historically accurate (and a challenge at the same time) not to fight with Catholics unless for a valid reason. Also, I can't really excommunicate a ruler unless the Papal States themselves control the Curia. So, even if I'm Pope, I'm still under the whims of other nations with far more bishops than me.

Now for your question. Well, I will be following my goals so most likely, I will try to form the Kingdom of God and conquer former Byzantine/Roman Empire territories but let's see. EU3 is so complex that I don't know what may happen in a few years' game time. For now my first goal would be to become a stronger nation overall and reform some parts of the Papal States just as Pope Innocent VI really did. (Although I would really want to see Avignon be part of the Papal States as in reality, the timeframe that I will be starting in was during the Babylonian Captivity in France but I guess that is an update in D&T for another time.)

Thanks for the greeting and I hope you enjoy!
 
The Papal States are such an interesting country to play--do you get events about the reforming of Catholicism in D&T?

Either way, I'll always support a historybook AAR, and a Papal States AAR at that! I wish you the best of luck!
 
I don't think Orthodoxy was considered a Heresy.

They're technically a recognized separate Church after the Great Schism, but there were major tensions between the two Churches going to the modern day.
 
and some people want to rejoin them..

what do I say, as a greek?

NEVER.

lol. off topic

Good luck jks_AsPac!
 
Thank you all for your support! I really appreciate it especially since this is my first AAR.

About the Orthodoxy, I just researched a bit and yes, it isn't a heresy per se, just a different Christian Church, however with the Byzantine Empire severely weakened and the Muslim Ottoman threat to the east, it might be the right time to unify the two churches at last.
 
Prologue

PROLOGUE: STATUS PONTIFICIUS


Byzantiumby650AD.svg

The Byzantine Empire AD 650

During the reign of Emperor Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire reconquered much of the old western Roman Empire including Italy, parts of Africa, Iberia and much of the Mediterranean. In Italy, the Exarchate of Italy (later Ravenna) was founded, which was organized into a group of duchies around the main coastal cities of Italy; but it was short-lived. Justinian's successor, Justin II failed to protect the newly-acquired Italian territories from the Germanic Lombards and in 568, under their King Alboin, they invaded Italy from the north. However, Alboin was murdered in 573 and the Lombards fragmented into several autonomous duchies. Justin II tried to take advantage of this situation by sending his son-in-law, Baduarius, to Italy, however, he was defeated and killed in battle and with the different crises occurring in the Byzantine territories in the Balkans and the East with the Slavs and the Arabs respectively, a new offensive could not be made.

Alboin%27s_Italy.svg

Italy in AD 590 (Exarchate of Ravenna in Orange, Lombards in Blue)

Due to this Lombard incursion, the Italian duchies fragmented into different isolated duchies. With the Lombards controlling the valley of the Po River, Byzantine authority was limited to the "Rome-Ravenna corridor", stretching from Ravenna (home of the Byzantine Emperor's representative in Italy, the Exarch) in the north to Rome and Naples in the south. With much of the Byzantine power in the north, the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, being the largest landowner and the most prestigious political figure in Central Italy, started to take control of the area around the city of Rome which the Byzantines could not do under the circumstances. De jure the Pope was still a Byzantine subject, however in practice, the Duchy of Rome became a semi-autonomous state ruled by the Church.

In 751, the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards, completely cutting the Duchy of Rome from the rest of the Byzantine Empire. In order to neutralize the Lombard threat, Pope Stephen II looked to the de facto Frankish ruler, Pepin the Short. At the urging of Pope Zachary, predecessor of Stephen II, Pepin deposed Childeric III and was crowned by Saint Boniface in the same year. Stephen II granted Pepin the title "Patrician of the Romans". In 754 and 756, Pepin led a Frankish Army into Italy and defeated the Lombards, capturing northern Italy and much of central Italy. In recognition of the help given to him by the Church, Pepin donated many of the properties which were formerly part of the Exarchate of Ravenna to the Pope. A few years later in 781, Pepin's successor, Charlemagne declared the Pope to be the temporal sovereign of the Duchy of Rome which was later expanded to include much of the former Exarchate of Ravenna, founding the Papal States. In 800, Charlemagne would be crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III, which would later give rise to the Holy Roman Empire.

After the death of Charlemagne and the division of his kingdom among his sons, the papacy's prestige declined and the Papal States were soon controlled by the Roman nobility. In the early 10th century, the powerful, aristocratic Theophylacti family ruled many of the Papal domains in Italy. It was dubbed as the Saeculum obscurum or "the dark age of the papacy". In the mid-10th century, German ruler, Otto I conquered much of northern Italy from the Roman nobility and as a result Pope John XII crowned him the Holy Roman Emperor, the first in over 40 years in which the Pope personally presided over the coronation. The two soon ratified the Diploma Ottonianum which guaranteed the independence of the Papal States. However, for the next two centuries, the Popes and the Emperors squabbled over many issues and the Germanic rulers often regarded the Papal States as part of their realm. In response to the Imperial projection of power in Italy, a group of northern Italian city-states formed the Lombard League in defiance of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. It was heavily supported by Pope Alexander III who wished to see Imperial influence in Italy decline. After the Emperor's defeat in the Battle of Legnano, he began negotiations for peace with Alexander III and the Lombard League. In the Treaty of Venice in 1177, the Papal States was officially declared independent of the Holy Roman Empire. Imperial projections of power in Italy would continue until the defeat and, soon-after, death of Emperor Frederick II. He was the last of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and after, German emperors rarely interfered with Italian affairs. The Italian city-states were left as the most powerful entities in Italy which included, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan and Rome, under the Pope.

Following the strife between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France and the sudden death of his successor Benedict XI, the conclave elected Clement V, a Frenchman, as Pope in 1305. Clement V declined to move to Rome and remained in France. He later moved to the papal enclave at Avignon where the papacy has been remaining for over 50 years and continues to remain.
 
Last edited:
And thus the Papal States and Avignon are created. You have an excellent start!
 
@Merrick Chance: Sorry didn't see your question. Yes, once a number of nations start becoming Protestant, there will be an event where the Catholic Church will counter-reform.

@MrQwerty: Thanks! Most of those info was taken from the wikipedia page's sources haha! But of course I paraphrased them or else it would've been longer xD
 
Last edited:
Chapter 1: Reformantem Ecclesiae

CHAPTER 1: REFORMANTEM ECCLESIAE
In the papacy of His Holiness, Innocent the Sixth, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Papal States of Rome and of Romagna, Servant of the Servants of God

eu3game2013-01-3120-40-26-16_zps8df52332.png


eu3game2013-02-0211-26-48-59_zps2403039b.png

Pope Innocent VI, 5/7/4

In the first few years of the papacy of Innocent VI, political and religious troubles engulfed the Latin Church. Politically, the Pope was heavily influenced by the French monarch. Being based in Avignon instead of Rome and with the Pope being de jure a French subject under the crown of France, the monarchs of France used this political and religious power to their advantage, using the Church's treasury in times of personal need and using the Pope's power over the Church to their advantage. Despite some squabbles between the former Avignon Popes and the French monarchs, their special relationship could not be broken and this led to many turning away from the Catholic Church seeing it as only a political figure controlled by France and not as a religious figurehead. The Church's wealth was also very low during this time that Innocent VI complained of poverty. Clement VI, Innocent VI's predecessor, lived a very extravagant lifestyle and he used much of the Church's wealth to construct many religious buildings and commission paintings and tapestries. This, along with the Black Death ravaging throughout Europe, further depleted the Church treasury. Religiously, many distanced themselves from the Catholic Church and the enemies of France were the most disadvantaged, having to fight both a political and a religious war at the same time for excommunication was a weapon used by the French monarchs during these times. Innocent VI, being less partisan than the previous Avignon Popes, introduced much-needed reforms to the Church leading to squabbles with the French monarch and the cardinals who were also French. In 1355, he sent his legate, Cardinal Albornoz, to Rome, seeking to restore order to the papal territories, now controlled by the local Roman nobility. Here, Charles IV was also crowned Holy Roman Emperor with Innocent's permission, after Charles made an oath to leave the city as soon as the ceremony was ended. Daring to not break this oath, due to the alliance previously created between his father and Pope Clement VI, the newly-crowned Emperor left Rome on the same day, securing papal influence in central Italy.

Egidio_Albornoz.jpg

Cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz

eu3game2013-01-3120-38-58-10_zps7ba67977.png

The Papal States and its neighbors

eu3game2013-01-3120-39-58-81_zps982773ca.png

Papal Policies

With the French distracted, being at war with England, and the Emperor no longer interested in Italy, the Cardinal managed to restore some sort of order among the Papal States and he initiated much-needed reforms under the permission of Pope Innocent VI in Avignon. In an effort to appease the revolting populace, Innocent VI reined in the nobility and increased the political and social freedom of the common people. "Gentlemen farmers" started becoming common, reducing inflation in the Papal States. With the reduction in inflation, the papal coffers grew for the populace were much more willing to pay their taxes and production efficiency increased throughout the Papal States. Once the Church's treasury had been sufficiently increased, Innocent invested thousands of ducats into defeating the last of the anti-papacy Roman nobility and increasing local stability in papal properties in Rome and Romagna.

eu3game2013-02-0212-32-45-38_zpsc5cb57c2.png


eu3game2013-02-0212-23-15-22_zps5c4581c8.png


eu3game2013-02-0212-54-29-85_zps08e41f36-1.png

Pope Innocent VI also instituted reforms with regards to trade between Avignon and the Papal States in Italy. Merchants from Rome and Romagna expanded their businesses in the centers of trade in Venice and Genoa. However, due to intense competition with freer markets in other countries, only one merchant company managed to expand Papal trade in Venice.

eu3game2013-02-0213-01-53-64_zps570a054c-1.png

In February of 1356, a number of administrators in Rome claimed to have found a better way of handling and keeping documents. This new idea was met with skepticism among the cardinals and along with the delicate economic condition of the Papal States, it was used with caution and with minimal expenses in its introduction but it was found to be quite effective.

eu3game2013-02-0213-08-32-35_zpse6c6c5ca-1.png

Finally, in mid-1356 and late-1356, the investments done by Innocent VI bore fruit. In a report to Pope Innocent VI, Cardinal Albornoz reported lower cases of revolts throughout the Papal States and the number of criminal cases decreased. Along with this, many of the Roman families in the nobility, after having been defeated time and time again, surrendered and accepted Innocent VI as their new liege.

eu3game2013-02-0213-09-23-35_zpse92d88d8.png

With problems at home being slowly resolved, problems abroad continued to linger. Pope Innocent VI, a consummate diplomat, looked to his neighbors for protection against possible incursions from both the Holy Roman Empire and France. Despite being a member of the Genoese Trade League, Venice, a former Lombard League member, had already approached Cardinal Albornoz prior to his return to Avignon, after being called for by Innocent VI. Cardinal Albornoz discussed a possible Papal-Venetian alliance with Innocent which the diplomat pope agreed to. Innocent sent an envoy in reply to the request of an alliance with Venice to which Doge Giovanni Gradenigo ecstatically accepted. Albornoz returned to Rome on Christmas Day but prior to his return, Innocent had also sent envoys to Count Amadeus of Savoy and Queen Joanna I of Naples. When Albornoz arrived in the city, envoys from Queen Joanna and Count Amadeus had already arrived. Both accepted the notion of an alliance, further securing the position of the Papal States in central Italy. Innocent, knowing that the Swiss Confederation to the north of Milan were already amassing enough strength to hold out against any possible Imperial projection of power, sent an envoy to request an alliance. There was no reply until two months later when a Swiss diplomat arrived in Rome to renegotiate the military alliance. By March of 1356, the Swiss diplomat accepted the terms of the alliance. The Papal States now had allies in all directions, a powerful navy in Venice, a huge army in Naples and the Swiss Confederation and a highly-trained army in Savoy. But one these alliances would be tested less than five months from its signing.

eu3game2013-02-0212-48-39-40_zps5866d2c6.png
 
Last edited:
FOUR alliances?
Is this peculiar to Death&Taxes, or did the game somehow overlook the fact that you sent the alliance requests on the same day (which it never does for me), or what?

EDIT: Great AAR so far, by the way. I don't want to seem like an ungrateful inquisitive swine!
 
This is a good start - you seem fairly comfortable and you know your history. However, your choice of alliance partners is somewhat dubious since the Swiss and Savoy are rivals and Venice is an all-around warmonger, so it wouldn't be surprising if they decided to lay into each other in no time at all ... and try and drag you into the mess. Unless you called them to arms first, of course =)

I was wondering about a couple of things - since this is the period of the Avignon papacy, who exactly controls Avignon right now? Since it's not yours, is it independent, a vassal of France, or something else? And do people still send you gifts to try to raise their relations, gain papal influence, and avoid excommunication?
 
@tuareg109: I think this is characteristic of D&T. At the start there are no alliances (aside from those vassal-liege ones) and no wars so the AI really goes all out with the alliances. I don't think the game really cares if you request for alliances all on the same day for as long as you have the diplomats to do it. As for me, whenever I play D&T, I usually max out on the alliances, only now did I just get 4 for the realism haha. Thanks for the support, don't worry about commenting or suggesting. They are most welcome for as long as it is said in a respectful way. :D

@aniuby: Thanks! In my previous games of D&T (about 5 now, mostly in Europe), I've only seen Savoy and the Swiss go to war directly (as in not as junior partners in a war), once. But I think that's the result of France bearing down on either the Swiss or Savoy so they don't really get a chance to fight one another. Let's see. Also, in my D&T games, Venice is usually the one attacked, not the one attacking and anyway its naval power somewhat outweighs the risks.

I didn't really base my alliances on historical facts since technically, I'm only supposed to be allied with France and since D&T doesn't start out with alliances, I always get "Impossible" whenever I request an alliance with France which is kinda ironic.

Which leads me to your next question, Avignon is a separate nation but is a vassal of France. The D&T modders didn't change the Papal States to include Avignon (like in the vanilla) unlike in MEIOU but I've found that having no territory in France is better overall since I don't have to think about sending a force there during wars and either leaving my Italian possessions defenseless or sending too few troops that wouldn't make much of a difference. But that's in-game, historically it isn't accurate.

I've played the Papal States before but only until the mid-1400s, and not a single nation sent me a gift. Probably a D&T thing? Not sure haha.
 
Chapter 2: The Adriatic versus The Aegean

CHAPTER 2: THE ADRIATIC VERSUS THE AEGEAN

In early-February 1356, the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes V Palaiologos declared war against the small nation of Achaea, in the Greek island of Peloponnese, which brought the Republic of Venice, an Achaean ally, into the war. By late-February 1356, the Byzantine Fleet had defeated the combined navies of Achaea, Naxos and Corfu in the Aegean Sea and brought in land troops into the Greek island. Still in the process of recruiting troops and building enough warships, Venice requested for help among its allies. In late-March 1356, an envoy from Doge Gradenigo arrived in Rome, requesting for Papal support in the war. Cardinal Albornoz readily agreed and sent a message to Pope Innocent VI in Avignon. Innocent VI saw this as an opportunity to weaken the Byzantine Empire and thereby leading to the weakening of the Byzantine Orthodox Church based in Constantinople. He approved of it and with the Pope's blessing, Cardinal Albornoz started recruiting mercenaries and levies from the Papal territories in Rome and Romagna.

eu3game2013-02-0213-04-08-01_zps6071530f.png

With the help of the Condottieri, Cardinal Albornoz decided to send fresh reinforcements to the Achaean garrison in the Peloponnese and after relieving the province, would continue on to capture Morea, a Byzantine vassal to the south of Achaea. However, at the Doge's request, Cardinal Albornoz changed course and instead of sending troops to the Peloponnese, attacked the Montenegrin capital of Zeta, being an ally of the Byzantines. The Papal Army landed on the coast of Zeta and began the siege of the city on the 11th of April, 1356. By late-May, the war had turned, Venice and her allies now outnumbered the Byzantines, 6 to 1.

eu3game2013-02-0213-17-12-45_zpsf60d588f.png


eu3game2013-02-0213-06-30-06_zpsf9bfe242.png


eu3game2013-02-0213-13-04-75_zps15ee1dd1.png

In early September, a Byzantine envoy demanded that the Papal States pay 72 ducats in exchange for peace between the Byzantine Empire and her allies and the Papal States. Pope Innocent VI dismissed the absurd demand and sent the envoy back to Constantinople, knowing full well that the war had already turned and that the Byzantines were losing the war.

eu3game2013-02-0213-21-22-02_zps28b51010.png

The 28th of October saw the first major engagement between Papal and Montenegrin forces. A 1,000-strong Montenegrin force attacked the 2,000-strong Papal forces from within the stronghold. This attack was futile for the Condottieri were prepared for an attack and the Montenegrin force was destroyed completely, only inflicting some minor damage to the siege equipment and the loss of 25 cavalrymen from the Roman levy.

eu3game2013-02-0213-23-29-56_zpsfff3c954.png

After the Montenegrin loss, the Byzantines sent another envoy to Rome, demanding the release of Urbino and the payment of 10 ducats. Again, Pope Innocent VI dismissed the envoy and he went home empty-handed.

eu3game2013-02-0213-23-46-98_zpse8a093e2.png

By the turn of the year, Byzantine forces were in full retreat back to their homeland while Venetian troops landed in and besieged Kozani, a Byzantine territory in northeastern Greece. Desperate for a major victory, Emperor Ioannes V sent messages all across his empire for all able-bodied men to fight for their country. Over 9,000 men, made up of levies, mercenaries and conscripts, from all over the empire converged on Edirne. In late-April, 1357, a 13,000-strong army led by the Emperor marched from Edirne to Kozani in an effort to relieve the city. They arrived on the 10th of May and fought with a 7,000-strong Venetian army led by Doge Gradenigo in what was to be known as the Battle of Kozani. Two days later, Papal reinforcements arrived from Montenegro bolstering the Venetian ranks. However, due to the huge number of Byzantine forces, the Venetian-Papal army lost the battle and was forced to retreat to Edirne. But it was a Pyrrhic victory for the Byzantines lost more troops than the Venetians and Papal forces combined and whereas the Venetians could easily reinforce their armies despite being far from the nearest Venetian territory, the Byzantines have exhausted most of their resources and therefore could no longer recruit more troops to replace those lost.

eu3game2013-02-0213-36-38-84_zps94e30940.png


eu3game2013-02-0216-27-39-16_zps335ea99d.png

By late-May, fresh troops from Achaea land in Edirne increasing the their forces to 14,000-strong. On the 8th of June, Zeta fell to Cardinal Albornoz's forces after a year and a half of siege. Two weeks later, Montenegro agrees to a peace treaty with Venice, cutting all ties with the Orthodox nations to the east and paying a sum of 13 ducats to Venice. To reconnect his forces to their supplies in Constantinople, Emperor Ioannes attempts to break through the numerically superior Venetian-Achaean-Papal forces in Edirne. Despite being numerically superior, the Venetian forces were decisively defeated in the Battle of Edirne and were forced to retreat back to Kozani. Following these two victories, Bosnia, an Orthodox nation in the Balkans, joins the war on the Byzantine side.

eu3game2013-02-0216-28-56-44_zps5e6805df.png


eu3game2013-02-0216-32-09-10_zpsf6001c85.png

Aside for minor skirmishes in Kozani and Edirne, a stalemate was reached in the war from July 1357 to February 1358. In March, a leading shipwright in Rome approached Cardinal Albornoz and brought to his attention the defects of the new ship technology worked out by his rival. Skeptical, the Cardinal demanded for more proof and the shipwright sent a document which confirmed the defects. The Cardinal immediately ordered revisions to the new ship technology incorporating the new ideas of the shipwright but this was a serious drawback to the Papal war effort.

eu3game2013-02-0321-14-51-22_zps929708b5.png

In the 17th of March, following a 191-day siege, Kozani finally fell to the Venetian-Papal forces. However, Armenian Cilicia, an Orthodox nation in Anatolia under King Constantine III, joined forces with the Byzantines in an effort to stop the Catholics from conquering Constantinople.

eu3game2013-02-0321-16-01-47_zps148e8606.png


eu3game2013-02-0321-16-39-37_zps42321496.png

Byzantine Empire after the fall of Kozani

eu3game2013-02-0321-16-07-76_zps0eeaa266.png

Another serious drawback to the Papal war effort in the Aegean was the arrival of Neapolitan Brigands in Rome on August 3, 1358. Known for their raiding and pillaging, Cardinal Albornoz immediately sent a letter to the Condottieri in Kozani to return to Rome in the hopes of stopping these brigands. On the 13th of August, the Papal forces arrived in Rome and fought the brigands with the help of Urbinese reinforcements from the north. By the 22nd of August, the brigands were defeated and moved to Siena, a Milanese territory.

eu3game2013-02-0321-21-13-08_zpscea12005.png


eu3game2013-02-0321-21-33-19_zpsc6c006b2.png


eu3game2013-02-0321-21-56-25_zps6860929c.png

By September, war exhaustion had risen so high that the populace was becoming uneasy. Pope Innocent VI, seeing no end to the war in sight, sent an envoy to Emperor Ioannes in the hopes of reaching a white peace. On the 20th of September, 1358, the envoy returned, declaring the war over under the terms of a white peace to which many rejoiced all over the Papal States. However, Papal interests in the Balkans and Anatolia only grew with the weakening of the Byzantine Empire.

eu3game2013-02-0321-23-14-05_zps9c8d24e5.png
 
Last edited:
The conquest of Eastern Europe begins. Montenegro will be easy to take, but Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Ottomans are another story. I'll like to see how you deal with them.
 
@MrQwerty: Haha, actually Eastern Europe isn't really my target just yet. As the next title suggests, it will be somewhere else. Stay tuned to learn more haha! (Unless you research then you'll know what interests the Pope so much)