Chapter the second
Knights of Opportunity: In Hoc Signo Vinces, Chapter 2
The Knight of Orleanais
...As the dawn broke, I saw the blood-streaked fields of France laid out before me, cleansed of the British taint. It seemed to me that, could I but see far enough to the North, I would see the few survivors crossing the channel, never to return. And as the sun began its daily passage across the vault of heaven, I saw a knight victorious on a hill, his armour dented and his sword notched, but with his head held high. And in front of him, a host of Frenchmen of all allegiances. Men from the duchies, men from the dauphin, and men sworn to the order, all of France represented except its king. And the knight lifted the banner of his order on high, and the hill shook as the assembled warriors shouted his praise. "de Lastic" they cried, "de Lastic". And the knight accepted their praise as well he should. He it was who led the alliance into war with England with his invasion of Normandie and Orleanais in the spring of '45. He it was who sent the Knights Hospitaller always where the fighting was hardest. And he it was, who, even when Charles VII withdrew his might from the fray in '46, fought with his full might till the English had been driven from the North. And by winter 1446 the Hospitaller banner flew over Normandie and Orleanais and Charles VII, king of France, was not amused, but then he had not heeded the word of de Lastic's wife, Jeanne, praised be the messenger of God, when she brought the word of God to him more than a decade earlier either, while but a peasant maid.
"...Following the succesful eviction of England from Northern France, the outright annexation of Burgundy by Henry VI of England must have come as a rudy shock for the victorious generals. Despite the loss of the North, England's position in France was actually increased twofold. Fortunately, perhaps, the Burgundians did not long suffer the English yoke. Essex, commanding the English armies in Burgundy, died by an act of God in 1454, and soon the countryside went up in flames, aided, no doubt, by outside agitators. A dispossessed noble took the throne, and Burgundy lived again. Meanwhile, what of the Knights Hospitaller? Jean Bonpar de Lastic, the Knight of Orleanais, did not live to see Burgundy free, and he was succeeded as Grand Master by Jaques de Milly, an able, though unspectacular, administrator. During his seven years in office, the lands in France serving the Hospital prospered, and he made friends with the throne of Portugal. Soon the first small outposts were being raised in the New World, which had just been discovered by the Portuguese. Indeed, by most standards he was not a bad Grand Master. If he is most often passed by in the telling of history or merits but a few lines, it is rather because of this: He was average, and he was both preceded and succeeded by able and ambitious men.
Men such as Peter Raimund Zacosta (1461-1467), Gianbattista Orsini (1467-1476), or Pierre d'Aubusson (1476-1503).
And, of course, there is the undeniable fact, that despite his overtures of friendship to the Portuguese, they were first to declare their support for Castile, when Castile invaded in 1457."
Castile, Portugal, England, and Navarre declare war on the Knights Hospitaller, France, and Scotland
"...With Münster joining the Iberian alliance in 1459, the French holdings were close to being overrun.. On all fronts, the Knights Hospitaller were on the defensive. But the order to yield was never given, and, after a further two years of battle and mighty sacrifices, the tide had begun to turn slightly. Castile and Münster had accepted peace in 1461, utterly depleting the Knights treasury, and England, which had faced the full might of the Hospitallers, withdrew with the loss of Geldre. This freed the main part of the war weary Hospitaller armies to be shipped by galley to Portugal. Five great battles it took, before the Portuguese will to resist was broken and the troops could begin laying siege, five great battles and uncounted losses. But under the vigorous leadership of Peter Raimund Zacosta, the Hospitallers would continue to the bitter end, if need be, no matter how many rebellions they crush. Even the treacherous alliance between certain nobles and the English crown did not stop the onslaught, though it brought the realm close to collapse."
Besieging Portugal in 1464. War exhaustion and stability is a bother
"By winter 1464, all of Portugal lay under the benevolent hand of the Grand Master, yet the king of Portugal would not surrender. So a ship was sent to occupy the colony in the Azores, but still he would not surrender. The planning was desperate, but finally the last hope of Afonso V of Portugal was discovered: Apparently, he believed that the ten traders living in a run down trading post in Kribi on the west coast of Africa could still save his realm. That winter, it was a widespread opinion in the cities that the government of the Knights had made some poor policies. Nevertheless, three expensive warships were outfitted, and an expedition launched to torch the trading post. The expedition had barely managed to ignite their torches, before their fleet sank behind them, a victim of attrition. However, the brave men torched the post before the local wildlife could kill them off. The ten traders used a dug-out canoo to return to Portugal at high speed, where they informed Afonso V of their failure. Disheartened, at long last realised that he was beaten. And thus, in September 1465, Portugal became a vassal of the Knights Hospitaller, and the Azores became a Hospitaller retreat.
But the trouble was not done. The long suffering people of Northern France had risen in revolt against their new overlords because of the deprivations of war, and the rebels were slowly winning terrain, since the army was in Portugal and the navy mainly sunk."
Northern France after the war, 1466. I told you war exhaustion was a bother
"By March, 1466, it was clear to all that the Grand Master was losing control. To minimize damage, he created of Orleanais an independent barony, even while the armies hastened home. But they were too late, too late. By May, Rhodes itself fell, and chaos ruled supreme. Peter Raimund Zacosta was slain during the riots, falling to a score of armed men, even as his government fell.
Yet it was not the end of the Knights Hospitaller. Neither was it the beginning. But it was, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
For Gianbattista Orsini, a knight of the old school, became Grand Master and his right hand was Pierre d'Aubusson. With this change of government, the rebels were temporarily appeased.
Though ruling less than a decade, Orsini did much good to restore the power and influence of the Knights Hospitaller, both among the people and with foreign powers. And by the end of his reign, the Knights were stronger than ever.
Now, following the death of Orsini, the obvious choice for Grand Master was Pierre d'Aubusson, a man of such outstanding talents, that he was able to lead a fleet, an army, and conduct general diplomacy
at the same time and in three separate locations, something that lies outside the reach of most men. This was to stand him in good stead, though he retired from his naval commision soon after becoming Grand Master, because of a minor wound.
And finally, in 1479, Aragon declared war on the alliance of France, Spain, Scotland, the Knights Hospitaller, and Portugal. This is ranked by most reputable scholars as one of the stupidist wars of aggression of all times. Though the Aragonese armies were strong, none could stand against Pierre d'Aubusson, who led the main host in person until his near mortal wound in early 1480, which retired him from the army. And by 1482, Aragon lay mostly under Hostpitaller control, and France concluded peace with Aragon, granting Gerona to Scotland, and Rousillon, Catalonia, and Napoli to the Knights Hospitaller. Overjoyed, d'Aubusson proposed one other initiative..."
Peace with Aragon and Portugal annexed
"...Leading to the peaceful annexation of Porgual, and, a few months late, Orleanais. D'Aubusson ruled well. Except for a period where he was a officially bit under the weather (he suffered severe bouts of megalomania from 1485 to 1490), he was a most attentive ruler, and he strengthened the trading posts in the new world and maintained a large army. Yet, despite all this, Aragon chose to push its luck once again, and foolishly declared war on Scotland to retake Gerona. This brought the entire Knights alliance down on their head with the predictable result that Aragon was utterly defeated. Valencia, Messina, and Apulia came under the protection of the Knights Hospitaller."
Code:
[font=courier new][color=white][color=yellow]Domestic Policy 1419 1500[/color]
[color=skyblue]Aristocracy [/color] 10 10
[color=skyblue]Centralization [/color] 4 6+2
[color=skyblue]Innovativeness [/color] 3 5+2
[color=skyblue]Mercantilism [/color] 7 5-2
[color=skyblue]Offensive [/color] 3 6+3
[color=skyblue]Land [/color] 4 2-2
[color=skyblue]Quality [/color] 10 10
[color=skyblue]Serfdom [/color] 8 8
[color=yellow]Economy 1419 1500[/color]
[color=skyblue]Monthly income [/color] 0.3d 49d
[color=skyblue]Census taxes [/color] 2d 133d
[color=skyblue]Inflation [/color] 0 23%
[color=skyblue]Badboy [/color] 0 18
[color=yellow]Tech 1419 1500[/color]
[color=skyblue]Land [/color] 1 6+5
[color=skyblue]Naval [/color] 1 3+2
[color=skyblue]Trade [/color] 1 2+1
[color=skyblue]Infrastructure [/color] 1 3+2
[color=yellow]Military 1419 1500[/color]
[color=skyblue]Army support limit [/color] 9K 66K
[color=skyblue]Navy support limit [/color] -- 91
[/color][/font]
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Bugs: The 100% war score bug. You can track when I actually played this installment by seeing when I reported it. That bug nearly killed the Knights Hospitaller. I was up to 14% WE before I managed to burn the TP in Kribi, and, as you can see, even so my government fell the next year. There was literally no way I could defeat the rebels in time. Fortunately, I lost no land, since I had thoughtfully set Orleans free as a vassal shortly before rebels took control in that province
The serfdom stability bug I noticed after the war, when I began wondering why it took ages to regain stability, checked the computations, and found that I was paying much, much, more than I should have been.
Inflation: Fighting Spain and England to a standstill with only a fraction of their resources, and then invading Portugal losing most of your fleet,
does tend to cost a lot of money. Fortunately, the mint is always there for the needy monarch
Trade: Seing as I am going to play nice for a long, long, time, it pays better to go with trade agreements than with embargoes. Of course, once BB time comes around I will curse all those TAs that bar me from the easy riches than dozens of emargoes would generate, but until then it will pay off very well.
Tech: Not needing embargoes soon, I am instead pursuing an Infrastructure 5, while keeping up in the land tech race strategy (Hey! They are the Knights Hospitaller, and they should be armed with the best weapons at all times
). I am not investing in naval at all. I am, of course, only investing in one area at a time, since anything else is suboptimal from a computational point of view
Exploration: This will present me with one problem: no explorers. In the SSREM, explorers are not tied to date triggers but rather to naval tech triggers, and the minimum to gain an explorer at all is naval 6 [which, not coincidentally, is supposed to arrive around 1495 for latin tech nations that are on schedule]. The other random explorer events are tied to naval 9 and naval 15. So I am not getting any explorers any time soon, but will have to rely on map trading (expensive! The Knights are not rich) or capital sacking. Still, Brazil belongs to the Knights, even if it is mostly trading posts, and it would look nice with Knights Hospitaller trading posts all over the Americas, would it not
Yes, it sure would.
...To be continued...