Managing Duchies

[jecjackal]

Hi folks,

I was wondering if anyone had tips regarding duchies. Shortly after becoming king of Ireland, i normally lose the game and its because of those duchies. typically after i'm crowned king of wales (or scotland) i find myself having numerous vassal problems.

so is it better....

1) To personally control the counties of your duchies? For example, If i am the duke of Lienster, should i own both lienster and Ossory?

2) To Personally control at least one counties (Ossory or Lienster in the above example).

3) Not to control any counties within the duchy. Your counties would be under someone else's duchy (but you are his king?). Actually how would this work?

Any advice will be appreciated, Thanks,

Jec

 

[Alyiakal]

For your demesne, you basically want complete control of all counties in a few duchies; no other character should have a county in those duchies. That way, no one will be desiring your counties or duchies. Now that you've cleaned that up, you can destroy any duchy titles you have over the two duchy limit, and no one will care.

Duchies that you now hold no counties in, you'll want to pass off to a vassal. Some people like to mess with their vassals and give the duchy titles to people who are landed anywhere that's not said duchy. I find it's easier to just hand the duchy over to someone within it's de jure borders. Less plotting and war happens that way.

 

[barny]

The rule is: Don't mix-up your demesne with the titles of your vassals.

That means: Don't have a count in the duchies, you're holding and (far more important) DON'T EVER hold a county in a duchy, that you have given away.

If you're a king, you should hold 2 duchies with at least 4 counties each, then you should fill up your demesne limit with counties from duchies which titles don't exist inside your realm (basically = don't create every duke title, that you can).

 

[Hvymtlboy]

If you are only holding one Duchy ( I often do as I tend to run elective monarchy relegiously ) you can have vassal counts as long as your Capitol resides in the proper duchy. For example, if I am king of Sweden ( and duke of Uppland ) and my capitol resides in Uppland, I often give the county of Alund to a vassal count. ( its not worth holding in my Demense )

 

[SweetHalcyHS]

Here's what I do. I give all the duchies to the bishop in my capital.

1. All own counties in Duchy A
2. Give county from Duchy B to bishop.
3. Give Duchy A to bishop.
4. Revoke county from bishop.

Then stack all the spare duchy titles and hurrah!

This basically gives you a way to stack all duchy titles on one character. The removal of a tier means you are now the direct liege of all your counts, meaning that:

A) You get greater levies and tax (if you decide to tax them)
B) Your vassals are now individually much weaker and pose minimal threat.

You now have one person who absolutely, absolutely loathes you though, but as long as you don't upgrade his holding for him, he's useless since he has no power nor gold.

Congratulations! You have broken feudalism!