So, I was fighting the second attempt by the French to take back Normandy from my Normans (now well-established in England). Prior to the war, two sons (created barons) of William the Conqueror were married off to the two daughters of the Duke of Aquitaine. These two and their brother were the only heirs to the Duke's vast possessions. Naturally, I expected to benefit from this by having de Normandie pretenders with claims on these territories. The old Duke died, the new youthful Duke was put in place and everything was great.
The twist came when my glorious forces, in the process of losing a massive battle in Flanders, managed to cut down the youthful, unmarried, childless Duke of Aquitaine. The two sisters split his possessions into Duchy of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine...both are due to pass to de Normandie boys sired by the otherwise useless idiots sired by William (of which one, Robert, is currently on the throne).
The question is, under which conditions will these remain my vassals? Do they need to be of equal rank to what they inherit, or is it sufficient if I create them barons? I have a few baronies in reserve that are pissing my vassals off, so this would be a good way to trade in extra troops for juicy inheritance down the road, but I don't want to accidentally give King of France fortresses in my territory...
A further twist is that there is a faction trying to put one of the younger sons of William on the throne, so I can eventually get a King who will inherit the possessions directly, but this guy is a bigger tool than Robert, the current King (though at least his diplo stat isn't 0 and he's not universally hated by everyone outside of his old possessions...).
To summarize, these are the options -
1) Sit and do nothing (the boys remain courtiers with their fathers)
2) Give them baronies
3) Give them duchies
4) Replace Robert with one of their fathers and hope a future King inherits French lands directly (i.e., that this imbecile holds on long enough to pass the crown to the boy)
P.S.: In this game, William the Conqueror, having wiped out the armies of Harald, Harold and King of France (as well as generally ruling as a merciless tyrant in England, crushing any resistance with overwhelming military force), was knocked on his head by a peasant in a skirmish against rebels and died comatose in bed...
P.P.S.: Godwine of Godwin ended up being King for a year before being deposed by William. Who then married his youngest daughter to him in a matrilineal marriage and invited him to come back from exile (I'm keeping a close track of all the Saxon pretenders). Also, Scotland is the place to be for the "former classes" of Saxon England and various pretenders - there's probably a dozen has-beens in Lothian, and even a Knytling residing in France moved there. I guess they want to rule England by committee once they throw off the Norman yoke?
The twist came when my glorious forces, in the process of losing a massive battle in Flanders, managed to cut down the youthful, unmarried, childless Duke of Aquitaine. The two sisters split his possessions into Duchy of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine...both are due to pass to de Normandie boys sired by the otherwise useless idiots sired by William (of which one, Robert, is currently on the throne).
The question is, under which conditions will these remain my vassals? Do they need to be of equal rank to what they inherit, or is it sufficient if I create them barons? I have a few baronies in reserve that are pissing my vassals off, so this would be a good way to trade in extra troops for juicy inheritance down the road, but I don't want to accidentally give King of France fortresses in my territory...
A further twist is that there is a faction trying to put one of the younger sons of William on the throne, so I can eventually get a King who will inherit the possessions directly, but this guy is a bigger tool than Robert, the current King (though at least his diplo stat isn't 0 and he's not universally hated by everyone outside of his old possessions...).
To summarize, these are the options -
1) Sit and do nothing (the boys remain courtiers with their fathers)
2) Give them baronies
3) Give them duchies
4) Replace Robert with one of their fathers and hope a future King inherits French lands directly (i.e., that this imbecile holds on long enough to pass the crown to the boy)
P.S.: In this game, William the Conqueror, having wiped out the armies of Harald, Harold and King of France (as well as generally ruling as a merciless tyrant in England, crushing any resistance with overwhelming military force), was knocked on his head by a peasant in a skirmish against rebels and died comatose in bed...
P.P.S.: Godwine of Godwin ended up being King for a year before being deposed by William. Who then married his youngest daughter to him in a matrilineal marriage and invited him to come back from exile (I'm keeping a close track of all the Saxon pretenders). Also, Scotland is the place to be for the "former classes" of Saxon England and various pretenders - there's probably a dozen has-beens in Lothian, and even a Knytling residing in France moved there. I guess they want to rule England by committee once they throw off the Norman yoke?
