Postcards From Eternity: a Megacampaign AAR
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Heresy rises!
There are so many immortals... and our great founder of Tuscany dated a vampire.
Do all gods exist?
There are so many immortals... and our great founder of Tuscany dated a vampire.
Do all gods exist?
King Goffredo I Guerra: 1381-1393 AD (Part 2)
Excerpt from 'The Crisis of the Catholic Church in the 14th Century' by Wilburh Osmond & Ealdwine Cild (Lunden: 1942)
If the Church authorities expected the Tuscan people to revolt against their heretic King, they would be sorely disappointed. With only a handful of exceptions, the aristocracy gleefully threw in their lot with their liege. After news of the King's conversion began to circulate, the Waldensian underground rose up and took matter into their own hands - an orgy of looting and destruction followed, with bishops dragged from their cathedrals and churches reduced to bare walls and empty sacristies in the hands of the peasantry. Local nobility often encouraged or led these acts to claim the greatest part of the treasures for themselves. In the aftermath, they seized clerical holdings and lands to add to their own domains - the common folk toiling on church soil soon found themselves merely exchanging one master for another. Still, under royal decree, the peasantry and the burghers in the cities received a 'godly share' of the seized property, an act that served to effectively placate any simmering unrest.
This did not mean that all of Tuscany embraced the Waldensian cause overnight. Indeed, crypto-Catholic holdouts would remain for over a century. The institution of the Papacy held great sway in the mind of the average peasant. It would not be dislodged easily. Early church fathers in this period write on the trouble of dealing with peasantry who happily listen to their anti-clerical sermon one moment, only to kneel before graven images of saints and shelter Papist priests the next. Anti-Catholic fervor appears to have been strongest in central Florence, Genoa, Istria, Milan, and the Catalan regions of Aragon. The cities with their urban poor were more keen to embrace the new faith than the landholding peasantry of the countryside, though if they expected the burghers of their cities to give away their wealth like the holy Waldo had done, they were bound to be disappointed.
The paradox of King Goffredo - a cynical agnostic, by all accounts - spearheading a dramatic religious awakening has not escaped the attention of scholars. The King's motives were undoubtedly political first and foremost, even petty, a kind of vengeance on the Pope who had so slighted him. Waldensian leaders have debated his role in this Tuscan Reformation for some time. Most tend to agree that 'God may work even through imperfect vessels', seeing Goffredo as an unknowing tool of the Almighty.
Regardless of how deep or heartfelt his new beliefs were, the King prosecuted the conversion of his realm with unwavering determination. The first order of business for Goffredo was persuading the Aragonese nobility to join his cause. Though the Waldensian movement had never gained a true foothold in Aragon, its lords and ladies saw the way the wind was blowing. With some promises of favors, bribes and other cajoling, King Goffredo convinced the Dukes of Aragon and Barcelona announce their conversion in late 1381. The Bishop of Valencía followed soon after, forsaking his spiritual title to rule as Duke Abbas from that moment on.
With his vassals dealt with, the King turned his attention to his immediate neighbors. The Duke of Transjurania to the north had been swept up in the religious frenzy and converted with his vassals, as had the lords of Carinthia under the Bavarian king. The Guerra King of Venice was easily convinced to follow suit. Catholic power was collapsing rapidly in the family after its disgrace at the hands of the Holy Father. Only the Kings of Jerusalem and Syria, well aware of their position as Crusader Kings and their reliance on Catholic goodwill, refused to heed the example of the head of their house.
The anger shared by the House of Guerra towards the Pope certainly helped carry this wave of conversions. King Wenzel of England, uncle to Goffredo, would put aside their differences and agree to accept the Waldensian faith himself. Though his vassals were not so easily convinced, the undeniable righteousness and God-granted rule of the Crusader King of England convinced them to gradually follow suit. The Greek and Vlach side of the family was not pressed to convert, as they already denied the authority of the Papacy as Orthodox and Bogomil rulers.
Some zealots remained in the Kingdom, choosing loyalty to the Pope rather than accept the new doctrine. King Goffredo spent some years seeking compromise and negotiating with these holdouts. By 1385, his patience had evidently ran out. Count Benedetto of Friuli would become a martyr for the Catholic faith after his arrest and execution late in that year for his continued fealty to the Catholic Church. He would later be beatified by Pope Leo XII as an exemplar of faith unto death. He was burned at the stake by local Waldensians at the King's behest. Rumors would later begin to abound of the apparent miracles around his passing, and ash from the pyre would be sold as holy relics around Catholic Italy.
In 1388, Marco, the heir to the throne, reached his maturity. Growing up in the chaos of the Tuscan Reformation had produced a cunning, ambitious young man of noted intellect and beauty. His father had seen fit to give him a materialistic education chiefly concerned with good stewardship and the upkeep of the royal treasury. While not particularly zealous, the influence of Waldensian preachers had ensured young Marco grew up a committed believer in the movement. As such, he is often named the first truly Waldensian King of Tuscany-Aragon.
Many Waldensians expected in the spirit of millennialism that the entire rotten Catholic Church would soon come crashing down and all nations would unite in the true Christian faith, with its ideals of apostolic poverty, right to lay preaching and opposition to the temporal power of the clergy. In truth, this First Reformation remained a local one, though it certainly emboldened the Lollards of the north in their own battles. Some ripple effects can be seen in the Catholic world, however. In Poland, a period of internal chaos, foreign invasions and religious upheaval saw a peculiar dwarf woman by the name of Zofia proclaim herself as both bishop and queen in Poland. This bizarre, clearly unorthodox institution was nevertheless formally sanctioned by a Catholic Church terrified of its own destruction.
Zofia's rule would not last long, but its very existence tells much about the chaotic nature of the times. In Portugal, the newly-minted 'most Catholic Kingdom' began its decline around the same time. Within a few decades, it would be plunged into a civil war it would never recover from. The crisis of the Church was nearing its apex.
From the Turin Codex, a 14th-century work of occult philosophy allegedly authored by King Goffredo I of Tuscany
(...) In every corner of my realm, my name was praised with all the zeal of the blindly faithful. I treated them with the kindness one shows to children and animals. How could I not? They are allies in the great struggle, even if they know little of the truth. Still many in the kingdom resisted their liberation and called out to the Harlot of Rome in their daily prayers. There was grave concern among the preachers that the great work was stalling. The endurance of the Catholic faith threatened the foundations of my rule.
Did you believe me some grand zealot? I am not. I did what I did for many reasons. You will know by now that faith was never one of them. First, I wished to cast out the Pope from his city and show the zealots of the Church how weak and mortal their Holy Father truly was. Secondly, I knew of the great riches in the vaults of the Vatican. Mammon is the foundation of any rule and any religion. I desired the wealth of the Church for myself. Thirdly, I confess it was also a matter of vengeance. I held - I still hold - great hatred for the preening, self-righteous fool at the head of his Church. I hoped to take him captive and slay him, but I was content enough to see him merely humiliated.
None of these are the complete truth. Heed me now. The Church knows more of the mysteries of Creation than it wishes to reveal. There were secrets piled high in the secret archives of Rome. Indeed, then, I craved plunder - but not of coin and material things. I desired the things they had hidden away in those nameless vaults deep beneath their gilded temples. That, and that most of all, is the reason for what I have done.
Excerpt from 'The Crisis of the Catholic Church in the 14th Century' by Wilburh Osmond & Ealdwine Cild (Lunden: 1942)
The Waldensian Crusade of 1390-1392 perhaps does not deserve the name. Some Waldensian figures do appear to have preached for 'the liberation of Rome', but these were in the minority. The campaign to take the city was not launched from popular sentiment. The impetus for the invasion came chiefly from King Goffredo and a cadre of upper nobility. Their motives were likely material ones. Rome was the greatest and richest city in Europe. The opportunity to seize and sack it must have struck these 'political Waldensians' as an irresistible one.
Such an undertaking would not come easy or cheap. Despite his modest temporal holdings, the Pope held the purse-strings of every Catholic in Europe. The Papacy's immense wealth and influence drew thousands and thousands of mercenaries to its employ when rumors of an invasion began circulating. When the Tuscans struck, they found a massive army of veteran mercenaries arrayed against them.
Not shown: the endless mercenary stacks that bastard conjured out of thin air.
King Goffredo had not left anything to chance, forever. He still held the sympathies and allegiance of his House, especially the many lords and sovereigns who had converted with him. At the King's request, Guerras from across Christendom sent their forces to assist in his efforts. That some of these allies were, on paper, Catholic rulers, shows just how deeply the House of Guerra was affected by the Pope's actions against them.
In the end, over 160 000 men had gathered around the Guerra banner. The Pope stood against them with perhaps eighty thousand. The odds were not as overwhelming as they might seem on paper. The Guerra forces trickled in over time from many distant realms and courts, while the Papal army was already gathered in Rome. Furthermore, Rome and it's environs were fortress cities, thick with castles and outposts that needed to be secured one at a time by the invading armies. The war would only last two years, but it would feature some of the largest and bloodiest battles seen in medieval Europe.
This kind of warfare was tremendously expensive. The King had perhaps hoped that the loot from the Sack of Rome would cover the costs, but this was not to be. The Tuscan crown had secured a great deal of gold and supplies in preparation for the campaign, but the sheer size of their armies and the difficulties of operating in the heart of the Catholic empire quickly drained this wealth away to nothing. The opposing side had no such issue. The war was so popular among mercenaries precisely because of the fortunes offered by the Pope for fighting. It is said that even the lowliest foot soldier in the Papal armies returned home as rich as a king - as long as they survived the grueling battles, of course.
The fortunes of war began, nevertheless, to slowly turn against the Pope. The mercenary armies had not been intended as anything more as a stopgap measure - a force to hold off the invaders long enough for all the might of Catholic Christendom to stir awake and come to the aid of their master. This desecration of the heart of the Church and one of the most holy sites of the faith should have brought Catholic kings and knights running to its defense from all over.
And yet - none came. The shortness of the war helps explains the lack of support somewhat, but not completely. There is plenty of evidence that nearby Catholic powers learned of the attack in time to respond. In any other time, the Catholics of the Mediterranean would no doubt have eagerly arrived to fight for their Church. Certainly this should have been expected from the King of Hesse, so recently named Champion of Rome by the very Pope who now stood facing disaster. Historians have long debated the matter, but there is only one coherent explanation. The Church had lost its moral authority and political influence after all the turmoil and disorder of the past decades - the Crisis of the Catholic Church was now fully in existence.
Rome was surrendered in 1392. It is said that Pope Silvester was still watching the horizon for the arrival of Hessian reinforcements when his council forced him aboard the last ship to leave the coast of Latium. He refused ardently to sign any agreement of surrender, but such legal fictions were no longer necessary. Rome was in Guerra hands, and the demoralized mercenaries were beginning to desert en masse with their new riches rather than stay to fight hopeless battles.
The Papacy in Rome had come to an end. The head of the Church fled to the Papal fiefdom in Sardinia, where the Church would in time assert its 'Kingdom of God in Exile'.
With Rome in the hands of the Waldensians, King Goffredo announced the formation of what has been called the 'Waldensian Papacy'. Guerra forces withdrew from Rome, leaving it in the hands of a local Waldensian preacher, Abelardo Pilloni. With the King's blessing, he was now the head of the Waldensian Church, replacing the 'Harlot of Rome' with purer, more faithful governance.
There was only one problem. The Waldensian movement was founded on principles of anti-clericalism and opposition to clergy holding any temporal power. Would they now follow an almighty Priest-King once more, when they had so fervently opposed the Catholic Pope? To make things worse, Abelardo was soon revealed to be in many ways the opposite of a good Waldensian Christian; a greedy, vindictive man given to many vices in spite of all his learning. King Goffredo's decree had little to do with faith and everything to do with politics. As such, many of his followers were disillusioned by this betrayal of the movement's values. The attempt to secure Waldensian supremacy in Italy ironically weakened conversion efforts, as sympathies to the deposed Pope seized much of the populace.
King Goffredo would not live to see these consequences. He died shortly after the proclamation of the new Papacy in 1393, leaving the throne and the religiously unstable realm in the hands of King Marco II. In many ways, it was the end of an age and the beginning of a new one. The world was rapidly changing; the exile of the Papacy from Rome had thrown many of the old rules and legalities of medieval Europe into question. The administration of Marco II was already starting its transition into a government of the early modern model...
The last CK3 ruler follows! I've already played some 60 years of EU4, so we'll get started on it right after.
If the Church authorities expected the Tuscan people to revolt against their heretic King, they would be sorely disappointed. With only a handful of exceptions, the aristocracy gleefully threw in their lot with their liege. After news of the King's conversion began to circulate, the Waldensian underground rose up and took matter into their own hands - an orgy of looting and destruction followed, with bishops dragged from their cathedrals and churches reduced to bare walls and empty sacristies in the hands of the peasantry. Local nobility often encouraged or led these acts to claim the greatest part of the treasures for themselves. In the aftermath, they seized clerical holdings and lands to add to their own domains - the common folk toiling on church soil soon found themselves merely exchanging one master for another. Still, under royal decree, the peasantry and the burghers in the cities received a 'godly share' of the seized property, an act that served to effectively placate any simmering unrest.
This did not mean that all of Tuscany embraced the Waldensian cause overnight. Indeed, crypto-Catholic holdouts would remain for over a century. The institution of the Papacy held great sway in the mind of the average peasant. It would not be dislodged easily. Early church fathers in this period write on the trouble of dealing with peasantry who happily listen to their anti-clerical sermon one moment, only to kneel before graven images of saints and shelter Papist priests the next. Anti-Catholic fervor appears to have been strongest in central Florence, Genoa, Istria, Milan, and the Catalan regions of Aragon. The cities with their urban poor were more keen to embrace the new faith than the landholding peasantry of the countryside, though if they expected the burghers of their cities to give away their wealth like the holy Waldo had done, they were bound to be disappointed.
The paradox of King Goffredo - a cynical agnostic, by all accounts - spearheading a dramatic religious awakening has not escaped the attention of scholars. The King's motives were undoubtedly political first and foremost, even petty, a kind of vengeance on the Pope who had so slighted him. Waldensian leaders have debated his role in this Tuscan Reformation for some time. Most tend to agree that 'God may work even through imperfect vessels', seeing Goffredo as an unknowing tool of the Almighty.
Regardless of how deep or heartfelt his new beliefs were, the King prosecuted the conversion of his realm with unwavering determination. The first order of business for Goffredo was persuading the Aragonese nobility to join his cause. Though the Waldensian movement had never gained a true foothold in Aragon, its lords and ladies saw the way the wind was blowing. With some promises of favors, bribes and other cajoling, King Goffredo convinced the Dukes of Aragon and Barcelona announce their conversion in late 1381. The Bishop of Valencía followed soon after, forsaking his spiritual title to rule as Duke Abbas from that moment on.
With his vassals dealt with, the King turned his attention to his immediate neighbors. The Duke of Transjurania to the north had been swept up in the religious frenzy and converted with his vassals, as had the lords of Carinthia under the Bavarian king. The Guerra King of Venice was easily convinced to follow suit. Catholic power was collapsing rapidly in the family after its disgrace at the hands of the Holy Father. Only the Kings of Jerusalem and Syria, well aware of their position as Crusader Kings and their reliance on Catholic goodwill, refused to heed the example of the head of their house.
The anger shared by the House of Guerra towards the Pope certainly helped carry this wave of conversions. King Wenzel of England, uncle to Goffredo, would put aside their differences and agree to accept the Waldensian faith himself. Though his vassals were not so easily convinced, the undeniable righteousness and God-granted rule of the Crusader King of England convinced them to gradually follow suit. The Greek and Vlach side of the family was not pressed to convert, as they already denied the authority of the Papacy as Orthodox and Bogomil rulers.
Some zealots remained in the Kingdom, choosing loyalty to the Pope rather than accept the new doctrine. King Goffredo spent some years seeking compromise and negotiating with these holdouts. By 1385, his patience had evidently ran out. Count Benedetto of Friuli would become a martyr for the Catholic faith after his arrest and execution late in that year for his continued fealty to the Catholic Church. He would later be beatified by Pope Leo XII as an exemplar of faith unto death. He was burned at the stake by local Waldensians at the King's behest. Rumors would later begin to abound of the apparent miracles around his passing, and ash from the pyre would be sold as holy relics around Catholic Italy.
In 1388, Marco, the heir to the throne, reached his maturity. Growing up in the chaos of the Tuscan Reformation had produced a cunning, ambitious young man of noted intellect and beauty. His father had seen fit to give him a materialistic education chiefly concerned with good stewardship and the upkeep of the royal treasury. While not particularly zealous, the influence of Waldensian preachers had ensured young Marco grew up a committed believer in the movement. As such, he is often named the first truly Waldensian King of Tuscany-Aragon.
Many Waldensians expected in the spirit of millennialism that the entire rotten Catholic Church would soon come crashing down and all nations would unite in the true Christian faith, with its ideals of apostolic poverty, right to lay preaching and opposition to the temporal power of the clergy. In truth, this First Reformation remained a local one, though it certainly emboldened the Lollards of the north in their own battles. Some ripple effects can be seen in the Catholic world, however. In Poland, a period of internal chaos, foreign invasions and religious upheaval saw a peculiar dwarf woman by the name of Zofia proclaim herself as both bishop and queen in Poland. This bizarre, clearly unorthodox institution was nevertheless formally sanctioned by a Catholic Church terrified of its own destruction.
Zofia's rule would not last long, but its very existence tells much about the chaotic nature of the times. In Portugal, the newly-minted 'most Catholic Kingdom' began its decline around the same time. Within a few decades, it would be plunged into a civil war it would never recover from. The crisis of the Church was nearing its apex.
***
From the Turin Codex, a 14th-century work of occult philosophy allegedly authored by King Goffredo I of Tuscany
(...) In every corner of my realm, my name was praised with all the zeal of the blindly faithful. I treated them with the kindness one shows to children and animals. How could I not? They are allies in the great struggle, even if they know little of the truth. Still many in the kingdom resisted their liberation and called out to the Harlot of Rome in their daily prayers. There was grave concern among the preachers that the great work was stalling. The endurance of the Catholic faith threatened the foundations of my rule.
Did you believe me some grand zealot? I am not. I did what I did for many reasons. You will know by now that faith was never one of them. First, I wished to cast out the Pope from his city and show the zealots of the Church how weak and mortal their Holy Father truly was. Secondly, I knew of the great riches in the vaults of the Vatican. Mammon is the foundation of any rule and any religion. I desired the wealth of the Church for myself. Thirdly, I confess it was also a matter of vengeance. I held - I still hold - great hatred for the preening, self-righteous fool at the head of his Church. I hoped to take him captive and slay him, but I was content enough to see him merely humiliated.
None of these are the complete truth. Heed me now. The Church knows more of the mysteries of Creation than it wishes to reveal. There were secrets piled high in the secret archives of Rome. Indeed, then, I craved plunder - but not of coin and material things. I desired the things they had hidden away in those nameless vaults deep beneath their gilded temples. That, and that most of all, is the reason for what I have done.
***
Excerpt from 'The Crisis of the Catholic Church in the 14th Century' by Wilburh Osmond & Ealdwine Cild (Lunden: 1942)
The Waldensian Crusade of 1390-1392 perhaps does not deserve the name. Some Waldensian figures do appear to have preached for 'the liberation of Rome', but these were in the minority. The campaign to take the city was not launched from popular sentiment. The impetus for the invasion came chiefly from King Goffredo and a cadre of upper nobility. Their motives were likely material ones. Rome was the greatest and richest city in Europe. The opportunity to seize and sack it must have struck these 'political Waldensians' as an irresistible one.
Such an undertaking would not come easy or cheap. Despite his modest temporal holdings, the Pope held the purse-strings of every Catholic in Europe. The Papacy's immense wealth and influence drew thousands and thousands of mercenaries to its employ when rumors of an invasion began circulating. When the Tuscans struck, they found a massive army of veteran mercenaries arrayed against them.
Not shown: the endless mercenary stacks that bastard conjured out of thin air.
King Goffredo had not left anything to chance, forever. He still held the sympathies and allegiance of his House, especially the many lords and sovereigns who had converted with him. At the King's request, Guerras from across Christendom sent their forces to assist in his efforts. That some of these allies were, on paper, Catholic rulers, shows just how deeply the House of Guerra was affected by the Pope's actions against them.
In the end, over 160 000 men had gathered around the Guerra banner. The Pope stood against them with perhaps eighty thousand. The odds were not as overwhelming as they might seem on paper. The Guerra forces trickled in over time from many distant realms and courts, while the Papal army was already gathered in Rome. Furthermore, Rome and it's environs were fortress cities, thick with castles and outposts that needed to be secured one at a time by the invading armies. The war would only last two years, but it would feature some of the largest and bloodiest battles seen in medieval Europe.
This kind of warfare was tremendously expensive. The King had perhaps hoped that the loot from the Sack of Rome would cover the costs, but this was not to be. The Tuscan crown had secured a great deal of gold and supplies in preparation for the campaign, but the sheer size of their armies and the difficulties of operating in the heart of the Catholic empire quickly drained this wealth away to nothing. The opposing side had no such issue. The war was so popular among mercenaries precisely because of the fortunes offered by the Pope for fighting. It is said that even the lowliest foot soldier in the Papal armies returned home as rich as a king - as long as they survived the grueling battles, of course.
The fortunes of war began, nevertheless, to slowly turn against the Pope. The mercenary armies had not been intended as anything more as a stopgap measure - a force to hold off the invaders long enough for all the might of Catholic Christendom to stir awake and come to the aid of their master. This desecration of the heart of the Church and one of the most holy sites of the faith should have brought Catholic kings and knights running to its defense from all over.
And yet - none came. The shortness of the war helps explains the lack of support somewhat, but not completely. There is plenty of evidence that nearby Catholic powers learned of the attack in time to respond. In any other time, the Catholics of the Mediterranean would no doubt have eagerly arrived to fight for their Church. Certainly this should have been expected from the King of Hesse, so recently named Champion of Rome by the very Pope who now stood facing disaster. Historians have long debated the matter, but there is only one coherent explanation. The Church had lost its moral authority and political influence after all the turmoil and disorder of the past decades - the Crisis of the Catholic Church was now fully in existence.
Rome was surrendered in 1392. It is said that Pope Silvester was still watching the horizon for the arrival of Hessian reinforcements when his council forced him aboard the last ship to leave the coast of Latium. He refused ardently to sign any agreement of surrender, but such legal fictions were no longer necessary. Rome was in Guerra hands, and the demoralized mercenaries were beginning to desert en masse with their new riches rather than stay to fight hopeless battles.
The Papacy in Rome had come to an end. The head of the Church fled to the Papal fiefdom in Sardinia, where the Church would in time assert its 'Kingdom of God in Exile'.
With Rome in the hands of the Waldensians, King Goffredo announced the formation of what has been called the 'Waldensian Papacy'. Guerra forces withdrew from Rome, leaving it in the hands of a local Waldensian preacher, Abelardo Pilloni. With the King's blessing, he was now the head of the Waldensian Church, replacing the 'Harlot of Rome' with purer, more faithful governance.
There was only one problem. The Waldensian movement was founded on principles of anti-clericalism and opposition to clergy holding any temporal power. Would they now follow an almighty Priest-King once more, when they had so fervently opposed the Catholic Pope? To make things worse, Abelardo was soon revealed to be in many ways the opposite of a good Waldensian Christian; a greedy, vindictive man given to many vices in spite of all his learning. King Goffredo's decree had little to do with faith and everything to do with politics. As such, many of his followers were disillusioned by this betrayal of the movement's values. The attempt to secure Waldensian supremacy in Italy ironically weakened conversion efforts, as sympathies to the deposed Pope seized much of the populace.
King Goffredo would not live to see these consequences. He died shortly after the proclamation of the new Papacy in 1393, leaving the throne and the religiously unstable realm in the hands of King Marco II. In many ways, it was the end of an age and the beginning of a new one. The world was rapidly changing; the exile of the Papacy from Rome had thrown many of the old rules and legalities of medieval Europe into question. The administration of Marco II was already starting its transition into a government of the early modern model...
The last CK3 ruler follows! I've already played some 60 years of EU4, so we'll get started on it right after.
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Waldensianism spreads...
The Papacy is brought low... and apparently hiding secrets. Or the King is a conspiracy theorist.
The Papacy is brought low... and apparently hiding secrets. Or the King is a conspiracy theorist.
The fall of the Papacy, as forseen. And the questions is whether the appointment of a poor leader for the new church was intentional or accidental.
King Goffredo takes the answer to that with him to his grave. The successor to Abelardo is interesting for another reason, as you'll soon see.
So fast!
Oh, for sure. I'm interested to hear which nations people think will do well in EU4 - there will be a state of the world post after this King, which will help get a good idea of the starting map. Maybe you can get some betting going. Winners, uh, get ships named after them?
King Marco II Guerra: 1393-1443 AD
Excerpt from the Roman Letters, written by Marco II Guerra, King of Tuscany, after the death of the Waldensian Pope Abelardo in 1442
Now in the autumn of our years, we find ourselves dwelling on the beginning of our reign. In that time we did not yet know your friendship. We were but twenty years of old when we took the throne. Our father had left us a difficult inheritance. Today they call him the Redeemer King - he who broke the back of the false Church and restored Rome to the True Christians. How were we to equal his glory? We did not lack in ambition or will, certainly. We intended to do great things for the realm and the faith.
Perhaps we were too prideful. We are as cognizant of our failures as we are of our triumphs. Certainly the triumphs outnumber the failures; we shall go on as a great King and faithful Christian lord.
Then we knew you only as a sinner and a charlatan. Our tutors taught us to distrust your authority and your wisdom. It is true, you had your faults. Who among us does not? They demand more of holy men than they ever do of kings. The vices of a sovereign are dismissed where those same failings in a priest are not. We know you did not seek power for its own sake, but came to it through unhappy circumstance. Our father was most unkind to name you Pope in the Catholic mold when you only wished to teach and guide your people. You have been most ill-treated by the mass of the faithful. We pray that history shall remember you more kindly.
Was it wisdom, when you named yourself King in Romagna also? They say that the clergy cannot wield temporal power as kings do; but now you were a king and so entitled to all your power. We do not have the wisdom to solve questions of faith. Perhaps it matters not. They turned their face from your guidance, but they did not turn from the faith. We should be satisfied with that.
Our enemies sensed this division among us, we believe. In the year 1405 they struck for Rome and besieged your high house. The faithful did not abandon you as the Catholics abandoned their false Pope. We were there to fight back the invaders. Our warriors of the faith, the Guardians of the Shroud who you wisely granted the keep of Turin, came to the battle also. Do you remember us fighting side by side on the walls of the holy city? It was to be the first of many such struggles. The faithless Catholic hordes thought us weak and sought to assault us at every turn.
Our son was born then, in the year of 1407. Was he born under inauspicious stars? If so, we did not see it then. He seemed to us a healthy, normal child. Then again, did we see the corruption within our lady wife? We named him Marco, to follow in our footsteps. All was well for all those many years. Such a good, lively child. We weep to think of it now.
There is another kind of work we both know well, the nameless work, which our father left to us both. Do you remember those amusing incidents when we began to follow him in full? His reach had been longer than we had thought. Few were those souls in our family not already taught his wisdom.
I admit, dear reader, that I totally went and divided the wanna-be Burgundy on the top between its neighbors through cheating means.
We regret that you never came to know our good friend, the King of Burgundy. Together we forged a great kingdom of the true faith in the north, to guard our border. The false Catholic usurper in France we helped crush also. But that was before we came to knew you, dear Abelardo. Had it not been for our good vassal, the Duchess Anna, who knew and loved you also, we would never have found the need to write to you. We are most glad that we did.
Good Abelardo, could we have saved our beloved Violante, had we only possessed your great wisdom and learning then? Perhaps not. The scourge of cancer is an insidious foe. Not even the greatest physician knows how to battle it. We certainly did not possess a great physician. The wretch Antonio did not die painfully enough. Without his devil's work, perhaps our daughter could have lived for longer. Perhaps we might have seen her grow another year. What we would give for another day with her, another moment. My darling Violante...
Why do some of us live and some of us die? No preacher of my court could tell me how it was just that Violante should so suffer and die. They spoke of it as the will of the Lord. Our God is not one to cause such pain, and besides, we know what is to blame. The name of that creature we will not commit to these pages, but it is spoken of enough in the secret wisdom we both share.
It was only you, good Abelardo, who knew not to accuse the Lord for such evil. It was then when we began to love your friendship and your advice.
We did not know what to believe then. To appease God, or so we thought, we warred against the Catholic lords of Croatia. There we founded a strong kingdom of the faithful under a Croat knight who had eagerly embraced the Waldensian cause. Were our motivations righteous or not, the work was for a just cause. The people of that land are now liberated from the Papist yoke. The Kingdom stands strong and proud. May it endure until the end of all time.
Do you recall, dear Abelardo? The wretched Papists sought to revolt against our just rule. We feared a vast rising then, did we not? A resurgence of the Catholic cause, their wicked hordes converging on your house from every side. But it was merely the last gasps of a false and dying institution. They were driven out of our lands then. The faithful rejoiced everywhere, and we knew peace.
We rejoiced, too, for the mighty kingdoms of the Catholics were plunging into their ruin. Portugal was breaking down. The faithless murder one another in endless wars now where they once stood united against us. May they turn to the true cause and know peace in it. Our mother was a princess of Portugal, but she was wise and turned to the faith. May all her kinsmen and people do so also in time.
Our son grew into a true believer. Did that zeal blind us to the wickedness in his heart? That he shall follow us as king frightens us. But there is nothing to be done for it now. We may only hope that no-one learns of the terrible things he has done.
Perhaps it should be our daughter, instead. She is adept in the secret work we share. We have asked her to watch over Tuscany when we are gone, to use her power to keep Marco from further evil.
It has only been some months, now, since we learned that terribly truth. You are gone, of course. You did not live to know of this wickedness. If only we were dead also and did not have to bear this cursed knowing. But we shall pass soon. Heaven shall salve this wound in our soul.
YIKES.
Do you know, then, what came to be after your death? The lady of your court, Camilla di Vaticano - she is Pope and Queen now. The people of Rome wished her to take your place. She is a popular Queen, we take it, though she has little of your learning and wisdom. The world condemns her reign, but what of it? We of the true faith know that even laymen may preach the Holy Word. Why cannot a woman then serve as our Pope?
We shall follow you into the hereafter soon. A new age is dawning all across Europe, we think. Tuscany shall be the heart of that new age. Look upon the works of the House of Guerra and know they are the building stones the future will be built with!
Lesbian heretical pope, I see nothing unusual here.
And there we have it. Not the most creative part, but I'm eager to move on. CK3 is complete. A year before the 1444 start date of EU4, but I saw no reason to play for one year as the next guy. I shall be posting the status of the world in 1443 in a little bit!
Now in the autumn of our years, we find ourselves dwelling on the beginning of our reign. In that time we did not yet know your friendship. We were but twenty years of old when we took the throne. Our father had left us a difficult inheritance. Today they call him the Redeemer King - he who broke the back of the false Church and restored Rome to the True Christians. How were we to equal his glory? We did not lack in ambition or will, certainly. We intended to do great things for the realm and the faith.
Perhaps we were too prideful. We are as cognizant of our failures as we are of our triumphs. Certainly the triumphs outnumber the failures; we shall go on as a great King and faithful Christian lord.
Then we knew you only as a sinner and a charlatan. Our tutors taught us to distrust your authority and your wisdom. It is true, you had your faults. Who among us does not? They demand more of holy men than they ever do of kings. The vices of a sovereign are dismissed where those same failings in a priest are not. We know you did not seek power for its own sake, but came to it through unhappy circumstance. Our father was most unkind to name you Pope in the Catholic mold when you only wished to teach and guide your people. You have been most ill-treated by the mass of the faithful. We pray that history shall remember you more kindly.
Was it wisdom, when you named yourself King in Romagna also? They say that the clergy cannot wield temporal power as kings do; but now you were a king and so entitled to all your power. We do not have the wisdom to solve questions of faith. Perhaps it matters not. They turned their face from your guidance, but they did not turn from the faith. We should be satisfied with that.
Our enemies sensed this division among us, we believe. In the year 1405 they struck for Rome and besieged your high house. The faithful did not abandon you as the Catholics abandoned their false Pope. We were there to fight back the invaders. Our warriors of the faith, the Guardians of the Shroud who you wisely granted the keep of Turin, came to the battle also. Do you remember us fighting side by side on the walls of the holy city? It was to be the first of many such struggles. The faithless Catholic hordes thought us weak and sought to assault us at every turn.
Our son was born then, in the year of 1407. Was he born under inauspicious stars? If so, we did not see it then. He seemed to us a healthy, normal child. Then again, did we see the corruption within our lady wife? We named him Marco, to follow in our footsteps. All was well for all those many years. Such a good, lively child. We weep to think of it now.
There is another kind of work we both know well, the nameless work, which our father left to us both. Do you remember those amusing incidents when we began to follow him in full? His reach had been longer than we had thought. Few were those souls in our family not already taught his wisdom.
I admit, dear reader, that I totally went and divided the wanna-be Burgundy on the top between its neighbors through cheating means.
We regret that you never came to know our good friend, the King of Burgundy. Together we forged a great kingdom of the true faith in the north, to guard our border. The false Catholic usurper in France we helped crush also. But that was before we came to knew you, dear Abelardo. Had it not been for our good vassal, the Duchess Anna, who knew and loved you also, we would never have found the need to write to you. We are most glad that we did.
Good Abelardo, could we have saved our beloved Violante, had we only possessed your great wisdom and learning then? Perhaps not. The scourge of cancer is an insidious foe. Not even the greatest physician knows how to battle it. We certainly did not possess a great physician. The wretch Antonio did not die painfully enough. Without his devil's work, perhaps our daughter could have lived for longer. Perhaps we might have seen her grow another year. What we would give for another day with her, another moment. My darling Violante...
Why do some of us live and some of us die? No preacher of my court could tell me how it was just that Violante should so suffer and die. They spoke of it as the will of the Lord. Our God is not one to cause such pain, and besides, we know what is to blame. The name of that creature we will not commit to these pages, but it is spoken of enough in the secret wisdom we both share.
It was only you, good Abelardo, who knew not to accuse the Lord for such evil. It was then when we began to love your friendship and your advice.
We did not know what to believe then. To appease God, or so we thought, we warred against the Catholic lords of Croatia. There we founded a strong kingdom of the faithful under a Croat knight who had eagerly embraced the Waldensian cause. Were our motivations righteous or not, the work was for a just cause. The people of that land are now liberated from the Papist yoke. The Kingdom stands strong and proud. May it endure until the end of all time.
Do you recall, dear Abelardo? The wretched Papists sought to revolt against our just rule. We feared a vast rising then, did we not? A resurgence of the Catholic cause, their wicked hordes converging on your house from every side. But it was merely the last gasps of a false and dying institution. They were driven out of our lands then. The faithful rejoiced everywhere, and we knew peace.
We rejoiced, too, for the mighty kingdoms of the Catholics were plunging into their ruin. Portugal was breaking down. The faithless murder one another in endless wars now where they once stood united against us. May they turn to the true cause and know peace in it. Our mother was a princess of Portugal, but she was wise and turned to the faith. May all her kinsmen and people do so also in time.
Our son grew into a true believer. Did that zeal blind us to the wickedness in his heart? That he shall follow us as king frightens us. But there is nothing to be done for it now. We may only hope that no-one learns of the terrible things he has done.
Perhaps it should be our daughter, instead. She is adept in the secret work we share. We have asked her to watch over Tuscany when we are gone, to use her power to keep Marco from further evil.
It has only been some months, now, since we learned that terribly truth. You are gone, of course. You did not live to know of this wickedness. If only we were dead also and did not have to bear this cursed knowing. But we shall pass soon. Heaven shall salve this wound in our soul.
YIKES.
Do you know, then, what came to be after your death? The lady of your court, Camilla di Vaticano - she is Pope and Queen now. The people of Rome wished her to take your place. She is a popular Queen, we take it, though she has little of your learning and wisdom. The world condemns her reign, but what of it? We of the true faith know that even laymen may preach the Holy Word. Why cannot a woman then serve as our Pope?
We shall follow you into the hereafter soon. A new age is dawning all across Europe, we think. Tuscany shall be the heart of that new age. Look upon the works of the House of Guerra and know they are the building stones the future will be built with!
Lesbian heretical pope, I see nothing unusual here.
And there we have it. Not the most creative part, but I'm eager to move on. CK3 is complete. A year before the 1444 start date of EU4, but I saw no reason to play for one year as the next guy. I shall be posting the status of the world in 1443 in a little bit!
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On second thought, I'll simply continue in the EU4 thread. Linky here! I'll be happy to have y'all along for more immortal Tuscan shenanigans.
Apologies for this very delayed comment; first time could only read the first two parts, but just now found time to give it a critical look that it deserves. Still not finished, will read it thoroughly (and possibly again after that) as quick as possible for a more detailed analysis; however would like to comment on the parts so far read:
Very good story structure; excellent dialogue in the first journal between the character and the death, very good allegory addressing one's fears and madness; the style as adding parts from a play in the second part is a fascinating detail. Kudos.
By the way, the first image provided in the Interlude (A Transylvanian Wedding) is simply beautiful and greatly enhances the appeal, very good choice, and must express own envy for its use.
Very good story structure; excellent dialogue in the first journal between the character and the death, very good allegory addressing one's fears and madness; the style as adding parts from a play in the second part is a fascinating detail. Kudos.
By the way, the first image provided in the Interlude (A Transylvanian Wedding) is simply beautiful and greatly enhances the appeal, very good choice, and must express own envy for its use.
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Apologies for this very delayed second comment; but finally finished reading in its entirety.
Apparently was very modest in the previous comment; have to further say that the structure is excellent. Dialogues are captivating; the story is highly immersive. Kudos, simply kudos.
The downside is that it is a megacampaign, therefore when the reader reaches the end, the sore is felt in the throat. But an interesting upside, if unknown to its writAAR, has to be mentioned in this regard: Now have to go and lurk beyond the realm of ck3AAR, in the other forums, to see the story's future chapters (after a second read) - first time since years. Still was an unregistered lurker back then. Roughly the end of cenozoic, beginning of quaternay in terms of computer years.
(Back to Your friendly watchdog from fact-checkers of fictional lores for its latest report:
Your friendly nerdic defender of the fictional lores counter-argues:
That report of whatever watchdog is far too limiting on interpretation. It is obvious that the copy of The Wanderer's Atlas is a modern translation, probably from early 20. century ce, therefore the modern editors might have assumed a generalisation as the kurgan cultures, in regards to its related hypothesis by Marija Gimbutas, based on the works of Otto Schrader.
Your friendly watchdog from fact-checkers of fictional lores further defends against that counter-argument:
That is a weak assumption bro. Heavily disputed.
Your friendly nerdic defender of the fictional lores counter-argues:
No, you are disputed. Bro.
This concludes today's discussion, thank you friendly watchdog -woof woof arf-, thank you friendly nerdic defender -it is my divine duty- for your insights. Coming next our news segment Interesting Studies: Does the land of Punt cover an area from somalia to arabia, or is it modern sri lanka?)
Apparently was very modest in the previous comment; have to further say that the structure is excellent. Dialogues are captivating; the story is highly immersive. Kudos, simply kudos.
The downside is that it is a megacampaign, therefore when the reader reaches the end, the sore is felt in the throat. But an interesting upside, if unknown to its writAAR, has to be mentioned in this regard: Now have to go and lurk beyond the realm of ck3AAR, in the other forums, to see the story's future chapters (after a second read) - first time since years. Still was an unregistered lurker back then. Roughly the end of cenozoic, beginning of quaternay in terms of computer years.
(Back to Your friendly watchdog from fact-checkers of fictional lores for its latest report:
Apart from the eventual settling of the nomads, the chosen school of the religion is a moment of Wow mate..., when one considers the ilkhanate history.
...and that is a far-cry of a chagatai, if one has to be honest.
Confirming the use of orda as a slight misconception, concurring with the perspective of a (probably-not confirmed yet) western traveler. This is in parallel with the late definition, therefore assuming it as a modern rendition - horde. The accounts of early historians are able to define the ordo close to its actual meanings as large tent, an encampment, or the actual palace-court of the ruler. Therefore the original text of The Wanderer's Atlas has to be analysed for further details.
Contesting the supposed ethnonym Kurgans, as there is no such group of peoples in the text or illustrations found in the The Wanderer's Atlas. It does not correspond to any group in real life either. It could be claimed that it meant to be Kimeks (of turkic cultures) or Keraits (of mongolic cultures) by its anonymous author, but its etymology does not support this. Kurgan on the other hand is a burial tumulus commonly observed for various nomadic cultures from caucasus to siberia.
Your friendly nerdic defender of the fictional lores counter-argues:
That report of whatever watchdog is far too limiting on interpretation. It is obvious that the copy of The Wanderer's Atlas is a modern translation, probably from early 20. century ce, therefore the modern editors might have assumed a generalisation as the kurgan cultures, in regards to its related hypothesis by Marija Gimbutas, based on the works of Otto Schrader.
Your friendly watchdog from fact-checkers of fictional lores further defends against that counter-argument:
That is a weak assumption bro. Heavily disputed.
Your friendly nerdic defender of the fictional lores counter-argues:
No, you are disputed. Bro.
This concludes today's discussion, thank you friendly watchdog -woof woof arf-, thank you friendly nerdic defender -it is my divine duty- for your insights. Coming next our news segment Interesting Studies: Does the land of Punt cover an area from somalia to arabia, or is it modern sri lanka?)
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The misnomers are (mostly) intentional, this being a later Western copy of an Italian author's somewhat ignorant text. But there may be cases where the non-fictional AAR author has just been lazy in his research, oh dear.
Thank you for your kind comments and hope you have the energy to go through the bloat of the EU4 section!